Latest / The President's Daily Brief / September 11th, 2026: Iran’s Hidden China Trade Network Just Got Exposed & Ukraine Strikes Russia’s Arctic Gas Hub

Transcript

September 11th, 2026: Iran’s Hidden China Trade Network Just Got Exposed & Ukraine Strikes Russia’s Arctic Gas Hub · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Friday,
• 0:13
  the 11th of September,
• 0:15
  the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
• 0:18
  Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
• 0:20
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:21
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:24
  Alright,
• 0:25
  let's get briefed.
• 0:26
  First up,
• 0:26
  Reuters reveals how Iran used a billion dollars barter system
• 0:31
  with China
• 0:32
  to maintain a sanctions busting steady trade of Iranian oil for Chinese goods,
• 0:37
  including military equipment.
• 0:40
  Later in the show,
• 0:40
  British,
• 0:41
  Norwegian,
• 0:41
  and American forces disrupted a secret
• 0:44
  Russian submarine operation
• 0:46
  reportedly aimed at crippling NATO's undersea infrastructure.
• 0:50
  Plus
• 0:50
  Ukrainian drones are hitting Russia from the Arctic to the Black Sea,
• 0:54
  targeting key gas infrastructure
• 0:56
  and striking the resort city of Sochi.
• 0:59
  And in today's Back of the Brief,
• 1:01
  the long-running US case against Huawei has finally reached trial,
• 1:06
  with federal prosecutors accusing the Chinese tech giant.
• 1:09
  Of stealing American technology and operating as a criminal enterprise.
• 1:14
  But first,
• 1:15
  today's PDB spotlight.
• 1:17
  Iran reportedly found a way to turn sanctioned
• 1:20
  oil into billions of dollars' worth of Chinese goods
• 1:23
  without sending the money through the international banking system,
• 1:27
  and according to a new Reuters report,
• 1:29
  the arrangement has become an increasingly
• 1:31
  important financial lifeline for Tehran,
• 1:33
  one that sources say has also been used
• 1:36
  to obtain military supplies and equipment.
• 1:38
  The system is essentially a sophisticated form of barter trade.
• 1:42
  Iran sells oil to China,
• 1:44
  but instead of the proceeds being wired back to the
• 1:47
  regime through banks that are vulnerable to US sanctions,
• 1:50
  the money stays inside China.
• 1:53
  Iran receives credits against those oil sales
• 1:56
  and can then use those credits to pay Chinese companies for goods and services.
• 2:01
  Reuters says somewhere between 2 and $2.5 billion flowed through
• 2:05
  one part of this system over the past year alone.
• 2:08
  Iran has reportedly used those funds to acquire medicine,
• 2:11
  vehicles,
• 2:12
  and communications equipment.
• 2:13
  Sources also told Reuters
• 2:15
  that the mechanism was used at least once in connection with
• 2:18
  contracts for millions of dollars' worth of air defense equipment,
• 2:21
  although Reuters could not independently verify those transactions.
• 2:26
  At the center of the arrangement is a mysterious
• 2:28
  China-based entity known as Chuxin.
• 2:31
  According to sources familiar with intelligence collected on the operation,
• 2:35
  a buyer acting for the Chinese state-owned oil trader Zhuai Jianrong
• 2:40
  deposited hundreds of millions of dollars a month
• 2:42
  with Chuxin to cover purchases of Iranian crude.
• 2:46
  From there,
• 2:47
  the money could be directed toward Chinese
• 2:49
  companies working on projects inside Iran or.
• 2:52
  Placed into a special purpose vehicle that
• 2:54
  Iranian importers could draw from to buy Chinese goods.
• 2:59
  And here's one of the more interesting details.
• 3:00
  Reuters searched Chinese corporate records
• 3:03
  and couldn't find any financial institution called Chuxin.
• 3:07
  One source suggested that it may effectively exist
• 3:10
  only on a spreadsheet.
• 3:12
  Chinese manufacturers receiving payment through the system
• 3:14
  may not necessarily be dealing with Iran directly,
• 3:17
  and Reuters found no indication that
• 3:19
  those companies themselves were violating sanctions.
• 3:22
  Instead,
• 3:23
  the oil sales and the eventual purchase of Chinese goods
• 3:26
  are separated by multiple entities and accounts,
• 3:29
  making the underlying transactions
• 3:31
  much harder to follow.
• 3:33
  Most of the money reportedly goes toward infrastructure.
