Morning Wire - FBI Arrest Controversy & GOP Polling Edge | 9.26.22

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

The FBI’s arrest of a Catholic anti-abortion activist gains national attention and sparks accusations of political targeting, new polling from ABC and the Washington Post spells trouble for Democrats, and Russia mobilizes forces amid serious losses and increasing unrest at home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An FBI SWAT team converges on the home of a Catholic anti-abortion activist in Pennsylvania, leading to accusations of excessive force and political targeting. The FBI and the Department of Justice have been weaponized against the everyday American. What is the pro-life activist accused of? And how is the FBI defending the dramatic move? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Monday, September 26th, and this is Morning Wire. In recent weeks, Democrats have grown more options.

optimistic about preventing a red wave in November. But new polling from ABC in the Washington Post has some analysts, again, sounding the alarm for the president's party. We break down the latest numbers. And Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering a mass mobilization of forces and threatening nuclear action. How are Western leaders responding? And how much is unrest in Russia motivating Putin's escalation?

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you got to get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you. An FBI SWAT team converged on the house of a Catholic pro-life leader early Friday morning

over an alleged incident of assault. The arrest is leading to renewed allegations that the agency has become politicized. Here to give us more details about this arrest and the controversy surrounding it is Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham. So, Megan, tell us about the allegations and the chain of events here. Hey, Georgia. So this case involves a well-known Catholic pro-life leader named Mark Howk, and he leads a sidewalk counseling ministry. That means that he and his group gather in front of abortion clinics and offer pro-life counseling and information to women who come in seeking abortions. According to the arrest warrant, Hauke is being charged with violation of the freedom of access to clinic entrances act

due to an alleged assault on a clinic volunteer. Now, we don't have much detail beyond that from the warrant, but Hauk's wife spoke to the pro-life news outlet, Life Site, which originally broke this story. She claims that for weeks and weeks, the clinic volunteer would get in the faces of her husband and 12-year-old son and say what she calls crude and inappropriate and disgusting things.

Now, I'll just read a bit from this report. He kept doing it and kind of came into my son's personal space, obscenely ridiculing his father. At that point, Mark shoved him away from his child, and the guy fell back. Now, Hauke's wife says the man sustained no injuries and a district court in Philadelphia throughout this case before it was picked up by the DOJ.

Then this past Friday at around 7 a.m., she says about 25 to 30 SWAT team members began pounding on the door of their rural Pennsylvania home. She says the agents continued shouting even after her husband told them he was going to open the door. Then when he did open it, she says they pointed guns in the faces of both parents and dragged howlke out before he could get dressed. So an extremely dramatic arrest, what is the FBI saying about this? Well, the department issued a press release Friday that said,

violating the face act by committing a physical assault is a serious. crime for which the FBI will work to hold offenders accountable. But a lot of critics are saying that this same standard isn't always applied when the victims of the attacks are pro-life activists. Here's Utah Senator Mike Lee questioning FBI director Christopher Ray about that issue on August 5th. How many domestic terrorism investigations does the FBI currently have open under the category of abortion-related violent extremism? I don't have the exact number, but I can tell you that we have opened a number of domestic violent extremism investigations. Yet as of September 15th, the FBI has made zero arrests in at least 17 attacks on pro-life

organizations that began back in early May that included firebomings and arson. Now, keep in mind, this is not the first time the FBI has been accused of political targeting. Just last week, an FBI special agent was fired after he filed a whistleblower complaint, accusing the agency of exaggerating right-wing domestic violence threats. Now, I asked Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, about Hauk's arrest. Here's what he told me. That SWAT raid on that pro-life leader was baseless. Let's just say that there was a question about him committing some crime.

That guy's track record shows all you've got to do is send one or two agents, knock on his door peacefully, and ask him to sit down and answer some questions. the fact that they went over the top with 25 agents shows you how weaponized they've become. Well, as we've reported, there's polling that shows these agencies are losing the trust of a lot of Americans. Megan, thanks for reporting. Yep, anytime. That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. New polling from ABC and The Washington Post shows Republicans holding an edge over Democrats among a deeply divided American electorate.

With early voting set to begin, there's little time left for parties to sway votes. Republicans have a notable advantage over Democrats among likely voters when asked which party they'd vote for in their own House district. The survey also dives into voter enthusiasm, as well as provide some sobering numbers for President Biden. Here to analyze all of this is columnist David Marcus. Hey, David. All right, so what does the top line number tell us just over six weeks before the election? Morning. You know, it's close. It's 47 to 46 among registered voters, but it moves to a five-point GOP edge among likely voters. Republicans also have a five-point lead with independence. This is where this

poll has been for months, and it seems to indicate that the shift towards Democrats the media has touted for the past two or three weeks is either fading or was never all that dramatic to begin with. Things still look very good for Republicans taking back the House. One point in a poll doesn't sound like it, but Democrats always have an edge in these generic ballot questions. Most of the more targeted projections still point to a large GOP win. And on the most important issues for voters, inflation and the economy, Republicans have big leads when voters are asked who can best handle them. Right. And the economy is by far the most important issue for voters. Polls continue to show that. How much of a lead do Republicans hold there? It's significant. 17 points. A poll found that

54% trust Republicans compared to just 37 for Democrats. They lead by a similar margin on crime, while Democrats lead by about that much on abortion. Now, the poll also looked at voter intensity or excitement, and it was close. Republicans still lead, but this is an area where Democrats may have closed the gap a bit, right? Yes. I think clearly we have to say now that the overturn of Roe v. Wade has sharpened voter enthusiasm among Democrats. It's also possible that Joe Biden's dark rhetoric of late, calling political opponents semi-fascists and such, has brought some excitement to the base. The poll found that 75% of Democrats said they were certain to vote, while 80% of Republicans

said that they were committed to it. So a five-point gap there for Republicans. Democrats, of course, hope that turnout can save them a prayer as old as politics. But the baseline numbers are where they are and strongly favor Republicans. It's also the case that these hardcore base Democrat voters are more likely to live in coal-blue districts than in swing districts that can be flipped. So it's not just how many voters are excited to vote. It's where do those voters live?

