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Speaker 1: As we join you live from Washington with breaking news

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Speaker 1: indeed on both ends of Pennsylvania. Avenue another August day

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Speaker 1: for the books here as the House moves with deliberate

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Speaker 1: speed this afternoon in passing the three and a half

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Speaker 1: trillion dollar budget resolution that will lead to reconciliation and

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Speaker 1: President Biden now standing by to address the nation as

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Speaker 1: he stands by the timeline for evacuations out of Afghanistan.

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Speaker 1: We find the headline on the terminal. Biden keeps to

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Speaker 1: cobble August thirty one deadline despite criticism that means we

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Speaker 1: are out a week from today. We're gonna talk about

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Speaker 1: it all ahead with Bloomberg's Washington Bureau chief Craig Gordon

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Speaker 1: and specific to the operation and Cobble will be joined

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Speaker 1: this hour by retired Army Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, former

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Speaker 1: director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The panel with us too,

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Speaker 1: Genie she and Zano and Rick Davis with us for

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Speaker 1: the hour, and we will bring you the President's remarks.

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Speaker 1: Were told that they are gathering in the East Room

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Speaker 1: at the White House to hear from the President. Will

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Speaker 1: bring you his remarks as they happen live. We already

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Speaker 1: heard from Jen Saki on this as we keep our

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Speaker 1: eyes on what is happening here in Afghanistan. The White

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Speaker 1: House Press Secretary briefed a short time ago on the

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Speaker 1: effort to get Americans to the airport in Kabble. We

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Speaker 1: are reaching out via phone, via text, via email, anyway

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Speaker 1: we can, and we're giving them instructions on how to

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Speaker 1: get to the airport, when to the come to the airport.

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Speaker 1: We have an entire apparatus and operations set up on

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Speaker 1: the ground. We're advertising and this is operation of reaching

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Speaker 1: out to these individuals operation with one week to go.

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Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, we bring in Craig Gordon, Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: News Washington bureau chief, who has covered the White House

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Speaker 1: for many years and in fact travel to Afghanistan as

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Speaker 1: a journalist. It's great to have you on this particular moment, Craig.

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Speaker 1: What is it the President needs to say today? Is

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Speaker 1: it about convincing Americans that we only have a week

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Speaker 1: to get this done, or is he speaking as well

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Speaker 1: to audiences in Europe following today's virtual g seven. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think really the American people probably would be fine

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Speaker 1: staying a little past August thirty one. They're really you know,

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Speaker 1: American voters don't really care about foreign policy until they do,

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Speaker 1: and then they care about it quite a lot. Because

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Speaker 1: right now it does look a little bit like Joe

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Speaker 1: Biden's turn to tail and and uh and running out

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Speaker 1: of Afghanistan. We heard the Taliban come out today and

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Speaker 1: say you need to be gone by August thirty one.

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Speaker 1: So while I think his message is we will be

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Speaker 1: gone by August August thirty one, warning, get out every

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Speaker 1: person we can between now and then, I personally think

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Speaker 1: if they stayed another week, Talban would probably be okay

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Speaker 1: with that. We'd get more Americans and some of our

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Speaker 1: Afghan partners out of there and and and probably leave

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Speaker 1: the country behind for good. But he he, they really

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Speaker 1: did not handle this well in terms of having a

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Speaker 1: plan for getting tens of thousands of Americans and again

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Speaker 1: Afghans who put their lives on the line to help

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Speaker 1: the American cause in Afghanistan. And and he's kind of

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Speaker 1: paying the price for that. Today, a direct address from

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Speaker 1: the President on the two breaking issues of the day,

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Speaker 1: in fact, opened with infrastructure and then, as you just heard, Love,

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Speaker 1: I've moved on to Afghanistan. Joe Matthew, this is Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Sound on live from Washington and were joined still by

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg News Washington Bureau chief Craig Gordon. Interesting the way

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Speaker 1: he handled that. They're clearly Craig speaking to a domestic audience.

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Speaker 1: We waited around the better part of four hours to

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Speaker 1: hear from the President on Afghanistan, and about the first

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Speaker 1: half of that speech was about what he sees as

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Speaker 1: a big win on infrastructure. Yeah, and it was a

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Speaker 1: big win on infrastructure that you know, this was the

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Speaker 1: heart of his economic agenda. This is what Joe Biden

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Speaker 1: ran on for two years to become the president United States.

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Speaker 1: Was a what he calls bill back better. This what

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Speaker 1: will end up being something like five trillion dollars in

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Speaker 1: infrastructure spending and infrastructure using the term broadly childcare, healthcare,

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Speaker 1: elder care, fixing lead pipes, and homes of variety, you know,

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Speaker 1: pre k variety of different programs. That is what got

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden into the White House. That is what the

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Speaker 1: American people want him to do. Maybe not quite at

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Speaker 1: that level, um, some of the moderates in his own

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Speaker 1: party would say, but that really is what he wants

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Speaker 1: to come out and tell everyone about, Like, hey, we

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Speaker 1: we we did the thing I promised we would do.

