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The President's Daily Brief
July 2nd, 2025: Iranian Hackers Claim They've Breached Trump’s Inner Circle & Hamas Bounties On Aid Workers
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- [00:03]
Mike Baker
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Co-Host
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Mike Baker
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Plus more ugly cartel violence in Mexico. Authorities discover 20 bodies, some decapitated in a region torn apart by infighting within the Sinaloa cartel. And in today's back of the brief, North Korea's latest scheme or scam to dodge sanctions. US Officials say Pyongyang planted fake IT workers inside major American companies to funnel money back to the regime. But first, today's pdb. While a U. S brokered ceasefire may be holding between Israel and Iran, agents of the Iranian regime are upping their threats against the Trump administration over the recent bombing operation targeting their nuclear facilities. An Iranian linked cyber attack group that previously hacked into Trump's presidential campaign last year said that they have roughly 100 gigabytes of emails from senior officials in the White House and are threatening to publicly release the stolen communications. The hacking group, which goes by the pseudonym Robert, Seriously, it's an evil hacking group linked to the Iranian regime and they decided to name themselves Robert. Makes you wonder how many meetings they had to hold to come up with that decision. Anyway, Robert, first reached out to Reuters on Sunday and again on Monday, telling the outlet that they were organizing a sale of the stolen emails, though they didn't elaborate on their plans. The trove of emails reportedly include the private communications of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump confidant Roger Stone, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and porn star Stormy Daniels, because, well, that's what we needed, more Stormy Daniels. Now, it's unclear if the emails are part of the same batch of documents stolen during last year's hack or if the group has engaged in more recent cyber breaches. But the threat came just days after President Trump halted plans to potentially ease sanctions on the Iranians after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an antagonistic statement late last week, bizarrely declaring victory over the US And Israel. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was quick to respond to the latest threat from the hackers, saying, quote, this so called cyber attack is nothing more than digital propaganda and the targets are no coincidence. This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants, end quote. Now, as our longtime listeners will recall, this hacking group, which is linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the irgc, managed to breach the Trump campaign last June through a phishing email that targeted Roger Stone and others. They successfully stole internal campaign documents, including a vetting document prepared on Vice President J.D. vance. The Iranian hackers later distributed some of the stolen documents to American media outlets and members of the Harris campaign in an attempt to tip the scales of the US Presidential election. Subsequent hacks late last year also targeted Trump lawyer Lindsay Halligan and FBI Director Cash Patel, though no documents were leaked as part of those breaches. In late September, the Department of justice charged three Iranian cyber operatives allegedly employed by the IRGC in relation to the hack and leak operation, accusing the trio of of attempting to sabotage the presidential election. But after Trump's reelection last November, it appeared the hackers had decided to sit on their trove of stolen emails, telling Reuters at the time that they had no plans for further leaks. As recently as May, the hackers told Reuters they had, quote, retired. Oh, but their calculus appears to have changed in the wake of Iran's recent humiliation at the hands of Israel and the US There are renewed threats came the same day that the U.S. cybersecurity agency issued a public bulletin warning that Iran linked cyber groups are likely to engage in attacks on critical infrastructure systems in the US Such as utilities, transportation and economic hubs. The bulletin also warned that they could target senior American officials, defense contractors, and American companies with ties to Israel. Now, national security officials say the battered Iranian regime is looking for non military ways to exact revenge on the US over the strikes on their nuclear sites. Regarding the latest threat, an analyst on Iranian cyber espionage at the American Enterprise Institute told Reuters, a default explanation is that everyone's been ordered to use all the asymmetric stuff that they can. That's not likely to trigger a resumption of major Israeli US Military activity. Leaking a bunch more emails is not likely to do that. End quote. Okay, turning our attention slightly to the status of Iran's nuclear sites. While we still don't have an official damage assessment, it appears the Iranians are already working to access their facilities. New satellite images released by US Defense contractor Maxar Technologies reveal renewed activity outside the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant. The images show an excavator and several personnel working near the northern shaft on the ridge above the underground complex. Other images show several vehicles parked along a path built in recent days to access the site. The team appears to be backfilling the craters made by the bunker buster bombs dropped on the site, but there's no indication that they have been able to reopen any of the tunnel entrances. As a reminder, uncertainty remains over just how much damage the US strikes dealt to Iran's capabilities. While the Trump administration says the sites were totally obliterated, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said Sunday that the strikes failed to completely destroy the facilities and that Iran could likely restart their enrichment program within a matter of months. Alright, after the break. Hamas is being accused of placing bounties on the heads of aid workers. And Mexican authorities uncover 20 mutilated bodies in a region rocked by Sinaloa cartel infighting. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to tell you about a great clothing company out there that's producing outstanding gear. Now, it's called True Classic. True Classic goes beyond fit and fabric. Their primary mission, well, is to help men show up with confidence and purpose. And you want both of those things. Confidence and purpose. Their clothing is designed to fit well, feel great, and stay affordable so men can look sharp without overspending. And that's obviously important. 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Mike Baker
