The President's Daily Brief - January 30th, 2024: Tower 22 Attack, Ukraine’s Missing Millions, & Border Security Breach

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We delve into the recent attack in Jordan that resulted in the tragic loss of three US servicemen. We'll examine the White House's potential strategies in response to this incident. Our coverage then shifts to Ukraine, where a significant corruption scandal has emerged. Defense officials are accused of embezzling nearly $40 million, funds that were designated for military ammunition.   A shocking revelation comes to light with a leaked memo. It details how federal authorities apprehended a terrorist at the U.S. southern border, only to release him, allowing him to move freely within the country for almost a year. In today's Back of the Brief, we explore the two articles of impeachment brought against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by House Republicans. The charges include allegations of neglecting his duties and providing misleading information to Congress. 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 Tuesday, 30 January. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll start with the latest on the attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan and injured dozens, some seriously, and the potential responses that the White House may be considering. Later in the program, Ukraine uncovers a massive corruption scheme after defense officials allegedly stole nearly $40 million meant for the purchase of ammunition.

for the military. Now, not to state the obvious, but that is not the sort of news Zelensky needs while trying to shore up further support from the U.S. and NATO. Plus, I'll have the details of a leaked memo that shows federal authorities caught a terrorist at the U.S. southern border and released him into the country, where he roamed freely for nearly a year. And finally, in today's back of the brief, we'll look at the two articles of impeachment unveiled by House Republicans against Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing the DHS Secretary of willfully neglecting his duty and misleading Congress. But first up, the PDB spotlight. U.S. forces in the Middle East were once again targeted by Iranian-backed militias on Monday,

this time facing a rocket attack in Syria. According to a Pentagon official, multiple rockets were launched against U.S. and coalition forces at patrol base Shadda. in northeast Syria. The official added that no injuries were reported and that there was no damage to the base's infrastructure. Now, this comes on the heels of the drone attack on a U.S. base in Northeast Jordan this weekend that resulted in the death of three service members, and the Pentagon has revised the number of personnel injured in that attack from 34 to more than 40, with many of those injured suffering from traumatic brain injury. The Defense Department has also release the names of the soldiers who lost their lives in the attack, Sergeant William Rivers,

Specialist Kennedy Sanders, and Specialist Brianna Moffitt, all of whom were natives of Georgia. Our condolences go out to their families. As for the perpetrators, the Iran-backed Islamic resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of militant groups supported by the Iranian regime, has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. But as of Monday afternoon, neither the Pentagon nor the White House had conclusively determined whether the attack came from inside Syria or Iraq. In what may well be an early effort by the Biden administration to calibrate expectations, an American defense official said on Monday that the U.S. has yet defined any conclusive evidence that Iran directed the attack. You can read that statement

as an indication that the White House is currently working overtime to avoid striking directly. at Iran. Now, the White House is vowing to retaliate, and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. response would be, quote, very consequential. But just what does very consequential mean? I wanted to go over some of the options that the president might be considering. And the interesting thing about life is that no matter how complicated something may seem, usually, there aren't that many branches on the decision tree when it comes to meaningful options. So, there's a very much. So, there's a lot of The first option is to carry out strikes on various Iran-aligned militias across Iraq and Syria. This would basically be a continuation of the strategy that the U.S. has been employing since the

attacks on U.S. troops began. And just to remind, there have been approximately 160 drone and missile attacks on a variety of U.S. and allied targets in the region. Now, this option would likely take the form of precision strikes against the bases and or weapons depots of these groups. While this is the most likely response, it's also proven to be ineffective at reigning in Iranian-backed militias thus far. It's not a deterrent strategy. It's essentially a reactive response. Okay, the U.S. could also carry out targeted strikes on the leadership of these groups. U.S. forces employed this tactic earlier this month when a commander of the so-called popular

mobilization forces was killed in an air strike in Baghdad. Another option is what I'll call the Soleimani option, and that's to go after senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC commanders in Iraq or Syria. Obviously, there's precedent for this, most notably against IRGC senior commander General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. strike in Baghdad back in 2020. Although the Soleimani option would likely be perceived as a war. is a form of escalation, it's far less provocative than the final and frankly least likely option, which is a strike on Iran itself. While there are a lot of folks in Washington clamoring for this, it's a long shot considering the White House's reluctance to escalate the situation

any further, not to mention it's an election year, and domestic politics and poll numbers will play an outsized role through November on U.S. foreign policy and national security matters. Okay, after the break, a major corruption scandal in Ukraine as nearly $40 million, earmarked for artillery shells, goes missing. And a newly leaked memo details how federal authorities caught a terrorist at the border only to release him into the country. Makes sense. Those stories are coming up next.

