'Stupid step'

'DOJ’s investigation involves EcoHealth’s role'

'New ideas and fresh forces are needed to plan the company's future'

'You took him at his word'

'we’re just operating so thin'

'The McRib is more than a sandwich – it’s a part of culture, it’s a legend, it’s an event'

Rep. Adam Schiff once proposed legislation to scrutinize presidential pardons of family members, but he and his office are thus far silent on President Joe Biden’s Sunday night pardon of son Hunter Biden.  Schiff, D-Calif., has not commented publicly on the matter, and his office has not responded to phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal about the Biden pardon. Schiff is California’s new Democratic senator-elect whose current House term expires Jan. 3.  In an April 19, 2018, post on X—then known as Twitter—Schiff wrote: “If the President issues a pardon in a case in which he or his family are implicated, the American people need to know whether it is part of an attempt to obstruct justice. This bill would make that possible and serve as a powerful deterrent.” He also touted the bill in a CNN interview.  If the President issues a pardon in a case in which he or his family are implicated, the American people need to know whether it is part of an attempt to obstruct justice. This bill would make that possible and serve as a powerful deterrent. pic.twitter.com/kvIeORqvC3— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) April 19, 2018 As a House Democrat, Schiff was rarely at a loss for words and was perhaps the most ardent foe of President Donald Trump, eventually leading the first Trump impeachment.  In an April 18, 2018, press release from Schiff’s office noted, “There are unsettling indications that President Trump could use the expansive pardon power granted by the Constitution as an instrument to undermine the Special Counsel’s investigation and other investigations into his business, family, or his associates.” After Democrats recaptured the House majority, Schiff reintroduced what he called the Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act on March 7, 2019.  The legislation would require that if the president pardons someone in connection with an investigation in which the president or one of his family members is a target, subject, or witness, the evidence against the recipient of the pardon would be provided to Congress. But, had it been enacted, it likely would have affected President Joe Biden. A Republican-led House impeachment inquiry concluded that Biden engaged in a “conspiracy to monetize” his public office as vice president and enrich his family by at least $27 million, according to three Republican-led House committees that oversaw an impeachment inquiry. “The President has a broad power to confer pardons, but not when they are designed to insulate himself, his family and his associates from criminal investigation. Such an abuse of the pardon power would amount to obstruction of justice and is not countenanced by the Constitution,” Schiff said in a statement after introducing the 2019 legislation. “The Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act creates a powerful check against deploying pardons in cases involving the president or his immediate family by ensuring that any evidence gathered in such an investigation is provided to Congress.” Days before Biden pardoned his son, Schiff was decrying the Justice Department undermining special counsel Jack Smith’s past comments that “no one is above the law,” and “we’re hearing that phrase a lot, but we’re not giving validity to it.” The DOJ erred in dismissing the case against Trump. Though without prejudice—it can be refiled when his term ends—the dismissal upsets the status quo.A deferral would have meant that the case would proceed after he left office. This decision makes justice harder to achieve. pic.twitter.com/38fxRs6D6x— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 27, 2024 As of publication time, Schiff had not posted on either his congressional X account, nor on his personal and campaign X account about the Biden pardon.  Investigations by House committees found that as vice president from 2009 through 2017, Joe Biden communicated with those involved in business deals of Hunter Biden and other Biden family members.  The Daily Signal sent two email inquiries to Schiff spokesperson Marisol Samayoa on Monday morning and in the afternoon about the legislation, and also left a voicemail with Schiff’s office in the late afternoon. No one responded. Schiff’s office and staff are in the process of a transition from the House to the Senate.  The post Adam Schiff, Once an Ardent Foe of Presidential Pardons for Family, Suddenly Silent appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Organizations in favor of child sex changes will protest the Supreme Court as the nine justices hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case that will decide whether states may ban irreversible transgender medical interventions for children. LGBTQ activists with the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, Human Rights Campaign, Gender Liberation Movement, Young Feminist Party, and other groups are busing in protesters for a “Free to Be Ourselves Rally” Wednesday morning outside the Supreme Court Building during the arguments in United States v. Skrmetti. The high court eventually will rule on the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that protects children from gender-transition procedures. The defendant in the case is Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican. Gender Liberation Movement advertises free bus rides to a rally outside the Supreme Court. Sign-ups are now closed. (Instagram) Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed the bill banning puberty blockers, hormone replacement regimens, and transgender surgeries for children into law on March 22, 2023. In April 2023, the ACLU sued the state of Tennessee on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams, whose 15-year-old son says he identifies as a transgender girl. The Biden-Harris administration joined the lawsuit, contending that Tennessee’s law is unconstitutional. Two years ago, we defended the right to criticize the use of life-altering medical procedures for treatment of kids' gender dysphoria.This week at SCOTUS, we are defending Tennessee's right to protect kids from those same procedures.