The Daily Signal - DeSantis Says Trump Lost Election, Assassination Plot on Zelenskyy Thwarted, Gender Surgery on Minors in Kentucky | August 7

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Starting point is 00:00:27 Nothing else is Rees. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, August 7th. Here are today's headlines. 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says former president Donald Trump lost the election in 2020. DeSantis was pressed on the issue during an exclusive interview with NBC News that aired Sunday. Take a listen. Yes or no, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on January 20th every four years is the winner.

Starting point is 00:01:17 Okay, but respectfully, you did not clearly answer that question. And if you can't give a yes or no one, whether or not Trump lost, then how can you... Of course, no, of course he lost. According to NBC, DeSantis also pointed out during the interview that he saw a number of problems with the 2020 election. DeSantis said these problems include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's grants. For election administration, the widespread availability of mail-in ballots, state laws that allow third parties to collect and return voters' ballots, and how social media outlets de-emphasized a story about the laptop of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. DeSantis continues to push his 2024 political platform. Last week, he introduced his plan to address America's economy.

Starting point is 00:02:08 DeSantis published an article in USA Today. explaining that if president, he would take the same economic approach that he took in Florida and implement it in Washington, D.C. Dissanta's economic plan focuses on rebuilding the American dream for our middle class, according to the Florida governor. He said America should be a place where a family can raise children on a single income and where young people can develop the skills and values necessary to build a decent life and contribute to their communities. Santa said he will take back control of our economy from China and restore our economic sovereignty by reversing the ever-increasing trade deficit, banning imports of goods made from stolen

Starting point is 00:02:53 intellectual property, and China's preferential trade status, and incentivize the repatriation of U.S. capital from China. According to the Florida governor, revitalizing economic freedom and opportunity today will require building an economy where the concerns of average citizens are elevated above those deemed too big to fail. In other news, Ohioans are headed to the polls on Tuesday to vote on an initiative to protect their state constitution. The ballot measure creates barriers to make it more difficult for special interest groups to change the state constitution. According to Fox News, conservatives in Ohio say the ballot initiative is necessary to protect against a leftist agenda that promotes abortion, leftist education priorities, and anti-gun measures. Already, Fox News is reporting that more than 533,000 people have voted by mail or in person since early voting began almost a month ago.

Starting point is 00:03:59 The measure only needs one more vote than 50% to pass. This measure is especially important ahead of a vote in November. In the fall, Ohioans will vote on whether to enshrine a right to abortion into their state constitution. But it will be much harder for that so-called right to abortion to be added to Ohio's constitution if this initiative passes tomorrow. If the measure on the ballot passes tomorrow, it will raise the threshold for changing the state constitution from needing just 50% plus one to pass. to 60% of the vote to pass. So if you live in Ohio and are not sure where you're polling place is, you can find out by visiting voteohio.gov.

Starting point is 00:04:44 The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that a University of Kentucky Clinic has performed gender reassignment surgeries on minors. Kentucky state lawmakers passed a ban on those procedures, but Kentucky Democrat governor, Andy Breshear, vetoed that bill. Why? Because Brescher claimed that those surgeries were not taking place in the state of Kentucky. Here with us to explain more is Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow, Sarah Partial Perry. Sarah, thanks for being with us.

Starting point is 00:05:15 Thanks for having me. So the Washington Free Beacon obtained a March letter in which the university's health clinic said that in recent years, it performed a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries on minors, specifically, such as mastectomies. Now, the hospital has confirmed that that is accurate, that the letter is accurate. They said that non-genital gender reassignment surgeries were performed on patients as young as 16. Well, Sarah, the Kentucky governor vetoed legislation banning these practices on the grounds that these surgeries were not happening in the state. Well, now that's been disproven.

Starting point is 00:05:57 These are happening. Do you think that the governor just didn't know? know that these surgeries were happening in Kentucky? Highly unlikely. In fact, considering the fact that Kentucky is shaping up to be one of the biggest gubernatorial races in the entire country, he's up against Attorney General, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has an entire history of socially conservative positioning. This is precisely the opposite, but nothing that we see done in the sort of onslaught of gender Identitarianism and gender medicine is done openly. It's not transparent. We know it hasn't been

Starting point is 00:06:34 transparent from the start, and this is no difference. I think that truly the governor recognizes that there is something going on, but he may not want to fess up to the fact that this may be a politically unpopular position to veto something that is being passed by two chambers of the legislature. So he's trying to keep things a bit under wraps, but now we have the data. I think they've tried to sort of split hairs over use of certain language, gender affirming top and bottom surgery versus generalized surgical references. But in, I think, some, this is not going to pass muster. Okay. Well, now the question is what happens, because this is out in the public and the governor of Kentucky can't deny that this is happening. Is this bill something that could come again to?

