Morning Wire - Evening Wire: Trump’s NATO Win & Autopen Testimony | 6.25.25

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

President Trump gets a major concession at NATO, several states back the President in his battle against Harvard, and the teen accused in Austin Metcalf’s murder faces a new charge. Get the facts first on Evening Wire Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump gets a major concession at NATO, several states back the president in his battle against Harvard, and the teen accused in Austin Metcalf's murder faces a new charge. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Wednesday, June 25th, and this is Evening Wire. NATO leaders have agreed to a sweeping new defense spending target, 5% of GDP by 2035 in what's being hailed as a major win for President Trump. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the details. The deal more than doubles the alliance's current 2% goal and marks a dramatic shift in Europe's security posture. NATO chief Mark Ruta said the decision reflects the growing threat from Russia and a need for stronger collective defense. Some countries, though, are holding out.

One nearly every member of the organization is getting behind the plan. Spain and possibly Slovakia are refusing to comply. That garnered harsh criticism from leaders, including Trump, who says he'll get Spain to pay up one way or another. You know what we're going to do? We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them pay twice as much. And I'm actually serious about that. We're going to make Spain pay it back to us on trade because I'm not going to let that happen. It's unfair. U.S. air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did, in fact, result in total obliteration, according to Trump. In the NATO press conference today, the president said Israeli agents inspected the bombed sites and reported complete destruction. The confirmation comes after the leak of a U.S. intelligence report claiming Iran could recover in a matter of months. Trump claims that report is flat out wrong.

They presented a report that wasn't finished. We're talking about something that took place three days ago. they didn't see it. All they can do is take a guess. Now, if you take a look at the pictures, if you take a look how it's all blackened, you know, the fire and brimstone is all underground, because it's granite and it's all underground. It's been obliterated, totally obliterated. They said it may be very severe. The White House echoed Trump's criticism, blaming the leak on a low-level loser in the intelligence community. Iran's foreign ministry has also reportedly admitted the U.S. airstrikes significantly damaged its nuclear

facilities. In Gaza, seven Israeli soldiers were killed by a Hamas planted bomb. The soldiers were out on patrol when a terrorist attached the bomb to their vehicle. The IDF says the vehicle caught fire and all on board were killed. Hamas has claimed responsibility. Prime Minister Netanyahu called the soldiers heroes and pledged to continue efforts to defeat Hamas and rescue hostages. President Trump has officially been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter submitted the nomination yesterday, praising Trump for brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and ordering strikes to halt Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Carter called Trump's actions bold and decisive, crediting him with preventing further escalation and promoting international stability.

A former aide to President Biden testified that she was unaware who gave final approval for auto-pin signatures. In a closed-door hearing before the House Oversight Committee yesterday, Nira Tandon described the approval process as an exchange of disqualification. decision memos with members of Biden's inner circle. Though she was authorized to direct auto pen signatures from 2021 to 2023, she said she did not know who personally greenlit the signatures. Here's Tandon after the hearing. I was pleased to discuss my public service and it was a thorough process and I'm glad I answered every question. Was there an effort to disguise President Biden's condition? Absolutely not. The committee is set to depose Biden's

White House physician and other top aides in the course of its investigation into the former president's health. The fight for American universities continues as several states back the Trump administration's decision to freeze funds to Harvard. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Jocamo has more. The government paused federal funding for the prestigious university amid claims of rampant anti-Semitism on campus and Harvard responding by suing the Trump administration. On Tuesday, the attorneys general of 16 states filed a joint brief with the court defending the government's position, citing precedent for linking federal funds to compliance with anti-discrimination law. The brief states in part, universities that accept federal funding must live up to their obligations to protect Jewish students, just like they

protect students of other nationalities, ethnicities, and religions. ICE has located thousands of migrant children considered missing under the Biden administration. As borders are, Tom Homan tells the New York Post, to Divine, some children were rescued from sex trafficking and slave labor within the U.S. Here's Homan. There was like 300,000 missing children under the last administration. We're out looking for now because, again, we found children working on ranches and chicken fires. We found some in sex trafficking. I mean, we just, I think a two weeks ago, we rescued a 14-year-old that was already

pregnant, living with adult men. Democratic Congresswoman Lamanica McIver pleaded not guilty this morning to charges related to a dust up at an ice facility in Newark. How wrong with you? You don't get to talk to a congresswoman like that. The New Jersey representative visited the facility last month with two other Democratic representatives. Also along for the trip was the Newark mayor who was arrested when he tried to enter the facility after officials asked him to leave. McIver allegedly made physical contact with immigration officers in an attempt. to prevent his arrest. She now faces a three-count indictment for assaulting, impeding, and

interfering with federal officers. Carmelo Anthony, the teen implicated in the tragic stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a Texas track meet, has been charged with first-degree murder. The 17-year-old was indicted by a grand jury and now faces up to life in prison. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis released a video yesterday announcing the indictment. For weeks now, my team has been presenting evidence to the grand jury. And today I summarize that evidence and I asked the grand jury to return a first-degree murder indictment against Carmelo Anthony, which they did. Brian Johnson, the now disgraced fitness influencer and fraudster known as the Liver King,

was arrested after posting a series of strange videos on social media. In more than one clip, Johnson appears to challenge podcaster Joe Rogan to a fight, something he's done multiple times in the past. Joe Rogan, we don't have to make videos. to pretend anymore. All of this is happening. We're coming to you. I've challenged you man to man to a fight.

What I'm hoping is that you, Jim Rogan, are thinking, I'm going to choke that motherfucker out. Lights out. I'm going to choke him out. His arrest was caught on camera, and the footage, which shows him handcuffed

and sitting in the back of a patrol car, was posted on his Instagram page. It's unclear if Rogan, who has never hosted Liver King on his podcast, was the reason he was arrested. Nevertheless, Johnson now, faces a misdemeanor charge of making a terroristic threat. AI has apparently begun resorting to blackmail to achieve its goals.

In a new study, an AI model known as Claude Opus 4 was placed in a fictional company that planned on replacing it. The model was given a false tidbit that the engineer behind this decision was having an extramarital affair. Given the choice between accepting its replacement or blackmailing the engineer, the model chose blackmail almost every time. In other AI news, six out of 10 teachers use AI, but they say it's destroying student critical thinking. The AP reports that a growing number of teachers use AI for lesson planning and grading,

but also worn against students using too much AI for assignments. Some states have guidance for using it in schools, but the rules are not consistently applied. A recent study shows that using AI can decrease critical thinking and learning. And a luxury hotel kicked out guests to make room for Amazon founder, Bezos. Bezos arrived in Venice today with his fiance Lauren Sanchez. The couple rented the entire luxury hotel Amman in preparation for their wedding. Before they arrived, the Amman removed guests to other hotels. The Amman provided transportation and paid for their new rooms. Bezos and his fiance are set to get married this week, but the exact details are not public.

Some Venetians have threatened to shut down the wedding to protest tourism. All right, those are your drive home updates to learn more about these stories. at Dailywire.com, and in case you missed it this morning, we covered some big stories, including Trump's NATO trip, the much-watched New York City mayoral primary, and medical orgs doubling down on transgender procedures for minors. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.