SEKULOW

Will Haun: If you have missed seeing us these past few days, the Southeast was hit with a historic ice storm and it went all the way up. I know there were blizzard conditions in the Northeast and so we are just now getting back into our studio. Many in this area remain without power, so be praying for those that are without power in very cold temperatures.

But we are back in studio today. Also, bear with us as our infrastructure is a little taxed by this storm. If you see any hiccups, we're working through it and doing our best. But I'm joined by Logan today and we are talking about the situation in Minnesota. Many of you saw another ICE-related shooting that happened over the weekend and now we are at a point where it seems what Logan had been calling for, I had been calling for, and many have been is that the leaders who are at the end of the day responsible for all of this on both sides are seeming to sit down.

We know that the Border Patrol Commander Greg Bavino has departed Minnesota and now that command is being taken over by Tom Homan, the border czar who had been absent from this conversation for a while. But Logan, we're seeing both the Mayor of Minneapolis as well as the Governor Tim Walz have spoken with the President. They are saying things like we are on the same wavelength, as well as seeing productive conversations with Tom Homan, the border czar. What are your thoughts?

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, well, and make sure you keep me updated on time because obviously I don't have a time clock in front of me. If you're watching right now, you obviously know that I am not in studio. My wife is a weather forecaster and she said we've got to get out of Nashville, and she was right. But our home in Nashville currently is without power, so we are, I guess you'd say, quote-unquote, stuck in Florida. I'm not complaining about it right now. Obviously our prayers are with all of our friends there, but as of right now it's still freezing temperatures there.

But you're right. This is something that we have been calling for since the very beginning when the ICE raids started happening and then everything that was happening. That dark cloud that I said was hanging over Minnesota. I said what we needed to do was get President Trump, Tim Walz, whoever it was, the Mayor, to actually do their job, get in a room and meet together. This is no longer partisan. I think maybe that red line got passed with this last death that happened on the streets of Minneapolis.

Now again, of course, people are going to be highly polarized. They're going to have a lot of questions and a lot of reasons, but of course you actually saw for the first time, maybe even some of those that were more on the conservative side say you can't be going out and saying because someone has a weapon that they are in fact a criminal before those crimes took place and deserve somehow to die. I think that this is a moment of reflection for a lot of people in the conservative movement and I think President Trump knows it, and I think he sees it himself.

Why else would he be meeting with people who he essentially has called his enemy very many times, including the Governor of Minnesota who of course was running against him as Vice President last go-round? So these are not people that are friendly necessarily with each other, but he can read the room. He can see that it's getting chaotic. We know that they have called to de-escalate what's happening on the streets and we think that that's a good moment, hopefully, to see some sort of bipartisan action.

I know in the chat I'm going to see a lot of people disagreeing with me and that's okay. But I've been calling for this from the very beginning, that the only way for this to calm down is to actually have rational thought take precedence over partisan politics. And here we are and I'm hoping this is a moment where this can happen before things get even worse. So right now I'm going to encourage you, I know a lot of you disagree with me, but give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. We'll be taking your calls today. Of course, Will's in the studio, I'm here on location, remote, but we'd love to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Will.

Will Haun: That's right and we're going to get into some of these statements that were put out both on X as well as on Truth Social from the President, from the Mayor of Minneapolis, and from the Governor of Minnesota. We will be coming back to you in just a few moments here with more of this. Stick around, like the video, subscribe, leave a comment where you're watching from. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow.

Jay Sekulow: The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, and our Constitution are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line: We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. Aclj.org.

After nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade, the tragic ruling that manufactured a so-called right to abortion, has been overturned by the United States Supreme Court. This is the moment the ACLJ has been fighting for. It's the biggest victory we've achieved in our three-decade-long fight against the soulless abortion industry. And believe me, abortionists like Planned Parenthood are devastated.

This victory would not have been possible without the steadfast prayer and support of ACLJ members like you. On behalf of the entire ACLJ, I thank you for standing with us against the abortion industry and helping us save defenseless babies. I thank you for making this victory possible and I ask you for your continued prayer and support as we continue to battle against barbaric new abortion laws across our nation.

Will Haun: Welcome back to Sekulow. As I mentioned, we are here in studio first day this week due to a historic ice storm that hit the Southeast and much of the East Coast of the US. We are having a few technical difficulties as well because of power outages and infrastructure issues, so bear with us. We are doing great here and glad to be back with you.

But Logan, we're talking about what's going on with the shift in tone and this comes after another death of an American citizen at the hands of ICE in a confrontation. There are two sides of the story, that's not really what we're getting into at this point, but it is something that we predicted would happen. After the first shooting we said if it continues to escalate, more Americans will die because of confrontation with law enforcement.

