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Might not be the happiest Friday here in Washington for House Speaker Mike Johnson, because after this threat for a while has been lingering, perhaps now the first steps that could lead to actually ousting him have been taken by Congressoman Marjorie Taylor Green. That is not a privileged resolution yet, and yet the motion to vacate has been filed, waiting to be acted upon potentially any time now. As for the reason why it appeared, because Mike Johnson made the
decision to work with Democrats to fund the government. Here was the Congressoman from Georgia earlier today on the steps of Capitol Hill.
This is a betrayal of the American people. This is a betrayal of Republican voters, and the bill that we were forced to vote on forced Republicans to choose between funding to pay our soldiers and in doing so, funding late term abortion.
You heard it and saw it live as it happened here on Bloomberg. That was less than an hour ago. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines. Welcome to Bloomberg Radio and TV. As we begin our conversation with Congresswoman Nicole mally atakas, the Republican from New York is with us now live from Capitol Hill. Having voted no on that legislation, before we start talking about the ins and outs of motion to vak, Congresswoman, why was this not worth your vote today?
You know, I just cannot continue to vote to fund this president's agenda. At the end of the day, we have a crisis at our border. It is Joe Biden's making. He instituted policies using his own authority that has dismantled the border security and this would give him the money to continue doing what he's doing, which is allowing people to enter into the country. Customs and Border Protection agents
are directed to release these people into the interior. They're not being detained or deported, They're being sent to cities like mine, and has become unsustainable and it's unsafe. It's unfair to the people that I represent. Who are having shelters being put in their districts and seniors being kicked out of residences to make way for migrants.
Okay, I'm just not going to fund this.
Well, Congressoman, not is it not then unfair to your constituents as well that a bipartisan border package that the President did agree to that would have tightened many measures at the border was not even given a vote in the House. If we're talking about what's unfair.
It wasn't even given a vote in the Senate. And you should have the same concern about.
Hr two that we passed out of the House that.
Would actually secure the border, and the Senate won't give it a vote either. So it works both ways here, and I'm happy to work with the Senate to hash something out. And I was hoping that's what our speaker would have done, is to make sure that there were some border security measures here. Because let's be clear, the President did this using his own authority. He can easily undo it. The reason we don't have a secure border right now is because he has used discretion to dismantle
policies of the previous administration. That the thing is the Senate bill simply gave him some more discretion. But if he's not using the current discretion he has, what makes you think he's actually going to do something to actually solve this problem. And that is why I say, look, we need to reinstate the policies, if not of the Predeus administration, at least have your Secretary of Homeland Security rescind.
His direct to the border patrol agents.
They're being told that if someone is convicted of a crime, that is not grounds to deport them.
That on its own, that is wrong.
And that is why we see these criminals coming into New York City.
They're wreaking havoc and they've assaulted police officers.
We've seen stabbings, we've been seen a murder, and I'm not going to tolerate this anymore until the president decides he is going to actually work with.
Us to really secure the border, or.
We just get a new president or a Senator that would actually take up our legislation or negotiate with us on a package that will truly secure the border. Not what they're saying they're doing, because it's the Senate bill again is discretionary, and if the president's not using his current discretion, what makes you think he's actually going to do something when that bill passes.
Well, you've got a lot of company, a congresswoman. The speaker failed to get a majority of the majority, which is something that a lot of people were using as an important metric on this vote. Before you joined us, we were talking about a motion to vacate. Now that's been filed by your colleague from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Green. Does Mike Johnson deserve that motion to vacate?
Look, I don't think so. I think the problem is not our speaker. The problem is the pres of the United States and the Senate majority leader. You got to remember the Republicans control one third of the government. Here, we were outnumbered two to one.
Speak this build low.
It's very difficult. Yeah, he didn't negotiate it.
But the reason why I think we didn't get more of the things we wanted was because he's out numbered two to one. And the reality is if people want to see the border being secured, they want energy production to lower costs of food and energy and utilities and inflation, then we need to have somebody who's actually going to pass our legislation over in the Senate or a president who's willing to work with us on those objectives.
The thing is their goals are very different than ours.
