--:-- [Announcer voice]
This episode is brought to you by Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels and music are made for each other. They share a rhythm in the craft of making something timeless, while being a part of legendary nights, from backyard jams to sold-out arenas. There's a song in every toast. Please drink responsibly. Responsibility.org. Jack Daniels and Old Number 7 are registered trademarks. Tennessee Whiskey, 40% alcohol by volume. Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee.
--:-- John Bickley: Today we're here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I've ever seen before. President Trump posthumously honors Charlie Kirk with the country's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, October 15th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New York Attorney General Letitia James makes a defiant return to the spotlight just days after her federal indictment. We see powerful voices trying to silence truth and punish dissent and, yes, weaponize justice for political gain. And you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It's as simple as that. Britain rolls out a new digital ID that conservatives say will curb the freedom of its citizens.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: If you run a small business, you know there's nothing small about it. Even the smallest decisions can feel massive. That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the e-commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, from household names to brands that are just getting started.
--:-- John Bickley: You can tackle all the important tasks all in one place from inventory to payments to analytics and more. Even marketing becomes a breeze thanks to their built-in tools for running social media and email campaigns, helping you find new customers and keep them coming back. Plus, Shopify's global selling tools have you covered internationally in over 150 countries, and their award-winning point of sale connects your online and offline sales all in the same place. With an impressive 99.99 uptime and the highest converting checkout experience on the planet, you'll never miss another sale. That's the Shopify advantage. Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period and start selling today at shopify.com slash MorningWire.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump posthumously honored Charlie Kirk yesterday on what would have been his 32nd birthday with the country's highest civilian award. In front of a large audience in the Rose Garden, the president handed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk's widowed wife, Erica Kirk.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: So a powerful and packed event there at the White House yesterday. Tell us what you witnessed.
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, so this was a beautiful event honoring Charlie Kirk, awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor that you can award a civilian. This was to honor Charlie for his patriotic contributions to the United States of America. He was killed for ideological and political reasons. And this was something that came up a lot today. He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: The president also directly called out those who have been spouting aggressive leftist rhetoric, violent rhetoric in the wake of Charlie's assassination. We've seen that a candidate for attorney general in Virginia boasted that he would want to see the Republican legislator in Virginia shot in the head and to see his children murdered. He actually said this.
--:-- John Bickley: Especially in the wake of Charlie's assassination, our country must have absolutely no tolerance for this radical left violence, extremism, and terror. But he always circled back to Charlie, to Charlie's legacy, to Charlie's family, his beautiful wife, and the honor that he was bestowing on him during this award ceremony.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: We're entering his name forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes. And I'm honored to be joined by a woman who has endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength. And that's Charlie's widow, Erica.
--:-- John Bickley: And I just want to thank you, Erica. He loved you so much.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, I think at first the mood was a little celebratory because this is a high honor for Charlie and it's his birthday. So this was, you know, as Erica said, the best gift that the president could have given him. And so when we arrived they were playing some happy music we even heard Dancing Queen at one point. But when the event began then it got a little more solemn and a little more serious they played the Ave Maria which you know I was standing next to my colleague Isabel Brown and we both got a little choked up when they played that thinking of Charlie and his death and then when the event concluded they were playing Amazing Grace and the mood was definitely much more somber towards the end.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: A lot of these people who had gathered, Charlie's friends, the admin officials were more quiet and kind of quietly greeting each other and speaking and being almost reverent, I would say, in the memory of their friend and this honor he had just received.
--:-- John Bickley: As we said, President Trump handed Charlie's Medal of Freedom to his wife, Erica. Tell us about that moment.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Right. So this was obviously a really emotional moment for Erica. She was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue and she was tearful and emotional. Here's a little bit of what she said.
