The President's Daily Brief - July 8th, 2024: Hamas Concession, Iran's New President, & Orban Meets Putin

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: It’s been nine months since October 7th, and efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza are accelerating. Hamas has reportedly dropped one of its key demands, removing a major hurdle to a hostage deal. We’ll have those details in today’s PDB Spotlight. Later in the show, Iran has a new President, with little-known reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian defeating his hardline opponent in this weekend’s runoff election. Plus, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban followed up his visit to Kyiv with a trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sparking outrage among his fellow European Union leaders. And finally, French voters turned out in record numbers for the nation’s second round of parliamentary elections. We’ll have the results in today’s Back of Brief. 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] ☕ Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Code: PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Pour yourself a cup or two or several. A blackout coffee. Family-owned, premium coffee, fresh roasted, and it's shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Get that. It's a terrific American business producing the best in coffee. Go to blackout coffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Monday, 8 July. Welcome to the president's Daily Brief.

I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. It's been nine months since the Iranian proxy Hamas launched their medieval attacks on October 7th, and now efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, well, they appear to be accelerating. Hamas has reportedly dropped one of its key demands, removing a major hurdle to a hostage deal. We'll have those details in today's PDB spotlight. Later in the show, Iran as a new president, well, look at that, they've got a new president, with little-known reformist candidate, Massoud Peschekin, defeating his hardline opponent in this weekend's

runoff election. Now, reformist, well, that's a relative term. Plus, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban followed up his visit to Kiev with a trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Putin, sparking outrage among his fellow European Union leaders. Not the first, time that the staunch Putin pal has sparked outrage. It's kind of his signature move. And finally, French voters turned out in record numbers for the nation's second round of parliamentary elections, handing a defeat to both Emmanuel Macron and the rights Marine Le Pen. We'll have the results in today's back of the brief. But first, today's PDB spotlight. We ended last week with some hopeful news about a potential ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, and we'll start this

morning with some more potentially positive developments, and that's, frankly, something of a rarity in this line of work. According to Hamas and the Egyptian officials speaking to the Associated Press, the terror group has given its initial approval to a U.S.-backed phased ceasefire proposal by dropping one of its key demands from Israel. Until now, Hamas has insisted that, that any agreement would require that Israel commit up front to a complete end to the war. Now, Hamas has signaled it would be content with written guarantees from mediators that Israel will continue to negotiate a permanent ceasefire once the first phase goes into effect. If the reporting is accurate, and that's frankly a big if,

this would be a significant development, removing one of the biggest hurdles to negotiations. Whether Hamas's move is real or not, negotiators are rushing back to the table. This week, a four-way meeting will take place in Doha between CIA director William Burns, his Mulsad counterpart David Barnia, as well as the head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamal, and the Qatari Prime Minister.

The negotiators are hoping to hammer out remaining details and present a deal for final approval later this week. As we've been reporting, Washington's phased deal would start with a full and complete six-week ceasefire. During that time, older, sick, and female hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces would also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow the return of displaced people to their homes in northern Gaza. In an interview after the latest developments, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu remained insistent that any Gaza ceasefire deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until all of its objectives are met.

The Prime Minister remains under considerable pressure with protesters, marking the nine-month anniversary of October 7th with a so-called day of disruption this weekend. Protests began at 6.29 a.m. on Sunday, and that's the same time that Hamas militants launched their first rockets toward Israel. in the deadly attack that triggered the war. According to reports, protesters blocked main roads across the country and demonstrated outside the homes of government ministers. They called on Netanyahu to step down as the nation's prime minister and renewed the push for a ceasefire deal to bring back the estimated 120 hostages that remain in Hamas custody.

