Pam Bondi Let Go & Cali Fraud Fire Spreads | 4.3.26

Summary

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Morning Wire – April 3, 2026

Episode: Pam Bondi Let Go & Cali Fraud Fire Spreads
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Key Guests: Tim Rice, Tim Pierce, Chris Rufo, Lyndon Blake
Theme: Major political shakeups, a landmark moon mission, and an explosive California fraud report

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Episode Overview

This Morning Wire episode covers three major topics impacting U.S. politics and culture: the ousting of Attorney General Pam Bondi by President Trump and speculation on her replacement; a milestone update on NASA's Artemis 2 moon mission; and a revelatory investigation exposing over $100 billion in fraud within California’s public spending, especially since Governor Gavin Newsom took office.

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1. DOJ Shakeup: Pam Bondi Out as Attorney General

Segment Start: 02:14
Key Points:

• President Trump removed Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday night ([02:20]).
• The removal is reportedly due to frustration over the lack of prosecutions against Democrats and potentially as a move to distance Trump from the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal ([02:35]).
• White House is floating EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and considering big names like Senator Josh Hawley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as possible replacements ([02:35]).

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Rice [02:35]: “The president reportedly made the decision to remove Attorney General Bondi because he was frustrated with what he saw as the lack of criminal prosecutions of Democrats who committed lawfare against him.”
• Tim Rice [02:35]: "We’re also hearing some chatter that the removal could be an attempt...to distance himself from the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal."

Memorable Moment:

• The speed of the shakeup, and the signal that prominent Trump allies might be considered for the top DOJ post.

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2. Fallout from Trump’s Iran Speech

Segment Start: 03:53
Key Points:

• Media response to Trump’s Iran address was extreme, with claims he’d make drastic announcements (ending war, leaving NATO), none of which transpired ([04:06]).
• White House specifically called out Politico’s Dasha Burns for “fake news” reporting on the speech ([04:06]).
• The speech itself was standard, indicating U.S. goals are being met, with war expected to end in 2–3 weeks.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Rice [04:06]: “The White House is hitting back at some of these people, notably Dasha Burns from Politico...They could since the speech to call Dasha Burns and Politico's report fake news.”

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3. DHS Funding Drama

Segment Start: 05:10
Key Points:

• Senate reversed last week’s partial DHS funding (excluding ICE and Border Patrol), now passing full funding sent to the House ([05:18]).
• The House is on recess until April 14; blame is being volleyed between parties ([05:18]).
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is blaming Republicans for the stagnation, framing it as a "Republican shutdown."

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Rice [05:18]: "At this point, it's hard. The blame is getting passed around so much…It's kind of everyone and no one's fault at this moment."

Memorable Moment:

• The cyclical gridlock in Washington and mounting blame game with no resolution in sight.

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4. Artemis 2 Moon Mission Milestone

Segment Start: 07:40
Key Points:

• Artemis 2 crew successfully completed the “translunar injection burn,” leaving Earth’s orbit for the Moon ([07:58]).
• The journey is a 10-day trip; astronauts reach the Moon’s sphere of influence on day five, and on day six become candidates for breaking distance records set by Apollo 13 ([09:49]).
• Crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen.
• Reentry will see spacecraft temperatures soar to 3,000°F, followed by Pacific splashdown ([09:49]).

Notable Quotes:

• Lyndon Blake [07:58]: “Last night, the Orion spacecraft...just completed the translunar injection burn, a huge engine firing that gets the spaceship out of low Earth orbit and toward the moon.”
• Lyndon Blake [09:49]: "...on day six, the Artemis 2 crew will go to the far side of the moon and that's going to be briefly outside of radio contact with Earth."

Memorable Moment:

• Even a Florida Gators softball game was paused as players and fans watched the launch streak across the sky ([11:02]).

Fun Fact:
NFL quarterback-turned-NASA intern Josh Dobbs was present at the launch ([11:02]).

