--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Friday, July 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Yet another former White House aide is pleading the fifth during a closed door deposition today, Biden Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini declined to answer questions about the president's mental fitness, classified documents, and the Biden's family business dealings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: House Oversight Chair James Comer said her silence fits a pattern of Biden confidants shielding themselves from criminal liability. Tomasini is the third ex-White House official to plead the fifth. She initially agreed to testify voluntarily, but later reversed course and asked to be subpoenaed.
--:-- John Bickley: Three L.A. sheriff's deputies were killed this morning in an explosion at a training center. Aerial footage from a sheriff department training facility in East L.A. showed damage to the rear windshield of what appears to be a bomb squad truck.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Three deputies were killed in the blast and a fourth was wounded and transported to a hospital. Authorities have not yet disclosed the cause of the explosion.
--:-- John Bickley: The $9 billion rescission package is on its way to the president's desk after the House passed it just after midnight this morning. Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice has more.
--:-- Tim Rice: The measure passed in a close 216 to 216 vote. Two Republicans joined Democrats in opposition. It claws back $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development and $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Democrats accused the GOP of gutting foreign aid and politicizing public media. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a symbolic but important step toward controlling government.
--:-- Mike Johnson: President Trump called me earlier this morning. We were doing a victory lap together on the phone about the passage of the rescission bill late here last night. And he said, Mike, we're just winning. We're going to continue to win. This is a great moment for America.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I said, sir, it's historic and there's much more to come. President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law today.
--:-- Mike Johnson: The president is also calling for the release of grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case if the court allows it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yesterday Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek approval to unseal any and all pertinent grand jury transcripts. The move follows renewed scrutiny and demands from Trump's base for more transparency.
--:-- Pam Bondi: Bondi responded on X saying the Justice Department will petition the court on Friday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. A DOJ memo released last week concluded there was no client list and no evidence of blackmail. A finding Trump defended calling controversy over the case a Democrat scam.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Wall Street Journal report is being slammed as fake by the president. The report claims Trump once wrote Jeffrey Epstein a birthday letter, allegedly featuring a sketch of a naked woman.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump says legal action is coming after he warned the journal, its editor, Emma Tucker, and owner Rupert Murdoch not to publish the report.
--:-- Emma Tucker: The journal claims the letter was part of a leather-bound birthday album found among Justice Department records in the so-called Epstein files, but included no photo of the alleged document.
--:-- Rupert Murdoch: The DOJ and FBI declined to comment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Despite a recent diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, the president is said to be in excellent health. The condition, which is very common among people over 70, causes poor leg circulation and swelling, but is not considered serious.
--:-- Caroline Levitt: Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said Trump experienced no pain and had normal heart and blood test results. All results were within normal limits.
--:-- Dr. Mark Glickman: Morning Wire spoke to a specialist, Dr. Mark Glickman, chief medical officer of Nvino, and he said that the president's diagnosis is very treatable.
--:-- Dr. Mark Glickman: The standard of care for these patients is a compression stocking below the knee, elevation, and exercise. If the swelling does not get in control, a simple trauma to the lower leg, like scraping it on a table or bumping it on a plane, can result in a sore, which can result in an ulcer which may take months to heal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Bruising seen on his hand was blamed on frequent handshakes and aspirin use. White House doctors say the 79-year-old president remains fully fit for duty.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: The Justice Department is probing another university over race-based hiring goals. The DOJ opened an investigation into George Mason University on Thursday. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon said the investigation will determine if the university violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which addresses employee discrimination.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: The investigation will examine the actions of the university's president. The university has denied any wrongdoing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, Dillon said the DOJ is correcting mistakes from the previous administration. Public institutions are not above the Constitution. We are also fighting discrimination wherever it exists And we will enforce the law without fear or favor.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Puerto Rico has banned transgender medical procedures on minors. The law applies to anyone under 21 and violators will be punished by 15 years in prison. Medical staff would receive a full $50,000 penalty and have medical licensees and permits revoked.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The law says it's important to protect minors who have not yet reached full maturity and should not make decisions with irreversible consequences. Puerto Rico's LGBTQ plus federation criticized the law and says it will sue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: About two dozen states have similar laws to the U.S. territory, including Tennessee. California is suing after the Trump administration cut funds for a high-speed rail project.
--:-- Gavin Newsom: Governor Gavin Newsom admitted the project was billions of dollars over budget, but insisted it was making progress.
--:-- Sean Duffy: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called it a boondoggle and a waste of funds. It's now projected to cost $135 billion.
--:-- Gavin Newsom: This is the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption. That's why we're pulling the plug.
--:-- Georgia Howe: An illegal immigrant is facing charges after allegedly faking her own ICE kidnapping. The Justice Department says the woman made up the kidnapping to generate sympathy and donations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The woman was hit with charges of conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers. She had claimed a group of unidentified men forced her into an unmarked vehicle and that she was then detained.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But security footage shows her waiting in a parking lot and calmly entering the vehicle without a struggle, even though a police officer was nearby.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. attorney for the District of California says the story was all over local media. We knew she was not in our custody and our agents were concerned that she was actually kidnapped. So we launched an investigation to make sure she was safe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They worked over the holiday, over the 4th of July break. I got calls about this and we got surveillance video. We investigated. We found out the whole thing was a hoax. She wasn't anywhere near the border. She was up in Bakersfield and the whole thing was an elaborate conspiracy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A suspect has been charged with murder and the killing of an American Idol executive and her husband Daily Wire investigative reporter Moreta Lordi has the latest.
--:-- Moreta Lordi: Raymond Budarian is accused of scaly offense and then shooting the couple when they returned home. He's being charged with two counts of murder and one count of residential burglary. He's being held without bail.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Police found a gun at Budarian's residence and are determining if it is the murder weapon. Officials say they do not think Budarian knew the victims and are still investigating the motive.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The house did not appear to be ransacked, and Budarian entered through an unlocked door. The investigation is still ongoing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: CBS plans to can Stephen Colbert. The network will end the late-night show next year. CBS says it's a purely financial decision with no plans to replace Colbert with another host.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But Democratic Senator Adam Schiff suggested the show was canceled for political reasons. The end of the show comes amid a massive decline in late-night comedy viewership, including for Colbert's show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The host has a history of interviewing liberal politicians and pushing leftist narratives that included performing a musical number to convince viewers to get the COVID vaccine.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in other cancellation news, Piers Morgan accused Joy Reid of playing the race card during her appearance on his show.
--:-- Piers Morgan: Morgan told the former MSNBC host her show was canceled because it was unpopular, not because of her skin color.
--:-- Joy Reid: Reid insisted she didn't understand the reason for the cancellation. Why play the race car? First of all, I love the fact that your play the race card is your version of the race card.
--:-- Piers Morgan: You literally are so fixated on trying to racialize conversations with me, I find it actually quite charming. You racialize more conversations in your tenure at MSNBC than any host in history.
--:-- Joy Reid: All right, Mark. Come on. And the bottom line is you take an entire conversation that I had with Mark Lamont Hill and pick the bits that you can racialize because this is your shtick.
--:-- Piers Morgan: And listen, game recognize the game. I get this is your game. It's not my shtick. It was your shtick. It was your shtick. Piers, we understand what it is. All right, those are your drive home updates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some major stories, including the Senate voting to defund NPR and PBS, another Biden aide pleading the fifth, and the Chicago Fed president joining to discuss the Trump-Powell feud and the interest rate vote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Morning Wire.
