Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Floomberg Sound On,
Speaker 1: and I want you to know how sad I am
Speaker 1: to be giving up the best job in the world.
Speaker 1: But them's the break. Similar to the people in the
Speaker 1: Trump administration, people in this cabinet knew who this guy
Speaker 1: was for years. Floomberg Sound On Politics, Policy and perspective
Speaker 1: from DC's top Names. I ask for your help and
Speaker 1: continuing to fiper DG Safe and quick return homes US
Speaker 1: back channels that are used in order to facilitate a
Speaker 1: deal around. These kinds of exchanges work best without the
Speaker 1: public attention. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio,
Speaker 1: Boris Johnson announces his resignation. Welcome to the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics with historic developments from London and big questions
Speaker 1: about what comes next. Will be joined in a moment
Speaker 1: by Anthony Gardner, former US Ambassador to the European Union
Speaker 1: who went to college with the Prime Minister. Later this
Speaker 1: nas are piling up in Georgia as the investigation into
Speaker 1: the election spreads to Donald Trump's inner circle. Will have
Speaker 1: the latest from Atlanta and Washington. In a conversation with
Speaker 1: Bloomberg's Billy House our panel today Bloomberg Politics contributor, Democratic
Speaker 1: analyst Genie Chanzano along with Republican strategist Doug High, former
Speaker 1: communications director at the r n C. Just another day,
Speaker 1: nothing going on. Well, that didn't take long. At this
Speaker 1: time yesterday the headline was Boris Johnson refuses to quit.
Speaker 1: Right fast forward twenty four hours and add more cabinet resignations.
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister acknowledges the facts. It is clearly now
Speaker 1: the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should
Speaker 1: be a new leader of that party and that for
Speaker 1: a new prime minister. But it gets more complicated from there,
Speaker 1: as Johnson stays at ten Downing and plans to stay
Speaker 1: for several more months while his successor has chosen. But
Speaker 1: Bloomberg is now reporting the rule and Conservative Party is
Speaker 1: urgently drawing up plans for an accelerated contest to name
Speaker 1: a new prime minister by the end of summer. So
Speaker 1: it might be worth pulling out the bags now reaction
Speaker 1: from the business community. Bloomberg spoke today with Mike Fries,
Speaker 1: the CEO of Liberty Global Freeze forgive me Mike Freeze,
Speaker 1: the telecom company that owns Virgin Media O two and
Speaker 1: a joint ventures and a lot of work there. We
Speaker 1: caught up with him at the Sun Valley conference in Idaho.
Speaker 1: Freeze on working with Boris Johnson's team. His government was
Speaker 1: very supportive of what we're doing. Is you know, we're
Speaker 1: building fiber throughout the UK, We're investing in five G
Speaker 1: were leveling up and upgrading the market in a way
Speaker 1: that it deserves and requires, and we're spending billions doing it.
Speaker 1: So I felt that his government was quite supportive of
Speaker 1: that investment and giving us a shot at getting a
Speaker 1: great return on that investment. So let's hope that continues.
Speaker 1: That's the main focus for us. Everyone's asking what might
Speaker 1: change here from business to politics. White House Press Secretary
Speaker 1: Karin John Pierre are a line aunts with the United
Speaker 1: Kingdom continues to be strong. Our special relationship with the
Speaker 1: people UH in the country will continue to endure. None
Speaker 1: of that changes, And I will I will remind you
Speaker 1: a week ago, just a week ago today, when the
Speaker 1: President was in NATO UH in Madrid for a historic
Speaker 1: Natal summit. As you heard him speak at the press
Speaker 1: conference and you saw what happened, you saw a reassurance
Speaker 1: of real affirmation of NATO countries saying again what they
Speaker 1: are going to continue to do, continue to support Ukraine,
Speaker 1: but no one quite knows what the timeline will be
Speaker 1: and of course who will follow. Tony Gardner was US
Speaker 1: Ambassador to the European Union from seventeen. He's now senior
Speaker 1: advisor at Brunswick Group and he joins US. Now, Tony,
Speaker 1: you tweeted this morning, I've known the man for thirty
Speaker 1: five years. Hasn't changed one bit since our time at Balliol.
Speaker 1: So you guys went to college together. Did you not
Speaker 1: expect him to line? Uh? Not this fast. No, I
Speaker 1: got to meet him. We were at Bail College, Oxford together.
