Morning Wire - RFK Confirmed & Trump’s Buyout Moves Forward | Afternoon Update | 2.13.25

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Good Ranchers: Subscribe now using code WIRE to get $25 off AND your choice of free ground beef, chicken, or salmon in every order for an entire year at https://goodranchers.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Good Ranchers. Tired of mystery meat at the grocery store. Make new meat your New Year's resolution at good ranchers.com. Subscribe now using Code Wire to get $25 off, free express shipping, and your choice of add-ons for an entire year. Good Ranchers, American Meat delivered. RFK is confirmed. Trump's worker buyout moves forward and Hamas agrees to release more hostages. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Vickley with Georgia Howe.

It's Thursday, February 13th, and this is your Morning Wire. afternoon update. The Senate has confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary in a vote mostly along party lines. Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice has the latest. Mitch McConnell was the lone Republican standout who joined Democrats to vote against Kennedy. RFK faced heated confirmation hearings over his past claims about vaccines and their potential links to autism. Despite concerns, GOP senators and Kennedy made key commitments on vaccine policy and public health transparency.

The move follows confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, and comes on the same day that Cash Patel's nomination advances out of committee. New York Governor Kathy Hokel has postponed a meeting with President Trump after the DOJ sued her state over sanctuary policies. Daily Wire reporter Tim Piers has the details. The lawsuit challenges New York's Green Light Law, which grants drivers licenses to illegal immigrants

and limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Here's Pam Bondi. They're giving a green light to any illegal alien in New York where law enforcement officers cannot check their identity if they pull them over. Law enforcement officers do not have access to their background. And if these great men and women pull over someone and don't have access to their background, they have no idea who they're dealing with. And it puts their lives on the line every single day. Hockel pushback, calling the move dramatic and insisting federal agents should not have unlimited access to DMV records. The lawsuit follows similar legal action against Illinois as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown.

Meanwhile, Trump's borders are Tom Homan met with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, seeking cooperation on deporting criminal illegal aliens and locating missing migrant children. The Trump administration's buyout program for government workers can move forward. The deferred resignation program offered federal employees unwilling to return to the office up to eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations. Unions argued the program was illegal, but a federal judge has ruled they lacked standing to sue. About 75,000 federal employees have accepted the offer, while agencies like the CIA have extended buyouts to their workforce. With the court's decision, the program is now officially closed as the deadline has passed. conservative groups are calling on the Trump administration to cut all federal funding to planned parenthood. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret O'Lahan has the exclusive.

In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ' vote, pro-life leaders urged a full review of taxpayer dollars allocated to the organization. They cited government accountability office data showing that Planned Parenthood received over $1.5 billion in public funding through Medicaid and grants. The letter also highlights that Planned Parenthood, Parenthood performed nearly 400,000 abortions in 2022 and has increasingly provided transgender medical services, including hormone therapy, surgery referrals. Advocates argue that taxpayer money is indirectly funding those procedures, particularly after Biden-era policies removed safeguards,

ensuring that federal funds were separated from abortions. A migrant with a known criminal record rammed a car into a group of protesters in Munich, Germany today, injuring 28 people, including children. Authorities say the driver who was known to police for drug and theft offenses has been detained. Bavarian minister-president Marcus Soder called it an attack, saying something has to change in Germany and quickly. The incident follows a deadly car ramming in December that left six dead. Parents in New York's Pinfield Central School District are expressing outrage after school board members walked out on them. The walkout occurred after parents raised concerns about an explicit,

LGBT book titled Rainbow Parade. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Jacamo has the story. The book, which was on display at the Elementary School Library, features a young girl with two mothers who take her to a pride parade. Illustrations show men in sexual BDSM gear, drag queens, and others are naked. The meeting ended abruptly on Tuesday after board members told parents that they must submit written complaints instead of voicing them at the meeting. That is not how you object. So if you cannot, again, follow by what we have asked you to do, we will ask for you all. We will ask those people who cannot do that to be removed. We are here at our board meeting. We're conducting our business.

Kimberly DeRosa, who attended the meeting. Told the Daily Wire that parents will vote for new school board members in May and said that some of the candidates for those positions were in attendance at Tuesday's meeting. Superintendent Tasha Potter did not respond to a request for comments. 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 key stories, including Trump's phone call with Putin, Doge's contentious Capitol Hill hearing, and the freeing of Mark Fogel. Thanks for tuning in.

We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.