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Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on this day after the
Speaker 2: first day of the year, January second. I'm Joe Matthew,
Speaker 2: and Washington as the nation's capital, steers its attention here
Speaker 2: to these two terror attacks we have just been hearing about,
Speaker 2: and we just did get an update from the FBI's
Speaker 2: Deputy Assistant Director of its Counter Terrorm Division, that's Christopher Rea.
Speaker 2: You were just hearing from who says this was an
Speaker 2: act of terrorism point blank, and an individual here, shamsu
Speaker 2: Din Jabbar, who was quote one hundred percent inspired by
Speaker 2: isis unquote. The most surprising element to come from this
Speaker 2: news conference, which really answered one of the biggest questions
Speaker 2: that we had going into it, is they now believe
Speaker 2: Jabbar acted alone. Reya says, quote, we do not assess
Speaker 2: at this point anyone else is involved in this attack
Speaker 2: except for shamsu Din Jabbar. Now of course, we also
Speaker 2: had the investigation in Las Vegas. They did take some
Speaker 2: questions on that, answering another one of the major questions
Speaker 2: we've been asking over the past twenty four hours. Knowing,
Speaker 2: of course, there's an FBI investigation in Las Vegas where
Speaker 2: the cyber truck exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel. Quote,
Speaker 2: we are following up on all potential leads and ruling
Speaker 2: nothing out. However, at this point, there is no definitive
Speaker 2: link between the attack and New Orleans and the one
Speaker 2: in Las Vegas. Another quote from the FBI today, and
Speaker 2: what was a very newsy briefing here, knowing that the
Speaker 2: IEDs we've learned now that were planted in the French Quarter.
Speaker 2: In fact, we're done so after midnight and a couple
Speaker 2: of hours before that attack that took place just after
Speaker 2: a three amis on New Year's morning. We heard from
Speaker 2: the mayor of New Orleans as well, LaToya Cantrell, who
Speaker 2: made clear that they have cleared Bourbon Street. The city
Speaker 2: is back in possession of Bourbon Street with a plea
Speaker 2: for additional resources. They did clean Bourbon Street starting at
Speaker 2: two am, and they are now getting back to what
Speaker 2: is going to be an important day in New Orleans,
Speaker 2: of course, with the Sugar Bowl set for four pm
Speaker 2: Eastern time, the Mayor of New Orleans saying, quote, not
Speaker 2: only are we ready for game day, but we're ready
Speaker 2: to host large scale events in our city. We heard
Speaker 2: from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as well, as they try
Speaker 2: to put a real show of force here in front
Speaker 2: of this story and transparency to their credit with what
Speaker 2: we know and what we don't know. And I want
Speaker 2: to remind everybody that some of these details can change.
Speaker 2: We've already seen that, remembering that frequently the first round
Speaker 2: of reporting is not always true. We had a lot
Speaker 2: of different things that we heard about now beginning to
Speaker 2: clarify some of them here on Balance of Power. Welcome
Speaker 2: to the Thursday edition. I know it feels like a
Speaker 2: Monday for many of you, but it is Thursday here
Speaker 2: and we've got a lot to talk about this day
Speaker 2: before the new Congress begins and some major national security
Speaker 2: events that are about to take hold here in Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. That's why connecting the dots on these two
Speaker 2: stories would have been very important if authorities had the
Speaker 2: ability to do that. And we want to start our
Speaker 2: conversation today with Michael Sheppard, of course, joining us here
Speaker 2: in Washington as Bloomberg Senior editor for Technology and Strategic Studies.
Speaker 2: We wanted to talk with Michael though, because he's been
Speaker 2: covering politics and national security in Washington here for many years,
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of stories that cross over. Michael.
Speaker 2: It's great to see you, and I appreciate your coming in.
Speaker 2: Happy New Year for starters. This was a terrible way
Speaker 2: for the year to begin for a lot of Americans,
Speaker 2: looking at scenes of terror from New Orleans, from Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: but to hear from the authorities today somewhat reassuring to believe,
Speaker 2: at least so far, that they are not connected.
Speaker 3: Settling, especially as Americans look to, you know, since the pandemic,
Speaker 3: really be able to revel once again in these large
Speaker 3: scale events, going to a ballgame, celebrating New Year's Eve
Speaker 3: with friends in New Orleans, and attending major political events
Speaker 3: like we're about to host here in Washington, including the
Speaker 3: pre inaugural event that Donald Trump intends to host at
Speaker 3: Capital One Arena just around the corner from our offices here,
Speaker 3: and of course the inauguration on January twentieth. But even
Speaker 3: before that tomorrow we have a new Congress being seated
Speaker 3: and a speaker election, and then on January sixth, remember
Speaker 3: that date, they will be certifying the twenty four election results.
Speaker 3: So people have in their memory, in their sense of
Speaker 3: things that can go wrong, and it is something that
Speaker 3: they are concerned about. And this is what law enforcement
Speaker 3: and public safety authorities and political authorities, including the governor
Speaker 3: of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans are trying
Speaker 3: to express. This confidence and also this sense that they
Speaker 3: want to get back on their feet quickly.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of concerns, not only seeing a
Speaker 2: cyber truck, but also the location of Trump International, that
Speaker 2: there might have been some timing here to coincide with
Speaker 2: the incoming president here or reaction to the election of
Speaker 2: some sort. But we have to remind ourselves that these
Speaker 2: just could be two deranged people that's, according to the FBI,
Speaker 2: had nothing to do with one another.
Speaker 3: And yeah, the FBI was quick to say that they
Speaker 3: see no immediate connection between these two events. As terrible
Speaker 3: as they were, we know quite a bit less about
Speaker 3: what took place in Las Vegas based on what we've
Speaker 3: heard from authority so far, so we will have to
Speaker 3: see what more they can tell us about the nature
Speaker 3: of the explosion of this cyber truck, the fact that
Speaker 3: it was a vehicle produced by one of Elon Musk's
Speaker 3: companies at a hotel I'll owned by Donald Trump. In essence,
Speaker 3: it really does raise a lot of questions. And must
Speaker 3: himself further those questions by suggesting yesterday on X that
Speaker 3: there could be a link between these two events and
Speaker 3: also suggesting that it was a bomb and not the
Speaker 3: vehicle itself that may have caused the explosion.
Speaker 4: So we don't but we don't really know.
Speaker 3: We don't have a definitive assessment from authorities about what
Speaker 3: took place.
Speaker 2: What do you make of the reaction we're hearing by
Speaker 2: this an interesting scenario, and we've got an outgoing president
Speaker 2: and a president elect, both almost carrying equal weight when
Speaker 2: it comes to commenting on a story like this. We
Speaker 2: should let our audience know. By the way, about ten
Speaker 2: minutes from now, Joe Biden is expected with his national
Speaker 2: security team to sit down in the situation room for
Speaker 2: a briefing on this. But a lot of people are
Speaker 2: looking at the reaction from Donald Trump, and while we
Speaker 2: heard from Joe Biden, yesterday actually went on national television.
Speaker 2: Trump took to truth social and started to blame the
Speaker 2: border to sort of prove some of hiss and a
Speaker 2: number of his correct Yes they did. Let's talk about
Speaker 2: what he said when I said the criminals coming in
Speaker 2: are far worse than the criminals we have in our country.
Speaker 2: That statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake
Speaker 2: news media, but it turned out to be true. Of course,
Speaker 2: it's false, Michael, this is an American who served in
Speaker 2: the military.
