Congress May Ban Stock Trading & Censoring Joe Rogan

[0] A new bipartisan law seeks to ban members of Congress from trading on the stock market in order to prevent insider trading.

[1] What's in the bill, and why is it gained traction on both sides of the aisle?

[2] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.

[3] It's Monday, January 31st, and this is Morning Wire.

[4] First, it was Neil Young, then Joni Mitchell.

[5] Now the Biden administration is also turning up the pressure on Spotify to drop Joe Rogan's podcast.

[6] What does the debate around COVID misinformation mean for free speech online?

[7] And the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing officially kick off on Friday.

[8] But most of the news leading up to the games is not about the star athletes or the various events.

[9] Instead, Olympic discussions are focused on the host country and its human rights abuses.

[10] We'll look at the major controversies swirling around Beijing 2022.

[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

[12] Stay tuned.

[13] We have the news you need to know.

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[20] A new bipartisan effort is underway to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks after multiple studies have brought into question whether members have been using inside information to get rich.

[21] Here with the details on the proposed legislation, as well as how members of Congress are responding, is Daily Wires Cabot Phillips.

[22] So, Cabot, give us a quick overview here.

[23] What's being proposed?

[24] Well, currently, members of Congress are allowed to buy and sell individual stocks as long as they aren't trading with, quote, non -public knowledge, according to the law.

[25] Critics say that that's too vague a definition and leaves the door open for members of Congress to unfairly leverage the information they hear in closed -door meetings for their advantage.

[26] So right now, leaders from both sides, including Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democrat Senator John Ossoff, have proposed similar laws that would ban members of Congress and their immediate families from buying individual stocks.

[27] Instead, if they wanted to invest in the market, they'd have to put their money in a blind trust.

[28] Now, under Holly's proposal, members who violated the law would have to pay all of their profits directly to the U .S. Treasury, while under Osloff's bill, they'd have to pay a fine equal to their congressional salary.

[29] Members of Congress shouldn't be patting their own pockets and lining their own wallace.

[30] They ought to be focused on doing what the people sent them there to do.

[31] And that means they shouldn't be trying to make a quick buck in the stock market.

[32] So how much proof is there that members are benefiting from inside information?

[33] Well, that's the thing.

[34] It's tough to prove why they bought, what they bought when they bought it.

[35] But there are plenty of examples that look sketchy.

[36] For example, in November, Lockheed Martin won a 10.

[37] billion contract with the U .S. government to modernize the F -22.

[38] Two weeks before that deal was public, House Democrat Kathy Manning bought $30 ,000 worth of Lockheed stock.

[39] And it just so happens that she sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and presumably would have known this contract was coming.

[40] House Republican Kevin Hearn, who sits on the budget committee, did more or less the same.

[41] He bought $100 ,000 worth of Lockheed stock just weeks before the contract was announced.

[42] Obviously, that deal caused those stocks to soar.

[43] Right.

[44] And make them a lot of money.

[45] Nancy Pelosi was also a big earner here.

[46] Back on March 19th, for example, she and her husband bought over $3 million worth of Microsoft stock.

[47] Just 12 days after that purchase, the stock spiked 12 % when it was announced that Microsoft had secured a $22 billion contract with the U .S. military.

[48] Members of Congress were so successful trading stocks that many traders actually started following their stock activity and copying their exact moves and turning quite a profit.

[49] It actually became a pretty popular trend on.

[50] TikTok and Twitter.

[51] So if this has been going on for years, why is there a renewed push right now?

[52] Yeah, for years there have been scattered calls for a law like this, but two things happened recently that really served as a catalyst for actual movement.

[53] First was COVID.

[54] Numerous politicians, both Republican and Democrat, made significant profits buying and selling stocks related to vaccines and other COVID products.

[55] In multiple instances, it looked like they were trading with information that they'd received in closed -door briefings during the early days of the pandemic.

[56] And do we expect this bill to pass?

[57] It's hard to know at this point, but there's definitely plenty of momentum.

[58] We know that.

[59] Seventy -five percent of voters in one recent poll said members should not be playing the stock market.

[60] So there's broad support from both sides of the aisle.

