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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, August 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Ukrainian prosecutor that then-Vice President Biden bragged about getting fired has come forward accusing the president of corruption.
--:-- John Bickley: Oh, son of a gun. Got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Who is Viktor Shokin and why does he claim Biden really wanted him removed?
--:-- Tim Pierce: I'm Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. Viktor Shokin served Ukraine as the prosecutor general, similar to the attorney general in the U.S., until he was removed from office in March of 2016.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Tim, first off, give us some context. Who was Ukraine's top prosecutor and why did Biden want him gone?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Viktor Shokin was the prosecutor general, and according to his own account, Biden leveraged $1 billion the U.S. was offering Ukraine in loan guarantees to secure Shokin's removal because he was widely seen as corrupt.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to his own account, Biden explained that in 2018. I look, I said, leave in six hours. If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So both men are accusing each other of being corrupt. And certainly Shokin was widely seen as corrupt. But Shokin is specifically claiming that Biden wanted him gone because of the Biden family's ties to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, when did the Bidens become involved with Burisma?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hunter Biden joined Burisma's board in 2014, a position he said he got probably just because his last name is Biden.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In fact, the month before he was ousted, Shokin approved a raid on the home of a top Burisma executive, Nikolai Zlochevsky.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to an FBI source, Zlochevsky actually paid Joe and Hunter Biden $10 million each to help the company.
--:-- John Bickley: What do we know about that?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, the Obama administration attached some strings to that loan, as well as other aid previously given to Ukraine. Oddly, though, firing Shokin didn't appear to be one of those strings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A task force made up of officials from the Departments of Justice, State, and Treasury had decided that Ukraine had done enough.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A couple months before Biden made his threat, The task force made a memo and said, quote, Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee.
--:-- John Bickley: But Shokin was still widely seen as corrupt by officials in the U.S. and Europe, so removing him was still a popular move at the time among foreign diplomats.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The White House has yet to respond to these allegations.
--:-- John Bickley: Final question, Tim. We're going to pivot a little bit. Hunter Biden's new home in Malibu is making headlines this week. What's going on there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, there's not a lot of details yet, just a lot of questions. The Daily Mail reported Friday that Hunter has now moved into a new home in Malibu that cost $15,800 per month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To keep protecting him, Secret Service said to move in across the street in a place that costs about the same amount, $16,000.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So the question is, of course, where's Hunter getting the money from?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, at the very least, we know where the Secret Service is getting their money from.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for reporting, Tim.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: I'm Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. A Canadian man who was jailed and placed in solitary confinement for refusing to support his teenage daughter's gender transition has been released.
--:-- John Bickley: All the way through the court process over the last five years, I've been absolutely just hammered. One spectacular loss after the next.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In a Morning Wire exclusive, we speak to him about his case and the events that led up to his release.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And is President Biden too old for a second term? A large number of voters say yes.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: In 2016, Ukraine removed its top prosecutor after then-Vice President Joe Biden threatened to withhold a $1 billion loan guarantee.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: That prosecutor has now come forward and says Biden acted to serve his own interests.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about what the prosecutor had to say and why Biden's time in Ukraine is getting a second look.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, first off, give us some context. Who was Ukraine's top prosecutor and why did Biden want him gone?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Viktor Shokin served Ukraine as the prosecutor general, similar to the attorney general in the U.S., until he was removed from office in March of 2016.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Tim, first off, give us some context. Who was Ukraine's top prosecutor and why did Biden want him gone?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Viktor Shokin was the prosecutor general, and according to his own account, Biden leveraged $1 billion the U.S. was offering Ukraine in loan guarantees to secure Shokin's removal because he was widely seen as corrupt.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: According to his own account, Biden explained that in 2018. I look, I said, leave in six hours. If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So both men are accusing each other of being corrupt. And certainly Shokin was widely seen as corrupt. But Shokin is specifically claiming that Biden wanted him gone because of the Biden family's ties to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, when did the Bidens become involved with Burisma?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hunter Biden joined Burisma's board in 2014, a position he said he got probably just because his last name is Biden.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In fact, the month before he was ousted, Shokin approved a raid on the home of a top Burisma executive, Nikolai Zlochevsky.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to an FBI source, Zlochevsky actually paid Joe and Hunter Biden $10 million each to help the company.
