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[0] Still no verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, which took another significant turn on Wednesday.
[1] Morning Wires, Georgia Howe was there in the courtroom when the drama unfolded.
[2] As the jury was still deliberating, the defense filed a motion for mistrial with prejudice, alleging the prosecution withheld key evidence.
[3] We would, we were talking about, we would have done this case in a little bit different manner if that was the situation.
[4] Georgia will fill us in on what took place in the courtroom in Kenosha.
[5] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howl.
[6] It's Thursday, November 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
[7] In a reversal by the Biden administration, OSHA has suspended the implementation of its vaccine mandate for private employers.
[8] What led to OSHA's decision, and what does it mean for the more than 80 million Americans the rule would impact?
[9] And as the prosecution rested in the Ahmaud Arbery trial, the man who shot him took the stand to defend his actions.
[10] I shot.
[11] This is a lie for death situation.
[12] We'll look at the details of the case and the arguments from both sides.
[13] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[14] Stay tuned.
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[26] Another day of deliberation in Kenosha with no verdict, but there were some significant developments in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
[27] So, Georgia, you were there in the courthouse, and the defense is now requesting a mistrial.
[28] What happened?
[29] Right.
[30] So most of us in the press room at the courthouse were expecting the verdict yesterday.
[31] But around midday, the whole trial seem to go sideways.
[32] The main issue revolved around this one clip of drone footage, which the defense team said they were not given a full resolution copy of.
[33] Apparently, the defense did not realize they had a reduced resolution copy of this footage until Friday, after all of the arguments were given and the footage was already played in front of the jury, at which point the observation was made that the prosecution's version of the video appeared clearer than the defenses.
[34] Yeah, we've seen the footage, and the difference in the resolution is really striking.
[35] How did this happen?
[36] Well, that's currently kind of a mystery, but here's what we do know.
[37] This footage was shot by a civilian, and very early on, it was in the possession of Rittenhouse's original legal team, but it was somehow lost when Rittenhouse changed counsel.
[38] That same footage was also purchased and aired on Tucker Carlson.
[39] On November 5th of 2021, that civilian turned over the footage to the state, and the state claims they promptly shared it with the defense.
[40] Defense attorney Natalie Wiscoe claims her copy, which was shared with her via email from the same detective who shared it with the state, was about four megabytes, whereas it was discovered that the state's version was about 11 megabytes, with significantly sharper image quality.
[41] She also noticed that her team's version of the footage was saved under a different file name than the sharper quality version in possession of the state at the state crime lab.
[42] She also noticed that the metadata of the file, which is basically the fingerprint of the file, showed a different creation time, about 20 minutes later than the file at the state crime lab.
[43] So the whole exchange about this file was kind of in the weeds, but the people in the press room were really glued to the screen.
[44] It was compelling how they presented this.
[45] Is there a reasonable explanation for these discrepancies?
[46] Maybe.
[47] The prosecution says that they believe the file could have been compressed during the email process.
[48] The experts I spoke to have confirmed that that process could have changed the file name as well.
[49] So as of now, it's unclear whether the email server that either the detective or Wiscoe used compressed the file.
[50] But Judge Schroeder says, they need to have an expert witness to testify about the technological aspect of this.
[51] The state pointed out that it was the defense that was initially in possession of the file, and they had no reason to think that Rittenhouse's original counsel wouldn't have shared that footage with the new team.
[52] They also claimed that the amount of time between receiving the file from the detective and passing it on to the defense was not sufficient to tamper with it.
[53] They also emphasized that the defense did not object to the states using the higher resolution footage, or including it in the case at any point prior to Friday afternoon.
[54] But the defense is also asking for a mistrial over this.
[55] Yes, the defense is now asking for a mistrial with prejudice, which would basically mean Kyle would be set free and could not be retried.
[56] So obviously the state is going to fight really hard against that.
[57] Right.
[58] Well, it sounds like this is something they'll need to sort out before they move forward.
[59] Right.
[60] So that's what's going on inside.
[61] What about outside the courthouse with the protesters?
