If we lose this cultural war, we're going to have a hedonistic society
>> Ed Vitagliano: If we lose this cultural war, we're
>> Tim Wildmon: going to have a hedonistic, humanistic society.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Discover the story of the culture warrior, Don Wildmon and how he went head to head with Hollywood playboy, the homosexual agenda and the Disney empire. The movement Don started paved the way for Christians to boldly stand for truth and righteousness in a hostile culture. Watch Culture Warrior today for free. Visit culturewarrior movie.
Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day
Welcome to Today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon M President of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning everybody. Welcome to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Today's issue is the name of this here program on this Tuesday, April 14, 2026. And joining me in studio is Ed Vitagliano. Good morning, Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know what? You guys deserve a hand. I'm gonna give you a hand.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who?
>> Tim Wildmon: All of you. Fred Jackson's here. Fred, I'm giving you a hand.
>> Fred Jackson: Thank you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I like it, I like it.
>> Tim Wildmon: I watched a lot of Tony Robbins, years back and he always said, applaud everybody you talk to. So is this Woodward?
>> Chris Woodward: Hello.
>> Tim Wildmon: How you go there, brother?
>> Ed Vitagliano: And Krish never, to ramp up the energy level when he answers?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, no. Low energy, Krish. Absolutely.
Jenna Ellis will be with us at the bottom of the hour
All right, thank you for joining us everybody. Jenna Ellis will be with us at the bottom of the hour. Jenna's on with us, sometimes once a week, sometimes every other week. And we look forward to visiting with her. She's our morning host on Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American family radio. Heard 7 to 8 o' clock central time right here on a, who's got the first good news story here?
>> Chris Woodward: I can mention it.
>> Tim Wildmon: You can mention it. Go ahead.
>> Chris Woodward: I don't often have the opportunity to begin this show with positive news, so I claim my time.
Mark Hauck has won a huge settlement after Obama administration targeted him
alright, so we have very positive and encouraging news here involving a pro life activist that we've long talked about on the show by the name of Mark Hauck. Some people pronounce it Mark Hook. I'll get to that in a second. But Mark Hauck has won a huge seven figure settlement after President Joe Biden and his administration targeted him in a major legal victory against blatant targeting and discrimination from former President Joe Biden's administration. Mark Hauck has secured a seven figure settlement in his lawsuit against the doj. The settlement follows the Biden administration's widely criticized prosecution and bogus arrest of the Pennsylvania father under the freedom of access to clinic entrances or face act. People might remember a situation back in 20, when Mark Hauck was removed from his home at gunpoint during breakfast with his many children.
>> Ed Vitagliano: 7:00am yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: So they show up like he's some armed, you know, like he's a menace to society.
>> Tim Wildmon: What do they say he did?
>> Chris Woodward: They claim that he, violated the face Act. Now there is video of the altercation here, and Mark Hauck got into a kind of a shoving match, with a pro abortion person who Mark claimed was threatening or being mean to his child. So he was basically a dad trying
>> Tim Wildmon: to intervene at a, an abortion clinic at an abortion, just to set the scene. So Mark Hauck is a pro life activist, as you say, who lives in Pennsylvania. He and his son. Right?
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: How old was this?
>> Chris Woodward: he's a teenager.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. They were doing like many pro lifers do. They were standing outside, you know, holding. I don't know if they're holding up signs or whatever. Anyway, they were protesting against the.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think they were just praying.
>> Fred Jackson: They were praying.
>> Tim Wildmon: They were praying that abortions were going on inside. So they were just praying. And, the DOJ under the Biden administration went, after him in his home. Yeah. And arrested him. And, and it was a big scene. It should never have happened. He didn't violate the Face act and he didn't go into the abortion clinic or anything like that or. And so it was basically targeting, because of his beliefs. And he has won a massive lawsuit against the then Biden administration's doj. And that's what we're, that's what we're lauding. That's what we're talking about today. So he went to court. Who were his.
>> Chris Woodward: he was represented by Attorneys with 40 days for life Institute of Law and Justice.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So anyway, so he won a six, a seven figure seven settlement.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And this was in. This was, he was, if I remember this story right, he was like down on the corner. He wasn't even. Right. He wasn't in front of the door to this clinic.
>> Chris Woodward: I saw the video this week.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Was praying with his son. This guy went down to harass him, started screaming at the son. Mark Hauk said, get, you know, get away from my son. There was a shoving match.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The local prosecutor said, there's nothing here. We're not prosecuting Mark Hauk over this. It was just a thing that, that happened that the. I'm guessing that the district attorney said the pro abort was wrong. Mark Haug probably shouldn't have shoved him, but he's protecting his son. We're not Going to prosecute M and the feds, the Department of Justice said, hey, guess what? That's not good enough.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And they went after him under the Face Act. Clear case of targeting this man and blowing this way out of proportion simply because the Biden administration wanted to send a message to other pro life individuals. They showed up with I think more than 20, ah, FBI agents, full SWAT gear with, with with loaded weapons into the house while the kids are eating breakfast.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I do have some reaction to this. a lot of pro lifers are very happy, understandably, with the news of this seven figure settlement. Here is Steven Ertel talking about Mark. Clip one.
