Kamala Harris hits the campaign trail, Secret Service chief steps down, and how will Trump strategy now change with Kamala topping the ticket? Get the facts first with Morning Wire.
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(upbeat music) Kamala Harris hits the campaign trail in battleground state, Wisconsin, taking aim at Donald Trump. As Attorney General of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts. I'm Georgia Howe, and Daily Wire editor-in-chief, John Bickley, is on vacation this week. It's Wednesday, July 24th, and this is Morning Wire. Secret Service head, Kimberly Cheetoh, resigns amid mounting pressure from both sides of the aisle. She was completely unprepared to talk to members of Congress and to share with the American people. And she wasn't the leader that we need at the helm. And how will the Trump campaign's tactics shift now that Biden's out and Kamala Harris is the anointed candidate atop the Democratic ticket? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. (upbeat music) - Hey guys, producer Brandon here. Black Rifle Copy is a veteran-founded company that's doing their part to honor both current and former military personnel, as well as first responders. They support such organizations as the Wounded Warrior Project, adopt a cop, BJJ, and the Burn Institute. Right now, you can get 25% off your first subscription order when you verify your military ID online. Just go to blackriflecoffee.com, create an account, and verify your ID. Visit blackriflecoffee.com to learn more. - Just 72 hours after President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have locked down the Democratic nomination. Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice is here now with the latest. So Tim, what's going on with the newly minted Harris campaign? - Yeah, hey, Georgia. So Biden, through his support behind his running mate, shortly after spending his campaign, but it wasn't entirely clear at first whether Democrats would line up behind Harris or push for an open convention or a mini primary. But by Tuesday morning, it seemed much more likely that Harris would be at the top of the Democratic ticket come November. A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate endorsed Harris, as did all 23 Democratic governors. But it was endorsements from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries that put to rest any idea that Democrats would push for a different candidate. - So now that the process is played out from the grassroots bottom up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. I'm clapping, you don't have to. - So Schumer at the very least sounds enthusiastic. How was Harris received at her first campaign rally? - Yeah, she was received very well from the crowds. And as you said, Harris hit the campaign trail holding her first official rally Tuesday in Milwaukee just days after the RNC left town. She said during her speech that November's election is quote, "a choice between freedom and chaos." - The soldiers on which we stand, generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands. We, who believe in the sacred freedom to vote, will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted. - So Tim, how are Republicans now responding to this switch up on the Democratic ticket? - It's a two prong strategy. On the one hand, they're trying to paint Harris as a far left radical. She was one of the most liberal members of the Senate during her term. And unlike Biden, she's been way more comfortable cozying up to the left wing of the Democratic Party on everything from the Green New Deal and Medicare for All to the idea that no one is illegal when it comes to immigration. That last issue points to the other part of Republican strategy, which is tying her to the failure of the Biden administration or the Biden-Harris administration as the White House is fond of calling it. Harris has served as the administration's borders are while a record number of illegal immigrants have crossed the border. Representative Elise Stefanik just yesterday introduced a resolution condemning Harris for her quote, "failure to secure the United States border." So in the coming months, we can expect Republicans in the Trump campaign to pin all the failures of the past four years on Harris, making sure that she can't separate herself from Biden. We can also expect Republicans to grill Harris on what she knew about Biden's decision to step down and when and whether or not she was involved in an effort to conceal Biden's health issues from the American public. Well, we're gonna cover Trump's shifting campaign tactics later in this show. But first, how have Democrats suggested their campaign strategy in light of Biden stepping out? It's interesting, many of the people who have spent the past year dismissing Biden's verbal gaffes and insisting that he was fit to serve another term are now shifting gears, saying that Trump is too old to be president. It'll be interesting to see just how much Democrats lean into this particular talking point, since doing so gives Republicans an excuse to remind voters about the whole Biden debacle. Now let's end with the million dollar question, who is Harris going to pick as her vice president? It's a great question. Harris's campaign has reportedly requested vetting materials for five potential picks. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walts, and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Notably absent from that list is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a red state Democrat who many thought could have swung moderates and independents over to Harris. Well, it'll be interesting to see she'll be picking any day now. Tim, thanks for reporting. Anytime. (upbeat music) Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheetell has announced her resignation after Monday's disastrous Capitol Hill hearing. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called for her ouster, saying she's lost the trust of Congress and the American people. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the director's exit and what's next for the investigation into Trump's July 13th rally. So Tim Cheetell on Monday was defiant that she was going to stay in her role, but the next day she says she's leaving. What happened? It appears as if the pressure was too much. Cheetell left Capitol Hill on Monday with essentially no allies in Congress left. Here's House Speaker Mike Johnson on Cheetell's resignation yesterday. Our reaction, the immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I'm happy to see that she has heated the call of both Republicans and Democrats. Cheetell announced her resignation in an email to the agency yesterday, writing quote, "I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission." She also reiterated that she takes full responsibility for the security failures that very nearly led to former President Trump's assassination on July 13th. Cheetell could stay on as head of the agency for a while yet. She did not give a date for her official departure in the email. Now, where does this leave the investigation into those security failures? Well, there are a number of them going on. The FBI has a probe into the now dead shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. The Secret Service is reviewing what led up to the rally shooting and the Department of Homeland Security has ordered an