Tensions between Russia and the United States rise as Trump and Putin escalate their war of words, NPR follows Harvard in suing the Trump administration in order to retain public funding, and MAHA has set its sights on regulating pesticides, but it’s causing a rift among Republicans.

It’s Wednesday, May 28, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here: 

If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:

NATO Readies For War

Topline: The U.S. reinforces Europe’s northern front as Russia ramps up its assault on Ukraine.

President Trump took public shots this weekend at Vladimir Putin, calling him “crazy” after he launched an unprecedented aerial barrage on Ukraine. The Kremlin responded by issuing a sarcastic statement, saying, “We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organizing and launching this negotiation process…This is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”

That clearly angered Trump, who issued a new statement on Tuesday with a clear threat. “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

A number of reports from the White House suggest the president could roll out new sanctions on Moscow as early as this week. Trump is reportedly concerned that sanctions could drive Putin even further from a ceasefire and prolong the war, but the reality is that, barring increased military support for Ukraine, he doesn’t have many other options for exerting pressure.

Because existing sanctions have essentially cut off all trade between the U.S. and Russia, new sanctions would have to target countries doing business with Moscow and theoretically isolate them from the global economy. One proposal would impose a 500% import tariff on any nation that continues to purchase Russian oil, natural gas, and petroleum. Leaders in Congress have told the White House they would approve new sanctions with overwhelming bipartisan support.

However, some experts believe the Russian war machine is robust enough to weather further Western sanctions.

“The Russian economy is relatively stable,” Rebekah Koffler, a former defense intelligence analyst and author of Putin’s Playbook, told The Daily Wire. “Russia produces in three months more military hardware than the entire NATO Alliance produces in one year. … Putin transitioned his military and economy on a wartime footing a decade ago in 2015. They’re even more adequate right now after three years than before.”

Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

Trump Vs Harvard

Topline: NPR joins Harvard in suing the Trump administration – in an attempt to cling to their taxpayer funding.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration directed federal agencies to terminate $100 million in remaining contracts with Harvard, citing its failure to address antisemitism and promote national interests. This is the latest development in an ongoing feud between the White House and America’s oldest university, which in the span of about a month has included attempts to cut billions of dollars in federal grants to Harvard and restrict its ability to admit foreign students.

Last Friday, a federal judge in Boston issued a temporary restraining order, stopping the Trump administration’s attempt to block the enrollment of Harvard’s international students. The policy would impact more than 7,000 foreign visa holders, about 30% of Harvard’s student body. Harvard argues that the move by the Trump administration is a direct response to the university’s refusal to comply with demands to have race-blind admissions, end DEI programs, and screen international students for alleged ties to terrorism or antisemitism. Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, told NPR that these actions threaten not just the university, but critical research.

“They see this as a message,” Garber said. “If you don’t comply with what we are demanding these will be the consequences.”

Trump says he’s considering directing Harvard’s funding to trade schools to develop the American workforce instead.

“We give them billions of dollars, which is ridiculous,” Trump said on Sunday. “I’m not going to have a problem with foreign students, but it shouldn’t be 31%. It’s too much, because we have Americans that want to go there and other places, and they can’t go there … No foreign government contributes money to Harvard. We do.”

Meanwhile, NPR, along with three Colorado public radio stations, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging President Trump’s May 1 executive order to cut all federal funding to NPR and PBS, which totals more than $500 million annually. The lawsuit argues the order violates the First Amendment’s protections of free speech and the press. NPR’s CEO, Katherine Maher, called it “retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination,” accusing the administration of punishing NPR for its reporting.

MAHA Eyes Pesticides

Topline: A push to regulate pesticides is causing a rift within the GOP.

At the federal and state levels, there’s a looming battle within the Republican Party over potential pesticide regulations. Some Republicans and the broader MAHA coalition of activists want to see pesticides that have been banned in other countries, which are similarly prohibited in the United States. Others within the Republican Party say they’re worried about farmers in their districts who rely on pesticides like glyphosate, which has caught the eye of HHS, and there have been reports about concerns from within the White House that abrupt regulatory action could trigger supply chain issues.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spoken out against pesticides for years, claiming that they’re poisoning American children. He’s not backing down from that, but his department has so far toed the line between these two camps in the GOP. For example, top Kennedy advisor Calley Means signaled earlier this month that while HHS will state the “truth” about pesticides, the department has no desire for “nanny state” regulatory measures on these chemicals.

“We ingest 25% of the world’s pesticides in the United States,” Means said at an Axios event. “Other countries across the world have chosen to phase [many leading American pesticides] out or ban them, calling them carcinogenic and disruptive to kids. … The policy solutions from this are not obvious. Pesticides are deeply ingrained into the U.S. agricultural system and it would be a disaster to phase them out tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, there’s legislation in more than a dozen states to shield Bayer – a German multinational chemical company that purchased the American agricultural giant Monsanto in 2018 – from forthcoming legal action over its “failure to warn” about potential harms associated with its products. GOP-led states North Dakota and Georgia have both passed laws to shield Bayer. Other states, including Iowa, Idaho, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, have similar pending legislation. There have been nearly 200,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer, connecting it to the development of cancer and other diseases.

