Rubio Boots Iran Delegation & Fentanyl Deaths Drop 55%? | 10.2.26

Okay, first, before we give you the facts of the day, Run, Hide, Fight Infidels is streaming now only on Daily Wire. It's an ode to the great action movies of the 80s and 90s. There's even a love story, which nobody expected. And you can support Daily Wire's mission to continue making movies that people actually want to watch. Go check it out. Well, polls tell you what voters said at one moment. But Kalsha gives you another way to follow a race, a live market that moves as traders respond to new information. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers are competing in one of Kalsha's most traded midterm matchups. You can visit Kalsha's midterms hub to track how the market views the race and then trade an event contract on the outcome you think is going to happen. If you're right at settlement, each winning contract is worth $1. See the market, make your call, trade what happens next on Kalsha. Use code DAILY, D-A-I-L-Y, to get up to $25 when you trade $25. That's Kalsha, K-A-L-S-H-I, Kalsha, trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contracts trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Kalsha products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, you can go see Kalsha.com slash regulatory. Marco Rubio sends Iranian negotiators packing after peace talks stall while President Trump signals Iran had a role in two thwarted terror attacks. Iran was involved in the RAF Fairford failed terror plot. How will you respond? With confirmation, but it's looking like that. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. Georgia Howe is off this morning. It's Friday, October 2nd. This is Morning Wire. Amid a federal crackdown on drug trafficking and border crossings, opioid overdose deaths plummet. We talked to an official leading the drug trade. And now the police are empowered to do their jobs. It's about law and order and saving American lives. And we get the latest on the fallout from a botched execution that made national headlines. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. We spend a lot of time here on Morning Wire talking about the American economy and the people who keep it running. That includes the farmers and ranchers producing the food we eat every day. American ranchers are competing with cheaper imported meat. And over time, that can make it harder for family farms and ranches to keep doing what they do. So if supporting American agriculture matters to you, it's worth knowing where your meat actually comes from. That's something I appreciate about good ranchers. Every cut they send is clearly labeled, born, raised and harvested in the USA. Good ranchers works with more than 100 local farmers and ranchers to deliver 100% American meat directly to your door. And the quality is excellent. 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Well, what drove that, John, is that the Iranian delegation that had gone to the United Nations General Assembly was, let's just say they were, you know, taking their sweet time when it came to leaving New York City and thereabouts. They were having some fun, I think, enjoying the fruits of capitalism here in the West. And I think that Marco Rubio, properly understanding that if there's not going to be any progress on these negotiations, why is he letting these people, you know, have a fun time in the big city? Instead, he basically said, you've got to get these people out by the end of the day today. And that meant that the Iranian delegation had to go back to the lovely confines of Iran, which are a lot less fun than Manhattan. Right, especially now. So Trump is saying strikes might be coming, but after the midterms. What's the move there? What's he doing politically? Well, I think that he's sending a signal that the Iranians need to come to the table and absolutely reach some kind of negotiated settlement that really, I think, you know, will set the stage for what people understand to be the new reality, how the Strait of Hormuz is controlled, et cetera, going forward. And the indication that he has is that essentially, and I think this is a subtext that will be understood by all of our listeners, if the midterms go bad for Republicans, Trump's response is not going to be to be softer on the Iranians. I think quite the opposite. I think, in fact, he is, in particular, indicating that he could ramp things up and ramp them up significantly because on a certain level, I think he will blame Iran for their intransigence as having a domestic political effect that was negative for him. You definitely could see that from Trump. Now, we also have authorities in the U.K. arresting a dual British-Iranian national in connection with the thwarted terror plot from the weekend. What's the latest there? You know, this is a situation and a story that we have very little knowledge of. They really haven't come forward with a lot of the evidence and the details associated with it. We do know a few things involved, including, you know, that there were multiple participants in this. The theory has been floated by the U.K. press and by others around them that this was something where the Iranians perhaps contracted with criminal elements in order to try to pull off something that would be damaging, of course, to a U.S. ally. And I think that in this case, what we also know is that at least one of those participants perhaps got cold feet and went to the authorities, which is why it was thwarted in the first place. Beyond that and whether this was something that was organized at a higher level by Iran, we just don't know that yet. Meanwhile, Netanyahu says, you know, Iran is involved and Marco Rubio has said a foreign actor is definitely involved, so something to watch there. As for this other thwarted attack, the fly Dubai plane hijacking, we've learned more about the suspect in that case. President Trump has signaled that Iran may have had some role in that attack as well. What have we learned so far? Well, this is, you know, an al-Mahdi person who was, you know, the co-pilot in this situation, who created this incredible story and really a story of bravery on the part of both passengers and crew. But whether that was something that came directly from Iran or was simply