• 3:36
  Sources say roughly 70% of the Iranian oil proceeds handled through Chuxin.
• 3:41
  Have been allocated to projects inside Iran.
• 3:44
  The rest can be
• 3:45
  placed into that special purpose vehicle that's used to finance imports.
• 3:49
  The arrangement also gives Beijing something that it wants
• 3:52
  discounted oil.
• 3:53
  China was already buying more than 80% of Iran's shipped crude oil last year,
• 3:58
  averaging roughly 1.4 million barrels per day.
• 4:01
  Decades of sanctions have left Tehran with relatively few customers
• 4:05
  willing to take that oil,
• 4:06
  which has made China
• 4:08
  obviously enormously important to the Iranian economy.
• 4:11
  In this case,
• 4:12
  Beijing gets access to discounted Iranian crude
• 4:15
  while attempting to keep its largest
• 4:16
  banks and internationally exposed companies away
• 4:19
  from the transactions that could trigger severe US penalties.
• 4:23
  Andrea Gaselli,
• 4:24
  a researcher who studies Chinese relationships in the Middle East,
• 4:28
  told Reuters that Beijing wants to demonstrate that Washington
• 4:31
  can't dictate all of its trade through the threat of secondary sanctions.
• 4:35
  But China also has no interest in seeing its major financial institutions
• 4:40
  cut off from the global financial system.
• 4:42
  So Beijing basically gets what they want,
• 4:44
  which is plausible deniability through this barter trade system.
• 4:48
  That helps explain why a system like this would be attractive to both governments.
• 4:52
  Of course Iran gets to extract value from
• 4:54
  sanctioned oil.
• 4:56
  China gets cheap crude,
• 4:57
  and the financial architecture makes it considerably more
• 5:00
  difficult for Washington to identify a major Chinese bank
• 5:04
  simply processing payments directly for Tehran.
• 5:07
  The mechanism reportedly dates back to at least 2021 when it was initially used
• 5:12
  to help Iran purchase medicine and COVID vaccines.
• 5:16
  Sources say its importance has increased
• 5:18
  as Washington tightened economic pressure,
• 5:20
  but the war may have exposed a weakness in the entire system.
• 5:24
  Reuters says it could not determine how badly the
• 5:26
  current US naval blockade has disrupted this arrangement.
• 5:30
  What we do know
• 5:31
  is that no Iranian crude shipments have successfully crossed
• 5:34
  the Strait of Hormuz on its way to China.
• 5:37
  Since the blockade was reinstated on July 14th,
• 5:40
  and that creates,
• 5:41
  of course,
• 5:42
  a different problem for Tehran.
• 5:44
  For years,
• 5:44
  the challenge was figuring out how to sell oil.
• 5:47
  Without having the payments frozen,
• 5:49
  seized,
• 5:49
  or blocked by the international financial system,
• 5:52
  Iran and China appear to have developed an elaborate answer to that problem,
• 5:56
  but none of those financial workarounds matter very much
• 5:59
  if the oil can't reach the buyer.
• 6:02
  Chinese refiners are already
• 6:03
  searching elsewhere for supplies,
• 6:05
  snapping up crude from West Africa,
• 6:07
  Canada,
• 6:08
  and South America
• 6:09
  as Iranian and Russian barrels become harder to obtain.
• 6:14
  Coming up next,
• 6:15
  NATO allies disrupt a secret Russian
• 6:18
  submarine operation aimed at undersea infrastructure,
• 6:21
  and Ukrainian drones hit targets from Russia's Arctic
• 6:24
  gas fields to the resort town of Sochi.
• 6:27
  I'll be right back.
• 6:30
  Hey,
• 6:30
  Mike Baker here with a tip on how to jumpstart your day.
• 6:34
  Now,
• 6:34
  personally,
• 6:35
  I've been trying to rethink my morning routine lately,
• 6:37
  especially when it comes to
• 6:38
  how much caffeine I actually need,
• 6:41
  and that's where mud water comes in.
• 6:43
  It still gives me that warm,
• 6:44
  comforting morning ritual,
• 6:45
  you know what I'm talking about,
• 6:46
  but with about,
• 6:47
  get this,
• 6:47
  1/7
• 6:49
  the caffeine of coffee.
• 6:50
  I've been loving the OG blend.
• 6:52
  It's cacao,
• 6:53
  it's chai,
• 6:53
  turmeric,
• 6:54
  and functional mushrooms.