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Speaker 1: But funny thing when you're president, um wars tend to

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Speaker 1: get in away sometimes, well they do, and that can

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Speaker 1: be kind of an awkward transition when you're going from

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Speaker 1: you know, celebrating the passage of a bill that's not

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Speaker 1: even there yet or hasn't been written yet, to dealing

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Speaker 1: with matters of life and death. But he did make

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Speaker 1: news there, Craig we we the headlines we saw earlier

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Speaker 1: was that Joe Biden would stand by evacuation by the

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Speaker 1: end of the month, one week from today. He says

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Speaker 1: he has asked for contingency plans to adjust the timetable

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Speaker 1: should it become necessary, So clearly we've still got some

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Speaker 1: flexibility here. Yeah, And he put the Taliban unnoticed that

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Speaker 1: if the United States has to stay past August thirty one,

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Speaker 1: he will blame them, not that they probably care that

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Speaker 1: much about that, but that was very much the little

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Speaker 1: escape patch he built for himself there. He said, our

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Speaker 1: ability to meet the August thirty first deadline requires the

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Speaker 1: Taliban to continue, allowing you know, the United States to

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Speaker 1: get folks out of the airport if they get in

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Speaker 1: the way, if they stop US. If they slow us down,

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Speaker 1: well we might have to hang around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: And I've asked the generals for some some plans on that.

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Speaker 1: He also introduced a new group to the American lexicon,

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Speaker 1: isis K, that I've never heard of visis K before, um,

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Speaker 1: describing them as a group that you know, hates the

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Speaker 1: Taliban and US almost equally. So um, you know, there

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Speaker 1: you go. He did want to put I think what

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden is worried about is it every minute, literally

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Speaker 1: every minute the United States stays in Afghanistan longer, you

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Speaker 1: could have some kind of a terror attack, a truck bomb,

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Speaker 1: a car bomb. Uh, the mowing down a bunch of soldiers,

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Speaker 1: you know, American lives lost as they tried to, you know,

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Speaker 1: carry out this essentially humanitarian mission of getting getting these

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Speaker 1: folks out of there. You know, so far, Biden's taking

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Speaker 1: hit in the polls for Afghanistan. There are some dead

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Speaker 1: Americans in Afghanistan. That gets a lot worse for him.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure he's counting the minutes until the U. S.

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Speaker 1: Troops and allies can get out of there. Great talk

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Speaker 1: with Craig Gordon Bloomberg, Washington Bureau Chief, who we try

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Speaker 1: to save for the big days, and this certainly is one.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Craig. As we bring in now retired Army

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Speaker 1: Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, another voice of credibility on this story,

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Speaker 1: former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. General, It's great

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Speaker 1: to have you with us today on Bloomberg Radio. Welcome back.

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Speaker 1: What did you make of the language we heard from

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Speaker 1: President Biden. They're telling the American people that essentially we

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Speaker 1: want to get out in a week, but we may

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Speaker 1: have to stay longer if we need to. No, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I thought that was a message you needed to deliver clearly. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know what the Defense Department was working at his

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Speaker 1: branches and sequels, and if they still have numbers that

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Speaker 1: they need to meet after the thirty first, there'll be

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Speaker 1: a position to be able to do that. So that

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Speaker 1: parts incouraging gets incouraging that we're talking to our allies

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Speaker 1: and partners, which is always always important. Interesting to hear

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Speaker 1: the President essentially put this on the Taliban. Uh. He says, Look,

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Speaker 1: we all stand united in our approach to the Taliban,

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Speaker 1: and completion depends on the cooperation of the Taliban. I

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Speaker 1: can't imagine the conversation that was had according to the

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Speaker 1: Washington Post by the Director of the CIA, between the

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Speaker 1: CIA director and the de fact to ahead of the

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Speaker 1: Taliban or are we already laying out the consequences if

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Speaker 1: they get in the way of this evacuation. I can't

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Speaker 1: speak for the CI director, but I imagine that he

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Speaker 1: was not equivocating in laying down some certain turns with

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Speaker 1: regards to any um kind of lethal actions of the

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Speaker 1: Taliban might be taking. But you know clearly that conversation

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Speaker 1: was I would imagine, relatively directed in nature, but also

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Speaker 1: listening to what the Taliban had to say. So it's

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Speaker 1: good that they're having that dialogue and they can work

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Speaker 1: out some of the details the one used to take place.

