--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, September 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Explosive whistleblower documents suggest a Biden-era investigation into the 2020 election secretly cast a much wider net. On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk's group's, Turning Point USA.
--:-- John Bickley: In other words, Artie Frost wasn't just a case to politically investigate Trump. Why did the Biden administration probe Turning Point USA?
--:-- Georgia Howe: You can think of this in a way as a risk management cut. The Fed finally cuts the interest rates, sending the stock market soaring to new heights.
--:-- John Bickley: And Secretary Rubio wraps up a series of crucial meetings in the Middle East as Israel looks to wipe out the last stronghold of Hamas.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This war could end tomorrow if Hamas just said the word, laid down their arms, and agreed not to be a political force in the Strip.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: Whistleblower documents reveal that during the Biden administration, the FBI secretly targeted Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA, as well as other conservative groups.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Republicans are calling it a politically motivated witch hunt.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with the details.
--:-- Megan Basham: So this story is breaking just days after Kirk's tragic assassination. We're learning Biden's FBI was investigating his organization and many, many others.
--:-- Georgia Howe: First, can you walk us through what this probe was all about?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes. So it was launched in April of 2022, and ostensibly it was to investigate President Trump, of course, then candidate Trump, over allegations that he tried to overturn the 2020 election.
--:-- John Bickley: But eventually it expanded to encompass a wide network of Republican-linked groups, including, as you said, Charlie Kirk's TPUSA.
--:-- Megan Basham: So I think on that score, really the timing here couldn't be more provocative or really more poignant.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, indeed.
--:-- Megan Basham: Known as Arctic Frost, it was under the leadership of then FBI Director Christopher Wray.
--:-- John Bickley: And this probe now includes declassified documents that were released Tuesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
--:-- Megan Basham: And he said that these declassified documents paint a much broader and much more alarming picture of what was going on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So here's what Grassley said.
--:-- Megan Basham: Some examples of the group that Ray and FBI sought to place under political investigation included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorney General's Association, and various Trump political groups.
--:-- John Bickley: In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals, were placed under investigative scope of Arctic Frost.
--:-- Megan Basham: It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Nearly 100 targets, really staggering number.
--:-- Megan Basham: What exactly did the FBI claim that they were investigating and how did this expand so much?
--:-- John Bickley: Right. So initially they said they were looking at these other organizations as part of a multifaceted conspiracy investigation.
--:-- Megan Basham: They said they were looking at things like probing false claims of election fraud that included lawsuits to challenge the results.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Also, they were looking at things like fundraising, the financial efforts to bring lawsuits to challenge the results, things that were associated with the January 6 Capitol Hill riot.
--:-- Megan Basham: But the whistleblowers told Grassley that the probe eventually expanded, you know, widely beyond that.
--:-- John Bickley: And they said that in November of 2022, it was then handed over to special counsel Jack Smith.
--:-- Megan Basham: And at that point, he started coordinating with not just the FBI and the DOJ, but also the National Archives, the U.S. Postal Service, and a number of other agencies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Senator Josh Hawley told Fox News just a couple of nights ago that, in fact, he spoke to Charlie Kirk, and Kirk was worried that he was being investigated by the FBI.
--:-- Megan Basham: He'd taken me aside at one point and said, I think that we are being targeted, that TPUSA is being targeted.
--:-- John Bickley: And he said, you know, can you help us?
--:-- Megan Basham: And I said, anything you need me to do.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And he said, well, listen, I'm just finding out about this. This has got to be what he was talking about.
--:-- Megan Basham: And now we know that Joe Biden once again weaponized the FBI to go after his political opponents.
--:-- John Bickley: It's nothing but terrorism. It's an attempt to silence and intimidate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm so glad that Charlie was not intimidated right up to the last day that he had on this earth.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Grassley hammered that intimidation message home during the hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel.
--:-- John Bickley: He said that this was no routine investigation.
--:-- Megan Basham: Over 150 interviews conducted, more than 400 subpoenas issued, including 300 for witness records, plus 200 phone selectors, 20 financial probes, search warrants for 10 phones, 20 devices, 7 iCloud accounts, 28 emails, even Trump's Twitter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What's not yet clear is the specifics of why TPUSA or really any of these groups were caught up in this particular FBI probe.
--:-- Megan Basham: There's really been no evidence showing that TPUSA or anyone else was involved in a false elector scheme or any financial misconduct.
