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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe, and this is Morning Wire. John Bickley is on vacation this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're covering the latest developments in politics, culture, and more. In his first public event since parting ways with Fox News, Tucker Carlson moderated a summit of GOP presidential candidates in Iowa. We'll break down some key moments from the event.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ray Epps, a man who became the focal point of rumors about FBI involvement in the January 6th riots, is suing Fox News for spreading what he calls conspiracies about his involvement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the union representing many of Hollywood's A-list actors has joined the writers and gone out on strike. We'll have more on that later.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned, we have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With six months to go until the first 2024 primary votes are cast, GOP presidential candidates descended on Iowa for a forum hosted by Tucker Carlson.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I'm here with more on this event. So, Cabot, you're on the ground in Iowa for this event. What can you tell us?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, this was the first event to draw this many candidates to one spot and was sort of the kickoff for campaign season in Iowa.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The event drew the likes of Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramaswamy, among others.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While the annual Family Leadership Summit typically focuses on religious liberty and social issues, this year was different as Tucker Carlson focused the majority of the candidate conversations on the war in Ukraine, President Biden, and January 6th.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Candidate forums like this are typically friendly affairs with sort of softball questions for the candidates.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But what really stood out was the combative nature of Carlson's interview style.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So Carlson didn't really hold back at all.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that's putting it lightly. He really pressed candidates who said they wanted more support for Ukraine.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He especially went after South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence on that front.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. There was a back and forth with Pence that went viral.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This was probably the biggest moment of the weekend.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It came from a 60-second clip that just really dominated the conversation online and in the media this weekend.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It came after Pence said that he wanted to see increased American support for Ukraine.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Have a listen to how Pence answered Tucker's questioning of that support.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Every city in the United States has become much worse over the past three years. And yet But your concern is that the Ukrainians, who've received tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars, don't have enough tanks.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I think it's a fair question to ask, like, where's the concern for the United States in that?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, it's not my concern.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Tucker, I've heard that routine from you before, but that's not my concern.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I'm running for president of the United States because I think this country's in a lot of trouble.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anybody that says that we can't be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We can do both.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, one face we didn't see in Iowa over the weekend was President Trump.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the president opted out of the forum, which is not all that surprising.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While other candidates have been crisscrossing the country, holding a number of smaller events in early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Trump has taken a different approach.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While he has held a few campaign rallies, which have drawn massive crowds, he's relying more on his enormous social media following and media presence to get his message out.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: To that point, Trump has also implied that he'll skip the GOP primary debates, saying that he's the clear frontrunner and does not need to spar with candidates polling at one or two percent.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I talked to dozens of Iowa voters over the weekend, many of whom we'll hear from later this week, and the reactions to that strategy were mixed.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While the number of Trump voters did say that he deserves to sit the debates out, far more said that it came off as arrogant to them and that he still needed to earn their support, even if they did approve of the job he did as president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, what else did you hear from Iowans about where they stand on 2024?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It was really fascinating on that front.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So it is a bit anecdotal, but of the 50 or so folks that I spoke with, the overwhelming majority said they had not yet made up their mind on who they're supporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Iowans understand the importance of being the first primary state and really take pride in hearing from every candidate before making a final decision.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And historically, that attitude has meant late swings in the polls.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, at this point in the 2016 race, Iowa polls showed Scott Walker doubling every other candidate in the field, while Donald Trump was in seventh behind the likes of Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So all that to say, it's early and Iowans tend to wait till the last minute to make up their minds.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I got the impression on the ground that this year might be no different.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we're going to do a much more in-depth segment on Sunday with some interviews you did with candidates.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So listeners can look forward to that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, Ray Epps sues Fox News.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I'm here to break down the Epps saga and the lawsuit against Fox News.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps was one of thousands of Americans who traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest the 2020 election.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He believed the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump, and Epps took part in several Stop the Steal rallies on January 5th and 6th.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He was caught on video both days encouraging protesters to enter the Capitol building in protest of the election.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's some of what that sounded like.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tomorrow we need to go into the capitol into the capitol said said said said
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps is also on video speaking to Ryan Samuels moments before Samuels reaches a police barricade.
--:-- Tim Pierce: There's some suspicion about what Epps said, but both Epps and Samuels say Epps tried to calm Samuels down after the riot.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The FBI identified Epps as a suspect in its J6 investigation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But days later Epps' image disappeared from the FBI website.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That, combined with the mystery of the FBI's role in the riot, fed suspicions that the DOJ was protecting Epps.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The DOJ has arrested hundreds of people, but for some reason, no charges were brought against Epps, despite the clear footage.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps had also admitted to directing the crowd to the Capitol.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And even at times, others in the crowd could be heard accusing him of being a Fed for encouraging others to enter the Capitol.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He didn't enter the Capitol himself, but he did venture onto restricted grounds.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, what's Epps' side of the story?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps denies any ties to the FBI.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And while he admits he made a lot of mistakes that day, he says he was convinced of false election theories by former President Trump and Fox News.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps said that he approached the FBI as soon as he found out he was a person of interest and expressed he wanted to help in any way he could.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's why his image disappeared off the FBI website.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And in addition to directing the crowd toward the Capitol, Epps says he spent a lot of time trying to calm protesters down.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Take a step back. Take a step back. We're holding ground. We're not trying to get people hurt.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They don't want to get hurt. You don't want to get hurt. Back up.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Epps said in his lawsuit that the DOJ had notified him in May that he would be charged.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Morning Wire spoke with American Greatness senior writer Julie Kelly about what that could mean.
