Morning Wire XX
[0] Donald Trump and Elon Musk sit down for a highly anticipated interview.
[1] Again, it's about the American dream.
[2] You don't hear about the American dream anymore, Elon.
[3] You don't hear you're the American dream and the truth says.
[4] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[5] It's Tuesday, August 13, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] Vice presidential candidate J .D. Vance goes on a whirlwind media blitz.
[7] She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter.
[8] everything is scripted.
[9] She doesn't have her policy positions out there.
[10] And as stolen valor claims stack up against Tim Walls, we talked to the man who replaced him in Iraq.
[11] It was cowardly to just be like, I'm not going to go.
[12] I mean, you can't pick and choose where your nation wants you to go.
[13] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[14] Stay tuned.
[15] We have the news you need to know.
[16] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[24] Former President Donald Trump returned to social media platform X on Monday with a highly anticipated live interview with the company's owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
[25] Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[26] Hey, Amanda.
[27] So let's get right to this interview.
[28] Set the scene here for us.
[29] Hey there, John.
[30] Well, first, this conversation lasted around two hours and it garnered more than a million live listeners throughout the stream.
[31] So big numbers there.
[32] And it covered a wide range of topics like immigration, government waste, foreign policy, free speech.
[33] And of course, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
[34] It did start about 40 minutes late.
[35] and Musk said that was due to a cyber attack.
[36] But once they got rolling, Musk opened up by asking about the assassination attempt on Trump's life.
[37] Musk actually publicly endorsed Trump when that happened.
[38] Here's some audio on that topic.
[39] You can't fake bravery under such circumstances.
[40] The courage is instinctual or it is not.
[41] It's not a rehearsed action.
[42] And so I just want to say that I think a lot of people admire your courage under fire there.
[43] Thank you very much.
[44] I appreciate it.
[45] The incredible thing, though, when you talk about the odds, You had to be exactly at that angle.
[46] And the bullet came whizzing by hitting my ear.
[47] When you think of the odds of that, I say an act of God.
[48] It's a miracle that it happened.
[49] And I'm honored by it.
[50] I'm honored by it.
[51] Trump also went after Harris and the Democrats for what he called a coup against President Biden.
[52] And he took a swipe at Harris for basically refusing any questions from reporters since she became the effective Democrat nominee.
[53] And by the way, you think Biden could do this interview?
[54] Do you think that Kamala could do this interview?
[55] They would take a pass to you.
[56] No, they could not.
[57] So they don't need Elon screaming out questions.
[58] It's pretty sad that somebody that does this for a living can't answer a question or is afraid to do an interview.
[59] Another standout moment was when Musk explained that he is a moderate politically who strongly supported Barack Obama.
[60] He now, though, feels that it's imperative Trump wins this election.
[61] So this is to people out there who are in the moderate camp to say, I think you should support Donald Trump or president.
[62] And I think it's actually a very important junction in the road and we're in deep trouble if it goes the other way.
[63] Well, I want to thank you.
[64] And, you know, I actually always did think of you as somewhat left.
[65] I must say that.
[66] So it's even more of an honor to have your endorsement.
[67] Now, this was a big return to this social media platform for Trump, who was controversially banned following the Capitol riot in 2021.
[68] What did Trump say about that?
[69] Right.
[70] Trump was permanently banned from the platform while he was still serving out his final days as president.
[71] That was, of course, before Musk bought the platform.
[72] Musk has been a fierce advocate for free speech and he reinstated Trump's ex account almost as soon as he took it over.
[73] As for Trump, other than posting his mugshot last summer, the former president has not posted to X until yesterday.
[74] He published a flurry of posts ahead of the interview.
[75] his very first post, asked the American people, are you better off now than you were when I was president?
[76] He also published numerous videos.
[77] Here's some audio from one of the ads he posted.
[78] They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away you freedom.
[79] They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you.
[80] They're not coming after me. They're coming after you.
[81] And I just happen to be standing in their way and I will never be moving.
[82] And ahead of this interview, we actually saw the EU target Musk about this particular issue.
[83] What happened there?
[84] They threatened Musk on Monday that he needs to censor quote unquote harmful content or else his company could be punished.
[85] The letter comes after posts on X highlighted the alarming events in the UK involving migrants and Muslim gangs.
[86] Notably, Musk back in December said that the European Commission offered X in a legal secret deal to basically, quietly censor speech without telling anyone.
[87] And this way, X would not be fined.
