Morning Wire XX
[0] A federal judge has granted the Trump team's request to appoint a special master to review the records seized from Trump's home in August.
[1] How will a special master affect the investigation?
[2] What more have we learned about what the FBI seized?
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[4] It's Tuesday, September 6th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] Russia has closed the Nord Stream pipeline indefinitely, causing gas prices to skyrocket across Europe.
[6] How is Europe planning to avoid the potentially devastating consequences?
[7] And will it be enough?
[8] And after two years of a red -hot housing market, experts say the housing recession has officially begun.
[9] We have the details.
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
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[20] A federal judge in Florida approved former President Trump's request on Monday to appoint a special master to oversee the FBI's review of materials seized from Marlago last month.
[21] The judge also ordered the FBI to place its criminal investigation on hold until that special master can review the records for privileged information.
[22] Here to discuss the latest update in the unprecedented saga between the former president and the FBI is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[23] So, Tim, Trump won on his request for a special master.
[24] What did the judge say?
[25] Hey, Georgia.
[26] Well, Judge Cannon actually pointed to the unprecedented nature of the case in her order to appoint a special master.
[27] She wrote that the court is, quoting here, mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented, so that, in addition to the need to balance the investigators' work with Trump's right to privileged information and personal material, are the driving forces behind her decision.
[28] But the Department of Justice initially argued against a special master appointment.
[29] What was the government's case for that?
[30] Well, a large part of the DOJ's argument was that a special master is unnecessary.
[31] The department said that the FBI has already located and separated out over 500 documents protected under attorney -client privilege.
[32] Ironically, Cannon later used that fact to support her decision in favor of Trump.
[33] But the DOJ essentially argued that the FBI has already done the work that a special master is supposed to do and gone through the materials to separate out what is Trump's and what material is relevant to the government's investigation, which focuses on hundreds of documents that the DOJ says contain classified material.
[34] Now, what impact will all of this have on the case?
[35] Well, first off, it'll slow down the FBI investigation.
[36] As part of Cannon's order, the FBI must freeze its review of the seized materials and is prevented from using any of those items for investigative purposes until the special master can complete his review.
[37] Secondly, the special master, as is his role, should be a safeguard for Trump's interests as the FBI goes through the materials taken from Mar -a -Lago.
[38] The Department of Justice has already admitted that some of the seized records are potentially protected under attorney -client privilege.
[39] Even the DOJ agrees that FBI investigators don't have a right to those materials.
[40] The FBI already has a privilege review team, and they have taken all such records from investigators, so the special master will have to double -check that work.
[41] But also, according to Cannon's order, the special master will identify materials potentially protected under executive privilege.
[42] Legal opinions are mixed on this matter, but the DOJ has argued that Trump no longer has the authority to exert executive privilege because that rests in the office of the president, now held by President Joe Biden.
[43] So working out what limits there are to executive privilege after a president is no longer in office is something the court system may have to decide later as this case continues.
[44] Now, do we know any more at this point about what the FBI took from Mar -a -Lago?
[45] Not precisely, but we did get a better idea last week after Judge Cannon unsealed a more detailed list of what the FBI sees.
[46] The list didn't go into too much detail, but from it we can draw that the FBI took 33 boxes or containers of material that were located in Trump's office or in a storage room.
[47] According to the list, agents took hundreds of pages of classified documents and records, as well as more mundane objects, such as items marked as clothing or gifts, books, and printouts of news articles.
[48] All right.
[49] Well, Tim, thanks so much for keeping track of this for us.
[50] My pleasure.
[51] That was Daily Wires, Tim Pierce.
[52] Coming up, Russia cuts off its crucial natural gas pipeline to Europe.
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[61] With European countries already struggling under the weight of soaring energy prices, the region was dealt another crippling blow.
[62] As Russia closed, the largest natural gas pipeline in the region, rattling markets and worsening the ongoing energy crisis.
