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--:-- Host John Bickley: J.D. Vance and Tim Walls square off in a consequential and mostly civil debate. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just add to that. Did he lose the 2020 election? If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle class problems, then she ought to do them now. How did the two men make their case to American voters and who landed the most punches? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, October 2nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Iran lights up the sky over Israel, launching hundreds of missiles in its largest attack on the Jewish state. Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation. There will be consequences. We will respond wherever, whenever, and however we choose. As Israel vows strong retaliation, how are U.S. officials responding? And new immigration data reveals that half a million illegal aliens freely roaming the country are convicted criminals. We're talking convicted murderers. We're talking convicted sexual assaults, very serious crimes. Americans deserve to feel safe. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Last night, J.D. Vance and Tim Walls faced off for the first and only vice presidential debate. Here with the highlights and fallout from the high stakes event is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: A huge night with now just 33 days to go. What did we see? Well, first, we saw a much more cordial policy-focused debate than the previous presidential showdowns. But there were still plenty of fireworks throughout the night. J.D. Vance, with his Yale Wall School background, sort of sought to prosecute the case against what he repeatedly called the Kamala Harris administration. He pushed a simple argument early on that Americans were better off and safer under Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's some of his first answer when asked about the chaos unfolding in the Middle East. Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line. Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they're now launching against our allies and, God forbid, potentially launching against the United States as well. Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you needed peace through strength.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For his part, Tim Walls claimed that Harris has done a good job of providing, quote, steady leadership in the Middle East and promised that he would continue to bring what he called a calmness to the world stage. When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin turn towards North Korea when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together we will stay committed And as the vice president said today is we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, later on, Walls warned that Iran is closer today than they've ever been to a nuclear weapon. That drew a very quick response from Vance. Have a listen. Who has been the vice president for the last three and a half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine. Ask yourself at home. I'm 40 years old. When was the last time that an American president didn't have a major conflict breakout? The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: One of the more noteworthy moments came early on when Wallace was asked about false claims that he's made regarding being present at the Tiananmen Square uprising. Remember, he's told that story repeatedly over the years, but this week it was confirmed that he was in the U.S., not in Hong Kong when that incident actually took place. Here are some of that exchange.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Look, I will be the first to tell you, I have poured my heart into my community. I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times. Governor, just to follow up on that, the question was, can you explain the discrepancy? All I said on this was, is I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just, that's what I've said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, we must note CBS had said their moderators would not be live fact-checking the candidates, but they interjected a number of times attempting to correct really only one of the men, J.D. Vance, something he took exception to. Have a listen to this exchange where Margaret Brennan breaks the fact-check rule on J.D. Vance.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status. Well, Margaret, but thank you. Senator, we have so much to get to. Margaret, I think it's important because the rules were that you guys were going to fact check. And since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on. So there's an application called the CBP One App, where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand. That is not a person coming in, applying for a green card and waiting for 10 years. That is the facilitation of a legal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And again, while the two men did at times find common ground and share a few friendly moments, there were still plenty of combative moments, including this one where Vance said he sympathizes with Walls for having to defend Kamala Harris's record. Honestly, Tim, I think you got a tough job here because you've got to play whack-a-mole. You've got to pretend that Donald Trump didn't deliver lower inflation, which of course he did. And then you've simultaneously got to defend Kamala Harris's atrocious economic record, which has made gas, groceries and housing unaffordable for American citizens.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So as for who came out on top, the instant reaction from pundits and many viewers online was pretty decisively in favor of Vance, who came in seemingly more prepared for the moment. to remember he's done a lot more combative interviews than Walls. Walls, for his part, did look frazzled and uneasy. There's not really any other way of putting it, especially in that first half. So now the question becomes, what sort of impact will this have on the race? Typically, VP debates are considered less consequential, but keep in mind, this is the last scheduled debate before election day. So it could take on new weight as voters head to the polls.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Well, big night for both potential VPs. Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Iran launched the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Israel yesterday, a major escalation in long-simmering regional tensions. Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice has the latest.
--:-- Tim Rice: So, let's start with the attack itself. What happened? Yeah, good morning, Georgia. Well, let's start with the good news. Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel, and so far, no fatalities have been reported. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it launched the attack in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the weekend. The attack is also seen as retribution for Israel's July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran while attending the inauguration of Iran's new president.
--:-- Tim Rice: We should also note there was a mass shooting yesterday by two Islamic terrorists in Jaffa who killed seven people and wounded 17 more before being taken out by security forces. Right, a horrific attack in Jaffa. Now, clearly, Israel's missile defense system was very effective in rebuffing the attack. How is Israel expected to respond? We don't know exactly what they'll do yet, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it. Israel is already in the middle of a major strike against Hezbollah in the north and is, of course, coming up on the first anniversary of its war with Hamas in Gaza. So it's safe to say that Israel is ready and willing to respond to Iran's attack.