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5. $100+ Billion California Fraud Exposed

Segment Start: 11:56
Key Points:

• A new City Journal report, led by Chris Rufo, reveals over $100 billion lost to fraud in California since 2019, under Governor Gavin Newsom ([12:16]).
• The fraud includes unemployment insurance abuse during COVID-19 (e.g., rapper "Nuke Bizzle" stole $700K and rapped about it) ([12:16]).
• Up to 25% of Medi-Cal spending may be fraudulent, with powerful state healthcare unions indirectly benefiting and recycling money back into political campaigns ([13:35]).
• Political consequences for Newsom loom, especially if he seeks national office in 2028 ([15:22]).

Notable Quotes:

• Chris Rufo [13:35]: “During his time in office, Gavin Newsom has almost doubled public expenditure on Medi-Cal. It's something now like $200 billion a year...We know from government estimates that between 10% and 25% of Medi-Cal is lost to outright fraud...”
• Chris Rufo [15:45]: “If we can show definitively that what he’s done in California is a disaster on an unprecedented scale...we’re tallying not just billions or tens of billions of dollars in fraud, but potentially hundreds of billions of dollars that has disappeared from the California state budget during Newsom’s tenure.”

Memorable Moment:

• Rufo’s direct statement of intent to “ruin Newsom’s political career,” drawing parallels to a prior investigation that impacted Minnesota’s governor ([15:22]).

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:14 – Trump ousts Pam Bondi: Political context and speculation on successors
• 03:53 – Media response to Trump’s Iran speech; misinformation called out
• 05:10 – DHS funding standoff and DC blame game
• 07:40 – Artemis 2: Status update, crew details, and launch moments
• 11:56 – California fraud report: scope, union ties, and Newsom’s risk

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode is brisk, fact-focused, and punctuated by pointed commentary. The hosts and guests lean into the Daily Wire’s signature skepticism of California governance, the mainstream press, and progressive politics. There’s a sense of both urgency and incredulity throughout, especially around government mismanagement and media misreporting.

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Summary Table: Key Topics at a Glance

| Segment | Topic | Guest(s) | Key Moment/Quote | |----------------|---------------------------------------|----------------|------------------| | 02:14 | Pam Bondi fired; DOJ shakeup | Tim Rice | "Absolute bombshell..." – Tim Rice | | 03:53 | Fallout from Trump Iran speech | Tim Rice | "The White House...call Dasha Burns...fake news" | | 05:10 | DHS funding impasse | Tim Rice | "...everyone and no one's fault..." – Tim Rice | | 07:40 | Artemis 2 moon mission update | Lyndon Blake | "Translunar injection burn..." | | 11:56 | California exposed for massive fraud | Tim Pierce, Chris Rufo | "Between 10% and 25% of Medi-Cal is lost to outright fraud..." – Rufo |

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Conclusion

This episode of Morning Wire delivers a rapid-fire breakdown of significant national news: a surprise DOJ leadership shakeup with major political implications, uplifting details on America’s return to the Moon, and a bombshell report on epic scale California fraud—setting the tone for political drama and technological achievement, while casting skepticism on government oversight and media narratives.

Ideal For: Anyone seeking an unvarnished, right-leaning recap of critical political, scientific, and investigative news.

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Transcript

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[John Bickley]

In a major shakeup at the Justice Department, President Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi.

[Daily Wire Host]

Why was Bondi pushed out? And who is Trump eyeing for her permanent replacement?

[John Bickley]

I'm Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, April 3rd. This is Morning Wire.

[Daily Wire Host]

The Artemis 2 crew fires off their final major engine burn, setting course for the moon.

[John Bickley]

And new audits put California fraud at over $100 billion, implicating everything from Medicaid

[Tim Pierce]

to spending on homelessness.

[Chris Rufo]

What he's done in California is a disaster on an unprecedented scale.

[Daily Wire Host]

Thanks for waking up with MORNING wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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[Daily Wire Host]

Washington has been abuzz since President Trump's Wednesday night address, and not just because of Operation Epic Fury.

