SEKULOW

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. We have a packed show today. 1-800-684-3110, the lines will be open in just a moment. We’ll go ahead and open those lines. There they go. 1-800-684-3110 to have your voice heard today. We are talking about some of the breaking news that happened over the weekend. It wasn't that loud of a weekend to be honest, in terms of what was going on, but there were some interesting tidbits, interesting moments. One of them came out which is President Trump saying he is hearing, and those are his words, he is hearing that the Supreme Leader may not be alive. He said if he is, he should do something very smart for his country and that's surrender. Again, that's what he told NBC News late Saturday night after saying that they totally obliterated every military target but left the oil infrastructure on the island. Of course, we are talking about the island where a lot of this is happening right now because a lot of people are curious why we decided to bomb this specific area.

Guest (Male): That's right. Kharg Island is where the key place for Iran when it comes to their oil exports. Once again, that industry has been heavily sanctioned by the United States, so most of it is going to countries that are either already sanctioned by the United States or just do not care. China is a big buyer of Iranian oil as are some other countries in the region. India has trade relationships with Iran as well. When you see that they struck this very strategic place for Iran but hit only the military targets around it, basically all the protection of it, it is a strategic move to show, one, your economic viability is very much in danger.

If you're going to threaten the Strait of Hormuz, if you're going to threaten to try and exact an economic cost on the United States and Israel, we can do the same thing. At the same time, now that oil export facility is unprotected as they took out the military targets, but it also goes to show that if they wanted to, they could then take out the oil infrastructure. We already know they have bombed refineries and things in Iran. That is just another move in this latest phase.

Logan Sekulow: Because the idea would be to not take out that and create some sort of trade agreement to where there would still be oil running.

Guest (Male): Right. Well, it could also cause a big shock if 20% of the world's oil that we know goes through the Strait of Hormuz, if a big portion of that, which is Iran's, is then taken offline, that could cause oil prices to go even higher up.

Logan Sekulow: Let's just be honest. We know the oil prices have gone up. The price of gas has gone up across the country. This was not unexpected with what was going on in Iran. I filled up our tank last night. We had a big storm here in Nashville, so I went and filled up late last night. It was over $100 to fill up our tank. We have a large SUV, but still, that's not something that I'm used to seeing as much anymore. Bit of sticker shock, but we know that is what was going to happen and hopefully this keeps it from getting even more so out of control. Of course, here in a state like Tennessee, you're talking about $3 a gallon, $3.50 a gallon, whereas of course, in states like California, it's now getting $6, $7, $8 a gallon.

There's always those concerns, those economic concerns, but this is again still a big moment for President Trump, this is still a big moment for America and for Israel to do this. Now there have been some concerns where the President has laid out a plan that does feel like a leveling of Iran. Some of the threats have become a bit more shocking in that sense. What do you feel about that? 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. If it goes from regime change willingly to a forceful destruction essentially of this country to rebuild, how do you feel? 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. Be on the air today. Of course, we are in the middle of our drive right now. I want you to be a part of it as well. If you want to support the work of the ACLJ and double your impact during your Double Your Impact Drive, your donations are matched, every single one of them. If you’ve given already, give again if you can. Every little bit helps. $5 becomes $10, $500 becomes $1,000 because an amazing ACLJ supporter is ready to unlock their pledge. Do it today at ACLJ.org or scan the QR code that you see on the screen right now if you’re watching. And you should be watching on ACLJ.org, YouTube, or Rumble.

Narrator: Right now your most sacred rights are under attack. Your right to free speech, your right to worship, your right to educate your children the way you choose. If successful, these attacks will have a destructive impact on the future of our Republic. We're fighting in courtrooms across the country to have a lasting impact, defending and upholding our values that this nation was founded on. From protecting the rights of kids to pray and share their faith, the best thing you can do is take a stand. There's nothing too small. A kid who wants to start a Bible club is how the ACLJ got its first case to the US Supreme Court. Today we would take that case as long as we needed to. Every victory makes a major impact and it's only possible because of the support of ACLJ members and champions. This is your opportunity to double your impact to defend freedom for you, your children, and generations to come. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax-deductible donation doubled today.

