Explore the ramifications of California’s Assembly Bill 495, which has raised alarms among parents and lawmakers alike. Join Jody Heiss as he discusses the potential dangers and the rally against this controversial bill. Meanwhile, get the latest on Israel’s ongoing negotiations with Hamas, and discover how these global interactions are seen through a prophetic lens.
SPEAKER 18 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, good afternoon. Hope you’re having a great day. Welcome to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, Senior Fellow here at the Family Research Council and honored to be filling in for Tony this month. Coming up on this edition of Washington Watch, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky along with other European leaders at the White House today. And there seems very clearly a resolve from everyone to see an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
SPEAKER 05 :
The war is going to end. When it ends, I can’t tell you, but the war is going to end, and this gentleman wants it to end, and Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it, and we’re going to get it ended.
SPEAKER 23 :
That, of course, was President Trump. He was speaking with reporters today during a press gaga with Zelensky. And we’ll be hearing more about what came out of today’s meeting when I’m joined here in just a few minutes by Phil Hegman. He’s a White House reporter for Real Clear Politics. And today’s White House meeting comes, of course, on the heels of President Trump’s meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, which the administration certainly described as game-changing.
SPEAKER 19 :
I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we’re on the path for the first time. We are seeing accommodation more than we have seen in the past, certainly more than we saw in the last administration. And that is encouraging.
SPEAKER 23 :
That was U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff yesterday on CNN’s State of the Union. And not surprisingly, there are some Democrats who are not happy with President Trump’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. In fact, there was one Democratic congressman who called Friday’s summit a historic embarrassment to the United States. And I’ll get a response from that by Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, of Wyoming a little bit later in the program. And speaking of wars, a ceasefire and hostage release proposal is now on the table between Israel and the Hamas terror group. And of course, all this is coming as a result of three and a half years now of what’s been taking place, but all of the swapping of hostages and so forth now is back on the table. I’ll be discussing that with Dr. A.J. Nolte. He’s the director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University, and he will be joining me from Israel with the latest. And then later in the program, we’ll highlight a terrible, terrible bill that’s on the verge of becoming law in California.
SPEAKER 20 :
This bill, AB495, 100% strips parents of their parental rights. It is literally being called by opponents of it, I’m one of them, the California legislature trafficking bill. It’s a meat market bill. It is a trafficking bill.
SPEAKER 23 :
That was Southern California Pastor Jack Hibbs late last month when he was speaking out against California’s Bill AB495. And he, Pastor Jack, will join me a little bit later to talk about it. And I’ll just tell you up front, friends, you don’t want to miss that conversation. This bill is horrible. and of course as we know all too often what starts in california rarely stays there so that’s the lineup for today we’ve got a lot coming your way you certainly don’t want to miss any part of it if by chance you do you can always catch it by going to our website tonyperkins.com please keep that handy also want to just give you a quick reminder our pray vote stand summit is coming up in chino hills california it’s happening october 17th and 18th and you can get more information or register by going to PrayVoteStand.org. We encourage you to go ahead and do that today. All right, let’s jump into the meat of our discussion today. As I opened up with, President Trump has been in meetings today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with European leaders, and literally just a couple of minutes ago, I was informed that it appears as though the meeting has come to an end. So today’s meetings, as we all know, followed the meetings that took place Friday between Trump and Russian President Putin in Alaska, which our administration says was a game-changing meeting. So what are the takeaways that we know so far from today’s meeting? Well, here to share what he’s been tracking is Phil Hegman. He’s the White House reporter for Real Clear Politics. Phil, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s great to have you. Thank you. Well, I know you’ve been tracking this.
