Latest / The President's Daily Brief / October 26th, 2026: Secret Intelligence Memo Reveals Iran’s Plans to Kill Americans & Europe’s Weekend of Riots

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October 26th, 2026: Secret Intelligence Memo Reveals Iran’s Plans to Kill Americans & Europe’s Weekend of Riots · The President's Daily Brief

0:12
It's Monday,
0:13
the 26th of October.
0:15
Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
0:17
I'm Mike Baker,
0:18
your eyes and ears on the world stage.
0:21
And yes,
0:23
yesterday's Ole Miss Texas matchup
0:25
was really a game of two halves.
0:27
The first half was a bit of a crime scene,
0:29
but Ole Miss almost pulled it off in the second half,
0:33
tying the game and taking it down to the wire.
0:35
And that's your official
0:37
hotty toddy update.
0:39
All right,
0:39
let's get briefed.
0:40
First up,
0:41
a new US intelligence warning reveals Iran has
0:44
stepped up efforts to assassinate American officials overseas.
0:48
With some plots reportedly reaching advanced stages
0:51
later in the show,
0:52
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado
0:55
returns home after months in exile,
0:58
setting up a potential political showdown
1:00
with the interim government as she pushes for new elections.
1:04
Plus,
1:05
it was another weekend of violence in Europe where major
1:07
protests erupted into riots and clashes with police in France,
1:11
Spain,
1:11
Italy,
1:12
and Albania.
1:13
And in today's back of the brief,
1:15
Saudi Arabia faces another wave of Houthi missile and drone attacks
1:19
with Riyadh and other major targets under fire
1:22
as the kingdom struggles to contain the growing threat from Yemen.
1:26
But first,
1:27
today's PDB spotlight.
1:29
US intelligence officials are warning that Iran has dramatically
1:33
expanded its efforts to assassinate American officials overseas,
1:37
with some plots reportedly reaching advanced stages.
1:40
The warning
1:41
comes as Washington pulls diplomatic personnel
1:43
out of several Middle Eastern countries
1:45
and prepares for the possibility of renewed military strikes against the regime.
1:50
And while American intelligence agencies are
1:52
raising alarms about Iranian assassination operations,
1:55
Tehran
1:56
is delivering a very different message publicly and insisting it
2:00
remains interested in negotiating an end to the conflict.
2:03
Of course it does.
2:04
According to an exclusive report from Axios,
2:06
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton.
2:09
Sent a memorandum to Secretary of State Marco Rubio
2:13
on the 23rd of October warning that Iran had substantially increased its efforts
2:18
to target American government personnel in the Middle East
2:20
and beyond,
2:21
and nothing says that they remain interested in negotiating an end to the conflict
2:26
like targeting American government personnel
2:28
in the Middle East and beyond.
2:30
The memo reportedly states that Iranian plots to kill American
2:33
officials have reached what intelligence analysts described as advanced stages.
2:38
The warnings suggests that American intel agencies are
2:40
tracking more than general threats or hostile rhetoric,
2:43
although the memo does not publicly identify specific targets,
2:47
locations,
2:48
or the methods Iranian operatives might use.
2:51
One particularly revealing detail involves how
2:54
the intelligence is being handled.
2:56
According to Axios,
2:57
Clayton offered to downgrade the classification of some sensitive intelligence
3:01
so that the State Department could distribute the warnings more widely.
3:04
The Washington Post reports that a US
3:06
official confirmed the authenticity of the memorandum,
3:09
and the administration is already taking precautions.
3:12
The State Department has ordered reductions in
3:15
American diplomatic personnel across several Middle Eastern countries
3:18
including Saudi Arabia,
3:19
Qatar,
3:20
the UAE,
3:21
Jordan,
3:21
and the Lebanon.
3:23
In Saudi Arabia,
3:24
the measures include the departure of family members
3:26
and nonessential personnel from the embassy in Riyadh
3:29
and American consulates in Jeddah and Dahran.
