--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and this is Morning Wire. Georgia Howe is with me today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, John. It's Monday, February 19th.
--:-- John Bickley: A new report details more damaging allegations of Biden family influence peddling, this time President Biden's younger brother, Jim. How did the president's brother allegedly use the Biden brand for personal gain? And what led to the collapse of the company at the center of the scheme?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Let's get into it. Putin's most influential opponent abruptly dies in prison, prompting claims of assassination and condemnation from Washington. Let's make Russia state-sponsored terrorism under U.S. law. Let's make them pay a price for killing Navalny.
--:-- John Bickley: And the political and legal fallout has begun from a New York court's staggering financial penalty against Donald Trump. We'll appeal, we'll be successful, I think, because frankly, if we're not successful, New York state is gone. Will Trump actually have to pay the full amount and shut down all business in the state?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Good footwear is about more than just fashion, and G-Defy shoes are anything but ordinary. They aim to foster healthy body movements, alleviate pain, and prevent further wear and tear.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I tried my first pair of G-Defy shoes, and I actually didn't want to take them off. They were so comfortable, even when I was just doing chores around the house.
--:-- John Bickley: Try them for yourself. Use code WIRE for $30 off orders of $150 or more at gdefy.com. That's G-D-E-F-Y dot com with promo code WIRE for $30 off your order.
--:-- John Bickley: President Joe Biden's brother is at the center of another highly questionable business matter. James Biden flashed his family name and partnered with a rural hospital provider in 2019, only for it to collapse two years later.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The president's younger brother is expected to be grilled over that and other topics on Tuesday when he sits for a private interview with House Republicans.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to discuss these new allegations and how they connect to the president.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim. First, can you remind us of AmeriCorps' ties to the president's brother, Jim?
--:-- Tim Pierce: So AmeriCorps was launched by Canadian entrepreneur Grant White on the idea that he could take over distressed rural hospitals and turn them profitable. Jim Biden joined White in 2017 as a consultant.
--:-- John Bickley: According to a long expose on the relationship reported by Politico over the weekend, Jim believed he could help White score lucrative federal contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim also thought he could connect White with labor leaders that were very strong political allies of his brother Joe.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It was mostly a failed partnership, and the company filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2019, leaving behind its many patients and creditors. Politico describes its collapse as wreaking havoc on local communities.
--:-- John Bickley: The collapse sparked numerous legal battles and investigations over suspicions of fraud. Now, AmeriCorps has been in the public eye for a while now, but Politico is presenting some new troubling information here, correct?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, it is. Reporters got access to thousands of documents and emails that recorded the Biden family's dealings with AmeriCorps.
--:-- John Bickley: The trove built on a theme at the center of allegations against the Bidens and the Biden brand. Jim repeatedly traded on his last name and emphasized his ties to Joe, and not just to AmeriCorps executives.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In an email, Jim pitched the CEO of a company that had just developed an experimental cancer treatment that AmeriCorps was interested in by saying that a partnership, quote, would be a perfect platform to expose my brother team to your protocol.
--:-- John Bickley: A slide from an investor presentation highlighted Jim role as the brother and campaign finance chair of former Vice President Joe Biden.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Also worth noting is at the time, Joe Biden, after just leaving the vice presidency, was mostly concerned about his legacy. And he aimed to do that in large part through cancer research.
--:-- John Bickley: Jim, in emails and meetings with executives, continually made the case that AmeriCorps could be the vehicle of Biden's legacy on combating cancer.
--:-- Tim Pierce: How close was Joe Biden to all of this, to this business being done by his brother?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Joe has denied he ever spoke with his brother about business, but he did pop up in the orbit of Jim's business partners.
--:-- John Bickley: According to Politico, Joe met with the CEO of AmeriCorps once in 2017. They met at a fundraiser for the Beau Biden Foundation. And then, according to Politico, one person who Jim pitched for some healthcare-related business partnership said Jim had claimed to be sitting right next to Joe as he made the call.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Jim also talked with top AmeriCorps officials about getting Joe directly involved in the company. He pitched getting Joe an equity stake and a seat on AmeriCorps' board of directors. But the company collapsed before any of that ever happened.
