Morning Wire - Biden Pardons Hunter & Syria Rebels Takeover | 12.2.24

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

President Biden announces that he’s pardoning his son while Trump shakes up Washington, Trump delivers early on campaign promises, and rebel forces overtake Syria’s second most populous city. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a stunning reversal, President Biden announces that he's pardoning his son, Hunter. Nobody's above the law we've been screaming. Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law. The move comes as Trump takes another step to weed out corruption in the Justice Department. I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Vickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, December 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. Trump appears to make major progress with Canada and Mexico on border security, and now even some blue-south.

states say they'll cooperate with deportations. There are other people who commit crimes or are known to be criminals before they arrived here. When those are identified, I'll be the first one to help get rid of them. And rebel forces overtake Syria's second most populous city. Is the Syrian government on the verge of collapse? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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Joining us to discuss is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot, Phillips, A. Cabot. So a seismic weekend when it comes to the Justice Department. First, President Biden made this stunning announcement Sunday. He's pardoning Hunter. That's despite repeated denials that he'd ever do that. That's right. Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced next week for his federal gun charges conviction and was also just two weeks out from sentencing on his tax cases. Remember, among other things, the President's son was convicted of lying about his substance abuse on a federal firearms application. He also pled guilty. to multiple tax charges in California. In that case, he faced up to 17 years in prison. But on Sunday evening, President Biden, all but put an end to those cases with a full pardon. In his words, Hunter was clearly, quote, singled out only because he is my son. And that, quote, raw politics has infected the judicial process. So President Biden alleging weaponization of the DOJ there. Now, this really is a shocking about face after President Biden and his staff spent the last year

insisting that he would not pardon his son. For example, here's the president's White House press secretary, Corrine Jampier, with a fiery claim earlier this year. It's still a no. It will always be a no. It's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no.

And I don't have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No. And here's President Biden himself, reassuring the American people after Hunter was convicted, that he would not intervene. I said, I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.

So just a major reversal there from President Biden. Now, for his part, Hunter issued a statement of his own saying, quote, I will never take the clemency I've been given today for granted, and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering. A truly bombshell move by President Biden that I'm sure will be unpacking in the days to come. And this comes on the heels of Trump shaking things up when it comes to the Justice Department and corruption there. About that, Trump announced his choice for FBI director, conservative firebrand, Cash Patel. give us up to speed on that.

Right. On Saturday night, President Trump really shook up Washington with a single post on his Truth Social app, where he announced that Cash Patel will serve as the next FBI director. Patel is no doubt a political outsider ideologically. He's routinely called for the dismantling of the bureaucratic deep state and pushed for major institutional reforms. But he's got quite the resume. He started as a public defender in Florida before becoming a terrorism prosecutor at the DOJ, eventually rising to chief of staff. for the DOD, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

So he certainly has the credentials for this position, but why did Trump pick Patel specifically? Well, he's deeply aligned with Donald Trump's goal of draining the swamp. For example, he wrote a book last year called Government Gangsters, which essentially offered a roadmap for reforming the DOJ and FBI specifically. That plan includes shrinking the size of the Bureau by eliminating unnecessary jobs. and rooting out the incompetence that he says has plagued government agencies for decades. For example, here he is talking a few months ago about his vision for the FBI headquarters in D.C. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state.

And I take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. Your cops. Go be cops. Patel has also been one of the leading voices on the right calling out the weaponization of the Justice Department and pushing for an end to what he calls the surveillance state, where agencies like the FBI spy on American citizens, including the political opponents of those in power. All right, so clearly in line with Trump's agenda. And Patel was a major voice against the false Russia collusion claims, correct? Right. Before joining the first Trump administration, he served as senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

It was there that he really spearheaded the investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 election. And Patel not only played a critical role in proving that story was a hoax. He also exposed the political motives behind that Nandabunk story and served as the primary writer of the memo that ultimately proved the FBI used, quote, politically motivated sources to obtain their warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. In recent years, he has slammed the FBI for its raid of Trump's personal residence in Mar-Lago. saying it was more proof that, quote, crazed partisans had hijacked the law enforcement apparatus against Trump. In an effort to combat that partisanship, Patel recently launched a nonprofit aimed at supporting whistleblowers across the federal government, including the FBI,

urging them to come forward with evidence of political weaponization. So Trump campaigned on a promise of appointing outsiders to drain the swamp. His new FBI pick certainly fits the bill. Yeah, sure, sounds like it. Kappa. Thanks for reporting. Anytime. Are you tired of big corporations? pushing their progressive agenda, then don't give them a penny of your money this holiday season. The Daily Wire Shop is your conservative gift headquarters and Cyber Monday deals are here. Score up to 70% off gifts from your favorite conservative voices like Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, and more. With Great DailyWire exclusive items under $30, there's something for everyone.

Conservative uncles, friends, neighbors, that guy from work who jokes about HR's latest sensitivity training, everyone. Head over to DailyWire.com slash shop today. Donald Trump raised eyebrows during his campaign when he said he could solve America's problems before even taking office. Now he claims he's already making progress on immigration. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice is here to discuss. So Tim, Trump made some waves over the weekend. Tell us a little about that. Yeah, good morning, Georgia. It started Wednesday night when Trump posted on Truth Social about his very productive conversation with Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum. Trump said Shinebaum, quote, agreed to stop migration for.