Logan Sekulow: 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/impact.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We are also monitoring President Trump, who is having a news conference any minute now. Of course, it is actually on the Trump-Kennedy Center transition that's happening, as our friend Rick Grenell will be leaving that position and moving. We’ll see where he ends up. It should be pretty interesting to follow. Hopefully, we see Rick is there already seated and there’ll be President Trump joining shortly. If there’s anything worth going to, we’ll cut into that live. So stay tuned here. We’ll get to that if it's necessary or if we feel like there's anything worth going to.

Again, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We are covering the breaking news items over the weekend and there were a few, one of which is that the President has stated that he’s hearing that the new Supreme Leader, which is the son of the Ayatollah, may no longer be alive or if he is alive, there's a lot of talk that he’s badly injured because we have not seen him. We have seen a cardboard cutout. That’s not a joke. We have seen a cardboard cutout of this person and, of course, President Trump said if he is, he should do something very smart and surrender.

Again, this is an ongoing conflict with Iran. I can tell you this, something kind of interesting. I can see our numbers right now. The American people are clearly getting a little bored with Iran. We're able to monitor how many people are watching and listening at the same time and I can tell you this isn't one of our biggest shows and not that I'm shocked about that. We actually were discussing that this morning. Are you worn out already with this war? Not necessarily with the war happening, but of the 24/7 coverage of it now that the Ayatollah is gone, now that we've had some major changes. It's still a hot war that's happening with Americans and with Israel. I think it's something we should be paying close attention to, but I can tell the media cycle is starting to try to figure out what else to cover as maybe the attention span of the American people is starting to go.

Guest (Male): Well, and as we see now, President Trump is also doing other business. This isn't the only thing going on for the American people. I do want to reiterate what we were talking about at the top of the show, that in a phone call with NBC News he said about the new Ayatollah, "I'm hearing he's not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country and that is surrender." He went on to say, "I don't even know if he's alive. So far nobody has been able to show him." He said Iran wants to make a deal and I don't want to make it because the terms aren't good enough yet.

I think that also shows the maximum pressure the President is putting on. There are other things going on. Starting this week, we are going to get into this probably tomorrow and some other days, the SAVE Act is getting some attention on the floor of the US Senate. It’s kind of an interesting play there. We’ll talk about that. But there are other things going on and as we are at this point in this operation, the air campaign is kind of more of the same. It is constant and continuous. That will kind of be status quo until something else changes. Either more leadership is killed or they just give up from exhaustion or some sort of ground force takes place. Now, I know we have a call about this, William from Nevada. I think we should go to him. If you want to talk about this, call us at 1-800-684-3110. But William from Nevada, you're on Sekulow.

William: Yeah, I was just wondering why don't they have the Kurds be the main or first boots on the ground instead of our military? The Kurds, they don't like the Iranian regime and they're dying to kick them out, too. Do you think they might send the Kurds in? Thank you.

Guest (Male): Yeah, William, a lot of the reporting has been that that is an angle that could take place. There was reporting that the CIA is already in talks with and mobilizing the Kurds at the time that some sort of ground invasion would be necessary. They're arming them as well as coordinating with them. That is one group that the CIA, both through the war on terror, through the war against ISIS, things of that nature, coordinated heavily with the Kurds because they are very pro-US.

They have been a persecuted minority both by Iraq, by the Turks, by the Iranians. All the countries that kind of surround them, there is a region that they would prefer to be their own country, being Kurdistan, that is in all three: Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. So kind of all three of those countries has a portion of it. They have been historically persecuted by people like Saddam Hussein, by the Ayatollah, even by Erdogan in Turkey. So they are a natural ally because one, they want their own independence. They also have very strong militias. The Peshmerga is a very well-known militia and fighting group that we heard a lot about during the wars and the conflict with ISIS. As ISIS began to expand their territory in Iraq, the Peshmerga were very brave and fought alongside the US in pushing back ISIS. That is an excellent thought. I believe that that is what a lot of the reporting leads to.

