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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 21st, 2025: Gabbard: Obama Admin Engaged In 'Treasonous Conspiracy' Against Trump & Ukrainian Defenses Buckle Under Russian Drone Attacks
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Mike Baker
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Unknown
Foreign.
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Mike Baker
It's Monday, the 21st of July. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get brief. First up this afternoon, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accuses former President Barack Obama and senior U.S. national security officials of engaging in a, quote, treasonous conspiracy after the 2016 election by manufacturing intelligence claiming that Russia helped secure President Trump's first term victory. That, of course, became a multi year collusion narrative that much of the media was only too happy to pick up and run with. As it turns out, the real collusion was between much of the media and the progressives and never Trumpers who are pushing the fable. Later in the show, Russia unleashes another massive drone and missile attack on a dozen Ukrainian cities, leaving at least two dead, raising concerns that Ukraine's air defenses may be on the verge of getting overwhelmed. We'll have those details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll begin in the US Where a potentially massive political scandal potentially is brewing after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the former Obama administration of engaging in a coup against President Trump following the 2016 presidential election. Now, Gabbard made the bombshell claims on Friday after declassifying a series of documents revealing what she describes as, quote, overwhelming evidence that Immediately following Trump's 2016 victory, then President Barack Obama and his national security team quote, manufactured and politicized intelligence to establish the Trump Russia collusion narrative. Gabbard, who called the matter a, quote, treasonous conspiracy, sent the documents to the Department of Justice and referred the individuals involved for prosecution. That's according to an exclusive report from Fox News. Essentially, Gabbard contends that the Obama administration deliberately manipulated intelligence to deceive the American public into believing that Russia helped Trump win the presidency. So how did the DNI reach this explosive conclusion? Well, first she points to documents that reveal in the months before and after the 2016 election, the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia was not trying to influence the election through cyber means. For example, a declassified memo from Then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, issued on 7 December 2016, concluded, quote, Foreign adversaries did not use cyber attacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome, end quote. Well, that's fairly straightforward, you would think. Then there's a declassified copy of the President's daily brief. Not, not this pdb, not your favorite podcast. I'm talking about the actual PDB that's produced for the President. Anyway, that one dated from 8th of December 2016 that included a roundup of assessments from across the intelligence community. That PDB brief noted that while Russia and other criminal actors attempted some low level hacks of voter registration datab cases in Illinois, the cyber activity, quote, did not impact recent U.S. election results. The brief added that the criminal activity, quote, failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes and was probably intended to cause psychological effects to undermine confidence in the democratic process. But while that brief was expected to be published on 9th December 2016, communications show that Clapper's office interceded, quote, based on some new guidance to push back the publication date. Oh, the following day, President Obama convened a meeting in the White House situation room attended by Clapper, then CIA Director John Brennan, then National Security Adviser Susan Rice, then Secretary of State John Kerry, then Attorney General Loretta lynch, and then Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Well, that's quite the gathering. According to a declassified record of the meeting, President Obama, in contradiction of the intelligence to date, ordered the intelligence community to create a new assessment detailing the, quote, tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election. Soon after, Gabbard says that Obama officials, quote, leaked false statements to media outlets establishing the narrative that Russia actively influenced the outcome of the 2016 election. A new intelligence assessment was then released on 6 January 2017 from Clapper's office that Gabbard said, quote, directly contradicted the intelligence community assessments that were made throughout the previous six months. Current intelligence officials say the report was clearly politicized as it purposely suppressed intelligence showing that Moscow lacked intent and capability to hack the election. The officials added that knowingly false statements were included in the new assessment to deceive the American public. Most notably, it claimed that the IC had made no previous assessments on the impact of Russian activities when the intel community had in fact previously assessed the impact, such as in that unpublished PDB from December. The new assessment also definitively stated that Russia was behind the hack and leak of DNC data in the run up to the election, but failed to acknowledge that the FBI and the NSA had previously expressed, quote, low confidence in that conclusion. Complicating matters further, the new assessment was largely based on intelligence that was known by those involved to be manufactured or deemed not credible, such as the infamous Steele dossier. The impact that this had on Trump's first term presidency, Gabbard alleges, is hard to quantify. Officials