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[2] The Manhattan Grand Jury tasked with weighing whether or not to indict former President Trump was told not to convene on Wednesday, delaying any potential arrest of the former president.
[3] The move followed what some are saying could be case -altering testimony.
[4] My obligation is to bring the truth to both the district attorney and to Trump's lawyers.
[5] That's exactly what I did.
[6] We have the details.
[7] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[8] It's Thursday, March 23rd, and this is Morning Wire.
[9] The GOP -led committee on the weaponization of the federal government released a new report on the government's use of counter -terrorism resources against parents.
[10] Is there any connection, Mr. Attorney General, with the school board letter, and then five days later, your memo regarding school board issues?
[11] And a football coach who lost his job for praying after games wins a seven -figure settlement and what supporters are calling a victory for religious freedom.
[12] The superintendent and myself, we always said we were not going to take it personal.
[13] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
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[23] Former President Donald Trump has yet to be charged by progressive Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, following dramatic testimony that seriously damaged the prosecution's star witness, ex -Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
[24] Here to discuss the latest in the Stormy Daniels hush money case is Daily Wire Reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[25] Hi, Amanda.
[26] First, tell us about attorney Robert Costello and what he included in his testimony before the grand jury.
[27] Hey, John.
[28] So Costello is not Trump's lawyer, to be clear.
[29] He's represented the likes of Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, and he did advise, of course, Michael Cohen.
[30] The attorney who says his only mission is to tell the truth about Cohen testified for some two hours on Monday.
[31] and he really attacked the credibility of Cohen, whom he noted as a convicted liar.
[32] Cassello added that the ex -Trump lawyer is on a revenge tour and couldn't tell the truth if you, quote, put a gun to his head.
[33] Costello spoke to the press following his testimony on Monday.
[34] Here he is describing a meeting with Cohen about the Stormy Daniels hush money.
[35] He says took place in April of 2018.
[36] Michael Cohen told us that he was approached by Stormy Daniels lawyer and Stormy Daniels had negative information.
[37] that she wanted to put in a lawsuit against Trump.
[38] So Michael Cohn decided, on his own, that's what he told us, on his own, to see if he could take care of this.
[39] So he sat with the lawyer for Stormy Daniels.
[40] They negotiated a non -disclosure agreement for $130 ,000.
[41] So I said, Michael, where did you get the $130 ,000?
[42] Is that Trump's money?
[43] No, it's not.
[44] Well, where did you get it?
[45] Did you take it out of your own account?
[46] No. Again, how did you get it?
[47] I took out a key lock loan for $130 ,000.
[48] I said, why would you do that?
[49] He said, because I wanted to keep this secret, even secret from my own wife.
[50] Costello seemed generally optimistic about how he fared in front of the grand jury, but I'll add that he did express some frustration.
[51] He said he presented the prosecution with some 330 emails related to Cohen, but the jury only saw six of those.
[52] Just six out of more than 300.
[53] Right.
[54] Where are we now with a possible indictment and what are legal experts saying in the wake of this testimony?
[55] Well, remember, this really ignited over the weekend when Trump speculated that he'd be arrested on Tuesday.
[56] That day, of course, came and went, and now legacy media is reporting that the earliest an indictment could come down would be later today.
[57] At the very least, this process seems delayed from Bragg's original timeline.
[58] The grand jury did not meet on Wednesday, as it was expected to.
[59] Some legal experts have said that could be due to Castello's very damaging testimony, and have even speculated that Bragg could end up dropping.
[60] the case.
[61] Here's Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on Fox Tuesday.
[62] I think that Bob Costello has changed this case dramatically.
[63] I think that Bragg now only has two possible results from that.
[64] Number one, he can say, all right, I'm going to try to make the case without Cohen.
[65] He cannot use Cohen as a witness anymore.
[66] That would be unethical because of the testimony that Costello gave.
[67] Or he could say, look, I have to drop the case.
