Evening Wire: Mamdani’s Grocery Stores Caught In ID Hypocrisy Backlash & D.C. Reflecting Pool Update | 8.3.26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Georgia Howe** (0:33)
Zohran Mamdani announces his grocery stores might require photo ID, thousands are ordered to evacuate from Spokane, Washington, and the DC reflecting pool saga adds another chapter. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Monday, August 3rd, and this is Evening Wire.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:52)
New York City's much ballyhooed government run grocery stores may require ID to access them. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his head of economic development floated the library card-esque system on Sunday.

**Zohran Mamdani** (1:05)
So our RFP makes very clear that this is a program for New Yorkers to be able to put food on the table, not a program for people to be able to make a quick buck through reselling. I'm going to pass it over to our EDC head, G Pack, to add some additional details.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:18)
Yes, if you look at our RFP for the operator, we are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be at a library card-esque system, and also we manage who's buying and that is focused on everyday New Yorkers.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:32)
The announcement has sparked accusations of hypocrisy at the New York mayor. Critics say Mamdani's embrace of ID for his taxpayer-funded grocery stores reveals the politics behind his anti-voter ID stance.

**Georgia Howe** (1:45)
On Sunday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch published a signed memo reiterating that a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is rescinded and shall have no force or effect. Blanch has already repeatedly said that the fund is dead, but the memo appears aimed at maulifying a couple GOP senators who have held up Blanch's nomination to the Attorney General role. Senators John Cornyn and Tom Tillis have demanded reassurances that the fund, which was set up to compensate those targeted for political reasons by the DOJ, will not be revived. That is on top of other concerns the senators have over a settlement between the IRS and President Trump.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:23)
Long time Democratic strategist James Carville says he will leave the Democratic Party if leftist influencer Hassan Piker becomes a major force in it. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has the latest.

**Zach Jewell** (2:34)
Carville has been increasingly critical of Democrats' leftward drift and blamed it for Democrats' poor standing in opinion polls. On the other hand, Hassan Piker says Democrats haven't been radical enough and argued for socialized medicine, isolationism and wealth redistribution. He's courted controversy with claims such as the United States deserved 9-11.
Over the weekend, Piker appeared at a rally with Francesca Hong, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin. Here's a bit of what Piker said.

**Hassan Piker** (3:03)
I think it was Michael Moore in 2016 who said, Michigan is not a swing state, and neither is Wisconsin. These are not swing states. They've been turned into swing states because they've left you behind. But we are going to bring back the working class to both Wisconsin and to Michigan.
A Republican will never be elected in this state ever again once our movement is done.

**Georgia Howe** (3:30)
Wildfires in Spokane, Washington have destroyed hundreds of buildings and forced some 60,000 people from their homes in what officials are calling the largest natural disaster in the county's history.
Nearly 1,000 firefighters were battling three blazes over the weekend and have been unable to contain the fires, which had destroyed more than 5,300 acres as of Sunday afternoon. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency and says he's spoken with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen about the dire situation. The Spokane fires cap off a record breaking wildfire season that's already burned more than 425,000 acres in Washington this year.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:10)
New analysis has thrown another wrench in the ongoing DC reflection pool drama. Daily Wire lifestyle reporter Lauren Baer has the details.

**Lauren Baer** (4:19)
Following the completion of the reflection pool renovations, large sections of the new liner were found peeled away, revealing the raw concrete underneath. President Trump and administration representatives maintained that the damage was caused by vandals.
In a recent Truth Social post, Trump wrote, The slashes were 300 yards long, and the floor of the pool was cut and then pulled upward, with great force by these thugs.
However, new analysis tells a different story.
Satellite imagery shows that the failed seams are all in locations where the spray-on liner was applied over previously dried liner. The instructions for this product warn that applying over dried liner material can cause poor adhesion. The manufacturer also advises applying the liner within 24 hours of the light blue epoxy sub-layer. Time-lapse photos of the project show that this was not done. While Trump and the administration continue to blame vandals, no evidence of sabotage has been presented.