Morning Wire
Evening Wire: 50K Still Missing After Venezuela Quake & Iran Jostles Peace Talks | 6.26.26
26 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What recent event occurred in the Strait of Hormuz involving Iran?
Iran strikes a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, jostling peace talks. Venezuela races to find earthquake survivors as the death toll rises. And the U.S. men's team moves on to the round of 32 despite a loss. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Friday, June 26th, and this is Evening Wire.
The U.S.
Chapter 2: How is Venezuela responding to the recent earthquakes?
talks with Iran continue after an Iranian drone struck a cargo ship in Hormuz. Foreign affairs reporter Kassia Kiva has the latest.
The drone struck a Singaporean flagged cargo ship passing through the street on Thursday. It is the first attack against a cargo ship by Iran since June 12th, and it comes as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had started to tick up over the past week. The strike is another dent in an already tenuous ceasefire signed by the U.S. and Iran on June 17th.
Chapter 3: What is the current status of the U.S. Men's World Cup team?
President Trump condemned the attack as a, quote, foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement, though he stopped short of threatening retaliation. Iran claimed a clause in the ceasefire gave it authority to manage marine traffic in the Strait. And just before the attack, the U.S.
and other Gulf countries in a joint statement had called for the free, unconditional and unrestricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Israeli and Lebanese officials Friday to sign a new U.S.-backed framework agreement, calling it a first step towards peace after months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
The death toll continues to climb in Venezuela as emergency responders race to find survivors after Wednesday's back-to-back earthquakes. Venezuelan officials say at least 235 people are confirmed dead, but the government believes that as many as 50,000 are still missing. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the death toll from the quakes could reach 10,000.
At the time of this update, the so-called golden window to find survivors, which is 48 to 72 hours after an incident, is almost closed. After that, the likelihood of survival for people buried under rubble plummets. Search and rescue can then quickly turn into recovery operations.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Iranian drone strike on peace talks?
Meanwhile, Venezuelan rescue teams have received help on the ground from others from Mexico, Chile, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Switzerland. The U.S. has also offered aid.
A North Carolina man admitted to orchestrating health care fraud in a kickback scheme that stole $60 million from taxpayers. Reporter Zach Jewell has the details.
James Shuford Price III owned a Los Angeles-based company called Golden Star Labs. Price has admitted that he filed false tax returns for his company and bought sham test specimens in order to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal of millions of dollars, according to the New York Post.
The FBI has seized $6 million from Price's home, and the North Carolina native faces 13 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Former Trump advisor John Bolton pleaded guilty today to one charge and an 18-count indictment in his classified documents case. He pleaded guilty to a charge of unauthorized possession of a document related to national defense, which carries a max sentence of 10 years. However, Bolton and prosecutors agreed that he should serve no more than five years.
Under the terms of his plea, Bolton agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine. He also faces a mandatory debrief with a U.S. Intelligence Committee, three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service. U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes announced the plea deal.
Mr. Bolton knew how to handle classified information, where it should be stored, how it should be stored, and with whom he could share that information. He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information. Nevertheless, as Mr. Bolton just admitted, he put our national security at grave risk in violation of the law.
The judge in the case is required to sentence Bolton within 90 days, though Bolton could rescind his guilty plea before sentencing.
New York City has enacted a rent freeze on over 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The rent freeze, a key campaign promise of Mayor Mamdani, was passed with a 7-1 vote by the Rent Guidelines Board. Six of the board members were appointed earlier this year by Mamdani.
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Chapter 5: How many casualties are reported from the earthquakes in Venezuela?
Parents must also consent to euthanasia. This procedure has drawn harsh criticism from Catholics and other pro-life advocates, with Joseph Meany from the National Catholic Bioethics Center calling this a, quote, grave ethical violation, stating that euthanasia is, quote, intrinsically evil and that euthanasia of a child is worse because a child cannot give consent.
Pharmaceutical and biotech giant Bayer got a major legal win yesterday. Reporter Drew Berkmeyer has the details.
The Supreme Court cleared the company in a lawsuit over its liability for potential cancer risks in the pesticide Roundup. Roundup was developed by Monsanto before it was acquired by Bayer. That acquisition has since cost Bayer billions of dollars and thousands of lawsuits.
The court's ruling shot down the most effective argument attorneys have made against Bayer, that it failed to warn users of its potential cancer risks. Bayer argued that the product met government standards. Bayer now has the opportunity to separate its agriculture side of the business from its pharmaceutical side, a change that investors have pushed for for years.
The U.S. men's World Cup team lost in the final minutes of stoppage time last night against Turkey 3-2. Despite the loss, though, the U.S. has advanced to the round of 32, where it will face off against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That's a knockout round, so whoever loses is out while the winner advances to the round of 16. That's another knockout round that starts on July 4th.
Meanwhile, in other World Cup news, Customs and Border Protection has intercepted massive amounts of counterfeit World Cup merch. Immigration reporter Jenny Tehr has the story.
CBP told the Daily Wire that in a recent five-day operation dubbed Protect the Pitch, border officers in Cincinnati seized 68 shipments of counterfeit jerseys, shirts, shorts, shoes, hats, jewelry, and other merch. If they'd been authentic, the nearly 3,000 items had a retail value of over $250,000. The shipments included 1,500 FIFA jerseys,
300 pairs of shorts, 200 pairs of footwear, 150 hats, 80 shirts, and 290 other World Cup related items that originated in Mexico and Colombia.
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 crews racing to rescue survivors in Venezuela, the Trump administration taking a victory lap over SCOTUS rulings, and Trump winning over Republican senators on Iran. Thanks for tuning in.
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