WASHINGTON—Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak will testify before the United States Senate this week on a federal DEI program riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse. Rosiak will address lawmakers during a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing titled “Running Government Like a Small Business: Cut Waste, Crush Fraud.” He will speak on the 8(a) program, one of the largest and oldest DEI initiatives in the country, which affects contracts at almost all federal agencies. Rosiak has led the charge in exposing problems with 8(a), which sets aside government contracts for firms run by members of certain “disadvantaged” classes, largely racial and ethnic minorities. Rosiak, who last month won the 2025 Dao Prize for his work covering extraordinary government waste, has exposed countless 8(a) program abuses. The Department of Justice found that the 8(a) program had been exploited to carry out a $550 million bribery scheme over several decades. The program became vulnerable to abuse through “pass-through” fraud, in which minority-owned businesses would win a federal contract through a no-bid process, collect a cut of the funds, and then subcontract another company to do the actual work needed for the contract. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler are investigating the misuse, which independent journalist James O’Keefe describes as a potential $100 billion scandal. The upcoming hearing aims to highlight the full extent of the waste, fraud, and abuse that investigators say took place. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), who chairs the small business committee, recently introduced the Stop 8(a) Contracting Fraud Act to place a hold on all new no-bid federal contracts until the 8(a) program, dramatically expanded under President Joe Biden as part of a DEI initiative, undergoes a full audit. While Rosiak will focus on fraud within the 8(a) program, two other witnesses will address additional areas of waste, including misuse of COVID funds and USAID grants: Open the Books CEO John Hart, and Courtney LaFountain, Acting Director of the Government Accountability Office. “If a small business treated their finances like the government treats tax dollars, they would go out of business,” Ernst said. “This has always been an issue in Washington, but under Joe Biden it became an all-you-can-eat buffet of waste, fraud, and abuse with criminals and con artists cashing in while hardworking Americans were left out in the cold. I look forward to hearing from our expert witnesses on where Congress should focus our continued efforts to downsize the bloated bureaucracy, increase government efficiency, and best serve small businesses.” The hearing will take place on Wednesday, December 10 at 2:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump called out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, accusing him of not acting on the Trump administration’s proposal to end the Ukraine-Russia war. Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center on Sunday evening, Trump suggested that his team’s discussions with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Zelensky have been held up by the Ukrainian president. “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago,” Trump said. “His people love it, but he has it. Russia is fine with it … but I’m not sure Zelensky is fine with it.” Zelensky said on Sunday that he spoke with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, but that the conversation was “not easy,” NBC News reported. “The American envoys are aware of Ukraine’s core positions, and the conversation was constructive, though not easy,” Zelensky said. Zelensky added in a post on social media that Ukraine wants to see Russia “held accountable for what it is doing — for the daily strikes, for the constant terror against our people, and for the war itself.” “Ukraine deserves a dignified peace, and whether there will be peace depends entirely on Russia – on our collective pressure on Russia and on the sound negotiating positions of the United States, Europe, and all our other partners,” the Ukrainian president said. Zelensky is set to meet with European leaders in London, Brussels, and Rome on Monday as Europe attempts to influence the Trump-initiated peace talks while watching from the outside. While Trump said that Russia “is fine with” the proposed peace deal, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said on Sunday that the United States needs to make “radical changes” to its proposal. Ushakov did not specify what exactly the Kremlin wanted from the United States or Ukraine, but added that Putin discussed “territorial problems” with Witkoff and Kushner during a four-hour meeting in Moscow last week. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Russia has been pushing for control of the Donbas region of Ukraine. Putin’s forces now control most of the Donbas, but Ukraine is holding onto part of the region as the war continues. The two biggest hurdles remaining in the peace negotiations are territorial disputes over the Donbas and Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. Kellogg said that Russia and Ukraine are “really, really close” to a deal. “If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said. “We’re almost there.” After promising to end the Ukraine-Russia war on his first day back in office, Trump’s negotiations for the end of the conflict have stalled and restarted multiple times throughout the first year of his second term. Last month, the Trump administration rekindled peace negotiations with a 28-point plan to end the war. American and Ukrainian officials met in Miami for three days last week for more peace talks, but so far, there has been no movement from those meetings.

