Morning Wire - NY Grand Jury Indicts Trump & Russia Arrests U.S. Journalist | 3.31.23

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a New York Grand Jury, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal was arrested by Russian intelligence on accusations of spying, and an unexpected visit from the IRS to a journalists’ house remains unexplained. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.  Black Rifle Coffee: Get 10% off your first order or Coffee Club subscription with code WIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. Paint Your Life: Text WIRE to 87204 to get 20% off.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. Start your morning with America's Coffee from black rifle coffee.com. For the first time in history, a former president of the United States has been indicted on criminal charges. This has all the hallmarks of a politically motivated indictment and prosecution. We discuss the unprecedented case and what comes next. I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howl. It's Friday, March 31st, and this is Morning Wire. Americans should heed the U.S. government's warning to not travel to Russia.

A journalist for the Wall Street Journal was arrested by Russian intelligence on accusations of spying. We had the details on the alarming case and the administration's response. And an unexplained visit from the IRS to a journalist's home has Congress questioning government intimidation. This is about the weaponization of the IRS to affect and basically achieve the goals of a left-wing group that are running the government right now. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Inflation has consequences. And as the Fed continues to raise interest rates to combat out-of-control government spending,

long-term bonds are diminishing in value and crippling banks. Diversifying your savings is crucial in this volatile market, which is why you need to get in touch with the experts at Birch Gold Group today. Gold is a great hedge against the stock market and against inflation. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA and precious metals. Text wire to 989898 to get your free infantic on cold today. That's wire to 989898.98 today. Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in connection

with so-called hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. It's the first time in the history of the country that a former president has been criminally charged. Here with more is Daily Wire Managing editor Greg Wilson. So Greg, uncharted territory here, both legally and politically, what do we know so far? Yes, we're in a new era here. The grand jury and panel by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has handed up a true bill, which means the former president will be arrested and face a possible trial. As we've covered here, the case involves a $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, made to the porn actress just before the 2016 election, to buy her silence about an alleged affair.

The alleged payments would be a legal non-disclosure agreement, except prosecutors say they were improperly, reported as legal expenses. The resulting charge, which is falsifying business records, would normally be a misdemeanor, but Bragg's prosecutors are arguing the act was done to hide another crime, a federal campaign violation. That combination elevates it to a felony charge. Now, Trump has scoffed at this case. He's even gone up in the polls with this indictment looming. Is there a chance he could actually be convicted here? Legal experts say the case would be very tough to prove. Of course, don't put anything past a New York jury. But the prosecution star witness, Cohen, served time in federal prison for lying to

Congress. And Cohen has said previously he paid Daniels out of his own money and without Trump's knowledge. And finally, proving that a non-disclosure agreement should have been reported as a campaign expense could be tough. Here's what former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy told Morningwire about that. I think Trump is going to argue that he entered disagreement because he didn't want Melania, his wife, to find out he didn't want her to know about this non-disclosure arrangement. And he didn't want to take the political hit for it, which is why this hush money was paid on the eve of the election. So it would have been personally embarrassing and politically damaging to him. Those aren't felonies. A potential turning point in the case came last week when Cohen's former

attorney, Robert Costello, testified to the grand jury and really shredded Cohen's credibility. I used to be Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the Southern District of New York. I wouldn't have touched a guy like Michael Cohn, especially if he's a convicted perjurer. Not to mention, as I said, the 50 to 100 lies he told us that are in those 330 emails. All of those documents were provided to the U.S. Attorney's Office. They did the smart thing. They looked at Michael Cohn. They said he's a convicted perjurer, and there must be 100 instances in those documents of him lying to us.

A lot of people thought Costello's testimony might be the nail in the con. often for this case. As far as historical precedent, how significant is indicting a former U.S. president on questionable legal grounds? It's difficult to understate how massive this is. It could be an inflection point in the history of the country. Not only could it have a profound effect on the upcoming presidential election, but this case could be used as justification for future prosecutions of political opponents. Morningwire spoke to Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies for the Manhattan Institute. Here's what he said on this.

I mean, this is a really big deal. Politically, it's significant in that it now becomes a hot potato for the 2024 presidential primary. Will it solidify Trump's base further? We're making yet another presidential election about Donald Trump. Now, I'm sure Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DDA, also thinks that it's a political benefit to him. that has to be part of this calculus. Maybe he thinks this is good for his future in democratic politics. But the big losers here are the American people.

Now, Trump quickly responded to this indictment. What has he said so far? Well, he held nothing back. He issued a statement Thursday night on Truth Social about an hour after the indictment was leaked. He said, quote, this is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.

He went on accusing Democrats of, quote, spying on my campaign. pain and weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent. He also blasted Alvin Bragg, describing him as hand-picked by George Soros and neglecting his job of fighting crime to do Joe Biden's dirty work. Well, like the rest of the country, we'll be tracking this one very closely and following up soon. Greg, thanks for reporting. That was Daily Wire Managing Editor Greg Wilson. Coming up, Russia arrests an American journalist accusing him of spying. Looking for a unique gift idea.

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Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. An American Reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been a rest of in Russia on charges of espionage this week, ratcheting up already high tensions between the Kremlin and Washington. Evan Gershkovich was detained in a city in the Ural Mountains where Russian authorities say he procured top secret information about a military factory in the region. Here to discuss his columnist David Marcus.

Hey, Dave, what exactly is Gershkovich accused of doing and how has the Wall Street Journal responded? Good morning. So it's important to note that Russia has provided no evidence of any wrongdoing by Gerskiewicz. but they claim he received top-secret military information, not in his capacity as a reporter, but at the behest of the American government. The journal vehemently denies this and has demanded his release. There are reports that he's been moved to Moscow,

where he will be imprisoned pending trial. The U.S. Embassy, as of Thursday morning, said they had not even been informed of the arrest by Russian authorities. How rare is this for an American or any foreign journalist to be scooped up by Russia, manner in charge with spying? Apparently, it's not happened since the fall of the Soviet Union. He was arrested by the FSB, which is the intelligence agency that replaced the old KGB.