They want to allow millions of people to come into the country. They believe that Okay, the anti energy policies coming out of this administration have driven utility costs in New York and elsewhere to go up significantly. American families can't afford the policies of this president and we need to fight back. We can't do it unless we have more people, either in the Senate or, like I said, a president, so I would I would say that I'm
not ready to vacate the speakership again. You remember the disaster that created last time when all the Democrats sided with a handful of Republicans to.
Get rid of Speaker McCarthy.
I think we had a weaker hand, by the way, in this negotiation because we lost a lot of the leverage because of that. I think Kevin McCarthy would have done a better job negotiating for us. And by the way, Mike Johnson knows that the border security is our number one issue, and to come back to this conference with this legislation and not have significant policy changes from this administration is a failure.
Well, you have had many colleagues, including Congressman Ship Roy of Texas, suggesting that this House Republican Conference as a failures. You haven't really been able to get many conservative priorities across the finish line. And it does beg the question, with all of that perhaps being true, I'm sure you have an opinion on that, the idea that not much has been able to come out of this Congress Worth
pointing out there is an election in November. Do you think move such as this from Marjorie Taylor Green further threaten the House majority?
I think it's unhelpful.
And as I said, it's not that we need a new speaker, we need a new president and a new Senate majority leader.
And as for look Chip Roy.
I would say that we have been very successful in passing the legislation that the American people want. Remember, we passed our legislation to ramp up domestic energy production that would lower costs for American families and businesses. The Senate wouldn't take it up. We passed a bill to give parents more saying their children's education and have a right to see the material of the children with their children are being taught in schools. The Senate wouldn't take it up.
We passed a border security measure that was really tough and would do the job that needs to be done. The Senate wouldn't take it up. And so you ask me about you know, we're not passing legislation that comes out of the set. They're not passing our legislation. We're the ones who have the power of the purse.
Remember that.
So all these fiscal posse he's originate in the House. They should be taking up our legislation. I'm happy again, Not everything in that Senate bill is bad, but they didn't do the job of actually securing the border, and so we can negotiate from those starting points and come up with something solid.
But really all of this is mute if the President.
Just did his job and used his discretion. The existing authority has under sections eleven eighty two and twelve twenty five of Title eight.
Again, can it's all there. It's the laws exist.
That's why we never had this crisis under any other American president, Republican or Democrat.
We're spending time with Congresswoman Nicole Maliatakis here on Bloomberg TV at Radio as part of our coverage today on Balance of Power. The Republican from New York voting against that spending package today, and as we heard from Marjorie Taylor Green a bit earlier congresswoman, it appeared to be the trigger for her would be a vote on Ukraine funding. Now that this appears to be this budgeting process appears to be drawing to a close, is that the next
matter that will be handled? Do you want to see Speaker Mike Johnson bring a Ukraine funding bill to the floor, whether it's tied to Israel funding or as a standalone.
I want the border secured in this country. I want this unsustainable crisis.
To Earth.
Just to be closed. But but what I'm.
Saying, so you want to have a border funding bill before you manage the matter of Ukraine.
If we can work something out where we can address both issues, I think that is the route that would most likely be taken and satisfy both parties in both houses, because what's happening is you see Senator Schumer is so focused on Ukraine only doesn't want to do anything on the border.
House Republicans, yes, we want.
To support democracies in fighting against oppressors, but we want to secure our border first, So maybe there's an opportunity for us to address these issues together as a matter of a give and take. But for me to support sending more money overseas without securing our border, it is crippling this country. It is really a major problem, and I'm concerned as a New Yorker, we could potentially have a terrorist attack if we continue to have these open borders.
We've catched terrorists of the border.
Who knows how many you are in in the country already, there's been over two million gunaways that have evaded law enforcement, invaded government officials, and they're in this country. We don't know who they are, where they are, or what their intentions are.
And that is what frightens me the most.
And I'm not going to be a part of this, and that's why I voted note of fund this agency that won't do its job.
All right.
Congressman Nicole Maliatakis from New York joining us live from Capitol Hill today. Thank you.
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We had the voice now of Denver Riggleman, the former congressman is with us here, of course, the former Republican congressman who joins us from time to time. With a lot of news in the air today that we want to talk about. Denver, thank you for joining. There's a motion to vacate now filed against the speaker who just somehow got a funding bill passed with the help of Democrats. It came courtesy of Marjorie Taylor Green.
