The Daily Signal Podcast

Israeli leaders say the nation will respond to Iran’s weekend attack, but what that response will entail remains unclear.“I can see a number of scenarios in which this does escalate to a regional and potentially even a global conflict,” says a former member of the National Security Council, Robert Greenway, adding, “I can see fewer ways in which we prevent that from occurring.” Over the weekend, Iran launched about 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Unlike other attacks, this was not carried out by proxy terrorist groups in the region, but the nation of Iran itself. If a larger conflict in the Middle East is to be avoided, says Greenway, who also serves as director of the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. will need “to radically alter its policy and approach toward Iran and Israel.” (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)U.S. policy changes toward Iran should include “to deny it the resources necessary, and to restore deterrence, with the support of Israel and our partners and allies,” Greenway says. Greenway joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what options Israel has as it considered retaliation against Iran, and how U.S. Middle East foreign policy is affecting the conflict.Enjoy the show!

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Israel says it must respond to Iran’s attack. Former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York City begins.Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas missed oral argument at the court and no explanation was given. The FBI opens a criminal investigation into the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.Relevant LinksListen 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/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda

Among all the legal charges facing former President Donald Trump, the criminal case out of New York City that begins Monday “is the most bogus,” according to legal expert Hans von Spakovsky. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump in 2023 with 34 counts of falsifying business records supposedly to cover up “hush money” payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. “This case is just bogus from start to finish,” Von Spakovsky says, adding, “It's in Manhattan. It's a Manhattan jury, and I'll tell you, quite frankly, I think if the DA charged Donald Trump with eating a ham sandwich, the jury would find him guilty.” Jury selection in the case begins on Monday, but concerns have been raised as to whether it’s even possible to find an unbiased jury in Manhattan. Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow and manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation, says he thinks the jury is “going to find him guilty, regardless of the facts and regardless of the law.” If Trump is found guilty, and even if he faces time in prison, that will not legally impede the former president from continuing to run for reelection, or even serving as president, given that the Constitution does not address that, the legal expert explains. Von Spakovsky joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what he expects to see during the case, and what will happen next if the jury does find Trump guilty. Enjoy the show!

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: The biggest news out of D.C. today was the House vote to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.Conservative legal advocate and co-chairman of the Federalist Society Leonard Leo refuses to comply with a Senate subpoena. The White House announces another $7.4 billion in loan forgiveness. California has spent about $24 billion to tackle the homeless in the past five years, but the state has not consistently been tracking the effectiveness of its initiatives. 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/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda

Garret O'Boyle and Stephen Friend dedicated years of their lives to serving their country in the FBI. But when they began to question some of the decisions being made within the bureau, they were suspended. After joining the FBI, O'Boyle says he “immediately saw that other agents [and] supervisors didn't have a solid grasp of people's civil rights.” “Having sworn that oath to the Constitution multiple times—twice in the Army, once as a police officer, once as an FBI agent,” O'Boyle said, “it actually meant something to me—which, I think, it doesn't to many, maybe even to most at this point. It's just a job.O'Boyle explained that FBI agents take a constitutional law course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and that for him, following and protecting constitutional rights “was most important to me,” adding that “foolishly … I thought that would be the case for everybody entering into this type of field.” After questioning some of the decisions being made within the FBI, O'Boyle was unexpectedly suspended from the bureau in 2022. Friend has a story similar to O'Boyle's. He was assigned to work on Jan. 6 cases, but raised concerns when he was informed that a SWAT team was to be used to arrest a man who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, despite the fact that the man had agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Friend said he told his superiors, “We should not be doing this. There's other avenues to do it,” referring to arresting the man. Shortly thereafter, Friend was suspended from the FBI. O'Boyle and Friend join “The Daily Signal Podcast” to detail the issues they witnessed within the FBI and what happened to them when they started asking questions.Enjoy the show!

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: President Joe Biden says he may take executive action on the southern border. O.J. Simpson dies of prostate cancer.The Anti-Defamation League has gives Harvard and 12 other colleges failing grades for the policies on antisemitism. Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge testified before Congress on the need for the PRESS Act. Relevant LinksListen 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/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda

The list of alleged instances of a weaponized federal government is getting longer, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., says.“The problem of the federal government being weaponized against the American people's fundamental constitutional rights is pervasive and it seems, although I think we've done some things good to uncover and deter it, it is a constant problem and growing,” Bishop says. As recent examples, the North Carolina Republican points to instances of the White House's asking social media companies to censor content related to COVID-19 vaccines and to the FBI's misusing database information against Americans. The crisis at America’s southern border, Bishop says, is another way government has been weaponized against the American people during the Biden administration. Bishop joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to detail these instances of government weaponization and what Congress can do to stop the abuse. Enjoy the show!

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down:A new study confirms that most children showing sudden onset gender dysphoria are actually suffering from other mental health conditions.Idaho has a new law that prevents teachers and college professors from “knowingly and intentionally” addressing a minor by a name or pronoun that doesn’t align with the student’s actual sex.The U.S. secretary of education refuses to answer a question at a congressional hearing about whether men and women are physically different.Former President Donald Trump reacts to an Arizona law that prohibits most abortions. Relevant Linkshttps://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/10/study-transgender-kids-have-other-mental-health-diagnoses/ 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/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda

Two months ago, the House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Next week, the Senate will receive the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is expected to dismiss the charges just as quickly as he receives them. “Schumer is going to table it,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., says of the impeachment articles.The articles were originally expected to be delivered to the Senate Wednesday, but some Senate Republicans ask House Speaker Mike Johnson to delay the delivery until next week. Fox News reports that the benefit of delaying the delivery of the articles allows more time for debate without the time restraint of the coming weekend.Schumer has not indicated he plans to change his position on the articles of impeachment if they arrive next week instead of Wednesday.If Schumer does dismisses the charges against Mayorkas, it will be a historic first, according to Marshall. Marshall joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the Senate’s expected course of action on the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, and to explain what course of action remains for conservative lawmakers seeking to secure America’s borders. Enjoy the show!