Speaker 3: An American who served in the military and served in
Speaker 3: the military for a number of years. He was somebody
Speaker 3: who apparently held a good paying job, lived in Houston,
Speaker 3: and is somebody you wouldn't necessarily connect to an event
Speaker 3: like this in the way that.
Speaker 4: Donald Trump was trying to do.
Speaker 3: The Republican Party has tried to make the border security
Speaker 3: question one wrapped around national security two in terms of
Speaker 3: terrorism by suggesting that the people who perpetrate these kinds
Speaker 3: of attacks with fealty or association with foreign extremist movements,
Speaker 3: that they have some now crept over the border into
Speaker 3: the US through some surreptitious means, when in this case
Speaker 3: we saw that not to be the case. And the
Speaker 3: President elect was commenting well before anybody in the investigation
Speaker 3: I've been able to comment or offer any kind of clarification.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted to say the crime rate in our
Speaker 2: country is at a level that no one has ever
Speaker 2: seen before, which is also not factual. It brings us
Speaker 2: back a little bit to the tweet storms that we
Speaker 2: used to see in the first administration. What does it
Speaker 2: make you think, is you covered that White House, Michael,
Speaker 2: You helped our bureau edit coverage from that White House,
Speaker 2: and we're about to do it again.
Speaker 3: Well, we remember it all well, And there was a
Speaker 3: question about Trump as he was being elected. We all
Speaker 3: talked about it that night, and I think we were
Speaker 3: discussing it, you and me election night and in the
Speaker 3: days after.
Speaker 4: Will we see a different Donald Trump?
Speaker 3: Will we see Trump two point zero that will be
Speaker 3: a little bit more restrained, a little bit more serene
Speaker 3: or above doing that kind of I guess, incendiary or
Speaker 3: provocative kind of challenge and communication to the world.
Speaker 4: But we're seeing already.
Speaker 3: Via truth social via his posts, that he is not
Speaker 3: holding back anything.
Speaker 2: Rare in to go here on a day like this
Speaker 2: with a lot of misinformation.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power Podcast. Catch
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Speaker 2: If you're just joining us here on Bloomberg, we welcome
Speaker 2: you with some updates on the situation in New Orleans
Speaker 2: from the FBI and from officials in the city. We
Speaker 2: just heard from and brought you a briefing live here.
Speaker 2: The FBI is calling this an act of terrorism, but
Speaker 2: also making clear that shamsu Din Jabbar, as far as
Speaker 2: they know now, was not linked to the attack New
Speaker 2: Orleans and in fact acted alone. We are going to
Speaker 2: get further updates here, knowing that some of these details
Speaker 2: can evolve. We heard a little bit earlier as well.
Speaker 2: Who do we have here, guys from that briefing. This
Speaker 2: is Christopher Rea again speaking for the FBI, who is
Speaker 2: Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI's Counter Terrorism Division. A
Speaker 2: short time ago in New Orleans. Let's listen.
Speaker 5: There's also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are
Speaker 5: following up on all potential leads and not ruling everything out. However,
Speaker 5: at this point there is no definitive link between the
Speaker 5: attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: Michael, I want to talk to you about journalism for
Speaker 2: a moment. This is your profession while you talk with
Speaker 2: authority about a lot of different things. I want to
Speaker 2: go back to something that I mentioned earlier, because you
Speaker 2: remember how frequently the first draft of history is wrong.
Speaker 2: Speak to us about the process of going through how
Speaker 2: little we still know at this point when you're crafting
Speaker 2: a story and the governor that you have to put
Speaker 2: on your own inclinations to cover what you're hearing.
Speaker 3: We all remember the name Richard Jewell, and we remember
Speaker 3: the story about nineteen ninety six and the bombing at
Speaker 3: Sentenagal Park during the Atlanta Olympics, and how very quickly
Speaker 3: law enforcement authorities were putting blame on this man who
Speaker 3: actually was turned out a hero and trying to save
Speaker 3: lives and get people away from the scene, and how
Speaker 3: it up ended his life. It ended up being completely wrong,
Speaker 3: and there was somebody else, a domestic terrorist. We should
Speaker 3: note Eric Rudolph, who was later blamed for it and
Speaker 3: so we can see that the first draft of history
Speaker 3: is quite rough, and that is one of the risks
Speaker 3: that we run and reporting on this. We have to
Speaker 3: make sure that we're attributing it, that we're gut checking it,
Speaker 3: and we're not just going through the motions of putting
Speaker 3: out there anything that we.
Speaker 4: Hearing from authorities. It's important for.
Speaker 3: Us to say with authority and clarity ourselves that it's early,
Speaker 3: there's still a lot of things we don't know, and
Speaker 3: also emphasize what it is that we don't know as well.
Speaker 2: So we're bringing into the newsroom now these are literally
Speaker 2: the conversations that we have in This is why you
Speaker 2: can trust Bloomberg knowing that this is our approach here.
Speaker 2: We just knocked down another bit of misinformation. That was
Speaker 2: the idea that this man in New Orleans, Jabbar, was
Speaker 2: wearing a suicide vest. The FBI wanted to be very deliberate,
Speaker 2: was very deliberate and knocking that down.
Speaker 3: Yes, they were deliberate and knocking that down and also
Speaker 3: debunking the number of improvised explosive devices that had been found.
Speaker 3: There were reports circulating in the hours after the three
Speaker 3: point fifteen am New Year's Day attack, that there may
Speaker 3: have been several devices, but the FBI was quick to
Speaker 3: say that there were only two found in the vicinity
Speaker 3: of the scene. Ill scouring the area and the larger
Speaker 3: city of New Orleans, of course, ahead of the Sugar
Speaker 3: Bowl this afternoon, but they wanted to make clear that
Speaker 3: this was not as wide scale or coordinated as they
Speaker 3: had initially feared.
Speaker 4: Yesterday.
Speaker 2: I mentioned earlier, Michael, that we heard from Joe Biden.
Speaker 2: He spoke in the second half of the day yesterday.
Speaker 2: Let's listen to the president.
Speaker 6: We're tracking the explosion of a cyber truck outside the
Speaker 6: Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Law enforcement and the intelligence
Speaker 6: community are investigating this as well, including whether there's any
Speaker 6: possible connection, but the attack in New Orleans. Thus far,
Speaker 6: there's nothing to report on that score at this time.
Speaker 6: While this person committed a terrible assault on the city,
Speaker 6: the spirit of our New Orleans will never, never, never
Speaker 6: be defeated.
Speaker 2: I'm sure Joe Biden didn't think he'd be spending his
Speaker 2: New Year's Day talking about this as they wind things
Speaker 2: down at the White House. Where's the line when this
Speaker 2: becomes an event that draws the president to that level
Speaker 2: where he needs to go before the cameras to try
Speaker 2: to get the confidence and trust of the American people
Speaker 2: in at a time of uncertainty like this.
Speaker 3: Well, this is one of those moments where being presidential
Speaker 3: and acting presidential is so key because the public is
Speaker 3: looking for that reassurance. Now what rises to that level.
Speaker 3: There are certain moments that are unforgettable. We remember Sandy
Speaker 3: Hook and how that shook the nation to its very
Speaker 3: core and how them President Barack Obama reacted and his
Speaker 3: public display of emotion sharing what the nation felt in
Speaker 3: the moment. And there are other episodes when it's critical
Speaker 3: for the president to really try to bring the nation
Speaker 3: together and offer that sense of security. And it's not
Speaker 3: just the president, of course, as we saw the governor
Speaker 3: of Louisiana Jeff Landry, the mayor of New Orleans doing
Speaker 3: the same thing, But for the president, it is an
Speaker 3: essential function where the president really provides that sense of reassurance,
Speaker 3: that sense of confidence, that sense we have things under control.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something that only a president is capable of doing,
Speaker 2: and it reminds us of how impossible it is to
Speaker 2: prepare for moments like these. You simply have to be
Speaker 2: in the job Michael, we're talking about not only the
Speaker 2: Sugar Bowl later today, but a Super Bowl in the
Speaker 2: super Dome. We're talking about a presidential inauguration here, we're
Speaker 2: talking about January sixth. Do you already put your fingers
Speaker 2: on some of these massive national security events? How does
Speaker 2: all of this change them?
