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--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Trump calls Zelensky disrespectful in the Oval Office and sends him packing, and Mexico hands over top drug cartel operatives. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: It's Friday, February 28th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: President Trump met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the White House today for a high-stakes meeting that rapidly turned heated.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan has the details.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Zelensky made the visit to the White House today to finalize a deal giving the U.S. rights to rare minerals. But during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, Zelensky suggested he was not ready for a ceasefire with Russia.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: The meeting quickly devolved into a heated and combative exchange between Zelensky, Trump, and Vice President Pence.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Here's some of that exchange.
--:-- President Trump: I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems.
--:-- President Trump: You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.
--:-- President Trump: Have you said thank you once this entire meeting? No, in this entire meeting, you said thank you.
--:-- President Trump: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who trying to save your country.
--:-- President Trump: Your country is in big trouble I know You not winning You not winning this You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.
--:-- President Zelensky: Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war, we've been alone. And we are thankful.
--:-- President Zelensky: I said thanks in this cabinet. We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. You voted for your president. military equipment, and you met a brave, but they had to use our military.
--:-- President Zelensky: If you didn't have our military equipment, if you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.
--:-- President Trump: I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on. I think it's very important. That's why I kept this going so long.
--:-- President Trump: If you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.
--:-- President Trump: Of course, we want to of the war. But you're saying you don't want to cease fire. But I said to you, I want to cease fire.
--:-- President Trump: The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy. And I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States.
--:-- President Trump: And your people are very brave. But you're either going to make a deal or we're out. And if we're out, you'll fight it out.
--:-- President Trump: I don't think it's going to be pretty. But you'll fight it out. But you don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position.
--:-- President Trump: But you're not acting at all thankful. And that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest, that's not a nice thing.
--:-- President Trump: All right. I think we've seen enough.
--:-- President Trump: What do you think? This is going to be great television, I will say that.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: After the meeting, a White House official told me that Trump had asked Zelensky to leave, and Trump issued the following statement.
--:-- President Trump: I've determined that President Zelensky is not ready for peace if America is involved because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.
--:-- President Trump: I don't want advantage. I want peace. He disrespected the United States of America and its cherished Oval Office.
--:-- President Trump: He can come back when he's ready for peace.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Pope Francis has experienced another setback in his ongoing serious health struggles.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The Vatican announced today that the Pope suffered a respiratory crisis that has required him to be placed on non mechanical ventilation which appears to have helped
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: He has been in critical but generally stable condition with pneumonia and other ailments for several days now
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Mexico has handed over nearly 30 top cartel operatives to the United States.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: It's part of the new bilateral cooperation against drug trafficking.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: One of the prisoners is notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Cantero, a founding member of the Sinaloa cartel.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: He's wanted for the 1985 murder of a DEA agent.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The high-profile transfer comes as Mexican officials meet with their U.S. counterparts to negotiate a new security agreement.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: American law enforcement is hailing the handover as a significant victory in the decades-long fight against organized crime.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: For the first time ever, English is now the official language of the United States.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: President Trump signed an executive order today declaring the fact for federal agencies, saying a common language fosters national cohesion, helps newcomers engage in communities and traditions, and enriches our shared culture.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The move rescinds a requirement from then-President Bill Clinton back in 2000.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: The Clinton mandate required federal agencies and entities receiving federal funding to provide language assistance for non-English speakers.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: But Trump says that while agencies can do so, they no longer have to.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Before the order, America was one of the few countries in the world without a declared official language.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: A new study from the Pew Research Center suggests the decline of Christianity in the U.S. is slowing and may have stabilized.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short has the news.
--:-- Ash Short: The Pew survey of nearly 37,000 Americans over the past two years finds that 85 percent of adults believe in God or a universal spirit.
--:-- Ash Short: About 62% or 6 in 10 Americans identify as Christian.
--:-- Ash Short: That's after years of decline, but the numbers are now holding steady since 2019.
--:-- Ash Short: In 2007, 78% of Americans identified as Christians, but by 2014 that number dropped to 71%.
--:-- Ash Short: The study shows that 29 are religiously unaffiliated including atheists agnostics and those who say they quote nothing in particular
--:-- Ash Short: And there a major age gap Less than 5 in 10 young adults under 25 identify as Christian, compared to 8 in 10 of older adults age 74 and up.
--:-- Ash Short: Non-Christian religious groups now make up 7.1% of the population, up from 4.7% in 2007.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Iowa lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to remove gender identity language from state law.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the story.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The bill defines sex based on anatomy at birth.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: If Kim Reynolds signs the measure, Iowa would become the first state to remove what activists deem necessary protections from people who believe they are transgender.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Opponents of the bill warn of discrimination, while supporters argue that it upholds traditional gender norms.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Federally, the Trump administration has vowed to cut funding for hospitals offering gender transition treatments to minors, keep men out of female sports, bar men from women's prisons, and remove gender identity from passports.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: And country artist Shabuzi has just broken the Billboard record for most weeks at the top of the charts.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Daily Wire deputy managing editor and apparently a country music fan, Tim Rice, has the story.
--:-- Tim Rice: Shabuzi's crossover hit, A Bar Song, Tipsy, is making history on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
--:-- Tim Rice: The track now holds the top spot for a 35th week, breaking the record for the longest leading song by a solo act since the chart began in 1958.
--:-- Tim Rice: That record was previously held by Sam Hunt's Body Like a Back Road, which led for 34 weeks in 2017.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some big stories, including Trump's meeting with the UK Prime Minister, Newsom's recall effort and is Hollywood dialing back on wokeness?
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
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