>> Steven Ertel: Well, the news is amazing for the Hook family. You know, obviously the Biden administration sent their agents to his house. his house was surrounded by more than a dozen federal agents there to arrest him, frankly over something that was absurd. Mark Hook was sharing the pro life message, with customers at a Planned Parenthood abortion center. Never did anything wrong, had a Planned Parenthood clinic escort assault, or a go after him and his son. He protected his son and he paid the consequence instead of the Planned Parenthood activist. And the Biden administration went after him, tried to put him in prison for, for exercising his First Amendment rights and protecting his family and sending agents to his home, intimidating his family, terrorizing his family was way beyond the pale. And it's a good, it's definitely a good day for the Hook family, that he was given that restitution in terms of a good settlement.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hook or how people.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, Steven hurt. Steven says it's pronounced hook, but I've heard many people say houk.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So yeah, it was how for years, I don't know why that wasn't good enough. Now it has to be hooked.
Family Radio investigates weaponization by the Biden DOJ against pro lifers
>> Fred Jackson: before coming into the studio, I was listening to an interview with Todd Blanche, who is the acting Attorney General. We have a little bit of audio from that interview a few minutes ago, but he outlines the work that has been done by the current DOJ in investigating the weaponization by the Biden DOJ against pro lifers. I think it's cut 13.
>> Chris Woodward: Correct.
>> Todd Blanche: Prosecutors have a big say in sentencings in the federal system. The judge ultimately imposed a sentence. But what we saw is prosecutors arguing for really harsh sentences inconsistent with what they should have been doing and inconsistent with what they were arguing when it was exactly the opposite. And we saw internal emails, internal correspondence, which is now part of the report where Department of Justice prosecutors are working hand in hand with NGOs and nonprofits to target and go after pro life. Pro life individuals who were not breaking the law.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay?
>> Todd Blanche: And I'll tell you what. There's no emails. There's no emails in my inbox from NGOs telling me what to do. And it's disappointing. And look, I hope the American people can see, the work that we did over the past year trying to understand what happened. But once they see it, I think folks will be frustrated.
>> Chris Woodward: For our listeners, benefit, I will post the press release from the doj, as well as the link for that interview that we just played, so that way people can see it for themselves.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and here's. Here is a little bit of a frustration on my part. Yes, I'm glad Mark Hauk, and his family got this, whatever is $1 million north of $1 million settlement with the DOJ. But I think people ought to be fired. Oh, yeah. Because, the problem is, and sometimes you'll see this with local police departments, but especially with the federal government, these people who, who weaponized the DOJ for political reasons. It's no skin off their back when the federal government has to shell out a million dollars. But, but they should have some skin in the game. And if you authorize what they authorize. We're all frustrated with the fact that you get people who commit crimes, local, state, federal level. their rap sheet is 17, 18 crimes long. They're still out on the street. We're all frustrated with that. And instead, this is what the DOJ says they want to do. They want to put, a father of seven or however many kids he has in, in prison over something that's not illegal. Somebody should lose their job for weaponizing the dhcp.
>> Fred Jackson: Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, in that interview I was just listening to, even went as far to say is the Biden DOJ was working with Planned Parenthood.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: To identify certain pro life groups, to go after them. In the Christian Post story this morning, they quote Randall Terri, who has been a pro life activist for years. He identified DOJ prosecutor Sanjay Patel as a key figure in the targeting of pro life activists under the Biden administration. So you don't have to stretch your imagination too far. You've got. And Merrick Garland, the Attorney General at the time, he had to know all of this was going on. You've got meetings at the Biden Department of Justice with Planned Parenthood pro abortionists saying, go after this person, go after that person. And apparently Sanjay Battel was the one that said, let's send the FBI out to, Houck's home, surround it with weapons drawn. We need to make, an image of this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Make an example.
>> Fred Jackson: That is scary in the United States of America.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: M. We had a just department that. That was behaving this way. But it's not only this. Remember they went after parents at school board meetings.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Calling them terrorists.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's one of the reasons they lost the election. I think one of the reasons was people were catching on to this. You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. That's good news. Good news for the Houck family. And the, settlement, the one point. What?
>> Fred Jackson: One million plus?
>> Tim Wildmon: Million plus.
>> Fred Jackson: All right.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio.
President Trump posted a meme of himself as a Christ like figure Sunday
Well, to follow up on the story that we talked about yesterday. There was a follow up to it. that was the two days ago. Was it two days ago?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It was overnight.
