Morning Wire XX
[0] The White House has announced a disinformation governance board, a move that comes just days after Elon Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter.
[1] What will the board monitor?
[2] Who will be heading it up?
[3] And why are Republicans sounding the alarm?
[4] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[5] It's Friday, April 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] Is the economy heading for a recession?
[7] In what some experts are calling a surprise development, America's GDP contracted last quarter rather than growing as many projected.
[8] We'll break down the numbers and what it means for you.
[9] And the Department of Homeland Security Secretary is facing harsh criticism for his handling of the immigration crisis at our southern border.
[10] We'll take you inside the congressional questioning.
[11] Will you testify under oath right now?
[12] Do we have operational control yes or no?
[13] Yes, we do.
[14] We have operational control of the borders.
[15] Yes, we do.
[16] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[17] Stay tuned.
[18] We have the news you need to know.
[19] This show is sponsored by Good Ranchers.
[20] Meet and see you.
[21] food prices are up 20 % in the last year.
[22] You can combat this out -of -control inflation with a Good Rancher's subscription.
[23] When you subscribe, your price is locked in for the life of your subscription.
[24] Get American meat, source from local farms delivered to your door at a consistent affordable price.
[25] Visit good ranchers .com slash wire or use code wire at checkout to get $30 off and free shipping today.
[26] Lock in your price today with a Good Rancher's subscription and say goodbye to food inflation.
[27] Just days after Elon Musk reached a agreement to purchase the social media giant Twitter, the Biden administration announced a new program to combat online misinformation and disinformation.
[28] This announcement caused alarm among free speech advocates, with many viewing the timing as suspiciously strategic.
[29] Here to tell us more is Daily Wires Ian Howarth.
[30] So, Ian, first off, tell us about this announcement.
[31] Sure.
[32] So on Wednesday, we were told that the Biden administration would be creating a disinformation governance board, whose supposed purpose would be to combat the spread of so -called misinformation as we approach the 2022 mid -term elections.
[33] This was first announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the subject of his department's budget for 2023.
[34] We have just established a mis and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security, but to our homeland security.
[35] This is going to be operating under the Biden administration's Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, which fund efforts to help what they deem to be the radicalization of the United States.
[36] And do we know who's going to be heading up this new department?
[37] Yeah, Nina Jankovic, who the Biden administration describes as a Russian disinformation expert, is going to be heading up the board.
[38] But this is where the board gets even more controversial.
[39] First off, Jancovich is arguably a critic of free speech.
[40] Just a few days ago, in the context of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, she said, quote, I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what they would look like for the marginalized communities, which are already shouldering disproportionate amounts of this abuse.
[41] And this is really worrying because after it was announced that she would head up the board, she said that a huge focus of their work would be to maintain the Department of Homeland Security's commitment to free speech, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
[42] And not only as she drawn supposed links between free speech and abuse, Jankevich has really concerning ties to the notorious Hunter Biden laptop story.
[43] As an apparent expert on Russian disinformation, she described the Bonshell story regarding Hunter Biden's laptop as a, quote, Trump campaign product, playing into the Democratic Party narrative at the time that this story was either Republican or Russian disinformation.
[44] As the Daily Mail pointed out, this is raising serious questions over Jankovich's ability to accurately judge what disinformation even is, given that several sources have shown the Hunter Biden laptop story to be true.
[45] Right, and what's been the response to this announcement, beyond Jankevich's involvement.
[46] It's been almost entirely negative on the conservative side, as well as from those who are supporters of online free speech or suspicious of governmental control of online speech.
[47] Many are likening the disinformation governance board to George Orwell's Ministry of Truth in 1984.
[48] But again, the concern here is also the timing.
[49] This is all happening soon after Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter, based on the fundamental promise to address the subject of free speech online.
[50] So when we consider the ever -changing definition of terms like misinformation and disinformation, as well as the fact that they are inherently subjective and partisan terms to begin with, this announcement is sparking a lot of concern.
[51] Right.
[52] Well, we'll be following it for sure.
[53] Ian, thanks so much for reporting.
[54] Thanks, Georgia.
[55] That's Daily Wires, Ian Howarth.
[56] Coming up in a surprise to some experts, the U .S. economy declines.
[57] This show is brought to you by The Pearl Source.
[58] One of the best gifts you can get for Mom this Mother's Day is beautiful pearl jewelry from The Pearl Source.
[59] They cut out the middlemen and sell directly to customers at up to seven.
[60] 70 % off of retail prices.
