Sound On: Primary Results, Jan 6. Hearing Preview

weapons have no place in our communities. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The biggest primary night of the year makes a tough ride for progressives and for Donald Trump. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics, with seven more states in the bag and another step closer to the general election. Will have expert analysis ahead from Kyle Condict, managing editor at Abbadose Crystal Ball at

the University of Virginia. Later, Bloomberg's Mark Niquett will join us on the MAGA movement, he says, will transcend and outlive a man named Donald Trump. And as the households an emotional hearing on gun violence today, we'll get analysis from our signature panel Bloombery Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeanie Schanzano America Votes, and we get analysis on the biggest primary day of the cycle by none other than the President of the United States. Joe Biden spoke with

reporters on the Tarmact today at Andrews Air Base. He's on his way to California for the summit of the America's So what we learned. I think the voters sent a claire message last night. Both parties have to step up and do something about crime as well as gun violence. And I said, as you recall, were the first major bill whist we gave the states and local they's billions of dollars billions of allars have and encourage them to use it to hire police officers and reformed a race department.

Very few have done it. In the addition to that, I sent the Congress request for three million dollars this year's budget the deal with hiring the cops to retraining cop That was not answering a question, by the way. He approached reporters on the tarmac and said, I'd like to give you a statement, a clear message from voters. He says crime and gun violence, and indeed crime was a big deal, a big part of the debate in California among other places, of course, where they were voting.

We now have a runoff in the Los Angeles mayor's race, which, as we told you yesterday, split Hollywood in some interesting ways, and it's the race that many predicted with Republican turned Democrat Rick Caruso. This is a great night because so many people have gone to the voting booth and they've sent a message we are not helpless in the face of our problems. We will not allow this city to decline.

We will know longer accept excuses. We have the power to change direction of Los Angeles, and that's the way we're voting. And yes, along with longtime Democratic Representative Karen Bass, one of the first things we're going to have to do is be clear that there is only one Democrat in this race. We cannot allow him to have that brand. We cannot allow that, and he spent several months constructing

pretty much a fake kind of image. Congresswoman Bass talking to supporters in the street after the polls closed, remembering Caruso outspent her by thirteen to one, setting up what could be the most expensive race in the country here by the time it's done, imagine this is where we begin with Kyle Conduct, managing editor at Sabodaus Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, where they do fantastic work

in advance of and following nights like last. Kyle, are we about to set a record for money in a mayor's race here? Put me on the spot there. I don't know exactly what the record is. I'm assuming it would have something to do with the New York City mayoral race and uh, frankly, Michael Bloomberg, but um, I do think we're gonna see a lot of money. And of course, for Cruso has got a lot of money,

uh to spend it in this race. And you know it is it's not necessarily uncommon for you know, Republicans to be able to win some or well Caruso is not technically a Republican but a sort of laps Republican, uh, to win a mayoral race, because we've seen that in New York too. Of course, l A and New York are both extremely democratic cities at the federal level, but they are sometimes open to taking a different tack in the in the mayor's race, and that's what Crusoe is

hoping for. Yeah, boy, this is gonna be interesting. I have to say that Michael Bloomberg is the foundering majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg Radio, because you said so, Kyle, Uh. And of course it's really the first thing that comes to mind, because you know, we did see this with with Bloomberg himself, uh, you know, twenty years ago, of course, taking over for for Rudy Giuliani, who was you know, who was also also a Republican at that at that time. So it is just an

interesting little parallel. Of course, crime is a big topic in l A, just like it often isn't well. So look ahead to this general election contest. Obviously money is going to be a big factor. But as we heard from Karen Bass last night, she's really trying to paint him as a fake Democrat. You even accidentally referred to him as a Republican. How how are But he's also got Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian and you know a

lot of sort of unsuspecting people following him. We call him a friend and think that he's the answer to

crime in homelessness. How does Karen basstop that? Uh? Look, I mean I think she is gonna need to you know, get get to Democratic voters essentially to come home and to convince them that she's the right fit for this race and also that you know that she is the true Democrat in the race, because you know, one general trend I think we've seen even in you know, in look in in sort of races far below the ballot from the presidential races, that you know, you're seeing partisanship

