Sound On: FBI Election Warning, Herschel Walker's Oct. Surprise

and now you know how important this seat is. Everything has been at Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The FBI says Russia is at it again. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics, with word from the agency that foreign actors are using social media to stoke mistrusts in the electoral process, and Vladimir Putin is the most aggressive among them. Sound familiar, year We'll talk with social media expert Jeffrey Blevin from the University of

Cincinnati and with Jamil Jaffer, director of the National Security Institute. Later, the Biden administration sending another weaponship into Ukraine, hundreds of millions of dollars worth. This time, we'll talk with retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmittt and the GOP stands by herschel Walker. After the Senate candidate is accused of paying for a girl friend's abortion, we'll discuss with our signature panel Bloomberg

Politics contributors Rick Davis and Ginnie Chanzano. So was Donald Trump onto something when he spoke last weekend at the big rally in Warren, Michigan. But I'm afraid we have never had and I don't believe. I don't believe we'll ever have a fair election again. Ever, I don't believe that it's what he said creating more down in the system. And so the headline just kind of jumped off the terminal this morning. FBI sees Putin's hand in sewing division

about US mid term voting. Bloomberg News reporting for an actors are using social media to aggravate divisions within the US and trust in the electoral process. Russia is the poster child, the most aggressive, as we see the hand of Ladimir Putin again. But the FBI says the Chinese government is watching and learning how to exploit riffs in the US and on this day that Elon Musk revives his bid for Twitter, there is a serious conversation happening

about foreign interference on social media. We're going to explore it with some important voices today, beginning with Jeffrey Blevin's professor in the Department of Journalism and School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati. He's with us now, Professor, welcome. You're a social media expert, and so I wonder what did we learn, if anything, in the election that might help us. Now, well, it's very hard to battle disinformation, and social media companies are really

playing whackable. So, you know, disinformation is is put out there, and in two thousand and sixteen, it was primarily done through bots, you know, these automated fake accounts. The problem is, once you remove those accounts, the disinformation has already been sown, and so now you have real users who are believing and retweeting and reposting, uh, those claims, and that is

a much harder problem to deal with. I find it fascinating that the the FBI doesn't see foreign actors like Russia as needing to create divisive content like we saw in the presidential election. Instead, they're leveraging existing content. There's already stuff out there, they just have to go and amplify it. Is that what's exchanging exactly? You know, maybe

plant the seed. But as you pointed out, we also have some homegrown actors who do that, you know, Q and on uh you know, for instance, or you might have uh, you know politicians that do that. And it's you know, just simply by focusing on Russia where it starts. The most significant actors are really what we call bridge actors, ones that amplify and retweet those uh, those claims. And when you describe whack a mole, you know, to what

extents are the Facebook's Twitters, Instagrams? I'm assuming it's the first to really maybe TikTok also, uh, and that's got a whole different connotation being owned by the Chinese. But for Twitter and Facebook, do they know this before we do? Uh, maybe just a little bit before. But I think that's really the problem because you know the great thing about social media is that it's immediate you you post something,

it goes out right. Um, if we were going to make social media companies truly responsible for verifying the accuracy of every single claim, that's made. Well it's no longer an immediate mass medium. You know, they're going to have to filter you through that, you know, before making decisions about whether something or not goes goes live. So you really change, you know, the nature of what social media is when you do that. So instead, you know, you

look for these kind of behaviors that are suspect. You know, like someone who claims to be a school teacher and they have like forty or fifty thousand followers. Ok, well that's in ordinate. That looks like a botic. How worried are you when you see the Chinese digging into this type of strategy taking a page from Russia? Well, yeah, we have it coming, you know, adds on on all sides.

But you know, again, I think it's more about how we deal with it individually, um, you know, other than you know, trying to change the nature of social media. I think we have to be more educated consumers of social media. And this is where I think media literacy has a role to play. I mean, at what point, you know, is the audience responsible for the information that they consume and go, wait a minute, that sounds suspect.

