Morning Wire - Georgia Runoff & Twitter Collusion | 12.6.22

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

The runoff election in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race gets underway today, Apple plans to move production out of China, and An FBI agent recently testified to Republican attorneys general that the FBI held weekly meetings with Big Tech companies ahead of the 2020 election. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.  Use code "WIRE" at checkout and get $35 off your order: https://www.goodranchers.com/WIRE   Text ‘WIRE’ to 231231 for a complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Election Day in Georgia, and the highly anticipated race there will determine whether the Senate will be a 50-50 split or will be tipped decisively for Democrats. A record 1.8 million people have already voted in the Peachtree State. What will the race mean for the Democrats agenda? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, December 6th, and this is Morning Wire. Apple CEO Tim Cook remains silent about the controversial air-drop feature. restriction implemented during lockdown protests in China. But a new report says the company may be moving production out of the communist country. It would have been a good thing for Tim Cook to tell the CCP, no, our phones are owned by these individuals.

The feature will remain owned. The release of Twitter documents shines a light on the collusion between the political world and big tech. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. A hardier on the economy means that essential, practical gifts will be in high demand this year. Give the most essential gift of all.

America's best meat and seafood from Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com and use code wire at checkout to get $35 off your gift. That's good ranchers.com code wire for $35 off. Good Ranchers, American meat delivered. Today, voters in Georgia will determine the final balance of power in Congress, as the high-stakes Senate runoff between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock will be finally settled. Here are the latest on who's got the momentum is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. Cabot today, the midterms will finally come to a close. We can tell us. That's right. Back on election

day, Republican Herschel Walker came up short against Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock by a little under one point. But under Georgia law, because neither candidate got to 50 percent, we went to a runoff. And while control of the Senate has already technically been won by the Democrats, they got to 50 seats on Election Day, the outcome here will still have important. important ramifications over the next two years, especially now that Republicans have control of the House. All right, so let's get to it. Obviously, this is a tight race given the results last month. What are some reasons for optimism on each side? We'll start with Warnock, who is confident for a few reasons. First, the obvious one, he just beat Walker by about 40,000 votes last month, so he's

already proven he can win. He's also got a sizable financial advantage, with Democrats more than doubling the amount of money spent by Republicans during the runoff. Warnock has also had the lead in every single poll commissioned since Election Day. And while a lot of polls nationwide were off in November, they actually ended up being quite accurate in Georgia. So that appears to be bad news for Walker. Yeah. But the main reason for optimism on the left is early voting.

During the five days that polls were open last week, a record 1.8 million early votes were cast with the highest turnout coming in counties the Democrats won handily last month. Wernock ended up with 54% of the early vote in November. So they're confident that if they can replicate those numbers again, they'll come out on top. Okay, so what about Republicans? What are reasons for optimism in the Walker camp? Well, historically, Republican candidates have done very well in runoffs in Georgia. If you take out 2020, which many of you is an outlier, they've won seven of the last eight statewide runoffs. They're also confident that the 2% of voters who went to the libertarian candidate back in November are more likely to go towards Walker this go round. Republicans are also hoping they'll benefit from the state's new election laws, which limit early voting to just a five-day window.

in runoffs. Walker took 56% of in-person voters last month while trailing in early voting, so in their eyes, the more in-person voting, the better. There's also the fact that the state's governor, Brian Kemp, has been campaigning with Walker and cutting TV ads for him. Remember, Kemp really kept his distance during his own election against Stacey Abrams in November, but won that raised by seven and a half points and is very popular in the state, especially in suburban areas where Walker struggled in November. So what would a victory for each side mean for the balance of power in Senate? Well, if Democrats win, the biggest difference will be their control of powerful Senate committees. Under the 50-50 split we have right now, each party gets an equal number

of members on committees. But if Warnock wins, Democrats will seize control of every committee. That's especially important for something like the Judiciary Committee, which selects and confirms federal judges, among other important tasks. But perhaps most importantly, getting to 51 would offer Democrats some much-needed insurance, given the unpredictable voting track record of moderate members like Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin, who in the past have had a lot more leverage to hold things up when the chamber was at 50-50. A clear majority would weaken their standing and give some breathing room for the progressive base of the party. So still a lot at stake today in Georgia. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. That's the Daily Wire senior editor,

Cabot Phillips. Coming up, insiders say Apple may be moving production out of China. Man, are you feeling less like your old self these days? Maybe you don't have the energy. or the body you used to. But now there's something you can do about it. Nugentics Total T testosterone booster safely boosts free and total testosterone for better results in and out of the gym. It contains key ingredients like testifying,

validated in five clinical studies, and backed by years of research. No stimulants, no fillers, no watered down ingredients. Get a complimentary bottle of Nugentics Total T when you text wire to 231-2-3-1. Text now and you'll get a bottle of Nugentics Thermo their most powerful fat incinerator,

absolutely free. Text wire to 231, 231, again, that's wire to 231, 231. Apple is advancing plans to leave China following accusations that the tech company has been assisting the communist government with silencing protesters. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter, Marade Allorty. So, Marade, has this been confirmed that Apple will be leaving China? And if so, what do we know about their reasons? Hi, Georgia.