SPEAKER 16 :
Tell us what you know so far. What I know so far is that this administration and European allies have been having meetings about meetings in order to set up future meetings. And one thing that is truly remarkable here is that it’s even happening at all. If you rewind the clock to February of this year, it wasn’t that long ago when Ukrainian President Zelensky was thrown out of the Oval Office after he tangled. with President Trump and Vice President Vance. Today, that didn’t happen. Instead, as you noted, not only does this administration say that they have moved the ball towards peace, you had some of these European leaders, like the German chancellor, agreeing with him. Now they’re talking about the potential for a trilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin of Russia, Zelensky of Ukraine, and right there, smack dab in the middle of all of it, is donald trump i think the thing that we can say consistently right now because we don’t know exactly um what consensus uh trump and today’s delegation landed on but what we can say consistently is that trump is mercurial in his methods he’s sort of moved back and forth on a couple different issues um previously but he’s consistent in wanting to get this thing to end And as of right now, all parties seem to agree that we might be coming to the end of the beginning of the peace process.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, that is amazing news. And as I said, they just literally just moments ago seemed to wrap this thing up. So this is something you’ve been tracking all day. So that’s great to hear. Let me go back real quickly, if I can, Phil, with the meeting that took place Friday. Unpack for us, were there any things that came out of that that made the meeting today a little iffy with going into it as far as maybe some security guarantees or any other sticking points that might have been hurdles going into today?
SPEAKER 16 :
That is the thrust of the issue here. You hit the nail right on the head because there are two things that have emerged. First, from that Friday meeting, we got word that the U.S. security guarantees might not be a sticking point for Putin. But then we saw President Trump walk away from this demand for a ceasefire. This is interesting because previously the president had indicated that U.S. security guarantees would be through this minerals deal, that we would have a commercial interest over there. And as a result, Russia would not want to reinvade the country. A lot of Europeans really doubted that. But this time around, You know, Trump hasn’t ruled out the possibility of sending U.S. peacekeepers, and we’re not certain where the delegation landed. But the big thing, though, is the call for the ceasefire. And for the most part, today’s meeting, at least what we got to see of it in the press, was pretty tame. But you had the German chancellor draw this line in the sand and say that he thought it would be unimaginable to go into that trilateral meeting where you know they’re actually going to take hammers and tongs to you know something enduring to try and get a deal and they wouldn’t have a ceasefire donald trump doesn’t like being challenged we saw that in february and he sort of shrugged and said hey i i brought peace and end all of these other wars without a ceasefire i think it’ll be okay this time so we’ll wait for a result but um you know those are the contours of what we’re watching
SPEAKER 23 :
Very interesting. You brought it up, and I’m glad you did. We don’t need to camp out too long on this, I guess. But you mentioned that this meeting went so much better than the last time Zelensky met with Trump. That was a very awkward meeting for everyone involved. But everything that you’re hearing from today with the other European leaders, this was much more cordial and productive. Is that correct? Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 16 :
That’s correct, and one thing that is notable, it’s not definitive, but it gives us a sense of how Zelensky approached this meeting. The guy put on a jacket, no tie, but he wore a suit. Now that’s important, not because of his sartorial decisions, nobody cares, but it’s more important because that was something that bothered Trump last time. Zelensky showed up in his sort of black fatigues, and that rumpled the president. He didn’t like that. This time around, Zelensky seems to be reading the stage directions more. He’s not challenging Trump in public. He’s not pushing back in public. And I think that it might have taken eight months for Zelensky, who was really heralded as sort of a Churchillian figure during the Biden administration, to realize that the the rules of the game had changed. And in Trump, what he sees is someone who is focused, first and foremost, on just getting this thing done. I mean, the idea that there would be territory swaps, something that President Trump told me during the signing of a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and Albania. He said there would be territory swaps. That would be unthinkable during the Biden administration. It’s a new paradigm, and we’ll see if there’s a new result.
SPEAKER 23 :
Very interesting. So now you mentioned the hopes to have a trilateral meeting now between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky. Any sense of timing on when that might happen?
SPEAKER 16 :
The president, he likes things to move quickly. He doesn’t like to wait around. There’s some indication that it could be this week or next week the white house press corps would be getting a lot of travel miles under their belt but one thing that we heard from the president definitively is his plans to call vladimir putin after this meeting finished today and the reason i think that is significant is not only was he willing to invite PUTIN INTO THE UNITED STATES, THE FIRST TIME HE’D MET ANY WESTERN COUNTRY SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS CONFLICT. I MEAN, REMEMBER, THIS IS SOMEONE WHO IS REGARDED AS A WAR CRIMINAL FOR HIS INVASION. BUT TRUMP IS KEEPING THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION OPEN. AND I THINK THIS REFLECTS A DIFFERENT IDEOLOGY OF PRESIDENT TRUMP. YES, HE HAS A MORALISTIC FOREIGN POLICY. YOU KNOW, ALL LEADERS DO. BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, YOU KNOW, TRUMP IS NOT SO CONCERNED with the personal character of another nation state. He’s concerned with the results. It’s much more sort of real politic. And again, we’ll judge it by the fruits that it bears. Does it bring this war to an end in a just way?
