Morning Wire - New House Speaker Elected & Alleged Minnesota Poisoning | Afternoon Update | 10.25.23

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

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I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, October 25th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. Therefore, the Honorable Mike Johnson of the state of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress. The House now has a new speaker, 22 days after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role. In a 220-209 vote, Republicans elected Louisiana. Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson. He's described as a loyal, honest, conservative, and he's praised as a knowledgeable legislator. Here's Johnson after being nominated.

We have a very busy agenda. We have appropriations bills to get through the process, but you're going to see this group working like a well-oil machine. We owe that to the American people. The intention is to go to the House floor tomorrow and make this official. It took more than two weeks and several failed candidates before the GOP conference was able to unify behind one candidate. Johnson took the gavel and will now preside over issues including funding the government and aid to Ukraine and Israel. Israeli forces are continuing their campaign of seeking out Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip today as the war with the terrorist group enters its 19th day. Since the October 7th surprise attack from Hamas, over 1,400 Israelis have been killed and more

than 200 people, including foreigners, were taken captive into Gaza. Just four of those. hostages have been released so far. Hamas officials claim that thousands of Palestinians have been killed and wounded in Israel's defensive campaign. Turkey President Taip Erdogan referred to Hamas as a liberation group that is supposedly trying to protect the Palestinians. Erdogan also said he has canceled plans to visit Israel, claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had misused our goodwill. This comes after United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutera's denied claims that he justified the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. Gutierrez responded to critics this morning when he said his statements were misrepresented.

On Tuesday, while Gutierrez denounced the Hamas terror attacks, he also warned Israel against what he called collective punishment and accused them of violating humanitarian law. Then he said this. It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Jack Liu's nomination to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel has been pushed forward in the Senate.

The Democratic-led Foreign Relations Committee confirmed the nomination today after a 12-9 vote. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more. Lou's nomination will now head before the full Senate, where a final confirmation vote will likely take place early next week. Lou is expected to get support from the majority of Democrats, but it's unclear how many Republicans will give him their vote. Republicans generally have been critical of Lou's involvement in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal while he was the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration. GOP members have accused him of secretly giving Iran access to U.S. financial markets.

Liu has denied those accusations. While Liu may not need Republicans support if all Senate Democrats back him, bipartisanship would make the process faster. A Minnesota poison expert and former Mayo Clinic medical resident has been charged in the fatal poisoning of his wife, who died several days after going to the hospital with stomach pain. Daily Wire Senior Editor Ash Short has more. Authorities say 30-year-old Connor Bowman attempted to prevent an autopsy from being performed on his wife's body, instead saying she should be cremated immediately. Bowman's behavior led the medical examiner's office to halt the cremation order due to several suspicious

circumstances. The autopsy later showed that 32-year-old Betty Bowman died from the toxic levels of colchicine in her system, a medicine used to treat gout. Records show that she had not been diagnosed with gout, nor had she been prescribed the medicine. The complaint says Connor Bowman had researched the drug ahead of his wife's death and also converted his wife's weight into kilograms and then multiplied that number by 0.8. 0.8 milligrams of the drug per every kilogram is considered to be a lethal dose. Bowman was charged with second-degree murder earlier this week. And the son of Nashville's police chief has been found dead after three days on the run.

John C. Drake Jr., son of metropolitan Nashville police chief, John Drake, was suspected of shooting two police officers over the weekend. Drake Jr. was found dead Tuesday night from what authorities say is a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he crashed a stolen car and fled from police. The two wounded officers are both expected to fully recover. 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.