President Donald Trump presses on for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, a fraudulent daycare scheme adds to the scandals in Minnesota, and major cities tighten security for New Year’s Eve celebrations.
It’s Monday, December 29, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below or on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251229">The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Hosts Zelensky</h2>
As the war in Ukraine continues to rage, President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-peace-deal-in-ukraine-is-closer-than-ever-save-a-few-thorny-issues">hosted</a> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, hoping to finalize a peace deal to end the war. Hours before the meeting, Russia hammered Kyiv with one of the most extensive airstrikes in months, killing four, wounding dozens, and knocking out power to much of the city. Trump described his meeting with Zelensky as “good and very productive.” Trump also said that “land” is a major sticking point in the peace process. Zelensky has vowed never to give up land to Russia, but did offer a compromise: turning some Ukrainian land in the East into a demilitarized zone. As an apparent show of good faith toward Trump, Zelensky has also expressed a new willingness to hold nationwide elections, a move Trump has long called for.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Empty Somali-Run Daycares Bilk Taxpayers For Millions</h2>
New reports of rampant fraud across dozens of Minnesota daycares have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocking-video-exposes-more-apparent-somali-linked-fraud-in-walzs-minnesota">stirred</a> controversy online and even attracted the attention of federal lawmakers and the FBI. Independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a roughly 40-minute investigative documentary online that racked up tens of millions of views within days. Shirley claims that he uncovered more than $100 million in fraud involving Somali-run businesses. For example, Shirley and his co-investigator identified a childcare center that has received millions in taxpayer funds, but no one has seen the children purportedly cared for there. The explosive report has increased pressure on Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to be held accountable.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Admin’s Anti-Terror And Immigration Operations</h2>
While Americans took time to unwind over the holiday season, the Trump administration was active on several fronts. Alongside its aggressive foreign policy and national security moves abroad, it continued its immigration and counterterrorism operations at home. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been ramping up her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-warns-that-islamist-ideology-is-freedoms-greatest-threat">warning</a> about the threat posed by terror actors, especially after the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia and the attacks on U.S. servicemembers in Syria. Major cities worldwide, including in the United States, have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-cities-scuttle-new-years-plans-amid-increased-islamist-terror-threats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">altered</a> or canceled New Year’s celebrations due to security concerns. In the meantime, the Trump administration’s deportation operations have continued.

MRN_251229_V1

Morning Brief: Zelensky Visits Mar-A-Lago, Minnesota Daycare Fraud & New Year’s Terrorism Risks

Donald Trump

Media

Minnesota

Morning Wire

Politics

Tim Walz

Tulsi Gabbard

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declared on Saturday that Islamist Ideology was the greatest single threat to freedom and liberty — and warned that it was already beginning to take hold around the world and even in the United States.
Gabbard spoke on Saturday at Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmericaFest, and she noted that where Islamist ideology was implemented, freedom and liberty quickly ceased to exist.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warns that the greatest threat to freedom is Islamist ideology:
&#8220;It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America&#8221;
She says it is already here and is happening in the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/MDhQeB3nLH">pic.twitter.com/MDhQeB3nLH</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanSaavedra/status/2002562550022693104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;There is a threat to our freedom that hasn&#8217;t been talked about enough,&#8221; she began. &#8220;And it is the greatest near and long term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of islamist ideology. It is propagated by people who not only do not believe in freedom, their fundamental ideology is antithetical to the foundation that we find in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is that our Creator endowed upon is inalienable rights — the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.&#8221;
Gabbard noted that Charlie Kirk, prior to his death, had mentioned that threat often because he understood the gravity of the situation. Referencing the 9/11 terror attacks, Gabbard said they had proved just how far Islamists were willing to go.
&#8220;It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America,&#8221; she continued, adding, &#8220;And if you fail to comply, if you fail to adhere to this ideology, if you dare to exercise your God-given right to free speech, censorship is not what we face. They will use violence or any means that they deem as necessary to silence us.&#8221;
Gabbard went on to describe how quickly the ideology had seeped into the culture in European nations: &#8220;As we approach Christmas, right now in Germany they are canceling Christmas markets because of this threat.&#8221;
She then explained that understanding that rights came from God was what should make it clear just how grave a threat Islamist ideology is to freedom and liberty. A truly free society, she concluded, could not survive unless the people were willing to defend it against such threats.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt,  Tulsi Gabbard, United States Director of National Intelligence.