more often. Um. Uh define these races as as opposed to people wanting to vote across the aisle. But again, Crusoe is technically a Democrat, uh in in in this race. Um, and you know bass Is gonna want to have to

want to bring some of those voters home. But also you know, it's it's it's a year that um where voters, even Democratic voters are probably gonna be a little bit more open to uh, you know, to to two alternatives to true blue Democrats because it's probably gonna be a pretty bad year for Democrats across the country in this mid term. We're only by the way, it's about fifty uh reported here in l A. Rick Caruso forty two percent.

Karen bass I never thought I'd talked so much about a mayor's race in the city that I was not living in at the time. Uh. Now, of course, again, both ran on improving crime and homelessness, another big part of this. Well. In San Francisco, Kyle of the progressive district Attorney lost a recall election. Chay Asa Boudine aimed to lower incarceration rates, put a check on the police, like a number of progressive prosecutors who were elected over

the last couple of years. He lost convincingly sixty percent. And he spoke after it was done, and I want to be very clear about what happened tonight. The right wing billionaires outspent us three to one. They exploited an environment in which people are appropriately upset. Kyle. You know, as journalists were always looking for trend stories, right we're seeking trends. Is it safe to say that this was

a tough night, certainly in California for for progressives? Did we did we turn back a couple of pages on defund the police, et cetera. Uh? Not necessarily. Um, you know, you you you you could find other examples of um, progressives doing you know, doing well in these kinds of local races, and certainly San Francisco this this was a kind of the banner race. But I think the overall

story is a little bit mightier than that. There's a um, there's still gonna be a race to for the uh Los Angeles sheriff, and you've got a Democrat who's relatively conservative, who um you know was is still locked in a close race there. So I think the overall picture is is, uh, it's kind of muddy. But I do think the interpretation anyway a lot of people have taken away is that,

you know, progressives were delta blow in San Francisco. I do think the truth is probably a little more complicated than that analysis from Kyle conduct with us from Sabodeau's Crystal Ball at u v A and looking at some of these congressional races. Uh, David Valadeo was one in California. While we're there, a Republican voted to impeach Donald Trump

unclear exactly if he's gonna make it. He fell behind the Democrat in that race, but one of several Republican members Kyle in primaries last night who also voted for the January six commission, and based on past primaries, you would think that the would be some punishment there from you know, from the MAGA crowd in South Dakota though Dusty Johnson one with pretty good number fifty nine percent, New Jersey, Chris Smith one with about fifty eight percent.

Have we overplayed the Trump effect? Uh? You know, I think you have to put into context that, you know, incumbent members of Congress very rarely lose primaries, and they usually win by bigger margins than that what we're talking about now. Granted, it's a redistricting year all the South Dakotas and at large states of course, there's no redistricting to be done. It's a you know, a statewide election every every two years. So I do think that there

is some there. There has been some you know, penalty paid for members who are seen as being uh you know, uh, not necessarily you know, maybe disloyal to Donald Trump or at least critical of Donald Trump. Or I think one other way of looking at is to say that that republic some Republicans can paint these members as essentially working

with Democrats. To try to discredit Donald Trump, and I think that that continues to be kind of a black mark for Republicans, even though you know, a Trump endorsement or a Trump disendorsement is not necessarily the be all and end all in these primaries too. So again it's kind of it's kind of nuanced. But um, you know, in Valdeo, it looks like he probably will advance the general election, although there's still a lot of votes outstanding.

In California, you can never quite you know, it takes basically weeks for for the California vote counts to become final. And I don't think there's anything nefarious about that. It's just that that's that's how it works out there. Um, so we still have to kind of wait and steve.

