Twelve years after being rescued, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she is helping other exploited children

March 13, 2015

Writer

Twelve years ago yesterday, Elizabeth Smart was rescued from kidnappers who held her captive for nine months. Her story consumed the nation, and she has used her fame to give back and help other children who are being exploited. This morning on radio, she joined the radio show to promote her fundraiser this Saturday for the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and Operation Underground Railroad.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment:

GLENN: It was 12 years ago yesterday that America had a happy ending to Elizabeth Smart and her saga where she had been kidnapped for her -- from her home and was missing for nine months. We all held our breath as everyone searched for Elizabeth Smart. And then we all thought, she'll never be found. Twelve years ago yesterday, she was found. She's on the phone with us now. Hello, Elizabeth, how are you?

ELIZABETH: I'm doing great, thanks. How are you doing?

GLENN: I'm good. You're one of the more impressive people I've met. I don't know how you've taken such a period of darkness in your life and turned it. And you're normal, you're functioning. You're beyond normal and functioning. You're a positive force. How did you do that?

ELIZABETH: I have had so much help and support over the years from my family and my friends and my community. I mean, I could -- I could go on forever thanking people.

GLENN: You have a foundation now, and you're working with Project Underground Railroad. And this is the reason we wanted to have you on real quick is because tomorrow you're raising money and it is at Utah Valley University in Orem. And tickets are available at UtahsStars.com. That's plural. UtahsStars.com. What's happening tomorrow, and why is it important?

ELIZABETH: An all-star show lined up filled with incredible people performing. And I'm so excited about this because this will help fund future missions for Operation Underground Railroad and help bring the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and OUR even closer together. I just can't wait because the work that we do combined is incredible. IMF being able to go out on sting operations and rescue people who have been sexually trafficked and then not just -- not just end there, but then continue to work with them and help them go through rehabilitation and help them see the future that I see so that they don't feel like they're -- they don't feel like they're less than anyone else. They know they're just as valued and just as important as everyone else and that they can do anything they want in life.

GLENN: So a couple of things. Yesterday, Tim Ballard wrote to me. He's in charge of operation rescue where they go and break up these sex rings of children. He said six arrested. Twenty-nine kids saved. The youngest were 12 and 13. The kids are getting rehab now.

You were fortunate to have friends and family. Emphasis on friends and family and faith, but some of these kids don't. What are they going through, and how are they possibly going to ever get well?

ELIZABETH: I was so fortunate because I did have that family and I did have that support. And that's actually what we try to then in turn try to give back to these children.

And we can only take it, I mean, one step at a time and we can only do as much as we can. I mean, part of it does have to come from the children themselves. I mean, they have to want to get better. They have want to move forward with their lives and leave this in the past. So it's definitely not an easy road. It's -- it's hard. It's bumpy. I mean, there are -- there are setbacks. And then there are -- you know, moments where we spring forward.

But it's a journey. I mean, it's not just you're rescued. You're out of this terrible situation where you're forced to have sex all the time. And now just move forward. I mean, it's much more than that. It's helping them to find security in their life. It's helping them to find that hope that they can be happy. It's working with them. It's not just leaving them out that they're forgotten now. That they're physically out of that situation when mentally they still may feel very, very much in that situation. Where they still might fear very much for their lives for what will happen in the future. And it's a process. I think it takes a lifetime of healing.

GLENN: Do you ever go through that still? Do you have times where you are -- that you have a flashback or a fear that's unreasonable, that comes from that place? Like what was yesterday like for you?

ELIZABETH: I'm still human. I definitely have my ups and my downs.

GLENN: What was yesterday like for you? Was that hard? Is an anniversary like that hard?

ELIZABETH: Well, yesterday that was a great anniversary because, I mean, that was -- that was the day that my life was given back to me. Everything that I thought had been taken from me. And everything I thought that I would never have again. All the experiences that I thought had been stolen from me. I mean, that was the day my life was given back to me. So, no, yesterday is a reminder of a wonderful day.

GLENN: So can you -- and I know you've told me this story before. But do you mind just telling the story about that moment of when you're walking and you -- you realize you're about to be free. Can you take us through that?

ELIZABETH: Absolutely. We had just hitchhiked back to Salt Lake from California. And I remember just even crossing the state line, how happy I was just to be back in Utah. I mean, I didn't know I was going to be rescued yet. I didn't know anything. For all I knew, I felt like I would be stuck with my captors for who knows how long. But I was so happy --

GLENN: And you had moved them to the place to convince them to go back to Utah. Right?

ELIZABETH: And that was a miracle in and of itself because, I mean, my captors, they never listened to what I thought would keep good. But, I mean, obviously they wouldn't because, if they did, I would have been home nine months earlier. It never would have happened.

GLENN: Right.

ELIZABETH: So anyways, we were walking up State Street in Salt Lake City, and all of a sudden, a whole bunch of police cars pulled up and surrounded us. And this wasn't a first time that we had been approached by police. We had been approached several other times. And every time, I had been so hopeful that I would be rescued. And so this time, when we were surrounded, I mean, yes, I was hopeful, but at the same time I just thought, well, I better not get my hopes up too high because this has happened before.

