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[0] A congressional hearing to investigate the origins of the COVID pandemic got heated on Wednesday.
[1] We now know, U .S. tax dollars went to a lab in China, a lab that was not up to code, a lab that was doing gain of function research, and that's where this thing most definitely came from.
[2] What did we learn in the hearing, and why was CDC director Robert Redfield kept out of important meetings?
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[4] It's Thursday, March 9th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] The pandemic forced millions of women out of the workforce.
[6] Now, females are back in record numbers.
[7] What's driving the trend and how is it affecting families?
[8] And when Elon Musk took over Twitter, he allowed some journalists to review and report on internal documents in the name of transparency.
[9] Now the FTC is asking questions about those journalists and Musk's decision -making at Twitter.
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
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[17] Based on my initial analysis of the data, I came to believe, and I still believe today, that it indicates that COVID -19 more likely was the result of an accidental lab leak than a result of a natural spillover event.
[18] That was Dr. Redfield, the CDC director, a virologist, and the head of the coronavirus task force, testifying before the House subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday.
[19] The panel gabbled in amid growing controversy over new revelations from U .S. intelligence pointing to a lab leak origin, not a spillover from the animal kingdom.
[20] Here to discuss as columnist David Marcus.
[21] So what was the purpose of Wednesday's hearing?
[22] Good morning.
[23] It was the beginning of an effort by the committee to determine how COVID originated.
[24] And really, both parties stressed that the reason such a determination is needed is that it will help us confront potential future viruses.
[25] But that was about all they seemed to agree or focus on.
[26] As Republicans really hammered the fact that for so long, the lab leak was treated as a fringe conspiracy theory.
[27] and Democrats tried to argue basically that that was all water under the bridge, with some even taking shots at former President Trump's early handling of COVID.
[28] Now, one witness, former CDC director Robert Redfield, had some pretty damning testimony about how the lab leak theory was effectively sidelined in the early days of the pandemic.
[29] What were his biggest complaints?
[30] Redfield's interesting because he was on the scene very early and had very early concerns about a potential leak, because as a virologist, he couldn't understand how an animal virus like a SARS or MERS could have mutated to have human -to -human infection.
[31] This was around the time that Dr. Anthony Fauci received a memo from Dr. Christian Anderson, also suggesting a lab leak.
[32] But within three days, a host of scientists, including Anderson, were calling the lab leak theory a crackpot theory.
[33] So the committee wanted to know what happened.
[34] For Redfield's part, he was cut out of those deliberations and felt that was highly inappropriate.
[35] Dr. Reptil, you ran the CDC and you were on the coronavirus task force.
[36] Is that right?
[37] Correct.
[38] That was formed on January 29th, 2020.
[39] Is that right?
[40] Correct.
[41] Two days later, Dr. Fauci gets an email from Dr. Anderson, which says what, virus looks engineered, virus not consistent with evolutionary theory.
[42] Is that accurate?
[43] That's my understanding.
[44] Next day, I know as a member of the task force is ahead of CDC, did he share that email with you?
[45] No. Okay, next day, February 1st, Dr. Gary, sends Dr. Fauci another email.
[46] That email says, I don't know how this happens in nature, but it would be easy to do in a lab.
[47] Did you share that email with you, Dr. Redfield?
[48] You didn't see either one of those emails, even though you're head of CDC, even though you're on the coronavirus task force, that had been formed just two days, three days earlier.
[49] No. Three days later, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gary, who told us it came from a lab and emails to Dr. Fauci that Dr. Fauci wouldn't let Dr. Redfield see three days later, they changed their position.
[50] 180 degrees.
[51] The question is why?
[52] Did the committee get any answers as to what had changed in those three days?
[53] So Jim Jordan asked that of another witness, science writer Nicholas Wade, who, by the way, the Democrats tried to smear as a racist for a book he published about IQ.
[54] So Jordan asked why this theory was abandoned by Anderson.
