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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, along with our editor-in-chief, John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. Today's episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Early Thursday morning, Vladimir Putin ordered military operations in eastern Ukraine, warning soldiers there to lay down their arms. With Ukraine's foreign minister declaring it a full-scale war, President Biden has condemned Russia for its unprovoked and unjustified attack.
--:-- John Bickley: We speak with a foreign policy expert about the crisis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us is Niall Gardner, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher and director of the Heritage Foundation's Thatcher Center for Freedom.
--:-- Niall Gardner: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the world's watching as Putin takes extremely aggressive action in Ukraine. What's fueling this invasion? What are his goals here?
--:-- Niall Gardner: I think it's really about power and imperial ambition. And of course, Ukraine was a former part of the Soviet empire. And in many respects, Putin is trying to rebuild what earlier generations of Russian leaders built.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Along with these ambitions, energy is also a key factor at play here. And really energy helped lead to the crisis. What role does energy play in this whole situation?
--:-- Niall Gardner: Many European countries are heavily energy dependent upon the Russians. And this is a key factor why European governments have been hesitant to take a tougher stance against Russia because they need Russian energy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Germans and the Russians have been working together for many many years to build what is known as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which basically channels energy supplies from Russia to Germany. But the Germans have just announced that they are suspending the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
--:-- Niall Gardner: That is a welcome development. This pipeline should never have been built in the first place, and the Germans should never have entered into this agreement with Moscow in the beginning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There are multiple Western European countries that receive, you know, around a quarter to a third of their energy supplies from Russia. You know, countries such as, you know, France, Italy, big players in the European Union are increasingly energy dependent, not quite to the same extent as Germany, but they're moving in that same direction.
--:-- Niall Gardner: Now, the U.S. has already announced some sanctions on Russia earlier this week, and President Biden has signaled that he will take more action. Do we have reason to believe, though, that sanctions are actually a good way to pressure Russia?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, sanctions have, you know, some limited impact. And it's clear that sanctions should be applied right now to Russia over the Ukraine invasion. But, you know, in order to be truly effective, sanctions have got to be very hard-hitting and very substantial.
--:-- Niall Gardner: Now, the Russians are increasingly aligning themselves with China, the world's second largest economy. There's growing collaboration between Beijing and Moscow. The Russians think that they can weaken the impact or lessen the impact of European and U.S. sanctions by closely cooperating with the Chinese.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With Putin now invading eastern Ukraine, we have people declaring this already a full-blown war, including President Biden. What would war in Europe look like with Russia?
--:-- Niall Gardner: I think it would be a bloodbath, actually. If this is expanded into a much bigger invasion, I'd expect that tens of thousands of people will be killed. The Russian regime is barbaric and is evil. They do not have any concern for human life. They will kill indiscriminately, and they will slaughter men, women, and children.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, things are moving very rapidly now in Ukraine, and it's looking quite grim. We'll see what moves the U.S. and NATO take next.
--:-- Niall Gardner: That was Heritage Foundation's Niall Gardner.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, LA prosecutors turn on the city's controversial DA.
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--:-- John Bickley: As Los Angeles continues to suffer from waves of violent crime, a new effort is underway to recall the city's district attorney, George Gascon, who campaigned on a promise to bring progressive ideas to the city's criminal justice system.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips is here with more on the recall effort, as well as new audio from the case of a sex offender benefiting from Gascon's policies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Cabot, first, can you give us some quick background on Gascon and what led us to this recall?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. So Gascon won his 2020 DA election fairly easily after campaigning on far-left criminal justice policies. After taking office, he passed a series of reforms that, among other things, reduced sentencing requirements for felons, prevented prosecutors from seeking life sentences without parole, and banned all juveniles from being sentenced as adults, even in violent crimes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, almost immediately after taking office, there was friction between Gascon and prosecutors in LA aka the people actually enforcing his policies. They sued to try and block a rule that would have prevented them from seeking longer prison sentences for certain violent crime and other felonies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But most people in LA didn't really seem all that bothered initially. That was until violent crime and homelessness spiked in the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, how did that impact his standing?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, immensely. We've covered on the show quite a bit how LA is in the midst of a massive violent crime wave, with homicides increasing 11% last year alone to a 15-year high. And many people have blamed what they call soft on crime policies from the DA's office for the uptick.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, there have been numerous instances of felons being arrested and let go multiple times over the course of just one week. And that's causing Gascon's prosecutors, the people meant to be on his team, if you will, to turn against him.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, that's the union representing prosecutors in the city, 97.9% of its members voted in support of removing Gascon from his position. 97.9%. Almost everyone.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The union's president, Michelle Hennessey, issued a statement on the vote saying, quote, this vote is by those who are intimately familiar with how Mr. Gascon's policies actually play out on a day-to-day basis.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Gascon has already faced one recall effort last year, but that attempt failed before it even reached the ballot. But this time around, there does seem to be a lot more momentum building in support of a recall.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There was one story in particular that drew nationwide outrage against Gascon. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, this one's pretty wild. And it's being called a final nail in the coffin by critics of Gascon on both sides of the aisle. It involves the case of James Tubbs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So back in 2014, Tubbs assaulted and molested a 10-year-old girl in a Denny's bathroom, but wasn't caught until last year. After being caught, Tubbs began identifying as a woman and changed names from James to Hannah.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Because of Gascon's new policies, despite now being 26 years old and having committed the crime just two weeks before their 18th birthday, Tubbs was tried as a juvenile and sentenced to just two years in a juvenile detention center with the possibility of only serving six months.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In addition, Tubbs will not be registered as a sex offender because, again, of Gascon's new policies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there were some phone calls that leaked this week, which drew even more attention. What can you tell us there?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, Fox News obtained calls from back in November where Tubbs from prison mocked the lax sentencing and laughed about not having to register as a sex offender.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They're going to sit me on probation and it's going to be dropped. It's going to be done. Done. I won't have to register. I won't have to do nothing. For an offender, you don't have to register. I won't have to do none of that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what are they going to do to you then?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Nothing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After those phone calls were made public, Gascon issued a statement saying he'd never heard them before. He said, quote, if we knew about her disregard for the harm she caused, we would have handled this case very differently.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: However, Jonathan Hitami, he's a district attorney working for Gascon, says that that's a lie. And that he personally sent those phone calls to Gascon's office months ago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: George Gascon's management wanted the jail calls. And then I have emails showing the folders with those jail calls being sent to George Gascon's chain of command.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Tubbs' victim, who was 10 at the time of the assault, just released her first statement. She just turned 18. She said, quote, the things he did to me and made me do that day were beyond horrible for a 10-year-old girl to have to go through.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I want him tried as an adult for the crimes he committed against me. She also touched on the gender transition part of this, saying, quote, I've heard that my attacker goes by she, them pronouns now. It's also unfair to try him as a woman as well, seeing how he clearly didn't act like one when he assaulted her.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now obviously a lot to go through here but it looks like D Gascon days might be numbered.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it seems that way, Cabot. Thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime, Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The United States women's national soccer team reached a settlement Tuesday in its lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The lawsuit dates back to 2016, when five members of the women's national team filed a sex discrimination suit arguing that female players should be paid the same as male players.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with the details is Daily Wire sports reporter Joe Morgan.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Joe, a major settlement this week. Walk us through the deal.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, so U.S. Soccer has agreed to pay the women's team a lump sum of $22 million, which is about a third of what they originally asked for. They originally asked for $66 million.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to the AP, the USSF also agreed to establish a fund with $2 million to benefit the players in their post-soccer careers and charitable efforts aimed at growing the sport for women.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Going forward, the women's team will also receive the same pay and benefits as the men's team in all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So regardless of potential differences in earning, the women's team will make the exact same money as the men's team.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Correct, and in the past, the discrepancy in pay has been vast. For example, FIFA set aside $400 million for the 2018 Men's World Cup tournament, which included $38 million to the championship team from France. FIFA only earmarked $30 million for the 2019 women's tournament, including $4 million to the U.S. championship team.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The women's team also receives a base salary and benefits, which the men's team does not. But with the settlement, the women's and men's team will make the exact same money in international play.
--:-- Joe Morgan: And when does this go into effect?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, technically, it's still up in the air. The settlement is contingent on the creation of a new collective bargaining agreement by the U.S. WNT Players Association.
--:-- Joe Morgan: According to The Athletic, once a new CBA has been ratified, the district court will be able to schedule the final approval of the settlement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they received about a third of what they asked for. How did the members of the USWNT take the news?
--:-- Joe Morgan: They were elated. Megan Rapinoe called it a, quote, huge win and that the team put their foot down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, for us as players, I'm just so proud of the way we stuck together and really just kind of put our foot down.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Now, when we discuss equal pay, does this mean that the women's soccer players will be making as much as the men across the board?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Not across the board, no. The majority of money the soccer players make actually comes from outside of these international tournaments.
--:-- Joe Morgan: For example, Cristiano Ronaldo plays for a club team during the regular season, and he made $70 million in salary in 2021. For comparison, the top-earning women's player, Carly Lloyd, made $518,000 in 2021.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So when you take club league pay into account, the pay difference between male and female players is still enormous.
--:-- Joe Morgan: This also doesn't take into account endorsement deals that individual athletes negotiate with brands, which can be extremely lucrative.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, thanks for the update, Joe.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, you got it. That's Daily Wire sports reporter Joe Morgan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. The websites of several Ukrainian government departments and banks were hit with a cyber attack on Wednesday.
--:-- John Bickley: Among the websites impacted were those for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet of Ministers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening and give us a five-star review.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Thank you.
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