Morning Wire - US-Russia Seek Peace & DC’s Housing Market Chaos | 2.19.25

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Russia and the US begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the future is uncertain for New York City’s mayor, and thousands of homes go up for sale in and around DC. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Balance of Nature: Go to https://balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer PLUS get a free bottle of Fiber and Spice. Old Glory Bank: Go to https://oldglorybank.com/wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can ACTUALLY trust. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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enlarge our clientele to the world entire. Trouvee de petitions like one other oner.com. Significant talks between Russia and the U.S. take place in Saudi Arabia

with the end of the Ukraine war on the table. The five of us that were here today are going to remain engaged in this process to make sure that it's moving along in a productive way. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.

It's Wednesday, February 19th, and this is Morning Wire. The future of New York City's mayor is in question as the governor considers removing him. Go back and do an analysis from the day that I was invited to what we have accomplished. That is my ability to lead through turmoil, and I'm going to continue to do that. And is the swamp drying up? Thousands of homes go up for sale in the Washington, D.C. area. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Brandon here. Balance of Nature fruits and veggies provide a convenient way to get your daily whole fruits and vegetables.

Using a special freeze drying process, they transform fresh produce in the easy-to-take capsules that you can bring anywhere. While not replacing a healthy diet, Balance of Nature works alongside your other healthy habits to support your wellness journey. I take these capsules whenever I'm traveling to ensure I get my daily fruits and veggies. Head to Balance of Nature.com and use promo code wire for 35% off your first order, as a preferred customer, plus get a free bottle of fiber and spice. That's balance of nature.com promo code wire. The United States and Russia inched towards normalizing relations and ending the war in Ukraine following high stakes meetings Tuesday.

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break down what comes next and what each side is looking to gain. So get us up to speed here. Yeah, some major diplomatic developments out of Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. and Russia met in earnest for the first time in three years. The two sides agreed Tuesday to appoint special teams of negotiators who would begin formal negotiations on a peace deal in Ukraine and worked on arranging a face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

European allies and Vladimir Zelenskyy decried the meeting as an affront to Ukraine, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Trump is doing what no one else can do and what he was elected to do. No one else has been able to bring something together like what we saw today because Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that can. So no one is being sidelined here, but President Trump is in a position that he campaigned on to initiate a process that could bring about an end of this conflict. And to Rubio's point, it's certainly remarkable just how quickly these peace talks have come about. Trump and Putin had their first call of Trump's second term last week, and now seven

days later, their top deputies are meeting face to face. Usually these things take much longer months to work out. Sure, yeah. The White House says it's proof that Trump is a swift mover when it comes to negotiating peace. Now the big question, just how productive was this meeting? Well, we're still a ways off from any substantive movement on the war itself, though the U.S. did call for a ceasefire on attacks on energy facilities from both sides while the talks move forward. But zooming out the most consequential development was simply the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Russia. U.S. envoy to the Middle East, Steve Whitkoff, called the meeting, quote, positive, upbeat and constructive, while Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it was, quote, very useful. So they were

positive coming out as a sort of sign of goodwill. The two countries agreed Tuesday to allow staff to return to their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington. Rubio also made sure to remind Russia that if they agreed to a deal, the U.S. would be willing to engage in new economic partnerships. You also suggested Trump would be willing to lift sanctions on Moscow. So trying to sweeten the pot there. Yeah, indeed. Now, as we look ahead to formal negotiations, What exactly is each side looking for? So Trump's goal is fairly simple. He wants Russia to withdraw their troops and end the invasion,

but it's likely that'll only happen if Putin is allowed to hold on to some Ukrainian territory he's already taken, specifically in Crimea and the Donbass. Putin desperately wants to avoid coming back empty-handed and is made clear that he will keep fighting if a deal does not include that land. Now, for his part, Zelensky has previously said he would not agree to any deal that allowed Putin to keep territory, but he likely won't have much choice. And there are those in the White House who believe that Zelensky is well aware of that fact, but wants to save face.

