Schumer, Jeffries Endorse Harris, Secret Service Chief Steps Down - podcast episode cover

Schumer, Jeffries Endorse Harris, Secret Service Chief Steps Down

Jul 23, 202440 min
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Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF

Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. 

On this edition, Kailey speaks with: 

  • Rep. Mark Pocan, Democrat from Wisconsin, co-chair and co-founder of the Labor Caucus for his initial reaction to House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president 
  • Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican from West Virginia and no. 5 ranking member of Senate GOP leadership for her view on President Biden stepping aside and giving way to Kamala Harris 
  • Ellen Gilmer, Bloomberg Government Homeland Security reporter breaks down Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigning and taking responsibility for security failures that led to an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump 
  • Nathan Dean, Bloomberg Intelligence senior US policy analyst shares insight into what some key policies in a Harris presidency might look like 
  • Bloomberg politics contributors Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Rick Davis talk through the groundswell of Democratic support surrounding Kamala Harris

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appo, car Play, and then roun Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.

Speaker 2

HACKEM. Jeffreys and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader, are speaking in a joint press conference. Senator Schumer speaking now, so let's listen in.

Speaker 3

President Biden's selfless decision has given the Democratic Party the opportunity to unite behind a new nominee. And boy, oh boy, are we enthusiastic. Since President Biden's announcement, We've seen the Democratic Party swiftly coalists behind Vice President Kamala Harris. When I spoke with her Sunday, she said she want the opportunity to win the nomination on her own, and to do so from the grassroots up, not top down. We

deeply respected that, Hakima, and I did. She said she would work to earn the support of our party, and boy, has she done so in quick order. Vice President Harris has done a truly impressive job securing the majority of delegates needed to win the Democratic Party's nomination to be our next president to the United States. The vast majority

of my senators quickly and enthusiastically endorsed her. So now that the process is played out from the grassroots bottom up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

Speaker 4

Kamala Harris is a common sense leader who knows how to deliver real results for hard working American taxpayers. Kamala Harris is a courageous leader who has worked hard throughout her entire career to keep our communities safe. Kamala Harris is a compassionate leader who will build an affordable economy that makes life better for everyday Americans. Kamala Harris will fight for our freedom. Kamala Harris will fight for our families.

Kamala Harris will fight for our future. I'm proud to strongly endorse Kamala Harris to be the forty seventh President of the United States of America. We're gonna hold the Senate, We're gonna win the House. We're gonna elect Kamala Harris as our next president in November.

Speaker 3

Thank you, yes, well, question John?

Speaker 2

All Right? That was the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffrey speaking alongside the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both of them giving Vice President Kamala Harris their ringing endorsements. Let's turn out quickly back to Capitol Hill where Congressman Mark Pokan of Wisconsin has been very patient with us. Sir, thank you for bearing with us through that endorsement. Obviously your party very much behind Kamala Harris, who was in

your home state today. What message is it that she needs to bring to Milwaukee, What would win it for her?

Speaker 5

Yeah?

Speaker 6

I think you know, in many ways, this is a reintroduction. You know, people don't always deal with vice president as often as the president. We're close to the election, and this is really imperative for her to let the people of the country know what we know about her, which is her ability to be the president, that she has an agenda moving forward, that there's a huge difference between Donald Trump and his Project twenty twenty five and the

values of Democrats. I just saw Wisconsin based journalist just was tweeting that the amount of energy in the room in Milwaukee now compared to a few weeks ago in Madison is a distinct difference, and I think that's what you're seeing. People are excited that Kamala Harris is the nominee. They're excited about the prospects. Now, you know, it's the Republican Party that has the problem. They've got, you know, one of the two people during the debate that people

weren't connecting with still is their nominee. We've got someone that I think is going to be really great to be running in Wisconsin.

Speaker 2

Well, of course, sir, you are not just a sitting congressman from the state of Wisconsin. You are also the co chair and the co founder of the Labor Caucus. So keeping in mind the act that Harris has to follow here President Biden, who has called himself the most pro labor president in history, and thinking about the labor votes that need to be secured not just in Wisconsin but the rest of the Blue Wall Michigan, Pennsylvania. Is

Harris as strong on labor? Can she own that in the way that Biden has?

