The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 24th, 2025: Trump Rushes Additional Destroyers To The Border & Key Houthi Leaders Killed In U.S. Airstrikes

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, the Trump administration deploys a second U.S. warship to patrol the waters around the U.S.-Mexico border in a bid to further curb illegal migration and drug smuggling. Later in the show, as the American bombing campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi militants of Yemen continues into its second week, U.S. officials reveal they have taken out "key Houthi leadership," including the terror group's head missileer. 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 Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Stash Financial: Go to https://Get.Stash.com/PDB  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, this is Alex Goldmark from NPR's Planet Money. We're really excited for you to listen to the Planet Money audiobook. It's a smart, fun guide to how economics affects every facet of your life, written and read by the hosts of the podcast. Come explore the hidden world of economics. The Planet Money audiobook is out now on Spotify or wherever audiobooks are sold. It's Monday the 24th of March. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, the Trump administration deploys a second U.S. warship to patrol the waters around the U.S.-Mexico border

in a bid to further curb illegal migration and drug smuggling. And later in the show, as the American bombing campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi militants of Yemen continues into its second week, U.S. officials reveal that they have taken out key Houthi leadership,

including the terror group's head rocket man. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The Trump administration is intensifying their efforts to tighten American military control of the U.S. Mexico border, deploying a Navy warship to the region for the second time in less than a week. Now, officials with the Navy said that the USS Spruats, that's an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, departed naval base San Diego on Saturday with the task of supporting interdiction efforts aimed at curbing illegal migration and drug smuggling. Until recently, the vessel had been on a fire month deployment in the Middle East, defending against Houthi missile attacks, but will now patrol

the waters off of America's western coast. That's according to a report from Fox News. Its deployment follows that of the USS Gravely Missile Missile Destroyer, which was sent last week to the Gulf of America. Of course, that's the body of water, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, on a similar mission. According to a statement from the Navy, the ships will help the U.S. military established, quote, all domain dominance in the region and restore territorial integrity at the U.S. Southern border. Specifically, the Pentagon said that the Sprons will assist in coordinating a robust response to maritime-related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne migration. General Gregory Giot,

the commander of U.S. Northern Command, said the deployment comes as a response to President Trump's executive order declaring a national emergency at the U.S. southern border, which ordered the Department of Defense to provide resources and troops to support the activities of U.S. customs and border protection agents. Gio said the move, quote, demonstrates our resolve to achieve operational control of the border. Now, as we discussed on last week's PDB, such deployments mark a significant tactical shift in how the U.S. combats criminal activity along the southern border, as historically, border-related maritime operations fall under the U.S. Coast Guard's jurisdiction. The presence of U.S. naval warships in these waters, since an unprecedented move, appears to be more about optics.

The ship is bristling with 96 vertical-launch system cells, carrying surface-to-air and land-attack missiles, as well as advanced naval guns. It also features sophisticated, electronic warfare capabilities, and it's intended as a powerful message, of course, to the cartels that the U.S. is no longer playing around when it comes to the integrity of the southern border. Like the USS Gravely, it will be accompanied by a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment that specializes in maritime military operations, such as counterpiracy, drug interdictions, anti-immigration, and combat missions. It arrives as officials with the Coast Guard report hundreds of migrant boat encounters near the San Diego coast over the past 90 days, with smugglers,

increasingly turning to sea-based routes due to the Trump administration's tightened security measures along the U.S.-Mexico land border. Following Trump's National Emergency Declaration on day one in office, the Pentagon deployed thousands of troops to assist border agents and migrant encounters on land have since dropped to a record low. The administration is also turning up the heat directly against the cartels, using spy planes and drones equipped with advanced radar and infrared sensors in partnership with the Mexican government to track cartel operations. Whether the naval destroyers will function as a deterrence or play a more active and aggressive role in combating the Mexican drug lord's criminal enterprises, well, that remains to be seen. Coming up next, the U.S. officials

reveal that they've taken out, quote, key Houthi leadership, including the terror groups head rocket man or missile air, which is different than a mousketeer, as the U.S. bombing campaign against the Iranian-backed militants enters its second week. I'll have those details when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, let's take a look at what's happening in the world. Terror wars, recession fears, stubborn inflation. Yeah, no wonder gold has been routinely hitting all-time highs, right? Look, in volatile markets like, well, right now, don't just sit on the sidelines with your head in the sand. Take control and safeguard your savings. It's really why so many Americans today are turning to Birch Gold Group. Now look, they've helped tens of thousands convert an existing IRA or 401k into an

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Trump's National Security Advisor, claiming that the campaign, eliminated the terror group's top leadership over the weekend. The strikes, now a sustained component of the Trump administration's broader pressure campaign on Iran, showed no signs of abating on Monday. The U.S. military effort is aimed squarely at degrading the capabilities of the Tehran-backed Houtis, whose attacks have disrupted global shipping, threatened Israel, and targeted American warships. Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, said the strikes have, quote, taken out key Houthi leadership, including their head missile ear. Hmm, what was the last time you heard that title, Missilear? The Houthis, for their part,

have neither confirmed the loss nor are acknowledged any setbacks, though the terror group has a history of minimizing damage while overstating its offensive capabilities. Walsh added that the strikes have, quote, hit their headquarters, including command centers, communication nodes, weapons depots and drone manufacturing facilities. Now, these are the backbone of the Houthis terror infrastructure, and the destruction is likely to degrade the group's operational tempo. An apparent U.S. strike on Sunday reportedly leveled a building in western Sana'a, killing at least one and injuring 13. That's according to the Houthi-run Sabah news agency, which cited local health officials. Video from the scene, released by the Houthis, though it's unverified, showed a collapse

structure surrounded by bloody debris. Notably, the adjacent building remained intact, suggesting the use of a lower yield U.S. munition, possibly to limit collateral damage. As we've been discussing here on the PDB, the air campaign began on the 15th of March, after the Houthis threatened to resume missile and drone attacks on vessels linked to Israel, and what they claimed was retaliation for the ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza. It's important to point out that the Terra Group maintains a deliberately vague definition of what constitutes, quote, Israeli-linked maritime traffic. It's a tactic that has widened their scope of targets. Their actions prompted direct American military intervention to secure Red Sea transit routes vital to international commerce.

Since November of last year, the Terror Group has launched strikes on more than 100 commercial ships, sunk two of them, and killed force sailors. They've also targeted and claimed to have struck the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier, though in reality it has not been hit. The Houthis and their attacks on the carrier group have missed by over 100 miles at times. The Houthis claim additional U.S. stripes have hit Saddha, their long-time stronghold, as well as the Red Sea port of Haudida and energy-rich Mahrib province, and still held by Yemen's internationally recognized government. The broader campaign represents Washington's latest efforts, to both suppress Houthi belligerents and dial back Iranian influence across the Arabian Peninsula. The initial waves of airstrikes killed at least 53 people.

Despite the sustained U.S. strikes, the terror group insists that its operations will continue. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin from Monday the 24th of March. Now, if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And in case you miss the announcement during the morning press briefing, if you're jones and to listen to the show ad free, well, you can do that. Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed.

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