Latest / The President's Daily Brief / October 21st, 2026: Communist Groups and International Activists: Who's Driving France's Unrest?
Transcript
- 0:13It's Wednesday,
- 0:14the 21st of October.
- 0:16This month is flying by.
- 0:18Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
- 0:20I'm Mike Baker,
- 0:20your eyes and ears
- 0:22on the world stage.
- 0:23All right,
- 0:24let's get briefed.
- 0:25First up,
- 0:26as violent riots sweep across France,
- 0:29new investigations reveal a sprawling network of communist groups,
- 0:33radical left organizations,
- 0:35and international activists
- 0:37helping to fuel the unrest.
- 0:39Later in the show,
- 0:40Iranian officials stating the obvious admit
- 0:43that the regime is deliberately dragging out negotiations with Washington
- 0:47in the hopes of weakening President Trump
- 0:50ahead of the US midterm elections,
- 0:52plus new revelations in that corporate espionage case at OpenAI.
- 0:57A former employee accused of secretly bugging a restricted conference room
- 1:01reportedly had ties to a member of the Saudi royal family.
- 1:05Of course,
- 1:06given the size of the Saudi royal family,
- 1:08it would actually be news if the former employee
- 1:11didn't have ties to a member of the family.
- 1:14And in today's back of the brief,
- 1:15the accused mastermind of the September 11th attacks
- 1:20suffers a major legal defeat as the Supreme Court
- 1:23rejects his attempt to avoid the death penalty.
- 1:26I know you're asking yourself what?
- 1:28He's still alive.
- 1:29Only in the US can you be responsible for the murder of thousands of people
- 1:34and still have your case heard by the highest court in the land.
- 1:37But first,
- 1:38today's PDB spotlight.
- 1:40We're continuing to track the protests and violence in France and across Europe.
- 1:45The French government is now preparing to deploy military troops
- 1:48to help contain another wave of demonstrations.
- 1:52The decision follows a weekend of widespread rioting,
- 1:55looting,
- 1:55and arson
- 1:57that overwhelmed police in several major cities.
- 1:59And new investigations are raising
- 2:01questions about the political organizations helping
- 2:04to mobilize the unrest and the international networks supporting them.
- 2:08French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecono announced Tuesday
- 2:12that soldiers would reinforce police
- 2:15ahead of another round of nationwide protests that are scheduled for Saturday.
- 2:19The troops will primarily guard sensitive locations,
- 2:22allowing police to concentrate on maintaining order in the streets.
- 2:26Authorities are
- 2:27also bringing in specialized tactical units,
- 2:29armored vehicles,
- 2:30and additional equipment.
- 2:32Lecone acknowledged that the government's response
- 2:35to last weekend's violence had failed,
- 2:38blaming intelligence shortcomings and police deployments that
- 2:41were too static to respond effectively.
- 2:44And the scale of that violence last weekend was rather extraordinary.
- 2:48According to French authorities,
- 2:49approximately 550,000 people participated in demonstrations last Saturday.
- 2:55What began as protests over deteriorating school
- 2:58conditions and the rising cost of living
- 3:00descended into widespread destruction.
- 3:03In Paris.
- 3:04Rioters erected barricades,
- 3:05burned vehicles,
- 3:06and attacked businesses.
- 3:08In Lyon,
- 3:09nearly 200 shops were looted.
- 3:11In Marseilles,
- 3:12mobs attacked government buildings and police facilities.
- 3:16And in the city of Limoges,
- 3:18rioters set fire to the historic 19th century city hall,
- 3:22destroying its roof
- 3:23and causing its tower to collapse.
- 3:26More than 2400 people have been arrested,
- 3:28while French authorities report nearly 1000 injuries
- 3:32among law enforcement personnel.
- 3:34Now the question is,
- 3:36who's driving this unrest?
- 3:37Well,
- 3:38it's a good question.
