Latest / The President's Daily Brief / October 16th, 2026: Ukraine Resumes Russian Oil Strikes & Moscow's Massive New Drone Base

Transcript

October 16th, 2026: Ukraine Resumes Russian Oil Strikes & Moscow's Massive New Drone Base · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:00
  Hey,
• 0:00
  Mike Baker here.
• 0:02
  Now,
• 0:02
  before we get started,
• 0:03
  a quick reminder
• 0:04
  that you can listen to the President's Daily Brief
• 0:07
  completely ad-free
• 0:09
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• 0:11
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• 0:13
  briefings without the commercial interruptions.
• 0:16
  Just head on over to PDBpremium.com
• 0:19
  to sign up or click the link in the description.
• 0:22
  And from the entire PDB team,
• 0:25
  thank you for supporting the show.
• 0:40
  It's Friday,
• 0:41
  the 16th of October.
• 0:42
  Look at that,
• 0:43
  we've made it to the end of another work week.
• 0:45
  Well done,
• 0:46
  everyone.
• 0:46
  Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
• 0:48
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:49
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:52
  All right,
• 0:53
  let's get briefed.
• 0:54
  First up,
• 0:55
  Ukraine declares an end to President Trump's supposed energy ceasefire.
• 1:00
  Well,
• 1:01
  now that would be the ceasefire that neither side had agreed to,
• 1:05
  ending Ukraine's unilateral pause on
• 1:07
  targeting Russian energy infrastructure.
• 1:10
  After accusing Moscow of ignoring the supposed agreement,
• 1:14
  that was never really an agreement.
• 1:16
  I know it's a tad bit confusing,
• 1:19
  but we'll have the details
• 1:20
  later in the show.
• 1:22
  Russia has built a massive new drone base in just 6 weeks,
• 1:26
  expanding Moscow's ability
• 1:27
  to strike targets across Ukraine.
• 1:30
  Plus,
• 1:31
  China
• 1:31
  issues a new warning to Taiwan following a confrontation at sea.
• 1:36
  As the US raises alarms over
• 1:38
  Beijing's increasingly aggressive maritime operations.
• 1:42
  And in today's back of the brief,
• 1:44
  President Trump reverses course on plans to live
• 1:48
  stream the execution of the Fort Hood gunman.
• 1:52
  I never thought I would actually say the phrase
• 1:54
  live stream the execution.
• 1:56
  But first,
• 1:57
  today's PDB spotlight.
• 1:59
  Ukraine is once again attacking Russian oil facilities,
• 2:02
  with President Zelensky declaring that Kiev is finished
• 2:06
  unilaterally honoring President Trump's proposed energy ceasefire.
• 2:11
  A large scale drone assault struck Russia's Ryazan region early Thursday,
• 2:16
  setting fire to a major oil refinery
• 2:19
  about 180 miles southeast of Moscow.
• 2:23
  Now the attacks also damaged a warehouse and
• 2:25
  prompted Russian authorities to cancel schools across two districts.
• 2:29
  The refinery itself is an important target
• 2:33
  operated by Russian oil giant Rosneft.
• 2:36
  The facility supplies fuel to Moscow and accounts for
• 2:39
  nearly 5% of Russia's total oil refining throughput.
• 2:44
  The full extent of the damage remains unclear,
• 2:46
  but the attack marks a significant development
• 2:49
  in the growing confrontation between Kiev and Washington
• 2:52
  over Ukraine's campaign against Russia's oil industry.
• 2:56
  As we've reported,
• 2:58
  President Trump announced an energy ceasefire between
• 3:01
  Russia and Ukraine over the weekend,
• 3:02
  despite neither side being aware that there was an agreement.
• 3:06
  Ukraine subsequently suspended its attacks on Russian oil facilities
• 3:10
  for 3 days.
• 3:12
  Moscow,
• 3:12
  however,
• 3:13
  continued pounding Ukrainian infrastructure with missiles and drones.
• 3:17
  Those attacks left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity,
• 3:21
  including some 600,000 people
• 3:23
  who lost power following Russian strikes earlier this week.
• 3:27
  And now Zelensky
• 3:28
  says Ukraine has had enough.
• 3:30
  In an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday,
• 3:33
  the Ukrainian president declared that
• 3:35
  his country was finished unilaterally observing
• 3:37
  the restrictions and would resume its
• 3:40
  campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.
