The President's Daily Brief - January 8th, 2024: Israel Escalation, Austin AWOL, & Border Blockades

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We analyze the White House's efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East as Israel considers a broader offensive. A deep dive into the repercussions of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's failure to inform the White House about his hospitalization. Insights into the potential thaw in the economic freeze at the Ukraine-Poland border. An update on last week's coverage of the Israeli government's alleged covert resettlement talks. 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 Monday, January 8th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, White House officials are in the Middle East to head off a potential escalation of the Gaza War, as Israel reportedly considers expanding its offensive into Lebanon. Later in the show, we'll examine a breach and protocol that could have serious implications. reportedly Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and or his staff did not inform the White House of his hospitalization. Plus, we'll explore emerging developments that may signal a resolution to the economic standoff between Ukraine and Poland. And finally, in today's back of the brief, we'll provide an update on the allegations we

reported last week regarding the Israeli government's purported secret discussions with foreign governments to voluntarily resettle thousands of Palestinians after the war. But first up, the PDB spotlight. As Israel continues its offensive in Gaza, its conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah on its northern border seems to be reaching critical mass, with some fearing that it's only a matter of time before things escalate between the Lebanon-based terror group and the Jewish state. This past weekend saw a significant spike in hostilities, with both the IDF and Hezbollah engaging in a tit-for-tat exchange. First, Hezbollah militants in Lebanon fired approximately 40 rockets into Israel, and that was one of the largest barrages since the war began, inflicting damage on Pekee Air Base in northern Israel.

The Israeli military countered by striking several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including military sites and terrorist infrastructure. Hezbollah said five of its fighters had been killed in Israeli strikes. This latest exchange comes as U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is set to arrive in Israel with the goal of preventing a full-blown war from erupting between Israel and Hezbollah. Despite its public support of Israel, privately, the White House reportedly is concerned that the Netanyahu government may be preparing to broaden the war to include Hezbollah. Now, that might have something to do with recent comments from Israeli defense minister

Yov Galan, who said that Israel, quote, prefers the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement, but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over, end quote. There is some speculation that Prime Minister Netanyahu might consider an expansion of the war into Lebanon to be crucial to his political survival, especially in light of criticisms over his administration's handling of the recent Hamas attacks. Now, the Washington Post reported that the Biden administration has cautioned Israel against escalating hostilities in Lebanon. This warning aligns with a classified defense intelligence agency assessment indicating Israel's challenges in managing simultaneous conflicts on two fronts. The paper also revealed that President Biden has worked to dissuade Netanyahu

from opening another battlefront against Hezbollah amid fears of a regional upheaval. The White, The White House and the international community is obviously concerned that things could escalate quickly, given the potential involvement of Iran and other proxies, which the White House worries could then inadvertently drag the U.S. into a military engagement in support of Israel. It's probably worth mentioning that any escalation of hostilities by Hezbollah against Israel is, in part, at the bidding of their primary sponsors, the Iranian regime and the IRGC. Hezbollah, frankly, would be a mere shadow of itself without the funding, the training, the resourcing, and overall support of the IRGC.

All right. Coming up, one of President Biden's top cabinet officials is under fire for failing to notify his boss that he was hospitalized, and the standoff at the border between Poland and Ukraine appears to be easing. I'll be right back. Welcome back. Turning to the U.S. Domestic Front, I wanted to bring your attention to a strange story that's emerged from Washington, D.C. this weekend.

It came to light that the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, was hospitalized last Monday, a New Year's Day, due to complications from an elective procedure. Now, that itself is not a problem, and of course, we wish Secretary Austin a speedy and full recovery. However, what's unusual in this case is that President Biden and other top officials were not made aware of, of the hospitalization until Thursday, a full three days after the secretary's admission to the hospital. The delay has sparked concern and some controversy. Typically, such a hospitalization would be promptly reported given the secretary's critical role in national security, particularly given the number of hotspots and international crises currently on the world stage. Now, the Pentagon has cited medical and privacy considerations for not disclosing the secretary's absence.