Trump's assertiveness here could be a way to do that, as Zelensky can essentially tell his people, look, I tried to get all our land back, but the U.S. forced this on me. At least I kept us from being conquered. Right. Trump could be his excuse in a sense. Now, much has been made in Europe over the fact that these meetings did not include anyone but the U.S. and Russia. Tell us about those complaints.

Yeah, again, the White House says you, Ukraine will be given a seat at the table once the negotiations begin more formally. But Trump had a message for Zelensky when asked about the matter yesterday. They've had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily. A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago. I think without the loss of much land, very little land, without the loss of any lives, and without the loss of cities that are just laying on their side.

But while Trump said he's willing to allow Ukraine in on negotiations, he still says European leaders will not be taking part. Trump has long argued they've not done enough to fund the war effort on their own continent. And he's basically saying, if you want a seat at the table, you've got to ante up. And he's giving them that chance. In the last week, the White House sent out questionnaires to European leaders, asking them to lay out just how much money they'd commit to Ukrainian security moving forward. And if they'd be willing to put boots on the ground after the war. As the State Department spokesman put it, the administration quote has been clear that we expect European partners to take the lead in establishing a durable security framework and look forward to their proposals. All right.

So Trump really holding their feet to the fire there. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting. Anytime. Have you seen all those woke executives just now jumping on the bandwagon of freedom and liberty? Where were they when banks were sharing your data with big government and canceling patriots? Remember who they really are and certainly don't trust them now with your money. Trust the FDIC insured bank that was created to protect them. your privacy, security, and liberty. Old Glory Bank. Co-founded in 2022 by Dr. Ben Carson, Larry Elder,

and John Rich, Old Glory Bank now serves tens of thousands of customers in all 50 states. Head over to old glorybank.com slash wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can actually trust. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing potential removal from office by New York Governor Kathy Hokel. The questions over Adams' future follow the DOJ's decision to dismiss a corruption case filed against him. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the fallout in New York. So Tim, the New York governor technically has the power to remove an elected mayor, but it's never been done in the state's 235-year history.

So why is Hockel considering it now? Right. Well, since the DOJ moved to have the corruption case against Adams dismissed, Hockel has been under pressure from Democrats to act. Recently, there have been calls for Adams to step down, even from Hockel's lieutenant governor, which puts more pressure on her to act if Adams refuses. And so far, Adams is staying in. I just find it so amazing.

The most sanctified among us are calling for me to step down. Not going to step down, I'm going to step up. Democrats say that Adams' corruption case has merit, and the DOJ is only letting him off so he can be a pawn for Trump. So far, four of his top deputies have resigned. in protests, suggesting he's been too cooperative with Trump. Here's Democratic strategist James Carville on MSNBC on Monday. We've had four deputy mayors resign. We've had four people, many of them, dedicated, conservative, resigned from the Southern

District of New York. I'm sorry, the governor, New York is a dope. Why she doesn't get that guy out of there, Prato? I have no idea. Now, Hockel has worked relatively well with Adams up until this point, and she's got her own re-election next year to think about. Osting a sitting mayor and potentially angering his voters may not be in her political interest. But in the middle of all the pressure on her, she won't rule out, forcing Adams out.

Here she was on MSNBC last week. I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction. Like a lot of other people are saying right now, I have to do it smart, what's right, and I'm consulting with other leaders in government at this time. So she's being cautious, it sounds like. What charges is Adam faced with? is the DOJ deciding not to pursue them? Adams was charged with accepting about $100,000 in illegal gifts from Turkey.

The Justice Department under Trump has decided to drop the charges, though, because it says Adams was another target of the Biden DOJ's political weaponization. The Justice Department also says that the case was needlessly interfering with Trump's immigration agenda. It's that latter point that has caused some critics to accuse the Trump administration of striking an agreement with Adams to drop the charges in return for his help on deportations. Borders are Tom Homan and Adams went on Fox News and pushed back against that. Here's Adams. You know, people want to hijack this narrative and turn into a political narrative where we're saying we need to have public safety. I requested the meeting. I reached out to his team and said, we want to sit down.

