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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe, co-host of Morning Wire. Welcome back to the show.
--:-- John Bickley: Yesterday, both campaigns held their breath as the nation finally saw Trump and Harris face off on the debate stage.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us. And we can chart a new way forward.
--:-- John Bickley: We can't sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision. But I just ask one simple question. Why didn't she do it?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Who walked away the winner of the high-stakes event? And what role did the moderators play?
--:-- John Bickley: I thought the moderators were very unfair, but it basically was three-on-one. The worst of all the news networks, in my opinion. And it always has been.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us to discuss the debate is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips, who is there on the scene.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So, big picture. What did we say? Well, we should say right off the top that there were no major catastrophic moments for either candidate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Certainly, this was not like the last debate, which effectively ended Biden's candidacy. Right from the start, we saw the moderators, ABC Davis Muir and Lindsay Davis, playing a very prominent role.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that actually became perhaps the story of the night. Many viewers and pundits, especially those on the right, felt that as the night wore on, the moderators increasingly meddled in the debate, fact-checking Trump repeatedly while failing to fact-check Harris on really almost anything over the course of the night.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Even when she repeated debunked claims like the fine people on both sides and Trump's bloodbath line. The moderators also appeared to tee up some very softball questions, we'll say, for Harris, while giving particularly thorny ones to Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: For example, here's a question from the moderator, David Muir, to Trump regarding race. Mr. President, you recently said of Vice President Harris, quote, I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And now she wants to be known as black. I want to ask a bigger picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?
--:-- John Bickley: I don't. And I don't care. I don't care what she is. I don't care.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: At one point, Muir actually fact-checked Trump's tone in a past statement. Trump said he was being sarcastic when he said he lost by a whisker in 2020.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Muir insisted that he did not believe he was being sarcastic, apparently attempting to read his mind in the past.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I did watch all of these pieces of video. I didn't detect the sarcasm lost by a whisker. We didn't quite make it.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, the primary goal for Trump in this debate was to tie Harris to the policies that she endorsed and then helped enact alongside Biden.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He wanted to force her to go on the record about the various policies that she has suddenly flipped on, including banning fracking, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, and eliminating private insurance through Medicare for All among many other things.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, Harris spent most of the night trying to present herself as not Biden.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In fact, one of the most contentious moments of the night came after she specifically tried to make that point as Trump hammered her on her policy positions and essentially said that she'd be the same as Biden.
--:-- John Bickley: Again, in that case, the moderators did get involved. Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Let's turn the page and move forward. Vice President Harris, thank you. Let's turn to policy. President Trump, we have to move on. President Trump, let's turn to policy, please.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun. President Trump, we do have to move on to other issues.
--:-- John Bickley: She has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else. Okay. That's what her plan is until just recently.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I just need to respond. The former president has said something twice that I need to respond to. I'm sorry. We're going to move on, Vice President Harris.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, throughout the night, Trump repeatedly returned to the issues that have plagued Harris and Biden the most, the economy and inflation.
--:-- John Bickley: He tied this to the illegal immigration crisis under border czar Harris. Many of these people coming in are criminals, and that's bad for our economy, too.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, you mentioned before, we'll talk about immigration later. Well, bad immigration is the worst thing that can happen to our economy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And abortion, of course, came up early, and Harris tried to tie all state-level abortion restrictions to Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: She referred to what she called Trump abortion bans around the country. Well, he said once again that he does not want any federal law on the topic, calling for it to remain in states voters' hands.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He also flipped the script and said the Democrats are the true radicals on abortion, calling for abortion up to birth and even beyond.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Moderators, again, tried to fact-check him on that as well.
--:-- John Bickley: In the end, Trump, though, said the issue does not matter for a president because a bill will never make it that far. She'll never get the vote. It's impossible for her to get the vote, especially now with essentially 50-50 in both Senate and the House.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She can't get the vote. She won't even come close to it. So it's just talk.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What about the personal attacks? That was something the Harris team was clearly hoping to go Trump into.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, interestingly, it was Harris who definitely went personal more often over the course of the evening.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: She went after Trump for being a convicted felon. She taunted him over losing the 2020 election. She even insulted his intelligence and said his events are boring and that folks leave early.
--:-- John Bickley: Here are a few of those moments. I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted. Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm winning most of them and I will win the rest on appeal. They weaponized the Justice Department.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me. They talk about democracy. I'm a threat to democracy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They're the threat to democracy. And one of the more memorable lines of the evening was Trump echoing Harris's famous debate attack on Mike Pence.
--:-- John Bickley: She was big on defund the police. In Minnesota, she went out. Wait a minute. I'm talking now, if you don't mind, please. Does that sound familiar?
--:-- Georgia Howe: While Harris, for her part, suggested Trump could not handle getting fired back in 2020.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. We cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election.
--:-- John Bickley: I have talked with military leaders some of whom worked with you and they say you a disgrace. You talk about a threat to democracy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He got 14 million votes and they threw him out of office. And you know what? I'll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can't stand her. But he got 14 million votes. They threw him out. She got zero votes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The two also traded barbs over foreign policy, with Harris saying Trump would abandon our allies for, quote, strongman dictators.
--:-- John Bickley: And Trump saying that Biden and Harris have proven dangerously inept on the world stage. He said the wars in Ukraine and Israel, which again started under the Biden-Harris administration, would not be happening if he were in office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In their closing statements, Harris returned to her mantra about, quote, not going back.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While Trump asked why she has not already done all the things she's now promising to do.
