Morning Wire - Evening Wire: 50K Still Missing After Venezuela Quake & Iran Jostles Peace Talks | 6.26.26

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

Iran strikes a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, jostling peace talks, Venezuela races to find earthquake survivors as the death toll rises, and the U.S. Men’s team moves on to the round of 32 despite loss. Get the facts first with Evening Wire. - - - Ep. 2862 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3  - - - Today’s Sponsor: Boll & Branch - Sleep cooler this summer with Boll & Branch during their Annual Summer Event. For a limited time, get 20% off sitewide at https://BollAndBranch.com/wire  - - - Privacy Policy: ⁠https://www.dailywire.com/privacy⁠ morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hurry to Wayfair.com or download the app now. Iran strikes a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, jostling peace talks, Venezuela races to find earthquake survivors as the death toll rises and the U.S. men's team moves on to the round of 32 despite a loss. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Friday, June 26th, and this is Evening Wire. The U.S. talks with Iran continue after an Iranian drone struck a cargo ship in Hormuz. Foreign Affairs reporter Cassia Kiva has the latest. The drone struck a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship passing through the street on 13th. It is the first attack against a cargo ship by Iran since June 12th, and it comes as traffic through the Strait of Harmoos had started to tick up over the past week.

The strike is another dent in an already tenuous ceasefire signed by the U.S. in Iran on June 17th. President Trump condemned the attack as a, quote, foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement, though he stopped short of threatening retaliation. Iran claimed a clause in the ceasefire gave it authority to manage marine traffic in the straight. And just before the attack, the U.S. and other Gulf countries in a joint statement had called for the free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Israeli and Lebanese officials Friday to sign a new U.S.-backed framework agreement, calling it a first step towards peace after months of fighting between

Israel and Hezbollah. The death toll continues to climb in Venezuela as emergency responders race to find survivors after Wednesday's back-to-back earthquakes. Venezuela officials say at least 235 people are confirmed dead, but the government believes that as many as 50,000 are still missing. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the death toll from the quakes could reach 10,000. At the time of this update, the so-called golden window to find survivors, which is 48 to 72 hours after an incident, is almost closed. After that, the likelihood of survival for people buried under rubble plummets. Search and rescue can then quickly turn into recovery operations. Meanwhile, Venezuelan rescue teams have received help on the ground from others from Mexico, Chile, El Salvador, the Dominican

Republic, and Switzerland. The U.S. has also offered aid. A North Carolina man admitted to orchestrating health care fraud in a kickback scheme that stole $60 million from taxpayers. Reporters, Zach Jewell has the details. James Schuford Price III owned a Los Angeles-based company called Golden Star Labs. Price has admitted that he filed false tax returns for his company and bought sham test specimens in order to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal of millions of dollars, according to the New York Post. The FBI has seized $6 million from Price's home, and the North Carolina native faces 13 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Former Trump advisor John Bolton pleaded guilty today to one charge in an 18-count indictment in his classified documents case. He pleaded guilty to

a charge of unauthorized possession of a document related to national defense, which carries a max sentence of 10 years. However, Bolton and prosecutors agreed that he should serve no more than five years. Under the terms of his plea, Bolton agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine. He also faces a mandatory debrief with a U.S. Intelligence Committee, three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service. U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes announced the plea deal. Mr. Bolton knew how to handle classified information, where it should be stored, how it should be stored, and with whom he could share that information. He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information. Nevertheless, as Mr. Bolton just admitted, he put our

national security at grave risk in violation of the law. The judge in the case is required to sentence Bolton within 90 days, though Bolton could rescind his guilty plea before sentencing. New York City has enacted a rent freeze on over one million rent-stabilized apartments. The rent freeze, a key campaign promise of Mayor Mom Dani, was passed with a 7-1 vote by the Rent Guidelines Board. Six of the board members were appointed earlier this year by Mom Dani. One board member, Christina Smith, who was appointed by Mom Dany's predecessor, resigned just hours before the vote, calling it a farce. While the board is meant to be independent, review. data and take testimonies to inform their decisions, Smith said that all data was ignored.

The decision to freeze the rent, she says, was made last year on the campaign trail. James Whelan, the president of Real Estate Board of New York, lambasted the decision stating, older rent-stabilized buildings are already struggling under rising operating costs. Yet the board chose to disregard those realities. Tonight's vote may be politically popular, but it will make New York's housing crisis worse. When was the last time you replaced your betting? Not your mattress, your actual bedding. Because most people are surprisingly bad at noticing when it's time.

