Sound On: Gun Laws, CA Mayor Race, BoJo Confidence Vote

the fastest hour in politics. Will get the latest from London for you. Discussed with David Smith, Washington correspondence at the Guardian. Lawmakers are back in the bubble back in Washington, and so is talk of reconciliation. It's been a while, possibly on guns, possibly on inflation. We're going to discuss that ahead with Ed Mills, Washington Policy Analysts managing partner

Raymond James. Seven states holding primaries tomorrow, including California. Jack Pitney, the political scientist from Claire Mott McKenna College, will help us understand why the race for mayor of l a has become one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, in the country. Our signature panels in place. Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano and Rick Davis with analysis

on these stories. Boris Johnson will wake up tomorrow as Prime Minister once again, but he may be thinking about a new approach. I don't know. After surviving a confidence vote by less than well he likely had hoped, it was said of more than a hundred and thirty three MPs voted against Johnson today, he may have bigger problems than he realized, certainly bigger than Theresa May faced turned out a hundred and forty eight voted against him. Let's

get a bit of perspective here. Political perspective from David Smith, the Washington correspondent for The Guardian. It's great to have you on a busy day, David. Is this suggests the tally here, the size of the rebellion suggests that Boris Johnson maybe nearing the end of his time as Prime minister. Yes,

quite possibly. I think it is a bitter disappointment for Johnson that that total of one d conservative MP's voting to remove him from office and not enough to do it mathematically, but it's it is quite a body blow. And I noticed um for example, David Lammy, who's the shadow Foreign Secretary, a labor MP, pointing out this is actually a worse percentage for Boris Johnson than for past Tory Prime ministers Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and John Major,

none of whom lasted very long. And so Lammy writes on Twitter, Boris Johnson is a dead man walking. He's got to go. And I think quite a few people saying that and agreeing with that, and I would agree with that, but for the fact that we live in the political era of Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and those other leaders who don't necessarily played by the old rules of accepting defeat or displaying shame or humility. And Johnson has survived so much in the past that if anyone

can survive this again, maybe he just about can. So maybe history does not rewrite itself. Maybe he's not out of work in six months, but I wonder, you know, just imagining and recalling the images of him walking around the streets of Kiev just a couple of weeks ago. He's central to this war in Ukraine right now, certainly as a partner to the US. David talked to us about his relationship with this white House and what a

different prime minister might mean for continuity in a wartime. Yeah, I mean you're you're reminding me of the roller coaster ride here where Johnson did seem completely doomed. And then a few weeks later, as you say, he's strutting around Kiev or this a sort of Churchill in figure with President of Ukraine. At that point people were saying he's untouchable and the attempt to remove him from power has failed, and now here we are back again with him, you know,

dangling by a thread. And and and part of that Ukraine effort was indeed this uh close relationship between the UK and the US militarily and diplomatically on the Ukraine crisis. UM. I think it has brought those two countries together, and indeed brought the US and Europe together. I think Boris Johnson was trying to construct an argument that parties at Downing Streets are pretty you know, small fry, pretty trivial compared to the future of the West and the geopolitics

visit the Russia. Um. And it perhaps helped build some bridges between Biden and Johnson, even though I don't think they are a natural fit. And done in the past, they've been wrinkles there. For example, Joe Biden a few years ago describing Boris Johnson as the physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump. So Ukraine seemed to be sort

of cementing that. But but look, I think if if Boris Johnson is a actually ousted and replaced by a new British Prime Minister, Joe Biden will not be weeping tears over that, will be happy to get It's great context and appreciate your time. Fascinating conversation once again, uh with David Smith, the Washington correspondent for The Guardian. You can follow him on Twitter at smith in America. He's been very good on this, keeping us up to Daton.