[61] The Pearl Source offers free two -day shipping and a 60 -day money -back guarantee, so it's risk -free.
[62] For a limited time, Morning Wire listeners can take 20 % off with promo code MorningWire at the Pearl Source .com.
[63] If you want fine pearl jewelry at the best prices online, then go straight to the source, the Pearl Source.
[64] As the U .S. economy continues to struggle under the weight of record inflation and persistent supply chain backups, new data shows the nation's GDP shrunked.
[65] last quarter for the first time since the height of the COVID lockdowns.
[66] Here with more on what's causing the slowdown and how the federal government is responding is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[67] All right, Cabot, walk us through these numbers.
[68] What are we looking at here?
[69] Well, every quarter, the U .S. Commerce Department releases their official estimate on America's GDP outlook for the quarter.
[70] And they found that this quarter, it actually shrunk by 1 .4%.
[71] A quick refresher for everyone at home, the GDP is the total value of all the goods and services produced in a country, it basically tells the overall story of a country's economic health.
[72] And according to the numbers, our economy is not very healthy right now.
[73] For context, last quarter, the economy grew by 6 .9%.
[74] In the quarter before that, it was 2 .3%.
[75] And both quarters before that saw at least 6 % growth.
[76] So this is a definite turnaround.
[77] And it's actually the first time we've seen negative growth since the height of COVID lockdowns, which obviously is not a great sign given that the prediction initially was that there was going to be growth this quarter, definitely not anything this small and in this case negative.
[78] Yeah, it caught many people by surprise.
[79] What are the main reasons for the decline?
[80] So, as always, there are a few factors at play here.
[81] First, the obvious ones that we've talked about on the show a good bit, mainly inflation and supply chain backups that have been exacerbated by labor shortages and international COVID lockdowns like the one we've seen in Shanghai.
[82] Right.
[83] But economists are also now pointing to a widening trade deficit for the decline in this case.
[84] Essentially, the problem is that the U .S. is importing far more goods and services than we're exporting, which isn't always conducive for a strong economy.
[85] For example, back in January, the U .S. imported $89 billion more than we exported.
[86] That's the largest monthly deficit on record.
[87] Then a month later, we saw the second largest deficit on record.
[88] So while demand is still high from American consumers, our production itself has started to slow down, and that's leading to the deficit, which has economists worried.
[89] So is there any reason for optimism?
[90] I like the optimism.
[91] You know I'm always looking for the overlining.
[92] In this case, there is one.
[93] It's the numbers on consumer and business spending, which were up 2 .7 and 9 .2 % respectively.
[94] This essentially means that even though economic growth nationally slowed down, demand among the actual players in the economy, aka consumers and businesses, is still relatively high.
[95] They're still spending money.
[96] The main things we've seen increased spending on lately have been hotels, airfare, restaurants, and other industries that had been hampered by COVID earlier in the year.
[97] But experts, again, are warning that even though people are still throwing money around now as inflation gets worse and as the Fed keeps raising interest rates further, which is expected in the coming months, we are going to see that spending start to slow down.
[98] Yeah, that would make sense.
[99] Now, obviously, the economy is going to be a key factor in the midterms.
[100] How has the president responded to this news?
[101] Yeah, if there's one thing we've seen time and time again in polling, as we talked about on the show, it's that the economy has fast become the number one issue in the mind of American voters.
[102] So you just cannot overstate how much of a political impact all of this is going to have.
[103] President Biden, responded to issuing a statement Thursday afternoon saying, quote, last quarter's growth estimate was affected by technical factors, including Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and global inflation.
[104] So he's blaming outside factors.
[105] But critics naturally responded by claiming that Biden's policies are themselves a key contributor to inflation.
[106] So they say it's ironic that he's now blaming inflation for our poor economic standing.
[107] They also jumped on his attempt to blame Putin's invasion, noting that Russia and Ukraine were relatively small trading partners of ours before the war.
[108] And also that this new data, a lot of it actually happened and was measured before the war started.
[109] So they say those aren't legitimate excuses.
[110] But bottom line, the president may be downplaying the issue at the moment, but he and his administration are keenly aware of how important this topic is for voters and how quickly they need to take action if they're going to prevent a red wave in November.
[111] Yeah, November is coming fast.
[112] Kabbitt, thanks so much.
[113] Any time.
[114] That's Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[115] The U .S. border with Mexico experienced the highest number of illegal border crossings in American history last year.
[116] Now, the Biden administration is considering a controversial proposal that critics say could double that number.