Welcome back. We're beginning to learn more about the scale of corruption within Ukraine regarding military funds related to the war effort against Russia. Ukraine's security service revealed over the weekend that employees from a Ukrainian arms firm had conspired with officials within Ukraine's defense ministry to steal approximately 40 million U.S. dollars. The funds had reportedly been earmarked for the purchase of approximately 100,000 mortar shells in the fall of 2022 in order to resupply depleted resources on the front lines, and that's according to a report. from CNN. The embezzlement scheme involved former and current high-ragging defense officials,

the head of armed supplier Leviv Arsenal, and a representative of a foreign commercial group. So far, five people have been indicted, including one former defense ministry official who was captured trying to flee across the border. Typically, that might be a sign of guilt. They all face up to 12 years in prison over the fraud. Reportedly, Ukraine's defense ministry had initiated a purchase of mortar rounds through the company, Leviv Arsenal. Once the roughly 40 million had been paid, it was allegedly siphoned off into foreign accounts in the Balkans. Ukraine's security service said they never received the ammunition. Dmitro Kleminkov, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said in a statement, quote,

The Ministry of Defense continues to fight uncompromisingly against those who embezzle from weapons procurement. We have no place for corrupt officials, end quote. This latest episode of military fraud comes at a time when Ukraine is in desperate need of fresh aid packages from the U.S. and European Union. American funds officially dried up at the end of December, and Congress remains deadlocked on approving fresh aid. Some lawmakers in the U.S. have expressed concerns over internal corruption in Ukraine and demanded greater transparency on exactly how U.S. money is being spent. In Europe, the aid package also remains in trouble, blocked by Hungary, though other EU members have also expressed concerns regarding the potential corruption. Now, cleaning up corruption within their country is critical to Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO and the European Union. To that end, leaders in Kiev have been aggressively cracking down on corrupt officials over this past year.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy fired the heads of military recruitment in the country over corruption charges in August and replaced his defense minister in September. A senior Ukrainian defense ministry official was also arrested in December over allegations that he embezzled 40 million or so intended for munitions. Now, problems with evidence of and continued concerns over corruption within the Ukraine government, well, that's nothing new. The country has ranked high on the corruption meter for decades. Zelensky, as noted, has taken steps to attack the problem. He understands that his government must be seen working to clean up government and improve transparency around the receipt and accounting for foreign aid. It's a major task, given the years of

endemic corruption within the Ukraine government and infrastructure. It's important that Zelensky and his personnel are seen as reacting swiftly and harshly to this latest scandal. The smart move for the Ukraine government, if they want to continue receiving sufficient aid from the West, is to shine a very bright light on the entire foreign aid process to be as transparent as possible. All right, I want to turn our attention back to the U.S. southern border and the national security risks posed by the current crisis. An exclusive report from the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday revealed that federal agents caught a terrorist at the southern border, roughly a year ago, but subsequently released him into the U.S. Now, the man, reportedly a member of

the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab, spent nearly a year in the U.S. before being arrested in Minnesota several days ago. The unidentified individual was initially picked up by border agents near San Ysidro, California on March 13, 23, after making an illegal crossing. Officials reportedly ran his name through the terror watch list, but, quote, deemed him a mismatch and released him into the U.S., according to an internal memo reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. It took until January 18, 2024, for officials with the terrorist screening center to realize that they had made a serious error. They reportedly made a redetermination, confirming that he was, in fact, a member of al-Shabaab, who had participated in the manufacture or transfer