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Speaker 1: Should we be past the thirty one or should the

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Speaker 1: Taliban try to preclude the movement of Americans. Well, general,

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out what's worse, what what the

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Speaker 1: what the greater risk would be staying or leaving. The

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Speaker 1: President says it is a tenuous situation around the airport

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Speaker 1: and quote, we run a serious risk of it breaking

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Speaker 1: down as time goes by, unquote, as opposed to staying

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Speaker 1: there longer and part actually getting into another hot war

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Speaker 1: with the Taliban, which do you pick general, there's always

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Speaker 1: the opportunity for um an escalating event that would take place,

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Speaker 1: you know, pre encreased patrols and we were out in

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Speaker 1: the out of the populous area, so there's always the

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Speaker 1: possibility something like that could escalate. And I don't think

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Speaker 1: either side, neither the US nor the Taban wants to

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Speaker 1: see that happened. So to the degree that they can

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Speaker 1: come up with some system by which you know, they

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Speaker 1: can get Americans identified. And remember the airport, uh that

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Speaker 1: looks like it may becoming a little more problematic with

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Speaker 1: some of the arbitration. The Taliban is saying that they

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Speaker 1: don't want the Afghans to leave, but can you saw

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Speaker 1: some of the discussion today that whether there's engineers or

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Speaker 1: other human capital, right the intellectual capital of Afghanistan, they

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Speaker 1: don't want to see lead. But part of the challenge

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Speaker 1: with the the U. S citizens is not everybody has

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Speaker 1: to register, you know, we like them to register when

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Speaker 1: they come in and in the country in the induscy

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Speaker 1: and so some of those that are going to be

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Speaker 1: in some very outline areas may not have the means

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Speaker 1: to communicate. So I imagine that even though the bulk

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Speaker 1: of the numbers that they may be aware of. I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure exactly health the State Department is tracking that

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Speaker 1: there's still gonna be small numbers. I would imagine trickling

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Speaker 1: in even if we hit what we know by thirty one. Artists,

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Speaker 1: we're talking on Bloomberg Sound on with retired Army Lieutenant

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Speaker 1: General Robert Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

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Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, We just heard from President

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Speaker 1: Biden on the situation in Afghanistan, as he speaks here

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Speaker 1: in this case to the mission to evacuate the thousands

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Speaker 1: who are waiting to leave Kabbaled Airport. We are currently

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Speaker 1: on the pace to finish by August thirty one. The

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Speaker 1: sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations

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Speaker 1: brings at risk to our troops, but the completion by

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Speaker 1: August thirty one depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate

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Speaker 1: access to the airport for those who are transport transporting now,

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Speaker 1: and no disruptions to our operations. General, we have largely

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Speaker 1: focused on those people, in many cases civilians who are

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Speaker 1: trying to get out. But I wonder what your thoughts

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Speaker 1: are right now about the five to six thousand American

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Speaker 1: troops who are there not only with the possibility of

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Speaker 1: a terror attack or something awful happening, but the miserable

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Speaker 1: conditions that they're serving in right now, the skirmishes that

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Speaker 1: are breaking out that a lot of us may never

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Speaker 1: hear about. You know, that's what they signed up for. UM.

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Speaker 1: You know you got the eighty second, You've got marines

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Speaker 1: on station and others. A matter of fact, where I'm

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Speaker 1: sitting right now, I'm ninety minutes from Corps Brag. That

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Speaker 1: was my first duty assignment, and I can tell you

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Speaker 1: that I've gone through in many of those square troopers

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Speaker 1: or forwards conditions and what are taking place there poor

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Speaker 1: right now. So they're fine, and really that is what

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Speaker 1: they signed up for, UM, and they're extreme admission and

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Speaker 1: you're doing with great professionals. What does that mean for

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Speaker 1: the week ahead for these troops? Do you want to

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Speaker 1: see them out in a week or as you said,

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Speaker 1: this is what they sign up for the day as

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Speaker 1: long as they need to. I mean, I think they

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Speaker 1: need to know. Clearly that's a policy decision, so that

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Speaker 1: will be for that was the National Command authority, UM.

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Speaker 1: But clearly I would imagine every church trooper that is

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Speaker 1: in Cobber right now. I would want to see the

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Speaker 1: mission come to fruition where we get all the Americans

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Speaker 1: that need to be evacuated out. We're talking with retired

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Speaker 1: Lieutenant General Robert Ashley about the situation on the ground

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Speaker 1: in Afghanistan. If we can get back to the President's

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Speaker 1: a swing on infrastructure and then got into the situation

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Speaker 1: involving Afghanistan and in this case, the timeline. I've asked

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Speaker 1: the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to

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Speaker 1: adjust the timetable should that become necessary. I'm determined to

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Speaker 1: ensure that we complete our mission. This mission General. That's

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Speaker 1: been the story today, the timeline, and we've been talking

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Speaker 1: about it here in this case. Is that going to

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Speaker 1: be up to Joe Biden, as we keep hearing from

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Speaker 1: the White House, or will that be up to the Taliban?

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Speaker 1: Then well, I think that timeline for what happens with U.

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Speaker 1: S Forces is you know, the President's decision. Um, we

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Speaker 1: have clearly have the military capability to sustain an effort

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Speaker 1: on the ground, UH and to ramp that up again

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Speaker 1: in or that where the InCom commander's recommendations are contingency

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Speaker 1: plans he's working. I think that is up to the

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Speaker 1: President when he decides that it's time for us to leave.

