Evening Wire: American Captive Returns From Russia & Southern Poverty Law Center CFO Arrested | 8.12.26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Colorado is trying to silence free speech again. A state law forces businesses to use customers' preferred pronouns, even if they're biologically inaccurate. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian bookstore and a sports apparel company are challenging the law, but a court recently ruled against them. They appealed the ruling, and with ADF's help, they'll keep fighting another attempt by Colorado to skirt the First Amendment. Learn more about how you can support free speech by texting WIRE to 83848 or going to joinadf.com/wire.

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**Georgia Howe** (1:03)
President Trump touts the safe return of an American from the clutches of a Russian prison. A judge in Staten Island blocks Mamdani's pied-a-terre tax, and it's been announced that the jurors in the Luigi Mangione trial will be anonymous. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Wednesday, August 12th, and this is Evening Wire.

**John Bickley** (1:23)
Iran's military leadership structure sees an overhaul while President Trump delivers a polarizing response. Daily Wire Foreign Affairs reporter Cassie Akiva has the latest.

**Cassie Akiva** (1:33)
President Trump today said the US has, quote, total control over the Strait of Hormuz, calling the naval blockade a, quote, wall of steel. Trump also said that Iran has no Navy, no air force, its soldiers are unpaid, and the IRGC is, quote, decimated and fleeing. He added that Iran has, quote, no money and ended his post with, quote, praise be to Allah. Meanwhile, Iran claims more than 75 percent of its missile and drone capabilities remain intact.
It's important to note that the Iranian regime is known for exaggerating its military capabilities.
And Iran's new supreme leader, Bushdabak Khamenei, is reshuffling the country's military and security leadership, including moving six senior officials into key positions. The move appears to be aimed at consolidating his power following months of recovering from the airstrike that killed his father and severely injured him.

**John Bickley** (2:25)
The former CFO of the Southern Poverty Law Center was arrested today by the Justice Department on charges of money laundering and fraud. The DOJ says the SPLC and its former CFO, Heidi Birick, quote, knowingly misled donors who believed their money was being used to dismantle violent extremist organizations when in fact part of those donations were instead being used to pay senior leadership within those extremist groups. Birick's legal team says she is innocent and the case against her and the SPLC is without merit and politically motivated. But the DOJ says Birick helped funnel donor money to an informant in the white supremacist group National Alliance. That informant, they allege, was also her lover.

**Georgia Howe** (3:07)
Russia has set free an American citizen and US Marine veteran Robert Gilman after more than four years in custody. President Trump announced Gilman's release Tuesday. Trump wrote on social media that the Marine veteran was released on humanitarian grounds and not part of an exchange. Gilman was arrested in Russia in 2021 and accused of attacking a police officer. He was later sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony with extra time added for allegedly attacking guards. Advocates have disputed the charges and said that Gilman has been repeatedly tortured and drugged while in prison. His release comes after Gilman's family grew increasingly concerned about his health and warned that he could die without proper medical treatment.

**John Bickley** (3:45)
ICE agents could soon be wearing electric shock gloves. The new tech known as glove or generated low output voltage emitter has been used by other law enforcement agencies across the country to control violent suspects in jails and in the field. The new tech comes as sources within ICE have described an uptick in violence by the individuals they're trying to arrest. Since the Trump administration began its mass deportation campaign, ICE agents have faced a 1,300 percent surge in assaults and a 3,300 percent increase in vehicular attacks. The Kentucky-based company behind the gloves say they are not a weapon but a device used to quickly distract with small uncomfortable electric pulses.