Morning Wire - The Anti-ICE Olympics & Guthrie Family “Will Pay” | 2.9.26

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Anti-ICE protests spread to the Winter Olympics in Milan, Nancy Guthrie’s family offers to pay $6 million in ransom, and The Washington Post staff sees a dramatic downsizing and a shakeup at the top. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Ep. 2623 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Balance of Nature - Go to https://BalanceofNature.com and order the Whole Health System supplements as a Preferred Customer today. Vanta - Get started at https://Vanta.com/MORNINGWIRE - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning 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

Riots erupt at the Olympics amid anti-ice rhetoric, including from members of Team USA. I feel heartbroken about what's happened in the United States. Politics affect us all. It is something that I will not just be quiet about. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia Howl. It's Monday, February 9th. This is Morning Wire. We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us. One week after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, her family says they will pay ransom money for her return. And a seismic shakeup in leadership rattles the Washington Post following mass layoffs. Billionaires only get rich by stealing from us.

And what they're doing with these layoffs is so shameful. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. No, it's not your imagination. Risk and regulation are ramping up. and customers now expect tangible proof of security just to do business with you. That's why our sponsor Vanta is a game changer.

Vanta automates your compliance process and brings compliance, risk, and customer trust together on one AI-powered platform. So whether you're just starting out and prepping for your first SOC audit or you're running a full enterprise GRC program with multiple frameworks, Vanta keeps you secure and keeps your deals moving forward.

The platform handles the heavy lifting, continuous monitoring, evidence collection, all the tedious stuff that usually eats up your team's time. Companies like Ramp and Ryder spend 82% less time on audits with Vanta, which means more time to focus on what really matters, growing your business, shipping features, and delighting customers. Instead of scrambling to gather evidence or wondering if you're actually compliant, you get real-time visibility into your security posture

and a clear path to staying audit-ready year-round. Why wait? Get started at vanta.com slash morning wire. That's vanta.com slash morning wire. The 2026 Winter Olympics kicked off in Milan, and they've already become a stage for anti-ice demonstrations by both protesters and athletes. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the anti-ice Olympics and a U.S. court ruling that may be a big win for the Trump administration. Hey, Tim. So the Olympics supposed to be a time where we set politics aside, not the case this year at all.

What have we seen so far on the anti-ice front? Yeah, there's been some unrest and some performative activism in Italy over ice agents assigned to the Olympic. games. Now, Homeland Security officers are routinely posted at major international events, such as the Olympics, to help out with security and protect Americans, but ICE's presence this year has been met with protests from local left-wing activists. Local officials have been upset as well. Milan's mayor referred to ICE as a militia that kills, and we should note that at least one protest in Italy from alleged Antifa members has devolved into violence with rioters firing fireworks and officers responding in force.

Now, the opposition to ICE went beyond local Italians and found its way into the Olympic village as well. Team USA actually renamed its camp from the Ice House to the Winter House to distance itself from the agency, and several of the athletes use their platforms to condemn ice to the world. Here's freestyle skier Hunter Hess last week. It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't.

Hess was joined by others as well, such as Freestyle skier Chris Lillis and figure skater Amber Glenn in denouncing ice. President Trump actually responded to Hess directly over true social. He called Hess a real loser who, quote, shouldn't have tried out for the team and it's too bad he's on it.

Real loser, yikes. Now, one rather harrowing moment from the weekend came during an actual event. It was Lindsay Vaughn's fall. What is the latest for Vaughn? Right. She was airlifted after she crashed, just a few seconds into her downhill run yesterday. Vaughn was trying for one last Olympics run,

but she had ruptured her ACL in her left knee a week prior, so there was a lot of concern coming into the event. She ended up hooking her right arm into a gate on the course and ended up crashing face-first into the snow. About 13 minutes later, a helicopter arrived to transport her out. She ended up in surgery with a fracture in her left leg. Well, it was a tough crash to watch. Glad she is okay and getting treatment. Now, back in the U.S., Related to ICE in the immigration debate, Trump received better news from the Fifth Circuit regarding his agenda. What happened there? Right. The Fifth Circuit ruled on Friday in favor of Trump's authority to detain illegal aliens without bail as they go through immigration proceedings.

