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--:-- Georgia Howe: As Maui residents continue their recovery efforts, two wealthy celebrities are opening their checkbooks. We have created the People's Fund of Maui that will put money directly in the hands of the people who need it right now.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 1st, and this is Morning Wire. Several aging politicians have suffered troubling public episodes, including Senators Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It will be my plan. You put out the statement? I didn't know they put it out. How can I? So it is what it is.
--:-- John Bickley: How old is too old for our elected officials?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And CNN taps a former New York Times and BBC executive to take the reins at the struggling news network. After two unceremonious firings, the question now is, third time's the charm?
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amid ongoing recovery efforts, Hollywood stars Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Oprah Winfrey have created a $10 million Maui Rescue Fund. The duo says every dollar donated will go directly to the fire's victims.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Tim, first off, tell us about this fund. It's called the People's Fund of Maui, and anyone interested can donate online at peoplesfundofmaui.org.
--:-- Dwayne Johnson: In this time of need, you want to take care of the greatest need of the people, and that's giving them money. I was raised in these islands. My family are buried in these islands. It's going to take a long time to rebuild. It'll probably get a little worse before it gets a little better, but we're here doing what we can do.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The fund has plans to give every affected resident aged 18 or older in the Lahaina and Kula areas $1,200 a month to help them recover.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, how are the recovery efforts going so far?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Search and recovery crews are almost done with their sweeps of the island. The official death toll hasn't budged in over a week from 115, and about half of those are unidentified. Hundreds more are still thought to be missing, but no official count has been released.
--:-- Richard Bisson: I'm not sure who was in charge. I think Herman Anbaio was still in charge. He just wasn't present. He was in contact with his team, I guess by phone. I don't know exactly how, but he was still the emergency manager for us then.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Maui former emergency management chief Herman Andaya resigned a couple weeks ago citing his health He was heavily criticized for not sounding the island emergency alarm system It was also widely reported that the one road out of Lahaina was blockaded during the fire causing hundreds of fleeing residents to turn around and drive back toward the blaze. It's still unclear why that blockade was erected.
--:-- Colin Moore: That's not satisfying. There were failures and those should be acknowledged. And I think for people at the very top, you know, ultimately, this is their responsibility.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's University of Hawaii professor Colin Moore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what kind of help are victims receiving from the federal government?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, you'll remember that President Biden took a lot of heat for his delayed reaction to the tragedy, which happened while he was on vacation. On Wednesday, he pledged $95 million to help the island rebuild and strengthen its power grid, which has been recognized as a serious fire hazard for years now.
--:-- Corrine Jean-Pierre: The hurricane response so far is robust. Did you guys realize that the initial Hawaii wildfire response was not that good? Or is it just easier for people to get help from the White House when the president is not on vacation?
--:-- Peter Doocy: So the premise of your question and the way you pose your question, I disagree, just for the record.
--:-- Corrine Jean-Pierre: So if you were to do your reporting and speak to the governor of Hawaii, the senators of Hawaii, the folks on the ground, They would say that the president reacted in record time when it came to dealing with the wildfires and making sure that they got everything that they need on the federal level to deal with what was going on on the ground.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, there are still hundreds missing and thousands are living in government subsidized hotels and Airbnbs. As of last week, residents who are able began returning home. But in many cases, even the homes that were spared still don't have water or electricity.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, hopefully residents will begin getting the help they need.
--:-- John Bickley: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suffered a second freezing spell on Wednesday, leading to concerns about his age, similar to those recently expressed about Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein.
--:-- David Marcus: So let's start with Senator McConnell. What exactly happened on Wednesday and why is it so concerning?
--:-- John Bickley: Morning, John.
--:-- David Marcus: The 81-year-old McConnell was giving remarks at a press conference in Kentucky, and when asked about his prospects for running for re-election in 2026, he just kind of froze. He seemed unable to continue and was helped off the stage.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's a bit from that moment.
--:-- David Marcus: I've told him some thoughts about what? Running for re-election in 2026. I don't know. Did you hear the question, Senator? Running for re-election in 2026? All right I sorry you all we going to need a minute
--:-- John Bickley: This is the second time in under two months that the minority leader has experienced such an incident He had very similar freezing experience at the Capitol. In both cases, he claimed to be fine not long after. And his office says that he's under medical care and able to fulfill his duties in the Senate, though no specific diagnosis has been offered to the public.
--:-- David Marcus: The physician of the Senate on Thursday cleared McConnell, saying, this is not odd for people who have recently suffered concussions, as McConnell has, or for people who are dehydrated.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, so the Senate physician has weighed in.
--:-- David Marcus: There have been calls for McConnell to step down, but that's complicated by the fact that Kentucky has a Democrat governor. If it were to happen, how would he be replaced? And is that process likely to influence his decision?
--:-- John Bickley: So yes, the governor in Kentucky is Democrat Andy Beshear. And recent legislation dictates that the legislature nominate three replacement options and the governor would pick from those three. However, that law has not been tested by the courts, and some argue the governor could try to pick a Democrat.
