Morning Wire - Birthright Citizenship Showdown & Minnesota’s Fraud Firestorm | 12.8.25

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

President Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship reaches the Supreme Court as the administration purges “activist judges,” the mounting Minnesota welfare scandal widens to include big-name Democrats, and Netflix announces a colossal merger—but will regulators allow it? Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Chevron - Build a brighter future right here at home. Visit https://Chevron.com/America to discover more. Lumen - Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 15% off your purchase. ZocDoc - Find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Visit https://Zocdoc.com/WIRE #sponsored - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Supreme Court takes up Trump's challenge to birthright citizenship, while the president purges what he calls activist judges from immigration courts. I think this is one of those big constitutional questions that, generally speaking, the Supreme Court is the final word. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, Georgia Howe is off this morning. It's Monday, December 8. This is Morning Wire. The fallout from the massive welfare scandal in Minnesota gains momentum, as links to big-name Democrats aren't covered.

Massive fraud lying and theft and grift on a skill we've never seen before in American history. And Hollywood's shaken by one of the most seismic mergers in history, as Netflix announces an $83 billion takeover of Warner Brothers. But will Washington stand in the way? Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Well, that's the question. They have a very big market share. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. America is built on hard work. by American energy. Chevron has spent $44 billion with local businesses across all 50 states since 2022, fueling infrastructure and communities, all while strengthening local economies. Last year, Chevron increased U.S. production nearly 20 percent, powering communities and businesses, from the heartlands to the coast. We're helping to fuel America's energy advantage, building a brighter future right here at home. Visit chevron.com slash America to discover more. As federal courts continue their attempts to block President Trump's agenda, the Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of birthright citizenship.

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here with the latest state cabot. So the High Court will hear this landmark case. Let's start there. What do we need to know here? So this actually all starts back in January. On his first day, back in office, President Trump signed an executive order declaring that children born in the United States to illegal immigrants and other temporary short-term visitors would no longer. longer be considered American citizens. That order was immediately challenged by multiple lower federal courts. But on Friday, the White House got some major news. The Supreme Court has agreed

to hear the case and ultimately will decide on the broader constitutionality of birthright citizenship. We don't have an exact date, but they are expected to rule by June or July. All right. So this summer can't come soon enough. That's going to be a monumental decision. So what do the arguments look like from both sides in this case? Well, basically, this is all going to hinge on the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states, quote, all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. Now, supporters of birthright citizenship say that sentence includes virtually everyone born on U.S. soil, whether you're legal or illegal. But opponents

say that those born to illegal immigrants are not, quote, subject to the jurisdiction of America, meaning that they're not actually Americans. Essentially, the White House says that birthright citizenship was originally a good-intentioned provision meant to extend citizenship to the children of former slaves after the Civil War. But they argue it's now been abused by millions of illegal immigrants and even tourists who are rushing across the border while pregnant to ensure their children will be Americans. Lawyers for the White House also argue that Trump's executive order would simply, quote, restore the clause's original meaning. Now elsewhere, we're seeing the Trump administration take aim at what they call activist judges in the DOJ. Tell us about that effort. Yeah, so many of those judges were appointed by President Biden and President Obama

and have overwhelmingly ruled against the Trump White House, offering protected status to just a lot of migrants facing deportation. And that has slowed down the president's immigration efforts. And now it appears that he's removing a significant number of those judges to pave the way for mass deportations. Immigration judges are appointed by the Attorney General, unlike other judges across the country, they serve at will, meaning they can be let go by the DOJ, in this case the Attorney General, at any point, basically for any reason.

