Latest / The President's Daily Brief / November 2nd, 2026: North Korea Linked to Massive Crypto Heist & Poland’s Political Crisis

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November 2nd, 2026: North Korea Linked to Massive Crypto Heist & Poland’s Political Crisis · The President's Daily Brief

0:12
It's Monday,
0:13
the 2nd of November.
0:14
Look at that,
0:15
a brand new month.
0:16
Well,
0:17
I hope that
0:18
those of you in the US
0:19
had a most excellent Halloween,
0:21
and of course the US midterm elections are tomorrow.
0:23
So
0:24
if you haven't already,
0:25
be sure to vote.
0:27
You know,
0:27
the saying's true,
0:28
you can't complain about the results if you don't participate.
0:31
Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
0:33
I'm Mike Baker,
0:34
your eyes and ears on the world stage.
0:37
All right.
0:38
Let's get briefed.
0:39
First up,
0:39
North Korean hackers are suspected of pulling
0:42
off the largest cryptocurrency heist in history,
0:45
stealing a reported $6.3 billion worth of crypto
0:50
from the company Binance in just a matter of minutes.
0:54
Later in the show,
0:55
Poland is facing a growing constitutional crisis
0:58
after the suspension of the country's top constitutional court president
1:02
sparked days of street protests and accusations of a coup.
1:07
Plus tens of thousands of protesters flood the
1:09
streets of Germany in demonstrations spanning 34 cities,
1:14
with the unrest turning violent in Frankfurt
1:16
as rioters loot businesses and clash with police.
1:19
Well,
1:19
looting
1:20
appears to be the,
1:22
uh,
1:22
professional sport now in Europe.
1:24
And in today's Back of the Brief,
1:26
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there's growing international
1:30
interest in a limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
1:33
Well,
1:33
that's nice,
1:34
aimed at protecting commercial shipping in the Black Sea,
1:37
which of course means nothing unless there's growing interest on Putin's part
1:41
to bring an end to his almost five-year invasion.
1:44
But first,
1:45
today's PDB spotlight.
1:47
North Korea has apparently pulled off
1:49
the largest cryptocurrency heist in history,
1:52
stealing more than $6 billion from the world's biggest crypto exchange
1:57
in an operation that reportedly took just minutes.
2:00
The target was Binance,
2:01
the cryptocurrency trading giant.
2:04
Last Thursday,
2:04
enormous amounts of digital currency began disappearing
2:07
from the company's accounts,
2:09
according to The New York Times.
2:11
Executives scrambled to assemble an emergency team of
2:14
roughly 100 employees as billions of dollars vanished.
2:17
Well,
2:17
no offense,
2:18
but you would think that
2:20
that emergency team would have already been on standby and
2:23
ready to go just for this type of attack.
2:25
By the time the main attack was over,
2:27
approximately $6.3 billion had been stolen,
2:30
most of it in just 20 minutes.
2:33
And according to the FBI,
2:35
the thieves were working for North Korean
2:37
leader and part-time crime boss Kim Jong-un.
2:40
On Saturday,
2:41
the bureau formally attributed the attack
2:43
to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation
2:47
known as Traitor Traitor.
2:49
Hm,
2:49
that's easy to say.
2:51
That's the same group that American investigators blame for stealing $1.5 billion
2:55
from another cryptocurrency exchange,
2:57
that would be Bibit
2:59
back in February of last year.
3:01
But even that large scale theft now looks
3:03
relatively small compared with what happened at Binance,
3:06
and this is hardly an isolated incident.
3:09
According to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.
3:12
North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated
3:14
$12.8 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017,
3:19
carrying out roughly 100 separate attacks.
3:22
$7.4 billion of that total
3:25
has been stolen this year alone.
3:27
For North Korea,
3:28
these operations have become an important source of illicit revenue.
