President Trump celebrates his first 100 days with a rally in Michigan. The MAHA movement has hit the ground running – banning food dyes and investigating the causes of autism. And, AI chat bots are the newest feature to hit social media platforms, and Meta is taking fire again for failing to protect children.
It’s Wednesday, April 30, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump 100 Day Rally &amp; Meta’s Sexy Chatbots | 4.30.25" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7eu6cVArPws?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-100-day-rally-metas-sexy-chatbots-4-30-25/id1576594336?i=1000705523533" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Trump Takes Victory Lap After 100 Days In Office</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-913883" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/1.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/1.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/1-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: The White House is celebrating 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Tens of thousands of Trump supporters turned out for what was a political rally, a victory party, and a highlight show all in one. The president has made clear that he feels the media has not given him credit for all he’s accomplished so far – and last night was his way of reminding the American people of the campaign promises he’s fulfilled these past 100 days. The event, titled “100th Day in Office Achievement Speech,” was held just outside Detroit, in Macomb County, which was crucial to Trump’s victory in 2024.
“This is the best 100 day start of any admin,” Trump said. “What the world has witnessed in the past 14 weeks is a revolution of common sense.”
Trump touted the rapid drop in illegal border crossings and his efforts to secure the border and deport illegal aliens – in the early days of his presidency, Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, which requires DHS to detain illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of a variety other crimes. “We have increased arrests by 655%. Is that okay? We’re trying to get it higher … we are delivering mass deportation and it&#8217;s happening pretty fast.”
While most of his speech focused on touting his own accomplishments, Trump also took shots at the Democratic Party, which has struggled to define its strategy in the aftermath of its resounding loss in 2024. “They have no confidence anymore as a party,” Trump said. “No candidates. Bernie is the best they have and he is 7 or 8 years older than me. He is a lunatic, but he’s still pretty sharp. I have to give him credit. He goes around with AOC and plus 3. They get little crowds.”
President Trump did not back off his support for tariffs – although he assured some anxious Americans that more deals were coming.
<h2>MAHA Gains Momentum</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-913885" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/2.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/2.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/2-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: The MAHA movement is quickly gaining momentum, initiating actions such as prohibiting food dyes and launching inquiries into the origins of autism.
Less than a month into Trump’s second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the secretary of HHS and directed by President Trump to “Make America Healthy Again.” Last week, Kennedy announced that he’s phasing out a number of artificial food dyes and colorings by the end of 2026. Specifically, there will be a ban on petroleum-based synthetic dyes, including Red 3 and Red 40, Blue 1 and 2, Yellow 5 and 6, and Green 3.
Another huge development is the transformation of SNAP, commonly called food stamps. Kennedy has made it clear that he doesn’t want the government subsidizing purchases like soda, candy, or other highly processed junk foods, and he’s encouraging states to submit a waiver to the Department of Agriculture to limit SNAP purchases. West Virginia and Arkansas have already submitted those requests, and Utah, Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, and others are exploring SNAP restrictions as well.
Kennedy has directed the FDA to revise a rule that allowed companies to “self-affirm” the safety of some food ingredients. Under this revision, manufacturers will have to publicly submit safety data for all new ingredients. The FDA also unveiled a tool in March that allows people to look up chemical contaminants in foods from a large database – you can find that on the FDA website.
Research priorities have also shifted – the National Institutes of Health, which is part of HHS, said it will stop spending money to find out why Americans are hesitant to get vaccinations, and is terminating or scaling back more than 40 related grants. However, money is being spent on autism research. Kennedy launched a $50 million initiative aimed at investigating the causes of autism and improving treatments. In April, Kennedy said he’s commissioning a series of studies on suspected links to high autism rates, including mold, pesticides, food chemicals, medication, and ultrasounds during pregnancy.
<h2>AI Chatbots Sext Users Identified As Children</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-913887" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/3.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/3.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/3-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, is causing alarm over its new AI chatbots, which some staffers warn will talk sex with kids.
In a bombshell report by the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-ai-chatbots-sex-a25311bf">Wall Street Journal</a> released over the weekend, employees at Meta said the company rushed to get these new “digital companions,” or chatbots, up and running on Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, and because these bots can perform sex role-plays, there’s now a problem where children can get exposed to sexually explicit discussions. These chatbots can flirt over text, they can have live voice conversations, and they can even share selfies.
Another related issue is that sometimes the AI chatbots will have sexual discussions even when they are programmed to pretend to BE children. Meta also made deals with celebrities like John Cena and Kristen Bell to use their voices for the chatbots. The company promised these actors that their voices would not be used in sexually explicit discussions, but the WSJ investigation found that a bot using Cena’s voice was willing to engage in a graphic sexual scenario with a user identifying as a 14-year-old girl, and a bot using Kristen Bell’s voice flirted with a user posing as a 12-year-old boy, roleplaying as Bell’s character Princess Anna from the Disney movie “Frozen.” Disney put out a statement demanding Meta put a stop to this.
Meta said the way the Journal tested the chatbots was “manipulative,” but did make some changes including banning kids’ social media accounts from being able to do sexual roleplays with the Meta AI bot and cracking down on it being able to do those roleplays using celebrities’ voices.
The condemnation of such chatbots has been swift and widespread: Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday demanding answers.
“What we would like for them to do is to take this down,” Blackburn told The Daily Wire. “You have got to disable this type of exposure on these websites to children.”

MW Thumbnail_043025_V1

Morning Brief: 100 Days Of Trump, MAHA & Meta’s Lewd AI Chatbots

Artificial Intelligence

Donald Trump

Media

Morning Wire

Politics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

President Donald Trump sits down one-on-one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome and ramps up pressure on Putin. Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis. And 100 days into Trump&#8217;s term, we ride along with ICE agents in Boston as they arrest criminal illegals.
It’s Monday, April 28, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. For the first time, Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today&#8217;s episode here:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump Meets Zelensky &amp; ICE Ride-Along | 4.28.25" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mB88ZBwgwmc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Of course, Morning Wire is still available wherever you get your podcasts. If you&#8217;d prefer to listen on the go, you can do so here:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-meets-zelensky-ice-ride-along-4-28-25/id1576594336?i=1000705236959" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Vatican City Peace Talks, Canadian Elections</h2>
<div id="attachment_912765" style="width: 946px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912765" class="size-large wp-image-912765" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-936x576.jpg" alt="" width="936" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-936x576.jpg 936w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-300x185.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-768x473.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-1536x945.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Four-Way-Convo-2048x1260.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px" />(Photo by Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: President Trump traveled to Vatican City on Saturday for the first foreign trip of his new term, honoring Pope Francis and meeting face-to-face with Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders.
Before Pope Francis’s funeral began, Trump and Zelensky huddled with Britain&#8217;s Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica.  This was their first encounter since Zelensky’s contentious visit to the White House back in February, but this time there were no advisers, translators or video cameras. Zelensky called it a “very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic,” adding that he and Trump discussed a “full and unconditional ceasefire” and “reliable and lasting peace.”
Trump certainly seemed more pleased with Zelensky than before, writing on Truth Social that it was time for a high-level summit to “finish it off” — in his words, “most of the major points are agreed to.” Following that meeting, Trump also issued new warnings to Vladimir Putin. For months, Trump has been taking a more diplomatic approach with his Russian counterpart, but over the weekend the president took a rare public <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114404524335638236">shot</a> at Putin, writing on social media: “There [is] no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!” 
Last week, the White House threatened to abandon the peace talks if the two sides didn’t show more willingness to negotiate, and that seemed to get things moving. On Friday, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow for a three-hour meeting with Putin, which the Kremlin described as “constructive and quite useful” — in their words, the two sides had “narrowed differences.”
That same day, as a sign of their desire to make a deal, Ukraine reportedly sent the White House a new peace proposal that included a major concession — it would not demand all of its land back. In exchange, the Ukrainians are calling for guarantees of a U.S.-backed “European security contingent” to help preserve the peace. Ukraine also wants financial reparations paid for by frozen Russian assets in U.S. and European control.
Meanwhile: A snap election will determine the political future of Canada, and bilateral relations with the United States have been the leading issue. Former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned after his poll numbers cratered – many felt his public sparring with Trump was the final nail in his coffin. Now, after two months in which Trump has threatened massive tariffs on Canada, and even floats the idea of acquiring the nation as the 51st U.S. state, the election has hinged on which party will stand up to Trump most effectively — to that point, 39% of Canadians say Trump was their top concern, that’s second behind only the cost of living. In the winter, it looked like Pierre Poilievre&#8217;s Conservative party would cruise to victory, but acting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal party has surged in the polls on a promise to fight Trump. 
<h2>Pope Francis Laid To Rest</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-912777" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-1020x576.jpg" alt="" width="1020" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-1020x576.jpg 1020w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-768x434.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-1536x868.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pope-Francis-Funeral-Screenshot-2048x1157.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px" /></div>
Topline: The world bid farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday. With world leaders, faithful Catholics, and mourners gathering in St. Peter’s Square to honor his legacy.
The atmosphere was one of reverence and profound emotion. An estimated 250,000 people filled the square and surrounding streets, with millions more watching worldwide to pay their respects. The funeral was a blend of ancient tradition and the simplicity Pope Francis championed. During his papacy, Francis chose to live in a simple guest house rather than the papal palace. He also lived without the internet, reading only one Italian newspaper a day, and vowed to give up television 30 years ago – he kept that vow until his death. His open wooden coffin, a departure from the elaborate triple-casket tradition, lay at ground level in St. Peter’s Basilica during three days of public viewing so he could be with the people rather than above them. He also chose to be buried in his old black shoes rather than the traditional elegant red shoes.
Saturday’s Mass was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, whose homily called Francis “a pope among the people,” highlighting his warmth as the first pope from Latin America. He was also the first Jesuit pope. After the service, the coffin was carried in a modest procession to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Francis was laid to rest.
The funeral was a significant diplomatic gathering, with 170 foreign dignitaries present, including dozens of heads of state. Among them were President Trump and first lady Melania Trump, Ukrainian President Zelensky, French President Macron, and Argentine President Javier Milei, representing Francis’ native country. European royalty, including Britain’s Prince William, Spain’s King Felipe VI, and Queen Letizia, also attended. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was seated prominently in the front row and praised Francis as a “symbol of human fraternity.” 
The College of Cardinals will begin the process of electing a new pope next month in a conclave held inside the Sistine Chapel. A conclave typically begins 15 to 20 days after the death of the previous pope, and only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote. There are currently 135 eligible cardinals, and their first meeting is scheduled for sometime between May 6 and May 11. A strict oath of secrecy is sworn by the cardinal electors, and they are not allowed to communicate with the outside world. When they&#8217;ve reached a two-thirds majority vote, they send a signal to the world with white smoke rising from the chapel.
<h2></h2>
<h2>A Look Into Immigration Enforcement</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-912785" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-1024x560.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="560" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-300x164.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-768x420.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-1536x840.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ACTUAL-Morning-Wire-Ice-Story-4272025-2048x1120.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: Since President Trump took office nearly 100 days ago, migrant encounters at the southern border have dropped dramatically, by as much as 95%.
Daily Wire reporter Kassy Akiva recently wrapped up a six-hour ride-along with national ICE Director Todd Lyons, where she joined agents from several other federal agencies, including the FBI, to arrest criminal illegal aliens in the Boston area. Director Lyons said while his team in Boston is highly effective, there are challenges in operating in a sanctuary jurisdiction – local governments essentially provide no help and often release criminal aliens on the street without giving ICE any warning.
“While ICE had five targets to arrest during our raid, only two were captured,” Akiva told Morning Wire. “While ICE surveils these criminals for days to determine the best way to approach them, sometimes things don’t go as planned. However, the two criminal aliens arrested while I was along for the operation are what Lyons describes as “the worst of the worst.” The first, a 55-year-old from El Salvador, Miguel Chauvez, is a convicted pedophile. The second, a 68-year-old, Jose Lazaro Ayalla, who was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving an injured person or death.

