Morning Wire - McConnell Steps Down & Texas Wildfires Spread | Afternoon Update | 2.28.24

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

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This episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. Right now, you can get 20% off your order at Black RifleCoffee.com with promo code Wire. That's Black Rifle Coffee.com promo code Wire. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, February 28th. And this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he will step down from the top spot in the Republican Conference, a position he's held longer than any other person in. Senate history. The Kentucky Senator made the announcement from the Senate floor today. To serve Kentucky in the Senate has been the honor of my life. To lead my Republican colleagues has been the highest privilege. But one of life's most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to move on to life's next chapter. The 82-year-old is regarded as one of the most influential lawmakers in Washington, an election to

replace him as leader Will occur in November. He'll stay on as a senator from Kentucky. In a closed-door deposition today, Hunter Biden faced questioning from members of two House committees after refusing to appear for months. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips says the latest. During a prepared opening statement, Hunter Biden claimed he would end the inquiry into him and his father with the, quote, fact that he did not involve President Biden in his business. The younger Biden said, quote, not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions, domestic international, not as a board member and not as an artist, never. Hunter also criticized the investigation as a, quote, baseless and destructive political charade.

Republicans like oversight chairman James Comer, however, say they do have evidence disputing Hunter's claims. What was the Biden family business? That's been a big question of this whole investigation. Biden family associates testified that Joe Biden was the brand. President Biden has repeatedly lied to the American people that he never interacted with his son's associates. But when Joe Biden was vice president, he spoke to his son's associates by speakerphone over 20 times. He dined with foreign oligarchs and a barisma executive and had

coffee with his son's Chinese associate, all while he was vice president. Attorneys for the president's son are also expected to submit a copy of his resume, something sources close to the legal team say will be used in an effort to argue that he was qualified for the work he was doing during the period of time being discussed. Hunter's tests comes one week after his uncle, James Biden, also testified. Angry residents of Athens, Georgia interrupted the mayor during a news briefing on public safety this morning. This comes nearly a week after an illegal immigrant from Venezuela allegedly murdered nursing student Lake and Riley on the University of Georgia campus. Athens mayor, Kelly Gertz, was attempting to dismiss the notion that Athens was a sanctuary city when residents interrupted him.

You need to resign. Resign there. Resign! You allowed this to happen, sir. You voted for this. A reporter noted that even if Athens isn't officially considered a sanctuary, police found more than one illegal immigrant in Ibarra's Athens apartment. Ibarra had a previous run-in with the law after both he and his brother allegedly

stole about $200 worth of goods from Walmart. Both remained free. This also comes amid a push from Georgia House Republicans to require police and sheriff's departments to identify, arrest, and detain undocumented immigrants for deportation. This episode is brought to you by NetSuite. Download NetSuite's popular KPI checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at netsuite.com slash morningwire. That's net suite.com slash morning wire.

An illegal alien with a previous record has been arrested in connection with the murder of a two-year-old in Maryland. Police say 25-year-old Nielsen Noel Trejo Granados faces numerous charges, including first and second-degree murder. The toddler and his mother were shot as two groups of males opened fire at each other. The two-year-old died a short time after, and the mother is expected to make a full recovery. Four other individuals have been arrested in connection with the murder, including two minors. U.S. immigration and customs enforcement says Trejos Granados is an illegal alien from El Salvador and has had an order out for his deportation for well over a year. But despite past arrests,

he's remained in the U.S. due to sanctuary city policies. Trejo Granados had prehistors had previously been arrested on charges related to theft. Pope Francis visited a Rome hospital on Wednesday for diagnostic tests but is now returned to the Vatican. The Pope was forced to cancel public events on Monday and this past weekend due to a bout of the flu. The 87-year-old had several health problems over the past few years, including abdominal surgery in June and a respiratory infection in March, which was particularly worrisome since the pontiff had had part of his lung removed when he was a teenager. Wildfires have engulfed much of the Texas panhandle, forcing evacuations from towns and in many cases cutting off power to various homes and businesses.

One fire north of Amarillo near Smokhouse Creek has burned through 500,000 acres, and according to officials, is zero percent contained, though fire officials say their focus right now is saving lives. We may end up having to help communities and families have closure with we have human remains detection canines. that we take out in the field with us. And there may be a possibility that we may be putting those resources to work as well. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties and urged Texans to limit activities that could create sparks and take precautions. Officials say strong winds, unseasonably high temperatures, and dry grass are fueling the fires. But they say rain could arrive tomorrow.

And the Supreme Court heard arguments today over whether or not the government can ban bump stocks, a semi-automatic rifle accessory that allows for more rapid gunfire. Both conservative and liberal-leaning justices seemed likely to interpret a century-old law banning machine guns to include bump stocks. Justice Elena Kagan appeared doubtful that a weapon capable of firing, quote, a torrent of bullets could not be defined as a machine gun. Meanwhile, Justice Neil Gorsuch said he, quote, understand why these items should be. made illegal, but questioned whether the statute could be interpreted to include bump stocks. We're dealing with the statute that was enacted in the 1930s. And through many administrations, the government took the position that these bump stocks are not machine guns. And then you

adopted an interpretive rule, not even a legislative rule, saying otherwise, that would render between a quarter of a million and a half million people, federal felons. Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.