Morning Wire - NSA Chat Crackdown & Bondi Warns Maine | Afternoon Update | 2.26.25

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Trump convenes his first cabinet meeting, DNI Tulsi Gabbard brings accountability to the NSA, and the race for Florida’s governor heats up. Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Beam: Head to https://shopbeam.com/WIRE and use code WIRE at checkout for up to 40% off. Old Glory Bank: Go to https://oldglorybank.com/wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can ACTUALLY trust. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Beam. Groggin exhausted is no way to start off your day, which is why we're introducing Beam's dream powder, a science-backed healthy hot cocoa for sleep. Head to shopbeam.com slash wire and use code wire at checkout for up to 40% off. President Trump holds his first cabinet meeting, Tulsi Gabbard cracks down on the NSA,

and the race for Florida's governor heats up. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, February 26th, And this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. President Trump convened his first cabinet meeting of his new term today with a special focus on Elon Musk's Doge overhaul. Musk has defended his push for accountability after some agency leaders resisted his directive asking employees to justify their weekly work. Trump backed Musk warning non-compliant workers they could be fired. Those people are on the bubble, as they say.

Maybe they're going to be gone. Maybe they're not around. Maybe they have other jobs. maybe they moved and they're not where they're supposed to be. A lot of things could have happened. I wouldn't say that Biden ran a very tight administration. They spent money like nobody's ever spent money before. Today's meeting comes as the administration issued a memo to all federal agencies

directing them to plan for sweeping layoffs of federal workers. This morning, we reported on NSA employees using the agency's classified messaging platform for explicit discussions. Now, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is cracking down. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice has more. Gabbert announced Tuesday that over 100 federal employees will be terminated and stripped of security clearances for participating in obscene chat rooms on the NSA's Interlink system. The conversations uncovered by the Manhattan Institute's Christopher Rufo and Hannah Grossman allegedly focused on personal sexual experiences under the guise of DEI initiatives. Gabbert called the behavior an egregious violation of trust and vowed further action as part of the Trump administration's push for accountability.

Here she is on Fox News. These are exactly the kind of people that we need to root out, get rid of, so that the patriots who do work in this area, who are committed to our core mission, can actually focus on that. I have people within the intelligence community reaching out to me personally and directly saying, hey, you need to know about this. You need to look over here. people are stepping forward because they are all on board with the mission to clean house and refocus on our core mission of serving the American people. Homeland Security Secretary Christine Noam has announced a new illegal alien registry. It would require fingerprinting and enforce long-ignored immigration laws from 1952.

DHS says migrants who fail to register or self-deport could face criminal charges, fines, or imprisonment. The administration hopes self-deportation will be a safer alternative. Here's Noam on Fox News. It's safer for our communities. It saves us taxpayer dollars. And it allows them an opportunity to come back to this country and to be an American and to live the American dream, which is truly what our history is all about. So, yes, Jesse, this is not a new law.

I'm just announcing that I'm going to enforce our law. This episode is brought to you by Old Glory Bank. Co-founded in 2022 by Dr. Ben Carson, Larry Elder, and John Rich, Old Glory Bank now serves tens of thousands of customers in all 50 states. Go to Old Glorybank.com slash wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can actually trust. Hermit Dylan, Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights, appeared before a Senate panel today. Dylan took aim at transgender ideology and DEI proposals during her opening statement, specifically referencing the intrusion of males into women's sports.

She also mentioned that educational opportunities should be based on merit. While Dylan said all of her legal analysis would start with the Constitution, not partisan politics, there were still a few tense exchanges with Democrats. Here's a bit from her opening statement. I will bring my decades of experience as an attorney fighting for the rights of the defense lists to work every day. I will start every analysis with the Constitution. I will respect the words of statutes and the teachings of the courts, even if I disagree with them, though I will act within the law to challenge legal rulings I believe are wrong or statutes I believe are unconstitutional.

What I will never do is use the DOJ Civil Rights Division as a partisan tool to push a political agenda. The Department of Justice stands for justice for all Americans. Attorney General Pam Bondi is warning Maine to get with the program on protecting women's sports or face consequences. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olaan has the latest. On Tuesday, Bondi sent letters to officials in Maine, Minnesota, and California, reminding them of President Trump's executive order that bans men who identify as women from female sports. She vowed to use, quote, every legal option necessary to enforce compliance. The move also follows a tense exchange between Trump and the governor of Maine, Janet Mills,

who has refused to follow his order. Trump warned that Maine could lose federal funding with the administration already launching Title IX investigations into state agencies. This also comes after the Maine State House censured state representative Laurel Libby. Here's what she told Morning Wire. I am considering all legal options because I don't believe that this censure is constitutional. Mainers absolutely align with 80% of Americans who do not believe that biological males should be participating in female sports. It's not fair. And Mainers understand that. I have been hearing

from hundreds and hundreds of Maine people who are fired up. Some didn't know this was going on. Some did, but didn't know what they could do. And man, they are ready to take action. speak up for our girls. A couple weeks ago, Libby posted a picture to social media of a trans-identifying male high school student who won the state's girls' poll vaulting championship, shining a light on the state's blatant disregard for Trump's order. Libby is now barred from voting or speaking on the House floor until she issues an apology. The 2006 race for Florida governor is beginning to take shape as Florida Congressman Byron

Donald's throws his hat into the ring. Speaking to Sean Hannity last night, Donald's says his decision came after a lot of prayer and discussion with family. Ron DeSantis has done a tremendous job for our state, but now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country. And so that's going to be the mission at hand. Donald's has already received President Trump's endorsement. Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis has yet to endorse anyone, as speculation grows that his wife, Casey DeSantis, may also run. And Jeff Bezos announced the Washington Post opinion section will be firmly on the side of promoting personal liberties and free markets.

Here with Morris Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham. In a statement, Bezos said the paper will cover other topics too, but he said viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others. Now, despite some backlash, Bezos doubled down on that stance, stating, I'm confident that free markets and personal liberties, are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I'm excited for us together to fill that void. The move, however, has sparked outrage from left-leaning readers and staff, including the

resignation of the Post's current opinion editor. All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon to learn more about these stories. Go to Dailywire.com, and in case you missed it this morning, we covered some big stories, including the budget battle in the house. SSAs shift away from their mission and New York's corrections officer strike. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.