Just the News

Just the News Now: April 22, 2024 Prosecution, defense deliver opening statements in Trump hush money trial in Manhattan https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/court-session-manhattan-trump-trial Supreme Court declines to hear Kari Lake, Mark Finchem's electronic voting machine case https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/supreme-court-declines-hear-kari-lake-mark-finchems-electronic-voting-machine House Judiciary opens formal inquiry into ATF killing of Arkansas airport executive https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-judiciary-opens-formal-inquiry-atf-killing-arkansas-airport-executive New York GOP delegation urges Columbia University president to resign over handling of protests https://justthenews.com/government/congress/new-york-gop-delegation-urges-columbia-university-president-resign-over

Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO) says the House Oversight and Accountability Committee needs to follow the money propping up antisemitic organizations at U.S. colleges. Rep. Burlison believes Arab foreign nations are directly funding groups like ‘Justice for Palestine’ in order to establish covert propaganda arms of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran on college campuses.

Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO) says he was disappointed in the number of Republican congressmen who voted to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package on Saturday. Rep. Burlison says the majority of House Republicans would rather not risk leveraging Ukraine aid for border security.

Former President Donald Trump says President Joe Biden's foreign policies have enabled the Iranian regime's rise in tensions. “They were a poor nation three and a half years ago and you could’ve made a deal. They wanted to make a deal. And Israel’s in big trouble,” says Trump.

Former President Donald Trump says Ukraine and Israel’s conflicts would have never happened if he was president. Trump says Europe is not paying their fair share in foreign aid to Ukraine and needs to equalize payments with America.

Former President Donald Trump talks about how FISA tools were illegally used to spy on his 2016 campaign. Trump says the FISA process isn't appropriate if it doesn’t have the necessary checks and balances.

Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz says he can’t find the crime in the state of New York’s case against former President Donald Trump. “Every American ought to see how their system of justice is being distorted for partisan purposes,” says Dershowitz. “I understand why the district attorney of New York didn’t want this on television. I understand why the judge didn’t want this on television. But we, the American public, have a right to see our criminal justice system abused for partisan purposes.”

Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz says he will no longer vote Democrat after hearing progressive leaders' responses to the antisemitic protests at Columbia University. “I have no loyalty anymore to the party that is the cause, a major cause of what’s going on at Columbia today,” says Dershowitz.

Tom Barrett, GOP candidate for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, expresses concern with the U.S. military’s lack of candor and weak combat readiness. “We have a recruiting problem in the military, we have a retention problem, and we have a readiness problem and these are all because of Joe Biden and the senior leadership that he’s appointed to these positions that have simply lost the trust of the American people,” Barrett says.

Heritage Foundation Media and Public Relations Director Noah Weinrich says Polish President Andrzej Duda and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Obran’s decision to meet with former President Donald Trump and not President Joe Biden sends a clear message. “I think it tells you that leaders abroad do not see Biden as the real power in America,” he says.

Heritage Foundation Media and Public Relations Director Noah Weinrich says President Joe Biden has yet to present a solution that would end the Ukraine-Russia war. “Instead of peace through strength, which is what we had under President Trump and President Reagan, we have war with weakness,” he says. “President Biden could not tell you how he’s going to end the war in Ukraine even if you give him $200 billion, which is what they’re trying to do now.”

Michael Sobolik, author of “Countering China’s Great Game,” explains how the U.S. should exert dominance over the CCP through their two biggest weaknesses: human rights issues and freedom of information. “It’s easy to think that a lot of dictatorships are really strong because they wield power in a way that democracies don’t. But tyrants and despots rule the way they do not because they’re secure but because they’re afraid of their own people,” says Sobolik.

Michael Sobolik says his new book “Countering China’s Great Game” offers U.S. policy makers a blueprint for how the U.S. can win the Cold War against China. “I wrote the book because I worked in the U.S. Senate for five years and during that time I noticed that our elite political institutions, though they were beginning to understand the threat that Beijing poses to America, a lot of our policies were really reactive,” Sobolik explains. “We were growing aware of Beijing’s malign influence inside of America, of all the ways that U.S. companies are hopelessly entangled with the market inside of China, but we weren’t really going on the offensive against the Chinese Communist Party.”

