Speaker 1: Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking member on the Senate
Speaker 1: Judiciary Committee. Senator, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: It's good to see you.
Speaker 1: We hear the line, a lot elections have consequences. Was
Speaker 1: President Trump acting within his authority? Was the acting legally
Speaker 1: in firing these people?
Speaker 3: Well, there's a question about that and about a lot
Speaker 3: of other things. In eight days this notion. A gentleman
Speaker 3: named mister Vaith was the acting director of the Office
Speaker 3: of Management and Budgeting. He sends out this notice yesterday
Speaker 3: that basically shuts down the federal government in terms of
Speaker 3: the money that's flowing to local communities. And so with
Speaker 3: one dash of the pen, he ends up hurting the
Speaker 3: kids in head start hurting the elderly people who are
Speaker 3: in food programs, and then cutting off medical research. It
Speaker 3: took a federal judge today to bring people back to
Speaker 3: their senses.
Speaker 2: Well, that just developed.
Speaker 1: In fact, you're right, the president's freeze on grant funding
Speaker 1: and aid has been temporarily halted by a And i'd
Speaker 1: love to get your take on a lot of the
Speaker 1: actions that we've seen in the last eight days with
Speaker 1: regard to the Department of Justice, though, is that the
Speaker 1: president's right to fire those people who, in many cases
Speaker 1: serve beyond a single president's term.
Speaker 3: Well, many of them are career employees, and certainly they
Speaker 3: have their legal rights under the law, and they're going
Speaker 3: to assert them in many instances, I think, for to
Speaker 3: have maximum effect and to have reaction from the public.
Speaker 3: You're seeing some of these extreme things happening in the
Speaker 3: Department of Justice and other departments. Ultimately this will be
Speaker 3: sorted out in the courtroom.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess it will be.
Speaker 1: You've also got inspectors general for any number of agencies,
Speaker 1: dozens in this case that have been fired the president.
Speaker 1: The White House did not notify Congress, as would typically
Speaker 1: be the custom here. I believe it's thirty days notice.
Speaker 1: Was this move legal, of course not.
Speaker 3: He tiktoked this issue, just like he did the TikTok issue.
Speaker 3: Ignore the law, ignore what the courts say, do what
Speaker 3: you can to do, and in this situation is basically
Speaker 3: saying that the inspector generals are gone. Who are these
Speaker 3: women and men. They are individuals who have no allegiance
Speaker 3: to the individual heads of the agency. Their allegiances to
Speaker 3: the law and to the Constitution and to the budget.
Speaker 3: And they call them as they see them. They're the
Speaker 3: referees and the empires. Well, he wanted to get them
Speaker 3: off of the scene as quickly as possible so that
Speaker 3: he could pursue this next measure of shutting down federal spending.
Speaker 2: It's not a.
Speaker 3: Pretty picture, and it indicates gathering more and more power
Speaker 3: by Donald Trump at a time in history when we
Speaker 3: need to be careful, to be respectful of this constitution.
Speaker 2: Well, that brings us to the actions of today.
Speaker 1: And as we just learned, once again, a judge has
Speaker 1: halted the president's freeze on grant funding.
Speaker 2: There were already some hiccups today.
Speaker 1: We tried to get answers at a White House press
Speaker 1: briefing and there were some clarifying remarks from the Press
Speaker 1: Secretary's office. But we do know that the online portal
Speaker 1: for head Start is warning of delays.
Speaker 2: Here. Before that judges ruling, the online Medicaid.
Speaker 1: Portal was not accessible in some states, including Illinois. And
Speaker 1: so it becomes a question of what do you do
Speaker 1: about it now, Senator, If there's not a legal solution,
Speaker 1: will there be a legislative one.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know that a legislative one is worth
Speaker 3: anything at this point, because Donald Trump is basically announced
Speaker 3: with TikTok and the Inspectors General, he's going to ignore
Speaker 3: the law. He doesn't care what Congress says. And with
Speaker 3: the spending decision it was made yesterday, it caused such
Speaker 3: chaos all across the country and hurt so many innocent people.
Speaker 3: Is basically a decision on their path that they're going
Speaker 3: to go ahead and do it. Did the law be damned?
Speaker 3: So the American people have basically got to stand up
Speaker 3: and take notice here that there are some people who
Speaker 3: are part of the transition that are in a radical
Speaker 3: and extreme position.
Speaker 1: Well, there are reports that some Senate Democrats, some of
Speaker 1: your colleagues, are calling for a delay to slow the
Speaker 1: confirmation process of Russell Vote to head up the Office
Speaker 1: of Management and Budget until this freeze is taken off
Speaker 1: the table or at least somehow clarified.
Speaker 3: Would you support that, Yes, Votes got his fingerprints all
Speaker 3: over this, this project twenty twenty five. They're following this roadmap.
Speaker 3: They disavow it and said they really didn't know what
Speaker 3: was going on. President Trump said he had never heard
Speaker 3: of the thing, and basically what it boils down to
Speaker 3: if you read it, this is they're following that roadmap,
Speaker 3: just stop by stop, and unfortunately it violates the law
Speaker 3: and constitution.
