The Daily Signal - What’s Next for Trump After Conviction, Israel Proposes Cease-Fire Deal, Weekend Movie Review | May 31

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Legal expert explains what’s next following former President Donald Trump’s conviction.  Israel proposes a temporary ceasefire.  The United Kingdom announces a ban on puberty blockers for minors.  A Kentucky high school student gets in trouble over his comments about Christ during a graduation speech.  Why “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is a great movie choice for the family this weekend.  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

It's week three of Canadian tires early Black Friday sales. These prices won't go lower this year. Maybe too long. Freezing. Save up to 50% November 20th to 27th. Conditions apply, details online. Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all counts. So what happens next?

This is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, May 31st. I'm Virginia Allen. The jury for former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan found Trump guilty yesterday on all 34 counts that he faced. Trump is now a convicted felon. So how did we get here and what happens next? Here with us to explain is Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Bikovsky, Hans. Thanks for being with us.

Sure, thanks for having me. Boy, how did we get here? You know, I mean, I hate to say this and make the comparison, but what was happening in New York reminded me kind of of the Soviet show trials that were put on in Moscow in the 1930s. If you look at the prosecutors, if you looked at the very biased judge who was constantly allowing the prosecution to do just about anything they want, including bringing in all kinds of irrelevant evidence, even down to the bizarre jury instructions he gave that violate several hundred years of our most basic legal principle, have to have a completely unanimous jury on all of the aspects of the charges brought. But I mean, this was a bogus case from the very star should never have been brought.

And just one other thing, think about this. This trial took, what, six weeks? And the jury took less than two days to consider all of the evidence in this case? I mean, that indicates to me that they had decided a long time ago that regardless of the evidence, they were going to convict Donald Trump, which, given the policy, of this jury, the politics of Manhattan is really no surprise. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly used the word conflicted as he is referred to the judge, Judge Juan Mershahn in this case.

Why is he conflicted? Look, there are very strict ethics rules that apply to judges. And one of those rules is that you cannot be on a case in which you or a family member has a personal financial interest. Well, his daughter is a demonstration. is a Democratic political consultant. In fact, she's represented a Democratic consultants, apparently even the Biden campaign. And they've been making, some of her clients have been making money, raising money on this trial. Not only that, but Juan Merchant, you know, was, it came out just recently.

He was issued a letter of caution by the New York Judicial Ethics Commission. Why? Because he violated the strict prohibition on judges making political contributions. He was making political contributions to Democratic candidates, apparently including a PAC supporting Joe Biden. He should never been on the case from the very beginning, should have recused himself. The fact that he didn't, I think, is a major point in any appeal that's filed. Wow. Well, Hans, we're all wondering what happens next. We've learned that the sentencing is supposed to be on July 11th. What happens between now and July 11th? Well, it was maybe hard for people to believe, but the probation department. The probation department in New York is supposed to do an investigation of the defendant. Huh.

Interviewing the defendant, looking at creating a bio of his background, and then making a sentencing recommendation. to the judge. So that's going to happen before that hearing date, which as you know, is just a couple of days before the Republican Party Convention. So a recommendation is made to the judge regarding the sentence and then ultimately the judge is the one that hands down that sentencing. Yeah, the judge can entirely, apparently in New York, the judge could entirely discount what the recommendation is and do anything he wants to. and it could be everything from, you know, a fine, a suspended sentence to many, many years in jail. So a lot of likelihoods, possibilities for what could happen with that sentencing. What do you think is the most likely sentence that we're going to see handed down from the judge? I think that the political bias of this judge has shown that he is going to do whatever he thinks he can get away with.

And I think that means he's going to try to restrict the president to staying in New York and perhaps will even give him prison time. Okay. And the max amount of prison time is four years he could receive? Well, it was 34 felonies. Okay. So it's, no, it's many, many, many years in jail. If he sentences him to years in jail on each count, he could be in. jail for the rest of his life, which is just totally and completely absurd and such an outrageous

miscarriage of justice in this case. Well, since that felony conviction around 5 p.m. on Thursday to mid-afternoon Friday, the Trump campaign announced that it had raised $34.8 million, a great deal of that in small donations from new donors. What do you think that tells us about the American people's view of this case? I think it once again confirms to me something I've always thought, which is the American people are a lot smarter than the liberal media and democratic leadership and other people like that think they are. Look, a majority of Americans, even folks who don't support Trump, I think have recognized the polling shows that this is really a political persecution. I've even heard some liberal commentators on some of the channel saying, look, we all know this case would not have been brought if the defendant was anyone other than Donald Trump.

