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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley, and this is Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Newly released audio from an interview with Joe Biden blows the lid off Democrat claims that the former president was fit for office.
--:-- John Bickley: I think the Democrats are going to pay for a long time for being a part of what is now being revealed to be a massive cover-up.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The revelations come as the 82-year-old announces that he's suffering from an aggressive form of cancer.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, May 19th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hamas says they're ready to resume talks after massive strikes by Israel. And as the UK struggles with the effects of mass migration, Britain's Liberal Prime Minister shocks with a major reversal on immigration.
--:-- John Bickley: The experiment is over. We will deliver what you've asked for time and again. And we will take back control of our borders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and cabinet members. I could not have more confidence in the president. He's fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those were Democrats claiming that Biden was still sharp, but newly released recordings are shining a fresh light on the conspiracy to conceal President Biden's cognitive decline.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips joins us now with more.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So this cover up of the health decline of the president, one of the biggest scandals in American history, I think we can agree. And now we have this announcement about the former president's cancer diagnosis. Let's start in order with these revelations about Biden's decline. How did we get here?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, after President Biden dropped off the ticket last year, Democrat leaders made a concerted effort to sort of memory hole his presidency and shift their party's focus towards Kamala Harris and other younger leaders.
--:-- John Bickley: But a new book this month from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson offers explosive details of what they call, quote, President Biden's decline, its cover-up, and his disastrous choice to run again.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the revelations in that book have simply set Washington ablaze. And they brought former President Biden's decline back into the national spotlight.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, the fallout really has been severe for the Democrats and the media who helped cover this up. What did we learn from this new book?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the author spoke to more than 200 campaign and White House officials both on and off the record. And the details are stunning.
--:-- John Bickley: Biden's physical deterioration was so severe that some of his closest advisors believed he would be wheelchair bound if he were to have won a second term.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And while Biden's staff, again, routinely assured the American people that behind closed doors, he was running laps around his staff. Numerous officials now say that due to his old age, he was limited to six hour work days, typically from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There were often scheduled naps included as well.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And get this, the White House was so concerned by his physical appearance that they secretly enlisted the help of Steven Spielberg to bring what they called, quote, Hollywood magic and make Biden appear more lively and energetic in campaign videos and speeches as well.
--:-- John Bickley: But even more damning is what we've learned, not just about the physical decline, but the mental decline.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, let's get to that aspect. What new details have come to light now?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the White House spent four years condemning anyone who questioned his cognitive fitness They labeled videos of his mental missteps quote cheap fakes and essentially gaslighting anyone who said that he seemed off
--:-- Cabot Phillips: To that point, here's then White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre. They are cheap fakes video. They are done in bad faith.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And some of your news organization have been very clear, have stressed that these right wing, the white wing critics of the president have a credibility problem.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But dozens of White House sources now confirm that the president would routinely forget the names of his own cabinet members and that in private meetings, he would repeat the same stories and questions over and over.
--:-- John Bickley: During one debate prep session, the president abruptly wandered out of the room and was later found sitting by the pool.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that brings us to these newly released tapes from 2023. Tell us about those.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, Axios obtained audio of the president's interview with special counsel Robert Herr during the investigation into his mishandling of classified documents.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The White House initially blocked the release of those tapes back in 2023, saying it could hinder future investigations. But it's now clear the real reason they didn't want them to come out is because of what they showed.
--:-- John Bickley: In this clip, you can hear Biden's lawyers quickly interjecting when the president appeared to forget some of those basic facts.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: One month of Bo died. May 30th. 2015. It was in 2015 he died. 2015. I'm not sure the month or the month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And what's happened in the meantime is that as Trump gets elected in November of 2017? 2016. 2016. All right.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Why don't you have to be 17 years? Really almost difficult to listen to those, to be frank.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, and you can see why the White House didn't want them coming out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, as this new evidence has come to light, Democratic leaders have come out on the record saying Biden never should have run for re-election and that his mental state was clearly compromised.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But look, it's important to note just how different that message is from what we heard from them when Biden was actually in power.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, here's Biden's HHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The most difficult part about a meeting with President Biden is preparing for it because he is sharp, intensely probing and detail oriented and focused.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. I've been with the president of the United States many times. He is on the ball. The man knows more than most of us have forgotten.
--:-- John Bickley: You get the idea.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The list goes on and on. So now the question becomes whether voters will hold this against the Democratic Party.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As we heard from CNN's Van Jones earlier, who called it a crime against the republic, he said Democrats will pay, or will voters forgive them and move on?
--:-- John Bickley: Or forgive the legacy media that colluded to keep this from the American people.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the latest health news comes from Biden's own team, and it's pretty devastating. He has a prostate cancer, and it's aggressive.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What do we know so far?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, tragic news for the former president, for sure. One of his spokesmen revealed yesterday that an exam last month found a small nodule on his prostate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And further examination reveals it to be a, quote, aggressive form of prostate cancer and that it has spread to his bones.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The one silver lining is that it appears to be, quote, hormone sensitive. That means it could be more treatable. So hopefully some signs for optimism.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: More updates to come on that for sure.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thank you so much for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, guys, producer Brandon here.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Here at the Morning Wire studio, we are all about that peanut butter chocolate crunch bar.
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--:-- John Bickley: Israeli troops moved into portions of northern and southern Gaza while their air force launched hundreds of strikes against Hamas terrorists.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the latest news on the war in Gaza.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, what is the goal of this latest operation?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the new offensive is called Operation Gideon's Chariots, and Israel wants the same things it's wanted since the war began, to free the hostages and destroy Hamas.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Over the weekend, they made measurable progress toward both of those goals. According to a Hamas spokesman, the terror group decided to return to the negotiating table without preconditions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll have to see where that goes, but at the very least, it's a sign that Hamas is feeling pressure.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Israeli officials believe that of the hostages still left, as many as 23 of them are still alive. There are concerns that three of those are in critical condition, though.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, any word on how the negotiations are going?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, an Israeli official told Israel's I-24 News that talks in Qatar are intense, but still short of a breakthrough.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And while officials are more optimistic than last week, it's still unclear if a deal can be reached.
