The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | AG Explains Why DOJ Hasn’t Prosecuted Abortion Vandals, Lightfoot Loses, East Palestine Fallout | March 1

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Attorney General Merrick Garland explains why the Department of Justice Has not prosecuted abortion vandals. Incumbent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses her bid for reelection.  Republicans and many Democrats vote on a bill today that they hope will curb inflation.  Americans continue to follow the story of the train crash in East Palestine, Ohio.  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 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 Wednesday, March 1st. Here are today's headlines. In less than a year, there have been 81 attacks on pregnancy centers and 130 attacks on Catholic churches, according to the pro-life group Catholic Vote. The attacks followed after the leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization draft opinion last May. That is the case that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Only two individuals have been charged for these attacks, but during the same time period, Biden's Department of Justice has announced charges against 34 individuals for blocking access to or vandalizing abortion clinics.

So today, Senator Mike Lee of Utah questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about the disparity. During a hearing in Washington, D.C., Lee asked Garland, How do you explain this disparity by reference to anything other than politicization of what's happening there? Garland agreed with Lee saying there are many more prosecutions with respect to the blocking of the abortion centers. But that is generally because those actions are taken with photography at the time during the daylight and seeing the person who did it is quite easy. Those who are attacking the pregnancy resource centers, which is a horrid thing to do, are doing this at night in the dark. And Garland added this per town hall. We will prosecute every case against a pregnancy resource center that we can make. But these people

who are doing this are clever and are doing it in secret. And I'm convinced that the FBI is trying to find them with urgency. So here with us to respond to Garland's remarks is Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Sarah Partial Perry. Sarah, Garland, here. He says that he's convinced the FBI is trying to find those who attacked pro-life centers and that they are doing this with urgency. What's your response? Well, I think my laughter probably indicates how I'm inclined to think on this issue. You know, the statement that he made indicates to me that he believes justice can't be done in the dark.

We know that it can be. We know also that Jane's revenge has taken direct and distinct credit for these attacks, the vandalizations. The arsons, they have specifically been listed by Influence Watch and the Counterterrorism Project. They are an organized network. They have a physical presence. Why he hasn't targeted them specifically because they've been calling for violence. They've been calling for vandalization. They've been calling for arson.

They've organized protests in front of the Supreme Court Justice's homes, which we know is also a violation of state and federal law. He has more than enough information just from a layperson's perspective, looking on the outside of this investigation, to start doing some real work on these cases and start looking at some organizations who are responsible. But I think he is being very particular and very political about how he's going after these individuals. So then what do you think in your estimation is the likelihood that we're going to see individuals who have carried attacks out against pro-life centers and individuals. be held accountable under the Biden administration. Unfortunately, it may take some time for those organizations to see justice, particularly the houses of worship, who themselves are very much innocent bystanders in terms of the reproductive services element of the FACE Act. You know, this is passed back in 1993 as a consequence to the rise in violence associated with people who were with an organization called Operation Rescue.

but churches in particular my heart breaks for because these are individuals who are just holding fast to their traditional orthodoxy on the sanctity of human life. And they're left ultimately without recourse. These are non-profit organizations, both these crisis pregnancy centers and the churches. They rely solely on charitable donations. They don't have the money that abortion clinics have to do their own investigations. So they're fully relying on the Department of Justice. And in that, I think they're going to be waiting for some time. Sarah, Partial Perry, with the Heritage Foundation.

We appreciate your insight here. Thanks for having me. Chicago is getting a new mayor. Incumbent mayor, Lori Lightfoot, lost her bid for re-election and conceded the race Tuesday night per ABC 7. We were fierce competitors in these last few months, but I will be rooting and praying for our next mayor to deliver for the people of the city for years to come. Lightfoot's defeat comes as she has received criticism for growing crime and homelessness in Chicago. Lightfoot received just over 17% of the vote, according to the New York Times. Her competitors, Brandon Johnson, received 20% and Paul Valis received nearly 34% of the vote.

Now the election is headed to a runoff. In April, the people of Chicago will choose whether Johnson or Valis will be their next mayor. In other news, Republicans and many Democrats voted on a bill today that they hope will curb inflation. The bill is intended to slow inflation by requiring the Biden administration to consider the inflation effects of any executive order that has a yearly budgetary effect of $1 billion or more. In other words, if the president wants to sign an executive order that will cost the American

taxpayers $1 billion annually, under this bill, the bill. the White House would first have to pump the brakes and take a careful look at the possible ways the executive order could raise inflation. 59 House Democrats joined with Republicans to back the bill. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer is a sponsor of the bill. Comer said the Rain In Act ensures that costly actions the president decides to take solely under his own authority through executive orders will not go into effect until he is informed of, and considers the potential inflationary effects.

