
Episode #255
The Story of US Attorney Phil Williams: from Army Ranger to US Attorney
Army Ranger. Two combat tours. Youth pastor. State senator. Talk radio host. CNN contributor. And now the top federal prosecutor in Alabama’s largest federal district. Bryan Dawson sits down with Phil Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, for the full story: the troubled kid who got shipped overseas to live with his father and met Christ in a youth choir in London; the reserve officer who was among the first Alabamians on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11; the law student who came home from war and had to sue the Alabama State Bar to sit for the bar exam; and the day a lieutenant changed the convoy route for no reason he could explain and a car bomb went off on the road they were supposed to be on. Five years ago, Phil and Bryan were launching Rightside Radio and 1819 News out of the same building, betting that Alabama could become an outpost of freedom. This is the story of what God did with that bet. “Personnel is policy.” When the nomination came, Phil said no. Here’s what happened next. Watch the full conversation with Bryan Dawson and U.S. Attorney Phil Williams. Subscribe to 1819 News, like the video, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear what God can do with a life. Topics Tackled • Fitting square pegs in round holes: an army kid, a broken home, and the structure that saved him • Afghanistan and Baghdad including the route change that stopped a convoy from driving into a car bomb • Ranger School and the lesson: “When you want to quit, that’s your mind, not your body” • Suing the Alabama State Bar after a combat deployment cost him his ethics exam score • The 2010 Senate class, 136 years of one-party rule, and voting to cut their own pay • From Rightside Radio to CNN, making the conservative case in hostile rooms • Turning down the U.S. Attorney nomination, and the phone call that changed his mind Connect With Phil Williams • U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal • X / Twitter (personal, from his Rightside era): https://x.com/SenPhilWilliams • Rightside Radio archive (Rumble): https://rumble.com/c/c-1625445 • His years of work at 1819 News: https://1819news.com/author/PhilWilliams #PhilWilliams #USAttorney #Alabama #NorthernDistrictOfAlabama #ArmyRanger #RuleOfLaw #Veterans #RightsideRadio #AlabamaPolitics #1819News

