Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has determined that Pennsylvania violated federal safety regulations by illegally issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), including to individuals who were not legally eligible to receive them.

FMCSA found that PennDOT failed to verify lawful presence and, in some cases, issued licenses that extended beyond the individual’s authorized stay in the United States. As a result, the Transportation Department is threatening to withhold nearly $75 million in federal funding unless Pennsylvania revokes all improperly issued CDLs and corrects the systemic failures that allowed the violations.

The findings emerged amid a nationwide audit of non-domiciled CDLs initiated in June, shortly after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a suspected terrorist who had illegally entered the United States and received a Pennsylvania CDL earlier in the summer. Secretary Duffy cited this case as evidence of the national-security implications of lax CDL standards and criticized prior immigration policies for enabling such risks. He stated that the Department, under President Donald Trump, is committed to preventing unqualified foreign drivers from operating heavy commercial vehicles on American roads.

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USDOT has ordered Pennsylvania to take several immediate steps: pause all issuance or renewal of non-domiciled CDLs and commercial learner’s permits (CLPs); conduct a thorough audit to identify all noncompliant licenses and the procedural failures behind them; and revoke any unexpired, improperly issued licenses to ensure unqualified drivers are removed from service.

This enforcement action follows a broader series of transportation safety initiatives under the Trump administration. Earlier in the year, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Transportation to strengthen roadway safety, with a particular emphasis on enforcing long-standing English-language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers. The order argues that English proficiency is essential for reading traffic signs, communicating with law enforcement and inspection officials, and performing basic safety and reporting functions. It instructs the FMCSA to rescind its 2016 guidance and implement updated inspection procedures, ensuring that non-English-proficient drivers are placed out of service.

The executive order also directs FMCSA to review irregularities in states’ issuance of non-domiciled CDLs and improve verification of domestic and international driving credentials.

In recent months, Secretary Duffy has introduced several related actions, including emergency restrictions on eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs, a nationwide audit exposing widespread non-compliance, a pro-trucker initiative to reduce regulatory burdens, and new guidelines mandating out-of-service orders for drivers who fail English-language requirements. These steps align with President Trump’s March order designating English as the official language of the United States.

President Donald Trump pushes ahead with a potential war-ending deal in Ukraine,  Democrats spend big on a House race in red Tennessee, and Wicked: For Good casts a spell on audiences, leaving some hope for Hollywood after a disastrous year of earnings.

It’s Monday, November 24, 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’s Ukraine Peace Plan

Topline: President Trump is offering Russia and Ukraine a new peace deal, and ramping up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign on.

Peacemaker-in-chief: President Trump has relished his role as peacemaker since regaining the White House, brokering an end to a number of conflicts. But despite his best efforts, the war in Ukraine continues to rage.

But the White House is out with a new 28-point plan that they’re confident will benefit both sides. The plan seems more favorable to Russia, which, from a geopolitical standpoint, makes sense. Regardless of whether they’re the “bad guys,” the reality is they have the upper hand militarily. This is a war of attrition, and Moscow is much better suited to endure.

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The White House is urging the Ukrainians and others to be realistic and understand that Putin will not sign onto any deal that leaves him empty-handed, and that means making some painful concessions.

Ukraine’s concessions: Ukraine would be forced to give up on NATO membership and “enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO.” It would also bar NATO troops from being stationed in Ukraine in the future and limit the size of Ukraine’s military to 600,000 personnel.

Perhaps most importantly for Zelensky, it would give Russia nearly all of the land it has seized in Eastern Ukraine, and even some it hasn’t. Specifically, it calls for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk Oblast region, a strip of land that was home to a quarter million Ukrainians before the war. That region would be turned into a demilitarized zone to serve as a buffer between the two countries.

All parties involved in the conflict would be granted amnesty under the deal, and the U.S. would begin immediately lifting sanctions on Moscow, bringing them back into the international economy.

Finally, it would require Ukraine to hold nationwide elections within 100 days of signing.

What Ukraine gets: The biggest reward would be an end to the conflict. There’s also a promise to allow them to seek membership in the European Union, and a plan for $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to be invested in a fund to rebuild Ukraine.

As far as security guarantees, one of Zelensky’s main demands, there’s not much beyond vague assurances that Europe and the U.S. would coordinate a military response and reimplement sanctions if Russia were to invade again.

