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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Change is always happening. But no matter what changes in five years, there's one thing that will stay the same. The price of your internet.
--:-- John Bickley: With the Xfinity five-year price guarantee, you get five years of the most reliable Wi-Fi with our best equipment included for a price that stays exactly the same. Restrictions apply. New residential customers only. Taxes and fees extra and subject to change. Most reliable Wi-Fi based on OpenSignal Awards USA. Fixed Broadband Experience Report, August 2024.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Beam. Groggy and exhausted is no way to start off your day, which is why we're introducing Beam's Dream Powder, a science-backed, healthy hot cocoa for sleep. Head to shopbeam.com slash wire and use code wire at checkout for up to 40% off.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump holds his first cabinet meeting, Tulsi Gabbard cracks down on the NSA, and the race for Florida's governor heats up.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with John Bickley. It's Wednesday, February 26th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump convened his first cabinet meeting of his new term today with a special focus on Elon Musk's Doge overhaul. Musk has defended his push for accountability after some agency leaders resisted his directive asking employees to justify their weekly work.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump backed Musk, warning non-compliant workers they could be fired. Those people are on the bubble, as they say. Maybe they're going to be gone. Maybe they're not around. Maybe they have other jobs. Maybe they moved and they're not where they're supposed to be. A lot of things could have happened.
--:-- John Bickley: I wouldn't say that Biden ran a very tight administration. They spent money like nobody's ever spent money before.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today's meeting comes as the administration issued a memo to all federal agencies directing them to plan for sweeping layoffs of federal workers.
--:-- John Bickley: This morning, we reported on NSA employees using the agency's classified messaging platform for explicit discussions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is cracking down.
--:-- Tim Rice: Gabbard announced Tuesday that over 100 federal employees will be terminated and stripped of security clearances for participating in obscene chat rooms on the NSA interlink system.
--:-- Tim Rice: The conversations uncovered by the Manhattan Institute, Christopher Rufo and Hannah Grossman, allegedly focused on personal sexual experiences under the guise of DEI initiatives.
--:-- Tim Rice: Gabbard called the behavior an egregious violation of trust and vowed further action as part of the Trump administration's push for accountability.
--:-- Tim Rice: Here she is on Fox News.
--:-- Tulsi Gabbard: These are exactly the kind of people that we need to root out, get rid of so that the patriots who do work in this area, who are committed to our core mission, can actually focus on that.
--:-- Tulsi Gabbard: I have people within the intelligence community reaching out to me personally and directly saying, hey, you need to know about this. You need to look over here.
--:-- Tulsi Gabbard: People are stepping forward because they are all on board with the mission to clean house and refocus on our core mission of serving the American people.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced a new illegal alien registry.
--:-- Kristi Noem: It would require fingerprinting and enforce long-ignored immigration laws from 1952.
--:-- Kristi Noem: DHS says migrants who fail to register or self-deport could face criminal charges, fines, or imprisonment.
--:-- Kristi Noem: The administration hopes self-deportation will be a safer alternative.
--:-- Kristi Noem: Here's Noem on Fox News.
--:-- Kristi Noem: It's safer for our communities. It saves us taxpayer dollars. And it allows them an opportunity to come back to this country and to be an American and to live the American dream, which is truly what our history is all about.
--:-- Kristi Noem: So yes, Jesse, this is not a new law. I'm just announcing that I'm going to enforce our law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by 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.
--:-- John Bickley: Go to oldglorybank.com slash wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can actually trust.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Harmeet Dillon, Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights, appeared before a Senate panel today.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: I will bring my decades of experience as an attorney fighting for the rights of the defenseless to work every day.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: I will start every analysis with the Constitution.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: I will respect the words of statutes and the teachings of the courts, even if I disagree with them, though I will act within the law to challenge legal rulings I believe are wrong or statutes I believe are unconstitutional.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: What I will never do is use the DOJ Civil Rights Division as a partisan tool to push a political agenda.
--:-- Harmeet Dillon: The Department of Justice stands for justice for all Americans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Attorney General Pam Bondi is warning Maine to get with the program on protecting women's sports or face consequences.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: On Tuesday, Bondi sent letters to officials in Maine, Minnesota, and California, reminding them of President Trump's executive order that bans men who identify as women from female sports.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: She vowed to use, quote, every legal option necessary to enforce compliance.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: The move also follows a tense exchange between Trump and the governor of Maine, Janet Mills, who has refused to follow his order.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: Trump warned that Maine could lose federal funding with the administration already launching Title IX investigations into state agencies.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: This also comes after the Maine statehouse censured state representative Laurel Libby.
--:-- Laurel Libby: I am considering all legal options because I don't believe that this censure is constitutional.
--:-- Laurel Libby: Mainers absolutely align with 80 percent of Americans who do not believe that biological males should be participating in female sports.
--:-- Laurel Libby: It's not fair, and Mainers understand that.
--:-- Laurel Libby: I have been hearing from hundreds and hundreds of Maine people who are fired up.
--:-- Laurel Libby: Some didn't know this was going on, some did, but didn't know what they could do. And man, they are ready to take action and speak up for our girls.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A couple weeks ago, Libby posted a picture to social media of a trans-identifying male high school student who won the state's girls' pole vaulting championship, shining a light on the state's blatant disregard for Trump's order.
--:-- Laurel Libby: Libby is now barred from voting or speaking on the House floor until she issues an apology.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The 2026 race for Florida governor is beginning to take shape as Florida Congressman Byron Donalds throws his hat into the ring.
--:-- Byron Donalds: Speaking to Sean Hannity last night Donalds says his decision came after a lot of prayer and discussion with family.
--:-- Byron Donalds: Granda Sanchez has done a tremendous job for our state, but now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country.
--:-- Byron Donalds: And so that's going to be the mission at hand.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Donald has already received President Trump's endorsement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis has yet to endorse anyone, as speculation grows that his wife, Casey DeSantis, may also run.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Jeff Bezos announced the Washington Post opinion section will be firmly on the side of promoting personal liberties and free markets.
--:-- Megan Basham: In a statement, Bezos said the paper will cover other topics too, But he said viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, despite some backlash, Bezos doubled down on that stance, stating, I'm confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America.
--:-- Megan Basham: I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion.
--:-- Megan Basham: I'm excited for us together to fill that void.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The move, however, has sparked outrage from left-leaning readers and staff, including the resignation of the Post's current opinion editor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some big stories, including the budget battle in the House, the NSA's shift away from their mission, and New York's corrections officer strike.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for tuning in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
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