New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, promised on Thursday to end homeless encampment sweeps when he takes over next month. Mamdani said he would discontinue a priority enacted by current Mayor Eric Adams, who attempted to clear out “makeshift, unsafe houses” that have popped up throughout the city, The New York Post reported. The mayor-elect will stop the sweeps despite city officials receiving more than 45,000 complaints about the homeless encampments so far this year. Mamdani argued that the Adams administration’s policy has failed because it did not connect “homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need.” “We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing,” Mamdani added. “Whether it’s supportive housing, whether it’s rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is, because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact, it’s more often a reflection of a political choice being made.” New York City currently urges residents to “report homeless people who have established encampments on public property,” adding, “In New York City, obstructions and encampments are not allowed.” Mamdani cruised to a landslide mayoral election victory over former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa last month in part because of his focus on affordability and housing. Mamdani vowed to build more affordable housing in the city and said he would push to freeze rents in some apartment buildings. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. He did not specify how he would address complaints about homeless encampments or if he would remove the city’s online complaint portal. New York City’s homeless population has skyrocketed in recent years, largely due to the massive influx of illegal immigrants, according to the New York state government. In January 2022, an estimated 45,343 people were in the city’s homeless shelters. Just two years later, there were nearly 90,000. Mamdani’s opposition to the sweeps is partly based on a 2023 audit released by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, which found that during Mayor Adams’ homeless encampment raids, only a small percentage of homeless people removed from their makeshift housing accepted temporary shelter with the city, Fox News reported. “The evidence is clear: by every measure, the homeless sweeps failed,” Lander argued. The Adams administration has pushed back on the audit, saying that Lander’s findings took the data “out of context.” “Cherry-picking numbers and sharing them out of context paint a disingenuous picture as these cleanups have actually connected more than 500 New Yorkers to safe, stable housing,” City Hall said on Thursday. “New York City continues to have the lowest rate of unsheltered homelessness of any major city in the nation,” City Hall added.

The FBI arrests a suspect linked to the infamous January 6 pipe bomb case, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo ink a peace deal brokered by President Donald Trump, and the border fight goes digital. It’s Friday, December 5, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire: DOJ Says It Finally Caught The J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect Topline: The FBI has arrested a suspect in the January 5, 2021, pipe bomb case. The arrest comes after five years of investigations into who planted two explosive devices outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties. According to the Department of Justice, the election of President Trump marked the start of the search for the suspect in earnest. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel hammered that point in a press conference on the arrest on Thursday.  “The FBI, along with U.S Attorney Pirro and all of our prosecutors, have worked tirelessly for months sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden administration for four long years,” said Bondi. Officials gave much credit to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Even before he was picked to help lead the FBI, Bongino closely followed this case. “You’re not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices, and walk off in the sunset. Not gonna happen. We were gonna track this person to the end of the earth,” said Bongino on Tuesday. The suspect: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Brian Cole Jr., of Woodbridge, Virginia, will be charged with “transporting an explosive device” and “attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials.” Officials refrained from giving many more specifics on the case. At the time of the press conference, the search at Cole’s house hadn’t even concluded. Charging documents released Thursday gave a few more details. Law enforcement said it reviewed Cole’s credit card activity and found that he purchased components consistent with the materials needed to make the bombs between 2018 and 2020. They also reviewed Cole’s cell phone data, which showed him in the area around the RNC and DNC headquarters on January 5. They also caught Cole’s car, a 2017 Nissan Sentra, on a license plate reader about half a mile from where the bombs were placed. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Peace In The Congo And Senate War Crime Hearing Topline: President Trump hosted African leaders on Thursday for the signing of yet another peace deal, as military leaders testified before Congress regarding recent airstrikes on alleged drug smuggling boats. Peace president: Trump hosted leaders from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo–two countries that have been engaged in a bloody conflict for more than a decade. But on Thursday, after negotiations brokered by the president, the two countries signed on to the Washington Accords, which will create a “permanent ceasefire.” Under the agreement, Rwanda will remove all of its troops from Congolese territory, and both sides will cut off all support to militia groups operating there. The presidents of Rwanda and Congo were complimentary of Trump, crediting him with the peace agreement they both signed “I would like to express, quite solemnly, our deep thanks to the President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump. I would like to thank his administration, and I also wish to thank the American people,” Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said. What’s in it for the United States? Despite being among the poorest countries on earth, both Congo and Rwanda are home to enormous deposits of rare-earth minerals. Congo, in particular, is the world’s largest producer of Cobalt and the second largest producer of copper. Trump helped move the deal along by promising that, with economic development spurred on by the United States, “everybody’s going to make a lot of money.” War crime or hoax? Congress is moving full speed ahead on its investigation of the strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. On Thursday, Congress heard closed-door testimony from Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation, and reportedly claimed he was given no orders to kill survivors, contradicting that Washington Post report. Members were also shown footage of the attack. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said it proved the two survivors were “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight.” Democrat members, though, had a very different take. Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said it showed “the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors.” President Trump said he would support making that footage public. The Immigration Information War Topline: As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration crackdown following the attack in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national, it’s also fighting a PR battle against the Democrats and legacy media outlets. Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was just the tip of the iceberg. Since the large-scale deportations began, Democrats and media personalities have glommed onto the stories of any illegal aliens that tug at the heartstrings. Whether or not the story is true does not appear to figure into their calculus. A recent example is CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan. She claimed that nearly half, 48%, of the illegal aliens currently being detained by ICE are being held without any charges or deportation orders.  But DHS fact-checked the claim. It says this is simply “WRONG,” and that about 70% of illegal aliens arrested “have pending criminal charges or criminal convictions.” They then pressed the outlet, asking, “Does CBS really want us to release accused murderers and rapists back on the streets?” Democrats weigh in: Democratic lawmakers are painting the administration as reckless and tyrannical. A recent example is Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who referred to federal agents as kidnappers and parroted a story about a teen taken into custody at school. But DHS pushed back on him as well, saying he’s “missing the facts.” “This 17-year-old used his vehicle to violently ATTACK ICE and Border Patrol agents,” the agency posted. It included a timeline of events that identified the teen as an American citizen — but also identified him as a suspect who had allegedly attacked and impeded federal law enforcement officers. Another Democratic senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, recently responded to the news that a nail salon owner in his state was set to be deported to Vietnam. He said that “Melissa Tran came here on a Green Card at age 11. She’s since raised four kids, started a business, & is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.” But as DHS noted, Van Hollen was “omitting some pesky facts.” The nail salon owner in question had “criminal convictions including grand larceny, multiple counts of forgery and fraud.” In fact, an immigration judge issued her a final order of removal way back in 2004. ICE arrested her in May.

