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--:-- John Bickley: This is a case that should have never been brought, and I think we should be entitled to damages. Former President Trump battles to speak in a New York court while the DA leading the case against him in Georgia comes under fire. How do the latest developments impact Trump's legal prospects? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Friday, January 12th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Germany is hit with a wave of protests. Farmers across the country block roads as new taxes threaten to drive up diesel prices.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We are the guys who get up, work 24-7, all weather conditions. We are the guys who prepare you with the healthiest food. And Israel faces charges of genocide in the International Court of Justice. It's particularly gallant given that those who are attacking Israel continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews. Could the case impact their war against Hamas?
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: A number of major developments occurred this week in some of the legal cases pending against former President Donald Trump in both New York and Georgia. Here to discuss what's transpired and how it might affect the former president is Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta-Giacomo.
--:-- John Bickley: Hey, Amanda. So first, let's get into this New York civil fraud trial. Closing arguments took place yesterday. What happened there?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Hey there, John. So a brief refresher, New York AG Letitia James is now seeking $370 million in damages, and she's trying to ban Trump and two of his sons from doing real estate in New York. Judge Arthur Engeron has controversially already ruled that Trump did commit fraud. But what's being decided now are damages and this potential ban.
--:-- John Bickley: The president was initially not allowed to make his own closing arguments after his team disagreed with some of the judge's restrictions. But during his appearance yesterday in court, Trump again asked to speak. And from the defense table, he gave his own closing pitch.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: He told the judge that his financial statements are perfect, that there are no witnesses against him and the banks got all their money paid back. Trump's lawyer made these same points during closing arguments and said that Michael Cohen, the state's supposed star witness, is a disbarred lawyer who admitted to lying under oath several times and even contradicted his own testimony in this case.
--:-- John Bickley: Notably, Trump never defaulted on these loans and Deutsche Bank, the primary lender here, made their own evaluations of Trump and have never accused him of cheating and by all accounts liked doing business with him.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: So with no victims and James' steep ask and damages, this is widely seen as a political targeting, especially since James actually campaigned on going after Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: When are we expected to get a decision from Judge Ingeron?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: He'll probably rule by February, and even though he seen as pretty hostile to Trump this case is going to be appealed for sure. And we won't really see how that shakes out until maybe a year out.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, let's move on to this Georgia case where Trump is accused of election interference. There were multiple reports this week concerning Fulton County DA Fannie Willis and the man she hired as special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Tell us about that.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, frankly, this was a pretty brutal week for Willis and this already tenuous case. There are now questions swirling not only about her personal and professional ethics, But if she violated state and federal law.
--:-- John Bickley: First, it was reported that the DA, who's brought these sprawling RICO charges against Trump, hired her romantic partner, Wade, as special prosecutor and then financially benefited from it. She's accused of taking lavish vacations with Wade that were funded by taxpayers. That could be a federal violation.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And notably, Wade and payments that Willis apparently authorized received more than $650,000 since January of 2022. Willis is accused of misleading county officials and seeking extra funds to pay Wade. And in what could be a state violation, she allegedly never sought the county's approval to hire him, as is required by Georgia law.
--:-- John Bickley: This was all alleged in a motion filed by Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official and a co-defendant in this RICO case.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And the bad news for Willis doesn't stop there. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that she's been subpoenaed to testify in Wade's divorce case. Wade and his wife Jocelyn first filed for divorce in November of 2021. Willis was reportedly hit with that subpoena just mere hours before Roman's motion was filed.
--:-- John Bickley: And lastly, Politico confirmed on Thursday that the largely partisan J6 committee did indeed help jumpstart Willis' criminal case against Trump here. This has been said to be highly unusual by some legal experts and will certainly feed into accusations that this is being fueled by partisan politics.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, that report raised a lot of eyebrows. What could all of this mean for Willis' case? Could it actually fall apart?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, legal experts seem to be split on that right now. They largely agree that this is pretty bad news for Willis personally, because if these allegations are true, she would be in clear violation of Georgia's state bar code of ethics.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And some legal experts have argued that Willis' actions could actually disqualify the entire DA's office. That's something to watch in the coming weeks for sure.
--:-- John Bickley: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Farmers across Germany are blocking highways and roads in protest of new economic policies that will increase their diesel taxes. This comes in the wake of similar protests in Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to tell us more about the farmers' protest is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, first off, how disruptive are these protests and what are they upset about?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, these farmer protests may actually be the biggest that we've seen in the EU so far, and they've broken out across nearly all of Germany's 16 federal states. And that includes the heavily populated urban state of Berlin and also Bavaria, which is where you find all those, you know, postcard picture medieval villages.
--:-- Megan Basham: And all of them center on that diesel tax. So previously, farm equipment was exempted, things like tractors, trucks, but the new budget will either eliminate that exemption entirely or it's going to drastically reduce it. And it's not entirely clear yet just what that rate is going to be.
--:-- John Bickley: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that these measures are needed to shore up a hole in Germany's budget. But many members of the German Farmers Association say this is just a ruse and the real motivation is pushing extremist climate policies.
--:-- Megan Basham: They say that this new diesel tax will drive many of them out of business and is part of a land grab motivated by alarmism.
