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--:-- Georgia Howe: The bruising contest between Trump and Harris gets even tighter amid dueling allegations against both candidates. We discussed the claims and the fallout from a high stakes Harris town hall. Why wasn't any of that done for the last four years? Well, there was a lot that was done, but there's more to do, Anderson. And I'm pointing out things that need to be done that haven't been done, but need to be done.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, October 25th, and this is Morning Wire. Trump draws thousands of supporters to a rally in Georgia where he embraces the faith vote. We hear from our reporter who was on the ground for the event. And I'd like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And a left-wing dark money group is accused of exploiting a loophole to funnel foreign cash into U.S. elections. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: With 11 days to go and over 20 million votes already cast, the Trump and Harris campaigns are flooding the battlegrounds and the airwaves. Here are the latest from the trail is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: A cabot, so lots to get to from both campaigns here. Where do things stand now? Well, stop me if you've heard this, but the race is closer than ever. Nationally, Kamala Harris's lead in the RealClear polling average is now, get this, 0.2%. She had been leading by around two points all month, but we got four polls in a row yesterday, including ones from the Wall Street Journal and CNBC that all had Trump ahead by two to three points. And while Trump is technically ahead in all seven battlegrounds, his average lead is around 0.9%. That means it's essentially a tie across all the battlegrounds.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah. So I really want to stress for our listeners, the closeness of this race does not mean the final electoral outcome will be close. This is one of those rare elections where either candidate does have a plausible path to sweeping all the battlegrounds. That would mean winning a blowout. So the big news this week from the Harris camp was her appearance for a CNN town hall hosted by Anderson Cooper.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Have a listen to some of this exchange on legal immigration and border wall. Under Donald Trump you criticized the wall more than 50 times You called it stupid useless and a medieval vanity project Is a border wall stupid Well let talk about Donald Trump and that border wall So remember, Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn't. How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw is about 2%. But you're agreeing to a bill that would earmark $650 million to continue building that wall. I pledge that I am going to bring forward that bipartisan bill to further strengthen and secure our border. Yes, I am. So you don't think it's stupid anymore? I think what he did and how he did it did not make much sense because he actually didn't do much of anything.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Later on, Harris was pressed about why she has not already implemented her economic plans. But really, the most remarkable moment of the evening came when Harris outright called Donald Trump a fascist. Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Quite an assertion there.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, there were also a series of salacious allegations against both campaigns this week. Let's get to those claims. So first, the Atlantic ran a piece this week with Donald Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, in which the retired Marine general claimed the former president had praised Nazi generals during his time in the White House and supposedly, quote, prefers the dictator approach to government. Then a day later, a former model alleged to The Guardian that Donald Trump had allegedly groped her back in 1993 as Jeffrey Epstein looked on. Now, the Trump campaign has vehemently denied those stories. They've pointed out a number of apparent discrepancies in the timelines and are questioning why neither accuser came forward in the many years that have passed since these stories and waited until two weeks before the election.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. And the Harris campaign is also facing serious new allegations as well, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So we talked last month about those allegations that back in 2012, Harris's husband, second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, had struck his ex-girlfriend after she flirted with another man, hitting her so hard that she spun completely around. Now, that initial report included three unnamed friends of the woman who reportedly confirmed the account with pictures and communications from the time. But now the ex-girlfriend herself has come forward to share her story. In a new report in the Daily Mail Thursday, the woman, an attorney who chose to remain anonymous, said she initially did not want to comment, but felt compelled to speak after Emhoff denied the allegations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, as part of that effort, I understand there was a prayer summit before the rally where Trump met with a select group of faith leaders and you were actually there. What was that like?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes. So just before he went out to speak to the crowd, Trump and his former HUD secretary, Ben Carson, had a private backstage meeting with a few dozen pastors and ministry leaders from various denominational backgrounds. And in that meeting, he told them that they are the people with access to real power, and he asked them to pray for him. I will say it was a very endearing moment, clearly, to a lot of these pastors. Several of them placed their hands on him, common practice in Christianity. and then the group prayed for him for maybe 15 minutes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: TPUSA Faith and United in Purpose organized this prayer summit. And Indiana pastor Lucas Miles, who is also senior director of TPUSA Faith, told me that these faith leaders feel a deep sense of urgency to pray for our nation's leaders, including President Trump, in what he called a challenging time for our country right now. And he told me he believes it's more important than ever to seek God's wisdom, protection and guidance for those in authority, asking him to preserve the values and freedoms we hold dear.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, we're going to find out on November 5th if Trump was successful in making that case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A left dark money group appears to be exploiting a loophole to funnel cash from foreign billionaires into U elections The group is spending tens of millions of dollars to drive turnout in key states Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi is here with the details.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Hi, Georgia. Yes, so the group is called the 1630 Fund. It's a nonprofit that has funneled more than $1 billion in dark money, including funds from foreign billionaires into liberal causes. Just this election cycle, it spent more than $21 million on state ballot initiatives covering everything from abortion to election reform. Foreigners are prohibited from donating to American political candidates, but they are not prohibited from funding state ballot initiative campaigns, which is what this group is doing. By driving interest in liberal ballot initiatives, they are essentially driving Harris voters to the polls.