The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 10th, 2025: Calmer Winds Offer Hope Amid LA Wildfires & Trump Reveals Meeting With Putin Is Being Arranged

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, we’ll continue our coverage of the historic wildfires tearing through Los Angeles, as a weekend of calmer winds give residents their first glimmer of hope. Then, President-elect Donald Trump announced that a meeting is being set up between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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on the world stage. Let's get briefed. Today, we'll continue our coverage of the historic wildfires tearing through Los Angeles as a weekend of hopefully calmer wins give residents their first glimmer of hope. Later in the show, President Elect Trump announced that a meeting is being set up between himself and Russian President Putin to begin talk. on ending the war in Ukraine. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll begin in Los Angeles with an update on the devastating fires ripping through the county as firefighters continue to struggle to contain the blazes while the death toll rises. As a Friday morning, at least five wildfires were still burning across the area, putting some 166,000 residents under evacuation

warnings. That adds to the more than 150,000 residents who have already been forced from their homes due to the fires. The city saw its first glimmer of hope on Friday as a pause in the fierce winds that have fueled the spread of the infernoes helped crews make some progress on bringing the fires under control. Officials now see the weekend wind lull as their best opportunity to contain the fires, but it, well, frankly, remains a race against time. particularly as forecasters warned that strong wind gusts could return on Monday, and that's according to a report from Reuters. So far, the fires have already burnt through vast sections of Los Angeles neighborhoods on the east and west sides of the city, consuming at least 10,000

structures and killing at least 10 people. Officials warned Friday that those figures are expected to rise significantly once they're able to begin sorting through the charred ruins. County Sheriff Robert Luna said, quote, it looks like an atomic bomb dropped in these areas. I don't expect good news, he said, and we're not looking forward to those numbers, end quote. Now, wind conditions drop to 20 miles per hour as a Friday morning, with gusts between 35 and 50 miles per hour. While the conditions are still dangerous, particularly due to low humidity and dried out vegetation, it's a vast improvement from the 80-mile-per-hour gusts seen over the past few days, which had prevented critical air support for firefighters on the ground. Officials said

Friday that the calmer winds would allow aircraft to drop water and fire retardant on the raging infernos supplementing their ground-based efforts. As we discussed yesterday, the scope of the fire is staggering, collectively covering an area of at least 42 square miles and scorching more than 35,000 acres of land. The two largest fires, one that is burning through the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and another dubbed the Eton Fire that's tearing through Pasadena, are now considered the most destructive in Los Angeles history and among the five most destructive wildfires in California's history. As of Friday, the Palisades fire had burned through some 20,400 acres of land and was only 8% contained. The Eden fire, which has so far consumed at least third

13,900 acres was only 3% contained. Meanwhile, the sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills was brought fully under control by Thursday evening. Smaller blazes are also still burning in the northern part of the county and have only been partially contained. Another blaze broke out on Thursday near Calabasas, and that's a wealthy neighborhood full of celebrity homes and gated communities. This blaze being referred to as the Kenneth fire quickly engulfed more than a thousand acres in just a few hours, and is only 35% contained as of Friday. Notably, authorities arrested a man Thursday evening in relation to the Kenneth fire on suspicion of arson, but said Friday that the claims he had started the fire were unfounded. As we discussed yesterday, the cause of the wildfires

remains under investigation, though they follow a warm summer and prolonged drought that left vegetation dangerously dry. Officials have imposed a curfew in mandatory evacuation zone, for the Palisades and Eden fires from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to prevent looting. Members of California's National Guard began arriving on scene Friday to help with evacuations and traffic control, freeing up firefighters to continue battling the many blazes. Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency earlier this week, has deployed more than 7,500 firefighters, air tankers, helicopters, and water tenders to combat the blazes. We'll continue to keep you updated on this disaster. Coming up next, President-elect Trump says a meeting between himself and Russian President

Putin is currently being set up in order to start discussions on ending the war in Ukraine. That would be Putin's war in Ukraine. I'll be right back. Arizona awakens your senses. Here, a grand wonder of the world is just one shade of your adventure. Dazzling sunsets at iconic stays turn to brilliant, brilliant nights under a kaleidoscope of stars. Explore endless peaks, rivers, and canyons painted in every hue. Center your spirit. Find your inspiration. Surround yourself in vivid color.

