The President's Daily Brief - May 16th, 2024: Russia Advances, Iranian Arms, & Fico Stable

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The Russian military advances in Ukraine's northeastern province of Kharkiv, forcing Ukrainian troops to pull back as they run out of reinforcements. Iran continues to arm its proxies across the Middle East, with Jordan foiling an Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the kingdom for acts of sabotage. President Biden plans to use executive action to shut down the US-Mexico border once migrant crossings reach 4,000 per day. Update on the assassination attempt on the life of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. 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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Let's get brief. Today, we'll kick things off on the battlefields of Ukraine, where the Russian military continues to advance in the country's northeastern province of Kharkiv. As Ukrainian troops pull back in the face of the Russian onslaught, Ukrainian military leaders warned that they've run out of troops to throw into the field. Later in the show, Iran continues to arm and equip its proxies, that's shocking, across the Middle East, with the nation of Jordan disrupting an Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage. I've said it before on the PDB, which of course means, well, I'm about to say it again.

The Iranian regime is the cause of most of the instability, chaos, and current violence in the Middle East. It is that simple. Also, we'll turn to the crisis at the U.S. southern border, and reports that President, and Biden plans to use executive action to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border once the number of migrant crossings reaches 4,000 per day. Four thousand per day. I have no idea how they came up with that number, but I believe it involved both plucking and thin air. And in today's back of the brief, we'll have an update on the assassination attempt on the life of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. But first, today's PDB spotlight.

The outlook is growing increasingly concerning for the Ukrainian military. Russian forces are continuing to gain momentum in northeastern Ukraine less than a week after they launched their offensive in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's general staff reported that troops fell back from two areas in Kharkiv on Wednesday to save the lives of servicemen and to avoid further unnecessary losses. In the city of Vofshanksk, three miles from the border, local officials report that Ukrainian troops are putting up a fierce defense locked in street-to-street fighting against the advancing Russians. Their Russian Ministry of Defense is reporting that its forces have already

seized miles of ground in the past several days and captured at least 10 villages along the border. In total, it's estimated that the Russians have seized around 50 square miles of new territory over the past several days. The Ukrainian presidential office said additional reinforcements were being deployed in the region, including Army Reserve units. However, Ukraine's military has recently admitted it's struggling to contain Russia's advance and is running short of manpower to do it. Speaking to the New York Times, General Kirillo Budenov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, said, I've used everything we have. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone else in the reserves. Budanov added that he expects Russia will launch another offensive in the

coming weeks north of Kharkiv in the Sumi region in an effort to stretch the Ukrainian military even further. In total, it's estimated that the Russian forces have now swelled to more than half a million troops on the front line, and that's a significant numerical advantage over the much smaller Ukrainian army. As a result of the onslaid, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced he would cancel all upcoming diplomatic trips. He was scheduled to be in Spain and Portugal this week. As Russians hammer the Ukrainian military in the east, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken remained in Kiev on Wednesday, where he announced $2 billion in new financing for the country. The secretary said the money would be used for three purposes, to provide weapons in the short term, to invest in

Ukraine's defense industrial base, and to allow Ukraine to buy military supplies from other countries. Now, honestly, I wouldn't worry about investing large amounts in building up Ukraine's defense. industrial base until you're sure that the Ukrainians can hold on to their country. Otherwise, you're just investing dollars into the future Russian defense industrial complex. It's better to spend what money is available on actual short-term requirements in order to turn the tide of this conflict. Let's not get nation-building fever until we know that the nation will stick around. Blinken told reporters that America is, quote, rushing ammunition, armored vehicles, missiles, air defenses, rushing them to get to the front lines to protect soldiers and to protect civilians, end quote.