Although, to be clear, Hamas has failed to provide specifics on the current health and status of the remaining hostages, so it remains unknown how many actually remain alive. Meanwhile, rocket attacks continued over the weekend on Israel's northern frontier. Lebanese Hezbollah said early Sunday that it launched dozens of projectiles towards northern Israel, targeting areas more than 20 miles from the border, and that's deeper than most launches. All right, before we go to break, I want to remind you about our YouTube channel, at President's Daily Brief, in addition to listening to our more

and afternoon episodes of the President's Daily Brief, you can now watch our weekly video program, the PDB Situation Report. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any updates. Coming up next, Iranian voters have surprised the world by electing a little-known reformist candidate in this weekend's runoff election, and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban's meeting with Russian President Putin in Moscow is stirring controversy across the European Union. We'll have those stories when we come back. Welcome back to the PDB. In a surprising turn of events, voters in Iran elected reformist candidate Masud Pasechkin in this weekend's presidential runoff election. Now, according to a report in Iranian state media, Peschkian earned just over 16 million votes,

with his hardline opponent, Saeed Jalili, receiving about 13.5 million. As with the previous round, voter turnout was low, with only 50% percent. percent of eligible voters making it to the polls. Pasechkin will now become Iran's first reformist president in two decades. The low voter turnout is a reflection of the frustration among the population that voting, frankly, will change little to nothing as long as the regime is run by hardline Supreme Leader Khomeini and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. During a victory speech on Saturday, the new president struck a progressive turn.

telling supporters, quote, I will do everything possible to look at those who were not seen by the powerful and whose voices are not heard. We will make poverty, discrimination, war, lies, and corruption disappear from this country. Oh, good luck with that. Pazchekian isn't well known outside of Iran, but he's been active in Iranian politics for quite a while. The 69-year-old originally hails from the city of Mahabat, and that's in the northwestern part of the nation, relatively close to the borders of Iraq and Turkey. It's not an area that many would consider a center of power in Iran. He also has roots in Iran's Azeri and Kurdish communities, which has shaped his focus on minority rights. Prior to entering politics, Pasechkin was a cardiac surgeon

and led Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, which is one of Iran's leading medical universities. His political career began in the late 1990s when he became Iran's health minister under President Mohamed Khatami, also referenced as a reformist. After his tenure as health minister, he was elected to Iran's parliament, serving as the Assembly's first deputy speaker from 2016 to 2020. Possackian's political career has been defined by moderate views. He's criticized harsh enforcement of hijab laws and called for probes into incidents. like the death of Masa Amini. She died in police custody. He's known for supporting the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal to ease economic sanctions on Iran, aligning himself with other reformists

like former foreign minister, Mohamed Jabad Zarif. Now, despite being considered a moderate by many inside Iran, it's worth noting that there's a reason he was allowed to appear on the ballot while other more radical reformists were prohibited. He's seen as something of a bridge between moderates and conservatives. Critics argue that Peshtian's commitment to reforms has been largely superficial, focusing on less controversial issues while avoiding more fundamental changes that true reformists typically support. For example, he's navigated Iran's conservative politics

by occasionally supporting the Revolutionary Guard Corps, even wearing their uniform, in parliament to show solidarity. Well, that would do it. He's also maintained relationships and alliances with influential conservative politicians and power brokers within Iran's political system. So whether Peschchian will actually live up to the reformist label and upset the status quo remains to be seen. And by remains to be seen, I mean, he'll do whatever the supreme leader instructs. Okay, turning our attention to the European Union. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held talks on a particular.

potential Ukrainian peace deal with Russian President Putin on Friday, causing a stir among EU leaders who warned against appeasing Moscow. You may recall last week's PDB when we reported that Hungary commenced its six-month tenure as president of the EU, a rotating role among all members. Now, if you think that sounds odd, given how often Orban is at odds with the rest of the EU, have you heard that Russia is the head of the UN Security Council for the month of July? Seriously, if you needed any example of the fecklessness of the United Nations, well, having Russia as the head of the Security Council, even during the monthly rotating period, then that would be a fine example.

