Transcript of Maduro Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ & Tim Walz Withdraws | 1.6.26

Toppled dictator, Nicolas Maduro, pleads not guilty to narco-terrorism charges and accuses the US of kidnapping him from his home.

This is a long process people can strap in, but at the end of the day, I think he will end up being convicted.

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor, John Bickley. It's Tuesday, January sixth, and this is Morning Wire.

I've decided to step out of this race, and I'll let others worry about the election while I focus on the work that's in front of me for the next year.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh, abruptly ends his re-election bid, following a bruising year full of federal fraud investigations.

And as we ring in the new year, more information comes to light about a thwarted New Year's Eve terror plot in North Carolina.

He was planning this attack in support of ISIS, and we have charged him with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

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

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Captured Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro made his first appearance in an American courtroom on Monday as the Trump administration pushes ahead with its aggressive foreign policy.

Daily Wire senior editor, Cabit Phillips, is here now with more. So, Cabit, incredible scenes out of New York City yesterday. What did we learn from these court proceedings?

Yeah, just a remarkable day in New York City. Just 72 hours ago, Nicolas Maduro was living lavish in the country that he ruled with an iron fist, and now he's wearing a prison jumpsuit and ankle shackles and preparing to face the US justice system. His initial court hearing yesterday lasted just about 30 minutes, but it was packed. The ousted strongman was very defiant, telling a judge through a translator, I am innocent, I'm not guilty, I'm a decent man, I'm still the president of country. As he was led out of the courtroom, a man stood up and yelled in Spanish that he would pay for his crimes, to which Maduro replied that he would win his freedom, calling himself a prisoner of war. Looking ahead, the next hearing is set for March 17th, and as you guys can imagine, this will almost certainly be a very long, drawn-out trial. His attorneys signaled on Monday that they would challenge the legality of his arrest, arguing that as a head of state, he was entitled to certain privileges and legal immunities, and the Venezuelan government had now made that same argument, demanding the UN intervene and condemn what they called an illegal kidnapping.

Trump's UN ambassador, though, Mike Walsh, offered this response Monday during an emergency session of the UN Security Council.

This was a law enforcement operation in furtherance of lawful indictments that have existed for decades. The United States arrested a narco trafficker who is now going to stand trial in the United States in accordance with the rule of law.

So who's running Venezuela right now in practice?

Technically, it is Dilce Rodriguez, who up until last week was the Venezuelan vice President. She initially valid in a fiery speech to fight back against the US and Trump and carry on Maduro's legacy. President Trump, though, responded with a threat of his own, saying, If she doesn't do what's right, she's going to pay a very big price. Then he went even further telling reporters on Air Force One that he would be willing to launch a second strike against Venezuela if they did not start cooperating.

We were prepared to do a second strike if we needed. We're totally prepared.

But that's off the table. We're still prepared.

That's off the table now.

No, it's not. If they don't behave, we will do a second strike.

Look, that really seemed to make her reconsider that first position. She released a new statement that struck a much more, we'll call it conciliatory tone, saying, We extend an invitation to the US government to work together on a cooperative agenda oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law. Now she's saying, Hey, let's be nice to each other.

Now, this whole thing has to have some other world leaders nervous. President Trump has made some pretty tangible threats that he would do similar things in other countries. What do we know there?

Right. The 19th century had Monroe doctrine, and now the President has débuted what he calls the Donro doctrine. Essentially, the White House is arguing that it's in the best interest of the US to keep our adversaries from having a foothold in the Western hemisphere. As they've made clear, they're now willing to take out those who, in their view, pose a threat to stability here on our home turf. Here's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio making that point.

This is the Western hemisphere.

This is where we live, and we're not going to allow the Western hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.

Have specific oil.

And according to President Trump, Venezuela could be just the first example of US intervention in the region. Trump said this week that, Cuba is ready to fall. He also said that Colombian President Gustavo Petro is a, sick man who likes making cocaine. But he won't be doing it for very long. He then said an operation there, quote, Sounds good to me.

Well, a very dynamic situation, to say the least. Kabbit, thanks for reporting. Absolutely.

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Political shockwaves in Minnesota and the nation on Monday morning, as Minnesota governor Tim Walsh announced he would not be seeking re-election amid the state's numerous fraud scandals.

Daily Wire political reporter, Cameron Arcan, joins us now to discuss, Hey, Cameron. So Walls abruptly dropping out. This is perhaps maybe not so unexpected given recent developments. First, what did we hear yesterday from Walls in his announcement?

So Walls largely stuck to the script. He even blamed the Trump administration for essentially targeting Minnesota during this process, saying that these fraud scandals, they were already on top of, which we all know is not maybe necessarily the case with the amount of federal prosecutions that we saw with a lot of these recent scandals. What we saw yesterday was him largely blaming the Trump administration for this and almost saying that he had no choice but to say, Hey, I'm not going to seek a third term.

Donald Trump and his allies in Washington and in Saint Paul and online want to make our state a colder, meaner place. We've got the President of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on. I'm passing on this race with zero sadness and zero regret.

