SEKULOW

Guest (Male): We have breaking news. President Trump issues a chilling warning hours before the deadline in Iran.

Guest (Male): 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.

Logan Sekulow: Good morning, folks. It's Logan Sekulow. Will Haines is joining me. Jordan's going to be joining us as well. Rick Grenell. Packed show, packed show, but taking your calls. Obviously, many of you, maybe you were dropping your kids off at school like I was, looked down, got an alert on your phone. Oh, President Trump's posted. What could it be today? And probably the most threatening and maybe chilling post President Trump has made.

This comes obviously on the heels of his Easter Sunday post, which was sort of the profanity-laced threat. This one begins a bit differently. It begins with, again, this is quoting President Trump who posted this at around 8:00 AM this morning: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." That's the opening line of President Trump's post on Truth Social.

"I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionary and wonderful can happen. Who knows?" In all caps: "We will find out tonight. One of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran."

Folks, this is a very serious threat obviously from President Trump. Now we know that he is a tough negotiator who makes these kind of statements, maybe not this extreme. We've been talking about it in the studio or before the show today, and it's like, well, if this works, I guess good job President Trump for ending this conflict.

If it does not work though, then you are calling for a whole civilization to die tonight, never to be brought back. That is very strong rhetoric. That is rhetoric I don't think a lot of people are super comfortable with when you're not referring to the government. When you start using words like civilization, you start inferring civilians. What do you think? 1-800-684-3110.

He also very quickly says that we have complete and total regime change. Again, changing the narrative a little bit to what regime change means. I think this has been a sticking point for people like me who wanted to see a true regime change in Iran. When we start claiming that we have total regime change just by replacing members within the same government, that is not the same as a free Iran.

It's okay for this to stress you out quite a bit. They are now saying that that timeline is 8:00 PM Eastern Time tonight to meet this moment and make a deal with the United States. That is from the White House. Let's talk about it, folks. Let's get into it. I want to hear from you. I want to know your thoughts on this. When you woke up this morning and you read this, do you think this is a negotiation tool? Do you think this is a threat? Do you think this is something President Trump is willing to do to bring a whole civilization not just to their knees? The quote is: "A whole civilization will die tonight." That is not the kind of words you usually hear from an American president, but he is dealing with a government that is not as easy to deal with as typical American presidents.

Will Haines: That's right. We will discuss this at length. Jordan's joining us in the next segment as well as Rick Grenell later in the broadcast. I think it's also key to break down what some of these words mean. What does civilization mean? Because your first thought goes to, that sounds almost like a genocide. That sounds as apocalyptic as you can imagine.

Also, he has been referring to today, Tuesday, as bridges and power plants day. If he's also talking about the civilization in the context of what the Islamic Republic has built for 47 years—all the logistics, all of their infrastructure—bringing that and completely wiping it out needing to be rebuilt as something different, not the Islamic Republic, that has meaning as well. That also would include a lot of loss of civilian life.

Logan Sekulow: When you say will die tonight, I don't think you're referring to bridges. That's not how I take it. What about you? This is an important conversation. Maybe one of the most important conversations we will have on this broadcast. Give me a call. 1-800-684-3110. Throw it in the chat. Hit that like, thumbs up. Let's get this conversation rolling. I want to hear from you. Let me know where you're watching from in the chat. We're going to have my brother Jordan joining us in the next segment. We got a lot coming in. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.

Jay Sekulow: Let's be honest. There's a lot happening in America right now. It can be overwhelming. Our values, our faith, our freedoms—they're constantly being challenged in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill. You might worry about the country you'll leave behind for your kids or your grandkids. You might feel you have no say over it. But your voice has power. You make a difference.

Right now, when you support the work of the ACLJ, you'll make double the difference. Our legal teams are fighting in courtrooms across the country, defending your rights to speak, to pray, even how to educate your kids. Right now, when you go to ACLJ.org/difference, your tax-deductible gift will be doubled dollar-for-dollar to defend your most essential liberties. You're not just supporting the critical work of the ACLJ, you're doubling your impact to defend the rights given to us by the U.S. Constitution. Double the difference. Go to ACLJ.org/double today.

