Monday, FNC host Tucker Carlson questioned the Republican response to the January 6 defendants being held as pro-life conservatives have been threatened in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Carlson warned the double standard was a “scary” precedent created by the federal government.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: We want to tell you the story of a man called Paul Vaughn, leading off tonight.
Paul Vaughn does not fit the profile of a terrorist. You’d never guess. He is 55 years old. He’s a former Pastor who now runs a small Internet service business in middle Tennessee. He and his wife are gentle people. They’re faithful Christians. They spend most of their time raising their 11 children.
Last Wednesday morning, at about 7:15 AM, a bucolic scene at the Vaughn household. Several of Paul Vaughn’s children were standing in the front yard about to head to school. Suddenly, out of nowhere, their world falls down around them. A team of FBI agents armed with automatic rifles swoop in in their SUVs and begins pounding on the front door of the family home.
Inside the house, Paul Vaughn is watching this and he is shocked, as he said later, “When I opened the door and saw the guns pointed at me, I asked them what they wanted. They said they wanted me,” and they did. The agents led Paul Vaughn away.
Inside the house, his wife who had been at the back with their newest child, an 18-month-old baby, ran to the front door. Confused and terrified, she asked what anyone would ask, “Who are you and why are you taking my husband away?” We don’t need to guess about the exchange because it’s on tape. Here is what it looked like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AGENT: If you’re not going to let me in, then I will just —
BETHANY VAUGHN, PAUL VAUGHN’S WIFE: No. I want to know why you were banging on my door with a gun. You’re not going to tell me anything?
AGENT: No, we’re not.
AGENT: I tried ma’am.
B. VAUGHN: No, you didn’t. You did not try.
This is not acceptable. Can I have your name? You’re not going to give me your name? You’re not going to give me any information?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Body armor, little watch caps, automatic weapons held at the ready, taking off with her husband. “Why are you taking him? Who are you?” She asks, but of course they completely ignore her. “No, we’re not going to answer. We tried” — when they didn’t.
They don’t have to answer because when your husband is a domestic terrorist, the government doesn’t owe you an answer to the most basic questions.
So, Paul Vaughn, we now learned, is a terrorist, but what did he do? You may be wondering that by this point.
Well, as the Department of Justice explained later in the statement, Paul Vaughn opposes abortion and not just in a quiet, personal way. That would be bad enough, but Paul Vaughn is outspoken about his views on abortion.
He still believes, being 55, this is a free country with a Bill of Rights that allows you the freedom to say what you want and even have protests on behalf of your ideas. He believes that was the freedom that built this country.
So, a year and a half ago, in March of 2021, Vaughn and 10 volunteers from a Christian pro-life group in Tennessee staged a protest at an abortion clinic in Mount Juliet. Now, we don’t need to speculate about what happened next, and that’s a good thing for Paul Vaughn.
It was broadcast live on Facebook by one of the volunteers. That would be 73-year-old Chester Gallagher. Watch this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(PROTESTERS SING CHURCH HYMNS.)
POLICE OFFICER: Hey guys. We are going to need you guys to disperse outside, okay? This is your last warning. I need everybody to step outside and go to the sidewalk.
You’re more than welcome to protest out on the sidewalk, okay?
I’m just asking real nicely, please, for you to leave and go outside on the sidewalk.
(PROTESTERS CONTINUE SINGING.)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So, you live in the United States and you watch nightly the chaos in your city, buildings burning, people being pushed in front of subway trains, people getting knocked in the face on the street for no reason, carjackings, murders up in every city in America.
So, you look at that and you think, is that really it? That’s why armed FBI agents with automatic rifles arrived at Paul Vaughn’s home last Wednesday? Because of that? Because more than a year ago, a group of Christians, many of them elderly, sang hymns? Yes, that’s it. That’s what he did wrong.
Now we should note that we only have this video evidence because of the hard work of Mia Cathell at Townhall, which broke this story. God bless.
Without this documentary evidence, without this video, you might be tempted to believe the Biden administration when it tells you that Paul Vaughn “Used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, and interfere with employees of the abortion clinic.”
Oh, but he didn’t. He didn’t use physical force. He sang hymns. But for doing that, Joe Biden’s Department of Justice now tells us, Paul Vaughn deserves to spend 11 years in prison. Eleven years.
Vaughn’s “coconspirators” from that day in March of 2021, meaning other pro-life activists, are also facing long prison sentences.
This group would include 87-year-old Eva Edl. Now, if that name sounds familiar to you, it’s because she is something of a celebrity in Christian circles, pro-life circles, and that’s because she survived a Yugoslav concentration camp before escaping to this country, where she spent decades advocating against abortion. She has seen firsthand what happens when the government denies the essential humanity of a person.
