The President's Daily Brief - December 31st, 2025: CIA Carries Out Drone Strike Inside Venezuela & Russian Society Is Starting to Fall Apart

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: First up—new details emerge on a covert United States strike inside Venezuela, as reporting reveals the Central Intelligence Agency carried out a drone attack on a port facility, signaling a sharp escalation in pressure on the Maduro regime. Later in the show—new reporting from The Washington Post shows how Russia’s war in Ukraine is taking a growing toll at home, with social strain and public disillusionment becoming harder to hide. Plus—Saudi Arabia bombs a Yemeni port city following a weapons shipment from the United Arab Emirates, exposing a deepening rift between two key Gulf allies. And in today’s Back of the Brief—a twenty-one-year-old Texas man faces terrorism charges for allegedly supplying bomb-making materials to ISIS. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.  YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Glorify: Feel closer to God this year with Glorify—get full access for just $29.99 when you download the app now at https://glorify-app.com/PDB.   Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking to diversify and protect your hard-earned assets, well, schedule a free consultation with the Birch Gold Group. They're the precious metal specialists. Just text PDB to the number 989-89-898, and you'll receive a free, no-obligation information kit, and you'll learn how to convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a gold IRA. Again, text PDB to 989-89-89. It's Wednesday, the 31st of December. Ah, the very last day of 2025, and my, what-me? an eventful year it's been.

Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed on this last day of the year, shall we? First up, we've got new details on a covert U.S. strike inside Venezuela, as the CIA reportedly launches a drone attack on a port facility, signaling a sharp escalation against the Maduro regime. Later in the show, new reporting from the Washington Post shows how Russia's war is taking an increasing toll at home

as social strain and public disillusionment deepen. Plus, Saudi Arabia bombs a Yemeni port city after a weapons shipment from the UAE, exposing a deepening rift between the two key Gulf allies. And in today's back of the brief, a 21-year-old Texas man faces terrorism charges for allegedly supplying bomb-making materials to ISIS. But first, today's PDB spotlight.

The U.S. has now confirmed that it carried out a strike inside Venezuela, reportedly destroying a port facility or dock facility linked to drug trafficking. This was, according to what details are currently available, and there's not many of them, not a conventional military operation. According to an exclusive report from CNN, the strike was not conducted by the U.S. military at all, but by the central intelligence agency. Sources familiar with the operation confirmed that the CIA carried out the covert drone attack. targeting a remote port facility along Venezuela's coast.

U.S. officials believed the facility was being used by the gang Trandilagua or TDA to store drugs and then load them onto boats for export to America's shores. No one was reportedly present at the site at the time of the strike, according to the sources, and no casualties were reported. The facility itself and the boats associated with it were, again reportedly, destroyed. Now, using the intelligence community, meaning the CIA, instead of military forces, does signal a different kind of operation. The U.S. military's legal authority in Venezuela has largely been limited to counter-narcotic actions at sea, not strikes on land, inside the country. The CIA, however, operates under a different set of authorities than the U.S. military, authorities the Trump administration has expanded and leaned on,

as it increasingly casts Venezuela-linked trafficking networks as a national security threat rather than purely a criminal one. So in that context, the CIA strike looks less like a one-off and more like a perhaps test case, deliberately contained, quiet, well, quiet until the president talked about it, and structured in a way that allows Washington to see what follows from Caracas as much as what was destroyed. And so far, what's followed is, strikingly,

muted. Venezuela has not publicly acknowledged the strike, even as it is routinely denounced U.S. interdictions and seizures and maritime pressure as violations of its sovereignty. Regional governments have also remained notably silent, despite public resistance to any overt U.S. military action tied to Venezuela. Now, that silence matters, particularly given the broader campaign unfolding under Operation Southern Spear. That campaign, as we've long discussed here on the PDB, centers on Washington's expanding counter-narcotics build-up across the Caribbean, although the larger context appears to be the removal of Maduro. After all, it's hard to paint this as just a counter-narcotics or narco-terrorism operation

after President Trump posted on social media that pressure won't let up until Venezuela returns the oil and land that it stole from the U.S. Over the past several months, the Trump administration has dramatically expanded U.S. naval patrols, surveillance and maritime interdictions across the region. As you're aware, U.S. forces have been striking boats along known smuggling routes in international waters and imposing a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. This week, that tally grew after U.S. forces struck a vessel in the Eastern Pacific that the military said was engaged in drug smuggling, killing two people and bringing the total number of boat strikes to at least 30 with at least

