The President's Daily Brief - February 26th, 2024: Ceasefire Breakthrough, High-Price Hardware, & Border Uproar

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: An update on the Israel-Hamas conflict emerges as negotiators broker a ceasefire agreement, potentially quieting guns for over a month and facilitating hostage returns. The spotlight then shifts to the Ukraine-Russia front, examining the Ukrainian military's strategic downing of an expensive Russian military asset. Then, we move to a heartbreaking incident in Georgia. The murder of a young college student by an undocumented immigrant has sparked widespread demands for tighter border security. In the Back of the Brief, we’ll wrap things up with insights into the Republican Presidential Primary, highlighting Donald Trump's latest triumph over Nikki Haley in South Carolina. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Monday, 26 February. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Today, we start with an update on the Israel-Khamas conflict, where a new ceasefire plan has successfully passed, at least its initial stage. Israel and negotiators have reached an agreement that could halt hostilities for over a month and secure the return of some hostages.

Next, we'll shift our focus to the war in Ukraine, spotlighting the Ukrainian military's significant blow to Russian forces by taking down one of the cost of the cost of the cost of as pieces of military hardware in Russia's inventory. Then, we move to a tragic killing in Georgia. The avoidable murder of a young college student by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant has sparked widespread demands for tighter border security. Wrapping up with today's back of the brief, we'll continue our coverage of the Republican presidential primary,

where Donald Trump has scored another victory against Nikki Haley, this time in Haley's home state of South. Carolina. But first up, the PDB spotlight. In Paris this weekend, representatives from Israel, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have rekindled hopes for a breakthrough after several weeks of negotiations. There's renewed optimism that an agreement between Israel and Hamas could be within reach, which could halt fighting temporarily and result in the release of some hostages now held for nearly five months. Multiple reports indicate the framework, Inc. The work includes the release in the first phase of some 40 hostages held in Gaza, including

women, children, female soldiers, and elderly and sick hostages amid a pause in fighting for some six weeks. It also includes the release by Israel of hundreds of convicted Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and a redeployment of Israeli troops within Gaza. Now, the move would fall short of the full withdrawal that Hamas had demanded. Additionally, the proposed deal would allow Palestinian women and children to return to northern Gaza, an area from which they were displaced during the conflict and which has remained isolated from the rest of the region. Perhaps most importantly, at least for the Palestinians, the pause in fighting will delay the coming offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are currently located. One Israeli official said that the outline,

as it appears to stand, would likely be approved by the full war cabinet. Of course, it remains to be seen how Hamas will respond to this latest proposal, there are some early signs that the terror group is willing to negotiate. One senior Israeli official cautioned in the statement Saturday, though, that negotiators were, quote, still far from a deal, but acknowledged that Hamas had dropped some of its demands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a little more direct, telling CBS News on Sunday that a ceasefire deal with Hamas is within reach, but only if Hamas gives up its, quote, delusional claims. Netanyahu continued saying, quote, Hamas started out with crazy demands. It's too soon to say they've abandoned them, but if they do abandon them,

we'll get into what you call the ballpark, end quote. The prime minister added that no matter what comes of the current ceasefire agreement, the Israeli ground offense of Interrafa is inevitable. Now, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan appeared cautiously optimistic, telling CNN, he hopes all sides can come to a firm and final agreement on this issue sometime very soon. Coming up after the break, Ukraine scores a major win in the fight to control its skies, and a tragic killing in Georgia is shining a spotlight on the crisis at America's southern border. I'll have those stories when we come back. Welcome back. Just one day before the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military scored a major victory in the fight to

defend its skies. On Friday, Ukraine down to a Russian barrier of A50 military spy plane. Now, this is the second A50 aircraft that they've shot down since the beginning of the year. Video shared on social media shows the wreckage of the craft which crashed in Russian territory on the east coast of the Sea of Azov. We've discussed these valuable planes on the PDB before, but just to refresh your memory, the A50 surveillance plane is a very large airborne early warning and control of aircraft. Its instruments scan forward enemy aircraft, ships, and missiles across an area of up to 400 miles and can detect more than 300 targets at once. A-50s have been critical for the Russian war effort as they're needed to execute long-range missile strikes on Ukraine. The aircraft and

crew also provide the Russian military with early warning and target information about Ukrainian aircraft. Now, in addition to the critical role the A-50 is played on the battlefield, there are a few other reasons why these losses are so painful for Russia. First off, the reconnaissance planes come with some very sophisticated equipment, as you might imagine, and therefore come with a hefty price tag. It's estimated that Russia's A50s cost around $300 million each to produce. Second, as you might have guessed from its impressive price tag, these planes are somewhat rare. They can't be pumped out of a factory like artillery shells or Kalishnikovs, and Iran and North Korea are unlikely to have any spare A-50s lying around that they're willing to provide to the Russian military.

Prior to the war, it was believed that Russia had a total of just nine modernized A-50s, and that total has now been cut to seven. Finally, Russia isn't building new ones, even if it wanted to, sourcing the parts and equipment needed to do so would be nearly impossible under the current sanctions. And of course, that doesn't include the loss of the crew of 15 highly trained specialists who know how to operate them. Losing such a crew represents a significant loss of specialized training and experience. Now, it's still not entirely clear how the plane was taken down. When it was first reported, Russians claimed that it was struck by friendly fire, but they often make this claim in situations where they want to avoid embarrassment, although, frankly, it would seem more embarrassing,

you would think to say that you shot down your own $300 million plane. All right, I want to bring your attention to a story that's shining a sad news spotlight on the dangers that an open border poses to American citizens. Last week, police officers discovered the body of 22-year-old Laken Hope Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia. Riley was a student at the nearby Augusta University College of Nursing and had failed to return home after going out for a jog. a jog and broad daylight on a public trail around the campus's intermural fields.

