Morning Wire XX
[0] After years of opposing President Trump's efforts to construct a wall at the southern border, the Biden administration is now moving to build the wall.
[1] Why is the administration waiving dozens of federal laws?
[2] And why are Democrats now trying to secure the border?
[3] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howe.
[4] It's Friday, October 6th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] The wife of Senator Bob Menendez killed a man in a car accident in 2018.
[6] That's your statement that you were driving this way.
[7] The guy came from this way, and he ran into your vehicle.
[8] He jumped on my wheelchair.
[9] Okay.
[10] Now prosecutors say the new Mercedes she received after the incident was part of a bribery scheme.
[11] And in the latest shift towards more LGBT acceptance, Pope Francis implies that priests may have the authority to bless same -sex unions.
[12] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[13] Stay tuned.
[14] We have the news you need to know.
[15] The Biden administration is, tapping into an executive power not used since the Trump administration to sidestep several environmental rules and construct some parts of the border wall.
[16] The project is a reversal of one of Biden's campaign promises to not build another foot of Trump's barrier.
[17] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about why the president broke his campaign promise and how much border wall is set to be built.
[18] Hi, Tim.
[19] So this is a conversation we didn't see coming, frankly.
[20] Where is Biden's new wall going?
[21] Star County in South Texas.
[22] The Department of Homeland Security published a notice in the U .S. Federal Registry this week that said there is an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads at the southern border to prevent unlawful entries into the United States.
[23] The notice refers specifically to Starr County, one of 21 counties in the Rio Grande Valley sector, which, according to DHS data, has seen 245 ,000 illegal crossings so far this fiscal year.
[24] Once it's finished, this project should add up to another 20 miles of wall to what was constructed under the Trump administration.
[25] All right, so another 20 miles.
[26] How is the administration getting this done?
[27] It's not free and they're having to skirt some laws, correct?
[28] Right.
[29] So first, the money has already been appropriated by Congress.
[30] That happened in 2019.
[31] Now, typically these sorts of projects also have to undergo costly environmental reviews.
[32] But the DHS notice points to a 1996 immigration law that allows the president to waive regulatory reviews and protects it from legal challenges to rush construction.
[33] In total, the Biden administration is, waiving 26 federal laws to start construction as soon as possible, including the Endangered Species Act, National Fish and Wildlife Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
[34] This has, of course, angered environmental groups that are typically pretty friendly toward Biden.
[35] The Center for Biological Diversity, for instance, put out a statement that called the project a horrific step backwards for the borderlands.
[36] But of course, border hawks are saying the opposite.
[37] Right.
[38] Now, this is getting even more attention in part because Biden campaigned on no new border wall.
[39] What did we hear from him back then?
[40] Right, this is quite the reversal.
[41] Here's him in 2020 making that promise.
[42] There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration, number one.
[43] Number two, what I'm going to focus on and the fact is that somebody in this group written a lot about the border, I'm going to make sure that we have border protection, but it's going to be based on making sure that we use high -tech capacity to deal with it.
[44] not another foot.
[45] He was very emphatic back then.
[46] How was he justifying this reversal?
[47] Essentially, he says he had no choice.
[48] The money was already appropriated, and all his attempts to redirect that towards something else failed.
[49] Here's the president being asked about it on Thursday.
[50] A border wall, the money was appropriated for the border wall.
[51] I tried to get them to reappropriated to redirect that money.
[52] They didn't.
[53] They wouldn't.
[54] And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what isn't appropriate.
[55] But that doesn't address the issue of sidestepping dozens of laws.
[56] And interestingly, despite what his Homeland Security Department wrote in the notice, the president suggested that this bit of border wall won't impact border security at all.
[57] Do you believe the border wall verse?
[58] No. Press Secretary Corrine Jean -Pierre echoed the same message during the White House press briefing yesterday.
[59] So the facts are this.
[60] This is not new.
[61] These funds were appropriated in fiscal year 2019 under Republican leadership, and DHS is required by law to use the funds for appropriated purpose.
[62] All right.
[63] And before we wrap up, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has gone on a four -day trip south of the border in response to this immigration crisis his city is facing.
