SEKULOW

Announcer: Today on Sekulow, we have breaking news. Time runs out for Iran as President Trump weighs more strikes. 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.

Will Haynes: Welcome to Sekulow. Will Haynes here, joined in studio by Jordan Sekulow and Logan Sekulow will be joining us momentarily as well. But we've got some breaking news as we said in the tease if you heard it. The United States has been trading fire with Iran overnight. This comes after the Iranians brought down an Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. The report is that it was an Iranian drone that didn't explode and we are thankful for that, but lodged in the helicopter. Both of the members of the army, it was an army helicopter, were able to get out of the helicopter safely. They were rescued by a Navy drone boat.

Jordan Sekulow: I know.

Will Haynes: All of this sounds like a movie when you hear it. But they were rescued by a Navy drone boat. The United States struck Iran about 20 sites overnight. The Iranians then responded by firing at the bases in Bahrain, in Jordan and in Kuwait as a retaliation to our retaliation. So the back and forth is starting to pick back up. We have a post from President Trump on Truth Social that says, "Iran's military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn't even exist anymore. They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk, no action. The bully of the Middle East is dead. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them. Now, they will have to pay the price." And he just moments ago as he's signing a bill in the Oval Office, had this to say folks, bringing it to you just moments ago. Bite five.

Reporter: This morning about Iran and he said that they've taken too long to get to a deal. I want to make sure I quote you correctly. You said now they will have to pay the price. What did you mean by that specifically?

President Trump: Well, we're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard.

Reporter: Are we assuming bombing?

President Trump: Yeah, well, we are. Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that. You know, they shut down a very uh, very incredible, actually an incredible machine and uh, at first they said they didn't do it, then they admitted they did it. Sort of easy because we have the we have the bomb. We actually have the bomb. We got very lucky that bomb didn't explode. That bomb was lodged in the helicopter. It didn't explode. It was on fire, but it didn't explode. So those two guys, they knew how to fly, but they got very lucky. And uh then we had the unmanned boat going very, very fast at speeds that you wouldn't want to go. That's why it's unmanned, I guess because nobody can go in that. But uh they rescued. So the both both people are fortunately, the pilots are okay.

Will Haynes: Jordan, we see this. We see the back and forth. We hear now a lot of people have been calling for the President to finish the job. It seems like we may be close to that as we are thankful that our members of the military were okay. But once again, this is a ceasefire and they got hit by a drone that fortunately did not explode.

Jordan Sekulow: Right, I want to address when we get back to this whole media narrative that somehow Netanyahu with the Prime Minister of Israel and President Trump are in some kind of tiffed over who said what when because when you actually put together the timeline of what happened uh very early, I think it was 5:00 a.m. was the first broadcast out of uh out of Jerusalem by an American news source. And so again, I'll be able to walk you through why this was not what the news is trying to create. There is not this uh massive, you know, gulf uh that is dividing both uh the IDF of course, and uh the other countries who are looking to harm us. So again, 1-800-684-3110 if you want to talk to us on air. That's 1-800-684-3110. And will, I know there's a lot to get done too.

Will Haynes: That's right. And we have Rick Grenell joining us later in the broadcast. Logan actually will be stepping in. I see him in the control room. He will be stepping in for the next segment. So stick around, go ahead and hit the like button. Get this out to as many people as possible and call us if you want to speak to us on air. Do you think that this back and forth is foreshadowing of what is to come? That this ceasefire is done and that the United States will take decisive action against Iran. I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. And support the work of the ACLJ by going to aclj.org. We'll be right back.

Announcer: The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, and our constitutional rights 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.

Announcer: Welcome to the all-new ACLJ app. Expert analysis and insight Big Tech can't censor. Customize your news and get real-time alerts on the issues you care about. Advocacy is now at your fingertips. Take action, make a difference. Support the causes you care about with just one tap. Be the first to know. Breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox. Everything you need, all in one place. Stay informed, stay empowered, download today. We are so excited to announce the ACLJ's brand new app. Completely redesigned to provide you with the best tools available to partner with us at the ACLJ. You can watch the daily Sekulow program. Sign the petitions. Customize your ACLJ membership experience. Donate with the click of a button and receive up-to-the-minute critical updates that the mainstream media can't censor. Just scan the QR code on your screen or go to your phone's app store. Search ACLJ and click install. It's that simple.