And to give you a perspective on this, remember Hillary Clinton's campaign was fined by the Federal Election Commission for not listing as a campaign-related expense their payment and high-eastern commission. hiring of and creation of the steel dossier, right? The dossier that created the whole Russia-Trump hoax. They paid a civil penalty. It was like, I think, $113,000 total between Hillary Clinton's campaign of the DNC. And here we have a state, a local prosecutor trying to put him in jail for what he claims is a similar issue, even though he's actually wrong. about that? Wow. So let's say the judge does sentence former President Donald Trump to prison time. Could Trump still be on the ballot for the November election and could he even be elected president while sitting in a prison cell? That is absolutely yes. That is the correct answer. It would be improper for any state to take him off the ballot. And the reason is the Constitution sets out three requirements. to be president.

You have to have been a resident of the country, I think, for 14 years, you have to be a certain age, you have to be a natural-born citizen. And that's it. No state can put in any other qualification to be president. And that means that, yeah, he could be, the conviction could stay. He could be in prison. Not only could he get elected, he could get sworn in as president. And the only way he could be removed is if Congress impeaches him.

So let's say he is elected. He wins in November, sitting in a prison cell. What happens? Well, you would think that under those circumstances, the governor of New York would do the right thing, even though the governor is a Democrat and would issue a pardon so that the president can go serve. Like I said, this case should never have been brought to begin with. the prosecution failed to produce evidence that actual crime had been committed, no matter what this jury says. And that to me would be the proper response of the governor in New York. Hans, what wild and historic moment in history we are watching.

Thank you for your time. Really appreciate it. Sure. Thanks for having me. President Joe Biden delivered remarks today about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Before he did so, he did comment on former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict. They found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. Now he'll be given the opportunity as he should to appeal that decision just like everyone else has that opportunity. That's how the American system of justice works.

And it's reckless. It's dangerous. It's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged. just because they don't like the verdict. Biden's comments on Trump were brief, and he did not take any questions on the matter from press. He quickly moved on to the topic of the war in Gaza. He said Israel has offered a proposed temporary ceasefire.

Israel says it will pause the war for six weeks and pull out of Gaza in exchange for the release of some hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. During these six weeks of pause, negotiations would take place to find a permanent end to the war, and there would be a phase two which would require the return of all Israeli hostages. Phase three would include a major reconstruction plan in Gaza and any remains of hostages still held in Gaza would be returned to Israel, to their families for burial.

Biden said Israel has fulfilled its objective in the war of dismantling Hamas. At this point, Hamas no longer is capable carrying out another October 7th. It's one of the Israelis' main objective in this war and quite frankly a righteous one. Biden also said that he backs the deal and he is urging Israeli leaders to stand behind it. We can't lose this moment. In definite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will not bring Israel and will not bring down bogged out, will only bog down Israel and Gaza, draining the economic, military, and human and human resources, and furthering Israel's isolation in the world.

Biden reiterated that Israel will always have the right to defend itself and said the U.S. will always make sure it has what it needs to do so. It remains to be seen whether Hamas will accept this deal. The United Kingdom announced this week that it is placing a ban on. on puberty blockers for minors. The announcement was made Wednesday on thegov.uk website and states, the government has today introduced regulations to restrict the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, known as puberty blockers to children and young people under 18 in England, Wales, and Scotland.

The UK is taking the action to address risk to patient safety. The ban takes effect on June 3rd and will be in effect until September 3rd. During this time, no minors exhibiting gender dysphoria will be prescribed puberty blockers. The UK announced that it has also introduced indefinite restrictions to prescribing puberty blockers within the government's National Health Service primary care in England. Those already taking the drugs will reportedly be able to still access them, and patients will be able to be able to. to be prescribed puberty blockers for other use, according to the press release.

