NPR, PBS Heads Testify & Trump’s Voter ID EO | Afternoon Update | 3.26.25

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The Atlantic publishes more so-called signal chat war plans, Trump moves to rein in federal election law, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott gets the final word. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
It's Wednesday, March 26th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. The White House is pushing back against the Atlantic after the magazine published more signal messages regarding airstrikes in Yemen.
Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice has the latest. The new message appears to show timing and targets for the strikes.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists no classified material was shared. The White House backed up that claim today while accusing the outlet of sensationalizing the leak.
Vice President J.D. Vance and other officials maintained the information was already known to allies and not a threat to national security.
Still, many on the left are calling for heads to roll, demanding that Hegseth and other officials step down. Meanwhile, U.S.
intelligence officials, including the heads of the FBI and CIA, testified today on Capitol Hill. Here's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The president and national security advisor, Walt, held a press conference yesterday with a clear message. It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a signal chat with high-level national security principals, having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strike.
National security Advisor has taken full responsibility for this.

Sparks flew today during a Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee hearing

regarding federal funding for public broadcast. NPR CEO Catherine Marr and PBS President Paula

Kerger both testified. The subcommittee chair Marjorie Taylor Greene argues that these outlets

are supposed to be for all Americans, but no longer are. Here's an exchange in which the NPR chief admits it's concerning that all 87 members of her editorial board are registered Democrats.
I would agree with you that that number is a concern if it is accurate. I do believe that we need to have journalists who represent the full breadth of the American society so that we can report well for all Americans.
Kerger, for her part, argues that the future of local stations is at stake if federal support is lost. She also says she believes her outlet is fair, nonpartisan and objective.
Here she is being grilled by Representative Pat Fallon on the number of times PBS used the term far right versus far left. There was an analysis done on PBS's NewsHour from June to November of 2023, where they found that far right was that term was used 162 times and far left was only used six times.
Do you find that troubling? I don't know the study that you're referring to, and I'd love to be very interested in seeing it and understanding how they came up with those numbers. Media Research Center did a six-month analysis, and it's not how you find it.
You say far right, it's terms. They use the term far right 162 times, far left six times.
That's a 96 to 4 percent skew. President Trump is tightening federal voting rules, signing an executive order regarding who can vote.
The order requires government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and directs that all ballots be reviewed by Election Day.
It also ties federal election funding to state compliance and aims to block counting of late-arriving mail ballots. Voting rights groups say the move could disenfranchise millions, but Trump says it's about protecting election integrity.
President Trump's cabinet is filling out, particularly in the area of health. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the details.
The president's picks for both the FDA and NIH have been confirmed by the Senate. Dr.
Marty McCary, a Johns Hopkins professor and former Fox News medical contributor, was confirmed last night in a 56 to 54 vote. Stanford professor Dr.
Jay Bhattacharya was also confirmed last night that was through a party line vote. During the confirmation hearings, McCary faced questions on vaccine oversight and food safety.
He criticized past decisions by the Biden administration and pledged to focus on food-related health issues like childhood obesity. A message that's resonated with moms across the country regardless of their politics.
A smarter FDA that works for all Americans should be a goal we can all agree on. As a scientist who has spent a career evaluating medical interventions.
I believe in the scientific process.

Bhattacharya told senators that he plans to promote transparency, support dissenting research, and prioritize projects that directly improve public health. If confirmed, I will establish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH.
Over the last two years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of cover-up, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs. This episode is brought to you by Fast Growing Trees.
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A Senate resolution condemning the far left attacks on Tesla will soon reach the chamber floor. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn told Morning Wire that this resolution says the Senate stands against those acts of violence.
While many Democratic lawmakers have been silent regarding what Blackburn describes as acts of domestic terrorism, she says this will give them the opportunity to speak up. We have lived through four years where every time you turned around, they were talking about domestic terrorism.
They were calling parents that went to school board meetings as domestic terrorists.

They were calling individuals that would stand across the street from a planned parenthood and pray for the women and the unborn children. And they would call that domestic terrorism.
And now we are going through this where they're actually firebombing and shooting up Tesla dealerships and nothing is being said. And Texas Governor Greg Abbott is firing back after a Democratic congresswoman mocked his disability.
Representative Jasmine Crockett called Abbott, quote, Governor Hot Wheels during a speech in Los Angeles, which sparked bipartisan backlash. Abbott, who's used a wheelchair since a 1984 accident, tells Fox News the insult shows Democrats have nothing to sell but hate.
The reality is they have no vision, no policy. They have nothing to sell but hate.
And Americans are not buying it. It's one reason why Texas is going to remain red and why Republicans are going to continue to win elections across the country.
The bottom line is that Republican states like Texas are leading the way. And with comments like this by Democrats, we will just leave them in the dust in future elections.
Crockett later claimed her remarks were about Abbott's migrant policies, not his disability. A House resolution to censure her is now being introduced by a fellow Texas representative, Randy Weber.
Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some important stories, including the latest in the signal chat snafu, the debate around SNAP benefits for junk food, and the sweeping deregulatory action from the EPA.

Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.