The President's Daily Brief - August 26th, 2025: How China Is Rigging Elections in America’s Biggest City & Coast Guard Mega-Seizure

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: A new report exposes how Beijing’s political machine is working in New York City, quietly shaping elections in America’s biggest city. The U.S. Coast Guard makes history with the biggest drug offload ever—seizing $473 million worth of narcotics and striking a massive blow against the cartels. America’s top spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, slams the brakes on intel-sharing, ordering that U.S. allies be cut out of the loop on Russia-Ukraine peace talks. And in today’s Back of the Brief—an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in southern Gaza leaves at least 20 dead, including five international journalists. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visitingPDBPremium.com.Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on goldCBDistillery: Visit https://CBDistillery.com and use promo code PDB for 25% off your entire order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Oh, you didn't see that coming. We'll explain how China is quietly shaping elections in America's biggest city. Later in the show, the Coast Guard delivers a $473 million blow. no pun intended to Latin America's cartels, offloading their largest drug seizure in history. Plus, America's top spy chief slams the brakes on intel sharing, ordering that U.S. allies be cut out of the loop on Russia-Ukraine peace talks, which doesn't sound very neighborly.

And in today's back of the brief, an Israeli air strike on a hospital in southern Gaza leaves at least 20 dead, including five journalists reporting for international. international outlets. As you might imagine, the backlash was immediate. But first, today's PDB spotlight. We begin with a fascinating and yet not entirely surprising report. Beijing is quietly manipulating elections in America's biggest city. The New York Times has revealed how the Chinese consulate in Manhattan has quietly mobilized community groups, many of them tax-exempt nonprofits, to sink the campaigns of politicians who dare to criticize the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, and in their place, they've elevated candidates

who tow Beijing's line. Just to be clear, this is unfolding in New York City, home to more than 600,000 ethnic Chinese residents. The consulate's playbook is relatively simple. It leans on so-called hometown associations. These are basically clubs built around ties to the same province or town in China. These groups have long-hosted parades, banquets, and social events. But under Beijing's guidance, they've become political weapons. So if you're a politician or a candidate for office

who supports Taiwan, Hong Kong democracy, or any issue that crosses Beijing's red lines, these groups will mobilize against you. They'll smear you on Chinese language social media, like WeChat, withdraw invitations to community events, and in some cases even intimidate supporters behind the scenes. It's politics with mafia tactics, and the boss is a foreign government.

On the flip side, well, if you play nice with Beijing or simply keep quiet, they'll raise money, endorse you, and deliver thousands of votes from their tightly organized networks. Take the case of Yan Ziong, a U.S. citizen, a retired army chaplain, and Tiananmen Square, dissident who ran for Congress in 2021. Now, Ziong thought his history of standing up to China's communist regime would inspire voters, Instead, he was targeted. Federal prosecutors, say a Chinese intelligence agent, plotted to set him up, possibly with a prostitute, possibly with violence, to derail his campaign.

At the same time, leaders of Chinese associations in New York work to undermine his candidacy, and he lost badly. Then there is Yuan Chu, a Taiwan-born state senator in Brooklyn. In 2023, she attended a reception with Taiwan's president during a stop in New York. That was enough for the Chinese consulate to label her unacceptable. Soon after, hometown groups flip their endorsements to her Republican challenger, Stephen Chan, who had ties to Beijing's top power broker in the city. Chu lost her re-election bid in 2024, and Democrats lost their supermajority in the state Senate.

Or consider Wai Chiang, who ran for city council. Old photos surfaced of her at a Hong Kong democracy rally. Beijing-linked groups recirculated them on We-Chat, branding her a radical supporter of Hong Kong independence. She was abandoned by the very community groups that once supported her. Her opponent won and has since appeared at dozens of consulate-linked events while funneling more than $300,000 in city funds to Beijing-friendly nonprofits. And it's not just individual candidates. The Times found more than 50 organizations in New York City with ties to the Chinese government that have endorsed or raised money for candidates over the past five years. Many of them are registered charities,

501c3 nonprofits. Under U.S. law, well, they're barred from direct political activity, yet they openly campaigned, hosted fundraisers, and coordinated with the consulate. And you may ask yourself, what did the IRS do? That's a good question. Uh, they did nothing. Even New York's current mayor Eric Adams has benefited. His campaign has been endorsed by at least nine hometown associations linked to the Beijing consulate. One of his former aides resigned amid an investigation to China's role in the last mayoral race. So what's Beijing's endgame? Good question. It's about silencing critics before their voices can spread. The Communist Party doesn't want dissent in Chinese communities abroad because, well, that dissent could embarrass Beijing or even inspire opposition.

back home. But it's also about the long game. Today's city council member or state senator could be tomorrow's congressman or even a presidential candidate. By shaping local politics now, Beijing ensures fewer critics rise to national power later. We've seen foreign interference before, obviously, from Russia, Turkey, or India, to name a few, playing their own games in U.S. cities. But what's happening in New York is more organized and more deeply rooted. It's not just bots on Twitter or disinformation campaigns. It's face-to-face in community halls and banquet rooms, where entire voting blocks can be shifted with the blessing or the threat from the Chinese consulate. So the question for U.S. authorities is simple. How long will they let this go on?

