‘A LOT OF BS’: During a broadcast Cabinet meeting that ran an hour and 45 minutes yesterday afternoon, President Donald Trump — his patience apparently exhausted — unleashed on Russian President Vladimir Putin for his disingenuous pretense that he is open to a negotiated end to his war with Ukraine. Or, as Trump put it, “bulls***.”
“We get a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all of the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” Trump said, one day after he said Ukraine would resume receiving weapons shipments from the United States. “He’s not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people. So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that.”
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There were roughly 30 Patriot missiles in Poland destined for Ukraine under arms transfers approved under the Biden administration, when deliveries were paused with the explanation that U.S. stocks were being depleted. Trump has reportedly agreed to send ten of the missiles, while looking for other countries to supply more. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump is also considering sending another Patriot system — launchers and associated radars — and asked the Pentagon for options.
“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now because he’s killing a lot of people,” a clearly exasperated Trump said. “And a lot of them are his soldiers, his soldiers and their soldiers mostly. And it’s now up to 7,000 a week. And I’m not happy with Putin.”
TRUMP PATIENCE WITH PUTIN’S ‘BULLS***’ WEARS OUT AS UKRAINE AID RESUMES
OUT OF THE LOOP: Trump didn’t say it, but he can’t be too happy with his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who blindsided his boss by cutting off weapons to Ukraine without checking with anyone.
Late last week, reports began circulating that Hegseth, along with Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy, paused all shipments, while keeping President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Congress out of the loop. Politico was first to report the story, which was quickly confirmed by other news organizations, all citing unnamed officials.
NBC reported Friday that Hegseth’s unilateral action came despite a finding from the Joint Staff that “providing continued assistance to Ukraine would not drain U.S. supplies below a required threshold needed to ensure military readiness.” Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who ordered the pause, Trump admitted it wasn’t him. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” he said.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson, in a statement to the Associated Press, denied that Hegseth acted without consulting Trump. “It is the job of the Secretary of Defense to make military recommendations to the commander in chief. Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the president to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. This effort was coordinated across government.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended Colby’s role in advocating for the weapons freeze in an email to Politico. “Colby is doing exactly what would be expected of his job. The entire purpose of Undersecretary Colby’s job is to provide policy recommendations to Secretary Hegseth, and his advice has proved to be invaluable.”
OPINION: NOW UKRAINE AID IS ‘AMERICA FIRST’?
YET ANOTHER SANCTIONS THREAT: Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly suggested he might hit Russia with crippling sanctions if it doesn’t negotiate in good faith. Yesterday, he sounded like he might be serious this time.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has had a sanctions bill teed up for weeks. It has 82 cosponsors in the Senate, including chief cosponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The bill aims to make it harder for Russia to sell oil on the world market to fund its war effort. It would impose a 500% tariff on imported goods from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other products.
“President @realDonaldTrump is spot on about the games Putin is playing,” Graham said in a post on X. “The Senate will move soon on a tough sanctions bill — not only against Russia — but also against countries like China and India that buy Russian energy products that finance Putin’s war machine.”
Trump said yesterday he is “looking at it,” noting that Graham’s bill has a presidential waiver to give him maximum leverage. “It’s an optional bill. It’s totally at my option. They passed it totally at my option, and to terminate totally at my option. And I’m looking at it very strongly.”
Despite the bipartisan support, the bill is not expected to get a floor vote this week. There’s a “lot of interest,” in the bill Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters yesterday. “We’ll have more to say about that later this week.”
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Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon this morning. The meeting is set for 10:30 a.m.
YET ANOTHER RECORD DRONE ATTACK: While Trump is fuming about Vladimir Putin’s duplicity, Russia was busy launching another massive drone and missile attack against Ukraine, and — as has been the pattern recently — each attack seems to set a new record for ferocity.
“A new massive Russian attack on our cities. It was the highest number of aerial targets in a single day: 741 targets — 728 drones of various types, including over 300 shaheds, and 13 missiles, Kinzhals and Iskanders,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X.
The city of Lutsk, which lies in Ukraine’s northwest along the border with Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions were also struck, Zelensky said. “Damage has also been reported in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv regions.”