Speaker 1: Well, so you brought us there, and we can all
Speaker 1: check our mail after this conversation. When you start talking
Speaker 1: about Project twenty twenty five, the antennas go up across Washington.
Speaker 1: What are the breadcrumbs that russ vote left in that
Speaker 1: document that leads you to what he will do here
Speaker 1: or informs your view on what he will do inside
Speaker 1: the White House.
Speaker 3: I tell you there's some radical ideas in there, and
Speaker 3: extreme ideas. They won't make America great again. They'll hurt
Speaker 3: a lot of innocent people. And if we want to
Speaker 3: be number one in the world, and I certainly hope
Speaker 3: we aspire to that, we've got to have the means
Speaker 3: of educating and providing for the basic citizenry of this
Speaker 3: country to excel in. Project twenty twenty has a negative
Speaker 3: attitude towards this government's role in helping people and businesses
Speaker 3: get off the ground and succeed.
Speaker 2: So it's been eight days.
Speaker 1: As we've established, Senator, you have a pretty important role
Speaker 1: on the Judiciary Committee as the confirmation process unfolds here
Speaker 1: and you're going to have quite a conversation. I know
Speaker 1: you had the Pambondi hearings, but many folks are eagerly
Speaker 1: awaiting Cash Ptel. Of course, the president has chosen to
Speaker 1: run the FBI. You've gone out of your way to
Speaker 1: talk about this, and I know that you're not a
Speaker 1: fan of Cash Patel. As you've pointed out, he is
Speaker 1: the man who wants to run the FBI, but also
Speaker 1: claims the FBI is responsible for what took place on
Speaker 1: January sixth. He posted on social media January sixth, never
Speaker 1: an insurrection, cowards in uniform exposed. Will you ask him
Speaker 1: to prove the FBI's involvement as some sort of inside
Speaker 1: job that day?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and there's no proof, no evidence of that whatsoever.
Speaker 3: The thing about this Cash Pattel person, as we have
Speaker 3: his playbook, he wrote a book and spelled out all
Speaker 3: of his weird conspiracy theories in detail. Now President Trump
Speaker 3: wants to give this man thirty eight thirty eight thousand
Speaker 3: FBI agents and professionals all over the world so he
Speaker 3: can pursue all his weird conspiracy theories. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: not fair to America. If we want to keep this
Speaker 3: country safe away from drugs and terrorism and assaults on
Speaker 3: our body. Politic we need someone who has a responsibility
Speaker 3: and a record of proven performance. Mister pttel Ate even close.
Speaker 2: Wow, well, we'll see this unfold.
Speaker 1: As I read from your statement after meeting with Cash Pattel,
Speaker 1: I have grave concerns about his fitness for the role
Speaker 1: of FBI director. He has neither the experience, the temperament,
Speaker 1: or the judgment to lead the FBI. Christy Nome, however,
Speaker 1: Senator got her job to run Homeland Security and gave
Speaker 1: her first remarks today as we hear reports of mass deportations.
Speaker 1: She actually posted some videos of them happening in New York.
Speaker 1: Here's what she said about the agency's jurisdiction, the thing.
Speaker 4: That we can to protect the American people. We have
Speaker 4: jurisdiction over people who live here, people who leave here,
Speaker 4: and people who come here. We have jurisdiction over products
Speaker 4: that come into this country and which ones leave. We
Speaker 4: have jurisdiction over our internet, what comes in, what goes out,
Speaker 4: what kind of business has Virtually I tell people we
Speaker 4: have jurisdiction over everything, and we will exercise all legal
Speaker 4: authorities that we have to protect this country. Because it
Speaker 4: is the only last light of freedom left.
Speaker 1: So, Senator, what should employers and in fact workers in
Speaker 1: cities like Chicago be prepared for as we talk about
Speaker 1: mass deportation and workplace raids.
Speaker 3: Let me tell you it's going to have an impact
Speaker 3: not only individual lives of people, many of whom are
Speaker 3: innocent and shouldn't be swept up in this mass deportation,
Speaker 3: it's going to have an impact on businesses. When business
Speaker 3: leaders come to my office and with a hospitality industry,
Speaker 3: restaurant industry, you name it, they tell us that migrants
Speaker 3: and immigrants working on their workforce are critical to their success.
Speaker 3: Forty percent of the agricultural workers in Illinois are undocumented.
Speaker 3: If this administration is going to shut down their activities
Speaker 3: on the farm, I guarantee the produce section is going
Speaker 3: to look a lot worse in the stores across America,
Speaker 3: and we're going to see a lot of things increasing
Speaker 3: in price. That is not what the American people voted
Speaker 3: for in the last election.
Speaker 2: Senator would be watching for you Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: In that hearing we discussed Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. We
Speaker 1: thank you for your time. As always on Bloomberg TV,
Speaker 1: and radio