All right, after the break, the Coast Guard unloads a record $473 million in seized narcotics. and Tulsi Gabbard, the DNI, cuts U.S. allies out of the loop reportedly on Russia-Ukraine peace talks. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about protecting your hard-earned assets. Now, you've probably looked around out there in the big wide world, and you thought to yourself, hmm, seems to be a lot of turmoil out there in the economy. Well, you wouldn't be wrong. Look, trade wars, tariffs back and forth, a U.S. Federal Reserve that seems a bit at odds with the White House.

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There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and all birds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Welcome back to the PDB. The Trump administration has been intensifying their crackdown on the drug trafficking operations of Latin America's powerful cartels, and it looks like the effort is already yielding substantial results. On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton offloaded 76,140 pounds of illicit narcotics bound for U.S. streets, representing the largest single illegal drug dump in Coast Guard history. The record-breaking offload took place at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and included nearly $500 million worth of illegal drugs, including 61,740 pounds of cocaine,

that's a lot of coke, and 14,400 pounds of marijuana, according to a report from Defense News. Now, to put that in perspective, it's enough cocaine to potentially kill tens of millions of Americans. At a news conference on Monday, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Adam Chamey, explained, quote, the 61,740 pounds of Coke represent 23 million potentially lethal doses. That's enough to fatally overdose the entire population of the state of Florida, end quote. Officials with the Coast Guard said the contraband was seized during 19 interdictions that took place off the coasts of the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean over the past several months, in coordination with the U.S. Navy.

The hall broke the previous Coast Guard record from 2021 when some 61,130 pounds of illegal drugs were offloaded. The seizures followed the deployment of two Navy-guided missile destroyers to the region in March by the Trump administration to support the Coast Guard's interdiction efforts, with the aim, of course, of curbing illegal migration and drug smuggling. Since January of this year, Coast Guard officials say they've tripled their operational presence, in the heavily trafficked waters to better secure America's maritime borders. And you know what? Well, that works. And just last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced the Coast Guard's launch of what's known as Operation Pacific Viper, which will surge additional forces to the eastern

Pacific to combat the cartels. Notably, U.S. Attorney General Gregory Kehoe said Monday that much of the seized drugs offloaded by the Coast Guard were transported by organized crime groups in Venezuela, Oh, here's my shock to face, particularly the notoriously violent Trender Iwagua or TDA gang. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, Venezuela, under the rule of dictator and part-time narco-trafficker, how does he have time to do both? Nicholas Maduro has become a powerful player in Latin America's criminal underworld, helping to import drugs and facilitate the migration of TDA gang members directly into the U.S.

Maduro himself was indicted in a New York federal court back in 20, on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Earlier this month, the Trump administration doubled the reward for the arrest of Maduro, offering $50 million for information leading to his capture. That's got to get the attention of his security detail. The DOJ has described Maduro's government as a, quote, narco-terror cartel responsible for sewing chaos on American streets and undermining public safety throughout the country.

Just last week, the White House dramatically escalated the military pressure on the Maduro regime, deploying three Aegis-guided missile destroyers, carrying some 4,000 Marines to the waters off the coast of Venezuela, backed by spy planes and a submarine. But Maduro, as despots and narco-traffickers are wont to do, while he remains defiant. The dictator ordered the deployment of more than four and a half million militia members around the country to assist their armed forces in response, and declared that, quote, No empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela, end quote. Now, to be fair, I think only a dozen or so citizens actually responded to Maduro's call for mobilization of militia members.

It was not an overwhelming response by all accounts from inside Venezuela. Okay, turning to the war on Ukraine. Director of National Intelligence, the DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, has barred America's closest allies, reportedly, from accessing U.S. intelligence on Russia, crane peace efforts in a move that could rattle the foundations of the Five Eyes Alliance. A memo dated 20 July, first reported by CBS News last week, slapped a no foreign label, meaning no foreign dissemination, on all analysis tied to the peace talks, cutting off Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand from assessments that they've long received as part of the partnership. Now, I should point out, no foreign is a label that has been used for a very

long time within the Intel community. Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the order, stressing that the only scraps exempted were materials already in the public domain. Even inside Washington, the directive shrank the circle, limiting distribution to the offices that produced the intelligence. To be clear, operational and military intelligence for Keeve remains unaffected. But when it comes to U.S. information regarding the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations, such as they are, Gabbard has reportedly sealed it off from four.

foreign eyes. We should note, however, that DNI's spokeswoman, Olivia Coleman, moved quickly to push back on the account a day after the CBS News report went public, insisting that the reporting was false and saying in a post on X that, quote, US intelligence sharing relationships with our allies have never been stronger, end quote. Now, that is not the same as saying that the U.S. is sharing intelligence on the peace talks with our five-ey's partners, and that the reporting is wrong. It just says the alliance is strong. Former officials warning that such a sweeping carve-out, if it happened, could gut the trust that has underpinned the Five Eyes Alliance for nearly eight decades. Sam Vindigrad, a former Homeland Security official, said shutting out partners, quote, could have a chilling effect.

