Morning Wire - Hormuz Galvanizes Allies & Chavez Abuse Exposed | 3.20.26

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

U.S. allies in Europe and Asia signal support for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices ride the wave of disruption from the Iran conflict, and a New York Times investigation uncovers allegations that Cesar Chavez sexually abused multiple girls and women. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2691- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.Hello Fresh - Go to https://HelloFresh.com/morningwire10fm to Get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box. Offer valid while supplies last.- - -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

Based on statements who were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the play. U.S. allies in Europe and Asia signaled their end on helping open up the Strait of Hormuz following days of pressure from President Trump. Will we see more NATO allies step up? I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, March 20th. This is Morning Wire. As Iran hits another energy center, gas price. prices spike again. How high should Americans expect them to go and is relief on the way? You know, everyone asks, why can't we just pump more here? Well, we can and we will. But that doesn't solve the issue that we are part of the global energy markets. And the legacy of left-wing

labor icon Cesar Chavez is shaken by shocking new allegations. She was 96 and she said that she couldn't let these survivors go on thinking that they were the only ones. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Let me tell you about one of the most concerning threats to your free speech, one that our friends and alliance defending freedom are tackling right now. It's called the Digital Services Act. It's an EU censorship law, but it's having real consequences for free speech all over the

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double. That's join ADF.com slash wire or text wire to 8388 to have your gift matched. U.S. allies in Europe and Asia signal that they, too, may get involved in the war in Iran after pressure from President Trump. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pierce is here to talk about the latest on the war in Iran. First, though, we'd like to note that six American service members who were killed in action were returned this week. Our military leadership honored them at a press conference yesterday. What did we hear at that event? Right. War Secretary Pete Hegsef and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Cain welcomed their caskets back to the States at Dover Air Force Base. and then they honored them and their memory at a press conference yesterday morning.

So now I want to mention their names this morning. From the sixth aerial refueling wing out of McDill Air Force Base, Florida, but stationed as part of an active associate unit at Birmingham, Alabama, Major Alex Clenner, John Alex Clinner, Major, Ariana Savino, she was posthumously promoted from Captain to Major, and technical sergeant Ashley Pruitt, the boom operator on that crew. From the 121st Area of Fueling Ring, Ohio Air National Guard out of Rickenbacker, Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio, Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis, Angt, and now Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, who was also promoted in the boom operator on that crew.

Well, our hearts are with those families. Now, after some initial resistance, it appears there has been some moving. among U.S. allies to get involved in the war in Iran. What are we seeing? Yeah, that's right. Trump has pushed allies in Europe and Asia to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. As you said, that initial resistance seemed to crack a little bit yesterday. NATO chief, Mark Ruta, is one of the most significant voices here, and here he was recognizing the world's interest in securing the strait. When it comes to the Hormuz trade, everybody agrees. This trade cannot stay closed. It has to

open up again as soon as possible. I'm confident that allies, as always, will do everything in support of our shared interests. Japanese Prime Minister Sinai Takeichi met with President Trump at the White House yesterday, and she had a similar message. I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world. And to do so, I am ready to reach out to many of the partners in the international community to achieve our objective together. Now, of course, words are a long way from action, but it does look like Trump's pressure is having an impact. And a big reason for that could be that Europe wants to avoid charges of hypocrisy over its request for USA to Ukraine. Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton,

who is not a friend of the president now, made that point yesterday. Kaya Kallas is one of those, the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Policy, who has been saying, Iran is not Europe's war. That kind of rhetoric could very well lead Donald Trump to say, well, all right, it's not Europe's war. Guess what? Ukraine is not America's war. And we'll have to see if any of this actually translates to concrete support for the U.S. in Hormuz. Now, what's the latest on the war itself? The administration recently asked Congress for an additional $200 billion in funding for the military. How is it justifying that request? Yes, as Hegsteth said yesterday morning, it takes money to kill bad guys.