Police immediately suspected foul play as visible signs of injury were found on her body. It was ultimately determined that her cause of death was blunt forced trauma. On Saturday, police arrested a suspect in the slaying, a 26-year-old man named Jose Antonio Ibarra. He's been denied bond after being charged with felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated battery, and a half-dozen other crimes. University of Georgia police chief, Jeff Clark, was quick to note that Ibarra acted alone and described her killing as a, quote, crime of opportunity by an individual who woke up with bad intentions.

Now, the thing that's drawing the most attention here is the suspected killer's legal status. According to a report in News Nation, Department of Homeland Security sources confirmed that Ibarra is a Venezuelan national. Along with his wife and five-year-old child, he illegally crossed into the U.S. through El Paso, Texas back in September of 2022. The pair was sent to a processing facility like thousands of other migrants but were quickly released due to a lack of detention space. From El Paso, Ibarra was then put on a bus to New York City where he had a brief run in with a law, this time for endangering the welfare of the five-year-old child, reportedly driving around town

on a scooter or a motorcycle, delivering food while the child rode on the back. Now, at that point, Ibarra was then released back on the streets of New York City. And from the Big Apple, Ibarra made his way down to Athens, Georgia, where he went to live with his brother Diego and went on to allegedly then murder Lake and Riley. It's worth noting that the suspect's brother is also in the United States illegally and was charged with possessing a false screen card after being questioned in relation to Riley's murder. He had been processed for expedited removal, but he claimed a, quote, credible fear of return to Venezuela, which is a common claim among asylum seekers. Now, it's worth noting that credible fear of returning to a failed

socialist state because it's been run into the ground shouldn't actually keep the authorities from deporting you. The murder has, of course, led to an outcry among those calling for tougher border enforcement. In a letter posted to X on Saturday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp wrote, quote, these tragedies are not unique to Georgia. While we will continue to support Texas with National Guard resources, as we have since 2019, federal action to secure the border is the only way to holistically address this ongoing crisis and ensure Lake and Riley's horrible fate is not replicated across the country, end quote. Now, Democrat strategists and White House spin doctors have attempted very quickly to say that if people are upset, and of course they are about Riley's murder,

then they can blame the Republicans in Congress who have spent the past month and a half stonewalling or blocking the Senate's bill on Ukraine and Israel that included provisions for border security funding. Now, the notion that somehow the border crisis has just magically unfolded and millions of illegal migrants have made their way across the U.S. during the past month and a half of political deadlock on Capitol Hill, rather than the fact that it has unfolded during the past three years of the Biden administration's

failure to address border security is what's the word I'm looking for? It's absurd. Acting as if Riley's sad death is anything but the result of three years of allowing unvetted migrants to freely enter and stay often under mass parole or dubious claims of asylum is the height of political gaslighting. Only idiots and blindly partisan voters will buy into that crap, and I don't mean to insult idiots. Finally, there are some in the media willing to go to great lengths to provide top cover for the current administration. Now, okay, to be fair, that's kind of the state of media now. Many outlets have a left bias, some have a right. You'll be hard-pressed to find actual objectivity. But as an egregious example, the Associated Press, the AP, decided to run a story on Riley's

murder that focused on the danger of being a single female athlete. And in their story, they only briefly referred to Ibarra, the alleged murderer, as, quote, an Athens Georgia resident. No other context, no background on Abara. If you simply read their story, the murderer was just someone who resided in Athens. The Associated Press, for what it's worth, used to be, and I suppose that was decades ago now, it used to be an objective outlet that simply reported facts, no matter where they landed or how uncomfortable the truth. All right, coming up in today's back of the brief, former President Donald Trump takes another step at his march toward a third GOP presidential nomination, dominating the primary in Nikki Haley's home state of South

Carolina. I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, continuing our coverage of the Republican presidential primary, former President Trump delivered a relatively unsurprising blow to former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley over the weekend, defeating her in her home state of South Carolina by a wide margin, although frankly, not as wide a margin as some polls, pundits, and Trump advocates had anticipated. Trump dominated the state with approximately 60% of the vote to Nikki Haley's 40%, securing 47 of South Carolina's 50 delegates. Most outlets didn't even bother They're waiting for the results to start rolling in this time around, calling the race for Trump at about 7 p.m. Eastern Time as polls closed statewide.

Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. During Saturday's victory speech, Trump told supporters he was confident he would beat Biden in November, telling them, quote, we're going to say, quote, Joe, you're fired. end quote. It's quite the quote. Haley, however, remained defiant in defeat. She told an audience during her concession speech, quote, I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I will continue to run for president. I'm a woman of my word, she said. I'm grateful that today is not the end of our story. Now tomorrow, the state of Michigan will hold his primary,

where a total of 16 delegates are up for grabs. A recent poll by morning consult has Trump over Haley there by more than 50 points. Now, unless something bizarre or completely unexpected happens, it's looking fairly obvious that former President Trump is going to become the Republican nominee. That nomination won't officially happen until the Republican National Convention in July, but it appears that he's going to have the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination well before that. Mathematically speaking, and well, you know how I love mathematics, The earliest he can collect enough delegates is March 15th. And again, barring any bizarreness and, okay, given the state of politics in the world, we probably don't want to discount the

possibility of something bizarre, but many expect Trump to wrap this thing up by the middle of the month. On the other side of the aisle, President Biden is expected to clinch his party's nomination in around the same time frame, setting the stage for a rematch of the 2020 election. As an aside, nothing, many polls over the past several months indicate that a majority of those surveyed are not keen on a rematch. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Monday, 26th February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.