(upbeat music) - Support for Biden's presidential campaign continues to waver as Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney make public comments on his fitness for office. - I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that's the way it is. - Will the president be able to hold on to the nomination? - I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief, John Bickley. It's Thursday, July 11th, and this is Morning Wire. (upbeat music) - Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro testifies on Capitol Hill about how companies were strong-armed into not advertising with conservative outlets. - We all know what these government actors are doing. You're using the tacit threat of government actions to compel private companies to throttle viewpoints you don't particularly like. - And the critical battleground state of Wisconsin re-institutes drop boxes just 17 weeks before the presidential election. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned, we have the news you need to know. - College is expensive, but being a man shouldn't be. Score 60% off Jeremy's Razor's one-year bundle and dominate campus life. While others can form, you'll stand out, clean-shaven and unapologetic. Major in masculinity@jeremesraisers.com today. - With the election clock ticking, President Biden is struggling to fight back efforts from within his own party to replace him. - We're here with more on the internal battle and Washington is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, walk us through the latest on this historic power struggle. - Well, we said yesterday that Biden appeared to have weathered the worst of this storm, but there are still dark and ominous clouds in the sky and they could open up at any moment. On Tuesday morning, Nancy Pelosi, arguably the most influential Democrat not in the White House, appeared on MSNBC to discuss Biden's future. The former speaker started by praising his speech to NATO, which she called spectacular and energetic, but then refused to offer any real endorsement of his candidacy. - It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. - So not exactly a ringing endorsement there. - Exactly. And you'll notice there, Pelosi said she wants him to make a decision. Well, President Biden has already made his decision clear. He said repeatedly that he's going to run. And she's obviously aware of that. Many Democratic lawmakers interpreted her words as she wants him to make a different decision. And the fact she's refusing to truly back Biden could be an indication of how she thinks this will all shake out. And it's worth noting a number of other Democratic lawmakers followed Pelosi's lead later in the day and offered similar messages saying Biden has to make a decision. Here's former Hillary Clinton running mate Senator Tim Cain. - I have complete confidence that Joe Biden will do the patriotic thing for the country. And he's going to make that decision. He's never disappointed me. He's always put patriotism and the country I have for himself and I'm going to respect the decision. - But again, it's going to take more than passive aggressive comments like that and closed or event sessions from Democrat lawmakers for Biden to bow out. It's likely going to take high profile voices coming out on the record. For their part, the Biden campaign is continuing their effort to prevent that from happening. Not by convincing them, President Biden is still fit to serve. That was the case he'd be sitting for more interviews and holding press conferences. Their main strategy to this point has essentially been intimidating lawmakers into silence, telling them he's not going anywhere and their efforts would be useless and daring them to try and challenge him at the convention. It is a high risk strategy. But to this point, it has worked. The dam has not broken. - So we've seen Democrat politicians come out against Biden in the past 24 hours though, but it was a Democrat celebrity that got the most attention for doing so. Tell us about that. - Yeah, this is interesting. So on Wednesday, George Clooney, who himself is a longtime Democratic donor and fundraiser, published a brutal op ed in The New York Times calling for a new nominee. Remember Clooney just last month, co-hosted that star-studded Hollywood fundraiser for Biden alongside Barack Obama and Julia Roberts. But he's now striking a very different tone, writing quote, it's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden, I was with three weeks ago with the fundraiser, was not the Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate. Now Clooney is more than just a big name actor. He's hosted some of the Democrats' largest fundraisers in history over the last decade. And more importantly, it's very close to power players within the party. There is little chance he published that piece without consulting those folks first. And that's important. - Now all of this though comes amid a flurry of favorable polls for Trump that Republicans are really salivating over. Walk us through those. So in latest count, Donald Trump holds a five-point lead in the national polls when third-party candidates are included on the ballot. That's not only his largest lead to