--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire.
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--:-- John Bickley: The U.S., along with Qatar, has refrozen billions of dollars in Iranian funds following conflicting reports that the country coordinated the attacks on Israel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What I can tell you is that every single dime of that money is still sitting in the Qatari bank. Not one dime of it has been spent. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, October 13th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: An alleged high-level Iranian spy ring in D.C. has led Republicans to call for an investigation. What do we know about the man at the center of the scandal and what's being done to protect American interests?
--:-- Georgia Howe: We could have a treasonous character who's been negotiating on behalf of us in the Department of State. This could be happening. And misgendering is now grounds for a harassment lawsuit, according to new employment guidance from the Biden administration.
--:-- John Bickley: We break down the new rules and the likely legal challenges. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The United States and Qatar have frozen Iran's access to a $6 billion humanitarian account. The Biden administration has faced mounting pressure to block Iran's access to the funds in recent days because of Iran's connection to the terror group Hamas.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, I'm Tim Pierce, Daily Wire reporter. So first off, what happened to the humanitarian fund?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the Biden administration and Qatar have reportedly come to a quiet agreement that no money will be spent from the $6 billion fund. That's what Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo reportedly told House Democrats on Thursday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This report follows days of mounting pressure from Capitol Hill to cut off Iran's access to the funds which Secretary of State Antony Blinken fought against. The pressure from Republicans and Democrats probably became too great for the White House to ignore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Half a dozen Democratic senators from purple states, each of which is up for re-election next year, called on President Biden to freeze the funds. On the GOP side, Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a bill to the Senate Wednesday that would require a freeze.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Codden talking about that on Fox News. It may be the case that it hasn't been released yet or it's being held offshore, but that obviously emboldened Iran that America would pay ransom for five American hostages, and it freed up $6 billion of their own money to continue to support groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, while it appears that the Biden administration has frozen those funds, it's not really clear how secure the fund is. After all, it's being controlled by Qatar, an Iranian ally that is suspected of giving safe harbor to Hamas leadership.
--:-- Tim Pierce: If the Biden administration does have a lever to control that fund, it hasn't publicly said what that is. Now, we've seen some conflicting reports about Iran's hand in the Hamas invasion of Israel. What's the latest there?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right The White House is saying that according to U intelligence it seem like there a direct link between Iran and the Hamas attack The Biden administration has actually said that Iran was taken by surprise that Hamas would launch such a big operation
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here Blinken talking about that on NBC News Thursday. Iran's had a long relationship with Hamas. Hamas wouldn't be Hamas without the support over many, many years from Iran. And so we know that. We see that. When it comes to this specific attack, in this moment, we don't have direct evidence that Iran was involved in the attack, either in planning it or carrying it out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the conclusion isn't final and the investigation is still ongoing. But what's confusing is the administration's initial report is completely contradictory to earlier news reports from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It also contradicts what many experts on the Middle East and terrorism have said about how Iran's terror networks operate, and Hamas is a client organization of Iran. It's hard to believe that Iran, with all the training and support it's given to Hamas over the years, was completely in the dark on this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And several reports have said that Iran actually greenlit the operation for geopolitical reasons. It wanted to provoke a serious Israeli response and drive a wedge between the Jewish state and Arab Saudi Arabia.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, and Israel went on to use overwhelming force against Gaza in this war, correct?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. And it's taking a toll on Palestinian civilians living in the area. But that's really by Hamas design. The terror group actively discourages civilians from leaving areas that the Israeli military plans to bomb. Hamas then uses Palestinians killed and wounded in the strikes in propaganda.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Israel has even tried to negotiate with Egypt to take Palestinian refugees from Gaza, but Egypt has refused to open its borders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, a really devastating situation. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Republicans in Congress have opened an investigation into what's being called a high-level Iranian spy ring embedded directly in Washington, D.C. At the center is a man named Robert Malley, who had his security clearance pulled earlier this year amid an investigation into his connections with the Iranian government.
--:-- David Marcus: Hi, I'm David Marcus, Daily Wire contributor. So, David, first, who is Robert Malley? What's his role? And why did he have his security clearance taken?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Morning, Georgia. Malley was Joe Biden's special envoy to Iran, an important diplomatic post. And in June, he was put on leave and had his clearance revoked as an investigation was launched into alleged mishandling of classified documents.
--:-- David Marcus: He's viewed as rather dovish on Iran. For example, he was a big proponent of the Iran nuclear deal, which critics argue is just a big giveaway to the regime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another interesting side note, according to Omni Saran, a national security advisor to Senator Ted Cruz, Obama actually dropped Mali as an advisor back in 2008 due to concerns that he was too entangled with Hamas.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, according to reporting from Semaphore, the investigation has now widened to include close associates of Mali's and an Iranian government-linked information operation known as the Iranian Experts Initiative, or IEI.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's the organization that Republicans in Congress really want answers about. So what is the Iranian Experts Initiative and what's Mali's connection to it?
--:-- David Marcus: IEI is an influence or information operation that recruits international experts or people with either power or influence to argue on behalf of the agenda of the Iranian government. Provided that there disclosure that a person is acting as a foreign agent there nothing illegal about this
--:-- Georgia Howe: But reports suggest that three of Malley close confidants were part of the IEI including one who works at the Pentagon and has security clearance
--:-- David Marcus: The question really is whether IEI is simply operating as a legitimate lobbying firm or if there's something more nefarious going on, including possibly obtaining classified materials from Americans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, Republicans on Capitol Hill have been frustrated thus far by the State Department's unwillingness to share documents and information about this case. What specifically are they trying to get access to?
