The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 22nd, 2025: Russia Strikes An American Target In Ukraine & FBI Raids John Bolton

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: Russia unleashes one of its largest aerial assaults of the war, with missiles and drones pounding Ukraine. Among the targets: an American-owned electronics factory in the country’s far west. Later, the FBI raids the Maryland home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton in a classified documents investigation that traces back to his 2020 memoir. 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 Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold   TriTails Premium Beef: Don’t Settle for shrink-wrapped "steak" Visit https://trybeef.com/PDB to get the real stuff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Russia launches one of its largest missile barrages of the war, and among the buildings and infrastructure hit, well, an American-owned factory in Western Ukraine. We'll have those details. Later in the show, the FBI has raided the home of former national security advisor John Bolton in a classified documents probe. Is there anybody in Washington not story?

storing classified documents at their home. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Russia unleashed one of the largest aerial assaults of the war yesterday, of course, which is what you do when you're super interested in a peace deal, and one of its missiles hit an American company. Two Russian cruise missiles slammed into an American-owned electronics factory in Mukachevo, a town in far western Ukraine, near the Hungarian border. Ukrainian officials, say more than a dozen people were injured and a third of the massive plant went up in flames. The strike was part of a wider overnight barrage. According to Ukraine's military, Russia launched over 570 drones and 40 missiles in a single night, one of the most extensive air campaigns of the conflict. While air defenses

intercepted most of them, some did get through, killing at least one civilian in Lviv and wounding 15 at the American-owned Flex Electronics Plant. Now, Flex is no small operation. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ with headquarters in Austin, Texas, and also Singapore. It has more than 100 factories and offices worldwide, including the one in Mukachevo, which has been operating since 2012. Regional officials said more than 600 workers were inside when the missiles struck just before 5 a.m. Most of them survived because they heated the air raid sirens and moved into shelters before the explosions. Without those precautions, well, the casualties could have been far worse. Videos posted online show thick columns of black smoke billowing from the destroyed section

of the facility. Ukrainian officials stressed that the plant produces only civilian goods, household appliances and electronic components, including coffee makers. This enterprise exclusively produces household appliances. It never produced any military. military equipment, said the head of the regional administration. President Zelensky was quick to respond, calling the attack proof that Russia remains undeterred by international pressure. In a statement on telegram, he said, quote, this was an ordinary civilian enterprise, an American investment. They produced such familiar household items as coffee machines. Well, we all know Vladimir Putin hates coffee machines. Russia delivered this strike as if nothing had changed at all, as if there

were no efforts by the world to stop this war, end quote. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Andy Huddner, also weighed in. He noted that Flexus Mukachevo facility was one of the largest U.S. private investments in Ukraine and accused Russia of deliberately targeting American businesses. He said Russia continues to destroy and humiliate U.S. businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the U.S. stock market. For its part, Moscow has not said why the factory was targeted or if it was specifically targeted, and it's worth pointing out, Russia does not typically strike Western Ukraine with the same intensity

seen in the east and south of the country. But last night's wave of drones and missiles suggests that nowhere in Ukraine is off limits for the Russian military. The attack raises new questions about how long private companies can continue operating in Ukraine under constant threat and whether the Kremlin is deliberately sending a message by hitting U.S. investments so close to the border of NATO territory. It also makes you wonder at what point the collective Western leadership realizes that Putin isn't interested in peace. All right, coming up next, the FBI raids John Bolton's home in Maryland as part of a classified

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Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. This morning, federal agents carried out a raid at the Maryland home of former national security advisor John Bolton. At around 7 a.m., FBI agents arrived at Bolton's house in Bethesda as part of what officials are calling a high-profile national security probe. The operation was ordered directly by FBI director Cash Patel, who just hours later posted a cryptic message on X that read,

No one is above the law. At FBI agents on mission, end quote. Hmm. Patel didn't name names, but the timing of his comment raised a few doubts about who he was referring to. Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino added fuel to the fire reposting, is this how we do business nowadays? I guess it is. I guess everybody, no matter what. what administration or what position in government, you just get your business done on Twitter.