107 deaths reported since September by the Trump administration. The White House has framed those actions as counter-archonics, but senior administration officials have also made clear that the campaign is being viewed through a wider lens. Washington has repeatedly described Venezuela, not simply as a failed state, but as a hub for what it calls narco-terrorism, explicitly linking Venezuelan drug trafficking networks to the Maduro regime. Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth has compared Venezuela's drug traffickers to al-Qaeda, signaling that the tools and logic of counterterrorism are increasingly be implied to criminal networks in the region. Seen through that framework, the CIA strike appears less about the destruction of a dock or

small warehouse and more about testing a model, one that blends covert action and strategic ambiguity. We'll provide updates as more details become available. All right. Coming up next, new report. shows Russia's war is straining society at home, while Saudi air strikes and Yemen expose a growing rift with the UAE. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, as we move into the brand new year, many of us are, of course, looking to build more intentional lives, right, to live deliberately, and better aligned with your purpose and values. That's why I want to tell you about glorify, the number one Christian daily devotional app. Glorify can help you lead a more intentional

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Again, that's glorify-dash-app.com slash pdb. Feel closer to God this year with Glorify. Get full access all year for just $2999 at glorify-d-app.com slash PDB. Welcome back to the PDB. I wanted to take a look at some great reporting from the Washington Post, which gained unusual access inside Russia. Post reporters spoke with Russian soldiers and volunteers and officials as the war grinds towards its fourth year. It shows that in many ways, Russian society is starting to fall apart, not in a dramatic collapse, but not all at once, but in ways that are becoming increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to control or even to conceal. One wounded soldier, a young man named Fyodor, had lost his lower leg to a mind just days earlier.

He said something simple and revealing, telling a reporter, quote, I would never have signed a contract if I'd known what it's like out there. Our television is lying to us, end quote. That line gets at the heart of the problem facing the Kremlin. According to Western intelligence estimates, more than a million Russian fighters have been killed or wounded since the invasion began. Many of those losses came in slow grinding battles for marginal gains, territory that offers little strategic value but enormous human cost.

Inside Russia, there's no honest public accounting for that toll. Casualties are downplayed, losses are abstracted, and frustration has no legitimate outlet. That pressure doesn't dissipate. It builds. You can see it most clearly in Russia's border regions, in cities like Belgarand, where drone attacks are routine, air-deafers. Defense units race through civilian streets and volunteer networks work around the clock to supply troops with food and clothing and equipment, often filling gaps left by the state. And there's

growing resentment. Volunteers and residents there describe a widening divide between the regions absorbing the war's impact and the major cities, particularly Moscow, where daily life feels largely untouched. The sense is that those paying the price are increasingly invisible to those far from the front. Russian sociologists even have a term for this now. They call it warring Russia. It refers to roughly 20% of the population, soldiers, their families, defense industry workers, and patriotic volunteers who see the war as existential and unavoidable. The rest of the country falls somewhere between passive loyalty, quiet opposition, or withdrawal into private life. That split creates strain. Wars become harder to sustain when the burden is unevenly shared and openly

felt by only a small minority. The Kremlin understands that risk, and it's responding in a familiar way by spending heavily to buy loyalty and stability. Returning soldiers receive generous compensation packages, pensions, free transportation, tax benefits, guaranteed employment, education opportunities for their children, even free land in some regions. Veterans are elevated socially and politically, presented as the moral core of the nation. In fact, researchers studying Russian's survey data have found that in some economically depressed regions, reported life satisfaction has actually increased during the war, largely because military spending and defense production have injected money into those local economies. Now, that effect is real, and it helps explain

why the system hasn't cracked outright, but it's also fragile, because beneath the benefits in public praise is a growing concern that the Kremlin rarely acknowledges openly. What happens when large numbers of traumatized soldiers return home for good. Many are dealing with severe post-traumatic stress. Some were recruited directly from prisons in exchange for their freedom, and in several cases already, returning fighters have gone on to commit violent crimes. Even Kremlin insiders quietly admit that regional leaders expect serious social problems ahead, and that they'll be responsible for managing them.

At the same time, repression inside Russia is widening. Initially, the crackdown focused on liberal activists and journalists and opposition figures, but as we've previously reported here on the PDB, even staunchly pro-war voices are being targeted. Ultra-nationalist military bloggers, once a backbone of online support for Putin's invasion, have been labeled foreign agents or extremists after criticizing corruption or incompetence within the system. Loyalty, it turns out, only extends so far. and increasingly, the state is focusing on the young. In St. Petersburg, two 18-year-old street musicians were arrested after performing anti-war songs.

Their official charge was minor, but the real issue was that they reminded people of a normal, open, public life that no longer exists. When music becomes a threat, you could argue that it's a sign the system feels insecure. Now, it's important to say this clearly. Prolonged war places immense strain on any society, obviously. Ukraine is almost certainly experiencing many of these same pressures, exhaustion, trauma, social disruption. The difference is that Ukraine didn't choose this war. Russia did.