date, it's also the first time in more than 20 years that a Republican has been ahead in the polls at this point in a presidential race. And on top of all that, the respected Cook Political Report announced five changes to their 2024 forecast, all of them in favor of Trump. And moved three states, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada from toss-ups to Lean's Republican, and moved two more Minnesota and New Hampshire from likely Democrat to Lean's Democrat. So by all accounts, the list of battleground states appears set to expand come November. - Well, losing Hollywood is really a canary in the coal mine. Cabot, thanks for reporting. - Any time. - There is in fact an informal pressure system created by Democratic legislators. This White House, legacy media advertisers and pseudo-objective brand safety organizations. That system guarantees that advertising dollars flow only to left-wing media brands. - That was Daily Wire host and editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro testifying before Congress yesterday. The hearing covered allegations that companies that are a part of a brand safety coalition colluded to ensure advertising dollars don't flow to conservative news outlets. That includes the Daily Wire, which produces the show. Here with Morris Daily Wire, culture reporter Megan Basham, Hey Megan. Now this hearing focused on evidence that conservative outlets like ours were blacklisted by major advertising groups and House Republicans allege this likely violated antitrust law. What evidence did they present for that? - So the World Federation of Advertisers based in Brussels is a global coalition of the world's top brands and national associations. And it controls an estimated 90% of all global ad dollars. So pretty influential. Well, in 2019, the WFA launched the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, otherwise known as GARM. And it touts itself as a flagship project of the World Economic Forum. It stated purpose is to, and I'm quoting here from their material, safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online. But what they seem to find harmful were conservative views. So the House report found that GARM and its members discussed a strategy of putting news outlets like Fox News, The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and some other right leaning and conservative media outlets on exclusion lists. Here's Shapiro. - Obviously it shuts down the marketplace of ideas, which is largely the intent. The complete lack of transparency with which GARM treats both the member companies as well as the consuming public is one of the major problems. If they simply wish to levy a boycott against a right wing source, they should simply say that's what they're doing. Hiding behind fake standards in order to project objectivity is a major problem in transparency for the market. - One item the House report points to is an email from a top executive associated with this coalition stating that he hated the ideology and BS of these conservative outlets. And when Elon Musk bought Twitter promising to make it a free speech platform, GARM organized an advertiser boycott against it and boasted that they managed to cause an 80% decline in excess revenues. And then another email between GARM leaders showed disdain for free speech advocates as well as comments criticizing the U.S. Constitution. So House Republicans say this activity violates the Sherman Act, which outlaws conspiracies against commerce or restraint of trade. - Now Democrats were also at this hearing of course, how did they respond to these claims and evidence? - Well, during the hearing yesterday, I would say that their arguments seem to suggest that some ideas expressed in conservative media are deserving of suppression. For example, the questions coming from California Congressman Eric Swalwell took a pretty personal turn when he asked Shapiro about his religious beliefs. Here was that exchange. - I'm just asking, is it a sin to be gay? - Is it a sin to be gay? I mean, if the basic idea is that sexual orientation is up for a government regulation, I'm not in favor of the government regulating the private consenting sexual activity of adults. - But again, just you to me, is it a sin or not? - From a religious Jewish perspective, orientation is not a sin, but activity is. That's also the same perspective of most major religions, so far as I'm aware. - Now I asked Shapiro about this moment, and he told me that it was strange to say the least. - I'm not sure what he was trying to get at, and I think in any other context, he would be seen as somewhat religiously discriminatory to ask my personal religious beliefs about certain kinds of activities. Religious, I believe a whole wide variety of activities are sinful. And several Democrats spoke about the right of advertisers to ensure that their brands aren't appearing alongside objectionable content. - And what are some of the solutions to this black listing that we're hearing from conservatives? - Well, right now, the Daily Wire, along with the Federalist and the State of Texas, are suing the State Department over its funding of NGOs that develop these advertising black lists for groups like Garm. In