However, the air campaign is still not concluded. They are still going after places where they can launch their drones, where they can launch their missiles.

Logan Sekulow: To jump in on that, I think this timeline that has sort of loosely been floated by Pete Hegseth and by Donald Trump is maybe confusing people a little, that it's not over. They do keep almost saying we're almost there, or it's almost completed, or it's concluded. Sure, they have not said it's completely concluded, but I feel like people think, "Oh, we're wrapping this up." Every time that it feels like we're wrapping up this entanglement, something kind of more extreme happens.

Guest (Male): Well, they also say that, but then at the same time say today is the biggest bombing we've ever done. They are kind of saying both things. That's what I'm saying. It's confusing. I think really what everyone should go back to is the War Powers Act even discussed, that there's a 60-day timeline of engagement without any congressional approval. I think that has always been the more likely, the 60 days plus another 30, so up to 90 days of the withdrawal period where there can still be engagement.

Even if they don't try and seek some sort of extension, the fact that everyone was already calling it a forever war before the first week was over was comical but also political spin. The reality is this is a very capable nation-state when it comes to the military and defense apparatus that they had, not only with the regular army but also with the IRGC, the Quds Force, all of these different sections of their military and intelligence state are very capable and have been for a long time. It is different than even going after the Taliban in Afghanistan where that was much more an insurgent style, much less capable government structure as well as the military there. This is a completely different animal as it would be in fighting a nation-state that has these capabilities.

Logan Sekulow: I want to state there's some of this breaking news happening right now. President Trump is yet to go to the press conference, but he did just issue a statement about Susie Wiles, his Chief of Staff who has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. He put out a statement saying she’ll be remaining in the role and has an excellent prognosis. But she is cited to take on this challenge immediately, it says, as opposed to waiting. Again, it's not something that usually we discuss or we break here, but it is sort of the news of the day. It just happened as President Trump is now entering. I think they waited, let him put out that statement. Now he is entering the press conference that is about to occur. And she is seated right next to the President and then Rick Grenell is just seated to her immediate left. So she is in that room. They obviously put that statement out.

Again, one of the things about President Trump, you know that these things are always planned in a moment. So he was 10 minutes late to this. Why was he 10 minutes late? They were putting out this statement through Truth Social announcing that she has early stage of breast cancer. Of course, our prayers to her and her family and to everyone, but seems like good spirits and seems to be continuing in her position as the Chief of Staff, being remarkably strong in that. That is no easy job, to say the least, certainly in this administration. I'm sure it is not the everyday job that people are used to.

With that, phone lines are open for you. We're heading into a break and when we get back, we're going to be joined by one of our ACLJ attorneys. President Trump is speaking right now, so we're going to review those and make sure if there are comments that we're going to pull them and we’ll go to it live if we need to. But in our next segment, the work of the ACLJ continues. When I talk about the incredible work of the ACLJ, sometimes it means the worldwide effort. We did Global Impact Week last week. We talked about the work that we're doing overseas and a lot of times it is life-saving endeavors happening on a mass scale with the UN. We have our European Center, the ACLJ Jerusalem. But sometimes, you've got to go back to what brought you here. The ACLJ has been supporting the rights of children who just simply want to either proclaim their faith, share their faith in public places, who have had those rights defended successfully over the last nearly 40 years here at the ACLJ.

Every so often there is some school board or some teacher or some principal that decides that they are going to go above the law and they're going to violate the rights of our students. The ACLJ jumps in. When we get back, we're going to be joined by one of our ACLJ attorneys, Christy Cammiade, who is going to discuss the second time that this has happened now to the same student over the course of a handful of years. You're not going to want to miss this. And of course, if you feel like you have a student in your life that's having this same issue, maybe you're a teacher having these issues, you can always get the help of the ACLJ at absolutely no cost to you at ACLJ.org. You just click the help button. If you want to be part of it because you want to support people like this, go to ACLJ.org, make your donation today, and have your gift doubled during the Double Your Impact Drive. Do it today. We'll be right back.

