Morning Wire XX
[0] A former business partner of Hunter Biden is set to testify before Congress in an ongoing corruption investigation.
[1] How much did the president know about his son's overseas business dealings and what was his role in the scandal?
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[3] It's Tuesday, July 25th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] The Israeli Parliament is receiving backlash after passing part of a judicial reform drastically limiting the power of the country's Supreme Court.
[5] What's next in Netanyahu's plan, and why is the U .S. asking the Prime Minister to slow down?
[6] And after threats of legal action from the governor, a small California school district has reversed course on a state -approved curriculum they had originally rejected.
[7] This is a call out to parents, to keep moving, keep getting involved, get on committees, keep showing up, because you will make a difference.
[8] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[9] Stay tuned.
[10] We have the news you need to know.
[11] In a major development, Hunter Biden's former best friend and business partner will reportedly testify to Congress that Hunter's father, President Joe Biden, took part in dozens of conversations with foreign business partners and investors.
[12] Here with more on the revelation and what it means for the investigation into the alleged bribery scheme involving the Biden family is Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[13] So Cabot, tell us about these new claims.
[14] Yeah, it seems every month there's a new development in this story.
[15] It's sort of been death by a thousand cuts.
[16] But this week, we're dealing with a major gash.
[17] According to a report from the New York Post, Devin Archer, the former best friend and business partner of Hunter Biden, will testify before Congress this week, offering new details into then -Vice President Joe Biden's alleged role in securing business for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
[18] According to the Post, Archer will go on the record saying that President Biden was not only aware of Hunter's business dealings, but actually took part in numerous phone conversations with his son and foreign business partners and investors over two dozen times.
[19] That testimony would totally contradict President Biden's own account of the story.
[20] Remember, for years now, the president has insisted that he had no knowledge of his son's business dealings and was totally removed from the process.
[21] For example, here he is throughout the 2020 campaign.
[22] I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their businesses, period.
[23] Mr. Vice President, how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?
[24] I've never spoken my son about his overseas business deal.
[25] Do you stand by your statement that you did not discuss any of your son's overseas business dealings?
[26] Yes, I stand by that statement.
[27] Now, remember, House Republicans are currently investigating whether the Biden family used their power and influence to score foreign deals.
[28] According to Kentucky Rob James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, the upcoming testimony will prove that, quote, Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said, he knew nothing about his son's business dealings.
[29] Now, the timing of President Biden's alleged involvement is also significant.
[30] Tell us a little bit about that.
[31] So some of these alleged calls took place at a time when Burisma, the company employing Hunter, was under a corruption investigation by the Ukrainian government.
[32] In one email from November of 2015, a Burisma executive told Hunter, he needed to use his influence to, quote, close down the corruption investigation.
[33] A month later, Archer alleges that Hunter put his father on a call with that executive, as well as the company's owner, telling then Vice President Biden that they, quote, need our support.
[34] That call took place just three days before Biden was set to visit Ukraine for a speech on the, quote, poison of cronyism, corruption, and kleptocracy.
[35] And then three months later, Biden famously threatened to withhold a billion dollars in U .S. aid to Ukraine, alleging that the man investigating Burisma was not actually trying to root out corruption.
[36] He then bragged to the Council in Foreign Relations that he'd used the threat of withholding those funds to force Ukraine's president to fire that prosecutor.
[37] I look, I said, we're leaving six hours.
[38] If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money.
[39] Oh, son of a bit.
[40] You're fired.
[41] The big question now becomes whether Archer will provide details of what President Biden said on those calls and just how much evidence he can provide to back up his claims.
[42] Now, how have Republicans responded to this news?
[43] Well, GOP lawmakers in the House have been trying to get Archer to testify for months now, issuing three separate subpoenas in a. effort to arrange a deposition, but Archer to this point has backed out of each, prompting frustration from the House Oversight Committee.
[44] But obviously, they're happy that he's doing so now in such a public manner.
[45] As Committee Chair Comer put it, quote, we're looking forward very much to hearing from Devin Archer about all the times he's witnessed Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden's overseas business partners when he was vice president.
