The President's Daily Brief - January 12th, 2024: Hezbollah Threats, Austin Investigation, & Iranian Bombing Update

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We uncover unsettling revelations from US officials reported by Politico, indicating that Hezbollah may be plotting to attack American targets both overseas and on US soil. The mystery surrounding the three-day absence of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin thickens, with the Pentagon's chief internal watchdog initiating an official inquiry into the circumstances. We bring you the latest developments on last week's twin bombings in Iran, as authorities announce the identification of suspects involved in the lethal explosions. On the Back of the Brief, we dissect the forces orchestrating the recent surge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that disrupted key transportation links in New York City. 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

It's Friday, January 12th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. While details are somewhat scarce at this time, the U.S. and U.K. carried out strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi militant targets inside Yemen late on Thursday. According to a statement from the White House, the strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels. in the Red Sea. The statement from President Biden added that the U.S. will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary. Now, the targets in Yemen reportedly included drone and missile launch sites and radar

facilities used by the Houthis. We'll provide more insight on this development during today's PDB afternoon bulletin. Moving on, we'll start things off by taking a look at some disturbing statements made by U.S. officials, which suggest that Hezbollah terrorists could be planning attacks on Americans both abroad and in the U.S. Later in the program, the controversy over U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's three-day disappearance continues to deepen as the Pentagon's top internal watchdog announces that he's launching an investigation of the matter. Plus, an update on the twin bombings in Iran last week, as the Iranian regime announced that it has identified some of the individuals behind the deadly blast.

Finally, in today's back of the brief, I'll offer some insight into who's behind the latest wave of pro-Palestinian protests that shut down bridges and tunnels across New York City. But first up, the PDB spotlight. The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas has a lot of. reignited concerns about Iranian-backed Hezbollah, particularly its potential to escalate attacks beyond its current operations in southern Lebanon and against IDF outposts in northern Israel. Of course, this raises a critical question. Could Hezbollah expand its operations to target U.S. forces in the Middle East or even launch attacks on American soil? Four U.S. officials who spoke to

political, and are familiar with the intelligence, report a growing concern that Hezbollah militants might target Americans in the Middle East or potentially strike inside the United States. According to their insights, the group is likely to first target U.S. personnel in the Middle East. Intelligence gathered by U.S. agencies supports the idea that the group could be planning to target U.S. troops or diplomatic staff. Now, Hezbollah's history of attacks against the U.S. in the Middle East, well, it's extensive. In 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was devastated by a suicide bomber, killing 63, including 17 Americans. This attack marked one of the first major assaults against U.S. targets by a group linked to Hezbollah.

Later that year, two truck bombs in Beirut, targeted buildings housing U.S. and French military forces, killing 200,000. 141 U.S. and 58 French peacekeepers, with Hezbollah believed to be involved. The 1997 bombing of the Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. Air Force personnel, is another stark reminder of the group's reach. Though primarily attributed to Saudi Hezbollah, U.S. officials believe that the Lebanese-based Hezbollah played a supporting role. According to those same officials interviewed by Politico, the chance of the chance of for an assault on U.S. soil by Hezbollah is also growing as tensions in the region escalate, with one of the officials calling it, quote, something to be worried about. Yeah, yeah, that would be

an understatement. Now, Hezbollah has never successfully launched an attack on U.S. soil. However, the group is very active on this side of the Atlantic further south. In particular, they operate in a region of South America, known as the tri-border area. It's where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meat. It's a region known for being a hub of illegal activity, which Hezbollah exploits as a means of raising funds for their militant operations. Reports indicate their involvement in a number of illicit activities, including the drug trade and alleged collaborations with South American drug cartels. This includes facilitating drug trafficking and laundering the proceeds. However, their South American ventures have not been purely financial. Acts of

terror have been traced back to their doorsteps. The 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which resulted in 29 deaths and injured over 200, is attributed to Hezbollah. They are also, the prime suspects behind the horrific bombing of a Jewish community center in the same city two years later, which claimed 85 lives and left hundreds wounded. All right, coming up, the Pentagon's chief watchdog is stepping in to investigate U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's Unexplained Three-Day Vanishing Act, and we'll provide a fresh update on last week's dual bombings in Iran. I'll be right back. Welcome back. It looks like the controversy over Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's three-day disappearing act isn't going away anytime soon. As discussed here on the PDB,

Austin, who recently underwent prostate cancer surgery, failed to notify the White House of his absence, causing a major breach of protocol. This secretiveness has got the Pentagon's top watchdog, the Defense Department's Inspector General, launching a full-blown investigation. Inspector General Robert Storch, an memo to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and other officials, announced the initiation of an inquiry this month. while the focus is currently on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Storch noted that the scope might expand. This situation has not only attracted the attention of the Inspector General, but has also led to internal criticism within the Pentagon. Speaking to Politico on the condition

of anonymity, one Department of Defense official described Austin's decision to withhold information as, quote, reckless and irresponsible. This sentiment was echoed by another official who said that While Austin is known for being a quiet person, his desire for privacy doesn't outweigh his duties to the president, department, or nation. Now, this whole issue has snowballed all the way to Congress. For the first time, a Democratic lawmaker is calling for Austin to step down. Congressman Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania expressed his loss of trust in Austin's leadership, citing a lack of transparency and its implications on the chain of command. The House Armed Services Committee has also indicated its intention to dive into the matter.

