The Daily Signal - Pro-Palestine Protesters Swarm DNC, GOP Says Biden Committed ‘Impeachable Offenses,’ Blinken Urges Cease-Fire | Aug. 19

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: The Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago. President Joe Biden will speak on the main stage Monday night from the DNC.  House Republicans release their initial impeachment report on President Joe Biden.  Customs and Border Protection release the July border encounter numbers. Encounters are down between ports of entry, but remain high at ports of entry.  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expresses the urgent need for Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement.  Relevant Links https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-judiciary-and-ways-and-means-committees-release-report-on-impeachment-inquiry-finding-joe-biden-has-committed-impeachable-conduct/ 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

The Democratic National Convention begins today, and pro-Palestine protesters are swarming the streets of Chicago as the event kicks off. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, August 19th. The Democratic National Convention began today in Chicago. 50,000 people are expected to attend. That 50,000 includes 5,000 delegates and alternates and 15,000 members of the media. The Democratic National Convention denied the Daily Signals' request for press credentials over what they said were space limitations. But the Daily Signal's Tony Kennett and Tim Kennedy are on the ground in Chicago this week to report on the lively scene outside the convention itself. Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets of Chicago on Sunday night and again today to call on Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to do more to support Palestine.

Today, the group Freedom Road Socialist Organization held a large march outside the convention center in a protest that they called all out for Palestine, March on the DNC. Tony Kinnett is on the ground covering that protest, and he joins us now on the phone. Tony, thanks so much for being here. If you would describe the scene, what is this march like outside the DNC? A lot of angry people from every corner of the left, and I think that's the best. to put it, all of the different factions of the left are here. A lot of the young individuals, a lot of the far left individuals are very angry and they're shouting.

They're definitely more energetic than they were last night. I think that they're just a lot angrier than the media or even, I would say, a lot of pundits on the left or the right are giving the youths credit for with their anger at Biden and Harris. It's certainly surreal. We haven't seen a lot of violence yet. There was one small altercation with the police yesterday. that I was about seven feet from.

But other than that, it's been a lot more chill, at least for the first night, than I was expecting. Okay. Tony, there were reports last night that two individuals were arrested. What exactly is the police presence like at the DNC? You were also at the RNC. What's the comparison? It's weird because there is certainly smaller police presence here.

At least there are no, like, state police forces that are here that I've seen. The Chicago Police Department is very, present and I have seen far less as far as Secret Service is concerned than we're present at the RNC in Milwaukee but I actually made it through with no credentials whatsoever into the inner into the inner security perimeter of the DNC today and then made it back out by just being waved through so I now have in the last couple of hours very serious security concerns given the people on the outside who are very angry and want to get in,

and people like me who have basically just been waived on through, even though we have no credentials to be inside. Okay, so you were able to get inside the security perimeter, even though the Democratic National Convention denied the daily signal those credentials to be able to get inside, yet you're saying security is loose enough that you were able to make it in. That is correct. And I have video, photographic evidence of this.

I was just walking around inside the perimeter. I was supposed to have a pink wristband on, basically that let people know I was allowed to be in there. I had nothing like that. I had no badge. I remember Virginia when we were at the RNC, we had that yellow secret service badge on. And they have a very similar one here,

just with a different seal and different text. I had nothing like that. No one cared. It's so surreal because there's a bigger threat here than I would have guessed there to be for the RNC in Milwaukee. These Antisa BLM, pro-Hamas, LGBTQ protesters are, I mean, advocating for violence overthrowing.

I mean, shouting, quote, death to the Democratic Party will bring the war home. I mean, it's definitely pokey, to say the least. Wow. Well, you saw that some of that energy last night. You all were at protests on Sunday night. And those protests specifically on Sunday night focused not only on being pro-Palestine, but also pro-abortion. Let's take a listen to one of the leaders from the group of bodies outside of unjust laws, speaking at a rally on the streets of Chicago last night.

We demand an end to reproductive genocide export to Israel. An immediate fire in Palestine, Palestine. So demanding and. end to reproductive genocide. Did you all talk to any of those protesters on Sunday night to find out more about what they want from the Democratic Party? And specifically, what do they mean by ending reproductive genocide? So the suggestion that was made, and I had kind of a unique situation that developed, I actually ended up kind of standing in the front of the march, kind of almost leading the march.

