Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg sound On, and I hope a lot of people are gonna pay a big price because they're dishonest, crooked people. There's scum through. Its high time that we've seen the government finally take some action against this man. They shouldn't be doing this to have demands and expectations on the FBI have never been high. Bloomberg sound on Politics, policy and perspective from
DC's top name still funds the entire semi conductor. I was a know last week, I was a know last night, and I'll be the first no later to the Bloomberg sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. FBI rose down at Mara a Lago and we still at this hour do not know what they were looking for. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics. The day after the warrant was served to the political fallout has been swift.
Will bring a reaction from the White House and discussed the investigation with Donald Trump's former acting chief of staff and former Congressman Mike Nick mulveney. We'll tap the expertise of Kim Whaley, former assistant U S Attorney Law professor at the University of Baltimore and our panel today Bloomberg Politics contributor Republican strategist Rick Davis, along with Democratic strategist Kevin walling Off. H G Creative Media will get to
Nick in a second. It's been about twenty four hours now since the FBI left the grounds of mar A Lago. No official word from the agency, the FBI, or the Department of Justice for that matter, or from Donald Trump, who should of course have a copy of that search warrant by now right, doesn't he know what they were looking for? The official reaction from the White House today did not arrive until about welle an hour and a
half ago. You can probably imagine how this goes. Press Secretary Kareine John Pierre today with reporters in the briefing room. Let's listen again. I'm just not going to comment on any reaction to uh to what happened yesterday. We are going to refer any incoming to Department of Justice. There it is. That's not really about it's more about becoming your way. Election does not go your wife. That's a hypothetical and I'm just not going to entertain it at
this time. Gonna do it. Both Republican senators from Florida, well, if not every Republican Senator in the Chamber denounced the move. As we turn to our top guest, and I've been looking forward to this conversation. Former White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick mulvaney, Former Congressman bec It's great to have you here. I appreciate your time today. What a twenty four hours this has been. We're all hungry for
information and there's so much we don't know. You say on Twitter that if this is only about document retention, it should cost Merrick Garland his job. Do you believe the Department of Justice would have been able to get a search warrant for a former United States president if that's all this is, Joe, Hey, thanks for having me I ordinarily, in in the ordinary, in a real world. The answer you no, there's there's no way you could get that. But keep in mind, and this is part
of the background and part of the back lash. This is the same Department of Justice that lied to a FISA court out getting about having investigations done on Trump during the Russia investigation. It's the same Department of Justice that lied about Hunter Biden's laptop to the public and
to the media during the election. So you think they would have rigged the warrant basically, Well, I mean, yeah, and that and who knows at this point that That's why I think it's so important the Department Justice say something and talk about this. I recognize the fact we all do that that's not ordinary course of business. That they don't talk about ongoing investigations, and that's great. I understand,
it makes complete sense. This is no longer ordinary course of business because of the target or the proximity to the elections. Are both all of the above, mostly the target. We have never ransacked the home of a of a former president before under a criminal of search warrant. That just doesn't happen. So I think all the rules sort of have to go out the window of the Department Justice and have to say, look, we weren't looking for
ordinary random documents that might technically violate the statute. You were looking for stuff that ties Trump to criminal activity on January six. Something like that might calm things down a little bit. You've offered two possibilities here, Mick and and well, I guess they kind of balance each other out.
One you write the most egregious political hit job our government has ever undertaken against the politician in US history, or and I feel like that's where you're leaning at the moment, or two evidence of the most significant criminal investigation of a politician in US history. You see, the d o J needs to show us which it is. There's huge pressure on Merrick Garland now to hold a news conference. Can he do that though, I mean, to
your point, speak publicly about a criminal investigation. Yeah, I think your instinct is right. By the way they say that, I'm leaning towards the first of those that political job just because of the history. Right. If you don't have the history, then that that the tie goes to the Department of Justice. They get the benefit of the doubt. But they have a track record, proven track for lying about Donald Trump. Um so I think the burden is
on them to show that this is legitimate. Would help if Marrek Garland would come out and say, look, we were not interested in looking for small stuff. We were looking for thus and such. Here's what we found. That doesn't jeopardize what they're doing. I mean, that would be the line of course from the d o J. You know, you know that's gonna be the argument at the risk of what ripping the country apart. I mean, that's that's
really where you are right now. You've got people, you know, parading in front of Mara Lago of the waving flags saying that the government's coming to get them, and they might be right. So do you believe the White House that President Biden and the administration did not know about this? That they've heard about it on the news like everybody else.
