Skip to content 6/8/2026 Christians Stand for God-Given Rights While Exposing the Evil Deeds of Darkness Jun 8 · 54 min ...more
6/8/2026 Christians Stand for God-Given Rights While Exposing the Evil Deeds of Darkness
June 8, 2026 · 54 min
Today on Washington Watch: Congressional anti-fraud hearings; Iran-Israel Conflict; Young Americans question our exceptionalism; Congressional debates over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and reconciliations; Minnesota’s free exercise of religion problem; Exposing the Dark Underbelly of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
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June 8, 2026 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Today on Washington Watch: Congressional anti-fraud hearings; Iran-Israel Conflict; Young Americans question our exceptionalism; Congressional debates over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and reconciliations; Minnesota’s free exercise of religion problem; Exposing the Dark Underbelly of the Southern Poverty Law Center. ...more Show the full description Show less Today on Washington Watch: Congressional anti-fraud hearings; Iran-Israel Conflict; Young Americans question our exceptionalism; Congressional debates over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and reconciliations; Minnesota’s free exercise of religion problem; Exposing the Dark Underbelly of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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In this video 0:00 Washington Update: Fraud, Spending, and Security14:00 Israel Tensions, Declining Exceptionalism & Capitol Priorities30:00 America's Prayerful Foundation & Cultural Decline39:00 Two-Tier Justice: Church Invasion Goes Uncharged45:00 SPLC Fraud Indictment & Radical Left Networks
Washington Update: Fraud, Spending, and Security 0:01 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and0:12 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:19 Democrat leader has repeatedly attempted to cloud the issue, going so far as to make the insane suggestion that Congress somehow has to choose between our national security responsibilities and addressing the0:31 challenges facing hardworking Americans. To which I say, not only can we walk and chew gum at the same time, but we have an obligation to do so.0:43 It is our responsibility as members of Congress to work to alleviate not only the economic challenges facing Americans, but but to protect our nation's security.0:55 That was senate majority leader John Thune earlier today on the senate floor accusing Democrats of putting their political agenda ahead of the nation's security. Welcome to this Monday, June 8th edition of Washington1:06 Watch. I'm your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for joining us. Well, coming up, after nearly 2 months of relative calm, Israel and Iran have exchanged direct military strikes once again, raising questions1:18 about whether the ceasefire is unraveling and whether nuclear negotiations can survive the latest escalation. Jonathan Hessen joins us live from Jerusalem later. Plus lawmakers returned to
1:30 Washington facing 2 major deadlines, reconciliation 2 and the looming expiration of section 7 0 2 of FISA. Congressman Michael Cloud joins us with a
1:41 preview of what's ahead this week. And congressman Chip Roy of Texas breaks down the justice department's latest indictment involving the Southern Poverty Law Center and previews tomorrow's judiciary committee hearing in
1:53 which the interim president of SPLC, Brian Fair, will testify. All of that and more straight ahead.
2:05 Alright. Let's start with some news out of Washington. The House Rules Committee held 2 hearings on preventing fraud today. Joining me now to discuss this is congressman, is Washington stand
2:16 reporter Casey Harper. Casey, what transpired, in the hearing today?
2:21 Thanks for the promotion, Tony. I appreciate it. But, yeah,
2:24 I'm not so sure about that.
2:25 Yeah. I'm not so sure. Maybe 1 day. You never know. But the, the House Rules Committee, as you said, they met twice today to take up a package, related to something that's really become a top priority for for the
2:35 administration, in particular vice president JD Vance, and that's the anti fraud bills. Of course, it all began back with Doge, but now there's legislation being put to it. And this proposed legislation would change how
2:45 the government screens payments that are being made. There's the fraud prevention and accountability act and the stopping fraudulent payments act, which would give federal government agencies the ability to stop suspect
2:57 payments and create really this across the government, fraud fighting structure infrastructure, which is kind of incredible that they did they didn't have that already. But there was also, hearing today about
3:07 reconciliation, Tony, and we have a a clip from Jim Jordan from that today.
3:11 Mayor of the largest city, mister Mamdani, yesterday said we should abolish ICE. They're all saying that. That's the Democrats' plan. So we had to do this route, reconciliation, to fund the guys who enforce the law.
3:22 Democrats' 4 part plan not to enforce immigration law. We have to use reconciliation to fund ICE to enforce the law that Congress passed.
3:32 So after the long wait from the Senate House finally getting their chance of reconciliation, Tony.
