Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (2:43)

Both parties in Washington are racing to win the post State of the Union messaging battle. With midterms fast approaching.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (2:50)

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here with the fallout from the address and a look ahead to November. Hey, Cabot. So both parties trying to spin Trump's big night in their favor. Let's start with Republicans. What are we hearing from them?

Cabot Phillips (3:03)

Yeah. After 36 hours, reviews are starting to pour in the White House. They're very happy with how this address fared for them. A CNN poll, for example, found that roughly 2/3 of those who viewed the event said it went favorably, while just 38% had a negative reaction. Now, those numbers can be skewed a bit because supporters of the President tend to more overwhelmingly watch. But here's the nugget that the White House is most excited about. Before the speech, this poll showed that 54% of viewers felt Trump's policies would take the country in the right direction. Afterwards, that number jumped to 64%. We saw a similar 10 point increase on the question of whether Trump had the right priorities. There he went from 44 to 54%. The White House obviously is happy to take those numbers. Before the address, the administration was trying to paint the left as being crazy and off the rails. And they feel that last night's actions and the subsequent fallout only further proved their point.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (3:56)

Yeah, let's get to that counter programming that we mentioned yesterday from the left. What did we see from Democrats?

Cabot Phillips (4:02)

Well, their main line of attack in the last 36 hours has been on the economy. Democrats flooded the airwaves over the last 24 hours to hammer Trump's address, saying he didn't do enough to alleviate concerns about affordability. Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, called it the, quote, state of delusion, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the address was, quote, riddled with dirty rotten lies, including Trump's unwillingness to confront the affordability crisis. And then for her part, Elon Omar, who was talk of the Night because of her constant yelling and screaming throughout the event, doubled down on cnn.

Randy Sutton (4:35)

It was really important to my constituents to hear that.

Lyndon Blake (4:39)

I was reminding the President that Renee Good and Alex Preddy were killed under this administration.

Cabot Phillips (4:45)

Omar went on to actually tweet a direct accusation at Trump saying Donald Trump killed two of my constituents. Maybe Trump could take some legal action there. It's a very serious accusation. Now, we saw similar statements as well from dozens of other far left Democrats who applauded Omar and other members who disrupted the event, including Texas Rep. Al Green. He was famously booted from the event for the second year in a row. Now, after causing disruptions this time he stood up with a sign that said, quote, black people aren't apes. So the big question now is how those Democratic antics and the broader strategy of just opposing Trump loudly at every opportunity will fare with voters this November.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (5:22)

Yeah, as we said at the top, midterms on everybody's mind at this point.

Cabot Phillips (5:26)

Yeah, we're only eight months away now. It's going to fly by. And the State of the Union, it's obviously meant to bolster the president's agenda and speak directly to the American people. But arguably more important here, the goal of the night is also to set the party's tone for the midterms. In many ways, it's the unofficial kickoff of election season and GOP leadership wants members ahead of the election to focus in on the economy. Here's Daily Wire reporter Cameron Arcand. To that point, a memo sent out to Senate campaigns on Wednesday by the NRSC is encouraging them to focus on messaging that Republicans in the Senate are, quote, delivering on the Trump economic agenda, especially as Americans are both currently filing their taxes and the Department, Department of Homeland Security faces a funding lapse. Now, on the Senate side, Republicans will be defending nearly twice as many seats as Democrats this cycle, 22 to 13, though 16 of those seats are in deep red states. That means the main battlegrounds this November, as usual, you could probably guess, will be Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, but also Maine. Republicans could also face tight races in Alaska and Ohio, while Democrats are once again expressing optimism about their chances of flipping a seat in Texas, though we've heard them say that plenty of times. No avail. The GOP can't afford to lose three of those races and maintain their majority, which they're confident in. But the House is going to be a much taller order. They have a very slim few vote majority. And over the last 50 years, keep in mind, the president's party has lost roughly 33 House seats on average during their first midterm since being elected.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (6:58)

Right. A really steep hill for Republicans to climb. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting and really enjoyed the launch of your new show Wired in Live last night.

