The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 2nd, 2024: DeSantis Enters Border Fight In Texas & Iran-Backed Militants Threaten US Troops

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Governor Ron DeSantis is throwing his hat into the standoff at the Texas border, ordering as many as 1,000 Florida National Guard and State Guard members to assist the Lone Star state amid their battle with the Biden administration. A powerful Iranian-backed militia in Iraq and part of Iran’s so called “axis of resistance” in the region has broken with fellow militant group Kataib Hezbollah and vowed continued strikes on U.S. forces in the region. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Bad advice? You talking to me? Kayak, got that right.

It's Friday, 2 February. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, in the U.S., Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential contest, is throwing his hat into the standoff at the Texas border. DeSantis is ordering as many as 1,000 Florida National Guard and State Guard members to assist the Lone Star State in securing their border while Texas continues its battle with the Biden administration. Also, we'll discuss the latest activity in Iraq, where several Iran-backed militias have vowed to continue their attacks on U.S. troops in the region as the U.S. gears up for retaliatory operations. But first, our afternoon

spotlight. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is entering the fray in Texas as the standoff between federal and state officials continues over the ongoing U.S. border crisis. DeSantis announced on Thursday that he is sending as many as 1,000 Florida National Guard and State Guard members to Texas to assist Governor Greg Abbott as he contends with a continuous flow of migrants across the border. DeSantis said the Guard members will be deployed, quote, based on Texas's needs, and will join officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who are already in Texas aiding the situation. DeSantis said at a Thursday press conference, quote, we are here to join as Floridians to say that

we need to stop this invasion at our southern border once and for all. Biden has the authority to close this border today if he wanted to. He lacks the will to get the job done. He lacks the capacity to see the problem for what it is and to get the job done, end quote. It will mark the first time in Florida's history that the State Guard will be deployed out of state. DeSantis has underscored the importance of sending the State Guard along with the National Guard, pointing out that if the crisis escalates, President Biden cannot federalize the Florida State Guard. DeSantis added that, quote, The goal is to help Texas fortify this border, help them strengthen the barricades, help them add barriers, help them add the wire that they need to do so that they can stop

this invasion once and for all, and the states have to band together, end quote. Texas Governor Greg Abbott remains locked in a battle of wills with the Biden administration over the border crisis. He rebuked to the Biden administration last week, saying he would continue to use his authority to defend the state against what he describes as a migrant invasion, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that granted U.S. Border Patrol agents the authority to remove razor wire fencing that Texas erected along their border. Amid calls by Democrats for Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard, 25 Republican governors issued a joint statement last Friday, giving Abbott their full support.

The governor said that because, quote, the Biden administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, well, Texas has every right to take matters into their own hands. Like Abbott, the governors cited both Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution, which states the federal government, quote, shall protect each state against invasion, as well as Article 1, Section 10 Clause 3, which acknowledges, quote, the state's sovereign interest in protecting their borders. Now, as we discussed Monday on the PDB, DeSantis is not the only governor sending reinforcements to aid Texas authorities. Idaho Governor Brad Little announced last Friday that he would be sending two teams of Idaho state police troopers to the Texas-Mexico border.

It's also worth noting that a number of states already have deployed their personnel at the southern border, including Arkansas, Virginia, and both North and South Dakota. These states began sending state law enforcement and national guardsmen to Texas last year to help curtail the record levels of illegal immigration. All right, coming up after the break. Apparently, just talking about retaliating, well, it isn't doing the trick. We'll discuss the latest activity in Iraq where several Iran-backed militias have vowed to continue their attacks on U.S. troops in the region. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. A powerful Iranian-back militia in Iraq, and part of Iran's so-called axis of resistance in the region, has broken with fellow militant group Katai Behavis. Hezbollah and vowed continued strikes on U.S. forces in the region. The leader of the Al-Nuzhaba militant group said Friday that it will not follow Kataib Hezbollah in their decision to temporarily suspend all military operations against U.S. forces in the wake of a drone

attack that killed three American service members in Jordan last weekend and injured at least 40 others, according to a CNN report. In their statement, Al-Nujaba promised to continue targeting American troops. until U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq and Israeli military operations end in Gaza. The threat comes as the U.S. prepares retaliatory strikes, which are expected any day, against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The head of Al-Nusjaba promised on Friday that, quote, any U.S. strike will result in an appropriate response. Al-Nizaba also appeared to attempt to distance their backers in Iran from any involvement, saying, our decision is Iraqi.

Now, this is similar to a statement from Khatib Hezbollah, which also said Iran had nothing to do with their attack on Jordan. It appears that Iran put all their proxies on the distribution list for the memo titled How to Tell the Satanic Western Media that Iran had nothing to do with anything. The statement continued, any targeting will be met with a response that matches it, and we affirm that the Islamic resistance in Iraq, with its other factions, continues with its decision until its demands are achieved. end quote. The Islamic resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on U.S. troops in Jordan, an umbrella group of Shiite Muslim militias with close ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A key player in this coalition is Qatai Bezbollah, and while the U.S.

has acknowledged the attack had their fingerprints on it, they have not ruled out the involvement of other militant groups in Iraq that are also part of this Islamic resistance. Luzjaba's statement echoed the words of another militant group in Iraq, the little-known true promise brigades that also promised this week to continue targeting U.S. personnel in the region. The true promise brigades is thought to be another member of the Islamic resistance in Iraq. Now, on Tuesday, as reports emerged that the U.S. would soon begin retaliatory operations in the Middle East, particularly inside Iraq and Syria, Kataib al-Bulah, the largest Iran-backed militant Iraq, announced that they were formally suspending their military operations against U.S.

forces in the region. The Iraqi government and the Iranian regime reportedly pressured the group to curtail their operations in the wake of the drone attack. Iraq is worried about the country turning into a central point of fighting in the region, and Iran appears to be increasingly nervous about the forthcoming U.S. retaliation. Leaders in Tehran have repeatedly denied that they had anything to do with a deadly attack on U.S. troops in Jordan. As we discussed earlier on the PDB, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that they have settled on a response plan. We've come up with one. Thank you. The U.S. retaliation will reportedly involve multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria against multiple targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, 2 February. If you have any questions or comments, please 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.