Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On.
Speaker 1: It is incumbent upon us all to watch the words
Speaker 1: that we say and to turn down the volume of
Speaker 1: our political rhetoric. Same day voting all paper ballots, very simple.
Speaker 1: They have no problem that. Every day I'm dedicating consider
Speaker 1: a lot of resources just to give people confidence so
Speaker 1: they can cast to vote safely. That is Bloomberg Sound
Speaker 1: on Politics, Policy and Perspective from DC's top name. Russian
Speaker 1: aggression does pose an immediate and sharp threat to our
Speaker 1: interests and vote. Nothing more than an effort to brutalize
Speaker 1: the people of Ukraine. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. The Justice Department says it may be
Speaker 1: illegal voter intimidation. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics,
Speaker 1: as the Feds respond to armed groups gathering around dropboxes
Speaker 1: in the state of Arizona may violate the Federal Voting
Speaker 1: Rights Act. Will talk about the impact of vigilante security
Speaker 1: and how it's being controlled with Bill Gates, Chairman of
Speaker 1: the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Later, Russia knocks the
Speaker 1: lights out across Ukraine and a continued assault on civilians
Speaker 1: will be joined by another American who's trying to make
Speaker 1: a difference. Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is now raising
Speaker 1: money for the war effort as a new ambassador to
Speaker 1: Ukraine's United four and with a week to the election,
Speaker 1: our signature panel is in place. Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick
Speaker 1: Davis and Genie Schanzano. They're here for the hour. The
Speaker 1: Department of Justice now getting involved in some legal action
Speaker 1: over groups of people hanging around outdoor ballot drop boxes.
Speaker 1: You've probably seen videos of them at this point, it's
Speaker 1: dark out. They're often armed, sometimes wearing tactical gear kevlar
Speaker 1: vess and they're filming and photographing voters. Says, they drop
Speaker 1: off their ballots presumably you know, on the way home
Speaker 1: from work, and in many cases posting these videos and
Speaker 1: pictures online. Six cases of alleged voter intimidation at dropbox
Speaker 1: locations throughout Arizona have been referred to the Justice Department,
Speaker 1: which has now filed a statement of interest in a
Speaker 1: consolidated case brought by the League of Women Voters of Arizona.
Speaker 1: It says, in part quote, when private citizens form ballot
Speaker 1: security forces, an attempt to take over the state's legitimate
Speaker 1: role of overseeing and policing elections. The risk of voter
Speaker 1: intimidation and violating federal law is significant. We heard from
Speaker 1: Maricopa County Sheriff Paul pen Zone the end of last week.
Speaker 1: He told reporters, actually this was just yesterday. He's working
Speaker 1: with the do O J now locals working with FEDS
Speaker 1: to identify incidents of intimidations undermining who we are as
Speaker 1: a nation. And I think that it's um self serving
Speaker 1: in many ways. And what I see now as a
Speaker 1: sheriff of one of the biggest counties of nation, I
Speaker 1: see that every day I'm dedicating considered amount of resources
Speaker 1: just to give people confidence so they can cast evoke safely.
Speaker 1: And that is absurd. It is absurd, and that's why
Speaker 1: we're talking about it. And joined by someone at the
Speaker 1: center of this whole story, Bill Gates, is chairman of
Speaker 1: the Republican led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and Bill,
Speaker 1: I thank you for joining us today on Bloomberg. Have
Speaker 1: you had additional reports of incidents at drop boxes the
Speaker 1: last couple of days, Well, first of all, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. Uh, I have not um heard of anything
Speaker 1: in the last couple of days. I am very grateful
Speaker 1: to Sheriff pin Zone, who you just had some audio
Speaker 1: from in his work and his team, But as he said,
Speaker 1: it really is absurd that in two in the fourth
Speaker 1: largest country in the United States of America, we're having
Speaker 1: to talk about law enforcement being uh. They're being available
Speaker 1: to protect people's right to vote. Have you made plans
Speaker 1: to or have already beefed up security at drop boxes
Speaker 1: uh and polling places. I've seen video as well of
Speaker 1: law enforcement responding, and that's what we're talking about here
Speaker 1: with Sheriff pen Zone. But is there something more deliberate
Speaker 1: you can do in architecture you can build with with
Speaker 1: such little time left? Yeah. So I've been in actually
Speaker 1: multiple meetings over the past few months with Sheriffin Zone,
Speaker 1: our county recorder who shares election and responsibilities with the
Speaker 1: Board of Supervisors, and both local law enforcement and federal
Speaker 1: are federal law enforcement partners. It's something that we take
Speaker 1: seriously and it's something that we continue to look at
Speaker 1: the best way to structure this to keep everyone safe.