Tulsi Gabbard Warns That Islamist Ideology Is Freedom’s Greatest Threat

Tulsi Gabbard Warns That Islamist Ideology Is Freedom's Greatest Threat

AMFEST

Islam

Islamists

TPUSA

The U.S. National Archives on Friday released several batches of records related to the 1937 disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart over the Pacific, following President Donald Trump&#8217;s recent order to declassify and release all such material held by the government.
The release of 4,624 pages of documents, including log books of U.S. military vessels involved in the air-and-sea search for Earhart, was announced by National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.
Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were last seen taking off in her twin-engine Lockheed Electra airplane on July 2, 1937, from Papua New Guinea en route to Howland Island, some 2,500 miles (4,000 km) away, during an attempt to fly around the world. Radio contact with the plane was lost hours later after Earhart, 39, reported running low on fuel.
A massive naval search, the most extensive ever at that time, was unsuccessful. Earhart&#8217;s fate remains one of the most enduring mysteries of the past 88 years.
In addition to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard reports about the Earhart search were various memos, newspaper clippings, letters and telegrams.
The correspondence included a letter from a woman claiming she had deduced by mental telepathy that Earhart was still alive, one from a man insisting she was buried in Spain and a series of government telegrams and memos discounting rumors that Earhart had been taken captive by Japanese forces and executed.
The National Archives said more records would be digitized and posted on a rolling basis.
The fate of Earhart and Noonan remains an open question. But researchers from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery have pieced together evidence suggesting the pair died as castaways on the tiny coral atoll of Nikumaroro, in the Kiribati islands of the western Pacific.
A series of expeditions to that island turned up what appeared to be a jar of anti-freckle cream from the 1930s, bits of clothing, human bone fragments and a pocket knife of the type Earhart carried. A patch of aluminum believed to have come from their plane was also recovered.
In addition, TIGHAR said a sonar image taken from just beyond the shore of the remote atoll revealed what could be a wing or part of the fuselage of Earhart&#8217;s aircraft.
Some 80,000 records pertaining to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released on Trump&#8217;s order in March.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by William Mallard)

Amelia Earhart

National Archives Releases Amelia Earhart Records Promised By Trump

General

National Archives

Trump Administration

U.S.

Along with Tulsi Gabbard, who now serves as Director of National Intelligence, three Republican members of Congress were surveilled by the now-defunct TSA “Quiet Skies” program, independent journalist Matt Taibbi <a href="https://www.racket.news/p/not-only-tulsi-three-members-of-congress">reported</a> on Tuesday.
According to documents handed over to the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, two of the three Republican representatives were placed on a surveillance list before they were elected, but remained there after joining Congress. According to the Senate committee’s notes, “a cursory review would have revealed them to be a member of Congress, or a decorated U.S. veteran or service member,” Taibbi reported.
The names of the members of Congress and the states they represent were redacted in the government documents.
The TSA’s “Quiet Skies” program, which began in 2010, came under intense scrutiny last year after whistleblowers revealed that Gabbard — then a former Democratic congresswoman who was highly critical of the Democratic Party — was followed by Air Marshals and bomb-sniffing dogs under the TSA program. “Quiet Skies” was ended by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in June. Noem <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/05/secretary-noem-ends-politicized-tsa-watchlist-program-has-failed-prevent-single">said</a>, “It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration — weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends.”
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The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also revealed that TSA approved a watchlist, or “enhanced screening,” for people “suspected of traveling to the National Capital Region” in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The watchlist was deemed appropriate for people “believed to pose an elevated risk” but for whom “there is a current lack of specific information relating to unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol.”
Gabbard was surveilled on at least eight flights during the summer of 2024, according to documents handed over to the committee. The former Democratic lawmaker was listed as a “possible affiliate” of a member of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). According to The New York Times, Gabbard landed on the list after she attended an event “at the Vatican that was organized by a European businessman who appeared on an F.B.I. watch list.”
A text exchange between Marshals assigned to follow Gabbard from July 22, 2024, also pointed to the TSDB as the reason that Gabbard was placed on the list.
“So Gabbard is an affiliate with a TSDB, and since she’s no longer in Congress that’s probably why she hit for the rule,” one Marshal wrote.
“Yeah I talked with [redacted] about it and that’s the conclusion we came to as well,” a second Marshal replied.
“Cool cool.”
One former Marshal, however, told Taibbi that the decision to place Gabbard on the list wasn’t necessarily made by an automated database.
“Obviously, there is a way for human beings to influence the decision tree above our level,” the former Marshal said.
Taibbi testified before the Senate committee on Tuesday and ripped the federal government’s “Quiet Skies” surveillance program.
“Before Quiet Skies was discontinued by this administration, it was a symbol of the steep decline of federal enforcement since 9/11. The government spent $200 million a year following up to 50 people a day for a program that in its history never once led to an arrest, or thwarted a single criminal act,” Taibbi told the committee. “Despite its demonstrated inutility and grave civil liberties concerns it was re-funded year after year because this is what our government does now: it gathers information on its own citizens as an end in itself.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The full opening statement of <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mtaibbi</a> <a href="https://t.co/NJ2fRqNeWX">https://t.co/NJ2fRqNeWX</a> <a href="https://t.co/TaGBhBfYY1">pic.twitter.com/TaGBhBfYY1</a>
— Emily Chapple (@blonde4thewin) <a href="https://twitter.com/blonde4thewin/status/1973065367527260667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TSA, Tulsi Gabbard

