Sound On: Trump 2024 Official, Missile Strike Response

off a part of this one. We rise together back to the boon and Yon Bloomberg Sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The US and NATO say it was not on purpose, but they're blaming Russia anyway. Welcome to the fastest hour in politics. As President Zelenski keeps the heat on Vladimir Putin it and Biden considers his options. On the way home from the G twenty, we're joined ahead by Kurt Vulker, former US Ambassador to NATO, on

what happens next. Later, leadership battles begin to settle in the House and Senate, or are they We'll talk with Drew Lippman, former chief of staff for Senator Al Frankin the same sex marriage legislation, and Donald Trump makes it official. We'll hit all these stories with our panel today, Bloomberg Politics contributor, Democratic analyst Jeanie Schanzano, and Lisa Kamuso Miller, former communications director for the Republican National Committee. So let's go.

We start with NATO and the US appeared to be on the same page here when it comes to the incident in Poland. Twenty four hours later after the headlines first broke of the blast. This is Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin briefing reporters today. Our information supports what President Dudah said earlier in his parliamentary assessment was that this was most likely most likely a result of Ukrainian air defense missile. But well at the investigation play out here,

President Vladimir Zolensky sees it differently. He blames Russia here, he says the rocket that caused the explosion in Poland came from Russia, and he's asking that Ukraine be part of the investigation. It's unclear what happens with that. NATO Secretary General again Stoltenberg's suggesting it doesn't matter either way. We're blaming Russia here he is, this is not Ukraine's fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues it's illegal war

against Ukraine. So what should be in the response that this was the result of a deliberate attack. That's the key, And you have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against natal President on his way back from the G twenty via Hawaii now has some stuff to think about here. He did speak to reporters for a while while this was up in the air yesterday, but he's got some time before he addresses the public and the response. And that's where we start with Kurt Vulker,

the former US Special Representative for Ukraine negotiations. He knows the people as well as the country. The former US Ambassador to NATO. Mr Ambassador, thanks for coming back to talk to us here. What shall be the responses? It a military one? Well, thank you for having me. It's great to be with you. I think that the most important thing that we heard in all of that clip that we just played is that no one believes that this was an intentional Russian attack against a NATO ally.

It could have been a Russian fired missile, It could have been a Ukrainian and air defense missile. That needs to be investigated. But no one believes this was a deliberate attack. So Russia doesn't want to be in a war with NATO. NATO doesn't want to be in a war with Russia. So we should avoid getting into a situation where we wide into a war that nobody wants.

And I think that's that's where things are today. So it seems leaders have succeeded in in in lowering the temperature, will say, but there are those who believe Russia should be sent a message. None of this would have happened if it hadn't been busy bombing dozens of civilian infrastructure sites throughout Ukraine. Do you just let it go exactly right? Yes,

that is exactly right. So first off, there needs to be a very strong message of demand that Russia stopped the terrorizing the civilians and the bombing campaigns in Ukraine. I think we need to hear more of that, including from NATO. Um there also needs to be a stepped up support for air defenses in Ukraine. That's happening, but some missiles and some rockets are still getting through and

that is knocking out civilian infrastructure. So everybody in Kiev now and everybody in most other major cities is going through periodic power outages, including heat and including water. So paise because of this Russian bombing campaign's completely barbered. I

think we still have you, Ambassador. I want you to hear from General Mark Millie, who spoke to reporters today in that briefing UH with Lloyd Austin, speaking of the fact that the power is out across a good chunk of the country, civilian death surmounting, and we're headed for a very cold winter. Listen to how he put it. This is Mark Milly. We assess now that over a

quarter of Ukrainian civilians or without power. The deliberate targeting of the civilian power grid, causing excessive collateral damage and unnecessary suffering on the civilian population, is a war crime. With the onset of winter, families will be without power and more importantly without heat. Basic human survival and subsistence is going to be severely impacted and human suffering for the any population is going to increase. That's the Chairman

of the Joint Chiefs Human suffering, Ambassador, war crimes. We're predicting this all coming more of it for this winter. I know that there are rules of the road here and we're trying like hell to avoid World War three in a direct conflict with Russian forces. But Ambassador, you know the people of Ukraine. How do we sit here for the next three or four months and watch this happen? Well, it is appalling, and as I was saying, I think that NATO needs to make a stronger demand of Russia.