Speaker 6

Well, I think, you know, she's been part of what Joe Biden has done for working people across the country, So she certainly has those cred points. But more importantly, when you look at Donald Trump's Project twenty twenty five it once it get rid of overtime in this country.

I mean, it has extreme measures that would hurt working families in a place like Wisconsin especially, And I think that contrast behind, you know, the pro worker initiatives that Joe Biden Kamala Harris did versus the extremity of this extreme agenda from Trump's Project twenty twenty five. I mean, taking away overtime. You know, your worker, your employer could make you work forever and never get paid extra. I mean that's insane, and yet that's exactly what's in their agenda.

Speaker 2

Congressman, in our final moment with you, it's worth noting that your district includes Madison. It's a college town. We've seen some difficulty for Biden during the primary process in places where there is a high concentration of young people, in part because of his policy toward Israel and Gaza. Is Kamala Harris the candidate to get that young vote back?

Speaker 3

Yes?

Speaker 6

In fact, I hate was with a couple of UW. Madison College Democrats on Saturday and they're talking about the difficulty they had right now with Joe Biden. But what how different it would be if Kamala Harris was the nominee and Kamala Harris is now the nominee. So I think, you know, having to be able to kind of turn the page on that issue a little bit and having the new energy across the board is something that I see. And you know, we have a lot of university students

in Wisconsin. I you know, I think it's something like one hundred and fifty thousand students. That's a lot of votes in a state where someone wins by twenty thousand people.

Speaker 2

All right, Congressman, thank you so much for joining us on Bloomberg today, and thank you for your patients. As we got that press conference from your leader in the Senate Majority Leader, Congressman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, we appreciate your time. Serve.

Speaker 1

You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appocarplay and enroud Oro with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.

Speaker 2

Of course, one week ago today, we were broadcasting to you live from Milwaukee Wisconsin, talking about Republican unity as they rallied behind Donald Trump and vice presidential selection JD. Vance, while the Democratic Party looked rather ununified, with growing calls within it for Joe Biden to drop out of the

presidential race. Of course, this week he has now done so, and Kamala Harris, the vice president, now is the presumptive Democratic nominee, after getting pledges from enough delegates to secure her that position at the top of the ticket come the convention next month. The question is now, how do Republicans wage a campaign against Kamala Harris? How will it be different than the one they were waging against Joe Biden.

We've already seen a taste from the ticket, Jadie Vance, the senator from Ohio vice presidential nominee, talking about how Biden and Harris may be more of the same. While Donald Trump does seem to have resorted to calling her lion Kamala or, at least in one true social post yesterday, calling her and this is a quote, dumb as a rock, Kamala Harris? Is that a winning strategy? I asked that of Larry Sabadeau of the UVA Center for Politics yesterday.

Speaker 7

Being insulting is not a good way to go. They're going to have to take her very seriously. For one thing, she's much younger and more vigorous then Biden. The age problem is gone. There are other problems. There are always problems with any candidate, but the Republicans have to do a lot better than that.

Speaker 2

So let's talk to one Republican now, and please to say joining me is Republican Senator Shelley Moore, Capital of West Virginia. Senator, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. Always great to have you, and you, of course speak to us not just as a sitting senator but someone who was in the Senate with Kamala Harris and actually in fact, at some points crafted by partisan legislation with her. What is the smart way for your party to tackle a campaign against her.

Speaker 8

I think there's no question that the best way to campaign against the presumptive nominee is to look at the policies. The team is Biden Harris. The policies are Biden Harris. So whether that's immigration policy, economic policy with rising costs of inflation, whether it's the unsure international situation where we're looked at as in a weakened position because of the policies of Vice President Harris. At the same time, crime

in the cities. I mean, all of the things that Americans and West Virginians are upset about lay directly at the doorstep of the Vice president. And so I think, in my view, attack on policies, attack on vulnerabilities in terms of the issues that I mentioned, and that's a winning strategy in my view.