Three GOP Congress Members Were Placed Under TSA Surveillance Program That Targeted Tulsi Gabbard

Congress

Federal Government

Republicans

Surveillance

WASHINGTON—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard will announce Wednesday afternoon that she is refocusing her agency to aggressively execute its national security mission, shrinking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence nearly 50% and saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Gabbard described the changes as &#8220;ODNI 2.0,&#8221; in a statement on Wednesday, calling the shift &#8220;the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.&#8221;
ODNI will be reduced by almost 50% by the end of the fiscal year 2025, ultimately saving taxpayers over $700 million per year, senior DNI officials shared with The Daily Wire. This will be done by combining agency centers and reducing personnel.
The ODNI workforce will receive an email on Wednesday afternoon informing them of the changes. Employees will also be notified if their position has been eliminated, alerting them that they will be separated from the ODNI by September 30.
A message to the ODNI workforce viewed by The Daily Wire states that the changes will reduce personnel by 30-40%.
<div id="attachment_963057" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-revamps-dni-reducing-agency-by-almost-50-saving-taxpayers-over-700-million/president-trump-holds-cabinet-meeting-at-white-house-4" rel="attachment wp-att-963057"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-963057" class="wp-image-963057 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
The announcement comes after a months-long review of ODNI to ascertain, in accordance with President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive order, how ODNI could best fulfill its mission to integrate intelligence from and provide oversight over all intelligence community elements to make sure that it provides timely, accurate, and apolitical intelligence to Trump and lawmakers.
Senior ODNI officials who assisted in the months-long mission review briefed members of the press on Wednesday at ODNI&#8217;s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, a few hours before Gabbard made the official announcement.
These officials stressed that the review was &#8220;incredibly thoughtful&#8221; and thorough, specifically taking into account the feedback from staff whom Gabbard encouraged, during her first days in her role, to come to her with ideas on how to improve ODNI.
&#8220;Tulsi has had a lot of direct contact from people around the building who are super excited,&#8221; explained one senior ODNI official.
Gabbard briefed Trump on ODNI&#8217;s findings about two weeks ago, the officials shared. They declined to comment specifically on what Gabbard and Trump said in that private meeting, but stressed that all of the president&#8217;s priorities are reflected in ODNI 2.0 and that it was created in accordance with the president&#8217;s executive orders and green-lit by him.
These officials dwelt on how &#8220;ODNI 2.0&#8221; seeks to institute culture changes in the agency by building and maintaining an elite workforce that is focused on fulfilling the agency&#8217;s national security mission — &#8220;grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and accountable to the President of the United States and to the American people.&#8221;
&#8220;Every position should add value, and every individual should feel like they are making a difference,&#8221; stressed another senior ODNI official.
&#8220;Action without intelligence is foolish, intelligence without action is useless,&#8221; another senior DNI official noted. &#8220;Every piece of intelligence should inform a policy decision or a military, covert, or diplomatic action. Or it is not worth the paper it is written on.&#8221;
As a result of the review, several intelligence centers will be refocused or folded into themselves, including the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center, and the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center.
Additionally, ODNI will shut down the National Intelligence University and transfer its intelligence-related programs to the National Defense University, where the Defense Department and ODNI will work to transition current students to other institutions to allow them to complete their programs appropriately.
&#8220;The decision has been made to transfer the National Intelligence University from ODNI to the Department of Defense&#8217;s National Defense University to the greatest extent possible,&#8221; reads a letter, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gabbard, sent to the National Intelligence University&#8217;s faculty and staff on Wednesday.
The letter explains that &#8220;this effort aligns with President Trump&#8217;s focus on increasing efficiencies across the government and will enhance the quality of our education programs.&#8221;
&#8220;Our people come first, and as faculty, staff, and students, your welfare and well-being are of our highest concern during this transition period,&#8221; the letter notes. &#8220;You will be in good hands under the Defense Department&#8217;s National Defense University leadership.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_963055" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-revamps-dni-reducing-agency-by-almost-50-saving-taxpayers-over-700-million/intelligence-directors-testify-at-senate-hearing-on-worldwide-threats-5" rel="attachment wp-att-963055"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-963055" class="wp-image-963055 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; MARCH 25: Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe (R), accompanied by FBI Director Kash Patel (L), and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (C), speaks during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Gabbard and ODNI are also leading coordination across the 18 intelligence community groups to &#8220;eliminate wasteful contracts and duplicative staff,&#8221; a declassified DNI fact sheet notes, and the proposed reductions amount to approximately $1.3 billion in annual recurring costs. Those reductions will be &#8220;fully realized by the end of FY 2025,&#8221; according to ODNI.
The agency was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks revealed &#8220;systemic failures&#8221; throughout the Intelligence Community, Gabbard&#8217;s office said in a release. It was intended to integrate intelligence and provide the president and United States lawmakers with &#8220;timely, accurate, and apolitical&#8221; information — but Gabbard and her team believe it has failed to fulfill that mandate.
&#8220;Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,&#8221; Gabbard explained in a Wednesday statement. &#8220;ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the US Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policy makers.&#8221;
Gabbard argues that ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are &#8220;essential&#8221; to earning back the trust of the American people.
&#8220;Under President Trump&#8217;s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.&#8221;