3:33
The drawdowns are reportedly connected to
3:35
concerns about both Iranian assassination operations
3:39
and attacks by Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen.
3:42
Now Iran has a long history of using intelligence operatives,
3:46
members of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force,
3:48
and criminal intermediaries
3:50
to target enemies overseas.
3:52
These operations offer Tehran
3:54
a way to strike individual targets
3:56
without launching a conventional military attack.
3:59
The warning from the DNI does
4:01
tell us that American intelligence officials consider
4:04
the threat serious enough to warn the
4:06
State Department and potentially impacted personnel.
4:10
And all of this is unfolding as the US
4:12
considers another round of military action against Iran.
4:16
The Washington Post reports that approximately 50,000
4:19
American troops remain deployed across the Middle East
4:22
while the Pentagon prepares for additional naval deployments.
4:25
As many as 3 American aircraft carriers and
4:28
their escorts could be positioned in the region
4:30
by early next month.
4:32
So Washington is preparing for potential military escalation
4:36
while simultaneously reducing the number of American
4:38
civilians and diplomats exposed to potential retaliation.
4:43
And Tehran,
4:44
as usual,
4:44
is sending mixed messages
4:46
either because their leadership is uncoordinated
4:49
or they're simply continuing a strategy to block and
4:51
delay as they wait for the US midterm elections.
4:54
According to the Associated Press,
4:56
Iran's ambassador to Pakistan,
4:58
while he would know,
4:59
says his government remains willing to negotiate
5:01
with Washington under the framework of the Pakistan-brokered
5:04
interim agreement reached in June.
5:06
Ambassador Reza Amiri Mogadam
5:08
accused the
5:10
US of undermining diplomatic efforts and prolonging
5:13
the confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz.
5:16
As an aside.
5:17
The chances that an Iranian ambassador slings
5:19
any weight around within the actual regime leadership
5:23
is somewhat nonsensical.
5:25
He also described a proposal Tehran says
5:27
it recently communicated through Pakistani intermediaries.
5:30
Well,
5:30
that would be the seven day plan
5:32
put forward by the regime that called for the US to make a variety of concessions
5:37
just in order for Iran to then reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
5:41
As we've noted here on the PDB,
5:43
the White House rejected that proposal as unworkable.
5:46
Iran of course wants relief from the
5:48
economic and military pressure Washington has imposed,
5:51
particularly the blockade
5:53
restricting its ability to export oil.
5:56
The Trump administration meanwhile
5:58
has shown little interest in surrendering
6:00
that leverage without first obtaining significant concessions
6:04
from the regime.
6:06
All right.
6:06
Coming up next,
6:07
Maria Corina Machado returns to Venezuela after months in exile,
6:12
and another weekend of violent protests rocks Europe.
6:15
I'll be right back.
6:18
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7:30
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has returned to her
7:33
home country after more than 10 months in exile,
7:37
setting the stage for a possible political confrontation
7:40
with the government that replaced Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.
7:43
Although in reality,
7:45
the government that replaced Maduro was really just the same Maduro government
7:49
with a few deck chairs shoveled.
7:51
Machado announced her return Sunday morning with a brief message on
7:54
social media declaring that she was back with the Venezuelan people.
7:58
Her first public appearance came at a church in the western state of Lara,
8:02
where she was greeted by cheering supporters.
8:05
Video showed Machado embracing members of the congregation
8:08
as people gathered around her celebrating the return
8:11
of one of Venezuela's most prominent opposition figures,
8:14
and her arrival comes at a particularly
8:17
interesting moment in the country's political transition.
8:19
You'll remember that Machado spent much of
8:21
2025 in hiding after challenging Maduro's government.
8:25
She eventually escaped Venezuela in December
8:28
to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway
8:30
and has spent the past several months trying to arrange her return.
8:34
But the country she's coming back to is very different from the one that she left.
8:39
American forces captured Maduro and removed him from power back in January.
