Morning Wire - Trump’s Middle East Trip, Diddy Trial & Afrikaners Controversy | 5.14.25

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

President Trump travels to the Middle East, where he inks massive arms and investment deals, Sean Combs’ sex trafficking trial brings shocking testimony, and outrage from the Left as Trump welcomes Afrikaner refugees from South Africa. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Shopify: Go to Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump secures a $600 billion investment in the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. It is God's job to sit in judgment, my job to defend America, and to promote the fundamental interest of stability, prosperity, and peace. What are the president's priorities during his Middle East trip? I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia How. It's Wednesday, May 14th, and this is Morning Wire. Shocking testimony out of the Sean Combs trial. What are the claims against?

the music mogul and how is his defense spinning the evidence? The defense would push back. Their claim is that this is all consensual sex involving adults. And outrage from the left as Trump welcomes white refugees from South Africa. What's the president's rationale for the resettlement program? It's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about. White farmers are being brutally killed. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. President Trump and an entourage of his top officials were in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, where the president secured a $600 billion investment in the U.S. and the largest arms deal in history. Joining us from Washington is Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olahan. Hey, Mary Margaret. So some massive monetary investments already. What have we seen so far with this trip? Good morning, John. Yes, I'm here at the White House, but Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia on one of the first big international trips of his administration. He went to Rome earlier this year for the funeral of Pope Francis, but now he's in Saudi Arabia,

and he'll also make visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He's mainly focused on business deals in the region. He's already announced that Saudi Arabia has committed to investing $600 billion in the United States today. So lots of praising of Middle Eastern officials, touting of these agreements, and he also delivered remarks on Tuesday, discussing his intent to bring world peace and also to defend the United States no matter what the cost. Far too many American presidents

have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins. They loved using our very powerful military and now it's really the most powerful it's ever been. We believe in peace through strength. You have to have the strength

otherwise bad things could happen, but hopefully we'll never have to use any of those weapons. Seems to be an awfully big waste of money if you're never going to use them, but hopefully we'll never have to use them because the destructive power of some of those weapons are like nobody's seen before. I believe it is God's job to sit in judgment, my job to defend America, and to promote the fundamental interest of stability, prosperity, and peace. So the United States and Saudi Arabia signed the largest defense sales deal in history. The White House announced on Tuesday just hours into President Trump's four-day trip to the Middle East

that the nearly $142 billion deal will provide Saudi Arabia with state-of-the-art warfighter equipment and services from over a dozen American defense firms. The White House says it underscores our commitment to strengthening our defense and security partnership, and they signed that largest defense sales deal in history on Tuesday. Now, Iran looms large in any discussion about the Middle East. What is Trump seeking to accomplish related to Iran? Yes, so the president delivered a clear warning to Iran. He said Iran can have a much brighter future, but we will never allow them to threaten America or our allies with terrorism or a nuclear attack.

Here's a little bit more from the president on that. The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country. We want them to be a wonderful, safe, great country. but they cannot have a nuclear weapon. This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now for them to choose. Right now, we don't have a lot of time to wait.

Another big moment today, Trump announced that he'll lift sanctions on Syria in order to, quote, give them a chance at greatness. Here's what the president had to say on this point. I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That's what we want to see.

Clearly a very important trip and already some major agreements reached. Mary Margaret, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. If you run a small business, you know there's nothing small about it. That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world that helps tackle all the important tasks in one place from inventory to payments to analytics and more. With 99.99% uptime in the best converting checkout on the planet, you'll never miss a sale again.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period and start selling today at Shopify.com slash morningwire. Go to Shopify.com slash morning wire. Again, that's Shopify.com slash morning wire. Eight months after he was arrested, the federal trial of music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, kicked off this week in Manhattan. The charges he faces, including sex trafficking, coercion, and racketeering have sent shockwaves throughout the entertainment industry.

Daily Wire culture reporter, Megan Basham, is here now with the latest. So, Megan, this is an extremely disturbing story, even worse than a lot of us expected. What have we seen so far? You know, Georgia, what I can tell you is that the atmosphere so far at the Combs trial has been explosive. Some of the details that have been offered are extremely not-sendezed. safer work. I think I could safely say that this is the most X-rated trial that I've ever followed. So, you know, I do want to warn parents, if you have kids in earshot right now, you might want to

put the show on pause before I get into it. But just some details. Inside the courtroom, these prosecutors painted a very dark picture. They allege that Combs used his fame, his wealth, his multimedia empire to coerce and threaten women and prostitutes into this decade-long scheme involving sex trafficking and violence. They claimed that he lured these women with promises of romance or career opportunities, only to then force them into what the prosecutors are calling freak-offs. And essentially what they are is sexual performances that are drug-fueled involving male prostitutes, sometimes recorded in order to blackmail the people who participated in it.