3:32
Pyongyang remains subject to extensive international sanctions designed
3:36
to restrict its access to foreign currency,
3:38
financial markets,
3:39
and the materials needed
3:40
for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
3:44
But rather than relying exclusively on smuggling
3:46
or other traditional methods of evading sanctions.
3:49
The regime has developed a highly sophisticated cybercrime apparatus
3:53
capable of stealing enormous sums from financial institutions around the world,
3:58
and cryptocurrency theft is only one part of the operation.
4:01
Just last month,
4:02
the Justice Department announced a major crackdown
4:05
on a network of North Korean operatives
4:07
posing as legitimate remote technology workers at American companies.
4:12
Federal agents searched more than 40 locations in Texas.
4:15
And seized approximately 187 computer devices used in the scheme.
4:20
Investigators say the workers used
4:22
stolen identities and American intermediaries
4:24
to obtain jobs at US companies,
4:27
with their earnings then ultimately flowing back to North Korea.
4:31
The Justice Department says those operations helped
4:33
finance the regime's sanctioned weapons programs.
4:37
Now turning back to the finance heist,
4:40
there is reportedly,
4:41
according to Binance,
4:42
some good news for customers.
4:44
The company says it's already replaced
4:46
approximately 95% of the stolen cryptocurrency
4:50
using its own financial reserves.
4:53
Meanwhile,
4:53
investigators and other cryptocurrency companies
4:56
have managed to freeze billions in stolen assets.
4:59
Of course,
5:00
replacing the stolen money doesn't mean the thieves have been caught or that
5:04
all the stolen funds have been recovered.
5:06
The FBI says the North Korean hackers have already
5:09
begun moving the cryptocurrency through a series of transactions
5:13
designed to conceal its origins with additional laundering efforts expected.
5:18
All right.
5:18
Coming up next,
5:19
Poland is facing a deepening political crisis,
5:22
and the weekend's mass protests across Germany
5:26
turned violent,
5:27
of course,
5:27
with the requisite eluding.
5:29
I'll be right back.
5:32
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Welcome back to the PDB.
6:49
Now let's turn our focus to Poland,
6:51
where a growing constitutional crisis has erupted into open confrontation
6:56
between the country's president and prime minister,
6:59
triggering street protests,
7:00
clashes with police,
7:02
and accusations of a coup.
7:04
The turmoil became so serious this weekend that Poland's president
7:07
ordered his plane to turn around in mid-flight,
7:10
abandoning an overseas trip so he could return to Warsaw and personally intervene.
7:16
And now opposition leaders are discussing an effort to bring down the government.
7:20
At the center of the controversy
7:22
is Poland's Constitutional Tribunal,
7:24
which serves a role broadly comparable to
7:27
that of the US Supreme Court in determining
7:30
whether the country's laws comply with its constitution.
7:33
On Friday,
7:34
a judge on the tribunal announced the suspension
7:37
of its president,
7:38
that would be Bogdan Swenzkowski and his deputy also for one month.
7:42
The judge
7:43
Anna Korvin Piotrovska
7:46
then declared that she was assuming temporary control of the institution,
7:50
but Svianzkovsky rejected the suspensions,
7:52
maintaining that he remained the court's legitimate president.
7:56
The tribunal's existing leadership and members of the conservative opposition
8:00
described the move as a coup.
8:02
And within hours the confrontation spilled into the streets.
8:05
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the court in Warsaw,
8:08
where riot police were deployed to secure the building.
8:11
Protesters clashed with officers.
8:13
Some attempted to breach security barriers,
8:15
and several people were detained.
8:17
Then came
8:18
an extraordinary intervention from Polish President Carol Novrotsky.
8:23
Navrotsky was traveling to Senegal when news of the suspensions broke.
8:27
He ordered his aircraft to turn around,
8:29
return to Warsaw,
8:30
and headed directly to the courthouse.
8:32
Video footage showed the president pushing past judges
8:35
as he attempted to enter the building.
8:38
Navrotsky accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government
8:41
of orchestrating what he called quote a
8:43
forcible takeover of a constitutional body.