Does he deserve it?
Oh?
I mean, my goodness, this is the real March madness, isn't it.
It's pretty nuts performative politics.
But based on a significant i would say portion of the membership of the GOP, they certainly think he deserves it because he sold out to the end quotes I'll put this in air quotes, you know, the globalist Democrats.
So yeah, I think that's what we have right now.
And with this performative I would say bat I'll use a better word, bat crappery.
That you're seeing right now.
I think it's just sort of amazing to me that she's still getting the type of media attention she's getting with these kind of ridiculous things like motions to vacate.
Well, we've heard from even Republicans who were involved in the motion to vacate against Kevin McCarthy, specifically the individual who brought it, the Congressman from Florida, Matt Gates, suggested that he wouldn't want to support emotion to vacate because there was a likelihood that the House could elect a Democratic speaker, considering we're working with a very thin Republican
majority here. Even if this were to work, if Marjorie Taylor Green were to act on it and kick Johnson out, what would follow Denver.
Chaos, the same thing that's followed in the one hundred and eighteenth Congress. Since she said today she doesn't want chaos, well.
I mean, what Marjorie Taylor Green says and what she does are usually opposite things. And if you look at what happened today, right, you have somebody who's self identified as a Christian nationalist going after Mike Johnson, who believes he's been called to be in that position. You know, by God, you know, almost have their own God on God violence here, chaos is the only thing that gets
Marjorie Taylor Green media clicks. And if you looked at the pictures of her on the steps today, right she was so rounded by media based on her motion to vacate. This is the performative crap that you're seeing right now. I think a preschool is more sophisticated than Congress right now, and I think that's the issue that you have, as there's unserious people there. So what she says and what she does are two opposite things. And if you go
back in her past, that's what she does. She's just there to get as many clicks as possible to be performative, and other people follow along because it helps with they're fundraising and helps what they're polling, and it could help in their elections coming up in this cycle.
So she has no intention of firing the Speaker of the House, then, if I'm reading you right, Denver. And if that's the case, couldn't she end up strengthening Mike Johnson's hand if he appears to have survived this effort from Marjorie Taylor Green and MAGA Inc.
Marjorie Taylor Green doesn't think that far ahead right now, she's auditioning to be in the Trump cabinet or be a Trump appointee. So yeah, So.
When you look at the strategy of these individuals, it's so naked and so transparent. They're out there trying to actually mar a lago is where they're getting their mon arching orders. So it's interesting the chaos that's being churned up right now. But it could be that Marjorie Taylor Green is just a flank, you know, on the Trump type of I would say, campaigning in order to push all these crazy narratives out there.
And you know what she's doing though, she is setting the stage.
Remember with McCarthy, this is sort of how it started happening too, right, you have the first little poke that seems crazy, but it could be a way that they want to go.
So again, I think Mike Johnson needs to be careful.
And when you look at the passing of the budget today, they barely got over the two thirds you still see I think, and you can fact check me. I think it was one hundred and thirty four Republicans voted against it. Does that sound correct? That's still a significant portion of the Republican conference. So again, It's going to be really interesting to see where this craziness ends up over the next few months as the presidential campaign heats up.
Well, one hundred and twelve Republicans voted against, but that is more than the one hundred and one Republicans that voted for. To your point, Denver, the Hast rule did not work in this case. It did not pass the majority of the majority. You were talking though about Donald Trump, how Marjorie Taylor Green potentially would want to work in a second Trump administration. But we also know that President former President Trump and Speaker Johnson are close and talk frequently.
Would Donald Trump allow him to be ousted?
Well, he didn't have a big issue with McCarthy being ousted. I don't really.
I think Trump only cares about what happens for him in his presidential race. You know, he's not particularly close to Mike Johnson. If you notice, you know Trump uses loyalty like a stick, right. The loyalty only goes one way. So I would humbly submit. And I know you both are you have both of you have your fingers on the pulse. I love talking to both of you. I would humbly submit that Donald Trump will do anything he can to ensure that he stays in the news, that
his biggest supporter stays in the news. But as far as you know, I would say extending loyalty to anybody, Donald Trump hasn't done it, and he's not about to start now. So Mike Johnson as expendable as anybody else.