• 6:55
  It's got a delicious chocolate chai flavor.
• 6:59
  So,
• 6:59
  ready to make the switch to cleaner energy?
• 7:01
  Well,
• 7:01
  I hope so.
• 7:02
  Go to mudwater.com/PDB and grab the starter kit.
• 7:05
  Use the code PDB and you'll get 43% off.
• 7:08
  Look,
• 7:08
  the drink frother that comes with it alone is worth it.
• 7:11
  That's right,
• 7:11
  up to 43% off with code PDB at Mudwater.
• 7:14
  Let me spell that,
• 7:15
  it's M U D W T R
• 7:18
  mudwater.com.
• 7:19
  After you purchase,
• 7:20
  they'll ask how you heard about them.
• 7:22
  Do me a favor if you don't mind.
• 7:23
  Tell them the PDB sent you.
• 7:27
  Welcome back to the PDB.
• 7:29
  NATO allies say they disrupted a secret
• 7:32
  Russian operation deep in Arctic waters this spring
• 7:35
  where specialized submarines were reportedly rehearsing
• 7:39
  how to disable critical undersea cables during
• 7:41
  a future conflict with the alliance.
• 7:44
  The operation was first disclosed publicly by Britain and Norway back in April
• 7:48
  when the two countries revealed that they had spent weeks
• 7:51
  tracking unusual Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic.
• 7:55
  But new reporting from Reuters fills in the most important details.
• 7:59
  The mission extended into waters near a Norwegian archipelago.
• 8:03
  American forces were involved in the monitoring of the Russian subs,
• 8:06
  and Western officials believe the Russians
• 8:08
  were testing a previously undisclosed capability
• 8:12
  designed to damage undersea infrastructure while leaving little evidence
• 8:16
  of what actually caused the failure.
• 8:18
  According to Reuters,
• 8:19
  the Russian operation was carried out by the
• 8:21
  Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research,
• 8:23
  better known by its Russian acronym
• 8:25
  GGI,
• 8:26
  which is definitely more fun to say than
• 8:29
  Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research.
• 8:31
  Despite the innocent sounding name,
• 8:33
  Googie
• 8:33
  is a secretive military organization that
• 8:36
  operates specialized submarines and other deep sea
• 8:38
  vessels capable of working around cables and pipelines on the ocean floor.
• 8:43
  The Russian deployment reportedly included an
• 8:45
  Akula class nuclear powered attack submarine
• 8:49
  along with specialized vessels belonging to
• 8:51
  Googie.
• 8:51
  I told you it was fun to say.
• 8:53
  Western officials believe the Russians were using deep sea
• 8:56
  submersibles to simulate the deployment of a sophisticated system
• 8:59
  intended to disable undersea cables in the event of a conflict with NATO.
• 9:04
  Officials would not describe exactly
• 9:06
  how the technology works.
• 9:08
  Now it's important to note that the Russians didn't
• 9:10
  actually cut or damage any cables during this operation.
• 9:14
  What Western officials say they witnessed was a rehearsal.
• 9:17
  Russian forces practicing how they could carry out such an attack.
• 9:21
  British,
• 9:22
  Norwegian,
• 9:22
  and American forces tracked the Russian vessels
• 9:24
  and eventually confronted them at sea.
• 9:27
  Reuters reports that the Russians were prevented from completing the exercise and
• 9:31
  ultimately withdrew from the area
• 9:33
  at roughly the same time,
• 9:34
  British and Norwegian officials took their findings directly to Moscow,
• 9:38
  making clear that NATO knew what the Russians had been doing and
• 9:41
  were aware of the new capability.
• 9:44
  Norway's defense minister said the operation was intended to send Moscow a message
• 9:49
  that Russia could not operate covertly in the high north
• 9:52
  and that attacks against critical infrastructure would
• 9:54
  be detected and met with consequences.
• 9:57
  The location helps explain why NATO reacted so aggressively.
• 10:01
  Two fiber optic cables run roughly 1400
• 10:04
  kilometers between mainland Norway and the archipelago,
• 10:07
  reaching depths of nearly 9000 ft.
• 10:10
  Now those cables
• 10:11
  don't provide just internet access to an isolated Arctic community.
• 10:15
  They carry enormous amounts of satellite data downloaded at Smolsat.
• 10:19
  That's the world's largest satellite ground station
• 10:22
  and part of NASA's near space network,
• 10:24
  and the cables themselves are remarkably vulnerable.
