Thomas Dickey (2:12)

I haven't seen any evidence that says that he's the shooter. The fundamental concept of American justice is a presumption of innocent. And until you're proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And I've seen zero evidence at this point.

John Bickley (2:25)

But Mangione's legal team will have their work cut out for them as evidence continues to tie him to last week's heinous crime. Police announced yesterday that shell casings found at the crime scene matched the firearm Mangione was carrying when he was caught. They also say fingerprints found at the scene belong to Mangione. As well.

Georgia Howe (2:41)

Now, anyone who's gone on social media has probably seen the memes and the comments. Mangione actually has a lot of support. That's actually become one of the biggest aspects of this whole story. Tell us more on that.

John Bickley (2:52)

Yeah. It's hard to overstate just how much of a cult figure Mangione has become for a significant chunk of Americans. Many have compared him to Robin Hood, others to a new Che Guevara, while thousands more have offered to pay for his legal defense, saying he should be released whether he committed the crime or not. Mangione's lawyer addressed those offers on cnn.

Thomas Dickey (3:13)

The Supreme Court says, you know, all these rich billionaires can give all kind of money to candidates, and that's free speech. So maybe these people are exercising their right to free speech and saying that's the way they're supporting my client.

Georgia Howe (3:26)

Now, it's not just anonymous social media users. There's some pretty prominent people who are saying this, right?

John Bickley (3:31)

A number of prominent folks in the entertainment industry, academia, and late night comedy have come out in support of the alleged killer. British actress Jamila Jamil, for example, posted a shirtless photo of Mangione to her nearly 4 million Instagram followers with the caption, a star is born. Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz said she felt, quote, joy when she heard the news. She also shared a picture of a smiling star emoji with the caption CEO down. Elsewhere, Julia Alekseyeva, a professor at UPenn, which Mangione attended, posted a TikTok video dancing happily with the caption, have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. And then there's late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who gleefully shared messages from his producers talking about their love for Mangione.

Veronica (4:18)

Please tell me you're as obsessed as I am with this handsome CEO killer.

Jimmy Kimmel (4:22)

Yes.

Megan Basham (4:23)

So many questions, like, can I fix you?

Veronica (4:28)

Veronica says I need him so bad.

Megan Basham (4:31)

No, like, so bad.

Veronica (4:33)

So, so bad. Okay, so I would visit him in prison and bake him cookies, maybe, perhaps more, but I haven't thought that far ahead.

John Bickley (4:41)

Elsewhere, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren offered a seemingly sympathetic view on the crime, saying she understood why people were taking a side. Speaking to the Huffington Post, she said, quote, the visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practice of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system. She added, quote, violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far. Her Democratic colleague Bernie Sanders echoed those sentiments, calling the murder unacceptable. But saying, quote, the outpouring of anger at the healthcare industry tells us that millions of people understand health care is a human right. And you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make billions of dollars in profit. Now, for obvious reasons, this hero treatment has sparked major concerns over copycat killers. At that point, the NYPD released a statement saying there is, quote, an elevated threat facing executives in the near term.

Georgia Howe (5:35)

Well, that's very scary for them. Kabet, thanks for reporting.

John Bickley (5:38)

Anytime.

Jimmy Kimmel (5:42)

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Cabot Phillips (6:12)

The global engagement Center, a controversial State Department agency at the center of a daily wire lawsuit alleging widespread censorship efforts, looks likely to shut down, but a new effort is underway to save it.

Georgia Howe (6:24)

Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with the details. So, Megan, before we get into why the Global Engagement center now looks like it's going to be shut down. For those who haven't been tracking this story, can you quickly remind listeners about its background and why it's been so controversial?

Jimmy Kimmel (6:40)

Sure. So the Obama administration originally launched the GEC as part of a counterterrorism initiative, but then after Trump took office in 2017, its purview expanded into to combating ostensible disinformation. That was part of that now debunked Russia collusion narrative. Well, the argument was that this was necessary to prevent foreign governments from targeting Americans with propaganda campaigns. But critics say the federal government essentially started using the GEC to engage in censorship against voices that might threaten the power of the entrenched political establishment. Mike Benz, a former State Department official, discussed last week with Joe Rogan the government push for widespread censorship in the name of so called misinformation.

Veronica (7:25)

They were afraid that social media rising, all these right wing populist parties to power would effectively collapse the entire rules based international order unless there was international censorship. Because Brexit would give rise to Frexit if Marine Le Pen won and she was massively overpowered on social media versus Macron, if, as I mentioned, Italy, there was going to be not just Brexit, there's going to be Frexit Spexit, Italgxit, Grexit. Grexit. So the entire EU would come undone, which would mean all of NATO would come undone, which would mean there's no enforcement arm for the IMF or the World bank or international creditors, which would mean it would be like the ending scene of Fight Club where the credit card company buildings all collapse just because you're allowed to post on the Internet. And they talked about that quite openly in 2017 as they were creating this whole censorship infrastructure.

Jimmy Kimmel (8:16)

So critics say that the GEC is yet another arm of this censorship apparatus.

Georgia Howe (8:23)

Now, what's the actual evidence that that was the GEC's mission?