Tulsi Gabbard Revamps ODNI, Reducing Agency By Almost 50%, Saving Taxpayers Over $700 Million

odni

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday stripped security clearances from dozens of current and former intelligence officials who “abused the public trust.”
Gabbard announced the move in a post on X, releasing a memo that names 37 current and former intelligence officials, some with ties to an Obama-era intelligence assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Gabbard, at the direction of President Donald Trump, “directed the revocation of the security clearances of 37 current and former intelligence professionals who have abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards,” said Gabbard in a statement.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right. Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold. In… <a href="https://t.co/23DUNuVAi0">pic.twitter.com/23DUNuVAi0</a>
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1957893651327332529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
The officials who have had their security access yanked include ex-Principal Deputy DNI Stephanie O’Sullivan and Vinh Nguyen. Both O’Sullivan and Nguyen aided former DNI James Clapper in assembling the controversial intelligence assessment that determined that “the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”
“The President has directed that, effective immediately, the security clearances of the following 37 individuals are revoked. Their access to classified systems, facilities, materials, and information is to be terminated forthwith. Any contracts or employment with the U.S. Government by these 37 individuals is hereby terminated. Any credentials held by these individuals must be surrendered to the appropriate security officers,” Gabbard’s August 18 memo states.
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Gabbard has released a trove of documents and communications related to the intelligence assessment in recent weeks, increasing scrutiny of former President Barack Obama and his team of intelligence officials.
The assessment was ordered in early December weeks after the 2016 election and concluded in roughly a month, an extraordinary timeline for an assessment that typically should have taken a year or more to investigate and assemble, according to documents released by Gabbard.
Files released by Gabbard show that on December 7, 2016, an intelligence assessment determined that Russia likely did not meaningfully interfere in the 2016 election. The assessment was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gabbard-fires-back-at-obama-after-he-denies-guilt-in-russia-collusion-hoax-the-art-of-deflection">scrapped</a> the next day “based on new guidance” received by the assessment’s editor.
On December 9, a meeting was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/obama-admin-suppressed-intel-showing-russia-didnt-impact-2016-election-tulsi-reveals">called</a> at the White House between Obama and his top national security officials. Afterward, the new assessment was ordered and completed less than a month later.

Tulsi Yanks Security Clearances Of 37 Intel Officials Over Russiagate: ‘Abused The Public Trust’

Executive

Russia Collusion Hoax

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard published an email on Wednesday that raised a number of questions about former DNI James Clapper and how hard he pushed other members of the Intelligence Community (IC) to rally behind the Russia Hoax.
Gabbard shared a screenshot of the email, which was sent by Clapper in late December of 2016 to then FBI Director James Comey, then CIA Director John Brennan, and National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael Rogers.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨Newly declassified Top Secret emails sent on December 22, 2016 complying with President Obama&#8217;s order to create the manufactured January 2017 ICA about Russia expose how DNI James Clapper demanded the IC fall in line behind the Russia Hoax. Clapper admits that it was a &#8220;team… <a href="https://t.co/fVHq9E1no7">pic.twitter.com/fVHq9E1no7</a>
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1955721194143146226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Clapper&#8217;s email was a direct response to Rogers, who raised several concerns he had about the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) — which would ultimately go to President Barack Obama&#8217;s desk — that would become the Russia hoax.
&#8220;I asked my team if they&#8217;d had sufficient access to the underlying intelligence and sufficient time to review that intelligence,&#8221; Rogers wrote earlier that same day. &#8220;On both points my team raised concerns.&#8221;
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Rogers went on to say that he would need to see everything related to the assessment if the NSA was going to be asked to co-author or sign on to the finished product, saying that he wanted to have full confidence in what they were saying before it went to the president.
Clapper responded that evening:
<blockquote>Understand your concern. It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page, and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of &#8220;that&#8217;s OUR story, and we&#8217;re stickin&#8217; to it.&#8221; This evening, CIA has provided to the NIC the complete draft generated by the ad hoc fusion cell. We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report, but, more time is not negotiable. We may have to compromise on our &#8220;normal&#8221; modalities, since we must do this on such a compressed schedule.</blockquote>
Clapper concluded the missive with one final thought: &#8220;This is one project that has to be a team sport.&#8221;