Speaker 1: We debated together at the Oxford Union Debating Society. Stayed
Speaker 1: in touch in Brussels. I was the European Commission. He
Speaker 1: was a journalist writing fiction about the European Union. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was the Spectator magazine and mayor and then Foreign
Speaker 1: Secretary and introducing John Kerry. So I've known him for
Speaker 1: a long time his writing fiction. Did did he ever
Speaker 1: start writing nonfiction? Uh? Well, yeah, he has written nonfiction,
Speaker 1: but certainly as a journalist. He was writing stuff about
Speaker 1: the EU that was mostly half invented because he understood
Speaker 1: very ale on his career that it was. It was
Speaker 1: a smart way of getting ahead, and the news people
Speaker 1: the kind of scratched the itch of a lot of
Speaker 1: readers of the Daily Telegraph who off of the European
Speaker 1: Union was kind of the enemy. So he's been very
Speaker 1: smart and kind of figuring out how to use people
Speaker 1: and to promote himself. The tweet that I mentioned you
Speaker 1: you included the front page of this, uh, this new
Speaker 1: edition of The Economist that comes complete with the headline
Speaker 1: clown fall Britain after Boris and there he is looking
Speaker 1: like a clown with a couple of flags, he's got
Speaker 1: the helmet on and he's falling off of a zip line.
Speaker 1: Is that the goofball image that you have in your
Speaker 1: head having known him for so long? Well, look, he
Speaker 1: ran for the presidency of the Oxford Union Debating Society
Speaker 1: back in six We're obviously young at that time, and
Speaker 1: he was very clever and that he realized that in
Speaker 1: order to become president of the Union, he wouldn't win
Speaker 1: on the image of someone from very privileged background had
Speaker 1: been to all the right schools and stuff, for which
Speaker 1: which he definitely had um. He went to eaton, which
Speaker 1: is a you know, it's a very accosted environment. So
Speaker 1: he developed this, uh, this image of kind of uh well,
Speaker 1: you know, the humorous guy who never did much work,
Speaker 1: who was a kind of would show up kind of
Speaker 1: unprepared and unscripted, and people people loved it. As we
Speaker 1: are reporting Ambassador of the morning meeting with number ten
Speaker 1: staff as a discussion of his resignation statement and whether
Speaker 1: he could remain for a period as a caretaker leader. Uh.
Speaker 1: Some were in tears in the meeting. Others knew the
Speaker 1: time had come. How long does he have as a
Speaker 1: caretaker Well, it's it's a it's a long period of
Speaker 1: time to stay in that post. Um. Other you know,
Speaker 1: some people are urging him John Major, former prime ministers,
Speaker 1: urging him to make that a shorter period of time
Speaker 1: to find another leader, and I think, you know, it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's it would be wiser for the country to move
Speaker 1: on right now, because look, the UK has so much
Speaker 1: going for it. I'm a huge fan of the country.
Speaker 1: I've lived in the UK for for twenty four years
Speaker 1: of my life actually, and regardless of the leader, this
Speaker 1: country will continue to thrive in my view, even not
Speaker 1: not as a member of the EU, but it needs
Speaker 1: to now move on from a period that's been very turbulent.
Speaker 1: Shall we say, yeah, what happened overnight? This time yesterday
Speaker 1: we were talking about his refusal to resign, how long
Speaker 1: he could hold out. People were, you know, placing bets
Speaker 1: on the timeline and the whole thing was it. Was
Speaker 1: it his conversation with family staff. Did somebody get to him?
Speaker 1: Was it the resignation's ambassador? What happened in the last
Speaker 1: twenty four hours. Well, I think we had nearly fifty resignations,
Speaker 1: which is I think more than either his historic levels
Speaker 1: are closed his or levels. And I think many of
Speaker 1: his closest aids and gone to him said, look, if
Speaker 1: you're not gonna resigning, you're gonna hold on. There's going
Speaker 1: to be a rule change in this parliamentary group that
Speaker 1: you know, typically once he won the leadership contest vote
Speaker 1: and typically would have been protected for a year, but
Speaker 1: they could have changed the rules and had another vote
Speaker 1: which he would have lost. And I think people urged
Speaker 1: him say, look, this is not the way to leave
Speaker 1: your premiership. They probably urged him say, look, you can
Speaker 1: be remembered for getting Brexit done. Quote unquote, you should
Speaker 1: do that. You're going to have another career, so don't
Speaker 1: don't do that. Don't hang on to the bitter end.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Tony Gardner, former US Ambassador of the
Speaker 1: European Union and a former classmate of Boris Johnson's uh
Speaker 1: in college. A lot of people are talking shortlists, Ambassador.
Speaker 1: Is it too soon to do that. It's it's not like,
Speaker 1: you know, forecasting a presidential election in the United States.
Speaker 1: This could take a lot of different turns. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: I could take a lot of different turns. I mean,
Speaker 1: the bookmakers are making their odds. Um. You know the
Speaker 1: fact of that there's still very influential people who want
Speaker 1: to see someone in that post who has been a
Speaker 1: sworn proponent of getting Brexit done and seeing it through.
