Morning Wire - Biden Hospital Allegations & Navalny’s Death Questions | 2.19.24

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

A new report accuses President Biden’s brother of influence-peddling,, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest opponent abruptly dies in prison, and the fallout from the ruling in Trump’s New York fraud trial begins. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Gravity Defyer: Get $30 off your order of $150 or more! Use promo code: WIRE at http://www.GDefy.com Ramp: "Now get $250 off when you join Ramp. Go to http://www.ramp.com/WIRE" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And sometimes, a smooth, silky latte just wins. It's exceptional but effortless. Like actually effortless. Simply press, brew and explore. Nispresso, what else? Keep exploring at nespresso.com. A new report details more damaging allegations of Biden family influence peddling, this time President Biden's younger brother, Jim. How did the president's brother allegedly used the Biden brand for personal gain?

And what led to the collapse of the company at the center of the scheme? I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, February 19th, and this is Morning Wire. Putin's most influential opponent abruptly dies in prison, prompting claims of assassinations. and condemnation from Washington. Let's make Russia state-sponsored terrorism under U.S. law. Let's make them pay a price for killing the volley. And the political and legal fallout has begun from a New York court's staggering financial

penalty against Donald Trump. We'll appeal, we'll be successful, I think, because frankly, if we're not successful, New York State is gone. Will Trump actually have to pay the full amount and shut down all business in the state? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. tune. We have the news you need to know. Good footwear is about more than just fashion, and G-D-D-D-Fi shoes are anything but ordinary. They aim to foster healthy body movements, alleviate pain, and prevent further wear and tear. I tried my first pair of G-D-D-F-I shoes, and I actually didn't want to take

them off. They were so comfortable, even when I was just doing chores around the house. Try them for yourself. Use Code Wire for $30 off orders of $150 or more at G-D-D-F-C-com. That's G-D-E-F-Y-com with promo code wire for $30 off your order. Experience the miracle that is G-Dify, where comfort meets innovation. President Joe Biden's brother is at the center of another highly questionable business matter. James Biden flashed his family name and partnered with a rural hospital provider in 2019, only for it to collapse two years later. The president's younger brother is expected to be grilled over that and other topics on Tuesday

when he sits for a private interview with House Republicans. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to to discuss these new allegations and how they connect to the president. Hi, Tim. First, can you remind us of AmeriCorps's ties to the president's brother, Jim? Sure. So AmeriCorps was launched by Canadian entrepreneur Grant White on the idea that he could take over distressed rural hospitals and turn them profitable. Jim Biden joined White in 2017 as a consultant. According to a long expose on the relationship, reported by Politico over the weekend, Jim believed he could help White score lucrative federal contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim also thought he could connect White with

labor leaders that were very strong political allies of his brother Joe. It was mostly a failed partnership and the company filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2019, leaving behind its many patients and creditors. Politico describes its collapse as wreaking havoc on local communities. The collapse sparked numerous legal battles and investigations over suspicions of fraud. Now AmeriCorps has been in the public eye for a while now, but Politico's presenting some new troubling information here, correct? Yeah, it is. Reporters got access to thousands of documents and emails that recorded the Biden family's

dealings with AmeriCorps. The trove built on a theme at the center of allegations against the Biden's and the Biden brand. Jim repeatedly traded on his last name and emphasized his ties to Joe. And not just to AmeriCorps executives. In an email, Jim pitched the CEO of a company that had just developed an experimental cancer treatment that AmeriCorps was interested in by saying that a partnership, quote, would be a perfect platform to expose my brother's team to your protocol. A slide from an investor presentation highlighted Jim's role as the brother and campaign finance chair of former Vice President Joe Biden.

Also worth noting is at the time, Joe Biden, after just leaving the vice presidency, was mostly concerned about his legacy, and he aimed to do that in large part through cancer research. Jim, in emails and meetings with executives, continually made the case that AmeriCorps could be the vehicle of Biden's legacy on combating cancer. How close was Joe Biden to all of this, to this business being done by his brother? Joe has denied he ever spoke with his brother about business, but he did pop up in the orbit of Jim's business partners. According to Politico, Joe met with the CEO of AmeriCorps once in 2017. They met at a fundraiser for the Bo Biden Foundation.

