WASHINGTON—In a stunning show of executive authority, President Donald Trump today exercised the power granted to him under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.”
The lucky duck was a turkey named Gobble. Unlike in previous years, those assembled in the Rose Garden on this drizzly Tuesday morning knew which bird would be spared right away: First Lady Melania Trump’s office asked Americans to choose which bird her husband would pardon, and he alone was present at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Gathered on the dais were a who’s-who of the Trump Cabinet: Vice President JD Vance with his wife, Usha, and their children; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“This is a big day, a pardon day for a very important beast,” Trump said, prompting a gobble from Gobble. “That’s a well-trained turkey. See how happy he is?”
At one point during the event, Weather Report’s 1977 jazz fusion hit “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Birdland</a>” played over the Rose Garden speakers, a clever musical wink for those who caught the tune.
Trump joked that when he first saw a picture of Gobble and runner-up Waddle, he wanted to “call them Chuck and Nancy,” a reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump jokes that he wanted to call today&#8217;s turkeys Chuck &amp; Nancy💀😂
&#8220;I shouldn&#8217;t say this. I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy, but then I realized I wouldn&#8217;t be pardoning them. I would never pardon those two people.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/LT49QgTnJU">pic.twitter.com/LT49QgTnJU</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1993376794062545075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“But then I realized I wouldn’t pardon those two people. I would never pardon them, I don’t care what Melania would tell me.”
Schumer and Pelosi weren’t the only Democrats to draw a presidential jab at the ceremony. Touting his administration’s success in cracking down on crime in Washington and Memphis, Trump called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to allow them to do the same in Chicago.
“Governor Pritzker, if you’re listening, let’s get your act together,” Trump said before noting that he would not “talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob.”
“I don’t mention it,” Trump said, adding that “I’d like to lose a few pounds.”
“But I’m not gonna lose it on Thanksgiving, I’ll tell you that. Because I’m gonna have a turkey, but it’s not gonna be that one.”
Trump also joked that all of President Joe Biden’s turkey pardons were null and void because his predecessor signed them with an autopen — but that he intervened to spare last year’s turkeys, Peach and Blossom, from the slaughterhouse.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> declares last year&#8217;s presidential turkey pardons INVALID because Biden used an autopen.😂
Thankfully, he intervened and granted Peach and Blossom a valid pardon to kick off today&#8217;s ceremony. <a href="https://t.co/BaxdOaLhIZ">pic.twitter.com/BaxdOaLhIZ</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1993370734060802197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Waddle, who Trump joked was “missing in action,” also received a presidential pardon and will step up as the National Thanksgiving Turkey should Gobble be unable to discharge his duties.
“Gobble, you’re pardoned!” the president said, evoking his famous television catch phrase.
About an hour before the pardon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ushered Waddle into the briefing room to meet the White House press corps. Leavitt stood by with her son (wearing a “Mama’s Little Turkey” shirt) as an excited press pool shouted questions at Waddle.
One journalist immediately asked if Waddle had a comment on Ukraine. The turkey had no comment.
<div id="attachment_1005925" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1005925" class="size-large wp-image-1005925" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2248382649-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2248382649-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2248382649-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2248382649-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2248382649.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Waddle and Karoline Leavitt’s son, Niko (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)</div>
After departing the White House grounds today, Gobble and Waddle will return to their home state of North Carolina, where they will take up residence at NC State University alongside Chocolate and Chip, the turkeys Biden pardoned in 2022.
Alex Davidson, Senior Director of Public Affairs at the National Turkey Federation, said that Gobble and Waddle will be “agricultural ambassadors for the rest of their lives.”
Davidson also gave The Daily Wire the inside scoop on how the turkeys are selected. Every year, the National Turkey Federation’s rotating chairman designates a state from which the turkeys will hail — generally the chairman’s home state. The current chair, Butterball CEO Jay Jandrain, picked North Carolina, “the second largest turkey state in the country, after Minnesota,” Davidson says.
This year’s presidential flock was raised by Travis and Amanda Pittman of Wayne County (“I like Wayne County,” Trump remarked when thanking the Pitmans, noting that he did well there in the last election).
Davidson says that presidential turkeys are selected at a young age and raised just like any other bird, though they are given early exposure to lights and music to prepare them for the hustle and bustle of the national stage.
As pardon day gets closer, the flock of around 50 birds is whittled down to two finalists. According to the National Turkey Federation, the <a href="https://www.eatturkey.org/presidentialflock/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">winning turkeys</a> are those that have the best “physical appearance and temperament,” proof that looks matter, even in Washington.
Trump also touted the cost of turkey and other Thanksgiving foods. Turkey prices are down 16% from last year, according to a <a href="https://www.fb.org/news-release/cost-of-thanksgiving-dinner-declines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new report </a>from the American Farm Bureau Federation. All told, the cost of an average Thanksgiving dinner is down 5% from 2024.
It’s generally held that Abraham Lincoln performed the first turkey pardon when he spared a bird at the request of his son, Tad. But the turkey pardon really traces its roots back to 1947, when the National Turkey Federation sent a 47-pound bird to President Harry Truman, a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/25/nx-s1-5620579/turkey-presidential-pardon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peace offering</a> after the group sparred with the White House over postwar poultry rationing.
John F. Kennedy is said to have given the first presidential <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/presidential-turkey-pardons-not-long-history-you-might-think-f2D11663410" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turkey pardon</a>, remarking “we’ll just let this one grow.” But as with most good things in Washington, the pardon tradition really took shape under Ronald Reagan.
After being grilled about pardons for those involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during a 1987 press conference with Charlie the Turkey, the <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/informal-exchange-reporters-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gipper quipped</a> that, had he not been assured Charlie would head to a children’s farm, he “would have pardoned him.”
Since 1989, turkeys have been pardoned in an official White House ceremony, a tradition begun by President George H.W. Bush. Today, the pardon is just a high point in a long series of events for the turkeys, who are brought to Washington a few days early to make the rounds with the media. Gobble and Waddle reportedly did 20 interviews on Monday, before turning in for a night at the Willard InterContinental Hotel.
The hotel staff loves when the turkeys check in, Davidson says — and apparently the fowl are not that foul, as far as these things go. The National Turkey Federation prepares their swanky suite with layers of plastic and wood chips, and federation staffers clean up after the birds head up to Pennsylvania Avenue.
“We leave it like we found it,” Davidson said.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-HOLIDAY-THANKSGIVING-TURKEY-TRUMP

