Morning Wire XX
[0] Leaked audio from internal TikTok meetings reveals that China has been using the social media app to collect data on Americans.
[1] How is the Biden administration responding to the threat to privacy and national security?
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[3] It's June 25th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
[4] With Americans struggling with record gas prices, President Biden scrambles to address the crisis.
[5] These are not normal times.
[6] bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you are paying for the product.
[7] Do it now.
[8] What actions is the White House taking and why is oil production in America so low?
[9] And nearly a year after the U .S. withdrawal, Afghanistan continues to face a tragic humanitarian crisis.
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
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[18] New leaked audio from internal TikTok meetings confirms that China has been using the social media app to collect data on Americans.
[19] Joining us now to explain further is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[20] So, Megan, this isn't the first time we're hearing about privacy concerns related to TikTok.
[21] Back in February of 2021, TikTok's Chinese parent company paid $92 million in a class action lawsuit to settle allegations that they had harvested customer data without their consent.
[22] President Trump even took steps to ban the app at one point.
[23] So what's new about this audio?
[24] Well, I'd say what's new is that it offers some really hard evidence that all of those concerns about TikTok being a threat to national security, they were very much merited.
[25] So all of the stems from an explosive report published in BuzzFeed last week.
[26] The outlet reviewed audio from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings.
[27] And what it found, and I'm quoting here, was that data was accessed far more frequently and recently than previously reported.
[28] That report also said that TikTok may have misled lawmakers, its users, and the public.
[29] Now, to set the stage a little bit for listeners who may not be Gen Z, may not be following this topic, TikTok is owned by the Chinese company, Bite Dance.
[30] And when Trump was president, he issued an executive order banning the app unless Bite Dance sold to an American company.
[31] Well, when the Biden administration took over, it rolled back that order.
[32] And in the meantime, TikTok had been assuring legislators that information gathered in the U .S. is stored in the U .S. rather than China.
[33] Basically, what they've been saying is that the risk of China using the app to spy on Americans is unfounded.
[34] Well, the BuzzFeed report suggests that that just is not true.
[35] In fact, it quotes one staffer in TikTok's trust and safety department saying in September of 2021, everything is seen in China.
[36] And then in another recording from January of 2022, a data scientist admits, I get my instructions from the main office in Beijing.
[37] So if you have TikTok on your phone, what kind of data does TikTok have access to?
[38] Well, that's a really good question, because the big issue here is that we don't entirely know.
[39] But there's a reason to believe that the data collection can be very extensive.
[40] So we know they can track your location, of course, but also search history, key stuff.
[41] strikes, direct messages, anything you're looking at, and for how long, the device you're using.
[42] They even track biometric info, including face and voice print.
[43] So first, of course, there is the fact that Biden decided to reverse those Trump orders, which now looks like it probably wasn't a great idea.
[44] Here's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talking about that on Fox News Tuesday night.
[45] We now have even further evidence that the Chinese Communist Party is taking the data that comes across from TikTok and using it in all kinds of different nefarious ways, the effort to close it off because we keep the data here in the United States on a server.
[46] It's a fool's errand.
[47] The parent companies figured out how to get access to the channels.
[48] And we got it from the mouths of the employees of TikTok, the parent company bite dance themselves.
[49] So for perspective, TikTok was the most visited website of 2021, surpassing even Google.
[50] Now, because the company is based in Beijing, the White House has continued the policy of not having an account on the platform for security reasons.
[51] But it has participated in videos with some really big TikTok accounts.
[52] In March, for example, it provided big TikTok stars a briefing on the war in Ukraine so that they would in turn disseminate that information to their followers.
[53] So you do have to say that the administration has still been trying to leverage the popularity of TikTok.
[54] Now, what about TikTok?
[55] What are they saying about this leaked audio?
[56] Well, you know, I did reach out to them and they haven't responded yet, but a spokesman did tell BuzzFeed that the company, just going to quote, aims to remove any doubt about the security of U .S. user data.
[57] So a little bit of a non -answer there.
[58] Well, I am feeling increasingly affirmed in my decision to stay off TikTok.
[59] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[60] Anytime.
[61] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[62] Coming up, President Biden attempts to address skyrocketing fuel costs.
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[66] As gas prices continue to hit record highs, President Biden is scrambling to tamp down costs at the pump, including calling on Congress to suspend federal gas taxes and pressuring oil companies to pump more.
[67] Here to discuss the gas crisis is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[68] All right, Cabot, tell us first about the president's recent push to suspend federal gas taxes.
[69] We've talked quite a bit on the show about how President Biden is really desperate to get gas prices down.
[70] He's tried everything from releases of millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and he's issued new regulations that allow for gas with higher biofuel concentration, but really nothing he's done to this point has worked.
[71] In fact, gas is now at about $5 per gallon by average, which as we talked on the show is a new record.
[72] So now his new plan is to eliminate the federal gas tax until September.
[73] It's currently 18 cents per gallon, so the average person would save anywhere from $3 to $5 each time they fill up.
[74] Here's the president on Wednesday.
[75] First, today I'm calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for the next 90 days through the busy summer.
[76] season, busy travel season.
[77] So if this were to happen, what sort of impact would we expect us to have?
[78] Yeah, usually economists can't agree on anything, but on this issue, they're in almost total agreement that lifting the gas tax won't really have a positive impact on prices, especially in the long run, and would cause prices to actually rise in the long run.
[79] And it's worth noting even Democrat leaders have expressed doubts over the move.
[80] House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, for example, said, quote, I just don't know that it gives much relief.
[81] And in the past, President Obama even called a gas tax holiday, quote, a gimmick.
