The President's Daily Brief - January 9th, 2026: Colombian President Backs Down After Call With Trump & Moscow Says No To Peace Again

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: First up—after days of heated rhetoric and even talk of military action, tensions between President Trump and Colombia appear to be easing, with the two leaders now planning a White House meeting. Later in the show—to the surprise of absolutely no one, Russia rejects the latest peace proposal for Ukraine, dismissing Western security guarantees and hardening its stance against NATO. Plus—signs of panic in Tehran, as the Iranian regime shuts down internet access nationwide amid expanding protests. And in today’s Back of the Brief—President Trump proposes a dramatic sixty-six percent hike in defense spending, while also pushing new limits on defense contractor executive pay. 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 American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. NMLS 182334, https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1881 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/PDB.  ZBiotics: Visit https://zbiotics.com/PDB for 15% off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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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, after days of heated rhetoric and even talk of military action, tensions between the U.S. and Colombia appear to be easing with the two leaders, now planning a White House meeting. Well, that sounds very neighborly. Later in the show, to the surprise of a total of zero people,

Russia has rejected the latest peace proposal for Ukraine, dismissing Western security guarantees and hardening its stance against NATO. Plus, signs of panic in Tehran as the regime shuts down internet access across the country amid expanding protests. And it stays back of the brief. And President Trump proposes a dramatic 66% hike in defense spending, even as he pushes limits on defense contractor revenues. But first, today's PDB spotlight. In the aftermath of Nicholas Maduro's fall in Venezuela, shockwaves are still rippling across the region,

and this week, those aftershocks briefly put Colombia in the crosshairs. As the Trump administration moves to reassert U.S. influence in South America following the removal of Venezuela's longtime strongman, tensions between Washington and Bogota appear to be heading toward a dangerous breaking point, until a sudden phone call changed the trajectory. Just days after President Trump publicly blasted Columbia's president and suggested that U.S. military action against the country sounds good. That was a quote, sounds good.

The two leaders spoke directly, signaling an abrupt shift from escalation to engagement. In a post on truth social, President Trump struck a markedly different tone, calling it a, quote, great honor to speak with Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, praising his tone and announcing that arrangements are now underway for a White House meeting. Trump added that those preparations have been coordinated by Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Colombia's foreign minister. Petro confirmed the call in a post of his own, and even added a curious bit of symbolism. Alongside his comments, the Colombian leader shared an AI image, is there any other kind, of an eagle. and a jaguar in close embrace.

The eagle, obviously a long-standing symbol of the U.S., the jaguar, a national emblem of Colombia. A visual reminder, perhaps, that relations had cooled down just as quickly as they had overheated. So how did we get here, and why did Colombia suddenly find itself in the crosshairs? Well, the short answer, as you might have guessed, is drugs. Columbia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine. stretches of remote territory, decades-old trafficking routes, and deeply entrenched criminal networks have made the country central to the global cocaine trade. And much of that cocaine ultimately flows north, fueling addiction, overdose deaths, and violent criminal organizations operating throughout

Central America, Mexico, and the U.S. From the Trump administration's perspective, that reality carries national security implications. In recent weeks, the White House has increasingly framed drug trafficking, not just as a criminal problem, but as a strategic threat, one tied to instability, corruption, and what the president has labeled narco-terrorism. But here's the other side of the equation. Colombia has also been one of America's closest and most reliable counter-narcotics partners for decades. Since the only 2000s, the U.S. has invested in the U.S. has invested in the United States. billions of dollars in Colombian security forces through what's called Planned Columbia. That's a swooping effort aimed at dismantling cartels, reducing coca cultivation, and strengthening state

control over lawless regions. That cooperation paid real dividends. Colombian forces working hand-in-glove with U.S. intelligence helped dismantle major drug cartels, cripple insurgent groups like the FARC, and professionalize one of the most capable security forces in Latin America. Colombia became, by any reasonable measure, a frontline partner in America's long-running drug war, which is why President Trump's rhetoric landed with such force in Bogota. Petro himself represents a break from the past. He's a former guerrilla who campaigned on reshaping Colombia's approach to drugs. He's argued that decades of eradication efforts failed to solve the underlying problem.

Under his administration, Ariel-Coka eradication has been scaled back. back with a greater emphasis placed on rural development and negotiated solutions. From Washington's vantage point, though, that shift coincided with a sharp rise in coca cultivation, fueling frustration and in this case, an unusually blunt response from the White House. That context helps explain why Trump's comments escalated so quickly after the Venezuelan operation. In the administration's view, narco-states and permissive drug policies are no longer tolerated, Pressure, leverage, and, let's call it, shock value appear to be part of the strategy. But the phone call and the sudden pivot to diplomacy suggests limits as well.