[63] Here to discuss how the pipeline closure will impact the global economy as Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[64] All right, Cabot, so some devastating news, though not unexpected, for Europe here.
[65] Yeah, it really is.
[66] This is the worst -case scenario for Europe.
[67] For months, there had been growing fear among Western allies that Russia could permanently close the all -important Nord Stream gas pipeline.
[68] And this week, those fears were, realized, setting off a panic in much of Europe and really around the world.
[69] Now, Russia traditionally supplies almost half of the EU's natural gas, and some countries are 100 % relying on them.
[70] Even Germany, the largest economy in Europe gets 66 % of their natural gas from the Russians.
[71] And this pipeline was the single largest contributor.
[72] And now it's being shut off.
[73] The announcement came just hours after G7 countries agreed to impose a new price cap on Russian oil, so it's clearly a retaliatory move by Putin.
[74] To that point, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said Monday that, quote, the collective West are to blame for the situation.
[75] So they're not trying to hide their intentions.
[76] No, they're not.
[77] Now, there were some warning signs this was coming, correct?
[78] Right.
[79] So back in July, the Russians announced that the pipeline would be cut down to 20 % of its normal production.
[80] At the time, Russian officials claimed that reduction was the result of routine maintenance on the pipeline, but, you know, it was pretty obvious they were lying and simply trying to weaken Western economies in response to their solidarity with Ukraine.
[81] And for the last two months, they've sort of been dangling the threat of closing the pipeline entirely, clearly hoping it would serve as a deterrent against Western intervention in Ukraine or increased sanctions.
[82] And that did not have the effect they were hoping for, because European nations announced a new round of sanctions this week, and Russia responded by finally playing their Trump card, closing the pipeline entirely.
[83] Now, it is worth noting, experts actually say this could result in even more sanctions against the Russians because now they've used up their best piece of leverage and essentially the Europeans have nothing left to lose.
[84] So something to keep an eye on as things progress.
[85] Yeah, so a possible escalation against Russia could be coming next.
[86] Definitely.
[87] What's the immediate impact going to be in Europe?
[88] Well, we're already seeing what the impact is.
[89] Multiple European currencies tanked following the news.
[90] The euro, for example, hit its lowest point in over 20 years as the market's prepared for an almost certain recession that's coming as a result of this.
[91] other things in the region.
[92] The European Central Bank also gave indications they'd respond by raising interest rates with the hope of controlling inflation brought on by these rising energy costs.
[93] And energy prices themselves soared immediately.
[94] On Monday alone, get this, EU prices on natural gas and electricity went up 25 % in one day.
[95] And keep in mind, that's after these energy prices in the region and the continent more broadly have already hit record highs in the last month.
[96] The EU has already enacted a plan called Save Gas for a Safe Winter over the summer, and it was aimed at cutting natural gas use by 15%, but that reduction just will not be enough to make up for what they're losing.
[97] So their ultimate goal now is to become more energy dependent before winter hits.
[98] That's obviously a very quick timeline.
[99] Will that even be possible?
[100] Yeah, it's going to be a tall order.
[101] They're investing tens of billions of dollars into creating new utilities and supply chains to replace those with Russia, bringing in more natural gas from the U .S. and the Middle East.
[102] But this sort of thing, it takes a good bit of time.
[103] And nations like Germany and the UK are also shelling out billions to those most impacted by the rising energy costs, but that can't last forever.
[104] And it is worth noting.
[105] There had been people trying to sound the alarm bells that this could be coming.
[106] And critics in Europe say that the crisis is largely self -induced and that their rush to embrace green energy and shutting down nuclear plants and cutting crude oil.
[107] They opened themselves up to dependence on Russia and abandoned their own energy infrastructure that would have left them more prepared for a situation like this.
[108] That note, former President Trump has also been among those critics.
[109] Remember, back in 2018, he told the U .N. General Assembly that, quote, Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course.
[110] Now, at the time, he and others with similar warnings were quite literally laughed at by European officials, but look, no one is laughing now.