Speaker 3: Well, it will further heighten the awareness and the alert level.
Speaker 3: But you and I both know that the alert level
Speaker 3: here in DC, even during normal time high.
Speaker 4: It really couldn't be higher.
Speaker 3: And yet they do have to be on their toes
Speaker 3: in a way that they think, hey, we have to
Speaker 3: take it up even further. We remember, going all the
Speaker 3: way back to nineteen ninety five, that was a time
Speaker 3: when you could drive on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of
Speaker 3: the White House. That area has steadily been cordoned off
Speaker 3: and blocked off, and now you really can't even cross it.
Speaker 3: And the amount of security around the US Capital too,
Speaker 3: has been heightened to a great degree, not only because
Speaker 3: of nine to eleven, not only because of January sixth,
Speaker 3: but if you go all the way back to the
Speaker 3: time when a deranged gunman first into the Capitol and
Speaker 3: shot several people, including a Capitol police officer, this is
Speaker 3: you know, these are the kinds of events that authorities
Speaker 3: are having to brace for in a way that you know,
Speaker 3: it makes Americans uncomfortable. We like to think we would
Speaker 3: have access to these places, but you know, we live
Speaker 3: in a free and open society. But the security needs
Speaker 3: are really overwhelming us, the people and the officials who
Speaker 3: have to maintain those barriers.
Speaker 2: Michael Shepherds were helping us bring back a lot of memories,
Speaker 2: a lot of tough ones in this case. I was
Speaker 2: in Washington on the day of the Oldenahoma City bombing
Speaker 2: when they shut down Pennsylvania Avenue. It never reopened. That
Speaker 2: wasn't the plan that day, You're right, but it never reopened.
Speaker 2: And I wonder if that's going to be the story
Speaker 2: for Bourbon Street. I know that it's back in the
Speaker 2: possession of the city. They cleaned things up this morning,
Speaker 2: but why shouldn't that be a pedestrian only way.
Speaker 3: Well, and this would really further calls for that. They
Speaker 3: planned to put in some heightened security, some additional ballards
Speaker 3: to block vehicular traffic. That hasn't been carried out yet.
Speaker 3: We'll probably see that accelerated at some point in the
Speaker 3: wake of all this, and other cities will have to
Speaker 3: investigate whether to do this in other heavily traffic pedestrian
Speaker 3: byways too, Do they need to close some of those
Speaker 3: off as well to vehicular traffic for these same reasons?
Speaker 3: And you know there are other aesthetic and urban planning
Speaker 3: reasons as well, where maybe you don't want cars on
Speaker 3: that street so people can enjoy it too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ballards are coming, and boy, you wonder if
Speaker 2: that has an echo effect in other cities with congested
Speaker 2: pedestrian heavy areas like this. They were closing down Newbury
Speaker 2: Street in Boston just for shopping days because it's so
Speaker 2: difficult to get around. New York has its version of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Broadway in times where have long since been
Speaker 3: closed to vehicular traffic, giving pedestrians much much greater leeway
Speaker 3: to move around and enjoy the area. But it also
Speaker 3: does provide a measure of security for them too.
Speaker 2: We have fourteen souls who were lost in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: That number fifteen you may have just heard by the
Speaker 2: way from authorities, does include the driver, does include jabbar.
Speaker 2: There are going to be funerals, tributes, remembrances. Will the
Speaker 2: president be part of them?
Speaker 3: That's a good question, and it's unclear what those plans are.
Speaker 4: We are as authorities were.
Speaker 3: Quick to remind us during that news conference today only
Speaker 3: twenty four hours removed from the event itself, so the
Speaker 3: plans are still taking place, and the President will have
Speaker 3: a busy schedule too, because speaking of funerals, we also
Speaker 3: have the state's funeral schedule for Jimmy Carter on January ninth,
Speaker 3: and he is expected to give a eulogy there. So
Speaker 3: this is a real moment for the nation in terms
Speaker 3: of reflection and mourning and an appreciation of course for
Speaker 3: Jimmy Carter as well.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's a sobering moment and one that we
Speaker 2: like to think Washington is ready for. But if there's
Speaker 2: anyone we could have spend time with today to help
Speaker 2: us make sense of this, it was Michael Sheppard and
Speaker 2: Michael I thank you so much for the time here
Speaker 2: reporting for Bloomberg in Washington, DC.
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Speaker 2: The confirmation hearings, and there's a lot of crossover here
Speaker 2: with what we're talking about. The events in New Orleans
Speaker 2: and Las Vegas has prompted John Thune himself, the incoming
Speaker 2: Majority leader, to call for a hastening or an advance
Speaker 2: in the schedule for these confirmation hearing so the national
Speaker 2: security team specifically can be put together in time for
Speaker 2: the inauguration. It's unclear if that's possible. And that's where
Speaker 2: we start our conversation with Laura Davison, who directs our
Speaker 2: political coverage here in Washington, d C at Bloomberg. Happy
Speaker 2: New Year, Laura, it's great to see you. Is that
Speaker 2: something that will come from the events of the last
Speaker 2: twenty four hours and an accelerated confirmation schedule for Donald
Speaker 2: Trump's team.
Speaker 7: You'll certainly see pushing for that. You know, we saw
Speaker 7: Stephen Miller sort of in the aftermath of all of
Speaker 7: this saying, look, this really just makes the case that,
Speaker 7: you know, we need to get all of these national
Speaker 7: security folks confirmed as soon as possible. You know, there's
Speaker 7: already some of these top administration officials. Pete Hegseth, you know,
Speaker 7: he already has his hearing confirmation hearing in the Senate
Speaker 7: for January thirteenth, so you're starting to see those get scheduled. However,
Speaker 7: there's already sort of a pushback from Democrats saying, look,
Speaker 7: we're going to move methodically, We're not going to hasten
Speaker 7: things just because of the events of recent days.
Speaker 8: Well, and there's also a question as to whether some
Speaker 8: of the pushback against these nominees, like Tulsi Gabbard, for example,
Speaker 8: who's faced a lot of scrutiny over her relationship with
Speaker 8: the now abst to dictator in Syria, Basher al Assade,
Speaker 8: if the scrutiny actually gets more intense, if there is
Speaker 8: concern about a resurgence of some of these terrorist groups
Speaker 8: or those affiliated them or pledging allegiance to them, as
Speaker 8: the FBI said, the Vegas the rather the New Orleans
Speaker 8: attacker specifically was inspired.
Speaker 7: By isis this is going to be really interesting. Lawmakers
Speaker 7: are going to come back into town, you know, today,
Speaker 7: later tomorrow, and they've had you know, basically two weeks
Speaker 7: when they've been away from each other, they haven't been talking,
Speaker 7: and sort of some of the concerns of you know,
Speaker 7: sort of twenty twenty four are now old news, and
Speaker 7: these new things come to light, particularly you know, with
Speaker 7: the events in Syria in December as well. That Tulsy
Speaker 7: Gabbert is one of those names that is coming up
Speaker 7: as someone, you know, who if Republicans are going to say, okay,
Speaker 7: we're there's one that we're not going to confirm, She's
Speaker 7: sort of at the top of that list. We'll see
Speaker 7: kind of how these things shape up going forward. There
Speaker 7: were at least signs that potentially the New Orleans attacker,
Speaker 7: the suspect there was inspired by Isis. We'll see how that,
Speaker 7: you know, moose forward is as investigators continue.