Some avid Russia watchers have said that this kind of move is very much taboo over the past 30 years and that what we're seeing is a marked escalation of Russian aggression here. Look, obviously, it's going to have an impact on how Western news outlets choose to cover Russia. There's no doubt that there's going to be a chilling effect. Yeah, I'm sure there will be. Speaking of Russian aggression, this comes at a time when we recently saw a Russian fighter jet take down an American drone in the Black Sea and within just months of the release of

WNBA star Brittany Greiner from a Russian prison. How much will this arrest raise the stakes? It's got to heighten tensions. There's no doubt about it. I mean, we're over a year into supporting Ukraine in its efforts to thwart Russia's invasion. And this is certainly a sign that Vladimir Putin is not backing down or looking to be friendly. There's already fears that due process is all but non-existent in Russia for these kinds of prosecutions. So that would really leave it up to the American government and Joe Biden himself to respond.

What options does the U.S. have in dealing with something like this, especially at a time when we're basically in a proxy war with Russia? There's a few different arrows in the quiver. Back in 2014, American journalist Jason Rizan spent a year and a half in an Iranian prison after being convicted of spying in a secret trial. he was released a year and a half later as part of a prisoner swap that also saw the U.S. release $1.7 billion of frozen Iranian funds. Obviously, right now, the U.S. does not want to give Russia any material support. So other options could include kicking Russian diplomats out of the U.S. or possibly the imposition of further sanctions. As to the other American and Western news outlets, how trepidacious will they be now

in even allowing correspondents to be in Russia? Yeah, a spokesperson for the New York Times now says that the gray lady has no reporters on the ground in Russia, and this could become a trend. It is certainly possible that part of the motivation of Putin and the FSB here is to silence those voices. New censorship laws for journalists were imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, but obviously American reporters aren't bound by those in the same way. So this arrest could very well be an effort to just shut down news reporting that the Kremlin doesn't like. Well, a very concerning situation here. Yeah. Dave, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus. Independent journalist Matt Taibi says an IRS agent paid an unexpected visit to his New Jersey home on the day he testified before Congress about the weaponization of the federal government earlier this month. This isn't the first time the IRS has been accused of targeting political enemies. Joining us to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Brandon Dre. Sir Brandon, was the visit by the IRS to Taibi's home, related to his testimony.

Hey, John, that is the big question. As the Wall Street Journal reports, an IRS agent made a special visit to Taibi's house rather than send a letter or contact his accountant. Typically, when the IRS wants to audit a return, they schedule a meeting at the agent's office. They don't just drop by. Right.

But what happened, according to Taibi, is that the agent left a note instructing him to call the agency four days later. When he called, the agency told him that his 2018 and 2021 tax returns were rejected over ID. identity theft concerns. Taibi later provided the House Judiciary Committee with documents proving his IRS return from

2018 had been electronically accepted. Neither the IRS or his accountants raised any concerns about the filing over the next five years. Then in 2021, his return was rejected, refiled, and rejected for a second time. Taibi states the issue with the return was not, quote, monetary. So over the past couple of years, Taibi has had a few unusual interactions with the IRS. What is he saying about it? Taibi put out a tweet saying he isn't worried for himself,

but felt the judiciary committee should be aware of the situation. Congressman Jim Jordan demanded answers as to why a journalist was targeted. In a letter to the agency, he said, quote, in light of the hostile reaction to Mr. Taibi's reporting among left-wing activists, the IRS actions could be interpreted as an attempt to intimidate a witness before Congress. So it sounds like Jim Jordan is asking questions about this. Has anyone else commented on this? When the Wall Street Journal went live with the story, some members of Congress immediately chimed in.

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Twitter, quote, The IRS should never be in the business of harassing the American people, adding that the agency has a history of targeting the political enemies of Democrats. And Republican Senator Bill Haggerty of Tennessee suggested on Fox News that the IRS was being weaponized on behalf of the left. On four separate occasions, I've directly questioned Secretary Yellen about the leak of private taxpayer information to ProPublica. ProBublica continues to leak this into the public domain.

Secretary Yellen every time is averted. It basically has no answer for me. And again, this is the weaponization of the IRS. When we see what happened to Matt Taibi, on the day that he is to testify about the weaponization of government, this is just unconscionable. It's got to come to an end. Now he's referencing a leak of taxpayer information to ProPublica.

What happened there? Essentially, ProPublica obtained a little. large amount of IRS data covering more than 15 years. It gave glimpses into the financial lives of America's most wealthy, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and Mark Zuckerberg. The data even went beyond their income and taxes and also showed their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings, and even the results of audits. On a related note, during the Obama administration, IRS agents were accused of abusing their power by politically targeting hundreds of conservative anti-party groups opposing the Democratic Party.

The agency later admitted to wrongfully demanding unnecessary information as a reviewed applications for tax-exempt status and apologized in 2017 for, quote, mistreating those organizations. All right, so as of now, we don't have an explanation for why the IRS visited Taibi's home on the same day he was testifying. Right. Well, definitely something we will continue to report on as more information comes out. Brandon, thanks for coming on.

That was Daily Wire reporter, Brandon Dre. Another story we're tracking this week. A Utah jury has sided with Gwyneth Paltrow saying she did not cause the ski accident on the slopes of Park City. Retired optometrist Terry Anderson accused Paltrow of crashing into him and leaving him with broken ribs and no joy in his life. The jury found Anderson to be 100% at fault and awarded Paltrow the $1 she requested in her countersuit. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.

Thank you.