Transcript of Evening Wire: Trump’s Immigration Court Shake-Up & MAGA Loves Zyn? | 5.21.26 New

Graham Plattner's social media continues to haunt his political prospects. Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak testifies in Washington about Medicaid fraud, and SpaceX is about to go public and to the moon. I'm Georgia Howe. John Bickley is out today. It's Thursday, May 21st, and this is Evening Wire. Senate hopeful Graham Plattner is in more hot water. This time for comments he made about hiring prostitutes in Thailand. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce has the details.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Plattner is facing fresh scrutiny over resurfaced Reddit posts in which he complained about the closing of a loophole that allowed military contractors to save money on taxes by spending their time off, quote, banging hookers in Thailand rather than returning home to their families. Plattner, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, made the comments in 2019 while discussing an IRS provision that exempted a significant portion of income for Americans spending at least 330 days abroad. The comments are the latest in a string of controversial posts to surface from Plattner's Reddit history, which has also included derogatory sexual remarks about the Virgin Mary and graphic depictions of sexual behavior in portable toilets. The Democrat also revealed that he had a tattoo on his chest that closely resembled the skull and crossbones emblem adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit, which he has now covered up. Despite the controversies, Plattner is now all but guaranteed to secure the Democrat nomination in June after Governor Janet Mills exited the race. Setting him up to face incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.

The Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak testified in D.C. yesterday on his investigation into the Ohio Medicaid fraud epidemic. Here's Luke explaining how the scheme operates.

Basically, these middleman companies will knock on doors until they find people that have somebody that they think might plausibly qualify, maybe a 55-year-old mother-in-law who lives with them, and they will tell that person to go to a particular doctor. So multigenerational families all already living in the same place, taking care of one another. Exactly. And they will direct that person to go to a particular doctor. They will tell them what symptoms to claim, and then the company and the family member basically split the cost. And oftentimes the, the, say, the mother-in-law, the older generation, they're not actually being—

so the Medicaid provider gets part of the cut and the family member gets part of the cut if they all participate in the scheme?

Correct. And they have a certain number of hours, and maybe 16 hours a day. And so it's not a whole lot per hour. I think it might be like $28, but if you're working 16-hour days, that really adds up.

Luke was also asked to explain the scale of the issue.

15% of all home health spending in Ohio, which is a pretty big state, occurs in a 4-square-mile area in Northeast Columbus. One of these buildings in Columbus had 94 Medicaid companies in it that billed more than $66 million over the last few years. One landlord owns 7 buildings on the same street that have 300 Medicaid companies in them, and they billed more than a quarter billion dollars.

Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos took aim at New York City Mayor Zoran Momdani and his tax proposals in an interview with CNBC, pointing out that increasing taxes on billionaires won't fix the city's wasteful spending and inefficient far-left governance.

The New York City school system, they spend $44,000 per student. $44,000. That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, LA, and Boston. And it's 3 times more than Miami and Houston. And by the way, New York City doesn't get better outcomes. So what— listen, let me, let me just say, if we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, right, your packages would take 6 weeks to arrive. We'd have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, It have the wrong item in it anyway, right?

The tech mogul, worth an estimated $256 billion, said leaders like Momdani should avoid finger-pointing and instead confront the city's broken systems and push for real tax reform, such as eliminating tax bills for lower-income working families. This week, the Trump administration added dozens of new immigration judges in what officials say is the largest single class in Justice Department history. Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Ter has more.

The class included 77 permanent and 5 temporary immigration judges, which brings the current total of judges close to 700. The new judges are expected to help the Trump administration process a backlog of deportation cases. The latest class steps in after the Justice Department ousted a large part of its force of judges last year. The total number of judges had been over 700, but by the start of 2026 That number was down below 600.

Seattle's socialist mayor is walking back some of her anti-corporate rhetoric as concerns mount about the city's eroding tax base. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has the story.

Mayor Katie Wilson sparked local backlash last year when, days after her election, she attended a union rally for Starbucks workers and called for a boycott of the Seattle-based company.

