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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, August 16th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Newly unsealed court documents reveal that special counsel Jack Smith attained access to existing direct messages, deleted messages, draft tweets, and more belonging to former President Trump's Twitter account. Smith used a search warrant to get that information, something which Elon Musk's Twitter fought before the company was ultimately fined $350,000 and forced to provide the feds with the requested information.
--:-- U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell: [audio clip] I think it's a bit rich for Mr. Musk to claim that he's trying to protect the First Amendment rights of his users when, in fact, he's trying to cozy up to the former President.
--:-- John Bickley: The propaganda arm of the North Korean dictatorship released its first public comment about the detainment of American soldier Travis King claiming he entered the communist country because he faced mistreatment in the US Army Daily Wire researcher Trevor Mock has more.
--:-- Trevor Mock: 23 King sprinted across the heavily guarded demilitarized zone line last month while on a civilian tour and was taken into custody by North Korea. When he crossed into the communist country, King had reportedly been disciplined for assault in South Korea and was facing further disciplinary action in the U.S.
--:-- North Korean State Media: [audio clip] King fled into the country because he, quote, harbored ill feelings against inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army and was disillusioned at the unequal American society.
--:-- Trevor Mock: A Pentagon official told the Wall Street Journal that it cannot verify King made these comments.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Meteorologists say Tropical Storm Hillary has officially formed off the coast of Mexico. Over the next week, it has the potential to become Hurricane Hillary. As of now, the storm is projected to potentially reach the southern coast of California by early next week, which would make it the first tropical storm to hit the Golden State in more than 80 years.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The White House says President Biden will travel to Maui on Monday to meet with wildfire survivors, as well as federal and state officials. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips reports.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The plan for Biden's visit comes amid melting pressure on the president regarding his response to the wildfires. Despite the federal disaster declaration that he signed last week, President Biden has said very little about the fires in public and to the press.
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: While in Wisconsin on Tuesday Biden said a presidential visit requires a significant security and operational footprint. He also expressed concern that his visit might interfere with recovery efforts.
--:-- President Biden: I don't want to get in the way. I've been to too many disaster areas, but I want to go make sure we got everything they need. Imagine being a mom or dad wondering where your child is. Imagine being a husband or wife, a mother or father. It's really tough stuff.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For his part, Hawaii Governor Josh Green advised that, quote, The search and recovery efforts are expected to be at a stage early next week to allow for a presidential visit. Officials on the island say dozens more people are confirmed to have died, bringing the death toll to 106. Over a thousand more are still missing.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio is calling upon the federal government to do more in its effort to clean up the environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. The freshman senator visited the town this week and blasted the feds for relying on the goodwill of the rail companies to clean up the mess.
--:-- J.D. Vance: I'm frustrated with the pace of the cleanup. I think that in talking with some local officials, I think that has more to do, frankly, with the federal EPA, which is dragging its feet a bit, enabling the cleanup. We can't expect the railroads in good faith to do what they need to do. They need to be required to do it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This is what legislation is for. This is why we have lawmaking bodies in this country, is because public safety in our railroads shouldn't be determined by the good wishes or the good intentions of Norfolk Southern.
--:-- [Audio clip of J.D. Vance speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week the band The Killers apologized for inviting a Russian fan on stage during a concert in the Eastern European country of Georgia. We don't know the etiquette of this land, but this guy's a Russian. Are you okay with a Russian coming up here?
--:-- Brandon Flowers: [audio clip] Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone. We recognize that a comment meant to suggest that all of the killer's audience and fans are brothers and sisters could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Target's second quarter sales fell for the first time in six years. From May 29th to July 29th, in-store sales declined 5.4% compared to the same period last year, while online sales plummeted 10.5%. The downturn follows consumer backlash over the retail giant's Pride merchandise.
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--:-- 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.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