Speaker 1: So that might in fact eliminate a number of the candidates.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of Tom tugan Hat, who is extremely competent
Speaker 1: as a young Tory m P, who's played his interest
Speaker 1: in the job. So it's more likely there will be
Speaker 1: someone who is um, who's a fresh face, who's a
Speaker 1: facial face of competence, who's perceived to be honest, which
Speaker 1: is frankly a lot of people are are demanding right
Speaker 1: now because they're they're frankly tired of being told one
Speaker 1: thing in the discovering the twenty four hours of the
Speaker 1: exact opposite happened. Uh. And this has been going on
Speaker 1: for years. So a brexitier, but a fresh faced view
Speaker 1: of competence and frankly U uh you know, I think
Speaker 1: the former Chancellor Richie Senak is got to be high
Speaker 1: on in one's list. Name keeps coming up in every
Speaker 1: one of these conversations. Ambassador, Does the White House have
Speaker 1: it right that nothing changes here in our relationship? Look,
Speaker 1: I think it has it right. I mean this is
Speaker 1: it has been, uh and will remain a key ally
Speaker 1: of the United States on so many issues, and by
Speaker 1: the way, not just security military issues. I lived through
Speaker 1: some of this when I was at Post your unions.
Speaker 1: There's hugely important allies on law enforcements, hugely important allies
Speaker 1: on on other topics as well. Free trade, where the
Speaker 1: UK is was frankly always on our side in at
Speaker 1: least during the Obama years. Um in proposing view of freer,
Speaker 1: liberalized trade, free competition, trans Atlantic unity, strong supporter of NATO,
Speaker 1: which already mentioned security, but also a thought leader on
Speaker 1: the digital economy, which we also care out uh in
Speaker 1: many other areas besides, and also in climate change. So
Speaker 1: for sure important and will remain as a country punching
Speaker 1: above its weight. Fascinating conversation. Lastly, where we began, finishing
Speaker 1: where we began? Ambassador, do you ever go to a
Speaker 1: party with Boris Johnson? Yes? Is it the best party
Speaker 1: you ever went to? He's an amusing guy, he's right, well,
Speaker 1: he speaks well, he's humorous. Absolutely, it's good company party
Speaker 1: gate with the Ambassador. I really appreciate the conversation. Tony Gardner,
Speaker 1: Senior Adviser Brunswick Can, former US Ambassador to the EU
Speaker 1: and the Obama years. We assemble our panel next. Never
Speaker 1: a dull moment, not here. This is Bloomberg. It is
Speaker 1: clearly now the will of the Parliamentary Conservative Party that
Speaker 1: that should be a new leader of that party and
Speaker 1: that for a new prime minister. Very well, good night,
Speaker 1: and I've agreed with the Graham Brady, the chairman of
Speaker 1: our back bench MPs, that the process of choosing that
Speaker 1: new leader should begin now and the timetable will be
Speaker 1: announced next week. Very well, I do, Andrew, Andrew, so
Speaker 1: I want to say to the millions of people who
Speaker 1: voted for us, in many of them voting conservatives, very
Speaker 1: well say, I'd like to say and taste my first champagne.
Speaker 1: I know that there will be many people who are relieved,
Speaker 1: and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed.
Speaker 1: Very well, good bye, and I want you to know
Speaker 1: how sad I am to be giving up the best
Speaker 1: job in the world. But them's the brakes. There's the brakes.
Speaker 1: Thank you all very much. But how long does he have?
Speaker 1: Boris Johnson wants to stay on until the next Prime
Speaker 1: minister is expected, an idea, as Ambassador Gardner mentioned a
Speaker 1: couple of moments ago. It was panned by former Prime
Speaker 1: Minister John Major's calling on Johnson to leave immediately, saying
Speaker 1: that it's unwise and maybe unsustainable for Johnson to remain
Speaker 1: in office and that his new cabinet may not be
Speaker 1: able to restrain him. Some of this sounds familiar, and
Speaker 1: so we bring it to the panel. Bloomberg Politics contributors
Speaker 1: Genie Chanzano, Democratic analyst and Doug his with US Today,
Speaker 1: Republican strategist, former Deputy chief of staffed Eric Cantor, former
Speaker 1: r n C communications director, Genie. This time yesterday we
Speaker 1: were having a very different conversation. How much time do
Speaker 1: you think he has now that he has acknowledged the facts? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I was saying yesterday maybe you could be
Speaker 1: as short as a day or a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and it happened very very fast. Um. But I think
Speaker 1: the concern now is, to the point of your previous conversation,
Speaker 1: is that as a caretaker, we're even hearing the British
Speaker 1: press talk about this. Is it possible that he decides
Speaker 1: not to step down, that he tries to pull up
Speaker 1: quote unquote Donald Trump? Um, And there is some concern.
Speaker 1: Do I think that's going to happen? No, But I
Speaker 1: also think that that's why the committee, probably early next week,
Speaker 1: because they don't trust him, is going to move to
Speaker 1: get him out as quickly as possible. Doug, what do
Speaker 1: you see happening here in the hours following this announcement?
