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Georgia Howe
The U.S. men's team's historic run comes to an end, but the tournament continues to be a massive win for the country.
John Bickley
In this moment, we let them down, but I think altogether people gravitated towards the team because we were relatable. We represented exactly what the US Was.
Tim Rice
We walk through the highlights and the controversy of the World Cup.
Georgia Howe
I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, July 7th, and this is Morning Wire.
Tim Rice
A new sexual assault accusation rocks Maine Democrat Graham Platner. We have the details.
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In the fallout, that was me recognizing what the situation was. He was heavily intoxicated, had intentions with me and wasn't listening when I said no.
Georgia Howe
And the preliminary hearing in the Charlie Kirk assassination trial has begun.
Megan Basham
Kirk's parents and widow Erica are coming face to face with the man who is accused of killing him for the very first time.
Tim Rice
Thanks for waking up with MORNING wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Team USA's World cup run has come to an end after falling to Belgium in the round of 16. But while Americans are understandably disappointed, there's a growing consensus that this tournament has still been an overwhelming success for the
Georgia Howe
US Joining us now is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So, Megan, before we get to the Silver Linings first, walk us through what happened last night. Obviously a crushing loss for a lot of, of Americans.
Megan Basham
Yeah, it was tough. It was a, a tough 41 battle in Seattle. Fuller and Baligan was back in the lineup thanks to that last minute FIFA decision. And he did battle hard. But a lot of commentators felt that this was the US Team's poorest performance in the World cup. And Belgium was already up by two at halftime. In fact, at one point there was some question over why the US Team wasn't allowed to make some of the substitutions that the coaches wanted to make. But regardless, you know, their efforts just came up. Once Belgium scored this third goal, it, it was just too deep a hole for the US to crawl out of. So heartbreaking on the scoreboard. But I think the bigger picture here is undeniable. Hosting this tournament has delivered historic victories for America that are going to go far beyond any single match result.
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Right.
Georgia Howe
Well, we're going to get to some of those victories in just a minute. But I want to talk about the Baligan saga that happened before this most recent game. It was all people were talking about online, and there's been a lot of controversy over President Trump's involvement. What happened and how did that play out?
Megan Basham
Well, you know, I think the first thing that has to be said here, Georgia, is that the president took a stand for fairness. That's what happened. But, you know, seriously, Baligan scored in the 20 win over Bosnia, but he did pick up that harsh red card on a challenge that many viewed as questionable. FIFA initially imposed the automatic one match suspension, and that would have sidelined him for Belgium. But then the president stepped in and made multiple calls to FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game asking for another review.
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So I saw the play and I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well, really well. And that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. You can't take your foot and properly place it on somebody else's foot when you're going, no. These were two great athletes that got tangled up. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA.
Megan Basham
So after this, FIFA's Judicial Committee used a little known provision in its disciplinary rules to suspend that automatic ban, allowing Baligan to play while also placing him on a one year probation. Not too surprising. This sparked a lot of fury among Belgium fans who did not want to see Baligan in that game. Now, Infantino acknowledged that, yes, Trump called him just as many heads of state call him, he said, but he emphasized that FIFA's judicial bodies are independent, and he denied that pressure from the President played any role in this decision, even if the President's patriotic efforts on behalf of America did result in plenty of funny memes.
Georgia Howe
Now, I think this hosting experience has been transformative for America, regardless of this knockout. Can you go through some of the wins that we've seen?
Megan Basham
Yeah, I think they've been enormous wins, Georgia. The World cup brought millions of international fans to American soil, and the overwhelming feedback from them, especially from the Europeans, has been absolute positivity. Visitors have fallen in love with the real America, with our hospitality, our food, and interestingly especially our rural charm. So you've heard from Germans, Brits, others who can't stop raving about things like Buc Ees, Waffle House, free Refills, ranch dressing, pickup trucks, country music, air conditioning was a big one. And just overall, American friendliness. And I think that it's been a little bit like all the best parts of our culture got the ultimate showcase here. And I think that's important because nations do spend tremendous amounts of money trying to improve their image overseas. And hosting an event like the World cup is one of the few opportunities that we get to let millions of visitors experience our country firsthand, rather than through the. The lens of political narratives or Internet stereotypes. So after experiencing our restaurants, hotels, other local businesses, all of which did take this as a huge boon, international fans got to see what America is on their own. And they returned home talking not simply about the soccer, but also about the hospitality, the generosity and, and overall, just the optimism that they encountered while traveling across America. And I think that is the kind of soft power that countries simply can't manufacture through advertising campaigns.
Daily Wire Contributor
Right.
