Caroline Levitt (2:37)

Today.

Georgia Howe (2:40)

Amid continued riots, Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz called President Trump and both parties have called it a productive conversation. Meanwhile, the president has sent his border czar, Tom Homan, to help head up the operation in Minneapolis.

John Bickley (2:53)

Daily Wire immigration reporter Ginny Terre joins us now with the latest. Morning, Jenny. So first, what is the situation now on the ground in Minneapolis? Have things calmed down at all?

Ginny Terre (3:03)

Yeah, Good morning, John. You know, it would be hard to describe the situation as calm as we've reported. The riots have sort of ebbed and flowed. And as this viral footage from just yesterday shows, rioters continue to wreak havoc in some areas. In one particularly wild situation in St. Paul, a group of anti ice agitators attempted to break into a Home to Suites Hotel where they thought immigration agents were staying. And there was only one officer there to fend off the mob. That Bureau of Prisons officer ended up bloodied and asking where in the world were the local police. So, you know, it's amid all of this chaos that President Trump announced a big change coming to the operation there.

John Bickley (3:51)

Right. So he sent in Tom Homan. That's the border czar. Is this a major move? How significant is this?

Ginny Terre (3:58)

Yeah, I've spoken with several sources within the federal government who say that they're happy Homan will be coming because frankly, they're losing trust in Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noam. And it's because of not only her response here to rush to say that Alex Pretty was a, quote, domestic terrorists, but also that he showed up armed with ammo on Saturday, quote, to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement. It's also drawn some criticism from congressional Republicans like Senator Thom Tillis, who came out against Noem's response and have also expressed higher confidence in Homan's ability to carry on this operation. You know, the truth is with this video of the shooting, it's not as clear cut as the ones that emerge after the ICE involved shooting of Renee Good. And some of the details of what led up to this latest shooting are so murky and the federal government is investigating that. Right.

John Bickley (4:50)

And a lot of people very interested to see what the findings of that investigation are. So does this signal a change in strategy or approach for the operation.

Ginny Terre (4:59)

Yeah, it will likely lead to some changes. You know, Homan and Noem have been sparring over how the mass deportation campaign should look. Homan, who's a law enforcement guy who started in Border Patrol and then he later headed to ice, wants ICE leading the campaign. And he wants them to be making more quality arrests, meaning they're focused more on finding the worst criminal illegal immigrants. But on the other hand, Noem wants numbers, and she doesn't seem as concerned with who they're getting as long as they're here in the country illegally. So that's why you see more aggressive figures like Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino out there in front of the cameras more than you see Holman, really. And it's more of a showy operation going on. You know, multiple reports also indicate that Bovino will be leaving Minneapolis this week and he's taking some of his fellow agents with him. So we are starting to see some of those changes being made. Despite this, President Trump says he's very happy with Noem's leadership. And several reporters at Monday's White House press briefing asked if deploying Homan was a sign that Trump was growing dissatisfied with Noem. Caroline Levitt, the press secretary, said, not at all.

Sponsor Voice (6:10)

No.

Megan Basham (6:10)

Mr. Homan is doing an exceptional job and he has been working with Secretary Noem and President Trump over the course of the last year. Secretary Noem still has the utmost confidence and trust of the President of the United States.

John Bickley (6:21)

So still expressing a lot of confidence in Noem. Finally, we have this call from Walls to Trump reported yesterday. Is this a sign of progress?

Ginny Terre (6:31)

Yeah. So both the president and Walz said the call was productive. Trump specifically said they seem to be on, quote, a similar wavelength and that Walls appeared to be happy with Homan coming to. And for his part, Walz said that Trump agreed to look at reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement. But we know just days before that we had the governor comparing immigration enforcement to Nazis. So it's hard to really know what to make of this more cordial tone here.

John Bickley (7:01)

All right. The proof will be if we actually see cooperation from Walls and local officials. Ginny, thank you so much for reporting.

Ginny Terre (7:06)

Thank you.

John Bickley (7:07)

Foreign.

Georgia Howe (7:10)

After the shooting of 37 year old ICU nurse Alex Preddy, questions are mounting about the sophisticated network behind these demonstrations.

John Bickley (7:18)

Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham is here now to answer some of those questions. Hey, Megan. So we've heard claims about outside groups and funding influencing or supporting these mobilizations. What can you tell us about that?