Mexico and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border. Now, Scheinbaum very quickly claimed this wasn't true. She said she simply reiterated Mexico's immigration policy to Trump and stressed that she was not interested in closing the border. So obviously we can't know for sure what happened on that call. But if Scheinbaum made concessions to Trump, she wouldn't have been the only one. On Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised Trump that he would tighten security on the northern border to stop the flow of fentanyl.

And there's no he said she said here. Canada's public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, who was at the dinner with Trump and Trudeau, confirmed the whole thing. So it sounds like potentially some major concessions from Trudeau, possibly more from Scheinbaum. What's behind the change of heart from these two? Well, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on both Canada and Mexico unless they stem the tide of drugs and illegal immigrants entering the United States over their borders. And it's safe to say that threat has both countries spooked. Scheinbaum responded immediately saying that tariffs weren't the answer, but that she was willing to cooperate with Trump to solve these problems.

And considering 75% of Canadian exports go to the United States, it's no surprise that Trudeau is willing to do just about anything to keep that tariff at bay. So this is a pretty huge win for Trump. He's already making progress on one of his big campaign pledges. He's proving that world leaders take him seriously. And he's demonstrating that tariffs, which are really at the center of his economic agenda, really can work. So it sounds like a lot of good news for Trump. Now, there was also some good news domestically. Tell us about some of his interactions with governors.

Yeah, perhaps the best news Trump got this week came from right here in the U.S. of A. Last week, New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochle, said that she would cooperate with the Trump administration's planned mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Have a listen. Our immigration system is woefully broken. It's been broken for decades. There was an opportunity to make meaningful change that the Republicans in the House of killed, and they should be held accountable for that.

But we need to fix the border, fix the system. But I'll tell you this, those who come here legally, we want to get them jobs. I have 460,000 open jobs in the state of New York. I want them to get the proper work permits. I want them to keep their temporary protective status, if that's what they have. I want to make sure that they're part of contributing to society while they're here. That's separate from people who are criminals. someone breaks the law, I'll be the first one to call up ICE and say, get them out of here.

It's hard to overstate how big this is. New York Democrats have always defied Trump on immigration, vowing to maintain their sanctuary cities and give quarter to illegal immigrants. So either Hockel has decided it's in her best interest to work with Trump, or illegal immigration has gotten so bad in New York that she's come around to the idea of deportations. Either way, it's good news for Trump. Well, and it sounds like things are at least off to a smoother start than Trump's first term. Tim, thanks for reporting.

You bet. Rebel forces took over Syria's second most populous city over the weekend. Saturday marked the first time rebel troops have occupied Aleppo in nearly a decade. Here to talk about the latest in the Civil War in Syria as Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. Hey, Tim. So a major development over the weekend in Syria, how bad are things for the regime there? They're pretty dire. It's not an overstatement to say that Bashar al-Assad's rule in Syria is under its most severe threat since he took power.

Rebel forces took control of Aleppo for the first time since they were forced out of the city in 2016. This is a major blow to Assad who has relied on close allies in Russia and Iran to support his regime. Listeners might remember that Syria has been embroiled in a civil war since 2011. That's resulted in about 300,000 dead and millions more made refugees. The anti-government forces are led by a group known as HTS. It began as an offshoot of al-Qaeda, and in 2018, the U.S. State Department designated it a terror group. It's backed by Turkey, which has given the group training and material support. In recent years, the rebel forces have largely stayed in Syria's northwest, building up in the Idlib province and apparently preparing for an attack such as this one.

As far as that goes, reports say the anti-government forces have taken control of large parts of Western Syria. That includes Aleppo. So Western parts of the country. Why now? Why is this group carrying out an attack at this particular moment? The short version is the Ukraine War and the war in Gaza. Assad is particularly vulnerable at the moment because his two greatest allies are weakened. Russia is focused on fighting Ukraine and Iran has suffered serious strategic setbacks from Israel.

Hezbollah has also been an ally to Assad and that terror group has been decimated by Israel as well. Here's President Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on CNN. We were not surprised that these rebels would try to take advantage of a new situation in which the Syrian government's main backers Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah were all distracted and weakened by conflicts and events elsewhere. So the Syrian rebels took a look at that. They took a look at three actors who had been pummeling them for years. Iran, Russia, Hezbollah. They had seen them a weaker and more exposed than before,

and they tried to take advantage of it. It's important to note that Assad is getting some support. Russia has started conducting airstrikes alongside Syrian forces against the rebels. and Iran's foreign minister met with Assad on Sunday to show support for the regime. We'll have to see if it's enough to keep Assad in power. Right. That's the big question right now. What does this mean for the U.S., for its forces and its various interests in the region? According to Sullivan, there's no immediate threat to U.S. troops.

There aren't any U.S. assets in the areas of the fighting. But as for U.S. interests, that's hard to determine. Here's Sullivan. It's a complicated question because the group at the vanguard of this rebel advance HTS is actually a terrorist organization designated by the United States. So we have real concerns about the designs and objectives of that organization. At the same time, of course, we don't cry over the fact that the Assad government backed by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah are facing certain kinds of pressure.

So it's a complicated situation. It's one we're monitoring closely, and we're staying in close touch with regional partners about it. So it seems like Sullivan is saying the U.S. should take a wait and see approach here. Meanwhile, another growing conflict that Trump will have on his plate when he takes office. Tim, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Hey, thank you for listening this morning.

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