Trump continues to put pen to paper on executive orders, why are federal dollars ending up in the pockets of legacy media? And, crossings at the southern border plummet. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.Black Rifle Coffee: Get 20% off your first order or Coffee Club subscription with code DAILYWIRE at https://www.blackriflecoffee.comOld Glory Bank: Go to https://oldglorybank.com/wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can ACTUALLY trust.
Chapter 1: What is Trump’s executive order strategy?
Trump continues his fast and furious pace of reshaping the U.S. government.
The first two weeks have been probably, they say, the most successful two weeks in the history of any presidency.
We look at Trump's latest political maneuvers, including tackling anti-Christian bias and overhauling the tax system.
I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, February 7th, and this is Morning Wire. How many federal dollars are finding their way into the pockets of media outlets? We dug into the Doge-sparked controversy.
And illegal border encounters have plummeted since Trump took office. Is the administration living up to its promise to secure the border?
The crossings on the border are down 93 percent. 93 percent. Wow. That's a bigger decrease than under the first Trump administration.
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Chapter 2: How is the Trump administration tackling anti-Christian bias?
Wow, but it's not a competition, just going to clarify. And many of those orders are turning out to be really popular with Americans, right?
Yes, they are. For example, Ipsos polling this week found that 64% of Americans support his plan to investigate FEMA for political bias. 62% favor his order overriding California law to bring in more water to the state. 73% support his declassifying of the RFK, JFK, and MLK records. And 59% support reinstating service members discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine.
But most popular has been his order to ban biological men from women's sports, which he signed Wednesday. According to a New York Times poll, 79% of Americans support that plan, including even 67% of Democrats. And on Thursday, Trump announced his newest order, this one on religious freedom.
Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, he said he'd be assigning the Department of Justice to form a task force to quote eradicate anti-Christian bias around the country, specifically targeting any discrimination of Christians by the federal government.
The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government. The task force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.
Newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi will be tasked with overseeing that force, and she's also rolling out a number of DOJ reforms in her first week. In a memo to staffers, Bondi threatened to fire anyone who, quote, undermines the constitutional order and deprives the president of the benefit of his lawyers, a.k.a. anyone subverting orders from the White House.
The AG will also be establishing a new weaponization working group that will investigate cases of politicized justice within the DOJ over the last four years. That group will reportedly prioritize investigations of those who prosecuted Donald Trump, including special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and New York AG Letitia James.
From there, they'll be looking into the January 6 trials, the DOJ's targeting of parents protesting school board meetings, and those within the FBI who targeted Catholic churches and charities. So they want answers from the last four years. Trump has long said the DOJ engaged in lawfare against political opponents. And now the head of the DOJ will be searching for that evidence.
Lots of interest in what they find there. Now, the White House also laid out new plans for overhauling the tax system on Thursday. What are they proposing?
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Chapter 3: What are the proposed changes to the tax system?
Here with the details is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, a lot of opposing claims over this issue. First off, how much federal money are we talking about and which media outlets are receiving it?
So as we reported yesterday, this really started with the Trump administration's announcement that it was effectively shutting down USAID. And that's the United States Agency for International Development. Now, that led to a lot of scrutiny over what exactly USAID has been spending money on.
And that's when data analysts found millions of taxpayer dollars from various federal agencies flowing into legacy outlets like Politico and AP. Now Politico has been the main focus because they received 8.2 million from the federal government in just the last fiscal year.
Some initial reports falsely claimed that all of that money was coming from USAID, but in reality, only 24,000 came from that group. But what that did was the discovery got a lot more people looking into these payments and millions more was discovered coming from other government agencies. So now we're seeing a similar debate around the AP, the New York Times, and Reuters.
AP has received $620,000, primarily coming from the State Department. The Times was paid $378,000 last fiscal year for its various subscriptions. And Reuters received $13.6 million, with the majority coming from the Department of Defense for a premium data analysis product called Thomas Reuters Special Services. And how are these outlets explaining those payments?
Well, they argue that these are legitimate business transactions, not subsidies. Politico's argument is that these agencies were buying subscriptions to its premium news service, Politico Pro, and some annual subscriptions could cost over $10,000.
So Politico CEO and editor-in-chief issued a statement on Wednesday saying that the company has, quoting here, never received any government funding, no subsidies, no grants, not one dime in 18 years. And they also underscored that Politico Pro is a different product than their general news program. And they say that most of their subscribers are in the private sector.
Now, AP also doesn't deny that they've received millions in payments, but they made a point of noting that both Republican and Democratic administrations have been their customers.
But a lot of critics, particularly those on the right, counter that these premium subscriptions, like Politico Pro, are pretty exorbitantly priced, over 10K a year, and that this is effectively a racket that relies on government agencies greenlighting these high expenditures. And they also worry about how these large sums of money might influence news coverage.
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Chapter 4: Why are federal media contracts being canceled?
Well, at the very least, it's worth knowing which outlets have lucrative government contracts. Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Pam Bondi, just recently confirmed as attorney general, has wasted no time in cracking down on sanctuary cities, but some local leaders have pushed back.
Daily Wire reporter Tim Pearce joins us to talk about the latest on immigration and deportation, say Tim. So Attorney General Bondi already taking action here. Where is she focusing her attention right now?
Yeah, Chicago is the first city to be hit with a lawsuit over its rules designed to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration officers. Here's Bondi on Fox News with Sean Hannity last night.
Not only did we sue today the city of Chicago, we sued the state of Illinois, we sued the mayor, we sued the governor, and we sued others. And let me be very clear, if you don't comply with federal law, you're going to be next.
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit on Thursday. As far as the state is concerned, state law forbids local law enforcement from holding someone over an ICE detainer. A city ordinance adds to that. Officials are barred from helping ICE officials arrest illegal aliens. Of course, many more places than Chicago have these types of rules or guidance.
This is only the start of the Trump administration's crackdown.
Right. Now, local officials say that the federal government does not have the authority to force their hands on deportations. Who is in the right here?
Well, it's a good question, and it's going to be litigated. One of the tools that the Trump administration has used to pressure sanctuary cities is to cut them off from federal funds. Opponents say that's an overreach of executive authority. Legally, it's an open question. The first Trump administration also used this leverage, and it spawned numerous lawsuits and court rulings.
But when President Joe Biden took over, his administration dropped the policy before it was brought before the Supreme Court. The other lever that the White House is using to get its way is through direct legal action like the lawsuit against Chicago. The lawsuit alleges essentially that the city is aiding and abetting criminals.
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