Morning Wire - Explosive Robinson Trial Evidence Revealed & Platner Suspends Campaign | 7.9.26 | 7.9.26

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

President Trump unloads on the Iranian regime as the conflict reignites, the preliminary hearing in the Tyler Robinson case reveals multiple bombshells, including never-before-seen surveillance footage, and as the Cuban energy crisis grows, Raul Castro’s heir says he’s ready to make a deal with the U.S. — but dissidents want the dictatorial regime gone. Reporting from Mary Margaret Olohan & Lynden Blake. Plus, we speak with Rosa María Payá. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2882- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Lean - Get 20% off when you enter code WIRE at https://TakeLean.comShopify - Sign up for your $1-per-month trial and start selling today at https://Shopify.com/wire- - -Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacymorning 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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They want to make a deal, but they don't know how to make a deal, and then they go around shooting ships at night. They deal with great people, but I don't know. I think they're a little loco. They're a little crazy. Is the peace deal really dead, and where do things stand now with our NATO allies? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, July 9th, and this is Morning Wire. This week's hearings in the Tyler Robinson case have revealed multiple bombshells, including never-before-seen surveillance footage.

We break down the biggest revelations. How long is he out there on the edge of the building? Just until the reported shot was fired. As the Cuban energy crisis grows, Raul Castro's heir says he's ready to make a deal with the U.S. But dissidents say the only solution is for the dictatorial regime to go. The only way to overcome this catastrophe is for the dictatorship to leave. And embattled Maine Democrat Graham Platner suspends his campaign. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned with the news you need to know. After yet more attacks from Iran, President Trump said yesterday he's washing his hands of the deal. Meanwhile, the president wrapped up the NATO summit with some big wins and some big drama. Joining us now from D.C. as our White House correspondent. Mary Margaret O'Lean. Great to have you on. Great to be here. All right. So Trump really busy overseas a lot of major headlines coming out of it, including more strikes on Iran, Tangle with Spain. I want to get to all this. First, the latest on Iran, we did initiate more strikes. What are we hearing from the president on that and what should we expect? So President Trump called off the deal with

Iran early on Wednesday from NATO. He was defending overnight. strikes against Iran and he accused of Iran of violating our ceasefire by attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. He said on Wednesday that he doesn't want to deal with Iran anymore and he had some very choice words for them, calling the Iranian scum and sick people and even saying at one point that they were cuckoo. And he says that they say they want peace and then, you know, they'll make a deal with the Trump administration behind doors and everything will look great.

And the president and his administration will announce that things are going well and they're getting towards a deal. And then, according to the president, and we've seen this play out several times, the Iranians will go do a press conference and say, nope, we didn't make any deal. The Americans are lying. So President Trump says he's sick of this kind of behavior. He's done with it. He did say later on Wednesday that his negotiators are still engaged in negotiating with Iran. But he kind of essentially said he's washing his hands of it. He's very frustrated and the ceasefire is off for now. And what had happened was for a little bit of context that U.S. Central Command had announced that we had struck more than eight.

80 Iranian targets, including air defense systems, missile sites, and many Islamic revolutionary guard corps boats after Iran had attacked three commercial vessels in the strait. Iran then responded by launching missiles at U.S. military installations in Bahrain and in Kuwait. Now, Trump also warned Iran that on Wednesday night, he had plans to strike them very, very hard, emphasizing repeatedly throughout Wednesday that he was very unhappy with Iran and they needed to be on their guard and prepared for more retaliation from the United States.

All right, so a lot of kinetic activity going on. In fact, probably more going on as this airs early this morning. As far as NATO, has this changed the conversation inside NATO, this, you know, re-engagement with Iran? Obviously, this had a lot of impact on conversations in Ankara, Turkey.

But there were so many topics at hand and so many conversations to be had. For example, when it came to the matter of Spain. President Trump is very, very angry and frustrated with Spain. He had some harsh words for them describing the country as a, quote, wasted cause and saying he doesn't want to do any more trade business with Spain because of how they rejected committing to a new NATO defense spending benchmark. He said that they're the only member of the NATO alliance to reject that proposal. And he said, Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with

Spain anymore. They're a terrible partner in NATO. They don't participate. They don't pay. I don't want anything to do with Spain. And in Trump's view, Spain kind of benefits from this alliance without doing anything to contribute. And so his basic view is if they don't pay, he doesn't want anything to do with them. Now, as we said at the top, a lot of headlines coming out about this. And usually headlines do tend to focus on conflict. But there was also some significant agreement coming out of NATO.

