--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. Happy Constitution Day. It's September 17th.
--:-- John Bickley: Happy Constitution Day, everyone.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A claim of racial heckling on the BYU campus prompts widespread media coverage and an extensive investigation.
--:-- John Bickley: While some outlets are issuing retractions, one university is still refusing to play Brigham Young.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We have the details.
--:-- John Bickley: And Oberlin College has been ordered to pay millions of dollars to a local Ohio bakery falsely accused of racism.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We've always treated everybody properly, and that's all we wanted from the start, just to continue on our lives and keep the store going.
--:-- John Bickley: We have the details on the multi-year saga.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If something would happen to you tomorrow, how confident are you that your belongings will fall into the right hands? Have you determined who will take responsibility of raising your children or caring for your parent or grandparent? Without a will in place, the state will decide what happens to the things you hold most dear.
--:-- John Bickley: Morning Wire listeners can go to epicwill.com and use promo code WIRE to save 10% on Epic Will's Complete Will Package.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's epicwill.com, promo code WIRE.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Special counsel John Durham revealed in a court filing unsealed on Tuesday that the FBI hired a suspected Russian agent to aid in its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
--:-- John Bickley: The revelations come as the former FBI source, Igor Danchenko, is set to stand trial next month for allegedly lying to the FBI.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to update us on Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion narrative and the revelations about Danchenko is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Georgia. The nugget that carried a lot of headlines earlier this week was that the FBI paid Danchenko, who is a Russian national living in the U.S., to inform them of attempts by Russia to manipulate the 2016 election.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Danchenko joined the FBI as a paid confidential human source in March of 2017. The FBI didn't end that arrangement until over three years later in October 2020.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Just so people remember, Danchenko was the primary source for Christopher Steele's notorious dossier. Danchenko is the guy who told Steele the ridiculous claim that Trump hired prostitutes to urinate on the bed of a Moscow hotel that former President Obama had apparently once slept in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Danchenko has since been discredited, but the filing also says that he was suspected of being an agent for Moscow, correct?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yes, and this has been publicly reported before. The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into Danchenko in 2009.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He allegedly offered to pay an acquaintance money in exchange for classified information.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Durham's filing says that in 2008, Danchenko was working at a prominent think tank in Washington, D.C. when he asked two of his co-workers whether one would be willing to feed him classified information in exchange for cash.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Danchenko made the offer on the assumption that the co-worker was going to wind up working in the Obama administration soon after.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, one of the people Danchenko spoke to told the FBI about the offer, and the Bureau began looking into him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The FBI stepped up its investigation after finding that Danchenko was an associate of two other subjects of FBI counterintelligence investigations and that Denchenko was previously in touch with the Russian embassy and known Russian intelligence operatives
--:-- Tim Pierce: The FBI never made a formal determination about Denchenko because they stopped investigating him in 2010.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At that time, they wrongly concluded that he had left the country.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So the same man who the FBI was investigating around 2009 as a possible foreign spy ended up on FBI payroll just a few years later after he began sourcing information about Trump to Christopher Steele.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's correct. And keep in mind, Christopher Steele worked for an organization called Fusion GPS, which was subcontracted to the law firm Perkins Coy, which had been hired by the Clinton campaign.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Perkins Coy, as part of their work for Clinton, enlisted Fusion GPS to obtain opposition research on the Trump campaign, which is how the Steele dossier was ultimately funded.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For what it's worth, Durham appears to be making the case that the FBI was duped by Danchenko.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He's being charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI between March and November in 2017.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Durham claims that those alleged lies had a material impact on the FBI's investigation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So at this point, we're waiting to see if Durham has enough to convince a jury next month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is that correct?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yes, that's correct.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, controversy erupts in the sports world over a claim of racial heckling at BYU.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you got to get the Daily Wire Plus app.
--:-- John Bickley: Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Brigham Young University has completed a full-scale investigation into claims that racial slurs were used against a Duke volleyball player, Rachel Richardson.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to fill us in is Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- David Cohn: On Friday, August 26, the Duke volleyball team took the court against Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Following the match, reports surfaced that Duke player Rachel Richardson was a victim of racial heckling from a person in the BYU student section.
--:-- David Cohn: Now, Richardson's godmother, Lisa Pamplin, who is running for circuit court judge in Fort Worth, Texas, is the one who tweeted, My goddaughter is the only black starter on Duke's volleyball team.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While playing yesterday, she was called the N-word every time she served, unquote.
--:-- David Cohn: Naturally, this prompted responses from every media outlet in the nation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: BYU Athletic Director Tom Homo issued an immediate apology, banned the accused fan indefinitely, and initiated a full-scale investigation into this matter.
--:-- David Cohn: The findings from that investigation were released by the university on September 9th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They read, quote, we reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles.
--:-- David Cohn: From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegations that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event, unquote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: No evidence. That's what they're saying here based off their investigation.
--:-- David Cohn: The school also stated, John, they spoke with more than 50 individuals seated in the student section that night, but no one has acknowledged hearing the type of language described by Ms. Richardson.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so an exhaustive report finds no evidence of this claim.
--:-- David Cohn: How has Duke responded given that lack of evidence?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Duke issued a statement of their own saying, quote, we unequivocally stand with and champion our women especially when their character is called into question
--:-- David Cohn: Duke Athletics believes in respect equality and inclusiveness and we do not tolerate hate and bias, unquote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, remember, it was Duke University where three lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape in 2006.
--:-- David Cohn: That settlement ended up costing the university roughly $100 million.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, to date, neither Duke nor Rachel Richardson nor the player's godmother, Lisa Pamplin, has issued an apology to the aforementioned fan accused here, although he has been reinstated.
