The Daily Signal - Fallout From Gay Resignation, Blasts Kill More than 100 in Iran, Jan. 6 Charges Against Trump Dropped | Jan. 3

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: The fallout from Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation continues. Gay keep position, salary at Harvard. Blasts near grave of Iranian general kills, injures hundreds. A lawsuit in a civil trial against Trump is dismissed by federal court. Relevant Links Listen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/ Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription   Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daly Signal Top News for Wednesday, January 3rd. Here are today's headlines. The fallout continues today following the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay. The members of Harvard Corporation, which is the school body responsible for hiring Gay, said in a statement that they accepted Gay's resignation with sorrow. They said that while President Gay has acknowledged missteps and has taken responsibility for them, it is also true that she has shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained attacks. The Harvard Corporation also claimed that Gay was a victim of racial vitriol.

Gay spearheaded DEI efforts or diversity equity and inclusion efforts at Harvard, but she came under fire after a much criticized hearing on anti-Semitism on college campuses at the end of 2023. During that hearing, gay seemed to be unwilling to condemn those. who had called for the genocide of the Jews on campus. She was then hit with a series of accusations of plagiarism dating back over the last several decades. Conservative activist Christopher Rufo and the Washington Free Beacon revealed

that she lifted entire uncredited passages and used them in her work without appropriate citation. The Associated Press published a news piece today claiming that conservatives have weaponized plagiarism to discredit left-wing academics. The Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neill wrote that Gay's resignation represents a significant moment for alternative conservative journalism to keep those who are in power accountable. O'Neill wrote that the incident arguably illustrates the effectiveness of conservative critics

in drawing attention to gay's many scandals and the frecklessness of a university so rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion that it refuses to acknowledge the ideological roots of the scandal. While Gay has stepped down as the president of Harvard, she will retain her faculty position and her nearly $900,000 salary that she earned as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The New York Post reports that prior to being named president just six months ago, Gay earned just over 879,000 as a Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean in 2021 and just over 824,000 in 2020, according to her records published by the university. The Post noted that while Harvard has not said publicly what position she will have after her resignation as president, she is expected to continue receiving this salary or possibly more.

The Post also noted that it's unclear how much of Gay's roughly $1 million salary from her time as president this year, she will retain. Gay's predecessor, Lawrence Bacow, made $1.3 million annually before his departure, according to the Post. Moving overseas, multiple explosions in Iran killed over 100 people and injured many more today. This happened just one day after an explosion killed a top Hamas leader near Beirut Lebanon. The explosions in Iran occurred near the tomb of Iranian general Qasam Soleimani, according to Fox News. Iranian officials say that the explosion occurred during a ceremony honoring Soleimani. Iranian media pinned the source of the explosion on the explosion of gas canisters by terrorists near the road leading to the cemetery. This week marks the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's death.

A drone strike ordered by then President Donald Trump killed Soleimani. The explosions today are indicative of rising tensions in the region. Houthi terrorists linked to Iran have been attacking international ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. military has made several strikes on the Houthis in response. A federal judge dismissed three civil counts against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The allegations against Trump came in connection with the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick following the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. D.C.'s chief medical examiner later declared that Sicknick's death was caused by natural causes. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed three of the five civil counts in a lawsuit filed last January by Sandra Garza.

Garza is Sicknick's girlfriend, according to Fox News. Garza sought damages for claims of wrongful death, conspiracy to violate civil rights and negligence. Mehta dismissed the wrongful death and negligence civil counts against Trump, but claims against the defendants under D.C.'s Survival Act in the conspiracy to violate a civil rights claim will proceed, according to Fox. The lawyer representing Garza said that her team is considering other options to go after Trump in the future. Garza's attorney Mark Zade said, we are pleased to see that our lawsuit in pursuit of justice for the late Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection, has been permitted to continue. We are now considering our next step options to

include deposing former President Trump. Well, to be continued, we will keep you up to date on that news as it continues to unfold. But with that, that is going to do it for today's episode. Thanks for being with us here on the Daily Signals Top News. Join us tomorrow morning for our interview edition as we continue our series on climate change. I'm sitting down with scientist Willie Soon tomorrow morning to talk about the source of climate change.

We talked on the show this morning with David Legates and asked the question, is climate change real? Is the climate really changing? He breaks that down. And tomorrow we're going to talk about some of the reasons why the climate might be changing. So be sure to catch that conversation. And in the meantime, take a minute to leave The Daily Signal a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you like to listen. Have a great rest of your evening.

We'll see you right back here 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 Louie 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.