But uh, um, you know, Valdeo is one of it is holding down at you know, one of the most democratic districts held by any Republican, and so he were to lose, that would that would give Democrats a good pickup opportunity in an election here that otherwise looks pretty bad for Democrats. If President Biden is correct, Kyle, that crime and gun violence where the issues on voters minds

that's what drove people to polls last night. Does that flip to inflation, oil prices, et cetera, the other issues that we're hearing about on a daily basis in the general election. I don't necessarily agree with the President's characterization of that. I do think that that in general, the big the big issues right now are kind of you know, what what voters say. They are typically inflation and the economy more broadly, you know, and and uh take the take the top in terms of polling, of the of

of what people care about. And uh, you know the problem for Democrats is that, um, yes, there are some positive economic indicators out there, you know, unemployment, etcetera. But people believe the economy is bad essentially because inflation is bad. Um. And far be it from me to tell them that they're wrong about that. Um uh so, and and that's what the Democrats are kind of have to try to do, is to say, hey, well, actually things are better than you think they are. But it can typically be a

pretty hard argument. That youre is great talk, Kyle Condy. I'm so glad you could join us the morning after the big night. We're calling it Super Tuesday here on Bloomberg Sound On, Come back and see us Kyle as we work our way down the campaign trail. He's managing. Editors sabodah is Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics on the Fastest hour in Politics. Will assemble the panel next, see how Rick and Jennie are

feeling after the big night. Will check traffic and markets for you along the way as you would expect, after all, this is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. President Biden called it a clear message to address crime. As you heard his analysis from Super Tuesday primary voting, It's time, he says, the states and localities spend the money they have to

deal with crime as well as retrained police officers. We're calling a bit some of the language he used in his State of the Union address. If you remember, he said, I don't want to defund the police. I want to fund the police. And we assemble our panel on this day after Rick Davis, Jeanie Schanzano or with us Bloomberg Politics contributors. Genie, it was really interesting to hear from Kyle conduct there who was sort of busting some of the conventional wisdom coming out of last night. Did you

see this as a challenge to progressives in California? I think it may be an overstatement to know that definitively at this point, you know, because if if we look at these two races that we've been talking so much about, these are both local officials. We haven't seen this impact at the state level. Were incumbents actually in California did pretty well, So you know, we can overstate these things. You know, my takeaway from last night at San Francisco in l A. Was you have to do the job

you were chosen to do. If you're elected to be d A, you need to prosecute criminals. If you're elected to the school board because they had the recall the year before, you need to educate children. So do the job you're elected to do. I think is the number one lesson whether that expands into a you know, there is a challenge between progressives and establishment democrats in the party. We know that, But whether that is a full out of tach nation wide on progressives, I think it's too

early to say. What did you learn last night? Rick? You know, I don't know I I think it's a little different. I think that it was a rebuke to the progressives in the Democratic Party. I think this concept of hug a thug that we saw in the New York mayor's elections and now in the West Coast is something that they've got to sit up and and and and recognize as a problem for the way that they talk about crime, and and and the policies that they want to pursue around crime. And well, I think he

read the tea leaves. He's he's a smart Paul and when when he spoke out today, it was he defined this election is about crime and making sure that we can get ahead of it. And so I guess, but I mean, yeah, he doesn't want to talk about inflation. But this is one that he's got to get right because at some point people will take their eye off of the economic issues and want to know what's going on in their neighborhood. And as Jennie said, these are local issues in the sense that crime is up all

over the country. So it is it is localized, but it is a national problem. But he did distance himself from defund the police genie before today, right, I mean, I mentioned the state of the Union. Even on the campaign trail, progressives were worried about him being I guess too tough on crime. Is that the right way to put it. Yeah, I mean Joe Biden, I think, is much more of a moderate. He's always been that way. He he wasn't comfortable in that sort of progressive lane.

