The President's Daily Brief
January 26th, 2026: Iran Chemical Weapons Claims & Minneapolis Shooting Fallout
26 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Monday, the 26th of January. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, if you said to yourself, looks like Mike's back on the road, you'd be right. Coming to you this morning from some nondescript airport somewhere. All right, let's get briefed.
Chapter 2: What are the latest reports about chemical weapons used in Iran?
First up, new reports out of Iran suggest that the regime may have deployed chemical agents against protesters, raising serious questions about how far Tehran is willing to go to crush dissent. I'll have the details.
Later in the show, we'll break down the latest developments from Minneapolis, where a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man during the immigration crackdown, leading to more calls for the federal law enforcement to leave the state. Plus, the trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. have wrapped up with leaders projecting optimism, but little tangible progress.
Well, of course, hope is the thing with feathers. And in today's back of the brief, President Trump claims a secret weapon, apparently not really secret anymore, which he called the, quote, discombobulator. I'm not making that up. And he claims it was decisive in the raid that captured Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.
Now, if I'm not mistaken, I believe the original discombobulator, it first appeared in one of the Austin Power movies. I may be wrong on that. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We're tracking new reports out of Iran that suggest the regime may have outdone itself in its brutal crackdown on protesters.
According to multiple accounts and officials in the United Kingdom, Tehran's security forces may have used lethal chemical agents against demonstrators. It's an allegation that, if confirmed, would mark a major escalation in the regime's use of force against its own people.
Witnesses and medical sources describe symptoms that go far beyond what you'd expect from standard riot control agents like tear gas. Protesters reportedly experienced severe respiratory distress, sudden collapse, and prolonged breathing complications, effects that raised immediate alarms among outside observers.
In some cases, victims required urgent medical care, while others described lingering symptoms hours after exposure. Sources even alleged delayed health reactions that led to deaths of those exposed days later. Footage captured during one protest appeared to show security personnel wearing full hazmat suits and protective masks. positioned atop military vehicles moving through city streets.
And that's an image that has only added to concerns about what may have been deployed by the regime. Now, it's important to be clear here. These are reports from the ground, but access inside Iran remains tightly restricted. Independent verification is difficult, and the regime has offered no transparency.
I know, I too am shocked that the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard Corps have not been transparent about their brutal efforts to remain in power. But multiple outlets and analysts say the accounts are consistent enough and serious enough that they warrant close international scrutiny.
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Chapter 3: What happened during the fatal shooting incident in Minneapolis?
officials have stressed deterrence and readiness rather than imminent action, but the posture itself sends a clear signal. At the same time, the regime remains defiant in the face of the U.S. buildup in the region. Iranian military commanders and senior officials have issued sharp warnings, vowing that any American strike would be met with a full-scale response.
State media continues to project confidence, emphasizing Iran's missile capabilities, regional proxy network, and readiness for confrontation. This dual posture, private precaution paired with public defiance, is familiar. Tehran wants to deter action by projecting strength, even as it quietly prepares for worst case scenarios.
The messaging is aimed as much at domestic audiences as it is at Washington. The regime wants to appear unshaken, unbowed and firmly in control. And finally, new reporting suggests that if a strike does occur, the U.S. may not be acting alone. According to regional reporting, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K. could provide support in the event of U.S. military action against Iran.
The nature of that support remains unclear, and none of the governments involved have publicly confirmed such plans. Taken together, though, these developments paint a picture of a regime under extraordinary strain, accused of extreme brutality at home, preparing for conflict with the U.S., and facing a shifting regional environment that may be less forgiving than in the past.
All right, coming up next, a fatal shooting in Minneapolis escalates tensions at home, and Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. conclude talks in Abu Dhabi, with little to show for them. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about security, specifically your online security, and to tell you about Delete.me.
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Chapter 4: How are federal law enforcement actions impacting Minneapolis protests?
A federal immigration operation in Minneapolis again turned deadly when a border patrol agent was forced to fire on a man during an armed encounter, sending tensions across the city soaring, fueling renewed protests for federal law enforcement to leave Minnesota. Here's what we know so far.
As we've been tracking here on the PDB, federal agents have been in Minneapolis for over a month now, carrying out what the Department of Homeland Security describes as an immigration enforcement operation. Federal agents on Saturday were operating in an area that has increasingly become a protest flashpoint, as demonstrations against ICE officers have flared in recent weeks.
Agents were in the middle of a targeted enforcement action when a crowd began to gather, adding pressure to an already tense scene. According to video and official accounts, that's when an individual, Alex Preti, entered the picture. He was near the agents as the operation unfolded, moving through a crowded environment where protesters and officers were already pushing against one another.
What had been a confrontational standoff quickly collapsed into seconds of chaos. Multiple videos from the scene show a close-quarter struggle unfolding amid the crowd. In multiple clips, officers can be heard shouting, quote, he's got a gun as Preti is forced to the ground.
An officer is then seen in one video reaching into Preti's waistband and pulling out a 9mm semi-automatic handgun the moment federal officials say the encounter became deadly. If you slow the footage down, it does appear that, as the weapon is retrieved by an ICE officer during the struggle, the gun's slide appears to move, suggesting that it may have discharged.