Ken Buck is out today Denver. We're down to two seats for Mike Johnson. People are hearing about the motion that vacate. I figure we'll fight and argue all summer throughout campaign season. Can we say that Republicans lost the House majority today?
Darn close to it. I mean, you still have a couple sane Republicans left in there. I mean they're dwindling. But when you see things that happen today, you see Marjorie Taylor Green, when you see very important votes that really really define what America needs to be, I think today that the Republicans are really on the ropes. And I'm really wondering about the twenty twenty four elections. I'm wondering about the polling, what they're singing their cross tabs,
what their base is expecting them to say. But I would say right now that the Republicans are going to have a tough time passing any type of agenda that.
Pushes what Trump wants them to push. And there you go.
Right now you're looking at what is going to happen to the GOP conference. Now, Ken buck leaving, I think is a great thing. It also put Lauren Bobert, you know, it leveraged her also. So now things are getting a little nutty. And I really think in twenty twenty four you're going to see a real shift and I think you see the Democrats take back the House, and I don't think it's going to be a buy three or four votes. I think they're going to do okay there
at this point. But you know, trying to tell the future in politics is very difficult. But again, I think right now they've effectively lost the ability to do much in Congress with any type of GOP agenda.
Well, on the subject of Democrats, we know that they did not act in any form to protect Speaker McCarthy when he was being ousted. Would you hope that they would act differently in the case of Mike Johnson? Should they considering all of the political implications here you were just talking about, you know, if you're.
Looking at it, there's two ways here, right, If you're looking at it completely politically, there's no reason they should. You know, the Republicans made their bed with this insanity. You know, why would Democrats pull them out of their you know, their flat spin?
Right?
They went ahead and they killed both engines on their fighter jet. Now they're in a flat spin. You know,
why should the Democrats help them eject? You know, on the other side, though, if you keep having this churn in speakers even through before the twenty twenty four election, it would be quite magnanimous of the Democrats to help Mike Johnson, And indeed, if you might, I still think though, as far as politically and the presidential election coming in twenty twenty four, I think the Democrats would have a tough time actually supporting any speaker outside of a Democrat.
What would be interesting is what is the flip? I think Matt Gates is sort of full of crap anytime he talks. You know, he's more like the human embodiment of a wet fart. But I do believe right that there could be some kind of possibility of moderns maybe coming up for a Democratic speaker.
But again, it's politics. It's Congress.
It's the one hundred and eighteenth, maybe the craziest Congress we've had in decades.
I just don't see the Democrats crossing.
The line and helping any Republican speaker at this point.
Okay, having a little trouble with that one. Congressman.
Let me just ask you lastly, will this pass the Senate tonight?
I think it will.
You know, again, it's hard to tell the future, but I think this passes the Senate, and I think I think the budget passes tonight.
All right, Denver Wrickle, let's walk him out.
The former congressman from an undisclosed location outside.
The blast radius in Virginia. We thank you for being with us.
As always, you're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Emocarplay and then Rouno with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
It is Ballance of Power. It's Friday, and boy, the news doesn't stop. You thought you might have quiet day here. It's actually been quite the adventure. First thing you should know, if you're just joining us. Is the House actually got it done. They passed the bill to avoid a shutdown to fund our government through September. It's on its way to the Senate now, and it was a convincing vote. I guess good for Speaker Mike Johnson. He had Democrats help him out two eighty six one four. But not
so good for Mike Johnson. Conservative Republicans are very angry. The Freedom Caucus held an angry news conference at nine o'clock this morning, and then Marjorie Taylor Green, separately, the General Woman from Georgia, filed a motion to vacate to fire the speaker, saying we need a new Speaker of the House. She did not make the filing privilege so she can hang this over his head for the rest of this Congress, and did speak with reporters after she did so.
Here's Marjorie Taylor Green.
I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House in chaos, but this is basically a warning and it's time for us to go through through the process, take our time and find a new Speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the difficats.