And then, according to Politico, one person who Jim pitched for some health care-related business partnership said Jim had claimed to be sitting right next to Joe as he made the call. Jim also talked with top AmeriCorps officials about getting Joe directly involved in the company. He pitched getting Joe an equity stake and a seat on AmeriCorps's board of directors. But the company collapsed before any of that ever happened. How much money are we talking about here? What kind of pay did Jim receive from AmeriCorps? And then why did it ultimately collapse? Jim was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars from AmeriCorps.

In fact, that money was the focus of a 2022 settlement between Jim and Carol Fox, who was tasked by the Justice Department with overseeing AmeriCorps's liquidation after its bankruptcy. Fox said Jim Biden failed to repay over $600,000 in loans from AmeriCorps. Biden said that that money was payment in return for his consulting services. The issue was resolved in a settlement in which Jim paid $350,000 back to Fox, and Fox signed a document that said she had no direct evidence that Jim committed fraud. But questions about loan payments in the Biden family have popped up before, and in relation to AmeriCorps. Jim wrote a $200,000 check to his brother Joe on March 1, 2018,

the same day that Jim had received a $200,000 check from AmeriCorps. The Bidens have said that the money shared between Jim and Joe was a loan, but so far there's hardly any paper trail to point to his evidence for that. And meanwhile, the company collapsed. Right, that happened after Jim failed to secure more funding from investors. Jim actually met with Hunter and tried to secure backing for AmeriCorps from the Chinese energy giant CEFC. And when that didn't pan out, Jim said he could leverage contacts in the Middle East to secure funding to support AmeriCorps. None of the funds were ever secured, and the hospital

operator filed for bankruptcy on December 31st, 2019. Well, we can expect Republicans to dig deeply into all this when Jim comes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. If you need a better way to simplify your business finances, then you need to check out Ramp. Ramp is the corporate card and spend management software designed to help you save time and put money back in your pocket. Businesses that use Ramps save an average of 5% in the first year. And now you get $250 when you join Ramp. Just go to ramp.com slash wire.

That's ramp.com slash wire, RAMP dot com slash wire. Cards issued by Sutton Bank and Celtic Bank, member of FDICIC, terms and conditions apply. Alexei Novani, the outspoken Kremlin critic and leader of Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin, died in a remote prison camp. His abrupt death has prompted widespread condescended. nation of Putin, while demonstrations in Russia honoring Navalny led to hundreds of arrests. Here with more is Daily Wire, senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, we're going to get to Navalny's death and what it means for Russia. But first, give us a little background. Who was

Alexei Navalny? So Navalny was the single most vocal and popular political opponent of Vladimir Putin. He was a lawyer by trade, but rose to fame as a blogger and radio host, reporting on corruption in the Russian government, and ultimately using social media to expose the country's party leaders and elites while mobilizing an opposition movement led mostly by young people. Throughout the last 20 years, Navalny led enormous protests against fraud in the country's election system and became really the only viable political opponent to Putin. In 2016, he attempted to challenge Putin with the presidential run of his own, but was barred from doing so after a court convicted him on fraud charges, which were widely considered illegitimate. Throughout the years that

followed, the Kremlin continued to crack down on Navaldi's opposition movement, ultimately shutting down his foundation for fighting corruption. Navalny had been in prison since 2021 when he was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted of everything from fraud to embezzlement and contempt of court. So what do we know about the circumstances of his death? Well, Russian state media originally claimed

that he suffered a blood clot and lost consciousness after taking a walk. But Navalny's mother says when she arrived at the prison camp, officials said her son died of, quote, sudden death syndrome. But the overwhelming assumption is that he was either poisoned or died because of the poor conditions he experienced in prison. Since his arrest in 2021, the 47-year-old Navalny spent about a quarter of his time in brutal punishment cells, as they're called, where he was subjected to sub-zero temperatures, sleep deprivation and isolation, and denied medical

treatment. Over the weekend, thousands of mourners throughout the country laid flowers and other mementos at makeshift memorials, though Russian authorities quickly removed them overnight. Now, even before his imprisonment, Navalny was the target of an assassination attempt. What do we know about that incident? Yeah, so back in 2020, Navalny led an election integrity effort that really outraged the Kremlin. On a flight through Siberia, as part of that tour, he suddenly lost consciousness and fell into a coma. After being airlifted to a hospital in Berlin, doctors there confirmed that he had been poisoned by a Soviet-era nerve agent.

