The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Putin Touts Nuclear Arsenal, Democrats Missing From Border Hearing, National Archives Fires Security Guard Over Pro-Life Incident | Feb. 23

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: President of Russia Vladimir Putin touts Russia’s nuclear arsenal on eve of the anniversary of war with Ukraine.  A security guard at the National Archives is fired after telling students they could not wear pro-life apparel inside the building.  A new report reveals that the Norfolk Southern train crew tried to slow the train down moments before it crashed.  The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing in Yuma Arizona to examine the Department of Homeland Security's operations at the border.  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 Samantha Chiris. I'm Virginia Allen. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, February 23rd. Here are today's headlines. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. What was President of Russia Vladimir Putin doing on the eve of the war's anniversary? Well, he was touting Russia's nuclear arsenal. Today, Putin said Russia has plans this year to deploy new Sarmat multi-warhead intercontinental below. ballistic missiles, according to Reuters. NATO nicknamed the Sarmat missile, Satan 2, for its deadly capabilities. The missile is reported to be able to carry at least a dozen nuclear warheads and deploy them to different targets. Business Insider reports that Russia last successfully tested the weapon last April. Putin said in remarks released by the Kremlin that Russia would pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad. The nuclear triad refers to abilities to launch nuclear weapons from land,

sea, and air. Putin's talks of Russia's nuclear capabilities comes days after Putin announced Russia was pulling out of the New START Arms Treaty with America. Remember, that is the treaty that kept Russia accountable to the number of nuclear warheads they were allowed to have. Another interesting development in that part of the world is Serbia's relationship with Russia and the rest of Europe. Serbia has long been an ally to Russia, but appears to be taking some steps to building relationships with the European Union and specifically France. Serbia plans to increase its defense spending and is interested in replacing the old Soviet jets they have with French jets. The negotiations between France and Serbia are reportedly ongoing. So what does this mean?

Well, senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, Vuk Vuksanovic told Fox News that Serbia will not sever ties with Russia, but replacing Russian jets with French jets would show that Belgrade is tilting more westward, particularly since, for the last four years, France has emerged as Serbia's primary political partner in the West. To be continued. A security guard at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., told students that they couldn't wear pro-life apparel inside the building. Now, that security officer has been fired. On the day of the March for Life in Washington, D.C. last month, several students visited the National Archives wearing items with pro-life messages. But they were told to remove their hats and cover the attire they had that displayed pro-life messages. Deborah Siddell-Wall is the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. Wall wrote in a letter obtained by the Daily Signal that this should never have happened. She said this action was contrary to the National Archives policy,

and she added that the irony that this happened just steps away from the permanent display of the original Bill of Rights is not lost on me or any of the employees who proudly welcome more than one million annual visitors to the museum. Texas Senator Ted Cruz told the Daily Signal that he is glad the National Archives acknowledged the seriousness of their mistake and took the necessary steps to prevent this kind of incident from happening again. The National Archives publicly apologized for the incident on February 10th. The apology came after the American Center for Law and Justice filed a lawsuit on behalf of the four individuals who visited the museum wearing pro-life clothing. The American Center for Law and Justice has also filed a lawsuit over a separate incident that took place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow says what occurred is not only an injustice, it is intolerable, and we aren't going to let them get away with it. We intend to find out what's behind this targeted discrimination.

We have new information about the train carrying toxic chemicals that crashed in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month. We now know that the Norfolk Southern crew tried to slow the train down moments before it crashed. The crash was caused by an overheating wheelbearing. Usually, this overheating would trigger a sensor that would set off an alarm, but the sensors did not work. The alarm did eventually go off and there was an attempt to slow the train, but by that time, it was too late. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine today after being criticized for not visiting the site of the crash sooner. A reporter asked Buttigieg if he should have visited sooner since it took more than two weeks for him to visit East Palestine. Here's what Buttigieg had to say via Town Hall.

