Morning Wire - Trump Presses NATO & NYC’s Mayoral Showdown | 6.25.25

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

President Trump tells NATO members to up their defense spending, a Democratic Socialist pulls ahead in NYC’s mayoral race, and the American Medical Association doubles down on transgender medical procedures for minors. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.   - - -   Today's Sponsors:   American Investment Council - Learn more about the American Investment Council and private equity at https://investmentcouncil.org   Helix Sleep - Go to https://helixsleep.com/wire to get an exclusive discount.   - - -   Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump pressures NATO allies to ante up after mediating the Middle East conflict. I'd like to see everything calm down as quickly as fast. How much will NATO commit amid heightened global tensions? I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, June 25th, and this is Morning Wire. New York Democrats cast their primary ballots yesterday in the most watched mayoral race in the country. New York's Democratic contest for mayor is kind of turning into a number. national stress test of whether a hollowed-out political center can still fend off the loudest

and most menacing, ideological fringes. And America's largest medical group refuses to back down on trans procedures for kids, even after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Maine America means something to our country's private equity investors. When you invest $700 billion annually in American companies and 13 million workers and families they support, you're investing in the success of mainstream.

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at Investment Council.org, paid for by the American Investment Council. President Trump headed to Europe yesterday for high-stakes NATO meetings after he brokered the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips is here with Morhe Cabot, so we'll get to NATO in a second, but first, all lies still on the Middle East. What's the latest? Yeah, a roller coaster day to say the least. Yesterday morning, our hour. Wars after that ceasefire deal went into effect, Iran reportedly launched a series of missiles at Israel, prompting the Israelis to respond with strikes of their own, targeting a radar facility north of Tehran.

For a moment, it looked like the war was back on, but then Donald Trump intervened. With Israeli planes reportedly en route to Iran for more strikes, the president called Prime Minister Netanyahu directly, with what the White House called a, quote, exceptionally firm and direct warning to abide by the ceasefire. He also made a public appeal on social media, writing, quote, Israel, do not drop those bombs. If you do, it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home now. And that message and that phone call seemed to work, as Nanyahu said he would refrain from further strikes and abide by the deal. Moments later, Trump added another post saying, quote, Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home while doing a friendly plane wave to Iran.

Nobody will be hurt. The ceasefire is in effect. But while further escalation was avoided, the president made clear that he was not happy with. either country. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before. The biggest load that we've seen, I'm not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either, but I'm really unhappy if Israel's going out this morning. And while he took aim at both sides there, it's certainly nowhere that he publicly slammed Israel.

We've not seen much of that from the administration to date. It gives an idea of just how badly Trump wants this peace deal to hold up. Later on, he added this blunt assessment of the situation that quickly went viral. You'll see why. We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing. But then hours later, Trump struck a more optimistic tone, saying both sides wanted peace and he was happy to facilitate it. Here he is talking about the future for Iran if they abide. by the ceasefire.

They're not going to have enrichment and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And they know that they're going to get on to being a great trading nation. Now, while there does appear to be real progress in the Middle East here at home, there's a lot of fear of terror attacks. What is the latest on that front? Yeah, the Iranian government appears to be playing ball, but authorities around the country are on high alert for a terror attack here at home. Remember, of the 10 million plus people who crossed the border illegally under President Biden,

authorities say at least 500 were on the terror watch list. those are just the ones we know about. With that in mind, over the last 48 hours, ICE agents have cracked down on Iranian nationals living here illegally specifically. They've arrested at least 16 folks, including a former sniper in the Iranian military, a man on the quote known or suspected terrorist list, a former Iranian soldier with admitted connections to Hezbollah, and a man carrying a loaded handgun at the time of his arrest. Now, as we said at the top, this comes as Trump is traveled to Europe for this big NATO summit. What is the agenda there? Well, the president's goal is to push NATO members to up their defense spending. Trump has long lamented that America

is being taken advantage of by our allies who benefit from our military without, he says, paying their fair share. At the moment, NATO members are expected to spend at least 2% of their GDPs on defense. Trump wants that number at 5%. Here's U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Matt Whitaker, on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we expect that all 32 NATO allies will agree to a new path. And that path, that commitment is going to be 5% of their GDP on defense. For too long, Europe has been taking advantage of the American taxpayer to provide their traditional security. Now, this will be the first gathering of world leaders since President Trump intervened in Iran. A number of NATO members who arrived at the summit early have slammed him for that intervention. So there could be some fireworks at the Hague

over the next few days. I will not be surprised that that proves true. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting. Absolutely. Do you have an ancient mattress with a crater in the middle that sucks you in like quicksand, leaving you with throbbing back pain that no amount of stretching can fix? Maybe you've tried flipping it, adding foam toppers, and even sleeping sideways, but nothing helps. If a solid night's sleep keeps alluding you, then you need to check out Helix. Helix improves your nights and keeps you sleeping well all night long so you can wake up each morning ready to be your best self. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, or somewhere in between, they have you covered.

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Helixleep.com slash wire. New Yorkers went to the polls yesterday to decide the Democrat candidate for mayor, bringing an end to a wild primary season. Here with the state of the race is Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice, so a lot of national attention on this race in part because of Cuomo, but even more so because of his key opponent, a Democratic socialist. Then there's also the messy process. So where should we begin?

