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--:-- Host John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm joined by my co-host Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us, folks.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: A small city in Ohio has become a lightning rod in the immigration debate, with legacy media attempting to shoot down concerns from residents. They'll raise the rent because the Haitians are getting money from the government. So the landlords are wanting the Haitians to move in and wanting the Springfield citizens to move out. Our reporter is on the ground in Springfield speaking to residents and will hear directly from them.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Both Republicans and Democrats are making aggressive moves to secure control of the Senate. We break down the tight races to watch. And on Tuesday, ABC's moderators fact-checked Trump on crime rates going up on Biden and Harris' watch. But did the moderators get it wrong? They didn't include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud. We look at what the data actually says.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. You can get 60% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com slash wire. That's spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash wire. Rules and restrictions may apply.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Springfield, Ohio has seen a massive influx of Haitian migrants over the last four years, straining city resources and resulting in some alarming reports from residents, including driving-related deaths. The situation has escalated to the point that the governor is now getting involved. But the legacy media has been working to downplay and dismiss claims about what's happening in the small Rust Belt town.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist, who's on the ground there in Springfield, joins us again with the latest.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host John Bickley: So Spencer, there have been more reports and fact checks and just in general more details emerging from Springfield. You've been talking to residents themselves. What are they saying about the situation?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That's right. Some have expressed concern about crime and reckless driving. Others say that the surge of migrants in the city has taken resources away from American citizens, including those who are homeless or who are struggling economically.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: I spoke with one homeless woman named Tabitha, who described the frustrating situation in her own words.
--:-- Tabitha: I'm homeless right now, but the Haitians have all the housing. It's not fair. And they take food away from people like me that really need it. It's absolutely insane. They'll cut in front of you.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Yeah, so I spoke with one man who helps run a weekly food pantry with other volunteers from his church. And he said that the number of people who are requesting their services is on the verge of exceeding their capabilities.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: We started out in 2017 feeding about 30 or 40 people a week. Now we're up to 300 people a week. Wow. If that number keeps multiplying, we'll be out of the business.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: But it isn't just the volunteer groups that are filling the strain. Another Springfield resident pointed out that the migrants are eligible for government assistance despite not being American citizens.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: We talked to a homeless man who he getting denied assistance from his own city but Haitians are coming from a whole different country and they just getting cash assistance they're getting food stamps, and it's just ridiculous because we're not thinking about our citizens first.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: This massive drain on resources is part of the reason the governor, Mike DeWine, has now pledged to send $2.5 million in aid to the city, along with the highway patrol to help with the driving issues.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Here he is at a press conference this week announcing his actions.
--:-- Mike DeWine: I've directed the Ohio State Highway Patrol to surge troopers and patrol cars into Springfield to help the local Springfield Police Department deal with traffic concerns in the community. The goal, of course, is to reduce dangerous driving regardless of who the driver is.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Now, since Trump mentioned Springfield in the debate on Tuesday night, The legacy press has been aggressively fact-checking claims made about the issues plaguing Springfield. What are some of those claims?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That's right. Media plundits have been attempting to debunk many things that residents say have been occurring in the Springfield community. For example, ABC News reported yesterday that there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities, such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes, and that there have been no reports of people in the immigrant community disrupting traffic.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy was killed after a migrant ran into a school bus. As we reported yesterday, a woman says her mother was also killed by a Haitian driver. Residents in the area have also said that they or people they know have lost jobs to migrants.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: CBS has attempted to dismiss those concerns. While the media appears to want to bury this issue, Governor DeWine has made clear that this is a real and apparently growing problem. And he points the finger at the federal government.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: It's the federal government's policies that have created these surges. Federal government does not have a plan to give any support to the communities impacted by the surge. And we have absolutely no indication that a plan is coming in the future.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Hopefully the governor's actions will help. But it's clear from what I'm learning here on the ground that this issue runs very deep and it isn't contained to just Springfield. Other cities like Charleroi, Pennsylvania, have also seen their community massively impacted by an influx of migrants.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Right. Well, we are looking into what's going on in that town as well.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Spencer, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thank you.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: While the race for the White House still appears to be a toss-up, Republicans say they're confident in their odds of retaking the Senate in November.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Here to break down the closest races is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host John Bickley: So you've been reminding everyone to remember the Senate. Where do things stand now?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yes, this is yet another reminder. There is a reason Republicans are so confident in their odds of retaking the chamber. As we've talked about in the past, of the 34 seats up for grabs, 23 are currently held by Democrats. And if you look at the seven tightest races, all of them are seats held by a Democrat right now. So they are undoubtedly on defense from the start.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Democrats currently hold 51 spots. That means Republicans only need to pick up two seats to regain the majority. And if they do that and keep control of the House, even if Kamala Harris does win the White House, she would have a lot of trouble implementing much of her agenda.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The most obvious pickup spot is West Virginia where longtime Democrat turned independent Joe Manchin is retiring. Popular Republican Governor Jim Justice is on the ballot to replace him. He's currently ahead by 30 to 40 points in the poll. So barring some sort of miracle for the left, that is an easy pickup for Republicans, bringing them to 50 seats.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So they'll only need to win one of the seven toss-ups to take the majority. All right, so which states should folks keep an eye on?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, Republicans appear to have the most momentum in Montana, where incumbent Democrat John Tester is really on the hot seat. He's won reelection twice before, but only in off-year elections. This will be the first time he's sharing a ballot with Donald Trump. Now, that is important because Montana went for Trump by 16 points the last election. So he'll have to rely on winning over a large number of Trump voters willing to cross party lines.