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Co-Host
Welcome back to the PDB. I want to return to a story that we've been keeping a close eye on here at the pdb, and that's the ongoing fight over humanitarian aid inside Gaza. At the center of that fight is a group called the Gaza Humanitarian foundation, or ghf. Now this is the controversial US And Israeli backed nonprofit that's taken over much of the aid distribution inside the Gaza Strip. And it's a group that's become a direct threat to Hamas because, as we've noted, the GHF bypasses the traditional international aid channels like those run through the UN and those are channels that Hamas has historically used to maintain control over food and medicine and basic supplies, thus maintaining control and leverage over the population of Gaza. But the GHF changes that equation. It delivers food and water and supplies directly to Palestinians, bypassing Hamas. And that has made the GHF a target. Late last month, the GHF released a statement in which it acknowledged that Hamas is now placing actual bounties on its aid workers, including Americans. The statement read, quote, we are aware of credible reports that Hamas is openly targeting the Gaza Humanitarian foundation and those who work with us. According to these reports, Hamas has placed bounties on both our American security personnel and and Palestinian aid workers offering cash rewards to anyone who injures or kills them, end quote. The GHF also accused Hamas of deploying armed operatives near humanitarian aid zones in an attempt to disrupt operations and intimidate workers. In the same statement, the group revealed the human cost of their mission. Quote, our local staff who keep these operations running have already paid the ultimate price. 12 murdered others tortured. And now more threats emerging by the day, end quote. But even as Hamas tries to tear down the GHF from inside Gaza, criticism is mounting from the outside as well. Roughly 170 humanitarian groups and charities from around the world have now called for the GHF to pull out of Gaza entirely. Yes, because you certainly wouldn't want a group in there that's actually distributing aid. This week they issued a joint statement that accused Israeli and allied forces of routinely opening fire on Palestinians, Palestinians trying to access aid. So far, of course, the only reports of this routine fire, well, come from the Hamas controlled Health Ministry. And as we've seen over the past year and a half, there is an endless supply of media outlets willing to be spoon fed whatever narrative Hamas tosses out. And apparently an endless supply of gormless consumers of media willing to believe anything they read or hear. Now, the list of signatories includes major international players. Oxfam, Amnesty International, Save the Children. They allege that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 4,000 injured in under a month while attempting to either receive or distribute humanitarian aid. Their statement reads, quote, these areas have become sites of repeated massacres and blatant disregard for international humanitarian law. End quote. Now you ask yourself, are those numbers and allegations accurate? Well, that depends on the source. As mentioned, many of the claims about Israeli troops firing on aid seekers come from Hamas controlled Gaza. Health Ministry personnel and reports are often, as you might imagine, difficult to verify. Video evidence has been rare and Israel maintains that most of these reports are largely bogus. The ghf, for its part, strongly denies that its own distribution zones are unsafe. They argue that attacks are happening in surrounding areas and often because Hamas is intentionally drawing fire into those zones. Meanwhile, Israeli officials admit some troops have fired warning shots near aid sites, but say they're investigating reported incidents. They've also turned the blame back on Hamas, accusing the group of firing on its own people and then blaming the idf. So as both the humanitarian situation and the information war rage on in Gaza, the GHF remains a flashpoint. One group says it's saving lives. The other side calls it a front for military control. One thing, though, is clear. Any group that works to deliver aid directly to the citizens of Gaza, thus bypassing Hamas and taking away their leverage and control over aid distribution risk drawing fire both figuratively and literally. Alright, turning now to Mexico, authorities have discovered 20 mutilated bodies this week in an unmistakable sign of the escalating internal war between factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Among the dead were four decapitated corpses dumped on a highway bridge and 16 more bodies packed inside an abandoned vehicle. A bag at the scene contained five human heads. According to local Mexican media, several of the headless corpses had been strung upside down from the bridge by their legs. That's a macabre tactic long employed by cartels to terrorize the public and project dominance. Though this particular detail for this occasion has not been confirmed yet by prosecutors, a written message was also reportedly left at the scene, apparently signed by one of the warring factions. As of now, its contents remain undisclosed. The Sinaloa State Prosecutor's office confirmed all 20 victims had gunshot wounds. In a statement later in the day, a Sinaloa state government spokesman condemned the killings. Well, that's good. Calling for a re evaluation