The Daily Signal - Tucker in Russia, Justices Appear Skeptical in Trump Ballot Case, Biden May Take Executive Action on Border | Jan. 8

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, February 8th. Here are today's headlines. The Supreme Court heard arguments today for a major case that will determine whether states can keep former President Donald Trump's name on the ballot this election. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump's name cannot be on the state's primary ballot because Trump has violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment bars lawmakers from holding office if they engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution. Colorado voters who wish to disqualify Trump point to the events of January 6 as Trump engaging in insurrection. The ruling in the case at the Supreme Court will likely affect not only whether Trump is on the ballot in Colorado, but in other states as well, where this 14th Amendment issue has been raised.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Attorney Jason Murray argued on the Colorado voter's behalf before today, before the Supreme Court, and was also joined by Colorado's Solicitor General. Justice Elaine Kagan questioned Murray on why a single state should have the power to determine who is and is not qualified to be president of the United States, per Simon Atbeda. This exchange is about a minute long, but it provides a lot of insight into the thoughts not only of Kagan, but also of Kagan, but also. Also of Justice Amy Coney-Barritt, who you're going to hear jump in at the end of this exchange. Take a listen. Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation? Because Article 2 gives them the power to appoint their own electors as they see fit. But if they're going to use a federal constitutional qualification as a ballot access determinant,

Starting point is 00:02:05 then it's creating a federal constitutional question that then this, court decides and other courts, other states, if this court affirms the decision below, determining that President Trump is ineligible to be president, other states would still have to determine what effect that would have on their own state's law and state procedure. Well, I mean, if we affirmed and we said he was ineligible to be president, yes, maybe some states would say, well, you know, we're going to keep him on the ballot anyway, but I mean, really, it's going to have, as Justice Kagan said, the effect of Colorado deciding. Trump responded to the oral arguments in a video statement today and seemed to be pretty

Starting point is 00:02:43 pleased by what he had heard from the justices. It's a very beautiful process. I hope that democracy in this country will continue because right now we have a very, very tough situation with all of the radical left ideas with the weaponization of politics. They weaponized it like it's never been. weaponized before. The Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling in the case rather quickly, likely before Super Tuesday on March 5th. NBC broke the news last night that President Biden is considering taking executive action to address the situation at the border. But the details of what executive action would exactly look like, what would be involved in that, remain unknown. NBC News reports

Starting point is 00:03:32 that U.S. officials say that plans have been in the works for months on how Biden might take action to address the surge at the southern border. Since Biden took office more than 8.5 million illegal aliens have been encountered along America's borders. In December, encounters reached an all-time high on the southern border of over 300,000. That's nearly 10,000 encounters every single day. Under the Obama administration, they called 1,000 a day, a bad. bad day at the border. Biden may be signaling now that he plans to take some action to address the surge because the border bill that Congress proposed failed in the Senate this week. The bill was touted as bipartisan, but as discussed on the show with Laura Reese earlier this week,

Starting point is 00:04:20 it would have allowed 5,000 illegal aliens to still cross the border daily. And Senator Ted Cruz warned that the bill actually codified into law President Biden's open border policies. The officials that NBC News spoke with said that Biden's executive action on the border represents a plan B after that congressional bill failed. But it could still be a little while until we find out what exactly is in Biden's plan B and whether it will address the flow of illegal aliens crossing the border or not. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Tel Aviv yesterday. After a full day of meetings with Israeli military and political leaders, Blinken delivered a speech. in which he condemned Israel's military actions, at least in part, in Gaza, per sky news. Take a listen.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7th. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others. Blinken went on to say that the majority of those in Palestine had nothing to do with the attack on Israel on October 7th and challenged Israel that we cannot and must not lose sight of our common humanity. Israeli leaders have stressed since the start of the war that their aim is to dismantle Hamas. The Times of Israel reports that more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, but they say that that's according to reports from the Hamas-run health ministry.

Starting point is 00:05:56 The Times of Israel notes that the Hamas figures can't be independently verified. The reports of death out of Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatant deaths. Israel claims that they have killed over 10,000 Hamas gunmen in Gaza and killed 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7th. The Times reports that 227 IDF soldiers have been killed in Gaza, and of course there were about 1,200 Israelis who were killed in Israel on October 7th. There are still believed to be over 100 hostages being held alive in Gaza, and of course, there were still believed to be over 100 hostages being held alive. in Gaza. Hostage negotiations are ongoing but moving very slowly. Earlier this week, Hamas came back with demands that Israel and the U.S. called over-the-top and delirious. Israel's War Cabinet met today to continue discussing hostage negotiations. Ducker Carlson has been in Russia this

Starting point is 00:06:52 week to do an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The interview is slated to be released tonight, Thursday night. Carlson has pledged that he will release the full interview unedited so that Americans can make their own mind up about what Putin has to say. Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago. Carlson explained in a video on his ex-page why he was doing the interview with Putin. That video has received over 100 million views. The former Fox News host says he is interviewing Putin because it's his job as a journalist. Our duty is to inform people.

Starting point is 00:07:29 Two years into a war that's reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what's happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They're paying for much of it in ways they might not fully yet perceive. Carlson says he has put a request in to interview Ukrainian president of Vladimir Zelenskyy as well. America has sent $75 billion to Ukraine so far, and Congress is. debating a bill that would send billions more. Stay tuned. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being here with us

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Starting point is 00:08:46 The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Bowie 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.

The Daily Signal - Tucker in Russia, Justices Appear Skeptical in Trump Ballot Case, Biden May Take Executive Action on Border | Jan. 8

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