--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the sound of a news anchor's voice takes over]
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, August 22nd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden continues to face fierce criticism for his response to the Maui wildfires.
--:-- John Bickley: Upon landing in Maui, his motorcade was greeted by several disgruntled locals who have been dissatisfied with the apparent delay in White House action.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here he comes after 13 days. Wow, he's finally here.
--:-- John Bickley: Awesome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, thanks for nothing. Thanks for nothing.
--:-- John Bickley: During his visit, which lasted about six hours, President Biden took an aerial tour of the island to survey the damage and met with survivors and officials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In an address to a crowd outside of Lahaina, the town hardest hit by the disaster, the president relayed an experience he had with a small kitchen fire, comments which have since been blasted as insensitive and indicative that the president failed to take the tragedy seriously.
--:-- John Bickley: We have a little sense Jill and I what it's like to lose a home. Years ago lightning struck at home and hit a wire and came up underneath our home. To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my 67 Corvette, and my cat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hearing you talk about your house that had a little fire, you almost lost your cat and your Corvette. There are children that were incinerated to ash.
--:-- John Bickley: For his part, Biden promised that the federal government will help Maui, quote, for as long as it takes to recover from the devastation caused by the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The first GOP 2024 primary debate is being held tomorrow night in Milwaukee, hosted by Fox News.
--:-- John Bickley: Who made the cut after the RNC created new requirements to be on the big stage?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, as well as former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
--:-- John Bickley: Noticeably absent from that list is former President Donald Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump announced earlier this week that he will not be participating in any GOP debates, but his campaign planned on sending surrogates to Milwaukee for interviews in the spin room.
--:-- John Bickley: Now that plan appears to be thrown into jeopardy as Fox News reportedly informed the Trump campaign that access to the debate spin room would be limited to participating candidates only.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, the former president announced via Truth Social on Monday evening that he will turn himself into authorities in Georgia on Thursday, August 24th, after being indicted by a Fulton County grand jury for his alleged attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
--:-- John Bickley: The tweet read, "Can you believe it? I'll be going to Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday to be arrested by a radical left district attorney, Fannie Willis, who's overseeing one of the greatest murder and violent crime disasters in American history."
--:-- Georgia Howe: His bond was set at $200,000.
--:-- John Bickley: 900 feet in the air over a mountainous ravine this morning, after their gondola car became partially detached from the track.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As of this afternoon, after hours suspended precariously in the air, the Pakistani military was able to rescue all eight on board despite treacherous winds.
--:-- John Bickley: The man without a record deal continues to break records.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond" has now officially debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
--:-- John Bickley: The Virginia singer, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, is now the first ever artist to take the top spot without prior charting history.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration announced it had approved the first vaccine for pregnant mothers to prevent the virus RSV during the first six months of pregnancy.
--:-- John Bickley: The injection would be taken in the third trimester, and the protection is said to be transferred to the baby while in the womb.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- John Bickley: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- [Upbeat music starts playing again]
