Georgia Howe (3:14)

Well, this was definitely welcome news and something we're going to keep an eye on. So capital lot to cover with the shutdown. Where do things stand now?

Cabot Phillips (3:20)

So on Wednesday, Republicans in the Senate attempted for a sixth time to finally get that continuing resolution passed. But again, not enough Democrats crossed party lines to vote yes. Only two did so. So we are still deadlocked at 54 to 45. Remember, you have to get at least 60 votes to get things moving again. That means the shutdown will enter its ninth day this morning and really there's no end in sight right now. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will for the first time start missing out on their paychecks, which which, as you can imagine, is going to really ramp up the pressure on both parties to get a deal done. Now, for their part, Democrats are sort of trying to put the onus on Republicans here. They're proposing a separate bill in the House that would ensure that military service members continue getting paid even if the shutdown continues. But Republican leaders have opposed that effort, saying that Democrats are simply trying to stall to keep this shutdown going even longer and that they want to just be able to blame Republicans, saying, look, they don't even want to pay tax service members. Republican leaders oppose that effort, though. They say that Democrats are simply trying to stall and keep this shutdown going and compared the bill to demands being made by a hostage taker. They argue that if Democrats really cared about protecting service members, they don't need to pass a whole new bill to do so. They've already got a chance. All they have to do is vote yes on this continuing resolution and protect those members of the military. Here's Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday explaining why they don't need a separate bill.

Tim Pierce (4:41)

We already had that vote. It's called the cr. Every Republican and at least one Democrat.

Cabot Phillips (4:46)

Had the common sense to say, of course we want the government to stay in operation.

Tim Pierce (4:50)

Of course we want to pay our troops and our air traffic controllers and our Border Patrol agents, TSA and everybody else. We did have that vote.

Cabot Phillips (4:58)

Now, for those wondering, the longest federal shutdown in history was 35 days that took place during President Trump's first term after long term disputes over funding for his border wall. So we're about 25% of the way there's to that negative record.

Georgia Howe (5:12)

Well, hopefully we don't get that close. Now, we also had some developments with James Comey since his indictment a week ago. What's going on there?

Cabot Phillips (5:21)

So Comey was first indicted by a grand jury last month on two separate counts, first making a false statement and then obstructing a congressional proceeding. Remember, he was brought before Congress in 2020 to testify regarding his role in the FBI's Russiagate investigation into Donald Trump. While being questioned by Senator Ted Cruz, Comey testified under oath that he had not authorized any FBI employ to leak details of the Russiagate investigation to the press. But according to prosecutors, that's not true. And Comey knew it was not true. Former FBI director appeared in Virginia court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty on both of those counts. The judge said that his trial will now take place on January 5th. Now, as you can imagine, Democrats are furious over this. They say that it's another example of Trump using the legal system to go after a political adversary. Comey's defense team, for example, is going even further, calling on the judge to toss out the case completely because, again, they say it's politically motivated. But Republicans in the White House argue that he is not above the law. They're repeating that line that we heard a lot from Democrats over the last four years. No one is above the law. They were also quick to point out that many of the same Democrats opposing the trial of Comey were very big fans when Donald Trump himself was indicted four times over the last four years.

Georgia Howe (6:32)

Now, in that same vein, Trump has another dispute with a political adversary in Chicago. What's going on there?

Cabot Phillips (6:38)

Yeah. This week, 500 National Guardsmen from Texas and Illinois hit the ground for the first time in Chicago. That is part of Trump's broader effort to crack down on crime in cities around the country and also assist federal law enforcement carrying out immigration enforcement. Democrat lawmakers argue that crime in Chicago is under control and things are being exaggerated by the White House. They say that Trump is trying to intimidate his political opponents and even voters. Illinois Governor J.D. pritzker, for example, said this week, quote, you were going to see soldiers outside your polling place. That's going to intimidate a lot of people. Now, again, we have not seen any indications that there will be soldiers at polling places, but you can see the kind of rhetoric that we're hearing from Democrats around this issue. For his part, Trump said that lawmakers in the state on the left are putting American lives in jeopardy and playing politics. He also wrote on Truth Social that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, quote, should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers.

Georgia Howe (7:33)

Now, last thing before you go. Yesterday there was a highly publicized roundtable to discuss Antifa at the White House. What did they discuss discuss in that meeting?

Cabot Phillips (7:41)

Yeah. Trump called together a number of Cabinet members and other high ranking officials for a, quote, listening session. He then brought in a number of independent journalists who for years now have been covering violent antifa rallies and riots. And in some cases, some of those journalists were actually attacked themselves. Here's some of what those journalists told Trump and his Cabinet. Antifa is real. It's real, it's a threat. And the reason why there's such a big problem is because we have Democrats and a lot of people in the mainstream media refusing to acknowledge that they even exist.

Georgia Howe (8:09)

Cabot, thanks for reporting.

Cabot Phillips (8:10)

Absolutely.

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Georgia Howe (9:12)

Today, authorities have arrested a man they say intentionally sparked the fire that destroyed Pacific Palisades, California, back in January. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. So Tim, what do we know about this suspected arsonist?

Cabot Phillips (9:26)

Hey.

Tim Pierce (9:27)

Georgia authorities have arrested 29 year old Jonathan Render Necht. He's an Uber driver from Melbourne, Florida. Officials from the Justice Department and the Los Angeles Police Department held a joint press conference on Wednesday to announce the arrest. According to officials, Render neck started the Lockman fire on New Year's Day. The Lockman fire eventually became the Palisades fire after it was rekindled by severe winds a week later.

Georgia Howe (9:50)

Now how did the fire start and how did they know it was intentional?

