Lakin Riley's murder is on trial in Georgia, and we ve got all the details about that today. We ve also got Dr. Al Mohler discussing his concerns as well as his gratitude for some Trump appointments in his new administration. And we ll also be discussing his new Advent Devotional.
00:09:28.000And in that fight, she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind.
00:09:38.600She also marked her killer for the entire world to see.
00:09:47.180He had been apparently, according to her opening statement, walking around different apartment
00:09:55.920complexes, basically hunting for a woman to rape.
00:10:00.320And then he found Lakin Riley jogging by herself on a Sunday morning and he tried to rape her.
00:10:09.860And it was so sad and just so jarring to hear the prosecution describe the state that Lakin Riley was in when the police officer found her.
00:10:22.380And I'm sorry, this is graphic, but I just think we really need to grapple with what happened to this young lady.
00:10:37.500I mean, because of how hard she fought, she wasn't all the way exposed.
00:10:43.440But when the police officer found her laying there with her skull crushed in by the rock that Ibarra allegedly picked up and hit her with, at least half of her body was completely naked because he tried and failed, thank the Lord, to rape her before murdering her.
00:11:06.980According to Riley's Garmin watch, that's a brand of a smartwatch, it was a Christmas present that she had gotten that she used for running that was synced to her iPhone.
00:11:20.180Investigators found that she had placed a 911 call at 9.11 a.m. just minutes after she left for her run at 9.03.
00:11:29.740She then fought for her life for 17 minutes, so they can actually see her heart rate from her Garmin watch that it spiked for those 17 minutes as the adrenaline was pumping through her veins.
00:11:44.960She was doing absolutely everything that she could to fend him off.
00:11:49.140And then they saw through her smartwatch data when her heart stopped at 9.28.
00:11:55.820DHS sources confirmed to News Nation on Monday that Ibarra is a member of Trin de Aragua.
00:12:02.480This is the dangerous Venezuelan gang that has infiltrated and plagued many parts of our country with extreme violence.
00:12:09.380We talked about this problem in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, where Trin de Aragua has taken over several apartment complexes, has terrorized the communities there.
00:12:23.180You'll remember J.D. Vance was on, I believe it was NBC, talking to the host Martha, and she was trying to fact check him on this story.
00:12:33.580And she said, hang on, it's not a lot of apartment complexes that this gang took over.
00:12:39.100It's just a handful of apartment complexes.
00:12:42.180So that tells you where the progressive elites are on this issue.
00:12:47.180They don't want to believe that this is a problem because they believed that allowing open borders and then eventually giving these people amnesty and solidifying their right to vote would then enshrine democratic power forever.
00:13:05.380They believed that they believed that they were building this new coalition of immigrants.
00:13:11.560And people say that the great replacement theory is some kind of conspiracy theory, but they have said so very plainly.
00:13:21.400They do believe that replacing native-born Americans with immigrant populations will make the country more progressive as they will be more likely to vote Democrat.
00:13:31.540Now, we saw from the exit polling from the election that actually Latino men are mostly voting for Donald Trump and almost half of Latino women voted for Donald Trump.
00:13:43.620So I don't think that their scheme is really working.
00:13:47.360All it's doing is causing chaos and violence.
00:13:50.220All it's doing is costing the lives of young women in particular who are citizens of this country.
00:13:58.240Now, here is a little bit about Ibarra's background, and it just goes to show how much policy matters.
00:14:04.260It has a real effect on people's lives.
00:14:06.800Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso in September 2022.
00:14:13.180He was released into the U.S. via parole.
00:14:16.040ICE previously confirmed that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023.
00:14:24.280Not because he was here illegally, but because he committed an additional crime.
00:14:29.040He was charged in August of last year with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 years old at a motor vehicle license violation.
00:14:55.740We found out during the trial on Monday, Ibarra's former roommate told the court through an interpreter that she, Ibarra, and several others requested and were granted free humanitarian flights from New York to Georgia.
00:15:10.300So he was the beneficiary of Biden's catch and release policy at the border.
00:15:18.720So he was detained when he tried to cross illegally in 2022.
00:15:22.180And then he was released into the interior of the United States per Biden's policies.
00:15:28.820And then he was the beneficiary of a catch and release policy because of progressive soft on crime policies in New York.
00:15:36.060And not only that, but he was actually given the gift as a reward for the crimes that he had committed.
