The President's Daily Brief - June 30th, 2022. Illegal Migrant Tragedy in Texas. Climate Change Policies at the Gas Pump.

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

It’s June 30th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ First up, you’ve seen the headlines about the terrible incident in Texas where 53 illegal migrants were killed in the back of a tractor trailer. But there is so much more to this story, and I’ve got details that you need to hear. As always, I’m keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, lots of news out yesterday about NATO. But there’s one thing that’s not being reported: America promised to send some jets to a country that’ll probably use them to kill our allies in Syria. I’ll explain. Finally, a record amount of America’s oil is being sent abroad, despite the need here at home. But I’ll explain why climate change policies are preventing that oil from becoming cheaper gas. All up next on the President's Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's June 30th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA Officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. The brief you're about to hear is in the same spirit of the actual President's Daily Brief, which is a top secret summary of the most critical events in the past 24 hours, all delivered to the President each day by the nation's spymasters. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am your spy and this is your brief. Here's what we're going to be talking about this morning. First up, you've seen the headlines about the a terrible incident in Texas, where 53 illegal migrants were killed in the back of a tractor trailer. But there is so much more to this story, and I've got details that you need to hear.

As always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, lots of news out yesterday about NATO, but there's one thing that's not being widely reported. America promised to send some jets to a country that'll probably use them to kill our allies in Syria. I'll explain. Finally, a record amount of America's oil is being sent abroad, despite the need here at home. But I'll explain why climate change policies are preventing that oil from becoming cheaper gas. All up next on the President's Daily Brief. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong.

Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. First up this morning on the PDB, there was a horrific incident in Texas earlier this week

where at least 53 illegal migrants died inside of a tractor trailer. I spoke with you about that briefly on Tuesday. This morning, I've got the full story and it is absolutely shocking. but it's also incredibly important because there are critical lessons for all of us to learn as voters, as Americans, and if I were in the White House this morning, briefing the president as political leaders.

So here's what we know. Surveillance photographs show the tractor trailer driving through a security checkpoint in Laredo at about 250 on Monday afternoon. The truck at that point was empty. Over the next hour, the truck continued north on I-35, stopping at two Border Patrol checkpoints just south of San Antonio. Neither times was the trailer inspected.

Meanwhile, it was hot out, 103 degrees. We now know that between 250 p.m. and 5.45 p.m., that truck driver stopped at a stash house, which is where the cartels usually hold their drugs, but in this case, illegal migrants. In other words, these illegal travelers were already in the United States. They were what the Border Patrol calls the gotaways. So the driver collects these folks, and then incredibly, he decides to get really high.

He consumed what appears to be a massive amount of meth. And then he drove north, but at some point he either had mechanical problems or he got lost. But regardless, he pulls over in this desolate area south of Lachlan Air Force Base. He got out of the truck, and he wandered around while 60 or so people baked in the back of his truck. At 545, someone in the area heard screams for help, and then the emergency call came in at 550. When the authorities arrived, they began to triage those who were still alive, and that's when the driver decided to pretend that he was one of the victims. Well, cops quickly figured out that that wasn't true, all because of the surveillance video out from Laredo from hours earlier.

They arrested him. What we know about this man is that he is based out of Houston. He is a U.S. national, his family is from Mexico, and he's got a very long history of crimes and prison time. And he's now actually hospitalized for what appears to be a drug-related overdose ailment of some kind. Finally, there are three others connected to this human smuggling ring, at least one Mexican national, some found with weaponry, but regardless, they are all under arrest. Depending on what prosecutors decide, the whole lot of them could face life in prison or the death penalty. Now, if I were with the president this morning briefing him on the latest, I'd end this very sad update with some key takeaways.

First, the truck made it through two Border Patrol checkpoints, and at neither of them was the truck searched. And that's because, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, there weren't enough agents to do so. In other words, this isn't ultimately a failure by the Border Patrol. This is a failure of the federal government by Congress and the White House to do its job and properly resource our border. Second, that truck driver was headed north.

How far north we don't know, but we do know that you can drive an awfully long ways on I-35. You hit Oklahoma, then Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, all the way to Minnesota. The point is pretty clear. Border issues aren't a Texas issue. Every state is a border state. We are all impacted by illegal migration. Finally, we need to really think about this horrible incident as part of an operation because that's exactly what it was. Consider all the equipment and the personnel involved.

These criminals have semi-trucks, drivers, stash houses along the border. And since we know that the driver was going somewhere north, there are clearly a network of stash houses throughout the country. Plus, consider all the planning that went into this, even though it ended horrifically. look at the coordination, the logistics of it all. In other words, this driver and his truck are part of a big business. And in fact, a report came out last year that showed that cartels can make $14 million a day through human smuggling. So we're talking about a multi-billion dollar business. And that business exists because, as I briefed you before, America has a system of incentives that compel people to come here illegally.