Speaker 2

Well, Senator, of course, Harris would not be in this position to compete for the presidency if it weren't for Joe Biden dropping out of the race this past Sunday. You yesterday put out a statement in which you basically questioned, if his ability to continue on a presidential campaign is in question, what about his ability to continue on as president of the United States. You have called for his resignation. If you were to resign, though, that would make Vice

President Harris president. Now, is that what's better for the country.

Speaker 8

Well, I think what's better for the country is to have somebody in charge who knows what they're doing, and that's what we're going to see in November when President Trump is reelected. So I definitely think that is a much better position for the country. But here's my concern. The President made a difficult decision to not continue campaigning. He's pretty much self declared that he's not in a position to be able to do that. He didn't enumerate the issues, but we all know what they are. We

saw them in full display at the debate. Those issues do not start on that one day. Those issues that the President has had have been going along over the last probably several years. If you've had anybody in your family who's aged and aged in this way, Vice President Harris has been right there with him. Why was she not making the American people aware? Why were they not working more hand in hand with the Congress to let us know what's actually going on at the White House?

And so I just don't think six more months of President Biden is in our best interest. And these issues don't get better, we know that, and in sometimes they spiral out of control. And so I just think the country in and of itself would be better without President Biden at the helm.

Speaker 2

Does that mean Senator considering that President Biden already, even if he does not resign as you wish him to, and there's been no sign that he is intending to do that as in his letter, he basically just said he intends to fulfill the duties of the president for the remainder of his term. Does that signal that even in the lame duck session after the election, you don't see anything that Congress and this White House led by

President Biden could work together on. Are we not going to see any movement on say, government funding or the debtlimit or the Defense Authorization?

Speaker 8

No. I think we will be moving forward here in the Senate on our appropriations bills. We'll be having some of those pass out of committee this week. I'm on that committee. And we have to have our spending. We either have to have a continuing resolution or something to the end of the year. Yes, I think that can continue. We need to real authorized the National Defense Authorization Act. We will do that by the end of the year here in Congress, and the President will sign those bills. Absolutely.

But the question I'm asking is is he really the one in charge here? I think all Americans are wondering that themselves, and so I just want a little honesty from the White House, from his biggest supporters, from his Democrat supporters here in the Senate, to be honest with the American people to say what the situation has been. That's really not going to impact so much the election, except if there's a cover up of what kind of challenges have been in the White House over the last

several months. That's my question. This is not a personal thing, too, okay, because I know the President.

Speaker 2

Well sure, and Senator of course you'd worked with him in bipartisan legislative efforts like the infrastructure bill earlier on in his term. Have you seen from your position in the US Senate evidence that Joe Biden has not been the one in charge of making decisions or anything concrete, or that's what you're hoping might I.

Speaker 8

Think these are the questions that need to Yeah, I think these are the questions that need to be asked. I mean, honestly, we just signed a nuclear bill into and to affect The President just signed my nuclear bill. He just signed my National Plan to end Parkinson's Bill, So they're things that we're doing together. I just think these are questions, and I think it also lends to what kind of a candidate Vice President Harris is going

to be. She's been in the White House, she's been witnessing everything that's going on let's just have a little honesty.

Speaker 2

Hear well, Senator, As we talk about your calls for Joe Biden to resign, it is worth pointing out we did get a resignation today, not from him, but from the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle. Of course, she'd been facing a lot of pressure to do so in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend. Now that she has stepped down, what do you want to see happen next?

Speaker 8

Well, the first thing we've got to have and this is a bipart is an issue, and you see over on the House they've appointed a committee. We got to have transparency, actually what happened that day, where the fault lines were, how this could even, how a shooter could get that close, what were the protocols in place, who was actually performing the duties. I think those are questions that she couldn't even answer yesterday or would not answer,

And so you know, I'm sorry the head. The head has to fall when there's such a colossal failure, and I'm pleased that she resigned. So I think, first of all, we have to find out what happened, and then we have to make sure that it never happens again. And I think that's in everybody's shared interest. I don't think you're going to find a political a political shade to this investigation. I think it will be very straightforward down the line, and I look forward to those answers.

