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--:-- Host: John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Tensions between the U.S. and China continue to escalate as more details emerge about the Communist nation's surveillance program and as China signals it's prepared to provide military support to Russia. There are various kinds of lethal assistance that they are at least contemplating providing. We discuss the upcoming meeting between President Biden and Xi Jinping and China's plan to provide Russia with lethal aid. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, February 20th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Two weeks have passed since a train derailment exposed a small Ohio town to toxic chemicals in the air and water. After little response from officials, some residents are taking legal action. So our production has come to a screeching halt, which means our revenue has come to somewhat of a screeching halt. And a progressive activist group is seeking to disbar dozens of attorneys who represented Republicans in election fraud cases. Is the group succeeding in the purge? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host: John Bickley: Just weeks after launching a spy balloon into American airspace, Chinese officials have escalated their war of words with the United States. This comes as the communist nation is reportedly preparing to provide military support to Russia. Here with more on what China's escalation and their aid to Russia means for global stability is Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the immediate reaction from China after their balloon was shot down was basically that it was a weather balloon and they never meant for it to enter our airspace. But once it became obvious that it was in fact a spy balloon, the tone from Chinese officials changed very quickly as they began placing the blame on the U.S. for a, quote, trigger-happy overreaction and for creating tension where they say it wasn't needed.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: For example, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said the U.S., quote, needs to stop stressing the importance of communication and dialogue while fueling tensions and escalating the crisis. And then things escalated further over the weekend, right?
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Yes, they did. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's top diplomat on Saturday, and according to a transcript of the meeting, quote, directly spoke to the unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law and said that, quote, this irresponsible act must never happen again. But there were no apologies from China. They instead said the incident showed the U.S. is, quote, weak, near hysterical, and guilty of warmongering. So not exactly a kumbaya moment.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: If anything, each side left that meeting more hostile to the other. And keep in mind, this comes at a precarious time for the Biden administration. On one hand, they, you know, want to look strong against China and protect power on the global stage. But on the other they say that they still intent on maintaining strong lines of communication and diplomacy with Chinese leaders.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: To that point President Biden announced on Thursday that he be speaking with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to address the rising tensions Now Biden has yet to offer specifics on when he'd be speaking with Xi or what those talks would look like, but the two don't speak that often. So the fact that this incident warranted a discussion gives you an idea of just how seriously it's being viewed in Washington.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And it's also worth noting, the president said those three other objects shot down last week were almost certainly not Chinese and likely belonged to private companies or researchers.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Well, according to military officials, one of those objects shot down over Alaska was almost certainly a research balloon launched by the, get this, Northern Illinois Bottle Cap Balloon Brigade. They were a hobby group who was tracking a balloon that was on the exact flight path as the object described by the Pentagon, and then mysteriously went offline the exact same time RF-22 shot down that mysterious object.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Over the weekend, officials announced they'd called off the search for debris from all three of those cases, which all but confirms the Pentagon does not think any of them were a threat to national security. We also learned over the weekend that China is reportedly preparing to provide military aid to Russia to aid in their invasion of Ukraine.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Well, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, they're preparing to give what he called, quote, lethal aid to the Russians in their bloody invasion. Here's Blinken on NBC yesterday morning. China is trying to have it both ways. Publicly, they present themselves as a country striving for peace in Ukraine. But privately, as I said, we've seen already the provision of non-lethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russia's war effort. And some further information that we are sharing today indicates that they are strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russia.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Blinken would not expand on what he meant exactly by lethal assistance. But instead of alarm bells in Washington, that would be a clear escalation in this conflict. Ominous indeed.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That's Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips. Coming up, the latest on the disaster in Ohio.
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--:-- Host: John Bickley: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced over the weekend that East Palestine, Ohio, would be receiving aid from FEMA, as well as resources from the CDC and Department of Health and Human Services. Daily Wire reporter Reagan Rohrbach visited East Palestine this week to talk to some of the residents and local officials. Reagan, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: Yeah, so there's so much waiting and uncertainty that people are just getting angry. And some are even beginning to take legal action. I spoke to one local farm owner whose name is Dave Anderson. He lives about four miles from the crash site in New Galilee, Pennsylvania. He expressed to me a concern about the so-called controlled burr. Why'd you put air quotes under controlled? Because it didn't seem very controlled. It seemed out of control. I mean, they certainly had no control over where the smoke and toxins were going.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: Our lips were burning, our eyes, our tongues were swelling. So I went back in the house and told everybody, we have to go, we can't stay. He told me that when his family was finally able to return home, they found black ash covering his white front porch, which was very concerning. He began calling local officials to try to get some answers, but all he got were voicemails. So eventually, he and a few neighbors decided to take legal action against the train company that was responsible for the derailment. And if you remember, that was Norfolk Southern.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: Medical monitoring for life is the biggest priority. And then I mean everything else that goes with it I mean you know whatever that encompasses and that where the attorney pretty good at that They understand the long implications So aside from health concerns how is this affecting the town Well, health is everyone's biggest concern, but it's also been really devastating for the local businesses.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: I spoke to Mike and Ashley McCann. They're longtime AP residents and local business owners. They just renovated a diner into this beautiful winery that they plan to open on St. Patrick's Day weekend. Unfortunately, their winery is less than 100 yards from the crash site. They say the water's safe, but then we're also, maybe we're supposed to be drinking bottled water just in case it's not safe.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: And, I mean, we have a patio area outside here, and who's going to want to sit out there now and look at all this that's happened? Now, last time you'd reported, we had just learned that the town was not eligible for FEMA assistance, but it sounds like now that's changed. What's the current plan to help people in East Palestine?