• 3:43
  The decision
• 3:44
  puts Kiev on a direct collision course with the Trump administration,
• 3:48
  which has been pushing Ukraine to stop targeting Russian oil facilities,
• 3:53
  despite the fact that Russia
• 3:55
  has not stopped targeting
• 3:57
  Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
• 3:59
  But that's another point.
• 4:00
  Trump has blamed those attacks,
• 4:02
  the Ukrainian attacks,
• 4:03
  that is,
• 4:04
  for contributing to soaring global diesel prices.
• 4:07
  His administration has also eased restrictions
• 4:10
  on Russian diesel exports.
• 4:12
  In an effort to increase global supplies,
• 4:15
  now there's no word
• 4:16
  as to whether the White House thinks the Iran
• 4:18
  conflict with its disruptions to two major trade routes
• 4:22
  has had anything to do with the rising fuel prices.
• 4:25
  Zelensky argues that attacking Russian refineries is one of
• 4:28
  Ukraine's most effective means of weakening Moscow's war effort.
• 4:32
  The strikes disrupt fuel production,
• 4:34
  impose additional costs on the Russian economy,
• 4:37
  and force Moscow to divert resources toward protecting facilities
• 4:41
  deep inside its own territory.
• 4:44
  And according to Zelensky,
• 4:45
  Ukraine should not be expected to stop those
• 4:48
  attacks while Russia continues destroying Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
• 4:53
  Zelensky suggested that Ukraine could reconsider its refinery campaign
• 4:57
  if Washington
• 4:59
  agreed to provide additional American-made Patriot missile interceptors,
• 5:03
  which Kiev desperately needs
• 5:04
  to defend against Russian ballistic missile attacks,
• 5:07
  which again have not stopped.
• 5:10
  But this dispute over energy strikes
• 5:12
  is only part of the increasingly strained relationship between the two countries.
• 5:17
  There's also been a significant
• 5:18
  development involving the American satellite technology
• 5:22
  that Ukrainian forces rely on for battlefield operations.
• 5:26
  As we reported yesterday on the PDB,
• 5:29
  Ukrainian troops reported unexpected restrictions
• 5:32
  on SpaceX's satellite communications services,
• 5:35
  particularly StarShield.
• 5:37
  That's the military-focused version of Starlink.
• 5:40
  The restrictions reportedly limited connectivity
• 5:43
  for terminals traveling faster than approximately 100
• 5:47
  MPH.
• 5:48
  That's a serious problem for Ukraine's military,
• 5:50
  which
• 5:51
  relies on those systems to maintain communications with
• 5:54
  drones and other fast moving battlefield equipment.
• 5:57
  However,
• 5:58
  on Thursday,
• 5:59
  a source inside Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed that Starshield service
• 6:03
  had been fully restored.
• 6:05
  Axios also reported.
• 6:07
  That both Starlink and StarShield
• 6:09
  were operating at full capacity.
• 6:11
  That's according to a Ukrainian official.
• 6:14
  So the immediate disruption appears to have been resolved.
• 6:17
  What remains unanswered
• 6:19
  is why the restrictions were imposed in the first place,
• 6:22
  and that's where things get
• 6:23
  particularly interesting.
• 6:25
  Elon Musk,
• 6:26
  whose company SpaceX developed and operates the satellite technology,
• 6:30
  has pointed toward Washington.
• 6:32
  Responding to questions about the disruption.
• 6:34
  Musk said that StarShield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.
• 6:39
  And that restrictions on their speed or usage
• 6:42
  are decided by the American military and ultimately the president.
• 6:46
  In other words,
• 6:47
  Musk says these decisions are not his to make.
• 6:50
  That has naturally raised questions
• 6:53
  about whether the Trump administration
• 6:55
  deliberately restricted Ukraine's military communications
• 6:58
  as a means of pressuring Zelensky over the refinery attacks.
• 7:03
  According to Axios,
• 7:04
  officials within both the American and Ukrainian governments
• 7:08
  remain uncertain about who authorized the disruptions.
• 7:12
  So
• 7:13
  while the timing has fueled suspicions in Kiev,
• 7:15
  there is currently no confirmed evidence that the interruption
• 7:19
  was an act of political pressure.
• 7:21
  For now,
• 7:21
  Ukraine's military satellite service is back online,
• 7:25
  but the question of who ordered the restrictions and why,
• 7:28
  well,
• 7:28
  that remains unanswered.
• 7:31
  All right.
• 7:31
  Coming up next,
• 7:32
  Russia builds a massive new drone base in just 6 weeks,
• 7:37
  and tensions rise around Taiwan
• 7:39
  following a maritime confrontation with China.