--:-- Julie Kelly: I think whatever charges come down from the DOJ will be very telling.
--:-- Julie Kelly: Is this a CYA move by the DOJ? Will they simply file misdemeanor counts against Ray Epps or will they go after him for, say, the most common felony, which is obstruction of an official proceeding?
--:-- Julie Kelly: Why would Ray Epps avoid the obstruction felony when he was at the first breach point when he stayed at restricted areas well after the building was evacuated.
--:-- Julie Kelly: Now, what does he want to accomplish with his lawsuit against Fox?
--:-- Julie Kelly: Epps' motivation appears to be to exonerate himself from his conduct on January 6th.
--:-- Julie Kelly: In this 53-plus page lawsuit, he sort of blames Fox News and their alleged lies about a stolen election for the reason why he was at the Capitol on January 6th.
--:-- Julie Kelly: It also looks like he is trying to distance himself from Ryan Samsel, the first person to actually breach the exterior barricades.
--:-- Julie Kelly: And Ray Epps whispered into Ryan Samsel's ear right before that happened.
--:-- Julie Kelly: And there's now some controversy as to exactly what Ray Epps said.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages from Fox News.
--:-- Julie Kelly: The Epsis say that the network spreading conspiracies has ruined their lives.
--:-- Julie Kelly: They were forced to sell their five-acre ranch and wedding venue business for cheap because of death threats and harassment, and are now living out of an RV in an undisclosed location.
--:-- Julie Kelly: And I should point out, we haven't actually seen an indictment against Eps, but we should learn a lot more when he is officially charged.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, well, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Hollywood actors guild, SAG-AFTRA, has voted to go on strike.
--:-- Megan Basham: I'm here to give us the latest on the historic tinseltown showdown.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, what are the points of contention?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, it's very similar to the writers guild complaints.
--:-- Megan Basham: The number one issue is residuals and that what the actors get paid when a film or TV series is replayed.
--:-- Megan Basham: So streaming really changed the game on that.
--:-- Megan Basham: It used to be that the performers got a certain amount of money every time a rerun aired on TV, but on streaming, residuals are based on the number of subscribers a streaming platform has.
--:-- Megan Basham: So the actors want a bigger payout when a streaming movie or series is a big hit.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they also want a higher minimum rate.
--:-- Megan Basham: Generally, they say, to keep up with inflation.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then one serious sticking point that is a little bit different for the actors is AI.
--:-- Megan Basham: Which the union has called an existential threat.
--:-- Megan Basham: They're worried that those computer-generated images are going to take work away from them.
--:-- Megan Basham: So what they want is to be able to control their digital likenesses.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, how far apart are the two sides in the negotiation?
--:-- Megan Basham: Pretty far apart right now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So the trade association representing the studio says that it's offered the union the highest increase in minimums in 35 years.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they also say they've offered a 76 percent increase in foreign residuals on the bigger streaming shows.
--:-- Megan Basham: The actor's side says that's not nearly good enough.
--:-- Megan Basham: Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC last week that Hollywood still hasn't recovered from pandemic losses.
--:-- Megan Basham: And with the economy still shaky, he says the actors aren't being reasonable.
--:-- Megan Basham: There's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.
--:-- Megan Basham: So they're not being realistic?
--:-- Megan Basham: No, they're not.
--:-- Megan Basham: I respect their right and their desire to get as much as they possibly can in compensation for their people.
--:-- Megan Basham: But you also have to be realistic about the business environment and what this business can deliver.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, Variety asked SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher about Iger's comments.
--:-- Megan Basham: And she had a pretty sharp response.
--:-- Megan Basham: I found them terribly repugnant and out of touch, positively tone deaf.
--:-- Megan Basham: It's so obvious that he has no clue as to what is really happening on the ground with hardworking people that don't make anywhere near the salary that he's making.
--:-- Megan Basham: So we're going to see the impact of all of that immediately.
--:-- Megan Basham: Obviously, most TV series had shut down with a writer's strike, and now some major films are also being put on hold.
--:-- Megan Basham: Gladiator 2, I think there's also a new Brad Pitt race car movie.
--:-- Megan Basham: It also means that the actors can't walk those red carpets or promote the films that they're currently releasing.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Oppenheimer, that's Christopher Nolan's huge new movie about the creation of the atom bomb, just had to cancel its New York red carpet premiere.
--:-- Megan Basham: So how long have these strikes lasted in the past?
--:-- Megan Basham: So the last time we saw performers striking against the studios was in 1980, but at that time it was just the actors.
--:-- Megan Basham: The last time that actors and writers were both on the picket lines at the same time, well, that happened way back in 1960.
--:-- Megan Basham: And that really did change the way that Hollywood did business.
--:-- Megan Basham: It actually created that residual system to begin with.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah.
--:-- Megan Basham: All right. Well, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