Cabot Phillips (7:06)

Thank you. It was a great time. Tune in next week. Next Thursday, 4 Eastern. We'll keep things going.

Sponsor Voice (7:12)

If you're trying to hit your protein goals in 2026, you might want to actually read a protein bar label. Most often, it's like reading a candy bar full of chemicals you can't pronounce and then leaving you bloated and unsatisfied bars with whey and processed junk that just don't work. That's why we're into Equip's Prime Bar, our sponsor. Equip is all about making healthy habits simple and sustainable. Each bar boasts 20 grams of clean protein and just 11 ingredients including collagen, beef tallow, colostrum dates and HON. Plus they have fantastic flavors like chocolate and peanut butter and mixed berry. I have been taking these bars everywhere. It's such a convenient way to not only hit my goals, but also satisfy the sweet tooth craving I didn't know I had while keeping me on track. Starting today, our listeners will receive an exclusive discount on Prime Bar, which has become our team's favorite protein bar on the market. With 20 grams of protein in every bar. Go to equipfoods.com wire and use code wire at checkout to get 25% off one time purchases or 40% off your first subscription order for a limited time. That's equipfoods.com wire and Use Code wire at checkout.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (8:17)

The list of names continues to grow of people facing fallout for connections with Jeffrey Epstein. The latest, Larry Summers and Bill Gates. Meanwhile, both Hillary and Bill Clinton are set to testify.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (8:28)

Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake joins us now with the details. So Lyndon, let's start with Bill Gates. What came out about him recently?

Lyndon Blake (8:36)

Yes, this actually came out during one of his town halls and there is a lot to get to with what he had to say and what Larry Summers that we'll start with what Gates said. He is the Microsoft co founder. As most people know, he admitted to having two affairs with Russian girls while married to his now ex wife. And this is relevant to Epstein because Epstein actually threatened Gates over the affair with one of the Russian girls. Gates did apologize for spending time with Epstein both in the US and abroad. But Gates added, he was never a part of any crime. In fact, he said, quote, I did nothing elicit, I saw nothing elicit. And to be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him. And it was already public knowledge that a lot of these high profile people like Bill Gates had relationships with Epstein. But the release of the Epstein files have really brought new information to light that at least raised allegations of illegal Activity. But again, Gates denies any wrongdoing.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (9:33)

Now, that town hall that Bill Gates spoke at was on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we heard more news about Larry Summers, what happened with him.

Lyndon Blake (9:41)

Yes, now we know Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard after this year ends. It is important to note since Epstein files were released in November, that he had stepped away from his teaching position at Harvard. But now we know he will not return to the classroom before the end of the year. So he at one time was the president of Harvard. In addition to what he did at Harvard, Summers was also the Clinton Treasury Secretary. That's important to note. And he kept a close relationship with Epstein long after Epstein was convicted of prostitution involving a minor. So again, this has been well known since Summers was part of the documents released in November. But there's been increased pressure for him to step away. And now Harvard is investigating other university ties to Epstein. Harvard did ban donations from Epstein after he did plead guilty to sex crimes back in 2008. But a number of academics related to the university did maintain relationships with Mr. Epstein after he was released from jail in 2009. So, again, this has been years of public relationships that are well known between Summers and Epstein. But the files being released really bringing some disturbing details to light.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (10:49)

And we're about to get more information because the Clintons are due to testify this week. What are we expecting to hear from them?

