The President's Daily Brief - September 2nd, 2025: China Unveils “Ship-Killer” Missile & Russia’s GPS Attack

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: China claims it has a missile capable of sinking U.S. ships—and is preparing to showcase it for the world. European officials accuse Russia of jamming GPS signals on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane. In Yemen, thousands mourn Houthi leaders killed by Israel, while the group seizes UN offices and detains at least 11 staffers. And in today’s Back of the Brief—the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel is suing a former FBI agent turned podcaster after he accused her of being a Mossad “honeypot” sent to seduce America’s top law enforcement official. 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 Jacked Up Fitness: Get the all-new Shake Weight by Jacked Up Fitness at https://JackedUpShakeWeight.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, China says it's got a missile that can sink U.S. ships, and they're getting ready to put it on display for the world to see. No, that doesn't sound very neighborly. We'll have the details. Later in the show, a major accusation from Europe. EU officials say Russian interference may have jammed the GPS on EU Commission President Ursula Vandallayan's plane. Plus, as thousands gather in Yemen to mourn Khuti leaders killed by Israel, the group raids UN offices and takes at least 11 staff members into custody.

And in today's back of the brief, the girlfriend of FBI Director Cash Patel, is suing a former FBI agent turned podcaster after he accused her of being a Mossad Honeypot sent to seduce America's top law enforcement official. Seriously. You know, on the one hand, being called a honeypot is kind of flattering. But I suppose I get her point. But first, today's BDB spotlight. We've been following the story of China's massive Victory Day parade, scheduled for tomorrow, the planned spectacle in Tiananmen Square, marking 80 years since Japan's surrender in World War II. We've talked about the pageantry, the political message,

and even the A-list despots who will be in attendance, like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Oh, they are A-list despots. But today I want to dig into what really matters, the weapons that Beijing is rolling out for the world to see. Because for all the high-stepping soldiers and flyovers, the parade is about showcasing China's future arsenal and sending a not-so-subtle message to the U.S.

and its allies. Let's start with the headliners. China's hypersonic anti-ship missiles. Now, these are built with one purpose in mind, sinking U.S. aircraft carriers. They travel at speeds above Mach 5, maneuver and flight to avoid interception and pack enough punch to cripple or sink the backbone of American naval power. It's the clearest example of China's anti-access area denial strategy, make the Pacific so dangerous that U.S. forces think twice about operating there. But the carrier-killer missiles aren't the only new toys that Beijing wants to show off. Parade rehearsals have already revealed autonomous systems, tanks, and drones that move without crews, meant to show China's vision of a battlefield dominated by machines.

Satellite photos also spotted unmanned surface and underwater vehicles lined up for display. Now, these are designed to stalk the seas, slaying mines, harassing U.S. ships, and denying access to key waterways. Then there's the directed energy arsenal, lasers, and high-powered microwave weapons. The details are scarce, and analysts claim that many may not be fully battle-ready. Another major category on display, electronic warfare platforms. Now, these are the jammers, the signal scramblers, the systems designed a blind enemy radar and shut down GPS. On a battlefield, that can mean planes that can't find their way, missiles that misses their targets,

and ships that suddenly lose their bearings. It doesn't make for flashy parade footage. I mean, they're definitely not as exciting as elephants in those Shriner minicars, but they're critical components of modern warfare. The air component is also worth noting. Expect to see the KJ-600 early warning aircraft, China's knockoff of the U.S. Navy's E2 Hawkeye. It's designed to fly off carriers,

extends surveillance deep into the Pacific, and provide command and control for strike groups. bind that with hypersonic missiles and swarms of drones, and you start to see the picture that Beijing wants to paint, a military that cannot only defend its shores, but project power outward. Now, it all sounds somewhat intimidating, but here's the big question facing Western analysts. How much of this is real capability and how much of it is theater. Experts point out that parades are designed to impress, not necessarily to reflect operational readiness, Towing a missile down the boulevard is one thing, proving it works under combat conditions is, well, quite another.

