Transcript of DOJ Digs Into LA Ballots & Racial Tensions Smolder Over Stabbings | 6.8.26 New

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Spencer Pratt. Look at what's happening in California.

It's—

the Republicans are doing well in California. It's— no, they're not. They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Monday, June 8th. This is Morning Wire.

Tensions royal at home and abroad over two explosive racially charged cases.

No, we're going to stand by ours regardless. They stand by theirs. We gonna stand by ours regardless.

And a pair of outsider films are blowing up the box office and the Hollywood model. What might this mean for the future of filmmaking?

The studio is not pushing the filmmakers to say, do this, don't do that. The artist has more creative control.

Plus, Iran launches massive missile barrages at Israel in its first direct attack on Israel since the ceasefire began.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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Despite a strong showing on Election Day, Republican Spencer Pratt is falling behind in the Los Angeles mayoral primary as Nithya Raman surges with mail-in ballots. The surprising emerging pattern has sparked allegations of election fraud.

Cabot Phillips, host of Wired and Live, is here to break it all down for us. Hey, Cabot. So it's been a week almost since Election Day, still counting votes in California, and things have really seesawed. In the last few days. So where do things stand now?

Yeah, last Tuesday, it seemed that Spencer Pratt was cruising for a second-place finish, meaning he would go to the runoff with Karen Bass, the Democrat incumbent, in November. 24 hours after the polls had closed, 63% of the votes have been counted. Bass was in first place with 34%. Pratt was right behind her with 30.5%, and far-left socialist Nithya Raman was way behind in third place at just 22%. Republicans were jubilant, and the general election appeared to be set. But over the last week, with each large batch of LA votes that are being released, Nithya Raman has gained ground at a stunning pace. For example, on Saturday, a batch of 60,000 new votes came in. 40% went to Raman and just 17% to Pratt. Raman has been gaining at about 1 to 2% a day over the last week. And as of Sunday night, a number of outlets had called the race for second in Raman's favor. Though there are still a number of votes to be counted, it looks like she'll move on to the general election, meaning no Spencer Pratt this November.

So how has Raman done this? How has she gained so quickly?

Yeah, John, it depends on who you ask. So Democrats say that this is normal because of the way California elections work. Keep in mind, the state accepts mail-in ballots that come in days after the polls close, as long as they were postmarked before Election Day. And Democrat candidates historically overperform with mail-in ballots, especially in a state like California where ballot harvesting is still legal. Every voter in the state receives a mail-in ballot, whether they ask for one or not, and campaign staff and party volunteers and and third-party groups typically go door-to-door, especially to Democratic households, and ask if voters have filled out their ballot yet and if they would like help turning it in. And under state law, it is perfectly legal for those volunteers and third-party organizers to then turn those ballots in on their behalf. So votes that come in through that system overwhelmingly, again, favor Democratic candidates, and those are the votes being counted right now that are breaking hard for Raman. But Republicans say that system is ripe for cheating and opens the door for wide-scale fraud. They say that election officials know exactly how many votes they need after the polls close and, you know, act accordingly.

Here's President Trump on Meet the Press yesterday during a fiery interview making that case.

Let me tell you, it's 4 days and they aren't even close to coming up. You know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election.

You think it's appropriate?

That's how they count the votes.

Do you think it's appropriate that they have an election and 5 days later they're nowhere close to picking the winner?

Local officials acknowledge they are slow. They're urging—

No, they're crooked.

And things ultimately got so heated during that interview that President Trump ultimately ended things and kind of stormed off the set.

You're one-sided, crooked networks. All right, let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good day.

Mr. President, please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin.

Now, look, Republicans do concede that historically Democrats perform better with mail-in ballots, but those alleging funny business have questioned why the late vote has favored Raman so heavily. And why Karen Bass, the Democratic incumbent who crushed it on Election Day, was not showing that same advantage in late votes. At that point, if you look at the votes counted over the last 5 days, Raman is in first place with nearly 40%. That is just remarkable given the fact that she was at only 22% the morning after the polls closed. Over the weekend, the Trump administration announced that they would be sending DOJ prosecutors to LA to investigate potential election fraud. Bowing to, quote, follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.

We'll watch with interest to see what they find. Yeah. Uh, now before we go, uh, another story that's dominated, uh, the news cycle over the weekend— Graham Plattner. More backlash against him and The New York Times. What is the latest there?

So Plattner, despite this torrent of negative press, has continued to dig in his heels, portraying the stories of his misconduct as gossip or even outright lies. I'm very happy to talk about incredibly uncomfortable things in my life, but when things come along that are just made up or lies, I'm very much going to push back against those.

