Sekulow

Logan Sekulow: On today's show, the White House just issued a criminal warning to Democrats. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is SEKULOW. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to SEKULOW once again. We are live and taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, it is Veterans Day, so of course our thoughts and prayers are always with military and the military families. So of course we will be talking about that as well. President Trump right now as we speak is speaking at Arlington right now, you know, talking about the US servicemen and women and, you know, their families, and it's really an amazing time and a celebration of veterans, you know, and we can't lose, you know, that part of what America is. We got to make sure that we always are, you know, focused on what's important. And of course, the military and military families are always very close to the top of all of our minds, really all the time, but of course, today on Veterans Day. But of course, that doesn't stop the news from moving. That doesn't stop our work from continuing on. And this is another interesting moment. You may have remembered as the election results were coming in, there was a statement made by ranking member Robert Garcia, essentially saying, lawyer up.
Will (Guest Male): Right, right.
Logan Sekulow: I mean, that was that. It was simple as that on X, just said, lawyer up, Congressman Robert Garcia. I mean, really opposing a threat to conservatives, to Republicans, and now we've actually seen some pushback here as things have started to heat up and what that could look like, and kind of a stark warning to Democrats to don't play your cards like this to where it's going to be all or nothing. We are going to work together. We're going to try to. President Trump even said that in a lot of his statements, saying, you know what, now that I don't control, it's time we actually start working together. We're going to negotiate things out, but that is not what the other side has seemingly decided to go with. And at the same time, now we have a statement coming out from the White House saying, you know what, be careful what you wish for.
Will (Guest Male): Right, this is from the Office of White House Counsel, and it's fascinating letter that was sent to ranking member Robert Garcia, who will be the expected chair of the House Oversight Committee. So he will be the one leading the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress right in the new year. And what the White House Counsel's Office is saying is basically putting them on notice, saying, I write to remind you of the foundational limits that the Constitution imposes on congressional investigations and subpoenas, which you and members of the new Congress have evinced a clear intent to transgress. we'll go into this in the next segment, but we also have all these statements from all these members of Congress that are basically saying things like they're going to hand out subpoenas like candy, there's going to use enough paper to level a forest. all of these things go to show that their intent isn't oversight. Their intent is, as some say, to make individuals squirm, or maybe even to convince people to not serve their country, Right. As Alyssa Slotkin said, we're going to get into all that and what this means with the White House Counsel's Office basically saying, we're not going to be afraid of you, and you better not cross a line here.
Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I mean, the letter says threats to executive branch officials designed to deter from the public service or process, designed merely to abuse or instill fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality. We'll discuss that and more coming up. What do you think about this? And again, also, if you have any thoughts or messages here on Veterans Day, I encourage you to call in today. We'll be talking about that as well, 1-800-684-3110. But speaking of standing strong, the ACLJ continues on in our fight. It doesn't change depending on who is in charge in terms of Washington, DC. That doesn't change the mission here, but it only doesn't change because you continue to support. So we're fighting back, whether that's in court, in Washington, DC, or here in the media. And right now, during this month, during our Stand Strong Challenge, all gifts are doubled. So again, during the Stand Strong Challenge, every gift, when you make a donation, say it's 20 bucks, it becomes worth 40 bucks, and so on and so on. Donate today at aclj.org/stand or scan the QR code that you see on the screen right now. That's at aclj.org/stand. When we get back, we're going to continue and start really taking your calls and comments if they come in at 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110. It's going to be a packed show, is what I was going to say. Be a packed show, but I want you to be a part of it today. Once again, 1-800-684-3110. Give us a call during the break here, we'll get some calls coming up shortly.
Announcer: Across our nation, the principles that have shaped America for generations are being attacked. The lives of innocent unborn babies are still in jeopardy in numerous states across the country. Our education system is being hijacked as the left tries to strip parents of their God-given rights to decide where and what their children are taught. And religious liberty, it's under attack, especially for Christians. It's moments like these when the temptation to give up grows stronger. But that's exactly when you have to decide, will I stand firm or will I just watch the waves tear away at our foundations? We need people who understand that religious liberty isn't just a political talking point. It's our God-given right. The stakes are higher than ever, but we are not helpless and we will not back down. Go to aclj.org/stand right now and have your tax deductible gift doubled to stand with the ACLJ today.
