PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 10th, 2025: How The Anti-ICE Riots Were Built On A Lie & Iran Allegedly Steals Israel's Nuclear Secrets
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It's Tuesday, the 10th of June. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with an update on the unrest in Los Angeles as border czar Tom Holman slams what he described as dishonest reporting on immigration and customs enforcement or ICE operations in the city, partly blaming the media spin machine for the riots. We'll take a look at that spin machine.

Later in the show, Israel suffers a potentially devastating security breach as Iran claims it's seized thousands of intelligence documents detailing Israel's nuclear program. But first, in today's afternoon spotlight, we're beginning to learn more about the ICE operations at the center of the violent riots that have engulfed Los Angeles over this past weekend and how critical factual omissions by the media, I'm sure that's not the first time that's happened, may have fueled the unrest.

Or as Gavin Newsom, California's top grammarian, said in a social media post, flamed the fire. Still trying to figure that phrase out.

On Monday, Trump administration border czar Tom Holman attempted to set the record straight, criticizing the mainstream media for their portrayal of the actions of ICE agents. During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Holman said the media was partly to blame for the chaos that erupted over the weekend, saying that they failed to report the real reasons why ICE agents were operating in the fashion district of Los Angeles last week. That's according to a report from Fox News.

First, Homan rejected the term, quote, raids to describe ICE operations, instead saying that his agents were engaged in targeted enforcement operations based on longstanding criminal investigations. Despite that information being available to the media, however, he said most outlets chose to portray the actions as random, wide-ranging immigration raids that were indiscriminately separating families.

Holman stated, quote, the facts never got out. Even though we put the facts out, the media didn't cover it. They just said, quote, immigration raids and that we're separating families and all the negative information we hear all the time, end quote.

So, you ask yourself, what are the facts? Holman said that late last week, ICE agents executed three criminal warrants at locations linked to a large criminal conspiracy that the agency was investigating involving money laundering, tax evasion, and customs fraud.

One company in question had allegedly brought in over $87 million in goods while failing to pay some $17 million in tariff taxes, with some of their proceeds reportedly being used to fund cartel activity in Mexico and Colombia.

According to a report from New Nation, ICE agents arrested 40 people during the operation that were working at the company illegally. Additionally, ICE agents arrested a number of violent criminals, including a Vietnamese national wanted for murdering two teenagers, several individuals convicted of rape and domestic violence, and several child sex predators.

Homan said, quote, we took a lot of bad people off the street the last couple of days. We arrested a child predator. We arrested someone for sexual misconduct. Someone was arrested for robbery. We arrested numerous gang members, end quote. He added, what ICE did the last couple of days is to make Los Angeles safer by taking public safety threats off the streets.

But, he said, the media glossed over those facts and painted a portrait of federal agents terrorizing the local immigrant community. Well, honestly, that's because that's the narrative that creates outrage. And outrage creates drama and protests and riots. And that generates clicks and likes for the media outlets, which then generates more outrage.

It's the self-righteous circle of life for media and activists. During the operations, Holman said protesters converged on ICE agents and blocked them from safely leaving with the arrested suspects and from gathering evidence. He also noted that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass rejected a request by the federal agents for assistance, instead ordering local police to stand down.

Now, this is the same Mayor Bass whose city management contributed to the complete mishandling of the latest destructive wildfires in Los Angeles.

As I'm sure our listeners are aware, the situation soon spiraled out of control, with anti-ice riots erupting in the city. The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on Saturday describing the chaos, which read, "...last night over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property. It took the L.A. Police Department two hours to respond."

Two hours. The violence escalated on Sunday, with rioters launching glass bottles and fireworks, Molotov cocktails, and slabs of concrete at police officers. In response, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum activating the National Guard, bypassing California Governor Gavin Newsom in order to deploy 2,000 troops to the city. And on Monday, hundreds of Marines were also mobilized to join the National Guard troops.

In a separate interview with News Nation on Monday evening, Holman said the operations will continue despite continued protests in L.A. and other cities. He said the agency has more than 100 teams working daily across the country to carry out their mission. He described ICE agents as, quote, mothers and fathers, not terrorists or racists, as some protesters and media reports have implied.

Homan said, quote, we're not going on the streets looking for people different than us. We're targeting enforcement operations. There has to be consequences for violating our laws, end quote. Well, now, there's a unique idea. Consequences for breaking the law. Nah, probably won't catch on in California. All right, coming up next, Iran claims it's seized thousands of intelligence documents detailing Israel's nuclear program. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. In a potentially seriously damaging intelligence failure, Iran claims that it's seized thousands of intelligence documents detailing Israel's nuclear program. Over the weekend, Iranian state outlets and Hezbollah-affiliated media began circulating reports that Tehran had acquired highly classified Israeli documents.

The collection allegedly includes sensitive photographs, detailed facility schematics, internal communications, and the names and images of personnel connected to the country's nuclear enterprise.

The material, they claim, was smuggled out of Israel and hand-delivered into Iranian custody after what officials described as a, quote, long and secretive operation. Iran's intelligence minister described the cash as a, quote, treasure trove, adding that calling it, quote, thousands of documents would be an understatement.

He declined to specify how the materials were obtained, saying only that the transfer process was deliberately slow to avoid detection and ensure delivery to what he termed, quote, protected destinations inside the Islamic Republic. On Tuesday, Iran's semi-official student news agency went further, accusing Israel of operating a, quote, illegal nuclear weapons program with help from Western institutions.

The intelligence minister, for his part, said Tehran will make the documents public soon, though the timeline and extent of that disclosure remain unclear.

In a potentially significant development, the International Atomic Energy Agency, otherwise known as IAEA, appeared to lend partial credibility to Iran's claim. The agency's director general, Rafael Grossi, told reporters Monday that the documents in question, quote, "...seem to refer to the Sorek Nuclear Research Center, one of the only Israeli nuclear facilities that's under international inspection."

The chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog told reporters in Vienna, quote, "We haven't had any official communication about this," but acknowledged that the agency is monitoring the situation. Notably, Sorek is a far cry from Israel's more sensitive nuclear installations, which remain opaque and off-limits to the IAEA. Still, any breach involving a site with official oversight raises questions about broader vulnerabilities and about how much deeper the leak might go.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council, meanwhile, issued an unambiguous warning on Monday that any future Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, they said, would be met with retaliation against Israel's own nuclear assets. Retaliation allegedly guided by the very intelligence that Iran now claims to hold.

Back in Israel, in a move that may be unrelated to the documents leak, authorities have arrested two individuals, both Israeli citizens, who are charged now with aiding an Iranian intelligence. According to indictments filed last month, the pair face allegations of espionage, aiding the enemy in wartime, and passing classified information to a foreign agent.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic agency claims the two were instructed by Iranian handlers to install surveillance devices within Israel. Whether that operation had any direct link to the nuclear document leak remains unclear, but Israeli defense officials haven't ruled it out.

If the Iranian regime's claims hold up under scrutiny, the implications for Israel, of course, could be severe, not only for its regional deterrence, but also for its opaque nuclear posture. The leak could cast new light on the growing reach of Iranian intelligence networks and on Israel's ability to defend its most sensitive state secrets at a moment of mounting strategic tension with Tehran.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Tuesday, the 10th of June. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And of course, if you'd like to listen to the show ad-free, well, you can do that. Just 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.