This adds another layer of scrutiny, potentially leading to public hearings later in the year. All right, next up. I wanted to give you an update on that twin bombing attack that killed nearly 100 people and wounded almost 300 at a memorial for top IRGC commander Kassem Soleimani in Iran last week. As we now know, that bombing was claimed by the Islamic State. Iran's intelligence ministry has announced some of the early findings in their investigation, identifying several key suspects behind this act, among them as an individual who was believed to be the mastermind and bomb maker of the operation.

Iran's official news agency announced that the principal suspect is a Tajik national operating under the pseudonym Abdullah Tajiki. Reports indicate he, infiltrated Iran in mid-December, crossing from the southeast border, and then fleeing Iran just two days prior to the bombings after constructing the explosive devices. The agency also named one of the suicide bombers as Bosrov, a 24-year-old man, who they claim has a dual Tajik and Israeli nationality. His entry into Iran was documented as coming from the same southeastern border following a period of alleged training with ISIS forces in Afghanistan. The search continues for the identity of the second bomber.

It's important to note that none of these details from the Iranian regime can be verified independently. Iran's claim that the bomber was Tajik Israeli could be an effort to simply pin the bombing somehow on the Jewish state, as it often does when it's attacked domestically. So far, in response to the bombings, Iranian security forces claim they've detained. 35 individuals across various provinces for their suspected connections to the attacks. And finally, New Yorkers were treated to bumper-to-bumper traffic earlier this week, as pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked several bridges and tunnels leading into Manhattan. So who was behind the chaos?

Well, I'll provide details in the back of the brief. I'll be right back. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice.

Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. In today's back of the brief, I wanted to take a look at. the privilege behind the anti-Israel protesters disrupting life for hard-working New Yorkers. Now, the latest wave of protests by anti-Israel radicals swept through New York City on Monday, creating widespread chaos for commuters that eventually resulted in more than 330 arrests. The so-called shut-it-down for Palestine demonstrators blocked traffic on three bridges across the city and at the Holland Tunnel in Lower Manhattan during the Monday morning commute.

Thanks to some digging by our friends at the New York Post, we are now learning more about the identities of some of these radicals, and many seem to share one trade in common, and that would be affluence or privilege, or the privilege of affluence. The demonstrations, which were at least partially organized and funded by the New York chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, included swarms of Ivy League graduates, an artist from a millionaire family, a Fulbright scholar, multiple NYU graduate students, and a filmmaker for HBO and Netflix.

Among the privileged protesters was 25-year-old Columbia graduate and NYU graduate student, Neidris, who previously called the 7 October Massacre, quote, the beginning of our victory, end quote. The Post's investigation also identified, Sunita Viswanath, a former advisor to New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was previously honored by the Obama administration as a, quote, champion of change. Now, most of the more than 300 protesters that were arrested on Monday were released without bail and issued desk appearance tickets for disorderly conduct charges. They'll have to appear in court at a later date unless Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg chooses to drop the charges, and what would be the odds of that? Many of these elites defiantly took to social media after their release, promising that we'll do it again.

While the protesters maintained that there's nothing hateful about their activity, chance heard on Monday included NYPD, KKK, IDF, they're all the same, and end the occupation, free all Palestinian prisoners. Eli Copeland, a 31-year-old artist and son of multimillionaire parents from California, posted an Instagram reel that said the protests would continue until, quote, there is an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the blockade on Gaza is lifted, all Palestinian political prisoners are freed, Israel ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories,

and the U.S. stops sending aid to Israel, end quote, that's quite the shopping list, Eli. He then left the protest, grabbed a latte, headed off to his hot yoga appointment, before meeting friends up town for dinner at the latest hottest restaurant. Yay protests. They're so cool and trendy. Now, a gaggle, or maybe it's a flock, possibly a herd, of insufferable, wealthy, privileged elitists, blocking streets and keeping hardworking residents from getting to work or dropping kids off to daycare or school or any other activity that normal everyday people do, well, that's the definition of self-righteous douchebaggery. It's depressing to imagine

that a significant number of these trust-fund protesters would probably say that the ends justifies the means, meaning they may well argue that Hamas's brutal medieval acts on 7 October were justified because, you know, defeat the colonizers or oppressors or, I don't know, whatever the progressive term is, that's now being used by the hip antisemitics. As the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 12 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.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.