00:15:42.300He was given the gift of a free taxpayer funded flight from New York to Georgia, where he eventually killed Lake and Riley.
00:17:09.120There is a legal way to claim refugee status.
00:17:13.260This idea that all illegal immigrants are all refugees that are fleeing violence is not true.
00:17:19.760Yes, they are all seeking a better life, but that does not give you the right to enter a country.
00:17:25.080Seemingly every other nation understands this, except for the United States and other Western nations and European nations in the West.
00:17:34.740But if you tried to go to China for a better life, if you tried to go to Japan for a better life, if you tried to go to Zimbabwe for a better life and you tried to receive taxpayer funded services, you would be at the very least deported immediately.
00:17:52.200But America, because we have been so manipulated by propaganda, because we have such a low capacity and such a minimal understanding of true justice.
00:18:03.340We have such a minimal appreciation for sovereignty and citizenship and rights and laws.
00:18:10.180And of course, I'm not talking about you and me, but I'm talking about just in general and our politicians and how we've gotten here.
00:18:17.440We, unfortunately, allow people, even the most violent, wretched people in the world to come into the United States to live on the taxpayer dime, be rewarded for their violent crimes and to kill our fellow citizens.
00:18:36.700And we do it all in the name of inclusion and compassion and empathy.
00:18:41.200Apparently, these illegal aliens, including Ibarra, chose the Atlanta area.
00:18:48.200Atlanta is about an hour and 45 minutes from Athens because Ibarra's brother had already relocated there and repeatedly told the suspect that there were plenty of jobs, according to the former roommate's testimony.
00:19:00.420Also on Monday, police officers who had gone to Ibarra's apartment the day after Lincoln's murder testified about what Ibarra was wearing, which matched security camera footage on the day of the murder, the appearance of several scratches on Ibarra's arms and neck, which were consistent with the victim fighting back.
00:19:18.560You heard the prosecutor say that her DNA was under his nails, that his DNA was under her nails.
00:19:27.340On the first day of the trial, last Friday, the court heard from nine of the prosecution's witnesses, including Riley's roommates and several law enforcement officers with different agencies, pray for her sweet friends who have had to go through a kind of trauma that no one should ever have to experience.
00:19:45.900And her poor parents, who are sitting there reportedly, they left before the body cam footage was played by the police officer, his body cam footage that showed what she was like when he responded to her.
00:20:02.440Just so incredibly sad and just the tragedy that they are enduring.
00:20:07.960Please pray for her family and her friends.
00:20:10.880Um, the evidence that was presented included screenshots of her roommate's phones when they used the find my friends app to try to locate Riley when she did not come back from her run.
00:20:19.960Her air pod they found on the ground when they went out searching for her along with her regular running route, police worn body camera footage, security camera footage, Riley's phone, which had a male, a male's thumbprint on the bottom of it and the athletic clothing Riley was wearing when she was attacked.
00:20:36.980Uh, the prosecutor also played audio of Lake and Riley's 911 call, which occurred just moments before she was killed.
00:20:44.480Riley doesn't actually speak on the call, but you can hear her struggling and you can hear his voice, apparently Ibarra's voice at the end of the call.
00:21:52.500And surely if you were innocent, you would be hearing these allegations and thinking how terrible this is and how you would never commit a crime like this.
00:22:00.760And if you did commit this, maybe you would say it was heat of the moment, which of course is not an excuse that I would ever take.
00:22:09.260But you would still think that he would be cringing in some way.
00:22:13.520I mean, how can you listen to the violence that this young, innocent girl had to endure and not have some reaction or response?
00:22:24.240This photo from a journalist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of Lake and Riley's mother, Allison Phillips, with her face in her hands, just absolutely sobbing.
00:22:37.980I mean, no parent should ever have to endure the death of a child.
00:22:43.320Of course, we live in a fallen and broken world as a consequence of sin.
00:22:48.840And so we understand that that does happen, that disordering happens.
00:22:54.940However, to have to endure yet again, to live through the trauma that your child endured, the unjust violence that she had to suffer through, I cannot imagine.
00:23:10.560And I can't imagine as a girl mom myself, just how absolutely devastating this would be.
00:23:21.960I don't even know how you even wake up in the morning, but for the grace of God.
