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Speaker 2: Now forty thousand days. It's kind of amazing see this happened, Kaylee.
Speaker 2: As we were discussing earlier, is there a tweet or
Speaker 2: a post from the White House on this yet? Because
Speaker 2: Donald Trump would have been playing this up big time. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it would probably resonate in the polls. I only
Speaker 2: asked that because the president has struggled to connect the
Speaker 2: dots on all things economy, and I realized they're two
Speaker 2: different things. What do you have Biden?
Speaker 3: Harris HQX accounts Yes, thirteen minutes ago put out a
Speaker 3: new ad about Trump in twenty twenty, saying the stock
Speaker 3: market would collapse if Joe Biden won, noting that Dow
Speaker 3: did just hit forty thousand, the highest level ever recorded
Speaker 3: in history.
Speaker 2: So they heard it took us at it. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean we've been on the air for a little bit here.
Speaker 2: I'm glad, I'm Glad to always know that they're listening.
Speaker 2: Glad that you're with us as well on Bloomberg TV
Speaker 2: and radio. As we come off a couple of brutal
Speaker 2: days of testimony, Day two in the Senate today wrapping
Speaker 2: up Kayley for the head of the FDIC. And of
Speaker 2: course this has everything to do with a report that
Speaker 2: was submitted last week, an independent report highlighting a toxic
Speaker 2: workplace culture at the agency, and there are resounding calls
Speaker 2: on Capitol Hill for mister Gruenberg's resignation. We heard from
Speaker 2: him a bit earlier in the broadcast. Bloomberg News spoke
Speaker 2: with Senator Catherine Cortez Mast of Nevada about her take
Speaker 2: on this year's what she told us earlier on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 4: It addresses the workplace culture and the structure when it
Speaker 4: comes to protecting these employees. And so those recommendations, to me,
Speaker 4: that's the action items that they need to be taking,
Speaker 4: and they need to be implementing them, every single one
Speaker 4: of them, not questioning them like the previous report under
Speaker 4: the previous year, question some of the recommendations that were
Speaker 4: made and challenge them. That should not happen in this case.
Speaker 4: They should be saying yes to every single recommendation and
Speaker 4: implement it. To me, those are part of the action
Speaker 4: imans those federal employees need to.
Speaker 3: See Democratic Senator Catherine Cortes Masto on Capitol Hill earlier,
Speaker 3: and we go there now live where we're joined, I'm
Speaker 3: pleased to say by Republican Senator Jony Ernst of Iowa,
Speaker 3: who also has introduced legislation that relates to the issues
Speaker 3: at the FDIC. Senator, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 3: us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. In the face
Speaker 3: of the reports like the one we have gotten out
Speaker 3: of the FDICE, you, together with a Democratic colleague, Kirsten Gillibrand,
Speaker 3: have introduced the No Taxpayer Funded Pensions for Sex Criminals Act. Essentially,
Speaker 3: this legislation would prohibit sex criminals from collecting taxpayer funded pensions.
Speaker 3: My question, Senator, is the chairman has not been accused
Speaker 3: actually of any crimes, just perhaps having a role in
Speaker 3: allowing this kind of environment to continue at the FDIC,
Speaker 3: and there's been a lot of calls for his resignation.
Speaker 3: Does he deserve to collect a pension?
Speaker 5: Well, and no, he has not perpetrated any of the
Speaker 5: acts that are covered by this legislation. So two separate issues.
Speaker 5: One is he is a very poor leader. He enabled
Speaker 5: this type of culture to occur at the FDIC, So
Speaker 5: I'm actually calling on him to either resign or President
Speaker 5: Joe Biden should fire him. But second is the act
Speaker 5: that I have drawn up with my colleague, Senator Kirsten
Speaker 5: Jillibrand of New York that would stop taxpayer funded pensions
Speaker 5: going to those that are convicted of sexual harassment. So
Speaker 5: two separate items, but man, they come together in a
Speaker 5: exus at the FDIC because we have seen those that
Speaker 5: exist within the FDIC pushing sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact,
Speaker 5: elicit photos texted to females within the FDICE. So I
Speaker 5: think there is a lot to uncover here. We saw
Speaker 5: that independent report over three hundred and forty pages of horrible, horrible,
Speaker 5: fret boy type behavior happening at the FDIC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's been a lot of references. Senator, it's good
Speaker 2: to see you again. We haven't caught up since we
Speaker 2: were in Iowa. A lot of talk around Washington about
Speaker 2: locker room talking, locker room behavior, and it was just
Speaker 2: in May of last year that a jury found Donald
Speaker 2: Trump libel for sexual abuse if your bill became law,
Speaker 2: would that remove his pension?
Speaker 5: Well, that's quite possible. But what we're focused on is
Speaker 5: those that are out there, those that have been convicted
Speaker 5: of that, and then yes, they would have their pension
Speaker 5: stripped away. It's a behavior that has to stop. So
Speaker 5: we see this in the FDICE. We see these federal
Speaker 5: employees that are really suffering. And again I want to
Speaker 5: go back to the FDIC chairman and how he allowed
Speaker 5: this behavior to continue. Complaints were made to the fdi CE,
Speaker 5: complaints that he either knew about or just simply dismissed.
Speaker 5: He himself had bad behavior, yelling at employees, throwing objects,
Speaker 5: all very very poor exhibits of leadership or lack thereof,
Speaker 5: but again, bad behavior. We need to make sure that
Speaker 5: those that are in leadership positions in the federal government,
Speaker 5: no one understand that they can't take advantage of their employees.
Speaker 5: If they are convicted, they will lose their taxpayer funded pensions.
Speaker 5: End of story.
Speaker 3: Well, Senator, if I could just go back to the
Speaker 3: fact that you just said, it's quite possible if this
Speaker 3: were to become law, that Donald Trump could not continue
Speaker 3: to collect a federal pension. He wouldn't be eligible for that,
Speaker 3: but still should be seen as qualified to collect a
Speaker 3: presidential salary back in the Oval Office come January of
Speaker 3: next year.
Speaker 5: Different issues because this is an elected position. If people
Speaker 5: want him to be the president of the United States,
Speaker 5: and I fully believe that he will be the President
Speaker 5: of the United States, then we will see him serving again.
Speaker 5: A little different issue, a little different take on it.
Speaker 5: These are people that are hired by the federal government
Speaker 5: working in an environment where they are assaulting other employees
Speaker 5: of the federal government. It is up to the federal
Speaker 5: government to protect those employees. One way we do that
Speaker 5: and we make sure that this behavior doesn't happen is
Speaker 5: by letting them know upfront if you are convicted of
Speaker 5: these crimes, you will be stripped of that pension.
Speaker 2: We're spending time with Senator Jony Ernst on Balance of Power.
