Morning Wire XX
[0] New information from federal investigators alleges that Hillary Clinton campaign operatives illegally spied on President Trump in an attempt to prove Russian collusion.
[1] What we've learned is that there were spying operations going on, both to the Trump campaign.
[2] And then when President Trump became president, they continued to spy on him at the executive office of president.
[3] As federal charges are announced, we'll talk about who's behind the alleged spying operation and how President Trump is responding to the revelations.
[4] I'm John Vickley with Georgia Howl.
[5] It's Monday, February 14th.
[6] That's right, Valentine's Day.
[7] And this is Morning Wire.
[8] For more than two weeks now, the Freedom Convoy has been protesting social restrictions and vaccine mandates in Canada.
[9] We speak to one of the organizers of the massive protests about why thousands are pushing back against Justin Trudeau's government.
[10] And as U .S. officials sound the alarm over what they say is an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline takes on increased significance.
[11] We'll discuss the crucial role the pipeline plays in the conflict.
[12] Thanks for waking up at Morning Wire.
[13] Stay tuned.
[14] We have the news you need to know.
[15] This show is sponsored by Naturally It's Clean.
[16] When it comes to cleaning your home, you want a cleaning product that is safe, effective, and affordable.
[17] Naturally It's Clean provides the most effective hospital -grade cleaning products for your home while reducing the use of harmful chemicals.
[18] Their secret, powerful plant -based enzymes, nature's solution to cleaning.
[19] Today, you can receive 15 % off your essential four -pack at Naturally It'sclean .com slash morning wire when you use the promo code, wire.
[20] That's naturally it'sclean .com promo code, wire.
[21] New documents from the federal government shine more light on the origins of the discredited Russia collusion narrative.
[22] Investigators now say operatives paid by the Clinton campaign illegally spied on President Trump in an attempt to gather derogatory information.
[23] Now, one of those alleged operatives is facing federal charges.
[24] Here with Morris Daily Wires, Cabot Phillips.
[25] So Cabot, there's a lot to go through here, and some of it's potentially explosive.
[26] Yeah, it is.
[27] First, give us some background.
[28] So throughout his presidency, Donald Trump insisted that the Russian collusion narrative was a hoax and that he was illegally spied on by operatives paid by the Clinton campaign.
[29] And it now appears the federal government agrees with that assessment.
[30] These latest developments stem from a meeting that a lawyer named Michael Sussman had with the FBI back in 2016, just two months before Election Day.
[31] It was here that he presented supposed evidence tying Donald Trump in his campaign to a Crenlin -linked bank, saying Trump had created a, quote, covert communications channel with Russia.
[32] Now, during that meeting, the FBI asked Sussman if he was presenting the supposed evidence on behalf of a client, obviously to make sure there weren't conflicts of interest, and Sussman said he was not.
[33] Well, according to the charges, that was a lie.
[34] He was presenting the information on behalf of two clients, and one of those, clients was the Hillary Clinton campaign.
[35] So Durham says that this so -called evidence of collusion was being provided by a Clinton campaign operative who then lied about his connections with the campaign.
[36] Exactly, yeah.
[37] And now Durham says he was working with cyber researchers and employees from multiple internet companies, including an influential tech executive to compile this supposed evidence.
[38] All right, so he's working with a tech executive.
[39] What do we know about this individual?
[40] So we don't know the name yet, federal documents so far, just refer to them as Tech Executive One.
[41] But the FBI is alleging that Susman worked with this executive to obtain internet data from Trump in some sketchy ways.
[42] These documents are pretty explosive.
[43] According to the filing, and I'm quoting here, Tech Executive One exploited his access to non -public and or proprietary internet data and, quote, also enlisted the assistance of researchers at a U .S.-based university who were receiving and analyzing large amounts of internet data as part of a government contract.
[44] The special counsel alleges that this tech executive, and again, quoting, tasked these researchers to mine internet data to establish an inference and narrative tying then candidate Trump to Russia in hopes of, quote, pleasing certain VIPs, including the Clinton campaign.
[45] So they basically wanted to dig up dirt on Trump to make it look like he was working with Russia.
[46] It's exactly what they were doing.
[47] And how did they go about doing that?
[48] Well, here's where it gets even shadier.
[49] According to Special Counsel Durham, they, quote, infiltrated data from Trump Tower.
