The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 29th, 2025: Trump Axes $50 Million For Condoms In Gaza & Ukraine Gets Major Delivery Of Patriot Missile Interceptors
29 Jan 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, as they work to trim waste across government agencies, the Trump administration has pulled $50 million dollars in taxpayer funding allegedly earmarked by the Biden administration for condoms in Gaza. Then, following months of tense negotiations, the U.S. military is transferring 90 Patriot missile interceptors from storage in Israel to Ukraine, marking the single largest delivery of weapons from Jerusalem to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion nearly three years ago. 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, 29 January. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get ourselves briefed. First, as they work to trim waste across government agencies, the Trump administration has pulled $50 million in taxpayer funding allegedly earmarked by the previous administration for the distribution of condoms in Gaza.
This is clearly a story that needs investigating. Then, following months of tense negotiations, the U.S. military is transferring 90 Patriot missile interceptors from storage in Israel to Ukraine, marking the single largest delivery of weapons from Jerusalem to Kiev since Russia's invasion nearly three years ago. But first, our afternoon spotlight.
And I know based on the tease that you're keen to get to our afternoon spotlight. The Trump administration's decision to temporarily freeze foreign aid has drawn attention to a rather bizarre use of taxpayer funds. And that, of course, would be the condoms for the people of Gaza.
K, the Trump White House claimed Tuesday that the Biden administration had earmarked tens of millions of dollars for a condom distribution program in the Gaza Strip, an expenditure that was reportedly discovered during a review by Elon Musk's new Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.
At the first official White House press briefing of Trump's second term, Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters that Doge, "...found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars going out the door to fund condoms in Gaza."
She called it a, quote, preposterous waste of taxpayer money and an example of the kind of rampant excesses, well, that's true, that the Trump administration is trying to purge from U.S. foreign aid programs. Levitt added, quote, that's what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars. Officials with the former Biden administration were quick to hit back at those allegations.
Andrew Miller, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs under Biden, told the Times of Israel that the White House's claims were a, quote, "...feverish dream." He claimed that while it was possible that $50 million was set aside for, quote, sexual health or something of that nature, it was not going towards condoms alone.
Ah, see, you have to really pay attention to what they say. So they did have a Johnny's for Gaza program, just maybe not totaling all $50 million. That, of course, would be called splitting hairs. The Trump administration has stood by their claim and said the planned spending has officially been axed.
It's worth noting, strange as it might sound, that the condom issue potentially has real-world consequences for the security of Israel. According to a report from Fox News, in 2020, militants in Gaza used scores of condoms to create IED-carrying balloons that were then floated into southern Israel. causing panic on schoolyards and farmlands and highways.
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