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Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. With just 10 days to go until his second inauguration, President-elect Trump is preparing to make ending the war in Ukraine his top priority. Trump is reportedly planning for a landmark summit with Russian President Putin to begin peace negotiations, telling reporters on Thursday that his team is actively in discussions to secure a meeting. Trump reportedly wants to hit the ground running on the issue once he's sworn back into office, though his team didn't elaborate on a specific timetable for a face-to-face with the Russian President Putin. At a press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, Trump said, quote, Putin will want to meet and we're setting it up.

The President-elect added, quote, We have to get that war over with. That's a bloody mess, end quote. Trump has previously stated that he could end the war within 24 hours of assuming office, though he walked that back earlier this week, telling reporters he hoped to resolve the conflict within six months. Separately, retired General Keith Kellogg, Trump's nominee for a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia,

has set a goal of ending the war within Trump's first 100 days. in office. That's according to a report from NBC News. As we've been tracking on the PDB, Putin claims he's long been open to dialogue and diplomacy regarding the nearly three-old conflict, and he says those things with a straight face, while many in the West, of course, remain skeptical that his supposed interest in peace is genuine. Those concerns are compounded by the fact that so far, the Kremlin's rough proposals for peace amount to little more than a full Ukrainian source. surrender. Still, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov responded positively to Trump's remarks on Friday, saying the President-elect's overtures were welcome and that his understanding is that there is

a, quote, mutual readiness for a meeting. Peskov added, however, that there were no specifics yet on dates for a potential summit and would not confirm if Putin had personally requested a meeting or that one was actively being set up at this time. He suggested, such specifics could not be sorted out until after Trump's inauguration on the 20th of January, saying, quote, it looks like things will start to move after Trump enters the Oval Office. It goes without saying that such a summit will be eyed anxiously, of course, by Ukraine and Western allies in Europe, who have largely shun direct engagement with Putin over the past three years due to Russia's invasion back in February of 2022. For the few European leaders who have spoken directly to Putin, such as German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, Keeve has had

harsh words of criticism following Schultz's call with Putin in November, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that conversations with the Russian dictator, quote, do not add any value to the pursuit of a just peace. But analysts said Keev would be unlikely to level the same criticisms against Trump as their relationship with the White House is essential to securing Ukraine's future. On Friday, an official with Ukraine's foreign ministry said, quote, the most important thing for us is to collaborate with America on the pursuit of peace, end quote. They said Kiev was preparing for a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky once Trump returns to office.

Regarding Trump's comments about Putin, the official implied that they were unconcerned, adding that they believe Trump is committed to securing a just peace that respects the interests of Ukraine. While there are apparently multiple plans being floated by Trump's advisors at this time, Trump has proposed ceding large parts of Ukraine's eastern territories to Russia, areas that Moscow's forces currently occupy, as well as blocking Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance for an extended period. Now, despite Trump's ambitions, many national security analysts have said Trump may find that Putin is unwilling to meaningfully engage, as he currently has Ukrainian forces on the back foot

and may try to pursue further land grabs to strengthen his negotiating hand. Meanwhile, Putin's war continues to claim Russian lives at a staggering rate. Estimates are that the Russian military is currently suffering losses in the range of 2,000 casualties a day. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, 10 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And as a public service announcement, the amazing PDB team is currently putting the finishing touches on the latest episode of the PDB Situation Report. That's our extended weekend show. This week's guests include George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War and the Always Insightful Retired Colonel John Mills. We'll be talking

about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Russian population and the Russian economy, talk about chances for a peace settlement, South Korean political chaos, the sabotaging of undersea cables near Taiwan, and China's influence in the Panama Canal Zone. Good Lord, is there anything that we're not talking about this weekend. The new episode drops, as the kids say, tonight at 10 p.m. on the first TV, and of course is on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief and throughout podcast land, including Spotify and Apple. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back on Sunday with a special PDB announcement about upcoming travels to faraway lands. That's what, of course, we call a tease. Until then, stay informed, stay safe. Stay cool.

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