Logan Sekulow: 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/impact.

Narrator: Right now your most sacred rights are under attack. Your right to free speech, your right to worship, your right to educate your children the way you choose. If successful, these attacks will have a destructive impact on the future of our Republic. We're fighting in courtrooms across the country to have a lasting impact, defending and upholding our values that this nation was founded on. From protecting the rights of kids to pray and share their faith, the best thing you can do is take a stand. There's nothing too small. A kid who wants to start a Bible club is how the ACLJ got its first case to the US Supreme Court. Today we would take that case as long as we needed to. Every victory makes a major impact and it's only possible because of the support of ACLJ members and champions. This is your opportunity to double your impact to defend freedom for you, your children, and generations to come. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax-deductible donation doubled today.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. Christy, one of our attorneys here at the ACLJ, is joining us right now. I always like to focus at least one segment a day if we can, especially when we are during these really special moments, these special months where we're able to offer these matching challenges. This is the Double Your Impact Drive right now. If you give any donation, it is automatically doubled. How that happens is there are ACLJ members and champions, of course, champions are those that give monthly, that are ready to unlock their matching donation. When you give $20, it effectively becomes $40, so on and so forth. We do this because the ACLJ operates at absolutely no cost to the client.

Sometimes those clients come back around because if you are proclaiming the gospel, if you are talking about your faith, if you are keeping that seriously, sometimes you make a few people mad. Sometimes you make them mad a few times in your life and sometimes that happens when you're a kid. We know there are some great, proud, loud students that want to proclaim the gospel.

Guest (Male): That's right. I'm actually looking at a blog on ACLJ.org from March of 2022. Four years ago to the month, we had a second-grade student who was, we always talk about you don't abandon your rights at the schoolhouse door. Well, that's exactly where the administration was conducting a search of this second-grader's backpack. We were able to have a victory for this second-grader at the time, Christy, who was being searched before going into school not for any illicit material but for gospel tracts or Christian materials. Got a victory there, but hold on. Now four years later, she's having a similar issue. Give us some background on this client and what's going on.

Christy Cammiade: So, this sweetest client of mine back in '22, when she was just a second grader, had such a heart to want to share the gospel that she would bring gospel tracts with her and before school and after school and at recess, she would share those with her schoolmates. She was stopped by the principal when she was coming in and her backpack was searched and they would remove those tracts because they did not want her sharing her faith with the other students.

At the time, we stepped in, we sent a demand letter, a pretty harsh demand letter to the school district and they came back being like, "Oh, we're so sorry. Please, please, please don't do anything here. We will immediately remedy this. This will never happen as long as she is not disrupting class time when she's sending out the tracts."

Fast forward now to her as a sixth grader. She's a bit more vocal and outgoing and she is also passing these tracts out before school, after school, during lunch and recess. She's not interrupting the school day and she was pulled out of her math class by the vice principal and told she cannot do this anymore.

She then said to the principal, "Well, what about all of the students who just had an ICE protest through the middle of the hallways that really did disrupt classes?" The principal told her, "Well, that was just their opinion. This is religious speech and you can't do it." Our client then asked even further, "Well, what about my Christian club? You haven't approved my Christian club." And they said, "No, you're not going to get approved for that either."

Guest (Male): And Christy, once again, this is the same school district, different school obviously at this point from second grade to sixth grade. It's remarkable to me, one, we get a victory in the same district, which you would think at that point the district would have put a bulletin out to every administration, "Hey, we have a law firm that is very capable of taking this on, that has made sure and we are making sure everyone knows you cannot violate someone's constitutional rights like this." We will find out what the case is obviously, but it's even also to me how high up this ends up going always, that it's an administrator that's searching a second-grader's backpack or pulling a sixth-grader out of class.

