The President's Daily Brief - July 25th, 2024: The Assassin’s Secrets, Kamala’s Crisis, & German Terror Bust

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   FBI Director Christopher Wray reveals new details about Thomas Crooks, the would-be assassin of President Trump, including the FBI’s analysis of Crooks' laptop and bizarre details of his internet search history. As the presumptive presidential nominee, Kamala Harris faces renewed scrutiny over her role in overseeing the border crisis, with new details emerging about her first and only trip to the southern border. Germany cracks down on an Islamic group accused of providing support to the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. In today’s Back of the Brief, a big announcement from New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who now faces 222 years in prison following his conviction on federal corruption charges.   To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com.   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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kickstart your day off with a delicious cup of blackout coffee or two cups or three family-owned premium coffee fresh roasted and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting you've heard me talk about this before within 48 hours of roasting it goes from the roaster to the package to your patio into your cup incredible go to blackout coffee dot com promo code pdb for 20% off your first time purchase it's thursday 25 july 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 things off today on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where FBI director Christopher Ray has revealed new details about Thomas Crooks, the would-be assassin of former President Trump. Later in the show,

presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris, faces renewed scrutiny over her role in overseeing the border crisis, with new details emerging about her first and only trip to the southern border. Now, you might recall that the White House foisted the job of border czar on Harris early in the Biden administration. Plus, Germany cracks down on an Islamic group accused of providing support to the Iranian-backed group, Hasbullah. And in today's back of the brief, a big announcement from Goldbar Bob, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who now faces a possible 222 years in prison following his conviction on federal corruption charges. But first, today's BDB spotlight. We'll kick things off with our continued coverage of the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump.

FBI director Christopher Ray provided an update on the agency's investigation into 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks during a three-hour-long hero-long hero. before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Compared to the Kimberly Cheedle appearance on the Hill on Monday, which provided the some total of, let's see, oh, zero information, and was a lesson in how not to respond to a crisis, Ray's testimony at least provided some information and insight into the ongoing investigation and assessment of what went wrong. Among other revelations,

we learned that the now-deceased gunman searched on his laptop for details of the JFK assassination just one week before the shooting. That's according to a report by the New York Times. And in law enforcement terms, that could be a clue. In the search, which was made on July 6th, the gunman typed, how far away was Oswald from Kennedy, in reference to Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald? Ray told lawmakers, quote,

that's a search that's obviously significant in terms of his state of mind. Really? while Ray is clearly in the running for today's BDB statement of the obvious award. Ray said it was possibly the first indication the shooter had begun seriously considering targeting Trump, adding that his subsequent searches became, quote, very focused on former President Trump and this rally. On that same day, Crooks registered to attend the July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and began making his preparations. On July 7th, just one week before the attempted assassination, Crooks made the first of three visits to the rally site, spending roughly 20 minutes wandering the

grounds. He would then return twice on the day of the shooting, once in the morning for roughly 70 minutes at 7.0 minutes, and again in the afternoon ahead of Trump's speech at 6 p.m. According to Ray, when Crooks returned to the rally site on the afternoon of the shooting, sometime between 3.50 and 4 p.m., he flew a drone around the grounds for roughly 11 minutes. Ray's stress that the drone did not fly directly over the stage, but came within about 200 yards. That was just two hours before Trump took the stage. Crooks subsequently climbed onto the roof using equipment and vertical piping attached to the building. Ray noted that Crooks had purchased a ladder from Home Depot on the morning of the shooting, but did not end up using it. In addition to the drone, Ray confirmed that Crooks had at least

three explosive devices in his possession, two in his vehicle, and one at the home that he shared with his parents. Investigators believe he may have intended to trigger them once the shooting began, but Ray described the devices as relatively crude, saying the detonator crooks had rigged likely would not have worked. The FBI director also clarified some details regarding the weapon, which he said was an AR-style rifle with a collapsible stock, something that may have made the weapon less noticeable to authorities. Crooks reportedly bought the gun off his father, who had originally purchased the weapon more than a decade ago. Now mind you, does a collapsible stock make the weapon slightly smaller? Well, yes, it does. Does it make it easily concealable? No. Ray described Crooks

