Morning Wire - Evening Wire: Clawback Passes Senate & Treasury Sanctions Tren De Aragua | 7.17.25

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Trump’s rescission bill gets through the Senate, a new poll shows that most Americans believe there’s a government coverup of the Epstein’s files, and Coca-Cola reportedly agrees to kick high fructose corn syrup to the curb. Get the facts first with Evening Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump's rescission bill gets through the Senate. A new poll shows that most Americans believe there's a government cover-up of the Epstein files and Coca-Cola reportedly agrees to kick corn syrup to the curb. I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Thursday, July 17th, and this is Evening Wire. President Trump's clawback bill passed the Senate in a narrow vote overnight, but not without some dissent from within the GOP. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor, Tim Rice, has more. Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined Democrats in voting against the bill, citing concerns over transparency and deep cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting. The bill aims to cancel on spent funding, including $8 billion from foreign aid and over $1 billion from NPR and PBS. NPR chief, Catherine Marr defended the public broadcaster's funding and challenged critics to point out specific examples of bias in their coverage.

We believe that as a public broadcaster, we do have an obligation to serve all Americans, and we need to make sure that our coverage reflects the interests and perspective, and we hear from Americans across the political spectrum. That's important to us, and we want to make sure we live up to that. Her comments for backlash online, with many pointing to NPR's refusal to cover Hunter Biden's laptop, among many other examples as instances of left-wing bias. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says Putin is not ready for compromises and that he's in talks with President Trump over a major drone deal.

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the details. In an interview with the New York Post, Zelensky thanked Trump and urged him to accelerate sanctions that could trigger a social explosion in Russia by slamming its economy. The Ukrainian leader also warned that a 50-day deadline only prolongs a suffering. He told Trump, each day is deadly, adding, Putin only understands pressure. Zelensky also mentioned an agreement that would allow the U.S. to buy Ukraine's battlefield-proven drones, while Kiev purchases, American-Rews.

weapons in return, calling it a win-win for both nations. U.S. defense officials warn America lags behind in drone warfare, and this deal could help close that gap. The prosecutor in Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case has been let go by the DOJ. The move comes amid renewed controversy over unreleased files. Marine Comey, daughter of former FBI director James Comey, opposed releasing evidence tied to Epstein's network, fearing it could affect Galane Maxwell's case. Epstein died in jail before trial. President Trump dismissed public interest in the case, calling it a hoax, comparing it to the Russia investigation. Speaking of public interest, a new poll found that almost 70 percent of Americans think the government is covering up Jeffrey Epstein's alleged client list. In a Reuters Ipsos poll,

only 6 percent said there's no cover up. Only 17 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the issue. Despite all that, President Trump's approval appears to be on the rise. Republicans who approve of Trump, look at our CNN poll. The prior one, 86 percent, the one out this week, 88 percent with Republicans. How about Quinnipiac? The prior poll, 87 percent of Republicans, this week out, 90 percent with Republicans. If anything, Donald Trump's approval rating has gone up since this whole Epstein saga started. He is at the apex or close there too in terms of his popularity with Republican voters, Epstein files, complaints or not. The DOJ is asking a federal judge to sentence a Louisville police officer to just one day in jail for his role in the 2020 shooting death of

Brianna Taylor. Brett Hankinson was convicted last year for allegedly violating Taylor's civil rights during a drug raid. He was facing life in prison. But in a court filing yesterday, DOJ officials argued Hankison has already suffered professionally and will never serve in law enforcement again. Several states attorneys general are singing the praises of a new fit in a law President Trump signed this week. The president signed Wednesday the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fintnell Act, which classifies fentanyl-related drugs as more dangerous substances. The GOP-led bill that passed with bipartisan support places fentanyl-related substances into Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. That means crimes related to the drug will now require prison sentences. The Halt Act has earned

the support of more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general, who called it vital to ending the cat and mouse with traffickers and stopping the cataclysmic surge of overdoses. The Treasury Department has announced sanctions on the leader of Trenda-Aragua and other high-level members of the infamous gang. Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist has more. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced Thursday that it is freezing all of the U.S. held property linked to the Trendy Aragua leader known as Nino Guerrero. The Treasury says that entities with a majority stake held by the Trendi-Araguer leader, his wife, and three other senior trendi Aragua members will also be blocked from conducting transactions in the U.S. or with American citizens.