A day before 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal opened fire on two National Guardsmen patrolling near the White House, the NGO that reportedly settled the shooter in the United States condemned President Donald Trump for ordering further vetting of refugees. On November 25, World Relief, one of nine voluntary organizations contracted by the State Department to facilitate housing and employment assistance for refugees, issued a press release in response to an internal memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requiring additional scrutiny of all refugees who entered the country during the Biden administration. In the statement, World Relief president and CEO Myal Greene called the additional vetting a “moral and ethical betrayal of due process,” and VP Matt Soerens said that it would “retraumatiz[e]” refugees brought to the United States. The following day, according to witnesses, Lakanwal fired on the guards while shouting, “Allahu akbar.” Twenty-year-old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her wounds, and 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is still in serious condition. Greene insisted in World Relief’s statement that the Afghans had been sufficiently vetted. “Refugees admitted under the U.S. refugee resettlement program have undergone some of the most rigorous vetting of any immigrant lawfully admitted into the United States, yet this sweeping re-interview initiative is nothing less than a calculated effort to strip lawful status from thoroughly-vetted, law-abiding people,” he said. But according to a 2022 Department of Homeland Security inspector general report released under Biden appointee Alejandro Mayorkas, the chaos of the Afghanistan withdrawal left significant gaps in information, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) often lacked significant data for the entries, such as “name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data.” In one sample of 88,977 evacuee records, 417 lacked first names, 242 lacked last names, 11,110 had January 1 birthdates, and 7,800 had missing or invalid travel documents. “We also determined CBP admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States,” DHS investigators concluded. A 2024 DHS report involving three Department of Homeland Security divisions — CBP, USCIS, and ICE — similarly found that CBP did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees and that DHS’s “fragmented” process resulted in chaotic conditions that led to lost information and background checks that were deferred until after departure from Afghanistan. During his April 2025 confirmation hearing, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said that after reviewing data from the National Counterterrorism Center, he found that more than 1,400 Afghans with suspected links to ISIS had been admitted into the country. The New York Times reported on November 27 that World Relief was involved with resettling Lakanwal in Washington State, but since then, the organization has declined to elaborate, telling NPR they “cannot confirm whether or not [they] have served any specific client without permission from [their] federal government partners who administered the process for bringing Afghans to the United States beginning in 2021.” What is known is that the State Department designated Whatcom County, Washington, which includes Bellingham, where Lakanwal resided, as a resettlement site for Afghan evacuees under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). World Relief’s local office there was tasked with aiding refugees’ initial integration. While the NGO, founded in 1944 by the National Association of Evangelicals, once relied almost entirely on private contributions, today the bulk of its funding comes from the federal government. In 2021, it received $56 million in federal grants and contracts and only $13 million in private contributions. Through its work with the Soros-funded Evangelical Immigration Table, World Relief is heavily involved in lobbying churches and evangelical organizations to back bills that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants. In 2018, they launched the “I Was a Stranger” challenge, a “40-day Scripture-reading guide composed of short Bible passages that relate in one way or another to the theme of immigration.” This curriculum, which many critics argue cherry-picks and manipulates Scripture for progressive policy aims, was sent to churches across the country, and Soerens’ work promoting it was published and promoted in influential evangelical publications like Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition. The Daily Wire reached out to World Relief, and they responded with a statement from Soerens saying, “Based on news reports, the alleged perpetrator in the attack in Washington, D.C., did not enter the United States as a refugee and thus would not have been subject to the re-interview process to which our press release was responding.” However, Trump’s order for further vetting of Afghan nationals admitted under the Biden administration also applies to those who entered the U.S. via humanitarian parole under OAW. It targets all Afghan arrivals from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025—including the ~76,000 OAW evacuees processed post-2021 U.S. withdrawal. Soerens said World Relief stands by their statement of condemnation, and they have not changed their position opposing additional vetting of refugees.

A Christian evangelist’s battle with a Mississippi city over street preaching took center stage at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices heard arguments that could have far-reaching consequences for Americans who want to defend their constitutional rights in federal court.  The case revolves around whether 33-year-old Gabriel Olivier can challenge an ordinance from Brandon, Mississippi, that restricted street preaching in a public park outside of a local amphitheater. Olivier, who was convicted in 2021 of street preaching outside of the designated area, is now attempting to overturn the ordinance on First Amendment grounds.  “This is a really important case, 
for Christians specifically, because I noticed that all around the country, there’s always an exercise of free speech [that] does not seem to be cracked down on the way that Christians’ free speech is nowadays,” Olivier told The Daily Wire in an interview.  The city of Brandon argues that Olivier cannot challenge the ordinance in federal court because he has previously been convicted of violating it. Olivier says that he doesn’t want to revisit the 2021 conviction, for which he paid a fine, but wants to protect his right to share his faith in the future.  During oral arguments on Wednesday, the justices seemed sympathetic to Olivier’s arguments that he should be able to seek relief in federal court despite his previous conviction. Nate Kellum, a lawyer with First Liberty Institute representing Olivier, told The Daily Wire that he was encouraged by the questions he heard from the justices.  Kellum said that all he wants is for Olivier to have his day in court to argue against the ordinance and make an appeal for his First Amendment rights.  “Everybody, regardless of their ideology and their belief, deserves their day in court,” Olivier said. “We’re just asking that people would continue to pray for us.” The Trump administration is supporting Olivier’s petition, as are a number of other conservative organizations.  The ordinance implemented by Brandon, a suburb east of Jackson, restricts protest activity in the park surrounding the city’s amphitheater to a designated area when events are being held.  “What the ordinance does is it puts him in a place where no one can hear him,” Kellum told The Daily Wire. “You can’t have a conversation. 