3:36 Alright. Just so folks know, the rules committee, the rules every bill that goes to the floor goes to the rules committee, and that sets up the parameters for the debate, whether or not amendments are allowed. All of
3:47 that stuff is set up in the rules committee, so it's like a funnel that everything goes through. Alright. Speaking of, spending, you know, while Washington is focused on the spending, the surveillance, and legislative
3:59 deadlines, you know, events overseas are threatening to reshape the global security landscape. Over the weekend, Israel and Iran exchanged direct military strikes for the 1st time since the
4:11 ceasefire began back in April. So president Trump reportedly urged prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to expand the confrontation while these negotiations with Iran continue. What
4:23 what what what are the latest developments here today?
4:25 Yeah. Things really exploded over the weekend as you alluded to, Tony. And so this latest exchange of fire between Iran and Israel is really the most, serious we've seen since the ceasefire began about 100 days ago.
4:37 Now in that true social post you referenced, president Trump said that Israel and Iran must immediately stop, shooting. Now president Trump said that both sides are also looking to do an immediate ceasefire. He suggested
4:49 they're in final negotiations for, peace, but he made clear that that blockade is gonna remain in place until it's finished. It was kind of a juxtaposition against the firefight that we've seen and the rhetoric from
5:00 Israel and Iran, but Israeli officials said that Israel has halted their strikes at the request of president Trump, but they warned that they're gonna pick up their strikes again in Beirut, in the southern, suburbs,
5:10 rather, of Beirut if Hezbollah continued its attacks on Israeli towns. So, really, Lebanon has become another theater, not just the straight up Hormuz, but Israel's attacks against Hezbollah, is triggering Iran who says
5:22 they won't make a deal with the US unless those attacks stop, which is kinda funny. For a long time, they sort of acted like they weren't funding and backing these terror groups. But now if you attack those terror
5:31 groups, there's no peace, Tony.
5:33 Yeah. Alright. We're gonna explore that a little bit later with Jonathan Hessen, who's gonna join us live from Jerusalem. Alright. Shifting to some other news as our nation prepares for its 250th anniversary, we're less
5:44 than a month away, a new study, that, polls Americans Americans view their country as, the poll said that less Americans view their country as
5:56 exceptional. So, Casey, walk us through the findings of this poll.
6:01 Yeah. That's right. So this survey was conducted by the Associated Press, and it found that many Americans, they they don't feel quite right about the future of the government, and in particular, young people. The the
6:10 poll found that just 1 in 4 Americans say that the US is the greatest country in the world, while 44 percent say, well, it's 1 of the greatest countries among others. And about 3 out of 10
6:21 Americans said there are there are countries better than the US, and that's an increase up from 19 percent in just 10 years since 20 16 last time they conducted this poll.
6:31 Anybody ask them if they're ready to leave?
6:33 Yeah. They never seem to be. Yeah.
6:35 Where where do you wanna go? By the way, folks, I encourage you, to to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday by exploring the true foundation of why America
6:47 is an exceptional nation, and it goes back to our biblical foundation, those principles that our American government was founded on. And and we have a course available that I that, is recorded. It's
6:59 online. You can participate in it. It's called God in Government. You can text you can find out more by texting course to 6 7 7 4 2. That's course to 6 7 7 4 2. Alright, Casey. Thanks so much
7:11 for the update. We'll talk to you, till later. Alright. I wanna turn now to, to Capitol Hill where there will be, 2 top priority, legislative items that
7:23 members will be tackling this week. Joining us now to discuss him, congressman Michael Cloud, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He represents the 27th
7:33 congressional district of Texas. Congressman Cloud, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
7:39 Well, thank you. Good to see you again.
7:41 So in the house, you do have the reconciliation package that made it out of the senate, at the, you know, final hour last week. What's gonna happen this week in the house when it comes to reconciliation?
7:54 I I imagine once it gets to the floor, it'll pass. There'd been some discussion on how it might get to the floor, whether something like HR 2 would be attached to it. I don't know that that's gonna happen. Rules is
8:04 meeting right now. Whether it does or not, we we need to take on HR 2. It closes the loopholes that, you know, the Biden administration took advantage of. But, you know Yeah. This is
8:13 they explained explained explained h r 2 for our viewers and listeners.
