The President's Daily Brief - November 10th, 2023: Media and Militants, America Strikes Back, & Sex and Power in DC

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: Startling questions surrounding journalists from Reuters, The Associated Press, and CNN, and whether they had prior knowledge of the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7th. American forces launch a second round of airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in retaliation to continued hostilities. Unpacking intelligence reports on Russia’s Wagner Group, and its potential plans to enhance Hezbollah’s capabilities with advanced air defense systems. An expose on the underbelly of political Washington DC, as a high-priced brothel is raided, revealing a tangled web of sex, power, and exploitation. 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

It's the end of another week, Friday, November 10th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. By the way, tomorrow is Veterans Day. Please remember to take a moment and say thanks to those who have served and those who are serving. The United States, after all, is built on their service and sacrifice. All right, let's get briefed. In today's BDB, startling questions.

about whether journalists working with the world's top news outlets had prior knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attacks. A little later in the program, U.S. forces have launched a second round of air strikes, targeting Iran-backed militias. Now, specifically, two F-15s struck a weapons depot located in eastern Syria in an attempt to deter future attacks from the Iranian regime and its proxies, and a concerning report on Russia's ties with Hezbollah. Finally, in the back of the brief, a tale of sex, politics, and exploitation in America's halls of power, which is just what we need to wrap up a Friday edition. But first up, the BDB spotlight.

Intense combat continues in Gaza. Israeli tanks and infantry are engaging in fierce street-by-street fighting within Gaza's city. Hamas terrorists, exploiting the Gaza metro tunnel network beneath the city that they've spent years building, have mounted stiff resistance, staging ambushes, and then disappearing back underground. The toll of this conflict continues to mount. Israel's government reports the loss of 33 soldiers, with another 260 injured since ground operations began in the Gaza Strip on October 27th. Details on Hamas casualties remain elusive. As the urban warfare rages, thousands of civilians are now streaming out of the city.

It appears that as Hamas is increasingly degraded, residents in the northern sector of Gaza are feeling more emboldened to head south. That was a migration that Hamas had earlier worked to prevent. In a humanitarian gesture, Israel will implement daily four-hour pauses in the action in northern Gaza to permit civilians to escape the conflict zones and to allow for aid trucks and resources to enter the enclave. This development, announced by the White House, marks a step towards reducing civilian hardships. John Kirby, spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, has assured that Israel will provide at least a three-hour notice ahead of each pause in the hostilities.

Now, these short pauses are a compromise, an effort by Israel to demonstrate concern for the civilian population, while at the same time not giving Hamas sufficient time to regroup and resupply. In part, it's a definite concession to the U.S. and the international pressure that pivoted remarkably quickly from the horror of the Hamas attacks on 7 October to the narrative that was anticipated and driven by Hamas that Israel is accountable for Palestinian. deaths. The reality is, as we've discussed before here on the PDB, the parties to blame are Hamas and their puppet masters, the Iranian regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Now, I want to turn to a concerning revelation from a media watchdog group called Honest Reporting.

This week, the group published findings that freelance journalists employed by leading news organizations like the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and CNN, accompanied Hamas terrorists in Gaza on October 7th to capture some of the worst atrocities. One example is photojournalist Hassan Eslea, who works with CNN and the Associated Press. Now, he was present during Hamas' initial incursion into Israel, documenting the entry of a group of terrorists into the Kabbutzqfar Azah, the scene of a brutal massacre. The swiftness with which some photographers arrived on the scene has triggered a debate over whether or not they had prior knowledge of the massacre. Of course, the Israeli government is demanding answers and accountability. The prime minister's office

has accused the journalists of complicity and crimes against humanity, asserting that their conduct portrays journalistic ethics. Now, the news agencies who worked with the journalists, have categorically denied any foreknowledge of the attacks. However, CNN has severed ties with the aforementioned Hassan Esleya following the circulation of an image, allegedly showing Hamas leader Yaya Sinwa giving the photographer a kiss on the cheek. Now that, in the investigative business, would be considered a clue as to where Eslea's allegiance lies.