Speaker 2: Just constantly blown away by how quickly the news cycle
Speaker 2: and the conversation can change. But I suspect these hearings
Speaker 2: are going to be difficult one way or the other.
Speaker 2: Does it make the others more likely, for instance, Pete
Speaker 2: Hegseth more likely to be confirmed? Will it maybe move
Speaker 2: up the date for cash Betel's not supposed to have
Speaker 2: a hearings to the middle of February at this point,
Speaker 2: it's certainly possible.
Speaker 7: You know, on the heg Seth front, a lot of
Speaker 7: Trump's closest allies, you know, they said, look, if he
Speaker 7: can kind of survive those really raucous two or three
Speaker 7: weeks he had, he's probably good to go. And that
Speaker 7: if you didn't have more people coming out saying look,
Speaker 7: I can't support him, that ultimately people would fall in line.
Speaker 7: We saw that with Joni ORNs. She didn't say outright
Speaker 7: she would support him, but she said she would support
Speaker 7: him through the process, whatever that means specifically. You know,
Speaker 7: on cash Betel, he's another one who you know, people
Speaker 7: have raised some concerns about. But the calendar is just
Speaker 7: going to get really tricky, you know, because the Senate
Speaker 7: has all these rules and procedures, and there's a lot
Speaker 7: of stuff they want to do. They want to do
Speaker 7: an immigration build, as you know in the Senate as
Speaker 7: one of the first things. The House doesn't necess agree
Speaker 7: on doing that yet we'll see what whoever the next
Speaker 7: speaker is where they go. But there's just a lot
Speaker 7: of things that Republicans have said they want to do
Speaker 7: on day one, and Day one, like every other day,
Speaker 7: is only twenty four hours and only so much you
Speaker 7: could fit in.
Speaker 8: Well, let's talk about who that next speaker is, because
Speaker 8: obviously Mike Johnson would like to stay in the job.
Speaker 8: Donald Trump has suggested he wants Mike Johnson to stay
Speaker 8: in the job, as does Elon Musk. But we have
Speaker 8: very serious questions as to whether tomorrow, when the new
Speaker 8: Congress convenes, Mike Johnson is going to be able to
Speaker 8: get the votes. How steep? Is this climb a hill
Speaker 8: he has to climb and is there anyone else who
Speaker 8: could climb it if not hit it?
Speaker 7: So he could only lose you know, we'll see who
Speaker 7: actually shows up in the room that you know tomorrow
Speaker 7: to vote. But he could only lose a handful of votes.
Speaker 7: You have Tom Massey's saying no, he won't vote. There's
Speaker 7: not a clear person. If it's not Mike Jensen, Mike Johnson,
Speaker 7: then who you know you floated Chip Roy earlier. You know,
Speaker 7: he has someone who has sort of built a following
Speaker 7: the house, except he also has bad beef with Donald Trump.
Speaker 7: They go back and he's supported DeSantis in the primary,
Speaker 7: and Trump is unlikely to come out and support him.
Speaker 7: You know, Jim Jordan's name has always come up during
Speaker 7: these discussions, but it's not clear. You know, Steve Scalice
Speaker 7: also he ran last time. You know, he has had
Speaker 7: some of his own health issues, that he does have
Speaker 7: broad support within the conference. It's possible that we go
Speaker 7: through several rounds of voting, two or three or four
Speaker 7: rounds of voting for some protest votes that have the
Speaker 7: Republicans get out of their system, and then ultimately exactly so,
Speaker 7: this is going to be, you know, a real tense moment.
Speaker 7: It's possible he sails through and then that that particular
Speaker 7: drama is behind us. But his job is still on
Speaker 7: the line no matter what happens. You know, you all
Speaker 7: you have to do is make a couple of Republicans
Speaker 7: mad and he could be.
Speaker 2: Out of a job.
Speaker 8: Narrowest majority we've seen in what almost a.
Speaker 2: Century, Majority one is what we're on track.
Speaker 8: It can be easy for him. Bloomberg's Laura Davison, our
Speaker 8: politics editor here in Washington, thank you so much. Now,
Speaker 8: we are just learning from authorities in Las Vegas related to,
Speaker 8: of course, the cyber truck explosion that happened there, that
Speaker 8: the Las Vegas Police Department will be holding a briefing
Speaker 8: less than an hour from now at two pm Eastern time,
Speaker 8: pertaining of course to that incident, which authorities did tell
Speaker 8: us earlier today, they do not believe is necessary directly related,
Speaker 8: at least they can't say so definitively to the attack
Speaker 8: that happened in New Orleans in the early hours of
Speaker 8: New York State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's for sure. This also was a deadly event.
Speaker 2: As we learn more about the driver and the source
Speaker 2: that both of these vehicles came from, that same touro service,
Speaker 2: that had a lot of folks attempting to connect the dots,
Speaker 2: but as of now we don't have the ability to
Speaker 2: do that. No definitive link according to the FBI.
Speaker 8: No definitive link. But what the FBI did say definitively
Speaker 8: was that the events that took place in New Orleans,
Speaker 8: an attack that killed fourteen people plus the suspected perpetrator,
Speaker 8: was terrorism.
Speaker 5: Let me be very clear about this point. This was
Speaker 5: an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.
Speaker 5: This was obviously a critical incident, and with that, lots
Speaker 5: of information and tips come pouring in from law enforcement,
Speaker 5: first responders, and the public.
Speaker 8: We want to get more reaction now to these events
Speaker 8: and what they mean. Turned to Jane Harmon, who was
Speaker 8: chair of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy also
Speaker 8: former congresswoman from California and author of Insanity Defense. Why
Speaker 8: our failure to confront hard national security problems makes us
Speaker 8: less safe? Jane, thank you so much for being with
Speaker 8: us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. As we consider
Speaker 8: the FBI's characterization of this individual, Jabbar specifically as someone
Speaker 8: who at this time they believe was a lone wolf
Speaker 8: inspired by ISIS, it raises the question of how the
Speaker 8: US can better combat radicalize lone wolf terrorists like this.
Speaker 9: Well, this continues to be a very hard challenge. Soft
Speaker 9: targets like three am in Las Vegas, when the ballards
Speaker 9: are down in New Orleans, when the ballads are down
Speaker 9: or Las Vegas are hard to protect totally. I mean
Speaker 9: New Orleans has to do a better job yesterday. But
Speaker 9: it is interesting that both attacks occurred right around the
Speaker 9: New Year, and the local authorities have said there's no connection.
Speaker 9: But I would just offer the fact that there are
Speaker 9: copycats and there could be more, and I hope we
Speaker 9: don't have a failure of imagination here. It seems to
Speaker 9: me there would be motivation by ISIS because of how
Speaker 9: Syria has gone, and we have attacked them in Syria.
Speaker 9: We the US to hit more soft targets in the US,
Speaker 9: and let me just point out that they're not targeting
Speaker 9: Democrats or Republicans. They're targeting America. So we better pull
Speaker 9: together a little here as we did after nine to eleven,
Speaker 9: and understand that our country, not just one party, is
Speaker 9: under attack. And that motivates me to say one more thing.
Speaker 9: These people were not illegals coming across the southern border.
