Gold Star Afghanistan Testimony & Newsom, DeSantis Debate Rumors

00:03: In powerful testimony on Monday, Gold Star families demanded answers for the deaths of their

00:08: loved ones in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.

00:11: We're at held lies.

00:13: Given incomplete reports.

00:15: Incorrect reports.

00:18: Total disrespect.

00:19: What are the families alleging and how is the Biden administration responding?

00:24: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley.

00:28: It's Tuesday, August 8th, and this is Morning Wire.

00:35: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he will debate California Governor Gavin Newsom.

00:41: Absolutely, I'm game. Let's get it down.

00:43: It's coming right in the way. We'll do it.

00:46: And Portland, Oregon has lost over a billion dollars in tax revenue since 2020.

00:51: What's causing this massive loss and can't be turned around.

00:55: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

00:57: Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

01:04: On Monday, Gold Star families of service members killed during the botched withdrawal from

01:08: Afghanistan offered testimony to members of Congress, accusing President Biden of lying

01:13: to them about the circumstances of their loved ones' deaths. Here are the details of the

01:17: emotional testimony as Daily Wire Senior Editor, Kavit Phillips. Kavit, we heard some heart-wrenching

01:22: messages from these Gold Star families yesterday. First, give us some context.

01:27: So on Monday, California Congressman Darrell Issa convened a public forum with family members

01:31: of some of those 13 servicemen and women killed by suicide bomber at the Kabul airport in August

01:37: of 2021 during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. This was the first time that many of these

01:41: family members have spoken publicly on the deaths of their children. And they had a uniform message.

01:46: They want answers. Throughout the day, family members said they'd been lied to by President Biden

01:50: in the Pentagon about the circumstances surrounding that day, and they want the country to know what really happened.

01:56: And more importantly, who's responsible?

01:58: According to Congressman Isaac, quote, the Biden administration lied to everyone of these

02:02: Gold Star families.

02:03: That's why we brought them forward.

02:05: These are the words the White House doesn't want you to hear.

02:07: We heard first from Kelly Barnett, who Sun Taylor was killed that day.

02:11: All I wanted to know where my kid was, where he failed.

02:17: How long did he last?

02:18: Did he fight?

02:20: I was told to my face. He died on impact. That's not true. The only reason that I know this is because witnesses told me the truth.

02:27: I was lied to and basically told to shut up that that's the way it was.

02:31: We also heard from Taylor's father, Darren, who had very strong words for President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and other members of military leadership.

02:38: Do it, our son, dear. Be a grown-ass man. Admit your mistakes. Learn from them so that this doesn't happen ever.

02:49: ever, ever again. You all need to resign immediately. We heard a similar message from Christie Shamblin, a family member of Sergeant Nicole G.

02:58: When our leaders, including the

03:00: Secretary of Defense and our commander and chief, call this evacuation a

03:06: success as if there should be celebration.

03:12: It is like a knife in the heart for

03:14: our families. I live every single day knowing that these deaths were preventable.

03:20: My daughter could be with us today.

03:24: And then there was Steve Nukui, who said that his son,

03:26: Kareem, was used as a pawn by the president.

03:29: My son needed a commander in chief who cared solely about his life.

03:34: Instead, his commander in chief chose to use him as a pawn.

03:37: So we can meet his September 11th deadline and get the optics he wanted.

03:41: Strong criticism there.

03:43: What kind of response have we seen

03:45: from the Pentagon and the White House so far.

03:48: Well, the DOD released a statement in response to the hearing, saying in part that they

03:51: quote, express our deepest condolences to the Gold Star families who lost loved ones

03:55: during the tragic bombing at Abbey Gate.

03:57: We are forever grateful for their service, sacrifice, and committed efforts during the evacuation operations.

04:02: So, they're not saying much.

04:04: We've also got to hear from the president on the matter, though.

04:07: Obviously, these families want to hear more from him.

04:09: Walk us through the timeline of this withdrawal, and whether it's been so much criticism of its handling.

04:14: So you're remember in April of 2021, President Biden announced that U.S. forces would withdraw

04:19: from Afghanistan in September of that year after 20 years of fighting.

