Morning Wire - State of the Midterms & Epstein Snare Widens | 2.26.2026

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

America’s political parties set their sights fully on the midterms, Bill and Hillary Clinton prepare to testify this week over Jeffrey Epstein ties, and New York’s democratic socialist mayor comes under fire from his own police force. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2652- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/WIRE and use promo code WIRE at checkout.Equip Foods - Equip’s Prime Bar is a real food protein bar with nothing to hide: just 11 ingredients and 20g of clean protein - made from ingredients you can pronounce like collagen, beef tallow, colostrum, cocoa butter - and sweetened naturally with just date and honey. Bringing good, clean habits into 2026 is made simple with Equip. Morning Wire listeners will get 25% off one-time purchases, or 40% off first subscription orders for a limited time by heading to https://equipfoods.com/wire and using code WIRE at checkout.- - -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

As the dust settles from Trump's raucous state of the union, the two parties set their sights fully on the midterms. We're going to continue to contrast their corruption with our commitment to make life better for everyday Americans. I think they're going to regret that video because we will be using it in the midterm elections. It showed what they're all about. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, February 26th, and this is Morning Wire. As Bill and Hillary Clinton get set to testify this week, the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files continues,

leading to high-profile resignations and admissions. I was only at dinners. I never went to the island. I never met any women. Although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior. And New York's Democratic Socialist mayor is under fire again, this time from his own police force.

From the videos that I've seen, it looks like a snowball fight. I think that there were two. officers who were facing lacerations on their face. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Our sponsor, Delete Me, makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. It's pretty straightforward. You tell Delete Me exactly what information you want removed and their team of experts handles the rest. You'll get regular personalized privacy reports

that show you what information they found, where it was located, and what they've successfully removed. The best part is that Delete Me isn't just a one-time cleanup. They can continuously monitor these sites and remove your personal information as it reappears, giving you ongoing peace of mind. Our producer Brandon really appreciates Delete Me, not only because of the peace of mind, but because of the ongoing control that gives him over his personal online presence. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners.

Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to join DeleteMe.com slash wire and use promo code wire at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to join DeleteMe.com slash wire and enter code Wire at checkout. That's joined DeliMe.com slash wire code wire. Both parties in Washington are racing to win the post-state of the union messaging battle with midterms fast approaching. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here with the fallout from the address and a look ahead to November hey Cabot. So both parties trying to spend Trump's big night in their favor. Let's start with Republicans. What are we hearing from them?

Yeah, after 36 hours, reviews are starting to pour in. And the White House, they're very happy with how this address fared for them. A CNN poll, for example, found that roughly two-thirds of those who viewed the event said it went favorably, while just 38% had a negative reaction. Now, those numbers can be skewed a bit because supporters of the president tend to more overwhelmingly watch, but here's the nugget that the White House is most excited about. Before the speech, this poll showed that 54% of viewers felt Trump's policies would take the country in the right direction. Afterwards, that number jumped to 64%. We saw a similar 10-point increase. on the question of whether Trump had the right priorities.

There he went from 44 to 54%. The White House obviously is happy to take those numbers. Before the address, the administration was trying to paint the left as being crazy and off the rails. And they feel that last night's actions and the subsequent fallout only further proved their point. Yeah, let's get to that counter-programming that we mentioned yesterday from the left.

What did we see from Democrats? Well, their main line of attack in the last 36 hours has been on the economy. Democrats flooded the airwaves over the last 24 hours to hammer Trump's address, saying he didn't do enough to alleviate concerns about affordability. Senate leader Chuck Schumer, for example, called it the, quote, state of delusion, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the address was, quote, riddled with dirty, rotten lies, including Trump's unwillingness to confront the affordability crisis. And then for her part,

Elon Omar, who was talk of the night because of her constant yelling and screaming throughout the event, doubled down on CNN. It was really important to my constituents to hear. that I was reminding the president that Renee Good and Alex Prady were killed under this administration. Omar went on to actually tweet a direct accusation at Trump saying Donald Trump killed two of my constituents.

Maybe Trump could take some legal action there. It's a very serious accusation. Now, we saw similar statements as well from dozens of other far-left Democrats who applauded Omar and other members who disrupted the event, including Texas rep Al Green. He was famously booted from the event

for the second year in a row now after causing disruptions. This time you stood up with a sign that said, quote, black people aren't apes. So the big question now is how those democratic antics and the broader strategy of just opposing Trump loudly at every opportunity will fare with voters this November. Yeah, as we said at the top, midterms on everybody's mind at this point.