>> Tim Wildmon: Sunday night, I think, you know, President Trump posted a meme, of himself, as a Christ like figure. And, if you just look at the picture, any reasonable person would say he's presenting himself as if he's Jesus.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. You can see the meme. Anyway, he, was criticized by many, in the Christian community. Not all, but many in the Christian community for doing this. Because that's a blasphemous, thing to do. Sacrilegious, at best, blasphemous, at worst. Think that's fair, Ed?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, no, it clearly was. We talked about this yesterday. it was careless at best, blasphemous at worst. And by that I mean, you know, sometimes people don't intend to be blasphemous. They're not intending to be sacrilegious. But God struck, was it uzzah in the Old Testament, remember, for reaching up to touch the ark? it doesn't matter if you're being careless. Now, I'm not saying God's going to strike President Trump down. I hope he doesn't pray. He doesn't. but I have no idea whether the President meant to portray himself as if he was Jesus, but that's what that post does. It presents him as being Jesus Christ. And we said it is blasphemous. I am happy to give the President the benefit of the doubt and say he wasn't trying to do it, but he, was roundly and rightly criticized for it and he pulled the post.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Now, but however he did, so Wriley Gaines, the Fox News host and well known for taking a stand, being a brave young woman to take a stand against M boys, playing in girls sports. That's been her cause. And she has been featured at President Trump's rallies in the past for being courageous. She was the one, one of the first ones who posted, ah, criticism. President Trump asking him to take this down and also saying he could use a little humility. Am I right? Yes, that's what she said.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
President Trump was asked about posting picture of himself as Jesus Christ
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, so President Trump was asked yesterday, we have that clip.
>> Chris Woodward: We only have the. I thought it was a doctor, but I can tell you what he said.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead and play that clip and then we'll come back. This is, this is. President Trump was asked about the posting of him as Jesus, in this picture, and this is what he had to say.
>> Jenna Ellis: Did you post that picture of yourself
>> Fred Jackson: depicted as Jesus Christ? Well, it wasn't depiction. It was me. I, I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support. And only, the fake news could come up with that one. So I had, I had, I just heard about it and I said, how did they come up with that? It's supposed to be me as a doctor.
>> Tim Wildmon: And do doctors wear biblical robes?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, no.
>> Tim Wildmon: And have the have the have. Listen, what's he talking about?
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is why I said, I will give the president the benefit of the doubt. I mean, humanly speaking, I'm not speaking for God. God doesn't have to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say, I'm not going to call the president a liar. Okay. But I am going to tell you, I am bewildered at how he thought this image was of a doctor. It is a man in a white robe with red robe on top of it. That looks like half the paintings we've ever seen about Jesus. He has power, light coming out of his hands and there are people surrounding.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is that a typical Red Cross doctor?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's not a red cross.
>> Chris Woodward: Watching the forehead of somebody.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And he's, and he's laying hands on someone who's laying in bed and sick. And there's light coming from the man's head as if there's power proceeding from the image of Donald Trump praying for this man. There are other people around, the sick man looking up at President Trump and one is praying. I'll give the person who made this the benefit of the doubt and say the person is praying to God. And not to the image of Donald Trump. Listen, I just want people to be open and honest. I want the President to say, I was careless, this was wrong, I apologize. I'm, pulling it.
>> Tim Wildmon: He did that when he was three years old.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I don't want to hear that. That's a doctor. That's not a doctor. It's clearly an image of Jesus with Donald Trump's face there. I'm not trying to pick on him. He gets picked on a lot. But this is an unforced error. He shouldn't have done it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Anyway. Wriley Gaines called him out in a nice way and Trump did not like it and he went after her.
>> Chris Woodward: Right. I can read this. in an interview with CBS News, President Trump responded to recent criticism from the former swimmer bluntly stating that he is, quote, not a big fan of Wriley. Actually. Now, she has since been asked about this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, hold on a second.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: She was at his rallies. He commended her. He's, he said he was a fan during the campaign. And she says, you shouldn't be posting a picture of you like Jesus. And he said, then he twitches to say he's not a fan. Not a fan of hers. Actually.
>> Chris Woodward: That's, he said that about a lot of people when, when criticized by them.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred, you think about these comments?
>> Fred Jackson: deeply disappointed. I, think there, there needs to be, as you have said, there needs to be an apology from him. And I would accept that apology. People do make mistakes and I would accept the apology. But instead of doing that, he cooked up this story yesterday that I thought it was a Red Cross worker. And as you guys have just been saying, if you've seen the image, there's just no way that you can interpret it that way. And then to criticize, Wriley Gaines, who has been a huge supporter of
>> Tim Wildmon: this 25 year old woman.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Who fights to keep men out of sports, which is a big political issue.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah.
>> Fred Jackson: With Donald Trump. I, just think there needs to be some gateway in his mind, in his tongue, and it doesn't seem to be there. Instead, his response to anyone who criticizes him is attack.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, Listen, I am 90% of what President Trump has done is doing and probably will do. I'm a big fan of.
>> Fred Jackson: Sure.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I'm a fan of Donald Trump as president. I'm just speaking personally. Okay. he's, he's a fighter. He is, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't get fatigued. He just seems to be go. But he, as we have said, he's his own Worst enemy. And I think he hurts his agenda.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And the, and the MAGA agenda going forward by connecting to that agenda. All these hijinks, all these comments. my understanding is during Holy Week he was on a platform. Paula White, his spiritual, advisor, is talking about Jesus Christ and him being crucified. And she turned around and said, and something to the effect that, well, there's someone else up here who's undergone the same thing. You don't do that during Holy Week.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, you don't do it at all.
