SEKULOW

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. I'll be honest, we just sat down. We have been working hard this morning, so much so that I left my jacket in the other room. Right now I look very casual on air.

Will: You forgot what day it was, what time it was.

Logan Sekulow: I thought we had about another minute, and we did not. So we are here to take your phone calls. It's a Friday. 1-800-684-3110. Of course, covering all the news that has happened over the last week. If you have a question or comment related to really any of the topics, we'll be happy to talk to you. Later on in the show, we are going to be joined by Rick Grenell and Mike Pompeo. It's going to be a packed second half of the show.

Unlike usual, where I take calls at the very end of the show, I'm actually going to be taking them through the first few segments. Now is the time to get on hold if you want to get on hold. 1-800-684-3110. One of the big breaking news items is that J.D. Vance and the Department of Justice has now announced that they are creating a new position. It is the new Assistant Attorney General specifically to target and to tackle fraud.

Will: That's right. This is really in response to what people have been calling for, asking if there is ever going to be accountability. Are they going to go after anyone? It should be welcome news to a lot of people, but also in some ways, it may delay some things. Investigations can continue on that may have already started. This Assistant Attorney General that will be specifically for fraud will have national jurisdiction.

Not just in Minnesota or in California, but can really go after and prosecute fraud wherever it is found. They said that this position will be announced. They know who they want it to be, but because it's an Assistant Attorney General process, they have to nominate and then that person has to be confirmed to this position. The person will have a lot more authority than just having someone already within the Department of Justice saying, "Hey, this is your new beat. This is what you're going after."

Because that comes with it, it'll take some time. It'll have to go through a Senate nomination and confirmation process.

Logan Sekulow: That's right. Again, phone lines are open for you. What do you think about this new position being added? Do you like new jobs being created in some ways to tackle fraud? This is probably a good thing to have someone who is specifically looking at this. I had a visceral reaction at first because of all of the positions that were created under the Biden administration. Whether that was the committee, the disinformation committee, the disinformation board. I almost have that reaction when I start hearing words like fraud and disinformation. They're like triggers for me right now.

When you really break it down and look at it, I think this is good. If you have someone who is an expert in what's going on in the whole fraud scandal, it's probably good. We have someone to turn to and someone that can speak on the matter. J.D. Vance did discuss this. Let's hear from him.

J.D. Vance: We know that the fraud isn't just happening in Minneapolis. It's also happening in states like Ohio. It's happening in states like California. What we're doing in order to help coordinate this remarkable interagency effort from the Trump administration, but also to make sure that we prosecute the bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible, is we are creating a new Assistant Attorney General position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud.

Of course, that person's efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort because, unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.

Logan Sekulow: Not a temporary gig. This is something that will start, obviously, focused in Minnesota, but then will be taken across the country. I think this is good. Will, who do you think it should be? Who are some top fraudsters? Frank Abagnale?

Will: Who it should be? But they're not fraudsters. They're going after fraud.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, but remember he flipped at the end? I've seen that movie.

Will: I'm glad that you stopped me because I was going to say we should get Jordan to go fight the fraud. It would be great. Then you said, "Who are some top-notch fraudsters?"

Logan Sekulow: No, I meant like people who could do both. Because if you frauded, then you know where to look. Exactly. That's what they said. We've seen Catch Me If You Can. 1-800-684-3110. We already got some calls coming in and we will take more. Look, I'm going to go grab my jacket so I don't look casual.

Will: Is it casual Friday?

Logan Sekulow: I mean, it always is.

Will: But then you're about to class it up a little bit.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, with just a nice little jacket. Go to ACLJ.org. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to take some of your calls in this segment at 1-800-684-3110 and in the next. We did lose some of those calls, so there are lines open. Let's restate because so many of you are just joining us right now. If you are joining us on Rumble or on YouTube, anywhere you can put a chat in, let me know where you're watching from. I always like to see specifically on Fridays because it's a little more casual around here.

Let me know where you're watching from. I like to see worldwide the impact of this show. It's always fun to read during the show and during the breaks and give some shoutouts. Will, let's restate what's going on. J.D. Vance announced, along with the Department of Justice, that there will be a brand new position within the Department of Justice. A new Assistant Attorney General will be specifically targeting fraud.

Will: That's right. The entire purpose of this Assistant Attorney General is to root out and prosecute fraud wherever it is happening in the United States. This will have national jurisdiction. It's not just specific to the fraud in Minnesota, although they said that that is the beginning of it. That's where it will start and has really come out of what we've seen over the past few weeks and months with the fraud happening in Minnesota.

