The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 20th, 2025: Trump Deploys Destroyers To Venezuela In Cartel Crackdown & Gabbard Revokes 37 Clearances Over Russiagate Scandal

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—the Trump administration deploys three U.S. warship to patrol the waters off the coast of Venezuela, in a bid to further curb cartel operations and up the pressure on dictator Nicolás Maduro, who the U.S. has branded a narco-terrorist. Later in the show—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revokes the security clearances of 37 current and former officials for politicizing and weaponizing intelligence in relation to the "Russiagate" scandal. We’ll have the details. 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. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Lean: Visit ⁠https://TakeLean.com⁠ & use code pb20 for 20% off American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. 866-885-1881 or visit ⁠https://www.AmericanFinancing.net/PDB⁠ - NMLS 182334, ⁠https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, the Trump administration deploys three U.S. warships to patrol the waters off the coast of Venezuela in a bid to further curb cartel operations and up the pressure on dictator Nicholas Maduro, who the U.S. is branded a narco-terrorist. Later in the show, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, revokes the security clearances of 37 current and former officials for politicizing and weaponizing intelligence

in relation to the Russiagate scandal. We'll have those details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The Trump administration is intensifying their war against Latin America's powerful drug cartels with an unmistakable show of force against Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro. On Tuesday, President Trump deployed three ages-guided missile destroyers, carrying some 4,000 Marines to the waters off the coast of Venezuela, backed by spy planes in a submarine to combat the ongoing threats posed by narco-traffickers. The USS Gravely, the USS A Jason Dunham,

and the USS Samson will arrive within the next 24 hours and will be joined by other military vessels that will be deployed, quote, over the coming months, according to sources that spoke exclusively with NBC News. The dramatic military escalation in the region comes as Trump steps up efforts aimed at thwarting cartel operations that continue to funnel cocaine and the deadly opioid fentanyl into the U.S. The move follows the deployment of two guided missile destroyers to the Gulf of Mexico, now known in some circles as the Gulf of America, in March to support interdiction efforts aimed at curbing illegal migration and drug smuggling. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that President Trump has been very clear and consistent about leveraging,

quote, every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice, end quote. As I mentioned, the location of the latest deployment is a direct shot across the bow at Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, of course, who the U.S. is accused of being one of the world's largest narco-traffickers, partnering with cartels and violent gangs like Trendroagua or TDA. As our listeners will recall, in February of this year, Trump designated Venezuela's TDA, El Salvador's MS-13, and six cartels based in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations. Earlier this month, the Trump administration doubled the reward for the arrest of Maduro, offering $50 million dollars, that's a lot of fat stacks, for information

leading to his capture. Maduro was indicted in the New York federal court in 2020 during Trump's first term in office on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiring to import cocaine. And the Justice Department has already seized more than $700 million in assets tied to Maduro, including two private jets and nine luxury vehicles. During the press briefing on Tuesday, Levitt said, quote, the Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It's a narco-terror cartel. Maduro is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the U.S.

for trafficking drugs into the country, end quote. Now, as you might expect, Maduro is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the U.S. Now, as you might expect, Maduro isn't taking kindly to this show of force. Without specifically mentioning the warships, Maduro told a crowd in Caracas on Tuesday that, quote, The Empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela's peace and tranquility, end quote, yes, when I think of Nicholas Maduro and Venezuela, I think of peace and tranquility. His foreign minister, though, went further, accusing the U.S. of, quote, imperialism and hypocrisy. In response, Maduro has ordered the deployment of more than four and a half.

million militiam members around the country to assist their armed forces. He declared, quote, no empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela, nor should have touched the sacred soil of South America, end quote. As a reminder back in April, a damning intelligence assessment from the FBI warned that key Venezuelan government officials have likely been facilitating the migration of TDA gang members directly into the U.S. The FBI's assessment concluded that the Maduro regime has been essentially using TDA as a proxy force to sow chaos on American streets and undermine public safety throughout the U.S.

In addition to using the gang to destabilize the U.S., the FBI said Maduro is also using gangs and cartels to target Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. All right, up next, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, revokes the security clearances of 37 current and former officials in a sweeping intelligence purge. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a bit of your time to talk about weight loss.

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The Russia collusion probe that dogged President Trump's first term has spawned another reckoning. Director of National Intelligence, or DNI Tulsi Gabbard, has revoked the security clearances of 37 intelligence officials, several of them who were involved in crafting the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, or ICA, that lit the fuse on the Russi-Gate Firestorm. An internal ODNI memo released earlier this week in a New York Post-exclusive ordered the immediate termination of access to classified systems, facilities, and materials, along with the cancellation of contracts or employment with the U.S. government for those named. The directive read, quote, any credentials held by these individuals must be surrendered to the appropriate security officers.

Among those stripped of clearances were former principal deputy DNI Stephanie O'Sullivan and Vin Nguyen, both of whom served under Obama's DNI James Clapperk during the production of the ICA. Nguyen, who went on to become the NSA's first chief artificial intelligence officer and essentially top scientist, was identified earlier this month as one of the report's drafters. Reportedly, the current acting director of the NSA attempted to protect his agency's top scientist and math-mind from the DNI's actions, but was rebuffed. Others on the list included Samantha Vinaigrad, a former Obama NSC staffer who later joined the Biden administration as Assistant Secretary of DHS and signed an open letter, pressing Trump

to reveal his business ties during the 2016 campaign. There's also Andrew Miller and Obama NSC alum and Biden's Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, Lauren Schulman, Senior Advisor to Susan Rice, and Beth Soner, who served as vice chair of the National Intelligence Council under Obama. Several of the officials had either contributed to the ICA or signed a 2019 statement supporting House Democrats' first impeachment inquiry into Trump. Gabbard said in the statement, quote, being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege and it's not a right, adding, quote, those in the intelligence community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the American people have broken the sacred

trust that they promised to uphold, end quote. She made clear that the intelligence community must, quote, maintain a laser-like focus on our mission of ensuring the safety security and freedom of the American people, end quote. The announcement follows our coverage here on the PDB of Gabbert's declassification of records on the ICA, which she has branded a, quote, treasonous conspiracy by senior Obama officials to, quote, subvert President Trump's 2016 victory. The ICA, steered by Clapper, then CIA director John Brennan, and then FBI director James Comey, ultimately leaned on the now debunked binder full of crap known as the steel dossier,

compiled by XMI 6 officer Christopher Steele, which was a set of opposition memos paid for by Democrats that falsely alleged ties between Trump and Russia. Veteran analysts warned against including the, quote, substandard material, but Brennan knowingly pressed ahead anyway. Current CIA Director John Ratcliffe later described the process as, quote, chaotic, atypical, and markedly unconventional, raising questions of, quote, potential political motive. As we've previously discussed in our ongoing Russiagate deep dive, the 44-page House Intelligence Committee report, also declassified by Gabbard,

raised serious doubts about the ICA's integrity, calling out, quote, egregious flaws that helped fuel years of investigation shadowing Trump's first term of office. Meanwhile, the Justice Department's grand jury probe into Breton, Comey, and Clapper grinds on, underscoring how the aftershocks of that Obama-era assessment are still reverberating nearly a decade later. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday the 20th of August.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And of course, if you're thinking to yourself, you know, I really love the PDB, but wonder what it would be like without ads. Well, we can make that happen. Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe.

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