Maybe I should try to you know, to to verify that or simply look at who is making those those claims and in questioning the veracity based on the source, unless, of course, people are looking for that content with that political angle, and you know, well we've already lost in

that case. But enter Elon Musk, Professor Blevins realizing this is speculative what you have learned about Elon Musk and and the power and influence of Twitter, the idea of adjusting the algorithm, of of getting rid of the bots. Does this make it a more of an accessible weapon for foreign actors or less of one. You know, there's certainly a lot that remains to be seen in some

of the good and some of the bad. So coming back to you know, originally Win Must put in his bid to buy Twitter or to to a quire Twitter. You know, he you know, claimed that he wanted to you know, get rid of of of of these bots, right and that he was going to make you know, algorithms transparent. However, when he was trying to back out of the deal, it was more that well, bots might inflate you know, the value unfairly of of Twitter. But of course, you know, there's business reasons why you may

not want to do that. Twitter was lowd to deal with this in two thousand and fifteen when they became aware of this, you know, Horde of of of body accounts. So you know, is that a genuine interest in his or not. At the same time, you have to wonder, you know, what kind of political influence that um, that

Musk might you know, exert over Twitter as as well. Um, he couldn't have been too happy about the poll he posted on his own Twitter accounts suggesting that, oh, the Ukraine, just you know, let Russia and X cribea and you know, therefore, you know, we can be out of this this war. Well, you know clearly that was the stance that was favorable to um, you know, to to Russia. But you know,

how would he deal with that personally? If there is content out there that doesn't align with with his beliefs another claim that he's made and I don't know that this gets us to the real problem. Um, you know, even if his concern is let's say, you know, for an actors, well, as we were just discussing, we have plenty of home growth, and well what do you do

with politicians and celebrities? Were they're the ones that are spreading disinformation, especially when they become one, as in Donald Trump. And that's the expectation, right. If Elon Musk gets this thing once and for all, this deal closes, Donald Trump's going back on Twitter, that would be would appear to be the case. He's been posting q and on content on truth socially, at least, I can only assume that coming next right, Well, he posted q and on based

content when he had a Twitter accounts as well. Thank god. He's the author of the forthcoming book Social Media, Social Justice, and the Political Economy of Online Networks. I can't wait to read it. Professor Jeffrey Blavin's I thank you forgetting the ball rolling with us here in great analysis and background from the University of Cincinnati. We add another layer. This is a new media story, it's also an election security story, and we had the voice of Jamie Jaffer,

now founder and executive director of the National Security Institute. Jamil,

thank you for being with us. Does this feel like a dress rehearsal for well, certainly, I think you know, there's a real possibility that some of the work that's happening here um in these congressional elections could be utilized and the information that these foreign adversaries gather from how we respond to their efforts to con sucked misinformation desperation may very well be used in the twenty four presidential elections.

So what should we be doing now? You know, when you see a story like this, like history repeating itself, I realized that you can only bring the CEOs of social media companies before Congress for so many hearings. Does the government have to step in? Well, you know so, I think one of the keys here is how to figure out how we reconcile as a nation. UM. Are

interested in free speech, UM and the uh. You know that we want to make sure that people have the ability to express their political views, but also ensuring that it's not foreign adversaries that are interfering in our elections, either creating new narratives like we've seen the Russian government do UM, or amplifying American narratives UM and modifying them as we see the Chinese have done historically. And we see the Chinese now be adopting some of this Russian

behavior of also creating new narratives. So how do we avoid foreign interference while allowing America to have their voices and take place in that in the public square of discussion. Do you have an answer? Because this is protected content, it's constitutionally protected, it's it's free speech, unless, of course

you're from another country. That's exactly right. And so the question is, how do we assess whether, you know, the folks that are that are that are engaged in this activity are foreign adversaries um or are or are Americans engaged in free speech? And figuring that out is a hard thing. Uh. The government's not good at it. Uh. The private sector companies are trying to do it. They're not good at it either. They're getting better. The government's

getting better. I think the government industry collaborating together understanding better where the foreign threat actors are coming from. You know, the government has a lot of information they collect overseas on what foreign adversaries are doing. They need to be able to share that with the private sectors, and the private sector needs to take action on their own platforms.