It's not even putting a blame on either one. People are making choices to be in the face of law enforcement and law enforcement are on heightened alert because you see death threats online at these individual agents. You see them being doxxed. You hear calls to murder ICE agents by Americans. The whole situation was reaching, it had already reached a boiling point, it was at the point of no return. And we saw another death of an American citizen because of all this. It finally looks like leaders are thinking we have to do something and that's what you're seeing from the President and the leaders in Minnesota now.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, and I think that it's time, and I think it has been time since the very beginning. I think President Trump's style of diplomacy if you will, his politicking works on certain levels. When it comes to civil unrest, when it comes to Americans getting killed in the street, there is a time and I would say the same to Tim Walz, there's a time where all of this bloviating, all of this built-up posts on X or on Truth Social that go back and forth and amplify hate, amplify anger over and over and over again, eventually this is what happens.

And you may say that you've seen a video that maybe is different than the version we've seen. I feel like we all get served what we want to see. But at the end of the day, two American citizens have been shot and killed by officers that were on duty as ICE officers. And I don't know a lot of information about who these officers were. But I do think we need to really take a look at what kind of training they're going through.

You even have organizations like the NRA saying what Kristi Noem said is improper because she was essentially saying in one of those quotes, well he brought a gun to a protest. Well, I'm pretty sure that a lot of you remember everything that's gone on the last few years and there have been plenty of people who have been lauded and celebrated on the conservative side for doing just the same thing and they were not murdered in the streets. I think you can go back and forth over who I don't think there's a right in this. I think you have people who are the ICE officers who may be doing what they've been told to do, but maybe need more training on how this goes on.

You have agitators who are being aggravated by their state leaders. And now we are at the point, like Will said, where it felt like the point of no return. I actually don't know if I agree with this point of no return. I think this is the point that maybe we had to get to, and I hate that we had to get to this point where it had to be bloodshed of American citizens to get to this point. You can go back and see all of the times throughout history where the Democrats did not stand up for conservatives that were shot also or murdered in the streets. That happened many, many times.

But that doesn't mean it should work the other way. I have always been the person who's preached the fact that we don't always have to play by the same handbook. And if the same playbook says that we should be celebrating or defending people who are getting killed, that's just not the way it goes. And I like the fact that you have President Trump and Governor Walz actually doing what I feel like is the job of the President and of state leaders and working together to figure out what this crisis is on the streets.

Whether you agree with the crisis or not, I think there's a lot of people that say, hey, I don't disagree that ICE should exist. I'm not a person saying abolish ICE. That's not my MO. I think there's also people going there's a difference between border security, which I think even the Left did not feel that way over the last four years, but I think a lot of people, normal human beings, felt there should be some changes to border security and what we're seeing in the streets of a lot of our states, but specifically in Minnesota.

I don't point the blame in anyone specifically. I point the blame at the fact that our state and local leaders decided to make this more politics and less about humanity. And I do think there is a Christian side to this, a humanitarian side to this, where this can be done where you can have people who are not supposed to be here removed from the United States without it turning into chaos in the streets because we saw it happen successfully. Maybe not during Biden, but during President Bush, during the first Trump years, during even President Obama, a lot of deportations happening and you didn't see this on the streets.

Will Haun: Logan, and I think one thing, and I want to get into some of these statements that were put out by the mayor, by the governor, by the president, by Tom Homan himself. But I think what you've got here is a situation, and this is something that you and I were concerned about and that we've talked about a lot, is that it wasn't as if the people calling to resist ICE and to get out in the streets were community organizers or liberal activists. It was the Governor of the state himself that was labeling the federal law enforcement officers as the Gestapo, as fascists, and making that rhetoric amplified.

But then, not just saying I will deploy the National Guard, I will deploy the state police, I will deal with this. It was in fact him that was telling his own citizens to get out there and do that. That is weaponizing your own constituents, weaponizing and putting in harm's way your people. It's one thing if saying I applaud those that are speaking out, but he was continuing to push this.

There's also stuff that has come out about this signal chat where there were thousands of people, including people high up in his administration, coordinating a lot of these activities, not with officials of the state, but with citizens themselves. And I think some of that responsibility falls on these leaders that are willing to put their citizens in harm's way and use them as a political pawn and that's what we've seen quite a bit here. We've seen the usage of the citizens as political pawns and that has led to the death of two Americans.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, and I think at this point, there were even a lot of references to Nazis, to Anne Frank, that people would be reading about this the same way they read about Anne Frank. And there are moments that I feel like you can talk about these kinds of things. Whenever you start invoking Holocaust-type rhetoric though, I think a lot of people, specifically in the Jewish community, start to back up a little bit and go, okay, hold on. This is not the same thing. Anne Frank was in fact a citizen of the country who was being targeted because of her ethnic background slash religious beliefs.

