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--:-- Host John Bickley: Facing challenges at home and abroad, President Biden took the stage at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and took aim at his political opponents.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Like I often say, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. We break down the highlights from the event and how it fits into Biden's re-election bid.
--:-- Host John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, May 1st, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: As the degree of damage to students from school closures becomes more evident, officials who push for prolonged lockdowns have been called to Capitol Hill to defend their actions.
--:-- Host John Bickley: I agree with you. There were things that we really didn't get right.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: And newly released information from Jeffrey Epstein's personal calendar reveals relationships with more high-profile names after his 2008 conviction.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Days after announcing his reelection bid, President Biden delivered an address at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, touting his record and taking aim at Republican opponents.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Here with more on what President Biden had to say and the implications is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So every year, the White House Correspondents Association hosted dinner with members of the media, Hollywood celebrities, and politicians to essentially celebrate the press. Comedians will typically offer a friendly roast to politicians in attendance before the main event, a speech from the president himself.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, coming into this year's event, there were some questions about how Biden would be received by members of the press. As we've noted, there's been growing frustration from many White House reporters at what they call a lack of access and transparency from the administration.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And to that point, during his tenure, he's held half as many press conferences per year as each of the last five presidents.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In a lot of ways, this dinner sums up my first two years in office. I'll talk for 10 minutes, take zero questions, and cheerfully walk away.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: All right, so the room laughs off the lack of access there. What were some of the more notable moments of the address?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, one moment that quickly went viral came when Biden addressed his age. Remember, the president would be 86 by the time he finished his second term.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And a recent Harvard poll showed 57% of Americans fear he's not mentally fit to serve. Heading into his re-election campaign, the White House has been largely silent on the matter.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But on Saturday, Biden addressed it head-on in his own way. And look, I get that age is completely a reasonable issue. It's in everybody's mind.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You call me old. I call it being seasoned. You say I'm ancient. I say I'm wise. You say I'm over the hill. Donald Lemon would say that's the man in his prime.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The president also took aim at a few of his Republican opponents.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yes, he did. Biden first took a veiled shot at Trump, noting how he views the press as a force for good, while others say they're the enemy of the people.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's a famous quote from the former president. And he also called out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who's actually yet to jump in the race officially, by name.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: At Ron DeSantis, I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready. But Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me and got there first Oh Lord can be too rough on the guy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: After his re as governor he was asked if he had a mandate He said, hell no, I'm straight. I'm straight.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: And while much of Biden's address was relatively lighthearted, there were a few serious moments, one of which involved the mention of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter currently being detained in Russia.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Critics say that while the White House devoted massive amounts of time and political capital to freeing WNBA star Brittany Griner, they haven't shown the same vigor in negotiating the release of Gershkovich.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Expect to hear more on that topic in the next few weeks as he remains detained.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we'll look for that.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Now, the president ended his speech on another serious note, taking an implicit shot at conservative media outlets, which he accused of spreading, quote, poison.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: A poison is running through our democracy and parts of the extreme press. A cycle that emboldens history to be buried, books to be banned, children and families to be attacked by the state, and the rule of law and our rights and freedoms to be stripped away.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And we're elected representatives of the people, are expelled from state houses for standing for the people.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Coming up, congressional testimony about school lockdowns and the severe damage they inflicted sparks backlash.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: As the breadth of the damage done by school closures has become more clear, Teachers Union boss Randy Weingarten is taking heat for claiming that she consistently fought to reopen schools during the pandemic.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Weingarten appeared before a House panel late last week, where she was grilled by Republican lawmakers about keeping schools closed during COVID.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi is here with the details for us.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Hi, Georgia. So as you mentioned, Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers, or AFT, the country's second largest teachers union, testified Thursday before the House Select Subcommittee investigating the COVID response.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: She claimed that she and her union, the AFT, had wanted to open schools earlier but couldn't do it safely because of President Trump and his supposed, quote, chaos.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Here's Weingarten. What essentially happened was that because there was such chaos and such conflicting information, and because at the beginning of the pandemic, so many of, frankly, our activists who were in schools had died, people were fearful.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: One of the key details highlighted in the testimony was that Weingarten and the AFT union actually worked directly with the CDC in early 2021 and even influenced the CDC's guidance on schools.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Weingarten and senior AFT staff famously made suggestions during a conference call with the CDC that the agency would comply with.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Two of the union's suggestions were included in the Biden administration's COVID guidance released the next month.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: One of those suggestions was to encourage schools to provide options for school staff with high-risk conditions.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: The other was to clarify that the government guidance could change based on new COVID variants
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Weingarten told House lawmakers that it made sense for the union to consult with the CDC and it would have been quote irresponsible for the CDC not to confer with educators
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: When Weingarten claims that she fought to open schools, how exactly does she substantiate that claim?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: I think a lot of Americans recall teachers unions being a major force keeping schools closed.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Right. There's been a lot of backlash over exactly that.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: As you remember, Weingarten fought for extreme demands in the name of safety, many of which were not backed by data, and basically said schools had to remain closed until those demands could be met.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: For example, we knew as early as August of 2020 that children were largely resistant to COVID, but children's safety was often used as an argument for keeping teachers home.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Similarly, cloth masks, which the AFT wanted to make mandatory in school, turned out not to be very effective at all at stopping the spread of COVID, and yet the teachers union was relentless in pushing them.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: In July 2020, Weingarten herself declared that, nothing is off the table for the teachers union to get their demands, including teacher strikes.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Even as late as 2022, the Chicago Teachers Union, which is affiliated with the AFT, pushed for a return to remote learning in the country's third largest school district, resulting in classes being canceled for five days.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Republican lawmakers brought this up to Weingarten during the House subcommittee hearing last week.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Representative Marionette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, a medical doctor and the former director of Iowa's health department, said the teachers union is not a scientific organization and was, quote, out of its league in weighing in on COVID risks.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Well, it's also become clear over the past year or so just how damaging the lockdowns were to kids.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: What are some of the top line numbers in that regard?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Right. The lockdowns basically wiped out the gains made over the past two decades for fourth graders.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Both fourth graders and eighth graders suffered sharp declines in math. Eighth grader scores fell in 49 out of 50 states.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Remote learning played a huge role in this decline, particularly with math scores.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: And those numbers don't even address the more subjective measures of learning.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: In many cases, kids' social skills were stunted when they returned and they behaved more immaturely, engaging in more conflict and struggling with communication.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: We should also note that there was compelling data suggesting that masks affected early childhood language development.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Well, it's clear now that these policies did a lot of harm.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Mairead, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi.
