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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. I'm Joe, Matthew and Washington Or
Speaker 1: of course, there are many questions about our support for
Speaker 1: Israel without a Speaker of the House, and we're going
Speaker 1: to get to the speaker's battle, but let's start with
Speaker 1: what we know here on day seven, as I look
Speaker 1: to the terminal, the Israel Latest column is being constantly
Speaker 1: updated and they're doing a really great job on this.
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln touches down in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about his visit here in just
Speaker 1: a moment with Nick Watdams. He's already expanded the trip
Speaker 1: though with the headline Blink and expanding the trip to
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He spoke a short time ago
Speaker 1: upon his arrival in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 3: I'm here quite simply with one message, and that is
Speaker 3: the United States stands with Israel today, tomorrow, every day.
Speaker 3: I think it's almost impossible for any of us to
Speaker 3: comprehend on a human level what Israel's experienced at the
Speaker 3: hands of Amas.
Speaker 1: He was speaking there extemporaneously after meeting with a group
Speaker 1: of survivors of the Hamas attacks last weekend. He later
Speaker 1: held a formal news conference in fact that it may
Speaker 1: still be underway, in which he was asked about the
Speaker 1: strike carrier group, the gerald Ford that's heading in that direction,
Speaker 1: and other potential US military involvement.
Speaker 3: Here's what he said, Well, of course, as you know,
Speaker 3: providing assistance as requested by Israel for its efforts. That
Speaker 3: will continue, and we're working closely with Congress to make
Speaker 3: sure that Israel has what it needs to do what
Speaker 3: it must with regard to the Second Front. As I
Speaker 3: mentioned earlier, it's our determination and that of Israel as well,
Speaker 3: that there not be a second front or a third front.
Speaker 1: If you're watching us on YouTube, where you can find
Speaker 1: us by searching Bloomberg Global News, you're seeing video as
Speaker 1: well of Blinken, who held a joint news conference with
Speaker 1: Benjaminettnye who earlier. Let's bring in Nick Wadams, Bloomberg National
Speaker 1: Security team leader. He's our expert on this story and
Speaker 1: turning a lot of content here out of the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: bureau in Washington. It's good to see you, Nick. Thank
Speaker 1: you for joining the significance of this visit. Maybe you
Speaker 1: can speak to Anthony Blinkn acting almost presidential as he
Speaker 1: touches down, speaking from the heart, having an emotional meeting
Speaker 1: with the survivors, and now this news conference. He seems
Speaker 1: to be the tip of the spear here for the US.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, this is one of the roles
Speaker 4: that the top US diplomat often plays before there's even
Speaker 4: any real agenda for him. It's like, get on the plane,
Speaker 4: go over there, show that the US has your back,
Speaker 4: and that's certainly what he wanted to do here. The
Speaker 4: big question I have is you know, when does this
Speaker 4: ground war start, and what happens if Secretary Blincoln's in
Speaker 4: the region, and then what happens to the extent of
Speaker 4: US involvement. So you heard him there saying, you know,
Speaker 4: the US has Israel's back right tomorrow, today and every day.
Speaker 4: You know, this thing is going to go in a
Speaker 4: lot of very unpredictable ways in the US is going
Speaker 4: to have some tough decisions to make as that happens.
Speaker 1: For sure, what do you make of the addition of
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia and Egypt? Your point, if he's in one
Speaker 1: of those countries and the ground invasion of Gaza begins,
Speaker 1: that's going to change the backdrop of this conversation real fast,
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 4: So he's going to four more countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Speaker 4: United Arab Emirates, and Cutter, And obviously all four of
Speaker 4: those countries have different levels of influence on Hamas and
Speaker 4: Iran Cutter for example. So what he's really trying to
Speaker 4: show there is that the US wants to prevent this
Speaker 4: from becoming a wider war. So as bad as it is,
Speaker 4: you know, if you have further evidence of Iranian involvement
Speaker 4: in the Hamas attacks, what's Israel going to do to Iran?
Speaker 4: You know, and so it could get a whole lot
Speaker 4: worse and a whole lot bigger. Obviously Egypt has some
Speaker 4: influence on Hamas on Hezballah. We don't know what's going
Speaker 4: to happen there. So this is a move where he's
Speaker 4: trying to push these US priorities. Okay, we have Israel's back,
Speaker 4: We don't want this to spread wider war. We also
Speaker 4: have this desire to keep this normalization program on track
Speaker 4: Israel in Saudi Arabia. So while they're telling Israel, you know,
Speaker 4: you guys, go do what you need to do, at
Speaker 4: the same time they're saying, hey, please don't forget about
Speaker 4: this peace initiative that we have that we want to
Speaker 4: keep on trap.
Speaker 1: So he's spent in a lot of plates on this trip. Clear,
Speaker 1: it really is. He was asked about, speaking of the Iranians,
Speaker 1: the six billion dollars that was part of the recent
Speaker 1: prisoner swap with Iran. Nick, all of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: last two days we talked to Republican lawmakers and this
Speaker 1: is all we're hearing about, right is, you know, refreeze
Speaker 1: the money. And I'm not sure exactly what that would
Speaker 1: even look like, as this money has not done more
Speaker 1: than move to an account that's being run by the Kataris.
Speaker 1: Listen to what Anthony Blinkoln had to say about this
Speaker 1: in the news conference.
Speaker 5: None of the funds that have now gone to Cutter
Speaker 5: have actually been spent or accessed in any way by Iran. Indeed,
Speaker 5: funds from that account are overseen by the Treasury Department
Speaker 5: can only be dispensed for you Mediterranean goods, food, medicine,
Speaker 5: medical equipment, and never touch Iranian hands. We have strict
Speaker 5: overside of the funds, and we retain the right to
Speaker 5: freeze them.