[64] How's his visit going?
[65] Yeah, he's traveling south of the border to try and persuade immigrants not to come to New York City when they get to the U .S. He gave an update on his trip from Mexico City on Wednesday.
[66] Just landed in Mexico City.
[67] It was a great flight.
[68] And just the beginning of the, you know, really the journey of trying to be on the ground and understand, you know, the whole flow of my and the Simon's secrets.
[69] Well, we're seeing a lot of 180s on the border in recent months.
[70] Yeah.
[71] Tim, thanks for joining us.
[72] Thanks for having me. A new twist has emerged in the corruption case of Senator Robert Menendez.
[73] The indictment against him claims that a co -conspirator gave a new Mercedes to Menendez's wife after she killed a man in a 2018 car accident.
[74] Nadine Arslanian Menendez was the senator's soon -to -be wife at the time of the fatal accident in which a pedestrian was killed just outside his New Jersey home.
[75] Here to discuss the disturbing revelation as Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
[76] So, Dave, what exactly happened here in?
[77] And what does this have to do with the bribery charges against Menendez?
[78] Morning.
[79] Back in 2018, Arzlanian, who is also a defendant in the bribery case, was driving her car when she struck a 49 -year -old pedestrian named Richard Coop, who died almost immediately.
[80] It's unclear how fast Arzlanian was driving, but her car was badly damaged and Coop's body was flung to the sidewalk.
[81] Police arrived at the scene and they let her go, determining she wasn't at fault.
[82] No breathalyzer was given.
[83] This ties into the bribery case because a businessman who has also been indicted in that case, Jose Yorribe, allegedly paid Menendez to influence a prosecutor by giving Arslanian a new 2019 Mercedes.
[84] All right, so the Mercedes was part of a bribery scheme.
[85] That's what's alleged here.
[86] Now, the New York Times did the sort of meet of the reporting on this, but other journalists have gotten involved and highlighted a lot of details, including New York Post Miranda Devine.
[87] What have we learned so far?
[88] Devine went through a few different reports about the accident, and aside from expressing shock that no alcohol or drug test was administered, also pointed to reporting from the New York Times that a witness said police seemed aware of who Arslanian was, which is to say the girlfriend of a powerful senator, another detail is that police recordings appear to show a man who identifies himself as a retired police officer, saying he came to the scene as a favor for a friend.
[89] You're a retired, he said?
[90] Yeah, from where?
[91] Back in there.
[92] Oh, okay.
[93] She's not currently being charged.
[94] Yeah, no, no. That's why I said I wanted to be with you under all.
[95] I don't even know.
[96] I detect my buddy's wife who's friends with her.
[97] And he said, could you do me a favor and take her up there because her friend just got in a car after you.
[98] Gotcha.
[99] So I don't even know.
[100] I'm a buddy.
[101] In addition, attorneys for Coop say there is video of Arzlani and moving her car around the body without attempting to give any aid to the man she had just slammed.
[102] into.
[103] It paints a picture that looks like special treatment and an indifference to human life.
[104] Yeah.
[105] There's, of course, two sides of this case, the legal and the political.
[106] How does this fatal wreck story impact the case on either front?
[107] It seems unlikely to impact the criminal case at all, but politically it's pretty damning for Senator Menendez, who is resisting calls even from prominent Democrats like Garden State Governor Phil Murphy and his fellow Senator Cory Booker to step down.
[108] It's possible those calls could get louder as this story breaks into public view.
[109] When you're trying to survive a political scandal, the idea is to keep your head down, and this is pretty much the opposite of that.
[110] It looks like just another example of Menendez abusing his power at a time when he can least afford that.
[111] Are we likely to see Menendez change his mind on resigning?
[112] Could the Senate take action to remove him, or does he appear to be settling in for the long haul no matter what?
[113] It's hard to say.
[114] Senate action is unlikely without a conviction, but this kind of thing really can make it harder for Menendez to do his job.
[115] It results in people not only not wanting to work with him, but frankly not wanting to be seen with him.
[116] He's in a very precarious position, but honestly, in the short term, his fate is in his own hands.
