--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the hosts, John Bickley and Georgia Howe, introduce themselves]
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe, co-host of Morning Wire. Welcome to our show.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Monday, October 2nd, and we're here to give you the facts first on the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're going to cover the latest developments in politics, culture, education, sports, and more.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's dive right in. The GOP-led House managed to keep the government funded at least for a few more weeks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, John. But hardliners in the House say they're going to take down Speaker McCarthy.
--:-- John Bickley: If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it. Kevin McCarthy's going to get his wish.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How did the House handle funding for Ukraine?
--:-- John Bickley: And what's going to happen to the Democrat who pulled the fire alarm before the vote?
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, October 2nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The business fraud trial against former President Donald Trump begins in New York today, and he's facing off against not only a hostile attorney general, but a judge who's already decided he's a fraud.
--:-- John Bickley: This is a very dangerous precedent in this country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And a federal appeals court upholds Tennessee and Kentucky's bans on gender-related procedures for children, including cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown on Saturday night, passing a 45-day continuing resolution that now sets the stage for a battle over the future of Speaker Kevin McCarthy's leadership.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The bill will keep the wheels of the government moving until mid-November, and though it did not contain the spending cuts and increased border funding that conservatives in the GOP wanted, it did freeze any new spending on Ukraine.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the compromise measure and its consequences is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning.
--:-- John Bickley: So, a rather surprising passage last second. How did this come about exactly?
--:-- David Marcus: It was a bit of a shock, but late Saturday, McCarthy met with several members from New York swing districts who urged him not to shut down the government or he'd risk those seats next year.
--:-- John Bickley: And let's not forget, the four flipped seats in the Empire State really were responsible for giving the GOP the House.
--:-- David Marcus: In the end, it was a bipartisan passage, but 90 Republican Congress members voted against it, as did nine GOP senators.
--:-- John Bickley: McCarthy says he needed the 45 days to continue negotiations on the spending cuts and on the border, but hardliners were ready to shut it all down.
--:-- David Marcus: For now, that won't happen. Yeah, for now.
--:-- John Bickley: So, 45 days, it's not a very long time. Are we looking to find ourselves right back in the same situation six weeks from now?
--:-- David Marcus: Yes, we are.
--:-- John Bickley: McCarthy, assuming he's still speaker, but we'll get to that, is going to try to wrest as much from the Democrat-controlled Senate, not to mention Joe Biden, as he can.
--:-- David Marcus: But he may wind up once again needing Democrat votes to get anything passed.
--:-- John Bickley: The reality is that Republicans only hold the House, and barely.
--:-- David Marcus: For big policy changes to happen, they need to win the Senate and presidency.
--:-- John Bickley: The threat or reality of shutting down the government is some leverage, but Democrats aren't going to give away the farm here.
--:-- David Marcus: And if a shutdown happens, Democrats will blame Republicans for kids who aren't getting food stamps and military members who aren't getting paid.
--:-- John Bickley: This could all get very ugly.
--:-- David Marcus: Right.
--:-- John Bickley: Speaking of McCarthy, Representative Matt Gaetz said on Sunday that he's planning a motion to vacate this week, which requires the House to either reelect McCarthy or choose a new speaker.
--:-- David Marcus: Is this something that McCarthy can survive? We just don't know.
--:-- John Bickley: A few things could happen: McCarthy could hold the speakership with some Democrat votes, Gates could convince Republicans to vote for another choice, or Democrats could pick off a few Republicans and wind up with minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as speaker.
--:-- David Marcus: I would keep an eye on New York Representative Mark Lawler. He's been the Republican member front and center in opposing Gates.
--:-- John Bickley: He was also among those urging McCarthy to pass the CR.
--:-- David Marcus: So he and his allies owe McCarthy a favor here. And it's possible they will refuse to support any alternative acceptable to Gates.
--:-- John Bickley: There's not a lot of precedent for any of this. And I guess maybe we just won't have a speaker or a functioning House for a while.
--:-- David Marcus: Honestly, your guess is as good as mine.
--:-- John Bickley: It sounds like there will be some fiery debates going on.
--:-- David Marcus: And speaking of fiery, in a really bizarre moment on Saturday, New York Congressman Jamal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in a building on the congressional campus.
--:-- John Bickley: Do we know why he caused this disturbance?
--:-- David Marcus: It's utterly and completely bizarre, John. There was initially thought that it was to delay the vote, but he was voting for the measure.
--:-- John Bickley: If it was some kind of protest, it didn't make much sense.
--:-- David Marcus: Bowman claims that he was confused by a sign and somehow thought pulling a fire alarm would unlock the door he was trying to open.
--:-- John Bickley: I mean, hard to believe, but whatever made him do it, it's a felony.
--:-- David Marcus: And whether he's charged or not, Republican Representative Nicole Maliotakis has already filed a motion to expel him from Congress.
--:-- John Bickley: Though I do think it's possible he could get away with just a censure here.
--:-- David Marcus: It's certainly one of the strangest stories of the year, and that's a very competitive category.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, it's getting more competitive every week.
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--:-- John Bickley: The civil fraud trial against Donald Trump begins in New York today, and the former president may end up attending in person.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The case was originally filed against Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James last year, and may be Trump's most immediately threatening legal battle with control of his extensive New York properties at stake.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the case and what we can expect from this trial.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim.
--:-- John Bickley: First, what's at stake for Trump in this trial?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, a lot. This trial is mostly to decide what kind of penalties Trump deserves for widespread and years-long fraud at the Trump Organization.
--:-- John Bickley: The judge in the case, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Ingeron, found Trump guilty last week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He says Trump illegally inflated his net worth by billions of dollars from 2014 to 2021, and he will decide the penalties at the end of the trial.
--:-- John Bickley: The attorney general's office has asked for Trump to be fined $250 million and barred from doing business in the state.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But it's the threat to Trump's businesses that could be devastating.
--:-- John Bickley: And Garand surprised even prosecutors by ordering that all entities controlled by Trump and his children or his business enter a receivership, which means that while the Trumps maintain ownership, the businesses and properties are controlled separately by a court-appointed receiver.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Experts have likened it to the corporate death penalty because the receiver and the court, not the owners, can make any decision about the companies, including selling them off.
--:-- John Bickley: And do we know who's going to be this receiver who's being tasked with overseeing this process?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Not yet. The judge has ordered Trump to nominate three potential candidates that he then chooses from.
--:-- John Bickley: In the worst-case scenario, Trump could lose assets such as his flagship Manhattan properties at 40 Wall Street and Trump Tower, the Trump Seven Springs Estates, and golf clubs in Hudson Valley and Westchester.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump would keep the profits he's entitled to as his owner, but his business empire in New York could be destroyed.
--:-- John Bickley: Really a stunning move by this judge.
--:-- Tim Pierce: How long do we expect this trial to go and for there to be true resolution?
--:-- John Bickley: The trial that starts today could last months.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's expected to be a slog with dozens of witnesses called by both the defense and prosecutors, along with all the cross-examining that the sides are entitled to.
--:-- John Bickley: And Garan has previously estimated that the trial would last from now until just before Christmas, though that timeline may have shifted after his ruling last week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But as far as the fate of Trump's New York businesses, that's unclear.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump could keep the case tied up in the legal system with appeals for years, and there's no solid way to predict which way this case could fall.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, so a lot of unknowns and really hard-to-predict timeline here.
--:-- John Bickley: Is there really a precedent for this case?
--:-- Tim Pierce: There really isn't. The scale of N. Garand's decision is unlike almost anything we've seen.
--:-- John Bickley: The only other time something similar has been attempted was James' office against the NRA, and that failed.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For his part, Trump says he's being targeted by Democrats in New York for political reasons.
--:-- John Bickley: James and the judge in the case are both Democrats, and Trump hasn't been shy about attacking either.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He's called James a racist and Ingeron deranged.
--:-- John Bickley: My financial statements are much lower than the actual net worth.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This judge and your fake attorney general of New York who's driving business out, who's letting murderers run all over the city.
--:-- John Bickley: They don't do anything to murderers that are running all over the city.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The attorney general is a racist. Leticia James. She ought to be a state of overvalued.
--:-- John Bickley: Final question, will Trump actually attend this trial in person?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump indicated he may.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's him being asked about the case last week in California.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Are you going to go to your trial? I may.
--:-- John Bickley: Do you plan to justify it?
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's a disgrace.
--:-- John Bickley: Do you plan to justify it?
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's rigged.
--:-- John Bickley: Everything about this city is rigged.
--:-- Tim Pierce: You said that you'd like to... It's all rigged. This whole country is rigged now.
--:-- John Bickley: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tennessee and Kentucky's laws banning doctors from offering sex change medications and surgeries to children.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This follows a similar ruling from the 11th Circuit Court in late August.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with more.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, this has been a closely watched case across the country.
--:-- John Bickley: What did this federal court decide?
--:-- Megan Basham: So, this case was really looking at the question of whether the portion of Tennessee's law that applied to hormones and puberty blockers was constitutional.
--:-- John Bickley: A federal district court judge said that they weren't because they supposedly discriminated on the basis of sex.
--:-- Megan Basham: And in June, he blocked that part.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the Tennessee attorney general appealed that ruling, arguing that these treatments are unproven and irreversibly harm children.
--:-- Megan Basham: In a two-to-one ruling that also encompassed a similar Kentucky law, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with him and said that both of those laws are in fact constitutional.
--:-- John Bickley: Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton's opinion included what you have to describe as some pretty sobering statements.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I'll give you just one fairly extended quote. He said, this is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two.
--:-- John Bickley: Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, this has prompted some pretty strong responses from both sides, correct?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, it definitely has.
--:-- Megan Basham: To give you just one example, Daily Wire personality Matt Walsh is, of course, a prominent backer of this law, and he celebrated the ruling on his show on Friday.
--:-- John Bickley: And he noted its strong refutation of the pro-trans argument.
--:-- Megan Basham: Less than 24 hours ago, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, issued a point-by-point refutation of every substantive argument that proponents of transgenderism have made over the past decade.
--:-- John Bickley: And this was not a ruling on technicalities. This was a well-articulated takedown of their claims in every dimension, medical, legal, logical.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, meanwhile, the ACLU, which brought the challenge to the law, said this ruling will cause serious harm to transgender kids, and it's promising to pursue further action.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, this was just a three-judge panel, so the plaintiffs can ask for the full panel of the appeals court to review this decision.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, there are similar laws on the books, though, in other states.
--:-- John Bickley: How have they fared?
--:-- Megan Basham: So far, 20 states now have legislation blocking these kinds of surgeries and medications when it comes to minors specifically.
--:-- John Bickley: And they haven't fared particularly well with federal district courts.
--:-- Megan Basham: They blocked bans like these in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Indiana from taking effect.
--:-- John Bickley: And a state court did the same in Montana.
--:-- Megan Basham: But when you look at the federal appeals courts, that's another matter.
--:-- John Bickley: The Sixth Circuit obviously has upheld these two bans in Kentucky and Tennessee.
--:-- Megan Basham: And so has the 11th Circuit in a case involving Alabama.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, a similar Arkansas case is headed for the 8th Circuit.
--:-- Megan Basham: Robin Lundstrom is an Arkansas state representative and she holds a PhD in health science.
--:-- John Bickley: She told the Family Research Council that she does think this Sixth Circuit ruling has implications for her state.
--:-- Megan Basham: What's exciting about this Tennessee and the Kentucky case is they're saying, wait a second, these kids are minors. They're not old enough to actually make a decision.
--:-- John Bickley: So the judges are also looking at this from the science.
--:-- Megan Basham: They're looking at this as these are minors and they can't possibly make these decisions.
--:-- John Bickley: And they're also looking at the actual science.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, that said, unlike the Sixth Circuit, which allowed the Tennessee and Kentucky laws to take effect as their decision was pending, the Eighth Circuit actually upheld a temporary injunction.
--:-- John Bickley: So that may not bode well for the Arkansas law.
--:-- Megan Basham: So all of these conflicting rulings are why legal experts say that the Supreme Court is just going to have to step in here at some point.
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