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Speaker 1: In terms of the time to leave, do you have

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Speaker 1: a sense general of how long it takes to get

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Speaker 1: the troops out. We know that it will take at

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Speaker 1: least the next week to get civilians out, But if

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Speaker 1: you're in charge of this operation on the ground five

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Speaker 1: to six thousand people, they need to start packing up

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Speaker 1: pretty soon too. Yeah, I'm not sure the timeline to

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Speaker 1: get them all out. I'm sure Sitcom's looking at that,

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Speaker 1: and they're working at air flows. You can see the

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Speaker 1: capacity that has been added over the course of the

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Speaker 1: last couple of days. I think the numbers that we

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Speaker 1: twenty one thousand over the last twenty four hours, So

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Speaker 1: the capacity has significantly increased. And when it comes time

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Speaker 1: for for those soldiers to collapse or prepare to leave, um,

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Speaker 1: I just think that probably do one of the easier

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Speaker 1: tasks because they have to accomplish. There was a lot

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Speaker 1: of talk, if if we can speak broadly for a

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Speaker 1: moment about this over the horizon approach that we are

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Speaker 1: taking now that the US is taking towards fighting terrorism.

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Speaker 1: The idea is we don't need to be on the

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Speaker 1: ground in countries like Afghanistan and that we can respond

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Speaker 1: to them as needed. Is that a realistic view in

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Speaker 1: your opinion? General? And how exactly would we do that?

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Speaker 1: Would we have new staging areas throughout the Middle East?

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Speaker 1: Or do we already have the platform we need for that?

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Speaker 1: And I think when you look at over the horizon,

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Speaker 1: I think that's a kind of a surge capability to

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Speaker 1: deal with a significant issue, But it's gotta it's got

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Speaker 1: to a layered approach. So when you think about collecting

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Speaker 1: intelligence and what we've been able to do over the

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Speaker 1: last twenty years, we've had networks on the ground, We've

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Speaker 1: had soldier, sailors, airmand marines, um civilians on the ground.

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Speaker 1: So if I were looking at kind of the intelligence

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Speaker 1: problem that's coming you know that we're facing right now,

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Speaker 1: it's how do I rebuild those networks? How do I

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Speaker 1: rebuild the networks on the ground, How do I build

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Speaker 1: my situational awareness? And that's not just you know, a

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Speaker 1: US problem, that is a coalition and ally problem and

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Speaker 1: so that's really kind of where my facus would be

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Speaker 1: is not only you're going to have an ability and

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Speaker 1: it will take some time to come from over the horizon,

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Speaker 1: but you needed indications and warning capability that something is

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Speaker 1: about to happen. And so part of that is building

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Speaker 1: that indigenous network back on the ground, which I imagine

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Speaker 1: I've been removed from it for some time, but is

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Speaker 1: is relatively fractured at this point. How worried should we

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Speaker 1: be about this group? Isis K That has been mentioned

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Speaker 1: a few times, so isis K is hardcore? Isis UM?

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Speaker 1: They don't really you know, my understanding right now is

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Speaker 1: there's not really a capability to launch an external attack.

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Speaker 1: The challenge with this, as with al Qaeda, is if

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Speaker 1: the pressure is no longer put upon these organizations, then

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Speaker 1: they have the opportunity over time to build back their networks,

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Speaker 1: and so that would be my biggest concern. So when

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Speaker 1: I think about that indications, warning, that ground source network,

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Speaker 1: that's really what I want to be able to watch

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Speaker 1: is iis k's intentions, their capabilities, and how they're trying

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Speaker 1: to rebuild that network. Do you have opinions on the

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Speaker 1: Taliban's intentions and capabilities. Nobody seems to know what to

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Speaker 1: make of this group of people claiming to be some

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Speaker 1: sort of new Taliban, but they're running around Afghanistan with

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Speaker 1: trucks and armored vehicles and weapons that we left behind.

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Speaker 1: I think one of the challenges is, you know, we

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Speaker 1: we've thought about what it meant to try to have

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Speaker 1: a centralized Afghan government when in fact an acting governments,

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Speaker 1: even under the Taliban, has not had that full um reach.

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Speaker 1: So you're gonna have the challenge of the half the

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Speaker 1: Taliban to be able to reach out to all the

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Speaker 1: distant areas nursed on Hellman, Canada, Heart, to be able

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Speaker 1: to put whatever policies that they want to put in place.

