Speaker 1: We bring you news and analysis every day on the
Speaker 1: Sound On podcasts, but now you can get the latest
Speaker 1: news on demand whenever you want it. Subscribe to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: News Now to get the latest headlines at the click
Speaker 1: of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can
Speaker 1: listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business app, Bloomberg dot com plus Apple, Spotify, and anywhere
Speaker 1: else you get your podcasts. Search Bloomberg News Now and
Speaker 1: subscribe Today.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch us
Speaker 2: live weekdays at one Eastern on Bloomberg dot com, the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business App, or listen on
Speaker 2: demand wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Reports earlier of sirens blaring in northern Israel, we've had
Speaker 1: some conflicting reports coming out of the aircraft had penetrated
Speaker 1: the country's airspace. That is apparently not the case. Israel
Speaker 1: just ruling out now officially in airspace infiltration in the north.
Speaker 1: We're just hearing that from the IDF Israeli jets, according
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg, and we're reading this on the terminal here
Speaker 1: together did strike targets in Lebanon after the militia there
Speaker 1: launched guided missiles at an army post in northern Israel,
Speaker 1: underscoring what Chairman McCall just said. Now it appears we
Speaker 1: have breaking news coming from Capitol Hill as well. I
Speaker 1: want to be careful with this now, but things are
Speaker 1: moving quickly. As I mentioned in the race for speaker
Speaker 1: coming down to Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. We are
Speaker 1: already getting reports now that Steve Scalise is going to
Speaker 1: win the Republican nomination for House Speaker. Remembering this was
Speaker 1: the vote today behind closed doors, before this goes into
Speaker 1: the House Chamber for a real vote in public as
Speaker 1: soon as tomorrow. The Republican Conference did not want to
Speaker 1: bring that vote to the floor unless they knew the outcome.
Speaker 1: And here we are now with the first report from
Speaker 1: Axios that Steve Scalise has won the Republican nomination for
Speaker 1: House Speaker. We're going to get to General Ponaro here,
Speaker 1: but I have to bring in the panel with this
Speaker 1: breaking story. Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor and Republican strategist,
Speaker 1: is with us in New York at World Headquarters. Genie
Speaker 1: Shanzano in New York as well, if we can get
Speaker 1: to Rick on this breaking story here, pretty remarkable speed, Rick,
Speaker 1: in a narrative that has changed incredibly quickly since this
Speaker 1: time yesterday, when we thought it would take days, if
Speaker 1: not weeks. This follows a vote earlier, a vote against
Speaker 1: increasing the threshold that would be required for a candidate
Speaker 1: to win this nomination.
Speaker 3: What's your first reaction.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's amazingly quick. But the key thing
Speaker 4: is what you said, Joe, which is a rule was
Speaker 4: defeated that was offered by Chip Roy that required the
Speaker 4: caucus to require two hundred and seventeen votes for anybody
Speaker 4: to be ported out by the caucus, therefore ensuring that
Speaker 4: whoever is the recommendation by the caucus could actually win
Speaker 4: the speakership. That was defeated, opening the gates for Steve
Speaker 4: Scalise to win. He was opposed to that measure and
Speaker 4: Jim Jordan was for it, and so it was a
Speaker 4: bit of a proxy fight. And when that did not pass,
Speaker 4: then it only required a majority of those voting at
Speaker 4: the caucus to make a recommendation. But you pointed out
Speaker 4: the key thing, Joe, this is just a recommendation. The
Speaker 4: caucus is under its rules required to support whoever comes
Speaker 4: out of this caucus vote whoever gets the majority. So technically,
Speaker 4: these Republics are going to march down to the floor,
Speaker 4: probably pretty quick, take a vote, and two hundred and
Speaker 4: twenty of them are going to vote for Steven Scalise.
Speaker 4: We're not sure that's actually going to happen. Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 4: couldn't make that magic work, and so the next hurdle
Speaker 4: is the key hurdle for success to reach the speakership.
Speaker 5: If you're Steve.
Speaker 1: Scalise, remarkable, if you're just joining us on Bloomberg Radio
Speaker 1: and on YouTube, we do have breaking news. Steve Scalise
Speaker 1: has won the Republican nomination to be the next speaker.
Speaker 1: That's ahead of a floor vote that has yet to
Speaker 1: be scheduled, though as we were just suggesting it might
Speaker 1: be tomorrow, certainly as soon as tomorrow. Steve Scalise said
Speaker 1: earlier he was confident we would have a speaker by
Speaker 1: the end of the day. Genie, how did this change
Speaker 1: so quickly under our feet?
Speaker 6: You know, I think the reality is is that Steve
Speaker 6: Scalise has enormous institutional and organizational advantages here that Jim
Speaker 6: Jordan just simply did not have and when that rule
Speaker 6: went down, it paved the way for him to win
Speaker 6: the majority of the caucus. And that's why Scalisee's folks
Speaker 6: were whipping so hard against that rule and for support.
Speaker 6: So I think, you know, this is a positive sign,
Speaker 6: and we have to say that cautiously that what has
Speaker 6: always mattered in the House fundraising, the ability to whip,
Speaker 6: the ability to lead the caucus, the ability to push
Speaker 6: through an agenda, all those things matter. The key question
Speaker 6: now is can he get the two seventeen to eighteen
Speaker 6: needed on the floor to push this through. This would
Speaker 6: be an enormous embarrassment for the Republican Party if they
Speaker 6: march down to that floor and he doesn't get the
Speaker 6: votes needed, and we are back to where we were
Speaker 6: in January, with you know, vote after vote after vote,
Speaker 6: and then him being in a position of having to
Speaker 6: strike deals like Kevin McCarthy. They need to avoid that.
Speaker 6: That is the next test for Republicans. Can he keep
Speaker 6: them in lockstep here, move this to a quick four
Speaker 6: vote and wrap this up. Be named Speaker and move
Speaker 6: forward to the business of the people.
Speaker 1: Rick the vote one thirteen to ninety nine. What does
Speaker 1: that tell you about what Steve Scalise is in for
Speaker 1: on the floor.
Speaker 4: He's got some work to do. I mean, he's not
Speaker 4: even close to eighteen needed to win the speakership, and
Speaker 4: so it'll be interesting to see whether or not the
Speaker 4: temporary speaker allows some time to repair and reach out
Speaker 4: across the caucus to try to work on getting to
Speaker 4: the floor with a with a with a two eighteen vote.
Speaker 4: Genie's right, I mean, this is something that Kevin McCarthy,
Speaker 4: who was considered at the top of his game, couldn't accomplish.
Speaker 4: There is a lot of pressure that exists today because
Speaker 4: of the events in Israel and the pending government shut
Speaker 4: down if they don't pass a spending bill. So there
Speaker 4: is a lot more pressure today than there was when
Speaker 4: Kevin McCarthy tried to get the vote for himself in
Speaker 4: January of last this year. So we'll see if that
Speaker 4: pressure can actually get people to come to grips with
Speaker 4: the fact that this is a dysfunctional caucus that needs
Speaker 4: to show up and actually start working, and that requires
Speaker 4: a speaker in the job, and it requires it to happen.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what, Junie, After what we've seen
Speaker 1: from this conference, and Rick is reminding us to be
Speaker 1: careful here. A lot of things could still happen. And
Speaker 1: considering that margin and some of the shenanigans that we've
Speaker 1: seen just in the last week from Matt Gates and
Speaker 1: his colleagues here, I'm not ruling out anything, and I
Speaker 1: suspect that you are as well. If your name is
Speaker 1: Patrick McHenry or even Kevin McCarthy, you still see some
Speaker 1: potential opportunities here, or maybe you're fearing them.
Speaker 6: Either way, Yeah, that's right, and you know you're absolutely
Speaker 6: right as is Rick. We can expect potentially maybe some
Speaker 6: drama on the floor.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: One of the interesting things from the meeting last night,
Speaker 6: both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan said the words that
Speaker 6: apparently Matt Gates did not want to hear or the
Speaker 6: other seven, we may need a cr to keep the
Speaker 6: government open past November seventeenth. I don't know if that's
Speaker 6: going to be any better coming out of their mouths
Speaker 6: than it was Kevin McCay, but you know, that is
Speaker 6: the type of thing that may withhold or cause them
Speaker 6: to withhold some votes. And so he does have some
Speaker 6: ground to make up here. But again we can't stress
Speaker 6: enough the embarrassment to the Republican Party if they come
Speaker 6: to the floor and do this all over again. They
Speaker 6: need to try to hang together, you know, you know
Speaker 6: Democrats are going to do that. And by the way,
Speaker 6: you mentioned Kevin McCarthy, he has not made this smooth
Speaker 6: sailing for Steve Scalise. He's been flirting with the idea
Speaker 6: of potentially being open to a nomination now pulling it back.
