The President's Daily Brief - February 13th, 2025: Ukraine Negotiations Set To Begin & Gaza Braces For Renewed Conflict

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: President Trump announces that negotiations to end the Ukraine war will begin immediately following his call with Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns that Ukraine’s goal of reclaiming its 2014 borders is unrealistic. As the fragile Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, Israel calls up military reservists in preparation for potential renewed conflict. A bombshell revelation in Ukraine—intelligence officials expose one of the country’s most powerful men as a Russian mole. And in today’s Back of the Brief, President Trump secures a key victory as Tulsi Gabbard is confirmed by the Senate as the new director of national intelligence, adding another crucial member to his national security team. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Ramp: Get $250 when you join Ramp. Go to ramp.com/PDB.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Thursday, 13 February. 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. We'll start things off today with President Trump announcing that negotiations to end the Ukraine war will begin immediately following a call that he held with Vladimir Putin. The news comes as the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth warns EU and NATO defense chiefs that Ukraine's goal of returning to its 2014 borders isn't realistic. Later in the show, as the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, Israel has begun calling up military reservists in preparation for renewed conflict, plus a bombshell in Ukraine where intelligence officials revealed that one of the nation's most powerful men has been secretly working for Russia.

And in today's back of the brief, President Trump scores a major win as Tulsi Gabbard is confirmed by the Senate as the new Director of National Intelligence after a very tough confirmation battle. But first, today's BDB spotlight. In what could prove to be a major diplomatic breakthrough, President Trump revealed that he held

what he described as a, quote, lengthy and highly productive phone call with Russian President Putin on Wednesday morning, seeking a peace deal to end Moscow's three-year-old war on Ukraine. It marked the first conversation between the president and the Russian strongman since Trump's return to office, as well as Putin's first contact with a sitting U.S. president since February 2022, after contact was broken off following Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Now, the conversation reportedly lasted for an hour and a half, during which the pair agreed to start negotiations immediately to bring the war to a close. In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said, quote, we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia and Ukraine. We agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each other's nations.

We've also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately. End quote. Now, Trump said that a delegation led by Secretary of State, Marker Rubio, director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff will lead the talks and expressed hopes that a negotiated settlement could be achieved in the very near future, though he refrained from outlining a timetable. The call came in the wake of a prisoner exchange on Tuesday that saw Russia release Mark Fogle. He's an American teacher who was detained in Russia for three and a half years,

which White House officials said marked a thawing of relations between Moscow and Washington. Following his call with Putin, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Zelensky, who he said is also eager to pursue a peace deal. Now, Zelensky has long expressed a willingness to engage with Putin on a, quote, just settlement to the war, and suggested earlier this one. week that he would consider trading areas of Russia's Kersk region currently occupied by Keeves' forces in order to gain back some of Ukraine's lost territory. Trump added that a meeting is being set up on Friday at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany between Zelenskyy, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of State Rubio,

though details of what they will discuss were not disclosed. So, what might the Trump administration's plan for peace look like? While the White House is keeping details of their strategy close to the vest, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a preview of some of the broader aspects of their plan during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Hegsetth echoed Trump's past statements that any negotiations must acknowledge some harsh realities, including that Ukraine will not be able to be able to be able to be able to be able to be. to regain the roughly 20% of territory seized by Russia since the war began, along with Crimea

and the eastern Donbass region. He also said Keeves' potential membership in the NATO alliance is not, quote, a realistic outcome. Heg Seth told his fellow NATO military allies, quote, we want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal, he said, will only prolong the war and cause more suffering, end quote. Hegseth added that any durable peace deal would need to rely on robust security guarantees from European allies, not the U.S. He endorsed proposals to send a coalition of European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to enforce any potential settlement, but, most critically, said they should only be deployed as part of a non-NATO

mission, meaning, importantly, that they would not be covered under the Alliance's mutual defense clause. The Defense Secretary's remarks reflected Trump's intent to make Europe shoulder most of the financial and military burden of any settlement to the war. But Zelensky said earlier this week that U.S. muscle is critical to achieving any lasting peace deal and suggested he could woo Trump with economic incentives. Now, I'm not sure if Zelensky actually used the word woo. As we discussed earlier this week on the PDB, Trump has spoken of striking a $500 billion deal with Ukraine to access the country's rare earth minerals in exchange for continued financial and military assistance from the U.S. Still, the Defense Secretary said the U.S. has other global priorities that require our focus,

namely the threat from China, and said Wednesday that Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine. He added, quote, the United States remains committed to the NATO alliance, but the U.S. will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship, which encourages dependency, end quote. All right, coming up next, Israel calls up reservists as the Gaza ceasefire teeters, and in Ukraine, a top official is exposed as a Russian mole. I'll be right back. Running a business isn't easy. I know that firsthand.

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hostage release, accusing Israel of violating the terms of the fragile three-week-old truce. The Iran-backed terror group alleged that Israeli forces carried out deadly shootings, obstructed humanitarian aid deliveries and barred Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza. Following an emergency meeting with Israel's security cabinet, which unanimously backed his stance, Netanyahu vowed, quote, If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated, end quote. As our listeners know here on the PDB, Netanyahu's

statement closely followed President Trump's own warning to Hamas on Monday, in which he threatened that if hostages weren't released by, quote, Saturday at 12 o'clock, then, quote, all bets are off, and all hell is going to break out. However, on Tuesday, a Hamas spokesman reaffirmed the terror group's commitment to the truce, though he did not reverse the delay in hostage releases. In an interview with NBC News, the terror group's spokesman dismissed Trump's threat, stating that Gaza was already, quote, living in a state of hell. The Hamas spokesman added, of course, that's entirely the fault of Hamas, given that we started this mess by slaughtering Israeli citizens during the 7 October attacks.