Speaker 2

Well, I'm sure Donald Trump does as well. We just had a headline crossing the Bloomberg terminal, Senator that Trump is looking forward to meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nett Niyahoo tomorrow at Mara Lago. Before that happens, though, it is worth pointing out the Prime Minister will be addressing a joint session of Congress. He'll be there with you on Capitol Hill. What are you expecting to hear from him, Senator.

Speaker 8

Well, I think that what the Prime Minister will do is he will reinforce to all of us in the audience. And I hope we have the full audience. We're not going to have the Vice president or the President. Senator ben Cardon, a good friend is going to be the one who's going to be presiding over this with the Speaker.

But I think what needs to be reinforced is the long time relationship that Israel and the United States have had how we have been great allies, protectors of freedom, and they were attacked on October the seventh, and we are in lockstep with them in terms of helping them to weed out the terrorisms and the terrorists that attack

them so brutally. So I'm sure he's going to reinforce the ties that bind us to Israel, and I think he should and he should talk about where America has been great in Israel and where Israel has helped us as a nation, whether it's through intelligence or whether it's through innovation. Some of the innovations that we see are coming out of Israel are quite remarkable in small businesses. So I think we have a lot. I think he's going to reinforce where we have great agreement. I don't

expect him it could happen. I don't expect him to get beleiglant or mad at the detractors. I don't think that's probably in either one's best interest. I think it's better to look at where we have such a strength of relationship with the country of Israel.

Speaker 2

All Right, Senator, thank you so much for joining us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. We appreciate your time that as Republican Senator Shelley Moore, capital of West Virginia. Now, on the subject of the new US Senate, a bit of breaking news for you. According to the New Jersey Globe, New Jersey Democrat, the Senator Bob Menendez is going to be resigning from the chamber again. This is according to

the New Jersey Globe. That resignation letter, they report, could come as soon as today, and it's been reported that that resignation will be effective August twentieth. Bob Menendez, of course, has been indicted on multiple criminal charges about corruption, and there are a lot of calls for him to resign now. According to the New Jersey Globe, he does plan to do so.

Speaker 1

You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appo, CarPlay and then Proud Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.

Speaker 2

We were watching what was a pretty contentious hearing in the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers grilled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle about the failures in security last weekend in Pennsylvania. When Donald Trump was shot in an assassination attempt, she of course faced bipartisan calls to resign, and today she has done so, saying in an email to staff, I take full responsibility for the security lapse in light of

recent events. It is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director. For more on this, Ellen Gilmer is joining us now. She is Bloomberg Government's Homeland Security and Immigration reporter. So, Ellen, we do know now that the Director of Homelands or the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandra Maiorcis, has renamed an acting Secret Service Director, Ronald Rowe. What else is going to happen next now that we at least have someone acting in place.

Speaker 9

Well, the new acting director, Ronald Rowe, is obviously going to have a lot on his plate immediately. So he's somebody who's been at the Secret Service for nearly twenty five years and a lot of leadership positions, and a lot of what he's going to be doing now is talking with lawmakers, talking with investigators from the whole universe of investigations that has started looking into this, their independent reviews. There's an internal review, and he's going to have to

try to restore confidence in the Secret Service. Obviously the next step, the next bigger step would be to name permanent or you know, to name a next director. There are some senators who want that to be a Senate confirmed position, which it is not right now.

Speaker 2

So when we consider the what role called ungers has to play in this, even if they don't have to do the confirmation process. Yesterday, in that Oversight Committee hearing, she was pretty adamant. It seemed like that she was not going anywhere, that she wasn't stepping down. Do we have a sense of what exactly changed in just the last twenty four hours that led to her resignation this morning.

Speaker 9

Well, I think it was clear during that hearing that she didn't have confidence or support from either side of the aisle. And it's really hard to help an agency doing such a critical task as a Secret Service navigate this kind of public scrutiny in these investigations with somebody who doesn't have the support of all the decision makers in Washington. So I think it was really just a matter of time. She did the hearing, she made her case, she explained as much as she was willing to explain

about the events of July thirteenth. It wasn't enough to win anybody over, and that was clear by the end of the day.