Speaker 1: We obviously I didn't know this was going to happen,
Speaker 1: at least a lot of us until we woke up
Speaker 1: this morning. It developed overnight, but there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of patients for him to hang around. Oh and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you, you you know, if we're using the phrase you know,
Speaker 1: this time yesterday, this time yesterday. It was in the
Speaker 1: UK and I was trading notes with two friends who
Speaker 1: had previously worked for Boris Johnson, who who I had
Speaker 1: done some work with Boris on who would who had
Speaker 1: all along said he won't go, he won't go, he
Speaker 1: won't go, and then changed their tune and said this
Speaker 1: is over and it's now just a question about negotiating timing.
Speaker 1: What was the resignations, what actually what became too much
Speaker 1: to ignore It was the the initial two resignations of
Speaker 1: the cabinet ministers, the Chancellor and the Health minister um
Speaker 1: and then the snowball and pile on effective that to
Speaker 1: where it became very very clear that this was just
Speaker 1: not sustainable. And so look, we'll see what the timetable
Speaker 1: is now. You know, if he were to resign immediately,
Speaker 1: not knowing fully the processes processes, would there be an
Speaker 1: interim prime minister? Is that more or less stable than
Speaker 1: what we than what we have right now? And and look,
Speaker 1: you know I've I've spent a fair amount of time
Speaker 1: with Boris Johnson, both in London and in in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. And Davos as well and I get that
Speaker 1: people want to, you know, make cracks about his hair
Speaker 1: and you know, the zip line and all of that.
Speaker 1: But you know, if if we look back at the
Speaker 1: Theresa may Um prime ministership, that was also a very
Speaker 1: tumultuous time and you know, certainly there weren't the questions
Speaker 1: about her honesty, but you can't say that that was
Speaker 1: not a rocky road We have in in not just
Speaker 1: American democracy right now, in the UK democracy, but if
Speaker 1: you look throughout the world, Israel, France, you know, democracy
Speaker 1: is in a very fragile place for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: And so I don't think it's a massive surprise that
Speaker 1: the UK, you know, is experiencing this right now. And
Speaker 1: while there are a lot of people, as Boris Johnson reference,
Speaker 1: that might be happy for him to go, it's very
Speaker 1: clear that one person is and that's Zelinsky. Well okay,
Speaker 1: So with that in mind, Genie, what's the worse idea
Speaker 1: having a caretaker prime minister somebody comes into the interim
Speaker 1: or leaving Boris Johnson until it's clear who his successor is.
Speaker 1: And I'm asking you that through the prism of the
Speaker 1: war in Ukraine, well, certainly, I mean I agree with
Speaker 1: Doug Zelensky that he would like him to stay. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at the polls, quite frankly and stunning how
Speaker 1: popular somebody like Boris Johnson is in the Ukraine Visa VI,
Speaker 1: how unpopular he is at home. The real the reality is,
Speaker 1: you know, when Theresa May was a caretaker prime minister,
Speaker 1: it was okay because while they disagreed on policy, personality
Speaker 1: wasn't as much of a concern. Here there is a
Speaker 1: real lack of trust of Boris Johnson and what he's
Speaker 1: gonna do. And again I go back to the fact
Speaker 1: that there is some concern that while he said today
Speaker 1: he would go, this determination to stay on for the
Speaker 1: you know, a certain period of time has people concerned,
Speaker 1: and so I do think that there is going to
Speaker 1: be an effort next week to push him out. I
Speaker 1: don't think we will see a massive policy shift here
Speaker 1: on the Ukraine, but of course that depends on who
Speaker 1: follows him as well. Doug, you knew him, you worked
Speaker 1: with him, Do you trust him, do you believe him? Well, look,
Speaker 1: obviously there's been some issues of a lot of issues
Speaker 1: of things that were said that yeah, turned out to
Speaker 1: not be true, and that's that's ultimately you know why
Speaker 1: why he is, why he's been pushed out and ultimately
Speaker 1: had to go. But also here Stormer, maybe leave. It
Speaker 1: sounds like you might not. It's all right, sit stay
Speaker 1: with us, Doug and Genie. This is Bloomberg broadcasting live
Speaker 1: from our nation's capital, Bloomberg to New York, Bloomberg eleven
Speaker 1: Frio to Boston, Bloomberg one O six one to San Francisco,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg nine sixty to the country Sirius x M General
Speaker 1: one nine and around the globe, the Bloomberg Business app
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound On
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew. The District Attorney in Fulton County, Georgia,
Speaker 1: wants some time with Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham
Speaker 1: and several others as part of a special grand jury
Speaker 1: investigation into efforts to overturn the election, an investigation that
Speaker 1: could be a more immediate concern for Donald Trump than
Speaker 1: what's happening now in Washington. Will discuss that next with Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Congressional reporter Billy how Quite a bombshell when we learned
Speaker 1: from Cassidy Hutchinson before the January six Committee about a
Speaker 1: week ago about the pardon request. Did Rudy Giuliani ever
Speaker 1: suggest that he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon
Speaker 1: related to January six? He did, pretty cut and dry.