MorningWire-0428_v2

Morning Brief: Trump-Zelensky Sit Down, Pope Francis Funeral & ICE Ride-Along

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Pope Francis

Ukraine-Russia War

Volodymyr Zelensky

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to take fire, but the commander-in-chief is standing by him. The Trump administration is taking steps to phase out eight synthetic food dyes and issuing warnings about a popular ingredient. And, Trump de-escalates – backing off tariffs and his attacks on the Fed – sending stocks surging. It’s Thursday, April 24, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/military-recruitment-up-rfk-targets-food-dyes-4-24-25/id1576594336?i=1000704704972" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Trump Stands By Embattled Defense Secretary As Recruitment Soars</h2>
<div id="attachment_911647" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911647" class="size-large wp-image-911647" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pete-Hegseth-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: President Donald Trump is standing by embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as new data shows soaring military recruitment after years of decline.
There&#8217;s no doubt Hegseth’s tenure at DOD has been tumultuous so far. First, there was what Democrats refer to as SignalGate, in which Hegseth and other cabinet members discussed war plans in an unsecured group chat that accidentally included a reporter. Then, last week, several senior advisors at the Pentagon were fired after an investigation found that they had been leaking sensitive information to the press. 
This week, the negative media coverage continued after the New York Times reported Hegseth had shared details of airstrikes on Yemen in a separate Signal chat that included his wife and brother. Hegseth’s team says his wife is a trusted confidant and that his brother works at the Pentagon, but the story gave yet more fodder to those who want him relieved of his position. 
“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax…This is what the media does,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.&#8221;
President Trump also continues to back Hegseth, routinely <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1914354554918863075">praising</a> him in statements to the press. &#8220;Pete&#8217;s doing a great job. Everybody&#8217;s happy with him. We have the highest recruitment numbers they’ve had in 28 years…It’s just fake news, they bring up stories. It’s disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.”
Military recruitment numbers have spiked since Trump was elected and Hegseth was appointed. Six months into fiscal year 2025, every single branch is on pace to surpass its recruiting goals. The Navy is on track for its best year in two decades, the Air Force has seen a 20% increase compared to last year, and the Army’s biggest challenge is finding enough space for all its recruits. Last year, it had 55,000 enlistments — with six months to go, they’re already at 52,000! After years of falling short, it could double its target in 2025. According to Army Vice Chief of Staff James Mingus, “we’ve seen momentum unlike anything in a decade.”
&nbsp;
<h2>RFK Jr. Moves To Phase Out Food Dyes</h2>
<div id="attachment_911649" style="width: 932px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911649" class="size-large wp-image-911649" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-922x576.jpg" alt="" width="922" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-922x576.jpg 922w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-300x187.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-768x480.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Food-Dyes-2048x1279.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" />(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to phase out numerous artificial food dyes and colorings by the end of 2026.
The Department of Health and Human Services is banning petroleum-based synthetic dyes: Red 3 and Red 40, Blue 1 and  2, Yellow 5 and 6, and Green 3. Those are very common in cereals, candy, baked goods, soft drinks, and other junk foods commonly consumed by children.
HHS is implementing several steps to make this happen. First, it will work with food companies to establish a national standard and timeline for moving away from petrochemical-based dyes. HHS wants these phased out, at the latest, by the end of next year. The department will also revoke authorization for two synthetic food colorings &#8211; Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B – that will happen even sooner &#8211; in the coming months. Red dye No. 3 was banned by the FDA at the end of the Biden administration, but the timeline for its phaseout is years away. Kennedy said he’s looking to speed up that ban. 
HHS will also partner with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct comprehensive research on how these dyes affect children’s health and development. Lastly, the department will authorize four new natural color additives within a matter of weeks, while speeding up the review and approval of other natural color additives. 
“For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said at a press conference with Kennedy on Tuesday. “The scientific community has conducted a number of studies raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes and several health conditions, such as ADHD, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, cancer, GI issues – as I’ve seen in the hospital – and allergic reactions.” 
Secretary Kennedy said that there are &#8220;shockingly few” studies on food additives and food dyes, specifically, and suggested that this is because of “conflicts of interest” suppressing the science. RFK also warned the public about the dangers of sugar. He said he’s not able to ban it, but wants parents to understand how harmful and addictive it is. He said it’s as “addictive as crack” and called it “poison.”
&nbsp;
<h2>Economic Update: Trump De-escalates</h2>
<div id="attachment_911643" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911643" class="size-large wp-image-911643" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Graph-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Stocks soared Wednesday after reports that President Trump said he has no intention of removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. 
In recent days, we&#8217;ve seen what appears to be a de-escalation from the Trump administration on many key planks of its economic policy – including reassurances that the trade war with China will be resolved soon and that Powell will not be fired. There&#8217;s been a lot of public negotiating going on from Trump and his team, including some mixed messaging over the last few weeks.
“It was frankly, chaos to start,” EJ Antoni, an economist from the Heritage Foundation, told Morning Wire. “A lot of that is getting resolved – not all of it, but a lot of it… In terms of the de-escalation, I think what we&#8217;re looking for there is essentially agreements one by one just getting hammered out and eventually signed. It looks like trade deals, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers…as those deals get done, as the details get ironed out, we can look for more free trade, not less. We can look for fairer trade – in other words, not only are American consumer markets still open to foreign producers, but finally foreign consumer markets will be open to our domestic producers.”
Antoni also told us that while the Fed has used its influence over the economy for political advantage, sometimes against President Trump&#8217;s interests, removing him before the end of his term would have caused more unease about the future direction of the economy. “The market doesn&#8217;t really like Jerome Powell, but the idea of removing him creates a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and that&#8217;s the last thing markets need right now.”