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bungino added fuel to the fire, reposting Patel's statement and writing public corruption will not be tolerated. So, you ask yourself, and it's a good question to ask, what's this all about? Well, at the heart of the investigation are allegations that Bolton mishandled classified documents. The probe itself isn't new. It actually dates back years. But according to a senior U.S. official, the Biden administration had shut it down, the investigation for, quote, political reasons. Now, it appears to be back in motion. As of this morning, Bolton has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. But the very fact that federal agents raided his home tells us something important. There are legal guardrails in place before a search

like this can happen. The FBI, I can't just decide on its own to knock down someone's door. Agents first have to present evidence to the Justice Department, which then has to convince a magistrate judge that there's probable cause to believe a crime has been committed and that relevant evidence will be found in the location they want to search. It requires a detailed affidavit, laying out what investigators know, how they know it, and why a rate is necessary rather than some lesser step, such as a subpoena. A federal judge then has to sign off on the warrant, meaning the judge is convinced that the government's evidence is strong enough to justify an intrusion into someone's home. So whatever information the FBI has about Bolton and these alleged classified materials,

it was compelling enough to persuade both prosecutors and a federal judge. Raids of this magnitude don't happen without that judicial approval, which is supposed to serve as a safeguard against politically motivated fishing expeditions. Now, this story actually stretches back to 2020, when the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Bolton for allegedly, quote, unlawfully disclosing classified information in his memoir that was called The Room Where It Happened. That book, which was highly critical of President Trump, was at the center of a major legal battle. And the book was released during the 2020 campaign season, making Bolton a darling of the Democrats, the never-Trumpers, and much of the media, who prior to Bolton's beef with Trump,

actually despised him. But, you know, with that crowd, as long as you turn on Trump, All can be forgiven. Politics is fickle. It goes both ways, of course. The Trump administration sued to block its publication, claiming Bolton had violated his contract and put national security at risk by revealing sensitive material. A federal judge refused to halt the book's release, but did note that Bolton still might face legal consequences, including potential criminal charges or being forced to hand over profits, if classified material, in fact, had been disclosed. As I mentioned earlier, the investigation was dropped under the Biden administration, but the cloud has hung over Bolton ever since. And now, with this morning's raid, it appears the FBI has decided to revisit the issue. Of course, all of this is wrapped in politics. Bolton has been one of Trump's most outspoken critics, and that reality will inevitably spark accusations that this investigation is politically motivated, despite the FBI's insistence that, quote, no one is above the law. For Trump's enemies, the optics are clear.

An outspoken critic of the president is suddenly the subject of an FBI raid, raising suspicions of a political hit job. But Bolton's critics might argue the opposite. Well, in fact, they will, that for years he escaped scrutiny precisely because of his anti-Trump stance, and that today's raid is long overdue. At this point, it's too early to say where this will all lead. What we do know is that federal agents wouldn't take such a public and aggressive step unless they believed they had something substantial. Whether that something holds up in court or collapses

under political scrutiny, well, that's what we'll be watching in the weeks ahead. Now, here I'm going to point out the obvious, because that's frankly what I do best. When the FBI raided Trump's Mora Lago, Republicans called it a witch hunt and accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the justice system. Democrats, though, said that the investigation was legit, and the FBI was just doing its job and wouldn't carry out such a raid without believing they had something substantial. Now, with the raid on Bolton's home, Democrats will call it a witch hunt and accuse the administration of weaponizing the justice system. Republicans will say the investigation is legit, and the FBI is just doing its job. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why so many people, at least those who don't spend all

their days down a political rabbit hole, are disillusioned with politics and politicians and government in general. Such a mystery. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday the 22nd of August. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDP at thefirsttv.com. And don't forget to set your watches for 10 p.m. this evening. Every Friday at 10 p.m. on the first TV, you know what happens. We launch another episode of what some people, to be fair, it's mostly my family, call America's finest weekend news show. That's the PDB situation report.

Now this weekend, we've got the always insightful and entertaining military analyst and author Ryan McBeth. He'll be discussing his just finished a trip to Israel to better understand the current state of military operations in Gaza. We've also got John Lott, head of the Crime Prevention Research Center. We'll be looking at crime in Washington, D.C., to better understand what the actual statistics are. The Democrats say crime is down and all's good in the nation's capital. Republicans say the opposite and have federalized the police department and sent in the National Guard. we'll look at what's actually happening. You can also catch the Situation Report on our YouTube channel.

I hope you'll check that out and subscribe. You can find that on YouTube, of course, at President's Daily Brief, as well as on all your favorite podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. All.

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