Speaker 1: What's going to happen to this money? We retained the
Speaker 1: right to freeze them. This was part of a deal
Speaker 1: that was made. Would that agitate the Iranians further?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean this one is very complicated and has the
Speaker 4: possibility of going pair shaped really quickly, because you know,
Speaker 4: the US made this deal with Iran, So if they
Speaker 4: then go back on that, then what's going to be
Speaker 4: the status of you know, potential future talks over prisoner swaps.
Speaker 4: I mean, the Iran issue has become so politicized in
Speaker 4: the US it's sort of hard to see it straight,
Speaker 4: but safe to say that the one issue that is
Speaker 4: the case is that the US has been pushing this
Speaker 4: this policy of de escalation with Iran, of trying to
Speaker 4: use small steps to lead to other agreements to neutralize
Speaker 4: their nuclear program. Obviously, if Iran is involved in some
Speaker 4: way in the attack or in support of Hamas, it
Speaker 4: would cast a lot of doubt over that policy of
Speaker 4: de escalation. But I think it is safe to assume
Speaker 4: right now that whether or not there is a formal
Speaker 4: policy of freezing those funds, the US, the Treasury Department cutter,
Speaker 4: they are not going to allow that money to move
Speaker 4: really quickly, even if it's for humanitarian goods in Iran.
Speaker 4: I mean, so you know, there is some reporting out
Speaker 4: there that there has been a formal freeze of those funds.
Speaker 4: Secretary Blincoln did not go that far. There may be
Speaker 4: a legal issue there whether they can actually do that,
Speaker 4: but safe to assume that money's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaker 1: Nick, thanks for coming over. We'd like to stay in
Speaker 1: touch with you to the extent that the cour available.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. As always, he runs our national security
Speaker 1: coverage here in the Bloomberg Washington Bureau Nick Wattams and
Speaker 1: his expertise with us today to get things rolling. On
Speaker 1: Bloomberg's sound on, We're going to bring in General Mark
Speaker 1: Kimmett here next, as we also hear from the Secretary
Speaker 1: of Defense, Lloyd Austin, held a news conference a bit
Speaker 1: earlier today and spoke directly to this potential tie this
Speaker 1: involvement in this attack with Iran. Here's the Secretary.
Speaker 7: We've not seen any indication that Iran was involved in
Speaker 7: the planning or the execution of this attack. We've not
Speaker 7: seen any of those indications yet, and this is something
Speaker 7: that we remain focused on. And of course, you know,
Speaker 7: what we know at this point is that there are
Speaker 7: no indications that was the case. But again we will
Speaker 7: remain focused on this.
Speaker 1: No indications yet, and there are demands, of course for
Speaker 1: them to show some evidence here. The other question that
Speaker 1: the Secretary knocked down was whether the US had some
Speaker 1: early warning. We spoke yesterday at this time with the
Speaker 1: Congressman Michael McCall, who discussed the fact that Egypt had
Speaker 1: given Israel three days notice on intelligence that it had.
Speaker 1: The Secretary said, don't look here.
Speaker 7: In terms of early warning, are our indications and warning
Speaker 7: that we may have had to that this was going
Speaker 7: to occur. Of course, will if we if we had
Speaker 7: those indications, we would share them with Israel, But to
Speaker 7: my knowledge, we did not see that.
Speaker 1: All right, that was Lloyd Austin for those of you
Speaker 1: watching us on YouTube. As we turn to the general. Now,
Speaker 1: Mark Kimmitt is with us, retired Brigadier general, of course,
Speaker 1: former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. It's
Speaker 1: great to see us here, Welcome back to the table.
Speaker 1: As always, we appear to be here on the threshold
Speaker 1: of a ground invasion, and we were talking about it
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg a couple of days ago. These forces are
Speaker 1: still amassing. What do you make of the walk up
Speaker 1: to this apparently inevitable step.
Speaker 8: Well, I think these railers are doing exactly what you
Speaker 8: would expect a force to be doing pre attack. No doubt.
Speaker 8: They have their intelligence assets out, no doubt their training,
Speaker 8: They're going over their plans, they're bringing their logistics up,
Speaker 8: all the normal things you would expect before you cross
Speaker 8: what we call the line of departure, the line of contact.
Speaker 8: It's very interesting to note that Gaza is so small
Speaker 8: that there is not a place once you cross that
Speaker 8: border where you cannot be shot from. So they need
Speaker 8: to be completely ready the moment they cross that border.
Speaker 1: Wow. I have a lot of questions about the form
Speaker 1: that this may take. But to what extent do you
Speaker 1: think Israel is allowing time for hostages to be recovered?
Speaker 8: Oh, I have no doubt that there is some subterranean
Speaker 8: conversation going on between Hamas and Israel. I don't expect
Speaker 8: much to come from that. Hamas certainly understands that the
Speaker 8: only thing they have right now that can temper the
Speaker 8: Israeli attack or those hostages. Once they release those hostages,
Speaker 8: I would expect Israel to go in in a way
Speaker 8: they have not gone into Goza before.
Speaker 1: We're talking about taking buildings down here.
Speaker 8: I think they'll stay completely within the laws of war
Speaker 8: humanitarian law, but I don't think they will hold back
Speaker 8: on either their tactics and techniques.
Speaker 1: So how do you do this when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: an entrenched enemy that has tunnels to your point, a
Speaker 1: extremely dense urban environment where they know the landscape better
Speaker 1: than anyone. This is a very difficult mission.
Speaker 8: It's extraordinarily difficult, particularly because of the tunnels, Particularly because
Speaker 8: you have hostages, Israeli and American hostages inside of Gaza.
Speaker 8: As I said before, that's the great conundrum. The military
Speaker 8: has been given a task, which is to go in,
Speaker 8: uproot and eliminate hamas leadership, bring the hostages back and
Speaker 8: try to keep the amount of civilian casualties to a minimum.
