The President's Daily Brief - July 31st, 2024: Secret Service Discord, Russia Gains Ground, & Kim Jong Un's Health Crisis

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:     The latest revelations from the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, as Congress grills the new acting Secret Service director and leaked emails surface showing mounting anger within the Secret Service over the agency’s leadership. Russian forces are on the offensive again in Ukraine, recently capturing two front-line villages in the eastern Donetsk region in their push to overwhelm Kyiv’s beleaguered military. The U.S. is boosting its alliance with the Philippines, pledging $500 million in new military funding to counter an increasingly belligerent China. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, it appears the little dictator of North Korea is having big problems with his health, as reports emerge that officials in the hermit kingdom are seeking new medicines from abroad to address Kim Jong Un’s obesity-related conditions. 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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First, we'll bring you the latest revelations from the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump as Congress grills the new acting Secret Service Director. Things, let's say they got a bit heated up on Capitol Hill. And leaked emails, well, they show intense frustration among agents upset with senior leaders at the Secret Service. Later in the show, Russian forces are on the offensive again in Ukraine, recently capturing two frontline villages in the Eastern Densk region. Plus, the U.S. is boosting its alliance with the Philippines, pledging $500 million in new military funding to counter an increasingly belligerent China. And in today's back of the brief, it appears that Kim Jong-un, despotic dictator of North Korea, is having health problems, as reports emerge that officials in the Hermit Kingdom are seeking

new medicines from abroad to address Kim Jong-un's obesity-related. conditions. Now, at a nod to the great late Roddy Dangerfield, I'm not saying Kim is big, but he leaves stretch marks in the bathtub. First, today's PDB spotlight. Let's turn back to our coverage of the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, as Congress held yet another tense hearing in search of answers, which are still elusive, and leaked emails surfaced showing mounting anger within the Secret Service over the agency's leadership. The new acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, testified before the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees on Tuesday, where he faced intense scrutiny over the myriad security breakdowns that led to the shooting. Roe opened the hearing by stating that while the shooting represented a failure on multiple levels, that was his quote, ultimate responsibility rests with the Secret Service, not local law enforcement, and that's according to a report by Fox News.

Roe acknowledged the breakdown in communications on the day of the shooting, though he stressed that neither Secret Service nor local police knew the suspect was armed until the gunshots rang out. Still, he said there was no excuse as to why the agency overlooked security on the rooftop used by the shooter. When he examined the sight of the shooting in person, Roe said, quote, What I saw made me ashamed.

As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with a Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured, end quote. Rowe told lawmakers that the agency is taking steps to improve communication between agents and local law enforcement for future events. Yeah, that's long overdue. The agency will also expand the use of drones to help detect threats on elevated areas and has ordered the maximum use of Secret Service Special Agents to address the heightened security environment, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Roe was more forthcoming than his predecessor, Kimberly Cheatel, who resigned last week from her post. Now, to be fair, well, it took almost no effort to be more forthcoming than Cheatel. The bar, for the new temporary director, well, it's set extremely low in that regard. While officials say there's still no clear motive, we learned that investigators are probing a social media account, associated with this shooter espousing political violence and anti-Semitism. We also learned that the Secret Service was supposed to start using a counter-dron system at 3 p.m. that day, but bandwidth problems prevented it from going live until 5 p.m. Now, if the counter-dron system had been operational,

Roe, the acting director of the Secret Service, said the agents would have likely been able to locate the shooter when he flew a drone around the grounds hours before the shooting. Okay, well, or if the agent in charge who signed off on the side, site survey said, you know what, make sure you have an officer stationed on the AGR rooftop. Yeah, that is pretty much all it would have taken. Because clearly, the shooter looked at his drone footage and surveyed the scene and the 20-year-old with no security experience determined that he should place himself on that rooftop, since it was left unattended. Apparently, the 20-year-old shooter

saw what the Secret Service and local police couldn't see. Despite the disclosures, Rose still faced Congress that has grown frustrated at the lack of candor from both the Secret Service and the FBI. Many questioned why no one in the agency has been fired or held accountable. The exchanges, particularly with Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, were very heated. Roe countered that he did not want to make assumptions and get ahead of an ongoing investigation. Before we go any further, it's worth briefly discussing Roe's record within the agency at Secret Service prior to Cheeto's resignation, according to an exclusive report from Real Clear Politics. He and Cheatel, Kimberly Cheatel, the now resigned former director, were directly involved in denying