When you say the administration, I don't believe that. I mean Mark Garland had a sign off on this, and he's an administrator outside of the DOJ though Pennsylvania Avenue. I don't think there's any way in the world they would have known, because I think even the political people would have said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why don't we wait to do this after the mid terms, guys, because if we get this wrong, it's gonna cost us
fifteen seats in the House. Um. So I think politically the Biden administration that the Biden White House is probably beating their head up against the wall, going we just had great news on a bill we've had that's for the first time raising money on the FBI again exactly, and the Republicans have a chance. Now, um, we just tied the federal gu What what if I'm a Republican candidate?
What am I saying? They just spent a bunch of money, barred a bunch of money to make inflation worse, to hire eighty thousand I R. S Agents to come after you, and they stuck. You know that they sent a political hit squad to go get Donald Trump. That's pretty compelling last minute campaigns, texts, images of guys and riot gear
at the gates. The thing is, if if you believe President Biden didn't know, this is all arrows pointing towards it, to your to the point of your tweet towards Merrick Garland, you think he's operating on his own here, I hope so. I mean, that's that's the way you want the Department of Justice worker. You don't want politics in law enforcement.
Nancy Pelosi is right. No one should be above the law, but nobody should be beneath it either, And we shouldn't be targeting people because of their political associations, and right now, because of the track heard because in the way this was carried out Um, it gives a very strong inference that there's politics behind this that puts the burden on the d o J. Keep in mind, what do I say that the way this was carried out, I don't understand how anybody made the case that they had to
go get a search warrant, right, so they had to say this probable cause that the crime was committed to probably cause and private cause that it was gonna go away real quickly. Trump isn't even there, He's in New York and New Jersey. So what did they find out in the last twenty four hours that makes this so incredibly pressing where they couldn't just send a subpoena for these documents? This is what we don't have the answer to. You know, look, we've been all hearing and reading a
lot of stuff. Mcmilveny. As the president's chief of staff, were you ever worried about document retention? Was this a conversation you had or somehow violating the Presidential Records Act? Yeah? Well, keep on the president. This is not the president Presidential Records Act is not what the DJ is going on. The Presidential Records Act is not a criminal statute. There's a broader criminal statute on destroying documents of the United States,
and that's what they're going after him on. The Presidential Records Act is in the US Code, Section forty, Title forty, entitled eighteen. It is not a criminal proceeding. But they answer your question is, yeah, we always worried about about documents. How many times did you see the president destroyer or dispose of documents? Never saw thrush anything to What I saw was the ordinary course of business that I used
to do when I was a lawyer. If we had a document and we made a change to it, he might rip it in half and throw the one we weren't using on the floor, and we would have somebody come in and take it back together and make a copy of it. That's that's that's every White House does that. Um. But what what you read about in the in the in the Washington Post, use me the New York Times was the intentional, alleged intentional destruction of key documents. And
I never saw that. Earlier today, former President Trump posted a very carefully produced video. You've probably seen it by as more of a movie trailer. It's a good three four minutes long. It's called a Nation in decline, and it's got a lot of people thinking he's sort of somehow quietly announcing a run for re election. And we go through this every three days. But let's listen to
part of it. Listen to the language. We're a nation that has weaponized as law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before. We've never seen anything like this. We're a nation that no longer has a free and fair press. Fake news is about all you get. We're a nation where free speech is no longer allowed, where crime is rampant like never before, where the economy has been collapsing, where more people died of COVID in exactly
where this was recorded Sarah Palin seen in the front row. Um, the thunder was added for what it's worth, and the music, but make the president used the words we often hear from Republicans and have certainly in the last twenty four hours, law enforcement has been weaponized. Marjorie Taylor Green and other Trump supporters are tweeting defund the FBI. Is it because of the cases you mentioned, or or do many conservatives distrust of the FBI go back to Watergate. Um, let's
make one thing perfectly clear. I refuse to accept the fact that Marjorie Taylor Green speaks for anybody other than the extreme white ring nut job of the party. So understood the hashtags getting some love them. Yeah, well, you know, there's a lot of crazies out there, and that's that's her bait. She's not a serious person. But anyway, UM, I don't think it goes back necessarily to to Watergate. I mean, let's be honest. I'm I'm probably one of the oldest people you'll talk to you today, and I
was barely alive during Watergate. So if this is about your experience in the Trump administration exactly, if it's a hatred for Watergate, it's it's it's historical and not not not personal. Now I think it. I think it it goes back to a natural distrust perhaps of government, a belief and it's a it's an it is not unfounded that government service attracts Democrats. I can tell you we'll do another hour long and another day about how the Democrats have taken over all the agencies I worked for