8:47
He warned that Poland's internal security was at risk,
8:49
and he summoned political leaders for emergency consultations.
8:53
The confrontation
8:54
is the latest chapter in a political struggle dating back more than a decade.
8:59
Between 2015 and 2023,
9:02
Poland was governed by the National Conservative Law and Justice Party,
9:06
commonly known by its Polish abbreviation PIS.
9:10
During those years,
9:11
The party introduced sweeping judicial changes and appointed
9:14
allies to powerful positions within the court system.
9:17
Critics,
9:18
including European Union officials,
9:20
accused the government of undermining judicial independence
9:23
and turning the Constitutional tribunal into a political instrument.
9:27
When Donald Tusk returned to power in 2023,
9:30
he promised to reverse those changes and
9:33
restore the independence of Poland's courts.
9:35
But his efforts repeatedly encountered resistance from
9:38
presidents aligned with the conservative opposition,
9:41
and that includes Navrotsky,
9:43
who was elected president last year
9:45
and has refused to recognize several judges
9:47
appointed by the current parliamentary majority.
9:51
Swenkovsky,
9:52
the court president,
9:53
suspended Friday,
9:54
also refused to allow some of those judges to take their seats.
9:58
The resulting standoff effectively paralyzed the institution.
10:01
Now Tusk argues that Friday's suspensions were necessary to restore the rule of law
10:06
and end years of political interference.
10:09
In a nationally televised address on Saturday evening,
10:12
the Prime Minister rejected accusations
10:14
that his government was undermining democracy.
10:16
Instead,
10:17
he accused the opposition of obstructing judicial reform
10:20
and declared that on certain issues,
10:22
quote,
10:22
there can be no compromise.
10:25
But the legal questions surrounding the suspensions remain unresolved.
10:29
While 4 former presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal have defended the move.
10:34
Poland's Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has questioned its legal basis
10:38
and warned that the confrontation could deepen the crisis.
10:42
Meanwhile,
10:42
the political fallout is spreading.
10:44
A former prime minister has proposed a parliamentary
10:47
vote of no confidence in Tusk's government,
10:50
along with the creation of a caretaker administration
10:52
that would oversee elections next year.
10:55
For now,
10:56
Tusk's coalition retains its parliamentary majority,
10:59
making such a move unlikely,
11:01
and the European Commission has also weighed in,
11:03
defending Parliament's authority to appoint judges and
11:06
urging Polish authorities to respect European legal standards.
11:11
And US Ambassador Tom Rose has appealed for calm,
11:14
warning that the confrontation could escalate into something far worse.
11:19
All of this of course is unfolding inside
11:21
one of America's most important NATO allies.
11:24
Poland plays a central role in the alliance's eastern defenses
11:27
and remains a critical logistical hub for military assistance flowing into
11:31
neighboring Ukraine.
11:33
A prolonged political crisis in Warsaw
11:35
could introduce another source of uncertainty at a time when NATO
11:39
is already confronting significant security challenges along its eastern front.
11:44
For now,
11:45
Poland has a president and prime minister
11:47
accusing each other of threatening the country's democratic institutions,
11:51
a constitutional court divided over its own leadership,
11:54
and opposition figures openly discussing the replacement of the government.
11:59
OK.
12:00
Turning to Germany,
12:01
where the scenes echo the unrest that we've been tracking in France,
12:05
smashed storefronts,
12:07
Molotov cocktails,
12:08
and police under attack.
12:10
Now more than 100 officers were injured,
12:12
and German officials are demanding penalties for rioters
12:15
accused of hijacking peaceful protests.
12:17
Well,
12:17
that sounds familiar.
12:19
Let's start with what brought people into the streets.
12:21
For tens of thousands of demonstrators across 34 German cities.
12:24
The demands centered on the pressures of rising living costs,
12:28
education,
12:29
and health care.
12:30
They wanted more support for those services,
12:32
and they opposed compulsory military service.