8:43
The Trump administration then chose to work
8:45
with Maduro's former vice president Dulcie Rodriguez,
8:48
who she has served as Venezuela's interim president
8:52
ever since.
8:53
That arrangement has produced some
8:55
significant economic agreements between Washington and Caracas,
8:58
particularly involving Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
9:03
President Trump has repeatedly praised the cooperation with Rodriguez,
9:07
pointing to expanded American access to Venezuelan oil
9:10
and new investment opportunities for US companies.
9:13
As evidence that the arrangement is producing results,
9:16
on Sunday,
9:17
Trump was asked about Machado's return and said he had not been aware of her arrival.
9:22
He described her warmly and said he hoped she remained safe,
9:24
but said that things were going well in Venezuela.
9:28
For Machado and for many Venezuelans,
9:30
there is still a major piece of unfinished business.
9:33
Venezuela has yet to schedule new presidential elections.
9:37
Rodriguez was initially authorized to serve
9:39
as acting president for a limited period
9:41
following Maduro's removal,
9:43
but she's remained in office well beyond that initial arrangement.
9:47
Meanwhile,
9:47
negotiations over Venezuela's political future
9:50
have continued between the interim government
9:52
and certain opposition factions.
9:55
Machado's movement
9:56
has largely been excluded from those discussions,
9:59
and that's especially noteworthy given
10:00
what happened during Venezuela's disputed 2024
10:04
presidential election.
10:05
Machado was barred from running against Maduro,
10:08
so the opposition backed Edmundo Gonzalez instead.
10:11
Independent evidence subsequently indicated that Gonzalez
10:14
defeated Maduro by a substantial margin,
10:17
but the country's electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner.
10:20
How could that happen,
10:21
prompting widespread accusations of fraud,
10:23
Oh,
10:24
and a government crackdown on opposition supporters.
10:27
Now Machado is returning with the intention of putting the question
10:30
of elections back at the center of Venezuela's political debate.
10:35
Her foreign affairs adviser told Reuters that she intends to
10:37
push for a date for free and fair elections.
10:40
She also plans to meet with families of political prisoners,
10:43
members of the democratic opposition,
10:45
and survivors of the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June.
10:49
Gonzalez,
10:50
who's been living in Spain,
10:51
welcomed her return
10:52
and announced that he intends to follow her back to Venezuela soon.
10:56
Meanwhile,
10:57
the Trump administration has maintained that
10:59
stabilizing Venezuela's economy and rebuilding its political institutions
11:03
must come before another presidential election.
11:06
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended that approach,
11:10
arguing that Venezuela needs functioning courts
11:12
and credible electoral authorities before the country can hold a legitimate vote.
11:18
Rubio has also said Machado has every right to return to her homeland
11:21
while acknowledging that American officials previously
11:24
raised concerns about her personal safety,
11:27
and those security concerns have not disappeared.
11:30
Machado's political movement
11:32
says she made several unsuccessful attempts to
11:34
return to Venezuela over the past year.
11:37
Her allies
11:38
have accused the interim government of obstructing those efforts,
11:41
although Venezuelan authorities have denied the allegation.
11:45
Her return
11:46
now puts her back inside a country still governed by
11:48
figures closely associated with the former Maduro government
11:52
even as Washington continues working with those same officials
11:55
on economic deals and potential political reforms.
11:59
For the moment,
12:00
Rodriguez and the old Maduro guard remain in power.
12:03
The US continues its cooperation with their government,
12:06
and no date has been announced for new presidential elections.
12:10
It's also unknown
12:11
how Venezuela's military and security apparatus
12:15
view Machado's return.
12:17
All right.
12:18
Turning now to Europe,
12:20
where the hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets again this weekend,
12:24
with the governments deploying more police and soldiers as
12:27
they struggled to keep the violence under control.
12:30
As we've been discussing here on the PDB,
12:31
these demonstrations aren't all about one thing or the same thing.
12:36
The grievances differ from country to country,
12:38
and so does the extent of the violence.
