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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire, and I'm joined by my co-host Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Congratulations to Donald Trump on his big win in New Hampshire. He's taking a major step toward his third Republican nomination.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He earned it.
--:-- John Bickley: I did hear Nikki say, and now it's off to South Carolina. Well, I love South Carolina. But, you know, she forgot one thing. Next week, it's Nevada. It's not South Carolina. We love South Carolina, but next week, it's Nevada.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We break down the results and what comes next in both the Republican and Democratic contests.
--:-- John Bickley: Republican lawmakers are demanding answers after they say more than 100 encrypted files from the House January 6th committee were deleted just before Republicans took over.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Barbie. And Barbenheimer dominated the summer box office, but the Academy Award nominations were much more Oppenheimer than Barbie.
--:-- John Bickley: To freeze out Greta Gerwig from the Best Director nomination, I think is honestly blasphemous.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We break down the surprises and the snubs that have Hollywood talking.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: New Hampshire voters propelled Donald Trump to a solid victory last night, cementing the former president's standing as the presumptive GOP nominee.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has been tracking the race and the implications for 2024.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, another week, another win for Donald Trump. How did the final tally shake out last night?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, after cruising to a record 30-point win in Iowa last week, Former President Trump scored another big win last night, this time in New Hampshire, where he defeated his only remaining Republican opponent, Nikki Haley, by over 10 points.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While the race was a bit closer than expected, remember the latest polling predicted a 20 to 25 point win for Trump, the former president proved once again just how firm his grip on the GOP base still is.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here he is speaking to supporters after the race was called, touting the fact that he's now the first person to ever win the New Hampshire primary three separate times.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This is a great, great state. You know, we won New Hampshire three times now, three.
--:-- John Bickley: And Trump also made sure to go after Joe Biden as well as Haley, claiming he's the only one who can beat the president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We've won almost every single poll in the last three months against crooked Joe Biden, almost every poll. And she doesn't win those polls. She had a very bad night.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what did we hear from Haley?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, there's just no other way of spinning it. Despite exceeding polling expectations, this was still a disappointing night for Nikki Haley or really any Republican hoping to see a Trump alternative for that matter, as New Hampshire was in many ways a last stand for the former UN ambassador.
--:-- John Bickley: The state's more moderate electorate was expected to benefit her campaign, and she focused quite a bit of her time and money there knowing that a win in New Hampshire would inject new life into this primary but that did not happen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we now move on to Nevada and then South Carolina a state where Trump is leading by 40 percent in the latest polls.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Despite losing last night, though, Haley vowed to continue forward. New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And now we're the last one standing next to Donald Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: And today we got close to half of the vote.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it's worth noting, when Trump took the stage, he made sure to poke fun at Haley, following her more optimistic message.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They said, wow, she's doing like a speech like she won. She didn't win. She lost.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what does Trump's win mean for the primary moving forward?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, it means that this race is effectively over. Barring the greatest electoral comeback in modern American history, Trump will be the nominee.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New Hampshire was the only early primary state with polls that were even remotely close. And based on all the data we have, it looks like it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out for Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: His campaign is now saying the general election has essentially kicked off.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we actually heard a similar message from the Biden campaign, which released a statement saying, quote, Tonight's results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election-denying anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, New Hampshire also held its Democratic primary last night, but it was a strange election day for a few reasons.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, when Democrats in the state voted for their presidential nominee last night, one name not on the ballot was President Joe Biden.
--:-- John Bickley: That's because last year, the Democratic National Committee chose to make South Carolina the first primary state, arguing it has a more diverse electorate than the mostly white New Hampshire and Iowa.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But state officials ignored that decision and went ahead with their primary as usual.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden, however, did not ignore that change and, in a show of solidarity with the Democratic Party, refused to put his name on the ballot in New Hampshire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Biden supporters in the state did, however, respond by organizing a massive campaign to encourage voters to write his name in to ensure that he still scored a symbolic victory, though it was a bit unconventional.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, the matchup is solidifying at a pretty rapid pace here.
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--:-- John Bickley: A new report reveals that the Nancy Pelosi-assembled January 6th committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files from its probe just days before Republicans took over the House majority.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss the report is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta-Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Hey, John. So what do we know about these alleged actions taken by the J6 committee and these encrypted files?
--:-- John Bickley: Hey, Amanda. So this report from Fox News says that a digital forensics team has determined that 117 files were encrypted and then deleted on January 1st, 2023.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And that was just days before the committee was required to transfer all of this data over to the new Republican-led committee.
--:-- John Bickley: All 117 files have been recovered but most of them are password protected and that preventing Republicans from having access to them
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: So encrypted then deleted and they now not accessible How did this all come to light And what do we know about these deleted files
--:-- John Bickley: So the forensics team that made these findings was commissioned by the House Administration Committee's Oversight Subcommittee.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Led by Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk, this subcommittee is investigating security failures on January 6th, as well as the actions of the former J6 Committee.
--:-- John Bickley: Loudermilk said in a letter to Democratic Rep Benny Thompson, who chaired the J6 committee, that Thompson turned over less than three terabytes of data, though Thompson claimed he turned over four terabytes of digital files.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: It's that discrepancy, we can assume here, is what sparked the investigation by the digital forensics team.