Paula White criticized President Trump for comparing him to Jesus
>> Ed Vitagliano: You don't. Yes. Well, that's true. Paula White should never said that. I don't understand why we can't just simply say, no, that's wrong. Paula White. That's the wrong thing to say. You don't turn to a human being and compare him to Jesus. Okay. You just don't. And I don't know why there are Christians who think it's somehow wrong to call out something the president does simply because they're big fans or they support his agenda. Why can't. We're all grown ups. Why can't we do both at the same time?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, because what happened to Wriley Gaines.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Trump will kick you off the bus.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: If you criticize him.
>> Ed Vitagliano: let me say something about Wriley Gaines. Okay. This young woman you mentioned, this 25 year old, this young woman's never going to be able to do anything else in her life as a, as a job. This is it. She, she's all in, in defending the rights of women from men in the locker rooms and all that. This is, this is it. She's not going to go. She's not going to work for a Fortune 500 company because she's too controversial. Okay. So she laid it out all on the line and said, I'm going to stand up for what's right. I don't care what it costs me. This young woman is to be admired and championed and applauded. Even if she disagrees with you, you've got to say, listen, I, we, President Trump, want to say, I disagree with the Wriley Gaines said. That's not what I meant. But she's still a champion. Why can't we just do that?
>> Chris Woodward: And further proof of why she is a champion is her response to Trump's criticism. So the independent and I shared this on our Facebook page. The independent catches up with her and they're like, hey, what do you think about Trump's criticism of you? She says, quote, I love the President and I'm so grateful he's in office, of course, I'll continue to support him and the America first agenda. At the end of the day, I do nothing, for the approval of a man. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify God. And all we do the truth. Social post missed the mark. It's now deleted. Amazing.
>> Tim Wildmon: What's amazing?
>> Chris Woodward: That's how she ends it. I'm reading it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, that. What that's talking about is amazing.
>> Chris Woodward: the fact that he took, it down.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I guess that he took it down.
>> Chris Woodward: Either way, Trump criticized her. She didn't bash him.
>> Fred Jackson: She's being very gracious.
>> Chris Woodward: That's.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, this is what happened. This is what happened to Kayleigh McEnany. You remember?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: She said something critical of Trump. yeah, yeah. On Fox about three years ago. And he said, she's a globalist rhino.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: So you don't. You don't cross him or criticize him. It's kind of scary, honestly, if a man is so sensitive that he can't be.
>> Fred Jackson: Take.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, Take. Take criticism in a graceful way at all, because then you become completely blinded to your, you know, you're not willing to listen to people, you know, who. Who are your friends.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're saying don't. Don't do something. So.
President Trump posted picture of himself looking like Jesus on Twitter
All right, just for the record, I don't buy his excuse that he's a Red Cross doctor.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: In that picture, I think he just came up with that one out of the clear blue sky. And Vice, President Bance said it was a joke, but President Trump said, no, it was me being a doctor. Red Cross doctor. So.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Look, I don't.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know. I don't know. It was just. I wish sometimes, it would be helpful if you could just say, I was wrong. To do that is a mistake, and I apologize. Move on.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: I mean, instead of going on. Yes. Instead of going after Wriley Gaines.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Because that makes people go, you're going after a woman who. All she said was, you shouldn't be posting a picture of yourself looking like Jesus.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who hasn't posted something that. I'm not saying.
>> Tim Wildmon: Black.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who hasn't posted something to go out that was.
>> Tim Wildmon: I shouldn't have done that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Didn't think that one through.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: I've done it this month.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I just encourage our listeners to pray for the president.
>> Tim Wildmon: The.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Pray for President Trump.
>> Tim Wildmon: How. How should we pray for him?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think we should pray that if he's not a Christian, he would come to Christ. If he is a Christian, he would learn more humility. And I think, I think people would love it if he said, you know what? I blow it sometimes. Okay? I am a NewSong York street fighter. I get pretty pugnacious sometimes. Pray for me. I think people would.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll be back momentarily. Stuff. Stay with us.
You can listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app
>> Ed Vitagliano: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr the AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. But while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your your phone, smart device, or Roku. Just go to your app store or visit afr.net listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app.
>> Jenna Ellis: M oh God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise Your name. Psalm 44.
>> Fred Jackson: 8.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more of Today's issues.
American Family Radio's Activate Summit 2026 takes place July 16-18
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Thanks for listening. I'm Tim with Ed, Fred and Krish. Go ahead, Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I got a commercial for you, folks. Activate, Summit is, It's that time of the year again. Summertime. Activate Summit 2026. What is that that flows from our Activate curriculum?
>> Tim Wildmon: It flows.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It flows, man. It just flows right like milk and honey. Okay, so, Activate curriculum is ah, a, ah, curriculum that helps, Christians learn about the Christian worldview variety of topics. So we pick one topic a year for our Activate Summit. And this year we're talking about roots to fruit grounded in truth, growing in grace. That will be July 16 through 18. July 16 through 18 right here in Tupelo, Mississippi, where our flagship station is for American Family Radio Network. It'll be at the Cadence Bank Conference center in Tupelo, Mississippi. Registration is open. Go to afa.net it usually sells out.