8:16 Yeah. H r 2 is the Secure the Border Act. And so the Biden administration took advantage of all these loopholes that are in the law. Thankfully, because we have president Trump in office, you know, he was able to tighten
8:26 up the security on the border. But it's important that we take this moment while the president's in office to pass and to close all those loopholes unless the next Biden esque administration take advantage of
8:38 them. You know? So, as far as the reconciliation bill, though, that's a long time coming. And it's sad we've had to go through this whole reconciliation process in order to fund the securing of our borders
8:50 and to fund the law enforcement who who take care of that. But, finally, it's here, and so I imagine it'll pass the house.
8:58 Now if HR 2 were added to that, that would require it to go back to the senate for being agreed to? Any changes that are made at this point?
9:08 Well, you know, 1 thing they could do is maybe pass a rule, in the same rule that brings reconciliation to the floor. You also bring HR 2 to the floor. So they could come to the floor as 2 separate, issues, or 2
9:20 separate pieces of legislation. And then, you know, reconciliation could pass in the house and then go to the president's desk. And then HR 2 could could pass, hopefully, in the house and then and be headed to the
9:29 president or be headed to the senate. We passed it in the house before, and the senate sat on it. You know, so we've got to see some action out of the senate as well on this issue.
9:40 Now, what did not make it out of the senate last week was the, reauthorization of section 7 0 2 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, better known as FISA.
9:52 That still has to get out of the senate, but it expires at the end of, this week on Friday. What do you anticipate with that? I mean, that's many, many, many involved in the intelligence said this is
10:04 critical, to gathering foreign intelligence and threats against the United States.
10:10 It is pretty critical. There's not we're not really debating whether it's an important program or not as far as the, you know, us being able to surveil, foreigners, and and foreign threats
10:22 against the United States. There are concerns and we've been pushing to make sure that there are warrant, requirements added to it or protections against, spying on American citizens who get,
10:34 wrapped into some of the surveillance, on foreign assets. 1 of the things we've also been pushing for is to get a central bank digital currency attached to this package as well. They keep putting in language for like
10:46 a 5 year or they call it a 5 year ban, but it's actually kind of a launch date when you really get down to the pragmatics of it. And and a central bank digital currency would be the ultimate surveillance tool for, an
10:58 authoritarian future authoritarian regime. And so it it that's important to be in this
11:02 discussion as well. Unpack that for just a moment so our viewers get grasp the importance of that debate.
11:09 Yeah. Central bank digital currency, would, allow basically every purchase to be tracked. A a government would be able to turn on and off a central bank digital currency for certain
11:21 types of of favored or disfavored purchases. Donations to a church or organization or political organization could be tracked as well. And so this would be the
11:33 ultimate, again, the ultimate not only surveillance tool, but it would be an ultimate tool of control over, people and their ability to participate, in an economy.
11:44 And that's not that's not theoretical. That's happening in China. China does this with their social credit scores and how they're tracking what people are purchasing, where they're going, how they're spending their
11:53 money, and then penalizing them if they don't do it in alignment with the government.
11:58 Right. And it was just a couple years ago. Now they weren't new as far as China yet, but, we had an administration that if you had 600 dollars in your account, they wanted to know all your transactions. And they were
12:09 working with credit card companies to kind of track, purchases on on firearms, for example. And, you know, so, we aren't as far away from that being misused as people think. And
12:21 so it's 1 of those things where we're trying to put the nail in the coffin on the central bank digital currency issue, as we head, into the future. And it being the ultimate surveillance tool is how it's gotten wrapped
12:33 up into this conversation as well. We wanna protect the homeland, but we have to remember that that our government exists to protect the civil liberties and the freedoms of the American people. And so we have an
12:43 important duty to keep people safe, but we have a just as important duty and, really, our 1st priority is to keep people free.
12:50 And we can do both. We can do both.
12:52 And and, you know, it it it it's not an easy work. Right.
12:55 And it it's hard work, and that's 1 of the reasons it takes a long time because but, in fact, you know, the Democrats were concerned about this guy, Bill Pulte. But the Republicans that didn't go along with it in the
13:07 senate, it was over the issues you just raised. It was over the making sure that it's not misused against American citizens, and, they're not the subject of government surveillance. I'll give you the
13:19 last 30 seconds.
13:21 Well, you know, this is important. Again, you know, a lot of times we get, wrapped up here with making when you make safety the 1st priority, that's when you you get all the malfeasance we saw during the COVID years.
13:32 Yes. And this is why you have to keep the priorities in place where freedom's 1st, safety, is a is a close 2nd. And so as we weigh all these issues, those are the kind of things that we're gonna be pushing for.