Speaker 1: But it's important for people to keep in mind as
Speaker 1: well that we're not going to turn this into a
Speaker 1: police state. When people come to the polling places, they
Speaker 1: shouldn't expect and they will not find that we have
Speaker 1: uniformed officers everywhere, because that that doesn't send the right
Speaker 1: message either. But trust me, there will be an appropriate
Speaker 1: uh structure put in place to help people to feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: Some uniformed, but a lot of also folks playing closed
Speaker 1: and other uh. You know, we have a lot of
Speaker 1: life stream cameras, for example, on these drop boxes, so
Speaker 1: when people go there, they need to know both being
Speaker 1: there to vote and then also those that might stand
Speaker 1: there in the attempt to intimidate folks that we are
Speaker 1: watching that. So it's safe to say you are monitoring
Speaker 1: the monitors we are. Have you considered things like panic buttons,
Speaker 1: hardening doors and so forth that polling locations and I
Speaker 1: realized that's a different matter than outdoor drop boxes. But
Speaker 1: with the idea of you know, voting in person next Tuesday,
Speaker 1: there's another matter to consider there too. Yeah. Again, we
Speaker 1: have put a structure in place, and we've been having
Speaker 1: these discussions really on a daily basis with the whole
Speaker 1: team to make people feel comfortable. We it takes three
Speaker 1: thousands in a counting of our size three thousand temporary
Speaker 1: workers to pull off this election. So we're grateful to
Speaker 1: those folks. Those people are our family members. There are neighbors, Uh,
Speaker 1: there might be uh, you know, folks that we've worked
Speaker 1: with in the past, and so we want to make
Speaker 1: sure that they feel comfortable as well, and we're doing that.
Speaker 1: So again, I want people to know how much we
Speaker 1: appreciate their involvement in this election, but also that they're
Speaker 1: going to be safe. Well, we couldn't do it without them,
Speaker 1: and that's a great concern is that these volunteers are
Speaker 1: being tracked uh as well. Here are are you ready
Speaker 1: to deal with allegations of voter fraud? Do you have
Speaker 1: you know, the so called army of lawyers ready? How
Speaker 1: is this going to deal with with dealing particularly with
Speaker 1: these ballots? And when does counting begin? Bill? Yeah, So
Speaker 1: actually we've already started. We started early last week with
Speaker 1: the counting of the early ballots that came in and
Speaker 1: so as we will continue to vote account those early
Speaker 1: ballots through uh the through this weekend, and so at
Speaker 1: eight pm on Tuesday night, we will be reporting hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands of votes. These are of the of the
Speaker 1: early ballots already at the same time, we continue to
Speaker 1: have people were running early voting locations around Maricopa County
Speaker 1: now will run those through election day of course, so
Speaker 1: there's still hundreds of thousands of people who are to vote.
Speaker 1: But to respond to your question of will we be
Speaker 1: ready to respond to allegations of fraud, yes, number one,
Speaker 1: if there's anything going on that people are aware of,
Speaker 1: we want to be made aware of it. We're we're
Speaker 1: not going to say that there couldn't be some attempts.
Speaker 1: We know that there are things here and there, maybe
Speaker 1: someone trying to vote, you know, for a dead spouse
Speaker 1: or something. Those things go on and we're going to
Speaker 1: follow up on those. But if there are people who
Speaker 1: are alleging systemic fraud at Maricopa County like we experienced
Speaker 1: in like was alleged in the so called cyber Ninja audit, uh,
Speaker 1: we will be ready to respond to that as well.
Speaker 1: And look, you talk about lawyers, we have a county
Speaker 1: attorney here, Rachel Mitchell and her team who do incredible
Speaker 1: work defending what's going on at Maricopa County elections. We're
Speaker 1: getting sued all the time. Unfortunately, there's a whole cadre
Speaker 1: now of people who want to disrupt the election, and
Speaker 1: they're using these lawsuits, frivolous lawsuits, I would add, as
Speaker 1: part of that effort. But again, we'll be ready to
Speaker 1: respond to whatever happens. Uh. And we will once this
Speaker 1: election is complete, once any sort of allegations have been
Speaker 1: addressed in the courts. The important thing is we need
Speaker 1: each and every candidate in these elections to acknowledge the
Speaker 1: results and be willing to move forward. Obviously that did
Speaker 1: not happen in but our democracy requires that that happened
Speaker 1: this time in I was reading before our conversation about
Speaker 1: the National Ballot Security Task Force that was organized by
Speaker 1: Roger Stone back in nineteen one to help a New
Speaker 1: Jersey gubernatorial campaign, and it at Tom Keane. Uh. And
Speaker 1: this led to legal action, in fact that really changed
Speaker 1: the way Republicans, a consent decree that that essentially forced
Speaker 1: the Republican Party to operate under a special set of
Speaker 1: rules in New Jersey. Could that happen again in Arizona? Well,
Speaker 1: I certainly hope not. And I have a personal vested
Speaker 1: interest in this because before I was a member of
Speaker 1: the Board of Supervisors, and then before that, the Phoenix
Speaker 1: City Council. I actually used to work on behalf of
Speaker 1: the Arizona Republican Party look at making sure that there
Speaker 1: wasn't any fraud going on on election day. We followed
Speaker 1: the law, we worked with other lawyers, we worked with
Speaker 1: poll observers. This is actually part of the process. What
Speaker 1: is not a part of the process is, for example,
Speaker 1: UH dressing up in military gear outside of drop boxes
Speaker 1: trying to intimidate voters. What's also not part of the
Speaker 1: process is once all of the legal attles have been completed,
Speaker 1: continuing to allege fraud, continuing to allege that the election
Speaker 1: was rigged. Like I said, here in Arizona, two years
Speaker 1: after the election, we're literally defending what are good people
Speaker 1: did in the election every day here Americopa County, and
Speaker 1: unfortunately a lot of that is coming from the leaders
Speaker 1: of my party as a Republican. But will continue to
Speaker 1: do that. I will defend what happened in and I
Speaker 1: will respond to allegations of fraud as long as I
Speaker 1: have to, because there's nothing more important I've ever worked
Speaker 1: on as an elected official, trying to defend this democratic
Speaker 1: republic in our election system. Bill I, you've been out
Speaker 1: there speaking. I saw you recently on sixty minutes. I
Speaker 1: have to ask you what the personal impact has been
Speaker 1: on you talking openly about this. Threats against your team,
Speaker 1: threats against your family. Are you safe? We are safe.
