Morning Wire - U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2738- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.- - -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

The U.S. expands its blockade of Iran, while President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. It's a very nice little package for about a week, and we're not going to have lots of bombs dropping. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, April 17th. This is Morning Wire. Virginia is reeling as more details come to light about the tragic murder-suicide of their former lieutenant governor. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside of their home and then shot and killed himself. And with President Trump blasting away at NATO for failing to back the U.S., France and England meet today to hammer out a plan to handle the Hormuz Strait.

No conditions, no tolls, and no tolerance of Iran holding the world's economy to Ransom. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. I want to tell you about our friends and aligns defending freedom. ADF is a Christian legal ministry dedicated to advancing free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God's design for marriage and family. They've scored huge legal victories, like helping to topple Roe v. Wade and securing a landmark free speech win at the Supreme Court on behalf of graphic designer Lori Smith. And they're fighting some of our culture's most pressing issues,

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First, one of the fronts in this conflict with Iran is this ongoing battle between Israel and Hezbollah. A major announcement yesterday. Let's start there. What happened and how does this play into the Iran conflict? Right. So as Georgia said, a 10-day ceasefire with Israel and Hezbollah has begun yesterday. yesterday at 5 p.m., President Trump said he spoke directly with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the talks productive in the ceasefire a step toward broader peace. Trump also spoke with reporters yesterday before departing to Nevada. He said he thinks a deal with Iran is coming soon. I think the blockade has been more powerful than the bombs. The bombs were powerful.

And it weakened them. They have no Navy. They have no Air Force. They have no anything. They have no leaders. But they're new leaders, the ones that have replaced. it's a regime change. They are much more, I think, frankly, more intelligent and more moderate. But we have a real chance to make a deal very soon with the left. All right. So Trump, once again, expressing optimism that a deal is coming soon. We also received an update from the Pentagon, Secretary of War, Pete Hegeseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kane. They held the presser yesterday. They signaled that they're ready for escalation, correct?

Right. So Secretary Hegsef said that the U.S. military is closely tracking Iran's military, which has been using this period of ceasefire to dig out its facilities and move weapons around. He said that Iran has no real ability to rebuild, while the U.S. is reloading with more power than ever before and operating with better intelligence. He also warned that if Iran does not make a deal, the U.S. is, quote, locked and loaded. Remember, this is not a fair fight. We're ready to go at the command of our president. and at the push of a button. This blockade is the polite way that this can go. And we're doing this blockade, performing it with less than 10% of America's naval power.

All right, so clearly preparing for the potential for more action, at least. Meanwhile, the U.S. is expanding its blockade, as Georgia mentioned. What should we expect on that front? Right. So this is a major escalation that could bring enforcement around the world. The blockade previously only went after ships that were going to and from Iranian ports or the Iranian coastline. Now, according to Chairman Dan Cain, U.S. forces will pursue Iranian-linked vessels around the world. That includes Iran's so-called Dark Fleet, which is a network of illicit ships carrying sanctioned oil secretly. According to the nonprofit, United Against a Nuclear Iran, there are more than 570 ships tied to this network.

and enforcement is already having an effect. Kane says that 13 ships have turned around rather than attempting to break the blockade. The joint force will actively pursue any Iranian flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran. This includes dark fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil. As most of you know, dark fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international. regulations, sanctions, or insurance requirements. Now, before you go, I wanted to ask you about your report for the Daily Wire yesterday, about a very different kind of battlefield social media.

You found Iran is pushing out what you called brain rot content to undercut the U.S. war effort. Can you unpack that for us? Right. So I tracked activity across 69 official Iranian embassy accounts on X with a combined following more than 1.1 million users. What we found was a dramatic shift in Iran's strategy. Before, Iran was known for using anonymous bot accounts to spread its propaganda, but now it's doing it blatantly out in the open.

It's using its embassy accounts, which used to hardly even post. Sometimes around 10 times a day, usually about embassy matters. Now, these same accounts are flooding feeds with anywhere between 50 to 200 posts per day, pushing out a constant stream of content designed to go viral. Really is remarkable to see how much social media plays into, these global conflicts at this point. Cassie, thank you so much for covering this and for coming on the show.

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Once you use it, you'll wonder how you ever garden without it. The brand-new pocket hose copperhead and pocket pivot is a total game changer. For me, it's really helped with the blackberries and strawberries I just planted. Plus, I can't tell you enough how easy it is to use and to clean up no more green kinked backyard hoses at our house. For limited time, our listeners can get a free pocket pivot with their 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copper. headhose. Just text Morning to 64,000. That's Morning to 64,000 for your two free gifts with purchase. Morning to 64,000. Messaging data rates may apply, see terms for details. The murder, suicide involving former Democratic lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax has shaken the state of Virginia, and more

details are emerging. Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake joins us now with more. So, Lyndon, this is a chilling story coming out of Annandale, Virginia. We're now learning more details. We immediately learned that the couple was going through a messy divorce, but we've since learned a little bit more. Tell us first about the actual crime itself. Yeah, so the lieutenant governor went down the basement, shot his wife Serena before he went upstairs to their bedroom and turned the gun on himself. Police say that there were two teenagers, their two teenage kids at the home at the time. You mentioned their home just outside of Washington, D.C., and it was actually one of the teenagers that made the 911 call. Clark's thinking that his dad might have stopped his mom,

saying that she's laying on the ground, bleeding, can see holes in her shirt, heard a fight about a minute ago, unaware his father is now. Police are describing the couple, as you said, going through this ongoing domestic dispute surrounding a, quote,

complicated or messy divorce. In fact, the 47-year-old was recently served paperwork for an upcoming proceeding. I'm told that paperwork was a notice to vacate the home by April 30th, which we know is coming up

in a couple of days, and it was that incident that police say apparently led to what happened Wednesday night. It's high profile in nature. It's tragic in nature. Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favor. And it was actually back in January just a couple of months ago when Fairfax accused his wife of assaulting him, police said that claim was false.