Yeah, we're only eight months away now. It's going to fly by. And the state of the union, it's obviously meant to bolster the president's agenda and speak directly to the American people. But arguably more important here, the goal of the night is also to set the party's tone for the midterms. In many ways, it's the unofficial kickoff of election season and GOP leadership wants members ahead of the election to focus in on the

economy. Here's Daily Wire reporter Cameron Arcand to that point. A memo sent out to Senate campaigns on Wednesday by the NRSC is encouraging them to focus on messaging that Republicans in the Senate are, quote, delivering on the Trump economic agenda, especially as Americans are both currently filing their tax, and the Department of Homeland Security faces a funding lapse. Now, on the Senate side, Republicans will be defending nearly twice as many seats as Democrats this cycle, 22 to 13, though 16 of those seats are in deep red states. That means the main battlegrounds this November, as usual, you could probably guess, will be Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina, but also Maine. Republicans could also face tight races in Alaska and Ohio, while Democrats are once again expressing optimism about their chances of flipping a seat in Texas. though we've heard them say that plenty of times.

Yes, we have. The GOP can afford to lose three of those races and maintain their majority, which they're confident in. But the House is going to be a much taller order. They have a very slim few-vote majority. And over the last 50 years, keep in mind, the President's Party has lost roughly 33 house seats on average during their first midterm since being elected. Right, a really steep hill for Republicans to climb. But thanks so much for reporting. And really enjoyed the launch of your news.

show Wired in Live last night. Thank you. It was a great time. Tune in next week, next Thursday, 4-Eastern. We'll keep things going. If you're trying to hit your protein goals in 2026, you might want to actually read a protein bar label. Most often it's like reading a candy bar full of chemicals you can't pronounce and then leaving you bloated and unsatisfied. Bars with way and processed junk that just don't work. That's why we're into EQIPP's prime bar. Our sponsor EQIP is all about making healthy habits simple and sustainable. Each bar boasts 20 grams of clean protein and just 11 ingredients, including collagen, beef tallow, colostrum, dates, and honey.

Plus, they have fantastic flavors like chocolate and peanut butter and mixed berry. I have been taking these bars everywhere. It's such a convenient way to not only hit my goals, but also satisfy the sweet tooth craving I didn't know I had while keeping me on track. Starting today, our listeners will receive an exclusive discount on Prime Bar, which has become our team's favorite protein bar on the market, with 20 grams of protein in every bar. Go to equipfoods.com slash wire, and use code wire at checkout to get 25%. off one-time purchases or 40% off your first subscription order for unlimited time.

That's EQUIPFoods.com slash wire and use code wire at checkout. The list of names continues to grow of people facing Fallout for connections with Jeffrey Epstein. The latest Larry Summers and Bill Gates. Meanwhile, both Hillary and Bill Clinton are set to testify. Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake joins us now with the details. So Lyndon, let's start with Bill Gates. What came out about him recently? Yes, this actually came out during one of his town halls, and there is a lot to get to with what he had to say and what Larry Summers.

It will start with what Gates said. He is the Microsoft co-founder, as most people know. He admitted to having two affairs with Russian girls while married to his now ex-wife, and this is relevant to Epstein because Epstein actually threatened Gates over the affair with one of the Russian girls. Gates did apologize for spending time with Epstein, both in the U.S. and abroad. but Gates added he was never a part of any crime. In fact, he said, quote, I did nothing illicit, I saw nothing illicit, and to be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him. And it was already public knowledge that a lot of these high-profile people like Bill Gates

had relationships with Epstein, but the release of the Epstein files have really brought new information to light that at least raised allegations of illegal activity, but again, Gates denies any wrongdoing. Now that town hall that Bill Gates spoke at was on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we heard more news about Larry Summers. What happened with him? Yes, now we know Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard after this year ends. It is important to note since Epstein Files were released in November that he had stepped away from his teaching position at Harvard, but now we know he will not return to the classroom before the end of the year. So he at one time was the president of Harvard. In addition to what

