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--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden met face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week at the much-anticipated G7 summit in Indonesia. What did the two leaders discuss and which key issues went conspicuously unmentioned? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, November 15th, and this is Morning Wire. A second court has now blocked President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. Is this the nail in the coffin for the president's $400 billion signature promise to young voters? And a key Homeland Security official was forced out this weekend due to unpopularity on the left and the right. What was behind the shakeup? And is this a sign that the administration is taking a new tack on border policy? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: For the first time in his presidency, President Biden met in person with China's leader, Xi Jinping, on Monday in Indonesia. After repeatedly stating over the last year that the U.S. would come to Taiwan's defense if China invaded, President Biden came away from the meeting saying he did not think that China posed a threat to Taiwan.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us to discuss is Brent Sadler, a former Pentagon official and military diplomat to Asia, and now a senior research fellow at Heritage. Welcome, Brent.
--:-- Brent Sadler: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- John Bickley: So President Biden said after the meeting he does not believe China is a threat to Taiwan, yet Congress is moving forward with a plan to send a multi-billion dollar weapons package to Taiwan in an effort to ward off a potential invasion. So what is the administration's stance on this? It's yet another example of confusion from D.C.
--:-- Brent Sadler: President Biden himself on numerous occasions said that the U.S. would support and defend Taiwan should the Chinese Communist Party attack the island. But statements like this and also the White House staff have said similar things. It just makes it more confusing. And if you're watching the United States from Beijing, I don't think they really get a clear picture one way or the other, even with this most recent statement from President Biden that there is no threat.
--:-- Brent Sadler: The reality is our military, our investments in a stronger defense and our partners in the region, most notably the Japanese, all see China as a military threat that's here and present right now.
--:-- Brent Sadler: You mentioned Beijing's perspective. How is China characterizing the meeting to the Chinese people? They going to characterize it as the Americans willing to come to the table and seeing that a forceful posture against China is unworkable? That's how they going to start playing it.
--:-- Brent Sadler: As far as we can tell President Biden did not bring up the issue of COVID or fentanyl. Why not? And is this a mistake by the president?
--:-- Brent Sadler: I think it's absolutely a mistake not to bring up either one of those. I wouldn't expect the Chinese or Xi Jinping to make any concessions or any commitments on either one. But certainly failing to bring up COVID and fentanyl, it makes no sense. Why not to raise those?
--:-- Brent Sadler: Now, these presidential meetings are always hyper-analyzed. Any notable moments that could end up being significant? Most notably is that Xi Jinping is traveling outside of China for the first time in quite a long time since COVID. But I will say there was at least one optic that got my attention. When they both met, the video clip that keeps getting replayed certainly doesn't, play well, at least to American interest.
--:-- Brent Sadler: And that is when you see President Xi Jinping standing stoically on the stage left, you see President Biden enter energetically walking towards him with his hand extended all the way to Xi Jinping. So it makes it look like an over-eager, over-willing American side to negotiate or to make a deal. And that's not the right optic, certainly not to be portraying in Asia at this time.
--:-- Brent Sadler: Final question. Where is this going? Is China becoming more and more of a threat, or is President Biden right to downplay that going forward?
--:-- Brent Sadler: Well, I think in the grander scope of history, China has always viewed the United States as a threat, certainly after Tiananmen Square. And it explains why for over 20 years, they've double-digit growth in their defense spending. The only real change is a realization of that late in coming in Washington, D.C., that China is, in fact, viewing the United States as a comprehensive threat, and its military is geared to taking us on.
--:-- Brent Sadler: And really, it's only been the last few years that we've seemed to have gotten serious about even strengthening our military posture. So the danger is real. I don't understand the statement by President Biden. It certainly is out of context of their own release national strategies in just the last month.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Brent, thanks so much for coming on. That was Heritage Senior Research Fellow Brent Sadler.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, President Biden's student loan forgiveness program has been struck down by yet another court. If you know anyone who owns a small business, you know that the past couple of years have probably hit them the hardest. From supply chain issues to increased demand, the businesses who are thriving right now are the ones who are forward thinking. Podium helps your small business stay ahead of the curve with modern messaging tools that make it easy for your customers to connect with your business. Watch a demo today at Podium.com slash wire. That's Podium.com slash wire. Podium, let's grow.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan has suffered multiple legal blows in the past week, with two separate courts striking it down. One as recently as Monday. Here to tell us which courts have blocked the plan and what the White House intends to do now is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, I know the rulings against the student loan forgiveness plan have been coming down at a pretty furious rate the past few days. What's the latest?
--:-- Megan Basham: Hey, Georgia. Well, yes, as John said, it's been hit with two pretty damaging rulings in just the last few days. So on Thursday, a U.S. district court in Texas struck it down outright. And the court called it, and I'm just going to quote, one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States.
--:-- Megan Basham: But that judge, Mark Pittman who is a Trump appointee also seemed to offer something of a rebuke for the kind of executive orders that have become pretty commonplace over the last decade So he specifically referenced the famous Obama quote from 2014 about having a pen and a phone to issue executive orders. Pittman wrote, in this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then on Monday, the Eighth Circuit Court of appeals similarly blocked the program. They were responding to a suit from six Republican-led states. And again, the argument in that case was that the executive branch was usurping the powers of the legislative branch. Because as we know or should know, it's Congress that is supposed to hold the powers of the purse.
