Morning Wire - Trump-Zelensky Feud & MAHA’s Industry Impact | 2.20.25

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

President Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy feud, Trump’s Labor Department nominee cruises through her confirmation hearing, and RFK’s influence is already affecting the food industry. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Babbel: Start learning a language today! Get up to 60% off subscriptions at https://Babbel.com/WIRE Vanta: Get $1,000 off Vanta at https://vanta.com/morningwire. Shopify: Go to https://Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period and upgrade your selling today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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agent of voyage. The conditions can't Tensions escalate as President Trump and Ukraine's president Vladimir Zelensky feud over peace negotiations. I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land, and no people would have been killed, but they chose not to do it that way. What's driving the wedge between the two leaders and how will Trump's new economic deal play into the talks?

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, February 20th, and this is Morning Wire. Trump's Labor Department pick sales through her confirmation hearing despite Republican concerns over her past. In every role, my priority has been clear to fight for the American worker

and the business that drive our economy. And RFK and the Make America Healthy Again Commission are already heavily influencing the food industry. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Have you promised yourself

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The war of words between President Trump and Vladimir Zelensky escalated Wednesday as the two leaders clashed over plans to end the war in Ukraine. Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips, has the details on the growing feud. So Cabot, things appear to really be coming to a head between these two. First, give us a little timeline. How did all of this start? Well, it's no secret Donald Trump is not the biggest fan of Zelensky. Throughout the campaign, he accused the Ukrainian president of corruption and taking advantage of American generosity. But things really escalated when the White House excluded Ukraine from those initial peace talks with Moscow this week.

And while Trump said that they would be brought in once negotiations got more serious, Zelensky expressed outrage, saying he would not accept any deal unless he had a seat at the table. Now, Trump responded by saying they've had a seat at the table for the last three years and that they could have ended the war a long time ago. And that brings us to yesterday when things heated up even more. Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, Zelensky accused Donald Trump of some. spreading Russian propaganda and, quote, living in a disinformation space. And that prompted a very significant response from the president. What did Trump say?

Yes, it did. Trump lit into Zelensky hours later with a long post on truth social that reads in part, quote, Zelensky talked to the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that couldn't be one that never had to start, but a war that he, without the U.S. and Trump, will never be able to settle. Zelensky admits that half of the money we sent him is missing. He went on to call Zelensky a, quote, dictator without elections. So Trump is drawing attention to the lack of elections in Ukraine since the war began.

Right. Slensky's presidential term technically expired last year. But because the country is under martial law, they have not held an election to replace him, allowing him to stay in power indefinitely. Now, Zlinski and his supporters say an election is not feasible given the conflict and that Ukrainians overwhelmingly support him, so an election is not necessary in the first place. Here he is Wednesday speaking through a translator. First of all, we have 58% confidence in me.

I have seen this in various opinion surveys. So if anyone wants to replace me right now, that won't work. VP Vance offered his own advice for Zelensky, telling the Daily Mail, quote, the idea that Zelensky is going to change the president's mind by bad-mouthing him in public media. Everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration. For their part, Democrats on the Hill slammed Trump's comments, echoing Zelensky's claims of Russian disinformation.

Here's former Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor. It's shameful to hear the president repeat Putin's propaganda while laying the groundwork for negotiations that favor Russia at Ukraine's expense. And there were some Republican lawmakers who did push back on Trump's claims as well. South Dakota's Mike Rounds defended Zelensky, calling him, quote, a key component in the fact that they've been able to withstand the Russian attack. More broadly, though, the GOP certainly is backing Trump's rhetoric on this issue. Now, all of this comes as President Trump has floated a new economic deal for Ukraine.

What would that look like? Right. So last year, Zelensky laid out a so-called victory plan aimed at convincing Western allies to continue supporting the war effort. As part of that plan, he floated allowing the U.S. to develop Ukrainian natural resources after the war, including vast reserves of rare earth minerals. And now Trump is proposing his own version of that idea, saying he wants to be a lot of. access to Ukrainian ports, oil and gas reserves, and minerals after the war. According to the Telegraph, Trump sent a memo to Ukraine calling for 50% of recurring revenues on those resources,

as well as 50% of the value from, quote, all new licenses issued to third parties. Zelensky has publicly bristled at that plan, though, saying, quote, I cannot sell our country. But it's very clear Trump is expecting some form of payback for all the U.S. tax dollars that have gone to Ukraine. Well, and amazing if half of it really is unaccounted for. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Whether you're a startup founder navigating your first audit

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Trump's choice to lead the labor department testified before the Senate yesterday, and the hearing went surprisingly well. Here to explain why we didn't get the fireworks many were expecting as DailyWire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice-A-Tem, so not quite what we thought we were going to see yesterday. Tell us about this hearing. Yeah, that's exactly right, Sean. Yesterday was the big day for Lori Chavez-Daremer, and while the former Oregon congresswoman hasn't gotten as much attention as some of Trump's other cabinet nominees, she's been pretty

controversial in her own right. Republicans said she was too friendly with labor unions, and the fact that she quickly earned vocal support from Teamsters' head, Sean O'Brien, and Teachers' Union boss Randy Weingarten only heightened that fear. But the biggest issue Republicans had was her support of the pro act, a labor-backed bill that union leaders say would level the playing field between workers and businesses. Now, Republicans largely oppose the bill, which they say would give unions too much power. Among other things, they say the Pro Act would have overturned state laws allowing workers to not be forced to join a union or pay union dues to be employed. That was a major sticking point for Rand Paul, who said he would not vote to confirm Chavez-Durremer. Here's Paul

pushing her on that point. The Pro Act wasn't just about organizing or enabling unions to organize, which they already have the right to do, the pro act was about overturning right to work laws in 26 states, half of the country. Most of these states would argue that this would be a horrendous invasion of their prerogatives. Do you still support the pro act or don't you support the pro act? In response, Chavez-Daremer assured Paul that her past support of the pro act would not inform her actions as Labor Secretary. I signed on to the pro act because I was representing Oregon's fifth district, But I also signed on to the Pro Act because I wanted to be at that table and have those conversations.

