--:-- Georgia Howe: The NFL is back, and FanDuel's got everything you need to play your game. From same-game parlays to live betting. Right now, new customers bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. 21-plus in president select states. 18-plus in Kentucky and Wyoming. Must be first online real money waging. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
--:-- John Bickley: Chaos on Capitol Hill after Hunter Biden crashes a committee hearing on holding him in contempt. Any other American will be held in contempt by Congress. This is Democrat privilege of the highest order. Let's do our jobs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How did the vote turn out and what's next for the president's scandal-plagued son? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, January 11th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Just days from the first Republican primary vote in Iowa, the top two challengers to Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, face off in the Hawkeye State. What we're going to do is rather than have him go and tell you all these lies, you can go to DeSantisLies.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She's got this problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot every other day, saying things that now she doesn't even take questions from people.
--:-- John Bickley: and outrage in New York after students are forced to go remote to shelter illegal immigrants at their schools. Our kids are going to be remote for how long? A day, two days, three weeks? It's not fair.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Good Ranchers: FREE chicken for a Year + $20 off your order! Use promo code WIRE at checkout. https://www.goodranchers.com
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good Rancher's New Year New Meat special is one you do not want to miss. When you subscribe to any box of Good Ranchers, they'll add over two pounds of pre-trimmed, better-than-organic chicken breasts to your order for free. Not once, not twice, but with every order for a year. Simply go to goodranchers.com and use our code WIRE to enjoy free chicken in 2024, plus an additional $20 off your first order. Change the way you buy meat by switching to Good Ranchers. Make sure to subscribe today and use our code WIRE to claim over $200 in free chicken. Good Ranchers, American meat delivered.
--:-- John Bickley: Hunter Biden appeared at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday that was deciding whether to hold the first son in contempt of Congress, but he wasn't there to testify. Hunter, flanked by his attorney, Abby Lowell, and longtime associate Kevin Morris, surprised lawmakers by briefly entering the hearing room, sitting in the front row, and causing no shortage of congressional chaos.
--:-- David Marcus: So briefly, can you tell us what happened there? There was a lot of yelling and posturing going on. Morning, John. I'll do my best. So this was a hearing to determine whether to hold Hunter in contempt for refusing a subpoena to testify behind closed doors in regard to allegations of influence peddling.
--:-- John Bickley: Hunter crashed the party with his lawyer and Morris, who it's worth noting is the person who paid many of Hunter's taxes and purchased much of his art. Republicans tore into Hunter for this display with Representative Nancy Mace accusing him of engaging in a political stunt, of being the epitome of white privilege, and calling for him to be immediately arrested, which did not happen, though it could have.
--:-- David Marcus: What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here. Mr. Chairman, point of inquiry. Mr. Chairman. If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden We can hear from him right now Mr Chairman Let take a vote and hear from Hunter Biden What are you afraid of Hold on hold on hold on Order order order I believe that Hunter Biden should be held completely in contempt I think he should be hauled off to jail right now
--:-- John Bickley: Well pretty wild exchange there So to Mesa question why wasn't Hunter Biden detained by the sergeant at arms of the House for defying the subpoena? There had been calls for that.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, so I spoke to some sources on this, and for one thing, it wouldn't have advanced the ball and could have distracted from the point of the hearing and the committee, which is to investigate potential influence peddling involving Hunter's dad. But there were also practical concerns. Hunter has Secret Service protection, for example. So how would that work?
--:-- John Bickley: In any event, at one point, Republicans said, okay, do you want to testify in public now? And shortly thereafter, Hunter and his entourage exited the hearing room to take a few questions in the hallway, which saw its own share of chaos.
--:-- David Marcus: Why did you put your dad on speakerphone if he had nothing to do with your business? I put him on speakerphone multiple times to talk to your business partners. Why did you do that?
--:-- John Bickley: Did we learn anything from those reporter questions, given that we did not hear from Hunter Biden in official sworn testimony?
--:-- David Marcus: Well, yeah, he was asked about why he took the phone calls from Joe Biden during business meetings and replied arguably a bit smugly by basically asking the reporter, wouldn't you answer if your dad called you? which obviously ignores testimony by his associate, Devin Archer, who said the calls were meant to give the appearance of influence.
