The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | House GOP Elections, DeSantis Hits Back at Trump, Mayorkas Says Border is Secure | Nov. 15

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: The House GOP elections  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responds to criticisms from former President Donald Trump Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declares an “invasion” af the U.S. southern border Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas says the southern border is “secure.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Samantha Sherris. I'm Virginia Allen. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Tuesday, November 15th. Here are today's headlines. House Republicans held their leadership elections earlier today. Congressman Kevin McCarthy beat Congressman Andy Biggs for the House Speaker nomination with 188 votes. 31 Republicans voted against him. McCarthy, who currently serves as the House Minority Leader, potentially faces an uphill battle to receive the 218 votes needed. to become the House Speaker, CBS reported. Congressman Chip Roy of Texas, who was against voting for House leadership before all the election results came in, said after the vote, my position remains the same until further notice. No one has 218 or close as needed. We have to sit down and establish the fundamental changes needed.

Representative Steve Scalise, who serves as the Republican whip currently, was elected as the House majority leader. Scalice said in a statement after being elected, it has been an honor to fight for the American people as the Republican whip for these past eight years, and I am humbled to be elected by my colleagues to serve as the majority leader in the new Republican majority House of Representatives. The Daily Callers, Henry Rogers, tweeted, a source in the room tells Daily Caller, Representative Tom Emmer defeats Representative Jim Banks for House Majority Whip in a 115 to 106 vote. Florida Senator Rick Scott also announced today that he's challenging Senator Mitch McConnell for the Senate Minority Leader position, according to the Wall Street Journal. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to criticism from former President Donald Trump earlier today. He told a reporter, when you're getting things done, you take incoming fire.

That's according to reporting by the Daily Signals, Mary Margaret Olahan. A reporter asked DeSantis, what do you think about Trump's big announcement and some of the less than flattering comments he's made about you. Let's take a listen to the governor's response per Mary Margaret's Twitter. One of the things I've learned, like learned in this job is when you're leading, when you're getting things done, yeah, you take incoming fire. That's just the nature of it. I roll out of bed in the morning. I've got corporate media outlets that have a spasm, just the fact that I'm getting up in the morning. And it's constantly attacking. And this is just what's happened. And I don't think any governor got attacked more, particularly by corporate media, than me over my four-year term.

And yet, I think what you learn is all that's just noise. And really what matters is, are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people? And are you standing up for folks? And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters. And that's what we've done. We focused on results and leadership.

and, you know, at the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night. DeSantis defeated Democrat Challenger and former Florida governor, Charlie Christ, in last Tuesday's election by nearly 20 points. Former President Donald Trump is expected to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election this evening. Stay tuned. The border crisis shows no signs of improving, and today, Texas Governor-Govner, Greg Abbott declared there was an invasion at the southern border, the Daily Caller reported. Abbott, who won re-election last week, tweeted, I invoked the invasion clauses of the U.S. and Texas constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against

an invasion. I'm using that constitutional authority and other authorization and executive orders to keep our state and country safe. Abbott, who has sent buses of migrants to cities throughout the country, including New York and Washington, D.C., announced on Twitter that he has sent the first bus to Philadelphia. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that there were 230,678 encounters along the Southwestland border in October, a 1.3% increase compared to September. Of those, 19% involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14% for fiscal years 2014 through 2019, CBP said. The Homeland Security Committee held a hearing today with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,

FBI Director Christopher Ray, and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christine Abize. One of the big takeaways from the hearing was the question of whether or not the southern border is secure. Let's listen to an exchange between Representative Dan Bishop and Majorcas, per Becker News. I've heard you in the Judiciary Committee recently in the summer testify that the border is secure. Secretary Mayorkas, do you continue to maintain that the border is secure? Yes, and we are working day in and day out to enhance its security, Congressman. We have remarkable... I get it. I just wanted to make sure that that still is your...

assessment. FBI director Christopher Ray said there were significant criminal threats coming from south of the border. Let's listen to his response to Representative Dan Bishop's question per Becker News. Well, I can only speak to border security from our narrow lane, but I can't speak to it from that lane. What I would say is that we see significant criminal threats coming from south of the border, whether it's guns, drugs, money, violence. We see transnational criminal organizations that are sending their drugs here and that are using street gangs here to distribute it, and that contributes to the violent crime crisis here. We've had takedowns just in the last few months that I could give you as an example. You know, I'll give you just one quick one.

You know, in Phoenix, we had a takedown working with CBP, who are phenomenal partners, I should add, where we seized in one vehicle interdiction, enough fentanyl to keep. kill the equivalent of the entire state of Pennsylvania. Republicans, notably Representative Roy, have said they plan to impeach Majorcas should the GOP take back majority in the House. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't had the chance already, be sure to check out our morning show right here in your podcast feed where we interview lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices.

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