--:-- John Bickley: What do we know about that?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, the Obama administration attached some strings to that loan, as well as other aid previously given to Ukraine. Oddly, though, firing Shokin didn't appear to be one of those strings.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: A task force made up of officials from the Departments of Justice, State, and Treasury had decided that Ukraine had done enough.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A couple months before Biden made his threat, The task force made a memo and said, quote, Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee.
--:-- John Bickley: But Shokin was still widely seen as corrupt by officials in the U.S. and Europe, so removing him was still a popular move at the time among foreign diplomats.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The White House has yet to respond to these allegations.
--:-- John Bickley: Final question, Tim. We're going to pivot a little bit. Hunter Biden's new home in Malibu is making headlines this week. What's going on there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, there's not a lot of details yet, just a lot of questions. The Daily Mail reported Friday that Hunter has now moved into a new home in Malibu that cost $15,800 per month.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: To keep protecting him, Secret Service said to move in across the street in a place that costs about the same amount, $16,000.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So the question is, of course, where's Hunter getting the money from?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, at the very least, we know where the Secret Service is getting their money from.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Thanks for reporting, Tim.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: A Canadian father who was jailed for misgendering his teenage daughter has scored a legal win in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hoogland spoke to Morning Wire's Amanda Prestigiacomo in his first public interview. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hey, before we get into this most recent judgment, would you give us some background on this case, which has been dragging on for some five years now?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, sure thing. A man named Robert Hogan took legal action in 2019 after a children's hospital in Canada told him his gender-confused daughter, who was then just 13 years old, was going to be injected with testosterone despite this father refusing to give his consent.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In Canada, they have something called the Infants Act. This means that minors can consent to their own trans treatments if doctors think it's in their best interests. Parents' consent is irrelevant.
--:-- John Bickley: Disagreeing with the hospital, Hoogland said his daughter needed time and mental health support, not these transgender medical interventions that can be irreversible.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Testosterone and other trans interventions have been linked to fertility issues, low bone density, and a host of other problems.
--:-- John Bickley: Per court conditions, Hoogland was barred from publicly misgendering his daughter. In other words, he couldn't refer to his own daughter as his daughter anymore.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And Canadian media was banned from publishing Hoogland's name.
--:-- John Bickley: Hoogland, though, continued to speak out and he was thrown in jail after he spoke about the case and referred to his daughter as his daughter during an interview with the American media outlet The Federalist.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: For this Hoogland was found in contempt of court effectively committing what the Canadian court deemed quote family violence.
--:-- John Bickley: The hardest part is knowing that no matter how much you're fighting to protect that child of yours, all you can simply do is watch the tragedy unfold and your hands are tied.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And one day your child is healthy and the next day your child is on testosterone. Room. And I think that's the hardest part of it all is just that sense of being helpless.
--:-- John Bickley: Hoogland served about two months behind bars, and most of that time served was actually in solitary confinement.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: But a judge was trying to incarcerate Hoogland for an additional four months. This is where the appeal comes in and it gets a little complicated.
--:-- John Bickley: Basically, the family court issue was pushed into a criminal action. And Hoogland's initial legal counsel, he argues, was not equipped and botched this initial plea deal, which included Hoogland serving only 45 days.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The judge then went above and beyond here and said six months was more suitable for Hoogland to serve.
--:-- John Bickley: The appeals court agreed with Hoogland and the three judges decided that he does not have to spend any more time in jail. Time served was adequate here.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: They also dropped an order for him to shell out a $30,000 fine and dropped other court conditions.
--:-- John Bickley: I expected that I would finish, if not all of that six months, a big chunk of it.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: This is a huge win because what it does is it was setting a precedent. And what they wanted was a real deterrent for parents when they were standing up against the trans agenda.
--:-- John Bickley: That's going on, you know, being pushed through the schools by the school counselors and all of these different things.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And so to have a punishment that six months in prison and, of course, a $30,000 fine, I mean, not many parents are going to say, hey, I'm willing to take that risk.