Directed energy weapons in particular remain untested in real battles. In autonomous systems, well, they always look great in demonstrations, but they're notoriously difficult to operate in the messy, unpredictable environment of war. Still, there's no denying the intent. Beijing wants the world, and especially Washington, to see that it's closing the gap and in some areas may be even pulling ahead. Well, that would be in part thanks to their decades-long aggressive effort to steal key research and development from the U.S. and allies. Xi's regime wants to plant the idea on the minds of U.S. planners. The Pacific is no longer an uncontested American lake. Sending a carrier strike group into those waters could mean staring down hypersonic missiles, swarms of drones, and an electronic battlefield tilted in China's favor. So while the cameras capture the marching soldiers and the fireworks and the distinct lack of elephants and clowns,

and the smiling dignitaries in the reviewing stand, remember what the real show is. It's a look at China's weapons catalog. Hypersonics, drones, lasers, jammers, all carefully choreographed to send one unmistakable message that China is ready for the war of the future. All right. Coming up next, suspected Russian GPS jamming. rattles Europe's top official. And in Yemen, the Houthis storm UN offices and seize aid workers. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about

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Welcome back to the BDB. Moscow is continuing its shadow war over European skies. On Sunday, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula Vandelein was targeted by GPS jammers on approach to Bulgaria, forcing pilots to improvise with ground-based systems. The disruption occurred as the aircraft approached the southern city of Plovdiv, when the satellite signal was suddenly, in the words of Bulgarian officials, quote, neutralized. Air traffic controllers guided the EU chief's plane to safety as the crew reverted to paper maps, who remember them, and manual procedures. The flight landed without incident, but the alarm that it set off was unmistakable. An EU spokesman confirmed the episode on Monday,

citing Bulgaria's conclusion that the GPS jamming was, quote, due to blatant interference by Russia. Brussels, however, stops short of saying von der Leyen herself was deliberately targeted, although it's quite the coincidence that she was on board the jammed flight. The Kremlin dismissed the EU spokesman's charge outright. There's a shock, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece Dmitri Peskov, telling the financial times the allegation was, quote, incorrect. The danger, however, is anything but...

hypothetical. For those unfamiliar, GPS jamming works by overwhelming weak satellite signals with stronger ground-based broadcasts. When jammed, air crews may be forced to switch the GPS off altogether for the remainder of the flight, and that's a risky maneuver during takeoff and landing in particular when precision is obviously paramount. While airports do have backup systems for GPS malfunction, the symbolism of jamming the European Commission President's flight made the security risks impossible to ignore. Vandalen was midway through a four-day tour of EU states bordering Russia, Belarus and the Black Sea. It's a trip explicitly designed to highlight Europe's exposure to hybrid threats. As the EU spokesman put it, quote, she has seen firsthand the everyday challenges of threats

coming from Russia and its proxies. Brussels, the spokesman added, will only double down on its, quote, unshakable commitments to ramp up defense capabilities and support for Ukraine. Already the block is moving to harden its defenses. Brussels announced plans to launch more satellites into low-earth orbit, aiming both to reduce reliance on GPS and sharpen the ability to detect interference. The EU Defense Commissioner warned on Monday that Europe must invest in, quote, resilience against interference, as such attacks grow more common. Last year, Estonia accused Russia of disrupting airline GPS across the Baltics.

That incident forced Finner to turn back two commercial flights to Helsinki when landing procedures became unsafe. Each case, officials warn, looks less like a coincidence and more like a pattern, as Moscow is systematically probing Europe's ability to withstand electronic disruption. Okay, turning to Yemen. The spectacle in Sana'an on Monday was one of grief and revenge. Thousands poured into the Grand Mosque to mourn the dozen senior Houthi officials killed last week in an Israeli air strike that gutted much of the rebel group's cabinet. As we previously discussed, the Thursday strike was the first to significantly target the

Houthi leadership, ripping through a gathering where the Iran-backed terror group's officials assembled to watch a televised speech by leader Abdul Malik al-Huti. Among the dead was Prime Minister Ahmed Galeb Al-Rawi, more a figurehead than a power broker, leaving his deputy, Mohamed Mifta, to step in. From the pulpit, Mifta vowed revenge against Jerusalem, an unveiled a proposed crackdown on suspected Israeli spies within the rebel strongholds. While the crowd thundered the Houthi's familiar chant of, quote, God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam, end quote.

Well, that sounds mostly peaceful. In the days following the strike, Jerusalem framed the operation as a precision hit on the Houthis' defense hierarchy, targeting figures like Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Mohamed al-Atifi, commander of the Missiles Brigade Group. His fate remains uncertain currently, as Israeli officials say there are still verifying results of the airstrikes. Malik al-Huti, Tehran's most visible ally in Yemen, survived the air strike, preserving a crucial Iranian proxy head,

as the regime's other proxies, such as Khazbullah remains severely fractured and with Hamas under intensifying pressure to capitulate in Gaza. The backdrop to last week's strike was clear. As we reported on the PDB, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile armed with a cluster munition at Ben-Gurian airport last month, the first such weapon fired at Israel since 2023. The missile, which fragmented mid-air,