And the reason why I make sense for them to do this on their own platforms and the government not to get involved is because at the end of the day, these are private fora In a lot of ways, they do look like the public school, are you know, the the open park. Of course, the government has no real jurisdiction, nor necessarily do we think they should have jurisdiction over private uh you know for ah where it's not owned

or operated by the government. So how can they be compelled then to really, you know, to really police this type of content when we know they're selling ads against it in many cases in every quarter they have to impress shareholders with growth. Well, you know, I mean, this is one of the hard questions. I think. We've seen these platforms try to do the right thing. We've seen them take action to take down in authentic, coordinated behavior

of the kind you earlier guests was speaking about. But of course that's gotten them into trouble too because at

times they've gotten it wrong. They've suppressed what folks view as certain kinds of speech because they believe they have certain biases or they like And so you have this reaction where the companies are you know, trying like you know, like that Harry Potter house self, they're trying to do the right thing, but they keep getting getting it wrong a little bit, and then they keep getting punished for it.

At the same time, right there are concerns legitmic concerns that they in fact are trying to suppress certain kinds of speech, And how do you balance those two things. I think at the end of the day, what we have to do is we have to believe that these we have to trust these probably comes are trying to do the right thing, and we've got a police and make sure they are. And when they're not doing the

right thing, we're calling that out. But at the end of the day, it's more important that we prevent these foreign adversaries from interfering in our elections, in our political debate. Uh, then we sort of you known than we what we believe. Essentially that may or may not be censorship. Threats to our electoral system can take on a lot of different forms.

They are not all on social media. And in terms of the domestic front here will jump off that Jamal, because the FBI is tracking threats to election workers as well. This is a different part of the story. This is not Russia working. This is all internal. They've investigated more than a thousand of these threats since June of twenty one, leading to four arrests so far, four out of a thousand, and according to the FBI, more than half of them.

Six we're in states where conspiracy theories over the election results were highest Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan. Is that an easier or more difficult threat to combat? Well, I think it's a challenge, right, because of course, what you do not want is you do not want anybody threatening election workers. These are people, oftentimes senior citizens, who are who are taking their own personal time and giving it to the American policy to help our elections go better. But these

are not people who are doing it out partisan loyalties. Typically, they're typically doing it because they want elections to function the way that we've always thought they should um and so threats against these workers is really in a lot

of ways, it's it's almost un American, right. It's one of things you have a beef about about about candidates, right, or you have a concern the elections are not fair, but the election workers are very rarely you know, part of that process, you have these these partisan poll where kers who are there who are moderated for parts of purposes.

But more often than not, these pole workers were there are right, it's different exactly, they're there to try and just get the election done and get it done right, and so threatening them to me is is it's completely inappropriate. I think the Just partner is doing the right thing by investigating these things I'm and prosecuting them were appropriate.

And for me, you know, when it's a thousand investigations and only four rests, that tells me the Just Department is being very careful and be precise and not going after people who are not actually engaged in threats, but are really being precise and going after the right people. Um. And ultimately this will turn on the question whether they get convictions or not in those four cases. Four cases.

