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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Illegal crossings at the southern border hit another historic benchmark, with more migrants crossing last month than any month before. At the same time, we have record low ICE deportation, so record numbers coming across, record few being removed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How are border states dealing with the influx of migrants?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, January 2nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Conflict in the Red Sea ramps up as the U.S. sinks two Houthi rebel boats attempting to hijack merchant ships.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We're going to put the kind of forces we need in the region to protect those interests, and we're going to act in self-defense going forward.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): What are the U.S. and other countries doing to stop the continued attacks?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And the Biden DOJ announces that it will not pursue charges related to political donations and bribes against Democrat mega donor Sam Bankman-Fried, prompting accusations of a cover-up.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): While tackling your New Year's goals, don't forget about your daily dose of fruits and vegetables, which just got easier to remember thanks to Balance of Nature. Their fruit and veggie capsules offer a convenient way to consume those essential nutritional ingredients daily.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So improve your diet and feel your best this year. Go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off, plus a free fiber and spice in your first order as a preferred customer.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Last month saw the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border in history. Exacerbating a border crisis that strained cities nationwide.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here with more on the situation is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, so it seems like records are being broken at the border nearly every month now and states are starting to take more aggressive action.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): First, tell us about these historic numbers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it is easy to grow numb to the magnitude of this crisis when you hear about records being broken month after month. But the numbers bear repeating.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to new federal data, last month alone saw more than 276,000 legal immigrant encounters at the southern border. Not only is that the highest mark in American history, breaking the previous record set back in September, but it also fills to take into account the tens of thousands, maybe even more, who got through the southern border undetected.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For context, this December represents a 262% increase in border crossings compared to the same month in 2020.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, these numbers are almost hard to comprehend. They really are.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So to put it into more perspective, since October, we've now seen at least 760,000 legal entries at the border. That is the equivalent to the populations of Miami and Pittsburgh combined in just three months' time.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And get this, in the fall of 2023, more people crossed our border illegally than were born in the United States over that same timeframe.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All told, federal data reports 3.2 million illegal entries in the year 2023.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Again, these numbers can be hard to wrap your head around. So picture the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware, and Rhode Island crossing the southern border in one year. And that's what happened last year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So regardless of the messaging we hearing from lawmakers in Washington this crisis is simply unprecedented and only getting worse.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now we talked about how some states particularly Texas are beginning to take matters into their own hands. What the latest on those efforts?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, Texas has allocated billions of dollars towards the crisis fortifying vulnerable portions of the border with new construction and manpower.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And just before Christmas, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a first-of-its-kind immigration measure that takes effect this coming March.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The law will allow law enforcement in the state to arrest migrants for crossing the border illegally, and then give local judges the power to deport them.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: If they refuse the court's order to leave, they'll face misdemeanor charges of illegal entry and then felony charges if they're arrested again.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's Abbott addressing that law at a signing event from the border.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The only thing we are doing by this law is making sure that our law enforcement have the tools they need to actually take action against those who are actually coming across the border illegally.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, in response, the Biden administration announced Thursday that they would sue Texas if the state enforced the law, which they are expected to do.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They said in a letter to Governor Abbott that he was, quote, intruding into a field that is occupied by the federal government.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For his part, Abbott has vowed to fight that lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While immigration advocates argue the law is inhumane and will lead to police profiling, supporters say the purpose of law enforcement is to enforce the law and that illegal immigration is by definition illegal.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So regardless, a long legal battle is almost certainly ahead of us on that front.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, before we go, let's get to California, which just enacted a very different law pertaining to illegal immigration, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So starting this week, California will become the first state in the country to offer taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Prior to this year, legal immigrant children could obtain state-funded health care under the law, but now their parents will be included as well.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That means that at least 700,000 people living in the state illegally will now be given full coverage moving forward.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Democrats in the state, including Governor Gavin Newsom, celebrated the development, saying health care is a human right, while Republicans pointed to the state's $68 billion deficit this coming year and said the move would only incentivize more illegal immigration.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Brandon: Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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--:-- Tim Pierce: U.S. helicopters sunk three Houthi boats over the weekend as their crews attempted to hijack a merchant vessel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Although no civilians were harmed, the attack has renewed concerns about merchant safety as a U.S.-led coalition polices the region.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the growing unrest in the Middle East.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim. So a significant escalation here. What happened over the weekend?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, John. The merchant ship at the center of all this was a container ship operated by the shipping giant Maersk.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The saga started on Saturday night. It issued a distress call after a missile struck its deck Two US Navy vessels in the area responded to the call and shot down several more rockets from Houthi rebels No injuries were reported as a result of the incident The container ship issued another distress call at about 6.30 the next morning after its security forces traded small arms fire with four Houthi boats.
--:-- Tim Pierce: U.S. helicopters responded and, after taking fire from rebels, sunk three of the four boats. The fourth escaped.