It's interesting because the Vice President also says why this is better than doing even like a special counsel. One, a special counsel is a temporary position specifically for one thing. With this, it's going to have White House supervision. The Vice President and the President will be able to speak into it, making sure that they will be continuing that mission in meeting standards of finding fraud in the United States and getting it prosecuted and getting convictions.

Also, he even brings up something that we've talked about many times on air. He's saying this is constitutionally legitimate. This is going to be a person nominated and then confirmed by the Senate to this position. It's not a situation with a special counsel that just gets appointed and has no real oversight and all those questions that come with it. People like Justice Clarence Thomas even raised recently in cases whether or not the special counsel process is legitimate.

It's something we are happy probably to not see another special counsel. Trying to do this the right way, having it be confirmed by the Senate and having a real tangible goal of seeking out fraud and being able to use the resources of the DOJ to bring about these cases instead of maybe just one US attorney in the Southern District of New York that goes after fraud nationwide, but it's really limited to that office.

This is someone that is high up in the DOJ and will be able to go after it and use the full resources of the DOJ to prosecute these cases. I like to see it. I know that our people have been saying where's the accountability and where are the arrests? I think this is what you want, but you also need to remember because they're doing it the proper way, it's not just a special counsel, a quick appointment that can be challenged in court by the left.

Because all of a sudden they'll decide they don't like special counsels even though they've been using them as a bludgeon for the last 10 years. This will be done the appropriate way, but that's going to mean it's going to take a little bit more time. They said in the next few days they'll announce who this person is with a formal nomination. Then it'll have to go through the committee, we'll have to get the vote, and the person will have to be actually confirmed by the Senate to take this position.

Logan Sekulow: As much as that is a pain, it's also good because this will be a more permanent position. They can go ahead and say, "Okay, lock this person in at least for the time being and potentially as a new position permanently that's needed in this country." Not just this person, but this job. Even a future administration would have this as one of their appointed positions. I think that's a good thing.

We'll also know and we'll hear from this person, and see if they're up to the job. If they're not, we know that the Republicans and even the Democrats will make sure of it and will really take their time making sure this is someone who is qualified.

Will: We've heard in the past the term "czar" used a lot by different administrations. Obviously, it's from Russia, right? But they became very popular, especially during the Obama administration. He would have all the czars that would come out. It was people that were tasked with doing things but didn't really have the full weight of the government. They could make recommendations, and they could meddle in a lot of things.

Logan Sekulow: That name always weirded me out.

Will: Me as well because it's very Soviet. Even Kamala Harris was famously the border czar, tasked with getting to the bottom of it. Here's why I like this move of making it an Assistant Attorney General. It's the concept of making a fraud czar. All these presidents have done it and what happens with those positions at the end of the day? Nothing really. They talk a lot and not a lot happens.

However, with this, making it a confirmed position makes it have that scrutiny.

Logan Sekulow: And power, actual power.

Will: Exactly. They have real power. They are an actual Assistant Attorney General. They will have the ability to bring cases, not just write a prosecution recommendation to the DOJ. They have an office within it where they can actually go after fraudsters. Once again, when you're talking about what we've just seen in Minnesota and hearing that they want to turn to look at California, New York, and other states as well. J.D. Vance even brought up his own state of Ohio, which is led by Republicans, and there are these fraudulent situations going on.

I think that this is long overdue and will take time. I also hope it's something that whomever the next president is doesn't just shut down.

Logan Sekulow: I think that it's good and like you said, he called out Ohio. I'm pretty sure everyone in the chat, if you're in a state, whether it's Republican or Democrat, do you not want someone checking in on whether your taxpayer dollars are being spent correctly? I mean, who wouldn't want that? Who does not want protections against fraud? I think that would be bizarre.

I'm looking at people coming in from Texas, Missouri, Auburn, Alabama. We got a viewer from Auburn, Alabama and Southern California. We got people from Quebec. I don't know if they'll get the coverage that they need there in Quebec, but we're excited that you're watching. From all over the country, people are watching. Do you have a problem with somebody taking a look at what's going on in your state and how the funds are being spent?

Hopefully the answer is, "Of course not." You would love that. You would love someone to make sure that they go in and audit the books and make sure that things are taken care of. If your taxpayer dollars are being spent on social programs or whatever it may be, that it's spent on the ones that you want it to be and isn't going to what happened in Minnesota, or what is alleged in Minnesota.

Georgia's checking in. We know Texas and Tennessee. All of them are saying, "Yes, of course, bring it. Bring it to Maryland," one person just said. This is what's happening. Ohio, California. Everyone else is saying they have no problem at all. Of course, it should be checked. I'm sure it'll become a political tool, though.

Will: Always.

