The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 9th, 2024: Biden's Ceasefire Hail Mary & Iran Targets US Presidential Campaigns

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    · With the Middle East teetering on the brink of war, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are making a last ditch push to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.   · Microsoft is warning that Iranian cyber operatives are attempting to influence and monitor the U.S. presidential election, going so far as to try breaking into the account of a high-ranking official on a U.S. presidential campaign. 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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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, with the Middle East on the brink of a wider conflict, the U.S. Egypt and Qatar are making a last-ditch push to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Also, Microsoft is warning that Iranian cyber operatives are attempting to influence and monitor the U.S. presidential election, including efforts to break into the account of a high-ranking official on a U.S. presidential campaign. The fact that foreign actors are attempting to create chaos, so disinformation, and cause disruption ahead of the November election, well, should surprise absolutely no one.

But first, our afternoon spotlight. With fears of a war at an all-time high as the Middle East awaits Iran's potential retaliation against Israel, the Biden administration is throwing one last Hail Mary in an effort to bring a truce to Gaza. The White House, well, whomever is running it, and counterparts in Egypt and Qatar have prepared what is being described as a last-ditch proposal to bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas regarding a ceasefire deal. In a joint statement on Thursday, the leaders urged Israel and Hamas to meet for emergency negotiations next Thursday to try to finally move the needle on the talks, that's according to an exclusive report

from the Wall Street Journal. A representative for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that Israel would send a delegation to the emergency negotiations. Hamas, on the other hand, has yet to confirm their participation. As you know, mediators from Washington, Cairo, and Doha have been working for months now to secure a ceasefire, only for the talks to continually stall. Hamas has a habit of tacking on last-minute unworkable demands which have scuttled past talks. that appeared promising. In a joint statement, the leaders said, quote, there is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay.

It's time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement, end quote. While officials didn't provide details of the, quote, final bridging proposal, they said that they are hopeful it will address, quote, remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties." Of course, this comes with a backdrop of Iran's looming retaliation against Israel over the death of Hamas political chief Ishmael-Hanye last week inside Tehran. As we've been discussing on the PDB, Iran's Lebanese proxy Hezbollah has also vowed retaliation over the death of their senior commander, Fuad Shulker, in Beirut in an Israeli air strike last week.

While it's been more than a week without retaliatory action from either Iran or Hezbollah, the attacks are still expected imminently and could further complicate, of course, any efforts mediation between Israel and Hamas. Despite the death of Hamas leader Hanye, which led to the suspension of ceasefire negotiations, officials with the terror group have said it would not change their position regarding a potential truce. However, on Tuesday, Hamas formally named Yaya Sinwar, Khamas's most senior member inside Gaza as the new leader of the terror outfit. Sinwar was the mastermind of the 7 October attacks that ignited the current conflict,

and his ascendancy is a sign that Hamas's hardline wing is firmly in control and prepared to keep the war in Gaza going, even after 10 months of intense fighting. Ever since the 7 October attacks, Sinwar has evaded justice by hiding in Hamas' expansive tunnel networks underneath Gaza. He has repeatedly brushed off the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza as necessary sacrifices for the cause, saying their deaths have given Hamas the upper hand on Israel in the court of public opinion. Sinwar claimed on Tuesday that Hamas would remain engaged in ceasefire negotiations, but given his past rhetoric and history of undermining past ceasefire

negotiations, many are understandably skeptical of his sincerity. On Wednesday, on Wednesdays, day, Sinwar reportedly told mediators in Egypt that Hamas won't compromise on its key ceasefire demands, which include a permanent end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which remain non-starters for Israel. With that in mind, a senior official from the Biden administration told the Wall Street Journal that a significant amount of work remains to overcome the gaps, and that while they are hopeful progress can be made next week, we shouldn't expect a deal to materialize anytime soon. That, of course, is stating the obvious. All right, coming up after the break, Microsoft is warning that Iranian cyber operatives

are attempting to influence and monitor the U.S. presidential election through high-profile hacks and misinformation campaigns. I'll be right back. Not loving your AT&T or T Mobile Bill? Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news. Bring your AT&T or T Mobile Bill to Verizon and we'll give you a better deal. So get away from that unfortunate phone bill and get to Verizon. Run, ride, canoe. Whatever it takes, we'll be here. Bring your AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. A better deal. No surprises. That's Verizon. Best Network based on root metrics, best to a overall mobile network performance U.S. second half 2025. All rights reserved.

It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person, redeem me the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Iranian operatives are ramping up their cyber hacking efforts

in an attempt to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Researchers at Microsoft issued a warning on Friday that they have detected intensifying activity from hackers tied to the Iranian government who are trying to stir political discord among, the American public. Their efforts are varied, including attempts to target the devices of senior U.S. political officials, as well as sophisticated misinformation campaigns, employing fake news outlets to target liberal and conservative voters, according to a report from Reuters. In the most alarming example of their cyber infiltration efforts, Microsoft said hackers tried breaking into the account

of a high-ranking official on one of the U.S. presidential campaigns back in June. Microsoft did not provide details on the official in question, but said the attempted breach was unsuccessful. It came just a month after Iranian hackers infiltrated the account of another unnamed U.S. official. Researchers at Microsoft said these incidents are among the clearest public examples yet of the reach of Iran's hackers and the scale of their campaign to influence the West. Microsoft elaborated in a statement saying, quote, a group run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit sent a spearfishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign, and another group with assessed links to the IRGC

compromised a user account with minimal access permissions at a county-level government, end quote. The activity appears to be part of a broader push by Iranian leaders to both gain intelligence on U.S. political campaigns and target voters in swing states. The report also revealed Iran has ramped up its use of social media accounts to spread disinformation to American voters. Now, they've gone as far as to set up covert fake news sites that employ artificial intelligence technology to lift content from legitimate outlets to use for targeting voters on the opposing political spectrum. They have one site geared towards conservative audiences called Savannah Time and another targeting liberals called Neothinker. Microsoft highlighted an example of the type of content that Iran is pushing,

with one of their websites calling former President Trump, quote, Raving Mad and an opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA China shop, end quote. Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said, quote, they've laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and have begun to activate these campaigns in an apparent effort to stir up controversy or sway voters, especially in swing states, end quote. Now, a primary objective, not just for the Iranian regime, but for other hostile foreign actors,

including Russia and China, is to discredit democracy, to create distrust in the electoral process, and to that end, well, they're equal opportunity players. They'll target all points on the political spectrum. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, 9 August. If you have any questions or comments, please, reach out to me. at PDB at thefirstTV.com. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com, and, as you might have heard, it's Friday.

And if it's Friday, that means the world is eagerly anticipating the release of the latest episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. This weekend's show features great guests. We've got Robert Greenway and Peter Duran, and we're talking Iran, Hezbollah, Israel, and the potential for a wider conflict in the Middle East, as well as the Ukrainian military's incursion into Russia. And that's the first time that Russia has been invaded by another military since World War II. The episode airs tonight at 10 p.m. on the first TV, and of course is available on our YouTube channel, Add President's Daily Brief, and all podcast platforms.

Tune in. It's informative, entertaining, and it's not going to fill you up with empty calories. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back over the weekend with a PDB situation report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Start the spring season off right with a new pair of Tukovas Western boots. Hand-crafted and over 200 steps from genuine leather. They're built to last and feel broken in the moment you put them on. From cowhide to exotic leathers, Ticovus blends timeless style with all-day comfort. Pair them with premium denim, Western, shirts and accessories for an effortless polished look. Shop quality Western goods in store or online at Decova's.com.