Now, Blinken apparently found some time to rock out. Is that what the kids say nowadays? I don't think so. While he was there in town in Kiev, the secretary was photographed performing Neil Young's rocking in the free world at a bar in Kiev on Tuesday evening. Well, to be fair, that performance might just cause the Russian soldiers to retreat out of ear, shot. Coming up next, we'll examine Iran's ongoing support for its proxies in the Middle East and look at a foiled Iranian plot in Jordan. Plus, the latest on the U.S.-Mexico border crisis and potential executive action from President Biden. But wait, I thought the president said there was nothing he could do. It was up to Congress. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back. As the war in Gaza continues to drag on, Iran's role in instigating the violence through their regional proxies, is coming into sharper focus. As we've regularly covered on the PDB, Iran uses an extensive network of terrorist proxies that they've built up to export arms to their allies in an effort to destabilize the region. In the latest incident, officials in Jordan announced Wednesday that they had foiled a suspected Iranian-back plot to carry out acts of sabotage within their country using smuggled weapons, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post. Iranian-backed militias in Syria sent the weapons to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has significant links

to Hamas militants in Gaza. I know it's confusing. Members of the cell were reportedly arrested with the cash of weapons during a covert operation in late March. Officials in Jordan declined to provide specifics regarding the Muslim Brotherhood sabotage plans, but said it was designed to sow further regional chaos amid the war in Gaza. As a reminder, Jordan shares a border, with Israel, Syria, and Iraq, which leaves them in a particularly precarious position. Not to mention, Jordan has a long-standing peace treaty with Israel, which means, at least to the Iranian regime, Jordan has done the unthinkable. They've recognized Israel's existence and right to exist. Iranian-backed militants have long been leveraging Jordan's proximity to Israel to smuggle

weapons to sympathizers in the West Bank. Israel has announced several seizures this year of Iranian-made weapons being smuggled into West Bank through Jordan. In an incident in March, Israeli forces seized a massive quantity of advanced Iranian weaponry, including anti-tank mines, grenade launchers, fragmentation bombs, C-4 explosives, and a wide assortment of firearms. Anonymous officials in Jordan said that while some arms have been diverted to the Muslim Brotherhood for terrorist activities inside Jordan, most of the weapons continue to flow to the West Bank. A Jordanian source told the Jerusalem Post, quote, they hide these weapons in pits called dead spots.

They take their location via GPS and photograph their location and then instruct men to retrieve them from there. And quote, well, it's an old school weapons cache. In the old days, you'd have compass coordinates and descriptions of the cash site that would lead the individuals to the location. GPS makes life a lot easier for everyone, including terrorists and saboteurs. and, frankly, when was the last time you heard anyone used the word saboteur? You're welcome.

Officials, said Iran, appears to be attempting to expand their regional network of allied forces into Jordan as they continue to wreck havoc through groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. And speaking of the Yemen-based Houthis, U.S. officials at the U.N. reiterated calls on Wednesday for Iran to halt its unprecedented weapons transfers to the militants. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood, also implored the UN Security Council to, quote, call out Iran for its destabilizing role and insist that it cannot hide behind the Houthis, end quote.

Well, that should do it. No doubt the Mullahs will see the error of their ways. The last thing they want is a stern warning or to be called out. The Iranian-backed militants have continued their relentless attacks on international shipping vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting a channel that accounts for roughly 12% of global shipping. In the wake of Israeli operations over the past week in Rafah, the Houthis have vowed to step up attacks in the shipping lane and expand their activities beyond the Red Sea.

Unsurprisingly, Iran continues to feign ignorance, what, us, regarding smuggling operations, dismissing the allegations as Western propaganda. Okay, turning our attention to the crisis on the U.S. southern border. The Biden administration is reportedly drawing up plans to close all border crossings if immigration continues to surge. Okay, horse, barn door, yeah, Elvis has left the building. President Biden, by his own recent admission, has long had the power to unilaterally crack down on border crossings using executive authority, but has yet to take comprehensive enforcement measures.

