Transcript of Evening Wire: Oil Prices Spike & Trump Reclassifies Marijuana | 4.23.26

Oil prices spike as President Trump ratchets up control of the Hormuz Strait. Top lawmakers seek a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, and the DOJ reclassifies marijuana. I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Thursday, April 23rd, and this is Evening Wire.

President Trump has stepped up efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz as the US and Iran standoff continues. Here with the latest is Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce.

The president said on Thursday that he has ordered the US Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian boats caught mining the strait while naval minesweepers work to clear mines already placed. Meanwhile, the president took credit after Iran called off the executions of 8 women. White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt explained on Fox News.

He has received direct word from the Iranian regime, or what's left of it, that their lives are going to be spared. And that comes as a result of President Trump asking them directly not to kill these young, beautiful women who certainly deserve a chance to continue living their lives freely and peacefully.

According to the president, 4 of the women will be released immediately and 4 will receive sentences of 1 month in prison. For its part, Iranian state media pushed back on Trump and claimed that none of the 8 women were ever slated for execution.

President Trump's pick to head the US Navy, John Phalen, unexpectedly stepped down on Wednesday. The Pentagon announced his exit in a brief statement and said his departure was effective immediately. This comes at a critical time for the Navy with the blockade and raises questions about the cause. Just a day before, Phelan gave a speech at a naval conference in D.C. and laid out his agenda for the future. He'll be replaced by Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy veteran and former U.S. Senate candidate from Virginia.

Oil prices have spiked over the past 2 days as President Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran. The international benchmark Brent crude surged over $100 a barrel on Wednesday and remained high through this afternoon, while the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate stayed slightly lower at over $90 a barrel. Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran earlier this week because of dysfunction inside the Iranian regime. The president kept in place a blockade on Iran's shipping that has strangled its economy and increased pressure on oil prices. Especially in countries like China that rely on Iranian oil.

Behind closed doors, some top Republicans are reportedly seeking a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has the details.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said on Wednesday that some lawmakers on the committee are in favor of a pardon for Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for Maxwell answering questions on her and Epstein's sex trafficking scheme. Maxwell appeared for a virtual deposition before the committee in February but pled the Fifth and said she would only testify if she were granted clemency. Comer did not name any of his colleagues who have voiced support for pardoning Maxwell, but he clarified that he is opposed to the idea, stating, quote, I think it looks bad. Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell.

After the notorious Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center was outraged at PayPal The SPLC called the payment processor the banking system for white nationalism. Because of SPLC pressure, PayPal cut off dozens of accounts linked to the rally. But the Justice Department says that at the time of the white nationalist rally, the SPLC was secretly paying one of the event's organizers. On Tuesday, the DOJ accused the SPLC of spending millions to fund the type of hate that it raised fortunes to fight.

A federal judge has slapped down a California law that would have forced ICE agents to show ID while on duty. Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Ter has more.

A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge ruled that the law amounted to an illegal attempt to directly regulate the federal government. The law, the judge said, violated the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which gives federal law primacy over state law when the two come into conflict. The Department of Justice challenged that law shortly after it was enacted last fall Democrats on the state and federal level have pushed to force immigration agents to show their faces and IDs while on duty. The administration has said that such measures would place agents and their families at risk of threats and attacks.

Famous kidnapping victim and child safety advocate Elizabeth Smart won first place at a bodybuilding competition in Salt Lake City last weekend. Daily Wire reporter Linden Blake has the story.

Elizabeth Smart says she's embracing her chance at life in a new bodybuilding adventure. The 38-year-old, who was abducted for 9 months when she was only 14, has competed in 4 bodybuilding competitions so far with no signs of slowing down. She said her body has carried her through her worst days and now has created and nurtured her 3 kids. She compared sharing her bodybuilding pictures to her trauma from her kidnapping, saying, quote, this past weekend it struck me how eerily familiar these feelings and thoughts are for too many survivors. I think it's easy to be labeled as one thing, and honestly, that's not me, nor do I think it's any of us. We are more than just one topic, one idea, one label.