Speaker 8: That is an enormously difficult task, probably the most difficult
Speaker 8: task you can get a milliky terry. If they do
Speaker 8: too much, the hostages could be killed. They do too little,
Speaker 8: the mission may fail.
Speaker 1: Are they already there are their special forces in Gaza
Speaker 1: in preparation.
Speaker 8: I can reflect on that, but I would tell you
Speaker 8: that in the past for this type of operation, you
Speaker 8: would need to have very very good intelligence. Now, given
Speaker 8: that it appears to me that the Gaza in former
Speaker 8: network that Israeli intelligence has had could have been wiped
Speaker 8: out before the attack, they're going to need to get
Speaker 8: ground intelligence, close up intelligence, and that can't be done
Speaker 8: from a satellite, can't be done from a radar.
Speaker 1: Is this then door to door, hand to hand combat
Speaker 1: or will this be coupled by air to ground? What
Speaker 1: type of a battle are we talking about it? I
Speaker 1: think we're taking different contours as it rolls.
Speaker 8: I think it takes different contours as it rolls. But again,
Speaker 8: within the laws of land combat and the arms of
Speaker 8: our conflict conflict, I do not believe the Israelis will
Speaker 8: hold back.
Speaker 1: They obviously have resources, Hamas does not have. What are
Speaker 1: the most important ones.
Speaker 8: They're troops. They have disciplined troops that are completely enraged
Speaker 8: by the atrocities committed. I would not be I would
Speaker 8: not want to be on the wrong side of an
Speaker 8: Israeli rifle right now.
Speaker 1: No, sir, the gerald Ford is steaming to the eastern Mediterranean,
Speaker 1: apparently the ike is as well. Will they take part
Speaker 1: in commanding control or this is really about projecting power
Speaker 1: and providing a deterrent.
Speaker 8: I think the main mission is to deter other actors
Speaker 8: from getting involved. That was a clear message from President Biden. However,
Speaker 8: those aircraft carriers and those strike fleets have tremendous intelligence
Speaker 8: gathering tru and tremendous planning capabilities. They're also bringing in
Speaker 8: special units, no doubt, and if, in fact somebody decides
Speaker 8: to cross the line and make this wider conflict, it
Speaker 8: is a tremendous defensive capability to terrence capability.
Speaker 1: We could see a lot of things take place over
Speaker 1: the coming days and weeks. Do you have any sense
Speaker 1: of timeline when they're doing and if I did, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't tell you. Yeah, well, I'm sure that's probably for
Speaker 1: the best. Mark Kimmant, it's good to see you. Good
Speaker 1: to see As always, we learned something whenever we have
Speaker 1: the General with us here on Bloomberg TV, on YouTube,
Speaker 1: on radio, whatever the platform might be. Retired Brigadier General,
Speaker 1: former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. I'm
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew in Washington and glad you joined us. We
Speaker 1: get analysis on everything we've been talking about and turn
Speaker 1: our attention as well to the battle for speaker here
Speaker 1: in Washington with Republican House members behind closed doors today.
Speaker 1: Lauren Tomlinson Republican Strategists is up next.
Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound on podcast.
Speaker 2: That's the program live weekdays at one Eastern on Bloomberg Radio,
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Speaker 2: Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa
Speaker 2: from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa play
Speaker 2: Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 1: Life from Washington as the Secretary of State makes his
Speaker 1: way to Tel Aviv. Anthony Blinkn touchdown earlier today, has
Speaker 1: already met with Benjamin et Yiahu and held a news
Speaker 1: conference earlier with some additional news on the trip as well.
Speaker 1: He's adding Saudi Arabia and Egypt to the itinerary here,
Speaker 1: which could get interesting if a ground invasion begins while
Speaker 1: he's overseas. Anthony Blincoln referring to two paths that the
Speaker 1: Middle East can take.
Speaker 3: Countries in this region and in many ways countries in
Speaker 3: this world. But here in the Middle East, there's the
Speaker 3: path of integration, cooperation, normalization and equal measures of justice, opportunity,
Speaker 3: dignity for all peoples, including the Palestinians. Or there's the
Speaker 3: path that Hamas has shown to the world in these
Speaker 3: last few days, terror destruction, nihilisten a path at leads
Speaker 3: to nowhere for anyone except to the darkest places.
Speaker 1: In our souls, the darkest places in our souls. Anthony
Speaker 1: Blinken sounding and speaking somewhat presidential on the visit here,
Speaker 1: speaking off the cuff in that case, and making a
Speaker 1: lot of headlines from overseas as he met as well
Speaker 1: with the survivors of the attacks from last weekend. We'll
Speaker 1: have more on that coming up here as we bring
Speaker 1: Lauren Tomlinson into the conversation. You know her as a
Speaker 1: Republican strategist here on Bloomberg. It's great to see you. Welcome.
Speaker 1: People should also know not only you're a partner at
Speaker 1: steer PR, but you were also in the national security
Speaker 1: space for a long time as an official Department of
Speaker 1: pollmand Security. You help to advise the Committee on Foreign
Speaker 1: Affairs in the House, and so we appreciate your perspective.
Speaker 1: I'd like to get to a couple of things today
Speaker 1: with you, and we can start with this trip. The
Speaker 1: Secretary of State seems to really be touching people in
Speaker 1: an effective way here as sort of the representative of
Speaker 1: the United States. With the President speaking here yesterday, it's
Speaker 1: really Anthony Blincoln showing up in person, who seems to
Speaker 1: be moving people when it comes to our message. What
Speaker 1: do you make of the trip so far?
