--:-- John Bickley: The horrific fire in Maui is already the deadliest the U.S. has seen in a century, and the death toll is expected to rise. There will be more fatalities reported. It will be billions of dollars of recovery, but we recover. We always recover here in the islands. How did the blaze get so out of control? And why were so many residents not warned?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, August 14th, and this is Morning Wire. The appointment of a special counsel to investigate President Biden's son, Hunter, has prompted strong responses from all sides.
--:-- John Bickley: This is a sham. There is no special counsel investigation, and there is no Biden investigation. We discuss the political and legal debate surrounding the case. And a fourth indictment in just four months is expected to be handed down to former President Donald Trump, this time in Georgia. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: As first responders continue to comb through rubble, the death toll from last week's wildfire in Maui has climbed to 93. That makes it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Here with more on the devastating fire is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, what have we learned since we last spoke on Friday?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it has been a difficult weekend for the people of Maui. Officials now say that the death toll from last week's blaze sits at 93 and is certain to climb higher in the coming days. Because of the intensity of the flames, many victims are nearly impossible to find in the ashes, leaving search crews to rely on cadaver dogs to locate human remains.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As the county's police chief put it, identifying the dead is nearly impossible. Because, quote, we pick up the remains and they fall apart. Police are asking family members missing loved ones to submit DNA samples to help them identify those who have been found.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it's horrific. And we expect the final death toll to be much higher, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. The destruction was so total that in some areas, especially in the seaside town of Lahaina, workers had to paint giant X's to show where houses had once stood, hoping to narrow their search for remains. At the time of the latest report, cadaver dogs had covered just 3% of the affected area. So the death toll is, again, almost certain to climb well into the triple digits.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: On top of the human toll, the state's governor says the fire caused around $6 billion in property damage. According to the state's governor, Josh Green, quote, it will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii has ever faced.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Over the weekend, some residents of Lahaina were allowed to return to their homes for the first time. Here's the message from Governor Green as they prepared. I want to caution everyone. Lahaina is a devastated zone. They will see destruction like they have not ever seen in their lives. Everyone, please brace themselves as they go back. Be very safe, be very careful. But we are going to get people back.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, why was this wildfire so much deadlier than ones we've seen in the past? So from a natural perspective, conditions were especially conducive last week for a deadly blaze. Much of the island was consumed by drought. And once the fire started, it was fueled by strong winds from a hurricane a few hundred miles off the coast.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to local officials, the county typically has no more than 65 firefighters at a given time, meaning there simply weren't enough resources to confront the massive wall of fire as it ripped towards Lahaina. But throughout the weekend we heard from a growing number of locals who say they outraged by the government lack of preparedness and warning as the fire is approached.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So tell us a little more on that front. People are really wanting answers about that. Yeah, for good reason. So Hawaii is home to the largest system of outdoor public safety sirens on Earth. They're meant to alert residents in case of volcano eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and wildfires.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But on Tuesday, as the flames spread, those sirens never went off. The only warning for residents came in the form of text messages and TV and radio alerts. But because power had been knocked out already from much of the island by Tuesday afternoon, those warnings never reached hundreds, if not thousands, in the fire's path.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Usually they put on the hurricane sirens or they do something to warn us. Nothing. Everyone was just word of mouth evacuating. According to Governor Green, officials still are not sure why the sirens failed to go off. He said it's possible communication lines have been severed by the fires or the high winds.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But he does say the state will launch an investigation to determine what or who is behind that failure. Much of the equipment was destroyed with fire, and it's a very remote place. We will leave it to Hyama, which is our emergency management team, to help explain things going forward.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thousands of residents are currently in temporary government shelters. As you can imagine, they're demanding answers on the government's seemingly lackluster warning and response. While just seeing videos of it, it was just out of nightmares.
--:-- John Bickley: Terrific. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: In the latest surprise twist to the Hunter Biden case, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel. The appointment has gotten a mixed reaction among Republican lawmakers who have long called for a special counsel in the case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to break down what the appointment means and how the various sides have responded.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim. First, why after five years on this investigation has Weiss been appointed special counsel now?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, it's a shocking turn of events, considering several weeks ago the Hunter Biden case was just a judge's decision away from ending for good. Garland announced the appointment on Friday and said that it came at Weiss's request.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Garland approved it because, as he said, extraordinary circumstances warranted it. As special counsel, he will continue to have the authority and responsibility that he has previously exercised to oversee the investigation and decide where, when and whether to file charges.
--:-- Tim Pierce: If Garland says the special counsel status doesn't actually impact Weiss's authority, then what's the point of it? It's an odd move, and it appears to lend credibility to whistleblower allegations that Weiss couldn't prosecute Hunter in D.C. and California because he didn't have the authority.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Weiss evidently thought he needed that authority on paper rather than the verbal commitments he'd gotten from Garland. Otherwise, why make the request? And Hunter's legal team is obviously not happy with the appointment, correct?
--:-- Tim Pierce: They certainly aren't. Hunter's attorney, Abby Lowell, said Sunday that he'd be suspicious of any meaningful change in the prosecution's case.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He's a Republican U.S. attorney appointed by a Republican president and attorney general who had career prosecutors working this case for five years, looking at every transaction that Hunter was involved in.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So whether it was tax or the gun or possible any other charge, if anything changes from his conclusion, the question should be asked, what infected the process that was not the facts in the law?
