The President's Daily Brief - March 4th, 2024: Aid Airdrops, Red Sea Wreckage, & Biden’s Border Backlog

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We explore the United States' new approach to delivering aid in the Gaza Strip after a devastating incident involving Israeli troops and Palestinian civilians. An inside look at the recent leak of confidential military talks about the Ukraine war, officially confirmed by the German Defense Ministry, and what it means for international information security. The sinking of a British shipping vessel in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, and the environmental threat that follows. A deep dive into the Axios report that sheds light on the unprecedented backlog in America's immigration system, expected to reach 8 million by the end of the year. 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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It's Monday for March. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Up first, the United States has begun air-dropping humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip on the heels of a tragic incident where reportedly a hundred Palestinians surged to retrieve goods from an aid convoy and were killed during a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops. I'll also have an update on a potential ceasefire. Later in the show, the German Defense Ministry has verified the authenticity of a leaked recording of confidential talks between top German military officers about the Ukraine war. The leak, broadcast by Russian state media, raises concerns over information security. Plus, a British shipping vessel carrying a

cargo of Saudi fertilizer has sunk in the Red Sea after an attack from Iran-backed Fouthi rebels, raising fears of an environmental disaster. And in today's back of the brief, a report by Axios reveals just how strained America's immigration system has become, with the backlog of migrants in the U.S. set to reach 8 million later this year. But first up, the PDB spotlight. U.S. military C-130 cargo planes dropped food pallets over guys, on Saturday, marking the beginning of an emergency humanitarian assistance operation authorized by the White House. Air Force Central dispatched three planes that dropped 66 bundles containing approximately 38,000 meals into Gaza. The drops took place in southwest Gaza on the beach along the territory's Mediterranean coast.

The airdrop was coordinated with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, which reported two food drops on Saturday in northern Gaza, and has conducted several rounds in the past few months. This is likely to be the first of many aer drops that will take place in the coming days. This new initiative follows the reported deaths of more than 100 Palestinians who were killed during a scramble to retrieve goods from an aid convoy and in a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops. As we reported last week, hundreds of people had rushed about 30 trucks delivering aid to the north. Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry said nearby,

by Israeli troops shot into the crowds, while Israel said they fired warning shots toward the crowd and claims most of the dead were trampled to death. Meanwhile, there are more starts and stops as far as a ceasefire goes. On Saturday, Israel had essentially endorsed a framework of a proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. A U.S. official told CBS News that the deal includes a six-week ceasefire that would see Hamas release hostages considered vulnerable, which would include, the sick, the wounded, the elderly, and women. In exchange, Israel would release about 400 Palestinian prisoners, including those who've been convicted of murdering Israelis. It would also lead to an influx of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave. Now, talks were set to restart

on Sunday, with the proceedings billed as the possible final hurdle for an agreement to be reached. The Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo as scheduled, but at the last minute, the Israeli delegation decided to boycott the meeting. The reason for not sending a delegation to the meeting on Sunday? Well, one of the demands that Israel has made as part of this negotiation process was that Hamas provide a list of the names of the hostages who are still alive. Hamas thus far has failed to provide any such list, and the terrorist organization has been consistent in not giving any insight or information related to the status of the hostages. An Israeli official told Axios, quote, there's no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which

of the hostages are alive, and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the ratio that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage, end quote. Now, an odd element of the complex and difficult negotiating process has been the tendency of the U.S. administration to get out over their skis when talking about the progress or potential for an imminent ceasefire deal. Repeatedly, the Biden administration has implied or directly said that a deal was imminent within reach, expected within days, and every time, Hamas and Israeli negotiators have stepped in to say that there are still significant hurdles and that the two sides remain at odds. All right. Coming up after the break, a disturbing security breach at the highest levels of the German

military. The defense ministry confirms a leaked recording of internal secret discussions about the Ukraine conflict that's now in the hands of Russian state media. Plus, we'll examine the aftermath of an attack on a British shipping vessel by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. That ship is now a watery wreck in the Red Sea with a potential to create an environmental disaster. 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. Welcome back. There was a major breach in operational security for Germany last week, as leaked audio obtained by Russian entities reveals Germany considered giving Ukraine one of the nation's most powerful long-range missiles to destroy a key Crimean bridge controlled by the Russians. On Friday, the head of Russian state broadcaster RT published audio recordings

of a secret meeting between a number of high-ranking German officers, including the Chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Engel Gerhardt's. The audio includes a discussion about whether the Taurus-Cruz missile system would be capable of destroying a bridge, seemingly a reference to the bridge linking Russia-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland over the Kerch Strait. The recording was apparently made from a video conference between four Air Force officers discussing Russia's war in Ukraine. Now, the author, audio leak details how German officers might supply Ukrainians with targeting information without appearing to be directly involved in the conflict with Russia, and how long it would

take to train Ukrainian soldiers to operate the tourist missiles. According to a transcript of the audio published by the Wall Street Journal, General Gerhardt says, quote, there is no real reason to say we can't do this. It only depends on the political red lines. The general also says that Germany should not send more than 100 missiles. It's worth noting that German Chancellor Olaf Schultz has so far refused to send these missiles, worried that it would lead to an escalation of the conflict. Now, the audio clip also contains a reference to the British having, quote, a few people on the ground in connection with the deployment of their own Storm Shadow cruise missiles delivered to Ukraine, as do France and the United States. Senior German officials

have confirmed the authenticity of the recording, and said the meeting took place, get this, on the commercial platform WebEx, an online conferencing tool, which isn't encrypted, obviously, to the armed forces standard for confidential communication. So, essentially, senior German military leaders decided it was okay to hold a sensitive meeting over a commercial platform. It's like if Karen and HR sets up a Zoom meeting to discuss plans for the office holiday party. Now, I don't have any particular insight into the German military's communication system and their encryption capabilities, but I'm fairly certain that somebody in their chain of command should have suggested an alternative to WebEx. It's like if Churchill and