The Supreme Court takes up a case that could decide the future of so-called birthright citizenship, elected leaders in Minnesota are scrutinized for links to the state’s massive welfare scandal, and the announced Netflix-Warner Bros merger sends shockwaves through Hollywood. It’s Monday, December 8, 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: Trump vs Birthright Citizenship Topline: The Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of birthright citizenship in what could be a historic court case brought on by the Trump administration. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that children born in the United States to illegal immigrants and other short-term visitors would no longer be considered American citizens. That order was immediately challenged in multiple lower federal courts and subsequently put on hold. But on Friday, the White House got some major news: the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case and will decide on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship. A ruling is expected by this summer. Preview: The case will hinge on the court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Supporters of birthright citizenship say that sentence includes virtually everyone born on U.S. soil, but opponents say those born to illegal immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, and thus are not Americans. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Essentially, the White House says birthright citizenship was originally a good-intentioned provision meant to extend citizenship to the children of former slaves after the Civil War. But they argue it’s now been abused by millions of illegal immigrants and even tourists, who race across the border while pregnant to ensure their children will get citizenship.  Lawyers for the White House argue that Trump’s executive order would simply “restore the clause’s original meaning.” Massive Minnesota Fraud Topline: The Somali-linked welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota is now being tied to Democrat leaders in the state, drawing more attention from the Trump administration and Congress. Catch up: Billions of tax dollars have been stolen in the state of Minnesota during the tenure of Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. City Journal reporting has uncovered that at least a billion dollars in welfare and social service schemes have largely been connected to the Somali community in Minnesota. Alarmingly, some of this money was allegedly funneled to Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab. How could it be worse? Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller says the welfare fraud scheme is far worse than the American people think, involving “complicit” state government officials and totaling more stolen money than initial early estimates stated. “We believe we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes,” said Miller in an appearance on Fox News. “We believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme, and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people.” Miller also underscored the Somali ties to this fraud, connecting it to a larger conversation the nation is having about immigration from third-world countries. “Seventy-five percent of the Somali population in Minnesota is on welfare, and that’s likely a significant undercount of just how much of a financial burden the Somali refugee population is imposing on this country,” said Miller. Who knew what: Reporting from the New York Post has tied Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar to the scandal. Omar held parties at one of the key restaurants named, and she knew one of its owners, who is now convicted of stealing millions in funds. Additionally, one of her own staffers has been convicted of stealing millions. Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. “I just think that a lot of the COVID programs were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar told CNN last week when asked about the fraud. There have also been questions about Walz’s oversight. The Treasury Department is investigating this scandal, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has announced a congressional investigation. Netflix-Warner Bros Seismic Merger Topline: In a seismic shift for Hollywood, Netflix has struck an $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Brothers. The merger would potentially reshape the entertainment business for generations. Announced just days ago, Netflix’s binding offer will give it not just Warner Bros the movie studio, but also streaming assets like HBO Max. And it’s gobbling up classics like Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Looney Tunes, Friends, etc. It’s being called one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mergers in Hollywood history. It comes after a bidding war that saw heavyweights like Paramount Skydance and Comcast get outmaneuvered or outspent by Netflix. The Netflix angle: Netflix has been in a content arms race with Disney and Amazon. The Warner Bros. vault offers instant firepower. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says it’ll “accelerate HBO Max growth” while blending Warner’s “theatrical expertise.” But many critics are concerned that this means Netflix will shorten theatrical windows and further decimate the moviegoing business. That’s part of the reason many creatives hate this deal. During the bidding war, director James Cameron said that Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros would be “a disaster” for the industry. Batman director Christopher Nolan is representing the Directors Guild in meetings with Netflix to express concerns. Both the East and West Writers’ Guilds issued a joint statement unequivocally opposing the sale and asking regulators to block it. Could it be blocked? There are already rumbles in Washington that the Trump administration doesn’t like this merger. And opposition is bipartisan. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), chair of the antitrust subcommittee, said Netflix should “Buckle up for an intense antitrust hearing.” Meanwhile,  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has called the merger an “anti-monopoly nightmare,” warning that it could lead to higher subscription prices and fewer choices for consumers. There’s no question that because Netflix is already the largest global streamer, adding Warner Bros. content and HBO Max subscribers would give it extraordinary dominance–over a third of the streaming market. Netflix, though, already seems to be trying to soothe customer jitters. It sent a message to subscribers on Saturday night, repeatedly assuring them that their plans, fees, content access, and the separate operations of both Netflix and HBO Max will not change.