[62] Yeah, so the crowd got a little more rowdy on Wednesday, and two people were taken into custody.
[63] A 20 -year -old man was arrested for battery, and a 34 -year -old woman was arrested for disorderly conduct.
[64] Well, let's hope it doesn't escalate any further.
[65] Right, let's hope not.
[66] Georgia, thanks for the reporting.
[67] No problem.
[68] Coming up, OSHA suspends its employer vaccine mandate.
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[74] On Wednesday, OSHA suspended implementation of the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private employers, which threatens companies with fines of over $100 ,000 per infraction if they don't require employees to be vaccinated or tested for COVID.
[75] The move comes after a federal court blocked the mandate last week, calling it a staggering overreach and likely unconstitutional.
[76] OSHA's suspension of the rule is a reversal for the administration, which initially signaled that it would move forward with the mandate despite the court's ruling against it.
[77] Here to explain OSHA's move and its significance is Daily Wire General Counsel Josh Her.
[78] So Josh, we've covered this mandate in the various lawsuits against it, including one filed by the Daily Wire, as well as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against it.
[79] Now we've got OSHA saying it won't move forward.
[80] with it, at least for now.
[81] Right.
[82] So first, what exactly did OSHA announce Wednesday?
[83] Well, as you said, they've decided for now to suspend the implementation or enforcement of the mandate or ETS.
[84] OSHA's webpage says simply, and I'm quoting here, while OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.
[85] So it's suspended pending future developments with the lawsuits.
[86] What does that mean?
[87] Right.
[88] That's what we litigators refer to as non -committal legalese.
[89] They seem to be saying that they'll respect the Fifth Circuit stay.
[90] And that's very polite of them, but doing otherwise would likely put them in contempt of court.
[91] So they didn't have much of a choice.
[92] Right.
[93] Based on their choice of words, it's safe to assume that they don't intend to wait until the Sixth Circuit reaches a final ruling.
[94] Instead, they'll probably file a motion to lift the stay.
[95] Okay.
[96] But even in that scenario, the court will probably take several weeks or even months before ruling on it.
[97] Now, the case has been consolidated and given to the Sixth Circuit where the Daily Wire filed its lawsuit.
[98] Will it stay with the Sixth Circuit or is there a chance it's transferred?
[99] Any party to the case can ask the court to send the case back to the Fifth Circuit or to another circuit.
[100] But to do so, they'd have to show that doing so serves the interest.
[101] of justice or the convenience of the parties.
[102] It's possible the court could do that, but at this point, probably unlikely.
[103] Okay.
[104] The rule was supposed to go into effect on January 4th.
[105] If it does somehow survive, how does this all impact the potential date?
[106] Yeah, it's hard to predict what the administration would do if they managed to lift the stay, but businesses would need some lead -up time to implement the mandate.
[107] So even in the worst -case scenario, it's hard to imagine OSHA would not push that date back.
[108] Implementing the medical documentation policies alone at any given company will probably take a lot of time.
[109] So last question, you know, what's next?
[110] What should we be watching for?
[111] I think there are three things to watch for next.
[112] First of all, we expect some of the parties to try to transfer the case to different courts that they think are more convenient or more favorable to them.
[113] Second, we can expect that the administration will try to have the stay lifted.
[114] And third, Some of the plaintiffs have actually already filed a petition that the Sixth Circuit immediately hear the case on Bonk.
[115] Hearing a case on Bonk means that instead of selecting a panel of three judges, all 16 judges in that circuit would rule on the case.
[116] And the idea is to cut to the chase because the court would probably hear the case en banc anyway after an initial panel of three.
[117] So in theory, that would save the courts in the party's time.
[118] but whether that happens is ultimately up to the court.
[119] Well, Josh, thanks so much for joining us.
[120] Yeah, thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire General Counsel, Josh Hur.
[121] A defendant in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery took the stand Wednesday to give his side of the story after the prosecution rested their case Tuesday.
[122] Here to tell us the facts of the case is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence -Bond.
[123] Charlotte, welcome.