Speaker 2: I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines in Washington. I want
Speaker 2: to ask you about a couple of other issues. Well
Speaker 2: we have you here, Senator, including the idea of raising
Speaker 2: tariffs on China. This is something that Joe Biden chose
Speaker 2: to do this week while maintaining the Trump tariffs on
Speaker 2: China and It's something that Bloomberg discussed with Jamie Diamond.
Speaker 2: Of course, from JP Morgan Chase. Let's listen to what
Speaker 2: he said.
Speaker 6: I think it's the right thing for America to fully
Speaker 6: and deeply engage with China. You know, competitively. You know
Speaker 6: every nation is going to do. It's in their own
Speaker 6: interest in national security, social America. We should define that
Speaker 6: fairly improperly. If it's unfair trade, you know, negotiate that
Speaker 6: or do whatever you need to do. But the engagement
Speaker 6: is the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: Engagement is the right thing to do. Senator, how do
Speaker 2: you have both?
Speaker 5: It's really difficult. But we have seen President Donald Trump
Speaker 5: do the tariffs. He focused very heavily on correcting the
Speaker 5: actions for my Iowa farmers, and I felt that he
Speaker 5: was very strong on that. We see now President Joe
Speaker 5: Biden doing this and what he is trying to do.
Speaker 5: He's focusing more on electric vehicles and chips and not
Speaker 5: focusing necessarily so much on my farmers in Iowa. But
Speaker 5: certainly when it comes to China, we have to be
Speaker 5: very cautious. We want to disengage where we can on
Speaker 5: items of national security importance, whether that's pharma, pharmaceuticals or
Speaker 5: items that go into our defense industry. I think it's
Speaker 5: extremely important, but we also need to make sure that
Speaker 5: we're looking out for our interests here in the United
Speaker 5: States and we continue to develop domestic manufacturing. We need
Speaker 5: to quit leaning on China. They are bad, bad trade partners,
Speaker 5: and we have seen this with I'll give an example
Speaker 5: of my Iowa farmers. China will negotiate on some soybeans
Speaker 5: coming from the state of Iowa. Those soybeans are shipped
Speaker 5: by our Iowa farmers. They're headache over the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 5: China will cancel the order, then renegotiate for a lower
Speaker 5: price on soybeans or whatever other commodity it might be,
Speaker 5: and the Iowa farmers are stuck with it. This is
Speaker 5: where President Trump really stood up and did the right
Speaker 5: thing by the Iowa farmers correcting that action with those tariffs.
Speaker 5: So we're going to see more of this. We're going
Speaker 5: to see a lot about this talked about before we
Speaker 5: go into the election cycle. I wish that we would
Speaker 5: see more engagement pushing back on China, whether it's President Trump,
Speaker 5: whether it is President Joe Biden.
Speaker 3: Well, Senator, as you talk about the farmers in your
Speaker 3: state of Iowa. Are you not concerned that if this
Speaker 3: is pushed too far, these tariffs go too far, that
Speaker 3: they could be called fall victim to retaliation from China.
Speaker 5: Yes, this is one thing that was brought up again
Speaker 5: when President Trump was in the Oval Office. I had
Speaker 5: an Iowa farmer that actually laid it out and he said,
Speaker 5: you know, he slapped his hand on the table and
Speaker 5: he said, I know this is going to hurt for
Speaker 5: a while, but he said, I am so thankful for
Speaker 5: President Donald Trump. He's actually stay landing up for American farmers.
Speaker 5: He is correcting this action. So while the pain may
Speaker 5: be short term, we are going to find other outlets
Speaker 5: for corns, for soybeans, for pork, for beef, for poultry.
Speaker 5: We are going to find those other outlets America can produce.
Speaker 5: China needs it more than America needs China consuming it.
Speaker 2: Senator, I'm getting the hook here, but I just have
Speaker 2: to ask you quickly in our last couple of seconds.
Speaker 2: Are we going to get a new farm bill this
Speaker 2: year you keep referring to my farmers, or will they
Speaker 2: extend the one in place?
Speaker 5: Oh Joe, we are really struggling with the farm bill
Speaker 5: this year, and it is a one and a half
Speaker 5: trillion dollar price tag in the United States Senate, but
Speaker 5: only about fourteen to fifteen percent of that goes to
Speaker 5: farm programs. We need to rename the bill. We're not
Speaker 5: going to pass it this year. We'll take another shot
Speaker 5: early next year. We'll have to extend the twenty eighteen
Speaker 5: farm Bill. It's a disappointment for sure. It's a discipline lease.
Speaker 2: Come back and talk to us about this. It's important
Speaker 2: to our listeners and viewers, just like it is to you,
Speaker 2: Senator Jony Ernst. We thank you for the time today.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken
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Speaker 3: Joe, it's pretty remarkable to see another great day if
Speaker 3: you're long equay markets. So you got forty thousand on
Speaker 3: the Dow, We're north of fifty three hundred on the
Speaker 3: S and P five hundred. Stocks are at record highs,
Speaker 3: and yet continually the current incumbent administration does not get
Speaker 3: credit for anything really going well in the economy. It's
Speaker 3: one of his biggest headaches. But we know it's just
Speaker 3: one headache on a very long list.
Speaker 2: Well, that's true, big thumbs down on the economy and
Speaker 2: just about every pole you see. Rick Davis said it earlier, Kaylee,
Speaker 2: if you had predicted forty thousand to coincide with this administration,
Speaker 2: people might have laughed at you in the throes of
Speaker 2: COVID where we were when he took office. And if
Speaker 2: this were Donald Trump, he'd probably be at the New
Speaker 2: York Stock Exchange calling this his own. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: No hats today, by the way, kind of a bummer.
Speaker 2: I still have my ten thousand hats somewhere. You're alluding
Speaker 2: to other issues, though, and Israel is one of them.
Speaker 2: We've seen this take form in a lot of different
Speaker 2: ways on the campaign trail. But what's actually happening in
Speaker 2: Israel right now as we anticipate this vote today to
Speaker 2: compel the administration to provide weaponry is less to do
Speaker 2: with what's happening in Gaza now than it is what
Speaker 2: happens after the war is complete.
Speaker 3: Yeah, whenever that after ultimately is because, of course we're
Speaker 3: still not anywhere in sight of an actual completion to
Speaker 3: this current conflict between Israel and Hamas. But we know
Speaker 3: what the US has been pushing for is a two
Speaker 3: state solution. That is not something that the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: of Benjamin net Yahoo, seems quite open to at this point.
Speaker 3: But it doesn't seem that everyone in the Israeli government
Speaker 3: has the same ideas on this, and you're starting to
Speaker 3: see that rift born out in public.