Stop the bombing, stop the terrorizing the civilians. And this is barbaric, it is unnecessary. Um, that's one thing. We need to be helping Ukraines with air defenses so that they shoot down more of these missiles. The ratio is getting better between now, but still some are getting through. And we also need, uh, you know, I think to think creatively about how we can help Ukraine quickly repair and store its energy grid, make sure that it is

able to keep the lights on. Um. Different types of equipment. No, we should be turning to Central and East European allies that have Soviet era equipment that might quickly go in. We might want to think about whether we can provide assistance that would quickly flip over some of their systems to a Western system where the spare parts are more readily available. They're going to need a lot of help through this winner. It's going to be a long winner

for sure. At some point there's going to be a debate, it sounds like, on Capitol Hill about funding for Ukraine or will there be after this story? Does this? Does this end the debate from the progressive left and the conservative right that have begun complaining about this. Well, I think that the progressive left quickly pulled back their letter. They realized that it is not the time to start negotiations with Russia, not when Putin is doing what he's

doing and determined to keep doing it. Um on the right, you have some people who are questioning security assistance or economic assistance to Ukraine. But I think this is being channeled fairly successfully by incoming Speaker McCarthy when he says, look, what we want is accountability and transparency, and that is a reasonable demand. That's a reasonable thing for congressional oversight, and I think it is a very achievable objective as well.

So rather than saying stop giving aid to Ukraine, I don't think that's where the American people are anyway, but making sure that the aid that we give is clear, transparent, and that we are held accountable for where it goes. If Russia is on the ropes here and we keep pushing that. The whole idea behind this was to strengthen

Ukraine's hand at the negotiating table. Ambassador, when do we have a serious conversation about that, Is it even possible and and could the Minsk Agreements still be a platform to negotiate a settlement? Well, I think the Minsk Agreements are dead. The Minsk Agreements basically ratify a partial Russian to takeover of portions of Ukraine that Russia has now gone well beyond. It also called for the removal of foreign forces i e. Russian forces, a permanent ceasefire that

was never put in place. I think this is now well beyond. There needs to be something else in terms of strengthening Ukraine's hand. I think that's exactly what's happening here. Despite what we're talking about with the bombings and taking out the electricity grid, Ukraine is actually winning on the ground. They have pushed Russian forces out of overt of the territory that Russia had conquered earlier in the war, including the city of Hairstone, including outside of Hockey, including outside

of Kiev. So the Ukrainians are actually pushing the Russians back and that is going to force the Russians to recognize that they're not going to be able to keep the gains that they've made, and that will set the stage for negotiations. But we're not there yet, because Russia is continuing to to fight, to drop these bombs into try to lock in the gains that it still has left. So they need to see that they're losing first. Is Vladimir Putin determined then to push this through winter just

to inflict as much emotional damage as possible? And what does that mean for our diplomatic core, ambassador, you know what it's like to serve and Kiev this is a target zone now, sure, no, it is um You know, I was on the line with people in Kiev today, people with the National Security Council and and people with the media. Everybody is getting on with things. You know, the power goes out for several hours, that comes back on.

People are working from home if they are subject to the you know, the air raid, sirens and bombing is actively going on. They stay at home, but the population is back. People are getting on with life, and they are incredibly determined and resilient to protect their country, to win the war and make sure that Ukraine survives. They don't have any other choice, and so they are remarkably resilient. And as a diplomat, you want to be there with them.

