Sekulow

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. That is right, July 29th. Welcome to the show. A lot of you are probably paying attention to what is going on at Capitol Hill as Dr. Anthony Fauci refuses to answer any questions related to this current COVID-19 investigation. Of course, this is not necessarily all that shocking. This comes out of a moment where he was pushed and pushed. Remember, he already has a pardon. So, really, let’s just be honest, not a whole lot can be done in terms of any sort of criminal intent. If you start calling in asking about that, know that the answer is pretty clear. He was pardoned by the President of the United States. It doesn't mean he couldn't answer questions or talk about some of the issues that came up or maybe what we now know six years into the future. I think it is okay to want to ask questions and to learn more about whether the origin stories were wrong or if we have more understanding of the science behind it. This obviously comes after his diary entries. We need to understand that these were digital entries that were made that were part of federal files. This wasn't like someone stole his journal and went and scanned in these documents to find it. He was keeping a log, sometimes in a way that felt comedic looking back on it or childish, talking about his own celebrity. He was talking about his celebrity and how people loved him. He said they were honking their horns at him and that he was the most famous person in the world. At the same time, we were dealing with a global pandemic that killed millions of people, including a lot of our friends and family. We were dealing with this same situation. So when he is asked, how does he answer? Over and over the same way. By over and over, I mean well over 100 times. 111 times as we speak right now, 111 times when asked about any question related to COVID-19, he had one simple answer.
Will: That is right. Let's play this. This is from the very beginning. This is actually where Senator Paul, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, had placed in front of him for the record a copy of US code that deals with contempt of Congress. This is kind of how it started after Dr. Fauci gave a lengthy opening statement before invoking his right not to testify. This is Senator Paul talking with Dr. Fauci just a few hours ago.
Senator Rand Paul: In the red folder on your table is a copy of section 192 of Title 2 of the US Code. Your counsel has been provided a copy as well. That section makes it a crime for a witness appearing under subpoena to refuse to answer any questions pertinent to the question under inquiry. Do you have that in front of you?
Dr. Anthony Fauci: On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
Senator Rand Paul: Let the record record that the witness has refused to answer whether there is a folder in front of him based on his Fifth Amendment right.
Logan Sekulow: That is just how it begins and goes on and on, pleading the Fifth over 100 times. At the same time, the consequences of this are potentially minimal from a personal standpoint, unless he was to get himself into something severely bigger.
Will: That is what we will talk about in the next segment. We will talk about contempt of Congress as Senator Paul has already scheduled a vote for the committee on August 5th to take up that question of whether he should be held in contempt of Congress. We will also talk about the thing that I see in the chat most often, which is that his pardon doesn't count because it was signed by an autopen. We have talked about it before, and you probably won't like what the answer probably is. The phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Be kind and be respectful to our phone screeners and you will make it on the air today. We are wrapping up our Liberty Drive. Be a part of it today and have your donation doubled to the ACLJ. That is at ACLJ.org. Keep this show going, keep our media operation going, and keep the legal side operating as well. All of this is because people like you support the work of the ACLJ. We will dive a little deeper into that as well when we get back.
Jay Sekulow: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those are the words of our forefathers written in the Declaration of Independence. They are the cornerstone on which our constitutional republic was built. Over the past 250 years, we have formed a great nation, a nation the world has looked to for guidance, for support, and for protection. This month we celebrate our liberty, but that liberty is fragile and requires every American to defend it.
Logan Sekulow: That is why this month we have launched the ACLJ Liberty Drive. In honor of America's birthday, we are redoubling our commitment to continue fighting against any attacks that would strip us of that freedom. We owe it to our forefathers. You can join the fight right now through our ACLJ Liberty Drive. Go to ACLJ.org/liberty today and have your tax-deductible gift doubled dollar for dollar to enable the ACLJ to fight to defend our God-given liberty.
Jay Sekulow: We have 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 have 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 is 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 have won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It has 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 do have some lines open at 1-800-684-3110. If you are watching online, you can call in too. Dr. Fauci is on Capitol Hill. Will, why don't we give them an idea of why he is there in the first place six years later?