Speaker 6: You know you've been talking to him. He's going back
Speaker 6: and forth on this. They've got to get their act
Speaker 6: together and Steve Scalise really has to try to hold
Speaker 6: these folks together and move this forward. And maybe the
Speaker 6: pressure of what's going on around the world is just
Speaker 6: what they need to hang together. But I wouldn't be
Speaker 6: surprised if we see more drama when they get to
Speaker 6: the floor.
Speaker 3: So we'll see if they get to the floor.
Speaker 1: Of course, Rick, that was an interesting move to knock
Speaker 1: down the idea of raising the threshold to two seventeen.
Speaker 1: It would have made it much more difficult for Steve
Speaker 1: Scalise or Jim Jordan to win that nomination today. What
Speaker 1: was the strategy? Brian Fitzpatrick and Chip Roy were the
Speaker 1: two lawmakers who wanted to change that threshold. What was
Speaker 1: the strategy there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, the concept there was to make sausage behind closed doors.
Speaker 4: You know, when Kevin McCarthy took fifteen ballots to get
Speaker 4: to the speakership, it was because he couldn't get to
Speaker 4: that two eighteen number, and we got to watch it
Speaker 4: on c SPAN, and as entertaining as it was, it
Speaker 4: made the party look in total disarray and weakened him
Speaker 4: as a speaker.
Speaker 1: So why did Steve Scalise oppose it?
Speaker 4: Steve Scalise supposed it because he couldn't get in his
Speaker 4: mind to seventeen.
Speaker 1: So now he's going to be blowing in the wind
Speaker 1: on the House floor potentially, Like Kevin McCarthy was.
Speaker 4: Right, Hey, politics is about living to fight another day.
Speaker 4: He gets to now walking as the choice of the
Speaker 4: Republican caucus again with a rule that says, if you're
Speaker 4: a Republican on the floor, you're supposed to vote for
Speaker 4: that person. And sure there may be some mopping up
Speaker 4: to do, but at a minimum, you would think he
Speaker 4: could replicate the Kevin McCarthy two ten that he got
Speaker 4: when when he was challenged for speaker, and then the
Speaker 4: question is you know, can he find another eight votes?
Speaker 4: And so I did think it was really interesting that
Speaker 4: Kevin McCarthy had to walk out this morning. His people
Speaker 4: have been supporting Jim Jordan and say, oh no, I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna I'm not gonna put my name in the
Speaker 4: nomination after sort of implying yesterday that they did. Because
Speaker 4: everybody I talked to thought that really undercut Jordan. Jordan
Speaker 4: was sort of the guy who was going to take
Speaker 4: up the more conservative side of the McCarthy mantle, and
Speaker 4: McCarthy was lobbying a little bit against Scalise. So I mean, like,
Speaker 4: this isn't caucus that is still just as divided today
Speaker 4: after this vote as it was going into it.
Speaker 5: So it'll and and.
Speaker 4: Now the good news for us is we get to
Speaker 4: watch it all unfold on c SPAN again.
Speaker 1: If only we could have all the cameras we had
Speaker 1: back in January. All right, Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzana,
Speaker 1: we're going to stay with us here. We're painting out
Speaker 1: of a couple of buckets today our other major story.
Speaker 1: And we didn't expect we'd have this breaker on the
Speaker 1: speaker for you, Steve Scalise winning the nomination to be speaker,
Speaker 1: setting up a full floor vote. We've also, of course,
Speaker 1: got a rapidly developing situation in Israel. Those same lawmakers
Speaker 1: who were in the conference to vote for Steve Scalise,
Speaker 1: along with their Democratic colleagues, were briefed at eight thirty
Speaker 1: this morning. Michael McCall, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee's
Speaker 1: going to join us a bit later on this hour,
Speaker 1: expressed two major concerns when he emerged from that meeting,
Speaker 1: he was the moderator as the administration delivered the source material.
Speaker 1: Michael McCall says it was an intelligence failure. Egypt warned
Speaker 1: Israel three days before this happened. Why did nothing happen?
Speaker 1: And also the potential for escalation as he points to
Speaker 1: concerns about what's happening in the North. I asked on
Speaker 1: Kirby yesterday on Bloomberg's Balance of power about concerns of
Speaker 1: escalation with the gerald Ford Carrier strike group now steaming
Speaker 1: toward the eastern Mediterranean. Now apparently the IKE is on
Speaker 1: its way to the US s Eisenhower reportedly also steaming
Speaker 1: in that direction, and he made very clear that America
Speaker 1: had strict guidelines on the level of involvement that we
Speaker 1: will see in Gaza.
Speaker 3: Here's what he said.
Speaker 7: There's absolutely no intention, no plan to put American boots
Speaker 7: on the ground in this conflict in Israel. But we
Speaker 7: do have serious national security interests that we have to
Speaker 7: make sure that we have the options to protect if
Speaker 7: we need to.
Speaker 1: The idea of escalation, though, does make us wonder when
Speaker 1: we see headlines today Israeli jets striking targets at Lebanon
Speaker 1: after the militia there launched guided missiles at an army
Speaker 1: post in northern Israel. There were reports of another incursion
Speaker 1: in the air to the north that Israel said did
Speaker 1: not pan out to be true. Let's bring in Arnold Panaro,
Speaker 1: the retired two star Marine Corps major general, back with us.
Speaker 1: On Bloomberg, former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Speaker 1: author of the book The Ever Shrinking Fight Force. General,
Speaker 1: it's great to see you, and we welcome you back.
Speaker 1: I wonder if you share those same concerns as Chairman
Speaker 1: McCall as we prepare for a ground invasion in Gaza.
Speaker 8: Well, Joe, I certainly do. And Chairman McCall is one
Speaker 8: of the most capable, most thoughtful, most insightful national security
Speaker 8: leaders we have in the Congress. And let me just
Speaker 8: start though by saying I identify with the tremendous insights
Speaker 8: that Ricky and Genie just gave you. And one of
Speaker 8: the reasons why it's so important to get a speaker
Speaker 8: as quickly as possible is Congress has not passed any
Speaker 8: of the funding bills. Our departner of the Fence, the
Speaker 8: Ford Carrier, Stripe Group, the Stripe Group, they're operating under
Speaker 8: a continuing resolution at last year's level. The Pentagon is
Speaker 8: losing over three billion dollars a month in purchasing power.
Speaker 8: The world is in flames. We have a war in Europe,
Speaker 8: we have a war in the Middle East, we have
Speaker 8: sheet genping threatening Taiwan, and the Congress hasn't passed and
Speaker 8: now we're worried about another cr and we've got a
Speaker 8: fund Israel. The United States needs to basically do whatever
Speaker 8: it takes politically, diplomatically, financially, and frankly militarily to basically
Speaker 8: protect the state of Israel. And frankly, I'm really disappointed
Speaker 8: in Kirby, who I have great respect for. You never
Speaker 8: take anything off the table militarily and if Lebanon and
Speaker 8: Iran try to escalate. The United States should make it
Speaker 8: very clear. And I think one of the reasons we
Speaker 8: have a carry a battle group in the Eastern med
Speaker 8: is so that if they try something, they will pay
Speaker 8: severe consequences. And so while you may not certainly want
Speaker 8: boots on the ground, we certainly have a lot of
Speaker 8: capability if Iran or his Boah or Siri or anybody
Speaker 8: else starts stirring the pot. But Mike, but Chairman McCall
Speaker 8: is legitimately and should be concerned. But I think there's
Speaker 8: some would be some counters to that.
Speaker 1: Over well, talk to me more about that. The idea
Speaker 1: of projecting American power with a carrier strike group is
Speaker 1: not unique. But in this case, are we providing command
Speaker 1: and control operations? Are we actually standing by fueling up
Speaker 1: fighter jets in case something happens here?
Speaker 3: This is clearly not an air war yet.
Speaker 8: Well, look, we have tremendous command and control in the
Speaker 8: Middle East because we've been operating in the Middle East
Speaker 8: for years, We've had you know, air command and control
Speaker 8: through many wars and through many operations. We've got that.