‘Gobble, You’re Pardoned!’ Trump Touts Success, Roasts Dems In Annual Thanksgiving Tradition

Donald Trump

JD Vance

Melania Trump

Pardon

Thanksgiving

White House

President Donald Trump said that he expects to have a “civil” conversation with Democratic socialist and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during a meeting at the White House on Friday afternoon. 
Trump acknowledged during a Friday <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-predicts-civil-meeting-mamdani-despite-past-comments-about-each-other">interview</a> with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade that the two have radically different political positions, but said they both want New York City to be &#8220;strong.&#8221;
“He&#8217;s a little bit different. I give him a lot of credit for the run. He did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy. But I think we&#8217;ll get along fine. Look, we&#8217;re looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong, and, you know, there&#8217;s such a different philosophy, but I&#8217;ll let you know.  I&#8217;ll let you know over the next year.”
Trump was asked about Mamdani&#8217;s attack on him during his election night victory speech. Mamdani <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-meet-with-communist-zohran-mamdani-at-the-white-house?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+To+Meet+With+‘Communist’+Zohran+Mamdani+At+The+White+House">called</a> Trump a “despot” and said his election showed a path for the country to fight back against the president. He also called for Trump to &#8220;turn the volume up.&#8221; 
“If we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” he said. “After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump, how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
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“I was hitting him a little hard too, in all fairness,” Trump replied. Trump has called Mamdani a communist and suggested that he might cut federal funding for NYC if Mamdani were elected. 
“He had some interesting opponents. But he ran a good race. I don&#8217;t know exactly what he means by turn the volume up,” adding that he needs to be “careful” when he says that. 
Trump first announced Thursday that Mamdani had asked to meet and would be coming to the White House. 
“He was very nice in calling, as you know, and we&#8217;re going to have a meeting,” Trump said. “I think it&#8217;s going to be quite civil. We&#8217;ll find out.”

President Trump Departs Morristown Airport En Route To Washington, DC

Trump Predicts ‘Civil’ Sit-Down With Mamdani, Insists They Want ‘The Same Thing’

Executive

New York City

Politics

Zohran Mamdani

WASHINGTON—Republicans are calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to take &#8220;immediate action&#8221; to reinstate safety requirements on abortion drugs, highlighting a growing body of evidence showing that the drugs are causing severe and underreported harm to women.
In a letter first obtained by The Daily Wire, New Jersey Rep. Christopher Smith and Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger call on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to &#8220;at a minimum, reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.&#8221; Until 2023, the FDA required abortion drugs to be administered to women under a doctor&#8217;s supervision.
&#8220;The need for urgent investigation and review of this drug comes in the wake of the Biden-Harris administration’s egregious action to remove critical safeguards that once applied to abortion drugs, and the FDA’s approval of a new abortion drug generic in September 2025,&#8221; write the 175 lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN).
&#8220;Under your leadership, HHS and FDA can reverse this wrong,&#8221; they conclude. &#8220;We urge you to immediately reinstate the REMS requiring in-person dispensing of mifepristone and to expedite the promised review by the FDA into the dangers of abortion drugs.&#8221;
The move is significant since President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration green-lit the removal of safety standards on the drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing women to easily obtain the drugs at home. Pro-life advocates have long argued that women are being put in danger simply from taking the abortion drugs, but they are even more anxious about women taking the drugs on their own.
New studies are showing that complications are &#8220;astonishingly higher than what is reported on the drug’s label,&#8221; the lawmakers say: &#8220;Even the current Obama FDA-approved label for mifepristone — which the data show understates the dangers to women — says that roughly 1 in 25 women who use mifepristone as directed will end up in the emergency room.&#8221;
“We join House and Senate Republicans in calling on the FDA to – at a minimum – immediately end Joe Biden’s legacy of mail-order abortion and restore the in-person doctor requirement that existed during President Trump’s first administration,&#8221; said SBA Pro-Life America&#8217;s head, Marjorie Dannenfelser. &#8220;<a href="https://sbaprolife.org/newsroom/press-releases/breaking-7-in-10-voters-want-to-roll-back-biden-covid-abortion-drug-policy-reinstate-in-person-doctor-visits">Seven in 10</a> voters agree. We are deeply grateful to Reps. Chris Smith and Diana Harshbarger for leading this important letter, and to House leadership and every member of Congress who joined in standing for women and their unborn children.&#8221;
Meanwhile, abortion proponents and legacy media insist the drugs are safer than Tylenol. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration has weighed the issue carefully, cognizant of how electorally delicate abortion is. And in early October, the FDA approved a new abortion pill, shocking the president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-lifers-demand-answers-from-trump-admin-after-shocking-abortion-pill-approval">pro-life supporters.</a>
At the time, Kennedy put out a statement clarifying that he understood that the Biden administration had removed mifepristone&#8217;s safety standards &#8220;without studying the safety risks.&#8221;
&#8220;We are filling that gap,&#8221; he promised, sharing that he and Makary wrote to state attorneys general and promised to &#8220;review all the evidence — including real-world outcomes — on the safety of this drug.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Biden administration removed mifepristone’s in-person dispensing rule without studying the safety risks. We are filling that gap. Last month, I joined <a href="https://twitter.com/DrMakaryFDA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DrMakaryFDA</a> in writing to state attorneys general, pledging to review all the evidence — including real-world outcomes — on… <a href="https://t.co/G0eE4H4y42">pic.twitter.com/G0eE4H4y42</a>
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1973866621245567344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Recent studies already point to serious risks when mifepristone is used without proper medical oversight,&#8221; he said, and he clarified of the new abortion pill that that the FDA just approved: &#8220;[The FDA] only approved a second generic mifepristone tablet because federal law requires approval when an application proves the generic is identical to the brand-name drug.&#8221;
In their appeal, the Republican lawmakers express gratitude to Kennedy and Makary for serving the most pro-life president in American history, saying that Trump has &#8220;done more to advance a culture of life and the protection of women and children from the violence of abortion than any president before him.&#8221; But they also cite polling from McLaughlin and Associates that found that 7 in 10 voters agree that it &#8220;makes sense&#8221; to bring the former FDA safety standards back, arguing that &#8220;clear majorities of Americans recognize the extreme overreach of the previous administration’s actions.&#8221;
The lawmakers also dive into how the abortion drugs affect mothers, citing an Ethics and Public Policy Center study showing the adverse events from mifepristone are about 22 times more frequent than the FDA recognizes. That study found that almost 11% of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other life-threatening events after aborting their unborn baby with mifepristone.
&#8220;While we have long known that mifepristone causes the death by starvation of children alive in the womb — it is baby poison — we now know with greater certitude that their mothers are also being seriously harmed. Despite the mainstream media and the Biden-Harris administration perpetuating the lie that these drugs are &#8216;safer than taking a Tylenol,&#8217; science and women’s lived experiences clearly say otherwise.&#8221;
And while the Biden administration claimed that the removal of safety standards was in response to the COVID pandemic, to help women receive &#8220;medically necessary&#8221; care, the lawmakers argue that the former administration was really just using COVID as a &#8220;smokescreen&#8221; to &#8220;accomplish its radical abortion agenda, which even now wreaks havoc across the nation.&#8221;
&#8220;Even the current Obama FDA-approved label for mifepristone — which the data show understates the dangers to women — says that roughly 1 in 25 women who use mifepristone as directed will end up in the emergency room,&#8221; they write.
They also say that the Biden FDA ignored warning signs from the studies on which it had already relied, including data showing that 3% of the women who took the drugs need to be hospitalized, &#8220;a 330% increase over the rate on the approved drug label,&#8221; data showing that 6% of participants had unplanned visits to emergency rooms, surgery was required to complete the abortions for 4.1% of the women, and, in the telemedicine group, 5.8% of women had emergency room visits.
&#8220;Beyond the studies, women tell us how they have suffered harm from mifepristone, and stories of coercion and abuse involving abortion drugs now run rampant,&#8221; they continue. &#8220;Real women like Rosalie Markezich — who is just one example of many — felt coerced by her boyfriend to take abortion drugs that he ordered from an out-of-state prescriber in her name and had delivered to her home through the U.S. Postal Service.&#8221;
&#8220;Rosalie did not want to have an abortion, but Biden’s egregious weakening of mifepristone’s safety standards let her boyfriend obtain abortion drugs and force her to take them,&#8221; they argue. &#8220;The dangerous Biden mail-order scheme was designed to give abortion activists license to mail drugs everywhere, even into states like Markezich’s home state of Louisiana that have pro-life protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn babies.&#8221;
&#8220;Today, abortion drugs account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States; there are over six hundred thousand abortions committed using these drugs each year,&#8221; the lawmakers write. &#8220;The Biden FDA’s reckless, no-contact, mail-order abortion scheme is to blame. Abortion providers are reaping increased profits, while women and their unborn children suffer irreparable harm.&#8221;