Speaker 9: Let's get over this. I'm not saying there isn't a
Speaker 9: border issue, and a bill could have passed months ago
Speaker 9: if Trump hadn't blocked it. But I'm saying that there
Speaker 9: are other threats to America and to our infrastructure from
Speaker 9: many countries and many terror groups, and having a responsible
Speaker 9: group of people in chairs in there at the Pentagon
Speaker 9: and the DNI and all the other senior lawn and
Speaker 9: the FBI law enforcement positions matters well.
Speaker 2: Indeed, the points taken Jane, and we haven't seen a
Speaker 2: correction on that truth social post. But I wonder your
Speaker 2: thoughts on what we heard from the outgoing director of
Speaker 2: the FBI, who has been framed as a sort of
Speaker 2: bad guy by the incoming administration. He's basically been fired
Speaker 2: or forced to resign, but it was Christopher Ray, who
Speaker 2: repeatedly said in congressional testimony last year that the United
Speaker 2: States faced a significant threat from lone wolf terrorists inspired
Speaker 2: by the events in the Middle East specifically, and now
Speaker 2: we have this truck with the ISIS flag and basically
Speaker 2: what the FBI director was warning us was going to happen.
Speaker 2: Does he need to be acknowledged for being right?
Speaker 9: He was right, and he's not the first person to
Speaker 9: say this. We've been talking about this since nine to eleven.
Speaker 9: Right after nine to eleven, I became ranking member on
Speaker 9: the House Intelligence Committe and we talked again, not on
Speaker 9: a partisan basis, about threats to America.
Speaker 2: He is right.
Speaker 9: I'm kind of sorry he's resigning. He has a ten
Speaker 9: year position, and he's now creating a circumstance where possibly
Speaker 9: the Trump appointee or whoever is confirmed for the position,
Speaker 9: may be forced out in less than ten years. The
Speaker 9: whole point of a tenure was to put him beyond
Speaker 9: political whims, sort of like the Supreme Court, but they
Speaker 9: have life tenure. But the point is to make the
Speaker 9: FBI an independent agency, and I worry a lot that
Speaker 9: that could change very quickly.
Speaker 8: Well, you're alluding to Jane. Of course, Cash Mattel, who
Speaker 8: has been nominated to lead the FBI next needs to
Speaker 8: be confirmed, as does Tulci Gabbard, who has been tapped
Speaker 8: to lead or be the Director of National Intelligence. There's
Speaker 8: Pete Hegseth who's been tapped for Defense secretary as well.
Speaker 8: Do these events make all of those confirmations easier to
Speaker 8: achieve in the US Senate?
Speaker 2: Unclear.
Speaker 9: I know that that's what the Trump administration is pushing.
Speaker 9: But if I were a Senator, which I'm not, and
Speaker 9: I wanted to exercise my responsibility to approve these nominees,
Speaker 9: I would want this to go at a reasonable pace,
Speaker 9: not too slow, but not too fast. Putting the wrong
Speaker 9: people in these positions and the Senate has to determine
Speaker 9: if they're wrong really violates the senate responsibility to advise
Speaker 9: and consent. And I would point out that the Senate
Speaker 9: hasn't passed budgets on time since twenty eleven, the year
Speaker 9: I left, kind of interesting, and they haven't done this function,
Speaker 9: or they may not do this function well. And they
Speaker 9: have passed on all opportunities to authorize wars, and we've
Speaker 9: been in a few of them, and you know at
Speaker 9: some point some voters going to say, hey, buddy, what
Speaker 9: are you doing in your job? And I really think
Speaker 9: this is crunch time for the United States Senate. And
Speaker 9: there's some excellent senators in both parties who I hope
Speaker 9: will step up and do whatever they think is the
Speaker 9: right thing here.
Speaker 2: How's Joe Biden doing, Jane in these final weeks of
Speaker 2: his administration? He was before the American people yesterday. I
Speaker 2: suspect you might speak again today or tomorrow after being
Speaker 2: briefed in the situation room on what happened in New
Speaker 2: Orleans and Las Vegas. Should he try to correct some
Speaker 2: of the information that Donald Trump is putting out here?
Speaker 2: What is the role as these two essentially compete for
Speaker 2: attention in the next three weeks.
Speaker 9: Well, Joe Biden has a diminished audience. I think he
Speaker 9: has been pitched perfect. On the Jimmy Carter death and
Speaker 9: planning the funeral. I look forward to attending it myself
Speaker 9: since I was Deputy's Cabinet secretary in the Carter White
Speaker 9: House and have some very fond memories of Carter. And
Speaker 9: one of the things that's heartening is that his four
Speaker 9: years in the White House has been reviewed and reconsidered.
Speaker 9: He didn't do everything right, but he was a moral
Speaker 9: conscience and we surely need one now and Biden gets that. Biden,
Speaker 9: I think endorsed Carter, was the first Senator to endorse
Speaker 9: Carter back to the day, and they were good friends,
Speaker 9: and he stepped up to that. And he does need
Speaker 9: to speak out here if he has an opinion, certainly
Speaker 9: he should. I think this claim that these people crossed
Speaker 9: the border to carry out these attacks, which is totally bogus,
Speaker 9: has to be corrected.
Speaker 2: It's great to have you back, Jane, especially on this day.
Speaker 2: Happy New Year to you, despite the news that we've
Speaker 2: been discussing, and we look forward to another year of
Speaker 2: conversation with Jane Harmon, chair of the Commission on the
Speaker 2: National Defense Strategy, former congresswoman, of course, with a lot
Speaker 2: of questions still to be answered. Kaylee, though the FBI
Speaker 2: has been doing a pretty good job knocking down misinformation,
Speaker 2: ideas of connections that may not exist, and the fact
Speaker 2: that he apparently the attacker in New Orleans was not
Speaker 2: wearing a suicide vest as had been reported early on,
Speaker 2: the FBI saying that's not true as well.
Speaker 8: And again the FBI saying that They do believe that
Speaker 8: it was just a single suspect that was involved in
Speaker 8: that attack in Louisiana, a lone wolf at this time,
Speaker 8: and they do not believe the public is in danger.
Speaker 8: We'll have much more still ahead here on Bloomberg TV
Speaker 8: and Radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 8: Eleven thirty Tomorrow is going to be a big hickoff
Speaker 8: as well in Washington, as the one hundred and nineteenth
Speaker 8: Congress takes its seats, and of course a pretty big
Speaker 8: order of business has to happen first in the House
Speaker 8: of Representatives, and that is an election of a speaker.
Speaker 8: It's required for the Chamber to get on with the
Speaker 8: course of the rest of its business, including the swearing
Speaker 8: in of members. Mike Johnson, of course, is the current
Speaker 8: Speaker of the House. Donald Trump has said he would
Speaker 8: like Johnson to remain, so, as has Elon Musk, but
Speaker 8: already at least one Republican Member of Congress, Congressman Tom
Speaker 8: He has said Johnson will not get his vote, and
Speaker 8: he can only afford to lose one more with a
Speaker 8: very tight margin in the House at this time. Mike
Speaker 8: Johnson pled his case on Fox News this morning.
Speaker 10: We're going to get this done. Look, I'm humbled, in
Speaker 10: honored to have President Trump's endorsement for the role again,
Speaker 10: as well as the endorsement of leaders across the conservative
Speaker 10: spectrum and the Republican Party, all my colleagues that are
Speaker 10: standing with us, and we will get this done. Look,
Speaker 10: the things that we're talking about this morning are an
Speaker 10: illustration that we live in very serious times. We cannot
Speaker 10: afford any palace drama here. We have got to get
Speaker 10: the Congress started, which begins tomorrow, and we have to
Speaker 10: get immediately to work.