--:-- John Bickley: And yet this they've been in the crosshairs of these investigators.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson said they will be releasing more declassified documents.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, we will certainly be looking forward to those further releases.
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thank you so much for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yep, my pleasure.
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--:-- John Bickley: Mid-President Trump's ongoing push to reshape the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell finally cut interest rates Wednesday, offering a potential jolt to the Trump economy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break down what the move means for average Americans and what comes next.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, the president finally got what he's been asking for? What's the latest?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, Trump has coined this nickname, Jerome Too Late Powell, saying he's consistently been too late behind the curve when it comes to lowering interest rates.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But maybe now it'll be Jerome Better Late Than Never Powell. Doesn't have the same ring to it. That's bad.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That is because on Wednesday afternoon, Powell announced that the Federal Reserve would be lowering its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That is the first cut we've seen since last December.
--:-- John Bickley: And that means some minor but real tangible relief for those buying a home or car refinancing their student loans or credit card debt etc
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here Powell on Wednesday explaining what went into that decision.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While the unemployment rate remains low it has edged up Job gains have slowed and downside risks to employment have risen.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: At the same time, inflation has risen recently and remains somewhat elevated.
--:-- John Bickley: In support of our goals and in light of the shift in the balance of risks, today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's worth noting investors are confident that this is just the first cut. They're predicting similar quarter point cuts in October and December when the Fed meets again next.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And many of those investors were clearly thrilled by the news.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We saw both the Dow and S&P 500 jump up Wednesday to all-time highs.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, all of this comes amid some drama at the Fed over the staffing there.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What's the latest on that front?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, all summer, President Trump threatened to fire Powell, hinting that a recent over-budget renovation of the Fed's headquarters could give him the cause that he needed.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But now it appears more likely that he will simply wait until May.
--:-- John Bickley: That is when Powell's term expires and then Trump gets to handpick his successor.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But Trump has still implemented shakeups elsewhere, major ones.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This month, he appointed Stephen Myron, one of his top economic advisors to the Fed's powerful board of governors.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He was approved by the Senate by a narrow 48-47 majority.
--:-- John Bickley: That now makes him one of just 12 people voting on rate decisions.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While the other 11 voted Wednesday for a quarter point cut, he was the only one who voted for a larger half point cut.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it could give you an idea of what sort of governor he'll be in the future.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's worth noting, his role as the chair of the White House Economic Council makes him the first governor in the board's 100 plus year history, who's simultaneously also technically an employee of the president.
--:-- John Bickley: Though he will be taking a leave of absence from the White House as he serves in this position.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, not everyone is a fan of Trump's shakeup at the Fed.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The left is arguing that the Federal Reserve is meant to be fully independent from the executive branch.
--:-- John Bickley: They say that Trump is upending decades of president here.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In response to Myron's appointment, Democrats in Congress this week introduced a new bill that would bar Federal Reserve officials from simultaneously holding another position appointed by the president.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That bill is unlikely to make it into law, though, given the Republican control of the Senate, but could be revived in the future, depending on how the midterms go.
--:-- John Bickley: And then shifting gears a bit, there's the pushback from the courts against Trump's shakeup.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As we covered on the show all last month, Trump fired Fed Governor Lisa Cook, alleging she committed mortgage fraud.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cook was a Biden appointee who has voted in lockstep with Jerome Powell for years, and that has drawn the ire of Trump.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But in an emergency ruling just hours before the Fed began their meetings this week, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 along party lines that Cook must be allowed to retain her position, at least for the time being.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So for their part, the White House is doubling down, readying an appeal to the Supreme Court.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So this battle is far from over.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll have to see if Cook ultimately is allowed to stay.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we'll have to see how this rate cut affects the housing market next.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we wanted to stay engaged. Look, I think ultimately we would all prefer to see a negotiated end that leads to all the hostages being released, that leads to a mosque being defarmed and eliminated as a threat.
--:-- John Bickley: And we think it's hard to play a very key role in that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking to the press Monday.
--:-- John Bickley: ahead of a series of crucial meetings in the Middle East. The meetings came as Israel began its operation in Gaza City to wipe out the last stronghold of Hamas.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us now to discuss is Victoria Coates, Vice President of the National Security and Foreign Policy Institute at Heritage.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Good to be with you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Marco Rubio has just taken this diplomatic trip to Qatar as Israel has launched its hopefully final operation in Gaza City.
