Hamilton: God has called us to be ambassadors even in this dark moment
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people
>> Abraham Hamilton III: out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: God has called you and me to be his ambassadors, even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the, Hamilton Corner.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening, everyone.
Abraham Hamilton: Just interacting with young people gives me encouragement
Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton iii. Here I am, the host of the program, joined by the Corner contingent right across from me, my man, 100 grand, Mr. Bobby Rosa, and the screening room producer extraordinaire. Often imitated, but never duplicated, the real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen. And we have accompanying him in the screening room. You know, people say a lot of things about young people this day, but our sister, Kennedy Greene, who's with us, interning with us this summer, I haven't told her this, so she might blush, but, you know, she and her brother, she has a twin brother, they both are here, and, just interacting with them gives me encouragement. It's a source of encouragement for me concerning younger people because contrary to popular examples, Kennedy is a young woman laden with grace and elegance. there's an evident gentleness in my view that's the result of her being steeped in the Lord. And, I'm just grateful to have her with us this summer. So welcome yet again. And I mean, you know, because there are a lot of horrible examples of young people. Horrible, you know, and I. Pardon me for telling the truth. I'm just telling the truth. I too was young once. I wasn't horrible, though. I was. Bob said I was. Nah, man. But it's encouraging, you know, And I just, y' all know my position is I don't want to be a person who just denounces, the darkness, man. Let's turn the light on, you know, So I think it's good to highlight people like Kennedy. So we're blessed to have her this summer and we're ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program.
Many of you are making your transition from part time jobs to full time jobs
At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on family and allowing that and allow the. Oh, Kennedy, they're asking to see you on camera. Hey, listen, I want y' all to know I gave her the option. Do you want to be on camera? Do you? She said, nah, I don't want to be on camera. I'm working on it. I think I'm gonna get, I'm get her out here on camera before the end of the summer. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know what you think, Jeff, you think it's gonna happen? And Jeff think he could slide in like, I didn't smell that Barbasol as you walked in, but I saw, I smelled it. He thought, I ain't smell it. I smelled it. You know that lining, crisp like a fresh. I'm gonna leave him alone for now. For now, as you're making your transition to your full time jobs, that is where you have the opportunity to invest and to cultivate the type of populace that is conducive to our constitutional republican form of government. most importantly, where you have the opportunity to participate in the execution of our King's commission. You know, there's been lots of conversation about the Great Commission and the Cultural Commission, but the foundation, for, an appetite for the Cultural commission starts in the homes following the execution of the Great Commission. It is once we as human beings are born again, we then have our eyes open to the transcendent splendor that is Christ that causes us to live our lives with every breath that he gives us, for his glory. And so, we should be a part of executing what God has called us to, and in so doing, embracing his commands, obeying what he's required of us, and be a part of God's establishment and expansion of his kingdom. And we get to enjoy that on this side of eternity with the blessed hope of spending, the remainder of our existence beholding our king face to face no longer through a glass, dimly. What a hope that we have. To the word of God we go.
