The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 6th, 2024: Iranian Spy Plots To Assassinate Trump-Era Officials & Super Tuesday Ends Nikki Haley's White House Ambitions

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     The FBI has issued a warning that an Iranian intelligence officer has allegedly been operating a recruitment network within the U.S. to target current and former government officials for assassination.  We’ll unpack the results from Super Tuesday and discuss what the future holds for Nikki Haley after a primary night dominated by former President Donald Trump. 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] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I mean, where else are you going to get that sort of express service for a great cup of Joe at home? Go to blackout coffee.com promo code PDB for 20% off your first purchase. It's Wednesday, 6th March. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, the FBI has issued a warning that a foreign assassin is on the loose. I'm not, no, I'm serious about this.

I'm not making this up. The FBI has issued a warning that a foreign assassin is on the loose and is targeting Trump-era public officials in an Iranian revenge plot. Mm-hmm. Also, we'll unpack the results from Super Tuesday and discuss what the future holds for Nikki Haley, after a primary night dominated by former President Trump. But first, our afternoon spotlight.

I want to begin with a look at domestic security concerns following a chilling warning from FBI officials that a foreign assassin is actively targeting Trump-era public officials. Agents with the FBI's Miami Field Office recently disclosed the threat, which revolves around an Iranian intelligence officer who has allegedly been operating a network within the U.S. to target current and former government officials for assassination.

The plot appears to be aimed at getting revenge for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran's Quds Force, who was taken out in an American drone strike in Iraq back in January of 2020. A wanted poster issued by the FBI said that the intelligence officer in question, Majid Farhani, has been actively recruiting individuals inside the U.S. to participate in these operations for years and is wanted for questioning. Officials added that the intelligence officer has acted or at least purported to act on behalf of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and that's according to a BBC report.

The operations have also included recruiting individuals for surveillance activities, with a focus on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities within the U.S. Now, while Farhani's current location is unknown, the operative reportedly travels regularly between Iran and Venezuela, where he has very deep ties. Farhani has previously been targeted with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department for his subversive activities, and that was back in December of 2023. It's worth remembering that Iran has long-vowed revenge for the killing of Soleimani, who was regarded essentially as the second most powerful person in Iran before his death. The Quds Force that he led largely operates outside Iran and is the regime's

main link to regional militant groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Khutis in Yemen. In 2022, two years after Soleimani's death, Iranian President Abraham Reisci reiterated his call for action against American officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying, quote, if Trump and Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will take our martyrs revenge, end quote. Undiscoring the seriousness of Iran's threats, the U.S. government has been providing round-the-clock security for several former Trump-era officials, including Pompeo, former national security advisor John Bolton, and Trump's special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook. We know of at least one case

regarding Bolton and Pompeo, where authorities disrupted an active plot to assassinate both men. The Department of Justice ended up sanctioning an Iranian spy in June of 2023, who tried to hire someone for the price tag of $300,000 to kill Bolton in Washington, D.C. Now, a second target referred to in court documents, was believed to be Pompeo. The security threat comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iran as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, and Iranian-backed and sponsored proxies continue to wreck havoc in the region, particularly the Houthis in Yemen. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the results from Super Tuesday and where things stand for Nikki Haley after a primary night dominated by former President Trump.

I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. And Super Tuesday came and went in the U.S. without really delivering too many surprises. And when I say too many surprises, I mean really maybe only one or two. As expected, former President Donald Trump emerged as the day's big winner on the GOP side. Trump won 14 of the 15 statewide contests for the Republican presidential nomination. The only real surprise of the evening came in Vermont, where former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley did earn a small consolation prize. Oh, look, I got a prize. too, by preventing Trump from a clean sweep. Haley won the state with 50% of the vote to Donald Trump's 46%. Trump now has 995 delegates, and if my math is correct, and occasionally it is, that's 220 shy of the total needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. The former president is all but guaranteed to pass that threshold on March 19th, when Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio hold their primary elections.

In the wake of Trump's near sweep, Nikki Haley announced that she would be suspending her presidential campaign. That's not a surprise. And she thanked supporters at a small gathering in her home state of South Carolina. Haley said of Trump, quote, I congratulate him and wish him well.

I wish anyone well who would be America's president. She added our country is too precious to let our differences divide us, end quote. However, she did stop short of endorsing the former president. Haley's exit leaves Trump as the party's presumptive nominee, and the party's leaders have already begun to rally around the former president. Today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Trump telling the Washington Post, quote, It should come as no surprise that as the nominee, he will have my support. On the Democratic side, President Biden swept all of the statewide contests.

The only surprise for Democrats came in American Samoa, where a virtually unknown presidential candidate Jason Palmer, defeated Biden in the Territory's caucus. Out of 91 ballots cast, Palmer 1-51 to President Biden's 40, giving him the Territory's six delegates. Now, don't expect to see Palmer's name on the ballot next November, though. Biden now has close to 1,500 delegates locked up. He needs 1,968, not 67, 68, to clinch the Democratic nomination. So, despite a number of surveys and polls, over the past several months, that show that a majority of voters really don't want to entertain a rematch between Biden and Trump, well, that appears to be exactly what the voters will be getting. Trump will be attempting to become only the second person in U.S. history to serve two non-consecutive presidential terms.

And, as you well know, the first, of course, was Grover Cleveland, who served from 1885 to 1889. and then again from 1893 to 1897. And you're welcome for that little bit of trivia. You can roll that out at parties and amaze your friends. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 6 March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And be sure to check out our new premium membership at PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow.

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