Senate Holds Hearing On Russian Interference In U.S. Election

Tulsi Gabbard Releases Damning Email That Puts Clapper In The Hot Seat

Direct of National Intelligence

Elections

James Clapper

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stoked the fires of those who believe in aliens from outer space, hinting, “We’re continuing to look for the truth and share that truth with the American people.”
Gabbard was interviewed by Miranda Devine on her “Pod Force One” podcast, released on Wednesday.
“Is there anything — we’ve had some declassification of some very strange videos that look like they are unidentified flying objects. Is there anything in the files that you think you could find or have found?” Devine asked.
“Nothing that I am prepared to talk about today,” Gabbard replied, prompting Devine to say, “Ooh. So watch this space?”
“I’m just gonna say this: We’re continuing to look for the truth and share that truth with the American people,” Gabbard teased.
“So do you believe that there could be aliens?” Devine persisted.
“I, honestly, like, my personal belief — I have my own views and opinions,” Gabbard answered. “In this role, I gotta be careful with what I share. &#8230; My husband’s laughing in the corner because we have these same conversations, and obviously, I don’t share any classified information outside of my building with those who don’t have clearances, but this is fun that he’s here to watch this right now.”
“Cause it’s so interesting,” Devine enthused. “I think it’s one of those burning things we grew up with.”
“Of course. Of course,” Gabbard agreed. “There are a lot of questions. There’s a lot that’s been put out there. I’m still going through and looking through what do we know and what is it that we don’t know.”
Speaking of the series of mysterious drones spotted last year over New Jersey, Gabbard remarked: “I still have a lot of questions around that. I’ve heard what the public official line is. I just personally still have a lot of questions that are unanswered, because it wasn’t just New Jersey. It was happening in different parts of the country.”
In late January, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGDgxhchngU">said</a> the drones over New Jersey were part of an FAA research project. “After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

President-Elect Trump’s Nominees For Upcoming Administration Continue Meeting With Lawmakers On Capitol Hill

Gabbard Promises ‘Truth’ When Pressed On Potential Extraterrestrial Life

Air and Space

Extraterrestrial Life

World

Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly directed the creation of a grand jury investigation into allegations that former President Barack Obama and his team sought to gin up intelligence to create a narrative of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Fox News <a href="https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1952460815774441677" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> Bondi signed a one-page order on Monday instructing a federal prosecutor, who was not identified, to take evidence to a grand jury. A Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-launching-grand-jury-investigation-russiagate-conspiracy-allegations-source" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the news outlet the attorney general is taking a Russiagate criminal referral sent by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard &#8220;very seriously&#8221; and believes there is a &#8220;clear cause for deep concern.&#8221;
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🚨BREAKING NEWS: <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> signed an order directing a GRAND JURY to investigate an &#8220;alleged conspiracy&#8221; in the Russian Collusion Hoax saga.
Here we go. <a href="https://t.co/TdXmTFAAhP">pic.twitter.com/TdXmTFAAhP</a>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1952460815774441677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment when The Daily Wire reached out, seeking comment on the report from Fox News. It had been known that Bondi previously had initiated a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-department-to-form-strike-force-to-assess-weaponization-of-intel-community" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“strike force”</a> tasked with evaluating the evidence relating to the Obama administration’s efforts to drive the Russia collusion allegations in response to various documents that were being disclosed to the public.
Just who might be named in the criminal referral was not clear as of press time, but Gabbard and now-President Donald Trump have been heavily critical of people such as Obama, former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper over the creation of an intelligence assessment released in early 2017 and the &#8220;Crossfire Hurricane&#8221; FBI investigation into alleged Russia collusion.
“There’s no question in my mind that this intelligence community assessment that President Obama ordered be published, which contained a manufactured intelligence document — it’s worse than even politicization of intelligence,” Gabbard told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo in a &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375881194112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> that aired last month. “It was manufactured intelligence that sought to achieve President Obama and his team’s objective, which was undermining President Trump’s presidency and subverting the will of the American people.”
Fox News reported that no charges or indictments have been filed as of Monday afternoon. The news outlet also emphasized how details of the grand jury, including where it is located and who may appear before it, were shrouded in secrecy.
Obama has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/opinion/trump-obama-treason-russia-miller.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed back</a> on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/obama-denies-bizarre-trump-claims-of-2016-election-hoax" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claims</a> that his administration abused intelligence.
Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/obama-denies-bizarre-trump-claims-of-2016-election-hoax" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a statement last month that said the &#8220;bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.&#8221;
However, scrutiny is mounting after the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evidence-of-clinton-russia-hoax-was-buried-in-back-room-at-fbi-kash-patel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disclosure</a> of records that indicate Hillary Clinton may have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hillary-clinton-greenlit-russia-hoax-to-hide-email-scandal-declassified-docs-reveal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> a Russia collusion hoax against Trump during the 2016 campaign to distract from her email controversy. In addition, it was revealed that former special Counsel John Durham <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-durham-bombshell-obama-era-fbi-allowed-trump-russia-hoax-to-fester" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> the Obama-era FBI appeared to ignore intelligence that indicated Clinton&#8217;s campaign, its supporters, or Russian disinformation fueled allegations of ties between Trump&#8217;s camp and Moscow.
Top national security veterans from Obama&#8217;s administration rejected assertions of a &#8220;treasonous conspiracy&#8221; associated with the Russia collusion fiasco.
&#8220;The special counsel John Durham, who was appointed during Mr. Trump&#8217;s first term to investigate how the Russia probe was conducted, similarly found no evidence of an Obama administration conspiracy against Mr. Trump,&#8221; Brennan and Clapper <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/opinion/trump-obama-treason-russia-miller.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in a New York Times op-ed. &#8220;But he affirmed the findings of the special counsel Robert Mueller, who conducted a separate investigation into the allegations, which found ample evidence of Russian interference in the election.&#8221;