You want to show that they have full support from the United States and from the international community in their fight to protect themselves and to maintain their independence. Well, this is why we should salute all of their service, and we thank you for your time. Ambassador Kurt Volker, former US Special rep for Ukraine Negotiations, former US Ambassador to NATO. As we bring you voices of expertise here, like Kurt Volker every night on Bloomberg Sound On, we'll

assemble our panel next for two more voices. Genie is with us Genie Chanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributor, joined tonight by Lisa Kamusa Miller, former COMPS director for the Republican National Committee. As we bring balance and perspective to the conversation. Following a while twenty four hours in Ukraine and in Poland's We'll check traffic and markets for you on the way. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg.

You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Is he day in the Senate today where Mitch McConnell is reelected as the Republican leader. We'll have more on that coming up later on this hour as we keep our attention on the events overseas and the looming response here, presumably by President Joe Biden in the administration. We did hear from the Pentagon today, of course, we heard from NATO.

We heard from the President loosely yesterday as he was taking questions outdoors, but he's on his way back from the Chief twenty now and they'll be a little bit more opportunity for that later on here. With new calls from Capitol Hill to loosen the strings on the types of material that we are sending to Ukraine, let's assemble our panel. Bloomberg Politics contributor Jeanie Schanzano is with US

Democratic analysts joined today. I'm glad to say by Lisa Kamusa Miller, former Khams director for the Republican National Committee. Great to have both of you with us here. Jeannie, what does Joe Biden uh need to do when he steps off the plane here. Surely he's talking with his advisors and the best way to manage this, it's still not exactly even own for sure what happened in Poland. Well, first they need to find out and be clear on

exactly what happened, and we will get that information. But as you hear the administration calling what Russia is engaged in a war crime, the President is going to have to very clearly tell the American public and more importantly, tell Russia and putin what they are going to demand in terms of getting Russia to stop this attack on innocent civilians that has gone on. And the idea that you know, this was not um done purposefully is something we keep hearing, and of course that may be the case.

But what was done purposefully with sending about a hundred missiles into Ukraine and destroying people as we get to the dead of winter, so that was purposeful. This was you know, collateral damage, and that's unacceptable and he's going to have to say how we've respond to that, because apparently it won't be with Article five? Does that require a formal address and the president? Lisa, how does Joe Biden do the right thing here? Oh? I think so.

I think that he probably will address the nation. I'm not sure if it will happen before or after, but certainly he's very calculated and making, um, you know, thoughtful decisions about how we as a U, as the US, approach this because obviously, if this does trigger Article five, that makes a very big difference for how um we proceed is a country and how we provide stability in Europe. Yeah,

I want to hear from Rob Portman. This is from the Senate floor, Senator Rob Portman, Republican from Ohio, of course, and you know, I won't say an ally, but well, you know, a friend of of President Biden helped him craft the infrastructure deal. He says, it's it's time to get on with it and deliver everything that Ukraine is asking for. Listen, at the very least, I believe this is an opportunity for the administration to remove what we're

already misguided restrictions on US military aid to Ukraine. He's talking about longer range weapons, genie tanks, fighter planes, presumably, is this conversation going to continue it is, you know, I think one thing that yesterday reminded all of us is that we need to get this war done quickly. And the fear of right now is that we're going into a stalemate, a prolonged war at the heart of winter,

and so you need to get this over quickly. The only way to do this is to pull off the band aid and give them what they need to protect themselves. We we've been told over and over what they need. Now it's got to be delivered. And it's not just the United States, it's also our allies, and that is a big concern as well. So how do you turn up the heat leave So I know you're not a military analyst, but even politically, how do you turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin so you force him to

the table or is that just not possible? Oh? I don't necessarily know if it's possible to bring him to the table, but I do think that and I hoped, I hope Joe, that this quiets down a lot of that contradictory language that was coming out of Leader McCarthy just a couple of weeks ago about how it would be more thoughtful and calculated about how how money would be sent to Ukraine. I mean, that just doesn't make any sense. That is absolutely it's toned up to what's