All right. Turning to the Gulf, a long-simmering dispute between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, boiled over as Saudi warplanes struck Yemen's port city of McCollum, targeting what the kingdom described as weapons shipments sent to separatist forces with Emirati backing. Riyadh says the strike focused on a shipment that arrived from an Emirati port and was bound for the Southern Transitional Council or the STC, which is a UAE-backed separatist faction that has made rapid territorial gains in eastern Yemen in recent days. Saudi officials describe the shipment as a, quote, imminent threat. As for the STC, it has sought

to establish an independent South Yemen, and though it opposes the Iranian-backed Houthis, It's repeatedly found itself in clashes with Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, fracturing the anti-Houthi coalition. And so, for Saudi Arabia, this was not just about a single weapon shipment or limited tactical strike. The deeper concern is that the UAE-backed separatist advances are edging closer to the kingdom's borders, something that Riyadh has labeled a national security redline. The confrontation now risks opening a new front in Yemen's long-running war, not between the Saudi-led

coalition and the Iranian Bakhoutis, but among forces that have nominally been fighting on the same side. This week's flare-up also lays bare how far relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have drifted. After years of quiet divergence over oil policy and regional influence and control of key Red Sea routes, as two countries that once coordinated closely have increasingly pursued competing strategies across the region. In a statement from the Saudi Press agency, Riyadh said vessels arriving in Mokala disabled their tracking systems before unloading weapons and combat vehicles in support of the STC. Saudi aircraft then carried out what the kingdom described as a, quote, limited airstrike targeting the all-floated material. As of now, there are no reports of casualties. But the

UAE rejected the accusation that it shipped weapons, saying the vehicles were instead intended for Emirati forces operating in Yemen and insisting Saudi Arabia had prior knowledge of the shipment. Abu Dhabi then called for, quote, restraint and wisdom, and urged greater coordination to prevent further escalation. But just hours later, the Emirati Defense Ministry announced it would withdraw its remaining troops from Yemen, citing recent developments and concerns about the safety of counterterrorism operations. And while the UAE had largely drawn down its forces years earlier, the move appeared

aimed at easing a standoff that was rapidly intensifying. It remains unclear whether the STC will relinquinquency. territory that it seized with Emirati backing. Inside Yemen, the response and impact was immediate. Anti-Houthi forces aligned with Saudi Arabia, but not with the separatists, declared a state of emergency, ended cooperation with the UAE, and imposed temporary closures of border crossings, airports, and seaports under their control. That breakdown now puts added pressure on Yemen's fragile presidential leadership council. That's the Saudi-backed body meant to hold together the countries divided anti-Houthi factions, raising questions about whether it can survive the split.

For now, the U.A.E. troop withdrawal may cool tensions. The deeper question, though, is whether Abu Dhabi will continue to politically or militarily back the STC. All right, coming up in today's back of the brief, your regular reminder that the ISIS threat is a global issue, as a Texas man is accused of trying to help the group. We'll have the details. Hey, Mike Baker here with a message from our friends at Birch Gold Group. Now, did you know, here's some interesting news? Gold is up around 40% this past year of 2025, which is almost over, up to 40%.

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Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. In today's back of the brief, a 21-year-old Texas man didn't just consume ISIS propaganda. He acted on it, allegedly delivering bomb-making materials and money to undercover officers that he believed were helping the terror group carry out attacks. It started the way that many terrorism investigations now do, and that would be online.

In mid-October, an undercover New York City Police Department employee, working as part of a broader national counterterrorism effort, flagged a social media account that federal authorities believe belonged to John Michael Garza Jr., after noticing repeated engagement with pro-ISIS content. Investigators say Garza wasn't just browsing. He followed extremist accounts, interacted with their material, and used private messages to express support for the terror group. That online activity quickly escalated. Over the following two months,

prosecutors alleged that Garza sent official ISIS propaganda to the undercover officer, including videos of suicide bombings and step-by-step instructions for building explosive devices. Federal officials say those exchanges marked a shift from ideological sympathy to terror preparation.

During that same period, Garza also allegedly sent small amounts of cryptocurrency, believing the fund. would be used to purchase firearms and support ISIS operations. Investigators say the transfers were not incidental, but part of a broader effort to materially assist the terror group and advance its mission. That trajectory ended on the 22nd of December.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Garza was arrested shortly after meeting with an undercover FBI agent, and he referred to as a, quote, ISIS brother. Garza allegedly handed over bomb-making components to the agent, explained how to mix the chemicals and provided detailed instructions for assembling a shrapnel-packed device, recommending the addition of nails to maximize casualties. Federal officials say the evidence shows Garza believed he was directly supporting ISIS and intended to help carry out violent attacks. If convicted of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization,

he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Attorney General Bambandi said the case reflects the Trump administration's approach to disredures terror's threats before they turned deadly. She said, quote, ISIS's poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem. Anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS's behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted, end quote. FBI director Cash Patel said the charges underscore ongoing efforts to stop terror plots before they reach the public, calling the case an example of how investigators work to disrupt extremist's activity at its earliest stages. And that, my friends, is the president's Daily Brief for Wednesday the 31st of December.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And the entire team at the President's Daily Brief wishes you a very safe and happy and successful 2026. It's been an amazing year, and we very much appreciate you being a part of the BDB community. Thank you. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.