The Daily Signal - New Info on Terrorist Attack, House Speaker Fight, Biden Awards Liz Cheney | Jan. 2, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk, business. Authorities now believe the driver in the New Orleans terrorist attack acted alone. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal's top news in 10 for Thursday, January 2nd. The FBI believes the driver, who plowed through a crowd in New Orleans on New Year's Eve, acted alone. Originally, officials were reporting that the man had likely worked to plan the attack with other people. One of the reasons was because an individual appeared on video surveillance placing explosives within that, same area. But ABC reports that after further investigation, it appears that the attacker changed his clothes between when he placed those devices and then got in the truck and drove down Bourbon Street,

Starting point is 00:01:21 killing 14 people and injuring another 35. Authorities are working to learn more about the driver. His name is Shamsudee Jabbar, and he died in the attack. Jabar was a Texas-born U.S. citizen. He worked for Deloitte and was a military veteran. But it appears that he was rhapsodied. radicalized by ISIS extremism. The local New Orleans station WDSU reports that Jabbar drove to New Orleans on December 31st and before the attack, he was vocal about his support of ISIS in a Facebook post. He wrote that he joined ISIS before the summer of 2024 and he said he had originally planned to kill his family. But the FBI says that Jabbar wrote that killing his family would not focus on the war between the believers and disbelievers. As this investigation is continuing to unfold, Fox News is reporting

Starting point is 00:02:16 that bomb-making materials were found at an Airbnb in New Orleans. The materials are believed to possibly be connected with the driver of that truck. The attack happened the same day that a man set off an explosion in a cyber truck that was parked outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. I spoke to Heritage Foundation, senior legal fellow, and Homeland Security expert, Paul A Stimson about the two incidents and the likelihood that they were a coordinated attack. According to Simpson, it really is way too soon to know if there's any connection between these two attacks. But he says that the event in Las Vegas appears to more so be politically motivated.

Starting point is 00:02:55 This comes across more as a huge middle finger, pardon my French, to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. You get the biggest, baddest cyber truck, and you park it in front of the Trump International hotel and you give the bird to Elon Musk and Trump. Now, whether the guy meant to die, maybe he didn't know the fuse was going to go so quickly. Maybe he did want to die. I don't know. It's sad either way that somebody would even go that far. But I'll withhold judgment as to whether or not there's any connection between the two. You can catch that full conversation with Collie Stimson right here on the Daily Signal podcast. We released a bonus episode of our full conversation this afternoon where we discuss the FBI's investigation and further discuss whether

Starting point is 00:03:41 this attack is indicative of a resurgence of ISIS. You can also find that full interview on the Daily Signal's YouTube. Members of Congress are returning from their Christmas holiday, and there's already plenty of drama on Capitol Hill upon their return. House Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed changes to House rules that would allow for a vote to oust the speaker. Under the 118th Congress, the last Congress, any single House member could introduce what is called a motion to vacate, a motion that is aimed at triggering a vote to remove the speaker. You can think back to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and you'll remember that Matt Gates introduced a motion to vacate McCarthy, which kicked off a long battle in the House that resulted in McCarthy, ultimately losing the speakership. So that's the history of what's happening here. Now let's fast forward to this week.

Starting point is 00:04:38 Johnson wants to change the rule so that an additional eight members of Congress have to back that motion to vacate in addition to the member who leads the effort. But specifically, all eight of those members have to be from the majority party, in this case, Republican. In other words, it would require nine Republicans to submit a legitimate motion to vacate. Well, Democrats are pretty displeased with this possible war. rule change because they say that it makes the House Speaker answerable to his party alone. Massachusetts Democrat Representative Jim McGovern said that the possible rule change makes it clear that Republicans have no intention of working together to find common ground.

Starting point is 00:05:23 Now, keep the timing of this conflict in mind. The possible rule change is coming the same week the House will vote on whether or not to keep Johnson as their speaker. The vote is taking place tomorrow, Friday, and Johnson has a razor-thin majority to work with. Republicans are looking at only a 219 to 215 majority. Johnson joined Fox News earlier today, and he said he anticipates holding on to the speakership, but said he can only lose a couple votes. I think we'll get it done.

Starting point is 00:05:55 I really do, Lawrence. I've talked to every single one of those friends and colleagues over the holidays. We'll be talking about process reforms inside the House, and I've encouraged all of them, and I think the reason they're all going to vote, yes, is this. We're shifting into a brand new paradigm. We have unified government that begins tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate, and the House, a totally different situation than we dealt with over the last 14 months since I've been speakers.

Starting point is 00:06:17 So we're excited to deliver on the America First agenda. Trump has endorsed Johnson, but even in spite of Trump's endorsement, some GOP members say that they will not support Johnson. Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky has said he will not vote for Johnson. And Axios reports that Maryland Representative Andy Harris and Pennsylvania representative Scott Perry have said they are undecided. Stay tuned for tomorrow's vote. This afternoon, President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal to 20 people. One of those people was former GOP House member Liz Cheney.

Starting point is 00:06:58 Cheney is an outspoken critic of President-elect Donald Trump. She was a member of the House Committee that investigated January 6th, and she voted to impeach. Trump. According to the White House, the Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens. Cheney was chosen to receive the award according to the White House because Cheney has raised her voice and reached across the aisle to defend our nation and the ideals we stand for, freedom, dignity, and democracy. Senior advisor to Trump, Jason Miller, called Biden's action pathetic. While others, like the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics,

Starting point is 00:07:43 Larry Sabato congratulated Cheney, commenting, courage has its rewards. Now let's hit our news flashes of the day. First up, following the terrorist attack in New Orleans, there is increased scrutiny of the chief of the New Orleans Police Department and Kirkpatrick. The Tennessee Star reports that Kirkpatrick is the national instructor of the leadership training program at the the FBI's Law Enforcement Executive Association. And she has instructed executive members of law enforcement agencies on bias and diversity. Just hours after the terrorist attack in New Orleans that appears to have been inspired by ISIS, anti-Israel protesters gathered in Times Square and called for Intifada. Take a listen.

Starting point is 00:08:36 New Year's resolution! Intifada refers to a Palestinian uprising against Israel. What news is trustworthy? That's a very good question to ask. And many Americans trust an organization called NewsGuard to help them answer that question. NewsGuard rates news outlets on their credibility, but there are growing concerns that bias might have crept into some of NewsGuard's decision-making around which outlets are and are not credible. In the latest ranking, NewsGuard has given better rankings to foreign news outlets that are controlled by tyrannical governments, than it has to some conservative outlets. In fact, NewsGuard has given better rankings to state-sponsored media and Russia and Qatar than it has to OAN, Newsmax, and Life News. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Thanks so much for joining us here for the Daily Signal's Top News in 10. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on brand new editions of Top News in Den or our weekend interview editions. And help us reach more listeners, if you would, by taking a minute to leave us a five star rating and review. We'd love as we kick off the new year 2025 to be gaining that audience and growing our audience so that we can bring you even more great news every single day. Today's episode was produced by John Popp and Tyler O'Neill. Thanks again for being with us today. We'll see you right back here tomorrow afternoon.

The Daily Signal - New Info on Terrorist Attack, House Speaker Fight, Biden Awards Liz Cheney | Jan. 2, 2025

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.