The Daily Signal - Trump Is TIME's Person of Year, Kari Lake to Lead VOA, Biden's Mass Clemency | Dec. 12, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:01 President-elect Donald Trump makes a triumphant visit to Wall Street as he celebrates Times' person of the year honor. I'm your host, Rob Lewy, and this is the Daily Signal's top news in 10 for Thursday, December 12, 2024. Donald Trump made history at the New York Stock Exchange this morning just hours after receiving a major recognition from Time magazine. It represented a remarkable turn of events for Trump, who left office four years ago at a low point, only to mount one of the greatest political comebacks, in American history. Trump rang the opening bell on Wall Street for the first time in his career, a tremendous honor, according to the New York native. With two large Time magazine covers behind him, Trump was all smiles as he celebrated the person of the year recognition for the second time. He was previously honored in 2016, although he said this one was better. Times editor-in-chief,

Starting point is 00:01:00 Sam Jacobs, said the magazine honored Trump because of his historic comeback. In an appearance on the today's show, Jacob said Trump has reshaped the American presidency and is reordering American politics. Trump spoke with CNBC's Jim Kramer on the floor of the stock exchange with his wife, Melania, by his side. Well, I think I've always said, you know, to me, stock market is very, all of it. You know, all of it together. It's very important. It's an honor to be here in New York Stock Exchange. I sort of joked that I actually bought the building across the street because the Stock Exchange was here. It's a big deal. Forty. It's a nice building. Forty Wall Street. So, look, we're going to do things, I think, that haven't been really done before.

Starting point is 00:01:39 We're going to be cutting taxes still further. You know, we've got it down to 21%. We're going to bring it down even below that. You pay 21 if you don't build here and meaning your product or whatever it is you're building. And if you do, we're going to try getting it down to 15%. But you have to build your product, make your product in the USA. The Wall Street crowd greeted Trump with enthusiastic applause. There were chance of USA as he rang the bell.

Starting point is 00:02:02 and Trump responded with his signature raised fist. Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, joined him in New York, and they touted some of the incoming administration's policy proposals, including streamlining permits for billion-dollar-plus projects. Arizona's Kerry Lake was hoping to be in Washington next year as a U.S. Senator. Instead, she is Donald Trump's pick for Voice of America Director. Lake was the Republican Senate nominee this year and previously ran for Arizona governor in 2022. Voice of America is the U.S. government's international broadcasting service.

Starting point is 00:02:36 It is run by the U.S. agency for global media. It receives federal funding and reports to Congress. In his announcement on Truth Social, Trump emphasized Lake's role in ensuring that American values of freedom and liberty are broadcast around the world, fairly and accurately. Lake joined Steve Bannon's war room today to talk about her appointment. I understand the importance of information in this moment in history, particularly. it's incredibly important. You know, we've seen how false information, bad information lies, and the media slant has affected

Starting point is 00:03:10 a whole generation of people here in America. Trump indicated that he'll soon announce his pick for the U.S. Agency for Global Media in the days to come. Lake was one of several picks Trump announced Wednesday night. The president-elect also filled three diplomatic posts. Daniel Newlin, a former Florida sheriff detective, has been nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Colombia. And for Argentina, Trump selected Dr. Peter Lamlas, a Florida physician and businessman. He fled communist Cuba as a child and later founded Florida's largest urgent care health care company.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Leandro Rizzuto was picked as ambassador for the Organization of American States. He previously ran Conair. And finally, Mike Regis, a former Heritage Foundation employee, will be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Regis previously served in Trump's first term as deputy and acting director of the Office of Personnel Management and as the Acting Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, told Fox News that he's confident that all of the President-elect picks will win Senate confirmation. Right now, there are no hard nose from Republicans for any of President Trump's nominees because they're really good people. They're very good, well-qualified people. Just 10 days after pardoning his son Hunter, President Joe Biden made news again today, this time with the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