What the U.S. is hearing: Ukraine and the rest of Europe are generally not happy. The headline this weekend on one of Ukraine’s largest newspapers read, “New U.S. peace plan pushes Ukraine toward capitulation.”

Elsewhere, Ukrainian military and political leaders expressed anger that they were not consulted beforehand, accusing Trump of giving Putin his wishlist. In a speech over the weekend, Zelensky seemingly implied that the U.S. had threatened to withdraw support unless they signed onto the agreement, telling his people, “Now, Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”

Over the weekend, Zelensky held calls with European allies, including France and the U.K., and they offered a unified front, telling the White House in a joint statement the deal “would leave Ukraine vulnerable to attack” and “requires additional work.”

Tennessee Special Election

Topline: An important special election in Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District will take place on December 2 to replace former Republican Congressman Mark Green. Democrats are pouring big money into the race, hoping to flip the seat. In 2024, the reliably red district backed Trump with 60% of the vote.

All eyes on TN: This is for a crucial seat in the House, as all seats now are, since the GOP majority is so thin. Also, Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District is important as it represents parts of the Nashville metropolitan area.

Democrats are eager and see it as a pick-up opportunity following off-year election victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia earlier this month. Politico reports that the Democrats’ House Majority PAC has poured $1 million into advertisements for the race. Cook Political Report ranks the race as “Likely Republican,” but the focus and money has some Republicans a bit nervous.

The Republican: The GOP candidate is Matt Van Epps, the former commissioner of Tennessee’s General Services Department. Van Epps is a West Point graduate and a combat veteran, and he has the crucial endorsement of President Trump.

Morning Wire spoke to Van Epps about his views on Trump’s agenda and how it aligns with his own goals for Tennessee.

“I’m an America First conservative. What we’re hearing quite a bit as we’re out across the Tennessee 7th Congressional District is cost of living and working to decrease inflation,” said Van Epps. “We’re working really hard to connect with a lot of folks to address that and put plans in place to do that from housing, energy, keeping taxes low, cutting regulations, health care, [and] child care.”

The Democrat: Most of the attention in this race has focused on the Democrat, state Rep. Aftyn Behn, touted by some Democrats as a rising star and “Tennessee’s AOC.” Behn even had former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Jasmine Crockett campaign for her.

But she’s also caused quite a stir, partly from her social media posts. For example, she has filmed herself openly bragging about trying to bully law enforcement from carrying out its federal operations.

“Wicked: For Good” Saves The Box Office

Topline: In one of the worst years in Hollywood history, one film waved a magic wand this weekend to bring audiences back to theaters. “Wicked: For Good,” the follow-up to last year’s smash hit musical, is shattering records. But is it any good?

The numbers: The numbers are nothing short of dramatic. According to early estimates, “Wicked: For Good” opened globally in the neighborhood of $228 million.

Final numbers are not out yet, but in the domestic market alone, the film is projected to debut at around $151 million, making it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway-musical-inspired feature.

Beyond that, the film had already pulled in the highest earnings this year, around $31 million, in domestic preview screenings. It also had the highest pre-sales for a PG movie ever. It’s definitely on its way to being one of the highest grossing films this year.

The critics: So far, critics aren’t as positive about the sequel as they were about the original. On Metacritic, “Wicked: For Good” has only a 59% positive rating. The first movie averaged 73%. The same story is taking place on Rotten Tomatoes. The first movie was 88% positive. The new release is 70%.

DW’s take: That decrease in enthusiasm isn’t too surprising. The first film largely followed the path of the stage production. Even though Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s performances didn’t seem to match the energy and wit that Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth brought to Broadway, powerhouse ballads like “Defying Gravity” (so good Disney ripped it off for “Frozen”) and comical ditties like “Popular” and “Loathing” were still very entertaining.

The problem is the most compelling parts of the musical were covered in the first film.

“Wicked: For Good” is 20 minutes shorter, but feels about an hour longer because there’s simply not a lot of the actual story left to tell. There is a lot of padding to fill out a sequel that could have been wrapped up in 30 minutes. There are some new songs, but they don’t boast either that sly humor or moving poetry of the originals. The performances are, overall, somewhat flat, though Jonathan Bailey as love interest Fiyero is an exception.

While a handful of sequences are impressive, “Wicked: For Good” doesn’t offer the entertainment value of the first entry. But when you’re the only holiday blockbuster extravaganza in town …