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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to the show. Today, Congress is set to certify Donald Trump's presidential victory, and we're going to take a look at how public sentiment has shifted since January 6th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And we'll also be discussing Trump's sentencing in the hush money case, as well as new details emerging in the New Year's attacks.
--:-- John Bickley: Let's start with the certification vote. What are we expecting today?
--:-- Tim Rice: Well, John, there's a storm brewing in Washington, literally. D.C. is expecting 10 or more inches of snow throughout the day, which is enough to send the town into a tizzy and would ordinarily keep a lot of congressmen from making the trek to Capitol Hill.
--:-- John Bickley: But in an appearance on Fox News yesterday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn't expect the blizzard to interfere with the vote.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's right. And he's urging all of his colleagues to stay in town and make sure the vote gets done.
--:-- John Bickley: The House needs a simple majority of 218 members present to reach a quorum, and it seems like most members have stayed in town over the weekend.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's right. And Marjorie Taylor Greene even said she would walk to the Capitol if need be.
--:-- John Bickley: So it seems like Johnson has every reason to be confident that, come 1 p.m., Vice President Kamala Harris, acting as president of the Senate, will convene a joint session of Congress, at which point lawmakers will vote to certify Donald Trump's landslide victory.
--:-- Tim Rice: Right. A very momentous occasion.
--:-- John Bickley: And now this calls to mind, maybe forever, the last presidential certification vote on January 6th.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's right. And Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the controversial hush money case this week after Judge Mershon denies his motion to dismiss.
--:-- John Bickley: This would be a case where you would not even normally see a sentence for incarceration.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's right. So I've always doubted that that would be coming out of this case.
--:-- John Bickley: And new details have come to light regarding last week's deadly terror attack in New Orleans.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, first, investigators say the man responsible, Shamsu Din-Jabbar, was wearing a pair of Meta glasses equipped with a camera that could have allowed him to film a firsthand account of his attack.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And we're also learning more about Jabbar's background.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to investigators, the 42-year-old from Houston originally contemplated attacking an ex-wife and other family members, but ultimately decided on a terror attack to focus on, quote, the war between the believers and disbelievers of Islam.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And investigators say he returned to Islam in recent years, but it's not yet clear how or when he became radicalized.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: To that point, investigators are taking a very close look at a month-long trip he took to Egypt in 2023.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, now, as we've reported, he appears to have been an ISIS supporter.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What have we learned about any ties he might have had to that group?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, in the hours before the attack, Jabbar posted videos online proclaiming his support for the terror group, which he says he had joined, quote, before this summer, according to the FBI.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there's no doubt he pledged allegiance to and at least took inspiration from the group.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the big question now for investigators is whether Jabbar had ever communicated directly with ISIS or received any sort of help in planning.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Remember, initially, the FBI indicated there were as many as four other suspects who may have planted explosives around the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That understandably set off a frenzy in New Orleans, but those claims were eventually walked back after investigators determined those individuals were not involved.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But investigators still say just because no one was present with him during the attack doesn't mean he was a true lone wolf attacker.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. While ISIS was largely eradicated under President Trump's first term, the group has slowly rebuilt in recent years, claiming responsibility for numerous terror attacks around the globe in 2024.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And national security experts have been warning in recent months that the turmoil in Syria could well open up a dangerous power vacuum that allows ISIS to regain an even larger foothold.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So as President Trump prepares to take office, he'll be faced with a seemingly resurgent ISIS.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now the big question will be how aggressive of an approach he takes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As I mentioned, he's certainly shown a willingness to go after these groups hard.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But he did campaign largely on staying out of the Middle East in his second term.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So some very big consequential decisions.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For sure.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, before we go, let's get to the latest from that separate bombing incident in Las Vegas.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So investigators are working to piece together what exactly drove Matthew Libelsberger, a 37-year-old Army Green Beret, to set off that car bomb outside Trump Hotel in Vegas, which ended up killing himself and injuring seven others.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Police say one of Libelsberger's devices contained a journal entry urging veterans and all Americans to, quote, wake up regarding our government, which he said was, quote, weak and only serves to enrich themselves.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He later allegedly added, quote, this was not a terrorist attack. It was a wake up call.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the Daily Wire also got some additional details about what happened before the incident.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So as the FBI works on the timeline leading up to the incident, the Daily Wire spoke exclusively with the owner of the Tesla Cybertruck that he used.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He told us Livelsberger initially claimed to be visiting the Grand Canyon, but set the car to navigate to Trump Hotel from the very beginning.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He also says the suspect asked him how to operate the power outlets in the trunk. That's where the bomb was set and whether they could be turned on from outside the vehicle.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And importantly, he says cameras in the truck showed the suspect making a stop at a sporting goods store before the incident, coming back to the car with loads of bags, potentially picking up materials used for bomb making.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: No doubt investigators will be looking into all those details as they get to the bottom of this very strange, tragic event.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes. Still more questions to be answered there for sure.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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