The Daily Signal - Fallout From Colorado Striking Trump Off Ballot, Hamas Leader Heads to Egypt, China’s Threatening Words on Taiwan | Dec. 20

Starting point is 00:00:01 I'm Brian Gottstein, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Wednesday, December 20th. Here are today's headlines. Yesterday, in a 4-3 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court said that former President Donald Trump wasn't eligible to appear on the state's ballot. All seven of the justices were appointed by Democrats. The court cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment as the justification for his removal. Section 3 says that no person shall hold. hold an office who previously took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in

Starting point is 00:00:48 insurrection or rebellion. The majority opinion cited U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by Trump, stating that it's in a state's interest to protect the integrity and functioning of the political process to exclude candidates who are constitutionally prohibited from assuming office. The dissenting opinions in the case had harsh words for the decision. Justice Carlos Samor wrote that the decision to bar Trump from Colorado's presidential primary ballot flies in the face of the due process doctrine. He wrote that the decision risks chaos in the country. Trump himself condemned the decision. What a shame for our country, Trump wrote on the social media platform true social. A sad day for America, he wrote. A spokesman

Starting point is 00:01:36 for the Trump campaign said in a statement, unsurprisingly, the all-democrats, appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded left-wing group scheme to interfere in an election. He said the justices had eliminated the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice. According to Fox News, the Colorado Republican Party is planning to withdraw from the state's primary and switch to the caucus system. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he wouldn't participate in the Colorado primary if the Trump decision stands.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Heritage Foundation legal expert Hans von Spikovsky wrote that the Colorado decision will almost certainly make its way to the Supreme Court and that it was reminiscent of something that would happen only in a banana republic. This is a nakedly partisan anti-democratic decision that ignores the law and prior precedent, he wrote for the Daily Signal. Von Spikovsky said that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applies only to individuals who were previously a member of Congress, an officer of the United States, or a state official. Those who are elected, he said, such as the president and vice president, are not officers

Starting point is 00:02:50 within the meaning of Section 3. Von Spakovsky also noted that Section 3 enables Congress to remove that disqualification, which it's done twice in 1872 and 1898. The 1898 Amnesty Act stated that the disqualification imposed by Section 3 was removed. The leader of Hamas went to Cairo today to talk about the ongoing war with Israel in Gaza. According to the times of Israel, Ismail Honier went to Cairo to speak to Egyptian officials about the war and the possibility of a ceasefire. He was also looking for another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. According to the AP, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said that these are very serious discussions and negotiations and we hope that they lead somewhere. Hamas is reportedly looking to obtain not only prisoners but high-ranking members of Hamas, according to the reports.

Starting point is 00:03:48 So far, Israel has rejected the requests. In November, Egypt and Qatar helped mediate a ceasefire in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. NBC News is reporting that China's leader Xi Jinping told President Joe Biden in the recent San Francisco summit that he plans to reunite. mainland China with Taiwan. Xi reportedly told Biden that he prefers to reunify peacefully. Before the meeting, Chinese officials requested that the United States announced that it supports China's goal of peaceful unification with Taiwan and doesn't support Taiwanese independence. That request was rejected. According to the report, Xi's language at the meeting was blunt but not hostile. According to NBC, an official with knowledge of the meeting said Xi's language was no

Starting point is 00:04:41 different than what he's always said. He's always tough on Taiwan. He's always had a tough line. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to the Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check out our morning show right here in this podcast feed, where we interview lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Join us tomorrow morning for the Daily Signal interview edition. Make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you get your podcasts. and help us to reach more listeners by leaving a five-star rating and review. We read all of your feedback. Thanks again for listening.

Starting point is 00:05:21 Have a great night, and we'll be back with you all tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Fallout From Colorado Striking Trump Off Ballot, Hamas Leader Heads to Egypt, China’s Threatening Words on Taiwan | Dec. 20

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