John Kirby Projects Weakness from White House Podium

Today on Sekulow, after three U.S. troops are killed by an Iranian-backed militia, John Kirby projects weakness from the White House podium. Welcome to Sekulow.

We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. If you're confused after three U.S. troops were killed by an Iranian-backed militia out of, we believe, Iraq, I don't blame you for being confused. Even if you are a close news watcher or even someone maybe even inside the Biden administration. And that's because you're getting different reports from different people inside, top level. The people would be read into the most high level classified information about this attack that led to the three U.S. soldiers being killed all from a division in Georgia.

Reservists from Georgia and then of course the 34 plus who were injured, some who had to be airlifted even out of Jordan because of their wounds. And that's because you go to people like John Kirby who is a White House spokesperson for a national security. And he first tells you that this is all because Iran is supplying these groups with weapons and we know Iran is behind all of this. But then he says, but you know what, we don't want things to escalate with Iran so how are we going to respond?

Take a listen. Can you confirm, is the President currently actively considering potential attacks inside Iran? We are not looking for a war with Iran. We are not seeking a conflict with the regime in the military way. And as I said in the opening, we're not looking to escalate here. This attack over the weekend was escalatory. Make no mistake about it.

And it requires a response, make no mistake about that. I will not get ahead of the President's decision making. Okay, we're not looking for a war with Iran, but Iran did escalate it. We don't want to escalate it, but they did. And we're not looking for a war directly with Iran. Now I mean, Logan, I guess the way you could look at this and say is, are they looking for the Trump route? Which is to say, look for the next leader of the, the next Suleimani if you will. Yeah.

And go do a Kamikaze drone hit. Yeah, I think a lot of people are going to be concerned. I've seen a lot of mixed responses. Yeah, going to war with Iran. Yeah. And I think like my generation grew up on, yeah, if they hit you, we go after it.

And we, we go level someplace and that's like what you grew up with. And then sort of this new generation of even conservatives are much more- Because they realize it didn't necessarily work. It didn't necessarily work. However, I do think that to say just it escalated, escalated by attacking and killing our servicemen. So something has to be done.

Something has to be done. And I don't just say, oh, we're just allowing these things to happen now because we don't want to get in a war. I understand not wanting to get into a war, but I also am very cautious when, as we put in the title, weakness is projected all across the world. And then all of a sudden you realize, oh, you could have an attack on American citizens and get away with it.

Right. I mean, they've tried to, they've shot 160 of these drones at us. This is the one that finally led to American deaths. And if we don't respond pretty soon, it looks like what you said, like you can kind of, as long as you don't kill too many Americans. And then we all learned yesterday just how many thousands of Americans are stationed around the world in these very dangerous places.

I understand why we don't, by the way, like advertise that to the Muslim world all the time. But we've seen the uptick in violence. And when I come back, I'll play for you just how bad the Biden administration has taken what was going on in the Middle East, let's say, pre-October 7th.

And just a few months now, just 100 plus days later, because they really saw the world in a very different place on October 6th when it went to the Biden administration. But we didn't at the ACLJ. And that's because we knew there was a problem, Logan, when they started reversing all the policies that the Trump administration put in place for a new peace between Israel and its Arab allies.

Yeah. We knew that was going to go wrong. We warned about it. And here we are. And look, later on in the broadcast, actually, John Andrasik, who you may know as Five for Fighting, is going to be on to talk about his brand new song, which is called Okay. That is specifically about the attacks on Israel and really the Americans' response to the attack on Israel and how horrifying it has been to see everything.

So we're going to have him on the second half hour of the broadcast. But we're also asking you right now to become an ACLJ champion. Please go to ACLJ.org. Become a member right now.

It is fantastic. It's the time to do it. Just put your money where your mouth is. Support the work of the ACLJ. And impeachment coming up.

We've got to put my glasses on for this one, Logan, because I want to take people back. We are going to talk impeachment, by the way. And the impeachment is of Mayorkas, Secretary Mayorkas of Homeland Security, because the articles, it's now two articles of impeachment that have been agreed upon. It looks like they're being drafted up and finalized by the Committee on Homeland Security and the House of Representatives.

That's chaired by Congressman Mark Green. Article 1 of that impeachment is willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law. Certainly, that's an impeachable offense. I mean, Congress really can read anything into what is an impeachable offense, because then they have to go, they impeach, and then they have to go to the Senate and make an argument about why that would be an impeachable offense. If you're not just talking, you know, when you're talking about the high crimes and misdemeanors part and not the treason, the bribery part. Article 2, so there's only going to be two as of right now, is breach of public trust.

That's another one. Courts have been pretty clear those are impeachable offenses, but they, again, will have to, I don't know if I have to explain it to you very much, but it looks like that's where they're going to go. We'll talk to Bob Burkett from our ACLJ action team in Washington, D.C. about that, about kind of like timing of this, moving out of committee, and then, of course, going into the actual full vote in the House, which only takes a majority vote to impeach in the House. But you then go through the trial in the Senate.

