The President's Daily Brief
January 19th, 2026: U.S. Deploys Bombers Toward Iran & American Forces Kill ISIS Leader In Syria
19 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What military actions is the U.S. taking in the Middle East?
It's Monday, the 19th of January. 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. First up, major U.S. military moves are now underway in the Middle East, with bombers, carriers, and missile systems being deployed amid rising tensions with Iran. I'll have the details. Later in the show, the U.S.
launches a third retaliatory strike in Syria, taking out a militant leader tied to an ISIS ambush that killed three Americans last month. Plus, new documents reveal that Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has been monitored by U.S. drug agents for years, highlighting her central role in the regime's alleged criminal networks.
And in today's back of the brief, President Trump announces escalating tariffs on Denmark and other European nations as he pushes for a deal to acquire Greenland. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. The U.S. is repositioning military assets across the Middle East. Over the past 48 hours, reporting indicates that U.S. strategic bombers have landed at Diego Garcia, the joint U.S.-U.K.
base in the Indian Ocean. Now, Diego Garcia isn't just another airstrip. It has the lengthy runways designed to support heavy strategic aircraft, including B-2-class bombers. At the same time, open-source tracking of regional air traffic shows more than a dozen U.S.-heavy military transport aircraft flying towards the Gulf region in just the past two days.
Now, these are logistics aircraft, moving munitions and medical and support equipment. In other words, the less visible but essential pieces of any significant operation. Reports also indicate that non-essential American and British personnel have been evacuated from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. That's a precaution that you'd normally take when you're preparing for potential retaliation.
At the same time, the U.S. military has reinforced Patriot and THAAD missile defense batteries across several Gulf states. Again, not for messaging, but for protection against an expected response. Put all of that together and you're looking at a familiar pattern. This is exactly what you would expect to see if the U.S. were preparing for the possibility of an air campaign in the Middle East.
Now, this obviously didn't start just today. On Friday, we told you the U.S. is moving a carrier strike group toward the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln is already underway and expected to reach operational position in about a week. Carrier aviation adds another layer, sea-based strike power, intelligence collection capabilities, and flexibility.
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Chapter 2: How did American forces respond to the ISIS ambush in Syria?
And against that backdrop, the war of words between Washington and Tehran has been heating up again, despite what appeared to be a brief detente last week. This weekend, President Trump openly called for an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 37-year reign. In an interview with Politico, the president said, "...it's time to look for new leadership in Iran."
Trump added that the best decision Khamenei ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago. That's a reference to the canceled, or at least delayed, mass executions of protesters that the regime was reportedly planning last week. Khamenei has responded to Trump in kind. Khamenei's ex-account posted a series of hostile messages aimed at Trump, accusing the U.S.
president of being responsible for deadly violence and unrest in Iran. Khamenei, or whomever is in charge of his ex, and I think also he has a TikTok account, stated, quote, We find the U.S.
Chapter 3: What new information has emerged about Venezuela's Delcy Rodríguez?
president guilty due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation. The Ayatollah also branded Trump a criminal. And that brings us to a key development. Iranian officials are now acknowledging a death toll of at least 5,000 people as a result of their crackdown on protesters. That number is significant for a couple of reasons.
First, it's substantially higher than many Western estimates had been, which had placed the toll closer to 2,500. Second, if the regime in Tehran is willing to admit to 5,000 deaths, well, the real number could likely be higher. This is also the first time Ayatollah Khamenei himself has publicly acknowledged the scale of the killings.
Now, when regimes admit mass casualties, they're often doing two things at once. They're locking in their version of events, and they're preparing the ground for what may come next. In this case, Iranian authorities are already signaling that the judiciary may pursue harsh punishments, including executions, against those they accuse of fueling the unrest.
The Iranian regime is, of course, under internal pressure, publicly acknowledging bloodshed on a massive scale and escalating its rhetoric against Washington. The U.S., meanwhile, is moving the kinds of military assets you reposition when you want credible, executable options.
Chapter 4: What tariffs has President Trump announced on European nations?
None of this means that a strike is inevitable, but the infrastructure, for one, is being quietly assembled. Well, not so quietly. And that may tell us where the decision-making process is heading. All right, coming up next, a third U.S. strike in Syria targets a terrorist leader tied to an ambush that killed three Americans.
Plus, new reporting shows Venezuela's Delce Rodriguez has been on the DEA's radar for years. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, let me take just a moment of your time to talk about personal finances and financial goals. Look, if you're a homeowner, there is no better time than now to call the folks over at American Financing and wipe out that debt that you may have been worried about.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the U.S. military repositioning in the Middle East?
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military went back to work in Syria, carrying out a third round of retaliatory airstrikes that killed a senior al-Qaeda-linked terrorist tied to the December ambush that left three Americans dead. U.S. Central Command says the strike eliminated Bilal Hassin al-Jassim in northwest Syria.
He's a terrorist that officials describe as directly connected to the Islamic State gunman behind the 13th of December ambush in the ancient city of Palmyra. You may remember that attack killed two U.S. service members and an American civilian interpreter. And the way the military is framing it, this strike is about continued accountability.
You can hear that message in how CENTCOM commander General Brad Cooper talks about it. He told ABC News, quote, There's no safe place for those who conduct, plot, or inspire attacks on American citizens and our warfighters. We will find you, end quote. That December lone ISIS gunman ambush carried added weight inside the Pentagon. It marked the first U.S.
combat deaths since President Trump returned to office. The two service members killed were Iowa National Guard soldiers, Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres Tovar and Sergeant William Howard. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, the response that followed wasn't limited to one strike. The U.S. launched a broader campaign in Syria under an operation known as Hawkeye Strike –
named in honor of the fallen Iowa soldiers. According to CENTCOM, the operation has included multiple large-scale strikes carried out with U.S. partners, hitting more than 100 Islamic State weapons depots, logistics hubs, and infrastructure sites across the country, resulting in dozens of terrorist deaths and captures. U.S.
officials have said the campaign is still ongoing as part of a wider effort to dismantle terrorist infrastructure networks in Syria, particularly the Islamic State, before they can regroup or strike again. And much like the previous strikes, the latest U.S.
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