The Daily Signal - Another College Graduation Canceled, Trump Threatened with Jail Time, Hamas Accepts Ceasefire Deal | May 6

Starting point is 00:00:02 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, May 6th. Here are today's headline. Columbia University in New York has canceled its main graduation in light of the pro-Hamas protests. The school issued a statement today in which they said, we have decided to make the centerpiece of our commencement activities, our class days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside the. their peers rather than the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15th. The university

Starting point is 00:00:50 said that the ceremonies will be kept safe, respectful, and running smoothly. Columbia University has been the epicenter of the pro-Palestine protests. Last week, 100 people were arrested during those protests on campus. The University of Southern California has also canceled its main graduation. Meanwhile, here in Washington, D.C. at George Washington University, there is still a large pro-Palestine encampment on campus. The university president, Ellen Granberg, put out a statement yesterday on those ongoing protests. While she said dialogue is important and she supports students engaging on critical issues, she said, what is currently happening at GW is not a peaceful protest protected by the First Amendment or the university's policies. She went on to say that the demonstration, like many around the country,

Starting point is 00:01:46 has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property. The GW president also said that this is no longer a GW student demonstration, but has been co-opted by individuals who are largely unaffiliated with our community and do not have our community's best interest in mind. Students for Justice in Palestine denounced the president's statement, calling it an implicit threat to employ escalated state force against the students, staff, faculty, and D.C. community members. While Granberg said that the goal is to return our university to normal operations,

Starting point is 00:02:29 she did not indicate any plans to remove the encampment from the GW campus. Former President Donald Trump is back in court this week as his criminal trial continues up in Manhattan. But Fox News broke some big news on this case this week, specifically today. Fox reports that one of the prosecutors on the case was once paid by the Democratic National Committee for political consulting. Matthew Colangelo is the prosecutor's name, and here's what we know about him. Calangelo used to work in the Biden administration in the Department of Justice, but Fox reports that the Democratic National Committee paid Calangelo twice on January 31st, 2018. Calangelo was given two payments of $6,000 for a total of $12,000, and the payments were labeled as political consulting. He then went on to serve at the DOJ, and in December of 2022, Calangelo joined Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brombrose.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Rags office, where now he is prosecuting Trump. So now Fox reports that the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee is demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland turnover records related to Calangelo's employment at the DOJ. These records are part of the committee's oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials. So stay tuned. And speaking of Trump's Manhattan criminal trial. The former president was fined $1,000 today for violating his gag order. The judge in the case has ordered Trump to not speak about witnesses, jurors, or others involved in the case. Trump was fined $9,000 last week for violating his gag order nine times, $1,000 per violation. Judge Juan Merchant said today, it appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Trump has called the gag order unconstitutional and has lamented that the judge has taken away his freedom of speech. Monday did kick off week three of this case that's expected to last between six and eight weeks. Jeffrey McCona was on the witness stand today. McCona is known as the Trump organization's longtime controller in ABC News reports that he question today over allegedly being involved in processing invoices for former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse him for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. We are still waiting for Cohen himself to be called to the stand. Now let's turn to some international news. Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire deal.

Starting point is 00:05:23 The deal was proposed by Egypt and Qatar, but it is not clear if Hamas agreed to a deal that was outlined last week or if that deal has been updated to a new version. The deal that was reported last week included the release of 20 to 33 Israeli hostages for a pause in fighting and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. NBC News was in touch with a senior Arab source familiar with the details of the deal, who said that the proposal Hamas has accepted, demands the release of 33 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage released, along with a permanent halt of Israel's military operations in Gaza. But we're still waiting on the official details of the deal, so stay tuned. And Israel has not said whether or not that they would accept the deal.

Starting point is 00:06:17 The Israeli military has made it clear that they do intend to carry out military operations in Rafa, which is a city in Gaza, where Israel says Hamas still is a stronghold. Already this week, Israel has dropped leaflets in Rafa telling civilians to evacuate the city, but it's unclear where those civilians can go since much of Gaza is war-torn. We'll keep you all posted on the deal when we learn more. But before we go today, we do want to take a moment to recognize that from last night until tonight marks Holocaust Remembrance Day not only in Israel, but also abroad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered remarks

Starting point is 00:06:57 yesterday as the nation remembered the Holocaust per Dr. Eli David's X-page. Take a listen. 80 years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid. Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction. I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself. And in Jerusalem this morning, pedestrians stopped and observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Holocaust as sirens sounded in remembrance of those lives lost per AFP News. With that, we're going to leave it there for today. Thank you for joining us on the Daily Signal

Starting point is 00:08:02 podcast for Top News. If you haven't had the chance, make sure you check out our morning show So tomorrow morning, The Daily Signal's Rob Louis is going to be sitting down with Victor Davis Hansen to discuss his new book. Make sure to catch that conversation. Also, make sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast wherever you like to listen. We're across all podcast platforms. And if you would, leave us a five-star rating and review. Thanks again for being with us today. And we'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for Rob Lewis' conversation with Victor Davis Hanson.

Starting point is 00:08:33 The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of a video. listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Mary Margaret O'Lehann, and Tyler O'Neill. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geiney, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Another College Graduation Canceled, Trump Threatened with Jail Time, Hamas Accepts Ceasefire Deal | May 6

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.