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--:-- 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.
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--:-- John Bickley: The new House Speaker wants a standalone funding bill for Israel, but President Biden is threatening to veto unless the money is tied to billions for Ukraine. Ukraine and Israel are intertwined and both are serious. Will Speaker Johnson have the votes? And who will blink first in the high-dollar standoff? I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, November 1st, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The National Archives reveals that it's found more than 80,000 emails related to aliases used by then-Vice President Joe Biden. How will this new evidence play into investigations into Biden family corruption?
--:-- John Bickley: And amid a heightened risk of potential terrorists crossing the southern border, a federal court will allow Texas to maintain barbed wire barriers. We should wake up. It is a time to be concerned. We are in a dangerous period. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: New Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, faces a key foreign policy choice early in his tenure. Johnson plans to rebuke the president's request to tie emergency defense funding to Israel to tens of billions in more aid for Ukraine. Over the weekend, Johnson said that he favors a standalone bill supporting Israel and that there's bipartisan backing for such a measure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss Johnson's approach is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: So why is it so important to Johnson that funding Ukraine and Israel be done in separate measures?
--:-- John Bickley: Funding for Ukraine was an underlying issue that helped with the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker, even though McCarthy had carved some such funding out of last month's continuing resolution to fund the government.
--:-- David Marcus: The tricky thing for Johnson is that a vast majority of congressional Republicans support Ukraine aid, while a vocal minority opposes it. But among the GOP electorate, the reverse is true, with a poll last month showing only 35 percent support sending weapons to Ukraine, while about half say it's none of the United States' business.
--:-- John Bickley: These are Johnson's two constituencies as speaker, his caucus and Republican voters. So his position is, let's fund Israel, which basically everyone agrees on, and then figure out how to handle Ukraine.
--:-- David Marcus: This is causing some tension with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who's very bullish on Ukraine aid.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Can McConnell and Senate Republicans be brought along on a bill that cuts down or ends military aid to Ukraine?
--:-- David Marcus: Possibly, but again, constituencies matter here. Hardliner House members like Johnson himself come from deep red districts, but most GOP senators represent states that are far more competitive.
--:-- John Bickley: It certainly seems possible that Johnson and McConnell could reach a deal. Of course, this would also involve majority leader Chuck Schumer.
--:-- David Marcus: But it appears that deal will be struck after the question of aid to Israel is addressed by the House.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This will also be a test of the goodwill that the new speaker has built up in the past few weeks as he has a number of members angry at any money for Ukraine.
--:-- John Bickley: And we don't know if they'll just hold their noses or if they'll really make us think about it.
--:-- David Marcus: Right. That's the big question here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What are some of the details on this Israel aid package? Is there anything that Johnson wants in the deal beyond the separation of Ukraine funding from the bill?
--:-- David Marcus: So it's about a $14 billion bill. And yes, there is. Johnson is eyeing some cuts to the Internal Revenue Service budget to offset some of the Israel spending, which drew a sharp rebuke from Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who accused the new speaker of playing politics with desperately needed aid.
--:-- John Bickley: The Republicans argue that if an emergency requires spending, then it needs to come at least in part from cuts elsewhere, rather than just more borrowing.
--:-- David Marcus: There are also some in Congress, such as Senator Ted Cruz, who want money for the border crisis to be part of any deal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. Now, President Biden has also indicated that he may veto a funding bill for Israel that does not involve Ukraine or that requires too many cuts to offset the aid.
--:-- David Marcus: If that were to happen, would it change the political calculus?
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, because a month ago, as a potential lockdown was looming, House Republicans faced a situation where they would be the ones choosing to shut down. A veto from Biden would flip that and quite possibly lead to more voters blaming the White House if the federal government grinds to a halt.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's especially true because nothing could get to the president's desk without significant support from Democrats in the Senate.
--:-- John Bickley: So this time it really would be Joe Biden on an island, not the House GOP.
--:-- David Marcus: Look for Johnson to focus on a deal with the Senate. That could put a lot of pressure on Biden, who's lagging badly in his approval numbers, to just go along with the deal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, we'll see how Johnson and Biden play this.
--:-- John Bickley: David, thanks for coming on.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: Coming up, the Joe Biden pseudonym case adds some 82,000 pages. The National Archives revealed in a court filing on Monday that it's located over 80,000 emails related to a records request that targets aliases of then-Vice President Joe Biden. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, let's start with these emails. How much do we know about them?
--:-- John Bickley: Not much, except that there are a lot of them. About 82,000 emails to three pseudonymous addresses over the eight years Biden served as vice president.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Attorneys with the Southeastern Legal Foundation have sued to retrieve the records, but the archives has been slow to hand them over.
--:-- John Bickley: The archives says it must look over each one to make sure no classified information is accidentally released.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So it's giving emails to the SLF on a monthly basis. SLF attorneys are working with the archives on ways to narrow down the search and ideally find important emails faster.
--:-- John Bickley: The White House has said that aliases are commonly used by heads of state.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has been investigating these emails from the Senate for a couple of years now. He appeared a little skeptical of the whole process.
--:-- John Bickley: Senator Grassley and I sent our first of three letters to the White House counsel, I think, in June of 2021. One, we've been stiffed ever since.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, you know, kudos to the folks who've done the FOIA. We'll see exactly to what extent the Obama administration will allow these records to be released and whether Congress will ever get these things.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, turning to another White House scandal, more allegations about Justice Department interference in a Hunter Biden probe came out just last week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Can you tell us about that?