--:-- John Bickley: How much money are we talking about here? What kind of pay did Jim receive from AmeriCorps? And then why did it ultimately collapse?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Jim was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars from AmeriCorps. In fact, that money was the focus of a 2022 settlement between Jim and Carol Fox, who was tasked by the Justice Department with overseeing AmeriCorps liquidation after its bankruptcy.
--:-- John Bickley: Fox said Jim Biden failed to repay over $600,000 in loans from AmeriCorps. Biden said that that money was payment in return for his consulting services.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The issue was resolved in a settlement in which Jim paid $350,000 back to Fox, And Fox signed a document that said she had no direct evidence that Jim committed fraud.
--:-- John Bickley: But questions about loan payments in the Biden family have popped up before and in relation to AmeriCorps.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Jim wrote a $200,000 check to his brother Joe on March 1st, 2018, the same day that Jim had received a $200,000 check from AmeriCorps.
--:-- John Bickley: The Bidens have said that the money shared between Jim and Joe was a loan, but so far there's hardly any paper trail to point to his evidence for that.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And meanwhile, the company collapsed. Right. That happened after Jim failed to secure more funding from investors.
--:-- John Bickley: Jim actually met with Hunter and tried to secure backing for AmeriCorps from the Chinese energy giant CEFC. And when that didn't pan out, Jim said he could leverage contacts in the Middle East to secure funding to support AmeriCorps.
--:-- Tim Pierce: None of the funds were ever secured and the hospital operator filed for bankruptcy on December 31st, 2019.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, we can expect Republicans to dig deeply into all this when Jim comes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on.
--:-- John Bickley: If you need a better way to simplify your business finances, then you need to check out Ramp. Ramp is the corporate card and spend management software designed to help you save time and put money back in your pocket.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Businesses that use Ramp save an average of 5% in the first year, and now you get $250 when you join Ramp. Just go to ramp.com slash wire. That's ramp.com slash wire, R-A-M-P dot com slash wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Cards issued by Sutton Bank and Celtic Bank, member of FDIC. Terms and conditions apply.
--:-- John Bickley: Alexei Navalny, the outspoken Kremlin critic and leader of Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin, died in a remote prison camp. His abrupt death has prompted widespread condemnation of Putin, while demonstrations in Russia honoring Navalny led to hundreds of arrests.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, we're going to get to Navalny's death and what it means for Russia But first give us a little background Who was Alexei Navalny?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Navalny was the single most vocal and popular political opponent of Vladimir Putin He was a lawyer by trade but rose to fame as a blogger and radio host reporting on corruption in the Russian government and ultimately using social media to expose the country's party leaders and elites while mobilizing an opposition movement led mostly by young people.
--:-- John Bickley: Throughout the last 20 years, Navalny led enormous protests against fraud in the country's election system and became really the only viable political opponent to Putin. In 2016, he attempted to challenge Putin with a presidential run of his own, but was barred from doing so after a court convicted him on fraud charges, which were widely considered illegitimate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Throughout the years that followed, the Kremlin continued to crack down on Navalny's opposition movement, ultimately shutting down his foundation for fighting corruption.
--:-- John Bickley: Navalny had been in prison since 2021 when he was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted of everything from fraud to embezzlement and contempt of court.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So what do we know about the circumstances of his death?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, Russian state media originally claimed that he suffered a blood clot and lost consciousness after taking a walk. But Navalny's mother says when she arrived at the prison camp, officials said her son died of, quote, sudden death syndrome.
--:-- John Bickley: But the overwhelming assumption is that he was either poisoned or died because of the poor conditions he experienced in prison.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Since his arrest in 2021, the 47-year-old Navalny spent about a quarter of his time in brutal punishment cells, as they're called, where he was subjected to sub-zero temperatures, sleep deprivation and isolation, and denied medical treatment.
--:-- John Bickley: Over the weekend, thousands of mourners throughout the country laid flowers and other mementos at makeshift memorials, though Russian authorities quickly removed them overnight.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, even before his imprisonment, Navalny was the target of an assassination attempt.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, so back in 2020, Navalny led an election integrity effort that really outraged the Kremlin. On a flight through Siberia as part of that tour, he suddenly lost consciousness and fell into a coma.
--:-- John Bickley: After being airlifted to a hospital in Berlin, doctors there confirmed that he had been poisoned by a Soviet-era nerve agent.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to U.S. intelligence, Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, sort of the new KGB, was responsible for that attack.