Come back and talk to us soon, David. All the while, in Washington, lawmakers are back. It was a busy day, a busy night at Reagan National Airport. They're back in the bubble, and of course the first question that everyone is asking is what's the situation with guns? Do we know that senators have been talking about a gun safety measure through telephone and zoom meetings basically since you'valdi. They've

been out for for some time. Here Karine John Pierre, the Press secretary at the White House, was asked about this just today. We are going to see how the negotiations go. We're going to give it the space that it needs, uh and we're not going to speak to what exactly is being discussed the pieces of legislation, but we are encouraged and we think these incremental steps, these steps that they're taking, this conversation that they're having is

very important. During that word incremental a lot. And as lawmakers return, you know there were several different efforts under way. You've got this one in the Senate. In fact, there are a couple of groups in the Senate. We know that there is a massive package of gun safety gun control measures being marked up in the House, just went through Judiciary Committee last week, and now we're hearing more

talk about reconciliation. The focus on what Democrats say is important legislation on the economy, the Bipartisan Innovation Act, which includes the Chip Act, and a reconciliation bill aimed at inflation, I should say reconciliation. It's been a while. This is why we want to talk to. Ed Milsey's back with us today Washington Policy Analysts, Managing director at Raymond James, and are we going to talk about a reconciliation bill for the rest of this year only to see nothing

happen again by November? Joe, It's certainly possible. Um. What I'm telling clients that Raymond James is that what the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats are attempting right now is a bit of a economic sprint between Memorial Day and Labor Day that starts with this Bipartisan Investment Acts, that's the U. S. China Competition Bill. There'll be decisions on China and tariffs, and they would like to cap that off with reconciliation. The odds are going up on reconciliation,

but it is far from a done deal. Senator Mansion once again is at the center of all this. But even if you get a negotiation um in a deal with him, how do you sell it to the rest of the Senate? How do you get the progressives on board in the House? That fragile flower of consensus is going to be very difficult to achieve, not impossible, but that is the goal here between now and when members go off to their August recess. So is this the last gasp of the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill, because

it's not just economic issues we're hearing about. I spoke earlier today ed with Congressman Don Buyer, the Democrat from Virginia, is proposing a gun control bill of sorts. It would actually impose a one thousand percent tax on all assault weapons, the idea being that it would have the same effect as a band, which could never pass the Senate. Instead, he could do it through reconciliation with only Democratic votes.

I'm assuming that's not likely to happen, but these are the kind of ideas coming up here when the time is short and another party has breathing down your neck. Yeah, Joe, I listened to that was a great interview you had, and it is, you know, I think, kind of showing you how they are trying to get creative. Uh, they are looking for solutions that might not necessarily require that sixty vote threshold in the Senate. Congressman Buyer was very

clear about how he was attempting to do that. But I do think that if they get something done, it is what you highlight it at the beginning of the segment, which is that incremental. What Democrats are hoping to do is work with the kind of their colleagues in the Senate to show them that they can get something done on gun control and that it does not harm them at the ballot box. Uh. That is not in in

terms of what a don buyer is looking for. It's more in terms of what uh the Senator Murphy, Senator corn in corn did we lisen? Well, now you cut out there for a minute, all right, the Murphy corn and Bill are we talking about a red flag incentive Bill? I mean, this is it's kind of the lowest rung of the ladder here, right, and getting something done. It is it's it's it's money to states to implement red

flag laws. That's going to be them though. Yeah, it's it's it's it's things that um, you know, kind of have so pork by of voters. UM. And Republicans are in the potentially difficult position here because they are kind of looking kind of at their polls and it looks pretty good and they don't want to be completely on the wrong side. So at the bare minimum from a political perspective, they have to go through the process of

negotiations and seeing what can be done. We'll see if they can kind of find that agreement that it would be enough for Democrats to also be supportive. Murphy talks about that increment full view. Um, I'm not fully sure all of his colleagues things incremental is enough. Well, no, and of course it depends which colleagues you ask and who might be up for reelection. Uh this time around. And just to get back though you you mentioned the mansion on the hill, Joe Mansion. Talking again about not

build back better. We'll find a different name. It's it's what does it build America? I don't even they'll they'll be a hat for it at some point. But this is a stripped down version of what they could not get done last year. Does this have a better chance? Um, better chance because we're still talking about it. If something gets done and it's two core things, one something on healthcare. I think what doesn't get discussed enough is the healthcare

cliffs that occur later this year. Uh. The subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that we're part of, the American Rescue Plan last year would cause massive increases UM in exchange paid plans at the end of this year. Democrats would like to avoid that. The public health emergency could move millions of people off of Medicare Medicaid. I'm sorry once that is lifted, so they're really focusing on that that's more politically popular than other parts of the plan.