US armed forces recruiting station on Times Square

Morning Brief: Trump Stands By Hegseth, RFK Jr. Targets Food Dyes & Stocks Surge

Pete Hegseth

Tariffs

Trade War

As if being a country music star and successful businessman weren&#8217;t enough, John Rich has a new mission.
The singer is working to raise awareness about the dangers of child sexual extortion, or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-of-teen-boys-take-their-own-lives-as-online-sextortion-cases-spike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“sextortion”</a> – a form of harassment wherein an offender coerces or tricks a minor into sending them sexually explicit images or videos, and then threatens to release the content unless the child furnishes more sexual content or some form of payment. As The Daily Wire reported, sextortion has led dozens of young boys to commit suicide.
On Wednesday, Rich is teaming up with the Department of Homeland Security to host an X Space that he says is the most vital information he’s ever put out on social media. Rich will be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Dennis Fetting. It will air live at 8 p.m. Eastern on Rich’s X account, <a href="https://x.com/johnrich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@JohnRich</a>. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
7CST tomorrow night, a livestream event with <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DHSgov</a> and myself, right here on my <a href="https://twitter.com/X?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@x</a> channel for parents and teens. This is a VERY important presentation if you have kids. Please watch the video for details, and please repost🙏 <a href="https://t.co/Fl2RHduTdM">pic.twitter.com/Fl2RHduTdM</a>
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1914807009355931693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
Rich said he’ll be acting as the “sit-in parent on behalf of American parents,” asking all the important questions you’d want to know. 
“Spend 60 minutes watching it. It will change the way you perceive what&#8217;s going on around your kids,&#8221; Rich told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It can save your kid’s life. It could definitely save their future.”
Rich has been an advocate for children for years now, <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/news/country-music-star-john-rich-testifies-before-tennessee-house-criminal-justice-committee-on-pornographic-material-in-schools/klbaigert/2022/02/24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testifying</a> before the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2022 about removing pornography and obscene content from K-12 schools in the state. Asked if there was a specific moment he felt he had to do something about child exploitation and abuse, Rich replied: &#8220;When I became a dad.” 
Still, Rich only learned about child sextortion a few months ago, after his wife and 15-year-old son attended a talk on the subject by Homeland Security Agent Dennis Fetting.
Rich and his wife immediately changed the settings on their kids’ technology. Rich&#8217;s marketing mind also kicked in, and he got to work thinking about how he could spread the word to as many parents as possible
“I was astonished not only by what he said, but how my wife reacted to it and my son,” he recalled. “So I went into the DHS.gov site and looked up <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/know2protect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Know2Protect,&#8221;</a> he said. &#8220;I read through that and went, &#8216;This needs to be seen by everybody.’”
Then, he shot Fetting an email.
“I do know Secretary Kristi Noem — but she’s rather hard to get on the phone these days, so I didn&#8217;t go to her with this,” he said with a chuckle. “I actually called the local DHS agency in Tennessee and said, ‘Hey, it&#8217;s John Rich. Here&#8217;s the idea: I wanna get with an agent, do a live stream on X, other platforms as well, where we can get this broad message out.’ I said, ‘I know you&#8217;ve got a website, but people are too busy. They&#8217;re not gonna go looking up a website. Let&#8217;s put it right in front of them and let&#8217;s have a conversation, more than a seminar.’”
The Trump administration listened to him, kicked it up the flagpole extremely quickly, and Noem signed on immediately.
“It&#8217;s one great thing about the Trump administration — on top of a lot of great things — they&#8217;re accessible,” he said, adding that “They want to have a positive impact.&#8221;
&#8220;They wanna work with you, and they&#8217;re listening. They&#8217;re listening to the general public.&#8221;
“I&#8217;m fully aware of the dangers that are out there for our kids right now — it&#8217;s totally different than when I grew up,” Rich said. “They are being targeted on apps, video games, social media — places you would never dream of, on innocent-sounding games like Roblox, Minecraft, things like that, where predators are acting like they&#8217;re another kid and they&#8217;re creating a relationship with your kid, and then they lower the boom, then they start to extort and extort.”
“They do everything from force the kids to send nude pictures of themselves, to take pictures of their parents&#8217; credit cards front and back so they can extort money,” Rich continued. “They threaten them with killing their family, burning their house down, posting the pictures all online.”
“It results in kids, some of them becoming suicidal — it’s a major, major problem,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So to me, millions of parents needed to hear about this.” 
Rich underscored how Homeland Security, in his experience, was eager and open to listening to him and put things into action. He encouraged others to use their platforms in this space. In particular, he called on celebrities to speak out — but he&#8217;s not optimistic that Hollywood will rise to the occasion.
&#8220;A lot of what Hollywood&#8217;s been about is the exploitation of children,” Rich said. “So, they would have to put something out that rebuts their own stances.”
“I mean, that&#8217;s just the truth. I&#8217;m sorry, that&#8217;s hard to hear, but that&#8217;s really what it is,” he said. “If you look at the way they sexualize children in Hollywood, that&#8217;s not theory anymore. That&#8217;s part of the ethos.”
It&#8217;s up to parents, Rich said, to educate their children on the dangers of sextortion.
“You put fear into your son or daughter about not playing in the street. Do you put fear into your son or daughter about not talking to strangers, or don&#8217;t take a pill if somebody hands you one, or whatever it might be? Of course you do,” Rich said. “That&#8217;s part of being a good parent.”
“Well, now it&#8217;s time to put fear into them, a healthy fear about what they&#8217;re dealing with online, and do not trust anybody that you don&#8217;t know personally online,” he added. 
Rich hopes that his livestream is just the beginning of a longer conversation, and a continued awareness campaign.
&#8220;This needs to be a viral moment in America,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Parents need to have a viral moment with what&#8217;s gonna happen tonight on this live stream. The livestream will be recorded and posted to YouTube and Rumble. It&#8217;s gonna live on forever and ever.&#8221;
You can watch the X Space tonight, live, at 8 p.m. Eastern, on <a href="https://x.com/johnrich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rich&#8217;s X account</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A conversation about online child predators with Homeland Security and John Rich: PLS Repost! <a href="https://t.co/zChy4K5HQU">https://t.co/zChy4K5HQU</a>
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1915190100058923202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-of-teen-boys-take-their-own-lives-as-online-sextortion-cases-spike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dozens Of Teen Boys Take Their Own Lives As Online Sextortion Cases Spike</a>

52nd Academy Of Country Music Awards – Arrivals

How Country Star John Rich Teamed Up With Kristi Noem To Combat Child Sextortion

Department of Homeland Security

John Rich

Kristi Noem

Sex Trafficking

The White House is making early progress on trade deals with India &#8212; hoping to ease economic tensions stemming from Trump’s tariffs. Marco Rubio announces a major overhaul of the State Department. And, tech stocks rebound as egg prices drop &#8212; what’s the latest on the U.S. economy?
It’s Wednesday, April 23, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/us-india-trade-deal-rubio-revamps-state-dept-4-23-25/id1576594336?i=1000704573915" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>India And The U.S. Move Toward Trade Deal</h2>
<div id="attachment_910991" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910991" class="size-large wp-image-910991" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Liberty-Market-Graphic-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Anton Petrus via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The United States and India are reportedly nearing a trade deal. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump met with top CEOs to address their concerns about the trade war.
Shortly after unveiling his “Liberation Day” tariffs, Trump offered a 90-day pause on his proposed tariff hikes to most of America’s trading partners, with the notable exception of China. A baseline rate of 10% is currently being applied to most imports in the meantime. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the administration is set to meet with nearly three dozen countries this week to negotiate more favorable terms.
Vice President JD Vance visited India for four days and met with top government officials, including Prime Minister Modi. Last year, trade between the two countries was nearly $130 billion. U.S. imports from India exceeded exports by about $45 billion last year, which is significant since Trump has made it clear that reducing the trade deficit is a key goal of his tariff policy. Negotiations appear to be going well, but if Trump and Modi don’t make a deal, the tariff rate on Indian goods could jump to 26%.
“President Trump and Prime Minister Modi announced in February that our countries aim to more than double our bilateral trade to $500 billion by the end of the decade,” Vance <a href="https://x.com/VP/status/1914664240763257219">said</a> on Tuesday. “Both of our governments are hard at work on a trade agreement built on shared priorities like creating new jobs, building durable supply chains, and achieving prosperity for our workers. In our meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Modi and I made very good progress on all of those points, and we were especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalized the terms of reference for the trade negotiation.”
In general, the Trump administration appears to be dialing back its earlier, maximalist stance on tariffs. On Monday, the CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot met with the president to air concerns about trade and tariffs. CNBC also reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with top investors on Tuesday about trade with China. Bessent <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/22/bessent-trump-tariffs-china-deescalate.html">reportedly</a> said that he expects “there will be a de-escalation” in the “very near future.” He added that “no one thinks the current status quo is sustainable.”
<h2>Rubio Proposes Sweeping Cuts To State Department</h2>
<div id="attachment_910985" style="width: 737px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910985" class="size-large wp-image-910985" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-727x576.jpg" alt="" width="727" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-727x576.jpg 727w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-300x238.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-768x608.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-1536x1217.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/State-Department-Facade-2048x1622.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" />(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Secretary of State Marco Rubio just announced a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. State Department, aiming to streamline operations and align diplomacy with the Trump administration’s “America First” agenda. The plan includes significant staff cuts and the closure of numerous offices.
Rubio is not being shy in billing this as an aggressive reform plan. In a department-wide email, he called the State Department “bloated” and “beholden to radical political ideology.” Because of this, he aims to reduce the agency’s U.S.-based staff by 15% and reduce the number of offices from 734 to 602.
“Secretary Rubio is announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the department into the 21st century,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told the press on Tuesday. “Redundant offices will be removed, and nonstatutory programs that are misaligned with America&#8217;s core national interests will cease to exist.”
There’s also one addition in this plan — Rubio proposes a new Bureau of Emerging Threats that will focus on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
None of these proposed cuts have gone into effect just yet &#8212; Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said an internal working group will develop “thoughtful plans” by July 1. But some of these changes may require congressional approval.  A preliminary budget proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget that bolsters Rubio’s plan by cutting the State Department’s funding by 50% isn’t likely to pass Congress.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which Rubio has criticized for promoting “left-wing agendas” in countries like Poland and Hungary, is currently on the chopping block, as is the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which allegedly funneled taxpayer dollars to NGOs that facilitated mass migration, including at the U.S. southern border. Rubio said in a new State Department Substack that these bureaus have been misused to push policies that are misaligned with national priorities. He says that for the sake of efficiency, the goal is to refocus diplomacy on “great power competition” and consolidate region-specific functions into regional bureaus.
Some analysts are saying this is going to alienate career diplomats, and Democrats are saying these moves will diminish U.S. influence abroad. But apparently, some are breathing sighs of relief because they were expecting even deeper cuts after a draft executive order circulated last weekend. That document proposed slashing entire bureaus like African Affairs and closing embassies across sub-Saharan Africa. But Rubio says that was “fake news.”
<h2>Economic Update – Eggcellent News</h2>
<div id="attachment_910977" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910977" class="size-large wp-image-910977" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Eggs-in-hand-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Grace Carry via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Consumers could soon see relief on egg prices while markets attempt to calibrate for Trump’s trade policies.
Markets have been remarkably volatile amid uncertainty over ongoing trade negotiations — the DOW plummeted on Monday, but spiked again on Tuesday. The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that the global economy could be hit hard by tariffs and slashed its forecast for U.S. growth to 1.8% this year, down from the 2.8% it had predicted in January, but it acknowledged the tariff situation is unpredictable due to the Trump administration using them as a negotiating tactic.
Meanwhile, Americans can expect some relief on everyday expenses. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan spoke to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins about the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to lower the price of eggs.
“A couple months ago, we rolled out our big five point egg plan,” Rollins said. “At the time the eggs were, I think, the highest they&#8217;ve been, perhaps since President Trump left office. I know under Joe Biden, they increased 237%. While the cost of groceries has skyrocketed, nothing has skyrocketed more than eggs … since [Trump took office], the cost of wholesale eggs has gone down 58%.”
Rollins also told us that part of Trump’s plan with tariffs is to correct the agricultural trade deficit that widened under Biden. “There&#8217;s now a $50 billion agriculture trade deficit &#8230; that was zero four years ago. So that means that all of that product &#8212; sorghum, wheat, corn, beef that we were moving out and Trump won, somehow that market disappeared and we&#8217;ve got to get it back.”