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Speaker 1: So I think that in itself is going to be

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Speaker 1: a challenge. But you know, the fabric of Afghanistan, with

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Speaker 1: the numbers anywhere from fifteen to twenty different disparate kinds

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Speaker 1: of terish organizations, clear are the ones that were most

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Speaker 1: concerned about Al Qaeda and ices K, and in this

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Speaker 1: case K being the cores On Province in eatern Oft

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Speaker 1: fascinating conversation with retired Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, former director

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Speaker 1: of the Defense Intelligence Agency. We thank you General for

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Speaker 1: bringing some insights here today on Bloomberg Radio as we

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Speaker 1: digest what we heard live from President Biden. This has

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Speaker 1: turned into a special edition of Bloomberg Sound On. I'm

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Speaker 1: Joe Matthew in Washington. Glad you're with us on bloom

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Speaker 1: Burg Sound On for Tuesday. I was almost gonna say

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Speaker 1: Wednesday because we packed in that much so far. I'm

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Speaker 1: Joe Matthew and Washington. We want to bring in the

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Speaker 1: panel to talk about the events that we've heard and

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Speaker 1: seen in Afghanistan and also talk more about what happened

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Speaker 1: today on Capitol Hill. Both would be lead stories on

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Speaker 1: any other day of the week. And we're joined by

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie she and Zano and Rick Davis.

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Speaker 1: We heard this hour live from the President. We heard

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Speaker 1: from the General as well, and from Craig Gordon helping

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Speaker 1: us understand all of this. Rick, I'd like to start

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Speaker 1: with you on Afghanistan. As President Biden was reportedly holding

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Speaker 1: to the August thirty first deadline, that was the big

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Speaker 1: question mark all day today as he met with the

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Speaker 1: G seven virtually but then told the American people that

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Speaker 1: he's asked for contingency plans to adjust that timetable. Does

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Speaker 1: it sound like we're getting out in a week. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think there are two things. There's an external message

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Speaker 1: that he sent that you described, which is we're sticking

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Speaker 1: to August thirty one, and and he was able to

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Speaker 1: get the G seven to to correspond to that. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's no seemingly outlier in that, so getting unity there

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Speaker 1: was no easy task. But look, it's easy then to

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Speaker 1: say and internally, uh, we're gonna have contingency plans in

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Speaker 1: case something goes wrong. I thought the artful state craft

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Speaker 1: that he used today was to actually lay that deadline

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Speaker 1: onto the Taliban, right, and if the Taliban just lets

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Speaker 1: us do our job. We're eminently very professional at what

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Speaker 1: we do, and we've ramped up our capacity to move

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Speaker 1: people out of that country. Uh, if they get in

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Speaker 1: our way, well that's the only reason why we would

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Speaker 1: stay past August thirty one. And I thought that was

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Speaker 1: actually a good device to use to rally global support

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Speaker 1: around trying to get everybody out of there by the

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Speaker 1: August thirty one, Whether the Taliban cooperate with him, whether

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Speaker 1: the Taliban allow uh Afghan nationals to leave the country.

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Speaker 1: I mean there are a lot of ifs, and to

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Speaker 1: some degree, UH President Joe Biden is placing his presidency

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Speaker 1: between how in August thirty one in the hands of

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Speaker 1: the Taliban, and that's a risky position, geniue completion depends

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Speaker 1: on the cooperation of the Taliban. As Rick is pointing

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Speaker 1: out the line from the President that got a lot

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Speaker 1: of people's attention today, what was he trying to do there?

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Speaker 1: Is that? Is that an excuse in case things don't

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Speaker 1: work out by the thirty one? Yes, I mean, and

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Speaker 1: I think he is smart to say that he still

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Speaker 1: intends to stick to his deadline. Um, but if he

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Speaker 1: needs to stay, if we need to stay, he we

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Speaker 1: will complete the task and and and we should and um,

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Speaker 1: you know, if that happens, the fault lies with the Taliban. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know. I think that was important for him to say.

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Speaker 1: I think it was important that he talked to the allies.

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Speaker 1: I also think it's critical what he's saying about the

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Speaker 1: amount of risk that is there. And you just were

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Speaker 1: talking about is s K And while all of this

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Speaker 1: was going on today, of course, the Taliban blocked the

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Speaker 1: road to the airport for for for afghanis saying that

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Speaker 1: foreigners can still leave, but people from Afghanistan cannot, and

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Speaker 1: they are not being guaranteed safe passage, and that is

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Speaker 1: really really foreboding news for Afghan allies who worked with us,

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Speaker 1: and their fate is critical that that we address it,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to hear more from the President on that,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't feel like we heard enough on that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a scary idea here, Rick, especially if it involves

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Speaker 1: Americans going back into Afghanistan to try to evacuate people.

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Speaker 1: We've heard that repeatedly from the Pentagon, from John Kirby

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Speaker 1: as recently as today, that we're prepared and Jake Sullivan

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Speaker 1: yesterday to continue evacuating people after the military leaves. What

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Speaker 1: does that look like. Well, I'm sure the contingency plans

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Speaker 1: at the Defense Department will put together will outline different

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Speaker 1: ways to do it. We know that they're flying helicopters

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Speaker 1: outside of the UH airport area to gather up Americans

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Speaker 1: and other UH special visa holders to get them out

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Speaker 1: of the country directly through helicopters. So I imagine there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of trade craft that will be employed to

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Speaker 1: try and find people who might not be able to

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Speaker 1: get to U Kabul to get out through the normal

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Speaker 1: evacuation process. So I think we can rely on the

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Speaker 1: professionalism of our intelligence community, the State Department, and the