I mean that was what we heard throughout the entire campaign from people like Elizabeth Warren and AOC and Bernie Sanders. So he's much more of an establishment um, you know, a moderate Democrat if you will, um. You know. The one thing I would say is I just think we have to be careful to overread. I do agree with Rick there is this debate going on and they can overreach on the progressive side. But the reality is is that this elected d A in Stanford Francisco. He is

a very specific person. I mean, he had a very strong message crime was very bad in San Francisco, and he came with a history that made him a target and he lost last night with this recall. But I'm just not so sure that that extends across the country at the at the federal level, if you will, do Democrats need to start talking more like the president here, Rick, or do they need to get their arms around inflation. I'm assuming that as we go from primary to general here,

inflation is going to be the deciding factor. Once we get to November. Maybe there's a Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Way that that that adds another layer there. But is this going to be a crime election in November? Yeah, we have to understand that a lot of these elections we're talking about, these officials, you know, district attorneys and mayors, aren't really driving the economic burden of their communities, right, and and and they're really defining their own races. And

they defined them as being about security and homelessness. So I think that's that's part of it. But too, this is a this is an issue that that that the president has to lead his party on, right. I mean, Jennie pointed out, he's not in sync with the liberal left of his party, the progressives, and and and and but he's not winning that fight. In other words, he's letting them push back on him on issues of crime, on issues of the economy. Uh, there's not a single

voice of the Democratic Party. The president is not uh the strongest voice all the time on issues of inflation, and and so he's got to outshout members of his own party just so that the public can hear what the argument is against what Republicans are saying, which is the Democrats brought this on. This is a policy of the Biden administration that they couldn't contain inflation. A lot of this will be crystallized in this l a mayor's race that we've talked so much about this week and

and last. Genie Karen Bass says that Rick Caruso is a Republican in chep's clothing, right, that he's he's Mr Money, but he's not the person you need to deal with issues social issues from crime to homelessness. But my goodness, when you look at the numbers here, including the money that's been spent, how is she actually going to convince people of that case? I think it's a hard case to make because the reality is is that people are extremely dissatisfied with what has gone on in that city.

And she represents, in many Democrats minds, sort of the you know what has been the quid not quid procope, but what has been the reality of the city. And he represents a change. So he's in a much better position, not only vis a VI the money, but coming in and saying I'm going to do things differently. I have a different plan. So I think she's got you know, she's got an upheld battle there to make this case.

And of course in the face of all the money that he's spending is another thing she's got to deal with. And let's not forget he's also talking a lot about corruption because people hold that thought. Rick and Jeannie with us for the hour. This is bloomberg pretty amazing to

think that. You know, we're here in the throes of primary season, we're getting deeper into this thing, and the politician that has received more talk really than I guess anyone else is Donald Trump, the one who's not on the ballot, and he's certainly had an influence on some of these primaries, others not so much. But the Republican Party is betting that the Trump brand will help get things done in November. Take back Congress. This is the

year that we're going to take back the House. We're going to take back the Senate, and we're going to take back America. We're going to take it back. That's the former president at a rally but just two weeks ago, and the crowd goes wild until you read Mark Niquette's column. Though Trump's cult of personality has been replaced, he says, with a new political philosophy branded like his buildings and resorts. It's a really smart piece. We had to talk to

Mark about it. To make America Great Again movement. He writes that tens of millions of Americans adopted put him in the White House, transformed the Republican Party, but the current crop of midterm primaries is revealing the former president's brash brand of politics more than the man himself is driving many Republican voters. Thanks for being with us, Mark, Does that mean that Joe Biden is onto something when

he keeps talking about the ultra mega agenda? We're gonna see because it does look like the movement that, as you say, Trump tapped to get to the White House and certainly amplified, you know, showing signs of being willing to to to live with or without him. Um. We noticed as we are covering the Trump rallies during the primary season that he would stage to help support US endorsed candidates, that these folks would come to the rallies they'd be wearing their Maga hats and their Maga gear

and you know, chanting Trump's name at the rally. But they weren't inclined to the support the candidates that Trump was endorsing. They're gonna make up their own minds, and they liked other candidates better. And we saw that in some of these primaries where Republican voters, you know, maybe they love Trump, but they weren't going to support his endorsed candidate. That's pretty remarkable. But to your point, it's about the brand, just like it's on one of his

buildings here. His brand just came off the hotel in Washington. But the idea is they plaster themselves with MAGA and don't have a lot of interest in the content. Necessarily. They were in some cases the president, the former president, was having trouble pronouncing the names of some of the candidates that he had endorsed. Right. It's it's I guess the idea is that the philosophy and the style, more than anything else of MAGA is more important, perhaps than