--:-- David Marcus: Another option is for McConnell to step down from leadership but remain in the Senate. This could reduce his workload without giving Bashir the opportunity to appoint his replacement.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. Now, the incident naturally brought comparisons to the issues surrounding Dianne Feinstein. That's the California senator who's 90 years old and who recently has, frankly, seemed unable to effectively communicate.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, on the rare occasions when we've seen the senator after a long absence from the Capitol during a bout with shingles, she appears very out of it, certainly not capable of sustained conversations with reporters, for example.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah. Feinstein has handed power of attorney in her personal life over to her daughter, but like McConnell has thus far resisted calls for her to step aside, even though in her case, Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom would appoint a replacement.
--:-- David Marcus: Look, the bottom line is that short of very drastic steps by the Senate to remove her or McConnell for that matter, this is really up to them.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah. Do we have reason to believe that in either the case of McConnell or Feinstein that there's behind-the-scenes efforts to get them to step aside, or would that be a violation of congressional etiquette?
--:-- David Marcus: There may well be, and it's not a violation of etiquette or ethics to suggest to a fellow senator that it may be time to step aside. But it's important to understand the human element here.
--:-- John Bickley: McConnell for many years has been one of the five or 10 most powerful people in the United States. Feinstein, easily among the top hundred. That's in a country of 350 million people. That kind of power is not given up lightly, especially by two politicians who spent their whole lives attaining it, not to mention their staffs.
--:-- David Marcus: George Washington stepped away twice, once as a general and once as a president. So he left that precedent. But hey, there's a reason why George Washington is arguably the most revered person in our nation's history. Not everyone is him.
--:-- John Bickley: No, not at all.
--:-- David Marcus: Are there solutions being discussed to avoid this kind of situation in the future?
--:-- John Bickley: There have long been discussions of term limits in Congress that would make these situations far less likely and also now calls for potential age limits for politicians as well as for Supreme Court justices.
--:-- David Marcus: People have talked about term limits for as long as I've been alive, and they're very popular in polling. So far we haven't pulled the trigger but McConnell and Feinstein are certainly making people take another look at it.
--:-- John Bickley: Well that it an issue on both sides of the aisle is certainly making it a bipartisan concern Dave thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: For the third time in 18 months, CNN has hired a new chief executive, as Mark Thompson was tapped this week to lead the media giant.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, another shakeup at CNN. What's the latest here?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, on Wednesday, CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery, announced that Mark Thompson would be taking the reins as the network's CEO and editor-in-chief, making him responsible for all of CNN's content.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This makes Thompson the company's third CEO in the last year and a half. First, there was Jeff Zucker, who resigned after an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate came to light. Then there was Chris Licht, who stepped down after just one year on the job, amid plummeting ratings and public spats with employees. Now in steps Thompson.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, unlike Licht, who had a background as a morning and late night show producer, Thompson comes with experience running large media institutions like CNN from the top. He previously served as the top executive for the New York Times and BBC.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslav put it on Wednesday, quote, there isn't a more experienced, respected, or capable executive in the news business today than Mark.
--:-- John Bickley: So expectations very high. So what does this hire mean for CNN?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that is the big question. So Thompson took over as head of the New York Times in 2012 at a time when the number of Americans reading print newspapers was plummeting. He oversaw the company's transition to a focus on digital content, which was wildly successful.
--:-- John Bickley: CNN execs will clearly look to Thompson to do the same for their network. Warner Brothers Discovery has long been open about their desire to succeed in the digital subscription world. But past efforts have filled spectacularly.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You probably remember the short-lived CNN Plus. Maybe you don't remember it because it's shuttered after just 30 days, despite a $300 million investment. That was a remarkably quick demise there for that.
--:-- John Bickley: And what about from an ideological perspective? What does he bring?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that part is still unknown. It's no secret that the New York Times and BBC are left of center. So the assumption is that CNN will maintain its progressive streak. But there is a chance they continue in their stated goal of moving to the middle.
--:-- John Bickley: For his part, Thompson has yet to offer much regarding his stance on where he wants the company to head politically. But one thing is certain, he is stepping in at a time when the outlet is in turmoil.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, give us some more context on that front. What are they facing?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, they've been up against crisis after crisis, whether it's primetime hosts like Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon being let go, internal leaks describing widespread anger among employees, or that failed streaming platform.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Nearly every month for the last two years, there's been some new negative headline about the network. But the biggest crisis of them all is a massive ratings drop. This year, CNN saw its lowest rated month in a decade, especially among the coveted 25 to 54-year-old demographic, where they now rank 15th among basic cable news networks in primetime.
--:-- John Bickley: For context, Fox News nearly tripled CNN's primetime viewers last year, while MSNBC doubled them. And that rating slump has really cut into the company's profits. They've fallen 17% in the last two years.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So bottom line, he's got his work cut out for him.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, sounds like it. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