12:35
Behind the demonstrations was a campaign whose name
12:38
roughly translates as Gen Z Takes Charge.
12:43
The protests took place Saturday and
12:44
overnight into Sunday alongside Halloween festivities.
12:48
Well,
12:48
that's very festive.
12:49
Authorities said that they were largely peaceful.
12:52
But late Saturday night in Frankfurt,
12:54
hooded rioters,
12:55
oh,
12:55
here we go,
12:56
attacked businesses following the demonstrations.
12:59
Hess's state interior minister laid out the damage at a Sunday news conference.
13:04
17 shops and stores damaged,
13:06
5 of them looted.
13:08
As those attacks unfolded,
13:09
police urged people to get out of the city center.
13:13
Their warning read,
13:13
quote,
13:14
Violent disturbances are continuing.
13:16
Molotov cocktails are also being thrown at the emergency services.
13:20
We urge all bystanders to avoid the city center or to leave the area,
13:24
end quote.
13:25
Police deployed approximately 1300 officers in Frankfurt.
13:30
More than 100 were injured in the clashes,
13:32
and 54 people were arrested,
13:34
ranging in age from 13 to 29.
13:37
There was trouble elsewhere too.
13:39
In Hamburg.
13:40
Some barricades were set on fire,
13:42
but in Frankfurt,
13:43
authorities were also assessing who had taken part in the violence.
13:47
Hesse's interior minister said most of those arrested
13:50
were German nationals.
13:51
His assessment of the wider group involved,
13:54
citing police information,
13:55
was quote,
13:56
Police currently estimate that they are dealing
13:58
with between 1000 and 1500 violent troublemakers,
14:02
predominantly from a migrant background,
14:05
end quote.
14:06
The federal government's response was blunt.
14:08
The country's interior minister told the German newspaper Bild,
14:11
quote,
14:11
This breach of the peace must be followed by tough penalties.
14:15
He accused violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from the migrant community
14:19
of hijacking the otherwise peaceful protests without elaborating.
14:24
The government added that parts of Germany's far-left extremist scene,
14:27
along with some groups linked to foreign extremist movements,
14:31
had joined those efforts.
14:33
But the protests initially in particular also included a
14:36
broad mix of political and civil society groups.
14:39
Organizers initially expected 182,000 participants nationwide.
14:44
Early police figures suggested a smaller turnout
14:47
in Frankfurt,
14:48
Munich,
14:48
and Berlin.
14:50
Police counted as many as 18,000 demonstrators
14:53
compared with roughly 36,000 claimed by organizers.
14:57
For the campaign's spokeswoman Elina Friedrich,
15:00
the message was about fighting for peace and
15:02
freedom rather than for war and coercion.
15:05
She also called for a fairer distribution of the burden,
15:09
end quote.
15:10
That concern
15:11
about who carries the burden has an economic backdrop.
15:15
Germany,
15:15
Europe's largest economy,
15:17
has struggled to revive growth
15:19
as baby boomers retire and the working age population shrinks.
15:23
Pressure is building on pensions and public services.
15:27
An 18-year-old at a Munich rally put
15:29
the frustration directly to Chancellor Friedrich Mertz,
15:32
saying,
15:32
quote,
15:33
We will continue to exercise our fundamental right to assemble
15:36
until you stop ignoring us,
15:37
end quote.
15:38
Now,
15:38
of course,
15:38
that does not
15:39
include the fundamental right
15:41
to loot or burn buildings.
15:44
These demonstrations are part of a wider wave
15:45
of Gen Z-led protests across Europe this year,
15:48
although the outcomes have obviously differed.
15:50
In Serbia,
15:52
student-led activism helped unseat the country's longtime leader
15:55
at the ballot box.
15:56
Now there's a unique idea
15:58
for German officials confronting the violence in Frankfurt.
16:00
Though France is the warning,
16:03
you'll remember the unrest that we've been following there,
16:05
extensive rioting and looting of damaged shops,
16:08
public and historic buildings,
16:10
and businesses.