Speaker 9: I mean, I think the trip is very well timed
Speaker 9: and needed. And also you know Secretary of Blincoln is
Speaker 9: Jewish and so he has a deep connection to I
Speaker 9: think this issue these people and it's coming across as
Speaker 9: very authentic in a way that I think that other
Speaker 9: officials probably couldn't connect in that way. So, you know,
Speaker 9: I think it's very important that he's there. He's sending
Speaker 9: a very strong message of United States support for Israel,
Speaker 9: condemning Hamas in these terrible attacks, and you know, I
Speaker 9: think right now we have to continue to community Kate
Speaker 9: as often as possible. You know, the Biden administration in particular,
Speaker 9: Biden has got to fill any voids of misinformation and
Speaker 9: make sure that he is out speaking constantly about support
Speaker 9: for Israel, you know, diplomatic, you know, economic, militarily, whatever
Speaker 9: we need to do to make sure that we are
Speaker 9: supporting Israel in a full force way. And they need
Speaker 9: to be communicating to the world and the American public
Speaker 9: that this is the stance that America will take. And
Speaker 9: I think this trip definitely shows that that level of support,
Speaker 9: in that deep connection to Israel.
Speaker 1: He's adding the UAE and Quitar to the trip, as
Speaker 1: well as Egypt in Saudi Arabia, and a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about the Kataris lately. With this money that is being
Speaker 1: held in an account, six billion dollars, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of money that was part of the prisoner swap that
Speaker 1: we conducted with hern just a few weeks back. Interesting
Speaker 1: how quickly this has come back into the news. We've
Speaker 1: had a series of Republican lawmakers tell us on the
Speaker 1: air that that money needs to be refrozen. It's hard
Speaker 1: to tell exactly what form that would take, but the
Speaker 1: administration has been clear. Anthony Blincoln talked about it a
Speaker 1: short time ago. Not a dollar has been spent and
Speaker 1: it has not moved from that account. Iran, as a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, just said that there's been no change
Speaker 1: in access to the funds. This a liability for the
Speaker 1: administration or not.
Speaker 9: I think it's splitting hairs a little bit. And when
Speaker 9: they say that the money hasn't been touched, sure, the
Speaker 9: dollars are there and they're still in the account. But
Speaker 9: if you were iron and you knew that you were
Speaker 9: going to get a giant paycheck and it was coming
Speaker 9: your way, it's like what every American does, or what
Speaker 9: any person does, right, you go spend the money before
Speaker 9: you even get it. So I think there was a
Speaker 9: little bit of they knew the money was coming. Palestine,
Speaker 9: in particular, already had seventy five million dollars in food
Speaker 9: a that had gone to them. There was a lot
Speaker 9: of money being funneled in with foreign aid into this region,
Speaker 9: and you know, they used the opportunity to spend it
Speaker 9: the way that they wanted to. So, you know, I
Speaker 9: do think it'll be splitting hairs a little bit. I
Speaker 9: do think it's important that, you know, we find ways
Speaker 9: in which to prevent that money from getting to them
Speaker 9: and refreezing it. I think Tim Scott, for example, has
Speaker 9: introduced legislation in the Senate to do something of those
Speaker 9: of that degree. But I do think that this will
Speaker 9: be a diplomat conversation that will happen amongst these countries
Speaker 9: to make sure that we're not unintentionally funding terrorism right
Speaker 9: through this type of money.
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting because in Tim Scott, boy he went
Speaker 1: pretty far with this. He said Joe Biden has blood
Speaker 1: on his hands. I mean, he essentially blamed the attack
Speaker 1: on Joe Biden, which without any real clear evidence of that,
Speaker 1: seems to be going a bit far. And then there's
Speaker 1: the matter of Iran, of course, just overall, whether it
Speaker 1: helped plan, never mind finance this attack, and we found
Speaker 1: no link there either. Do we not need to be
Speaker 1: careful with the way we're talking about this.
Speaker 9: You know, there used to be this rule when I
Speaker 9: was in working in Congress where you didn't criticize the
Speaker 9: American president when he was abroad, yes, or when you
Speaker 9: were at war. And I do think that there's restraint
Speaker 9: that needs to take as far as our domestic politics go,
Speaker 9: when we are attacking ourselves from within, when we need
Speaker 9: to be showing nothing but strength and unity abroad. And
Speaker 9: I think that's a message that probably needs to be
Speaker 9: conveyed to both sides of the aisle at during this
Speaker 9: time is making sure that, yes, there is going to
Speaker 9: be lots of opportunities after this conflict is over for
Speaker 9: us to do hot washes and commissions and figure out
Speaker 9: where the intelligence failures were and what the US could
Speaker 9: do better and all of those types of things. But
Speaker 9: at this moment, we really need to be focused on
Speaker 9: our response to the terrorist attacks, how we're supporting Israel,
Speaker 9: and making sure that our government is functioning in a
Speaker 9: way that we can actually provide that type of aid.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a big debate about supplemental funding
Speaker 1: at some point once there's a Speaker of the House,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to that. But I wonder what you
Speaker 1: make of the approach right now, because they're talking about
Speaker 1: bundling a lot of stuff together, funding for Israel, funding
Speaker 1: for Ukraine, funding for Taiwan, and border security funding to
Speaker 1: either make it impossible for anyone to vote no or
Speaker 1: somehow mandatory for everyone to vote yes. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: the psychology here is that a good approach When Republicans
Speaker 1: have clearly an allergy to an omnibus budget bill like this,
Speaker 1: You know, I.
Speaker 9: Think it's going to be a lot tougher, especially when
Speaker 9: you throw in border security into this. I think maybe
Speaker 9: that there could be some horse trading on Ukraine, Israel,
Speaker 9: disaster aid, that type of thing. But I really, you know,
Speaker 9: although it seems silly to even have this conversation because
Speaker 9: the government theory is going to shut down in a
Speaker 9: few weeks and we don't even have a Speaker.
Speaker 1: Of the House, that's a very fair point.
