The Daily Signal - UnitedHealthcare Shooter Suspect in Custody, Daniel Penny Acquitted, What’s Next for Syria? | Dec. 9

Starting point is 00:00:00 A suspect has been taken into custody following the shooting of United Health Care CEO. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is The Daily Signals Top News in 10 for Monday, December 9. Police have apprehended a suspect in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. A gunman shot and killed Thompson outside a hotel on the streets of Manhattan last week. The shooter fled the scene and authorities have been working to track him down ever since. This morning, an employee at a McDonald's and Al-Tuna, Pennsylvania, California called the police because they saw a man that looked like the pictures of the shooter. Police arrived and found that the man had multiple fake IDs on him. He also had a gun and a

Starting point is 00:00:49 suppressor. Police began questioning the 26-year-old suspect upon taking him into custody. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference today that police have been working tirelessly to find the shooter over the past five days. Upon being arrested, a document was also found in the suspect's possession. In the document, he rails against the health care industry. New York City Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney answered questions about this document during a press conference today. That document is currently in the possession of the Altoona Police Department as part of their investigation. But just from briefly speaking with them, we don't think that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document. But it does seem that he has

Starting point is 00:01:33 some ill will toward corporate America. Following the arrest of the suspect, United Healthcare issued a statement thanking law enforcement for all their efforts and saying our hope is that today's apprehension brings some relief to Bryant's family, friends, colleagues, and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy. Daniel Penny has been acquitted in the choking death case in New York. Last May, Penny was riding the subway when Jordan Neely entered and began shouting and using aggressive language. multiple passengers have since said that they were fearful for their own safety at the time that the incident occurred. Penny recounted the incident in a video that was shared on X by Colin Rugg. According to Penny, Neely threw his jacket at passengers when he entered the train before he began shouting threats. And the three main threats that he repeated over and over was,

Starting point is 00:02:29 I'm going to kill you. I'm prepared to go to jail for life and I'm willing to die. You know, this is a, this was a scary situation. and Mr. Jr. Early came on. He was threatening. I'm 6-2 and he was taller than me. Penny is a Marine veteran and he sprung into action. He put Neely in a chokehold and held him there even after he reportedly went limp. Neely was taken to the hospital and then later declared dead. Penny faced multiple charges for his actions, including manslaughter. But during the jury trial on Friday, the judge tossed out the manslaughter charge against Penn. Penny because the jury failed twice to reach a unanimous verdict. And today, the jury found Penny not

Starting point is 00:03:14 guilty on criminally negligent homicide. Penny's lawyers argued that he acted to protect his fellow subway passengers and that his actions were justified. Penny's lawyers also questioned if the chokehold was the cause of Neely's death. At the end of the trial earlier today, shouts of not guilty could be heard outside the courtroom. Turning to some big internet, National news. The Assad family has ruled Syria with brutality for half a century, but that rule came to an end this weekend. The Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia. Now, a terrorist group is taken over leading the nation of Syria, and refugees who fled the nation during the past 13 years of civil war in the country are returning home. The toppling of the Assad regime

Starting point is 00:04:04 brought rejoicing in the streets of Syria. But major questions remain as to the future for the nation of Syria and its people. Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst for Middle East and North Africa, Daniel, Daniel, thanks for being here. Pleasure to be here. So let's talk about what is waiting for these Syrian folks as they return back, really from countries, many all over the world. They have fled during 13 years of civil war. What waits for them as they were? return back to Syria now that, yes, the Assad regime has been toppled, but now terrorists are in control the nation. Right.

Starting point is 00:04:42 I think the one word you used to describe it is perhaps uncertainty. Syria, as it is so constituted as we know of it, is controlled by no fewer than three different factions. The main one is Hayat, Tahrir al-Shams, which is organization stands for the liberation or freedom, an organization for liberation or freedom of the Levant. The Shams refers to Levant, which is basically Syria, Lebanon, and even parts of Israel. And they are the ones who directly toppled Assad. They control Damascus, but not the only organization in control of Syria.