13:43 Certainly, this will be, a week where we're, you know, nose to the grind, working those things, but that's what we do.
13:50 That's Well stated. Well stated. That should be our priorities in a constitutional republic. Congressman Michael Cloud, thanks for joining us. Stick with us, folks. We're back. Have a good day.
Israel Tensions, Declining Exceptionalism & Capitol Priorities
14:00 Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year's Pray, Vote, Stand Summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Hear from Christian leaders, issue
14:12 experts, and government officials as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. Early bird special tickets are on sale for 69 dollars when you register by June 15th. To
14:24 register, visit pray vote stand dot org. That's pray vote stand dot org.
14:32 1 nation under God, America's undeniable foundation of faith.
14:42 Before America was exceptional, America was prayerful. Just as Paul urged Timothy, 1st of all, that prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people,
14:54 our founding fathers understood deeply the command to be devoted to prayer. This great American experiment began as a mighty appeal to heaven, petitioning the Lord of
15:06 heaven's armies to intervene for the righteous cause of liberty. As war began to sweep across the colonies, the Continental Congress called days of fasting and prayer in their fight
15:18 against the British. The Lord answered and the colonies prevailed. Yet in spite of victory, our founding fathers knew that dependence on God and prayer was not to be forgotten.
15:30 With countless challenges facing our young nation, John Adams declared national days of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer to directly address the many trials and call
15:42 on Americans to seek mercy and restoration. Years later, in 1 of America's darkest hours, Abraham Lincoln stood upon this unshakable foundation by calling
15:54 the nation to repentance, declaring, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to confess their sins in humble sorrow and to recognize that those nations only
16:06 are blessed whose god is the lord. We have seen the hand of god answer prayers again and again as our nation has turned to him. However, the wise warning of Ronald Reagan still
16:18 stands. If we ever forget that we are 1 nation under God, we will be a nation gone under. Through war, uncertainty, and turning points in history, many of our leaders have known
16:30 where to turn. And now, it's our turn. We echo the call of George Washington 250 years ago, humbly to supplicate the mercy of almighty God, that it would please him
16:42 to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and finally establish the peace and freedom of America upon a solid and lasting foundation,
16:53 the undeniable foundation of faith.
17:05 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us on this Monday. The website, tony perkins dot com. Better yet, if you have not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you go to the App
17:16 Store and get the Stand Firm app. That way, you'll have access to Washington Watch no matter where you go. You also have access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the Washington stand,
17:28 and you'll have my daily devotional, Stand on the Word, all on the app plus, many, many more tools and resources for the engaged, informed citizens. So go to the App Store, get the Stand
17:40 Firm app. Speaking of being engaged and informed, I wanna invite you to join us for the pray boat stand summit 20 26. The summit will be held September the 24th through the 26th at
17:52 Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Just outside of our nation's capital. It'll be at, pastor Gary Hamrick's church, Cornerstone Chapel. So register today and get a summit pass for just 69 dollars. That's a
18:04 special rate. It's available through June the 15th. To To learn more and to register, visit pray vote stand dot o r g. That's pray vote stand dot o r g. Alright. We're, we're waiting to see if
18:16 we can connect with our guest in, Jerusalem. There have been some issues there with, kind of the conflict going back and forth. So, just a little spotty in making those connections. But,
18:28 I I wanna Jonathan Hessen is our guest. We're hoping to connect with him here in just a moment. In the meantime, I wanna bring, Casey Harper back in, to, Casey, are you with us?
18:38 Hey. Thanks for here, Tony.
18:40 Alright. Thanks for standing by there. Alright. So I I I wanna go back to this, poll for just a moment on, you know, how Americans there's so many Americans that just no longer see our
18:52 nation as an exceptional nation. We're just like 1 of many. It kinda let's let's explore that a little bit more because that's that's a little concerning because what you think you are really shapes
19:04 what you do.
19:05 That's I mean, that's that's exactly right. We know that from our own Christian identity that if you see yourself, as in the image of Christ or in the image of God, you know, you've been forgiven of your sins, that
19:15 you've been redeemed, then you act according to the new identity that you've received via the gospel. You believe and then you live it out. But if you if we as a nation believe that not only I think what what's sort of
19:25 missing in this poll is people don't nowadays just they don't just not believe in the exceptionalism of America. They actually believe that America is evil. And that's actually the the 16 19 famous kind of political
19:37 movement, institutional racism, all these things. The core idea of it is that America is evil from the very beginning, that the real foundation of America is not 17 76 and our
19:49 great ideas that we were built on. It's 16 19 when the slave trade began in the US, and we have a whole generation of young people who've been brought up, who've not just been taught to have sort of an academic,
19:59 skepticism of of patriotism, but they've actively been taught that the the United States is an evil colonial power. And it's a it's a it's a I think it's an unfair telling of our our fuller story.
