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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, with my co-host Georgia Howe. It's Thursday, May 18th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, we have some big stories to cover. Let's start with the news out of Washington. Three current and former members of the FBI testified in the House today, accusing the Bureau of wrongfully retaliating against them.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, John. Garrett O'Boyle, Steve Friend, and Marcus Allen told lawmakers that the FBI suspended their security clearances and froze their pay over questions about the Bureau's January 6 investigations.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. O'Boyle and Allen are still employed by the Bureau, but they've been without pay and barred from working for about a year. They say they've had to rely on charity and their retirement savings to stay afloat.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's a quote from Garrett O'Boyle: "All I wanted to do was serve my country by stopping bad guys and protecting the innocent. To my chagrin, bad guys have begun running parts of the government, making it difficult to continue to serve this nation and protect the innocent. But I, for one, will never stop trying. I'll never forget my oath."
--:-- John Bickley: That's powerful, Georgia. And it's not the only story we're following today. Former Biden nuclear energy official Sam Brinton was arrested yesterday as a fugitive of justice.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, John. Brinton was fired amid allegations of stealing luggage in women's clothing from airports. Our investigative reporter Luke Rosiak broke the story, and he was at Brinton's court appearance today.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: I just got out of the Montgomery County, Maryland courtroom where a judge ordered him extradited to Arlington, Virginia, to face charges of grand larceny related to alleged luggage theft out of Dulles Airport in connection with those fugitive from justice charges.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, Luke, for that update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in other news, a 38-year-old man accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee to death in April pleaded not guilty today.
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--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. Nima Momeni's mother and sister were present in the San Francisco courtroom when the plea was entered. Momeni's attorney argued that his client should be released on bail, but the judge refused, saying Momeni is a threat to the community.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Montana has become the first state to completely ban TikTok after Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law yesterday.
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--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. Senate Bill 419 has passed the House, and the law prohibits app stores from making TikTok available for download in the state. It comes as state lawmakers accuse China of breaching user security.
--:-- Brandon Lur: TikTok is a national security threat. This app steals information and data from users, and its ability to share that data with the Chinese Communist Party is unacceptable.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, Brandon, for that update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And finally, Twitter owner Elon Musk is warning that policymakers should take China's threats of taking over Taiwan seriously.
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--:-- Elon Musk: The official policy of China is Taiwan should be integrated. One does not need to read between the lines. One can simply read the lines. So I think there's some inevitability to the situation. That would not be good for Tesla, conceivably, or for any company in the world, frankly. Yes, for any company in the world. The Chinese economy and the rest of the global economy are like conjoint twins. It would be like trying to separate conjoint twins. That's the severity of the situation.
--:-- John Bickley: And finally, Ukraine is claiming that it thwarted 29 out of 30 airstrikes sent by Russia early today, leaving one person dead. However, the Russian government denies those claims and says that it successfully hit key Ukrainian weapons and ammunition depots.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all for today's drive home update. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you tomorrow.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to check out Balance of Nature, offering 35% off your first order as a preferred customer. Use promo code WIRE at checkout: https://www.balanceofnature.com/
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