[50] and Trump's private residence during the campaign.
[51] But even more shockingly, according to the DOJ, after the campaign, the filing alleges they hacked into the executive office of the president.
[52] In other words, the White House.
[53] So accessing data from the White House?
[54] Yeah.
[55] Well, how so?
[56] Well, the tech executives company had a contract with the White House and housed all of their data on exclusive servers.
[57] They then allegedly used that position to compromise the servers and combed the private data to, quote, the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump.
[58] The supposed information found on these White House servers was then shared with Clinton's lawyer, Sussman, who then allegedly presented it to a separate government agency in 2017.
[59] But according to federal investigators, they found, quote, no support for allegations of Russian collusion from within that data.
[60] Wow.
[61] So not surprisingly, President Trump has responded to these new developments over the weekend.
[62] Tell us about that.
[63] Yeah.
[64] He views these latest developments as even more vindication for what he's been claiming all along that he never colluded with Russia and that he was illegally spied on.
[65] He issued a statement saying the scandal was worse than Watergate and, quote, provides indisputable evidence that my campaign and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia.
[66] He later called for criminal charges against everyone involved.
[67] And as things currently stand, there's a good chance that those do end up happening.
[68] Yeah, well, we'll see what happens with these serious charges and what moves the DOHCR.
[69] which you a makes next.
[70] Cabot, thanks for the reporting.
[71] Anytime.
[72] As Daylor Wires, Cabot Phillips.
[73] Coming up, we talk to one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy.
[74] This show is sponsored by Tessa Maze.
[75] Looking for a great way to bring amazing flavor to your meals?
[76] Tessamaze is the number one organic salad dressing company in the country because they put quality and flavor above all else.
[77] Founded by three brothers with their mom's recipe, Tessamaze has changed the standard for great tasting, healthy dressings.
[78] Go to Tessamase .com.
[79] That's T -E -S -A -S -A -E -S -A.
[80] S -E -M -A -E -S dot com and use promo code wire to check out all of their amazing products and join the Tessameh's family today.
[81] Use promo code wire to get 20 % off your purchase.
[82] Despite threats of military intervention and banks freezing their donation accounts, a massive group of Canadian truckers is continuing to protest COVID restrictions.
[83] Known as the Freedom Convoy, the truckers have been camped out on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for more than two weeks.
[84] The group is now sparking copycat demonstrations.
[85] and other countries like France, New Zealand, and the U .S. Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham spoke with one of the convoys volunteer leaders, David Paisley, about what's happening on the ground and what demands they have for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
[86] So, Megan, there's been a lot of debate about how to characterize these protesters.
[87] Some news outlets have referred to them as right -wing extremists.
[88] How do they respond to that?
[89] Well, they think it's a case of obvious media bias.
[90] So the source I spoke with, David Paisley, has been with the original Western convoy since this protest started in late January.
[91] Now, each major thoroughfare has what they call a street captain, and that's someone organizing supplies and communicating with all of those groups offering support.
[92] Paisley is one of those leaders.
[93] Here's what he told me about media reports describing the group as political extremists.
[94] Let the event speak for itself.
[95] There's been over two weeks, hundreds of thousands of people coming through here, And you know that if something significantly violent happened, then the media would have plastered that across the world.
[96] The media is hunting for a story.
[97] I've never heard of, you know, an extremist terrorist organization that sets up bouncy castles for the kids.
[98] There's also been a lot of conflicting media reports about what exactly this protest stands for.
[99] And Paisley was very clear with Mesa.
[100] that it's about coronavirus restrictions, including those vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and lockdowns.
[101] He said they want to make sure the government never assumes that much power again.
[102] I would like an end to all mandates, so things that cause people to lose their jobs and force people to take a vaccine, it should be their freedom to choose to do so or not.
[103] That is a bare minimum of what people are going to be set offside with.
[104] But beyond that, that these freedoms cannot be simply grabbed away whenever it's convenient.
[105] That is wrong and that is not what Canada is and that's not what the free world is supposed to be.
[106] Now, I think a lot of people tend to be sympathetic with the trucker's position, but they're not happy about the supply chain being disrupted on these major bridges from the U .S. into Canada.
[107] Right.
[108] Yes.