Speaker 2: Yes, very much so. Ian Marlow is reporting on it
Speaker 2: for a Bloomberg senior reporter covering diplomacy and geopolitics, joins
Speaker 2: us at the table here on a post war Gaza.
Speaker 2: Ian is Benjamin Nettnah, who becoming more isolated on this with.
Speaker 7: Time, Yeah, I think so. I mean I think he's
Speaker 7: stood alone for some time. Secretary Blincoln, who I've traveled
Speaker 7: with around the region several times, has tried to corral
Speaker 7: sort of Arab partners in the region to get some
Speaker 7: sort of grand bargain to bring to Israel. Each time
Speaker 7: we go to the region, and each time we end
Speaker 7: up in Israel at the end of these trips, it
Speaker 7: seems like it just falls on deaf years.
Speaker 2: Again, the.
Speaker 7: Day After plan is just not the priority for the
Speaker 7: Israeli government at the moment. For Netna who in particular,
Speaker 7: I mean, he's focused on destroying Hamas, on getting supposedly,
Speaker 7: you know, the hostages out as part of their deal.
Speaker 7: But anything that comes after that is just at the moment,
Speaker 7: and I think with the conflict dragging on as long
Speaker 7: as it has seven months now, there's a lot of
Speaker 7: impatience to see exactly what the reality is going to
Speaker 7: be like when we get to the other side of
Speaker 7: the conflict.
Speaker 3: Well, I guess my question Ian is We've had a
Speaker 3: lot of conversations with people like yourself, with others who
Speaker 3: are experts in the Middle East and Israel specifically, who
Speaker 3: have suggested that Benjamin and yah who has every incentive
Speaker 3: to keep this drawn out in order to preserve his
Speaker 3: own position of power. So I wonder if we do
Speaker 3: get to the point where we're talking about an after
Speaker 3: whether or not he's actually going to be relevant to
Speaker 3: that equation, Because if we reach the after, is he
Speaker 3: still going to be in power.
Speaker 7: He's very relevant to the equation. The question is whether
Speaker 7: he needs to be removed from power for that day
Speaker 7: After plan that the US has to actually unfold the
Speaker 7: way the US wants. And I think whenever US officials
Speaker 7: go to Israel, they go to meet with the war Cabinet,
Speaker 7: and then they meet individually with different members of the
Speaker 7: war cabinet, and I think I think that's a bit
Speaker 7: of a deliberate attempt because a lot of the people
Speaker 7: in that war cabinet want to be Prime minister the
Speaker 7: day Netnah who is no longer the prime minister, and so,
Speaker 7: and that's a reality that he faces. And BB also
Speaker 7: faces the fact that his coalition is very ramshackle, it's
Speaker 7: a very it's the most right wing government in Israeli history.
Speaker 7: There are people well to the right of Netanyahu himself
Speaker 7: who say, you know, if you do you know, if
Speaker 7: you agree to certain things in post war Gaza, like
Speaker 7: a two state solution, we are going to collapse your government.
Speaker 7: And on the other side, on the left, he's actually
Speaker 7: facing a little bit of a rising discontent there too,
Speaker 7: because in the wake of October seventh, there were all
Speaker 7: of the protests about Netanyahu and the judicial reform that
Speaker 7: he had tried to push through ended and now there's
Speaker 7: kind of vague talk now of potentially having a general strike,
Speaker 7: pushing the government to get a ceasefire deal, and other things.
Speaker 7: So he's being squeezed from both ends here, and I
Speaker 7: think you're right. I think a lot of people I
Speaker 7: speak to say, you know, what the US wants won't
Speaker 7: happen with Netnahu in charge. And also this, you know,
Speaker 7: the day the war ends, Net Yea who is out,
Speaker 7: so he has every incentive to kind of string this out.
Speaker 2: So with all this noise, are you hearing that any
Speaker 2: other members of his war cabinet, you've Gallant or otherwise
Speaker 2: are back channeling with the White House to their own benefit.
Speaker 7: I think anytime one of them shows up in Washington,
Speaker 7: those that sort of impression gets around, and it's it's
Speaker 7: hard to avoid. And now, you know, with Gallant coming
Speaker 7: out and others supporting him, you know, directly criticizing Yaho
Speaker 7: and his policies, it looks like to some extent that
Speaker 7: the starter pistol has won to be fired.
Speaker 3: All right, it's great stuff. Ian Marlow, as always who
Speaker 3: reports on diplomacy for US here at Bloomberg, thank you
Speaker 3: so much. And it's so interesting, Joe to consider that
Speaker 3: not only are there international pressures on BB Netnyahuo, including
Speaker 3: President Biden being more and more outspoken in his pleasure
Speaker 3: with the Israeli government's decisions now but facing a lot
Speaker 3: of internal pressures.
Speaker 2: Well, absolutely, it's really this is an important moment. I
Speaker 2: feel like we're going to look back at this period
Speaker 2: of time in the middle of May as an inflection
Speaker 2: point in this process. I figure those covering the Trump
Speaker 2: trial probably feel the same way. Actually, Michael Cohens back
Speaker 2: on cross examination June Grosso a Bloomberg Law is reporting
Speaker 2: that the defense probably will not let go of the
Speaker 2: rains here before the weekend because they want the jury
Speaker 2: to stay focused on their case that they can probably
Speaker 2: wrap up next week. This thing is.
Speaker 3: Moving, yeah, keeping in mind there is no court tomorrow.
Speaker 3: It's Baron Trump's high school graduation, so there will be
Speaker 3: a day off, and then we're pretty quickly coming up
Speaker 3: on the Memorial Day holiday at the end of next week.
Speaker 3: So I do wonder how logistically all of this is
Speaker 3: going to work out. But of course they have to
Speaker 3: actually finish witness testimony and then do their closing arguments
Speaker 3: before we can get to the end of things. And
Speaker 3: I just wonder what we're making of cross examination day too,
Speaker 3: or at least what Robert Worder is making of it.
Speaker 3: He is a criminal and constitutional law attorney. Welcome back, sir,
Speaker 3: to Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio. The
Speaker 3: defense is spending a lot of time in this cross
Speaker 3: examination trying to get Michael Cohen to admit that he
Speaker 3: is lied under oath. In times past, he's been found
Speaker 3: guilty of perjury, he's spent time in prison. They're essentially
Speaker 3: trying to prove that he is willing to lie under oath.
Speaker 3: So why would the jury believe, based on this testimony
Speaker 3: that he's not doing so?
Speaker 8: Again, well, because he's in a good position to give
Speaker 8: the information which the prosecution is built up to, and
Speaker 8: his statements are corroborated. You know, I've said before it
Speaker 8: doesn't matter if the jury dislikes Michael Cohen as a person.