--:-- John Bickley: So this was what a German protester told Dutch farm activist Eva Vlardinger: "We are sick of lies. We are sick of trying to get rid of our jobs. Everybody is sick of politicians who have no idea what they're talking about. We have no education to tell us how our lifestyle should look like. And this is the result of four years trying to get in contact with politicians talking to them on an equal level, but they won't listen. And now we have no other choice than to demonstrate all over Germany. We have Dutch farmers coming over to support us. We have Hungarian farmers, Polish farmers, and we are all united in getting rid of politicians who are trying to get rid of us."
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, in Ireland and in the Netherlands, the issue was ostensibly nitrogen. The Irish and Dutch governments have pursued plans to eliminate tens of millions of livestock to reduce nitrogen emissions, and that's begun forcing thousands of European farmers out of business.
--:-- John Bickley: So we know this issue created huge political backlash in the Netherlands last year. Could Germany see something similar?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, there hasn't been an election as decisive as what we saw in the Netherlands, but there are signs that populist sentiment in favor of these farmers is taking hold. And it's not just on the right. A high-profile German politician, Sarah Wagenek, just launched a new party on the left that combines the broad government entitlements that you typically expect from progressives with a critical stance towards some of these environmental policies.
--:-- John Bickley: She says she's fighting for people who, quote, have been forgotten for years by politicians, and that includes these farmers.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then you add to this that the popularity of the center-left coalition government is down 30 percent. And that's a steep drop from where they were in 2021. In fact, the current government is so unpopular, a recent survey shows that most Germans want an early election.
--:-- John Bickley: Meanwhile, support for the right wing party, which some call far right, alternative for Germany, is at a record high.
--:-- Megan Basham: We have seen, though, it's really hard to reverse these policies even when the pro-farmer candidates win. Yeah, that's very true. And really, that's because these nations have to contend with EU oversight.
--:-- John Bickley: So just because the farmers are winning seats in parliament doesn't mean that they get to take control of the regulations.
--:-- Megan Basham: As a member of the EU, the Netherlands and other countries are subject to regulations of the Natura 2000 network. And those are protected zones that limit things like nitrogen runoff.
--:-- John Bickley: So if those EU regulators find that countries like the Netherlands have exceeded those nitrogen limits that they've set, they could impose some hefty fines.
--:-- Megan Basham: So there will be a number of bellwether elections across the EU this year. And those results should indicate whether the farmers' revolt against this green agenda coming out of Brussels could grow and gain more traction. A really interesting trend to watch.
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Israel is on trial for genocide in international court. South Africa filed charges against the Jewish state over the war in Gaza.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to tell us about the charges and what they mean for Israel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim. All right, so a genocide trial here. What can you tell us about the accusations from South Africa?
--:-- John Bickley: Sure. So a couple of points first. South Africa has long supported Palestinian claims and been one of Israel's biggest critics outside the Arab world. In the 90s, its former president, Nelson Mandela, met with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and compared South African apartheid to the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So South Africa anti stance here is not new. Now it has charged Israel with genocide. The formal charge was filed to the International Court at The Hague on December 29th. Yesterday, official proceedings began with attorneys from both sides arguing to the court over whether the case should go to trial.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's some from South Africa's legal team: "Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza. That is evident from the way in which Israel's military attack is being conducted. It is systematic in its character and form."
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, Israel has decided for the first time to defend itself in person at the UN's high court. Why did Israel make that choice and what's its plan?
--:-- John Bickley: This really emphasizes the seriousness with which it takes these accusations, which Israel has already categorically denied.
--:-- Tim Pierce: On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said South Africa's hypocrisy screams to the heavens. On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the accusations during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
--:-- John Bickley: There's nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim. Actually, our enemies, the Hamas in their charter, call for the destruction and annihilation of the state of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And here, with the hypocrisy of South Africa, we will be there and the International Court of Justice and will present proudly our case of using self-defense under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost under extremely complicated circumstances.
--:-- John Bickley: Those complicated circumstances, of course, include Hamas's use of hospitals and neighborhoods to shield its terror tunnels and other military sites.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hamas also keeps Palestinians impoverished and seizes humanitarian aid meant for noncombatants, which has led to more pressure on Israel to secure Palestinians' welfare.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. What's been the reaction to these charges in the U.S.?
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Biden administration is strongly on Israel's side on this, similar as to how it's pushed back on members of the president's own party who question Israel's use of force.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's Blinken: "We believe the submission against Israel to the International Court of Justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless."
--:-- Tim Pierce: And here's Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who made the rounds on social media this week for his response to South Africa. "It's a group of cowards. They hide in tunnels. They hide behind civilians. They attack, kill, and mutilate children, women. Stop talking about proportion on that. Maybe South Africa being able to sit this one out when they're talking about British science."
--:-- John Bickley: So we'll see how the international court decides to handle this case. Right. And the whole world's watching.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Another story we're tracking this week, the U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen Iran-backed Houthi militant sites in Yemen on Thursday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: U.S. officials say the strikes, which involved fighter jets and both sub- and warship-launched Tomahawk missiles, hit a variety of the group's military targets.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden said in a statement that the strikes are, quote, indirect response to Houthi attacks on international maritime vessels. The president said he, quote, will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