--:-- Victoria Coates: First, how does this operation impact U.S. diplomacy in the region?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, quite frankly, I think the region understands that this has to happen.
--:-- Victoria Coates: You know, it would be desirable to come up with a solution for the Palestinians of Gaza before this was necessary.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the fact of the matter is that Hamas won't let them out.
--:-- Victoria Coates: They're the only population on the planet that aren't being allowed to flee from a war zone.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And part of that is Hamas.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And part of that is the fact that the Egyptians won't let them cross there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Jordanians won't let them come to Jordan.
--:-- Victoria Coates: That also is telling.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But at the same time, President Trump has said they should be given an option.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And if a cruise ship pulled up to the Gaza Pier tomorrow, I wonder how many would choose to go.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Qatar is still clearly a major mediator in brokering peace in the region Israel of course struck Hamas leaders in Qatar recently will that shake up the diplomatic process for the U now
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, maybe it will in a good way because we weren getting anywhere with the old process.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And certainly, you know, both the Biden administration and now the Trump administration have valued Qatar's role as a mediator.
--:-- Victoria Coates: This was a big step on the part of Israel to strike Hamas in Doha.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At least one Hamas terrorist died, so I'm not going to be sorry about it.
--:-- Victoria Coates: But at the same time, that was a potential real crisis between Israel and Qatar and potentially with the rest of the Gulf.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the good news is that Secretary flew directly from Tel Aviv to Doha.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And so he was pretty much demonstrating through his travel that he's going to go talk to both of them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's going to be a direct flight in between them.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And yesterday at the Arab summit meeting in Doha, the Abraham Accords countries did not withdraw from the Accords.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It happened to be the fifth anniversary of the Accords on Monday, and that did not happen.
--:-- Victoria Coates: They decided to stay in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And so that, to me, is the most powerful symbol that the Accords will endure, and we can get back at some point to the business of increasing normalization.
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think the attacks of October 7th were in a way a desperation move fueled by the Iranians to prevent the normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel that President Trump had initiated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And now he has the confidence of both those governments.
--:-- Victoria Coates: He has the personal confidence of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's critical.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And so this will be a delicate diplomatic dance.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's a big deal.
--:-- Victoria Coates: But I think he will get this done by the end of the second term.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Final question. What happens to Gaza after this? If Israel is successful, they wipe out Hamas. What happens to Gaza?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, I think what we need are new mechanisms and institutions, John.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is a new mechanism for getting charitable aid into Gaza, had a rocky start earlier this year.
--:-- Victoria Coates: But they are now up and running.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And they can get up to 60 trucks a day.
--:-- Victoria Coates: You need about 120 to fully feed Gaza.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They haven't lost a single truck to Hamas or the other terrorist groups.
--:-- Victoria Coates: The United Nations mechanisms lose upwards of 80 percent of their aid to the terrorist groups, and then they charge the Gazans for them when they do give out aid to them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And so the Gazans have been telling the Humanitarian Foundation, this is the first free mail I've ever gotten.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So I think we need to surge support for that kind of new mechanism to get the critical aid in, then as I said, we need to give the people of Gaza a choice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Would they like to be relocated for a period of time to allow the rebuilding to be done as quickly as possible?
--:-- Victoria Coates: That would be my vote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It seems the most logical.
--:-- Victoria Coates: The president seems very committed to that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hopefully they're given that option.
--:-- Victoria Coates: We will see and we'll be watching this new operation with interest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking, ABC has paused Jimmy Kimmel's late night show indefinitely over comments the host made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's part of what Kimmel said on Monday night.
--:-- Jimmy Kimmel: We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kimmel's assertions were directly contrary to the apparent facts.
--:-- Jimmy Kimmel: According to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, investigators on the case say the suspected shooter was, quote, deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Wednesday evening, the president of a major ABC affiliate, Nexstar, put out the following statement.
--:-- Nexstar President: Mr. Kimmel's comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views or values of the local communities in which we are located.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the network may not have acted voluntarily.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Wednesday afternoon, FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened legal action against the network for airing Kimmel's misleading claims, including the assertion that Kirk's assassin was part of the, quote, MAGA gang.
--:-- Brendan Carr: You know, when you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As you've indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.