the CFPB. Um, you know, you work for the State Department, So that stuff is real. So I don't think it was back to Watergate. Certainly that the soil is fertile for Republicans to think the government is out to get them because Democrats run it even under Republican administrations. And what happened last night and mar Lago just feeds that, which brings this full circle back to the original comment
the Department of Justice. It's incumbent upon them, I think, in the name of integrity of their institution to come out and tell us more than they have. You testified before the January six committee, I understand. Uh, does this search of Mara Lago kind of balance with what you were hearing in the January six hearings? Is there any crossover potentially in your mind that, Hey, the d O j UH found something on these dual track investigations that
are feeding each other. Yeah. I mean the crossover would be if they were both looking at the same information. Certainly not my information. My information was more about the election and so forth, had nothing to do with document retention or anything like that. Um. But it's important of that January six is a political process that has political outcomes. Um, Liz Cheney cannot throw Donald Trump and jail, regardless of how badly in test relation he wants to the Department
of Justice. Is real, It's supposed to be real, at least I hope that it is real. UM, And it's very very different. Could they be sharing information or I have cross fertilization of information? Absolutely sounds like you were asked what you thought of as reasonable questions or is there gonna be a McK mulvaney bombshell a couple of
weeks down the road the next time there's a hearing. No. No, they were all that they might put a video in there about a text I sent the week after the election when UM, I was complaining that I was hearing from the r N c ron McDaniel, Jared Kushner, Bill Stepian Justin Clark that we had lost the election in the days after the election, yet they wanted us to go out on television and tell people we had still
want I didn't take that very well. In fact, I stopped going on television after that meeting, so that that may see some light UM during the during the hearings, but mostly they were background questions about some texts I sent on January six, and then also the you know how, how how do you how people get meetings with the
president that kind of appreciate your answering that. Kevin McCarthy says there's gonna be a selectivity once he holds the gavel, assuming that happens after November, to create a selectimmtee to investigate Mary Garland. He tweets, you know, are your schedule? Is that the right move? Um? Yeah, I mean oversight is the proper function of Congress. It's actually one of their constitutional duties. They do it for the purpose of being a part of their duty to be a check
on the executive branch. Then also part of their duty to make law. Keep in mind, ostensibly the purpose the justification for the January six committee is to see if we need to change the electoral process laws. But no, I think listen, if they, part of me hopes they find a dead body, okay. And here's why I say that, because in that mind, at least that means that they were serious and about about the FBI now, and then
I can have some faith in the institution. If they find a document that Donald Trump scribbled something on that should have been left in Washington and wasn't, and they try and ban him from office and charge him with a colony because of that, all of my faith in the system will be gone, and then we have real problems as a nation. Former White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick mulvaney h read his thoughts on Twitter as well.
If you didn't hear this entire conversation or subscribe to the podcast, I've been looking forward to this making thank you for your insights today, remembering that he resigned from the administration on the the night of January six. He was not the acting Chief of Staff at that point, but in fact a special envoy to Northern Ireland. I'm Joe,
Matthew and Washington. Welcome to Sound On Boy. When we woke up this morning, when I heard Tom Keane's tone of voice on Bloomberg Surveillance, I knew we were in for a day and it has been one deeply curious to hear what Rick Davis has to think about this Bloomberg Politics contributor, of course, Republican strategist. Rick, what do you think about what you heard from Nick mulvaney. Are you of the same mind that Merrick Garland needs to step forward? Yeah? I heard very little. I would question
about mix comments. I think he's spot on. I think there is uh definitely a uniqueness to this. This is an unusual event in American history. Um And I feel like every week we're saying that about Donald Trump. He does create unusual events, and and and and I think one thing to be reminded, this is happening because of Donald Trump, not because the FBI. This has been an ongoing challenge for uh, not just the Archives, but the FBI and the Justice Department for over a year. They've
been trying to get their hands on these records. And if not for Donald Trump's for calcultrents to do that, this would never have happened. So Number one, I think it needs to be reminded everybody that every that the federal government has been working with the people around Donald Trump and Donald Trump himself personally to get access to these records. And it's only because they refuse to give them that the FBI had to act in this way
and the Justice Department had to get a subpoena. So that being said, you know, this is a former president ied states we we don't weaponize politically our justice system. And I think part of what we learned in the January six hearings has been the admirable efforts by Attorney General bar and his team to not weaponize d o G when Donald Trump was trying to politically weaponize it. So, you know, for for him to now call foul uh
it rings hollow. But at the same time, you you have to wonder what is the strategy the Department Justice has because this certainly looks like a political hit job right in the surface, and so unless they define it as something different, this is what we're left to think. I want to add Kevin Walling to the conversation as we formally assemble our panel Democratic Strategist h G Creative Media.