00:23:26.080So I am praying for Allison Phillips that the grace of God would fill her life and that she would somehow have the peace that passes all understanding and that somehow in a way that we don't understand, God would be glorified and she would be comforted through this.
00:23:39.540Now, the sad thing is, is that he is, no matter what, even if he is found guilty, he is not going to get the death penalty.
00:50:16.800Now we are going to talk to Dr. Albert Moeller.
00:50:20.500He has been a guest several times before, and we so appreciate him, his podcast, The Briefing.
00:50:27.400And he is also the head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
00:50:32.500And he is here today to talk about Trump's HHS appointment, RFK Jr., as well as just looking to the future of the Trump administration and how we as Christians navigate this, as well as his new Advent devotional that is out now.
00:50:47.940Without further ado, here is Dr. Moeller.
00:50:53.740Dr. Moeller, thanks so much for joining us again this time in person.
00:51:19.380But can you express some of your concerns, especially when it comes to, say, a pro-abortion guy like RFK Jr.?
00:51:27.220Well, I think it's not only a pro-abortion guy like RFK Jr., but as you know, at the Department of Health and Human Services, that's the proposal.
00:51:34.960And so there's just a great deal of direct supervision and policymaking.
00:51:39.920You know, a lot of legislation is actually defined as assigning the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to determine this particular issue.
00:51:48.640So it's an enormously powerful policy position on issues that relate to life and certainly across the board there.
00:51:57.400So with RFK Jr., I like the fact he's such a disruptor.
00:52:02.360I can see why President-elect Trump saw great promise in that.
00:52:06.780I also think there's just the political reality for a Donald Trump of having a member of the Kennedy family defect from the tribe and stand with him.
00:52:17.440So I don't underestimate the power of that.
00:52:19.620I also think that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been helpfully disruptive in some ways.
00:52:24.380But when it comes to the issue of abortion, you know, he's at least at times indicated absolute support for a woman's right to abortion, as he construes it, and to control her own reproductive health all the way up until the moment of birth.
00:52:39.260Now, he's also said some other things.
00:52:40.840So, Allie Beth, I remember back in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan accepted the Republican presidential nomination, he chose as his vice president George H.W. Bush.
00:52:54.140George H.W. Bush, who had later become president, was in a very pro-choice, if not pro-abortion position the night before he became Ronald Reagan's running mate.
00:53:04.180When he became Ronald Reagan's running mate, he articulated his commitment to a pro-life position.
00:53:09.560And I would have to say, mostly over the course of the last, the next 12 years, he actually acted consistently with that.
00:53:16.860So I think what we should demand is an on-the-record statement from the Secretary of Health and Human Services designee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of a pro-life position.
00:53:30.380And then we should expect him to work out of that and to be consistent with that.
00:53:36.740I don't think there's too much to ask of Kennedy.
00:53:39.200I don't think it's too much to ask of President Trump.
00:53:42.140And we can simultaneously acknowledge that this is quite the upgrade from Xavier Becerra.
00:53:48.180Of course, he was Attorney General of California, rabidly pro-abortion.
00:53:52.220He helped the prosecution of the pro-life journalist David Daleiden, helped Kamala Harris carry her legacy of punishing pro-life pregnancy centers.
00:54:00.920And then the assistant secretary of health and human services is a guy named, gosh, what's his last name?
00:54:09.780I know that he, well, he identifies or he thinks that he is the opposite sex, Richard.
00:54:15.240I can't, I can't even think of his last name right now.
00:54:28.780But stop short when it comes to the facts of the value of human life inside the womb.
00:54:33.660And as you articulated, which I don't think a lot of people understand, the HHS and the guy who runs the HHS helps direct abortion policy, especially if there are executive orders like President Trump, for example.
00:54:49.240He issued an executive order that past presidents have about the Mexico City policy, no international funding of abortion.
00:54:57.120And because we've had conflicting statements from RFK, he told Sage Steele on her podcast several months ago that he believes in a woman's right to choose through all nine months.
00:55:06.560He told Ben Shapiro that, well, actually, I believe in some restrictions after the first three months.
00:55:13.120Because he was campaigning, we don't really know where he stands.
00:55:17.360And so it's just, it's hard to say where he is going to end up.
00:55:22.160And that's why we should be concerned, even while acknowledging this is an upgrade.
00:55:25.780You know, Allie, Beth, I've been in this context for a long time.