• 10:27
  Much of the infrastructure carrying global
• 10:30
  communications and financial data across the oceans
• 10:33
  is only about the thickness of a garden hose.
• 10:35
  Some sections are buried beneath the seabed.
• 10:37
  Others simply rest on the ocean floor,
• 10:39
  often thousands of feet below the surface.
• 10:42
  Protecting every mile of that network is practically impossible.
• 10:46
  That vulnerability has received much more attention since the
• 10:49
  destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines back in 2022
• 10:53
  and a series of subsequent incidents involving cables and
• 10:56
  other infrastructure around Europe.
• 10:58
  At least 11 subsea cables were damaged or severed in the
• 11:02
  Baltic between October 2023 and the end of last year.
• 11:05
  That's according to data cited by Reuters.
• 11:08
  Those incidents have had different suspected causes and
• 11:10
  should not all be attributed to Russia,
• 11:13
  but they have pushed NATO to dramatically increase monitoring of the seabed.
• 11:17
  The amount of suspicious maritime activity around
• 11:19
  critical infrastructure has also been climbing.
• 11:22
  Maritime intelligence firm Windward
• 11:25
  says incidents of ships slowly lingering over
• 11:28
  or near subsea infrastructure in the North Sea
• 11:31
  increased 52% last year to more than 13,000 instances.
• 11:36
  That's a lot of loitering.
• 11:37
  Surveying cables in international waters is not itself illegal.
• 11:41
  But security officials worry that extensive mapping could provide the
• 11:45
  information needed to attack those systems during a war.
• 11:48
  Western intelligence officials are increasingly viewing that possibility
• 11:52
  as part of the broader confrontation with Moscow.
• 11:55
  Reuters reports that
• 11:56
  some US intelligence analysts are concerned
• 11:59
  that Russia could eventually attempt to test
• 12:01
  NATO's Article 5 mutual defense commitment,
• 12:03
  and that disabling undersea infrastructure
• 12:06
  could play a role in such a confrontation.
• 12:09
  The concern also extends beyond the ocean floor.
• 12:12
  CIA Director John Ratcliffe
• 12:14
  traveled to Moscow in August of this year and according to Reuters,
• 12:17
  warned Russian intelligence officials against
• 12:20
  escalating sabotage operations in Europe.
• 12:23
  Now Reuters could not determine whether the
• 12:25
  Arctic submarine operation specifically came up
• 12:28
  during those discussions.
• 12:30
  For its part,
• 12:31
  Russia has repeatedly denied conducting sabotage operations against NATO
• 12:35
  countries or preparing for a confrontation with the alliance.
• 12:38
  Oh well,
• 12:38
  if they deny it,
• 12:39
  then I'm sure it's fine.
• 12:40
  Moscow's Defense Ministry did not respond to Reuters' questions
• 12:44
  about this particular operation.
• 12:47
  Alright.
• 12:47
  Turning now to the war in Ukraine,
• 12:49
  where a part of Russia that had largely escaped Kiev's long-range drone campaign
• 12:54
  is no longer quite as so far out of reach.
• 12:57
  More than 1900 miles from Ukraine,
• 13:00
  Russia's remote Yamalo-Nenetz region in western Siberia
• 13:04
  had remained untouched by Kiev's attacks on Russian critical infrastructure.
• 13:08
  Well,
• 13:08
  that changed on Wednesday when Ukrainian drones
• 13:11
  reached this remote Arctic territory.
• 13:13
  And it's that distance that makes this strike so remarkable.
• 13:17
  Now,
• 13:17
  as I've discussed here on the PDB,
• 13:18
  Ukraine has spent much of the war steadily
• 13:20
  expanding the reach of its drone campaign,
• 13:23
  hitting Russian oil refineries,
• 13:24
  storage facilities,
• 13:25
  and
• 13:26
  export infrastructure hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.
• 13:29
  But reaching all the way into western Siberia is something entirely different.
• 13:34
  Again,
• 13:34
  that's 1900 miles,
• 13:36
  according to Firepoint,
• 13:37
  the Ukrainian manufacture of the drones.
• 13:39
  That's a new distance record for a Ukrainian drone strike.
• 13:42
  And Kiev wasn't sending them there that far just to prove that it could.
• 13:46
  Ukraine's special operations forces say the drones
• 13:49
  targeted two major gas condensate facilities in the region.