>> Tim Wildmon: yes, they sell out. This is our annual conference here in Tupelo that we host. And, and almost all the folks here who come into town are listeners to American Family Radio, and it's a great Christian worldview training. is it a weekend or how long does it last?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, July 16 through 18, I think it's like Thursday through Saturday, I think. but if you want more information, afaah.net summit speakers include Bert Harper, George Reeve, Dr. Jessica Peck, Josh Wood, Katy Faust, and Laura Petherbridge. And, that is all that information is available.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so, that is, again, it says get your tickets by May 22nd. So we got a early bird special. I.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Do we have early bird special? I don't know the answer to that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, anyway, the main. The main session is for 13 years old and up for the whole weekend. the whole conference is only $175.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And for kids, ages six, through 12, there is a cost for them. It's much lower than the adults. Ages 5 and under is free, but although there's no child care provided. But the Activate kids, they have their own track where they're taught. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Are we going to be doing trivia from there?
>> Ed Vitagliano: One session, I. I heard, from, the crew that is heading this up our Activate Summit, they were going to try to figure out a way for us to do, ah, Trivia Friday live on Thursday night or late afternoon. I'm not sure the details.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wait, wait a minute. We're doing Trivia Friday live on Thursday?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, the. The. At. We'll be doing it live at the summit. A version of it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, we separate version than our in studio.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We'll have our in studio.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going to be sort of performance monkeys up there, Abs.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Absolutely.
>> Chris Woodward: In the immortal words of Bill O'Reilly, we'll do it live.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'll tap dance.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Now, I would pay to see that. I would pay $175 for what you tap dance for 10 minutes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: 10 minutes.
>> Tim Wildmon: M. I'll make a donation to your favorite charity, if you would. If Ed Battagliano would tap dance.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, my favorite charity is going to be my Medicare, deductible if I. If you want me to tap dance for 10 minutes.
Registration for the Afa. netsummit is open now
All right, so Brent Creeley, our producer, said this is not an early bird special. That's probably the right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Because it's cheap enough as it is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It is.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So if people want to join us July 16th through the 18th, we'd love to have you. It will fill up. It Always does. it's an annual conference that we host here. And again the price is very reasonable. so how can, what is the website to go and read about this and sign up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. Afa.net, most of you know that afa.netsummit, very simple, afa.netforward/summit. It will take you to the actual website and then registration is open. You can find information about it, the speakers, other questions and comments and then you can register there. The prices will be there as well. Afa.netsummit okay.
American Family Radio Network welcomes Jenna Ellis on today's Issues
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. You're listening to today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr. And joining us now is our colleague and friend Jenna Ellis. Jenna is heard each weekday morning here on American Family radio from 7 to 8 o' clock Central time with the Jenna Ellis in the morning program. And Jenna joins us, from time to time here on today's Issues. Good morning Jenna.
>> Jenna Ellis: Good morning. Always great to join you all.
Two members of Congress resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct
>> Tim Wildmon: what was your top story you covered this morning?
>> Jenna Ellis: several. But one of the top stories was the resignation of two members of Congress, a Democrat and a Republican. So it's kind of a one on one which really doesn't necessarily have to be that way. They should be resign or stand or fall on their own merit. But in my opinion, both Eric Swalwell from the state of California, the Democrat, and also Tony Gonzalez who is from the state of Texas, who's a Republican, both independently and individually, deserved their resignation from, from Congress amidst allegations of you know, basically sexual misconduct.
>> Tim Wildmon: star has his name Swalwell swallow. He became well known during the, was it the January six hearings or
>> Jenna Ellis: Trump impeachment hearings or impeachment Kavanaugh kind of during that whole era. Yeah. And he was ironically a big proponent of the whole Me too believe all women now that he has his own accusers. Apparently that doesn't apply anymore.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah, now he was a, he was a United States House of Representatives member, but a high profile one in Washington D.C. he was very well, liked by Nancy Pelosi when she was in charge of the Democrats. So she was, he was kind of her, you know, teacher's pet so to speak. And, and, and so he, he, he was running for governor right now. He was running for governor of California. And some considered him, you know, favorite or one of the favorites. And now he has several, women, some of them staffers who've come for him to accuse him of sexual harassment and such. he's even being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney. Is that the Eric Bragg. Is that his.
>> Chris Woodward: Alvin Bragg?
>> Tim Wildmon: Alvin Bragg. Anyway, is that his.
>> Jenna Ellis: I'm not sure if he's being investigated there on the state level, but, I'd have to. To look into. Oh, no, he's definitely being investigated, criminally for various act.
>> Tim Wildmon: Maybe. Maybe it's a federal. I don't know. But anyway, I just saw that in the news. So he, has, as you say, he has stepped down from running for governor. Is he going to stay in the House, though, do you know?