Georgia Howe
And one thing a lot of people don't know, President Trump advocated very hard to have this here during his first term. So a little bit of a backstory there. Megan, thanks for reporting.
Megan Basham
My pleasure.
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John Bickley
I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me. Any accusation of non consensual behavior is categorically false.
Georgia Howe
That was Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner responding to a bombshell report by Politico yesterday detailing a woman's sexual assault allegations against him. The assault, she says, took place in 2021 after the two had begun dating. And Politico says it's reviewed evidence that corroborates aspects of her claim. The accuser, Jenny Racicot, was among a list of women in the New York Times report from a few weeks ago accusing Platner of improper behavior, but has now come forward to make clear that she's accusing him of stormin storming into her house and raping her five years ago.
Tim Rice
Here to discuss is our D.C. bureau chief, Tim Rice. So, Tim, we've been hearing rumors of more, you know, serious allegations about to drop against Platner. He's already weathered several at this point. Now we have this devastating report and the fallout is happening very fast. First, what do we know about the claims and just how serious is this?
John Bickley
Yeah, John, so it's very serious. As Georgia noted, Racicot was one of the women who was mentioned in that explosive New York Times story. She's now coming forward both in the Politico story we had today. She also gave an in person interview with Jake Tapper on cnn. So a couple of things to note. The first is that Racicot says that the reason it took her so long to come forward is because she's very supportive of Graham Platner and wanted to vote for him. So was, you know, this is not, you know, there were allegations in the with the New York Times report that it was politically motivated. This is clearly not something that people can say about her accusations. And as for those accusations, Racicot says that this happened in 2021. She had been in a sort of on again, off again relationship with Platner. He texted her one night, very intoxicated, said, I'm coming over. She said, no, you're not. I don't want you to come over. She was just sober at her house. He entered her house. Politico and the report strangely doesn't use the phrase breaking and entering, but it seems pretty clear that's what it was. She was home. He barges in drunk, forces himself on her. She said no, repeatedly told him that she did not want this. She says in the piece, I remember using phrases like, please stop, get off me, I don't want this. And she says in the piece, too, that there was a moment she remembers realizing what was happening right there was this moment of, this isn't just Graham being drunk and not really all there. This is, I'm being raped. And she said in her interview with Tapper, she uses the phrase rape. She calls this a rape, which the Politico story does not go as far to do. So she said it was very clearly non consensual. And she said that after the act, which I won't go into all of the details because they're pretty disturbing, but, you know, our listeners can go read them if they want. She says that she thought about forcing him out of her house, but he was so drunk that she was worried he would be in danger, either, you know, get hit by a car or get behind the wheel of a car. And so she says that she waited a few days after the rape to confirm that she wasn't pregnant. And after that, she broke things off with him permanently. She has, she shared with Politico a ton of corroborating evidence. Conversations with a future boyfriend whom she told the story to, screenshots of text messages with friends where someone said, hey, should I set someone up with your ex boyfriend? And she very explicitly says, this is a problem. I had messages with her therapist. So, I mean, Politico has all of this. They have all of the corroborating stories, they have all of the documents that she provided, and they interviewed all the folks that she mentioned. This is the most serious accusation that Platner has faced yet.
Tim Rice
So now the fallout has begun. We've immediately begun seeing Democrats pull their endorsements of him first, who are some of the key UN Endorsements. And then when does Platner actually have to pull out officially for Democrats in Maine to replace him.
John Bickley
Yeah. So I should also just take a moment to note, as we heard at the top, but we'll say it again. Platner and his campaign have both categorically denied these claims. Platner, in his statement, said that, you know, they were serious, but also false. That said, the claims themselves have clearly been a red line for most every Democrat. Pretty much everyone who has come out and supported Graham Plattner has, as of this recording, pulled their support. So California Congressman Ro Khanna was the first to announce, followed very quickly by Hasan Piker, a commentator who is incredibly influential on the Democratic Socialist side of the party. And from there, it was off to the races. The main Democratic Party pulled their endorsement. Senator Chuck Schumer from New York pulled his endorsement in a joint statement with his fellow New York Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who also runs the sec, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. And Gillibrand said explicitly, if Graham Platner is the nominee, the party will not spend money supporting him in the race, which, for my money, that is the death blow. Right. How are you going to. How are you going to run a campaign without the support of a party? Various forms of Democratic commentators who supported him strongly through the Nazi Tattoo Allegiance allegations and the first round of sexual assault allegations are all rushing to delete tweets and eat crow publicly. Elizabeth Warren, late yesterday, who was one of his earliest and most vociferous supporters, did not pull her endorsement notably, but said that the best thing for the party would be if Graham Platner withdrew. As of this recording, we have not yet heard from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has basically said that there's nothing that Platner could do that would cause him to pull his support. But we'll see if that comes in the coming days. And to your other question, John, the deadline to withdraw is July 13th. So six days from now, Lautner has until July 13th to withdraw. And then there's a whole complicated process by which the Democratic Party in Maine could replace him. And there's a second deadline. We had a great explainer about that on dailywire.com I encourage everyone to go read that because I'm sure I'll get the details wrong. But, yes, time is running out for the Platner campaign for the Democrats in Maine. Again, it's hard to see how he gets back from this, but we're gonna have to wait and see. Gonna be a very interesting 48 hours.
