--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible. Financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Mass casualties in Michigan after a man opens fire on a Mormon congregation, leaving the church in flames and a community grieving. Just hundreds of people just practicing their faith. We do know that there are some that are unaccounted for. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, September 29th.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: This is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host John Bickley: President Trump's war on crime is expanding as he announces plans to send troops to another Democrat-run city. You go out to Portland and you see what's happening in Portland. This is like nobody's ever seen anything like it every night. And this has gone on for years. And the FBI finally admits to having hundreds of plainclothes agents in the crowds on January 6th. Apparently there were 274 FBI agents in the crowd on January 6th.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: Tragedy in Michigan after a man attacks a Mormon church yesterday, opening fire on the congregants and leaving the building ablaze. Joining us now with the details is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presa-Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: So Amanda, a truly horrific scene in Grand Blank, Michigan yesterday that's really shaken the nation, the Mormon community in particular. First, what do we know so far about what took place?
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Yeah, it was a really horrifying attack yesterday, John. Probably everybody has now seen footage of that church being completely engulfed in flames. That church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And as you said, it's located in Grand Blank. That's a small community of about 8,000 people. It's a suburb of Flint, so about 50 miles from Detroit.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: What we know so far about the sequence of events is that the shooting occurred around 10.30 a.m. local time. This happened while the church was in service. Hundreds of people were worshiping when the suspect rammed his truck in the building. He then opened fire on the congregants, hitting 10 people. At some point, the church was set on fire, and officials believe that this was intentionally done by the suspect.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: They're still investigating how exactly that fire was set, but they believe an accelerant-like gasoline was used. The fire went on to completely engulf the church. As of this recording, the suspect has been confirmed dead, and two of the people who were shot have died, as well as two others who were in the church.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: But officials say that they fear the casualty number from the fire is going to rise. And we do believe that there was people up there that were near that fire, and they were unable to get out of the church. So we do believe that we will find additional victims once we're able to search that, once there's no signs of a fire reigniting.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: It's a truly terrible situation. Now, as for the suspect, as you said, he is dead. What do we know about the suspect so far?
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Well, officials released information throughout the day yesterday about him. What we learned so far is that he a 40 man from Burton Michigan which is just a few miles from the church Here Police Chief William Rennie in a press conference yesterday describing officers encounter with the shooter
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: The suspect again we in the preliminary stages right now was neutralized at 1033-44 in the parking lot of that church. That suspect is a 40-year-old male from the city of Burton who we identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford. Reporting from the Wall Street Journal has indicated that the pickup truck that rammed through the church had two large American flags in the cab.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Other reports have said that the suspect is an Iraq war vet, but authorities have yet to confirm that. Authorities are investigating this right now. They're executing a search warrant at the suspect's home, and they're going through his cell phone records to learn more about the motive of this attack.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: I'm sure more details will come to light over the course of the next few days. Now, President Trump and other officials have responded to this. What have we heard from them?
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Right. President Trump quickly issued a statement denouncing the attack on the church. He said that this appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. He added that Americans should pray for the victims and their families and added, quote, this epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Keep in mind, this comes just one month after the attack on the Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota. up. The attorney general and FBI Director Cash Patel also quickly responded. They confirmed that federal agents were on scene very quickly and they're assisting local authorities.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: Patel added that violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act. Here's grand blank police chief William Rennie talking about the investigation, including the coordination with the FBI.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: We had FBI, you know, they're devoting 100 agents to this area because as you can imagine, There's a lot of witnesses that were within the church, and that is a lot of witness information statements that we have to obtain. So we expect to be learning more in the coming days about what exactly took place here and the man who carried this out.
--:-- Amanda Presa-Giacomo: In the meantime, a lot of people are praying for these victims and their families. Indeed, just an unspeakable act of evil yesterday, and we join in those prayers.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Amanda, thank you for reporting. You're welcome.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: President Trump continues to take his crime crackdown nationwide, announcing plans to deploy troops to Portland to protect ICE facilities. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, Cabot, the president has hinted for weeks that he plans to deploy troops to more locations. What did we learn this week?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, he's clearly feeling emboldened to expand his crime crackdown after the successful operation we saw in Washington, D.C. this month. And now he's looking for similar results in Portland, Oregon, a city that's been ravaged by crime and violent political riots over the last five years.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Writing on Truth Social on Saturday, he announced, quote, at the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I'm directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland. I'm authorizing full force if necessary.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Trump did not get into these specific details on a timeline for deployment or how many troops he's planning to mobilize. But if D.C. was the blueprint, you can expect him to move very quickly.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, of all the cities he could have chosen, why did he choose Portland? Well, as with many places, crime there exploded around 2020, with homicides spiking more than 200 percent. But the main reason is that the city is really the epicenter of activity for Antifa, the far-left political organization that's been responsible for riots and violent demonstrations for years now.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to the DHS, Antifa militants have repeatedly laid siege to ice processing facilities in the city, attacking agents with rocks fireworks and smoke grenades blocking entrances setting fires and even doxing agents posting their home addresses on message boards and flyers all across the city