Speaker 9: So you know, like step one, fund the government and
Speaker 9: get through like the next you know, see our crisis
Speaker 9: and then you know, or really step one, get a speaker,
Speaker 9: Step two, get us through the government shutdown. Step three,
Speaker 9: let's talk about aid packages.
Speaker 1: You're very ambitious. This is Washington. Well, you know, we
Speaker 1: spoke to your former boss Michael McCauley yesterday, who chairs
Speaker 1: the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said he was good
Speaker 1: with that structure. He also said though the first order
Speaker 1: of business would be a resolution on the floor condemning
Speaker 1: Hamas and supporting Israel. That may seem obvious to some
Speaker 1: people here, but you get a sense that this would
Speaker 1: be front loaded as soon as there is as a speaker.
Speaker 9: No, oh, absolutely, I think there's a huge urgency here
Speaker 9: to make sure that once again that the United States
Speaker 9: is showing full support. Our government is funding, you know,
Speaker 9: and helping the Israelis however we can, and part of
Speaker 9: the strategy too. And you know, McCall probably knows that's
Speaker 9: better than anyone is. It is going to be imperative
Speaker 9: for us over the next few weeks to make sure
Speaker 9: that other countries don't jump into this conflict, that this
Speaker 9: doesn't become an all out war against Israel. And you know,
Speaker 9: I think there was a lot of success today with
Speaker 9: Jordan releasing the statement that they did. It was very
Speaker 9: measured and it obviously indicated that they were not going
Speaker 9: to jump into the fray. There's lots of questions about
Speaker 9: some of the other countries on Israel's border, but that
Speaker 9: is priority number one, and part of that deterrence will
Speaker 9: be a show of strength from the American government that
Speaker 9: we will support them in this. So, you know, McCall's
Speaker 9: right as far as frontloading this and making sure that
Speaker 9: we take care of it quickly, because the next two
Speaker 9: weeks are going to be really important for that effort.
Speaker 1: The next two weeks indeed, and that's why there are
Speaker 1: not now one, but two carrier strike groups heading to
Speaker 1: the eastern Mediterranean, Right will we use them in theory?
Speaker 9: And you know, I think that there's a lot of
Speaker 9: conversations about how exactly we extract hostages if that comes
Speaker 9: to it. So again, moving assets to the region is
Speaker 9: going to be a really important part of that, depending
Speaker 9: on what type of operation they end up doing.
Speaker 1: You tend to think some of this stuff is already
Speaker 1: happening and we don't know about it. Is that just me?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 9: I mean absolutely absolutely, Yeah. There's you know, I have
Speaker 9: a lot of faith in our national security apparatus, the
Speaker 9: intelligence community. We have a very capable government and you know,
Speaker 9: the most capable defense structure in the world, really the
Speaker 9: most capable government in the world to take care of
Speaker 9: this and to do these types of things. So while
Speaker 9: we talk about things from a political perspective or you know,
Speaker 9: in open channels like this, there's so much that's going
Speaker 9: on behind the scenes that will I.
Speaker 1: Have no idea about right now. Yeah, it'll all be
Speaker 1: in the book, as they say.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch us
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Speaker 1: The US offers charter flights out of Israel. Welcome to
Speaker 1: our two of sound On as the administration moves to
Speaker 1: help people leave the country who are looking for a
Speaker 1: way out, and we're joined ahead by Congresswoman Nicole Maliatakis,
Speaker 1: who is helping to leave the push to get New
Speaker 1: Yorkers out of country. The Republican will also give us
Speaker 1: an update on the fight for Speaker, which continues here.
Speaker 1: We'll discuss that later with Bloomberg Politics reporter Mike Dorning
Speaker 1: and data Today on inflation will be joined from New
Speaker 1: York by Bloomberg Economics editor Michael McKee. We've got news
Speaker 1: as well today on the auto strikes in Detroit which
Speaker 1: are expanding, and we'll have all of that for you
Speaker 1: over the course of hour two here on sound On
Speaker 1: Live from Washington. Thanks for joining us. Kaylee Lions is
Speaker 1: here just back from Capitol Hill and it's great to
Speaker 1: see it. As always, Kaylee, you were there. You were
Speaker 1: as close to the sun as you can get today,
Speaker 1: and we didn't learn anything really about the race for speaker.
Speaker 1: The session, I think on the floor lasted about two
Speaker 1: and a half minutes, and I guess the Republican Conference
Speaker 1: meeting behind closed doors didn't last a lot longer.
Speaker 10: Well, we're still hearing from members who are coming out
Speaker 10: of the meeting. It's unclear, really, Joe, to your point,
Speaker 10: how much progress they're actually making in there. It seems
Speaker 10: like it's generically an airing of grievances about Steve Scalise,
Speaker 10: Steve Scalese trying to allay some concerns as he tries
Speaker 10: to get the two hundred and seventeen votes he needs
Speaker 10: to be speaker. And yet I caught up with a
Speaker 10: number of members outside of the room who said they
Speaker 10: are still not with Scalise. Carlos Semenez, for example, is
Speaker 10: still McCarthy only there's others like Congressman Miller who are
Speaker 10: still nos on Scalise, and some who are saying, like
Speaker 10: Congressman's self, they're going to vote Jordan, even though Jordan
Speaker 10: said he would give the nominating speech for Scalise. It
Speaker 10: just feels like it's still math that isn't adding them.
Speaker 1: My god, I'm glad you came back because I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. Congresswoman Malia Takas is still there, Nicole Malia
Speaker 1: Takas of New York, of course, back with us on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg and joining us from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman, it's great
Speaker 1: to see you. I want to ask you about your
Speaker 1: efforts here involving Israel, but with regard to the fight
Speaker 1: for speaker, do you have a popsicle headache yet?
Speaker 6: Look, it's very frustrating to me because I just want
Speaker 6: to move forward, elect a speaker and get back to work,
Speaker 6: and there's just too many things going on in this place.