Tim Rice
Yeah, it does feel like a question of when not if at this point. Tim, we always appreciate you coming on anytime.
John Bickley
John.
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Tim Rice
Charlie Kirk's accused killer Tyler Robinson appeared in court on Monday for the start of a multi day hearing previewing the prosecution's case.
Georgia Howe
Daily Wire contributor Tim Pierce is here to tell us what went down in court yesterday and what we can expect in the next few days. So Tim, first off, can you tell us what this hearing was about?
Ryan Reynolds
Right. This hearing is expected to last for the rest of the week. And as John said, prosecutors will outline their case against Robinson. They'll also try to convince the judge that the death penalty should be on the table here. Now, the standard in this hearing is not beyond a reasonable doubt. This proceeding is all about convincing judge Tony Graff that there's enough evidence that this case should be examined by a jury. And because this hearing yesterday was live streamed, we got a taste of what the rest of the week will be like. Here's some of that.
John Bickley
So you mentioned you heard something. What did you hear again? I heard a gunshot.
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John Bickley
And can you describe the re you described Mr. Kirk's reaction? Was that simultaneous to hearing the. The gunshot?
Daily Wire Contributor
Yes, it was.
John Bickley
When he fell to the left?
Georgia Howe
Yes.
Ryan Reynolds
The defense's job here is to undermine the prosecution's case. Here's a bit of that that.
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Your honor, if we could maybe not have it on the lectern screen. We're getting reports that the documents shown on the lectern screen are being live streamed.
Georgia Howe
Live streamed. So maybe if we could just not
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Ryan Reynolds
Robinson hasn't entered a plea yet, but his defense team has tried to take the death penalty off the table. But it wasn't for any reason to do with their client. They accused the prosecution of going on a media tour that violated court restrictions about speaking openly about the case. But prosecutors say their hand was basically forced. They say they had to correct misrepresentations about certain bits of evidence that had gained traction in the media.
Georgia Howe
Now, Kirk's family was in the courtroom. Was that the first time they faced Robinson directly?
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. And it was, as you can imagine, a very emotional day. Kirk's parents, Robert and Catherine, were there and of course, his widow, Erica was in the courtroom. On Monday, before everything got started, they released a statement. I'll read from part of that. Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children. It ended by stating out of respect for the judicial process, we will not be commenting further at this time. Now, as for what to expect going forward, expect there to be some graphic images during this hearing. There will be warnings given, at least for the Kirk family so that they will not have to relive that moment any more than necessary. There was also another notable person there, Donald Trump Jr. The Trumps were obviously close with the Kirk Turks, obviously working with Charlie and turning point over the election. Charlie was also personally close with the Trump family and often served as an unofficial advisor to the president.
Georgia Howe
Now, you've described what happened in the courtroom. What about outside the courthouse? There was some speculation there was going to be some protesters, demonstrations. Did we see anything like that?
Ryan Reynolds
Not really, but security was very tight yesterday. Setting aside the national Profiles of Don Jr. And Erica Tyler Robinson is obviously well known, too. His case has been covered extensively in the media and will continue to be, especially with cameras being allowed in the courtroom. That was another issue that prosecutors and the defense fought over earlier. The prosecution wanted them and the defense did not. Judge Graff ultimately allowed it, but for this week, he did modify his order. Since the last time Robinson was in court, his defense team complained that their client's face was shown too much on camera. So on Monday, the judge had the cameras moved back. Now any watchers online are getting the same perspective as many in the live audience.
Georgia Howe
Well, this has been a long process. It's going to continue to be, but we're going to monitor. Tim, thanks for reporting.
Ryan Reynolds
Thanks for having me.
Georgia Howe
Thanks for waking up with us. The reporting that fuels this show is only possible because you tune in every day and because of our Daily Wire subscribers.
Tim Rice
To Enjoy the show ad free and join our mission, become a member@dailywire.com we'll be back this evening with more news. You need to know.