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, good. And, you know, I think that communication, line of communication was illustrated even with the European leaders being here. There were some Democrats in particular who were saying they were here to prevent Trump from bullying Zelensky again. But no, he was Trump was on the phone with all of them last week, letting them know what was going on. So I thought that, again, was yet another great line of communication. We’ve only got about a minute or so left. But what do you think perhaps would be the role of the U.S. after some sort of peace deal is struck?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, that’s what we’re going to be watching very closely. Donald Trump does not like to commit US troops to any engagement. And so it is a win for the Ukrainians that he hasn’t ruled that out just yet. We’re going to have to watch that pretty closely here to see if he does send in troops. One thing that I am focused on is Trump likes to see European allies do some of the heavy lifting. He sent arms to Ukraine. but he’s made NATO pay for them. Is this a situation where he’s willing to get the US more involved, but in sort of an indirect way where the Europeans are taking their fair share of the weight? Well, again, I hate to say it like this, but we’ll have to wait and see.
SPEAKER 23 :
We’ll be watching. Phil Hagman, White House reporter for Real Clear Politics. Thank you so much for being so on the spot with the latest. We appreciate you coming on.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER 23 :
All right, coming up, I’ll continue this discussion on the meeting today with the White House. At the White House, from a congressional perspective, Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman will join me next, so stay tuned. We’ll be back right after this break.
SPEAKER 06 :
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. The Family Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the Word who dwelt among us. Come with us and discover the glory of the Word. Read the Gospels and witness the life-changing story of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of common people and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the new year. Find our Bible reading plan in daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us and stand on the word.
SPEAKER 23 :
Thank you for tuning in today to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss filling in for Tony and glad to have you with us. All right, as we discussed in the last segment, and I’m sure you’ve been keeping track as well, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky along with some other European leaders in the White House today. And of course, all of this is coming on the heels of the meeting he had with Russian President Putin last Friday. And as we’ve already noted on the program today, there’s been a lot of optimism expressed across the board for the most part. I mean, there’s some Democrats who are still finding ways to debase President Trump’s efforts to bring an end to this three and a half year war. Quite frankly, you have to ask, will anything that the president does be enough for the Democrats? But We’ll see how all that goes. But joining me now to continue this discussion and more is Congresswoman Harriet Hageman. She represents Wyoming. Congresswoman, always great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us again on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you do such great programming. It’s an honor to be here.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, thank you very much. Let me begin with this. I don’t know if you saw it or not, but on CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday, Democrat Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, he said that the meeting last Friday between Trump and Putin was a historic embarrassment for the United States. What is your take on not only that comment, but the summit that took place on Friday?
SPEAKER 11 :
I think that’s delusional. And I think anybody who paid attention to what happened on Friday knows that it’s delusional and it just demonstrates how the Democrats are flailing. And you made the comment in your opening introduction. I don’t think that there is anything that President Trump could do that would satisfy them. But instead of just sitting silently or maybe changing the subject or focusing on policies that actually they believe in, they have to tear everything down. Anytime two world leaders meet in an effort to try to resolve an ongoing war, it is not a failure. It is not an embarrassment. What it is is it is an effort to stop the killing. We’ve had this going on for three and a half years now. Putin has said it never would have happened on President Trump’s watch in the first place. And now President Trump is the one who’s willing to step up with his moral authority on the line, his reputation on the line and say, come on everybody, let’s see if we can get together and see if we can get this thing solved because the killing needs to stop.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well said, and I think that’s the right perspective with all of this. Whenever two world leaders meet together to put a stop to something like this, it’s a great step in the right direction. And then following that, today we have a meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders and Of course, the jury is still out on that, but everything we’re hearing so far, and it just ended probably 20 minutes ago, but what we’re hearing so far is very positive on that. What’s your take in terms of the overall direction that things seem to be headed right now?