And he says the military has been doing a lot of that and intends to do a lot more. To date, we've struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure. That is not incremental. That is overwhelming force applied with precision. As I've said from day one, our capabilities continue to build. Iran's continue to degrade. Trump also noted later at the White House that the military needs the funds for other operations as well. On the status of the actual war, Trump and Hegsseth said yesterday that Iran's leadership has been decimated.

And then the Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said yesterday that there are now defections at all levels of the Iranian regime. And that it will likely collapse soon and that will trigger a new phase that would hopefully include the rise of a better government with support from the Iranian people. Well, hopefully so and hopefully sooner rather than later. Tim, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me on. Nothing beats cooking at home. sponsor, Hello Fresh, you can do it more often this year. Easy recipes that taste great and make you feel good because bringing everyone together on a busy week night doesn't have to be

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FM to get 10 free meals and a freeze willing knife, a $145 value on your third box. Offer valid while supplies last, free meals applied as a discount on the first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. Global oil prices surge as the disruption and energy production and distribution from the Iran operation continues to snowball. Joining us now to discuss is Victoria Coates, a foreign policy expert at Heritage Foundation and the former senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. Victoria, thank you so much for coming on.

Of course. Happy to. So let's start here at home. We've seen gas prices rise dramatically in the last few days. I know I have personally. What should Americans be bracing for? How high will prices go? Well, this is obviously a very strong concern, and it's not lost on anyone in the White House,

including President Trump, that the American midterms are coming and that gas prices over the summer are going to be a major issue. So they have every incentive in the world to bring this conflict to a close as soon as they efficiently can. And I think you'll see those prices start to come down actually quite quickly because there's a glut of oil on the water that can't move. The minute the straight is opened, that oil can start moving. And we also have this additional capacity in terms of pipelines that we've been using as a stopgap. We can keep maximizing that, say, 8 million barrels a day going through Saudi Petroline. They usually don't use it that way. We could keep that oil pumping if they're willing to up production and really, you know, get a lot of product

in the market very quickly. You'll see those prices come right on down. Right. The Saudi pipeline is crucial here. Can you unpack that for our audience? What exactly are they doing now and how is it different than what they usually do? Well, this is really an interesting case. So the Saudis built this pipeline, Petroline, from Abakak, which folks might remember from the 2019 attack, it's their big oil processing plant on the Persian Gulf, to Yanbu, which is a port north of Jeddah on the Red Sea. And they built it in the 80s because of the Iran-Iraq War. There was something called the Tanker wars, not dissimilar to what we're seeing today, where Iran-Ura. in Iraq, we're attacking each other's tankers in the Gulf, the situation was really unstable.

And the Saudis smartly said, why on earth, you know, don't we have another way to get our product out? And they built this pipeline. And so, you know, we've seen it used for a couple hundred thousand barrels a day, not a massive amount. But the beginning of this conflict, they ramped it up to five million barrels a day. And then the CEO of Aramco, I mean Nasser, came out a couple of days ago and said, we think we can go as high as eight. So that's not the 20 million a day we're used to getting out of the Gulf, but it's a big chunk of it. And it's the reason why all of the experts that were producing $200 a barrel oil, that has not come to fruition. Now, Japan is one of the countries saying it will assist in opening the Strait of Hormuz. Is that surprising? And what kind of a

difference can that make? This is a really interesting pattern I've traced with President Trump, where he says to the Europeans, I need you to do something. They say absolutely not. It's impossible. We never will. And he goes, I really need you to do it. And they come back and say, okay. So, you know, it's a little bit like NATO spending. They know it's the right thing to do. They know they should do it. And now they're going to find a way to help. So we're going to have the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and maybe Denmark coming along with us to help. They all have competent navies. That's important. But then for a country like, like Japan, which since the Second World War, for excellent reasons, has had very limited military capability. They say they want to help. What can they do? They can provide minesweepers. That's something they have because it's something they're concerned about in the event of conflict with China. And it's an important topic more broadly because Prime Minister Takeichi She has been working with her parliament to change those constitutional restrictions, increase their military capability. They can be a really key partner going forward for the United States.