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Date: July 7, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Key Contributors: Megan Basham, Tim Rice, Tim Pierce
This episode covers three major stories:
Throughout, the hosts provide timely political, cultural, and legal analysis, with reporting from Morning Wire contributors.
Main Theme:
Game Outcome (01:32–02:51):
U.S. fell to Belgium 4-1 in Seattle; disappointment among fans, but the event is seen as transformative.
Notable controversy: U.S. unable to make some wanted substitutions; confusion during the game.
"Fuller and Baligan was back in the lineup thanks to that last minute FIFA decision... But their efforts just came up short. Once Belgium scored this third goal, it was just too deep a hole for the U.S. to crawl out of."
— Megan Basham (02:03)
Baligan Suspended, Then Reinstated (03:07–04:53):
Baligan received a red card from a questionable challenge; initially suspended for this crucial match.
President Trump intervened personally, lobbying FIFA for a review, leading to the suspension being lifted, though Baligan was placed on probation.
"The president took a stand for fairness... He made multiple calls to FIFA President Gianni Infantino... But FIFA's judicial bodies are independent."
— Megan Basham (03:07)
Memorable moment: Trump described the infraction as "just two great athletes that got tangled up. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA." (03:40)
International Perception & ‘Soft Power’ (05:01–06:35):
Hosting the World Cup was a huge success for American image.
Overseas visitors were charmed by “real America,” its hospitality, rural culture, and idiosyncrasies like pickup trucks, free refills, and country music.
This direct exposure bypassed political and media stereotypes.
"Visitors have fallen in love with the real America... our hospitality, our food, and interestingly especially our rural charm... the kind of soft power that countries simply can't manufacture through advertising campaigns."
— Megan Basham (05:01)
Main Theme:
New Accusations Surfaced (09:01–09:34):
Jenny Racicot comes forward, stating Platner raped her in 2021, presenting considerable corroborating evidence to Politico and CNN.
"She’s now coming forward both in the Politico story... She uses the phrase rape."
— Tim Rice (09:54)
She had been hesitant to speak out, initially supporting Platner politically and personally.
“This is clearly not something that people can say about her accusations [being politically motivated].”
— Tim Rice (09:54)
Fallout & Response (12:33–15:02):
Platner and campaign categorically deny all claims.
Mass Democratic exodus: California Rep. Ro Khanna, commentator Hasan Piker, the Maine Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand all pulled endorsements.
Gillibrand stated the party will not financially support Platner as nominee.
"Gillibrand said explicitly, if Graham Platner is the nominee, the party will not spend money supporting him in the race, which, for my money, that is the death blow."
— Tim Rice (12:46)
Notably, Elizabeth Warren urges withdrawal but stops short of rescinding her endorsement; Bernie Sanders remains silent as of airtime.
Official deadline for withdrawal: July 13th, with complex replacement process outlined on DailyWire.com.
"Time is running out for the Platner campaign... it's hard to see how he gets back from this."
— Tim Rice (15:02)
Main Theme:
Hearing Overview (15:42–17:30):
Tyler Robinson (accused) appears in preliminary hearing; prosecutors seek to keep death penalty on the table.
The standard for the hearing is whether there is enough evidence for a jury trial, not "beyond a reasonable doubt.”
"This proceeding is all about convincing Judge Tony Graff that there's enough evidence that this case should be examined by a jury."
— Tim Pierce (16:01)
Memorable Moment: Hearing includes direct testimony—
“You mentioned you heard something. What did you hear again? — I heard a gunshot... And can you describe Mr. Kirk's reaction? Was that simultaneous...?" (16:28 – Courtroom exchange)
Defense contends prosecutors violated court media restrictions; judge allows cameras but restricts what is shown.
"His defense team has tried to take the death penalty off the table... They accused the prosecution of going on a media tour that violated court restrictions."
— Tim Pierce (17:06)
Emotional Toll & High-profile Attendance (17:30–18:30):
Kirk’s parents and widow, Erica, face Robinson for the first time; release statement about the “irrevocable impact” of his death.
Donald Trump Jr. attends; mention of close Trump-Kirk relationship.
“Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children.”
— Family statement (17:35)
Courtroom Security & Media (18:30–19:21):
| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------|------------| | Team USA World Cup Recap & Impact | 00:30–06:44| | Baligan Controversy & Trump-FIFA Call | 03:07–04:53| | "Soft Power" of Hosting World Cup | 05:01–06:35| | Platner Allegation Details & Fallout | 09:01–15:09| | Charlie Kirk Assassination Preliminary Hearing | 15:42–19:26|
This episode blends political, cultural, and legal analysis with direct quotes, timely updates, and multi-angle coverage, living up to the show's promise of “the news you need to know.”