Transcript of Venezuela’s Disaster Zone & The Supreme Court Expands Trump’s Power | 6.26.26

Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut!

Sehr gut?

WISO Steuer ist sehr gut, das sagen ganz viele.

Cool, wer sagt das?

Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Focus Money, Chip, Finanztip, such dir was aus. Mega, aber das ist doch bestimmt kompliziert. Nö, einfach Foto von der Lohnsteuerbescheinigung machen und fertig. Klingt sehr gut. Ist sehr gut. Hol dir dein Geld zurück mit WISO Steuer.

Sending help.

Already deploying a search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles. There'll be some others we'll add. That's the most immediate need right now.

I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howell. It's Friday, June 26th. This is Morning Wire.

The Supreme Court delivers several key wins for Trump. What changes now because of the rulings, and what decisions are coming down next? It gives them more discretion to regulate the border.

To regulate immigration. So a lot of big cases involving a lot of hot-button issues.

And as oil prices fall, a fiery meeting in the Senate on Iran goes Trump's way. We have the latest from DC.

Oil just broke the $70 number. Who would have thought that was going to happen? And that's during a war. And Iran is being very nice. They're agreeing to everything that I want, and they have to. Otherwise, we just go back and do what we have to do.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

As we celebrate 250 years of America this Fourth of July, here's a question worth asking: how much of the beef on America's grills actually comes from America? The answer might surprise you. More than 85% of grass-fed beef sold in grocery stores is imported from overseas. That means American ranchers have to compete against lower-cost foreign meat every day. Independence Day is a great time to fill your grill with meat you know was raised by American ranchers. Good Ranchers partners directly with local farms and ranches to deliver 100% American beef beef, chicken, pork, and seafood straight to your door. It's all pasture-raised. There's no antibiotics, no added hormones, and no imported meat. The Morning Wire team has loved the quality we get in every box. It's the kind of meat I actually feel good about putting on the grill and on the table, especially knowing it benefits ranchers right here in the US. This July, start a plan and get free meat with every order, plus $50 off your first order with code WIRE. Just visit goodranchers.com and use code WIRE at checkout. That's free meat with every order and $50 off when you start a plan.

Goodranchers.com. American meat delivered.

Crews are racing to rescue survivors after two powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela, leveling hundreds of buildings and leaving a growing number dead.

Joining us now is Cabot Phillips, host of Wired In Live. So, Cabot, what is the scale of the devastation so far?

Yeah, Georgia, this is looking like one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory, and certainly the worst earthquake to hit Venezuela in the last century. Within the first 24 hours, the confirmed figures were 188 dead and 1,500 more injured, but that number is guaranteed— to keep rising in the next few days as the rubble starts to be combed through. These were two quakes that hit back to back, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake followed 39 seconds later by a 7.5, both directly impacting the capital city of Caracas and a number of smaller coastal cities, uh, all around the area. Scientists say that this kind of doublet earthquake is extremely rare, uh, especially two quakes hitting this close together, just 39 seconds. And they say the second one released nearly 3 times as much energy as the first, and video from the scene is just devastating. Buildings folding, hotels collapsing. Um, it, it was very scary.

Now, there've been some conflicting reports about how many dead and how many missing. What are the latest numbers that we know for sure?

Yeah. Uh, it's hard right now because cell service in the country is still extremely spotty, so a lot remains unclear. There is a crowdsourced database that lists at least 50,000 people as missing. Uh, that's coming from family members who have not been able to contact their loved ones. Um, but that number again is unconfirmed, and with phone networks still down in many areas, um, we're hoping that many of these missing people could just be temporarily unreachable. Uh, the US Geological Survey's damage model puts the likely death toll in the thousands, possibly over 10,000.

And which areas were the hardest hit?