Speaker 2

Well, Ellen, as you talk about the role of play in disrupting perhaps the investigation process, where does that go next. I'm sure it's ongoing right now as we speaks. This assassination attempt was only ten days ago. But do we have a sense of how long it is going to take that process to wrap up entirely?

Speaker 9

There are so many different investigations happening for you to keep track of. There's one independent review that Biden ordered immediately after the assassination attempt, and that's being done by former government officials who've served in Democratic and Republican administrations, including former Secretary jan and Napolitano and others. That has a forty five day timeline. That's what they've committed to. Separately, the Secret Service is doing an internal review that's supposed

to take sixty days. At the same time, of course, Congress is investigating. House Speaker Johnston just is putting together a task force that the House is going to vote on this week that'll be bipartisan. There's no timeline that they've committed to yet on that, but I expect they'll aim to work quite quickly. And then of course the FBI is investigating the particulars of the day and doing a criminal investigation.

Speaker 2

All right, it's a lot of moving parts and I'm sure it's a lot to cover. Ellen, thank you so much for joining us as we dissect this breaking news on Cheetle's resignation. We appreciate it and look forward to continuing to see what comes of your coverage. Is these investigations move forward, Ellen Gilmer of Bloomberg Government covering homeland

security for US. Now, we also want to continue on with what is, frankly our top story today, which is the rapidly evolving narrative around Vice President Kamala Harris, now seen as the presumptive Democratic nominee after locking up the necessary amount of delegates to actually win the nomination at

the convention just four weeks from now. But we want to look even further ahead, as Harris looks like she will be leading the Democratic ticket and up against Donald Trump in November, as to what markets should be watching for policy wise, if she actually could be president of the United States or at least what they should be expecting to hear from her in terms of rhetoric on the campaign t over the next several months. For that,

we turn out to Nathan Dean. He is Bloomberg Intelligence senior US policy analyst based here in Washington, joining me in studios. So, Nathan, you actually have a peace out on the journal about this that looks into a variety

of different sectors. I guess if we just take it from the highest level, if there is an area in which there is just status quo Biden to Harris, not much changes on e vent diagram, and then in the other part things that could change dramatically under a potential Harris administration and areas in which maybe there's some degree of overlap. Is it largely more status quo than it is Brace for Disruption?

Speaker 10

Yes, we think it's mostly status quo for a lot of industries, from banks to evs to big tech and so forth like that. And we actually had an internal discussion about this, and one of our consensus is is that when President Biden became president, his policies more gravitated to where Vice President Kalin Harris was as opposed to Vice President Harris's policies gravitating where President bier stance is.

But I will say, if you're looking at banks, you know, one of the things that we've been looking at, look for a little bit more focus on consumer protection, look for a little bit more focus on lowered of middle income protections and so forth like that. But really comes down to tariff's trade and then a lot of regulatory actions after that.

Speaker 2

Well, it strikes me on that note that we shouldn't maybe just be thinking about, Okay, how would Harris differ from Biden? But how much really realistically would Harris differ from a Trump Vance administration, especially on things like tariffs. We know that both Donald Trump and Jadvans are fans of protectionism, if you will. We also have heard from JD. Van's pretty kind words for competition regulators in the US, praise for Lena Conn at the FTC. He seems to

be supportive in general of anti trust efforts. So are there actually more ways in which the Republican and Democratic ticket may align on policy than you might think at face value?

Speaker 10

Yeah, so let's talk about the technology aspect first. With the anti trust you know, yeah, Senator Vance obviously gave praise to Lena Kon here at a Bloomberg event in the office a couple of months ago, And you know, we don't think that's going to change all that much. This idea of economic populism is going to remain at the FTCDJ probably no matter who wins the election. So if you're in the technology sector, it's certainly that you're gonna have to live with now and you're probably gonna

have to live with in the future. When it comes to tariffs, don't forget that when Senator Harris was around, she voted against the Canadian US Mexico Agreement. She voted against the TPP. Now a lot of that was because of climate change concerns, and so we think that if Vice President Harris were to win, look for the Inflation

Reduction Act to be boosted. But when it comes to tariffs, I think you're going to continue with this Biden strategy of targeted tariffs on specific industries to protect American workers versus this idea of sixty percent general tariffs on all imports coming from China. So I think, you know, the Chinese rhetoric is going to be, you know, tough, no matter who wins. But I think on the tariff's strategy more targeted in the Harris presidency more broadly in a Trump presidency.