That takes two-thirds. Those votes don't look to be there right now with a very divided Senate. But you are seeing more and more people, bipartisan, saying this immigration issue is out of control. It's out of control in major cities. It's out of control in small towns. And it's not just a border state issue any more.

I want to go to some sound. So this is Anthony Blinken in Washington, D.C. just yesterday? Just yesterday?

Yeah, just yesterday. And he talks about how dangerous the Middle East is right now. This is our Secretary of State. How dangerous is the Middle East today?

Take a listen. Look, first, I think it's very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East. I would argue that we've not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we're facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.

Imagine what he's saying there. He has not seen a situation so dangerous in the Middle East as the one we're facing across the region. Logan, 1973 is the Yom Kippur War. It is the war where basically the entire Arab world went to war on the same day against Israel on Yom Kippur. And so it was not, Israel didn't get ahead of attack. Golda Meir was heavily criticized for it. Israel ultimately did win that war pretty handedly, and again pushing those Arab countries back.

It was a miracle. Saw really an end to that Arab nationalism, which was, Sadat was pushing an end to Sadat. Then we kind of moved into this Islamic radicalism move, which was a lot more religious based. But he's saying it's more dangerous than 1973. This is after we had October 7th, which was the largest attack on Jews dying in one day since the Holocaust. So more Jews died on October 7th in one day than during any of those days during the 1973 war. Yeah, I think, well to me, you look at that and go, that was still, in our historical sense, you look at it as a war. In a big picture of this was Israel against multiple countries that were invading. We've heard about it our entire lives as kind of the way we speak about any war even in America. A war against a country and Israel ended up winning handily by a miracle.

It is definitely spoken about like it was a miracle. Third war in Middie. I mean 1948 they had to fight their war for independence, 1967 the Six Day War, and then 1973 you have the Yom Kippur War. And then finally I think a lot of these Arab countries, you saw a dissolution of Arab nationalism, but a rise of radicalism.

Yeah, radical and almost, in our heads it's almost more rural in some ways. Like a more savage kind of way of doing it. It's not as tactical warfare.

It is more until October. And then all of a sudden it felt very strategic. ISIS terror style. Yes, it wasn't just, I mean it's horrible, but it wasn't just a suicide bomber in the city or a bus bomb. This was an attack with thousands or two. This was a strategic move to kill thousands of people at one time.

So now we're back in this full fledged war and we are seeing what sort of is the bleed over effect now in all these other countries and whether that's what's happening now to American soldiers. Now I want you to go to our very, you know he's supposed to be very educated, National Security Advisor, head of the National Security Council, Jake Sullivan. Because this is what he said about the Middle East four months ago. Okay folks, he said this in September 30th. This was eight days before what happened in Israel.

So if you think that our guys knew that anything was coming, there's no way he would have made a statement like this publicly. Take a listen. The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades. But the amount of time that I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9-11 is significantly reduced.

Okay, that was in September 30th, Logan. We just heard on January 29th, Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, say it's never been a more volatile time since the Yom Kippur War. Four months, that's what the Biden administration, the United States, the leader of the free world, has done in the Middle East. They took the Abraham cords, they flushed those right down the toilet, and now we've got ISIS running around, Hamas running around like they're ISIS, and the UN Refugee and Works Agency being run by people who will kill and kidnap children. And I think you have sort of a difference between Kirby and Jake Sullivan and then on the other end Blinken. I feel like they do have different points of view in terms of Israel as well. Where Blinken and some of these maybe a little bit more seasoned guys who I don't necessarily agree with on a lot of their topics, they've at least been pretty supportive of Israel even when trying to tow the party line. But the party line has moved so aggressively, and I think we have a good call coming in from Bill in Wyoming, we should take that, that kind of dips into that what Kirby has to handle.

What is going on here? People want a response when Americans get killed. I think what Americans, not right now, especially from Joe Biden, is a full on war against Iran because this guy couldn't even explain to us why we were helping Ukraine. He could never really clearly say like, we're helping Ukraine so we get to point... what point?

We never got there and we're still spending money there. But Bill, you're on the air. Yeah, thanks for... I'm trying to learn what's going on over there and thanks for teaching me. I'm just wondering, the interview that Kirby had where he was responding, it sounded to me like he was filibustering an answer saying, we're too really scared to do anything right now so we don't want to make any real problems or hurting anybody's feelings. I'd love to wake up and, Bill, for me and you to be wrong.