Illustrated by Daily Wire

‘Reverse This Wrong’: Republicans Push RFK To Fix Biden’s Abortion Drug Mistakes

Abortion

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Would you rather have a president who is “frank and open” or “hides behind your back and doesn’t speak to you for weeks.” That was the choice White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt laid out at Thursday’s press briefing when she defended President Trump’s latest clash with the press where he allegedly said “Quiet, piggy” to Bloomberg Reporter Catherine Lucey.
“I think the president being frank, open and honest to your faces rather than hiding behind your backs is frankly a lot more respectful than what you saw from the past administration,” stated Leavitt. “You had a president who lied to your face and didn’t speak to you for weeks. He hid upstairs and didn’t take your questions. I think everyone in this room should appreciate the frankness and the openness that you get from President Trump on a near daily basis.”
Trump’s sharp tongue is well-known and Leavitt didn’t deny it. The president&#8217;s insults have extended even to his closest allies: he’s called current Secretary of State Marco Rubio “Little Marco,” his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany &#8220;Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany,&#8221; and former Vice President Mike Pence “Liddle Mike Pence,” and most recently, he called longtime supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene “Wacky Marjorie” and “Marjorie Traitor Greene.”
Reporters haven’t been spared either. He has dismissed journalists as “fake news,” called Megyn Kelly a “lightweight reporter,” and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman “Maggot Haberman.”
Leavitt believes the president’s bluntness may be why he holds the nation’s highest office today.
“I think the president&#8217;s frankness is one of the reasons the American people reelected him,” said Leavitt.
“He calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him and spread fake news about his administration, but he is also the most transparent president in history. He gives all of you unprecedented access. You are in the Oval Office almost every day asking the president questions.”
Trump’s &#8220;piggy&#8221; comment occurred when he was taking questions from reporters aboard Air Force One when Lucey asked, “Mr. President, what did Jeffrey Epstein mean in his email when you said you knew about ‘the girls?’&#8221;
Trump responded, “I know nothing about that. They would have announced that a long time ago. It’s really what did he mean when he spent all that time with Bill Clinton, with the President of Harvard Larry Summers, and all the other people he spent time with. Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years, but he also saw [inaudible] that I was president who he dictated a couple of memos to himself, give me a break. You’re going to find out what did he know with respect to Bill Clinton, with respect to the head of Harvard, with respect to all of those people who he knew, including JP Morgan Chase.”
On Wednesday, President Trump signed the bill to release the Epstein files. After he finished answering Lucey’s question, he said, “Yeah, Jennifer, go ahead” signaling to another reporter that it was her turn to ask a question.
Lucey interrupted the president by asking another question that started with, “If there’s nothing incriminating in the files…” Trump cut her off and said, “Quiet, quiet piggy” before turning back to the other reporter and telling her again to “go ahead.”

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-G7-SUMMIT-DIPLOMACY

White House Says Trump ‘Piggy’ Comment Shows His ‘Frankness And Openness’