- 3:39According to a new Fox News digital investigation,
- 3:42a sprawling collection of communist organizations,
- 3:45revolutionary socialist groups,
- 3:47labor unions,
- 3:48and international activists have been helping to organize,
- 3:51promote,
- 3:52and expand the demonstrations.
- 3:54This week Fox identified 54 organizations
- 3:58connected to the French protest movement.
- 4:00By Tuesday,
- 4:01its investigation had expanded to 101 organizations across 9 countries
- 4:06involved in organizing,
- 4:08supporting,
- 4:08or amplifying demonstrations across Europe.
- 4:11And
- 4:12here's an interesting and yet not surprising detail.
- 4:14Only about 1/3 of those organizations
- 4:17have anything to do with students or young people.
- 4:20The remainder include established political movements,
- 4:23activist organizations,
- 4:24labor unions,
- 4:25and international advocacy networks.
- 4:28Among those identified are Le Poin Levey,
- 4:31or the Raised Fist,
- 4:32a revolutionary student organization
- 4:35associated with the communist movement Revolucion Permanente.
- 4:38There's also France's far left political party La France In Sumi,
- 4:43whose elected officials have
- 4:45publicly supported student blockades
- 4:47as well as communist youth organizations
- 4:50and the new anti-capitalist party.
- 4:52That sounds like a fun party.
- 4:54French police intelligence has documented some of that involvement.
- 4:58An intelligence report obtained by Le Monde
- 5:00identified communist activists distributing leaflets at schools,
- 5:04radical organizers encouraging students to join demonstrations,
- 5:07and political figures appearing at protest sites.
- 5:11But the investigation also suggests that
- 5:12these organizations were attempting to capitalize
- 5:15on a movement that had initially emerged from genuine student grievances and
- 5:20then spread rapidly through social media.
- 5:23And the political connections extend beyond France.
- 5:26Fox's investigation
- 5:27examines organizations associated with the Chinese
- 5:30Communist Party's favorite US tech bro.
- 5:33That of course would be Neville Roy Singham.
- 5:35Have you heard of him.
- 5:36He's an American-born technology multi-millionaire
- 5:39who now lives the good life in Shanghai,
- 5:41China.
- 5:42He's financed an international network of
- 5:44left-wing activist groups.
- 5:46Among them is.
- 5:47TriContinental,
- 5:48whose executive director,
- 5:50communist academic Vijay Prashad,
- 5:52publicly celebrated the French demonstrations
- 5:55while drawing connections to protest movements
- 5:57in India
- 5:58and Argentina.
- 6:00Other Singham-linked organizations,
- 6:01including Code Pink,
- 6:03that organization is led by Singham's wife,
- 6:05and Breakthrough News
- 6:07have promoted coverage of the French
- 6:08unrest and encouraged broader international mobilization.
- 6:12On Tuesday,
- 6:13French police arrested a 34 year old
- 6:15man suspected of participating in the arson attack
- 6:19that devastated the Limoges city hall.
- 6:21According to Le Parisian,
- 6:23thank you for my French accent,
- 6:25the suspect was already on a French security watch list
- 6:28because of his associations with the ultra left.
- 6:31Authorities believe he may have helped break into
- 6:33the building before it was set on fire.
- 6:36He has not been convicted.
- 6:38I mean,
- 6:38it is France after all.
- 6:40Meanwhile,
- 6:40French officials continue blaming radical left
- 6:42extremists for much of the destruction,
- 6:44but there are disagreements within France's own law enforcement community.
- 6:48About how much of the violence was centrally organized,
- 6:52some investigators say the disturbances involved
- 6:54a mixture of political extremists,
- 6:56ordinary demonstrators,
- 6:57and opportunistic criminals taking advantage of overwhelmed police.
- 7:02The Paris prosecutor has also cautioned that
- 7:05authorities have not established that the perpetrators
- 7:07of violence in the capital were necessarily affiliated
- 7:11with the radical left.