Pam Bondi

Bondi Orders Grand Jury Probe Into Obama Russiagate Controversy: Report

2016 Election

Barack Obama

Department of Justice

Hillary Clinton

Russiagate

President Donald Trump today suggested that he wasn’t opposed to jailing Hillary Clinton for her role in the 2016 <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/27/us-news/cia-director-teases-more-files-tying-russiagate-to-hillary-clinton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russiagate conspiracy</a>.
The president’s comments came during an appearance on New York Post reporter Miranda Divine’s “Pod Force One” <a href="https://youtu.be/uDij8JJIS-A?si=ZSfbgfl0aYIONGA3">podcast</a>. The president was responding to the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-15-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declassified</a> information on Russiagate that was released earlier this month by his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
“We had Hillary Clinton down to whatever we wanted to do with her,” Trump said, noting that he “felt it was inappropriate” to prosecute her.
“She&#8217;s the wife of a president. She was a Secretary of State. We could’ve done a very big number.”
“And I said, we don’t want to be doing that…the concept of putting her in jail, indicting her, all the things that you have to do.”
He said that at the time, he wanted to focus on the country. “I said, no, no &#8230; we just won. We have to get back to — we want to heal.”
Trump said that he feels differently now.
“I was the one that killed it. And then they do the same thing to me. I just want to be fair.”
“Ultimately, it’s up to Pam,” he added, referencing Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump has consistently called the allegations that he colluded with Russia to prop up his campaign in the 2016 presidential elections a hoax and an act of “treason” that “put the country in danger.”
Gabbard stated in a <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-15-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> accompanying the documents that she has referred all lawmakers involved to the DOJ for possible criminal prosecution.
“No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,” she said.
“Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.”
CIA director <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/cia-ratcliffe-hillary-clinton-russiagate-obama-b2797356.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Ratcliffe</a> said that Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, and former FBI director James Comey have all been referred to the Justice Department for investigation and could face prosecution, though Obama is likely protected under <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-scotus-immunity-ruling-likely-helps-obama-light-gabbard-dni-findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">presidential immunity</a>.
Bondi has appointed a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/24/us-news/pam-bondi-launches-strike-force-after-declassified-intel-reveals-obama-admins-flawed-2016-trump-russia-probe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strike force</a> to investigate the documents.
“The Department of Justice is proud to work with my friend Director Gabbard and we are grateful for her partnership in delivering accountability for the American people,” she said.
“We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice.”