[109] And I did ask Paisley about that and here's what he told me. I certainly also understand their frustrations with the supply chain.
[110] I would say, however, that it does seem a little rich that these statements coming from, for example, Doug Ford, you know, businesses are being affected by this.
[111] And the irony is we have all come together from across this country because businesses were being shut down.
[112] So like John mentioned, we're now seeing copycat protests cropping up in other countries.
[113] How do the Canadian truckers feel about that?
[114] Well, they sound very encouraged by that news.
[115] As you can imagine they feel like they've become a positive symbol for freedom around the world.
[116] It gets me teary -eyed every time I see it on the news and to see the Canadian flag waves in places around the world as once again a symbol for freedom.
[117] Well, they're definitely having an impact.
[118] Megan, thanks for bringing us this perspective on the ground.
[119] Yeah, absolutely.
[120] My pleasure.
[121] That was Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.
[122] With the Russian military now surrounding Ukraine from Crimea in the south to Belarus in the north, the U .S. announced Friday it will withdraw all American nationals and will soon be sending troops to Poland in preparation for a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
[123] Meanwhile, the president of Ukraine has actually cautioned against panic and has even asked to see which intel the U .S. is relying on and determining that an invasion is imminent.
[124] A major factor in the Russia -Ukraine conflict continues to be the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has recently been completed.
[125] Once commissioned, the pipeline will transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, further increasing Germany's reliance on Russia for energy.
[126] The pipeline is currently awaiting approval from Germany and the EU.
[127] Here to discuss the significance of the pipeline is Daily Wires Ian Howarth.
[128] So, Ian, what does the Nord Stream 2 have to do with this current situation in Ukraine?
[129] Well, this all comes down to the efforts by the Trump administration and to a lesser extent the Biden administration to try and use the pipeline as leverage against Russia.
[130] Now, Europe gets around 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would increase supply while also reducing costs, which could empower Russia in terms of energy production and therefore give them more influence over European politics.
[131] The Trump administration openly opposed the construction of the pipeline, having targeted Nord Stream 2 with sanctions legislation on three occasions because they feared it would be used as a geopolitical weapon.
[132] But despite supposedly opposing the project 2, the Biden administration decided not to sanction the company in charge of construction in May 2021.
[133] Instead, they looked to sanction some smaller related entities, as well as imposing what critics saw as watered down measures.
[134] In July, the U .S. reached a compromise deal with Germany, which allowed the project to move forward without further sanctions, and then construction was completed in September.
[135] So now if we flash forward to more recent times, last week, President Biden said that he would shut down the pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine.
[136] If Russia invades, then there will be no longer on Nord Stream 2.
[137] We will bring it into it.
[138] And German Chancellor Schultz, who spoke with Biden last week, said that they would follow the same steps if there was an invasion.
[139] But neither have made it clear how this would be achieved, especially now that construction is complete.
[140] And this is all while leaders in Ukraine are insisting that the pipeline between Germany and Russia should never open.
[141] Europe does not need this pipeline.
[142] So it's 100 % politically motivated project.
[143] And if your question is, whether this pipeline should be, on ever, our answer is no. So now we're in a situation where the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is leverage for both sides in some way or another, but the U .S. is in a weaker position than they had been prior to construction being completed.
[144] In an interview with Fox Business, former President Donald Trump said that the current strategy to threaten closure of the pipeline wouldn't even be needed if Biden had just followed his administration's policy.
[145] I stopped it, but I stopped it differently.
[146] I stopped it with the threat of tariffs and with various other things, and it was stopped.
[147] It was dead.
[148] And so now that construction's complete, what's next?
[149] Well, in reality, it means that if the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is going to play a part in de -escalating tensions, it'll be in the form of financial sanctions against the pipeline.
[150] But given that the German Chancellor has been a supporter of the pipeline for a long time, and the fact that Germany largely relies on Russian energy, the idea that the pipeline can simply be shut down if Russia does invade might be far more complicated than either side is letting on.
[151] Hmm.
[152] Well, Ian, thanks so much for explaining all that.
[153] Thanks, Georgia.
[154] That's Daily Wires, Ian Howarth.
[155] If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire and give us a five -star review.
[156] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[157] Thanks for waking up with us.
[158] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
[159] If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter.
[160] Use code MorningWire to try a reader's past membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.