>> Jenna Ellis: He's not. So he resigned both. first he resigned his gubernatorial campaign out of California.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Jenna Ellis: And then later, in the day on Monday, he resigned from, Congress as well. But the interesting thing about this is that there are several reporters now have come out and said, you know, I've been covering Eric Swalwell for the last 12, 13 years. Everybody knew this about him and you know this. And the response is, well, great. Why didn't you, as a member of the press, think that it was relevant to actually report on this? But clearly the mainstream media, the Democrat Party, has protected him until it became to their advantage to get him out of, not only the gubernatorial race, which I think was the main target, but now it's. It's blown up so much that he actually had to resign from Congress. They don't care. He was another cog in their system. That's how the Democrat Party works. Even the gop, to a certain extent. It's very utilitarian. But California, has a very weird system where they don't have Democrat versus Republican primaries. They just have one pool. And the top two candidates, regardless of party, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, whatever it is, the top two then go on to the November general election. And so the top two candidates currently polling are both Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. And the Democrat field is a little bit wider. It's California. And so the vote was being split mainly between Eric Swalwell and Katy Porter, who is. Has issues and problems in her own right. but this appeared to me at least, and I think a lot of people, to be a very targeted attack to get Eric Swalwell out of the way so that Katy Porter would end up being able to end up in one of the top two and that it wouldn't be a Republican sweep in California.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, yeah, it's.
>> Jenna Ellis: That's in my opinion, what's going on,
>> Tim Wildmon: what they got in California with the gubernatorial race. And I know, I think it's this way in Alaska and maybe Louisiana. I may be mistaken about that, but it's called a jungle Jungle primary. A jungle primary. Axl Rose was the man who came up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to the jungle primary.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, he came. He came up with this system after he quit singing for the rock band. And so, the. The.
>> Jenna Ellis: And who said culture doesn't influence politics?
>> Tim Wildmon: Exactly.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm pretty sure we frowned.
>> Tim Wildmon: politics follows downstream from rock music.
>> Jenna Ellis: Exactly.
>> Tim Wildmon: So anyway, what you have here is. So California is a deep blue state. We all know this. So a. Democrats, you know, on statewide elections are always going to win, at least for now. But with a. If you have a jungle, system where you have, let's say, five or six or seven candidates, and if four of them are Democrats, I think this is what it is in California, although I don't have the names like you do, Jenna, then if they split up the vote, then, you know, two Republicans could be in the. In the runoff with 18 and 14%, theoretically. You know, something like that. I don't think that'll happen. Probably what'll happen is the Democrats will, well, in the end, come down to one candidate, that, they will get behind, rally behind, and everybody else will drop out. Kind of like what happened with Biden when he was running against Bernie Sanders and some of the others. The Democrat, fathers got together and, although Democrats, they don't believe in male, female, so I don't know what I would call them. Democrat persons. Democrat persons, yes. Democrat would choose your, you know, your pronoun. The he. Him, he, she, me, her. Democrats, they would have chosen a, you know, they chose Biden because they thought he was the only one who could beat Trump, at the time and win. So they made. They cleared the field for him. And I imagine that's what will end up happening out in California. Although, who knows? Some people get stubborn and think, no, I'm gonna go on.
The top two leading candidates in California for governor are both Republicans
You're not gonna force me out. But it is interesting right now, as Jenna said, the top two leading candidates in California for governor are both Republicans. I'm familiar with Steve Hilton from his days on Fox News. He had a show on the weekend. Who's the other person we're talking about here?
>> Jenna Ellis: Chad Bianco, and he was actually a former sheriff in LA County. and so he's very conservative. The one, you know, kind of hang up. And why? some conservatives, like our good friend Pastor Jack Hibbs, who's in California, he's endorsed Steve Hilton over Chad Bianco. Is because during 2020 and, you know, kind of all of the. The BLM, you, know, 2018, you know, that kind of era. there's a video of Chad Bianco, who's kneeling to the protesters and his defense as well. I was just trying to quell the situation. You know, I wasn't actually being pro blm, but in my opinion, it does look really bad. I think that Chad Bianco is a very solid conservative, obviously would be better than any of the Democrats, but that's his one kind of major issue that a lot of conservatives have with him. And so that's why Steve Hilton is currently pulling first.
>> Ed Vitagliano: By the way, Swalwell, wasn't he also, wouldn't he kind, of pound around with, ah, just use a euphemism, with a suspected Chinese spy? Oh, yeah, yes. Christine Fang or whatever.
>> Tim Wildmon: this. That was her last name.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Fang.
>> Jenna Ellis: Fang.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Fang, yeah, Fang.
>> Chris Woodward: he ran for president for a few months back in 2019. Who?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Fang.
>> Chris Woodward: Well.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, swell. My dad. let me just. Side note, quick, quick side note. My dad always wanted a dog named Fang, and my mom just would have. Would not have anything. He wanted a man's dog. You know, we had like, a dachshund, and. And she had, you know, little small dogs, lap dogs, kind of like what you got, you know, and my.
>> Jenna Ellis: Should have gotten a Chihuahua. Named him Fang.