Speaker 8: Now we've got major base operations there. So we have
Speaker 8: command and control capability for our forces, and we certainly
Speaker 8: are in a position to share needed information with our
Speaker 8: allies and partners like Israel. So and you know, there
Speaker 8: was some additional capability. Frank Kendall, the Secretary of the
Speaker 8: Air Force, in a public session at the Atlantic Council yesterday,
Speaker 8: mentioned that we're maintaining beefed up presence with fighter and
Speaker 8: other command and control elements in.
Speaker 5: The Middle East.
Speaker 8: So the United States is doing the right thing putting
Speaker 8: more force in the area.
Speaker 1: When you hear that the IKE is now steaming that
Speaker 1: way as well, we're talking about two carrier groups here.
Speaker 1: In general, this is an enormous amount of firepower we're
Speaker 1: sending to that part of the world. When you start
Speaker 1: looking at the long game here, does it point to Iran?
Speaker 8: Well, certainly, I think you know, you don't need to
Speaker 8: have access to highly class about information to understand that
Speaker 8: Iran has basically organized, trained, and equipped hamas not just
Speaker 8: in the last couple of months, not just in the
Speaker 8: last year, but for decades. Certainly has Ballah and certainly
Speaker 8: the Hoodies and other terrorist groups. So Iran is at
Speaker 8: the root cause of all these problems. And frankly they've
Speaker 8: gotten to the point now where they've got over ninety
Speaker 8: percent some people say close to ninety five percent enriched uranium.
Speaker 8: We're gonna have to deal with Iran at some point,
Speaker 8: and so they are the basically root cause of all
Speaker 8: of the issues going on right now with Hamas.
Speaker 1: Jake Sullivan at the White House, a national security advisor
Speaker 1: says the US does not have specific information linking Iran
Speaker 1: to this attack. Chairman McCall did make that reference earlier,
Speaker 1: and he made a similar point that you did. If
Speaker 1: you're a citizen of the world, you're aware of this relationship.
Speaker 1: And he's calling on the administration to quote unquote refreeze
Speaker 1: the six billion dollars that were part of this prisoner swap.
Speaker 1: How important will it be general for the White House,
Speaker 1: for the Administration to provide evidence, or the government of
Speaker 1: Israel for that matter, to provide evidence to show that
Speaker 1: link between Hamas Iran and this attack.
Speaker 8: Well, I probably may be in a minority, but I
Speaker 8: don't think it's important at all. Everybody knows the runs
Speaker 8: behind this. They've been going after the United States since
Speaker 8: they took our hostages when Jimmy Carter was president. We
Speaker 8: know that they're the most malign actor. We know they
Speaker 8: have huge surpluses because of this sale of oil which
Speaker 8: was supposed to be sanctioned, but the sanctions haven't operated.
Speaker 8: I take that six million dollars and I'd give it
Speaker 8: to Israel. A Ran shouldn't get that money. Refreeze it. Hell,
Speaker 8: give it to Israel. Put it in the supplemental.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the supplemental.
Speaker 1: It looks like it could be a combination of funding
Speaker 1: for Israel, for Ukraine, for the border, and for Taiwan.
Speaker 1: Does that slow things down in your mind? Should there
Speaker 1: be a more direct approach?
Speaker 8: Well, I certainly would be in favor of packaging it
Speaker 8: all in one, but I know there are a lot
Speaker 8: of people that on the hill, and I tracked the
Speaker 8: hill as Rick and in Genie do that. Don't want
Speaker 8: to do that. But look, the number one thing right
Speaker 8: now is we have got to get what Israel needs
Speaker 8: to basically wipe AAMAS off the face of the earth.
Speaker 8: So that's number job one. We also need to ensure
Speaker 8: that putin does not succeed in Ukraine. We need to
Speaker 8: deter hijin ping visa b Taiwan, and we need to
Speaker 8: secure our own borders. Look at what happen and in
Speaker 8: Israel over the weekend when their borders were not secure.
Speaker 8: Whether it can package it all up in one big
Speaker 8: luck sum, that certainly would be the right way to
Speaker 8: do it. But the Congress has not shown me in
Speaker 8: recent years or recent months that they have their act
Speaker 8: together on anything. The Congress is about as broken as
Speaker 8: I've ever seen it. It's ridiculous that we're talking about
Speaker 8: more crs in the world's owned plane. So Congress needs
Speaker 8: to get off their depth and do their job.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: Last time you were here, we were talking about Tommy
Speaker 1: Tubberville's blockade against military promotions. Now we're talking about a
Speaker 1: world without a speaker, which we'll need to change if
Speaker 1: any of this money is going to be appropriated. General,
Speaker 1: we spent some time this week talking about the DIB,
Speaker 1: the Defense Industrial Base, and concerns about even if moneys
Speaker 1: are appropriated, weapons systems are ordered for the likes of Israel,
Speaker 1: Ukraine and here in the US in terms of replenishment,
Speaker 1: that we can't simply make the stuff fast enough. What
Speaker 1: is the white What does Congress do about it?
Speaker 8: Well, Joe, Unfortunately, the situation is that our defense industrial base,
Speaker 8: which was consolidated after Secretary of Defense Bill Perry had
Speaker 8: the Last Supper and the way the DoD structured their
Speaker 8: buying habits. Our industry has been consolidated, and we don't
Speaker 8: have sufficient industrial capacity to support our own national defense strategy,
Speaker 8: either the one that was put in place by Trump
Speaker 8: or the one that's in place now under Biden, which
Speaker 8: is relatively unchanged from what Secretary of Defense Matters put
Speaker 8: in place. We don't have that capacity. We've got to
Speaker 8: build that capacity. It takes time to build that capacity,
Speaker 8: and it takes an effort by the White House and
Speaker 8: the Pentagon. I would say, on a positive note, here
Speaker 8: build a plant. The under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustatement,
Speaker 8: the Assistant Secretary for Industrial based Policy, doctor Larr Taylor Khalay,
Speaker 8: they're working on a new industrial policy and new industrial strategy,
Speaker 8: and I think we in the end of industry have
Speaker 8: been in touch with them. I think that we are
Speaker 8: prepared to make the kind of investments that are needed
Speaker 8: as long as the demand signal is there and it's
Speaker 8: going to be continuous. You can't basically call up industry
Speaker 8: one day and say, hey, look, you got to build
Speaker 8: some more one five to five artillery shells. But we're
Speaker 8: only going to give you a contract for three months
Speaker 8: or six months or even a year. I mean, if
Speaker 8: you want to build a kind of capacity, we need
Speaker 8: to implement the national defense strategy, but also to basically
Speaker 8: support our allies and our partners Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan. That's
Speaker 8: a multi year effort, and the Congress, I think is
Speaker 8: very supportive of that. They've added for one of the
Speaker 8: tremendous advantages we have Visavichina is our submarine force. Congress
Speaker 8: has added money for that and improving the industrial base there.
Speaker 8: But this is not something that's going to be sorted
Speaker 8: out and settled in the next couple of months. But
Speaker 8: having said that, they've got to pass this supplemental for
Speaker 8: Ukraine and for Israel and get these things under contract,
Speaker 8: and we will produce them as fast as we can.
Speaker 1: We're going to be talking in just a moment with
Speaker 1: Congressman Michael McCall, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
Speaker 1: is going to be joining us as he's just emerging
Speaker 1: from this meeting to nominate another.
Speaker 3: Speaker, General Pinaro.
Speaker 1: Next time we talk, whether this is in weeks from now,
Speaker 1: maybe a month from now, are we going to be
Speaker 1: talking about a wider conflict, an escalating conflict in Israel?
Speaker 8: That's certainly a possibility. I mean, no one can predict.
Speaker 8: I mean, look that one thing you all know, we
Speaker 8: all know is war is totally unpredictable, and the enemy
Speaker 8: gets a vote. I think if the United States is
Speaker 8: very firm and has the support of our allies, the
Speaker 8: United Kingdom, France, Italy, the major nake to partners, and
Speaker 8: we basically say to the people that would escalate, which
Speaker 8: is basically a ran Hezbalah and others like that, you escalate,
Speaker 8: basically you're going to pay some severe consequences. I don't
Speaker 8: think we'll be talking about a wide war, and certainly
Speaker 8: if we don't provide the kind of implements of war
Speaker 8: that Israel needs to take care of Mamas and Gaza.
Speaker 8: And by the way, that's gonna be a very very
Speaker 8: difficult conduct. Operations and built up areas claus which is
Speaker 8: said is one of the most difficult operations. It favors
Speaker 8: the defender, which is Amas. It's gonna be bloody, it's
Speaker 8: gonna take a long time. But Israel has no option
Speaker 8: but to do it to to basically keep the State
Speaker 8: of Israel to subvive.