Roosevelt had been coordinating D-Day over one of those old party landlines. Responding to the leak, Chancellor Schultz said, quote, what is being reported is a very serious matter, no kidding, and that is why it's now being investigated very carefully, very intensively, and very quickly, end quote. Of course, the Kremlin, as you might imagine, immediately pounced on the audio, which is, frankly, a large propaganda win for Putin, whose long sought to frame the invasion of Ukraine as a battle against NATO. A spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said, quote, we demand explanations from Germany, any attempts to evade answering questions will be viewed as an omission of guilt, and quote.

All right. Moving to the Middle East, officials from the UK and Yemen reported on Saturday that the British-owned cargo ship Rubimor has now sunk in the Red Sea following a Houthi missile attack just a few weeks ago. You may recall that the Rubymore sustained significant damage from a strike on February 18th,

which tore open its hull and forced the crew to evacuate. The ship was ultimately able to anchor, but plans to tow it to a strike. safe port never materialized. It continued to take on water for two weeks and it finally succumbed to the damage on Friday, sinking to the bottom of the Red Sea. Now, in addition to the security concerns that this all raises, obviously, there's also growing worry about the potential ecological repercussions that this could have, and you would have thought that the Houthis would be more concerned about environmental justice. Now, even before the Rubimor went down, the attack had already

caused an 18-mile oil slick. And in addition to the oil, while there's the issue of the Ruby Mars cargo. The ship was carrying approximately 41,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that was produced in Saudi and was making its way to Bulgaria. According to U.S. Central Command, the cargo now presents, quote, an environmental risk in the Red Sea. This is the first ship to actually be sunk in an attack by the Iran-sponsored Houthis. Despite over a month of U.S.-led airstrikes,

Hootie attacks continue in the Red Sea, although, according to the Department of Defense, there has been a slowdown in attacks in recent days. The reason for that remains unclear, but a logical assumption is that their Iranian overlords have given them instructions to back off for the time being. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, we dive into an Axios report, highlighting the pressures on America's immigration system. We'll discuss the impending backlog, projected to hit the $8 million mark by fiscal year's end and what this means for the U.S. policies and border management. I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, I wanted to take a look at a report published this weekend that demonstrates just how overwhelmed our immigration system

has become over the past several years. According to documents obtained by Axios that show internal government projections, more than 8 million asylum seekers and other migrants will be living inside the U.S. in legal limbo by the end of September of this year. Now, that's up from roughly 3 million in 2019, and that is basically a 167% increase in just five years. According to the report, the backlog includes people who have been ordered to be deported, or who don't have final decisions from U.S. officials on their asylum or other immigration cases, but who aren't being held in the limited detention space that's available. ICE only has around 40,000 detention beds.

40,000. Well, that's not bad. That's only about a 7.5 million bed shortfall. The documents go on to say that an estimated 2 million of the migrants in the backlog are considered what they call high priority cases. Now, those are migrants who have orders to be deported to their home countries and includes many with criminal records or pending criminal charges, 2 million, either already deported, at least on paper or with criminal records or criminal charges currently in the country and with no clear

timeline or plan for removal. As the Statue of Liberty famously says, bring us your deportable, your criminals are criminally charged. It's all very welcoming. Meanwhile, both President Biden and former President Trump made trips to the U.S. Mexico border last week, of course, famously on the same day. Speaking at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station in Olmito, Texas, President Biden thanked border agents and said he would get them more resources, quote, come hell or high water. Biden said, quote, they need more agents, more officers, more judges, more equipment, in order to secure our border, we can't wait any longer, end quote. And by that, he means his poll numbers on the immigration issue are in the toilet and the election is only eight months away.

There's no time to waste. He also jided congressional Republicans for failing to pass the bipartisan and border security bill, calling on them to, quote, show a little spine. Now, speaking of spine, President Biden did briefly float the idea of taking some executive actions to improve border security in the short term. However, that flex was apparently shot down when his progressive base pushed back hard, warning him not to take any Trump-like actions and threatening to pull their support, so much for possible executive actions. By the way, in yet another, attempt to change the narrative and tone of the national conversation, progressives. Once again, wordsmithing. They're retiring the terms illegal migrants or immigrants,

and instead want to use the fuzzy, friendly term of newcomers. That's right, newcomers. Regardless of verbiage, though, we'll have some 8 million newcomers in country within half a year, and a couple million of them will, for various reasons, qualify for deportation. That's quite the newcomers party. Now, Trump, on the other hand, as you might imagine, laid blame for the current border crisis squarely at the feet of the president, calling the migrant crisis a, quote, Joe Biden invasion and also, quote, a vicious violation of our country. Trump and his team clearly believe that they can ride this illegal migrant issue or newcomers issue all the way to the White House, similar to 2016, when the border again was

top of mind for voters. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief from Monday 4 March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.