Transcript of Evening Wire: Vance Targets Ohio Fraud & Hantavirus Cruise Ship Nightmare | 5.6.26 New

President Trump pauses Project Freedom during peace talks with Iran. JD Vance sics the fraud task force on Ohio following a Daily Wire report. And the Hantavirus cruise ship nightmare continues. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Wednesday, May 6th, and this is Evening Wire.

President Trump said this morning that if Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, the conflict will be over. If not, he said, quote, it will be sadly at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Daily Wire foreign affairs reporter Kassia Kiva has the latest.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz would be temporarily paused as negotiators work towards a possible agreement with Iran, though the blockade itself remains fully in effect, which led to US forces firing on an Iranian tanker accused of violating the blockade in the Gulf of Oman. After the crew allegedly refused repeated warnings, a US Navy F-18 Super Hornet launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier fired several rounds at the vessel, striking its rudder and stopping its transit towards Iran. New reports also pointed to a potential US-Iran framework deal that would formally pause the war and launch negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and sanctions relief, though Iran has yet to accept the proposal. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel remains in full court coordination with Trump and is prepared for any scenario if diplomacy collapses.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister is visiting Beijing just over a week before President Trump will do the same. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce has the story.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araki landed in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Ostensibly, the visit is meant to discuss regional development. Many, however, speculate that the main action item will be U.S. involvement in Iran. The visit comes just ahead of President Trump's planned trip to Beijing on May 14th. Trump will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss a wide range of topics, likely including the Iran situation. Tune in to Morning Wire this Sunday for a deep dive into the relationship between China and American tech giant Apple, wherever you listen to our show.

The FBI raided the office of a close ally of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger this morning in what seems to be a massive corruption probe. FBI agents raided the office of Louise Lucas, the president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, as well as a cannabis dispensary she co-owns. The bureau served multiple criminal search warrants approved by a federal judge. A Democrat who pushed for redistricting in the state, Lucas told reporters she had, quote, no idea what the agents were doing there. Lucas has seen controversy before. In fact, she was caught selling mislabeled products in her dispensary, some of which was over the legal THC limits.

JD Vance is ramping up the administration's fraud crackdown after a Daily Wire investigation exposed a billion more dollars in fraud and abuse. Daily Wire homepage managing editor Jordan Schroeder has the story.

Ohio state officials are already looking into massive Medicaid fraud uncovered by The Daily Wire. After our reporting, Vice President J.D. Vance said that uncovering fraud in the federal government was like, quote, fishing in a barrel with dynamite. Vance had previously promised that the fraud task force which he heads would dig into The Daily Wire's reporting on Medicaid fraud in his home state. He wrote on X, quote, I'm directing the task force to look into it and take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and stop all further payments as appropriate. Ohio Auditor Keith Faber, who is running to be Ohio's next attorney general, also took shots at the Biden administration for refusing to treat fraud seriously.

We have really good US attorneys now in the Northern and Southern District of Ohio. Before, under Biden, we didn't have US attorneys that would take this kind of stuff seriously. We tried to work with one of them on a theft event involving a college in Eastern Ohio and literally got crickets. So when this happened, I called the U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of Ohio and worked with him, and we have set up a public benefits fraud task force that involves federal folks. And I can tell you that they're taking it seriously.

A slate of closely watched Republican primaries in Indiana last night offered a key test of President Trump's political muscle ahead of his final midterm election. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has the details.