as a, quote, fairly avid shooting hobbyist, alongside his father, who owns another 14 firearms. The FBI has also since confirmed that the shooter fired a total of eight rounds towards Trump before being neutralized by a Secret Service counter-sniper. Despite the insights from their ongoing investigation, which has included more than 400 interviews, the agency, as reportedly, struggled to pin down a clear motivation. Ray told lawmakers, quote, It's fair to say we do not yet have a clear picture of his motive. What I can say is that the shooter appears to have done a lot of search,

for public figures in general, end quote. According to Ray, the search of the shooter's laptop and phone records has been complicated by the fact that Crokes used encrypted messaging applications to hide his activity. Now, we should know that the FBI does not typically share details regarding ongoing investigations, but made an exception in this case, given the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the attack. Ray said, quote, the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy. I recognize the congressional and public interest in this case, end quote. Lawmakers continue to demand answers on the security breakdowns regarding the Secret

Service's security perimeter, what officials knew of potential threats, why no agents were stationed on the roof used by the shooter, and why there was a communications breakdown between agents and local law enforcement officials. The now former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheedle resigned on Tuesday, followed, following a disastrous congressional hearing on Monday, where she repeatedly dodged questions about the attempted assassination. All right, coming up next, Vice President Kamala Harris faces renewed criticism for her role in the border crisis on the U.S. southern border, and German authorities are cracking

down on a Shia Islamist group accused of providing support to the Lebanese-based Hasbullah. We'll have those stories when we come back. Welcome back to the PDB. I want to turn our focus to the U.S. vice president and presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who is facing fresh scrutiny over her role in overseeing the immigration crisis as President Biden's borders are. Now, before we go any further, let's set the record straight. The media spin machine was in full effect on Wednesday as publications attempted to claim that Harris was never officially tapped to lead efforts regarding the border. Wasn't really her job, or referred to informally as

Biden's borders are, despite numerous articles from those very same publications contradicting that narrative. USA Today ran a fact check labeling claims that Harris was charged with overseeing the border crisis as false, calling it an exaggeration of her duties. I would say calling USA Today a journalistic endeavor is an exaggeration of their duties. Axios, meanwhile, claims. Clio, claimed it was incorrect to label Harris as the borders are, though many were quick to point out that Axios themselves had described her as the borders are in the past, and published an article in 2021 titled, Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis. Yeah, but don't pay attention to what we said in the past. It's all new now. That seems fairly clear cut. There are frankly too many

examples to cite from across the media on Wednesday, but you get the idea. It was a master class on Wednesday in gaslighting. Given that we can also simply look to a press conference in March of 2021, where President Biden says he's tapping Harris to lead our efforts on stemming the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. All right, well, look, stand by for more of the same as the campaign season gets into full swing. The Democrat Party and those members of the media who are aligned with Democrats will be working overtime to paint Harris as the hip, Uber-intelligent,

sassy stateswoman that America has been yearning for, while also working to make it seem as if she had nothing to do with anything related to Biden's administration. So the semantics of a role aside, how did Harris do? Well, she only visited the border once, traveling to an area near El Paso, Texas on June 25, 2021. According to an exclusive report from the New York Post published Wednesday, federal agents were instructed to, quote, sanitize the area in order to hide the true depths of the crisis from reporters and cameras covering her visit, and to, quote, put on a show for the vice president's visit. This involved moving migrants out of holding facilities and off the streets to local hotels. We're going to need to get these migrants out of here, please. Harris was then given a tour of the local migrant processing center. Hey, come on, Kamala Harris. It's due here in a minute. Please, get these migrants.

right out of here. One anonymous border agent told the post, quote, they rented out a ton of hotels and we spent hours moving out bodies. The kids that remained, we had to braid their hair, end quote. He added that agents were joking to each other about how, quote, the building was more secure than the whole border was. Another anonymous former official present during Harris's visit told the post, quote, she had zero interest in really seeing anything. It was rushed, end quote. Now Harris, would go on to declare the border secure in September of 2022, just weeks before illegal migrant arrests for the fiscal year broke a new record. Speaking of the stats, they paint a rather negative portrait of Harris and Biden's record. Since an infamous speech that Harris gave in June 2021,

