This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.

FBI Whistleblowers Testify

Three current and former members of the FBI testified in the House on Thursday and accused the bureau of wrongfully retaliating against them.

Garrett O‘Boyle, Steve Friend, and Marcus Allen told lawmakers that the FBI suspended their security clearances and froze their pay over questions about the Bureau’s January 6 investigations. O’Boyle and Allen are still employed by the bureau, but they’ve been without pay and barred from working for about a year. They say they’ve been forced to rely on charity and their retirement savings to stay afloat. Here’s O’Boyle:  

POWERFUL testimony from FBI Whistleblower Garret O’Boyle on how the agency rendered his family HOMELESS for speaking up against the FBI’s efforts to weaponize the bureau against Americans:

“In weaponized fashion, the FBI allowed me to accept orders to a position halfway across… pic.twitter.com/BTZm3z1oZN

— Joel Valdez (@realJoelValdez) May 18, 2023

In news reported first by The Daily Wire today, former Biden nuclear energy official, Sam Brinton, was arrested Wednesday as a fugitive of justice. This comes months after Brinton was fired amid allegations of stealing luggage and women’s clothing from airports.

The Daily Wire’s Luke Roziak learned exclusively that former Biden administration nuclear official, Sam Brinton, was arrested last night at his home in Rockville, Maryland. A neighbor told Roziak that four unmarked police cars went to his house at about 10:00 PM and pulled him out. On Thursday, a  judge ordered Brinton extradited to Arlington, Virginia to face charges of grand larceny related to alleged luggage theft out of Dulles Airport, in connection with those fugitive from justice charges.

Accused Cash App Killer Pleads Not Guilty

Nima Momeni, the 38-year-old man, accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee to death, back in April, pleaded not guilty Thursday. Momeni’s mother and sister were present in the San Francisco courtroom when the plea was entered. Momeni’s attorney argued her client should be released on bail but the judge refused bail saying Momeni is a threat to the community.

Montana Bans TikTok

Montana has become the first state to completely ban TikTok after Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law on Wednesday.

The law prohibits app stores from making TikTok available for download in the state. It comes as state lawmakers accused China of breaching user security.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, and has been accused of allowing the communist country access to data on Americans’ phones. 

Elon Warns About China Taking Over Taiwan

Twitter owner Elon Musk is warning that U.S. policymakers should take China’s threats of taking over Taiwan “seriously.” Musk made the remarks during an interview with CNBC’s David Faber. Musk was asked if he was concerned about “the growing belligerence between China and the U.S.”

Ukraine Claims It Thwarted Russian Missile Attack

Ukraine is claiming that it thwarted 29 out of 30 airstrikes launched by Russia early Thursday, leaving one person dead. However, the Russian government denies those claims and says that it successfully hit key Ukrainian weapons and ammunition depots. 

To listen to the audio version of this podcast, click here. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.

WIRED Magazine took a beating on social media for a Thursday puff piece on U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The outlet touts itself as a site where “conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design.” But Thursday’s front page “big interview” — titled “Pete Buttigieg Loves God, Beer, and His Electric Mustang” — barely contains author Virginia Heffernan’s fawning admiration for the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

“THE CURIOUS MIND of Pete Buttigieg holds much of its functionality in reserve. Even as he discusses railroads and airlines, down to the pointillist data that is his current stock-in-trade, the US secretary of transportation comes off like a Mensa black card holder who might have a secret Go habit or a three-second Rubik’s Cube solution or a knack for supplying, off the top of his head, the day of the week for a random date in 1404, along with a non-condescending history of the Julian and Gregorian calendars,” the piece begins, and it does not slow down.

“I slowly became aware that his cabinet job requires only a modest portion of his cognitive powers,” Heffernan continues. “Other mental facilities, no kidding, are apportioned to the ‘Iliad,’ Puritan historiography, and Knausgaard’s ‘Spring’—though not in the original Norwegian (slacker). Fortunately, he was willing to devote yet another apse in his cathedral mind to making his ideas about three mighty themes—neoliberalism, masculinity, and Christianity—intelligible to me.”

Heffernan’s effusive praise was not lost on critics, who quickly pointed out that the article was more fluff than substantive interview.

“I legitimately wasn’t sure if this article was a parody … The American people deserve better from our media than this slobbering,” Meghan McCain commented. “Pete took WEEKS to visit a toxic dump in Palestine, Ohio and has had a string of controversies, screw ups & tone deaf responses since in office.”

“With this kind of glowing coverage, Biden and Kamala must be hearing footsteps!” Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) added.

“To fully appreciate what Wired has become, you have to compare the doe-eyed admiration of Buttigieg profile to the furious contempt of the Brandon Sanderson profile,” another said.

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“Please read this entire profile with the understanding that it isn’t parody …” Joe Concha advised.

The Federalist’s Sean Davis added, “I asked ChatGPT to write the most obscene, over-the-top hagiography in the style of a deranged superfan with no self-awareness writing about her crush—an utterly unimpressive dullard with chronic verbal diarrhea—and this is what it came up with.”

“‘Hey, let’s tone it down a notch, Wired’ – North Korean State TV,” said David Burge.

“This is the most unintentionally hilarious thing you will read all week,” was Emily Zanotti’s assessment.