20:11 What is that not also reflective of what's been taught in public education or what has not been taught? Yes. And, I'm I have not looked at the crosstabs of this polling, but I'm sure it's being driven in
20:23 large part by the younger population. It
20:25 is. Yeah. Younger younger people, are more skeptical of the US to have a a dimmer view of the US and our role. I mean, I think the education system is mostly to blame. You could look at some, I think
20:37 there's general, depression and mental health and different, every marker for young people is lower generally. So in some ways, it's not surprising that they have a poor view of their country because they have a poor
20:46 view of Congress and of their own parents and of their own future and their own economic prosperity going forward. And so there's a lot of challenges that this younger generation is is up against. But blaming, blaming
20:57 our country for rewriting the US history, It's it's be it's what they're being taught, but I think what's sort of subtly happening here is that when you take a negative view of your own history, you sort
21:09 of become the judge of your ancestors, and it's sort of a prideful position that that CS Lewis called chronological snobbery, that everyone before me was sort of evil and backwards and didn't understand until modern
21:20 science and iPhones came along. And now we, the enlightened people of the the years 2000 and beyond, have finally figured out morality and left the bible and the declaration and these old documents behind. The
21:32 fruit is not there, to say the least, Tony.
21:35 You know, if it would almost I you know, we can't we don't mandate these types of things, but I I would tell you if more if these people, these young people, who, and and I I I in in
21:47 part, I I wanna be gracious because this is what they've been taught. This is what they're getting fed on social media. So, I mean, what do you expect? Parents need to do a better job actually of countering that
21:56 narrative. That's why we put the god and government course together. And so, folks, I encourage you to to check that out. You can text course to 6 7 7 4 2. It is a, about a it's about 11 series 11
22:08 episodes in the series, and it goes through walking us through our biblical history, what the Bible has to say about government, what our country, how it was founded on the Bible, and and throughout the history of our
22:19 nation up until the present day. So it's very important that we counter that narrative. But, Casey, I was gonna say if if some of these young people would go to another country and visit some of these
22:31 places, you know, I've been to a lot of different places, and you you realize how blessed we are as a nation and how God's favor is still seen on this nation. Even though we're running on the fumes of righteousness,
22:44 we still have the blessing of God, the residual blessing of God upon this nation.
22:49 Yeah. Isn't it the richest kids who seem to hate their parents the most? The most blessed are often the most, ungrateful is kind of a a sad irony. But I agree with you. I've been blessed to go on many mission trips, and
22:59 I've loved the people and got to see different parts of the world. But when it's all over and you come home and your wheels touch down back on US soil, you do feel as well. There's a lot of things that I've taken, for
23:10 granted, not just the wealth and the kind of modern amenities that we have, but, religious freedom. I mean, you've worked on religious freedom religious freedom commission, and you've been to these countries where I
23:22 mean, places like, you know, Nigeria today.
23:25 Could you know,
23:25 it's not it's not a safe place to be a Christian, but we just go to church on Sunday without thinking twice about it. And so many of these rights we take for granted.
23:32 Right. And those freedoms emanate from the fact that we have that biblical foundation as a nation, that Christian foundation. We got about a little over a minute left. We're we're we were not able to connect with
23:42 Jonathan. I tried to get him later in the program if we can. But I I wanna put you on the spot, Casey. You know, I never do that, so I'm gonna put you on the spot. You know, as we move up to the 2250th anniversary just
23:54 less than a month away, you've got small kids. What are you planning to do to to make sure that they have that understanding of that foundation?
24:03 Oh, that's that's a great I mean, there's sort of 2 foundations. There's the biblical foundation, and then there's the historical foundation. The historical American foundation, we're gonna, of course, do the fireworks
24:12 and the hot dogs and celebrate the American festivals to give opportunity to tell the common American story. And that's very similar to what the Lord did by creating the feast days that create opportunity to tell the
24:23 stories. And for our Christian foundation, we try to read the Bible at dinner every night. We're not perfect in that, but I think the consistency and pray together as a family every morning and, they're pretty little
24:32 now, so I I think we're doing alright. I'm just trying to sleep and get those 2 in.
