The President's Daily Brief - January 13th, 2026: UK Joins U.S. in Seizing Russian Shadow Fleet Tankers & Trump Threatens Cuba

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The United Kingdom prepares to join the United States in seizing Russian shadow fleet oil tankers at sea, as Moscow’s reflagging gambit raises the risk of direct confrontation between Western forces and Russia. Russian-made air defense systems in Venezuela failed to stop U.S. aircraft during the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, raising fresh questions about their real-world effectiveness. President Trump issues a stark warning to Cuba following Maduro’s ouster, urging Havana to make a deal with Washington before events in the region overtake it. **And in today’s Back of the Brief—**a viral eyewitness account out of Venezuela raises questions about a mysterious weapon reportedly used during the U.S. raid to capture Nicolás Maduro. 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 Mando: Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code PDB at https://shopmando.com! #mandopod 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.  Joi + Blokes: Go to http://joiandblokes.com/PDB and use code PDB for 50% off your labs and 20% off all supplements Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Tuesday, the 13th of January. 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. First up, the United Kingdom prepares to join the U.S. in seizing Russian shadow fleet oil tankers at sea, as Moscow's reflagging ploy raises the risk of direct confrontation between Western forces and Russia.

Later in the show, Russian-made Air Defense. systems in Venezuela failed to stop U.S. aircraft during the Maduro operation, raising fresh questions about their real-world effectiveness. Plus, President Trump issues a stark warning to Cuba following Nicholas Maduro's ouster, urging Havana to make a deal with Washington. And in today's back of the brief, a viral eyewitness account from Venezuela raises questions about a mysterious weapon used during the U.S. raid to capture Maduro. But first, today's BDB Spotlight. The United Kingdom appears to be quietly preparing to join the United States in seizing Russian-linked shadow fleet oil tankers at sea, with British officials determining

that they now have the legal authority to do so under existing sanctions law. That authority would allow British forces to detain vessels believed to be evading sanctions, particularly ships operating under false flag or fraudulent flags in international waters. The UK move comes as Russia has altered its own strategy at sea, reflagging large portions of its shadow fleet with Russian flags, often in the middle of an active voyage. These are tankers used to move sanctioned oil, of course, from Russia and Iran and Venezuela,

using deceptive tactics, false paperwork, manipulated tracking data, frequent name changes, and flags of convenience from countries with little enforcement capability. We've discussed the shadow fleet extensively here on the BDB. What's new is Moscow's decision to stop hiding behind obscure registries and instead hoists the Russian tricolor. The logic is straightforward, I suppose. It's a Russian flag is meant to raise the political and military cost of enforcement.

Boarding an anonymous tanker attempting to fly under the radar is one thing. Boarding a ship that Russia claims, as its own, is something else entirely. The reflagging strategy appears designed to force Washington and now potentially London to weigh the risk of direct confrontation with Russian forces. But so far, that strategy has failed. As we've reported in recent weeks, U.S. forces have seized multiple sanctioned tankers despite Russian naval escorts and aircraft operating nearby. In one high-profile case, American military, boarded a tanker while Russian vessels were communicating with its crew, and Russian aircraft flew overhead. The boarding went forward anyway. Russian forces ultimately backed off rather than escalate. This all demonstrated that,

flying a Russian flag does not automatically grant immunity, especially when vessels are deemed to be operating under false or fraudulent colors. It also showed that Moscow, when confronted directly, may prefer restraint over escalation. Still, while reflagging hasn't stopped seizures, it has undeniably raised the stakes. Every future boarding now carries a higher risk of miscalculation. Close encounters between ships and aircraft and special forces operating in contested spaces, well, they always do. That's why the UK's decision to clarify its legal authority is such a consequential step. By establishing a domestic legal basis to seize sanction evading vessels, London is signaling that it may soon move beyond diplomatic support and intelligence sharing

into direct enforcement. And this would not be symbolic participation. The UK brings up Blue Water Navy, of course, global basing access, sophisticated maritime surveillance and deep operational integration with U.S. forces. It would be part of a coordinated Western enforcement effort, and that changes the risk calculus for everyone involved. For Moscow, it complicates deterrence. It's one thing to posture against Washington alone. It's another to confront a multinational enforcement effort where responsibility and escalation risk is shared. For the West, it represents a shift from sanctions as policy to seizures as practice. For years, Shadowfleets were tolerated in a gray zone. Government sanctioned ships and companies on paper while allowing illicit oil