Logan Sekulow: Oh, it's like voter ID of 2026. How dare they want this? How dare they want some sort of check to make sure.

Will: Once again, it's where you see when states sue the government because of defunding of Planned Parenthood and things like that. Their whole argument in many cases is, "No, you've been giving us this money, you can never take it away." That was the argument with a lot of the cuts to things like USAID. "You've been giving us this money, you can never look at it and take it away. We are now entitled to these dollars in perpetuity forever. You can never stop giving money."

I think that's what the argument's going to be here from many on the left and many blue states. They'll say, "No, no, no, you give us money. You don't get to have oversight and to see whether or not we have mechanisms in place to ensure that this isn't just getting stolen." That's what you saw in this hearing this week where these people from Minnesota are saying they knew that this was happening.

There was also that hearing as well where it said the people in the state government, because they weren't doing the things right, were backdating and making up invoices to cover the tracks of the fraudsters.

Logan Sekulow: You have to make sure that you are being protective and safe. We have a question coming in from Bill in Wyoming. I understand the concern. Bill, go ahead.

Bill: Yeah, thanks for taking my call. I'm really concerned because I'm going to throw out a name. What if we get somebody like Gavin Newsom in as President? Who's he going to hire? Is this going to be something like cronyism?

Logan Sekulow: It's a valid question. It always is. I think Bill, that's kind of the discussion we even had with Rick Grenell about when they look at a state like California. What the American people would be like, "Man, it just looks like a lot of fraud. It looks like taxpayer dollars collected in mass and they get nothing for it." What this person I think is looking at here specifically is what was happening in Minnesota.

There are people that are creating fake shell corporations and fake shell organizations to receive grants and taxpayer money. They're not actually doing the work, or they are making up things to make it look like they are doing work that they're not doing. Textbook definition of breaking the law fraud.

Your point is well taken. That's why a lot of the things in many of these blue states may not count as fraud by statute because it's just wasteful. We will have time to take a couple more calls in the next segment or two and then we're going to be joined by guests. 1-800-684-3110 if you want to get on hold, I'll do my best to get to you.

Our ACLJ attorneys were in court moments ago. You may remember earlier this week we discussed the teacher who wanted to just pray and the school said no. Well, our team was in court this morning and guess who's going to be joining us in the next segment? Our ACLJ legal team. Stay tuned for that. It's going to be a packed show from here on out. We've got our ACLJ team. We've got Rick Grenell. We've got Mike Pompeo.

Of course, we're going to hear from you as well. You can give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. None of this happens without your support over on ACLJ.org. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to continue taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110, of course, talking about what's going on in Minnesota and the new update that J.D. Vance and Department of Justice is saying. We're creating a new position and that new position is specifically an Assistant Attorney General targeting fraud. I also want to always make sure we give you an update on what's going on in the world of the ACLJ.

CeCe Howell joined us earlier this week, gave us sort of the brief update of what was going on with this case. Today, Nathan and our team at the ACLJ were in court and he's joining us live right now. Nathan, I would just love to give our audience, first, just a brief recap of what was going on today.

Nathan: We just got out of court here in New Orleans where we defended Stacey Barber, a teacher who prayed at the school flagpole. We just argued at the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals where we showed the court that this teacher was banned from praying anywhere where a student might see her. We just argued before a three-judge panel. We're now waiting for their decision in this case. It'll probably take a couple months, but we're waiting to see what they do here. We've stood here in defense of religious freedom and the right of this teacher to pray.

Logan Sekulow: It's great that you and your team are taking this seriously. Of course, we are only a few days into the year and this is already in court. It just shows you how extreme the measures are to make sure we're protecting these teachers that are out there simply trying to pray.

Will: We are now at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is a case out of Texas. This is typically one of those cases where if we were talking about it in a meeting or in a segment normally, it would be, "Yeah, we sent a demand letter to a school and said here's the established law that everyone should know by now and it's resolved."

No, we had it at the District Court level. Now the principal at the school and the school is deciding we need to continue this battle, even though we had a lower court side with us. They are even appealing our victory on a motion to dismiss where they were trying to have it thrown out of court. That's the entire reason we're there today. How did the judges of that three-judge panel seem during your oral argument today?

Nathan: We have a wonderful panel of judges. Our judges were appointed by President Reagan, President Bush, and President Trump. All three of them really listened carefully to our arguments, asked excellent questions of us and the other side. I think all three of them really showed they were taking the religious liberty rights of our client very seriously. I think we came out of that hearing very hopeful for what they might do and looking forward to seeing the decision that they issue.

