Morning Wire XX
[0] President Biden sets the tone for his 2024 campaign with an eyebrow -raising January 6th speech painting Trump and his supporters as a threat to democracy.
[1] He talks about the blood of America's being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany.
[2] We break down the highlights of the speech and how Americans' views of that day have changed.
[3] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howell.
[4] It's Monday, January 8th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] The Supreme Court will rule on Colorado's effort to remove Trump from the ballot.
[6] I just hope that they're going to be fair because, you know, the other side plays the ref. What questions are they expected to address and how might it affect ballot battles in other states?
[7] And the Secretary of Defense goes AWOL for days after a surgery led to complications, leaving the White House in the dark.
[8] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[9] Stay tuned.
[10] We have the news you need to know.
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[18] On the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, President Biden offered a fiery speech to the nation taking aim at President Trump and the Republican Party.
[19] Here with more on the speech and how the events of January 6th are playing into the president's re -election strategy is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[20] So Cabot, this address really dominated the headlines over the weekend.
[21] What can you tell us?
[22] Well, it was hardly a surprise that President Biden used the anniversary of January 6th to make a political statement of his own.
[23] but the rhetoric that he used was what really had people talking.
[24] The speech marked Biden's first campaign event of the election year and saw some of his most aggressive language towards Trump and his supporters.
[25] Since he took off speaking in Bluebell, Pennsylvania, the president referred to his predecessor by name nearly 50 times, calling him, quote, despicable, equating his beliefs to Nazi Germany, and comparing him to a king who wanted to seize power and subvert democracy.
[26] Donald Trump's campaign is about him.
[27] Not America, not you.
[28] Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.
[29] He's willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.
[30] Biden went on to compare his own re -election campaign to George Washington's fight for freedom at Valley Forge and claimed that those who supported the actions of January 6th are not true Americans.
[31] It can't be pro -insurrectionist and pro -American.
[32] Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it.
[33] So it sounds like President Biden is clearly making January 6th a key point to his re -election effort.
[34] Yeah, it seems that way.
[35] The White House is adopting a similar strategy to what we saw in the midterms last year, framing the election not as a choice between Republicans and Democrats, but instead as democracy versus tyranny.
[36] Now, that strategy did appear to be fairly effective in 2022, but now the question becomes just how well it sticks now that we're more than three years removed from the riot, and importantly, whether voters will care more about other issues Republicans are honing in on, mainly the economy and immigration.
[37] According to the latest data from Pew, just 5 % of Americans say, quote, elections and democracy are their top issue.
[38] That's compared to 50 % who say the economy or immigration.
[39] And it's also worth noting we have seen indications that Americans have used towards the January 6th riots have begun to shift or at least softened a bit.
[40] Right.
[41] So let's get into that.
[42] In what way are they shifting?
[43] Well, a new poll from the Washington Post this week showed that 43 % of Americans say it's, quote, time to move on from January 6th.
[44] Well, that's not an overwhelming number.
[45] It is still significantly larger than the figures that we saw in 2021 on the same question.
[46] And there's also growing skepticism regarding the federal government's potential role in that riot.
[47] In a Newsweek poll this month, two -thirds of Trump voters say the FBI may have instigated the event.
[48] And surprisingly, almost 40 % of Biden voters said the same in that poll.
[49] But while a growing number of Americans have expressed a desire to move on, the Biden -D -OJ is still pursuing prison time for all those who took part in the riot.
[50] And what's the latest on that effort?
[51] So since January 6th, almost 1 ,300 people have been charged for participating in the riot, and 200 of those arrests have come in the last six months.
[52] So the pace is hardly slowing down three years out now.
[53] Of the 750 or so who have been sentenced to this point, 64 % are facing prison terms.
[54] President Biden has pointed to those convictions as proof that he has committed to defending democracy and compared those rioters to Confederates in the Civil War.
[55] But rather than running from the events of January 6th or simply ignoring it, for his part, President Trump has accused Democrats of exaggerating the riot and also questioned why the DOJ has not made the same effort to track down those who took part in the Black Lives Matter riots.
[56] He's also implied he'd pardon the majority of those arrested after January 6th if he were elected.
[57] I am inclined to pardon many of them.
[58] I can say for every single one.
[59] because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.
[60] So three years later, the events of January 6th remain a major topic in the electoral landscape.
[61] Now the question becomes how voters respond.
[62] Right, and how it stacks up against other things like immigration.
[63] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[64] Any time.
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[72] The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by the Trump campaign seeking to overturn the Supreme Court of Colorado's ruling, barring him from the 2024 presidential ballot.
[73] The Colorado Court decided that Donald Trump had engaged in insurrection during January 6th and the events leading up to it, and using a provision of the 14th Amendment barring insurrectionist from public office, wipe the former president from the ballot.
[74] Now, the Supreme Court is set to render a final decision.
[75] Here to discuss the court's role in all of this as Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[76] Hey, Dave.
[77] So what is it exactly that the Supreme Court has to decide on here?
[78] Morning.
[79] There are three separate questions that the court will have to contend with, although they may not rule on all three.
[80] The first, is whether the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment applies to presidents when it refers to holders of public office.
[81] Senators and congressmen are specifically mentioned, but not the executive.
[82] Second, do states have the right to enforce this clause of the amendment, or does that require an act of Congress?
[83] And third, did Trump, in fact, engage in insurrection, even though he isn't actually charged with it?
[84] If Trump prevails on any of these questions, he wins and will be on the ballot.
[85] So in In practice, the court only needs to decide in his favor on one of them and could conceivably ignore the others.
[86] The bar is really Rocky Mountain High here for the state of Colorado, which will have to go three for three to ban the former president from its ballot.
[87] Right.
[88] Now, there is a lot of speculation, even among those who assume the court will find in Trump's favor as to what the split might be among the justices.