[John Bickley]

Here to break down everything happening in our nation's capital is Daily Wire D.C. bureau Chief Tim Rice. Hey, Tim. So let's start with the biggest news. President Trump announced yesterday that he was removing Attorney General Pam Bondi. Talk to us about that. How did this decision come down yeah,

[Tim Rice]

John, absolute bombshell here in Washington. It's all we've been talking about for the past, past day or so. As our, as our own Mary Margaret Olahan reported yesterday, the president reportedly made the decision to remove Attorney General Bondi because he was frustrated with what he saw as the lack of criminal prosecutions of Democrats who committed lawfare against him. Now, we're also hearing some chatter that the removal could be an attempt by the president to distance himself from the ongoing Jeffre Epst scandal, which has drawn him scorn, certainly from his critics on the left, but even from some critics on the right. Think about former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and others who expected more from Trump and Attorney General Bondi. They wanted more files released, more prosecution. So that could certainly have something to do with this. But of course, you know, that's old news already. Pam Bondi is out. The big question now in Washington is who is going to replace her. So the number one contender and sort of the contender being floated by the White House is EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and attorney and former New York congressman, big ally of President Trump. We're keeping an eye on him. A couple of other candidates that I would keep my eye on personally, Senator Josh Hawley From Missouri, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, two erstwhile Trump allies who the president might just want to bring up to the big leagues.

[John Bickley]

No doubt some big names in contention for that very coveted spot there. Jumping back a bit, what's the response been to Trump's Iran speech? We talked about that yesterday. What's the fallout been in D.C. the

[Tim Rice]

response in Washington has been a lot more extreme than what I would have guessed it would be, mostly among the media class who are furious with what the president had to say. I think in a large part because a lot of them got the story wrong. People were expecting the president to say this war was going to go on indefinitely or he was going to say that the war was ending right then. They thought he said we were going to pull out of NATO or he was going to give some other sort of extreme announcement. Of course, none of that actually happened. The president gave a pretty standard overview, said that we've been hitting our goals, we're continuing to hit our goals. Gave us a timeline of about two to three weeks before the end of the war. But I think ultimately, again, this, this has to do with the fact that a lot of the, a lot of the prognosticators and the reporters here in Washington got it wrong. Interestingly, the White House is hitting back at some of these people, notably Dasha Burns from Politico, who was one of the people who reported that the president was going to use this address to both declare victory in Iran and pull out of NATO Again, two things that didn't happen. The White has taken every opportunity they've. They could since the speech to call Dasha Burns and Politico's report fake news.

[John Bickley]

Before we let you go, what's going on? I'm almost afraid to ask this at this point. What is going on with DHS funding? Is there any movement at all?

[Tim Rice]

There's. There's nothing but movement, John, but that doesn't mean that we're going anywhere. So very briefly, yesterday the Senate reversed course. You'll remember that last week the Senate passed a partial DHS funding bill funding the entire department with the exception of ICE and Border Patrol. So yesterday they reversed course, passed what is essentially a full funding bill for the entirety of DHS and sent that bill over to the House. The House is still on recess. They're not supposed to come back to Washington until April 14th. So about, you know, still less than two weeks away, but a good stretch of time away, and it's really unclear what's going to happen. One thing that is absolutely happening in the interim, though, Democrats are seizing on this moment of uncertainty to do their best to pin blame on Republicans. Chuck Schumer has been really pivoting back and saying this is the Republican shutdown down, blaming Mike Johnson and House Republicans for dragging things out this far. Honestly, at this point, it's hard. The blame is getting passed around so much. Is it the Senate's fault? Is it the House's fault? This is like the 50th iteration of these bills. It's kind of everyone and no one's fault at this moment. But of course, as we've discussed on this show before, when Republicans are in power, they have the White House and both houses of Congress, it's way easier for Democrats to say this is their fault.

[John Bickley]

Well, I am shocked, shocked that you're telling me there's finger pointing going on in D.C. tim, thanks for reporting.

[Tim Rice]

Thanks for having me, John.

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[John Bickley]

The historic Artemis 2 moon mission is entering day three of the 10 day trip around the moon.

[Daily Wire Host]

Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake has landed here on set with us to deliver the latest on the highly anticipated trip. So Lyndon, Wednesday's launch went off mostly without a hitch. Where do things stand now with the mission?