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: Welcome back to Sekulow. My brother Jordan's joining us in studio. Will Haines is here obviously as well. Later on, Rick Grenell will be with us. Phone lines are rapidly filling up. We will get to your comments. A lot of people have a lot of things to say.

Obviously, to reset, President Trump made a very direct, maybe his most direct and blunt post, and that's saying a lot when we're talking about President Trump, who just over the weekend had the profanity-laced Easter message where you both were going after Islam, going after a lot of things.

This one specifically is about the timeline. The White House has issued a specific statement saying that 8:00 PM Eastern Time tonight is the timeline to reach a deal. Again, that post began with: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." That is from President Trump. He then says, "I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."

Jordan Sekulow: One thing I'm trying to devise from this message and the way it ends too, is because then he goes to talk about the 47 years of the corruption, the death, the extortion by the Islamic Republic since the revolution. Is it the civilization he is talking about? The Islamic revolution? Because he ends with: "God bless the great people of Iran."

Is he saying because of the extent of their conduct that the nation of Iran will be destroyed because of what we are going to have to do because of their radical leaders? I think you can read it both ways. I think you can read it one way saying this is the end of the Islamic Republic. That might be the nicest way of reading it because he says, "God bless the great people of Iran." Or you could read it as this is the complete and total destruction of the Persian people as we know it who are still living in what is known as Iran or the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Will Haines: Well, and I think to Jordan's point as well, I think the word civilization, when you think about the content of it, we do typically think of the people. But the civilization means what the people have built. I think to that point, when you talk about the fall of the Roman Empire, you talk about the death of that civilization. These are rhetorical things that are said. This isn't like he created the term "the civilization will die tonight."

You've talked about him also talking about taking them back to the Stone Age. To me, that is reading it as the technology, the infrastructure of the entire nation. The civilized part of the world, which is that we have running water and electricity. Now, with that as well, even if that is the meaning, even if it means they have no logistics on the ground, that means food is disrupted, power is disrupted, clean water is disrupted. There will be a very negative effect on the Iranian people, even if he is talking about civilization as the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Jordan Sekulow: If it does occur, and he still says he hopes it won't, he hopes they will agree to open the strait and protect it from being shot at, let the vessels go through—which, by the way, does not mean the conflict is over. It just means we're not going to take out the power and the bridges and that the strait reopens, which should bring oil prices down and some stability to that for the rest of the world, and you too, because if you're like any of us and you had to refill the last few days, it's hitting three digits, especially if you drive an SUV like some many Americans do. Tennessee, we're in Tennessee, and it's over $4. That's a lot for a low-tax state and a very red state.

I think, as Will said, civilization can be the means of civilization, kind of like what's happening in Cuba where there's no power and light, but this is on a much bigger scale. 90 million people. Then the question goes to, Logan and Will, what you said. The Iranian people have said for years, they've held up signs in English. You don't do that unless you're talking to us basically in the Western world, but they know the number one leader of the world who speaks English is America.

They have been saying, "Come help us." If this is what it takes, are they willing, the people there, to go through the hardship of the power and the water and the loss of life potentially to change not just a regime by name, by like which ayatollah is in, but by taking down the Islamic Republic and turning it back into an Iran that we have never experienced in our lifetime, but that anybody who was old enough to know Iran in the 60s and 70s knew it was the most progressive country in that region of the world?

Logan Sekulow: I do have that. That is what I've said. The first line is obviously very disturbing when you hear a whole civilization will die tonight. I think one of the things that is maybe a little bit more disheartening is President Trump already saying that we have complete and total regime change, which he has been saying now for multiple days. Understand, like you said, it's different people in these positions, but it's not a different government.

