Morning Wire XX
[0] The Special Counsel Investigation into the origin of the Russia collusion narrative offers new revelations about a key FBI source.
[1] We discuss the latest from the John Durham investigation.
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[3] Happy Constitution Day.
[4] It's September 17th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
[5] A claim of racial heckling on the BYU campus prompts widespread media coverage and an extensive investigation.
[6] While some outlets are issuing retractions, one university is still refusing to play Brigham Young.
[7] We have the details.
[8] And Oberlin College has been ordered to pay millions of dollars to a local Ohio bakery falsely accused of racism.
[9] We've always treated everybody properly, and that's all we wanted from the start, just to continue on our lives and keep the store going.
[10] We have the details on the multi -year saga.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
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[21] Special counsel John Durham revealed in a court filing unsealed on Tuesday that the FBI hired a suspected Russian agent to aid in its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
[22] The revelations come as the former FBI source, Igor Danchenko, is set to stand trial next month for allegedly lying to the FBI.
[23] Here to update us on Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion narrative and the revelations about Danchenko is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[24] So, Tim, what did we find out in yesterday's court filings?
[25] Hey, Georgia.
[26] The nugget that carried a lot of headlines earlier this week was that the FBI paid Danchenko, who is a Russian national living in the U .S., to inform them of attempts by Russia to manipulate the 2016 election.
[27] Danchenko joined the FBI as a paid confidential human source in March of 2017.
[28] The FBI didn't end that arrangement until over three years later in October 2020.
[29] Just so people remember, Danchenko was the primary source for Christopher Steele's notorious dossier.
[30] Danchenko is the guy who told Steele the ridiculous claim that Trump hired prostitutes to urinate on the bed of a Moscow hotel that former President Obama had apparently once slept in.
[31] So Danchenko has since been discredited, but the filing also says that he was suspected of being an agent for Moscow, correct?
[32] Yes.
[33] And this has been publicly reported before.
[34] The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into Danchenco in 2009.
[35] He allegedly offered to pay an acquaintance money in exchange for classified information.
[36] Durham's filing says that in 2008, Danchenko was working at a prominent think tank in Washington, D .C., when he asked two of his coworkers whether one would be willing to feed him classified information in exchange for cash.
[37] Danchenko made the offer on the assumption that the coworker was going to wind up working in the Obama administration soon after.
[38] Well, one of the people Danchenko spoke to told the FBI about the offer and the Bureau began looking into him.
[39] The FBI stepped up its investigation after finding that Danchenko was an associate of two other subjects of FBI counterintelligence investigations.
[40] And that Denchenko was previously in touch with the Russian embassy and known Russian intelligence operatives.
[41] The FBI never made a formal determination about Danchenko because they stopped investigating him in 2010.
[42] At that time, they wrongly concluded that he had left the country.
[43] So the same man who the FBI was investigating around 2009 as a possible foreign spy ended up on FBI payroll just a few years later after he began sourcing information about Trump to Christopher Steele.
[44] That's correct.
[45] And keep in mind, Christopher Steele worked for an organization called Fusion GPS, which was subcontracted to the law firm Perkins Coy, which had been hired by the Clinton campaign.
[46] Perkins Coy, as part of their work for Clinton, enlisted Fusion GPS to obtain opposition research on the Trump campaign, which is how the Steele dossier was ultimately funded.
[47] For what it's worth, Durham appears to be making the case that the FBI was duped by Danchenko.
[48] He's being charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI between March and November in 2017.
[49] Durham claims that those alleged lies had a material impact on the FBI's investigation.
[50] So at this point, we're waiting to see if Durham has enough to convince a jury next month.
[51] Is that correct?
[52] Yes, that's correct.
[53] All right.
[54] Well, Tim, thanks for reporting.
[55] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[56] Coming up, controversy erupts in the sports world over a claim of racial heckling at BYU.
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[59] Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down.