Speaker 1: Thank you for asking. Again. We've got a great team
Speaker 1: here in Maricopa County. But it's been hard. I'm a
Speaker 1: lifelong Republican, like I said, you know, I've I've been
Speaker 1: I've been a good soldier for the Republican Party, and
Speaker 1: now that I've been speaking out about the truth, I've
Speaker 1: been censured by members of the Arizona Republican Party. A
Speaker 1: lot of people call me a rhino, you know, Republican
Speaker 1: in name only. They called me a trader in my
Speaker 1: colleague traders against it just because we're telling the truth.
Speaker 1: But we'll keep doing what we've been doing because we
Speaker 1: know that that we're doing the right thing. And again,
Speaker 1: if there are things that are being done that are
Speaker 1: wrong with this election, I know you'll point them out. Bill.
Speaker 1: I'm delighted you could come on with us. Stay safe,
Speaker 1: and thank you for talking with us. I'm Joe Matthew.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. Sound On with
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew. On Bloomberg Radio as they continue counting early
Speaker 1: votes in Arizona. As we just discussed with the chair
Speaker 1: of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, we are reminded
Speaker 1: that it is not a coincidence. We're seeing vigilante ballot
Speaker 1: watchers gather around drop bosses, not only in Arizona, but
Speaker 1: in other states. They've been encouraged to do so for months.
Speaker 1: Look at France to having an election. You know what
Speaker 1: they do, same day, voting, all paper ballots, very simple.
Speaker 1: They have no problem. And that's what we have to
Speaker 1: get to. We can't have these elections and go for
Speaker 1: forty eight days. That was in April in Ohio, Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: of course, and that's a refrain we have heard since
Speaker 1: before the twenty elections. Listen to Arizona gubernatorial candidates. Nominee
Speaker 1: Carry Lake right, same thing, never said, she told John
Speaker 1: carl and ABC recently. Doesn't say election month in the constitution.
Speaker 1: It's called the election day. And so there's a lot
Speaker 1: of confusion around your gonna you breathe a word about this,
Speaker 1: the twitter blows up, I'll tell you that, and so
Speaker 1: we assemble the panel. They know about these things. Rick
Speaker 1: Davis and g D Schanzano are Bloomberg Politics contributors and
Speaker 1: our signature panel here. Rick Noeh knows Arizona politics better
Speaker 1: than you. And you hear about a long time Republican
Speaker 1: like Bill Gates being threatened of course for doing his job,
Speaker 1: and you wonder how this is gonna end. And not
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna be settled with this on Tuesday. God, we
Speaker 1: won't even know the outcome of most of these races
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Well, we probably will in Arizona only because
Speaker 1: they're so efficient what they do. And I'm so glad
Speaker 1: you had Bill on. I've worked with him when he
Speaker 1: was in state party to ensure you know, ballot security. Uh.
Speaker 1: And look, every campaign has a ballot security operation. Lawyers
Speaker 1: you know who are on call or even in you know,
Speaker 1: polling places in precincts where there might be some problems
Speaker 1: to lend a hand, poll watchers who volunteered to do
Speaker 1: their civic duty and go into the polls. All this
Speaker 1: is really healthy for the for the American democracy. What
Speaker 1: what is amazing is that armed vigilantes are able to
Speaker 1: run off voters. And believe me, they're on and off voters.
Speaker 1: They're only there to run off voters. And and in
Speaker 1: the past, when we've seen this in campaign activity, it
Speaker 1: gets called out and the federal judges who administered these
Speaker 1: elections federal elections are are usually sharp to to slap
Speaker 1: them across the knuckles. Um. And I'm a little surprised
Speaker 1: at nothing like that's happened so far in Arizona. I
Speaker 1: gotta be honest, gen you know, it's dark out, you're
Speaker 1: on your way home from work, presumably maybe you're on
Speaker 1: your way in. You you do the overnight shift. If
Speaker 1: I got out of my car and saw like a
Speaker 1: bunch of pickup trucks with dudes with their faces covered, armed,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure i'd leave, how about you? Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: And and some of these cases, these complaints that have
Speaker 1: been filed, you have you know, a couple in one
Speaker 1: case who said that they the people were armed, they
Speaker 1: were dressed in military gear. They were filming them, following
Speaker 1: them and then recorded their license plates numbers, their faces covered.
Speaker 1: And of course it's illegal to film within seventy five
Speaker 1: of a poll in Arizona. But I think you know
Speaker 1: the reality of this is the genesis of all of this.