--:-- Tim Pierce: But the appointment has raised a lot of suspicion from GOP lawmakers as well. They've said for years the Hunter Biden case needed a special counsel, but they didn't necessarily want Weiss for that position.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What are the complaints there about Weiss being appointed? Well first his appointment violated internal Justice Department guidelines. One of the main features of a special counsel is its independence.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Justice Department guidelines say one should be appointed from outside the U government. But Garland has made clear that Weiss will keep his position as a top official inside the DOJ.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy going so far as arguing that this is a sham special counsel investigation. This is the Biden Justice Department's vehicle for maintaining control of an investigation that they are not pursuing.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They've had the case for five years. They've never indicted it. They're strategically allowing the statute of limitations to run to the point that the 2014 and 2015 conduct, which covers most of the $21 million that the congressional investigation report showed this week, that's already time barred because David Weiss himself decided to let those charges die rather than bring an indictment.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They're not doing anything that you would do if there was an actual investigation, and he can't be a special counsel because he's inside the government.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Republicans also simply don't trust Weiss, especially after the circus in court last month when Hunter's plea deal fell apart at the last minute.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Some lawmakers think this appointment could be a way to shield Weiss from having to testify to Congress. Here's Jason Smith, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, reacting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: There were provisions within that sweetheart plea deal that granted complete immunity to Hunter Biden for these crimes and future crimes. And who was the architect of that? Now the person who, Garland, who President Biden's Justice Department just appointed to be special counsel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I am very fearful that appointing the special counsel is just an attempt to stonewall Congress's investigation of the Biden family.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What does Weiss's appointment mean for the Hunter prosecution? Should we expect a trial or will there be another attempt at a plea deal? We'll see.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Weiss thinks this case will go to trial. He said in a court filing Friday, right after his appointment to special counsel, that, quote, the government now believes the case will not resolve short of a trial.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hunter's legal team is still hoping, though, that this can be resolved outside the courtroom. Here's Lowell again.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's not inevitable. We were trying to avoid one all along. And so were the prosecutors who came forward to us and were the ones to say, can there be a resolution short of a prosecution?
--:-- Tim Pierce: So they wanted it and maybe they still do want it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What is almost certain to happen with the Weiss appointment is the timeline on Hunter's case will be extended right as President Biden is entering a tough re-election bid.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's also unclear if Weiss's investigation will expand to include President Biden in the allegations of his involvement with Hunter's business schemes.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, a rather startling development in Hunter's case that could have some major implications for his father.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Great to be on.
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--:-- John Bickley: Reports this week indicate that the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, is set to present her case against Donald Trump to a grand jury this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss the development is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, Dave. First off, since this is potentially Trump's fourth indictment in four months, Can you recap exactly what he's being accused of this time around?
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning. The case centers around Trump's actions in the days after the election and his efforts to convince officials in Georgia, particularly Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to investigate whether everything in the balloting had been on the up and up.
--:-- David Marcus: You may recall the famous recorded phone call from Trump to Raffensperger urging the latter to quote find unquote enough votes to put him over the top Fulton County DA Fannie Willis has been pursuing this case for over two years now, and she appears to be ready to make her case.
--:-- David Marcus: What indicates that after all this time, the DA is actually ready to make her case now? So CNN has reported that two witnesses, including former Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan, have been told to appear and testify on Tuesday.
--:-- David Marcus: This is seen as a final step. D.A. Willis has also made statements indicating that her office is ready to go. It's not entirely clear what the specific charges may be. They will center around alleged election interference.
--:-- David Marcus: But Willis has indicated that she's also looking at possibly bringing racketeering or conspiracy cases as well. That could make Trump liable for actions of his staff, including some allegations of hacking into election software.
--:-- David Marcus: This is, of course, a state, not a federal case, but one in which the former president could again be looking at significant jail time if convicted.
--:-- David Marcus: What's Trump's defense been thus far? He's on tape asking Raffensperger to find votes. But is that really the smoking gun his critics say to us? Maybe, maybe not.
--:-- David Marcus: And that will be for the grand jury and eventually possibly a trial jury to determine. As with Trump's federal indictment for the events of January 6th, a lot hinges on whether he actually believed he had won.
--:-- David Marcus: The question of what Trump meant by find the votes is also important here. It could mean, as prosecutors will argue, invent or manufacture votes that don't exist. But it could also mean, and this is Trump's claim, that he believed those votes absolutely did exist and wanted Georgia officials to unearth them.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah. Now, as we just discussed, this case against Trump once again follows a major development in the Biden brand scandal, the appointment of a special counsel to look into Hunter.
--:-- David Marcus: Will this block Congress's efforts to look into the influence peddling claims? Absolutely not.
--:-- David Marcus: That was a major conservative criticism of the appointment and a fair one. But in reality, representatives like James Comer and Jim Jordan aren't going to just sit on their hands now.
--:-- David Marcus: Furthermore, even Democrat Representative Dan Goldman, who has been Biden's staunchest defender, now admits that Hunter was selling at least the illusion of influence, legalities aside.
--:-- David Marcus: Joe Biden can't hide from this question politically any longer. That's because we now know that, A, Hunter was selling influence, imagined or otherwise, and B, Joe Biden played a role in this by frequently speaking with Hunter's business partners.
--:-- David Marcus: The only question left is whether Joe knew about it. He's going to have to answer that sooner rather than later.
--:-- David Marcus: Final question. If we do end up with a Trump versus Biden general election, what's this all going to look like? Trump will be facing multiple indictments. Biden's facing potential impeachment as well as possible legal action down the road.
--:-- David Marcus: Is it fair to call this a mess? Yes, it's a mess. Thus far, Trump's legal woes have yet to hurt him in the polls, though his numbers have been flat since the first indictment in May.
--:-- David Marcus: Biden already has drastically poor approval ratings, so it's hard to know what impact the Hunter shenanigans are having. But yes, this is all unprecedented and a little crazy.
--:-- David Marcus: And we're not done yet.
--:-- John Bickley: Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