Speaker 1: General, it's great to have you, and I appreciate your
Speaker 1: insights today, and everyone to mince words. Arnold Panaro, retired
Speaker 1: two star Marine Corps general who spent time as staff
Speaker 1: director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. We're going to
Speaker 1: be speaking with the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Speaker 1: Committee in a moment as we prepare to make a
Speaker 1: connection with Congressman Michael McCall.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch the
Speaker 2: program live weekdays at one Eastern.
Speaker 9: On Bloomberg Radio, the tune in app, Bloomberg dot Com, and.
Speaker 2: The Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on
Speaker 2: Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just say
Speaker 2: Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. Thanks for being with us
Speaker 1: here on Bloomberg Sound On. With two major stories that
Speaker 1: we're following here developing before our eyes, and we've spent
Speaker 1: the hour discussing them with Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzano.
Speaker 1: As we now prepare to add the voice of Congressman
Speaker 1: Michael McCall for starters a breaker here on Bloomberg this hour.
Speaker 1: Steve Scalise has been nominated to be the next Republican
Speaker 1: Speaker of the House. This was the vote that took
Speaker 1: place behind closed doors that will lead to at least
Speaker 1: eventually a floor vote that would codify this, and there
Speaker 1: are reports that could happen as soon as today, even
Speaker 1: though some expected it originally to be on Wednesday. We're
Speaker 1: also following the bead on Israel here with constant updates.
Speaker 1: There was concern about an infiltration in the north earlier.
Speaker 1: The Israelis have clarified that to not be the case,
Speaker 1: but there was an all hands briefing in the House
Speaker 1: by the administration earlier today, and moderating that briefing was
Speaker 1: the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who joins
Speaker 1: us right now from Capitol Hill, Congressman Michael McCall. We
Speaker 1: welcome you back, mister Chairman. It's good to see you,
Speaker 1: and I know you're having a very busy day here.
Speaker 1: If I could start with the matter of Israel. You
Speaker 1: said some important things to reporters in your briefing when
Speaker 1: you emerge, beginning with the fact that the Egyptians gave
Speaker 1: intelligence to Israel three days before the attack that apparently
Speaker 1: was not acted upon.
Speaker 3: Do we know why.
Speaker 10: We don't even know at what levels the intelligence was shared.
Speaker 10: But you know, I think my concern is if we
Speaker 10: missed this one. They've been planning and Moss had been
Speaker 10: playing this for over.
Speaker 5: A year and we missed it.
Speaker 10: And if we miss that, then what about Heswald, what
Speaker 10: about Isis in Syria? What about what Iran is still
Speaker 10: doing behind the scene or the Shia Iran procties. It
Speaker 10: maybe question our intelligence capabilities here. I think our biggest
Speaker 10: fear JOE is an escalation where I think the fear
Speaker 10: has always been that if Hamas hit from the south
Speaker 10: and then Hesba hit with one hundred thousand rockets from
Speaker 10: the north, they would overload the Iron Dome and destroy Israel.
Speaker 10: And so I think that is what most of us
Speaker 10: are concerned about right now, is the escalation that could
Speaker 10: take place, and how good is our intelligence with respect
Speaker 10: to that. And then finally, what is our force projection
Speaker 10: in the region for deterns purposes to avoid that kind
Speaker 10: of conflict.
Speaker 1: Well, we know that gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group is
Speaker 1: on its way to the eastern Mediterranean. There are reports
Speaker 1: now that the USS Eisenhower is also on its way.
Speaker 1: Mister Chairman, do you know if the IKE is going
Speaker 1: in the same direction.
Speaker 10: Yes, I believe they're headed towards the Mediterranean, and I
Speaker 10: think that's a good showing of force. Again, I think
Speaker 10: the goal here is to contain Hamas in Gaza, and
Speaker 10: that's going to be a huge effort on the part
Speaker 10: of the IDF to have to go in after the
Speaker 10: bombing of their command and control and then go house
Speaker 10: to house to clear the terrorists out and also rescue
Speaker 10: the hostages that they're using as human shields. But we
Speaker 10: cannot afford again the scenario of Hesba and Lebanon coming
Speaker 10: in or other radical terrorist organizations. So I plod the
Speaker 10: administration for that force projection of these two. You know,
Speaker 10: we have an aircraft carriers and battleships now in the region.
Speaker 10: We think that will provide deterrence.
Speaker 3: Mister Chairman.
Speaker 1: We spoke with John Kirby at the White House about
Speaker 1: the role that the Jerry Ford Carrier group might play
Speaker 1: in the region. He indicated that it would be that
Speaker 1: is a deterrent, he said, and that it would be
Speaker 1: effectively command and control. But there have been others who've
Speaker 1: suggested the need for and I think you may have
Speaker 1: spoken to this, the need for US special forces to
Speaker 1: help find hostages, specifically American hostages in Gaza.
Speaker 3: Is that going to happen.
Speaker 10: I know that we're coordinating with the idea. If they
Speaker 10: take the lead, we can provide assistance, we can provide
Speaker 10: the arms, we can provide the the training, if you will.
Speaker 10: Our special forces did this in Iraq for many years,
Speaker 10: like in Falujah in two thousand and four, and we're
Speaker 10: quite frankly the best at doing this. And I know
Speaker 10: the FBI Hostage Rescue Team has been tapped into as well,
Speaker 10: because we have American hostages now. We don't have a
Speaker 10: definitive answer, but we know about twenty Americans are missing,
Speaker 10: and we don't know.
Speaker 5: Where they are.
Speaker 10: I would speculate, and I normally don't, but I'm sure
Speaker 10: we have hostages now in the Gaza, and I think
Speaker 10: getting those Americans out is our number one priority.
Speaker 1: Admiral Kirby also said the US is now set to
Speaker 1: send additional arms aid to Israel in the coming days. Congressman,
Speaker 1: how much can we send now without actually bringing a
Speaker 1: supplemental budget request to the floor.
Speaker 5: That's a great question.
Speaker 10: I authorize three point three billion dollars in foreign military
Speaker 10: financing Israel. So far four hundred and twenty million of
Speaker 10: that has been appropriated by Congress, so that can be
Speaker 10: made available. Also, there is a presidential drawdown authority, and
Speaker 10: that's about one hundred million that he can use to
Speaker 10: send weapons. What they need right now are the interceptors
Speaker 10: for the Iron Dome. They need the precision guided missiles,
Speaker 10: and they need the one to fifty five ammunition stockpiles.
Speaker 10: According to the administration, they have have that right now.
Speaker 10: But this is why it's so critical for us to
Speaker 10: elect a speaker today, because we cannot move on the
Speaker 10: House floor until we have a speaker. And this is
Speaker 10: a very dangerous time obviously, you know, it was dangerous
Speaker 10: enough with Putin and Ukraine, Chairman she and Taiwan, the Pacific,
Speaker 10: and now we get the Middle East flaring up again.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about the speaker.
Speaker 1: Chairman McCall, you had a pretty interesting meeting early on today.
Speaker 1: A lot of people didn't think this was going to happen,
Speaker 1: but Steve Scalise has been nominated to be the next
Speaker 1: Republican Speaker.
Speaker 5: Did you vote for him? I did I did.
Speaker 10: I can't tell you it was secret ballot, so I
Speaker 10: can't tell you by how much. But I think right
Speaker 10: now the opposing factions are trying to work this out
Speaker 10: so that when we go to the floor, we get
Speaker 10: the requisite two hundred and seventeen votes necessary to elect
Speaker 10: a speaker, not Designy, but the Speaker of the House,
Speaker 10: and then we can take control of the House. And
Speaker 10: Scalee told me the first bill he plans to put
Speaker 10: on the four is my resolution, co sponsor by four
Speaker 10: hundred members of Congress, by the way, very bipartisan, condemning
Speaker 10: Hamas and showing support for Israel.
Speaker 1: I saw that four hundred co sponsors, yourself and Ranking
Speaker 1: Member Meeks brought forth the resolution. Will that be the
Speaker 1: first order of business once there is a speaker.
Speaker 5: It will?
Speaker 10: And I talked to Steve Scalese about this. He said,
Speaker 10: I want your bill to be the very first bill
Speaker 10: on the floor after we E liked him as the
Speaker 10: permanent speaker.
Speaker 5: And I hope we knew.