Speaker 8: The issue is going to be whether they're going to
Speaker 8: believe what he says about Donald Trump and this situation
Speaker 8: that is the cross examination of him. However, the defense
Speaker 8: began with a whole different tact which I thought was
Speaker 8: really ill advised, where they started attacking him saying basically,
Speaker 8: you hate Donald Trump, and so the logical inferences you
Speaker 8: hate there, Donald Trump air go, You're going to lie
Speaker 8: to do anything to get him convicted. The trouble is,
Speaker 8: mister Cohen has a very good response, which is, yeah,
Speaker 8: I don't like Donald Trump. Where I hate don Trump
Speaker 8: because Donald Trump has done terrible things, and I've gone
Speaker 8: along with it. And now that I've had my redemption
Speaker 8: in my little epiphany, I've seen the light and now
Speaker 8: I'm not supporting him anywhere anymore.
Speaker 9: And by the way, when I was lying before, it
Speaker 9: was only on his behalf. That's why I'm here today.
Speaker 8: So overall, I don't think it works out all that
Speaker 8: terribly well for the defense. I have been in many
Speaker 8: trials where the government or the state has given immunity
Speaker 8: to a certain defendant to testify against the others. And
Speaker 8: the person might be a terrible person that Jerry hates
Speaker 8: it, it doesn't mean they're not going to believe what they say.
Speaker 8: Given the context of the cakes.
Speaker 2: Robert, I wonder if raising your voice, bringing emotion as
Speaker 2: a defense attorney is a strategy. And I ask you
Speaker 2: that because Todd blanche in hot today. He's yelling at
Speaker 2: Michael Cohen, trying to get Cohen to yell back at him,
Speaker 2: and they had an important exchange here, Blanche highlighting this
Speaker 2: is the first time Michael Cohen is testified to having
Speaker 2: had specific telephone call, or at least one call, with
Speaker 2: Donald Trump to discuss paying off Stormy Daniels. Yes, I
Speaker 2: believe I was telling the truth, Cohen said, what's the
Speaker 2: defense trying to do here?
Speaker 8: Well, I don't think the defense is doing a particularly
Speaker 8: good job of winning the case with the jury. I
Speaker 8: think what the defense is trying to do there is
Speaker 8: make their client happy. And I think what they're doing
Speaker 8: is fulfilling their client's bigger goals. And I'm going to
Speaker 8: take kind of a unique tack on this that I
Speaker 8: haven't heard a lot of people talk about. I don't
Speaker 8: think for Donald Trump what happens in the courtroom's all
Speaker 8: that terribly important. What's important for him is what's happening
Speaker 8: outside of the court and his ability to spin what's
Speaker 8: going on in the courtroom as his political strategy dictates.
Speaker 9: Look, he gets up.
Speaker 8: After every court day and he complains that I should
Speaker 8: be campaigning. Well, if he's out campaigning, he's out talking
Speaker 8: to maybe a couple hundred people at a rally, maybe
Speaker 8: a few thousand, right, But he gets to talk to
Speaker 8: five million or more people every time he walks out
Speaker 8: of that courthouse and talks of free media coverage, and
Speaker 8: his themes are the same. So, for instance, with Michael Cohen,
Speaker 8: he can walk up and he always talked about Trump
Speaker 8: arrangement syndrome. Well, if you think about that, what that
Speaker 8: is saying is those people are crazy because they dislike me,
Speaker 8: ignoring the fact that those people dislike him because of
Speaker 8: what he does.
Speaker 9: So if your carouse.
Speaker 8: Examination of Michael Cohen is oh, you just hate Donald Trump,
Speaker 8: Donald Trump comes out and plays the same theme, and
Speaker 8: he ties it into this great conspiracy against him, and
Speaker 8: he's their savior of all the people out in TV land.
Speaker 8: That's what's important. Donald Trump and his lawyers are accommodating
Speaker 8: this in their performance in the courtroom, and I don't
Speaker 8: think it plays well at all with the jury. But
Speaker 8: Trump has already decided it doesn't matter if he loses
Speaker 8: that trial because by the time he gets sentenced, by
Speaker 8: the time appeals happened, he thinks he's going to be
Speaker 8: president of the United States. He's never going to serve
Speaker 8: a day in jail. I think that's Trump's overall goal,
Speaker 8: which is why he closes his eyes during most of
Speaker 8: the trial, whether he's sleeping or not.
Speaker 3: Okay, So that's the considerations for the case involving the
Speaker 3: former president. I also want to ask you about something
Speaker 3: involving the current president, Robert as we've had Joe Biden
Speaker 3: today exerting executive privilege over recordings from the investigation into
Speaker 3: his handling of classified documents, his conversation with the special
Speaker 3: counsel Robert Herr, Merrit G. Merrick Garland. The Attorney General
Speaker 3: is about to be held in contempt of Congress over this,
Speaker 3: and we've seen executive privilege now basically use to make
Speaker 3: sure that this does not in fact get in the
Speaker 3: hands of the lawmakers who are asking for it. We
Speaker 3: have heard a great deal upset on the Republican side
Speaker 3: about this, including from the House Speaker Mike Johnson. Just
Speaker 3: take a listen to what he had to say earlier.
Speaker 10: The President is using all of his power to suppress
Speaker 10: their release, and rather than defend our closest ally at war,
Speaker 10: President Biden is using his authority to defend himself politically.
Speaker 3: So arguably, Robert, he is using authority that is his
Speaker 3: to use should he so choose, but is he setting
Speaker 3: a dangerous precedent here by not releasing these tapes.
Speaker 9: No, not really.
Speaker 8: Look, first of all, executive privilege belongs to the office.
Speaker 8: It doesn't belong to Joe Biden. So when all of
Speaker 8: Donald Trump and his kind of entourage and his menions
Speaker 8: saying oh I have executive privilege, their role because only
Speaker 8: the current holder of the office has that privilege.
Speaker 9: The next person who holds that office could decide to
Speaker 9: release whatever.
Speaker 8: They want because the privilege goes with the office. Now,
Speaker 8: I think there's a good argument to be made. List says, Look,
Speaker 8: you already got the transcripts of what happened here, and
Speaker 8: you've got a gratuitous statement from Robert Hurr about oh,
Speaker 8: you know, he's old, he doesn't remember, which had nothing
Speaker 8: to do with his findings. Actually, her findings were quite
Speaker 8: beneficial to President Biden. It draw the distinction between the
Speaker 8: two cases, President Biden's case and Donald Trump's case in
Speaker 8: terms of retaining a document documents, they're very, very different.
Speaker 8: But then he put in that gratuitous statement, which was
Speaker 8: simply to give fodder for this argument in the narrative
Speaker 8: that Joe Biden.