Starting point is 00:04:41 Biden is commuting the prison sentences of 1,500 people and pardoning an additional 39 people. Those 1,500 commutations are for individuals serving lengthy prison sentences, and since the COVID pandemic had been on home confinement. Biden said they've already reintegrated into their communities. Most of the 39 pardons went to individuals who committed nonviolent drug offenses when they were young. The White House released a list of biographies revealing many who are military veterans. Just last week, Biden sent shockwaves through Washington when he pardoned Hunter, drawing scorn and condemnation even from his fellow Democrats. Now, many of those same Democrats are calling on him to pardon others, including 40 people awaiting

Starting point is 00:05:26 federal execution. Biden is well ahead of his predecessors for issuing commutations during his term as president, and the White House indicates that he might not be finished. Joining me in studio is John Malcolm, Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government and Director of the Mease Center and Simon Center at the Heritage Foundation. John, is it surprising that Biden would grant clemency and pardons to so many people on a single day? Well, yes, it certainly is a very, very, very large number. They're really into two categories. So he granted 39 pardons that are really more traditional pardons. These are for people who were convicted of nonviolent offenses, many of them for drug offenses, who have served their sentence and have now, for many years,

Starting point is 00:06:11 led, you know, exemplary lives. And so the pardoned power, a large element, it was intended to be a matter of grace. And so these are sort of traditional exercises of the pardon power. The The other one is a little bit more controversial. So he took about 1,500 people who were serving sentences and then during the pandemic in order to have social distancing. They sort of cleared out a lot of the prisons except for violent offenders and allowed them to serve home confinement. And he has essentially made the judgment, well, they were at home and they didn't commit any other crimes and they've more or less been reintegrated into the community. So I'm just going to forgive the rest of their sentences. It's certainly an unprecedented exercise of the pardon power.

Starting point is 00:07:02 I can't say that it's necessarily terrible. You'd have to look at what these people have been convicted of and how much of their sentence were remaining before you were to decide whether this would be a good exercise or a bad exercise. But that is the judgment that he made. John Malcolm, thanks for your perspective. We appreciate it. Sure.

Starting point is 00:07:20 My pleasure. Now for today's Quick Kids, where we share a brief rundown of the other top news of the day. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said they were more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd on January 6, 2021. But only three were assigned by the FBI to be present for the event. Fox News reported, Horowitz released his highly anticipated report today, and you can read more about it on daily signal.com. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was hoping to confirm a key Democrat ally for the National Labor Relations Board to stymie President-elect Trump's agenda.

Starting point is 00:08:01 But two retiring senators had other plans. Senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema surprised Schumer with no votes on reappointing the NLRB's chairwoman Lauren McFerrin. If she was confirmed, Democrats would have controlled the NLRB for the first two years of Trump's presidency. Carrie Sheffield wrote about McFerrin for the Daily Signal and celebrated the vote as a win for Trump. Lee Edwards, a dear friend and former colleague, died today at the age of 92.

Starting point is 00:08:33 Edwards was a renowned historian of American conservatism and former distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. He was also the driving force behind the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which dedicated the Victims of Communism Memorial in 2007 and launched the online Global Museum on Communism in 2009. I asked John Malcolm, who we heard from earlier, to share his memories of Edwards. Oh, it was just a pleasure working with Lee. You know, he, so many things to like and admire about him.

Starting point is 00:09:09 He was an eminent scholar. He was the author, a co-author, a editor of over 25 books. He was a real freedom fighter. He was the impetus behind the victims of communism memorial and the victims of communism museum. He was referred to as the historian of the conservative movement because he knew a lot of the big players, the giants in the conservative movement. But he was such a warm person. He had an impish twinkle in his eye and an impish smile. He had a very wry and soft, delicate sense of humor. I just enjoyed every moment that I spent with Lee. And, you know, he really led a consequential

Starting point is 00:09:44 life and he'll be very sorely missed. We will miss Lee. And thank you, John, for that kind tribute. Sure. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to Top News in 10. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new episodes of Top News or our weekend Deep Dive Interview Editions. And help us reach more listeners by leaving a five-star rating and review. We read all of your feedback. Today's episode was edited by Tyler O'Neill and produced by John Pop. Thanks again for listening.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Have a great night and we'll be back with you tomorrow.

The Daily Signal - Trump Is TIME's Person of Year, Kari Lake to Lead VOA, Biden's Mass Clemency | Dec. 12, 2024

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