Morning Wire XX
[0] In a major victory for those censored during COVID, the Fifth Circuit Court has ruled that the White House, the FBI, and the CDC violated freedom of speech by pressuring social media to censor users.
[1] A relatively small group of very powerful scientific bureaucrats dominated the media, dominated the message to politicians, that as a result, we had a catastrophic response to COVID.
[2] We break down the ruling and what it means for the future of free speech.
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[4] It's Tuesday, September 12th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] Republicans are calling for the impeachment of New Mexico's governor, after she issued an executive order suspending citizens' right to bear arms.
[6] No constitutional right is intended to be absolute.
[7] We discuss the order and the backlash from both the right and the left.
[8] And President Biden's trip to Asia raises more questions about American.
[9] America's relationship with China and the president's leadership.
[10] The American people clearly are more concerned about Biden's age, his mental fitness, and his ability to do his job than they were before he took office.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
[14] The Fifth Circuit court ruled Friday that the White House, the FBI, and the CDC likely violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor users.
[15] The appellate judges held that these federal agencies should not have been involved with content moderation, especially when it came to COVID and elections.
[16] Here to tell us more about the ruling is Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham.
[17] So, Megan, obviously, this is a case with major implications for the whole tech industry.
[18] What did the court find?
[19] So, you know, we've covered this case before as it's been winding its way through the courts.
[20] And it started with a suit filed by the Attorney's General of Missouri and Louisiana.
[21] But it also included the epidemiologists who authored that great Barrington declaration that was opposed to many of the government's COVID policies.
[22] Well, they argued that the White House, along with a number of federal agencies, violated the First Amendment by coercing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, all of those, you know, big social media platforms to censor users.
[23] In early July, a Louisiana court issued what you have to say was just a blistering opinion.
[24] Judge Terry Dowdy called the government's actions.
[25] I'm quoting here, arguably the most massive attack against free speech in the United States history.
[26] And he said that the Biden administration had set up what he called an Orwellian Ministry of Truth.
[27] Dowdy then issued a sweeping injunction that blocked the White House and these agencies from having any further contact with the social media platforms about their content moderation.
[28] Now, the appeals court was deciding how much of that injunction to leave in place.
[29] The DOJ argued that their actions represented what you call jawboning.
[30] What that essentially means is it was just trying to use its own free speech rights to persuade these private companies that they shouldn't allow certain posts to be published.
[31] And the courts have ruled that that is allowed.
[32] What's not allowed is coercion or implying that companies will face retribution if they don't comply.
[33] So the question was whether what the federal agencies did in asking the platforms to moderate this content violated free speech rights or if it was just job owning.
[34] And it sounds like the Fifth Circuit Court didn't buy that it was just job owning.
[35] No, they definitely did not.
[36] So independent journalist Matt Taibi, who testified before Congress about these various government agencies coursing tech giants to censor Americans, well, he attended the Fifth Circuit hearing.
[37] And he wrote in his substack, and I'm just going to quote from it, that it seemed to play out disastrously for the federal government with appellate judges comparing the Biden White House to the mafia.
[38] So the three -judge panel said that Dowdy did not err in determining that the White House, the Surgeon General, the CDC, and the FBI likely coerced social media platforms.
[39] And it said that made any moderation stemming from their requests, quote -unquote, state actions.
[40] So Eric Schmidt, who was Missouri's AG at that time that the lawsuit was filed, he's now, a senator, he said this about the ruling on Fox.
[41] It's a crushing blow to this censorship regime that the Biden administration established, and it's far -reaching a number of agencies.
[42] It was almost exclusively in its conservatives.
[43] It dealt with origins of COVID.
[44] It dealt with a hundred Biden laptop.
[45] It dealt with mask mandates, you name it.
[46] And they were threatening these big tech companies.
[47] Essentially, we're going to take legal action.
[48] We're going to regulate you more.
[49] I mean, that's the kind of coercion they were executing, which is why the judge said you can't outsource that censorship that's illegal for the government to do.
[50] The White House, however, rejects this, and it says the federal agencies, quote, promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security.
[51] So would you say that this is a total victory for Schmidt and the other plaintiffs?
[52] You know, not entirely.
[53] The Fifth Circuit did narrow the scope of that Louisiana injunction.
[54] They ruled that the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, as we know, Saiza likely hadn't violated free speech rights with this system that it had, had set up with tech execs to flagposts containing what they called COVID misinformation content.
[55] The court suggested that that could be allowable if it didn't include either coercion or promise of reward for cooperating.
[56] But conservatives are still looking at this as a major victory, and it seems pretty clear that the White House is also looking at it as a win for the other side as they announced that they're evaluating their options to appeal.
[57] So they have 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review.
[58] All right.
[59] Well, it sounds like there's a good chance this ends up in front of SCOTUS.
[60] Yeah.
[61] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[62] Anytime.
[63] New Mexico governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, is facing intense backlash after taking the drastic step of suspending the right to carry firearms in New Mexico's most populous county.
[64] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the governor's gun order and the blowback she's received.
[65] So a rather stunning move in New Mexico and a swift response from not just the right, but even some on the left.
[66] Tell us about this order.
[67] Yeah, really a remarkable action here by the governor.
[68] So on Friday, Lujan Grisham banned carrying guns in public areas and on state property for 30 days in the city of Albuquerque and the rest of Bernalillo County.
[69] She issued an order declaring a public health emergency after a spate of shootings that left several children dead.
[70] The governor said in a press conference Friday that the ban is a necessary stopgap until the state can figure out a better way of handling what she said was an epidemic of gun violence.