Speaker 2: Did he say palace drama in this House of Representatives.
Speaker 2: Let's assemble our panel. They're with us on this first
Speaker 2: program of the new year. Jeanie Schanzano, Senior Democracy fellow
Speaker 2: with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress,
Speaker 2: Democratic analyst and Republican strategist. Rick Davis, partner at Stone
Speaker 2: Court Capital. They are both Bloomberg Politics contributors, and great
Speaker 2: to have you both with us here. I don't know
Speaker 2: if the math is working for you here a genie,
Speaker 2: but I believe hackem Jeffries said not a single Democratic vote,
Speaker 2: So that means that Mike Johnson can basically only lose one.
Speaker 2: His name is Tom Massey. Are we going to have
Speaker 2: a speaker tomorrow?
Speaker 11: I thought the same thing, by the way, about the
Speaker 11: palace drama. I guess he's fancying himself the king or
Speaker 11: prince or something.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 11: Can I just throw a monkey wrench in this whole
Speaker 11: thing and say if I was Donald If I was
Speaker 11: Donald Trump, I would be on the phone with Matt
Speaker 11: Gates saying, get yourself to Washington, d C. And you
Speaker 11: make this a two twenty, because as you and Kayley
Speaker 11: keep talking about.
Speaker 9: It's two nineteen.
Speaker 11: He can only afford the one Gates gets in there.
Speaker 11: He can afford a little bit more. It wouldn't, you know,
Speaker 11: be a home run. But That's what I'd be doing
Speaker 11: if I was Donald Trump today. And let give Mike
Speaker 11: Johnson a little bit more breathing room.
Speaker 8: I'm sure there are plenty of people on Capitol Hill
Speaker 8: right now that that exact scenario does not happen. Former
Speaker 8: Congressman Matt Gates has said he doesn't intend to take
Speaker 8: his seat that he was elected to for the one
Speaker 8: hundred and nineteenth, though I guess we can't rule anything
Speaker 8: out barring that scenario.
Speaker 10: Rick.
Speaker 8: We obviously know about Tom Massey. There have been other
Speaker 8: Republicans who have cast a lot of doubt on whether
Speaker 8: or not they would support Mike Johnson. Thinking here specifically
Speaker 8: of Congressman Ship Roy of Texas. How hard is this
Speaker 8: going to be tomorrow?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 13: Look, I mean I think Genie kind of alludes to
Speaker 13: what the really magic could be here, and that is
Speaker 13: changing the denominator.
Speaker 12: It's fifty one percent.
Speaker 13: Of people, you know, members voting on the floor at
Speaker 13: the time, so anytime you take someone on or off
Speaker 13: the board, it changes the overall configuration. So you're right,
Speaker 13: he can't afford to lose two. But if there are
Speaker 13: fewer members voting, and that includes both Democrats and Republicans,
Speaker 13: then it could actually enhance his chances of winning. And
Speaker 13: I think, you know, the big question is Victoria Sparks.
Speaker 12: Is she going to show up?
Speaker 13: She said she's not going to cock She's not interested
Speaker 13: in playing party politics, so she could actually enhance Johnson's
Speaker 13: opportunity to be Speaker on the first ballot if she
Speaker 13: doesn't show up. And also there are others who have
Speaker 13: problems with Johnson, you know, some of the Freedom Caucus members.
Speaker 13: Andy Biggs from Arizona good example. He's not real keen
Speaker 13: on Johnson. He hasn't said whether he'll.
Speaker 12: Support him or not. Just don't show up.
Speaker 13: He'll make his case that he never voted for him,
Speaker 13: and at the same time he actually helps him get elected.
Speaker 12: So that is a.
Speaker 13: Pretty typical Washington parlor game. I wouldn't be surprised to
Speaker 13: see it play out here. My guess is that Democrats
Speaker 13: all show up in force, so the more Republicans that
Speaker 13: don't show up, the easier it is for them to
Speaker 13: actually get Speaker Johnson elected.
Speaker 2: Rick just said something important, Genie that he passes on
Speaker 2: the first round, is that the job tomorrow or after
Speaker 2: what we saw with Kevin McCarthy, is that anything under
Speaker 2: fifteen is a when.
Speaker 11: I think anything under fifteen, you know, listen, at this point,
Speaker 11: if they can get a speaker tomorrow, even if it
Speaker 11: takes a few rounds, that would be a good thing.
Speaker 11: And of course the person everybody is watching because we know,
Speaker 11: as Kayleie mentioned that Massey is a sperm no is
Speaker 11: what happens with chip Roy. And what we understand is
Speaker 11: he had said, maybe Mike Johnson names him chair of
Speaker 11: the rules committee, that may help him get to a yes,
Speaker 11: because he's not a firm no yet. So in addition
Speaker 11: to the denominator issue that Rick was talking about, a
Speaker 11: lot of this is going to be what can you
Speaker 11: do for me, Mike Johnson? What kind of carrots can
Speaker 11: you give to get me to yes or at least
Speaker 11: to stay out of the chamber and so you can
Speaker 11: get to yes. And that's what we'll be watching as well.
Speaker 11: You know, if they were to name chip Roy chair
Speaker 11: of the committee he's already on it, that would be
Speaker 11: problematic for a lot of other Republicans. And you know
Speaker 11: Democrats are going to be there in full force. Even
Speaker 11: Nancy Pelosi, who broke her kith recently, is going to
Speaker 11: be there.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we heard that from the Speaker, Amrita herself today
Speaker 8: from the airplane. As we consider this notion that this
Speaker 8: obviously has to happen at some point to certify the
Speaker 8: results of the presidential election, which is scheduled to take
Speaker 8: place on Monday, January sixth.
Speaker 10: Rick.
Speaker 8: It speaks to the very serious nature of the business
Speaker 8: the House does have to deal with in pretty short order.
Speaker 8: Not just of course that, but then there's other things
Speaker 8: happening in January, including a state funeral for former President
Speaker 8: Jimmy Carter on the ninth, and there's the inauguration on
Speaker 8: January twenty. It's just given this very stacked calendar of events,
Speaker 8: how much pressure does that put on this situation? And
Speaker 8: Mike Johnson specifically to try to find a resolution here
Speaker 8: by potentially, say, negotiating the rules package that was put
Speaker 8: out in the last few days.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 12: This is no typical year in transition.
Speaker 13: Republicans now have each of the chambers of power, the Senate,
Speaker 13: the White House, and the House. There's an expect that
Speaker 13: because of that they'll step out lively and get a
Speaker 13: lot done in the first one hundred days.
Speaker 12: You know even how much they can get done in.
Speaker 13: The first year, and so I think there's enormous pressure there.
Speaker 13: And of course you point out the constitutional requirements. This
Speaker 13: is a presidential election year, so you have to actually
Speaker 13: certify the election on the sixth of January, and you
Speaker 13: have to actually have an inaugural on the twentieth, and
Speaker 13: so these are deadlines that are gonna really press hard
Speaker 13: on the willingness to have a lot of mischief in
Speaker 13: this first day. I think that it's actually going to
Speaker 13: make it easier for Johnson. Nobody's that enthusiastic about him.