In retrospect, should you have come a little sooner? So, again, in terms of the timing of the visit, I'm trying to strike the right balance, allowing NTSB to play its role, but making sure we're here in that show of support. The residents in East Palestine continue to complain about rashes and other issues that they believe are being caused by the chemicals that were released from the train. Members of Congress are in Arizona today to discuss the crisis at the southern border. The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing in Yuma County to, examine the Department of Homeland Security's operations at the border. This is the second hearing.

The House Judiciary Committee has held at the border to discuss the crisis. New Jersey Republican Congressman Jefferson Van Drew is in Yuma for the hearing, and he joins us now. Congressman, thanks for being with us. A real pleasure. I'm glad to be with you. Why exactly is this hearing being held in Yuma, Arizona? What is the mission of this hearing? Well, Yuma's a hot spot, just like we know that Texas is a hot spot, and there are some areas in California and other places as well. Now, the reason to have a hearing is important. It is important that as we move forward and try to fix this problem, which was self-created, quite frankly, by the Biden administration, by Secretary Mayorkas, that as we correct it, we are speaking with the people who are most intimately involved.

and who are they? In this particular case, it was the hospital people. They're trying to run a hospital, and at times they're overloaded by all these folks coming over that need all kinds of care, actually told stories of very young women waiting until they actually went into labor and then sneaking across the border

so that that child would have to be covered in the United States of America and, you know, obviously become a U.S. citizen. All those stories about the pressure that it puts on the hospital system, the pressure that it puts on farming, the pressure it puts on our border control. But you know what, ultimately, the pressure it's going to put on the United States of America. Because what happens here is these people are fanning out all across the country. They're coming to New Jersey. They're going in California. They're coming to New York.

And we don't have the financial ability. nor should we to take care of all these folks. An organized country must have strong borders. Mexico has borders. Canada has borders. They think it's okay for them to sneak into our country, but not okay if we try to do the reverse. Third world countries have borders.

And excuse my throat from speaking so much today. I'm losing it a little bit. But that's the point. It's a really big deal. And it's a big deal to these people. their whole way of life is being changed. I mean, the border patrol instead of being able to make sure that we keep our borders safe and keep them really buttoned up or just involved in doing paperwork every day.

So these are the stories you're going to hear and it's going to really make you think of what we're doing to our country. And it's costing our country a fortune in taxpayer dollars. Well, and here at the Daily Signal, we've reported on that situation with the hospital in Yuma County. That hospital is owed $20 million in medical services provided to illegal immigrants, and no one wants to pick up the tab of that bill. And I know that one of the individuals giving testimony during the hearing today is Dr. Robert Trenchell. He's the president and CEO of the EMA Regional Medical Center. But Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, they're not going to be there to hear Dr. Robert Trenchell's testimony or anyone else's testimony for that matter because they're boycotting this hearing. Why aren't Democrats attending?

Well, they're going to tell you they're not attending because they just think it's a show. Far from it. It's the real thing. These are real people. This isn't just some congressmen talking to each other in a circle. We're speaking to real people. I mean, we visited a food bank. We've been all over.

We were at the border for hours and hours last night, late at night, and it was cold. It was interesting to see the fencing, the new fencing that President Trump had. put in it's 35 feet high. But they don't want to learn about the fencing and how it can work. They don't want to learn about what's happening to the hospital. They don't want to learn what's happening to food banks. They don't want to learn what's happening to the residents and the people who live here. And they don't want to know or learn about the millions upon millions and billions of dollars, actually, that we're spending and giving these people legal care, food, transportation, housing, and spreading them throughout the United States of America.

Congressman, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. I appreciate you. Thank you a lot. 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, 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 Dakota Wood. He's a senior research fellow in the defense programs here at the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense. Now, we are going to be discussing some reporting that the United

States is increasing its troop presence in Taiwan, lessons from the war in Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion there, and the potential for China to provide Russia with weapons. Looking forward to that conversation tomorrow, Sam. But thank you all so much for joining us here today on the Daily Signal podcast. Have a lovely evening and we'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for our conversation with Dakota Wood. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

Thank you.