Morning Wire - Garland Testimony & Abbott Responds to Colony Ridge | 9.21.23

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Attorney General Merrick Garland is grilled by House Republicans, Ukrainian President Zelensky Addresses Congress and the United Nations, and officials in the lone star state respond to an explosive Daily Wire report regarding one of the largest enclaves of illegal immigrants in the US. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Balance of Nature: Start your journey to better health! For a limited time, get 35% off your first order as a preferred customer. Use promo code WIRE at checkout: https://www.balanceofnature.com/ USAFACTS: Seek clarity and ground your debates in undeniable facts with http://www.usafacts.org Black Rifle Coffee: Get 10% off your first order or Coffee Club subscription with code WIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don't miss the Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters. Merrill Street, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are back. In light of the recent scandal, I'm here to restore your credibility. I did not hire you, and all I need to do is bide my time until you've failed. On May 1st, I'm going to make something of this job. Rain. Be the bridges I burn. Night my way. Forever.

I just love my job. Get tickets now. The Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters May 1st, directed by David Frankel. Attorney General Merrick Garland is grilled by Republicans over what they say is a two-tiered system of justice under President Biden. There's one investigation protecting President Biden. There's another one attacking President Trump. Justice Department's got both sides of the equation covered. We discussed the key arguments from both sides in the combative hearing. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.

It's Thursday, September 21st, and this is Morning Wire. Ukrainian President Zelensky makes stops at the U.S. Capitol and at the United Nations, where he challenged the international body to take action against Russia. Many seats in the General Assembly Hall may become empty

if Russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression. And Texas officials respond to an explosive Daily Wire report about one of the largest enclaves of illegal immigrants in the U.S. This massive complex of people here

illegally creating their own city. It's just unacceptable. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared at a highly anticipated and at times contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday morning. Here to discuss what we learned is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hi, so a somewhat combative hearing yesterday, what was the main thrust of the GOP questioning? Good morning. Committee Chair Jim Jordan really homed in on the fact that that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who's now the special counsel in this case, allowed the statute of limitations to run out on the tax cases for the years that Hunter Biden was being paid by Burisma.

That's the energy company at the center of the influence peddling allegations against the Biden's. Hunter Biden was put on the board of Burisma. Got paid a lot of money over those years. Fact number two, he wasn't qualified to be on the board of Burisma. Not my words, his words. He said he got on the board because of his last name. Fact number three, Burisma executives told Hunter Biden, we're under pressure, we need help. Fact number four, Joe Biden goes to Ukraine, leverages our tax money to get the prosecutor fired who was applying the pressure. That all happened. And what I'm wondering is why you guys let the statute of limitations lapse for those tax years that dealt with Burisma income. Garland refused to go into specifics. That would be a

recurring theme throughout the hearing, instead deferring to Weiss and generally stating that prosecutors make these decisions, and as attorney general, he was not involved. At one point, Garland was pressed on allegations from whistleblower Gary Shapley. He alleges that Weiss stated that he did not have authority to bring cases outside of Delaware and was in fact turned down by U.S. attorneys in D.C. and California, but Garland has maintained that Weiss always had that authority. Did that get cleared up? Yeah, not exactly. Garland testified that Weiss had the authority to bring a case in any district, even outside of Delaware, which is at odds with Shappley's claim that U.S. attorneys in Washington, D.C. and California had not supported bringing

charges in their districts when Weiss asked. But upon further questioning, it became clear that this was a promise from Garland to allow Weiss that authority if he asked for it, as opposed to holding that authority on his own. Weiss now has that power since being appointed special counsel, Chairman Jordan asked why he needed to be made special counsel at all if he already had the power to indict outside his district. To that, Garland hopped back on his rhetorical merry-go-round and said, that's a question for Weiss. Mr. Garland, you said he had complete authority, but he'd already been turned down. He wanted to bring an action in the District of Columbia, and the U.S. attorney there said, no, you can't. And then you go tell the United States Senate under oath that he has complete authority.

I'm going to say again that no one had the authority to turn him down. They could refuse to partner with him. They could not. You can use whatever language refuse to partner is turning down. Now, both Garland and the Democrats on the committee made several references to the fact that Weiss was appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware by Donald Trump. Is that accurate?

If so, does that give Republicans some assurance that he won't be biased? It is technically true that Trump appointed Weiss, but it's more complicated than that because senators are given great deference in the selection of U.S. attorneys for their rights. respective states. According to Senator Ted Cruz, Weiss, quote, was personally selected by the two Democrat senators from Delaware, senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, end quote. These appointments are made or are supposed to be made above politics. So the idea that Weiss has some special fealty to Trump, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Right. Now, the committee, of course, has members who are Democrats

as well as Republicans. What approach did Democrats take to this hearing? Democrats largely defended Garland and the DOJ also focused on threats from some GOP lawmakers to defund the FBI, arguing that it is Republicans, not Democrats, who actually want to, as the saying goes, defund the police. In addition, they highlighted Garland's claims that harsh criticism of DOJ officials, including Weiss, puts them at risk. He cited threats that have been received throughout the course of the Hunter Biden investigation and argued that too much scrutiny could put their lives at risk. So scrutiny and criticism is some form of threat. Right.

Where does the committee go from here, given that Garland punted to Weiss on so many questions? The next step in the process was supposed to be testimony before the committee from special counsel, Weiss. But during the hearing, Garland suggested that the committee would get answers after Weiss submitted his report on the case to Congress. That means Weiss might not appear for months or even until after the 2024 election, whereas prior to his appointment as special counsel, He had been slated to appear this fall. That's the space to watch. The committee wants Weiss, whether they can get him or not, that's another question. Got it.