Jay Sekulow: We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe versus Wade, and standing up for the religious liberty of our kids and seniors. But even with the many historic wins we've achieved, the battle is far from over. The attacks on our constitutionally protected rights persist. Countless unborn babies remain in jeopardy, and across the globe, innocent Christians are being targeted and killed across this country and around the world. This fight isn't just the ACLJ's, it's all of ours. It belongs to every American who wants to preserve the values and beliefs on which this nation was founded. None of the victories we've won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It's been an honor to fight for you all these years. Join us in fighting for freedom. Have your donation doubled at aclj.org/freedom.
Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to SEKULOW. We are going to take your calls and comments again, Veterans Day, but it's 1-800-684-3110. We kind of want to really dive into this a little bit more. We have a lot of great clips to play that really set up what happened and what is leading to this, where you have the Republicans now, you have the White House pushing back, saying, you got to be careful, Democrats, what you wish for when you start sort of throwing out these threats to essentially everyone for causes that really are not legal issues. And if so, then you will be held liable criminally yourself. And we do have some setup for this, Will. I know you wanted to play.
Will (Guest Male): Yeah, I think we should start with this, because this was before the election. This was Senator Slotkin from Michigan at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, talking on a panel about what they want to do when they win Congress back. This is bite one, and then I'm going to kind of respond with what is in this letter from the White House Council to the Oversight Committee chair, or incoming Oversight Committee chair. Let's go ahead and roll Alyssa Slotkin, though.
Alyssa Slotkin: I am into effectiveness, and if we have the House but not the Senate, you know, I don't have a ton of faith that my Republican colleagues are going to have any more strength. So that's what I'm saying. I want to look at these signature cases. and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I go work for the Trump administration? Like, that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity. I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want, and so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message sent.
Will (Guest Male): So the senator there is saying what her intent is, and that is a deterrence message, not just from individuals. She says she wants to have a couple of key signature cases that's not just the president, but people who enabled him. And then she says she wants to deter people from working, giving their work and their career over as service to the American people. That's what one of her goals is. And when you also start to see the lawyer up tweet from ranking member Garcia in the, while the election results are coming in, then you see this letter from White House counsel. And there's a couple key portions here I want to, for everyone to understand, because this is going to be the fight that is coming ahead. This references, this is from the White House counsel, William Scharf, and he says, the Supreme Court has held that investigations conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to punish those investigated are indefensible. That's Watkins v. United States. Congressional investigations must further a legitimate legislative task. Congress cannot employ them to exercise powers of criminal prosecution assigned to the executive and the judiciary. That comes from Trump v. Mazars. You may have heard that often because of the involvement of chief counsel of the ACLJ, Jay Sekulow, in many of those cases back in 2020. Then it goes on to say that failure to identify a legitimate legislative purpose in so to do so in this context represents a clear abuse of power and an affront to our constitutional system of government and the rule of law. It, as you mentioned earlier, Logan, it talks about using the legislative process to intimidate and interfere with the lawful functioning of government. That's what Cong- Senator Slotkin was referencing. But here's where it gets really, kind of drawing the line in the sand from the White House Counsel's Office.
Logan Sekulow: Yeah, and I think people need to know real quick before you said, this is a letter or a statement. Where was this? This was presented out to the public.
Will (Guest Male): This was, well, no, this was sent directly. We are just now getting this.
Guest (Male): To Congressman Garcia.
Logan Sekulow: It was sent to Congress.
Will (Guest Male): Sent to Congressman Garcia saying, hey, you better watch out about what could be the plans, these grand plans of the Democrats as they say they're going to hand out subpoenas like candy. They want people to be squirming when they're on the stand. Those all are signaling they just want to punish people for being conservatives or working for President Trump. But here's the key, because this is where it goes beyond words and where it goes back to the executive power of the administration. Compulsory process is a power Congress has for oversight functions, and only for oversight functions. Abusive threats and public statements about the indiscriminate issuance of subpoenas, along with the threats directed at prospective targets within the administration, make it abundantly clear that any forthcoming investigative process will be deployed to harass and aggrandize rather than advance any legitimate legislative end. Beyond being inconsistent with the clear, well-recognized constitutional limits on your investigative functions, threats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service, that goes back to what Senator Slotkin was saying, or process designed merely to abuse or instill fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality. So the actual Justice Department and White House counsel, the actual executive function of criminal investigation, not oversight, is what could be at stake here. And then you have to hear from AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, because here's how they're even framing their oversight work.
Logan Sekulow: And again, this was just yesterday, so we're not talking about a flashback bite here, something that, you know, we could take out of context. We're talking about directly related to this.
Guest (Male): She said this, bite 8.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: There are so many criminals in this administration, it's hard to figure out who should be, you know, the order of operations. There are going to be many, many, many investigations. I imagine many subpoenas, and we have to follow wherever the evidence takes us.
