Morning Wire - Record Border Crossings & SBF Dodges Charges | 1.2.24

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Border encounter numbers break all previous records, conflict in the Red Sea ramps up again, and disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried will avoid some charges. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Balance of Nature: Get 35% off your first order as a preferred customer + free Fiber and Spice supplements. Use promo code WIRE at checkout: https://www.balanceofnature.com/ ZBiotics: "The drink before drinking with ZBiotics. Get 15% off your order with promo code WIRE at http://www.ZBiotics.com/Wire" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Illegal crossings at the southern border hit another historic benchmark, with more migrants crossing last month than any month before. The same time, we have record low, ice deportation. So record numbers coming across, record feud being removed. How are border states dealing with the influx of migrants? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, January 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. Conflict in the Red Sea ramps up as the U.S. sinks two Houthi rebel boats attempting to hijack merchant ships. We're going to put the kind of forces we need in the region to protect those interests, and we're going to act in self-defense going forward.

What are the U.S. and other countries doing to stop the continued attacks? And the Biden DOJ announces that it will not pursue charges related to political donations and bribes against Democrat mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried, prompting accusations of a cover-up. Thanks for waking up with Morningwire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. While tackling your New Year's goals, don't forget about your daily dose of fruits and vegetables, which just got easier to remember thanks to Balance of Nature. Their fruit and veggie capsules

offer a convenient way to consume those essential nutritional ingredients daily. So improve your diet and feel your best this year. Go to Balanceofnature.com and use promo code wire for 35% off, plus a free fiber and spice in your first order as a preferred customer. That's balanceofnature.com promo code wire. Last month saw the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border in history, exacerbating a border crisis that sustained cities nationwide. Here with more on the situation is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. Hey, Cabot, so it seems like records are being broken at the border nearly every month now,

and states are starting to take more aggressive action. First, tell us about these historic numbers. Yeah, it is easy to grow numb to the magnitude of this crisis when you hear about records being broken month after month. But the numbers bear repeating. According to new federal data, last month alone saw more than 276,000 legal immigrant encounters at the southern border. Not only is that the highest mark in American history breaking the previous records set back in September, but it also fills to take into account the tens of thousands, maybe even more, who got through the southern border undetected. For context, this December represents a 262% increase in border crossings compared to the same month in 2020.

Yeah, these numbers are almost hard to comprehend. They really are. So to put it into more perspective since October, we've now seen at least 760,000 legal entries at the border. That is the equivalent to the populations of Miami and Pittsburgh combined in just three months' time. And get this, in the fall of 2023, more people crossed our border illegally than were born in the United States over that same time frame. All told, federal data reports 3.2 million legal entries in the year 2023. Again, these numbers can be hard to wrap your head around. So picture the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware, and Rhode Island crossing the southern border in one year, and that's what happened last year. So regardless of the

messaging, we're hearing from lawmakers in Washington, this crisis is simply unprecedented and only getting worse. Yeah. Now, we've talked about how some states, particularly Texas, are beginning to take matters into their own hands. What's the latest on those efforts? Well, Texas has allocated billions of dollars towards the crisis, fortifying vulnerable portions at the border with new construction and manpower. And just before Christmas, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a first-of-its-kind immigration measure that takes effect this coming March. The law will allow law enforcement in the state to arrest migrants for crossing the border illegally and then give local judges the power to deport them. If they refuse the court's order to leave, they'll face misdemeanor

charges of illegal entry and then felony charges if they're arrested again. Here's Abbott addressing that law at a signing event from the border. The only thing we are doing by this law is making sure that our law enforcement have the tools they need to actually take action against those who are actually coming across the border illegally. Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself. Now, in response, the Biden administration announced Thursday that they would sue Texas at the state enforced the law, which they are expected to do. They said in the letter to Governor Abbott that he was, quote, intruding into a field that

is occupied by the federal government. For his part, Abbott has vowed to fight that lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court. if necessary. While immigration advocates argue the law is inhumane and will lead to police profiling, supporters say the purpose of law enforcement is to enforce the law and that illegal immigration is by definition illegal. Regardless, a long legal battle is almost certainly ahead of us on that front. Yeah, it certainly is. Now, before we go, let's get to California, which just enacted a very different law pertaining to illegal immigration, correct? Right. So starting this week, California will become the first state in the country to offer taxpayer-funded health care for

illegal immigrants. Prior to this year, legal immigrant children could obtain state-funded health care under the law, but now their parents will be included as well. That means that at least 700,000 people living in the state illegally will now be given full coverage moving forward. Democrats in the state, including

Governor Gavin Newsom, celebrated the development saying health care is a human right, while Republicans pointed to the state's $68 billion deficit this coming year and said the move would only incentivize more illegal immigration. Yeah, certainly dramatic contrast between states like California and Texas. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime.

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as their crews attempted to hijack a merchant vessel. Although no civilians were harmed, the attack has renewed concerns about merchant safety as a U.S.-led coalition polices the region. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the growing unrest in the Middle East. Hi, Tim. So a significant escalation here. What happened over the weekend?