Can you speak to that? Yeah. So things ended on a largely good note on Wednesday before the president headed off. For example, Trump gave remarks where he took. talked about how there was tremendous unity among the world leaders. Now, the day had started off a little rocky when Trump scared everyone by talking about Greenland. These world leaders are not super excited about this conversation. And every time it happens, John, the legacy press gets really excited to talk about how Trump is angering all these world leaders. But the NATO summit on Wednesday

did end on a good note talking about this tremendous unity. He also praised NATO Secretary General, Mark Ruda, who also praised Trump in return. So things appeared to be pretty stable. And as far as the president's interactions with these world leaders go, you know, the president certainly is very, very good at maintaining relationships with the leaders who already has good relationships with. And, you know, there was a little bit of a surprising exchange between him and Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. We were informed that Trump has decided, and he told the whole world this, and possibly Zelensky at the same time, that we've decided to give Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot Air Defense system. So rather than

the U.S. supplying these Patriot missiles to Ukraine, we're going to be helping them produce the missiles themselves. And those missile interceptors are probably one of Ukraine's most important military needs and one of their best defenses against Russian ballistic missiles. So big day for Vladimir Zelensky, a big gift from the United States in that way. Well, Mary Margaret, we always appreciate you. Bring us the inside scoop from the White House. Thanks for having me. Pretty much every day on this show, we talk about people building things. businesses, products, brands, but getting started is usually the hardest part. That's one reason

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That's Shopify.com slash morning wire to start your free trial. This episode is sponsored by Brickhouse News News. nutrition. Everybody knows someone right now who's talking about weight loss injections. And to be fair, the results can be dramatic. But a lot of people are also hesitant about weekly injections. That's why more people, including some here at the Daily Wire, have been looking into Lean from Brickhouse Nutrition. Lean is a doctor-developed weight loss supplement, and several people around the Daily Wire team have talked about how helpful it is for controlling cravings and staying more consistent with healthier eating habits. The ingredients in Lean are backed by research showing that they can help lower blood sugar

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That's promo code Wire at takelein.com. The preliminary hearings and the Charlie Kirk murder trial have set social media ablaze with brand new and potentially consequential evidence. Joining us to discuss

the most significant revelations from the hearing is Daily Wire Reporter and host of that so criminal Lyndon Blake. So we've all been covering this trial very closely and just in the past few days we've had this preliminary hearing

and we've seen some bombshell evidence come out. Can you just give us some of the top line items that people are really talking about? Yeah, of course. I think the biggest thing that has been talked about evidence-wise has been the DNA evidence that we've talked about for the first time. You had a DNA analyst that was called by the defense. Plus, you had a prosecution witness both say that Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson's roommate lover,

and Tyler Robinson's DNA were both found on pieces of evidence that was from the crime scene. On the towel that was found wrapped around the rifle that the prosecution is saying Tyler Robinson used, there is 95% of the DNA mixture that identified with Tyler Robinson's DNA, and there was 5% that was Lance Twiggs' DNA on the screwdriver that was found at the crime scene as well. 89% was Tyler Robinson's DNA, 11% Lance Twigs. Another big piece of evidence from day two was this new surveillance footage, and this was a lot of surveillance footage from Utah Valley's campus, showing Tyler Robinson spending time on campus hours before the shooting, hours after the shooting, and the prosecution is saying that they think the person on the surveillance footage is Tyler Robinson,

and their witness, who is a former investigator on this case, David Hull said yes that he has identified the person on the surveillance footage as Tyler Robinson. And during this video, you're seeing him first show up in the morning hours in a maroon t-shirt, khaki shorts, and David Hull made a note that said he had on Converse shoes. That comes into play a little bit later. And you saw Tyler Robinson pull up in this car, walk around campus, and then he left for the first time. Then Robinson comes back to campus.

Each chick-fil-A leaves again, then comes back for a third. third time, and that's when you have the image that everyone saw on the news screens back in September of the person of interest, those blue jeans, black shirt, ball cap. And then the officer said on the witness stand, it was worth noting same shoes as before, those same converses. And that's when you have this video showing the person they say is Tyler Robinson limping up the stairs, something weird going on with his leg, and you got a lot of up-closed shots of that as he was navigating the parking garage. Another thing that the defense has really questioned the same officer, Officer Hull on is this other bullet that was found on a different rooftop than what the prosecution is

saying, Tyler Robinson, took the shot from. And the defense, of course, their job is to create doubt, poke holes. So they're asking, is this normal? How did this bullet get on this other rooftop? Was it a casing? Was it an actual bullet? Tell me about it. And Officer Hull says to his understanding he thinks it was from an officer with a different agency and they were trying to clear their weapon, and that's how the bullet came out. So there's been some interesting details that the public just didn't know at this point. One more thing that has been a big talking point from the preliminary hearing so far is the prosecution has started to bring up motive. And on Wednesday, they tried to bring up the motive saying that Tyler Robinson didn't have the same views as Charlie Kirk, political views. there was some biblical references into this written statement they were given to the judge as evidence.

