--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and John Bickley is on vacation this week. It's Wednesday, March 13th.
--:-- John Bickley: [audio clip of John Bickley's voice is missing, but Georgia continues]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're discussing Special Counsel Robert Hur's testimony on Capitol Hill. We identified evidence that the president willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency. How did Hur defend his conclusion about Biden's mental acuity and how do newly released transcripts back him up?
--:-- Daily Wire Reporter (Tim Pierce): The evidence and the president himself put his memory squarely at issue. We interviewed the president and asked him about his recorded statement. He told us that he didn't remember saying that to his ghostwriter. He also said he didn't remember finding any classified material in his home after his vice presidency.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about what happened in Hur's testimony.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For context, Hur's report was quite controversial when it came out because it really called into question President Biden's mental fitness.
--:-- Daily Wire Reporter (Tim Pierce): The memory issue was addressed in the hearing. Biden's mental decline was arguably the biggest issue of the hearing. For context, Hur declined to recommend charges against Biden in part because the prosecutor said a jury would likely see the president as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Congressman Hank Johnson suggested that Hur trashed Biden in the report so that it could be weaponized against him in the election.
--:-- Congressman Hank Johnson: And you doing everything you can do to get President Trump reelected so that you can get appointed as a federal judge or perhaps to another position in the Department of Justice. Isn't that correct?
--:-- Robert Hur: Congressman, I have no such aspirations, I can assure you. And I can tell you that partisan politics had no place whatsoever in my work.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The White House itself actually asked Hur to tone down parts of his report as it regards Biden's memory.
--:-- Robert Hur: They did request certain edits and changes to the draft report.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce, what were some of the disagreements with Hur's report from Republicans?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Some disagreed with Hur's conclusions about Biden's memory and how that could impact a jury. Others actually agreed with Hur's conclusion, but said that it still showed a double standard at the Department of Justice because Trump is currently in court over his handling of classified documents.
--:-- Congressman Matt Gaetz: What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you? If like deleting the evidence of crimes doesn't count, what would meet the standard?
--:-- Robert Hur: One of the things that Mr. Zwanitzer did not delete was transcripts of the recordings that he had created that included inculpatory evidence relating to Mr. Biden.
--:-- Congressman Matt Gaetz: Oh, so if you if you destroy some evidence but not other evidence that somehow absolves you of the evidence you destroy. Like, here's what I see. Zwaniger should have been charged. Wasn't Biden and Trump should have been treated equally. They weren't. And that is the double standard that I think a lot of Americans are concerned about.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome back to Morning Wire. We're discussing the latest developments in the January 6th Select Committee and the FAA's audit of Boeing planes.
--:-- Daily Wire Reporter (Amanda Prestigiacomo): So Trump's White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Anthony Ornato, apparently told the J6 committee that Trump wanted 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the Capitol, but was turned down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo is here to discuss the latest developments.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The transcript of this was uncovered by Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk. He's leading an investigation into the actions of the J6 committee and the security failures surrounding the breach.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The interview with Ornato was attended by former Rep. Liz Cheney and other members of the J6 committee, but still the committee concluded that they found no evidence that Trump called for the National Guard to protect the Capitol.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, do we know exactly what Ornato said during his interview? We do. According to reporting from Molly Hemingway at The Federalist, Ornato said that he overheard then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows ask D.C. Mayor Bowser if she needed National Guard support leading up to January 6th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new report alleges that the January 6th Select Committee suppressed evidence relating to a Trump administration request for thousands of National Guard troops to secure the U.S. capital.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Cassidy Hutchinson, the J6 committee's star witness, gave some pretty dramatic testimony that she heard about Trump lunging at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV and getting into a physical altercation with his lead Secret Service agent after Trump was told he couldn't go to the Capitol on January 6th.
--:-- Congressman Matt Gaetz: What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you? If like deleting the evidence of crimes doesn't count, what would meet the standard?
--:-- Robert Hur: One of the things that Mr. Zwanitzer did not delete was transcripts of the recordings that he had created that included inculpatory evidence relating to Mr. Biden.
--:-- Congressman Matt Gaetz: Oh, so if you if you destroy some evidence but not other evidence that somehow absolves you of the evidence you destroy. Like, here's what I see. Zwaniger should have been charged. Wasn't Biden and Trump should have been treated equally. They weren't. And that is the double standard that I think a lot of Americans are concerned about.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: You're welcome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome back to Morning Wire. We're discussing the FAA's audit of Boeing planes and the whistleblower who went public with evidence of safety issues at the company.
--:-- Daily Wire Reporter (Megan Basham): The FAA audit found dozens of problems with Boeing planes. Regulators identified 97 instances of failure to comply with best practices that the company itself had set for its manufacturing process for those 737 MAX jets.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham is here to discuss the latest developments.
--:-- Megan Basham: The problems included things like a mechanic lubricating a door seal with Dawn liquid soap and another checking a door seal with a hotel key card.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The FAA has stopped production expansion of the Boeing 737, and it has told the company it has 90 days to provide an action plan for exactly how it's going to address these issues.
--:-- Megan Basham: The whistleblower who went public with evidence of safety issues at Boeing was found dead over the weekend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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