Will Haynes: Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Uh sorry about that. You know, dropping your kids off. Sometimes they got camp in the summer. Things get delayed. We were about, you know, about an hour from here. So you know, things got a little pushed back. But at the same time, President Trump just now making a lot of statements saying, we're going to hit hard Iran again today. I mean, I think the idea of a ceasefire is long gone. The idea of coming up with a deal even seems to be gone.

Jordan Sekulow: What I see here, when I read these words carefully, these are words, I know you to say President Trump, he talks in these simple terms. What he did was, he used the uh Iranian regime's kind of language and turned it on them. I'll just give you that example. Uh not just the defeated part. Let's start with the bully. The bully of the Middle East is dead. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them. Now they will have to pay the price. I mean, right there, if you put that in Farsi, it would sound like it was coming from a religious cleric or the military.

Will Haynes: Yeah, it feels like uh yeah, Middle Eastern wartime.

Jordan Sekulow: I mean this is about as strong as you can say before you know, troops are on the ground.

Will Haynes: Well, and once again, I think what you're seeing as well is that, you know, it's one thing to say that the scuffle between uh Israel hitting Hezbollah and Iran saying that violates the ceasefire and the back and forth. That's one thing. It is different when a United States Army helicopter is patrolling the Strait of Hormuz and they shoot a drone at it. Now, we are very thankful that that bomb did not explode the explosive within it.

Jordan Sekulow: I actually think we need to clarify that. And I know we did talk a little bit about in the first segment, but I was listening to this because we were even discussing before. We heard down helicopter. I think when you hear down helicopter, sadly, you automatically assume loss of life, a lot of things happened.

Will Haynes: Helicopters are a cumbersome technology. Even if they are a great technology, they aerodynamically should not be able to fly.

Jordan Sekulow: But thankfully, that's not what happened. Like you said, a drone with a bomb, I guess.

Will Haynes: So it's these one-way attack drones, the the Kamikaze drones, as they call them, uh that was launched by Iran. They have targeting. It went to a spot. It tried to uh hit a US helicopter. It became lodged in the helicopter and the warhead on it. The device did not explode. So we are very thankful because that would have been a different scenario. That would have been potentially talking about loss of life by two pilots of this helicopter in this Apache. Fortunately, it did not go off. They were able to evacuate the helicopter and went down into the Strait of Hormuz and were then picked up by a Navy drone boat. This is an unmanned boat that is able to go and pick them up. One, it's a lot safer by not sending then a vessel to do search and rescue. But also they were able to get there quicker.

Jordan Sekulow: Yeah, and I was saying.

Will Haynes: Yeah, President Trump was just saying that it's going at a speed that would be unsafe for humans to be on.

Jordan Sekulow: Which I I want to see that.

Will Haynes: I want to see the footage of this boat.

Jordan Sekulow: I know. So that's what they were just saying. This is once they pick them up, obviously, they adjust that speed. But to get to them is a very quick.

Jordan Sekulow: And you realize now the issue I can go back to Venezuela. And you think about the the boats we were busting there. That's what they that was what they had were still manned, but they work closely with Iran. Those I wouldn't imagine next is drug cartels utilizing those that technology, so that you can't ever capture who's behind it, which makes them allows them to keep uh producing. The the other part to this, and Will broke it down, you know, that that tift, Logan. Uh the mainstream media loves going at this. Uh he called Netanyahu said, don't respond. I think the timing was wrong on that. And I think you can tell it out from President Trump's remarks. I think they did have a conversation about, you know, if it's something small, let's not, you know, don't fire back. So what happens? Hezbollah fires first. Not Israel. Hezbollah fires first and then uh Israel responds to Hezbollah. They had no intention then of going into Iran. They had to defend their northern border from an attack. And yet while that's ongoing, Iran launches ICBMs at Israel. So if you woke up this morning or you were up a little later last night, you saw CNN and others break in to say the missiles are falling on Jerusalem again. But these were all defensive acts by Israel. None of this was offensive.

Will Haynes: And I think again, we have to re-frame the technological side of all of this because I think it's very easy for us to jump to even wartime, what a lot of us grew up. The War on Terror era, where you start thinking about those visuals. Tech has improved so much and it has changed so much. Again, we're talking about like when you said a drone boat, I'm like, what does that even mean? Because a drone to me is in air, but like a radio controlled boat. But now he's saying, oh, well, it's going at a speed that's unlike anything you like all of a sudden, your visuals of what wartime is, completely different.