Speaker 2

Well, and as we consider what Harris or Trump presidents can bring or might be able to bring, we also have to consider that it's very much going to depend on the balance of Congress and whether or not you have perhaps cemented control across both chambers or a split government which makes it hard to get things done. What presidents do have power to do, though, is decide who

they want at the helm of regulators. And I wonder to what extent you would expect that Kamala Harris would mean consistency in terms of who is actually at the top of these regulatory agencies, or if she might want to bring her own people in to pursue a little bit of a different kind of policy.

Speaker 10

I think it's going to be mixed of both, you know. I think I'm thinking of the SEC Chairman Gary Ginsling, right, I'm getting I think Chairman Ginsler will probably stick around another year to eighteen months if Kamala Harris wins, you know, I think, but I think there's a lot of regulatory agency leaders who are like, look, I've been here for four years let's talk about a transition. So don't be

surprised if you see, you know, changing the guards. But I'm thinking of Lena Khana at the FTC Rohe Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now that if they get a second term, they're going to run out of the gates or out of the race. Are the gates and they're going to say, look, let's run with this and see if we can actually get a

little bit more of that consumer protectionism in place. Because remember when Kamala Harris was Attorney General of the State of California, she participated in a twenty five billion dollars settlement against the big banks on foreclosure. But I would always cost when you talk regulations, you have to remember the courts because as the Supreme Court has shown over the last month, it's going to be a lot more difficult to do rulemakings in the future. So always just keep that in mind.

Speaker 2

Very good point as we consider checks and balances here with Congress, there's also the check that can be provided from the courts, as that is the third branch of government. The judicial brands very very quickly though, when we think about twenty twenty five what's ahead. Tax debate is obviously going to be front and center, considering a lot of the Trump tax cuts that need to be renewed do focus more on small businesses on consumers, not necessarily the

business tax cuts. But Kamala Harris, actually, as you talk about being more pro consumer protection and the little guy, be supportive of renewing that.

Speaker 1

Do we think?

Speaker 10

I think so. I mean, just remember reconciliation comes into play. This is if the House, the Senate, and the Presidency goes to one party. If that happens, you're going to see a broad tax debate. But I think ultimately you are going to see, you know, a low middle income that that individual tax cut that expires at the end of twenty twenty five. I think that's going to stay

no matter who wins the presidency. It's gonna be a little bit more tweaks on like things like the salt deduction, maybe a little bit of corporate tax issues that expired, but ultimately I think the individual tax rates are going to remain very similar.

Speaker 2

All right, Nathan Dean of Bloomberg Intelligence, We're going to be talking to you a lot, as we always do as we move forward through this campaign. Cycle.

Speaker 1

You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then royn Otro with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty.

Speaker 2

We got a little taste already of Kamala Harris at the podium when she visited campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday.

Speaker 11

Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.

Speaker 2

She also said in those remarks in Delaware toward the campaign staff that they're all here because we love our country. She said she believes in foundational principles and freedom and opportunity and justice and thinks that they are going to win. The question is what's the winning message to bring to Milwaukee today. So on that note, let's assemble our signature

political panel. Rick Davis of stone Court Capital and Genie Shanzeno of Iona University, both Bloomberg Politics contributors, are here with me. So Genie when we hear from her just about twenty minutes from now, what does she need to say, not just to the people of Wisconsin, but frankly the people of America who may be tuning in to what is going to be her first real campaign speech.