They were actually able to go back through. video camera footage from when Serena put up cameras throughout their house to prove that she did not assault him. Now, speaking to some of the drama going on in the home, we've recently learned a lot more about what was going on just over the past few years. What do we now know? So the couple first separated back in July of 2024. Then it was Serena who officially filed for divorce last July. And during this time of their marriage issues, it appeared that Justin Fairfax was going through what was presented in divorce proceedings as a mental breakdown. Documented. described the husband and father drinking excessively and retreating from family life surrounded by

empty wine bottles, trash, and piles of dirty laundry, and only emerging from his bedroom, quote, long enough to get food or smoke cigarettes. Back in 2022, Fairfax allegedly bought a gun with funds that were intended to go towards his teenage children's horseback riding lessons. He also stopped paying for the family mortgage on their million dollar home, and he calls them to default on their loan. In the weeks leading up to this tragedy, a judge had ordered him to vacate the family home, which we referenced earlier that that date was coming up, and he was representing himself in the divorce proceedings. He did not deny the allegations made by his ex-wife about his drinking and his behavior. So during all this turmoil, he has been going through it,

making some not good decisions, and again, their children are just teenagers. They were at the house with them. And what makes this particularly spectacular is just about six or seven years ago, he was considered a shoe-in for the governorship in Virginia. Yeah, so, I mean, his career has been described as a fall from grace because around 2019, he was poised to be the governor. It was during his lieutenant governor term when you had Governor Ralph Northam. He got hit with blackface photos. People were asking Northam to resign.

And during this time, you have sexual assault allegations coming out against Fairfax. There was a lot of just commotion there at the governor's house in Virginia. Northam eventually remained governor through 2021. Then that meant Fairfax remained lieutenant governor. And he tried to make a bid for governor after that in the 2022 election, but he wasn't able to get out of the primaries back in 2021. Like you said, a remarkable fall from grace for Fairfax and a tragedy for those two kids. Lyndon, thanks for reporting. Thanks, guys.

France and Britain are holding a conference today in France to secure the Strait of Hormuz after the Iran conflict ends. Bev Turner, host of G.B. News, the late show live is here with more. Hey, Bev, great to see you. I feel like I should start with an apology, John. Why is that? Every time we talk about the UK-US relationship, I do so with such a heavy part. Because this latest news now that Kirstama, our prime minister and Emmanuel Macron, the leader of France, have got together. And they're writing some great emails, John, and they're going to have a Zoom. call. And it's going to involve 40 other countries. We know as of today also South Korea are going to be involved in this. And this is classic kind of managerial after the horse has bolted.

If they would all just get involved, we could get this sorted out much more quickly. President Trump has given up on that now. He knows we're not going to come to the aid of America and Israel to get this actually sorted. So instead, they're going to have several Zoom calls between now and whenever the Strait of Hormuz opens again. And it's just, it's almost like they're trolling the president because they could not be behaving in a more opposite way to how President Trump is handling this. So Starmor, we've talked about how he's very much struggling when it comes to his popularity back in the UK. Has that changed at all? Are the British people on board with how he's handling things now? His popularity is still very low. However,

a bit like President Trump here, actually. He is struggling to articulate, I think, the reasons for not going into the round in the way that President Trump is actually struggling a little bit with the communications as to why you are having to do this to the British people. But what we are seeing in the UK is that the majority of the British public are not actually on board with us leaning in. Now, that might be because, unlike me, they're over in the UK. So they get everything filtered through a very,

partisan media lens, which will always depict President Trump as in the wrong. Being here in the US, being in the White House, being in the briefing rooms like I was yesterday, you start to see the messaging firsthand before it's been filtered through several layers of left-wing propaganda. So actually, Stama pushing back against Trump does him fairly well in the polls in the UK. Our appetite in there in Britain at the moment isn't for getting involved in this, But even with our British sensibilities, we are seeing right through the irony of us waiting in the wings to sweep up the glory. Right. Now, there are a lot of sobering things that have been revealed because of this conflict. We had an admission last week from a major British military official, I think it was the deputy chief of the defense staff,

about how few troops the UK could actually provide in case they were needed in the continent, not even a thousand. what's the shape of the Navy and the armed forces in the UK? What have we learned? Nobody is more surprised to learn the truth, actually, John, than the British people. Because we've been sleeping soundly in our beds, presuming that if a war came in the future, it would be some sort of cyber attack. We weren't ever really going to return to the situation where we might have to be defending our borders or intercepting missiles.

This has been a wake-up call. And it's almost like the lid has been lifted on how weak our military. years. We had this one ship, HMS Dragon. We wanted it to get to our Akhtaria, the base in Cyprus. It took three weeks to get there, John, and we couldn't even paint the dragon on each side. And I think our troops, we would actually, we could fill one soccer stadium with the number of armed forces that we have. It is absolutely tiny. And then when President Trump says, you know what, we've been bankrolling NATO to the tune of nearly $900 billion a year, you might be on your own with this. You might be on your own with this. more than twice the other NATO countries combined is what America pays into NATO to keep all of

us safe. So when President Trump says, you know what, you might be on your own, you haven't supported me when I asked you to go forward. That has sent shockwaves across Europe. So unfortunately at the moment, John, we are feeling in the UK incredibly vulnerable. Well, we'll see if this leads to actually some changes on the military front in the UK in the coming years. Beth, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. 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.