[55] Mr. Wade, why would they change their position that fast when the only intervening event is a conference call with Dr. Fauci, the guy who wouldn't let Dr. Redfield see the very emails.
[56] Well, if you're looking at the timeline on May 21st, two of the signatures of the original email to Dr. Fauci, that's Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gary, were awarded a $9 million grant for the...
[57] So there's nine million reasons why they change their mind.
[58] New polling shows that 76 % of Americans support a congressional inquiry into COVID origins, did we get any sense of when the American people might know for sure where this virus came from?
[59] Redfield said something very interesting about that, which was that he doesn't believe that science will answer that question ultimately, but rather intelligence.
[60] Thus far, the materials used by various agencies to reach their competing assessments are highly classified.
[61] The former CDC director surmides that as more of that becomes public, will get a better picture.
[62] And look, that's going to be another focus for the committee.
[63] This investigation has bipartisan support, but did this hearing turn partisan or contentious at any points?
[64] The Republicans were far more curious, let's say.
[65] The main point advanced by the Democrats was really that we still just don't know.
[66] But of course, that's a far cry from how the lab leak theory was presented in 2020 when Redfield himself was called a racist by his hometown Baltimore son for even suggesting it.
[67] Right.
[68] Well, this virus turned the world upside down, so figuring out how it started seems worth significant effort.
[69] Yeah, Dave, thanks for joining us.
[70] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[71] Coming up, women make a comeback in the workforce.
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[80] After millions of women, especially mothers, were forced out of the workforce during COVID lockdowns, new data shows a remarkable comeback underway.
[81] Here with the latest on what's behind the shift and what it means for the economy more broadly is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[82] So Cabot, what can you tell us?
[83] Well, there has been a major return of women to the workforce.
[84] Remember, during the pandemic, women, especially those with children, were disproportionately forced out of their jobs.
[85] But according to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department, women have made a huge comeback.
[86] There are now more women in the workforce today than there were before the pandemic.
[87] And for the fourth straight month, there were actually more jobs added by women than men, which never happened during the first two years of lockdown.
[88] Now, how large was the discrepancy between men and women losing their jobs during the lockdowns?
[89] Yeah, it was sizable, to say the least.
[90] Not only were women more likely to be forced out of work when schools closed, but they were also more likely to work in industries that were hit the hardest during COVID, like education, retail, hospitality, and leisure.
[91] Now, we still don't know the exact number, but women accounted for anywhere from 2 to 4 million more jobs vacated than men during the first year of COVID.
[92] In April of 2020, the female unemployment rate, was 16 .2%, while among men it was 13 .5%.
[93] And at its lowest point, female workforce participation dropped down to 57%.
[94] That's the lowest point since 1988.
[95] So it was definitely a noticeable discrepancy.
[96] So why are women coming back into the workforce now?
[97] So there are a few reasons.
[98] Obviously, schools have opened up so child care is less of an issue.
[99] But there's also the reality that wages are up.
[100] Remember, despite all the other economic uncertainty, unemployment is at a 50 -year low.
[101] So workers have more leverage to demand higher pay than normal.
[102] There are currently about 11 million job openings in America.
[103] That's roughly 1 .7 jobs for every person seeking work, and that means employers are much more likely to allow new employees to work part -time, or more importantly, especially for many young mothers, to work remotely.
[104] That's one key reason we've seen the highest unemployment jump coming among women with children under the age of five.
[105] They are much more likely than other demographics prioritize jobs that allow them to work from home, and those jobs are in abundance right now.
[106] Right, but there's also inflation, and that's pushing everyone to work a lot more.
[107] I was just getting there, Georgia.
[108] The reality for many families is that higher cost of living have left them with no choice but to reenter the workforce.
[109] As inflation has skyrocketed over the last two years, a lot of families feel that they aren't able to get by on one salary anymore, and that's absolutely played a role in this trend.