And there was a big debate from the defense saying, hey, this is not accurately telling you, Mr. Robinson's state of mind. There was this big argument of when politics and religion intersect. And eventually the judge did rule, okay, provisionally, we're going to admit this statement from a turning point board member as evidence. And then we'll view the relevancy later. that is important because this is not a trial, this is a preliminary hearing. So there is a lot of evidence that is called hearsay evidence. So just to clarify, we're seeing more evidence this week than would actually be included in the final trial. They call it sometimes an evidential hearing where stuff is being admitted, some stuff is being thrown out. I like to describe this as you're not going to see the most evidence or maybe even sometimes the biggest piece of evidence because the burden for the prosecution is so low. The evidence that the judge is viewing, favors the state. So favors the prosecution, and that is per law. So the burden is low. You don't have to prove too much. You just have to prove that Tyler Robinson probably killed Charlie Kirk, and the judge would decide to send this to trial. So theoretically, they could be holding back some of their

best evidence for the trial that still could be forthcoming? For sure. Theoretically, 100%. Now, you've watched every minute of these hearings. From your vantage point, is the state's case overwhelming and strong. I think the prosecution easily has enough to take this to trial. You've seen who officers who respond to the scene have identified as Tyler Robinson through facial features, through his car license plate. You've seen a lot of that. The DNA evidence is there showing Tyler Robinson's DNA on weapons found at the crime scene. So that's enough, in my opinion, right there. I've talked to experts that have been criminal defense attorneys for decades. And they say the defense is doing a good job of making, quote, headway. That is just meaning that they are doing their job of creating doubt. They're trying to create doubt in the story, create doubt in the methods that the experts have used to get to their DNA findings. It's a quintessential trial prosecution versus defense. And as we've seen right now, and Judge Tony Graf has done a good job this week of being a very fair judge, in my opinion. It really is beneficial to watch this preliminary hearing to get to understand of what evidence is being laid out.

so you can better understand when the trial comes, if the trial comes. Well, I know you've been covering this live, and I appreciate you taking time out of your day to cover this with us. Thanks so much. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager.

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Joining us now is Rosa Maria Paya, head of Cuba Decides and the leader of the Freedom Accord. Rosa, thanks for coming on. Thank you. Good morning. First, you are working as part of a coalition of Cuban citizens and exiles who have put together a transition plan that can be implemented when or if this regime fails. Can you just inform our audience about your work and what you do? Yes, I was born and raised in Cuba. I have been in exile for the last 13 years. My father was a leader of the Cuban opposition. He was murdered by the Cuban regime. Since then, we have been following up his legacy and from the Cuban opposition, the dissident movement on island and in exile, working together and providing the Cuban people with a peaceful solution that can be the transition

process towards democracy that is required right now. Now, with Cuba continuing to spiral with their energy crisis, like John mentioned, the grandson of Raul Castro is now signaling that significant reforms could be coming. Should those claims from him be taken seriously? The whole USA today piece and what we have been listening from the Cuban regime is an effort to try to sell reforms without actually opened the country to the deep political transformation that is required to overcome the catastrophe. catastrophe. And that's why what we are saying is the solution starts with the end of the dictatorship, and that requires that the Castro family leaves power. And do you believe the U.S. is going to work out some sort of deal with the regime, or are they fully set on getting the Castro regime out of power?

I think that President Trump and Secretary Rubio have been very clear on the fact that the Cuban regime, that dictatorship that this Raul Guillermo Castro is the enforcer of is a threat to the national security of the U.S. The only contribution that the enforcer of the dictator can do right now is to live and to take his family with him. So the promise of reforms won't save the regime. It's a fraudulent change. It's just an expression of the first. fear and the panic that the generals in power have right now. So do you believe that we will actually see regime change in Cuba and the establishment of a legitimate democracy? And if so, how soon could we see that?

I think that we are standing at the threshold of freedom. And that's because the Cuban people are demanding and fighting for East. That's because of the actions of the U.S. government and from the opposition and the civil society and the government. side, we are united to provide a plan for the day after. The situation on Ireland is unsustainable. This change needs to happen. But for us, for the Cuban people, this is existential. And we're going to keep fighting for it because it's our only hope to overcome the crisis and to transform Cuba into the prosperous country that it could be. While many Cubans have been waiting for generations for this, and like you said, we could be on the threshold here. Rosa, thanks for coming on.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. Another story we're tracking. Main Democrat Graham Platner announced last night that he is suspending his campaign for Senate. He made the announcement in an 11-minute video statement in which he said he will formally withdraw from the Senate race. The reason he said is not the allegations against him, including rape, but that the Democratic Party had pulled its support. As to the claims against him, he continues to insist they're all false. Platner must officially file his withdrawal by 5 p.m. Monday, July 13th, for the Democratic Party to install a new nominee on the ballot against incumbent Senator Susan Collins.

Thanks for waking up with us. The reporting that fuels this show is only possible because you tune in every day and because of our Daily Wire subscribers. To enjoy the show, ad-free and join our mission, become a member at Dailywire.com. We'll be back this evening. More news you need to know.