12:41
We'll start in France,
12:42
where we've been following this unrest since it began earlier this month.
12:46
After last week's rioting,
12:47
looting,
12:47
and arson,
12:49
French authorities strengthened security and changed how police responded.
12:52
But you ask yourself,
12:54
was it enough
12:55
to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend's violence and chaos?
12:58
Well,
12:59
this weekend,
12:59
the destruction was somewhat less extensive.
13:01
France's interior minister
13:03
said Sunday that authorities made over 1300 arrests
13:06
and that 53 police officers were injured.
13:09
France's Interior Ministry estimated that approximately 410,000 people
13:14
took part in 298 demonstrations nationwide.
13:18
Now the General Confederation of Labor,
13:20
that's one of France's major labor union federations,
13:23
put the turnout much higher at roughly 800,000.
13:27
There's been no independent confirmation of either estimate.
13:31
Most of those marches remained peaceful.
13:33
The interior minister said they initially passed off well.
13:36
But later in the day,
13:37
the situation changed.
13:38
The minister said officers encountered quote
13:41
an extremely elevated level of violence from ultra-left groups.
13:45
The government had prepared for trouble,
13:47
mobilizing up to 70,000 officers,
13:50
helicopters,
13:51
armored vehicles,
13:52
and water cannons
13:54
before the demonstrations began.
13:55
Police confiscated fireworks,
13:57
slingshots,
13:58
and improvised weapons,
13:59
including a katana,
14:01
because,
14:01
uh,
14:01
well,
14:02
a katana is generally part of any peaceful protest,
14:05
I suppose.
14:06
So did those preparations make a difference?
14:08
That's a good question.
14:09
Arguably yes,
14:10
they did.
14:11
The interior minister said faster intervention,
14:13
more security checks,
14:15
and better protection for businesses
14:17
did help limit the damage.
14:19
Some shops were still looted because you can't have a protest without looting,
14:22
apparently,
14:23
but he said,
14:23
quote,
14:23
The scale was far smaller than the previous weekend
14:27
when approximately 3000 businesses were reportedly damaged or looted.
14:31
In Paris,
14:32
businesses boarded up their windows ahead of a march that drew 110,000 people,
14:36
according to police.
14:37
Union organizers put attendance at 250,000 people
14:42
at the front of the march.
14:43
Things ended without incident,
14:44
but toward the rear,
14:46
a different scene was developing.
14:48
The interior minister said,
14:49
quote,
14:49
Several 1000 radical activists had gathered,
14:52
including approximately 500 people authorities identified
14:55
as rioters.
14:56
The resulting clashes with police lasted roughly 2 hours.
15:00
Beyond Paris,
15:00
thousands of protesters broke through police lines in Nantes
15:03
while officers used tear gas during clashes in Marseille,
15:07
where street fires were reported.
15:09
For now,
15:09
the government remains on high alert
15:11
with the infamous yellow vests,
15:13
that's the
15:14
movement which emerged roughly 8 years ago,
15:16
accusing Macron's government of authoritarian drift,
15:20
announcing more demonstrations for the 31st of October,
15:23
including rallies and sit-ins outside Parliament.
15:26
Across the border in Spain,
15:27
unrest developed differently.
15:30
Catalan police arrested 128 people after Saturday evening's violence.
15:35
More than half were minors.
15:36
Hundreds of young people,
15:37
many dressed in black,
15:38
had gathered following calls circulated on social media.
15:43
Catalonia's police commissioner described
15:45
participants as totally disorganized people
15:48
who responded to social media calls and
15:50
carried out attacks without a specific demand.
15:53
Authorities reported 23 businesses vandalized and 33 fires.
15:58
15 officers were injured,
15:59
4 seriously enough to require medical leave.
16:02
The situation became dangerous enough that firefighters
16:05
needed police protection just to reach the fires safely.
16:08
In Italy,
16:09
Protests against war and rising living costs
16:12
spread across major cities.
16:14
Saturday.