Now, there was no joy in this poll for President Biden himself. He sits at 39% approval, including 41% who strongly disapprove of him. That's the lowest rating he's had in this poll. Is his so-called bounce over? I mean, it's one poll, so I'd be careful saying that. But to the extent there's been a recent bounce after some legislative wins and student debt cancellation, It's been the bounce of a slightly deflated basketball, not like a Super Bowl. And this is still a very bad number.

Just last week, we saw Beto O'Rourke running for governor in Texas publicly criticizing the president. Polls show most Democrats don't want him to run in 24. California governor Gavin Newsom seems like he's already on the 24 trail. So it's not a good time politically for Biden. But the White House is committed to getting him out there on the trail. Maybe they know something we don't, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to have this election be about Biden. Less than two months out and with early voting already started in some states, could there still be surprises or strategies that shift this election one way or the other?

Or is this cake pretty much baked? There can be movement. Would-be Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, just announced the GOP's commitment to America, which is really a campaign strategy telling candidates to pound the economy, the border, crime, and education. while Democrats focus on abortion and extremism. One thing that the announcement was telling, right behind McCarthy as he spoke, directly in frame, was Marjorie Taylor Green,

a member of the young populist wing of the party that's had some beef with the majority leader in the past. The message here is that, at least for now, all the wings of the party are united, and really that's McCarthy's goal. All right, David, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus.

Vladimir Putin is mobilizing the Russian military to a degree not seen in more than half a century as he faces losses in Ukraine and increasing unrest at home. Recent reports also indicate that he is taking direct operational command of the invasion. Joining us to discuss is Victoria Coates International Affairs and National Security Senior Research Fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. So Victoria, Vladimir Putin gave a nationally televised seven-minute speech last week, his first since he invaded Ukraine. And it's gotten a lot of attention. First, what did he say in the speech that was so notable? There were two main takeaways from the Putin speech. The first was the

mobilization. He's literally running out of people. And so this is the biggest mobilization in Russia since World War II, which shows you how seriously he's taking it. Then the second was he reiterated his threat to use nuclear weapons in Europe, which you'll recall he did do at the end of February shortly after the invasion, and he repeated that threat this week. And I think what's notable there is the Biden administration has been very timid about escalation, that they don't want to be seen to be escalatory and drive up the stakes of the conflict. Well, if Putin's put nukes in the table seven months ago and then just repeated the threat, I think that's pretty escalatory. Putin insisted this is not a bluff. That's a quote, how serious is he about a nuclear response?

Well, I think he's extremely serious, and it shows us that things may be actually not as rosy internally in Russia as he has led us to believe. And we always need to remember that the Russian regime, rather, is a master of disinformation. So, you know, they've maintained this narrative that he's very popular at home, that the war is popular, makes you wonder if maybe it's not so popular. and that he wants to make this really big threat and then have it in his back pocket in the event that he needs to do something dramatic to end the war. Now, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke at the UN Thursday

saying every member of the Security Council needs to make clear that nuclear escalation from Putin will not be tolerated. Do you think Putin will heed this warning? Putin has never been particularly interested in the views of the United Nations. I think Secretary Blinken places a lot more faith in them. But I think this points out really just the complete fecklessness of the UN.

They can't stop a Security Council member from potentially using a nuclear weapon in Europe. And even if he did use a nuke, they have no way of expelling them for the Security Council because Russia has a veto. So, you know, we had the spectacle of Lavrov coming to the General Assembly this week. I mean, he's there, and he's been the sort of international face of the regime. So it really makes you wonder why we continue to pour hundreds and hundreds of millions and billions of dollars into a failed instrument like the U.N. Where does China stand in all this? They seem to be cozing up to Russia, but they're also poised to participate in the reconstruction

of Ukraine. Where do their interests lie the most? That should be a huge flashing red light for each and every American taxpayer who has been contributing to the Ukrainian military and then would assume we would, through the development finance corporation or USAID, participate in the reconstruction. China's playing this both ways. On the one hand, Xi is perfectly happy to lap up as much discounted energy as Putin wants to send him. So you could see through that mechanism. He is essentially the bankroll of the Ukraine war. And there was some very, I thought, misguided commentary, a couple of

months ago suggesting that we could somehow come to an accommodation with Xi on Ukraine, which of course would open up your second point, which would be Xi would then expect to participate in the reconstruction. And that was ridiculous because he's bankrolling the war. I've been very supportive of President Zelensky, I think the vast majority of Americans have. But he did say earlier this summer on a YouTube video that he was open to Chinese participation in reconstruction. And I think we all need to send him a very clear message that that is. a hard stop for U.S. taxpayer dollars. Well, we'll see how the West responds.

Victoria, thanks for coming on. It's a pleasure anytime. That was Heritage International Affairs and National Security Senior Research Fellow, Victoria Coates. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.

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