The Daily Signal - Protests Close Columbia University, Trump Held in Contempt of Court, 3 Lawsuits Filing Against Biden Administration | April 30

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Columbia University closed down its campus today after a mob of anti-Israel protesters broke into and occupied a university building. Former President Donald Trump was held in contempt of court on Tuesday by the judge in his hush money trial for repeatedly violating a gag order. Three lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel still has a plan to conduct a military operation in Rafah. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Tuesday, April 30th. Here are today's headlines. Columbia University closed down its campus today after a mob of anti-Israel protesters broke into and occupied a university building early this morning. According to Fox News, the school administration said that its campus would remain closed until circumstances allow otherwise. The university issued a statement, according to Fox, saying, effective immediately. Immediately, access to the Morningside Campus has been limited to students residing in residential buildings on campus and employees who provide essential services to campus buildings, labs, and residential student life, for example, dining, public safety, and building maintenance staff.

There is no additional access to the Morningside campus. The mob took over the school's historic Hamilton Hall around 1 a.m. They smashed windows and got into physical altercations with custodians. The Hamilton Hall takeover occurred after Columbia declared on Monday at 2 p.m. that anti-Israel protesters gathered in an encampment on campus would be removed from the encampment or suffer consequences. The deadline came and went, but the students and faculty were not removed. According to reports, Columbia suspended students who continued to participate in the ongoing protest. Former President Donald Trump was held in contempt of.

court on Tuesday by the judge in his hush money trial for reportedly violating a gag order. New York judge Juan Merchant found that Trump was guilty of nine violations of the gag order and fined him $9,000. Trump had been critical of witnesses like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels on social media. The judge said that Trump violated the order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding. Trump has insisted that preventing him from speaking has been a violation of his first amendment rights to free speech. According to Voice of America, Trump said in an email to supporters following the decision that a liberal judge just silenced me.

Trump has been accused of falsifying business records to hide $130,000 in hush money payments to Daniels before his 2016 presidential election. Three lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration's new Title IX rule. The administration proposed a rule that changes the definition of sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation. This means that men who identify as women can use women-only spaces like locker rooms, dormitories, and can even compete in women's sports. Heritage Foundation's senior legal fellow, Sarah Partial Perry, has been reporting on this situation for the Daily Signal and on the three lawsuits that were just filed on Monday. Sarah writes that the essential elements of each lawsuit share a common theme. The Biden administration's new Title IX rule is illegal. So who exactly

is filing these lawsuits against the Biden administration? Well, first, the Defense of Freedom Institute and the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho filed the first of the three suits. In the complaint, the Defense of Freedom Institute writes that the rule is a naked attempt to strongarm our schools into molding our children in the government's preferred image of how a child should think, act, and speak. The final rule is an affront to the dignity of families and school administrators everywhere, and it is nowhere near legal. The second. The second, suit was brought by Alabama, joined by Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and the Independent Women's Law Center, Parents Defending Education and Speech First. Texas also filed a lawsuit

against the Department of Education and various federal officials over the rule. Like the other plaintiffs in the other lawsuits, Texas claims the Department of Education has violated the Administrative Procedure Act in devising the rule. Sarah Partial Perry says that the question that remains to be answered is when the Biden administration's rule will finally be struck down. And we will certainly keep you all posted on if and when that happens and how these lawsuits move forward. Stay tuned. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that Israel still has a plan to conduct a military operation in Rafah, which is a city in southern Gaza. Today, during a meeting with representatives of hostages and victims' families in Jerusalem. Netanyahu said,

we will enter Rafa and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal in order to achieve the total victory. Many Palestinians have fled to Rafa to get away from the fighting and the rest of Gaza. Israel says that Rafa is Hamas's last stronghold in the region. The U.S. has said it opposes a military operation in Rafa until a particular plan and a specific plan is in place for how to remove the Palestinian citizens that are now living in the densely populated city of Rafa. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is meeting with Netanyahu tomorrow on Wednesday and told the press today that during those meetings he plans to press Netanyahu to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Washington Post reports that Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that there is a generous proposal before Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the release of the Israeli hostages. Right now, that deal is reportedly waiting a green light from Hamas. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode.

Thanks so much for being with us here for the Daily Signals Top News. Make sure to join us tomorrow morning for our interview edition. I'm going to be sitting down with Kansas Senator Roger Marshall to discuss why he was one of only 15 GOP senators to vote against sending additional money to Ukraine. Be sure to catch that conversation. Also, if you have a minute, make sure to leave the Daily Signal podcast, a five-star rating and review. We love hearing your feedback and hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new shows. Thanks again for being with us today. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for my conversation with Senator Marshall.

The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheris. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.