--:-- John Bickley: One intrepid newsman managed to shout out the question, what kind of crack do you smoke? Which did not receive a reply from Hunter or his attorney, but did seem to sum up the general circus-like atmosphere that prevailed in our nation's halls of power on Wednesday.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, Hunter and Democrats on the committee have balked at having him deposed without cameras before giving public testimony. Why is this an issue for them, and will Republicans back down from that demand?
--:-- John Bickley: Democrats claim that if Biden testifies behind closed doors, then Republicans will misrepresent the testimony, even though there would be transcripts.
--:-- David Marcus: Deposing a witness under oath is pretty standard. It gives a baseline for eventual public testimony. And at the end of the day, the subpoena was issued whether Democrats like it or not. So no, Republicans will not back down and in fact did find Hunter in contempt later in the day.
--:-- John Bickley: This particular episode of drama comes just a week after we learned that Hunter is filming a top secret documentary depicting his challenges with addiction and the law. Could this have effectively been a scripted stunt for that?
--:-- David Marcus: I would like to tell you that this is ridiculous, that this is a very serious matter. So, of course, it's not just pantomime for documentary cameras, but whether it was for documentary or news cameras, Hunter was ready for his close-up Wednesday, and we seem far from the final act of this particular political drama.
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, sequels in the works, no doubt. Great. Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: On the eve of the crucial Iowa caucus, GOP candidates are making their final pitch to voters, blanketing the state for debates in town halls. Here with the latest is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Cabot, we've entered the home stretch. The big news last night was the CNN debate, which featured a much smaller crowd than usual. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, last night's debate stage featured just two people, Florida's Ron DeSantis and South Carolina's Nikki Haley. Now, despite saying that he would join the debate stage once the field narrowed, which it now has, former President Donald Trump was once again absent, saying that his massive lead makes it unnecessary for him to debate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For their part, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie each failed to reach the polling threshold and were also absent from the stage. Though we should note that just ahead of the debate, Chris Christie announced that he was officially dropping out.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So that left Haley and DeSantis more than enough time to duke it out So we saw Haley versus DeSantis with very high stakes Give us some of the highlights
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, at this point, both candidates are really just desperate to become the clear alternative in the race to Donald Trump. And with that in mind, the knives were definitely out.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: To give you an idea of the tone of the evening, Haley's campaign bought the website DeSantisLies.com. and she mentioned that site over and over dozens of times throughout the evening. The best way to tell about a candidate is to see how they run their campaign.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He has blown through $150 million. I don't even know how you do that. Through his campaign, he has nothing to show for it. He spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If you can't manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's worth noting, Santis had more than a few barbs of his own. You know, I debated the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. You know, I thought he lied a lot. Man, Nikki Haley may give him a run for his money, and she may even be more liberal than Gavin Newsom is.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Later on, during an exchange on Ukraine, DeSantis went after Haley for her promise to continue funding the war there, referencing her time as ambassador to the UN.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This is the UN way of thinking, that we're somehow globalists and we have unlimited resources to do. You know, I think here's the problem. You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but you can't take the United Nations out of the ambassador.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For her part, Haley accused DeSantis of flip-flopping on the issue of Ukraine spending. Nobody knows what he believes, because when President Obama was in office, he supported foreign aid to Ukraine. Now he's copying Trump and trying to act like he doesn't want to support Ukraine.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's worth noting, throughout the evening, the CNN acres who were hosting the debate were definitely prodding the two on stage to go after Donald Trump. something that both candidates were more than willing to do than in debates past.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He said he was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. He did not deliver that. He said he was going to drain the swamp. He did not deliver that. He said he was going to hold Hillary accountable. And he let her off the hook.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It's fine to criticize Donald Trump. And I know the media brings this up a lot. But you know who else deserves to be criticized? The people that violated the Constitution during COVID to lock people out of schools, to destroy businesses, to force masks on people, to try to force vaccines.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm going to bring a reckoning to all these agencies, the CDC, the NIH, the FDA. He needs to be defending his record. Right now, he's not defending the fact that he allowed us to have $8 trillion in debt over four years that our kids are never going to forgive us for.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, you mentioned President Trump, who was absent from the debate stage, but not actually from the airwaves, correct?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, as usual, Trump was not about to let his opponents soak up the limelight all for themselves. He opted to take part in a town hall from Des Moines that aired on Fox News and, of course, began at the exact same time as the debate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The former president devoted much of his time to illegal immigration. Here he is on that front. We have millions and millions of people here. It is not sustainable. Did you see in New York City where they're getting the regular students out and they're putting migrants in their place? We are going to have the largest deportation effort in the history of our country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So closing arguments there in Iowa. We'll see if that moved the needle for Republicans. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Tim Pierce: New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered a high school to shelter nearly 2,000 migrants this week. The move forced hundreds of students to attend classes online and sparked outrage among parents and local leaders. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to discuss what happened at James Madison High School and the fallout.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hi, Tim. First, what was Mayor Adams trying to accomplish here?