04:23: Now, at the time, the President promised that he would, quote, not conduct a hasty rush to the exit

04:28: and that the withdrawal would be done, quote, responsibly, deliberately and safely.

04:31: But by August 15th, the U.S.

04:33: backed government in Afghanistan had collapsed and Taliban forces seized the capital.

04:38: Towards the end of August, in the midst of a frantic and chaotic evacuation,

04:41: Biden promised that he would not leave any Americans or allies behind,

04:45: and that any attack on our forces would be met with a swift and forceful response.

04:49: That on August 26, that suicide bombing at Cavalier Port killed 13

04:53: service members and 170 civilians. A retaliatory strike on August 29 killed 10 people who

04:59: we later learned had no involvement in the bombing, including seven children.

05:02: The last U.S. planes left the country on August 30, leaving billions of dollars worth of military

05:07: equipment and thousands of American citizens behind enemy lines.

05:10: Yeah, and lots of questions still yet to be answered.

05:12: Let's hope some of those families get those answers.

05:15: Kevin, thanks for reporting anytime.

05:17: Coming up, a debate in November will pit Gavin Newsom against Ron DeSantis.

05:27: The debate between California and Florida, you know, has already been had.

05:30: People have been voting on it with their feet.

05:32: They have fled California and record numbers.

05:35: Florida has been the number one state for net in migration.

05:39: We have the number one ranked economy, number one now in education, crime rate at a 50-year low.

05:44: But in another sense, this is the debate for the future of our country.

05:49: That was Florida Governor Rhonda Santos as he accepted an invitation to debate California

05:54: Governor Gavin Newsom with Sean Hannity as the moderator.

05:58: Here to discuss this, Stephen L. Miller, host of the versus media podcast and contributing editor at The Spectator.

06:04: So Stephen, you wrote a piece arguing that Florida versus California is the election we should

06:08: be having. In other words, this debate is the debate we should be having. First, do you

06:12: think this debate will actually take place?

06:15: They say it will, and I think the Santa said they want the date November 8th, and as of

06:20: right now Fox is trying to make it work as far as debate conditions and rules and preferences

06:27: by both DeSantis and Newsom. So I think it is probably going to happen.

06:31: Now the upside for Newsom is obvious. He's not even a presidential candidate yet. He's

06:36: kind of lurking in the background. DeSantis, however, is a presidential candidate. Why would DeSantis accept this invitation?

06:43: I think that it's a way to cause some noise. And I think that right now, because Trump

06:48: is very much engulfing everything to do with the news cycle, which is a feature not above,

06:53: by the way, both by your news media and the indictments coming out of DC, part of the

06:58: strategies to just keep him front and center at all times. This can't be done like 2016.

07:03: that can't be strictly do it by the book style primary.

07:07: And so for other candidates to kind of get out there

07:10: and make some noise, I think there has to be some unorthodox practices.

07:15: So this debate for DePsanfist is a way to distract

07:19: from some of the noise that Trump is obviously causing.

07:21: I would quibble with the fact that people are saying, well, Newsom's not even a candidate.

07:26: And I've written prior that Newsom right now is running basically a shadow presidential campaign.

07:31: has he announced no, is he basically the standby guy

07:35: and is he making it very, on the present

07:38: that he is the standby guy should Biden decide not to run

07:41: or if something happens to Biden or whatever,

07:45: I think that they know that Kamala Harris is not a viable option.

07:48: And so again, I would argue Newson to me already

07:51: is running a kind of off the books presidential campaign.

07:54: And so I do agree that there's more upside for Newson on this.

07:58: I think for DeSantis, this is high risk, you know, high reward.

08:03: This is the kind of thing that can end a presidential campaign if it's not done right.

08:07: But I also do believe he can pose a contrast that's other than to some of the discussions

08:13: we're having right now in the country that simply Joe Biden, Donald Trump, are having.

08:18: And that's largely in part to do with, you know, their age and just kind of not being

08:22: in the conversation where the conversation is as far as parents, as far as gender and

08:27: critical race theory ideology being pushed in schools. COVID response, I think, is a big

08:32: one. And so, as I said, I look at this and I say California versus Florida, not so much

08:37: the two governors, although it is them, it's the governing philosophies that we're seeing

08:41: in both Florida as a state and California as a state. And I think really do think it's the debate we should be having.