Speaker 13: Nobody thinks that his first year in office was particularly
Speaker 13: smooth or successful, and so there's not like a desperate
Speaker 13: want to have him in his leadership. But the reality
Speaker 13: is he's short a couple of votes. Maybe today, everybody
Speaker 13: else on the list of likely successors would be short
Speaker 13: thirty or forty votes on the first ballot, And so
Speaker 13: the Republicans know that the minute they reject Johnson, they
Speaker 13: open themselves up to a lot of potential political harm
Speaker 13: and delays that could actually put pressure on these important
Speaker 13: constitutional dates. So yeah, it's not so much everyone's excited
Speaker 13: about Johnson getting another term a speaker, but they fear the.
Speaker 12: Outcome if he's not, and that is enough probably.
Speaker 2: To get him over well. For the benefit of our
Speaker 2: radio listeners, we had a graphic up showing the busy
Speaker 2: month of January starting tomorrow with the new Congress. As
Speaker 2: Kayleie mentioned, we go through the sixth, the election certification,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter state funeral on January ninth, we have the inaugural.
Speaker 2: Of course, on the twentieth, I'll add Donald Trump's rally
Speaker 2: here downtown at the Cap Center. That'll be the night
Speaker 2: before the inauguration. Jeanie, there are a lot of questions
Speaker 2: about securing these events for what took place yesterday in
Speaker 2: Las Vegas and New Orleans. Realizing now, according to the FBI,
Speaker 2: these events, however, were not connected, does that make us
Speaker 2: feel better about managing these massive security events in the
Speaker 2: nation's capital.
Speaker 11: You know, I don't know if it makes us feel
Speaker 11: any better. Even if we go before what happened in
Speaker 11: New Orleans and Las Vegas. We see the president elect,
Speaker 11: he was victimized by two attempted assassinations, just really unprecedented
Speaker 11: amount of violence in this last presidential election. Now, these
Speaker 11: two incidents, which as you mentioned, they're saying are not connected,
Speaker 11: but it is still an environment so scary in terms
Speaker 11: of the amount of violence. I'm even just thinking about.
Speaker 11: The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court just issued his
Speaker 11: annual State of the Court report, and the number one
Speaker 11: issue he highlighted was the challenge that justices are facing
Speaker 11: as it pertains to threats to their life violence. We
Speaker 11: even have chief have a justice rather of the Supreme
Speaker 11: Court wearing a bulletproof vest. So I think all of
Speaker 11: these what's going to happen in DC over the next month,
Speaker 11: security is going to be very tight. They're already starting
Speaker 11: to plan boarding up the place, and I think it
Speaker 11: really is going to be a big challenge. Are we
Speaker 11: up to the challenge, Absolutely, and we have enough notice
Speaker 11: of these events for sure. But as we've seen in
Speaker 11: the last few days, just one bone wolf can do
Speaker 11: enormous amount of damage.
Speaker 8: Well, and we can add a few items to the
Speaker 8: calendar in January, Rick, For example, January fourteenth is when
Speaker 8: the confirmation hearings for the nominee for Secretary of Defense,
Speaker 8: Pete Hegseth will begin. As we consider these national security
Speaker 8: oriented cabinet officials who want to join the second Trump administration,
Speaker 8: how much do the events of the last thirty six
Speaker 8: hours influence their confirmation prospects?
Speaker 13: Well, it puts a lot more heat on them, right,
Speaker 13: So nobody's going to want to see delay in this process.
Speaker 13: So they've laid out a schedule for many of these
Speaker 13: national security appointees to have committee hearings, which would then
Speaker 13: trigger obviously votes on the floor of the Senate. And
Speaker 13: so yes, nobody wants to see that delayed. And of
Speaker 13: course on top of that, it'll put more pressure on
Speaker 13: things like background checks to be done on time so
Speaker 13: there are no delays to that process.
Speaker 12: So it creates tension inside the system.
Speaker 13: And as Genie was talking about the Supreme Court, I
Speaker 13: was reminded, in additional all these things happening in January,
Speaker 13: don't forget that.
Speaker 12: The Supreme Court will be hearing the TikTok tape case
Speaker 12: and just a couple of days, and so we'll have.
Speaker 13: Lots to talk about on balance of power throughout the
Speaker 13: month of January.
Speaker 8: Oh, you best believe it, and you best believe we'll
Speaker 8: be talking to our signature political panel about all of
Speaker 8: these things. Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzino here with us
Speaker 8: on our first show of the new year, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8: Thank you so much to you both. Joe, I'm tired
Speaker 8: already and it's literally just begune.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't worry, You'll have this weekend the eat your wheaties.
Speaker 2: We'll come back full strength. We are full strength today.
Speaker 2: They're all with us in the bureau. Stay here on
Speaker 2: Bloomberg TV and radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
Speaker 1: us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on
Speaker 1: Alma Coarckley and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
Speaker 1: Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch
Speaker 1: us live on YouTube.
Speaker 2: As we try to get our arms around the start
Speaker 2: of this new Congress, we'll be right at this time tomorrow.
Speaker 2: We'll be talking with you on Bloomberg TV and Radio
Speaker 2: about what may be happening with a speaker's vote. Of course,
Speaker 2: to bring in the new Congress. To swear in the
Speaker 2: new Congress, you need to have a Speaker of the
Speaker 2: House and somebody who knows a little bit about that,
Speaker 2: as Britney Martinez, who works in Kevin McCarthy's Speaker's office,
Speaker 2: Republican strategist and founder of Espina and Company. It's great
Speaker 2: to have you back, Britney. Happy New Year. What's your
Speaker 2: expectation for tomorrow when the one hundred nineteenth Congress attempts
Speaker 2: to begin?
Speaker 14: Well, thank you for having me back in a Happy
Speaker 14: New Year. To you as well. You know what, I
Speaker 14: think that Johnson's going to get the vote. I don't
Speaker 14: know if it's going to happen on a first round.
Speaker 14: I do think that a little bit of chaos is
Speaker 14: going to ensue. But he did get the Donald Trump endorsement,
Speaker 14: so I think his speakership is safe for the most part.
Speaker 8: Well, so let's talk about that Trump endorsement, because many
Speaker 8: people have suggested to us that that is what would
Speaker 8: make or break anyone's speaker's bid. But it doesn't seem
Speaker 8: that Trump is necessarily swaying the minds of those lawmakers
Speaker 8: that we have greatest question about. Tom Massey, as we've
Speaker 8: repeatedly said, is a firm no. But we are unclear
Speaker 8: on people like Chip Roy or Andy Biggs. Keeping in mind,
Speaker 8: Chip Roy endorsed Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary initially,
Speaker 8: So does Chip Roy really care what Trump says?
Speaker 14: I think that the folks that are the most concerned
Speaker 14: are probably the ones that you mentioned and may not
Speaker 14: care that much what the former president has to say.
Speaker 14: But there were some folks during the cr who were
Speaker 14: very tough on Johnson Beyond those people, so I think
Speaker 14: in that sense, it'll help those people. The freshman coming in.
Speaker 14: I think they don't sway their vote. But yes, you're right,
Speaker 14: there are a couple of outstanding ones from the Freedom
Speaker 14: of Caucus especially who probably won't vote for Johnson, at
Speaker 14: least not on the first or second vote. I would
Speaker 14: expect it to maybe go to three votes. If it
Speaker 14: went longer than that, I would be a little bit surprised.
Speaker 14: But it's one hundred and nineteen Congress. Hopefully things will
Speaker 14: be more normal than they have been. But it's been
Speaker 14: a weird few years, so I think that he doesn't
Speaker 14: have it on the first time.