This has been an issue I was talking about before the election. Now, Adam says that politics doesn't have anything to do with his relationship with Homan, but obviously there are political implications if Adams is removed. So who would benefit most? If Hockel removes Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may benefit the most. He's seen as the favorite if he jumps into the mayoral race, but he and Adams pull a lot of the same base of support. So getting Adams out of the way would ease Cuomo's comeback after he resigned his governor amid sexual harassment allegations. All right.

Well, that would be a very significant twist if Cuomo has his comeback. Tim, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me. Judge Tanya Chutkin ruled in favor Tuesday of Doge having action. to key federal data, meaning its cost-saving cuts are poised to continue. Meanwhile, the efforts to reduce the size of the federal government are reportedly causing a sell-off in the D.C. housing market. Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with more. Hey, Megan. So we're seeing reports of chaos in the D.C. area. What exactly is happening with this real estate there? Well, you know,

there's a number of data points driving this story. And I think we should start with the fact that since Trump took office, 75,000 federal workers have already taken the buyout that he was offering. And around 10,000 have been directly terminated. And then, of course, Trump has tasked Elon Musk with eliminating many more government jobs through Doge. So a lot more cuts are expected. Yeah. And in that time, real estate watchers say that a huge number of new homes have flooded the market in and around D.C. where a high concentration of these federal workers live. So in the D.C. Metro itself, around 4,000 new homes have been listed for sale in the last 30 days. And that's well above average by nearly 25%. Now, if you drill down on the Virginia suburbs, that picture is even more striking.

There, some areas like Fairfax and Alexandria are even seeing a 60 to 70% increase in year-over-year listings. And you have to keep in mind, yeah, that this is during the winter months in a housing market that has historically seen low supply. So according to Redfin data, the median selling price in the area is down 20% from November to February. Now, of course, some experts will say that that is cyclical. Homes don't move as much in this quarter, but even if you look back at last January compared to this January, you still find that the median price is down nearly 9%. And Redfin has also found that buyers in D.C. are tending to sit on the sidelines. So for the first month of 2025, pending sales were down 6%.

And there's now more than five months of housing supply in D.C., which is the most that that market's seen in six years since before the pandemic, in other words. And overall, you've got Redfin agents saying that the D.C. market is in chaos right now. Right. We've been hearing that word a lot in relation to this. How can we tell, though, that this increase in listings is a result of the moves the Trump administration has been making to cut waste? But, you know, a lot of it is anecdotal. We have Redfin agents reporting that this is what clients are telling them. And then also looking at the timing of these market changes.

And that's what has a lot of investing companies paying attention. Market analysts with the Kobesi letter, for example, have said that what they're seeing in D.C. is an unprecedented level of selling in a generally strong housing market. And because of that, they noted that Trump's plans to further cut waste are likely to ramp trend up. And then you also have another research firm, John Burns' research and consulting, which specializes in housing data. And it's advising its clients that the D.C. housing market is already showing signs of hesitancy, and they too are citing those federal layoffs. Now, of course, that said, you do have some local real estate agents telling outlets that they

don't believe that anything unusual is happening here and that it's too soon to tell that Trump's layoffs are driving these market shifts. So some differing views on this. Do we have a sense of which federal workers are pulling up stakes? Well, there's some evidence suggesting that it's quite a number of the highly paid ones. So the Kobesi letter also noted a surge in new listings above a million dollars. And maybe a related data point right after Trump's election, WikiLeaks found that Google searches in D.C. for terms like Swiss Bank and offshore bank skyrocketed. So I don't know about you, John, but I have personally never been in the earnings bracket where,

I needed to look for information like that. Not quite there yet. Now, federal workers don't only live in D.C. There's other areas that are being impacted by this, correct? You know, it's not clear yet, but certainly researchers like it, John Burns, are on the lookout for that. They particularly pointed to California, Texas, and Florida, because those are areas that also have a high number of federal workers.

Right. We'll see how far the Doge effect reaches there. Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Thanks for waking up. us and if you liked what you heard this morning share this episode with a friend