Evening Wire: Trump’s ‘No Boots’ Promise & Pritzker Prioritizes Illegals | 8.19.25

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Trump says no to American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

The DOJ is expected to soon release more Epstein files.

And Chris Pratt calls out the president's haters.

I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe.

It's Tuesday, August 19th, and this is Evening Wire.

President Trump says there will be no American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Speaking on Fox and Friends, Trump vowed U.S.

troops won't fight in the Russia-Ukraine war, though he noted France, Germany, or the U.K.

may eventually deploy forces.

What kind of assurances do you feel like you have that going forward, you know, past this Trump administration, it won't be American boots on the ground defending that border?

Well, you have my assurance.

You're not president, and I'm just trying to stop people from being killed.

He revealed plans for Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky to meet in the coming weeks, with U.S.

officials, including Vice President J.D.

Vance, helping to coordinate.

Trump says if he can save 7,000 lives a week, it may even help him get into heaven.

Attorney General Pam Bondi says that residents of Washington, D.C.

are thanking law enforcement for finally cracking down on crime since President Trump's takeover.

Here's the AG talking to Fox business host Larry Kudlow Monday.

Our law enforcement officers are telling us that people are coming up to them on the street.

And they said a lot of people are walking by whispering, saying, thank you, thank you, thank you.

They're hearing stories every single night and day of people saying that they feel safe now to walk their own neighborhood where they live because of what our great and men great men and women in law enforcement are doing at the directive of the president the dc police union has begun releasing stats on the crime situation in the capital since the orders last week from trump and things have greatly improved In just one week, robbery is down 46%, violent crime is down 22%, and carjacking has plummeted by 83%.

The DOJ will miss miss today's deadline to hand over the Jeffrey Epstein files to Congress.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer says the DOJ will start releasing records Friday with redactions to protect victims, but offered no timeline for the full set.

Democrats on the panel called the delay unacceptable, while Comer confirmed that former Attorney General Bill Barr testified Monday, saying he saw no evidence linking Donald Trump to Epstein's crimes.

In a major shakeup at the FBI, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was named a co-deputy director.

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce says more.

The new co-deputy will be serving alongside Dan Bongino under FBI Director Cash Patel.

Bailey received praise from Attorney General Pam Bondi as a tremendous asset to advancing President Trump's mission.

Bailey, who will step down on September 8th, thanked Missourians for what he called the honor of his career.

As Attorney General, Bailey was a sharp Biden critic, suing over everything from student loan cancellation to immigration data.

The former AG won't need Senate confirmation.

In California, Republicans along with the Dillon Law Group are moving to stop Governor Newsom's controversial redistricting plan.

A petition filed by the group claims Democratic leaders violated the state constitution's 30-day review period by using a gut and amend maneuver to rush new maps through the legislature.

GOP lawmakers say the move strips Californians of their right to transparency.

Here's Dillon Law Group partner Michael Colombo at a press conference earlier today.

If we believe that elections should be fair, if we believe that redistricting should be done by citizens in an independent way and not politicians, then you stick by those principles.

And he clearly has shown he doesn't want to do that.

And we're going to go to the courts to hold him in check.

Illinois Governor J.B.

Pritzker expanded financial aid to illegal immigrants last week, as well as trans-identifying men who do not register for the draft.

The new law aims to create, quote, equitable eligibility for financial aid and benefits for all students in the state.

Representative Mary Miller thrashed the bill, calling it a slap in the face to Illinois families.

In a post on X, Miller noted that Illinois is on track to spend $2.5 billion on illegal immigrants this year and faces a $3.2 billion deficit.

She added that Illinois taxpayers have had enough.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu snapped back at Attorney General Bondi over her city's so-called sanctuary policies.

Bondi threatened federal prosecution to the leaders of several blue cities last week should they fail to cooperate with immigration enforcement.

Wu replied to the letter in a press conference this morning.

Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures.

To all the federal officials attacking communities that embody diversity, creativity, and moral clarity.