And then on energy, Ed Mills, come back and talk to us. That story also is not getting enough coverage. Come back and talk to us here on Bloomberg Sound on Washington Policy analyst Raymond James will assemble the panel. Next, We've got Rick and Genie on the way. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Somebody mentioned Joe Match and say his name match and look at the headline,

not just reconciliation. Talking about the economy, he says he would consider backing a ban on assault weapons, telling CNN that he supports raising the age for purchasing semi automatic weapons. Also said he would consider backing a ban on assault weapons depending on the proposal. And that's a big covey oft there, because we can't even seem to define them in most cases. For these conversations, let's assemble the panel

right now. Pick up on where we left off with Ed Mills, Rick and Genie are with us on a Monday Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Genie Chanzano. Does the Mansion headline move this story at all, Rick, or is he just too far ahead? We're talking about red flags, maybe expanded background checks in the Senate right now, as opposed to raising the age of for buying a weapon. Yeah, I'm not sure about that, Joe. I think that there

is a debate going on about the raising of age. Uh. It was in part of the Florida laws that were passed uh in um in in twenty nineteen, and so I think that certainly Republicans see those as having been effective in Florida, and and the question now is will they be willing to do it on capital A lot of Republicans UM like Adam Kinzinger have been speaking out

about it. Uh, positively. I think more likely for long guns, uh specifically, and UH, I think Joe Manchin was talking about semi automatics, you know, but I do think it's on the table. A ban on assault weapons is another story, correct, for sure. I think that that's a totally different kettle of fish. It hasn't worked in the past, As you say, you get into this whole debate about what is an

assault weapon? Uh, and I don't imagine that is likely to occur other than maybe some elements of it, like clips and things like that that U that have been subject to regulation in the past by the federal government. Genie Jane Harmon told us earlier today on Balance of Power that she voted for the assault weapons ban in and almost lost her seat over it. It was within nine votes or something. This is a Democrat from California.

I realized it was not considered a liberal district. But my goodness, fast forward to two and it gives you a good sense of what that would mean for a lot of lawmakers. It does, and it's fascinating because of course that's n as you mentioned in California for a Democrat of all places. And you know, I am sitting in here in New York and we've got Chris Jacobs. He loses ten people in his district. He's a freshman

from New York. He comes out in support of fairly common sense gun regulations, and he within two weeks is pushed out of his run for re election. And that's again New York. He is a freshman Republican, But it just tells you what the state of the party is. And you know, I have to say that Joe Mansion went through this, you know, the Mansion to Me bill.

You know, once we even get language on one of these things, the amount of misinformation that comes forward about that language was one of the things that upset their ability to pass that that bill. So we have a long way to go before we get what I still believe is going to be really incremental focused on mental health and and maybe a school safety, but they're not going to be addressing any real restrictions on our new gun laws. Do we have this week essentially for timing

on a deal? Rick? Yeah, I think this is the moment, right. I mean, we've talked so many times about these crisises, these attacks that occur and that, and that the focus wanes after a week or two, people look another direction, And so this is the time. And I do think there's a bipartisan effort that's that's really open. I think Chris Murphy Democrat has done an enormously good job of not demagoguing this issue and bringing people to the table

to try and find solutions. I think I think this could be a package that people could stand up and say, hey, we've actually done something about it. And I do think that age allows them to go out if they raise it from eighteen to twenty one for long guns and said, you know what, if this had been law, uh, you've all day would not have And boy, isn't that the point, Genie?

