The Daily Signal - Millions of Noncitizens Could Vote in Election, Biden Makes Final UN Speech, Blinken Fails to Appear Before Congress | Sept. 24

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: A report by the Center for Immigration Studies Shows how many noncitizens could potentially vote in November’s election. Democrats continue to claim Trump fully backs Project 2025. Biden makes his final presidential speech to the UN, defends his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken fails to show up at a House hearing, triggering a possible move to hold him in contempt of Congress. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Research suggests that more than one million illegal aliens could vote in the coming election. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Tuesday, September 24th. Americans want to cure elections, and they want to know that illegal immigrants are not knowingly or unknowingly casting votes in elections. Non-citizens number in the hundreds of thousands in each of the seven most fiercely contested battleground states in this November 5. coming election. The research suggests that more than one million of those non-citizens could vote nationally if past voting patterns continue. Well, this comes from reporting from the Daily Signal's Fred Lucas. Of those seven battleground states, Georgia specifically, has the largest

number of adult non-citizens. They number at over 780,000. That's according to the numbers that were assembled by the Center for Immigration Studies. The Center for Immigration Studies is a think tank, and they advocate for enforcement of federal borders and immigration laws. North Carolina follows Georgia with over 726,000 non-citizens, that's according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And the third highest number of non-citizens in specifically battleground states is the state of Arizona, with over 611,000 illegal immigrants of the age 18 or older. Pennsylvania has over 516,000 voting age non-citizens.

That's again, according to data from the Center for Immigration Studies. And Michigan has over 271,000. Nevada is next with 258,000. And Wisconsin with over 129,000. Wisconsin has the smallest number of non-citizens, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies, Stephen Camerata, he told the Daily Signal, in some states, even if only a modest portion of non-citizens voted, it could possibly flip the state, as some states are likely to be decided

by less than 30,000 votes. Well, of course, as Camerada explains, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to actually happen or has happened. So, stay tuned. Here's a big question. Why are Democrats wasting time plotting against a policy agenda called Project 2025 when Donald Trump has his own initiative that he calls Agenda 47? A woman raised this question in an online webinar that was hosted on Friday by Georgia Democrats. The question sheds light on a problem with the left's obsession with Project 2025. This comes from reporting from the Dailyx emails Elizabeth Mitchell. In Georgia on Friday, Maya Carter and David Samuel, they led an information session specifically on Project 2025. They discuss Project 2025 as the 922 page conservative

plan to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office. But Georgia woman Peggy Fenton, she wanted to know why are we spending time talking about things that are not Agenda 47? That's again for President Donald Trump's plan. Project 2025 is the latest version of the Heritage Foundation's Presidential Transition Project. It's a guide to conservative policy solutions that has been compiled and published by the think tank since before the 1980 election. Many, many years. More than 100 other conservative organizations participated this time in creating this latest version known as Project 2025. Remember, though, that former President Donald Trump has repeatedly distanced

himself from Project 2025. President Joe Biden made his final address to the United Nations today. In the speech, he defended his decision to exit Afghanistan, which left 13 Americans dead. he also defended his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. Biden said in his speech that the world was at an inflection point. Biden said to the representatives of 134 countries at the UN that he began his career when the world was in crisis. He said the world was divided by the Cold War. The Middle East was headed towards war. America was at war with Vietnam at that point. The longest war in America's history. Our country was divided and angry, and there were questions about our staying power and our future. But even then, I entered public life, not out of despair, but out of optimism.

Biden later said that he was determined to end the war in Afghanistan because it had become America's longest war, but that it was a hard decision. When I came off as president, Afghanistan to replace Vietnam as America's longest war. I was determined to end it, and I did. It was a hard decision, but the right decision. Four American presidents had faced that decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the fifth. It was the decision accompanied by tragedy.

13 brave Americans lost their lives, along with hundreds of Afghans and a suicide bomb. I think those lost lives, I think of them every day. Biden said the decision was accompanied, accompanied by tragedy, given the deaths of U.S. service personnel and hundreds of Afghan civilians in the departure, which ultimately left the country in the hands of the Taliban. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was a no-show at a congressional hearing this morning. His absence triggered House Republicans to move towards holding him in contempt of Congress.

This comes from reporting for the Daily Signal's Bradley Devlin. So Blinken originally was subpoenaed on September 3rd by House. Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCall for a hearing on the committee's investigation into the Biden-Harris administration's poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The Secretary of State was expected to rebuff the Foreign Affairs Committee's demand to appear, despite persistent threats from McCall, that the panel would hold him in contempt. To show that they were serious about holding Blinken accountable, the committee released a draft contempt resolution report on Monday and will now look into carrying out that threat.

In anticipation of McCall's move, Blinken penned a letter to the chairman that was dated on Sunday and attempted to justify his absence from the hearing today. Blinken wrote that he was profoundly disappointed. You have once again chosen to send me a subpoena and threaten contempt rather than engage with me and the State Department in a meaningful way to resolve this matter through the constitutionally mandated accommodation process. The Secretary of State also said in the letter that before the committee issued its September 3rd subpoena, he spoke with McCall over the phone and informed the chairman that he would be in Egypt on September 19th. That was the day the committee originally

planned to have Blinken testify. Blinkin wrote on September 18th, you issued a superseding a subpoena for me to appear on September 24th, accompanied by a letter in which you claimed you had just become aware of my travel to the Middle East, despite the fact that I had personally informed you. The Secretary of State added that in their phone conversation on September 3rd, he said he would be unavailable because of meetings at the UN General Assembly. The House now heads toward a vote to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress. If prosecuted and there is a resulting conviction, the result could be up to a $100,000 fine and anywhere between one month to a year behind bars. Prosecuting Blinken's failure to appear before the American people