• 7:42
  I'll be right back.
• 7:45
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• 7:45
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• 9:06
  Welcome back to the PDB.
• 9:08
  As Ukraine prepares for another winter of Russian attacks,
• 9:12
  new satellite images reveal that Moscow has built a new
• 9:15
  launch site for some of its fastest attack drones.
• 9:18
  The sprawling base near Ukraine has
• 9:20
  taken shape in just 6 weeks,
• 9:22
  giving Russia another launch pad for its ongoing aerial campaign.
• 9:27
  On the 31st of August,
• 9:29
  the site in Russia's southwestern Rostov region,
• 9:32
  which directly borders eastern Ukraine.
• 9:35
  It
• 9:35
  was essentially an empty field.
• 9:37
  By Wednesday,
• 9:38
  satellite images provided by Planet Labs and Airbus
• 9:42
  showed a nearly completed military complex roughly
• 9:45
  the size of 170 American football fields.
• 9:50
  Mike Monik,
• 9:51
  the founder and CEO of private intelligence company DroneSec,
• 9:54
  says it will be probably a matter of weeks before it's fully operational,
• 9:59
  if not earlier,
• 10:00
  end quote.
• 10:02
  Along the western edge of the complex,
• 10:03
  Monik identified 8 platforms for launch rails apparently capable of firing the
• 10:09
  Garon 4 and Gon 5.
• 10:11
  Now those are Russia's newest jet-powered attack drones.
• 10:14
  This would expand a network of at least 11 fixed sites that Russia is already using
• 10:20
  to launch drone attacks against Ukraine.
• 10:23
  Monik estimates the new facility
• 10:25
  could eventually launch 100 or more jet-powered drones in a single 24 hour period.
• 10:31
  Now it remains unclear whether Ukraine
• 10:33
  detected the site during the construction process
• 10:36
  or if it's attempted to target the site already.
• 10:40
  Dronese does,
• 10:41
  however,
• 10:41
  identify one potential obstacle.
• 10:44
  The complex likely sits inside the air defense bubble
• 10:48
  provided by systems at a nearby Russian air base,
• 10:51
  making it harder for Ukraine to successfully hit the site.
• 10:55
  The Gar 4 and Gon 5 are jet powered,
• 10:58
  unlike the slower piston-powered drones
• 11:00
  that Russia has relied on heavily throughout the war.
• 11:03
  These newer weapons can reportedly reach speeds
• 11:07
  of up to 370
• 11:09
  MPH.
• 11:10
  Ukraine
• 11:11
  has developed relatively inexpensive interceptor drones
• 11:15
  to hunt down Russia's slower attack drones,
• 11:17
  reducing the need to fire costly surface to air missiles at each incoming target.
• 11:22
  But that approach depends on the interceptor being able to catch its target.
• 11:26
  Russia's jet-powered models can move too quickly for many of the systems that
• 11:30
  Ukraine developed to counter their slower predecessors.
• 11:34
  Kiev is
• 11:35
  now scrambling to find a solution.
• 11:37
  And the number of these weapons being used is already rising sharply.
• 11:41
  According to Ukrainian military data reported by Reuters last month.
• 11:45
  Russia increased its use of jet-powered attack drones roughly 6-fold
• 11:50
  over 3 months this summer.
• 11:52
  For Ukraine,
• 11:53
  the timing makes this especially concerning
• 11:55
  with the full-scale war well into its 5th year.
• 11:59
  Ukrainian officials expect Russia to intensify its
• 12:02
  drone and missile attacks this winter.
• 12:05
  And for Washington and its NATO allies,
• 12:07
  the concern extends beyond Ukraine's borders.
• 12:10
  European governments already accuse Moscow of
• 12:13
  escalating sabotage,
• 12:15
  drone incursions,
• 12:16
  and cyberattacks
• 12:18
  across the continent as relations between Russia and NATO deteriorate.
• 12:23
  All right,
• 12:24
  tensions between China and Taiwan arising again
• 12:26
  after a confrontation in the South China Sea
• 12:30
  prompted a sharp warning from Beijing,
• 12:32
  adding to growing concerns about China's increasingly aggressive efforts
• 12:37
  to challenge Taipei's control over its own territory.
• 12:40
  The incident occurred earlier this month near the Pratis Islands.
• 12:44
  It's a remote group of Taiwan-controlled atolls
• 12:48
  located roughly halfway between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong.