[117] Some congressional Republicans have responded by saying DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached.
[118] Here to tell us more is Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
[119] First, Ben, tell us what is the situation on the border and how is President Biden proposing to change it?
[120] The border continues to be in crisis.
[121] Border officials reported 1 .7 million illegal encounters at the southern border last year more than any time in U .S. history.
[122] And the number of illegal crossings increased every month of 2022, including another $221 ,000 in March.
[123] As we've discussed, officials warned that Mexican cartels traffic in fentanyl, which has eclipsed car accidents as the number one killer of Americans age 18 to 45 this year.
[124] Now, the Biden administration has announced that next month, wants to repeal Title 42.
[125] That's a provision that Border Patrol agents have used to expel about half of all illegal immigrants.
[126] Border agents warned that that could lead to 18 ,000 people a day crossing the border.
[127] Yeah, we've seen those numbers.
[128] They're stunning.
[129] Now, a judge hasn't joined shutting down Title 42 for the moment, but the attempt to do so has led to calls to impeach Majorcas, right?
[130] That's right.
[131] And Mayorkas said earlier this week that he had, quote, effectively managed the border crisis, which led Congressman to believe he's either complete.
[132] complacent or complicit in the problem.
[133] The most recent example happened during a congressional hearing on Thursday afternoon.
[134] During a heated exchange, Congressman Chip Roy of Texas noted the national security threat of an open border.
[135] We sent a letter saying there are 42 people on the terrorist watch list that are in the United States.
[136] You just said to Mr. Jordan, you don't even know where the hell they are.
[137] Representative Steve Shabbat of Ohio asked Mayorkas about the DHS's clandestine transportation of illegal migrants throughout the country.
[138] Let me ask you this.
[139] How many busloads have you sent to my state, Ohio.
[140] Do you know that?
[141] Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, who introduced a measure to impeach Mayorkas last August, confronted Mayorkas directly.
[142] You're not preventing entries.
[143] You're fomenting entries.
[144] You're encouraging it.
[145] You're either accepting the Biden administration, and if that's the case, then you should be impeached.
[146] If you disagree with the Biden administration's program, you should resign.
[147] That's where we are.
[148] And Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado agreed.
[149] My constituents want you impeached because they believe you've committed treason.
[150] Buck added that his constituents have likened Mayorkas to Benedict Arnold.
[151] Not a favorable comparison.
[152] What about Democrats on the committee?
[153] Naturally, few of them join the fray, although Representative Greg Stanton of Arizona mentioned opioids and the actions of Mexican cartels.
[154] And on Wednesday, Michigan Democrat Lisa Slotkin said, Our immigration system is broken.
[155] Democrats and Republicans own that.
[156] In Congress, we are more culpable than anyone because we are the ones who set the laws.
[157] And as a CIA officer and Pentagon official by training, if we are dealing with security issues on the very border of our country, we have failed.
[158] Our policy is failing.
[159] That is the place of last resort to protect ourselves.
[160] Okay, now, what is the status of the impeachment?
[161] bill.
[162] So far, he has a total of 30 co -sponsors.
[163] During a press conference in Eagle Passed Texas on Monday, minority leader Kevin McCarthy warned Mayorkas, quote, at any time if someone is derelict in their job, there's always the option of impeaching somebody.
[164] So more of a threat than an imminent likelihood of impeachment.
[165] Exactly.
[166] Is it possible that Mayorkas actually could be impeached?
[167] It's not likely with both houses of Congress controlled by Democrats, but if the majority changes hands after the midterms.
[168] Look for impeachment calls to heat up.
[169] Well, we'll see.
[170] Thanks for bringing us that report, Ben.
[171] It's been my pleasure.
[172] That's Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
[173] Other stories we're tracking this week?
[174] On Thursday, Moderna requested authorization from the FDA for its COVID vaccine for young kids aged six months to five years.
[175] The age group would be given a smaller dose than adults.
[176] And President Biden has asked Congress for 33 billion additional dollars for Ukraine.
[177] 20 billion would go to weapons and ammunition, 8 .5 billion in economic support, and 3 billion for humanitarian aid.
[178] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
[179] We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
[180] If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five -star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
[181] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[182] Thanks for waking up with us.
[183] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
[184] If you like this podcast, subscribe to our MorningWire newsletter, available exclusively to DailyWire members.
[185] Get the MorningWire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at DailyWire .com slash subscribe.
[186] Use code MorningWire to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.