Speaker 11

You know, I think she needs to show that she has the vigor, energy, intellect, background to be president, the strength. Certainly. I think she will highlight her background as a prosecutor, her time as vice president. I think importantly she needs to show that she is going to be a good steward of the economy. That is something that people don't think about necessarily when they think about when they think

about the vice president. And so that's going to be something she's going to have to convince people that she can do. And I've been going back and listening to how she contrasted herself with Donald Trump in twenty twenty, and one issue on the economy that she talked a lot about at that point was housing. She said, he is owned by the big banks. I fought the big banks. I got eighteen billion back for people who were victimized by the banks in terms of housing, while he was

a slumlord. So she is going to continue to make the case that he is beholden to the big banks, wealthy owners, promising corporate tax cuts, and she is going to be a good stoart of the economy and has the people, particularly middle and lower class people on her mind.

Speaker 2

Well, that does strike me though, Rick is a lot of the same kind of messaging that Joe Biden was trying to bring to the campaign trail in two swing states like Wisconsin, and we know how that effort was going for him. Since considering that Kamala Harris doesn't have the age issue, to Janie's points, she may seem more vigorous and energetic in this appearance. Is that enough? Is that actually enough to switch the balance in a state like Wisconsin?

Speaker 9

Yeah?

Speaker 5

I would contend that it's probably a little less important the actual issue set that she presents today and more important that she pick a time and maybe today's day, to distance herself a little bit from the Biden agenda, whether that's on issues like foreign policy, national security, Gaza,

or that's on taxes or ev policy. I mean, there's got to be something in there where she shows that she is independent, that she's not just the second term of Joe Biden, and I think Milwaukee's a perfect place for it. It's a battleground city. It's actually more Republicans live in Milwaukee than in any other single place in the state. And they're younger, they're more moderate, they're more diverse. It's the core of the black and Hispanic community within

Milwaukee or within Wisconsin. And so this is a really good choice to be in this place at this time. And I think being able to appeal to these voters who frankly have been a little disaffected by the Biden administration, whether it's their focus on only promoting union jobs or kind of shoving the EV policy down their throat, or you know, being entangled in foreign affairs like Gaza in Israel. She's got a moment here and she's used yesterday very well.

Question is how will she use today's speech.

Speaker 2

Well, I want to tease out that one issue in particular you were talking about Rick when it comes to foreign policy in Gaza Israel. We just got the headline crossing from Donald Trump on True Social that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to be visiting with him at mar A Lago in Florida tomorrow after he gives a joint session to Congress, which Kamala Harris will not be presiding over, though we understand she will be meeting

with him separately this week while he's here in Washington. Genie, how does she handle this issue of Israel and Gaza, knowing first of all that her husband is the second Gentleman, is a Jewish Man, but also that Joe Biden had a real problem with especially the youth vote. When it comes to this issue, is how does she need to be different on it?

Speaker 11

You know, I think she is going to be just by the way that she presents in terms of the work she has done in the past. She is going to continue to say that she loves and supports Israel, but that does not mean that every Israeli elected leader like Benjamin Netanyaho is somebody that she has to embrace. And so, you know, we saw what sixty Democrats skip Netanyahu's speech nine years ago. Many more are going to

skip at this time. But the reality is so much of the hype around this speech has been quelled by the other news of the day that it's not quite as damning for Democrats as it has been. But you know, she is going to have to walk a very fine line in terms of speaking with Netan Yahoo but not attending that address, and making her support of Israel, which is well known, continue to be put out front. And so I think she will be able to do that.

Speaker 2

Well. Ricause Genie talks about the very different reception that Netanyahu may get from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. It's also worth pointing out that we've had an ongoing conversation about how Republicans are going to message and camp around and campaign against Kamala Harris, being that she is not an eighty one year year old like Joe Biden. She also is a woman of color, which may complicate some

of the effort. Does Israel give Republicans an opening to attack her if she doesn't appear warm enough toward Netanyahu or toward the state?