of explosives and firearms. Authorities finally apprehended the man on January 20th. Now, border patrol officials have allegedly faced increased pressure from the Biden administration to rapidly process migrants apprehended at the border, and that often is before record checks have been completed. Officials are also seeing an increase in people with links to terrorism trying to enter the country. Border Patrol agents apprehended 170,000. people on the Terror Watch List in the 2023 fiscal year, and the rate is, reportedly, increasing. Between October and December of 2023 alone, agents apprehended 50 people on the Terror Watch List. As a comparison, between 2017 and 2020, only 30-30 individuals on the Terror Watch List were

apprehended at the U.S. Southern Border. This latest mix-up comes as former top officials. with the FBI sent a letter to Congress on January 17th, expressing their alarm regarding the border crisis and the potential for foreign agents and terrorists to slip through. The letter said, quote, military-aged men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands. It would be difficult to overstate the danger, they said, represented by the presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi-division army of young, single, adult males from hostile nations and regions whose background,

intent, or allegiance is completely unknown, end quote. These officials, some of whom oversaw the FBI's intelligence, counterterrorism, criminal, and training operations, said that the warning lights are blinking and that the poorest border represents a, quote, grave threat in the most direct terms. They added, in their letter, any violation of the nation's immigration laws increases risks, but the surge in numbers of single military-aged males descending upon American cities and towns is alarming and perilous. Additionally, they are not just from terror-linked regions, but from China and Russia, as well as hostile adversaries of the U.S., with aspirations to devastate

national infrastructure, end quote. As we've said here before on the PDB, and perhaps we'll turn it into a bumper sticker and put the saying on beer cooosies, border security is a national security issue. In today's back of the brief, House Republicans reveal the articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. I'll have the details after the break. And I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorcas continues to move forward in the House. The House Committee on Homeland Security on Sunday released draft articles of impeachment against Majorcas, accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors, including willfully disregarding immigration law. Now, the impeachment contains

two articles. The first charges Majorcas with willfully disregarding laws mandating migrant detention. Under his leadership, a catch-and-release policy was implemented, allowing some migrants to remain in the U.S. while awaiting court proceedings. This policy also permits individuals from war-torn and economically devastated regions to temporarily reside and work in the country. However, it's important to note that immigration laws do provide the president considerable discretion in these matters. The second article of impeachment accuses Majoricus of misleading Congress about the security of the border and hindering legislative inquiries into his actions. All right, so what happens next? Well, the committee plans on meeting today

to mark up the articles and will likely vote on the articles sometime this afternoon. If the articles pass the committee, which they almost certainly will, they then go to the full house for an impeachment vote next month. If it passes the House, it'll then be up to the Senate where Majoricus would stand trial. A two-thirds majority would be needed in the Senate to convict and ultimately remove him. Now, that's incredibly unlikely to happen with a Democratic majority. And when I say incredibly unlikely to happen, I mean, it ain't happening. DHS responded Sunday with a memo that called the Republicans' effort,

quote, "'A distraction from other vital national security priorities and the work Congress should be doing to actually fix our broken immigration laws. Now, once again, as the old saying goes, two things can be true at the same time. I believe that was originally said by Curley from the Three Stooges. I'll have to confirm that. Anyway, the point is, on the one hand, Mayorkas has overseen a disastrous border situation.

You can't really call it a border policy. That would make the administration seem strategic on the border. In reality, the only policy that Biden administration has had when it comes to the border is, apparently, just reverse everything that Trump did. So, is Majorcas in charge of a border crisis? Well, sure. Reasonable people think so. But are the Republicans engaged in some relatively meaningless theater when it comes to the

Majorcas impeachment show? Again, yeah, reasonable people think so. Meaning that Majorcas isn't responsible for setting the White House agenda. He's just following orders. Impeaching Majorcas will have little to no impact on the border situation. It's just more DC theater designed to convince voters that politicians are engaged in productive activity. And that, of course, is the longest-running show in America, beating, I believe, even Katz and Hamilton. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Tuesday, 30 January.

One day, maybe the PDB will be the longest-running show. show in America. 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.