>> Ed Vitagliano: well, my dad wanted just a big man's dog. He wanted to name him Fang. My poor dad. He lived in 93 and never had his, you know, the Fang that he wanted. So, anyway, so Swalwell, he appears to have been just a real degenerate. And, and now they got him out of the race, so.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, the Republican that had to, with that step down. What was his name? Gonzalez. From Texas. Yeah. So, he stepped down for sexual misconduct reasons, right?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah. He, admitted to an affair with a staffer. And it's a really tragic story because that staffer ended up, setting herself on fire and ended up, committing suicide. And so it was, you know, just a horrible story, because apparently she was married with a child, had left her family in order to be with him. And then, of course, you know, he's not going to leave his family. So then that's her response. But, you know, the whole thing, of course, is terrible. And he, in my opinion, deserves to be out of Congress as well.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, in terms of numbers now, I don't know, where does that leave the Republicans in the House? Are they like two votes, three votes, or.
>> Jenna Ellis: I think they're. They're only up yet. It's two or three. And, what will be interesting is whether or not, either of these seats will be replaced before the midterms or. Or whether there will just be a special election, or just, you know, just a regular election, because they're both House seats that would be up for reelection anyway if, Governor Greg Abbott out of Texas will just say, you know what? Let's just go to the general and keep it open until then. So, I mean, not great in terms of the majority in getting legislation actually passed, but, you know, overall, these two are good, to be out. But they weren't the only two possibly up for expulsion. There was another Democrat, a woman, and I can't recall her name, but then another Republican out of my home state of Florida, Corrie Mills, who has his own sexual misconduct and also campaign finance issues. I think he deserves expulsion for what's going on with him as well. That may still happen where there's another Democrat and another Republican that either are forced to resign or are expelled in the coming weeks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Did you say Congress might affect their ability to pass legislation? Did you actually say that? Do you think they still do that legislation?
>> Jenna Ellis: Well, you know, I mean, in theory, yeah, in theory, I'm, giving them their constitutional do. That's about it. But I don't think they recognize it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
Tim Ferriss: Biden DOJ weaponized federal law to prosecute pro lifers
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, what do you got coming up tomorrow morning, or do you know yet? You're going to wait to see what happens the rest of the day?
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah, we actually have my, good friend Dinesh d', Souza, which is going to be great. He has a perspective on the Iran conflict that I think is, not. Not unique, but I think it will be very valuable, for listeners. And then also another story that actually, Tim, you highlighted, that I was already, prepped for for tomorrow as well. with the Biden DOJ weaponizing federal law to prosecute pro lifers, this, we're going to talk about this with, another, legal guest tomorrow. But, this internal, memo from an investigation from the doj. I mean, it's basically like saying, we investigated. And yes, the sky is blue. I mean, this is so that the DOJ under Biden was weaponized, against and targeting one side of the political and moral debate, which was pro lifers, Trump supporters, Christians. And my issue with this is where is the accountability? Because when you're in a legal sphere, it's not even just political, but These are licensed attorneys who are working for the state, so they have an even higher obligation under their bar licenses to do the interests of justice. And when it has come out that it is so obvious that they were targeting people with higher, with higher, prison sentences and they were going after them with political motivations, I mean, that's stuff that gets into disbarment
>> Ed Vitagliano: territory and they should be fired at least. At the very least.
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah, absolutely. All the accountability.
>> Tim Wildmon: When you think with Cash Patel. Well, it wouldn't be Cash Patel who's the acting AG now.
>> Chris Woodward: Todd Blanche.
>> Tim Wildmon: Blanche. That would be. He would be able to clean house, would he not?
>> Jenna Ellis: he should. I mean, absolutely. Anybody who took part in this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, anybody who was left over from the Biden years, who was responsible for the going after the, pro life, folks unfairly should be fired. And I imagine they. He will do that.
>> Jenna Ellis: And you know, and this is one of those things where even if you're a career DOJ prosecutor, like a lot of them go through, regardless of, you know, who's in, in the top position, as, as AG that's appointed by the president, whether that's a Democrat appointee or Republican, they, they're just career. Right. Well, if you are asked as a prosecutor to do something that is unethical like that, your option is to resign yourself rather than participate in something like that. Like, I was actually, faced with a. Not that extreme, but a similar situation when I was a prosecutor, in Colorado, I worked for, an elected DA who was running at the time for Senate and was very, politically minded. And there was a case. I won't get into all the details, but basically, because of optics reasons, they wanted me to handle a case in a certain way that was patently unfair to the defendant. And I refused. And I said, that's, you know, looking at this in the interest of justice. My obligation, my oath of office is to the Colorado state constitution. I'm responsible under my bar license. I'm not responsible for his political campaign. And because of that, I was fired over it. And, and he brought me in and he said, you know, you think too much like a defense attorney. And I said, well, I actually take that as a compliment. And I went and became a defense attorney. And I came back and I won trials against his office because he was prosecuting politically. And it happens all the time, even on a state level. I've seen it personally, and I refuse. And I would rather keep my integrity and, and also treat people who are going through this system fairly. I mean, people deserve to be prosecuted when they violate the law, but they don't deserve to be over prosecuted or treated with political incentives and bias over what the interests of justice requires.