Just like I would love for them to finally come... I think Mike Pompeo has done a better job explaining the importance of Ukraine and Russia on our broadcast than the current administration because he lays it out for people. You understand and say, okay, this is the point, this is where they need to go, but of course he can't definitively say this is then where the end point is, this is where victory lies because he's no longer in that office as Secretary of State. The same thing goes here where I think, you know, Kirby say, well, listen, we're going to respond to do something and I'm sure we will, but now three Americans are dead. So, I mean, I'm not saying it's like an eye for an eye, but it kind of is. And when you kill Americans, it's kind of like we go for higher eyes, if you will. Like you kill three of our soldiers, we'll kill your general. That's what we did with Soleimani. So how about we take out the next Soleimani wherever he is right now?

Yeah, I think that that's right. That sends a message and it messes up Iran. I think there's a lot of people who honestly ignored this story, didn't see this story, pretended it or saw it and let it kind of breeze on by. They're naming him and showing him on TV. It's a little different. I would hope so, but it's not like I see it filling up my social media feeds. Honestly, I can say that I didn't see it. I haven't seen anyone talking about it.

Two of them were very young. I've seen people talking about, you know, politics and Taylor Swift, but I don't see them talking about, you know, three servicemen who have died. It's a very weird time in sort of the American politic where these things can kind of go by.

And even some of my more conservative friends like Sarah texted me, oh, Biden's going to get us in a war tomorrow. And then you kind of look at it and have to go, well, I'm not in favor of getting into a full scale war. I'm also not in favor of people letting people get away with these kind of attacks, because I do feel like when you do that, it's slowly building towards another situation like a 9-11. Yeah. And we saw lots of those little like as much as we want to go back to 9-11, there were little build up to it.

There was other smaller attacks that were happening in the country or to even the World Trade Center itself that led to eventually saying, oh, yeah, we can do this. We can get away with it. And we have to respond. And look, we're going to have on a guest coming up who released a new song about that. And he obviously had his big pop was with a song that really connected with people in that sort of post 9-11 world with Superman.

And that's in five for fighting and has a new song. And we're to talk about that coming up in just a segment or two with with him. But it does get my senses back into that state that I was in, in sort of the post 9-11 world. And maybe that's just the generation, like I said, I grew up in where I don't feel like you can just let things go in some ways. But, you know, I'm also not in favor of jumping right into a major full scale war.

I don't think most Americans trust that we are prepared to go into a full scale war with a country like Iran when we know that the capabilities they have. But what we do know is that we need we need to be ready at the ACLJ for all of this and to push back on all of this too and support our ally Israel. Come to ACLJ Champion today, ACLJ.org slash champions. And again, come a recurring donor. You're at the tip of the spear on these battles. We'll be back.

Welcome back to Sekio. Listen, you can't talk about what's going on in Washington without talking about an impeachment that might occur. And the only second time in our U.S. history, it's an impeachment not of a President or of a judge, but of a cabinet member.

This cabinet member being someone you know well and probably don't agree with very much with Secretary Mayorkas. Sometimes he says the border is secure and sometimes he says, well, no one has operational control. And of course, all that's done under oath. But we also see the Biden administration fighting in court state efforts to try to do anything possible to stem the both the humanitarian crisis at our border and also the drug crisis that flows through our southern border. And now the number one killer of Americans are the kind of core backbone of the country, 18 to 45, is the drug fentanyl, which is primarily taken, brought through by illegal immigrants and cartels on our southern border.

It's manufactured in China and then again trafficked across the southern border. So I want to go to Bob Burkett in Washington, D.C. for ACLJ Action Team, our chief of staff for ACLJ Action, our C4 organization. And Bob, today we've got in the Homeland Security Committee the two articles of impeachment have been announced for against Secretary Mayorkas. The final markup is going on now. Explain to people what's happening. How soon could we see a vote in the committee?

Yeah, thanks, Jordan. So as you mentioned, the markup began at 10 a.m. today. The first thing that happened, and I have been following it, I've been kind of running all over the place, so this very well could have already happened. But Chairman Mark Green took the base text of what was Marjorie Taylor Greene's impeachment resolution. He offered or he will offer what is called an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which is congressional speak for taking the entire text of the previous resolution and replacing it with the text that he has worked on on his own. And as you mentioned, those two articles he's incorporating are willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, as well as breach of public trust. And the vote will be taken on that amendment, once again if it hasn't already, and then I anticipate they'll move at some point near the end of the markup to formally vote the articles out of committee, at which time they will be ready for the House floor whenever House leadership decides to take them up.

And that, again, is key. So it's likely it's going to pass through the committee. We're looking at two articles. So far I haven't gotten any alerts that they've passed out, but it must be fairly soon if no Republicans object and there's no kind of procedural objections. So then, I mean, it's really up to like Speaker – you say like Speaker Johnson and that team just decides when – do they have to open up like a – I'm trying to remember, but it was a long time ago now. How long like debate they have to open up and – but, I mean, they just vote on impeachment. They don't try the impeachment. So if they put it to a floor on a vote, will they say, okay, there's six hours of open debate and then we're voting or something like that?