--:-- Erica Kirk: The national interest of the United States has always been freedom. Our founders etched it into the preamble of our constitution, and those words are not relics on parchment. They are a living covenant. Charlie often said that without God, freedom becomes chaos. And he believed liberty could only survive when anchored to truth.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: She also talked about how it's his birthday. Those of you that have spouses or loved ones, you know how difficult it is sometimes to buy a gift for someone that you love. Because he wasn't a materialistic man, so that also did not help. But now I can say with confidence, Mr. President, that you have given him the best birthday gift he could ever have.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, a truly powerful moment yesterday honoring Kirk and his family. Mary Margaret, thank you so much for reporting and giving us a firsthand account of the event.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know that nagging feeling about the doctor's appointment you've been putting off forever? Maybe it's a dentist cleaning that you're now six months overdue for, or the annual checkup that somehow turned into a three-year gap. With ZocDoc, you can find and book the right doctor entirely online, and honestly, you'll probably have an appointment scheduled before the end of this ad.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Finding the right doctor used to be such a hassle, but ZocDoc has really changed the game. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high-quality in-network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. They've got over 100,000 doctors across every specialty you can think of, mental health, dental, primary care, urgent care, you name it. The best part is you can filter for exactly what matters. Doctors who take your insurance are nearby and have great ratings from real patients. Once you find someone who looks like a good fit, you can see their actual available slots and book instantly, no more phone tag. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to ZocDoc.com slash wire to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash wire. Again, that's ZocDoc.com slash wire today.
--:-- Tim Pierce: New York Attorney General Letitia James may have sheltered a fugitive in her Virginia home for the past five years. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Tim, what do we know so far about James harboring this so-called fugitive?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the Daily Mail dug up the documents. James of course was charged last week with bank fraud for allegedly lying on mortgage papers to get a lower interest rate on a house in Virginia. She bought that place and as far as we know pays all the bills but it actually her grandniece Nakia Thompson and her three children who have lived in the house since 2020. According to the Daily Mail, Thompson is officially listed as an abscondor in the database of North Carolina's Department of Adult Correction. She's wanted by authorities in Forsyth County for skipping out on her probation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Corrections said Thompson was, quote, sentenced to probation for misdemeanor convictions for assault and battery and trespassing. He confirmed that she is considered a fugitive from the state, but he added that because her crimes are considered low level, she is non-extraditable.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, despite the bank fraud charges and now this new wrinkle with her niece, Letitia James is still out there attending campaign rallies. What has she been doing?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, normally your attorney advises you to be quiet in these situations, but James is doing the opposite of that. She seems to think that this indictment can be used to her political benefit. And she may not be wrong. It's arguable that President Trump is the poster child of this ability to get political benefit out of legal problems.
--:-- John Bickley: James was actually out on the campaign trail with New York City mayoral hopeful Zoran Mamdani on Monday night. She was claiming to be the target of political prosecution. We are witnessing the fraying of our democracy, the erosion of our system of government. This, my friends, is a defining moment in our history.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But the thing I think that may make James less sympathetic in this scenario is that she's widely seen as a person who weaponized the justice system first against Donald Trump. She made her first campaign for attorney general about prosecuting Donald Trump when she got into office.
--:-- John Bickley: In addition to that, the office of attorney general will continue to follow the money because we believe that he's engaged in a paddling practice of money laundering, laundering the money from foreign governments here in New York state and particularly related to his real estate holdings.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And then there was a civil case she eventually brought against Trump. First, it was a victimless crime. Trump was found liable of bank fraud, even though no bank ever said that he defrauded them. And then second, that massive half a billion dollar judgment she eventually won. An appeals court has already overturned that.
--:-- John Bickley: So a lot of James's critics see a pretty big irony between the case she brought against Trump and now the straightforward fraud case being brought against her. Now, she is in deep blue New York, though. So are people holding this against her or are they going to give her a pass?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, the reaction seems to depend a lot on your political view. Democrats have lined up to defend James, but Republicans really see her as reaping what she sowed.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend. But what about Trump? He had 91 indictments. What about Trump? Now, I think the grand jury is going to take care of this, but you didn't care any about this. You didn't care that Latisha James made up charges that no one's ever faced.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But Senator Biden never publicly called for Trump to be indicted. He had 90 Biden. Biden regretted that they didn't do it for the election. Jack Smith surveilled my phone records that made other senators.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, as of now, she is holding on to that job. So we'll see how it goes.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Good to be on.
