The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Democrats Attack Durham, Randi Weingarten Fails Upward, Documents Reveal COVID Shot Mandate Based On Lie | June 22

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Our colleague Fred Lucas reports that special counsel John Durham testified to a House committee Wednesday about his lengthy investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe, aiming sharp retorts at two Democratic lawmakers who sought to detract from his findings. Our colleague Elise McCue reports that Randi Weingarten, a major proponent of school lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions, was appointed to the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council on Wednesday.  JustTheNews is reporting that a whistleblower at the FBI says that the bureau’s Deputy Director Paul Abbate told internal critics of its cases related to the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol to see employment elsewhere and offered to address the concerns himself.  The Washington Examiner reports that new emails revealed the COVID-19 vaccine mandates were based on a lie.  As we reported on yesterday’s show, ProPublica published a piece on Tuesday saying Supreme Court Justice Alito did not disclose gifts he was given on his 2008 Financial Disclosure Report. 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

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We'd love to talk, business. I'm Samantha Sherris. I'm John Popp. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, June 22nd. Here are today's headlines. Our colleague Fred Lucas reports that special counsel John Durham testified to a House Committee Wednesday about his lengthy investigation into the origins of the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, aiming sharp retorts at two Democratic lawmakers who sought to detract from his findings.

Last month, Durham released his report criticizing the... the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane, investigation of whether Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign conspired with the Russian government in an effort to win the election. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, talked about the main sources of the anti-Trump dossier, assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele, which became the FBI's predicate for starting its crossfire hurricane probe. On the other side of the aisle, Democrats went after, Durham, notably Tennessee Representative Steve Cohen. Let's take a listen to what he said via

the Judiciary Committee's YouTube. You had a good reputation. That's why the two Democrats supported you. But the longer you hold on to Mr. Barr and this report that Mr. Barr gave you a special counsel, your reputation will be damaged. As everybody's reputation who gets involved with Donald Trump is damaged, he's damaged goods. There's no good dealing with him because you will end up on the bottom of a pyre. In a moment that garnered attention, Durham appeared to take a not-so-settled jab at California Democrat Representative Adam Schiff by referring to a recorded prank call to the Democrat from two Russian comedians back in 2018. In the prank call, Schiff, investigating Trump at the time, believed he was talking to a Ukrainian

official who had compromising information on Trump, including naked pictures of Trump. At the hearing, Schiff brought up a 2016 meeting between Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a Russian lawyer, who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. Durham responded, People get phone calls all the time from individuals who claim to have information like that. Schiff shot back. The son of a presidential candidate gets calls all the time from a foreign government offering dirt on their most important opponent.

Is that where you're saying? Durham then responded, I don't think this situation is unique in your experience. Our colleague Gilles McHugh reports that Randy Weingarten, a major proponent of school lockdowns in COVID-19 restrictions, was appointed to the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council on Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro and Majorcas said in a statement that leaders of our academic institutions and campus life have a great deal to offer in helping us counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland. The Council's specific tasks include advising Majorcas on research, career development, and partnership opportunities that will help the department safeguard the American people and help our country think through and prepare for whatever threats lie ahead, according to Majorcas. Weingarten serves as the President of the American Federation of Teachers, the AFT,

the nation's second largest teachers union. Emails between AFT officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Weingarten's direct influence on COVID-19 procedures in schools, as reported by the New York Post. The AFT provided suggestions and edits to operational strategies for the CDC. These operational strategies included the suggestions to force children to wear face masks at young ages, even as young as preschool, and to keep schools closed throughout the entirety of the 2020-21 school year, locking millions of students out of their classrooms. The email showed the union thanked the CDC for responsiveness to the suggestions made by Randy

and describes itself as a thought partner in shaping CDC guidelines during the pandemic. Wine Garden's union began partnering with the CDC after President Joe Biden's transition team initially reached out to the AFT. She admitted to having the direct phone number to then CDC director, Rochelle Lewinsky. The Wine Garden CDC coronavirus policies proved detrimental to children, Despite being the demographic at lower risk for infection, K-12 children reportedly suffered from desocialization, learning loss, depression, and increased likelihood for suicide due to these policies. Just the news is reporting that a whistleblower at the FBI says the Bureau's deputy director, Paul Abate, told internal critics of its cases related to the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol to seek employment elsewhere and offer to address the concerns himself. In a sworn affidavit, the whistleblower alleges he had heard that some employees were contrasting the response to January 6th with the response to the post-George Floyd protests and riots in the summer of 2020.

The whistleblower also said that Deputy Director Abate told the audience that anyone who questions the FBI's response or his decisions regarding the response to January 6th did not belong in the FBI and should find a different job, or something to that effect. The affidavit also says, according to just the news, that Abate challenged all special agents in charge, that if they had an employee that did not agree the special agents in charge could have that employee call, Deputy Director Abate personally, and he would set them straight. The Washington Examiner reports that new emails revealed the COVID-19 vaccine mandates were based on a lie, and that the public health officials behind the mandates knew it. The emails, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed that Rochelle Wollenski, then director of the CDC, and Francis Collins, the former NIH director, were aware of

and discussed breakthrough cases of coronavirus in January 2021. The examiner reports. But just two months after having this conversation, Wollenski said that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 don't carry the virus and also don't get sick. The Washington Examiner also notes, Dr. J. Bottacaria, a professor of medicine at Stanford and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, tweeted about the news saying, stunning FOIA revelation. Three quick items. One, CDC director Wollinsky knew about VACS breakthrough infections in January 2021. So did Tony Fauci.

Two, they continue to push VAC's mandates anyway. Three, CDC is abusing its FOIA redaction privilege. This is not a classified email. As we reported on yesterday's show, ProPublica published a piece on Tuesday, saying Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose gifts he was given on his 2008 financial disclosure report. The gift was a fishing trip allegedly paid for by a man named Paul Singer. Singer is a hedge fund manager and has had business-related cases before the Supreme Court. However, recent reporting from the Daily Caller News Foundation points out that the outlet buried a detail

that undermines the premise of its most recent piece alleging a conservative Supreme Court justice violated ethics rules, this time Justice Samuel Alito, not Justice Clarence Thomas, in the 73rd paragraph of its story. Mark Pilata, a senior fellow at Center for Renewing America, told the DCNF that pro-Publica buries the answer that destroys its own story. The judicial conference, the governing body that determines how law is implemented for the judiciary, advised Judge A. Raymond Randolph that he did not need to disclose a similar trip under existing rules. So, how can ProPublica possibly argue that Justice Alito has a disclose? And that's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal's top news. Now, if you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check out

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