Chapter 1: What led to the recent violence in Mexico following El Mencho's death?
The Jalisco cartel declares war on the Mexican government after their leader is taken out.
These are not drug cartels. These are terrorists and they've been designated. And that's why they're scrambling now at levels that we really haven't seen.
I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 24th, and this is Morning Wire.
President Trump takes to the stage tonight for his State of the Union, while Democrats gear up to voice their dissent.
This is not business as usual. I will not give him the audience he craves for the lies that he tells. And the Epstein files lead to another high-profile arrest in the UK, the former ambassador to the US.
His nickname was the Prince of Darkness. So there was always something of the night about him.
Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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Chapter 2: How are U.S. and Mexican governments collaborating on cartel issues?
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With help from the U.S., Mexican special forces on Sunday killed the longtime Jalisco cartel leader known as El Mincho. With a U.S. bounty of $15 million, he was regarded as one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world.
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Chapter 3: What impact does El Mencho's death have on U.S. drug trafficking?
Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about what happened in Mexico over the weekend and what it means for Americans. So, Tim, this exploded all over social media on Sunday. There was chaos and violence across Mexico as the cartel struck back at the Mexican government. Many Americans are still trapped in the country. What do we need to know about what happened? Right.
The first point to note is that El Mencho is maybe the most powerful drug lord in the world. This was a major step by Mexico and a big win for the United States as well. Groups like the Jalisco Cartel are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans a year through the drug trade.
The second point is that, like you said, there are many Americans essentially trapped in Mexico right now because the violence has closed down roads and airports. And at least a couple dozen Mexican National Guardsmen have been killed so far in the fighting. But so far, we haven't seen any reports of Americans directly caught up in it, and we hope it stays that way.
Now, President Trump has taken a pretty aggressive stance toward these drug cartels, labeling them as terror organizations and leaning on Mexico through tariffs and other measures to really take action against them. Did that pressure play into this operation? Yeah, well, first credit for the operation has to go to the Mexican government and the special forces that carried it out.
Chapter 4: What can we expect from President Trump's upcoming State of the Union address?
But to your point, the United States did play a role in the operation and also in pushing the Mexican government to be more aggressive in fighting the cartels. Morning Wire spoke to former DEA acting administrator Derek Maltz about it. Maltz led the DEA Special Operations Division for a decade before he retired and is an expert on the drug trade that has flooded the U.S.
And he said that this is an unmistakable signal to cartels that President Trump is serious about taking them out.
recently in January, 37 high-level operatives were removed from Mexico to the United States. And this is because of the leadership of not only our president, but President Scheinbaum and Omar Hafoosh down there, the security director. So this kind of activity is not being reported enough for people to understand that this is sustained activity, relentless work being done
And Maltz says it's that kind of relentless effort that is necessary to combat these drug cartels. Aside from the actual military aspect of it, Maltz said that the United States should invest more in educating Americans about the dangers of the cartel's products, everything from marijuana and its synthetics to fentanyl, cocaine, and meth.
Now, there's been an explosion of violence in the past 48 hours in 20 of Mexico's 31 states. It's been reported there are at least 250 narco blockades. Those are cars or buses set in flames to block traffic. How likely is it that President Trump sends in American military to assist?
Right, but it's worth keeping in perspective that the Mexican government does have a lot of experience dealing with the cartels. And according to Maltz, as long as the Mexican government continues to cooperate to the extent that it is, he doesn't foresee any direct U.S.
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Chapter 5: How are Democrats planning to counter President Trump's address?
military involvement, though the U.S. will continue to support these operations like it has been.
This administration, knowing the important partnership that we have with the Mexican government, that this administration is very experienced, especially with the State Department as well with Marco Rubio. They're actually going to give them the benefit of the doubt. They're going to watch their actions, not their words. And right now we're seeing really good activity.
That said, this is new territory in some respects for the war against these cartels, and it's always possible that the violence could lead to major problems. Here's Maltz on what he thinks will happen after this latest operation.
My instinct is telling me that it's going to be contained. It's going to obviously be in pockets of areas that these cartels are kind of running wild in right now. I think that Mexico has a lot of experience over the years in dealing with this type of violence and aggression. But I would say the one thing that is a little different now, people have to remember that
Our president declared these cartels as terrorists and they're going to be gone. We're going to be going after them like we have never done before in the history of America. So that obviously is going to potentially increase some of the violence.
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Chapter 6: What are the allegations against former U.K. Ambassador Peter Mandelson?
Well, it's worth reiterating the enormous damage these groups have done to not just Mexico, but Americans. Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. This episode is sponsored by BrickHouse Nutrition. You've probably heard about those weight loss injections that everyone's been talking about, and for good reason. The results can be pretty incredible.
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Chapter 7: What consequences could Peter Mandelson face if found guilty?
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President Trump will speak to the nation tonight as he delivers the annual State of the Union address, a speech that's sure to garner wall-to-wall coverage and protests from his critics.
Here to discuss is Daily Wire's White House correspondent, Mary Margaret Olihan. Morning. So you're going to be part of Daily Wire's live coverage tonight. I should note that. First, give us a preview. What should we expect from the president tonight?
Well, good morning, you two. And yes, I will be live from the Capitol this evening. As we know, the president is very aware of the victories of his administration.
And we're guessing tonight that he'll be focused heavily on his economic wins, on his progress securing the border, deporting illegal immigrants, ending almost 10 wars, reassessing his foreign victories and his relationships with foreign dignitaries all over the world.
Cleaning up American cities, making our cities safer, championing American workers, strengthening the United States military, making it far less woke, Maha wins, and so much more.
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Chapter 8: How does Mandelson's case compare to other Epstein-related investigations?
He's going to be focused on all of this, and he's predicted that his remarks will be pretty lengthy, and I think we can guess that he will be accurate in his assessment.
Yeah, we're all prepping for a very long night as well. So an exhausting list of topics that he'll likely dive into, like we usually see with these so-tos. What do you think his main focus will be?
Yeah, so I'm predicting the president is going to be very heavily focused on his handling of the immigration crisis. As we know, John and Georgia, we haven't seen illegals coming across our border in many months now. What we've seen is many, many deportations.
Obviously, this has led to what some would call a crisis in Minneapolis, Minnesota, prompting Tom Homan to head out there and deal with the mess. But he has, in fact, dealt with this very adeptly, and Trump officials are very happy with him. And on Monday morning at the White House, the president hosted a number of angel families.
Not only do these families have these tragic stories to share highlighting the dangers of illegal immigration, but they also are strong supporters of the president and his agenda. Laura Wilkerson, for example, she shared the story of her son's traumatic murder in 2010 at the hands of an illegal immigrant and how the president treated her in the wake of that murder.
Here's a little bit of what she had to say.
As I told him the story of how our youngest son, Joshua, was brutally beaten, tortured, strangled to death, and his body set on fire. The man next to me was President Trump. He never, ever looked away from my pain. He looked me straight in the eye and he said, I will never forget the story of your sweet son, and I will never give up fighting for the American family.
Members of the president's comms team were very quick to point out the media outlets that weren't covering this event. They were very strongly criticizing CNN, for example.
And we can guess that tonight during the State of the Union coverage, they'll be very happy that the president will have the attention of pretty much every network in the country, if not the world, to talk about these issues as well.
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