Speaker 5

Yeah. I think the first order events is one that's you know, particularly powerful with voters, and that is how soft the Biden administration has been toward Iran. And there are there are a lot of people who believe that without Iran support hamas Hesballah, you know, the hoodies, they wouldn't be in the position they're in to inflict so much destruction and pain on the Israeli people. So I think that's number one. I mean, will she repudiate, you know,

the nuclear agreement with Iran. It doesn't look very smart now to have had that in place for the short period of time that they supported it back in the Obama administration. So kind of tag some of these Obama Biden foreign policy decisions onto her, let her defend them if she can, or or you know, distance yourself from them. She's in the unique position to say, on many of these occasions with foreign policy, I wasn't in the room, wasn't my decision. I'll keep my own counsel as to

what I would do. But as president, I will make my mind up independently of anything any previous administration did. So she's got some options there, and it makes it harder for Republicans to pin her down.

Speaker 2

Well, I'd like to just focus on one Republican for a moment longer. Trump is now correcting himself, saying that his meeting with Benjamin Netaniahu will be on Thursday at Marra a Lago, so join address to Congress here in Washington, presumably meeting with Kamala Harris tomorrow Wednesday, and then Netanyahu

goes to Florida on Thursday. The other thing we have to look forward to tomorrow evening, Wednesday evening and prime time is the address President Biden will give from the Oval Office, the first time he will really speak to the nation since his decision to drop out of this race. In fact, according to the White House Press Pool, they just got their first eyes on him since then because

he has been recovering from COVID. He's on Air Force one, he told reporters when he was asked how he was feeling, that he's feeling well, and he is now en route back to joint Bass Andrews, back to Washington, where, of course he will be giving this speech tomorrow night, Genie, giving everything that has transpired between when he put out that statement on social media saying that he wasn't running to now with a party that has almost seamlessly coalesced

around Vice President Harris. What tone do you expect him to strike with this address tomorrow night. Is it going to be in part a campaign speech for Harris? Or is this really about trying to cement and define his legacy as he is now effectively a lame duck.

Speaker 11

You know, I think it's going to be three things to your interview with the Senator just moments ago. I think he is going to be out there to show Republicans who have been calling on him to potentially resign from the presidency or to be impeached or removed via the twenty fifth Amendment, that he has recovered from COVID and is healthy to continue the next five six months. I think he is going to talk about his full throated support for Harris and how he's going to engage

in the campaign going forward. And then I think we are going to see what's he planning to do for the next six months in office and how does that, you know, coalesce with his legacy. But I think we heard it from Schumer and Jeffries and other Democrats and many Americans regardless of party, about how much love and support there is for Joe Biden fifty years of service.

So I hope he does take a little bit, it's premature, but a little bit of a victory lap on there and talk about what he has done and this selfless act of stepping aside and turning to his vice president because the voters demanded it. And I think he's going to take something hopefully of a victory lap on that.

Speaker 2

Well, Rick, I'd love to get your perspective on this as well as we consider what the legac if Joe Biden will be and whether or not there are some things so he could take victory laps on when he still is facing so many questions about his ability to just continue to sit in that office. How would you advise someone to message around that.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I think you really have to ignore the sort of public discussion of his fitness for office. He's got six months to go. He's up until the time he withdrew, there were not calls for him to resign, a lot of calls for him to get out of the campaign, but not to withdraw from the presidency. And I think you just go about your business. I'd say the advice i'd give him would be the advice i'd give any elected official who's under this kind of scrutiny is just

do your day job. You show up every morning, do your job, you know, hold the press conferences when you need to make the decisions the way you'll want to, and make sure the Office of the Presidency functions, and frankly, in his case, don't get distracted by the politics of the day. You should feel liberated by the fact that you're no longer of the candidate. And I think if he does that in a very short period of time, people realize, Okay, you know, we're barking up the wrong tree.

He's not going to be on a ballot in November. Vice President Harris will be. And if Republicans were smart, they would spend a lot less time on Joe Biden, where they've invested an enormous amount of time, money, and energy to define and begin the process of defining the Vice.

Speaker 1

President all Right.

Speaker 2

Rick Davis of stone Coard Capital and Genie Schanzino of Iona University. Bloomberg Politics contributors are signature political panel.

Speaker 1

Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast.

Speaker 6

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.

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