[82] Even Tobin Marcus, who actually served as an advisor to Biden when he was vice president, said the case for a gas tax removal is, quote, weaker than ever.
[83] Not exactly ringing endorsements of this move.
[84] Not at all.
[85] And one main concern from critics of the move is that revenue from the gas tax funds the highway trust fund, which maintains bridges and roads.
[86] According to the House Transportation Committee, the gas tax holiday would cut about $10 billion in funding for infrastructure, which they're especially concerned about right now, given that this time of year more Americans than ever are traveling.
[87] Right.
[88] So big picture in the question that so many are asking, why has gas become so expensive in the first place?
[89] Well, it's complicated, but the main reason right now is simple supply and demand.
[90] Prices are spiking because demand is incredibly high, but supply isn't keeping up.
[91] There's just not enough gas right now.
[92] The Biden administration has blamed the war in Ukraine for that lack of supply, and the war has certainly exacerbated, things by disrupting the global energy market, but it's not the full story.
[93] The main reason for low supply is that oil production has been cut pretty significantly in the last two years.
[94] On Tuesday, new data from the Department of Energy showed that U .S. oil output has fallen by 5 .4 % since 2019.
[95] And a big part of that dip is the president's anti -fossil fuel pro -green energy push.
[96] Remember, one of his first actions in office was to kill the Keystone pipeline.
[97] He's also put immense pressure on oil companies to convert their refineries to renewable energy, which has caused them to shut down some of their plants and transition to other sources.
[98] So critics have been quick to point out that Biden himself is one of the main reasons that we're not able to ramp up production to meet demand.
[99] Now, the president will be meeting next month with Saudi Arabia.
[100] How does that play into all this?
[101] Yeah, this is an interesting component to all this.
[102] When President Biden took office, he vowed to punish Saudi Arabia and make them, quote, a pariah for their human rights abuses.
[103] But this month, the White House actually announced intentions to rebuild relations with the Saudis and offer them a quote -unquote reset.
[104] The main focus of the meetings next month will be to encourage the Saudi government to increase oil production.
[105] Now, supporters of the president say this is simply the reality of politics, while opponents say that we should expand drilling domestically so we don't have to rely and be beholden on nations like Saudi Arabia for our oil.
[106] It's a complicated issue for sure.
[107] Cabot, thanks.
[108] Anytime.
[109] That's Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[110] The Taliban is asking for financial support from the international community after an earthquake struck a province outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least 1 ,000 people.
[111] Ten months after the abrupt U .S. withdrawal, we check in on the embattled country.
[112] Joining us to discuss is Lynn O'Donnell, former bureau chief for the Associated Press in Kabul.
[113] Lynn, welcome.
[114] So tell us about this earthquake.
[115] Well, the earthquake took place about 100 miles from the capital city, Kabul.
[116] In the early hours of the morning, about 1 .30 local time.
[117] It happened in an area of the country that's really quite rural.
[118] It's not developed, and the houses are largely made of mud.
[119] So when there's a great big tumbler like this, around about six on the Richter scale, everything just collapses.
[120] And the pictures and the footage that we're seeing from the scene show that there is a lot of destruction.
[121] Now, it's been about 10 months since the Taliban took over.
[122] How has life in Afghanistan changed in that time?
[123] So the situation on the ground for ordinary, people in Afghanistan is really terrible.
[124] And then you have the situation for women.
[125] The Taliban have effectively scraped women from public life.
[126] They're being told to stay at home.
[127] They're not allowed to leave their homes unless they're covered up head to toe with a burqa or a hijab.
[128] And they're accompanied by a male chaperone that has to be a relative.
[129] So if you're a widow with daughters, you're out of luck about being able to go and buy food if you can even afford it.
[130] The situation for a very very many people who are considered by the Taliban to be their enemies is also dire.
[131] People are stopped in the streets.
[132] They're arbitrarily detained.
[133] There is torture.
[134] There is unilateral killing.
[135] It's bad and it's getting worse.
[136] Now, we previously discussed that there are a number of resistance forces pushing back against the Taliban.
[137] Have there been any further developments there?
[138] Are those resistance forces still putting up a fight?
[139] Yes, there's quite a few different resistance groups that have taken up arms against the Taliban in different areas of the country.
[140] The highest profile one is called the National Resistance Front that's led by a young man called Ahmad Masud.
[141] His father was a famous general who kept the Taliban out of a province near Kabul called the Panshear Valley.
[142] They are fighting pretty hard.
[143] In other parts of the country, notably in the north, there's also other resistance groups.
[144] But the problem that the resistance have is that they are disparate.
[145] Lots of different groups who don't communicate with each other.
[146] They have differences, ideological differences, regional differences.
[147] So they can't come up with any sort of like cohesive movement with one leader as a centrifugal force.
[148] On the outside of the country, you have all the old warlords and regional leaders who've been trying to get together and form another resistance front so that they can go back and claim territory.
[149] most of them are ethnic leaders, so that would mean something, a disparate sort of ethnic picture as well.
[150] So the short answer is, yes, there's a lot of resistance, but it's not cohesive, it's not joined up, and that is a problem.
[151] Until all of these groups can form a group that presents a united front, I really don't think that they're going to make much headway.
[152] The Taliban, as I said before, they're stealing a pilfering aid to make sure that gunmen remain loyal to them.
[153] They're buying loyalty in that way.
[154] And so they are able to send high numbers of gunmen to these cut -off landlocked areas where there is resistance and take them on.
[155] So in some places, there is nasty, hot fighting on the ground.
[156] I just don't know how long it can last.
[157] All right, well, Lynn, thank you so much for joining us today.
[158] And you, Georgia, thank you.
[159] That was Lynn O'Donnell, former bureau chief of the Associated Press in Kabul.
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