16:11
In Germany,
16:12
the interior minister said,
16:13
quote,
16:13
We all have those images from France in our minds looting,
16:18
burning houses,
16:19
burning police vehicles,
16:20
and attacks on police officers.
16:22
And then came his warning,
16:23
quote,
16:24
France must not be held up
16:26
as a model in this regard,
16:27
end quote.
16:28
Yeah,
16:29
that does seem like a reasonable statement.
16:31
All right,
16:32
coming up in today's back of the brief,
16:33
the US is exploring a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine,
16:37
but only at sea,
16:39
as international mediators look for a way
16:42
to protect commercial shipping.
16:44
More on that
16:45
when we come back.
16:48
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19:29
In today's back of the brief,
19:30
Washington continues to look for a path to peace in Ukraine,
19:34
but two days of G20 talks exposed familiar obstacles and also allies divided,
19:40
and also Russia unyielding,
19:43
leaving even a limited potential
19:45
ceasefire uncertain and realistically unlikely.
19:49
Now,
19:49
to give you an idea of how divided the G20 was,
19:52
they were already at odds over
19:54
who should even be in the room for the meetings.
19:57
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was there.
19:59
Oh,
20:00
how about that?
20:00
But several European governments and Canada thought that he shouldn't be.
20:04
Their concern was that welcoming Russia's top diplomat
20:07
risked normalizing the invasion of Ukraine.
20:11
European diplomats threatened to boycott or walk
20:13
out of the traditional group photo.
20:15
Oh,
20:15
say it ain't so.
20:16
You're not going to participate in the group photo.
20:18
So as a result,
20:19
Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled the photo op.
20:23
Speaking to Reuters,
20:24
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand
20:26
said she wouldn't have invited Lavrov either,
20:30
but she used his presence
20:31
to confront him over Putin's ongoing war against Ukraine.
20:35
Now Rubio's position was relatively straightforward.
20:38
He indicated that if the goal is to end the war through diplomacy,
20:41
Washington has to speak to Russia as well as Ukraine.
20:45
Interestingly,
20:46
but given the White House's latest actions,
20:48
not surprisingly,
20:49
Ukraine's foreign minister was not invited to the G20.
20:52
Rubio said the US remained in frequent contact though with Kiev's leaders.
20:57
Now some governments were already concerned about Washington's approach,
21:00
as previously discussed on the PDB.
21:03
President Trump has waived fresh sanctions on Moscow,
21:06
even as Russia intensifies its attacks,
21:09
and the rhetoric from the White House has
21:11
appeared to blame Ukraine for the war,
21:13
with Trump even recently deriding Zelensky and
21:15
suggesting Ukraine needs a new leader.
21:17
It is worth noting that,
21:19
well,
21:19
Russia is the invading party,
21:21
and Putin has never backed off of his maximalist demands.
21:25
So there's that.
21:26
But on Friday Washington announced a step in support of Kiev.
21:29
The State Department approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of
21:34
Patriot air defense interceptors to Ukraine.
21:37
Still,
21:38
Rubio offered no promises of a breakthrough.
21:40
He said,
21:41
quote,
21:41
I don't know if negotiated peace
21:43
is achievable in Ukraine.
21:45
He continued,
21:46
That's what we're trying to find out here,
21:48
but I don't think anyone
21:50
is claiming that we're on the verge of a negotiated settlement.
21:53
Now,
21:54
Lavrov gave him little reason to suggest otherwise.
21:57
Speaking on Friday,
21:58
Russia's Foreign minister said Moscow's position had not changed.
22:01
Well,
22:01
there's a surprise.
22:02
Russia would not accept Ukraine posing a military threat
22:06
to legitimate security interests of the Russian Federation.
22:09
Once again,
22:10
um,
22:11
well,
22:11
Russia is the invading party.
22:13
Diplomats said Moscow was just as unyielding behind closed doors,
22:17
but Ukraine was only one of the issues dividing the G20.