[124] Hey, John.
[125] So, Charlotte, this marks the 10th day of testimony.
[126] Can you catch us up on the details of the case?
[127] So in February of 2020, three white men who lived in a South Georgia neighborhood chased down Amad Arbery.
[128] Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, grabbed guns after Arbery ran past their yard, which was near a vacant property.
[129] Their neighbor, William Roddy Bryan Jr., also followed Arbery in a different car.
[130] Gregory McMichael, who used to be a police officer and investigator, has said he believed Arbery had recently broken into places in the area.
[131] Last week, Juror saw videos of Arbery walking through the property five separate times between October.
[132] 25th, 2019, and February 23, 2020.
[133] The last time was moments before he was chased down and shot by Travis McMichael during a confrontation between the two.
[134] The case really picked up national attention when a video clip recorded from one of the cars was put out in May of 2020.
[135] All three men are facing multiple charges, including murder and aggravated assault.
[136] If convicted, they could spend their lives in prison, but they're pleading not guilty.
[137] Okay, so walk us through the claims made by the prosecution.
[138] Well, head prosecutor Linda Dunacoski said, quote, all three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions, not on fact, not on evidence on assumptions.
[139] Jurors were shown photos of Arbery's shirt he was wearing when he was shot, which was completely red, assumedly from his blood since video shows it had been white.
[140] The jury was also able to see close -up pictures of his face.
[141] A forensic pathologist who conducted an autopsy on Arbery's body testified that he concluded Arbery was shot at close range.
[142] His cause of death was multiple shotgun wounds.
[143] What was your revised opinion, having now seen the video, as to the muzzle to target distance for this particular gunshot wound?
[144] 20 inches to three inches.
[145] So near contact or close range?
[146] Yes.
[147] And what about the defense?
[148] They called defendant Travis McMichael to the stand on Wednesday, and he gave a pretty emotional testimony.
[149] I shot.
[150] Why?
[151] He had my gun.
[152] He struck me. It was obvious that he was, it was obvious that he was attacking me that if he would have got this shotgun from me, then it was a, this is a lie for death situation.
[153] What did we learn today about how the defense is going to approach this?
[154] It appears the defense will push that this was self -defense and an attempt at a citizen's arrest.
[155] Travis McMichael has said that Arbery attacked him and the actions he took were in self -defense.
[156] At the time in Georgia, a citizen's arrest law stated that under certain conditions, someone could arrest a person who committed a crime.
[157] That law was repealed and replaced with different phrasing after the shooting of Arbery.
[158] Had there been any other noteworthy moments during the trial so far?
[159] A couple.
[160] On one of the days of the trial, Arbery's mother started sobbing and the defense asked for a mistrial, but the judge decided against that.
[161] On top of that, a headline -grabbing statement made by a defense attorney came after Reverend and Civil Rights activist Al Sharpton was in the courthouse.
[162] The attorney said, quote, we don't want any more black pastors coming in here.
[163] and said the pastors who had been present were, quote, sitting with the victim's family trying to influence the jurors in this case.
[164] He has since apologized for those remarks.
[165] Well, it's another major case that's gained national attention.
[166] Charlotte, thanks for the reporting.
[167] Thanks for having me. Daily Wires, Charlotte Pence -Bahn.
[168] Other stories were tracking this week.
[169] On Wednesday, Belarus moved hundreds of migrants from the Polish border to a nearby warehouse.
[170] This came a day after violence broke out, when Polish forces used water cannons and tear gas against migrants.
[171] Polish officials accused Belarus of arming migrants with smoke grenades and other weapons.
[172] And deaths from drug overdose in America reached more than 100 ,000 annually for the first time ever.
[173] According to recent CDC data, this is 28 .5 % higher than the same time last year and nearly double when compared to the past five years.
[174] Experts are saying that synthetic opioids such as fentanyl remain the driving cause behind dramatic rise.
[175] We'll have a full breakdown of the story later this week.
[176] If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five -star review.
[177] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[178] Thanks for waking up with us.
[179] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
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