Bob Whitaker: Second Corinthians, chapter four is where we begin today
Second Corinthians, chapter four is where we're going to begin the program today. Second Corinthians, chapter four. The Apostle Paul, is writing, here as the Spirit of God moves him, and he says something that is profound, that I think, that I won't say I think, but it, it can become something that we fail to keep at the forefront of our minds and hearts as we are engaging in life and endeavoring to, do what I just encouraged us to do, which is to, execute the Great Commission in Second Corinthians, chapter four. I'm going to start at verse, verse three. I said verse four. I'm Sorry, I'm, back at verse three. Yeah, verse three. I didn't, I didn't. I didn't say it properly. I didn't write it properly. I'll make that correction. Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse three through six. And this is what God's word says. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants, for Jesus sake. For God who said light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Now, one of the things in the verse, the last verse that I read, concludes with a reference to the transcendent, splendor, and the glory that is replete in Christ. this is something that has just been, consistently on my heart as to how the demonic effort of the spirit of the age is to strip away from the professing believer, a proper estimation for the treasure that is Christ Jesus, that the, the, the
>> Abraham Hamilton III: core,
>> Abraham Hamilton III: source of rejoicing and of glorying and worshiping our Lord. And, and as I said, rejoicing is Christ. Not merely what he does for us in our temporal lives, but the fact that Christ is our prize. He is the door by which we enter into eternal life. He is the, the door to the narrow way. Christ is the treasure. And much of what is promulgated in our world works feverishly to squeeze our focus and our attention and to cultivate our desires away from that reality so that we make much of everything else, so that all, so many other things become more important, so that other things become preeminent. I've explained to you numerous times that the Old Testament depiction of idolatry is never, the people of God abandoning Yahweh worship. In total, what it always is depicted as is that God's people relegate Yahweh to be one among many of equal veneration. That you have the Israelite, Gideon's father, having an altar to BAAL in his front yard. That you have, as we were mentioning yesterday, the entire tribe of Dan, cultivating for themselves a, rogue Levite with household idols, creating shrines of idols. They're keeping a form of Yahweh worship, but violating Yahweh's standards and making him one among many. And that same phenomenon is repeated generation after generation after generation. But it is our opportunity and our responsibility to resist the pressure of the age to strip us away from the perspective and the position and recognizing that Jesus Christ is our treasure, that he is the prize. And with that, in that light, verse four nails something that we can conveniently forget in which the Apostle Paul says, as the Spirit of God moves him, in whose case the lowercase G God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. What I want to say in that regard is that we must refuse to underestimate the significance of people's and notice the scripture says whose minds are blinded? Whose minds are blinded. Have you, and I'm saying this rhetorically because I'm pretty sure many of you in this audience have had this experience. Have you had the experience where you're attempting to reason with someone and you're articulating with clarity and your logic is sound and you're quite rational in your presentation, yet the person with whom you're having a conversation just seem completely incapable of grasping what you're saying? We're having. Bob and I was talking about this before we came on the air. We're having a conversation about some of those things publicly. One of the touchstone planks of the so called Democratic Socialist of America, is that they are accusing Israel of genocide and genocide against, against Arabs when the facts, just the simple facts, no emotion, no, no, no spin, on anything. The simple facts are 20 to 30% of the, the national population of Israel is comprised of Arabs. Right now, as I'm talking to you, millions of Arabs make their home in Israel right now. Israel's parliament, the Knesset, includes Arab speaking Arabs, Muslims in their Knesset. Not all Arabs are Muslims, but they're in the Knesset. I was on today's issues earlier and I said, how come easily we forget when Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel and he forcibly removed Israelis from the Gaza Strip like this was their homes. It will be the, it will be the equivalent of the United States President saying, hey, hey Bob, you know that palatial estate that you and the Mrs. Enjoy, you know, y' all moved all the way from the communist coast northeast to to venture over here in America with your passport and all. But you know what? We, we, we going and we going to reappropriate that palatial estate, you know, imminent domain and such. That's literally what happened to literally give homes to Arabs. Guys, that's not genocide. That's not genocide. And the reality is that there's a war happening today. And the war. How did the war start, boys and girls? The war started because Hamas, you know, the terrorist institution and organization that is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, funded by Iran, attacked civilians on October 7th. Was there any war before October 7th? And I've heard somebody say, well, they're starving Palestinians. I was like, israel gives food now to Palestinians, civilians. But it's amazing to me nobody thinks about, or, even I won't say nobody. But many of the people who are making the genocide claims. These people don't say anything about the billions of dollars that have been given to people in the west bank and other places that have not been utilized for housing and for food and things of that nature. But they use them to build tunnels. For what purposes were those tunnels constructed, you might ask? Tunnels that lead from Hamas strongholds that go underneath schools and hospitals so that they can perpetuate terrorist, guerrilla warfare type strikes, but then nestle amongst hospitals and other places so that if there's any reprisals, the popular Israel hating media will say, israel is attacking hospitals. When many of these people in the mosque, and I'm not going to keep going on this for a moment, they will literally take children and women and use them as shields as they're literally shooting. And so when you try to have these conversations, you recognize, wait. But they still continue to say genocide. Because in many of these instances, guys, the God of this world has blinded the minds. That's a, part of the reason why we cannot afford to merely attempt to rely on reasonable, logical persuasion. Of course we must provide reasonable, logical, rational argumentation. But that argumentation must be accompanied by a consistent and robust prayer life that the Spirit of God will remove the blinders from the minds and the hearts of those who are in desperate need of the gospel and in desperate need of truth, because we cannot underestimate the potency of spiritual blindness.