If our partners believe they're being shut out, they could take similar steps or even create new structures without us, end quote. Now, the truth is what actually happens within the intelligence community is, yes, we have our very closest allies, and the Five Eyes alliance is very important. But is there intel that the U.S. withholds from that alliance or that New Zealand withholds from that alliance or the U.K. or Canada or Australia? And the answer over the years has always been, yes. The risk she added is that our closest allies may start conducting their own separate conversations. Well, they do, even on issues that strike at America's core national security interests. Stephen Cash, a former CIA officer, echoed those concerns, noting the Five Eyes Pact was designed to build a, quote, common intelligence picture among democracies facing adversaries like Russia. He explained, quote, among the reasons for the default is the expectation that we and the other four are all sitting on the same side of the table with some other adversary on the other side, end quote.

For context, the Alliance's roots traced back to a secret 1946 pact between Washington and London. That was forged in the shadow of Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech and later widened to include Ottawa, Canberra, and Wellington. Nearly 80 years on, some experts fear that Gabbard's directive risks dimming one of the West's most enduring lights of cooperation. But not everyone is ringing alarm bells. As for Cohen, a former Pentagon intelligence chief,

argues that such restrictions are far from unusual. Well, he's not wrong. He explains, quote, there's a lot of information we do not share even with our five-eyes partners, and it works in reverse, pointing to UK-only and Australia-only classifications. Cohen added, quote, our interests are not always aligned. He stressed that marking intelligence no-foreign is common when interests diverge. And he's not wrong. The no-foreign classification, again, has been around for generations. The debate comes at a time, though, when the prospects for peace still appear to be low. Last week, Moscow launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian President Zelensky condemned the attacks as proof that the Kremlin remains unmoved

by the recent summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. Well, he's not wrong either. Coming up next in the back of the brief, another tragedy in Gaza. An Israeli strike on Nassar Hospital in the enclave killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, working for major news agencies. More on that story when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, let's be honest, most of us, on occasion,

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life gets a little easier. Visit wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. In today's back of the brief, in what is now among the deadliest incidents involving members of the media since Hamas started this current conflict with Israel, Jerusalem admitted that its forces struck the Nasser Hospital complex twice in southern Gaza on Monday, killing five journalists and at least 20 others. According to the Palestinian Authority controlled Palestinian and Ministry of Health. Israeli forces launched the back-to-back strikes on the Kahn Yunus Hospital within minutes of each other.

The so-called double-tap strike, first tore through the facility's fourth floor and balcony, before then, in a second strike, hammering ambulance crews and emergency responders rushing to the scene. The balcony has been used by reporters to cover the fighting from an elevated vantage point of the city. Among those killed were journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, the Middle East eye, and a freelancer. Reuters' footage from the hospital posted online shows plumes of smoke curling over the medical complex as first responders carried away the dead and wounded. Hours later, the IDF conceded it had, quote, carried out a strike in the area of the hospital.

An IDF spokesman acknowledged civilian casualties, including journalists, but stressed Israel was operating in what he called a, quote, extremely complex reality, end quote. Well, that's not incorrect, but of course it doesn't excuse the incident. The spokesman insisted Israel does not deliberately target civilians and has opened an inquiry into the strikes. He accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian infrastructure as cover for terror operations. That's, of course, a confirmed practice of the Iran-backed group. An Israeli security official with direct knowledge of the strike, who requested to remain anonymous, said the IDF identified what they believed was a Hamas.

surveillance camera on the hospital roof and authorized its destruction with a drone. Instead, two tank shells were fired, first killing the journalists, then the medics. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the deaths a, quote, tragic mishap. He said Israel, quote, deeply regrets the killings and values the work of journalists and medical staff, promising a, quote, thorough investigation. President Trump, pressed by reporters in the Oval Office, said he was unaware of the incident at the time, responding, quote, I didn't know that. I'm not happy about it.

We have to end that whole nightmare. Fearst condemnation came fast. The Foreign Press Association blasted the incident as, quote, among the deadliest Israeli attacks on journalists working for international media since the Gaza war began. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez weighed in, too, with his spokesman saying journalists and medical staff must be protected, quote, at all times and allowed to do their jobs, quote,

without interference, intimidation, or harm. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, prior to Monday's strike on the hospital, Israeli munitions had killed at least 192 journalists since the start of the war. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Tuesday, the 26th of August. Now, if you have any questions or comments,

please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, well, it's easy. just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month.

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