#Skrmetti pic.twitter.com/reSQTXgAsE— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) December 2, 2024 After a federal District Court blocked the law from taking effect, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit reversed that and allowed the law to go into effect, finding that Tennessee was likely to succeed in arguing that the law is constitutional.  The Supreme Court agreed to review the 6th Circuit’s decision after Biden’s Justice Department and the ACLU appealed the case. The first transgender-identifying person to argue before the Supreme Court will represent the ACLU in its argument Wednesday. Chase Strangio is a biological woman who says she identifies as a transgender man. Protesters bused in from across the country free of charge will tell the nine Supreme Court justices that “they cannot legislate our existence away or judge our bodies or our genders,” one participating organization, Gender Liberation Movement, posted on Instagram. Gender Liberation Movement advertises a protest Wednesday supporting what critics call irreversible transgender medical interventions for children. (Instagram) Gender Liberation Movement, which describes itself as a grassroots organization created to “defy or transcend the gendered expectations that harm and limit us,” also is co-hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour for children in New York City on Dec. 10. Another protest sponsor, the Human Rights Campaign, which bills itself as the largest LGBTQ rights organization, supports irreversible transgender medical interventions for children and peddles the lie that children are less likely to commit suicide if they “transition.” “We can’t stand by as the Supreme Court considers stripping LGBTQ+ people of our hard-earned rights,” HRC wrote on the event page for the rally. “We’re going to send a message that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, lifesaving and here to stay!” None of the organizations involved in the rally responded to The Daily Signal’s requests for comment. Those in favor of protecting children from such medical interventions will hold their own rally Wednesday in support of Tennessee’s law. Medical watchdog Do No Harm plans to host doctors, detransitioners, and allies outside the Supreme Court at 8 a.m. “We are focused on the broad coalition of supporters we will have at our rally in support of Attorney General Skrmetti and all those working to protect children in this pivotal case,” Do No Harm External Relations Manager Beth Serio told The Daily Signal. “More than twenty organizations who share Do No Harm’s commitment to protecting children from the child sex-change cult will come together in alignment with the vast majority of Americans who agree that performing experimental medical treatment on children is wrong.” Do No Harm will sponsor a rally about protecting kids from transgender procedures. (Do No Harm) Proponents of “gender-affirming care” often argue that children aren’t transitioned. But 225 hospitals and health care facilities provide irreversible transgender procedures to children. Nearly 14,000 American children underwent sex-change interventions of some type between 2019 and 2023, according to Do No Harm’s database. Tennessee is one of 26 states to pass laws protecting kids from transgender medical interventions. The Supreme Court’s ruling in this case is expected to affect every law prohibiting gender transitions for children across the country. “The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical procedures,” Skrmetti said in an October statement. “Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues.” Almost three-fourths of voters say it should be illegal to subject children to transgender medical interventions, according to a recent poll from Napolitan News Service. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to ban such medical procedures for children without parental consent. In a 2023 video, Trump promised to “pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.” “In the end, we’re confident truth, common sense, and science will prevail and the Tennessee law will be upheld,” Serio said. The post Child Sex-Change Advocates to Bus Protesters to SCOTUS Hearing on ‘Gender Affirming Care’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A presidential pardon notwithstanding, the Biden family may yet face accountability from Congress and the executive branch, government watchdog groups say.  In fact, President Joe Biden’s blanket pardon of son Hunter Biden could provide more leverage for Congress to investigate other Biden family members, said Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, a conservative legal group.  “President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter means that Hunter can no longer invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” Davis, Republicans’ former chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Signal in a telephone interview Monday.  Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this year on gun and tax charges, for which he faced a maximum of 17 and 25 years in prison, respectively. The president’s pardon Sunday night covered any crimes his son “has committed or may have committed or taken part in from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.” “The House Republicans should subpoena Hunter Biden now. This is a much bigger issue than hookers and blow,” Davis added, using slang for the drug cocaine. “This is about the president of the United States being compromised, with $23 million going to what seems like every member of the Biden family”  An impeachment inquiry conducted by three House committees—Oversight and Accountability; Ways and Means; and Judiciary—found bank records demonstrating a labyrinth of shell corporations owned by Biden family members doing business in China, Ukraine, Russia, and other foreign nations that in some cases seemingly were tied to Joe Biden’s actions in the Senate and as vice president.  The House committees concluded in a final report in August that the president engaged in a “conspiracy to monetize” his public office as vice president and enrich his family. The House didn’t move to impeach, as Biden had announced the previous month that he was dropping his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.  Specifically, the president’s brother James Biden conducted business deals that prompted questions. In June, the three House committees made criminal referrals to the Justice Department to investigate Hunter Biden and James Biden for alleged perjury before Congress. Although the president’s pardon could cover any testimony the younger Biden already had given, it would not likely cover James Biden.  Hunter Biden’s testimony could potentially lead to more information about the Biden family’s involvement in influence peddling. The president’s son could be held in contempt if he refuses to answer questions from Congress and charged with perjury if he doesn’t testify truthfully. Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers told House investigators that the younger Biden had received special treatment by the Justice Department and IRS that went easier on him.  The incoming second Trump administration should consider its own investigation of both the “Biden racketeering operation” and federal bureaucracies that botched a probe of influence peddling, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a phone interview. “The president could appoint a special prosecutor possibly outside the Justice Department and the FBI,” Fitton told The Daily Signal, referring to Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. “It’s difficult for the Justice Department to investigate itself. This could include an investigation of what the FBI did or didn’t do. The prosecutor could report to the president.” Fitton noted that a special prosecutor potentially could refer matters to federal and even state prosecutors for charges.  Fitton also questioned the wide-reaching pardon of his son by the president.  “The pardon is so blanket, it raises constitutional questions. If it’s a pardon of everything, it’s a pardon of nothing,” Fitton said. “It’s clear the pardon applies to the two charges he was convicted for. But it’s not clear that all charges known and unknown can be pardoned.” Though unusual, the Constitution gives presidents broad pardoning power, Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, wrote for The Daily Signal in a commentary that criticizes the pardon but maintains it is lawful. “Article II of the Constitution spells out the powers vested in the president, and it vests in the president a clemency power. At common law, the Crown could pardon anyone for any crime because the king or queen was the source of all English law and therefore could forgive anyone,” Larkin wrote. “The Framers carried that power forward into our Constitution. The Article II Pardon Clause provides that ‘[t]he President . . . shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.’ The president’s clemency power is perhaps the sole surviving royal authority that our legal system authorizes our president to exercise.” Hunter Biden could face the choice of either telling the truth in hearings before Congress or contesting contempt of Congress charges if he did not. The Biden administration’s Justice Department prosecuted two Trump allies and administration aides, Steve Bannon and Peter Navaro, for contempt of Congress.  “While this abusive pardon from his father may prevent federal criminal prosecution, it does not absolve Hunter and his father of their misdeeds,” Thomas Jones, founder and president of the American Accountability Foundation, told The Daily Signal in a text message.   “Now that Hunter is no longer in legal jeopardy, Fifth Amendment protections are no longer applicable and he needs to come completely clean about his father’s involvement in shady deals in China and the Ukraine,” said Jones, a former Capitol Hill staffer who oversaw investigations. “If he doesn’t, he should be held in contempt of Congress and tossed in one of the cells emptied when President Trump pardons J6 [Jan. 6] protesters.” The two IRS whistleblowers provided extensive information to the House Ways and Means Committee. After the president pardoned his son, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., recalled that Hunter Biden had predicted the charges would go away if his father became president.  “Well, today we see exactly what that looks like when one business partner in Joe Biden takes care of another in Hunter Biden to protect the family business,” Smith said in a public statement. “Today’s pardon is just the latest in a string of efforts by the Biden administration to cover up and dismiss the years of criminal activity committed by the Biden family of which evidence has shown President Biden was not only aware but clearly complicit.” The post Why Hunter’s Pardon Could Expand Accountability for Biden Family appeared first on The Daily Signal.

After Thanksgiving, Biden Pardoned Another Turkey