Speaker 6: We have government funding that's going to run out and
Speaker 6: roughly a month, and we need to pass a remaining
Speaker 6: eight of the twelve appropriation bills and send them to
Speaker 6: the Senate so we could begin these negotiations and try
Speaker 6: to get some wins for the American people who want
Speaker 6: to see wasteful, excessive spending cont they want to see
Speaker 6: secure border. And so I was with McCarthy all the way.
Speaker 6: I mean, McCarthy was a great speaker. What happened to
Speaker 6: him was a travesty and it was an injustice. But
Speaker 6: he's no longer running, and I supported Jim Jordan. Jim
Speaker 6: Jordan did not come out ahead of Steve scle Steve
Speaker 6: Scalice won yesterday's vote, and as was reported, Jim Jordan
Speaker 6: supporting Steve sclee. So I'm with Steve Scleeze. Now, he's
Speaker 6: a good person, he's an honorable person. He will make
Speaker 6: a good speaker. The bottom line is we just need
Speaker 6: to get in that room, elect a speaker, and move forward.
Speaker 6: There's just too many things happening in the world, too
Speaker 6: many threats here at home. We need to get the
Speaker 6: job done and start protecting the American people.
Speaker 10: Well, Congresswoman, you say you think he is a good
Speaker 10: and honorable person, but does that make him the person
Speaker 10: within the Republican Conference who can get two hundred and
Speaker 10: seventeen votes. It just seems like it's very difficult for
Speaker 10: him at this moment.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Look, it seems that I don't know that anyone
Speaker 6: can get two hundred and seventeen votes. That's the problem.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, there's always seems to be a
Speaker 6: small faction who's opposed to anybody that we put off,
Speaker 6: and it's not always the same eight people. Right, So
Speaker 6: we had Matt Gates and his crew were the Democrats
Speaker 6: to remove Kevin McCarthy was supported by ninety seven percent
Speaker 6: of our conference and now we have a different ten
Speaker 6: to twenty people who are opposed to Steve Scleeze at
Speaker 6: this time. So it is challenging and it is frustrating
Speaker 6: for people like me who just want to move forward.
Speaker 6: I supported all three of those individuals. I'm sure there's
Speaker 6: many other people within the conference who can do the job,
Speaker 6: but we just need to be united and understand that
Speaker 6: our fight should be with the Senate, with the White
Speaker 6: House for the conservative policies that the American people want,
Speaker 6: and that in this time when there's so many global
Speaker 6: pressing issues that could easily become domestic issues, and they
Speaker 6: are in many ways right because we have Americans who
Speaker 6: are in Israel that we're trying to get evacuated. We
Speaker 6: have some that have sadly already been killed by Hamas.
Speaker 6: These are the This is exactly what we should be
Speaker 6: focused on today is how do we support our ally Israel?
Speaker 6: How do we get those Americans home? Which is I've
Speaker 6: been pushing this State Department and finally we've got some
Speaker 6: good news today. But this is what we should be doing,
Speaker 6: not sitting in a room, you know, airing grievances.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's got to be tedious. I just wonder to
Speaker 1: the extent that you engage with your colleagues, Congresswoman, what
Speaker 1: do you tell your fellow Republicans who disagree when you're
Speaker 1: behind closed doors in a meeting like that today or
Speaker 1: is that not the tenor of these gatherings.
Speaker 6: Look, I think everyone gets an opportunity to say how
Speaker 6: they feel, where their support is, what their concerns are,
Speaker 6: what needs to be changed, And that's fine. But the
Speaker 6: end of the day, we still need to if it's
Speaker 6: not gonna be steved, we need to figure out who
Speaker 6: it is. But somebody has to get the two seventeen
Speaker 6: that is needed so we can proceed with our legislative business.
Speaker 6: It's only gonna make things worse if we don't get
Speaker 6: to pass the appropriation bills that need to be passed
Speaker 6: and send them over to the Senate. Now that's delaying
Speaker 6: a process then and then they're gonna be all upset
Speaker 6: in a month when we get stuff back from the
Speaker 6: Senate that we're unhappy with and there's no time to negotiate.
Speaker 6: So I mean, you just need to get back in there,
Speaker 6: passed those remaining bills out, send support for Israel, and
Speaker 6: get on with the legislative business. Like I said, Look,
Speaker 6: I can support multiple candidates. I've laid out three for
Speaker 6: you I thought could be good speakers. But at the
Speaker 6: end of the day, it's not just me. Right, you
Speaker 6: have two hundred and twenty one people in a room.
Speaker 6: Everybody's got a different opinion, and that's just you know,
Speaker 6: leading to the frustration that we're seeing among members like
Speaker 6: myself and others. Well.
Speaker 10: As you talk about the difficulty of getting two hundred
Speaker 10: and seventeen Republicans to back anyone individual. Congresswomen, I wonder
Speaker 10: where you think the Democrats are in this Congressmen, Alexandria
Speaker 10: Acossio Cortes tweeted or posted on X earlier today. I
Speaker 10: will read you the quote. Given that the vote for
Speaker 10: speaker was supposed to be yesterday. It seems much more
Speaker 10: realistic for five Republican members in Biden districts to vote
Speaker 10: Jeffreys than it is for mister David Duke without the baggage.
Speaker 10: She says that in quotes referring here to Steve Scleice
Speaker 10: to flip one hundred and seven people in overtime. Congresswoman,
Speaker 10: what is your respect to that?
Speaker 6: But you know, the Democrats are complicit in what occurred
Speaker 6: with the removal of Speaker McCarthy. They every single Democrat
Speaker 6: voted with the right fringe of our party to remove
Speaker 6: a speaker that ninety seven percent of our conference supported.
Speaker 6: So they are complicit. They are part of the reason
Speaker 6: why we're in this situation without a speaker to begin with.