we provide free medical care, free schooling, free food, housing, and if you have a child while you're here illegally, they're automatically a U.S. citizen. So the bottom line here, and the Frank Counsel that I would offer the president, is that solving this problem isn't just about more Border Patrol agents or better inspections, although don't get me wrong, we should absolutely do that. And in fact, Texas Governor Abbott is doing that this morning. He's increasing inspections with his state officers, even though that's supposed to be. to be the job of the federal government. Still, solving this problem fundamentally requires more than Border Patrol agents. It requires a president and a Congress who understand that the real

driver to this issue is a broken system of incentives that push desperate people to do desperate things. Now, to be fair, some would disagree with me here. They would say that the root cause of all this of what's pushing people from Guatemala or El Salvador to America is not our incentive. incentives, it's corruption and violence throughout Central America. And to fix that, they say that we need a lot more foreign aid. The problem here is that we've tried that approach many times. For example, when Joe Biden was vice president, he helped draw up plans for what became a $2.6 billion aid package to the region. Or consider George Bush, he sent hundreds of millions of dollars to, plus a really big push for private sector investment.

Well, 20 years later, illegal migration has only gotten worse. Corruption, worse, violence, also worse. So the root cause argument here just doesn't hold any water because we tried to address it and the data say that it failed. So that means, in my view and in my counsel to the president, we need to fix what we can control. And that is our border and our border. incentive structures. Because until you address those two things, especially change those underlying

incentives that draw migrants to come here illegally, well, the horrific stories like the one in Texas this week, they will only continue. Coming up, a closer look at what's on my radar. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switch to Verizon we can get four phones for zero dollars, plus four lines for $25 a line? Call me back. Me again. That's just $100 a month for four lines on unlimited welcome plus four phones no trade-in needed call me it's mom america's best network verizon that's the one we're talking about i'll send you text america's best network based on root metrics best overall mobile network performance us second half 2025 four two lines and a limited welcome and auto pay see verizon dot com for details u sAA 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 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. As always, I'm watching a few other stories this morning. Put these two on your radar. Yesterday, Joe Biden announced a bunch of new policies regarding NATO. You probably saw some of the headlines. We got a new military base in Poland and thousands of permanent troops. There's a new battery system in Italy. And of course, the big news, Finland and Sweden are now on track to join NATO after they struck a deal with the country of Turkey. So you might recall the brief that I gave you on this issue.

Turkey was opposed to both of those countries joining NATO because some of Turkey's former citizens, made up of an ethnic group called the Kurds, while they're living in Finland and Sweden, but Turkey thinks that many of them are terrorists. Plus, Turkey's president really wants two different kinds of American jets, F-16s and F-35s. And he was using his veto power over Finland and Sweden

joining NATO as leverage to get those jets. Well, I've got an update on all of that, and there are definitely reasons why you should care. First, Finland and Sweden both promised Turkey that they would cooperate on sending Kurds back that were deemed terrorists. Well, Turkey immediately produced a list of wanted Kurds, and not all of them were terrorists. Some, as it turns out, just don't like Turkey's leadership, specifically President Erdogan. Second, and here's what you really need to know. Joe Biden agreed to send Turkey a bunch of our F-16 jets. And that could be a major problem once Turkey starts using them.

And that's because those jets will be used to blow up a bunch of Kurds in Syria, Kurds that we trained to fight Islamic extremism in the region. So to explain what's going on, we work with Kurdish groups in northern Iraq and Syria to take on ISIS and al-Qaeda. You as taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on their training and you send, them a whole bunch of weapons. Well, those Kurds now have a big X on their forehead, and our F-16 jet fighters will probably be used to strike them, or at least that's the growing fear that I've heard from my former intel colleagues. And if that happens, our war on terror just got a lot

harder to execute. So we'll see how this one plays out, but it could have major implications for security in the Middle East, absolutely, but it could also even encourage terror attacks here in the homeland. Finally this morning, oil production is way up in America, but odds are you will not see the benefit of that at the gas pump. So let's dive into the reasons for why that is. We learned yesterday that U.S. oil companies added about 13 new rigs in just the past couple of weeks, and that takes us up to 750 rigs in total, almost double from this time last year. Analysts are predicting that oil and natural gas production, most especially in West Texas and New Mexico, will hit records this year. But much of that oil is actually being exported. For example,

the amount of Gulf Coast crude that's bound for other countries is going to hit about 3.3 million barrels per day, and that's a record. So why are oil and gas companies selling their product abroad when we need gas and diesel so desperately here? Well, part of it is about profit, no doubt, but a bigger part of that is because we're running out of refining capacity. But a bigger part of that is because we can't process it all. As you probably know, oil has to be turned into gas and diesel at big refining facilities, but our capacity to do that has reached its limit. As I briefed you on previously, refineries on the East Coast are at 98% of capacity. Gulf Coast, about the same. We could build new refineries, it's true, but that is massively expensive and it takes many,

many years. And energy companies are really loath to do that, to make those big kinds of investments because there's the mandate from Washington, D.C. to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. The upshot is that as Joe Biden pushes for more production, it's not going to have much of an effect of the gas pump unless we can refine it. And I'm sorry to say that more refining is just not on the horizon in this country, all because climate change policies in D.C. won't allow for it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here. talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American.

It's from John chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Good day. All. Pay off your home. Travel for life. Drive a Ferrari.

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