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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire. It's Thursday, September 26th.
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--:-- John Bickley: President Trump issues a stark warning to Tehran after intelligence officials brief him on real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him. If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Thursday, September 26th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kamala Harris sits down for her first solo interview on a cable news network with a host who has been an outspoken supporter of the VP. And we need a comprehensive plan that includes what we need to do to fortify not only our border, but deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways for people to earn citizenship.
--:-- John Bickley: And medical professionals and health gurus alike voice their concerns to Congress over the increasing danger posed by chemicals in American food. For the last 50 years, we have been running the largest uncontrolled science experiment ever done on humanity without their consent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: U.S. intelligence officials briefed the Trump campaign on Tuesday about attempts by Iran to assassinate the former president. Authorities have already foiled at least one plot this year that involved a Pakistani man authorized to pay up to $1 million for Trump's death. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the threats to Trump's life and foreign attempts to interfere with the U.S. election.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, how much do we know about the Iranian threats against Trump? Most of the details aren't being revealed at this point.
--:-- John Bickley: The Trump campaign released a short statement after the briefing that said Iran wants to assassinate Trump in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The campaign also raised the point that these threats against Trump suggest that Iran would rather that Vice President Harris win the election. The Trump campaign said, quote, Iran loves the weakness of Kamala Harris and is terrified of the strength and resolve of President Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: It's worth noting that the FBI has already foiled one plot against the former president this year. As John noted at the top, authorities arrested a Pakistani man in July with alleged ties to an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So we don't know much about the specific threats that Trump faces. What do we know about the response? Are they beefing up his security?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Congress just passed legislation to increase security for major party presidential candidates. It had wide bipartisan support and passed both chambers unanimously.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump said of the bill that it is nice to see Republicans and Democrats get together on something. Then there are efforts by law enforcement to make sure Trump has better security to avoid a repeat of incidents like the one in Butler Pennsylvania and on a golf course in Florida Toward that end a bipartisan group of lawmakers investigating the Butler situation released a report this week and some of what they found looks bad for the Secret Service For instance the report says the agency had credible intelligence of a threat before the rally on July 13th. The agency was also warned ahead of time that local law enforcement did not have the manpower to secure the rally.
--:-- John Bickley: Both Republicans and Democrats have accused the Department of Homeland Security of stonewalling their investigation into Butler. Here's Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Delaware last week. I am reaching the point of total outrage because the response from the Department of Homeland Security has been totally lacking. In fact, I think it's tantamount to stonewalling in many respects.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Is the Biden administration taking Iran's threats seriously? In general, the Biden administration has taken a softer, more appeasement-oriented stance toward its relationship with Iran. The president has lifted sanctions, pursued prisoner swaps, and tried to restart the Iran nuclear deal. We haven't seen much evidence that these threats have changed those goals.
--:-- John Bickley: Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked about Washington's relationship with Tehran after the threats. Here's how he responded. Will there and should there be consequences against Iran? Look, this is something we've been tracking very intensely for a long time. an ongoing threat by Iran against a number of senior officials, including former government officials like President Trump and some people who are currently serving the administration. So it's something we take very, very seriously. We're looking at it very carefully.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So no direct answer on that from Blinken. Let's hope they are watching this very carefully.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting, Tim.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: Kamala Harris conducted her first solo interview with a national news outlet since becoming the nominee and offered an economic address in Pennsylvania. Here with those details and the latest from the campaign trail is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot.
--:-- John Bickley: So Harris attempting to sort of shift her focus this week. What can you tell us about this new strategy?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So while Kamala Harris is running neck and neck with Donald Trump in the polls, Her two biggest weaknesses have been clear throughout the election, the economy and immigration. If you look at polling, she's down by an average of six to seven points on the question of which candidate voters trust more with the economy. And on immigration, she trails by more than 10 points on average.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, that is especially concerning for Democrats as poll after poll has shown those two issues are at the top of the list for voters. The Harris campaign is now trying to flip the script this week, first with a speech focused on Harris's economic policies. and second with a trip to the border on Friday. So let's start with that economic speech. What did we hear from the VP?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the campaign had initially promised that Harris would lay out a detailed economic roadmap. But at her 39-minute speech yesterday addressing the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, she was quite vague. As the New York Times put it, quote, she revealed little new about her economic pitch. The few specifics that she did give, we've already heard. And again, they came with little detail. Much of the speech was instead focused on defending her economic record as VP and, of course, attacking Trump's economic vision for the country.