yet there's been no detailed explanation for why this information was withheld from the White House. This lapse in communication defies established protocol. Cabinet members are expected to notify the precedent of any significant personal developments that might impact their official responsibilities. This protocol is vital for the continuity of government operations and the implementation of contingency plans. Now, as mentioned, the implications of this oversight are, particularly severe, given all of the issues we're facing overseas. Obviously, the U.S. is facing increased tensions in the Middle East, with the Pentagon considering strikes against the Houthi militants in Yemen, Hezbollah intensifying its rocket attacks against Israel, and U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria,

having experienced repeated assaults in recent months. And that, frankly, is just the beginning of the laundry list of crises currently plaguing the globe. In the wake of this incident, incident. The Pentagon did confirm that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was prepared to assume Austin's responsibilities at all times. However, there's a bit of a problem with that. Deputy Secretary Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico during Austin's illness, having arrived on the island before Austin was hospitalized. Now, to his credit, Secretary Austin has issued a public apology, acknowledging that the communication regarding his health could have been handled better. In a statement, he said, quote, this was my medical procedure,

and I take full responsibility for my decision about disclosure, end quote. Okay, well, full marks to Secretary Austin. I believe he may be the first government official to take full responsibility for anything. Now, frankly, this was an oversight of his chief of staff and front office. Their job is to take care of details like this. If the secretary was incapacitated, some in his immediate orbit should have been sufficiently switched on to think, yeah, we should probably mention this to the White House. It's worth noting that at no point in his statement did Secretary Austin explain why he and his staff chose not to inform the White House of his absence. Again, whoever handles his

communications should have proved that statement and made that adjustment. Despite all of this, President Biden seems to be taking it all in stride, following what they called a cordial conversation, with Secretary Austin on Saturday night, a White House official reported that the president has, quote, complete trust and confidence in Secretary Austin, end quote. All right, let's turn our attention to Eastern Europe for an update on a story we've been following for a few months here on the PDB. And that's the protracted standoffs at the Poland-Ukraine border, where Polish truckers and farmers have been blockading crossings, causing a massive backlog of vehicles. It looks like that conflict is showing some signs of easing, at least at least at the busiest crossing. Now, a brief recap. This all began with the European Union's efforts to economically assist Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion.

Polish farmers are protesting, claiming that their market prices plummeted due to the influx now of cheap Ukrainian imports. Truckers have been upset by the EU's removal of the permit system for Ukrainian trucks, which previously limited the number entering the EU, arguing that it gives their Ukrainian peers an unfair advantage. Well, this then escalated into an economic deadlock between Poland and Ukraine. Traffic over four out of eight road crossings between the two countries is being blocked in both directions. According to reports, there's a line of thousands of trucks, stretching in some places over 20 miles long along the border. In some circumstances, trucks are waiting as many two days to cross. Recent developments suggest a breakthrough for the farmers who've suspended

their blockade at Medica, Poland's busiest crossing with Ukraine, after reportedly securing a deal with the government. The agreement, according to Polish media, promises a substantial corn production subsidy, tax reductions, and preferential loans. However, the trucker's grievances remain unaddressed. They're continuing their protest at three separate border crossings, demanding the government retract the EU-Ukraine agreement that eased road transport regulations, seeking to, of course, restore the balance of competition. All right. Coming up in the back of the brief, is Israel negotiating to resettle thousands of Palestinians

to African nations, a follow-up on a story we brought to you last week. That's next. In today's back of the brief, I wanted to follow up on a story that we brought to you this past Friday. We reported allegations of the Israeli government engaging in secret discussions with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, these talks were said to be about a plan to voluntarily resettle thousands of Palestinians when the war ends. Since we first reported on that story, the original source, a Hebrew-language sister site of the Times of Israel, Zman Israel, further claimed that similar negotiations were underway with two other nations,

Chad and Rwanda. At the time, I told you that I was very skeptical of this story. It reads like a disinformation campaign. And it looks like that skepticism was warranted, as now every single country involved has refuted the reports. The Democratic Republic of Congo has unequivocally denied any involvement in such discussions with Israel. A Congolese government spokesperson stated, quote, there has never been any form of negotiation, discussion, or initiative between Kinshasa and Israel about the reception of Palestinian migrants on Congolese soil, end quote. Furthermore, Chad's government has also rejected the claims, with an official spokesperson categorically denying any talks of receiving Palestinian migrants from Gaza.

Rwandan's response? Well, just as clear. Its foreign ministry issued a disinformation alert, dismissing the reports as unfounded. For its part, the Israeli government has also denied these reports. An official from Israel dismissed the rumors stating, quote, there are those in Israel who think there is a willingness on the part of Gazans to emigrate voluntarily. It's a baseless illusion, in our opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people or 1 million or 100,000 or 5,000.

I don't know where that idea came from, end quote. So, as it stands, the reported secret resettlement scheme appears to be without basis, as all parties involved have issued categorical denials. But as we've discussed, it does point to the complexity and difficulty of figuring out how and by whom Gaza will be governed post-conflict, a multinational force, the Palestinian Authority, a coalition of clans from within Gaza. At this point, there's no clear path. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief from Monday 8 January. 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. Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobil.

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