--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me on the show, Georgia.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Wednesday, December 20th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. The Colorado GOP has announced plans to move away from the state's primary election and over to a caucus system if the ruling which bans former President Trump from the state's ballot stands.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce reports. The news comes after a Colorado Republican representative made the remarks in a reply to a video posted by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's some of what the candidate said. I will withdraw. I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot unless and until Trump's name is restored. And I demand that Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie and Nikki Haley do the same thing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Colorado GOP replied to the video and assured Ramaswamy he needn't withdraw because they plan to convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.
--:-- John Bickley: The divided court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors ruled the former president ineligible for the Oval Office due to the Constitution insurrection clause. The court stayed its decision until January 4th. This marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Department of Justice and Consumer Protection Financial Bureau are suing the controversial housing development in Texas known as Colony Ridge for alleged bait and switch sales as well as predatory financing practices.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist has the details. The suit accuses the housing development of selling plots of flood-prone land without water, sewage, or electoral infrastructure, all while exploiting a language barrier at the expense of customers.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: The suit sites had the development marketed in Spanish, but only offered important documentation in English. The complaint also alleges that Colony Ridge targeted Hispanic consumers with predatory loans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This follows a September investigation by The Daily Wire, which highlighted how the development's marketing practices appear to be aimed at people who are in the United States illegally.
--:-- John Bickley: During the recent San Francisco summit between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, three U.S. officials tell NBC that President Xi bluntly stated that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has more. According to officials China president told Biden in a meeting attended by dozens of American and Chinese officials that China prefers to take Taiwan peacefully not by force.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: China's leader also referenced predictions made by the U.S. about when the communist country plans to take Taiwan, saying that they were incorrect and that he had not set a time frame.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ahead of the summit, Chinese officials asked that President Biden make a public statement in support of China's peaceful unification with Taiwan and against the Democratic island's independence. The White House rejected that request.
--:-- John Bickley: The comment from China's president comes at a time when China's behavior toward Taiwan is seen as increasingly aggressive and as the self-governing Democratic island heads into a major election.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been released by the Biden administration in a prisoner swap for Americans being held in Venezuela.
--:-- John Bickley: Alex Saab, who was arrested on money laundering charges in 2020, was released from custody today. In exchange, Maduro freed 10 of roughly a dozen U.S. citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Along with the American prisoners came the extradition of wanted fugitive Leonard Glenn Francis, or Fat Leonard, who's at the center of a Pentagon bribery scandal.
--:-- Antony Blinken: Here's Secretary of State Antony Blinken talking broadly about the swap earlier today. We want to make sure that our fellow Americans are released. We are also focused on political prisoners in Venezuela and trying to ensure their release.
--:-- Antony Blinken: So what I can say in this moment is this. We have a lot of work going on on both of those fronts right now. And we hope to have some good news to share probably later today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. has long accused Saab of being a bad man for Maduro. Saab's release would be seen as a major concession to Maduro. The South American country's authoritarian leader is himself the target of a $15 million U.S. reward related to drug trafficking charges.
--:-- John Bickley: The National Park Service is working to clean up an area near Lincoln Memorial today after the words, Free Gaza, were found spray-painted on some steps.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to a statement from the U.S. Parks Police, the process of removing the paint may take multiple treatments, and the steps on the west side of the reflecting pool will be closed to visitors until the paint is removed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And just in time for Christmas, NASA announced it's found a spot in space that resembles a glowing cosmic Christmas tree.
--:-- John Bickley: The object, which has become known as the Christmas tree cluster, is a formation of young stars, some of which are larger than the sun.
--:-- Georgia Howe: NASA says the cluster lies in the Milky Way, roughly 2,500 light years from Earth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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 the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