24:37 Alright. Well, then I won't I won't make the god and government course required for the
24:41 They do. 4th weekend.
24:42 Okay. Alright. Alright, Casey. Thanks so much for, for stepping in. Alright. We're gonna see if we can connect with John a little bit later in the program again. A lot happening over there in the Middle East. Alright.
24:51 Don't go away. We're gonna come back with more Washington Watch on the other side of the break.
25:00 The Stand Firm app brings trusted Family Research Council resources together in 1 place. Stay informed with news articles from the Washington Stand, watch interviews from Washington Watch,
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25:30 Have you noticed the upsurge in gambling ads? How could you not? The ads are big, bold, shiny. They virtually glitter with gold. Well, fool's gold, because as they say, the house always
25:42 wins. But some lessons are easily forgotten, and nowhere is this more evident than the rise of the sports betting industry. Since 19 92, 39 states and Washington DC have legalized sports
25:54 betting. And as a result, more than 600000000000 has been wagered on sports since 20 18. Now Christians should be instinctively concerned about the latest growth in gambling. For 1, gambling profits are
26:06 often losses for those least able to afford them, causing unnecessary friction within families. Secondly, it's inherently exploitative. The gambling industry necessarily harms 1 person to
26:18 benefit another. Gambling offers me the chance to gain at your expense. For me to win, you must lose. But even if I win, I lose the dignity and satisfaction of earning what I have. By greenlighting
26:30 gambling, cities and states across our nation take the short term gain of a little extra revenue for the long term loss of strong communities. States think they're winning when in the long run, really, they are losing.
26:41 Remember, the house always wins. Follow Family Research Council's news outlet, The Washington Stand, for more stories that speak out against policies undercutting strong families and strong communities.
26:54 Because the only house that truly wins is a house built on a solid rock, God himself.
27:02 Alright. Welcome back. Good to have you on this Monday afternoon. Let me, remind those in I mentioned this last week for those in and around Gainesville, Georgia. I'll be at North
27:13 Hall Church next Thursday, June 18th for the FRC's Faith, Family, and Future tour. We'll be recording our weekend program, the program I do with, house speaker Mike Johnson.
27:25 He'll be joining us by Zoom. We'll also have, on-site, we'll have congressman Andrew Clyde who represents that area. That's, this week on Capitol Hill. We'll be recording at 6 30 PM
27:38 there at, North Hall Church in, Gainesville, Georgia. To find out more, you can, text Georgia to 6 7 7 4 2. That's Georgia to 6 7 7 4 2. Alright.
27:50 Speaking of churches, earlier this year, City's Church in in Saint Paul, Minnesota was invaded by dozens of anti ICE protesters who disrupted the worship service and accosted members
28:02 of the congregation there. Now the incident drew a great deal of attention, including that of the justice department. But the, the city's top prosecutor says charges will not be filed
28:14 against any of those individuals. In a statement earlier this week or last week rather, Saint Paul city attorney said prosecutors determined the evidence was insufficient to file criminal
28:25 charges under Minnesota state statutes. She also said the decision should not be interpreted as an endorsement of unlawful behavior or public disorder. Alright. So how should we interpret their
28:37 action? Joining me now to discuss this is Renee Carlson, general counsel for Truth North Legal and 1 of the attorneys representing City's Church. Renee, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
28:48 Thanks Thanks for having me, Tony.
28:50 Alright. So I'm gonna start with that question. How should we interpret this? They're not gonna prosecute? What how do we how do we interpret that?
28:57 Well, here's what the viewers need to know. The city attorney is saying that she's trying to balance the rights of the right to protest with the rights that we all have to worship freely, but she couldn't be more off
29:08 base. The 1st amendment doesn't allow, agitators to ambush and invade a church, terrorize the families in it, and then shut down the worship. This is the 2 tier justice system on
29:20 full display in Minnesota, and it really starts from the top down. We're seeing that from, you know, starting with the top law enforcement officer, Keith Ellison, our attorney general of the state of Minnesota, could
29:32 have brought charges to hold these agitators accountable under the FACE Act, but he refused to do so. Instead of that, he mocked the church asking why are we getting all tender about a church. And,
29:43 ironically, years prior to that, he really pushed the Obama administration to press charges against people and to at least investigate under the FACE Act that same
29:55 provision when there were protesters outside a mosque. So now we get down to the most local level, the city attorney level, in which this city attorney could have brought charges. Just because there weren't brokenShow more
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Tony Perkins93.9K followers
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