[88] Musk said he shot that deal down, but other platforms did accept that.
[89] And as he made very, very clear yesterday, he's definitely not backing down.
[90] I actually can't repeat what he posted, but it amounted to a giant no to the EU's demands.
[91] Musk clearly not intimidated by the EU's threats.
[92] Meanwhile, Trump back on Twitter.
[93] Yeah, in a big way.
[94] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[95] You're welcome.
[96] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[104] J .D. Vance has been busy on news shows in recent days.
[105] The Republican nominee for vice president sat for interviews on ABC, CBS, and CNN, and touched on issues ranging from abortion to the border.
[106] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about Vance's media circuit and the Democratic tickets noticeable absence from the airwaves.
[107] So, Tim, how have these interviews gone so far for Vance?
[108] Generally, he's been good at fending off hostile courts.
[109] questions and turning the focus back on the Harris Walls ticket.
[110] A consistent theme throughout the interviews was Vance defending and explaining his pro -family approach to politics.
[111] With Margaret Brennan of CBS, he said he wanted to expand the child tax credit, for instance.
[112] CNN's Dana Bash was one of the most hostile to Vance and spent much of her time questioning Vance's attacks on Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls.
[113] Here's an exchange about Walls's stolen valor controversy.
[114] I've seen a lot of statements from veterans, including those you serve with saying, it's just untoward to be criticizing somebody who served for 24 years.
[115] Dana, I'm not interested in the ad homonym.
[116] I've heard from a lot of veterans groups who criticized Tim Walts.
[117] The question is he said he served in war, and he didn't.
[118] That is a dishonesty.
[119] I really, I couldn't care less what one or the other person says about it.
[120] I care about what the truth is.
[121] The truth is that Tim Walsh didn't tell the truth.
[122] And importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris's judgment.
[123] And I think that when you ask, why has Kamala Harris allowed the border to be wide open?
[124] Why has Kamala Harris supported policies that have promoted the increase in inflation?
[125] I think it goes to the heart of her judgment.
[126] And I think that that's what we should be talking about.
[127] Now, what about the platform that Trump and Vance are running on?
[128] Did we learn anything new about their policies?
[129] Nothing new, but this was a good test of Vance's ability to be a spokesman for Trump.
[130] priorities.
[131] Another hostile exchange was prompted by ABC's Jonathan Carl.
[132] Carl defended Harris's border record and pushed Vance on Trump's plan to deport illegal aliens.
[133] If you're not willing to deport a lot of people, you're not willing to have a border when there are 20 million illegal aliens in our country.
[134] 10 million people, this is like, I mean.
[135] What, John, I think it's the wrong attitude to take of it.
[136] Okay.
[137] So they're going to knock on doors and ask people for the paper.
[138] Again, but I do let me just, I think there's a wrong, this is the wrong attitude towards it, right?
[139] There's 20 million people here illegally.
[140] You start with what's achievable.
[141] I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals, and frankly, if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the legal immigration problem.
[142] And abortion was a topic in every interview.
[143] Here's Vance defending Trump's position on that.
[144] What the president has said very clearly is that abortion policy should be made by the states, right?
[145] You, of course, want to make sure that any medicine is safe, that it's prescribed in the right way and so forth.
[146] But I think that what we really one is when states and voters in those states make decisions, we of course want the states and the federal government to respect those decisions.
[147] And that's what President Trump has said, is consistently we need to get out of the culture war side of the abortion issue.
[148] We need to let the states decide their specific abortion policy.
[149] Now, many have noted that Vance's appearances on these shows sort of highlights the lack of media scrutiny on Harris and Walls.
[150] So far, neither have sat for any interviews like these ones that Vance has been sitting for.
[151] Did that come up at all?
[152] That's right.
[153] Harrison Walls have been noticeably absent from the media.
[154] And that's opened up a lane of attack from the Trump campaign, one that Vance hit on throughout these interviews.
[155] Here he is on CNN.
[156] Are you going to debate Tim Walz?
[157] Of course.
[158] I want to debate Tim Walts.
[159] I think it's important.
[160] And I think that it goes to a very fundamental difference between the Trump -Vance ticket and our opposition.
[161] We believe in talking to the media.
[162] We believe in answering questions.
[163] We believe in debating.
[164] I think it's really important.
[165] I mean, look, I'm asking the American people to make me their vice president.
[166] It's really important to stand before the American people to make that case.
[167] And I'm going to keep on doing it in whatever form I get the opportunities.