--:-- David Marcus: Yes, they claim that state has been dragging its feet on this. The GOP and Congress specifically wants to know more about a Pentagon official named Ariane Tabatabai, who worked closely with Mali, as well as an official from IEI named Ali Vallez, who has close contact with the Iranian government, but also with the White House, having even met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Basically, Congress wants to know if the investigation into Malley and the polling of his clearance were related to IEI. And so far, the State Department has not shared that information, though the Pentagon has confirmed it's investigating Tabat-Tabai's security clearance and whether she should have had one to begin with, given these connections.
--:-- David Marcus: Right. Now, what is the main threat of these information operations like IEI and others?
--:-- Georgia Howe: American foreign policy operates on what is called the dime, D-I-M-E paradigm. That's diplomacy, information, military, and economic. These are the levers that the U.S. can pull to influence other nations.
--:-- David Marcus: On three of them, we're dominant. But as far as informational power goes, that's things like propaganda, spying, social media, troll farms. We're at a disadvantage precisely because we are such a free and open society.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's why it's so important that we aggressively investigate and expose the information operations that can weaken our country. That's ultimately what these Republicans are trying to do.
--:-- David Marcus: All right. Well, we'll just have to see what comes out of that investigation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: David, thanks for reporting.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published its new enforcement guidance for workplace harassment. Among the behaviors it says qualifies as harassment is failure to use preferred pronouns.
--:-- Megan Basham: Hi, I'm Megan Basham, Daily Wire culture reporter. So, Megan, when the EEOC proposes new rules on harassment, employers obviously sit up and take notice because they know this means potential lawsuits if they fail to abide by them. So what exactly does this new proposal say?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it's based on the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in that Bostock v. Clayton County decision. That was a decision that granted civil rights protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, the EEOC says Bostock means that sex-based harassment now does include how gender identity is expressed. And as an example of harassment, they offered intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual's gender identity, misgendering.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So that was their language. Now, it's not clear if this only applies to standard pronouns like him and her, or if it also applies to these so-called neopronouns or non-binary pronouns.
--:-- Megan Basham: And as we all know, I think those can be a little difficult and unnatural for people to get accustomed to. Now, to illustrate for employers what this would look like in the workplace, they then presented something of a fast food scenario.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they said a cashier who is a biological man but identifies as a woman is bothered that his superiors co and customers regularly and intentionally misgender him
--:-- Megan Basham: The story then goes on to say, and I'm quoting, one of her supervisors, Allison, frequently uses Jennifer's prior male name, male pronouns, and dude when referring to Jennifer. Other managers also intentionally refer to Jennifer as a he.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they say that is harassment under this new code.
--:-- Megan Basham: Exactly. Yes. So the EEOC also included an example in which customers of the fast food restaurant use the wrong pronouns, and then the manager might fail to respond appropriately to that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So even if the manager, him or herself, doesn't use an offending pronoun, they could be liable if they fail to address customer harassment or if even they address it in the wrong way.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then importantly, in this case, they say that reassigning the employee to have less customer interaction in these cases, you know, in order to avoid future misgendering incidents, well, that would also be harassment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, a consequence of this, I have to imagine, is that managers are going to be very nervous to hire trans-identifying people if they foresee these issues coming up.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, possibly. Now, were there elements of this new rule that directly related to that Bostock ruling?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, you know, it also said that denying a person access to a bathroom or other private space that's designated exclusively for the opposite sex could also be a form of harassment.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I do think it's important to note that this has been a key focus of the Biden administration since really its first day in office. Immediately after his inauguration, President Biden issued an executive order that added sexual and gender identity to Title VII, which, if you don't recall this, it is the part of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination based on things like race, color, religion, sex, national origin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Also this week, the Health and Human Services Department, as you said, also sent out that mandate requiring its employees to use preferred pronouns.
--:-- Megan Basham: So obviously it's a priority. Yeah. Now, are there any religious exemptions?
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, I went through it and I did not see any specifically cited in that section, though the 2021 EEOC fact sheet did provide exemptions for religious institutions.
--:-- Megan Basham: But groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, which often represents religious plaintiffs in these cases, it's pointed out that the government isn't clear which organizations qualify as religious.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the ADF points out your religious rights don't stop at the workplace door. If you're a Christian or Muslim, for example, who can't in good conscience use these non-biological pronouns, they say the government constitutionally cannot compel you to.
--:-- Megan Basham: Worth noting, Justice Samuel Alito actually warned in his dissent from Bostock that compelled speech, the government requiring you to voice particular views, was where that decision might lead.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So once again, pretty guaranteed that we are going to see challenges to this.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right. Well, like so many issues that we've been reporting on, eventually it's just going to have to go to SCOTUS.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yep. Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced Thursday evening that he's dropping his bid for Speaker of the House after failing to gain enough support.
--:-- Host: Scalise edged out Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan 113 to 99 in a secret ballot vote on Wednesday. However, a day later, several GOP members were holding out on support for the Louisiana Republican.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
