Morning Wire - Hegseth’s Confirmation Hearing & Israel-Hamas Deal Nears | 1.15.25

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth navigates a heated confirmation hearing, California lawmakers focus on combatting Trump as the fires get worse, and Israel and Hamas inch closer to a ceasefire deal. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Balance of Nature: Go to https://balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for an exclusive offer! Lumen: Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 20% off your purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Senator, those are multiple false anonymous reports peddled by NBC news that run directly contradictory to the dozens of men and women at Fox News Channel, who I work with who came on the record. Pete Hegseth fends off attacks from Senate Democrats in a heated confirmation hearing. When might he be confirmed and does he have the votes? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, January 15th, and this is Morning Wire. As wildfires continue to ravage Southern California, the state's lawmakers set aside tens of millions to oppose Trump's agenda.

We should not be distracted by a special session to pay more government lawyers to sue Donald Trump. That's not the right direction. And Israeli hostages could reunite with loved ones soon as ceasefire negotiations close in on a deal. It's right on the brink. It's closer than it's ever been before. But right now, as we sit here, we await final word. from the moss on its acceptance. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Brandon here. Balance of Nature, fruits, and veggies provide a convenient way to get your daily whole fruits and vegetables. Using a special freeze drying process, they transformed fresh produce into easy-to-take capsules that you can bring anywhere. While not replacing your healthy diet, balance of nature works alongside your other

healthy habits to support your wellness journey. I take these capsules whenever I'm traveling to ensure I get my daily fruits and veggies. Head over at a balance of nature. Nature.com and use promo code wire for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer, plus get a free bottle of fiber and spice. That's balance of nature.com promo code wire. Fireworks abounded in D.C. Tuesday as confirmation hearings for Trump cabinet slots began with Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegesith kicking things off. Here with the highlights is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, we expected this hearing to be particularly contentious, and it was. What were the takeaways?

Yeah, so first, quick refresher on the debate surrounding Hegsef. Democrats say he's unqualified for the role and painted him as a Fox News host role he did hold most recently. But it's a bit disingenuous to just call him a TV personality. Hexeth graduated from Princeton before enlisting in the Army, serving 20 years as an officer with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, where he received numerous medals, including two bronze stars. After that, he ran concerned veterans for America, a large nonprofit advocating for vets. During his opening, statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegsteth laid out his and Donald Trump's vision for the Department of Defense.

When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. He, like me, once a Pentagon, laser focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness. Unlike the current administration, politics should play. play no part in military matters. We are not Republicans, we are not Democrats, we are American warriors. Our standards will be high and they will be equal, not equitable.

That's a very different word. And while the audience was full of his supporters, including dozens of Navy SEALs and Green Berets, there were also a handful of protesters who tried to disrupt the hearing for being physically carried out by police. Have a listen. our ranks. Members of the security force will remove. So protest from the crowd, but there was

also some from the committee. What did we hear from Democrat senators? Well, they went after Hexeth on both a personal and professional level. A number of Democrats brought up Hexet's past infidelity along with uncorroborated reports of sexual misconduct. Now, Hexeth strongly denied those allegations

but conceded that he had been unfaithful in the past and had asked forgiveness from God. taken an oath like you would take an oath to be Secretary of Defense and all of your weddings to be faithful to your wife. Is that correct? I have failed in things in my life and thankfully I'm redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Other Democrats brought up media reports quoting anonymous former co-workers of his who claimed he'd routinely come to work drunk, though it's worth noting the only former co-workers who spoke about him on the record said

those accusations were totally false. According to Hexstadt, those stories were part of a smear campaign organized by those threatened by him taking control of the DOD. Why do they want to destroy me? Because I'm a change agent and a threat to them because Donald Trump was willing to choose me, to empower me, to bring the Defense Department back to what it really should be, which is war fighting. Later on, Hexeth also touched on the topic of race

and gender quotas in the military. In his words, lowering the standards to accommodate DEI quotas leaves the military unprepared. In those ground combat roles, what is true is that the way of the ruck on your back doesn't change. The weight of the 155 round that you have to carry doesn't change. And so whether it's a man or a woman, they have to meet the same high standards. And Senator, in any place where those things have been eroded or in courses, criteria have been

changed in order to meet quotas, racial quotas, or gender quotas, that is putting a focus on something other than readiness, standards, meritocracy, and lethality. remember, as long as Hexat secures votes from 50 of the 53 Republican senators, he's in. At the start of the process, he really was viewed as anything but a sure bet, though, and there were very real concerns that some GOP members would not get on board for his confirmation. But this first hearing is any indication the party appears united around him. Well, a vote could come as soon as next week. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime.

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Thank you, L-U-M-N for sponsoring this episode. As fires continue to rage across Los Angeles, state politicians voted to allocate $50 million to fight incoming President Donald Trump and his policies, with half of that money being devoted to protecting illegal immigrants. More than two dozen people have lost their lives in the ongoing wildfires, and criticism is increasing for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Here are the latest on The Deadly Situation as Daily Wire's senior editor, Ash, Short, Hayash. So what's the latest in California? So it's still a nightmarish situation. Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist was on the ground in L.A.

and explained what residents and business owners are going through as the city continues to battle the fires. There's a lot of anxiety right now in Los Angeles about these next couple of days, which are expected to be particularly critical in the fight against these fires. Yesterday, the winds died down and gave firefighters a brief window of opportunity, but the Santa Ana winds are expected to pick back up and they could spread the fire even farther. home and business owners still aren't sure when they'll be able to go and check on their properties, and many have just recently discovered the state of their homes and of their livelihoods. Morning Wire also spoke with a business owner who lost his studio in the fire.

