Skip to content 2/7/25 Attorney Generals Activate, Addressing National Debt, and Responding Biblically to it all. Feb 7 · 59 min ...more
2/7/25 Attorney Generals Activate, Addressing National Debt, and Responding Biblically to it all.
February 7, 2025 · 59 min
Today on WW: Attorney Generals seek to protect girls' sports, our nation's borders, and block sanctuary city funding; US budget concerns; This Week's Biblical Worldview Segment.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
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February 7, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today on WW: Attorney Generals seek to protect girls' sports, our nation's borders, and block sanctuary city funding; US budget concerns; This Week's Biblical Worldview Segment. ...more Show the full description Show less Today on WW: Attorney Generals seek to protect girls' sports, our nation's borders, and block sanctuary city funding; US budget concerns; This Week's Biblical Worldview Segment.
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In this video 0:00 Trump's Executive Orders and Religious Freedom2:02 Domestic Policy Shifts and Workforce Reductions4:14 Immigration and Law Enforcement10:01 Economic Concerns and Government Spending16:52 International Aid and Foreign Policy
Trump's Executive Orders and Religious Freedom 0:06 Good afternoon. I'm Victoria Marshall and welcome to the Washington Watch news desk. Yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, President Donald Trump announced he would be0:18 signing an executive order protecting religious freedom and ending government weaponization against Christians. Here's what he said.0:27 From the very beginning of our republic, America has always been a nation founded by people of faith and strengthened by the power of prayer and united by 4 simple but very beautiful0:39 words, in God we trust. After years of decline, Americans are reasserting our true identity as a0:50 people ordained by God to be the freest and most exceptional nation ever to exist on the face of the earth. But we weren't that for 4 years. I don't believe we were.1:01 Trump also announced that attorney general, Pam Bondi, will be heading the task force to eradicate anti Christian bias in government.1:08 To confront such weaponization and religious persecution, today I'm signing an executive order to make our attorney general, who's a great person she's gonna be a great attorney general, Pam Bondi,1:23 The head of a task force, brand new, to eradicate anti Christian bias. About time. Right? Anti Christian bias.1:33 Trump's comments come after the Biden administration spent 4 years prosecuting Christian parents, students, and government employees. 23 Christian pro life activists were even charged
1:45 and sentenced for protesting abortion facilities. Also under Biden, the FBI targeted Catholics, labeled them domestic terrorists, and suggested infiltrating Catholic churches to
1:57 mitigate threats. Trump's executive order is meant to get rid of all of that. And in other domestic news, the Trump administration is expected to reduce USAID's global workforce to expected to reduce USAID's global
Domestic Policy Shifts and Workforce Reductions
2:08 workforce by 97 percent today. Employees will be placed on leave in order to return to the United States. Now, sources within the administration are saying that the agency's workforce looks like
2:20 it will be reduced to fewer than 300 people. A pair of labor groups representing employees at USAID sued the Trump administration yesterday for its efforts at reducing the workforce.
2:32 Secretary of state Marco Rubio who's been appointed as acting director of USAID defended the administration's actions at a press briefing in the Dominican Republic yesterday.
2:43 The goal of our endeavor has always been to identify programs that work and continue them, and to identify programs that are not aligned with our national interest, and I and identify those and address them. So we have
2:55 sent out guidance to those deployed abroad that they should they will be on leave of absence, not fired, leave of absence as of Friday. And we're not being punitive here, But this is the only way we've been able to get
3:06 cooperation from USAID. I have preferred not to do it this way. When we tried to do it from the top down by getting cooperation from the central office of USAID, what we found instead are people trying to use
3:18 sneak through payments and push through payments despite the stop order. We sound found people that were uncooperative in terms of giving us information and access.
3:26 And in other Trump administration news, a federal judge has paused the deadline for federal employees across other agencies to accept the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer. At
3:38 least 65000 federal workers have so far opted to resign. More than 3 percent of the roughly 2000000 employees who received the offer. The White House offered federal workers the option to
3:49 resign in exchange for being paid until September thirtieth with full benefits. Now, this offer is part of a strategy by the Trump administration to shrink the size of the federal
4:01 government and save taxpayer dollars. Sources inside the office of personnel management said they were hoping for as many as 200000 employees to accept their
4:13 offer. And those are today's headlines. I'm Victoria Marshall. For more news and commentary, be sure to check out the Washington Stand at washington stand
Immigration and Law Enforcement
4:24 dot com. And follow us on social media for updates at FRCDC on X, Instagram and Facebook. Up next is Washington Watch
4:36 with Tony Perkins. We'll see you tomorrow with more news.
