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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Daily Wire editor-in-chief. It's Monday, March 4th.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump in a historic case challenging his ballot eligibility. Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham breaks down the decision.
--:-- Megan Basham: The unanimous ruling reversed Colorado's decision to boot former President Trump from the state's ballot due to his alleged actions around January 6, 2021. Colorado claimed Trump's actions violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which specifically bars insurrectionists from holding office.
--:-- John Bickley: In the Supreme Court opinion, the justices say, and I'm quoting, for the reasons given responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal office holders and candidates rests with Congress and not the states. The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand.
--:-- Megan Basham: The justices then went on to clarify that states can disqualify someone from holding or attempting to hold state office, but cannot enforce Section 3 with respect to federal officials Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold called the decision disappointing and said her state should be able to decide who qualifies when it comes to presidential candidates
--:-- John Bickley: Trump called the decision a big win on Truth Social and later gave remarks at Mar-a-Lago. Essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way. And it has nothing to do with the fact that it's the leading candidate, whether it was the leading candidate or a candidate that was well down on the totem pole. You cannot take somebody out of a race. The voters can take the person out of the race very quickly. But a court shouldn't be doing that. And the Supreme Court saw that very well. And I really do believe that will be a unifying factor because while most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn't and they didn't want that for political reasons.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, former U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz said that politicians on both sides of the aisle have neglected hundreds of miles of open borders. But he voiced particular frustration with the president and vice president.
--:-- Raul Ortiz: I've never had one conversation with the president or the vice president for that matter. And so I was the chief of the Border Patrol. I commanded 21,000 people. That's a problem.
--:-- John Bickley: Ortiz also said that the White House needs to stop sending mixed messages to migrants. We need to make sure that Central America, South America, Mexico, that those regions understand that if you pay a smuggler and you cross in between the ports of entry and you do not have a legitimate claim to some sort of asylum benefit, you're going to be sent back.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Do you believe that the White House has sent mixed messages to migrants? Yeah, most definitely.
--:-- Raul Ortiz: Ortiz oversaw Border Patrol during some of the most high-profile incidents, including agents being falsely accused of whipping the end of Title 42 expulsions and record illegal crossings Ortiz testified under oath in March 2023 during a House field hearing in McAllen Texas that the border is not secure He then retired two months later.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A U.S. appeals court has given the go-ahead to a Texas law allowing state officials to arrest, prosecute, and remove illegal immigrants. The Court of Appeals order means the law known as SB4 can take effect, even as the Biden administration claims it interferes with its enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
--:-- John Bickley: The court did, however, say it would stay its decision for a week to give the administration a chance to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman who leaked highly classified military documents, pleaded guilty today after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors.
--:-- Zach Jewell: The agreement calls for an 11 to 17-year prison sentence, though prosecutors reportedly planned to seek the high end of that range. Teixeira pleaded guilty to several charges under the Espionage Act, including six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
--:-- John Bickley: The presiding judge scheduled sentencing for September and said she would decide then whether to formally accept Teixeira's plea deal.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Teixeira worked as a cyber transport systems specialist at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, where authorities say he first typed out classified documents he accessed and then began sharing photographs of files that bore secret and top-secret markings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: U.S. Attorney Josh Levy says the government is recommending 17 years behind bars. He violated his duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and he abused his position of trust given to him by the American government.
--:-- John Bickley: Alan Weisselberg pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury on Monday. The former Trump Organization's CFO admitted that he perjured himself in his 2020 deposition with New York prosecutors Weisselberg has already served a five sentence for tax fraud Trump spokesman Steve Chung issued a statement accusing Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg of quote repeated prosecutorial misconduct, saying he has not charged Michael Cohen for his, quote, admitted and repeated perjury.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Weisselberg will be sentenced on April 10th.
--:-- John Bickley: Nikki Haley won her first primary on Sunday in the District of Columbia. Haley won 63% of just over 2,000 votes cast and comes away with 19 delegates. Donald Trump won 33% of the votes. Haley's campaign responded to the win by stating that this makes her the first woman to win a Republican primary in U.S. history.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Trump campaign responded by saying Haley was, quote, just crowned Queen of the Swamp by lobbyists and D.C. insiders.
--:-- John Bickley: 16 states will vote in the presidential primary tomorrow on Super Tuesday. Thus far, Haley has 53 delegates, while Trump has gained 247.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The biggest snowstorm of the season just ended in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, but more snow is on the way. Some of the highest snowfall totals so far are more than seven feet. Interstate 80 remained closed most of today due to the massive blizzard and the need for cleanup.
--:-- John Bickley: Another snowstorm is forecasted further north in the state over the Cascade Mountain Range.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the $3.8 billion merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines has been called off. This comes weeks after a federal judge blocked the deal, saying it would have a negative impact on consumers who depend on Spirit's lower prices.
--:-- John Bickley: JetBlue said today that while both companies still believe in the deal, they were unlikely to meet the closing conditions required by the July deadline.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer.
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