to keep moving. That appears to be ending. What we're seeing now is the physical enforcement of economic pressure. A ship stopped and boarded and taken, not just listed on a spreadsheet. As you're likely aware, energy exports are the lifeblood of Russia's economy. Every tanker seized is a direct challenge to Moscow's ability to sustain revenue under sanctions. That's why Russia decided to try and shield these vessels behind it. flag, and it's why the outcome of this standoff matters far beyond the decks of a few aging tankers. Now, more enforcement, of course, means more encounters. More encounters mean more chances for miscalculation. A radio call misunderstood, an aircraft flying too close, a captain who refuses

to comply. But the fact that Russia has already backed down during live enforcement operations suggests the seizure operations may be working, at least for now. Moscow tested the boundary, found it firmer than expected, and pulled back. The U.K. appears to be drawn conclusions from that behavior. The broader takeaway is this. Russia tried to raise the cost of enforcement by making the shadow fleet more visible, national, and confrontational. The U.S. tested that assumption, and now the U.K. appears ready to test it as well. All right. Coming up next, Russian-made air defenses in Venezuela failed to stop U.S. aircraft during the Maduro operation. And President Trump is now warning Cuba to make a deal with Washington before it's too late. I'll be right back.

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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Welcome back to the PDB. We're learning more about just how exposed Venezuela's airspace was when U.S. helicopters swept into Caracas to capture Nicholas Maduro. The picture that's emerging is the regime's Russian-made air defenses weren't just overwhelmed. They were barely online to begin with. According to four current and former U.S. officials, the Russian S-300 and Bukam 2, known as the Bookum systems, that Venezuelan leaders spent years touting as the shield against American intervention,

were not fully connected to radar and in some cases had never been deployed at all when Operation Absolute Resolve began. A report by the New York Times that reviewed satellite imagery and videos and social media footage reveals critical BUK components sitting in storage rather than position for combat, the result of a military unprepared for the fight that it long claimed to expect. In short, incompetence and decay played an important role in the operation. And this was a failure years in the making. Venezuela's Air Defense Network existed more on paper than reality. As former CIA Station Chief Rick DeLotore, a recent guest, by the way, on the PDB Situation report, told the New York Times, quote, after years of corruption, poor logistics, sanctions,

all those things would have certainly degraded the readiness of Venezuela's air defense systems, end quote. U.S. officials say the breakdown went well beyond faulty equipment. Even Venezuelan troops were not properly dispersed, detection radar was not fully activated, and basically, and basically readiness measures were absent, a chain of errors that allowed American forces to operate over Caracas with minimal resistance. And it's not just a failure for Venezuela. This collapse also reflects poorly on Russia. Russian technicians were responsible for sustaining the systems, but that support appears to have faded as Moscow, a diverted attention and resources, of course, to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. To understand how far things fell off, it's worth going back to

the beginning. When former socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the purchase of Russian air defense systems in 2009, it was done with great fanfare as part of a military modernization drive. Chavez portrayed the weapons as a deterrent to keep U.S. aircraft at bay. He said at the time, quote,

with these rockets, it's going to be very difficult for foreign planes to come in bombers, and quote, apparently not. In practice, Venezuela struggled almost immediately to sustain the sophisticated hardware. U.S. officials Familiar with classified assessments, say Caracas repeatedly ran short on spare parts and personnel. Over time, what had been built as a formidable deterrent eventually degraded into a little more than a static asset. And on the ground, the breakdown was visible. Satellite imagery and video footage shows U.S. aircraft striking locations where BUK.K. systems were stored rather than deployed.

In Liguayra, warehouses containing BUK systems were destroyed. similar scenes played out in Katil Amar, where bombed out storage facilities revealed launchers and command vehicles parked inside. Even Venezuela's widely publicized stockpile of Russian-made portable surface-to-air missile systems failed to alter the outcome of the American operation. Maduro had repeatedly boasted that his regime possessed thousands of them ready to defend Venezuelan skies. Only one apparent launch of those systems was captured on video, followed by overwhelming American counterfire. officials say that that American response likely discouraged further attempts. Okay, shifting gears. President Trump issued a fresh warning to Cuba's communist government as the island braces for unrest after the U.S. capture of Maduro and the loss of the