Now, this is in regards to a novel approach the administration has taken to expedite deportations of people in the country illegally. Whether they've been here for two days or 20 years, they all fall under the label applicants for admission to the year. U.S. under the Immigration and Nationality Act. In other words, aliens present within the United States who have not been admitted by lawful means. Since the Trump administration has expedited deportations under the INA, it has been brought to court hundreds of times over due process claims of illegal aliens. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday called the decision a crucial legal victory and a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn. But the legal battle isn't over, and this case is expected.

to land at the Supreme Court. Now before you go, one more White House-related question. Officials announced the arrest of two men charged with threatening top officials in the administration. What can you tell us about these cases? Yeah, we found out last week that Arlington County police arrested Colin DeMarco on January 22nd after he allegedly attempted to murder Trump's OMB chief Russell vote. Authorities saved DeMarco went as far as to show up outside Votes House in Virginia when DeMarco was caught on votes ring doorbell camera.

Prosecutors said DeMarco targeted vote, in part because the defendant feared a fascist takeover of the U.S. by the Trump administration. A few days after we learned of DeMarco's arrest, news broke of another man who has been charged with attempting to kill Vice President J.D. Vance. Authorities arrested and charged Shannon Mather after he allegedly said, I am going to find out where he, meaning the vice president, is going to be and use my M14 automatic gun to kill him. Prosecutors also said he took concrete steps to carry out that threat. Scary times. And again, heightened political rhetoric and political violence we're seeing on multiple levels. Tim, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Let's be honest. Most of us have no idea what phytonutrients actually are, and that's exactly where our sponsor, Balance of Nature makes getting them into your diet so simple.

So here's the thing about phytonutrients. They're these naturally occurring plant nutrients and whole foods that actually give fruits and vegetables their color, taste, and smell. Now, what Balance of Nature does as they take all that produce, run it through their specialized vacuum-cold process that keeps everything stable, then they powder it down without any binders, fillers, or flow agents. Just the real stuff. Their whole health system is essentially a value bundle that combines their fruit and veggie capsules with their fiber and spice supplements, so you're getting 47 different ingredients, fruits, vegetables, spices, and fibers, along with those naturally occurring phytonutrients every single day.

I really like the convenience that balance of nature offers. I can take my tablets with me on the go. I've even got some bottles loaded up in my work. backpack for easy access. Plus, I feel great when I take them. So whether you've been on the fence for a long time, or it's the first time you're hearing about them, I truly recommend that you go to Balanceofnature.com in order their Whole Health System supplements as a preferred customer today. That's Balance of Nature.com. The search for Nancy Guthrie enters its ninth day with an active weekend at both the 84-year-old's home and her daughter, Annie Guthrie's nearby house.

Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake joins us now with the latest. So Lyndon, we had a few developments over the weekend in Nancy's case? What have we learned? Yeah, so the latest is on Sunday afternoon. Authorities were back at the 84-year-old's home. There were two Pima County Sheriff officials there searching back on the ground, focusing on her backyard area, and it looked like they were digging around in a septic tank, and that was the latest action there on the ground. But overall, an active weekend. There was law enforcement for three hours at Annie Guthrie's home. We know that Nancy ate dinner at Annie, her daughter's home on Saturday night before going back home and ultimately kidnapped during the night into Sunday. So those are two things that makes me think that they are following something

where as officials haven't given anything away, they don't have any suspects, any persons of interest. We still don't know much about the crime scene. These searches have ramped up since a second ransom note was sent to a local outlet. KOLD, a Tucson-based TV station, got the second ransom note Friday, and we don't know too much about the details, but it was enough to make the station think that the person that sent that ransom note had something to do with the first. And within hours of that news coming out that that station received another ransom note, you saw authorities back at Nancy's house on Friday, up on the roof, just doing another full thorough walkthrough around her property. So still no answers, but it looks like they're searching

is ramping up. So very interesting that they're paying so much attention to the family member's home. They also, the family, put out another statement to the writer of the ransom note. What did they say? Yeah, so this happened Saturday night, and it was Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings, Annie and Cameron, on camera again, and they were saying that they will pay the ransom. We will pay. We now know that ransom in the first ransom letter was $6 million of Bitcoin, and it was an emotional video, and they were saying that they want their mother back, they want to have peace, and they want to celebrate with her.

