--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us, folks.
--:-- John Bickley: We've got a lot to cover today, so let's dive right in. The attorneys for Marine veteran Daniel Penny, who was indicted by a grand jury this week, are speaking out in defense of their client. If you look at some of the vitriol that has been directed against my client Danny Penny, loaded disparagements like killer, racist, vigilante, we thought that it was very important that we have him counter that narrative.
--:-- [Sound effects: A quick news clip plays in the background]
--:-- Georgia Howe: What do we know about the charges he's facing and the defense his lawyers are building?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm joined now by Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce to discuss this story. Tim, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's start with the basics. What do we know about the charges against Daniel Penny?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Penny was reportedly indicted on second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. Penny is facing up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and four years for negligent homicide.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Penny's attorneys spoke out after the indictment. What can we expect from them?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, we expect him to plead not guilty when he's arraigned on June 28th. Statements from Penny and his attorneys suggest that he intends to make a self-defense case.
--:-- John Bickley: Let's listen to what one of his lawyers, Thomas Kniff, told Fox News. [Audio clip plays]
--:-- Thomas Kniff: The standard in New York State is you don't have to wait until someone physically attacks. You don't have to wait until somebody is lying on the ground or worse. The standard is whether a reasonable person in my client's position would have feared imminent harm.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And the reality is that it wasn't just my client who expressed how terrified he was by Jordan Neely's actions on the subway train that afternoon. His words and that terror are corroborated by multiple civilian witnesses, innocent bystanders who were on the train, by individuals who actually came and assisted my client in restraining Mr. Neely because it was such a palpable fear that he had introduced into that situation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we've heard from Penny himself, who released a video statement defending his actions and emphasizing the threatening behavior of Neely.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's right. Penny said that he got up and grabbed Neely to restrain him. Some people say I was trying to choke him to death, which is also not true. I was trying to restrain him from being able to carry out the threats.
--:-- John Bickley: It's worth noting that Penny served four years in the Marines, so he's been trained in lethal and non-lethal restraints. And eyewitnesses back up what Penny said about Neely's behavior.
--:-- Tim Pierce: One woman who was on the train said that people were scared for their lives. She condemned Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for bringing the charges at all against Penny, whom she called a hero.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This case really came into the national spotlight because of the racial dynamics. Penny is white, and Neely was black. How has race played into the case so far?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, first, other than that circumstance, there isn't any evidence to suggest what happened here was motivated by race. So it's played no official role, legally speaking.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, Tim, for breaking down this story for us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Sound effects: A quick news clip plays in the background]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, let's talk about the Republican National Committee's new get-out-the-vote strategy. We're joined now by Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the RNC.
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Ronna, what's behind this new strategy, and how is the group addressing voter concerns about election integrity?
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: We're launching a Bank Your Vote campaign, which is all about educating voters on the importance of getting their votes in early. We're also going to be ramping up our poll watching and poll working efforts to make sure that every vote is counted fairly.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A lot of GOP voters are concerned about ballot harvesting and election integrity. Is that something the RNC is pushing for?
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: Well, first of all, I don't like ballot harvesting. I think it's bad. I don't think it's good law to have people have different chain of custody and have somebody have thousands of ballots to turn in. So we're going to continue to fight what we think are bad laws.
--:-- John Bickley: You mentioned poll watchers. What's the grassroots effort there?
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: It's massive. We had 19 different councils in different states, and we had 80,000 poll watchers and poll workers recruited. We shifted 100% in counties that we knew we had issues with.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a lot of effort. And I understand that the RNC was under a consent decree for 40 years that prevented you from doing any election day operations.
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: That's right. We were under something called a consent decree. It came from a New Jersey court order. The judge kept re-upping it. We appealed, and actually, the judge ended up passing away, which ended the consent decree.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, there will definitely be a lot of eyes on this in 2024.
--:-- Ronna McDaniel: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Sound effects: A quick news clip plays in the background]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, let's talk about a new report that reveals tobacco companies are scoring high on ESG ratings. We're joined now by Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Megan, ESG ratings are theoretically supposed to allow investors to invest their money in companies that are having a positive societal impact. So why would these companies score so high?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, this report was published in the Washington Free Beacon, and what it found was that companies like tobacco giant Philip Morris scored an 84. And by contrast, the electric car company Tesla, which you would think would do pretty well on that E, scored a 37.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's astonishing when you realize that tobacco farming and production have a very high carbon footprint and cause deforestation and soil erosion.
--:-- Megan Basham: Exactly. And then you look at the S, social. So cigarettes are the number one cause of preventable death in this country. They kill more than alcohol, illegal drugs, and car accidents combined.
--:-- John Bickley: And yet Altria, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, scored a 94.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, a lot of it seems to center on how these companies are emphasizing diversity and inclusion. Philip Morris has taken pains to highlight its female tobacco farmers. Altria touts their supplier diversity program.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that's what's so interesting about this report. It's not just about the environment; it's also about social responsibility.
--:-- Megan Basham: Exactly. And that's why critics are saying that ESG is a deeply flawed metric that doesn't accomplish the goal of ethical investing.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, that's all the time we have for today. Thanks for waking up with us, folks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
--:-- [Theme music starts playing]