A Kentucky high school student took about 20 seconds during his graduation speech to encourage his fellow classmates to seek Christ. Those words caused the school to withhold Micah Price's diploma for several days, saying he'd gone off script during his speech. Campbell County High School in Kentucky reportedly gave Price permission

to thank his Lord and Savior during the talk, but not to proselytize as he did. According to YouTube channel hosted by John Roots' X account, take a listen. He is the way, truth, and the life. Class, anyone in the audience of that I'm here to tell you that if you don't have any of those things in your life, you can't see to find the answer, that my Lord's Savior is your answer. He would give you the truth, give you the way and the life. The Christian Post covered the story and reports that before his speech, Price said that he was

told by the school that he was not allowed to bring a. up Christ, that he is the way, the truth, and the life. But Price chose to do so anyway. Price said that after he gave the speech, a school principal told him politely and professionally that he was going to have to go in front of the board and explain what he did because he went off script. The student ultimately only had to meet with the principals of the school and has now received his diploma. After the incident drew a great deal of attention on social media. The student said that he knew that he was breaking the rule but wanted to give a speech that gave praise and honor to God. Price plans to join the Air Force in July. It's Friday, so that means it's

time for a movie review. And here with us to chat about a family-friendly film that you and the kids can enjoy this weekend is Heritage Foundation Social Media Manager. Christian Lasval. Christian, thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me. The Spider-Wick Chronicles. It was directed by Mark Waters, it stars Freddie Highmore. It was first released in 2008. Christian, I had never heard of the film until you told me about it today. So even though it was released in 2008, I'm going to say no spoilers because I haven't watched it. But give us, if you would, what is the premise of this film, The Spider-Wick Chronicles? Absolutely. Yeah. I don't remember actually when I first watched the movie or how I had come to hear about it, but it was a Nickelodeon produced movie back when children's networks were still children's networks. So the general plot line, is a family that moves into a home that belongs to families descended from mom. She inherits the home. When the children get in the home, they find this old dumb waiter that was hidden behind the wall. After accidentally putting a hole in it, they discover this dumb waiter. They hit on upstairs. They're looking through this office. They didn't even know existed in the home. And one of the brothers finds this strange journal that has a note on it and says, do not open this book. Don't read it.

The consequences are not going to be pretty. Well, obviously, as any child would, he opens the book. book and it unleashes a magical world of fairies and other magical creatures who among them are not so nice creatures who want to learn the secrets contained in this book in order to dominate and control this magical world. And they quickly come looking for that book. And so the movie is a very cute story of these children reading the book, learning more about this fairy tale world, how they are going to deal with these nemesis that come from this magical world.

Again, family-friendly, very wholesome. Nothing graphic, no vulgar language, wholesome themes all the way throughout. And, of course, outside of just the magical side, some very redemptive themes about family and love and protecting and serving those who you care about. And this was first a book, correct? That is correct. It was originally a book by Tony D. Terry Lizzie, sorry if I botched that name to the author. And Holly Black. It's a series of books.

And as far as I know, only this one was made into a movie. And I remember it being fairly successful back in when I was. was younger in 2008, but I actually checked on YouTube out of curiosity because I was talking with a co-worker about one of the scenes in the film that I like the most. And when I looked it up on YouTube, it was actually free. So it wouldn't even cost your family a penny to watch it on YouTube. Just look it up and it'll be there for you. Well, there you go. A free movie for the weekend. The Spider-Wick Chronicles, Christian. Thanks for bringing us that tip. Thanks for having me. Well, with that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here on top

news this Friday. If you have not had the chance, make sure that you are also checking out our morning shows. On Monday morning, Rob Louis is going to be sitting down with Senator Rick Scott. Be sure to catch that conversation Monday morning. And if you would, take a minute and leave the Daily Signal podcast a five-star rating and review. If you like what you hear, we want to know about it. We want to hear your feedback. And be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss out on new shows. Have a fantastic weekend. We'll see you right back here Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko.

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