7 incumbent state senators who voted against Trump's redistricting push last year faced primary challengers backed by the president, Senator Jim Banks, and Turning Point Action. As of this writing, the Trump-backed challengers have ousted 5 of them. One of the incumbents, Greg Good, has won reelection, and the 7th race remains too close to call. State legislative primaries typically draw limited attention, but Indiana's contest went under the national microscope after 21 Republicans joined Democrats to shoot down a redistricting bill that would have netted the GOP several House seats in this year's midterm elections. Trump and his allies immediately vowed to seek revenge and have succeeded in ousting a majority of those Republicans who are up for reelection this year. Trump wrote at the time, quote, any Republican that votes against this important redistricting should be primaried. And given the outcome last night, it looks like promises made, promises kept.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers released new election maps today that would wipe out the last Democratic congressional seat. This comes on the second day of a special session called by Governor Bill Lee to redraw congressional maps. The maps would split up Memphis, currently the only area represented by a Democrat in Congress, into 3 favorable Republican districts. The map also divides up Democrat-leaning Davidson County, where Nashville is located, into multiple larger GOP districts. GOP State Senator John Stevens said this morning, quote, Tennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that. This bill ensures it does.

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Dozens of keffiyeh-clad protesters clashed with police outside a historic synagogue in New York City on Tuesday night. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham has more.

Protesters shouted such phrases as Israel should not exist and Palestine will never die. Police barricades separated the angry mob from the synagogue, but that didn't deter the protesters who repeatedly crashed into the railings and yelled at cops. The unruly incident comes as many Jewish communities across the U.S. and Europe have increased security over rising antisemitism and targeted attacks.

The rise of AI is leading many companies to take one of two paths: lay off employees or ask more of their staff. Here with more is Daily Wire Assistant Editor Nathan Gay.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some companies such as Coinbase are laying off 14% of their staff in response to AI changing their workflows. Others want to retain employees to better leverage AI for their business. The president of Acton Enterprise, a taser manufacturer, recently told his 5,000 employees to calm down. He wrote in an email, quote, thinking of AI as the thing that allows our teams to do more, not the thing that replaces our teams. Companies like Bed Bath Beyond and Meta Platforms have also signaled staffing reductions, while Spotify leadership offered an alternative philosophy: keep the same staff and simply do more.

The hantavirus cruise ship nightmare continues. Daily Wire lifestyle reporter Lauren Baer has more.

The MV Hondius is still anchored off the coast of Cape Verde as world governments squabble over how to extract the passengers safely. At least 8 people are believed to have been infected with hantavirus, and 3 of them have died. 3 more sick patients were removed from the ship this morning, but most of the 150 passengers and crew remain on the small ship, sequestered in cabins to avoid infection. The current plan is for the ship to sail 3 days to the Canary Islands, but the Spanish government is still sparring with local authorities over the decision. As with Cape Verde, the Canary Islands are refusing to take the passengers. Hantavirus is an extremely deadly rodent-borne illness that kills almost half of those infected. Authorities have not yet ruled out a known strain that can pass from human to human, but fortunately it is not easily spread. Just in case, efforts are underway to trace the contacts of known infected individuals. Crews have been deployed to sanitize the ship and deliver meals, and no rodents have been found on board.

The Trump administration has launched an investigation into schools secretly helping to transition kids without their parents' knowledge. Daily Wire investigative reporter Meg Brock has the details.

The DOJ launched an investigation into 35 Illinois school districts and Chicago's largest charter network to examine whether they include instruction on sexual orientation and gender ideology. Federal officials cited Title IX and recent Supreme Court rulings as the legal basis for the inquiry. This included a 2025 decision requiring opt-outs for LGBTQ-related classroom content and a 2026 ruling blocking policies that withheld student gender transition information from parents. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the effort aims to ensure parents are not, quote, kept in the dark about classroom content and affirmed that families have primary authority over their children's upbringing and education.

If the schools are mandating this and not allowing parents the opportunity to opt out of content that may be inappropriate for them based on religion or values, they would be afoul of that Supreme Court precedent. And so we have reason to believe that these school districts in Illinois are not obeying the law.

And Ted Turner, the billionaire media mogul who founded CNN, TNT, and TBS, has died at age 87. He died on Wednesday at his home near Tallahassee, Florida. In 2018, he revealed he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disease. Mark Thompson, the chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement, quote, Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless, and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand. We will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.

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 Marco Rubio saying phase one of the Iran war is over, Republicans focusing their primary messaging on fraud, and the discovery of 2.3 million metric tons of lithium in Appalachia. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.