Speaker 6: They said they didn't want to be involved in the
Speaker 6: Republican a fracture. Well, then they should have all voted
Speaker 6: president and then this would have never happened. If they
Speaker 6: just voted president and stayed out of it, this would
Speaker 6: have never happened. But they chose to insert themselves, and
Speaker 6: they voted with Matt Gates, who is among you know,
Speaker 6: the most right wing member of our conference, whom the
Speaker 6: majority of our conference wishes he wasn't part of our
Speaker 6: conference to remove a speaker that was doing a good job.
Speaker 6: And why because he averted a shutdown, because he prevented
Speaker 6: a debt default, and because he averted a shutdown, he
Speaker 6: was removed from power because he did the right thing
Speaker 6: on behalf of the American people. The Democrats should have
Speaker 6: done the right thing and recognized that. And you know,
Speaker 6: this is something that should be applauded, not punished.
Speaker 1: That's why a lot of people are saying, Congressom and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you hear it if I'm hearing it, that
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy is still a viable candidate and could be speaker. Yet,
Speaker 1: is that something that you would allow for I'd be
Speaker 1: all for it.
Speaker 6: I think Kevin was a great speaker. He did a
Speaker 6: good job. We passed a lot of our priorities out
Speaker 6: of the House. People may be upset that the word
Speaker 6: is not secure. It's not because of House Republicans. We
Speaker 6: passed that bill. It's because of Chuck Schumer. They are
Speaker 6: refusing to do their job. They don't want to pass
Speaker 6: our bill and they don't want to pass their own bill.
Speaker 6: So we can reconcile the differences. People are upset about
Speaker 6: energy costs. It's not because of House Republicans. We passed
Speaker 6: our Energy Priority to increase domestic production, to lower the sale,
Speaker 6: lower the cost of gas and energy costs across America.
Speaker 6: Senator Schumer has been sitting on it. He refuses to
Speaker 6: address it. So people have to recognize that they they
Speaker 6: that we are only one third of the federal government,
Speaker 6: and that we have to work with the Senate in
Speaker 6: the White House, and you know, we're not going to
Speaker 6: always get what we want. But we were able to
Speaker 6: get some good things, I thought, in particular capping spending,
Speaker 6: making sure we had more checks and balances for the
Speaker 6: president to be able to spend money without congressional support.
Speaker 6: You know, there's certain things that we were able to
Speaker 6: negotiate in that debt limit. I had faith that Speaker
Speaker 6: McCarthy was in the room negotiating the best we could
Speaker 6: get for the American people from the conservative perspective. Unfortunately,
Speaker 6: there's some in our conference that don't understand give and take, compromise, negotiation.
Speaker 6: Everybody's got to give a little to get some and
Speaker 6: that's really why we're in this situation we're in today,
Speaker 6: is because people want to be stubborn and want to
Speaker 6: be holdouts instead of seeing the bigger picture here that
Speaker 6: we need. It's good for the party, it's good for
Speaker 6: the Congress, the institution, and it's good for the country
Speaker 6: if we go in and just elect a speaker and
Speaker 6: move forward with business and recognize the fight is not
Speaker 6: with each other, it is with the Senate, it is
Speaker 6: with the White House.
Speaker 10: Okay, well, Congresswoman, let's talk about the White House, because
Speaker 10: we just heard from the White House Press Secretary Korean
Speaker 10: John here. The President Biden is going to be releasing
Speaker 10: a supplemental request next week, and we have had reports
Speaker 10: in recent days that that supplemental request may include funding
Speaker 10: for Israel along with funding for Ukraine, Taiwan, possibly border
Speaker 10: measures as well. There's been a lot of talk now
Speaker 10: about the idea of Ukraine funding and funding for Israel
Speaker 10: being tied together. Is that appropriate in your mind?
Speaker 6: I think these are separate issues that should be taken
Speaker 6: up separately. There's already been what one hundred and twenty
Speaker 6: five billion dollars sent to Ukraine. If people rightfully want
Speaker 6: to know what's been done with that money, what are
Speaker 6: the goals to? Where the goals? Should we give more money,
Speaker 6: What will it be used for. They want to see metrics,
Speaker 6: they want to see accountability. Israel is imminent right now
Speaker 6: that we get something to support them, because we haven't
Speaker 6: done any package to support Israel yet. Certainly they need
Speaker 6: more equipment. They need iron dome interceptors, they need precision missiles.
Speaker 6: So we need to do that, and that is important
Speaker 6: with the border to ask them us for more money
Speaker 6: to just continue paperwork instead of actually securing the border.
Speaker 6: That should be a discussion because we've passed the Border
Speaker 6: Security Act that would reinstate many of the policies of
Speaker 6: the previous administration that was stemming the flow at the border,
Speaker 6: was making sure we knew who was coming in and
Speaker 6: out of our country and was doing it responsibly. We
Speaker 6: need to be very concerned right now that we have
Speaker 6: an open border and the fact that the Senate and
Speaker 6: some of the Democrats and all the Democrats from the
Speaker 6: House are not taking that seriously as a problem. When
Speaker 6: we passed the Border Security Act, we're simply saying, look,
Speaker 6: people should remain in the next safe country, not come
Speaker 6: to the United States. That's what created this influx that
Speaker 6: we're seeing. We also don't want people to be just
Speaker 6: released into the interior without knowing where they're going or
Speaker 6: where they'll be or if they're going to return for
Speaker 6: their court dates. We need to add immigration judges to
Speaker 6: hear these cases more swiftly determined who's a legitimate asylum
Speaker 6: seeker from who is not. And we need to put
Speaker 6: in place what Customs and Border Protection have been asking
Speaker 6: us for technology, training, equipment. They've been asking us for
Speaker 6: certain things, and unfortunately, I think I got disconnected here. Unfortunately,
Speaker 6: we are in a situation where, you know, we need
Speaker 6: to move forward and pass the border security look just
Speaker 6: to make it clear for people. One point seven million
Speaker 6: individuals have entered into our border, okay, and they are
Speaker 6: unaccounted for. These are undetected individuals. It's what Customs and
Speaker 6: Border Protection have estimated. This is an addition to the
Speaker 6: five six million crossings that we've seen. One point seven
Speaker 6: million individuals. We don't know who they are, where they are,
Speaker 6: what their intentions are. They should be very concern and
Speaker 6: considering what is happening in Israel right now.