[68] Dershowitz, who represented Trump during his impeachment trial, wasn't alone in his assessment.
[69] Here's former assistant special Watergate prosecutor John Sale on CNN.
[70] I think Bob Costello's testimony, if nothing else, should cause Mr. Bragg to at least pause and think if this is the right case.
[71] If there is the facts and the law, Donald Trump should be held accountable.
[72] But frankly, I don't think this is a case.
[73] And I think beyond a reasonable down that Bob Costello's testimony tips the scale in favor of not bringing this case.
[74] So another voice saying Costello's testimony might have changed the equation.
[75] Has Trump responded to this latest turn of events?
[76] Yeah, absolutely.
[77] Trump posted Tuesday that Cohen got, quote, crushed by Costello, whom he called highly respected.
[78] He also ripped a brag for not dropping the case when legal experts agree there's quote, no crime, no affair, no bookkeeping error or misdemeanor, no nothing.
[79] Well, the saga continues.
[80] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[81] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire Reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[82] Coming up, the weaponization of the government committee releases an explosive new report.
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[90] The Select Subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government has published a new report outlining coordination between the Biden White House and the National School Board Association to pressure the DOJ into investigating parents expressing concerns at school board meetings.
[91] Here to discuss this columnist David Marcus.
[92] Hey, Dave.
[93] What new information do we see presented here?
[94] Good morning.
[95] So it's important to note that this is an interim report, but essentially the committee has found significant evidence that the National School Board Association was working closely with the Biden White House to get parents targeted just for asking hard questions at school board meetings.
[96] These were parents questioning lessons about critical race theory or sex and gender, and the committee says that undue pressure from the Biden administration may have led DOJ to undertake unwarranted investigations.
[97] And going so far as to say that the DOJ did not invoke, quote, due diligence, unquote.
[98] Now, part of the allegation here is that the NSBA actually collaborated with the Biden White House on the letter it's sent to that same White House, which was then passed along to the DOJ.
[99] Is that kind of action standard protocol?
[100] I mean, let's hope not.
[101] You know, there's putting your thumb on the scale, and then they're slamming your elbow into it with all of your body weight, which looks a lot more like what Biden's people did here.
[102] I think that's the big scary story here, the idea that interested parties, namely the NSBA and the Biden administration, were basically getting their story straight before they went to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
[103] Look, I think the White House will say, you know, we'll talk to interested parties before making recommendations, but this is the interested party.
[104] It doesn't look great.
[105] No. So Merrick Garland has been asked about this by Congress for over a year now.
[106] Has he shown any willingness to walk back efforts to target parents?
[107] No, he hasn't.
[108] And I think that's part of the frustration and why the committee wants to highlight this.
[109] Senator Chuck Grassley has compared this to something that might go on in a communist country.
[110] That's not a small thing to say.
[111] Is the Justice Department national security vision really necessary for keeping local school boards safe if parents aren't domestic terrorists and if the Patriot Act isn't being used, why is the National Security Division involved at all?
[112] This kind of looks like something that would come out of some communist country, expansive definition of national security.
[113] This is a time when education is occupying the minds of voters, and one might say specifically swing suburban voters in a way that's new.
[114] Clearly, the knee -jerk reaction to just back the school boards hasn't gone very well, and the DOJ, and frankly, the White House may need to shift gears and actually address some of the concerns that parents have, or at least not simply demonize them.
[115] This comes at a time in which more and more concerned parents are actually running for local school boards and in which many red states, at least, are enacting changes such as school choice that threaten the education bureaucracy.
[116] Is that playing in all this?
[117] Without question.
[118] The sort of, we are the experts don't question our model.
[119] of public education is under threat.
[120] Parents have real questions about what their kids are learning.
[121] You know, can their 10 -year -old choose their own gender?
[122] Is the history of America steeped in racism?
[123] They want some say in all this, and clearly the NSBA sees them as a threat.
[124] Is there a sense that the work of this committee in exposing the collaboration of the NSBA and the Biden administration could actually lead to some changes?