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: So over the weekend, Governor DeWine actually announced that the town would be receiving FEMA aid in addition to resources from the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, both of which are sending teams to investigate the health concerns.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: We talked to PA State Rep. Aaron Bernstein of Lawrence and Butler County, which borders East Palestine. He basically said the first priority is getting data on just how bad the contamination really is. As for the timeline on these tests, Representative Bernstein says there's not an exact time when everything will be answered. So it really depends on the type of test. Some things take a period of time. And it's not because they're not working, but literally you have to have things sit for a period of time and see over a period of time.
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: So soil testing actually takes significantly longer than water testing. Last week, you reported that people were experiencing headaches, nausea. Is that still pretty common?
--:-- Guest: Reagan Rohrbach: Yeah, actually, many residents are still reporting symptoms. We've been told the water is safe to drink, but local officials like Senator J.D. Vance are still recommending sticking to water bottles. But obviously, it's impossible not to breathe the air. As for our experience here, my producer actually got really sick and had headaches and nausea, and we ended up having to leave early.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Reagan, And thanks again for making that trip. And thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter Reagan Rohrbach.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: A progressive activist group is seeking to disbar dozens of attorneys who represented Republicans in cases related to election fraud. The 65 Project has filed ethics complaints against attorneys who represented figures such as Donald Trump and Carrie Lake, as well as elected attorneys general in states such as Texas and Missouri. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to tell us more about the 65 Project and the push to purge lawyers who have been associated with election fraud claims.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Well, if you visit the group's website, the 65 Project is about protecting our Republican form of government from the big lie. The group's name is itself a reference to 65 lawsuits filed over the 2020 election. According to its website, the project is a campaign to protect democracy by deterring future attacks on our electoral system.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: It's tried to do this by filing ethics complaints against lawyers involved in election-related litigation. And what types of attorneys are getting hit by these complaints? Well, so far, they appear to just be attorneys for Republican politicians. Many of them represented former President Trump in 2020 and 2021. Some recent complaints have targeted attorneys who represent Republican Carrie Lake, who lost Arizona's gubernatorial race last year.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: And in some cases, these 65-project complaints are being taken up by partisans on state bar boards. You can get a sense of the partisanship involved here by taking a look at some of these complaints. I spoke with the Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margo Cleveland about this Here what she said Most of the cases where you have disciplinary actions against attorneys are brought by either a client or another attorney who was involved in the litigation.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: In that case, you actually have a party who is injured coming to the Bar Association. That's not what you're seeing with Project 65 or with these other independent people who are filing claims. So I think one of the differences you see is who is filing the complaint? Is it someone who is involved and has a true interest and true knowledge or an outsider?
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: If it's an outsider, that alone should kind of put up your red flags that this is not an appropriate response. But the second part is, and if you read any of these complaints in detail, what they're alleging is that the legal or factual basis for the claims were non-existent or that they lied in these documents.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: Now, when you dig into the 65 Project's background, it has a lot of connections to Democrats. It was devised by a former Clinton administration official Melissa Moss, and it's managed by an attorney who used to work at Perkins Coey, a high-powered law firm close to the Democratic Party.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: A concern that's been raised about the project, though, is that it sets a dangerous precedent to purge lawyers based on who they represent, especially if it's perceived to be political. So are they succeeding? Does it look like Project 65 will be successful in discouraging these types of suits?
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: I asked Cleveland about that, and here's what she had to say. I think it's a little early to know exactly what the effect will pan out to be. But you can tell from this that the effect is, or the intent is to create a fear and a disincentive to take such cases.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: But beyond that, what you're going to see is next time someone wants to bring an election challenge, will a lawyer take the case? and especially with large firms who have clients from across the spectrum may decide that they will no longer represent the Republicans.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: And has anyone actually been disbarred yet from these efforts? Nobody yet, but so listeners are aware, it's not just 65 Project filing these complaints. This tactic is broader than one organization. As for the tactic success, it's getting some traction. The State Bar of California is going after attorney John Eastman essentially because he said the vice president could refuse to certify an election under certain circumstances.
--:-- Guest: Tim Pierce: And in Texas, the state bar is suing Attorney General Ken Paxton because he, as attorney general, sued the state of Pennsylvania over changes it made to state election laws during the COVID pandemic.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Tim, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce.
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