Sekulow

Logan Sekulow: On today's show, Mayor Mamdani doxes his own citizens in his Tax the Rich scheme. 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. Just to clarify if you heard the wrong tease, that was actually yesterday's tease, but we are live today and that is not what we're talking about. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We are actually discussing what's going on in New York City as the Pied-à-Terre tax. As you may remember, Mayor Mamdani went out and made a video presentation, an edited-together special video, standing in front of an apartment building saying, "Upstairs is this billionaire who owns this apartment, who does not live here." You may remember that and he said, "He doesn't live here full time. It's empty all the time. So we're going to slap a tax on him." He essentially doxed that person and said, "Here's where they live. Here's who they are. Here's why we don't believe they should be getting any sort of treatment with this second home or property that they have here in New York City." Now, of course, they're paying all their normal taxes in New York City as a property owner. Some would say that maybe they're the best because they pay for all of the infrastructure, but they don't use any of it if they're not there all that often. But that being said, he did that once, and then now the letters have started to arrive that this tax is going to go on for people who have not their primary residency in New York City. This is a lot of people, as you can imagine, in a city with mostly condos and apartments. There are a lot of people who own property in New York City who do not spend the majority of their time there. But not only that, they have created a list, a database where you log in and you can search. From what it seems like, if you're a New York resident, you can go on and search this database and essentially, as he doxed once doxed this person in his videos, now it's giving free rein to New Yorkers to do the same to any of these people who have secondary residences in New York.
Jordan Sekulow: And once again, this is a problem when the Mayor acts in an irresponsible way. What concerns us is what the people will then end up doing, taking his lead. We saw that with the way he fixated on Benjamin Netanyahu and then what happened. Someone on a very somber Jewish holiday was stabbed outside of a mosque in New York City. Now, you have this searchable list where it has all the property values within the city and you can narrow it down. It has names, addresses, and property values. But here's the problem. It's not just even these people like the CEO in his video. There are people like an 81-year-old lady who has lived on the Upper West Side in her townhome for 30 years. She's not even subject to this tax or shouldn't be. She lives there full-time. CBS News New York reports that she got the notice and she will be in that database. She has until August 21st to prove she's exempt or she has to pay $56,000.
Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I think we need to also say what the taxes are because these taxes are hefty. This individual who's lived in her home for 30 years got scooped up in this and is now going to be on a public-facing database, so who knows what kind of horrific things that that could lead to. Let's not forget the Luigi Mangione murder of the CEO of United Healthcare less than two years ago in the streets of Manhattan. It was a year and a half roughly ago that that happened. Not long ago that that happened where someone was targeted specifically because of not only their job but their job and their finances. So now you have that happening in a much broader sense. Look, again, I guess you can give it to Mamdani. Mamdani has gone with his campaign promises once again. If you voted for him thinking he was going to chill out, maybe actually these campaign promises weren't going to come to fruition, you got to give it to him for that. He's sticking to his promises. What do you think about this? 1-800-684-3110. We will play a clip from the Mayor of New York City when we get back. Again, I know you're saying maybe this doesn't represent me, why do I care? I think these are the kind of influences that will happen around the country if we are not careful as we see people like the Mayor becoming kingmakers for elections around the nation. Let's talk about that and more coming up. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Again, less than 48 hours left on our Liberty Drive. Be a part of it today and have your donation doubled. We'll be right back on Sekulow.
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. 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. We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe v. 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: Phone lines, like I said, are open at 1-800-684-3110. For those just joining us, we are talking about the Mayor of New York City and his new policies that essentially, not only by the way, is this an aggressive tax on anyone who has invested their money in New York City. People who have decided to have a second home there, to have real estate there, whatever it may be, a non-primary residence in New York City, which again is a lot of people. And there are a lot of us that probably would do that at some point because we love the city. As I always say, I'm a big proponent of New York City. I'm a huge fan. I've lived there, I've spent time there, and I spend time probably as much in New York City as I do anywhere other than maybe here in Nashville and in Orlando, Florida. Those are the two places I'm in most. Aside from the places I don't own any property, New York City is probably the place I'm at the most. I love it there. But we are seeing a "you are no longer welcome here" sign I feel like for a lot of different groups of people from the Mayor of New York City. That could be the Jewish residents and now it is anyone who would like to invest their money into New York City. It's happening even beyond that because we are seeing people targeted with this. My big concern is property assessors, property tax, you can always kind of find where people are. You could always look up different addresses and things. That's not abnormal. Now, you actually have it made easier to find specifically what the house is, who lives there, and you've seen now precedent set in place from the Mayor that seems totally okay with calling out people who own property in his own city who don't use it as their primary residency and then vilify them and make them into some sort of rich, evil, maniacal villain that of course, and as we've seen it in the streets of New York City, will inspire people who are not well.