happening in um overseas. And and that to me alone ought to be a signal to Capitol Hill, both on both sides of the House and on both sides of the of the building, that that this needs to be addressed, and it needs to addressed quickly. And Progressive seemed to kind of pull back their their concerns, at least they retracted that letter, Lisa. But you know, there's another conversation that's happening on Capitol Hill, and that's how to replenish

our own stockpiles, Lisa. How to Republicans work that into the conversation here, because we've sent a lot of our own gear, a lot of our own weaponry to Ukraine. Uh yeah, there's I mean, there's no question about it that is something that we absolutely need to consider. But we still are, I mean, by exponentially larger and more

equipped than any other nation on the globe. And so I have to believe that with the extraordinary partnerships that we have with all of the government contractors that we work with. I mean, Joe, I really think that they will be working as quickly and as hard as they can to make sure that we are well positioned, not only here in the homeland, but overseas as well. What kind of a conversation is that, like, between the White

House and progressive Democrats than Jennie. We need more money than we thought for military hardware and we don't have a blank check, but we are going to be sending a lot more money to Ukraine. Well, it's a conversation the White House has to have with Progressives, has to have with Congress, but more importantly with the American public. You know, listen to what we hear from people like

Warren Davidson from Ohio. He's saying his constituents are telling him we feel badly about Ukraine, but we're suffering here too, and they use this analogy of putting your own mass and oxygen mask on. That's a real fear that Americans have, and the President and the Democrats and Republicans have got

to address that. So it's not just with representatives and senators, it's with the American public as well, which is why Joe Biden needs to come out and say why this isn't our interest because Americans have to write to say we've spent billions of dollars. We are suffering here. Our border is a mess, crime is up, inflation is up. Why are we sending more? He's got to explain that

there is an explanation. It's the right thing to do, but you can't just do it and leave people to their own devices to feel that they've been robbed in their own country. Well, there's lots of cover. They're certainly Genie, thank you and Lisa, thank you. We will continue our panel through the course of the hour. Lisa Camuso Miller and Jennie Chanzano. I'm gonna put my oxygen mask on as we turned back to what's happening in the back

rooms on Capitol Hill. Fascinating leadership battles in both the House and Senate. Neither apparently will change anything. So who actually lost here? We'll talk with Drew Lippman coming up on the fastest hour in politics, Sancho Matthew, this is Bloomberg so interesting here. I have started to sound like a broken record, but I'm just trying to keep track of what's going on. Okay, it's been a week. It has now been one week since Kevin McCarthy declared victory

in the House. And as I'm watching Donald Trump last night at mar Lago, well, I thought maybe the whole thing had just come together. Listen, exactly one week ago, our citizens voted in the important mid term elections, and despite a ridiculously long and unnecessary period of waiting, far longer in fact than any third world country, just a short time ago, the Republicans one back control of the House of Representatives. Well, is that right? I'm thinking, Man,

how did I miss? Like terminals not working? No, it hadn't been called. Now it could be. Of course, he even named the lawmaker resists that, Kevin. I tell you, Kevin Kylie, by God, glad that he was the guy to put us over the top. But of course the House has not been called. Republicans are one seat away here to seventeen for the GOP. I mean, it's clear how this story ends, but we've got to wait a

long time for votes to be tallied. In California. This is basically why there's been so much upheaval in the leadership battles. There might have been a challenge either way. But as you remember Andy Biggs challenge Kevin McCarthy for his leadership post in the House, it didn't work out well for Andy Biggs. Kevin McCarthy lives to see another day.

But there was quite a revolt led by lawmakers like Matt Gates, the congressman from Florida, who was kind of dealing with this openly with reporters in the corridors of the Capitol. Here he is, well, I think that the conference is going to go through some soul searching, and you know, we're we got to go through the stages

of grief here a little bit. There's some still in denial believing that votes can get someone to be speaker, and so once we moved through through that, I think ultimately we'll work our way to acceptance for someone who has brought support throughout the conference and can unitas. But no one has come forward otherwise. And his colleague from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Green, is with Kevin McCarthy. She says, there's

no time to be bickering about this. Now. We have a very slim majority, and so this is why it's so important for us to stay unified and get behind him as our speaker, because we cannot open the door to the Democrats peeling off several of our Republicans and and working together to choose a speaker that they would control.