--:-- David Cohn: Now, a lot of mainstream media outlets jumped on this story early.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Even now, CNN sportscaster John Avalon has done an entire segment called Upon Further Review, where he stated everyone should have waited for more of the facts to come out.
--:-- David Cohn: I actually have a clip of that here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Healthy skepticism is always a virtue, but this doesn't read like a cover-up.
--:-- David Cohn: Instead, it feels like there was a rush to judgment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so after pretty extensive media coverage, we have some retractions, including from CNN.
--:-- David Cohn: Yes, not from the university themselves, but from some media sources.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Nonetheless, South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley has now canceled a previously scheduled home-and-home series with BYU basketball.
--:-- David Cohn: She stated, the incident at BYU has led me to reevaluate our home-and-home, and I don't feel this is the right time for us to engage in this series.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Even members of South Carolina's House Freedom Caucus, you know, stood up and said Coach Staley and Athletic Director Ray Tanner have rushed to judgment on this matter, but both are standing by their position.
--:-- David Cohn: Now, you mentioned South Carolina basketball. Weren't they accused of something similar not long ago?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, in 2018, as a matter of fact, it was following a contest against the Gamecocks when Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk stated, we had players spit on and called the N-word.
--:-- David Cohn: It was not a good environment, and I think Coach Staley promoted that kind of atmosphere, unquote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That accusation certainly got a response from Ray Tanner at South Carolina.
--:-- David Cohn: They said, I have that here, quote, upon hearing the accusations regarding our crowd's behavior towards the Missouri team, the athletics department conducted a review of our operations from the game, including interviews with staff and security personnel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In this review, we receive no confirmation of the alleged behavior, unquote.
--:-- David Cohn: That sounds eerily similar to BYU's explanation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it does.
--:-- David Cohn: Well, a very controversial sequence of events there. No doubt.
--:-- Georgia Howe: David, thanks for coming on.
--:-- David Cohn: Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In 2016, Alan Gibson was working at his family-owned business, Gibson's Bakery, when a few Oberlin College students attempted to shoplift.
--:-- John Bickley: Gibson chased the students out of the store where they attacked him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He called the police and the students were arrested and pleaded guilty to shoplifting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Students at the school accused the bakery of racism, leading to protests and a years-long legal battle between Oberlin College and Gibson's Bakery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, almost six years later, Oberlin College has agreed to pay damages to Gibson's.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss the situation is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: So after the initial incident, Oberlin students started protesting the bakery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And even though the shoplifters themselves pled guilty in court and denied that race had anything to do with the incident, Oberlin administrators supported and repeated the accusation that the bakery acted out of racism.
--:-- Ash Short: The students who admitted to shoplifting a bottle of wine from the bakery were black whereas the bakery owner Alan Gibson is white
--:-- Georgia Howe: This whole saga resulted in prolonged protests that financially crippled the bakery.
--:-- Ash Short: During the protests, Oberlin's students harassed customers, attempted to prevent them from entering the business, and made disparaging comments about the business in person and online.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Flyers that remained on display on campus for a full year discouraged students from buying from racist Gibson's Bakery.
--:-- Ash Short: In private emails revealed in court, Oberlin administrators called the bakery and its defenders idiots, saying, F them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When a member of the community emailed Oberlin administrators to say she had spoken with people of color in the community who all said they didn't think the Gibsons were racist, Tita Reed, an administrator at Oberlin, said the email didn't change a, quote, damn thing for her.
--:-- Ash Short: In text messages provided to the Daily Wire, another Oberlin administrator, Tony Myers, said she hoped to, quote, rain, fire, and brimstone on that store, referring to the bakery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, all of this led to Gibson's suing Oberlin College for damages, correct?
--:-- Ash Short: Correct.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Gibson sued Oberlin for defamation, and in 2019, a jury awarded the bakery $44 million in damages, a number that was revised down to $36 million due to state laws capping the amount of damages one can receive.
--:-- Ash Short: Oberlin appealed the ruling, but an appeals court upheld it, and the Gibson family asked the court to force the college to start paying what it owed, arguing that the school's actions had nearly bankrupted the more than a century-old business.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Gibsons said in their court filings that Oberlin's authorized campus tour guides were telling people not to shop at their bakery, and college officials ordered the campus food services to cease all orders of cookies, bagels, and more from Gibsons.
--:-- Ash Short: The family also said that notices denigrating the Gibsons were publicly posted in college buildings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's bakery owner Lorna Gibson.
--:-- Ash Short: We lost so much of the business after the protests that I couldn't afford to keep the showers filled.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, has the college issued a formal apology to Gibsons?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the Gibsons have repeatedly said that this could have all disappeared if the college had just apologized in the beginning.
--:-- Ash Short: I spoke to the family attorneys last week, and they told me that Allen Gibson had asked the school to retract its comments about the bakery, but the school refused.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Oberlin has now been ordered to pay $36 million.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Oberlin appealed the verdict to the Ohio Supreme Court, but the court declined to hear the case, meaning the school has to pay the $36 million it owed the bakery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Finally, earlier this month, the school said it had initiated that payment and that after all of this, the $36 million wouldn't hurt the school at all.
--:-- Ash Short: As for the family, they are determined to keep their bakery going.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: You're welcome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire senior editor, Ash Short.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to scientists, multiple collected rocks contained organic molecules associated with life.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The samples will be stored in tubes until a follow-up mission can bring them home in 2030.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A judge in Delaware has found that a vote by mail law is not constitutional and that the practice cannot be utilized for the upcoming election.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We created this show to bring more balance to the natural conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