[89] What impact could that have, the degree of the split on the reception of the ruling?
[90] Yeah, so a simple majority is all that's needed to win the legal case, but there is a huge difference between, say, a 6 -3 decision pitting conservatives against the liberals and a 9 -0 or 8 -1 decision either way.
[91] Having buy -in from both sides will make the result more palatable for supporters of the losing side, no matter which way it goes.
[92] From the position of Chief Justice Roberts, who works extremely hard, sometimes to the frustration of conservatives to keep the court balance and trusted, And he'd probably like to see a unanimous decision on one of the three issues we discussed, have Trump on the ballot and quietly move on.
[93] So we'll see if he can make that happen.
[94] Should the court decide that Colorado can, in fact, bar Trump from the ballot?
[95] Could Republicans in red states try to retaliate by removing Joe Biden from ballots in their capacities?
[96] Yes, and we've heard rumblings about this, that a Republican Secretary of State could argue that Biden's refusal to secure the border is, fomenting insurrection or that if he's impeached for influence peddling, that could be considered treason.
[97] If this Colorado effort gets the stamp of approval, then it could be Katie Barr the door on other challenges and really fundamentally transform how our elections happen.
[98] Yeah.
[99] Do we know how fast the Supreme Court can get this done and where a decision might land on the primary calendar?
[100] Oral arguments are scheduled for February 8th, and the court has put it on a fast track.
[101] The Colorado primary is March 5th, which is part of Super Tuesday when 16 states will go to the polls.
[102] So it has to be before that.
[103] And California is one of the Super Tuesday states that is also considering barring Trump from the ballot, even though Governor Gavin Newsom is opposed to that.
[104] It is almost certain that the court will release a decision before the end of February, possibly well before.
[105] And the campaigns are really preparing for Trump to win that, which is the most likely outcome.
[106] But they know a giant electoral grenade has a small chance of exploding next month and throwing everything into chaos.
[107] Yeah, we don't need any more chaos at this point.
[108] There's always room for more.
[109] Dave, thanks for joining us.
[110] Thanks for having me. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin is under fire after he was incapacitated for days while nobody knew, not even the White House.
[111] Austin suffered a medical emergency on the first of the year and was in recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center over the weekend.
[112] wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about Austin's absence and the backlash the defense secretary now faces.
[113] So Tim, what can you tell us about Austin's condition?
[114] Not much.
[115] The defense secretary hasn't been very open about why he was hospitalized.
[116] From what we've been told through public statements and reporting, Austin was hospitalized on January 1st.
[117] He checked into Walter Reed over complications from an elective procedure.
[118] His condition was reportedly serious enough to land him in an intensive care unit.
[119] And he was still in recovery at Walter read over the weekend.
[120] So it looks like Austin is on the road to recovery, but now he has a pretty big scandal brewing as a result.
[121] What's that about?
[122] Yeah, so Austin was hospitalized a week ago in intensive care, not able to perform the full duties and responsibilities the head of the Defense Department.
[123] Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a huge issue.
[124] Others such as the Deputy Defense Secretary can take over his responsibilities on a temporary basis.
[125] However, the issue is that Austin didn't tell anyone he was incapacitated for several days.
[126] He even passed off some of his duties to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks.
[127] She was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time without telling her why she was now calling the shots.
[128] So it's not like he had a heart attack and wasn't able to communicate during that period.
[129] To give listeners a better picture, there are wars in Europe and in the Middle East at risk of spreading.
[130] U .S. forces are under attack in the Middle East by Iran -backed militias, and China continues to threaten to invade Taiwan.
[131] And the defense secretary suffers of medical crisis, and nobody's told about it.
[132] President Biden, the National Security Council, the Deputy Defense Secretary, and Congressional Oversight Committees were all kept in the dark for days.
[133] For someone who is sixth in line for the presidency, many see this as an unacceptable breach and security protocol and just common sense.
[134] Here's former Vice President Mike Pence on CNN on Sunday.
[135] To think that at a time when we have allies at war in Eastern Europe and here in Israel, that the leader of America's military at the Pentagon would be out of commission for a number of days.
[136] And the president of the United States didn't know about it.
[137] I think it was a dereliction of duty.
[138] And the secretary and the administration, frankly, need to step forward and give the American people the facts.
[139] So how much trouble is Austin in?
[140] Is he going to face pressure to resign?
[141] For right now, the White House seems to be standing by him.
[142] Biden reportedly spoke with Austin on Saturday night and according to one official's account, he has complete trust and confidence in the secretary.
[143] A national security council spokesman told Politico that Biden is, quote, looking forward to Austin getting back to the Pentagon.
[144] For his part, Austin is taking the blame.
[145] He released a statement on Saturday that said he understands the media concerns about transparency and that he could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed.
[146] He ended the statement saying, this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.
[147] That statement hasn't satisfied Congress, though.
[148] Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, pointed out all the unanswered questions that still exist over this.
[149] He said in a statement Saturday night that the very fact that we have none of this information is an indictment of the administration, which consistently holds congressional authority on national defense matters in contempt.
[150] Well, we'll see if the White House continues to stand by him.
[151] Tim, thanks for reporting.
[152] Good to be on.
[153] Another story we're tracking this week.
[154] leaders have reached a tentative deal on the overall budget totals, a huge step towards avoiding a partial shutdown later this month.
[155] The agreement leaves defense spending at 886 billion, which is what McCarthy bargained for with Biden last summer.
[156] But it still allows for almost 800 billion of non -defense spending.
[157] Lawmakers have two critical funding deadlines coming up on January 19th and February 2nd.
[158] To keep federal agencies up and running, both deadlines must be met.
[159] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[160] Thanks for waking up with us.
[161] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.