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Speaker 1: military to do the best they can and and whether

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Speaker 1: or not that continues on post August thirty one from

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Speaker 1: areas outside of the Kabbal Airport, we may or may

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Speaker 1: never know, but my guess is that will all be

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Speaker 1: a part of the package of contingency plans at the

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Speaker 1: military will give to the President. President mentioned those settling

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Speaker 1: in the US will have undergone a background check, which

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Speaker 1: I thought was significant. Genie, having seen the statement from

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump today accusing of Joe Biden of allowing in

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Speaker 1: potential terrorists with no vetting. Uh, is that going to

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Speaker 1: become the next controversy when we start hearing from local

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Speaker 1: communities where refugees are settling. This is the message we've

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Speaker 1: been hearing for the last week, particularly from the right

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Speaker 1: and and the Trumpian wing of the Republican Party, and

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Speaker 1: it's an absolutely shameful message. We do need to have

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Speaker 1: assurance that people are are vetted a properly. The government

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Speaker 1: is engaged in that. But I think there is a

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Speaker 1: promising sign the number of Americans who have tried to

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Speaker 1: figure out how they can help people who are coming

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Speaker 1: to this country from Afghanistan, whether through donations, through goods,

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Speaker 1: through services in other ways. We've heard about that from

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Speaker 1: around the country, and right we should. But the argument

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Speaker 1: that we are, you know, that this isn't the process

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Speaker 1: is not secure, and we are letting in, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: terrorists is something similar to what we heard Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: say during his twenties sixteen walked down the elevator and

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Speaker 1: Trump Tower to announce his president presidential run as he

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Speaker 1: spoke about people from the southern border. And it's a

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00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,920
Speaker 1: shameful argument to be making at this point New Jersey

435
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 1: and Texas wreck the basis at least that have so

436
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 1: far been identified. John Kirby says there could be others.

437
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 1: That likely will be others added as as we find

438
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 1: new homes for people who were, in many cases are

439
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: allies in a time of war. Should should we have

440
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 1: veterans out talking about the contributions they made? Yeah, I

441
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: think that. Unfortunately, leave it to Donald Trump to try

442
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 1: and politicize a humanitarian rescue operation like this with our allies.

443
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: But um, I'd kind of forgotten about those days. Uh,

444
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 1: But look, I mean, there are dozens of governors who

445
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 1: have already announced that they are welcoming refugees from Afghanistan.

446
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 1: I think you'll see an outpouring of popular support. Uh.

447
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,199
Speaker 1: These are people who uh families, gave their lives to

448
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: promote the kind of world that we all want to

449
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 1: live in, and and we owe them our our gratitude,

450
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 1: in our our loyalty. You're listening to Bloomberg You sound

451
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 1: on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The headline on

452
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: the terminal House adopts three and a half trillion dollar

453
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: budget blueprint backed by Biden. So who blinked? I don't

454
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 1: think it was Nancy Pelosi after a group of ten

455
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 1: moderate Democrats we talked about tried to block passage until

456
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 1: there was a vote on the bi part as an

457
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,360
Speaker 1: infrastructure plan will They're heading home tonight with a promise

458
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: that the hard infrastructure bill will get a vote by

459
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,120
Speaker 1: the end of next month. That's when the current transportation

460
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: funding runs out. And we spend the rest of this

461
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 1: hour with the classic panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Genie she

462
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: and Zano and Rick Davis, where this Genie, maybe no

463
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,359
Speaker 1: one blinked? Then did everyone get what they wanted. Uh,

464
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:27,639
Speaker 1: you know, I think that it was like a really

465
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 1: small change in language that seemed to pull those moderates

466
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: over to Nancy Pelosi side. And I have to say,

467
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 1: this is an enormous victory, as the President said in

468
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: his remarks, for Nancy Pelosi, for the leadership on the

469
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: Democratic side in the House to pull this through. Granted

470
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 1: it's not the bill yet, but it is a you know,

471
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,360
Speaker 1: as you just mentioned, it's a blueprint for an enormous

472
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: historic change potentially in the way our country does its business.

473
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,440
Speaker 1: And Nancy Pelosi is almost single handedly with her team

474
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,199
Speaker 1: responsible for that. But it is this small change in

475
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: language saying that they shall consider the bipartisan bill on

476
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: or before September that got the moderates on board. There's

477
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: still a long way to go, as we always say,

478
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 1: it's going to be another month and a half or

479
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 1: so of infrastructure, if not more, but it does look

480
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 1: like it's it's a major victory at this point for

481
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: the Democrats in the House. Rick, we were talking around

482
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: this time yesterday about the family meeting, if we can

483
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: call it that, the Caucus meeting, the closed door meeting

484
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: in which leadership was going to face off with these

485
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 1: moderates and get something done. Apparently things got pretty dramatic.

486
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: Tempers flared, f bombs were thrown around Progressives angry at moderates.