Lyndon Blake (10:55)

Yeah, a lot of attention on the Clintons today as Hillary is the first to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. Now, this will be in New York, but a lot of the depositions have been in Washington. But when it comes to some of these billionaires, these high profile people like Les Wexner, he got to do his testimony in Ohio. So Clinton's doing it today in New York. Bill will go in front of the House Oversight Committee Friday and they are talking about their connections to Epstein. Now, it is well documented that Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein did have a relationship. Bill Clinton is known to spent time with Epstein on his private jet. This was all before those sexual allegation issues and before Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of anything. Now, Hillary Clinton has said that she cannot recall ever speaking to Epstein. So that's happening in New York, going down to the nation's capital, there is more Epstein drama. You have Democrats that are probing the Department of Justice to release alleged files from the Epstein files that have been withheld that involve President Donald Trump.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (11:52)

Well, this has taken years, but potentially more dominoes to fall. Lyndon, thanks for reporting.

Lyndon Blake (11:56)

Thanks.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (11:59)

Look, I've seen the videos of this snowball fight. I think that it was a snowball fight.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (12:04)

That was New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani discussing the targeting of police officers in a press conference this week that sparked widespread rebuke from law enforcement and political leaders in his state who say he's deliberately downplaying what actually took place.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (12:19)

Retired Las Vegas Police Lt. Randy Sutton, founder of the Wounded Blue, joins us now to talk about the supposed snowball fight and its fallout. Randy, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Randy Sutton (12:29)

It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (12:31)

So we know the east coast got hit with record amounts of snow, and it's been particularly controversial in New York. Now we have this targeting of police related to a snowball fight. What exactly happened in this situation?

Randy Sutton (12:45)

Well, what we saw was an out of control mob attacking a group of law enforcement officers, battering them with ice balls and snowballs. This wasn't a snowball fight. Okay. This, you know, I know that the Mayor Mandami classified this as a snowball fight, which is an outrage. Law enforcement officers were attacked. You know, I work with injured officers in my capacity as the founder of the Wounded Blue. I see the destruction. I see what happens when these men and women are severely injured. And if you think that an ice ball can't take out someone's eye or cause a serious cranial injury, well, then your thinking is malformed because officers were hurt, officers were hospitalized. This is a felony crime. And what I saw was police officers afraid to engage these attackers and deal with them appropriately with a. With the proper amount of force. And why is that? One of the major reasons is because they're afraid of consequences coming down on them for simply defending themselves. We've seen Mondami, who came out just a couple weeks ago when police officers were forced to shoot someone armed with a knife. And he came out against that and actually ordered the District attorney, who happily disregarded him, that that individual should not be charged. In fact, he criticized the police for saving their own life. So I, I am, I'm disgusted with Mondami. And what I am seeing is the NYPD being forced into a position of not being able to defend themselves appropriately. And this is an outrage.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (14:40)

Now, some might dismiss the rhetoric of a mayor as being not that consequential to law enforcement, but that's simply not true. We've seen a pattern in other cities where the mayor has a lot of influence. They impact morale, they impact recruiting. How have we seen this play out in other cities? And how do you see this going For Mamdani in the coming months.

Randy Sutton (15:00)

We're in a law enforcement crisis right now. We're in a criminal justice crisis. And much of that is because of the rhetoric that has come from mayors, district attorneys, who are, who are somehow more interested in prosecuting police officers than they are criminals. And we've seen it across the United States. We are now seeing the diminishment of the number of police officers in major cities like New York. And New York is only one of the of the cities that is being affected by this crisis. So we're seeing a lack of retention. Officers are either retiring at the minute they have their time in or they're quitting altogether. And, and exacerbating that is the inability to attract recruits that want to take that job. So this is a double whammy. And we've been seeing this now for a number of years. And believe me, this is a generational problem. You can't just plug a guy in and put a uniform on him and a gun and say, go out and do the job. There's a huge learning curve. It takes two to three years to become competent as a police officer. This is just the beginning of the problems that are going to be resulting from the election of Monda me, who is we're going to see even more NYPD officers leave the force and fewer join.

Daily Wire Senior Editor (possibly Kevin) (16:22)

The downward trends in the number of police in cities with policies like this are alarmingly clear. Randy Sutton, thank you so much for joining us.

Host (possibly Georgia Howe) (16:30)

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