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--:-- Host: John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: The family of the Colorado terror suspect is arrested by ICE as the Trump administration rounds up 1,500 illegal immigrants in another sanctuary state. Make no mistake, ICE is going to keep doing this. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, June 4th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: drug giant CVS could be closing all of its stores in Arkansas due to a first in the nation law targeting pharmaceutical middlemen you have these multi-billion dollar companies who have taken advantage of lax regulations and abused the system for too long and we're not going to allow that in Arkansas anymore and the ftc probes whether a dozen major advertising and watchdog groups illegally coordinated to blacklist platforms. Media matters is an evil propaganda machine. They can go to hell.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Trust isn't just earned, it's demanded. Whether you're a startup founder navigating your first audit or a seasoned security professional scaling your GRC program, proving your commitment to security has never been more critical or more complex. That's where Vonta comes in. businesses use Vonta to establish trust by automating compliance for in-demand frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and more. Vonta streamlines compliance monitoring, unifies risk management, and accelerates security reviews as your business grows. Vonta not only saves you time, it can also save you money. A new IDC white paper found that Vonta customers achieve $535,000 per year in benefits, and the platform pays for itself in just three months. Join over 10,000 global companies like Atlassian, Quora, and Factory who use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time. For a limited time, listeners get $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com slash morningwire. That's V-A-N-T-A dot com slash morningwire for $1,000 off.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Two million people paid more to get away. They didn't want to be vetted. They didn't want to be fingerprinted. Why? This scares the hell out of me. That was border czar Tom Homan on Fox warning about the potential for more 9-11 level terror attacks. Meanwhile, ICE has arrested the family of the Colorado terror suspect. Here to discuss the latest immigration news is Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist.
--:-- Guest: Spencer Lindquist: So this is an example of just how serious the Trump administration is of deporting people who are in this country illegally, particularly those who pose a threat to others. Senior Homeland Security officials told Bill Malugian of Fox on Tuesday that ICE and Homeland Security investigators have arrested the immediate family of the Boulder terror suspect, Mohamed Suleman. Sources say the family is being processed for expedited removal. That means they'll be rapidly deported without the need for a hearing. And this follows a very strong statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, correct?
--:-- Guest: Spencer Lindquist: Yeah, exactly. So he vowed just a day after this attack, which was against pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, that the administration would do exactly what it's doing right now with Solomon's family. He said, quote, all terrorists, their family members and terrorist sympathizers here on the visa should know that under the Trump administration we will find you we will revoke your visa and deport you And now Solomon family is on their way out of the country That happened very fast
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Now we have tragic news from another state South Carolina What happened in this situation?
--:-- Guest: Spencer Lindquist: This is a horrific and senseless crime in South Carolina. A group of illegal aliens, including teenagers, were recently arrested in connection with the murder of a woman. Her name was Larisha Thompson, and she was from Lancaster County, South Carolina. She was driving down the road when another car pulled up next to her, shot under her vehicle and struck and killed her. Authorities have charged six illegal aliens ranging from just 13 years old to 21 years old. The six illegal aliens have been charged with murder, attempted armed robbery, and second-degree burglary. As you said, just senseless, needless violence there.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Now, we noted at the top of the show ICE conducted a major raid in Massachusetts, hundreds of people arrested. What happened there?
--:-- Guest: Spencer Lindquist: So this operation resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegal aliens. Of those arrested, 790 illegal aliens, more than half of them, had criminal records or pending charges. Patricia Hyde, the acting director of the Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office, explained that Massachusetts' sanctuary state policies force immigration enforcement agents to go into the community rather than to simply pick up illegal aliens at the jails. ICE agents often find more illegal aliens in the process of searching for specific targets. Here's Hyde at a press conference following the operations. Sanctuary policies put us in a position to go out into communities and look for people. When jurisdictions don't cooperate with ICE and we don't put, we don't arrest people custodial and custodial arrests, then we must go out into the community. And when we go out into the community and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them. We've been completely transparent with that. And a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations said that the federal law enforcement agents are going to continue finding and capturing illegal aliens. HSI special agents will continue a whole of government approach to take the fight to transnational criminal actors and organizations who poison our communities, who exploit and victimize our children, who defraud our citizens and government systems, who illegally harbor and employ aliens who perpetrate violence. The Trump administration, even more motivated than ever to remove these threats.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Spencer, thanks so much for reporting. Thank you.
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--:-- Host: John Bickley: A first in the nation law takes on pharmacy benefit managers. PBMs are the drug middlemen both sides of the aisle have blamed for inflating prescription drug prices. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestigiacomo: So Amanda, CVS is threatening to completely leave Arkansas over this law. First, though, can you briefly explain the role of PBMs and what this law actually would do?