All right, let's assemble the panel on this Friday, Rick Davis and Jeanie Schanzano. We're here, by the grace of God, Bloomberg Politics Contributors, our signature panel. Rick Davis, What in the world is going on in the House to Speaker Johnson actually have to worry about this? Just yesterday people were talking about how he seemed like he was finally galvanizing support in his conference.
Yeah, I don't know how much he was finally galvanizing support. He was sweat and getting over one hundred Republicans on this bill. He finally got one hundred and thirty four, So I'd say that's a comfortable margin. Didn't please Marjorie Taylor Green very much, and I think she'd be offended that you called her the gentle woman. There's nothing gentle about Marjorie Taylor Green. But that being said, I'd say she's probably one of the least problems he's got one.
He's got a conference that now is completely rudderless, and the next big thing on his agenda when they return in two weeks is going to be Ukraine funding, and he has no seeming.
Solution on that.
Secondarily, we'll talk about this in the course of today's program. But he has a massive funding hole between the Republicans in Congress and the Democrats in Congress for reelection, and that is not an easy thing to fix. So and I'd say two. Maybe the third thing is not only is he upset Marjorie Taylor Green, but I'm pretty sure the President Donald Trump is going to be pretty pissed off that this bill.
Has passed away.
It has he'll echo the Freedom Caucus, and I suspect sometime in the very near future we'll get an all capped social media post on true social attacking the speaker. So he's he's got a bunch of problems headed his way.
Wow.
Rick Davis with the Reality Check spokesman from Mike Johnson, ROJ Shaw says, the speaker quote always listens to the concerns of members, but is focused on governing. Quote Genie, if Marjorie Taylor Green really wanted to fire the speaker, why wouldn't she make that filing privilege and get on with it in the next two legislative days.
Oh, Joe, are you asking me to look into the mind of Marjorie Taylor Green?
I take us with you, you.
Know it was I was so hopeful for just a moment that minibus was rolling on by, and then Marjorie Taylor Green got on and threw the driver off, or at least she's trying, you know. I think she would like nothing more than to hang this over the speaker's head. You know, Rick was just mentioning one of the big things on the agenda when they get back from a two week recess, because yes, they too need a vacation now,
is going to be Ukraine funding. And that's something in those remarks that you were playing in her statement she referenced. So I'm sure she would like to hear, you know, she would like to speak about that, and she would like to hang it over his head. And I think even more than this bill, a vote to fund Ukraine is going to set the former president Donald Trump into a tizzy. So a lot there to hang over Mike
Johnson's head. And but I think we need to remember we're in a very different time than we were in October when they had the motion to vacate for McCarthy. And I'm not convinced there was no will, certainly not with Democratic moderates to do this all over again.
Wow, boy, there's so much there.
Rick.
Does a Ukraine vote trigger Marjorie Taylor Green to activate this thing and fire the speaker? Is that what she was setting up today?
You know?
I think what she was setting up today is there a typical sort of you know, performance pitch. You know, she needed something to go home to that she could lead the news in. She's extraordinarily good at it, got us talking about it all day today. So I think that's all this is. She didn't she didn't pull the trigger on this because frankly, she would have had a horrible reaction from the vast majority of the caucus. Right she said, well, I don't want to upset the caucus. Well,
then why do it at all? The reality of it is that nobody in this caucus is talking about wanting to expel Johnson from that seat. They have less than seven months left potential to be the majority party in the House, and the last thing I want to do is spend one more day trying to figure out who the next Speaker's going to be. So she has a lot bigger problems trying to implement this than Ukraine policy. She'll have an entire caucus who will wonder has she
lost her mind? Do we really want to be doing this right before an election? And all these guys who are trying to get out and spend more time in their district running for reelection are going to be incensed by this because the last thing they want to talk about is the third selection of a speaker in the course of one year.
Yeah, Geni Tom Swazi, of course, Democrat, newly elected, re elected Democrat from New York who's got the old what was the George Santos seat with its own peculiar politics, just set on CNN that he would vote to protect Mike Johnson if a motion to vacate were triggered.
Are we on the eve of some sort.
Of power sharing agreement in which Democrats moved to save him?
We could be.
