Morning Wire XX
[0] A Ukrainian prosecutor that then -Vice President Biden bragged about getting fired has come forward accusing the president of corruption.
[1] Oh, son of a bit, you got fired.
[2] And they put in place someone who was solid.
[3] Who is Victor Shokin and why does he claim Biden really wanted him removed?
[4] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[5] It's Tuesday, August 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] A Canadian man who was jailed and placed in solitary confinement for refusing to support his teenage daughter's gender transition has been released.
[7] All the way through the court process in the last five years, I've been absolutely just hammered.
[8] I got one spectacular loss after the next.
[9] In a Morning Wire exclusive, we speak to him about his case and the events that led up to his release.
[10] And is President Biden too old for a second term?
[11] A large number of voters say yes.
[12] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[13] Stay tuned.
[14] We have the news you need to know.
[15] In 2016, Ukraine removed its top prosecutor after then Vice President Joe Biden threatened to withhold a $1 billion loan guarantee.
[16] That prosecutor has now come forward and says Biden acted to serve his own interests.
[17] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about what the prosecutor had to say and why Biden's time in Ukraine is getting a second look.
[18] So, Tim, first off, give us some context.
[19] who was Ukraine's top prosecutor, and why did Biden want him gone?
[20] Victor Shokin served Ukraine as the prosecutor general, similar to the Attorney General and the U .S., until he was removed from office in March of 2016.
[21] Here's what Shokin told Fox News as Brian Kilmeet about us firing in an interview that aired over the weekend.
[22] I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then -Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma.
[23] At the time, Biden was heading up the United States diplomacy in Ukraine.
[24] And as part of his role, Biden pushed anti -corruption efforts that Ukraine needed to make if it wanted a closer relationship with Europe and the rest of the West.
[25] According to his own account, Biden leveraged $1 billion the U .S. was offering Ukraine in loan guarantees to secure Shokin's removal because he was widely seen as corrupt.
[26] Here's Biden explaining that in 2018.
[27] Look, I said, I'm leaving six hours.
[28] If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money.
[29] So both men are accusing each other of being corrupt, and certainly Shokin was widely seen as corrupt, but Shokin is specifically claiming that Biden wanted him gone because of the Biden family's ties to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
[30] Here's Shokin again.
[31] My firm personal conviction is that, yes, this was the case.
[32] They were being bribed.
[33] The fact that Joe Biden gave away $1 billion in U .S. money in exchange for my dismissal, my firing, Isn't that alone a case of corruption?
[34] Now, when did the Biden become involved with Burisma?
[35] Hunter Biden joined Burisma's board in 2014, a position he said he got probably just because his last name is Biden.
[36] Shokin had been investigating Burisma.
[37] In fact, the month before he was ousted, he approved a raid on the home of a top Burisma executive, Nikolai Zlovchewski.
[38] According to an FBI source, Zlochewski actually paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each to help the company.
[39] One of Hunter's former business partners, Devin Archer, has said that the energy company felt threatened by Shokin.
[40] He was a threat.
[41] He ended up seizing assets of Nikolai, a house, some cars, a couple properties, and Nikolai actually never went back to Ukraine after Shokin seized all of his assets.
[42] But what's not in dispute is that Biden used a $1 billion loan guarantee to get Shokin removed.
[43] What do we know about that?
[44] Yeah, the Obama administration attached some strings to that loan as well as other aid.
[45] given to Ukraine.
[46] Oddly, though, firing Shokin didn't appear to be one of those strings.
[47] A task force made up of officials from the Departments of Justice, State, and Treasury had decided that Ukraine had done enough.
[48] A couple months before Biden made his threat, the task force made a memo and said, quote, Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee.
[49] But Shokin was still widely seen as corrupt by officials in the U .S. and Europe, so removing him was still a popular move at the time among foreign diplomats.
[50] The White House has yet to respond to these allegations.
[51] Final question.
[52] We're going to pivot a little bit.
[53] Hunter Biden's new home in Malibu is making headlines this week.
[54] What's going on there?