Speaker 1: All right, if you can still hear me, congresswomen, second,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that you can. Let's see if we
Speaker 1: can figure that out.
Speaker 10: This is the Beauty of Life broadcasts.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's actually happened to me on the air before Congressman,
Speaker 1: I apologize that's that's happened to me as well.
Speaker 7: On the air.
Speaker 1: There's there's a it's a horrifying feeling. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to better understand though your answer to Kaille's question, would
Speaker 1: that bogged down? Then a supplemental request for Israeli funding?
Speaker 1: Is that why you want to see that handled as
Speaker 1: a separate matter.
Speaker 6: You know, if you're gonna bring the border into this
Speaker 6: and you're gonna bring Ukraine into us, there's a lot
Speaker 6: of questions that members have, particularly we want to see
Speaker 6: real border security and and we want to see some
Speaker 6: of the policies that we've passed in our Border Security
Speaker 6: Act enacted. So yeah, that could slow down support, you know,
Speaker 6: and that's probably why the administration wants to insert it
Speaker 6: in there, because they're trying to just get what they
Speaker 6: want without having to answer questions from Members of Congress.
Speaker 6: But we have checks and balances, we have oversight. We
Speaker 6: have to hold this administration accountable for what they are
Speaker 6: and not and are not doing, and so we want
Speaker 6: to make sure that if there's going to be any
Speaker 6: anything related to the border that we're gonna see serious
Speaker 6: border security is stopped. This unsafe and unsustainable flow that
Speaker 6: is affecting the entire nation, and my mayor is saying
Speaker 6: is going to bankrupt and destroy New York City.
Speaker 1: I've got one more for you, Congress someone. I know
Speaker 1: this is difficult for you. If you're with us on YouTube,
Speaker 1: you can see why and you can drop your earpiece
Speaker 1: after I asked this question. And it has to do
Speaker 1: with your drive to get flights out of Israel. If
Speaker 1: we can get back to where we started here the
Speaker 1: administration today, the State Department is talking about getting chartered
Speaker 1: flights together. But you let a letter that was signed
Speaker 1: on by more than one hundred, one hundred and forty
Speaker 1: lawmakers to try to get New Yorkers and others out
Speaker 1: of Israel who need access to that transportation. Where does
Speaker 1: that stand?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so, well, it seems like the State Department has
Speaker 6: been moving now and that this could begin as early
Speaker 6: as tomorrow. What we've basically said, and it's a shame
Speaker 6: that we're already on five days. Other countries, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Canada,
Speaker 6: they've been there, they've been evacuating citizens, either via a
Speaker 6: military aircraft or chartered commercial planes. We believe now that
Speaker 6: we finally are hearing that the State Department is going
Speaker 6: to start evacuating individuals via chartered planes as early as
Speaker 6: tomorrow's or are waiting for that evacuation plan. I think
Speaker 6: for those who have relatives, loved ones American citizens who
Speaker 6: are in Israel who are trying to leave, I think
Speaker 6: the most important thing they could do right now is
Speaker 6: make sure they're registered with the State Department. They could
Speaker 6: do it online. I've posted this information on my Facebook page.
Speaker 6: People can get it off of there, and you should
Speaker 6: call your member of Congress. I think that's really important
Speaker 6: because my office has been working directly with constituents to
Speaker 6: try to get them on charter flights through another means,
Speaker 6: without the help unfortunately of the State Department, but through
Speaker 6: a Congressman, Corey Mills, who's on the ground right now,
Speaker 6: and we've been able to get either people to Jordan
Speaker 6: or now we're working to try to get people to Cyprus.
Speaker 6: But I'll say is it is important that you let
Speaker 6: your congress member know if you are in Israel or
Speaker 6: you have a loved one. An American citizen is an
Speaker 6: in Israel, so that way they can help track and
Speaker 6: expedite the situation and get them on the right path.
Speaker 1: It's a really important message. I'm glad you could join us. Congresswoman,
Speaker 1: thank you for spending some time with us today from
Speaker 1: Capitol Hill on what, of course, we know is a
Speaker 1: very busy day. Nicole Malia Takis, Republican from New York.
Speaker 1: Clearly going through a lot here, Kaylee, and frustrated at
Speaker 1: the process involving the speaker or a lack.
Speaker 10: Thereof Yeah, lack thereof being the state of play at
Speaker 10: the moment show and it's very unclear at this time
Speaker 10: how long we're going to stay that way is. It
Speaker 10: feels like not a lot of progress has been made.
Speaker 10: And you know, something that members did tell me has
Speaker 10: been buzzing about. Byron Donald said a number of members
Speaker 10: have brought this up, even though he doesn't necessarily agree
Speaker 10: with it, is empowering Patrick McHenry, Speaker pro Tem, to
Speaker 10: do more in the internet.
Speaker 1: We've been talking about that since the beginning. We may
Speaker 1: start talking about that a lot more again, as yesterday's
Speaker 1: breakthrough doesn't feel like so much of a break through
Speaker 1: at this point. Pretty interesting though, Kaylee she said she
Speaker 1: was still open to a speaker, Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker 10: Yeah, we'll see if that actually has to become a
Speaker 10: reality potentially. See someone's got to get the votes right.
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