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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today's top stories: Russia and the US begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the future is uncertain for New York City's mayor, and thousands of homes go up for sale in and around DC.
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--:-- John Bickley: Why shop at Burlington? Maybe it's the deals that are new each time you drop by. Maybe it's the brand names you'll be shocked Burlington has in store. Or maybe it's the quality of the items, the amazing selection, and the newest trends. If you like to save, but also like to stay in style, Burlington is your answer. And the question you'll be asking yourself is, why go anywhere else? Burlington. Deals. Brands. Wow.
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--:-- John Bickley: Significant talks between Russia and the US take place in Saudi Arabia. With the end of the Ukraine war on the table. The five of us that were here today are going to remain engaged in this process to make sure that it's moving along in a productive way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, John. And we have Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips joining us to break down what comes next and what each side is looking to gain.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Cabot, get us up to speed here. Yeah, some major diplomatic developments out of Saudi Arabia, where the US and Russia met in earnest for the first time in three years. The two sides agreed Tuesday to appoint special teams of negotiators who would begin formal negotiations on a peace deal in Ukraine and worked on arranging a face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: European allies and Vladimir Zelensky decried the meeting as an affront to Ukraine, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Trump is doing what no one else can do and what he was elected to do.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And it's certainly remarkable just how quickly these peace talks have come about. Trump and Putin had their first call of Trump's second term last week. And now, seven days later, their top deputies are meeting face to face.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Usually these things take much longer, months to work out. Sure, yeah. The White House says it's proof that Trump is a swift mover when it comes to negotiating peace.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now the big question, just how productive was this meeting? Well, we're still a ways off from any substantive movement on the war itself, though the US did call for a ceasefire on attacks on energy facilities from both sides while the talks moved forward.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But zooming out, the most consequential development was simply the normalization of relations between the US and Russia. US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff called the meeting, quote, positive upbeat and constructive while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was quote very useful.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they were positive coming out as a sort of sign of goodwill. The two countries agreed Tuesday to allow staff to return to their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Rubio also made sure to remind Russia that if they agreed to a deal, the US would be willing to engage in new economic partnerships. He also suggested Trump would be willing to lift sanctions on Moscow.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So trying to sweeten the pot there. Now, as we look ahead to formal negotiations, what exactly is each side looking for?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Trump's goal is fairly simple. He wants Russia to withdraw their troops and end the invasion. But it's likely that'll only happen if Putin is allowed to hold on to some Ukrainian territory he's already taken, specifically in Crimea and the Donbass.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Putin desperately wants to avoid coming back empty-handed and has made clear that he will keep fighting if the deal does not include that land.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, for his part, Zelensky has previously said he would not agree to any deal that allowed Putin to keep territory, but he likely won't have much choice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And there are those in the White House who believe that Zelensky is well aware of that fact, but wants to save face. Trump's assertiveness here could be a way to do that, as Zelensky can essentially tell his people, look, I tried to get all our land back, but the US forced this on me.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: At least I kept us from being conquered. Right. Trump could be his excuse, in a sense.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, much has been made in Europe over the fact that these meetings did not include anyone but the US and Russia.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, again, the White House says Ukraine will be given a seat at the table once the negotiations begin more formally. But Trump had a message for Zelensky when asked about the matter yesterday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They've had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily. A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without, I think, without the loss of much land, very little land, without the loss of any lives, and without the loss of cities that are just laying on their side.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But while Trump said he's willing to allow Ukraine in on negotiations, he still says European leaders will not be taking part.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump has long argued they've not done enough to fund the war effort on their own continent. And he's basically saying, if you want a seat at the table, you've got to ante up.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And he's giving them that chance. In the last week, the White House sent out questionnaires to European leaders, asking them to lay out just how much money they'd commit to Ukrainian security moving forward and if they'd be willing to put boots on the ground after the war.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As the State Department spokesman put it, the administration, quote, has been clear that we expect European partners to take the lead in establishing a durable security framework and look forward to their proposals.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All right, so Trump really holding their feet to the fire there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kevin, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: And now, a word from our sponsor. Balance of Nature: Go to https://balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer PLUS get a free bottle of Fiber and Spice.
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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome back to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today's top stories: Russia and the US begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the future is uncertain for New York City's mayor, and thousands of homes go up for sale in and around DC.