--:-- Tim Pierce: No shipping crew or U.S. personnel were harmed either day, but after the attack, Mayer said it would pause shipping through the Red Sea to reassess the security situation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The company had recently lifted a week-long suspension of its Red Sea routes because of U.S. promises to protect trade through the area, but those promises don't seem to have been enough to stop Houthi attacks.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. This is a part of Operation Prosperity Guardian that was announced a few weeks ago, and we reported on it, and it's attempting to reopen Red Sea shipping.
--:-- Tim Pierce: How is the operation going. Obviously, the Houthi attacks haven't stopped, and U.S. military officials don't expect them to either.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So the safety of merchant ships depends on the U.S. coalition's ability to intercept Houthi boats and missiles.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told the Associated Press over the weekend that despite the attacks, 1,200 merchant ships had crossed through the Red Sea since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced a few weeks ago.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But according to reports, The U.S. may be struggling to recruit allies to join its operation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Pentagon has said about 20 other nations have agreed to cooperate in the mission.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But Reuters reports that many of those 20 haven't been named publicly.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Of those that have, there are a few cases, such as Italy and Spain, where the member countries seem to distance themselves from the operation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So President Biden may be having trouble projecting the united front he had hoped for.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, sounds like it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, this is coming amid ongoing conflicts in the region. What do we know about the threat to U.S. troops and interests in other parts of the Middle East?
--:-- Tim Pierce: So since Hamas' October 7th attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched dozens of rocket attacks against Israel and U.S. forces throughout the Middle East.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In response, the U.S. and Israel have struck targets in Iraq and Syria, such as fuel and arms depots of Iran's proxies.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Those attacks have sparked some blowback from Arab governments.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Iraq accused the United States of committing a clear hostile act after a strike reportedly killed one and wounded 18.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's worth noting that a main objective of the Biden administration has been to keep the conflict between Israel and Hamas from spreading, but that doesn't seem to be going all that well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: As Israel pressures Hamas, many other Iran-backed militias are growing more aggressive against Israel, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah to Israel's north in Lebanon.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Biden administration has been pretty restrained in its response to attacks amid all this, but as the conflicts escalate, some are saying targeted strikes aren't enough.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently called for the U.S. and Israel to target Iran directly through sanctions and sabotage for the attacks by its proxies.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Meanwhile, the public messaging coming from the Iranian regime continues to aggressively target Israel and the U.S.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Obviously a very unstable situation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for the update.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The Biden Department of Justice announced over the weekend that it does not plan to prosecute disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for unlawful political donations and bribery of foreign officials.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The DOJ's decision not to bring charges have sparked accusations of a political cover-up.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So Amanda the DOJ was going to go after Bankman Freed for these apparent illicit campaign donations but now they not going to What was the reasoning for that
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So the DOJ is saying that it acting out of the public interest here and basically that it doesn need to pursue these charges because Bankman Freed or SBF as he widely known was already found guilty of other fraud charges back in November.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a legal filing that much of the evidence that would be offered in this second trial was already offered in the first trial and can be considered by the court during SBF's sentencing, and that's scheduled for March.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: But some quick background that's important. SBF was found guilty in that first trial on all seven counts that he was charged with, and that included wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit those crimes.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Notably, though, prosecutors were unable to go after the crypto CEO for fraud charges relating to unlawful campaign contributions.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And that was because the extradition agreement with the Bahamas to arrest SBF did not include such counts.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So what are the specific charges that they're choosing not to pursue now?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So unlawful campaign contributions and bribery of foreign officials are the main ones.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Specifically, when it comes to foreign bribes, this was actually brought up in the first trial, though most of it was struck from the record because it didn't relate to the charges at hand.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Caroline Ellison, SPF's on-and-off-again girlfriend who ran his hedge fund Alameda Research, she testified in court that SPF paid around $100 million in bribes to Chinese officials.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She said that the alleged bribes were paid in 2021 to try to unlock two cryptocurrency trading accounts owned by Alameda.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, what sort of reaction are we seeing from this DOJ decision not to go after these additional charges?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There's been a lot of anger and accusations that the DOJ is acting politically here.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Critics say the DOJ is trying to protect politicians by not exposing those involved in apparent bribery schemes.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: It's widely known that SBF was a major donor to Democrats in 2022.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In fact, he was the third largest donor. And we're talking about tens of millions of dollars, over 40 million in just 2022.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: SBF was also one of the largest donors to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign with a $5.2 million donation.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And this was all very public.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here's SBF actually seeming to brag to Bloomberg News about funding politicians.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: If I pulled out my phone here and just looked at my last 10 text messages, about half of them are going to be politicians asking for contributions.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: SBF has claimed that he's donated to Republicans too through untraceable methods. That's harder to pin down, but there were multi-million dollar donations given to groups that are linked to Mitch McConnell, a Republican leader, and Chuck Schumer, a Democrat leader, for example.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And what kind of prison sentence is he looking at? He's facing up to 110 years behind bars and is expected to face a decades-long sentence.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: That is going to be determined by Manhattan-based federal judge Louis Kaplan.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Sentencing is set for March 28th.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, a lot of high-profile people were caught up in this. Probably glad to have it wrap up.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: You're welcome.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for listening this morning.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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