08:47: Well, these two states certainly are the leading edge of the two political parties. So,

08:51: we'll hopefully see these two governors make their cases soon. Steven, thanks for joining us.

08:55: Yeah, absolutely. That was Stephen L Miller host of the versus media podcast and contributing editor at the spectator.

09:05: The city of Portland, Oregon lost at least one billion dollars in 2021 as residents fled the city.

09:12: In the past few years, thousands of people have left Portland and taken their tax dollars with them.

09:17: Daily wire investigative reporter Maradal Lourdes here with the details. So Marad, tell us about this

09:22: billion dollar loss. Hi Georgia, the 1 billion number is likely an underestimate of just how much

09:28: money Portland is hemorrhaging. IRS data obtained by the Oregonian shows that in 2020 and 2021,

09:34: the Oregon County where Portland is located, Multnomah County, lost more than 14,000 tax-paying

09:40: residents, resulting in 1 billion in lost revenue. That means Portland lost nearly 3% of its population

09:47: in 2020 and 2021. Another 8,000 people left between July 2021 and July 2022. The people who

09:54: moved away also tended to be wealthy with incomes about 14% higher than people who moved out of

10:00: the Portland area in 2019. This is a huge blow to the city which had been growing for about 15

10:05: years until the pandemic hit. In the 20 teens, Portland was a hot destination for outdoorsy young

10:10: professionals and the economy was growing. Now Portland is notorious for open air drug dealing,

10:16: public urination and petty crime and foot traffic downtown has plummeted.

10:20: So Portland's losses began during the pandemic and they have accelerated since then?

10:25: Correct, but not necessarily the pandemic itself. Specifically, the losses coincide with the

10:30: George Floyd riots. The riots were particularly violent in Portland and continued until

10:34: as late as October 2020. According to the Portland Business Alliance, one riot in May that year drew

10:40: more than 1,000 people and it ended up costing local businesses tens of millions of dollars in

10:45: property damage, looting, and lost wages. Now, every major city experienced riots in 2020,

10:50: but Portland never bounced back. That's due to the city's dual crises of drug addiction and

10:55: homelessness. Oregon depends on taxes, especially from wealthier residents, to fund its expensive

11:01: drug and homelessness social programs, but as more and more wealthy residents leave, the tax-based

11:06: decreases. Meanwhile, Multnomah County's budget continues to grow to address the drug and

11:11: homelessness problems. So the city is stuck in a vicious cycle. Now we've reported in the

11:16: past that Oregon decriminalized possession of all drugs and there's been some concern that drug

11:21: use rates have been increasing as a result. What are the latest numbers there? Well, overdoses

11:26: have increased significantly from 2018 to 2022 opioid overdoses spiked fivefold in Multnomah County.

11:33: Over the weekend of May 12, for example, police said eight people died of suspected fentanyl powder

11:38: overdoses. In 2022, a record 209 people died from fentanyl overdoses in the county alone.

11:46: We don't have numbers for 2023 yet. As you said, Oregon voted to decriminalize hard drugs in 2020

11:52: with measure 110. But since then, support for the measure has eroded with six in 10 Oregon

11:57: voters now saying they support bringing back criminal penalties for drug possession.

12:03: Violent crime has also increased since COVID. Shooting in Portland have tripled.

12:08: Homicides have risen from 36 in 2019 to a record 97 in 2022.

12:14: And car thefts have spiked to 11,000 last year up from 6,500 in 2019.

12:19: The crime problem is compounded by the fact that Portland slashed its police budget by 15

12:24: million during the anti-police riots, which caused police to leave the force in droves.

12:29: The city is still down 80 cops. Another challenge for the city is homelessness.

12:33: The homeless population in Oregon at large has increased by 23% in just two years.

12:38: One of the largest increases in the country. Overall, Perlin has just not seen the kind of recovery

12:44: we've seen in other cities, and understandably, residents who are able to leave are doing just that.

12:50: Well, it's really too bad because I remember just a few years ago,

12:53: Portland was seen as this really attractive, up and coming city.

12:56: Marade, thanks for reporting. Thanks, Georgia.

13:02: Let's talk about пов more news you need to know.