Evening Wire: Bill Clinton Testifies & MN Church Disruptors Charged | 2.27.26

U.S. forces amass in the Middle East, Bill Clinton testifies on his ties to Epstein, and Marvel star Jonathan Majors is set to star in a new Daily Wire action thriller. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Friday, February 27th, and this is Evening Wire. The U.S. military buildup in the Middle East escalates as the showdown with Iran appears to be coming to a head. Daily Wire foreign affairs reporter Cassie Akiva has the latest. Nuclear talks in Geneva ended yesterday with no real progress, leaving tensions between the United States and Iran high. In response to the ongoing security concerns, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has authorized the departure of non-emergency personnel and eligible family members, with Ambassador Mike Huckabee telling staff in a Friday email that those who wish to leave should, quote, do so today. At the same time, public bomb shelters have been opened in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. The United States is also continuing to strengthen its military presence in the region. Over the past week, 14 American refueling tankers have landed at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport, while F-22 fighter jets have been positioned on the runway at Avta Air Base in southern Israel. Despite the heightened tensions, the State Department confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to Israel on Monday is still on, where he is set to discuss Iran, Lebanon, and the implementation of President Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza. A-list actor Jonathan Majors will return to the screen for the first time in four years, and it'll be for a Daily Wire production. Our culture reporter Megan Basham has more. The 36-year-old star, best known for his roles in Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp, Quantumania, will begin working on the project this week in South Carolina. The as-of-yet unnamed action film is reported to be similar to 80s and 90s classics such as Red Dawn and Toy Soldiers. Kyle Rankin, director of Daily Wire's action thriller Run, Hide, Fight, wrote the screenplay and will serve as director, while Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro and Dallas Saunier of Bonfire Legend are producing the project. After Deadline broke the story this week, Shapiro confirmed Major's role in the film. There were rumors yesterday that The Daily Wire is working with the formal Marvel action star Jonathan Majors to make a brand new action movie. Those rumors are true. And we are ecstatic about this. Jonathan Majors is unbelievably talented The Daily Wire has made an aggressive push into entertainment through Daily Wire Plus releasing several feature films and series in various genres including the Gina Carano starring Western Terror on the Prairie Shut In and most recently The Pendragon Cycle the season finale of which airs next Thursday and which has a really great companion podcast hosted by yours truly Former President Bill Clinton forcefully denied any wrongdoing during his closed-door testimony today, despite the trove of photos of him discovered in the Epstein files. In his two-page opening statement ahead of his House Oversight Committee deposition, Clinton said he saw nothing and did nothing wrong, describing his relationship with Epstein as brief and ending before Epstein's crimes became widely known. He said he never witnessed misconduct and would have acted if he had. Lawmakers are questioning Clinton about his past interactions with Epstein, including travel and foundation ties. Clinton has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing in connection to the Epstein case. At least 1,800 companies have filed lawsuits seeking tariff refunds following the Supreme Court's reversal last week. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jull has more. Companies including Costco, Goodyear, and Barnes & Noble are looking to reclaim the costs of the now-overruled tariffs, which netted the government roughly $130 billion in the 10 months they were in place. The duty now falls on the New York-based Court of International Trade to adjudicate the disputes, but the sheer number of claims will almost certainly leave companies in limbo for years. Although the tariffs were overturned, the Supreme Court ruling did not clearly lay out whether or not the companies who paid them would be entitled to payback, leaving it up to the lower court to decide. Most experts agree the companies will end up receiving refunds with interest, but it could take a long time. 30 more anti-ICE protesters who allegedly interrupted a Minnesota church service last month have been charged. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges today, saying federal agents have already arrested 25 suspects, with more arrests to come. She went on to warn that attacks on houses of worship will be prosecuted. prosecuted. The demonstration took place on January 18th at Cities Church in St. Paul. Several others have already been arrested previously in connection with the incident. Some of those charged have argued they were present as observers or members of the media. The investigation remains ongoing. Have you heard of Gold Belly? 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So if you're looking for that perfect gift or you want to impress your friends and family with an epic meal the next time you host, head over to goldbelly.com to get 20% off your first order with promo code WIRE. That's goldbelly.com code WIRE for 20% off your first order. The Manhattan DA's office says it will not pursue an assault charge against a man accused of pelting police with snowballs during an incident in Washington Square Park. 27-year-old Guzmaine Koulibaly had originally been charged with assault on a police officer, among other charges. But at his arraignment, prosecutors downgraded the charges, citing difficulty proving that an officer's facial injury was directly caused by Koulibaly. In response, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch says she will not tolerate any attacks on her officers. One officer reportedly suffered facial pain and remains on leave. Kulibali was granted supervised release and is expected back in court next month. In a stunning twist in the months-long war between Netflix and Paramount over which company would purchase Warner Brothers, the streaming giant has bowed out. Daily Wire entertainment reporter Amanda Harding has the details. After Warner Brothers released a statement on Thursday saying that the company's board of directors viewed Paramount's latest offer as a superior proposal and that Netflix had four days to respond, the streamer backed out of the bidding war. Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement, quote, at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive. So we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid. The company heads added that they believe Netflix would have taken good care of the Warner Brothers IP and strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. But this transaction was always a nice to have at the right price, not a must-have at any price. Statements that OpenAI's co-founder and CEO Sam Altman made last year over AI user privacy are resurfacing amid a noticeable rise in transviolence Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler has a story Sam Altman said on the Tucker Carlson podcast in September that his ideal policy in the AI space would be giving users the same amount of privilege they enjoy with doctors or lawyers. That is making sure your conversations with chat GPT can never be seen by the government. We have decided that society has an interest in that being privileged and that we don't, and that, you know, a subpoena can't get that, the government can't come asking your doctor for it or whatever. I think we should have the same concept for AI. This is now coming into conflict with a growing number of cases, such as this month's deadly mass shooting in Canada. Months before the trans-identifying shooter opened fire on Tumblr Ridge Secondary School and killed six people, his conversations with ChatGPT, allegedly related to shooting scenarios, raised warning signs among OpenAI employees. Those June 2025 conversations were not reported to law enforcement, though his account was banned. Canadian officials have summoned OpenAI employees for meetings to discuss their handling of the incident. Mortgage rates have fallen below 6% for the first time in more than three years, and the real estate market is hoping that this will get sales rolling again. The current average for a 30-year mortgage rate is now at 5.98%. That's the first time since September of 2022 that the rate's been under 6 percent, and it's down from a high of 7.8 percent in October of 2023. The high rates have severely hurt the housing market over the last year, with would-be buyers reluctant to lock in at the costly rates. And another blue state has started hemorrhaging residents. Over the past five years, Massachusetts has lost a net 200,000 residents to neighboring states. The declining native population was initially masked by foreign immigration, but tighter immigration policies and declining birth rates are hitting the state hard. An analysis from the Pioneer Institute claims that affordability, waning job market competitiveness, and an aging population are contributing to the trend. Massachusetts is one of just four states whose private sector employment levels have not yet bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, and it consistently ranks among the lowest for birth rate. 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 nuclear talks intensifying with Iran, the Clintons facing the House Oversight Committee, and the Trump administration cracking down further on illegal immigrant truckers. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a full edition of Morning Wire.