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--:-- John Bickley: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing potential removal from office by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The questions over Adams' future follow the DOJ's decision to dismiss a corruption case filed against him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the fallout in New York.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Tim, the New York governor technically has the power to remove an elected mayor, but it's never been done in the state's 235-year history. So why is Hochul considering it now?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Well, since the DOJ moved to have the corruption case against Adams dismissed, Hochul has been under pressure from Democrats to act. Recently there have been calls for Adams to step down even from Hochul's lieutenant governor, which puts more pressure on her to act if Adams refuses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And so far, Adams is staying in. I just find it so amazing. The most sanctified among us are calling for me to step down. I'm not going to step down. I'm going to step up.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Democrats say that Adams' corruption case has merit, and the DOJ is only letting him off so he can be a pawn for Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So far, four of his top deputies have resigned in protests, suggesting he's been too cooperative with Trump.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Democratic strategist James Carville on MSNBC on Monday. We've had four deputy mayors resign. We've had four people, many of them dedicated conservatives, resign from the Southern District of New York. I'm sorry, the governor of New York is a dope. Why she didn't get that guy out of there pronto, I have no idea.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, Hochul has worked relatively well with Adams up until this point, and she's got her own re-election next year to think about. Ousting a sitting mayor and potentially angering his voters may not be in her political interest.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But in the middle of all the pressure on her, she won't rule out forcing Adams out. Here she was on MSNBC last week. I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction. Like a lot of other people are saying right now, I have to do what's smart, what's right, and I'm consulting with other leaders in government at this time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So she's being cautious, it sounds like.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What charges is Adams faced with and why is the DOJ deciding not to pursue them?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Adams was charged with accepting about $100,000 in illegal gifts from Turkey. The Justice Department under Trump has decided to drop the charges, though, because it says Adams was another target of the Biden DOJ's political weaponization.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Justice Department also says that the case was needlessly interfering with Trump's immigration agenda. It's that latter point that has caused some critics to accuse the Trump administration of striking an agreement with Adams to drop the charges in return for his help on deportations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Board czar Tom Homan and Adams went on Fox News and pushed back against that. Here's Adams. You know, people want to hijack this narrative and turn it into a political narrative where we're saying we need to have public safety. I requested the meeting. I reached out to his team and said we want to sit down.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This has been an issue I was talking about before the election. Now, Adams says that politics doesn't have anything to do with his relationship with Homan, but obviously there are political implications if Adams is removed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So who would benefit most? If Hochul removes Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may benefit the most. He's seen as the favorite if he jumps into the mayoral race, but he and Adams pull a lot of the same base of support.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So getting Adams out of the way would ease Cuomo's comeback after he resigned as governor amid sexual harassment allegations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, well, that would be a very significant twist if Cuomo has his comeback.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: And now, a word from our sponsor. Old Glory Bank: Go to https://oldglorybank.com/wire today to open your account and put your money in the hands of people you can ACTUALLY trust.
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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome back to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today's top stories: Russia and the US begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the future is uncertain for New York City's mayor, and thousands of homes go up for sale in and around DC.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thousands of homes go up for sale in and around DC. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with more.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Megan, we're seeing reports of chaos in the DC area. What exactly is happening with this real estate there?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, there's a number of data points driving this story. And I think we should start with the fact that since Trump took office, 75,000 federal workers have already taken the buyout that he was offering. And around 10,000 have been directly terminated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then of course Trump has tasked Elon Musk with eliminating many more government jobs through Doge.
--:-- Megan Basham: So a lot more cuts are expected. And in that time real estate watchers say that a huge number of new homes have flooded the market in and around DC, where a high concentration of these federal workers live.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In the DC metro itself, around 4,000 new homes have been listed for sale in the last 30 days, and that's well above average by nearly 25%.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, if you drill down on the Virginia suburbs, that picture is even more striking. There, some areas like Fairfax and Alexandria are even seeing a 60 to 70% increase in year-over-year listings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you have to keep in mind, yeah, that this is during the winter months in a housing market that has historically seen low supply.
--:-- Megan Basham: So according to Redfin data, the median selling price in the area is down 20% from November to February.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, of course, some experts will say that that is cyclical. Homes don't move as much in this quarter.
--:-- Megan Basham: But even if you look back at last January compared to this January, you still find that the median price is down nearly 9%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Redfin has also found that buyers in DC are tending to sit on the sidelines. So for the first month of 2025, pending sales were down 6%.
--:-- Megan Basham: And there's now more than five months of housing supply in DC, which is the most that that market's seen in six years since before the pandemic, in other words.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And overall, you've got Redfin agents saying that the DC market is in chaos right now.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right. We've been hearing that word a lot in relation to this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How can we tell, though, that this increase in listings is a result of the moves the Trump administration has been making to cut waste?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, a lot of it is anecdotal. We have Redfin agents reporting that this is what clients are telling them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then also looking at the timing of these market changes. And that's what has a lot of investing companies paying attention.
--:-- Megan Basham: Market analysts with the CoBisi letter, for example, have said that what they're seeing in DC is an unprecedented level of selling in a generally strong housing market.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And because of that, they noted that Trump's plans to further cut waste are likely to ramp this trend up.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then you also have another research firm, John Burns Research and Consulting, which specializes in housing data. And it's advising its clients that the DC housing market is already showing signs of hesitancy and they too are citing those federal layoffs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, of course, that said, you do have some local real estate agents telling outlets that they don't believe that anything unusual is happening here and that it's too soon to tell that Trump's layoffs are driving these market shifts.
--:-- Megan Basham: So some differing views on this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Do we have a sense of which federal workers are pulling up stakes?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, there's some evidence suggesting that it's quite a number of the highly paid ones.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the Kobisi letter also noted a surge in new listings above a million dollars and maybe a related data point right after Trump's election, WikiLeaks found that Google searches in DC for terms like Swiss bank and offshore bank skyrocketed.
--:-- Megan Basham: So I don't know about you, John, but I have personally never been in the earnings bracket where I needed to look for information like that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Not quite there yet.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, federal workers don't only live in DC. There's other areas that are being impacted by this, correct?
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, it's not clear yet, but certainly researchers like it, John Burns, are on the lookout for that.
--:-- Megan Basham: They particularly pointed to California, Texas, and Florida because those are areas that also have a high number of federal workers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. We'll see how far the Doge effect reaches there.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you liked what you heard this morning, share this episode with a friend.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We'll be back tomorrow with more news and analysis.
