Morning Wire XX
[0] A 16 -year -old is recovering from being shot after ringing the doorbell at the wrong house.
[1] He's able to communicate, but mostly he just sits there and stares and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes.
[2] We discussed two wrong -address shootings and how they both relate to the Castle Doctrine.
[3] I'm Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howl.
[4] It's Wednesday, April 19th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] The U .S. debt ceiling hit $31 trillion in January.
[6] Will Republicans be able to negotiate federal spending cuts in exchange for raising the limit?
[7] And as President Biden lays out his re -election bid, a new report shows a shift in his campaign strategy.
[8] Plus, Fox News settles its lawsuit with Dominion voting systems, just as the trial was set to begin.
[9] Today's settlement of $787 ,000 ,500 ,000.
[10] represents vindication and accountability.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
[14] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[21] 16 -year -old Ralph Yarl was shot twice by an elderly homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri after he reportedly rang the doorbell to the wrong home.
[22] From legacy media to the White House to Hollywood, the story has exploded over the race of the victim who is black and the suspect who is white.
[23] Here to discuss the shooting and the response to it is Daily Wire reporter, Amanda.
[24] pressed to Giacomo.
[25] So Amanda, first off, tell us the details of this incident.
[26] Yeah, absolutely.
[27] Yarl reportedly went to pick up his 11 -year -old twin brothers on Thursday night, but mistakenly ended up at the wrong home, confusing it with an address a block away.
[28] He went up to the door just before 10 p .m. rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.
[29] Yarl was then shot twice, once in the forehead near his hairlined and once in the arm, through a glass storm door by 84 -year -old homeowner, Andrew Lester.
[30] According to a probable cause statement, Lester says he was trying to sleep when he heard his doorbell ring.
[31] He picked up his revolver and opened the interior front door.
[32] He saw Yarl pulling on the exterior storm door handle.
[33] Lester told police he thought Yarl was attempting to break into his home and that he was scared to death and subsequently shot Yarl twice.
[34] Yarl is thankfully back at home and is expected to make a full recovery, despite having bullet fragments polter from his frontal lobe in the hospital.
[35] He was able to give a statement from his hospital bed, at which time he said no words were exchanged before he was shot, though Lester later told him, quote, don't come around here.
[36] Lester says he called 911 after the shooting.
[37] He was brought in for questioning but was released less than two hours later because police had more investigative work needed to be done.
[38] Days later on Monday, Lester was charged with assault in the first degree, a Class A felony that could be punishable by up to life in prison, and felony armed criminal action, which is punishable by up to 15 years.
[39] His bail has been set at $200 ,000.
[40] Now, this story has become a focal point in the media.
[41] Is that primarily due to the race of the shooter and the victim?
[42] Yeah, that's definitely a large part of it.
[43] Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson did tell the media that there was a racial component to this case, but also clarified that there's nothing in the charging documents that say the shooting was racially motivated.
[44] Several celebrities, including Viola Davis and Halle Berry, have voiced outraged over the shooting, too, and President Joe Biden has reached out to the Yarl family.
[45] One of Yarl's attorneys, controversial civil rights activist Ben Crump, claims this shooting is emblematic of a broader targeting of unarmed black Americans in the U .S. He also claims Lester was only charged because of pressure put on the authorities in Kansas City.
[46] It's nothing new what they're doing is two juster systems in America, one for black America and another for white America.
[47] Since the shooting, Lester's home has been agged and vandalized.
[48] Hundreds of people protested outside the man's home over the weekend, too.
[49] Here's some audio of that from KSHB 41 News.
[50] What do we want?
[51] Justice!
[52] When do we want it?
[53] Yeah!
[54] Now, literally within a few days, another very similar situation played out in New York.
[55] What happened there?
[56] Right.
[57] Just days later, a 20 -year -old woman who was white was fatally shot in similar circumstances, except the woman did not even exit her car.
