Morning Wire - Hegseth’s Nomination Fight & U.S. v. Skrmetti | 12.5.24

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Pete Hegseth refuses to withdraw his nomination, SCOTUS weighs whether states can ban transgender procedures for minors, and the DEI river appears to be drying up. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. ZBiotics: The drink before drinking with ZBiotics. Get 15% off your order with promo code WIRE at https://www.ZBiotics.com/Wire Balance of Nature: Get 35% off Your Order + FREE Fiber & Spice Supplements. Use promo code WIRE at checkout: https://www.balanceofnature.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pete Hegseth refuses to back down in his bid for defense secretary, despite legacy media attacks on his personal history. All anonymous, all rumor, nothing sourced, no verification, and they're just going to keep doing it. Does he have the necessary support and is Trump considering a replacement nominee? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, December 5th, and this is Morning Wire. The Supreme Court appears to side with tenets. in a landmark case weighing whether or not states can ban transgender procedures for minors. Much of your, uh, the latter part of the opening statement seemed to suggest that there's an

outright ban on this treatment, but that's not the case. It's really for minors. And DEI may be flaming out as fast as it arrived. We discussed the latest corporate walkback and why we could soon see many more. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Reagan here. With Trump in, we can finally exhale. But the fact of the matter is, our nation is broke, and that debt is a house of cards that can't quickly be dismantled. The strategy remains the same. Diversify your savings with birch gold. They'll help you convert an IRA or 401k into an IRA in physical gold.

Now through Black Friday, get a free one-ounce silver eagle for every $5,000 purchased. Text wire to 9-8-9-98 to get your free comprehensive info. kit on gold investing. Trust Birch Gold, as I do, to protect your savings and secure your financial future. Again, text Wire to 9-8-98-8-t9-8 today. President Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth says he has no plans to withdraw despite attacks from legacy media and new reports that Trump may be considering a replacement nominee. Here with the details is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, Hegeseth has become the cabinet pick, arguably, drawing the most attention now from Democrats and the legacy media, what's the latest in this saga?

Yeah, there have really been two parts to the anti-Hegseth campaign. First, it started with his credentials. Now, historically, defense secretaries have almost always been a general or other high-ranking Pentagon official. Hegseh is not. Almost immediately, critics of the pick began referring to him simply as a Fox News host, trying to paint him as wholly unqualified for the job. And while Hegseth was indeed a host on Fox, supporters pointed out that he also graduated from Princeton, served 20 plus years in the military, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan where he was awarded numerous medals, and then ran a large nonprofit advocating for veterans. Now, once folks became more aware of those credentials, the attacks shifted to focus more on his personal life. Right. So tell us about some of these accusations. Well, most notably, a woman claimed that Hegset sexually assaulted her back in 2017 at a Republican conference.

Hegsetz says the incident was consensual, and a police investigation resulted in no charges being filed. More recently, though, legacy media outlets have published a number of stories citing anonymous former co-workers who accused him of sexual misconduct, others accused him of coming to work drunk. Though, it's worth noting a dozen or so co-workers of Hexeth, including a few of his co-hosts at Fox, refuted those anonymous allegations on the record, calling them totally fabricated. Lisa Booth, for example, who co-hosted with Hexeth on Fox, said, quote, not once did this happen. Not once have I heard this from others. This is such a disgusting and false smear. So we have anonymous accusations, but on the record, refutation. Right. But now Hegset's own mother has been dragged into this saga. What is she saying? Right. The focus on his personal life really came to a fever pitch last week when the New York

Times published a private email Hegstess's mother had sent him back in 2018 amidst a messy divorce with his then wife. She accused him of, quote, dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, and belittling, among other things. However, in an interview with Fox yesterday morning, she expressed regret for that email, saying she sent a follow-up a few hours later apologizing and assuring the country that her son is the man for the job. I want people to look at Pete, judge people, or understand him for who he is today, and to disregard the media. That was seven years ago. And most of it is misinformation. Pete is a new person he's redeemed, forgiven, changed.

I think we all are after seven years. I believe he's the man for the job. Hexeth's mother went on to say that she's been personally calling senators, telling her side of the story and encouraging them to support her son's nomination for defense secretary. Now, amid all of this media whirlwind, though, there are reports that President Trump is considering a replacement. What do we know about that? Yeah, as the pressure on Hexeth has ramped up, a number of Republican senators have reportedly begun to waver on whether they'll vote to confirm him. In light of that possibility, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump has begun discussing potential options to replace him, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was initially on the original Sectorf short list last month.

But there is still a good chance Hexed survives the firestorm and still wins confirmation. He was at the Capitol yesterday meeting with senators and told reporters, quote, why would I back down? I've always been a fighter. This is personal and passionate for me. Later on, he told Megan Kelly that President Trump has his back and wants him to continue on. He reiterated the same thing this morning. Hey, Pete, I got your back. It's a fight.

They're coming after you. Get after it. He went on to elaborate on why President Trump nominated him for the position in the first place. You're the man for this moment. I chose you because you're the guy that's going to put the warfighters first. We haven't had that. We need a guy that's kicked down. and understands the consequences of war and why us deterring war, fighting it, and winning it

it is important. I mean, he gets it. So Heggseth pushing forward in his fight to be the next sec-deaf. Now we'll wait to see how Republican senators and President Trump respond. Yep, sounds like it go either way at this point. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Hey, guys, producer Brandon here.

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for children. Joining us now is Daily Wire senior reporter Mary Margaret. O'Lehan, who was at the court all of Wednesday morning as the oral arguments took place. Hey, Mary Margaret. So tell us what you saw. Hey, John, it was absolutely frigid on Wednesday in Washington, but that didn't keep the crowds away. The ACLU and the human rights campaign bust in large groups of pro-transgender protesters, but they had competition from the do-no-harm group, which held its own rally for protecting children. I spoke with a number of pro-trans protesters. One mother told me that she began helping her 12-year-old daughter transition to be a boy when that

girl was still very young. So would you agree that you're primarily responsible for the procedures that your child is going through? His father and I are, I guess, because we're his parents. If he regrets them someday, it's on you too. Yeah, I trust that it's going to be okay. I think I know my child better than anybody else at this point. The Daily Wires Matt Walsh, who's been at the forefront of this issue, spoke outside the court yesterday morning. Children have the constitutional right, the human right, the God-given right, to live and grow and learn about themselves and the world without being indoctrinated and exploited by people who reject the fundamental realities of existence. Children have a right to go through phases, to have moments of confusion and discomfort in their own bodies,

just like every generation of children before them. Okay, so passion on both sides outside the High Court. Let's get to the heart of the arguments. Did the justices offer any clues as to how they were leaning based on their questions? They did. Justice Kavanaugh repeatedly brought up concerns about how that decision would impact males and girls' sports. Justice Alito seemed to dismantle the Biden administration's case in this exchange. Are there individuals who are born, male, assigned male at birth, who at one point identify as female, but then later come to identify as male, and likewise for individuals who are assigned female at birth? Are there not such people?

There are such people. I agree with that. So it's not an immutable characteristic, is it? On the liberal side, Katanji Brown-Jackson compared the laws protecting kids from trans procedures to bans on interracial marriage. The question of can you marry this other person depended upon what your race was. You could marry the other person if it was the same, consistent with your race. You couldn't if you couldn't. Take your law to be doing basically the same thing.

You can get these blockers if doing so is consistent with your sex, but not. if it's inconsistent. So how are they different? And in another notable moment, Justice Sotomayor compared the risk of medical transition to other treatments like aspirin. And the question of how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits is one that is best left. I'm sorry, counselor. Every medical treatment has a risk. Even taking aspirin. Well, quite a comparison there. Final question. What was the overarching feeling at the end of the day about which way the court was, Leaning? Well, as the sun set on D.C. last night, all major media outlets were reporting that the court will likely uphold Tennessee's law. But again, a ruling isn't expected until June. Mary Margaret, thanks so much for reporting. Thanks for having me.

The diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda that was ascendant for several years in academia, government, and corporate America may be on its way out. Here to discuss is Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist. So, Spencer, what is the evidence that DEI is getting phased out? So there have been several high-profile organizations that have recently backed off of DEI. The latest is Walmart. Just last week, that company made a number of different pledges. It said that it was going to stop giving a preference to suppliers on the basis of race and sex. It also said that it would ensure that transgender products were not marketed to children on its website.

And they even said that they would stop funding the Center for Racial Equity. Walmart made the announcement following a campaign from activist Robbie Starbuck, who has also led its successful anti-D-EI campaigns against tractor supply, Home Depot, and other name brand companies. Starbucks spoke to Morning Wire about his strategy. When I realized there was a serious problem here, I said, what has been the problem with boycotts in America? Why have they not been successful? And how did we get here? And so I had to put together sort of the fact that all of this accelerated after George Floyd. And it was under the noses of a lot of executives who didn't quite realize what, they were green lighting. And now they've had four years to experience it. And many of those people

have, you know, buyer's remorse. And so they just need an excuse to get rid of it because this is essentially a house of cards. Now, you also have a new report out in the Daily Wire suggesting that the incoming Trump administration could pressure more organizations to drop DEI. What leverage would Trump have to make that happen? So some of these programs might actually be against the law. A series of daily wire investigations have documented professional development programs, internships, and job postings that discriminate against white and sometimes against Asian applicants in the name of DEI. In some of those cases, legal experts have actually said that these programs are blatantly illegal, and the incoming Trump administration, particularly his attorney general, could take action

against these discriminatory DEI programs. I talked with David Pivtrak. He's a lawyer who has active lawsuits against American Express, which allegedly discriminated against white men through its DEI policies. He told me that, quote, the DOJ has a panoply of remedies it can seek to address the discrimination that results from these DEI programs. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division could launch investigations to obtain, quote, a wide variety of a company's internal data and documents, or file lawsuits to, quote, take depositions of high-level executives and even the CEO or board of directors if they were

directly involved in implementing these DEI programs. But there's also even more severe measures that the DOJ could take as well. If the Justice Department issued a consent decree, it would allow the agency to, quote, oversee a company's operations for years to come. And PIVDirect says that this type of action from the DOJ couldn't incentivize companies to drop their DEI programs altogether. Now, are there specific companies that are currently under scrutiny or that you anticipate will be? So these DEI programs are pretty ubiquitous right now, but there are a few high-profile examples. At Oracle, the Daily Wire found that White and Asian students were expressly barred from applying for two different internships, and a similar situation unfolded at IBM.

The Daily Wire found that IBM hosted two internships that had discriminatory selection criteria. One was an internship for underrepresented minorities which barred whites and Asians from applying, and the other, an internship for undergraduate women, barred men from applying, unless those men were transgender and identified as women. There are similar discriminatory DEI programs

that have also been found at McKinsey and Company, Morgan Stanley, and the Kraft Group, which owns the New England Patriots, among various other corporations. Well, even just making a few high-profile examples could go a long way. Spencer, thanks for reporting. Thank you, grabbing me. Thanks for waking up with us.

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