--:-- John Bickley: She mentioned Trump by name throughout the speech, while claiming the poor state of the economy under her watch was actually his fault Over the past three and a half years we have taken major steps forward to recover from the public health and economic crisis we inherited Now in response the Trump campaign shared a graphic comparing economic data from Trump's last day in office until today. For example, inflation was just 1.4% when he left office, gas $2.39, mortgage rates were at 2.8%, and the average rent was just north of $1,400 a month. So very different to what we see now. And Trump's team went a step further, getting a little cheeky, pulling this excerpt from Harris's speech and turning it into an ad for their campaign. We just need to move past the failed policies that we have proven don't work. I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Harris also sat for a rare one-on-one interview last night on MSNBC with Stephanie Ruhle. What did we hear from Harris there?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, her first such interview on a major network since becoming the nominee. And look, much like the speech, this interview was light on details. For example, here is Harris when asked about how she would lower housing costs. Some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state and local governments around transit dollars and looking holistically at the connection between that and housing and looking holistically at the incentives we in the federal government can create for local and state governments to actually engage in planning in holistic manner that includes prioritizing affordable housing for working people.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And then here she is later talking further about the supposed economic plan, as she called it, that she debuted earlier in the day. Well, if you are hardworking, if you have the dreams and the ambitions and the aspirations of what I believe you do, you're in my plan. And it's worth noting, Stephanie Ruhle, the MSNBC host who conducted that interview, responded to criticisms that Harris spoke only in generalities. Have a listen. One could watch that and say, well, she didn't give a clear, direct answer. That's OK, because we are not talking about clear or direct issues.
--:-- John Bickley: For his part, Trump running mate J.D. Vance said it was, quote, pathetic that Rule was given this interview. He added that, quote, Kamala runs from tough questions because she cannot defend her record. All right. So we finally have Harris's first big solo interview in the books. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A cohort of medical professionals and health and wellness influencers converged on Capitol Hill this week and raised red flags about the increasing number of toxic chemicals pervading the American food supply. Joining us to break down the testimony is Daily Wire senior reporter Mary Margaret Olihan.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: So, Mary Margaret, can you give us a sense of what Monday's hearing was like? It was quite an eye-opening day.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For over three hours on Monday, senators listened to health experts and influencers express serious concerns about the state of American food. They pointed out that chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are the leading causes of death in the United States, and they're directly attributable to unhealthy food. They emphasize exactly how hard it is for your average mom to buy food for her kids that isn't saturated with seed oils, food dyes, chemicals, and toxins, many of which are banned in other countries. And they also argued that the vast majority of chronic diseases in the United States traces back to the same root cause, ultra-processed foods.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: So what's the call to action that they're advocating for? Their main thesis is this, Americans are being poisoned by our food, both because of the nutrition content and the chemical content, and that we need to act before it's too late. To that point, here's Dr. Casey Means. If the current trends continue if the graphs continue in the way that they going at best we going to face profound societal instability and decreased American competitiveness And at worst, we're going to be looking at a genocidal level health collapse.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There was also testimony on specific chemicals that are poisoning kids' food. In one memorable moment, health activist Jason Karp ripped open two different boxes of Kellogg's Froot Loops on camera to show the significant difference between the U.S. and Canadian versions. This is the brightness of artificial food dyes. So, of course, Kellogg and other food companies will argue children prefer this over this, just as they would prefer cocaine over sugar. It doesn't make it OK.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, fitness guru Jillian Michaels pointed the finger directly at, quote, corporate greed and the failure of regulators to keep us safe. Here's a little glimpse of her speech that quickly went viral. Most Americans are simply too financially strained, psychologically drained, and physically addicted to break free without a systemic intervention. I implore the people here that shape the policy to take a stand. While the American people tend to the business of raising children and participating in the workforce to ensure that the wheels of our country go around, they tapped you to stand watch. We must hold these bad actors accountable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, this was nominally a nonpartisan event, but it featured a lot of alternative media influencers. Was there a political element to this event?
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, an interesting recent trend we uncovered here at The Daily Wire is that many of these alternative health and wellness influencers are actually being drawn to the right. That's partially because their ideas go against the mainstream, but also because RFK Jr. and Trump are pushing holistic health as a political stance through the Make America Healthy Again campaign. And on the flip side, Democrats are leaving a lot on the table by not addressing these issues. In fact, the Harris campaign wouldn't even respond to our requests for comment on this topic.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How was this event covered by the media? Well, amazingly, a lot of outlets have come out in support of big food, suggesting that anyone fighting ultra-processed foods or seed oils is actually just a right-wing hack. For example, over at The Atlantic, Elaine Godfrey penned a story about Monday's hearing that she titled, quote, the woo-woo caucus meets. She immediately highlights that the hearing was hosted by Trump ally Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and basically mocked the health influencers for questioning experts. She writes, the whole thing had a very do-your-own research vibe. And this is a pattern in the legacy press. The day after Kennedy endorsed Trump, Time magazine published a piece titled, What if ultra-processed foods aren't as bad as you think? This type of coverage really only makes health advocates more and more convinced that they are being drowned out for a reason.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, this is an incredibly important issue, and I'm glad it's moving into the spotlight.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Mary Margaret, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted last night on federal charges. He's the first sitting New York mayor to be criminally charged. The charges are expected to be revealed this morning, but are believed to be related to the Adams campaign conspiring with the Turkish government to illegally receive foreign funds. Tune in this afternoon for more updates.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all for now. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We'll be back tomorrow.
