Morning Wire - Wednesday Afternoon Update | 2.15.23

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

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I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, February 15th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. President Biden commented on the tragic school shooting at Michigan State University Wednesday, calling again for more gun control. I'm going to say something that's always controversial, but there is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets. The suspect allegedly used a gun to kill three students and wounded five others before killing himself, and questions have arisen on whether he should have been able to legally possess a gun due to his past crimes. The suspect was arrested in 2019 on a felony gun charge that was later downgraded to a misdemeanor by a so-called soft-on-crime prosecutor.

The shooter who killed 10 Americans last year in a predominantly black neighborhood supermarket in Buffalo was sentenced to life without parole today. Barbara Massey, whose sister Catherine Massey was among the 10 victims killed in the May 2022 attack, was giving a very emotional testimony at the sentencing when a man in the courtroom rushed at the convicted murderer. Here's some of that exchange. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appeared today on CNN's this morning to discuss the train derailment in East Palestine. The governor said that Norfolk Southern, the company to which the train of toxic chemicals belongs, needs to stick around to deal with the aftermath of the chemical release that caused a massive fire to break out and smoke to billow over the town. We're going to hold them to what they said. We're going to hold them accountable.

They're responsible for this. They're responsible for a very serious train wreck that occurred with some very toxic material. So we're going to hold their feet to the fire. We're going to make sure they pay for everything as we move forward. Norfolk Southern said in a statement, quote, we are committed to East Palestine today and in the future. We are cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way, reimbursing residents affected by the derailment and working with members of the community to identify what is needed to help East Palestine recover and thrive.

The Department of Justice has formally decided not to charge Florida Representative Matt Gates in a sex trafficking investigation. Department officials reportedly informed witnesses of the decision today. Investigators were looking into whether Gates had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her travels with him. Prosecutors recommended against charges back in the fall because two key witnesses had questionable credibility.

Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley held her first 2024 presidential campaign rally in her home state of South Carolina today. The former Palmetto State Governor laid out her vision for the country. We'll have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency test for politicians. Over 75 years old. Strong and proud, not weak and woke.

That's the America I see. The trial of Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina attorney accused of killing his family, is still ongoing. This week, his sister-in-law testified that Murdo was acting strangely in the days after the alleged killing.

Here with more is Daily Wire's senior editor, Ash Short. Alex Murdo's sister-in-law, Marion Proctor, testified that Alex seemed more concerned. with proving his son Paul, who was murdered along with Alex's wife Maggie, was not driving a boat that crashed in 2019 and killed a teen girl. Paul had been indicted in the death. Proctor testified that Alex told her his number one goal was clearing Paul's name, which she thought was odd, since her number one goal after a murder would be to find the killer.

The West Virginia legislature introduced a bill Tuesday to ban several pillars of the the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement on college campuses. The bill would abolish diversity statements and race-based preferential hiring practices, ban mandatory diversity training, and ban the state's educational institutions from funding DEI activities. The proposed new law follows similar moves in multiple Republican-led states. Tech billionaire Elon Musk addressed the World Government Summit in Dubai, a conference intended to promote international cohesion, where he warned about the dangers of over-cooperation. I think we should be maybe a little bit concerned about actually becoming too much of a single world government.

We want to avoid creating a civilizational risk by having, frankly, too much cooperation between governments. Well, there's 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 our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.