It's been a while, Kevin, and I'm glad you're with us today, and I'm sure you have some pretty deliberate thoughts about this. Would you weigh in as well? You heard mc mulvaney uh talk about Merrick Garland, not President Biden, but in fact Merrick Garland pursuing political ends. Does he need to hold a news conference and tell us what the heck is going on in Florida? Joe, It's gonna be with you, and it's good also to be with Rick.
You know, I agree completely with what Riches said in terms of his views on on on what Mix said, I don't know necessarily if it has to be Marrick Garland, but it certainly has to be Christopher Ray, And I think Director Ray actually adds some credence to this as one of the few Trump appointees still serving in the
federal government. Obviously, an FBI director's term outlasts a presidential term, so certainly this was a search carried out by the FBI, I think to Rick's point, because we don't have any kind of knowledge of previously or now today in the wake of this, this vacuum is now consuming all of us, especially on the right wing conservative media outlets, crying foul jen jenning up all these Trump supporters and things like that, and we certainly need to have some insights and guidance
provided by the FBI Director Ray and potentially also the Attorney General, starting to wonder if this might actually happen. Rick and Kevin are with us for the hour. We're gonna spend a lot more time with them in our second half. But we want to add a legal voice to this as well. Kimberly Whaley, former assistant Wes attorney and professor of law at the University of Baltimore, Kimberly. I know it's been a very busy day for you. I want to welcome you. Are we asking the right
questions here? This comes down to what they were looking for before we can answer anything else. Well, we don't know exactly what they're going they're looking for, in part probably because it involves classified information. So I doubt unless there is a criminal trial and something more actually admitted into evidence that if the Justice Department does its job as it should to keep this information uh secret as is required under federal law, I don't think it will
become public. Uh. And I understand people are wondering about this, but it's important to keep in mind that the Fourth Amendment and the federal judiciary are protecting the rights of Donald Trump and others that were um were affected yesterday by this very important execution of a search warrant. So assuming this goes to trial, then uh, you know, we may not know for months or or a year or more, even as Donald Trump is deciding whether to run for president them the do o J is not exactly running
an overdrive here. This is a quiet and slow process. What's your thought on a timeline or do we never know? We we are not. We won't necessarily ever know, and it's very difficult given that as a former president right to separate the politics from the law, I mean, as
a legal voice in this. You know, we do know that information fifteen boxes at least were brought outside the White House and in a manner that violated the Presidential Records Act and the various mechanisms that are in place to ensure post Watergate that those documents are stay with the people, they belong to the people, and to extent which there's classified or national security information, etcetera. That left the White House, that is a danger to the country.
So you know that that's I really do think Merrick Garland is primarily in this moment, uh, doing his job and not so much worrying about the politics. But of course, of course, uh, it's impossible to to escape that that big issue. I mean, of course, yesterday was an anniversary of Nick Nixon resigning. Were in another real constitutional crisis
right now. I can't take all the irony. Um. The thing is, though, does that does that justify a do you does that slam dunk a search warrant like this for the home of a former president of the United States? The Presidential Records Act or whatever it is that we're talking destruction of documents? Is that in fact enough to have a hundred FBI agents show up. I mean they're they're holding assault weapons in front of the gates. This
is pretty heavy stuff. Well, I mean, I don't think anyone can say anything about a slam dunk without having full information. Uh. And I assume, I'm sex I'm quite sure that the judge that signed off on this did it kicking and screaming, given the implications that is that there was you know, substantial probable cause to justify this, given the um, given the stakes that we're just talking about, as far as how the FBI does its job, you
know what they were concerned about, again all speculation. I you know, so far, Americ Garland has proceeded UM very privately, cautiously. He hasn't turned it into a political uh process from the day he took office. So I trust the system. And you know, frankly, Donald Trump is the person to blame for this because he in a lot of ways didn't follow the rules. And we all follow the rules, right, we pay our taxes, we stopped at red lights, um, we follow the law, and you know presidents should do
the same thing. And you know, I'm not getting out the violence for him in this moment, as much as I understand uh that people who support him politically are upset by it. Based on what we heard from mc mulvaney, document retention was uh kind of a constant concerned in this administration. Kimberly, thank you for being here. Kimberly Whaley's former assistant U S attorney, professor of law at the
University of Baltimore. I'd like to take one more swing with the panel here as we spend time with Rick Davis and Kevin Walling. Rick, I played a snippet of this, uh, this incredible video that Donald Trump posted, of course not on Twitter, uh, just hours after you know, people were waking up and getting their heads around this somethink. It's uh tan am out to a campaign announcement. It almost looks like a movie trailer. Rick, how did it hit you?