In this picture, you can see her sitting in front of an abortion clinic as a police officer towers over her. Within seconds, two officers are shoving this 87-year-old into the back of a car.
Now, again, contrast this with the country you watch every night on television or the one you’ve experienced if you live in a city where people are afraid to go to the grocery store, where Wendy’s burned down in the name of Civil Rights and no one does a thing about it. Watch how they’re treated.
Same thing happened to 58-year-old Heather Idoni back in March of 2021. It took a whole team of police officers to remove her. Really? You wonder why. How dangerous does she look? Then there was 57-year-old evangelist Calvin John Zastrow. He was also arrested that day in March. Here’s a video he shot discussing it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALVIN JOHN ZASTROW, EVANGELIST: When we have national revival, this is what every abortion clinic is going to look like, right here, a field of rubble. Not through violence, through peace, but through God bringing the high places down.
So, let’s go show up in front of those high places, trust Him, rescue, preach, sing, pray, and see this happen to the rest of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Now, you may not share his views. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but be as honest as you can with yourself. Does that guy look dangerous and if so, compared to what? There are a lot of dangerous people wandering around, completely unimpeded. In fact, they’re celebrated by this administration. Is that guy a dangerous person? Of course, he’s not. He’s a Christian. Maybe you’re not a Christian. Maybe you’re pro-choice.
But even if you are, you are not, if you’re being completely honest, going to conclude that that guy poses a threat to you or this country because he doesn’t and neither is his daughter, who is 24 years old, Eva Darlene Zastrow. She was also apprehended at the clinic with her father. Here’s her violent manifesto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVA DARLENE ZASTROW, DAUGHTER OF CALVIN JOHN ZASTROW: I’d seen the pictures before, and I heard that it was murder before, but the connection went from knowing it here to knowing it in my heart. I just praise God that he gave me the opportunity to rescue, and Lord willing, abortion will end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So imagine sitting back at Department of Justice headquarters assessing that video and saying to yourself, “You know what? They need an armed FBI raid. Get out the body armor. That’s a terror manifesto.” Apparently, they did conclude that because now Joe Biden’s Justice Department, the FBI, to its eternal shame, is rounding up everyone associated with Paul Vaughn’s entirely nonviolent Christian organization.
Take a look at the mug shots from the FBI’s investigation into this event in March of 2021. It’s on your screen right now. They’re telling you, the FBI is telling you, bragging about it, that these people are dangerous. And of course, you know what they know, which is in America 2022, whether you’re dangerous or not, depends almost entirely on who you voted for.
There are people in this country who molest children. True fact. You are hearing now that they are “minor-attracted persons.” You have people on television trying to minimize the gravity of child molestation. Why is that? Well, because they’re probably Biden voters. That’s the assumption anyway. Meanwhile, those people in the mug shots on the screen, those are the terrorists.
Keep in mind that Biden voters, who’ve actually killed people are facing less jail time than these Christian protesters. Illinois BLM rioter Matthew Rupert received fewer than 11 years for setting fire to a cell phone store in Minneapolis. Oh, really? Twenty-six-year-old Montez Terriel Lee received fewer than 11 years in prison for setting fire to the Max It Prawn Shop in Minneapolis, a fire that wound up killing a 30-year-old man. He got less time than Paul Vaughn is facing.
Twenty-year-old Samuel Elliot Frey was sentenced to just over two years in Federal prison for setting fire to a health food store, but it was for a good cause. It was for Joe Biden, so not a big deal.
All of those crimes and countless others that are happening around the country at a scale we have not seen in our lifetimes, all of those crimes are being treated as less serious offenses than a man who sang hymns in an abortion clinic.
So, what’s going on here? Well, a day before the FBI’s raid on Paul Vaughn, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris announced their new policy, which is pro- lifers, because they disagree with Joe Biden and upset the base, are now terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe, and I certainly believe that a woman should have the freedom to make decisions about her own body and that her government should not be making those decisions for her.
Today’s extremist so-called leaders are attacking the freedom and liberty of millions of women.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We’re not going to sit by and let Republicans throughout the country enact extreme policies to threaten access to basic healthcare.
My message to folks across the country who are worried about what we’re seeing is first, that we have your back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So, you think to yourself as you watch something like that, “Well, of course, there’s an election coming up in just a few weeks and a lot of the Democratic base believes that abortion is the key to freedom and happiness and they’re very upset about the Roe v. Wade decision. Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land and so, Biden and Harris and the rest of the leaders of that party are pandering to them.” It’s okay. We’re on your side.”