I mean, my gosh, you like to think out of a thousand of these threats that there might be four cases to talk about between now and say four I just wonder how busy the FBI is going to be online and offline dealing with with old fashioned threats like this for the next two years. Jamale, well, Joe, you know, look, I mean, I think the important thing that we all need to remembers Americans is that elections and democracy are at the core of how we protect that thing that's

really important about America, which is our freedom. And if we don't have free and fair elections. Right, then we don't maintain our freedom. And the way to get there is not by attacking the system, not by attacking poll workers, right, But it's saying, look, we gotta have free and fair elections, and that's done. We have good candidates in the race, We get their views out there publicly, we debate the issues honestly, not from a purely partisan perspective or a

conspiracy theory perspective. And then we trust that our elections are getting done right. And we protect the law enforced institutions, the FBI, the just Forma that are trying to enforce those laws. And we not undermine our law enforcement, our Justice Department, or our election systems. We protect them and preserve them. It's fair to be critical, it's not fair to undermine them through conspiracy theory. Thank you, Jamille. This is why we wanted to have you. JAMIALE. Jeffer, Founder

executive director of the National Security Institute. I thank you for your insights today. It's this is important stuff. And I'll point you back to the terminal FBI c S Putin's hand and sewing division about us mid term voting read a great piece of journalism by Chris Strong in our DC bureau. This is coming straight from the FBI. You are not going to hear two conversations like that without a commercial break anywhere else today, which is what we're proud to do here on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Joe,

Matthew and Washington. We're gonna assemble the panel next. Elon Musk back in the game, and everybody's gaming out on Twitter what it's gonna mean for the digital public square Reminding, of course, as I believe Jamille did that, that is a well, you're listening to Bloomberg. You know this a private company, publicly traded, but not anything public or government about it, even though some have suggested it become a nonprofit in these different ideas. Let's get into it with

the panel. Rick Davis and Jennie Chanzano are with us. Bloomberg Politics contributors are signature panel. As we see uh this disturbing headline here, we know that it's happening. And I wonder, Genie, if you're as concerned as many Democrats are about Elon Musk potentially making this situation worse. I think that the absolute possibility, I mean, if this deal goes forward you're hearing. In some cases, I think that's a little soon, but it could be as soon as Friday.

And he has promised to get Donald Trump back on Twitter, and you know, he usually does what he says he's going to do, so I think if this deal goes through, Trump could be back on Twitter. Um, but it's it's not just Trump, and there's an awful lot of work to do on Twitter. We'll have to see where that goes. But you know, Pew Research says eighteen percent of Americans today rely solely and exclusively on social media for their news, and that number will increase. I deal with young people

every day. They spent a lot of time on social media. So if one out of five Americans at this point is relying on social media, it's going to increase. Which means the opportunity for these groups, whether they're domestic or foreign, as you were just talking about, to spread false information is growing rapidly, and our elections and our other institutions

are at risk. I think there's a place for the government to get in in terms of regulation, but a lot has to be done that hasn't been done since you know, social media, you know, erupted several years ago, we've fallen really, really behind, and especially with Europe, it's evolved so quickly. Rick Davis, it just to me it doesn't feel like anything really has changed since. What are we capable of preventing now that we weren't then? Uh,

from what it sounds like, very little nothing. And and it's one of these things where no matter what you do, there's always gonna be enterprising, smart technologists who find a way around it and create something new. I mean, who would have thought, you know, when Trotter was first taken in public and and started attracting so much attention that

it would be used for these kinds of purposes. And so look, I think this is one of the things that that regulators have a particularly difficult UM challenge to meet, and that is how do you set up the laws

of the future, not looking backwards. We know that the Supreme Court has just taken up two new UM cases related to Section to thirty that protects these Internet companies like Twitter, um, you know, and and And the question is, you know, is that really the framework an old publisher carve out that the future of the Internet and and and the policing of it based on trying to find more fact and fiction and protecting our elections and all the things you were just talking about. You know, what's

the law in the future. Donald Trump wanted to go after Twitter um and repeal their section to thirty. So it'll be interesting to see if he gives invited in exactly what happens. I think all of this puts it in play, the Twitter fight that's going on right now. Putting it into musk sands as a private individual is just going to exacerbate calls for reform, that's for sure.