[61] And even members who have apparently benefited from the practice are now supporting reform, at least publicly.

[62] Nancy Pelosi, for example, who initially opposed the measure because quote, were a free market economy, said last week that with pressure building, she would change her And that, quote, if members want to do that, I'm okay with that.

[63] Fascinating.

[64] Cabot, thanks for digging into this.

[65] Absolutely.

[66] That's Daily Wires, Cabot Phillips.

[67] Coming up, the Biden administration turns up the heat on Spotify.

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[73] 60s -era folk singers like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell aren't the only ones calling on Spotify to censor popular podcaster Joe Rogan over what they're calling COVID misinformation.

[74] Now, a leading health official in the Biden administration is also suggesting that, big tech needs to do more to rein in Rogan's influence.

[75] Here to catch us up on just who is asking for Spotify to suppress Rogan and why is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.

[76] So Megan, the Neil Young thing was kind of a big story last week after he asked Spotify to choose between his music and Rogan.

[77] Not surprisingly, Spotify chose Rogan, but then Joni Mitchell joined Young saying that she's going to take her music off the platform if they continue to host Rogan's show.

[78] And then just yesterday, Harry and Megan Markle jumped on the anti -Rogan bandwagon as well.

[79] They're challenging the streaming platform to, quote, meet the moment.

[80] But now, in addition, the Biden administration has also sort of signaled that it wants Spotify to reign in Rogan.

[81] So tell us about that.

[82] Right.

[83] So I think the Neil Young, Joni Mitchell thing, that's sort of entertaining to watch.

[84] We've seen these kind of celebs showdowns in the past.

[85] But a member of the Biden administration saying something similar is very different.

[86] and it's much more serious.

[87] So last week on MSNBC hosts Mika Brzynski and Joe Scarborough specifically asked U .S. Surgeon General Vivek Muthi about Rogan's podcast and the role they believe it's played in spreading COVID, quote, misinformation.

[88] Now, this was his answer.

[89] I know when it comes to how we root out the misinformation in society right now and give people access to accurate information, we've got to do several things.

[90] Number one, we've got to recognize that our technology platform, whether, particularly social media, these have an important role to play.

[91] These are the predominant places where we're seeing misinformation spread.

[92] These platforms have still not stepped up to do the right thing and do enough, I should say, to reduce the spread of misinformation.

[93] So that's a pretty pointed statement, you know, especially in light of the debate happening in Washington about reigning in big tech.

[94] So I imagine Spotify's probably feeling a lot of pressure right now.

[95] Right.

[96] I imagine they are.

[97] And, you know, that gets at the heart of this argument over social media, streaming platforms and free speech.

[98] So you have some legal scholars on the conservative side who have argued that, as private companies, part of big text free speech is having the liberty to censor speech on their platforms as they see fit.

[99] Now, that argument would say, for example, that Twitter shouldn't have to platform speech or speakers that they don't like, and that's fine because it's not the government doing the censoring.

[100] But other constitutional experts have said that's too simplistic because the government has been coercing Big Tech to suppress speech.

[101] So in that case, big tech would be acting as an arm of the government engaging in censorship.

[102] Now here, with the Surgeon General's comments, you could argue that you see an example of the Biden administration attempting to do just that, pressure Spotify to censor Rogan on its behalf, especially since it's been clear that Spotify wasn't particularly inclined to silence Rogan before this.

[103] And is this the first time we've seen a member of this administration say something like this about big tech?

[104] No, not at all.

[105] In fact, this was a bit more mild than we've seen in recent months.

[106] To give you one example from July, White House Press Secretary Jen Saki outlined a series of what she called Asks that she said the Biden administration has presented to the big tech companies.

[107] Now, since that time, we've started to see YouTube and Twitter in particular take some pretty strong action against Rogan.

[108] YouTube has removed some of the episodes that's centered on COVID treatments, and Twitter has completely banned one of his most popular guests, Robert Malone, who was the doctor that pioneered MRNA vaccines.

[109] Then just yesterday, Bloomberg reported on a leaked internal email that says Spotify is now planning to add warning labels to Rogan's show.

[110] So the administration appears to have had, you have to say, some success in pressuring big tech.