SPEAKER 11 :
I believe in life and I want to preserve life. And what we’re watching take place between Russia and Ukraine has been a tragedy for all sides. Russia was the aggressor. Russia did the wrong thing. It never should have happened. But we also know that it was in part in response to the Biden administration continuing to say that Ukraine should be a part of NATO. We now know after the last four and a half years of the incredible corruption that was taking place with Hunter Biden, and various interests in Ukraine. How much of the Biden policy was a spillover in relation to what other Biden had been doing for the previous four, five, seven, eight years? I can’t answer that. I don’t know if any of us know at this point, but we do know that there was an impact because the president of the United States had a son who was engaging in corrupt practices in foreign countries, and we’re now all suffering the consequences of it. So here we are yet again, I will say it, that anytime you have world leaders who attempt to come together to resolve a conflict of this nature it is a good thing is it going to succeed i can’t sit here and tell you what it is i’m not even sure what success looks like right now it’s one of the reasons that i have been that i have pushed back against sending additional aid to ukraine because nobody has been able to tell us number one where all the money has been going what the accounting has been what the money is being spent on And at the same time, what is the ultimate goal here? And I look at the European leaders over the last couple of years, and if you’ll remember, there were two different times that Mr. Zelensky came out and said, we need to talk about a ceasefire. And it was the Western leaders who came out and said, no, no, no, no, no, there will be no ceasefire. It was the European leaders who came out and said, no, no, no, no, no, we’re not talking about a ceasefire. And I always thought that that was so strange because it was as though they had some kind of an interest perpetuating a never ending war. I just don’t believe that way, and I think that this is an opportunity to try to get some peace in the region.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, very good and I remember those. I think that’s a good perspective to bring back into this equation in this conversation. I was able to be in some of those meetings too, and you’re exactly right. What happened there? Congresswoman, if I can, I wish I could have you on and on. There’s so many things I’d like to. put out there for you. But as you’re talking about some of these decisions like this, let me bring it a little bit closer to home. You have been on top of the FISA reform efforts. This is a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and how that initially intended to spy on potential terrorists in our country, foreign terrorists, has unfortunately been used to spy on American citizens. What needs to happen to correct that, the 702 portion in particular?
SPEAKER 11 :
So we have done some very major reforms to FISA. The Judiciary Committee took the lead on that, and we did some very significant reforms last year. I believe that we had 56 different points, but in my opinion, we did not go far enough, and I still do not believe that it complies with the Constitution, most specifically in relation to the warrant requirements. What you’re referring to is the Obama administration, and we now, every single day almost, we have a new revelation as to what the Obama administration did in terms of not only spying on the Trump campaign by using and abusing FISA, but then what they did afterwards to cover it up, which was the entire Russia hoax. all the way through the first two years of President Trump’s administration. But when you look at how FISA was abused, the individuals obtained a FISA warrant against Carter Page, an American citizen who was actually a CIA asset, They spied on him so that they could then make the effort to spy on the Trump campaign because they could look at his emails and look at his text messages and things like that. So FISA was terribly abused. We can never let that happen again. The government does not have the right to do that to us. And it is imperative that we continue to make reforms and changes to FISA to protect our civil liberties.
SPEAKER 23 :
It is so refreshing to hear you say that. Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hagenwin, thank you so much for the incredible leadership that you bring to the table. And as always, it’s great to have you on Washington Watch with us.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 23 :
All right, friends, coming up, more on Israel and Hamas when I’m joined by Dr. A.J. Nolte coming to me from Israel. So stick around.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 23 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for joining us. An honor to be filling in today for Tony. I’m Jody Heiss, and welcome aboard. All right, a ceasefire and hostage release proposal may actually be back on the table between Israel and the Hamas terror group. And all of this is coming as Hamas, at least reportedly, has dropped a vast majority of their previous demands. And of course, those demands killed any potential for a deal. But all of this is coming about as Israel advances its plans to take over Gaza City, which apparently has put Hamas under immense pressure. at least according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But one has to ask, is this all just more smoke and mirrors from Hamas? Or are they actually approaching the end of the rope? Well, joining me now to discuss this from Israel is Dr. A.J. Nolte. He’s the associate professor and director of the Institute of Israel Studies at Regent University. Dr. Nolte, welcome back to Washington Watch, and thank you for staying up late to join us.
