The President's Daily Brief
March 4th, 2025: Cartel Operatives Confess: ‘We Live In Fear’ & Trump Blasts Zelensky...Again
Tue, 04 Mar 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: As the U.S. and Mexico tighten their grip on the border, cartel henchmen are starting to panic. With the looming threat of American strikes inside Mexico, drug lords are scrambling—not just to protect their operations, but to save their own skin. The war of words between Ukrainian President Zelensky and President Trump escalates. After Zelensky’s latest remarks, Trump fired back, calling it, quote, “the worst statement he could have made.” Egypt unveils its vision for a post-war Gaza, aiming to sideline Hamas and install interim governing bodies backed by Arab, Muslim, and Western states. And in today’s Back of the Brief: The Trump administration has reportedly hit the brakes on offensive cyber operations against Russia. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the key topics discussed in this episode?
It's Tuesday for March. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. The war of words between Ukrainian President Zelensky and President Trump continues. After Zelenskys latest remarks, well, Trump fired back, calling it, quote, the worst statement he could have made.
Chapter 2: Why did Trump criticize Zelensky and what are the implications?
And, as if to emphasize that, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it would pause the ongoing delivery of military aid to Ukraine. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Ägypten hat ihre Vision für eine Post-Kriegs-Gaza entdeckt, um Hamas zu bewegen und Interim-Gewerkschaften zu installieren, die von Araben, Muslimen und westlichen Staaten gebackt sind. Wir haben diese Details.
Und in heute's Back of the Brief. Die Trump-Administration hat bemerkt, dass sie auf offizielle Cyber-Operationen gegen Russland aufgehoben hat. Aber zuerst, heute's PDB-Spotlight. The Trump administration announced on Monday that the U.S. will pause all military aid to Kyiv.
Chapter 3: How is the U.S. military aid to Ukraine being affected?
Now, details are scarce at this time, but it appears that the aid will be stopped while the White House decides if Ukrainian President Zelensky is making an actual effort toward peace negotiations with Russia. According to a Wall Street Journal report, a White House official stated, "...the President has been clear that he's focused on peace.
We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We're pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it contributes to a solution." Well, I guess you could argue that the lack of aid by pausing that aid will certainly contribute to a solution. And that would be eventually a Putin victory.
There were no details provided by the administration as to how, when or under what conditions the military aid could resume.
The Trump administration had already stopped the financing of new weapons sales to Kyiv prior to the rumble in the Oval Office on Friday last week, so this latest move on Monday, well, essentially shuts down any further shipments of military aid that had previously been in the works."
And in the wake of that contentious televised Oval Office meeting, Ukraine's President Zelensky followed up in Europe by further angering President Trump, warning that a deal to end the war with Russia remains, quote, very, very far away. Bevor er am Sonntag aus London führte, behauptete Zelensky, dass Kiews Beziehung mit den Vereinigten Staaten politische Veränderungen übernimmt.
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Chapter 4: What are the recent developments in U.S. relations with Ukraine?
Der ukrainische Führer sagte, ich denke, unsere Beziehung wird weitergehen, weil es mehr als eine offizielle Beziehung ist, beziehungsweise Washingtons steile Strecke der militärischen und finanziellen Beziehung in den letzten drei Jahren. Und das ist eine Strecke, wie eben erwähnt, die seit Montag gegrümmt ist.
However, Zelenskyy remains publicly optimistic that US aid will persist despite political turbulence, stating, quote, Ukraine has a strong enough partnership with the United States of America. His remarks followed a diplomatic swing through the United Kingdom, where he met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders to rally additional military and economic support.
European officials have been vocal in their pledges to continue backing Ukraine. But behind closed doors, some acknowledged a harsh reality. Long-term security in the region still hinges on American military power. While there's been discussion of British and French peacekeepers stepping in, should a peace settlement be reached, leaders made one thing clear. U.S.
air defense systems remain essential for deterring future Russian aggression. On Monday, in a post on Truth Social, responding to Zelenskys comment that the war's end could be very, very far away, Trump lashed out at Zelensky, slamming his bleak assessment of the war's endgame.
Trump posted, quote, This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer, end quote. Trump went further, outright accusing Zelensky of deliberately prolonging the conflict to secure ongoing US aid, stating, it is what I was saying, this guy doesn't want there to be peace as long as he has America's backing, end quote.
The President also took aim at European leaders for what he called a weak negotiating stance against Russia, ridiculing their candid admission that US military power remains indispensable. He wrote, quote, Although, Frankly, at this stage, neither the US nor Europe has explained what compromises, if any, Putin will need to make for peace. That itself would be a show of strength against Russia.
