--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the host, John Bickley, speaks]
--:-- John Bickley: The NFL is back, and FanDuel's got everything you need to play your game. From same-game parlays to live betting. Right now, new customers bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. 21-plus in president select states. 18-plus in Kentucky and Wyoming. Must be first online real money waging. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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--:-- John Bickley: As Republican presidential hopefuls gear up this week for the second primary debate, a new ABC Washington Post poll shakes D.C. This is exactly what debates are for, and we're going to see movement and shifts in the polls as each one of these debates happen. I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, September 25th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: My office has obtained a three-count indictment charging Senator Robert Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen. Three-term Democratic Senator Robert Menendez has been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for swaying policy to benefit Egypt. We break down the charges and the growing calls for him to step down.
--:-- John Bickley: And an online safety bill in the UK passes both houses of parliament. And free speech advocates are sounding the alarm over what it could mean for social media users. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: This week, GOP presidential hopefuls will take to the stage for the second debate of the 2024 election, hoping to gain momentum ahead of the all-important Iowa caucus that's now just four months away. Here with more on the state of the race and what we expect to see on the debate stage is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot. What are we seeing ahead of Wednesday's debate? Right now, the story of the race is that there hardly seems to be a race, according to polling at least. Former President Trump maintains a historic lead, running laps around his competitors. A slew of national polls last week showed him leading by anywhere from 46 to 47 points, raking in nearly 60% among primary voters. And second is Ron DeSantis, who's fallen to the 10 to 13% range. Remember, he was sitting in the mid-20s as recently as June.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Then there's Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pence, each of whom are in the mid-to-high single digits. But look, the reality is right now they are all playing catch-up to Trump. We have never seen a candidate with such a large lead at this point in the race not secure the nomination. But historical precedent has been thrown out the window over the last few election cycles, and the remaining candidates are clearly hoping to make a historic comeback, which we'll need to start in Iowa.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So let's get to the Hawkeye state where the first primary votes will be cast in January. What are we seeing there? How's it shaking out? So while Trump's lead there is slightly smaller than his lead nationally, he's still leading by around 30 points in every Iowa poll this month. The former president has ramped up his campaigning in the state, spending $700,000 on TV ads there and announcing four trips to the state in October. That means he'll spend more time in Iowa this coming month than he spent there in the last nine months combined.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He really needs a convincing victory there, especially given the fact that he's calling on other candidates to drop out, saying the race is already over. That argument will obviously lose potency if he ends up in a tight race or even comes in second. Now, it's worth noting, historically, we have seen examples of candidates making a late surge to win the state. For example at this point in the 2016 race Trump was in first place at 28 while Texas Senator Ted Cruz who ended up winning was all the way down in the mid digits So there is still time for a comeback It just going to need to start soon
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, and a potential comeback could start on the debate stage this week in California. What are we expecting to see there? Well, first, the stage will be less crowded than last month's debate when eight candidates appeared. This time, we're expecting to see just six, as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson appear to have failed to reach the mandatory polling and fundraising cutoff. That leaves DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Haley, Scott, Pence, and Christie.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Typically, as we get closer to Iowa, the debate stage becomes more heated as candidates become more desperate. We'll be keeping a close eye on DeSantis, who largely avoided going after other candidates last go-round, including Trump. There is a good chance he takes a more aggressive approach, as like we mentioned earlier, he struggled in the polls. For his part, Trump has refused to appear at the debate, saying he'll wait for the field to narrow before jumping in. Instead of debating, he announced last week that he'll appear in Detroit to deliver a speech to union workers who were taking part in that auto strike. So he's hardly laying low on debate night.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, as expected. We also got a number of polls last week showing how potential GOP nominees would fare against President Biden. There was some interesting data there, especially an ABC poll that's really turned some heads. How's that shaping up?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, so over the summer, Trump's primary opponents campaigned primarily on their electability, claiming they were the only candidate who could beat Biden while pointing to polls that showed Trump losing in a hypothetical head-to-head with the president. But we've seen a noticeable shift in the last few weeks. In 10 head-to-head polls across September, Biden leads Trump in just two, while Trump is ahead in four, and they're dead tied in the other four.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Wow, so really tied. Yeah, and the latest polling this weekend you mentioned from ABC and the Washington Post had a lot of people talking Washington and some Democrats panicking. It shows Trump with a massive nine-point lead on Biden nationally at 51 to 42. And what really jumped out to me is the fact that 48% of voters say looking back, they now approve of Trump's performance as president. That matches the highest mark he reached during his presidency and is 10 points higher than when he left office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it does seem that Biden's presidency is sort of making people grow more fond of Trump in retrospect. All that to say, the idea that Trump has no shot in the general election just does not hold water, according to all the data we have at the moment. But we should note, of the remaining GOP candidates, Nikki Haley right now polls best against Biden, leading in the last three national polls by two, four, and five points. But again, those general election polls mean little until the primary is decided. And thankfully, we're just a few short months away from real votes being cast.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. And in the end, it's state by state. Yep.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has been indicted, along with his wife, on federal charges of violating corruption and bribery laws. The three-term senator stands accused of accepting cash, gifts, and even gold in exchange for his influence over policies that benefited the Egyptian government. Here to discuss the allegations is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, Dave. So a major scandal here. Can you break down these charges?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning. Federal authorities say that the senator accepted over $500,000 in cash, bars of gold bullion, and a Mercedes in exchange for using his power to maintain aid to Egypt and to benefit three Garden State businessmen who were also indicted, as was Menendez's wife, Nadine. The senator was the chairman of the highly powerful Foreign Relations Committee, a perch that helped him procure perks for Egypt, prosecutors say.