--:-- Megan Basham: And how has the Biden administration responded to these rulings? Well, they're framing this as Republicans blocking pandemic relief. We have to remember that the justification Biden offered for taking over the purse strings from Congress was emergency authority. Basically, he said that the pandemic had caused undue financial burdens on people who had federal student loans. And then he claimed that he is empowered to forgive their debt as part of his response to the pandemic.
--:-- Megan Basham: So this was Jean-Pierre addressing that a couple of weeks ago. There are people who are really squeezed by the pandemic. And so he wanted to make sure that when we lift up the pause, that we gave people a little bit more breathing room. And that is where the student debt relief comes from.
--:-- Megan Basham: So what does this mean for the borrowers who already applied to get this loan forgiveness? So the Department of Justice has already appealed the Texas ruling to the Fifth Circuit, and that could change things. But for now, the 26 million people who already applied to have their debt forgiven are going to have to wait.
--:-- Megan Basham: And that said, they were actually already going to have to wait because of the Eighth Circuit Court, which had already issued an emergency stay last week to stop any payments from going out. But at that point, the Biden administration was at least still accepting applications. With these new rulings, it's not going to be able to do that anymore either.
--:-- Megan Basham: And legal experts are saying that both the Texas and Eighth Circuit decisions make it more likely that the case ends up in front of the Supreme Court. Now, if that happens, any decision could address the constitutionality of these presidential orders at a much broader level. And that could reestablish some clearer dividing lines between the executive branch and the legislative branch. If so, that's something that constructionists are very much going to welcome.
--:-- John Bickley: Absolutely. Thanks, Megan. Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned on Saturday. Since he took the helm in December 2021, more than two million migrants have crossed the border. After a three-day standoff, Magnus finally agreed to give up his post. Here to talk about Magnus' forced departure is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. So, Tim, the day after midterm elections, President Biden shakes up his homeland security staff. What happened there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Georgia. So all this comes at a time when the Biden administration has been under a lot of fire over the border crisis that's worse than we've ever seen before. It also comes as many people have called for Secretary Mayorkas to be impeached. So late last week, we saw reports saying that Magnus was being forced out. Mayorkas apparently told Magnus Wednesday that he needed to step aside or he would be fired. Magnus refused to step down for a few days because he didn't feel that he should.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He eventually gave in to the pressure and submitted his resignation on Saturday. Now, what do we know about why he was forced out? Is this just because people are so upset about the border?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Actually no. We don't have a ton of information but according to anonymous sources this appears to be an interpersonal issue Magnus resignation letter was just four sentences long. The White House statement announcing his resignation was even shorter. Both gave the bare minimum explanation, which was to say that Magnus resigned.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But there is reason to believe the reports that it was due to interpersonal tension. For example, last month, a group of administration officials vented anonymously to reporters about Magnus. They said he was uninterested in his work and cool towards colleagues and routinely skipped important meetings. He also hadn't put any effort into building relationships across the Department of Homeland Security.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Magnus, of course, contests all these allegations. He said that the complaints came from officials who were threatened by the way he operates and who want to keep the status quo. But disapproval of Magnus actually seems to be pretty bipartisan. Republicans say Magnus is a big part of the open border problem and should have been fired a while ago.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Border Patrol Union issued a scathing statement on Monday. It said that Magnus had a long history of anti-Border Patrol sentiment. The union said, quote, Now, could this possibly be evidence that the president is trying to shift gears on border policy? We'll see.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Magnus is currently the only official who's been forced out, but he's not the only official responsible for overseeing the border. Critics have also pointed fingers at Mayorkas and Vice President Harris. They have been in charge of border policy months longer than Magnus was. Still, Magnus' track record isn't good. Border Patrol counted over 2.3 million migrant encounters in the year he oversaw the agency.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But if Republicans get their way, Magnus may be just the first border official to get booted out. As I mentioned, a variety of voices on the right are calling for Mayorkas' impeachment for his mishandling of the border. And some Republicans are promising to take action if they take control of the House. This is Representative Andy Biggs from Arizona. Secretary Mayorkas needs to be impeached. If he had any integrity, in my opinion, he would have already resigned.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, final question. It was reported on Monday that border states were sending more buses of migrants to blue cities. What do we know about that?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, Philadelphia is preparing for busloads of migrants to arrive in the city. But the details still aren't clear. Texas Governor Greg Abbott usually keeps the details of his migrant trips under wraps until the buses are already unloading at their final destination. But Philadelphia believes something is up. A spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kinney said city officials were warned by a partner organization down in Texas, not from a Texas official. Abbott's busing program has already shipped thousands of migrants to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, at the very least, maybe this staff shakeup can make room for someone a little more effective. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce. Other stories we're tracking this week. Some outlets, including Decision Desk HQ, have called the Arizona governor's race in favor of Democrat Katie Hobbs. When the race was first called Monday evening, Hobbs held a 0.8 percent margin over Republican Kari Lake, with 97 percent of expected votes tallied. TV host Jay Leno was rushed to the hospital on Sunday after sustaining serious facial burns from a gasoline fire in his luxury L.A. garage.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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