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: A, discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
>> Joseph Parker: Here are seven ways to use the Word of God. Every day, daily. We can read it, hear it, believe it, speak it, obey it, pray it, and meditate on it. All of these uses are related, but none of them are quite the same. You can read the word of God, but not hear it. You can read the word of God, but not choose to obey it. You can believe the Word of God, but not choose to pray it, etc. We'd be wise to strive to use the Word of God in our lives in all seven ways daily. The written Word of God is a book of faith. From Genesis to Revelation, we are called to hear, believe and obey the Word of God. If we hear the Word of God but don't obey it, we deceive ourselves. As James Chapter 1, verse 22 lets us know, the Word of God is a book full of truth, yet truth is always meant to be learned and applied.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here.
President Trump was asked about the ceasefire between the United States and Iran
Well, seems like at least from President Trump, President Trump's perspective, the ceasefire and memorandum of understanding is no more. President Trump spoke early this morning. Really I don't think he was surprised by the question, but he was asked by a reporter in light of recent events, whether or not the ceasefire was still underway between the United States and Iran. And President Trump's response, which I'm going to play for you in a moment, was, pointed, shall I say, pretty direct, leaving no room for misunderstanding or ambiguity. But I want to just recount some of the brief history that precipitated President Trump's response. Because the MoU had the ceasefire and the 60 day time period during which the streets of Hormuz is supposed to be open. But the Iranians had a delegation to make an appearance with representatives, from the government of Oman in which they were publicly discussing. Now think about this. And, and this is something I have yet to see this reported in our media and I don't know have. If you've seen this Bobby, let me know. But I've yet to see it reported in our media. The Iranians and the representatives for the government of Oman were discussing how the Straits of Hormuz are going to be administered after the 60 day time period and the, the cost that they were planning to charge for tankers and, and boats and, and ships to traverse the Straits of Hormuz, which had been a no go from according to the United States of America before then following that. So the Iranian sent some representatives out publicly along with representatives from the government Oman, and they were discussing what, not what they might do, they were discussing what they were going to do once his 60 days are up. Yeah, we're going to help get our country back on track. The Iranians by charging these fees, we going to break off the government Oman this much. And the governor, I was like, yes, they're Going to break us off. They will break us off. They will break us off. Somebody that could cut bar. Yes, they will break us off. And they're saying these things publicly.
>> : Then.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Then after that, there were three commercial ships, and this is according to U.S. central Command, three commercial vessels that sought to travel through the Straits of Hormuz and that the Iranians attacked it. Civilian commercial vessels. The Iranians attacked it, which led to the United States of America responding with striking 80 different sites in Iran. Those are some of the factual events that preceded the question that you're about to hear in President Trump's response while he's in Turkey for a NATO summit, during which a reporter says, well, it seems like the ceasefire is done. Is it done? Is it over? Listen to and watch clip number five. Clip five, go. Is the ceasefire done? Is the MOU dead?
>> Donald Trump: It's a very interesting question to me. I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're, you know, what is.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: They're.
>> Donald Trump: They're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll, speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They're good people. Steve Woodkoff, Jared Kushner. But they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. We make a deal, and if I make a deal with him, we have a deal and he goes out, he talks, we make a deal, everyone's agreeing, no nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press. They say, we never even talked about it. There's something wrong with them. They're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I apologize. That was a wrong version of the clip that we had where President Trump said is that they were scum. He said, they're scum and they're liars. And as far as I'm concerned, it's over. He says, the Iranians, you can have a deal. Just like I'm sitting here. He was sitting next to the head of NATO. He says, we could be sitting here, we can talk and we can strike a deal, and we have a deal. We agree, and then immediately he'll go outside, refer. He was pointing to the head of NATO and go outside and say, oh, no, we never even talked. We never even talked. The reporter follows up, followed up and saying, well, that's certainly a different tone that you're striking concerning the Iranians than you had before. And what he said next was very telling to me.