--:-- John Bickley: So I think you've heard tonight two very different visions for our country. One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past and an attempt to take us backward.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But we're not going back. So she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that, she's going to do all these wonderful things.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for three and a half years. They've had three and a half years to fix the border.
--:-- John Bickley: They've had three and a half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we're already seeing the response to the debate from media and politicos. What have we heard so far?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, unsurprisingly, the legacy media has declared Harris the big winner of the event.
--:-- John Bickley: They say she maintained her poise, hit all of her crucial talking points, and came out looking like the more reasonable and measured of the two.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it's worth noting, I spoke with a number of Trump officials afterwards, and none of them really said that Trump won or lost.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Their argument was that the American people lost because the moderators displayed so much bias against Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: And again, also worth noting, after originally only agreeing to one of three debates, the Harris campaign now says they want another debate in October.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Trump's reaction to that new challenge. So they immediately call for a second debate because they lost.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So look, when it comes to debates, the reality is you typically don't know the impact of a candidate's performance until a few days afterwards when new polling comes out.
--:-- John Bickley: So we'll be closely monitoring the numbers to see if either side gets a bump this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Regardless, another historic debate in the books here. And now we'll see how the American people respond to seeing the two finally face off.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, a big moment for both candidates. We'll be tracking the response as the week goes on.
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks so much for being on the scene all night and reporting for us.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: And now, a word from our sponsors.
--:-- Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit.
--:-- Responsible Man: Be the man America needs you to be. Shop Responsible Man, and get an exclusive discount with code WIRE at https://responsibleman.com/
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--:-- John Bickley: And now, let's move on to our next story. A new congressional report accuses Biden and Harris of prioritizing politics in their disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. Joining us to discuss the report is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's start with the report. What does it say?
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's intensely critical of the Biden administration. It says President Biden made the decision to withdraw despite the conditions in the Doha agreement, pleas of the Afghan government, and the objections by our NATO allies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it ties Vice President Harris to the decision as well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For instance, it notes a statement Harris made just last month on the anniversary of the Abbey Gate terror attack that killed 13 service members.
--:-- John Bickley: Harris's statement called the decision to withdraw quote courageous and right.
--:-- Tim Pierce: On Tuesday, the House honored the 13 service members killed at Abbey Gate. House Speaker Mike Johnson awarded the Medal of Honor to each of them while apologizing to their families.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them. We are sorry. The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Those fallen and wounded at Abbey Gate deserved our best efforts. And the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition.
--:-- John Bickley: A solemn event yesterday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, Democrats have released their own response to the investigation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What points do they raise?
--:-- Tim Pierce: The chief complaint from Democrats is that the report looks political.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the committee, making that point on CNN.
--:-- Gregory Meeks: Do you think it's a coincidence the day before the debate, this announcement came out, all of a sudden it's concluded? Do you think it's not political when previously almost 3,000 pages of testimony and Kamala Harris was mentioned three times and now all of a sudden he's trying to include it therein?
--:-- Tim Pierce: The White House released a statement that said the GOP report is, quote, based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and pre-existing biases.
--:-- John Bickley: Committee Chairman Michael McCall of Texas answered some of that criticism over the weekend before the report was released.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He said the report's timing, that it's coming out close to a presidential election, is actually due to the Biden administration's own stonewalling.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's McCall on Face the Nation.
--:-- Michael McCall: Now it's taken me two years to get to this point because of the obstruction. I've had to serve subpoena after subpoena, move to compel, threaten to hold the secretary in contempt to get information, like after-action reports, all these documents, testimonies that we finally got to.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, I should note some criticism of McCall that has come from someone who used to work on the committee's investigative team.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Former senior investigator Jerry Dunleavy resigned from the committee last month and alleged that McCall's investigation was far less aggressive than it should have been.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to Dunleavy, the committee has been reluctant to uncover the full scope of who was involved in the withdrawal and how much, including Vice President Harris's full role.
--:-- John Bickley: So he suspects that there's even more damning evidence that hasn't been discovered yet.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, this being the anniversary of 9-11, what can you tell us about the resurgence of terror groups in Afghanistan since that withdrawal?
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's been a major concern of U.S. intelligence and national security experts.
--:-- Tim Pierce: McCall described some of those concerns from his perspective on Face the Nation.
--:-- John Bickley: Putin responded by invading Ukraine two months after Afghanistan fell. And then the Ayatollah reared his ugly head in the Middle East. And we're seeing this.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Finally, this is really important. The Bagram prisons unleashed thousands of ISIS-K prisoners. Eight of those, and that's who we know about, have been detained by the FBI in the United States that got in through the southwest border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This is a failed foreign policy colliding with a failed border policy.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That, of course, follows multiple warnings now from FBI Director Christopher Wray that this is the most alarming terror environment that the U.S. has faced in some time.
--:-- John Bickley: Definitely worthy of concern and highlighting on this particular day.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And now, a word from our sponsors.
--:-- Black Rifle Coffee: Give back by drinking America's coffee! Get an exclusive discount with code DAILYWIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/
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--:-- John Bickley: And now, let's move on to our final story. A new daily multivitamin from Responsible Man is helping men take control of their health.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. Learn more about it at https://responsibleman.com/ and use code WIRE for an exclusive discount.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. We'll see you tomorrow.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to follow us on social media for the latest news and updates.
--:-- John Bickley: Goodbye for now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Goodbye.
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