Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news Bloomberg's Julie Fines both
Speaker 1: with Congressman Jake Lz of Texas. They discussed the latest
Speaker 1: on Trump administration, tariff's decisions at the border, and the
Speaker 1: aftermath of the DC air crash.
Speaker 2: Everything Donald Trump does about one subject is the opening
Speaker 2: of a negotiation, and that's exactly what this is. I
Speaker 2: liken it to a bottle of diet coke that you
Speaker 2: throw mentos in. It gets everybody upset, but it gets
Speaker 2: them to the table talking. So that's the opening gamut
Speaker 2: on what we're going to talk about on trade.
Speaker 3: Okay, so that's the opening gambit. But let's say there
Speaker 3: are tariffs again. Are you concerned it's going to hurt
Speaker 3: the economy.
Speaker 2: Well, of course everybody is going to be concerned about that,
Speaker 2: But the short term hurt for America is going to
Speaker 2: be a long term gain. That's the going in position
Speaker 2: of the Trump administration.
Speaker 4: In your opinion, our tariff's a good idea.
Speaker 2: I think in the past that in in this particular case,
Speaker 2: the idea of getting them to the table will lead
Speaker 2: to no tariff center renegotiation for our country.
Speaker 4: So you viewed this as a deterrent.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And remember he already did this with Columbia. He said,
Speaker 2: we're gonna slap twenty five percent on you today because
Speaker 2: you didn't take these flights of illegal immigrants. And they said,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, we'll take them now. Okay, Tariff's gone,
Speaker 2: you know. So that's the opening gambit.
Speaker 3: But Colombia is a much different trading partner than Mexico
Speaker 3: or camp Absolutely, it is I want to move to
Speaker 3: something that has been is just so difficult?
Speaker 4: Is this plane crash? And you have some insight into this.
Speaker 3: Because you were a fighter pilot for the Navy, you
Speaker 3: flew helicopters. You were also a commercial air pilot for
Speaker 3: Southwest Airlines. I mean, first of all, you look at
Speaker 3: this and you think, how does this even happen?
Speaker 4: How does this happen?
Speaker 2: Nighttime brings a lot of uncertainty to aircraft operations around
Speaker 2: any airport. Reagan National Airport has operated concurrently with military
Speaker 2: aircraft specific helicopters in B twenty two's in the Washington
Speaker 2: Basin for many, many years. Something went terribly wrong. I
Speaker 2: do think that you'll see some changes coming out of
Speaker 2: this with concurrent commercial airline traffic and helicopter operations in
Speaker 2: the Washington Basin, and this is a terrible tragedy. And
Speaker 2: I will say this as a pilot. I flew sixties, uh,
Speaker 2: the one like the one that was involved in the mishap.
Speaker 2: Every pilot on the planet has an opinion of what
Speaker 2: happened on that tragic day, none of which are helpful
Speaker 2: to the investigation. The investigation, they got both data recorders
Speaker 2: and we'll get to I'm sure everybody is going to
Speaker 2: be working on getting to a determination on what happened
Speaker 2: as quickly as possible. And when that determination comes back
Speaker 2: and the NTSB, which is the lead agency on this,
Speaker 2: comes out with a report, I'd be happy to come
Speaker 2: back and talk about it.
Speaker 3: Then, right after this happens, President Trump said, quote DEI
Speaker 3: policies quote could have been to blame for the crash.
Speaker 3: When asked how he came to that conclusion, he added,
Speaker 3: quote because I have common sense. He says this during
Speaker 3: a news conference that is right after the crash the
Speaker 3: next morning, as the investigation obviously is still going on.
Speaker 4: Do you agree with that.
Speaker 2: I think that every American in twenty twenty five is
Speaker 2: upset that this could possibly happen in our nation's capital
Speaker 2: with such a large loss of life, that doesn't make
Speaker 2: any sense to anybody. So I think he was merely
Speaker 2: showing the emotion that all of us have on an
Speaker 2: incident that is as tragic as this, And I think
Speaker 2: that's probably what's reflected there. And I'd go on to
Speaker 2: say that that sectif Hegseth did a video talking about this,
Speaker 2: this mishap, and I think that everybody's just upset at this.
Speaker 3: Point, but upset he's pointing to DEI is that the
Speaker 3: right place to point here?
Speaker 2: I think everybody's just looking.
Speaker 4: For answers, and do you think that's an answer.
Speaker 2: I think that he's looking for answers for why such
Speaker 2: a tragedy that hadn't occurred in the United States in
Speaker 2: fifteen years could possibly happen today, possibly happen in downtown Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. Possibly happened with all loss of life on board.
Speaker 2: And that's pure emotion talking there.
Speaker 4: You sit on the Appropriations committee.
Speaker 3: I want to turn to the border right now, because
Speaker 3: we are in a border state.
Speaker 4: Borders.
Speaker 3: Are Tom homans that it could be eighty six billion
Speaker 3: dollars for border plans?
Speaker 4: Do you think that amount is likely? Do you think
Speaker 4: he'll get it from the committee.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Here's what's going on now. So we have the House,
Speaker 2: we have the Senate, and we have the White House.
Speaker 2: We're not going to put anything on the floor that
Speaker 2: Donald Trump doesn't want. So if Donald Trump wants eighty
Speaker 2: six billion dollars for border security, and Tom Holman, his
Speaker 2: his closest advisor, as well as Christy Nolans, the Secretary
Speaker 2: of Homeland Security, says that's the number, that's going to
Speaker 2: be the number because we check within District six, that's
Speaker 2: the number one issue to taxpayers in District six is
Speaker 2: border security and Republican voters and most of the country,
Speaker 2: and I think the election showed that. So yeah, we're
Speaker 2: going to do everything we can because we got to
Speaker 2: play some ketchup talking.
Speaker 3: About mass deportations, which is part of this eighty six
Speaker 3: billion dollars. I've heard many people say that should be
Speaker 3: the criminals first, that should be the first priority. I mean,
Speaker 3: the presidents said that, Tom Homan has said that. Do
Speaker 3: you think, though, after that, that people that have built
Speaker 3: their lives here, children that are born here birthright citizenship,
Speaker 3: do you think they should be deported as well?
Speaker 2: If they're here illegally they've got to go back and
Speaker 2: get in line.
Speaker 3: So you think that anybody that's here illegally should be deported.
Speaker 2: I think that the administration has taken the tack that
Speaker 2: if they're here illegally, they can self identify and come
Speaker 2: up with another means of getting registered. I don't know
Speaker 2: what the plan is. The administration has been in power
Speaker 2: for two weeks. But if you're here illegally, you're here illegally,
Speaker 2: you are breaking the law. And I think that that
Speaker 2: is the tac that the Trump administration and his cabinet
Speaker 2: has taken, and that's what they are executing as the
Speaker 2: executive branch.
Speaker 1: That was Texas Congressman Jake Elsie speaking with Bloomberg's Julie
Speaker 1: Fine