--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, April 12th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit today against his former attorney Michael Cohen, accusing him of betraying their attorney-client relationship. Trump is reportedly asking for more than $500 million in damages. The move comes after Cohen testified against Trump in the controversial criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A massive fire at a plastic recycling plant in Richmond, Indiana, led to the evacuation of around 2,000 people from the surrounding area, while clouds of toxic smoke billowed into the sky on Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Authorities ordered those who live within a half-mile radius of the factory to evacuate, with some finding refuge at a local church or nearby hotels. An Indiana State fire marshal said that the smoke is definitely toxic and that this fire is going to burn for a few days. Officials also said that the facility where the fire started had received an unsafe citation and that its owner had allowed the building to be filled with plastics despite being warned several times.
--:-- Resident: You just flee for your life. You know how much time do you have when something like this is going on? I didn't know what was in that smoke.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Authorities say that the fire was entirely avoidable, and now that toxic smoke is being carried into neighboring Ohio.
--:-- Daniel Chaitin: A group of House Republicans is joining in an effort to overturn the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. Lawmakers claim that the House proxy voting rule for the COVID pandemic meant that the omnibus bill was not legitimately passed. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton originally filed the lawsuit back in February, seeking to overturn the massive spending bill on the same grounds.
--:-- Tim Meads: The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new vehicle emissions standards on Wednesday that would aim to increase adoption of electric cars and battle climate change. The more stringent standards released by the agency would induce a 56% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions for light-duty vehicles, as well as a 44% decrease for medium-duty vehicles. Similar standards were introduced for heavy-duty vehicles. The regulations would seek to change market conditions such that electric vehicles constitute two of new sales for light vehicles and nearly half of new sales for medium vehicles by 2032.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Raphael Warnock sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday asking the Department of Justice to, quote, use all available legal authorities to investigate whether federal statutes were violated after two Tennessee state representatives were expelled last week for leading a protest on the floor of the state capitol. The letter also requested the department take all necessary steps to uphold the integrity of our nation's legislative bodies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Republican Governor Bill Lee called for Tennessee's Republican majority legislature to pass an extreme risk gun law on Tuesday. Lee requested the action after signing an executive order strengthening the state's background checks on firearm buyers. The new gun control push comes two weeks after three children and three adults were murdered when a trans-identifying shooter gunned down students and staff at Covenant Christian School in Nashville. Now Governor Lee is calling for so-called red flag laws, which specifically target those deemed to have mental health issues and allow a state court to issue an order for law enforcement to confiscate weapons from those ruled to be an extreme risk. Some of the laws are on the books in 19 states including Republican Indiana and Florida. Opponents of red flag laws say they could pose a threat to Second Amendment rights and due process.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The BBC sat down with Chief Twit Elon Musk, asking the world's richest man about reports that hate speech have been allowed to flourish on Twitter since he purchased the site. Here are some highlights from the interview that have gone viral.
--:-- Elon Musk: Describe a hateful thing. I mean, you know, just something that is slightly racist or slightly sexist, those kinds of things.
--:-- BBC: So you think if something is slightly sexist, it should be banned? No. Is that what you're saying?
--:-- Elon Musk: I'm not saying anything. I'm just curious. I'm trying to say what you mean by hateful content.
--:-- BBC: You must have at some point seen hateful content. I'm asking for one example.
--:-- Elon Musk: Right. You can't give a single one. And I'm saying... Then I say so that you don't know what you're talking about. Really? Yes, because you can't give a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet. And yet you claimed that the hateful content was high. Well, that's a false. No, what I can't.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, 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.