And they're signaling the willingness to do this is a really good sign for that relationship. Final question. Is there any sort of timeline for when gas prices could return to what they were before the strikes started? Well, I don't know that we're going to get quite as low as they were because of the disruption of the war. But I would certainly say by mid-May, you're going to be down right in that ballpark. So right in time for Memorial Day travel. Let's certainly hope. So, Victoria, thank you so much for coming on.

A New York Times investigation has uncovered decades-old allegations that Cesar Chavez, one of the left's most revered heroes, sexually abused, multiple girls and women. Here with the details is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. So, Megan, these claims include grooming girls starting as young as eight, age 12. The fallout is already seismic. First, for people who are not familiar, who is Cesar Chavez? Yeah, so Cesar Chavez was the face of the farm workers movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He led the famous grape boycott. I remember that when I was a child. He helped organize unions for people picking crops and is considered by some an icon of Latino civil rights. Now, toward the end of his

life and after his death, Democrats moved to solidify his legacy as an American hero. There are schools, there are streets named after him, particularly in the southwest and in California. You will see a number of states like Nevada, Arizona, Utah celebrate Cesar Chavez Day. And when he was a senator in 2008, Barack Obama actually moved to make it a federal holiday, but that never actually gained traction. But that's precisely why Georgia, these allegations are so explosive. They've really struck at the heart of what his legacy was. Now, were there rumors about this before, or is this truly new information? Well, you know, what I can tell you, Georgia, is that I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley,

and I made a few calls to some old farm executives that my family knows. And what I've been told is that it was at least known that Cesar Chavez's personal morals were malnutia. let's say. But I think if you speak to younger people in the labor union movement, they're not aware of it. They're saying this is news to them. In fact, we spoke to attorney, author, and abuse survivor Jody Neal, who has worked in civil rights organizing herself. And she told us these allegations were completely unknown to her. I think the more we learn about, unfortunately, some men in power, you know, it's really, it's not that big of a shock that someone who had access to vulnerable women of all different ages for a long time might do something like this. But it's, I think it actually is a pretty

big shock. What are the specific allegations here? Yeah, Georgia, I don't think that this story would be the bombshell that it is if it did not include Dolores Huerta. She was Chavez's longtime partner in the movement who founded the United Farm Workers with him. Well, she's 96 now. and she told the times that she never disclosed her story before because she didn't want to hurt the movement. But she alleges that he assaulted her twice. One encounter she described as coercive and the other she described as violent rape. Now, Neil told us that having one survivor come forward does give others courage to do so. And that seems to have been what happened here with Huerta. She had kept a secret for 40 some odd years, you know, even longer. And I'm just so I'm getting choked up thinking about what it meant. for her to be able to make this disclosure, and it is nothing short of seismic.

Now, I want to ask you about the other two allegations. We don't know a lot of specifics yet, but we do know they involved minors. What do we know? Yeah, these are arguably even more serious, as they involve two girls who would have been 12 and 13 at the time that they allege the grooming by Chavez started. So one says it began at 13 and continued for years. Another says that the inappropriate touching began at 12, and Chavez began to sexually abuse her fully, starting at 15. So you're seeing a lot of organizations, including the Caesar Chavez Foundation itself, calling for his holiday to be canceled this year. You're seeing Texas and Arizona announcing that they're canceling their Caesar Chavez Day celebrations.

Now, Chavez is a revered character on the left due to his ties to the labor movement. How are Democrats responding to this news? I think this unquestionably puts them in an awkward position, Georgia. It's especially awkward for California governor Gavin Newsom, who has said that Cesar Chavez is the first picture that he wakes up to every day. How many photographs I have in my house of Bobby Kennedy and Cesar Chavez. I woke up this morning. It was right there.

And so it's been hard to absorb this. In the meantime, the L.A. Times is reporting there are already efforts underway to remove his name from parks, from streets, from schools, and in fact, the famous Cesar Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles is already being looked at as one of those that will change. Well, it sounds like a cancellation a lot of people can get behind. Megan, thanks for reporting. Yeah, my pleasure, Georgia. Thanks for waking up with us.

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