Speaker 9: Is not competent to old etc.
Speaker 8: Etca utterly useless in terms of what the report was
Speaker 8: supposed to do in the prosecutorial evaluation. So you know,
Speaker 8: that's kind of what the privilege is. This president does
Speaker 8: have it. I assume he decides that there's no value
Speaker 8: for the American people to have this come out, certainly
Speaker 8: not of value to him, And of course Speaker Johnson
Speaker 8: then tries to tie that in has something to do
Speaker 8: with Israel.
Speaker 9: At the end, I assume by his statement that you know, President.
Speaker 8: Biden should be more worried about our allies versus this
Speaker 8: that's a total non second has nothing to do with
Speaker 8: either one.
Speaker 9: But that's kind of the political game I see going
Speaker 9: on there.
Speaker 2: He straddles criminal and constitutional law, which is why he's
Speaker 2: an important voice for us here. Robert macwurdur, we thank
Speaker 2: you for being with us, sir, as always on balance
Speaker 2: of power. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines and Washington
Speaker 2: the word on this, by the way, transcript versus tape
Speaker 2: from Jim Jordan. Of course, Judiciary Chair changes in voice
Speaker 2: inflection and emphasis are what you need that you do
Speaker 2: not get in a transcript. But he probably will never
Speaker 2: hear that tape.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess that's why people watch us on TV
Speaker 3: and listen to us on radio, don't just read us.
Speaker 2: So it's true. Actually, yeah, I hear. This is a
Speaker 2: good listen still even though we're on camera. We'll have
Speaker 2: more from our panel coming up next. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
Speaker 1: just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on EML car Play
Speaker 1: and then, oh, I don't know where the Bloomberg Business app.
Speaker 1: Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts A watch
Speaker 1: us live on YouTube.
Speaker 3: We know the decisions out of Washington often do have
Speaker 3: the ability to impact financial markets, certain stocks, certain ETFs,
Speaker 3: like say rescheduling marijuana. I noticed today MJ up nearly
Speaker 3: six percent after just moments ago. President Biden takes to X.
Speaker 3: Too many lives have been upended by our failed approach
Speaker 3: to marijuana. So today the Justice Department is taking the
Speaker 3: next step to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule one to
Speaker 3: a Schedule three drug under federal law. It's happening, Joe.
Speaker 2: This is a big deal. It is actually happening. We've
Speaker 2: been talking about this for a very long time, and
Speaker 2: for the President to do a direct to video direct
Speaker 2: to cameras statement on this says a lot about the
Speaker 2: demographics he's trying to appeal to here, i e. Young people.
Speaker 2: MSOs is the other ETF that's specific to US cannabis
Speaker 2: companies impacted by this. That's up over eight percent right now.
Speaker 2: As our buddy Nathan Deane likes to say at Bloomberg Intelligence,
Speaker 2: the pot stocks have hot sauce on them and they
Speaker 2: go crazy in both directions. So let's see if this holds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess we will. But to your point, it's
Speaker 3: not a coincidence in all likelihood, Shoe that this is
Speaker 3: happening in the middle of an election cycle.
Speaker 2: That's right, not to mention the fact that we're actually
Speaker 2: waiting for news on safe banking. There has been an
Speaker 2: effort to get this done, largely by Democrats, but some
Speaker 2: Republicans are on board as well. Let's assemble our panel
Speaker 2: to get their take on this and all the other
Speaker 2: stories that we're covering today. Rick Davis and Genie Shanzo
Speaker 2: join us Bloomberg Politics contributors here on Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: We didn't see this in common, guys, but here we are. Genie,
Speaker 2: it's just another you can talk about for giving student
Speaker 2: loan debt or some of the other ways that Joe
Speaker 2: Biden has tried to appeal to younger voters. In this case,
Speaker 2: does it work and with whom?
Speaker 11: You know? I don't see this as changing the trajectory
Speaker 11: of the election. You know, marijuana legalization is something to
Speaker 11: your point, young people support in overwhelming numbers, and they
Speaker 11: long have that said, it doesn't usually rank at the
Speaker 11: top of their list. Still at the top of their
Speaker 11: list is the economy. So I think this is important.
Speaker 11: As you guys are just talking about what this.
Speaker 2: Has to do with promises kept, doesn't it Genie promise
Speaker 2: is kept on the campaign in twenty twenty.
Speaker 11: It does have to do with that. I'm still not
Speaker 11: convinced it will change support. I think much more important
Speaker 11: is going to be his taking on economic issues that
Speaker 11: matter to these young people, and they are enormous. So
Speaker 11: I think this is a positive step, and you're right
Speaker 11: it does meet a campaign promise, although I just really
Speaker 11: still don't see it as going all the way to
Speaker 11: change votes, if you.
Speaker 3: Will, well fair enough, Obviously, young people are one demographic
Speaker 3: in which President Biden is seeing turn away from him.
Speaker 3: Rick Another is black voters, and he is arguably trying
Speaker 3: to take some corrective measure in that regard as well.
Speaker 3: This week, as he to day is meeting with family
Speaker 3: members in the Brown Bird Versus Board of Education case.
Speaker 3: He'll be doing another event here in DC at the
Speaker 3: African American History Museum later this week. He's giving the
Speaker 3: commencement address at Morehouse this weekend. Does any of that
Speaker 3: go far enough? How much work does he still have
Speaker 3: to do?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 12: Look, I think that we heard from doctor King this
Speaker 12: week that you got to walk the walk, you got
Speaker 12: to be there all the time. It's not just an
Speaker 12: election your issue. I think she's exactly right. I think
Speaker 12: I can't imagine anybody walking the walk more than Joe
Speaker 12: Biden has. But again, I mean I have to echo
Speaker 12: what Genie just said. I mean, this is all about
Speaker 12: economic situation at young black especially urban males, find themselves
Speaker 12: in and it's not good. And they're blaming the Biden administration. Right,
Speaker 12: they didn't have as many pressures on them economically during
Speaker 12: the Trump administration. They had other cultural challenges that exacerbated
Speaker 12: themselves in Trump administration. But for whatever reason, those seem
Speaker 12: to have you know, fallen by the wayside, and now
Speaker 12: it's a battle with with Joe Biden over the economic
Speaker 12: well being of the black community. And these are core
Speaker 12: Democratic voters. So if if he loses them, uh, he's
Speaker 12: really got a problem with with with his base. It's
Speaker 12: not just swing voters anymore. And and I would say
Speaker 12: I don't think the cannabis issue plays out really very much.