You start talking about Anne Frank in that situation and it becomes more and more hostile. I mean, it was Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday. We even had people on the conservative Right, and look, high up, that seemed to be afraid to use words like Jewish or talk about the importance of Israel. We're still dealing with a lot of that in today's society.

And what I'd like to hear from you, Will, is there seems to be, and look, I'm here out of state right now and I'm listening to a lot of local radio or local television, there seems to be a breath of fresh air from Tom Homan, that Tom Homan is who people are celebrating right now as potentially the savior in this situation. And I don't think any of us really predicted that, but I guess it's because he has a history of working with other administrations.

Will Haun: Well, and I think Logan, that's the problem. The Left demonized Tom Homan when he was brought on as border czar because he's a serious official and he had a long career working with Border Patrol, with the Department of Homeland Security, and had even gotten awards under previous administrations like Barack Obama for his work. But because he worked with President Trump, he was demonized.

But now all of a sudden he's like the peacemaker, he's the broker of this. This is a post he put out on X that says: "Today I met with Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and the top law enforcement officials to discuss the issues on the ground in Minnesota. We all agree that we need to support our law enforcement officers and get criminals off the streets. While we don't agree on everything, these meetings were a productive starting point and I look forward to more conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead. President Trump has been clear. He wants American cities to be safe and secure for law-abiding residents and they will be."

And Logan, we've only got about 50 seconds here left, so I'll take us to the break. But once again, that is what we are seeing out of serious leaders like Tom Homan. Someone that was demonized by the Left as being a radical for wanting to control the border. And you see that statement is not something far-fetched. You're also seeing the mayor himself saying that he and the chief of police met with Border Czar Homan and had a productive conversation. Because once again, when you do sit down and realize that the federal government has authority to do things and the state has the ability to not get in the way and make this chaos where citizens die, then you start to see a different story. And it was all done for political gains in Minnesota. We'll be right back on Sekulow.

Jay Sekulow: After nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade, the tragic ruling that manufactured a so-called right to abortion, has been overturned by the United States Supreme Court. This is the moment the ACLJ has been fighting for. It's the biggest victory we've achieved in our three-decade-long fight against the soulless abortion industry. And believe me, abortionists like Planned Parenthood are devastated. This victory would not have been possible without the steadfast prayer and support of ACLJ members like you.

On behalf of the entire ACLJ, I thank you for standing with us against the abortion industry and helping us save defenseless babies. I thank you for making this victory possible and I ask you for your continued prayer and support as we continue to battle against barbaric new abortion laws across our nation.

The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, and our Constitution are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line: We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. Aclj.org.

Will Haun: Welcome back to Sekulow. And we will get into more of this as well, this new revelation that we're seeing. Tom Homan being put into the leadership role with the situation in Minnesota with Operation Metro Surge, his meetings with both the Mayor of Minneapolis as well as the Governor and the Chief of Police there. But I did also want to bring your attention to something else that the ACLJ is working on and Logan, this is a case and a story that we talked about and then got a lot of attention in the news about the student in Kansas that was reprimanded for putting as a hero Charlie Kirk or President Trump and others in this class and witnessed all this unfold.

Where then the teacher instructed the student: Those aren't heroes. And so one, it was limiting the free speech of the client, but as well as they set in rules that it couldn't be a religious figure or a political figure, but then they had other controversial figures that were put on the whiteboard as well that were fine. So this was a clear case of viewpoint discrimination. Our attorneys are representing this family in Kansas and we have filed federal complaints with the Department of Justice, so outside of even the court system, a direct discrimination complaint with the DOJ as well as the Department of Education on this issue.

But it got a lot of press and the state legislature is now wanting to do something about this as well. The legislature is holding hearings in Kansas on this very issue on a new bill. And this bill would initiate in the Kansas Senate. It says an act concerning education related to student expression, enacting the Safeguarding Personal Expression at K-through-12 Schools Act, authorizing students to engage in protected speech or expression, providing limitations for such speech or expression, and providing a civil cause of action for violations of the act. So giving a pathway for remedy within the state court system.

But Logan, also our clients will be testifying before the Kansas legislature on February 3rd and our attorneys will be going there as well to tell the story of what happened to them and how a bill like this could protect not just our client, but every student in Kansas from viewpoint discrimination and silencing of their free speech.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I mean it's been sort of the bread and butter of the ACLJ for a very long, long time, which is making sure students have the right to speak their mind and say what they believe, of course within some constraints. But when the school specifically said they didn't put in that rule saying no politics, no religious figures and look, sometimes that happens. Even the school my kids go to, occasionally we'll get an email saying hey, no political T-shirts today, and I'm okay with that. I'm okay with saying, you know what, we don't always have to try to have some sort of disagreement.