Karoline Leavitt

Media

WASHINGTON—After enduring months of attacks from Democrats, President Donald Trump&#8217;s White House is going on the offensive against Democrats who are mentioned or implicated in the Epstein files.
The president announced last week that he supports the release of any remaining files that the Department of Justice has on Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell from apparent suicide in August 2019. On Wednesday afternoon, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that her Justice Department will &#8220;follow the law,&#8221; which passed the Senate on Wednesday, and release the files within the next 30 days &#8220;while protecting victims.&#8221;
She also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bondi-says-new-info-warrants-more-epstein-investigations-as-doj-sets-sights-on-his-dem-pals">said last week</a> that the Justice Department was beginning a new investigation into the possible ties between high-profile Democrats and Epstein, after the president pushed her to do so in a Truth Social post. The Epstein Files Transparency Act is now headed to the president&#8217;s desk. It is not immediately clear when the president will sign it.
Critics, particularly prominent Democrats, had argued for months that the president was afraid to release the files because they contained something compromising. And while the recent release of documents from Epstein&#8217;s estate did mention Trump a number of times, the files actually incriminated people like Stacey Plaskett, the congressional delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who was shown to have been texting Epstein during a hearing on the February 2019 testimony of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. She said Wednesday that she <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/dem-lawmaker-justifies-text-exchange-epstein-says-information-from-people-where-can">was just seeking information</a>.
The White House, which has argued for weeks that Democrats were using Epstein and his victims to distract from the government, is now switching into attack mode and planning on going on offense. The president&#8217;s position on the Epstein files has not changed, a senior White House official told The Daily Wire, arguing that Trump has always wanted transparency and called for it over and over again on the campaign trail.
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Their thinking, and their messaging, is this: Democrats need to answer for their longstanding ties to Epstein before the country can move on from this. The White House views Democrats as the ones who have shifted on Epstein — and, they say, Democrats only began to take an interest in the topic once they realized they could score political points. The White House views this as a big mistake, but one that can play out in their favor.
&#8220;Trump has nothing to hide,&#8221; a senior White House official told The Daily Wire, &#8220;but the Democrats clearly do.&#8221;
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,&#8221; the president said on Sunday, and the White House is intent on pushing this message out.
Former President Joe Biden and his administration would have used anything they had against Trump long ago, people close to the administration maintain. The recently released emails not only don&#8217;t include anything that implicates the president, they also indicate that Epstein wanted to hurt or blackmail his former friend, and they show Epstein communicating with top Democrats.
&#8220;It&#8217;s so clear that all of his ties were to Democrats,&#8221; Donald Trump Jr. said of Epstein in a text message to The Daily Wire. &#8220;He funded them, he befriended them. Even after he was a convicted pedophile, famous journalists and businesspeople were visiting his home and dining with him willingly. He’s live texting a sitting congresswoman, as a convicted pedophile, during a testimony against Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;Everyone knows he was thrown out of Mar-a-Lago for being creepy 30 years ago,&#8221; the president&#8217;s son added. &#8220;No one knew just how creepy he was at the time, but he hated Trump because my father beat him in a real estate deal, and that’s where it ends. Does anyone honestly believe that if he had information he could use to take down Trump, that he wouldn’t have wielded that to gain favor with the Democrats and eliminate someone he hated for years? It’s literally implausible.&#8221;
Democrats made a big fuss about the files while holding up the government shutdown. They released a trove of Epstein documents as the shutdown was drawing to an end — selective leaks to liberal media, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, intended to &#8220;create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.&#8221;
Trump has consistently called the Democrat push to release the files a &#8220;hoax.&#8221; A White House official who spoke with The Daily Wire argued that he was never opposed to actually releasing the files, but instead opposed to Republicans falling into a Democrat trap of not focusing on issues Americans care about, such as the shutdown, the economy, affordability, and more.
Now the shutdown is over, and Democrats face a White House equipped with fresh information about their communications with the notorious sex offender himself.
“There are definitely major figures on the left who are going to regret trying to make a spectacle out of this for political gain,&#8221; shared a person familiar with the administration&#8217;s thinking on the files.
A few figures who may be unhappy with House Democrats as they find themselves under fire: Plaskett, former President Bill Clinton, ex-Harvard president Larry Summers, journalist Katie Couric, billionaire Democrat megadonor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and writer Michael Wolff, all of whom the White House mentioned in a recent messaging email decrying Democrat affiliation with Epstein.
&#8220;Why aren’t Democrats talking about the fact that Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=c3d4cae336&amp;e=711815754c" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3Dc3d4cae336%26e%3D711815754c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1763669553929000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Nyq-LlEVcoLdrS_odI56_">solicited</a> (and was given) $30,000 from Epstein for the DCCC after he was already a convicted sex offender?&#8221; the White House messaging asks. &#8220;Or the fact that Plaskett herself <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=17632ce913&amp;e=711815754c" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3D17632ce913%26e%3D711815754c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1763669553929000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Hv7kL_KxeTXWPE2mTe1c8">accepted</a> maxed-out donations from Epstein for her own campaign? Or the fact that the wife of the former Democrat governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=2a2f9ae60f&amp;e=711815754c" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3D2a2f9ae60f%26e%3D711815754c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1763669553929000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1_X2CUrM8D3o1mjW5Yrki4">told</a> Epstein &#8216;we would have a friend in Stacey&#8217; if he made said donations? Or the <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=880e4a09a0&amp;e=711815754c" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3D880e4a09a0%26e%3D711815754c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1763669553929000&amp;usg=AOvVaw05auXA_UT2Fws5logzT05D">fact</a> that Plaskett was literally texting Epstein during a committee hearing?&#8221;
Clinton&#8217;s 26 flights on Epstein&#8217;s &#8220;Lolita Express&#8221; are certainly up for scrutiny, as is the fact that one of Epstein&#8217;s victims says she saw Clinton on Epstein&#8217;s Little St. James island with two young women. While Clinton&#8217;s spokesman says that the former president never visited the island, his former deputy assistant Doug Band <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/confessions-of-a-clintonworld-exile?srsltid=AfmBOoq0w_a0o47tS-pOaysfswVwIAR6ep_1um2Ndu2FK2tJTtr80INP">says that Clinton did indeed</a> go in 2003.
The White House messaging points out that Summers, who also served as Clinton&#8217;s Treasury Secretary, had a &#8220;long relationship&#8221; with Epstein, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/17/summers-epstein-wing-man-woman-described-as-mentee/">even acting</a> as Summers&#8217;s &#8220;wingman.&#8221; It also notes that Couric <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10037351/Katie-Courics-new-book-sparks-outrage-rips-ex-boyfriends-former-NBC-CBS-colleagues.html">attended a 2010 dinner</a> at Epstein&#8217;s home, two years after he had been convicted as a sex offender.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/jeffrey-epstein-documents-woody-allen-larry-summers-edb3e9b2?mod=us_more_pos1">reported in May</a> that Reid Hoffman not only visited Epstein&#8217;s &#8220;Little St. James&#8221; but was scheduled to stay at Epstein&#8217;s townhouse in Manhattan in 2014. The Democratic National Committee never returned Epstein&#8217;s $32,000 in donations.
And Wolff, an anti-Trump magazine writer who wrote a biography of Epstein, urged Epstein to blackmail the president, writing: &#8220;You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he&#8217;ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.&#8221;
<div class="image-ct inline">
<div class="m">All of this is fair game to the White House. And possibly more — depending on what the rest of the files contain.</div>
</div>

Bill Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein

Trump White House Goes On Offense Against Dems Implicated In Epstein Files

Donald Trump Jr.