What's he trying to say? Well, first of all, what really hit me was that this was ready to go production quality the morning after this attack or this attack, the raid on mar Lago, and and I even I questioned even calling it a raid, but like as you described with the stormtroopers standing in front of our lago, and it's kind of like that was the message they were sending, is we are rating our lago. We need all this heavy equipment, guns and and things like that.
I mean, it's just like normally you need flip flops to get into mar Lago. You don't really need a weapon. It's a desperate view of the country though, and we've talked about some of his recent speeches. This was despair. You see a guy getting stabbed, you see destruction in Ukraine. Uh my goodness, they're they're they're showing the oil spigots and the clouds coming in. You can hear the thunder. Kevin, was that a campaign announcement or what? Well, it certainly
looks like one. Listen. I can't obviously say. I'm on Bloomberg Radio. What the President George Soby Bush said in the wake of President Trump's inaugural addressments, It's struck a similar kind of chord in terms of the death and destruction previewed in this spot, and of course a form President Trump has been hinting at this race to provide some kind of basis of pushing back against what the Department of Justice is doing, this might be the county
attorney is doing, and exactly right. And to Rick's point, this was certainly not something that was produced within twelve hours. This was ready to go. Should this happen, then on the shelf for a minute, Rick Davis, Kevin Waling, great conversation. They'll be back in just a couple of minutes. As we turned to an important DC court ruling involving Trump's
tax returns. This is Bloomberg broadcasting live from our nation's capital, Bloomberg to New York, Bloomberg eleven Frio to Boston, Bloomberg one O six one to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine sixty to the country, Serious x M General one nine team, and around the globe of Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew. What incredible case of timing is A federal judge rules as well today that Donald Trump's tax returns must be
turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee. So where's this going? You don't actually think he's going to hand over six years of tax returns. We talked to an expert next Bloomberg Congress and tax reporter Laura Davison in another excuse to talk about Donald Trump's tax returns, though doesn't the story always end the same way? Trump
tax returns must be given to House Panel. Court rules the headline, and Laura Davison shares the byline, the president's tax returns, Laura, welcome, must be turned over to the Ways and Means Committee? Is this going to the Supreme Court? We don't actually think this is gonna happen, do we? I don't know yet. So the court ruled that is upholding a lower court ruling that that the Ways and
Means Committee could get Trump's tax returns. Trump does have the option to appeal this, and then the Supreme Court has the option if they want to hear the case. Uh, you know, very likely that Trump will appeal this case. And it's, however, unclear if the Supreme Court will choose to hear this. Um, what other do you have a legal option from here? Not really other than to appeal that kind of his his option if here that there will be some outcome there. If not, it would this
ruling would stand. So it could mean that the Ways and Means eventually gets these tax returns. They said today they expected to get them immediately, but that's highly unlikely. The real question and the real deadline is January here, because the House flips of the House slips control and Republicans come in, it's highly unlikely they're going to continue to pursue this litigation. And as we know, courts movementoriously slowly. So that's really uh, you know, it's a Trump against
the clock of the congressional calendar. Interesting. Richard Neil, the chair of Ways and Means, we should know, has been asking for this for a long time, as you point out, since six years worth of Trump's returns. On what grounds does the committee this is not January six, This is not an election related committee. Why why does Ways and
Means get them? Well, reason Means deals with all tax issues, and there's actually a specific section of the tax code that says that all of the tax committees in Congress, there's three of them, the chairman of any of those can request the tax returns of anyone, I mean, for any reason, for any well, the reason they need to have some sort of legislative purpose. If they're looking at conducting oversight compliance, if they're looking to pull some data
from a whole swath of tax returns to it. Maybe if they want to create some sort of new tax law, they can do that. Um. So they have said that they need legislative purpose to make sure that the president is being audited properly. That's their justification. And uh, you know, we'll see what's the court's saying. Bloomberg Congress and Tax reporter Laura Davison with the insights. You're the first voice I heard on the radio this morning, on an on