with Gabbard's DNI said this non credible intelligence, which was then leaked to the media to stoke a false narrative, was, was used to try to delegitimize President Trump's victory, leading, of course, to the Mueller investigation, two congressional impeachments and high level officials being investigated, arrested and jailed. Gabbard said this is not a, quote, partisan issue, but an egregious abuse of power that threatens the foundations of democracy. Gabbard continued, quote, the information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the president. Now, as I mentioned, Gabbard has referred those involved to the DOJ for prosecution. The news comes less than two weeks after the FBI opened a criminal investigation into Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey over their roles in the Trump Russia probe, including allegations that Brennan may have lied to Congress. Next up, Russia intensifies their attacks by unleashing another massive drone and missile barrage on Kyiv and a dozen other Ukrainian cities. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. I want to take just a few moments of your time to talk about your online security because that is a critically important subject. Look, right now you've probably noticed the headlines are chock full of data breach stories and regulatory rollback stories, and frankly, all those things can make us more vulnerable. 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Mike Baker
Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin for Ukraine. Russian drone strikes have become a near nightly ritual and the latest barrage from Sunday into Monday left two dead and exposed cracks in Ukraine's air defenses. Officials warn this may be just the beginning, with some predicting Russia aims to launch up to 2,000 drones a night. According to Ukraine's air force, Russia launched 450 drones and missiles overnight. Most were intercepted, but 23 slipped through, sending wreckage raining down on at least a dozen cities nationwide. Air raid alerts were issued. And in Kyiv alone, alarms rang out for eight hours straight. One person was killed and six were injured in the capital, where fires tore through rooftops and a supermarket in the city's southeastern district. Ukrainian President Zelensky called the assault, quote, an attack on humanity, noting the damage to a kindergarten and multiple residential buildings. In Kharkiv, the city's northern district was pounded by 12 drones and missiles, igniting fires near apartment blocks, tearing up roads, tram lines and power cables. The overnight strike wasn't just heavy, it was also sophisticated. Ukrainian officials say Russia used a mix of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, all designed to punch holes in even the most advanced defense systems. As we've been tracking here on the pdb, the overnight strikes come amid a surge in long range Russian aerial attacks in recent weeks following what Kyiv officials earlier this month called the largest drone and missile assault of the war. A night involving some 728 drones and 13 missiles. But Ukraine has not remained idle. Over the weekend, Ukrainian drones reached deep into Russian territory, disrupting flight operations at Moscow's airports. Russian officials stated they shot down at least 49 drones between Friday and Monday. Even as the violence escalates, Zelensky once again called for peace talks, saying Ukraine was ready to, quote, do everything to reach a deal. Now. The Kremlin responded with its usual terms, openness to negotiations, but only if Kyiv agrees to Moscow's, quote, main goals. That's basically code for sweeping territorial demands that Ukraine has consistently rejected. Behind the scenes, however, military analysts are warning that Ukraine's air defenses may be on the verge of getting overwhelmed. An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War flagged a sharp rise in Russia's use of Iranian made shahed drones, up 31% in both June and July. If the current trend continues, Russia could be capable of launching some 2,000 drones in a single night by November. For context, in 2024, that was the average number fired over an entire month. So this isn't just a worst case scenario. It's one that Ukrainian commanders are actively preparing for. And while ISW analysts believe sustaining that tempo long term is unlikely, the direction of travel is clear. Moscow's drone program is scaling up fast. Recent satellite imagery shows Russia has doubled its domestic drone production footprint since 2023. Western intelligence believes Chinese sourced components are flowing in. Keeping, of course, the Russian war machine humming. Ukraine's air defense teams, equipped with everything from US Made Patriot systems to truck mounted machine guns to homemade interceptor drones, are bracing for what comes next. But defending against swarms of drones. Well, is one thing. Doing it while also fending off volleys of ballistic missiles is another. Keefe is continuing their campaign to convince Washington to rapidly send more Patriot systems before the attacks become overwhelming. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday 21st July. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and of course, if you'd like to listen to the show ad free, well, we can make that happen for you. All you have to do is become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's. Let's talk personal finances. Let me ask you an intriguing question. What if you could delay your next two mortgage payments? Right. I told you it was intriguing. Imagine taking those two payments and putting them in your pocket and finally getting a little breathing room. Well, it is possible when you call American Financing Today. Look, if you're feeling stretched by everyday expenses, grocery bills, auto payments, other bills piling up, well, you're not alone. And the truth is many Americans are putting those expenses on credit cards. And for many, there doesn't seem to be a way out. 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