This comes after the State Department designated the gang as a foreign terror organization during Trump's first month in office. Vice President J.D. Vance had some fun at the New York Times expense during an event in Pennsylvania this week, mocking the paper for an op-ed from a former Biden official who said he had the solution to fixing immigration. I'm going to read you verbatim what the New York Times said, a couple of days ago. And I quote, I was one of Biden's border advisors. Here's how to fix our immigration system. What would he know about fixing our immigration system? It was the Biden administration that broke our immigration system. So we've been having a little bit of fun around the office. I assume that this is Eagles territory. Is that right? Okay. Awesome dissension here. We've got a lot

of Eagles fans, but not 100 percent Ingalls fans here. But congratulations, by the way, on last year, but this is what a buddy of mine sent me. He said, I'm a Cincinnati Bengals player. Here's how you win Super Bowls. 16-year-olds may soon join the voter rolls in the UK. The landmark shift would align with Scotland and Wales and could have a huge impact on future UK elections. Prime Minister Kier-Starmer says young people who pay taxes deserve a say in government. The Starmer-backed bill is expected to pass. Critics, including Nigel Farage and the conservatives, say teens, lack the maturity to match such a responsibility.

As first reported by the Daily Wire, Texas is suing a swimming organization for letting men compete against women. Investigative reporter, Marita Lorty, has the details. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing U.S. Masters Swimming after an investigation determined the amateur sports organization engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by allowing men to compete in women's events. Back in May, a 47-year-old man who identifies as a woman, Anna Caldas, won five women's events at a competition in San Antonio. A day before Texas's lawsuit, Florida's attorney general also put U.S. Masters swimming on notice, warning it to change its policy or face legal action. Both Florida and Texas say they will not back down in

protecting the integrity of women's sports. In another major victory for the Maha movement, President Trump says he's convinced Coca-Cola to use real cane sugar over high-fructose corn syrup. Some studies have linked corn syrup to the obesity epidemic. RFK Jr. even called it a poison. Coca-Cola currently uses cane sugar to make Mexican Coke, which is sold in glass bottles and imported to the U.S. Trump is a known drinker of Diet Coke and received the first ever presidential commemorative inaugural Diet Coke bottle.

Coca-Cola has not confirmed the switch to cane sugar, but says it appreciates President Trump's enthusiasm. Following that news, shares of high-fructose corn syrup producer Archer Daniels Midland, The Corn Refiners Association said switching to sugar could cause job losses without providing nutritional benefit. But the news comes as more companies agree to remove artificial ingredients from foods. The CEO of PepsiCo said its lays and tostitos brands will remove artificial ingredients by the end of the year. Food and beverage is super important and it's normal that governments pay attention to what people eat and drink. And I think that's fair.

We as a company have been working on improving the profile of our portfolio for a time. 60% of our products already don't have artificial colors in the U.S., and we will continue that journey of transformation. Speaking of PepsiCo, they just reported quarterly earnings and revenue that exceeded expectations of analysts. Shares rose more than 6% in morning trading earning the company $22.73 billion, despite the upswing in shares, cost, they continue to see less of a demand for their products as their worldwide volume dropped 1.5% for their food and was flat for their drinks. As part of their strategy to boost sales, the company intends to take advantage of the protein craze. Stalks rose today, powered by strong corporate earnings and better than expected economic data. The Dow gained over 200 points,

and the S&P 500 climbed half a percent, and the NASDAQ added 0.8%. Retail sales for June beat forecasts rising 0.6% while jobless claims dipped to 221,000. The rebound on Wall Street comes despite the comments from the president saying he likely won't fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, while also not completely ruling it out. And comedian Shane Gillis shocked the crowd at the espies with jokes that some say couldn't have been made a few years ago, including ones about Epstein, the WNBA, and Caitlin Clark. Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but As it got deleted. Must have probably deleted itself, right?

Probably never existed, actually. Let's move on as a country and ignore that. When Caitlin Clark retires from the WMBA, she's going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most, fist-fighting black women. Those are your drive-home updates this evening. To learn more about these stories,

go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some major stories, including President Trump's new attack on Fed. Chair Jerome Powell, how the GOP is gearing up for their next legislative fight, and the new AI investment promising to put Pennsylvania back on the map. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.