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--:-- John Bickley: Good evening, I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire. Welcome to your Morning Wire afternoon update. It's Monday, May 13th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: [brief pause] And I'm Georgia Howe, co-host of Morning Wire. Thanks for joining us.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Diversify your savings with Birch Gold. Their experts can help you turn your IRA or 401k into a 401k in gold. Just text WIRE to 989898 today.
--:-- John Bickley: Israel has intensified its presence in northern Gaza as they fight a regrouped Hamas. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the latest.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Combat has renewed in places where Israel had said were already clear, leading to more criticism from the Biden administration. Meanwhile, Israel continues to move forward with plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafa, the last stronghold of Hamas. The U.S. and others want Israel to give up on the Rafa operation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday on NBC that a full-scale ground operation in Rafah could be counterproductive and actually empower Hamas.
--:-- John Bickley: Israel's on the trajectory potentially to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy, and probably refilled by Hamas. We've been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result, enduring security, both in Gaza itself and much more broadly in the region. Those conversations continue. And that's what partners, that's what allies do.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Blinken also suggested that Israel lacks a feasible post-war plan. Meanwhile President Biden has faced bipartisan criticism for pausing a weapon shipment to Israel The president froze the munitions to show his administration discontent with Israel attacks in southern Gaza Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said yesterday Israel should do whatever it takes to win the war When you're telling the world you're going to restrict weapons delivery to the Jewish state who is fighting a three-front war for their survival, it emboldens Iran. It emboldens Hamas. Senwar is probably juiced up on the idea there's daylight between the United States and Israel. The hostage deal is harder. This is the worst decision in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anti-Israel students at Duke University's graduation walked out just before comedian Jerry Seinfeld gave his commencement speech. This is just one of the many protests that happened at college graduations over the weekend. Seinfeld was not only delivering the commencement speech, but also receiving an honorary degree from the school. As he was being introduced, boos could be heard on the official commencement live stream. It's not clear if the boos were directed at the 70-year-old comedian or the protesters. Videos on social media showed groups of students with Palestinian flags walking down an aisle on the stadium field. Attendees up in the bleachers also began walking out of the stadium. Seinfeld was later able to deliver his speech uninterrupted.
--:-- Jerry Seinfeld: So on my staff in the 90s, we had a lot of Harvard guys. They were fantastic, but I could never understand why these guys were so embarrassed about being from Harvard. They would never talk about it. They would never mention it. I'm not talking about Harvard now. I'm talking about the way it used to be. You're never going to believe this. Harvard used to be a great place to go to school. Now it's Duke.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish, has been vocally supportive of Israel and has visited the country following Hamas brutal October 7th attack
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more on the former president's hush money trial.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: During today's testimony, Cohen said he secretly recorded Trump on his iPhone weeks before the 2016 election. In one recording, Trump is allegedly heard discussing a payment made to National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. According to Cohen, Pecker had paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 to purchase her story about an alleged affair with Trump to quiet the claims before the election. Cohen said he secretly recorded Trump to assure Pecker that he would be repaid. The recording was played for the jury, which included Cohen telling Trump he needed to, quote, open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David, referring to Pecker. Trump says he was unaware he was being recorded at the time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Jury selection began today in the second federal corruption trial that Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has had to face this decade. Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes in the exchange for a variety of favors, including meddling in criminal investigations and taking actions benefiting the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez, along with businessmen he allegedly accepted bribes from, have pleaded not guilty. A trial for the senator's wife, who is also charged, is delayed until at least July for health reasons. The three-term senator has announced he will not be seeking re-election on the Democratic ticket this fall, although he has not officially ruled out running as an independent.
--:-- John Bickley: Actor Steve Buscemi says he's okay after being punched in the face randomly on a Manhattan street. According to the actor's publicist, the 66-year-old was assaulted last week and had been taken to the hospital due to bruising swelling and bleeding from his left eye The police department said there were no arrests and the investigation was continuing This comes nearly two months after Buscemi Boardwalk co Michael Stolberg was hit in the back of the neck with a rock while walking Central Park on March 31st.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is saying goodbye to DEI. UNC has reportedly voted to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and transfer millions in funding instead to public safety and campus police. The unanimous decision reallocated $2.3 million in would-be DEI funding toward police and public safety measures as part of its annual budget approval process.
--:-- John Bickley: And GameStop shares are once again seeing dramatic rise after Roaring Kitty, the man who inspired the epic short squeeze of 2021 resurfaced. Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler reports.
--:-- Joel Needler: GameStop traded up over 83% after soaring as much as 110% today and was eventually halted several times due to volatility. Other so-called meme stocks, such as AMC and Reddit, saw drastic rises as well. Roaring Kitty, who is legally known as Keith Gill, posted a picture to ex of a video gamer leaning forward on their chair as if to indicate he's taking the game seriously. The post garnered 63,000 likes in 13 hours. Between 2020 and 2021, Gil drew an army of day traders who all bought into GameStop to save it from bankruptcy and from major hedge funds who were shorting the game company's stock. I have friends, I have family, and they think I'm crazy that I'm bullish on GameStop because many of them are downloading games. And so that's the thing, you've got these anecdotes, you're talking to people and so forth, and maybe you, I feel like most people watching this are probably downloading games. I think GameStop might serve a different target customer.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Roman. For treatment that works fast and lasts long, grab the moment. Learn more at roe.co slash wire. That's R-O dot C-O slash wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to text WIRE to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit from Birch Gold.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We'll be back tomorrow with more news and analysis.
