Morning Wire - Pope Francis Tributes & “King of Kings” Box Office | Afternoon Update | 4.21.25

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Renewal by Andersen: Buy one window or door and get one 40% off plus an additional $45 off each window/door with a minimum purchase of four. Text WIRE to 400-400 for a FREE in-home consultation. Vanta: Get $1,000 off Vanta at https://vanta.com/morningwire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Balance of Nature. Get your daily dose of fruits and veggies that you can take anywhere. Head to Balanceofnature.com and use promo code Wire for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer, plus get a free bottle of fiber and spice. That's Balance of Nature.com promo code Wire. Pope Francis passes away at age 88. The stock market dips again, and China threatens to punish countries that make deals with Trump. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.

It's Monday, April 21st, and this is your most. Morning Wire afternoon update. Pope Francis, whose decade-long tenure marked a turning point for the Catholic Church died this morning the day after he delivered an Easter message from St. Peter's Square. Daily Wire reporter Moretta Lorty reports. Cardinal Kevin Farrell of the Apostolic Chamber announced the Pope's death early Monday, stating that at 735 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis returned to the House of the Father. Stating that his entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church,

the Cardinal praised Francis as a man who taught us to live the values of the gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Burgoglio, was elected in March 2013 after Pope Benedict the 16th resigned. He was the first Latin American Pope, and his papacy often adopted progressive tones, but also upheld the church's conservative doctrines on abortion, gay marriage, and gender ideology. Despite his criticisms of the Trump, administration forced immigration policy, one of the last people the Pope met was Vice President J.D. Vance, who visited him the day before his passing on Easter. During President Trump's first term,

he sat down with the Pope at the Vatican in 2017. Trump responded to the Pope's death early Monday, saying, may God bless him and all who loved him. Other world leaders are responding to the passing of Francis, including the president of the Pontiff's home country, Argentina. Javier Millet, said, quote, despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his kindness and wisdom was a true honor for me. Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney posted a statement on social media, saying, a great man and a great pastor have left us. I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice, and his teachings, which have never failed even in moments of trial and suffering. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban also posted a tribute describing Francis

as a shepherd who led with courage and unwavering faith. The deported illegal immigrant with alleged ties to the violent MS-13 gang has been transferred out of El Salvador's notorious mega-prison. The State Department has confirmed that Kilmar Abrago-Garcia was moved out of Seacot. That's the maximum security prison for terroristic threats. He was moved to a detention facility several days before the arrival of Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen. Abrago Garcia told the senator that he's not in a cell and now he has his own room with a bed and furniture. The stock market took a hit this morning amidst. President Trump's ongoing tariff negotiations and war of words with the Fed.

Daily Wire Senior editor Cabot Phillips has the numbers. Stocks on Wall Street plunged Monday with the Dow dropping more than 1,200 points. The S&P 500 felt 3.2% and the NASDAQ lost 3.5% with nearly every major company now in the red. The U.S. dollar also took a hit falling 1% to its lowest level in more than three years. Most of the investor anxiety stemmed from ongoing trade tensions with China and fresh attacks by President Trump on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he called a, quote, major loser after pressuring the Fed to slash interest rates. Vice Chairman of Evercore ISI, Krishna Guha, warns any conflict between the White House and Federal Reserve will only add to the market uncertainty.

We're seeing a clear signal from the market that it doesn't like the idea that the president might try to remove the Fed chair. There's been some loss of confidence in U.S. economic policymaking in recent weeks, global investors pulling capital out of the U.S. But what you've seen is ongoing confidence in the Fed. But if you start to raise questions about Federal Reserve independence, you are raising the bar for the Federal Reserve to cut. If you actually did try to remove the Federal Reserve chairman, I think you would see a severe reaction in markets

with yields higher, dollars lower, and equity selling off. Whether you're a startup founder navigating your first audit or a seasoned professional scaling your GRC program, proving your commitment to security has never been more critical or complex. A new IDC white paper found that Vanta customers achieve $535,000 per year in benefits and the platform pays for itself in just three months. Get $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com slash morning wire. A new investigation by the Daily Wire followed the money from embattled Texas Development Colony Ridge all the way up to the governor's office. Daily Wire's Spencer Lindquist reports. Texas Governor Greg Abbott nominated Colony Ridge, a massive development known for attracting legal aliens,

to become a federal opportunity zone in 2018. That status awards investors significant tax breaks, allowing an area to develop rapidly. Documents obtained by the Daily Wire reveal that Abbott submitted the nomination just two days after he took a $100,000 donation from the developer's wife. Then two weeks later, he invited Colony Ridge developer Trey Harris

and state senator Brandon Creighton to the governor's mansion for a lunch meeting. After the Opportunity Zone status was finalized by the IRS, the real estate company that Creighton works for began building homes in Colony Ridge. Altogether, Trey Harris visited the governor's mansion on four occasions, and he and his wife donated a total of $1.5 million to Abbott. China is vowing to punish countries that agree to trade deals with President Trump. The communist government vowed on Monday to take countermeasures against countries that work out any deals with the U.S. that it deems to

be at the expense of China's interests. The threats come as Trump seeks to hammer out deals with dozens of countries. Among them is one of China's biggest economic adversaries, India, whose prime minister is set to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance this week to discuss a bilateral trade deal. The Defense Department and the White House are firing back after the latest anonymously sourced hit piece on Pete Hegeseth. Daily Wire's senior editor, Virginia Cruda, has more. A new report by the New York Times claims that the defense secretary shared highly sensitive military information in a second signal chat group that allegedly included his wife, his brother, and his attorney. The Times says the chat group was accessed via Hegeseth's

personal phone rather than his government phone. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell released a statement responding to the story, accusing the times of enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole source for their article. There was no classified information in any signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write this story. said. Hague Seth defended himself while attending the annual White House Easter Egg role. This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work

with me because we're changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters, and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news, doesn't matter. And the Bible-based animated film, King of Kings, held strong over Easter weekend, with a surprisingly low drop in revenue week over week. Enjoying an audience score of 98% the Angel Studios film managed to perform almost as well in its second week as it did at its premiere. Over Easter weekend, it brought in $17.2 million, just a 10% decline from its $19.1 million debut. Most movies see a 50% drop in their second week. Its opening weekend broke the record set by the Prince of Egypt for the most money earned by an animated biblical film during its premiere, and it's made over $45 million so far.

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 several big stories. That includes the Deporty Battle escalating, RFK Jr. taking on autism and Trump's fight with the Fed. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire. Thank you.