did at Harvard, Summers was also the Clinton Treasury Secretary. That's important to note, and he kept a close relationship with Epstein long after Epstein was convicted of prostitution involving a minor. So again, this has been well known since Summers was part of the documents released in November where there's been increased pressure for him to step away, and now Harvard is investigating other university ties to Epstein. Harvard did ban donations from Epstein after he did plea guilty to sex crimes back in 2008, but a number of academics related to the university did maintain relationships with Mr. Epstein after he was released from jail in 2009. So again, this has been years of public relationships that are well known between Summers and Epstein,

but the files being released really bringing some disturbing details to light. And we're about to get more information because the Clintons are due to testify this week. What are we expecting to hear from them? Yeah, a lot of attention on the Clintons today, as Hillary is the first to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. Now, this will be in New York, but a lot of the depositions have been in Washington, but when it comes to some of these billionaires, these high-profile people like Les Wexner, he got to do his testimony in Ohio. So Clinton's doing it today in New York.

Bill will go in front of the House Oversight Committee Friday, and they are talking about their connections to Epstein. Now it is well documented that Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein did have a relationship. Bill Clinton is known to spend time with Epstein on his private jet. this was all before those sexual allegation issues and before Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of anything. Now, Hillary Clinton has said that she cannot recall ever speaking to Epstein. So that's happening in New York. Going down to the nation's capital, there is more Epstein drama. You have Democrats that are probing the Department of Justice to release alleged files from the Epstein files that have been withheld that involve President Donald Trump. Well, this has taken years, but potentially more dominoes to fall. Linton, thanks for reporting.

Thanks. Look, I've seen the videos of this snowball fight. I think that it was a snowball fight. That was New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani discussing the targeting of police officers in a press conference this week that sparked widespread rebuke from law enforcement and political leaders in his state, who say he's deliberately downplaying what actually took place. Retired Las Vegas police lieutenant Randy Sutton, founder of the Wounded Blue, joins us now to talk about the supposed snowball fight and its fallout.

Randy, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. So we know the East Coast got hit with record amounts of snow, and it's been particularly controversial in New York. Now we have this targeting of police related to a snowball fight. What exactly happened in this situation? Well, what we saw was an out-of-control mob attacking a group of law enforcement officers, battering them with ice balls and snowballs.

This wasn't a snowball fight over. Okay, this, you know, I know that the mayor, Mondami, classified this as a snowball fight, which is an outrage. Law enforcement officers were attacked. You know, I work with injured officers in my capacity as the founder of the wounded blue. I see the destruction. I see what happens when these men and women are severely injured. And if you think that an ice ball can't take out someone's eye or cause a serious cranial injury, well, then you're, thinking is malformed because officers were hurt. Officers were hospitalized. This is a felony crime. And what I saw was police officers afraid to engage these attackers and deal with them appropriately with the proper amount of force. And why is that? One of the major reasons is because they're afraid

of consequences coming down on them for simply defending themselves. We've seen Mondami, who came out just a couple weeks ago when police officers were forced to shoot someone armed with a knife, and he came out against that and actually ordered the district attorney who happily disregarded him, that that individual should not be charged. In fact, he criticized the police for saving their own life. So I am disgusted with Mondami, and what I am seeing is the NYPD being forced into a position of not being able to defend themselves appropriately. And this is an outrage. Now, some might dismiss the rhetoric of a mayor as being not that consequential to law enforcement, but that's simply not true.

We've seen a pattern in other cities where the mayor has a lot of influence. They impact morale. They impact recruiting. how have we seen this play out in other cities and how do you see this going for Mom Doni in the coming months? We're in a law enforcement crisis right now. We're in a criminal justice crisis. And much of that is because of the rhetoric

that has come from mayors, district attorneys who are somehow more interested in prosecuting police officers than they are criminals. And we've seen it across the United States. We are now seeing the diminishment of the number of police officers in major cities like New York. And New York is only one of the cities that is being affected by this crisis.

So we're seeing a lack of retention. Officers are either retiring at the minute they have their time in or they're quitting altogether. And exacerbating that is the inability to attract recruits that want to take that job. So this is a double whammy. And we've been seeing this now for a number of years. And believe me, this is a generational problem.

You can't just plug a guy in and put a uniform on him and a gun and say, go out and do the job. There's a huge learning curve. It takes two to three years to become competent as a police officer. This is just the beginning of the problems that are going to be resulting from the election of Mondami, who is we're going to see even more NYPD officers leave the force and fewer join. The downward trends in the number of police in cities with policies like this are alarmingly clear. Randy Sutton, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for waking up with us.

And if you're listening to the show, now you can watch for free on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.