Attorney General William Barr had a big day Monday. He began the day by announcing indictments against four members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. According to the Justice Department, they are responsible for the massive Equifax hack in 2017 that compromised the personal data of nearly 150 million Americans.

In his remarks, Barr noted that China has demonstrated a “voracious appetite for the personal data of Americans.” He cited the Chinese hacking of Marriott hotels, the Anthem health insurance company, and the Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the records of millions of U.S. government employees.

While I am glad Barr announced these indictments, it is highly unlikely that these Chinese military officials will ever be brought to justice. The real news is what the indictments say about China’s intentions. 

As we reported yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the nation’s governors that there is a real effort by the communist Chinese government to compromise their administrations and to bully state and local officials. 

Now we know that the People’s Liberation Army is attempting to capture voluminous amounts of information on as many U.S. citizens as possible. Why? 

Barr indicated that the Chinese are using the information to “feed China’s development of artificial intelligence” and for “the creation of intelligence targeting.” Barr also noted that nearly 80% of the government’s economic espionage cases “have implicated the Chinese government.”

This is not how a trading partner treats its allies. America’s corporate and political elites need to wake up and confront the danger coming from Beijing. It is not just a giant marketplace eager to do business with America. 

Suing Sanctuary States

After taking on the communist Chinese, Attorney General Barr turned his attention to the left-wing sanctuary states and cities thwarting the Trump administration’s efforts to deport criminal aliens. 

Speaking to the National Sheriff’s Association, Barr announced that the Justice Department was launching “a significant escalation in the federal government’s efforts to confront the resistance of 'sanctuary cities.‘”

Barr blasted “so-called 'progressive’ politicians” for “jeopardizing the public’s safety by putting the interests of criminal aliens before those of law-abiding citizens.” He said:

When we are talking about sanctuary cities, we are talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape… Their express purpose is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for other crimes. This is neither lawful nor sensible.

Barr announced that in addition to pending federal lawsuits against California, the Justice Department will also sue the state of New Jersey and King County, Washington, seeking to overturn illegal “sanctuary” policies. And he made it clear that these actions are just the beginning.

While some try to downplay the connection between crime and illegal immigration, this is an extremely serious issue, which the left completely ignores. 

A recent report from Texas revealed that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants were booked into local jails over the past eight years. Combined they committed nearly 500,000 offenses, including:

• 500 homicides

• 297 kidnappings

• 3,122 sexual assaults

• 23,954 assaults

• 2,026 robberies

• 8,070 burglaries

• 3,158 weapon charges.

Kudos to the Trump/Pence administration for taking on the left’s open-borders extremism and for putting the safety and security of American citizens first!

Defending Faith

Monday, I attended a day-long meeting at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Among the many issues discussed was how to adequately describe a country like Iran, whose supreme leader has repeatedly declared that one of his regime’s stated goals is a second Holocaust through the “annihilation” of the Jewish state. 

After that, I flew to San Antonio, Texas, to address the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Leadership Summit regarding growing religious persecution around the world. CUFI has devoted significant resources to fighting anti-Semitism, as well as Christian persecution overseas.

I believe every church in America should be speaking up on this issue. I know many pastors are uncomfortable addressing issues like marriage and abortion because they don’t want to “get involved in politics." 

But there is no excuse to not speak up for Christians around the world, many of them poor and people of color, who are being shot, hacked to death, burned alive, and sold into slavery. It’s not a surprise that the world looks the other way when Christians are murdered in massive numbers. But it’s inexcusable for the Church to look the other way. 

If your pastor has not addressed the persecution of Christians recently, please urge him to speak up.

Trump Revs Up Republicans

While the media are focused on the Democrat horse race, President Trump went to New Hampshire Monday and fired up Republican voters like only he can. He packed a 12,000-seat arena and even the overflow area was overflowing! 

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl noted that the Democrats held an event at the same arena over the weekend, and even with all Democrat candidates there together the crowd for Trump was "bigger by far."