Sheriff Mark Lamb says he was motivated to run for U.S. Senate after numerous legal hurdles prevented him from holding Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for aiding and abetting human trafficking at the border. Sheriff Lamb shares how the loss of his children was another factor that pushed him to run for federal office. “Initially, that was something that totally knocked me off the tracks. But eventually, what it taught us is there is no guarantee for tomorrow. The only thing we can take with us in this life is what we do,” says Sheriff Lamb.

Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Sheriff Mark Lamb says Americans should be angry with the Senate for dismissing both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Now I think we all knew what the Senate’s outcome would be, but I think they had a responsibility to the American people to hear it and at least you know listen to the other side and why the House passed it up to them,” says Sheriff Lamb.

Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Sheriff Mark Lamb says fentanyl poisoning is a major terrorist threat that has become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. “It looks very different than the terrorism we’re used to seeing like bombs going off or people firing guns or crashing planes into a building,” Sheriff Lamb says. “The real terrorism that’s killing Americans at a higher rate than anything else is, more effective than any army, is fentanyl poisonings.”

Vance Ginn, former OMB Chief Economist under President Donald Trump, says governors should rein in spending and lower regulations in order to promote economic growth and prosperity. He also urges governors to become less dependent on federal funding. “At some point, Congress is going to reach a spending crisis. I think we’re already there,” Ginn says. “They’re going to have to start cutting their spending and one of the top places they’re going to want to cut is funding to states. So you got to have that as one of the top things that they want to do.”

Vance Ginn, former OMB Chief Economist under President Donald Trump, says the most recent jobs report showed a loss of full-time jobs and increase of part-time and government employment. Ginn says current federal spending levels are unsustainable and directly contribute to higher interest rates, mortgage rates, and inflation.

Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) says the Unaccompanied Minor Placement Notification Act would require the Health and Human Services Office of Refuge Resettlement to notify school districts or child welfare agencies when an unaccompanied minor is in their county. "I don't agree with how these kids got here. But once they're here and they're under the age of 18, we have a responsibility to make sure they're safe. And we're not even doing that," says Rep. Griffith. 'The Biden administration is just sending them out without ever checking on them and its disgraceful."

Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) describes bombshell revelations from four D.C. National Guard officials’ testimony to the House Administration Committee Wednesday on Wednesday. Rep. Griffiths says the whistleblowers claim Army officials were concerned with the “optics” of deploying the D.C. National Guard to the Capitol and that the Democrat-led January 6 Select Committee spoke with them but never called them in to publicly testify during the 2022 hearings.

Just the News Now: April 18, 2024 Full jury set in Trump hush money trial https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/trump-hush-money-trial-sets-full-jury Two jurors excused in Trump's NY criminal 'hush money' trial, amid concerns of partiality, past https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-excuses-juror-trumps-new-york-criminal-hush-money-trial RFK Jr. qualifies for ballot in swing state of Michigan https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/rfk-jr-qualifies-ballot-swing-state-michigan Kansas Republican becomes latest lawmaker to retire from Congress https://justthenews.com/government/congress/kansas-republican-becomes-latest-lawmaker-exit-congress NYPD arrests dozens of demonstrators at Columbia University over ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/nypd-arrests-columbia-university-students-gaza-solidarity-encampment

Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says former President Donald Trump’s second term will likely be a two-phase approach that involves his former border strategies “but on steroids.” Morgan says some of the policies that will be enacted include the Remain in Mexico program and rebuilding the wall.

Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says the Senate’s decision to kill both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is an insult to the American public. “It’s the first time in our history that the Senate has not gone forward with a trial once the House has handed them articles of impeachment of a public official,” Morgan says. “The irony here is that part of the reason why Secretary Mayorkas was impeached was because he just trashed and threw away the Constitution. And that’s exactly what the Senate did by not going forth with the trial.”

Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) says that unless House Speaker Mike Johnson attaches H.R. 2 to the Ukraine foreign aid bill, House Republicans will never get funding for border security. “That’s the only leverage that we have left,” says Rep. Clyde. “We have abdicated the leverage when it came to funding our government, and so this is it.”