I wondered whether President Trump truly understands who he's dealing with in Iran
And this is something that I wondered aloud on this program about as to whether or not President Trump truly understands who he's dealing with. When you consider the radical Twelver regime of mullahs, of Shiite Islam in Iran. And President Trump said, well, the thing that led to me to realize that it's over is that I got to know them. That's what he said. I got to know them. Now, I could be wrong, but I took that statement to mean. And I do not think, I don't think for one moment that President Trump is ignorant as to what radical Shiite Islam is and what the mullahs do and what they believe. I don't think he's unaware of any of that. But I think it's one of those things that he approached it from the position of, well, this is what I've heard about you, but let me see for myself, this is who you are, that kind of thing. And now I could be wrong there, but I really think that's what's happening. And so now he is seeing for himself that, oh, yeah, they are liars now, you guys know.
How could you negotiate with people who use lying as a tactic
And I wanted it out on this program, and I said, how could you negotiate with people who, according to their religious text, use lying as a tactic? Like lying is a tactic. If lying, that is something that will aid them in advancement of, their Islamic objectives, then lying is all good. You know, how could you negotiate with them? How could you negotiate with people that they're. I'm just going to call it like it is. They're demonic theology, that says if you die in the furthering of Islam, that's the only way you can be guaranteed paradise. So death to them is not a threat. This is why you'd have some of the moms saying that, their greatest hope for their sons is that they die as Muju Haden, you know, so how can you negotiate
>> Joseph Parker: then?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You know, so now the additional considerations in light of this, from my perspective, what all does this mean going forward? Does it mean he'll no longer negotiate? He said, well, Jared Kushner, Steve Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, the Vice president, they, are great negotiators that the Iranians, if they want a deal, these guys, meaning his delegation, may want to negotiate, but it has to come back to him. It ultimately has to come back to him. I've said that this is my perspective and I'm not saying that this is the way you should discuss this publicly, but my perspective is you cannot negotiate with the Iranians. Remember the old adage, you don't negotiate with terrorists. And it's not because you're making a statement of bombast, you're making a level headed statement in light of assessing what the reality is. Because terrorists have a completely different paradigm than rational people. If you go back date to the Cold War era and one of the things that is different between our standoff with communist Russia and our position with under President Ronald Reagan is that while the communists are in fact communist, the communists did not have a death wish. The communists did not have a theological incentive to die rather than come to a reasonable agreement. So the incentive. And don't, don't misconstrue what I'm saying. I'm not saying therefore the communists are better. And no, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying the worldview diverges. And this is why we have to understand worldviews, we have to understand ideologies. This is why one of the great travesties that has befallen our nation in my opinion was George W. Bush, that's his son, right? W W following the attack on our World Trade center when he became the number one apologist running around the country saying Islam is a religion of peace. I lament that moment in our nation's history because the Oval Office gave clearance for the refusal to allow the American people to critically examine. Wait a minute, what, what is Islam? It's the reversal of what happened under Thomas Jefferson after ultimately when our, our navy was established. Because in the fledgling existence of our nation and at the time Thomas Jefferson and others were right and refer to them as Muhammadan Mohammedans or Muslims, Moslem S. And what, what happened is that merchant ships leaving American shores were being attacked consistently by a group called the Barbary Pirates at that time. And so Thomas Jefferson is like, wait, I don't even know y' all cats. We just had this big squabble with England and we know about the French, we know about the Spaniards, and then we know about, you know, we have big beef with. So why y', all, why are y' all attacking our ships? And they told Thomas Jefferson, well it's because you are Kaffirs, you are infidels. So the attack on American merchant ships by the Barbary Pirates wasn't primarily motivated by economic Concerns it was driven by Islamic ideology to which Thomas Jefferson recognized. Oh, the only conclusion we have then is we have to defeat them. There's no, there's no negotiating or reasoning. We have to destroy them. That's the only thing we can do in order to secure our maritime prowess thereafter. And so when you have the President, the president saying, well, Islam is a religion of peace. So then, unsurprisingly, the inevitable reality is that all of the Goebbels Inc. Institutions around our country, the media apparatus, developed this new terminology called Islamophobia. That if you have questions about Islam, it's because you're afraid, it's because you're phobic. It's not because we got a whole lot of history. Istanbul was Constantinople. How did that happen again? You know, what's this whole thing about the Ottoman Turks? How did that happen again? How did it happen? How did all of these Christian cities and countries all of a sudden become Islamic? North Africa? Places where you had people like, like origin and where you had even elders from Algeria in a Christian church. And now all these places are. How did that happen? Guys, it all happened by force. That's why I make the point of the show. You talk about colonization. It's amazing to me that when you talk about colonization, nobody discusses Islam.