Jeffrey Epstein

The Trump administration is backing more legislation that would crack down on crime in the nation’s capital and support police, according to an official White House document obtained by The Daily Wire.  
In a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/SAP-HR5107-HR5214.pdf">statement of policy</a> from the Office of Management and Budget, the White House came out in support of a pair of Republican-backed bills that would require mandatory detention for certain violent crimes like armed robbery and removing cumbersome restrictions on police officers. Both proposals were advanced by the House Oversight Committee on Monday. 
“Together, these bills would hold criminals accountable and empower law enforcement officers,” the statement of policy said. “Their reforms would help make America’s Federal city more safe, free, and beautiful and critically advance the President’s broader law and order agenda.”
The policy statement indicated that the White House backed New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025 (HR 5214) and Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde’s Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC (CLEAN DC) Act of 2025 (HR 5107). 
Stefanik’s legislation would &#8220;require mandatory pretrial detention for defendants charged with certain enumerated public safety and order crimes. The movement to end cash bail and release dangerous criminals so they can commit more crimes is one of the primary reasons large cities have experienced so many repeat offenders and preventable tragedies. Washington, D.C. is a prime example and this bill will make the streets of our Federal city safer,” according to the statement of policy. 
Clyde’s legislation would “reverse unnecessary and detrimental restrictions placed on officers of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). For example, those restrictions include removing all officers and police union representatives from the Police Complaints Board, requiring juries to consider whether an officer consulted with mental health, behavioral health, or social workers before using deadly force, and imposing approval hurdles for the use of riot gear and less-lethal Projectiles.”
“Police officers are the backbone of any system of law enforcement, and treating them with suspicion and placing limits on their ability to take potentially life-saving action erodes trust, retention, and, ultimately, public safety,” the statement of policy added. “Removing these restrictions would help restore the effectiveness of the MPD and maintain law and order in Washington, D.C.”
Both bills are opposed by D.C.’s Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who claimed they were an “affront” to the “principles of democracy and local self-governance on which this country was founded.”
The Trump administration has surged federal law enforcement to D.C. to crack down on murder, homelessness, and car jackings. As part of this effort, he sent hundreds of National Guard troops to the capital to patrol crime-ridden neighborhoods.

National Guard in Washington D.C.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Backs Proposal To Punish Criminals, Support Police In D.C.

Crime

House Oversight Committee

Muriel Bowser

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Washington D.C.

The White House maintained its commitment to cracking down on abuses of the American immigration system after President Donald Trump was questioned this week about the H-1B visa program, telling The Daily Wire that the Trump administration was committed to protecting American workers.  
Trump was <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5601588-trump-h1b-visas-talent/">questioned</a> on Tuesday by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about concerns over the H-1B visas, a program that allows American companies to hire foreign nationals under certain conditions. When Ingraham said there were concerns about H-1B visas being used to take away American jobs, Trump said that the program was needed to bring certain talent in. 
In a statement to The Daily Wire, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that the administration was committed to reforming the immigration system.  
“In record time, President Trump has done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first,” Rogers said. “The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H-1B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor.”
Trump signed a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restriction-on-entry-of-certain-nonimmigrant-workers/">proclamation</a> in September mandating companies pay $100,000 to obtain an H-1B visa. During his interview on Tuesday, Trump said the United States had &#8220;to bring in talent&#8221; to do certain jobs Americans were not trained to do. 
Rogers also pointed to Project Firewall, an initiative of the Labor Department to investigate companies that abuse the H-1B visa system. 
“The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H-1B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations and not low wage workers that will displace Americans,” she said. 
A White House official told The Daily Wire that 175 investigations had already been opened under the project, representing $15 million in back wages to workers. Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is personally certifying the investigations, the official said. 
Ingraham also pressed Trump on previous statements about allowing around 600,000 Chinese students to study in America. As of the 2023-2024 school year, roughly 277,000 Chinese students are attending American universities. 
&#8220;We do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have, China and other countries. We also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States go out of business.”
Ingraham suggested that it wasn’t in line with Trump’s MAGA agenda to admit so many foreign students, pointing to instances of intellectual property theft and espionage. Trump said that admitting foreign students brought significant revenue into the United States. 
&#8220;I actually think it&#8217;s good to have outside countries. Look, I want to be able to get along with the world,” he said.
In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-promises-to-aggesively-target-students-tied-to-chinese-communist-party">said</a> he would be &#8220;aggressively&#8221; looking to revoke the visa of Chinese students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Last week, it was revealed that the State Department has been revoking visas at double the rate of the Biden administration.

President Trump Swears In US Ambassador To India

Trump Admin Promises To Continue Crackdown On H-1B Visa Abuses

China

Department of Labor

Economy

Immigration

Visas

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt laid out the harm caused by the ‘Democrat Shutdown,’ now the longest shutdown in U.S. history, during her Press Briefing on Wednesday. 
“The Democrats dragged on the government shutdown for 43 days… damage caused by the Democrats by this reckless government shutdown cannot be forgotten,” said Leavitt during her press conference on Wednesday. 
Recently, both the Small Business Optimism Index and the Federal Reserve reported that the shutdown has already negatively impacted the economy. Millions of Americans are employed by the federal government, while millions more work as federal contractors, subcontractors, or for businesses that depend on federal contracts or funding.  
At the most recent Federal Reserve meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the negative economic effects should begin to reverse once the government reopens. 
During Wednesday’s press conference, Leavitt listed some of the economic consequences of the shutdown.
“Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have missed their paychecks, tens of billions in wages and benefits were withheld impacting vulnerable families, millions of low-income American families missed their SNAP benefits, nearly 20,000 flights at airports across the country were delayed due to staffing shortages causing Americans to miss family events, vacations, and work obligations.” 
She noted Airlines for America estimates flight disruptions already have or will impact 5.2 million travelers. 
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that cuts to fourth-quarter GDP growth could be as large as 2%, potentially delivering a negative blow to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s plan to keep the federal deficit at 3% of GDP in his “3-3-3” plan. 
CBO says, “Most of the decline in real GDP will be recovered eventually, but estimates between $7 billion and $14 billion will not be.” 
Leavitt said that she believes the deal will hold and that the government shutdown will come to an end tonight.  
She blamed Democrats for the entire government shutdown. “Just look at the vote count,” Leavitt urged. “The clean CR that will lead to the reopening of the federal government is what President Trump and Republicans have supported from day one.”
Before wrapping up her remarks and opening the room to questions, Leavitt touted President Trump’s efforts to address affordability in America. 
The Press Secretary discussed “the largest middle class tax cuts,” which include no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security. She explained that the tax cuts will guarantee that “next year Americans will put more money into their pockets.” Leavitt then compared inflation rates during Trump’s administration with those of the Biden Administration. Notably, inflation rates under Biden were higher, with the administration averaging rates at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/consumerpriceindexhistorical_us_table.htm">5%</a>. So far, the Trump administration is seeing averages of about <a href="https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/consumerpriceindexhistorical_us_table.htm">2.5%</a>. 
Leavitt says a big part of Trump’s ability to reduce inflation has been to unleash American energy dominance. She says, “Gasoline prices are at their lowest levels in five years, and we expect them to continue to decrease.” 
Along with lower gas prices, she noted the President is working around the clock to lower drug prices by negotiating deals with large pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad. Leavitt said she expects small businesses will save thousands of dollars in regulatory burdens as the Trump Administration “cuts thirty unnecessary regulations for every new one on the books.” 
Leavitt concluded by emphasizing that affordability remains at the top of President Trump’s agenda and criticized Democrats for what she called hypocrisy on the issue: “The notion that the same Democrats who shut down the federal government, sabotaged our economy, robbed people of their paychecks and helped Joe Biden ratchet up inflation to 9% are now suddenly affordability champions is completely absurd.”