Speaker 1: This is happening because you have leaders, and you just
Speaker 1: played some of them, like Donald Trump and like Carrie
Speaker 1: Lake and others Mark Fincham, who have been going around
Speaker 1: and saying because Donald Trump lost the election Arizoned by
Speaker 1: ten thousand points, it had to be because voters had
Speaker 1: improperly cast ballots. And so this false claim of casting
Speaker 1: ballots in these ballot boxes is what is sort of
Speaker 1: the genesis of all of this. And that's why you
Speaker 1: got these vigilante groups going around. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: it's not just Arizona, you know, Arizona, as he talked about,
Speaker 1: they're going to start counting votes. Are they already stounded
Speaker 1: counting votes? But look at Pennsylvania where this is also
Speaker 1: going on. They don't start counting until election day, So
Speaker 1: we are looking would be a hundred years old before
Speaker 1: we know the results of this election. We're gonna feel
Speaker 1: like it at least are they doing enough? Rick? Though,
Speaker 1: to your point of enforcing the law around these drop boxes?
Speaker 1: Do they need more security there? Clearly trying to be
Speaker 1: careful to Bill Gates's point and not turn these, you
Speaker 1: know in into police state polling places. Yeah. Look, I
Speaker 1: mean the drop box is a relatively recent phenomena. Right.
Speaker 1: I mean, there really weren't drop boxes around prior to COVID.
Speaker 1: People dropped off their ballots at you know, their county
Speaker 1: UM administrative offices and in some cases even near their
Speaker 1: precincts UM and and and and Genie's right. There are
Speaker 1: rules that are governed those places. Those same rules may
Speaker 1: or may not apply to these drop boxes that are
Speaker 1: in you know, all kinds of different places, usually parking
Speaker 1: lots and you know, uh, shopping centers, which there are
Speaker 1: a prolethora of in Arizona, and and so um. The
Speaker 1: reality is a lot of this is untested. But I
Speaker 1: would say one thing, these are not just some vigilante
Speaker 1: groups that have gotten together and said, oh, we're going
Speaker 1: to do this on your own. That's incredibly difficult to do.
Speaker 1: It is highly likely that six months from now we'll
Speaker 1: be reading about another investigation that these things were coordinated,
Speaker 1: that they were part of a strategy to intimidate voters,
Speaker 1: and it nationally coordinated. I mean, look, somebody has a
Speaker 1: vested interest in seeing this happen, and nine times out
Speaker 1: of ten it's not some local vigilante group. So who's
Speaker 1: behind this, Genie, Well, it's hard to know. And I
Speaker 1: think Rick is right. We're going to hopefully we do
Speaker 1: find out. Intelligence assessments have focused on China, for instance,
Speaker 1: seeking to influence several elections here. And you don't just
Speaker 1: want to name China. It can be it can be
Speaker 1: domestic groups that you know. This is power at work.
Speaker 1: And let's not forget the result of this. More than
Speaker 1: six of US jurisdictions have election deniers on the ballot.
Speaker 1: That's over three people. Those people, at least a substantial
Speaker 1: number will be running our elections in many across many
Speaker 1: parts of our country. And that is a scary proposition.
Speaker 1: And this is the first time this cycle that the
Speaker 1: d o J has entered an ongoing case involving drop
Speaker 1: boxes like this. Sounds like they're going to be more.
Speaker 1: Rick and Janie are here for the hour. This is
Speaker 1: the fastest hour in politics. Sound on, I'm Joe, Matthew
Speaker 1: and Washington to bring in Scott Kelly next. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: Scott Kelly, the astronaut. As we turned to Ukraine, this
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. The situation in Ukraine is grim. Eighty percent
Speaker 1: more than eighty percent of Kiev. There's no running water
Speaker 1: right now, three and fifty thousand apartments lost power according
Speaker 1: to the mayor. Still no water supply about at this point.
Speaker 1: For instance, Russian missiles and drones damaging infrastructure in ten
Speaker 1: regions of Ukraine, hundreds of locations without power, and we're
Speaker 1: watching the capital of Kiev just bathed in darkness. That's
Speaker 1: a very eerie thing to consider here. In some US
Speaker 1: military personnel apparently now operating inside Ukraine. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that in a moment. Ned Price, spokesman for the
Speaker 1: State Department, says Vladimir Putin continues to target civilians. We've
Speaker 1: all seen a number of UH strikes and bombardments that
Speaker 1: appear to be nothing more than an effort to brutalize
Speaker 1: UH the people of Ukraine. And as we've discussed on
Speaker 1: this program, there's gonna be some changes coming, most likely
Speaker 1: in the form of the House leadership. If Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: gets his way and in fact become speaker. He says,
Speaker 1: no more blank checks. And we've heard questions from progressives
Speaker 1: on the left as well about how much we should
Speaker 1: be spending. Although this infamous letter was withdrawn, this is
Speaker 1: going to be a concerted debate as we move beyond
Speaker 1: the mid terms and towards the election. That's why I
Speaker 1: remember we talked to Mark Hamill and now look at this.