independent review of what happened. Bipartisan members of Congress will set their own investigators on it as well. Here's Johnson again. We have to rebuild the American people's faith and trust in the Secret Service as an agency. It has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents, and other officials in the executive branch. And we've got a lot of work to do. The task force that we'll be putting together is gonna be very important. According to Johnson, the Congressional Task Force will have three responsibilities to investigate what happened at the rally, to hold those people who made mistakes accountable and to ensure that a failure like this doesn't happen again. Now, I should point out that these investigations likely won't bear fruit for a while, which in the meantime does little to put to rest concerns about the massive failures here. That was actually a point made by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday in her remarks to Cheetah. So the notion of a report coming out in 60 days when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of party, is not acceptable. And I think it's very important to understand that. This is not theater, this is not about jockeying, this is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically in the United States of America. So the idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone, prior to any actionable decisions that would be made is simply not acceptable. - We do have some new information from Senator Ron Johnson's office, which has also been investigating and releasing preliminary reports on its findings. Johnson's office said that eight shell casings were found near Kirk's body, which would suggest he got off eight shots before he was killed. - Now, what was the reaction to Cheetah's resignation from the administration? - President Biden in a statement, thanked Cheetah for her service and promised to appoint a new director of the Secret Service soon. Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, had a similar message. He said Cheetah is, quote, "deeply respected by the men and women of the agency." It's worth noting that Cheetah was allowed to resign and wasn't fired for what she called the most severe security failure since President Reagan was shot in 1981. This administration has been reluctant to fire anyone regardless of the size of the mistake. - Well, listeners will remember not a single person was fired for the Afghanistan withdrawal. Tim, thanks for joining us. - Good to be on. - Donald Trump's presidential campaign faces new challenges this week as Kamala Harris moves closer to replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democrat's ticket. New reporting suggests that the entry of Harris might lead Trump to sharpening his attacks against her in the coming days as the campaign adjusts to the new opponent. Joining us to discuss that reporting on what Trump's tactics might wind up being is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. So, David, first off, what have we seen so far? - Morning, Georgia. Both the New York Times and punch poll news had stories about how Harris and her attacks on Trump, particularly the prosecutor versus felon theme, might go the former president into aggressive or personal attacks on her that could hurt him with some swing voters. The sourcing is a bit weak. It's mostly political observers noting that usually when Trump gets hit hard, he tries to hit back twice as hard. But there's basically a consensus that over the past few months, Trump has been the most disciplined that he has ever been in his political career and that that's accruing to his benefit. The story here may really be that Democrats are trying to go Trump into lashing out in potentially self-destructive ways, but it's not clear that he will be goaded. A statement this week from Susie Wiles and Chris Los Savita, who are running the campaign, was harsh in regard to what they called Harris' far left record, but there really wasn't anything personal, perhaps a sign that they are urging some restraint. And we saw a similar message from Speaker Mike Johnson telling Republicans in Congress to hit Harris on policy not personally. - Now, whether he means that campaign discipline or not, there will have to be some changes to Trump's approach now that he has this new opponent. How does the campaign tackle that challenge? - Well, if I can use a football analogy since the Eagles Open Training Camp this week, this is like a defense preparing for a quarterback who stays in the pocket. And suddenly they have to face one who is super mobile. It opens up the playbook. For example, we've already seen Democrats attacking Trump's age. That play wasn't possible with Biden. So yes, there are some new things Trump might have to defend against and Harris will be much more active on the campaign trail than Biden was. So they'll simply be more volume of attacks. The prosecutor versus felon themes seems to be the one the Harris campaign is leaning into. And again, without Joe Biden's classified document case or the Hunter Biden investigation, the Trump campaign will need a somewhat new approach. - Right, well, politics is not only defense. Where does the Trump camp see some offensive opportunities to score points against Harris now that the lines of attack they used against Biden are gone? - Well, I mean, not all of them are gone. Harris is part of the Biden administration. So Trump and his campaign will tie her to its failures as much as they possibly can. And there are some new lines of attack. Even in regard to the prosecutor versus felon approach, Harris very zealously prosecuted marijuana offenses as Attorney General of California. And Trump may hit her on that, especially as he's been a champion of criminal justice reform. Finally, there's the argument that Kamala Harris knew or should have known about the severity of Biden's condition and that she was part of covering it up. - Now, finally, the New York Post is reporting that some top Democrats were pushing Biden to exit harder than we knew. What did we learn there? And was Harris part of that effort? - Yeah, according to sources, Biden was flat out threatened with removal, presumably through the 25th amendment or impeachment. This news was new and we're still learning about just how tightly the screws were being applied to the sitting president. As to Harris, there's no indication she was involved or new, but the timing was a great advantage to her. Had this happened weeks or months ago, a more open process would have been more likely. - Well, it would be really interesting to know just how long that was going on behind the scenes. David, thanks for reporting. - Thanks for having me. - Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. - Is your business selling a little or a lot? Shopify helps you do your thing. However, you should ching. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout, which is 36% better on average compared to the other leading commerce platforms. Get a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/morningwire. That's Shopify.com/morningwire.
Kamala Harris hits the campaign trail, Secret Service chief steps down, and how will Trump strategy now change with Kamala topping the ticket? Get the facts first with Morning Wire.
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Shopify: "Get a $1 per month trial at https://www.shopify.com/morningwire"
