Tucker Uncensored: 11 Years in Prison for Praying

When Did Praying Become a Felony?

When you start putting people in jail for praying, it’s pretty clear who you’re actually working for. Paul Vaughn is facing 11 years in Biden’s prisons. - Tucker Carlson

It took a while for the new Tucker Carlson interview to be published on TCN. It took even longer for me to share it. I apologize for the lack of communication, it has been a busy season as you might imagine. The short clip above is one of two shorts TCN published on YouTube that consolidates a couple topics out of the longer interview below.

The Internet fact checkers are trying to remove this video. I’ll explain more in a future post. But right now, if you can help make others aware of our story by sharing this post it would be greatly appreciated.

Below is the public version of the long form interview found on YouTube and Rumble. It is the first 7.5 minutes out of the 17 minute interview. For those who are subscribers to TCN, the rest of the interview is available at https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-7/. I’m including the text transcript from the remainder of the interview below for those who don’t have access to TCN.

There is much more to share. The additional 4 co-defendants in our case who were charged with misdemeanors where found guilty in a bench trial on Tuesday. I’ll share some thoughts and links to stories about that trial coming soon as well.

Thank you for your prayers and support as we continue to work through these trials. It is always greatly appreciated.

Tucker Carlson Uncensored - Published Mar 26, 2024 - 17 mins

Here is the transcript of the rest of the interview:

Tucker [00:07:31] What’s the state of your of your family, your wife and children? I mean, what did they make of this? How are they doing now?

Paul Vaughn [00:07:41] Sure. Well, you know, I think the intent, Tucker, of the heavy handed raid is to strike fear into Christians in the nation. Right? It's terrorism. It's an act of war against religious people. And so that was their intent. Fortunately, God is gracious and kind, and his grace has been poured out upon our family in ways we never could have experienced. And my children are growing up seeing a level of persecution that strengthens them, that provides a meaning and a foundation for their faith. And so the reality is, I think, as everyone hears is the story, you know, we have two responses. We can be bitter and upset and angry, or we can be gracious and we can be forgiving to our enemies. We can live trusting God is a God of justice, and he will work this out. And that's the message that I'm telling my children. I see them, growing in this and understanding this. And it's really, I think, overall it's going to be a great thing; for my family, and for me, and for our nation at large. As we begin to explore these things and have this difficult, cultural conversation.

Tucker [00:08:46] I hope you're right. Tell us, because I think it's worth keeping score. What Christian leaders defended you and took your side. I mean, did Russell Moore of Christianity Today, for example, did Catholic bishops I mean, who took your side in public?

Paul Vaughn [00:09:03] Yeah. No, Tucker, there's not much, I don't have a long list of high profile names or anything writing letters of support or anything. But I tell you, the grassroots people, the people that are on their knees in the churches, we had hundreds of people praying for us throughout the trial. We had messages from around the world where people where in prayer for us. So if they (The Biden DOJ) were concerned about us praying, all they did was multiply the effect. We had Christians all over the nation now praying, for the exact same things we were praying about that day in the clinic. And so, yeah, to an extent, I think a cultural rebuke, or a narrative of accusations against the big name leaders, can be thrown at some of these people, you know, they're part of the problem, not part of the solution. I will say this is not all, we have had 1 or 2 who were supportive. We recently attended, the NRB in Nashville. And of course, there's a lot of religious leaders there. And the people we talked to in person, and I won't name drop or throw out names. There were several that individually, privately prayed for us, encouraged us. And so that was very refreshing to my to my wife and I.

Tucker [00:10:12] I mean, but it really it really is a moment for the church. I mean, if you're an American Christian leader and you're standing by without saying anything as a man faces 11 years in prison for saying prayers, I think it's time to assess yourself. No.

Paul Vaughn [00:10:29] Yep. I would absolutely agree. You know, I would call on them to actually do that. Yeah. And, they need to make a stand, and they need to understand what's at stake here. I think, the harder part of our problem as a nation is we tend to divide the spiritual and material, and we either make it all one or the other, and we don't do a good job as the American church of understanding that it's both. And, you know, in Christianity, we talk in the Old Testament about Israel's wars and things like that. But there was always a spiritual aspect, but there was always a material aspect too. They had to actually go into the battle, to achieve the victory and drive out the demons and the enemy from the land.

