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--:-- John Bickley: SCOTUS clears the way for Trump to fire thousands of federal workers. Doge finds an astounding number of immigrants on Medicaid and voter rolls. And the Florida Gators chomped the Houston Cougars in the NCAA basketball championship. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, April 8th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Trump administration gets another big legal win after the Supreme Court clears the way for the president to fire thousands of probationary federal workers.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the latest.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The nation's highest court granted an emergency stay and halted the reinstatement of over 16,000 probationary federal workers that were let go since Trump took office. The justices ruled today that the nine nonprofit groups that challenged the firings lacked legal standing. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson dissented.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The decision blocks a lower court order that the government rehire the workers many of whom were dismissed without the full protections granted to permanent federal employees.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Plaintiffs argue that the mass terminations disrupted critical services at agencies like Veterans Affairs and the Forest Service. Government lawyers warned that the reinstatement would create chaos across agencies and maintain the cuts were performance-based.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Markets initially rallied today after several extremely rocky days, but the major stock indexes have since fallen back to their opening numbers.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The S&P 500 jumped up 4% early on amid news that Trump trade deals were in the works, but it's since dropped to around even with its starting point. Both the Dow Jones and Nasdaq followed similar patterns.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, global markets are looking healthier, with the stock indexes in Tokyo, Paris, and Shanghai all climbing over the course of the day, as has the price of crude oil after it hit a four-year low point.
--:-- Tim Pierce: From Japan to Argentina, countries are racing to Washington for trade talks. Vietnam is facing the steepest hit with 90% tariffs, but has offered to eliminate its own tariffs if a deal is reached. Meanwhile, allies like the UK and Canada are eyeing carve-outs, and India says it's willing to slash duties on $23 billion in U.S. goods.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The European Union warns of countermeasures, while South Korea, Mexico, and Australia press for fast-track negotiations.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump calls it one-stop shopping for stronger U.S. trade deals.
--:-- Tim Pierce: President Trump says he plans to engage directly with Iran in a meeting scheduled for Saturday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it.
--:-- John Bickley: So we going to see if we can avoid it. But it getting to be very dangerous territory. And hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran's best interest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The president made the announcement Monday from the Oval Office while seated next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The U.S. has not engaged directly with Iran since Trump's first term in 2018, when the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. In the intervening years, Iran continued building its nuclear program with a U.N. watchdog warning earlier this year that the country has amassed enough enriched uranium for five nuclear weapons.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Doge official says that more than one million migrants are on Medicaid and thousands are illegally on voter rolls.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with the story is Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Doge official and private equity firm CEO Antonio Gracias reported that there are at least 1.3 million migrants currently receiving Medicaid and that thousands are on voter rolls across the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He also said that the Biden administration's immigration policies were intended to import new voters and warned that an amnesty for illegal aliens could reshape America's political trajectory.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Go look at California, okay? Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan came to California. Ronald Reagan signed amnesty, and, you know, some 40 years later, it is now a solidly blue state.
--:-- John Bickley: It already happened in America where an amnesty program actually turned a very large state from one way to another.
--:-- Georgia Howe: South Korea has fired off warning shots after they say around 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the military demarcation line.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: The South Korean troops first issued broadcast, then fired warning shots, prompting the North Koreans to retreat without incident. No injuries were reported.
--:-- Georgia Howe: South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff say they're closely monitoring the situation.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: A similar incursion happened in June involving up to 30 North Korean soldiers just ahead of President Putin's visit to Pyongyang.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the Florida Gators came back from a 12-point second-half deficit to take home the NCAA tournament win.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Florida is back on top of the college basketball world championship madness. It's a great day to be a Gator!
--:-- Georgia Howe: They ended up beating the Houston Cougars 65-63.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: While Florida coach Todd Golden celebrated his first title, Houston's Kelvin Sampson was denied both his 800th win and a historic championship.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Walter Clay Jr. led Florida's comeback with all 11 of his points in the second half.
--:-- John Bickley: Those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. 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 stock market continues to respond to Trump sweeping tariffs. The Trump administration clamps down on Ivy League funding and more female athletes take a knee rather than compete with males.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- [Music transitions to a closing theme]
--:-- John Bickley: This is John Bickley and Georgia Howe. We'll see you tomorrow on Morning Wire.