- 7:13So while there is documented evidence of
- 7:15political organizations working to expand the protests,
- 7:18the extent to which those groups directed the rioting remains unresolved.
- 7:24And the next test of course for the police and authorities is approaching quickly.
- 7:28Activists are planning another nationwide demonstration Saturday
- 7:31with more than 200 local protest actions advertised across France.
- 7:36Meanwhile,
- 7:37organizations in several European countries
- 7:39are promoting a coordinated youth strike next month
- 7:42for France's government.
- 7:44The immediate challenge,
- 7:44of course,
- 7:45is preventing another weekend of destruction
- 7:48without further inflaming public anger.
- 7:50And for investigators,
- 7:52the challenge is determining how a student protest movement
- 7:56became the setting for nationwide violence.
- 7:59All right.
- 7:59Coming up next,
- 8:00Iranian officials admit that they're stalling peace talks
- 8:04in an effort to hurt Trump politically,
- 8:07while there's new details concerning the recently revealed espionage activity
- 8:11at OpenAI.
- 8:13I'll be right back.
- 8:15Hey Mike Baker here.
- 8:16The President's Daily Brief is brought to you by Maude.
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- 9:17Welcome back to the PDB.
- 9:19For Americans paying more at the gas pumps,
- 9:21an end to the war with Iran,
- 9:23well,
- 9:23could bring some relief.
- 9:25But senior Iranian regime officials say that
- 9:28they're in no hurry to push for an end to the conflict.
- 9:30According to Iranian officials,
- 9:32the regime is dragging out negotiations,
- 9:35hoping that US voters
- 9:36will take their frustration out on President Trump in the midterm elections.
- 9:41Reuters spoke with 3 senior Iranian officials and a regime insider,
- 9:45all on condition of anonymity.
- 9:47One of those officials spelled out the regime's priorities,
- 9:49saying,
- 9:49quote,
- 9:50The clerical establishment is determined not to give Trump a political victory.
- 9:55And Iran's leverage,
- 9:56of course,
- 9:56starts with the Strait of Hormuz.
- 9:58The regime continues to threaten and attack commercial vessels in the Strait,
- 10:02disrupting shipping and trade and global energy markets
- 10:06to gain leverage that it believes it can use at the negotiating table.
- 10:10The waterway is of course a major route for global oil and natural gas shipments.
- 10:14Iran is exploiting that importance,
- 10:17betting that higher gasoline prices will turn American voters against
- 10:21President Trump's Republican Party in the November 3rd midterm elections.
- 10:25A pro-reform Tehran-based analyst oddly described the strategy this way,
- 10:30quote,
- 10:31Iran is influencing the US election without taking any unlawful action,
- 10:36end quote.
- 10:37Well,
- 10:37that description conveniently leaves out the threats and
- 10:40violent attacks against commercial shipping that Iran is engaged in,
- 10:44not to mention the direction of their proxy group,
- 10:47the Houthis,
- 10:48to target Saudi infrastructure
- 10:50as well as the Bab el Mandeb Strait.
- 10:52To confirm what the Iranian officials are saying
- 10:54about the regime simply dragging out negotiations,
- 10:57well,
- 10:58look no further than their unworkable proposal
- 11:01that the regime keeps referencing.
- 11:03Through Qatari mediators,
- 11:04Iran presented a seven-day plan to the US,
- 11:08something that we've discussed here on the PDB.
- 11:10In the proposal,
- 11:11Washington would be required to lift its maritime blockade,
- 11:15ease restrictions on Iranian oil exports,
- 11:17release frozen assets,
- 11:19and hostilities on all fronts,
- 11:21and give each member
- 11:23of the Iranian leadership
- 11:24a pony.
- 11:25I made that last part up.
- 11:27In return,
- 11:27Tehran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz possibly within 7 days maybe,
- 11:32but under continued Iranian control.
