Morning Wire XX
[0] A landmark drag show law was struck down in Tennessee while violence broke out in California over a pride event targeting elementary school students.
[1] We discussed the Pride Month controversies dominating the national conversation.
[2] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[3] It's Monday, June 5th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer will review today an FBI document containing explosive allegations that Joe Biden took a multi -million dollar bribe as vice president.
[5] This is corruption on a scale we've never seen in the history of our country.
[6] A very few media outlets are even covered it.
[7] And three Rhode Island educators who were fired for not getting the COVID vaccine are taking on the teachers' union who refused to represent them.
[8] They were basically told, you know, get the vaccine or you're going to be fired.
[9] There's not much we can do for you.
[10] We break down the legality of their case.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
[14] Amid a series of controversies over Pride Month campaigns targeting children.
[15] Over the weekend, a federal judge struck down a Tennessee law that places strict limits on sexually explicit drag shows.
[16] Here with more on the ruling and the growing protest nationwide is Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips.
[17] Cabot a series of significant developments over the weekend, including here at the Daily Wire.
[18] First, what happened with this Tennessee drag bill?
[19] So for context, the law in question is the Adult Entertainment Act, which was signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee back in March.
[20] The measure doesn't explicitly mention drag shows, but forbids, quote, adult cabaret, as well as other sexually explicit performances that include, quote, male or female impersonators on public property or anywhere children might be able to view it.
[21] Those in violation of the law would be charged with a misdemeanor for their first offense and a felony for any subsequent offenses.
[22] On Friday evening, though, a federal judge sided with an LGBT group who sued the state over the law.
[23] According to Judge Thomas Parker, a Trump appointee, the law was, quote, unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad and would result in, quote, discriminatory enforcement.
[24] The Parker conceded that obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment.
[25] He said, quote, there is a difference between material that is obscene in the vernacular and material that is obscene under the law.
[26] While the ruling will technically only strike the law down in Shelby County, where the lawsuit was filed, it'll likely be used in future legal challenges that could end up applying to the entire state.
[27] All right, so the law's too vague in this ruling could be used to strike it down completely.
[28] Yeah, that's what the judge is saying.
[29] What led up to this ruling?
[30] Well, supporters of the measure, including many of the state's Republican lawmakers, say they have a duty and right to protect children from sexually explicit content.
[31] Opponents, including most Tennessee Democrats, say it's an attack on free speech, and ultimately, Judge Parker agreed with them, saying that even explicit speech must receive the same protection as, quote, political, artistic, or scientific speech.
[32] In his ruling, Parker repeatedly made the point that the law was too broad to enforce, using the example of a female Elvis impersonator who could potentially face criminal charges for performing on stage dressed as man. Tennessee's attorney general has already vowed to appeal the ruling with the support of Republican Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson who called the court's decision, quote, a victory for those who support exposing children to sexual entertainment.
[33] While that ruling came down in one of the most conservative states, we also saw some serious pushback in one of the most liberal states in the country and again about children being exposed to sexualized content.
[34] Tell us about that.
[35] Yeah, this one came in California, where the Los Angeles Public School District, the nation's second largest, announced an assembly commemorating Pride Month for all students K -12.
[36] The assembly would include a celebration of different gender identities, as well as the reading of the Great Big Book of Families, a pro -LGBT children's book.
[37] News of that assembly resulted in outrage from many L .A. parents, most notably at Sattacoi Elementary School in North Hollywood.
[38] According to the school district in May, a teacher's LGBT pride flag was found burned in what they called a hate crime.
[39] That incident is currently under investigation.
[40] And on Friday, well over 100 parents joined in protest against the assembly, wearing shirts that said, quote, leave our kids alone and parental rights matter.
[41] Here's one mother speaking to KTLA.
[42] We want to teach our kids on our terms.
[43] My seven -year -old son don't need to know what sex is about.
[44] That's it.
[45] I want to teach my kids on my term run.
[46] There's nothing wrong with these people.
[47] You said we hate them.
[48] There's no such thing.
[49] That demonstration started peacefully, but turned violent.