Hillary Clinton Donald Trump

Trump Says He’s Open To Jailing Hillary for Russiagate: ‘I Just Want to Be Fair’

President Trump personally inspects the Federal Reserve amid a pressure campaign on its chairman, as his administration secures major trade deals with Japan and Indonesia. New declassified documents suggest Russia possessed damaging information on Hillary Clinton in 2016 but chose not to release it. Columbia University agrees to a $200 million settlement with the federal government over antisemitism on campus, while Harvard continues its legal battle. 
It&#8217;s Friday, July 25, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today&#8217;s episode here:
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If you&#8217;d rather listen to your news, today&#8217;s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>Trump Pressures Fed, Secures Major Trade Deals</h2>
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Topline: President Trump escalated his pressure campaign on the Federal Reserve by personally touring its headquarters on Thursday, as his administration announced major new trade deals with Japan and Indonesia. 
In an extraordinary move, President Trump visited the Federal Reserve building, the first sitting president to do so since 2006. The visit is the latest step in his public feud with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has accused of keeping interest rates high to damage the economy. The president has also launched an investigation into the renovation of the Fed headquarters, which is over budget by more than $2.5 billion, accusing Powell of mismanaging taxpayer funds to build a &#8220;palace&#8221; for himself and hinting at fraud, which would be a fireable offense. 
The pressure campaign comes as the White House touts significant economic victories. With an August 1 tariff deadline looming, the administration finalized a massive trade deal with Japan that will lower tariffs on Japanese imports to 15% in exchange for Tokyo opening its markets to American cars and trucks. Japan has also agreed to a $550 billion investment in the U.S. economy, which includes purchasing 100 Boeing aircraft and billions in American rice and defense contracts. A separate deal was reached with Indonesia, which will eliminate tariffs on 99% of American imports. The news sent global stocks rallying, with the S&amp;P 500 hitting another record high. 
While the broader economy shows strength, the U.S. housing market has been cooling. Sales have been sluggish for three straight years, largely due to a lack of affordability. The median existing home price hit a record high of $435,000 in June, and high interest rates—which have remained over 6% since 2022—have kept many prospective buyers and sellers on the sidelines. 
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<h2>New RussiaGate Revelations Surface</h2>
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Topline: Newly declassified documents released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard suggest that Russia possessed damaging information on Hillary Clinton in 2016 but chose not to release it, further complicating the origins of the Russia-collusion narrative. 
According to a declassified House Intelligence report, Russia had obtained hacked DNC emails that allegedly showed potential criminal bribes within Clinton&#8217;s State Department, where taxpayer funds were offered to religious groups in exchange for campaign support. Other emails allegedly detailed Clinton&#8217;s &#8220;&#8216;psychoemotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness'&#8221; and claimed she was on a &#8220;daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers.&#8221; Gabbard said Russia likely planned to use the information against Clinton had she won. 
According to investigative correspondent Jerry Dunleavy, former President Obama was &#8220;deeply involved in the Russiagate scandal,&#8221; was aware of the Clinton campaign&#8217;s plan to link Trump to Russia, and &#8220;personally directed the creation of the Intelligence community assessment in December 2016.&#8221; 
DNI Gabbard has characterized the affair as a &#8220;treasonous conspiracy against the American people.&#8221; However, some legal analysts are skeptical that the actions, while corrupt, amount to a prosecutable crime. In a recent column, National Review&#8217;s Andrew McCarthy wrote, &#8220;political smears and appalling misjudgments are not violations of the criminal law, absent some statutory federal offense. If there were a criminal offense that fit, Gabbard and Trump would cite it, rather than chanting &#8216;treason.'&#8221; Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly looking into the matter. 
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<h2>Columbia Settles With Feds; Harvard Fights On</h2>
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Topline: Columbia University has agreed to pay a more than $200 million settlement to the federal government over its failure to stop antisemitism on campus, while Harvard University continues its legal fight against the Trump administration. 
On Wednesday, Columbia University announced it will pay the massive settlement to restore federal funding that the Trump administration had frozen over the antisemitism allegations. The school will also pay an additional $21 million to settle investigations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the settlement a &#8220;seismic shift&#8221; and a &#8220;monumental victory for conservatives,&#8221; adding that it ensures &#8220;students and faculty know that they&#8217;re going to be evaluated on merit.&#8221; 
Meanwhile, Harvard was back in court this week, fighting to unfreeze more than $2 billion in its own federal funding. Harvard argues the funding freeze is a &#8220;blatant and unrepentant violation&#8221; of its First Amendment rights. The Trump administration contends that Harvard failed to protect its students under civil rights law. &#8220;This is about civil rights. This is about safety on campuses,&#8221; Secretary McMahon said. President Trump said that Columbia was working toward a solution while &#8220;Harvard wants to fight &#8230; and they&#8217;re getting their a** kicked.&#8221; 
Despite its combative public stance, there are signs Harvard may be &#8220;bending the knee.&#8221; The university is reportedly considering opening a new conservative center and is closing multiple diversity offices. The administration is also exerting pressure on the university by launching a new investigation into Harvard&#8217;s compliance with a government visa program and threatening to revoke the school&#8217;s accreditation.