• 13:53
  However,
• 13:53
  Russian authorities tell a somewhat different story.
• 13:56
  The regional governor there says a drone was shot
• 13:58
  down and that falling debris caused a fire.
• 14:01
  No casualties were reported
• 14:03
  and the extent of the damage is still being assessed.
• 14:06
  Now Yamalo Nenits in western Siberia rarely
• 14:09
  comes up during one's dinner conversation.
• 14:11
  But when it comes to keeping Russia's enormous energy industry running,
• 14:14
  it is difficult to overstate its importance.
• 14:17
  The remote Arctic region
• 14:18
  accounts for roughly 80% of the country's natural gas production.
• 14:23
  The targeted area is sometimes called Russia's unofficial gas capital.
• 14:27
  It's the region responsible for the
• 14:28
  vast majority of Russia's natural gas production
• 14:32
  and for the past several years has
• 14:33
  been largely insulated from Kiev's drone campaign.
• 14:37
  That new vulnerability is already getting attention far beyond Russia.
• 14:41
  European natural gas prices climbed to their highest level since December of 2022,
• 14:46
  1 day after the attack.
• 14:48
  Now Europe was already dealing with sharply higher prices
• 14:52
  as disruptions to liquefied natural gas shipments
• 14:54
  from the Persian Gulf tightened supplies.
• 14:57
  Storage levels are also
• 14:58
  relatively low heading toward the winter heating season.
• 15:02
  Now despite the spike in pricing,
• 15:03
  there is no indication that these Ukrainian drone strikes
• 15:06
  caused a major interruption to Russian gas production,
• 15:10
  but Ukraine has now given energy traders
• 15:12
  another potential source of disruption to consider.
• 15:15
  And in other news from the long running Putin conflict
• 15:19
  hundreds of miles to the southwest,
• 15:21
  Ukrainian sea drones also struck around the Russian Black
• 15:24
  Sea resort city of Sochi on Wednesday night.
• 15:27
  Russian authorities say 8 people were injured and
• 15:29
  some beach infrastructure was damaged in Sochi,
• 15:32
  where Vladimir Putin incidentally has an official residence.
• 15:35
  I'll bet it's lovely.
• 15:36
  Video verified by Reuters showed weapons being fired
• 15:39
  and an explosion near the city's waterfront,
• 15:42
  with people heard screaming.
• 15:44
  Now Ukraine striking Russia with drones is
• 15:46
  hardly unusual at this point,
• 15:48
  but sea drones are different.
• 15:50
  Ukraine has used unmanned boats extensively against Russia's
• 15:53
  Black Sea fleet and other maritime targets,
• 15:56
  but its acts involving those weapons around
• 15:58
  Russian coastal cities have been limited.
• 16:01
  Both attacks,
• 16:01
  one in western Siberia
• 16:03
  and one in a major coastal resort town,
• 16:05
  point to the same larger problem for Moscow.
• 16:08
  Putin launched this war believing that Russia and its population would remain
• 16:12
  safely removed from the fighting.
• 16:14
  Ukraine has spent years steadily chipping away at that assumption,
• 16:18
  pushing its strikes deeper into Russia
• 16:20
  and bringing the fight closer to the civilian population.
• 16:24
  All
• 16:24
  right.
• 16:25
  Coming up next in the back of the brief,
• 16:27
  Huawei
• 16:27
  goes on trial in Brooklyn,
• 16:29
  New York,
• 16:29
  where
• 16:30
  US prosecutors are accusing the Chinese telecom giant of
• 16:33
  stealing American technology.
• 16:35
  What?
• 16:35
  To fuel its growth?
• 16:37
  More on that when we come back.
• 16:41
  Hey,
• 16:41
  Mike Baker here.
• 16:42
  Now,
• 16:42
  if you're a PDB regular,
• 16:44
  and I hope you are,
• 16:45
  you know that I'm constantly traveling,
• 16:46
  right?
• 16:47
  It's like,
• 16:47
  uh,
• 16:48
  where's Wally or where's Waldo,
• 16:49
  depending on where you're from.
• 16:51
  Recording the podcast from countless airport lounges,
• 16:53
  hotels,
• 16:53
  and the occasional secret lair.
• 16:55
  And all that travel means I always need to keep the phones and laptop charged.
• 17:00
  And that's why I'm a huge fan of the Ridge 5 in 1 travel power bank.
