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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm your host John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Donald Trump and Elon Musk sit down for a highly anticipated interview. Again, it's about the American dream. You don't hear about the American dream anymore, Elon. You don't hear you're the American dream and it truly says.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, August 13th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance goes on a whirlwind media blitz. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn't have her policy positions out there. And as stolen valor claims stack up against Tim Walz, we talked to the man who replaced him in Iraq.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash wire for 60% off. Rules and restrictions may apply.
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--:-- John Bickley: Former President Donald Trump returned to social media platform X on Monday with a highly anticipated live interview with the company's owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Hey there, John. Well, first, this conversation lasted around two hours, and it garnered more than a million live listeners throughout the stream. So big numbers there. And it covered a wide range of topics like immigration, government waste, foreign policy, free speech, and of course, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
--:-- John Bickley: It did start about 40 minutes late, and Musk said that was due to a cyber attack. But once they got rolling, Musk opened up by asking about the assassination attempt on Trump's life. Musk actually publicly endorsed Trump when that happened.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Here's some audio on that topic. You can't fake bravery under such circumstances. The courage is instinctual or it is not. It's not a rehearsed action. And so I just want to say that I think a lot of people admire your courage under fire there.
--:-- Donald Trump: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: The incredible thing, though, when you talk about the odds, you had to be exactly at that angle. And the bullet came whizzing by, hitting my ear. When you think of the odds of that, I say an act of God, it's a miracle that it happened. And I'm honored by it. I'm honored by it.
--:-- Donald Trump: Trump also went after Harris and the Democrats for what he called a coup against President Biden. And he took a swipe at Harris for basically refusing any questions from reporters since she became the effective Democrat nominee.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And by the way, you think Biden could do this interview? Do you think that Kamala could do this interview? They would take a pass on you. No, they cannot. So they don't need Elon screaming out questions. It pretty sad that somebody that does this for a living can answer a question or is afraid to do an interview.
--:-- Donald Trump: Another standout moment was when Musk explained that he is a moderate politically who strongly supported Barack Obama. He now, though, feels that it's imperative Trump wins this election.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: So this is to people out there who are in the moderate camp to say, I think you should support Donald Trump for president. And I think it's actually a very important junction in the road. And we're in deep trouble if it goes the other way.
--:-- Donald Trump: Well, I want to thank you. And, you know, I actually always did think of you as somewhat left. I must say that. So it's even more of an honor to have your endorsement.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Now, this was a big return to this social media platform for Trump, who was controversially banned following the Capitol riot in 2021.
--:-- John Bickley: What did Trump say about that?
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Right. Trump was permanently banned from the platform while he was still serving out his final days as president. That was, of course, before Musk bought the platform. Musk has been a fierce advocate for free speech, and he reinstated Trump's X account almost as soon as he took it over.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: As for Trump, other than posting his mugshot last summer, the former president has not posted to X until yesterday. He published a flurry of posts ahead of the interview. His very first post asked the American people, are you better off now than you were when I was president?
--:-- Donald Trump: They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom. They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you. They're not coming after me. They're coming after you. And I just happen to be standing in their way and I will never be moving.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And ahead of this interview, we actually saw the EU target Musk about this particular issue. They threatened Musk on Monday that he needs to censor quote unquote harmful content or else his company could be punished.
--:-- John Bickley: The letter comes after posts on X highlighted the alarming events in the UK involving migrants and Muslim gangs.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Notably, Musk back in December said that the European Commission offered X in a legal secret deal to basically quietly censor speech without telling anyone. And this way, X would not be fined. And Musk said he shot that deal down, but other platforms did accept that.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And as he made very, very clear yesterday, he's definitely not backing down. I actually can't repeat what he posted, but it amounted to a giant no to the EU's demands.
--:-- John Bickley: Musk clearly not intimidated by the EU's threats. Meanwhile, Trump back on Twitter.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, in a big way.
--:-- John Bickley: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: You're welcome.
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--:-- John Bickley: Hey, guys, producer Brandon here.
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--:-- John Bickley: So go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer, plus get a free bottle of fiber and spice. That's balanceofnature.com, promo code WIRE.
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--:-- John Bickley: J.D. Vance has been busy on news shows in recent days. The Republican nominee for vice president sat for interviews on ABC, CBS, and CNN and touched on issues ranging from abortion to the border.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Tim, how have these interviews gone so far for Vance? Generally, he's been good at fending off hostile questions and turning the focus back on the Harris walls ticket.
--:-- John Bickley: A consistent theme throughout the interviews was Vance defending and explaining his pro-family approach to politics with Margaret Brennan of CBS he said he wanted to expand the child tax credit for instance.
--:-- Tim Pierce: CNN Dana bash was one of the most hostile to Vance and spent much of her time questioning Vance attacks on Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's an exchange about Walz's stolen valor controversy.
--:-- Dana Bash: I've seen a lot of statements from veterans, including those you serve with, saying it's just untoward to be criticizing somebody who served for 24 years.
--:-- J.D. Vance: I'm not interested in the ad hominem. I've heard from a lot of veterans groups who criticized Tim Walz. The question is, he said he served in war and he didn't. That is a dishonesty.
--:-- Dana Bash: I really, I couldn't care less what one or the other person says about it. I care about what the truth is.
--:-- J.D. Vance: The truth is that Tim Walz didn't tell the truth. And importantly, Dana, this is about Kamala Harris's judgment. And I think that when you ask why has Kamala Harris allowed the border to be wide open? Why is Kamala Harris supported policies that have promoted the increase in inflation?
--:-- Dana Bash: I think it goes to the heart of her judgment. And I think that that's what we should be talking about.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what about the platform that Trump and Vance are running on? Did we learn anything new about their policies?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Nothing new, but this was a good test of Vance's ability to be a spokesman for Trump's priorities.