- 11:34It sounds like quite the deal.
- 11:36Tehran insists those conditions must be met before nuclear
- 11:40negotiations can even begin to be talked about.
- 11:43The Trump administration wants a nuclear program,
- 11:45of course,
- 11:46on the table from the outset.
- 11:48Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arrachi said Sunday
- 11:51that the seven day offer remains available.
- 11:53Well,
- 11:54that's nice,
- 11:55and that messages are still passing through intermediaries.
- 11:58According to the officials who spoke to Reuters,
- 12:00Tehran's refusal to make concessions that it believes would help President Trump
- 12:04leaves little to no prospect for a breakthrough before the midterm elections.
- 12:09Tehran's reluctance also reflects its expectation that fighting will resume.
- 12:14Trump has said that the US will not bomb Iran again before November 3rd,
- 12:19but Iranian officials reportedly do expect eventual
- 12:22American or Israeli or both attacks.
- 12:25Now Tehran's strategy to block and delay while waiting for the elections
- 12:29does come with a cost,
- 12:31and the American blockade on Iranian ports and oil exports is making that cost
- 12:35increasingly difficult for the regime to absorb.
- 12:38Tehran may see political opportunity in America's frustration over
- 12:43fuel prices,
- 12:44but
- 12:44at the same time,
- 12:45internal frustration within Iran over a cratering economy
- 12:50continues to build.
- 12:51In a report from Iran's Statistical Center,
- 12:53annual inflation reached nearly 74% in September.
- 12:57The rial has also lost nearly 35% of its value against the dollar
- 13:02since Washington reimposed its naval blockade in July.
- 13:05According to energy intelligence firm Vortexa,
- 13:08Iranian seaborne crude exports stood at a
- 13:1114-day average of approximately 230,000 barrels per day
- 13:16at the beginning of September.
- 13:18By the second week of that month,
- 13:20exports had fallen to zero,
- 13:22and as of October 5th,
- 13:23well,
- 13:24they remained at zero.
- 13:26All right.
- 13:27Turning now to new developments in the
- 13:29suspected corporate espionage case at OpenAI.
- 13:32Investigators are now raising questions
- 13:35about the possible involvement of the Saudi government.
- 13:37According to new court filings obtained by the Wall Street Journal,
- 13:41a former Open AI engineer accused of secretly bugging a restricted conference room
- 13:47was communicating with a member of the
- 13:48Saudi royal family about returning to the kingdom
- 13:52to work on an artificial intelligence initiative.
- 13:55And that's not the only Saudi connection that investigators have uncovered.
- 13:58We've been following this case since the FBI
- 14:01arrested 35 year old Abdul Rahman al Fazan
- 14:04earlier this month.
- 14:05Now federal prosecutors accuse the Saudi
- 14:07national of planting a sophisticated listening device
- 14:11inside an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters.
- 14:16The device was concealed in toilet paper,
- 14:19not necessarily a standard espionage trick,
- 14:22behind a television and was plugged into a USB port.
- 14:25Investigators say its recordings were encrypted and that the room.
- 14:29Was regularly used for confidential discussions involving open AI executives,
- 14:34business partners,
- 14:35and government officials.
- 14:37Security personnel discovered the device on September 30th.
- 14:40Investigators subsequently recovered another recording device
- 14:44and evidence suggesting that Alfazan
- 14:47may have been scouting additional conference rooms.
- 14:50Now prosecutors have revealed that Al Fazan was in frequent contact
- 14:54with an unidentified member of the Saudi royal family throughout 2025 and 2026.
- 15:00The royal reportedly encouraged him to leave OpenAI
- 15:03and return to Saudi Arabia to join a new artificial intelligence project.
- 15:08In one message,
- 15:09the royal told Al Fazan that Saudi Arabia needed his talents more than the US did.
- 15:15Alfazan reportedly expressed interest
- 15:17but wanted to remain at open AI
- 15:19until more of his stock compensation had vested.