00:55:30.280And as a Christian, what I would want is someone with the right convictions in his or her heart and then to follow that through with right action.
00:55:38.960But in the political process, I will settle for right action.
00:55:42.360I will settle for a correction, just as you indicated, from the Becerra HHS to the Kennedy HHS following consistent pro-life policies.
00:55:51.780I'm going to count this as a win if we can get that articulation and if that will be followed through with action.
00:55:57.700And frankly, in that sense, Robert Kennedy Jr. can become something of a hero.
00:56:12.180And RFK has kind of parroted the line that we even hear from some professing Christians that, while the law really has no place in the abortion debate, let's just make America healthier, a better place to live.
00:56:24.300Which, of course, I want America to be healthier and a better place to live.
00:56:27.380I want people to want to have babies, of course.
00:56:54.000What are your thoughts as we are entering into this new era?
00:56:58.260We've already seen kind of conflicting reactions to the Trump victory, even among those that we might call conservative evangelicals, some telling people to temper their celebrations, others reminding us truthfully that Trump is not our savior and that we don't trust in the government.
00:57:18.300What does it look like to kind of claim this victory cautiously, optimistically?
00:57:24.020Well, I'm pretty openly and perhaps with less caution, optimistic and thankful that Kamala Harris is not the president-elect of the United States.
00:57:33.940I think that prospect was even more ominous than many conservative Christians had recognized or articulated.
00:57:40.140You gave some really good warnings about that.
00:57:42.280And frankly, I think the American people sensed that.
00:57:46.360But that means I'm just very, very happy we're not looking at the prospect of a Kamala Harris administration.
00:57:51.900I am happy that we are looking at the opportunity for an enormous across-the-board political disruption.
00:57:59.020I want that to be a strategic disruption.
00:58:01.460And I don't want it to be a four-year disruption.
00:58:31.640He sees something in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
00:58:34.240He sees something in so many other people.
00:58:37.380And he says, I'm going to put that person in that role precisely because that's going to be a very significant disruption from everything that comes before.
00:59:07.300So we've been talking about the importance of Christians, even as Trump is in office, to continue to fight for the dignity of unborn children, continue to fight for the policies that protect the most vulnerable.
00:59:19.540And Preborn is this large network of clinics that is on the front lines trying to save these babies and to love and serve their parents.
00:59:29.400They offer things like free ultrasounds, all kinds of resources to help these moms and babies in need.
00:59:34.900They want to do everything possible to persuade these moms to choose life.
01:05:06.020Well, I have a lot to look forward to.
01:05:07.880I'm excited about a lot when it comes to the Trump presidency.
01:05:10.940Even with someone like RFK, who obviously I vehemently disagree with when it comes to abortion, I do appreciate his desire to root out corruption.
01:05:23.500And I do think much of the medical establishment in the United States, unfortunately, is corrupted.
01:05:50.280The other thing is that Senator Rand Paul of my own home state of Kentucky is now in a position as chair of a Senate committee to press the investigation into COVID.
01:06:40.260Isn't it interesting that even in today's national newspapers and the national news coverage, there's still a lingering question about the election as to why men and women responded differently in many ways.
01:06:56.320Boy, it comes out in a big way on the front page of the paper when they talk about the need, for instance, of Democrats to get some additional male votes in the future.
01:07:03.540So all of a sudden, when they're counting voters, they are reminded of the difference between male and female.
01:08:03.460The glory of Christmas is not friendship or generosity or gift giving.
01:08:07.860Those are all sweet things, a part of our celebration.
01:08:10.740The glory of Christmas is the glory of Christ.
01:08:12.820This is the glory of the word through whom the worlds were made, who now comes into the world.
01:08:18.520And, you know, we as believers behold his glory.
01:08:22.260And I wrote this book trying to help Christians and Christian families in a 25-day process of devotions to recapture that glory and keep the centrality of Christ at the very heart of our celebration.
01:08:34.880Yes, and this is a devotional that they can do with their families, or is it better done individually?
01:08:41.840You know, the idea of doing it this way was the publisher pointing out that there were so many Christians and Christian families who wanted a structured way, kind of a bite-size theological and biblical lesson for a day leading up to Christmas.
01:08:58.000And the more I thought about it, I thought, you know, that's really fruitful.
01:09:00.800And so I wrote the material in that way, following that structure.