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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Monday, February 26th, and this is your MorningWire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley.
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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by NetSuite. Download NetSuite's popular KPI checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at NetSuite.com slash MorningWire. That's NetSuite.com slash MorningWire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And for more on today's stories, we're joined by our team of experts. First up, former President Trump has appealed his $454 million New York civil fraud judgment. The ruling found Trump guilty of exaggerating his wealth as he grew his real estate empire. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In a largely expected move from Donald Trump, lawyers for the former president filed notices of appeal Monday, asking a New York appeals court to overturn Judge Arthur Engram's verdict, forcing Trump to pay the staggering fine and barring him from doing business in the state for three years. In court documents, Trump's lawyers ask the appeals court to decide whether Ingram, quote, committed errors of law and or fact, and whether he abused his discretion or, quote, acted in excess of his jurisdiction.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If Ingram's ruling is upheld, it will force Trump to give up a sizable chunk of his fortune. Ingram ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties, with interest the total has grown to nearly $500 million.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The Supreme Court is weighing whether to uphold laws in Florida and Texas which would restrict the ability of social media companies to moderate content. Florida and Texas claim that much of the content getting flagged is conservative speech.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham has the latest.
--:-- Megan Basham: So several platforms like Facebook and YouTube claim the laws infringe upon their First Amendment rights by restricting the content they wish to publish. These laws were drafted back in 2021 after several social platforms banned former President Donald Trump following the events of January 6th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Florida's law seeks to prevent companies from restricting or banning public figures running for office while also clamping down on shadow banning. The Texas law similarly prevents platforms from banning users based on the views they express. Each law requires the companies to disclose their moderation policies.
--:-- Megan Basham: Here's Florida Attorney General Ashlyn Moody.
--:-- Ashlyn Moody: Two years ago, really saw what was happening, this new reality that we find ourselves, which is these large, very powerful social media companies that have created the new town square and invite everyone to come to the town square. But then without you knowing, without fully disclosing, without telling you how they're doing it, they're shadow banning people or deplatforming or making the decision of who they want to be able to speak in the town squares.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A ruling on both of these laws is expected by the end of June.
--:-- Megan Basham: Both former President Trump and President Biden are slated to visit the U.S.-Mexico border this week on the same day. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce reports.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to a statement from the White House, Biden is set to travel to Brownsville, Texas, where he will meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents law enforcement officials and local leaders Biden plans to use his second presidential trip to the border to push the Senate bipartisan border security agreement Biden only other visit to the border came in January of 2023.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile sources familiar with Trump plan tell NBC that he will deliver remarks from Eagle Pass, Texas. Biden's announcement comes as the immigration crisis has made the southern border a key general election issue. An NBC poll last month found that 57 percent of voters favor Trump to secure the border over Biden, while just 22 percent claim the reverse.
--:-- Tim Pierce: RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has announced she will step down next month. McDaniel's decision follows the South Carolina primary and comes just under two weeks after Trump endorsed North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Watley to be the next chairman of the RNC.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In a statement, McDaniel said it had been an honor and a privilege to serve as chairwoman over the past several years. McDaniel said, quote, I have decided to step down at our spring training on March 8th in Houston to allow our nominee to select a chair of their choosing.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump told Fox News earlier this month that some changes were likely at the RNC when asked about McDaniel's performance. I think she did great when she ran Michigan for me. I think she did okay initially in the RNC. I would say right now there'll probably be some changes made.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash morningwire. That's shopify.com slash morningwire.
--:-- John Bickley: And in international news, allies of Alexei Navalny have alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the opposition leader's death. Maria Pavchek, a close ally of Navalny, released a video in which she claims that Putin had the opposition leader killed to sabotage a prisoner swap in which Navalny would have been exchanged for a convicted hitman jailed in Germany.
--:-- John Bickley: A U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire in an apparent protest against the Israel-Hamas war has died. U.S. officials say this happened outside the Israeli embassy in D.C. The airman was identified as a 25-year-old from San Antonio, Texas.
--:-- John Bickley: While dressed in military fatigues, he filmed himself as he doused himself with an unknown liquid from a water bottle and set himself ablaze, yelling free Palestine repeatedly before collapsing on the ground.
--:-- John Bickley: Officials say he was taken to a hospital where he died later from his injuries. Here's Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Patrick Ryder on the incident.
--:-- Major General Patrick Ryder: The secretary is following the situation. I know the Air Force has confirmed the airman's death. They do plan to provide additional information 24 hours after next-of-kin notifications are complete. It certainly is a tragic event.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in other news, Hungary has cleared the way for Sweden to join NATO, a move approved by Hungary's parliament today. Last year, both Finland and Sweden opted to join the organization. While Finland was accepted, both Turkey and Hungary objected to Sweden.
--:-- John Bickley: Turkey demanded it take tougher action against militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party. In response, Sweden changed its laws and relaxed rules over arms sales. Hungary's vote ended months of delays to complete Sweden's security policy shift and followed an arms deal between the two countries.
--:-- 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.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
