Morning Wire - Evening Wire: Bondi Beach ISIS Ties & Fentanyl Declared WMD | 12.16.25

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

New evidence deepens the terror connection in the horrific Bondi Beach massacre, the U.S. offers security guarantees for Ukraine, and the Trump Administration drops a new website for Christmas. Get the facts first with Evening Wire. - - - Ep. 2541 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - 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

New evidence deepens the terror connection in the horrific Bondi Beach Massacre. The U.S. offers security guarantees for Ukraine, and the Trump administration drops a new website for Christmas. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, December 16th. This is Evening Wire. More details have emerged about the deadly Islamic terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips, has the latest. Australian authorities say the two gunmen responsible for the Bondi Beach. Massacre had improvised explosives and homemade ISIS flags in their car when they opened fire

on the beachfront Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people. Federal Police Commissioner Chrissy Barrett says, Sahid and Naveed Akram carried out, quote, a terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State and had traveled to ISIS-linked areas of the Philippines weeks before the shooting. Despite those findings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there is no evidence the pair were part of a larger terror cell, though the younger Akram had previously been questioned over ties to known extremists. The son first came to attention in October 2019. He was examined on the basis of being associated with others. And the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.

What's important is that the authorities be enabled to do their work. The two American service members killed by an ISIS gunman in Syria last week were publicly identified. identified on Monday, 25-year-old Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres Tovar of Des Moines, Iowa, and 29-year-old Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard of Marshalltown, Iowa, were both members of the Iowa National Guard deployed to Syria to support counterterrorism operations. Tributes have poured in online, including from War Secretary Hegeseth and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who ordered flags in Iowa to be flown at half-staff. In a statement, the governor said, Sergeant Howard and Sergeant Torres served our state and nation with honor, and in doing so, gave the ultimate sacrifice.

We are grateful for their service and deeply mourn their loss. Five men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning an Islamic terror attack on a Christmas market. Daily Wire senior editor, Joel Needler, has more. An Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian man were arrested Friday over plans to drive a vehicle into a market in Bavaria, and officials believe there was, quote, an Islamist motive. As the BBC reports, the Egyptian man is an imam in a nearby mosque who called for the attack, quote, with the aim of killing or injuring as many people as possible. Police say the three Moroccan men agreed to commit murder,

while the Syrian man is, quote, accused of encouraging the suspects to commit the crime. Bavaria state interior minister said that excellent cooperation among security services helped prevent a, quote, potentially Islamist motivated attack. Germany has suffered a series of Christmas market attacks, including one last year that killed six people. The U.S. is offering security assurances to Ukraine in an effort to break stalled peace talks. European partners have expressed their willingness to offer their own assurances, but stressed that at least some commitment from the U.S. would also be necessary.

While Ukraine territorial concessions remain a major sticking point, many hope U.S. assurances against future Russian aggression could be the last push needed to bring the war to an end. President Trump is suing the BBC for billions of dollars over what he calls. calls a malicious documentary. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the details. The president filed a $10 billion lawsuit Monday over a BBC documentary that edited his January 6th, 2021 address in D.C. to create a, quote, false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of him. The documentary spliced together two small parts of the lengthy speech separated by 55 minutes, and it also left out Trump's explicit calls for supporters to protest peacefully and patriotically.

The lawsuit states that the result was to, quote, make it appear that President Trump explicitly called for violent action and rioting. The doctoring of the footage creates what Trump's team calls a distortion of meaning by splicing entirely unrelated word sequences. And it's, quote, part of the BBC's longstanding pattern of manipulating President Trump's speeches and presenting content in a misleading manner in order to defame him, including fabricating calls for violence that he never made. President Trump has announced the classification of illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass. destruction. Daily Wire immigration reporter Ginny Tear has a story. Trump's new executive order opens the door for the federal government to go even harder against the drug cartels and enhances penalties for fentanyl traffickers and tasks the Department

of War with countering the cartels producing the lethal narcotic. Here's the president Monday. No bomb does what this is doing. 200 to 300,000 people die every year that we know of. So we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of. of mass destruction. Trump's former acting drug enforcement administrator, Derek Maltz, told the Daily Wire that the designation has been a long time coming and that it will shut down the cartels financing.