>> Donald Trump: No. Muslims.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Islam, literally advanced via. Via colonization.
>> Donald Trump: Yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: By force. It was. No. Oh, man, we, you know what, we're gonna, we're gonna send out these, these robust evangelists who gonna share the good word of Mohammed. Nah. They killed people into conversion. You understand what I'm saying? So having our president at the time, George W. Bush, basically. Was exceedingly problematic, which is why now so many of our fellow Americans, when you try to tell them these things. That's why I had Bill Federer on the show as often as I did to discuss this stuff for, for most of many of our countrymen, if not most of them, they're like, what? So wait, what that really happened? And wait, so you mean to tell me the whole. That the whole Shiite Sunni division is really a, blood feud that started from war fighting amongst the Muslims?
>> Joseph Parker: Yes,
>> : yes.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So coming back full circle, it seems now that President Trump has directly experienced some of the practical applications of the Twelver Shiite mullahs in their operations, how they will use anything. Right, mou. Yeah, we'll agree to your mou. While we'll go out on our Arabic speaking stations and Arabic speaking media and we'll go out with the government of Oman representatives and say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we, we're going to administer the straight of a moose. We're going to charge people to use this. That's how we're going to rebuild our country. And then you're going to kinetically engage civilian ships that dare cross.
>> : Because
>> Abraham Hamilton III: what you say in one source, would you say another source, when they contradict one of them, only one of them is true. And when we assess whether people are telling the truth, we shouldn't just evaluate what they say, we have to evaluate what they do. So I hope this is, a moment of clarity for President Trump that leads our leadership to conclude, well, what are our objectives? To clearly articulate in house internally, this is what we're seeking to accomplish. And you just go about what you're trying to accomplish, because you can't negotiate with these people. You cannot negotiate with these people. I'm not saying that's the way that you should discuss it publicly, but I'm saying that is what should be done. You make your determination as to what our objectives are, which should already been established, to what we're seeking to accomplish and execute that, and then exit.
Tim Moore: The preliminary hearing for Charlie Kirk is taking place in Utah
>> Joseph Parker: All right,
>> Abraham Hamilton III: well, I'll start this now. I'm gonna continue us over into the next segment, because I've had several questions, and I was on TI this morning, and I talked about this a little bit. day three of the preliminary hearing in Utah is taking place where the murderer, the man charged with murdering Charlie Kirk, assassinating him, is going. Is going to face trial. And it's. I think it's necessary to clear up some confusion because I literally just saw a major television network saying the trial is taking place in Utah, and that is not accurate. A trial is not underway in Utah. It is a preliminary hearing. So what is a preliminary hearing? How is it different from a trial? What are, what's transpiring there? What should be expected? What will happen after the preliminary hearing? We'll get into that, give you some of that factual information and explain a little bit, about how the law in Utah works. And we'll discuss that when we come back. For from this break, you are listening to or watching the Hamilton Corner, and you do not want to miss the remainder of our conversation because this will certainly be informative, and I hope it will help you in interacting with your friends and family.
