The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Former Twitter Execs Testify Before Congress, GOP Holds Impeachment Forum for Mayorkas, Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Over 11,000 | Feb. 8

Starting point is 00:00:01 I'm Samantha Sherris. I'm John Popp. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Wednesday, February 8th. Here are today's headlines. Former Twitter executives testified before Congress over the Hunter Biden laptop this afternoon.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, called the situation coordination between the federal government and big tech to restrict protected speech and interfere in the democratic process.

Starting point is 00:00:42 He also noted Twitter worked hand in hand with the FBI to monitor political speech. Let's take a listen to more of Comer's comments via Forbes's Twitter. We've witnessed big tech autocrats wield their unchecked power to suppress the speech of Americans to promote their preferred political opinions. Twitter was once one of these platforms until Elon Musk purchased the company a few months ago. Mr. Musk has pledged to end censorship that goes beyond the law. He has pledged to allow Americans voices be heard, not quashed.

Starting point is 00:01:16 In this hearing, we will examine the actions taken by Twitter prior to Mr. Musk's ownership. Many of these actions were carried out by the witnesses before us today. Prior to Mr. Musk's take over the company, Twitter aggressively suppressed conservative elected officials, journalists, and activists. This includes shadow banning, locking accounts, and banning accounts altogether. Kumer also referenced a media research center poll shortly after the 2020 election that showed 36% of self-described Biden voters said they were not aware of the evidence behind claims that Joe Biden was personally involved in his son Hunter's business deals with China, a claim bolstered by emails found on Hunter's laptop. Of those 13% said that if they had known, they would not have voted for Biden. Biden. Last week, Hunter Biden's lawyers seemed to admit that the laptop was his but later backtracked. This comes months after the New York Times and Washington Post both verified the legitimacy of the laptop, even after following the Biden campaign line during the 2020 campaign.

Starting point is 00:02:27 James Baker, former Deputy General Counsel for Twitter, defended interactions with Twitter and the government. Baker said during his opening remarks, I was not aware of and certainly did not engage in any conspiracy or other effort to do anything unethical, improper, or unlawful while I was at Twitter. He added, I am aware of no unlawful collusion with or direction from any government agency or political campaign on how Twitter should have handled the Hunter Biden laptop situation. A full report of the hearing will be available on the Daily Signal site, thanks to our colleague Fred Lucas, who has been watching and covering the hearing today, and we will be sure to link it in today's show notes. Republican lawmakers are moving ahead with plans to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a group of House Republicans hosted an impeachment forum this afternoon at the Heritage Foundation. Witnesses included former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan and Tom Homan, former acting director of ICE, on the Biden administration's security failures at our southern border. Let's take a listen to some of Mark's comments via the Heritage Foundation's Twitter.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Let's go back. 1.2 million known godwaves. U.S. Border Patrol agents, such a joke, it's probably in excess of 2 million total godwaves, guys. In the same 20-4-month period, CBP has encountered over 72,000. criminals, 72,000 criminals, including 120 for convicted of murderer, thousands of those arrested for assault and murder, and thousands of gang members, including MS-13 on a daily basis, that now call the United States home. From 2011 to 2022, 261,000 illegal aliens committed 433,000 crimes, including 800 homicide, 800 kidnappings, and 5,000 sexual assault.

Starting point is 00:04:26 And you know what the mic drop there is? That's the state of Texas alone. In November, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced from the border in El Paso, Texas, that the House's new Republican majority will launch an impeachment inquiry into Majoricus. McCarthy first called Majoricus, appointed by President Joe Biden, to resign to avoid impeachment. Republican Representative Pat Fallon of Texas filed articles of impeachment against Majorcas last month. The death toll is over 11,000 people just two days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria. At least 30,000 others have been injured.

Starting point is 00:05:06 The Associated Press reports that Turkish President Erdogan said it is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster, and we will not leave any of our citizens uncared for. President Biden pledged the country's support to help both Syria and Turkey on Wednesday. Let's take a listen to some of President Biden's remarks via the recounts Twitter. As I told President Erdogan, and I called him immediately when the first quake hit, that the United States was offering our full support, full support, rescuing recovery teams on our NATO ally, deploying teams with the U.S. Agency of International Development, drawing additional resources, including our armed forces in Europe to assist Turkey's teams on the ground.

Starting point is 00:05:49 In Syria, the U.S. is supporting humanitarian partners, We're responding with equipment and assistance and have been conducting urgent, urgent search and rescue missions from day one, even in the face of staff members' death and injuries in that first day. The United States is the leading donor, leading donor across all the areas of Syria, no matter who controls the territory. It's about saving human life. We remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting the people of Turkey and Syria in this time of need. Nearly 10 years since flight MH17 was shot down, there are strong indications that Russian president Vladimir Putin was involved, according to an international team of investigators. NPR reports that it's likely Putin approved the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down the flight with a Russian missile.

Starting point is 00:06:42 However, the Dutch-led team did suspend its investigation on Wednesday, citing insufficient evidence and immunity privileges. that prevent new prosecutions in the crash of flight MH17, the New York Times reported. 298 people were on board the flight. The New York Times also reported that the investigators noted that no evidence suggested that Mr. Putin ordered the downing of the aircraft and that he was, in any case, protected from prosecution under Dutch law because he enjoys immunity as a head of state. According to a document newly uncovered by an FBI whistleblower, the FBI's Richmond office repeatedly cited the Southern Poverty Law Center in an intelligence bulletin, violating long-standing

Starting point is 00:07:28 FBI guidelines on the SPLC's credibility. Our colleague Tyler O'Neill reports. Kyle Serafin, who served six years of the FBI as a special agent before getting indefinitely suspended without pay in June 2022, told the Daily Signal in a phone interview today that we got briefings that SPLC was not legitimate when I was at Quantico. Serafin published the document on UncoverDC.com on Wednesday. The document which is titled, Interest of Racially or Ethically Motivated Violent Extremist in Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology, almost certainly presents new mitigation opportunities,

Starting point is 00:08:07 bears markings reading unclassified slash for official use only, and FBI internal use only, do not disseminate externally. The document states, in making this assessment, FBI Richmond relied on the key assumption that racially or ethnically motivated extremists will continue to find radical traditionalist Catholic or RTC ideology, attractive, and will continue to attempt to connect with RTC adherence, both virtually via social media and in person at places of worship.

Starting point is 00:08:41 We will include a link to that full story in the show notes. And that I'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't got a chance, please be sure to check out our morning show right here in this podcast feed, where we interview lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Join us tomorrow morning for the Daily Signal interview edition. I'll be sitting down with Chris Miller, who served as the acting secretary of defense under former President Donald Trump. We'll talk about President Biden's State of the Union address. his comments on China and the Chinese surveillance balloon that floated across the U.S.

Starting point is 00:09:19 last week. Also make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by leaving us a five-star rating and a review. We read all of your feedback. Thanks again for listening. Have a great evening. And we'll be back with you all tomorrow morning for my interview with Chris Miller. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the

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The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Former Twitter Execs Testify Before Congress, GOP Holds Impeachment Forum for Mayorkas, Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Over 11,000 | Feb. 8

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