But when you left it open to everyone and then specifically a teacher decides who she gets to or he or she gets to decide who is a hero and who is not, that is where the ACLJ can step in. And of course you're talking about a President of the United States or a sadly assassinated political figure if you will, political commentator, which Charlie Kirk at this moment, you may disagree with the views of President Trump, you may disagree with the views of Charlie Kirk. But you can't tell me they would probably be doing the same for Barack Obama or previous presidents or previous commentators who were slain for their beliefs, which of course, sadly, America has a lot of those.

This is not something the ACLJ takes lightly. Our team is able to jump at it. What I love about it is the fact that we do have a team all over the country. So of course when some states including our media center which is just able to open up today and me who is not able to even get there right now are maybe temporarily closed or having some issues, we have ACLJ attorneys and staff all over the country ready to work and they never stop. And of course that is because people like you support the work at aclj.org and support the rights of those students at aclj.org.

You can make a donation, you can support the work. Of course there's a lot of different ways, a lot of great free information there, nothing's behind a paywall. I do want to encourage you right now, if you are watching, usually we take phone calls but of course as Will said, there have been some technical difficulties. So later in the show, I would love to hear from you even if you're watching on YouTube or on Rumble and I'll have our social media team and usually the people who screen the phone calls go through our YouTube and Rumble and look at questions that come in.

Maybe start your post with "QUESTION" in big caps so they can sort through them and we'll pick a few out and we'll try to have them on the air and maybe put your first name as well. That would be great because we still would love to answer your questions because I know a lot of you are tuning in, not just because obviously the work of the ACLJ, very important, we're always going to talk about that and I know some of you say you watch us for the news and that's fine. We'll give you the commentary. We told you this was going to happen, it was going to get more and more heated.

I told you what I thought the solution was, which was for President Trump and for people like Tim Walz to put their partisan politics aside for a few minutes, as hard as it is because I know they've been nasty to each other and they've said things that are egregious on both sides, let's just be honest. On both sides. Stuff that if it was said about you, you probably would not want to be friends with that person. But this is not about friendship, this is about diplomacy, this is about making sure our country is safe.

So I'm happy they're doing this, but it has been weird to watch the coverage of all of this as we've been a little disconnected with the winter storms that obviously wrecked the Nashville area, destroyed the Nashville area really. And again, I have not been able to get to the studio, I've not been able to leave where I'm at right now. And it's been crazy. But I'm able to watch television coverage and listen to local coverage. And one of the things Will and I were talking about was this savior of Tom Homan coming in, replacing some of the voices that we've heard. And Will, that's also one of the things too, is that not only Tom Homan is coming in, it seems like there's going to be changes on the ground as well in terms of who is going to be talking to the press and who is going to be talking specifically to the Governor and to the Mayor.

Will Haun: Well, that's right, as we talked about with Tom Homan being the individual that seems to be interfacing with the leadership there. But they have also, it says that they have agreed that some federal agents will begin leaving the area. So I feel like what we're going to see is maybe a de-escalation with the folks that are coordinating, that are on the ground, that are I mean when you read about even the signal chat and the level of sophistication it comes to how they were tracking ICE.

Logan Sekulow: Can we talk about that because that is actually something that I have not heard, that has not really come upon my news feed here. Tell people who don't know, what is the signal chat?

Will Haun: So there's this signal chat that was infiltrated by some individuals that were journalists and have been reporting on it. But what it effectively was is using the encrypted messaging, and we've only got about a minute and a half here, so we'll get into it as well. But this journalist got in there and saw how there were databases and coordinated sophisticated methods of tracking when they found license plates they believed belonged to federal agents. They could put it in there, they could list areas where there was going to be surging.

They could surge resources, and by resources I mean agitators, to get to those areas as quickly as possible. There were instructions on how to disrupt, how to make a commotion and things of that nature. And the FBI is now saying that they are investigating this. And we can even bring it up as well because there were some high-level officials within the Walz administration that were a part of this, alleged what appeared to be a part of this. Many people were going by pseudonyms in this chat as well.

But it also reveals that narrative: This isn't just organic protesting, which people on the Right have been saying for a long time. This isn't just organic free speech activity. Not saying that coordinated free speech isn't protected, but you have to start seeing what took place, how this was operating, because it was a highly sophisticated operation at disrupting federal law enforcement. We'll get back to that in the next segments ahead.

Jay Sekulow: For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. Aclj.org.