>> : As we watch world events unfold and fulfill Scripture. It's hard to believe anyone could doubt God and his Word are real, and yet there are so many who either question or completely refuse to believe it. The God who speaks is a 90 minute documentary that hits the doubt head on with evidence that proves God is real and his word is the ultimate authority. Watch it anytime and invite others to watch with you. Just visit stream.afa.net that's stream.aca.net hi, I'm
>> Christopher Woodward: Tim Moore, senior evangelist on Christ in Prophecy. With all the uncertainty in the world today, it's good to know that God's promises never change. On Christ in Prophecy. We'll examine the signs of the times and consider what's really happening in the world today through the lens of God's prophetic word. To hear more biblical hope for the future, join me for Christ in prophecy Sundays at Ah, 11am Central right here on American Family Radio and find out what's really going on in the world.
>> Joseph Parker: Independence Day. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview. A nation and world altering event took place on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia when 56 representatives of 13 British colonies signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. The Declaration is America's original founding document and is the most consequential enumeration of the fundamental and and unalienable rights of mankind as, ah, irrevocably endowed by our Creator. The Bible says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. While this specifically refers to Israel, there is general blessing for any nation that reveres and honors God. This begins with each one of us. Hear our most recent program at, thechristianworldview.org and then tune in this weekend for another topic that will sharpen your worldview.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Listen to the Christian Worldview with David
>> : Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
In order to assert any criminal prosecution, the law enforcement entity must establish probable cause
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III here. So first let me correct this, inaccuracy that's been circulating. What's happening in Utah right now is not a trial, guys. It is not a trial. There is no judge. I'm sorry, there's no jury. There is a judge. There is no jury. The issue is not determining the guilt or innocence of the charged party. It is a preliminary hearing. Okay? What is a preliminary hearing? Okay, because of our U.S. constitution, our law states that no man can be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law. Okay? In order to assert any criminal prosecution in the entire United States, the law enforcement entity must establish what's called in legal terminology, probable cause to proceed to trial. Okay? There is the necessity of establishing probable cause to make an arrest that is the immediate detention of the suspected criminal. All right? Then there is a necessary, additional and subsequent probable cause determination to proceed to try the suspected criminal for the charged crime in many jurisdictions around our country. Say it this way, the law in our Constitution gives the states the legal authority to determine what method they will require to establish probable cause. All right, so the standard is probable cause. That doesn't change in all 50 states and all US territories, probable cause must be established. The way that probable cause is established in order to proceed to trial can happen, in different ways. Usually it's one of two ways. Many states, if not most of the states in our nation, use the grand jury process to offer what's called an indictment. When cases are indicted. The state of Texas does it this way for all felonies. The state of Texas requires an indictment to proceed to trial. In Louisiana, certain felonies require an indictment to proceed to trial. Certain felonies can proceed to trial via a bill of information. All right, I'll explain what the bill of information is in a second. In the state of Utah, they do not require a grand jury process for an indictment in order to proceed to trial. They require a preliminary hearing process. Now, all charge parties have the constitutional right in the state of Utah to require a preliminary hearing. Or they can waive the preliminary hearing. Okay? They can say, we know the evidence that you have. we know that you have enough to establish probable cause. We don't want to delay with this preliminary hearing. We'll just proceed to the next phase to prepare our defense for trial. Okay? When you have high stakes cases like this case, for example, which is high stakes for two primary reasons. One, it is a capital murder case where the death penalty is on the table as a result of the bill of information filed by the state's attorney's office, then you have the additional. An additional basis for this case being high profile, being that it is what is called, we called, cases like this media cases when I prosecuted. So this is a case that is of significant national interest. So when you have cases that are high stakes like this, often you will have defendants who