[50] After a few dozen counter -protesters arrived, and attempted to block a number of parents from marching along the sidewalk.
[51] Video shows punches being thrown before police intervene, though we haven't yet heard if anyone was arrested.
[52] Yeah, the violence in that video really shocked a lot of people.
[53] This topic has really been dominating the national conversation, especially as we've covered on Twitter, where the Daily Wire was actually at the center of the action over the weekend.
[54] Catch us up on the latest developments there.
[55] Yeah, we talked on the show last week about how Twitter had censored the streaming of the Daily Wire documentary, What is a Woman, limiting its visibility on the platform.
[56] Well, heading into the weekend, Elon Musk took a series of actions reversing course.
[57] He removed the hateful conduct tag and then actually retweeted the video link to his 140 million followers, saying, quote, every parent should watch this.
[58] He then pinned that tweet to the top of his page for most of the weekend, and people by the millions took him up on his call to watch the film.
[59] By Sunday evening, the original Daily Wire tweet with the documentary link had been viewed more than 160 million times, making it one of if not the most viewed video posts in the history of Twitter.
[60] Yeah, we were all watching that sequence of events very carefully here, and the total views are remarkable to sit at least.
[61] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[62] Any time.
[63] Today, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer will review an FBI document that contains allegations that President Biden took a multi -million dollar bribe as vice president.
[64] After a month of delay, the FBI agreed last week to show Comer the document.
[65] Here to discuss the document is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[66] So, Tim, what do we know about the document so far?
[67] Well, the document itself is called an FD -1023 and is an FBI summary of an interview it conducted with a confidential human source.
[68] The 1023 designation is used for sources that the FBI trusts, or the Bureau has at least relied on before.
[69] According to Fox News reporting, the source is highly credible and has been used in multiple FBI investigations dating back to the Obama administration.
[70] On what the document contains, according to Congressman Comer and Senator Chuck Grassley, it describes an alleged criminal scheme involving the then -vice president and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.
[71] Comer has pegged the amount of money at $5 million and said it was from an adversarial country that isn't China, Romania, or Ukraine.
[72] Here's Comer on Newsmax last week.
[73] The most reputable country that I have found that the Biden family was taking money from was China.
[74] if that tells you anything.
[75] These are countries that Fortune 500 companies wouldn't even do business then.
[76] These are the few countries on the planet that Coca -Cola and Parker Gamble don't even want to deal with.
[77] Now, it took almost a month for the FBI to agree to hand this over that was even with a subpoena.
[78] What was the reason given for that delay?
[79] According to the FBI, the document contains information related to FBI sources and methods of getting information that would harm the FBI's work if made public.
[80] Now, Republicans have had some problems with that excuse, chief among them being that Congress has a constitutional duty to perform oversight on the executive branch, and it obviously can't do that if the agencies refuse to work with it.
[81] And it's not as if lawmakers haven't viewed sensitive information before.
[82] In fact, the FBI is required to hand over documents like this to courts and defense attorneys when an FBI investigation results in a prosecution.
[83] In that case, the FBI will work with the court to keep certain information from the public.
[84] The other major problem is that the FBI doesn't have a lot of credibility with congressional Republicans.
[85] It could be that the FBI is trying to protect its sources and methods, or it could be that the FBI is trying to hide its own misconduct like it did to the FISA courts during Crossfire Hurricane.
[86] Senator Chuck Grassley said last week that he has seen the document and that the FBI's concerns are overblown.
[87] But if he would read it, he would know that all the excuses that he's giving us, that he wants to protect sources, and that's important to protect.
[88] sources, but that's not an issue with this document the way I read it, and he ought to come forth.
[89] Now, Republicans had initially threatened to hold FBI director Christopher Ray in contempt if he didn't produce the document.
[90] Now that Comer's going to get a chance to see it, is Ray still going to be held in contempt?
[91] Well, Comer hasn't backed off that threat.
[92] The subpoena that the Republican sent last month, request of the document be handed over to Congress, not be made available for viewing.
[93] So Comer says that until Ray abides by the letter of the subpoena.