SPEAKER 15 :
No problem, Jody. It’s great to be here with you.
SPEAKER 23 :
Okay, so let’s jump into this. It certainly can be hard to trust anything coming out of the mouth of Hamas, but what’s the latest that you’re hearing on a potential ceasefire and hostage proposal?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I think the main thing to keep in mind is always, what are Hamas’s core interests? And obviously one of their imperatives is always to try to cause as much pain for Israel as possible, and to bring the fight to Israel. But ultimately to do that they have to survive. And so what Netanyahu is basically threatening to do here is to go into a part of Gaza that they’ve never been into before, but it’s also a part of Gaza that Hamas controls absolutely, which is Gaza City. And so Hamas is interested at a minimum in delaying that as much as possible. And I think they’re making the calculation, and this would be kind of my guess is how this goes down, they may be making the calculation that if they let some of the hostages out, they can then essentially extract a delay out of Israel, which will at least buy them some more time to survive. So what I don’t expect is what most Israelis are hoping for, which is that this is going to be finally the deal that gets all the hostages out. I think realistically, I don’t expect that. I don’t think the Israelis expect that. I think they may be able to get some of them out. And then the question is, are there concessions that Hamas is still going to ask for beyond just delaying Israel’s attack on Gaza City? But it may also be that Israel’s attack on Gaza City is sufficient.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, so, I mean, that’s the big question, what you’re bringing up there, which way is this thing going to go? I know that Israel’s defense minister, Katz, is saying that Hamas seems willing to discuss a deal for the release of the hostages. And, of course, this is the first time in a long time that there’s even been talk of a possible deal. But is it a stall tactic? What are you kind of gut feeling? What do you think what’s going on here?
SPEAKER 15 :
Look, I think it’s absolutely a stall tactic. I think we know it. I think Israel knows it. I think to a certain extent Hamas knows that Israel knows it. But the question is not is it a stalling tactic, because the answer is yes. The question is how many hostages can Israel get back, and will they be able to then say the trade is worth it? And I think there’s a reasonable possibility the answer to that is that yes, they will be able to get at least some of the hostages back in exchange for some sort of delay. So yes, it’s a stalling tactic. Yes, it’s a survival tactic. But the Israelis might look at it and say, Right now we have none of them coming back. If we play with a little bit, we may get some. And so that’s, I think, part of the reason why they’re doing this. The other reason is if in fact it turns out that Hamas is not acting in good faith, then the Israelis can still come back to their own people and to the world and say, the Israeli government can say, look, we really have tried everything. We’ve tried with these people over and over and over again, and now we really have no other choice. And so I think if there’s a serious offer on the table, the Israelis will consider it, even if they know Hamas is going to break the deal, because they can get something back in exchange. They can get some of the hostages back.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, it’s very interesting to see what’s going to come of this, you know, broad and getting a little bit broader perspective. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. But of course, one of the members of the Knesset has been barred now from Australia from visiting that country. What do you think of that? What’s going on with with Australia here?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, there’s been a concerted pressure campaign on Western countries to sort of start excluding people from Israel, to sort of put pressure on Israel. The pretext usually has something to do with settlements in Judea and Samaria. But honestly, a lot of these pressure points just don’t like Israel. And the Australian government, unfortunately, Australia’s been a good ally of the United States for a long time. It tends to be a stronger ally of us and a stronger ally of Israel both. when the coalition, which is the more conservative party, is in power. Now it’s a labor government, as I understand it. And they’re, you know, like Keir Starmer, like Mark Carney in these Anglosphere countries, their parties on the left are probably honestly in worse shape on Israel right now than Democrats in the United States. So I think that’s a large portion of what’s driving the Australia situation.
SPEAKER 23 :
We’ve only got about 30 seconds and then I’ll have to wrap up. But were you surprised at all by Australia and others wanting to recognize a Palestinian state?
SPEAKER 15 :
No, I think this is virtue signaling. I think it’s an attempt to put pressure on Israel. But I also think it’s fallacious, because you can’t recognize a state that doesn’t exist. And the only thing it does, it doesn’t help the Palestinian people at all. The only thing it does is it takes away leverage from Israel as they are trying to negotiate with the Palestinians for their own security interests. So I think for the Europeans it’s an empty gesture, but it could have costs for Israel.