FRANCE-US-INDIA-DIPLOMACY-TECHNOLOGY-AI-SUMMIT

Morning Brief: Vance Negotiates India Trade Deal, Rubio Cuts State Dept & Easter Egg Prices

Food

Global Politics

India

Marco Rubio

State Department

Trump Administration

Democrats and the media defend a deportee. The State Department announces that it has fully dismantled an agency accused of censoring conservative voices. And, the UK’s Supreme Court hands down a landmark ruling clearly defining the word “woman.”
It’s Friday, April 18, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dems-defend-maryland-deportee-gec-operation-ends-4-18-25/id1576594336?i=1000703971466" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Controversial Deportee Has A Checkered Past</h2>
<div id="attachment_909431" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909431" class="size-large wp-image-909431" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Kilmar-Protesters-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: As the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportation effort, Democrats are fighting for the return of one deportee sent to El Salvador.
The story centers on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old man who entered the United States illegally in 2011. Back in 2019, Garcia was arrested by ICE for suspected ties to the MS-13 gang, and given a deportation order. However, a court ruled at the time that Abrego Garcia should not be sent to his home country of El Salvador over potential threats from rival gangs there. Despite that deportation order, he remained in the country until he was arrested again by ICE in March and deported to El Salvador days later.
By April, the Supreme Court ruled that Garcia’s return to El Salvador violated the previous court order that he be sent elsewhere — and directed the White House to facilitate his return to America. The Trump administration conceded that it was a “clerical error” on their part, but stated that it was up to officials in El Salvador to decide whether he would be released or not. 
Democrats used the incident to argue the Trump administration is being careless in its mass deportation efforts — they say Abrego Garcia was a law-abiding father who never should’ve been deported in the first place. As the story gained traction, a number of Democratic lawmakers vowed to go to El Salvador to fight for his release, including Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to the prison where Abrego Garcia’s being held. Van Hollen was initially denied access by local authorities, but successfully met with Garcia on Thursday night.
&#8220;This is like taking away people’s freedom,” Van Hollen <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-chris-van-hollen-compares-153458159.html">told</a> MSNBC. “That does not sound like a conservative idea to me. That is something that, of course, authoritarian governments engage in. And it’s a very fast road to tyranny if we don’t all stand up against it.&#8221;
Democrats have depicted Garcia as an upstanding citizen, husband, and father, but new reports are painting a very different picture. A police report released by the DOJ from his initial arrest back in 2019 shows that Abrego Garcia was found loitering with three other men, two of whom were previously convicted MS-13 members — when officers approached, they attempted to hide drugs under a nearby car. At the time of his arrest, Abrego Garcia was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat — authorities say that’s a symbol of “members in good standing with the MS-13.” Then, in 2021, Abrego Garcia’s wife sought a protective order against him following years of alleged domestic abuse. According to her sworn affidavit from the time, his wife alleged that on different occasions, Abrego Garcia punched her, leaving her with black eyes, hit her with his work boots, scratched her eyes, and drove erratically with their one-year-old in the car. She wrote in her own words, “I am afraid to be close to him.” That case did not move forward after Garcia’s wife failed to appear in court to testify against him.
 And that’s not all — the <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/justice/bidens-fbi-ordered-tn-highway-patrol-to-release-maryland-man-recently-deported-to-el-salvador-after-he-was-detained-in-2022-traffic-stop-on-suspicion-of-human-trafficking/tpappert/2025/04/16/">Tennessee Star</a> learned Wednesday that Abrego Garcia had been stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in 2022 on suspicion of human trafficking. In that instance, he’d been pulled over with seven individuals in his car, but no luggage. When questioned, he told officers he was driving them from Texas to Maryland on behalf of his “boss” who worked in “construction.&#8221; Abrego Garcia was detained for two hours and was found not to have a valid driver&#8217;s license, which is a misdemeanor offense.
<h2>Rubio Dismantles The Global Engagement Center</h2>
<div id="attachment_909429" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909429" class="size-large wp-image-909429" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Rubio-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Global Engagement Center, an Obama-era propaganda branch of the State Department, has been completely dissolved.
In 2011, the State Department created the Global Engagement Center, designed to combat propaganda from hostile foreign groups. But after Trump’s 2016 win, the department turned its attention to throttling Americans&#8217; political speech.
The GEC was created in 2011 as the Center for Strategic Counter Terrorism Communications. In 2016, Barack Obama gave it a new name and said it would “coordinate U.S. government communications aimed at countering foreign terrorist propaganda, particularly from groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.” But soon, it was creating pressure on U.S. platforms, via advertising boycotts, to delete “conspiracy theories” like the idea that coronavirus came from a Chinese lab.
Like other State Department propaganda efforts, the GEC was specifically barred from operating against Americans. But there’s evidence that’s exactly what it did. In the Twitter Files, which showed how the Biden administration pressured Silicon Valley platforms to censor or remove content, one of the names that keeps popping up is GEC. Even an FBI agent who played a similar role, Elvis Chan, expressed concern about GEC, saying in its world, which was supposed to be foreign countries, the First Amendment didn’t exist.
The Daily Wire and the Federalist sued the State Department alleging that GEC was violating the First Amendment by funding groups like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index. The Global Disinformation Index put American media outlets on a “Dynamic Exclusion List” that was distributed to advertisers and named mainstream publications like the New York Post, Reason Magazine, The Daily Wire, and the Federalist as “risky.” Newsguard’s CEO said its goal is “empowering governments … to support quality journalism and systemically defund sources of harmful misinformation.” The Daily Wire argued that GEC was funding proxies to do what would obviously be illegal for the government to do.
<h2>UK Supreme Court Settles &#8216;What Is A Woman?&#8217; Debate In British Law</h2>
<div id="attachment_909445" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909445" class="size-large wp-image-909445" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-864x576.jpg 864w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Loiscense-to-dictionary-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that in the eyes of the law, a woman is a biological woman, not a transgender woman.
The UK has decentralized governments, which means there are governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland who have powers devolved to them. In Scotland, the Scottish Nationalist government sought to extend what they call trans rights. Most controversially, it pushed for self-ID, which would allow someone to declare themselves a woman and be certified as such, no questions asked.
The legal case that led to this being brought to the UK’s Supreme Court began with a new law aimed at increasing the number of women on public boards. Affirmative action, known in Britain as “positive action,” is permitted by a law called the Equality Act. The Scottish government argued that this should include discriminating in favor of transgender women with a Gender Recognition Certificate. The campaign group For Women Scotland disagreed and argued it should be restricted to biological women.
The Court decided that the use of “sex” and “women” in the Equality Act refers to biology and biological women, so transgender women are not protected against discrimination as women, although they will still be protected against discrimination as people who have undergone gender reassignment.
“This is going to be a very far-reaching ruling,” Guy Dampier, Senior Researcher on Nationhood at the Prosperity Institute, told Morning Wire. “Like a lot of the West, there has been this huge battle over transgenderism. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, was famously once unable to say whether women have a penis or not. … the Gender Recognition Act is functionally null now, as it is now the law that sex is biological rather than social. That said, transgender women with a Gender Recognition Certificate will still have their legal documents describing their sex as female, and it’s illegal to ask someone if they have a GRC.”

Hearing Held In Case Of Maryland Man Mistakenly Deported To El Salvador

Morning Brief: Dems Defend Deportee, Censorship Group Dissolved, UK Answers ‘What Is A Woman?’

Censorship

Deportations

El Salvador

U.K.