4:52 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 and
5:03 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heise.
5:12 Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. So glad to have you joining us today. I am your Friday host, Jody Hice. I'm the senior vice president here at the Family Research Council and
5:24 president of FRC Action. Again, thank you so much for joining us. We've got a lot coming your way today. Let me kinda hit some of the highlights we'll be covering. Recently confirmed US
5:36 attorney general Pam Bondi took swift action yesterday, suing Illinois and Chicago for obstructing federal immigration law enforcement.
5:46 What they're doing is they are choosing illegal aliens over the safety and security of their own citizens and the men and women of law enforcement who are out there trying to protect their citizens.
5:59 Well, that was attorney general Bondi yesterday on Fox's Hannity during her first interview since her confirmation. I'll be discussing this later in the program when I'm joined by Chad Wolf, the former
6:11 acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. I'll also ask him what he thinks about how Illinois' Democratic governor, JB pit Pritzker responded today to AG
6:23 Bondi's lawsuit.
6:24 I think it's a massive effort to distract from what they
6:28 are doing across the country
6:29 to take away things that working class, middle class, people, families, the most vulnerable really need.
6:39 Interesting. So is that what the Trump administration has been doing? Well, I'll be joined in just a moment by Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall to get his take on
6:51 the executive orders and actions that we've seen so far. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to have a meltdown over what Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are doing.
7:03 Elon Musk has got to go. The richest man on the planet is engaging in an illegal power grab across our government.
7:17 Wow. That was congressional progressive caucus whip representative Guy Garcia. So is it a power grab or is it fiscal responsibility that Democrats are opposed
7:28 to?
7:29 Elon is doing a great job. He's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. And you see it with the USAID, but you're gonna see it even more so with other agencies
7:41 and other parts of government.
7:45 Well, that was president Trump earlier today. So given last month's project projections from the congressional budget office, you would think that Democrats would support efforts to keep us
7:57 from falling off a fiscal cliff. But maybe they need somebody to explain the numbers to them. In fact, maybe we all do. They're pretty frightening numbers. And I'll be joined by former
8:09 congressman doctor Dave Bratt a little bit later to go over those projected numbers. And then to close out the program and the week, I'll be joined by David Clausen for our weekly
8:21 Biblical Worldview segment to discuss many of the headlines from this week. So as always, friends, we've got a packed show coming your way. You don't wanna miss any part of it. But if by chance you
8:32 do, our website, of course, is tony perkins dot com. Be sure to keep that handy. Also, I wanna encourage you. I wanna encourage you to download FRC's Stand Firm
8:44 app. If you don't already have it, this is something you wanna get. There's so much on the app, but the reason you wanna download it now is for our first 100 days tool kit.
8:56 This is a critical window of opportunity that we have as a country, so we need everyone to stay involved. If you wanna find ways to help move important priorities forward, then you will
9:08 want this tool kit. There's so much information there. So if you'd like links to download Stand Firm app, text the word tool kit, that's 1 word, no spaces, tool
9:19 kit to 6 7 7 4 2. Alright. Now let's jump into our first item for the day. While the media is trying to keep up with the flurry of executive orders,
9:31 over 90 so far, that have been coming from the Trump administration, there's all also quite a bit of activity at the state level that oftentimes goes overlooked. Officials
9:43 are either embracing and running with what's been coming out of the White House or they're pushing back, depending largely, of course, on whether there's a red or a blue state. So what
9:55 sort of impact are we seeing right now in the states with Trump back in the office? Well, joining me right now to discuss this is Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall. General Marshall,
Economic Concerns and Government Spending
10:07 welcome back to Washington, Washington. Great to have you again.
10:10 Thank you. Good to be with you, Joe. Hey. You need that app right now with the Fast and Furious executive orders coming out of Washington.
10:17 Oh, you're not kidding. I mean, it is really it is difficult to keep on top of it all, and you are have been very much involved with a number of these. Let me,
10:29 begin with the executive order on female sports. It has to be exceedingly gratifying to see that after you, and some other attorney generals from Red States worked so
10:41 hard to see this come to fruition.
10:43 Oh, and I had the privilege of being at the White House on Wednesday when the president signed that order. You know, Judy, you saw the visual of those precious young female athletes standing around the
10:54 president as we made abundantly clear that we understand who is a woman and who's a man. And despite the fact that we have a supreme court justice on the court that couldn't define that, the federal government now has a
11:06 policy that's able to do it. And then we are protecting the integrity of women's sports. And the president outlined the numerous reasons as to why this was so critical, whether it be the gains that occurred during
11:18 title 9 for women to have access to our athletic fields, whether it's the safety of young women when confronted by transgender individuals that are participating against
11:30 them and the health risk that goes along with it. But this is about preserving for young ladies the opportunity to compete fairly and honestly for recognition in the sports of their choice. It was a great day, not only
11:41 for our nation, but for the red states that have worked so hard to be able to establish that, through both litigation, as well as legislation in our own respective states.