[60] Download the DailyWire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
[61] Brigham Young University has completed a full -scale investigation into claims that racial slurs were used against a Duke volleyball player, Rachel Richardson.
[62] Here to fill us in is Crane & Company co -host David Cohn.
[63] David, if you would, walk us through this incident involving the BYU and Duke volleyball teams.
[64] On Friday, August 26th, the Duke volleyball team took the court against Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
[65] Following the match, report's surface that Duke player Rachel Richardson was a victim of racial heckling from a person in the BYU student section.
[66] Now, Richardson's godmother, Lisa Pamplin, who is running for circuit court judge in Fort Worth, Texas is the one who tweeted, My Goddaughter is the only black starter on Duke's volleyball team.
[67] While playing yesterday, she was called the inward every time she served, unquote.
[68] Naturally, this prompted responses from every media outlet in the nation.
[69] BYU athletic director Tom Homo issued an immediate apology, banned the accused fan indefinitely, and initiated a full -scale investigation into this matter.
[70] The findings from that investigation were released by the university on September 9th.
[71] They read, quote, We reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles.
[72] from our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegations that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event, unquote.
[73] No evidence.
[74] That's what they're saying here based off their investigation.
[75] The school also stated, John, they spoke with more than 50 individuals seated in the student section that night, but no one has acknowledged hearing the type of language described by Ms. Richardson.
[76] All right.
[77] So an exhaustive report finds no evidence.
[78] of this claim, how has Duke responded given that lack of evidence?
[79] Well, Duke issued a statement of their own saying, quote, we unequivocally stand with and champion our women, especially when their character is called into question.
[80] Duke Athletics believes in respect, equality, and inclusiveness, and we do not tolerate hate and bias, unquote.
[81] Now, remember, it was Duke University where three lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape in 2006.
[82] Right.
[83] That settlement ended up costing the university.
[84] roughly $100 million.
[85] Now, to date, neither Duke nor Rachel Richardson nor the player's godmother, Lisa Pamplin, has issued an apology to the aforementioned fan accused here, although he has been reinstated.
[86] Now, a lot of mainstream media outlets jumped on this story early.
[87] Even now, CNN sportscaster John Avalon has done an entire segment called A Pun Further Review, where he stated, everyone should have waited for more of the facts to come out.
[88] I actually have a clip of that here.
[89] Healthy skepticism is always a virtue.
[90] But this doesn't read like a cover -up.
[91] Instead, it feels like there was a rush to judgment.
[92] All right, so after pretty extensive media coverage, we have some retractions, including from CNN.
[93] Yes, not from the university themselves, but from some media sources.
[94] Nonetheless, South Carolina women's basketball head coach Don Staley has now canceled a previously scheduled home -and -home series with BYU basketball.
[95] She stated the incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home -and -home, and I don't feel this is the right time for us to engage in this series.
[96] Even members of South Carolina's House Freedom Caucus stood up and said Coach Staley and athletic director Ray Tanner have rushed to judgment on this matter, but both are standing by their position.
[97] Now, you mentioned South Carolina basketball.
[98] Weren't they accused of something similar not long ago?
[99] Yes, in 2018, as a matter of fact, it was following a contest against the Gamecocks when Missouri Athletic Director Jim Stirk stated, we had player spit on and called the N -word.
[100] It was not a good environment, and I think Coach Staley promoted that kind of atmosphere, unquote.
[101] That accusation certainly got a response from Ray Tanner at South Carolina.
[102] They said, I have that here, quote, Upon hearing the accusations regarding our crowd's behavior towards the Missouri team, the Athletics Department conducted a review of our operations from the game, including interviews with staff and security personnel.
[103] In this review, we receive no confirmation of the alleged behavior.
[104] That sounds eerily similar to BYU's explanation.
[105] Yeah, it does.
[106] Well, a very controversial sequence of events there.
[107] No doubt.
[108] David, thanks for coming on.
[109] Thank you.
