--:-- Georgia Howe: The more you tell the truth, the stronger you become. America's top cable news host, Tucker Carlson, is no longer with Fox News after abruptly parting ways with the network on Monday.
--:-- John Bickley: What prompted the breakup and what's next for the widely popular host? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Tuesday, April 25th, and this is Morning Wire. The shuffling of staff continues at CNN, with morning news anchor Don Lemon being the latest cut as the network struggles to find an audience.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you Google, when is a woman in her prime, it'll say 20s, 30s, and 40s. We break down the timeline that led to Lemon's termination after 17 years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And one of President Biden's most trusted advisors is resigning after she reportedly questioned the administration's migrant policy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We are so grateful to Susan for her service over the last two plus years. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: There was bombshell news from Fox News on Monday as the channel announced that the network and its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, have parted ways, effective immediately.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a long-term contributor. Fox announced that Carlson's April 21st episode was his last on the network, despite the fact that the popular conservative host had the most watched show in all of cable news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hi, Dave. So this is really a shock. What do we know about why and how this happened?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning. We know very little. Fox released a very short statement. I mean, it could fit in a fortune cookie. In which it thanked Carlson for his service on the network and said they had agreed to part ways.
--:-- David Marcus: It had been a testy relationship. Some reporting, citing sources at the network, suggest that Fox owner Rupert Murdoch might have felt that Carlson had gotten a little big for his britches.
--:-- David Marcus: But we really don't know. For his part, Carlson gave a speech at Heritage Foundation in which he at least implied that he had been disappointed in some colleagues at Fox over the past few years.
--:-- David Marcus: You look with disdain and sadness as you see people you know become quizlings. You see them revealed as cowards. You see them going along with a new new thing which is clearly a poisonous thing. A silly thing. You know saying things you know they don't believe because they want to keep their jobs.
--:-- David Marcus: If there's a single person in this room who hasn't seen that through George Floyd and COVID and the Ukraine war, raise your hand. Oh, nobody. Right? You all know what I'm talking about, and you're so disappointed in people.
--:-- David Marcus: And you see people going along with this and you lose respect for them. And that certainly happened to me at scale over the past three years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This comes just days after Fox News reached a historic $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, as we discussed here last week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is there any indication that this move is related to that? I guess it would be a pretty big coincidence if it wasn't. But on the other hand, Carlson really was not a central figure in that lawsuit. So it's not entirely clear where the connective tissue would be there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Also Forbes reports that the network could lose upwards of a million in market value with Carlson gone. So it's a strange time to take that kind of financial hit.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As I mentioned, Carlson and Fox have butted heads in the past. His show got advertiser boycotts because he'd often go farther than other hosts on issues like COVID or immigration or Hunter Biden.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But I should note there's lots of speculation circulating online. We're learning, not surprisingly, that this may have come from the very top.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's an ongoing lawsuit brought by former producer Abby Grossberg that alleges sexism in the Tucker Carlson Tonight production team.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And there have been reports that that situation, along with Carlson's controversial takes on January 6th, including the idea that the federal government may have played a role, were what made Rupert Murdoch make the decision personally to fire his network's biggest star.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But again, this is all speculation at this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To put this in some context here, just how popular a figure on the right has Carlson become? There's been talks of him running for president.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's hard to overstate it. The only comparison is probably Rush Limbaugh. I did Carlson's show several times the last few years, and it was unique.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As soon as your segment was over, your feeds would blow up, much like when Limbaugh would read a column on air. The breadth of reach was really obvious and stunning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Carlson also, I think, much more than anyone else, embodied what we call the new right, a populist conservatism that is more comfortable using government power, more pro-worker and very much isolationist as far as foreign wars like the one in Ukraine go.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And as far as a potential run at the presidency might go, those positions have a large constituency among GOP voters.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, this leaves the 8 p.m. slot at Fox News open. That's a highly coveted hour of television.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It also comes after Fox and Dan Bongino parted ways. Do we have any sense of who might replace Tucker?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. Everyone and their cousin is going to want that spot. Fox will start by rotating the position.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Some have suggested that Jesse Waters, who currently hosts the 7 p.m. slot, could be a natural choice. He's similar in style and politics to Carlson, whose show was in many ways different from Sean Hannity's at 9 p.m.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There were times when Carlson would insult Senator Lindsey Graham at the close of his hour just to have Hannity interview the senator at the top of his.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, I mean, they may or may not want to keep that kind of dynamic going. It's very unclear.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it's complicated. What does reaction to this development look like in conservative media?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm guessing Carlson won't be wanting for options going forward. I should think not.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But aside from the very never Trump conservatives such as Adam Kinzinger or David French who are celebrating, most on the right seem to be taking Carlson's side here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And he's already gotten an offer on Twitter from Glenn Beck to join his outlet, The Blaze.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The bottom line is that with his ability to draw audience, Tucker Carlson's in a position to write his own ticket almost anywhere other than Fox.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, very intrigued over here by what exactly Tucker does next.
--:-- Georgia Howe: David, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, CNN conducts its own shakeup. Looking to expand your team? Indeed is the hiring platform where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: In a day that saw multiple media shakeups, CNN announced Monday that the network has parted ways with its longtime anchor Don Lemon.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Just days before the network announced they would be adding a weekly primetime show with Gayle King and Charles Barkley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to tell us more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, certainly some seismic disruptions in cable news this week.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, this situation is a little more clear right now than the Carlson development over at Fox.