Jimmy Kimmel (8:27)

Well, the GEC became involved in policing social media content from American citizens. To give you just one example, before Elon Musk bought the platform, it gave Twitter a list of 5,500 users it had pinpointed for suppression because it said they were suspected Chinese accounts engaged in state backed coordinated manipulation. But it actually turned out that most of those accounts belong to ordinary Americans. In fact, a few were CNN journalists. The GEC also funded initiatives that asked Twitter and other platforms to consider suspending tens of thousands of accounts suspected of spreading foreign disinformation. But again, it turned out that many were just ordinary citizens sharing ordinary domestic policy views. And then some of its activities sought to suppress conservative media. Specifically, for example, the GEC directed funds to third party watchdog groups that created advertising blacklists of mostly conservative news organizations, and that included the Federalist, the New York Post, and the Daily Wire, which of course produces this program. And it's for that that the Daily Wire, the Federalist and the State of Texas are suing the GEC for violating freedom of speech and of the press.

Georgia Howe (9:47)

Now, presumably Republicans taking over the White House and the Senate is what's prompting the potential end of this agency.

Jimmy Kimmel (9:53)

Yes, though right now there is a bipartisan effort to save it. So the GEC was not included in the latest draft of the defense authorization bill. That means right now it is set to expire in less than two weeks. And then on top, top of that, on Monday, as part of that Daily Wire lawsuit, the State Department notified a federal court that the center is substantially likely to be terminated on December 23 and its employees reassigned. But Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Senator John Corin of Texas have been actually pushing to extend the GEC's authorization. Though I will say that Coryn certainly seems to be in the minority of his party in backing the agency. And by the way, he hasn't publicly commented on why he wants to keep it. In contrast, the House Committee on Small business called the GEC's potential shuttering a win for free speech and Main Street America and said its termination means that there is, quote, one less way for unelected bureaucrats to violate Americans First Amendment rights.

Georgia Howe (11:02)

Although if the GEC staffers are just getting reassigned elsewhere, you have to wonder what their new roles are. Megan, thanks for reporting.

Jimmy Kimmel (11:09)

Anytime.

Georgia Howe (11:13)

The massive influx of migrants under the Biden administration has strained the resources of many of America's major cities. And now residents in Chicago are tearing into Mayor Brandon Johnson over the city's spending to house and feed illegal immigrants.

Cabot Phillips (11:28)

Johnson was met with outrage by residents as the city considers imposing a $60 million property tax to make up for a $1 billion budget shortfall. Here to discuss is Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist. Hey, Spencer. So tell us about the situation in Chicago.

Elizabeth Warren (11:44)

So Chicago residents were clearly outraged at the mayor over both his handling of immigration, but also the city's consideration of that new property tax hike. The city of Chicago said that as of April of this year, it had accepted 39,000 migrants. And that figure meant that it had taken in more, more migrants than almost any other city in America, behind just New York and Denver. And of course, that came with a very hefty price tag. So some of these residents were clearly upset with how Mayor Johnson has handled the influx. Here's what one Chicago resident had to say to the mayor at a recent City hall meeting.

Spencer Lindquist (12:15)

So I got a great way how we can, what we can do with this budget. First, let's start with cutting off illegals, getting free everything. Free housing, free schooling, free food. Yeah, let's start with that. That'll save us a lot of money. What, 600 million? Let's start there then. Let's start with you, your salary. You are going down in history as the worst mayor in America. Let's start with cutting yours. You making too much money.

Elizabeth Warren (12:46)

Another Chicago resident, a woman who had immigrated to the United States, also criticized the mayor's handling of the migrant influx, saying, quote, these people came with a wide door open, and they feel entitled to many things that nobody has. There are US Citizens suffering from poverty. There are US Citizens on public aid. And these people are here just enjoying the benefits, becoming delinquents, and they have no consequences.

Cabot Phillips (13:07)

Quite a statement there, and from an immigrant, as you noted. So what exactly is the scope of these services that Chicago is providing for migrants? And what kind of cost are we actually talking about here?

Elizabeth Warren (13:17)

Well, it's a lot. It comes with more than a half a billion dollar price tag, in fact. So In August of 2022, Chicago started a program called the New Arrivals Mission, and it provides shelter and services for migrants. Altogether, that program supplied food, temporary emergency shelter, urgent medical care, education, vaccines, and case management and resettlement support to those migrants. That program has gone on to cost about $575 million since 2022. That system is now being phased out in part because of that strain that it's put on the city's budget. Johnson said in October that the move is, quote, in line with the sharp decline in migration to Chicago and our current budget realities. But he also added that the city is, quote, shifting to a more cost effective, equitable and strategic approach that addresses homelessness for all who need support in the city of Chicago. So we'll have to see if those moves actually help the city's bottom line.

Megan Basham (14:07)

Yeah.

Cabot Phillips (14:08)

Meanwhile, a lot of growing frustration from residents there. Not hard to see why. Spencer, thanks for reporting.

Elizabeth Warren (14:13)

Thank you.

Cabot Phillips (14:16)

Hey, thank you for listening this morning. We created the show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five star rating and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.

Georgia Howe (14:29)

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news. You need to know.