--:-- Tim Pierce: One of the deals being looked at is from U.S. Envoy Steve Whitcoff, and it would release 10 of the hostages. Israel would also be open to a deal that would end the war as well, but only if Hamas surrenders and Gaza is disarmed.
--:-- John Bickley: The Israeli official said the delegation in Qatar, quote, won't be there forever. If there won't be progress shortly, we will progress in the fighting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a sense that time could be running out.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, as far as Israel's goal of wiping out Hamas, where do things stand there?
--:-- John Bickley: The Air Force may have delivered a major blow. Over the weekend, Israeli planes carried out at least 670 strikes against Hamas terror targets.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Dozens of terrorists are reportedly dead, and one of those may have been Hamas's head of military operations, Mohammed Senwar.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's the brother of Yahya Senwar, who led Hamas until Israeli forces killed him in October.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, over the weekend, some documents came out that shed light on what inspired the October 7th attack.
--:-- John Bickley: What did those documents show?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. The Wall Street Journal got a peek at the minutes of an October 2nd, 2023 meeting of Hamas's political leadership.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The minutes show that this attack that had been years in the making was launched less than a week later to disrupt Israeli-Saudi relations.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Israel and Saudi Arabia were close to normalizing relations under the Abraham Accords from President Trump's first term.
--:-- John Bickley: According to the Minutes, Yahya Senwar was concerned that normalizing relations between the Saudis and Israelis would, quote, open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Hamas, with Iran's approval, launched the attack to, quote, bring about a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For his part, President Trump has been trying to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's his message on that from his Middle East tour last week. It's been an amazing thing, the Abraham Accords, and it's my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia, a place I have such respect for, especially over the last fairly short period of time, what you've been able to do, but will soon be joining the Abraham Accords.
--:-- John Bickley: So the Abraham Accords are still a top priority for Trump's second term.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, that would be a major win if he could make that happen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a landmark speech in which he attacked mass migration and said his government would significantly reduce it.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us from England is Guy Dampier of the Prosperity Institute.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Hey, thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this is quite a turnaround for Great Britain. What did the prime minister exactly say?
--:-- Guy Dampier: So he made these remarks at a press conference for the government's new immigration white paper. And he said that he wants to take back control of our borders.
--:-- John Bickley: And he's called the previous era of mass immigration squalid.
--:-- Guy Dampier: So here's a little bit of that speech. When you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you're not championing growth. You're not championing justice or however else people defend the status quo.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You're actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.
--:-- Guy Dampier: He's also blamed the previous Conservative government for the large increase in immigration since 2021, which saw net migration quadruple in only a few years.
--:-- John Bickley: In 2023, migration was actually over a million people, which is nearly the same size as Birmingham, the second biggest city in the whole country.
--:-- Guy Dampier: And he's called this a one-nation experiment in open borders, and he's warned that Britain's at risk of becoming an island of strangers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So although he praised diversity and described migration as part of Britain's story. He said that immigrants have got to commit to integrate, they've got to learn English, and he's also extended the period required to apply for permanent settlement.
--:-- Guy Dampier: So it's gone from five years to 10 years. And that will reassure a lot of people who are very worried that the millions of low-skilled immigrants who come here in the last few years would very soon be eligible for settlement, at which point they could access the welfare state, and we could have been looking at a bill in the billions of pounds.
--:-- John Bickley: So immigration policy has been dominated by this idea that immigration is always good for the economy and it's only ever illegal immigration, which is bad.
--:-- Guy Dampier: So this is a big rhetorical shift.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it really is. What has been the reaction inside England and elsewhere to this shift?
--:-- Guy Dampier: We have a Labour government at the moment, their left wing. And as you expect, there's been a lot of outrage from their base.
--:-- John Bickley: They've had a few councillors resign. Some of their MPs have come out against the speech.
--:-- Guy Dampier: With that said, most people agree with what he said.
--:-- Georgia Howe: People can see all around them that mass immigration has been bad for the country, whether we're talking about the low economic growth and stagnant productivity, or serious things like rape gangs who preyed on vulnerable girls, and hate marches where we've seen people carrying pro-Hamas bans.
--:-- Guy Dampier: So in a lot of ways, the prime minister is really reflecting the mood of the country rather than driving it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Very recently, we had local elections, what you probably call municipal elections, in which the Labour Party did very badly.
--:-- Guy Dampier: And the Anti-Immigration Reform Party, which is led by Nigel Farage, did very well.
--:-- John Bickley: So some people will think that this is an attempt to win back voters and stem that collapse in popularity.
--:-- Guy Dampier: But for people on the right, this is also a vindication. The prime minister is saying things we've argued about for years, but a lot of us are going to be skeptical about whether the prime minister is actually going to achieve what he claims he's going to do.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm sure there's lots of healthy skepticism about what he's claiming to do versus what he actually will do.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Intriguing shifts, no matter what, taking place in the UK.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Guy, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Thank you very much for having me on.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week, the NTSB is investigating after a Mexican Navy ship slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend.
--:-- John Bickley: Two crew members were killed in the collision while at least 19 others were injured.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the vessel struck the bridge during a departure maneuver when the near 300-foot-tall ship lost power and hit the bridge.
--:-- John Bickley: Officials say the vessel was en route to Iceland as part of a global instructional cruise.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