Well, the port city of La Guaira was hit, uh, extremely hard. It's right outside of Caracas. The UN says more than 100 buildings were destroyed in just that one city alone, and the country's main international airport was knocked out of service. Which obviously is going to severely complicate a lot of the rescue operations and aid shipments that are sure to be coming. A lot of the high-rises in this area were poorly built concrete buildings with little steel reinforcement. Structural engineers say that this explains a lot of why dozens of these buildings, quote, pancaked, meaning one floor dropped onto the other with no gaps left, which sadly leaves almost no chance of survival for the people who were inside those buildings. The country's interim president, Dilsey Rodriguez, has called La Guaira a, quote, disaster zone and asked for international help with the search and rescue in particular.

So international help is on the way, but what do we know about the response on the ground now?

Yeah, it's a grim situation, guys. In a lot of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, residents say they've seen almost no official rescue crews. That means no firemen, no medics, nothing. Uh, just neighbors attempting to pull each other out of the rubble by hand with little to no heavy machinery. And there are just terrifying videos showing people trapped beneath these collapsed buildings. Um, you can hear them screaming, um, up for help. Um, but there is no one there to get them. There's no machinery there to actually get those survivors out. Now, Venezuela's rescue services were one of the many government services neglected for years as a result of the economic mismanagement by the Maduro regime. The country simply was not equipped to respond to a disaster of this scale.

So where does the US fit into the international response to this?

Yeah, since, uh, Maduro was taken out and Dilcy Rodriguez took over, she has been largely cooperating with the Trump administration, and that certainly seems to be paying off right now. President Trump issued issued a statement Wednesday night saying the U.S. would, quote, be there for our new and great friends, and that he had told federal agencies to, quote, get ready to move quickly. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $150 million in aid and said that search and rescue teams out of Virginia and Los Angeles are already departing for Venezuela, and then more teams would be expected to follow. The Pentagon is running aid flights already into a cleared airbase near Caracas and is providing the Venezuelan government with a lot of the overhead imagery of some of the hardest-hit areas, uh, to help in the recovery effort. Several other countries countries are also sending rescue crews and aid shipments, including France, Mexico, Qatar, Colombia, and Brazil, uh, but the US certainly leading the way.

So what comes next here?

Yeah, uh, the next few days are obviously critical as rescue crews still have the chance to rescue victims trapped in buildings. But honestly, the picture is not encouraging. Power, water, and gas are out of commission in the capital and other affected areas, and that infrastructure was crumbling before these earthquakes. The rescue window is short and the resources on the ground are being stretched to the brink. Uh, adding to the urgency, experts expect aftershocks for at least the next week, and there's a 1 in 4 chance of another magnitude 6 earthquake in the next week as well. The death toll again is going to continue to climb as crews dig through the rubble, and we will keep an eye on any new developments. But thankfully, help from the U.S. and others is on the way.

Terrifying situation.

Yeah.

Cabot, thanks for reporting.

Absolutely.

Alliance Defending Freedom knows that freedom belongs to those who fight for it. Americans have carried that legacy for 250 years. Now we must do so again. Censorship is rising, threatening your free speech in every sphere, from classrooms to counselors' offices and even online. Unborn babies are dying as abortion drugs continue flooding states nationwide. Parents are being cut out of kids' critical decisions for their lives. Your best gift by June 30th will help defend courageous Americans like Frank Kneppa, a counselor facing nearly $90,000 in fines for sharing his Catholic faith. Rosalie Markusic, a young woman whose former boyfriend coerced her to take mail-order abortion drugs. Killing her unborn baby. And Dan and Jennifer Mead, parents whose 13-year-old daughter was socially transitioned in secret at school. Every dollar you give today will be doubled by a $1 million matching grant, only while funds last. Go to joinadf.com/wire or text WIRE to 83848. Please give your best gift now to defend the next 250 years of freedom. That's joinadf.com/wire or text WIRE to 83848.

The Supreme Court delivered up several rulings this week that have the Trump administration taking some victory laps.

Joining us to unpack the key rulings is Jonathan Scruggs with Alliance Defending Freedom. Thanks for coming on.

Oh, thanks for letting me be on.