Okay, fair enough. He didn't actually say that last bit. I mean, frankly, the Hamas spokesman is not known for being self-aware and contrite. The stalled exchange would have been the six-such swap since the ceasefire began. Under the first phase of the truce, which took effect on 19 January, and is set to last for 42 days, Hamas has so far released 16 of 33 hostages, along with five Thai nationals. In return, Israel freed over 730 Palestinian prisoners. Still, 76 hostages remain in the strip, at least 35 of whom are believed to be dead. Meanwhile, Trump has given to be dead. Meanwhile, Trump has continued to push his own vision for Gaza, arguing that its over 2 million residents should be relocated, so the U.S. could take control and develop the territory into the

Riviera of the Middle East. On Tuesday, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel's security cabinet had formally endorsed Trump's proposal. The fragility of the ceasefire has also spurred a flurry of regional diplomatic efforts. The Arab League Secretary General General, announced plans to revive the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, well, that worked well, which offered Israel normalized relations in exchange for Palestinian statehood. Egypt, a key mediator in the ceasefire agreement, is set to host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February, shortly after Trump extended an invitation to the Egyptian president for discussions at the White House. As uncertainty mounts, Israel has begun mobilizing military resistance.

service in preparation for a possible return to full-scale combat. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz reinforced Netanyahu's warning, bluntly stating, quote, if Hamas stops the hostage releases, then there is no ceasefire, and there is war, end quote. Cats went further, suggesting that a, quote, new Gaza war could pave the way for Israel to implement Trump's sweeping vision for the enclave. Okay, turning now to Ukraine. where intelligence services uncovered a major security breach on Wednesday, announcing the head of Kiev's anti-terrorist center has been working as a Russian mole.

Yeah, that would qualify as a major security breach. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was arrested personally by Vassil Malyuk, who is chief of the security service of Ukraine or the SPU. Maliuk accused the suspect of passing classified intelligence to the criminal. Sermilin's Federal Security Service in exchange for cash and reportedly out of ideological loyalty, but mostly cash. The SBO caught the former security official, passing the sensitive information to Moscow a minimum of 14 times. Investigators employed round-the-clock wiretaps, gained access to the suspect's mobile devices and computers, and even infiltrated the alleged

traders' encrypted communications. Meliuk, in a video posted on the SBA website, stated, quote, we practically had to live together with him, explaining how investigators documented his contacts with Russian operatives. The agency made no effort to soften its condemnation, branding the suspect a, quote, rat and underscoring that he had not acted alone. His Russian handlers were reportedly former Ukrainian officials, who years earlier had helped suppress the pro-Western Euro-Maden revolution before fleeing to Moscow after those protests.

For Kiv. This case is more than just another counterintelligence win. It lays bare the extent of Russian penetration within the Ukraine's security structures, a vulnerability that President Zelensky's government has been aggressively campaigning to root out. The SPU chief confirmed that Zelensky had been kept in the loop throughout the counterintelligence operation, which ultimately turned the tables on Moscow. Not only did Ukraine neutralize an embedded Russian asset, but officials also disclosed that the SBU fed disinformation to the suspect, allowing for false intelligence to reach Russian command. Malyuk stated, quote, we continue to self-clean our ranks, signaling that Keeves' hunt for infiltrators is, well, far from over.

All right, coming up in the back of the brief, Tulsi Gabbard secures a key role in President Trump's national security team, overcoming a fierce Senate confirmation battle to become the new Director of National Intelligence, the DNI. I'll be right back with the details. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more. and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. In today's back of the brief, after an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate, Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed to President Donald Trump's cabinet as the next director of national intelligence, the DNI. Gabbard becomes Trump's 14th successful cabinet confirmation following a 52-48 vote

on Wednesday that fell largely along party lines, with the exception of Senator Mitch McConnell, who was the lone GOP holdout. Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army reserves, was considered one of Trump's more controversial picks and faced intense pushback from members of her former party during her tumultuous confirmation, as well as from a handful of GOP skeptics. There were widespread reservations about her qualifications for the role, as well as concerns about her past views on Russia, support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden,

and a controversial 2017 meeting that she held with now-deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. But the bulk of the GOP holdouts were ultimately swayed to vote yes by Senator Tom Cotton. He's the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence and Vice President J.D. Vance, who reportedly coordinated a last-minute campaign to persuade the Republican skeptics and push Gabbard over the line. Hours after the vote on Wednesday, she was officially sworn into her position by Attorney General Pam Bondi

during a ceremony in the Oval Office. Gabbard, who once ran for president as a Democrat but left the party in 2022, pledged to refocus the priorities of the agencies under her charge and worked to restore public trust in the intelligence community, which she argues was weaponized

and politicized under the previous administration. In remarks from the Oval Office, Trump praised her service record saying, quote, Tulsi has always distinguished herself as a leader of the highest caliber. She's earned the respect and admiration and the love of Americans on both sides of the aisle with her profound commitment to the values that keep us free, end quote. In her new role as DNI, Gabbard will oversee the 18 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community and function as Trump's senior advisor on all intelligence matters. As part of her duties, she will also be charged with preparing the

President's Daily Intelligence Brief, which, while not as interesting or insightful as Mike Baker's President's Daily Brief, is still important. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Thursday, 13 February. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And as all the cool kids know, to listen to to the show ad-free, well, it's simple. Become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.