[58] The woman, Kalyn Gillis, was a passenger in a vehicle with three other friends when they accidentally turned into the wrong driveway while looking for a friend's home in rural upstate New York.
[59] While parked in the driveway, 65 -year -old Kevin Monaghan also white, opened fire from his front door, killing Gillis.
[60] Now, in both of these cases, the victims were shot while on personal property.
[61] How does the law see cases like these?
[62] So under Missouri's Castle Doctrine, a homeowner has, quote, no duty to retreat from what they reasonably believe to be a deadly threat.
[63] So in Lester's case, a jury will probably have to decide whether Yarl possibly moving to open that storm door was sufficiently threatening.
[64] In New York, the homeowner does have a duty to retreat before resorting to deadly force.
[65] So because Gillis didn't exit the car before she was shot, the shooter will presumably have a harder time defending his decision to shoot.
[66] Well, two very tragic cases, and we're just going to have to see how this plays out.
[67] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[68] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[69] Coming up, Congressional Republicans outline a debt ceiling plan.
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[79] After months of fierce debate in Washington, the Republican -controlled Congress has begun to outline a plan for raising the nation's debt ceiling before the federal government defaults on its debt later this year.
[80] But before it can pass, the plan must gain approval from President Biden.
[81] Here with more on this high -stakes political battle is Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips.
[82] So Cabot first, how did we get to this juncture?
[83] So the debt ceiling is just an arbitrary limit set by Congress that controls national debt.
[84] Because the government typically spends more money than it takes in each year, that ceiling is routinely in need of raising.
[85] The last time they voted to raise the limit was in 2021, when they up the debt ceiling by 2 .5.
[86] trillion to a total of $31 .4 trillion.
[87] That is greater than our country's entire GDP.
[88] Now, because our government has spent so much money over the last year, that raise only ended up buying 12 months of time.
[89] And the limit was hit once again this January.
[90] But instead of simply raising it once more, the newly GOP controlled Congress refused to raise the limit without conditions.
[91] That forced the Treasury Department to adopt what they call, quote, extraordinary measures to avoid defaulting on key financial obligations.
[92] Right, but those measures can only last so long.
[93] Exactly.
[94] And that brings us to where we are today.
[95] If Congress does not come up with the plan, the U .S. will likely default on its debt this summer or early fall.
[96] That is something that neither side wants to see.
[97] But Republicans have made clear that they'll only raise the limit if certain conditions are met by the White House.
[98] What is each side calling for at the moment?
[99] Well, on Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave his most substantive public comments to date on where his party stands.
[100] Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy said Republicans would be willing to compromise and offer a one -year debt ceiling increase.
[101] in exchange for concessions from Democrats.
[102] Specifically, he wants a deal that will freeze federal spending at current levels, roll back a number of private sector business regulations, and implement stricter work requirements for welfare and other social spending programs.
[103] And according to McCarthy, the plan will not cut any spending from Social Security or Medicaid.
[104] That was an important sticking point back in January when this all began.
[105] And what about President Biden?
[106] What's he pushing for?
[107] So from the beginning, the White House has called for Congress to raise the debt ceiling without any conditions.
[108] They say Congress has raised the limit a hundred times before, and they should do it again without using it as a negotiating tool.
[109] Speaker McCarthy made clear this week that a deal will now only happen if Biden offers concessions this go around.
[110] A no strings attached debt limit increase will not pass.
[111] But since the president continues to hide, House Republicans will take action.
[112] On Tuesday afternoon, President Biden responded directly to Speaker McCarthy, calling his plan to cut federal spending reckless.
[113] He proposed huge cuts to important programs that millions of Americans count on.
[114] He threatened to become the first speaker to default on our national debt.
[115] So what comes next?
[116] Well, McCarthy says once the GOP plan is finalized, they'll hold a vote in Congress in the coming weeks.
[117] From there, it'll head to the Democrat -controlled Senate and if passed on to the president.
[118] But given the current stance from the White House, it appears this is just the first phase in a long battle.
[119] Yeah, and one that's likely to get pretty intense.