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, me personally, if the rocket gets off the launch pad and is able to actually take off, get into space, I consider that a success because that just shows you how perfect the conditions have to be for this to happen. I mean, it is normal for delay after delay to happen and push it back. You have the two hour launch window. So the rocket taken off Wednesday evening at the very beginning of the launch window. I was really impressed. So now we're entering day three and this is really cool. So last night, the Orion spacecraft, which is what the rockets call this, carrying the people, just completed the translunar injection burn, which is a huge engine firing that gets the spaceship out of low Earth orbit and toward the moon. So this means the rocket has broken free from the Earth's gravitational pull. Now to do that, the rocket's engine had to burn for more than five minutes and have enough power to move £6,000 away from the Earth's gravity. So that's going to wake up the astronauts a little bit. So It'll be about four more days for the Artemis 2 mission to get to the moon before the space crew heads back to Earth.

[Tim Pierce]

This is a test mission for sure. No crew have ever ridden this before.

[Chris Rufo]

We'll keep gathering data over the next 10 days.

[Tim Pierce]

We'll share updates.

[Lyndon Blake]

So the four astronauts on board are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Coke and Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The first people to launch toward the moon since Apollo 17 mission back in 1972. And as I mentioned, they might not be feeling too good right now because the first few days of this mission are the toughest on their body and they're having to be waking up a lot for these engine fires. The engine had to fire on Thursday, then fire again Thursday night to get them on the right trajectory to get to the moon. So it's a lot of science up there to make sure that rocket ship can safely go thousands and thousands of miles away.

[Daily Wire Host]

So they've just broken out of Earth's orbit. Now they're heading toward the Moon. What happens next?

[Lyndon Blake]

So they're going to cruise for the next few days, but then on day five, Orion will enter the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence, but they're not going to actually enter lunar orbit. Then around day six, the Artemis 2 crew will go to the far side of the moon and that's going to be briefly outside of radio contact with Earth. So there's a chance this weekend that this crew could break the record for the furthest anyone has traveled from Earth, which was previously set back in 1970 by the crew of Apollo 13. So they're going to spend day six of the mission making naked eye observations of the moon, taking photos of the moon, which at closest approach will appear as large as a basketball held at arm's length. So that is pretty neat. Then they're going to prep for their return to Earth and things get really spicy. That includes the rocket ship heating up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere to 3,000 degrees on day 10, one of the coolest parts, once they get back in the Earth's atmosphere, the astronauts get to parachute. They're going to go about 17 miles per hour as they travel back down and splash into the Pacific Ocean. And once they splash and come back up, then that's when you can officially call the mission a success.

[Daily Wire Host]

Well, amazing to watch it launch, but I think even more exciting sometimes is to watch them reenter the atmosphere.

[Lyndon Blake]

Yeah, it's going to be something really cool. And I've never seen a rocket launch in person. It was cool enough from YouTube for me, but people that were there just even describe how cool it was and I thought, this is fascinating. NFL player Josh Dobbs used to be the quarterback of Tennessee. He's actually an aerospace engineer. He has interned with NASA through the NFL. So he was on hand for the rocket launch. It's not the first time he's been there in Florida to watch a rocket take off, but it's really cool to see him in the crowd. And then another thing, just right up the road from Cape Canaveral, there was a softball game going on between the Florida Gators and the Stetson Hatters. This was in the Jacksonville area. And they actually got to pause the game because they could see the rocket clearly taken off through the sky. And the umpires, like, call timeout. The players got to grab their phones, come out of the dugout and just capture that piece of history.

[Daily Wire Host]

Yeah, I had a friend who was there on the ground, and he said it was absolutely a dazzling amount of light. Lyndon, thanks for reporting.

[Lyndon Blake]

Thanks.

[John Bickley]

A new report from City Journal and its investigative team, led by Chris Ruffo, dropped this week. The investigation reveals extensive fraud in California that has cost taxpayers over $100 billion.