Will: This comes as Senator Paul, who has been investigating the origins as well as the way that it was handled in the United States for as long as there was the entire pandemic, was trying to get to the bottom of this. He is a medical doctor, but he is also the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in the Senate. This comes as he was able to get from the Department of Health and Human Services these diary entries from Dr. Fauci. Secretary Kennedy actually put out that they are not private diaries as the press has been calling them. He cleared it up and said they were not personal journals. They were government records created on a government computer by a federal employee during one of the most consequential public health emergencies in history. Under federal law, these documents belong to the American people.
Logan Sekulow: If anything, they are fascinating reads from the morbid, dark humor that comes out of it, but also just to have this as public record. This is history at this point.
Will: As it is written in diary form, it does give a linear look at this. Here are some of the biggest problems that we are finding from it and why this hearing was necessary to bring Dr. Fauci before the committee. You would think as publicly as he was willing to speak and go everywhere, even being on the cover of InStyle magazine because of his fame during the pandemic and even declaring, "I am science" at one point, that he would be fine with answering some of these questions. He could be precise in his answers. Some of these wouldn't even be a perjury trap because he was on a podcast where he was saying something different than what was in his diary. Why this is important for the Senate to look into is that it is trying to get to the bottom of why he was saying things in his personal notes like the fatality rate was much lower than he was publicly saying. He was directly contradicting on similar days. Even the issue of the origin, such as did it start in the wet market, he was going out publicly and saying that it probably did start there, while writing at the same time that it wasn't. Let’s actually play one of those for people. This is from his notes where he says, "We now know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier." In this bite we are going to play, he says the direct opposite the next day.
Dr. Anthony Fauci: And now in the novel coronavirus, we don't know exactly what that animal was, but some animal, probably in a wet market where they bring in a variety of different types of wild game and people sacrifice them, particularly around holidays like the Lunar New Year. It is totally not surprising that you are seeing the facilitation of this jump from the animal species to the human.
Will: On that Zoom call with all the health banners behind him giving this official statement, he is talking about it jumping from an animal to a human in the wet market. That was on January 27th of 2020. On January 26th, his diary entry read like this: "Game on. Things are changing rapidly." Again, given the context, there is this dark humor of the fact that he was almost giddy that the game was on. Then it goes down here and says, "Now appears using the EPI data and genomic data that the first infection was in early December and not connected to the market. The infection spread among people weeks before the Chinese reported they were dealing with a new infection. That gave the virus time to establish itself in multi-generational sustained spread. Remember, early on the Chinese were saying there is no human-to-human transmission and all 27 cases were from the market. Now we know the market was not the source; it was the amplifier." That day, the 26th, in his notes, he is very clear it didn't come from the market. Publicly, he was saying the opposite. Now, that isn't even a perjury situation if he is saying that publicly in a Zoom call. Doesn't the Senate, especially the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, have the right to get to the bottom of why you are publicly saying one thing and misleading the American people when you are privately writing the exact opposite? That's the problem here. It is important that we trust these institutions and people that would be in a pandemic situation. We need to trust someone that is in a position of telling the American people what is what. As we keep going through this diary and what he said publicly, they were many times at odds. He also includes ridiculous things where he is pointing out how famous he is, that people are waving, and that they are naming donuts after him. He was buying his own bootleg merch at the same time he goes before the Senate and says he has to take the Fifth Amendment. There is the Josh Hawley statement of saying if you have no real concern of prosecution or legal consequences because of this pardon, then you don't have to worry about that. You can't invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege. There could be arguments that maybe he is concerned about state prosecution. Personally, I would want more absolute authority of the text of the Constitution than the precedent on whether or not you can waive your right to the Fifth Amendment protection. But it is still telling. Also, in a civil suit, if you are sued civilly and you take the Fifth Amendment, a jury can infer some guilt there. You can't in a criminal trial.
Logan Sekulow: At a minimum, it shows he is concerned about the way he would answer these questions, or his lawyer is concerned. I am sure they have meetings beforehand going over how to answer. At some point they said, "You know what? Just plead the Fifth 111 times." By the end of it, he will just walk out of this and be done with it. You show up and did what you were supposed to do. It is probably sound legal advice if you are his lawyer. I am not saying it is moral or the right thing to do. If you are just talking about having a client who clearly could perjure himself or do something that could cause damage to that very broad pardon that he has, why risk it? Remember, a lot of this started under Trump, but the Biden administration is who pardoned him. When you have that significant of a pardon, why risk it? You may say it's better for the American people. Again, I'm not judging this based on what's right and wrong at this point. If you are a lawyer trying to give him advice, I understand that, especially if you are an older person who could get easily tripped up. It is the reason why he wouldn't answer simple questions like, "Is there a folder in front of you?" The reason you are saying no is you don't want to open up anything for questioning. Clearly, that was the route they decided to go. Does it make you look bad? Sure. Does it make you look guilty? Of course it does. But does it also end up with you messing something up and going to jail? Also no. You take a day of a little egg on the face and you move forward.