will require a preliminary hearing. All right, so then how do we get to the stage where the preliminary hearing is being pursued? In the state of Utah, in order to formally charge an individual with a crime, the state's attorney's office has to file what's called a bill of criminal information. The purpose of the bill of criminal information is to put the defendant on notice. All right? So on notice as to what they're being charged with criminally so that they can prepare an adequate defense and they, and so that they can be formally notified that this is what the state is charging you with. In the United States of America, unlike, in England, for example, when a party is charged with a criminal offense, it is the charging party's responsibility to bear what's called the, the burden of proof. To say it more simply, if I accuse you of doing a crime, then I have to prove that you're doing the crime. all right, this is where our fifth amendment privilege against self incrimination comes in. Whereas in England historically and in Europe historically, when a person was accused of a crime, the accused would have the responsibility of proving their innocence. It doesn't work like that here in our country. So what started in this instance with. And, and you guys know my, my policy. I don't like to name murderers. but when the guy who was arrested for murdering Charlie Kirk was arrested and then he was formally charged, the state's attorney filed the bill of information alleging that they were prosecuting him for
>> Joseph Parker: murder.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: First degree murder according to Utah statute and aggravated murder. And the reason I explained it that way is that the charge of aggravated murder in Utah really is first degree murder plus aggravating circumstances. A statutory list of aggravating circumstances which will allow the state to seek the death penalty. Many of you remember the press conference at the very beginning. once the, the state attorney's office, had the case, they stated publicly that they would seek the death penalty. Then they filed a bill of information where they formally expressed that, yes, we are charging this, this person with murdering Charlie Kirk, and if convicted, we will seek the death penalty in this case.
I expect the judge to set a trial for this in the not too distant future
All right, so a preliminary hearing and preliminary hearings that I've been involved in, they're usually, you know, no more than an hour or two. But because of the higher stakes nature of this particular case, it, is been three days. during the preliminary hearing process, I have found defense attorneys and defendants try to use the process to try to get clarity as to what evidence they can expect to be presented at trial. Because prior to the preliminary hearing, the defense will probably have police reports, will have medical examiner's reports, will have this information, but they haven't seen any live witness testimony. So whenever I had cases and the defendant required a preliminary hearing, and if you're in a jurisdiction like Texas where all felonies require an indictment, there have to be particular circumstances that the judge would have to allow for preliminary hearing to take place. And that's a Whole another story. I won't get into all of that, but the times where I've had preliminary hearings, the defense wanted to get an assessment as to how certain witnesses would present. I would try to meet my threshold, my burden of proof, probable cause, with a, scaled down version of my case. I don't want to present everything in the preliminary hearing because I know there's a trial that will come later, that I expect to come later in this case because of the high profile nature of the case and in my view, because the state's attorney's office knows that they're crazy people like Candace Owens that would seek to poison a potential jury pool. Because like I said, this is not a trial yet. And they're talking about things and they're giving false information and they're lying and saying things that they have no way that they could know. Like, for example, she made the assertion that old Tyler Robinson was never on the campus. Well, one of the facts that the case agent presented that the state's attorney, the assistant state's attorneys presented through the case agent in the preliminary hearing was they showed visual video evidence of Tyler Robinson being on the campus four times prior to the assassination occurring. You know, so they know that they're dealing with the courtroom proceedings and certain features of things that are transpiring and being transmitted in the ether. So that's an additional complex layer to doing this. All right, to go a little further, and I'll just tell you plainly, I expect the judge to find probable cause. once probable cause has been determined by the court, then a trial date will be set. I don't know what the court's docket is like. The cases usually are set based on any backlog of cases. But because of the high profile nature of this, I expect the judge to set a trial for this in the not too distant future once a probable cause determination has been made.