We have to have the gavel. Drew Lippman is policy director at Brownstein Hyatt, Farber Shrek and former chief of staff for Senator Al Frank And he has spent a lot of times in the corridors of power on Capitol Hill. Don't you miss all this, Drew? Oh heck yeah. Actually this is super interesting to people like me. It's like, um baseball Pennant race sort of stuff. But everybody knows how this series is gonna end, right, It's gonna be miss McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, it is. And the McConnell's

stuff is straightforward. You know, in the Senate, to be elected majority leader, you just need a majority of your own caucus. It's not a Senate position, it's really a caucus position from McCarthy. To be elected Speaker of the House, that's different. He has to be elected by the whole House. Now what he has one so far as not the speakership.

It's the Republican nomination to be Speaker, and that's why the fact that he lost thirty one votes is significant because if he's a Democratic votes for him, he's jammed up. Of course, he's eventually going to go elected speaker. Is no one running against him. But you could see how the Republican uh if you want to call him, dissidents or outliers, can make his life hard for a little while. Yea, So this is an exercise in embarrassing Kevin McCarthy a

little bit. That's perfectly accurate, and Matt Gates will be laughing all the way. I guess to the bank here. But what about Marjorie Taylor Green? Is it because she was invited to the big Commitment to America speech, she vying for some certain committee. What's in it for her? Well, what's in it for her, she believes, is a seat on the House Oversight Committee, which is probably going to be the most visible committee Republican controlled House, divided government.

No ledgis lation really going on, but there's going to be a lot of aggressive oversight. Some of it might be quite ridiculous, but it's going to be aggressive. They're going to be on TV a lot, They'll dominate Fox News they're gonna have a lot of hostile witnesses to question, and you can see why Marjorie Taylor Green is salivating for the opportunity live at the improv Well, so, okay, let's shine the light on you here and your party drew.

A lot of people want to know what Nancy Pelosi is gonna do if this does end up being a House majority for Republicans. However, slim does she call it quits? I don't know, And as of today, people close to her still don't know. Every Democrat. That is incredible to me that nobody can see inside this deliberation. Well, I started on the hill with Barbara Boxer. She and Pelosi represented adjacent house districts. So I was around Pelosi quite a bit, and that's going back more than thirty years.

I've been around there plenty of times since. Really nobody knows, and and that's probably because she's Pelosi. She doesn't have to tell you in advance, because if she wants to be the leader, she'll be the leader. She just has to decide. It's not like she has to muster votes or muster resources or get you know, big shots from the outside. She doesn't have to get Barack Obama to call somebody to ask for their vote. She can make a decision at the very last minute if she wants to.

So is this gonna be a good year for Hakim Jeffreys? I think probably, Yes, there's a good year coming for Hakim Jeffreys. I think it's probably this year. Part of what's interesting, though, is it's not just Pelosi. You have Steenny Hoyer, you know, immediately below her in the leadership, and James cliburn below Yer. Now, the average age of those three leaders Felosi, Woyer and Cliburne has got eighty one years. So so one of the big questions is, and this is when I get asked a lot, if

one goes, if FELOISI goes today, all go? Or is it just Pelosi? That's the an open question for Democrats. Well, fascinating, Drew, Thank you. I love talking this out with you. Drew Litton is policy director, Brownstein Hyatt former chief chief of staff. Easy for me to say. For Senator Al Franken, same sex marriage legislation moves forward in the Senate, an important vote today. It's far from over, but still alive. And we'll reassemble our panel with more on that coming up.