But Democrats who oppose the bill say Biden's executive orders don't have anything to do with inflation. Missouri Democrat Representative Cory Bush said the global spike in inflation has been caused by food and fuel. Disruptions resulting from the illegal and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as auto part supply shortages connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no evidence that government spending or executive orders by President Biden have increased inflation. The bill passed in the House with 272 yes votes and 148 no votes. Americans are continuing to follow the story of the train crash in East Palestine, Ohio. Remember that locals there have been complaining about rashes and other effects that they say are caused by dangerous chemicals that were released and by the

cleanup that has not fully taken place there. Our colleague, Roman Jankowski, recently returned from visiting East Palestine. Roman, welcome back. Well, thank you very much. So you just wrote a piece for the Daily Signal titled Seven Facts I Discovered during my visit to East Palestine. And you write that you noticed an odor in the air when you arrived. Explain that. Yeah, so when I parked my car in the town, I noticed something. I wasn't really sure what it was. It felt like I was smelling diesel fuel. And at first I was like, oh, maybe a diesel truck went by. But no matter what part of the town I was walking through, I still smelled that.

And so I wouldn't say I was getting lightheaded, but I did feel some type of effect happening while I was there. When I was getting closer to any of the streams in the city, I also came, you know, it smelled a little bit sweeter. It was a different odor, and it smelled a little bit sweeter. And the closer I got, especially if they're aerating the stream, which a lot of streams are being air rated by Norfolk Southern, you did smell this really sweet smell. So when the EPA or the governor or anybody else would say the water is safe to drink or if the air quality is fine, you just didn't get that sense when you were in the town. Yeah. How would you describe the community there and did you get a chance to talk to locals about how they're doing?

Yeah. So going there, I really didn't know what to expect if they'd be open to outsiders coming in there and just having conversations. But I stopped in the local businesses. I stopped at the McDonald's that Trump later went to. And I just started chatting it up with the people next to me. And they're very open. They're very cordial. It's a very nice town. I was expecting just a one-stop-light town, and that wasn't exactly what I got. It's a pretty big city. It has around 4,500 people in it. And it's a little small town.

It's great. There are a lot of storefronts are full of businesses. People were busy doing their daily chores. Some of the kids were not in school, and I kept on hearing other kids. You're like, how did you get out of school? How did you get out of school? They were like, oh, I had to come to the rally. They were all excited.

So they got their parents' permission. And that was the rally for Trump, correct? Yes, it was. Yeah, what was the response to former president of Donald Trump visiting East Palestine while you were there? Yeah, so I got there around probably eight in the morning. And they already had people standing outside waiting for President Trump to come. And he came around 3 p.m. And you just got more and more of the local population coming in from East Palestine and the surrounding.

and the surrounding area. And so it was like a joyous occasion. And it was really nice to see. And are any of the locals still complaining about physical effects that they say they're experiencing because of the chemicals that have been released there after the train crash? Not the ones that I spoke to. Okay.

But they did, one of the locals did mention that there's a lot of dead animals. that he's been noticing. And there's a lot less birds that he's been noticing. He said, we have a few geese here and there, but that's about it. And during this time, we usually have a few other birds, but he just hasn't seen them. Now, Secretary Pete Buttigieg also recently visited the Transportation Secretary. What was his take on the situation there? He received obviously a lot of criticism because it took him a while to get there. Yeah, it took him around 20 days to get there, almost three weeks. And when he got there, he did place partial blame on the Trump administration and the deregulation that he believed happened during the Trump administration.

But on Monday, or last Monday, Washington Post just came out with an article, and they did a deep dive on these regulations that happened that could have affected the derailment. And they found out that none of the regulations that happened during the Trump administration caused this derailment. The Heritage Foundation's Roman Jankowski, we appreciate your reporting on this incident. Thanks for joining us. No problem. And that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here on the Daily Signals Top News.

If you haven't had the chance already, be sure to check out our morning show right here in this podcast feed, where we bring you interviews with lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to be sitting down with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird to discuss the Supreme Court's hearing the chance. challenges to Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Also, make sure to take just a moment to subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by leaving a five-star rating and review.

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