inspired by one person's individual radicalization, that's not something that we know yet. And I think that that's, you know, certainly possible. The president's theory, in this case, seems to be that the Iranians were involved and obviously he's seeing intelligence that we aren't about that. But this is going to be something where we're going to have to lean, I think, on the Saudi Arabians in order to get some answers to this question, just given the fact that, you know, this is someone who we know relatively little about other than surface-level commentary from those who knew him. That's something that has to be delved into because, obviously, if this is the kind of thing that Iran is trying to make happen, it would be a new front in terms of the way that they have approached terror historically. They are the number one state sponsor overwhelmingly over the last several decades, and that's something that is certainly in the realm of possibility. Indeed. Well, lots to keep track of on the Iran front, as always. Ben, thank you so much for coming on. Great to be with you. 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Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to Quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Morning Wire. It's the best way to support the show. The crackdown at the southern border in an aggressive campaign to curb the trafficking of drugs from Central and South America appear to be having a dramatic impact on overdose deaths in the U.S. Joining us now with more is Sarah Carter, Director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Sarah, thank you so much for coming on. Oh, thank you so much for having me, John. I greatly appreciate it. So first, tell us about the Office of National Drug Control Policy. What exactly do you do? Our office works directly with the White House. We basically oversee all the government agencies agencies that handle the drug crisis. So right now we have over $42.8 billion worth of taxpayer money that is sent out across the federal government from HHS, Health and Human Services, all the way to the Department of War. And it is our job to ensure that all of the agencies are actually moving the money to where the president needs it to be so that it follows the president's national drug control strategy, which is what we unveiled earlier this year and focused directly on both the supply as well as the demand side. It's very important for us to look at both sides of this, whether it's the supply issue dealing with the cartels, designation of some of them as foreign terrorist organizations, as well as those that are on our streets and the people affected every day, not just by the violence that the cartels have pushed on our nation through the- the sale of narcotics, but also the recovery and going through treatment. I just got stressed out thinking about the scope of your work. That sounds crazy and complicated. It's everything. We wanted specifically to ask you about the massive decrease in opioid deaths, fentanyl deaths are down 55 percent, heroin deaths near 90 percent, I think 89 percent from their peaks. What's driving this downward motion? It's an all-encompassing effort. It's a whole government operation. to targeting the cartels and to targeting the issue on our streets. So going from a national level all the way to an international level, because the cartel scope is global. They move their product, not just in our hemisphere, but to Africa. Right now, what we are seeing is an enormous decrease from the highest levels. And you mentioned, you know, 55 percent reduction in fentanyl, over 89 percent reduction in deaths in heroin. But listen to this, over 40 percent reduction in heroin deaths in Africa. That's an enormous decrease. That's an overall poisoning and deaths since its peak in 2023. These are more people alive today. They're with their families. They have another chance at life. And that is what we want to do. That is our mission is to save American lives and to ensure that we are following through with our strategy. And it's because of President Trump that I've actually been able to do this. So this is remarkable. Before you go, we'd like to ask also about Kratom. This is something that's starting to die. We believe in connection with consumption of a synthetic drug that's meant to mimic Kratom. What should we know about this drug? Is it harmful in its regular form? Is regulation incoming? Yeah. So let me begin. Yes, you're very accurate on what you're saying. Kratom is a plant. It's been around forever. What has happened is, you know, you're hearing about 7-hydroxymetrogeny. They take the metrogeny out of the Kratom and it's becoming, and they synthesize it. They make it a synthetic drug. They synthesize it. They synthesize it. And they synthesize it. And they make it a drug. And it is out on the market. And when you talked about laws, both on the books and new laws, on August 26th, there was emergency scheduling of metrogeny, pseudosignal, and as well as MGM-15 and MGM-16. And all three on August 26th were made illegal, like banned in this emergency schedule for the next year. Right now, there is an intent to schedule 7-OH. That is going to happen. And it's going to happen. And it's going soon. But what we can say right now is that on August 26th, before any of this happened, MGM 15 was banned and it was still being sold apparently and allegedly in these shops. Well, I know I've been personally stunned by some of the overdose numbers from the last few years. It is great to see those numbers coming down and obviously a lot of effort being put into bringing that trend down. Hey, thank you so much for having me on, John. Thank you. Well, polls tell you what voters said at one moment, but Calshi gives you another way to follow a race, a live market that moves as traders respond to new information. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers are competing in one of Calshi's most traded midterm matchups. You can visit Calshi's midterms hub to track how the market views the race and then trade an event contract on the outcome you think is going to happen. See the market, make your call, trade what happens next. On Calshi, use code DAILY, D-A-I-L-Y, to get up to $25 when you trade $25. That's Calshi, K-A-L-S-H-I, Calshi, trade on anything. 