I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. The fastest Hour in Politics continues. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg, So long with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. On this vote, the yeas are sixty two, the nays are thirty seven. Three of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative. The motion has agreed to, and there it is. Same sex marriage advances in the Senate. Senator John Hick and Looper presiding as the vote count came in today. This

is not the end. This is a procede, real step, but it's a necessary one on the way to passage. Here sixty two thirty seven. What do you think? We reassemble the panel here. This is one of the things that Democrats said they would try to do in the lame duck, and here we go. Jennie Schanzano was with US Democrat analyst and Bloomberg Politics contributor, joined today by Lisa Kamuso Miller, former comms director at the r n C. They are our panel. What do you think about this one? Lisa?

For Republicans, it's obviously something that not all Republicans support, but are there enough there with Mitt Romney, for instance, on board to make a difference. Absolutely, Joe. I mean, I think the outcome of the election, my estimation is that people were saying that they're tired of this kind of rhetoric to back and forth. I mean, look, this bill is is is to preemptively, uh stop the backslide of same sex sex marriage if the Supreme Court were to make a ruling that we're to be in some

way in contrast with that. So, yes, I do I think that the party itself has come a long way. I don't think that this this would even have been something that would have come up as early as so we're seeing progress. Yes, it's slow, but it is progress, and we're seeing Republicans come over to the right side of this. Of this decision, you need the Respect for Marriage Act caught afy federal recognition of same sex and interracial marriages. We should note twelve Republicans voted with all

Democrats on this. This never would have happened without the Roe v. Wade ruling, right, it wouldn't because in his concurring opinion, UH, Clarence Thomas said the President underpinning same sex marriage should be quote reconsidered, and that, of course, as Lisa was just saying, is what sparked this concern and led to the passage of this in the House

and moving it to the Senate. And I think it's truly a remarkable moment because you do have some Republicans in the Senate who are concerned about the issue of liberty and the religious liberty protections, and the Democrats did massage the bill to address their concerns. And the hope is that that was enough that they move even beyond the vote today, as important as it was to passage, and it gets to Joe Biden's desk, it would be

a momentous time. As the Court has suggested, not Clarence Thomas, but otherwise do this work in the legislature, and that's

where they should do it. Congress has not done this kind of work for a long time, leaving these rights vulnerable, and they're doing it now well as we pick up the pieces here from the mid term election cycle, and you know, all of this is informed, to Genie's point, by by what voters told us a week ago tonight, and it was last night at Marl Lago that Donald Trump stood at the podium, of course, announcing that he was officially running for president, and said, hey, you know

you won the House. What's the big deal? Listen? I told them, I said, if you just keep a little bit lower standard, you're gonna have a big victory. They said, let's win by forty seats. Let's win by fifth. I said, if you win by two seats, be happy. But she's on her way to another country right now. She's been fired talking about Nancy Pelosi. But of course, Lisa, uh,

does he have a point? You know, when you start talking about winning fifties sixty seats, you know, some people just look at this as a win or lose game. If if you're in terms of messaging the success of the party, I don't know. Is Donald Trump telling you to lower your standards or be more realistic? I don't know. But Joe I just have to laugh about all of that. I mean, Donald Trump is not a political mind. He is not somebody that understands what the map was going

to look like. I mean, look, history absolutely positively showed that Republicans were going to pick up a lot of seats. Unfortunately, it was this this dissonance, the distracted messaging that was coming out of these candidates that were hand chosen by Donald Trump, that caused that distraction, that caused voters to go to the polls and deny that many seats to be won by Republicans. And so I think he's trying to save faith in those in those remarks from last night.