additional security resources and personnel over the past two years to help screen rallygoers at outdoor venues for former President Trump. Citing unnamed officials, the report said Roe also personally made the decision to deny counter-sniper teams to any Trump event outside of drug. driving distance from Washington, D.C. Now, when asked about decisions regarding security personnel, Rose said that while resources may have been denied in the past, that was not the case for the rally in Butler. He also stated that he had nothing to do with the decisions regarding resource allocations for Trump's detail. In another development, Real Clear Politics obtained an email from an unidentified Secret Service counter-sniper blasting his higher-ups over their, quote,

ability to protect our leaders. The email, which was sent late Monday to the Secret Service's entire uniformed division, was a scathing indictment of the agency's current procedures and warned that the agency, quote, should expect another assassination attempt before the election. The sniper said he would not be silent until, quote, five high-level supervisors are either fired or removed from their current positions. The supervisors were not named. Well, honestly, he should understand that it's Washington, D.C., and almost nobody ever gets fired from the government. The unnamed agent, a 20-year veteran of the agency, said he had raised concerns about agency procedures for years with supervisors only to be brushed off. He called the failures at the Trump rally a, quote, stain on the agency.

He added that currently, the leaders at the Secret Service are, quote, worried about covering their behind and not worried about protecting a former president. The agent concluded by saying, quote, this agency needs to change and if not now, when the next assassination in 30 days, end quote. Roe confirmed the email's authenticity to Congress, telling the committee members that emotions are currently raw inside the Secret Service and he would take all internal feedback into consideration as the agency reforms its protocols. All right, coming up next. Russian forces are on the offensive again in Ukraine, recently capturing two frontline villages in the Eastern Dinesk region in their push to overwhelmed Keeves' beleaguered military. Plus, the U.S. is boosting its alliance with the Philippines,

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The rapid gains follow relentless assaults as part of a summer offensive by the Kremlin. Now, the Denebsk region has been a focal point of intense battles since Russia's invasion began back in February of 2022. After gaining territory during the initial invasion, Russian forces had struggled to make even incremental progress in the area, with territorial gains often measured in mere yards per week. But Ukraine's chief sergeant in the region confirmed the capture of two villages on Monday, where a chaotic Ukrainian retreat allowed Russian forces to quickly seize more than 10 square miles of territory over the past week. The villages are roughly 20 miles northwest of Avdivka, a Dhenzsk city captured by Russians in February in their last major breakthrough.

A shift in Russian tactics, utilizing combat footage and satellite imagery, has reportedly led to more substantial advances in recent weeks, helping Moscow exploit cracks in Ukrainian lines stretched thin by continuous assaults and manpower shortages. By probing Ukrainian defenses to identify vulnerable points, Russian forces have executed a strategy of attritional warfare using glide bombs to strike Ukrainian defenses prior to advancing their infantry manpower. Ukraine's chief sergeant in the region said Russian forces, quote, pressed non-stop to eventually capture the villages.

While Russia's defense ministry has officially claimed control of the villages, the Ukrainian general staff has not yet commented on the loss. Russian forces are now closing in on Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian defensive stronghold, and are within artillery range of vital supply routes for Kiev's war effort. The Ukrainian general staff reported 52 attacks in the previous 24 hours, almost double the usual number. Russian troops advancing along a railway line are only about roughly 12 miles from the Pokrovsk, seeking another big breakthrough. Ukrainian President Zelensky described the situation in the Dinesk region as, quote, extremely challenging.

Separately, in Russia's Kursk region, Ukraine's security service did manage to successfully target several substations in drone strikes Monday evening, causing power outages. Ukraine's general staff stated that these attacks disrupted power in multiple districts and were aimed at hindering Russian military logistics by damaging infrastructure critical to the transport of weapons and equipment. As Putin attempts to press forward on the battlefield, Ukraine continues to leverage their advanced drone technology to strike deep within Russia, and that's obviously in an effort to inflict economic costs and disrupt the Kremlin's war machine. shifting focus to the Indo-Pacific region. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced $500 million in new military funding on Tuesday to boost the Philippines' defenses and said they made significant progress on a proposed intelligence sharing pact. While visiting Manila, Washington's top diplomat and defense chief reaffirmed to Filipino President

Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. I didn't make that up. The U.S.'s unwavering commitment to its oldest treaty ally in Asia in response to China's increasingly hostile behavior in the region. Now, if Bongbong's name sounds familiar, not the Bongbong part, well, he's the son of the infamous Ferdinand Marcos, the long time and controversial Philippine leader from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. What's old is essentially new again. The $500 million funding package is aimed at modernizing the Philippine military and Coast Guard, with one $128 million allocated to infrastructure improvements at Philippine bases accessible to American forces. Now, for decades, the country was home to two key military bases, the Navy's Subic Bay,

and the Air Force's Clark Air Force Base. Both were shuttered at the end of the 80s during a wave of nationalism in the Philippines that demanded the U.S. military's withdrawal. Blinken and Austin also announced progress on a proposed military. intelligence sharing pact, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement, which is expected to be finalized later this year. Now, this agreement would enable the U.S. to provide high-level intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to the Philippines, ensuring that such information is securely protected. President Marcos Jr., or Bong-Bong, praised the open communication between the two nations and stressed the need for a U.S. military presence

to maintain regional stability. Marcos Jr. re-aligned the Philippines. to the U.S. after succeeding previous president Rodrigo Duterte, who favored warmer relations with China. This shift back towards the U.S. comes as China intensifies their harassment campaign in the contestant South China Sea. China claims 90% of the region as its territory, 90% conflicting with the claims of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations. A 2016 ruling by the permanent court of arbitration at the Hague invalidated China's claim. but Beijing has rejected the decision, continuing its assertive presence in the region. In June, violence erupted in the South China Sea when a Filipino sailor was injured during a resupply

mission, allegedly due to aggressive maneuvers by the Chinese Coast Guard. The face-off did not escalate into a wider confrontation, but was a stark reminder of the volatility in the region. Now, during the meetings on Tuesday, Blinken reiterated the U.S.'s, quote, ironclad commitment to defend the Philippines against any armed attack in the region, criticizing China's escalatory actions. Okay, coming up in the back of the brief, the health of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un

is reportedly weighing heavily on the minds of officials in the Hermit Kingdom, as reports emerge that the regime is seeking new medicines abroad to address the mounting obesity-related health problems of the reclusive leader. I'll be right back. Exema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with ebbglis, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month- or longer dosing phase, about four in 10 people taking ebbglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks,

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And clicks? For kids who love to save the day, choose a Lego set. A gift that always clicks. In today's back of the brief, South Korean officials reveal that the deputies of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are desperately looking abroad for new medicines to help treat Kim's many obesity-related conditions. Now, lest you think that we're fat-shaming, Big Kim, we're reporting on his weight and health conditions because, well, he's the autocratic leader of North Korea, which is a nuclear-armed nation, with a potential to start a regional and perhaps global conflict. Kim, at 40 years old, is reportedly as obese as he has ever been, weighing it at an estimated

308 pounds. Now, at an estimated 5 foot 8 inches tall, and 308 pounds of fun, well, he's not exactly wearing clothes off the rack. The weight, along with a pension for cigarettes and booze, well, that'll do it, have contributed to significant health problems, which include high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions he was already showing signs of in his early 30s, according to a report from NBC News. His current habits put him at a high risk of heart disease, really, a major concern given his familiar history. Both his grandfather and father, who ruled the dictatorship before him, died of heart

issues tied to hereditary cardiovascular disease. With limited access to cutting-edge medication inside North Korea, officials are now looking outside their borders for alternative treatment options. The revelation came during a joint briefing held by South Korean lawmakers who were quoting the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's chief spy agency. While it's next to impossible to know Kim's exact condition given the reclusive nature of his regime, South Korea's intelligence services reportedly relied on artificial intelligence techniques and forensic video analysis to make their determination, which is, hey, he's fat. In the joint briefing, the lawmakers speculated that Kim may be, quote, suffering from medical conditions that are difficult to deal with with the currently available

medicine. They added, quote, we concluded that his health issues are likely due to stress, smoking, and drinking, end quote. Now, if the report proves accurate, it represents a significant physical decline over the past few years. Back in October of 2021, it was reported that Kim had changed his diet and lost to some 44 pounds. Any potential threats to Kim's health are closely monitored by the international community. There are fears, of course, that an abrupt death could plunge the nuclear-armed country into chaos, as Kim has yet to formally name a successor. Now, South Green Intelligence, well, they believe that Kim's 10-year-old daughter, Kim Jouet, has been in formally chosen as the hair apparent in the event of his death because why wouldn't you want a 10-year-old

in charge of a nuclear-armed country? I mean, when my boys were 10 years old, I often thought to myself, if only they had nukes. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Wednesday, 31 July. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And of course, to listen to the show ad free, well, become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com couldn't be easier. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story.

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