Media Briefing Held By White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

White House Press Secretary Lays Out Harm Caused by ‘Democrat Shutdown’

Government Shutdown

President Donald Trump responded to emails released by House Democrats on Wednesday morning that show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussing the president, arguing that the move is the Democratic Party&#8217;s attempt to distract from its failure on the government shutdown.
Trump was named in multiple Epstein emails that were released by House Democrats, including one from 2019 in which Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls.” Democrats argued that the revelations “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.&#8221; The president shot back at Democrats in a Truth Social post shortly after the emails were made public.
&#8220;The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115538279653817159">wrote</a>. &#8220;The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!&#8221;
Earlier on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back with context that appears to undermine the Democrats’ release.
Leavitt said that the redacted victim mentioned in the email is Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year. Giuffre had previously said that she did not believe Trump took part in Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors.
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1988649781862838297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement obtained by Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan.
After the Democrats released three emails on Wednesday, House GOP Oversight released an <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-additional-epstein-estate-documents/">additional 20,000 pages</a> of documents received from Epstein&#8217;s estate.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> on today&#8217;s Epstein news: “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not…
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1988649781862838297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script>
The emails released show Epstein discussing Trump with his fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, in which Epstein claimed that Trump “spent hours” at Epstein’s home with one of the sexual abusers’ victims.
Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls&#8221; in an email he sent to author Michael Wolff on January 31, 2019, less than seven months before Epstein was found dead in what authorities say was a suicide in his New York jail cell.
“[T]rump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” the email to Wolff states. “[O]f course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine [sic] to stop.”
Epstein’s email appears to be addressing Trump’s move to force him out of his club at Mar-a-Lago. Trump, who was a friend of Epstein’s in the 1990s and early 2000s, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-facts-and-timeline-of-trump-and-epsteins-falling-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> kicked Epstein out of his club in 2007, just months before the wealthy financier pled guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting a prostitute under 18 years old.
In another email released by Democrats on Wednesday, Epstein claimed that Trump “spent hours” at Epstein’s home with one of the sexual abuser’s victims.
“[I] want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is trump [sic]. [REDACTED] spent hours at my house with him, has never once been mentioned. [P]olice chief. etc. [I’m] 75% there.”

Jeffrey Epstein/Donald Trump

Trump Responds To Epstein Emails Dropped By Dems, Says It’s An Attempt To ‘Deflect’ From Shutdown

Trump Responds To Epstein Emails Dropped By Dems, Says It's An Attempt To 'Deflect' From Shutdown