“I think it’s atrocious to believe that any company – any company in America or anywhere – should get any form of blanket immunity for the products that they’re putting in the stream of commerce,” Missouri Republican state Senator Nick Schroer told The Daily Wire. Schroer said that state Republicans were divided over support for the bill, partially because of lobbying by Bayer, but also because many farmers are concerned that they may lose access to herbicides and pesticides if Bayer goes under.

After decades of mass illegal immigration into the United States, untold millions of illegal aliens have settled throughout the country, competing with Americans for government benefits, jobs, and now, for homes.

For most illegal aliens, obtaining a mortgage from a traditional bank — without a social security number or a credit score — is nearly impossible. But as millions of illegal aliens flooded the country, a new industry has cropped up to capitalize on the new customer base, selling financing catered to the illegal population.

One entity at the forefront of this industry, a Daily Wire investigation has revealed, is Prysma Lending, which has given out more than a billion dollars in loans in red and blue states alike as it blatantly targets illegal aliens.

Trump pledged to ban mortgages for illegal aliens on the campaign trail and his administration took action in March to prevent government-backed mortgages from going to illegal aliens. But Prysma is one of several companies — including Colony Ridge, the Texas development that The Daily Wire exposed as a magnet for illegal aliens — that uses a different financial tactic that isn’t impacted by the administration’s recent rule change, which specifically targeted loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.

The company prides itself on “empowering the Latino community to achieve homeownership” in its Spanish-language Instagram bio. The company’s president, Monica Serva, says she started Prysma with the intent of “helping the Latino community” because she “realized how unfairly minorities were treated.”

But Prysma revealed that its business model relied on illegal aliens, in particular, when it hosted a webinar with an immigration lawyer to answer their customers’ questions about the risk of deportation in the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The company is evidently concerned that its clientele could be deported, or at least that potential customers could be dissuaded from buying a home in a country that they fear they could be removed from.

They have reason to be worried. The Connecticut-based company’s website is checkered with explicit appeals to illegal aliens, allowing it to corner a market that doesn’t have access to the same financial tools as American citizens and legal residents.

“Prysma has helped non-US citizen families in: Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas,” the corporation’s site reads. “No Social Security or Green Card required.”

“You have a right to homeownership, regardless of legal status,” Prysma says. The company even published guides on “loans for undocumented immigrants” and boasts that it has “extensive experience with loans tailored to the unique needs of undocumented immigrants.”

“Securing personal loans can be a crucial step toward financial independence for undocumented immigrants, who often face challenges accessing traditional financial products,” Prysma writes. 

Federation for American Immigration Reform Media Director Ira Mehlman told The Daily Wire that allowing illegal aliens to access mortgages could incentivize them to remain in the country, but that Congress could take action. 

“Access to mortgages can serve as an incentive for illegal aliens to remain in the country, especially at a time when the goal of the government is convincing illegal aliens to leave,” Mehlman explained. Congress could take many actions – from disclosure to outright prohibition – and set a national standard for states to follow.”

A Prysma employee admitted in the post-election webinar that the company specializes in offering loans to illegal aliens.

“At Prysma, again we’re super honored that Latinos come to us … well, people from all different parts of the world, looking for loans that don’t require a legal status,” Senior Mortgage Loan Originator Stefany Pina said.

The corporation made a guide to go along with the talk, providing “actionable steps to safeguard the things that matter to you most should you or a family member be at risk of deportation.” The document tells customers how to trigger a “credible fear” interview to avoid deportation, adding that “the interview process can slow deportation proceedings, giving you time to build a legal defense.”

Screenshot

Screenshot

Prysma also instructs illegal aliens to avoid presenting “IDs that could flag you for deportation,” including foreign passports.

Prysma’s business model appears to rely on the individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), a tax processing number from the IRS that can be obtained by anyone regardless of their immigration status. The National Immigration Law Center, a left-wing Soros-backed organization, calls ITINs “a powerful tool for immigrant taxpayers.” Illegal aliens can use ITINs to receive home and personal loans, often at rates significantly higher than those offered by traditional banks.

Obtaining an ITIN, Prysma is eager to point out, does not require a legal status. “Your ITIN allows you to take out a Tax ID loan … without showing legal residency in the U.S.” The company says, also adding “no social security card needed” and “no green card needed.”

Screenshot

The IRS created ITINs so nonresidents could pay taxes. They were not intended to be used by illegal aliens to obtain mortgages or other loans.

This ITIN financial scheme is the same system that fueled the astronomical growth of Colony Ridge, the Texas development that The Daily Wire exposed as a magnet for illegal aliens. The site, which has attracted illegal alien murderers, drug-runners, human smugglers, and cartel members, similarly told buyers that they didn’t need social security numbers and instead doled out ITIN loans to illegal aliens.

Leaked emails from a Texas land developer uncovered by The Daily Wire indicate that there appears to be an entire industry built around supplying loans to illegal aliens. The developer, who formerly led a lobbying organization, wrote that “we will not be able to sell our developments if each of our buyers have to have [social security numbers].”

Prysma did not respond to a request for comment.