Jordan Sekulow: Well, and once again, I think that this is how we should showcase this because not only remember that video that he put out where he was tapping on the camera lens and then he puts this out as a tweet this week when it went live, when they sent these letters out. It says, "If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5 million, check your mailbox when you're back in the five boroughs because you've got mail." And as you said, he's vilifying people, saying, "Today we sent notifications to property owners letting them know that our new Pied-à-Terre tax is coming soon. The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, schools in the world," etc. Here's the point on worth more than $5 million. A lot of these people did not spend $5 million on their property, such as this one individual that CBS New York reported. She's 81 years old and has lived in this same townhome full-time for 30 years. You think about property values in your own area, think about how much it's grown through New York, already an expensive place over the course of 30 years. She got a bill in the mail that says she has until August 21st to prove that she is exempt from this. It's guilty until proven innocent. You are taxed until proven exempt, and she's going to owe $56,000 if she doesn't prove this. Now, this is coming from the same group of people that don't want you to have to show an ID to vote, that think that borders are ridiculous and that you can be here undocumented. They try to make it easier when you want to violate the law. But here, someone who just owns their own property is now subject to this tax until they can prove that they're not because this tax is only supposed to go on your second home. But people are getting scooped up. They sent 17,000 letters and you'd think, especially with how forward-facing his disdain for people that own these properties is, making them into villains, they'd be super careful not to incorporate, not to scoop up people that this wouldn't apply to. But listen to how he lays this out about how this first year there's going to be some bumps. This is the Mayor today.
Mayor Mamdani: I think we're always going to do everything that we can to ensure that we're communicating clearly to New Yorkers. I think that what we've found thus far is when it comes to these letters being sent out, it is anyone that the city believes may be subject to this surcharge. Now the work will begin to ensure that if someone has registered their property in a trust or they've registered their property in an LLC and they are in fact the primary residence holder there, that that is something that is communicated with the city. We've put the investment in, we're putting in the time now.
Jordan Sekulow: They've put the investment in, now they're putting in the time. No, they sent out a bunch of letters trying to get as much revenue as possible. There's that saying that they say in tech that people warn about where people move fast and break things. I think the Mamdani mantra for his administration is move fast and tax things. They want to get as much of this money as they can and enough of these people that may get scared by getting a revenue letter saying that they owe $56,000. They don't fully know how to fight this. Are they going to have to hire CPAs and lawyers to fight this so they don't have to pay this tax bill? That's what they're dealing with now. Remember when you have the way he's vilified these people, this 81-year-old that is now a target in the eyes of many of the Mamdani followers, this just isn't right. But you also have to remember, Logan, he couldn't do this on his own. We talk about him being the kingmaker. There were stopgaps. It had to be approved by the Governor and the state legislature. He didn't do this on his own.
Logan Sekulow: I think we need to clarify something. We spend a lot of time talking about the Mayor of New York City and so does the national news. In the city, by the way, he's very popular. Let's not pretend he's not. Let's not pretend that he doesn't have a huge group of followers. Are there people who do not like him? Certainly. Are there people who did not vote for him? Of course, a large percentage of people. But the vast majority of people that voted for him, they knew what they were voting for. This was no shock that he's doing this, by the way. He ran on things like this. A few months ago, he released that video saying it was coming. So again, he's fulfilling the promises whether you like it or not, and his audience is eating it up. But they need to make sure that we're clear and we are honest with you of what's happening and the impact that it could have around the country if we all start following this trajectory. Especially if you live in a city, by the way, like New York City, which a lot of you do. Maybe you live in Los Angeles. A lot of our audience is in Southern California. Maybe you live in Florida where a lot of people buy a second residence. A lot of people have invested in those cities, a lot of people invest in those states. Now Florida is more than open for business when it comes to this. They're looking at going the exact opposite route for a lot of their taxation. However, in this moment, you have to remember that people of New York City probably are the people who voted for Mayor Mamdani and are thrilled that he's doing this. But let's flashback even more so to just a couple months ago in April. This is when I said again the doxing started, when he started calling out people by name. Remember, this is over a year after that Luigi Mangione murder that happened in the streets of a CEO. Go ahead.
