--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, September 27th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: The second Republican debate takes place tonight in California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, hosted by Fox Business News.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Out of the eight candidates who took part in the first debate, seven have qualified to take the stage tonight, with only former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson failing to qualify.
--:-- John Bickley: Former President Trump did qualify, but once again will skip tonight's debate and will again offer some counter-programming. He's visiting a manufacturing plant in Michigan where he'll give remarks to auto workers who are entering their second week of strikes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: UAW President Sean Fain met with President Biden yesterday and says he does not plan to meet with the former president.
--:-- Sean Fain: In an interview with CNN, I called Trump pathetic for holding a rally for union members at a non-union business. I see no point in meeting with him because I don't think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for. He serves a billionaire class and that's what's wrong with this country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Fain also said another Trump presidency would be a disaster.
--:-- Sean Fain: Another Trump presidency would be a disaster.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump responded during a recent interview with NBC. I think he's not doing a good job in representing his union because he's not going to have a union in three years from now. Those jobs are all going to be gone because all of those electric cars are going to be made in China.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's what's happening. Former President Trump is condemning a New York judge ruling that he repeatedly committed fraud by overvaluing his assets.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump accused the judge of taking part in Democrat political lawfare and accused him of, quote, doing the bidding of a completely biased and corrupt prosecutor, Letitia James.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The suit claims that Trump and his company deceived a number of banks and insurers by inflating asset values.
--:-- John Bickley: Notably, in the summary judgment, the judge valued the beachfront Mar-a-Lago resort and club at $18 to $27 million, whereas some real estate experts have claimed the 20-acre property is conservatively valued between $160 to $300 million.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty today to bribery charges in his first court appearance since being indicted on charges of corruption.
--:-- Joel Needler: Menendez is accused of accepting cash and gold bribes in exchange for using his position to advance the interests of Egypt and benefit a trio of New Jersey businessmen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The senator appeared in Manhattan's federal court today, just days after the indictment was unsealed.
--:-- Joel Needler: The judge ordered Menendez to be released on a $100,000 bond and that he surrender any personal passports, but he will keep an official passport for government business outside the U.S.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. soldier who sprinted across the border from South Korea into North Korea two months ago has been safely released into U.S. custody.
--:-- Tim Pearce: Today's announcement from the White House comes after North Korea had said it would expel Private Travis King.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Officials say they don't know exactly what motivated North Korea to release King, but they suspect that the regime had determined that as a low serviceman, he had no real value in terms of any kind of leverage.
--:-- Tim Pearce: If that's the case, the North Koreans may have decided that King was more trouble to keep than to simply release him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Hollywood writers' strike is officially over.
--:-- Tim Pearce: After nearly five months of picketing, board members from the union agreed to a contract with studios last night.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Governing boards of the East and West branches of the Writers Guild of America, along with their joint negotiating committee, voted to accept a tentative deal that was reached earlier in the week.
--:-- Tim Pearce: Writers were free to begin writing scripts at 12.01 a.m. this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The three-year agreement includes increases to compensation, guaranteed lengths of employment, and control over AI.
--:-- Tim Pearce: Late-night talk shows, the first to go dark when writers walked out on May 2nd, will be the first shows to return.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Scripted shows will take longer since the Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA remain on strike.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Looting and property damage occurred across Philadelphia Tuesday night as large crowds of mostly youth made their way into Center City.
--:-- John Stanford: What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation and make an attempt to destroy our city. And again, it's not going to be tolerated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Stanford also said police have made at least 20 arrests so far.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Police in Baltimore are still searching for a man suspected of killing Ecomap Technologies CEO Pava Lapierre.
--:-- John Bickley: The 26-year-old CEO, who earned a top spot on Forbes' 30 under 30 list, was found dead in her apartment on Monday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Police said yesterday they've issued an arrest warrant for the 32-year-old Jason Billingsley on first-degree murder and additional charges.
--:-- John Bickley: He's considered armed and dangerous.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This individual will kill and he will rape. He will do anything he can to cause harm. So please be aware of your surroundings.
--:-- John Bickley: Billingsley had a prior sentence of 30 years in prison for a 2015 first-degree sex offense.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He had 16 years of that sentence suspended when he pleaded guilty.
--:-- John Bickley: But the Maryland Sex Offender Registry shows he was released from prison in October.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott says there's no way in hell that Billingsley should have gone free, citing the fact that he's not a first-time offender.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- John Bickley: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