What you don’t think as you watch something like that, that its effect will mean sending guys with automatic weapons to Paul Vaughn’s house and scaring the hell out of his 11 children. You never would have imagined that in real life, people who sang hymns in an abortion clinic could be facing 11 years in prison.
So, you have to ask, since the parallels are very clear, this is effectively the modern version of Bull Connor’s fire hoses and German Shepherds. Has a single Democrat pointed out that this is insane? That an 11-year sentence for him singing might be a little punitive?
Has Sandy Cortez said anything? Wait a second. We’re pro-choice and everything, but 11 years for a 55-year-old father of 11? Has Rashida Tlaib? What about George Gascon or Larry Krasner? The guys who think, “Well, we put away too many people in prison. We’ve got to pull back a little bit. We’ve got to rehabilitate them.”
What about the compassion mongers at CNN or MSNBC? Have they said a word about this? As their country becomes totalitarian, have they even noticed? We checked. No. The only clip we could find was Nancy Pelosi, where she endorses violence against her political enemies. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: There has been a number of attacks on churches, on crisis pregnancy centers. Republicans are going after Democrats for not saying anything and they’re saying that your rhetoric is contributing to these attacks on these crisis pregnancy centers.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Well, let me just say this: A woman has a right to choose, to live up to her responsibility. It’s up to her, her doctor, her family, her husband, her significant other, and her God.
I’m a very Catholic person and I believe in every woman’s right to make her own decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: First of all, you’re not a Catholic. I mean, this is ridiculous. Let’s stop pretending. Second, you don’t believe at all of the right to choose. You applauded as nurses got fired because they didn’t want to take the mandatory vax because they did want to hurt their own fertility. They wanted to have children maybe someday and you thought that was great. So, it wasn’t their body, their choice.
You’re a liar and a fraud. You’re not a Christian. Be quiet.
But what’s really stunning is nobody, the people who’ve lectures for years, the criminal justice system is just to mean, that MS-13 are children of God. They don’t have a problem with this at all. The people who claim to hate mass incarceration, it turns out, are strongly for the mass incarceration of anyone who disagrees with them, and they’re doing it.
As Julie Kelly has reported relentlessly, Judges have sentenced dozens of January 6th defendants to months in prison, followed by probation. Why? Oh, because they entered a public building as police officers stood by, lifted the ropes for them. What was that about, by the way? Don’t ask, shut up. They belong in jail.
As of this week, dozens of January 6th defendants are still being held in pretrial detention. No one notices. Where’s the Republican Party in that? Nowhere.
At the same time, the FBI has made zero arrests, none, to protect pro- lifers from actual violence, not hymn singing, firebombing.
The CompassCare Pregnancy Services Center in Buffalo was firebombed in June. No arrests have been made. In fact, the FBI seized surveillance footage from the facility and never gave it back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: This building was up in flames this morning when police and firefighters arrived and this is the aftermath: Broken windows, shattered glass, and graffiti which the CEO says gives him an indication as to who is behind this.
CEO Jim Harden says this didn’t come as a shock. Recently, CompassCare has been receiving threats online and in person. The graffiti on the side of the building says “Jane was here” and Harden says he thinks the abortion rights group, Jane’s Revenge is behind the attack.
It’s a reference to Jane’s Collective which was provided underground abortions in Chicago in the 1960s. The group took responsibility for firebombing a pro-life facility in Madison, Wisconsin last month. Harden says it’ll take months to repair the $100,000.00 worth of damage to the facility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: See how this works? So, a group aligned with Joe Biden firebombs a building (firebombs) and the FBI does nothing. Instead, they send agents with automatic rifles to the home of a 55-year-old man with 11 children because he sang hymns in an abortion clinic.
This is too much actually. There’s always going to be disparities in justice. There’s always going to be disparities in law enforcement. You have to believe they are unintentional.
This is not unintentional. This is intentional. It’s right in our face, and it’s completely unacceptable.
Chris Wray, who runs the FBI, purportedly a good guy, a decent man who cares about justice, what does he think of this? Is this all right? Sending FBI agents with automatic weapons to arrest a hymn singer? So, we called Chris Wray’s office today and asked a simple question: Are you okay with this? You know this is happening? You run the FBI. No response just like Paul Vaughn’s wife just shut the door. We don’t have to answer your questions.
These are political raids, and they’re exactly what the most recent FBI whistleblower Steve Friend warned about last month. The FBI didn’t respond to those warnings from one of its own agents. It just suspended Steve Friend. So, the raids are continuing. People need to see this. This is going too far, and it’s getting scary.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor