Morning Wire - New Vaccine Push & GOP Plans | 8.30.22

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

The White House plans a push for a new Covid vaccine targeting BA5, Republicans vow to conduct multiple investigations if they gain control of Congress in November, and a crime spike in Los Angeles is affecting even the city’s most popular destinations. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The White House is poised to roll out the latest COVID vaccine push this month, this time with a new vaccine targeting the BA5 variant. You've got the White House basically saying everyone needs to get it, and it's never been reviewed by the FDA. What do we know about the effectiveness and safety of the new shot? I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, August 30th, and this is Morning Wire. Republican leaders have begun to reveal their plans,

should they win control of Congress in November. And it involves a lot of investigations. We discuss what steps the GOP says they'll take if they take back control. And Los Angeles is scrambling to combat a surge in crime in some of its most popular tourist destinations. Amid spiking homicides, flash mobs, and street takeovers is the city doing enough to get the crisis under control.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Do you have a will? You might be shocked to learn how many people don't. Creating a will is fundamental to protecting yourself and your family because if something happens to you and your spouse, the state will decide what happens to your kids and your assets. Take control. Go to epicwill.com promo code wire. Epicwill.com where you can secure your future in as little as five minutes with a complete will package starting at $119. And when you use promo code wire, you'll save 10%. That's epicwill.com promo code wire. A new version of the COVID vaccine targeting Omicron variant BA5 is expected to become available in the next few weeks. The FDA is expected to make a determination on the drug prior to the completion of human trials, relying instead on mouse models and data from similar vaccines.

And so it's going to be really important that people this fall and winter get the new shot. And again, based on everything we have seen so far, all the data suggests it should be highly effective against the new variants. That was White House COVID-Zar, Ashish Jha, talking about the new version of the COVID vaccine, expected to launch in the next few weeks pending FDA approval. Joining us to discuss what we know so far about the new vaccine is John Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie. So, Dr. McCarrie, what do we know so far about the effectiveness of this new vaccine? So the White House is planning a massive campaign to get everybody to take the Omicron-specific booster next month. The problem is we have no data on it. Now, some people might say, even though we have no data,

we blindly take a new flu shot every year. So what's the big deal? Well, flu is very different for a couple of reasons. It's a traditional vaccine platform uses the protein coat. It's not an MRI vaccine. Whereas with the COVID vaccines, a German study has found that one in five thousand doses results in a serious adverse event. In the U.S., there really has not been a lot of funding to study vaccine complications. Also, there's a concern that with COVID, repeat boosters may actually weaken the immune system. There's a big article in our large journal, Science, a very prestigious journal, that noticed that people who got multiple boosters seemed a little more susceptible to Omicron

than people who had the infection and didn't get the multiple boosters. It's called immune imprint. It's when the immune system may weaken from multiple exposures to the vaccine. And we don't know if it crosses over to other aspects of the immune system. I don't think it does because the immune system is highly targeted. But it is raising a question to say, look, before we have 100% consensus and lock arms and march forward with the multiple booster strategy, let's try to understand this idea of immune imprinting a little bit better. Now, you mentioned one German study that showed a complication rate of one in 5,000 with the older version of this vaccine.

Is that higher than what we might see with something like a seasonal flu vaccine? It is because the Germans found that was the rate of a severe adverse event. We're talking about something that could put you in the hospital or make you very ill or be life-threatening. And if you look at the rates of myocarditis in young men, we've seen it at about that. rate, one in five thousand just for that one complication. Now, with the flu shot or some other standard vaccines, we might see a complication rate of one in 100,000 for a severe adverse event. And maybe one in a million may develop something like Gian Barre, a semi-parallelitic condition that can be transient and self-resolved, but it is something that has been well known.

Definitely some outstanding questions about this booster strategy. Dr. McCarrie, thanks so much for coming on. Coming up, Republicans promise aggressive action should they gain control of Congress. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you've got to get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you. With midterm elections now less than 70 days away, Republican leaders are offering new

insights into how they'd wield control of Congress, detailing plans to investigate the Biden family, the origins of the border crisis, and COVID policymakers, among other things. Here to discuss what's driving the calls for investigation and how Democrats are responding is Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, what do we need to know? Well, it's important to first understand that throughout modern political history, the power of congressional oversight has been a key element of controlling the House or Senate. Basically, the party in control of D.C. gets to decide where to turn the focus of congressional investigations. In the past, we've seen examples like Republicans using their power to investigate former

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her role in the Benghazi scandal, while we've seen Democrats use oversight power to investigate President Trump's alleged ties to Russia, and then more recently his role in January 6th. Now we're getting a better idea of how Republicans would use their oversight power if they took charge in November, and what answers they try to find. And what are the main issues they're wanting to do? to focus on. Yeah, I'll go through them one by one. So first, and probably the one that's gotten the most attention over the last two years, is COVID. Republicans have promised that if they take control of

Congress, a top priority will be investigating the origins of the virus, and specifically whether it originated in a Wuhan lab, and then if American taxpayer dollars helped fund the gain of function research that led to its potential creation. They've also vowed to determine Anthony Fauci's role in the pandemic response and vaccine mandates. For example, last week when Dr. Fauci announced his intention to step down, Senator Rand Paul, who could become chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, tweeted this, quote, Fauci's resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning

the lab leak. Now, we've also heard quite a bit about potential investigations into the Biden family. What can you tell us there? So there's been a lot of talk the last few years about Hunter Biden's laptop. But Republicans say they're more interested in Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, and more specifically, the role President Biden played in them. We now know that Hunter used the Biden family name to score meetings and business deals with companies in Ukraine and China,

but Republicans have vowed to investigate whether the president himself profited from his son's deals. On that note, here's Congressman James Comer. He's set to head the House Oversight Committee if Republicans do take the House in November. And I can promise the American people, that very soon, there will be that type of oversight for the Biden administration and the president's son, Hunter, who's in the news almost on a daily basis for things that just don't add up. They just don't look good. So that oversight's coming. The American people can count on that. And finally, the Republicans have vowed,

oversight with regards to the Biden administration's response to the border crisis. Yeah, what more do we know on that front? First, there's growing momentum for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorcas, who Republicans say has failed to secure the border and has neglected his oath of office. Republicans have also indicated that they'll launch an investigation into the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland for their role in the border crisis as well. And according to the Wall Street Journal, that news prompted the White House to expand its legal team over the past few weeks in preparation for potential investigations.

So the Biden administration, look, they don't view these as just empty threats. Yeah, apparently not. So why are Republicans focusing on these issues in particular? Well, they definitely didn't choose them by accident. Not only are these topics popular with the Republican base, which should help drive voter turnout, but they're also still important to independent voters. Polling this week shows that on Hunter Biden, for example, 81% of Americans think the DOJ should appoint a special counsel to

investigate. We also see majority support for probes into the origins of COVID, as well as expanded measures to secure the southern border. So Republicans clearly view these topics as winning political issues, and if you look at the polling data, they've got reason to feel that way. Yeah, it seems like it. Definitely an element of the midterms that we're going to continue tracking. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. That's Daily Wire's Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. A crime spike in Los Angeles is affecting some of the city's biggest tourist destinations. To combat the rising crime, the LAPD is sending hundreds more officers to neighborhoods like Hollywood that have seen significant crime surges. Daily Wire investigative reporter Marade Alorty is here with the details for us.

So Marade, what does the crime spike in L.A. look like? Hi, Georgia. Yeah, so crime has risen across the city, but now it's seeping into some of the areas known for nightlife and tourism. In Hollywood, homicides have spiked 75 percent since last year, and shootings have risen by a third. Robberies have risen 19% to over 400 robberies so far this year. Burglaries are up 9% to nearly 400, and car theft is up 11% to over 600 incidents. Since 2020, violent crime overall has risen 35% in the Hollywood area. As of the end of July, homicides in L.A. County have risen 30% since 2020

to more than 200 homicides so far this year. Shootings are up 43% since 2020 to nearly 800. So overall, a huge spike in crime from last year in L.A. Correct. Now, it feels like we continue to see headlines about crime in L.A. What's the city's plan to address it? Well, earlier this month, the L.A. City Council responded to citizens' concerns by approving an extra 216,000 for more police officers to patrol the Hollywood area.

The culture of lawlessness in the city has led to some pretty incredible crime sprees. For example, just this month, a so-called flash mob of about 100 looters. swarmed a 7-Eleven and made off with whatever they could carry, including snacks, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. Those suspects are still at large. The incident happened just after midnight during a so-called street takeover. The same group allegedly blocked a nearby intersection so they could do donuts with their cars.

Another similar incident happened a few weeks ago when a mob of men and women overran an L.A. liquor store and filled duffel bags with bottles of alcohol, then ran away. The same thing has happened at the Nordstrom store in Century City Mall, where 14 people rush into the store around 8 p.m., stealing armloads of high-priced purses and other items. Police officials say they want to crack down on these types of group theft incidents. Here's LAPD detective Ryan Moreno at a press conference. We really want to prevent this from becoming a new trend where they think that they show up and take over a street or a freeway or any part of the city that they're just going to be able to do whatever they want,

come into a store and take what they want. And we're here to basically say it's not going to happen. this sense of lawlessness is what led to the recall effort against L.A. District Attorney George Gascon. Right. So what's the latest on that? Is that recalled totally dead at this point? Well, the recall efforts submitted more than 715,000 signatures, but nearly 200,000 of them were ruled invalid, so the recall will not be on the ballot. So that's about a 28% rejection rate for signatures. At least one source from within the LADA's office told Morning Wire that the recall committee is trying to get a review of those rejected signatures, but for now the recall effort has failed. But it was a close call for Gascon. He avoided the

recall by about 40,000 signatures, but recent polling from UC Berkeley in the LA Times suggests he would likely have been recalled if the measure had made the ballot. In that poll, 41% of respondents supported the recall compared to just 20% who opposed it. Now, is 28% a standard rejection rate for signatures on this kind of recall? No, that's the highest we've ever seen. There are a couple of historic examples we can compare it to. When Governor Newsom faced a recall in 2021, the rejection rate for signatures was about 20%. Back in 2003, California Governor Gray Davis was successfully recalled the first in U.S. history. The rejection rate for that signature drive was about 15%. That said, an investigation by Red State showed there were serious concerns about the contractor charged with

collecting the signatures in the first place, which may account for the high rejection rate. Well, at the very least, it shows there are a lot of dissatisfied residents in the city. Marade, thanks for reporting. Thanks, Georgia. That was Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allorty. Other stories we're tracking this week? The government will stop giving out free at-home COVID tests on Friday. The government's COVID website says it will halt giving out the test because Congress, quote,

hasn't provided additional funding to replenish the nation's stockpile of tests. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq was evacuated by helicopter Monday. after the Iraq presidential palace was stormed by protesters. NASA's Artemis 1 launch has been delayed until at least Friday because of technical concerns. Its initial launch was scheduled for Monday. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission,

please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with. the news you need to know.