--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Georgia Howe: The NFL is back, and FanDuel's got everything you need to play your game. From same-game parlays to live betting. Right now, new customers bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. 21-plus in president select states. 18-plus in Kentucky and Wyoming. Must be first online real money waging. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
--:-- [Sound effects: A quick transition]
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Fast Growing Trees. Right now, as a listener of our show, you get an additional 15% off your first purchase when you use code WIRE at fastgrowingtrees.com.
--:-- John Bickley: Five people are dead following severe storms in the Midwest, Marine Le Pen is barred from running for office, and President Trump floats the idea of a third term. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Monday, March 31st, And this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Severe weather left hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest without power on Monday. Michigan was among the hardest hit with more than 300,000 customers left in the dark. Both Wisconsin and Indiana each saw the power for around 50,000 customers knocked out.
--:-- John Bickley: The power outages were the result of damaging wind and at least four tornadoes that swept through those states, as well as Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky on Sunday. At least five fatalities have been reported.
--:-- Georgia Howe: French populist leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office and faces several years behind bars. Le Pen is the current frontrunner for the 2027 presidential election. But after being found guilty of embezzlement on Monday, she's now blocked from running for public office for five years. She's also been sentenced to four years in jail.
--:-- John Bickley: Her ineligibility to run is expected to provoke protests from supporters who believe her prosecution is an attempt to keep her off the ballot.
--:-- Georgia Howe: High Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre claims she's in critical condition following a traffic accident. She shared a photo and message on Instagram from her hospital bed stating that she was hit by a school bus while driving.
--:-- John Bickley: The location and circumstances of the crash aren't known, but the mother of three has been living in Western Australia. According to her post, doctors have told her she is in renal failure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Wisconsin will vote for a new Supreme Court judge tomorrow, and the stakes are very high for both parties. Among those drawing attention to the race is Elon Musk. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has more on the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Musk handed out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters on Sunday night in Green Bay. The tech billionaire said that Tuesday's pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court election could impact the future of civilization. He's poured over $20 million to back the conservative candidate, Brad Schimmel, who's running against liberal Susan Crawford.
--:-- John Bickley: The election could shift the court's ideological balance and influence key issues in the battleground state, most notably redistricting. That could have a major effect on national elections. Democrat Attorney General Josh Kahl argued that Musk payments violate state law, but the court declined to intervene.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Musk at the rally. The reason for the checks is that it's really just to get attention. We need to get attention. And somewhat inevitably, when I do these things, it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds. And then they'll run it on every news channel. It would cost like 10 times more to get the kind of coverage that we get.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Recent polling suggests broad support for some of President Trump's signature policies, but also skepticism toward others. A survey conducted by the Associated Press found that immigration was Trump's strongest issue, while trade negotiations were his weakest.
--:-- John Bickley: Nearly half of Americans, 49, support Trump immigration policies while only 38 support his approach on trade. Aggressive immigration enforcement and imposing tariffs on foreign goods have been key pillars of Trump's platform since he injured national politics nearly a decade ago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash morningwire, all lowercase.
--:-- John Bickley: Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Head over to shopify.com slash morningwire to start selling with Shopify today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Three American soldiers who went missing in Lithuania last week during a training exercise have been found dead. It was determined that the armored vehicle the men were traveling in sank in a swamp.
--:-- John Bickley: The search continues for a fourth soldier who is believed to have been with the group. The army has not released their names pending notification of next of kin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to an Army statement, the soldiers went missing in the early morning hours of March 25th in their armored recovery vehicle while on a mission to repair a tactical vehicle. The massive recovery and engineering effort continues to extract the 63-ton vehicle from a peat bog surrounded by unstable ground conditions.
--:-- John Bickley: The Army has credited Lithuanian and Polish forces for their assistance. President Trump floated the idea of running for a third term. In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, the president said he was, quote, not joking about potentially running for president in 2028, despite the 25th Amendment making it unconstitutional to serve more than two terms.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Several Trump allies have suggested the idea over the last months. Trump himself has said that it's too early to think about 2028, but said there were possible methods to work around the third term ban.
--:-- John Bickley: Wyoming has passed the strictest voter ID law in the country, requiring proof of citizenship and residency. Morning Wire spoke to Wyoming's Secretary of State, Chuck Gray, about the years-long battle to get it passed.
--:-- Chuck Gray: This was actually a two-year standoff between the governor and I on this issue. We brought rulemaking in late 2023 to have a proof of residency requirement and also put procedures in place to make sure that illegal aliens would not be eligible to register to vote. And unfortunately, the governor vetoed a rulemaking that we brought in 2023 that would create a proof of residency requirement and create procedures to ensure that illegal aliens are not eligible for registering to vote. And he vetoed that in early 2024.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So that's why we went to the legislature to put this in place in state law. And I'm glad that after this year and a half, two-year standoff, the governor backed down and it was the people that really won here. The people of Wyoming who wanted this, that really won with the passage of proof of citizenship and proof of residency for registering to vote.
--:-- John Bickley: And college basketball's final four is set. Crane & Company's David Cohn has the story.
--:-- David Cohn: After an exhilarating weekend of Sweet 16 and Elite 8 matchups, the Final Four is set for the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Auburn will face Florida Saturday, April 5th at 6:09 Eastern Time, and Duke will take on Houston at 8:49 Eastern. All four number one seeds reach the final weekend for only the second time ever, the previous season being 2008, when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA all advanced.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The two winners from Saturday will play for the national championship on Monday, April 7th in San Antonio, Texas.
--:-- John Bickley: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some big stories, including Trump's Liberation Day, the left-wing Tesla takedown, and self-deportations are picking up.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