What Is A Woman

Attorney General Pam Bondi announces a lawsuit against Maine for defying President Donald Trump’s transgender athlete ban. A new report exposes glaring bias in media coverage of two illegal immigrants. And, new studies have thrown into doubt everything we thought we knew about ADHD.
It’s Thursday, April 17, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/doj-sues-maine-adhd-study-revelations-4-17-25/id1576594336?i=1000703850045" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h1>Trump DOJ Sues Maine</h1>
<div id="attachment_908933" style="width: 845px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908933" class="size-large wp-image-908933" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-835x576.jpg" alt="" width="835" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-835x576.jpg 835w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-300x207.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-768x530.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-1536x1060.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Janet-Mills-Stank-Face-2048x1413.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 835px) 100vw, 835px" />(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: After a months-long standoff, the Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against Maine’s Department of Education over its transgender sports policies.
The suit says that Maine is “openly and defiantly flouting federal anti-discrimination law” by allowing males to compete in girls&#8217; sports. It says girls are being displaced from podiums, losing opportunities for advancement to regional and national competitions, and missing out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition.
In a press conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Maine officials, notably Democratic Governor Janet Mills, forced their hand.  “We don’t want to be suing people, we want them to comply with the law, and that’s what we’re doing. We have given [every] opportunity over and over again. The Department of Education, HHS, they went and sat down with them in person, multiple meetings, and got nowhere.”
Minnesota and California have also apparently been put &#8220;on notice,&#8221; and other states are in talks with the federal government to resolve issues with Title IX enforcement.
Governor Mills issued a statement shortly after the suit was announced. She criticized the Trump administration for the “unprecedented campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law.” Mills also accused the administration of “politically motivated investigations” into Maine that had “predetermined” outcomes.
&nbsp;
<h1>Media Bias In Coverage Of Illegal Immigrants</h1>
<div id="attachment_908935" style="width: 788px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908935" class="size-large wp-image-908935" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-778x576.jpg" alt="" width="778" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-778x576.jpg 778w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-300x222.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-768x569.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-1536x1138.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Media-Bias-Comedic-Graphic-2048x1517.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 778px) 100vw, 778px" />(Photo by designer491 via Getty Images)</div>
Topline:  A new report exposes glaring bias in the media coverage of two illegal immigrants in Maryland — one deported by the Trump administration and the other convicted of murdering a mother of five.
The study by the Media Research Center found major bias from legacy media outlets. The group found that while the outlets devoted ample coverage to an illegal immigrant deported from Maryland by the Trump administration, they completely ignored the conviction of an illegal immigrant for the brutal rape and murder of a Maryland mother of five.
The MRC report analyzed media bias in the coverage of two people: Maryland mother Rachel Morin, whose illegal immigrant rapist and murderer was just convicted on Monday, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant with alleged ties to MS-13.
“We have added up about 65 minutes on ABC, CBS and NBC devoted to the guy they call “the Maryland man,’” Tim Graham, Executive Editor and Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center, told Morning Wire. &#8220;He&#8217;s an illegal alien who&#8217;s been living in Maryland for a decade, but he was deported. The Trump administration said this was an error, but they didn&#8217;t really wanna fix it. Compare that to the trial that just went on in Maryland with Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was murdered by an illegal alien… you have 65 minutes on the illegal alien mistakenly deported; you have zero seconds on the Rachel Morin trial.”
Graham argued that the main factor in network news coverage was whether a particular story helped or hurt President Trump. “They didn&#8217;t wanna talk about Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray. [Rachel Morin]. When you have illegal immigrants rape a woman, or in Nungaray&#8217;s case, a 12-year-old girl, and then murder them, you can&#8217;t say, well, we only, you know, we don&#8217;t cover. You&#8217;re not gonna say that it&#8217;s a matter of who is the rapist and the murderer. That somehow turns it into a zero second story.”
&nbsp;
<h1> ADHD Study</h1>
<div id="attachment_908937" style="width: 880px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908937" class="size-large wp-image-908937" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-870x576.jpg" alt="" width="870" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-870x576.jpg 870w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-768x509.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/ADHD-2048x1356.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px" />(Photo by Gam1983 via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: New research on ADHD is raising questions about how doctors are diagnosing and treating Americans, particularly children.
For years, scientists have believed that a biomarker – like a specific gene – could lead to a direct diagnosis of ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But research now suggests that’s false, and that ADHD is just a collection of symptoms that can be subjective and arbitrarily diagnosed. Children and adults can temporarily experience these symptoms – they can come and go – and they’re largely associated with your environment.
Additionally, children who were put on ADHD medications – which is some version of amphetamine – were found to only have short-term relief of symptoms. Compared to kids with no intervention at all, there was no difference long-term. Studies have shown that long-term use of such medications is <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2811812">associated</a> with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly hypertension and arterial disease. It can also stunt growth, which is particularly concerning since so many children are put on these medicines. Kids who took ADHD meds were<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/magazine/adhd-medication-treatment-research.html"> found to be shorter</a> than those never on the medications – and they never made up for the growth loss, according to longer-term data. 
Numbers from the CDC show that 7 million kids have been diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are more frequently diagnosed than girls, by almost a 2:1 ratio. In fact, 21% of all 14-year-old boys and 23% of 17-year-old boys have been given an ADHD diagnosis. Additionally, a growing number of adults are on these medications – the largest increase in first-time diagnosis is actually with people 30 to 44 years old.
“Fifteen percent of American youth are now on Adderall or some other ADHD medication,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cpac/reel/DFbGwY3PtMm/?api=1%2F&amp;hl=bg">said</a> during his confirmation hearing. “Even higher percentages are on SSRIs and benzos. We are not just overmedicating our children, we are overmedicating our entire population.”
New <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/magazine/adhd-medication-treatment-research.html">research</a> shows that a busier schedule – or times of higher “environmental demand” – can actually alleviate symptoms of ADHD. The New York Times report noted that jobs or college courses that were demanding and interesting helped reduce ADHD symptoms. Other anecdotal evidence found that people who say they experienced ADHD symptoms felt relief when they found a way to channel it in a field they found interesting or excelled at, which tracks with the latest research. Further, addressing general over-reliance on medications for kids, RFK is looking at how our technological habits impact our overall health, as well as physical activity and nutrition.

Janet Mills and Donald Trump

Morning Brief: DOJ Sues Maine Over Trans Policies, Media Runs Cover For Illegals & The ADHD Scam

Immigration

Maine

Media Bias

Title IX

Women's sports

Another legal battle is brewing over the deportation of half a million migrants allowed into the United States by Joe Biden. President Donald Trump pulls the federal funding rug out from under NPR, PBS – and Harvard. Will it hold up in Congress and the courts? And, Mark Zuckerberg is back in the hot seat as Facebook is accused of antitrust practices and cozying up to China.
It’s Wednesday, April 16, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/judge-blocks-deportation-effort-federal-funding-fights/id1576594336?i=1000703714504" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Trump Blocks Migrant Benefits, Border Crossings At All-Time Low</h2>
<div id="attachment_908237" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908237" class="size-large wp-image-908237" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Border-Wall-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />(Photo by Jorge Salgado/Anadolu via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Border crossings continue to fall at a historic pace as President Trump takes new steps to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing taxpayer benefits.
In recent years, the Biden administration enacted a controversial humanitarian parole program that offered legal status and two-year work permits to migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua. More than 530,000 people from those countries took advantage and flew directly to the United States. In March, President Trump moved to revoke legal status for those migrants, giving them until April 24 to leave the country or face deportation.
The White House argued these migrants were undermining American workers and faced little vetting before entering the country. But this week, a federal judge appointed by President Barack Obama blocked that effort, saying the Trump administration must instead offer each migrant a case-by-case review before revoking legal status.
However, in general, the Trump administration’s immigration efforts have borne fruit. The latest report from Customs and Border Protection confirmed that border crossings fell 95% in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/icymi-illegal-border-crossings-hit-new-record-low-in-march/">March</a> compared to the same month last year, with just 7,100 migrants apprehended across the entire month – that’s roughly the number of migrants that came in every single day during Biden’s term in office. The Trump administration has also continued to go after the roughly 435,000 people living here illegally who’ve been convicted of additional crimes. ICE arrests have tripled in the last three months, and the number of illegal aliens in detention facilities is at an all-time high.
“We did in three weeks what Biden didn’t do in three or four years,” Border czar Tom Homan <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1911893560116592730">said</a>. “Right now as you and I are talking, we have the most secure border in the history of this nation and the data proves it.”
According to The New York Times, the White House is now seeking $45 billion in additional funding to construct new detention facilities so it can expedite its mass deportation effort. The public still broadly approves of Trump’s immigration policy.
<h2>Trump Moves To Cut Funding To NPR, PBS &amp; Harvard</h2>
<div id="attachment_908239" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908239" class="size-large wp-image-908239" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NPR-PBS-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: President Trump is renewing his push to strip NPR and PBS of their funding while also freezing more than $2 billion in federal grants earmarked for Harvard. The moves have sparked heated debate, with supporters calling it a step toward fiscal responsibility and critics warning it threatens independent journalism and academic freedom.
Conservatives have talked about defunding NPR and PBS for years, but now they appear to have the political winds at their backs. Trust in the media is at an all-time low, and a lot of Americans are sympathetic to the idea that we do not need to spend billions of dollars in taxpayer money on these entities that many view as biased.
President Trump specifically accused NPR of being “a mouthpiece for the radical left.” And he’s calling on Republicans in Congress to introduce legislation that rescinds the funds that had been previously approved. Rescission would require the approval of the House and the Senate, where Republicans control narrow majorities and are already negotiating a major spending package.
Meanwhile: The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard after the university refused demands to overhaul its policies, and as much as $9 billion in funding could be on the table. The White House, through its Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, claims Harvard hasn’t done enough to address antisemitism tied to radical anti-Israel and pro-Hamas campus protests. They demanded changes like banning face masks, which a lot of the protestors wear, and enforcing merit-based rather than race-based admissions.
Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, rejected these demands, calling them a violation of First Amendment rights and academic freedom, saying in a statement “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
<h2>Facebook Faces Antitrust Lawsuit</h2>
<div id="attachment_908241" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908241" class="size-large wp-image-908241" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Facebook-dislike-768x576.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Facebook-dislike-768x576.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Facebook-dislike-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />(Photo by Alfieri via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: FTC vs Meta Platforms, Inc. began in court this week. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat for his second day of testimony in the trial that risks breaking up his social media empire.
This case was initially brought during President Trump’s first term and has taken more than four years to work through the courts. The FTC says that Meta is a monopoly that has bought its way out of competing. The government argues that when Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram in 2012 and bought WhatsApp in a nearly $22 billion deal in 2014, Facebook illegally cornered what the FTC calls the “personal social-networking” market. According to the government, the only other major competitors to Facebook are Snapchat and an app called MeWe.
Meta disputes this. It says the market is actually much larger, and includes TikTok, YouTube, and X. For instance, when TikTok had an outage earlier this year, Instagram saw its usage spike, which suggests that people use the sites interchangeably. Meta has also argued that by going after it, the Trump administration is helping the Chinese-owned TikTok even more. TikTok was banned in the United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-rages-after-u-s-passes-law-requiring-its-sale-from-chinese-parent-company">last year</a>, but earlier this month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-extends-tiktok-sale-deadline-by-75-days-as-acquisition-talks-continue">extended</a> the pause on a Congressionally-approved ban on that app that was put into place in January.
This trial is expected to go on for eight weeks, so there will be plenty more ahead. But if Meta loses, it could be forced to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp.

