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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): New intel shows Iran's nuclear capability is severely damaged, refuting early media reports and the Ayatollah's claims. There is broad consensus emerging already that Iran's nuclear capabilities were indeed destroyed. I'm Daily Wire, executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, June 27th. This is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): RFK Jr. pulls funding from a global vaccine group he says is ignoring the science. I call on Gavi today to re-earn the public trust and to justify the $8 billion that America has provided in funding since 2001. And New York is still reeling from a political earthquake after a self-styled socialist victory in the Democratic primary for mayor. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): New details have emerged on the severity of U.S. airstrikes on Iran, as the White House hints at new peace deals with Middle Eastern adversaries. Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down for us, hey, Cabot. So let's start with these airstrikes. The effectiveness of those has been quite the debate on Capitol Hill. What did we learn yesterday?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the war in Iran may have ended, but the fighting in Washington is still going on with the White House going to battle with the media over the state of Iran's nuclear program. And it's more than just semantics. Knocking out Iran's nuclear program could end up being a signature accomplishment of President Trump's second term. And he understandably wants credit if that's the case. For context, almost immediately after the strikes, which Trump described as, quote, totally obliterating the Iranian nuclear program, the media began reporting otherwise, saying the program had actually only been set back a few months.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Central to that claim was a leaked damage assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, which reportedly claimed that Iran could have their nuclear program up and running by the new year. And also that the three nuclear sites we struck had potentially suffered just moderate damage. Democrats and legacy media quickly jumped on that report, saying it was proof the strike was actually a failure and that Trump was lying to the public. But the White House is strongly disputing that claim.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yes, they are in a major way. They say the assessment in question was one of multiple preliminary estimates and that newer intelligence from the CIA and other agencies has shown the damage was much more severe. They issued a statement calling the assessment quote, flat out wrong and a clear attempt to demean President Trump. And then we heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who said the press failed to report that the leaked documents own words said they had quote low confidence in their own assessment and that that assessment had not been coordinated with the intelligence community more broadly.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here he is from the Pentagon Thursday quoting from newer reports made after the dust settled. John Radcliffe, the director of the CIA, putting out a statement just last night. CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear program has been severely damaged by recent targeted strikes. And then on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that's the UN's nuclear watchdog, seemed to agree with the White House, saying Iran's nuclear program, quote, suffered enormous damage.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It's also worth noting the White House now says the FBI is investigating to determine who at the DIA was responsible for leaking that classified information. Now, as all of this was going on yesterday, we heard for the first time since the strikes by the U.S. from the Ayatollah. What did we hear from him?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, first, the fact we heard from him proves that he is alive. There had been some folks questioning that. Khomeini hadn't been seen or heard from since Saturday as he refrained from any electronic communication for fear of being targeted. But on Thursday, he released a video striking a defiant tone, declaring victory over the U.S. and Israel and threatening to, quote, take action again if necessary. So Iran's still posturing.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, we've also heard reports that other countries in the Middle East are very interested in expanding an existing peace deal. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, potentially big news looming in the Middle East, as the Trump administration has been hinting for the last 24 hours that a number of countries there may soon join the Abraham Accords. Remember, that deal brokered by Trump in his first term normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations, including Dubai and Bahrain. The White House said that list could soon grow and that Syria could be on it. Israeli officials said yesterday they also believe Lebanon could be included as well.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the U.S. is withdrawing funding for an international vaccine organization that he says has lost the public's trust. Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. So Amanda, let's start with this organization, Gavi. What is it and how much money is on the line?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, so Gavi is a global vaccine alliance that works to provide vaccinations for low-income people across the globe. It was founded by Bill Gates, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank back in 2000. Gavi says it's vaccinated over 1 billion children and has saved millions of lives.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, RFK did actually commend Gavi for some of its work, specifically keeping medicine affordable, when Kennedy announced that the U.S. is halting its financial contributions until Gavi can prove to be science-focused and transparent. As for how much money is on the line here, you know, we're talking at least hundreds of millions of dollars. The U.S. gives $300 million to Gavi annually, so that appears to be withheld for now. But, you know, since 2001, the U.S. government has given Gavi $8 billion. So potentially this organization could lose a lot more if no changes are made.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So why specifically is RFK halting these funds? What are they doing that he finds objectionable?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well Kennedy sent a pretty straightforward video message to a summit of global leaders supporting Gavi He said for one thing Gavi helped to censor dissenting voices during the COVID pandemic and he said they ignored the science The World Health Organization and Gavi partnered together during the COVID-19 pandemic to recommend best practices for social media companies to silence dissenting views, to stifle free speech and legitimate questions during that period.