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And the dream comforter gives me everything I need to have a wonderful night's sleep even under the hot human summers of Nashville. bowl and branch is widely loved here at the Daily Wire. In fact, many end up buying a second set of signature sheets so they can rotate between them, so they're never without their Bowlin Branch. And once you upgrade more than one piece, the sheets, the blanket, the pillows, the entire bed just feels complete. Plus, it's easy to mix and match with their different colors.

Bedding is one of those upgrades you notice every single day. Sleep cooler this summer with Bowlin Branch during their annual summer event. For a limited time, get 20% offsite wide at BullenBranch.com slash wire with code wire. That's Bolin Branch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D-B-B-D-B-B-D-B-B-B-D-B-B-Rash-W-W code wire to take 20% off. Bolandbranch.com slash wire code wire. Exclusions apply. A judge in Brazil sentenced two Christian parents to 50 days in prison for homeschooling

their two daughters, despite prosecutors recommending acquittal after finding no evidence of neglect. The judge argued that the family's curriculum failed to include instruction on gender, sex education, tolerance, and diversity, and even pointed to the girl's dislike of certain popular music genres as supposed evidence of the their cultural deficiency. The judge accused the parents of using their daughters in a, quote, ideological struggle and excluding state involvement. The family's attorneys noted that an educational psychologist found no signs of neglect and the girls described a rigorous academic program,

including being fluent in several languages and trained in classical piano. The conviction is currently suspended while the family appeals. President Trump's aggressive moves that the office of the Director of National Intelligence are reportedly fueling a war within the intelligence community. Since the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, Bill Pulte has served as interim director of national intelligence and immediately set to work to enact President Trump's downsizing agenda. That mission has set off a firestorm within the intelligence community. Pulte has thus far eliminated 51 ODNI staff roles. 45 of those individuals were returned to their home agencies while six career officials were fired.

ODNI critics call the agency unnecessarily obstructive, while others say cutting ODNI's oversight only enables the very deep state that Trump so adamantly wants to root out. The first euthanasia procedure of terminally ill children in the Netherlands has been confirmed. Reporter Megan Basham has the details. Though the age and condition of this child is not publicly known, the Netherlands Times reports that the Dutch government is reviewing this case and making sure the doctor legally killed this child. The Netherlands has legalized euthanasia for children from ages 1 through 12 since 2024, stating that the child must be expected to die in the foreseeable future and must be experiencing untreatable suffering. Parents must also consent to euthanasia. This procedure has drawn harsh criticism from Catholics and other pro-life advocates,

with Joseph Meaney from the National Catholic Bioethics Center, calling this a, quote, grave ethical violation, stating that euthanasia is, quote, intrinsically evil and that euthanasia of a child is worse because a child cannot give consent. Pharmaceutical and biotech giant Bayer got a major legal win yesterday. Reporter Drew Berkmeyer has the details. The Supreme Court cleared the company in a lawsuit over its liability for potential cancer risks in the pesticide Roundup. Roundup was developed by Monsanto before it was acquired by Bayer.

That acquisition has since cost Bayer billions of dollars and thousands of lawsuits. The court's ruling shot down the most effective argument attorneys have made against Bayer that it failed to warn users of its potential cancer risks. Bayer argued that the product met government standards. Bayer now has the opportunity to separate its agriculture side of the business from its pharmaceutical side, a change that investors have pushed for for years. The U.S. men's World Cup team lost in the final minutes of stoppage time last night against Turkey three to two. Despite the loss, though, the U.S. has advanced to the round of 32, where it will face off against

Bosnia and Herzegovina. That's a knockout round, so whoever loses is out while the winner advances to the round of 16. That's another knockout round that starts on July 4th. Meanwhile, in other World Cup news, customs and border protection has intercepted massive amounts of counterfeit World Cup merch. Immigration reporter Jenny Tehr has the story. CBP told the Daily Wire that in a recent five-day operation dubbed Protect the Pitch, border officers in Cincinnati seize 68 shipments of counterfeit jerseys, shirts, shorts, shoes, hats, jewelry, and other merch. If they'd been authentic, the nearly 3,000 items had a retail value of over $250,000. The shipments included 1,500 FIFA jerseys, 300 pairs of shorts, 200 pairs of footwear, 150 hats, 80 shirts, and 290 other

World Cup related items that originated in Mexico and Colombia. Those of your drive home updates this evening. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it earlier today, we covered some major stories, including crews racing to rescue survivors in Venezuela, the Trump administration taking a victory lap over Scotus rulings, and Trump winning over Republican senators on Iran. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend episode of Morning Wire.

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