How many times have I asked, whether it's lawmakers or or activists on one side or another this issue over the last several weeks, would would your idea have stopped those last shootings? The answers usually no. And of course, my goodness, we got another pile of them over the weekend. So that changes the rules here all over again when you're asking that. But that's that's going to be the test for a lot of lawmakers. You can pass something,

but would it have prevented any of these from happening? Yeah? And you know, and as you mentioned, in so many cases, I mean, we've been listening to you do these interviewes. In almost every case, unfortunately, the answer, as you mentioned is no. In a spade of violence over the weekend. And I think the question we're going to be asking if something does get PAS is going to be was it a meaningful would it have made a difference at all?

And you know that is usually, again the answer to those questions going to be no, particularly if it doesn't address the number of guns in the country in a meaningful way, and by any stretch of the imagination, it's hard to believe we're going to get there. Cornan who seems to be negotiating in good faith, he wants to be majority leader of his conference at some point, he's not going to be able to do this with just

ten Republicans of they can even get there. So I think we have a long way to go if we're going to get something meaningful. We're talking about a fairly narrow slice of this story here, Rick does if something gets done to the extent that we're describing UH in Congress, could that open a conversation about, for instance, illegal guns, how to control illegal guns in street crime, how illegal guns are impacting UH communities of color, for instance, in

cities all over the country. Never mind the idea of of on fatal shootings, of which there are so many that would never make the news. Gun violence is more than school shootings, Joe. We've seen so many facets of

this gun debate go beyond what we're talking about. As you say, um, you know, we just saw the administration take real action, uh, from the executive branch, you know, on these ghost guns, and and now you're talking about something that's at the heart of an explosion of crime across the country, and that's illegal weapons in the cities especially, And so I think all of this stuff is going to get aired out, especially during this election cycle. I hope it's a way to get to that conversation here

with Rick and Jennie. We do this every day, try to air out both sides on the fastest hour in politics. We'll turn to primary day next after we check traffic and markets for you. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. We'll have more of the panel a bit later on. Rick and Jeanie are with us for the hour. As we now turned the primary day tomorrow. We've got a big one here seven states, California, Iowa, New Mexico, South Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi. This is the biggest day of

voting basically in the cycle until election day itself. As I read on the terminal, Greg Joro has got his great piece as always by the way if you want to get yourself together, here with all the breakdowns on the races to watch in each state. Not just the busiest day of voting, but we'll be voters will be selecting general election nominees in almost a fifth of the four hundred and thirty five House districts in just one day.

The race for l A mayor has really captured our attention that we've been talking about it a lot, and we wanted to hear about it from Jack Pitney. As you've got a mayoral race. I realized it's l A. This is a big city. But to become what could be the most expensive race in the country is saying something. Rick Caruso has spent thirty four million dollars on this race, single handedly making it what it is. This is remember

the Republican turn Democrat. His main all is Representative Karen Bass, who with an allied superpack has spent about two million dollars. That's thirty four million to two million, Caruso outspending her to one. Jack Pitney Again, political scientists from Claremont McKenna College, does this race have your attention as well? How expensive

good this get? Absolutely? It was going to be expensive because it's the Los Angeles media market, which is a notoriously expensive by and Caruso has been all over the place. My home is not in the city of Los Angeles, but I'm getting Crusoe ads all over the place. So he is spending a lot of money, and uh, it's paid off. Polls indicate that he is going to make

the top two. Whether he uh Outpoles Karen Bass is another question, but it seems very likely that the result tomorrow night will be that Karen Bass and Rick Crusoe will be on the ballot in November. And that's important. This is the way it goes in California. Right, You've got you've got the two top vote getters moving on to the general That's right, but with one important difference. In a mayoral race and most statewide races, the top two just proceed to the general election no matter how

many votes either of them get. In a local election, if one of the candidates get game over, that person wins out Right, That's possible tomorrow night, but not very likely. Rick Caruso has resonated with the crime story in l A. Is that what has also brought him this far crime and homelessness. If you talk to anybody who's recently visited Los Angeles, they'll be shocked at the homeless encampments all

over the city. Uh. It's a huge humanitarian problem and one that the city government has not been able to manage very effectively, and both candidates have had a lot to say about it. I wasn't going to ask you too much about the gubernatorial race because Gavin Newsom is apparently going to have a pretty great day. But Michael Schellenberger, homeless advocate, has done pretty well for himself on that

