Morning Brief: Trump Wants ‘Unconditional Surrender’ From Iran, & Biden Cover-Up Investigation

Trump calls for Iran to surrender, Senate Republicans investigate who was actually steering the ship under Biden’s presidency, and we speak to President Donald Trump’s sons on the 10th anniversary of that fateful escalator ride.

It’s Wednesday, June 18, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Trump Demands Unconditional Surrender From Iran, Weighs Military Options

Topline: Trump warns Iran to surrender or face the consequences.

As the U.S. weighs intervention in Iran, President Trump is warning the Ayatollah that his patience is wearing thin. The fighting is showing no signs of slowing down as Israel targets Iran’s nuclear and military facilities and Iran targets whatever they can hit, including civilian populations.

On Tuesday, Israel said it killed Ali Shadmani, Iran’s senior military commander. Shadmani had only been in the position for three days after replacing his predecessor, who was killed in a separate strike Friday. The Israelis also launched successful strikes on the Natanz enrichment facility — a crucial part of Iran’s nuclear program. We’re still awaiting a full assessment of the damage, but one Israeli official told the Wall Street Journal the facility may have imploded.

Iran claims it struck an Israeli military intelligence center in Tel Aviv, though Israel says most of the strikes have targeted civilian areas. Elsewhere, Iranian missiles hit the Weizmann Institute of Science — Israeli officials say years’ worth of medical and scientific research was destroyed in the strike.

Donald Trump is still weighing his options and seriously considering joining the war. The president convened his national security team for a Situation Room meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Just before that meeting took place, Trump posted on Truth Social, “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’”

That use of the word “we” turned heads in Washington. While the White House says the president was referring to American weapons and not Americans directly, it’s quite the departure from a few days ago when the president said America was playing no role in the conflict.

The president also wrote on Tuesday, “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ [of Iran] is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The Senate Investigates Biden’s Cognitive Decline/Cover-Up

Topline: Senate Republicans hold a hearing to investigate who was in charge during Joe Biden’s presidency.

The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday as part of its investigation into what was going on behind the scenes during Biden’s presidency. Among the questions they’re asking: who was really running the country amid the president’s cognitive decline – and were media outlets colluding to cover it up?

“Everybody could see the clear decline of Joe Biden,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO). “The media tried to dismiss it as ‘cheap fakes.’ There was sort of one excuse after another. The Democrats were saying he’s sharper than he’s ever been, and they had the left-wing media parroting those talking points, too. And it just is a really dangerous kind of road to go down, to have the one person that’s elected by the entire country be mentally incompetent. … Personally, I think this scandal is bigger than Watergate, but everybody’s very eager to sweep it under the rug. And I just don’t think the American people should accept that.”

In February 2024, Special Counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute President Biden for mishandling of classified documents, saying it would be difficult to convict him because “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That report was widely decried at the time, but more recently, whistleblowers from the Biden White House have come forward with their own stories about the former president’s mental decline and the concerted effort to hide it from the American public – notably in interviews with CNN’s Jake Tapper cited in “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” which reignited the controversy.

Schmitt told The Daily Wire that the use of the president’s autopen would be a key subject of the hearing on Wednesday – there are claims that many of the executive orders issued by the Biden administration might have been signed by staffers without his knowledge, although Biden has publicly denied those accusations.

A Decade Of The Donald

Topline: Don Jr. and Eric Trump open up to Morning Wire ten years after their father’s fateful escalator ride that launched his first successful presidential campaign.

Ten years ago this week, Donald Trump changed American politics forever by announcing a run for the White House. His two elder sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, celebrated that anniversary at an event in Manhattan, where they spoke to Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan about the MAGA movement and its impact on their family and the world.

Donald Trump Jr: “Before the fateful sort of escalator ride down, my father looked at me right in the eyes. He [said], ‘Now we find out who our real friends are.’… He knew how difficult it was gonna be. He knew his friends would turn on him, but more importantly, he knew that was gonna happen and he did it anyway.”

Eric Trump: “He’s done amazing things for this nation. And, as a son, I’m truly proud of his fight, of his tenacity, of everything that he’s given up for this country. I mean, they tried to kill him — multiple times. … He’s tough as hell, and hopefully he’s a great example to so many that will follow because that’s exactly what we need in America.”