Mayor Mamdani: When I ran for Mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we're taxing the rich. I'm thrilled to announce we've secured a Pied-à-Terre tax, the first in New York's history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full-time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million. This Pied-à-Terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live here. But even so, they're able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world. Most of the time, these units are sitting empty since again, they don't actually live here. This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers. Now, it's coming to an end. This tax will raise at least $500 million directly for the city. It'll help fund things like free childcare, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods. As Mayor, I believe everyone has a role to play in contributing to our city. And some, a little bit more than others.
Jordan Sekulow: Yeah, I mean, that is again what is happening when he starts calling out people by name and now making it easier for people. That's right because he called out one person by name and then he throws an entire database up on the New York City Department of Finance website and the tax assessor. It is bizarre watching that again because we saw that, we played it when he first said it because it was so outrageous. But just even with the context of how willy-nilly it seems that these letters have been sent out, the fact that he's like, "Yeah, there's going to be mistakes and they can appeal it." They can appeal it, of course, it's easy to do. Just imagine if you're 81 years old and you walk to your mailbox and you've lived in your house for 30 years and it wasn't worth $5 million when you purchased it. You sit there and you're thinking, maybe you even voted for the Mayor. This individual lives on the Upper East Side. We know that people that vote in the city of New York are predominantly more liberal. You may have even voted for this Mayor and you walk to your mailbox and you open it up and you have a bill for $56,000. That's just for one year. That's just this year's tax. This is in perpetuity, I assume, the way taxes go in this country. That number's going to grow. Right, but just imagine that. But don't worry, you can appeal this. That sinking feeling that someone has to get opening their mailbox and getting that erroneously. And now you also think people that have been vilified by this rhetoric by this Mayor end up getting hurt. Not only do I have this tax bill, but am I a target? Me, a not-a-public figure, not a known name, but who has now been vilified by your leadership. And you could see an exodus continue in New York City as people head to South Florida, it feels like when they feel threatened. That is what seems to happen in New York City. We'll see what happens. Look, I hope there are some reversals to this, but I think the only way that's going to happen is if you just got to wake people up to what's genuinely happening. It's not even about again, do I disagree with this tax? Yes, of course. But do I really disagree with the fact that you are putting targets on people? 100%. We got to be really, most careful with that. Phone lines are open, I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Last 48 hours in our Liberty Drive. We'll be right back with CC Heil joining us here on Sekulow.
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. 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. We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe v. 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: Shifting topics here a little bit. CC Heil, Senior Counsel here at the ACLJ is joining us and look, there's a lot going on around the world and I think you have to understand the ACLJ work. As we do these Liberty Drives, we talk about the work we're doing here. You got to understand some of the global impact that's happening. In Iran, obviously, it's been in the news. This is something that comes up quite a bit. You may have heard that a lot of times you'll hear about what was a thriving Christian community within Iran that wasn't how it is even portrayed today. Even pre-revolution, we're talking about a country that was very open to people's other faiths. There were a lot of Jewish Iranians, there are a lot of Christian Iranians, the Persian people, much more accepting people. Of course, a lot of that has changed over the last 40 years. The ACLJ is getting involved in a pretty interesting moment here and it's why we also are at the UN. People always question why we're involved in the UN, it's because of reasons like this. CC?