Speaker 10: That today because it's a message from the American people
Speaker 10: through their representatives that we do support Israel. Sorry having
Speaker 10: technical difficulties, we do support Israel and the American people
Speaker 10: through the representatives. I think the rest of the world
Speaker 10: needs to hear that from the Congress.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, how does this going to work from here?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 1: Do we see a vote today on the next speaker.
Speaker 1: Some reports are suggesting this could be within hours.
Speaker 10: It could be as early as three o'clock is what
Speaker 10: my information is. Again, I think we're working with the
Speaker 10: two factions, if you will, the Jordan camp and the
Speaker 10: Sweee camp, to make sure that when we go to
Speaker 10: the floor, we don't have the scenario we had last
Speaker 10: time with McCarthy, where you have fifteen ballots. That doesn't
Speaker 10: demonstrate strength, that demonstrates dysfunction and weakness. So I think
Speaker 10: it's very important we hold together and then we put
Speaker 10: this on the floor when we know we have the
Speaker 10: two hundred and seventeen. We have enough drama right now,
Speaker 10: not only in Washington, but in the Middle East and
Speaker 10: in Ukraine and in the Pacific. So I hope we
Speaker 10: get to that number. We get it done today.
Speaker 1: Boy, that would be remarkable and prove a lot of
Speaker 1: people wrong. Mister chairman, what about the eight so called
Speaker 1: trouble makers in your Republican conference? What's different now from
Speaker 1: last week?
Speaker 10: It's a very good question, and that is going to
Speaker 10: be the will of the conference to get them to break.
Speaker 5: We don't have to have all eight.
Speaker 10: Of them to get to two seventeen, but we need
Speaker 10: a few of them, and I think that's going to
Speaker 10: be the critical mass point here is getting some of
Speaker 10: those eight votes to move over to unify as a conference.
Speaker 10: This is not good for the Republican Party if we
Speaker 10: can't unify, but it's not good for the American people either,
Speaker 10: especially at the dangerous time that we're in right now.
Speaker 10: What I meant said to my conference was that we
Speaker 10: cannot afford this anymore.
Speaker 5: Let's be grown ups in the room. Let's get a.
Speaker 10: Speaker in the chair, and let's do the business of
Speaker 10: the people and stop messing around with politics. As we're
Speaker 10: seeing across the world, it is getting more and more dangerous,
Speaker 10: and we need to pass that supplemental and if we
Speaker 10: don't have a speaker, then we can't do that.
Speaker 3: I'd like to finish there with you, mister Chairman.
Speaker 1: The idea of a supplemental request for Israel now being
Speaker 1: combined with that for Ukraine, Taiwan and border security, will
Speaker 1: that be the vehicle for all of these they move together.
Speaker 5: I know there are discussions.
Speaker 10: I've talked to Omb the director about this, and I
Speaker 10: know that the thinking is to put all these emergency
Speaker 10: items together. And we have many foreign policy you know,
Speaker 10: crises going on simultaneously, and that would be Israel, it
Speaker 10: would also be Ukraine, would also be Taiwan. And I
Speaker 10: think the thing my party wants the most would be
Speaker 10: a border security funding in this bill. I do think
Speaker 10: there are enough Democrats now that want to secure the border,
Speaker 10: given what we've seen recently, and especially with the migrants
Speaker 10: now that have come to New York and it's impacting
Speaker 10: every state in the nation. So I think there's a
Speaker 10: stronger appetite on the Democrat side now for funding for
Speaker 10: border security. I think that's going to be a demand
Speaker 10: from the Republicans that we'll have to be in this
Speaker 10: aid package.
Speaker 3: What does Israel need most?
Speaker 10: First, Well, they need our resolution showing absolute support from
Speaker 10: the American people. They need the interceptors to replenish the
Speaker 10: Iron Dome. They need the precision guided missiles which will
Speaker 10: save civilian lives, ammunition. They also need our people there
Speaker 10: that can help them go house to house in this
Speaker 10: what's going to be Joe, It's not going to end
Speaker 10: in days, It may not end in weeks. This operation
Speaker 10: in Gaza. I think the American people need to understand
Speaker 10: they could take months for them to do this.
Speaker 5: And what I'll worry about is.
Speaker 10: The narrative shifting from Israel being the victim to Israel
Speaker 10: being the perpetrator as they go into Gaza to rescue
Speaker 10: the hostages that are there and also take out the terrorists.
Speaker 10: And I hope people will remember what happened last Saturday.
Speaker 10: You know, I was in at Kaboots last year with
Speaker 10: Speaker McCarthy then Speaker McCarthy in a Kaboots on the
Speaker 10: border of Gaza, the closest one to Gaza, and they
Speaker 10: gave us a tour. They showed us a daycare center
Speaker 10: their alarm system. At that time, forty five hundred rockets
Speaker 10: had come out from Gaza into that community. I got
Speaker 10: reporting that they slaughtered not only all the adults in
Speaker 10: that community, but they went into the daycare center and
Speaker 10: killed the children and actually be headed some of the babies.
Speaker 10: And the videos I've been receiving Joe absolutely grotesque, even
Speaker 10: seeing two to three year old children in animal cages
Speaker 10: treated like dogs. This is evil, pure evil. As the
Speaker 10: President said, and we need to stand together against it.
Speaker 1: Mister Chairman, thank you for the time today sharing your
Speaker 1: thoughts on a lot of stories here from the speaker
Speaker 1: to israel Is Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
Speaker 1: Chairman Michael McCall, the Republican from Texas, We thank you
Speaker 1: for the time. I do want to make clear that
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News cannot verify the accuracy of any of.
Speaker 3: The videos that we're seeing.
Speaker 1: These horrid videos on social media that many of you
Speaker 1: are seeing as well, We know that they are there,
Speaker 1: but they are not part of our reporting. If you
Speaker 1: want to see verified information, you can always find it
Speaker 1: on the terminal and at Bloomberg dot com and right
Speaker 1: here as well on sound On. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington.
Speaker 1: As we move on, Kaylee Lines will join the conversation.
Speaker 1: Coming up next, we have a nominee to be speaker.
Speaker 1: No one thought we'd be saying that today. Will Hurd,
Speaker 1: the former Republican presidential candidate, will join us straight ahead
Speaker 1: on the fastest show in Politics, Hour two. Sound On
Speaker 1: starts right now.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bloomberg sound On podcast. Catch the
Speaker 2: program live weekdays at one Eastern.
Speaker 9: On Bloomberg Radio, the tune in app, Bloomberg dot Com, and.
Speaker 2: The Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on
Speaker 2: Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa,
Speaker 2: play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 3: And we have news.
Speaker 1: This is not what we thought we were going to
Speaker 1: be talking about this now. Yesterday we were saying that
Speaker 1: a lot lately. How about we get to this via
Speaker 1: the tweet? And I still call them tweets from Thomas Massey.
Speaker 1: I feel like it illustrates everything. Thanks to producer James
Speaker 1: for this.
Speaker 3: Thomas Massey tweet.
Speaker 1: Surprises are for little kids at birthday parties, not Congress.
Speaker 1: So I let Scalise know in person he does not
Speaker 1: have my vote on the floor because he has not
Speaker 1: articulated a viable plan for avoiding an omnibus. Steve Scalise,
Speaker 1: what we're trying to say here is has been nominated
Speaker 1: to be the next speaker.
Speaker 11: Yeah, nominated by a majority of the Republican Conference members
Speaker 11: who are present at this secret ballot earlier today. That
Speaker 11: does not mean, though Joe, that he is secured no
Speaker 11: the two hundred and seventeen votes he will need to
Speaker 11: actually get the speaker's gabble. Clearly he has not secured
Speaker 11: Thomas Massey's Happy birthday, Steve Scalise, is it his birthday?
Speaker 3: Oh? I love that. Well, he needs over one hundred more.
Speaker 1: He got one hundred and thirteen right, So, now Bloomberg
Speaker 1: is reporting that Jim Jordan is racing to meet with
Speaker 1: Steve Scales. We're going to have a little deal here.
Speaker 1: Maybe is that why we care about that?
Speaker 11: Well, this is the question is is it just about
Speaker 11: the speaker or is it about what the contours of
Speaker 11: the rest of the Republican leadership is going to look
Speaker 11: like under a potential Okay, here's Scalise.
Speaker 3: I just wonder the majority leader Jordan is where you're.