I mean, or do they negotiate that out? Yeah, so, I mean, I think the big thing first is going to be wrangling votes. I don't think leadership is going to bring the resolution to the floor unless they know they have the votes. There are at least four members, to my knowledge, that have not given their indication one way or another. In fact, I've heard at least one member who currently, before its left committee, has said, I lean no on the vote. So it might possibly not pass the committee.

Potentially. I don't know if the member that leaned no, I don't think he's on the Homeland Security Committee. I don't anticipate there will be problems with it passing committee. I think the big hang-up potentially could be some of these members who have remained silent on their support for impeachment.

Or, as mentioned, lean no. That's going to be the biggest determinant in how quickly it comes to the floor. So House leadership, I think, as soon as they know they've whipped the votes and know they have the vote, I think it'll get offered to the Rules Committee, then the Rules Committee will hold a hearing on the resolution, and then, assuming everything is lined up, then it can be brought to the House floor. And, as you mentioned, the kind of rules of procedure, that's kind of determined by the House Rules Committee and leadership. So there could be a longer period of debate. I mean, generally, if something like this occurs, a lot of people are going to want to make statements, either in support of or against it. So it could be longer than your average debate on X, Y, or Z resolution tackling some obscure policy issue. Yeah, and then, I think, Logan, what's interesting here is that, as of right now, it's not clear they've got the votes.

Republicans. So, I mean, you could see this never voted on. So what does that look like, then, if it's never voted on? What is the procedure, then, moving forward from there? It just kind of just dies?

It just kind of dies. It's never brought forward. It's voted out of committee, but never brought to the floor. You don't want to be embarrassed like that.

I mean, it's already embarrassing if you're going to go through this process. It's like what people hate about American politics. It also says the committees don't control things. The House does. And so while the committees get this process started and they have to move it out, then it goes to the full vote of the House and you have to have a majority vote in the House.

Used to be a little bit easier to get partisan-wise, but when you have this slim of majorities and the Republican Party not quite as partisan in line as the Democrats are, people questioning whether or not this is enough to meet impeachment and will this happen to us. We do believe, by the way, this has, and ACLJ Action's done a great job. You still get involved here because your member of Congress has not voted on this yet. We've already got nearly 7,000 of you have used ACLJ Action. ACLJAction.org's free tool for you to get your letter to members of Congress to support this impeachment, and it lays out the reasons why, and we've talked about all these horrible reasons why. Mayorkas deserves this, and then you move on to the trial in the U.S. Senate. I'd love to have over 7,000 people do that.

That would only take a couple hundred more people going to ACLJAction.org right now. The letter is pre-done for you. You put in your information. We make sure it goes to your correct House member, and that's because that's going to be voting, both who's going to be voting in the committee where it looks like you'll get out of, but then ultimately, if it looks like they have the votes on the floor, they're going to have the votes because they think they are going to be able to impeach. You impeach, and then you try, and you either convict or you acquit. President Trump was impeached twice, but he was acquitted twice in the Senate trials.

The language is important, just as a reminder there. Logan, Bob, I appreciate you for that update there. It's been a while since people have gone through this, and we haven't done this with the cabinet members for a very long time.

I think it was the 1800s, and I'm not even sure who it was. Not in our lifetime. No. An impeachment used to be rare. We had the Clinton impeachment, and then they started picking up more regularly, let's say, in the last few years. But we do, Logan, understand that with all of this, whether it's the UN and UNRWA and having a Hamas leader inside the UN, a refugee and works agency, which has billions of dollars that it provides to Gazans, a Hamas leader was working for that agency, along with seven others we know as of now, could be more. And we're being told by so many people, well, hey, that's only eight people, and lots of people worked there, so that's what AOC said. That's what even John Kirby said, the Biden administration.

But it's like, if any terrorist worked in your organization who are willing to put babies into ovens or execute pregnant women in front of their husbands and then kill their husbands or take children hostage, if any of those people have infiltrated your organization that you get billions of dollars to, maybe your organization needs a whole redo. Yeah, absolutely. When we get back, we're actually going to be joined by a very special guest, Jon Andrasik, who you know as Five for Fighting, who has a brand new song, OK, that's specifically about the war going on in Israel and the Americans' response to it. It's very powerful. We're going to talk about it, play a clip from it, but also support the work of the ACLJ right now.

Go to ACLJ.org slash champions, become a monthly recurring member. We'd appreciate it. Back with Five for Fighting. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Hey, folks, welcome back to Sekulow. You know, a lot of times, especially when we have been talking about the issues involving Israel, we've seen, especially in the pop culture world, a response that's been pretty disgusting, actually, and especially on college campuses, even colleges that I attended and universities I attended, that just the messages in support of not Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity, but in support of what Hamas did, celebrating the attacks against Israel and the atrocities that are ongoing with hostages and hostages that are Americans. On October 7th, and we saw it most in a lot of the creative world and the music world, either be quiet or side with the Arab world and the Palestinian world and say, well, we're not getting the full picture, the full story, and that was just one day.