Jordan Sekulow: Well, and once again, when you think about, you know, we were still uh the the uh war in the Middle East and Afghanistan just wrapped up. Uh unfortunately, in the way it did under the Biden administration. But that was still an ongoing situation. When you see just a few years in between that, what our technology is, it's like, did we have that in the Biden administration was just afraid to really destroy the Taliban because you think about even the Maduro raid. And you hear about the discombobulator. You think about the things that we have and can do with these drone boats, with the one-way drones that we reverse engineered from Iran that we used in this conflict. What was the strategy of our US military under the previous administration that we had to have such a disastrous pull out of that conflict. Now, I want to hear this. This is from President Trump. Bite six. And I want to contrast this with what a US senator just put up this morning on X. So let's go ahead and play bite six for everyone.

President Trump: No, look, I've been uh working with Iran for a number of months. And they shouldn't sign that deal. It's a good deal. It doesn't give them the right to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, it totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon. And it was just tap, tap, tap. I don't know what they're doing. So they then shot out a uh shot at our helicopter, very expensive helicopter by the way, but much more importantly, the two men, fortunately, they're okay. But uh an amazing rescue. If you ever get a clip, you'll you won't believe the rescue how cool it was. The equipment we have. Look, we have the strongest military in the world.

Will Haynes: One, I do also love that he is so impressed by our military the same as us. Right. It's like, if you see it, it's the coolest thing you'll ever see. Uh it's classified at the moment. But we look at this and it sounds in that that President Trump is almost resigned to the fact that the negotiations that he gave plenty of time for and received a lot of criticism from both the right and the left for having negotiations to try to end this. It sounds like he thinks those are over. That, you know, we gave him a chance. They're not going to take it. They're stringing us along. Here's what Chris Murphy said. Democrat from Connecticut this morning. Good morning. This is your daily reminder that the President has lost total control of the Iran war and thus has lost interest. He now only obsesses over his ballroom and schemes to profit off the presidency while gas and grocery prices soar.

Jordan Sekulow: These these messages, which I assume the the Senator didn't write this himself. This probably is his staffers or interns. But just the fact that it's so devoid of where anything was. He posts this today after overnight there were strikes on Iran because they shot down a helicopter. They only want to push a political narrative. It also shows you, they actually don't take this war that seriously because they're just going to keep making political messages about it. If they really were concerned about it becoming World War III or Forever War, they wouldn't be so um blasé with these statements that they'll put up that are saying like, well, he only obsesses over his ballroom, which isn't even in the in the like conversation today.

Will Haynes: With Chris Murphy.

Jordan Sekulow: Then why do you call these members of the DOD and others to testify? If you think this is uh total loss and the war and President doesn't care about it anymore and if that's true, then what are you doing with these congressional hearings about Iran? Why are you trying to uh grab our soldier? You senator just said, no purpose to it. So what would happen though next time if a a member of our military like a general uh did not want to show up in light of these statements? Are they going to put him in prison? I mean, think about those kind of questions. A lot of this material right now, I don't think any of it could be done uh publicly. It'd have to all be behind closed doors. And you don't do that to members of our military while there's an ongoing conflict.

Will Haynes: All right, hey, with that, I want you to call in. I want you to give us your thoughts on this. As we have seen now, you know, the talks, I feel like the last few weeks have all been about heading towards peace, headed towards a peace agreement. But things have changed rapidly in the last 24 hours, where now it feels like, though he's saying, you know, the deal is still available to them. It all but feels off the table at this point as of right now. How do you feel about that as the American people? Look, we know a lot of people who support President Trump do not support this war in Iran. We know a lot of people feel that this is not where what you voted for. How do you feel right now? Give us, you know, a bit of an idea. I'd love you to call in. You can also tell us in the chat, but let let me know. 1-800-684-3110. In the next segment, we're actually going to take quite a few calls about this. So if you want to be on the air, it's a good time to do it. You may not be on hold all that long. Greg will take you first coming up in the next segment. But again, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. And look, the work of the ACLJ continues, including our work overseas by the way. When you hear about wars like this, you hear about, look, we've worked actively in countries like Iran. We obviously work actively in Israel. We are involved really unlike any other organization, you know, on in these, you know, war zones to make sure that your voice is being heard, that your rights are being protected worldwide, that that the what you believe in is being stood up for. And we do that by having what we call ACLJ Champions. People that give on a monthly recurring donation. You could do that. It's really easy. You can opt in. Just go to aclj.org/champions. We can only stay in the fight with all the champions who stand behind us. And look, is only a small percentage of those that give. A lot of you give one time and look, God bless you. I appreciate that. But those of you that can, we encourage you to become a champion, be part of our, you know, group here and every month your donation will be automatically deducted. With that being said, you obviously can cancel at any time. Partner with us today at aclj.org/champions. Taking your calls when we get back.