All right, so the Trump administration is mostly happy about the rulings this week. Let's start with arguably Trump's biggest priority, immigration. Two major rulings came down yesterday. Uh, one on birthright citizenship is still pending. That's a huge one. So what exactly did the court say on the asylum claims and temporary protected status.

Yeah. So two big decisions on the asylum claims. The court basically said that the Trump administration could turn away people asking for asylum at the border before they arrived in the country. The court had some interesting analysis because the law basically says people can apply for asylum when they arrive in the country. But that doesn't mean just showing up at the border means you've arrived in America. And they use some analysis like, you know, a running back doesn't arrive in the end zone at the 1-yard line. You've got to be in the end zone. And so he just applied that kind of common sense logic to say just showing up at the border isn't enough. You've got to be allowed in the country.

I personally always appreciate a sports reference in SCOTUS rulings.

Hey, it's something for everybody.

And then the other one, another major ruling related to Haitians in particular. Tell us about that.

Yeah. So there's a federal program that allows the executive branch to designate certain aliens to stay in the country. The various executive branch officials designated groups of Haitians and Syrians, but then removed that designation. And that was challenged in court. And the Supreme Court said, yes, the Trump administration can withdraw that designation and remove those people. It rejected a challenge saying it was based on race, for example. The court said, no, whatever statements President Trump made and executive officials made could just be interpreted as opposition to immigration. And not invoking any idea about race.

And again, the Birthright Citizenship case— this is one a lot of people are really anticipating. Most people think this is going to go against the Trump administration. That has not been handed down. Should we expect that, uh, next week?

Yes, definitely. Most likely that opinion is going to come next week. Could be the very last opinion that comes out because it's such a big one, and it's hard to predict. Uh, I think the Trump administration is going to have a harder shot with that one, but we will have to wait and see.

Indeed. Now, there was a Second Amendment case out of Hawaii that has national implications. What was the crux of that case, and what does the court's ruling mean for these kinds of firearms laws in other states?

Yeah, Hawaii passed a law that banned concealed carry on private property that was open to the public, I think like shops and restaurants. And the Supreme Court said, no, that violated the Second Amendment. There was some judicial burn, I guess you could say, in the opinion. Hawaii argued that it was— these laws were consistent with our tradition and the spirit of aloha. And Justice Alito wrote that no, the Second Amendment applies across the country, and, you know, you can't invoke the spirit of the Big Apple to infringe on gun rights. So things like that suggest the Supreme Court is pretty protective of the Second Amendment and that states with similar laws— I think there are about 4 other states at least, uh, those laws will probably be held invalid.

Now, we saw a pretty strong reaction from Ketanji Brown Jackson to this particular ruling. Can you speak to that? What was she arguing in this case?

Yeah, uh, Justice Jackson objects to the whole method that the Supreme Court uses to protect gun rights, and she just kind of weighed in on that. Interesting enough, for example, one of the arguments used by the state of Hawaii was to cite Black black codes, kind of regulations on guns on slaves when Southern states took away the rights of slaves to have guns, and Hawaii invoked that as an example in their favor. And the Supreme Court quickly wiped that away and said, "No, that's a bad example to use, not a good example." Yeah, I remember when we first discussed that argument, being very surprised that the state would go there.

Clearly, it was not a winning argument. Quick look ahead before we let you go. What should we have on our radar that's still yet to 8 cases left.

You mentioned birthright citizenship, 2 executive power cases, 2 election law cases, the 2 women's sports cases. So a lot of big cases involving a lot of hot-button issues.

Good stuff, Jonathan. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much.

Mehr Feuer, mehr Intrigen. Die Drachen kehren zurück.

Die absolute Macht ist dir zum Greifen nah. Dein Reich wird unbezwingbar sein, Rhaenyra.

Stream die neue Staffel House of the Dragon ab 22. Juni mit WOW! Freu dich außerdem auf Staffel 1 und 2 der Erfolgsserie und weitere Highlights. Es wird keinen Zweifel geben, wen die Götter zum Herrschen auserwählt haben. Drachen heiß zum besten Preis, jetzt ab 2,98 € im Monat. Geh auf wowtv.de. Streaming war noch nie so WOW!