[55] Well, there's not a lot of details yet, just a lot of questions.
[56] The Daily Mail reported Friday that Hunter has now moved into a new home in Malibu that cost $15 ,800 per month.
[57] To keep protecting him, Secret Service said to move in across the street in a place that costs about the same amount, 16 ,000.
[58] So the question is, of course, where's Hunter getting the money from?
[59] Well, at the very least, we know where the Secret Service is getting their money from.
[60] Right.
[61] Tim, thanks for reporting.
[62] Thanks for having me. A Canadian father who was jailed for misgendering his teenage daughter has scored a legal win in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
[63] Hoogland spoke to Morning Wire's Amanda Presta Giacomo in his first public interview.
[64] Here to discuss this Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestoigamo.
[65] Hey, Amanda, before we get into this most recent judgment, Would you give us some background on this case, which has been dragging on for some five years now?
[66] Yeah, sure thing.
[67] A man named Robert Hoagland took legal action in 2019 after a children's hospital in Canada told him his gender -confused daughter, who was then just 13 years old, was going to be injected with testosterone, despite this father refusing to give his consent.
[68] In Canada, they have something called the Infants Act.
[69] This means that minors can consent to their own trans treatments if doctors think it's in their best interests.
[70] parents' consent is irrelevant.
[71] Disagreeing with the hospital, Hugland said his daughter needed time and mental health support, not these transgender medical interventions that can be irreversible.
[72] Testosterone and other trans interventions have been linked to fertility issues, low bone density, and a host of other problems.
[73] Per court conditions, Hougland was barred from publicly misgendering his daughter.
[74] In other words, he couldn't refer to his own daughter as his daughter anymore.
[75] and Canadian media was banned from publishing Hugglin's name.
[76] Huggland, though, continued to speak out and he was thrown in jail after he spoke about the case and referred to his daughter as his daughter during an interview with the American media outlet, the Federalist.
[77] For this, Hugglin was found in contempt of court, effectively committing what the Canadian court deemed, quote, family violence.
[78] Here's Hugglin telling me a bit about this whole experience.
[79] The hardest part is knowing that, no matter how much you're fighting to protect that child of yours, all you can simply do is watch the tragedy unfold and your hands are tied.
[80] And one day your child is healthy and the next day your child is on testosterone.
[81] And I think that's the hardest part of it all is just that sense of being helpless.
[82] Hugglin served about two months behind bars and most of that time served was actually in solitary confinement.
[83] But a judge was trying to incarcerate Hugland for an additional four months.
[84] This is where the appeal comes in and it gets a little complicated.
[85] Basically, the family court issue was pushed into a criminal action.
[86] And Hugglin's initial legal counsel, he argues, was not equipped and botched this initial plea deal, which included Hugglin serving only 45 days.
[87] The judge then went above and beyond here and said six months was more suitable for Hugglin to serve.
[88] Wow.
[89] The appeals court agreed with Huggland and the three judges decided that he does not have to spend any more time in jail.
[90] Time served was adequate here.
[91] They also dropped in order for him to shell out a $30 ,000 fine and dropped other court conditions.
[92] I expected that I would finish, if not all of that six months, a big chunk of it.
[93] This is a huge win because what it does is it was setting a precedent.
[94] And what they wanted was a real deterrent for parents when they were standing up against the trans agenda.
[95] That's going on and, you know, we can push through the schools by the school counselors and all of these different things.
[96] And so to have a punishment that six months in prison and, of course, a $30 ,000 fine, I mean, not many parents are going to say, hey, I'm willing to take that risk.
[97] So I think this is where it's important.
[98] There's momentum in Canada now, too.
[99] The tide is turning and we'll finally get a big win after just all these horrific losses and the way things were going.
[100] I think that's just critical for morale, at the very least.
[101] What is the status now of Hugglin's daughter?
[102] Does he now have any say in the transition of his own child?
[103] Unfortunately, Huglin hasn't seen his daughter since 2019.
[104] He told me he's lost his child and his family was destroyed over this ideology.
[105] I'm hoping one day when my child realizes and possibly detransitions that, you know, I'm waiting.