You're promoting believing every woman and letting women tell their story, but when one woman does, you say she's lying.

Well, that's because they are lies. Now, for their part, Democratic lawmakers nationally have taken a much more cautious approach on Plattner. Most have abstained from giving him their full-throated support. But stopped short of saying that he should step down, basically saying it's up to voters in Maine. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, again a Democrat, was really the only prominent voice to turn on Plattner within the left. He said he would ditch his signature hoodie and gym shorts in exchange for a suit if Plattner could prove that he did not send inappropriate text messages to minors during his time on the controversial Kik app, which law enforcement has called a predator's paradise.

Well, the Maine primary is tomorrow, so we'll see if Plattner does end up winning. It looks like he's going to. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting. Absolutely. Absolutely.

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Two high-profile murder trials continue to ignite fierce debates over race and public trust in the justice system. In Texas, the prosecution in the Carmelo Anthony murder trial has now rested its case, while in the UK, revelations about police plans to paint murder victim Henry Novak as the aggressor has sparked mass outrage.

Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with updates on both cases. So Megan, let's start with Carmelo Anthony. He stands accused of first-degree murder and We've just gotten some testimony about what happened at that high school track meet in April of 2025. Both men at the time were just 17. What's the latest from that trial?

Yeah, Georgia, Anthony's trial is now in its second week, and momentum really shifted Saturday when the prosecution rested its case after calling about 21 witnesses. And, you know, just a quick reminder about what's not in dispute here, and that is that Anthony was sitting in the tent for Metcalf's team, and there was some kind of brief confrontation where Metcalf asked Anthony to leave, and then Anthony fatally stabbed Metcalf. But the fact that Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white has led some experts like Attorney Royal Oaks, who represented media during the O.J. Simpson trial, to say that this case is creating a similar racial divide.

You asked African Americans, you know, what their opinion of the O.J. Simpson case was— vastly different from the responses by white Americans. And so you could see the same kind of thing duplicated in this case as well.

Now, what jurors have heard so far— multiple students who were in the tent that day testified that Anthony refused repeated requests to leave and appeared confrontational even before the stabbing. So several witnesses denied the defense's claim that Anthony became scared when a quote-unquote large group surrounded him. They said that wasn't true. A forensic expert also walked jurors through video provided by the Frisco a school district that was captured from multiple stadium angles. Now, it reportedly captures Anthony running away from the tent after that stabbing. He then runs down the bleachers and across the track while coaches and students reportedly tried to chase him. And then there's also the police body cam video that jurors saw this week, and that's also key because immediately after the stabbing, Anthony can be heard saying, quote, "I'm not alleged, I did it." He also reportedly even asked in the moments right after Metcalf was confirmed dead if he could claim self-defense. But meanwhile, those protests in support of Anthony have continued outside the courtroom. And in fact, some protesters told TPUSA's Savannah Hernandez that they're not going to be swayed by any evidence that's presented, no matter what it shows.

Now, I want to turn to the UK. We have a very similar case there that's sparking some similar concerns. Vice President J.D. Vance has apparently even exchanged some words with British leaders, and this is over Henry Novak's murder. What's the latest there?

Yeah, just a reminder, Georgia, that Henry Novak was an 18-year-old college student who was fatally stabbed by 23-year-old Vikram Digwa. Now, the case has drawn international accusations of biased policing because police responded first to Digwa's false claim that Novak had called him a racial slur, rather than Novak's plea, through a mouthful of blood no less, that he had been stabbed. So officers initially treated that dying white teenager as a suspect, handcuffing him as he laid there bleeding out. So when Novak told the police that he'd been stabbed, one officer is shown on this viral video saying, "I don't think you have, mate." And then the latest shocking revelation here is that the Hampshire Police Department reportedly initially planned to release a statement that was going to falsely paint Novak as the aggressor. So that is now also a part of this internal investigation. But all of this has fueled some truly massive protests across the UK, even Germany, Sweden, other European countries. U.S. State Department also weighed in. They condemned two-tiered policing. Vice President J.D. Vance went even further than that. He posted on social media that Novak, quote, died the same way a civilization dies.

Abandoned by authorities who accused him of hate crimes he didn't commit. Vance also blamed the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, saying that Novak would still be alive if European elites had resisted. Now, that prompted a sharp response from Labor leaders like Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.

I disagree with him. This has got nothing to do with mass migration. This young man was a Brit.

Let's be, let's be clear about that. And I said, look, uh, Mr. Vice President, you're wrong about this.