Jordan Sekulow: He says it's regime change because they're scared. You go down a different level and they're not as radicalized. There have been other reports though, that you go down a different level and if you're a second and third generation, tell that to ISIS. If you're a second-third generation, you're close to our age. This is all you've known. If your family has been the leaders of this, you're going to fight because you're at the top of the food chain, right? You're probably just as extreme as the guy we killed before, maybe more so.

That's why I'm saying, does it, to say this civilization—and again, this is trying to interpret President Trump. Now listen, I've spent a lot of time with him, so I think I'm somewhat of an expert in it. You can interpret it both ways. This Islamic Republic civilization is done tonight if they don't open the strait. It's a pretty easy ask, by the way. We are not asking Iran to stop the conflict or that if you fire at Israel, we're going to take down your bridges or if you fire at our troops. It's to let the free flow of goods go through while this conflict continues and we try to get to some kind of end point.

Will Haines: There's the other way to look at this as well. That's the madman theory that was popularized by Richard Nixon trying to bring about an end to the war in Vietnam. It wasn't successful for Richard Nixon, but we know that it was for Ronald Reagan. We also know that through Roger Stone, through a lot of the people he has built his entire political career around, comes from that Nixonian background.

That kind of the madman theory basically says your adversaries don't know if you're crazy enough to do what you said. He's talked about that. He even talked about how John Bolton, no friend of his, was good in the room because of this madman theory of with world leaders. He's talked about this when he was running again. Like, "I don't like the guy, he's crazy, but he was good to have in the room because the world leaders see him and they go, that's the guy that will just go in and say let's bomb your country."

There is that other way to look at this, as people say, he knows he's speaking to an audience. Here's what we know. We'll know in six hours.

Logan Sekulow: I would say this too. The fact that this is an administration that has Pete Hegseth as Secretary of War and renaming it, and has got rid of a lot of military leaders the past 24 hours even—some top leaders and some next down—and Tulsi Gabbard, who works with, who has a very different view and President's acknowledged that.

A lot of people said she must be on the way out. And the White House actually said no. She's still briefing the President every single day on intelligence issues. He's admitted that she does have a different view. So like you said with Bolton and all that, when you yourself put out this message and your adversaries see you've got a Tulsi Gabbard advising you in the morning with your intelligence briefing, you got a Pete Hegseth running your Secretary of War.

It's really tough to make a—like you said, the theory is tough because you really can't—you want to play like chicken with him on this? See if he's bluffing? Because as we talked about before the show, Logan, I think it's fair to say, you can't say this and then 8:00 PM comes and if the strait's not open—unless you've got a deal that they've agreed to negotiate opening the strait, something like that—you have to hit the bridges now and the infrastructure. Or your madman theory has failed and you've now lost your biggest chip.

He did think this was going to work with Putin and it did not. Remember, Putin did not pull back out of Ukraine because of the theory of what would Donald Trump do. In fact, it's been kind of the opposite there.

Will Haines: And as we know also that it has been so successful in Iran and the fact that on the very first day of this war, they took out the ayatollah. That was something that had been kind of hands-off for all sort of military operations, even the United States even telling Israel in previous things, "Don't go after the ayatollah."

They've known where he was, so much for Israel controlling us as they like to say. We were able to say no in your previous conflicts with Iran, "Don't take out the ayatollah. We don't want to destabilize it to that point." Now we are here in the very first day they took out the leader.

Logan Sekulow: I know things are serious when my nine-year-old daughter comes to me about it, because I try to shield her from a lot of the news because of some of the statements, but also you don't want to live around war. But we talked about the pilot who was shot down and the rescue, some of these positive things. She's asking now, what is world war? What does that mean? Are we at war? I said we're at war. She's like, but they're not here. I was like, well, that's the one thing nice about being the United States of America is that usually we're not the ones having to get hit, but our troops are.

