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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.
--:-- John Bickley: Attorney General Merrick Garland broke his silence Thursday on the FBI's raid of Trump's private home, stating that he did in fact personally approve the search. The AG also ordered the release of the search warrant. We have details on Garland's highly scrutinized presser.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, August 12th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A provision within the new Senate spending bill expands the IRS with billions in funding, raising questions and concerns from tax experts. And a massive legal battle is being waged between golf's most powerful league and its new Saudi Arabia-backed competitor. We discuss the PGA's case against Live Golf.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, everyone. Producer Colton here. Back to school season is upon us. And while many kids are excited to get back into the classroom, many may not be able to access and afford nutritious meals to fuel their growing minds. That's why Good Ranchers has made it their mission to donate 100,000 high-quality meals this month to children in need. You can help them reach their goal by ordering your next box at goodranchers.com slash wire. Help them donate 100,000 meals and get $30 off plus free shipping at GoodRanchers.com slash wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: More than three days after the FBI sent dozens of agents into Donald Trump's private residence to search for classified material, Attorney General Merrick Garland held a press conference Thursday revealing new information. A report claimed FBI Director Christopher Wray and not Garland was involved in the approval of the search warrant, but Garland corrected the record in the presser.
--:-- John Bickley: I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. So, John, we've been covering this developing story very closely, and after a lot of speculation, Garland went ahead and took ownership of that search warrant. What rationale did he give for agreeing to such a drastic move?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Garland was careful not to get too specific in this press conference, but amid all the controversy and questions about this move, he was clearly under pressure to try to take more control of the narrative. So while he did take ownership, he assured the American people that he would not have authorized such a dramatic move without probable cause.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. And he also announced that he was ordering the release of the search warrant. And that's obviously been the subject of a lot of speculation at this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right, a lot of speculation and pressure to have it released. So Garland appears to have recognized that it would be in the best interest of the DOJ and the public to unseal it sooner rather than later. The department filed the motion to make public the warrant and receipt in light of the former president's public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Garland also felt compelled to defend his Justice Department insisting it remain committed to upholding democracy. Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, that was actually a telling moment. Garland knows that many Americans are questioning the motives of the FBI and DOJ in recent years. A growing number of Americans are concerned about the abuse of federal agencies for political purposes, and that's just been heightened this week with the Trump search.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In fact, polling by Trafalgar in Convention of States found that a strong majority of Republicans and independents believed that the raid was politically motivated. The breakdown was 77% of Republicans and 54% of independents. And what about Democrats? How do they feel about it?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right, this is another polarization-type situation. Most Democrats, about 70 percent, said the opposite, said this is an example of the FBI actually impartially pursuing justice. The poll also asked likely voters if they were more motivated to vote by the search of Mar-a-Lago and found that Republicans and independents were more motivated by it than Democrats.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. Well, a lot of questions still to be answered here. So we're going to keep reporting on this. Indeed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, a new Senate bill funds a massive expansion of the IRS.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, y'all. Producer Colton here. If you already listened to Morning Wire, which if you're listening to me right now, you kind of sort of are, well, you have to download the Daily Wire Plus app. When you have the app, you're going to receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, and you'll get access to the best commentary around. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Already passed in the Senate, the Inflation Reduction Act will be voted on in the House this week. The bill includes $80 billion in funding for the IRS, which has some Americans worried about increased audits, including politically targeted ones. Brandon Arnold, the executive vice president of the National Taxpayer Union, joins us today to talk about the provision and what it will mean for everyday Americans.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: Thanks so much for having me today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I want to start with the provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that allocates $80 billion to expand the IRS. What do we know about that provision?
--:-- Brandon Arnold: The intent here is to close what they call the tax gap, and that is the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they actually remit to the Treasury. And that has been a persistent problem. They said, if we give the IRS considerable more amount of money, in this case, $80 billion and hire 87,000 new agents, effectively doubling the workforce at the IRS and the size of their budget, then we can squeeze more money out of taxpayers, make sure they're paying their fair share in their words, and therefore raise the funds to cover these programs that they're trying to fund.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: Now, this provision was billed as a way to get the rich to pay their fair share. But a lot of people have suggested that middle and lower income Americans are going to be most affected. Is that concern warranted?
--:-- Brandon Arnold: Yeah, that's a great question, because you look at polling people that support this provision. A lot of people support it. It's popular. They just assume that it'll be the big corporations and the multimillionaires that will be targeted because they assume that they are the ones cheating on their taxes, not paying their fair share. But again, a lot of the tax cap is not tax evasion. It's mistakes, essentially.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: And those mistakes happen across the economic spectrum. In fact, a lot of times they hop in more frequently with lower and moderate income Americans who don't have a team of accountants to help them fill out their taxes every year. They relying on sitting around the kitchen table with a box of receipts or using TurboTax or one of those programs. They more prone to make mistakes than people that are spending millions of dollars to get their taxes done.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: So are they going to be targeted? I think so. If you're serious about closing this tax gap, people ask all the time, how big is the tax gap? How much can actually be closed? Well, it's kind of like, how much juice can you get out of a lemon? It depends on how hard you're willing to squeeze. And if the IRS is willing to squeeze not just the wealthiest of Americans, but also middle-income and lower-income Americans, that's how they're going to get the most juice.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: Now, a lot of people are concerned that this is going to mean more than just letters in the mail, but actually more audits. Is that a valid concern?