What does it say about us at this time, Genie, when the FBI says foreign actors no longer need to create divisive content, they simply use our words against us. It's a different game than it was. Now it is and it feels like, you know, your guests use the word whack a mole. It feels like the government and we as a society are are constantly playing ketch up. But there are really smart people out there with really good ideas about things that can be done to address this.

I mean, look at how the UK has passed the Online Harms Bill, look at what the EU has done with the g d G D p R those are good ideas that we can build on. States have begun to do things like this. We can stop with the immunity to these Internet platforms. We can take steps at the federal, state, and local level to improve this entire information ecosystem. I always tell people there's a reason that that press is the only private institution mentioned in our constitution.

It's that critical to democratic systems, so we have to protect it. And that includes not just traditional media, but social media more importantly today, and just old fashioned offline attempts to interfere. We talked briefly about these threats to election workers. Only four arrests out of a thousand complaints so far. Does the FBI need to do more? You know?

I do think UH running a campaign about why this is wrong and why it hurts our democracy and how inappropriate it is in in our culture is something the FBI, who still has a lot of credibility amongst the public, UH could really do. That would help its UH law enforcement, but also UH give some more power back to the people who are actually in these jobs. It's a great thought. Rick Davis, Jeannie Chanzano our signature panel. Now you know

why I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. As we turn to the fight in Ukraine and another package of weapons on the way. This is Bloomberg. The Biden Administration sends another six hundred thirty million dollars in weapons and military gear to Ukraine. Press Secretary at the White House karnem seun Fire. This security assistance package is the twenty second utilization of Presidential person Eidential draw down authorities for Ukraine by the

Biden administration. Today's package includes four high Mars, thirty two Howitzer's two hundred mine resistant vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery and mortar ammunition. This, of course, following recent advances by Ukraine against Russia. We want to start with that shopping list. As we're joined by retired Brigadier General Mark Kim at General welcome back to Bloomberg.

Hey Joe, the administration says, another weapons package is heading to Ukraine and it includes four high Mars among a number of different items. Will they make a difference. We will make a difference. Is the ammunition the rockets that

we use inside of the high mars. Hopefully we've got enough ammunition for them um and if we do, I think it will make a difference in the close fight, but I'm not sure really in the deep fight against their weapons and logistics, don't that will make much of a difference unless we get been a significant amount of ammunition.

I know it's difficult to tell the status of the Russian army from here, but as Vladimir Putin is apparently on his heels at the moment in waiting to conscript people from prisons in other places, is it possible general that the Russian army could collapse sooner than experts thing? Oh, I wish that were the case. I don't think so. The Russian army has always been a collection of conscripts, and but this is also the army that won the

Second World War. I think as long as he continues to pour troops in very large numbers, he will have enough troops. Even if he needs to be at a five to one advantage, he can provide that well. With that said, winter is coming, and I wonder if you can explain the significance of this season to our listeners, because time is running out. It's a couple of things. Uh, It's a significant amount of mud, rain and freezing that happens on the grounds inside of Ukraine. It's just like

we see in our own country. It's hard to move those mechanized vehicles, it's hard to move the artillery pieces. It slows the fight down considerably, and that could be an advantage to Ukraines if they the Ukrainians that they decide to fight hard during that season. But it's really not what we consider the fighting season compared to when the ground is soft, uh, the air is warm, and the troops are a little more motivated to fight during

that time to understood. So games that are made in the next two months then are going to be significant as as they're likely to be frozen literally and figuratively for a couple of months after that as we go into the new year. Yeah, I'm I'm less concerned about the weather and more concerned about the logistics that the Ukrainians themselves have. We've gone through an awful lot of food, fuel,

repair parts. I don't think we have a good appreciation for the amount of vehicles that the ukra means have themselves lost, So we'll have to see. I think they have at this point run into what we call a culminating point, which means the largest sense that they have will be hard to continue. They may have to rest and refit before one final offensive when the weather gets bad. But I think we'll wait and see. But they cannot continue this pace they've made For the last six weeks.