- 15:22He was earning approximately $385,000 annually.
- 15:26That's some pretty good fat stacks,
- 15:28with an equity package valued at more than $2 million.
- 15:32But investigators say he was also making preparations
- 15:34to return to Saudi Arabia.
- 15:36Before his October 9th arrest,
- 15:38Alfazan had booked one-way tickets,
- 15:40or one-way tickets for himself,
- 15:42his wife,
- 15:43and their young son to travel to Riyadh.
- 15:46His wife and child ultimately departed the US the day after his arrest
- 15:49aboard a flight arranged and paid for by a Saudi naval officer related to the family.
- 15:55Al Fazan's attorney insists the travel plans were legitimate
- 15:58and that the family intended to spend time in Saudi Arabia
- 16:01during parental leave.
- 16:03But prosecutors see things differently.
- 16:05They argued that Al Fazan was preparing to relocate permanently,
- 16:09potentially putting him beyond the reach of American authorities.
- 16:12And then came another development
- 16:15at a federal court hearing Monday.
- 16:16Prosecutors revealed
- 16:18that the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles had
- 16:20offered to cover Al Fazan's entire bail bond.
- 16:23A US magistrate judge
- 16:25questioned whether a financial guarantee backed by a foreign government
- 16:28could actually prevent Al Fazan from fleeing.
- 16:31The US does not have an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia,
- 16:35meaning authorities could face enormous difficulties
- 16:38bringing him back if he left the country.
- 16:41The judge ultimately ordered Al Fazan held without bail pending trial.
- 16:45Now there are important distinctions here.
- 16:48Al Fazan has been charged with
- 16:49unlawfully attempting to intercept private communications.
- 16:52He has not been charged
- 16:54with espionage or acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
- 16:58And investigators have not established
- 17:00that the Saudi government ordered him to install the recording equipment
- 17:04or that any sensitive information was successfully transmitted overseas,
- 17:08and Al Fazan's attorney,
- 17:10no surprise,
- 17:11denies that he was spying for Saudi Arabia.
- 17:14Still,
- 17:14the case raises serious questions about the
- 17:16security of America's most advanced technology companies,
- 17:20particularly as governments around the world compete for an advantage
- 17:23in artificial intelligence.
- 17:25Now Fazan faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted.
- 17:28The FBI investigation remains active,
- 17:31and prosecutors say additional charges are possible.
- 17:35All right.
- 17:36Coming up in the back of the brief,
- 17:37more than 25 years after the September 11th attacks,
- 17:41the man accused of orchestrating them suffers a Supreme Court defeat
- 17:45that could leave him facing execution.
- 17:48More on that when we come back.
- 17:51Hey,
- 17:52Mike Baker here.
- 17:53Now,
- 17:53you may have noticed that the US midterm elections are heating up.
- 17:57Yeah,
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- 19:32Hey,
- 19:33Mike Baker here.
- 19:34Now,
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- 20:45In today's back of the brief,
- 20:46more than 25 years after September 11th,
- 20:49the accused mastermind still has not stood trial.
- 20:52I know,
- 20:52I'm credible,
- 20:53but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been fighting to restore a plea deal
- 20:57that would spare him execution in exchange for pleading guilty.
- 21:00This week,
- 21:01the Supreme Court rejected that effort,
- 21:03keeping the death penalty on the table.
- 21:05Monday's decision also applies to two alleged accomplices,
- 21:09Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al Hawsawi,
- 21:13who joined Mohammed in asking the justices to restore their agreements.
- 21:17The court offered no explanation for declining to hear the appeal,
- 21:20which is customary,
- 21:22and Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate.
- 21:24He previously served as associate counsel to President George W.
- 21:28Bush,
- 21:29assisting with legal and policy discussions
- 21:31following the 11th of September attacks.