CC Heil: Yeah, so Iran is not a bastion of religious freedom, although as you just said, it does exist in some pockets. And so just recently, Iran closed down the last Presbyterian church that was operating in 2023. They had six Presbyterian churches operating, now as of today, they have absolutely none. This was St. Peter's, it was 150 years old. It was established in 1876. But the Iranian government gave as the excuse that it was foreign-influenced because American missionaries were actually the ones that built it. But of course, the deed to that church was turned over almost immediately to the Council of Evangelical Churches of Iran. So it has for a long time been owned by Iranian entities. And you have to understand, we're talking about 1876, and if you recall, the Islamic Revolution did not happen in Iran until 1979. So this church is well-established way before even the new regime came into being. But they have shut it down and many families that lived on the campus had to leave. It's just an indication that Iran is tightening its grip because we know for years and years and years they have persecuted Christians. We know that they arrest them, they interrogate them, they torture them, they kill them. We know in 2025, 254 Christians were arrested and then during the uprising this year in 2026, it was reported that 19 Christians were killed. So this just seems like the trajectory continues that Iran is continuing on its Christian persecution. We sent a letter to the United Nations head and basically saying, the special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief has already come out and condemned this confiscation of the church, and so we are asking the UN Human Rights Council as a whole to condemn it and to hold Iran responsible.
Jordan Sekulow: Well, and once again, you mentioned this that the Iranian government began the process just last month of seizing and shuttering this church, St. Peter's Evangelical Church, along with it had two schools as well as residences that were owned where around 20 families were home there. When you think about this, their excuse, their reason, rationale was that it was a hostile entity. As you mentioned, it was that foreign influence. But I think it goes to show the lengths even now that the regime is trying to go to. Naturally, the Christian faith is the antithesis of the Islamic Revolution. Even now, as they are in the throes of this war and they have all of the upheaval internally, they are trying to limit the influence of anything that could be more freedom-minded, anything that they could see as a threat against the regime, even if it isn't a threat in reality. I assume that these individuals want more religious freedom, so just inherently existing is a threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran. But they are trying to do everything they can. I think that at this moment while it's so uncertain what the outcome will be of this conflict with Iran, whether or not there's regime change, whether or not there's a deal that is signed, bringing this to the attention of the UN is of utmost importance so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of the war, of the conflict, and whatever shakes out on the back end of this for how the government is structured there.
CC Heil: And it's important because in times of war, you see that freedoms, any little bit of freedoms are taken away. On top of shutting down this church, they also at the same time classified Christian satellite broadcasters as hostile organizations. They said any form of cooperation with Christian television networks is prohibited. So, if you're watching the television, if you're contacting or sharing content, that can lead to arrests under their espionage laws. And we've been informed that at least five Christians have already been prosecuted under that law. So again, they're targeting Christianity is a threat because when anyone identifies that there's a higher power over the Iranian regime, that is seen as a threat to them and they're going to shut it down.
Logan Sekulow: And Christian broadcasting has always tried to reach everyone they can, really by any means necessary and a lot of times very effectively. As television has changed in America, you have to remember in some places it's not and it's very different, even in Europe how television is still maybe respected in a different way, traditional television. And of course, in a place like Iran, you're trying to get a Christian message into there, there are very few outlets for you to do so. Of course, that becomes a target. We got only a minute and a half left, so then for the ACLJ we get involved, we go to the UN. What does that look like for our listeners and our viewers who wanting to stay engaged in this?
CC Heil: Yeah, absolutely. We make sure that the UN does what they're supposed to do and condemn these actions and we'll also be sending a letter even to our United States government saying, "Hey, don't lose sight in this war that some of the victims are Christians and religious liberty is part of our huge foreign policy." And so we're just reminding them and asking them, don't lose sight of this.
Logan Sekulow: Yep, and I want you to join us here at the ACLJ. We only got until the 30th, we have a day left in our Liberty Drive. If you want to be a part of this team that's doing that, I mean, that is really what we're asking you to do here. We're not asking you just to donate and be help fund this amazing operation of course, but really you're becoming part of the team here. You're becoming an ACLJ member, maybe you become an ACLJ champion. Champion is someone that gives on a monthly basis automatically like a membership fee that comes through. And of course, what that does is really keep a great baseline for the ACLJ work. We've gone through a lot of what we've been working on here. I mean, just the few things they have over the last year. We've had 237 pro-life cases, 128 international cases, 317 school ones, 207 government cases, 149 religious liberty cases, and again, so much more that we can't and can't even talk about. That's just a brilliant brief overview, and that's just in the last year. We've been around for over 35 years for a reason. Be a part of the Liberty Drive today, and if you decide to become an ACLJ champion, your first donation will be doubled. So do it today. Go to ACLJ.org. We got a second half hour coming up on the broadcast. You can be a part of it live 12-1 PM Eastern time and of course, archived however you get your podcast, we're there. Find it all at ACLJ.org.
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.