Look, we'll be back in 20 seconds. We'll be taking a quick break. Just get online. A few lines opened up. 1-800-684-3110. We do want to hear from you. Again, 1-800-684-3110. I'll take some calls here in the next segment. Again, support the work of the ACLJ right now during the double the difference drive at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back.

Jay 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/freedom.

Let's be honest. There's a lot happening in America right now. It can be overwhelming. Our values, our faith, our freedoms—they're constantly being challenged in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill. You might worry about the country you'll leave behind for your kids or your grandkids. You might feel you have no say over it. But your voice has power. You make a difference.

Right now, when you support the work of the ACLJ, you'll make double the difference. Our legal teams are fighting in courtrooms across the country, defending your rights to speak, to pray, even how to educate your kids. Right now, when you go to ACLJ.org/difference, your tax-deductible gift will be doubled dollar-for-dollar to defend your most essential liberties.

You're not just supporting the critical work of the ACLJ, you're doubling your impact to defend the rights given to us by the U.S. Constitution. Double the difference. Go to ACLJ.org/double today.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. We are going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. There are a lot of calls coming in that we should absolutely take. I want to take this one first. I think this is a really interesting call from Kim. She's watching on YouTube in Michigan. Kim, welcome to Sekulow. You're on the air.

Kim: Thank you. I wanted to make note of something that I thought of. I know that President Trump has said something very extreme, but we don't necessarily know what is being said and stated behind closed doors. We know there are bad actors in our own nation that they are in touch with. We know that they slaughtered tens of thousands of their own people. President Trump may very well have said something that is proportionate to what they are threatening.

Logan Sekulow: We do know Iran puts out a lot of propaganda that's absurd. Like it'll be the White House exploding and they don't even have the capability. It'll be a missile coming in. They don't even have that missile yet, and we know that. They will put out a lot of propaganda that is not even technically possible, that is intense and is more just kind of, this is how much we hate America. This is what we ultimately want to do to you is destroy you all.

When they do it and it doesn't happen, it's not like they've lost credibility. Here's why. They're still going to fund Hezbollah. They're still going to shoot at our troops as they did even when we were both fighting ISIS because ISIS was anti-Shia Muslims as well. That's how we got Soleimani, was that he was on the ground there in those battles.

They have shown that while their rhetoric does not match their actions, they will still take actions which are very deadly and they will target and kill Americans when they can. My side is this: the US, we don't do crazy propaganda. So when we say we can do it, we have to follow through or get the deal.

Will Haines: Well, we have been doing it. Our people are there. It's not like there's not bombings happening. But you know what I mean. If we say we're going to do this to you if you don't do this, we kind of have to do it to you. One of the updates you may have missed from last night is the Kharg Island update, which was being hit pretty dramatically overnight.

That was the island where a lot of their refineries and kind of the hub of their oil and gas industry in Iran is. It's a financial center of the Iranian regime. Something President Trump had been very wary of attacking up until this point because of Russia's impact on Russia and China. Almost as a precursor to what could come tonight, they started attacking. Dozens of attacks hit it very hard.

I think we should hear this. This is Bret Baier before he went on air. He had just gotten off the phone with the President. This isn't the President speaking, but this is his reporting on the call he had just had with the President related to the post this morning. This is Bret Baier.

Guest (Male): I just got off the phone with the President and he called. I said, listen, if you were to put odds on it, what were the odds that this is going to end up being a negotiated deal? He said he wasn't going to put odds on it, but he said 8:00 PM is happening. That's what he said. He said it is, if we get to that point, there is going to be an attack like they have not seen. He's sticking to that at this point. Now he said if negotiations move forward today and there is something concrete, that could change. But at this hour, he didn't want to put odds on it, but he said it is moving forward with the plans that we have.

Logan Sekulow: So I think what you look for today, what I get from that and I think he obviously shared that with Bret Baier to get that to the American people, is that if Iran were to—and if there's someone in Iran that even has the power to make sure this could get done—but if there's someone in Iran who could say a 24-hour ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz, so any of the vessels should be able to go through peacefully. Doesn't matter what country they're flagged, as long as they're there legally, like normal operations. I think the President's just opened the door to calling it off based off that.