May, a federal judge ruled that that suit can go forward, but in the meantime, Shapiro says that lawmakers should also consider new legislation to prevent the federal government from pressuring private sector entities, something known as jaw boning, to suppress, or in this case, financially starve certain viewpoints. - I mean, I think that you would see a ban from Congress on executive branch agencies doing exactly the kind of jaw boning that you're talking about. I think that what you would see is an attempt to use subpoena power to uncover whether there has been some sort of coordination between government executive branch agencies or foreign governments and organizations like Garm. - And he also believes that there may need to be investigations into whether these companies are violating their fiduciary duties to shareholders. - Well, likely a lot of investigation yet to come on this, Megan, and for reporting. - Anytime. - The Wisconsin Supreme Court will permit the use of ballot drop boxes in the crucial swing state ahead of the 2024 election. - Here to discuss the decision is daily wire reporter, Amanda Prestigiacamo. So, Amanda, what exactly did the court rule here? - So this decision to allow ballot drop boxes was actually a reversal of a previous decision from the court. The liberals on the court who now hold a four to three majority after the last election, they said the drop boxes, no matter where they are, are effectively a drop off to municipal clerk and therefore do comply with the state statute in question. Just two years ago though, the then conservative majority court said the opposite. Writing in a dissent, the conservatives really went out the liberals and criticized them for quote, "For saking the rule of law in an attempt "to advance its political agenda, "and they accuse them of trying to "tit the scales in future elections." - Now, was this decision a surprise? - No, this was pretty expected. Our listeners might remember the election for a seat on this court last year, and that flipped the court from conservative to a liberal majority. Democrats were accused of running openly partisan ads for the seat, which is technically nonpartisan, and they won. It was the most expensive state judicial election in US history at over $50 million. Democrats were largely able to bring in big outside money by zoning in on abortion during that campaign, and also, expectedly, the Wisconsin court has already paved the way to hear challenges to the state's abortion ban. - So Democrats have applauded this ruling on ballot boxes, just how much does this potentially benefit them over Republicans? - Well, Democrats overwhelmingly participate in early voting in general. This started back in 2020 when the way Americans vote was radically changed during the pandemic. In that election, about 70% of all votes were cast early, and of the absentee and mail voting, 40% of the time, drop boxes were used. Now, breaking that down by party, Biden voters cast their ballots by mail at nearly double the rate of Trump supporters. Now, Wisconsin specifically, there were more than 500 drop box locations for the 2020 election. Biden won that by a very small margin, just over 20,000 votes. And it's worth repeating that this is a significant swing state. The presidential candidate who has captured Wisconsin has gone on to win the White House in the past four presidential elections. I mean, notably, it was also vital to Trump's win against Hillary Clinton in 2016. - Right, so even though COVID lockdowns are gone, we still are going to continue with the COVID era drop boxes, at least for the 2024 election. - Right, and most of the 2020 election changes have stayed in place. Republicans have, though, launched some efforts to legally and legislatively try to limit or ban drop boxes. They argue that they can be unlawful, create chaos, and they're just not as secure as in-person voting. Democrats, on the other hand, they want the expansion of what they call voting access, and they generally oppose any kind of measure to increase security, and that includes voter ID requirements. So in Pennsylvania, this is a good example. We saw competing lawsuits culminate with the state Supreme Court weighing in, and now some counties in PA will have numerous drop boxes, while others don't. Another key state, Georgia, has reduced the number of drop boxes, but every county will have at least one. And then you can look at a state like Florida. Drop boxes can now only be placed in early voting sites or elections offices, and they must be monitored by in-person elections office employees. Florida's new system seems to be a pathway for other red states, since it really doesn't seem like these drop boxes are going away anytime soon. Well, another permanent change from the COVID era. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know. (upbeat music) (clicking)
Support for Biden’s presidential campaign continues to waver, Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro testifies on Capitol Hill, and the critical battleground state of Wisconsin re-institutes drop boxes. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.
Ramp: "Now get $250 off when you join Ramp. Go to http://www.ramp.com/WIRE"
