--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, and I'm here with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, November 17th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Instagram teen accounts default teens into automatic protections for who can contact them and the content they can see. Explore teen accounts and all of our ongoing work to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A political knife fight breaks out on the right between President Trump and a former ally as the House heads toward a vote on the Epstein files.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Everybody's like, Marjorie Taylor Greene has changed. And I'm like, oh no, nothing has changed about me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: National security alarm bells are sounding on Capitol Hill after China-linked tech makes its way into U.S. military bases.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And the Trump administration continues its immigration blitz as federal agents make arrests across North Carolina's most populous city. Secure borders save lives.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One of the reasons no one talks about why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation is because of exactly what ICE is doing.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): President Trump dramatically withdrew his backing of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene this weekend amid a fiery debate over the Epstein files and policy disagreements.
--:-- Guest (Cameron Arcand): Daily Wire political reporter Cameron Arcand joins us now with the latest on this political battle.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: Hey, Cameron. So the Epstein files back in the headlines and now at the heart of this political breakup that we're witnessing. Catch us up to speed here. What exactly is happening between the president and Greene?
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Cameron Arcand: Well, it's really interesting to watch. I mean, you think back to a few years ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene was considered one of the closest allies of the president in Congress, including during the Biden era as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She was very vocally opposed to President Biden and very pro-Trump during that time period.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: Now, over the past few weeks, there's been some really, you know, some policy disagreements. There were some back and forth in terms of Obamacare, how to best handle health care and those sorts of issues, foreign policy, for example.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And him basically also saying that a lot of this has to do with the fact that she expressed an interest in maybe running for Senate or governor in the state of Georgia.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: He showed her a poll and they disagreed on how to best go forward with that. So he withdrew his support of her very notably over the weekend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, she's also been making a lot of appearances on legacy media outlets.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: So the president mentioned this in one of his true social posts. She did go on the left-leaning talk show, The View, recently as well. And she's been doing interviews with CNN and other outlets, which is something that has gotten her a lot of criticism among other conservatives in that space.
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Cameron Arcand: So Marjorie Taylor Greene has actually said that this is one of the main reasons that her and the president seem to have had a falling out. Others have disagreed with this premise.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Like I said, the president said a lot of this has to do with some of her recent policy criticisms and the debate over whether or not she should run for higher office.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: But in terms of the actual context of the Epstein File debate right now in Congress, there was a petition that was signed by Marjorie Taylor Greene and a few other Republicans, along with all the Democrats, backing a trying to force a vote on Tuesday to release more of those files.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We're expected to see more Republicans vote for that than did sign the petition. It's expected to pass.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: I know Trump has called it for some time that Jeffrey Epstein hoax has said that he has strongly distanced himself from Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Cameron Arcand: It's been about politics. They're trying to attack the president. They're trying to manufacture some sort of hoax that he had something to do with Epstein. And it is absurd.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): On Sunday night in a true social post, Trump said that, quote, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide. And it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax.
--:-- Cameron Arcand: But, you know, there's a lot of debate on this on the right as well on how to handle this issue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we're going to be watching with interest for that vote on Tuesday.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): U.S. lawmakers in both parties are ramping up warnings about Chinese spying efforts on U.S. military bases and personnel.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more on the concerning trend.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, Cabot, you've reported on this a few times over the past year and a half, but we now have some concerning new developments. What have we learned?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, it's no secret that Beijing has been engaged in an ongoing and now escalating espionage effort against the US.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In recent years, Chinese companies were found to have gobbled up farmland near roughly 20 military installations nationwide, prompting warnings from the Pentagon that the CCP could use that land to film weapons and troop movements, intercept communications and hack into software.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Congress recently passed new laws requiring federal approval for foreign land purchases that took place within about 100 miles of most military sites.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But it appears that Beijing is still circumventing those laws and continuing to purchase land near those sensitive areas.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): In just the last few days, the Daily Caller reported on a trailer park in Missouri that's owned by a married couple currently living in Canada.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It sounds pretty harmless, but that trailer park just happens to directly border Whiteman Air Force Base.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's home to the U.S. military's only nuclear-capable stealth bomber fleet.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The land shares a fence with the base and sits just a mile from the runway, offering unobscured views of the stealth bombers taking off and landing.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And according to the Daily Caller, that Canadian couple are actually Chinese immigrants with direct business ties to Miles Guo, a quote, disgraced Chinese tycoon and self-described former CCP intelligence affiliate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As one former CIA operations officer said, quote, this trailer park would hypothetically give Xi Jinping a range of options to wreak havoc.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And according to Missouri Congressman Mark Alford, the commander of this base told him he had no idea that his next door neighbors were potential Chinese spies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I just talked to the former commander of the base who retired two days before the midnight hammer strike, and he wasn't aware that this existed.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So presumably this one property is being looked into.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. Congress is calling for specific investigations into this case to make sure there aren't any others.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): But things like this, though, are just kind of the tip of the iceberg, correct, when it comes to Chinese espionage?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's exactly right.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Another aspect involves Chinese tech products being used by Americans.