Speaker 1: But Rudy Giuliani says that never happened. This is him
Speaker 1: talking on his podcast. Everybody in Washington, Washington wants to
Speaker 1: make me a liar and a crook, and I'm not.
Speaker 1: But I know I have to protect myself. Now, I
Speaker 1: could have asked for a pardon for a very good reason.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get framed. I know I didn't
Speaker 1: do anything wrong. It goes on to say that he
Speaker 1: is being framed, not just here in Washington, where, of
Speaker 1: course we've seen several snippets of his testimonies video testimony
Speaker 1: before the January six Committee, But what's happening in Georgia
Speaker 1: is worth your attention, and it's not getting a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot of coverage here because well, there's just
Speaker 1: too much going on every day, even outside of the story.
Speaker 1: Of course, Bloomberg reporting that Giuliani, along with as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: Senator Lindsey Graham and five others, called to testify before
Speaker 1: the Special Grand jury in Atlanta. The d A Fulton
Speaker 1: County has already taken testimony from George's secretary of State,
Speaker 1: and we could be about to learn a lot more.
Speaker 1: Joining us to connect the dots between what's happening here
Speaker 1: in Washington and this separate investigation happening in Georgia. Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Congressional Correspondent Billy House, It's great to have you back, Billy. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is something that is unfolding in Georgia. UH, and
Speaker 1: and interesting that it's not getting so much attention because
Speaker 1: our eyes are trained on what's happening here in Washington.
Speaker 1: Is Rudy Giuliani in big trouble? Well, the Georgia of
Speaker 1: Special Grand Jury in Fulton County does seem to be
Speaker 1: zeroing in on him, if not actually a form of
Speaker 1: President Trump. And it does seem to be kind of
Speaker 1: ahead of what would have been, you know, anything but
Speaker 1: boring congressional hearings, but also the Justice Department here in Washington.
Speaker 1: The number of witnesses and the people they're calling seem
Speaker 1: to be slightly ahead of the pace of both these
Speaker 1: Washington investigations. So UH, Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis
Speaker 1: has been at this. She's looking specifically at attempts to
Speaker 1: overturn the Georgia uh results, and and she seems to
Speaker 1: be setting the pace and she can actually you know,
Speaker 1: levy charges as opposed to the January six committee, which
Speaker 1: some people don't seem to understand. That's correct. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a special grand jury right now. So whatever
Speaker 1: report it releases will then be turned over to her
Speaker 1: and then she will have to decide whether to go
Speaker 1: to a regular grand jury and get an indictment that
Speaker 1: there are charges to be had. And she says she
Speaker 1: hopes to uh, you know, not go past October. And that's, uh,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty pretty fast pace at this point, giving
Speaker 1: we're almost so in mid July, so a lot of
Speaker 1: fast another fascinating aspect. And she has the governor of
Speaker 1: Georgia giving recorded testimony on July. So she's nearing the
Speaker 1: end because she's going to the big dogs right now.
Speaker 1: She's already nibbled it at the edges. We're reporting as well,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg lass as Senator Lindsey Graham is loawyering up and
Speaker 1: we'll uh fight the subpoena. This is a different case
Speaker 1: for these two gentlemen. Uh, does Lindsey Graham have a
Speaker 1: chance to beat this? Oh? I think he does, just
Speaker 1: on separation of powers arguments perhaps, but even more basic
Speaker 1: as he can string out the legal battle on this
Speaker 1: far past where Fannie Willis wants to go. He's being
Speaker 1: accused of kind of trying to influence the outcome there
Speaker 1: with two telephone calls. He can string this out forever.
Speaker 1: And we've seen that in Washington investigations here separately here
Speaker 1: in the Capital, as you've been covering. Billy former White
Speaker 1: House counsel Pat Sipplony, whose name has come up repeatedly. Uh,
Speaker 1: in the hearing so far, will testify before the committee.
Speaker 1: It's going to happen tomorrow. We understand behind closed doors.
Speaker 1: How important is that development? Oh, it's huge, huge, He's
Speaker 1: he's emerged as very important witness. He's he's going to
Speaker 1: testify in person. This isn't going to be remote. He's
Speaker 1: going to show up at the O'Neil building in Washington
Speaker 1: and around ten am. And he has been involved, according
Speaker 1: to Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony and other testimony and many of
Speaker 1: the key events that have been unfolding for us in
Speaker 1: these hearings, including warning please don't let the president go
Speaker 1: to the Capitol that day as his riotous supporters were
Speaker 1: on their way there. This is being described as as
Speaker 1: a transcribed interview. Does that mean we will not see
Speaker 1: or hear his voice or his image like we have
Speaker 1: some of the others. Oh, no, anything, But there will
Speaker 1: also be video of his testimony. Well that's the aim
Speaker 1: I believe, as the you is that video. And however
Speaker 1: many hearings we have one, two or three to go,
Speaker 1: we don't know, so we could see some of this
Speaker 1: or hear some of this as soon as next week. Right,
Speaker 1: it's worth reminding everybody that the next hearing is actually
Speaker 1: set for Tuesday. Absolutely, the next hearing stept for Tuesday,
Speaker 1: supposedly focusing on the extremist groups ever behind some of
Speaker 1: the violence. But there could also be another hearing next week,
Speaker 1: and there's always going to be a concluding hearing sometime
Speaker 1: in September when they unveil their actual report and recommendations.