But the big news out of that, where in previous statements they've asked, we need proof of life, we need proof of life, we want to communicate. This kind of took it to the next step and said, hey, we got your message and we will pay. Now, it's hard to watch, but hear some of that. We beg you now to return our mother to us

so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay. Several days ago, there was an indication that she needed some sort of medication that she could pass away if she didn't have. Have we gotten any more information about that? Yeah, so we know that early on they were saying she couldn't go 24 hours without this medication that she needed to survive. And we don't know now if whoever has her is giving medication. We don't know if the medication was found at the house, but there's been no indication, again, or. proof of life as we've been saying from these ransom notes that she's still alive or even being given these medications, at least the public. We don't know that. So a lot of unknowns. Are we expecting to get more information from the sheriff anytime soon? On Sunday, Pima County Sheriff officials said that they have

no planned press briefings after they announced they still had no suspect or person of interest. So it seems like the next time we're going to hear from officials as if something big breaks in this case. So we're going to continue to follow that. I will say, though, on Friday aboard Air Force One, President Trump was asked about the situation. We know that he's talked to Savannah and he's sent extra, you know, forces out to help with this investigation. I think we're doing very well. We have some clues, I think, that are very strong. And I think we could have some answers coming up fairly soon.

Hopefully we get some answers in a break in this case. Lyndon, thanks for reporting. Thanks so much. We're going to continue to look at this case in depth on Daily Wire series, Finding Nancy Guthrie. That was a group of former Washington Post employees protesting the mass. layoffs that have left them now looking for jobs. Over the weekend, the company saw another high-profile departure. Its CEO has now stepped down days after the media company cut nearly 30 percent of its staff. Joining us to discuss is Daily Wire Senior Editor Virginia, Crude on Morning

Virginia. So we're seeing possibly the biggest shakeup we've seen yet to one of these true legacy media powerhouses. First, tell us about this latest departure this weekend. Right. Well, this is a pretty remarkable shakeup, even in the context of the last few years. The Post announced Saturday that the publisher, Will Lewis, is out. He wrote a short note to staff in which he said all changes he'd helped to make were intended to ensure a sustainable future for the outlet. He also made a point of praising Jeff Bezos, who is being slammed right and left by many of the fired employees.

Bezos has been hammering the same sustainability message and framing this moment as an extraordinary opportunity to fulfill the Post's essential journalistic mission. He said, I quote, Each and every day, our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus. So the sweeping cuts, as Georgia said, about 30% of the staff, some 300 employees, he says is being decided by data. And so appropriately in some ways, the man who is stepping up to fill the role of publisher for now is the chief financial officer, Jeff Donofrio. So again, the numbers are dictating these changes and the next steps. Exactly. Remind us what exactly has been cut down or even cut out at the paper. So again, roughly 300 people were let go and in the areas that leadership says were simply not profitable.

Executives say that the outlet has just failed to adapt to a changing media landscape and must make tough decisions to stay relevant and competitive. The major cuts include the newsroom's international reporting and sports department. In fact, the sports department was completely dissolved. The paper has shrunk its international coverage but will keep. reporters on the ground in about a dozen countries. It's also restructuring the metro section and completely shutting down the Post Reports podcast. The outlet will focus on national news, investigations, and health and wellness. Finally, we heard at the top some of the protests from

fired employees, and frankly, there hasn't been a lot of sympathy for them online, at least. What have we heard from the former WAPO staff? Well, we've heard a lot of what you might expect, claims that they are the Washington Post, that Bezos is driving the publication into the dirt, and that money is overriding what should be the true priority of the paper. But yeah, anecdotally, at least, most people seem to understand that the financial realities matter more than the idealistic or activist visions for the company. Right. Democracy dies in darkness sounds great, but you've got to be able to keep your own lights on in the first place. Reality always wins.

It does. Virginia, thank you so much for reporting. Thank you for having me. Another story we're tracking, the nation's most watched televised event, Super Bowl 60, brought all the action and the advertising we've come to expect. In the end, it was the Seattle Seahawks winning on the field, but on the airwaves, one of the biggest winners was pro-life through live action, which released its pro-adoption Super Bowl ad online ahead of the event and generated a lot of buzz. The voices and the anger are so loud, but you deserve to know adoption is an option. Thanks for waking up with us. And for those of you 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.