• 17:04
  The combining MagSafe wireless charging,
• 17:06
  an Apple Watch charger,
• 17:07
  Lightning,
• 17:07
  and USB-C.
• 17:09
  The Rich Power Bank handles every charging need in one device.
• 17:12
  Built-in cables eliminate the need for extra cords or adapters,
• 17:16
  and with 20 watts and a powerful battery,
• 17:17
  getting 3 full charges is simple.
• 17:20
  Plus,
• 17:20
  it magnetically attaches for convenience and ease of use.
• 17:24
  The Rich Power Bank is built to last,
• 17:26
  and get this,
• 17:26
  it's backed by a lifetime warranty.
• 17:29
  One thing to pack,
• 17:30
  5 ways to power.
• 17:31
  You can find Ridge's power bank at Best Buy or our listeners at the PDB can get 10% off
• 17:36
  at ridge.com
• 17:37
  by using code PDB at checkout.
• 17:39
  Just head on over to Ridge,
• 17:40
  that's R I D G E
• 17:42
  Ridge.com and use code PDB and you're all set.
• 17:45
  And after you purchase,
• 17:46
  well,
• 17:46
  they'll ask where you heard about them.
• 17:48
  If you don't mind,
• 17:48
  do me a favor.
• 17:49
  Tell them the PDB sent you.
• 17:53
  In today's back of the brief,
• 17:55
  the government's long running case against
• 17:57
  China's Huawei company has
• 17:59
  finally reached a jury.
• 18:01
  Prosecutors say the tech giant operated as a criminal enterprise,
• 18:05
  stealing from American companies
• 18:06
  to help build its global telecommunications empire.
• 18:10
  The Justice Department summed up its case in just a handful of words,
• 18:13
  quote,
• 18:14
  Theft,
• 18:14
  lies,
• 18:16
  cover-up.
• 18:17
  Federal prosecutor Taylor Stout told jurors this week,
• 18:20
  quote,
• 18:21
  For 20 years that's how Huawei
• 18:23
  victimized American companies and abused the American financial system,
• 18:27
  all in an effort to dominate the telecommunications
• 18:30
  industry,
• 18:30
  end quote.
• 18:32
  The trial began Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn,
• 18:34
  New York,
• 18:34
  nearly 8 years after the US first indicted Huawei.
• 18:38
  Well,
• 18:38
  the wheels of justice do turn slowly,
• 18:41
  they say.
• 18:42
  Prosecutors accuse Huawei of stealing trade secrets from 5 American companies,
• 18:46
  concealing its business in Iran,
• 18:48
  and abusing the American financial system.
• 18:50
  So
• 18:51
  let's briefly walk through the government's case,
• 18:53
  or at least some points of the government's case.
• 18:55
  One example involves Cisco Systems,
• 18:58
  where the government says Huawei stole source
• 19:00
  code used in the company's internet routers.
• 19:03
  Another involves T-Mobile,
• 19:04
  which had developed a robotic arm
• 19:07
  used to test smartphones by mimicking the way a human hand interacts with them.
• 19:11
  Prosecutors say a Huawei employee was caught stealing part of that robot,
• 19:15
  but
• 19:16
  they told jurors that they'll see video of that theft during the trial.
• 19:19
  He was trying to take the robot's arm.
• 19:21
  Now Huawei strongly denies that this amounts to a broader corporate conspiracy.
• 19:26
  Its attorneys told jurors,
• 19:27
  quote,
• 19:28
  Competition,
• 19:28
  not conspiracy,
• 19:30
  innovation,
• 19:31
  not theft,
• 19:31
  ordinary business dealings,
• 19:33
  not criminal conduct,
• 19:34
  end quote.
• 19:35
  Clearly the defense team
• 19:37
  is being paid sufficiently enough
• 19:39
  to be able to say all that with a straight face.
• 19:41
  Huawei isn't necessarily.
• 19:43
  That every incident never happened.
• 19:45
  Its defense is
• 19:46
  that prosecutors are turning
• 19:48
  misconduct by individual employees
• 19:50
  into evidence of a company-wide conspiracy.
• 19:53
  They pointed to another incident in which a Huawei employee
• 19:55
  improperly photographed a Fujitsu
• 19:58
  networking device at a trade show,
• 20:00
  calling it a foolish act.
• 20:02
  Ah,
• 20:02
  those darn meddling kids.
• 20:04
  Their foolish ways.
• 20:05
  No conspiracy to see here,
• 20:06
  folks.