Hey John. The merchant ship at the center of all this was a container ship operated by the shipping giant Marisk. The saga started on Saturday night. It issued a distress call after a missile struck its deck. Two U.S. Navy vessels in the area responded to the call and shot down several more rockets from Houthi rebels. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident. The container ship issued another distress call at about 6.30 the next morning after its security forces traded small arms fire with four Houthi boats. U.S. helicopters responded, and after taking fire from rebels, sunk three of the four boats. The fourth escaped. No shipping crew or U.S. personnel were harmed either day, but after the attack, mayor said it would pause shipping through the Red Sea to reassess the security situation. The company had recently lifted a week-long suspension of its Red Sea routes because of U.S. promises to protect trade through the area.

But those promises don't seem to have been enough to stop Houthi attacks. Right. This is a part of Operation Prosperity Guardian. that was announced a few weeks ago and we reported on it. And it's attempting to reopen Red Sea shipping. How is the operation going? Obviously, the Houthi attacks haven't stopped. And U.S. military officials don't expect them to either. So the safety of merchant ships depends on the U.S. coalition's ability to intercept

Houthi boats and missiles. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told the Associated Press over the weekend that despite the attacks, 1,200 merchant ships had crossed through the Red Sea since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced. a few weeks ago. But according to reports, the U.S. may be struggling to recruit allies to join its operation. The Pentagon has said about 20 other nations have agreed to cooperate in the mission. But Reuters reports that many of those 20 haven't been named publicly. Of those that have, there are a few cases, such as Italy and Spain, where the member countries seem to distance themselves from the operation. So President Biden may be having trouble projecting the

United Front he had hoped for. Yeah, sounds like it. Now, this is coming amidstance. ongoing conflicts in the region. What do we know about the threat to U.S. troops and interests in other parts of the Middle East? So since Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched dozens of rocket attacks against Israel and U.S. forces throughout the Middle East. In response, the U.S. and Israel have struck targets in Iraq and Syria, such as fuel and arms depose of Iran's proxies. Those attacks have sparked some blowback from Arab governments. Iraq accused the United States of committing a clear hostile act after a strike. reportedly killed one and wounded 18. It's worth noting that a main objective of the Biden administration

has been to keep the conflict between Israel and Hamas from spreading, but that doesn't seem to be going all that well. As Israel pressures Hamas, many other Iran-backed militias are growing more aggressive against Israel, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah to Israel's north and Lebanon. The Biden administration has been pretty restrained in its response to attacks amid all this, but as the conflicts escalate, some are saying targeted strikes aren't enough. The former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently called for the U.S. and Israel to target Iran directly through sanctions and sabotage for the attacks by its proxies. Meanwhile, the public messaging coming from the Iranian regime continues to aggressively target Israel and the U.S.

Obviously a very unstable situation. Tim, thanks for the update. Thanks for having me. The Biden Department of Justice announced over the weekend that it does not plan to prosecute disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for unlawful political donations and bribery of foreign officials. The DOJ's decision not to bring charges have sparked accusations of a political cover-up. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestige Acomo. So Amanda, the DOJ was going to go after Bankman-Fried for these apparent illicit campaign donations, but now they're not going to. What was the reasoning for that? So the DOJ is saying that it's acting out of the public interest here.

basically that it doesn't need to pursue these charges because Bankman Freed, or SBF, as he's widely known, was already found guilty of other fraud charges back in November. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a legal filing that much of the evidence that would be offered in this second trial was already offered in the first trial and can be considered by the court during SBF's sentencing, and that's scheduled for March. But some quick background that's important, SBF was found guilty in that first trial on all seven counts that he was charged with, And that included wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit those crimes. Notably, though, prosecutors were unable to go after the crypto CEO for fraud charges

relating to unlawful campaign contributions. And that was because the extradition agreement with the Bahamas to arrest SBF did not include such counts. So what are the specific charges that they're choosing not to pursue now? So unlawful campaign contributions and bribery of foreign officials are the main ones. Specifically when it comes to foreign bribes, this was actually brought up in the first trial, though most of it was struck from the record because it didn't relate to the charges at hand. Caroline Ellison, SBF's on and off again girlfriend who ran his hedge fund Alameda research, she testified in court that SBF paid around $100 million in bribes to Chinese officials. She said that the alleged bribes were paid in 2021 to try to unlock two cryptocurrency trading accounts owned by Alameda.

Now, what sort of reaction are we seeing from this DOJ decision not to go after these additional charges? There's been a lot of anger and accusations that the DOJ is acting politically here. Critics say the DOJ is trying to protect politicians by not exposing those involved in apparent bribery schemes. It's widely known that SBF was a major donor to Democrats in 2022. In fact, he was the third largest donor. And we're talking about tens of millions of dollars, over 40 million in just 2022. SBF was also one of the largest donors to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign with a $5.2 million donation. And this was all very public. Here's SBF actually seeming to brag to Bloomberg News about funding politicians.

If I pulled out my phone here and just looked at my last 10 text messages, you know, about half of them are going to be a politician asking for contributions. SBF has claimed that he's donated to Republicans to through untraceable methods. That's harder to pay. down, but there were multi-million donations given to groups that are linked to Mitch McConnell, a Republican leader, and Chuck Schumer, a Democrat leader, for example. And what kind of prison sentence is he looking at? He's

facing up to 110 years behind bars and is expected to face a decades-long sentence. That is going to be determined by Manhattan-based federal judge Louis Kaplan. Sentencing is set for March 28th. Well, a lot of high-profile people were caught up in this. Probably glad to

have it wrap up. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. Thank you for listening this morning. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving 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 later this afternoon with more news you need to know.