PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 13th, 2024: Trump Shocks By Tapping Pete Hegseth For SecDef & Israel Doubles Down Against Hezbollah
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Start your day with a terrific taste of Blackout Coffee. Blackout Coffee is an American business that's family-owned, and they're all about producing premium coffee, fresh roasted and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go to blackoutcoffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Wednesday, 13 November. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed.

First, President-elect Donald Trump made some major cabinet announcements on Tuesday, including an unorthodox pick for Secretary of Defense that left many observers in Washington, D.C., in shock or disbelief, or possibly both. Then we turn to Israel, where the IDF has expanded their ground operations in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah strongholds while ramping up airstrikes against militant targets in Beirut's suburbs.

But first, our afternoon spotlight. It was a busy night, or busy 24 hours, for the Trump transition team on Tuesday as the president-elect unveiled a series of high-profile cabinet appointments for his upcoming second term. Trump left the political establishment somewhat in shock with his choice for Secretary of Defense, tapping Pete Hegseth for the critical role. He's an Army National Guard veteran and Fox News co-host.

Hegseth, who holds two bronze stars from his time serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, lacks what some people perceive as the depth of senior leadership experience normally associated with someone running the government's largest budget and well more than a million personnel, though that lack of Pentagon familiarity may be what made him an appealing choice to Trump in the first place.

In his first term, Trump relied on those with high-level national security experience to lead the Pentagon, such as retired Marine General Jim Mattis, but found himself frequently butting heads on policy issues, leading to a chaotic situation at the top. In total, Trump had five different men lead the Pentagon over the course of his first term. That's a lot of churn at the top.

Hegseth, while an unorthodox choice, has been an ardent and vocal Trump supporter during his time at Fox News, who Trump may see as someone willing to defer to the president-elect on key decisions. In a statement, Trump said, quote,

With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice, our military will be great again, and America will never back down."

Now, Hegsett had been with Fox News since 2014. He recently wrote a bestselling book on the state of the US military, blaming woke policies for the recruitment crisis currently plaguing America's armed services. He's a Princeton grad. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Due to his background and lack of political or foreign policy and large-scale leadership experience,

Trump has likely set up his first contentious confirmation fight for a cabinet pick by choosing Hegseth. His decision shocked even Republicans in Trump's orbit, who didn't have Hegseth on their radar. He reportedly only emerged as a top contender on Monday, after Senator Tom Cotton took himself out of the running late last week. Now, while the Senate chamber will have a Republican majority, Trump's nominees will need to keep the majority of the caucus on side to secure approval.

Hegseth was reportedly under consideration for the role of Secretary of Veterans Affairs during Trump's first term, but was passed over due to concerns he would not be approved by the Senate. As an active member of the Minnesota Army National Guard, Hegseth will require a congressional waiver before being confirmed, as congressional rules stipulate that nominees must be out of uniform for at least seven years. While

While Mattis and current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin both received waivers upon their nominations, we'll have to wait and see how lawmakers react to Hegseth. Separately on Tuesday, Trump named John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe, a hawkish former Texas congressman, served as director of national intelligence from May 2020

to January 2021. In that position, Ratcliffe was critical of former special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian influence efforts in the 2016 election, declassifying intelligence alleging Hillary Clinton had boosted Russian disinformation regarding Trump.

Democrats pushed back on the intelligence, charging it was unverified Russian disinformation, something that Ratcliffe denied. He also shot down allegations that the New York Post's infamous Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation.

Now, choosing Ratcliffe for CIA director likely reflects Trump's complicated relationship with the intelligence community and ensures that he has someone in the role who backs his views. Ratcliffe also shares Trump's hawkish stance on China, accusing the CCP of covering up the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Trump said, quote, from exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation to catching the FBI's abuse of civil liberties at the FISA court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for truth and honesty with the American public.

End quote. Rounding things out, Trump named Jewish real estate investor and campaign donor Steve Witkoff to serve as his special envoy to the Middle East. Now, Witkoff has no prior experience as a diplomat, but is said to maintain strong relationships with leaders in Israel, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. Between Witkoff as envoy and Mike Huckabee as Israeli ambassador, the Trump team is sending a clear message regarding their priorities for the Middle East.

And looking at the most recent nominations by the president-elect, it looks like he's chosen Matt Gaetz as the next attorney general, at least has nominated him for that position, as well as Tulsi Gabbard for the position of DNI, the director of national intelligence. Coming up, we turn to Israel, where the IDF has expanded their ground operations in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah strongholds. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. The Israeli Defense Forces, IDF, expanded ground operations in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, zeroing in on Hezbollah's strongholds and ramping up airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs. Since late September, the conflict has been defined by intense Israeli ground incursions and airstrikes aimed at crippling Hezbollah's infrastructure and eliminating key commanders in Beirut and southern Lebanon.

The latest IDF operations saw the 91st Division announce that it had struck, quote, new targets linked to Hezbollah. The IDF reports its commandos within the division conducted extensive raids across the south and other brigades are engaging in, quote, defensive and offensive activities in the area, end quote. Just a day prior, the IDF announced that its 36th Division also intensified ground operations in southern Lebanon.

In Beirut's southern suburbs, Israeli fighter jets intensified strikes on Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods, issuing preemptive evacuation warnings for six buildings, triggering mass evacuations. The IDF reported no casualties in these specific strikes. Video footage roughly one hour after the evacuation warning showed thick smoke plumes rising from the impact sites.

Separate airstrikes hit residential areas, including an apartment in Aramun, resulting in six fatalities and 15 injuries, per Lebanon's health ministry. Lebanon's state-run national news agency reported the absence of no warning, fueling reports of missing children. The IDF added it struck dozens of rocket launch sites across Lebanon, including facilities linked to Tuesday's fatal strikes on Naharia and central Israel.

The same day, Hezbollah retaliated with an intense barrage of drones and rockets aimed at northern Israel. The IDF successfully intercepted three drones, while another wave of roughly 20 rockets set off alarms across the Upper Galilee. Several rockets impacted areas, including a home in northern Israel, causing property damage but sparing any casualties.

Overnight, IDF airstrikes hit Hezbollah weapons depots and command centers situated "in the heart of a civilian population." According to the IDF, Hezbollah's use of human shields in these areas has posed significant operational challenges. Similar IDF operations led to the elimination of several key Hezbollah commanders. In early October, a targeted strike by fighter jets killed Mohamed Moussa Salah, commander of Hezbollah's forces in the Qiyam region of southern Lebanon.

Saleh had overseen more than 2,500 rocket launches into Israel's Golan Heights, Upper Galilee, and Galilee Panhandle during the conflict. Another Hezbollah commander who directed the terror group's anti-tank missile unit responsible for attacks along Israel's northern border was also killed on Sunday. The Israeli military estimates that over 3,300 Hezbollah operatives have been neutralized over the past year, with the majority of these losses occurring since late September.

Now, as an aside, and with the conflict in Lebanon continuing to rage on, I'd like to recommend that you take the time to read a very fine book that helps to provide an understanding of the history of this country and the role that it's played for generations in Middle East politics, terrorism, and conflict.

The book is titled Targeted Beirut, written by Jack Carr and James Scott. Now, it does a solid job of laying out the complexities of Lebanon, including how the bombings of the U.S. Embassy and the Marine Barracks in the early 1980s continue to shape the U.S. perspective and role within the Middle East today.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday, 13 November. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And should you be so inclined to listen to the show ad-free, well, become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.