Speaker 1: He doesn't just play one. He is an astronaut. Scott Kelly,
Speaker 1: former NASSA astronaut, retired U. S. Navy captain, is now
Speaker 1: one of the newest ambassadors to United This is the
Speaker 1: fundraising platform put forth by President Vladimir Zelenski. Kathyin Kelly,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you with us here on Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the time today very much. What did President
Speaker 1: Zelenski tell you when you spoke with him, Well, the
Speaker 1: first thing you just said is, you know, officially asked
Speaker 1: me if I would be part of this fundraising platform,
Speaker 1: and of course, you know, I agreed. I'm a big
Speaker 1: supporter of Ukraine. I have Ukrainian family members, Ukrainian friends,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, all of those people are suffering
Speaker 1: in different ways, and I think we we all need
Speaker 1: to do whatever we can to support Ukraine because I
Speaker 1: think in the end, we're really just supporting democracy and
Speaker 1: and freedom. Even though you know this is a war
Speaker 1: currently in Europe, it doesn't mean that it's going to
Speaker 1: get get better if we, uh don't do whatever we
Speaker 1: can to help. So how do you get the word
Speaker 1: out beyond conversations like this when Captain, how do you
Speaker 1: help President Zelenski raise the cash and get the hardware needs? Yeah? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly social media is important, but also you know,
Speaker 1: normal regular media like this and and just people you know,
Speaker 1: passing the word that this is a really important cause.
Speaker 1: My my area that I'm working on is is medical supplies,
Speaker 1: particularly ambulances. The Russians destroy you know, ten a week
Speaker 1: or they steal them, so um. You know, now, like
Speaker 1: you just mentioned, you know, they're not only because they're
Speaker 1: losing on the battlefield, they're now taking revenge on innocent civilians,
Speaker 1: including on their medical infrastructure. Well this is this is fantastic.
Speaker 1: And are you're you're raising money specifically for ambulances? Is
Speaker 1: it like the drone program where there they would actually
Speaker 1: accept donations of ambulances themselves or are European nations helping
Speaker 1: on that front too? You know, I think that you know,
Speaker 1: people have reached out to me with saying that hey,
Speaker 1: I have an ambulance donate, Um, so I need to
Speaker 1: figure that out some or whether that's viable, but currently
Speaker 1: is it's to raise money to purchase ambulance that will
Speaker 1: be then used in Ukraine. Are you worried about funding
Speaker 1: here in the US drying up because of politics? Funding
Speaker 1: for what? For Ukraine? You know? This was this has
Speaker 1: been essentially a blank check, if I can use that term.
Speaker 1: And it looks like it's gonna be a harder case
Speaker 1: to make for the president. Yeah, I mean it's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly, I think anywhere we spend our money
Speaker 1: uh is uh, you know, needs to be scrutinized, especially
Speaker 1: when it's this amount. But I think if you look
Speaker 1: at the facts here that this is a worthy cause,
Speaker 1: And you know, I feel like we need to be
Speaker 1: putting in whatever we can within our means, of course,
Speaker 1: but within our whatever we can to defeat Russia, because
Speaker 1: I do think this is an existential threat to the
Speaker 1: you know, the rest of the free world. Well, Captain,
Speaker 1: you must feel pulled in two different directions here. Obviously,
Speaker 1: as a as a retired Navy captain, a former fighter pilot,
Speaker 1: you've got a certain feeling about this as well. But
Speaker 1: you are a NASA astronaut who shared space with Russian cosmonauts,
Speaker 1: and I wonder how you rationalize that as we try
Speaker 1: to figure out our future in space that's a whole
Speaker 1: different idea here, divorcing Russia in our project for the
Speaker 1: International Space Station. Do you feel like your hand is
Speaker 1: being forced in that direction? You know, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a tough question whether you know, Russia should stay a
Speaker 1: part of the International Space Station program. I you know,
Speaker 1: it's really complicated for them to leave. Having said that,
Speaker 1: I think we're at the point where we might just
Speaker 1: show them the door. Obviously, that's my personal opinion. It's
Speaker 1: not anything I've gotten officially from NASA or anywhere anyone else.
Speaker 1: But I would say that for future programs, you know,
Speaker 1: without a change of you know, leadership in Russia, Um,
Speaker 1: that is more in line with you know, Western values
Speaker 1: on you know, freedom and democracy. I don't see them
Speaker 1: participating in any anything ever again with with us. And
Speaker 1: you've had wonderful working relationships with Russians in the space program,
Speaker 1: haven't you. Yeah. I have some, you know, some great
Speaker 1: Russian friends in the space program. Some are cosmots, some
Speaker 1: are you know, engineers, administrative personnel that I know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of Russian people, and a lot
Speaker 1: of them are you know, exactly in line with my thinking.
Speaker 1: And I think on most free people's thinking on this,
Speaker 1: and then there are some others that it's just shocking,
Speaker 1: how you know, the Russian propaganda that they've been exposed
Speaker 1: to for you know, decades as just you know, altered
Speaker 1: their ability to to you know, think rationally on this idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, I had one Cosmov tell me that, you know,
Speaker 1: he is absolutely convinced that the Nazis and NATO we're
Speaker 1: going to are were imminently going to invade Russia and
Speaker 1: this is the only way they could defend themselves, which
Speaker 1: is absolute absurd. I'm pretty smart person for thinking, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: supposed to be. I mean, it's just pretty amazing to
Speaker 1: think about five thousand dollars Captain Kelly you raised by
Speaker 1: launching an n f T to support Ukraine. You've been
Speaker 1: at this for a while. Yeah, I've been at this
Speaker 1: from from the very beginning. And like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a niece and nephew that are Ukrainian Americans.
