--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. A portion of every purchase you make at BlackRifleCoffee.com goes to support veteran and first responder causes. Visit BlackRifleCoffee.com to learn more.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, June 4th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden's long-awaited executive action aimed at tackling the crisis at the southern border has been announced. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the latest.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The executive order, which comes just months before the November election, will temporarily bar migrants from crossing into the country once the average number of border encounters exceeds 2,500 per day, a number that's already been reached. Officials say that suspension will stay in effect until the number of daily crossings falls to 1,500. The order also comes with a list of exceptions, however, and will not apply to visa holders, unaccompanied children, victims of a, quote, severe form of trafficking, as well as those facing a medical emergency, imminent threat to life or safety.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The executive action marks a significant shift for President Biden, who had rolled back numerous Trump-era border protections in recent years. Here he is speaking from the White House this afternoon.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Biden speaking]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I would have preferred to address this issue through a bipartisan legislation because that the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now that broken fixed to hire more border patrol agents more asylum officers more judges But Republicans have left me with no choice.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: However, critics of the president's immigration stance say it's too little, too late. Here's House Speaker Mike Johnson.
--:-- Mike Johnson: 126 days ago, he looked into the cameras and said, I'm out of options. I've done all I can do. He tried to convince us all for all this time that there was no way he could possibly fix the mess. Remember that he engineered it. We counted 64 specific executive actions that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took to open that border wide. They did it intentionally. And now, suddenly, now he wants to issue some weak executive order. One, by the way, one executive order supposedly to try to address the issue. It's window dressing. Everybody knows it.
--:-- John Bickley: Opening statements in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial took place today with the prosecution and defense laying out their arguments for the jury. Here with the courtroom details is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Biden's trial is focused around a federal gun form he filled out while purchasing a revolver in 2018, where he stated he was not addicted to drugs at the time. During opening statements, the prosecution looked to establish that Biden was addicted to crack cocaine when he purchased the firearm. Prosecutor Derek Hines ended his argument by emphasizing addiction may not be a choice, but buying a gun is.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Notably, half the jurors said they've been personally impacted by loved ones' drug abuse. The defense looks to focus on Biden's intentions while buying the gun, stressing that he must have known he was an addict at the time. Defense attorney Abby Lowell noted that prosecutors must prove Biden knowingly violated the law for the jury to convict him.
--:-- John Bickley: Attorney General Merrick Garland testified today before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its annual oversight hearing During his opening remarks Garland defended the DOJ work and said that they won't be intimidated by what he claims are unfair attacks against the department.
--:-- [Audio clip of Garland speaking]
--:-- John Bickley: During the contentious hearing, Garland butted heads with GOP committee members on a number of issues. Here's an exchange between him and committee chair Jim Jordan regarding Garland's appointment of special counsel Jack Smith.
--:-- Jim Jordan: This is from Jack Smith filing with the court, he admitted to the court that they tampered with the evidence. He mishandled the very documents he's charging President Trump with mishandling. And I'm just asking, do you regret picking this guy as the special counsel and the most important special counsel investigation probably in American history?
--:-- Merrick Garland: I'm sorry. I did not hear the words tamper in the statement that Mr. Smith filed. He did not use those words.
--:-- Jim Jordan: Well, let me ask it this way. Are you supposed to change the order of the documents that you seized and the physical documents don't match up with the scan documents? Are you supposed to do that as a prosecutor?
--:-- John Bickley: Another issue brought up by the congressional panel was the timing of former Biden DOJ prosecutor Michael Colangelo leaving the department and joining the Manhattan DA's office, which went on to charge Donald Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Get $250 when you join Ramp. Just go to ramp.com slash wire. That's ramp.com slash wire today.
--:-- John Bickley: New claims are clashing with congressional testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Deborah Birx, who is President Trump's coronavirus response coordinator, spoke to Cassie Hunt on CNN today talking about initial questions over the origins of COVID-19. Here's part of that exchange.
--:-- Deborah Birx: Do you think there is any veracity to some of the Republican accusations that there was an effort to discredit the lab leak theory?
--:-- Deborah Birx: I do think it happened. I think if you look at what people said about Bob Redfield and how they disparaged him as a scientist because he wanted to bring forward the lab leak potential
--:-- John Bickley: This contradicts Fauci testimony on Capitol Hill just yesterday where he said there was not a concerted effort to suppress the theory that COVID originated from a Wuhan lab.
--:-- John Bickley: A group of whistleblowers are sounding the alarm on the safety of artificial intelligence. Here to break down the claims is Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler.
--:-- Joel Needler: The group consists of nine current and former employees of OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence developer and the creator of ChatGPT. The whistleblowers raised concerns over the company's recklessness and secrecy. They cited the company's hasty development of more advanced AI models, which seek to surpass human capabilities and the company's efforts to prevent workers from voicing their concerns.
--:-- John Bickley: The group wrote an open letter to all AI companies calling for more transparency and a better process for hearing concerns from employees. That letter was signed by two more OpenAI employees as well as two Google AI developers.
--:-- John Bickley: And a GoFundMe dedicated to throwing an epic rager for University of North Carolina fraternity brothers is following through on their promise. The college students got national attention last month when they protected an American flag that had been torn down by anti-Israel protesters. A GoFundMe to help the students throw a massive party raised $500,000 after a picture of them holding up the flag went viral. Organizers have dubbed the event Flagstock 2024 and plan to hold it on Labor Day.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, Listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