Megan Basham (7:31)

Yeah, John, I would say that the picture coming into focus here is less scattered and spontaneous outrage, and it's more structured activ that's operating through layered networks on the ground in Minneapolis. So some of these are local, some are regional, and some are indeed actually tied to national left wing movements. So according to investigative journalists at Fox News and some other outlets, these networks that Preddy was involved with rely pretty heavily on encrypted messaging platforms, especially Signal, to coordinate their movements in real time. So essentially what they're doing is sharing locations of federal vehicles, they're sharing hotels that are housing agents, and they're sharing enforcement activity. Now, these protesters roles are clearly defined within the chat groups with emojis as identifiers. So to give you some examples, a car with exhaust represents mobile patrols who hunt for ice vehicles. A runner symbol is for foot patrols, and a phone for dispatchers running constant calls. Now, according to the signal materials that were leaked over the weekend from these groups, protesters are taking shifts and operations are running 247 with dispatch calls maxing out at 50 people at a time. And they're dividing their patrol zones into districts, guiding, quote, unquote, ice chasers on positioning. And in some of these chats, members are openly acknowledging that they're also fighting a sort of propaganda war. And the strategies for that include filming escalations, reframing incidents as, quote, executions or murders. And they're also using inflammatory terms like icy, gestapo or Nazi like. And that's the same kind of messaging that you're hearing from Governor Tim Walls, who invoked the name of Anne Frank during a press conference on Sunday.

Caroline Levitt (9:16)

We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota.

John Bickley (9:30)

Certainly some strident rhetoric there, to say the least. So this coordination seems incredibly detailed. It's almost like a military command structure. Or what about funding? Do we know who's bankrolling these efforts?

Megan Basham (9:42)

Yeah, that is really the key question here. And it is one that federal investigators are now asking. So publicly, organizers are claiming that these donations come from small donors and community fundraisers. And that is partly true. But according to Fox's investigation, it is also backed by American born billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who is a self proclaimed Marxist Leninist who's now living in China. Now, Singham has poured money into a group called the People's Forum since 2017. That's a nonprofit that supports Entities like Breakthrough News, which is a left wing propaganda outfit that has been heavily creating content centered on Minneapolis. They're doing things like sharing videos and publishing graphics, demanding things like abolishing ice. FBI Director Kash Patel said on Monday morning that his office is taking a close look at these organizations for potential charges. Now, to be clear, not for the propaganda, because that's of course protected by the First Amendment, but for this coordinated interference.

Caroline Levitt (10:42)

We will also ensure that civilians have the ultimate protection of the first and second Amendment. But it is my job to adjudicate the difference when there is a breaking of federal statute or state law in the furtherance of a crime or violence against law enforcement officers. And that's when we step in.

John Bickley (10:58)

So we've all seen that these protester networks are having a lot of success in the goal of interfering with ice. But what about this propaganda arm of the networks? Is it having an impact?

Megan Basham (11:09)

You know, it's hard to determine how these materials impact public perception. You have to try to divine whether it's an organic reaction to circulating video or if it's just effective propaganda. But I will say that going by the trends on social media, particularly on platforms like Instagram, it looks pretty effective. Just to give you a couple of examples, I spent the weekend reviewing the accounts of a lot of major fashion and lifestyle influencers, none of whom typically post political content. And a lot of them are repeating the abolish ICE talking points nearly verbatim. And they're also linking to fundraising efforts to these groups. One prominent example, plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Yown, for instance, urged his 1.6 million followers not to believe, quote, lying politicians. And he said that immigration enforcement in Minneapolis is not okay. And then also some major fashion influencers like Rach Parcel, Julia Berlsheimer, and Nina Evans. I'm sure you know these names, John.

John Bickley (12:08)

Of course.

Megan Basham (12:09)

But they all have many millions of followers from various accounts. And they're also promoting these anti ICE sentiments that echo breakthrough news. So that kind of thing, I would guess is likely swaying those who may not be following these issues very closely, but who are forming an opinion based on their favorite influencers.

John Bickley (12:28)

Well, wherever you fall. On the issue of immigration, not sure that fashion influencers are the best source of information on this issue.

Megan Basham (12:34)

Right.

John Bickley (12:35)

Megan, thank you so much for reporting.