You can’t hand out literature. If he preaches, he cannot be heard, and if he held up a sign, no one could read it. And so that seemed to be the whole idea, is that the city wanted to pass a law that separated him from his would-be audience.” 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. The city and some legacy outlets have attempted to suggest that Olivier shouted rude or inappropriate things during his previous outings at the park.  “It’s patently false. And it seems to be an attempt to try to malign Gabe, malign his character,” Kellum said. “But if Gabe or really anyone else would say anything that would amount to fighting words or could be something that could lead to an altercation, there’s disorderly conduct ordinances.” Olivier first went to the park in 2019, where he had productive conversations about his faith with others. But when he returned in 2021, the city had passed an ordinance against such evangelism. His passion for street evangelism comes from his own conversion ten years ago when he encountered a street preacher.  “I see it very clearly as a command in scripture,” he said. “And so I choose to do that and exercise the rights that we have enjoyed here in America. And we would like for an opportunity to continue to fight for those rights to be upheld.” Todd Butler, the attorney representing Brandon, said in a statement to The Daily Wire: “The City of Brandon was excited to present its position to the Court. The case before the Supreme Court is not about the constitutionality of the ordinance or religious expression. It is about whether a person who has been found guilty in criminal court may undermine his conviction through a civil tort lawsuit. The importance of this case cannot be overstated as it will impact cities across the country.”

Americans and Europeans are overwhelmingly concerned about China’s vision for a new global order and support investment to stay ahead of Beijing in technology, according to polling exclusively reviewed by The Daily Wire. The American Edge Project in partnership with Mercury Analytics, surveyed thousands of people across the United States and Europe concerning their views on China, artificial intelligence, and other issues. The poll, reviewed by The Daily Wire, was conducted from October 7-25. Pollsters asked 4,000 adults spread equally among the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, and another 500 in Belgium. The margin of error is 3.1% for each country’s sample. The margin of error on sub-samples is greater. The poll on Westerners’ thoughts on China, its orientation toward the West, and the battle to innovate and develop technology comes as the Trump administration has prioritized winning the race for artificial intelligence. The Trump administration has pushed Europe, as well, to embrace technological growth and avoid burdensome regulations that could unduly hamper AI development. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. At an AI summit in France in February, Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration’s ambition to make the United States the world leader in AI, but “just because we’re the leader doesn’t mean we want to or need to go it alone,” Vance said in an invitation to Europe. Americans and Europeans are overwhelmingly concerned about the threat China poses to the United States and Europe. The poll results demonstrate repeated concerns on both sides of the Atlantic that respondents are “deeply worried about China’s plans to create a new global order and its technological threat to Western nations,” according to a polling memo reviewed by The Daily Wire. According to the poll, 79% of Americans believe that China threatens their economic well-being, and 80% say they are concerned about a national security threat. Europeans responded in similar numbers with 78% saying China threatens their economic wellbeing and 70% concerned about threats to their national security. Even more Americans, 87%, responded that they are concerned about China building alliances with non-Western countries to build a bloc that could challenge the West. For Europeans, the number who agreed with the American majority ranged from 80% in Belgium to 89% in France. And 91% of Americans said they are concerned that China is conducting cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Almost the same percentage of Europeans, 90%, said the same.