Democrats and and their media surrogates have made it abundantly clear that they’re not going to let go of their chosen narrative surrounding War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Admiral Mitch Bradley, and how many strikes are necessary to neutralize the threat posed by Venezuelan narco-terrorists. For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed. A story that should have been on life-support by Sunday morning — published eight days earlier by The Washington Post — somehow still had legs. The initial story cited anonymous sources and described the scene that played out after SEAL Team 6 struck a boat that intelligence had identified as part of a drug-running operation. According to the WaPo report, Hegseth issued a clear order: “Kill them all.” When the first strike left two survivors, the story alleged, a second order was given and another strike followed — this one taking out the remaining individuals on the scene. What followed was a mad scramble for Democrats and media to take up the torch for those two survivors and give them the most sympathetic makeover possible. They were helpless, Democrats claimed, clinging to the wreckage of their boat and just hoping against hope that they might survive. Targeting unarmed survivors, they claimed, was nothing short of a war crime. Over the following days, however, new reports added dimension to the story. ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz — who had helped sell the “helpless survivor” narrative just days earlier with “This Week” host Jonathan Karl — reported that the boat had apparently been disabled but not destroyed by the first strike. In addition, she cited sources who’d said the operators were in contact with the Judge Advocate General’s office in real time — and that because they’d believed the survivors were attempting to contact someone for help and salvage their illicit cargo, they were deemed lawful enemy combatants. Still, the hosts of the Sunday morning shows brought in a whole new slate of guests, most of whom continued to hawk the war crimes narrative in any market where they believed it would fly. On “This Week,” Rep. Adam Smith raised the question of land strikes in Venezuela, complaining that President Donald Trump’s administration — the War Department in particular — had not kept him and others in Congress in the loop. “They have not kept us informed on this, they did not inform us of these strikes,” he said. Rep. Adam Smith tells George Stephanopoulos that he has not been briefed on the possibility of land strikes in Venezuela. Referring to the Department of Defense, he said: “They have not kept us informed on this, they did not inform us of these strikes.” pic.twitter.com/K7SoJZoCdk — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 7, 2025 Smith also called for the public release of video from the strike in question, claiming that President Donald Trump was trying to avoid doing so. Rep. Adam Smith calls for the release of the videos shown to lawmakers of U.S. strikes against one suspected drug boat on Sept. 2. pic.twitter.com/AtDV1HPtg3 — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 7, 2025 Following the release of the Inspector General’s report — regarding Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to share information about a strike on Houthi terrorists — Smith also suggested that the War Secretary wasn’t taking the right approach: “It’s perfectly okay to look back at past actions and say, ‘Yeah, I didn’t do that right.'” Rep. Adam Smith criticizes Sec. Hegseth’s response to the inspector general’s report on the alleged release of sensitive information on the Signal messaging app. “It’s perfectly okay to look back at past actions and say, ‘Yeah, I didn’t do that right.’” pic.twitter.com/eIjxnABn3b — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 7, 2025 On CBS News, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) constructed what was supposed to look like a thought experiment, behind which he hid an attack on Admiral Bradley’s character. “Anyone who has ever worked with Admiral Bradley will tell you that he has a storied career and that he is a man of deep, deep integrity. And frankly, I have no reason to doubt that,” Himes said before pivoting to wonder aloud whether Bradley might compromise that integrity under pressure. “What happens when an apparently good man like Admiral Bradley is placed in a context where he knows that if he countermands an order that he is perhaps uncomfortable with, it is very likely that he will be fired? It’s interesting to think about how a good man in that context maybe does something that if he weren’t in that context he might not do.” On the alleged Venezuelan drug boat strikes, @margbrennan asked Rep. @jahimes (D-CT) if he has confidence in Admiral Bradley. “Anyone who has ever worked with Admiral Bradley will tell you that he has a storied career and that he is a man of deep, deep integrity. And frankly, I… pic.twitter.com/Lv7AhPQYa1 — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 7, 2025 Himes also claimed that the people on the boats were likely low-level drug runners, meaning that the cartel bosses were not necessarily feeling the sting. Rep. @jahimes (D-CT) tells @margbrennan he does not believe all the identities of those on the alleged Venezuelan drug boats are known. He says the U.S. strikes are hitting low-level operatives, not high-ranking cartel leaders, leaving the top figures in comfortable villas while… pic.twitter.com/fec6gEQjI5 — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 7, 2025 Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) used back on “This Week,” however. Democrats “have such X-ray vision and clairvoyance that they know the intentions of narco-terrorists on boats, yet were so blind to see that they had a President for four years that was operating as a vegetable… Forgive me if I’m a little skeptical,” he declared. .@SenEricSchmitt: Democrats “have such X-ray vision and clairvoyance that they know the intentions of narco-terrorists on boats, yet were so blind to see that they had a President for four years that was operating as a vegetable… Forgive me if I’m a little skeptical.” ? pic.twitter.com/fgyMRbrnel — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 7, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy said a deal to end the Ukraine war was “really close” and depended on resolving just two major issues but the Kremlin said there had to be radical changes to some of the U.S. proposals. Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker” president, says that ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two has so far been the most elusive foreign policy aim of his presidency. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict were in “the last 10 metres” which he said was always the hardest. The two main outstanding issues, Kellogg said, were on territory – primarily the future of the Donbas – and the future of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is under Russian control. “If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. “We’re almost there.” “We’re really, really close,” said Kellogg. After President Vladimir Putin held four hours of Kremlin talks last week with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said “territorial problems” were discussed. That is Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine is still in control of at least 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of the area. Almost all countries recognise Donbas as part of Ukraine. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that handing over the rest of Donetsk would be illegal without a referendum and would give Russia a platform to launch assaults deeper into Ukraine in the future. Ushakov was quoted by Russian media on Sunday as saying that the United States would have to “make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers” on Ukraine. He did not clarify what changes Moscow wanted Washington to make. Zelensky said on Saturday that he had had a long and “substantive” phone call with Witkoff and Kushner. The Kremlin has said it expects Kushner to be doing the main work on drafting a possible deal. Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq, said the scale of the death and injuries caused by the Ukraine war was “horrific” and unprecedented in terms of a regional war. Kellogg said that, together, Russia and Ukraine have suffered more than 2 million casualties, including dead and wounded since the war began. Neither Russia nor Ukraine disclose credible estimates of their losses. Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals emerged last month, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow’s main demands on NATO, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine’s army. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)