March 19th, 2025: What Trump Said To Putin & Houthi Rebels Remain Defiant
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What were the key points from Trump's call with Putin?
It's Wednesday, the 19th of March. 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 things off with the high-stakes call between President Trump and Russian President Putin. Now, the two spoke for at least 90 minutes yesterday, discussing an end to the war in Ukraine and agreeing to kick off negotiations straight away. We've got the details. Later in the show, Yemen's Houthi rebels are doubling down on attacks in the Red Sea, refusing to back off despite U.S. airstrikes and pressure from Iran, or I should say supposed pressure from Iran. Now, there's a chance, mind you, that the Houthi rebels might have an outsized opinion of their capabilities. Plus, Chinese state media is cheering the U.S. White House's move to cut funding for U.S.-backed news outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. We'll discuss why Beijing sees it as a win and what it means for America's reach abroad. And here's a pro tip.
If the Chinese regime is crowing approval about something that a U.S. administration is doing, well, it may not actually be in the best interests of the U.S., And in today's back of the brief, after more than nine months in space, two NASA astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station since last June have made it back to Earth. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll begin with President Trump's call with Vladimir Putin as the U.S. president presses forward on his attempts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine, despite Keeb's skepticism over the Russian strongman's motivations and intentions. The pair spoke for at least 90 minutes on Tuesday, a conversation that President Trump described as a, quote, very good and productive one.
They agreed to commence negotiations at a neutral site in the Middle East for a comprehensive peace deal immediately, though the pathway forward still remains uncertain. In the interim, however, Putin said he agreed to a more limited ceasefire that will halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days, provided that leaders in Kyiv reciprocate. So, frankly, not really a ceasefire, just an agreement that in the course of waging war on Ukraine, Putin won't target power plants. According to our report from Axios, shortly after the call ended, Putin gave the order for the 30-day pause on power plants to be implemented. The Kremlin also said there'll be a prisoner swap on Wednesday with Ukraine involving 175 soldiers from each side and that Russia would also be returning 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers as a gesture of goodwill.
While it could be described in some circles as progress, the measures fall well short of the Trump administration's proposal for a full 30-day ceasefire, which Kiev endorsed but Putin rejected last week. Still, the 30-day pause on energy infrastructure attacks is similar to a previous Ukrainian proposal for a phased approach to peace. President Trump put an optimistic spin on the conversation in a post on Truth Social, saying there is, quote, an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire and ultimately an end to this very horrible war between Russia and Ukraine. We will hopefully, for the sake of humanity, get the job done, end quote. The major question is whether Putin, a dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer, is negotiating with Trump in good faith or simply biding his time at a moment when his forces have Ukraine on the back foot. Spoiler alert, if all you do is look at his track record, Putin has never negotiated in good faith.
As we discussed on Monday's program, Moscow's forces have all but expelled the Ukrainian military from the Russian Kursk region and are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine, and intelligence suggests the Kremlin may be preparing for an offensive push in northern Ukraine. Putin appears to feel that he has the upper hand in these negotiations and is already attempting to move the needle in a direction more favorable to the Kremlin's long-term strategic interests.
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