SPEAKER 23 :
Thank you, Dr. A.J. Nolte, Director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University. Always an honor to have you. All right, friends, coming up, Pastor Jack Hibbs is going to join me to discuss an unbelievably dangerous bill in California. So you don’t want to go anywhere.
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Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
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SPEAKER 09 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture. and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, an honor to be filling in today for Tony. And before we dive into our next segment, I want to once again encourage you strongly to join FRC and a host of other like-minded believers for our upcoming PrayVoteStand Summit event. It is only two months away. Hard to believe it’s going to be taking place this year on October 17th and 18th in Chino Hills, California. Friends, I’m telling you, this will be the most important and powerful event that you attend all year. Perhaps it could be one of the most important events of your lifetime. It is literally for such a time as this. that we will be seeing come together, Christian leaders, various issue experts, government leaders. There’ll be times of prayer, inspiration, action. I want to encourage you with all I’ve got. This is a time to register, find out more about it. You can go to prayvotestand.org, and we encourage you to do that. We look forward to seeing you there. And speaking of Chino Hills, Speaking of California, the Golden State, tomorrow, Californians will be participating, many of them, at a rally at the state capitol in Sacramento to show their opposition against Assembly Bill 495. Now, we’ve been talking about this, and my next guest says this is the most dangerous bill ever seen in California. And he’s urging Californians to join the rally and take a stand on behalf of children, take a stand on behalf of parents. And I’m talking about Pastor Jack Hibbs. He’s a senior and the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California. Pastor Jack, thank you so much for standing strong and thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, Jody, thank you for the invitation. And just you said it a moment ago, we are of the same DNA. And I think that’s the Holy Spirit, FRC, and what we’re doing out here out west. It’s the Holy Spirit moving. And we’re delighted to participate with you guys. Great to be having you guys out come October for the PrayVote stand. And you are right. It’s a life-changing event.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, we can’t wait to be there and just thank you for hosting us and being a part of it, Pastor Jack. You and all your church there at Calvary Chapel, we thank you. Let’s talk about what’s happening tomorrow. Tell me, first of all, about the bill’s author here and what supporters of this bill are describing that it’s supposed to do. I can’t imagine anyone supporting this, but what good are they saying that it does?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, the author is Celeste Rodriguez, and this is a bill that’s been crafted under the, of course, always watchful eye of Gavin Newsom. Jody, nothing happens in Sacramento without Newsom signing off on it, even in advance. So this bill has gone all the way through, and now it will head to his desk this week. And this is a bill that they say. Now, listen, this is what they say. They say it’s a bill that is needed to protect illegal alien children that are in public school here. And by the way, not just public school, that are in school, that doesn’t specify public or private or daycare, that should their parent or parents be taken by ICE, that the child then can be put into the custody of or into the possession of anyone. Listen, anyone without a background check, without any required proof of ID, no license, no address. Nothing’s required. It is suggested that they provide ID, but not required. They can fill out an affidavit that they can print on their computer at home. Anyone can do this. And they can check a box that says, I have tried to reach the parents. You check the box and then you sign it. You walk to the school and you say, I am requesting Susie Jones. I’m requesting Susie Jones. The school cannot deny the affidavit request of John Doe. John Doe takes possession of the child. He goes away. The school, when mom and dad show up to the school to pick up the child, the school is under no obligation to tell even the parents the name of the individual that filled out the affidavit. This is unheard of in America. It’s been unheard of in California. They say it’s to protect, listen, Jody, they say it’s, the author says it’s to protect illegal alien and their children from Donald Trump’s ice. That’s what it’s for. It’s an anti-Trump BILL. AND AGAIN, IT HAS SAILED THROUGH THE MAJORITY HERE IN CALIFORNIA BECAUSE THEY ARE A DEMOCRAT SUPER MAJORITY. IT GOES TO GAVIN NEWSOM. You know this, Jody, better than I do. If he signs it, you’ll see it popping up in about three months in Oregon, Washington state. You’ll see it in New York. You know how it goes. What happens in California, good, bad or the ugly, is quickly exported to the other states. That’s why we’re getting tremendous support from other states to stop this bill by demanding that Newsom veto it and put it away.