And you know, Georgia, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has come in for fierce, fierce pushback and criticism over this, and he's responded to it by accusing Elon Musk of inflaming tensions and interfering in British politics.

Well, Megan, thank you for continuing to cover the Novak murder. It's an extremely disturbing story.

Yes, it is.

Thanks, Georgia. Two low-budget films are sending shockwaves through the entertainment industry as they've proven that more independent and unorthodox movies can outperform the big-budget Hollywood productions.

Joining us now to discuss the implications is Christian Toto, film critic and host of the podcast Hollywood in Toto. Christian, welcome back to the show.

Good to be here.

So there's been a different kind of buzz about these two new movies, Backrooms and Obsession, uh, not just about the films, which have received really high marks from viewers and critics, but what their success may signal for the industry. Let's start with the newest of the movies. What makes Backrooms unique?

Well, you know, on its surface, it looks like an arthouse horror film, so that usually doesn't draw a huge crowd. But it's the person behind the scenes. It's a young filmmaker. He's 20 years old, Kane Parsons, and he's worked on YouTube and other digital platforms before. And I think that's why this movie has become a sensation literally out of nowhere.

Yeah, and Backrooms had its own built-in advertising campaign going back for years through online chats and sort of collective participation. As you say, Parsons has developed his skills with these social media platforms. Uh, can you speak to that process and how it's changing things?

Yeah, you know, uh, when movies like this come out and are very successful, we think, well, what happened? What do we miss? Basically, this is someone who's been kind of working in different media platforms, teaching himself along the way. It also speaks to the technology that's available to young filmmakers. You know, back in the day, you had to have a clunky camera, then the film process. Everything is so, is so sped up now. Uh, the tools are very powerful and robust. So this is just a filmmaker who's been doing it for a while, who drew a crowd, who understands the story he wants to tell, who's built up a mythology. Most importantly, this isn't just a horror movie, it's got a backstory to it. He's got this vision in mind. And for all those reasons, it just kept growing and growing at the box office. It's just, it's startling, it really is.

Now the other movie, Obsession, uh, the total budget for that was even less than Backrooms. Backrooms was around $10 million, very minimal for a big theater film, but Obsession was only around $1 million. So nothing for a film that has been, uh, so successful in the theater. What's made Obsession stand out so much?

It's one of the oddest stories that I've been tracking in 20-plus years. The bottom line is that when a movie comes out, it falls a little bit each week as more and more people see it. It's just a natural progression. Some movies hold their audience, some movies don't. Obsession has been building its audience week after week after week. It just doesn't happen in Hollywood. The reasons quiet. The story is sort of a toxic relationship. There's a bit of a classic, you know, boy meets girl, boy frustrated that the girl he, he wants to date doesn't want him. I think there are core elements that are speaking to people, but I guess it's also more about the word of mouth, the digital word of mouth, that people are loving these films. It spreads like wildfire. They're sharing this information with their friends. I'd like to draw some parallels. I'd like to say, well, this is just like X movie.

There's really nothing quite like the way this has been rolled out and the way it succeeded week after week after Is there something about this that is actually recreatable here, or is this more about, you know, lower budget films being films you can take more risks on?

I think there's a little bit of both. It is hard to capture the lightning in a bottle. I think Hollywood will kind of push aggressively in this direction and maybe not learn all the lessons they should. But the bottom line is, if you're making a horror movie, that's already a genre that is more likely to succeed. You don't need big stars. To market those films. And that low budget means one thing in particular: the artist has more creative control. And that isn't always successful. Sometimes you need those studio notes to kind of rein in the talent. But generally speaking, if you got a young filmmaker who has a vision and they want to share that vision with the world, and there's no studio pressure, there's a chance that pure vision comes to the screen. And that's what people are responding to right now.

Yeah, seems like clear evidence here that this is what viewers have been waiting for. We'll see, like you said, if Hollywood can learn any lessons at this point. Christian, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Another story we're tracking: Iran launched missiles toward northern Israel on Sunday. It's Tehran's first direct attack on Israel since the ceasefire took effect. Daily Wire reporter Kassia Kiva has the latest.

The escalation began Sunday after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, prompting Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Iran followed through with its threats to retaliate and fired 4 missile barrages at northern Israel. The IDF says all missiles were intercepted. Israel then fired back at targets inside Iran despite Axios reporting that President Trump had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not respond. Israel has instructed hospitals to move critical operations into underground facilities, and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem ordered all American government employees to shelter in place.

Check dailywire.com for the latest on the developing story.

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