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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, February 7th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Morning Wire is brought to you by Daily Wire. Get the facts first on the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: On this vote, the yeas are 214 and the nays are 216. The resolution is not adopted.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Biden's embattled Homeland Security Secretary narrowly survives an impeachment vote in the Republican-led House.
--:-- John Bickley: And we find the defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter. In an unprecedented decision, a school shooter's mother is found guilty of manslaughter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
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--:-- John Bickley: A federal appeals court has denied former President Trump's claim that he has immunity from prosecution in his Washington, D.C. election interference case, opening the door for a trial date to be set.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The D.C. Circuit Court's decision comes just days after the original trial date of March 3rd was struck from the docket as Judge Tanya Chutkin waited on the outcome.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the ruling and how it might impact the scheduling of the J6-centered trial brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus Hedip.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: So break down for us just what exactly the court said here. Morning, John. Trump was really making two big arguments here that were both rejected.
--:-- John Bickley: The first was that he had a blanket immunity for anything he did as president in an official capacity. The second was a double jeopardy claim based on the fact that he already faced impeachment over the events of January 6th and the lead up.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: On the immunity aspect, the court found that the public interest in pursuing the criminal case basically outweighed whatever harm could be done to the office of the presidency by not affording it complete and total immunity.
--:-- John Bickley: As to the assertion of double jeopardy, the court stated that it was, quote, unpersuaded by it, end quote.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: I've always thought that double jeopardy was the weakest claim that Trump had. The strongest claim I thought Trump had was the policy that if you don't give a president immunity, he's got to worry that the actions he takes as president could subject him to criminal prosecution if a new administration of the opposition party comes in.
--:-- John Bickley: How has the Trump camp reacted to the decision? And should we expect that his legal team will appeal the ruling by the deadline set by the court, which is this next Monday?
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: There's a better chance of the sun rising in the West tomorrow than there is of Trump not appealing this decision.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump advisor Stephen Chang warned of a slippery slope here in which every president might be indicted for any action they took after they leave office.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: Donald Trump Jr even offered an example asking in a post on X if a Trump Department of Justice could prosecute Barack Obama for drone strikes
--:-- John Bickley: As with all of Trump cases here the key question is timing. As lawyers will have 90 days to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, that would put us in May before SCOTUS even began work.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: If the court does agree to hear this case and gives him that time, that would likely push this into the summer when the race for the presidency would be really heating up.
--:-- John Bickley: Remind us, when exactly is the Republican National Convention?
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: Yeah, that would be on July 15th. And it's the key point. Anywhere between then and Election Day, and Trump will be solidly on the campaign trail while having to appear in federal court.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, there was also some action on charges of insurrection against Trump in Congress on Tuesday. Representative Matt Gaetz and several other GOP lawmakers announced a resolution declaring that Trump did not engage in insurrection.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Does this have any teeth at all?
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: So, yes and no. It's what's known as a sense of the Congress resolution. And it was really in response to the pending Supreme Court decision on whether Trump is disqualified from the ballots in Maine and Colorado for committing insurgency under the 14th Amendment.
--:-- John Bickley: It's a very busy Supreme Court these days. We always have to keep in mind that this is a legal battle. It is a political battle. And it is also a battle of public opinion.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week, there has been a lot of action on all three fronts.
--:-- David Marcus Hedip: Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas survived impeachment last night as a Republican-led effort to remove him fell short in the House of Representatives.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here are the details on the failed effort and what comes next is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot. So Mayorkas narrowly survives impeachment, but there was plenty of drama. How exactly did it play out last night?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the embattled Secretary of Homeland Security escaped impeachment by the most narrow possible margin, as the final vote last night was a tie 215 to 215.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In a really dramatic scene on the House floor, GOP leaders scrambled to win over the three Republicans who joined Democrats in voting no, including Representatives Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher, and Tom McClintock.
--:-- John Bickley: But when it became clear they were not going to budge, Utah's Blake Moore, who actually supports impeachment, changed his vote to a no as part of a procedural move that will allow Republicans to quickly vote on the matter again.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And they're saying they're going to do that very soon. Once Louisiana's Steve Scalise returns to Washington, he was absent Tuesday night while undergoing cancer treatments, but is in support of impeachment.
--:-- John Bickley: So bottom line, there's still a good chance Mayorkas is ultimately impeached in the coming days, but not last night. He lives to fight another day.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, shifting gears a bit, we talked yesterday about that massive bill working its way through the Senate.
--:-- John Bickley: What the latest there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah so as we reported the Senate unveiled their billion spending package this week that includes funding for Ukraine Israel and the southern border along with a slew of immigration reforms.
--:-- John Bickley: But in the last 24 hours, that bill already appears dead in the water.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In addition to House Republicans who've already promised to vote no if it gets to them, dozens of Republican senators have now come out in opposition to the deal, saying it does little to deter illegal immigration and seizes powers from states to take border enforcement into their own hands.
--:-- John Bickley: The general argument from Republican detractors is essentially that no deal is better than a bad one.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The most likely result now is that the bill is ultimately broken up into smaller parts and funding for Israel, Ukraine and the border are voted on separately.