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that is a tall task, given the fact his opponent, political newcomer and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, is closely aligned with Trump and has actually hit the trail with the former president a few times this year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: After trailing in the polls throughout the summer, Sheehy now has a six to seven point lead and is breaking that crucial 50 percent threshold. Given those numbers, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has moved that race this week from a toss up to leans Republican.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that has Democrats in a frenzy. They know if they lose this race, they almost certainly lose the Senate. So they have poured more than $128 million into the state, hoping to just hold on for dear life.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: A lot of money there. So if they do hold on, where else could Republicans pick up that 51st seat?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the other closest races right now are in Michigan and Ohio. In the former, two members of Congress, Democrat Elisa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers, are locked in a tight race. With Slotkin up by around four or five points, just outside the polling margin of error.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Rogers has gone after Slotkin for her support of EV mandates. That's a big issue in the manufacturing-heavy Michigan.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And also immigration, making note of her past support of numerous Biden-Harris border policies in Congress. For her part, Slotkin has tried to make abortion the key issue of this race, while Rogers says the issue has already been settled.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Remember, Michigan already voted in 2022 to enshrine so-called abortion rights.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's a recent ad to give you an idea of how Rogers is responding to that issue.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I know that a decision about a pregnancy is one of the most difficult and personal decisions a woman will make. Michigan voters have already decided the issue, and I respect that decision. In the Senate, I won't do anything to change it.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So is there a chance that Democrats actually pull off an upset in any races currently considered solidly Republican?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, it's certainly possible. According to the chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, quote, we want to go on offense, and right now our focus is Texas and Florida.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So in Texas, Republican Ted Cruz is ahead on average by six points against far left challenger Congressman Colin Allred. But both sides are very well funded. The two men combined have raised more money than any other Senate race in the country.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And in Florida, incumbent Republican Rick Scott is facing a surprisingly close re-election challenge from Democrat Debbie McCarcel Powell. Scott has a huge name ID advantage and is out-fundraised his opponent by a two-to-one margin.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But Democrats at the national level are preparing to pour resources into this race after a new poll showed a dead heat.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, again, it would be quite the surprise if Democrats won seats in Texas or Florida, but anything could happen.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Anytime.
--:-- Host John Bickley: David Muir, one of ABC News' moderators in Tuesday's presidential debate, corrected former President Trump on crime rates during Vice President Kamala Harris' tenure. But was Muir correct in his correction? Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has dug into the issue and is here to talk about what he found.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Hey Tim. So what does the data actually say?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey John. First, let's hear how Muir fact-checked Trump during the debate on Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Crime is down all over the world except here. Crime here is up and through the roof despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible.
--:-- Tim Pierce: President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country. But excuse me, the FBI defraud. They were defrauding statements. They didn't include the worst cities. So Trump says crime is up under Biden and Harris. And Muir responds with FBI data that he says proves it's down nationally.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Who's right? Trump has the better case. The reason for that is that they're each relying on two different data sets. And Trump's is currently more reliable.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But I should note here, Muir and Lindsay Davis, as the moderators of this debate, were clearly more favorable to Harris than to Trump, which in itself is irresponsible.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But then Muir went to a discredited data set to try and fact-check Trump in front of millions of voters. Just a serious failure here by ABC News.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And Republicans should think hard about that in the future. Trump has already said he's not going to debate again, and his team is suggesting it's in part because of ABC's failure.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, why do I say Trump has the better argument? Muir cited FBI data which does show that crime has dropped in recent years, but the data has major gaps in it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Criminologists on the left and right say the FBI's data is unreliable and likely will remain so for years. That's because in 2021, the Biden administration changed how the FBI receives crime data from local police agencies.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Previously, the FBI had two reporting systems, one to receive general totals about crime that pretty much every agency reported, and another to track more granular data. The Biden administration phased out the first system in 2021, and when that happened, a third of the roughly 1,800 reporting agencies dropped off.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In 2023, that number shrunk to about a quarter, still a massive hole and one that includes major metro areas such as New York City and Los Angeles.
--:-- Tim Pierce: As the left-wing Marshall Project noted last year, quote, as many police departments are still in the process of complying with the FBI's new reporting requirements, experts predict that the national crime data is likely to be incomplete for years to come and will leave more room to politicize crime statistics without concrete evidence.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Really makes you wonder why Muir then relied on it to fact-check Trump on Tuesday. A huge journalistic failure by ABC to cite that data.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What about Trump's claim? Where is he pulling his information?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump's claim is based on the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey. The NCVS results are gathered from interviews conducted with 150,000 families across the country every year.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And its main function has been to track crimes that were not reported to the police. But with FBI statistics so unreliable, the NCVS data is the best national data we have at the moment without going state by state.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And according to this data, Trump's claim about crime being up is true. In 2019, the number of violent victimizations reported was 5.8 million. In 2022, that number rose to 6.6 million, a 14% increase.
--:-- Tim Pierce: If you exclude simple assaults because it's the least serious of the violent crimes and least likely to be charged as a felony, that actually jumps up to 37%. And that increase was driven by crime happening almost entirely in urban areas. That is major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Trump appears to have strong grounds to claim crime is up under the Biden-Harris administration, while ABC should have stayed in their lane.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