[125] Yes, but ultimately the committee is following the lead of parents.
[126] None of this happens if they weren't showing up angry, right, at school board meetings.
[127] The subcommittee can help those parents, can protect their voices, but it's the parents, not elected officials who are leading this fight.
[128] And I don't think we should expect that to change.
[129] Right.
[130] Well, Dave, thanks for joining us.
[131] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[132] A Washington football coach who was fired for praying after games has received nearly two million from the school district that fired him.
[133] I think every American should have the same freedoms of everybody else.
[134] The First Amendment is live and well for all Americans.
[135] People of faith, different face, or no faith at all.
[136] That was Joe Kennedy, an assistant high school football coach who took his case all the way to the Supreme Court and won.
[137] Here to discuss the ruling is Daily Wire Senior Editor, Ash Short.
[138] So Ash, first off, how did we get here?
[139] So this goes back several years to 2015, and actually much earlier than that.
[140] Coach Kennedy's aftergame prayers on the 50 -yard line started including athletes and other students, with the coach giving inspirational speeches that featured religious references.
[141] Over time, the prayer group grew to include a lot of students.
[142] Even though no one was compelled to participate in these prayer sessions, the school district became concerned of a potential lawsuit.
[143] The fear was that the prayer sessions could result in perceived favoritism toward those who participated in marginalization of those who did not.
[144] After a complaint was made to the principal, the school placed Kennedy on administrative leave and then recommended against renewing his contract for the upcoming school year.
[145] Kennedy sued, saying his postgame activities were protected under the First Amendment and took his case to the Supreme Court, which ruled last year that Kennedy had a right to pray after these games.
[146] In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that, quote, Kennedy's private religious exercise did not come close to crossing any line one by imagine separating protected private expression from impermissible government coercion.
[147] But the lower courts actually ruled against Kennedy.
[148] Right.
[149] Kennedy then appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
[150] They said that because students and fans could see Kennedy exercising his religious expression, the school was in the right to terminate him, arguing his prayers were not protected by the U .S. Constitution.
[151] Kennedy then took the case to the Supreme Court, which in 2019 declined to review his case, sent it back to the district court to answer some questions the justices had.
[152] The district court in the Ninth Circuit again sided with the school district, and this time the Supreme Court decided to hear Kennedy's case.
[153] So the Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy's favor in June.
[154] What's happened since then?
[155] Well, in October of last year, the district court ruled that Kennedy must be reinstated, and that the school cannot interfere with or prohibit Kennedy from continuing his aftergame prayers.
[156] In addition, the school district was prohibited from retaliating against Kennedy or taking any adverse employment action against him for prayers that comply with the Supreme Court's ruling.
[157] The school reinstated Kennedy earlier this month and he will return to campus when the football season starts later this year.
[158] And this week, Kennedy received more good news as he and the school district agreed to a $1 .7 million settlement package.
[159] Now, what's the community reaction been?
[160] Is there a lot of support for Kennedy?
[161] It's been mixed.
[162] Some residents say he never should have been fired, but others are concerned about the separation of church and state.
[163] The nearly $2 million payout has also divided citizens.
[164] At last week's school board meeting, plenty of parents and some students expressed frustration over the cost of the settlement.
[165] Here's a bit from that meeting.
[166] My question goes to how it's going to be paid for, is it paid out of insurance, paid out of her budget.
[167] How is this going to affect the educational process?
[168] and building tech centers and all these other things that we want to do.
[169] You have cost us, the people that live here in Bramerton, this money.
[170] The school board has not addressed how the settlement will be paid, so as of now, we still don't have answers to these questions.
[171] Well, a significant case with major religious liberty implications.
[172] Ash, thanks for reporting.
[173] You're welcome.
[174] That was Daily Wire Senior Editor, Ash Short.
[175] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[176] Thanks for waking up with us.
[177] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news.
[178] you need to know.