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In response to that violence in Portland and elsewhere, last week, the Trump administration officially designated Antifa as a domestic terror organization, calling it a, quote, militarist anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States government, while using a, quote, campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's top Trump advisor Stephen Miller speaking about the group in this order from the White House earlier this month. These are not lone isolated events. This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism. It is structured. It is sophisticated. It is well-funded. It is well-planned. It is terrorism on our soil.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So more broadly, this designation opens the door for authorities to use RICO statutes to target Antifa members and then organizers, and even those funding them, and potentially seek elevated domestic terror charges against those arrested.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Portland being a hub for Antifa, they're kind of walking into the lion's den here. Are they putting up any kind of resistance already?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the group reportedly posted flyers around the city this week calling on members to, quote, squad up, make travel plans, bring PPE, that's personal protective equipment, and your unhinged Portland energy. For their part, though, Democratic lawmakers in the city have sort of doubled down on their opposition to Trump here.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The city's official website still has a permanent banner at the very top that reads, quote, Portland is a sanctuary city. They then link to an anti-ice hotline and reassure residents that law enforcement there will not cooperate with immigration agents.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That includes anyone who might be coming into the city now under Trump's order. Over the weekend, Democratic lawmakers from across the city decried Trump's efforts as authoritarian, saying they had things under control.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's far-left Governor Tina Kotek speaking with dozens of other Democratic lawmakers at a press conference Saturday. Portland and the state of Oregon believe in the rule of law, And we can manage our own local public safety needs.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security. And there is no need for military troops in our major city. They are not needed here. And then later Sunday, the state of Oregon and city of Portland went even further, filing a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration in an effort to block the deployment of the state's National Guard.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Their suit claimed in part, quote, Far from promoting public safety, defendants' provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry. And it's worth noting, Portland is only the latest city that will soon see an increased federal presence.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Trump has also ordered an influx of ICE, DEA, and ATF agents to Memphis to crack down on crime and support immigration enforcement there. Unlike Oregon, though, that move has been welcomed by state officials, including Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who says, quote, the story of crime in Memphis is about to be a story of the past.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, as a former Memphis resident, I really hope that's true. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Absolutely.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: According to the FBI, the Bureau placed hundreds of plainclothes agents in the crowd around the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The admission follows over four years of the Bureau refusing to reveal the scope of its presence at the Capitol that day.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the new revelations and what this means for the FBI. Hey, Tim. So we've had four years of really non-answers to this question. Now we have this new revelation. What are we to make of this?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah the actual presence of plainclothes officers at the Capitol that day isn all that shocking Many people have suspected as much But the years refusal of the FBI to acknowledge the roughly 280 agents until now has brought a lot of questions about past bureau leadership
--:-- Tim Pierce: President Trump aired some of those frustrations on his True Social on Saturday. He wrote, quote, this is different from what former FBI Director Christopher Wray stated over and over again. Trump lumped in Wray with former FBI Director James Comey as two who, quote, got caught lying.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The president later told NBC News that he would certainly imagine that Ray is being investigated by the Justice Department. All right, so quite the accusation there from Trump. Now, Kash Patel, the FBI director, has responded to this. What has he said so far?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, he's taken a similar tone to Trump. He told Fox News that the plainclothes agents were sent in against FBI standards and that, quote, this was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and the American people about what really happened.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He didn't name Ray personally, but he's obviously the first person to look to in this. And there are plenty of questions for Ray to answer, many even from rank-and-file FBI agents who served that day.
--:-- Tim Pierce: An after-action report just revealed to Congress last week reveals a whole host of issues that agents have had with FBI leadership. Here's Just the News' John Solomon explaining on Fox News' Hannity after he broke the story.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It began on his watch, leaking, lying, usurping the power of the Justice Department, launching false investigations. And by 2020, his own rank and file, the agents that used to work for James Comey, he handed off to Ray. They told an after-action report of Congress that they believed the FBI had become incurably biased, that it was infected with woke ideology, and it was beginning to treat liberals and conservatives differently.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They were looking at political stripes and not the evidence. According to this after-action report, FBI agents have felt that the Bureau's mission has been deeply influenced by politics over the course of Comey and Ray's tenures.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, so there's some strong suggestions here that Ray could be prosecuted for perjury just like James Comey. Is that the expectation?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, Trump didn't go that far in his Truth Social post. He stopped at saying that Ray had, quote, some major explaining to do. But others have been less accommodating for the former director. Republican Congressman Andy Biggs said Ray will be held accountable and pointed to an exchange he had with Ray in 2023.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The suggestion being that Ray has perjured himself. I understand that, but I just I thought I heard you say you didn't know whether there were FBI agents or informants or human sources in the Capitol or in the vicinity on January 6th. Did I misunderstand you?
--:-- Tim Pierce: I referred very specifically to undercover agents. Yeah. And so are you acknowledging then there were undercover agents? As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover agents.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, if it comes to an indictment, there's probably going to be some discussion over what constitutes plainclothes versus undercover. And you'll note that Ray prefaced what he said that he believed it to be true, not that it absolutely was.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And this just underscores that as much frustration as is out there over the FBI, perjury cases are typically very difficult to bring. Many legal experts will tell you that intent in these cases is very hard to prove, even without Ray's qualified responses.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, the Justice Department seems very confident in its case against Comey. We'll see if it says something similar about Ray. Tim, thanks so much for reporting. Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.
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