Will (Guest Male): They are not the law enforcement arm of the government. That is the Department of Justice. That is the Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigates the crimes, and then the DOJ that prosecutes the crimes. All of these statements, and we have plenty, we'll get into more, but even lawyer up from Garcia and Slotkin saying signature cases. In these next 2 years, those cases are, are, are they going to go to the Attorney General Blanche and say, here's a criminal referral, go after the administration when they've been so blatantly political about these prosecutions? Here's where they're going to get themselves in trouble, Logan. They're going to start making their own base think, wait, where's the accountability? You promised prosecutions.
Logan Sekulow: Well, look, and I think we can look into that too. You even had Pete Hegseth's, you know, process of being impeached already thrown out. We're going to talk about that coming up. Essentially, that is was dead in the water, you know, immediately, where they thought they may actually have some leverage, but no, that is not the case. We'll get into that coming up. If you see this though, of course, that was Thomas Massie, a quote unquote Republican doing it. We all know how he has been citing the last little bit of time here. And again, there'll be some disappointment there, I'm sure, from a lot of Democrats. Can you continue to do that? But this letter, this statement to Robert Garcia essentially is a, you know what, two can play at this game. If you're going to start threatening us, don't expect us to play nice. And we can hear that we can push back on this. There was even more, well, I think with CNN, with Steven Lynch.
Will (Guest Male): Yeah, this is once again, the they feel so empowered at this point, but this is Congressman Steven Lynch from Massachusetts on with Kate Baldwin on CNN, and this is in response to that letter, Bite 14.
Guest (Male): If what I'm reading, if this is a, if this letter, if this new, if this position from the White House is now meaning that the administration may go after you, you all Democrats who are conducting investigations in the new Congress, what do you do about that? Well, come at me, bro. You know, I just think we are so well situated to do our jobs. What they're saying is don't do your jobs, don't do oversight, don't check on the administration of the government. Obviously, we pass laws, and the president habitually violates those laws. So we believe we have the right, and we have been empowered expressly in the Constitution to make sure that the president obeys the law. This is pretty basic.
Logan Sekulow: Pretty basic there, Will.
Will (Guest Male): I don't think he understands fully what oversight means. Typically, it's legislative oversight to see if they need to pass a new law.
Logan Sekulow: I do love that accent. It's like we were listening to Ted the Bear, like, as a senator.
Will (Guest Male): Come at me, bro.
Logan Sekulow: Come at me, bro. I mean, I do love it. I'll be honest, like...
Will (Guest Male): They come across so out of touch and nerdy when they try to be cool. That's the best, isn't it? Come at me, bro.
Logan Sekulow: I don't know. I'm not dealing with you from Massachusetts, Will. You're going to end up
Will (Guest Male): That's fair.
Logan Sekulow: bloodied on the street. I'm going to be careful.
Will (Guest Male): Well, I don't think he can find his way down to Tennessee.
Logan Sekulow: Yeah, you know what I'm saying. All right.
Will (Guest Male): There's a good buffer.
Logan Sekulow: And look, there's also now a response to the response to the response. This is happening. This comes again from Robert Garcia. He said, it appears Donald Trump has something to hide. Let's be clear, Congress authority comes from Article 1 of the Constitution, not from the permission of the White House. Congress has a wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight, an authority inherent to the power, in the power to legislate.
Will (Guest Male): Well, and so once again, he's saying he has something to hide. this is going to be
Logan Sekulow: It goes on and on.
Will (Guest Male): This is going to be a push back and forth. I do think, do I think that they are going to criminally charge any of the members of Congress for abuse of power for these hearings? No, they may try, but I do like that they're putting them on notice because the entirety of, and we have more statements, we'll play them in the next segment as well because I know a lot of you tuned in for this.
Logan Sekulow: All of this is happening at the same time today is Veterans Day. President Trump has been speaking for at least the last 20 minutes or so, live right now at Arlington National Cemetery, of course, speaking to all the different families, all of the military, that is there right now. This is a day we should be spending time thinking about that, but instead we're thinking about essentially the push and pull of the government deciding to let's cause a little havoc, let's unravel each other just for the heck of it, because again, like you said, Will, this is the political win they want, but it may not be the political win they end up getting.
Will (Guest Male): Well, and once again, if they continue down this path of trying to make people think that they are the Justice Department, that they themselves are going to prosecute members of the administration, especially during this 2-year time period, then they are fooling and lying to their constituents that just put them in power.
Jay Sekulow: Come at me, bro.
Will (Guest Male): And it's not going to turn out well for them.