--:-- John Bickley: Listeners will remember that IRS agents have accused the DOJ of interfering in an investigation of Hunter Biden taxes and how those accusations were brushed aside by the administration.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Well, last week, a former U.S. attorney was interviewed by House Republicans and said the DOJ interfered in his probe into Hunter Biden as well.
--:-- John Bickley: Former U.S. attorney Scott Brady was tapped by former Attorney General Bill Barr in January 2020 to vet information about corruption in Ukraine.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Brady's investigatory powers were pretty limited, so as the head prosecutor for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Brady would work through the Pittsburgh FBI office for help on certain tasks.
--:-- John Bickley: Brady said that through the course of the investigation, he understood the Pittsburgh FBI was made to pass all of Brady's requests through the FBI headquarters in Washington before responding.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Brady also said the FBI never notified his team of Hunter Biden's laptop. He found out about it when the public did in October 2020.
--:-- John Bickley: That may have been by design, as Brady found out later that Pittsburgh FBI had been banned from affirmatively sharing information with his office.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And finally, Brady also said that his team tried to work with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, but Weiss's team acted skeptical of information from Brady's team, so it's not clear how much Weiss actually used in his investigation.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, in a third scandal, Congressman James Comer has said the House has found evidence directly connecting the president to money made selling the Biden family name.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What exactly is that accusation?
--:-- John Bickley: Comer's investigators found a $200,000 check to Joe Biden from his brother James.
--:-- Tim Pierce: James Biden was paid $600,000 in loans from AmeriCorps, a failing rural hospital provider, in 2018.
--:-- John Bickley: According to the company's bankruptcy documents, AmeriCorps turned to James based upon representations that his last name, Biden, could open doors and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Comer says part of these loan payments, $200,000 worth, was paid out to James Biden in a check dated March 1st, 2018.
--:-- John Bickley: On the same day, James wrote a $200,000 check from the same personal bank account to Joe Biden.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And Comer says there's more to come.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's the Kentucky Republican on Newsmax on Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What that check proves is that Joe Biden did benefit from his family's influence peddling scheme. But what we're finding is there are more instances where Joe was involved.
--:-- John Bickley: We've gotten a whole trailer load of documents in over the weekend. And I can say not only did Joe Biden know what his family was doing, but he benefited financially as well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So a lot of converging scandals.
--:-- John Bickley: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Great to be on.
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--:-- John Bickley: Amid another record-breaking surge of illegal immigration at the southern border, a federal court ruled this week that the Biden administration could no longer remove barriers erected by Texas officials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more on the ruling and what it means for the border crisis is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, this all stems from efforts by state officials to address the record number of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, mostly through Texas.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, it's worth repeating, 2023 is on pace to see the highest number of illegal border crossings in U.S. history, with over 2 million migrants crossing the border in the first nine months of the year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: On Tuesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas appeared before Congress where he was grilled on the topic, particularly the number of illegal immigrants deemed gotaways, meaning they avoided detention entirely.
--:-- John Bickley: How many gotaways did CBP record in fiscal year 2023?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I believe Senator that number is over 600.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As I sure you are well aware the phenomenon of gotaways is something that has been a challenge for the Department of Homeland Security for decades.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Since President Biden took office, Republicans in Texas have routinely called for more federal support and accused the White House of doing little to address the search.
--:-- John Bickley: So they began taking matters into their own hands. Governor Greg Abbott, for example, launched Operation Lone Star, a $4 billion operation that funded the construction of new barriers, including miles of barbed wire fencing and the mobilization of tens of thousands of National Guardsmen who have begun lining the banks of the Rio Grande.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, and those efforts in Texas have really outraged the Biden administration.
--:-- John Bickley: Exactly. They claimed the barbed wire posed a danger to migrants and border agents alike and say the governor's plan was unconstitutional, arguing the role of border enforcement is reserved for the federal government.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, in response, they began cutting paths through that razor wire to make way for migrants to cross, for processing, and then release.
--:-- John Bickley: That prompted a lawsuit last month from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued the Biden administration had illegally ordered agents to destroy state property to, quote, encourage, induce, and assist thousands of aliens to illegally cross the border.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The lawsuit went on to allege that agents went as far as setting up ropes and cables to help migrants more easily climb the banks of the river, quote, putting our country and citizens at risk.
--:-- John Bickley: As Texas Governor Greg Abbott put it, the White House was aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, pretty serious charges there.
--:-- John Bickley: And that brings us to this week where a federal judge made a ruling on that lawsuit.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. On Monday, a federal judge sided with Texas, issuing a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration, which prevents them from cutting or removing that razor wire, except when it was necessary to reach a migrant in need of emergency medical aid.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, a Bush appointee, agreed that Texas has a right to prevent illegal immigration because, as she said, the crossings impose financial burdens on the state.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The judge did schedule a future hearing later this month to further address the future legality of those barriers.
--:-- John Bickley: But in the short term, it is a victory for Republicans in Texas.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, it sure is.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, this all comes amid growing concern over potential terrorists crossing the border undetected.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Tell us more on that front.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, so first, it's important to remember, so far this year, at least 160 migrants on the terror watch list have been caught trying to enter the country legally.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That is more than the prior six years combined.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And this week, those fears were only compounded when Customs and Border Protection officials began warning that Hamas terrorists, quote, may potentially be encountered at the southwest border.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to an internal memo that leaked to the public, quote, individuals inspired by or reacting to the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt to travel to the U.S.
--:-- John Bickley: They urged border agents to keep an eye out for Arab men traveling alone and included various symbols and insignia worn by members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That warning was then echoed by FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday, who told Congress the war in Gaza has only elevated the risk of a terror attack on U.S. soil.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We also cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, clearly need for more vigilance on the southern border.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for tuning in.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