Ultimately, neither side benefits from a full rupture. Colombia remains a key intelligence partner. The U.S. remains Colombia's most important security ally, and both governments understand that cooperation, however tense, is still preferable to open confrontation. For now, cooler heads appear to have prevailed. A White House meeting is on the calendar. The rhetoric has softened, but the underlying disagreement, how to confront the drug trade and how hard Washington is willing to push its allies, well, that remains largely unresolved. This episode offers a glimpse of what U.S. foreign policy may look like going forward. Sharp pressure, rapid escalation,

and sudden resets, especially when national security priorities collide with longstanding partnerships. All right. Coming up next, Russia predictably rejects the latest Ukraine peace proposal. Who couldn't have seen that coming? It's almost like Putin isn't interested in peace. As Tecron signals panic with a nationwide internet blackout amid expanding protests. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, let me take a moment of your time to talk about the new year and financial goals. Now, look, if you're a homeowner, well, there's no better time than now to call American financing

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Welcome back to the PDB. If there was any doubt about how Russia would respond to the latest peace overtures, well, it didn't last long. Moscow rejected plans by the coalition of the willing to deploy Western peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, warning that any such deployment would be treated as a military target. You know, it's almost, as I've said many times, like Putin isn't interested in peace. As you've been tracking here on the PDB, the idea behind the coalition of the willing is relatively straightforward. If Ukraine agrees to a ceasefire, Kiev requires security guarantees that actually deter Russia from invading again.

So, from Ukraine's point of view, Western troops are what makes those guarantees real. But what stands out is how blunt Russia was in Putin. pushing back. A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that any, quote, deployment on Ukrainian territory of military units, military facilities, warehouses, and other infrastructure of Western countries would amount to foreign intervention, as opposed to the foreign intervention of Russia invading Ukraine. I mean, at what point does anyone call bullshit on Putin? Just a thought. Such military infrastructure, the foreign ministry spokesperson, added, would be a direct threat to Russia's security and be regarded as, quote, legitimate military

targets of the armed forces. Ukraine, of course, sees this very differently. Officials in Kiev argue that without foreign troops on the ground, any peace agreement risks becoming little more than a band-aid on a sucking chest wound, giving Russia time to regroup and prepare for further aggression. That concern drove much of the discussion at the Paris meetings this week, where the coalition of a willing back to the idea of a multinational force operating on land and sea and in the air once a ceasefire is in place. Now, as we previously discussed, two NATO members, the UK and France, signed a declaration of intent with Kiev outlining their readiness to deploy forces once the fighting stops. French President Emmanuel Macron called the plan a, quote,

significant step toward ending the war, noting it also envisions a restructured Ukraine, military remaining as the first line of defense. In other words, under the coalition's plan, Western troops are meant to reinforce Ukraine's security, not replace it. Still, Russia has been clear for years now, ever since they started their invasion, that this is precisely what it will not accept. Blocking Ukraine's integration into Western security structures has been one of Moscow's core war aims since the 2022 invasion began. Now, I want to point out that the Kremlin continues to demand Ukrainian neutrality even in peacetime, a position that effectively gives Russia veto power over Ukraine's future security choices. And yes, that is just as bizarre as it sounds.

Now, while Keev, the U.S. and EU engage in regular discussions over what a future peace agreement could look like, the reality is that none of that matters, as long as Russia continues to fight and show no interest in stopping its aggression. Russia continues to demand. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine handover occupied and contested regions, or the Kremlin vows that it will take them by force. Now, as a public service reminder, Putin started this war. I know, shocking. And it's clear to anyone who isn't a Putin apologist or just a moron that Putin is responsible for continuing the war. But I digress. Senator Lindsey Graham said President Trump, quote, green-lit, a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill.

aimed at tightening the economic vice on Russia. The legislation would authorize tariffs of up to 500 percent, that's a lot of tariffs, on countries that knowingly purchased Russian oil or uranium and ban U.S. energy exports to Russia altogether. The point being, the White House may be starting to accept the reality that Russia is the problem here. All right, shifting to the Middle East, as protests across Iran stretched into their 12th day, regime has reached for one of its most familiar repressive tactics, cutting internet access and plunging the country into a nationwide digital blackout. Late Thursday night, internet access and telephone lines and Tehran and large parts of the country abruptly dropped out. I'm sure that was

just a coincidence. That's according to monitoring groups and on the ground reporting by CBS News and the Associated Press. The disruptions coincided with renewed demonstrations, with authorities moving to restrict communication, coordination among the opposition, and the flow of images from the streets. But what's particularly notable here is the timing of the blackout. The outages began just after Iranians began chanting from windows and rooftops across the capital of Tehran and other major cities following a call by exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi for people to make their voices heard at 8 p.m. local time on both Thursday and Friday. The call to action from the son of the former U.S. back Shaw

was a deliberate way of responding to the Islamic regime's increasingly brutal crackdown as balcony and window protests require little organization, making them harder to prevent, even as digital access is shut down. Analyst speaking to CBS News say the scale of the public response to that call could prove decisive. either the protests lose momentum, as previous waves of unrest have over the years, or they evolve into something more sustained and dangerous for the regime, potentially triggering an even wider crackdown. One source in Tehran described what they called huge crowds in multiple neighborhoods,

