October 20th, 2026: Trump–Zelensky Rift Deepens & Iran Tightens Hold Over Hormuz

Mike Baker (0:13)

It's Tuesday, the 20th of October. Welcome to The President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. First up, tension between Washington and Kiev continues to rise as President Zelensky accuses the US of temporarily interrupting critical intelligence sharing. The Trump administration denies the allegation, while President Trump escalates his criticism of Ukraine's handling of the war. Well, they were invaded, so there's that. Later in the show, speaking of who's responsible for rising fuel prices, Iran is tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, with ships coming under attack and some 6,000 sailors stranded on the waterway. The Iranian regime is also reviving demands that President Trump has previously rejected. Plus Russian President Vladimir Putin is proposing talks with President Trump and China's Xi Jinping to end the war in Ukraine. Well, how magnanimous of him, while saying that Ukraine does not need a seat at the negotiating table. Well, now, there's a thought. Let's make a deal with America's two main adversaries without the invaded country being involved. It seems logical. I mean, well, it seems logical from Putin and Xi Jinping's perspective. And in today's Back of the Brief, President Trump backs Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for another term, warning that America would be left to finish the war against Iran alone if voters replace him. But will Trump's endorsement help Netanyahu secure the support he needs to stay in power?

But first, today's PDB Spotlight.

Russia has launched another major assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and President Zelensky says his country once again received no advance warning from Western intelligence partners. The latest attack comes as relations between Washington and Kyiv continue to deteriorate, with the two governments now openly contradicting each other over intelligence sharing, military communications, and Ukraine's strikes against Russian energy facilities. According to the Associated Press, Russian forces targeted Ukraine early Monday with ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, striking 28 substations and other critical energy facilities. More than half a million people were left without electricity, heat, or running water. Russia also fired 16 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region. Ukrainian officials say they received no warning ahead of the first wave of attacks, while intelligence about a second wave arrived too late to activate air raid sirens. Now, that raises serious concerns for Kyiv, which has relied heavily on American intelligence to detect incoming Russian ballistic missiles.

But Washington disputes the notion that the US is intentionally withholding critical intelligence. During an interview on Sunday, the Ukrainian president claimed US intelligence sharing had been interrupted before subsequently being restored. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, flatly rejected that claim Monday, telling reporters in Uzbekistan, quote, I don't know where he's getting these things or why he's saying these things to the press, end quote. Rubio insisted there had been no interruption or pause in intelligence sharing and said Zelensky should instead focus his attention on diplomacy.

But Rubio also acknowledged that, oh, here we go, a software problem had affected Ukraine's early warning system several nights earlier, saying US. European Command was investigating. However, he said he didn't know what had happened during Monday's attack.

And intelligence sharing isn't the only point of contention. As we discussed on Friday's PDB, Ukraine has also been dealing with restrictions on its satellite communications and the dispute over who imposed them has only grown more contentious. Zelensky says speed restrictions remain in place on satellite terminals used by Ukrainian drones, disrupting operations along the front lines. Last week, Reuters reported that an order to restrict the service originated inside the White House, citing American and Western officials. But Rubio has denied that account, insisting nobody at the White House ordered the slowdown. He acknowledged the disruption occurred, saying it just, quote, sort of happened. Oh, well, it just sort of happened, but maintained that service had been restored. Rubio also drew a distinction between SpaceX's commercial Starlink network and its military-grade Starshield system, saying Ukraine doesn't currently have access to Starshield. Now, that complicates the picture even further, given that previous reporting identified Starshield as the affected service, and the conflicting explanations have now prompted Republican lawmakers, including Congressman Mike Turner and Senator Kevin Kramer, to call for a congressional investigation.

Meanwhile, President Trump is escalating his criticism of Zelensky while defending his decision to waive new sanctions on Russia and ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports in a bid to bring down fuel prices. Trump argues that additional pressure on Moscow could drive Vladimir Putin away from peace negotiations. What? Putin has not been anywhere near peace negotiations. How are you going to drive him further away? He's shown no signs of backing away from his maximalist demands and continues to pound Ukraine ahead of the approaching winter.