Speaker 1: So a video of anything could show up in those
Speaker 1: next three hearings, and there might be more hearings that
Speaker 1: we don't know about. They're kind of gone off script
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, adding adding chapters they have. I
Speaker 1: mean it's actually been very compelling because we don't know
Speaker 1: who's going to be, you know, even appearing as a
Speaker 1: witness necessarily uh, from hearing to hearing. But to your point,
Speaker 1: this next session is about connecting the dots to these
Speaker 1: militia groups. That's the purpose of Tuesday's hearing, that is,
Speaker 1: and that seems to be a heavy lift for the committee.
Speaker 1: Uh the even Adam Schiff says, we'll wait and see
Speaker 1: what will show you. But uh, they're trying to link
Speaker 1: the White House or people in the Trump board, but
Speaker 1: directly to uh some of these people who are arranging
Speaker 1: for these organizations or these uh people in the organizations
Speaker 1: to show up that day and create some uh mischief. Uh.
Speaker 1: So there's a mysterious alleged called that Trump wanted his
Speaker 1: then chief of staff Mark Meadows to make to the
Speaker 1: Willard War Room. We're Bannon and others may have had
Speaker 1: connections with these groups, but all that has has never
Speaker 1: been proven, and we'll see what the committee lays out Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Billy House, it's always our pleasure. We appreciate the updates.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Congress reporter who's all over this and will be
Speaker 1: a busy man for the next hearing. You think the
Speaker 1: Willard is going to rent out the war room? I mean,
Speaker 1: should they just put the plaque on the door right now?
Speaker 1: People pay extra for that, right am I the first
Speaker 1: person to suggest that. It's like when you're in Amsterdam
Speaker 1: you visit the room where John Lennon and Yoko had
Speaker 1: the bed in. Maybe not. We'll reassemble the panel next.
Speaker 1: Genie is coming back along with Doug High on the
Speaker 1: Fastest Hour in Politics. I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. But
Speaker 1: we'll check traffic and markets for you on the way
Speaker 1: to stay where you are. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The headline
Speaker 1: on the terminal. Brittany Grinder pleads guilty to drug charges
Speaker 1: in Russian court. This, of course, just a day after
Speaker 1: her letter to President Biden was made public. The White
Speaker 1: House responded, and of course after as well, her supporters
Speaker 1: held another big rally in Phoenix. Grinder plays for the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Mercury. Her wife Cherrell, spoke to the Crown, I
Speaker 1: ask for your help and continuing to fight for BG
Speaker 1: safe and quick return home. Let's make sure this ministration
Speaker 1: knows that they have our support to do whatever is necessary,
Speaker 1: and that we are not going to ever be quiet
Speaker 1: until she's home safely. And then she pleads guilty, Grinder
Speaker 1: saying she mistakenly packed marian A vape cartridges in her
Speaker 1: luggage when she flew off to play off season in
Speaker 1: a Russian basketball League. Reaction from White House Press Secretary
Speaker 1: Karine Sean Pierre. That was a legal advice clearly that
Speaker 1: Brittany received from her from her lawyers. I cannot speak
Speaker 1: to why the decision was made, Okay, remembering in light
Speaker 1: of the the plea. Today, this administration has said repeatedly
Speaker 1: that Grinder is being wrongfully detained. We believe that the
Speaker 1: Russian Federation is holding uh is wrongfully details wrongfully detained
Speaker 1: Brittany Grinder, and she is in intolerable circumstances right now,
Speaker 1: and we are going to do everything that we can.
Speaker 1: The President has this top of mind to make sure
Speaker 1: that we get Brittany home safely. And also Paul Whaling
Speaker 1: is now reportedly a prisoner swap in the works as
Speaker 1: we reassemble the panel. Bloomberg Politics contributor, Democratic analyst Jeanie
Speaker 1: Schanzano is here today along with Doug high Back, with
Speaker 1: US Republican strategist former r n C communications director to
Speaker 1: these add up to you, Doug, if the White House
Speaker 1: is getting involved here publicly pushing for her releasing she's
Speaker 1: being wrongfully detained only for her to plead guilty to
Speaker 1: drug charges, what are we doing well? I mean, clearly
Speaker 1: what's going on in Russia is the definition of a
Speaker 1: kangaroo court, and clearly she's being used as as a
Speaker 1: bargaining chip. And I think, you know, for Biden, this
Speaker 1: presents a potential opportunity for him. So much of the
Speaker 1: Democratic base has been demoralized with Biden, sometimes I think
Speaker 1: unfairly because he's not seen as being angry enough or
Speaker 1: fighting enough, even when his hands are often tied, say
Speaker 1: on Supreme Court decisions and so forth. This gives him
Speaker 1: an opportunity to not just get her back home him,
Speaker 1: but to demonstrate his outrage, and to do so at
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin, who the world is already outraged with for
Speaker 1: the actions in Ukraine. I hope he takes advantage of
Speaker 1: this situation. Does a does a prisoner swap make you uncomfortable?