--:-- John Bickley: Loudermilk added in his letter that Thompson did not archive all committee records, as is required by House rules, and he did not archive some transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Homeland Security, which is also required.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: What has the reaction been to all of this? Have Thompson or Loudermilk spoken about this publicly?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, we did get a response from Thompson on Tuesday evening, and he called Loudermilk's accusations false.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: He said in a letter to Loudermilk that his committee worked with transparency, but he did add that government agencies expressed national security concerns about a small number of transcripts.
--:-- John Bickley: Thompson ended his response addressing those allegations of password-protected files, stating, quote, I have absolutely no idea what you were talking about and I will not speculate.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: For his part, Loudermilk is demanding answers on why this data was apparently deleted, as well as demanding passwords to access those files.
--:-- John Bickley: In a statement to Fox, Loudermilk said it's obvious that Pelosi Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And he added that the American people, quote, deserve to know the full truth.
--:-- John Bickley: He also vowed to get to that full truth thanks to the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Shifting gears a bit, Republican Representative Thomas Massey raised some more questions this week about the two pipe bombs recovered outside the DNC and RNC on January 6th.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, Rep. Massey is asking questions about why we still don't have answers about who planted these pipe bombs or why the J6 committee did not focus on them, which Massey said would have been the biggest threat that existed on January 6th.
--:-- John Bickley: He went as far as to suggest a cover-up.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Here's what he told The Daily Wire. This looks really bad for the FBI, the ACF, Secret Service. It looks really bad for anybody who was involved, especially with that second pipe bomb. To defend the integrity of their organization, they need to provide an answer. But they are obviously trying to memory hold them.
--:-- John Bickley: Massey raised issue with the surprisingly unclear and limited video footage available, and he noted that one of the bombs had a 60-minute kitchen timer on it, though it was placed outside one of the buildings the day before January 6th.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And the other bomb reportedly had no mechanism of detonation, despite the FBI calling both bombs, quote, viable.
--:-- John Bickley: It's been more than three years without answers, so it's not surprising questions are being raised.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: You're welcome. It's been an honor to be with all of you this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And to all the nominees, as we say in the biz, break a leg.
--:-- John Bickley: That was actress Zazie Bates announcing the 2024 Oscar nominations. Christopher Nolan's historical drama Oppenheimer led the pack with 13 nods, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile last year other major blockbuster Barbie received some surprising snubs
--:-- John Bickley: Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan before we get to the Barbie controversy can you quickly give us a rundown of who the front runners are for the highest profile awards?
--:-- John Bickley: Sure. So Killian Murphy is up for best actor for playing the father of the atom bomb in Oppenheimer. And I think he is likely going to be the winner here, but he does have some stiff competition from Paul Giamatti, who is in the fan favorite The Holdovers.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now in that film, Giamatti plays a curmudgeonly but lovable prep school teacher. That's also up for Best Picture and Best Director, but not likely to win in those categories with such stiff competition.
--:-- John Bickley: Probably Murphy's stiffest competition is Bradley Cooper playing composer Leonard Bernstein. So Cooper directed that movie titled Maestro, which is also up for Best Picture.
--:-- Megan Basham: But I'll go out on a limb and say already that I think Christopher Nolan is the best bet for director and Oppenheimer is the front runner for Best Picture.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Then you've also got Poor Things, which is a modern twist on Frankenstein. That's also in the Best Picture and Best Director race.
--:-- Megan Basham: It received 12 nominations total right behind Oppenheimer's 13. And I would say that Emma Stone, who plays the sort of Frankenstein character, is the favorite for the Best Actress category for that film, especially as she has already won the Critics' Choice Award and the Golden Globe for this role.
--:-- John Bickley: And this was her accepting the Critics' Choice last week. I'm going to be honest, I'm in like full-blown shock. I didn't have anything that I was going to say because this is completely crazy. So thank you so much for this. It really, it means so much to me.
--:-- Megan Basham: But she's going to be going up against Carey Mulligan for Maestro, Annette Bening for Nyad, and Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon.
--:-- John Bickley: And by the way, with his Best Director nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese will now become the most nominated living director.
--:-- Megan Basham: But while it's up for 11 awards, including Best Picture, my guess is it's not going to take home any major Oscars, especially as Leonardo DiCaprio was snubbed for Best Actor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, speaking of snubs, no Best Director for Barbie's Greta Gerwig and no Best Actress for Margot Robbie.
--:-- Megan Basham: I haven't actually seen it, but people are upset about that.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, they are. And I would say between the two of them, Gerwig being overlooked is the slightly more controversial issue.
--:-- Megan Basham: So she's already received a number of lower profile awards that are often bellwethers for the Oscars. The Directors Guild of America, the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards all gave her a nod for Best Director.
--:-- John Bickley: And she received Director of the Year Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
--:-- Megan Basham: So it does seem pretty clear that Oscar voters are somewhat out of step with a lot of the industry on this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you've got some people saying that what this proves is that the Oscars are still too dominated by men.
--:-- Megan Basham: So they're saying there's a kind of irony that Ryan Gosling is up for Best Supporting Actor when Gerwig is not up for Director and Robbie is not up for Best Actress.
--:-- John Bickley: So maybe Ken and the patriarchy win again.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. And to give you one example, New York Daily News columnist Brandon Friedman tweeted this. He said, after Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made a film about patriarchy that generated a billion dollars for Hollywood, the man in the film got nominated for a major award.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm honestly not sure what I expected. But that said, you do see these surprise snubs every year, especially for lighter hearted movies. And it happens to both men and women.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, like I said, no Leo this year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, we're going to have you back on for a postmortem after the show on March 10th.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