Democrats

Amid a record-breaking shutdown, the Senate advances a deal to fund the government, a man opens fire on ICE agents in Chicago, and in a historic move, the President of Syria is set to visit the White House.
It’s Monday, November 10, 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, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251110-member-exclusive">the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/democrats-make-shutdown-deal-11-10-25/id1576594336?i=1000736077358" 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 style="text-align: center;">Dems Fracture Over Shutdown</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-998175" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Shutdown-Stalemate-Ends.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: With the record-breaking shutdown leading to thousands of cancelled flights and government employees missing paychecks, cracks began to form over the weekend among Senate Democrats.
On Sunday night, the Senate took a major step toward ending the government shutdown with a procedural vote. The vote was to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold to proceed to the legislation necessary to reopen the government until the end of January.
As it stands, the deal would allow a separate vote on Obamacare subsidies in December, which deviates from the original push by Democrats to pass a continuing resolution with a stipulation in the bill that the subsidies would continue.
Dems in turmoil: The vote set off fireworks within the Democratic Party, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and many other lawmakers sounded off against the move by moderate Democrats to make strides toward reopening without including the Obamacare subsidies in the spending bill. 
What’s next: The government is not reopened yet; the legislation still needs to make it through the Republican-majority House to reach President Donald Trump’s desk. Trump’s been leaning heavily into the issue, calling for the end of the filibuster as a nuclear option. 
View from the Oval: Trump has called on GOP lawmakers to abolish the Senate filibuster, which would allow them to pass a bill with a simple majority and end the shutdown themselves. 
“I am totally in favor of terminating the filibuster, and we would be back to work within 10 minutes after that vote took place, and lots of other good things would happen,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/NewsTreason/status/1986874156164476998">said</a> on Friday.
Trump went on to make clear that eliminating the filibuster is not just about forcing a budget vote and ending the shutdown. The president says it would also empower Republicans to codify his agenda, ensuring GOP success in the midterms next November. In a social media post over the weekend, he claimed Democrats were “cracking like dogs on the Shutdown because they are deathly afraid that I am making progress with the Republicans on TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER!” 
But at the moment, in a rare sign of pushback against the White House, plenty of Senate Republicans are standing firm in their refusal to kill the filibuster.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">ICE Targeted In Chicago</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-998173" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Agents-Under-Fire.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Border Patrol agents were fired upon in Chicago over the weekend as federal officers continue to be targeted for carrying out immigration enforcement operations.
The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-violence-must-end-man-opens-fire-on-border-patrol-agents-in-chicago-chaos-erupts">said</a> Saturday that Border Patrol agents were working in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood “when an unknown male driving a black Jeep fired shots at agents and fled the scene.” Law enforcement has not yet nabbed a suspect.
The agents then had a run-in with agitators who “threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol’s vehicles.” Reports and videos that circulated online showed people yelling obscenities at agents, walking around with whistles, and getting in their way. Chicago police were brought in to assist the agents and clear the scene. At least a few arrests were made during the chaos.
Chicago PD’s appearance is a change from last month, when ICE agents were surrounded by a hostile crowd and local officers were reportedly told to stand down. Those ICE agents were left to deal with the mob alone.
According to Homeland Security, “This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction.” The department further noted that threats have increased over the past two months.
National Guard: Citing violence like in Chicago, Trump has attempted to send National Guard troops into some jurisdictions, but has been blocked by the courts. Despite that, there have been some sightings of National Guardsmen around Chicago, however.
The situation is the same in Portland, where protests have happened regularly outside ICE facilities. The latest court ruling came on Friday, when a federal judge in Oregon permanently <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-permanently-bars-trump-deploying-national-guard-troops-portland-rcna236421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned</a> the president from stationing National Guard troops in Portland. That order could, however, be overturned by the Supreme Court.
Hawaii bust: Meanwhile, immigration agents have continued mass raids to sweep up illegal aliens. In Hawaii, immigration officers <a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1987581709945340097">arrested</a> dozens, including two suspected Tren de Aragua members, in a raid on the island of Kauai, according to the Kauai County Facebook page. 
According to <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/11/07/immigration-raid-targets-cleaning-company-employees-months-after-wage-settlement/">Hawaii News Now</a>, all those arrested were employees at Hawaii Care and Cleaning. The same company, back in January, agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Department of Labor.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump To Meet with Syrian President</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-998183" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Al-Sharaa-Meeting.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump is set to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday. Ahead of the meeting, faith leaders sent a letter to Trump asking him to continue his defense of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities. 
Morning Wire spoke to Victoria Coates, former deputy national security advisor to Trump and a foreign policy expert at The Heritage Foundation, for more on the scheduled meeting between Syria’s leader and the U.S. president. (The following interview has been edited.)
Morning Wire: The visit comes just after the U.S. lifted sanctions on al-Sharaa and removed a global terror designation on him. Why did the Trump administration feel this was appropriate?
Coates: Well, while not really rising to the heights of a country like North Korea or Iran, Syria has been historically one of the most sanctioned countries on the planet for good reason. Former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad committed egregious hostilities against his own people, which earned him the Caesar Act, an act of Congress that sanctions those things. Al-Sharaa was specifically sanctioned for his participation in ISIS, which remains, obviously, a special designated terrorist group and a foreign terrorist organization, as well as Al Qaeda, which remains in the same camp. Those designations remain on those groups, but they&#8217;re loosening the sanctions on [al-Sharaa] personally, which is why he could come to New York in September and Washington now.
Morning Wire: Do you see any progress on protecting Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and the Middle East more broadly?
Coates: Well, hopefully, yes. When I was in the Middle East, when this all went down in Syria a little more than a year ago, there was enormous concern from the Israelis about the Druze population in southern Syria, from the Emiratis and other Gulf allies about what might happen. And so Syria, a little bit like Lebanon, is kind of a made-up country – with apologies to any Syrians who may be listening – in that it is an amalgamation of these different groups. And you do have a dominant Muslim majority, but the others have been endangered historically. I think that is very well taken from the faith leaders and hopefully the president will be very strong on this and convince al-Sharaa this is a priority for the United States.