Speaker 1: Though obviously we're going to have to let go a
Speaker 1: bad guy to get a good guy back. Yeah. Look,
Speaker 1: it's obviously not ideal, um, But this is unfortunately the
Speaker 1: situation that we found, you know, that we found ourselves
Speaker 1: in as a nation where one American essentially can be
Speaker 1: held hostage so that Vladimir Putin, you know, can extract
Speaker 1: pain points. So this is where Biden should talk tough
Speaker 1: and be tough. What's your take, Jennie, Again, this is
Speaker 1: for every story today. We refer to this time yesterday
Speaker 1: because the message was a bit different out of the
Speaker 1: White House. We heard about the letter President Biden called
Speaker 1: Brittney Grinder's wife, who we just heard from, only for
Speaker 1: a day later. For her to plead guilty, does that
Speaker 1: change the story at all for you? It does to
Speaker 1: a certain extent. I mean, when I heard about the
Speaker 1: guilty plea, it became clear that there is a sense
Speaker 1: among her counsel that she needs to admit guilt. She will,
Speaker 1: by all, uh, you know, by what we can fathom,
Speaker 1: she would be convicted almost certainly nine out of ten
Speaker 1: times and be convicted for ten years. But she needs
Speaker 1: to do that so they can have this discussion about
Speaker 1: a potential prisoner swap, and I don't think we can forget.
Speaker 1: And this is something I wanted to underscore yesterday, that
Speaker 1: this is a black woman and a gay black woman.
Speaker 1: Identity matters here because she's serving in a jail in Russia,
Speaker 1: in a country with some of the cruelest lgbt Q
Speaker 1: laws in the world, and so you can't under we
Speaker 1: can't underscore that enough. And so I'm not surprised that
Speaker 1: she decided to plead guilty. She has now said she
Speaker 1: packed in a hurry, that's why she mistakenly carried the
Speaker 1: cannabis oil in. But you know, I disagree slightly with Dog,
Speaker 1: just to the extent that while I hope Biden does
Speaker 1: everything he said, I think that there is a chance
Speaker 1: that the pressure, the public pressure on Biden, this demand
Speaker 1: for action, also makes it less likely that Russian officials
Speaker 1: are willing to play ball. And that is a real
Speaker 1: problem for Joe Biden, and more importantly at this point
Speaker 1: for Grinder and Whalen, And that is a real concern,
Speaker 1: or should be for all of us. Doug, is the
Speaker 1: time to send Bill richardson overseas or what? Well, I
Speaker 1: you know, the short answers I don't know. I actually
Speaker 1: agree with with what you need. This is not a
Speaker 1: perfect situation um for for Biden in any needs. So
Speaker 1: you know, I hope that two things can happen, and
Speaker 1: they're not necessarily all going to happen. One is that
Speaker 1: we get our home um and the two that Biden,
Speaker 1: you know, is able to demonstrate to his base that
Speaker 1: he can get upset, that he can get outraged and
Speaker 1: stand up to somebody who needs standing up to. Vladimir
Speaker 1: Putin is going to get away with everything that he's
Speaker 1: allowed to get away with. And this is where it's
Speaker 1: important to you know, as best we can, as imperfectly
Speaker 1: as we can draw a line in the sand. If
Speaker 1: you're curious about the letter, by the way, that we
Speaker 1: discuss yesterday, at this time, Karine John Pierre again, the
Speaker 1: Press secretary at the White House, says it has been delivered.
Speaker 1: Officials again attended Britney Griner's trial today and delivered to
Speaker 1: her a letter from President Biden. We will not relent
Speaker 1: until Brittany Paul Whalen and all and all other wrongfully
Speaker 1: detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones. And that
Speaker 1: is the focus of the UH Secretary of State. That's
Speaker 1: the focus of the president national National security team and
Speaker 1: his focus as well. All Right, so Genie Paul Whalen's
Speaker 1: name is now part of the official response to Brittney
Speaker 1: Grinder questions. We got into this as well. His family
Speaker 1: says they have still not heard from President Biden. Is
Speaker 1: that phone call in the works? Should it be? It
Speaker 1: should be, and I would suspect it is. Um you know,
Speaker 1: there's another aspect to this which is really hard to
Speaker 1: discuss as we talk about both Whalen and Grinder in
Speaker 1: these horrific conditions, which is that does this incentivize more
Speaker 1: of these kinds of unlawful attempts by governments like Russia
Speaker 1: to detain Americans unlawfully and illegally overseas if they get
Speaker 1: a sense that the United States will then negotiate these trades,
Speaker 1: that can be a very very dangerous road for the
Speaker 1: United States go down. We've long resisted that, and I'm
Speaker 1: not saying, you know, we should not negotiate on with
Speaker 1: these on these two, but that has long been a
Speaker 1: concern of the United States. But to your point, I
Speaker 1: suspect there is a call to Whalen's family and rightly
Speaker 1: should be from the White House some of the talk today,
Speaker 1: and there have been reports on this, Doug Uh that
Speaker 1: they could in fact be part of a prisoner swap together.