Look about everything else. But we have someone in the studio with us who is not afraid to speak out on these issues, and, Logan, I think it was awesome that you've been able to coordinate Jon being in the studio with us. We'll play some more from the song, but it's very cool that he's not afraid to speak out. Yeah, Jon Andrasek, who you know is fine for fighting, sitting right next to me, he's very, very cool that you jumped in. I'm happy you're here in Nashville and can come and talk about your new song, OK, which, by the way, we have linked fully in our description, so if you're watching this on YouTube or Rumble, you can click over when we're done here.

We're going to play a clip from it, but it's also a very powerful and very moving and we need to make sure people are aware of the content that's in the music video as well. We're going to talk about that in the next segment. But, you know, briefly in our conversations we've had in reading some of the news about this is you really felt moved to tell this story and to be one of those voices. When everyone said either what Jordan said, we can't do this, or said, I'm not educated enough, you're here to hop in. Well, look, I don't think you have to be Jewish to condemn the atrocities that Hamas committed, continue to commit.

I think you just have to be human. And we haven't seen much of that in the arts, which is disgraceful, as you said. This is 2024, it's not 1938, and I think after the atrocities we were all stunned, horrified. It reminded me of 9-11, it reminded me, frankly, of the Afghan withdrawal. But then you started seeing the cultural aftermath and the collapse of all our institutions.

I think we knew the colleges had this kind of moral rot in them. But, you know, I was honored to play the concert for New York after 9-11. And I walked down 7th Avenue and all the missing posters were hung up on the windows.

Can you imagine back then people ripping those posters down? So seeing that stuff, seeing the media kind of become Hamas sympathizers, and frankly seeing members of Congress, Tlaib basically being Hamas spokesmen, shook me. And I was also disgusted with the silence of our industry. It was really shameful, and I still am. And so that led to writing the song and making the video.

You're having to see people like Mayim Bialik and some of these other stars, who are very active and very... who are talking about Israel, and they're having to turn their comments off on all social media posts, because it just gets so aggressive so fast towards them and threatening. It's really sad, but for someone like you to come in... I mean, look, I think a lot of us were introduced to you with Superman because of 9-11.

It became such a moment. So you've kind of been there along the way in sort of reflecting how a lot of us are feeling. Yeah, well, you know, I was with Patty Heaton this morning at a synagogue in town here, and the rabbi was saying, you know, so many of us feel abandoned.

We feel alone. Where are the artists? Where are the Jewish artists?

Where are the Jewish executives of music companies? And it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. What I did see with Superman after 9-11, how music can transcend, and how a song can crash through barriers. So hopefully with this song, this mission, this message, we have a little bit of that. When we get back in just a minute, we're going to play a clip from OK, a brand new song. And again, it's linked on all of the descriptions there. So if you're watching, if you're one of the thousands of people who watch this broadcast, don't just listen. Or if you're on the podcast feed, you can find the link directly to it right now.

It's a brand new song, OK by Five for Fighting. We're going to play a clip from it and really dive a little bit deeper into this coming up in the next segment. But we appreciate it. We're happier here, and we're happy that you're standing up for this when it does feel kind of lonely for a lot of people. So to have someone like you who, like I said, can kind of tell those stories and be with us for the last 20 plus years now is really impressive. And thank you. We're going to come back and have a much deeper discussion, though, Jordan, about this.

Yeah, that's right. And remember, we're still are representing families of the hostages. Some of those families, their hostages, they've been killed. Some are still alive.

Some hope they are still alive. We're working in Spain. We're working in the U.K. We've worked in D.C. We're working in Israel.

We'll be right back. I'm used to I get to interview, and he's coming up in the next segment. Secretary Pompeo, part of our team, Mike Pompeo.

We'll talk about China, actually. So we're actually going to go around the world a little bit, not just focus on what's happening in the Middle East. But it's very cool to have people who we don't oftentimes have the opportunity to interview. John Androssy, who's here now, Five for Fighting, who's put out a song. And, John, you just told us during our break, and this is pretty cool.

The song is called OK, and it is about the response we've seen in the United States and around the world to what happened on October 7th. But really the response, not in support of Israel, but in support of the cause for Hamas that we've seen. And you said it was interesting. I'd love to see what it was like, because you said Israel put it on their official accounts, like on Instagram. And I would think that gets a lot of great attention to Israel, and I bet a lot of very negative attention in many parts around the world.

I saw in your music video, which is out, and people, we've got the link to it, OK, right? I saw my university, George Washington University, we're into undergrad, which is the number four non-Jewish Jewish school in America, if you want to say that. 32% of our student body is Jewish there in undergrad. And that was what was flashing up on our library.