You are wrong on the law and you are wrong on safety.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson received a similar letter from the DOJ and responded in the same vein, saying, quote, Washington state has no intention of changing our values in the face of threats from the trump administration an illegal migrant caught working as a police officer in maine has agreed to voluntarily self-deport daily wire reporter amanda pressashacomo has the details a jamaican national named john luke evans overstayed a week-long visa in october 2023 and he was later hired as a reserve police officer by the old orchard beach police department Evans reportedly passed an e-verified background check by DHS, which erroneously found that he had a valid work work permit.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said that the department had a reckless reliance on the e-Verify program and should have done their own research to confirm Evans' legal status.

Officials in Old Orchard Beach, though, have argued that they did their due diligence and would not have hired Evans if it had been flagged properly.

Virginia's notoriously left-wing Loudoun County School District has just handed down a controversial punishment to two boys.

Daily Wire investigative reporter reporter Luke Roziak has the story.

The Loudoun County Public Schools punished two boys who attend Stone Bridge High School because they asked why a trans-identifying female was using the boys' locker room.

The district's Title IX office says the boys are responsible for sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination.

The kids' lawyer says they've been slapped with 10 days of suspension and have to come up with a corrective action plan.

The evidence against them was a video secretly recorded in the locker room by the girl, which violated school policy, but she was not punished.

The district apparently declined to punish a third boy, who, unlike the other two, was Muslim.

Stonebridge is the same high school where a boy wearing a skirt raped a girl in the girl's bathroom in 2021.

The Loudoun School Board has maintained its transgender policy, refusing federal pressure to drop it.

Canadian opposition leader Pierre Polyev is returning to parliament after a shocking defeat in April.

Polyev's Conservative Party led in the polls in the months leading up to the last election, but quickly lost ground after Mark Carney replaced unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the ticket.

A falling out with the U.S.

over trade disputes caused many Canadians to rally behind the incumbent Liberals.

Polyev lost his seat in an upset defeat, limiting his ability to challenge Kearney in parliament.

This time, Polyev ran in a safe conservative district in a special election after another Conservative MP stepped down to create a vacancy for him.

An Atlanta judge caused a stir by incorrectly reading a verdict in court.

The defendant, Alton Oliver, was accused of shooting an off-duty police officer in December of 2022, but he was found not guilty on all counts.

But yesterday, Judge Henry Newkirk said otherwise before quickly correcting himself.

We, the jury, find the defendant guilty as to all six counts of the abdolent indictment.

Didn't I say not?

No, Mr.

Jerry.

Hollywood star Chris Pratt called out people mired in hatred for Trump in a recent interview with Bill Maher.

Here's some of the exchange.

I'd hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I'd have an allergic reaction to.

To be like, oh, well, if they do it, I don't want it to happen.

I'll feed my, I'll put Clorox in my children's cereal myself.

You know, say, come on, have some, be reasonable here.

There's certain things that would be a good thing to have.

I want them all to be successful.

The actor also told Maher that he socializes with RFK Jr., who's head of health and human services.

Pratt's married to the daughter of former Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Catherine, whose mother, Maria Shriver, is the niece of JFK.

And speaking of RFK Jr., he just squared off against Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth for a fitness challenge in an effort to encourage Americans to be more active.

The two men went head-to-head in what they called the Pete and Bobby Challenge, 50 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, and all in under five minutes.

Presidential Physical Fitness, Make America Healthy Again, Fit, Not Fat.

We're going to have a war-fighting force of young men and women who are prepared to defend the nation.

We're doing it as a team.

Join us.

Pegseth edged out Kennedy, finishing just over the time limit.

They also called on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to do the challenge.

Pretty sure I can beat that.

All right, those are your drive-home updates.

To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.

And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some major stories, including Trump hosting European leaders as he pushes for a peace deal for Ukraine, outrage at California sanctuary laws after an illegal immigrant is involved in a fatal car crash, and the Democrats who fled Texas to block redistricting return.

Thanks for tuning in.

We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morningwire.

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