• 20:07
  Huawei says management worked to address misconduct when it discovered it,
• 20:11
  but the Justice Department says these were not random incidents.
• 20:15
  Prosecutors argue they were part of a larger pattern that allowed Huawei to acquire
• 20:19
  technology,
• 20:20
  reduce research and development costs,
• 20:22
  and compete against the same companies whose technology it was allegedly taking.
• 20:26
  But the government's case goes beyond alleged technology theft.
• 20:29
  There's also the subject of Iran.
• 20:32
  In fact,
• 20:32
  the original criminal case against Huawei began in 2018
• 20:36
  with allegations that the company misrepresented its business dealings in Iran
• 20:40
  to international banks.
• 20:42
  Prosecutors say Huawei concealed the true nature of its relationship with Skycom,
• 20:46
  a company operating in Iran,
• 20:48
  to hide the extent of Huawei's business there from international banks
• 20:53
  that allegedly allowed millions of dollars to move
• 20:56
  through the US financial system despite American sanctions.
• 20:59
  The government also alleges Huawei's activities helped the
• 21:02
  Iranian regime conduct surveillance against its own citizens.
• 21:06
  Huawei disputes that part of the case as well.
• 21:09
  Nothing to see here.
• 21:10
  We're all very innocent.
• 21:11
  Its attorneys say the banks already knew about Huawei's business in Iran
• 21:15
  and that there's no evidence the company
• 21:16
  knew those transactions would violate US sanctions.
• 21:19
  So
• 21:20
  a case that
• 21:21
  began with allegations surrounding Iran eventually grew into a
• 21:25
  sprawling racketeering prosecution,
• 21:27
  with the government arguing that
• 21:28
  these were not isolated crimes
• 21:30
  but part of a broader pattern of illegal activity by Huawei.
• 21:34
  The trial
• 21:35
  is expected to last roughly 3 months.
• 21:39
  And that,
• 21:39
  my friends,
• 21:40
  is the president's daily brief
• 21:41
  for Friday,
• 21:42
  the 11th of September.
• 21:44
  It is hard,
• 21:45
  frankly,
• 21:45
  to believe
• 21:46
  that 9/11 was already 25 years ago.
• 21:49
  For some
• 21:50
  it's like it happened yesterday.
• 21:52
  Now for some it's a distant memory,
• 21:54
  and for some,
• 21:55
  frankly,
• 21:55
  it's not a memory at all.
• 21:57
  That is how life works.
• 21:59
  Events that
• 22:00
  in the moment or in the aftermath are enormous in their impact.
• 22:04
  Gradually fade over time.
• 22:06
  Pearl Harbor,
• 22:07
  the Vietnam,
• 22:07
  9/11,
• 22:08
  the pandemic,
• 22:10
  eventually
• 22:11
  they all get a little blurry,
• 22:13
  a little out of focus,
• 22:14
  and then
• 22:15
  for a lot of folks they move on.
• 22:18
  But for the families and friends impacted by that terrible day and
• 22:21
  for all those who answered the call in the wake of 9/11.
• 22:25
  That day will never be forgotten.
• 22:28
  Now remember,
• 22:29
  if you have any questions or comments,
• 22:30
  I hope you'll reach out to me at PDB@tv.com.
• 22:34
  And finally,
• 22:35
  remember what we always say here around PDB headquarters.
• 22:38
  If it's Friday,
• 22:39
  it's time for another episode of our extended weekend show,
• 22:41
  the PDB Situation Report.
• 22:43
  Now admittedly that is not the catchiest of sayings,
• 22:45
  but it's true nonetheless.
• 22:47
  Every Friday evening at 10:00 p.m.
• 22:48
  on the first TV
• 22:49
  we fire up a brand new episode of The Situation Report.
• 22:52
  Great guests,
• 22:53
  information,
• 22:54
  analysis,
• 22:54
  come on,
• 22:55
  what's not to like?
• 22:56
  You can always
• 22:57
  catch it and past episodes on our YouTube channel.
• 22:59
  Just wander on over to YouTube and
• 23:01
  search up at President's Daily Brief,
• 23:03
  and of course available on podcast platforms
• 23:07
  everywhere.
• 23:07
  I'm Mike Baker
• 23:09
  and I'll be back later today with the PDB
• 23:11
  afternoon bulletin.
• 23:12
  Until then,
• 23:13
  stay informed,
• 23:14
  stay safe,
• 23:16
  stay cool.