Will: Once again, I think there is some sort of catharsis for the American people and the constituents of these senators asking these questions. But this isn't just one of those made-for-TV types of hearings. Obviously, it is, and people were tuned in. I think that the real questions they were asking that he would take the Fifth to are necessary. Look at this from his diary on February 1st, 2020. They are talking about the origins once again. If they had been forthcoming about the origins, I think a lot of the issues people had would have been able to be navigated in a more constructive way. Now we definitely know he was lying publicly versus what he was saying in his diary. He is talking on February 1st and says the rest felt like deliberate insertion was possible given the fact that Dr. Shi Zhengli at the University of Wuhan has been working for years on gain of function in coronaviruses to allow adaptation of the spike protein to bind to human ACE2 receptor. He is saying the doctor at the University of Wuhan was working on the very science that allowed the coronavirus to adapt to humans. Only one out of a list of doctors disagreed with the fact that it could have been done on purpose.
Logan Sekulow: We will keep you updated on this topic. We are also going to move forward a little bit. There is a lot going on in the world, including what is happening in Iran and some big updates from the world of the ACLJ. If you have been following a lot of our cases, we have a big update coming up in the next segment. Of course, we are in the Liberty Drive. I am going to tell you why you have to give today.
Jay Sekulow: We have 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 have 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 is 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 have won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It has 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. Look, the work of the ACLJ continues on each and every day. Whether we are talking about what's happening in the news on Capitol Hill, whatever it may be, I always want to make sure we center ourselves back on the incredible work our team is doing here, whether on the media side or on the legal side. We only have a couple days left in our Liberty Drive where we're asking for a donation and those donations are doubled today. I can just read through a couple quick ones before we get an update on some of the information that Will has on another case that you will be familiar with. This is just currently a few things we're doing. Over the last year, we've engaged in 237 pro-life cases, 128 international cases, 317 school matters, 207 government cases, and 149 religious liberty cases. That's a lot more because even this week we are defending these Colorado pastors who are being cited and shut down for having worship services at a public park. We're defending pro-life centers from a state-led and taxpayer-funded slander campaign in Massachusetts. We have been working on that for years. In federal court, the ACLJ has been defending parental rights and the right to direct the education of their children. We're talking about taking Iran's seizure of St. Peter's Evangelical Church, the oldest operating Protestant church in the country, straight to the UN Human Rights Council with one of our official team members. We're also pressing that with Congress and with Secretary of State Rubio to act. This is just a very, very small overview of the work that we're doing here. Those are just sort of some interesting talking points. Then you go more nuanced and into the individual people. Today we have an update on another case. This one, Will, is one we've talked about before. This is a Christian girl who seems to continually get herself into some hot water with the school because she is very loud and proud about her faith.
Will: Once again, she's in hot water only because she's exercising her constitutional rights and she has a strong faith. That's the only reason that this girl is ever in trouble with the school. She's not a troublemaker. She's not doing things to violate rules. She's just living out her faith. We've talked about this girl. This is the third time that we've had to represent this girl. It was back in second grade when she originally was subjected to searches of her backpack for contraband. What was the contraband? It was her Bible or gospel tracts. She was told she could not talk to other students about her faith. She had other issues this school year surrounding a Bible club. Finally, at the end of the school year, there was an inclusion assembly that she was wanting to be opted out of. We sent a letter to the school saying here are the facts, here is what happened, and we need assurances that this will never happen again. They basically wrote back a letter saying none of this is true. We understand that you are targeting this poor girl over and over again. You're trying to violate her rights. We have now filed not only a federal lawsuit, not just on the inclusion assembly, but on this entire pattern of targeting. Last week, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction getting ready for this back-to-school time period, basically wanting the court to put a preliminary injunction in effect that will protect this student from any adverse action or retaliation from the school as they go back to school. This case makes clear that this is about much more than just her right to opt out of that assembly. It is about her First Amendment rights, the right to share her faith with willing classmates during non-instructional times. She can also be on the same playing field constitutionally as students who have secular views and share secular views without retribution from the school. She has a right to not be singled out because of her viewpoint. These are all of the things that are in this motion for this preliminary injunction. I'd encourage all of you, as we look ahead, we're just weeks away from getting back to school. Be praying for this family and this little girl. She's very brave. She has had to endure a lot in elementary school. So be praying for her and her family that you will see the fruit of her work and of her faith and that there will be protection for her.