Starting point is 00:07:25 the governor's desk and then he would have the chance to sign. We've actually seen this in the past for other issues in other state legislatures. For example, when a pro-life law, heartbeat law was passed in South Carolina, it was ultimately struck down and the legislature reconvened under a different session and passed it again. It will depend on whether or not the Kentucky legislature has enough votes for a veto override, which is often a case. We've seen that in Kansas, for example, on their women's sports bill. We've seen it in Nebraska with their heartbeat bill.

Starting point is 00:07:56 So it is entirely possible to overrule that particular veto, but they would have to have the votes to do it. And if not, they'll have to start over from scratch. We're going to be watching this closely of what happens, what unfolds in the state of Kentucky in this fight. So critical. But Sarah, while we have you with us, I want to get your thoughts on a pro-LGBQ grant, multiple grants, actually, that have been awarded to more than 70 public. and charter schools both in the U.S. and Canada. So this year, the Daily Caller reports that the pro-LGBQ group, It Gets Better Project,

Starting point is 00:08:33 has awarded 56 U.S. and 15 Canadian public and charter schools with $10,000 each in grants to fund LGBTQ initiatives. These are grants that are specifically for support towards gender sexuality alliance clubs and Pride Week celebrations. So first, let's start. What do we know about this group, this pro-LGB group called It Gets Better Project? Well, we can tell you from the outset that they are promoting not only age and appropriate,

Starting point is 00:09:07 but potentially civil rights violative material in these schools. Now, they are a nonprofit organization, so it sets them outside the regular realm of regulation, unfortunately. if they had been associated with any public funding source or had been, for example, a non-governmental organization that works with the federal government, it would be very conceivable. The taxpayer dollars would be wrapped up in these kinds of initiatives. We don't know that for a fact in this particular circumstance, but I will say the money that's going into these particular initiatives to advance particular sexuality-driven

Starting point is 00:09:49 categories of material outlets, benefits, at the expense of, let's say, gender normative, or heterosexual students, smells like a discrimination claim to me. And this might present something for which an individual plaintiff is interested in, for example, filing a civil rights claim with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, possibly under, for example, Title IX, which makes clear that one cannot discriminate on the basis of sex in any publicly funded education program. We clearly have public schools implicated here, including charter schools. They're given these grants to promote viewpoints and particular sort of environments that could be very discriminatory, not only against certain sexes over others, but most certainly against those students who might have religious

Starting point is 00:10:48 beliefs that fly in the face of this kind of a notion. So the organization itself has been affiliated with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Remember, they came under fire after a Major League baseball game when the Dodgers announced they would honor the group, absolute sacrilege. So this is an organization that's already got some very problematic organizational relationships. So you're saying that a school by receiving these grants, they could actually be in violation of Title IX? Yes, because we know that if these grants are being used to promote or develop an environment that is hostile to other students or perceived to be discriminatory for other students, if they get a benefit that other students do not, we're looking at a potential Title IX violation. And most certainly,

Starting point is 00:11:45 a violation of certain individuals' religious liberty believes. But at bottom, I think this is going to be something that will ultimately require the courts of sort of judicial outcome to make a statement on and ultimately weigh in. Interesting. Sarah, thank you so much for your time. Sarah Pussel Perry, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Our next story takes us overseas, where Ukrainian officials have arrested a woman who alleged

Starting point is 00:12:15 allegedly was helping plan an assassination plot against President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian Secret Service says the woman was preparing a Russian airstrike in the Mikuliv region during a visit of the president of Ukraine. The woman was working to establish the time and list of locations of the head of state's tentative itinerary in the region, according to Ukraine's Secret Service. The woman has not been identified, but has been labeled an enforcement. formant to Russia. If convicted, she will face up to 12 years in prison, according to NBC News. The news comes just as Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Kyrsan. The attack killed at least three people. And finally today, former Minneapolis police officer, Tutal, was one of the officers present when George Floyd was killed.

Starting point is 00:13:08 Now, he has been sentenced to almost five years in prison. Tau stood by as former officers, Derek Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd's neck, ultimately resulting in Floyd's death. Tao said he did not intend to hurt anyone and that his conscience is clear. County judge Peter Cahill found Tao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in May and the judge today sentenced the former officer to 57 months in prison. With that, we're going to leave it there for today. Thanks so much for joining us on today's edition of the Daily Signal's top news. If you're in Washington, D.C. today, we hope you stay dry this afternoon with the coming

Starting point is 00:13:51 rain. But if you haven't had a chance to check out our morning show right here in this podcast feed, be sure to do so where every weekday we bring you interviews with lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Join us tomorrow morning. Samantha Sherriss is going to be sitting down with Ryan Walters. He's the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools, and they discuss the alleged influence of the event.

Starting point is 00:14:14 the Chinese Communist Party on Tulsa's public schools. Also, if you haven't already, take just a moment to subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you like to listen to podcasts and leave us a five-star rating and review. Thanks so much for being with us this Monday. Have a great night. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation.

Starting point is 00:14:41 Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - DeSantis Says Trump Lost Election, Assassination Plot on Zelenskyy Thwarted, Gender Surgery on Minors in Kentucky | August 7

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