Speaker 1: Their dad and my brother in law was an archive,
Speaker 1: you know, a place that is currently you know, you know,
Speaker 1: really a focal point of this war right now. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is an issue that I took to heart
Speaker 1: right away. I saw it as you know, with Russia
Speaker 1: starting a war in Europe unprovoked, that this was an
Speaker 1: issue that we should all get get behind it helping Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And I had platform to do it because I had,
Speaker 1: you know, between you know, Twitter folls and and exposure
Speaker 1: in Russia and and and and in Ukraine a little
Speaker 1: bit my you know, I read a book that was
Speaker 1: translated into Russian, so I'm somewhat of a known figure there,
Speaker 1: and I have the ability to tweet in Russian at
Speaker 1: the Russian people and try to show them what the
Speaker 1: reality of this is. So I I took it. I've
Speaker 1: taken it very seriously from the very beginning. You've actually
Speaker 1: you've been a notorious troll on social media for some Russians,
Speaker 1: so you kind of spooked off the platform. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I call it a troll. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe the noun version is that the trolling captain is
Speaker 1: what I want to say, you know, my first trolling ever,
Speaker 1: if that's what you want to call, maybe maybe referred
Speaker 1: to it as like social media warrior. I like that.
Speaker 1: It's consistent consistent with your resume. Who are you spooking
Speaker 1: off of Twitter? Next? M oh, I'm not targeting anyone
Speaker 1: in the specific The reason I, you know, went after
Speaker 1: the head of rusk Cosmos, the Russian space agencies because
Speaker 1: he threatened to leave an American crew member behind that
Speaker 1: he was responsible for and I was just absolutely shocked.
Speaker 1: So you know, I went at him in his own language,
Speaker 1: in ways that he could you know, ways that he
Speaker 1: can understand um, with language that would get his attention,
Speaker 1: and I think it may have worked. You talked to
Speaker 1: your brother about this when it comes to war funding, obviously,
Speaker 1: the senator from Arizona. You both have a platform, Captain Kelly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I have not talked to him specifically about
Speaker 1: like you know, government policy or legislation, legislation. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he's certainly aware of my stance, and I
Speaker 1: understand that he's a you know, a big supporter of
Speaker 1: freedom and democracy and supports Ukraine, so you have I
Speaker 1: haven't gotten into any specifics, like you know, hey, you
Speaker 1: should vote for this or they probably listen to me anyway. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about that. I think you have
Speaker 1: a few things in common, uh, including your biology. But look,
Speaker 1: in terms of President Zelenski, he's been asking Washington to
Speaker 1: help close the skies that that was the refrain when
Speaker 1: he addressed uh the Joint Session of Congress. There was
Speaker 1: a time when he was begging for fighter jets. You're
Speaker 1: a former fighter pilot. Would they actually make a difference? Well,
Speaker 1: that's a good that's a good question, you know because
Speaker 1: right now, and it's my understanding that Russia does not
Speaker 1: control the skies of Ukraine. So you know, on one hand,
Speaker 1: I think it would it would be helpful and make
Speaker 1: a difference. I'm much sure how much of a difference
Speaker 1: it would make. Having said that, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: anti missile systems would be really helpful because they're getting
Speaker 1: you know, having you know, cruise missiles and other you know,
Speaker 1: things that you know that could be countered with, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, some existing systems out there. So whether you
Speaker 1: know airplanes are really required and how you know, giving
Speaker 1: Ukraine a bunch of F sixteens or something. But would
Speaker 1: that be helpful? Sure? I think it would be helpful.
Speaker 1: Would it make a huge difference, I'm not probably, Uh,
Speaker 1: I probably don't know the details there with the air
Speaker 1: war enough to really really comment on that. Well, everybody
Speaker 1: likes to talk like an expert, and you actually are one, though,
Speaker 1: it sounds like it's more complicated than a lot of
Speaker 1: people are making it out to be. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: just given given a country a bunch of airplanes when
Speaker 1: the you know, when the airspace is not dominated by
Speaker 1: Russia right now is uh? I think something that really
Speaker 1: has to be studied and what it does to escalate
Speaker 1: the situation or not. Well, I want to congratulate you
Speaker 1: and thank you for the work that you're doing in
Speaker 1: the service that you've provided not only our cound for you,
Speaker 1: but now that the people of Ukraine. It's admirable and
Speaker 1: the captain, we thank you for being here on Bloomberg appreciate.
Speaker 1: Scott Kelly, by all means, flew over eight thousand hours
Speaker 1: in more than forty aircraft two hundred and fifty carrier
Speaker 1: landings in his naval career. I know people refer to
Speaker 1: him as an astronaut. He spent more time in space
Speaker 1: than Luke Skywalker. This guy is a Tomcat pilot. Anybody
Speaker 1: who puts an airplane down on the deck of an
Speaker 1: aircraft carrier in the rain at night has my respect.
Speaker 1: By the way, no one who flew in fough fourteen
Speaker 1: should ever be called to troll. Get your ambulances ready.
Speaker 1: I know he's going to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: take a donated ambulance, maybe a barge full overseas. I'm Joe,
Speaker 1: Matthew and Washington. This is Bloomberg Sound on the fastest
Speaker 1: hour in politics with the best panel in the business.
Speaker 1: Jennie Chantano and Rick Davis are back with us now.
Speaker 1: Of course our signature panel. I mentioned a bit earlier
Speaker 1: here some US military personnel. I'm amazed this is not
Speaker 1: making a bigger headline. US military personnel now operating inside Ukraine.