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Kennedy also said that Gavi has not taken vaccine safety seriously enough, he highlighted the group's use of the DTP vaccine. A landmark study in 2017 by five highly regarded mainstream vaccine experts found that girls vaccinated with DTP were 10 times more likely to die from all causes in the first six months of life than those children who were unvaccinated. Gavi has nonetheless promoted the DTP vaccine heavily in developing countries. It's now the most popular vaccine in the world.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Kennedy said that Gavi has to re-earn the public's trust before the U.S. continues to financially contribute. He advised Gavi to consider the best science available, even when the science contradicts established paradigms. So he's leaving the door open to a reversal on this, it sounds like.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And what's Gavi's response been?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So Gavi put out a statement this week. They didn't respond to everything Kennedy said, but they are standing behind their position to continue use of the DTP vaccine. They said that though there are more reactions with it, it provides longer lasting protection than the DTaP. And they said that's necessary in poorer countries where, you know, booster shots are not as available as they would be in the U.S.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Also of note, we have the Gates Foundation in reaction to RFK's comments. They quickly pledged to give $1.6 billion to Gavi over the next five years.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now pivoting to some vaccine related news here in the U.S., what is ACIP and what's been going on with them?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, so ACIP is a highly influential vaccine panel with the CDC. We recently covered how RFK fired all 17 panelists. He said he was doing that to, again, restore public trust, and he cited conflicts of interest. ACIP actually held its first vote this week with new members. There are seven right now, and they voted to recommend a shot that protects infants against RSV, a respiratory virus that can be deadly for babies. This vote is getting a lot of attention with legacy media.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There was a real panic about RFK gutting ASIP. They said that there were going to be anti-vaxxers put on this board. And I think this vote does kind of fly in the face of that narrative. Now, what's going to be really interesting is when ASIP tackles the childhood vaccination schedule, that'll likely take place in the fall. We're already seeing medical associations protest that. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, they said they'll release their own vaccine schedule and basically ignore ASIP, which they used to be a liaison for.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, as we just reported, they also are at odds with the administration over transgender treatments for children. So a growing schism there.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Democratic Socialist Zoran Mamdani shocked New York and many in the Democratic Party by rising out of seemingly nowhere to win the New York City mayoral primary. Joining us to unpack what just happened and what comes next in New York is Ryan Gerdusky, host of It's a Numbers Game podcast. Ryan, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So look, this is a rather stunning victory by Mamdani, at least for those who hadn't been tracking this closely. He was able to force Cuomo to concede before the first day of counting was even done. Didn't see that coming. First, how did Mamdani pull this off?
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: He was able to increase the turnout among mostly white progressives who live not in Manhattan, but in all the areas in Queens to Brooklyn around Manhattan, places like Astoria that he represents in the state assembly. Astoria and its neighboring town of Long Island City had more people turn out than all of the black working class neighborhoods combined in Queens County Those were the Cuomo areas So Cuomo turnout was not high enough among black voters And at the same exact time, Mandani's voter turnout was absolutely like general election turnout.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: And that along with being able to siphon off support from the Asian community, he had immense amount of Asian outreach despite being against SHSATs and the growing Muslim population certainly helped him. And then his last part of his coalition was he was able to splinter a sizable chunk of the Hispanic vote that do not live in the Bronx. He lost the Bronx terribly. But among other Hispanic communities, he did very, very well. It was almost like it was Dominicans versus Puerto Ricans. He won the Puerto Rican vote but lost the Dominican vote. It was very interesting.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: He's been described as a socialist with extremist views on everything from defunding the police to transing kids. Is that fair? What exactly does he actually espouse? What is not fair that I've heard right-wingers say is that they've said he's a jihadist. I don't believe that at all. He is a Muslim, but he's also said things like defunding the police is part of queer liberation. Someone in Gaza does not care about queer liberation, I promise you.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: So I think that what he is is a social Marxist. He is somebody who believes that his coalition is the one fighting against colonialism, whiteness, patriarchy. He's part of that group that came out of that. And this is where he comes from. His father is a devout Marxist who came out of Uganda as an Indian immigrant. Ironically, they were kicked out of Uganda. And his politics became much more left-wing. But he is a devout, true-believing Marxist who comes out of identity being the core center of every kind of policy.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: This win by Mamdani seems to have finally gotten the attention of a lot of New Yorkers. There are Stop Mamdani groups popping up all over. Does he have a chance in November? I mean, Mandani has a great chance in November. I don't think he's going to get a majority of the vote. I don't think he'll cross 50%. But because the anti-Mandani vote is splintered among people who have very problematic backgrounds, right? I think that all of these people are problematic. And if they were to drop out or one or two were to drop out and coalesce, they could probably beat him.
--:-- Ryan Gerdusky: And I don't know if anyone's ego is small enough to allow that to happen. Who has the best chance against him? If let's say Eric Adams were to stay in by himself without Cuomo and he was able to splinter off the upper west side, you know, ultra white liberal Jewish voter along with black voters. And Curtis Sliwa could take the increasing working class, multiracial working class Trump base with him. It would be Sliwa. If it's a four-way and they have to sit there and condense it, I would probably say if they could all coalesce on Andrew Cuomo, it might be the best chance they have.
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