[110] And look, it's worth noting.
[111] There are many people who say that this story is actually discouraging, not encouraging, because it means the families are being forced to pay others to raise their children out of financial necessity, and it's a bit of a double -edged sort.
[112] Makes sense.
[113] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[114] Anytime.
[115] That was Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[116] The Federal Trade Commission has demanded that Elon Musk provide the names of all journalists who had access to internal Twitter documents.
[117] This comes in the wake of a new Twitter files drop that detailed more alleged government efforts to suppress online speech.
[118] Here to tell us more about the FTC's demand.
[119] and how lawmakers are reacting to them is Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham.
[120] So, Megan, what information does the Federal Trade Commission want from Twitter and why?
[121] Well, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that the FTC is asking questions about journalists reporting on Twitter's content moderation.
[122] They broke that news on Tuesday.
[123] So the agency has asked for the identities of journalists that Elon Musk allowed to review the company's records that have kind of colloquially come to be known as the Twitter files.
[124] And those files have revealed, among other things, how the FBI, CIA, and DOJ were working with Twitter to censor some users and posts, particularly related to COVID and the 2020 election.
[125] The FTC also wanted to know why Twitter fired James Baker, who was the company's general counsel.
[126] Now, Baker was a former FBI attorney, and he's been at the center of the Twitter files because he specifically pushed to censor various posts from Donald Trump.
[127] and he was also instrumental in Trump's account being banned and in Twitter's decision to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.
[128] Musk actually discovered that Baker had been quietly vetting the Twitter files before they could be reviewed by journalists.
[129] And at that point, Musk fired him.
[130] So some are now asking if the FTC's demands that Musk explain his decision to fire Baker and also provide info on those journalists is an attempt at intimidation.
[131] Now, the FTC says it's trying to make sure staff reductions don't harm consumers, and they also say they're trying to make sure that user's privacy is protected.
[132] Now, all of this is sure to feature prominently in hearings that will begin today by the House's subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government.
[133] This was Chair Jim Jordan talking about it on Fox News Tuesday night.
[134] The most egregious part in my judgment was the idea that they're going after a journalist, and they even named personally some journalists in there who were part of the Twitter files.
[135] I don't know that I've ever seen this kind of attack on First Amendment, Freedom of the Press, like we see, and what the FTC is doing.
[136] Now, do we know specifically what the subcommittee is going to focus on today?
[137] Well, we know that the Twitter files are going to feature pretty prominently because two of the journalists who broke stories on those records, Matt Tybee and Michael Schellenberger, will be testifying.
[138] And I think what's key to note here is that, Tybee and Schellenberger are far from right -wing figures.
[139] Tybee was an editor at Rolling Stone and he's been a frequent MSNBC guests.
[140] Schellenberger has a similar background.
[141] So it's going to be tough for Democrats to discount their testimony as politically biased.
[142] Just last week, Tybee revealed that the Global Engagement Center, which is a division of the State Department that works with the FBI and CIA, gave Twitter a list of 5 ,500 users it's suspected of being China.
[143] Chinese accounts engaged in, quote, state -backed coordinated manipulation.
[144] Well, Twitter looked into it and found that most of them were real American accounts.
[145] In fact, some were CNN journalists.
[146] Tybee also found that the GEC was funding a misinformation organization called the Digital Forensic Research Lab that had asked Twitter to consider suspending another 40 ,000 accounts.
[147] It's suspected of being Hindu nationalists out of India spreading foreign disinformation.
[148] Well, again, Taibi found that many were just ordinary Americans sharing ordinary domestic policy views.
[149] So one of the people whose accounts were incorrectly flagged, a Cuban immigrant, told Taibi, they do this in places that don't believe in free speech.
[150] It'll be interesting to see what comes out in the hearings this week.
[151] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[152] Anytime.
[153] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[154] Well, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[155] Thanks for waking up with us.
[156] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
[157] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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