Speaker 12: I consider it a feel good issue, right And in other words,
Speaker 12: it fulfills a promise, you know, it does what you
Speaker 12: need to do to sort of get over it. But
Speaker 12: there are very few young voters, very few of them voters,
Speaker 12: very few voters who you know are in the Biden
Speaker 12: coalition who are going to vote for Donald Trump unless
Speaker 12: he you know, uh legalizes pot.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 12: That's just that's just not a voter that exists in
Speaker 12: any poll I've ever seen. So the challenge with black voters.
Speaker 12: This week, he's showing some leg on it. But the
Speaker 12: question is can he meet that that that challenge by
Speaker 12: being able to at least articulate a better economic opportunity
Speaker 12: for that community in the next four years? And again,
Speaker 12: where's the plan for the next four years? Economically? All
Speaker 12: we hear about is getting past tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of a feel good issue, how about a
Speaker 2: presidential pardon, not for those convicted of smoking marijuana, but
Speaker 2: for Donald Trump. Mitt Rodney, of course, the former standard
Speaker 2: bearer of the Republican Party, thinks that's exactly what Joe
Speaker 2: Biden should do and should have already done. He talked
Speaker 2: about it in an interview. Let's listen.
Speaker 13: I think President Biden made an enormous error. He should
Speaker 13: have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward.
Speaker 13: It was a win win for Donald Trump. Had I
Speaker 13: been President Biden when the Justice Department brought an indictment,
Speaker 13: so I would have immediately pardoned him. I had to
Speaker 13: pardon President Trump.
Speaker 2: That was in an interview with MSNBC. Genie. What do
Speaker 2: you think about this? I'm pretty sure Joe Biden was
Speaker 2: not about to pardon Donald Trump. What would the reaction be?
Speaker 11: You know, I'm baffled by this for several reasons, but
Speaker 11: let's just start with one, which is the fact that
Speaker 11: while a curdin can reach to the federal cases, those
Speaker 11: federal cases are not going forward apparently in all likelihood
Speaker 11: before the campaign, I mean for the election. Rather, the
Speaker 11: only one that has is the state case. And of
Speaker 11: course Joe Biden has no say in what the state
Speaker 11: of New York does or the state of Georgia. So
Speaker 11: I'm not quite clear on what Romney's getting there. What
Speaker 11: I do agree with him on is the fact that
Speaker 11: Democrats have to fight Donald Trump at the ballot box
Speaker 11: and not rely on the courts. That said, there's no
Speaker 11: evidence that Joe Biden has been and parcel of this
Speaker 11: prosecution of Donald Trump, So I don't know how he
Speaker 11: stops it other than getting involved, which no president should do.
Speaker 3: But one of the other things that Senator Romney said
Speaker 3: Rick is that this is a win win for Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: Does he not have a point there that so far
Speaker 3: the prosecution of the former president has only served him
Speaker 3: in his campaign for the White House.
Speaker 12: Yeah, hindsight is twenty twenty vision. I think you can
Speaker 12: now look at and say advantage Trump when it comes
Speaker 12: to at least the current status of his legal problems.
Speaker 12: If he doesn't win election and he gets convicted and
Speaker 12: he winds up serving time in prison. I don't think
Speaker 12: anybody's going to say that. But that's not where we
Speaker 12: are here. And I would say very clearly that Sara
Speaker 12: Romney isn't claiming that Joe Biden has anything to do
Speaker 12: with these prosecutions. If anything, I think he would say
Speaker 12: that this proves that no one is above the law.
Speaker 12: But I think what he's trying to get to is
Speaker 12: a return to civility, a return to a dialogue that
Speaker 12: is not so detrimental to our national interests, and that
Speaker 12: only gets achieved by people making sacrifices. And in this case,
Speaker 12: the sacrifice would have been the president's to basically reach
Speaker 12: out with the power that he has to grant a
Speaker 12: pardon to somebody who highly likely at the time, was
Speaker 12: going to be the nominee of the party. And I
Speaker 12: think there's something about national unity and rising above it
Speaker 12: and serving causes greater than your own political self interests
Speaker 12: that would have a nerd greatly to Biden's advantage. But
Speaker 12: that's not where we are. And that gives the cudgel
Speaker 12: to Donald Trump to then use his prosecution against Joe Biden,
Speaker 12: so that that's just fair, right. I mean, it's his
Speaker 12: Justice Department that has indicted him while he's a presidential candidate,
Speaker 12: and you know, arguably he's done things that are wrong
Speaker 12: that have been nurreed to this he is a court
Speaker 12: of log going to decide whether he's guilty of these
Speaker 12: things or not. But does that really advance the national
Speaker 12: dialogue the way we would normally want to see it.
Speaker 12: I doubt if any voter would say, yeah, that's Republican
Speaker 12: or Democrat alike, that this is a good place where
Speaker 12: we found ourselves.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting, Genie, what's your thought on that? To
Speaker 2: come back around, could Joe Biden actually turn a few
Speaker 2: independent voters his wages the the optics of doing what
Speaker 2: appears to be best for the nation.
Speaker 11: I don't think it would change to voters' minds. I
Speaker 11: think he would probably risk losing as many as he
Speaker 11: may gain in the middle. And I think, you know
Speaker 11: what Rick is talking about, I think is an important point.
Speaker 11: I don't think it would help Joe Biden, in other words,
Speaker 11: politically at this point in terms of the election, but
Speaker 11: for the better interest of the public good, it may
Speaker 11: be something worth considering. But again, this prosecution we're seeing
Speaker 11: the hush money is a state court. He has got
Speaker 11: no reach there. He could take action potentially on the
Speaker 11: federal case. Is very unusual to do before the man
Speaker 11: has even been convicted, and nothing would happen before the elections,
Speaker 11: So you know, I see Senator Romney's point, but I
Speaker 11: think it's a little bit too late to think about
Speaker 11: something along those lines.
Speaker 3: All right, Geenie Shanzano and Rick Davis, our signature political panel,
Speaker 3: thank you so much. And it is an important thing
Speaker 3: to consider here, Joe. While Donald Trump wouldn't be able
Speaker 3: to pardon himself if he wins reelection in the state cases,
Speaker 3: just the federal ones. We don't even know if the
Speaker 3: federal cases will ever move forward, true delayed and definitely
Speaker 3: at this point.