487
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: But this all came out in the wash today. Everybody

488
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: had a chance to sleep on it. Did the moderates blink? Well,

489
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,399
Speaker 1: I think everybody basically gave something to the greater cause

490
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:51,920
Speaker 1: of the future of the Democratic Party in the mid terms.

491
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 1: And so I think that at the end of all

492
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: the squealing last night, and I'll try to keep it

493
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:02,120
Speaker 1: as a family oriented audience. Um, is that Nancy Pelosi

494
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 1: came up with a way of doing nothing and getting everything,

495
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: you know, by holding a roll call vote today. She

496
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 1: actually never took a direct vote on the on the

497
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 1: budget resolution, but deemed it passed by virtue of other

498
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: things they were doing that morning. So I would say

499
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 1: this is what drives civics professors in every high school

500
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 1: in America crazy because they can't actually describe what happened

501
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 1: today in any way other than there's blue smoke and

502
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,240
Speaker 1: mirrors in Washington, d C. This morning, and when it clears,

503
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: we're gonna find out what actually happened. But you're right,

504
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 1: I mean, they did cut a deal with the moderates,

505
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 1: they did blink. Uh, they're going to get their vote,

506
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: you know before but we've always already seen cracks in

507
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: the armor AOC and some of her folks said, well,

508
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: that we're only going to agree to that if we've

509
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: actually made progress in the Senate on our budget resolution

510
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,439
Speaker 1: and reconciliation. So uh, I think there's a lot of

511
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: pressure in the system to do something and get overlad

512
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 1: Night's bit session. But the reality is they got a

513
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 1: long way to go before the end of this next month.

514
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:11,199
Speaker 1: And that doesn't even count for the looming crisis with

515
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: the continuing resolution to fund the government and the debt

516
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,439
Speaker 1: ceiling and all these things combined. There's not gonna be

517
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: a good night's sleep for Nancy Pelosi for sometime. It

518
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 1: sure doesn't sound like it. And and the irony genie

519
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,400
Speaker 1: was not lost on me to hear that Nancy Pelosi

520
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,639
Speaker 1: was proposing something called a self executing rule on the

521
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,680
Speaker 1: same evening that Stenny Hoyer was referring to mutually assured destruction.

522
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 1: But we have we've come back from the precipice, I

523
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: guess here. Uh. Then again, as as Rick is pointing,

524
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: out and you already suggested, Genie, the hard part begins.

525
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: Now what is going to go into three and a

526
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: half trillion dollars? The House's ideas on that are going

527
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 1: to be different as well than the sentence that's right,

528
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 1: and we are momentarily off the precipice. We could get

529
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 1: right back there, you know, just moments a way. Um,

530
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: you know that's the big question. You know, what is

531
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 1: going to be in this Some of it is obvious,

532
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 1: some of it is not so obvious. And of course

533
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: the big question, how do you pay for it? And

534
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: then do we see this continuing fight? That fight that

535
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 1: Rick was just alluding to. We've heard comments from il

536
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 1: Han Omar and other progressives, we heard comments from moderates.

537
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 1: We've got the Senate Democrats, Christen Cinema saying she won't

538
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: support three point five. I mean, just imagine what happens

539
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: if this bill gets whittled down to you know, half

540
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 1: of its current size. Do the progressives in the House

541
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 1: then walk away and kill both of these bills? You know,

542
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: there is a lot here. Nancy Pelosi is the person

543
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: to push this through if anybody can. But there's a

544
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: lot here. But another big thing looming over this, of course,

545
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: is two that you know, the Democrats have a very

546
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: very big chance of losing the House. And I think

547
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,520
Speaker 1: a big question is if they push this through something

548
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: this big, do they lose those purple districts that they

549
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: need to win that those moderates are fighting for. I

550
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: think that's still a big challenge for Democrats. Well, if

551
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: we can get a little more specific about what might

552
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: go in this and white what might not. And we've

553
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,560
Speaker 1: got to keep not just this debate in the House

554
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: in mind the balance of progressive and moderate priorities, but

555
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: also what the Senate parliamentarian will end up allowing in

556
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: a reconciliation bill. We've talked We've talked about expanding childcare,

557
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,719
Speaker 1: We've or money for childcare in many cases from scratch,

558
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: expanding Medicare benefits to include uh ear nose throat. We

559
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: have talked about, even immigration reform. We've talked about pre kindergarten,

560
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: universal pre k and free community college. How about we

561
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 1: just stopped there for a moment, Rick, how many of

562
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 1: those actually end up in the bill? Well, I think

563
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: it's going to depend upon the money game. And I

564
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 1: think uh Jinnie was right and that they got to

565
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 1: figure out how much of this are they going to

566
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,120
Speaker 1: be able to pay for, and it's going to go

567
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: through the wash in the Senate. But things like making

568
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: the child tax c it permanent is hugely expensive, and

569
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: so Democrats are gonna have to make choices and and

570
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: and frankly, when you cost all these things out that

571
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: they're talking about, you're probably blowing past the three point

572
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: five trillion, And that doesn't even account for the infrastructure