We've heard messages from Russia, and of course, going back to last week the annexation votes that took place. Now a Russian official is warning the US that it's escalating military assistance to Ukraine risks triggering a direct conflict between Russia and NATO. As we consider the possibility of Russia responding to an attack on its territory since it says that it's Russian territory. Are you more concerned now about this escalating for the United States than you were a

couple of months ago? Oh? I I very much. Do I think that there is a chance of going into an escalatory cycle. Uh. The Ukrainians do not seem to have it, had not seemed to have taken an appetite president for what they're requiring. Uh. They keep asking for more, they keep asking for better, they keep asking for longer range. Uh. At some point the Russians are going to say, who were really fighting here? Are we fighting? The Ukrainians? Or

are we fighting the West? And when Putin's back is against the wall, I'm sure his military commanders are saying we need to escalate as well, and I'm concerned that that could potentially trip into the tactical nuclear weapons field. General Mark Kimmitt, retired Brigadier general, former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. It's great to have you backstre and we appreciate your insights. Alright, thanks a lot.

As we prepare to reassemble the panel, I should know that the President President Biden did speak about this latest weapons package with President Zelenski today, a phone call that included Vice President Kamala Harris, who also condemned russia Is move to annex parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, President Biden promising the U S would quote impose severe costs unquote on any person or entity that supports the move. Rick Davis and Jeannie Chanzano are back with us to

take a quick swing at this story. As one of President Zelenski's closest aids, Rick says that the war will probably be over in months. There are so many different opinions on this. Do you tend to believe what the Ukrainians are saying since we were wrong at the beginning. Well, um, I certainly think they are the ones who want to at least believe most Um, they are on the ground, they're seeing the deterioration of the Russian forces, They're seeing

the health and well being of their own forces. Um. You know, they understand the pinch points of getting um this war wage on the front. But look, I mean, I think we have to respect what General kimm It was just saying, which is, don't underestimate even a failing Russian army to throw more equipment, more personnel into the breach and and prolongness. Um. So look, you it would be great news if if this could be done, you know,

this winter. But I think most of the people we heard from earlier this year, we're talking about this war waging on for some time to come. Yes, obviously, you know, the Ukrainians are outperforming anybody's expectations, and we can only hope that they continue to be successful. When are we going to run into a wall on on these weapons shipments? Genie, this has come up a lot of times. We didn't

send the bigs because we didn't want to escalate. Now Russia says, you keep this going and this is going to turn into a direct conflicts with Russia and NATO. Yeah, exactly what General Kim ended on. And I think it's a very important point. We haven't had a real robust conversation in this country and in the West about what do we do if this escalation occurs, and it very

well could occur. To his point, stay with us some Bloomberg sound on, Rick and Genie come back as we turned to the mid terms, and look at this in October Surprise. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Herschel Walker is now threatening to sue The Daily Beast after the site reported the Georgia Senate candidate once paid for a

girlfriend's abortion. This goes back thirteen years, and ladies and gentlemen, here we are on the fourth of October with a genuine in October surprise. Whether it makes a difference is a very different question. Now, remember that this race in Georgia, herschel Walker Reverend Warnock there within a point right now, within a percentage point according to the real clear poll of polls. So must win for control of the Senate.

As we hear from the Daily Beast, not only was this an accusation, but there's a seven d dollar check that was sent a get well card and the woman who has not been identified by the Daily Beast as a receipt from the procedure. Uh quick to deny this in a written statement herschel Walker, but also went further. They put him on TV within hours of this. His statement reads simply, quote, I deny this in the strongest possible terms. Unquote. Herschel Walker appears on the Hannity program

on Fox News to talk this out. If Hannity starts by asking him if he knows this woman, if he remembers this woman who has made the accusation. I have no no idea, but it is a flight out lie. And uh and now you know how important this seat is. The seat is very important that they do anything to win this seat lie because they want to make it by everything else except what the problems that we have in this country is okay, necessarily say a lot there, but I guess we understand it. He says it's a lie.