an early and dark morning listening to Bloomberg Radio. Laura, great job, and thank you for being with us. Let's reassemble the panel here and get to ache of Republican strategist Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor to joined today by Kevin Walling, Democratic strategist at h G Creative Media. Rick, you're rolling your eyes on this one. We've been talking about Donald Trump's tax returns for longer than the returns they are seeking. I would like to simulate a yawn
at this point. Um. Look, I mean this has been the battleist going. I am forever and and and I just believe what Donald Trump says, which is you know that your chump if you pay your taxes. And I'm assuming that what we'll find out, if we ever find out, is that he didn't pay his taxes, and and and yet you know, it's just another piece of wood on the wood pile that you're throwing on the fire right now. And and honestly, I mean, I don't think it will
affect anything. I think people have already marked him to market, and that is that, you know, he's not a taxpayer. He finds ways in a code to do it, you know, probably with a wink and a nod. And and that's what we'll find out. And I don't think anybody would be surprised, but I but I do think you know, the deadline is close. Uh, Republicans get into leadership in the House, and there will no longer be an effort to get his tax returns by buy tax returns? Are
you buying this? Kevin Walling? You don't think you're ever going to see those documents, do you? I mean, we'll certainly see. I mean, the most surprising thing for me coming out of this and reading more about this, is that we still have a Reagan judge on the Appellate Court ruling who wrote wrote the decision along with the Bush forty one judge and Obama judge, so obviously it was a universal decision you mentioned, Joe. You know, Chairman Richie Neal has been after these for quite a while.
I was just with him the other week. We're solving a great Irish Americans in Congress. So I think this is a democratic action more not just for Trump but for the ages. In terms of the power of of the the of the Congress. Uh, this speaks to, uh, you know, kind of a setting in stone the rights of the legislative branch the first article against the second article, or against any kind of individual who wants to withhold their their tax re terms. So did you think that
the gentleman from Springfield will ever get a look at these? Kevin? You know that Donald Trump supporters have made really clear over years they don't care and and and Rick makes a great point. I mean, that's one of the key things we know about Donald Trump is that he pays as little in tax as possible. We saw some of that from previous returns that were released back from the nineties. So I don't think it moves the ball down the field whatsoever. We know that he's if not a tax
sheet at tax avoider. So I don't think it has any real effect heading into this midterm year, and certainly if he runs. I know you're not a lawyer, Rick, but what's your gun on the Supreme Court they take, I would be surprised if they weigh in on this. I think they know the clock as well as anybody, and I think they see this for what it is, and and I think the point you're making is is an important one, and that is that this is a
separation of power. This is a regulatory h power that Congress has, but like, don't you want to use it for something that actually seems more legitimate than what I he is a political attack against Donald Trump? Sure, I think you should have presented his tax returns when he was a candidate so that the public could decide. But at this point, is there really I mean, like, we're audited, you know, we want to know if the president is
being audited properly. Come on, I mean, that's just you know, just narrative that we talked about with law enforcement, with federal law enforcement, Rick, be the only thing people with that that many conservatives hate more than the FBI is the I R S. Right, I think, you know, it's the it's the image of the I R S, you know, which is, you know that they just assume you're you're violating the law until you prove otherwise. And that's not what we learned when we were in school about you know,
innocent until proven guilty. And and so I do think this is a fundamental problem, which is, you know, we we have these separation of powers for a reason, and and and yet the key is that they're used responsibly. And I just really question whether or not either the executive branch or judiciary or in the case of the the raid on mar Lago that the the the deecutive branch working with the juiciary, are they really functioning in the way they're supposed to or are they being weaponized?
So serious questions being posed this hour. Bloomberg Politics contributor Rick Davis will be back with Kevin Walling of h G Creative Media. As we point towards the mid terms, already raising money in the near term. Until we hear from Merrick Garland. If we hear from Merrick Garland, is this a win for Trump? Nobody's talking about the chip back today. A lot have more ahead. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg. Sound on on Bloomberg Radio.