Jay Sekulow: Phone lines are open for you, 1-800-684-3110. I issue a challenge. Come at me, bro. Give me a call. 1-800-684-30. I want to hear your voice today on the air. I'll be right back. We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe versus Wade, and standing up for the religious liberty of our kids and seniors. But even with the many historic wins we've achieved, the battle is far from over. The attacks on our constitutionally protected rights persist. Countless unborn babies remain in jeopardy, and across the globe, innocent Christians are being targeted and killed across this country and around the world. This fight isn't just the ACLJ's, it's all of ours. It belongs to every American who wants to preserve the values and beliefs on which this nation was founded. None of the victories we've won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It's been an honor to fight for you all these years. Join us in fighting for freedom. Have your donation doubled at aclj.org/freedom. Across our nation, the principles that have shaped America for generations are being attacked. The lives of innocent unborn babies are still in jeopardy in numerous states across the country. Our education system is being hijacked as the left tries to strip parents of their God-given rights to decide where and what their children are taught. And religious liberty, it's under attack, especially for Christians. It's moments like these when the temptation to give up grows stronger. But that's exactly when you have to decide, will I stand firm or will I just watch the waves tear away at our foundations? We need people who understand that religious liberty isn't just a political talking point. It's our God-given right. The stakes are higher than ever, but we are not helpless and we will not back down.
Announcer: Go to aclj.org/stand right now and have your tax deductible gift doubled to stand with the ACLJ today.
Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to SEKULOW. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. A lot of you are just joining in now, so we need to probably restate this. We see a lot of people commenting, saying, what's happening here? What is this? That's right. We, when you read the headline, the White House issues a criminal warning to Democrats, it's actually a response to the kind of, you know, flagrant messages that have been posted online or been said in the press, essentially saying, we're subpoenaing everyone, we're coming after you regardless, really, if you had anything to do with any of this, don't worry, the next 2 years are not going to be fun for you. And the White House responded, essentially saying, you know, be careful, be careful what you wish for, what you could be threatening, which is essentially bullying people to not want to do this or do their jobs properly, could be criminal as well. And then, of course, there was a response then to that response saying, well, then it looks like President Trump's got something to hide. And we went back and forth and back and forth, and that's sadly going to be a little bit of how at least the initial months of this new government is going to be, because again, they're trying to score some points. Now, what's going to happen when they cannot succeed with these points? What happens when you try to impeach a Pete Hegseth and that gets shut down within 24 hours? What happens when you make these kind of big proclamations and then you can't proceed with any of them? We'll see how the American people respond. How will the voters who voted for something new, and look, they won. They won, they wanted something new, but that doesn't mean this process is going to be anything easy, and you now have at least a very active Trump administration responding after President Trump's original statements just essentially saying, yeah, we're going to work together, we're going to, I'm good at working across the aisle. Of course, you know, people will say that's ridiculous, President Trump's never been able to do that, but we all know actually, especially in the first term, that that was not the case.
Will (Guest Male): Well, and once again, here's what's wild about all this. You have the Oversight Committee promising criminal prosecutions effectively, which they don't have the ability to do. You also have, like you mentioned, President Trump saying, maybe I could work with them on immigration. If they didn't think, hey, I just, we just have to, you know, push back on everything this administration does, maybe they could get something done. Maybe this could be their window. But instead, here's what they're going after. This is the memorandum to the leader sent to the incoming, which they expect to be Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries. They say to Leader Jeffries, this is from the Cost of Living Healthcare Working Group. So once again, they said they ran on cost of living and et cetera. This is what they sent to him about what their first 100 days priorities should be. The first one is to repeal Trump and Republicans' healthcare cuts, and remember those were actually COVID enhancements to things that were not supposed to be permanent, and then they flipped it on him and said, look, he's cutting healthcare. But then the second thing is reestablish a federal right to abortion care. That's their 100 hour priority, the first 100 hours of being the 120th Congress, they want to go back to COVID era Medicare and Medicaid and ACA premium credits, and then they want to re-establish a federal right to abortion care. Tell me how that actually is going to affect the cost of living for Americans that they said they ran on. No, it's just going back to their agenda. It goes back to pushing back on this lawless Supreme Court that overturned Roe versus Wade, and then you're going to have that being their legislative agenda, just abortion again, and then you're going to have the Oversight Committee saying we're going to prosecute this administration, and Senator Slotkin saying we're going to have signature cases. Where? Where are you going to have this? They're just lying to their constituents that just put them there. No, that's the problem I think that most people on the right and the left get very infuriated by their, who they elect, is that they're still so tone deaf. Is it no, maybe Americans, if you said you ran on cost of living and affordability, which is what they said they ran on, maybe they want you to try and do something with that.
