The President's Daily Brief
February 26th, 2025: The Kremlin Pushes Back On President Trump & North Korea’s $1.5 Billion Crypto Heist
26 Feb 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The Kremlin contradicts President Trump, stating that Russia has not dropped its opposition to peacekeeping forces in Ukraine—despite Trump’s claim to the contrary. We’ll break down the latest diplomatic friction. The U.S. turns up the heat on Iran, as the State and Treasury Departments reinstate 'maximum pressure' sanctions on Tehran’s shadowy oil trade. What does this mean for the regime? North Korean hackers have reportedly pulled off the biggest crypto heist in history—stealing $1.5 billion from one of the world’s largest exchanges. Experts warn the stolen funds could fuel Pyongyang’s weapons programs. And in today’s Back of the Brief, a mysterious illness in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 50 people. Some of the victims reportedly fell ill after eating a bat—health officials are scrambling for answers. 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 Wednesday, 26 February. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Coming to you from on the road, and it looks like I'm in St. Louis, the great town of St. Louis, where I had the terrific opportunity to speak to the YPO chapter of St. Louis. They have a terrific bunch of people, all extremely well representing the great town of St. Louis.
So there you have it. There's the latest. You've been briefed. Oh, wait. No, you haven't. Let's get briefed. We'll start things off today with the Kremlin contradicting President Trump. Moscow says it has not dropped its opposition to peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, despite Trump's claim to the contrary.
Seems that there's still a ways to go before the White House and the Kremlin are on the same page. But to be fair, well, the White House and the Kremlin have never been on the same page. Later in the show, the U.S. is turning up the heat on Iran. The state and treasury departments have reinstated what are referred to as maximum pressure sanctions on Tehran's shadowy oil trade.
We'll look at what this means for the regime. Plus, North Korean hackers have reportedly pulled off the biggest crypto heist in history, stealing 1.5 billion, that's with a B, from one of the world's largest exchanges. and experts warn that the stolen funds could fuel Pyongyang's weapons programs. We'll take a look at how Kim Jong-un's minions pulled off the caper.
And in today's back of the brief, not to be alarming, but a mysterious illness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC, has killed more than 50 people. Health officials are scrambling for answers, and reports say some of the victims fell ill after eating a bat. Okay, so there's one health advisory, quit eating bats. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
President Trump is facing some pushback from Moscow over his claims that Vladimir Putin is ready to accept the deployment of a European peacekeeping coalition to Ukraine, suggesting that a deal to secure an end to the war may still be far off. As a brief refresher, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have recently been championing a plan
to send a contingent of European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event that a ceasefire deal is reached in order to enforce its terms and deter future Russian aggression.
Just last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated flatly that the Kremlin would not support the deployment of any NATO troops, regardless of what flag they're operating under, calling the scenario, quote, unacceptable. Well, that seems fairly clear.
But on Monday, during a press conference in the Oval Office alongside Macron, Trump confidently asserted that Putin was on board with the concept, telling reporters, Yeah, he'll accept that. I specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it." Well, hmm, not so fast, said the Kremlin.
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