[110] That was Crane & Company co -host, David Cohn.
[111] In 2016, Alan Gibson was working at his family -owned business, Gibson's bakery, when a few Oberlin College students attempted to shoplift.
[112] Gibson chased the students out of the store where they attacked him.
[113] He called the police and the students were arrested and pleaded guilty to shoplifting.
[114] Students at the school accused the bakery of racism, leading to protests in a years -long legal battle between Oberlin College and Gibson's bakery.
[115] Now, almost six years later, Oberlin College has agreed to pay damage, to Gibson's.
[116] Here to discuss the situation is Daily Wire Senior Editor Ash Short.
[117] So Ash, how did this escalate?
[118] So after the initial incident, Oberlin students started protesting the bakery.
[119] And even though the shoplifters themselves pled guilty in court and denied that race had anything to do with the incident, Oberlin administrator supported and repeated the accusation that the bakery acted out of racism.
[120] The students who admitted to shoplifting a bottle of wine from the bakery were black, whereas the bakery owner Alan Gibson is white.
[121] This whole saga resulted in prolonged protests that financially crippled the bakery.
[122] During the protests, Oberlin's students harassed customers, attempted to prevent them from entering the business, and made disparaging comments about the business in person and online.
[123] Flyers that remained on display on campus for a full year discouraged students from buying from racist Gibson's bakery.
[124] In private e -mail, revealed in court, Oberlin administrators called the bakery and its defenders idiots, saying F them.
[125] When a member of the community emailed Oberlin administrators to say she had spoken with people of color in the community who all said they didn't think the Gibson's were racist, Tita Reed, an administrator at Oberlin, said the email didn't change a, quote, damn thing for her.
[126] In text messages provided to the Daily Wire, another Oberlin administrator, Tony Myers, said she hoped to quote, rain, fire, and brimstone on that store, referring to the bakery.
[127] Now, all of this led to Gibson's suing Oberlin College for damages, correct?
[128] Correct.
[129] Gibson sued Oberlin for defamation, and in 2019, a jury awarded the bakery $44 million in damages, a number that was revised down to $36 million due to state laws capping the amount of damages one can receive.
[130] Oberlin appealed the ruling, but an appeals court upheld it, and the Gibson family asked the court to force the college to start paying what it owed, arguing that the school's actions had nearly bankrupted the more than a century -old business.
[131] The Gibson said in their court filings that Oberlin's authorized campus tour guides were telling people not to shop at their bakery, and college officials ordered the campus food services to cease all orders of cookies, bagels, and more from Gibson's.
[132] The family also said that notices denigrating the Gibson's were publicly posted in college buildings.
[133] things.
[134] Here's bakery owner, Lorna Gibson.
[135] We lost so much of the business after the protests that I couldn't afford to keep the showers filled.
[136] Now, has the college issued a formal apology to Gibson's?
[137] No. And the Gibson's have repeatedly said that this could have all disappeared if the college had just apologized in the beginning.
[138] I spoke to the family attorneys last week, and they told me that Alan Gibson had asked the school to retract its comments about the bakery, but the school refused.
[139] So Oberlin has now been ordered to pay $36 million.
[140] Yes.
[141] Oberlin appealed the verdict to the Ohio Supreme Court, but the court declined to hear the case, meaning the school has to pay the $36 million that owed the bakery.
[142] Finally, earlier this month, the school said it had initiated that payment and that after all of this, the $36 million wouldn't hurt the school at all.
[143] As for the family, they are determined to keep their bakery going.
[144] Ash, thanks for reporting.
[145] You're welcome.
[146] That's Daily Wire Senior Editor, Ash Short.
[147] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[148] According to scientists, multiple collected rocks contained organic molecules associated with life.
[149] The samples will be stored in tubes until a follow -up mission can bring them home in 2030.
[150] A judge in Delaware has found that a vote by mail law is not constitutional and that the practice cannot be utilized for the upcoming election.
[151] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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