And I've seen it --

GLENN: Why wouldn't you say while the police were there, it's me. It's me. It's me.

ELIZABETH: I'm actually glad you bring that point up. Because I don't think I've ever met a kidnapped survivor who hasn't been asked some kind of question to that end. And I have been physically chained up, and I have been verbally chained up. And I can tell you, verbally chained up, often those chains are stronger than physical ones.

For me, my family means everything. And I was constantly being threatened that, I'll kill you, I'll kill your family, if you ever run away, if you ever do anything we don't say, you'll be so sorry, you'll wish you were dead.

And up until that point, I had every reason to believe them. I mean, he successfully kidnapped me. He successfully raped me. He successfully chained me up. Starved me. Abused me. All these things. Every time, he said he would do something, he did them, and nobody was there to stop them. So when he said that he would kill me if I ran away or he would kill my family, I believed him. I had every reason to believe him. I didn't have a reason to doubt his word.

And, I mean, I had seen police come up to us before and turn around and walk away from us being completely convinced that I wasn't me, that we were just whatever he told them. So...

PAT: But on this occasion, it was different. Right?

ELIZABETH: This occasion it was a little different. I still had those same thoughts in my head. I certainly didn't want to endanger my family. And I had made several attempts in the past to escape. But that always came at a great personal cost. And clearly I hadn't been successful up until that point.

And so when the policeman started asking questions. I mean, there were more policeman than there ever had been before, my captors starting to give answers. I was told, don't say anything. We'll do all the talking. And if I did had to say something, they had gone over a whole story of what I was supposed to say to the police. So they kept questioning. And kept questioning. And finally when the officer said, I think this girl is too scared. I think we need to separate her for a little bit and question her, you know, just by herself.

And so they took me a few yards away. And they started to question me. And at first, all I could think of was my captors and was what they had told me. That they'll kill me, they'll kill my family, that I had to do exactly what they said. Even though more than anything I wanted to scream out and say, it is me. Please take me away. Rescue me. Save me.

But at first, I just -- I couldn't because all I could hear was them telling me they were going to kill me and they were going to kill my family. But then eventually, one of the officers looked at me and said, you know, there's a girl, and she's been missing for a long time now. And her family has never given up hope of finding her. And they love her. And they miss her and they want her to come home. Don't you want to go home? And it was only in that moment that I finally found the courage to say, yes. And admit that I was Elizabeth Smart.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

ELIZABETH: And that was the moment that I knew that this was -- at least this leg of my life was over.

GLENN: So, Elizabeth, we have seen the footage. And it brings you to tears. We've seen the footage of the rescue missions that, you know, the Operation Underground Railroad has done. And we see these 12-year-old girls. And they're on the boat, you know, to go over to now perform sexual favors for strangers. And it's just so hard to get your arms around. What are they thinking, do you suppose when they're on that boat? Are they -- have they disconnected so much from themselves, what do you suppose is happening to them?

ELIZABETH: I'm -- I'm positive there are many different things going through their heads. I think, yes, for a lot of them they disconnect and they just -- they see this as their lot in life and there's nothing they can do about. And so they just resign themselves and do whatever it takes to survive. I think for so many of them they go into survival mode. And I know I certainly did when I was kidnapped. And I would just try to shut down all feeling because it was too painful for me to try to consciously feel everything that was going on. And just whatever it was, I would just do it to survive. And I know that's how so many of these girls and boys feel and do when they're in these terrible situations.

GLENN: Elizabeth, again, I have more respect for you than -- I mean, I just don't even know who I put you in the category of. I think you're an amazing, amazing woman who has taken some of the darkest stuff I've ever seen and turned it into such beauty and grace and dignity and service to others. I just have profound respect for you. And it's a joy to have you the program.

Tomorrow, at Utah Valley University in Orem, tomorrow night, it's a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and Operation Underground Railroad to prevent the exploitation of children and the rescuing of children who are victims of the sex trafficking trade and there's just -- you'll tell you, there's -- there is nothing that I think God would want you to do more than rescue his little ones. And this is a way to actually make a difference.

As I said, yesterday afternoon, I get just this text from Tim: Six arrested. Twenty-nine kids saved. Youngest 12 and 13. All well. Kids getting rehab now. My team out of route of the country. It's just amazing. We're just seeing miracles happen. And you can help do that and have a good night tomorrow by going to this fundraiser. And it's not going to be a drag. There will be a lot of people there. It's an entertainment thing. Utah stars. UtahsStars.com. If you want to get tickets. Thank you so much, Elizabeth. Great talking to you.

ELIZABETH: Thank you.

GLENN: God bless.

Wow, she's amazing.

PAT: Yeah. That's an incredible story. If you've read her book. You know that harrowing and miraculous in many ways story of what she went through.

GLENN: And the way she's so smart. The way she manipulated them, you know. I mean, she's just a brilliant, brilliant girl.

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

Glenn's Show Prep