Speaker 11: Going potentially, or another leadership position. Maybe that could be
Speaker 11: enough to playkate those members of the Republican Conference who
Speaker 11: had supported Jim Jordan, who frankly a handful of them
Speaker 11: say they still will vote for Jordan on the floor,
Speaker 11: not Steve Scaleze. It makes me wonder what kind of
Speaker 11: background dealing perhaps could be done to help shore up
Speaker 11: whitmore votes for Steve Sclee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting they knocked down this idea of raising
Speaker 1: the threshold on the nomination. That was something that Scalie
Speaker 1: wanted knocked down.
Speaker 3: It was done for him.
Speaker 1: He's got the nomination now, but we have no reason
Speaker 1: to believe this is going to be transferable on the floor.
Speaker 1: Michael McCall was just with us. The Chairman of the
Speaker 1: House Foreign Affairs Committee says as early as an hour
Speaker 1: from now, they could be having that floor vote three
Speaker 1: pm Washington time.
Speaker 11: A lot of work to between now, and that's why
Speaker 11: this meeting is key here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure, Kaylee.
Speaker 1: We did hear from Steve Scalise as he walked into
Speaker 1: this closed door meeting. Here's what his tones sound like.
Speaker 12: The first order of business under Speaker Steve Scalise is
Speaker 12: going to bring a strong resolution expressing supports for Israel.
Speaker 12: We've got a very bipartisan bill, the McCall meeks resolution
Speaker 12: ready to go right away to express our support for Israel.
Speaker 8: We've got to get back to work today.
Speaker 5: We're going to do that.
Speaker 3: Today. We're going to do that. He may do that.
Speaker 1: Chairman McCall also let us know that the first order
Speaker 1: of business, and he did discuss this with with Leader Scalise,
Speaker 1: would be to bring his resolution to the floor condemning
Speaker 1: the actions of Hamas and support for Israel.
Speaker 3: That would then, of course be followed by.
Speaker 1: And ask for money, the supplemental request that we've been
Speaker 1: talking so much about.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and well we're awaiting more detail on what exactly
Speaker 11: that supplemental could look like from the Biden administration. But
Speaker 11: to your point, Joe, there is a lot of work
Speaker 11: that they would like to see get done. Yes, they
Speaker 11: still have a few steps yet to take in order
Speaker 11: to get to a place where they can get some
Speaker 11: of that work done. Yeah, you need a Speaker of
Speaker 11: the House, including at least we need the gabble in hand.
Speaker 1: Right, we're going to start using that whereward again, things
Speaker 1: like cr omnibus, things that cause small insurrections.
Speaker 3: This is where we begin.
Speaker 1: With Will Hurd, the former Republican presidential candidate, a Congressman
Speaker 1: from Texas and for CIA officer, is with us now
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg. Sound on, Congressman, it's good to see you.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bloomberg. It's good to have you here.
Speaker 1: I'd like to start with the matter of Israel and
Speaker 1: your experience not only as a member of Congress but
Speaker 1: also a CIA officer. Chairman McCall brought forth the matter
Speaker 1: of an intelligence failure. We've heard about this quite a
Speaker 1: bit since last weekend. He said the Egyptians gave intelligence
Speaker 1: to Israel that could have prevented this attack three days
Speaker 1: before it happened. Why do you think they did not respond?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 13: I think the Israelis has question whether the information was valid.
Speaker 13: I haven't seen a confirmation of that. But ultimately, this
Speaker 13: was attacks that have been planning probably months, if not
Speaker 13: years in the works, and so uh, you know, part
Speaker 13: of it was that Hamas went real low tech. They
Speaker 13: weren't using smartphones and technology. They were doing some two
Speaker 13: G related stuff. When it came to the day of
Speaker 13: the attack, they basically just used bulldozers and and and
Speaker 13: went through certain areas that people weren't prepared for that
Speaker 13: kind of of activity. But this is something that I
Speaker 13: know the Israeli government is looking into now. But this
Speaker 13: is it's just getting even more complicated. You have Hezbollah,
Speaker 13: it seems to be getting into this fight. The fact
Speaker 13: that you have U, the UAE, the Imiratis telling the
Speaker 13: Syrians to stay out of this. This is we live
Speaker 13: in a complicated world, and we always have to be
Speaker 13: prepared for for things that we don't necessarily uh plan
Speaker 13: for and that goes to the United States as well.
Speaker 13: And that's why I think Congress and the how specifically,
Speaker 13: all these jokers that are trying to prevent Steve's skill
Speaker 13: leads from becoming the next speaker I need to get
Speaker 13: in line, make sure we get a leader of the
Speaker 13: House so we can do things like pass a D
Speaker 13: O D budget. The Senate needs to be passing you know,
Speaker 13: ambassadors and folks within d O D because we need
Speaker 13: to have be at full strength for for what's going
Speaker 13: to be coming in the next weeks and months.
Speaker 11: So Congressman, just to double down on that, your message
Speaker 11: to your former colleagues in the Republican Conference in the
Speaker 11: House is get in line, vote for steve'scalice. That's what
Speaker 11: you'd be telling them today.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 13: Look, there's there's you know, I don't know if it's
Speaker 13: still eight. But the people that are that are holding out,
Speaker 13: what's your idea?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 13: You know, they think, you know, come on, Tom Massey,
Speaker 13: you put forward what's your plan is if you think
Speaker 13: you can do it, better, put your name forward and
Speaker 13: and and be speaker and and my you know, so,
Speaker 13: so yeah, they they need to they think they're smarter
Speaker 13: than everybody else. They're holding out for for for issues
Speaker 13: that they already get access to. The fact that people
Speaker 13: want to say, oh, we don't want an omnibus, well,
Speaker 13: where were they in the last six months when the
Speaker 13: Appropriations bills was moving through committee. They were the ones
Speaker 13: that were preventing a vote on the rule that brings
Speaker 13: some of these appropriations bills to the floor. So yes,
Speaker 13: I would tell these the folks that are currently holding out,
Speaker 13: we need It's the rest of the world is watching,
Speaker 13: Americans are watching. There's a lot of problems that you know,
Speaker 13: people are dealing with here and our allies are dealing
Speaker 13: around the world, and we need to make sure we
Speaker 13: have a legislative branch that actually is functioning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see about that.
Speaker 1: Apparently the first order of business will be a resolution
Speaker 1: regarding Israel and then an ask for funding. Do you
Speaker 1: think this is a smart move combining is really funding
Speaker 1: with Ukrainian funding, border security funding and Taiwan? Or is
Speaker 1: this what's wrong with Washington as some might suggest.
Speaker 13: Well, look, I am an opponent of having the twelve
Speaker 13: appropriations bills, having them come through committee, having the committee
Speaker 13: debate these right, like that's the process. But now with
Speaker 13: I think that we're less than thirty days now for
Speaker 13: the next you know cliff of interim funding running out.
Speaker 13: You also can't run you know, a large business like
Speaker 13: the American government. You know, we're Fortune zero, you would
Speaker 13: be the largest company in the world. And having you know,
Speaker 13: D O D not be able to make decisions from
Speaker 13: a long term planning is a problem. You know, we
Speaker 13: hear about these issues of ammunition problem. Right if we're
Speaker 13: helping the Ukrainians and we're helping the Israelis, we got
Speaker 13: to make sure that we have enough and we need
Speaker 13: to be having long term plans in place to ensure
Speaker 13: that we don't have ammunition's problem if this if this
Speaker 13: conflict increases or in order to protect ourselves. So so
Speaker 13: that's where I think we should go. But I keep
Speaker 13: saying this over and over that the world only getting
Speaker 13: more dangerous, and HESBLA being in place and playing now
Speaker 13: is potentially going to make this more complicated. We need
Speaker 13: to be putting sanctions back on the Iranians because the
Speaker 13: Iranians are obviously involved in some form or fashion here
Speaker 13: and so so these are the steps that we need
Speaker 13: to be taking in order to protect Americans, but also
Speaker 13: our allies. We can't do this by ourselves and our
Speaker 13: and guess what the rest of the world is watching.
Speaker 13: The Chinese government is trying to blame the current crisis
Speaker 13: in Israel on the United States, which is absolutely ridiculous
Speaker 13: and so so, but having these having these dumb food
Speaker 13: fights in Washington that happen almost every six months is
Speaker 13: a waste of everybody's time.
Speaker 11: Well, as you talk about the world being dangerous and
Speaker 11: potentially the expanding, we are just getting some headlines out
Speaker 11: from Admiral John Kirby, who of course is a spokesman
Speaker 11: for the NFC, saying there's no sign of a new
Speaker 11: actor trying to widen the is real conflict yet. And
Speaker 11: yet when we think about where we began this conversation
Speaker 11: Congressman about the intelligence failures, how can we be show
Speaker 11: sure we wouldn't miss an escalation of some kind.
