--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, July 26th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: In a surprising development, President Biden's son Hunter entered a not guilty plea Wednesday after his plea deal unraveled. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more.
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--:-- Tim Pierce: Hunter's plea deal was thrown into chaos after Judge Mary Ellen Norica questioned the language of the deal and its constitutionality. She pressed whether it would cover future charges and whether Hunter is still under federal investigation.
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--:-- Tim Pierce: The DOJ confirmed that he was and that the deal would not apply to future charges, but Hunter's attorneys disputed that, leading to new negotiations and the previous agreement being ripped up.
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--:-- Tim Pierce: Hunter wound up pleading not guilty for now, and the two parties will reconvene before Judge Norika sometime in the next four to six weeks.
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--:-- Judge Mary Ellen Norika: I know you want to get this over with, and I'm sorry, but I need to get more information to do justice as I'm required to do.
--:-- Georgia Howe: David Charles Grush, a decorated former combat officer in Afghanistan and a veteran of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, testified today before a House panel investigating UFOs.
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--:-- David Charles Grush: So there has been activity by alien or non-technology and or beings that has caused harm to humans. I can get into the specifics in an open environment, but at least the activity that I personally witnessed myself and my wife was very disturbing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 36-year-old Grush was the Reconnaissance Office's representative to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force from 2019 to 2021. And then from late 2021 to July of 2022, he was the NGA's co-lead for UAP analysis and its representative to the task force.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: For more on this story, tune in to tomorrow's episode of Morning Wire.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey was acquitted of all charges in a high-profile sexual assault case that garnered international attention.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Spacey faced nine charges total, including multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The accusations first arose in 2017.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Former President Donald Trump, the current GOP frontrunner, announced today that he is formally backing the Republican National Committee's plan to encourage early voting, a change since his 2020 election strategy.
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--:-- Donald Trump: We may not like the current system, but we need to master the rules and beat the Democrats at their own game and then we can make our own rules. Republicans must get tougher and fight harder to cast our votes and get our ballots turned in earlier so Democrats can rig the polls against us on Election Day. We cannot let that happen.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The RNC is leading the fight to help secure your vote in 2024 as well.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: A construction crane in New York City caught fire and collapsed this morning, hitting a building before crashing down on a busy street and injuring six, including two firefighters.
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--:-- Joe Pfeiffer: This could have been a lot worse. At 725 this morning, we got a report of a fire in the engine compartment of the crane. And we're talking about the engine compartment above the roof line, about 45 stories up.
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--:-- Joe Pfeiffer: As our fire units responded to the scene, we had a collapse. The top part of the crane, the boom, and a 16-ton load crashed to the ground. At that point, we had injuries to civilians and firefighters, but they were minor.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Actor Brian Cranston excoriated Hollywood executives and singled out Disney CEO Bob Iger on Tuesday for the use of artificial intelligence in the film and television industry.
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--:-- Brian Cranston: We've got a message for Mr. Iger. I know, sir, that you look through things through a different lens. We don't expect you to understand who we are, but we ask you to hear us and beyond that to listen to us. When we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and giving to robots.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Cranston made his remarks during the Rock the City for a Fair contract rally in Times Square in support of the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor, who became a sensation after her 1990 cover of Prince's ballad, Nothing Compares to You, has died at age 56.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: She was known for her provocative action and expressive music. The family announced her death in a statement. No cause of death was disclosed.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. 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.