• 12:52
  According to Taiwan's coast guard,
• 12:54
  a Chinese fishing vessel
• 12:56
  failed to respond to warnings to move away from restricted waters near the islands,
• 13:00
  prompting a Taiwanese patrol ship to deploy its water cannon.
• 13:05
  The fishing boat
• 13:06
  subsequently suffered engine failure
• 13:08
  and was towed away by another Chinese vessel.
• 13:11
  Beijing responded Wednesday with a sharp warning.
• 13:14
  A spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office
• 13:17
  insisted that Beijing has indisputable sovereignty
• 13:21
  over the Prata Islands and their surrounding waters,
• 13:24
  declaring that Chinese vessels have every right to operate in the area.
• 13:29
  The spokesperson accused Taiwan of deliberately provoking a confrontation
• 13:33
  and endangering Chinese personnel,
• 13:35
  warning that Taipei must bear the consequences
• 13:38
  of its actions without specifying what those
• 13:41
  consequences might be.
• 13:43
  Taiwanese officials meanwhile defended the Coast
• 13:45
  Guard's actions as routine law enforcement,
• 13:48
  insisting that its response
• 13:50
  was careful and proportionate.
• 13:52
  But it's the location of this confrontation
• 13:55
  that's raising eyebrows.
• 13:57
  The Pratis Islands sit more than 250 miles from Taiwan itself,
• 14:02
  making them one of the island's most isolated and
• 14:05
  vulnerable outposts.
• 14:07
  They,
• 14:07
  they're only lightly defended
• 14:09
  and primarily protected by Taiwan's coast guard
• 14:12
  rather than major military forces.
• 14:14
  Security analysts have long warned that the
• 14:17
  Prota Islands could become an early flashpoint
• 14:19
  in a future confrontation between China and Taiwan,
• 14:23
  particularly.
• 14:24
  Because Beijing may see the isolated islands as an opportunity to pressure Taipei
• 14:29
  without triggering a full-scale regional conflict.
• 14:33
  And this is not the first time that tensions have flared there in recent months,
• 14:37
  as we reported on the PDB back in May.
• 14:40
  Chinese and Taiwanese coast guard vessels engaged in
• 14:43
  a tense standoff near the Prota Islands after
• 14:46
  Beijing's forces asserted sovereignty over the islands
• 14:50
  and claimed that they were conducting a routine patrol.
• 14:53
  It ended without violence,
• 14:54
  but the
• 14:54
  latest incident
• 14:56
  underscores just how easily these encounters can turn more confrontational.
• 15:01
  It also comes amid growing concerns in Taipei that China
• 15:04
  is expanding its use of so-called gray zone tactics,
• 15:07
  employing a combination of military,
• 15:10
  paramilitary,
• 15:11
  and ostensibly civilian vessels
• 15:13
  to challenge Taiwan's control over its surrounding waters.
• 15:17
  Speaking Wednesday,
• 15:18
  a senior Taiwanese national security official
• 15:21
  warned that Beijing was increasingly using
• 15:23
  maritime militia boats and research vessels
• 15:27
  as part of what he described as incremental acts of aggression.
• 15:30
  Raising the specter of potential disruptions
• 15:33
  to shipping routes and critical infrastructure,
• 15:36
  Taiwanese officials also fear these expanding
• 15:39
  operations could be part of Beijing's preparations
• 15:42
  for a potential blockade of the island.
• 15:45
  And as we discussed on Friday's BDB,
• 15:48
  Reuters recently revealed that a suspected Chinese maritime militia vessel
• 15:53
  had been detected off Taiwan's eastern coast for the first time in August,
• 15:57
  operating in the same area as a Chinese Coast Guard cutter and research ship.
• 16:03
  Those waters are particularly important because Taiwan
• 16:06
  considers them a critical route for receiving
• 16:08
  supplies from its allies in the event of a Chinese blockade or military conflict.
• 16:14
  As a reminder,
• 16:15
  China's maritime militia consists of fishing vessels
• 16:18
  whose crews receive training and support from the PLA Navy
• 16:22
  to advance Beijing's territorial claims,
• 16:24
  often operating alongside Chinese coast guard forces.
• 16:28
  Now there's no evidence in the latest Reuters reporting
• 16:32
  that the fishing boat involved in the
• 16:33
  Pratt Island confrontation belongs to that militia,
• 16:36
  but the growing use of ostensibly civilian vessels
• 16:40
  in Beijing's maritime operations
• 16:43
  helps explain why Taiwanese authorities are increasingly sensitive
• 16:46
  to Chinese activity around their territory.