Speaker 13: The head of the IRGC Coulds Force was in the
Speaker 13: region months ago, meeting with all these actors that are involved. Now,
Speaker 13: the fact that you're saying seeing the same tactics, techniques
Speaker 13: and procedures used by Hesba Lah that that Hamas did
Speaker 13: over on Saturday is an indication right there that there
Speaker 13: is a level of coordination. These two groups would not
Speaker 13: have done this level of activity without a tacit approval
Speaker 13: from their masters, which is which is ultimately Iran. And
Speaker 13: this is the problem that the the Biden administration is
Speaker 13: playing like this, this notion that they're trying to not
Speaker 13: you know, make ran out to be the bad guy.
Speaker 13: The Iranian government is not going to change its spots.
Speaker 13: They have been lying to and misleading the international community
Speaker 13: for over thirty years. They have been killing innocent people
Speaker 13: for over thirty years. They're killed their own people that
Speaker 13: are protesting. And so this notion that you know, hey,
Speaker 13: there's not a smoking gun that the Iranians are behind it.
Speaker 13: The fact that you had the leader of in essence,
Speaker 13: the combination of Iranian special forces and intelligence meeting with
Speaker 13: senior leaders of these groups that did this attack, that's
Speaker 13: that we call that smoke.
Speaker 1: I have to ask you about the campaign that you
Speaker 1: just left, and I'm sure that you're going through some
Speaker 1: interesting emotions having come off the trail here, but you
Speaker 1: did endorse Nicky Haley.
Speaker 3: Will herd.
Speaker 1: I wonder your thoughts on how she can close the gap,
Speaker 1: if that's even possible with Donald Trump, who's leading her
Speaker 1: anywhere from fifty to sixty points depending on the polls.
Speaker 1: I know she's emerging as a real contender for number
Speaker 1: two here. But Donald Trump won't even on the stage
Speaker 1: again at this next debate, and no one seems to
Speaker 1: be able to lay a glove on him.
Speaker 13: Well, he's not gonna be on the debate because he's
Speaker 13: afraid to debate and he's afraid to have people come
Speaker 13: at him. And ultimately, one of the things that Nicki
Speaker 13: Haley has right now, she has momentum. She has a
Speaker 13: great grassroots game. I'm on the ground in places like
Speaker 13: Iowa and in New Hampshire. Yes, Donald Trump is the
Speaker 13: leader of the pack right now, but Donald Trump being
Speaker 13: the Republican nominee is not inevitable. And one of the
Speaker 13: reasons that Nicky Haley is building momentum is she's trying
Speaker 13: to make sure America's focused on the most important issues.
Speaker 13: That's national security, border security, our economy, education, and imagine,
Speaker 13: you know, with this complicated world that we've just been
Speaker 13: talking about for the last couple of years, I want
Speaker 13: someone who can go in on day one and deal
Speaker 13: with these issues. I don't want people that are in
Speaker 13: their eighties. I'm having to deal with this or completely unpredictable.
Speaker 13: And that's why, you know, as I wanted to be
Speaker 13: the nominee, but that that's why I'm proud to ultimately
Speaker 13: support Ambassador Haley because I think she has the tools
Speaker 13: and the momentum to put a dent. We have a
Speaker 13: long way to go before voting happens, but it's important
Speaker 13: that we start consolidating between Halloween and Thanksgiving because this
Speaker 13: is you know, this is in critical time in these
Speaker 13: campaigns and we can't make the same mistakes in twenty
Speaker 13: six that we made in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 11: Congressman, we only have thirty seconds left. But what is
Speaker 11: it signal to you that former President Trump said he
Speaker 11: endorsed Jim Jordan for this speaker's nomination and he didn't
Speaker 11: get it.
Speaker 13: Well, Donald Trump is not the king maker that he
Speaker 13: thinks he is, and that there's a lot of people
Speaker 13: that are are sick and tired of his baggage and
Speaker 13: recognize that the last time Donald Trump won was in
Speaker 13: twenty sixteen. He lost the Senate in twenty eighteen, he
Speaker 13: lost the House in twenty twenty, and he ran in
Speaker 13: red way from happening, and this is you know this
Speaker 13: is not going to change.
Speaker 3: Glad to have you back with us. Will Hurd don't
Speaker 3: be a stranger.
Speaker 1: The former congressman, former CIA officer, and yeah, former Republican
Speaker 1: presidential candidate with us today on sound On, I'm Joe
Speaker 1: Matthew with Kaylee Lions. Breaking news on the Speaker. Next,
Speaker 1: this is Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch the
Speaker 2: program live weekdays at one Eastern on.
Speaker 9: Bloomberg Radio, the tune in app, Bloomberg dot Com, and
Speaker 9: the Bloomberg Business App.
Speaker 2: You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
Speaker 2: flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 1: We have breaking news on the race for Speaker. If
Speaker 1: you've been with us since we took air about ninety
Speaker 1: minutes ago, you've been following along. We have a nominee.
Speaker 1: That's how this all began. Around one pm Eastern time,
Speaker 1: Steve Scalise nominated by his Republican colleagues, at least some
Speaker 1: of them in the House, not enough to actually win
Speaker 1: the speakership though, and it's still unclear exactly when this
Speaker 1: is going to go to the floor. I'm Joe, Matthew
Speaker 1: and Washington along with Kaylee Lines. We do have an
Speaker 1: important development since then, though, Kaylee, because of course we
Speaker 1: had Scalise and Jim Jordan. It appears Jim Jordan is
Speaker 1: now in camp Scalise.
Speaker 11: Yeah, we know that Jordan and Scalise met in the
Speaker 11: Capitol just a short time ago, and now per Congressman
Speaker 11: Jordan's spokesperson, we understand that what Jordan offered was to
Speaker 11: give the nominating speech for Scalise on the floor.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 11: That seems like a real unity move.
Speaker 3: That would be That would be the move.
Speaker 11: You'd think would be a signal for all of those
Speaker 11: who had endorsed Jordan and voted for him in this closed,
Speaker 11: closed door, secret ballot session today to get behind Scalise
Speaker 11: and get the House of Speaker.
Speaker 1: Now, we know there are some lawmakers, maybe many members
Speaker 1: of the Republican conference who are not on board with Scalise.
Speaker 1: He got one hundred and thirteen out of two hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty one votes. Tom Massey says he's not on
Speaker 1: board on Twitter. Marje Maarth Tayler Green is not on board.
Speaker 1: He can afford four I guess ye at this point,
Speaker 1: we need two seventeen to actually get the job, and
Speaker 1: it must be a flurry behind closed doors right now.
Speaker 1: Is Steves Scalise a master at whipping votes trying to
Speaker 1: get everybody on board here, Maybe it's already done.
Speaker 11: It could be done, yeah, and we're waiting to find out.
Speaker 11: And of course the timing is still very much a
Speaker 11: question mark at this point. We're getting reports from CNN
Speaker 11: that there will not be a vote on actually electing
Speaker 11: a speaker this afternoon. We're going to have to wait
Speaker 11: and obviously get the final call on that, but it
Speaker 11: just kind of speaks to the fact that there's still
Speaker 11: some whipping to do around this. By no means, has
Speaker 11: Scalise firmly sealed the dealer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody's going in front of the c SPAN cameras
Speaker 1: until this is settled. We spoke earlier in the broadcast
Speaker 1: about half an hour ago with Michael McCall, the chairman
Speaker 1: of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who briefed all the
Speaker 1: members earlier today on the situation in Israel. He said
Speaker 1: that a vote could come as soon as three pm,
Speaker 1: which would be thirty five minutes from now, but if
Speaker 1: the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee doesn't know.
Speaker 1: It's clear that this is a very fluid situation. Yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely so we should talk to Wendy about it and
Speaker 1: see what she's got. She's actually been on the news
Speaker 1: desk until about two seconds ago. Wendy Benjaminson, Washington Senior
Speaker 1: editor here at Bloomberg. It's good to see it. This
Speaker 1: is shifting beneath our feet. We're gonna have a speaker
Speaker 1: by the end of the day.
