Morning Wire - Evening Wire: US Considers Strikes? & Biden Coverup Hearing | 6.17.25

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Trump lays out the endgame for Iran and reverses deportation exemptions for farms and hotels, and FBI head Kash Patel uncovers an alleged Chinese plot to interfere in the 2020 election. Get the facts first on Evening Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump lays out the end game for Iran and reverses deportation exemptions for farms and hotels. And FBI head Kash Patel uncovers an alleged Chinese plot to interfere in the 2020 election. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, June 17th, and this is Evening Wire. Tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate as White House officials say U.S. strikes on Iran remain under active consideration. Daily Wire, Deputy Managing editor, Tim Rice, has the latest. President Trump met with his national security team in the Situation Room after posting on social media that America knows where the Ayatollah is hiding, calling the Supreme Leader an easy target. The president's truth social post went on to say that American patience is wearing thin and later demanded Iran's unconditional surrender.

The Pentagon is now rapidly reinforcing U.S. military presence in the region. Additional F-16, F-22, and F-35 fighter jets are being deployed, while the USS Nimitz carrier strike group is, joining the USS Carl Vinson in the Middle East. President Trump explained his ultimate goal in the conflict between Israel and Iran this morning, and it's not a ceasefire. Here's the president on Air Force 1 when asked about his aims for the war. What specifically is better than a ceasefire? The president also made clear on truth social early Tuesday morning that he had not reached out to Iran for peace talks in any way, shape, or form, calling such claims more highly fabricated fake news. He added that Iran should have taken the deal that was on the table, it would have saved a lot of lives.

The Israeli defense forces killed another top Iranian military leader, just days after taking out his predecessor. IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani announced early this morning that for the second time in days, the IDF has eliminated the most senior military commander of the Iranian regime, Ali Shadmani. Shoshani also explained why so few Iranian missiles were fired toward Israel last night. More than a third of their missile launchers, we have been able to eliminate. We have been able in many dozens of occasions to find those missiles in real time in Iran. We're intercepting them in Iran now and not intercepting them above our skies. The Trump administration has reversed its exemptions for deportations in the farming and hotel industries.

New Department of Homeland Security Guidance last week exempted some industries, including farming and hospitality from deportation operations. President Trump was questioned by reporters last week about the rationale behind the policy. Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that. We can't take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don't have

maybe what they're supposed to have, maybe not. And you know what's going to happen and what is happening? They get rid of some of the people. And then you know what happens? They end up hiring the people, the criminals that have come in, the murder is from prisons and everything else. But after conservative pushback and new White House directives, DHS told staff Monday that it's reversed the guidance

and agents must continue conducting immigration raids at farms, hotels, and restaurants. The Washington Post reports that the reversal comes after the White House made clear over the weekend that they did not support it. Chicago has officially cut off their website that allowed illegal immigrants to obtain IDs. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more. The City Key program was introduced by Democrats and allows illegal immigrants to get IDs regardless of legal status or criminal history.

With the Biden-era migrant surge overwhelming cities like Chicago, officials expanded City Key to online applications, creating digital records that ICE is now targeting under President Trump's renewed deportation crackdown. Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, claims the city won't turn over any data to federal authorities and accused Trump of conducting a witch hunt to intimidate illegal immigrants. The city also argues it's not required to comply with ISIS subpoena, but if federal agents obtain a court order, a legal showdown could follow.

This comes just a day after Trump doubled down on his deportation efforts in Democrat-led cities like Chicago. New data out of the media research center shows just how much left-leaning networks have leaned on the peaceful protest rhetoric. According to MRC shows on CNN and MSNBC label, the violent anti-ice riots in L.A. as peaceful 211 times between June 7th and 11th. Despite alarming videos of cars on fire, assaults on law enforcement, and far-reaching chaos in L.A., anchors on the networks repeatedly downplayed riots. Critics say the coverage reflects media bias,

