The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden Indicted, Pelosi Fires Back at McCarthy, Judge Rules in Fulton County Case | Sept. 14

Starting point is 00:00:01 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Sleepville Top News for Thursday, September 14th. Here are today's headlines. The president's son, Hunter Biden, has been indicted. The younger Biden was indicted earlier today on federal gun charges. ABC News is reporting that Hunter Biden has been charged with two counts related to false statements in purchasing a firearm. He's also been indicted on a third count of illegally obtaining a firearm while a addicted to drugs. The combined charges bring with them a possibility of a sentence of more than two decades of prison time. Hunter Biden and his lawyers went to court with a plea agreement with the

Starting point is 00:00:55 Department of Justice on the gun charges. But the judge rejected the plea. This was earlier this year. Why? Well, Kyle Brosnan, Chief Counsel for the Oversight Project here at the Heritage Foundation, joined us in July and explained why that deal fell through in the courtroom. Part of the deal included sort of this blanket immunity provision, preventing the Justice Department from prosecuting Hunter Biden for additional crimes in the future. The judge specifically asked under the terms of the deal, can you charge Hunter Biden for being an agent of a foreign country? It's called the FARA Act for failing to register as a foreign agent

Starting point is 00:01:36 because a lot of these transactions at issue focused on his foreign business practices. The government said, no, we would be able to prosecute him moving forward. And Hunter Biden's attorney said, if that's the case, then the deal is off. So typically, when you're admitting to a plea, when you're agreeing to a plea deal, the government and the defense counsel have an agreement on what they're actually agreeing to. And there was no such connection here. And so there was people gasped in the courtroom when they almost called the deal. deal off. And so they're back to the drawing board. The Hunter Biden case is now being overseen

Starting point is 00:02:12 by special counsel David Weiss, who led the investigation. We're going to keep you all up to date on this as we learn more. Well, with some more breaking news today, the 19 people indicted in Georgia on claims of interfering with a 2020 presidential election are not going to be going to trial together. The Fulton County judge Scott McAfee announced today that he is breaking the group up. The two first defendants will be tried together beginning on October 23rd. Both former Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesbrough and Cindy Powell will be the first to have their case tried regarding their alleged attempt to interfere with the election results. Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis had asked that the judge try all 19 defendants together. But Judge McAfee said that that is simply not possible.

Starting point is 00:03:08 The judge said that there are logistical factors that prevent all 19 defendants from being tried at the same time. First, the Fulton County Courthouse simply contains no courtroom adequately large enough to hold all 19 defendants, their multiple attorneys, and support staff, and sheriff deputies, court personnel, and the state's prosecutorial team. and relocating to another larger venue raises security concerns. And then there's the consideration of the length of the trial. The judge said that a months-long multi-defendant trial on the local criminal justice system would likely sideline dozens of defense counsel from handling other cases and would prevent the court from managing those other cases.

Starting point is 00:03:55 No date has been set yet for the other 17 defendants, but today's news means that Trump likely will not be tried in Georgia until pretty far into 2024. Stay tuned. Now for a little news from Capitol Hill, on Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, of course, announced that the House was beginning an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Since the announcement, the left has been critical of McCarthy for launching the impeachment inquiry before holding a vote on the floor of the House regarding whether or not to do so. McCarthy responded to that criticism saying that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi changed the precedence for the House during her time as Speaker. Pelosi launched the first impeachment probe into Trump in 2019 before there was a full House vote. Pelosi responded to McCarthy's comments on NBC News today. Take a listen.

Starting point is 00:04:53 I say that that's hogwash. I mean, it's ridiculous. And I don't know why the press keeps. repeating it. The fact is we said we were going to, I assign my committee chair, six of them, to develop the facts, because you have to act upon the facts. Pelosi went on to point out that though she didn't have a vote right away, she did eventually hold a vote. And she criticized Republicans for being in power in the House for eight months. And not holding a vote before McCarthy announced the House would begin the impeachment inquiry. Now let's tackle a little bit of news regarding one of the 2024. First, we need to talk about the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randy Weingarten. Recently, Randy Weingarten made comments equating school choice and parental rights advocates to segregationists who oppose integrating America's schools. During a recent interview, Weingarten said words like choice and parental rights are the same kind of words that. that were used in reaction to desegregation.

Starting point is 00:06:02 Here's what she had to say. Those same words that you heard in terms of warning segregation post-Brown v. Board of Education, those same words you hear today. It's not, you know, I was kind of got-smacked when I was on the, I was talking to Southern Poverty Law Center, and they showed me. The same words, choice, parental rights, and attempt to divide parents versus teachers. In that point, it was white parents versus other parents. But it's the same kind of words.

Starting point is 00:06:44 Weingarten cited the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a left-leaning nonprofit, in making her argument. Now, the Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neill actually wrote a book, exposing how the Southern Poverty Law Center trades on its history in bankrupting the Klu Klux Klan to demonize conservatives and Christians who have nothing to do with the Klan or racism. And earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center put parental rights groups like Moms for Liberty on its hate map along with chapters of the Klu Klux Klan. South Carolina Senator and Presidential hopeful Tim Scott heard Weingarten's comments

Starting point is 00:07:23 and shot back with some firm disagreement. Scott told Fox Digital that there might not be anyone that's done more damage recently than Randy Weingarten to the kids living in distressed communities, especially like the ones where I grew up. And Scott added that it's so frustrating to hear these liberal lies, hearkening back to a day that no longer exists. Senator Scott is a supporter of school choice programs

Starting point is 00:07:52 and he has said that if elected, he would seek to diminish the influence teachers' unions have on education and instead provide families with choice in education. Finally today, an update out of New Mexico and the controversy over gun laws there. A group of House Republicans have introduced a resolution condemning New Mexico Democrat governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham's recent ban on open and concealed carry laws in two counties in the state. The governor's ban on open and concealed carry has since been blocked by a judge, but Washington Republican Representative Dan Newhouse is leading the charge along with about 50 of his colleagues to condemn the governor's actions to restrict Second Amendment rights in the state of New Mexico.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Newhouse wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the governor's action should send a chill up every American spine as it strips away the protection of individual rights and freedom. which sets a dangerous precedent for rights of central Washingtonians and Americans across our nation. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Albuquerque put a temporary restraining order on the executive order that restricted Second Amendment rights in the state of New Mexico. Judge David Urius wrote, The violation of a constitutional right, even for minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.

Starting point is 00:09:21 Well, with that, that is going to be a constitutional right. to do it for today's episode of the Daily Signals Top News. Thanks so much for joining us today. If you've not had a chance to check out our morning show, be sure to do so. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to be sitting down with the Heritage Foundation's Laura Rees. To talk about the situation at our southern border and why the border crisis is central in the debate in Congress over government spending. Also, if you haven't had a chance to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast, make sure you do so on your favorite podcast platform. have a wonderful evening. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for my conversation with Laura Reese. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation.

Starting point is 00:10:07 Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visitdailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden Indicted, Pelosi Fires Back at McCarthy, Judge Rules in Fulton County Case | Sept. 14

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