The networks that hired or used visuals provided by these freelance photographers are taking no responsibility, citing the journalistic need to cover stories of interest no matter how horrific and noting that the freelancers aren't staffers. They just provide the images that the networks use to drive their ratings and online clicks. So this is an investigation that definitely requires attention. Did the photographers working for major news outlets have advanced notice that something was going to happen on 7 October and that it would be advantageous for them to be at the border? Look, Hamas has a very savvy PR operation and a keen sense of how to manipulate the narrative in international media. It is entirely likely that they tipped off particular

approved or vetted freelancers, not necessarily with the details or extent of what was about to happen, but with the notion that something was up. Hamas knows that a tip like that won't be ignored, and they will then get the coverage that they crave. All right, before we go to break, I have an exciting announcement that marks a new chapter for the PDB. The growth that we've seen in this podcast in a short period of time is beyond anything that we could have hoped for. And thanks to your incredible support, the PDB is now the number one news podcast on Spotify. And we've noticed a trend. While a lot of you are tuning in with your morning coffee, we've also received a lot of emails and messages from folks who want a bit of PDB for the ride home at the end of the day.

Well, you ask and we deliver. Starting Monday, we're kicking off an additional daily show, the PDB afternoon bulletin. It's all the critical news coverage combined with some kind of. that you find in our morning edition. But now we'll also drop a brief afternoon update into your feed in order to catch you up on events of the day, whether you're heading home or winding down. So start your morning with coffee in the PDB, and then wrap up with the afternoon edition, and if I may suggest, a beverage of your choice. Again, our deepest thanks for making the PDB a success. We're looking forward to adding the PDB afternoon bulletin to your daily routine.

After the break, U.S. forces have launched a second round of air strikes targeting Iran-backed militias. And American intelligence as flagged potential plans by Russia's Wagner Group to bolster Hezbollah's arsenal with advanced air defenses. I'll be right back. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount? New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up?

Tap the banner or visit U.S. USAA.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. Welcome back. We continue to track the attacks on U.S. troops by Iranian-backed militias, and this week the Biden administration once again responded to the persistent threat. On Wednesday evening, the U.S. military launched air strikes on a weapon storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran-supported militant groups and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. This was the second official response. by the U.S. to a growing number of provocations following their initial counter-strike targeting

facilities in Syria on October 26th. The situation, well, meaning the Iranian regime, is testing the resolve of the Biden administration, who are attempting a delicate balancing act with the Iranian regime to avoid sparking a wider regional conflict. According to the latest tally, though, the various Iran proxies have launched at least 41 attacks on U.S. U.S. and coalition bases in Iraq and Syria since early October. The Pentagon says these attacks have injured 46 service members in the region, leaving some with traumatic brain injuries. Now, a key point here is that nearly half of those attacks by Iran's proxies have occurred since the administration's initial response on October 26th, so it's clear that the current

U.S. strategy has done little to deter the Iranian proxy groups operating in the region. Let me rephrase that. So it's clear that the current U.S. strategy has done nothing to deter Iran. Early on Wednesday, for example, the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen successfully shot down a U.S. MQ9 Reaper drone operating over international waters. Now, this drone, with a price tag in the generally $35 million range, was outfitted for surveillance. A senior defense official offered strong words of rebuke to the Iranian regime on Wednesday. The unnamed Pentagon official told reporters that the U.S. holds Iran directly responsible for these attacks, not just the militia groups carrying them out. They added that the U.S. has sent a clear message to Iranian leaders to direct their proxies

to immediately cease their assault on U.S. forces in the region. Well, that should do it. If I'm not mistaken, there is nothing the Iranian regime fears more than a strong rebuke. Perhaps the next step could be a harshly worded memo. So here's the problem. You cannot deter a bully if they believe you don't have the stones to back it up. And at the present time, the Iranian regime has seen nothing from the Biden administration over the past three years other than a desire to normalize relations and avoid confrontation.

