The President's Daily Brief - September 30th, 2025: The Russian Spy Ship That Could Cripple Europe & Vance Trashes Putin

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

n this episode of The President’s Daily Brief: A new investigation reveals how a Russian spy ship has been prowling Europe’s undersea cables, raising alarms about the safety of critical infrastructure. President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in hopes of ending the two-year conflict. We’ll tell you what came of that. Vice President JD Vance becomes the latest White House official to take aim at Moscow, mocking Russia’s stalled war in Ukraine and its staggering losses. And in today’s Back of the Brief—the federal government is heading toward a shutdown which could begin tomorrow. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com.Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybriefCBDistillery: Visit https://CBDistillery.com and use promo code PDB for 25% off your entire order!Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold TriTails Premium Beef: Reclaim dinner from the jaws of school-year chaos Visit https://trybeef.com/PDB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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All right. Let's get briefed. First up, a new investigation reveals how a Russian spy ship has been prowling Europe's undersea cables, raising alarms about the safety and security of critical infrastructure. What will those Russians be up to next? I'll have the details. Later in the show, President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday at the White House in an effort to end the two-year conflict in Gaza. Plus, Vice President J.D. Vance becomes the latest White House official to take aim at Moscow, mocking Russia's stalled war in Ukraine and its massive losses over the past three years. And in today's back of the brief, the federal government is heading toward a shutdown, which could begin tomorrow. We'll ask the question, would anybody notice? But first,

today's PDB spotlight. We begin today off the coast of Europe, where a Russian spy show ship called Yantar has been drawing serious attention from NATO. On the surface, it looks like an ordinary blue and white research vessel, but below decks, it's loaded with surveillance gear, submersibles, and divers trained for deep-sea espionage. Its mission is to map, monitor, and, if ordered, sabotage the undersea cables that Europe relies on to function. A financial times investigation backed by satellite radar data tracked Yantar last year as it slipped third. through European waters. At one point, it went dark, shutting off its location signals, while lingering in the Irish Sea. That's where three major data cables connect Ireland to the UK.

For hours, the ship hovered above them. Now, NATO commanders, they know what she's doing there, right? It's not a mystery. They've tracked Yantar shadowing cable routes, pausing at key junctions, and moving on, and the movement of the ship gives them, obviously, major cause for concern. Nearly all the UK's digital communications run through subsea fiber optic cables. Three quarters of its gas supply flows under sea through pipelines. These are essentially the veins and arteries of modern life, carrying phone calls, bank transfers, military commands, timing signals that financial markets depend on, and connectivity to a host of other critical activities.

If Russia cut or corrupted those cables, the fallout would be immediate and severe. There could be blackouts, of course, across Britain, data traffic crippled, NATO's undersea surveillance system blinded, and entire economy is thrown into chaos, and all of that could be done without firing a shot in what's known as the grey zone of modern conflict. The unit behind these missions is one of Russia's most secretive organizations. It's referred to as the Directorate of Deep Sea Research, known by its acronym GUGI or Gugi, which really doesn't strike fear in anybody's heart, but it's a serious directorate. The name is a cover. It doesn't do research, obviously. It does espionage and sabotage. It runs a fleet of subs and deep diving equipment, some capable of operating 6,000 meters below the surface,

10 times deeper or so than most military submarines. And unlike Russia's Navy, the GUGI, or Gugi, doesn't answer to naval commanders. It reports directly to the Ministry of Defense, and in practice, often takes its orders from the GRU, that's Russia's Military Intelligence Service. Western intelligence has been tracking GUGI operations for decades. Its headquarters is at Oleneguba on the Barents Sea, a place the CIA has been watching since the Cold War. Satellite imagery shows new barriers across the bay and upgraded security, all to shield GUGI's operations from prying eyes. For a while, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, GUGI activity slowed down.

Perhaps Moscow didn't want to provoke NATO too openly. But by late 2023 and into 2024, the pattern changed. Russian vessels, including Yantar, were seen loitering around British waters for over a year straight. And NATO analysts concluded Moscow was no longer holding back. They'd tested Western responses, and they decided the risk was worth it. The activity hasn't gone unnoticed, of course, by the British government. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary John Healy issued a rare public warning, saying Russia's undersea surveillance was a sign of, quote, growing aggression. That's a classic British understatement. So what exactly could Yantar do? Naval experts say it

has the capacity to drop submersibles equipped with manipulator, arms. These could tap into cables, siphon off information, or plant explosives for later sabotage. Another possibility, tampering with timing signals and data cables, small pulses of light that keep systems synchronized, alter those signals, and you could disrupt industries like high-frequency trading that rely on split-second accuracy. The worst-case scenario isn't just damage to one cable. It's a coordinated strike against nodes, places where multiple cables intersect. and in a conflict scenario, that could blind NATO's military communications at a critical moment. The U.K. and its allies are scrambling to respond.

Britain is pushing forward a defensive system called the Atlantic Bastion, a ring of sensors and drones and seabed stations to monitor undersea activity. Norway and others are expanding patrols with warships and surveillance aircraft. Ireland, more vulnerable because it isn't a NATO member, has invested in sonar technology to monitor its waters. Still, many analysts say detection isn't enough. You can spot Yantar loitering over critical communication cables, but what then? Do you board it? Do you risk escalation?

And does the West have enough ships and subs and drones to monitor every stretch of ocean where Russian operatives might be working? That's the dilemma of the undersea battlefield. It's invisible, it's critical, and it's increasingly content. tested. And unlike airspace violations, we've seen a number of those recently, where jets can scramble and intercept, proving sabotage under water, well, that's a murkier endeavor. All right, coming up next, President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss ending the Gaza conflict, and Vice President J.D. Vance criticizes Russia over its stalled war in

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In the latest push to achieve peace in Gaza, the White House of our own. on Monday unveiled a 20-point plan, with President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu together at a joint press conference to confirm the Jewish state's support for the plan. With the two-year mark of Hamas's 7 October 23 terror attacks looming, and just days after a wave of countries at the UN General Assembly recognized Palestinian statehood, the two leaders agreed on a blueprint that could end the war on their terms. The White House revealed the proposal just before Trump and Netanyahu stepped to the podium. Trimmed from the 21-point draft, so they trimmed off one point.

We discussed last week the latest plan includes an immediate ceasefire, a freeze on all Israeli air strikes and artillery fire, and battle lines held in place while Jerusalem readies a staged troop withdrawal. As for the Israeli hostages, both living and dead, are to be returned within 72 hours of formal acceptance by all parties. In exchange, Israel would free 250 prisoners serving life terms, plus 70. 1900 Palestinians detained after the 7 October Hamas attacks, including all women and children. Hamas fighters, who disarm would be offered amnesty or safe passage abroad.

Who's going to take Hamas fighters? That's a question. While international and regional forces would police Gaza and train a reformed Palestinian security service. Crucially, Hamas would have no role in governance in the enclave. Instead, a transitional international authority would administer the strip, aid convoys would be restored at negotiated levels, and Washington would oversee talks meant to rebuild what Trump called, quote, a better Gaza. Of course, all this depends on Hamas agreeing to the conditions. In a major point, the president emphasized that Gaza will not be annexed or depopulated. That's a notable break from his earlier flirtations with relocation schemes for Palestinians to neighboring countries.

In the press conference, Trump announced, quote, the hostages are coming back, but only upon implementation of the deal, warning that Hamas is currently the only holdout after Israel's acceptance. Trump framed the peace deal as the last off-ram for the terror group to accept disarmament and coexistence, or face what he called the elimination of, quote, any danger posed in the region, and that danger is caused by Hamas. The president made clear in saying that Netanyahu would have American backing to, quote, do what he has to do if Hamas,

refuses to sign on. Speaking after Trump, Netanyahu hailed the deal as a, quote, critical step toward Israel's war aims and wider regional peace, but did caution that if Hamas balks at the deal, Israel would, quote, finish the job.

The commander-in-chief of the U.S. expressed confidence that Hamas will fold, arguing its leadership has been decimated in the nearly two-year-long war. But the reality is that they've failed to agree to pass potential ceasefires and the likelihood that they'll agree to return all the hostages at the outset,

their only leverage, frankly, at this point, or to disarm, or to play no role in governance, it all seems unlikely. The sequencing of the 20-point plan gives Israel leverage and undercuts Hamas' demands. An arrangement the Terra Group is almost certain to highlight in its coming reply. Beyond that, Hamas' long rejected disarmament

and any outside administration of Gaza, again, making acceptance unlikely. Okay. Shifting gears. Three years on, in a million casualties later, not to mention the mounting economic pain, Russia's war machine is grinding itself into the mud. At least, that was Vice President J.D. Vance's verdict, mocking that Moscow has, quote, very little to show for its invasion of Ukraine.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Van said he, quote, wasn't surprised at all by the ongoing battlefield stalemate. He contrasted the present paralysis with the late Biden period, and even earlier this year, and Moscow was still making some progress, although very slow and at a high cost. And, of course, at the start of the war, well, Russia looked unstoppable, but of course, not anymore. Over the summer, Russian forces hurled everything they had, waves of conscripts, barrages of missiles and artillery, swarms of drones and glide bombs at Ukraine's east as part of their highly touted offensive. And although the Russians slowly pushed Ukrainian defenders back into rural areas of the Lohansk and Donetsk area, also known as the Donbass, the army failed to conquer cities that serve as

defensive strongholds. And now, the Kremlin finds itself in a bloody standstill, with Moscow hemorrhaging lives and resources and nothing tangible to show for it. Vance, in his interview, said President Trump has repeatedly urged Russia in recent weeks to take peace talks seriously, but the Kremlin has repeatedly shrugged him off. And that, Vance argued, explains Trump's pivot. As we discussed last week, after hinting for months that Kiev might need to seed territory to achieve peace with Russia, Trump executed a sharp U-turn. Now he says Ukraine can reclaim all of its lost ground, some 20 percent of its territory, and perhaps, quote, go further. The shift followed his sit-down with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the UN General Assembly. On truth social, Trump wrote that Russia's economic freefall and battlefield stagnation mean, quote,

Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win, he wrote that in all caps, all of Ukraine back to its original form. He doubled down, dismissing Russia outright as a, quote, paper tiger. Economic analysts say Western sanctions have gutted Moscow's energy exports, shrinking the Kremlin's war chest. With Russia's budget deficit widening, the government is now looking to tax hikes to prop up military spending. sources told the New York Post that fresh intelligence on Russia's unraveling economy is driving the administration's sharper tone. Zelensky suggested Trump's growing disillusionment with Russian President Vladimir Putin is also a factor. The Alaska summit last month meant to probe a path toward peace only deepen the frustration as Moscow responded with fresh missile barrages in Ukraine, along with Russian fighter jets and drones flying close to U.S. airspace and violating NATO skies.

With Putin dug in and rejecting peace talks, the White House is pressing NATO allies to squeeze harder, this time with secondary tariffs targeting Russian oil buyers, one of the Kremlin's last reliable lifelines. Vance wrapped up his interview with Fox News with a reminder that, quote, we're going to keep on working for peace and we hope the Russians actually wake up to the reality on the ground, end quote. All right, coming up next in today's back of the brief. A government shutdown looms as Democrats and Americans are, Republicans scramble to find a deal before today's midnight deadline. More on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to take just a moment of your time to talk about my favorite purveyor of

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And after a high-profile White House meeting yesterday, the odds of avoiding a closure look relatively slim. President Trump gathered congressional leaders from both parties in what was billed as a final negotiating session. But instead of a breakthrough, both sides walked out pointing fingers. Vice President J.D. Vance summed up the Republican view bluntly, saying, quote, I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing, end quote. Of course, Democrats don't see it that way.

Senate Minority, their Chuck Schumer said the parties have very large differences, accusing Republicans of pushing a stopgap spending bill crafted without any input from the Democrats. Schumer argued it's, quote, up to the Republicans whether they want to shut down or not, end quote. At the center of the fight is what's known as a continuing resolution, a CR, essentially a short-term patch to keep the government funded. Republicans who control the White House and hold slim majorities in both chambers want a clean resolution that extends current spending levels until late November.

Democrats are insisting that any stopgap bill must include protections for programs like enhanced Obamacare tax credits, which are set to expire at year's end. Republicans argue Democrats are holding the process hostage with new demands. Democrats counter that the GOP is freezing them out entirely. Sounds like a schoolyard fight between toddlers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, accused Democrats of, quote, purely and simply hostage-taking. Schumer fired back, saying Republicans are forcing through a bill with, quote,

not one iota of democratic input. Hmm. The standoff has already sunk multiple short-term funding proposals earlier this month, where Republicans felt short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. If no deal is reached, the shutdown begins at midnight tonight. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed or forced to work without pay or perhaps laid off permanently. Services from national parks to passport processing will halt,

and markets will, of course, again, brace for turbulence. For now, as is usual, with these almost yearly exercises, Washington seems more focused on assigning blame and playing politics than running an efficient, fiscally responsible, and cohesive government. And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Tuesday, the 30th of September. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at BDB at thefirsttv.com. And don't forget to check out and subscribe, to our highly acclaimed and much-loved and perhaps one-day award-winning YouTube channel.

Now, you can find that on YouTube, of course, by going to Add President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless. for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying,

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