Senate Won’t Vote on Border Security in 2024 + Environmentalists Attack Sliced Cheese!

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (04/23/2024):

3:05pm- During Day 6 of Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York City, Judge Juan M. Merchan and Trump’s legal team clashed over whether the former President violated a court-issued gag order. Additionally, David Becker—the former publisher of The National Enquirer—testified that he would regularly purchase the rights to unflattering stories about Trump and then refuse to publish them—ostensibly burying the story. But is “catch and kill” journalism against the law? Rich notes that you can make the argument it is an ethically questionable practice, but it isn’t illegal.

3:30pm- While leaving a New York City courthouse on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump suggested that the gag-order imposed on him by Judge Juan M. Merchan is unconstitutional and infringed upon his right to free speech.

3:40pm- Taylor Giorno of the Hill writes: “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 Tuesday to ban noncompete agreements that prevent tens of millions of employees from working for competitors or starting a competing business after they leave a job.” Does the FTC have the power to issue and enforce this ruling? You can read Giorno’s full article here: https://thehill.com/business/4615452-ftc-votes-to-ban-non-compete-agreements/

3:55pm- While speaking with the press on Capitol Hill, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) grilled anti-Israel protesters on college campuses like Yale University and Columbia University.

4:05pm- Phil Kerpen—President of The Committee to Unleash Prosperity & President of American Commitment—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss the Biden Administration’s Federal Communications Commission pushing to heavily regulate the internet. You can read the full article here: https://www.americancommitment.org/american-commitment-biden-fccs-internet-re-regulation-is-the-triumph-of-ideology-over-reality/

4:30pm- William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times reports that if former President Donald Trump is ultimately sentenced to jail time, the Secret Service would stay with him around clock while imprisoned. Rashbaum writes: “Officials have had preliminary discussions about how to protect the former president in the unlikely event that he is jailed for contempt during the trial.” You can read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money-prison.html

4:45pm- New York environmentalists have selected their next target: individually wrapped cheese slices!

4:55pm- Dee-Ann Durbin of the Associated Press writes: “The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to side with Starbucks Tuesday in a case that could make it harder for the federal government to seek injunctions when it suspects a company of interfering in unionization campaigns.” You can read the full article here: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-starbucks-union-fired-workers-tennessee-e373f840987234c84019cd9643ddf2f3

5:05pm- According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the Biden Administration is considering offering “legal status” to over 1 million undocumented migrants who entered the country unlawfully but are now married to U.S. citizens—achieving the policy via executive order. You can read the full report here: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-weighs-giving-legal-status-to-immigrant-spouses-of-u-s-citizens-04277843?mod=hp_lead_pos8

5:15pm- On HBO’s Real Time, Bill Maher reacted to the documentary “Quiet on the Set” which shows the horrific environment in the television studios at Nickelodeon in the 1990s and early 2000s—resulting in widespread child abuse. Maher notes that protecting children from Hollywood predations should not be a partisan issue and Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) deserves credit for calling out this horrific abuse.

5:35pm- Don’t expect a vote on border security in the Senate at any point this year, despite it only being April. Elizabeth Elkind of Fox News writes: “A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pointed out to Fox News Digital that House Republicans have passed multiple border security and immigration enforcement bills – none of which have been taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate. The Johnson spokesperson indicated that with Republicans and Democrats still far apart on the issue, House GOP leaders are relying on former President Trump to take back the White House next year for any meaningful border policy changes to take place.” You can read the full article here: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-wont-pass-border-security-legislation-year-johnsons-office-suggests

5:40pm- On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed four foreign aid bills totaling $95 billion—including a package that would send $60 billion to Ukraine. The bills had cleared a key procedural hurdle last Friday with bipartisan support—316 to 94, passing with more Democrat than Republican support. The aid package includes a measure that, if passed in the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, would force Chinese company ByteDance to sell its popular social media platform TikTok to an American-based company—citing a threat to national security. Refusal to sell TikTok would result in the app being banned in the United States. According to reports from Politico and The New York Times, the Biden Administration invested considerable time and effort into a campaign to persuade Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that aid to Ukraine was necessary.

6:05pm- Kash Patel—former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss his book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.” During the conversation, Patel notes that instead of being in Pennsylvania on primary day, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is forced to sit in a New York City courthouse, defending himself against politically motivated charges. You can learn more about the book here: https://a.co/d/23omv8G

6:30pm- Anti-Israel protests continue to rage on at several college campuses. Over the weekend, a Jewish student journalist at Yale University was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag, sending her to the hospital. Meanwhile, demonstrations at Columbia University have become so vitriolic that the school has decided to move classes from in-person to an online format for the remainder of the semester—citing a fear for the safety of Jewish students. In audio dating back to 2001, shortly after the terror attacks on September 11th, current Columbia University President Minouche Shafik can be heard outlandishly calling terrorism “a form of protesting.”

6:40pm- During Day 6 of Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York City, Judge Juan M. Merchan and Trump’s legal team clashed over whether the former President violated a court-issued gag order. Additionally, David Becker—the former publisher of The National Enquirer—testified that he would regularly purchase the rights to unflattering stories about Trump and then refuse to publish them—ostensibly burying the story. But is “catch and kill” journalism against the law? Rich notes that you can make the argument it is an ethically questionable practice, but it isn’t illegal.