--:-- John Bickley: We've seen quite a bit of political posturing surrounding this bill from both sides. What are some of the important things to watch on that front?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the deal's apparent failure has set off a massive political blame game in Washington.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden, for example, says that Donald Trump is the reason it died, claiming the former president does not want the border crisis addressed before the election.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Donald Trump thinks it's bad for him politically. Therefore, he doesn't, even though it helps the country, he's not for it. He'd rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.
--:-- John Bickley: And to a certain extent, Biden is right there. Trump did play a large role in sinking the deal, which he called a, quote, highly sophisticated trap and great gift to Democrats that he said absolves them of the border crisis and puts it squarely on the shoulders of Republicans.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The former president even went as far as saying that he wants credit for killing the deal.
--:-- John Bickley: A lot of the senators are trying to say respectfully they're blaming it on me. I said, that's OK. Please blame it on me. Please. Because they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And look, while this deal had a number of elements that were always going to infuriate conservatives, from a political perspective, you could argue that the GOP actually has a lot to gain by holding off on passing any sort of sweeping immigration reform.
--:-- John Bickley: While there are certainly plenty of Republicans who are eager to do anything to address the border crisis, I have spoken to a number of other Republican insiders and lawmakers who say that they want to secure the border, but they also know that the longer the border crisis continues, the better shot they have at defeating Joe Biden come November.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: There is always more than meets the eye in Washington. Politics is a complex game.
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, it is. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: The mother of a teen who fatally shot four of his classmates in Michigan has been found guilty of manslaughter. The conviction marks the first time a parent of a school shooter has been found directly responsible in such a crime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss the case is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So, Amanda, this was a historic verdict. What exactly was this mother, Jennifer Crumley, found guilty of?
--:-- John Bickley: Crumley was convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the four students who were shot to death by her son at a public high school in Michigan back in November of 2021.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She's facing up to 15 years behind bars. A quick recap on that horrific violence. The shooter, who we will not name per Morning Wire protocol, used a pistol that was gifted to him by his parents to carry out the rampage.
--:-- John Bickley: He was just 15 at the time. The victims who died ranged in age from 14 to 17, and seven others were injured.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The shooter was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, prosecution had to convince a jury that the mother was directly responsible for the school shooting. What was their case?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The prosecution really focused in on what they described as Crumbly gross negligence which they said resulted in a preventable act of violence.
--:-- John Bickley: It was argued that Crumbly neglected the needs of her child while she was preoccupied with an affair she was having with a married firefighter and other elements of her life.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: They also cited text messages and diary entries from the shooter. Some of the messages include the shooter complaining about insomnia, paranoia, hearing voices, and in a message to his mother, the shooter suggests the family home is haunted by a demon who was throwing bowls.
--:-- John Bickley: Prosecution also said Crumbly and her husband gifted their son the pistol that was used during the shooting just days before he carried out that violence.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Neither of the parents stored the gun properly in the home, nor did they tell the school that their son had access to the pistol despite the school's concerns.
--:-- John Bickley: Prosecution also highlighted that Crumbly accompanied her son at a shooting range days before the shooting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here's Crumbly's testimony. He asked me if I wanted to go to the shooting range with him and he's never asked me just me to go before.
--:-- John Bickley: My husband was doing DoorDash and I felt good about it.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And last point here, prosecution highlighted Crumbly's decision to not take her son home from school hours before the shooting spree.
--:-- John Bickley: She and her husband were called into the school for a meeting and shown messages their son wrote on a math sheet.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The shooter drew an image of a gun and wrote, quote, the voices won't stop. Help me.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's some audio of Crumbly being questioned about that day.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: I was actually kind of angry because I thought he was he did that and like the finance of us yelling him about missing assignments.
--:-- John Bickley: And here he is drawing pictures on an empty assignment page in geometry.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So you felt like it was specific when him sending you a message about the night before. Yeah.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what about Crumbly's defense? What was their argument?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Her defense team argued that Crumbly was doing her best as a mother and participated in normal activities with her family, including her son, and was simply blindsided by the violence.
--:-- John Bickley: Her attorney, Shannon Smith, argued in her closing remarks that this was a dangerous case for all parents who can't be held accountable for everything their children do.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She also said that the case was about Crumbly not being a perfect person.
--:-- John Bickley: The jury, which was composed of six men and six women, sided with prosecution after deliberating for about 11 hours.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, what was the reaction to the ruling?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, inside the courtroom, Crumbly herself showed little reaction to the conviction.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: One of the parents of the shooter's victims, Craig Schilling, said he was grateful for the ruling and told local media, quote, you wouldn't have to go through any of this if you had just done your job as a parent.
--:-- John Bickley: On the legal side of things, there have been some scholars who think this conviction could set a dangerous precedent opening up parents to liability in ways this case likely didn't intend to.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Sentencing for the mother is set for April 9th. And again, she's facing 15 years.
--:-- John Bickley: James Crumbly, the boy's father, is being tried in a separate trial, facing the same charges. And that's set to start in February.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, again, this is a historic case and could have some serious ramifications.
--:-- John Bickley: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us.
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--:-- [Closing music starts playing]
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