you know, Trump himself. Trump is still overwhelmingly popular in the gop um and I think he's you know, odds on favors to be the Republican nominee if he runs again for president. UM. But there's a sense now that we quoted a couple of folks, folks in our piece saying that if if Trump were to leave the stage tomorrow, MAGA would still exist. You know, this type of aggressive politics and sort of the American first ideas that Trump champion died would still live on and and probably be

embodied by somebody else. Well, that's my question for you, Mark. Is this the type of thing where Rhonda Santis takes on the Maga mantle or you know, somewhere down the road, Ted Cruise is your MAGA guy? Or is this a more decentralized movement that will never have another figurehead like Donald Trump. We're gonna find out, I think, because movements have always had factions. If you consider the Tea Party movement, for example, there were different groups within the movement, you know,

struggling to get UH control and dominance. And we may see that in the MAGA movement. But I think at least initially, you're you're seeing UM folks like Rhonda Sandys sort of adopt the the MAGA playbook. You know, he's he's promoting issues that are popular with the bass. He went after Disney as a corporation that you know was considered he considered woke. Um. He has sort of an aggressive style of politics that mirrors Trump's with some of

the same aggressive rhetoric. Um So, at least initially, you're seeing sort of characters adopting the MAGA style and playbook, even if they're not specifically as um um charismatic, perhaps as Donald Trump not not many people have been to as many Trump rallies as you have, Mark, Do you plan to continue attending them for the next several months? Yeah?

I think so, because they're they're always interesting if nothing else, and and you know, it's it's it's helpful to talk to the folks who are there because um, Like I said that, that was sort of our first clue that you know, this phenomenon was underway, that the number of people who would come to these rallies and clearly are are strong Trump supporters, but you know they weren't going to blindly follow him and in supporting these candidates that

Trump pres there to to promote. Great piece look forward on the terminal, He's not God by Mark Nickatt Bloombery Politics Reporter. Always a great pleasure to have Mark with us. It's curious to touch on this with the panel quickly. Well, well, we have a moment here, Rick Davis and Jeanie Schanzano of course spending the hour with us. What's your thought on this? Rick? If Donald Trump fell off the face of the earth, I think the line was tomorrow the

MAGA brand would continue. Do you see that happening. Yeah, I think it'll happen for a while. I think it'll be subsumed by other movements. As you were talking there, you know, was the Tea Party before there was Maga. Rostrow had his own brand of cultural personality prior to that. Um, we've we've seen this come and go in in the party and and I think what makes it unique to to Donald Trump is there's no real ideological underpinning, right.

He vacillates all over the place on whether he's a conservative or progressive in in many ways, and and he makes his decisions based on his inclinations, not on any kind of Maga ideology. And so I think it's going to become up to others, you know, after Donald Trump, to sort of define it, and they'll define it in their own way, because it'll be in their interest not to just be a knockoff of Donald Trump. What does

maga mean, Genie? If if Trump supporters say they support the former president but they would not vote for the candidates he endorsed. Yeah, yeah, best title of marks piece. I love that title, and it's a great piece. But you know, I was thinking of Cathy Barnett in Pennsylvania. I mean, she campaign talking about the fact that you know,

she's really maga. Whether he you know, Donald Trump recognized it, and that's right, and so I do think that there is a way in which this could, uh, you know, sustain despite you know, what happens to Trump, whether he's on a ballot or not. I'm not sure for how long, but at least in the short period. It's certainly, uh, it's certainly out there. Has Webster put maga in the dictionary? Yet? Did that happen? Man? We got to look that up. If not yet, it's certainly going to happen this year.

Ultra maga anyone. Rick and Genie will reassemble the panel coming up next here following the gun hearing today on the House and the latest uncompromised This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg you sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. It turns out maga is in the dictionary, just not the maga we thought has to do with Hinduism. Apparently this is fascinating to me and the sours of India.