Speaker 1: I thought that was never going to happen, didn't we
Speaker 1: say that as part of a team of weapons inspectors
Speaker 1: that are helping Ukrainians operate. You know, these very sophisticated
Speaker 1: systems that we are providing. Brigadier General pat Ryder speaking
Speaker 1: for the Pentagon, my understanding is they would be wealth
Speaker 1: uh well far away from any type of frontline actions.
Speaker 1: We are relying on the Ukrainians to do that. We're
Speaker 1: relying on other partners to do that. So away from
Speaker 1: the front lines. But we're in Ukraine having had a
Speaker 1: fit over Iranians doing similar work in Russian occupied areas
Speaker 1: of Ukraine. Genie isn't this what Joe Biden said would
Speaker 1: never happen? Could this not threaten a direct conflict with
Speaker 1: US forces? Well, you know, anything could threaten that, and
Speaker 1: I think that is a real concern obviously. But of course,
Speaker 1: what are they doing there. They are helping the Ukrainian
Speaker 1: and military utilize their training and helping them utilize this
Speaker 1: equipment properly that we are providing. I mean, it would
Speaker 1: make little sense if we were providing this much equipment,
Speaker 1: you know, and just sort of leaving them to their
Speaker 1: own devices. So, you know, I know that that's what
Speaker 1: the administration is hoping that putin sees has as a difference,
Speaker 1: but you know, there's there's no guarantees on that, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, we obviously aren't facing them on the ground
Speaker 1: in a battle directly in that way, sure, but it's
Speaker 1: you know, we're in the zone here. And the idea
Speaker 1: was that we would never we were pulling Ukrainians out
Speaker 1: of country to train them on these weapons systems in
Speaker 1: Poland and Romania. Now we're just going in rick. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe we should have done this all along. But doesn't
Speaker 1: this seem significant? You know? I think it's significant because
Speaker 1: anytime you have our personnel in the country of the Ukraine.
Speaker 1: Uh with Vladimir Putin lobbying missiles right and left at
Speaker 1: civilian targets, they run the risk of being injured or killed. So, um,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's that's obviously a news item.
Speaker 1: I think it's naive to think that we are now
Speaker 1: giving them very sophisticated weapons, unlike the ones that I
Speaker 1: think Genie was referring to, where you know they're basically
Speaker 1: Russian retreads. That we could move these guys to Poland
Speaker 1: from Ukraine, teach them how to use it, and then
Speaker 1: send them back in Um, you know it would it
Speaker 1: normally takes six months for US personnel or how do
Speaker 1: you see systems, and that's not in the battle zone.
Speaker 1: So I think it makes sense. It's just, you know,
Speaker 1: it does change the complexity of the war. But this
Speaker 1: is a war that I think, you know, you have
Speaker 1: to be prepared for a lot of complexity as this
Speaker 1: segments on, because this this is not the way anybody
Speaker 1: would have written a script. You know, at the start
Speaker 1: of this war, would you bet that there are CIA
Speaker 1: operatives working in the country or ununiformed military operative Stewart
Speaker 1: you know, maybe closer to the front lines, Rick, or
Speaker 1: in Kiev. I hope our intelligence agencies are doing everything
Speaker 1: they can to support the war effort on behalf of
Speaker 1: the Ukrainians. We've got a diplomatic core there. Of course,
Speaker 1: we have to protect them, Genie, but that's a little
Speaker 1: bit different from what we're talking about. You've got to
Speaker 1: believe US intelligence is on the ground there, right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have to believe that, you know. And the intelligence
Speaker 1: has really won the day for Ukraine. The United States, NATO,
Speaker 1: all of the countries together have done a really amazing
Speaker 1: job in that arena, so they must be there. To
Speaker 1: your point, though, there is always the risk of escalation.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you know, as Rick said, some U
Speaker 1: S soldier, some military official, you know, an intelligence operative,
Speaker 1: somebody is killed, that could lead to an escalation. And
Speaker 1: that is always the fear, that's always the danger. We
Speaker 1: wanted to keep this a proxy war, but there's only
Speaker 1: so long you could do this. With sixty billion dollars
Speaker 1: going over there, it's not going to last. Well, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you, Oh, it sure doesn't look like it's getting
Speaker 1: a lot better. When you see Kiev with the lights
Speaker 1: again here no water. This is getting to feel desperate
Speaker 1: for a lot of civilians in Ukraine. You guys have
Speaker 1: access to an ambulance, can help out Captain Kelly. What
Speaker 1: do you think, Rick, I want to volunteer to be
Speaker 1: an ambulance driver for Captain Kelly. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: that would be a luck. That's a commitment. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go start calling everybody I know in the
Speaker 1: hospital business and see if they got spares. I love
Speaker 1: that we know you have the resources here in the connections, Rick,
Speaker 1: you know, talking about Russia and and our partnership in space,
Speaker 1: that's pretty stark. When Scott Kelly, of all people, Genie
Speaker 1: says that the marriage is over, that's right. That really
Speaker 1: was a stunning statement on his part, and you are
Speaker 1: so right. You know, I would be nervous to call
Speaker 1: him a troll or trolling Joe Matthew because he's a
Speaker 1: really tough guy. But looking at his Twitter feed, it
Speaker 1: is quite remarkable what he says. You know, he calls
Speaker 1: in a murderer, a thief, a war criminal, kidnapper, so