[111] So Spotify is becoming one of the last holdouts right now for free speech.

[112] Yeah, I think you could say that.

[113] and the pressure is really ramping up on that company.

[114] Now, they may not care what, say, Anil Young or Joni Mitchell, or as you said, Georgia, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex thing.

[115] Right.

[116] But they probably care a lot about the federal government suddenly turning its attention to them.

[117] Right.

[118] Megan, thanks for bringing us this story.

[119] Yeah, no problem.

[120] That's Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.

[121] With just a few days until the beginning of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the news is not centered on the games themselves.

[122] or the Olympians who will be competing.

[123] Instead, the focus is on the location of the game as Beijing's communist government cracks down on free speech and their human rights abuses continue to be highlighted.

[124] Here to tell us more as Daily Wire Sports reporter, Joe Morgan.

[125] So, Joe, for good reason, the fact that the Olympics are taking place in China is really dominating the conversation.

[126] Yeah, which is to be expected.

[127] From the U .S. side, this officially ratcheted up in December, that's when the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the game, citing China's, and I'm quoting here, ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity.

[128] China's communist government responded, of course, by saying that, quote, the U .S. will pay a price for its wrong practices.

[129] But many feel that the diplomatic boycott by the administration is not enough.

[130] Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said the administration had no plans to protect our athletes.

[131] But for the IOC, the question is, why Beijing?

[132] With all we know about the PRC, the oppression of the Uighur people, the silencing of the dissidents, why did the IOC decide to give the Chinese government another shot of the Olympic Games.

[133] Here's what veteran sports broadcaster, Bob Costas, said about the situation.

[134] The IOC deserves all of the disdain and disgust that comes their way for going back to China yet again.

[135] So Custis mentioned COVID's impact on the games and concerns over freedom of the press.

[136] Can you unpack those issues a bit more for us?

[137] Sure.

[138] I mean, as far as COVID, all athletes will be separated from the rest of society.

[139] They will be in a, quote, closed loop.

[140] And participants will also.

[141] be subjected to daily testing throughout their time in China.

[142] Athletes that break protocol will face repercussions such as expulsion from the games.

[143] Athletes and team officials must be fully vaccinated in order to avoid a 21 -day quarantine in China.

[144] Unlike at the Tokyo Games, the vaccine will be a requirement for members of the U .S. Olympic team.

[145] Right.

[146] As far as fans attending events, China announced a change in plans in mid -January, with the organizing committee announcing that the original plan to offer event tickets to the general public had been scrapped, with tickets now being offered to, quote, groups.

[147] And then NBC Sports will not send announcers to the 2022 Beijing Games in China over growing COVID concerns.

[148] That makes us the second straight games NBC Sports has mostly announced from its headquarters in Stanford, Connecticut, rather than the host city itself.

[149] Right.

[150] So one of the big questions here, will the press and athletes be able to speak freely, you know, without fear of repercussions from the Chinese government?

[151] It's a great question, John.

[152] The IOC has stated that athletes will be allowed freedom of speech in China when it comes to speaking with journalists and posting on social media, though how the IOC will protect athletes against Chinese law is unclear.

[153] But two weeks ago, the deputy director general of Beijing's 22 International Relations Department, Yang Zhu, told reporters that Olympians who violate the, quote, Olympic spirit will be subject to punishment.

[154] And this is a direct quote from Yang.

[155] Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit, I'm sure, will be protected in anything in any behavior or speeches that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese law and regulations are also subject to certain punishments.

[156] While political demonstrations are not allowed at the Olympics, the IOC announced in July 2021 that protests would be allowed prior to the start of competition and during the introduction of an athlete or a team.

[157] Whether that will be allowed in Beijing is a completely different conversation.

[158] Indeed, it is.

[159] Well, the games kick off on Friday, so we're about to see how all this plays out.

[160] Yeah, and it's going to be fascinating.

[161] It definitely will.

[162] Thanks, Joe.

[163] Thanks, John.

[164] Daily Wire Sports Reporter, Joe Morgan.

[165] Another story we're tracking this week.

[166] California gun rights groups are suing the city of San Jose after the city approved a proposal to make gun owners get liability insurance and pay a yearly fee directed to a nonprofit.

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