The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden Speaks, The Supreme Court Takes Up an Abortion Case | Nov. 13

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Brian Gottstein, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Wednesday, December 13th. Here are today's headlines. President Joe Biden's son Hunter spoke out Wednesday, saying that House Republicans have no shame in their investigation probing into his financial dealings. Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to speak at a closed-door House hearing, but instead he made a speech in front of the Capitol. He lambasted House Republicans, saying that he'd only appear in a public hearing as his lawyers had previously announced. He said that Republicans are going after him to damage his father.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Here's the audio from Town Hall. For six years, MAGA Republicans, including members of the House committees who are in a closed-door session right now, have impugned my character, invaded my privacy, attacked my wife, my children, my family, and my friends. They have ridiculed fueled my struggle with addiction. They belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass and damage my father, who has devoted his entire public life to service. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who've been leading the investigation, said in a joint statement after Biden's speech, Hunter Biden today defied lawful subpoenas, and we will now initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.

Starting point is 00:01:48 We will not provide special treatment because his last name is Biden. Other members like Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, responded to Hunter's decision. It was noteworthy today when Hunter Biden was avoiding coming before the House Judiciary Committee and did a show press conference on the steps of the Capitol that he said that his dad wasn't involved financially with his business dealings. That was an important tell. I think that Hunter Biden may have kind of given up the store there a little bit. We'll see. First of all, we don't know if that's true. Second of all, even if it is true, the fact that he put that modifier in there tells you that he knows full well. Joe Biden was involved with his peddling of the

Starting point is 00:02:31 Biden family name to profit himself, to profit the family, selling access and doing so. By the way, These are not just, you know, it's not like it's the United Kingdom here, right? Or, you know, Israel. This is China, right? This is Ukraine when we're neck deep and all of this stuff. So we have a duty to go pursue the truth and then figure out how much the Department of Justice has been obstructing the ability of us to get to the truth. You've been a prosecutor. How much, to what level can the president deny any involvement in this when there's actual checks showing payments,

Starting point is 00:03:05 particularly this more recent one where Hunter and Biden's actual company was paying Joe Biden. Well, you know, of course he'll hide behind it and say it's loans and so forth. And I don't want to characterize the evidence with any specificity other than to say, back to my point, anybody with eyes, there's a reason 68% of Americans recognize this is either a crime or unethical or both. And I think that number's going to go up. The more people learn about it, Democrats do not want us to learn about it. They want to shove this aside and say this was just Hunter being Hunter. And the fact of the matter is, again, Hunter kind of gave up the game a little bit today in using the word financial.

Starting point is 00:03:39 And I think we just need to continue to pursue the truth. This inquiry will help us do it. It will give us greater powers. They've been hiding behind that to a degree and not complying with our request. So with an inquiry today, I hope we'll pass it. Then we will see where the truth goes. Representative Daryl Issa, a Republican from California, said that they could ultimately add an amendment to the impeachment. inquiry into President Joe Biden that included bribery.

Starting point is 00:04:07 Well, it certainly appears as though the possibility of bribery. A known offense under impeachment is on the table. Monies did flow to the home of the president. They did flow to accounts of the president when he was vice president. And his actions show that he favored entities that Hunter Biden was representing. Additionally, his false statements, repeated false statements about it, continue to be an element of the impeachment inquiry. All right. This would be false statements made while he was president? Well, false statements while he was president. Remember that one of the challenges we're facing is that it's not been tested, but impeaching a vice president after he leaves office would be just as possible as the last,

Starting point is 00:05:00 a Congress which impeached President Trump after he left. So one of the challenges we face is that the actions of him as a vice president could, in fact, cause him to be impeached and denied the ability to run for office. Remember that impeachment isn't just impeachment. It also normally carries with it a prohibition from serving in federal office ever again. That literally could disqualify him for running for president again, not by his actions as president alone, but by his actions as vice president, because his actions, seemingly bribery and or treason and or a number of other offenses, could have and should have done that to him. You might remember in history that Vice President Spiro Agnew, it was actually his actions as a governor that led to his being forced to resign as vice president, later convicted, and of course never able to serve again in federal office.

Starting point is 00:06:00 If Hunter Biden is held in contempt of Congress, it will be up to the Justice Department to decide whether or not to prosecute. The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it would take up a case regarding the relaxed FDA regulations on the abortion pill Miffapristone. The new regulations were issued in 2016 and 2021. They extended the time for using the pill from seven weeks to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. They also allowed women to get the drug without in-person doctor visits. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated the loosening of the federal regulations, but the regulations have remained in place as the Biden administration appeals the ruling, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Starting point is 00:06:44 Alliance Defending Freedom, a pro-life and religious liberty legal organization, which sued to halt the use of the abortion drug, called the Fifth Circuit's ruling a modest decision that merely restores the common-sense safeguards under which millions of women have taken chemical abortion drugs. The safety of the drug itself and whether or not it's safe for women to use without an in-person visit to a doctor have been hotly debated. There are also concerns about the safety of generally deregulating the drug and making it easier for women to be coerced into taking it or to be given pills without their knowledge. White House press secretary, Corrine John Pierre, praise the Supreme Court for taking up the case, saying that the lower court ruling, quote, threatens to undermine the FDA's scientific independent judgment and would reimpose out.

Starting point is 00:07:31 outdated restrictions on access to safe and effective medication abortion. The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the case of a January 6th defendant. The case revolves around Joseph Fisher, who's been accused of obstructing an official proceeding when he entered the Capitol building during the certification of the 2020 presidential election on January 6th. Fisher is looking to have the case dismissed on the grounds that prosecutors overstepped the law and charged him with a crime typically applied to improper or. corporate financial dealings. Congress passed the law in 2002 following the Enron scandal. It was intended to prosecute people found guilty of tampering with evidence. The decision would

Starting point is 00:08:15 potentially affect hundreds of people who've been charged with the same crime following the January 6th protests. The penalty can add 20 years to a prison sentence. The ruling would also affect former President Donald Trump, who's been charged with the same crime in the myriad of cases brought against him. Tesla announced that it will recall 2 million vehicles due to concerns about its autopilot system. This comes following a two-year probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into crashes that were caused by the driver assistance technology. The agency reviewed 956 crashes in which the autopilot was used. According to the Wall Street Journal, the recall covers Tesla models 3, S, X, and Y sold in the United States between 2012 and 2012 and 20,

Starting point is 00:09:03 23. According to the recall notice, the autopilot system may not be able to prevent driver misuse. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a statement saying, In certain circumstances, when auto steer is engaged and the driver does not maintain responsibility for vehicle operation and is unprepared to intervene as necessary or fails to recognize when auto steer is canceled or not engaged, there may be an increased risk of a crash. Tesla said it would begin rolling out a software update to the system beginning on Tuesday. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to the Daily Signal's top news.

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The Daily Signal - Hunter Biden Speaks, The Supreme Court Takes Up an Abortion Case | Nov. 13

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