Seconds later, an agent fires multiple rounds at close range. The shots came with officers and bystanders just feet away. When the gunfire stops, Preti is motionless on the ground. DHS said Border Patrol agents were engaged in a federal arrest action already underway and not a random patrol. When Preti approached them armed with a handgun, two magazines and no ID.
However, there is video footage that appears to show Preti holding a phone, not a handgun. One does not look like the other. According to government's versions of events, officers attempted to disarm him, but he violently resisted. In what officials described was a dangerous confrontation, an agent fired what the department characterizes as, quote, defensive shots.
The officer who fired the fatal rounds was identified only as an eight year veteran of the Border Patrol. Within hours, authorities explained their response on the ground. Minnesota National Guard troops were deployed to assist local police with units sent both to the shooting site and a nearby federal building that's become a regular focal point for demonstrations.
Again, a bystander video obtained by the Associated Press shows Preti reaching for and holding a cell phone, not brandishing a weapon. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said police believe Preti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, something that's still under investigation.
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Chapter 5: What progress was made in the trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S.?
actively involved, and keeping talks from stalling out entirely. From Washington's side, officials close to the talks described the meetings as a new phase of constructive U.S. mediation. Advisors to President Trump came away sounding cautiously optimistic, saying the talks helped narrow gaps on the biggest sticking point, which, of course, is territorial control of eastern Ukraine.
It's worth pausing there because progress in this context doesn't mean a possible solution. It means positions that have been frozen for months, particularly on the Kremlin side, are at least being tested again. U.S. officials say it took months of quiet diplomacy to get Moscow and Kiev to agree to a trilateral format under American mediation.
The talks began on Friday and continued through Saturday. At times, U.S. mediators sat in joint sessions with both sides, and at other moments, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met directly without the Americans in the room. As for the negotiation teams, the U.S. delegation included, well, Trump advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and the commander of U.S.
European Command, General Grinkwich. Ukraine's delegation was led by Zelensky's chief of staff and included his national security adviser Rustem Umarov, along with the country's military chief of staff and other senior presidential advisers. Russia's delegation was led by Admiral Igor Kostykov, the chief of Russian military intelligence. According to U.S.
officials, the groundwork for these negotiations was laid early last week. As we discussed on the PDB, it began with Trump meeting with Zelensky and Davos, followed just hours later by a four-hour meeting in Moscow between Russian President Putin, Witkow and Kushner. But that Moscow meeting also underscored the ceiling on this process.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the discussions as extremely frank, saying a lasting settlement would be unlikely without resolving territorial issues, according to what he called the formula agreed in Anchorage, a reference to the August Putin Trump meeting in Alaska. Ushakov and Putin made clear that without addressing territory, there's no point in hoping for a settlement.
You may remember that ahead of the Alaska summit, the Kremlin demanded Ukrainian forces withdraw from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are not occupied by Russia. That's a demand that Kiev consistently rejects. After being briefed by his negotiating team, Zelensky said the talks again focused on possible parameters for ending the war and emphasized U.S.
oversight as a critical component of any agreement. Still, there was no rush to declare success. A Ukrainian official cautioned that while some progress had been made, it remains unclear whether Putin is prepared to give his negotiators any authority to strike a deal in the next meeting. So, in short, it's still too early to judge what tangible progress came out of the talks.
That same Ukrainian official said that if the next trilateral round moves things further along, discussions could eventually shift to Moscow or Kyiv, venues that have not hosted negotiations in years. And this is where the practical limits of the talks became clear.
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Chapter 6: What challenges are faced in reaching a peace agreement in Ukraine?
We'll have those details. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, it is 2026. You knew that, of course. Now, with the New Year, did you make any New Year's resolutions, right? I made a few, and I think the most important one that I made was to get better sleep every night. Yeah, because sleep is basically the foundation for the rest of your day.
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In today's Back of the Brief, we're learning a bit more about the confirmed use of the secret weapon President Trump says helped U.S. forces capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, Trump confirmed that a classified system known as the, quote, discombobulator was unleashed as U.S.
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Chapter 7: What secret weapon did Trump claim was used against Maduro?
The guard said defenders were then hit by what he struggled to describe, something that felt less like a conventional weapon and more like an overwhelming physical force. He said, quote, It was like a very intense sound wave. It felt like my head was exploding from the inside.
He claimed several regime guards suffered nosebleeds, nausea, and severe disorientation, leaving them unable to stand or respond as U.S. forces secured the complex, possibly with the help of the dreaded discombobulator. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Monday, the 26th of January. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com.
And hopefully, you had the chance to catch the latest episode of our extended weekend show. That's the PDB Situation Report. Daniel DiMartino, Venezuelan analyst from the Manhattan Institute, along with author and China analyst Gordon Chang, joined the show to talk all things Venezuela and China. You can catch it and past episodes on our YouTube channel.
Just head on over to YouTube and search up at President's Daily Brief. It's also available, of course, on all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today, still from the road, with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe. Stay cool.