issue on a state level as well. That's right. The question is whether he is going to make the top two. He's running as an independent now in the top two primary, that shouldn't make much of a difference, but Republicans and Democrats tend to stay in their partisan silos, and the polls indicate that, Uh, the number two candidate is very very likely to end up being a Republican and that

person will get crushed in November. Well, what's Karen Bass's message to voters if she's not throwing nearly the money that her rival is. If we can get back to the l A mayor's race for a minute, competence and compassion. She has a long record public service. She was Speaker of the California Assembly. Those state issues, those local issues, what national issues, and she has a reputation for even though she's pretty progressive on the issue. Uh, she's a

practical dealmaker. She can get things done. That's her message. And uh it's actually the same message as uh Rick Caruso as a practical problem solver. There are a couple of interesting House races to watch in California as well, particularly uh, those who voted to impeach Donald Trump. Uh. There were ten House Republicans, and one of them is in California. Of course here David Valado, if I'm saying his name correctly, is that Valadeo? Excuse me? Is that

going to bite back in his primary tomorrow? It's possible. Uh, it's uh, it is within the realm possibility that a pro Trump Republican could outpoll him, uh and get into the top two for November. We'll we'll see how the vote shakes out. But that's something of great concern. Tod we talked about crime and homelessness. What else is motivating voters to actually get to the polls in California in an off election year. Those are the big ones in California.

And the thing to remember about crime is that this state has a reputation for being very democratic, very blue, but we also have a relatively conservative streak when it comes to crime. Uh. In the last election, California voters by a fairly substantial origin voted down a measure to abolish cash bail. And if you look over a time, the voters have tended to indicate that they favorite a

tough on crime stance. In the city of San Francisco, for instance, the very progressive district attorney is likely to be recalled tomorrow. Uh. So that's an issue that probably works to the advantage of Rick Crusoe in Los Angeles. Yeah, this point, there's nothing like California politics. Jack Pitney knows that. That's why we had him in and we thank you for your insights. Jack, political scientists from Claremont McKenna College.

I'd love to just get quickly with Rick and Jennie on this because we covered a lot of ground there. But this l a mayor's race. Something I heard you both discussing earlier today is a race about money. Is there going to be a lesson learned here, Rick that you know, money doesn't buy everything in politics. Well, I think it's gonna buy Crusoe a ticket into the general election and then watch how much gets spent. So I

don't think we've even scratched the surface. I mean, obviously the primary was a key thing for him to buy name I D and get into this runoff. But it sounds like that's what's going to happen. I can't imagine what he's willing to spend, mostly of his own money, by the way, uh, you know, to get elected in the general election. So I think we're gonna see this is probably a record breaker for for California mayors versus

maybe for the rest of the country. Can Karen Bass helped to make up the difference with money from Washington, Gene She may be able to. But I think the real story here is this, you know, fight in the Democratic Party between the establishment and progressives, and progressives are having a hard time in a democratic state right now. It's a great set up for our next conversation. We've got to talk about Pennsylvania as well, fetterman Oz. It's on and so are Rick and Genie. Next. This is Bloomberg.

You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Well, so much for the recounts. In Pennsylvania. After a couple of weeks of pins and needles, the race for senator is set after David McCormick conceded on Friday, even though I won't be your nominee, I remained deeply committed to Pennsylvania and to the United States of America. Nice and easy, he said. He called Dr Roz and

let him know here. So Oz will face John Fetterman in the general, which sets up a race that Rick Davis described earlier as I believe a doctor patient contest. Having learned that Fetterman's heart condition. Remember he had a stroke right before the primary. They put a defibrillator in his heart. I guess it was worse than first revealed.