[120] Kevin, thanks for reporting.
[121] time.
[122] That's Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[123] President Biden is gearing up for his re -election bid, and according to a new report, his strategy will heavily rely on social media influencers.
[124] Here to tell us more about Biden's social media campaign is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
[125] So, Megan, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that the White House is looking to influencers to boost its reelection chances.
[126] Celebrity endorsements are a time -honored tradition in politics, and influencers are kind of the new celebrities.
[127] So are these going to be paid spokesmen or what kind of roles will these be?
[128] No, according to Axios, they'll be unpaid, but there's going to be a lot more to it than that old celebrity model of just appearing at a campaign event or, you know, taking a few of those promotional photos.
[129] There will reportedly be hundreds of them and they're essentially being recruited to act as a mini press corps, though, of course, all the news will be pro -Biden.
[130] So Axios said the White House is even considering setting up a dedicated.
[131] press briefing room for them, and then they'll have access to the president as he's traveling.
[132] Now, four different White House staffers are managing this effort, and the man heading it up, Rob Flaherty, has the title, Assistant to the President.
[133] And that's the same rank as Biden's press secretary, Corinne Jean -Pierre, to give you just some idea how seriously they're taking this.
[134] So the influencer's marching orders are going to be to use their large social media followings in some pretty targeted ways to, as you might have guessed, influence.
[135] voters who aren't engaged with politics and maybe don't follow any Democrats on social media to get out and pull the lever for Biden.
[136] All right.
[137] So the title influencer can mean a lot of different things to different people.
[138] What kind of social media stars are they seeking out for these roles?
[139] Well, you know, obviously a key part of Biden's strategy is going to be to turn out young voters.
[140] Gen Z influencers are obviously going to make up a huge part of it.
[141] To give you one example, we already know that TikToker Harry's, Sisson has signed on to this project.
[142] Now, if you're not familiar, he's a freshman at NYU who does these short daily news updates.
[143] But his key point is that he has 700 ,000 followers.
[144] Gen Z is going to make sure there's a blue wave in 2024.
[145] Republicans have no policy to help young people.
[146] They're literally trying to take away our rights.
[147] But Jen O'Malley Dylan, who is the White House deputy chief of staff, said that they're also going to be trying to reach moms, climate activist, really just a range of demographics, so not just Gen Ziers.
[148] Another one of these influencers is going to be Vivian 2.
[149] She's a millennial former trader who posts financial explainers on TikTok and Instagram.
[150] And then there's Heather Cox Richardson.
[151] She's a history professor who's actually in her 60s, but she has a huge Twitter following.
[152] But if you look back, this isn't entirely a new strategy for the Biden administration.
[153] Remember that in 2021, they brought in a social media influencer to push compliance with the government's COVID policies.
[154] That was Instagram star Benny Drama.
[155] He filmed this kind of comedy sketch pretending to be a White House intern in order to promote the vaccine to younger people who were at that point statistically more resistant to getting it.
[156] And then they used a young TikToker who was famous for asking people in nice cars, what they do for a living.
[157] well, they asked him to film himself asking Biden the same question so that the president could then tout his electric vehicle plan.
[158] Well, it's always interesting to follow how these campaigns change cycle after cycle.
[159] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[160] Anytime.
[161] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[162] Another story we're tracking this week.
[163] After two years of hype and speculation, Fox News and Dominium voting systems reached a settlement on Tuesday, just as the trial was getting underway.
[164] Dominion sued Fox for defamation back in March of 2021, after the network featured guests who leveled claims against the voting tabulator, alleging it was used to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
[165] Dominion sued Fox for $1 .6 billion claiming the network damaged its reputation.
[166] The amount of the settlement is reportedly $787 million.
[167] A lawyer for Dominion addressed the settlement on Tuesday.
[168] Lies have consequences.
[169] Fox released a statement that said, quote, We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial allows the country to move forward on these issues.
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[173] Well, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[174] Thanks for waking up with us.
[175] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.