Morning Wire XX
[0] By a vote of 62 to 37 on Wednesday, the Senate enshrined same -sex marriage in the United States.
[1] Why do the vote happen now, and what effect will it have on freedom of religion?
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[3] It's Thursday, November 17th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] A new report reveals Trump's suspected motive for holding on to classified documents at Mar -a -Lago.
[5] How does this impact the investigation?
[6] and Trump's third bid for the presidency.
[7] And a missile strike in Poland is putting the Russia -Ukraine war in the spotlight.
[8] We have insight from an expert in international affairs and national security.
[9] Certainly, this is a wake -up call that an escalation like this is possible at any time.
[10] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[11] Stay tuned.
[12] We have the news you need to know.
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[20] On Wednesday, the Senate voted on the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that enshrines same -sex marriage into law.
[21] But faith groups warn that the bill poses a major threat to religious liberty.
[22] Here to explain what's in the bill and the wider implications is Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham.
[23] So, Megan, correct me if I'm wrong.
[24] Gay marriage has been legal since the Obergefell decision.
[25] So does this bill actually change anything?
[26] It has.
[27] Gay marriage has been legal since 2015, but what this bill does is fortify that.
[28] So basically, LGBT activists were concerned that the Dobbs decision opened the door to peel back some of those marriage rights.
[29] They were concerned for a couple of reasons.
[30] First, because the majority opinion specifically stated that the court can't establish constitutional rights, where if the Constitution hasn't spoken, and that would include marriage.
[31] But I'll note, in the majority Dobbs' opinion, the justices made a clear caveat that it would not apply to same -sex marriage.
[32] But to that, activists pointed to Justice Clarence Thomas's concurrence, which did seem to signal a willingness to reconsider Obergefell.
[33] So activists felt like a bill like this was needed to enshrine gay marriage into law.
[34] But as John mentioned at the top, there's also concern that this bill erodes religious liberty.
[35] Right.
[36] Critics of the bill say that its true purpose is to make any religious convictions regarding traditional marriage unacceptable in the public square.
[37] And to give you just a couple of examples, they say the bill will allow the government to take away the tax -exempt status of religious organizations like adoption or foster care services.
[38] And they say it could block religious schools or colleges from receiving federal grants, or it could block Christian -owned businesses from receiving government contracts.
[39] Roger Severino is an attorney who worked in the DOJ and the Obama administration and then led the civil rights office under Trump.
[40] And he told me that the bill does not confer any new protections to same -sex couples, but it could open the door to a loss of rights for religious people.
[41] The point is to empower activists to have the legal authority to harass by lawsuits, people in institutions of faith, who disagree with them on the question of marriage.
[42] That's it.
[43] And it should also be noted that the bill links gay marriage and interracial marriage, in that it says it's designed to protect both.
[44] So sort of implying there that they're equivalent and that those who would object to same -sex marriage are on the same moral footing as segregationists.
[45] Now, a bipartisan group of senators that included three Republicans, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and Rob Portman of Ohio, made some changes to the bill that they said addressed concerns that this could infringe on religious liberty.
[46] But critics say the protections that offers are fairly vague, and they are fearful that they'll mostly be limited to churches, not other religious organizations or individuals.
[47] So all in, the bill easily cleared the 60 -vote threshold on Wednesday to advance the legislation, 62 to 37, so not close.
[48] 12 Republican senators joined the Democrats in passing the bill, including Iowa's Joni Ernst, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, and Utah's Mitt Romney.
[49] Well, that margin is also really significant, considering that gay marriage was opposed by the majority of Americans just about a decade ago, whereas now this is considered a winning issue for politicians.
[50] Exactly right.
[51] And on that note, even some of the staunchest holdouts have come out in favor of this bill.
[52] To give you one example, the Mormon Church put out an endorsement on Wednesday.
[53] So we could see a final vote as soon as the end of this week.
[54] Essentially, what we know is that Democrats are going to want to send this back to the house as quickly as possible before those incoming Republicans take control.
[55] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[56] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[57] Coming up, the FBI now suspects that former President Trump was not up to something nefarious with those classified documents.
[58] Hey, everyone.
[59] Producer Colton here.
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[68] The Washington Post has reported on new information regarding the classified documents seized from Donald Trump's Mar -a -Lago residence in Florida.
[69] According to sources close to the investigation into the former president's handling of official classified documents, the reason that Trump took possession of these documents was not so much nefarious as nostalgic.
[70] The Post sources say that Trump wanted trophies and mementos, joining us to discuss the revelation as columnist David Marcus.
[71] So, David, after all the commotion and clamor, were these just souvenirs?
[72] Good morning.
[73] According to the Post, it seems that way, Trump was, as we know, a rather unconventional president and often skirted rules and regulations, Possibly at times because he just wasn't aware of them.
[74] A couple of months ago, we saw the dramatic raid on Mar -a -Lago and the seizure of the documents.
[75] There was talk of nuclear secrets or potential business dealings.
[76] But if WAPO has this story right, it's far more innocuous.
[77] Classified documents are classified documents, but this is feeling more like stashing away some peanuts from Air Force One than undermining democracy.
[78] Right.
[79] Now, how much does intent matter here?
[80] If Trump was not planning to use any of the classified material for his personal advantage, is he off the hook on being in possession of them?
[81] No, mishandling classified material can be criminal regardless of intent.
[82] But that having been said, for the Department of Justice to bring charges against Trump would be a huge move, especially given that he's now officially a candidate again.