16:15
Violence was reported in Turin,
16:17
Rome,
16:17
and Bologna,
16:18
while Milan's demonstrations remained largely peaceful.
16:22
Italian police reported 9 arrests and the temporary
16:24
detention of 371 people across 8 cities.
16:27
Of those taken to police stations,
16:29
110 were minors.
16:31
What's up with today's youth?
16:33
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Maloni proposed tougher
16:36
penalties for minors involved in violent unrest
16:39
and announced another 500 soldiers would be deployed from Milan.
16:43
Soldiers were already deployed in the city ahead of Saturday's demonstrations,
16:47
and many businesses boarded up their windows.
16:49
Now further southeast,
16:50
Albania's government is facing a protest movement with a direct political demand,
16:55
the resignation
16:57
of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
16:59
Now for context,
17:00
it helps to know that Rama has governed since 2013,
17:04
and he recently secured 1/4 term just this past year.
17:07
But student-led demonstrations over alleged corruption,
17:09
a lack of jobs,
17:10
and poor educational conditions
17:12
have become a major challenge to his government.
17:15
The demonstrations have spread beyond the capital
17:17
Tirana to other cities this month.
17:19
In the capital on Saturday,
17:21
protesters threw stones at police and set
17:23
a fire at the agriculture ministry's entrance.
17:26
Officers responded with tear gas,
17:28
water cannons,
17:29
and rubber bullets.
17:30
One protester told Reuters,
17:32
quote,
17:32
Albanians have woken up,
17:34
describing the government as a
17:36
dictatorship with the close of democracy,
17:39
end quote.
17:40
And in today's back of the brief,
17:42
Saudi Arabia faces another barrage of Houthi missiles and drones.
17:46
We'll have more on that
17:47
when we come back.
17:50
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17:50
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17:51
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In today's back of the brief,
20:42
I want to turn to Saudi Arabia,
20:44
where Riyadh's international airport
20:46
is reopening despite threats of another Houthi attack.
20:49
The Iran-backed militants warned that the airport will never be safe
20:53
as more missiles and drones target the kingdom.
20:56
13 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in
20:59
the October 10th Houthi strikes on King Khalid Airport,
21:02
making it Saudi Arabia's deadliest attack in over a decade.
21:06
The airport shut down at that point.
21:08
Now Saudi authorities are trying to get flights moving again.
21:11
On Sunday,
21:12
they reopened two terminals,
21:13
Terminal 2 for international flights and Terminal 1 for domestic service.
21:17
But as you might imagine,
21:19
reopening the doors is one thing.
21:21
Getting airlines and passengers to return under threat of further attack
21:25
is a different proposition,
21:27
and the Houthis are doing their best to keep it that way.
21:29
Their military spokesman
21:31
Yaya Sari
21:32
declared that the airport remained a military target.
21:35
He warned that the Saudi regime shall bear
21:37
the consequences of any operations in the airport.
21:40
In other words,
21:41
the Houthis are threatening to attack again
21:43
and telling Saudi Arabia it will be to blame for letting people travel.
21:48
Now,
21:48
according to the Saudi-led coalition,
21:50
the Houthis targeted the airport 20 times between the 1st
21:53
and the 11th of October,
21:56
but the airport is only part of what Saudi defenses are having to protect.
22:00
On Sunday,
22:00
the kingdom faced another wave of missiles and drones.
22:04
The coalition spokesman said Saudi forces intercepted
22:06
a ballistic missile headed toward Riyadh,
22:08
a drone in the Riyadh region,
22:10
and a cruise missile aimed at the southwestern city of
22:13
Qamis Mushay.
22:14
Now explosions were reported in the capital.
22:17
The coalition later announced that Saudi forces had intercepted
22:19
10 more ballistic missiles fired toward the south.
22:23
Even successful interceptions though are leaving civilians exposed.
22:27
Saudi civil defense officials said
22:28
debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles
22:31
injured people in Kamis Mosheitan
22:33
nearby Ahad Rafida,
22:35
damaging 3 residential buildings and 7 vehicles.