22:21
The meeting ended without a joint statement.
22:24
Rubio instead released a chairman's summary
22:26
outlining shared priorities
22:28
but no agreements on how to address them.
22:31
Poland's foreign minister offered a straightforward explanation,
22:33
quote,
22:34
We have wars going on and we have participants in those wars around the table,
22:39
so it's very difficult to agree on a common line,
22:42
end quote.
22:43
Even Warsaw's place at the table was a point of contention.
22:46
The country's foreign minister was
22:48
attending as a guest,
22:49
representing his country for the first time at a G20 meeting.
22:53
Russia
22:54
opposed Poland becoming a member,
22:56
but then again,
22:57
Russia opposes everything that isn't directly in Russia's own self-interest.
23:02
South Africa presented a different dispute.
23:04
How many disputes did we have?
23:05
It's already a G20 member,
23:07
but the Trump administration did not invite it,
23:10
despite objections from other governments.
23:13
Participants who spoke anonymously about the private talks said the
23:16
divisions also extended to the U.S.Israeli war against Iran,
23:20
American tariffs,
23:21
and China's actions in the South China Sea.
23:24
As we know here at home,
23:26
those disputes have contributed to higher fuel costs and uncertainty over trade.
23:31
The topic of Iran also brought a more immediate concern into the discussions.
23:35
The Associated Press reports that US officials had
23:38
warned several Middle Eastern governments and regional allies
23:41
to prepare for possible renewed American strikes
23:44
against Iran after Tuesday's US midterm elections.
23:47
They were also told to prepare for potential Iranian retaliation.
23:51
And that prospect put countries in the region,
23:54
including G20 member Saudi Arabia,
23:56
on edge.
23:58
Rubio's argument was that these disagreements should
24:01
not prevent cooperation wherever it remained possible.
24:04
He urged countries to work together on critical mineral supply chains and
24:08
keeping major shipping routes open,
24:10
including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red,
24:12
the Black,
24:13
and South China Seas.
24:15
At Saturday's closing news conference,
24:17
Rubio said,
24:18
quote,
24:18
I would not pretend to you today
24:20
that we are close to finding universally accepted solutions to these problems,
24:24
end quote.
24:25
And for that.
24:26
We award Rubio today's PDB statement of the obvious award.
24:30
Well done,
24:31
Mister Secretary.
24:32
Another issue at the G20,
24:34
the Black Sea and current threats to commercial shipping.
24:37
Washington is reviewing proposals now from Turkey and India
24:40
to halt attacks on shipping in the Black Sea.
24:43
Rubio described the goal this way,
24:44
quote,
24:45
We'd like to achieve it.
24:46
It doesn't solve the war,
24:47
but at least it solves a unique aspect of it.
24:50
But even here the sides remain apart.
24:53
Canada's Anand told Reuters that Ukraine was fully engaged in the discussions.
24:58
Russia,
24:58
though,
24:58
had not shown a willingness to move forward.
25:01
Still,
25:02
diplomats said participants agreed to keep working toward Trump's G20 leaders
25:07
summit that's scheduled to be held in Florida this December.
25:10
Putin has not committed to attending that event.
25:14
However,
25:14
Rubio left an open invitation to Ukrainian President Zelensky,
25:17
saying,
25:18
quote,
25:18
If something positive could happen as a result of him attending.
25:23
And that,
25:24
my friends,
25:24
is the president's Daily Brief for Monday,
25:27
the 2nd of November.
25:28
Now,
25:28
if you have any questions or comments,
25:29
and I hope you do,
25:30
just reach out to me at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
25:34
Of course,
25:34
if you'd like an ad-free PDB experience,
25:36
that is perfectly doable.
25:38
Just become a premium member
25:40
of the President's Daily Brief by visiting
25:42
PDBpremium.com.
25:45
I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin.
25:49
Until then,
25:50
stay informed,
25:51
stay safe.
25:52
Stay cool.