Jenna Ellis: I am still an advocate of repealing the Face act
>> Ed Vitagliano: Hey, can I just ask one quick question? Then we'll let you go. So let's say in 2028 that one of these radical lefties on the Democratic Party side gets elected as president. Do you think the Department of Justice will become Biden 2.0 or even worse, or do you think that they will calm things down as far as weaponizing the doj?
>> Jenna Ellis: Oh, they are already openly, the Democrats are openly saying that they want to initiate lawfare against Trump and all of his associates. And you know who all of his associates are? Everybody who doesn't identify as a Democrat. Right, yeah, like, and so, no, I think it's going to be worse than Biden. I think they will take this as their opportunity to get vengeance and revenge. And this is why I am still an advocate of repealing the Face act instead of using that. I mean, I know what it was intended for, and the current DOJ is prosecuting people who should be prosecuted under it. But I don't want to leave that on the books and allow it to be weaponized in a potential future Democrat doj. We need to repeal it and we also need to put in some safeguards before they ever get back into power if they do. But we also need to vote our values and ensure that people who are going to weaponize the system never get back in office.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, thank you, Jenna. And we look forward to tomorrow's show. That's Jenna Ellis. you can join her Tomorrow morning at 7 o' clock Central time right here on American Family Radio. She covers current events and, so from a constitutional and more importantly, a biblical worldview perspective. Jenna Ellis in the morning. Thank you, Jenna.
>> Jenna Ellis: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, bye. Bye.
Jenna Ellis: I said I would tap dance at Trivia Friday
It's Jenna Ellis. you're listening to today's issues on American Family Radio. Tim, toe tapping Ed and, and Fred and Krish. if you missed that segment we were talking about, how did that come up when we were. You were talking about.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't, I don't remember. I, I, you shouldn't expect me to remember what I said 15 minutes ago. Well, that's true, but I did say something about I would, tap dance. I would tap dance at the.
>> Fred Jackson: Activate something.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You talking about Trivia Friday at. Oh, yes, yeah, that's right. Yes, we're talking about Trivia Friday. If we do that on that Thursday night. and you're gonna tap dance before the. Yeah, I said I'll tap dance. right. I don't remember. I don't remember how we got that. Maybe not. I do remember the general.
>> Chris Woodward: That could be the fall share a thon like premium for, you know, for 150. The great commission partners Ed will show up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's not going to be the share of on premium because I'm not doing it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah, listen, folks, you do have your dignity.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I do have my dignity.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah, it's. It's not for sale.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's for sale if it has to do with food, but. Yeah. Nothing else.
IPhone users duped by fake emails stealing bank details
Well, there you go.
>> Tim Wildmon: You got that, iPhone.
>> Chris Woodward: I do, yeah.
>> Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Story there. Let me pull it up here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: If you can't pull it up, it might be because your phone is full.
>> Chris Woodward: Here it is. Yeah. This is a story from Tim. It's from the Daily Mail and I'll share it on our. Tim found it online.
>> Tim Wildmon: I saw this story and send it.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. And I'll post it on our, today's issues Facebook page when it opens. IPhone users duped by fake emails stealing bank details. So yet another reason why you need to don't click on things and don't open things and don't accept things from people you don't recognize.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, yeah, what this particular story was talking about, there's, of course there's always some scam going around. Right. That's, that's sweeping the country fair. But this is a one, about the iPhone says that, there is a false message that you receive either email or text or maybe a pop up that says your phone is out of storage.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Your icloud storage is full. Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. So you get this message like I said, text, email or pop up. And then in fact, oh, my
>> Ed Vitagliano: wife's gotten them before and my wife
>> Tim Wildmon: to her, they're phony.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. And they want you to click through and then you wind up giving. They want information from you and then they wind up draining your bank account. Now, my wife, is the least technic, technically savvy person I know. Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is that a compliment?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's not a compliment.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But she realizes this and to her credit, she clicks through on. She never clicks through on anything. She says, I got this. Is this spam? yeah, that's spam. Don't do anything here. Let me handle it. So she knows not to, right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Not to click hard enough to know that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Well, I don't listen, I don't want to. My wife's very smart. Smartest lady I know.
>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't mean it like it sounds smart enough to know that. But, I mean, hey, listen, if you. If you. If you know enough, you don't know what you don't know, that's pretty smart.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is pretty smart. I just. Listen, I'm already in for tap dancing. I don't want to get life imprisonment in my own house.
>> Tim Wildmon: I understand. So the bottom line is don't. Don't click on links of anything that you don't know what they are. But this scam going around now is that your iPhone is. Storage is full, and you need to click on this to get more storage. When in fact, you're going to a, scammer site to take your money. Right? They want you to type in right or your dog.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They'll take your dog, too. Stay away from them.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. Well, thang we will. We'll be back momentarily with more of today's issues.
>> Jenna Ellis: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio. M.