[94] The FBI head is still on the crosshairs.
[95] Well, we'll have to see what Comer says after reviewing it today.
[96] Tim, thanks for coming on.
[97] Thanks for having me. Three Rhode Island teachers are suing the nation's largest teachers union after the union refused to represent the educators when they were fired over their COVID vaccination status.
[98] Here to discuss the lawsuit as Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[99] Hey, Amanda.
[100] First, give us a little background into this lawsuit.
[101] Who are these teachers and why are they suing?
[102] Hey, John.
[103] Three feet female teachers from the Barrington School District in Rhode Island, Brittany DeOrio, Stephanie Hines, and Carrie Thurber, they were all suspended without pay in 2021 and ultimately fired from their teaching positions last year for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID.
[104] DeOreio, Heinz, and Thurber, all of the Christian faith were denied their request for a religious exemption.
[105] Barrington was one of only two districts in the entire state to make such a requirement.
[106] These three women were the only teachers in the state fired over the vaccine.
[107] So here's where this lawsuit against the union comes in.
[108] The Rhode Island affiliate of the National Education Association, Neri, refused to represent the educators, despite the teachers being due paying members.
[109] In Thurber's case, she paid dues for decades.
[110] The teachers are suing the union for breach of duty of fair representation and for religious discrimination.
[111] I spoke to the educator's attorney Gregory Peterelli, and he told me his clients had no support from the union, and they were told to get the vaccine or to resign.
[112] I've been doing education lots of 30 years, and I've dealt with the teachers' unions all along, and I've never seen a union just abdicate their responsibility to represent teachers.
[113] I've felt that unions that have represented teachers accused of molesting kids and all kinds of incompetence issues, and for them to just leave them on this, it was just amazing to me. To that point, I asked Peter really why he believes the union did in this very rare case refused to support these members.
[114] He told me he doesn't know why, since the science doesn't back up a necessity for a vaccine mandate, all of his clients had already recovered from COVID, and the vaccine, as we know, doesn't stop transmission.
[115] Right.
[116] He did add, though, that this seemed like a personal belief of leadership at Neri, specifically executive director Bob Walsh.
[117] There is video of Walsh, scolding teachers and parents for resistance to masking and vaccine mandates.
[118] This video was posted to the Neri YouTube channel in August of 2021.
[119] Here's some audio of that.
[120] Do something for your family, your friends, this country and the world, and get vaccinated.
[121] If there is a rule in your workplace, that vaccination is required, the answer to, can I be fired if I don't follow the rule?
[122] The answer is unequivocably yes.
[123] All right, so no equivocation there.
[124] Now, backing up a bit here, this is the second suit pitch really has filed on behalf of his clients over this vaccine issue, correct?
[125] Right.
[126] These teachers did sue the Barrington School Committee over this vaccine policy, and they fared very well.
[127] Last month, the committee settled, awarding all three teachers full back pay and additional $33 ,000, $50 ,000 for attorney's fees, and they were all offered their teaching positions back.
[128] But if they want them.
[129] Right.
[130] Even after that settlement, though, the committee seemed to stand by its policy, writing in a statement, quote, our then policy helped combat the pressing public health crisis of the time while keeping schools open and one that nearly all faculty adhered to.
[131] Peter really told me his clients were never offered an apology for their suffering, but he said the settlement speaks for itself and is effectively an admission that the committee's actions were wrong.
[132] He also told me he doesn't expect an apology from the union either.
[133] How about an acknowledgement that you were wrong and a commitment never to do this again?
[134] How about we start with that?
[135] Well, a truly fascinating case.
[136] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[137] Thanks for having me. Another story we're tracking this week.
[138] A loud sonic boom rocked the Washington, D .C. area on Sunday.
[139] According to officials, the sound came from a fighter jet that was scrambled to respond to a small aircraft that entered a no -fly zone and later crashed in nearby Virginia.
[140] The sonic boom that people heard was caused when the jet broke the sound barrier.
[141] Hey, thank you so much for listening to Morning Wire.
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[145] That's all the news we've got this morning.
[146] Thanks for waking up with us.
[147] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.