I think right place, wrong time. The case for President Biden today, imagine the chip back finally passes after all the wrangling. It hit his desk last week, and the White House waited for just the right time to throw a celebration in the sun on the south lawn. Then the FBI happened in mar Alago. Listen to President Biden today with the victory lap intel. The CEO is here today,
Pat girl singer, it's here today. Is going to break ground in the next generation Semiconjunctor factories in Central Ohio early this fall. American company Micron is announcing today because of this law, it's going to invest forty billion dollars over ten years to build factories and special chips called memory chips that store information on your smartphone. Comic Secretary Loop a lot of coughing, and then addressed today to
thank you COVID. I'm assuming COVID general amount of the Commerce Secretary has told us repeatedly how important this is not just your washing machine and you're whatever you'll see need your radio? How about that, but national security missiles, airplanes, we can't build them for ourselves, Ukraine or anyone without a steady supply of semiconductors. So this was seen as a pretty big win and a bipartisan win. This is just the kind of day that Joe Biden looks forward to.
Even though it was a hundred and fifty degrees with no cover on the south lawn, did anyone get carried out of there? I would have been There's no way I would have survived that. Uh aviators. This was supposed to be it, but it's not a major headline today because of everything we're talking about with Donald Trump. Bloomberg Politics. Contribute to Rick Davis back with US Republican Strategists, joined today by Kevin Walling, Democratic strategist h G Creative Media.
As we reassemble our panel here, Rick, Joe Biden can't win. This is supposed to be a layoup, right, Yeah, talk about a victory lap without anybody attention to it. You know, it's the classic does a tree fall in the force if nobody hears it? You know, folders were there, they know. That's about it though. Yeah, and it's like the ghost of Donald Trump just continues to haunt this guy. But look,
it doesn't take the shine off his victory lap. I mean, the reality is this is something that they'll dine out on politically for quite some time between November. They've had a great week. They they're building on a great month. Who would have ever thought you could rebuild a presidency in August. That is a first. So I think it's a daunting task. If you'd asked me, you know, in July, whether he could pull this off, I'd have said absolutely not,
And I was wrong. I mean, he's he's done an amazing job in in in this month of trying to rebuild his presidency, but no one's gonna hear about it, Kevin or reward Democrats for it, as long as we're distracted by everything else. January six, now it's mar A Lago, the war in Ukraine. I could keep going. I mean,
you're absolutely right, Joe. I mean, in to Rick's point, not only did this happen in August, but with the president having pretty much two bouts of COVID back to back to back um and kind of being sideline obviously working from from the residents. But it's been a great two weeks for this administration, and if there was any indication that the the White House was not given for warn knowledge of this action at mar Lago, this is it.
I mean, this totally captured, uh the press cycle that they wanted with the raw and of CHIPS bill with you know, not just that today, but Sweden in Finland, UH, the accession for those two countries in too NATO that happened right after the Chips ceremony, which is a big win on the international stage for this president total in Palm Beach. So yeah, what do you what do you tell the Communications office? I played Koreean John Pierre earlier.
They're not talking about this, do they do? They need to cool it for a while here, maybe maybe schedule assuming it passes the reconciliation signing in like you know, after Labor Day. I think so, I mean, I think we've got it. We gotta do it when folks are paying attention. The President also had an incredibly powerful visit to UH to Kentucky as well this past year, that past week that's been totally overshadowed by that, totally sniffed
out by that. So the press cycles everything what folks are tuned to and again just the twenty four hour news cycle. What we're talking about right now and sound on. It's just totally engulfed by Donald Trump. What a time to be alive. I mean, this is what people are talking about. Well, that's true, as Donald Trump said another day in Paradise, Rick, I want to be careful with this, but I feel like a responsibility to ask you both.