SPEAKER 23 :
Wow. So this bill was written for illegal children, individuals who are here with illegal families. Does it go beyond that?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah. Thank you for asking that, by the way. Numerous attorneys, I’m not going to mention their names, you know who I may be talking about. They’ve all looked at it and said, this is a great, great, terrifying quote. They said, you know, normally in legal things, the devil is in the details when you read it. not this bill. It’s very short, it’s very vague, and it’s a quick read, and here it is. The devil is in the open-endedness of it all. It can be interpreted by any California judge or any California attorney or however in such a way that is so loosely applied that it’s kind of like nailing jello to the wall, meaning this. One of those great attorneys said, This is clearly a bill that, if it’s passed, grants jurisdiction to any person to go to any daycare, any private school, maybe even Christian school, certainly public school, because it doesn’t specify to extract this child. But here’s the thing, Jody. This is what’s been pointed out to me, which gives me chills. let’s say four streets down or four houses down from your grandkids, Jody, somebody is spying your grandkids. And this pedophile or this human trafficker realizes your traffic patterns. Jody leaves at this time, the kid goes to school at that time. He knows what school it is. While you’re gone, he goes over, get your kid out. And by the end of the day, I had one attorney tell me, by the end of the day in California, Your child could be somewhere in the Mojave Desert or in Mexico. And you’re gonna find out at the end of your day when you pick up your child, they’re not there. And so it’s so broad, it’s so open-ended that the devil is in the broadness of this bill.
SPEAKER 23 :
That’s unbelievable. It is absolutely horrifying in every way. What possible means of protection do they think this can do? I mean, if parents have no idea where the child has gone, who’s picked them up, the school cannot provide that kind of information. This seems like it’s doing nothing but endangering children. And so what do they claim is protective about it?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, again, great question. Here’s the thing. This is a bill, they say, for the illegal alien to protect them against ICE. But, again, the vast, the broadness of it, it doesn’t limit the child being brought out. In other words, the parents do not have to qualify to be illegal aliens. The qualifier, Jody, is the affidavit. And this is what’s amazing. The affidavit, anyone can print out. Anybody can print it out. And so the authority is in the affidavit. The school surrenders to the, I hope not, but the Cummings law that the child can go with this person, but it doesn’t say the person has to prove that they’re doing it on behalf of the illegal alien parents. All it says, Jody, is did you try to reach the parents of this child, yes or no? And if they check yes, then they, by affidavit, you can read it for yourself, they get possession of the child. So it could happen to my grandkids. That’s why it is so bad. It’s so, so bad. Yeah.
SPEAKER 23 :
So tell us about the rally. How can people participate and those who are not in California? Friends, this is your time. We are calling on you to pray. This is a huge, huge deal. Pastor Jack, tell us about the rally.
SPEAKER 20 :
Number one, it’s tomorrow, the 19th of August in Sacramento. People will start arriving as early as 9 a.m. However, we’re going to be interviewing people on the real life network on the state grounds. But it’s going to start officially at 1 p.m. We have a lineup of speakers. And that rally is more of optics than anything. We have a strategy, Jody. We’ve done it before. And listen, the last time we did this, Newsom backed down. He’s going to look out his window, and he’s going to see, I hope, 5,000 to 10,000 people. And he’s going to realize, uh-oh, this could really be tied to my neck. heading into twenty twenty eight as i run for president that’s his aspirations is no secret about that we will see to it that the author uh… celeste rodriguez and gavin newsome more importantly owns this bill but the optics is when he looks at his window and he sees that the beautiful grounds of sacramento state capitol covered in people saying no on eighty four nine five uh… we’re praying that that happens but please everyone who cannot make it to sacramento will you please fast tomorrow if you can Can you pray? Please pray, everyone. Please pray that God would visit. Jody, what if God visits Gavin Newsom tonight in his dreams, in his sleep, and speaks to him? What if God saves Gavin Newsom tonight and wakes him up? It’s possible. This is a Nebuchadnezzar type of moment where you either bow or burn or… Listen, what if God visits Newsom tonight? Can you, all of you join us in praying that God would save Gavin Newsom, that he would tomorrow, you know, come out and meet us and say, you know what? I saw Christ last night. I’ve given my life to Christ. This bill isn’t going to happen. I mean, who knows? Let’s pray big. Let’s show up big. And you know what? God always brings us the battles, but we got to show up. He’s always, he asked David, Joshua. He asked Jehoshaphat, show up. And I’ll bring the victory to you. That’s what our plea is to all concerned citizens of America today.