18 plus only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Calshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. For more information, you can go see Calshi.com slash regulatory. The governor here in Tennessee, has paused all executions through the end of the year after a second lethal injection attempt against a woman convicted of murder failed. Here with more is host of That's So Criminal, Lyndon Blake. Hey, Lyndon, so we always bring you on for this really cheery subject matter, but you are our true crime investigator, and you've looked into this for your show. This is a, you know, it's a dark case, but it's turned into a national story, and it also has statewide implications now. So fill us in first. Why is this woman on death row? Yeah, so Krista Pike, 30 years ago, back in 1995, was charged with the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slimmer. They were both students at this Job Corps center in Knoxville, Tennessee. It seemed that Krista Pike thought that Colleen was trying to take her boyfriend, teenage drama, so to speak. But Krista, along with two other individuals, lured the woman into this abandoned area near UT's campus, tortured her, murdered her. Krista actually kept a piece of Colleen Slimmer's skull after she took a piece of asphalt and beat Colleen's skull into the ground. It was very gruesome. Krista was arrested within days, put on trial for the murder. And because she was tried as an adult at 18 years old, she got the death penalty to Daryl Shipp was 17. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. All right, so she's on death row for, what, 30 years, the first woman to be executed in 200 years. So what exactly happened this week? I want to start out with the statistic that about 7% of lethal injections get botched. But between Alabama, Tennessee, over the last several years, there has been a lot. I've covered many. So what happened in this case is they went to inject Krista Pike. And at first, she didn't go to sleep like you're supposed to. She was feeling something weird in her arm to the point where she could sit up and actually say, is my arm supposed to feel like this? Is burning? So they tried again. And then she was snoring. It basically put her to sleep. We now know she's in critical condition at a local hospital. And what her attorney said on Thursday afternoon that he thinks went wrong is she has this blood disorder, apparently. And he thinks the lethal drug didn't go into her bloodstream, but went throughout her arm. Now, in other cases where lethal injections have failed, it's because the people administering the dose couldn't find a vein. So that wasn't the cause. They're still doing the investigation. But it seems like they didn't find the vein with Krista Pike either, and that the lethal dose never entered her bloodstream. All right. So she's now in critical condition. And meanwhile, the governor has issued this stay of executions for the rest of the year. What do we know about his order? What exactly are they reviewing in this time? Yeah. So it's going to be a third-party investigation into what went wrong. Sometimes when these things go wrong, immediately you know why. But this is very normal for a victim's family. It's very bad. It's very bad for the victim's family, Colleen Slimmer's mom, who drove up from Florida to watch the execution. It's a tragic situation all around because stuff is supposed to be put in place where things go correctly. So right now, Krista Pike is going to go back on death row. Having something go wrong during an execution does not get rid of her sentence. But it's going to be a while, as we know, for it to be carried out because it's October, not going to happen the rest of this year. And a lot of times, you go back on for multiple years after your execution was botched. So potentially several years. Potentially several years. Back in Alabama, when they had two botched lethal executions in 2022, both of those men were eventually put to death by a different method two years later in 2024. Meanwhile, this case has gained national attention, like we said, with this very gendered debate around it, like some other cases we've been watching. Look, it's Friday. Can you give us something a little bit more positive to end on for a final note here? Well, we talked a lot about Tennessee and the Vols have a big football game against the Auburn Tigers, my alma mater, on Saturday. And you might be wondering, what does this have to do with crime? Well, it turns out this week, a former Auburn staffer was arrested on felony charges of sharing trade secrets from the Auburn football team with rival schools. The guy's name is. Felony charges for this? Yeah, it's serious. College football is serious. And David Jenrath is his name. He's from Franklin, Tennessee. He allegedly was enrolled at the University of Tennessee, so everyone's wondering, this is a pretty ironic week for all this news to come out. But yeah, he was under investigation and eventually. turned himself in. All right, so he may have provided an advantage to Tennessee against your team. 100% correct, and that's so criminal. Something else to keep our eye on. Lyndon, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks, Sean. Thanks for waking up with us. The reporting that fuels this show is only possible because you tune in every day and because of all of our Daily Wire subscribers. To enjoy the show ad-free and join our mission, become a member at dailywire.com. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know. The midterms are not just one national race. They're dozens of individual contests, each reacting to its own headlines and developments. In Maine, Troy Jackson and Susan Collins are competing in one of CalShe's most actively traded Senate markets. Track the race live in CalShe's midterms hub and trade the outcome you believe will happen. A correct contract is worth $1 at settlement. Don't just watch the race. Take your position on CalShe. Use code DAILY, D-A-I-L-Y, to get up to $1. $25 when you trade at $25. It's CalShe, K-A-L-S-H-I, CalShe. Trade on anything. 18 plus only. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CalShe products are not available in all jurisdictions. For more information, see calshe.com slash regulatory.