There was an enormous amount of coughing in the speech today, more than we've heard from Joe Biden, and the White House has been asked about that. Do we chalk that up to COVID or do we need to ask the Press office again what's going on? Rick? You know, look, I mean you know there we monitor president's health by a minute. It's almost like we're all the vice president, right, what's our job? Hey, how are you feeling today? Uh? And so um, you know, the reality is, it's it's
a question that has to be answered. It was really apparent it was unfortunate that he had such an important event, uh happy event for him that he couldn't enjoy. He was obviously under a lot of strength and discomfort because of coughing. But it is a result of potentially COVID and we know that that that he's been battling that
for the last week. I would say it does seem kind of interesting that some of the greatest victories of this presidency, you know, including winning the election itself, has all been done by being a shut in, right. I mean, he in the presidency from his basement, and he got the best his entire presidency while on COVID. So maybe they ought to just keep him in the base Democrats lock him in the residents. Kevin, what's your take on this? Are we being fair to ask this question? Certainly you're
being fair and obviously right at the outset. Karen Jean Pierre in her press conference I watched all of it today from the White House podium, fielded the initial questions about that coughing and talked about not just the president's negative COVID diagnosis but the long term effects of that. But now a use of inhaler two, which I think uh was news to me. Uh and uh, you know, I don't know if that was because of uh COVID or exacerbated by covid um, but certainly that's something that
the the administration needs to be forthright about. And they did say that he has tested negative, now what two days in a row, so they wouldn't have put him in day Yeah, So you know, we of course wished the best for him, but this is a concern. The health of the commander in chief is a really big deal, and when it is such a thing as long COVID and the risks that come with his age, Uh, this is obviously very sensitive business. Rick and Kevin, I want
to ask you about the mid terms. That's the first question everybody asked me on TV today. You know, what does this mean for November? And the fact is we of course don't know. But Rick, if Merrick Carland doesn't emerge, and this kind of stays the same way right now, this is a huge boost for Donald Trump and his endorsed candidates, right well, um M that I think you're
overplaying it. I mean, you know, we've seen Donald Trump come back from really horrific um moments, you know, the access Hollywood right before the elections in sixteen and things like that. Um, so he has staying power. But um you really wonder what motivates his base. I don't think that this will motivate his base anymore than he's already motivated. I don't really see this as anything that's going to
have an electoral impact. I mean, the fact that it overshadows all the news is a negative for the Biden campaign and what they're trying to accomplish with Congress, because it just sucks all the oxygen out of the Aras Kevin was saying, I mean, like you're really looking for an opening, I would say, if I were a Democratic strategist, I would say, We're never going to have an opening with this guy. We have just got a trudge through
this stuff. You know, I'd launch a infrastructure tour tomorrow if I thought I had the time of the president, you know, just because you're just running the clockdown and and and Donald Trump will do that to you. He'll incapacitate you with all these crazy things that he can do on a moment's notice. It's fascinating to watch this in real time. Kevin, How worried are you about the fundraising that's taking place right now and and how damaging could it be from your side of the aisle for
Republicans to to take on the refrain defund the FBI. Well, it's an interesting point. Listen. You know, I think you know coming out a quarter too. What we saw just uh blockbuster halls for the Democrats. Uh you know that are that are headed into defall. Now, you're not worried
about a fundraising advantage because of this, I'm not. What I'm interested it in is the amount of money that Donald Trump himself is raising off of this, pulling resources from down ballot candidates and key Senate and House races. I think that has actually more of an effect than kind of galvanizing you know, donors to uh, you know,
a downballot congressional race in a heated district. And this is why you don't opposite fact of yeah, of galvanizing money just to Donald Trump, which is what he wants. This is why you don't announce though, right Rick, Uh, you cut yourself off at the knees that that money he can only access five grand limits the fundraising five grand from the pack. Uh. He's going to drag this out right. Yeah, there's no question that you do try to manage the magic words I'm running for president so
that you don't get limited. But look the reality is that his folks are going to manage that fund if he is not, if he's an announced candidate and it's not like it's going anywhere, and it's all gonna be used to his benefits. So the RNs he's gonna stop paying his legal bills though, um well, you know, maybe you don't know that, right. I mean, like he's got such a grip on this party. I mean, there's there's no doubt that they'll probably uh Trump will probably expect
it to be happening that way. So the reality is, it is a it is an important event when it happens, and I think it has bigger impact on the field and the politics, and it does on the money. He's going to be able to raise money for himself, but as Kevin says, that's just draining it from the rest of the party. The r n C is not raising that money for other candidates. He doesn't spend it on
other candidates. And so you know, the reality is, I think one of the stories we're gonna be talking about, regardless of the outcome of the elections is how many Senate races the Democrats outspent Republicans on, how many governors races Democrats have spent governors on. I mean, like you're seeing that lining up now, and you don't see the big fund fundraising initiative that Donald Trump could do for those candidates only have thirty seconds. Kevin, as a Democrat,
are you begging for him to run? Absolutely, I've been begging for him to run for the last three months. I think that's actually one of the few things that can help us, along with what we saw out of Kansas with the the the Row vote, begging Joe Biden to run, begging Donald Trump to announced that he runs. Yes see, I almost got you in trouble. I don't want anyone on this panel who have to apologize to the White House tomorrow. Kevin Walling. Great to have you back.
Thank you. Democratic Strategistic of course, uh principle and HD Creative Media. Rick Davis are pal Bloomberg Politics contributor, Republican strategists with the reality check for us every day voices of experience. Here on the fastest hour in politics. Yeah, matt take all the petty cash. This represents the last of the petty kind. I'll meet you back here tomorrow on the fastest hour in politics, Sancho, Matthew, this is Bloomberg