[71] Critics, including even some Democrats and gun control advocates, immediately called Lujan Gershams ban unconstitutional.
[72] Here's the governor on Friday explaining her action.
[73] If there's an emergency, and I've declared an emergency for a temporary amount of time, I can invoke additional powers.
[74] There are restrictions on free speech.
[75] There are restrictions on my freedoms.
[76] In this emergency, this 11 -year -old, and all these parents who have lost all these children, they deserve my attention to have the debate about whether or not in an emergency we can create a safer environment.
[77] Despite that, she's continued to spar with her critics in defense of her order.
[78] Yeah, about that.
[79] What kind of backlash have we seen?
[80] Locals staged a protest in Albuquerque over the weekend.
[81] A crowd of protesters gathered with many carrying guns in open defiance of the health order.
[82] Here's what a bit of that sounded like.
[83] I've gone on two combat tears with the Marine Court.
[84] She thinks she has the right to take away my freedom and protect my community.
[85] This will not stand.
[86] We will not comply.
[87] The penalty for violating the order is a $5 ,000 fine, but Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said local police wouldn't be enforcing the order.
[88] The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office doesn't appear to be enforcing it either.
[89] Sheriff John Allen said he has reservations about the Constitution, of the order and doesn't want to put his deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts that come from, quoting here, prohibiting law -abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self -defense.
[90] The governor's order has also received pushback from gun control activist David Hogg and Democrat Congressman Ted Liu of California, both of whom called the governor's order unconstitutional.
[91] Now, there have already been some lawsuits filed.
[92] Tell us about those.
[93] Right.
[94] At least three lawsuits are either filed or in the process of being filed by, gun rights groups.
[95] On top of the lawsuits, two Republican state representatives, Stephanie Lord and John Block, say the governor should be impeached.
[96] Here's Block on Fox News on Monday.
[97] There is not a single Democrat in the state house or Senate who has gone to support her in this unconstitutional power grab.
[98] So absolutely, we can get bipartisan support on this.
[99] We will get her impeached.
[100] We'll keep watching what happens here.
[101] Tim, thanks for joining us.
[102] Great to be on.
[103] President Biden returned this week from a trip to Asia where he met with the G20 leaders in India and announced new partnerships in Vietnam.
[104] Here to discuss how the trip could impact China's growing influence in the region and a viral on -stage gaff from President Biden is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[105] So Cabot, first off, tell us about the visit.
[106] Well, the president spent the last two days in Asia, stopping first in India before heading to Vietnam to announce a series of trade deals there.
[107] And while the official purpose of the visit, was to meet with allies and expand economic partnerships in the region.
[108] The clear underlying purpose of the trip was to combat Chinese influence in the region.
[109] Right.
[110] Now, talk to us about how China plays into this visit.
[111] We saw some interesting comments from the president on that front.
[112] Yeah, so the visit comes at a time when the White House is looking to deepen our ties in the region for two main reasons.
[113] First, they want to reduce American reliance on Chinese goods and manufacturing.
[114] And second, they want to offer Asian countries an alternative to Beijing, hoping that increased investments with the U .S. will undercut the Chinese and essentially send more business our way as opposed to China.
[115] To that point, Biden and other G20 members, including India, announced a new plan to construct a massive, quote, economic corridor with ports and railways connecting South Asia to the Middle East.
[116] The hope there is that the new infrastructure will counteract China's Belt and Road Initiative, which has been used by Beijing to get a foothold in countries around the world.
[117] But despite those apparent moves to combat Chinese influence in the region, the president wouldn't actually acknowledge it, publicly at least.
[118] I don't want to contain China.
[119] I just want to make sure we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up squared away.
[120] Everybody knows what it's all about.
[121] But regardless of what he's saying publicly, foreign policy experts say this is all a clear effort to make inroads in China's backyard and put pressure on Beijing.
[122] Remember, Biden has had similar meetings with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
[123] So it's clear he has his eyes on expanding America's presence in Asia.
[124] Now, shifting gears a bit, there was one moment in particular involving the president, that got a lot of attention.
[125] Tell us a little bit about that.
[126] Yeah.
[127] So while the White House had certainly hoped that the deal with Vietnam and G20 meetings would lead the headlines, it was actually a strange moment during a press conference in Illinois that dominated social media on Monday morning.
[128] While speaking on stage, Biden appeared to freeze for a few seconds before trailing off and telling reporters that he wanted to go to bed.
[129] And look, nobody likes having celebrated international meetings if you don't know what you want at the meeting.
[130] But I tell you what, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go to bed.
[131] And then seconds later, while answering a separate question, Biden mistakenly referred to the Southern Hemisphere as the, quote, third world, before being cut off abruptly in the middle of his answer by a staffer offstage.
[132] Listen.
[133] We talked about making sure that the third world, the, excuse me, third world, the Southern Hemisphere had access to change it, had access.
[134] It wasn't confrontational at all.
[135] Thank you, everybody.
[136] This ends the press conference.
[137] Thanks, everyone.
[138] Thank you.
[139] Thank you.
[140] Now, for their part, Biden supporters say that it had been a grueling travel day and the president was simply jet -lagged.
[141] But remember, this incident comes as questions about Biden's age and mental decline have become more pronounced.
[142] For example, a new Wall Street Journal poll last week found that 73 % of a Americans say Biden is too old to run for office.
[143] So while some might be quick to discount that incident on stage, these types of moments do matter to voters and it could have a real impact on the race in 2024, regardless of his opponent.
[144] Right, hard to predict.
[145] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[146] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[147] Thanks for waking up with us.
[148] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.