Free Palestine from the river to the sea. I mean, a third of our students, that would mean you want them all dead. So when I see that in Gilman, in those places, it hits hard. You write in your music video, and then it hits me, and I see all those other universities. But what was it like after Israel sent out the message, or sent out the video, the music? It was very humbling, kind of shocking. But I think I got a quick education on what Jewish people deal with every day, to see instantly the vitriol, the death threats, the hate from this video. And as you mentioned, it's a moral message.

It's not a political one. In my mind, it's not even a pro-Israel video. The hero of the video is a Palestinian woman calling out Hamas for stealing the aid. It's an anti-evil video. But seeing the reaction, again, gave me a small sense of what Jewish people feel.

And it's just heartbreaking. Yeah, and like I said, and we were talking about this in the break, you released a song a couple years ago during the Afghanistan withdrawal, Blood on Your Hands, which universally, I think everyone kind of could get behind and go, yeah, we see the atrocity happening. And then you had songs about the war in Ukraine. And again, it kind of felt the same way. There was a bit more unification.

But then you get to Israel, and all bets are off. You know, I was talking about unified for about a week, is what we said. And that's about what it was. People saw that horrible footage. And for about a week, the world either was quiet or condemned it. But then we all said, give it a week. Once Israel starts responding, they'll be condemning Israel. They'll forget what happened. And social media happens. That's what happens, too, is that friends of ours that are celebrities, they posted something that was in support of Israel, and then the bot army of Hamas shows up, and you feel threatened, and you feel scared. Well, look. Not you specifically. You know, I talk to artists, and I talk to managers, and I say, why? Why are you so quiet?

And they do say that. We're scared. OK, we're scared for ourselves. We're scared for our families.

We're scared that our fans will be protested. And I'm like, I understand that. It's real. On the other hand, it's some of the same arguments that were made in 1938. It's like, the end shot of my video is Martin Luther King saying, silence in front of evil is enabling it.

And I'm sorry. That's what we're doing. And with each voice, it makes us all stronger. I hope this video does give some license to some folks to speak out that want to, but it has been a shame, and it has to change. Let's go ahead and take a listen to a bit of OK, the brand new song by Five for Fighting. And then again, if you want to watch the full video, which I encourage you all to do, it's in our description show notes and all of that.

So let's take a listen. OK. OK. That is a small clip of OK, the brand new song by Five for Fighting. I did want to let people know the full song is available on all streaming platforms available everywhere Five for Fighting's website, but also the music video is available on YouTube.

And we have the link in the show notes here and in the description. But I do want people understand also that we were all passing around this morning watching it. And some of our crew had not seen it yet.

You didn't hold anything back in the footage that was shown. So be prepared. And there is a warning before. But it's stuff that people, they need to see.

I think you have to you owe it to the hostages, you owe it to the victims to tell the truth. You know, the 45 minute atrocity video. I can't imagine watching it, but I think everybody, if they saw that, their attitudes would be changed. And you've seen that over and over again now. It feels like people do see that footage and all of a sudden a switch goes off. It's like people who went to Ukraine, same kind of similar.

When they go there, it's like their eyes are open to bet. Well, this is all connected. Afghanistan, Ukraine, Putin, Iran, Hamas, China. It's all connected. And it's the access of evil thing again, which sounds dramatic, but it is. It's really not Israel versus Hamas. It's civilization versus those who want to tear it down. So I think we have to approach it that way. But Bari Weiss was right when she said the rise of anti-Semitism is just a symptom of a deeper decay on our campuses, in our media, in our celebrity in the arts. So I think it's a generational problem when you have half of the youth between 18 and 24 want to end Israel and support Hamas. That is our colleges. That is our culture. And that's a generational battle that we better address and start fighting now or we're going to lose the whole generation of our youth.

Yeah, absolutely, Jordan. And I think that this is something that, again, you've been sort of a storyteller for us and it's going to help us understand our feelings for the last 20 plus years. Will and I were talking to our producer here. We saw Five for Fighting for the first time in 2002. We were like 16 years old dealing with the fallout from 9-11 in 2002 as teenagers trying to figure out how to now move on as a society. Jordan was living in Washington, D.C. We were in Orlando. We ended up in Virginia Beach.

We saw you and there was a military town that was also dealing with now a war breaking out and what that would look like. So to have people like you who have also been consistent throughout our lives. I mean, we're in our late 30s now.

So for the last 20 plus years is remarkable. And I just want to thank you also for that because you've helped us be able to interpret what's happening. I think artists need that. We need that as humanity. We need more artists to speak out.

Well, you know, you look back in history at the 60s and you get a sense of the times through the protest songs. And I think we have a role to play. All of us.

Nobody's voice is too small. We are in this kind of battle for the soul of the world. So broadcasters, artists, politicians, we can't put our heads in the sand any longer. So I like to look at it as I'm just shining the light where it belongs on people who are heroes, causes that matter. And if a song can make a difference, great. But again, you can't stop there. I think we're just starting with this effort.