Speaker 14: I your guess is as good as mine, Joe, from
Speaker 14: everything you and Kelly were just saying, and from what's
Speaker 14: happening him there, I mean Jim Jordan says he's going
Speaker 14: to nominate him. There are people saying they aren't going
Speaker 14: to vote for them if they I think having the
Speaker 14: vote is probably something Scalice wants, because let's just wrap
Speaker 14: this up and move on. I do think they may
Speaker 14: be being pressured one by the impression the US is
Speaker 14: getting that these guys are may not be fit to govern,
Speaker 14: and that there's kind of a clown car atmosphere around
Speaker 14: all of this, since they Austin McCarthy. While there are
Speaker 14: some very very serious issues going on, not the least
Speaker 14: of which is the war in Israel and the spending
Speaker 14: fight that needs to happen before November seventeenth, when it
Speaker 14: shuts down again. But there are already people complaining about
Speaker 14: the vote at three o'clock, saying that doesn't give us
Speaker 14: enough time. We don't know who we're going to vote for.
Speaker 14: So the House, as is typical, may recess and come
Speaker 14: back tomorrow and try it again.
Speaker 11: Well, and it's worth noting they at least a decent
Speaker 11: chunk of them tried to get themselves more time to
Speaker 11: do this behind closed doors. That rules change proposal that
Speaker 11: got tabled earlier today, but would have raised the threshold
Speaker 11: to make sure that two hundred and seventeen was secure
Speaker 11: before it got to the floor.
Speaker 14: Well, I bet Scale is pretty happy that rules change
Speaker 14: got blocked, right because.
Speaker 5: He got one thirteen.
Speaker 14: He's got a ways to go to lock this up.
Speaker 11: But what that means, though, Wendy, is that to your
Speaker 11: point about kind of the public perception and oh clown
Speaker 11: show whatever, they might have to go through many rounds
Speaker 11: publicly on the floor in front of the American people
Speaker 11: and the rest of the world. Again, if he doesn't
Speaker 11: secure two hundred and seventeen in advance.
Speaker 14: That's right, and the next thing that will happen, you know,
Speaker 14: as I can be pretty certain, is that Donald Trump,
Speaker 14: who endorsed Jim Jordan, will start complaining about Steve Scalise,
Speaker 14: will harden some of the people like Marjorie Taylor Green
Speaker 14: and Tom Massey against Scullies and you know, really help
Speaker 14: smooth things out.
Speaker 1: We talked to Rick Davis about that last hour, and
Speaker 1: you know, because the idea that Scalice wouldn't want that
Speaker 1: threshold raise and expose himself to potential embarrassment on the floor.
Speaker 1: He said, it's politics. The only rule is to live
Speaker 1: to fight another day, and so here he is. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe that does take place behind closed doors. Jim Jordan
Speaker 1: might be the key to that, but we're still not
Speaker 1: sure where all the eight members stand. Matt Gates is
Speaker 1: in Scalisee's camp, right based.
Speaker 11: On said on Twitter's greater than McCarthy was the tweet.
Speaker 11: But he had said he told you and Anne Marie
Speaker 11: on balance of power jail with either that either Jordan
Speaker 11: or Scalise was better in his mind than Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker 1: Well, so is Kevin McCarthy drinking something expensive tonight? Is
Speaker 1: this idea of a unity candidate gone a Unity speaker
Speaker 1: him yea named Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker 5: It may be.
Speaker 14: I mean, I think his idea when he said yesterday,
Speaker 14: don't nominate me today or tomorrow, yesterday or today at
Speaker 14: this point, I think he was thinking he could come
Speaker 14: in and be the knight and shining armor on a
Speaker 14: white horse and save the day. And yes, exactly, but
Speaker 14: maybe he doesn't need to. I think, you know, honestly,
Speaker 14: I think Kevin McCarthy's interest is in this coming together
Speaker 14: because they will you know, this will hurt their chances
Speaker 14: to hold the majority even a year from now if
Speaker 14: this sort of shenanigans keep going on. And there are
Speaker 14: some serious issues, as I said, that need to be addressed,
Speaker 14: and I think they all realize that well.
Speaker 11: And given those issues, which there is a bipartisan call
Speaker 11: for the issue of Israel to be addressed, for Congress
Speaker 11: to pass a resolution Condemnicamas or do whatever needs to
Speaker 11: be done in terms of approving additional aid, could we see,
Speaker 11: knowing that urgency, democrats do something we wouldn't expect them to.
Speaker 14: I don't think, or is that just I don't think
Speaker 14: so this time?
Speaker 5: I don't.
Speaker 14: I think perhaps if this were a nine to eleven situation,
Speaker 14: and God forbid, it would be a nine to eleven situation.
Speaker 14: I think if there was something on American soil involving
Speaker 14: more Americans, maybe at that extreme would they do something.
Speaker 14: But right now they're going to put up hockeing Jefferies
Speaker 14: is their nominee. Then Steve Scalise will probably be the
Speaker 14: nominee that the Republicans put up, and then they'll Jefferies
Speaker 14: won't have enough votes, Scalise may have enough vote, not
Speaker 14: have enough votes, and then we're back to the January
Speaker 14: Show all over again.
Speaker 3: The January Show that could be on Netflix.
Speaker 1: I feel like it was a big hit. Larry David
Speaker 1: directed so we as I mentioned, heard from Chairman McCall.
Speaker 1: Michael McCall, Republican from Texas. He's got a lot of
Speaker 1: influence in the conference and he's got his eyes on
Speaker 1: the eight who caused this.
Speaker 3: Here's what he told us.
Speaker 10: And I think that's going to be the critical mass
Speaker 10: point here is getting some of those eight votes to
Speaker 10: move over to unify as a conference. This is not
Speaker 10: good for the Republican Party if we can't unify, but
Speaker 10: it's not good for the American people either, especially at
Speaker 10: the dangerous time that we're in right now. What I
Speaker 10: said to my conference was that we cannot afford this anymore.
Speaker 10: Let's be grown ups in the room. Let's get a
Speaker 10: speaker in the chair, and let's do the business of
Speaker 10: the people and stop messing around with politics.
Speaker 1: I suspect he might have more colorful language for someone
Speaker 1: like Mat Gates in person, but you can hear the
Speaker 1: concern of the chairman's voice.
Speaker 14: Absolutely, you can hear his concern. And we heard it
Speaker 14: from Larry Hogan, the former Maryland governor, who we had
Speaker 14: in yesterday at the in the Bloomberg newsroom to say
Speaker 14: called Matt Gates a cancer on Congress.
Speaker 3: This is really he is not a record.
Speaker 14: Yeah, he is not the most popular guy in the
Speaker 14: House right now for causing all of these problems in
Speaker 14: an election year where they do want to look like
Speaker 14: grown ups in the room. It's just so funny that
Speaker 14: we keep coming back to that phrase grown up in
Speaker 14: the room. I mean, McCarthy said it a couple of
Speaker 14: weeks ago, and we keep coming back to that. And
Speaker 14: you know, being a House member, as Governor Hogan said,
Speaker 14: means more than a social media clever quip.
Speaker 11: Well, and that's one unpopular guy in the Republican conference.
Speaker 11: Another at this moment as Congressman George Santos, who is
Speaker 11: now facing an expulsion resolution after a superseding indictment yesterday.
Speaker 14: He was stealing Johner's identities. That's the charge. Right, How
Speaker 14: long does oh? I think we should get out the
Speaker 14: watch and start looking at this. I think right now,
Speaker 14: if they can get past the speaker nonsense, there will
Speaker 14: be a vote to expel him there. I mean it's
Speaker 14: his own delegation that put up the motion from to
Speaker 14: expel them. Yeah, so they I mean they want to
Speaker 14: stay in power. Remember that's what drives politicians, right, staying
Speaker 14: in power. And if you have someone who is dragging
Speaker 14: the whole group down, then they're going to They're going to.
Speaker 1: Check them out if it makes the math even more difficult.
Speaker 3: That's true for a thin Republican.
Speaker 14: And I think a Republican has already announced that he
Speaker 14: or she hadn't remember who it is, we'll run forcend
Speaker 14: just as seat, even though that's kind of a democratic
Speaker 14: area of Long Island.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 3: We saw the Swazi campaign announcement as well. That'll be
Speaker 3: an interesting race no matter who It is Wendy.
Speaker 1: Great to have you, as always, Wendy Benjaminson from the
Speaker 1: newsroom here at Bloomberg. She'll be back to running the
Speaker 1: Terminal now that we're letting her go. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to the Sound On podcast. Make sure to subscribe if
Speaker 1: you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts, and you can find us live every
Speaker 1: weekday from Washington, DC at one pm Eastern Time at
Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com.