Oil prices have continued to fall since the new Iran talks began this week, while in Washington President Trump has won over more Republicans in the Senate on his handling of the Iran conflict.

Joining us now with the latest from DC is Daily Wire opinion editor Ben Domenech, host of The Big Ben Show, fresh from a dip in the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.

Yes, uh, it's always great to be with you.

Uh, so, uh, DC is abuzz with the latest round of Supreme Court rulings. I want to ask you actually about that, but first, uh, Trump winning over senators on the War Powers Act. You've been tracking Trump's relationship with the Senate for us. What happened there and how important was that?

Well, look, I think the president went in and, you know, really, you know, swung his power around. He just sort of said to these senators, you know, I'm the reason that you're here. I'm the reason that, you know, you even have a majority, which is not frankly something that I disagree with. And he said, you know, you need to trust me when it comes to this Iran situation and the idea that you would back out and that you would undermine me on an Iran powers vote, uh, you know, at this particular moment is horrible. And I think that one of the other factors, by the way, that played into this were the comments from, uh, Marco Rubio, a former senator who obviously had relationships with almost everybody who's currently in the body. And the fact that he kind of leaned into this and said, no, you know, we, we are skeptical about the Iranians. We, we do not trust them, but we do think this is the best possible deal for the American economy. And at this moment, and we've devastated them militarily. I think all of that factored into this as well. Bill Cassidy, the senator from Louisiana who lost his primary definitively, by the way, he came in third, you know, it was the real key here.

And he and Trump got into it in the context of a behind-the-scenes meeting. Um, and Cassidy ultimately bent. I think that people understand the president needs the authority in these situations to negotiate whatever deal is going to exist, even if one doesn't end up coming to fruition.

Now, I wanted to talk about the fallout from the SCOTUS rulings yesterday. Two major wins for Trump on immigration that have really stirred up a lot of response from Democrats. What have you seen from Democrats on the immigration rulings?

They have been trying to defend these, uh, massive exemptions that were made in the past, uh, that were things that frankly fit within this current radical adv— version of the Democratic Party's agenda, where they believe that virtually anybody should be allowed in. Time and again, we've seen this administration run up against these lower courts who have been throwing up roadblocks to everything that they want to do, particularly within the immigration environment. And for the Supreme Court to come down and basically say, no, this is not within your authority, you cannot go up against the president when it comes to this kind of thing, it's a big win for them. I think that they're feeling, feeling bullish generally about this court and about what they expect from the remaining cases. And I think that they probably are right to feel that way.

Now, we're short on time here, but I wanted to ask you about the Democratic Socialists of America sweeping up in New York. We did a segment on that yesterday. But what have you seen on Capitol Hill since then? Are Republicans excited about this? Are Democrats worried about this? What's the response?

John, I think that Republicans are excited about it, but I think they're wrong to be excited about it. And here's why. The Republicans who are excited about it think that they can run against this in the fall The problem I see is that Democrats, including establishment Democrats, are bending the knee to this rising DSA. They are acknowledging them as the victors and basically saying, yes, they're going to be part of our coalition, they're going to be part of our party. And they can't really do anything else because all of these different candidates with crazy ideas who won are going to be part of their next conference whether they like it or not. And the problem for them is that these people are steeped in the basis of the DSA, which campus protest, which is radical ideas, which is claiming that they want the end of Western civilization. These are all people who are going to be part of the Democratic conference in the next House, whether they have the majority or not. And that's going to have a massive effect. These aren't just Instagram influencers. These are people who really believe in these crazy ideas.

Indeed.

Well, Ben, thank you. We always appreciate your insights on all of this.

Great to be with you.

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.

To enjoy the show ad-free and join our mission, become a member at dailywire.com. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.

We have a terror warning in Northern Virginia.

Radical Islam has designs openly on the West.

The FBI thwarted a terror plot on New Year's violent attack over the Halloween weekend in Michigan.

Protests on college campuses showing no signs of stopping.