We're trying to put together a concert. I've been reached out to by so many folks, both on the left and the right. This is not a political issue. So hopefully it shouldn't be.

It shouldn't be. And, you know, I do think the tide may be turning. I don't know if you saw on Beverly Hills that, you know, 1200 Israeli flags. Saw the Gypsy Kings sing the Israel National Anthem. We'll be interested to see what the Grammys does. We're all watching you Grammys to see if you have a soul with your moral betters preaching to us every year. It's pretty quiet on the Golden Globes and some of those.

Not a whole lot of... Yeah. Rappaport was right. It's a disgrace. And again, I think each voice makes us stronger. I do think there is a silent majority that wants to speak up. But if you don't take an action, that silent majority becomes a silent minority. And then we are truly lost. So we have a lot of work to do. And it does seem like...

But you're willing to do that work because the truth is you don't win this on Republican or Democrat issue. And Israel knows that too. The people of Israel. I mean, when they came... The group we first took to Washington, D.C., John, who were hostage family members, what was a mother?

We now know that her son was killed. And then there were two sets of brothers. The politics of even Israel was not their concern. A couple of them, I'm not gonna name them. They weren't like huge... They didn't move from Netanyahu. They were probably more towards the left. But that didn't matter that day. And it didn't matter to them who was trying to get out to their meeting with Republican or Democrat, trying to get their family member home. Some who were still in going around the countries and world, UK and Spain.

One still going and doing all of that to get two of his brothers home, twin brothers home. And they haven't been reported as... They're willing to do anything and meet with anybody. I mean, that's when you know it's truly...

It's past bipartisan or American. It's just human beings trying to do the right thing. It is. Sometimes it's as simple as that. Sometimes it's as simple as good versus evil, right versus wrong.

And I do think the first line of my song is it's a time for choosing, right? We can't wait any longer. We have to, whether we like it or not, choose a side. And I think it's pretty obvious the side. And it's not the anti-Palestinian side. It's the Palestinians who are standing up for change.

We support them as well as we support every Israeli child, Palestinian child, Ukrainian child, Afghan child. Absolutely, John. We just really appreciate you coming in. And this song is available right now. I want you to go when this show is over. Go check it out. It's in the description or just search for Fight for Fighting.

You're going to find it in three seconds. And support, John, if there's anything we can do for you. Hopefully you get back in town soon. We'll do some more or whatever we can do to help get this message out there. And we appreciate you coming in. Thanks for joining us in the studio. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. All right, we'll be back.

Mike Pompeo. Join us next. Welcome back to Sekulow. Let's take a little bit of a different turn. So we've done, again, we've spoken about the Middle East and Iran. We've talked about the situation also in Israel. I do want to go, because Secretary Pompeo, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs, was testifying just hours ago before the Congressional Select Committee on China's Threat on Global Affairs. So for our audience, I told them this was coming, Secretary Pompeo, and because we never want to forget China with all these issues, because I think that on all those other issues I just said we talked about, they're playing a role in it.

I mean, they're definitely not just staying back and watching anymore. They're certainly asserting themselves and making new alliances, including with Iran and some of these other bad actors. What's your initial takeaway after you testified at the committee, and what do you think it kind of accomplished? Was it some bipartisan takeaway at least from the threat that is posed from China right now? Jordan, this is maybe the committee, maybe the only committee on Capitol Hill today that is truly working in a bipartisan fashion. There are disagreements there.

There was one crazy junior congressman who couldn't stop talking about January 6th. But for the most part, these were serious people trying to solve this complex problem, which is the threat to America from the Chinese Communist Party. And they were all focused, Jordan, on the right thing, which is why does this matter? Why does this matter to every American, whether you're a farmer in Iowa or a manufacturer in Indiana or Ohio?

Why does this matter? And you've been talking about the Middle East today. The Chinese Communist Party is importing crude oil from Iran, bundling money to them, allowing them to have the billions of dollars they need to conduct their terror campaigns. The Chinese Communist Party, I'm sure, is sharing technology with the Iranians, and the Iranians are selling weapons and vice versa. This is a group of actors that have malintention for the United States. They want bad things for us, and it will change the way America lives if we don't confront each of them in a way that is serious and resolved, not the way that the Biden administration continues to do.

You know, what do you think the biggest mistake we're making right now? I mean, because I feel like one of the issues was, it was when we started kind of refocusing in on what was happening in the Middle East and the positives of the Abraham Accords, and then the Biden administration came in and started really just letting those go by the wayside and not, again, doing the work to keep them moving forward, even though it was so unprecedented to kind of have that opportunity and to continue to add countries to it. So instead they let it kind of fall by the wayside, and then China has become this actor that's been proud to host Putin and that's been proud to make these new strategic agreements with Iran, who is saying right now, you know, oh, no, no, no, no, it wasn't us that shot the drone. But of course we know Iran made the drone and gave the drone to the organization and probably gave them the green light to fire the drone that killed the three Americans. That's certainly true.