Announcer: Welcome to the all-new ACLJ app. Expert analysis and insight Big Tech can't censor. Customize your news and get real-time alerts on the issues you care about. Advocacy is now at your fingertips. Take action, make a difference. Support the causes you care about with just one tap. Be the first to know. Breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox. Everything you need, all in one place. Stay informed, stay empowered, download today. We are so excited to announce the ACLJ's brand new app. Completely redesigned to provide you with the best tools available to partner with us at the ACLJ. You can watch the daily Sekulow program. Sign the petitions. Customize your ACLJ membership experience. Donate with the click of a button and receive up-to-the-minute critical updates that the mainstream media can't censor. Just scan the QR code on your screen or go to your phone's app store. Search ACLJ and click install. It's that simple.

Announcer: The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, and our constitutional rights 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 Haynes: Welcome back to Sekulow. Look, President Trump's been making a lot of statements this morning. So I want to make sure you have the latest. This is a, we're going to kick things off with some sound from President Trump. And then we're going to take your phone calls. A lot of you are calling in right now. Give us a second because our phone screener is doing some double duty right now, making sure we get the sound from President Trump and also that we get to your calls. So stay on hold if you're on hold. But let's start off with President Trump. This was just moments ago about the situation unfolding in Iran right now as we are hitting back pretty strongly as we speak.

President Trump: So, we'll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them again hard today, in case you missed it. In case you don't turn on your television set. And uh we'll see what happens with the deal. We were we're really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us to suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid presidents.

Will Haynes: Of course, President Trump the only only in the way he can say it. But look, we are at a point where President Trump, you could say for weeks has been calling for a essentially a peace deal. Getting frustrated with the Netanyahu administration in Israel for doing some fighting back during these ceasefire times. But then you look and you see what happens. Again, we all knew that trusting this regime was never going to be really in the cards. But now here we are. I want to take phone calls right off the bat. Let's go to Greg in Tennessee online one. Greg, go ahead.

Greg (Caller 1): Good morning, fellas. Thank you for taking my call. Uh my analogy of Trump and Iran is and I think a lot of people would agree with me. And by the way, I am a 100% Trump Christian Conservative. But I would say he's making me think of a parent that counts to three before they discipline their child. And to use his uh MMA analogy. It's like watching a prize fight. The first this fight with Iran, the first few rounds, there were some haymakers thrown. But now we're seeing jab, jab, jab, jab. And he sounds like Iran talking to itself, you know, they're jabs, nothing but jabs, we need to get back to haymakers.

Will Haynes: Yeah, Greg, go ahead.

Greg (Caller 1): Well, I my second point, I just wanted to throw a sidebar in. I went out to eat for dinner last night, drove 15 miles, had a friend that drove 35 miles to meet me for dinner. The restaurant on a Tuesday night in a small city in Jackson was packed. It was so hard if our economy is so bad, why are people on a two now, you know, Friday and Saturday night are typical go out to dinner nights. But Tuesday night, I could hardly get a seat. I waited for a half hour for my friends to get there and it was packed. And like I said, if the country's in such bad shape, how are we maintaining this level of opulence?

Will Haynes: Well, I think Greg, there there's a lot to unpack there. Thank you for calling in. I like I like the the parent analogy, even though some people may on both sides of it not like that he has that style, that he will uh hit them hard and then say, hey, now let's negotiate. It's kind of the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt, you know, speak softly and carry a big stick. He hit them very hard first with the stick and now he still talks tough the entire time. But you go back to the even the economy. Now, every headline you're looking at is trying to make you think that it is completely uh unlivable in this country. And there are people that are struggling. There have been people that have been struggling for a long time. Since even 2020 when our economy hit uh what was the the uh pandemic, global pandemic that shut down the economy. Uh it has been a long road to rebuild from that. And then you had the four years under the Biden administration, where you were seeing inflation numbers at 9% year over year. That takes a long time to recover from when prices jump that high. And then even when they're like, oh, look, they came down. The the there was a headline today about inflation because it has ticked up some. Uh there there is a target inflation number around 2, 2 and a half percent. It is uh the last number was around 4%. That is higher than they want, obviously. They were like, the the largest inflation in three years. What was the largest inflation in three years when it was 4%? That was it coming down from 9%. So yes, while that has ticked up and that will that will affect prices at grocery store, that will affect things like gas. When you think about where we were, where you uh you talk about this Greg, that people are going out on a Tuesday night. There were people making a decision whether or not they could even eat under the Biden administration because egg prices were $8, $9, $10 for a dozen. There is go to the grocery store, you can buy eggs again. I mean, that is one thing that people aren't talking about. This is not a situation that we have an economic crisis on our hands.