Aggravated murder is the only Utah vehicle that allows for the death penalty
All right, Having said that, the, the conventional first degree murder in the state of Utah carries with it a potential sentence of 15 years to life in prison. All right. Aggravated murder is the only, vehicle in the state of Utah that allows for the death penalty. And, it requires upon a finding of guilt by the jury, the jury will also be presented with evidence as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence to sustain that the accused party committed one of the enumerated aggregate statutory aggravating factors. All right. Because the state has charged the defendant with capital murder upon a conviction, the only two possible sentences are death, the death penalty, or life imprisonment without parole. One of the things. One of the reasons I suspect that. That the defense is attempting to use this preliminary hearing and would seek a trial is that they would try to avoid the death penalty. That's what often happens in these kind of cases. They're not making a big argument about guilt or innocence, but they're trying to offer mitigating circumstance to try to reduce the potential scope of punishment. That is the strategy that is often employed. The aggravating factor that was articulated in the criminal bill of information by the state's attorney was that the defendant, committed a homicide upon Charlie Kirk, but in and in. And in doing so, created a great risk of death to persons other than the victim. And you can see the way that that will be articulated is that this is a pretty crowded gathering. You're discharging a firearm, you very easily could have had a shot to go awry. I've had circumstances in my own practice where I've seen people who have died as a result of a ricocheting bullet. So once you discharge a firearm, you cannot guarantee what will happen thereafter. And so you, have those aggravating circumstances. One of the things that was expressed today by the state's attorney's office that would be viewed as an aggravating circumstance, although not a statutory aggravating circumstance, would be that the murderer committed his actions for the express purposes of being, maliciously motivated against Charlie Kirk's faith, in an effort to crush First Amendment protected speech. The text messages that were produced in the court that explained that the murderer did what he did because he wanted to, quote, unquote, stop the hate that was being spewed by Charlie Kirk. Yeah. So because of the actions that he did that resulted in Charlie Kirk's death, which the state put on evidence from the medical examiner to show that the cause of death was a bullet wound to Charlie Kirk's neck, contrary to all kind of lies and other stuff that was stated publicly, and in the course of doing so, he could have injured, if not killed other people in the process of doing so. That would be viewed as a statutory aggravating circumstance. If there are aggravating circumstances that are found by the jury, but they're not articulated in this in Utah statute, then that would not be sufficient to sustain a death penalty verdict. So it has to be a statutorily articulated aggravating circumstance. And additional aggravating circumstances can be found in the hearing concerning whether or not the death penalty should be applied. The defense will have an opportunity to put on what they would describe as mitigating evidence to say, well, he is guilty of this offense. but he should only have to face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. And these are the mitigating circumstances. The fact is why they should do so. So he'll have the opportunity to do that at the next phase as well.
I do not expect a plea deal in this case
I was asked earlier, do I think that it would likely that there would be a plea deal in this case? And I said, I do not expect a plea deal in this case, because it would have to be the product of an agreement between the state's attorney, which will have to confer with Charlie Kirk's family and the defense. And then the judge would have to sign off on him. The judge would have to agree to it as well. The judge who was elected by the people of Utah, the state's attorney who are elected by the people of Utah, they would have to face them following a decision on that front. Additionally, I very rarely see people willing to plead guilty to accept a sentence of life in prison without parole. So that is something that doesn't happen very often. I'm not saying it ever happens. I have seen it, but it doesn't happen very often. So while legally it's a possibility, the likelihood of that happening in this case, guys, is very minimal. Very, very, very minimal. so that's the way that this, that things will unfold with anybody saying that there's a trial happening. Now, that's not true. It's not a trial. It's a probable cause here. Probable cause is a legal way of saying, is it more likely than not that the accused party committed his crime? It's a 51% assessment is what it is. Is it 51 to 49 that he more than likely is the one who did it? That's what it is. That's it. It's nothing other than that. It's not an assessment of guilt or innocence. It's not an assessment of punishment. It's a preliminary hearing, pre being the prefix that precedes what will occur subsequently.
>> Donald Trump: All right,
>> Abraham Hamilton III: It's. It's the equivalent of the grand jury. They just verbalize it differently, they articulate it differently in that it's presented before a judge alone. It's not a grand jury making a probable cause determination. It's the. It's the Utah equivalent of the grand jury process is what it is.
President Trump says he's at top of Iran's kill lists
All right, I forgot to mention that President Trump did point out that, he's got intelligence that shows he's at the top of all Iran's kill lists. They want to take him down. I wonder how that would impact his willingness, or lack thereof. To negotiate with these Shiite terrorists. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast. May not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
>> Donald Trump: M.