[117] In the long term, his fate will be in the hands of a jury of his peers, and if they find against him, he will have bigger things than simply losing his Senate seat to worry about.
[118] Yeah, an already troubling case just getting even darker.
[119] Indeed.
[120] Dave, thanks for joining us.
[121] Thanks for having me. Pope Francis made comments last week that many believe opened the door to Catholic blessings on same -sex unions.
[122] The statement follows the National Assembly of the Anglican Church voting earlier this year to allow blessings on gay marriages.
[123] Daily Wire culture reporter, Megan Basham, is here now with more.
[124] So, Megan, let's start with the Pope.
[125] His comments certainly stirred up a lot of controversy, but it kind of feels like we've been here before with Pope Francis, no?
[126] Yeah, it does.
[127] And in the past, I think the Vatican was fairly quick to say that the Pope was being misinterpreted, but we're not really seeing that this time.
[128] And that could be because these weren't just off -the -cuff comments that he made to reporters, as we have seen, with similar headlines in the past.
[129] So a couple of weeks ago, the German Catholic Church held this sort of rainbow -themed event where the crowd was singing, all you need is love from the Beatles.
[130] And priests blessed a large group of same -sex couples.
[131] So five conservative.
[132] Cardinals submitted official questions to Pope Francis, asking him to clarify whether these blessings of same -sex unions are permitted in the Catholic Church.
[133] Well, on Monday, the Vatican released the Pope's response that said the church can't only judge and exclude, and that priests should, and I'm quoting, focus on God instead of ideological battles.
[134] Now, he also said that pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing that do not convey a wrong idea of matrimony.
[135] So a little vague, but certainly it is a softer stance from the 2021 statement from a Vatican official that unequivocally said that same -sex blessings are not permitted.
[136] And it is worth noting that Pope Francis has since removed that conservative official and reportedly replaced him with one more open to gay unions.
[137] Now, at the top, John noted that the Catholic Church is not alone here, we're also seeing similar moves from other mainline denominations.
[138] What are some other examples?
[139] Well, you know, this seems to follow a similar chain of events in the Anglican Church earlier this year, where various Anglican churches flouted official doctrine on same -sex unions, and then the Archbishop of Canterbury publicly backed them.
[140] And then with evangelicals, you're also seeing some movement.
[141] Although they are very different in some ways because there's no single hierarchy there.
[142] They do tend to move incrementally through influence of well -known personalities.
[143] It is really hard to find a more influential evangelical leader than Andy Stanley.
[144] So just to give you some context, his Atlanta church North Point sees roughly 38 ,000 attendees across eight different campuses every weekend.
[145] Preaching Magazine ranked him number eight on its list of the most of the 25 most influential pastors of the last 25 years.
[146] So a couple of weeks ago, his church held a conference branded as being for the parents of LGBTQ children.
[147] Two of the speakers were men married to other men, and according to attendees, pretty much all of the presenters, besides arguably Stanley himself, were LGBTQ affirming.
[148] Now, how was the conference received?
[149] Not well.
[150] It prompted a lot of criticism, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mueller, who is himself massively influential in evangelical.
[151] Well, he said that Stanley's conference represented a, quote, departure from biblical Christianity.
[152] While Stanley responded in a sermon last Sunday saying that he's never subscribed to Mueller's brand of Christianity, didn't explain what he meant by that, but he did insist that his church adheres to a New Testament ethic that marriage is between a man and a woman, but he didn't say much beyond that.
[153] I spoke to Dr. Mueller about Stanley's comments, and this is what he told me. He contradicts that statement about the affirmation of biblical marriage by making very clear that the church is open to same -sex couples, even with something like same -sex marriage.
[154] I find that very category incompatible with the gospel and with the teaching of the Christian church unbroken for nearly two millennia.
[155] It proves there's more than one way to chart a liberal trajectory.
[156] Well, hard to think of a social issue that's seen more movement in the past 20 years or so than this.
[157] Yeah, very true.
[158] for reporting.
[159] Anytime.
[160] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[161] Thanks for waking up with us.
[162] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.