The President's Daily Brief
February 21st, 2025: U.S. Green Berets Deploy To Mexico & Russia Pushes NATO Withdrawal
21 Feb 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: U.S. Army Green Berets are in Mexico, training the country’s Naval Infantry Marines—what this rare mission says about deepening security ties between Washington and Mexico City. Russia is demanding NATO withdraw from Eastern Europe as a condition for peace talks with the U.S. What’s behind this latest push, and how are European allies responding? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders the Pentagon to slash billions from its budget over the next five years. What programs are on the chopping block, and what does it mean for U.S. military readiness? And in today’s Back of the Brief: President Trump signs an executive order cutting off taxpayer-funded support for illegal immigration. We break down what’s in it and what happens next. 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
Full Episode
It's Friday, 21 February. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start today's show with the deployment of U.S. Army Green Beret in Mexico, where they're training the country's Marines. Now, the Mexican Marines are probably the most trusted and respected element of the Mexican military and law enforcement.
The move shows a deepening security cooperation—at least, that's how it appears— between Washington and Mexico City. Later in the show, Russia is demanding, oh, they're demanding, that NATO pull back from Eastern Europe. That's one of its conditions for peace talks with the U.S. We'll tell you what's behind the latest threats.
I mean, aside from Putin's hubris and the belief that he's negotiating with the U.S. apparently from a position of strength. Plus, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering the Pentagon to cut billions from its budget over the next five years.
And in today's Back of the Brief, President Trump signs an executive order slamming the brakes on taxpayer-funded programs that support illegal immigration. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
Today, we're kicking things off with a story that might not have grabbed headlines this week, but it's a big one when it comes to the growing trend of America's military involvement in the fight against Mexican drug cartels. Earlier this week, a group of U.S. Army Green Beret arrived in Mexico at the request of Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum. Their mission? To train Mexico's Marines.
And this wasn't just a random decision. The arrival of the Green Beret had the full backing of Mexico's Senate, which unanimously approved the move. Eleven Green Beret from the 7th Special Forces Group will be in Mexico from 17 February through the end of March, training the Mexican Navy's Marine infantry on combat tactics, both conventional and unconventional.
They've arrived fully armed, but their role, at least now, is strictly advisory. Now, this is nothing new for the 7th Special Forces Group. These Green Berets have a long history of operations in Latin America, having participated in missions in Panama, Peru, and Ecuador. While it's a training mission for now, it does reflect the increasing militarization of efforts by the U.S.
to tackle the drug cartels. The U.S. Special Operations Command described the mission as part of, quote, normal routine preplanned military training, end quote, with the Mexican Marines as part of the longstanding defense cooperation between the two countries. Now, while the Special Ops Command is framing this as routine, the backdrop on which it's occurring is, frankly, anything but.
While the Green Berets are only there to train, some voices inside the Mexican government are calling for more direct military involvement. Senator Lili Tellez from Mexico's Conservative National Action Party has argued that Mexico should go beyond welcoming U.S. advisers. She suggests that Mexico should invite U.S. military forces to assist in fighting organized crime on Mexican soil.
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