The White House has been fairly clear in stating what concessions they expect Ukraine to make for peace, but have not indicated if they expect Putin to make any concessions. Präsident Trump hat bereits bestätigt, dass er glaubt, dass die Ukraine keine Karten an der Negotiationsstelle hält, was bedeutet, dass Putin in der Position ist, den Pott zu bestätigen.
Nun, ich bin kein globaler Diplomat, aber ich wette, dass wenn man Putin alles, was er will, gibt, dann kann man sich einen Friedensvertrag bekommen. Alright, coming up next, we go south of the US border, as the Mexican government is ramping up operations against the cartels. Plus, Egypt unveils its plan to sideline Hamas in a post-war Gaza. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker hier.
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Chapter 5: What are the current challenges faced by Mexican drug cartels?
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Welcome back to the PDB. Let's turn our focus to south of the US border, where threats from the Trump administration and a renewed crackdown by Mexican authorities have the country's powerful drug lords reportedly fearing that their days could be numbered. As we've been tracking on the PDB, the Mexican government has been bringing the fight to drug cartels with renewed vigor in recent months.
While the campaign against the cartels kicked off after Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum took office last October, it intensified in February under pressure exerted by President Trump, who has demanded that they do more to combat illicit drug trafficking or face harsh trade tariffs.
Präsident Scheinbaum hat seitdem auf der Offensive gegangen, 10.000 Truppen im frühen Februar zu Städten und Städten auf der Grenze zu dispatieren, auch Kartell-Strongholds wie Juarez und hundreds mehr zu Sinaloa-Stadt, der Haupthub für Fentanyl-Traffik. Das ist according to our report from the New York Times.
A series of high-profile arrests, drug seizures and fentanyl lab busts have followed, striking a significant blow to the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel, the country's largest trafficking organization. Mexican officials say they've made some 900 arrests since the crackdown began late last fall and seized nearly as much fentanyl in the last five months as they did the entire previous year.
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Chapter 6: How is Mexico intensifying its fight against the cartels?
According to six cartel operatives who spoke exclusively to the New York Times, the cartels have now been forced to scale back fentanyl production in Sinaloa State, relocate drug labs to other parts of the country and in some areas temporarily shut down production altogether.
A security analyst based in Mexico City said, quote, Trump established a deadline and we're seeing the results of everything we could have seen in years being done in a month. He added, quote, the government is sending a message that when it really wants to, it can exert that kind of pressure, end quote.
The activity is reportedly striking fear in the heart of Mexico's top narcos, who say that for the first time in recent memory, well, they're genuinely afraid that they could be arrested or killed. One high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel that spoke to the Times said, "...you can't be calm, you can't even sleep, because you don't know when they'll catch you.
The most important thing now is just to survive." Security analysts told the paper that Mexico's cartels have not felt this level of scrutiny in decades, and cartel operatives agreed. Many said they're hastily selling properties and cutting their personnel to make up for the losses in their fentanyl trade.
Others, in a bid to protect their operations, are increasing illicit arms shipments from the U.S. and investing heavily in advanced equipment like scanners to detect American drones. The U.S. has been using advanced drones for more than a decade in partnership with Mexican authorities to surveil these criminal enterprises and track down their leadership.
But the Trump administration has drastically expanded their use. Zusätzlich zu ihren Gefühlen, diskutiert die Trump-Administration beruflich, direkt militärische Aktion gegen die Kartelle zu nehmen, nachdem sie sie als internationalen Terroristen-Organisationen im letzten Monat designiert haben.
Einige Kartellleute sind nun in Schmerzen und versuchen, Wege zu finden, um sich und ihre Familien von der Möglichkeit amerikanischer Militärstrikes in Mexiko zu schützen. The cartels were dealt another major blow last Thursday, when in a surprise announcement, the Mexican government agreed to extradite 29 high-profile cartel members to the US to face justice for their many crimes.
Among those extradited were the founders of the brutal Los Zetas criminal syndicate, known as one of Mexico's most dangerous drug cartels, as well as the former boss of the Juarez cartel.
Die Ausstattungen haben auch den notariellen Drogenherrn Rafael Caro Quintero, der seit vier Jahrzehnten von US-Mitgliedsstaaten gezwungen wurde, über seine Einwohnung in der Verbrechung, Zerstörung und Mord von DEA-Agent Enrique Kiki Camarena 1985. Quintero wurde am Freitag in einem Brooklyn Federal Court verurteilt, in dem er nicht schuldig war für Angelegenheiten, z.B.
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