And that's what I was mentioning when I talked about moderate Democrats. I mean, forget about the Republicans right now. But in those what twenty two twenty three days of chaos that we all sat through with the Mike Johnson, with the sorry Kevin McCarthy motion to vacate last year, you know, one of the big questions was what would the Democrats do? Would they have some kind of agreement with Republicans to save Kevin McCarthy, and of course in the end they didn't do that. But we're in a
very different moment right now. We are in an election year. You have Democrats like Tom Swase who you just mentioned from you know, he just won a special election in Long Island. He's up again in November. Is he really gonna want to talk to this purplish district about the chaos in the House as they go to try to find another speaker. No, and that's why he's saying right now, I would work across the aisle, which is what he's
been talking about. I would work across the aisle to save the speaker because quite frankly, Republicans cannot govern themselves. And Joe, can we just mention the other bit of chaos here in the House? Ken buck leads today exactly, there you go majority, so it just they pile on. But to your point, I do think we see these Purplish Democrats are not gonna be sticking with any other Democrats in safe seats who want to do what they
did last time with Kevin McCarthy. I think in this case they probably will try to work to save the speaker.
Pretty incredible to see these numbers continue to dwindle, Rick, is this just a media thing? We talk about a power sharing agreement, Hakim Jeffreys coming to the rescue with Mike Johnson even want that, Could you be a credible Republican leader having been saved by Democrats?
No, I mean you'd be a lame doc the minute that vote was taken. In other words, you might be able to serve out the rest of the term in this Congress, you know, to January post election. Even if there was a Republican majority in twenty twenty five, it's be highly unlikely at that stage that one Democrats would want to actually save Johnson again because he hasn't proven that he could do any bipartisan deals with them anyway, Right,
that's just to avoid chaos. And two Republicans don't want him, so within the caucus, they're not even going to print, you know, push him forward as a candidate because they'll they'll believe that he's a bandon the Republican caucus, you know, to take a league with the Democrats. So, no matter what happens, this is highly likely to be the you know, beginning of the end of the Johnson era. And I'm not even sure how to characterize it after today's.
Vote, but you know, we'll we'll have.
Plenty of time between now in January to talk about that.
Well, I guess we will. This is a fundraiser, right, Genie Rick mentioned the disparity in funding between Democrats and Republicans in the House, not unlike what we're seeing between Joe Biden and Donald Trump the DNC and RNC. Does Hockeen Jeffries take this to the bank?
Yeah, you know, this is just startling because as poles show, and you mentioned the disparity between Biden and Trump, and of course the disparity we know now between Republicans and Democrats in the House. You know, polls showing one thing, which is that Donald Trump is you know, ahead in these swing state swing states that we've been looking at
with the Bloomberg Pole. And yet when you look at the fundraising advantage Joe Biden has and now the Democrats in the House, you'd much rather be on the Democratic side of all of this. You know, we have seen with Donald Trump in the past, and we do see it with some of the firebrands that maybe they can get away with getting free advertising like the kind that Marjorie Tayler Green is getting today, but for the entire
House that is much more of a challenge. And so these numbers matter, and this is a big boon for Hakim Jeffries, who has done a really remarkable job filling the shoes of Nancy Pelosi, obviously with assistance, and of course you know, also we have to admit has the easier job in the minority than being in the majority and trying to be Speaker of the House, especially with this Republican caucus.
Well, the numbers don't lie.
The NRCC, the Republican group raised eight point two million dollars in February forty five million dollars cash on hand. Its Democratic counterpart raised fourteen and a half million. The same time, it is over fifty nine million dollars in the bank. You're an expert on fundraising, Rick, Is this Hakim Jeffries outperforming or Republicans underperforming because they don't have Kevin McCarthy.
Probably a little of both.