Speaker 1: Can you envision a world? I mean, I think this
Speaker 1: gets back to your initial point and the politics behind
Speaker 1: securing the release even for a bad guy. Of these
Speaker 1: two people, Grinder and Whalen in one pop. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the reality of where we find ourselves. And
Speaker 1: there's politics involved here. Obviously their domestic politics, there are
Speaker 1: international and geopolitics, and I think Biden is at some
Speaker 1: point going to remind himself will be reminded of the
Speaker 1: domestic politics in this that his base, especially because we're
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, a black gay woman and exactly
Speaker 1: what Jeannie was talking about, the experience that you're going
Speaker 1: to have in Russia. Um, you know, with that being
Speaker 1: so difficult, that Biden is going to have to do
Speaker 1: something domestically politically to his to demonstrate to his base
Speaker 1: that he's fighting for them, even if it's just one
Speaker 1: person at a time. Our story on the terminal updating
Speaker 1: all of this says, Russia hits at US hype on prisoners. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is the idea from Russia that we're making a
Speaker 1: big deal out of this, uh when she's actually going
Speaker 1: through their uh, their legal process. You can qualify that
Speaker 1: as you want. But the hysterics which they love accusing
Speaker 1: Americans of apparently the last that we've heard here, there
Speaker 1: is a chance Genie now having pleaded guilty, she could
Speaker 1: serve ten years in prison. She could and again having
Speaker 1: pleaded gil t I might understand the number is nine
Speaker 1: out of ten. Some people say it's as close as
Speaker 1: from her situation, will be convicted and it will be
Speaker 1: found guilty and have to serve ten years, of course,
Speaker 1: barring some kind of swaps. So you know that has
Speaker 1: she has got to be frightened. And we heard in
Speaker 1: that that, you know, the pleas to the president and
Speaker 1: her letter from her wife. I mean, this has got
Speaker 1: to be an incredibly difficult situation for her. Her lawyer,
Speaker 1: as we are reporting via a Jents France Press, had
Speaker 1: urged the court to impose quote as soft a sentence
Speaker 1: as possible unquote. We'll let you know, of course, as
Speaker 1: we learn more. Doug High, I want to bring you
Speaker 1: back uh to where we were just a little while
Speaker 1: ago this hour talking about Boris Johnson. You have a
Speaker 1: unique view here. You've worked with him, you consulted with
Speaker 1: him when he was mayor of London. To your point,
Speaker 1: you spent time with him here in Washington, and I
Speaker 1: didn't have a chance to hear your question just because
Speaker 1: we were running out of time here. Your answer rather, Um, Look,
Speaker 1: do you take him at his word having spent time
Speaker 1: with him, because obviously this has become a story of trust. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and look he's lost that trust to a lot
Speaker 1: of his members. That's why he's going, and ultimately why
Speaker 1: he should go. When that trust is gone, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't get it back, and so they're clearly going
Speaker 1: to move on, however they decide to. Um. My experience
Speaker 1: is he is one of the shrewdest, smartest operators I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. Um. The last two times I was in London,
Speaker 1: I had people who despise Borist Johnson, who would say,
Speaker 1: and this was in February and in September, say, but
Speaker 1: this guy is a winner. He always figures a way
Speaker 1: out and he essentially, did you know, until he ran
Speaker 1: out of time, just needs to keep his shirt tails
Speaker 1: in and stuff. Right, I mean, wouldn't I just he
Speaker 1: what a character? You know? I asked the Ambassador this
Speaker 1: earlier Dodge. You ever go to a good party with
Speaker 1: Boris Johnson? I mean I have not been to a
Speaker 1: good party with I've been to some receptions the embassy
Speaker 1: here and so forth, but not what I would call
Speaker 1: a good party or or anything like that. All above
Speaker 1: board as right now. I would have expected nothing less
Speaker 1: from Doug High, A straight shooter, Republican strategist, and back
Speaker 1: with us today on the panel with Jennie Chanzano. Thank
Speaker 1: you both for the insights. We'll meet you back here
Speaker 1: tomorrow the Friday edition. To sound on this is Bloomberg