Now, there's an increasing number of voices saying that some of this fraud could actually lead all the way up to Walsh's office. What is the latest on the investigations in Minnesota?

Yeah. So in terms of new investigations, that remains to be seen, especially because we saw a lot of accusations in regards to daycares. We have not seen anything tangible there as of yet, but obviously, federal prosecutors and federal agents are now having more resources in the state of Minnesota on that. But it's important to recognize that this has been a long-standing issue in the state, and it's really only recently got a national attention. Attorney general Pam Bondi said that 60 people in between different fraud schemes. We saw Feeding Our Future, which was basically a fake children's charity. Dozens of people have already pled guilty in different fraud schemes. So we saw it with that. We saw it with a housing program. We also even saw charges recently this fall with autism treatment fraud schemes in the state, basically people claiming to get treatment for that when it wasn't actually true.

I mean, while we're seeing reports that potentially thousands of Homeland Security agents are heading to Minnesota now for these investigations. Now, there does appear to be some action plan for Democrats to recoup the damage done in all of this. What does that effort look like?

Yeah. So the New York Times reported that Amy Klobechar met with Tim Walsh on Sunday. She's debating whether or not she's going to jump in and run for governor. She's a fairly popular figure in state of Minnesota. She ran significantly ahead of Kamala Harris in 2020. This is going to be an attempt to clean up some of the damage we're seeing there, especially because they also have an open Senate race right now with a messy primary between Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanigan, as well as Congresswoman Angie Craig. So we could be seeing some action on that front. Electorially, obviously, someone is going to need to be the Democratic nominee in Minnesota for the governor race. But if Klobuchar is elected, she would have the unique position where she could choose her own successor, and we could see that and how that plays into the 2026 midterms as well. But it's really important to note that Republicans, and I've talked with sources about this, they see this as an opening for them right now. Minnesota is not a super deep blue state, but right now, Cook Political Report has both of those races as likely Democrat. These fraud scandals are really an opportunity for Republicans in their eyes to step in and say, Hey, we could use this to have new leadership and perhaps pull off an upset in that state.

Right. You can really sense Republicans chomping at the bit here. Meanwhile, looking forward to seeing what comes next for walls and these investigations. Cameron, thanks so much for reporting.

Thank you.

The FBI says it has foiled an ISIS-inspired attack in North Carolina. Authorities arrested a Charlotte area man. They say, planned to launch a terror attack on New Year's Eve.

Here to talk about the arrest is Daily Wire reporter Tim pierce. So, Tim, first, what do we know about this incident in North Carolina?

Quite a bit, actually. The criminal complaint against 18-year-old Christian Sturtevant was unsealed on Friday. Us attorney Russ Ferguson talked about how officials caught Sturtevant in a press conference later that same day.

So Mr. Sturtevant started on the Internet. He started reading ISIS material, started going to ISIS websites, making TikTok videos and eventually reached out to what he thought was a member of ISIS. In reality, was an undercover agent with NYPD in New York. He pledged his allegiance to ISIS with that undercover agent, and he disclosed his plans to, quote, Do Jihad soon. He then met a second undercover with the FBI, who he also thought was an ISIS participant, and he started to be very specific with his plans.

Now, Ferguson said those plans were to attack a crowded mall and fast food restaurant restaurant in the Charlotte area. Sturdovant's alleged plans also included wearing a kevar vest and using a knife and hammer to attack people on New Year's Eve. Sturdovant faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if he is convicted.

Now, the FBI suspects there was a mental health component to this in addition to jihadist ideology.

Right. Ferguson noted something interesting about the FBI's efforts to get Sturdovant locked up in receiving treatment for his mental health.

Originally, I think it is notable, as part of their efforts, the FBI took Mr. Sturdovant to a state magistrate judge to try to have him involuntarily committed. That was because he had threatened not only other people's lives, but in the process said that he planned to die by a policeman shooting him. He had threatened other people's lives and self-harmed, but the state magistrate judge denied involuntary commitment. Fortunately, the FBI did not give up then and continued to build a federal case and get the evidence they needed to charge him and detain him and keep everyone safe on New Year's Eve. I'm very thankful for that because countless lives were saved here.

There appears to have been a chance that Sturt Event would have been released back onto the streets under the initial judge's ruling.

Now, shifting gears a bit, there was another attack yesterday. This one was in Cincinnati. Not terror-related, but this was the attack on Vice President Vance's Ohio home. What happened?

Yeah, law enforcement arrested a 26-year-old man identified as William DeFore yesterday. Prosecutors said that they charged him with felony vandalism, obstructing official business, criminal damaging or endangering and criminal truspassing. Now, as you mentioned, this was at the vice president's home in Cincinnati. Vance said in a post on social media yesterday that, as far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. Fortunately, he and his family were not at home. They had just returned to Washington after a brief stay in Cincinnati after the military action in Venezuela last week. Officials have not yet released any motive for the attack.

Well, still frightening. Tim, thanks for reporting.

Thanks for having me on.

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