The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 5th, 2024: Hezbollah's Paranoia & Maduro's Brutal Escalation

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    With an Iranian retaliation on Israel looming, we are learning about some internal discord within the Islamic regime’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, who have reportedly grown paranoid about Israeli infiltration.  As proof mounts that the opposition won the Venezuelan presidential election in a landslide, dictator Nicolas Maduro is expanding his violent crackdown, calling for the imprisonment of his chief political rivals and arresting at least 2,000 protesters 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 PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail].  Patriot Gold: https://www.patriotgoldgroup.com Say Mike Baker sent you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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They've reportedly grown paranoid about Israeli infiltration. Also, as proof mounts that the opposition won the Venezuelan presidential election in a landslide, dictator Nicholas Maduro is expanding his violent crackdown, calling for the imprisonment of his chief political rivals, and arresting at least 2,000 protesters. That is, after all, what dictators do. Meanwhile, the international community continues to clutch their pearls while considering the possibility of writing harshly worded statements. But first, our afternoon spotlight. While the U.S. and Israel finalized their defensive preparations in anticipation of Iran's promised retaliation, we're learning that Iran's Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, is in a bit of internal disarray. It appears that paranoia may be setting in.

Leaders of the terror outfit are reportedly scrambling to plug a suspected internal leak that they believe led to the death of one of their most senior military commanders in an Israeli strike last Tuesday. They are particularly disturbed by how Israel knew the location of Fwad Schuquer, who was a top advisor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, given that the commander avoided technology that would enable his detection and had his movements heavily coercion. coordinated by a tight circle of security, according to an exclusive report from the Jerusalem Post. As a reminder, Schuker was said to be responsible for the attack in the Golan Heights last Saturday.

They killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field. Hasbullah's leaders have already begun arresting their own members as they attempt to smoke out the suspected leak. Now, it seems they're focusing on anyone that had knowledge of Schuker's location or travel plans. A source told the Jerusalem Post that on the day of the strike, Shooker was moved from one of the group's religious complexes to a nearby city where he had an office, noting that only a few security personnel knew about his movements. A source told the post, quote, The Hezbollah Party leadership has become certain that its ranks are infiltrated by networks of Israeli agents at high levels.

The party fears that Israel has complete data on the party's formations, including names, photos, phone numbers, addresses, and audio data, end quote. While Hezbollah is reportedly keen to keep their internal discord under wraps, suspicion has reportedly fallen on a senior security official who knew where Shuka was inside the building that was ultimately targeted. The unidentified official was reportedly supposed to signal Shuka's security team about an upcoming meeting with the Hezbollah leader, Nasrallah. The official is under house arrest as the investigation continues.

continues. Leaders inside Hezbollah are also now reportedly questioning past assassinations of their commanders, wondering if those two were facilitated by Israeli infiltration. The paranoia inside Hezbollah is a notable development, considering that by all reports, Hezbollah is expected to play a large role in Iran's retaliation plans against Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reportedly warned his G7 counterparts over the weekend that coordinated attacks by Iran and Hezbollah on Israel could begin as soon as today. Coming up after the break, in an update on the chaos in Venezuela, dictator Nicholas Maduro has intensified his crackdown on opponents

questioning the fraudulent presidential election, arresting some 2,000 protesters, and calling for the imprisonment of his chief political rivals. Well, how dictatorial of him. I'll be right back. As the Krispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy.

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Because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. In an update on the political upheaval and chaos in Venezuela, there's more proof that dictator Nicholas Maduro, Muldo lost. Venezuela's opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, likely received more than twice

as many votes as Maduro in last week's election. Yeah, that would count as a victory, according to independent reviews of precinct-level tally sheets. In the Venezuelan election held on the 28th of July, the National Electoral Council, controlled by Maduro's government, ratified Maduro's win. Look, you win, Maduro, with nearly 52% of the vote to Gonzalez's 43%. However, the opposition, led by Maria Corino Machado, backed by independent analysis and exit polling, published detailed voting results showing that Gonzalez won by a landslide. The dictator-controlled council has yet to make precinct-level results available for an audit, that's surprising, as required by Venezuelan law, leading to widespread skepticism about the official results.

The Washington Post analyzed nearly 24,000 tally sheets representing almost 80% of the voting machines nationwide, and found that Gonzalez earned 67% of the vote compared to Maduro's 30%. This analysis aligns with findings from the Associated Press, which also suggests a substantial lead for Gonzalez. The Associated Press Talley revealed Gonzalez received 6.9 million votes, while Maduro garnered 3.1 1 million votes across the same percentage of voting machines as the Washington Post's analysis. The opposition released these tally sheets online despite threats from Maduro's regime. Venezuela's election law guarantees that all parties have the right to these tally sheets. Now, the opposition continues to gather and safeguard additional tally sheets despite increasing

harassment, detentions, and violence, including a raid on their headquarters by Maduro's security forces. Maduro, as denied the allegations, well, there's a shocking surprise, and claimed it was the opposition who coordinated attacks to disrupt peace. Oh, of course, it was the opposition's fault. In his first international press conference in almost two years, Maduro's frustration was palpable. He yelled, screamed, waved his hands, clenched his fists, accusing the international media of pushing an agenda to incite war in Venezuela. Despite his claims, his exhausted appearance, lied his assertion of sleeping soundly after the election. Thousands of opposition supporters gathered over the weekend to protest despite Maduro's efforts to intimidate them. In a bid to regain control, Maduro escalated his crackdown on the opposition and its supporters like never before in his 11-year rule. The dictator called for Machado and Gonzalez to be imprisoned, arrested 2,000 protesters, and promised maximum security prison sentences. In addition, the government deported at least

14 media workers. Now, the attempts by the regime to bury voter data led to calls from international allies for an impartial audit of the vote, including the U.S., which last week officially recognized Gonzalez as the winner of the oil-rich nation's election. Problem is, the U.S. has essentially exhausted its options against Maduro. Despite years of sanctions, he's survived, and the agreement to drop sanctions in exchange for fair elections seems to have backfired. And by seems to have backfired, I mean, there was never any chance that Maduro was going to actually engage in a fair election. That was completely inane, wishful thinking on the part of the U.S. administration. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday, 5 August. If you have any questions

or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And as you may, may have heard from friends and family to listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by simply visiting pdb premium.com. It really is just that simple. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here from Intmobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities, so do like I did and have one of your assistants assistants switch you to MintMobile today.

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