The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 6th, 2025: Ex-CIA Chief: Biden Armed Ukraine to Bleed—Not to Win & Israel Takes The Gloves Off Against Yemen's Houthis
Tue, 06 May 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, a veteran CIA station chief just offered some harsh criticism for the former Biden administration regarding the war in Ukraine, saying the former president sorely miscalculated with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, giving Kyiv enough weapons to “bleed” but not to win. The result, he says, was condemning Ukraine to fighting a drawn out, meat grinder war with no end in sight. Later in the show—Israel is taking the gloves off with the Iranian-back Houthis, unleashing a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday, including a strike on the country’s main airport. The latest actions are a direct retaliation for Sunday’s missile strike on Tel Aviv’s international airport by the Houthis, which injured several people. 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 Jacked Up Fitness: Go to https://GetJackedUp.com and use code BAKER at checkout to save 10% off your entire purchase DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you text PDB to 64000. Message and data rates apply Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for May 6th, 2025 about?
It's Tuesday, the 6th of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.
Chapter 2: How did a veteran CIA chief criticize the Biden administration's approach to Ukraine?
First up, a veteran CIA station chief just offered up some harsh criticism for the former Biden administration regarding the war in Ukraine, saying that the former president badly miscalculated the situation, giving Kiev enough weapons to, quote, bleed, but not to win. The result, he says, was condemning Ukraine to fighting a drawn-out meat grinder war with no end in sight.
Later in the show, Israel unleashed a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday, including a strike on the country's main airport. The latest actions are a direct retaliation for Sunday's missile strike by the Houthis on Tel Aviv's international airport, which injured several people. In a late-breaking development, President Trump has now said that the U.S.
Chapter 3: What actions has Israel taken against Yemen's Houthis?
will stop its two-month-old bombing campaign against the Houthis, claiming that the rebel group is, quote, capitulated and will stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
A decorated six-time former CIA station chief is airing his unvarnished thoughts on America's foreign policy failures regarding the war in Ukraine, and his assessment paints a rather damning portrait of the former Biden administration's strategy towards Vladimir Putin.
Chapter 4: What insights did Ralph Goff share on US foreign policy failures in Ukraine?
In a recent interview with Britain's The Times, Ralph Goff, a veteran intelligence officer who spent more than 30 years in CIA operations, said the U.S. gravely misjudged Putin's military threats towards the West in the early days of the war, essentially letting the Russian leader dictate the terms of the conflict.
He said President Biden and his allies were guided by a misplaced fear of nuclear escalation, which prevented them from giving Ukraine the advanced weaponry and equipment they needed to defeat Putin's forces when the war first broke out.
Essentially, Goff argues that the Biden administration felt that if Putin thought he was losing the war, he would, quote, go nuclear, a risk that he said was severely overblown. This led to a deliberate strategy of giving Ukraine just enough weapons to fight, but not enough to turn the tables on Moscow.
In truth, Goff said Putin was simply engaging in empty saber rattling with his nuclear threats, gambling that Western leaders would be too intimidated to push back. And, well, frankly, it appears that Putin was right. Goff said, quote, they allowed themselves to be bamboozled by Vladimir Putin and his nuclear saber rattling.
So they gave the Ukrainians this weaponry, but they never gave them enough to win. They only gave them enough to bleed, end quote. And yes, bamboozled is a technical CIA term. According to the Times report, it's a frustration shared by many in the Western intelligence community and even at the heart of the U.S. and U.K. governments, but not one that officials dare to voice publicly.
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Chapter 5: How did Western leaders misjudge Putin's nuclear threats?
But for Goff, this frustration goes back much further, back to the winter of 2014 when Russian forces first captured Crimea. At the time, Goff was based in Langley, serving as the CIA's chief of operations for Europe and Eurasia.
He says that he attempted to warn his superiors and decision-makers in Washington that Putin's capture of Crimea signaled the beginning of something much worse, but he said he was largely ignored.
Goff told the Times, quote, I was trying to ring the alarm bell that the seeds of World War III are being sown in the Donbass right now, and we need to do something about it, but there were other priorities, end quote. Goff says that Western leaders severely underestimated the growing threat from Russian expansionism, emboldening Putin, who read the lack of strong response from the U.S.
and their European allies as weakness. Ultimately, he argues that the West's soft approach to Putin led directly to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Still, he said, the U.S. and Europe could have dealt Putin a decisive blow if they'd been willing to throw their full military support behind Kiev instead of just offering empty platitudes about defending democracy.
Goff told the Times, "...had we equipped the Ukrainians at the time with proper weaponry, they might have been able to drive the Russians all the way out of the country. It didn't happen. It set the stage for this long, protracted, drawn-out, meat-grinder war that we're witnessing today." End quote.
As our longtime listeners here at the PDB are well aware, Putin and other Kremlin officials have made repeated nuclear threats since the invasion, particularly any time the Biden administration and NATO leaders were discussing giving Kyiv more advanced weaponry and loosening the restrictions on using them inside Russian territory.
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Chapter 6: What is the future outlook for US-Russia relations under the Trump administration?
The threats always appeared to work, prompting the Biden White House to back down and revert to mere rhetorical support for Kyiv. It wasn't until November of 2024 that then-President Biden relented and approved the use of advanced U.S.-made long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia, but by then, Goff said it was too little, too late.
Regarding the Trump administration, Goff sees more reason for cautious optimism. He says Putin, as a former intelligence officer, thinks he can manipulate Trump, but he predicts he'll end up, quote, sorely mistaken. Goff said, quote, Putin will eventually overplay his hand with the administration and show them where the problem lies. And the problem is in Moscow, not Kiev.
Goff retired from the CIA in October of 2023 and has since spent a considerable amount of time in Ukraine advising government and intelligence officials. He's also attempting to persuade American companies to invest in Ukraine's long-term future. He told the Times, End quote. Well, frankly, Goff is correct in his assessment of how the U.S. and the EU have engaged in this conflict.
They never approached this as an effort to defeat Russia. That, in their minds, of course, was a bridge too far. The mindset from the beginning was, we'll support Ukraine in the invaded country's effort to defend itself, but we're not engaged in action against Russia. Coming up next, Israel unleashes a second wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday. I'll be right back.
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Chapter 7: What fitness advice does Mike Baker offer to listeners?
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