And that was kind of by accident, but it was certainly very funny. And I did get a chance to talk to some of the higher-ups in asking them, you know, what it meant that they said reproductive justice means Palestinian liberation. And they said that because Israel is killing women in Gaza, that they are denying those women the right to choose

whether or not to have an abortion if they get pregnant Sunday by being killed. So I thought that was ironic to say the least, probably the least self-aware coalition in human existence. And I actually watched a co-cardinals and Chicago Cubs event once. So I've seen some weird coalitions before. This one takes the cake. Well, Tony, you guys be safe out there. We look forward to continuing following your coverage from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Appreciate your time, Tony. Thanks, Virginia. Well, inside the convention center itself at the DNC, some big names are delivering speeches from the main stage this week, including President Joe Biden tonight. First Lady, Jill Biden will speak before the president takes the stage. And this is obviously going to be a moment that's watched very closely because only a month ago, Biden was still presumed to be the Democratic candidate. And the president thought that he would be attending the DNC to accept his party's nomination. while now he's turning over the reins to Vice President Kamala Harris. And of course, after Biden did drop out following that disastrous debate performance,

he very quickly endorsed Harris to be the Democratic candidate. When he speaks at the DNC tonight, Biden is expected to tout his record, and his aim is going to be to tie Harris to that record and to his victories. Specifically, Biden is expected to talk about the Inflation Reduction Act, the Safer Communities Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Job. Act. The president and first lady will travel to California after Biden gives his speech, so Biden will not be present for Harris's speech on Thursday. Also speaking from the main stage tonight is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

House Republicans have released their initial impeachment report on President Joe Biden. The full report was released today and is almost 300 pages long, so what exactly did Republican lawmakers conclude. The report concludes that Biden committed impeachable offenses. According to a press release from the House Oversight Committee announcing the findings of the investigation, the report details evidence to establish President Biden abused his office and violated his oath of office as vice president by engaging in a conspiracy to peddle influence to enrich his family. There are several key takeaways from the report, including one, from 2014 to the present, as part of a conspiracy to monetize Joe Biden's Office of Public Trust to enrich the Biden family, Biden family members,

and their associates received over 27 million from foreign individuals or entities. Two, Joe Biden used his status as vice president to garner favorable outcomes for his sons and his business partners' foreign business dealings. Three, the Biden family leveraged Joe Biden's position of public trust to obtain over eight million in loans from Democratic benefactors. Four, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, afforded special treatment to President Biden's son, Hunter Biden. Five, the Biden Justice Department misled Congress about the independence of law enforcement entities in the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden. And six, the White House has obstructed the committee's impeachment inquiry by withholding

key documents and witnesses. If you want to dive deeper into this committee's full findings in their report, you can check out today's show notes to find a link to the oversight committee's overview of the report and that full 300-page report itself. Customs and Border Protection released its July border encounter numbers at the end of last week. Encounters were down between. ports of entry, but remain high and stable at ports of entry. Customs and border protection is the official source of border encounter numbers, and an overview of the numbers shows overall that numbers were down. When the data is sorted to only look at illegal aliens arriving at ports of entry to claim asylum, the numbers for July show little change from the rest of

the months in fiscal year 2024. But encounters between the ports of entry often referred to as border patrol encounters did fall from June to July by about 30,000. This matters because at the beginning of June, President Joe Biden signed an executive order, giving him the authority to close the border when the seven-day average of daily border crossings between ports of entry exceeds 2,500. Under the order, the border only reopens if crossings between ports fall to a seven-day daily average of 1,500 or less. The big question after Biden signed that order in June was, is it going to work? Well, the data concludes yes and no. While there are fewer encounters between the ports of entry, over 100,000 illegal aliens are still showing up at ports of entry every month,

and the majority are believed to be being paroled into the interior of the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken today expressed the urgent need for Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement. Blinken was in Israel today. This is his ninth trip to the region since the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. Blinken spoke to the press and expressed America's desire to deter further conflict in the region. The U.S. is focused on Israel and Hamas reaching an agreement to end the fighting in Gaza and get all the hostages, home that are still being held in Gaza. In May, the Biden administration issued a proposed ceasefire agreement, and the U.N. Security Council backs that plan that would end the fighting and free the hostages. Lincoln told the press that a plan is similar to that proposed ceasefire and hostage deal

does appear to be moving forward. Just last week, the president put forward a proposal with Qatar and with Egypt to try to bridge the gaps that remain between the parties so that we could get agreement to what the President put out there a couple of months ago. In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister in Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it. It's now incumbent on Hamas to do the same. And then the parties with the help of the mediators, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, have to come together and complete the process of reaching clear understandings about how they'll

implement the commitments that they've made under this agreement. But the next important step is for Hamas to say yes, and then in the coming days for all of the expert negotiators to get together to work on clear understandings on implementing the agreement. Blinken went on to say that the U.S. is deeply committed to getting this agreement across the finish line from Israel. Blinken is traveling to Egypt and Qatar. The two nations that along with the U.S. are playing a critical role in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel because Hamas and Israel do not communicate directly. Again, leaders are waiting on Hamas to see if they will agree to this proposed plan. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode.

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