The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden in Court, Fauci Testified Before Congress, New York Stock Exchange Has Major Glitch | June 3

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Starting point is 00:00:22 Commissions fees and expenses may apply. Read the funds or ETF's prospectus before investing. Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. Hunter Biden is on trial for gun charges and Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before Congress. I'm Virginia Allen and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, June 3rd. President Biden's son, Hunter Biden was in court today. Hunter is facing three felony gun charges. Prosecutors say that Hunter Biden falsified a firearm application, claiming that he lied about his drug usage at the time of buying a gun in 2018.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Hunter Biden has pled not guilty to all the charges that he faces. Last year, it did look like Hunter Biden had worked out a plea deal that would keep him out of prison for both the gun charges and charges of failing to pay taxes from some business activity overseas. But that deal fell through. The case now is being heard in Delaware, and jury selection in the case did begin today. First Lady, Jill Biden was in the courtroom along with Ashley Biden, Hunter Biden's sister and the youngest daughter of President Biden. President Biden issued a statement today on the matter saying, as the president, I don't and won't comment on pending federal cases.

Starting point is 00:01:45 But as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength. The New York Times reports that the trial is expected to last three to five days. If convicted, Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before Congress today. This was the first time that Fauci gave a public appearance on Capitol Hill since he left the government at the end of 2022. The congressional hearing was specifically on the origins of COVID-19 and America's response to the pandemic. During the hearing today, lawmakers questioned Fauci on whether they were back channels of communication,

Starting point is 00:02:31 with his former senior advisor during the pandemic. Here with us to explain more is Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow in the Center for Health and Welfare Policy. Robert Moffitt, thank you so much for being with us. Oh, it's great to be with you. Well, Bob, last month we saw that the House Select Committee on the coronavirus pandemic, it released a report that was specifically looking at these so-called back channels of communication between Fauci, some top advisors, individuals. And within that report, we saw that there was this interesting exchange of emails back and forth.

Starting point is 00:03:06 What did we learn? That he did not use personal emails to communicate public business and that he maintained this very strong wall of separation between both. That's very important because it means, number one, this has been going on. It doesn't mean that Fouchy was a participant. And that's all to the good. I mean, frankly, I was relieved to know that that's true. The other thing that came out of the hearing that I thought was really pretty, there were a couple of other items that came out of the hearing that I thought was very, very significant. One is that, once again, under oath, he said that the lab leak cannot be considered a conspiracy theory.

Starting point is 00:03:47 That's important because, you know, going all the way back to 2020, it was sort of like the narrative, you know, that this notion that, you know, the coronavirus was genetically. engineered and leaked from a lab was a nutcase position held by fringe virologist and right-wing extremist, you know, and Trump and the Trump, you know, the Trump appointees. Actually, what he said was, and I thought it was an important thing for him to say, he says, I've been clear from the beginning, quote, that the lab leak was not a conspiracy theory. So he repeated that, that while he personally leaned toward the notion that the deadly coronavirus somehow rather jumped from nature and to infect humans, he said, once again, he said it repeatedly that he had an open mind on the subject really since 2020 when the first news came out of China. He told the

Starting point is 00:04:46 subcommittee that he did not try to steer the conclusion about COVID origins, although on that item, I guess that's a matter of judgment. That's an assessment. Certainly. I mean, because frankly, if you remember, of course, Heritage has written about this, and we've written about it, I think, you know, pretty carefully and thoroughly. If you look at what happened in February of 2020 and March of 2020, you had Fauci assembling a group of virologists and their initial reaction. I'm talking about Christian Anderson of scripts, you know, Edward Holmes, Robert Gary of Tulane University, these were the top virologists in the case.

Starting point is 00:05:25 country, many of whom were receiving NIH grants. But in any event, their initial impression of what they were looking at was a virus that had been genetically engineered. And then all of a sudden, you know, within a matter of days, they changed their position and they published one of the most prominent articles in the history of biomedical research in nature medicine, arguing that the COVID-19 was a product of a natural evolution. But that very, very radical, very change was something that creates, and still is, in my opinion, creates a profound suspicion, not only among members of Congress, but also those of us in the policy community who've been looking at this and saying, how did that happen?

Starting point is 00:06:16 Yeah. It's very unlikely. And let me just add this, too. they came to that conclusion. Now, they were hesitant a little bit, but they came to that conclusion. They sort of said, well, it could be from nature, but we've concluded that, you know, this has a natural way.

Starting point is 00:06:36 So, in other words, at the end of the day, that's where they landed. That's where they landed. But the significance of that is they had no, absolutely no access to any information in China. to be able to guarantee that. I mean, there had no hard data.

Starting point is 00:06:54 They had no access to that information at all. And we don't, I mean, God knows what the Chinese were doing. But the fact of the matter is China was totally uncooperative. They shut down the Wuhan Lob. They shut down Wuhan. They punished dissident scientists. They imprisoned dissident scientists. I mean, and so how you could take such a firm position, you know, on this.

Starting point is 00:07:17 With so little information. With so little information made no sense. whatsoever. But, you know, as Nicholas Wade, who was a former New York Times science reporter, pointed out, so much of this had had the smell of politics because Trump, in April of 2020, and Trump early on said, I think this thing may have been, you know, ginned up in a laboratory. When he said that, well, of course, all responsible progressive opinion would have to say, well, Trump can't be right on anything. including, you know, the travel restrictions, which were racist. Do you remember that?