- 21:34Now to better understand what Mohammed was asking the Supreme Court to do,
- 21:37we need to go back to 2024 during the Biden administration.
- 21:42Military prosecutors had reached agreements with
- 21:44Mohammed and his two co-defendants,
- 21:46and the terms were straightforward.
- 21:48They would plead guilty to charges connected to September 11th
- 21:51and receive life in prison without parole.
- 21:53In exchange,
- 21:54they would no longer face execution.
- 21:57After years of delays,
- 21:58those agreements offered a way to bring the prosecution to an end.
- 22:02But
- 22:02you could consider what that meant for the families.
- 22:05The men accused of helping orchestrate the murder of their loved ones would
- 22:08admit guilt while securing a guarantee that their own lives would be spared.
- 22:13Then,
- 22:13within days,
- 22:14then Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped in.
- 22:17Austin withdrew the agreements,
- 22:19arguing that the decision to take the death penalty off the
- 22:22table in a case of this magnitude belonged with him.
- 22:25As he put it,
- 22:26quote,
- 22:26responsibility for such a decision should rest with me,
- 22:29end quote.
- 22:30But withdrawing the deals did not end the matter.
- 22:33It just started another legal fight.
- 22:36Mohammed and his co-defendants,
- 22:37or rather their attorneys,
- 22:39argued that the agreements were already in place and should remain enforceable.
- 22:43Initially,
- 22:43a military court sided with them,
- 22:46and that gave the defendants a path to keep the protection from execution
- 22:49that had been negotiated.
- 22:51The federal government appealed,
- 22:52however,
- 22:53and the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with Lloyd Austin.
- 22:57His decision to withdraw the agreements could stand,
- 23:00and that brought Mohammed and his co-defendants to the Supreme Court,
- 23:04asking the justices
- 23:05to reverse the appeals court
- 23:07and restore the deals.
- 23:08And the justices
- 23:10declined to hear the appeal.
- 23:12So the defendants are back facing the possibility of the death penalty.
- 23:15But getting to a verdict requires a trial.
- 23:18Ah,
- 23:19there's the rub,
- 23:20and that is the part of this case that's remained out of reach for decades.
- 23:24Mohammed is accused of being the principal
- 23:26architect of the September 11th operation.
- 23:28His two co-defendants are accused of participating in the planning
- 23:32and logistical support that made it possible.
- 23:35Yet a quarter century later,
- 23:37the prosecution of these accused plotters is still working through issues.
- 23:41That have to be settled before a trial can even begin.
- 23:44Prosecutors had sought a January 2027 start,
- 23:48but the military judge overseeing the case determined,
- 23:50well,
- 23:50that would leave too little time to resolve the outstanding pretrial issues.
- 23:55Well,
- 23:55to be fair,
- 23:56it's only been 25 years.
- 23:58That's hardly enough time
- 23:59to consider pretrial issues.
- 24:01The new tentative trial date is June 5th,
- 24:042028.
- 24:06That would put the trial nearly 2-seven years
- 24:08after September 11th,
- 24:10and even that date
- 24:12is not guaranteed.
- 24:14And that,
- 24:14my friends,
- 24:15is the President's Daily Brief for Wednesday,
- 24:17the 21st of October.
- 24:18Now,
- 24:18if you have any questions or comments,
- 24:19and I hope you do,
- 24:20just reach out to me
- 24:21at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
- 24:24And finally,
- 24:24I do hope you'll take a moment
- 24:26to check out our YouTube channel,
- 24:28as the kids say nowadays,
- 24:29it's the Cat's pajamas.
- 24:31Just wander on over to YouTube and search up at President's Daily Brief,
- 24:35and if you like what you see,
- 24:37maybe hit that subscribe button.
- 24:39I'm Mike Baker,
- 24:39and I'll be back later today
- 24:41with the PDB afternoon bulletin.
- 24:43Until then,
- 24:44stay informed,
- 24:45stay safe,
- 24:47stay cool.