That is why I am proud to join them on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either.

This week, she told The New York Times that she made a mistake, saying, quote, "Those comments were not productive in the sense that they caused more harm than good." In an interview with a local outlet this month, she praised corporations such as Amazon and Starbucks for their philanthropic work. The apparent change in tact comes after Starbucks in April announced that it is building a 2,000-employee corporate office in Nashville. The announcement has only exacerbated fears among Seattle officials that the city could lose its wealthiest taxpayers, as well as opportunities for high-paying jobs.

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The US has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency linked to Tehran. This as Iran's economy buckles under pressure from sanctions. Daily Wire reporter Brecca Stoll has more.

The Iranian regime has turned to Bitcoin to try and hold together international economic ties and evade US sanctions. In response, the United States Treasury Department has taken steps to freeze nearly half a billion dollars worth of the regime's crypto. However, some estimates place Iran's total digital assets at around $7.7 billion. As the regime attempts to extort more from shippers, who need to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Senator Rick Scott is speaking out about the risks from foreign pharmaceuticals. Morning Wire recently spoke to Scott about it. Here's what he said.

We know most of the products that are made in communist China are not up to our standards. There's no FDA inspections in China and India. There's a study out of the University of Indiana that says you have over 60% increased chance of death and hospitalization if you take a generic drug from India and China. So It's unsafe, but we shouldn't be relying on them. They could hold them all back whenever they want to.

75% of the essential drug supply used by Americans broadly and by the U.S. military is produced in China and India without regulation. To combat this, Senator Scott is proposing a new bill called the Clear Labels Act.

Shouldn't you know where your drugs come from? So this bill would basically tell you on the label through a QR code where the ingredients are coming from and where it's manufactured. Right now, our military, our elderly, anybody that's dependent on a generic drug is at risk.

While Senator Scott is optimistic the Clear Labels Act will pass, in the short term, he recommends telling your doctor only prescribe drugs that are made in America. The launch of a SpaceX IPO is officially a go. Daily Wire homepage managing editor Jordan Schroeder has the details.

The first public offering is set to open in mid-June, and projections say it could be the biggest in history. Saudi Aramco currently holds the IPO record, raising around $26 billion in 2019. If projections hold, SpaceX is expected to take in close to $80 billion. Between the Starlink satellite system and Falcon 9 rockets, which have all but cornered the market on global launches, analysts say SpaceX is well positioned for future growth. The company is currently valued at $1.25 trillion.

Zyn nicotine pouches have become a staple of both MAGA and Maha. Daily Wire lifestyle reporter Lauren Baer has the details.

The MAGA movement runs on zins. That's a phrase jokingly heard throughout the halls of power these days, but it seems to increasingly be true. Nicotine pouches have skyrocketed in popularity, and many have noted their near-ubiquitous role within the Trump administration. Even top health officials like RFK Jr. are rarely spotted without a tin or two on hand. Kennedy has said the pouches are, quote, probably the safest way to consume nicotine. From cabinet officials down to staffers, everyone is popping pouches. And now the administration is making it easier than ever. The FDA recently released a new policy removing major red tape that kept new pouch brands and flavors from hitting the market. The administration has stated that the pouches are an important tool to help people quit smoking, which seems to be true. Studies show, however, that around 40% of pouch users never smoked to begin with.

And Google and Blackstone are partnering to create a new AI cloud company. Google plans to rival NVIDIA by selling and monetizing its own computing chips with help from BlackRock, which has committed $5 billion in capital investment. Most AI companies rely heavily on computing power from CoreWeave, a company that uses NVIDIA chips. Google is hoping they can corner a significant share of that market. The tech giant has tapped longtime executive Benjamin Treynor-Sloss to serve as the company's new CEO. 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 Democrats electing several controversial left-wing candidates in the primaries, a surprisingly united Republican Party emerging from their primaries And The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airing its final episode after 11 seasons. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.