573
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: bill at another almost you know trillion too. And and

574
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: so at some point the effort to be able to

575
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 1: raise revenue for these things, taxes on corporations, taxes on

576
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: wealthy individuals aren't going to be able to deliver the

577
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: revenue that the Democrats need to even do this through

578
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: a reconciliation model. So so there are going to be

579
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: choices made. And I think that they're going to find

580
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 1: out real quick, even though they think these are really popular,

581
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 1: when they can't get them done because of the costs

582
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 1: are so extreme and they can't find the revenue form,

583
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: how many voters are going to be disappointed that they

584
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: couldn't deliver what they are now promising. It's easy to

585
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: promise all these things today until you actually have to

586
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: pay for them, and then all of a sudden things

587
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: get on the cutting room floor. How about that laundry

588
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: list I rolled out, Genie, Which of these are good politics?

589
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: Which of these you could see ending up in the

590
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: bill having Democrats actually embrace from I won't say both

591
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 1: sides of the aisle, but well, both sides of the

592
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: democratic spectrum. You know. I think things like universal pre K,

593
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:25,800
Speaker 1: free community college as example, the green aspects of this thing,

594
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: expansion of medicare those things are popular. I think other

595
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 1: things may get stripped, and you mentioned one of the

596
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: big ones like immigration, that may be stripped by the

597
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: parliamentary and it may not even be stripped by you know,

598
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: the more moderate wing. But you know, you look at

599
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 1: what the blueprint that the Senate is working within these

600
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:50,040
Speaker 1: committees and the amount of money at their disposal. It's

601
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: as such a strange way when you try to explain

602
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: it to students to make a budget, that here's money,

603
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 1: and now you figure out how to spend it. Whereas

604
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: most of us say, oh, I need to do something,

605
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: how much money does it cost? Do I have the money?

606
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 1: It's completely backwards in Congress, and that's what frustrates a

607
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,239
Speaker 1: lot of people. And I would also watch out for

608
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 1: these deals. I mean, this is such a big amount

609
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: of money, We're gonna see deals made to keep people

610
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: on board. The press are going to be all over that,

611
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 1: and that can be a black mark for the Democratic

612
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: Party as well. They've got to be very careful about

613
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 1: how that rolls out. We've already seen that the Salt example,

614
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 1: and there's many more where that comes from. Insights from

615
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: Genie and Rick on a special edition of Bloomberg Sound On.

616
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,120
Speaker 1: We only have a couple of minutes left. Let's get

617
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: back to where we started here. For for both of you,

618
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 1: with regard to Afghanistan, Rick, what are you going to

619
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: be watching in the next forty eight hours as we

620
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 1: get closer to this deadline in Afghanistan? Is it the

621
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 1: threat of violence or is it something I'm not thinking of?

622
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: You know, I think that the threat of violence is

623
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: is always relevant there. But I'd watched the Taliban. I mean,

624
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: they have an opportunity to try to redefine their image.

625
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 1: They obviously a good pr person to say, hey, we

626
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: can't be like the barbarians that we were last time

627
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,720
Speaker 1: around when we ruled this country and yet they have

628
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 1: a big test ahead of them. We've been talking about

629
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, but Boy, pressures on the Taliban. Uh, if

630
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: they look like they're adding to the chaos or mistreating people,

631
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a blemish that they may never get over. Genie,

632
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 1: there's Uh, there's a moment that I want to share

633
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,120
Speaker 1: with our listeners before we go. But what are you

634
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: watching in Afghanistan the next day or two? Among other things,

635
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,920
Speaker 1: I'm watching how China continues to try to exploit are

636
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: pulling out and our our treatment of our Afghan allies.

637
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: They've already been saying this as it pertains to Taiwan.

638
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: I think we're going to hear more of this, and

639
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: this can be incredibly dangerous for the United States going forward. Boy,

640
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: we've got a lot to talk about here. How about

641
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, listening to his briefings, watching

642
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,480
Speaker 1: him every day since this began, former State House, State House,

643
00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: State Department spokesman and former Pentagon spokesman in a different administration,

644
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 1: He's been the one interfacing with reporters on this for

645
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 1: the most part, and he brought a story to the

646
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,399
Speaker 1: podium today that I thought everybody should hear. We talked

647
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 1: about a lot, a lot of the awful things that

648
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 1: have been happening around the airport and with regard to

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00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 1: the evacuations. Have you heard though, that three new lives

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00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: have started. Three babies born. Here's John Kirby today at

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00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 1: the Pentagon. Just to clarify. One was born on the

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00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: C seventeen as the one I think you guys know about.

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Speaker 1: The other two were born shortly after arrival at Ramstein

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Speaker 1: in the launchtul hospital there on base. So two were

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00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: born at the in the hospital shortly after arrival. I

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00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,839
Speaker 1: am told that moms and dads and babies are all

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00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: fine and healthy and always looking good there. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the world in heady times. We'll meet you back here tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg sound on. I'm Joe Matthew