Speaker 2: All right, this is good though, Brittany Martinez tells us
Speaker 2: three rounds. I'm gonna remember this tomorrow. Brittany will play
Speaker 2: the tape back. We're hearing anything less than fifteen is
Speaker 2: a good look for Mike Johnson. There's a question though,
Speaker 2: about whether the gentleman from Florida shows up. Is Matt
Speaker 2: Gates going to show up tomorrow to be sworn in
Speaker 2: and help Mike Johnson and Donald Trump with the math.
Speaker 14: I wouldn't be surprised if Gates shows up, but I
Speaker 14: think he just likes to be a little bit of
Speaker 14: a chaos agent. I don't know if he would go
Speaker 14: through the whole motions of being sworn in and doing
Speaker 14: a vote for Johnson. Maybe again, I know we talk
Speaker 14: about this every time. It's been a few weird years
Speaker 14: in politics, but I don't know if I see him
Speaker 14: going through all those steps, if he's going to just
Speaker 14: step back again. But maybe he shows up just like
Speaker 14: George Stantos keeps showing up just to sort of be involved,
Speaker 14: and he starts. I think tonight is his first episode,
Speaker 14: if I believe. If I saw that correctly on Twitter,
Speaker 14: Ona and n So, I think he's ready got.
Speaker 8: Us to talk about it free promotion.
Speaker 2: Little did I know what I was star well.
Speaker 8: But we should all keep in mind that it was
Speaker 8: Matt Gates, a single member of Congress, who brought the
Speaker 8: motion to vacate against your former boss, Kevin McCarthy, and
Speaker 8: he was able to do so, Brittany, because of what
Speaker 8: McCarthy had to negotiate to become speaker at the beginning
Speaker 8: of the one hundred and eighteen Congress, porting certain people
Speaker 8: on the Rules Committee and allowing anyone member to have
Speaker 8: that power to try to kick out the speaker. The
Speaker 8: rules that have been put forward this time are different.
Speaker 8: It would take nine Republicans to oust a speaker. Do
Speaker 8: you think that will stay firm? Or if Johnson isn't
Speaker 8: able to get the votes he needs on ballot one,
Speaker 8: is he going to have to start negotiating as we
Speaker 8: saw McCarthy do.
Speaker 14: I think going with nine was a smart place to start,
Speaker 14: trying to start from a place of strength, where what
Speaker 14: it had been for a few years had been five votes,
Speaker 14: what it had been historically for a while it was
Speaker 14: one vote. So McCarthy brought it back to the one vote.
Speaker 14: I believe that we started with the five and then
Speaker 14: brought it down to the one. So yes, I think
Speaker 14: that was intentional and strategic in order to be able
Speaker 14: to negotiate with the chip Roys and Tom Massey's, the
Speaker 14: Freedom Caucus folks who aren't sold on him yet, and
Speaker 14: I wouldn't be. I don't expect that it'll be nine ultimately.
Speaker 14: I could see it ranging in the one to five range.
Speaker 14: And I might be wrong on this too. We'll see,
Speaker 14: you know what ultimately turns out tomorrow. But I don't
Speaker 14: see nine is way too many for these Freedom Caucus guys.
Speaker 14: I think they'll try to do the fib or below.
Speaker 2: How about for just Republicans. There's a proposal here to
Speaker 2: make it for Republican members only, so Democrats, for instance,
Speaker 2: would not be able to fire the Republicans. Speaker Jim
Speaker 2: McGovern's head exploded when he heard about this, and he
Speaker 2: put out a pretty stern warning that it would never
Speaker 2: happen in his statement, what does the final product look like?
Speaker 6: There?
Speaker 2: Is it d's and ours?
Speaker 14: I think it should be both. Ultimately, you know, it's
Speaker 14: a Congress for the people. So why are Republicans, just
Speaker 14: because we're in the majority, the only ones who can
Speaker 14: bring forward that motion? You know when Democrats do. We
Speaker 14: want Democrats to do the same thing in a few
Speaker 14: years ultimately when the House flips again, because that's just
Speaker 14: the way that Congress works. I think that when you're
Speaker 14: in the majority and you're in the position of power,
Speaker 14: you need to be careful about the rules and precedent
Speaker 14: that you implement because in a few years that might
Speaker 14: come around to bite you.
Speaker 8: Well, especially when you're in a majority but just barely Brittany,
Speaker 8: even if Mike Johnson canned on round one, two, three,
Speaker 8: or whatever, however many rounds it takes to secure the gavel.
Speaker 8: Even if he can get that done, if it proves
Speaker 8: difficult to accomplish tomorrow, what does that signal about the
Speaker 8: way legislation is going to move through the House in
Speaker 8: this Congress. Knowing that Donald Trump has some pretty big
Speaker 8: ticket items he wants to see done in short order.
Speaker 14: A lot of people are out there are saying that
Speaker 14: Trump really has his first two years to try to
Speaker 14: push his agenda forward, and that afterwards, it's going to
Speaker 14: be a lame duck. To be honest with you, I
Speaker 14: feel like we're already kind of going into a lame duck.
Speaker 14: Like you said, the majority is so slim in the
Speaker 14: House and the Senate. It's a little bit stronger, but
Speaker 14: it's going to be hard to be able to move
Speaker 14: the needle on some of these Trump things if Republicans
Speaker 14: and Democrats don't work together. We saw that issue come
Speaker 14: up with CR funding at the end of the year.
Speaker 14: Well you only a couple days ago, I guess, But
Speaker 14: at the end of twenty twenty four, we saw that
Speaker 14: issue come up. We saw Elon come in and try
Speaker 14: to sway things his way. We see Vivek, we see
Speaker 14: you know, the doge folks, admin folks, so you know what,
Speaker 14: I am not going to be surprised if this solemn
Speaker 14: majority proves to be pretty tough to navigate.
Speaker 2: You know, there's been an idea here that it's different
Speaker 2: this time Brittany than it was for Kevin McCarthy or
Speaker 2: even for Mike Johnson the first time around, because of
Speaker 2: the election of Donald Trump. That vote needs to be
Speaker 2: certified by January sixth. On January sixth, according to the
Speaker 2: US Constitution, and some think that's enough leverage to get
Speaker 2: every Republican member of the Conference to vote for Mike
Speaker 2: Johnson so Donald Trump can move into the White House.
Speaker 14: I don't envision this going as long as McCarthy's vote did.
Speaker 14: It was the fifteen rounds, but it was also over
Speaker 14: the course of a few days. I think this will
Speaker 14: probably get done tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised, maybe if
Speaker 14: it goes into the early hours of Saturday morning, sort
Speaker 14: of like it did when it was McCarthy on that
Speaker 14: final vote. It was very very early in the morning.
Speaker 14: But I do think that Republicans are ultimately going to
Speaker 14: want to come together and push this speaker forward, and
Speaker 14: no one else is going to be able to get
Speaker 14: the boats, so they can be upset about it, they
Speaker 14: can use that to negotiate, but ultimately I think that's
Speaker 14: all they have, is the tool to negotiate. I don't
Speaker 14: think anyone else is going to be able to be
Speaker 14: in that role unless Trump decided to put an endorsement
Speaker 14: behind somebody else, which is not going to happen, And
Speaker 14: so I think we'll see it ultimately come together tomorrow.
Speaker 7: All right.
Speaker 8: Brittany Martinez, founder of Aspina and Company. Of course, former
Speaker 8: staffer to Speaker Emeritus Kevin McCarthy, who had to go
Speaker 8: fifteen rounds to secure the gavel at the beginning of
Speaker 8: the one hundred and eighteenth Congress. Thank you so much.
Speaker 8: We still have, of course, a long day of events,
Speaker 8: it seems, Joe to look ahead to tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
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