Now, in what is very likely an election year consideration, and by that I mean, it's definitely an election year consideration. Biden will reportedly close the U.S.-Mexico border entirely if daily crossings exceed 4,000 people per day, according to an exclusive report from the New York Post. A White House source confirmed the proposed executive action was back on the table, though a timeline for when they might roll out the policy remained unclear. You may remember that a similar plan was under consideration earlier this year when Biden was attempting to trade stricter border measures for Republican support regarding aid to Ukraine. Those talks eventually broke down in February, and despite rumors that Biden was planning a reveal

at the state of the Union regarding executive action, the idea has still yet to materialize. Now, President Biden is feeling pressure, however, from his Democrat allies, who are increasingly anxious about polling in swing states showing Republicans outperforming Democrats on the border issue, you think. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will reportedly bring the Senate's border security bill from February back to the floor. It's back for a vote next week as part of Washington, D.C.'s pre-election kabuki theater season. Senate Democrats have also been quietly appealing to Biden to move forward with executive action on the border, particularly if Congress can't make any progress. If you'll recall, back in January, Biden claimed he had, quote, done all I can do,

to secure the border as he urged Congress to take up legislation. Reacting to the Post report on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said an executive order would prove that Biden, quote, doesn't need Congress to pass legislation to take action on the border. As we recently noted on the PDB, we've seen a slight dip in illegal crossings in the past few months, though we should note that the numbers remain historically high.

A report from NBC News on Wednesday noted that much of the decline can be linked to increased enforcement action by Mexico's government. They've aggressively stepped up efforts to curb crossings, stopping nearly three times as many migrants in 2024 than in the previous year. Currently, Mexico is undertaking more migrants per month than the U.S., stopping some 280,000 migrants in March, compared with 189,000 that were apprehended on the U.S. side. The situation remains delicate, however, and officials fear crossings could once again spike if Mexico can't or won't sustain its efforts. As a reminder, this year is still on track to break records in terms of illegal border crossings. CBP records show the first six months of fiscal year 24 had more than 1.3 million total encounters, and that doesn't include the known godaways. That's

exceeding the first six months of fiscal year 2023, which also set records. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, we've got the latest details on the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. I'll be right back. Not loving your AT&T or T Mobile Bill? Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot.

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New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usAA. dot com slash auto discounts restrictions apply in today's back of the brief we're learning more about the attempted assassination of slovak prime minister robert fico feco was severely injured in a shooting on wednesday as he greeted supporters in the city of and lova he was shot multiple times including in the abdomen fico was transported first by car and then airlifted to a regional hospital where he

underwent three and a half hours of surgery reports yesterday said that fico was fighting for his life, but according to the nation's deputy prime minister, his condition has stabilized and he is expected to survive his wounds. We're also getting our first glimpse of the man who's alleged to be behind the assassination attempt. Slovakian media has identified the shooter as 71-year-old Uri Sintula, a self-described poet from the small western town of Lovic who was working as a security guard, a self-described poet. The assailant fired a total of five shots at Fico at near point-blank range. That's not very poetic. He was quickly taken to the ground and then taken into custody. According to reports in Slovak media, the police are also questioning the suspect's wife.

As for a motive, the nation's interior minister, Matush Shuti Eshtok, claimed that early indications suggest the shooting was indeed politically motivated, although no details were given as to what that meant. The minister wanted to appeal to the public, journalists and politicians, to stop spreading hatred online and in the media. He also warned, quite ominously, that the assassination attempt is evidenced that the nation is on the verge of civil war. President Biden condemned the shooting on Wednesday, saying, Jill and I are praying for a swift recovery, and our thoughts are with his family and the people of Slovakia, end quote. Russian President Putin also weighed in, praising his ally, Fico, as a courageous and strong-minded man and said there could be no,

quote justification for this monstrous attack. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Wednesday, 16 May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show at free, become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. And also, don't forget, as if you could forget, this Saturday, 18 May, sees the launch of our extended PDB weekend show, the PDB Situation Report, news, analysis, guests who are frankly a lot smarter than I am, maybe even some crazy antics and hijinks. I don't know, I don't want to get out of my skis.

The audio version will be available on all podcast platforms, while the video version, with moving pictures, in color, by the way, and surround sound stereo will be available on the President's Daily Brief YouTube channel. So subscribe and be entertained and informed. Both, really. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

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