I think Hawking Jeffries understands the value fundraising. He's had the support of Nancy Pelosi to help continue that. She was an unbelievable fundraiser, and now he is. And look at the difference. Kevin McCarthy, who was an outstanding fundraiser for Republicans, will not lift a finger for this crowd
inside the House of Representatives. And so a completely untested fundraiser who you know would be at the lower quarter of the Caucus in funds raised in his history, you know, had to take this over in the middle of all these fights they're having in Congress over spending, and he's had to travel around to fifty cities and try and raise money. And you know, I'd say he's actually doing better than I would have given him credit for, but
he's had everything working against him, bottom line. And Genie mentioned Tom Swasse. You know, he was able to put millions more to work in that special election in Long Island than his Republican counterpart, and that had to matter
in the outcome of the election. So when you look at these Swings districts, and there are only probably twenty of them, you have to look and say, if they're going to put millions to work in each one of those districts that Republicans don't have, if Democrats outspend each of those races. You got to give them some advantage to that, regardless of what kind of election cycle you're in.
Did Republicans just lose the House today, Genie?
You know, I wouldn't say they lost it, but you know, with a two seat margin at this point today, it is going to be very tight. There are not because of jerry mandering, that many seats that are up for grabs. So that's why this fundraising advantage matters so much, as does the organizational aspect. And you know, this is one thing we don't talk enough about in American politics. Expertise and experience matters, and that's what Rick was just mentioning
with Mike Johnson. You know, he is untested, but he also does not have the Kevin McCarthy or the Nancy Pelosi fundraising experience of background. That's why when people talk about term limits, I always shudder, because the expertise and experience in governing matters, and we're seeing it today as it impacts campaigns.
Well, well, you picked quite a day to join us here on Balance of Power with the help of Jeanie Shanzano and Rick Davis our panel, I'm Joe Matthew in Washington.
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You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Joining us now Dave Ehrenberg on a Friday Diamond. Dave is with us Paul Beach, County State's Attorney.
It's great to see you, sir. Welcome back to.
Washington, Joe.
It is great.
I'm always looking at the zoom to see or you're sitting right next to me. Now, what's important to you? A couple of big things are going to happen Monday. I just mentioned one of them. The four Present is going to be in court in New York. The Alvin Bragg case that was gonna start Monday as being delayed because of recently disclosed evidence. We talked about that. Are we going to get a new trial date Monday?
Yes, and I think it's going to be in April. Judge Murshan wants this to go. And Alvin Bragg came out why they fire brief It was a takedown of Donald Trump, showing that Trump's all about delays. This is stall tactic. And of the one hundred and seventy thousand new documents that Trump says, wow, We've got to take all this time to review, only about two hundred and seventy pertained to this case. And of the two seventy, most of them are what you call inculpatory, meaning incriminating.
They helped the prosecution, not the defense. So Judge Mr Shan, I think, is not going to delay this any further.
Okay.
Braggett said about thirty days would be appropriate. That's about what we get then, Yeah, I mean, and John ninety days? Do they slice that down the middle or what do you do in a case like that?
Trump actually wants half past never Yeah, well, yes, of course, no, oh no, he's I think that after the thirty days expires, which is in at least either April fifteenth or twenty fifth, and then it's going to go to trial. I am convinced about it.
Okay.
And you can read the tee lees by Judge Marchant's latest ruling, which was all in favor of the prosecution and Alvin Brager minded judgement Shant. Look, he's done this to you man. You know he didn't call him man. You don't call a judge man, but your honor. He tried to get you disqualified from the case because he said you're a biased And yet this is what he does. He tries to slow everything down, don't fall prey to it. And I think the judge Marchant's going to set it amazing. Okay,
a six week trial is what was estimated. That means a criminal trial will take place before the election. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a thought that this may never happen, right, because there was the thought that there was some bad faith that the prosecutors withheld documents and then they could be punished for it. But it turns out that it wasn't the state prosecutors, it was the FED. So number one, the state proscuers are saying, don't call a foul on me when someone else did.
This is not even our team. And number two, it turns out that the Feds did not screw up. The FEDS didn't get these documents until the FBI gave the federal prosecutors of documents in December, and then Trump didn't even request additional documents until mid January. So this is not a violation, no harm, no foult. This thing is going to trial.
All right.
A separate case we have to delineate here could lead to the seizure of Donald Trump's properties. This is the civil case in New York. It appears he may not be able to post bond, which is a lot of money here, tens of millions of dollars, unless, of course, this spack deal magically falls in his lap on Monday, which is a really interesting wrinkle in this story. But
how quickly could that happen. Authorities in New York are actually taking the preemptive steps to begin seizing properties in Westchester County.