• 16:49
  And Washington is taking notice.
• 16:52
  Following last week's revelations,
• 16:53
  the US State Department condemned China's
• 16:56
  activities off Taiwan's eastern coast as quote
• 16:59
  deeply destabilizing.
• 17:01
  The State Department warned that
• 17:02
  Beijing's attempts to assert authority over waters administered by Taiwan
• 17:06
  were increasing regional tensions
• 17:09
  and undermining prospects for a peaceful resolution.
• 17:12
  Meanwhile,
• 17:13
  China's military pressure continues,
• 17:15
  and Taiwan reported another Chinese joint combat
• 17:18
  readiness patrol near the island on Wednesday
• 17:21
  involving 13 aircraft including
• 17:23
  J-16 fighter jets,
• 17:25
  along with an unspecified number of naval vessels.
• 17:28
  Beijing also confirmed
• 17:30
  that an aircraft carrier and accompanying warships
• 17:33
  were conducting exercises in the Western Pacific.
• 17:37
  OK.
• 17:38
  Coming up in the back of the brief,
• 17:39
  President Trump
• 17:40
  pulls the plug
• 17:42
  on plans to live stream the execution of the man responsible for the deadly 2009
• 17:48
  Fort Hood shootings.
• 17:50
  More on that when we come back.
• 17:53
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  In today's back of the brief,
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  I wanna catch you up on that unprecedented plan to live
• 20:12
  stream the execution of Fort Hood murderer and terrorist Nidal Hassan.
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  Now,
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  it's been getting plenty of attention across news networks and social media,
• 20:21
  and President Trump,
• 20:22
  who initially supported the idea,
• 20:24
  has now called off the live stream.
• 20:27
  Trump laid out his reasoning Thursday on Truth Social.
• 20:30
  He still saw an argument for letting the world
• 20:32
  witness the punishment for an atrocity like Hassan's.
• 20:36
  But he also acknowledged the objections to broadcasting it
• 20:39
  as the president wrote,
• 20:41
  quote,
• 20:41
  I think streaming the execution for all to see
• 20:44
  might have a strong deterrent for the world to witness
• 20:47
  how America deals with terrorists and scum like Hassan.
• 20:50
  And then came the reservation.
• 20:52
  Trump said,
• 20:52
  quote,
• 20:53
  But many very good and well-meaning people
• 20:56
  would rather not watch him die,
• 20:58
  end quote.
• 20:59
  Now,
• 20:59
  of course,
• 21:00
  it did not change his position on the sentence for Hassan.
• 21:04
  Trump stated,
• 21:04
  quote,
• 21:04
  he will die as scheduled by firing squad,
• 21:07
  but this event will not be live streamed,
• 21:10
  end quote.
• 21:11
  Hassan's execution remains scheduled for the 3rd of December.
• 21:15
  The families of his victims can still attend in person if they choose.
• 21:19
  Now,
• 21:19
  a Pentagon spokesman says Secretary of Defense or War,
• 21:22
  whichever,
• 21:23
  Pete Hegseth spoke with Trump before the announcement.
• 21:26
  Hegseth had pushed to let Americans watch the execution online.
• 21:31
  His reasoning was that someone who carries out an attack like Hassan's
• 21:36
  should face serious consequences.
• 21:37
  Well,
• 21:37
  yeah,
• 21:37
  I think everyone can agree with that.
• 21:39
  But Hegseth believed the public should see those consequences carried out,
• 21:43
  so he apparently came up with the idea
• 21:45
  to live stream the execution.
• 21:47
  Now
• 21:48
  very 2026 of him.
• 21:50
  For those who have forgotten and were familiar
• 21:52
  with the brutal nature of Hassan's crimes,
• 21:55
  soldiers preparing for deployments were gathered inside a
• 21:58
  crowded medical processing facility at Fort Hood,
• 22:01
  Texas.
• 22:02
  They were unarmed,
• 22:03
  waiting for checkups and vaccinations.
• 22:06
  Hassan at the time
• 22:08
  was an army psychiatrist,
• 22:09
  someone entrusted
• 22:11
  with caring for service members.
• 22:13
  Instead,
• 22:14
  he walked into the building
• 22:15
  and opened fire.
• 22:16
  He killed 13 people and wounded another 32
• 22:20
  in the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base.
• 22:25
  At his 2013 court martial,
• 22:28
  he admitted that he was the gunman.
• 22:30
  He said he believed he was protecting Muslims
• 22:32
  and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the American military.
