Morning Brief: Trump Backs Hegseth, Minnesota Issues Illegal Licenses, & SCOTUS Takes On Pro-Life Targeting

President Trump stands by War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the drug boat strikes as the Cabinet convenes once again, the administration threatens to withhold tax dollars over illegal commercial driver’s licenses, and a New Jersey probe into a pro-life pregnancy center winds up in the Supreme Court.

It’s Wednesday, December 3, 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 Backs Hegseth In Cabinet Meeting

Topline: President Trump gathered his cabinet Tuesday and defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, vowing to continue his strikes against narco-terrorists.

All eyes on Hegseth: The War secretary has come under fire for allegedly ordering airstrikes targeting survivors of a drug smuggling boat that had been destroyed by an initial strike. The White House has rallied around Hegseth, reiterating that these suspected cartel members have been designated as terrorists, and are essentially enemy combatants of the United States. On Tuesday, Hegseth struck a defiant tone, vowing to continue the strikes.

The original reporting on the alleged illegal strike story is now facing a flood of scrutiny. The New York Times published a story this week refuting the main allegation against Hegseth — that he specifically ordered a second strike to kill survivors.

The Times cited five anonymous U.S. officials who each said separately that Hegseth did order a strike to kill the drug smugglers, but “his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast,” and he did not address what should be done if there were survivors.

Latest on National Guard Shooting: In one of the cabinet meeting’s more somber moments, Attorney General Pam Bondi honored the life of slain National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and offered an update on Andrew Wolfe, the guardsmen fighting for his life in the hospital.

“I was there where when the surgeons came in and [his parents] wanted you to know this — he’s a miracle, and if everyone in this country can continue to pray for that family. He’s got a long road ahead of him, but he is a miracle,” said Bondi.

The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, appeared virtually in court on Tuesday from a hospital bed, where he was formally charged with murder and a slew of other crimes. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty to all charges. He’ll be held without bond throughout the trial. Bondi said the Justice Department intends to seek the death penalty.

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Minnesota’s Illegal License Loophole

Topline: Minnesota is facing federal pressure after an audit found widespread improper licensing of foreign drivers, underscoring broader immigration-oversight issues.

The Trump administration has presented some pretty jaw-dropping findings and is now taking action. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the federal government will withhold more than $30 million in highway funding from Minnesota.

The state can avoid the penalty if Democratic Governor Tim Walz revokes a large number of commercial driver’s licenses that were issued illegally to drivers whose immigration or residency status did not comply with federal law. Duffy gave Walz 30 days to fix it, or the funding would be withheld.

What Walz thinks: Officials in the Walz administration say they are reviewing this letter from the Department of Transportation, and claim that they take “safety” on their roads “seriously.” 

Step back: Commercial drivers licenses for illegals or people with improper status have been a focus for months now, due to some devastating crashes that have killed Americans. The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer reported that a newlywed couple was tragically killed in a collision allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant truck driver with a California license. The Indian national involved in the crash has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. 

The Department of Transportation has found that California authorities have issued some 17,000 non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses to foreign drivers. The Trump administration is similarly threatening to withhold tens of millions of federal dollars from California. A number of other states, including red states, are being scrutinized over this issue, too.

SCOTUS Case On Pro-Life Targeting

Topline: The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on a case involving a state allegedly “intimidating” and “harassing” a pregnancy center for not conducting abortions. The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, could set precedent on states’ ability to similarly target pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations.

Erin Hawley, general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and one of the attorneys representing First Choice, spoke to Morning Wire about the case. (The following interview has been edited for clarity.)

Morning Wire: This case stems from New Jersey’s Democrat Attorney General Matt Platkin creating a “strike force” that targeted pregnancy resource centers. He issued a statewide “consumer alert” against them — and then specifically issued a subpoena to First Choice that was extremely intrusive, including asking for donor information. We’ve just heard oral arguments before the Supreme Court. By the line of questioning from the justices, do you have a sense how they appear to be leaning? 

Hawley: I’ll have to paraphrase an old boss of mine. After arguing, he would say, I would rather be on our side than their side. And I think that’s definitely true after this oral argument. If you think about some of the questions the justices were asking, Justice Barrett, for example, pointed out the hostility that New Jersey has shown toward pregnancy care centers.

Justice Kagan took a really practical view of the case. She’s not one that you would maybe expect to be ideologically aligned with First Choice, and yet she made the common sense point, if I receive a subpoena that demands donor names, I don’t want my name and address and phone number out there. And so she was saying that this is going to chill the First Amendment rights of recipients in sort of a common sense way. It seemed like a majority or certainly several members of the court were really understanding the effect that subpoena had both on First Choice Women’s Resource Center, as well as its donors.

Morning Wire: That seems pretty promising for First Choice. Were there any particularly surprising moments to you in the arguments — anything you weren’t anticipating? 

Hawley: One kind of highlight of the oral argument was the fact that we had hoped to sort of highlight, but that’s the fact that the New Jersey attorney general has never said that he received a single complaint against First Choice by anyone. Justice Thomas really leaned into that and asked the New Jersey attorney, why did you investigate First Choice? Did you receive a complaint? Like, did anyone tell you that they didn’t like them? And the New Jersey attorney general had to answer no. They had received no complaints about First Choice.