And this year, the White House has fired at least 98 of the DOJ's 700 immigration judges. For their part, the White House did seem to concede that the firings were targeting those that they viewed as activist judges. They said, quote, after four years of de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens, the DOJ is restoring integrity to our immigration system. So they see this as simply cleaning house, and that's what we're. within their power to do so. Some positive developments for the Trump administration legally, but there's also been a bit of a setback in the James Comey case. What just occurred? So just quick refresher here, the Justice Department back in September charged former FBI director and long-term political opponent of Donald Trump, James Comey, with lying to Congress

for claiming that he had never authorized any of his colleagues to anonymously leak information to the press regarding the FBI. At the time, prosecutors submitted private messages, between Comey and a close friend of his, Columbia University President Daniel Richmond. At one point, he allegedly encourages him to talk to a specific reporter, telling him to, quote, make him smarter regarding a story.

And then when an article was written the next day, Comey again allegedly wrote to that friend, well done, my friend. So that would certainly seem to contradict his testimony that he had not told a friend to go to the press. However, on Saturday night, a U.S. District Judge granted Professor Richmond a temporary order that will block prosecutors

from using his communications with Comey as evidence in their case. This judge ruled that Richmond's Fourth Amendment rights were potentially being violated. Now, the White House has signaled that they will move forward with this case and trying to get charges using other evidence if they have to, but it could make their case a lot harder in proving that he lied to Congress. Well, as we've covered, Trump from day one has been fighting the legal battles on multiple fronts. Don't expect that to let up anytime soon. Kappa, thanks for reporting.

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to get an additional 15% off your L-U-M-E-N. Dot me slash wire for 15% off on top of any offers or sales, running on their website. The Somali-linked welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota is now being tied to Democrat leaders in the state, drawing more attention from the Trump administration and Congress. Here are the details is Daily Wire Reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. Hey, Amanda. So some really unbelievable details are being released about this massive fraud scandal. You've been reporting

on this for us. Fill us in on the latest. Yes, so as we've been following here, billions of dollars have been stolen from the state of Minnesota during the tenure of Democrat Governor Tim Walls. City Journal reporting has uncovered that at least a billion dollars, potentially more in welfare and social service schemes, have largely been connected to the Somali community in the state. Alarmingly, some of the stolen money was allegedly funneled to Somalia-based terrorist group El Shab. Now, as for the latest details, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller says that this scheme is far worse than the American people know. Apparently, it involves complicit state government officials, and it totals a lot more stolen money than original early

estimates stated. Here's Miller on Fox. We believe that we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes. The total bill, the total tab for this is going to be far beyond the numbers we've already seen reported. We believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme, and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people. Some of these schemes were pretty unbelievable. Fraudsters were stealing taxpayer dollars that were supposed to feed hungry children or help autistic children. Miller underscored the Somali ties to this fraud, connecting it to a larger conversation the nation is having about immigration, particularly when it comes to third world countries.

Based on the records that we already have, and this is a significant undercount, by the way, 75% of the Somali population in Minnesota is on welfare. But that's likely a significant undercount of just how much of a financial burden the Somali refugee population is imposing on this country. Now, Miller said the administration believes state officials are complicit in this. What do we know about that claim? Reporting from the New York Post has tied Democrat rep Ilhan Omar to the scandal. Omar held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud scandal. And she knew one of its owners now convicted of stealing millions in fraud. Additionally, one of her own staffers has been convicted for stealing millions.

Omar even introduced a bill that led to $250 million in fraud. She was asked about how these fraud schemes got so out of hand in Minnesota during an interview last week on CNN, and she was criticized online for seeming to brush this off or at least downplayed the scandal. Here's her response. When you have these kind of new programs that are designed to help people, you're oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate.

And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up, they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created. There have also been questions about Governor Tim Walls and his oversight or lack thereof. We noted that the Treasury Department is investigating this scandal. And then just days later, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer announced a congressional investigation. A press release on that investigation noted that this fraud occurred on Tim Walz's watch and said that there were state efforts to cover it up and retaliation against whistleblowers

who sought to protect taxpayer dollars. Walls is also taking heat right now for a new paid leave program that kicks off next month in this state. It allows employees to take off up to 20 weeks paid leave every year to care for a loved one or a newborn. And most notably, it apparently is open to, quote, undocumented workers. When Walls was asked if this program could leave the state open to even more fraud, here's how he responded. Well, aren't people going to abuse the program? How disrespectful to people to assume that all Minnesotans are scamming? I trust Minnesotans. Meanwhile, it seems like we're bracing for even more revelations about fraud in his state.

Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. In a seismic shift for Hollywood, Netflix has struck an $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Brothers. The merger would potentially reshape the entertainment business for generations. Joining us now with the details on this massive deal is Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham. Hey, Megan. So just recently we talked about this no good, very bad year at the box office. Now with this Netflix news, it feels kind of like an end of an era for traditional movie studios.

Can you walk us through the basics of this deal? Hey, John. Yeah, no kidding. So announced just days ago, Netflix's binding offer will give it not, not just Warner Brothers, the movie studio, but also HBO Max and some other streaming assets. And of course, it will also give Netflix about a century's worth of Warner Brothers intellectual property. So we're talking, you know, everything from Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter, Friends, Batman, Superman, Looney Tunes. I could go on and on here. It's being called one of the biggest,

if not the biggest mergers in Hollywood history. And it came after Netflix managed to outmaneuver or outspend competitors like Comcast and Paramount Skydance. So from a business and strategic standpoint, what does this deal do for Netflix and then the industry more broadly? Yeah. So Netflix has been in what you might call a content arms race with Disney and Amazon. So acquiring that Warner Brothers vault is going to give it some immediate massive firepower. So here's what Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarando said. It's going to accelerate. HBO Max's growth while blending Warner's theatrical expertise. But a lot of critics are concerned that if this deal goes through, Netflix is going to further shorten those theatrical windows,

and it could decimate an already struggling movie business. And it's for that reason that you're hearing from a lot of creatives who are already telling us that they hate this deal. So director James Cameron, just recently, as negotiations for the merger were going on, went on entertainment journalist Matt Bellany's podcast. Netflix would be a disaster. Sorry, Ted, but Jesus, Sarandos has gone on record saying theatrical films are dead. Outmoded, yeah. No, theatrical is dead, quote, unquote.

Theatrical is dead. So you think Netflix would be a disaster for Warner Brothers. But, you know, Big Ten. Well, Warner Brothers would just become a streamer, you know. And so now you've lost an actual theatrical major. And now you've just increased that avalanche, that sort of downhill. trend. And Cameron's not alone in those feelings. So director Christopher Nolan representing the Directors Guild is planning to meet with Netflix to express their concerns. And you also have both

the East and West Writers Guild openly announcing that they oppose this deal. They issued a statement to that effect and they're looking to regulators to block it. Right. So on that point, you said, if this deal goes through, how likely is it to be blocked? Yeah, that is the $83 billion question because we are already hearing that regulators in the Trump administration don't like this deal either. And that opposition is bipartisan. So on the Republican side, we have Senator Mike Lee, who is the chair of the antitrust subcommittee posting on X that Netflix should buckle up for an intense antitrust hearing. And meanwhile, Democrat Elizabeth Warren has called the merger an anti-monopoly nightmare, and she's warning that it could lead

to higher subscription prices and fewer consumer choices. There's no question that because Netflix is already the largest global streamer, acquiring Warner Brothers content and those HBO Mac subscribers, it's going to give it extraordinary dominance, so over a third of that streaming market. Netflix, though, already seems to be working to sue those customer jitters. They sent out an email Saturday night promising subscribers that their plans, their fees, their content access, and the separate operation of both HBO Max and Netflix is not going to change. We'll see if that holds if this deal does, in fact, go through. Megan, thanks so much for reporting.

Yep, my pleasure. Thanks so much for waking up with us. And if you're listening to the show, you can now watch the show free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know. This episode is sponsored by Zock Doc. You know that nagging feeling about the doctor's appointment you've been putting off forever? Maybe it's that dentist cleaning you're now six months overdue for, or the annual checkup that somehow turned it to a three-year gap,

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