Tucker [00:11:07] Yeah, but I don't even think you need to be a theologian or familiar with the content of any religious text to know that a free society is not in prison. People for praying, period. And with that, I want to ask your lawyer who's here, Steve Crampton. Steve, thanks a lot, for coming. What is the current status of this case? Where are we?

Steve Crampton [00:11:29] We have a sentencing set for July the 2nd, Tucker. After which, of course, we will file our appeal and aggressively, pursue our arguments. We believe the Face Act itself is unconstitutional. Should have been, overturned years ago. But certainly since the US Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs against Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, that, reverse row against Wade, that really, by the way, gave rise to this whole persecution, complex that the DOJ has implemented. Paul's, gathering occurred in September of 2021. It wasn't, as you noted, until October 2022, after the decision in June of 2022, that the Biden DOJ starts arresting and throwing these, severe felony conspiracy charges against Christians.

Tucker [00:12:22] So you see this as an attorney, as someone who's arguing the case as part of a larger effort to persecute Christians in the United States. It sounds like that's what you're saying.

Steve Crampton [00:12:33] Absolutely. By the way, the Family Research Council just released a report last week detailing and documenting attacks on churches alone. By the way, there's also, of course, hundreds of attacks on crisis pregnancy centers, Christian facilities that are also theoretically covered by the Face act. And the Department of Justice shows zero interest in investigating and certainly in prosecuting any of those crimes. Some 75 different incidents of arson in the calendar year, 2023 alone. Zero face charges for those things. They're burning down churches here, Tucker. And what they're doing instead is coming after folks like Paul, who peacefully engage in the classic nonviolent civil disobedience that is really kind of the cornerstone of our First Amendment. It's just preposterous. The double standard that's being employed here.

Tucker [00:13:27] And also fascinating and revealing. Paul, I want to ask you this. If you're if you're running a big and complicated country like the United States and you're trying to assess, like, what are the threats to stability here to the order, Christians have got to be literally in last place. Among the threats, sincere Christians are, by definition, nonviolent. They're committed to not turning the other cheek. Why are they at the top of the threat list? Christian nationalism. I mean, they've been designated the biggest terror threat we face when they are, again, by definition, the least threatening group. What? Can you explain that?

Paul Vaughn [00:14:04] Well, I think its for the principles. It's not us. It's what we stand for. And that is there is a higher authority. There is one that these people will answer to. And they are not immune. They can't just operate with impunity across our land and do what they want and think because they're wealthy and have power, that they won't face judgment, that there's not somebody else that says, no, that is wrong, that there's not a empirical right and wrong that we can point to in our land. And I think that's ultimately what it comes down to.

Tucker [00:14:31] So really your crime is telling the truth is what you're saying?

Paul Vaughn [00:14:36] Sure. Yeah.

Tucker [00:14:38] Steve, what are you thinking the court is looking at? Do you have any idea of what sentence they may give?

Steve Crampton [00:14:53] We have reason to, take courage and, optimistically, look at the trial judge who seems to us, Tucker, to have kind of seen through some of the political nature of this whole charade and perhaps will err, if at all, on the side of a lighter sentence. But I'd say jail is still probably, more likely than not at this point. Remains to be seen, though.

Tucker [00:15:20] Well, Paul, you've already been to jail for at least a few hours. It's awful. And everyone who spends time there, I, you know, can confirm that. How do you feel about the prospect of going to jail? For praying.

Paul Vaughn [00:15:32] Well, you know Tucker. They talk about taking ten years of my life, potentially. And the reality as a Christian is I've already laid my life down. I fully believe and understand that God is leading me, and that we're here today because of events that are in his control. And if you look at the New Testament, a good majority of the Scripture was written from jail. And so if he wants me to go to jail and minister, I'm in his hands. They can't take from me what I willingly lay down. So I'm comfortable there. I understand the reality of it. I don't agree with it. I don't like the injustice. I don't want to give anybody a pass that's being unjust. We want to fight it because we don't want them to do it to other people. Yes. But then, end of the day, God is God, and we're comfortable in his hands.

Tucker [00:16:18] This is why they're afraid of you right there. That's why they're afraid of you, amazing. Well, we're certainly rooting for you. Praying for you. And we'll be following this. Thank you both. Paul Vaughn, Steve Crampton, his attorney.

Paul Vaughn [00:16:31] Thank you, Tucker.