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, some are familiar names like George Soros, as well as eBay founder and billionaire Pierre Omidyar. But another donor is Swiss billionaire Hans-Jörg Wies. According to a biography about Wies written by his sister, he doesn't have any interest in becoming an American, but he is interested in, quote, reinterpreting the American Constitution in light of progressive politics. Wies has given $240 million to the 1630 Fund.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: So a huge amount of money, it sounds like. What kind of initiatives are they funding? A lot of the initiatives have to do with abortion. That's seen as an energizing issue for the base, so getting it directly on the ballot is a strategic way to draw out Democrat voters. In Arizona, the group gave $1.25 million to support a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution. The group also gave about half a million dollars to a similar initiative in Nevada.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And as we mentioned, the 1630 Fund is also funding ballot initiatives in Ohio, Florida, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, and Alaska.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Now, is this new or has it been going on for a few cycles? This particular group has been around since 2014. Since then, the 1630 Fund has spent more than $112 million on ballot initiatives in 25 states, including $34 million in Michigan, $21 million in Ohio, $11 million in Colorado, $10 million in Missouri, 7 million in Nevada, and about 3.5 million each in Florida and North Carolina, and 1 million in Arizona.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans for Public Trust told the Daily Wire that it's unconscionable that foreign money is currently influencing our politics through a loophole most mainstream media and politicians are either ignoring or don't know about.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: There is some evidence that the 1630 fund is targeting competitive states to boost Harris, but that's not always the case. For example, While Montana Democratic Senator John Tester's campaign is struggling, but he may be assisted by the abortion initiative on the ballot to the extent that it draws out his base.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Do any states currently have protections against foreign money?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Yes. An example of that is Ohio. Earlier this year, Ohio became the first state to ban both indirect and direct foreign funding of state ballot issues, although not before the 1630 fund pumped millions of dollars into a ballot initiative there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans for Public Trust, which put out the report on this, has called on Congress and state legislatures to make a nationwide ban as well. But that hasn't happened yet.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Well, I think most people don't want foreign money paying for political ads. So hopefully something like that could pass.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for reporting, Mairead.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, thank you for listening this morning. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: At a packed rally in the swing state of Georgia Wednesday night, former President Trump and other speakers made a strong pitch to Christians not to sit out the election. Trump also held a private prayer summit with select faith leaders before the rally. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham attended both events and is here now to tell us more.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan before we get to the prayer summit tell us about the rally. Well, you know Georgia, I can tell you that it was a massive energized crowd. So the Gas South Arena that just outside Atlanta holds around 13,000 people, and it was completely packed. There were additional overflow crowds that had to wait outside because there just was not room for them inside the arena. It was also an extremely enthusiastic crowd, clearly very optimistic about Trump's chances, and references to faith and Christianity were an ongoing theme in these speeches.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Riley Gaines, an activist for Protecting Women's Sports, highlighted Christianity. We need to win back the White House. We need to win back the Senate. We need common sense. We need sanity. We need stability. We need strength. We need to fight, and we all need Jesus and His grace.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon went a little bit more negative. He talked about a recent study that found 32 million churchgoers plan to stay home on Election Day, and he did his best to change their minds. 32 million churchgoing Christians are unlikely to vote in this election. Let me say that number again. 32 million. You know, the last election in 2020 was decided by thousands of votes, not millions of votes. This election is ours if Christians will do their duty and elect the right leadership.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Several brought up that viral clip of Kamala Harris, where she appeared to tell some pro-life students at her rally who shouted Jesus is King that they were at the wrong rally. Now, while there has been some debate over whether Harris was actually responding to those Christian students, there's no doubt about what she told NBC News Tuesday night. And that was that she does not support religious exemptions for abortion.
--:-- Megan Basham: What concessions would be on the table? Religious exemptions, for example? Is that something that you would consider? I don't think we should be making concessions when we're talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body. Meaning Christians and other people of faith in the medical field would be required to violate their consciences and participate in abortions under her administration if the Supreme Court allowed it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And those remarks could certainly be alienating Christian voters. And it's clear the Trump campaign hopes to capitalize on that.
--:-- Megan Basham: Also, as part of that effort, I understand there was a prayer summit before the rally where Trump met with a select group of faith leaders and you were actually there. What was that like?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes. So just before he went out to speak to the crowd, Trump and his former HUD secretary, Ben Carson, had a private backstage meeting with a few dozen pastors and ministry leaders from various denominational backgrounds. And in that meeting, he told them that they are the people with access to real power, and he asked them to pray for him. I will say it was a very endearing moment, clearly, to a lot of these pastors. Several of them placed their hands on him, common practice in Christianity. and then the group prayed for him for maybe 15 minutes.
--:-- Megan Basham: TPUSA Faith and United in Purpose organized this prayer summit. And Indiana pastor Lucas Miles, who is also senior director of TPUSA Faith, told me that these faith leaders feel a deep sense of urgency to pray for our nation's leaders, including President Trump, in what he called a challenging time for our country right now. And he told me he believes it's more important than ever to seek God's wisdom, protection and guidance for those in authority, asking him to preserve the values and freedoms we hold dear.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we're going to find out on November 5th if Trump was successful in making that case.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening this morning. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