Starting point is 00:05:10 You have the Syrian National Army, a Turkish-backed organization in the northern part of the country along the Turkish border. You have the Syrian Defense Force, a Kurdish organization in the northeast. So it depends who the refugee is. He or she will be returning to an area that is under one of a few different control of different factions. And each organization has its own kind of political and strategic and security interests. So the situation, as I said the beginning, is very much uncertain, but what's clear is obviously the Assad dictatorship is not returning. I've heard some initial reports already of major concerns specifically for Syrian Christians and the persecution that they might face. What do we know about that?

Starting point is 00:05:50 So the Christians in Syria were one of the largest populations, I believe, before the Syrian Civil War. They numbered about 1.5 million. Last count, they were about 300,000. and Aleppo as an example, one of the most populous cities in the country, had over 200,000, down to about 20,000 Christians. HTS, the leader, Mohamed al-Jolani, has said in the last few years, has tried to demonstrate that he's going to be tolerant of religious and other sectarian minorities. Of course, this could be a play at being pragmatic and practical and putting on a different

Starting point is 00:06:24 face, particularly for international and Western supports, but once it comes time to having achieved his objective of toppling the Assad regime and now ruling the country. It could be a tale of he said one thing. And as often the case throughout the region, we see something else happening, particularly when the Salafist organizations, jihadist organizations, come into power, they might be promising certain protections for minorities, in this case Christians. But once they have seized control and they have started to rule the territory they control, it might be a very different thing for the different minorities. Yeah, certainly something to be watching very closely. I want to get your thoughts quickly on America's response.

Starting point is 00:07:02 A major concern is, of course, ISIS in this region and a resurgence of ISIS. We've seen since this toppling over the weekend that the U.S. went in. They've been curing out strikes on ISIS targets about 75 so far. How big of a threat is a resurgence of ISIS in Syria? So ISIS is one of the organizations, one of the different factions of vying for control. They are not, I didn't mention about the outset, because they're not as prominent as HTS as the Syrian National Army as the free Syrian defense forces. But, you know, as you mentioned the last of the weekend, carrying out dozens, I believe about 75 mentioned

Starting point is 00:07:37 strikes against ISIS. Part of the concern, and it's things from the Israeli side as well, is making sure that chemical weapons, other heavy artillery and heavy weapons do not fall into the hands of not only ISIS, but other organizations as well. So listen, a former president was mocked rightfully for previously calling them a JV team. look what happened. In 2014 to 2016, they expanded their caliphate from Iraq and Syria. So do not discount them, but they're not one of the leading forces right now vying for control the country. But again, with their ideology, you should not discount them. And they are enemy of the West, enemy of the United States, enemy of Israel. And we should be fighting them wherever we

Starting point is 00:08:16 need to because to ensure the security not only at the extent we can of Syria, but also of our ally Israel. Heritage Foundation's Daniel Fresh. Daniel, thank you for your time. Thank you. Now let's hit our news flashes of the day. Laura Trump announced Sunday night that she will be stepping down as the head of the Republican National Committee. In a post on X, she said serving as the GOP chair throughout the course of the most consequential election in American history has truly been the honor of my life. Laura Trump added that the job she came to do is complete and that she will formally step down at the committee's next meeting.

Starting point is 00:08:51 It has been rumored that Laura Trump may replace Senator Marco Rue. Rubio in his Senate seat as Marco Rubio has now been tapped to be Trump's Secretary of State. Laura Trump told the Associated Press that she would seriously consider taking Rubio's seat. A top Democrat wants Congress to scrap an annual defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, also often referred to as the NDAA. The big question is why? Because the bill includes a ban on most transgender medical practices for minors. Washington State Democrat Representative Adam Smith said the final text of the bill includes a provision prohibiting medical treatments for military dependence under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Blankately denying health care for people who clearly need it

Starting point is 00:09:45 just because of a biased notion against transgender people is wrong, according to the lawmaker. The NDAA usually passes with bipartisan support and Congress is. expected to pass it before Christmas. So stay tuned. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks for joining us here for Top News in 10. Don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss out on brand new episodes. We'll see you right back here around 5 p.m. tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Louis and Katrina Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geiney, John Pop, and Joseph von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work,

Starting point is 00:10:34 please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - UnitedHealthcare Shooter Suspect in Custody, Daniel Penny Acquitted, What’s Next for Syria? | Dec. 9

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