[106] I'm waiting with open arms for that day.
[107] When these kids come back and say, hey, mom, dad, where were you?
[108] I was like 13, 14.
[109] Why didn't you try and stop me from making this big, incredible mistake?
[110] And at least I can always say, hey, I tried.
[111] And you can look it up online even.
[112] I tried really hard.
[113] And even I wasn't able to do it with everything I gave it.
[114] but I tried.
[115] So my conscience is clean on that.
[116] For now, Hugland says he's going to take a break after years of being in and out of court in jail.
[117] Let me note, though, there is a 60 -day period where this can get appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court if they really want to make an example out of Hugland.
[118] So possibly more to come.
[119] Yeah, well, a very disturbing case.
[120] We'll be watching it closely.
[121] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[122] No problem.
[123] Voters have been concerned about Joe Biden's age for years, but now, even most of his own party think he's too old to be president.
[124] According to a new Associated Press poll, nearly 70 % of Democrats think President Biden is too old to serve another term.
[125] Daily Wire investigative reporter, Maraida, Lorty, is here with the details.
[126] So, Mairead, obviously Biden's age has been an issue for a while, but now a lot of Democrats are getting worried, too, correct?
[127] Yes, they are.
[128] To be exact, the new poll shows that 69 % of Democrats think the president is too old for another term, and an even higher number is 77 % of all voters agree.
[129] The poll actually offered some colorful insight into voters' thoughts because it included a word association exercise, which asked people to give the first word or phrase that comes to mind when they think of Trump and Biden.
[130] About 28 % of Democrats mentioned Biden's age right off the bat.
[131] Even one Democrat who said he approves of Biden's performance still called him senile.
[132] Out of all people, about 15 % used words like slow or confused, and another 26 % mentioned Biden's age for a total of 41%.
[133] One Republican said potato for Biden.
[134] On the other hand, for Trump, the top words were corrupt or crooked, with 15 % of people using those terms and a total of 34 % of people using negative terms, while 8 % said good and other positive words.
[135] Nobody said potato, huh?
[136] Not that I saw.
[137] So this aren't the best set of descriptors for either of them.
[138] Now the overarching question here, of course, is whether this means Democrats really don't want Biden to run.
[139] What information do we have on that?
[140] Well, it's difficult to say because Biden is currently leading in the polls for the Democratic nomination, but about three -fourths of people overall said they don't want Biden to run in 2024, while slightly fewer, 69 percent said they don't want former President Donald Trump to run.
[141] Meanwhile, about 74 percent of voters said they think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
[142] That tracks with Biden's floundering approval rating, which has been low for months.
[143] How does this break out in terms of the key issues, Biden's approval on those issues?
[144] Well, his approval rating on individual policy areas is even worse.
[145] According to the poll, about 63 % disapprove of how Biden is handling the economy, and 56 % disapprove of how he's handled foreign policy.
[146] Corruption is also a big optics problem for Biden.
[147] A majority of voters, 57 % say they have hardly any consequences.
[148] confidence in Biden's ability to reduce the amount of corruption in the government in Washington.
[149] His son, Hunter's alleged criminal behavior and financial dealings with foreign countries have dogged the president since his campaign and will feature again this election cycle, especially now that the Attorney General has appointed a special counsel to investigate the younger Biden.
[150] Right, this really escalated the situation and the rhetoric.
[151] Meanwhile, the Republican primary is really kicking into gear now, determining who will face off against Biden.
[152] What are the polls looking like since the first Republican debate last week?
[153] Right.
[154] Well, Trump is also pulling double digits ahead of his primary contenders, even though he skipped last week's geopolited debate.
[155] Despite facing dozens of felony charges, Trump's currently polling at 53 % for the Republican nomination.
[156] In a distant second is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 13 % and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswami, who's getting about 8%.
[157] All right, well, already an election season like no other.
[158] We'll see what comes next.
[159] Right, thanks for reporting.
[160] Thanks, John.
[161] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[162] Thanks for waking up with us.
[163] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.