The question is, is there someone in Iran right now that has the power to actually make sure those ships are going to be safe as they pass through the strait? Would you want to trust the IRGC? The agreement has to come from the IRGC. They have to be the ones that say, okay, total the military—the regular Iranian military and the IRGC will not be actively engaging any vessels that are legally passing through the strait as they would have before.

That would include American vessels and European vessels for X period of time. That I think would stop whatever this 8:00 PM total destruction is. I think it could be that small. I'm not saying for like weeks. I think it could be 24-48 hours. But as you heard from the President, and our complication there is, who can even guarantee that?

I want to take this call before we head to break. This is the end of our first half hour. It's flown by. A lot of you are on hold, but I do think there's quite a few of you who have called or commented that you're concerned and you're worried about what's going to happen tonight. Obviously, we're praying for the people of Iran as well. Pray for our troops. Pray for America, too. Let's go to Cliff in Illinois, who is an ACLJ champion, by the way. That's someone that gives monthly, which we appreciate so much. Cliff, go ahead.

Cliff: Yes, getting right to it is that I am on pins and needles. I think that everyone in the audience there really should be praying for the leadership, for President Trump and all those in harm's way, that this is really God's will. I mean, I really don't know. That's why I don't get paid the big bucks and be in there.

Logan Sekulow: Cliff, I think there's no reason for you to not feel that way. I think a lot of us woke up with—you read a post like this and it creates sort of a pit in your stomach and you go, "Oh, what are we doing here? Is this what we should be doing?" That's why we're having this discussion.

That's why this hour is not dedicated to "here's our point of view exclusively." We understand that a lot of people have different points of view and that a lot of you read something like this and are concerned. You're concerned for civilians, you're concerned for people in general, because you're good God-fearing people around the world who, when you wake up to a post from the President essentially saying tonight is going to be the end of a civilization that can never return, I don't care what it follows that, there is always going to be that moment of reflection.

Will Haines: And I think this is also important to bring up for Cliff as well and who to be praying for specifically on the ground in Iran. The IRGC is sending parents and kids to the power plants to form human chains there. Human shields. There's some imagery that we're showing now. That's out of state media from Iran, by the way. They are getting them there.

Whenever you see these type of demonstrations in Iran, they are forced to do them. It's a propaganda thing, so they put flags of the Islamic Republic in their hand and they make them wave them because they have family members that they're threatening to kill. They have also called on all young people—athletes, artists, students, university students—and their professors to form these human chains as Jordan said, it's human shields.

It's the same tactic Hamas uses, their proxy in Gaza, and Hezbollah. They create human shields because they're cowards and they want the PR win because they don't care about their people. They only care about making the United States look bad. They're putting them at the places that they know are targets for a reason, because they want them to die. And the IDF issued a statement saying stay off the trains, urgent warning, do not travel by train across Iran. So that's another piece of their infrastructure, the railways.

Logan Sekulow: That being said, second half hour is coming up. We're going to continue this conversation. I want you to be a part of it. Phone lines are jammed right now, they'll open up, but also if you don't get us for the full hour or you're listening to this later on, find the full show always at ACLJ.org, YouTube, Rumble, however you get your podcast. We are there, but we're live every day from 12:00 to 1:00 PM Eastern Time. You can find all the different sources at ACLJ.org. Salem News Channel. Again, we are available at no cost wherever you are because people like you support. We'll be right back.

Jay Sekulow: There's a lot happening in America right now. Our values, our faith, our freedoms are being challenged in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill. You might feel like you have no say over it, but you make a difference.

Right now you can make double the difference. Our legal teams are fighting across the country, defending your rights to speak, pray, and even how to educate your kids. Join the fight. Go to ACLJ.org/double to have your gift doubled today.