Morning Wire - Laken Riley Act Signed & Cartel Train Heists | Afternoon Update | 1.29.25

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee.com. Head to BlackRifelcoffee.com and use code DailyWire for 20% off your purchase. That's BlackRifelcoffee.com code DailyWire. I'm Georgia Howe with DailyWire, editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, January 29th. And this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced questioning and in many cases fierce opposition from the Senate Finance Committee about his bid to head up health and human services. Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips, has the latest. At the moment, it's unclear whether Kennedy has the votes to be confirmed for the role. Ahead of today's hearing, some of his own family members, including his cousin Caroline Kennedy,

have lambasted him as, quote, dangerous and unqualified to oversee America's Health Bureau. Democrats on the committee attacked previous statements he'd made regarding vaccines and his views on the COVID-19 pandemic. While most Republicans on the committee expressed a favorable view towards Kennedy, some did question his pro-abortion views and how they would impact. his handling of ATS. In one of the many heated exchanges, RFK defended his questioning of the link

between antidepressants and school shooters, telling Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith, it should be studied. Do you think physicians, when they make that prescription, ought of access to good science? Of course they do. And that's all I believe to. And you and I are an agreement, Senator.

And to your point that you made, when you made these statements, it was not based on good science. I don't know what it was based on. I was saying the science needed to be done. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s former running mate is warning senators not to vote against Kennedy's nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary. Nicole Shanahan posted a video on social media vowing to fund primary challengers against lawmakers who vote no. She specifically called out Democrat and Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, and Bernie Sanders.

Shanahan, who is a billionaire, says she's prepared to personally finance efforts to unseat a Republican senator. opponents of his nomination. While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won't. Big Pharma and Big Ag have exploited us for far too long. It ends now. You're either on the side of transparency and accountability, or you are standing in the way. The choice is yours. Please choose wisely.

President Trump has signed the Lake and Riley Act into law. That makes it the first piece of legislation to get his signature since retaking the Oval Office. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret O'Lahan was in the ring. and has the details for us. The bill, named a memory of a nursing student brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant in Georgia, would allow the detention of illegal aliens

accused of theft-related crimes and crimes that result in death or serious bodily injury to another person. Republicans, eager to help the president execute this crackdown, have promised that more measures will follow the Lake and Riley Act despite resistance from some members of the Democratic minority, though some Democrats joined with Republicans to support the bill. Here's President Trump today giving remarks before signing the bill into law.

Today's signings bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities once and for all. And it was just a purely, it's just an unforced error that we even have to be doing this. Now we need Congress to provide full funding for the complete and total restoration of our sovereign borders, as well as financial support to remove record numbers of illegal aliens. Trump also announced that he will sign an executive order to create a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay. He said they need 30,000 beds to house the detainees, adding that putting them there will ensure they do not come back. Here's Trump. Some of them are so bad.

We don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to Guantanamo. This will double our capacity immediately, right? And that's a tough place to get out of. In an effort to cut down the sprawling federal bureaucracy, the Trump administration made an offer to millions of federal employees. Quit now and get paid. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice has more on Trump's resignation invitation. The Office of Personnel Management sent an email yesterday offering employees up to eight months of pay if they resigned by February 6th. The message warned of potential layoffs as the administration moves the downsize agencies and increase workplace standards. The offer excludes military personnel, postal workers, and national security employees.

The White House says the goal is to ensure an efficient federal workforce that operates in person and serves taxpayers effectively. Here's White House Press Secretary Caroline Levin. Six percent of the federal workforce in the city actually shows up to work. That's unacceptable. We're all here at work at the office. There are law enforcement officers and teachers and nurses across the country who showed up to the office today. People in this city need to do the same. This comes as the White House rescinded an order which froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.

The move comes after a federal judge blocked it yesterday, though the White House says it's still committed to freezing any grants or loans supporting woke programs. Nearly a dozen members of the Sinaloa cartel were busted in a train heist involving over $200,000 worth of Nike merch. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce reports. The suspected cartel members allegedly boarded a moving train near Phoenix, severed the brakes to force an emergency stop and then offloaded goods into waiting vehicles. At least nine of those arrested were in the U.S. illegally. Law enforcement says these types of thefts are on the rise, with stolen items often resold online or through California retailers.

The arrests come as the Trump administration moves to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Open AI is accusing Chinese startup DeepSeek of using its technology to develop a competing AI model and says they have proof. Open AI says they believe Deepseek illegally used a technique called distillation to train its AI, violating OpenAI's terms of service. Americans have long been concerned about intellectual property theft from China, particularly in industries like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing. Open AI says it's working closely with the U.S. government to protect its intellectual property.

Morning Wire spoke with futurist Zach Cass about the issue. If you were rooting for or betting on U.S. AI supremacy, this is certainly a moment that would encourage you to think that perhaps the U.S. does not have the AI supremacy that we thought it might. And that controlling chips is not going to be the attack vector in an arms race, so to speak, that we thought it would be. The response, obviously, from the U.S. is going to be to build much more. efficient models. I mean, immediately you are starting to see companies reposition their understanding of what a low-cost model should be. And a powerful storm could bring severe weather, including flash flooding and potential tornadoes to the southern plains and Texas. Damaging winds and hail are expected in the lone star state tonight with storms intensifying across the south tomorrow.

Flash flooding is a major concern from Dallas to Kentucky with up to five inches of rain expected in some areas. A flood watch is in effect for Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. The system is expected to hit the northeast later this week, bringing rain and possible ice and snow to higher elevations. Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. Also, be sure to tune in at 5.30 p.m. Central today

for a DailyWired Town Hall that's going to be live on Daily Wire and other social platforms. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.