The Daily Signal - Laken Riley Murder Trial Continues, Trump Nominates Lutnick and Duffy, SPLC Targets Not the Bee | Nov. 19

Starting point is 00:00:01 Lakin Riley's alleged murderer is on trial for the third day. I'm Elizabeth Mitchell, and this is the Daily Signal, top news, intent for Tuesday, November 19th. Jose Ibarra, the alleged murderer of nursing student Lake and Riley, is currently standing trial after being charged for the murder of the 22-year-old woman. Riley died in February from blunt force trauma to the head outside of the University of Georgia's campus. Ibarra is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. His roommate testified Monday that Ibarra had a taxpayer-funded stay at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan before taking a, quote-unquote, humanitarian flight to Atlanta last fall. Here's the roommate, Rosebelly Flores Bello, courtesy of CBS News.

Starting point is 00:00:57 Why did you leave New York to come to Athens? Quinten us over to come to Athens. Why did New York to come here to Athens? Because he told me that there would be a possibility of finding work here. The brother, his brother called him constantly telling him that there was work here. That was why. We decided to come here.

Starting point is 00:01:31 And how did you get to Athens? Athens. In New York, we ask, in Manhattan, we ask, in Manhattan, and Hotel Roofing, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, in Manhattan, we requested for humanitarian fly to come here to Atlanta. Lake and Riley's sister, Lauren Phillips, broke down in tears and was comforted by Riley's roommates as a medical examiner testified about her autopsy. Dr. Michelle DeMarco spoke about performing an autopsy on Riley's body the day after her February 22nd murder. Demarco said Riley had a combination of abrasions, which are scrapes as well as contusions as well as lacerations.

Starting point is 00:02:27 DeMarco said Riley's cause of death is the combined effects of blunt force trauma and asphyxia, adding that homicide was her manner of death. The court revealed a minute-by-minute timeline of Riley's death. At 8.55 a.m., she texted her mom, Alison Phillips, saying, Good morning, about to go on a run if you're free to talk. Her mom didn't answer, and Riley's phone locked. At 9-11 a.m., Riley activated the emergency function on her phone, dialing 911, but the call ended without her speaking.

Starting point is 00:02:59 The 911 operator tried to call her back at 912 a.m., but Riley didn't pick up. Her mom tried to call her back several times to no avail. At 12.38 p.m., police found Riley's body near the running trail where she went for her morning jog. President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has nominated celebrity doctor and former unsuccessful Senate candidate, Mehmet Oz, to serve as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He also nominated billionaire. Howard Lutnik to lead the Commerce Department. Lutnik, chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, in recent months has become a close Trump ally and had been a top contender to lead the Treasury Department. Lucknick is a co-chair of Trump's transition team. Trump said in a statement, I am thrilled to announce that

Starting point is 00:03:54 Howard Lutnik, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our president. our tariff and trade agenda with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Last night, Trump announced that his Secretary of Transportation will be former congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy. Duffy served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, representing Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District. He was most recently co-host of Fox Businesses, The Bottom Line, after first joining Fox News as a contributor in 2020. Trump in a statement praised Duffy as a tremendous and well-liked public servant. The president-elect said he was a respected voice and communicator in the Republican conference during his time in Congress.

Starting point is 00:04:47 The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center has set its sights on Not the Bee, the Real News partner of the Christian satire site, the Babylon Bee. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon revealed the SPLC's forthcoming attack in the state. a post on X Tuesday. He wrote, the discredited, scandal-ridden smear factory known as the SPLC is about to publish a hit piece, doxing several of our not-the-be writers who wish to remain anonymous so they could speak freely without fear. The SBLC extracted sensitive information from our site, then used that information to contact our writers directly. Daily Signal Managing editor and author of Making Hate Pay, the Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center, O'Neill joins us to discuss.

Starting point is 00:05:36 Thanks for having me, Elizabeth. Tyler, why is the SBLC targeting not the B now? Yeah, so I think this has a little something to do with former President Donald Trump winning the 2024 election. That obviously took place after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, turned it into X, freed the Babylon B, and of course the Babylon B might have been among Elon. reasons for purchasing Twitter. What we do know is that one of his immediately first directives was to free the Babylon B,

Starting point is 00:06:11 which had been censored for calling Rachel Levine, man of the year, which is just perfect. And so what I think is happening here is the SPLC found a way to get into the Babylon B and into the not the B back end realized to the writers were. and we're able to reach out to them for comment and is about to docks these people as part of their cancel culture crusade to demonize conservatives and get them fired, ostracized, removed from polite society. You talked to Seth Dillon yesterday about what happened. What did he say? Yeah, so Seth Dillon called me for advice on this. And he was just saying, like, he wanted to know because I had written the book about the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Starting point is 00:07:03 and some of his language in his tweet is very much influenced by my reporting, my writing. And I went through just briefly with him all of the scandals that the SPLC has experienced in recent years. And this really hopefully bolstered him and gave him some of the courage to go head to head with the SPLC on this. I hope that his decision to go on the offense will make the SPLFLF. reconsider doxing people at not the B, but I think most likely they're probably going to go ahead with it. Is this kind of behavior in line with what you've seen from the SBLC in the past as a SBLC expert? Yes. That would be an understatement. The SPLC has an extremely long track record of using whatever it can to demonize and smear its political and ideological opponents. And that list is growing and growing. Of course, the SPLC will claim, oh, we're just

Starting point is 00:08:09 monitoring hate. So when they add more groups to their hate map, where they place people on a map alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, suggesting that a similar sort of hatred is driving both, they claim that this is just them discovering and monitoring more hate groups. But I think those of us who have been following them for a long time know that their modus operandi is to increase the number of hate groups so that they can scare donors into giving them more cash and so that they can smear people who disagree with their agenda. I mean, the SPLC has pushed critical race theory, transgender orthodoxy, many of the things that the left can't brook any dissent on. And so they are a weapon of the cancel culture establishment. And I expect them to keep

Starting point is 00:08:59 doing this kind of thing. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Now for our quick hits of the day, New York prosecutors are requesting a stay until at least 29 in New York versus Trump. President-elect Donald Trump's defense attorneys are preparing to move to dismiss the case entirely. Stephen Chung, Trump Communications Director, said in a statement that this is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American people who elected him in a landslide. The Manhattan DA has conceded that the this witch hunt cannot continue. Chung said this lawless case is now stayed and President Trump's legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all. President Barack Obama praised Trump's

Starting point is 00:09:47 border czar nominee Tom Homan in 2016 for his performance as executive associate director of ICE enforcement and removal operations. Homan received a presidential rank award for serving immigration and Customs Enforcement in January 2016, from Barack Obama, one of six Democrat and Republican presidents whom Homan served between 1984 and 2018. According to ICE's press release, Homan's award is the nation's highest civil service award, and it is bestowed to leaders who've achieved sustained extraordinary results for consistently demonstrating strength, integrity, and commitment to public service. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Daily Signals, Top News, and Ten.

Starting point is 00:10:34 That's all for today's episode. We'll be back with you tomorrow at 5 o'clock for more headlines of the day. Have a wonderful night.

The Daily Signal - Laken Riley Murder Trial Continues, Trump Nominates Lutnick and Duffy, SPLC Targets Not the Bee | Nov. 19

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