Speaker 2: We have to remind ourselves that we're still waiting for
Speaker 2: a very important ruling from the Supreme Court on presidential
Speaker 2: immunity that may or may not lead to a Jack
Speaker 2: Smith January sixth trial that would be a potential game changer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, well no, we think by June thirtieth, when
Speaker 3: it's the end of the term. But they could always
Speaker 3: kick it back down to a lower court and just
Speaker 3: elongate this process any further. Will of course keep you
Speaker 3: updated when we get news. We just don't have it
Speaker 3: quite yet.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast can
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Speaker 2: We turn our attention to what's happening in Lower Manhattan
Speaker 2: once again, cross examination today for Michael Cohen. But it's
Speaker 2: more the guests of the former president, the latest batch
Speaker 2: of surrogates who are making news because, frankly, as we
Speaker 2: talked about with June Grosso, we've heard a lot of
Speaker 2: this already from Michael Cohen. Remember the Speaker of the
Speaker 2: House went to the court a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2: We've seen a number of folks who want to be
Speaker 2: vice president Byron Donald's. We saw Governor Doug Bergham up there,
Speaker 2: Vivek Ramaswami the litigator. Today it's the Freedom Caucus. They're
Speaker 2: not wearing matching suits, but they are there with matching messages.
Speaker 2: Matt Gates, Bob Good, Andy Gibbs, Lauren Bobert, all photographed
Speaker 2: in the courtroom. There, I guess pitch in here on
Speaker 2: the effort. Lisa Camuso Miller is seeing this photograph. If
Speaker 2: you're with us on YouTube for the first time, right now,
Speaker 2: there they are in court. As Donald Trump spoke earlier
Speaker 2: with reporters, there's your lineup of course, Republican strategist, former
Speaker 2: comms director at the Art and C. Great to see you,
Speaker 2: welcome back. Are you going to court soon?
Speaker 9: No?
Speaker 14: Thank you?
Speaker 2: Okay, this has become a strange field trip that is
Speaker 2: apparently required. But Joe, what do you want to be in.
Speaker 14: If you do, what do you do if you can't
Speaker 14: be on the campaign trail? You have to bring people
Speaker 14: to you, Mattie, So it's smart. I mean, we're in
Speaker 14: uncharted territory, right, I mean, this is like something we've
Speaker 14: never had to see before. But ordinarily, when you're on
Speaker 14: the campaign trail, you're sitting down and you're bringing people
Speaker 14: behind you. You're standing at the podium and they are
Speaker 14: standing as your supporters. So I suppose that this is
Speaker 14: the new normal, right, we are going to see people
Speaker 14: make the pilgrimage to Lower Manhattan to stand behind the
Speaker 14: former president.
Speaker 2: As long as this thing's going, that's for as long
Speaker 2: as this goes. This is like the new Codel. You
Speaker 2: just go on up to New York.
Speaker 14: But it's not serious, right, So at some point, I
Speaker 14: think though there's a the worm turns right, And if
Speaker 14: you are a member of Congress and you are supposed
Speaker 14: to be demonstrating action and change for the elected as
Speaker 14: an elected person for the constituencies, does this Does this
Speaker 14: come back at you? People say, why are you not
Speaker 14: home in the district. Why are you not in the
Speaker 14: capital doing the work that you need to be doing.
Speaker 14: So to me, this is something I think they have
Speaker 14: to be very very careful about because right election season
Speaker 14: is on and they want to see Congress get work
Speaker 14: done the voters do.
Speaker 2: Anyway, that's the idea. Well, let me ask you about that.
Speaker 2: A couple of things here before we get to actual business.
Speaker 2: I mentioned the Speaker of the House was there at
Speaker 2: the courthouse, and as someone who worked for a former
Speaker 2: Republican speaker, I can't imagine what went through your mind.
Speaker 2: That's not just a lawmaker. This is one of the
Speaker 2: highest ranking elected officials in the United States of America.
Speaker 2: And Democrats are pretty upset that he went there and
Speaker 2: have made clear in some cases that they will not
Speaker 2: be there to support him if there's another motion to vacate.
Speaker 2: I know he needs Donald Trump, but it sure seems
Speaker 2: like he needs Democrats too. What did he just do
Speaker 2: to himself, he.
Speaker 14: Does, but also to Donald Trump has been a really
Speaker 14: big supporter for this speaker, so that's really more important.
Speaker 14: He's done everything he can to keep the speaker at
Speaker 14: least sort of neutral in this fight with the Marjorie
Speaker 14: Taylor Greens of the world and all of these other people.
Speaker 14: The president, the former president has said he would prefer
Speaker 14: that that not happen. And so it all depends on
Speaker 14: what the vote is. Right, So Democrats can say whatever
Speaker 14: they're going to say, but if we come down to
Speaker 14: a vote that's about supporting our allies overseas or a
Speaker 14: vote that's about the economy, Democrats are going to have
Speaker 14: to work with this Congress or this Republican Conference because
Speaker 14: the margins are so so narrow.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, Yeah, wow, he did manage to get the FAA
Speaker 2: reauthorization done, not to mention all the rest we saw
Speaker 2: Ukraine funding pass, Israel, a lot of things that we
Speaker 2: were told were never going to see the light of day.
Speaker 2: So he's got a little bit of momentum here. But
Speaker 2: now we're told that that's it, it's the sixteenth of
Speaker 2: mayor we done for the rest of this Congress.
Speaker 14: Well, it sure feels like I mean, I heard you
Speaker 14: earlier say that this is a messaging game. From this
Speaker 14: point on, that's precisely what happens in an election year,
Speaker 14: and so it does really feel that way. But if
Speaker 14: you're the Speaker and you are looking back at your
Speaker 14: track record, he's got to be feeling pretty confident about
Speaker 14: the fact that he got a lot done. The expectations
Speaker 14: for this member was so low, and the fact that
Speaker 14: he got these things completed and got them done, FAA reauthorisation,
Speaker 14: all of that is real accomplishment that ordinarily no one
Speaker 14: would have thought would have gotten done. And now Republicans
Speaker 14: get to ride on that success and use it as
Speaker 14: they're doing their messaging and moving forward into election day.
Speaker 2: So bring us inside the Speaker's office at a moment
Speaker 2: like this, Mike Johnson, who we're seeing there at the
Speaker 2: court the other day on YouTube, back in town. You
Speaker 2: bring your people in in the Speaker's office. What's the
Speaker 2: conversation when it's they like, okay, well it's strategy mapping.
Speaker 2: We're going to get this is real thing tonight. What
Speaker 2: do we do next, mister speaker? How do we deploy
Speaker 2: the troops? Knowing, as you just said, there's no more
Speaker 2: policy being made the rest of this.
Speaker 14: Year, there's not, but you have to think about what
Speaker 14: are the messages, right, So they're looking really smartly at
Speaker 14: what are the topics that people care about, right, They
Speaker 14: care about the economy. They want to see action, They
Speaker 14: want it actually more than anything, they want to see change.
Speaker 14: They're not happy with the way this administration is handling
Speaker 14: things right now, so they're going to do everything they
Speaker 14: can to demonstrate that re electing or electing a larger
Speaker 14: majority in the Republican Conference actually would be better and
Speaker 14: more productive for the American people. And so that to
Speaker 14: me is the kind of messaging that they're going to
Speaker 14: be considering and working on from now until long after
Speaker 14: a Memorial Day and into elections.