--:-- Brandon Arnold: People should be very concerned about rental audits. And the IRS has a horrible history of being weaponized for political purposes. And we saw that during the Obama administration, of course, with Lois Lerner, the targeting of nonprofit conservative groups in particular. We've seen that, you know, there's allegations currently.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: And so when you ramp up the size of this budget, when you supersize the IRS and make it just this unwieldy beast, then you're certainly opening the door for a lot more malfeasance. On the other hand, though, there are some legitimate reasons why the IRS may need more funding. What are the main areas of need in your mind?
--:-- Brandon Arnold: I'd like the IRS to spend a lot of money modernizing its IT systems, moving into the 21st century. They do need resources in order to do so. Right now, they've got more than 70% of the printers at the IRS are broken. They're using IT that's literally decades old. There's no companies out there that can service it and maintain their systems. Their computers don't talk to one another. So they have huge cross-communication issues between different facets of the IRS.
--:-- Brandon Arnold: So that's where I'd like for them to spend any money. I think they do need an increase in funds, but those funds need to come with quite a few strings attached to them to make sure they're implementing reforms that are protecting taxpayer privacy and upholding the highest standards of ethics.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, Brandon, thanks so much for coming on today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Brandon Arnold, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The startup golf tour, Live, which is run by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia, has continued to poach golfers from the PGA Tour, and the two leagues have now found themselves in court. Here to discuss is Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- David Cohn: Hey, good. So first, you predicted a lawsuit being filed several weeks ago, and now we've got one. How did we arrive here?
--:-- David Cohn: Well, it's nice once in a while to get to say, I told you so, right? Yeah, it doesn't happen to me often enough. Last week, 11 players from Live Golf, including Phil Mickelson, filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern California against the PGA Tour. These 11 players, they did not forfeit their PGA Tour memberships, as many have, but rather they had hoped to play on both tours throughout the year.
--:-- David Cohn: And their suit charges that the PGA Tour has engaged in anti-competitive behavior and coerced other entities in the golf world to exclude live players. The ruling this week comes as a response to one subset of that broader lawsuit. Three of those defected live players mentioned in the suit made the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begins this week. And they had hoped to participate, so they filed for a temporary restraining order.
--:-- David Cohn: This restraining order has now been denied by U District Court Judge Beth Freeman citing the players had not proven that they would suffer quote irreparable harm by not participating. She also stated the players knew the consequences of joining a competing league.
--:-- David Cohn: So she's saying here they knew what they were getting into. Exactly. This seems like good news for the PGA Tour. How will this ruling impact the broader lawsuit?
--:-- David Cohn: You're correct. The general consensus is this bodes well for the PGA Tour moving forward. It was always going to be difficult for players who left a league voluntarily to meet the necessary legal standard of harm done in order to win a suit allowing them to compete on the PGA Tour while simultaneously competing in a rival league.
--:-- David Cohn: You know, especially when many of these players are making more money than they were on the PGA Tour. Right, $100 million. In some cases, $400 million, right? Now, having said that, Live Golf still stands a chance to win their broader case if they can prove the PGA Tour has colluded with other tournaments or other powers that be in the golf world, really, that they do not control.
--:-- David Cohn: Remember, the most important aspects of this situation are the four major championships. These are the most prestigious tournaments in the world, and the PGA Tour does not control them. If Live Golf can prove the PGA Tour has worked with these tournaments behind the scenes in order to exclude Live Golfers, then that presents a strong argument for anti-competitive behavior.
--:-- David Cohn: Well, it's clear these are some seismic shifts happening in the golf world. And I guess we're not surprised here that there's a massive legal battle going on. Not surprised at all.
--:-- Georgia Howe: David, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thank you for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was David Cohn, co-host of Crane & Company.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. Police in Ohio say a man who attempted to breach the FBI's Cincinnati office was shot and killed Thursday after he fled the scene and caused an hour-long standoff.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The CDC relaxed its COVID guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine after exposure and socially distance.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Researchers are tracking an animal-derived virus in China known as the Langea virus, which has been identified in 35 people. The main symptoms include fever, fatigue, coughing, and vomiting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Twitter announced plans Thursday to combat misinformation on the platform ahead of the midterm elections. The company says the plans include prohibiting content that may suppress voters and preventing misleading tweets from being recommended.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Gas prices dipped below $4 on Thursday for the first time in over five months. AAA said prices have dropped 15 cents in the past week and 68 cents in the last month. Though prices are still almost double what they were in January of 2021.
--:-- Georgia Howe: An elite Nashville school for girls in grades 5 through 12, Harpeth Hall, will now allow biological males who identify as female to apply to attend the school.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Far fewer Chinese nationals are seeking higher education in the U.S. since the start of the COVID pandemic, with a 50% drop in issued student visas.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: From all of us here at Morning Wire, we hope you're enjoying the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Did you know that if you subscribe to Daily Wire Plus, you can get access to all Daily Wire has to offer? That means news, commentary, documentaries, movies, and so much more. Become a subscriber today. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and take us with you wherever you go.
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