[Daily Wire Host]

Here to discuss the report is Daily Wire contributor Tim Pierce. So, Tim, over a hundred billion dollars is a shocking number. What did this report say?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, the report details massive, systemic, brazen fraud in California. The state has an annual budget of $300 billion. But since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, this report suggests that the state has lost at least 180 billion to fraud. And this fraud isn't just stealing from California taxpayers, but from taxpayers all over the U.S. for instance, according to Haywood Tal, fraud specialist and CEO of Lexus Nexus Risk Solutions for Government, California ran one of the most corrupt unemployment insurance programs in the country during the COVID 19 pandemic. Unemployment is administered by each state, but part of the funding for it comes from the federal government. In California, the fraud was so bad that a Memphis rapper that goes by the name Nuke Bizzle released a song about making money off it. He later pleaded guilty to stealing $700,000 from California's unemployment insurance program.

[Daily Wire Host]

So with corruption this bad, why is it just coming to light now?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, it's a good question. It's not something that has been looked into by any outlet or investigator at the Scope. City Journal is right. Now, part of the reason for that could be because the people in power in California benefit from keeping the state's welfare rules loose and its programs bloated. Here's Rufo explaining that on a recent episode of the Daily Wires Friendly Fire.

[Chris Rufo]

Let's talk about Medi Cal, which is California's health care system for the poor. During his time in office, Gavin Newsom has almost doubled public expenditure on Medi Cal. It's something now like $200 billion a year in public spending in California, which is bigger than the GDP of many, many countries around the world. And we know from government estimates that between 10% and 25% of Medi Cal is lost to outright fraud criminals who take that money and in many cases send it overseas. And so you're asking, well, what interest does someone like Gavin Newsom or state Democrats have in allowing this to continue? And that's where you get the indirect beneficiary. One of the most powerful unions in California is, of course, the Union of Healthcare Workers, which is trying to pass this wealth tax, which has tens of thousands of members that benefit from the system being engorged with public funds. And so in many ways, the unions see this as a form of corruption that simply expands the pie. And then they get a cut of that. They forward that cut, part of that cut to the Democrat politicians in the legislature, to the governor's reelection campaigns. And all of this money, oftentimes at arm's length, not directly, but indirectly, it really pays the bills and greases this corruption wheel.

[Tim Pierce]

So while officials recognize that these programs are rife with fraud, their political allies are also benefiting greatly from the money that these programs pay out.

[Daily Wire Host]

Now, speaking of people in power in California, Governor Newsom has been out in public a lot recently, getting a lot of media attention, challenging President Trump. And that has generated some talk that maybe he is thinking about a 2028 presidential bid. Is reporting like this going to be a major liability for him?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, it could spell a lot of trouble for the California governor. Now, we should note that City Journal is not an unbiased investigator here. In fact, Chris Rufo's stated goal here is to ruin Newsom's political career, essentially doing to Newsom what a Journal investigation into Minnesota fraud did to Governor Tim Walls. And according to Rufo, there is much more fraud in California than he uncovered in Minnesota.

[Chris Rufo]

I think what does have a chance to really damage him is if we can show definitively that what he's done in California is a disaster on an unprecedented scale. And so my team right now is finishing a report which should come out in the coming weeks, where we're tallying not just billions or tens of billions of dollars in fraud, but potentially hundreds of billions of dollars that has disappeared from the California state budget during Newsom's tenure.

[Tim Pierce]

So it sounds like there is plenty more coming from Chris Ruffo's team at

[Daily Wire Host]

City Journal, and we are definitely going to cover it. Tim, thanks for reporting.

[Tim Pierce]

Good to be on.

[John Bickley]

Thanks for waking up with us. And to those listening to the show, you can also now watch the show free on Daily wire. Plus, we'll be back this evening with more news you need to know. Foreign.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the alliance for Secure AI. We're a coalition of patriotic Americans who want to stop AI from taking our freedoms. Big Tech is propping up AI powered mass surveillance and exploiting our children online. This is not the future we want. The alliance is working hard to ensure that we put Americans first. Join [e-mail] to learn more.

[Tim Rice]

Paid for by the alliance for Secure AI.