Starting point is 00:07:55 The travel restrictions were racist. But now we have a different world, right? The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Energy, and the highest and some of the top leadership of MI6, the British Intelligence Service, are convinced that this came out of a lab. A lab. On that point, it was interesting to see Dr. Fauci's response specifically to the question of gain of function. research. He was asked about this on a play clip of what he had to say when he was asked. According to the regulatory and operative definition of P3CO,

Starting point is 00:08:30 the NIH did not fund gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Irology. Your response to that, Bob? I have always taken the position. And Doug Badger, my colleague, who used to work for President Bush, we've taken the position that actually

Starting point is 00:08:46 this is not, strictly speaking, I mean, and I hope that I'll get to this in a second, but we've always taken the position that ultimately this is not an epidemiological question. It's not a virological question. It's ultimately an intelligence service question. In other words, Richard Dearlov, Sir Richard Dearlov, who was the previous, he was the previous head of MI6, James Bond's boss, mother, as they used to call the head of MI. Mother, mother said. That this certainly did come out of a lab, and he believed that.

Starting point is 00:09:24 And his response to all of this is this is not going to be solved in a scientific debate and professional journals. This will only be solved if we are able to get human intelligence on the ground that's going to tell us the truth of exactly what actually happened. And he says what we need to do. I love Richard Dearlove. I love the name. He said, what we really need to do is we got to pay these guys. You know, it's a risk. information. Yeah, it's a risk. This is a very big risk. And we have to, you know, we have to get this

Starting point is 00:09:55 on the ground. We have to do it the old-fashioned way, you know. Get your hands dirty with the facts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's the back alley stuff and the James Bond response. Sure, sure. That's the way to get it. And I think that's, I think that's true. You know, listening to the, you know, the members, I mean, they say, oh, you know, periodically you'll see the Democrats say, well, we'll never really know. Well, first of all, we don't know whether we're never really going to know. You never know. Someday, something might spill, and we'll get the information. But Fauci saying that, you know, we didn't know what else was going on in China. It's a vitally important point. You know, that's right. But we do know that they were involved in

Starting point is 00:10:33 biomedical research. That was a coronavirus research. We also know that the People's Liberation Army was very, very much interested in engineering coronaviruses for biological warfare purposes. We know that for a fact. Yeah. The Heritage Foundation's Robert Moffat. You have a piece coming out in the Daily Signal this week. We'll be looking out for that. Thank you for your time and your expertise on this.

Starting point is 00:10:55 We appreciate it. It's a great pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. A technical issue at the New York Stock Exchange this morning led to some major fluctuations in stock prices as trades of some stocks were brought to a complete halt. Stocks for Jopolde, Abbott Laboratories, and Berkshire Hathaway were among about 50 stocks that were affected. The problem is believed to have followed a software update that was completed last week. NBC News reports that the issue caused the New York Stock Exchange

Starting point is 00:11:26 to incorrectly show Class A shares for Berkshire down 99% from their price of about 620,000 a share. The issue, fortunately, was resolved about 1145 a.m. today. The Biden administration is expected to announce an executive order on the border tomorrow. Meanwhile, the New York Post broke the news yesterday on the administration's mass amnesty for illegal aliens. Post-border correspondent Jenny Tayer writes that while the Biden administration is attempting to look like it's getting tough on the border, behind the scenes, it's operating a program of mass amnesty for migrants. So here's the situation. The Post reports that since 2022, the Biden administration has closed 350,000 asylum cases.

Starting point is 00:12:18 providing that the individuals don't have a criminal record or are not deemed a threat to the U.S. The Post explains that this means that while the migrants are not granted or denied asylum, their cases are terminated without a decision on the merits of their asylum claim. They are removed from the legal system and no longer required to check in with authorities. In other words, they're in a gray zone. They are safe from being deported and they can move around the country as they will. Former immigration judge, Andrew Arthur, told the Post that this means the Biden administration is basically allowing people who don't have a right to be in the United States to be here indefinitely. You can check out today's show notes to read that full report from the New York Post.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Mexico has a new president. Claudia Shanebaum has been elected as Mexico's first female president, per NBC News. with our heroines that gave our patriah, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters, and our nieters.

Starting point is 00:13:27 She says there, I didn't get here on my own. We all, meaning women, got here together. Our female heroes who created the nation, our female ancestors, our mothers, our daughters,

Starting point is 00:13:39 and our granddaughters. The Associated Press reports that Shane Bomb won with between 58.3% of the vote to 60.7% of the vote. That's according to the National Electoral Institute. The new president is 61 years old and the former mayor of Mexico City. She is known for being a leftist and a scientist. She has her PhD in energy engineering. She will begin her six-year term on October 1st and Mexico's presidents only serve for one term. President Biden issued a statement

Starting point is 00:14:11 congratulating the new president today saying, I look forward to working closely. with President-elect Shanebaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here for the Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't had a chance, make sure that you check out our morning show. We are bringing you a very exciting announcement on tomorrow morning show with the Daily Signal president, Rob Bowie.

Starting point is 00:14:40 Be sure to catch that conversation as we celebrate the Daily Signal's 10-year anniversary and share some pretty exciting news with you all. Also, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new shows from The Daily Signal. And if you would, take a minute to leave us a five-star rating and review. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for an exciting announcement with Daily Signal President, Rob Bluey. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Bluey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Mary Margaret O'Lehan, and Tyler O'Neill.

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The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden in Court, Fauci Testified Before Congress, New York Stock Exchange Has Major Glitch | June 3

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