22:38
The barrage followed Houthi claims on Saturday
22:41
that they had targeted 3 Saudi airports,
22:44
including Riyadh's,
22:45
along with oil facilities,
22:46
a pipeline,
22:47
and an air base.
22:48
Saudi authorities did not directly confirm those claims.
22:52
Saudi civil defense also reported falling debris
22:54
in the Mecca and Medina regions Saturday
22:57
after two Houthi missiles were intercepted.
23:00
Now the Houthis
23:01
denied targeting the holy cities,
23:03
calling the accusation a huge lie.
23:06
The reported debris locations
23:08
do not yet establish that the holy sites themselves were targeted.
23:12
The Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General called those attacks heinous,
23:16
saying they showed a blatant disregard for the lives
23:19
and security of civilians
23:22
across the border in Yemen.
23:23
Another airport has been coming under repeated attack.
23:26
Yemen's Transport Ministry said the Houthis launched two ballistic
23:29
missiles toward the government-controlled Aden
23:31
International Airport on Saturday.
23:34
According to the ministry,
23:35
it was the 4th attack
23:36
against that airport this month.
23:38
Aden serves as the temporary capital
23:40
of Yemen's internationally recognized government.
23:43
The ministry warned that the attacks threaten the safety of civil aviation
23:46
and carry humanitarian and economic repercussions for citizens,
23:51
end quote.
23:52
Yemeni government authorities also reported damage to a
23:54
coast guard headquarters and another government building.
23:57
The Houthis claimed they had struck the Al-Nasser
23:59
military camp and a naval base in Aden.
24:03
Now beyond the airport attacks,
24:04
Houthi forces are pressing their offensive
24:06
around Taiz.
24:08
On Sunday,
24:08
they reportedly advanced toward Jabelaber.
24:11
That's a strategic mountain overlooking the city
24:13
where control of the high ground could threaten government-held positions below.
24:17
The Houthis have already besieged Taiz and cut the main road to Aden.
24:21
Approximately 800,000 people now remain trapped,
24:24
and the
24:24
the UN warns that time is running out
24:27
to get aid to them.
24:29
The Houthis' ambitions
24:30
also reached toward a critical route for global trade.
24:34
Last month they seized strategic territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast,
24:38
moving closer to the Bab al Mandeb Strait.
24:40
Saudi Arabia responded
24:42
by stepping up military operations against the group.
24:45
That strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden,
24:48
carrying energy shipments and commercial traffic between Europe and Asia
24:51
through the Suez Canal.
24:53
For Washington,
24:54
the ongoing attacks endanger a major security partner
24:57
and one of the world's most important oil exporters.
25:00
Iran-backed militants
25:02
are threatening Saudi airports and energy infrastructure
25:04
while advancing near a shipping route
25:06
that the global economy depends on.
25:09
And that,
25:10
my friends,
25:10
is the President's Daily Brief from Monday,
25:12
the 26th of October.
25:14
Now,
25:14
if you have any questions or comments,
25:15
and I hope you do,
25:16
just reach out to me at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
25:19
And finally,
25:20
I hope you had a chance over the weekend to check
25:22
out our latest episode of the much loved PDB Situation Report.
25:26
Now 9 out of 10 folks who watched the Situation Report
25:29
say that it's positively impacted their lives in really meaningful ways,
25:33
and I may have just made up that last sentence,
25:35
but I do hope you caught the episode.
25:37
If not,
25:38
you can always catch it on our YouTube channel.
25:40
Just wander on over to YouTube,
25:42
search up at President's Daily Brief,
25:44
and of course you'll find it
25:45
on podcast platforms everywhere.
25:48
I'm Mike Baker,
25:49
and I'll be back later today with the PDB
25:51
afternoon bulletin.
25:52
Until then,
25:53
stay informed,
25:54
stay safe.
25:55
Stay cool.