Megan Basham (12:36)

My pleasure.

Ginny Terre (12:38)

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Ginny Terre (13:32)

Ask your doctor about eglis and visit eglis.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

John Bickley (13:41)

The FDA has launched a new initiative to get more drugs available over the counter, moving away from the current prescription only system.

Georgia Howe (13:49)

Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presto Giacomo. So Amanda, prescriptions are obviously a safeguard, so what kind of alternative model are they suggesting?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (13:58)

Yeah, so I was able to speak to FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and he reassured me that there will still be safeguards on drugs that need them. This is going to apply to the many drugs that could be safely accessed over the counter but currently aren't. The goals here are to lower health care prices by cutting out middlemen and to just make it simpler to get the medications you need. Makary said the initiative is a common sense reform that's long overdue and it addresses an archaic system. That prescription only system that he said is simply not working.

Caroline Levitt (14:31)

That system of doctors are only able to give you a medication by prescription failed us with the opioid epidemic. It failed us with the over prescribing of antibiotics. Most antibiotics are unnecessary, so the system is not working as designed. And now that we have a very educated public, a public that's getting empowered with health information like we've never seen before, this is an opportunity for us to do some common sense reforms.

Amanda Presto Giacomo (14:59)

As for implementation, there's going to be a process where companies can apply their drugs and they can be tested against certain Criteria to earn this over the counter status. The FDA is working to finalize these criteria. But Makary said that drugs that will qualify will be safe, they'll have no abuse potential, they can't be used in some nefarious way and they won't require ongoing laboratory testing. The commissioner noted that some obvious drugs that could fit the bill here would be naloxone, commonly referred to as Narcan, and anti nausea drugs.

Caroline Levitt (15:32)

The frustrations of sitting in an emergency room just to get some anti nausea medication, getting put in a funny looking gown and having to wait on a stretcher for hours and hours on end, I mean these are expensive healthcare utilization touch points. And what are we worried about somebody taking an anti nausea medication that they actually didn't really need? We've got to use common sense.

Georgia Howe (15:59)

So clearly avoiding the emergency room is a cost saver. Will the drugs themselves also be cheaper with this new model?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (16:06)

Yeah. So currently true costs are hidden with this PBM model. Dr. Makary explained that cutting out PBMs or pharmacy benefit managers, they're the middlemen that run the prescription drug benefit for health insurance plans. This is going to make the whole system less wasteful.

Caroline Levitt (16:23)

The pharmacy benefit managers who are notorious for playing a money shell game behind the pharmacy counter and you only get rung up for what's called the copay. But your employer or your health plan may be charged an exorbitant amount of money for a basic medication. So many of the modern day medications that can be over the counter are actually less than the co pay charged when you get them behind the counter.

Georgia Howe (16:51)

Now before you go, Amanda, there's another initiative from the FDA on the horizon relating to gluten. What is this new proposal?

Amanda Presto Giacomo (16:59)

Right, so the FDA wants to amp up the food packaging standards for maximum transparency when it comes to gluten free. They want labels to be clear and in plain English. The goal here is obviously to make life easier for people who have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity which includes millions of Americans. Now to that point I asked Makary why there are so many Americans with gluten intolerances. This seems to have spiked significantly when I was growing up. Here's what Makary told me.

Caroline Levitt (17:27)

Well, there's definitely a clear rise in gluten intolerance and celiac and it may be because of the changes to the gut lining called the microbiome. The microbiome in the modern era gets injured and affected in so many ways because of ultra processed foods, because of the overuse of antibiotics, which carpet bomb some of the microbiome bacteria, and even from things like C section births over vaginal births, because the types of bacteria that anchor and colonize that microbiome are different.

Georgia Howe (18:01)

All right. Well, very hopeful that these changes will be improvements, particularly for those drug prices. Amanda, thanks for reporting.

Amanda Presto Giacomo (18:08)

You're welcome.

John Bickley (18:12)

Another story we're tracking. The massive winter storm continues to wreak havoc across half the country, with millions impacted by power outages and road closures and dozens of reported deaths due to the frigid temperatures locking in the ice and Snow. At least 5,000 more flights were canceled or delayed Monday. That follows some 11,000 cancellations Sunday. Officials are encouraging people to stay home if possible and off the roads.

Georgia Howe (18:38)

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.