Donald Trump wins big in SCOTUS immunity case, Democrats seek to oust Biden, and voter registration for illegal immigrants. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.
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(upbeat music) Donald Trump gets a major victory in the Supreme Court on presidential immunity. What are the broader implications of the ruling and does it spell doom for Jack Smith's case? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, July 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. President Biden scrambles to shore up support within his own party amid reports of a Democrat coup behind the scenes. There are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party. And Republicans warn that voter registration practices open the door to millions of non-citizens voting in the national election. This is about the rule of law, ensuring the integrity of elections and the simple proposition that only citizens should vote. 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 conform, you'll stand out, clean-shaven and unapologetic. Major in masculinity@jeremesraisers.com today. On the final day of the term, the Supreme Court released its much anticipated decision on presidential immunity, a ruling considered largely a victory for Donald Trump. A few hours later, lawyers for the former president asked the New York judge presiding over his hush money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his July 11th sentencing. Meanwhile, President Biden chose to address the nation last night to voice his opposition to the 6-3 ruling. No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. But today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits what the president can do. This is a fundamentally new principle, and it's a dangerous precedent. He went on to lament that Americans will vote without knowing the outcome of special counsel Jack Smith's election interference case against Trump. And the American people deserved to have an answer in the courts before they asked to vote again this year, now because of today's decision that is highly, highly unlikely. Joining us to discuss the immunity decision is Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and host of the Passing Judgment podcast. Jessica, good to have you back on. So first, can you explain the decision and what it means for presidents in general and for former President Trump specifically? Yes, and I love that question because it's not just a decision about Donald Trump, it's a decision about everybody else who is going to be president or a future former president and what type of protection we are going to give them from criminal liability. So in brief, what the court really did here is create three different buckets. Bucket number one is you're a president, you're engaging in actions that only a president can engage in, like for instance, appointing an ambassador, you have absolute criminal immunity, immunity from criminal prosecution. Nobody can come after you. Then there's bucket number two. And bucket number two really deals with the next concentric circle out, those actions where you are not acting like a private citizen, but these are things that other high ranking officials arguably can do. So maybe talking to another member of the executive branch, for instance, and in those cases, your actions are entitled to a presumption of immunity from criminal prosecution. So when it comes to the conversations that Trump had with former vice president Mike Pence and whether or not Mike Pence could fail to certify the electoral college vote, that falls within the presumptively immune from criminal prosecution. And then there's everything else, unofficial/private acts, and then there is no immunity from criminal prosecution. But obviously in describing that, this is about more than former president Trump. Yes, it affects the DC election interference case pending against him. Yes, it affects the Georgia case as well, but it's also about defining the protection that we are going to give to any chief executive. - Now, as you correctly predicted that it would on this show yesterday, the high court sent Trump's case back down to the lower court to determine which of his actions were part of his official presidential duties. Which acts do you believe were official and which ones were personal? - Well, this is where Judge Chutkin has a lot of work cut out for her. Judge Chutkin is the trial court judge who is overseeing the DC election interference case. And what she's really going to have to do is pour through the actions, for instance, that former president Trump took leading up to January 6 in terms of the speech at the ellipse in terms of talking to his supporters, certain tweets that he sent out, also conversations that he had, not with people in the federal government, but state officials, for instance, secretaries of state like Brad Raffensberger. And trying to figure out, was Donald Trump acting in his capacity as president Trump, or was he acting as candidate Trump? There's just a lot of homework for Judge Chutkin. And the Supreme Court gave her plenty of work to do. - All that homework brings up the key issue of timing here. Is there any chance now, Jack Smith's case gets to trial before November? Is this case even potentially dead? - Well, I would say with respect to the timing, before this decision came out, there was no chance that this case was going to trial, that it's just too late. Now, I think given the court's decision, there's really, really no chance that this is going to trial before the election. In terms of the substance of Jack Smith's case, there are a lot of allegations here that as a matter of first instance, the trial court judge said, these are private acts, that these are not the acts undertaken that we would view as official acts. And so, Jack Smith's case is more difficult. I wanna point out one reason it becomes significantly more difficult. And that's because a majority of the court said that when it comes to proving private acts, you cannot use evidence of official acts. And that makes special counsel, Jack Smith job a lot harder. - Indeed, Jessica Levinson, thank you so much for coming on. - With vacation, weddings, birthdays, and reunions, there's so much going on. Get the most out of your spring plans by stocking up on Zebiotics now. Zebiotics pre-alcohol probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. Zebiotics produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Go to zebiotics.com/wire to get 15% off your first order with Code Wire at checkout. That's zebiotics.com/wire. Use Code Wire at checkout for 15% off. - With just four months to go until election day, President Biden is battling not just Donald Trump, but Democrats within his own party who insists he must drop out of the race. Taylor Wire, senior editor, Cabot Phillips, joins us now to discuss the president's efforts to reassure voters and party leaders. Hey, Cabot, so five days since the debate disaster, but the story continues to dominate the national landscape. What's the latest here? - Well, coming out of the weekend, there was sort of this realization