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The Left owns Hollywood lock, stock, and barrel. Or, to be more accurate, used to own.
New media rebels are finally giving the progressive monopoly some small but fiery competition. Think “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a contrarian podcast where alternative perspectives get millions of views across media platforms. Or a certain conservative outlet that produced the <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/amiracist/?gad_campaignid=21933436219&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAq7HIBhDoARIsAOATDxBm2hPQ6CcuV09hj6BwyoTy0cbj2esalZiZVU_F95kQ04U2iaLygZIaAsO6EALw_wcB&amp;utm_campaign=air&amp;utm_content=na_subscriptions&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=googlesearch">most popular documentary of the last decade.</a>
Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter-turned-X struck another blow against the Left’s pop culture cartel. Still, the Left’s near stranglehold on the arts remains in place, leaving a David vs. Goliath battle in progress.
Enter David Ellison, a corporate titan with a small but mighty slingshot.
<div id="attachment_997647" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-997647" class="size-large wp-image-997647" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2239551629-866x576.jpg" alt="David Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Skydance Corp., during the Bloomberg Screentime event in Los Angeles, California, US, on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. Screentime gathers the moguls, celebrities, and entrepreneurs defining the next phase of pop culture to discuss and debate the future of Hollywood studios, the boom in sports and live music and the impact of AI on the creative industries. Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2239551629-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2239551629-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2239551629-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2239551629.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
The CEO of Skydance Media is now a major player in the entertainment space following his company’s acquisition of Paramount. And he could loom even larger should Skydance <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/david-ellisons-paramount-seen-front-runner-warner-bros-discovery-deal-2025-10-23/">add Warner Bros. Discovery</a> to its portfolio.
Ellison isn’t a number-crunching executive handing the creative side off to colleagues. His company’s biography says he “oversees the entire Skydance film slate.”
The son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison (one of the world’s richest men) is personally invested in entertainment, above and beyond his background with USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and memberships in the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.
<div id="attachment_997643" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-997643" class="size-large wp-image-997643" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-450392142-866x576.jpg" alt="Larry Ellison, chief executive officer at Oracle Corp., speaks during an event at the company's headquarters in Redwood City, California, U.S., on Tuesday, June 10, 2014. Ellison announced today that Oracle Corp will be releasing a new in memory database system called 12c in July 2014. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-450392142-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-450392142-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-450392142-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-450392142.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
An <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/features/david-ellison-hollywood-takeover-paramount-warner-bros-1236569136/">expansive Variety profile</a> suggests he’s willing to shake up the status quo in order to stay profitable in an uncertain time for film and TV studios. The old ways no longer work, he believes, and there’s plenty of evidence to back him up, given Hollywood’s uncertain present.
The bigger issue, one that could turn the cultural tide? He’s MAGA=adjacent. President Donald Trump has referred to the Ellisons as “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/media/ellison-wbd-trump-warner-bros-discovery-bid">friends” and “big supporters.”</a> 
Exaggerations? Possibly. The younger Ellison has been coy about his ties to Trump, telling a press gaggle earlier this year that he <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/david-ellison-paramount-plans-politics?srsltid=AfmBOopmFhN2gwtpuslNfLqAi5xkwi8GFifA8TAs49IslmXixJozLRyB">wanted to avoid political conversations</a>.
“Half my family is Democrat, half my family is Republican … I don’t intend to put my finger on the scale.”
That’s both an improvement on the status quo and something that speaks to both the cultural moment and the sense that Hollywood, Inc. has spent years alienating a huge swath of the country at its peril.
Ellison could make a sizable play for said swath by playing it down the middle. And, on occasion, reaching out to the Right when it makes sense. 
He recently partnered with the Trump administration to bring a UFC extravaganza to the White House lawn next year. That’s part of the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/paramount-wins-exclusive-us-rights-ufc-77-billion-deal-2025-08-11/">company’s $7.7 billion (with a B) UFC deal</a>. That sport skews decidedly young and male, a far cry from the “toxic masculinity” cries circulating in some Hollywood projects.
<div id="attachment_997651" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-997651" class="size-large wp-image-997651" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2242789414-864x576.jpg" alt="ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - OCTOBER 23: UFC President and CEO Dana White is seen on stage during the UFC 321 press conference at Etihad Arena on October 23, 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2242789414-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2242789414-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2242789414-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2242789414.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC</div>
Team UFC isn’t in lockstep with the Democrats like most sports, either. You won’t find an “End Racism” logo on any octagon. Some <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/29/mma-trump-election-433529">MMA stars are pro-Trump</a>, while key figures like Rogan and UFC CEO Dana White both endorsed the leader’s 2024 campaign.
Ellison recently acquired the center-driven Free Press news outlet and hired founder Bari Weiss to restore CBS News as a trustworthy platform.
Weiss, a center-Left lesbian with a passion for old-school journalism, is the kind of person few people of Ellison’s status would embrace. He chose her anyway, hoping she would restore the CBS brand to its former glory. She quickly axed departments tied to race and climate.
That Variety profile mentions upcoming Ellison projects, such as a “Top Gun” sequel, the Heartland hit that Hollywood has yet to Xerox in any meaningful fashion. The only recent film to capture “Top Gun: Maverick’s” spirit? “F1,” the Brad Pitt racing film from earlier this year. Both hit films were shot by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-all-american-director-you-dont-know-by-name">same director</a>, Joseph Kosinski.
<div id="attachment_997633" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-997633" class="size-large wp-image-997633" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1395478401-864x576.jpg" alt="SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 04: (L-R) Brian Robbins, President &amp; CEO, Paramount Pictures, Bob Bakish, President and CEO, Paramount Global, David Ellison, Joseph Kosinski, Tom Cruise, Shari Redstone, Non-Executive Chairwoman, Paramount Global, Jerry Bruckheimer and Christopher McQuarrie attends the Global Premiere of &quot;Top Gun: Maverick&quot; on May 04, 2022 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1395478401-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1395478401-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1395478401-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1395478401.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures</div>
Other Ellison films include a “Call of Duty” video game adaptation from Trump-friendly director Peter Berg and a cowboy feature the liberal outlet dubbed a “Western version of ‘Taken.’”
For years, Hollywood seemed willing to lose money in order to push a progressive message. The best example? It kept late-night TV reflexively liberal, ignoring viewers who craved a second opinion. Fox News shamed the industry by giving right-leaning Greg Gutfeld a late-night showcase, and his ratings numbers now speak for themselves.
That’s called leaving money on the table. Would Team Ellison do that?
CBS famously put an end to Stephen Colbert’s reign on “The Late Show,” giving him until May of 2026 to peddle his nonstop Trump barbs. That move came a month before Skydance acquired Paramount, Colbert’s then-employer.
As Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/skydance-colbert-late-show-anti-bribery-laws-paramount-senators-letter-1236476164/">reported</a>, “&#8230;Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon, Skydance’s general counsel and co-president of business operations, said in part … “Skydance was “not involved” in CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert&#8230;”
None of this means Ellison plans to turn Skydance into a Fox News-like media empire. No channels dedicated to Dinesh D’Souza documentaries or Chuck Norris films. It’s far more significant than that, potentially.
Ellison’s mission could give half the nation a veritable safe space, a company that won’t insult them and, on occasion, deliver content that speaks to their values. Hollywood needs fresh thinking and a way to reach audiences who have been chased away by A-list talent for far too long.
A key reason why the Oscars, a once-beloved TV institution, is no longer a ratings juggernaut is that too many stars rage against the show’s audience. Viewers hate them back by turning the channel.
Megastars no longer move the political needle every four years, in part, due to that animosity.
An Ellison-ized Hollywood could tell stories that would never otherwise be told. Imagine features on how Venezuela’s socialism crashed a once-prosperous nation. Or heroic tales that speak to the best American values, not just Oscar-bait dramas reeking of greedy capitalists or cruel men of faith.
It’s the kind of industry shake-up Hollywood needs, and it may take a billionaire of Ellison’s status to make it happen. Or, as screenwriter William Goldman said about Hollywood, “nobody knows anything.”
But if Ellison bucks conventional wisdom, he actually could make Hollywood great again.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Kazakhstan became the first nation to join the Abraham Accords during President Donald Trump’s second term on Thursday.
Trump announced Kazakhstan’s entry into the agreement in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115505478418176575">post</a> on Truth Social on Thursday evening while hosting leaders from five Central Asian countries at the White House. The president said an official ceremony to mark Kazakhstan’s entry will take place at a later date.
“I just held a great call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the first Country of my Second Term to join the Abraham Accords, the first of many,” the president wrote.
“This is a major step forward in building bridges across the World. Today, more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords,” he continued. “[T]here are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH. So much more to come in uniting Countries for Stability and Growth — Real progress, real results. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”
Kazakhstan’s entry into the accords would make it the first Central Asian country to join. Kazakhstan had earlier established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, also making ties with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/us/politics/kazakhstan-abraham-accords.html">The New York Times</a>.
Aside from furthering the Abraham Accords, a top achievement of Trump’s first term, Thursday’s White House meeting also dealt with potential deals on critical minerals as the White House seeks to diversify its sources for the minerals outside of China.
Tokayev said that a deal with the United States is nearing to develop his country’s deposits of tungsten, a critical mineral used in weapons manufacturing. The Kazakhstan president has appeared enthusiastic about U.S. investment in his country, noting that the Trump administration has “more pragmatism from a political point of view” than its predecessor, according to the Times.

Great Success: Another Muslim Majority Country Joins Abraham Accords, Hailed As ‘Major Step Forward’

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