The really exciting thing now, too, is because this case has been appealed, any decision that they issue will no longer just be for our client but will really have an effect throughout the Fifth Circuit, throughout this part of the Southern United States. It really shows that the actions of one school district can have these repercussions far beyond, to many states and many other people just trying to exercise their constitutional rights.

Logan Sekulow: You got to remember, you're obviously where you are doing the case, but this is out of Texas. This is out of areas of the country you do not expect it.

Will: That's right. Once again, that is why the ACLJ is always ready to fight wherever and whenever we have to. If you let it slide, it doesn't just trample on the rights of one teacher or one school, but it creates that lasting impression that this is okay. It sometimes happens in these places you don't expect. In the Southeast of the United States, where you would think, "Oh, these are more red states, more traditionally Christian areas, it's not going to be happening there."

We see this all the time out of Georgia, out of states in the Deep South, and out of Texas as we're talking about now. You're having to argue this at the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, in Louisiana. Nathan, once again, you talked about the implications of this. You said that the judges seem receptive on that panel. What are kind of the next steps the ACLJ audience should be looking for now that the oral argument segment is over? What kind of comes next in this case?

Nathan: One of the things that I think this case is a great reminder of is how long lawsuits can really take. Our first demand letter in this case was sent after See You at the Pole in 2023. It's been almost two and a half years. It really highlights the importance of the support of everyone that contributes to the work of the ACLJ. Our client, just a public school teacher, could not in a million years have found a lawyer to represent her for years and years and years without having the support of the people who are supporting us.

Here, the case now will be waiting on the court to enter a decision. Actually once it does, then one way or the other, we'll actually be going back to the District Court. Depending on their decision, I think we will most likely continue to pursue accountability against this principal, but also the school district. While the principal's appeal has been pending, the school district's case has been kind of temporarily stayed, which means it's been kind of suspended while this appeal was going on. Once this appeal is over, we'll be back to hold that school district accountable for how it also violated our client's rights and prohibited her from prayer.

Logan Sekulow: Nathan, I just want to say thank you and I'm seeing all these thumbs up that are coming in on our chat because they asked to give a thumbs up to our team. We're seeing them come in because of how amazing your crew is at doing this. The reason why we have the ACLJ, of course, is the media side and the legal side. They both work hand in hand. There are moments like this, as Nathan said, where none of this happens unless you guys financially support.

We had a really a record-breaking December and now we are heading into the new year. We are now in January, almost midway through January, it feels like now into the end of the second week here. You have people like Nathan, you have our incredible ACLJ attorneys, and you have CeCe who you hear on the show. The whole ACLJ legal team is hard at work.

Even sometimes when you don't see them, or they're not necessarily on air every week, you have to know that they are out there working hard for you because you never know when you're going to need it yourself. You have someone like this, a woman who was a public school teacher and again, as you said, a couple years have now gone by. Two and a half years and really Nathan, the end may not be in sight. This could be something that lasts quite a while longer. I know our audience gets frustrated by that, but it is certainly just the way the system is.

Nathan: For better or worse, that's the system we're in. That's why staying in the fight is so crucial, and why continuing these battles, however long they may take, is so valuable. To the point about this being Texas, I think it's a good reminder that as bad as certain states get, we're fighting these legal battles across the country, from Massachusetts to California to Texas to Illinois and everywhere in between. The ACLJ attorney's been in court a number of times throughout this month all over the country because these cases are happening everywhere and these rights matter everywhere.

Logan Sekulow: Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Good work today. Maybe get a little rest and then get back to it. We appreciate it. Everyone here at the media team really appreciates all the work that you guys are doing on the legal side. We're seeing so many of you throwing up those thumbs up, so we appreciate it.

With that, we have a packed second half hour. I usually say we've got a great show, and I mean it. We had Nathan. Now we have a short little segment coming up, a couple minutes. Then we're going to be joined by Rick Grenell and then we're going to be joined by Mike Pompeo and then we're wrapping up the show. If you want to be on the air, we do have time for maybe a call or two in the next segment. I'll hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Be heard from Nathan. We're in court this morning.

That only happens because you support the work and know how much we appreciate it. When you go to ACLJ.org, look at all the great free content we provide. None of it is behind a paywall. All of it is because people like you support us financially and give any way you can. At any level, we appreciate it. Of course, you can become an ACLJ Champion, someone that gives monthly. You can check out all those options at ACLJ.org.

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We have a second half hour of this show. Some of you who listen on terrestrial radio, and I see some of you are calling in right now, you may not get the full hour on your local station. You can find us broadcasting live the full hour always at ACLJ.org, the ACLJ app, and of course on YouTube, Rumble, or however you get your podcasts. We are there. Just look up Sekulow or ACLJ. We'll pop right out. We'll be right back. Second half hour coming up.