The-White-House-Press-Secretary-Karoline-Leavitt-Had-Press-Brief

Morning Brief: Border Crossings Plummet, NPR Funding Trouble & Meta Antitrust

Anti-Semitism

Anti-trust

Harvard University

Illegal Immigration

Mark Zuckerberg

National Public Radio (NPR)

Tech titan Nvidia makes a major investment in the United States – as President Donald Trump tweaks the terms of his tariffs. The Trump administration continues to pursue a nuclear deal with Iran after holding the first direct talks with the country in years. And, it&#8217;s April 15 – tax day. How would the “big, beautiful bill” affect taxes going forward?
It’s Tuesday, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-tweaks-tariffs-revives-iran-nuclear-talks-4-15-25/id1576594336?i=1000703570759" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>New Tariffs, New Factories</h2>
<div id="attachment_907691" style="width: 887px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907691" class="size-large wp-image-907691" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-877x576.jpg" alt="" width="877" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-877x576.jpg 877w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-300x197.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-768x504.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-1536x1008.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NVIDIA-Chip-2048x1344.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 877px) 100vw, 877px" />(Photo by Antonio Burdonovi via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: President Trump announced new tariffs Monday, as tech giant Nvidia announced a historic investment in American chip manufacturing.
As we reported yesterday, the White House said it planned to offer tariff exemptions for certain tech imports like laptops and smartphones. But by Monday, the president announced that one crucial product — semiconductor chips — would not be exempt, and would instead be subject to their own tariffs. We’re still waiting to hear what sort of rate they’ll face, but it’s a big move — the United States imported nearly $850 billion worth of semiconductors last year.
In a major victory for the White House, tech giant Nvidia announced a half-trillion-dollar investment in American manufacturing. Over the next four years, the company will set up shop in Arizona and Texas – it has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space there. When production is complete, Nvidia says it will be able to construct supercomputers entirely in the United States. The company’s CEO said the investment would “strengthen our supply chain and boost our resiliency.”
“Nvidia controls almost that entire sector, which is one of the most important sectors in the world,” President Trump said at the White House on Monday in response to the announcement. “The reason they did it was because of the election on November 5th and because of a thing called tariffs.&#8221;
Trump also received good news from the Federal Reserve, which released its latest Survey of Consumer Expectations on Monday. It found that Americans believe inflation will rise in the coming months but expect it to be a short-term disruption. That’s important because consumer expectations of inflation can often become self-fulfilling as it changes what folks are willing to pay for certain products. Markets were seemingly pleased with Monday’s news, as the Dow, S&amp;P, and Nasdaq saw gains across the board.
<h2>U.S. &#8211; Iran Nuclear Talks</h2>
<div id="attachment_907693" style="width: 951px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907693" class="size-large wp-image-907693" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-941x576.jpg" alt="" width="941" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-941x576.jpg 941w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-300x184.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-768x470.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-1536x940.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-Iran-talks-2048x1254.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 941px) 100vw, 941px" />(Photo by Kagenmi via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The Trump administration had its first direct contact with Iran last weekend, the first step in an attempt to hammer out a new nuclear deal. President Trump is pushing for a full dismantling of Iran&#8217;s nuclear program. A follow-up meeting is set for this Saturday.
The meeting was the start of the first direct talks between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran in years. <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/04/12/us-iran-begin-nucearl-talks-begin-oman">Axios</a> is reporting that there was a 45-minute face-to-face conversation in Oman between U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“I think [a face-to-face meeting] helps to make sure that there is less room to cause confusion and also to drag out negotiations, which is what the Iranians are famous for doing,” <a href="https://www.iwf.org/people/ellie-cohanim/">Ellie Cohanim</a>, Independent Women’s Forum Senior Fellow and former Deputy Envoy to Combat Antisemitism under President Trump, told Morning Wire. “The very fact that the Iranians came to the table is considered an embarrassment in the Iranian culture because this is the regime that from 1979, from its very inception of coming into power, is born of the original sin of taking our American Embassy staff hostage …&#8217;Supreme Leader&#8217; Ali Khamenei apparently had to be convinced to even participate in talks with the United States. His advisors apparently let him know that they were advising him to participate in these talks because otherwise, it looked like there was a very high likelihood that Israel and the United States would strike Iran.”
Iran’s influence in the region has been steadily declining after a series of military and economic setbacks. Historically, Iran has used foreign proxy groups like Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and even the Assad regime of Syria to exert pressure on foreign enemies like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States – arming and funding militants to create a thin veneer of separation between itself and open warfare. However, Hamas has taken tens of thousands of casualties in the ongoing war in Gaza, and Hezbollah’s command structure has been decimated by surgical Israeli strikes. Hezbollah fighters played a crucial role in propping up the Assad regime in the Syrian Civil War, and their collapse precipitated the ousting of the Assad government by Turkish-backed rebels – longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/syrian-dictator-bashar-al-assad-deposed-as-terrorist-rebels-claim-damascus">fled to Moscow</a> last December. Houthi militants have also taken heavy losses in the wake of an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-states-launches-large-scale-attack-on-iran-backed-houthi-terrorists">American counterassault</a> to reopen shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Iran’s economy has suffered under Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” of sanctions. The effort seems to have paid off. Cohanim told Morning Wire that the Iranian economy is “teetering … nearly on the verge of collapse. Their currency is just <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/irans-middle-class-bears-brunt-of-economic-crisis/a-72085209">practically valueless</a> right now.”
President Trump has made it clear that Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons program in order to reach a deal with the United States – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/explainer-how-close-is-iran-having-nuclear-weapons-2024-04-18/">recent intelligence</a> suggests Iran has enough stockpiled fissile material to build two nuclear bombs, although progress on a delivery system for a hypothetical weapon is less certain. Iran and the United States previously negotiated a nuclear deal in 2015, but President Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-just-shredded-iran-deal-here-are-5-ben-shapiro">withdrew</a> from it in 2018, arguing that the terms and enforcement mechanisms were too lax.
<h2>Tax Day!!!</h2>
<div id="attachment_907695" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907695" class="size-large wp-image-907695" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-864x576.jpg 864w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tax-Day-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Richard Stephen via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Today is one of Americans’ least favorite days – tax day. And this year, the eternal debate raging around taxes goes all the way to the top.
Friendly reminder – today is your last chance to file your taxes on time.
This tax season, Congress is furiously negotiating a “big, beautiful bill” to set the country’s fiscal priorities – the draft legislation put forward by Congressional Republicans would, among other things, make the tax cuts from President Trump’s first term permanent. Pete Sepp, President of the National Taxpayers Union, told Morning Wire that “virtually every American family would benefit” if the budget bill were passed.
“Any family with children under the age of 17 is likely to benefit,” Sepp told Morning Wire. “Any wage earner is likely to benefit by the lower rates that would remain locked in place. Any worker for a corporation is likely to benefit because they would see their wages at a stable level or even increasing because the boss would have the money to be able to provide that.&#8221;
Anyone who might want to pass along something to their heirs could.
If the bill isn’t passed, Americans will face around a $4 trillion tax hike. Opponents claim that the bill would benefit the rich without helping the poor – that’s been the mantra from Democrats – and part of their rationale for voting against the budget reconciliation last week. Of course, there could also be a predictable political angle to this – Democrats may want to jam up the vote to make the other side look incompetent.

