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--:-- Georgia Howe: New details about the FBI raid on President Trump's home have come to light. They pretty much just handed me the warrant when they were done. DOJ sources claim the search was prompted by a confidential informant. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, August 11th, and this is Morning Wire. With all the controversy surrounding the FBI's search of Trump's residence, more legal questions are being raised.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There are innumerable instances in recent history where the DOJ has lied, has spied, has ignored the boundaries of the First Amendment, and has really engaged in partisan behavior. And California legislators send a bill allowing safe-use drug sites to the governor's desk. We take a closer look at what the bill would mean and why critics say it won't help.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. $119 to secure your family's future. Go to EpicWill.com and use promo code WIRE today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As the dust continues to settle from the stunning FBI raid on Donald Trump's private residence, new information is offering a clearer picture on what took place and how it could shape the political landscape for years to come. Here with the latest on how the president and his team are responding and how the raid could impact midterm elections is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, we'll get to the political fallout. But first, a lot more information has come to light. What did we learn in the last 24 hours?
--:-- Georgia Howe: The big development yesterday was that FBI sources revealed that the raid was based largely on information provided to the FBI by an informant who reportedly had knowledge of specific classified materials on the property, as well as details of where to find them. That's according to a Newsweek report, which also says that the FBI intentionally waited until Trump was gone to conduct the raid in an attempt to keep the whole operation more low profile, which obviously failed in a major way.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: One DOJ source reportedly called it a, quote, spectacular backfire. We also now know that their search was focused mainly on three rooms within the residence, including the master bedroom, an office, and a storage room, which seems to confirm that the FBI knew exactly where they wanted to look. But according to Trump's team, agents even rummaged through Melania's closet as part of their search.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And one more big wrinkle is that DOJ sources now claim that Attorney General Merrick Garland reportedly did not have prior knowledge of the raid and that it was actually FBI Director Christopher Wray who gave the final sign-off.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, what more have we heard from President Trump about this? So for his part, Trump has remained fairly quiet on the matter since releasing his initial statement Monday night, though he did offer a brief comment Wednesday speculating that agents may have, quote, planted evidence in his property. That message was repeated again later in the day by Trump attorneys.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Cabot, thanks so much for coming on. Anytime.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That was Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With all the controversy surrounding the FBI execution of its search warrant at Donald Trump's residence, a lot of legal questions are being raised. Joining us to discuss the Trump raid from a legal perspective is Harmeet Dillon, founder of the Center for American Liberty and co-founder of the Republican National Lawyers Association.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: So there's many layers to answering that question. What they say they were searching for were records that the National Archives says that they're entitled to, which apparently President Trump's lawyers have been in discussion with the National Archives lawyers and have actually returned certain documents that the president took with him to his next home at Mar-a-Lago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Harmeet, legally speaking, from what we've been told so far about what the FBI was searching for, which is classified documents for the archives, was this raid a warranted action, or should there have been other steps taken before something so drastic?
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: So, generally speaking, a federal judge should tell the United States lawyers to issue a subpoena so that the other side can come in and argue about the breadth of the subpoena, quashing the subpoena, whether records are protected from one or the other type of a privilege or what have you. You don't simply use the blunt force of a search warrant execution, which includes with it the wholesale collection of material that may be completely irrelevant to the subject matter of the investigation that may somehow destroy property, which almost certainly happened here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What legal recourse does President Trump have here?
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: By now, I'm sure the lawyers would have asked for the search warrant. But more important than the search warrant is what was presented to a federal magistrate judge to obtain the search warrant over the normal custom where you are supposed to ask for subpoenas and fight about that. And so there's typically sworn affidavits, one or more, by FBI agents stating the factual predicate for the extraordinary act in question. And those are typically under seal. They are under seal until a prosecution or an indictment. That is by practice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You suspect this is not about the National Archives. You suspect this is about the January 6th committee and trying to find more material for their reality show and also potentially trying to find anything else they can find that might be lying around to make a federal case because they are so scared of President Trump returning to the center stage.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: And so I think that's what's going on here. And I would very much like to know what is in all of those documents. I could be wrong. Maybe there is an amazing predicate that would warrant destroying public confidence and the impartiality of the Department of Justice. I doubt it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Harmeet Dillon, founder and CEO of the Center for American Liberty.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new California bill headed to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk would expand taxpayer-funded drug use sites across the state. So-called safe injection sites are aimed at reducing overdoses, but critics say they have a poor track record of success. Daily Wire investigative reporter Marietta Lordi is here with the details for us.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: So, the California legislature passed this bill this week. It passed narrowly in the state Senate with just 21 Democrats and zero Republicans, but it was enough to send it to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. If Newsom signs this bill, San Francisco, nearby Oakland and Los Angeles will be able to set up new supervised drug use sites.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The idea is to allow addicts to inject or smoke their illegal drugs in a sterile environment with clean drug paraphernalia, hopefully reducing the spread of diseases like hepatitis and HIV, and preventing overdoses from illegal drugs like heroin, meth, and fentanyl, which is especially rampant in San Francisco.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Selling drugs is supposed to be prohibited at the sites. Critics say that San Francisco's experiment with a safe injection site was not successful, and the program should not be expanded to other cities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what happened with the program in San Francisco? Well, San Francisco is now shutting down its flagship safe drug use site called the Linkage Center in the Tenderloin District because it became flooded with drug dealers and had issues with homelessness and violence.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Mayor London Breed said the neighborhood has a state of emergency when it comes to drug addiction and started the Linkage Center in an attempt to curb overdoses and help addicts get treatment. But it didn't really do either. In January, the month linkage opened, 48 people overdosed in San Francisco, and that number stayed about the same in the following months.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Nearly 50,000 people used the linkage center between January and May, but only 38 people were linked to substance abuse treatment between the end of January and mid-May. The city even quietly changed the name of the linkage center to simply the Tenderloin Center, likely because it wasn't linking very many people with treatment.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: So now in December, the city is shutting down the linkage center, which has cost the city about $19 million. So now this bill has gone to Governor Newsom's desk. Has he indicated whether he's going to sign it?
--:-- Georgia Howe: He hasn't commented publicly about this bill, but when he was campaigning in 2018, he said he was very open to the concept of safe injection sites. He's likely facing pressure to sign it because this is a longtime wishlist item for the progressive base, and he's really trying to carve out a name for himself as the leading voice on the left.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: But after the failed experiment in San Francisco, he may have reservations. We will likely find out soon.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, well, we'll keep an eye on this. Marietta, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. U.S. consumer prices jumped 8.5 percent in July compared to a year earlier. Three more buses of migrants reached New York City on Wednesday morning as Texas Governor Greg Abbott continues to send migrants to the Democrat-run city. An Iranian operative has been charged in the plot to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton as retaliation for a U.S. airstrike that killed an Iranian general.
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