--:-- David Marcus: After the announcement of the indictments he stepped down from that position but thus far is steadfast in maintaining he will not resign from the Senate even amid growing pressure to do so Right from both sides of the aisle What was it that the Egyptian government wanted from Menendez in exchange for these gifts and what evidence did the FBI find at his home
--:-- Georgia Howe: Egypt is the beneficiary of billions of dollars of U.S. foreign aid, but there have been suggestions that that aid should be cut in protest to a host of human rights abuses in the country. As a member of and eventually chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez was in a strong position to keep the spigot open on that aid. As to the evidence from his home, it was honestly like something out of Saturday Night Live, like wads of cash strewn around the house in closets, very large gold bars, a fine German automobile in the driveway.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, the kind of stuff that anyone might have laying around. Menendez insists that he is innocent of these charges, but we should note that this isn't the first set of charges he's faced. He was indicted in 2017. That eventually fizzled after a mistrial. Were those charges similar? They were. He was accused of taking bribes from a longtime donor in the form of campaign contributions and trips. That went to trial, and as you say, it ended in a mistrial, though it's worth noting the jury was 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Menendez is basically saying that this time around something very similar will happen. He has also suggested that he's being targeted for being Latino, though he doesn't offer any evidence of that besides the fact that he's Latino. Now, there are some Democrats who are calling for Menendez to resign from the Senate. Who are they and what is their argument?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, so New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has called on the senator to step down, as has Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator John Fetterman. You can take them in good faith that it's hard to do the job of a senator while facing these kinds of charges, though, as we just mentioned, he's done that before. So there's also a political calculus here that Menendez staying in his seat compromises the attack that Democrats have made towards Donald Trump and his indictments, as well as allegations of corruption regarding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. These Democrats want to try to show that they're just as fair when it's someone on their side of the aisle. In addition, since the governor is a Democrat, this wouldn't cost the party a Senate seat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. An important note there. So far, Menendez is vowing to stay put, as you noted. But could the calls for his ouster get too loud for him to hold up? It's certainly possible. You may recall two years ago that Andrew Cuomo resigned somewhat surprisingly as governor of New York only after Joe Biden himself called for it. So something like that could certainly happen. But as much as Democrats may want to see the senator fall on his sword for the sake of the party, Menendez is just as likely to point to the Trump indictments and say, hey, I demand my day in court, too.
--:-- David Marcus: Well, apparently everyone gets their day in court. Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The UK has just passed the controversial online safety bill, which gives the government sweeping new powers to oversee social media companies. and critics say that even includes the power to access encrypted platforms like Signal. Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, after a long fight, the online safety bill has now passed both houses of parliament. Does that mean it's now law?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, almost law. Really, the only thing it needs now is a royal assent from King Charles, and he is expected to give that pretty soon. And what exactly would this bill do? Well proponents of the bill say it meant to protect users from illegal online content They especially thinking of children so that they don encounter harmful posts images videos that kind of thing Now, a lot of that element is uncontroversial in that it addresses content that is already illegal. It's just looking for enforcement mechanisms. The controversial part comes with material that isn't necessarily illegal, but is deemed quote unquote harmful.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, I reviewed some key parts of this bill myself, and there is a provision in Part 10 against what they call false information. It says a person commits an offense if they convey information that they know to be false when they sent it, and it causes non-trivial psychological harm to a likely audience. And then if senior managers at tech companies fail to respond to information requests from Office of Communication regulators, well, those tech managers could face criminal prosecution or even prison time.
--:-- Megan Basham: And this also applies to private conversations, correct? Yeah, and that's another big issue. So depending on how it's interpreted, another clause, Clause 122, could allow the UK Office of Communications, Ofcom, to break the encryption of apps like Signal and WhatsApp in order to ensure that illegal material is removed. But of course, that would mean allowing the regulators to see what's on these platforms that are popular precisely because they provide that privacy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this was Meredith Whitaker, president of Signal Foundation, which maintains the Signal messaging app, warning that provisions in the Online Safety Act could require the platform to build back doors into its end-to-end encryption. And that would allow the government to spy on users. And what is specified is a regime that would give Ofcom the power to demand that everyone in the UK download spyware that checks their messages before they're sent against a database of what is permissible to say and send and what is not permissible. And that is a precedent that authoritarian regimes are looking to the UK to set.
--:-- Megan Basham: Whitaker says Signal will leave the UK if Ofcom tries to force them to break their encryption. Now, a lot of Americans also use these platforms. if foreign governments do get a backdoor? What does it mean for our data? Well, you know, that's a pretty valid concern that these platforms are going to have to address. For now, we still maintain the most robust freedoms to exchange information in this country, but the trend in other Western democracies is still worth watching because these laws apply no matter where the tech company is based.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So we talked recently about a similar pending bill in Ireland and then the European Union enacted the Digital Services Act And that accomplishes largely the same thing as this new UK bill. And it took effect last month. So already some British lawmakers appear to feel, you have to say, pretty emboldened by this new legislation. The YouTube alternative Rumble said it received a letter from the chair of a parliamentary committee asking the platform to follow YouTube's lead and demonetize Russell Brand's channel over allegations of sexual abuse against him. So Rumble's CEO categorically refused to do that. So we may have much stronger free speech protections because of the First Amendment, but certainly we have seen the federal government testing the bounds of that, even here in the name of safety.
--:-- Megan Basham: Seems to be the debate of our time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