Logos Of Large Companies On Laptop

Morning Brief: American Supercomputers, Iran Talks & Tax Day

Arizona

Communist China

Iran

Taxes

Texas

The United States and China continue their tariff war, the Supreme Court rules on several emergency requests, and El Salvador’s president is set to visit the White House.
It’s Monday, April 14, and this is the news you need to know to start your week. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/china-escalates-trade-war-trump-scotus-victories-4-14-25/id1576594336?i=1000703434916" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Trade Negotiations Continue</h2>
<div id="attachment_902939" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-902939" class="size-large wp-image-902939" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208185431-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 02: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. Touting the event as “Liberation Day”, Trump is expected to announce additional tariffs targeting goods imported to the U.S." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208185431-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208185431-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208185431-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208185431.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</div>
Topline:  President Donald Trump will host a number of foreign leaders for trade negotiations this week as Congress prepares to pass a crucial spending package. Meanwhile, China has cut off shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets after Trump paused most tariffs for everyone but them.
Beijing predictably responded by raising its own tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125%. The communist nation went a step further Sunday, halting the export of rare earth minerals and magnets.
For context, China produces upwards of 60% of the world’s rare earth minerals and 90% of all rare earth magnets, which are crucial for high-tech chips, semiconductors, batteries, and car manufacturing. That pause could have significant impacts on the American auto and tech industries. The White House says the fact that America is so reliant on Chinese products shows how crucial it is to increase American manufacturing and form stronger trade alliances elsewhere. 
Stateside, President Trump made big news over the weekend, announcing that electronics like smartphones and laptops will temporarily be exempt from tariffs. That’s a major relief to tech giants like Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft. The White House said those exemptions would be temporary — presumably, they’re sending a message to Beijing that they better make a deal before they become permanent. 
Public Perception: A <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-trump-tariffs-13-04-2025/">CBS</a> poll this weekend showed that just 42% of Americans favor tariffs on imported goods, compared to 58% who oppose them, while Trump&#8217;s approval rating on the economy fell to 44%. Similarly, the University of Michigan’s closely watched <a href="https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/">Consumer Sentiment Index</a> fell 11% to its lowest point since the COVID lockdowns. Americans cited the potential for rising inflation and unemployment as their biggest areas of concern.
In better news for the president, that same CBS poll found that nearly 60% of Americans believe Trump is using tariffs as a negotiating tool — so that message seems to have gotten through. <a href="https://x.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1910714949418045563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Quinnipiac</a> found that Republicans and Democrats are now tied on the question of “Which party cares more for the needs of people like you.” For decades, Democrats have had a massive, oftentimes twenty-point lead on that question. It now appears that more and more Americans view Republicans as caring about the needs of average people. That is a generational shift indicative of where Trump is taking the party economically. 
&nbsp;
<h2>Supreme Court Scoreboard</h2>
<div id="attachment_907193" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907193" class="size-large wp-image-907193" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Al Drago/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The Supreme Court weighs several of Trump’s executive actions. How is his agenda faring – and what’s next on the docket? 
The Trump administration is at the center of several high-stakes battles before the Supreme Court. The rulings are testing the limits of executive power on issues ranging from deportations to federal regulations. At this point, SCOTUS has ruled on six emergency applications, and thus far, the president is faring well. 
One of the most significant rulings we’ve seen has been on the Alien Enemies Act. It’s a somewhat unique legal case where both sides—the Trump administration and the ACLU—are claiming victory. The administration argued that Venezuelan gangs like Tren de Aragua pose such a national security threat, and under the authority of that 1798 Act, they can remove alleged gang members rapidly, without hearings, because they’re not U.S. citizens. Last week, SCOTUS lifted a lower judge’s block on those deportations, but it did add some guardrails. Detainees must now receive notice and due process. 
In addition, the Supreme Court also overturned a lower court decision ordering Trump to rehire 16,000 probationary federal employees. In a 7-2 ruling, SCOTUS found the organizations suing lacked standing since individual workers weren’t part of the lawsuit.
On the Docket: Next week, the court will hear arguments regarding the president&#8217;s claim of immunity from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. There are also challenges to executive orders on birthright citizenship and federal funding cuts in the pipeline. But so far, the court has been notably restrained. Many analysts are pointing out that Chief Justice Roberts is steering the court toward narrow, technical rulings to avoid blockbuster showdowns with Trump.
&nbsp;
<h2>Bukele Visits the White House</h2>
<div id="attachment_907027" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-907027" class="size-large wp-image-907027" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1171054018-865x576.jpg" alt="US President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador shake hands as they hold a meeting in New York, on September 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1171054018-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1171054018-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1171054018-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1171054018.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />(SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Topline:  President Trump is set to welcome El Salvador’s president to the White House on Monday – after what Trump’s calling a “model” deal to deport alleged violent gang members.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, arrived in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. The administration has worked closely with the Salvadoran leader on immigration and the detainment of suspected foreign gang members. The United States has sent about 250 illegal immigrants with suspected gang ties to a high-security prison in El Salvador. The two leaders have been on remarkably positive terms; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the relationship has “become a model for others to work with” the Trump administration.
“I think [Bukele]&#8217;s doing a fantastic job and taking care of a lot of problems that we really wouldn’t be able to take care of from a cost standpoint,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/Karla_veron1/status/1911444833874424126">told</a> reporters over the weekend.
In addition to immigration, trade may also be on the agenda. Trump and Bukele haven’t mentioned this publicly, but El Salvador is technically under a blanket 10% tariff that Trump put into place last week. Roughly a third of El Salvador’s exports are sent to the United States, meaning the impact of the tariff on their economy could be significant.
&nbsp;

Trump-greets-Jordan-King-and-Crown-Prince-at-White-House

Morning Brief: China Escalates Trade War, SCOTUS Scoreboard & Trump Hosts Bukele

China

Nayib Bukele

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

President Donald Trump’s &#8220;big beautiful bill&#8221; takes a major step forward &#8212; upping the prospect of making his tax cuts permanent. The FBI is warning Americans about the alarming rise in the sexual exploitation and extortion of kids online. And, a new Daily Wire investigation raises questions about activist judges’ roles in padding the Social Security database with dubious disability claims.
It’s Friday, April 11, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-bill-passes-house-rise-of-teen-sextortion-4-11-25/id1576594336?i=1000703130714" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>House Advances Trump-Backed Budget Bill</h2>
<div id="attachment_906413" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-906413" class="wp-image-906413 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-scaled.jpeg" alt="U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) (L) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speak at a press conference on the Republican budget bill at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC." width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209555558-1-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images</div>
Topline: The House passed a budget blueprint on Thursday in a critical step toward a permanent renewal of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
GOP leaders were able to overcome conservative holdouts to push the budget reconciliation process forward for Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hold-trump-scores-big-beautiful-victory-house-budget-vote">“Big, Beautiful Bill.”</a> The legislation makes the 2017 tax cuts permanent and includes funding for Trump’s priorities on defense, energy, and immigration. It also lifts the debt limit for two years.
However: The Senate resolution recently approved by the House outlines about $400 billion in budget cuts, whereas the original House blueprint called for at least $1.5 trillion. Calls for deeper spending cuts among House conservatives drove much of the opposition to the bill.
Reconciliation is a complicated process, but the short version is that with this House vote, lawmakers in both chambers can now haggle over the final version of a budget bill. The eventual bill to come out of those negotiations only needs 50 votes in the Senate instead of the usual 60 to overcome a filibuster, but there’s always the concern that the gripes from House conservatives over Thursday’s bill could threaten the final bill as well. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he hopes to have a bill on Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.
Meanwhile: According to the Trump administration, as many as 75 nations have offered to renegotiate trade deals with the United States in the wake of the 90-day pause on Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff scheme &#8212; a baseline tariff rate of 10% remains in force, however, while China has been singled out for retaliatory tariffs of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-lays-out-exact-tariff-rate-on-china-going-forward">145%</a>.
Inflation has also slowed at a greater-than-expected rate, according to the March Consumer Price Index, which <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/10/inflation-rate-eases-to-2point4percent-in-march-lower-than-expected.html">recorded</a> year-over-year inflation of 2.4%, below the projected 2.6%.
<h2>FBI Raises Alarm About Online Exploitation Of Minors</h2>
<div id="attachment_906415" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-906415" class="wp-image-906415 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-scaled.jpeg" alt="Silhouette of 16 year old girl texting backlit at window." width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-169816088-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Alan Oliver via Getty Images</div>
Topline: The <a href="https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250306">FBI is warning</a> about the sharp rise in the sexual exploitation and extortion of minors online, leading to dozens of suicides of teens across the nation.
One form is called “sextortion” &#8212; sexual extortion is when a predator, usually an adult, either coerces or coaxes a minor into sending sexually explicit images or video footage, then extorts them over it. Predators will threaten to release that material unless the minor either produces additional explicit content or gives them cash. In some cases, the offenders are motivated by sexual gratification, but at other times, they are primarily after money.
The FBI posted a video last week about the sharp rise in sextortion, specifically citing a violent online network known as 7-6-4. Members in the U.S. and abroad are coercing minors and other vulnerable people to commit disturbing sex-related crimes or self-harm. “People have been asked to engage in cruelty to animals, self-mutilation of some sort,” FBI agent Ashley Johnson told <a href="https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/stl-fbi-warns-764-network-using-blackmail-to-exploit-minors-draft/">Fox 2</a> earlier this month. “In some cases we’ve had individuals ask children – if they knew they had a sibling – to film themselves sexually abusing their sibling.”
Another subtype of sexploitation primarily targets teen boys &#8212; offenders will pose as attractive women online and trick the minors into sending explicit content. They then threaten victims, telling them they will post the material publicly and send it to their friends and family if they don’t send payment. One report found that <a href="https://www.parents.com/more-teen-boys-being-threatened-with-sextortion-8623766?utm_source=chatgpt.com">90%</a> of all financially motivated sexual extortion victims were males between the ages of 14 and 17. These schemes have been linked to a string of suicides by young boys. A <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sacramento/news/sextortion-a-growing-threat-preying-upon-our-nations-teens#:~:text=The%20sextortion%20involved%20at%20least,the%20activity%20to%20law%20enforcement">memo</a> from the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office says that these sextortion offenders are often foreigners, primarily from West African countries like Nigeria and Ivory Coast or Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines.
From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received more than 13,000 reports of this activity. There were about 12,600 victims, who were mostly boys, and at least 20 suicides have been connected to these schemes. But those numbers are likely even higher &#8212; <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/02/25/teenage-boys-mental-health-suicide-sextortion-scams/78258882007/">a more recent report from USA Today</a> found that sextortion cases have been tied to at least 30 suicides of teen boys since 2021.
And this trend is growing. In just a six-month period in 2023, for example, the FBI saw a <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sacramento/news/sextortion-a-growing-threat-preying-upon-our-nations-teens#:~:text=The%20sextortion%20involved%20at%20least,the%20activity%20to%20law%20enforcement">20% increase</a> in reports of financially motivated sextortion. <a href="https://www.missingkids.org/cybertiplinedata">CyberTipline</a>, which is an organization run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, received nearly 190,000 reports of Online Enticement of Children for Sexual Acts. That number has quadrupled since 2021, when the Tipline received around 44,000 reports.
<a href="https://info.thorn.org/hubfs/Research/Thorn_TrendsInFinancialSextortion_June2024.pdf?sm_guid=NzcxOTIyfDc4MzA5NjAxfC0xfGNlc2VAbmNvc2UuY29tfDcyMDIwMTJ8fDB8MHwyMjU0MzA0NTd8MTEzMnwwfDB8fDc2NjM5Nnww0">Instagram and Snapchat</a> are the two most-used apps for these crimes. Messages can disappear on both apps, which might lead to victims putting their guard down before sending over explicit images used against them. If you or someone you know thinks they’re a victim of sextortion, please call law enforcement. You can report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or by visiting <a href="https://tips.fbi.gov/">tips.fbi.gov</a>.
<h2>Social Security Scheme</h2>
<div id="attachment_906417" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-906417" class="wp-image-906417 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-scaled.jpeg" alt="Judge's gavel." width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-129310646-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Tetra Images via Getty Images</div>
Topline: A new investigation raises questions about activist judges’ roles in padding the Social Security database with dubious disability claims.
The Daily Wire’s Government Efficiency reporter, Luke Rosiak, found that dozens of judges overrule Social Security staff’s denials in almost every case they hear &#8212; granting what could amount to lifetime disability payments to people ruled ineligible to receive them.
About 1,200 administrative law judges are paid more than $200,000 a year to hear appeals from people who want to get disability benefits from Social Security despite having been ruled ineligible. They’re represented by a “union for judges,” the Association of Administrative Law Judges, that is suing to prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project from accessing information about Social Security staff.
The president of that union, a Democratic donor named Som Ramrup, overturned the rulings of Social Security’s experts and approved payments in 94% of the cases she heard last year. Ronald Herman, who hears cases in the Detroit area, approved 95% of the nearly 1,300 cases he heard. Jan Leventer, hearing cases in Queens, approved 94% of 2,200 cases. Some, including one of the supervisory judges, actually approved payments in 100% of the cases they heard last year. You’d think judges would operate on the assumption that Social Security’s staff experts were right most of the time, but as a group, they’re much more deferential to the people asking for money. The data show that 85 judges overturned non-disabled determinations more than 80% of the time, while only 16 upheld them more than 80% of the time.
Some of these rates seem mathematically impossible, and it’s evidence that the process is broken. This is important because you’ll hear that it’s a fool’s errand to try to cut the federal deficit because much of it is so-called “non-discretionary” items like Medicare and Social Security. But this is an example of how the DOGE project might find waste in those areas, too.