Tim Pierce (9:53)

Yeah. According to U.S. attorney Bill Saly, Render Necht was in Pacific Palisades late on New Year's Eve. After working throughout the evening, he drove towards Skull Rock trailhead, got out of his car and walked up a trail to a nearby hilltop where he recorded videos and listened to a rap song. According to Aailey, that song was accompanied by a music video that showed objects being set on fire. In addition to that, his phone had chatgpt images he created of people fleeing from burning forests. Another chat GPT search made around the time he called 911 to report the fire said quote, are you at fault if a fire is lit because of your cigarettes? Here's more from Aseli.

Bill Saly (10:30)

Twelve minutes into the new year, environmental sensing platforms indicated that a fire had started. It took the defendant several tries to contact 911 to report the fire. He fled the scene in his car, but turned around after passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction to fight the fire. While the Lockman fire burned, the defendant walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene.

Tim Pierce (11:01)

Firefighters were able to suppress that fire shortly after, but it continued to burn underground. Here's a Salie again.

Bill Saly (11:08)

The fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation. And it smoldered underground for about a week until on January 7, heavy winds caused this underground fire to surface and spread above ground, causing what became known as the Palisades Fire.

Tim Pierce (11:32)

The Palisades fire eventually became one of the worst fires in California history. It killed 12 people and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and caused $150 billion in damages. The rebuilding process has been long and difficult. As of last month, the city of Los Angeles had approved just over 600 permit street build out of about 4, 1500 applications.

Georgia Howe (11:54)

So this man allegedly caused a huge amount of damage, including 12 deaths. What are they charging him with?

Tim Pierce (11:59)

So far, he's only charged with destruction of property by means of fire. But prosecutors could add more charges to the indictment later. They already accused him of lying to authorities. Asale said Render Neck lied to police about the fire when officers interviewed him on January 24. But Asel made no mention of a charge on that in the indictment. As is, Render Neck faces up to 20 years in prison.

Georgia Howe (12:20)

Well, it'll be interesting to see what other information comes out. Tim, thanks for reporting.

Tim Pierce (12:24)

Good to be on.

Georgia Howe (12:27)

The U.S. supreme Court heard oral arguments this week for a case determining the legality of so called conversion therapy. Historically, conversion therapy referred to therapy aimed at turning gay people straight. But trans activists say this term is also applicable to trying to convince a trans person to accept their natural body. Here with the details is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presto Giacomo. So Amanda, this case is called Chiles versus Salazar. Who are these parties and what's the dispute?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (12:55)

Yeah, so the plaintiff is a Christian counselor named Kaylee Chiles. She's challenging a law in Colorado that's been dubbed the minor conversion therapy law. It was passed back in 2019 by a Democrat controlled legislature and it bans counseling that, quote, attempts or purports to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. So for example, if a young girl is struggling with gender dysphoria and that girl and her family are seeking professional help for this, the counselor, family therapist, or any other licensed mental health practitioner, they're only allowed to affirm these feelings of gender confusion if they go any other route. They're facing fines up to $5,000 and a revocation of their license. Chiles recently spoke to Daily Wire host Isabel Brown about this case.

Georgia Howe (13:41)

There are adolescents, there are their families who are suffering. Right now. I am allowed to help people who are seeking something like a gender transition and I am simply not allowed to see to help somebody of a different mind. And all of those people don't have access to care right now.

Amanda Presto Giacomo (13:58)

So this has been one of the arguments from Chiles legal team Alliance Defending Freedom. First of all, they say Chiles is currently being investigated by the state of Colorado over this law and they've stressed that minors are being deprived of her services. Now you can extrapolate that out. I mean, there are dozens of states with some version of these so called conversion therapy bans. And according to ADF, they've emphasized that up to 90% of minors will grow out of their gender confusion. So, you know, in theory, that's a lot of people without necessary assistance.

Georgia Howe (14:31)

Now the state of Colorado is responding to this. They want to retain the right to create regulations like this one determining how therapy is conducted in their state. What's their argument for that?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (14:42)

Yeah, that's right. So the state is arguing that this is not a free speech issue and instead they're regulating conduct and medical treatment, which they say is permitted, even if that medical treatment is only speech, like talk therapy. That's why they say the the law is constitutional. And they say it's necessary, in their view, because talk therapy that doesn't affirm gender confusion is harmful to children. They base that on experts and the so called medical consensus. That's why, again, they say that it's necessary for the state to control how therapy is practiced.

Georgia Howe (15:15)

So how were these arguments received at the Supreme Court? Did the justices signal which way they're leaning?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (15:21)

Yeah, they did. I mean, it seemed pretty clear from oral arguments that they're leaning in favor of the plaintiff. And that's not just the conservative justices. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, for example, she seemed to side with Justice Alito, who said that the Colorado law seemed like, quote, blatant viewpoint discrimination. Here's Kagan. If a doctor says, I know you identify as gay, and I'm going to help you accept that, and another doctor says, I know you identify as gay, and I'm going to help you to change that, and one of those is permissible and the other is not, that seems like viewpoint discrimination. Also, on this matter of the medical consensus, the court didn't seem convinced either. Here's Alito pressing Shannon Stevenson, Colorado's Solicitor General.

Cabot Phillips (16:09)

But have there been times when the medical consensus has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology? When was there a time when there were many, many medical professionals who thought that every child born with down syndrome should be immediately put in an institution?

Georgia Howe (16:30)

I don't know that, you, Honor. So when can we expect a ruling on this?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (16:34)

Yeah, it's expected to come down in the summer of 2026. And if we're reading the tea leaves right, and an overturning of this Colorado law does happen, this could influence similar laws in dozens of other states.

Georgia Howe (16:46)

Well, a very consequential case and definitely one that's been a long time coming. Amanda, thanks for reporting.

Amanda Presto Giacomo (16:51)

You're welcome. Thank you.

Georgia Howe (16:53)

Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.