[111] This is a crisis.
[112] Yeah, certainly is.
[113] Cabot.
[114] Thanks for reporting.
[115] Anytime.
[116] That was Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[117] The last couple of years have seen an exploding housing market with the costs of homes surging amid low inventory.
[118] But now experts say the market has taken a turn, and we've entered a housing recession.
[119] Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
[120] So, Charlotte, are we headed for a housing crash?
[121] Not quite.
[122] So as you said, experts are calling this a housing recession, but we're not likely to see massive price drops because inventory is still low.
[123] But there's a consensus that the market is cooling down.
[124] We just came out of a really hot housing market, as you all have reported on the show.
[125] Home prices were sky high and interest rates were low and people were looking to buy at incredible rates.
[126] Now, interest rates are much higher, up at 5 .72 % from under 3 .3 % going into 2022.
[127] And the market is responding.
[128] Some buyers are canceling their contracts because of interest rates.
[129] Existing home sales dropped by 5 .9 % in July from June, which made it the sixth month in a row of a drop.
[130] And that was a 20 % decline from the year before.
[131] First -time homebuyers normally make up around 40 % of sales, but last month they only made up 29%, which shows that more people might be hesitant to enter the market for the first time.
[132] Now, what about rates of new construction?
[133] How are builders responding?
[134] New construction is slowing down.
[135] Sentiment among builders dropped to negative levels in August after eight months of steady decline, according to one prominent metric called the National Association of Home Builders Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
[136] The chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, Robert Dietz, said there's now a housing recession caused by, quote, tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and persistently elevated construction costs.
[137] Single -family home construction was down almost 19 % in July compared to last year, and building permits were down 12 % which typically resemble future projects.
[138] Here's Logan Motishawmi, an analyst for Housing Wire.
[139] The builders are done building single -family homes for a while now.
[140] Their job is to make sure they can sell that last eight months of supply that they have that are either under construction or not started yet.
[141] Now, the big question on people's minds is housing prices.
[142] Are they dropping?
[143] Typically, prices go up on average between June and July because a lot of families like to move when their kids are out of school for the summer.
[144] but home prices went down almost 1 % from June to July, according to Black Knight.
[145] That was the first monthly drop in three years, and that was actually the biggest single month decline in costs since January of 2011.
[146] Now, home prices were still higher in July of this year than July of last year, but most of that increase happened in the early part of this year before mortgage interest rates went up.
[147] Here's Ryan Schneider, CEO of Anywhere Real Estate, explaining the prices.
[148] List prices are getting cut, but But in part, I think, because there's a lot of demand still for housing demographically and not enough supply of housing, we haven't seen prices go down.
[149] And home prices are dropping much more significantly in certain areas.
[150] For example, they dropped 10 % recently in San Jose, California.
[151] Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, L .A., and Denver also drops two.
[152] Andy Walden, Vice President of Enterprise Research and Strategy at Black Knight, says that more price corrections are probably coming.
[153] So homebuyers and sellers will likely continue to watch this market and see where it goes.
[154] Well, I know here in Nashville, prices have been crazy, but even here, we actually just started to see a drop.
[155] So it'll be interesting to track.
[156] Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
[157] Thanks for having me. That's Daily Wires, Charlotte Penn Spawn.
[158] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[159] A manhunt was launched Sunday afternoon in Canada for two suspects wanted in connection to a series of stabbings that left at least 10 people dead and over a dozen others injured.
[160] President Biden's average national approval rating now stands at 42 % approve, 55 % disapprove, according to real clear politics, while a total of 70 % of Americans feel the country is going in the wrong direction.
[161] The people of Chile resoundingly rejected a new Constitution Sunday that was billed as one of the most progressive in the world.
[162] 62 % voted against the Constitution, which included left -wing environmental and gender -focused provisions, and would have established autonomous indigenous territories.
[163] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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[167] Thanks for waking up with us.
[168] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
[169] No.