--:-- Tim Pierce: The intent was to protect the welfare of the immigrants About 1 of them live in a tent shelter set up at Floyd Bennett Field And when bad weather began to hit the city on Tuesday Adams ordered that they be relocated to James Madison High School out of an abundance of caution
--:-- Georgia Howe: So 1,900 immigrants were moved into the school that night, and a notice was sent to parents that students would be going to class remotely the next day.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For his part, Adams visited the temporary migrant shelter and stood for photos. The immigrants only stayed in the school a day before they were moved back to Floyd Bennett Field.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This, of course, comes as Adams has complained about migrants in the city for months. He says that the large number coming from the southern border are causing the city's welfare system to buckle. And he's repeatedly called on President Biden to provide aid.
--:-- Tim Pierce: White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre was asked about the New York high school controversy yesterday and didn't have much to say. That is something that New York City needs answers to. That is a process that they took, so they have to answer to that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the immigrants only stayed in the high school overnight, but the situation still upset many people. Right. Parents and local leaders were furious with the mayor over this.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A few parents went to James Madison on Tuesday night to watch the immigrants move in and share complaints with anyone who would listen. How does it feel that you can tell the kids are in school tomorrow? How does it feel? Do you feel good? I hope you feel good! I hope you all sweep down the road tonight. I'm an aggravating mother, that's why. Taking over my kids' school, okay?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And lawmakers were upset as well. Here's part of a video statement that was posted by a Republican New York City council member, Ina Vernikov, after the mayor's announcement.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We warned about this. Floyd-Betterfield is susceptible to flooding, storms, winds, etc. It's not an acceptable place to house people. But neither are our public schools. Every time there's a flood, are they going to find a new school to move the migrants to? This is not the last storm or flood. It's winter. Our schools are not migrant or homeless shelters.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Parents and lawmakers also rallied in front of James Madison on Wednesday. Here's New York State Assemblymember Alec Brooke Krasny speaking at the event.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They want to bring more and more people who would rely on the government and vote for them. Let's say the way it is. Why it's still at Lloyd Bennett Park? Because Lloyd Bennett Park is located in the conservative area of New York City.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the migrants took over the school's gymnasium for just one night, but some parents say they will keep their children out of the school over hygiene concerns.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, Adams has tried to crack down on the flow of migrants into the city. How is that effort going? Not well. Many of the immigrants in the city were passengers on buses charted by Texas and El Paso and some other communities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Adams recently tried to block migrant buses from entering the city, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott then rerouted them to a train station in New Jersey that ran a line into the heart of New York.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Adams has filed a $700 million lawsuit against Texas over the busing program.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's how Abbott responded. I know the law, and Eric Adams does not know the law. Once the Biden administration has authorized these migrants to be in the United States, they have the constitutional right to travel to New York City.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So what Eric Adams is doing is filing a baseless lawsuit denying these migrants their right to travel to New York City. He's going to lose and lose badly, and I hope he's forced to pay attorney's fees. Just another consequence of the ongoing crisis at the border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. Bye.