I'm not sure if he knows this woman or knew who this came from. This is again thirteen years ago when they're saying this happened. Okay, did you write the check, the seven hundred dollar check that was pictured in the story? Well, I send money to a lot of people, and that's what's so funny. And let's go back to my part. You know, I do scholarship for kids. I give money to people all the time because I'm always helping people because I believe in being generous. God has blessed me

and I want to bless others. Now we have to listen to the words that are being spoken here. He did not deny writing the check there right. How about the card to get well card? Did you send the get well card? And handed? He asked him, Is that they've got it open? The picture of the cards open? Is that your signature in the card? I haven't seen it, but you know I can tell you. I send out so many get well, uh send out so much of anything. But I can tell you right now, I never asked

you don't want to get an abortion. I never paid for an abortion. And it's a lie. And I'm going to continue to fight, you know. Yeah, that's what they won't. They want this seat. But right, now they avevanagized me even more interesting language. Again there, I never asked anyone to get an abortion, which he was technically not accused of, and I never paid for anyone to have an abortion. That's seven could have been sent after the facts, right,

we're just trying to actually parse the words. The GOP is standing behind Herschel Walker all in as I read on the terminal. GOP stands by Walker as he denies paying for abortion. The National Republican Senatorial Committee out with a statement, Chair Rick Scott, this is just like the smears they attempted against Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, he writes, and it will not work. Herschel has denied these allegations, and the NRSC and Republicans stand with him, and Georgians

will stand with him too. Donald Trump issued a statement as well, Herschel Walker being slandered, maligned by fake news media, obviously the Democrats. He goes, you could tell this was dictated. Uh, it's very important for our country. The Great stated George that Herschel Walker wins this election. Donald Trump writes with all that Herschel has accomplished. When you come from Georgia and you see the name herschel Walker when voting, it will be very hard to resist. Don't have to unwind

that for a second. Enter herschel Walker's son. I mean this really, We've been around the world already. Today, Christian Walker takes to Twitter and he wrote his own tweet. It says, I stayed silent for nearly two years as my whole life has been lied about publicly. I did one campaign event, then said I didn't want involvement. That refers to his appearance at marral Lago with his dad, don't you dare test my authenticity? And he put a video together. I was lie afterly after life. The abortion

card drops yesterday. It's literally his handwriting in the car. They say they have receipts. Whatever he gets on Twitter, he lies about it. Okay, I'm done. Okay, we're not though, because we have five weeks to go on and we reassemble the panel to talk about Rick Davis and Jeannie Chanzano Bloomberg Politics contributors. Aren't you glad you showed up for work today? Guys? What are you thinking about this? Rick?

Damage control? Or does it even matter? People saw this and they thought Access Hollywood Tape didn't even make a dent really well, uh access Hollywood tape or not, this is not the kind of campaign day if your Herschel Walker you want to have. No, I'm sure he's gonna spend time talking about this instead of beating up his opponent on inflation, which is what he wants to do. And so the question is does he right his ship and stop talking about this before the end of the

week or is it still in the next week. And you know what does his son Christian Walker continue to say on Twitter that could elevate this And uh so, look, I mean it's it's a really bad day for him. That being said, he's had a great summer and you know, from anybody's stretch, the imagination he's overperforming. Um, you know for a first time Canada in a in a in a tough election. So um, I think this is gonna

be one of the most hotly watch races in the country. U. Mitch McConnell needs this race to become majority leader and he's certainly pouring significant amounts of money into the state to do it. And they're not likely to walk away from this because then he'd be walking away from his majority leader. That's the Senate, right, So, and you just