Anyway, I digress. Shortly after assuming the EU presidency, Orban made his first visit to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 22. During his visit, Orban met with President Zelensky, urging the Ukrainian president to consider a ceasefire in order to, quote, speed up peace talks. Keeve reportedly rejected the proposal, saying it would only provide a window of opportunity for Russia to regroup its forces. During his subsequent trip to Moscow, which Orban labeled as a peace mission, oh, it's a peace mission, he made a similar proposal to President Putin, and he achieved similar results, which is to say, none. However, Orban is now taking flack from world leaders. EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell claimed Orban had no mandate from the Union, saying that Orban was, quote, not representing the EU in any form. The president of Lithuania and Estonian Prime Minister accused Orban of

undermining the EU presidency and exploiting his position to sow confusion. In response, Hungary's foreign minister defended Orban's actions, stating that dialogue is essential for resolving the conflict. White House press secretary of Karee, Jean-Pierre, always good to hear from her, criticized Orban's visit as, quote, counterproductive for NATO, arguing that it will not advance the cause of peace. European Commission President Ursula Vondelan echoed these sentiments, stating that appeasement will not stop Putin. Despite the backlash, Orban insisted on the value of his conversation with Putin, who reiterated demands for Ukraine to withdraw all troops from annexed regions, making it clear that peace talks can only occur after Ukraine meets his demands.

Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, stated Russia was unaware of the visit until Orban's camp contacted them the day before his arrival. Orban acknowledged that Moscow and Keith's positions are, quote, far apart. Oh, noting that both sides have a long. way to go in order to end the war and bring peace. Well done you. Look at that. Orban has just earned himself today's PDB statement of the obvious award. Well done, Victor. Now, this week's NATO summit in Washington, D.C., well, that will mark the alliance's 75th anniversary, with discussions focused on resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The White House aims to announce new measures to bolster Ukraine's air defenses and military capabilities, sending a signal of

unity to Putin that NATO's commitment remains steadfast. The problem is, Orbán's controversial visit to Moscow, well, it casts doubt on whether his approach will advance peace or dangerously undermine EU and NATO unity had initiatives. All right, after the break, there was an upset victory for the French left yesterday in the second round of the nation's snap parliamentary elections. We'll examine the details in today's back of the brief. I'll be right back. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at USAA.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. In today's back of the brief, political and economic

uncertainty in France, as the new popular front, a coalition of left-wing party, appears to have pulled out an upset victory in the country's second round of snap elections on Sunday. The projections put President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance in second, followed by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bordea's right-wing national rally party. Far left leader Jean-Lougécheon called for Macron to invite the new popular front to form a government, stating that the alliance is, quote, ready to govern, I'll bet it is, following projections that it will secure between 180 and 21515 seats and France's 577 seat National Assembly. The win by the left is now pointing to what's called a hung parliament, which is not as exciting as it sounds. It means that

no single political party or coalition as an absolute majority of seats in the legislature. It's also unprecedented in modern French politics. McCrone, who dissolved parliament in response to the far-right surge in European elections hoped that calling for snap elections four weeks ago would shift voter support back to mainstream parties, consolidating his centrist base. Well, his plan, though, appears to have backfired. The unpopular president led voters to the far right and the far left, resulting in a remarkably high turnout just shy of 60 percent, and that's the highest amount since 181, resulting in his party projected to secure just 150 to 180 seats. The right-wing National Rally Party, or RN, did manage to significantly increase their influence in the snap elections,

but fell short of expectations. They're forecasted to have between 120 and 150 seats. In last weekend's first round of balloting, voters backed RN candidates in greater numbers, then in voting for the European Parliament. Bardela criticized Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Atal for engaging in, quote, dangerous electoral games with the far left. Bardella suggests Macron's actions deprive the French people of solutions

to their daily problems, calling it, quote, an alliance of dishonor. Prolonged instability in the European Union's second-largest economy could lead President Macron's opponents to suggest that he cut short his final term, which is to end in 20th. With no single party holding a majority, attention now shifts to who will become France's next prime minister. The official results will determine the future political landscape of France and its implications for global diplomacy, the war in Ukraine, and Europe's economic stability.

But to be fair, why should France be any more stable than the rest of the world? And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief from Monday, July 8th. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And as a reminder, to listen to the show ad-free, well, you know what to do, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.