telling migrants not to come to the U.S., while at least 8 million have crossed into America, according to the Post, at least 6.3 million of those migrants who illegally cross, through ports of entry were apprehended and subsequently released into the U.S. under various Biden administration policies. Another 1.5 million, and that's a conservative estimate, have entered into the U.S. illegally by sneaking past law enforcement, though referred to as known gotaways. Illegal border crossings have averaged roughly two million per year since 2021, and that's the highest levels ever recorded. Okay, shifting focus to Germany, where the government has banned the Islamic Center of Hamburg, that's known by its initials,

the IZH, and related sub-organizations, accusing them of alleged support for the Iranian-Bakh Hezbollah group in Lebanon. This decisive action included police raids on the association's properties across Germany, including a prominent mosque in Hamburg. The IZH has been under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence for years due to its alleged connections with Iran and has blah. The group has attacked Israeli communities along the Israel-Lebanan border since 8 October in solidarity with Hamas in the events of 7 October. The IZH has been considered Iran's most significant representative in Germany, aside from its embassy. Calls for the ban have persisted due to its support for terrorist activities and extremist ideologies. The Interior Ministry

said that 53 of the organization's premises had been raided by authorities in eight German states early on Wednesday, acting on a court order. Evidence from an earlier search of 55 properties conducted in November provided the basis for Wednesday's ban of the IZH, said the ministry. In addition to the Hamburg-based IZH, its subgroups in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin were also banned. The ministry said that four Shiite mosques in Germany will be closed because of the ban. Interior Minister Nancy Pfizer clarified that the ban does not apply to the ban. The the peaceful practice of the Shiite religion. The IZH's assets are also being confiscated. The IZH's main facility and one of the oldest mosques in Germany, the Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg, dubbed the Blue Mosque

because of its turquoise exterior, was among the raided properties. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the ban and summoned Germany's ambassador to Tehran in protest. Pfizer stated that the evidence from investigations confirmed the IZH's promotion of an Islamist extremist totalitarian ideology and support for Hezbollah terrorists. Pfizer alleged they, quote, as the direct representative of Iran's supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, the IZH disseminates the ideology of the Islamic revolution in an aggressive and militant way and seeks to bring about such a revolution in the Federal Republic of Germany. She added that this extremist ideology opposes human dignity, women's rights, and Germany's constitutional order. Pfizer clarified that the ban does not

apply to the peaceful practice of the Shiite religion. German officials, including Amberg's top regional security official, Andy Groot, declared the closure a significant step against Islamic extremism in support of democracy. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez announces his resignation following his conviction on multiple federal corruption charges. More on that when we come back. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy how many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts.

Restrictions apply. In today's back of the brief, Senator Bob Menendez is set to resign next month after being found guilty on all 16 counts in a federal bribery and corruption trial. His decision follows months of intense pressure from his Democratic colleagues and aims to prevent further distractions within the Senate. The resignation allows New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to appoint a temporary replacement until January. Now, as we reported previously on the PDB, Menendez, a long-serving New Jersey lawmaker, was found guilty in July of accepting bribes from three business businesses. executives in exchange for political favors. The conviction stemmed from Menendez and his wife, Nadine,

receiving lavish gifts, including over $480,000 in cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz, for aiding business deals benefiting Cutter and Egypt and attempting to obstruct criminal investigations. In his resignation letter to Governor Murphy on Tuesday, Menendez cited the need to allow for an orderly transition and to avoid a lengthy Senate ethics process that would detracts. from the Senate's work, and that's a reference to an ongoing investigation against him by the Senate Ethics Committee. That's a necessary step before recommending expulsion or discipline to the full Senate. His resignation will be effective on August 20th. Menendez's resignation date was met with a flurry of calls for him to step down immediately from fellow Democrats, including

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, as well as Governor Murphy. Menendez's resignation marks a rare occurrence of a senator stepping down due to ethical scandals. He joins the ranks of only a few senators who have resigned under similar circumstances since World War II. The departure of Menendez, once a prominent figure in the Senate, will undoubtedly reshape New Jersey's political landscape. His recent conviction underscores a long history of ethical challenges, including a previous

deadlocked trial in 2015 on similar charges, bringing an end. to a tumultuous chapter in his career. Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced on the 29th of October and plans to appeal the verdict. Meanwhile, Democrat Representative Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Basha are set for a showdown over Menendez's Senate seat in November, with Menendez, having filed to run for re-election as an independent, if exonerated, he's like a bad penny. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Thursday, 25 July. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And, as you may already know, to listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by simply visiting pdb premium.com.

I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the BDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.