Maybe this year Webster will get with it. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition of Bloomberg Sound on the Fastest Hour in Politics. As we turned to what happened today in the House along with our panel, Rick and Genie or with us, both sides of the aisle say that we're caen to finalize a deal to address gun violence in the Senate as soon as this week. Things have been a little bit more complicated in the House, where the Oversight Committee today held a hearing the committee

will come to order. There were family victims from those lost at rob Elementary School in Uvaldi, from those lost in Buffalo. There were law enforcement officials and of course politicians on the panel asking the questions, including Congressoen Katie Porter, Democrat from California. Shootings involving assault weapons are six times as deadly as shootings involving handguns, and when assault weapons are equipped with high capacity magazines or bump stocks, the

death toll rises even further. Representative James Comer is ranking member on the committee, Republican from Kentucky. I strongly believe that there's important place for law abiding gun owners to serve and protecting themselves, their families, and their communities from violence. This went on for hours today following a similar hearing yesterday. And I'd love to hear from the panel on this

because there are there are two parallel tracks happening. One seems to be associated with reality and the other one does not genie this effort in the House here they marked up a series of a package of legislation, if I can call it that, last week. The hearings now underway. Nancy Pelosi says they're going to vote on these bills. But but there's no path for them to become law, no path for them to get through the sentence. What

are we doing here? You know, there's no chance. And you know the House has a very publicly um you know, be helding holding these hearings. They're very emotional. Another emotional day following Matthew McConaughey's you know statement in front of the White House Press Corps. Yesterday you heard from the victims and an eleven year old girl smearing her dead friends blood on her Just a horrific hearing to and

to witness that. And of course, as you mentioned, the House putting forward a package that has no chance of getting through the Senate. And then you juxtapose that with the fact that the Senate is working very much in private. They're not, you know, using these emotional at least not yet having these emotional testimony go forward. And yet we know what they're debating about now is much more incremental and likely won't change gun laws at least if you

listen to what Senator Cornyn had to say. Yes, right, the bill expected to pass the House without any Republicans support. Uh. We heard Republicans talking about this in their leadership briefing in the House today. Representatives Galase was asked about it Rick he wouldn't even say that he was in favor of a red flag law. It does seem like the House and Senator two different worlds right now. Well, they always have been and always will be. I think you

can almost ignore the Republican leadership in the House. They're not a factor in the debate right now on guns and not in the House, and and and no one in the senate's listening to them. So the people who are doing the bipartisan negotiation in the Senate are the ones who are trying to make progress. I think they are legitimately trying to find common ground amongst Republicans and Democrats to do something about this. I do think that the Democratic leadership in the House is doing a good

job of keeping the public attention on this issue. We know that these issues tend to fade and take the political saliency out of the debate. And so by doing things like inviting Matthew McConaughey over to the White House to talk about his hometown and the massacre that took place, having these hearings, even if the legislation isn't going anywhere, the testimony was extremely powerful, as Genie said, and and and this won't be missed by those negotiators when they

see the evening news tonight. And so I think that that right now the environment is right for a deal, and I think before we start classifying the deal is is not good enough, we have to remember that that we've had incidents like this where nothing has happened, and guests right, and so I think that that we we ought to we ought to keep the heat on members of the negotiating committee in the Senate and and see what comes out of there, and and and frankly, the

only thing is disappointed to me is that there isn't a deadline for their actions. They need to be under some public heat to show their cards. Well. Interesting to hear from Senator Chuck Schumer today, Genie. He said at least in the last twenty four hours. This may have been late yesterday, but he said the Senate will vote on gun legislation soon. This is different than a week from now, like we heard, when everyone's back, you know,

you guys around a time. He does seem like he's willing to give Murphy and corn In a couple of extra days, if not weeks, don't. Yeah, And I think he's right to do that. I think both he and the President are trying to, as Rick said, you know, allow this committee to do its work, to do it in private, and to try to come to some agreement.

But we also need to say that Chris Murphy yesterday was saying that, you know, they're extending a hand of partnership to their Republican colleagues are trying to get a deal. They're not going to settle for legislation that's box checking, and so where what that means exactly is very unclear to me. And timing wise, I think is still a big question mark. I was thinking they needed to maybe get a framework this week, but I don't know if we're going to see something like that until maybe next week.