that's really important, Rick. Not only is he endorsed by Donald Trump, who's clearly defending him, but the leadership Mitch McConnell, as I just read Rick Scott, you've got everyone behind herschel Walker from this party, Genie, what do you make of that as a Democrat? And can you beat a reverend when you're being accused of something like this? And by the way, it's not what was done as much as owing that he was an anti abortion activist and

was ready to sign on to Lindsay Grahamsville. Yeah. I mean, there's so many aspects of this. This is a horrific day for the Republicans because, let's not forget they are in the brink. It looks likely of losing Pennsylvania. That means they've got to win one of these blue states as Arizona, New Hampshire slip away. It's Georgia and Nevada, and it's looking like this is a repeat of all over again with Donald Trump's handprint on it. Georgia looks

like it is moving in the wrong direction. Rick's right, he had a pretty good end of the summer, but it is all sort of blown up, and I think the son's taping of those statements, and we don't know how much more Christian Walker has to come out and say incredibly damaging. The GOP has no choice except to accept this. There's five weeks to go. They can't do anything if he stays in this race. They've got to stay with him. So this is where we are. And Democrats,

I think are doing the right thing. They're not saying too much. I thought warnox reaction to this was spot on. He basically said, I'll let the pundits talk about this. I support a woman's right to choose keep the government out of their bedrooms and out of their health care. At the hypocrisy of this is that herschel Walker has a no exceptions view on abortion, no exception for the health of the woman, no exception in the case of rape or incest. That's where he stands, and his defense

last night and so far has been incredibly weak. Rick, would you put him on TV a couple hours after this came out like what happened last night? Probably not. Um, you know, it's not the kind of thing you want to try to elevate. I wouldn't have had any cuts to play. If he hadn't done that, yeah, I'm sorry about that. You should still would have had a really

incredible that's true Twitter account for Christian Walker. But the bottom line is, if you know it's he's well known on his positions, he's not gonna do anything but sort of just add another day to the debate. If if if he if he doesn't go on, then the question is why doesn't he answer these charges? And he'll say, hey, I issued a statement. So the one thing you don't want to do is actually give it more oxygen uh

than it's going to get on its own. And and voters are gonna have a lot of time to think about this five weeks as an eternity in a campaign, and this is not going to go away anytime soon. But the last thing to Walker campaign should be doing is adding to it. Genie points out they've got a debate coming up a couple of ways that the fourteenth Genie, that's gonna be wild. I believe it is, and it is scheduled. If it goes for it, it is going

to be excite to see. I believe it is the only debate that they have scheduled so far, So it is going to be no holds barred down there as as these two, you know, face off against each other and voters get a chance to see them face to face and to hear how some of this is explained because the moderators are surely going to press him on this issue. And many others check this out. This is the part of the Trump statement I didn't read. Interestingly.

He writes, I've heard many horrible things about his opponent, Raphael Warnock, things that one should be talking about. So we don't now. I don't know if he's implying that he takes the high road here, Rick, But are we about to get an APO dump on the Reverence? Well, I would be surprised that the state media hasn't already gotten an APO dump on on the Reverend. And I'm sure that have you heard about what he's referring to? You know, Look, there were there were these kinds of

sort of whispers in the last campaign, right. And the thing that people you know are probably gonna start to figure out is Warnock has already had one vetting. Right, He's been through an entire campaign, and and and he made it out alive. And he's a United States senator herschel Walker hasn't had that vetting right, and so he's

getting it right now. And the reality is, if I'm the campaign of herschel Walker, I just stick to my message and start talking about, you know, the financial problems that the American public is having because of high inflation rates and not talking about black boxes that they're gonna open in Pandora is gonna come spilling out all over warnut Right? Uh? Does does the Walnut campaign give Christian Walker a call maybe doing evenge Ginnie? Or am I

pushing it too far? I would not. If I was, then i'd, you know, let like he said, the pundits handle it. He focuses on the issues that he cares about, and there are many. It's only October fourth, How many surprises can we take? This is Bloomberg