shielding left-wing protests from criticism, even as law enforcement faced life-threatening violence. Senate Republicans are looking to get to the bottom of what they say was a major cover-up of President Biden's mental decline. Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Press to Giacomo has more. GOP lawmakers alleged that Biden's inner circle and friendly media outlets concealed his deteriorating cognitive health, raising constitutional concerns over who was truly steering the ship. Senator Eric Schmidt called the alleged cover-up a threat to the nation and to the rule of law. Tomorrow's hearing will be led by Schmidt and Senator John Cornyn and will feature former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer, former DOJ official, Theodore Walde,

and constitutional law scholar John Harrison. Senator Schmidt told Morningwire that the American people deserve to know who knew what, when, what should have been seen and what should have been done about it. I chair the Senate, the judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution. Having a functioning president

is actually kind of an important thing in our constitutional order. And I think this scandal's bigger than Watergate, but everybody's very eager to sweep it under the rug, and I just don't think the American people should accept that. Meanwhile, House Republicans are pursuing a parallel investigation. Look for our interview with Senator Schmidt in tomorrow morning's episode. The FBI has delivered thousands of pages of intelligence to Congress detailing an alleged

Chinese plot to interfere in the 2020 election. Daily Wire reporter Marita Lorty has the details. While the exact details are not public, a confidential source told the New York Post that the plot involved thousands of fake U.S. driver's licenses, which would have been used to register fake voters who would cast mail-in ballots for then-candidate Joe Biden. The FBI caught wind of the plot in August of 2020, but it appears the matter was not fully investigated. FBI director Cash Patel has declassified the original report and sent it over to Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for additional vetting.

Disgraced former Senator Bob Menendez reported to prison today, beginning an 11-year sentence after being convicted on charges of bribery last year. Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, served in the Senate for nearly two decades. He was first charged with corruption in 2015, but the original case was dropped after his first trial resulted in a hung jury. The second 2023 investigation found gold bars on Mercedes-Benz and nearly half a million in cash stashed in Menendez's home. The senator was found guilty of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the governments

of Egypt and Qatar and abusing his position for their benefit. Brendan Paul, an alleged drug mule for the disgraced music mogul Sean Diddy Combs has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony against his former associate. Combs has been accused of using his fame and fortune to coerce women, including former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, into so-called freakoffs at debached parties and has been charged with racketeering and sex trafficking. Combs' defense has argued that all sexual activity was consensual and that Combs' personal behavior while abusive, did not qualify as trafficking or rape. Blue-collar workers have seen wage growth of 1.7% since President Trump began his second term. This is the largest increase for any administration in almost 60 years, and contrasts the Biden administration's negative growth. President Trump is the only president to report positive growth

for blue-collar workers in his first five months since Richard Nixon in 1969. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said the only other time when wage growth has been this high was President Trump's first term. No president has done that before. And why is that? It's a president's emphasis on manufacturing. I think there's also likely a component of whether it's 12 or 20 million illegal aliens coming out of the workforce.

Kraft Heinz says it will remove all FDNC artificial dyes from its products in the U.S. by 2027. The umbrella brand Kraft also said they will not launch any new products in the U.S. with artificial colors. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has focused much of his time on phasing artificial dyes out of food and drugs, and the FDA banned Red Number 3 earlier this year after linking it to cancer in animals. Hines said it uses artificial colors and a small number of its products due to the FDA's previous approval, but it will start cutting them out now. And Anderson Cooper just hired a Hollywood super agent, a move that suggests his time at CNN may be coming to an end.

The agent's clients include George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Brad Pitt. Some outlets say Cooper's salary is $18 million a year, though CNN disputes that number and will not confirm an actual salary. Cooper's move comes amid rumored budget cuts at the network and follows a slew of layoffs. The media group that owns CNN recently announced plans to restructure and cut costs across its networks. Other CNN anchors that have left in recent years include Jim Acosta, Don Lemon, and Chris Wallace. All right, those are your drive home updates. To learn more about these stories, go to DailyWire.com, and in case you missed it this morning,

we covered some major stories, including Trump ordering the evacuation of Tehran as strikes escalate, Trump doubling down on deportations in blue cities, and new allegations against Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morningwire.