--:-- Tim Rice: For its part, Iran warned Israel that it would launch a more crushing and destructive attack if Israel retaliates. So more threats of escalation from Iran. Now, a lot of eyes are on the White House right now. How is the U.S. responding to the attack? Biden and Harris reportedly monitored the attack from the Situation Room, and the President offered some brief remarks yesterday. Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel. And I just spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the Situation Room and meeting with my whole national security team and consulting with the Israelis indirectly in terms of their impact on us.
--:-- Tim Rice: And the national security team, has been, as I said, in constant contact with Israeli officials and their counterparts. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there would be severe consequences for Iran, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly addressed the attack Tuesday morning. This is totally unacceptable, and the entire world should condemn it. Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack. We have demonstrated once again our commitment to Israel's defense. We'll remain in very close touch with Israel and other partners in the region in the hours and days ahead.
--:-- Tim Rice: The U.S. was involved in Israel's defense efforts on Tuesday, shooting down missiles from three destroyers stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. But despite this major escalation, the Biden Harris administration still seems hellbent on pushing for a diplomatic solution to tensions in the region. Here's State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. We are not going to give up on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza because we believe it is the best way to free the hostages. It is the best way to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is the best way to ensure long-term peace and stability for the entire region.
--:-- Tim Rice: Now, that kind of talk seems to contradict the White House's insistence that it stands with Israel as it responds to Iranian aggression. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman touched on this dynamic in an interview with Morning Wire yesterday. You'll get a statement repeatedly from Kamala Harris saying Israel has the right to defend itself, which is essentially a meaningless statement. There's no country in the world that doesn't have the right to defend itself, especially against the type of attacks that Israel experienced.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Well, this is hardly the last we're going to hear about this situation, I'm afraid. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Newly released data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows that hundreds of thousands of non-citizen criminals are not being detained in immigration facilities. That includes tens of thousands convicted of sexual assault or homicide. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the data and the reactions so far to it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Tim, so genuinely shocking numbers here. What do we know about this new data on criminal immigrants?
--:-- Tim Pierce: This comes courtesy of Congressman Tony Gonzalez, a Republican who represents a border district in Texas. He released a letter last week that he received from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that broke down its national docket by non-citizens' criminal histories. Keep in mind, the ICE national docket is made up of both aliens that are currently in immigration proceedings and those that have been ordered deported by a judge but haven't been.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to ICE, as of July, roughly 663,000 non-citizens were on a docket with just a tiny fraction of those, about 2%, held in immigration detainment. But here are the numbers that really stand out. Over 425,000 non-detained aliens, so those that are not being held by ICE, have been convicted of a crime. Over 31,000 of those convictions are for homicide, sexual assault, or kidnapping, so the most serious crimes. About another 7,000 non-detained aliens on the docket have been charged with one of those three crimes. That's nearly 40,000 non-citizens that could be at large in the U.S. and have been charged with or convicted of homicide, sexual assault, or kidnapping.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's just truly unimaginable. Why are these numbers so high? So there are a few factors at play here, though we don't have enough data to say which are the most important. In the letter to Gonzalez, ICE blames sanctuary city laws. Policies that block local law enforcement from working with ICE can, quote, end up shielding dangerous criminals. Homeland Security has pointed out that though many of these aliens are not in ICE custody, that doesn't mean they're free. Many of these criminals may be imprisoned in the U.S.
--:-- Tim Pierce: One big problem with deporting criminal aliens is that in many cases, their home country won't take them. Add to that that ICE is not allowed to detain any immigrant indefinitely, even if that person is supposed to be deported. After about six months of detainment, even aliens ordered out of the country are released on some sort of conditions, whether that's just having to check in with an officer or wearing a tracking device. These numbers go back decades, so this isn't solely a Biden administration problem. But the unprecedented wave of immigration under Biden has swamped a system that was already overwhelmed.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. How will this data impact the conversation going on in Washington, especially with the election coming up? Well, this data isn't really being talked about outside of right-of-center media. These new numbers dropped ahead of Vice President Harris's campaign stop in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, but she didn't talk about them there. Instead, she delivered an immigration speech that broadly outlined her approach to immigration and touted her record on prosecuting gangs as California's attorney general. She did not mention her record on immigration as vice president.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Harris. And so we must reform our immigration system to ensure that it works in an orderly way, that it is humane, and that it makes our country stronger. In a bid to appear tougher on the border, the Biden administration announced on Monday a change to asylum rules to prevent border officials from being overwhelmed. If border crossings hit 2,500 in a day, asylum access will be restricted until border crossings fall to under a 1,500 per day average for a month instead of just a week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Congressman Gonzalez went on Fox to discuss the new data and had this to say about Harris's border visit. It took her this long to go to Arizona. I don't even want to go down that route. Why don't you just walk across the street and speak to your own ICE director? Why don't you speak to your own DHS secretary? Why don't you fix this problem by saying, here's the deal. Look, we have literally hundreds of thousands of criminally convicted folks, illegal aliens that are in our country. Let's go after them. Once again, Americans deserve to feel safe. She doesn't have to go to Arizona to read the same data that you and I are looking at.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: The pressure on the administration over immigration policy, clearly not letting up with these new numbers from ICE. Very troubling revelations in this new info. We'll see if there's any more action taken. Tim, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