Speaker 2: So you think about how to seize the moment. And
Speaker 2: you've been through this time of year. We're going into
Speaker 2: the campaign cycle, right, members, you want the members to
Speaker 2: go away, don't be in Washington, go run for reelection
Speaker 2: and raise money for all of us. Are we going
Speaker 2: to see more runs to the border. Where are the
Speaker 2: photo ops and the events that carry us through the summer.
Speaker 14: Well, smartly, they're probably all looking at their own specific districts.
Speaker 14: So yes, in those border states. They're going to talk
Speaker 14: about the border in the states where they are really
Speaker 14: concerned about the support of the military that they're going
Speaker 14: to be talking about that. They're going to look very
Speaker 14: specifically and what it is their own specific issues are
Speaker 14: that they can talk directly about. And you and I
Speaker 14: both know this. I mean I did. I didn't make
Speaker 14: up the phrase. I mean, It's been around for as
Speaker 14: long as you and I've been walking on the earth.
Speaker 14: But it's about the economy more than anything else. And
Speaker 14: so they're going to talk about what it is this
Speaker 14: administration has done to not make people will feel better
Speaker 14: about their own home budgets and their own, you know,
Speaker 14: sort of their own personal economy. They're also going to
Speaker 14: be talking about how it is that electing Republicans means
Speaker 14: success for everyone outside of the Beltway.
Speaker 2: This is, of course, all against the backdrop of a
Speaker 2: presidential race, which is something that you and I talk
Speaker 2: about a lot. And yesterday the big news was debates.
Speaker 2: There's a debate about the debates. Now on this day
Speaker 2: after as so, who was baited? Who got you know, served?
Speaker 2: Does it help both of these candidates to stand in
Speaker 2: front of the American people and have an old fashioned
Speaker 2: debate because a lot of people thought we were beyond that.
Speaker 14: I think it hurts both of them. It hurts both
Speaker 14: of them, I think, I mean, neither one of them.
Speaker 14: Neither one of them is very good in the debate.
Speaker 14: Donald Trump looks petulant and Joe Biden is at this
Speaker 14: point he also the two of them are not great debaters,
Speaker 14: at least in my sort of personal public affairs. Look
Speaker 14: is not good. And also like not who watches the debates, right,
Speaker 14: people like you and me? Right, So I feel like
Speaker 14: it is also happening in echo chamber.
Speaker 3: We're all sort of.
Speaker 2: Like more than ever now it's cable news, I know.
Speaker 14: And we're all paying attention to whether or not one
Speaker 14: over the other does better here in the debates. I
Speaker 14: think that there will be gaffes. I think that it
Speaker 14: provides each one of them an opportunity to attack the other,
Speaker 14: so more than anything else, Yes, this is the way
Speaker 14: the process has always worked. But the American people are
Speaker 14: going to be tuning into YouTube and Netflix and all
Speaker 14: the other places they can because they're really not interested
Speaker 14: in what these two guys have to say, especially when
Speaker 14: they're debating one another.
Speaker 2: Got to be honest, with you. It would not have
Speaker 2: surprised me if they had announced a live Netflix debate.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be the modern thing to do?
Speaker 14: It would be the modern thing to do. But we're
Speaker 14: looking at two guys that are like, really, they.
Speaker 2: Don't watch Netflix, which is part of the problem. So
Speaker 2: you're you're prepping Joe Biden. I'm sorry, but you got
Speaker 2: the job. How do you operate by the rules if
Speaker 2: the other guy's not going.
Speaker 14: To I'd like to see more of that Joe Biden
Speaker 14: that delivered the State.
Speaker 13: Of the Year.
Speaker 2: You tell in and ready. What does he have to lose? Joe, Oh,
Speaker 2: I don't know. You just reminded us of the stakes here.
Speaker 14: I mean he does. The President himself does stumble. He's
Speaker 14: famous for all of the gaffes that he makes. But
Speaker 14: also too, the people that love and are going to
Speaker 14: support Joe Biden or with Joe Biden, they'd prefer to
Speaker 14: see him stand up to Donald Trump and call him
Speaker 14: on the inaccuracies and the falsehoods that he advances when
Speaker 14: he's in the debate. But can that happen in real time?
Speaker 14: I'm not so sure. And so that's what I'd be
Speaker 14: looking for. I'd be looking for opportunities. I'd be looking
Speaker 14: for one liners. I'd be looking for the kinds of
Speaker 14: things for the speed, for the excuse me for the
Speaker 14: president to use as ways to go back at Donald
Speaker 14: Trump without attacking him, but also calling him for some
Speaker 14: of the inaccuracies and the falsehoods that he does advance
Speaker 14: when he's on the debate stage.
Speaker 2: You support the idea of cutting mics when people go over.
Speaker 14: Time, Yes, I do, because I think people like you
Speaker 14: and me who are consuming these debates want to hear
Speaker 14: the issues and don't want to hear the back and forth.
Speaker 2: We deserve mercy. But isn't that a precedent though I
Speaker 2: keep bringing this up and people it's I don't nothing
Speaker 2: matters anymore. But to be cutting off the microphone or
Speaker 2: the president of the United States, that's a new president.
Speaker 14: That would be really difficult.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 14: And if they didn't do it on the debate stage
Speaker 14: with the candidates, Joe, it's super unlikely that they're going
Speaker 14: to do it with two I mean, one former president
Speaker 14: and one sitting president. It is very unlikely. And so
Speaker 14: it's going to be the kind of thing that's going
Speaker 14: to be unpalatable. People aren't going to want to watch it.
Speaker 2: Wow, yet you and I will.
Speaker 5: We's page.
Speaker 2: It's smart to go early. That's a win for Biden.
Speaker 2: Get him up in June. I think it's smart to
Speaker 2: goas atolls.
Speaker 14: It really does. And I also think too that it's
Speaker 14: smart for him to take on Donald Trump, especially now
Speaker 14: when he's in the courtroom. So Joe Biden can be
Speaker 14: perceived to someone who as leading and standing behind the
Speaker 14: podium at the White House, and he is an elected
Speaker 14: that is at least sort of perceived to be not
Speaker 14: in the courtroom defending himself against bad decisions that the
Speaker 14: former president potentially possibly may have made. Yes, so the
Speaker 14: optics are good that that he can then go back
Speaker 14: to the podium at the White House, stand behind the
Speaker 14: bully pulpit, and say smart things. Well, Donald Trump is
Speaker 14: in the courtroom talking about his debate performance while he's
Speaker 14: also talking about his private performances.
Speaker 2: I heard something about Thanks for listening to the Balance
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