Logan Sekulow: Support the ACLJ. By your support, you equip this girl. She has never had to have legal fees. Imagine you have this ongoing issue that lasts years and years. Instead of having to figure out your family lawyer, likely honestly, you would do nothing and you just deal with the fact that a school is being unjust with you. We've all dealt with school systems that we don't agree with. Sometimes they don't get up to the point of being a lawsuit. Some do. Instead, she's able to turn to the ACLJ team again and again and she's able to get top-tier attorneys who are ready to jump into action and help defend her. As Will said, it's a painful process. It's not fun. No one wants to go through this. You would hopefully not want to do this over and over and over again in your life. Unfortunately, that is the occasion for this poor girl. But we have been able to provide all of this for her again with no cost to her. That is only because people like you who listen and watch and engage in what we do here make it possible. Maybe you spend time on our website or our social media platforms. Maybe you have gone to ACLJ.org and you have asked for legal help yourself. At the end of the day, to be able to afford to do that, it's not like everyone here is a volunteer. I want to be able to hire the best of the best. I want this show to look the best it can possibly look. I want this broadcast to look as professional as possible. I want to have the best producers, the best writers, and the best legal team as well. We want to have offices in Washington, DC, in Nashville, Tennessee, and in Strasbourg, France for our European Center. We have one in Jerusalem and in places we can't talk about. None of it happens without you in these special months. I know people get a little frustrated in the comments because they say I spend too much time doing this. Understand that this is a multi-million dollar operation that does not happen without you. These are the special months where we have a group of donors who are ready to give and they are ready to unlock their pledge. This isn't one of those 400-times-your-match emails you get from politicians. It's not that. These people are just willing to double whatever comes in. Again, there's a limit to that. That limit is very high because we're able to go to a lot of members and say, "Hey, come together." I'll be letting you know if we reach that limit. I'm going to encourage you today to do it. We are wrapping up this month. It is July 29th. This Liberty Drive ends. We've been celebrating the 250th of America. This is it. We are just a couple days away from the end of this drive where donations are doubled. I want you to be a part of it today. That is at ACLJ.org. We'll move into other things that we'll talk about throughout the year. Of course, towards the end of the year, a lot opens up. We were already talking about Christmas. We're already talking about what happens in back-to-school mode. We're already looking towards quarter four because what happens come November? Christmas displays start going up. Again, we're talking about global gigantic issues that are literally life and death around the world for people of faith. Then we're talking about a girl who just wants to be passionate about her faith, live it publicly, and live it loudly. On the other side, we have people who just want to put up a nativity scene. They only want to do it, by the way, if other religions and other people's holidays are also well-represented. But that's too much for some communities. But the ACLJ team's going to be there. That's the end of our first half hour. We've got a second half hour coming up. I need you to be a part of the broadcast today. This second half hour is available on ACLJ.org, on YouTube, Rumble, and Facebook. We are live broadcasting. Of course, you can catch us later wherever you get your podcasts. Right now, 12:00 to 1:00 PM Eastern Time is when we broadcast live. Be a part of it each and every day.
Jay Sekulow: Over the past 250 years, we have formed a great nation, a nation the world has looked to for guidance, for support, and for protection. This month we celebrate our liberty, but that liberty is fragile and requires every American to defend it. That's why this month we've launched the ACLJ Liberty Drive. In honor of America's birthday, we're redoubling our commitment to continue fighting against any attacks that would strip us of that freedom. We owe it to our forefathers. You can join the fight right now through our ACLJ Liberty Drive. Go to ACLJ.org/liberty today and have your tax-deductible gift doubled dollar for dollar to enable the ACLJ to fight to defend our God-given liberty.