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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 5th, 2025: Trump Threatens To 'Obliterate' Iran & CIA Offers Buyouts To Entire Workforce
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Mike Baker
It's Wednesday. Five February. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, we'll look at a press conference from President Donald Trump where he warned Iran that he's left instructions for their total obliteration if they move to assassinate him. He later walked back his aggressive rhetoric and said he's eager to strike a new nuclear deal with the mullahs. That'll keep the regime guessing. Then the White House is moving to shake up the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency, offering buyouts that would provide full pay and benefits for eight months to employees in exchange for their resignations. But first, our afternoon spotlight. President Trump has offered competing visions, to say the least, for future relations with Iran, issuing fresh military threats against the regime while also saying that he's eager to negotiate a new nuclear deal. As we discussed on this morning's pdb, Trump issued an executive order Tuesday reinstating his maximum pressure strategy against Iran, which aims to prevent the MOAs from obtaining a nuclear weapon and aims to cripple their oil exports through aggressive sanctions. During the signing ceremony for the executive order, Trump also sent a shot across the bow, warning that if Iran carries out his assassination, his national security team will ensure that the Islamic regime is completely obliterated. And that's according to a report from Fox News. Now, Iran has long been trying to assassinate Trump and former national security officials from his first administration. Over the 2020 killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, the Justice Department confirmed in November that they had thwarted an active Iranian assassination plot against Trump in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. Given the ongoing threat, Trump said he's already left instructions for Iran's destruction in the unlikely event that the mullah succeed. When asked about the threats on his life from Iran and its proxies, Trump said, quote, that would be a terrible thing for them to do, not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I've left instructions. He said, if they do it, there won't be anything left, end quote. Despite his fiery rhetoric while signing the, quote, maximum pressure executive order, Trump also said, hopefully we're not going to have to use it, though he didn't elaborate on what that meant. Then on Wednesday morning, Trump dramatically softened his stance, saying in a post on Truth Social that he wants to immediately start working on a new nuclear deal with the Iranian regime that would allow the country to peacefully grow and prosper. Trump stated reports that the US Working in conjunction with Israel going to blow up Iran into smithereens are greatly exaggerated. And he used all caps for are greatly exaggerated. I would much prefer a verified nuclear peace agreement, trump added. We should start working on it immediately and have a big Middle east celebration when it's signed and completed. God Bless the Middle east, end quote now. Iran has not yet responded to the whiplash inducing turnaround by Trump. However, earlier on Tuesday, their foreign minister slammed Trump's actions to reimpose energy sanctions, claiming his maximum pressure campaign would fail, while also denying that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon. But reports suggest that the mullahs of Tehran are eager to take the diplomatic route with Trump as they see him as an existential threat to their significantly weakened regime. Coming up, the Trump administration is moving to shake up the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA offering buyouts that would provide full pay and benefits for eight months to all employees in exchange for their resignations. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. The CIA is offering buyouts to its entire workforce in a move that well aligns with President Trump's broader push to shrink the federal government and reshape the intelligence community, announced Tuesday. The offer gives CIA employees the option to voluntarily resign in exchange for roughly eight months of pay and benefits. The offer mirrors a similar buyout extended to over 2 million civilian federal workers last month, though national security personnel were previously exempt. What remains unclear is whether the agency will adhere to the same Thursday midnight deadline set for other federal agencies for employees to accept the offer. Despite the buyout offer, career coaches specializing in federal employment say that interest currently remains low. Employees are wary of whether they can take new jobs during the payout period or if they'd be eligible to return to government service under a future administration. In the meantime, hiring has been frozen and conditional job offers are under review to ensure that they align with the agency's shifting priorities under newly confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Under Ratcliffe's leadership, the agency is expected to turn its focus toward the Western Hemisphere, shifting attention to nations not traditionally viewed as adversaries. Among the priorities Ramping up operations against Mexican drug cartels, which were designated as terrorist organizations by Trump on his first day in office and reportedly engaging in espionage efforts aimed at giving Trump leverage in trade negotiations. According to an aide to Ratcliffe, this could include spying on Mexico's government during ongoing trade disputes. Trump administration officials have made no secret of the broader purpose behind the buyouts, framing them as more than just a downsizing effort. The administration sees them as a way to push out those unwilling to align with Trump's agenda. A CIA spokesperson described the move to the New York Post as an effort to, quote, infuse the agency with renewed energy. Well, that's one way to put it. During its confirmation hearing last month, Ratcliffe pledged to make the CIA more aggressive in both espionage and covert operations, particularly against China and international drug cartels. Ratcliffe stated to lawmakers, quote, to the brave agency officers listening around the world, if all of that sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference. Adding, quote, if it doesn't, well, then it's time to find a new line of work. End quote. For now, it remains unclear whether other intelligence agencies within the 18 agency intelligence community will follow suit with similar buyout programs. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 5 February. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me@pdbhfirsttv.com and of course, as you may already know, to listen to the show ad free. Well, it's simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting pdbpremium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. It.