Yeah, four hundred and sixty four million is the bond here. That's a surety bond, and no one's loaning that to him. No one's given that to Trump could borrow against this back perhaps and get the money that way, or he could get a wealthy friend, maybe a foreign actor to donate. And that's what we have to watch for. But Monday's a big day. It's not just a New York case. It's the fact that that's a deadline for him to
post a bond or else. Letitia James the Age of New York gets to start moving ahead to seize his property to put liens on his proper Now she's already started to do that, at least put Leans in Westchester County, New York. But it's a process. And so that is d day for Donald Trump. So marker calendars meet.
The deadline for the bond and the New York trial in which he'll be present for that, both happen on the twenty fifth of March.
How quickly could she start.
Seizing properties or this is just talk to scare Donald Trump into finding some money.
She's going to issue Leans right away, She's going to encumber it right away. And as far as how long it takes to actually take possession, yeah, I don't know, but I do think that it will cause great headaches for Trump. And I think part of the shoe is that Trump can't sell the properties right away because it'll be a fire sell this late day. Plus I think a lot of his stuff is encumbered, so this will be further encumbered. You know, he said he is the
King of debt. Yeah, and so there's a lot of debt here now just because he cannot and if he cannot post a bond doesn't mean he can't appeal the judgment. He's going to continue to appeal. It just means, though that the state can go ahead and start collecting his assets if he doesn't he appeals though, if he doesn't post a bond, right, Yeah.
That's incredible.
Four hundred Are these properties worth four hundred and fifty million dollars combined when you add the debts?
Or do we don't know that.
Yet when you add the debts?
No. I think that's why he can't get the shirty bond, because if it were or if it was liquid, I think they would be more willing.
But as an app why doesn't you take Trump Tower?
I think it's incumbas on the list, it's encumbered, everything's on there, So this is worthless for the state. Then no, no, not necessarily.
Well, this is Bloomberg.
So I'm not going to get into a fancy like you know, that's good to go first financial conversation. That's for the expert. But I can talk to you from a legal standpoy as a prosecutor that Leticia James already has her eyes on certain properties. I mean, look Westchester County, she's already moved ahead with the process of putting leans so he can't just sell them under her nose.
April twenty fifth is another big date, when the Supreme Court hears arguments on the immunity claim presidential immunity based on your judgment at this point, having some time to think about this and knowing what other levers the Trump team could pull, is there a chance that that trial happens before the election if the Supreme Court rules against Donald Trump.
Remember the movie Dumb and Dumber. So you're saying I got a chance, Yes, exactly, Yes, there is a chance. But the Supreme Court would have to dispose of the issue and be the end of June. And then the judge or Judge Chuckan, who's a great judge and she's all business, she would have to cut short the days that she gives Trump to prepare. She originally said eighty eight more days, but that wouldn't work. So now you
have all these new delays. I think she says, you know, I said eighty eight, but that was before the Supreme Court gave you additional delays. So we're going to cut it back to forty days, and then it could go. And here's the other thing. The Department of Justice told the court in the mar Lago case that we don't have to abide by the sixty day rule. We can
go to trial even sixty days before an election. That sixty day rule that says that the DOJ cannot prosecute someone applies to grand jury proceedings and investigations, not to cases that have already been indicted.
Fascinating. I still want one of those pins.
It's much cooler than the congressional pins that you see the members wear.
Let's you know, you get the The badge is just much cooler.
If this is on YouTube, a bit of a ruse, Joe, this is not my own pin. This is the DA of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Tim Kruz, a.
Republican stopping ground, no kidding, Yeah yeah, Do you guys share these things? You must have worked on something again.
He gives them out at our meetings, at the conferences, and because you know, I don't want to have to take one off off, so when I just I just keep this on.
I can't wear that though, right, that's like her walker with a badge. I'm not a real DA.
I can't do that.
Great to see in the nation's capital. Dave Arenberg, Palm Beach County State's attorney, with the way forward for Donald Trump. Remember this conversation on Monday. We're going to be talking a lot about both of these cases and whether properties could be seized next. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. It's Balance of Power only, I'm Bloomberg. Thanks for listening to
the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.