Let's reassemble the panel for more on this, Rick, it seems like opportunities abound for a candidate who is known as a medical doctor, as a surgeon, being able to question his rival here about disclosures when it comes to medical health. Well, I think that even if he just says, I hope every day of the campaign that Lieutenant Governor Fetterman is is doing well. It just reminds everybody that he may not be. Uh. And so it's it's it's

really not incoming upon him. I think to put it out there, I think every single day, reporters on the campaign trailer are gonna be asking Fetterman, how do you feel today? I mean, he's not going to escape this. Um. It's one thing to have gone through the health scare that he had during the primaries, but evidently he was diagnosed back in two thousand seventeen of a heart condition and and did not follow his doctor's instructions. So um. I think there's a lot of splaining to do for

the Fetterman campaign. And I think this is going to dog them for the rest of the election. How damaging is this genie does? The Fetterman campaign needs to be proactive here, you know, start putting out the E K G scans. I mean, how do you manage this? You know? I think they need to show that that they didn't withhold any information. There's been a lot of questions about that, that they were honest about his health. Um, and so they're gonna need to put information out there. But let's

not forget. You know, Fetterman won all sixties seven counties fifty nine percent of the vote against a Canada and Connor Lamb, who people, you know, at one point thought was the future of of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania. You juxtapose that with Oz, who barely scraped by with less than a thousand votes against McCormick, was in a recount and had to wait. So you know, yes, Fetterman has had this horrific health scare, and we hope he's well.

But Oz has been damaged as well. And we've already seen the Fetterman campaign come out and they have a bumper sticker or a pen now that says Dr Oz for New Jersey because of course he's you know, not from Pennsylvania as they like to talk about. So there is gonna be a lot of back and forth here.

It's certainly a Republican year. But you know, Fetterman, for this health scare, was sort of a poster child for showing how Democrats could do this and be this outsider sort of does this impact a tough guy image, Jennie not so tough now, and you've got a heart problem. I'm I'm genuinely asking it does I mean, it doesn't. They're going to have to address that. Some people like to describe him as the Paul Bunyan common man. You know,

you know he's not a superman. But you know, I thought they did a good job when he said a lot of men his age don't like to go to the doctor, and he was the same way. That's an honest view, and I think that's the kind of argument that he's going to need to make to say, Hey, I'm like everybody else, but I've learned and again he he may have to be forthcoming about his physical health going forward more than they have been. I suspect a

lot of people could relate with that. Rick, but wait till Donald Trump gets ahold of this right, or maybe Donald Trump shouldn't be the one talking about heart health. Well, I think the more Donald Trump stays out of the Pennsylvania Senate race, a better off it is for Dr Odd. I really think that, uh, as you described, this should be a good turn out. You're would he be the comedy without Trump? Or that's the point you go in

the general election? Have Donald Trump stay at Marlou Yeah, I think I think the best methodology Donald Trump has is make your picks in the primary, and then uh help whenever the base gets unruly, but otherwise stay out of it because you've got to go beyond your base in order to win out of state like Pennsylvania. And as Genie was saying, it is likely to be a close race, um um, you know, your Republicans usually only win by a couple of points there, and so it

will be competitive. I would say that the early indications by the large turnout in the Pennsylvania Republican primary is indicative of a lot of good intensity by Republicans, and so it's Oz's job to keep that moving. Rick, you have actually managed a candidate's health status publicly before. What would be your advice to the Fetterman camp. Yeah, I think it's very similar to what Genie was saying, you know,

be very transparent. I mean, when we had this come up with John McCain in the two thousand presidential campaign, Oh my god, how did he survive the prison camp? He must be crazy. We release all of his is

uh military medical records. I mean there were probably eight thousand pages, and we let people come in and read through them, and reporters and and and and physicians alike and so uh and and and Frankly, there's a lot of good news in there, even if there's some bad news, and you have to put it all out and be transparent about it. Otherwise the issue isn't their health. It's like you're not being cleared American you know, voters, and and that is worse. We're spending time with Rick and

Jeanie our signature panel on Bloomberg sound On. I'm Joe Matthew at World Headquarters in New York as we prepare not only for primaries tomorrow, but a very important hearing on Thursday. And I haven't had a chance to ask you guys about this. This is the January six Committee, and there's a lot of news about this. Over the weekend. Members of the committee are really starting to get out there a little bit, do a little bit of previewing here.