triggered sirens across Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and much of central Israel, forcing millions into shelters. Thursday strike, Israeli officials, said was a direct response to that provocation. Still, the Houthi's ambitions extend well beyond the borders of Israel. Following the U.S. broker deal in May, when President Trump halted an American bombing campaign on the rebels, in exchange for assurances of safe passage in Red Sea shipping lanes,

the terrorists have pressed on against Israeli-linked targets. As we've been tracking, that May agreement solely covered U.S. vessels, not those tied to Israel. And on Monday, the Houthis claimed responsibility, for firing a missile at a Liberia-flagged Israeli-owned tanker near a Saudi port. The Houthis escalation is also reaching international institutions. Over the weekend, rebels stormed UN offices in Sanaa, detaining at least 11 staff from the World Food Program, World Health Organization, and UNICEF.

The Houthis ceased property, interrogated employees, and tried to storm other compounds, forcing the international agencies into emergency, quote, headcounts across rebel-held area. to ensure staff's safety. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez condemned the raids, of course, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of detained personnel, warning that harassment of aid workers undermines humanitarian operations. Well, he's not wrong.

These raids fit a pattern, of course. As longtime PDB listeners will recall, the Houthis have detained dozens of UN staff, aid workers, and civil society members in recent years, even forcing a UN suspension of aid in the Northern Rebel stronghold of Sadda back in January after eight employees were captured. Okay, coming up next in the back of the brief, the girlfriend of FBI director Cash Patel sues a podcaster for calling her a Mossad Honeypot. Hmm. More on that story when we come back.

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turned a podcaster for $5 million. Why, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because the podcaster accused her of being a Mossad Honeypot sent to seduce and compromise the bureau's top man. Now, this is an actual story. I am not making it up. The woman at the center of this case is 26-year-old Alexis Wilkins.

She's a country singer based in Tennessee and also works for the conservative outlet Prager You. She's been dating Patel for nearly two years, and their relationship has been public. She's posted photos. She's appeared with him at events, even standing alongside President Trump, after Patel was tapped to lead the FBI earlier this year. Enter Kyle Sarifan. He's a former counterterrorism agent and whistleblower. with the FBI's Washington Field Office,

who now makes a living as a podcaster. According to the complaint, on his August 22nd broadcast, he let loose a fairly salacious claim. Serafin told his listeners that Patel's much younger girlfriend was actually a, quote, former Mossad agent, a foreign spy running a honeypot operation.

He didn't use Wilkins' name, but the reference was pretty obvious unless the FBI director has multiple country singer-girlfriends, which is not. impossible, but it does seem unlikely. Serafin even mocked Patel's appearance, claiming that a woman like Wilkins couldn't possibly be in the relationship for love. Now, if you're not familiar with what a honeypot is, it's not just Winnie the Pooh's favorite snack receptacle, one that often got stuck on his

nose. Honestly, A.A. Mill, not to digress, but A.A. Mill really nailed it. Winnie the Pooh is one of the great, if not the greatest, children's characters. But again, I, I I do digress. All right, back to the honeypots. In espionage circles, the term refers to an intelligence operation where someone uses romance or sex, okay, it's almost always sex, as bait to lure in a target. The idea is to compromise them either emotionally, financially, or, well, with sex, so they can be manipulated into handing over secrets.

It's one of the oldest ploys in the Spycraft toolkit. So now, Wilkins is fighting back, with a $5 million lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin, Texas. She says the accusations are a total fabrication, designed to juice Serafans' podcast clicks and bring in ad revenue. And the complaint makes an important point. A Serafin wasn't just some random dude on the internet. He carried the credibility of a former FBI agent, someone who presents himself as exposing secrets from inside the system. So his words, well, sounded less like gossip and more like an insider's revelation. Her lawyers note that Wilkins isn't Jewish, has never traveled to Israel and has never worked for any intelligence service.

They argue the claims amount to accusing her of espionage and even treason, serious charges to throw around in the court of public opinion, of course, especially for someone who's built her brand around being a patriotic, conservative Christian singer. The suit, says Serafin acted with, quote, actual malice. The legal standard for defamation against public figures, meaning that he knew what he was saying was false, or he showed reckless disregard for the truth. Well, that would be the first time that somebody in the media of any sort

has shown reckless disregard for the truth. For Wilkins, the consequences are real. She says her career as a performer and her reputation as a conservative Christian voice have taken a hit. For Serafin, the case is likely to test just how far the protections of online commentary and just asking questions really go. And that, my friends, is the president. Daily Brief for Tuesday the 2nd of September.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please, by all means, reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And, of course, to listen to the show, ad-free, which you can do, 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 later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe.

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