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Last week, 23 lawmakers from both parties, led by Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, sent a letter to the White House urging them to investigate TP-Link.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That is a large online retailer that sells Wi-Fi routers, home security cameras, baby monitors, etc.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They're actually one of the most prominent sellers of those products on Amazon.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Ernst says that those devices are easily accessed by the CCP and most concerning, quote, are sold through the Army, Air Force and Navy exchanges, placing these devices in close proximity to U.S. military installations and providing a vehicle for Beijing to spy on America.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The members in that letter are now calling for an investigation to determine whether products from TP-Link should be banned in the United States.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, for their part, the company strongly denies any wrongdoing, saying their data for American users is housed on the Amazon cloud in Virginia, and that, quote, TP-Link does not enable foreign surveillance of U.S. networks or users.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But lawmakers say that even if Chinese businesses aren't intentionally taking part in espionage against their U.S. customers, they can often be used for just that purpose by the Communist Party.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Remember, Beijing passed new laws in recent years that require, quote, any organization or citizen to support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The Department of Homeland Security says those laws also now require tech companies to add secret backdoors to the products they make, which then can be accessed later by the government.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So these companies wouldn't even have a choice if the government asked them to spy on U.S. citizens.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): There's a law in place saying that they have to cooperate with the government's intelligence operation.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And on top of all that, according to a new top-secret White House memo obtained by the Financial Times this weekend, Alibaba, that's basically China's version of Amazon, which is very popular as well here in the U.S., is allegedly working with Beijing to aid their cyber operations, handing over boatloads of sensitive data from American customers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In addition to IP addresses and payment information, the company is even allegedly alerting the Chinese Communist Party of software flaws that they find here in the U.S. that can then be easily exploited by hackers back in China.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): For their part, Alibaba, again, as you can imagine, denies any wrongdoing, calling the story totally false.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But expect to hear a lot more from lawmakers on this issue in the coming days and weeks.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, well, I hope so.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Federal immigration agents flooded Charlotte North Carolina over the weekend in the next major operation under President Trump deportation surge.
--:-- Guest (Tim Pierce): Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce So Tim Charlotte streets were filled with protesters over the weekend due to ICE and Trump immigration operations ramping up.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Immigration officials from both ICE and the Border Patrol launched what's known as Operation Charlotte's Web over the weekend.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): It's more of what we've seen in a few major cities now. According to administration officials, the agents are targeting violent criminal illegal aliens, but they also get quite a few aliens that don't have violent records as well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That tends to happen because ICE and Border Patrol have trouble often working with local law enforcement to get the dangerous criminal illegals.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, this has all caused a pretty predictable backlash between local Democratic officials and activists.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For instance, here's the president of the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP, Corinne Mack.
--:-- Corinne Mack: We have a little man sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who really believes that Hitler was the greatest man ever on Earth and is trying to create a 1940s Germany right here in the United States.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And like then, many people said, well, it's them, it's not me. Until eventually it was them.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): We can no longer be silent.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And here's just a taste of how some of those street protests looked in Charlotte over the weekend.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): No incidents like this with the media and the protests are becoming a deliberate strategy among Democrats to push back against the Trump administration's immigration agenda.
--:-- Tim Pierce: As Axios reports, activists in Chicago have essentially made a playbook for resistance efforts and want to use it wherever immigration agents show up, this weekend being Charlotte.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Charlotte's an interesting example because they have had some recent very violent crime.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Listeners will remember Aruna Zarutska from over the summer.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That obviously brought to light the issue of repeat violent offenders.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Has that recent memory played into the debate over immigration?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, there are a lot of facets to the deportation debate. But crime is arguably one of the biggest.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And Zrushka's murder in August was a flashpoint in the crime debate.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Here, the suspected killer wasn't an illegal alien, but he does have a lengthy criminal record.
--:-- Tim Pierce: DeCarlos Brown Jr., before he was arrested and charged with Zrushka's murder, had been arrested 14 times on charges ranging from assault to felony robbery.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Zrushka's case in particular motivated the passage of what's been called Arena's Law in North Carolina, which does away with the cashless bail system and is aimed at keeping dangerous criminals off the streets.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And this has all played a role in the larger law and order debate around what needs to be done to keep communities safe.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Immigration enforcement, Republicans argue, is a major component of that.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, tangentially related, but I want to ask you about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): They recently waded in on the immigration debate.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What was their stance?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, the bishops waded in in what is a pretty obvious shot against President Trump's immigration policies.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's some of what they had to say.
--:-- Corinne Mack: We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, much of the bishop's message doesn't seem that controversial as far as respect for human rights and the importance of national security is concerned.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But it's the default repetition of Democratic talking points against Trump's immigration agenda that riled some Republicans.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Here's Borders R. Tom Homan pushing back against that on Friday.
--:-- Tom Homan: ISIS sent a message to the whole world. Don't give your life savings to come to the country because you're not going to be released. You're not going to cross the border illegally. You're going to be prosecuted.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Homan appearing pretty indignant about the accusations leveled by the bishops.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Sounds like it.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And if you're listening to the show, you can now watch the show free on Daily Wire+. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.