But I fully, fairly and support states who want to protect their right to work. I have said that to every senator that I have visited with. So you no longer support the aspect of the Pro Act that would have overturned state right-to-work laws. Yeah. There were so many parts. That's a yes. Yes. That seems to have been good enough for Paul, who said he had no further questions and told reporters he would reconsider his no vote.

That's a pretty big turnaround there. Now, Republicans did have some other concerns. What other questions did we hear from them? Yeah, the other main concern came from Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who grilled her on abortion, noting that she once worked at Planned Parenthood. Chavez-Duriemer stressed that she had a, quote, 100% pro-life voting record in Congress and would continue to support the America First Agenda, which we know includes life. So it sounds like she may have sewn up Republican support.

What about Democrats? What did they say? Well, they mostly asked her about their big topic these days, Doge, which has really become the Democrats' boogeyman. Chris Murphy asked her to pledge that she would deny Elon Musk and his team access to the Labor Department, and Tammy Baldwin asked if she would stop Doge from pulling down the labor department's publicly available wage information. Chavez-Durimer demurred on all the Doge questions, saying she wasn't familiar with what that team was doing, and saying that she would ask for a briefing on their activities if she were confirmed. All right, so before we let you go, what other confirmation news do we need to have on our radar?

Well, yesterday the Senate confirmed former Georgia Senator Kelly Loughler to lead the Small Business Administration, and they're expected to vote on Cash Patel, Trump's pick, to lead the FBI sometime today. So another crucial piece of the president's revamped Justice Department could soon fall into place. Yeah, meanwhile, we're finally nearing the end of these confirmation hearings. Thanks so much for reporting. You bet. With HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm, President Trump has established the ambitious Make America Healthy Again Commission, which is already impacting the food industry. Here with more as Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestage Acomo.

So Amanda, the Maha Commission aims to address the spike in chronic disease rates specifically for children, and they're focusing on processed food. So what do we know about the changes coming down the pike? Yeah, so the commission has 180 days. from the day the order was signed to submit a strategy to make our children healthy again. But changes from the private sector already seem to be in motion. According to Robert Moscow, who's a food industry analyst for Investment Bank, T.D. Cowan, food and beverage brands will proactively start to remove artificial flavors and preservatives that they believe won't pass new standards.

Some big-name restaurants have already publicized their health swaps. Fast food chain steak and shake famously announced last month that they'll start cooking their fries and beef tallow. RFK has promoted beef tallow over vegetable and seed oils. Sweet Green and Blue Collar Restaurant Group have also replaced seed oils. We'll also see changes at Mondalese International, which is one of the largest companies in the world and owns brands like Oreo, Ritz, Chips Ahoi, Cliff Bar, Cadbury, and others. Mondalise CEO, Dirk Vandaput, said on Tuesday that the company will swap out ingredients and food dyes

it currently uses by basically switching over to its European recipes. Europe has stricter standards for their food. Vaniput did say, though, that consumers will see price hikes. On that note, it is generally expected that we will see a strong push from the food industry to keep seed oils and foods since they are so inexpensive. Moscow said constituents of the agribusiness industry will likely present studies at upcoming hearings to make that case. So we can expect to fight over seed oils, it sounds like. Now, what about school lunches and SNAP?

Have they signaled any changes coming there? Yeah, so with SNAP, government-funded food benefits, Trump's Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rawlings, said last week that she will work with RFK to reform those benefits. Here she is talking to the press on Friday. When a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are they okay with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious? RFK has also signaled that SNAP will be reformed as well as federally subsidized school lunches. We shouldn't be giving 60% of the kids in school processed food that is making them sick. In fiscal year 2023, the government spent more than $112 billion on SNAP and about $17 billion on the National School Lunch Program.

Also relating to school policy, HHS now officially recognizes only two genders, which is in line with previous executive orders regulating female sports and medical policy. Now, wrapping up here, RFK addressed HHS staff on Tuesday. did he give any insight into how the department will operate? Yeah, Kennedy really stressed that his goal is to earn back the public's trust and accomplish that through transparency. Trust in institutions and even scientists have significantly dropped since COVID. And again, Kennedy says HHS will focus on root causes of chronic illnesses instead of only focusing on treating symptoms with drugs.

He cited some shocking statistics to give a general look at what we're up against. In the U.S. 6 out of every 10 adults, of at least one chronic disease and four in ten have two or more. The U.S. has the highest age standardized cancer incident rate among 204 countries in the world. Asthma and autoimmune diseases are far more common in the U.S. than in any other part of the world. Autism now affects one in every 36 kids, a more than fourfold increase over past decades. Sperm counts and test testosterone are down about 50% in American boys, and our girls are reaching puberty six years earlier than historical generations.

Well, no doubt we are dealing with a health crisis. Let's hope Kennedy can turn things around. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you liked what you heard this morning, share this episode with a friend. What's the secret behind wildly successful businesses? It's not just great products or brilliant marketing.

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