among Democrats that the only feasible way they're going to get a new nominee is if Biden himself voluntarily steps down. But by all accounts, that is not happening. The president huddled with his family at Camp David over the last few days, and the message from his wife, children and grandchildren was clear, stick it out. According to numerous folks with knowledge of those talks, the president's family told Biden 90 minutes cannot define his legacy, and that his performance actually had more to do with poor advice and preparation from his staff, and not his own cognitive abilities. - So they're blaming his staff there? - Apparently, political reports that family members took aim at Biden's senior advisors who they say overprepared their father with numbers and data, instead of allowing him to simply be himself and lay out his vision for the future. They also accused staffers of overworking Biden and not leaving him enough time to rest before the debate. One thing they did not seem to blame his age. Hunter Biden, for example, reportedly told his father that he wants Americans to quote, "see the version of his father that he knows scrappy and in command of the facts." And look, it's important to remember here, this is a man who was repeatedly passed over and counted out by those within his own party. So there's a certain level of pride at play here. He and his family want to once again prove the doubters wrong. - So how has the Biden campaign strategy shifted in response to the debate? - So it's clear that number one priority right now is to discredit anyone in the party or media saying he should step down, including top Biden donors, some of whom have reportedly called asking for refunds. The campaign has dubbed those folks quote, "bedwetters" and says anyone calling to remove him is essentially trying to subvert democracy in the will of voters who already nominated him. One line we've heard from a number of Biden surrogates is that the nominee should be chosen by the people and not by quote, party officials in smoke filled rooms. More broadly though, the campaign is sticking with the argument they had before, that this election is bigger than one man against another and is a fight for truth, first lies, normal severs chaos and democracy versus totalitarianism. Here's the latest Biden campaign ad to that effect. - So you see Trump last night, I mean, sincerely, in the most lies told in the single debate. (crowd cheering) He lied about the great economy he created. He lied about the pandemic he butts. He lied about how he had nothing to do with the insurrection in January 6th. - And one more strategic shift, the campaign says they plan to go on the offensive to reassure the public Biden is still up for the job. That means more lengthy one-on-one interviews, press briefings and live town hall events. While that could help reassure some voters, there's also the chance he puts in a performance similar to the debate and just further cements the perception he's too old. It is a gamble for sure, but at this point, maybe their best bet might be the only play. Kevin, thanks for reporting. Any time. (upbeat music) - Potentially millions of non-citizens could register to vote by merely claiming to be a US citizen. Republicans say they have the answer, but they need Democrat support to reform the loose process. Here to talk about the threat posed by fraudulent non-citizen votes is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. - Hey Tim, so is this a valid concern here? Could many non-citizens register to vote in this next election? - Well, while you do have to be a citizen to vote in federal elections, there isn't a federal requirement that you provide proof of citizenship on federal voting forms. Voting registration forms are handed out in almost every state at welfare offices, DMV's and other agencies. And all one has to do to receive one is claimed to be a US citizen. Now, millions of non-citizens are eligible for benefits at these agencies and could potentially be handed voter registration forms even though they have no right to actually use them. But with the form in hand, it's relatively simple for non-citizens to register as US voters. - Yeah. Now, has this been a problem in elections? Do we have evidence of non-citizens voting in the past? - Yes, we do. Here's Heritage Foundation election expert Hans von Spakowski at a congressional hearing last month presenting some evidence to House administration committee chair Brian Steele. We heard from one of our other witnesses that non-citizen voting is a myth, that there's no evidence of this. But was there a case where there was a close election in the House of Representatives in Congress went back and studied whether or not non-citizens actually per took in that election or not? - There was, and in fact, I brought the report. This is the House Oversight Committee report from 1998. And it was the investigation of the race between Bob Dorn and Loretta Sanchez, a margin of victory, 979 votes. Because the INS refused to give the committee records, they had a subpoena them. And when they compared the INS records to the Orange County Register, they found clear and convincing evidence that 624 aliens had registered and voted, they found circumstantial evidence of 196 aliens who'd registered voted. That's 820 now. - What did they have to do to be able to cross check that? - They had to take the INS records and check it against the voter registration records. - Is this done in every election? - No, it's not. - We were told there was a paper trail. - According to the New York Post, government agencies in 49 states provide voter registration forms to non-citizens. Arizona is the only exception since it passed a law banning the practice for state forms, though notably federal forms are not covered by the law. - Now we have had some congressional action on this. What are lawmakers doing? - Republicans in Congress have introduced what they are calling the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE Act. The bill would set requirements for states to verify US citizenship before passing out voter registration forms. Here's Texas Republican Chip Roy, who co-authored the bill, explaining the goals of the legislation last month. - We're here for the simple proposition supported by the vast majority of the American people that only citizens of the United States should vote, that we should have documentary proof, that we should have a system to guarantee that only citizens of the United States vote in federal elections, where we have the clear authority under the Constitution of the United States and our laws as Congress to set the terms of those elections. - The bill doesn't have any support from Democrats, though, so it's not likely going anywhere, at least anytime soon. - Election security is a big concern for voters. Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know. (upbeat music) (beep)
Donald Trump wins big in SCOTUS immunity case, Democrats seek to oust Biden, and voter registration for illegal immigrants. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.
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