He said that it will also allow the Department of War to use all capabilities, authorities, and expertise to up the game at a new level. With this new designation, they will also be able to add the additional deadly chemical substances like nitazines, class of poison being made in adversarial labs to kill our citizens, Maltz said. The Department of War has escalated a review of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly to an

official command investigation. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jule has more. A department official told the Daily Wire Monday of the escalation, noting that retired Captain Kelly, quote, is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct and that further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings. The department initiated a review of Kelly in November after the state. Senator joined five other Democratic lawmakers in a video urging military members to disobey, quote, illegal orders. Then last week, the U.S. Navy sent a report to War Secretary Hegsef

on a review of Kelly's actions. The senator faces being potentially recalled to active duty to undergo, quote, court-martial proceedings or administrative measures. Meanwhile, Secretary Hegesheth is spearheading a plan to consolidate U.S. military command centers. The shift would be the most drastic reorganization of the military in decades. Under the plan, U.S. Central Command, European Command, and African Command would be consolidated into one office, U.S. International Command. Western Hemisphere Commands would also be joined into one, dubbed U.S. America's Command. The move is part of a plan to reduce military bureaucracy and to shift U.S. focus toward influence in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved several more state

waivers to create healthier options for the SNAP program. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presser-Jacquesomo has the details. Six more states recently submitted waivers to the USDA to reform food stamp options, revoking junk food, including sodas and candy. Hawaii, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee have all had their waivers approved by the agency. In total, 18 states are now on track for the food stamp reforms, all set to go into effect sometime in 2026. The 12 other states in the Maha fold are Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. Notably, 16 of the 18 states are considered red states. The only two Democratic-run states that have submitted health waivers are Colorado and Hawaii. A major Democrat leader is now going to be facing a radical anti-ice primary challenger.

Daily Wire political reporter Cameron Arcand reports. House Democratic Minority Whip, Catherine Clark, is facing a primary challenger to her left, further highlighting Democrats' intra-party disputes over how to move forward in the Trump era. Jonathan Paz, head of the left-wing Immigration Group Fuerza, launched his bid in the Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District on Monday. If Paz is successful, he would be considered a major upset, similar to when Alexandria Acacio Court, Tez defeated then House Democratic caucus chair Joe Crowley in 2018 in New York.

Here's Paez's campaign launch video. I'm challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the House because we need new leadership. Let's just call it what it is. Our Democratic leaders are failing us. They're not stopping Trump. They're not making life more affordable. They're not building a party for the working class. That's why we need to rebuild the Democratic Party.

Former SNL comedian Leslie Jones called for ICE agents to be thrown in jail. Jones made the comments while talking to MS now host Nicole Wallace on her podcast called The Best People. Here's some of that. This is what I'm hoping. That midterms people come out and vote like crazy to switch it over, and then the reckoning comes. That's what I want all everybody that work for ICE. I want them in jail. I want a reckoning.

Y'all know y'all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong. I need a reckoning. because that's, to me, that's the only thing that's going to make it right. The Trump administration has launched a new website with the URL, Merry Christmas.gov. Daily Wire Assistant Editor Andy Valdez has more. The new website promotes 12 days of American design history as a play on the 12 days of Christmas and offers a, quote, small holiday reminder of what America can build together.

The site will highlight, quote, moments of design, innovation and public work initiated by the federal government that helped shape the nation. The first day celebrated a poster program from the Great Depression era that featured encouraging messages, promoting parks, public health, education, and culture events. Yesterday, the spotlight was on the iconic Great Seal of the United States, an eagle with a shield and a banner that reads, a pluribus unum in its beak. The seal was adopted in 1782 and has been in use ever since, including on your passport. Today, Merry Christmas.gov featured the Federal Highway Signage System.

And this year's nativity scene from the Vatican includes an explicitly pro-life message. The Vatican teamed up with the organization 40 Days for Life to design the scene, which is entitled Nassiominto Gaudium, or Joyful Birth. Instead of the usual straw in the manger, the display features 25,000 ribbons. Each ribbon represents a baby who is saved from abortion through the work of 40 Days for Life, which organizes prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics worldwide. American pro-life advocate Lila Rose had this to say about the display. The Christmas story is the ultimate pro-life story.

So it's beautiful to see the Vatican's 2025 nativity scene reflect this. Pope Leo has always been a staunch defender of life back when he was even helping to found Villanovans for life. Well, he was at Villanova University. And now it's wonderful to see him really celebrate the pro-life message. and of course, baby Jesus, with this wonderful nativity scene featuring the pregnant Virgin Mary. I also love that this was done in collaboration with 40 Days for Life to represent all of the pre-born babies

that have been saved by 40 Days for Life with 25,000 reference at the scene. 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 Hollywood reeling after the arrest of Rob Reiner's son for double murder. a terrorist plot in L.A. being foiled by the FBI, and the latest on the manhunt for the Brown University shooter.

Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.