Venezuelan oil lifeline that long had kept Havana quietly afloat. For years, Cuba depended on heavily subsidized Venezuelan crude, trading security assistance and intelligence support for cheap oil that helped keep the lights on back home. That arrangement is now, of course, severed. As U.S. forces move to seize sanctioned tankers and clamped down on Venezuela's production, refining in exports, that snapped oil lifeline as left Havana exposed with very few options. That's the context for Trump's message on truth social, which was anything but subtle. The president fired off a post reading, quote, Cuba lived off Venezuelan oil and money for years,

and then in all caps, he wrote, there will be no more oil or money going to Cuba. Cuba, zero. I strongly suggest they make a deal, and again in all caps, before it's too late." Trump didn't spell out what kind of a deal he had in mind. But the Post-Modoro order, as Washington sees it, is not going to subsidize Savannah or tolerate what the Trump administration views as a protection racket between authoritarian regimes. And it didn't take long for a response from the island to emerge. Cuba's president, Miguel Dias Canel, posted on the ex, well, accusing Washington of cynicism, quote, those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, end quote. But Trump was framing the moment through a

very different lens. He posted, quote, Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. Venezuela now has the U.S., the most powerful military in the world to protect them, and protect them we will, end quote. Now, that framing matters, because Cuba was already wobbling long before Maduro fell. I've talked before about how blackouts and fuel shortages and empty supermarket shelves pushed daily life on the island to the brink. Cuba right now is enduring its worst economic crisis in decades, and Venezuelan oil wasn't fixing those problems, it was masking them.

Now that cover is gone. Diaz-Kinnell blames Washington's pressure campaign for the island's collapse, claiming recent U.S. sanctions cost Cuba more than seven and a half billion dollars between March 2024 and February of 2025. Still, the Cuban President insists his country's political model is a sovereign choice and

denounced what he called, quote, draconian measures imposed by Washington. But Trump has been blunt about where his trajectory will lead, Havana, posting, quote, it's going down, is going down for the count, end quote. De Oskinell acknowledged Havana is not currently

in talks with Washington, any reset he said, would require an end to what he described as, quote, hostility, threats, and economic coercion. In other words, Cuba wants relief first without offering much, if anything, in return. As we've been tracking, before the U.S. operation to oust Maduro took place, Cuba had been receiving roughly 35,000 barrels of oil per day from Venezuela, and without it, Havana is left facing shortages that it cannot easily replace. All right, coming up in today's back of the brief,

We take a closer look at claims of a so-called sonic weapon, allegedly used by U.S. forces during the Maduro operation. So is Washington deploying secret technology, or could the explanation be far more mundane? We'll have those details. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, as we move into the new year, you know, right, because we're into 2026 now already, many of us are looking to build more intentional lives and to live deliberately and better aligned with our purpose and values. That's why I want to tell you about Glorify.

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which unsurprisingly helped it travel faster. According to the guard, the operation began with confusion. Radar systems suddenly went dark, then came drones overhead, reportedly lots of them. moments later, that's a technical term, lots of them. Moments later, a small number of U.S. helicopters arrived, inserting what the Guard estimated were roughly 20 American troops. What followed, he said, wasn't a firefight so much as a route. His forces were outmatched, outmaneuvered, and overwhelmed almost immediately. But the detail that's grabbed the most attention came next.

At one point, the Guard claims the Americans deployed something he couldn't describe, other than to say that it felt like an intense sound wave. He said it felt as if his head was, quote, exploding from the inside. He claimed soldiers around him began bleeding from the nose, vomiting, collapsing to the ground, unable to stand or fight. Almost instantly, the speculation began. Was this some kind of secret U.S. sonic weapon? Now, let's be clear. Is it possible that the U.S. has advanced capabilities that doesn't advertise?

Well, of course, every major military does. Directed energy systems, electronic warfare, sound weapons, and other classified tools. have been under development for decades. But before we jump straight to the conclusion, there are some far more mundane and far more likely explanations. One of the simplest is possibly the use of flashbangs. These are standard tools in raids like this. They're designed to overwhelm the senses

with a blinding flash, a deafening blast, and a pressure wave that disorients anyone nearby. Used indoors at night or in rapid succession, they can cause ringing ears and intense head pressure and loss of balance, nausea, and even nosebleeds. Add in electronic jamming, drones buzzing overhead, explosions, echoing in confined spaces, and the psychological shock of being completely outgunned, it's not hard to see how memory and perception might blur into something far more exotic. So, do directed energy or sound weapons exist? Well,

absolutely. Now, a series I hosted for Discovery Network called Blackfiles Declassified featured an episode on less than lethal weapons, including long-range acoustic devices or LRAs, What's not known is whether this type of weapon was deployed during the Maduro capture. Sonic weapons can be used to incapacitate targeted crowds or individuals, but whether the military would decide to use such a weapon during such a dangerous operation rather than rely on lethality, well, that's not known. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Tuesday, the 13th of January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at BDB at thefirstTV.com.

Remember to check out and subscribe, hopefully, to our YouTube channel. You can find that on YouTube, of course. Just search at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.