[46] Now, more broadly, Republicans say that this is all further proof that Biden used his position as VP to score some of those lucrative business deals for his son.
[47] To that point, they note that just two months after Biden left his position as VP in 2016, Breesma cut Hunter's salary in half from $83 ,000 a month to $41 ,500.
[48] Publicans say it's clear evidence that Hunter's role in the company was tied to his ability to secure access to his father while he was in power.
[49] Well, this story continues to get more convoluted.
[50] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[51] Anytime.
[52] Israel's parliament passed the first part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reform plan on Monday.
[53] Netanyahu's opposition has mobilized large protests and backlash has even affected the military, a move Netanyahu's allies have denounced as a coup.
[54] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the unrest in Israel and where Netanyahu goes from here.
[55] Hey Tim.
[56] So what exactly did the Knesset accomplish yesterday?
[57] Well, this is a first step.
[58] Netanyahu's coalition passed through the first of a few reforms to Israel's judiciary.
[59] The prime minister has planned.
[60] He's had his eyes on court reform for a while.
[61] His first attempt came in March, but inspired so much backlash that he paused the reforms to give a chance to negotiators to lower the temperature.
[62] Monday's reform was pretty tame.
[63] It rescinded the Israeli Supreme Court's authority under what is known as the reasonableness standard.
[64] The standard has allowed the high court to block any legislation from the Knesset that the court deemed unreasonable.
[65] And lawmakers in Israel's right wing have complained for years that the authority is overbroad and arbitrary.
[66] For example, the court invoked it in January to block Netanyahu from appointing an ally as finance minister and his government.
[67] The reform passed 64 to zero with unanimous support from Netanyahu's coalition.
[68] Opposition lawmakers walked out in protest without registering their votes.
[69] All right.
[70] So unanimous because of the walkout.
[71] What comes next?
[72] Netanyahu isn't done.
[73] He still has plenty more reforms he wants to get to.
[74] But it looks like he's moving more deliberately this time after the protest that shut down his plans in March.
[75] Netanyahu's reforms, if passed, would be the largest overhaul of Israel's judiciary since the country was founded.
[76] He wants to change how members of the Supreme Court are selected and give the Knesset authority to override judicial decisions among other reforms.
[77] Somewhat ironically, there's a push building to have the Supreme Court step in to block the Knesset's reforms that could put the country into uncharted territory with the Knesset pitted against the judiciary and no clear process out.
[78] Right.
[79] Now, you said Netanyahu was being more careful here to avoid the backlash you received last time around.
[80] How successful has he been with that?
[81] Well, he at least got something past this time, but the protesters are out in force again.
[82] Thousands of Israelis have been protesting for the past few weeks over this latest reform push.
[83] On Monday, executives from 150 leading Israeli businesses join the protest by calling for a general strike ahead of the vote.
[84] And in a move that's been particularly concerning to Nanyahu's allies, thousands of military reservists have said they'll drop out if the reforms aren't stopped.
[85] Some of the prime minister's coalition members have said the reservist actions amount to a military coup.
[86] Netanyahu suggested something similar in a speech last week when he said the deciding hand in a democracy isn't that which holds a weapon, but the hand that places the ballot in the ballot box.
[87] Here in the U .S., President Biden has urged Netanyahu to not rush the reforms.
[88] Why is Biden interested in Israel's internal politics?
[89] Well, that's not entirely clear.
[90] Biden's message seems to be that Israel has a lot more pressing issues to worry about than judicial reform.
[91] And Netanyahu's reforms are too divisive.
[92] But Biden and Netanyahu have had a rocky relationship since Biden took office.
[93] For example, the two leaders appear to be at odds over a potential revival of the Iran nuclear deal.
[94] We'll see how far Netanyahu gets with these reforms.
[95] Tim, thanks for joining us.
[96] Thanks for having me. Following pressure from California governor Gavin Newsom, including the threat of a $1 .5 million fine and legal repercussions, a Southern California school district has reversed course to adopt a state -approved curriculum the school board initially rejected.
