--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, July 18th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's been informed by special counsel Jack Smith that he is a criminal target of a Washington, D.C. grand jury investigating his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Trump announced on Truth Social that he received a target letter Sunday night in which Smith's office offered an opportunity for Trump to appear before the grand jury this week. The development indicates another indictment could be on the way, although it does not say what charges Trump would face. He is under indictment in Manhattan in connection with alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and in Florida, where Smith's office accuses him of mishandling sensitive documents.
--:-- Tim Pierce: GOP and Democratic leaders reacted to the news. If you noticed recently, President Trump went up in the polls and was actually surpassing President Biden for re-election. So what do they do now? Weaponize government to go after their number one opponent. Time and time again, I think the American public is tired of this. They want to see equal justice. And the idea that they utilize this to go after those who politically disagree with them is wrong.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The president respects the Department of Justice, their independence. He has been very steadfast on making sure that the rule of law comes back in this administration comes back in the White House and clearly the administration more broadly And that's what you have seen. I'm just not going to comment on this particular case.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. is set to announce over a billion dollars more in military aid for Ukraine as the country continues to fend off Russia.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Two U.S. officials told Reuters that the Biden administration will officially announce plans to buy $1.3 billion in Ukrainian military aid in the coming days. The news comes just days after the Biden administration announced its continued policy of indefinite support.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I actually think that there is strong backing for Ukraine in the Congress, not just among Democrats, but among Republicans as well. And therefore, we believe that we can back up the statement that we will give Ukraine everything it needs for as long as it takes.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: American soldier, Private Second Class Travis King is being held in North Korea after he reportedly crossed the border into the Hermit Kingdom from South Korea.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Private King had just been released from a South Korean prison where he was being held on assault charges and was facing additional military discipline actions in the U.S. King was reportedly heard giving a loud ha ha ha before crossing the boundary, and North Korean military quickly surrounded him.
--:-- Tim Pierce: There is an investigation that currently occurring You have the Department of Defense you have the UN and the White House all working together to resolve this Resolving this is basically getting to the bottom of exactly what happened and that is important for us to know
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The United States Coast Guard announced Monday evening that it had confiscated 11,600 pounds of cocaine and 5,500 pounds of marijuana during a series of drug busts in the eastern Pacific Ocean between May and June. That's more than $158 million of illegal drugs.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The operations were carried out with the help of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Justice Department, Homeland Security, the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the Mexican Navy.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The Alabama woman who made national news after vanishing for 48 hours returned home over the weekend and remains in, quote, a bad state, according to her parents.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has more.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: 25-year-old nursing student Carly Russell returned home by foot on Saturday evening, though little is known about her time missing. Carly vanished Thursday night after she called 911 to report seeing a male toddler in a diaper on the interstate. When police arrived, Carly was missing and her belongings were found inside her vehicle.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Authorities have yet to release information on possible suspects or on the statement Carly gave upon her return home which the Hoover Police Department said is part of the ongoing investigation Carly parents told NBC on Tuesday that their daughter was abducted and they also responded to the swirling speculation and doubts about Carly's mysterious disappearance and her return.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: She's having to deal with the trauma of people just making completely false allegations about her. She found her way back to us. However, we can't discuss the details of that.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Ohio freshman Senator J.D. Vance introduced legislation on Tuesday that bans surgical genital modification, chemical castration and sterilization of minors by declaring those procedures as a Class C felony.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The legislation comes as the Biden administration has expressed support for keeping so-called gender affirming care for minors legal.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Dr. Admiral Rachel Levine, Biden's trans-identifying Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, in a recent interview. Adolescence is hard and puberty is hard. What if you're going through the wrong puberty? What if you inside feel that you are female, but now you're going through a male puberty?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, Listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