Donald Trump Delivers Joint Address To Congress

Morning Brief: Trump’s Big Bill, ‘Sextortion,’ & Activist Judges

Mike Johnson

Sexual Abuse

Social Security

Suicide

Trump pauses most tariffs — and sends the market soaring! While the market recovers, the Trump administration says it&#8217;s time to focus on tax cuts for everyday Americans. Will China hold out in its tariff war with Trump? We spoke to a supply chain expert about Beijing’s next move.
It’s Thursday, April 10, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stocks-soar-as-trump-pauses-tariffs-4-10-25/id1576594336?i=1000702983065" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Trump Pauses Tariff Hike, Stock Market Skyrockets</h2>
<div id="attachment_905807" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905807" class="size-large wp-image-905807" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Stock-Market-Surge-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: In a stunning development Wednesday, President Trump paused virtually all global tariffs, with the exception of China.
One week ago, the president enacted the largest tariffs in a century, and then on Wednesday, with a single social media post, he put nearly all of them on pause. Trump announced in a Truth Social post that effective immediately, there would be a 90-day pause on almost all tariffs — in the meantime, a flat 10% rate will go into effect.
Within five minutes of the announcement, trillions of dollars in value had been added to the markets. By the time markets closed, the Dow was up more than 2900 points – nearly 8%, and the S&amp;P skyrocketed almost 10% – that’s the largest one-day gain since 2008. The NASDAQ saw its biggest daily gain in nearly a quarter century, surging 12%. All told, the broad market index on Wall Street saw its third-largest gain since World War II.
However: While the vast majority of U.S. trading partners held off on retaliatory tariffs and sought a deal, China raised rates to 34% and then 84%. That seemed to outrage the president, who <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114309144289505174">said</a>, “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.” 
Last year, the U.S. imported <a href="https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html">$440 billion</a> of goods from China – American exports to China are only about a third of that figure, at around $144 billion.
“What China is doing will affect their economy much more than it will ours,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1910031569919828230">said</a> on Wednesday. “This was [the president’s] strategy all along. You might even say he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be bad actors.&#8221;
Bessent went on to specifically note that Vietnam, India, South Korea, and Japan were all at the front of the line for negotiations –- those are all China’s biggest competitors in Asia. The move has led some analysis to conclude that the White House is sending a message to Beijing: make a deal now, or the US and the rest of the world will send their business elsewhere.
<h2>Trump’s Push For The “Big, Beautiful Bill”</h2>
<div id="attachment_905809" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905809" class="size-large wp-image-905809" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-hugs-flag-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Amid the tariff fallout, the White House is working to make its economic case to Main Street Americans.
President Trump spoke about his plan to extend his 2017 tax cuts at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner on Monday, urging Republicans to vote for a budget proposal he’s calling the “big, beautiful bill.” In addition to tax cuts, it would raise the debt ceiling and allocate more money for the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. Republicans are reportedly hoping to pass the bill by Memorial Day. House Speaker Mike Johnson canceled a planned vote on the Senate-approved budget blueprint on Wednesday night after a &#8220;subset&#8221; would not support it.
“For too long, financial policy has served large financial institutions at the expense of smaller ones. No more,” Secretary Bessent said in a speech to the American Bankers Association on Wednesday, outlining some of the president’s agenda. “This administration aims to give all banks the chance to succeed, whether it&#8217;s JP Morgan or your local mortgage and loan. It aims to get capital to Americans who need it by getting bureaucracy out of the way&#8230; It&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to hire workers. It&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to drive investment. And it&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to restore the American dream.”
In addition to this broader populist economic message, Bessent took the opportunity to address the health of the American economy and other campaign promises made by President Trump. “Our fiscal situation is a 350-pound, two-pack-a-day smoker on the ICU table, and he or she is not going to get off that table and run the Iron Man. We can&#8217;t [eliminate deficit spending] all at once, or that will cause a recession. What will keep us from having a recession is making sure that the tax bill doesn&#8217;t expire, adding back 100 percent depreciation and then adding some of President Trump&#8217;s agenda — no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.”
&nbsp;
<h2>China Vs Trump</h2>
<div id="attachment_905811" style="width: 837px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905811" class="size-large wp-image-905811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-827x576.jpg" alt="" width="827" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-827x576.jpg 827w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-768x535.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-1536x1070.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/US-China-Shipping-Containers-2048x1426.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 827px) 100vw, 827px" />(Photo by Yaorusheng via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Will China hold out in its tariff war with Trump? We talked to a supply chain expert about what Beijing might do next.
Morning Wire spoke to Jim Nelles, an expert supply chain consultant, about President Trump’s retaliatory tariffs toward China. Nelles just returned from a trip to China and has clients who do business with the communist nation – his assessment of their ability to weather an economic slugfest was rather grim.
“What people [in China] were saying off the record is that they&#8217;re extremely concerned with a tariff war with the United States,” Nells told Morning Wire.”Their manufacturing sector is not where it has been in the past. Some of the factories are running up between 40 and 60% capacity utilization, which is not good… a lot of my clients before Trump announced all the reciprocal tariffs, their Chinese suppliers were saying, “Hey, we&#8217;ll send you components to other places in Asia, and you can assemble the components there to avoid the Chinese tariff.” They&#8217;re doing everything they can to try to figure out how to get around these tariffs that are in place.”
Nelles also told Morning Wire that while he agrees that it was “a good time” for Trump to pressure China, he believes that the best outcome would be for “everyone [to] get rid of all the tariffs and all of the non-tariff trade restrictions, so that we can have what we all want, which is free and fair trade.”
&nbsp;

Markets Veer From Fear To Euphoria As Trump Backpedals On Trade

Morning Brief: Tariff Pause, Tax Cuts & An Escalating Trade War With China

Scott Bessent

Menu