MRN 7.25.25 Thumbnail V1

Morning Brief: Russiagate Reckoning & Trump V. Powell

Columbia University

On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made the claim that Barack Obama committed an act of treason back in 2017 at the tail end of his presidency, just before the very beginning of President Trump&#8217;s first term.
She has now declassified documents that she claims prove intelligence officials in the Obama administration lied about Russia&#8217;s efforts to influence the 2016 election. She is claiming that the intelligence community assessment that was eventually released at the beginning of 2017, just before Donald Trump took office, was doctored in order to reach the conclusion (among others) that not only did the Russians interfere in the election, but the Russians did so in order to get Donald Trump elected.
She said Obama&#8217;s intelligence community created an intelligence assessment that they knew was false, saying, “There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false. They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump, when selling it to the American people, as though it were true. It wasn&#8217;t.”
She says that she is now going to refer Barack Obama and others in the administration for criminal investigation by the DOJ.  She added that Barack Obama might be guilty of treason, which is a specific statutory charge.
This much is certainly true: the Obama administration clearly meant to undermine the incoming Trump administration through rumor, innuendo, and nonsense compiled into an intelligence community assessment about Russia and Trump, laying the predicate for four long years of Mueller&#8217;s investigatory trash. Tulsi Gabbard going after Barack Obama on a moral level is absolutely justified. On a legal level, it does create the necessity to actually do something that I don&#8217;t think is going to be actually fulfilled: it puts more pressure on the Attorney General to do something that she is almost certainly incapable of doing legally.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2245-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
The most shocking part of what Gabbard released yesterday is a House Intelligence Committee report that says the Russians clearly had negative information on Hillary Clinton that they did not drop during the 2016 election cycle, which undermines the oft-stated claim that they wanted Trump to win. If they wanted Trump to win, in the last days of the election, when Trump was narrowing the gap, they should have dropped all of the dirt they supposedly had. 
Kimberley Strassel over at The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-russia-collusion-and-clinton-reckoning-a36909d8?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAid75p77K3NMhCFIHVbpJOt0kGgVlBlJCgMMHkUAU3lxR6wcKb1YnJkFmrIRFA%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68829d4e&amp;gaa_sig=CutcMRfcVkA6oL9l013Fy6n-zYX85kMJH_vKKGG1YCp5k8_cvSA20AhqanWcvOiUGHHB5p5BDdYUE2akq8lGxQ%3D%3D">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>By Dec. 8, 2016, the intel community had compiled a seven-page President’s Daily Brief draft on what “cyber” activities it had found during the election. The PBD cited the intelligence community’s “low-to-moderate-confidence” assessment that Russia was involved in the compromise of an inadequately protected Illinois voter registration database (and attempts on other states&#8230;The draft was scheduled to be published the next day. 
The next day, Dec. 9, the Obama White House gathered together its national-security principals to talk about a “sensitive topic,” including former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan (who had been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/brennan-and-the-2016-spy-scandal-1532039346?mod=article_inline">spinning up</a> a Russia-collusion narrative since July), FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and others.
After the meeting, Mr. Clapper’s assistant sent out an email entitled “POTUS Tasking on Russia Election Meddling,” asking DNI officials to create an “assessment per the President’s request.” </blockquote>
That was unusual. Usually, the way you do intelligence assessments is to look at the available intelligence and then the intelligence community filters it, double-checks it, and creates an assessment. You don&#8217;t have the president say, “I want you to reassess the information that you&#8217;ve already put into this intelligence assessment.” 
From there, wrote Strassel, “It was a straight shot to the new and inflammatory January 6th intelligence community assessment. The new ICA baldly blared: ‘We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgements.’”
The assessment from January 6 suggested that the Russians interfered to help Trump and to hurt Clinton. And that, of course, was the line retailed for the next several years and even up till today by Democrats. But it is not true according to this House intelligence report.
There was not strong enough intelligence to suggest that the Russians preferred Trump to Clinton, and that&#8217;s why the Obama team was doing what they were doing, as opposed to just screwing around with our elections, which is something they&#8217;ve been doing since the days of the Soviet Union.
All of this should see the light of day, of course. Much of it was already known. Russiagate is one of the worst scandals in American history, because having an administration and a deep state dedicated to undermining the president of the United States for four years is insane.
It is fully justified and necessary for people like Gabbard to expose all of this. The problem comes when you oversell, because once you oversell, you end up putting your own administration in a bad position, because people want actual prosecutions.
When you oversell, you end up under-delivering. And when you under-deliver, people get very, very angry.

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