of Mexico's current security strategy. Yeah, well, that could be a good idea. His statement read, quote, military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa. Now. The massacre comes amid intensifying bloodshed between rival wings of the Sinaloa cartel that's a once unified drug trafficking empire that's now split. The fracture follows last year's high profile U.S. capture of the cartel's co founder, Ismael Zambada, who goes by the name El Mayo. Zambada claims he was abducted in Mexico by operatives loyal to Joaquin El Chapo Guzman's sons, collectively known as Los Chapitos, and forcibly handed over to U.S. authorities. That abduction lit a match beneath an already unstable hierarchy, triggering a wave of retaliatory killings between factions loyal to Zambada and those aligned with the Chapitos. Some of our PDB listeners may recall that Los Chapitos were the subject of a sweeping U.S. justice Department indictment in 2023, which accused them of brutal violence. That indictment cited Chapitos feeding victims both dead and alive to pet tigers, torture via corkscrews and electric shocks, and raw chili peppers used as weapons of pain. US Prosecutors said the faction not only used brutality as a tool, but but glorified it. So far, the feud has left more than 1200 people dead in Sinaloa alone. That's according to Mexican government figures nationwide. Now listen to this. Nationwide cartel violence in Mexico has claimed nearly a half million lives and left over 120,000 others missing since 2006. Back in February, President Trump formally designated the Sinaloa Cartel a foreign terrorist organization that expands the legal toolkit available to US Law enforcement and intelligence agencies, targeting cartel networks and their financial operations at home and abroad. But still, in recent months, corpses have become a form of messaging between the Chapitos and Zimbabwe's old Guard loyalists. Bodies have been theatrically staged holding pizza boxes or draped in sombreros or stabbed with kitchen knives. Symbols now associated with the warring factions as part performative art and part warning. Alright, coming up next in the back of the brief, a massive fraud scheme brought to you by Kim Jong Un's North Korean regime. North Korean operatives posing as remote IT workers infiltrated Fortune 500 firms and sent their profits back to Kim. I'll have those details next. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, one of America's greatest holidays, of course I'm Talking about the 4th of July is almost here. It's true. It's right around the corner. And this Independence Day, do your family and friends a favor, right? Fire up that grill. By all means, get that grill fired up. But when you do declare your freedom from just average grocery store beef, you want the best beef for that grill, right? So you gotta make it Tri Tails. 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- [18:53]
Mike Baker
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- [19:57]
Co-Host
In today's back of the brief we turn to North Korea, which is getting more creative in their attempts to illicitly fund their weapons program and regime. Deploying an army of IT operatives to steal from us Fortune 500 companies and defense contractors. The Department of Justice unveiled indictments on Monday against nine North Korean agents, including one residing in New Jersey in connection with a sprawling cyber espionage network used to infiltrate and defraud U.S. companies. By using stolen identities to pose as remote IT workers between 2021 and 2024, their operatives were able to use compromised identities of more than 80 U.S. citizens to gain roles at more than 100 U.S. companies. These operatives then used their access to generate millions of dollars in revenue that was funneled back into the Hermit Kingdom. In a statement, US Attorney Leah Foley said, quote, the threat posed by DPRK operatives is both real and immediate. Thousands of North Korean cyber operatives have been trained and deployed by the regime to blend into the global digital workforce and systematically target US Companies. Now, as a result of their operations, the victim companies incurred significant legal fees, computer network remediation costs and a variety of other damages and losses. According to the DOJ's criminal complaint, North Korea relied on at least four US based facilitators who partnered with overseas IT workers to create front companies and fake websites to promote the legitimacy of the regime's army of remote workers. They then procured company computers and set up US Based laptop farms that allowed IT operatives in North Korea to remotely access the devices, making it look like they were working from inside the US they also set up a number of financial accounts to receive money paid to the North Korean IT workers which was then sent back to the Kim regime through a complex web of overseas co conspirators. In one example, these IT workers used fake identities to get hired by a blockchain research and development company in Atlanta, Georgia. Another victim was an unnamed California based defense contractor that develops artificial intelligence, powered equipment and technology. In this case, the North Koreans managed to steal sensitive employer data along with the company's source code. The DOJ said that as part of their investigation, they raided 29 known or suspected laptop farms across 16 states and seized 29 financial accounts used to launder the illicit funds. While authorities were able to arrest a New Jersey based U. S national working on behalf of the Kim regime, officials said that North Korean actors were aided by dozens of individuals in the US And China, the UAE and Taiwan and that my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Wednesday, 2 July. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and to listen to the show ad free. It's very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting pdbpremium.com and remember to check out our YouTube channel at Presidents Daily Brief. Many folks now, admittedly most of them my family, are calling our PDB YouTube channel the best thing on YouTube. Check it out and subscribe if you can. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.