My business is a landscape design studio, so I just do, you know, any exterior space. But I found out, like, Wednesday morning when I got a video from the guy that owns the pizza place there, he just sent a video out to people, and it was just like watching it burnt. It was like just actively burning. So people are clearly still suffering, but lawmakers in the state have found the time to focus on something else. Is that correct? Right. On Sunday, the Democrat-controlled California state legislature agreed to allocate $50 million to fight the incoming Trump administration,

with $25 million specifically set aside to defend illegal immigrants. Democrats who have a supermajority in the state will likely vote on the deal to make it official sometime this week, before Trump's inauguration. Senate budget chair, Scott Wiener, said the agreement, quote, cements California's readiness to serve as a bulwark against Trump's extremist agenda. So clearly anti-Trump legislation, and I'm assuming state Republicans disagreed with us. Absolutely. Republicans in the state legislature have been trying to get a special session to focus on responding to the fires that are still raging in L.A. But that hasn't happened yet.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher called out California Democrats for their misplaced priorities, saying, quote, at a time when California should be laser-focused on responding to the devastating wildfires in L.A., Democrat lawmakers' priority is creating a $50 million slush fund to hire government lawyers for hypothetical fights against the federal government and to defend criminal illegal immigrants from being returned to their home countries. So not pulling any punches there. Now, switching gears a bit, it seems not all lawmakers in the state are able to pass the buck, as we've reported L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is really taking a lot.

lot of criticism for her handling of the situation. What's the latest with her? Bass is facing serious backlash for not even being in L.A. when the fire started, as we previously reported. She was on a taxpayer-funded trip to Ghana, even though she had said she would not take overseas trips as mayor. In stark contrast to Bass, her opponent in the mayoral race, Rick Caruso, took action when warned about the fire danger. The billionaire developer hired private water tankers to protect his Palisades Village Mall from the LA fires. It is one of the only structures remaining in the area. And a column from journalist Peter Hamby at Puck News explained that this exact scenario with wildfires,

celebrities losing their homes, looters taking advantage of evacuation orders, strong Santa Ana wins, has all happened before. Hamby spoke to Super Agent Ari Emanuel, a donor to Bassus mayoral campaign, who said, quote, if it is true that she left the country on a Saturday after warning came out, that is a dereliction of duty. Meanwhile, as we mentioned yesterday, an online petition at change.org demanding that Bass resign continues to rack up signatures. The counts now well over 100,000, so a grassroots effort to get her out is underway. It seems like there might be some political consequences for the mayor. Ash, thanks for reporting. You're welcome.

466 days after the Hamas, October 7th attack on Israel, the two parties may finally be striking a deal to release the remaining hostages in Gaza. Here with the latest on this rapidly developing story is Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor, Tim Rice. So, Tim, this is potentially a very big moment. How likely is that this deal goes through? Hey, good morning, Georgia. We first got word of a potential deal on Monday after mediators reportedly delivered a draft hostage and ceasefire deal to both Israel and Hamas.

Neither party has publicly commented, but sources close to the negotiations have said that Hamas is very amenable to the deal and very very. close to signing on the dotted line. Yesterday's Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said the deal was right on the brink closer than it's ever been before. But Blinken also cautioned against celebrating too early, noting that nothing was set in stone until Hamas officially agrees to the deal. Here's Blinken.

That could come any time. It could come in the hours ahead. It could come in the days ahead. That's what we're looking for. But what we've done over the last weeks and especially over the last days has put it right there. So what do we know about the terms of the deal? It's important to note that this is all still in flux and could be changing even as we speak.

But the Jerusalem Post reported that the deal will unfold in three phases. Phase one is expected to last 42 days, and on day one of that phase, 33 hostages will be released. Remember, Hamas took 241 hostages on October 7th. Around 98 of those hostages are still in Gaza, and only about half of them are believed to be alive. That group includes seven Americans. Over the remaining days of phase one, the Israeli defense, forces will begin withdrawing from Gaza, though they will maintain a presence in a still undefined security perimeter. And on day 16 of that first phase, Israel and Hamas will resume negotiations

about what the next phases of the agreement will look like. Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences and 50 female prisoners for every female hostage released. So how are people reacting to the deal? You know, it's drawn some scrutiny. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called it a surrender deal and said it was a catastrophe for the national security of the state of Israel. Another Israeli leader warned that the deal could end with dozens of hostages being left behind. Yesterday, Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro shared his thoughts on the deal. I think the deal is not good, but that is because my belief is that if Israel does not, in fact, make the strip quiescent. If Israel does not retain control over the Gaza Strip, then they are setting themselves up for further failure.

think that the generalized math in which Israel has participated in is Israel's own fault for decades, which basically says they will trade terrorists, like living actual murderous terrorists for innocent people who are taken hostage, leads Israel's enemies to take hostages. So certainly not a perfect deal, but pivotal nonetheless. Why are we seeing movement now? Well, there's obviously the success of Israel's ongoing campaign in Gaza, including its successful targeting of several Hamas leaders. It may just be that Hamas is finally being worn down. But there's also a little lot of speculation that the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House has lit a fire under things. Trump envoys joined negotiations alongside representatives from the Biden administration in recent days,

and it seems like their presence had an impact. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Biden about negotiations on Sunday, he thanked Biden and Trump for cooperating in this sacred mission. Trump has really turned up the heat on Hamas, saying just the other week that there would be all hell to pay if the terror group did not release hostages before he took office. So it seems like Hamas has really taken Trump's comments to heart. Well, hopefully we get some good news out of Gaza in the next few days. Tim, thanks for reporting. Anytime.

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.