“Most of the targets were shot down,” Zelensky said, thanks to Ukraine’s formidable home-grown “interceptor drone” capabilities. “We are scaling up this technology.”
Ukraine claims to have shot down 296 drones and seven missiles during the overnight attack, while 415 more drones were lost from radars or jammed, according to the Ukrainian Air Force statement.
“This is a telling attack, and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” Zelensky said. “This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions, biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow’s war machine with money for over three years of the war.”
HOUTHIS RESUME TARGET SHIPPING: The U.S. hasn’t had much to say about what’s going on in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea since the Pentagon declared victory in “Operation Rough Rider,” the 52-day campaign to “restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region.”
But the deal the Houthis struck never did promise freedom of navigation, only that U.S. ships would not be targeted if the U.S. stopped bombing the Houthis in Yemen. Most maritime shipping companies still avoid the route; only a few U.S. warships have tested the waters.
In a second attack in three days, Houthi terrorists attacked a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea, killing three crew members and wounding two others. The attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C follows the sinking of another ship, the bulk carrier Magic Seas, on Sunday.
A three-minute propaganda video, set to dramatic music, posted by the Houthis on social media showed Houthi militants boarding the Magic Seas and then detonating a series of explosives, breaching the ship’s hull and causing it to slowly sink into the Red Sea.
There is no mention of the attacks on the webpage or social media accounts of the U.S. Central Command, since an April 27 press release in which the U.S. military vowed to “continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation.”
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THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Trump patience with Putin’s ‘bulls***’ wears out as Ukraine aid resumes
Washington Examiner: China warns it would retaliate if Trump strikes unfavorable trade deals
Washington Examiner: Trump administration to ban Chinese purchases of US farmland
Washington Examiner: US State Department Breaks Silence on India-Pakistan Truce
Washington Examiner: State Department investigating Rubio impersonator
Washington Examiner: James Comey and John Brennan under investigation by DOJ for Trump-Russia inquiry
Washington Examiner: Army looking to teach soldiers how to shave properly
Washington Examiner: Trump heralds ‘powerful’ book by the ‘Washington Examiner’s’ Zito on assassination attempt
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Now Ukraine aid is ‘America First’?
Politico: Pentagon policy chief’s rogue decisions have irked US allies and the Trump administration
Wall Street Journal: White House Weighs Giving Ukraine Another Patriot Air-Defense System
Defense One: Army Aims to Quadruple Patriot Missile Procurement
Breaking Defense: From Fighter Jets to Space Systems: Military Sends Lawmakers Over $20B-Worth of Unfunded Priorities
Defense News: Former Air Force Chiefs Sound Alarm About Planned F-35, E-7 Cuts
The War Zone: China’s Two-Seat J-20 Stealth Fighter Poised to Enter Operational Service
Bloomberg: Newest US Navy Aircraft Carrier Faces 20-Month Delivery Delay
DefenseScoop: What Trump’s Order on ‘Unleashing American Drone Dominance’ Means for the US Military
Air Force Times: Air Force Review Spotlights Risks in Space Agency’s Go-Fast Approach
The Atlantic: Trump’s New Favorite General
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force, Space Force Kick Off Major Pacific Exercises
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Budget Hints at Shift in Tanker Plans—and More KC-46s
Air & Space Forces Magazine: KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
THE CALENDAR:
WEDNESDAY | JULY 9
8:50 a.m. 1201 15th St. NW — Defense Strategies Institute Defense Department Energy and Power Summit, July 9-10, with Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Thompson; Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Annie Caputo; and Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Reactors Rian Bahran https://power.dsigroup.org/
10 a.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “Israel’s Economic Resilience after October 7: Navigating War and Strategic Pressures,” with Israeli Minister of Economic Affairs Noach Hacker https://www.hudson.org/events/israels-economic-resilience-after-october-7
THURSDAY | JULY 10
3 p.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW — American Enterprise Institute discussion: “National Security vs. Economic Gain: A Debate on US-China Export Policy,” with David Feith, adjunct senior fellow, Center for a New American Security; Aaron Ginn, CEO, Hydra Host; Derek Scissors, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and moderator Chris Miller, nonresident senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute https://www.aei.org/events/national-security-vs-economic-gain