Speaker 1: you know, but then to hear him say that the
Speaker 1: relationship with the United States and Russia, at least as
Speaker 1: far as he's concerned and what he would hope would
Speaker 1: happen is over is a stunning statement from somebody who's
Speaker 1: devoted his life to cooperation in space and and you know,
Speaker 1: to hear that this is where we are today, speaks
Speaker 1: volumes about what has happened in just six months. This
Speaker 1: is someone who has had an opportunity to look at
Speaker 1: the Earth from space, just a perspective most of us
Speaker 1: will never have a worldview literally that will never have
Speaker 1: and he did it for longer. I mean, he's a
Speaker 1: record holder. His last mission, his final mission aboard the
Speaker 1: I S S was three hundred forty days as they were,
Speaker 1: you know, experimenting on the impact of extended exposure on
Speaker 1: the human body. Uh, we're done with Russia in space, Rick, Right,
Speaker 1: that's not a relationship you're gonna rebuild. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought his comments were really striking. Here's a guy
Speaker 1: who has served with Russians, knows the language, knows people,
Speaker 1: understands the culture, and for him to sort of slam
Speaker 1: the door as he described on that relationship, especially in
Speaker 1: the one area that you thought could survive cooperation is
Speaker 1: an outer space. Um. I think it's one of the
Speaker 1: most telling things I've heard on this program and quite
Speaker 1: some time. It's remarkable. Well, we thank the Captain again
Speaker 1: for being with us, and thank you Matt for introducing
Speaker 1: us here on Bloomberg Sound on one of the other
Speaker 1: stories popping today. I have to ask you both about it,
Speaker 1: because my god, they just keep coming. Brings us back
Speaker 1: to Georgia. Jane Doe speaks in this case to ABC
Speaker 1: News Gloria all right at her side. This is the
Speaker 1: second woman to accuse, of course, herschel Walker, the Republican
Speaker 1: Senate nominee, of paying for and what she describes as
Speaker 1: forcing her essentially to have an abortion. In her own
Speaker 1: words today, he did not want me to have the child.
Speaker 1: And he said that, he said that because of his
Speaker 1: wife's emily and powerful people around him, that I would
Speaker 1: not be safe and that the child would not be safe.
Speaker 1: That's very menacing. It is a very menacing It is
Speaker 1: very menacing. But Rick Davis, it doesn't matter, right, Look,
Speaker 1: all this stuff is a compilation of who herschel Walker is.
Speaker 1: That you can't ignore the noise in the system. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's it may be too little, too late, um uh.
Speaker 1: But then again, this campaign, I mean, the thing we
Speaker 1: have to remember about Georgia, right, is that if neither
Speaker 1: one of these guys get they're in for a runoff
Speaker 1: for another month. And so this kind of news could
Speaker 1: have an impact, you know, thirty days from now. Whether
Speaker 1: or not it can impact the election tomorrow is a question.
Speaker 1: But but certainly these kinds of things as they proved
Speaker 1: themselves out and they they either you know, become fact
Speaker 1: or they fly in the face and become fiction. Um uh,
Speaker 1: this could haunt him. Republicans really haven't blinked at this one,
Speaker 1: Jennie and listened to herschel Walker today turning back, and
Speaker 1: he's been on the attack lately. Yesterday was Barack Obama.
Speaker 1: Now it's of course his opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock. He
Speaker 1: even told us he had a doll that dog and
Speaker 1: even belonged to him. He was fooling us dead and
Speaker 1: I want to wear that dog at today. That dog
Speaker 1: problems That same thing he said, that's the same thing
Speaker 1: he said during the debate. During the debate he became
Speaker 1: Scooby Doo because you can remember this. They asked him,
Speaker 1: they asked him, say said will you support Joe by
Speaker 1: four run? And he went like okay, I got you.
Speaker 1: Now live at the improv with herschel Walker. By the way,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty what was a pretty good Scooby Doo.
Speaker 1: I have to say, Genie, is this is the way
Speaker 1: to go? You know it? You had me there, Joe Matthews.
Speaker 1: I was trying to figure out where is this possibly going?
Speaker 1: And now I got it. Um it took a while. Wow. Um,
Speaker 1: this is a race that's you know, one point six,
Speaker 1: it's within the margin of error. As Rick mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: probably going to go to a runoff. He you know,
Speaker 1: has been going on the offensive trying to certainly not
Speaker 1: you know, not discuss these issues because of course he
Speaker 1: is somebody who has supported abortion bands without exceptions, and
Speaker 1: he has denied these allegations. And this woman today decided
Speaker 1: to show her face. Whether it makes a difference, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. But let's not forget every vote is going
Speaker 1: to count in this race. It's going to be incredibly close,
Speaker 1: and so for that reason, these types of issues may
Speaker 1: play to a certain extent, absolutely incredible. But I think
Speaker 1: Rick is onto something there. Just wait for the runoff.
Speaker 1: That is when this really might start to have an impact,
Speaker 1: because boy, until then, it's too close to call. And
Speaker 1: on this day, after Halloween helped her, but we're brought
Speaker 1: back with the helm of herschel Walker to the classic
Speaker 1: school but sorts. That's it for sound on, Rick and Jennie,
Speaker 1: thank you as we leave you with little underscore here.
Speaker 1: I'll meet you back here tomorrow with of course, our
Speaker 1: signature panel and a lot more to talk about as
Speaker 1: Barack Obama gets back on the trail. I'm Joe Matthew,
Speaker 1: this Bluebird