--:-- Host John Bickley: New documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal show that convicted pedophile and former philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein had meetings scheduled with several high-profile figures even after his 2008 conviction.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: The revelations come amid years of frustration surrounding the lack of transparency from authorities regarding Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 waiting for trial on sex trafficking charges, charges that involved his private island where he frequently entertained very famous and influential guests.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: So Dave, who is Epstein apparently meeting with and why does this matter?
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning. There were a few important names you might know, among them current CIA director William Burns, the president of Bard College, Leon Botstein, and Catherine Rumler, who had been a White House counsel during the Obama administration
--:-- David Marcus: Another famous person who met with Epstein I should note was the author and activist Noam Chomsky
--:-- David Marcus: Now these appear to be pretty straightforward business meetings though there are references to planned trips One to Paris with Rumler, who says that the trips never happened.
--:-- David Marcus: What this really shows is that even after being jailed for solicitation of a minor in 2008, Epstein's money and influence was enough to access some very important folks.
--:-- David Marcus: There are also those who allege that he had damaging information about a host of famous and powerful people.
--:-- David Marcus: But whatever it was, in that period from about 2008 when he was convicted in 2019 when he was jailed on federal charges, his social and business dance cards were pretty full.
--:-- David Marcus: And it's something that a lot of A-listers are trying to distance themselves from.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah, unsurprisingly so.
--:-- David Marcus: What were the reasons given by these individuals who met with Epstein that we found out about in this new reporting?
--:-- David Marcus: Why did they see him?
--:-- David Marcus: So CIA Director Burns says that he met Epstein at a time when he was entering the private sector and looking for advice.
--:-- David Marcus: He says they really had no significant relationship.
--:-- David Marcus: Botstein wanted Epstein to give money to Bard College.
--:-- David Marcus: And apparently Rumler worked for a law firm that had business with the famous pedophile.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: And again, these are all very plausible explanations.
--:-- David Marcus: But they highlight just how unserious people in Epstein's orbit seemed about the 2008 conviction and the constant swirling rumors about his infamous island.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, it's been very difficult for journalists and others to obtain many documents surrounding Epstein and those who travel with him.
--:-- David Marcus: Why has this puzzle been so hard to crack?
--:-- David Marcus: A lot of parties have moved to have a lot of records sealed in recent years, including during the trial of his associate and sometimes lover, Jillian Maxwell, which I covered for Daily Wire back in 2021.
--:-- David Marcus: And really, unless a piece of information was immediately germane to the narrow charges she was eventually convicted of, it would be redacted.
--:-- David Marcus: This included a lot of flight records from his private jets.
--:-- David Marcus: And of course, Epstein's own death has fueled no shortage of conspiracy theories, given that whatever he personally knew shuffled off this mortal coil along with him.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah.
--:-- David Marcus: Is there much reason for hope that more information about Epstein and his island could come out in the future, either through legal or journalistic means?
--:-- David Marcus: I mean, Maxwell has appealed her conviction, so that saga may not be over.
--:-- David Marcus: And of course, when it does end, whether successful in her appeal or not, she may be inclined to share more of what she knows.
--:-- David Marcus: But, you know, as this report from The Wall Street Journal shows, there's still significant interest in all of this, even though many of the allegations took place as long ago as, you know, the early 1990s.
--:-- David Marcus: I wouldn't expect this story to go away.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah, I'm sure you're right, as usual.
--:-- David Marcus: Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Another story we're tracking this week. The manhunt for a suspect who shot and killed five people in Cleveland, Texas, including an eight-year-old, continued Sunday.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: The 38-year-old suspect, a Mexican national, is still considered armed and dangerous after fleeing the scene on Friday.
--:-- Host John Bickley: The confrontation came after neighbors asked the suspect to stop target shooting.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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