This is, of course, the committee investigating the capital attack, and they're planning their first televised hearing. Not just that you could you know, you could have a televised hearing that nobody would ever see at ten o'clock in the morning. This is truly prime time at eight pm. Uh. Among those getting out ahead of this. Liz Cheney, of course, one of only two Republicans on the panel. She sat down with Robert Costa at CBS to talk about what is an inflection point as she sees it here for

the Republican Party. Is this moment a moral test for the Republican Party? Absolutely, no, no question, and and right now we're failing. You know, in my state, the state party chairman is a member of the oath Keepers. He was he was here on January six. He was here with a walkie talkie in his hand on January six. That is a mortal threat, and it is a moral test. We can't fail that moral test. But there are too many right now and my party m who are failing.

In great curious as a Republican your response to that, and if you do expect to see something meaningfully new on Thursday, Well, I think a lot of it has been that out already. The committee has actually built some momentum around these hearings by selectively releasing uh, different kinds of information that that frankly is pretty interesting. Uh. And I think they're aided by some of the Justice Department prosecutions like today announcing charges against the Proud Boys members,

you know, with sedition charges. So there's a there's a building of a crescendo. And of course for Liz Cheney, it's not only just about the moral uh turpitude of her own party, the GOP, but it's also like her entire reelection is going to be banked on whether or not these hearings are seen in her state, and and and that people frankly change their minds when they see them. At least six of these hearings are planned Genie, two of them in prime time. There are professional video producers

apparently helping to create portions of this presentation. Most people think they already know everything about January six, right, that's why we're not talking about it every day. How important will these hearings be to bring something new to light? They're critically important, and you know, the committee has been promising that, you know, this is going to be astonishing, it's going to blow people's minds, all of those things.

And so a big question is going to be can they meet their own test and can they capture the nation's attention with this or or people so as you mentioned, committed to where what to what they know they lived through it, they don't need to know anything more about it that they're just going to sort of ignore it. And you know, you juxtapose this with say the Watergate hearings or even around contract. The media has changed an awful lot. And we've already seen that President Trump, former

President Trump, is talking about counter programming. He's already reaching out to allies McCarthy, Stefanik, who he's got a fundraiser for tonight to lead the charge on that. And so as much as Republicans may not want to talk about it, there's some allies there who are going to talk about it. So it's going to be fascinating to see if they can live up to the hype that they've set on this and truly given narrative that people captures people really hard,

as we all know to do in this environment. So what are we talking about here, Rick? I mean, is it going to be the Capital riot from a different angle we haven't seen before. You know that there's gonna be a video camera you didn't know, or will there be actually new information, new names or or at least

better connections to the names that we've been hearing about. Yeah, I think part of it is There's gonna be evidence, right, There's gonna be email exchanges that will come to light, There'll be you know, interviews with the committee that they'll talk about. This will all get make its way into the public domain, and so a lot of it will be proof. Right, it won't be just speculation as to what happened, but a lot of it will also focus on the run up to September six or to January six?

What what was the intent? Was this really a soft coup? Uh? And and I think that's part of what the conclusion We don't know yet, but what what people are saying, you know what, what it's going to be Ultimately the inclusion was there an attempt by the President United States and his allies and government and in a in a private sector to thwart the outcome of an election, And and that could be a huge impact in a country that's already divided. You just wonder who's going to be

paying attention, Jennie. I don't know if the networks are carrying this, If this is just the cables, it could stand to just galvanize a lot of existing beliefs. That's right, And a lot of this, of course, is going to be you know what do people break out of it and put on Twitter or put on Instagram. You know, these young people don't tend to watch these kinds of live They stream everything. Yeah, and so they're going to have to have people cutting this out and and and

moving it forward as you will. So you know, I I am very curious to see how this plays, because again we are a long ways away from the Watergate hearings, and of course we can't forget what a serious situation this was and what a test the committee has in front of them. To meet eight o'clock Washington time Thursday. We're gonna have a lot to talk about on Friday. Then again, we have a lot to talk about every day.

We've got a primary day tomorrow. We'll be talking about it with Rick and Jeannie right here on the fastest hour in politics. I'll meet you back in d C. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg