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The President's Daily Brief
July 27th, 2026: Iranian Proxies Target Air Force One & Ukraine Missile Attack
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It's Monday, the 27th of July. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, President Trump reportedly abandoned the new Air Force One in the middle of his recent overseas trip after US Intelligence warned of a credible threat from Iranian proxies. I'll have the details later in the show. After nearly two weeks of daily airstrikes, President Trump appears to be hitting the pause button on the war with Iran. I'll explain what's behind the sudden shift. Another sudden shift. Plus, Russia launches a devastating missile strike on a Ukrainian defense industry exhibition, triggering outrage in Kyiv, not to mention some dismay over why you a large defense industry exhibition in your frequently targeted capital city during the middle of a war. And in today's Back of the brief, Romania has shot down its third Russian drone in recent weeks, prompting new warnings from one of NATO's frontline states. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. New reporting from the New York Times has revealed a rather remarkable behind the scenes moment from President Trump's trip to Turkey earlier earlier this month for the NATO summit. According to the report, the Secret Service made the unusual decision to switch the president from the new Qatari donated Air Force One to the older presidential aircraft after US Intelligence determined there was a credible threat from Iranian proxy forces targeting President Trump. Now, at first glance, this might sound like a story about airplanes, and in part it obviously is. But it also offers a glimpse into how America's intelligence and protective agencies operate when they believe the commander in Chief faces a credible threat overseas. Here's what reportedly happened. President Trump flew into Turkey aboard The new Boeing 7478 donated by Cutter. But while he was attending the NATO summit, U.S. officials received intelligence indicating that Iranian proxy forces posed a credible threat to the president while he was traveling. According to the New York Times, the threat wasn't directed at the aircraft itself, but we seem to be parsing words here. Rather, it targeted President Trump and whatever aircraft he happened to be using. After reviewing that intelligence, the Secret Service recommended that Trump abandon the new jet and return home aboard the older Air Force One instead. Publicly, the president initially brushed off the switch, saying he wanted American service members stationed in England to have a chance to see the new aircraft. But the Times had previously reported that security concerns were behind the decision. And this latest reporting provides the clearest explanation yet yet as to why. Now, the older Air Force One offers more mature defensive capabilities and gives a Secret Service more options for mitigating Whatever threat U. S. Intelligence had identified, it has been reported that the new Qatari donated Air Force One had not yet been completely retrofitted with the same capabilities as the previous aircraft. As you may suspect, presidential travel is planned down to the minute. Every aircraft movement, every communication system, every security detail, of course, every diplomatic schedule, all well coordinated in advance. Changing those plans creates significant logistical challenges and introduces its own risks, which is why you don't often see plans change, which means the intelligence officials and Secret Service advising the president must have believed the information they received justified that sort of disruption. For obvious reasons, we do not know the specifics of the intel that led to the aircraft switch. The reporting doesn't describe whether officials were concerned about a missile attack, drone sabotage, or some other threat. For weeks, we focused on the conventional side of the conflict with Iran, American airstrikes, naval deployments, missile exchanges, and proxy attacks across the Middle East. This report about the intelligence citing a threat to the president, is a reminder that modern conflicts are fought on multiple fronts at the same time. While military planners are directing combat operations, intelligence agencies are tracking covert threats. And a secret service, of course, is constantly reassessing and evaluating the president's security posture. Iran has openly threatened President Trump since the 2020 US strike that killed IRGC General Qasem Soleimani. Those threats are nothing new. What's new, if this reporting is accurate, is that U.S. officials believed one particular threat stream had become credible enough to alter the president's movements and logistics in real time. And that's a significant window into just how seriously Washington is taking Iran's ability and willingness to strike through its proxy networks. All right, coming up next, President Trump hits the pause button on the war with Iran again as Russia's deadly strike on a Ukrainian arms exhibition sparks outrage in Kyiv. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, many of you may know me as the host of the President's Daily Brief. Well, in fact, I do hope you know me as the host of the pdp. That's a good thing. But I've also been a business owner for many, many years, and I want to take just a moment to talk with all of you business owners out there. Now, you probably already know this, but small businesses face an uphill battle with big banks, right? 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Welcome back to the PDB after nearly two weeks of daily airstrikes against Iran, President Trump is hitting the pause button on what he'd threatened to be a massive attack on the regime. Senior administration officials say the president is, at least for now, holding off on plans for a major escalation after advisers raised concerns about widening the war and depleted munitions stock piles. If you've been following our coverage over the past couple of weeks, and I certainly hope you have, you'll know the White House has steadily increased military pressure on Iran. American warplanes have been striking targets night after night. Meanwhile, additional US Fighter jets, warships, refueling tankers, air defense systems and medical teams have all arrived in the region. As Trump continued signaling that an even larger military campaign was looming publicly, the president made little effort to hide it. During an interview with Axios last week, Trump said he was considering over the weekend what he described as a, quote, massive attack, bigger than ever before. He said, I'm close to making a decision. We are all set for it, end quote. So from the outside looking in, it appeared the administration was preparing to take this war into an entirely new phase. That public posture, however, began to change during a Friday meeting with Trump, his top advisers and senior members of his Cabinet. According to officials familiar with those discussions, the question was no longer whether the US could dramatically expand its military campaign against Iran. Instead, the discussion centered on whether doing so was actually in America's best interest. By the end of the meeting, officials said President Trump had decided to temporarily shelve plans for a significantly larger offensive while continuing to leave the door open, theoretically, to diplomacy. After reportedly some diplomatic efforts ramped up in recent days, the decision marked the latest turning point in the Trump administration's nearly five month campaign against Iran, which has unfolded alongside American efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, of course, one of the world's most strategically important shipping lanes. The Pentagon became increasingly focused on what would happen after the next round of strikes, it's no secret that every additional strike increases the chances that Iran retaliates. That has been the pattern. And every Iranian ballistic missile or drone intercepted by American air defense consumes another Patriot interceptor. It's a weapon that's extraordinarily expensive and not something that the Pentagon can replace overnight. Those concerns were reinforced last week when an Iranian ballistic missile slipped through American air defenses in Jordan, killing three US soldiers despite multiple attempts to stop the attack. It served as a reminder, of course, that even the world's most advanced missile defense systems are not perfect, According to officials familiar with the internal deliberations. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Kaine privately warned that while the US possesses more than enough firepower to launch a much larger bombing campaign against Iran, doing so could dangerously deplete Patriot interceptor inventories available to U.S. central Command. And that wasn't the only factor weighing on the administration. Officials said the Pentagon had already developed plans for the opening phase of a much broader military campaign over the weekend. Those plans reportedly included strikes against Iranian coastal radar sites, anti ship missile launchers, attack boats, and other military assets tied to Tehran's long running campaign of intimidation in the Strait of Hormuz. But military planners weren't the only ones that were reportedly urging caution. Some administration officials worried that instead of weakening Iran's leadership, additional American strikes could actually strengthen the regime by allowing it to rally the Iranian public against an outside enemy, rather than increasing pressure on Tehran to negotiate. Now, it's not an irrational concern if the next target packages for a larger assault had included civilian infrastructure. Taken together, these stated concerns help explain why the administration is emphasizing that there's still space for diplomacy, whatever that may mean, even while making it abundantly clear that military options remain on the table. White House Communications Director Stephen Chung reinforced that message, saying it would be wise for Iran to work towards a negotiated deal. Otherwise, they know what will happen. End quote. Yeah, you have to admire, I suppose, the hope and optimism constantly emanating from the White House over the possibility of actually being able to negotiate with the Iranian regime. A less optimistic person would say there is no such thing as goodwill or good faith negotiations with the regime's leadership. A less hopeful person would say that the Iranian regime over the years has proven masterful at stringing along the West. So the US has not abandoned the military options. But after weeks of sustained airstrikes, the White House has chosen to press pause rather than expand the war. At the same time, it appears that the US intends to maintain the blockade on Iranian ports as well as other pressure points. Now, whether the pause in strikes has any impact on the regime's willingness or interest in seeking an exit from the conflict is debatable. There's the possibility that the IRGC interprets the pause as a win for them, vindication for their continued belligerence in the Strait and against their gulf neighbors and U.S. interests. All right, I want to turn to the war in Ukraine, where the latest exchange of strikes between Moscow and Kyiv reflects how both countries are targeting the industries and logistics that sustain the other's war efforts. That was on full display Friday when Russia unleashed a barrage of ballistic missiles against Ukrainian defense industry exhibition being held outside Kyiv while Ukrainian drones later struck warehouses belonging to Russia's largest online retailer. I'll start off with the Russian strike because as devastating as it was, it also ignited a firestorm of questions inside Ukraine. In what Ukrainian officials described as a rare daytime ballistic missile strike, Russian missiles tore through an open air exhibition showcasing Ukrainian drone and counter drone technologies, killing at least 10 people and wounding nearly 100 others. The exhibition had been organized to showcase some of Ukraine's newest defense technologies, including systems designed to protect critical infrastructure from exactly the kind of aerial assault that Russia carried out. Ukrainian officials say air defenses intercepted one of the incoming ballistic missiles, but two others broke through and slammed directly into the exhibition grounds. And that's where the questions began. Almost immediately, Ukrainians asked why such an event had been held in the open while Russia continues their almost daily barrage on Kyiv and other cities. Ukrainian President Zelensky echoed that criticism, calling the exhibition a costly mistake and saying defense officials had been warned repeatedly not to hold public weapons exhibitions under wartime conditions. Ukraine's prosecutor general has since opened a criminal investigation into how the event was organized and whether security procedures were ignored. A former adviser to Ukraine's Defense ministry argued that Russia has satellites, intelligence networks and agents capable of identifying military gatherings and events like this. So essentially, the organizers effectively did the hard work for Moscow, handing it exactly the kind of target that spends resources trying to identify. For its part, Russia made no attempt to hide what it was trying to accomplish. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike deliberately targeted an exhibition displaying drones and other military technologies that it claimed were being used to attack targets inside Russia. Ukraine, meanwhile, answered with a very different kind of strike. Long range drones again hit warehouses operated by Wildberrys, that's Russia's largest online retailer and a company that we often compare to Amazon. Explosions were reported at warehouses in St. Petersburg, Tavare and occupied Crimea. Wildberries operates one of Russia's largest warehousing and distribution networks. These logistics hubs move enormous volumes of goods, including, according to Ukrainian intel, military supplies across Russia. That makes them attractive targets for Ukraine as it expands its campaign against the country's transportation and supply networks. Since the start of the full scale invasion by Putin, the Kremlin has worked hard to insulate ordinary Russians from the day to day realities of the war. The idea has been straightforward, as we've talked about here on the keep the economy functioning, keep consumer goods moving, and make the conflict feel as distant as possible for much of the population. Repeated attacks, though on wildberries, oil refineries and other infrastructure directly targets that strategy. So as both sides search for new ways to gain an advantage, the battlefield itself continues to expand. The front lines, of course, still matter very much, but more and more, so do the factories, warehouses and logistics networks hundreds of miles from the front lines. Okay, coming up in the back of the brief, Romania calls repeated Russian drone incursions into its territory intolerable after its air force shoots down yet another Russian drone over the Black Sea. More on that when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here with a pro tip for feeling your best. Now, let me ask you a question. 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sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group fordware prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply. In today's Back of the brief, Romania is no longer just tracking Russian drones that are crossing into its airspace. It's now shooting them down. On Sunday, Romania's defense ministry announced that one of its F16 fighter pilots destroyed a Russian drone over the Black Sea, the third Russian drone the NATO member has shot down in as many days after years of simply tracking repeated airspace violations. Now, if you've been following our coverage of the war in Ukraine for a while, you know that Russian drones crossing into Romania isn't a new development. It's been happening off and on for years as Moscow has intensified its attacks against Ukraine's Danube river ports, which are critical export hubs that sit just across the river from Romanian territory. But here's what's new. Until Friday, Romania had never actually shot one down. Instead, it would track the drone, document the violation, protest diplomatically, because a harshly word memo always gets Putin's attention, and then they would move on. That approach may have made sense when those incidents were rare, but as Russia kept sending drones dangerously close to NATO territory, that calculus appears to have changed. On Friday, Romanian forces brought down an Iranian made shahed attack drone, the sort that Russia has relied heavily on throughout the war. Then they did it again on Saturday and then on Sunday over the Black Sea. That three day stretch prompted some of Romania's strongest public statements since Putin's war began. Romanian President Nikoshor Dan condemned the repeated incursions, calling them inadmissible and intolerable because they violate not only Romania's sovereignty but also NATO and European Union territory. Romania's foreign Ministry has since summoned Russia's ambassador to protest the latest incidents. Well, that should do it. While the country's prime minister called the repeated violations unacceptable, Romania's defense minister echoed that message, saying Romania would continue to, quote, firmly defend its sovereignty and airspace, adding that Russia's repeated provocations, quote, must stop. According to Romania's Defense Ministry, Russian drones have entered the country's airspace 33 times since the war began. And it's not just Romania that's dealing with this challenge. Alliance officials say Romania and several other NATO members are accelerating purchases of additional ground based air defense systems as Russian drone and missile attacks increasingly spill toward NATO's eastern flank. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Monday 27th July. Now, if you have any questions or comments, I hope you'll reach out to me at PDB, the first tv.com and I hope you had a chance to catch the latest episode of our extended weekend show, you know, the PDB Situation Report. If not, you can catch it and past episodes on our YouTube channel. I hope you'll check that out. Just head on over to YouTube and search up at President's Daily Brief. And of course, you can find it on podcast platforms wherever you get your podcast stuff. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.