Well, John, first things first, it actually wasn't that messy of a process. It took two weeks for this primary to be decided in 2021, but last night, Zeran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist you mentioned earlier, easily locked up 44% of the vote. Cuomo called Mamdani shortly after 10 p.m. to congratulate him and essentially conceded. I say essentially because we still have to wait for the board of elections to declare an official winner, and because Cuomo has hinted that he may still run as an independent in November. But either way, the scandal-plagued former governor essentially threw in the towel Tuesday, night. Tonight was not our night. Tonight was Assemblyman Mondani's night, and he put together a great

campaign, and he touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote. And he really ran a highly impactful campaign. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who received the New York Times endorsement came in third. He was reportedly very happy that Cuomo lost, leading a goodbye Cuomo chant at his election night party. That's not entirely surprising, considering Lander and

Mamdani made waves a few weeks ago when they endorsed each other, urging voters not to rank Cuomo. We both love New York City. And that's why it's so important to not send scandal-ridden, corrupt Andrew Cuomo to City Hall. New Yorkers deserve so much better than a disgraced creep.

Agreed. Early voting starts tomorrow, and we both know what we need to do to save our city from Andrew Cuomo. You want to tell him? You go first. Yeah, you go first. Let's do it together. We're cross endorsing. Cuomo, of course, resigned his governor in 2021, amid allegations that he had sexually harassed

female staffers and amid the fallout from his botched handling of the COVID pandemic. Cuomo entered the mayoral race in May, declaring that he was running both as a Democrat and under a third party of his own creation, the Fight and Deliver Party. That didn't sit well with incumbent mayor Eric Adams. who's also running on two party lines. Things got a little heated when Adams accused Cuomo of stealing his campaign strategy, but the mayor's taken a different tack these past few days,

putting politics aside and urging New Yorkers to stay cool. Hey, New York is hot outside. We must do everything to stay cool, taking nice, cool drink. My favorite one, a few cubes of ice, and turn on that tap, and you get to New York City tap water. Nice sip of cool water.

Now, we've been hearing a lot, about Mom Dani, and it seems like he's going to have a political future, whether or not he ends up in Gracie Mansion. Talk to us about him. Well, imagine if AOC didn't have any presidential ambitions. Mobdani wants free school lunches, free city buses, and free child care. He wants to freeze rent and make New York a sanctuary city for, quote, queer and trans people. He's pledged to devote $65 million to transgender procedures for both kids and adults. And perhaps most shockingly, he wants to open city-run groceries.

stores. As mayor, I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores. It's like a public option for produce. We will redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city-owned grocery stores, whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging. Critics say this type of policy will hurt private businesses and eventually lead to shortages of the things Mumdani wants to make more affordable. But it seems like this message resonated with a lot of New Yorkers. Now the question is, how much will it resonate between now and November? Right. And election day will be here before Before we know it, Tim, thanks so much for reporting. You bet.

The nation's largest medical association is standing by its controversial guidance to promote transgender medical procedures for minors. That's despite mounting evidence against it and a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Here with the details is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestajocamo. So Amanda, the American Medical Association, has a new president, and he recently made a statement indicating the organization's stance on transgender procedure. for minors. So what exactly are they saying these days? Yeah, so the group's new president released a statement signaling against the recent ruling in United States v. Cremetti. As we covered here, that decision basically allows states to ban things like puberty blockers and other so-called gender-affirming procedures on minors. Those procedures have been shown to be

damaging and often irreversible. The new president of the AMA, Dr. Bobby McCommela, condemned the Supreme Court decision and said that all patients, deserve access to high quality evidence-based medical care. And he added that decisions about medical treatments must be made through a shared decision-making process between the patient and their physician. Okay, so the AMA has new leadership. Is this a departure from their previous guidance? No, this is just a continuation of where they've been in the past.

The AMA has long supported trans procedures for minors. Here's a conversation hosted by the AMA about a year and a half ago on what doctors should know about so-called trans teens. What we know about gender identity formation for all human beings, regardless of whether you identify as LGBTQ or not, is that young people really do know their gender by about age four. It's that young, you know, female assigned at birth who says, mom, I am a boy. Or mom, I'm like my brother.

You know, I'm a boy too. And they keep saying that over and over and over again. Those are the folks that likely, but not always, will go on to really have a very firm gender diverse identity. In 2023, the AMA passed a resolution to commit to working with legislators to oppose policies that curb access to these treatments or prioritize parental rights. The resolution also promised to collaborate with other organizations to, quote, to educate the Federation of State Medical Boards about the importance of gender-affirming care.

The AMA also enthusiastically supported Dr. Rachel Levine's nomination as Assistant Secretary for HHS during the Biden era. Now, Levine, who's a man who identifies as a woman, is a proponent of all types of trans drugs and procedures for minors. Here's Levine talking about children going through the wrong puberty. The adolescence is hard and puberty is hard. What if you're going through the wrong puberty? What if you inside feel that you are female, but now you're going through a male puberty? As John mentioned, the AMA is the largest medical association in the United States, and it has significant influence in shaping policy and common medical practices.

So it sounds like the AMA is digging in on this issue. That's despite divergent opinions coming out across the pond and some of the more long-term studies. Are there any other medical groups that are changing their stance on this? Well, the medical establishment in the U.S., all the biggest medical organizations, they're standing behind this position to support trans procedures for minors. This would include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychiatric Association, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Now, are there any groups that are actively opposing these treatments? Well, we are starting to see individual medical professionals speak out about this, and now we're seeing organizations forming, and they're calling for ever. evidence-based medicine. One group called Do No Harm has 16,000 members, and one of their stated

goals is to curtail the unscientific and individually harmful practice of so-called gender-affirming care. And, you know, of course, the Trump administration is firmly opposed to these procedures. Trump ran on that and went in a landslide. During his second week in office, Trump signed an order saying that the U.S. will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support gender transitions for children. Since Trump took office. a number of hospitals have announced that they're either curtailing or fully stopping trans procedures on minors. Well, a huge disconnect forming between these professional organizations and regular people on this issue. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome.

Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.