by Sharon Rondeau
(Jul. 13, 2023) — On Thursday’s “War Room” with Steve Bannon, senior adviser to the Trump 2024 presidential campaign Jason Miller announced that the producer, lead actor, and real-life protagonist of the film, “Sound of Freedom” released in theaters July 4, will be “screening” the film at Donald Trump’s summertime residence, the Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey next Wednesday, July 19.
Produced independently by Angel Studios, “Sound of Freedom” far outdistanced early expectations, surpassing ticket sales for the Disney-produced “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on Independence Day. The film is based on the actual experiences of former CIA and DHS Special Agent Tim Ballard, who left his government position in 2013 to finish a rescue operation of women and children in Colombia which DHS did not sanction. Ballard would go on to found “Operation Underground Railroad” to continue that mission around the world.
In numerous interviews both before and after the film’s debut, Ballard stated that the U.S. is “the number one consumer” of child pornography and “in the top three for destination countries for human trafficking…,” facilitated by the porous southern border.
According to Rolling Stone, which has been highly critical of the film, the production has grossed $50 million to date.
A leading actor in “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Jim Caviezel and “Sound of Freedom” producer Eduardo Verástegui will be at the screening on July 19, Miller told Bannon.
During the interview, Miller reminded Bannon that Ballard met with Trump at the White House on the subject of human trafficking, which the Trump administration had made a hallmark of its tenure.
The Trump campaign also announced the screening Thursday, revealing that Verástegui served on Trump’s Advisory Commission on Hispanic Prosperity. The announcement states, in part:
The film is based on the true story of federal agent Tim Ballard’s mission to save children from child sex traffickers in Colombia. Liberal media outlets like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Hollywood Reporter have refused to review the film, while publications like Rolling Stone, Washington Post, CNN, and The Guardian have trashed the film and mocked the millions of movie-goers who purchased tickets to screenings.
In his first month in office, President Trump said he was “prepared to bring the full force and weight of our government” to end human trafficking, and signed an executive order directing federal law enforcement to prioritize demolishing the criminal organizations behind forced labor, sex trafficking, and child exploitation.
President Trump’s leadership resulted in a 14% increase in human trafficking convictions in 2017 over the prior year. In 2017, President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence raised the issue of human trafficking to a top priority for America’s intelligence agencies. In 2018, President Trump made history as the first president to participate in the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.