And the longer this goes on, the harder to move forward on it. So I think, you know, at least by July, we have to see action the lesson we have been taught repeatedly over the last year or so. Uh, this time tomorrow, right around this time tomorrow, we're gonna be gearing up for the big hearing, the January sixth Committee. This is the first prime time hearing. You've heard about

it the networks. Now we're on board. This thing starts at eight o'clock and we're told by the Committee, as we've discussed on this program, that we're going to see and hear things. We're going to learn things new, not just another montage of terrible video from the riot at

the Capitol. This came up by the way. In that Republican leadership briefing that I mentioned today, Congresswoman at least to Fank was asked about this, what her thought was on the work of the committee, and what she expected to hear on Thursday night. Listen to the way she answered this and get prepared to hear this a lot more. Over the course of this process, they are scrambling to change the headlines, praying that the nation will focus on

their partisan witch hunt instead of our pocketbooks. It will not work. Just this week, Nancy Pelosi's illegitimate January six committee secretly hired the former president of ABC News to produce these shameless primetime show this with the same producer that covered up victims of Jeff Epstein. This further solidifies what we know, what we have known from day one. This committee is not about seeking the truth. It is a smear campaign against President Donald Trump, against Republican members

of Congress, and against Trump voters across this country. This committee is un constitutional, it is illegitimate. I thought it was worth running that whole thing. Rick partisan which hunt. We've heard that from Kevin McCarthy, illegitimate, unconstitutional, We've heard that from Republicans as well, now taking aim at this, this former ABC News president James Goldston, who we at least I refer to this that they had hired a veteran news uh, a newsperson to make videos. He's gonna

be producing videos as part of this presentation. To think that she's invoking the name Jeff Epstein into this, Rick, this is uh, this is a new layer. Yeah, it's it's not a new layer in the debate in Washington for a long time. It's a new layer in this debate. But the reality is this is a classic you know,

attack the messenger. So when you don't have anything to say about the message, right, there's nothing she can say about what happened on January six that isn't either already in the record or very uh the amatory to her own party. Uh, then she got to attack the messenger in this case. I think part of the reason that the committee is doing these high profile uh hearings in prime time is to actually set that record straight right, and and to to try and get that message out

that this is the historical context that we want. It is a competitive marketplace for ideas, and they have to be out there shouting as loud as they can to make sure people understand what their version of events on January six is. There is not as as at least Aphonic pointed out, a uniform sense of history here. And this is a very important task the committee has to set the record straight. Was it smart to hire a former ABC News president to be involved in this genie?

I actually think it was. And unlike least Stephonic Justice said, this was not a secret. This you know, we've all been talking about it. It was widely reported. So maybe because she was at the fun raiser with Trump this week raising millions of dollars, she didn't get to see the news, but widely reported. And um, her for it, doesn't you mean her fundraising? Well? No, the fact that that Jeffrey Epstein that I mean that he was he was running the network at a time when this story

was was quashed. I realized that. But what does that have to do? I mean, talk about distracting from the point it is. And it's so Washington Insider, because people are not going to be paying attention to who cut the videos. Um, you know, was it you know, in former ABC president or somebody else? They you know, the real question here and there are real questions, will anybody watch these hearings, Will it change any minds? Will it set the historical record straight? Will it be seen as

non political? Will we learn anything new? So there's a whole host of real questions to be asked about what they're doing. But involvement of you know, somebody at ABC and Jeffrey Epstein is a far cry. And you know, but this is where least dephonic is as she fights to take control of this party, probably away from Kevin McCarthy, but he doesn't see it coming yet. Just in a few seconds we have left. Rick, If it looks pre produced, like like mainstream media, is that a risk that people

won't trust it? I think people are used to wanting to be given their news, you know, by sweet uh sweetwater in their drink, and so if they can make it a better way to communicate. Look, most hearings are boring. This one can't be sweetwater in the panel, Rick and Jennie with us as ever, we'll meet back here. We'll get you ready tomorrow night. On the fastest hour in politics, I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. This is Bloomberg