Morning Wire - Joe Rogan Defends Podcast

Episode Date: February 1, 2022

Joe Rogan responds to the Covid “misinformation” controversy, new details emerge about the FBI's involvement in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, and the historical and political forces driving the battle over Ukraine. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joe Rogan is speaking out about the controversy surrounding his wildly popular podcast and his choice of sometimes controversial topics and guests. Again, I'm not trying to promote misinformation. I'm not trying to be controversial. Will Spotify cave to pressure to censor their biggest star? We have the latest. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 1st, and this is Morning Wire. New court documents filed by the men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, claimed that undercover FBI agents and informants led the entire conspiracy. But the FBI says they'll strongly dispute the claims in court. And U.S. and Russian diplomats clashed at the United Nations Monday, blaming each other for the looming

crisis in Ukraine. We'll hear from an expert on all the factors driving the potential conflict. Russia's actions strike at the very heart of the U.N. Charter. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. The Daily Wire is proud to announce our exclusive partnership with Good Ranchers, the 100% American Meat Company. Did you know 85% of the grass-fed beef sold in stores and online is imported from overseas? With Good Ranchers, you help support local American farms and ranches while getting steakhouse quality cuts. Head on over to Good Ranchers.com slash wire or use code wire at checkout to get their biggest offer ever. $30 off of your first order plus free express shipping.

Visit good rancher.com slash wire today. Joe Rogan is responding to critics who claim his incredibly popular podcast is responsible for spreading misinformation about COVID. Meanwhile, Spotify announced that it's enacted new policies to address concerns about a show. Here to explain the latest developments in this fast-moving Joe Rogan story is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham. So, Megan, previously, we've covered all the pressure that Spotify's been facing in terms of reigning in Joe Rogan. Sunday afternoon, Spotify announced that they would be putting a warning label on, on COVID-related content. And then several hours later,

Rogan responded with this 10-minute Instagram video. A lot of the mainstream news has been calling it an apology, but other people didn't really see it that way. So give us your take on that video. Well, you know, it's interesting because it was a pretty measured statement. Now, most of the headlines, as you said,

Georgia from large media outlets on Monday, sort of framed his comments as an apology. And, yeah, I mean, you could say that he did do that as sort of an aside in the middle of the video. Basically, he said he'll work on offering a better or more balanced mix of guests. But note better mix. What he didn't say is that he's not going to offer interviews with controversial experts

anymore. So for me personally, I think that apology framing misrepresents the main thrust of Rogan's comments, which were really much more focused on pushing back against all that criticism. In fact, he spent several minutes defending the backgrounds of the two guests who have caused the most controversy, cardiologist Peter McCullough and MRNA researcher Dr. Robert Malone. Dr. Peter McCullough is a cardiologist and he is the most published physician in his field in history. Dr. Robert Malone owns nine patents on the creation of MRNA vaccine technology and is at least

partially responsible for the creation of the technology that led to MRNA vaccines. both these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people, and they have an opinion that's different from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is. So Rogan was careful to highlight that for all the criticism, they weren't to actually fringe quacks. And he also pointed out that he's interviewed doctors on the other side of the aisle, including an epidemiologist on Biden's COVID advisory board and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Now, Rogan has also been pretty critical of the whole concept of misinformation.

Yeah, exactly. He has. And he pushed back quite a bit against the term misinformation itself because, as he noted, things that were considered misinformation a few months ago and once censored by other big tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, well, they're now widely accepted as fact. Eight months ago, if you said, if you get vaccinated, you can still catch COVID and you can still spread COVID, you would be removed from social media. They would ban you from certain platforms.

Now that's accepted as fact. If you said, I don't think cloth masks work, you would be banned from social media. Now that's openly and repeatedly stated on CNN. If you said, I think it's possible that COVID-19 came from a lab, you'd be banned from many social media platforms. Now that's on the cover of Newsweek. He basically concluded by saying he doesn't know

which experts are right. And that's why he, as the regular guy trying to sift through a lot of conflicting and evolving information, is interested in sitting down with people from across the spectrum of medical views. Now, I also want to ask about Spotify. So when we last spoke, news was just breaking that the company was considering a new policy to address this rogue and controversy. Right. So CEO Daniel X said that Spotify users will notice a new content warning ahead of any podcast episodes on their platform that discussed COVID. But it was interesting that he said any, meaning it may not just apply to Rogan's show. So let's say, for instance, that NPR interviews a doctor voicing a very mainstream view.

Is that show going to get a warning too? Remains to be seen, but it sounds like it could. Either way, Rogan is saying he doesn't really have a problem with a content warning. All right. Well, hopefully someone tells us if today's episode gets a content warning on Spotify. Megan, thanks for reporting. Happy to do it. That's Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.

Coming up, new court documents contain serious allegations about the FBI's involvement in the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news. And you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you. In October of 2020, the FBI arrested six men for allegedly planning to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. But documents filed by their attorneys claimed that the plot originated with and was entirely driven by FBI informants. Here were the details as Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson. Good morning, Ben.

Good morning, John. So first of all, remind us about the charges against these men. Sure. The FBI filed charges against 14. members of a Michigan-based militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, six ringleaders and eight for providing material support. Agents said they planned to kidnap Governor Gretchen Widmer and her vacation home in Birch Lake in September 2020. Woodmer had implemented one of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns in the nation.

On April Fool's Day 2020, an FBI informant told the feds that the armed group planned to storm the state capital in Lansing, and they were surprised when the state police let them inside, rifles and all, as soon as they had their temperatures taken. The FBI says that emboldened them to hatch a plot to kidnap the governor, blow up a nearby bridge to slow down police, and either execute her or make her face a private trial for tyranny. The agents arrested the men on October 8th. With less than a month to the 2020 election, Whitmer implicated President Donald Trump in the plot. Hate groups heard the president's words, not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry. It's a call to action. So far, 13 to 14 men have pled not guilty.

So what role did the FBI have in developing this plot? What's been alleged and what do we know for sure? Right. The defendants say the FBI engaged in government entrapment. Under the law, federal agents can monitor and collect information and intelligence on targets, but they have to show that the suspect was already predisposed to commit crimes, and they can't persuade or induce reluctant or unwilling marks. A total of 12 FBI agents were informants were involved,

almost one for every person who was indicted. For instance, an informant named Steve Robeson paid people's way to conferences, bought the moonshine as an inducement, and used federal money to purchase weapons for others in the group. An FBI memo says Robeson wasn't just recording, but, quote, leading the conversations. The defendants admit they fantasized out loud about committing crimes, but they say they never had a functional plan. Even after the feds got involved, one militia member complained about another defendant's hesitancy about following through with a plan saying, quote, Captain Autism can't make up his mind. Agents say the defendants made innocent-sounding comments as cover, but even the federal

prosecutor admits, quote, some defendants were initially skeptical, but their confidence and commitment increased with training, reconnaissance, and preparation. Okay, so how has the FBI responded to these accusations? The government claimed that Robeson went rogue, claiming, quote, Steve was a double agent often working against the interests of the government. They caught on to him when he tipped off another informant about the federal investigation. 13 days before the sting operation, the feds charged Robeson with illegally purchasing a firearm for himself, but not for the suspects.

By disowning Robeson, the FBI seeks to block the release of 258 statements by or two informants that the defendants say will exonerate them. One comment by an FBI agent said, quote, we have a saying in my office, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Robeson's bad enough, but the prosecution's facing several other embassons. as well. The lead FBI agent in the case, Richard Trask the second, won't be testifying in the case after he pled no contest to smashing his wife's head open after coming home from a sex party for swingers. Another FBI agent, Henrik Impola, has been accused of committing perjury in a different case. An FBI agent named Jason Chambers promoted his private intelligence firm, Exintel, by bragging about his success in FBI investigations. So defendants say he had a financial incentive to arrest people for the alleged kidnapping plot. case obviously hinges on the role of informants. How does the federal government usually justify

the use of FBI informants? Federal agency infiltrating extremist group saves lives by preventing terrorist attacks. In this case, the FBI said it will strongly dispute the defendant's portrayal of his agents in court. The trial scheduled to get underway on March 8th in Grand Rapids. Well, it's going to be an interesting one to watch. We'll see what details come to light. Thanks for reporting, Ben. My pleasure. That's Daily Wires, Ben Johnson. diplomatic rhetoric between the U.S. and Russia heated up on Monday at a UN Security Council meeting. Russia accused the U.S. of fearmongering, while the U.S. said the presence of troops at the Ukraine border is a real threat. But what's behind Putin's apparent desire to invade Ukraine?

Here to give us some deeper insight into the issue is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth. Ian, what can you tell us? Well, I spoke last week with Daniel Coaches, who is a senior policy analyst in European Affairs in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom over at the Heritage Foundation. He explained that Russia's interest in Ukraine go far beyond a desire for agricultural or industrial resources or territorial advantages. There's a shared cultural and religious lineage for many Ukrainians and Russians. Russia traces its sort of ancestral roots back towards the patriarch in Kiev. They see sort of that as being really the spiritual home of modern Russia.

He then went on to explain that Ukraine is seen as both a threat and an opportunity by Russia, As a country that has generally rejected the east and favor of the West, Ukraine could be a catalyst for societal unrest in Russia. For me, really what this is all about is regime survival in Moscow. So because of the closeness of the country, they cannot stomach to have a successful Western-oriented Ukraine. And when it comes to the timing of this military aggression, he said that this was a calculated move. I don't think it's any coincidence that he's decided to basically pressure the West on the way that he has with President Biden now in the White House. One example Daniel Coaches brought up was the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It was opposed by the Trump administration, but construction restarted in February right after Biden came into office.

We then went on to discuss the notion of sanctions, which appears to be the sole weapon in the arsenal of the Biden administration and European powers hoping to prevent conflict. But Daniel Coaches touched on an interesting point, which is that sanctions, might be harder to impose than many are thinking. For example, Germany is the biggest buyer of Russian gas in the world, and so it is unlikely that the Germans would support sanctions which would impact their energy supplies, at least in the case where Russia doesn't launch a full-out invasion. Ultimately, though, coaches did point out that the Ukrainian military capability in 2022 is much different 2014 during the previous conflict, with 150,000 active duty troops ready if Russia does invade, with 100,000 in reserve. My gut tells me that Putin is,

is going to keep this below the threshold where you necessarily would have a united response from the West, but that he's going to be able to kind of keep Ukraine in this, this unstable gray zone. Well, it's great to hear from Daniel Coaches on this issue. Thanks for your reporting, Ian. Of course. Daily Wires, Ian Howers.

Another story we're tracking this week. It was announced that everyone attending the Super Bowl, which will take place at SoFi Stadium in California, will be given K-N95 masks, and we'll need to wear them unless they are eating or drinking. If you like this episode and are interested, and hearing more, subscribe to MorningWire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

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