[97] Here to discuss the latest developments in the textbook battle is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestige -Ocamo.
[98] So Amanda, we left off last week with the Temecula Valley Unified School Board voting three to two against this state -approved curriculum, largely because they found it to be too sexualized for elementary kids.
[99] But by Friday, the board reversed course, and they approved the curriculum.
[100] So what happened?
[101] Well, numerous school board members have said this approval happened essentially because if they didn't quickly greenlight the state -backed books, the district would be open to legal action.
[102] Specifically, they worried they would be in violation of California's Williams Act, which mandates students have equal access to instructional materials and quality teachers.
[103] But there were certainly other factors at play here.
[104] As we covered last week, Governor Newsom vowed to purchase the then -rejected books and bill the district with a $1 .6 million invoice, and that would be in addition to that $1 .5 million fine.
[105] Newsom has also bragged about a civil rights investigation launched by the state's Attorney General back in June into why the board rejected the curriculum.
[106] I spoke to Jen Weirzma, one of the trustees who initially voted against the curriculum, and here's what she told me about the pivot.
[107] I think there was a combination of things that forced us to the table at this point.
[108] There just was collusion in the entire process that went from the governor.
[109] office to the Attorney General out to our Riverside County Board of Ed.
[110] And we felt boxed in.
[111] School Board President Joseph Komroski relayed similar pressures when discussing the recent curriculum approval.
[112] He said Newsom, A .G. Robbanta, and state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, are, quote, salivating for the board to make a mistake.
[113] Kamroski added that he acted to, quote, avoid litigation.
[114] So this curriculum was adopted on Friday after an emergency meeting was called.
[115] How did that meeting go down?
[116] What happened?
[117] Well, four of the five school board members were able to attend on such short notice, and they eventually voted unanimously to approve the curriculum.
[118] However, the most controversial materials, a chapter for fourth graders on Harvey Milk and other LGBT -related content, has been pushed to the end of the school year and will likely be completely removed and replaced.
[119] Here's Weirzma again.
[120] The story is that we did a 180 flip, and that's not the case.
[121] What we decided to do is take in the curriculum and basically rewrite a fourth grade module and will include LGBT people because you need to as per the Fair Act, but it will move into a realm that is less controversial, and we're going to work the best we can to ask for modifications and work to provide the community with a standard that they're more comfortable with within the material.
[122] Now, Governor Newsom is really at the center of this battle.
[123] How has he reacted to them changing their mind on this?
[124] The governor's response has been more of the same.
[125] Following Friday's vote, he again went after these board members who initially voted against the curriculum.
[126] He said the vote exposed their true motives, adding that this was never a lot of, about parental rights, but about, and this is a, quote, extremist desire to control information and censor the materials used to teach our children.
[127] He also suggested the board members are demagogues who whitewash history censor books and perpetuate prejudice and said because of the school board members, quote, antics, temecula has a civil rights investigation to answer for.
[128] I asked Weirzma about these attacks from Newsom.
[129] The governor's statements are outrageous.
[130] It is been a surreal thing for me to live through this with the amount of threats and intimidation.
[131] So, you know, the bullying that's gone on, whether it's monetarily through a fine or a lawsuit and the name calling, it's egregious.
[132] There's no other way around it.
[133] And if you're looking at someone who wants to run for the president of the United States, people better step back and question this because local authority is the way our founders set up this country.
[134] Individual communities should be able to speak into things without a governor tossing out the power of his office.
[135] Well, a really difficult position this school district is in.
[136] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[137] Thanks for having me. Another story we're tracking this week.
[138] Carly Russell, the nursing student who claimed that she was kidnapped in Alabama while checking on a toddler on the side of the road admitted to law enforcement that she made up the whole story.
[139] Her attorney provided a statement to law enforcement this week, which stated, quote, there was no kidnapping.
[140] Carly did not see a baby on the side of the road and apologizes for her actions.
[141] Thanks for waking up with us.
[142] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.