Well, insiders are saying the tech company has been telling suppliers to gear up, up for this coming shift, and it appears the company is looking to produce iPhones and other signature Apple products in countries like India and Vietnam instead. This was reported first by the Wall Street Journal last week. Well, just last week, we reported that a riot broke out in an iPhone factory in China, and that that was dealt with pretty harshly. Is this move about the political environment in China, or is this more financial? Well, there are multiple reasons, but certainly that riot created terrible press for Apple. Chinese citizens were reportedly using the Apple AirDrop feature to circumvent online censorship,

and the CCP asked Apple to restrict that feature in the country. Apple agreed to do it. Here's a silent Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, being pressed by a Fox reporter last week about these allegations. Do you support the Chinese people's right to protest? Do you regret restricting air drop access that protesters used to evade surveillance from the Chinese government? Do you think it's problematic to do business with the communist Chinese party when they suppress human rights? As we've reported here before, an update from Apple last month restricted the air drop function on iPhones sold only in mainland China. This move by Apple came soon after a protest in October that encouraged Chinese citizens to go on strike at school and work and, quote, remove dictator and national trader Xi Jinping. That protest was able to go viral even with state censorship,

through that airdrop function, which is now limited by the company. Now, this decision has probably been in the works for a while. What other factors are leading Apple to want to leave China? Probably Apple's bottom line is most important here, even more important than this bad press. China's production has slowed significantly due to issues tied to these strict lockdown measures. Last month, Apple released a statement telling customers to expect delays with their iPhone 14 models due to COVID restrictions

at a Foxcon facility in Zhengzhou. Foxcon is Apple's main subcontractor. Now, Zhenzhou, which is dubbed iPhone City, houses the largest iPhone factory in the world. And there have been issues here for a while. On November 22nd, thousands of workers clashed with police in full hazmat suits

and tore down barricades at the factory over pay disputes and COVID restrictions. After two days of this chaos, some of which has been captured on video, Apple tried to quiet things down by offering exiting employees' two-month salary which is equivalent to around $1,300. The company also blamed delayed bonuses and other pay discrepancies on, quote,

an input error in the computer system. Now, speaking of protests, where are we with the anti-lockdown protests in China? Are they still going on? The protests are still going on, including one at a college campus and another at a garment industrial park this past week. The CCP is still cracking down in silencing dissenters, but the regime seems to be at least signaling a willingness to lose in COVID restrictions.

These are very slight changes in certain areas, like allowing close contacts of infected people to quarantine at home, or easing mandates on proof of negative tests for access to public transit or pharmacies. The nation, though, still has that very oppressive, zero COVID policy in place.

But it's important to note that the protests are about more than just COVID lockdowns. Right, well, we're going to continue to monitor. Marade, thanks for reporting. Thanks, Georgia. That was Daily Wire investigative reporter, An FBI agent recently testified to Republican attorneys general that the FBI held weekly meetings with big tech companies

ahead of the 2020 election to defend against alleged disinformation. The claim comes as Elon Musk has begun releasing information on how Twitter worked with a Democratic Party to suppress negative stories about then-president Joe Biden. Joining us to discuss is Molly Hemingway, editor-in-chief of the Federalist and best-selling author of Rigged, a look at the role of the media in big tech in recent elections. So, Molly, first, what are we to make of this testimony from FBI agent Elvis Chan about the

bureau's meeting weekly with big tech executives in 2020? Well, this began with concern about how big government was colluding with big tech to suppress news and information related to science and medicine. And as part of their discovery, they're realizing that it's a massive enterprise where all sorts of actors inside the government and outside the government are colluding with big tech to suppress news and information that the American people would very much like access to. This was a major problem in the 2020 election and in ongoing elections where news and information that may hurt that political prospects of Democrats or other political allies of big tech was

removed or treated as if it were suspect, whereas news and information that helped political allies was elevated. Another connected story here is Elon Musk beginning to release what are being called the Twitter files. What new information have we actually learned so far with what's been released? So the big change is that we have actual evidence that there was a widespread and coordinated campaign involving also Democrats in the Biden campaign to wrongfully suppress the very important news story about the Biden family business. The New York Post had put this out and they were unable to publish on various social media platforms.

You couldn't even share this through direct messages. We already knew that, but now with these documents, we know how many high-level people were involved and how they tried to justify this and how poor it looks in retrospect. Right. And so I guess the big question here, will there be or should there be any legal consequences for what we've learned about this coordination

between big tech and political actors? What happened with the cover-up of the Hunter Biden story had massive worldwide consequences. This was inarguably the most important political story on the eve of the election. This election came down to 40,000 votes across three states. It clearly had an influence on the outcome of the election. And then that had so many profound consequences, again, worldwide in terms of economic policy, foreign policy, border policy. And the idea that a social media company, and there were a couple of them doing this, could be so powerful as to affect the outcome of elections. And it wasn't just this story. It was many stories where they were putting their weight behind narratives that helped their political allies or suppressing narratives that hurt their political allies.

To be able to do that unabated or without any check is very dangerous. And so there need to be things done to make sure that very powerful social media companies can't be more powerful than our election system or more powerful than a government. They affect freedom of speech, freedom of the press. They are a very negative influence on these things. So it's kind of a complicated issue in how to handle it. But clearly when you're facing existential threats to the Republic and to the values that the Republic holds dear, something has to. to be done. Well, Molly, thank you so much for your time. That was Molly Hemingway, editor-in-chief of the Federalist and author of Rigged. Other stories we're tracking this week. Facebook's parent company, Mehta, said Monday, if Congress passes the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, it will be forced to remove all news from the social media platform. Attorney Michael Avanotti, who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels and her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, was sentenced to 14 years

in federal prison on Monday for dodging taxes and stealing millions of dollars from clients. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. Use car prices are dropping, which means you should see some great deals this holiday season. But before you walk into a dealership, you've got to check out Carzing. Carzing is an online car shopping website with millions of listed vehicles. By partnering with credit agencies, lenders, and dealerships, Carzing provides you with everything you need to know before stepping foot into a dealership. Visit carsing.com slash wire today to skip the guesswork and find the best deals near you.

That's carsing.com slash wire.