A looming House vote on the Epstein files launches a political knife fight on the Right, a bipartisan cohort of Congressmen call out Chinese tech on American military bases, and the Trump administration brings its immigration blitz to North Carolina.
It’s Monday, November 17, 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 Rips Greene
Topline: President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew his backing of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over the weekend amid a national debate over the Epstein files.
A few years ago, Greene was considered one of the president’s closest allies in Congress, including during the Biden era. Over the past few weeks, Greene has broken prominently with the president on some policies, including how best to handle healthcare and foreign policy.
Last week appeared to be the final straw for the president, when he referred to the Georgia congresswoman as Marjorie “Traitor” Greene. Trump essentially said Greene was acting out of line because of her desire to run for the U.S. Senate or Georgia governor.
“I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support,” Trump said in a social media post. “She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Greene media blitz: Greene has appeared on the Left-leaning talk show The View and has given interviews to CNN and other outlets, where she has criticized the administration and other Republicans.
In a Sunday morning appearance on CNN, Greene apologized for “taking part in toxic politics” when asked why she never spoke out against Trump’s rhetorical style for attacking people until those attacks were directed at her.
Epstein files: Greene has pointed to the administration’s handling of the Epstein files as one of the main reasons that she and the president seem to have had a falling out. Notably, the president has disagreed with this assessment, citing policy differences.
The Epstein files are under debate in Congress right now, as a petition signed by Greene, a few other Republicans, and House Democrats seeks to force a vote on Tuesday to release more evidence. The bill is expected to pass, potentially with more GOP votes than signed on to the petition to get the vote.
For some time, Trump has called the Epstein files a “hoax” and said the supposed files have been weaponized by the Democrats to distract from his agenda. But on Sunday night, Trump reversed course and called on House Republicans to back the bill that would compel the DOJ to release the files.
Chinese Espionage
Topline: U.S. lawmakers in both parties are ramping up warnings of Chinese spying efforts on U.S. military bases and personnel.
In recent years, Chinese companies were found to have gobbled up farmland near roughly 20 military installations nationwide, prompting warnings from the Pentagon that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could use that land to film weapons and troop movements, intercept communications, and hack into software.
Congress recently passed new laws requiring federal approval for foreign land purchases within 100 miles of most military sites. But it appears Beijing is circumventing those laws and continuing to purchase land.
Whiteman under watch? In the last few days, the Daily Caller reported on a trailer park in Missouri that’s owned by a married couple living in Canada with ties to a Chinese business tycoon. That trailer park directly borders Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the U.S. military’s only nuclear-capable stealth bomber fleet. The land shares a fence with the base and sits just a mile from the runway, offering unobscured views of stealth bombers taking off and landing.
The Canadian couple are Chinese immigrants with direct business ties to Miles Guo, a “disgraced Chinese tycoon and self-described former CCP intelligence affiliate.”
As one former CIA operations officer said, “This trailer park would hypothetically give Xi Jinping a range of options to wreak havoc.” According to Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO), the commander of this base had no idea his next-door neighbors were potential Chinese spies.
Chinese spy tech: Last week, 23 lawmakers from both parties, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), sent a letter to the White House urging an investigation into TP-Link, a major online retailer that sells Wi-Fi routers, home security cameras, baby monitors, etc.
Ernst says those devices are easily accessed by the CCP and, most concerning, “are sold through the Army, Air Force, and Navy Exchanges, placing these devices in proximity to U.S. military installations and providing a vehicle for Beijing to spy on America.”
TP-Link strongly denies any wrongdoing, saying its data for American users is housed on the Amazon cloud in Virginia, and that “TP-Link does not enable foreign surveillance of U.S. networks or users.”
Lawmakers say even if Chinese businesses aren’t intentionally taking part in espionage against the United States, they can often be used for those purposes by the CCP. Beijing passed new laws in recent years that require “any organization or citizen [to] support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work.”
Operation Charlotte’s Web
Topline: Federal immigration agents flooded Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend in the next major operation under President Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.
Charlotte’s Web: Immigration officials from ICE and the Border Patrol launched Operation Charlotte’s Web over the weekend, continuing Trump’s immigration crackdown across major American cities. According to administration officials, immigration operations continue to focus on dangerous illegal aliens. Quite a few non-violent aliens tend to be swept up in immigration raids, as well.
Democrat backlash: This operation has caused predictable backlash among local Democratic politicians and activists.
“We have a little man sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who really believes that Hitler was the greatest man ever on earth,” said Corine Mack, the president of the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP. “He’s trying to create a 1940 Germany right here in the United States. And like then, many people said, ‘Well, it’s them, not me.’ Until it eventually was them. We can no longer be silent.”
Catholic bishops join resistance: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops waded into the immigration debate, slamming President Trump’s enforcement policies.
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops said in a video statement. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”
The bishops’ message drew pushback from border czar Tom Homan.
“Secure border saves lives and, you know, one of the reasons no one talks about why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation. [It’s] because of exactly what ICE is doing,” said Homan on Friday. “I’ll say it as a Catholic, I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church, in my opinion.”