Jordan Sekulow: I also think Greg, you're lucky, we're lucky. We live in a state like Tennessee. And you live in a very red state that has some controls over a lot of these different things. I think you go and you see what gas prices are other places. You see what some of the prices and the inflations are in other cities, some of the major cities. Now, of course, you can go to New York City and see, okay, well, it was $20,000 to go, you know, to sit in the nosebleeds of the Knicks game. You know, are people really hurting? I mean, that's obviously not the normal person who's going to those things. There are a lot of issues that come out. But when you start at the beginning of this, you're talking about the parent counting to three with the Iran and it seems like now they're tap, tap, tap. I'd say, taking down one of our helicopters, you know, doesn't feel like a tap. It doesn't feel like an annoyance. That feels like an act of war.

Will Haynes: No.

Jordan Sekulow: This that is an act of war. So we were in a ceasefire. So an act of war does not mean have to mean necessarily that we've made that declaration of war. But this is a certain kind of act that then allows under international law for you to hit back as a nation. When when they target your military or your your place, even workplaces, you you can then retaliate under the UN's international law.

Will Haynes: Look, I wanted to take calls on on people who believe in in different versions of what is right, wrong in terms of the war in Iran. So I want to go to Patricia in North Carolina, who's listening on the radio. Patricia, go ahead.

Patricia (Caller 2): You there, Patricia?

Will Haynes: All right, let's put her back on hold. We'll see if we can get to her a little bit later. In the meantime then, let's go to Florence in New York. A little bit different, a little swear for here. Florence, go ahead.

Florence (Caller 3): I'm going to say good morning, good afternoon, whatever it is, but it's a good one.

Will Haynes: All right, let's go.

Florence (Caller 3): Listen, I'm driving, I'm in my car, I have no notes. So I'm just going to go at it.

Will Haynes: I prefer it that way.

Florence (Caller 3): First of all, let's go to that gentleman who just called about Donald Trump being a parent or whatever. People have to understand something about what President Donald Trump is doing with Iran. When Iran started slaughtering and murdering 30,000 people in the streets because they wanted their freedom, they wanted a regime change. We did not throw first blood. This is basically like a humanitarian effort for Donald Trump to go in there and do what he was doing and is still doing. Like a president, like a good president, like a military president, he does not need to let anybody know what chess game he's about to play, what move he's about to move. Do I believe he's about to do something? Yes. Is he about to put them in checkmate? Yes. That's what I believe, that's what's in my heart. Next, I want to address Chris Murphy that hack. He should be ashamed of himself and any person, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent, if you were in the military, you already know what's going on and to speak against the Commander-in-Chief whether you agree, disagree or not. To me, this is a humanitarian effort, going in to have a regime change, the same way he's doing with Cuba, same way he's doing with Venezuela. We don't have to have boots on the ground. There's a way to talk to people to get these things done.

Will Haynes: You know, and I I think Logan.

Jordan Sekulow: So you have people like there's a big question, which is which you saw how supportive she is of the president. There was that one caveat. The boots on the ground. And at some point, if this Iran escalates, President Trump said uh yesterday and the day before yesterday, it will be us going in to move that uranium out. He's like, we may be able to do it with the UN and their scientists, but we are going to go in and do it. So right there, there will be boots on the ground at some point under the current strategy.

Will Haynes: Yeah, we were talking about what that even looks like of getting uranium out. Even the idea of what it is, what it looks like, how it's done. But I'd say Florence, thank you for calling. You're welcome on the show anytime. No notes needed. You didn't need anything, you know, just call back, tell them, you know, one of our favorites. Put you up. Fantastic. I appreciate it. Hey, phone lines are open for you. So we're heading into the second half hour. If you lose us here, don't, join us on aclj.org, on YouTube, on Rumble. You can find the show whether we're live 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday, or archived later on. However you get your podcast, we're there almost immediately after this show ends at the top of the hour. You can find it archived there at aclj.org. We'll be back in less than a minute. Don't go anywhere.

Announcer: 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.