And they say that it was particularly during these freak-offs when Combs would abuse the women in his life, including his former girl. girlfriend singer Cassie Ventura. Now, what specific charges is he facing? And then also what kind of evidence did the prosecutors present? Yeah, so Combs is facing five felony counts. He has one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion,

and two counts of transportation for prostitution. So if convicted, he could face life in prison, but he will at least face a minimum of 15 years for those sex trafficking charges alone. and the prosecutors are presenting, I would call it, a very compelling argument so far. On Monday, they played the full video of that viral 2016 tape that was leaked, that showed Combs, beating up and dragging Ventura by the hair in a hotel hallway in L.A., hitting, kicking her. The security guard who took that footage while trying to de-escalate the situation testified that he found Ventura with a black eye

and that Combs offered him a bribe to stay silent. And then on Tuesday, Vinger herself, in a pretty explosive moment, took the stand, and she said that Combs too frequently mashed in her head, dragged her along the floor, kicked her, stomped on her head. She also said he characterized these drug and alcohol-fueled freak-offs as a part of her, quote-unquote, job. And she said that they increased in frequency over the course of their relationship, so that in the final years that she was with Combs,

she said these sex sessions became all-consuming, and she spent most of her time either engaging in these freak-offs or recovering from them while simultaneously enduring Combs' abuse. Now, two other women are expected to come forward to testify about alleged coercion and abuse. One other person the jury heard from this first two days was Daniel Phillip, a former male escort. Now, he gave graphic testimony about being paid thousands

of dollars to have sex with Ventura while Combs watched and masturbated in the corner. He said that Combs also, in one particularly gruesome incident, asked him to urinate into Ventura's mouth. Philip also said that he witnessed Combs' physical abuse of Ventura when he threw a liquor bottle at her and dragged her into a bedroom and slapped her as she was crying, I'm sorry. Now, Philip said that the reason that he didn't confront Combs at that time was because he was afraid of Combs' power, and the bodyguards that were present. Wow. So how is Combs team defending against these claims?

You know, I would say his defense attorney is taking a pretty bold approach. Essentially what she's done so far is concede that he is guilty of domestic violence and drug use, but she stressed that domestic abuse is not a federal crime. So she's insisting that this isn't a racketeering or sex trafficking case. She told the jurors, and I'm quoting here, this is about Sean Combs' private sex life. And she emphasized that the women involved, including Ventura, were strong, capable, in love with him, and were making consensual choices. So she argued that that 2016 video, while indefensible and showing dehumanizing behavior stems from a dispute over Ventura's phone and some jealousy.

And she said it had nothing to do with sex trafficking. She urged the jury not to act as moral police here, but instead she said they should focus on the evidence and not. for example, his now well-known love of baby oil. So this trial is expected to last approximately eight weeks, and the court has warned that we should expect to hear even more disturbing testimony as this trial goes on. Well, we're going to continue to follow this case closely. Megan, thanks for reporting. Of course. Thanks, Georgia. The first group of white South Africans who were granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived in the U.S. this week, sparking outrage on the left.

Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. Hey, Amanda. So before we get to the reaction to all of this, tell us about the South Africans. How many arrived so far and why were they granted refugee status so quickly? Yeah, so far we have 59 men, women, and children who've arrived in the U.S. These refugees are Afrikaners. That's an ethnic minority in South Africa. And most of them are farmers. They were vetted and granted refugee status very quickly within a matter of months. And that's largely due to President Trump's attention to this. matter. He signed an executive order back in February to end all aid to South Africa over what he said were discriminatory racial policies, specifically those targeting white farmers. The order also notes that South Africa has taken aggressive positions against the U.S. and her allies, including Israel. Footage of the refugees arriving on Monday shows them waving American flags. One State Department official noted that they spoke to these Afrikaners specifically about assimilation. They said that that's really important for their resettlements. Here's some footage of their arrival provided at

the State Department. Welcome to the United States of America. A lot of you, I think, are farmers, right? Now there were only 59 or so refugees this time, but the State Department did say that in the coming months, we will welcome more Afrikaners to the U.S. Do we know what specific persecution they were facing back in South Africa? Yeah, well, one of the refugees said that she was attacked on her farm four different times. She said that Afrikaners are being blamed and targeted over past apartheid in South Africa.

Hundreds of people have been killed on farms in just the last four years or so. Not all of those have been white, but many were. Addressing these refugees, the State Department said that Afrikaners face unjust racial discrimination in South Africa, and they added that no one should be subject to violent attacks because of their ethnicity. Trump's executive order also notes of the recently enacted Expropriation Act, which the order said enables the South African government to seize Afrikaners farmland without compensation. Here's White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently talking about the persecution of whites in South Africa. There's a whole series of government laws and policies that specifically target white farmers and the white population in South Africa that's well documented on video.

And of course, you even see government leaders chanting racial epithets and espousing racial violence. As noted by Miller, there's been some really shocking anti-white rhetoric in South Africa. Here's Julius Malima, a current member of the National Assembly of South Africa. he's openly talking about how there will likely come a time to start slaughtering whites. I'm saying to you, we've not called for the killing of white people, at least for now. I can't guarantee the future. Really alarming rhetoric there. So what sort of pushback are we seeing about these refugees here?

Why is the left so upset? Yeah, so the argument on the left is that Trump is favoring these refugees because they're white. They've cited the president very early on halting most of the refugee programs that were established under President Biden. Trump's main justification there is that these programs were not safe. They couldn't properly vet these refugees, especially from nations that are considered high risk to the U.S. Here's Stephen Miller defending the administration giving out this refugee status. What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created. This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race.

This is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty. So the pushback is coming from some in the media, Democrats, and interestingly, even a Christian nonprofit that's supposed to help resettle refugees. The Episcopal migration ministries was asked to resettle these South Africans, and they refused. Justifying the refusal, the nonprofit cited the church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and their historic ties to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Rather a surprising announcement for sure there. Amanda, thank you so much for reporting.

You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news you need to know.