And it is also the case they would have trained this operator as well. This is a hallmark of Iranian efforts to try and hide their touch, but this was an Iranian effort to kill Americans and they were successful in doing so. You know, the mistake that the Biden administration has made broadly began with this central idea that we're going to flip the script and negotiate with the Iranians. We're going to sit down at a table with them and we can somehow reach a conciliation with them because they're fundamentally just, you know, there's good people there.

That is just untrue. This is a regime that has attempted to undermine America's presence in the Middle East to try and kill people with our friends and friends' countries in them. The Marathis, the Saudis, the Houthis have fired missiles into each of those two places. This administration just simply came in and grabbed the wrong end of the stick because of folks like, you know, Rob Malley, who was the Iran envoy who's now had his clearance suspended and he's taken a leave of absence and is teaching at Yale.

These are folks who don't understand evil. And when you don't grasp that, you end up with 13 Americans killed in Afghanistan, an invasion of Europe, the October 7th massacre, and a China that believes that it can now put pressure on Taiwan in ways that will cause them to politically capitulate. It's really dangerous for every American, Jordan. If we get this wrong, our children and grandchildren will live in a very different America. There's also that idea, too, that it's not so much that, like, China is just with these foreign actors like Iran, Secretary Pompeo, and Russia, or even with Taiwan, and so none of these, like, threats that are far away. I mean, they are here in the United States, embedded both in our business culture and also in our university culture. And, I mean, I would imagine in the hearing today, that's got to be one of the toughest areas to push back on is the non-, it's kind of like the soft approach they have instead of just the military or harder approach into kind of infiltrating society at all these different levels. Jordan, I described it today, and I was very surprised how much members of Congress on both sides of the aisle understood that China has been at war with the American worker for 40 years, and we just let them get away with it, and we have to fix that, and they were intensely focused on that. The second piece is the one I think you're describing, which is what I call China inside the gates all around us, running Confucius Institutes in our schools, going, talking to mayors and governors, trying to convince them that they should be able to put up a battery plant in Michigan where they'll put 50 Chinese nationals, not all of whom will be business people, you can be sure, and then the information campaign they wage.

Not many people think of TikTok immediately, but it's broader and deeper than that, but they are shaping the minds of the next generation of Americans, and there is no chance the Chinese would allow American companies to do that to Chinese kids. This is the fight for reserving our republic, and we have to be serious and resolved about it, and I was actually happy to see there was bipartisan support for nearly every bit of that. A final question for you, Secretary Pompeo, as part of our team, too. We now know the names of those service members who were killed, and a couple of them very young, all three out of Georgia, some just in their early 20s, one who was 46 years old, and he lost matters, but one of their families I saw on TV today, that every one of that family had served in the reserves, and this was a brother already talking about his sister, and he was able to say, well, you know, we were honored enough and lucky enough to come home, a lot of those that we serve with do not, and he was able to kind of toughen himself up for the interview through that, but there's even reports that President Biden and the administration doesn't want to be seen at this funeral for these troops, because they don't want to bring too much attention. Again, it kind of reminds me of Afghanistan, the 13 killed there, that they kind of want us to ignore the withdrawal, and they don't want us to kind of pay attention to what have been their failures.

Like, after 160 drones get shot at you, maybe one of those drones is going to hit, you know, and it's going to hit and it's going to kill some Americans. Well, I hadn't heard that about the Biden administration. I wanted to be connected to honoring these young men and women when they come home, not just these two, but the two Navy SEALs that were killed, and then, of course, all those who are sitting in our military hospitals who have been injured as well. President Trump, myself, the Secretary of Defense, we all went to Dover, we all mourned with those families, we honored their service to America. I pray this administration will do the same, they'll get it right, the cooler heads will prevail, and politics won't dominate what is a duty of an American leader.

Second, it was, in fact, inevitable, Jordan. When you're on your back foot, when you're constantly defensive, when your model is, well, we're just going to catch all the missiles, there's going to be a day when you don't catch the missile. You have to go impose real costs. We know how to do it. America can dominate Iranians' military. We need to demonstrate to them that resolve, and when we do, we can quiet things down. It won't be forever. Until the regime changes, we will continue to confront this, but you can make things quieter. We did it when we took our strike on Soleimani. The administration is going to have to do something that's serious as well. Secretary Pompeo knows for real that you don't have to go to full-scale war to quiet down a pretty major enemy.

I mean, you take out one of their top leaders, terror leaders, and they quiet down. Not forever, like you said, but significantly. We thank you for serving as part of our team at the ACLJ, Secretary Pompeo, and for our supporters who make sure that can happen at ACLJ.org, who entered ACLJ Champions at ACLJ.org slash champions, who have that recurring donation each month. We appreciate you. We'll talk to you tomorrow.