--:-- John Bickley: Another hostile exchange was prompted by ABC's Jonathan Karl. Karl defended Harris's border record and pushed Vance on Trump's plan to deport illegal aliens.
--:-- Jonathan Karl: If you're not willing to deport a lot of people, you're not willing to have a border when there are 20 million illegal aliens in our country.
--:-- J.D. Vance: 15 million people. This is like, I mean, what, John, I think it's the wrong attitude to take of it. Okay. So there's doors and ask people for the papers.
--:-- Jonathan Karl: I think there's a wrong, this is the wrong attitude towards it, right? There's 20 million people here illegally. You start with what's achievable.
--:-- J.D. Vance: I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals, and frankly, if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the illegal immigration problem.
--:-- John Bickley: And abortion was a topic in every interview. Here's Vance defending Trump's position on that.
--:-- J.D. Vance: What the president has said very clearly is that abortion policy should be made by the states, right? You, of course, want to make sure that any medicine is safe, that it's prescribed in the right way and so forth.
--:-- John Bickley: But I think that what we really want is when states and voters in those states make decisions, we of course want the states and the federal government to respect those decisions.
--:-- J.D. Vance: And that's what President Trump has said is consistently we need to get out of the culture war side of the abortion issue. We need to let the states decide their specific abortion policy.
--:-- John Bickley: Many have noted that Vance's appearances on these shows sort of highlights the lack of media scrutiny on Harris and Walls. So far, neither have sat for any interviews like these ones that Vance has been sitting for.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Did that come up at all?
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. Harris and Walls have been noticeably absent from the media, and that's opened up a lane of attack from the Trump campaign, one that Vance hit on throughout these interviews.
--:-- J.D. Vance: Are you going to debate Tim Walz?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Of course. I want to debate Tim Walz. I think it's important, and I think that it goes to a very fundamental difference between the Trump-Vance ticket and our opposition.
--:-- J.D. Vance: We believe in talking to the media. We believe in answering questions. We believe in debating. I think it's really important.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I mean, look, I'm asking the American people to make me their vice president. It's really important to stand before the American people to make that case.
--:-- J.D. Vance: And I'm going to keep on doing it in whatever form I get the opportunity.
--:-- John Bickley: Even with this public pressure from Republicans, Harris and Walls have studiously avoided tough questions from the media.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The most they promised is a potential sit down by Kamala Harris sometime next month.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. Well, so far, they've been allowed to stick to scripted rallies and campaign commercials.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: The military record of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walls has come under intense scrutiny. Walls has claimed to have retired at a higher level than he did and that he carried, quote, weapons of war in war, despite retiring before his battalion was deployed.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: Well, you know, it originally started even way before that. I mean, when we actually got deployed, he got elected to Congress. I mean, he was retired command sergeant major this and that. And I was out. I'm in the first district where he was our congressman.
--:-- John Bickley: And yearly, you'd see this advertising out there and brought it up to my colonel. I said, you know, I just can't. What are we going to do with this guy? I mean, he's lying about his rank.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: And I did the right thing. I wrote a letter, personal letter, as a constituent to him in Congress. I said, thank you for your 24 years of service. Thank you for doing what you do for veterans. You didn't achieve the rank of command sergeant major. Please refrain from doing that from now on.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll just set the record straight. Tell everybody that, well, I made a mistake. Whatever you got to do. But I never heard a response.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: I sent it to all of the people that were on the committees that he was on, like the Armed Services Committee. Never heard a word back from anybody.
--:-- John Bickley: And then two years later, he's running for governor. And it was like August. It was like feet's sake. Now I got to get off my tractor and go make a banner to put up my bin and do whatever.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: They're trying to get the public out there knowing that you're a fraud. And it got suppressed by the media then.
--:-- John Bickley: It got brought out more in 2022. But now it's where it's at.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: All right. So you initially reached out to him personally, got no response back. And then you started to feel when he ran for governor that maybe you had to take this up a notch in terms of public awareness.
--:-- John Bickley: And the media, you say, just ignored your claims.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: Well, they not only ignored it. I mean, the Star Tribune reporter, I sent this to him. He got back to me. He said, well, I vetted your story. It's true. We're looking at publishing an article.
--:-- John Bickley: Then he got back to me and he said, well, my editor nixed it because they said it's too close to the election and it didn't want to influence the election.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: Maybe not exact words, but pretty close. And I thought to myself, what the hell is this, North Korea? I couldn't believe it. I was like, you know, this is a true story. This should influence the election. People should be able to read this and determine if this is who they want to vote for governor.
--:-- John Bickley: And they just hid it.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: Now, you've characterized this as him abandoning his men. What was the impact of him leaving? How did that impact these particular men? There's a lot of them, hundreds of them under his command, correct?
--:-- John Bickley: I think it's like a deflating balloon when something like that happens. It's like the wind is taken out of the sails. Everything is like, okay, we're full steam ahead. We're getting ready. We got our leadership in place. We're going to get ready. We're preparing for war.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: And all of a sudden, the sails are straight up and down with no wind in there. I mean, that's it. You're just done.
--:-- John Bickley: Everybody was in just shock. Who does that? Who leaves their kids hanging on something like this?
--:-- Thomas Behrens: And so you filled that role. You took over and led that battalion. Can you tell us about that? What was that experience like?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it was an absolute honor to even have that brought out to me. It was like, now I can serve my country in a greater capacity.
--:-- Thomas Behrens: I was like, okay, I'm on board. I went around to the unit, said, well, he's gone. I'm here. Let's get ready and let's go.
--:-- John Bickley: Look for the rest of our interview with retired Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrens to be released later this week.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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