and specifically members of Congress is the responsibility of Biden's Justice Department. The Justice Department is, of course, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Well, although the House voted in June to hold Garland himself in contempt of Congress, his Justice Department has declined to prosecute. So it is very possible that even if Congress did find Blinken in contempt, that the Justice Department wouldn't move forward with prosecution. Speaking of international news today, Israel carried out an airstrike in Beirut today that killed a top Hezbollah commander. The strike killed Ibrahim Kauisi. He is said to have been the commander of Hezbollah's missile and rocket force. And Israel, they carried out this,

strike as they began strikes on Monday in Lebanon. Israel's campaign against Hezbollah this week comes after the terrorist group launched rockets against Israel on Sunday. And right now, there are major concerns about this escalating into a full-fledged war across the Middle East. Victoria Coates is the vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. She joins us now, Victoria. Thank you once again for being here. Of course, Virginia. So let's talk about that big question of, is all-out war in the Middle East coming? Is this what the next step is?

Well, it's possible, but not between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah is powerful, but they're a terrorist group. They're not the government of Lebanon. And so Israel has been on an unprecedented campaign to degrade Hezbollah over the last really three weeks. And it goes back to the extraordinarily targeted operation. which took out a ton of Hezbollah's leadership, also their ability to communicate, which is critical for their ability to counter Israel. And with Kaizzi being eliminated today, the most recent senior leadership, Hezbollah member,

to be eliminated, they're losing their ability to convert the rockets and missiles to precision rockets and missiles, because that's the technology that he was in charge of, that they had from the Iranians, that make themselves. a deadly threat because it's not just a pot shot that can be easily intercepted by Iron Dome or David's sling, but rather these are precision munitions which have targeted it at the same place can overwhelm the missile defense system. So this is a very, very important operation. What happens next? What can we expect to see from Israel? You know, in their attacks on Hamas, they've been very clear. We want to eliminate Hamas to the point where, you know, they can't kind of

regain strength and be a threat again. taking that same stance with Hezbollah? They appear to be. And it's interesting what's happening in Gaza with Hamas because the now leader of Hamas, when the political leader was, Hania was eliminated in Tehran over the summer now, Yat Yat, Yashin is the sole leader of Hamas. He hasn't been heard from for weeks. And he had gone darker with his communications at the beginning of the war and uses couriers and various things, but he was still getting messages out to his negotiating team in. in Cairo and that kind of thing.

He's just gone silent. So Yahya Sinwar has gone dark. He's essentially stopped communicating, leading to rumors that he is dead. And so while that is a very much to be desired outcome, he really needs to find justice, not only for all of the Israelis, but for all of the Americans that he's killed and is still keeping hostage in Gaza. So, yes, what's happened in Gaza appears to be happening in Hezbollah

and the north of Israel. But the key thing here, Virginia, and what we need to watch over the next couple of days is Iran, because Iran is supplying both of these groups and funding them and giving them weapons and directing them. And the Iranian president is currently in New York. So anyone who's in New York, you could look next to you at Labarnadan and see the president of Iran, who's in town for the United Nations General Assembly. There is actually a provision in law that I worked on when I worked for Senator Cruz to prevent terrorists. from availing themselves of UN visas. And the State Department once again did not use that provision to keep him out. And he spoke at the United Nations today.

So we're giving him a bully pulpit. But I think while he's here, it is unlikely Iran will take a major action. But they've got to make a decision. Because if Israel keeps going like this, you know, they have these two tools into which they've poured so much money, Hamas and Hasbullah. And is Israel well on their way to turn a decision? those literally into rubble. And if so, are they going to respond? So I think that's what everyone

will be looking at. When you say respond, are we talking about Iran carrying out a strike like the barrage of rockets? They did. That was in April correct. Or are we talking about literally Iran officially declaring war on Israel? I would see more than another attack. Now, the April 13th, 14th, depending on what your time zone is, that attack was unique in that it was a direct attack from Iran. Previously, since 1979, Iran has only used proxy groups against Israel. So that was a huge escalation. And the dangerous thing was the, yes, the missile defense did work, and that was great.

But when Prime Minister Netanyahu asked President Biden if he could, I mean, he wanted to respond, and Biden said, no, take the win. But what Biden did there was essentially normalize the fact that a direct country-to-country attack had happened and there was no response from either Israel or the United States. Yes, we defeated it, but we didn't do anything. So Iran may well think that's a legitimate action that could take now. So that could be the October surprise or they could feel that they're really backed into a corner. At this point, they could do something dramatic. I mean, up to it including testing a nuclear weapon.

There is a very interesting reporting in the Wall Street Journal Sunday about Rob Malley, who is, was, well, I guess he still is technically, the special envoy for Iran for the State Department, who was placed on unpaid leave about six months ago for having leaked classified information, and it's pretty clear it was leaked to the Iranians or one of their proxies. and he's still technically employed, but the reporting talks about all of the negotiations he's been part of for the last three years and how the Europeans were concerned

that he was giving away too much to the Iranians. I mean, the Europeans are very eager to give things to the Iranians. So if they think you've crossed the line, it's really, really dangerous. And what we've seen from Iran over the last couple of years is just a massive acceleration of their nuclear program once they started getting oil revenues again, and that could,

be the other surprise well we will be following this closely victoria coates of the heritage foundation as always thank you so much for your time of course i'm just two floors away with that that's going to do it for today's episode thanks so much for joining us here on the daily signal podcast don't forget to hit that subscribe button do you never miss out on any of our shows whether our afternoon top news or our morning interview editions and if you would take a minute to leave the daily signal podcast a five-star rating and review have a great night we'll see you're right back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you.

Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Katrina Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, John Pop, and Joseph Von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.