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RFK is backing a push to overhaul how the US detects emerging health threats. This includes expanding wastewater surveillance and building a national early warning system for infectious diseases. Here he is speaking to lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

I absolutely will work with you on the PREDICT Act. It's something that's very personally important to me to have more wastewater surveillance. And we are also putting $325 million in this budget into a new biothreat radar system that will integrate with the microbial surveillance at wastewater treatment plants. To detect pathogens as soon as they emerge in our country and elsewhere in the world.

The PREDICT Act would expand the nation's ability to monitor wastewater for traces of viruses and bacteria, a method that gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's since been used to track diseases such as the flu, RSV, and measles.

Cocaine use is increasingly polluting waterways, and scientists say the effects on wildlife are a clear warning. Daily Wire assistant editor Andy Valdez has more.

As global cocaine use rises, nearly 25 million people used the drug last year, according to the UN, and scientists warn the impact is now showing up in the environment. Marcus Michelangeli of Griffith University said, quote, we're finding higher and higher concentrations of not just illicit drugs, but all types of pharmaceuticals in our waterways. This comes after Michelangeli co-authored a recent study in which researchers exposed wild Atlantic salmon in Sweden's Lake Vättern to cocaine and its byproduct, benzoylecchinine, and then tracked their movement. They found that the exposed fish swam nearly twice as far as those in clean water, evidence that even trace contamination can alter natural behavior. Experts say that findings point to a growing problem, with drug pollution posing a, quote, "major and escalating risk to biodiversity," and highlighting the need for stronger wastewater treatment and monitoring.

The Trump administration is making some major moves on marijuana, removing longstanding restrictions. Daily Wire homepage managing editor Jordan Schroeder has more.

Since 1970, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I drug, placing it alongside drugs like heroin and LSD. Many states have found carve-outs in the law to allow medical use as well as full legality. But the drug has remained illegal on the federal level and carries heavy restrictions. Now, following directives from the president issued late last year, the DOJ is finalizing the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, placing it alongside most normal prescription medications. While the move will not fully legalize the drug nationwide, it does remove massive restrictions for research as well as production. Marijuana producers will soon be able to make deductions on federal taxes for the first time. For expenses like payroll and rent. Many states have followed the growing trend of marijuana legality in recent years, with Idaho and Kansas being the only remaining states where the drug is fully illegal.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant fought back on Wednesday after Democrats accused him of needlessly canceling a supposedly free tax program. Bessant said the program actually costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year to run and was a less popular version than other no-cost options. Why'd you shut down Direct File when it was free and easy to use?

Well, it wasn't free, and the—

Direct File was free to taxpayers.

Not to the American people. It was $138 per person. So $72 million for, as you said, about 300,000 taxpayers. There is an alternative, which is a public-private partnership, Free File, which is free. To the American people, the e-fileers. Over 3 million people use that. And for direct file, more than 60% of the people who started their application didn't finish it.

And an Indian scammer is bragging about making money by conning conservative men with AI-generated social media accounts. Daily Wire lifestyle reporter Lauren Baer has more.

The 22-year-old med student identified by the pseudonym Sam said he created a fictional persona, Emily Hart, to help pay for school. The blonde, quote, MAGA Jennifer Lawrence character built a following across Facebook, Instagram, and OnlyFans competitor Fanview. Using Google's Gemini chatbot, Sam said he targeted a conservative audience, claiming it suggested the niche could be especially loyal and profitable. He tailored posts accordingly, depicting Emily as a gun-loving, Coors Light-drinking nurse, and the accounts drew 3 to 10 million views per post. Sam said, quote, I was basically doing nothing and it just flooded with money. The accounts have since been taken down, but Sam said he didn't see it as scamming, arguing followers might have engaged anyway because they, quote, like the sentiment.

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 the legal roadblock hitting Virginia Democrats' redistricting attempt the bombshell indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Middle Eastern countries pressuring Iran to return to the negotiating table. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.