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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Monday, October 2nd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Former President Donald Trump entered the New York City Supreme Court in Manhattan on Monday for the first day of his trial over claims that he inflated his net worth for better loans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As Trump arrived at the courthouse, he told reporters the trial was a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time.
--:-- Donald Trump: The crime is against me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The former president is accused of inflating his net worth by as much as $2 billion in certain years. And New York Attorney General Letitia James wants Trump fined $250 million.
--:-- Letitia James: Today, we will prove our other claims. My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law. And it is my responsibility and my duty and my job to enforce it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump attorney Alina Havina also addressed the media.
--:-- Alina Havina: At the end of the day, we have a judge that has told us that Bar-a-Lago is worth $18 million. He has failed to acknowledge what the appellate division has said. And we will continue to fight in hopes that there is some level of law and order in this country at this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Although my faith in the system is weary, I do have faith in Donald Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: California Governor Gavin Newsom named his replacement pick for the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, who passed away at the age of 90 last week. Newsom chose abortion activist and EMILY's List president, Lafonza Butler, for the seat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: However, many have pointed out the evidence, including a recent FEC filing and where Butler's current voter registration is, suggests that she may actually be a resident of Maryland, not the Golden State.
--:-- Gavin Newsom: Newsom's office says that Butler is a longtime California resident and homeowner, but moved to the D.C. area when she became the president of EMILY's List.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Congress averted a government shutdown over the weekend by passing a 45-day spending bill without support for Ukraine or border security.
--:-- John Bickley: Now Democrats and President Joe Biden say they expect that Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republicans will pass an additional bill that supports Ukraine.
--:-- Kevin McCarthy: Some critics, such as Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, say that McCarthy caved to Democrats.
--:-- Matt Gaetz: Now Gaetz is promising to issue a motion to vacate the Speaker's chair. The reason we were backed up against the shutdown politics is not a bug of the system. It's a feature. So Kevin McCarthy's goal was to make multiple contradictory promises to delay everything back us up against shutdown politics and at the end of the day blow past the spending guardrails he agreed to.
--:-- Kevin McCarthy: He says he's coming for you. Can you survive? Yes, I survive.
--:-- Matt Gaetz: You know this is personal with Matt. Matt voted against the most conservative ability to protect our border, secure our border. He's more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something. He wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district with all the military people there who would not be paid only because he wants to take this motion. So be it. Bring it on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new Supreme Court term begins today. In the following months, SCOTUS will hear cases on a range of issues that could undo or set new precedent in free speech, social media censorship, whether or not public officials can block users on social media, and the extent to which federal agencies can craft new regulations, among other legal topics.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, the court rejected a case that would have blocked former President Donald Trump from running for higher office again.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Crypto king or crypto crook? The embattled Sam Baikman-Fried jury trial begins on Tuesday this week. Baikman-Fried is accused of stealing millions from the crypto firm he founded, FTX, and using it to support his hedge fund, buy mansions and other luxury items.
--:-- Michael Zweibach: This case is less about the complicated investments and all about garden variety fraud.
--:-- Sam Baikman-Fried: Whatever happened, whatever it happened, I had a duty. I had a duty to all of our stakeholders, to our customers, our creditors. I had a duty to our employees, to our investors, and to the regulators in the world to do right by them to make sure the right things happened at the company. And clearly, I didn't do a good job of that. Clearly, I made a lot of mistakes or things I would give anything to be able to do over again. I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A massive search is underway in upstate New York after a nine-year-old girl went missing during a family camping trip on Saturday evening.
--:-- John Bickley: The girl, Charlotte Sina, was last seen in Moreau Lake State Park, riding her bicycle at around 6:15 p.m. on Saturday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Law enforcement is conducting a sweeping search, and the Sina family are asking the public for help in locating her. She was last seen wearing dark blue pants, an orange tie-dye Pokemon shirt, and black Crocs.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, those are your Drive Home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