11:52 And I'm so pleased that you were able to be there in person. You
12:09 did. Calls gender affirming care. But that's another area that your state, really paved the way. And I I think at this point, we're seeing this whole issue take a
12:21 different direction. Would you agree with that?
12:24 Oh, absolutely. And and, Jerry, 1 of the things that we were able to do the litigation that we had in Alabama is to expose the the medical and legal fraud that was gender affirming care, and you've described it. This is
12:34 child abuse. And not only did we expose what was going on between Rachel Levine and activists embedded within the Biden administration, the activist lawyers that were working with the W pass and the other
12:46 organizations establishing so called standards of care. But we began to see this for what it was. This was simply a way to impose a radical gender ideology across the country under the
12:58 guise of treatment for kids. You know, 1 thing that was exciting, and I don't know if you saw the news today where, the Department of Justice through my friend Pam Bondi has notified the court in the case,
13:10 involving the state of Tennessee that the Department of Justice and the federal government has changed their position. That in fact, they do not believe that the Tennessee law similar to Alabama that protects kids is
13:20 otherwise violative of the equal protection clause. And 1 of the things that we hope is that, the court will still weigh in to be able to firmly and squarely say that states are allowed to protect kids in these
13:32 situations. But really proud of the work that we've done here in Alabama to make sure that not only we're protecting kids, but also pushing back against a radicalized medical establishment that doesn't have kids at their
13:43 best heart, but instead are working to promote a political agenda.
13:48 Wow. Yeah. I I mean, I sit here listening to you, and really all you can say is just wow. And it it's almost like there's just a tip of the iceberg. There's just more and more and more of these type of executive orders
13:59 that, frankly, many of these need to be codified. That's a a topic for another day, I suppose. But you and some, other red state attorney generals have also stood with president Trump's immigration
14:11 policies. In fact, I saw the DHS has just shown that migrant encounters on the southwest border have plummeted by some 74 percent since president Trump took off.
14:23 I don't think that's an a coincidence. What what do you say about that?
14:27 No. I mean, it's amazing when we enforce the law. Right? When we empower
14:31 It is.
14:32 Our law enforcement officials to be able to do their job, which they've not been able to do on the border for the last 4 years. But, you know, 1 of the things that that Republican attorney generals are uniquely able to
14:43 do is to be able to support the Trump administration when they're sued, which they will be sued on many of the immigration orders that are coming. You've seen already the challenge to birthright citizenship, the effort
14:54 of the Trump administration to resolve an issue that otherwise has been out there for a while. While that's being litigated, we're gonna have the ability to weigh in as we already have, with briefs to be able to support
15:05 the effort of the administration here. But look, president Trump has said he's gonna make the border a priority, not only the southern border, right, but also the northern border to make sure that that not only people
15:16 are coming here unlawfully, but to stop that flow of fentanyl that's killing people across our country. And so we're pleased already to see what the borders are is doing in coordination with local law enforcement, which
15:28 secretary Noem is doing in being able to allow for those under her authority to be able to enforce the law. And a president is stood clear to be able to say that this is gonna be a priority moving forward for this
15:39 administration.
15:41 And it really is a coordinated effort. It it really is. And speaking of, secretary Nolan that you just brought up, I know before she was confirmed, you and 17 other state attorney general sent a letter to
15:53 her asking her to review former president Biden's temporary protected status. That that was a that was a major issue. Tell us about that.
16:03 Yeah. It was a parole program that that the congress had many years ago that was designed for a very limited purpose in being able to allow people, for example, that needed medical treatment in our country that couldn't
16:14 get it, where they live to be able to come here, receive that treatment, and go home. Instead, it became the vehicle through the the use of an app for hundreds of thousands of individuals to come
16:26 into this country, not fully vetted, not going to a place in which there was a sponsor to be able to allow them to work, but instead became a vehicle to fill this country with individuals from from
16:37 outside of the normal immigration process to have the ability to come into the United States. We thought it was wrong. We think courts have adopted that approach as well, and we're glad to see that the Trump
16:47 administration, through the stroke of a pen, has ended that process.
16:52 It's it's just remarkable. I would just got less than a couple of minutes here, attorney general, but what else are you looking for? What what are you anticipating to see from this administration?Show more
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