--:-- Georgia Howe: As a potential government shutdown looms, lawmakers in the House are scrambling to come to terms on a continuing resolution.
--:-- John Bickley: The fact is, is that, look, this is a s*** sandwich. I don't know how else to say that. We're being forced into this position.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What are the sticking points and is a solution on the horizon? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Thursday, December 19th, and this is Morning Wire. Suspected members of Venezuelan gang Trende Aragua are behind bars in Colorado after allegedly breaking into an apartment and torturing its residents.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They were beaten. They were pistol whipped. The man was stabbed multiple times in his leg. And they held the woman down and they ripped out her fingernail.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione is set to be extradited to New York today where he faces murder and terrorism charges.
--:-- Tim Pierce: There is no heroism in what Mangione did. This was a senseless act of violence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In today's uncertain economy, more Americans are turning to precious metals to protect their retirement savings. And right now, Birch Gold Group is making it easier than ever to secure your financial future with their special holiday offer.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: This is their most generous offer of the year, but it will not last long. Don't wait. This offer expires December 18th. Text WIRE to 989898 today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Republicans have struggled to come to terms on a continuing resolution to fund the government before the rapidly approaching shutdown date.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, a bipartisan bill Speaker Mike Johnson was backing has reportedly been scrapped.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with the budget battle.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, the House has until midnight on Saturday to pass a spending bill. If they don't, the government shuts down. So give us a breakdown. Why did Johnson's bill die?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, essentially because he was facing a revolt led by Elon Musk and the House Freedom Caucus. They felt that this was a bloated bill, more than 1,500 pages, that added on tens of billions in unnecessary new spending.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they said it was being rammed through before anyone could fully review it. Eric Burleson of Missouri called the bill a total dumpster fire.
--:-- Megan Basham: Chip Roy of Texas said passing it would be the equivalent of eating a crap sandwich. So pretty pointed words there.
--:-- Megan Basham: Then there was Elon Musk. Trump has tasked him and Vivek Ramaswamy with finding spending cuts, and Musk clearly wanted Republicans to reject this bill.
--:-- Megan Basham: He'd been posting prolifically against it on X for days, including this clip of Ramaswamy that he shared on Wednesday.
--:-- Megan Basham: Congress is about to pass a bill that blows away your taxpayer money, but they made it over 1,500 pages long so you wouldn't read it.
--:-- Megan Basham: I did you a favor. I read it for you. It's supposed to be about keeping government operations open and providing disaster relief aid to hurricane victims, which I'm sympathetic to.
--:-- Megan Basham: But if you read the bill carefully, it contains pay raises for members of Congress. And I'm not making this up.
--:-- Megan Basham: An expansion of their federal health benefits. It contains all kinds of special interests and pork funding including opening up a new stadium in Washington D.
--:-- Megan Basham: It renews the Global Engagement Center which is a key node of the censorship industrial complex.
--:-- Megan Basham: And the worst part is they didn't want you to know about any of it. And that's why they made this a last minute jam job.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, regular listeners will remember, Georgia, that we talked about the Global Engagement Center last week.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's a controversial State Department agency that is at the center of a joint Daily Wire and Federalist lawsuit alleging widespread censorship efforts against conservatives.
--:-- Megan Basham: Shutting it down has been a top priority for free speech advocates for a while, and its end did look eminent.
--:-- Megan Basham: But this bill extended its life for another year. Well, Musk called that criminal, and he said he would support primary challenges against any Republican who voted for it.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, did Johnson or any other Republican leaders indicate why they wanted to preserve that department?
--:-- Megan Basham: No, not publicly, but Morning Wire has spoken with some sources on the Hill who say that one of the concerns is that shuttering the agency means that the center staffers will be moved to other positions in the State Department.
--:-- Megan Basham: They say this would make it harder to root out corruption. So part of the reason some of these GOP leaders might like to see the center stay in place for another year is to allow the fully Republican-controlled House, Senate, and most importantly, the White House, to take action to deal with this agency correctly.
--:-- Megan Basham: Whether that's fully shutting it down or rooting out the corruption. So getting back to the bill more generally, why is Johnson supporting it?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, he said on Fox Wednesday that Republicans are in an impossible position where they have a razor-thin margin in the House.
--:-- Megan Basham: And he said he didn't like the bill either, but that the House needed to pass it so they could fight for serious cuts after Trump takes office.
--:-- Megan Basham: This was Johnson on Fox talking about his conversations with Musk and Ramaswamy. So any bill has to have Democrat votes.
--:-- Megan Basham: They understand the situation. They said it's not directed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we don't like the spending.
--:-- Megan Basham: I said, guess what, fellas? I don't either. We got to get this done because here's the key.
--:-- Megan Basham: By doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's what we're going to run with gusto beginning January 3rd when we start the new Congress, when Republicans again are in control.
--:-- Megan Basham: And all of our fiscal conservative friends, I'm one of them, will be able to finally do the things that we've been wanting to do for the last couple of years.
--:-- Megan Basham: But the final nail in the coffin likely came when Donald Trump put out a statement Wednesday night saying that he was totally against the continuing resolution and that the Republicans should pass a bill that doesn't include Democrat giveaways.
--:-- Megan Basham: So now Johnson will reportedly be looking to get a much narrower spending bill passed.
--:-- Megan Basham: All right, well, we'll see if he has better luck with that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Over a dozen suspected gang members were arrested in Colorado this week after police said they broke into an apartment and tortured its residents
--:-- Tim Pierce: The crime took place at an apartment complex in Aurora previously connected to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here with more.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, how many people were arrested and what do we know about the case so far?
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, police in Aurora, Colorado arrested 14 suspects in an early morning raid on Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The suspects are a mix of men and women, but mostly men, and police say they are very likely tied to the Venezuelan gang Trende Aragua.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to police, the suspects broke into an apartment at the edge at Lowry apartment building in Aurora.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's an apartment already notorious for Trende Aragua activity.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Police said the suspects broke in, kidnapped the people living there, and took them to another apartment and tortured them.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain explaining what happened during a press conference on Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The victims were held against their will. They were actually bound, both the male and the female.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They were pistol whipped. They were beat. They were victimized. They were terrorized.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The victims got away only after they swore they wouldn't call police, which, thankfully, they eventually did.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, is the federal government expected to get involved here?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah. Authorities say the investigation is underway with help from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The incoming border czar, Tom Homan, said on Fox News on Wednesday that he wants the suspects eventually handed over to ICE.
--:-- Tom Homan: I just saw your piece on the chief of police standing over talking about this issue.
--:-- Tom Homan: What's lacking is an ICE person standing next to him shoulder to shoulder.
--:-- Tom Homan: So he's talking to talk, but let's hope he walks the walk and hand these people to ICE when he's done with them, because we can remove them not only from the community, but from the country.
--:-- Tom Homan: And if law enforcement officers don't help us do that, we're certainly going to do that starting January 25th.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, that will hopefully be reassuring to residents in Aurora.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, up in New York, we also have a report of an illegal alien who's on the terror watch list that was recently apprehended.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Border Patrol this week announced the arrest of an illegal alien from South Africa who is on the U.S. terror watch list.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The alien was picked up in New York City, but that was only after he was released into the country by federal authorities.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This man was originally detained in Texas by the State Department of Public Safety for trespassing.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Texas turned him over to federal authorities, along with dozens of others, and the feds released him back into the U.S.
--:-- Tim Pierce: When it became clear this man had ties to terrorism, that obviously set off alarms and authorities rushed to catch him again.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They eventually found him in Brooklyn, but they don't yet know how he got there or how long he'd been in New York.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, too many close calls like that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione faces extradition from Pennsylvania today and multiple murder and terrorism charges in New York.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Joining us to discuss the newest developments in the Mangione saga is Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Hey, Zach. So terrorism charges leveled against him, extradition he faces. What's the latest here?
--:-- Zach Jewell: Well, the latest is that Manhattan DA Elvin Bragg has decided to bring several charges against Mangione.
--:-- Zach Jewell: One count of first-degree murder and furtherance of terrorism and two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Bragg announced the charges in a press conference earlier this week.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Here's the Manhattan district attorney discussing some of the reasoning behind the charges.
--:-- Zach Jewell: This was a frightening well targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Bragg alleges that Mangione killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to quote evoke terror.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Authorities say he was found with a notebook that included a passage about taking out Thompson at what he called the, quote, annual parasitic bean counter convention.
--:-- Zach Jewell: The CEO was gunned down as he was walking to his company's annual investors conference.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Mangione also allegedly raged against the U.S. healthcare system and specifically cited United Healthcare.
--:-- Zach Jewell: At a press conference Tuesday, New York authorities also made a point of condemning those lifting Mangione up as a hero.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Here's NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
--:-- Zach Jewell: In the nearly two weeks since Mr. Thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Are the charges against Mangione in line with what legal experts expected in this case?
--:-- Zach Jewell: Yes and no. While a first-degree murder charge seems obvious for the type of assassination that was caught on video, New York has a different standard than most states for what qualifies as first-degree murder.
--:-- Zach Jewell: The charge is rare in the state, as it only applies to those accused of killing a witness, judge, or first responder, or those accused of killing in a murder-for-hire plot or through terrorism.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Now, after 9-11, New York also passed a law allowing prosecutors to tack on terrorism charges if the crime intended to intimidate a civilian population and influence the government through murder, assassination, or kidnapping.
--:-- Zach Jewell: And that's a paraphrase, but the FBI uses that same definition for domestic terrorism.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Is that charge, the terrorism charge, harder to prove?
--:-- Zach Jewell: There is some precedent on that law that suggests prosecutors will have difficulty proving it.
--:-- Zach Jewell: For example, in 2002, a Harlem gangster was charged with terrorism after he opened fire outside of a christening.
--:-- Zach Jewell: He ended up killing a 10-year-old girl and paralyzing a rival gang member.
--:-- Zach Jewell: A decade later, though, the state's highest court ruled that he was not a terrorist, and he was retried and convicted on other charges.
--:-- Zach Jewell: In this case, Bragg alleges that Mangione, quote, intended to intimidate or corers a civilian population and to affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping.
--:-- Zach Jewell: But how exactly the murder of Thompson applies to the government wasn't immediately clear as Thompson worked for a private healthcare company.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Anna Kaminsky, she's the director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at New York Law School.
--:-- Zach Jewell: She told the New York Times that accusing him of committing terrorism seems unusual.
--:-- Zach Jewell: She said, and paraphrasing here, what the prosecutors are saying is because of where and how this murder took place shows that it was intended to scare people, not just kill someone.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Jessica Roth, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN that the terrorism charges suggest prosecutors are setting up a plea deal.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Mitchell Eppner, another former federal prosecutor, told Forbes that the terrorism charges are merely performative.
--:-- Zach Jewell: He suggests that a second-degree murder charge would have been much easier to argue.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Final question, what's next for this case?
--:-- Zach Jewell: Yeah, the extradition hearing in Pennsylvania is today, and Mangione's lawyer says he's not going to fight it.
--:-- Zach Jewell: So we'll likely be seeing him move to New York as early as today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Isaac, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, thank you for listening this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