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah so PBMs act as middlemen between drug manufacturers insurance companies and pharmacies and by extension patients They negotiate with drug companies and they reimburse pharmacies for filling prescriptions In theory they supposed to lower costs for Americans However over the last decade or so PBMs have really consolidated. Now there are just three companies overseeing prescriptions for more than 270 million Americans. They've been accused by both Republicans and Democrats of inflating prices for their own benefit and driving small pharmacies out of business across the country. This new law bans PBMs from holding permits for prescription drug sales in Arkansas. I spoke to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders about all of this, and here's why she thinks this legislation is necessary. What was happening is you have these pharmaceutical companies, they're supposed to use PBMs to negotiate better drug prices, work between the insurance companies and the pharmacies. But what was actually happening is the pharmacies were buying the PBMs and completely controlling and monopolizing the market. We call them drug middlemen because that's exactly what they are. They're overinflating prices and passing that inflation down to the consumer. And in Arkansas, I'm proud of the fact that we signed legislation first in the country to stop that practice. We want to protect the people that live in our state. We want to make sure they have access to critical care, but that they're not overpaying for it. You had three of the largest PBMs in the country controlling 80 percent of the pharmaceutical market. Completely control allows them to charge more. Now, Sanders also stressed that this law intends to help small pharmacies keep their doors open. This is a major issue in Arkansas and other states, too, since PBMs are notorious for lowballing these small independent pharmacies. We're optimistic that prices will come down not only in our state, but also that our local pharmacies will be able to keep their doors open, which was another big priority for us so that people in rural communities don't lose that access to care.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: This law garnered a lot of attention last month when CVS said that they might have to close all 23 of their locations in Arkansas. CVS owns one of the big three PBMs. It's called Caremark Rx. Again, this Arkansas law will revoke permits for pharmacies affiliated with PBMs. I asked the governor about this pushback. Here's how she responded. It shows where their priorities are. They would rather own the PBM than keep their pharmacy open and provide care to the patients they claim to care about. Look, I'm all for private industry making money, but not on the backs of the people who really need access to care, really need access to some of these specialty drugs that they're inflating the market on. And so we have a number of other pharmacies that I know will be happy to step up and take CVS's place if they decide to take their ball and go home. But we can't allow them to manipulate and control the market simply so that they keep a few stores in our state open.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Now, about a month after Governor Sanders signed this into law, President Donald Trump targeted PBMs with an executive order. That order encourages direct consumer purchases, cutting out these middlemen, and it mandates more transparency for their pricing. Sanders said that this momentum is building across the country. I think the big thing here is that this isn't just going to be something that takes place in Arkansas. You're seeing Louisiana look at passing similar legislation, New York, Texas, other states all over the country. It's not even a Republican or Democrat issue. This is something that I think a lot of governors, as well as this president, are recognizing and actually taking action on, something that's been needed for a long time. Sanders told me that she optimistic consumers are going to have more access and lower prices for prescription drugs once this law goes into effect in 2026
--:-- Host: John Bickley: All right well we keep our eye on Arkansas Amanda thanks for reporting You welcome
--:-- Host: John Bickley: The Federal Trade Commission is investigating media matters and about a dozen other groups for allegedly getting advertisers to boycott social media platforms over hateful content. Recently, many advertisers have slashed their spending on platforms like X. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraida Lordi is here with the details.
--:-- Guest: Maraida Lordi: Hi, John. Yes, so the FTC is probing whether Media Matters and these other groups violated antitrust law by mobilizing advertisers to boycott platforms like X, supposedly because they didn't want their ads next to controversial content. Media Matters has been publishing research about hateful content on X. Another group the FTC is targeting is Adfante's Media. This is a media watchdog that rates media outlets' biases. The FTC told Ad Fontes it's being investigated for possible collusion. Some of the groups that are under investigation help brands pick where to place ads across the internet, and some of the groups call out so-called hateful content online. This is what Media Matters has been doing. More than a dozen groups are under investigation, and lawyers for the group said the FTC requested broad information about their business practices.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Now, this comes after the new FTC chairman promised to go on the attack against the censorship of conservatives online, correct?
--:-- Guest: Maraida Lordi: Yes, that's right. Andrew Ferguson is the FTC's new chairman, and he promised to crack down on this very issue, which he calls advertiser collusion. Here's Ferguson talking about this last week. If you've got an idea and you want the world to know it, you need eyeballs. And part of the way, and in order to keep your ideas going, you need to be paid to speak them. And newspapers are part of how we used to do it. Books are still, and still, and books are still how we do it. But part of it is you talk online and advertisers advertise next to what you're saying, and you can make money off of that. But if advertisers are getting into a back room somewhere and they're all agreeing, I'm not going to advertise next to that guy's speech, right? That is a real problem. And it is the form of concerted refusal to deal that the antitrust laws have long prohibited. Ferguson stressed that this is a free speech issue that applies to both the left and the right. You know, my progressive opponents say, oh, he's just out to protect conservative speech. And yes, I do think conservatives have been singled out by these platforms, but this is a neutral principle. I don't think that anyone on the left would be comfortable with the idea of a bunch of large businesses getting into a backroom and being like, hey, whenever anyone says anything favorable about abortion, we're not advertising next to that, right? I don't think that my friends on the left would like that any more than my friends on the right dislike the idea that such collusion could be affecting their speech.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Now, going back to Media Matters, who you mentioned, Elon Musk has been tangling with them for a while, correct?
--:-- Guest: Maraida Lordi: That's right. Musk sued Media Matters in 2023 over this exact issue. He accused Media Matters of trying to get advertisers to stop buying ads on X, and that lawsuit is still ongoing. And last year, Musk sued other groups like the ones the FTC is targeting, watchdog groups, advertising groups, and even certain brands, accusing them of trying to get advertisers to boycott X. As we know, too, Musk has long defended X's free speech policies. Here's Musk tangling with Don Lemon over censorship on X last year.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Loteration is a propaganda word for censorship. But don't you think free speech is one thing, right? Or not, you know, look, if something's illegal, we're going to take it down. If it's not illegal, then we're putting our thumb on the scale and we're being censors.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: And as a last note, the FTC has not commented on the investigation publicly yet. So we'll have to wait for more information on that front.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Well, the advertiser front is a new one for the conservative censorship issue. So we'll be watching this one very closely. Murray, thanks for reporting. Thanks, John.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