--:-- John Bickley: So I think this is where it's important. There's momentum in Canada now, too. The tide is turning.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And to finally get a big win after just all these horrific losses and the way things were going, I think that's just critical for morale, at the very least.
--:-- John Bickley: What is the status now of Hoogland's daughter? Does he now have any say in the transition of his own child?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Unfortunately, Hoogland hasn't seen his daughter since 2019.
--:-- John Bickley: He told me he's lost his child and his family was destroyed over this ideology.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: I'm hoping one day when my child realizes and possibly detransitions that, you know, there's I'm waiting.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm waiting with open arms for that day.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: When these kids come back and say, hey, mom, dad, where were you? I was like 13, 14. Why didn't you try and stop me from making this big, incredible mistake?
--:-- John Bickley: And at least I can always say, hey, I tried.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And you can look it up online. Even I tried really hard and even I wasn't able to do it with everything I gave it. But I tried.
--:-- John Bickley: So my conscience is clean on that.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: For now, Hoogland says he's going to take a break after years of being in and out of court and jail.
--:-- John Bickley: Let me note, though, there is a 60-day period where this can get appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court if they really want to make an example out of Hoogland.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So possibly more to come.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, well, a very disturbing case. We'll be watching it closely.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: No problem.
--:-- John Bickley: Voters have been concerned about Joe Biden's age for years, but now even most of his own party think he's too old to be president.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: According to a new Associated Press poll nearly 70 percent of Democrats think President Biden is too old to serve another term.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraida Lordi is here with the details.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Yes, they are. To be exact, the new poll shows that 69% of Democrats think the president is too old for another term, and an even higher number, 77% of all voters agree.
--:-- John Bickley: The poll actually offered some colorful insight into voters' thoughts because it included a word association exercise, which asked people to give the first word or phrase that comes to mind when they think of Trump and Biden.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: About 28% of Democrats mentioned Biden's age right off the bat. Even one Democrat who said he approves of Biden's performance still called him senile.
--:-- John Bickley: Out of all people, about 15% used words like slow or confused, and another 26% mentioned Biden's age for a total of 41%.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: One Republican said potato for Biden.
--:-- John Bickley: On the other hand, for Trump, the top words were corrupt or crooked, with 15 percent of people using those terms and a total of 34 percent of people using negative terms, while eight percent said good and other positive words.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Nobody said potato, huh?
--:-- John Bickley: Not that I saw.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: So those aren't the best set of descriptors for either of them.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, the overarching question here, of course, is whether this means Democrats really don't want Biden to run.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: What information do we have on that?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it's difficult to say because Biden is currently leading in the polls for the Democratic nomination.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: But about three-fourths of people overall said they don't want Biden to run in 2024, while slightly fewer, 69%, said they don't want former President Donald Trump to run.
--:-- John Bickley: Meanwhile, about 74% of voters said they think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: That tracks with Biden's floundering approval rating, which has been low for months.
--:-- John Bickley: How does this break out in terms of the key issues, Biden's approval on those issues?
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Well, his approval rating on individual policy areas is even worse. According to the poll, about 63 percent disapprove of how Biden is handling the economy and 56 percent disapprove of how he's handled foreign policy.
--:-- John Bickley: Corruption is also a big optics problem for Biden. A majority of voters, 57 percent, say they have hardly any confidence in Biden's ability to reduce the amount of corruption in the government in Washington.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: His son Hunter's alleged criminal behavior and financial dealings with foreign countries have dogged the president since his campaign and will feature again this election cycle, especially now that the attorney general has appointed a special counsel to investigate the younger Biden.
--:-- John Bickley: Right, this really escalated the situation and the rhetoric.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Meanwhile, the Republican primary is really kicking into gear now, determining who will face off against Biden.
--:-- John Bickley: What are the polls looking like since the first Republican debate last week?
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Right. Well, Trump is also pulling double digits ahead of his primary contenders, even though he skipped last week's GOP debate.
--:-- John Bickley: Despite facing dozens of felony charges, Trump's currently pulling at 53 percent for the Republican nomination.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: In a distant second is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 13 percent and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, who's getting about eight percent.
--:-- John Bickley: All right. Well, already an election season like no other.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: We'll see what comes next.
--:-- John Bickley: Great. Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Thanks, John.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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