--:-- Megan Basham: We do know, for instance, that Lemon did not see this coming. He had been in the anchor chair for CNN this morning, as usual, on Monday.
--:-- Megan Basham: But then about three hours after the show ended, he posted this to Twitter. And I'm just going to quote. I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN.
--:-- Megan Basham: I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, CNN fired back at that, saying that Lemon's statement was inaccurate, and they said he was offered an opportunity to meet with management, but instead released a statement on Twitter.
--:-- Megan Basham: So it sounds like not exactly amicable terms. Do we know why CNN made that decision?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, some sites have been pointing in this direction. We know that six months ago, Lemon was bumped from prime time to a morning slot.
--:-- Megan Basham: And we also need to remember that when CNN head Chris Licht took over from Jeff Zucker last year, he did promise to address perceptions that the network is politically biased.
--:-- Megan Basham: So he'd already fired Chris Saliza and Brian Stelter as part of that effort. And now Lemon, too, has made comments on the air that leadership reportedly thought were overly partisan.
--:-- Megan Basham: Just last week, for example, he had this contentious exchange with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over gun rights and black history.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, here's where you and I have a different point of view. I think we should be able to express our views regardless of the color of our skin.
--:-- Megan Basham: We should have this debate without me regarding you as a black man, but me regarding you as a fellow citizen. You're sitting here, whatever ethnicity you are, explaining to me about what it's like to be black in America.
--:-- Megan Basham: Whatever ethnicity I am, I'll tell you what I am. And then there were also perceptions of sexism.
--:-- Megan Basham: In February, Lemon drew fire for saying that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley isn't in her prime as a woman because she's over 50.
--:-- Megan Basham: She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn't in her prime. Sorry.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, he later apologized for those remarks, but Licht reportedly told staff at an editorial meeting that Lemon's remarks were, quote, upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I have to note there that that was a pretty unusual move for a network head to directly criticize a star anchor by name like that, as opposed to just, you know, making a veiled reference.
--:-- Megan Basham: And Lemon was taken off the air for a few days after that to receive training.
--:-- Megan Basham: But perhaps even more damaging, a couple of weeks ago, Variety published a report about Lemon's alleged history of demeaning and hostile behavior toward his female co-workers.
--:-- Megan Basham: In 2008, after Kira Phillips got an assignment to Iraq that he reportedly wanted, he was suspected of sending her anonymous, threatening texts.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of those texts said, now you've crossed the line and you're going to pay for it. And he also reportedly called a female producer fat and mocked host Nancy Grace on the air.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then you add to that the fact that ratings for his show actually went up 5% when he was on that hiatus over the Haley comments.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, taken all together, this really isn't that shocking of a development.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well definitely not a slow news day yesterday in the world of cable news, Megan. Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden announced on Monday the coming departure of Susan Rice, the administration's top domestic policy advisor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. So Amanda, this was a pretty surprising announcement from the administration. Tell us what we know so far.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, sure. So Biden on Monday announced that Rice would be stepping down. Her last day at the White House is set for May 26th.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The departure was handled with pretty standard language from the White House. Biden praised Rice's work and thanked her for her service, while Rice in turn put it on social media that she's deeply grateful to have worked with this administration.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The departure is notable, though, for a couple of reasons. First, Rice is a very high profile figure within the Democratic Party.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She previously served as national security advisor and ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She was also a contender to be Biden's VP in 2020. She's also very high profile on the right for other reasons, namely her involvement in scandals relating to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya back in 2012.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Additionally, despite the standard language that was used here in her exit, there's been a lot of speculation that this ouster is tied to the crisis at the border, specifically regarding unaccompanied minors.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Let's get into the border issue. The administration has been taking heat over its policies and the humanitarian crisis there.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Tell us how Rice is wrapped up in that controversy.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Sure. Well, a New York Times report published last week uncovered Rice expressing her frustration with the flow of unaccompanied children, sometimes referred to as UCs, pouring into the U.S. under Biden in just record numbers.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: We're talking hundreds of thousands of children. Rice was apparently aware of these at-risk children and behind closed doors seemed to blame the administration for the surge.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There was actually a memo which suggested this rush of children was caused by then-President Donald Trump's enacted Title 42, a policy which allows the U.S. to expel migrants based on public health.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Rice allegedly wrote on that memo, and I'm quoting here, this is BS. What is leading to voluntary separation is our generosity to UCs.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Basically, there were so many illegal unaccompanied children at the border under Biden that the administration moved to loosen restrictions so these children could be placed.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: That led to thousands of minors allegedly being exploited. And at least five Health and Human Services staffers who warned about these risks to children claimed they were pushed out of their positions.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: It's unclear if Rice will be scapegoated for this scandal, if she was ousted for pushing back on these policies, or if her departure really is nothing to see here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Rice's exit is set just a couple of weeks before Title 42 will expire. What do we expect to happen with respect to the crisis at that point?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, critics have warned that this is only going to worsen the crisis at our border, likening it to a human tidal wave.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Morning Wire spoke to Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, specifically about UCs and the repeal of Title 42.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: He told us there have already been some 350,000 unaccompanied minors at our border under Biden.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And the president's new plan, which is to use Title VIII, won't come close to stemming the tide because of all of its loopholes.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The new Title VIII, completely exempt unaccompanied minors, says we're letting them all in, no matter what.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So this could become even more of a problem for the administration.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