[168] Even with this public pressure from Republicans, Harrison Wall, have studiously avoided tough questions from the media.
[169] The most they promised is a potential sit -down by Kamala Harris sometime next month.
[170] Right.
[171] Well, so far, they've been allowed to stick to scripted rallies and campaign commercials.
[172] Tim, thanks for reporting.
[173] Thanks for having me. The military record of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walls has come under intense scrutiny.
[174] Walls has claimed to have retired at a higher level than he did and that he carried, quote, Weapons of War in war.
[175] despite retiring before his battalion was deployed.
[176] Thomas Barron's became the command sergeant major after Walls left, and he's been drawing attention to this issue for years.
[177] The following is an excerpt of our interview with Barron's.
[178] Tom, first of all, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for your service.
[179] You are welcome, thank you.
[180] Let's start with what prompted your involvement in this entire story, which has really taken over the national headlines.
[181] By 2016, you'd begun to call attention to the fact, that Tim Walls was mischaracterizing his military service.
[182] What was he saying, and what did you initially do about it?
[183] Well, you know, it originally started even way before that.
[184] I mean, when we actually got deployed, he got elected to Congress.
[185] I mean, he was retired command sergeant major this and that.
[186] And I'm in the first district where he was our congressman.
[187] And he early did see this advertising out there and brought it up to my colonel.
[188] I said, you know, I just can't, what are we going to do with this guy?
[189] I mean, he keeps lying about his rank, and I did the right thing.
[190] I wrote a letter, personal letter as a constituent to him in Congress.
[191] I said, thank you for your 24 years of service.
[192] Thank you for doing what you do for veterans.
[193] You didn't achieve the rank of command sergeant major.
[194] Please refrain from doing that from now on.
[195] You just set the record straight, tell everybody that, well, I made a mistake, whatever you got to do, but I never heard a response.
[196] I sent it to all of the people that were, you know, on the committees that he was on it, like the Armed Services Committee and never heard a word back from anybody.
[197] And then two years later, he's run for governor and it was like August, it was like feet's sake.
[198] Now I got to, you know, get off my tractor and go make a banner to put up my bin and do whatever.
[199] They're trying to get the public out there knowing that you're a fraud.
[200] And it got suppressed by the media then.
[201] They got brought out more in 2022, but, you know, now it's where it's at.
[202] So you initially reached out to him personally, got no response back.
[203] And then you started to feel when he ran for governor that maybe you had to take this up a notch in terms of public awareness.
[204] And the media, you say, just ignored your claims.
[205] Well, they not only ignored it, I mean, the Star Tribune reporter, I sent this to him.
[206] He got back to me. He said, well, I vetted your story.
[207] It's true.
[208] We're looking at publishing an article.
[209] And this was like late October of 18.
[210] Then he got back to me and he said, well, my editor mixed it because they said it's too close.
[211] of the election and they didn't want to influence the election.
[212] And maybe not exact words, but pretty close.
[213] And I talked to myself, what the hell is this?
[214] North Korea, I couldn't believe it.
[215] I was like, you know, this is a true story.
[216] This should influence the election.
[217] People should be able to read this and determine if this is who they want to vote for governor, and they just hid it.
[218] Now, you've characterized this as him abandoning his men.
[219] What was the impact of him leaving?
[220] How did that impact these particular men?
[221] And there's a lot of them, hundreds of them under his command, correct?
[222] I think it's like a depleting balloon when something like that happens.
[223] It's like the wind is taken out of the sails.
[224] Everything is like, okay, we're full steam ahead.
[225] We're getting ready.
[226] We got our leadership in place.
[227] We're going to get ready.
[228] We're preparing for war.
[229] And all of a sudden, the sails are straight up and down with no wind in there.
[230] I mean, that's it.
[231] You're just done.
[232] Everybody was in just shock.
[233] Who does that?
[234] who leaves their kids hanging on something like this.
[235] And so you filled that role.
[236] You took over and led that battalion.
[237] Can you tell us about that?
[238] What was that experience like?
[239] Well, it was an absolute honor to even have that brought out to me. It was like, now I can serve my country in a greater capacity.
[240] I was like, okay, I'm on board.
[241] I went around to the unit, said, well, he's born.
[242] I'm here.
[243] Let's get ready and let's go.
[244] Look for the rest of our interview with retired command sergeant major Thomas Barron's to be released later this week.
[245] Thanks for waking up with us.
[246] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.