According to U.S. intelligence, Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, sort of the new KGB, was responsible for that attack. And remember, this is part for the course with Putin, who has routinely assassinated political opponents, businessmen, journalists, or anyone who poses a threat to his control. And the prison camper Navalny died, it's worth noting, is also full of Russians who protested the war in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Western leaders, including President Biden,

sent tributes to Navalny and blamed Putin for his death. Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality. And another important note here, when Navalny was first imprisoned back in 2021, Biden warned that if he died, there would be, quote, consequences that would be devastating for Russia. So a lot of people are going to be waiting to see if and how the U.S. responds, though, past consequences, including strict sanctions, have evidently done very little to deter Putin. Now, final question. What does this mean moving forward when it comes to the anti-P Putin resistance?

Yeah, it certainly deals a crippling blow to the opposition movement in Russia. Devalny was far in a way the most popular and organized challenger to Putin, and it's unclear who, if anyone, could step into that void to challenge him now. This is an election year, and while some are hoping Navalny's death will inspire the opposition movement, nearly all of its most prominent leaders are either in prison or living in exile. So another sign that Putin's grip on power has only grown more firm. Well, it's definitely chilling for anyone who to even think of it. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. The political and legal fallout has begun from a New York court's whopping $450 million

penalty against Donald Trump in his civil bank fraud case. The staggering amount, along with a three-year ban on Trump's companies doing business in New York, are the former president's biggest legal setbacks to date. Here to discuss where this case goes from here and what the political impact of it may be is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. So Trump has promised an appeal, but does he have to put up this money first?

And meanwhile, can he do business in New York? Morning, John. But Trump will have to put up a bond to keep the state from coming after the $450 million immediately. Obviously, you don't walk across the street from the courthouse to the little bail bondsman's shot, and say you need to post half a billion dollars, but there are insurance companies that do that.

Trump will have to pay a premium on it, though. As to doing business in the state, Trump's legal team will try to get a stay on the restrictions, but if they can't, Trump's businesses will be put under a strict monitorship and also face some very severe restrictions on borrowing, which is the lifeblood of the real estate industry. Judge Ngoron stopped short of a lifetime ban

on Trump doing business in the empire. state. But if the restrictions survive appeal, it'll make it very difficult, if not impossible, for Trump's real estate empire to grow and perhaps to even survive, at least in New York. Yeah, to imagine. So as far as the expected appeal goes, what do legal experts make of Trump's chances to reduce this penalty significantly, maybe, or even have the entire case reversed? As to the latter, there are some grounds for appeal that could reverse the decision. It's a very unusual case. None of the banks involved actually lost any money, and there are serious questions about how Judge Angkoron valued Trump's properties, including an $18 million valuation of Mar-a-Lago

that a lot of experts think is absurdly low. Most observers believe that the hefty dollar figure will be reduced at least to some degree, but the restrictions on the company, those could be harder to reverse. As to the politics here, how are Trump and his team framing this decision in terms of the ongoing election, and will it hurt or help him? Trump argues that this is just another example of election interference and that the case would not have been brought had he not run for president, also pointing out that New York State Attorney General Letitia James ran on prosecuting him. It is certainly an argument that plays well with his base,

and given that the draconian penalty has raised eyebrows, even among experts on the left, it might have some purchase with independence as well. What about Trump's political rivals like Nikki Haley and Joe Biden? What have we heard from them in response to all this? Well, as with all of Trump's legal problems, Haley's approach is to point to the chaos it causes and the distraction that it is for Trump, rather than focusing on the merits of any of the cases, including this one, because GOP voters are largely sympathetic to Trump's courtroom plate. As to the Biden campaign, it has to be careful because Trump and his allies are specifically elected. that Biden and his administration are behind these cases, even the local ones.

For example, we know that Nathan Wade, the embattled prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case, met with officials at the White House. So Biden himself might keep a wide berth when it comes to commenting on these cases. Right. Dave, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.