Dave, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Coming up, Zelenskyy calls for more funding for Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is in the U.S. this week, searching for more support for the war against Russia. Here with more is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So, Cabot, first, tell us about this U.N. address. Yeah, so this week, the U.N. General Assembly gathered in New York, York, and as expected, the war in Ukraine dominated their conversation. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President

Vladimir Zelenskyy appeared before the body denouncing the Russian invasion, but also taking aim at the UN itself for what he views as a lack of support for Ukraine. Since the war began, the UN Security Council has taken a little tangible action against Putin, in large part because Russia is a permanent member of the Council and holds veto power on any resolution that they try to pass. During his address, Zelensky called on the UN to suspend that power and take greater. action, saying, quote, it is impossible to stop the war because all actions are vetoed by the aggressor. Zelenskyy later touched on climate change, tying the war in Ukraine to global efforts to combat climate change in a moment that quickly went viral online.

Humanity is failing on its climate policy objectives. This means that extreme weather will still impact the normal global life and some evil state will also weaponize its outcomes. Well, while he's in the States, this morning Zelensky is also due to appear in Washington. He's going to meet with Congress. What are we expecting him to talk about there? Yeah, so it's interesting. When he spoke to Congress in December, he was greeted with a hero's welcome. And while the number of influential lawmakers in both parties are still resolute in their support of Zelensky

and have promised to continue funding the war, it's worth noting there are a growing number of folks, particularly on the right, who've grown disillusioned with continued military and economic aid. A CNN poll last month, for example, found the... that 55% of Americans now oppose Congress authorizing additional support for Ukraine. For context, back in the early days of the war, 62% of Americans said the U.S. should be doing more to help. While lawmakers opposed to more support is Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, here's what he had to say ahead of Zelensky's visit.

There's no money in the House right now for Ukraine. It's not there. You mean there's no support for money? No. And to be blunt, we're running a $2.20 deficit. Any money we give to Ukraine we're borrowing from our future. It's not a good time for him to be here, quite frankly. A number of other lawmakers expressed frustration at Zelensky ahead of the visit,

accusing him of making misleading claims in an attempt to garner further American support for the war. Earlier in the month, for example, a missile exploded in a town in eastern Ukraine, killing 17 civilians, including children and injuring dozens more. Zelensky immediately denounced the attack as a Russian terrorist attack and called for the West to take action. But according to a recent New York Times investigation this week, that missile was almost certainly fired by Ukrainians by mistake. So there are a growing number of people who you can kind of sense their patience growing thin and they say his mistakes could draw the West

into a war that it desperately wants to avoid. Yeah, and that's very unpopular here. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. The flood of migrants into the country from the southern border has increased dramatically in recent weeks, nearing record numbers of crossings every day. Meanwhile, a development 40 miles north of Houston known as Colony Ridge has become, what's believed to be the largest enclave of illegal immigrants inside the U.S. and a strategic hub for cartel elements. Here with the story is Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist. Spencer, you did an in-depth story on Colony Ridge for us this weekend.

You've also published a few articles that have really made a splash. Since then, you've been following up with local and state officials. What are they saying about this? So that's right. The situation has definitely gotten the attention of several officials in the state, including Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, the second highest ranking official in the state of Texas. He went on a local Texas radio show recently,

hosted by Michael Barry and expressed concern over the growing development, saying he's going to urge Governor Abbott to take action. I'm going to ask Governor Abbott to look at addressing some of these issues in the special session if we can. Now the PAC's in the back on the job. I'm going to reach out to him today. We can't have entire cities of people who have come here illegally with basically no law enforcement.

in some cases I've told by running water. It's a very dangerous place to be. This is not what America was built on. Have you spoken to the lieutenant governor, Patrick, about this? I did. He said that he's known about Colony Ridge for years, and he's been asking the question, where does Biden think that these millions of people

who've been let into the country are going to end up living? He's also advocating for closing the border and he's calling on Congress to pass strong immigration laws. He even said that the federal government should reimburse the state of Texas for, quote, doing the federal government's job. All right, so the lieutenant governor wants answers and action from the administration. What about the governor himself?

One of the revelations in your initial piece is that Abbott received more than a million dollars in donations from the developer associated with Colony Ridge. Has Abbott addressed that claim directly? So we've reached back out to Governor Abbott's office for a comment on the situation. And so far, they haven't addressed the $1.4 million donation from William Trey Harris. that's the developer behind Colony Ridge, nor the $100,000 donation from Celeste Harris, the developer's wife.

But a spokesperson responded with a statement calling the potential wrongdoings at Colony Ridge unacceptable and pointing out actions that Abbott's office has already taken related to the development. They also directed us to an article defending Colony Ridge saying it was not in violation of any state or federal laws and supposedly has sufficient law enforcement presence. The email highlighted positive contributions from Colony Ridge as well,

like donating land for a school and funding a local fire station. Now, you've also reached out to some U.S. representatives from the state. Tell us about how they're responding to this. That's right. Representative Chip Roy from Texas's 21st District told us that he is actively looking into the Colony Ridge development. There's also U.S. Congressman Brian Babin, who represents a district that includes Colony Ridge.

He told us that he's been concerned about the situation for years and is calling for more action, particularly at the state and local level. The bottom line here is that for the sovereignty, of the United States for the safety of every American, we've got to close the loopholes that allow for the exploitation of America's generous laws. This is a pressing problem that needs immediate attention, and I'll continue to use every avenue at the federal level to address it. All right, so this is definitely on some lawmakers' radars,

and they're looking for answers and for action. Spencer, thank you for continuing to pursue this story. We're definitely going to stay on it. Yes, we will. That was Daily Wire reporter, Spencer Lindquist. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.