they don't believe the White House is serious, and you can't have deterrence unless you demonstrate resolve and action. Okay, turning our attention to another major backer of Islamic militant groups in the region. According to early reporting, Russia's paramilitary organization, the Wagner Group, plans to provide air defense systems to Hezbollah and Lebanon. Now, you may have thought that the Wagner Group was disbanded after Yevgeny, Ghosian's completely unmysterious death in a plane explosion earlier this year. What a mystery that was. Luckily, taking a page out of O.J. Simpson's book, Putin immediately declared that he would be investigating the explosion to find out who did it.

Anyway, the reality is, the Wagner Group is a Russian government and military proxy. It's a tool that Putin continues to find useful. And given that Putin in the past, has admitted that Wagner has been fully funded by by the Russian defense and state budget, it will continue to operate for as long as Putin is willing to keep it alive. According to our report in the Wall Street Journal, the mercenary group plans on equipping Hezbollah with the Russian-made SA-22 surface-to-air missile system, which could take down Israeli drones and aircraft.

So putting this in simpler terms, the Russian government is providing Hezbollah, likely at Iran's request with SA-22 air defense systems. Now, the Putin regime has already shown warmth towards the Hamas terrorists, hosting representatives of the group in Moscow in late October. So providing advanced weapons to Hezbollah, also in Iranian proxy, is consistent with Putin regime's regional activities and certainly in line with Putin's blossoming relationship with Iran. And this comes as fears that Hezbollah may open up a northern front against Israel. It's important to note that the tactic Putin is employing when it comes to the Israel-Palestine

conflict is all about deflection. By farming this task out to the Wagner Group, Putin can pretend that Russia is not directly implicated. And frankly, any curious or lazy international media won't likely take the time to highlight the fact that Wagner is the Russian government. While the supply of defense systems to Hezbollah by the Russian Wagner Group remains unconfirmed a roarer's report on Wednesday found that the militant group does have possession of Russian-made anti-ship missiles. Now, these could be used to target American warships deployed to the region following the October 7th attacks on Israel by Hamas.

Just last week, Hezbollah leader Sayat Hassan Nasrla issued a veiled threat saying his groups have, quote, something in store for the U.S. vessels, end quote. All right. coming up in the back of the brief, a change of pace. A network of high-end brothels with some powerful clientele is broken up in our nation's capital. I'll be right back. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switch to Verizon we can get four phones for $0, plus four lines for $25 a line?

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second half, 2025. Four two lines and a limit and welcome and auto pay. See Verizon.com for details. In today's back of the brief. Okay, if any kids are listening, earmuffs. To close out this week on the PDB, we've got a case of sex for sale in our nation's capital. Well, that's probably not something that's happened before.

much. This week, the Justice Department laid out charges against three men suspected of operating a high-end brothel network in the suburbs of Washington and Boston. The investigation targeted potentially hundreds of big-name clients who allegedly indulged in these paid sexual services. So who might these clients be? Although no names have been disclosed, the acting U.S. attorney in Boston is giving us some clues, saying the client list includes people in position. of power, including military officers, government contractors, and politicians. Diving into the details, this network advertised through two websites promising encounters with Asian women. One site posed as a service for professional photographers seeking nude models. Ah, the old, I'm just looking for nude models

trick. It's a classic. The three suspects who were arrested are accused of manipulating women into the sex trade charging customers prices ranging from $350 to $600 per hour. Now, I am a bit surprised at the numbers. I mean, in D.C. and Boston, you couldn't get a plumber for those hourly billing rates. These illicit rendezvouses were hosted in the lap of luxury, apparently, within high-end apartments scattered across ritzie neighborhoods like Fairfax and Tyson's Corner in Virginia, as well as Cambridge and Watertown in Massachusetts. We'll see where the investigation goes and we'll have a follow-up at some point. It's a tale as old as time, Washington, D.C., politicians, and pay-to-play.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 10 November. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back on Monday. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.