• 22:36
  That
• 22:37
  was his justification
• 22:39
  for all the killings.
• 22:40
  His courtroom apology was for,
• 22:42
  any mistakes.
• 22:43
  Oh,
• 22:44
  that's nice.
• 22:45
  Hassan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts
• 22:49
  of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death.
• 22:53
  It was a punishment for that attack
• 22:55
  that Hegseth wanted the public to witness,
• 22:58
  as he put it,
• 22:58
  quote,
• 22:59
  People need to understand that there are serious consequences
• 23:02
  for these types of things,
• 23:04
  end quote.
• 23:05
  The Pentagon
• 23:06
  then confirmed that there would be a live stream.
• 23:09
  When Trump was asked last Friday whether he approved,
• 23:12
  his answer was one word,
• 23:14
  quote,
• 23:14
  Absolutely.
• 23:16
  But even that day there were signs that the plan wasn't settled.
• 23:20
  Trump noted that he had not personally made the decision.
• 23:22
  And said the Pentagon was still quote,
• 23:24
  making a determination.
• 23:27
  Trump called Hassan,
• 23:28
  quote,
• 23:28
  totally nuts
• 23:29
  and said,
• 23:30
  quote,
• 23:30
  I really don't care how he goes as long as he goes,
• 23:33
  and I think that the death penalty
• 23:35
  is a very worthy way of going for him,
• 23:38
  end quote.
• 23:39
  Hm.
• 23:40
  The disagreement taking shape was over
• 23:42
  what broadcasting that punishment would accomplish.
• 23:44
  Those reservations extended into the administration.
• 23:47
  Vice President JD Vance questioned whether the live stream would actually happen
• 23:52
  and made clear that he would not watch it.
• 23:54
  Lawmakers from both parties also objected,
• 23:56
  as did religious leaders,
• 23:58
  and by the weekend,
• 23:59
  Trump was acknowledging
• 24:01
  the competing arguments
• 24:02
  and saying the final decision would be his.
• 24:05
  He brought the debate to a close with yesterday's announcement.
• 24:09
  Now the execution
• 24:11
  is set to go on as scheduled.
• 24:13
  It will be the American military's first since 1961
• 24:16
  and its first by firing squad since 1945.
• 24:20
  The execution
• 24:22
  will take place at Fort Hood,
• 24:24
  the scene of Hassan's terrorist acts.
• 24:27
  Now you know that here on the PDB
• 24:29
  we do work hard to try and keep opinion down to a minimum.
• 24:33
  Our goal is to try and tell you what's happening around the
• 24:37
  world and then let you decide how to think about it.
• 24:40
  But
• 24:41
  perhaps the idea of televising the Hassan execution
• 24:45
  deserves a brief opinion.
• 24:47
  Now,
• 24:48
  I've spent much of my life overseas,
• 24:51
  sometimes in hostile environments where public executions are
• 24:54
  carried out by regimes and terrorist organizations.
• 24:59
  But the US is neither.
• 25:00
  We may not always meet our lofty ideals,
• 25:04
  but we should at least strive to reach them.
• 25:07
  Make no mistake,
• 25:08
  I have absolutely no problem with Hassan being executed.
• 25:12
  I believe it's clear cut
• 25:13
  that he deserves the death penalty,
• 25:16
  but
• 25:17
  that doesn't mean
• 25:18
  that we should invite folks down to the public square
• 25:21
  to watch the stoning.
• 25:23
  And that,
• 25:24
  my friends,
• 25:24
  is the president's daily Brief for Friday,
• 25:26
  the 16th of October.
• 25:28
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 25:30
  please reach out to me at PDB@hefirstv.com.
• 25:34
  And finally,
• 25:34
  you'll be pleased as a bunch to know that a brand new episode of our weekend show,
• 25:38
  the PDB Situation Report,
• 25:40
  is sitting on the launch pad.
• 25:42
  It'll hit the airwaves at 10:00 p.m. this evening on the first TV.
• 25:45
  And
• 25:45
  as always,
• 25:46
  well,
• 25:47
  thanks to the magic of the Internet.
• 25:49
  You can catch it and past episodes on our YouTube channel,
• 25:52
  that's at President's Daily Brief
• 25:54
  and of course on podcast platforms
• 25:56
  all over town.
• 25:57
  I hope you'll tune in.
• 25:58
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today
• 26:01
  with the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 26:03
  Until then,
• 26:04
  stay informed,
• 26:05
  stay safe,
• 26:07
  stay cool.