--:-- John Bickley: And remember, this is par for the course with Putin, who has routinely assassinated political opponents, businessmen, journalists, or anyone who poses a threat to his control.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the prison camp where Navalny died, it's worth noting, is also full of Russians who protested the war in Ukraine.
--:-- John Bickley: Over the weekend, Western leaders, including President Biden, sent tributes to Navalny and blamed Putin for his death.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality.
--:-- John Bickley: And another important note here, when Navalny was first imprisoned back in 2021, Biden warned that if he died, there would be, quote, consequences that would be devastating for Russia.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So a lot of people are going to be waiting to see if and how the U.S. responds, though past consequences, including strict sanctions, have evidently done very little to deter Putin.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, final question. What does this mean moving forward when it comes to the anti-Putin resistance?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it certainly deals a crippling blow to the opposition movement in Russia. Navalny was far and away the most popular and organized challenger to Putin. And it's unclear who, if anyone, could step into that void to challenge him now.
--:-- John Bickley: This is an election year, and while some are hoping Navalny's death will inspire the opposition movement, nearly all of its most prominent leaders are either in prison or living in exile.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So another sign that Putin's grip on power has only grown more firm.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it's definitely chilling for anyone who'd even think of it. Cabot thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: The political and legal fallout has begun from a New York court's staggering financial penalty against Donald Trump in his civil bank fraud case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The staggering amount, along with a three-year ban on Trump's companies doing business in New York, are the former president's biggest legal setbacks to date.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss where this case goes from here and what the political impact of it may be is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Hey, Dave. So Trump has promised an appeal, but does he have to put up this money first? And meanwhile, can he do business in New York?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, John. Trump will have to put up a bond to keep the state from coming after the $450 million immediately. Obviously, you don't walk across the street from the courthouse to the little bail bondsman shop and say you need to post half a billion dollars, but there are insurance companies that do that.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump will have to pay a premium on though. As to doing business in the state, Trump's legal team will try to get a stay on the restrictions.
--:-- David Marcus: But if they can't, Trump's businesses will be put under a strict monitorship and also face some very severe restrictions on borrowing, which is the lifeblood of the real estate industry.
--:-- John Bickley: Judge N'Goran stopped short of a lifetime ban on Trump doing business in the empire state. But if the restrictions survive appeal, it'll make it very difficult, if not impossible for Trump's real estate empire to grow and perhaps to even survive, at least in New York.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, I'd imagine. So as far as the expected appeal goes, what do legal experts make of Trump's chances to reduce this penalty significantly, maybe, or even have the entire case reversed?
--:-- David Marcus: As to the latter, there are some grounds for appeal that could reverse the decision. It's a very unusual case. None of the banks involved actually lost any money. And there are serious questions about how Judge N'Goran valued Trump's properties, including an $18 million valuation of Mar-a-Lago that a lot of experts think is absurdly low.
--:-- John Bickley: Most observers believe that the hefty dollar figure will be reduced at least to some degree, but the restrictions on the company, those could be harder to reverse.
--:-- David Marcus: As to the politics here, how are Trump and his team framing this decision in terms of the ongoing election? And will it hurt or help him?
--:-- David Marcus: Trump argues that this is just another example of election interference and that the case would not have been brought had he not run for president. Also pointing out that New York State Attorney General Letitia James ran on prosecuting him. It is certainly an argument that plays well with his base.
--:-- John Bickley: And given that the draconian penalty has raised eyebrows even among experts on the left, it might have some purchase with independence as well.
--:-- David Marcus: What about Trump's political rivals like Nikki Haley and Joe Biden? What have we heard from them in response to all this?
--:-- David Marcus: Well, as with all of Trump's legal problems, Haley's approach is to point to the chaos it causes and the distraction that it is for Trump, rather than focusing on the merits of any of the cases, including this one, because GOP voters are largely sympathetic to Trump's courtroom plight.
--:-- John Bickley: As to the Biden campaign, it has to be careful because Trump and his allies are specifically alleging that Biden and his administration are behind these cases, even the local ones.
--:-- David Marcus: For example, we know that Nathan Wade, the embattled prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case, met with officials at the White House. So Biden himself might keep a wide berth when it comes to commenting on these cases.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