Then the other twist is always the things they're willing to tell their students. Not just, we’ll deal with this later but just don't do it. But no, the opinion of the students is fine, but as long as you're bringing your religion here, I don't care what the First Amendment says, that's not going to fly at our school. Obviously I'm paraphrasing, but that just always shocks me what they're willing to vocalize about these things when you would think they would know at this point in time, this is 2026, what the Constitution says and what their role as an administrator in those schools is.

Christy Cammiade: These are vice principals and principals. We know that they are required to go through training about the First Amendment. But yet, yes, they're saying that it is offensive to somebody that you want to talk to them about Jesus. But yet, yes, an ICE protest which arguably is also very offensive depending on how it's done, that is okay and we're going to allow people to be offended for that, but not when you want to talk about Jesus. This is just highly unconstitutional. There is no way to argue that it isn't. I mean, this is classic student's rights. They don't lose them at the door.

Guest (Male): Well, and once again we already have a victory with this same school district. We are thankful that we got a victory for this student four years ago, but kind of what are our next steps here? They fortunately know they can come to us at any time with no cost to them to defend their rights, but what's kind of our next steps for this student as she moves forward?

Christy Cammiade: Her parents are really trying to get this resolved with a demand letter. So we're going to attach the agreement from the original time that we sent in a demand letter where they promised this wouldn't happen to a new demand letter. But at this point, the teeth are strong that we have a lawsuit ready and raring to go because the minute the school district pushes back, we've got to go into court. We've got to fight for this child's rights. So we're getting ready to prepare that complaint along with that demand letter just in case.

Logan Sekulow: Very good. Look, with the ACLJ team, I think you want to understand that sure, it would be great to handle these things with demand letters and I know sometimes it doesn't sound as fun because you're like, "Oh, we don't get to go to court. You don't get to have the whole process, the years-long battle." It is why, though, we've been at this for 40 years almost at this point, because the ACLJ team, they know what the rules are. We have been part of creating the laws that have been set in place to protect these students.

So often we are able to kind of gently or not so gently remind a school board, remind a principal, these are the rights of the students, they can handle it, we can get it done, and often they don't want to go to battle in court. Now, there are times, and it feels like more and more recently, Christy, that that has not been the case, where there have been times now where those court battles have started to heat back up.

Christy Cammiade: You're exactly right. So what a lot of these schools are doing is they're being bold and they want to go into court and then we're actually having to take the case all the way home until we get a settlement. So a lot of the demand letters are falling on deaf ears. They are not reacting to them like they used to and so we are getting ready to gear up for court and it's going to be a fight if they don't respond to this demand letter. All bets are off, we've got to go hard.

Logan Sekulow: And that is why the ACLJ team, especially during these months, I want to have the best of the best always available. Christy and her team, of course, Jordan and his team, everyone who is operating on the legal side of the ACLJ, I want to make sure we have the best of the best available to these students, all the way up to presidents and leaders of these countries and to the UN and all the different places. Again, if you are an individual student or you are potentially the leader of the free world, we want to make sure that you have the same level of incredible legal team.

And of course, it's at no cost to those students, no cost to those parents because people like you have decided to donate and support. During these special moments I always like to talk about it and those are the months that we need to really push hard. So I need you to, if you can, give financially at ACLJ.org today. You can double your impact. It's the Double Your Impact Drive. We couldn't have made it easier for you to understand. If you give, whatever you give is effectively doubled and tax-deductible of course, by another incredible ACLJ donor and champion ready to unlock their donation today.

Scan the QR code that you see on your screen or go to ACLJ.org. If you don't get us on terrestrial radio, some stations don't pick us up for the full hour, get the rest of the hour on ACLJ.org right now, YouTube, or Rumble. We are there. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow in less than a minute.

Narrator: Right now your most sacred rights are under attack. Your right to free speech, your right to worship, your right to educate your children the way you choose. If successful, these attacks will have a destructive impact on the future of our Republic. We're fighting in courtrooms across the country to have a lasting impact. Every victory makes a major impact and it's only possible because of the support of ACLJ members and champions. This is your opportunity to double your impact to defend freedom. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax-deductible donation doubled today.