The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 21st, 2025: Gabbard: Obama Admin Engaged In 'Treasonous Conspiracy' Against Trump & Ukrainian Defenses Buckle Under Russian Drone Attacks

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accuses former President Barack Obama and senior U.S. national security officials of engaging in a "treasonous conspiracy" after the 2016 election, alleging they manufactured intelligence claiming that Russia helped secure President Donald Trump’s first-term victory. Later in the show—Russia unleashes another massive drone and missile attack on a dozen Ukrainian cities, leaving at least two dead and raising concerns that Ukraine’s air defenses may be on the verge of getting overwhelmed. We’ll have the details. 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 DeleteMe: Visit ⁠https://joindeleteme.com/BRIEF⁠ & Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan. American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. 866-885-1881 or visit ⁠https://www.AmericanFinancing.net/PDB⁠ NMLS 182334, ⁠https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org⁠ TriTails Premium Beef: Visit ⁠https://trybeef.com/pdb⁠ & get $10 off 20 Lbs Ground Beef Special 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 brief. First up, this afternoon, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, accuses former President Barack Obama and senior U.S. national security officials of engaging in a, quote, treasonous conspiracy after the 2016 election by manufacturing intelligence claiming that Russia helped secure President Trump's first-term victory. That, of course, became a multi-year collusion narrative that,

much of the media was only too happy to pick up and run with. As it turns out, the real collusion was between much of the media and the progressives and never-Trumpers who were pushing the fable. Later in the show, Russia unleashes another massive drone and missile attack on a dozen Ukrainian cities, leaving at least two dead, raising concerns that Ukraine's air defenses may be on the verge of getting overwhelmed. We'll have those details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. begin in the U.S., where a potentially massive political scandal, potentially, is brewing after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the former Obama administration of engaging in a, quote, coup against President Trump following the 2016 presidential election.

Now, Gabbard made the bombshell claims on Friday after declassifying a series of documents revealing what she describes as, quote, overwhelming evidence that immediately following Trump's 2016 victory, then President Barack Obama and his national security team, quote, manufactured and politicized intelligence to establish the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Gabbard, who called the matter a, quote, treasonous conspiracy, set the documents to the Department of Justice and referred the individuals involved for prosecution, as according to an exclusive report from Fox News. Essentially, Gabbard contends that the Obama administration deliberately manipulated intelligence to deceive the American public into believing that Russia helped

Trump win the presidency. So how did the DNI reach this explosive conclusion? Well, first, she points to documents that reveal in the months before and after the 2016 election, the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia was not trying to influence the election through cyber means. For example, a declassified memo from then-director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, issued on the 7th of December 2016, concluded, quote, foreign adversaries did not use cyber attacks on election infrastructure to alter the U.S. presidential election outcome, end quote. Well, that's fairly straightforward, you would think. Then there's a declassified copy of the president's daily brief. Not, not this PDB, not your favorite podcast. I'm talking

about the actual PDB that's produced for the president. Anyway, that one dated from 8th of December, 2016, that included a roundup of assessments from across the intelligence community. That PDB brief noted that while Russia and other criminal actors attempted some low-level hacks of voter registration databases in Illinois, the cyberactivity, quote, did not impact recent U.S. election results. The brief added that the criminal activity, quote, failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes and was probably intended to cause psychological effects to undermine coffee. in the democratic process. But while that brief was expected to be published on the 9th of December

2016, communications show that Clapper's office interceded, quote, based on some new guidance to push back the publication date. Oh, the following day, President Obama convened a meeting in the White House Situation Room attended by Clapper, then CIA Director John Brennan, then National Security Advisor Susan Rice, then Secretary of State John Kerry, then Attorney General or at Lynch, and then Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Well, that's quite the gathering. According to a declassified record of the meeting, President Obama, in contradiction of the intelligence to date, ordered the intelligence community to create a new assessment, detailing the, quote, tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.

Soon after, Gabbard says that Obama officials, quote, leaked false statements to media outlets, establishing the narrative that Russia actively influenced the outcome of the 2016 election. I knew intelligence assessment was then released on the 6th of January 2017, from Clapper's office that Gabbard said, quote, directly contradicted the intelligence community assessments that were made throughout the previous six months. Current intelligence officials say the report was clearly politicized, as it purposely suppressed intelligence showing that Moscow lacked intent and capability to hack the election. The officials added that knowingly false statements were included in the new assessment

to deceive the American public. Most notably, it claimed that the IC had made no previous assessments on the impact of Russian activities, when the intel community had, in fact, previously assessed the impact, such as in that unpublished PDB from December. The new assessment also definitively stated that Russia was behind the hack and leak of DNC data in the run-up to the election, but failed to acknowledge that the FBI and the NSA had previously expressed, quote, low confidence in that conclusion. Complicating matters further, the new assessment was largely based on intelligence that was known by those involved to be manufactured or deemed not credible, such as the infamous steel dossier. The impact that this had on Trump's first term presidency,

Gabbard alleges, is hard to quantify. Officials with Gabbard's DNI said this non-credible intelligence, which was then leaked to the media, the Stoco false narrative, was used to try to delegitimize President Trump's victory, leading, of course, to the Mueller investigation, two congressional impeachments, and high-level officials being investigated, arrested, and jailed. Gabbard said this is not a, quote, partisan issue, but an egregious abuse of power that threatens the foundations of democracy. Gabbard continued, quote, the information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016, committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal

was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a year's long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the president. Now, as I mentioned, Gabbard has referred those involved to the DOJ for prosecution. The news comes less than two weeks after the FBI opened a criminal investigation into Brennan and former FBI director James Comey over their roles in the Trump-Russia probe, including allegations that Brennan may have lied to Congress. Next up, Russia intensifies their attacks by unleashing another massive drone and missile barrage on Kiev and a dozen other Ukrainian cities. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to take just a few moments of your time to talk about your online security

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Tap the banner to switch today. Terms apply, limited time offer subject to change. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. For Ukraine, Russian drone strikes have become a near-nightly ritual, and the latest barrage from Sunday to Monday left two dead and exposed cracks in Ukraine's air defenses. Officials warned this may be just the beginning, with some predicting Russia aims to launch up to 2,000 drones a night. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia launched 450 drones and missiles overnight. Most were intercepted, but 23 slipped through, sending wreckage raining down on at least a dozen cities. Nationwide air raid alerts were issued, and in Kiev alone,

alarms rang out for eight hours straight. One person was killed and six were injured in the capital, where fires toured through rooftops and a supermarket in the city's southeastern district. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called the assault, quote, an attack on humanity, noting the damage to a kindergarten and multiple residential buildings. In Kharkiv, the city's northern district was pounded by 12 drones and missiles, igniting fires near apartment blocks, tearing up roads, tram lines, and power cables. The overnight strike wasn't just heavy, it was also sophisticated. Ukrainian officials say Russia used a mix of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic kinsal missiles, all designed to punch holes in even the most advanced defense systems. As we've been tracking here on the

PDB. The overnight strikes come amid a surge in long-range Russian aerial attacks in recent weeks, following what Keev officials earlier this month called the largest drone and missile assault of the war, a night involving some 728 drones and 13 missiles. But Ukraine has not remained idle. Over the weekend, Ukrainian drones reached deep into Russian territory, disrupting flight operations at Moscow's airports. Russian officials stated they shot down at least 49 drones between Friday and Monday. Even as the violence escalates, Zelensky, once again, called for peace talks, saying Ukraine was ready to, quote, do everything to reach a deal. Now, the Kremlin responded with its usual terms, openness to negotiations, but only if Keev agrees to Moscow's, quote, main goals. That's basically

code for sweeping territorial demands that Ukraine is consistently rejected. Behind the scenes, however, military analysts are warning that Ukraine's air defenses may be on the the verge of getting overwhelmed. An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War flagged a sharp rise in Russia's use of Iranian-made Shahed drones up 31% in both June and July. If the current trend continues, Russia could be capable of launching some 2,000 drones in a single night by November. For context, in 2024, that was the average number fired over an entire month. So this isn't just a worst-case scenario. It's one that Ukrainian commanders are at. actively preparing for. And while ISW analysts believe sustaining that tempo long-term is unlikely,

the direction of travel is clear. Moscow's drone program is scaling up fast. Recent satellite imagery shows Russia has doubled its domestic drone production footprint since 2023. Western intelligence believes Chinese-sourced components are flowing in, keeping, of course, the Russian war machine humming. Ukraine's air defense teams, equipped with everything from U.S.-made Patriot system, to truck-mounted machine guns to homemade interceptor drones are bracing for what comes next. But defending against swarms of drones, well, is one thing.

Doing it while also fending off volleys of ballistic missiles is another. Keeve is continuing their campaign to convince Washington to rapidly send more Patriot systems before the attacks become overwhelming. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin from Monday, the 21st of July. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And of course, if you'd like to listen to the show ad-free, well, we can make that happen for you. All you have to do is become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdb premium.com. I'm Mike Baker.

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