[83] If this reporting is accurate and these really were just keepsakes, then it might not affect a jury's decision, but in the court of public opinion, an effort to prosecute Trump might just look like a political operation.
[84] And that perception is something that Attorney General Merrick Garland and his office want to avoid at all costs.
[85] Right.
[86] Now, the report also indicated that some of these documents were very sensitive, dealing with Iran's missile program and the nuclear capabilities of foreign nations.
[87] How does that square with the idea that these are just keepsakeshs?
[88] Yeah, mementos or momentous.
[89] I don't know.
[90] Throughout Trump's presidency, there were often reports of him, you know, asking advisors if he could do things that presidents aren't actually allowed.
[91] to do.
[92] This goes right up to his belief that Mike Pence could change the outcome of the 2020 election.
[93] Generally, his advisors were able to say, hey, Mr. President, you can't actually do that.
[94] But regarding these documents, they wound up in his private residence.
[95] And look, there's real questions as to how and why.
[96] Now, this news about the classified documents dropped after the election and the day before Trump announced at Moralago, no less.
[97] How does news coverage like this play into that announcement and his prospects.
[98] It's been fascinating to watch media reaction to all of this.
[99] The New York Post is continuing its troll campaign against Trump with the cover on Wednesday that had a tiny little banner at the bottom saying, Florida man makes announcement, right?
[100] NPR is tweeting about threats to democracy.
[101] And here, Washington Post seems to be running something that maybe helps Trump.
[102] The edifying question here may not be why is WAPO running this, but why is this information leaked to them and how?
[103] There's a sense among many observers that Democrats want to run against Donald Trump in 2024 and that the rails leading to that might get greased a little bit.
[104] The bottom line is that the Trump show is back on TV for another action -pack season, like it or not.
[105] Dave, thanks for coming on.
[106] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
[107] Contradictory reports about a missile strike in Poland have escalated tensions over Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
[108] Joining us to discuss is Victoria Coates, Senior Fellow of International Affairs and National Security at Heritage.
[109] All right, Victoria, we've seen a lot of reports about the missile strike in Poland and a lot of confusion about its source.
[110] What do we know about that strike?
[111] Well, there are a lot of conflicting reports, John.
[112] You have the Polish president, Duda, and the Americans coming out and saying they're pretty certain it was a misfire from a Ukrainian S -300.
[113] We've also had reports that President Zelensky thinks that maybe it wasn't.
[114] Ukrainian missile and once a further investigation.
[115] In many ways, doesn't matter because the only reason that S -300 was activated if it was the Ukrainian, it was because of Vladimir Putin's invasion and his unleashing a barrage of 90 missiles on Tuesday against civilian Ukrainian targets.
[116] He's the one who's culpable here, either way.
[117] There's been a lot of warnings from officials about how close some of Russia's military strikes are to Poland and endangering other NATO countries.
[118] How has NATO responded to the developments this week?
[119] Well, I think as part of the good news of this whole situation is that NATO has been extremely united and stalwart throughout this entire situation.
[120] And we have, you know, excellent reports of NATO resolve here.
[121] And so we may have dodged the proverbial bullet on this particular attack, but there's no indication that the Russians are going to stop this extremely irresponsible behavior.
[122] Now, the U .S. has authorized 54 billion.
[123] in military and non -military aid for Ukraine since March, and now Biden is asking for about 38 billion more.
[124] What are we to make of this level of funding for the role of the U .S. in this war?
[125] Well, it's really, it's remarkable.
[126] I think the questions that the House folks are going to have is, you know, we've never done this before as a country where we have funded to such a degree, a side in a war, to which we are not party.
[127] So as we creep ever closer to the $100 billion mark here, So much of which is not for military aid.
[128] I think the American people have to ask the administration for a strategy.
[129] They have to ask, you know, how do we win this war?
[130] I mean, none of us want to be on a hair trigger about the Third World War breaking out in perpetuity.
[131] We need the president to give us a strategy for victory and then give the Ukrainians what they need to win the war.
[132] Where do we see this going?
[133] Is NATO going to have to get more directly involved at some point?
[134] and do we see the U .S. being dragged into this militarily?
[135] Well, I mean, that's certainly what we don't want to have happened, John.
[136] I mean, we would like to see, you know, this wind up on the terms that the Ukrainians have set, which is that they would like robust military supply help, but they don't want foreign soldiers on their soil.
[137] They want to defend themselves from this threat, and they've shown themselves capable of doing it.
[138] The incident this week, however, I think, is a pretty dire warning to all of us that, that could change in a moment because of something beyond our control.
[139] And Putin very irresponsibly put nuclear weapons on the table during the first week of this conflict when he said he'd be willing to use them.
[140] And he's probably made his decision about whether or not he's going to use nukes.
[141] What we do probably won't make a huge amount of difference there.
[142] We just have to set our goals first and foremost and then push on towards them.
[143] Well, Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
[144] That was Heritage Senior Fellow Victoria Coates.
[145] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[146] Researchers at the University of Houston claim they've developed a three -dose vaccine that prevents fentanyl overdose in rats.
[147] The vaccine allegedly works by stimulating the immune system to create antibodies which bind to fentanyl in the bloodstream.
[148] The drug does not block the efficacy of other pain medications such as morphine, but it has not yet been tested on humans.
[149] Big Tech giant, Google agreed to a $391 .5 million settlement this week with 40 states due to charges related to unwanted location tracking of customers.
[150] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
[151] We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
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[153] Well, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[154] Thanks for waking up with us.
[155] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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