Logan Sekulow: Yeah, try something different. I did want to pose a question to you if you're listening right now, because we'll have a second half hour of this show, by the way, after this segment. Some of you don't get it on your local radio stations, but if you're watching online, just stick around here, we're here, or go to aclj.org. You can find us on YouTube and Rumble. We're broadcasting live there, as always, the full hour of the show. But I want to pose a question to you as well. We saw yesterday Jim Jordan be selected now to represent the House minority. What do you think about that as Jim Jordan as essentially the future leader of the Republican Party within the House. This, of course, comes at a time where you have the current Speaker of the House deciding he no longer would like, he didn't even run, decided he was done. So again, Mike Johnson is, has decided he's done. Now, I think Mike's been great. I think he's been a good friend of ours, good friend of this show. I'll be sad to see him go, but what do you feel about Jim Jordan now taking the spot?
Will (Guest Male): Well, and I also think to that point, that shows real leadership on Mike Johnson's part because he became Speaker of the House. It was not, he wasn't even the headlining name, but became the Speaker of the House at a time where there was a lot of tumult in the Republican Party.
Logan Sekulow: No one thought he'd last this long.
Will (Guest Male): But has done an effective job of corralling the caucus when he had a very small majority, a very, very razor thin margin to be able to move forward the agenda of the president and the executive branch as well as the congressional agenda. But then you have this as well where he now sees this time of, you know what, we lost the House, it is time for me to pass leadership. He's not doing the traditional cling to power for a leader within the House of Representatives.
Logan Sekulow: Phone lines are open for you. I'd love your thoughts about that. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1 8 0 0 6 8 4 3 1 1 0. Again, should we also set up the Pete Hegseth situation? Because Pete Hegseth, of course, they filed articles of impeachment. They did not go very far. Aaron Burnett discussed this on CNN with Representative Benny Thompson.
Will (Guest Male): That's right. So what we saw was that it failed. The, that vote, the motion to table
Logan Sekulow: Quickly.
Will (Guest Male): passed, so the, none of the Republicans that Thomas Massie thought would defect and move forward this impeachment, none of that worked out for him. And, but don't worry, the Democrats have a plan by 12.
Alyssa Slotkin: Do you feel your own party cost you the chance to move forward with Hegseth's impeachment, given that that impeachment was led by a Republican?
Guest (Male): Well, I think it's a problem. Obviously, it came up if we'd had our members that the outcome could have very well been different, but there'll be other opportunities. I think the record is clear in terms of the Department of Defense and the mismanagement and the fact that we're at a war that Congress had nothing to do with approving. So clearly there are some things that we will address in the near future.
Announcer: So once again, he's trying to say, don't worry, we'll have another shot at it when we have all of our new members of Congress in place. So they're not even giving up on that.
Logan Sekulow: Please don't connect us to Thomas Massie. We'd appreciate, we wanted it to fail. We didn't want him to be leading this. And look, he's only got a few months left. Impeachment takes some time. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. As we go to break, some of you, I know, will inevitably have to check out here at the half hour mark. I do want to encourage you, if you've ever thought about supporting the work of the ACLJ, now is the time to do it. It's aclj.org/stand or scan the QR code you see on the screen right now. Look, this show exists, and our legal work exists without ever sending you a bill if you're one of our lawyers. If you want to listen, watch this show, you want to share the clips with your friends, you want to read all the great content we put on the website, none of it's in a paywall. And that is only because, of course, we have to financially support our team. They got families to feed. We go to aclj.org, you make a donation today, and all donations right now, because we have a great group of core donors, are ready to match it. So we only can offer that for a few months a year. This is one of those months, and the last two months of the year are always the biggest months for us in terms of setting the budgets. We got to set up what next year's going to look like. Where do you want us to see us go in 2027? We need your support today, so I encourage you go to ACLJ.org during our Stand Strong Challenge, where every gift, tax deductible gift, will be doubled, dollar for dollar. I need you to do it today at ACLJ.org, and if you can, become an ACLJ champion, someone that gives on a monthly basis. Just opt into that. We'll be back, second half hour coming up, less than a minute break.
Announcer: Across our nation, the principles that have shaped America for generations are being attacked. The lives of innocent unborn babies are still in jeopardy in numerous states across the country. It's moments like these when the temptation to give up grows stronger, but that's exactly when you have to decide, will I stand firm, or will I just watch the waves tear away at our foundations? Go to aclj.org/stand right now and have your tax deductible gift double today.