SPEAKER 23 :
Amen. Well, all of our viewers and listeners, you just heard it. You just heard a compelling invitation for you to participate in what’s happening tomorrow in California by fasting and praying and pleading with God to intervene in this situation. And we are gathering with Pastor Jack for that very purpose. And I urge you to do the very same thing. It feels somewhat inappropriate, but we’ve got another huge issue taking place. Pastor Jack, if I can real quickly in just a couple of moments that we have remaining switch gears. Last month, you had a special service with Amir Sarfati, who is, of course, a bestselling author, but specifically dealing with the biblical prophecy of what’s happening in Israel right now. Specifically, the two of you talked about the October 7th. as being a pivotal moment. Can you expound a little bit more on that? I think this is an issue many people are concerned about and want to know more about.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, yeah, I mean, number one, October 7th actually really happened. Jody, that sounds silly for me to say, but a lot of young people today are saying it was staged. It was an AI event. It actually happened. OK, so let’s just get that off the table. And the other thing is this, Jody, that this is a longtime standing from its very inception in Islamic passion within both the Quran and in much of Islam, and that is to eradicate the Jew and to drive them from the land that God has promised to Abraham. And this is a spiritual battle. And what’s amazing to me, Jody, is that, watch my fingers, the church is divided over the issue of the viability and the credibility of Israel? Is it a legitimate government? You and I know there’s podcasters and there’s hosts on radio programs that are now arguing about the existence of Israel. This is absolutely an indicator of the last day’s events where all nations, the Bible says in Zechariah, will turn against Israel. Could we be seeing that? Let’s see. But we know this, that there is now… an amazing rise of anti-Semitism around the world. Jody, you know this. It is a spiritual issue. It fulfills, and it’s addressed in Bible prophecy, and it’s another indicator of the last days’ events getting set up. We are not saying that we’re in the Tribulation. We’re not saying that this is exactly Bible prophecy fulfillment. What we are saying is this is the chess pieces being put into place to start the last and final endgame, as it were. And so, isn’t it interesting that all around the world, some of the biggest breaking news globally is Israel, the Jew, and their right to the land, when God in the Old Testament said that he would give them that land promised to Abraham, and that Jesus Christ is going to return, not to Palestine, Jesus is going to return to Israel, set up his throne in Zion there in Jerusalem. So says the Bible. So I believe that these are events being set up. But I got to tell you, Jody, we better play this one right as America. We better be on the right side of the Bible rather than the right side of the rhetoric of what’s out there today because it is really, really a tremendous age right now of deception. And I’ll say this finally. Christians who know their Old Testament are not being deceived. Christians who don’t read the Old Testament, they’re struggling with this. Friends, you don’t know if your New Testament is true unless you read the Old.
SPEAKER 23 :
Absolutely. Pastor Jack, only about a minute or so left. On this issue as well, how would you encourage people, our viewers and listeners, to be praying about Israel and these events?
SPEAKER 20 :
The Lord says in Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. That doesn’t mean you ask questions and you have to fear. Comfort his people. Pray about it. See what God would lead you to do. Certainly spread the gospel to the Jewish people. And the second thing is we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, which is actually an invite. Lord, return. There will not be peace until Christ returns. But in the meantime, we are to bless Jerusalem. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. We are to bless Israel. What does that mean? The Jew, the nation we pray for, and we do everything we can to provoke the Jew to jealousy by inviting them to know Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus as their Messiah.
SPEAKER 23 :
Thank you so much, Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California. We thank God for you and thank you for joining us on Washington Watch. May the good hand of God be upon you and all those who attend the rally tomorrow. Blessings to you. Thank you. All right, friends, that wraps up this edition of Washington Watch and have a great evening. We’ll see you tomorrow.
SPEAKER 18 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family, and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