telling CBS that demonstrators were openly pro-Phalavi, framing the moment as monarchists responding to Reza, and adding that, quote, pro-Phalavi crowds are prevailing, undeniable. That detail is significant, but it requires careful context. As the associated press notes, the protest movement as a whole still lacks a centralized leadership structure. While Pahlavi's appeal clearly resonated with some demonstrators, the unrest remains decentralized, driven by overlapping political and social and economic grievances rather than a single figure

or a platform. AP reporting also underscored the economic roots of the unrest. rest, years of inflation, currency collapse, and economic isolation that preceded this latest escalation. But what began as economic anger has increasingly taken on political overtones, with chance condemning clerical rule, and in some cases openly invoking the memory of Iran's monarchy. With all that in mind, the move to cut the internet suggests a deep concern among the ruling Mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that this round of protests may represent a more serious challenge to their power than past uprisings. I want to stress that Iran has repeatedly used digital blackouts

during moments when the regime fears its losing control of the narrative or losing control on the ground. While shutting down connectivity can slow protest coordination, it also limits the state's ability to project calm or stability. It's a blunt instrument used when other methods have failed. The move also comes as casualties and arrests mount. The rights groups, cited by both CBS and AP, reportedly several dozen people killed, including minors, and more than 2,000 detained nationwide. Security forces have used live ammunition in some locations, and arrests have also expanded to include journalists and students and relatives of demonstrators. Another escalatory tactic that suggests the regime fears its rapidly losing control.

Okay, coming up in today's back of the brief, President Trump calls for a 66th, percent increase, wow, in defense spending, pitching what he calls a, quote, dream military. We'll have those details. A bike baker here. Now, I have been known in my time to enjoy an ice cold gin martini or two on a somewhat regular basis. But here's the thing, and it's a hard truth to admit, but at my age, well, the older I get, the more I might regret my martinis the next morning.

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Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Carvana. Delivery fees and terms may apply. In today's back of the brief, President Trump is asking Congress for a massive expansion of American military spending while signaling a reset in how defense contractors might profit from national security. The scale of what Trump is proposing is striking. He wants lawmakers to push annual defense spending to $1.5 trillion in fiscal year of 2027,

That's a roughly 66% jump, just weeks after signing a historic $901 billion defense bill for fiscal year 2026. That package was further reinforced with another $150 billion spread over five years through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The argument Trump is making here is straightforward. Even after years of record spending, the threat environment hasn't eased and the current budget still doesn't match the needs of the moment. Trump put it bluntly on Truth Social, writing, quote, after long and difficult negotiations with senators and congressmen, secretaries, and other political representatives, I have determined that for the good of our country, our military budget for the year 27 should not be one trillion, but rather 1.5 trillion. When he explains why that level of spending is not only necessary,

but achievable, Trump keeps coming back to tariffs, and that's worth paying attention to. In his view, the tariff revenue has changed the math, allowing the U.S. to strengthen its military without falling back on unchecked borrowing. Trump posted, quote, if it weren't for the tremendous numbers being produced by tariffs from other countries, I would stay at the $1 trillion mark, end quote. Trump has also been explicit about what the money is meant to buy. He says the funding would accelerate initiatives, like his Golden Dome Missile Defense Project and the Golden Fleet Neighbor. plan, including newly announced, quote, Trump-class warships designed as successors to the Navy's Arlie Burke class destroyers. The proposal received a warm welcome on Capitol Hill by defense hawks in the House and Senate, even as it's likely to reopen debates after last year's $2 trillion

increase in the national debt. But what makes this moment different is that Trump isn't treating higher spending as a blank check. Almost immediately, he pivoted. Trump pared his for record defense spending with an unusually aggressive warning, aimed not at Congress, but at the defense industry. More money is coming, but business as usual, perhaps is not. Across several posts, Trump accused major arms manufacturers of prioritizing dividends and stock buybacks and executive compensation over production capacity and delivery speed. He called on defense firms to halt shareholder payouts, reinvest in factories and equipment, and cap executive pay at $5 million.

He wrote, quote, defense contractors are currently issuing massive dividends to their showholders and massive stock buybacks at the expense and detriment of investing in plants and equipment. This situation will no longer be allowed, end quote. At first, Trump kept that criticism quite broad, but later singled out the company Raytheon, accusing the defense giant of being the slowest to scale production and the most aggressive in rewarding shareholders.

He pointed to CEO Christopher Calil, who earned more than $21 million in 2024 alone, as emblematic of incentives out of sync with wartime demands. Trump warned that buybacks and executive pay could cost Raytheon future government business if left unchanged. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Friday the 9th of January. Now, if you have any questions or comments,

please reach out to me at PDB, at thefirstTV.com. And if you get the chance, please check out our YouTube channel. You'll find that on YouTube, oddly enough. Just search for at Residence 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.