--:-- John Bickley: America's first responders rely on FirstNet, a wireless network built with and for first responders, covering the nation and keeping us all safe. FirstNet, built with AT&T. Learn more at firstnet.com slash public safety first.
--:-- John Bickley: This government will make a new free of charge digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this parliament. Because decent pragmatic fair people they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them. And of course the truth is we won't solve our problems if we don't also take on the root causes looking upstream to tackle poverty, conflict. That was British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussing a controversial new law.
--:-- Guy Dampier: The U.K. recently approved a mandatory digital I.D., supposedly as a way to curb illegal immigration. Here to break it down for us is Guy Dampier, senior researcher on Nationhood at the Prosperity Institute.
--:-- Guy Dampier: So a lot of frustration boiling over in the U.K. right now over immigration. And now we have this heated debate over digital I.D. Let's start with Prime Minister Starmer. He's defending the party's immigration policies. He's also accusing the Conservative Reform Party of pushing supposedly racist policies. Catch us up. What's the story here?
--:-- John Bickley: So the issue is to do with reform's new policy on residency for immigrants. In Britain, this is called indefinitely to remain. And what it means is that after five years in the country, you can get access to welfare and benefits the same way that British citizens can. Now, the vast majority of people that get ILR will stay forever. And that matters because in the last few years, there's been an unprecedented wave of immigration. Over four million people. Most of those have come in very low-skilled occupations, and over the course of their lifetimes, they will be a net drain on the taxpayer.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Reform have announced that they will abolish indefinitely to remain, they will force all those who've come to apply for new visas instead, and that will include new checks on qualifications and language skills, which matters because the current rules are incredibly lax. The language test only requires B1 English, which, for context, is the equivalent of being able to read a book for toddlers, but not being able to read a newspaper.
--:-- John Bickley: Because most of these 4 million migrants have come either from Africa, or the Indian subcontinent, Labour have branded the policy as racist. Now, as I understand it, the Labour Party has actually also admitted that this indefinite leave-to-remain law needs to be reformed. What are they suggesting?
--:-- Guy Dampier: Well, that's why this is so incoherent. They've called Nigel Farage a racist, but they've also announced policies that are not a million miles away from it. Shabana Mahmood, the here Home Secretary, has said that immigrants who want residency will now need to have better English skills, no criminal record, and evidence that they volunteer in the community to prove that they're integrating.
--:-- John Bickley: The problem for Labour is that whilst they need to win back voters on the subject of immigration, an awful lot of them don't really believe in reducing migration. And they definitely don't believe in tackling human rights law, which is what makes Britain's borders unprotected.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Britain is becoming a rapidly changed country. It's over 16% foreign-born now, which is higher than the rate in America during the Ellis Island period, when the country became famously a nation of immigrants. At the same time, the economy is ground to a halt. And there's increasing evidence that migrants are overrepresented when it comes to crime and also to accessing welfare.
--:-- John Bickley: So as we mentioned at the top, we also have this new digital ID that's supposed to help crack down on illegal workers. But that's been very controversial. How would that work?
--:-- Guy Dampier: This is the so-called brick card. Now, Labour have long been advocates for some form of ID card. They're arguing that introducing a digital ID will stop illegal immigration, preventing them from being able to work and rent. But there's already a digital visa verification system, which is supposed to do exactly this. So there's no reason to think this would be particularly different.
--:-- John Bickley: In fact, there are a lot of European countries which already have ID cards and which still have large populations of illegal immigrants working and living there, like Germany. So it won't fix the problem. What it will do is it will increase the bureaucracy and further reduce the freedoms felt by your average British citizen.
--:-- Guy Dampier: There's also another danger in there. Paul Mason, a well-known labour activist who's close to the senior leadership, has suggested that digital ID could be used to help regularise illegal immigrants, putting them on a pathway to legal residency. That could be anywhere between 750,000 to 2 million people. We don't know because the Home Office refuses to find out. So instead of discouraging illegal immigration, digital ID could end up being used to reward it.
--:-- John Bickley: That's something that many people here in the US are keeping a very close eye on.
--:-- Guy Dampier: Guy, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Thank you very much for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know. Bye.
