Transcript of Evening Wire: Disney’s ABC Sues FCC & 13 Frat Bros BUSTED For Cocaine Ring | 8.18.26

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Disney-owned ABC sues the FCC, citing Trump's influence. Russian citizens are withdrawing rubles en masse from their banks, and 13 fraternity members are busted for running a cocaine trafficking ring. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Tuesday, August 18th. This is Evening Wire.

Disney-owned ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission today. The lawsuit claims the Trump administration has waged a, quote, retaliatory campaign against ABC for airing content critical of the president and his initiatives. The suit points to President Trump's scrutiny of ABC's broadcast license integrity dating back to a 2020 presidential rally in Minnesota and argues that antagonistic pattern has continued up to the present day. Disney has also requested formal legal clarification for programs such as The View, which they believe have traditionally been exempt from equal time rules, meaning they haven't been required to fairly platform both sides of a political debate, and they think that should continue. The FCC has yet to respond to requests for comment.

Rubles are flooding out of Russian banks over growing fears that Putin may seize private assets to finance the war in Ukraine. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce has more.

According to Russian central bank data, Russians have pulled billions of dollars worth of rubles from their bank accounts over the past few months. In June, withdrawals totaled $4.5 billion. That rose to $7.3 billion in July and another $3.4 billion in the first 2 weeks of August. Behind that trend is a deep fear among Russians that their government could soon seize funds to finance its war in Ukraine. Whether or not that's true, shrinking deposits means more trouble for an already struggling Russian economy and for a Russian government that has a war to fund and is increasingly unable to sell more debt.

President Trump posted a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz a new U.S. territory today. The president began to float a complete U.S. takeover of the strait last week. He explained more on Monday.

I like the idea of declaring it a territory.

Why would you do that?

We have total control over the strait. Now, they can be a nuisance. They can put a mine in the water, and people don't like having mines hit their million-dollar ships, you know, etc. But the blockade has been very effective, and, you know, we're taking out And now maybe that will stop, or maybe it'll open up even further, but we're taking out millions of barrels of oil a week. If you look at the kind of numbers that we're doing, we're doing— the strait is open and the oil prices are coming down, and they will continue to come down unless we decide to do something far more drastic than we're doing.

This morning, the president posted that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have stopped. He said the blockade is, quote, in full force. All Iranian mines have been cleared and the strait is open.

After months of negotiation, Washington and Ottawa have just hours left to avoid hefty new tariffs. Associate producer Wyatt Harms has more.

The U.S. and Canada are in last-minute talks to avoid tariffs from President Trump that are set to kick in tomorrow. Without a deal, $20 billion worth of imports from Canada will be hit with an additional 50% tariff, and U.S. products will likely see some retaliation. Neither side wants to talk in detail about the negotiations. Reports suggest that Washington wants more purchases of U.S. military equipment and for Canada to participate in Trump's Golden Dome missile defense project. The U.S. also wants greater access to Canadian rare earth materials to lessen U.S. reliance on China. For its part, Canada wants lower trade barriers for its steel, aluminum, and softwood lumber. Canadian car manufacturers want lower trade barriers as well.

More American parents are opting their kids out of routine childhood vaccines, with many citing religious exemptions. New CDC data shows 4.2% of kindergartners, roughly 160,000 kids, had at least one vaccine exemption last school year, up from 3.6% the year before, with 41 states and D.C. reporting increases. Nearly all exemptions were non-medical, and the majority cited religious or personal beliefs. The CDC also warned that this new exemption has led to measles vaccine coverage slipping to 92%. Which is below the 95% the agency says is necessary to prevent outbreaks. The U.S. hit a 35-year high in measles cases with more than 2,500 cases logged this year alone.

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A mysterious group behind a poll that claimed that leftist Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hwang had a double-digit lead has now admitted to faking its polls as part of what it's calling a social experiment. The fake firm Median Strategies told media outlets on Monday to completely ignore all of the polls it released this election season, claiming it was conducting an experiment on trust in unverified polling. The group released polls on the LA mayoral race and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary, which it now says were both fabricated. The group specified that the experiment was not funded by any candidate, campaign PAC, or media entity. It also said no one received any financial benefit from the project or had any ties to betting markets. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who once tweeted out one of the polls, called for a criminal investigation, with a spokesperson saying, quote, "Any bad faith attempts to influence elections should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." An Islamist illegal migrant murderer has fled the country after he was granted unsupervised leave.

Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has more.

In 2019, Abdulloy Tashpuladzoda, a native of Tajikistan, stabbed his roommate to death in their Vienna, Virginia home. Despite Tashpuladzoda's full admission to police, taking responsibility for the murder, a Virginia court found him not guilty by reason of insanity, sending him to a mental hospital. A Daily Wire investigation has now discovered that Virginia officials assisted the illegal migrant murderer in obtaining a passport, as well as granting him unsupervised leave from the mental facility. While on leave, Tashpula Zoda stayed in an apartment paid for by Virginia taxpayers. Now, while on his most recent authorized leave, Tashpula Zoda has fled the country and gone back to Tajikistan.

Two parents who wanted their surrogate baby aborted have now agreed to a life-saving heart surgery. Reporter Jacob Wheeler has the story.

The child, whom his parents named Rumi, underwent complex heart surgery Monday to treat hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a serious congenital heart defect that typically requires three surgeries. The family's lawyers told CBS that, quote, "Rumi is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff." The surgery comes after a drawn-out legal battle between the biological parents, who sought to abort the child following the HLHS diagnosis, and the surrogate mother, who refused. McKenna West, the surrogate mother, delivered the baby last Wednesday in the Dallas area after Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a court order requiring the child to receive life-saving medical care. The legal battle, however, is far from over, as both the biological parents and surrogate mother now contest custody of the child. A court date has been set for August 25th.

A group of Penn State frat brothers have been arrested, accused of running a multistate cocaine trafficking operation. The operation allegedly centered around two frat leaders, Agostino Abatiello and Thomas Robinson, from Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon, respectively. Abatiello is accused of transporting large quantities of cocaine from New York, where it was then packaged and distributed mainly to Penn State students out of frat houses. Prosecutors allege that the packaging of the drugs was sometimes done by fraternity pledge members as part of their initiation. 13 frat members have now been arrested and charged. Robinson's father, Paul Robinson, was also arrested and charged for allegedly concealing evidence from police.

And in sports news, the Diamondbacks were not happy with All-Star second baseman Cattell Marte when he skipped an entire game against the Red Sox. This forced the team to scramble to find a replacement, with the first sign of trouble being their refusal to post a team lineup until 15 minutes before the first pitch. The team managed to pull in Jose Fernandez, was on an off day with the minor league team the Aces. Marte was placed on the restricted list for the second time in his career, meaning he was absent without excuse and won't be paid. The last time this happened, notably for a good reason— his house was burglarized— lost him $400,000.

Those are your drive home updates this evening. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it earlier today, we covered some major stories. Including President Trump pushing back on some media narratives about US foreign policy, the questions surrounding the death of actress Hayden Panettiere, and the prosecution resting its case in the disturbing trial of Lindsay Clancy. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.

What if a few minutes with God could change the direction of your entire day? With pray.com, you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible stories, and messages created to strengthen your faith. Whether you need peace, encouragement, or a fresh start, pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday life. Download the pray.com app today.