I'll tell you what you watch the speech. I'm sure Jeanie uh is that the best news is that what you're gonna tell me that Democrats could have going into Joe Matthew, I was watching a very good movie that I turned off to put this on because in my duty to you, I felt that I needed to. And it was a painful hour, as Lisa's Lisa's chuckle indicates. And I want to know if both you and Lisa can say, what is it? Magaga make America great and glorious again? It's a top twister there. Yeah, that's the

that's the new slogan that I learned. And yes, this is a good moment for Democrats, but it's not a good moment for the American people for democracy and certainly

not for the Republican Party. And one thing I am curious to see does the party going forward try to take steps like the Democrats did as they started to lose in the nineteen seventies to ensure that the party faithful and the elites and the party have more control than the base, because that things like super delegates is what will erupt out of this kind of takeover of the party they've been experiencing since, which has cost them

so much power in Washington. Lisa, if you're Glenn Uncan or Rhonda Santist, do you have any reason to hurry an announce or or quite the opposite, you wait as long as you can before you jump in. Well, I don't think anybody's in a rush to announce. I think Donald Trump probably had his own reasons for doing that. But look, I think this is a cautionary tale, Joe.

I mean, we counted Donald Trump out in UH nights that he was paying people to sit in the audience to make it appear that he had supporters, when in fact they were not. They were paid UH seat fillers. This is the time when we need to be very

very cautious. I'm with Janie. I am waiting to see I'm actually waiting to see more Republicans come out and speak against and speak towards the future rather than going backwards with Donald Trump as a candidate for twenty four I'm very very much interested to see if we can get away from him. But I also think that we need to watch closely because we have counted him out before and he became the president. Sure, and you know,

a divided primary can make weird things happen. It's how you win with But there's one that slipped through last night. I felt like, uh, and I had certainly caught my attention, maybe you two, Genie as you were popping your popcorn. But the President did refer to not with the whole stop the steel movement, but he added a new actor. Listen. No president had ever saw it or received one dollar for our country from China until I came along, and

we were getting hundreds of billions of dollars. Many people think that because of this, China played a very active role in the election. Just saying just saying, really, sure that didn't happen. Really, China, Lisa, have you ever heard listen? I realized that you were a very sensible, uh, political operative, but if you heard this knocked around in any corners of the Internet that the China medal in the election. No,

I have not. I mean, Joe, I, this is just another one of those threads that Donald Trump pulls in order to get his supporters to come uh and and align with him. But but really, but what's unfortunate is that there's no one to call him on it. There's no one that calls nonsense when he says these kinds of things. I mean, this just causes more dissonance in the globe. No, there is no nothing, nothing in in what I have seen or heard that indicates that at

all this is a Donald Trump fabrication. Once again, I'm assuming this goes nowhere, Jennie. Maybe the point is that the fact that it wasn't picked up by any major news agency says everything you need to know. It does. And you know, we haven't even talked about it yet, but I think it was very telling. Obviously, The New York Post has been on on Donald Trump for a few days now, but the fact that they said floor a man makes an announcement and then you had to

see page twenty six. I love um aclass the bottom of the front page. Yeah, and you know, in all seriousness, it's a great it's a great title. But in all seriousness, I think one thing to watch for is how much media coverage Trump gets, because let's not forget it was the free media coverage he gets. He spent a lot less than than Hillary Clinton. It was the free media coverage that he's counted on. And of course you see everybody from Rupert Murdoch to the New York Post to

a lot of elites in the Republican Party. The question is going to be that thirty percent you're talking about, and if there is a crowded primary, it's easier for him to win, which is why I'm not sure why he wants to knock everyone else out early. He should be hoping everyone comes in because then he has a chance of winning this thing. In a head to head it's gonna be harder. Oh gosh, maybe he won't. I don't know. I'm very confused about that whole idea. Something

something part of me. Lisa feels like he just likes the fight, to be honest with you, and looks forward to the a debate stage because he's got to be missing it. Lisa camu similar, thank you, Jeanie Chanzano, thank you both for being with us and a great panel, and it finally happened, likely while you were sleeping. Of course, this thing gets off the path in the middle of

the night. We're heading back to the Moon, the Orion spacecraft feeding towards lunar orbit as we speak, after a beautiful nighttime launch, an unmanned mission that will set the stage. Here we go. Listen, we rise together back to the moon and beyond what we saw tonight. It's an a

plush like it looked like the sun was rising. Let me take you on a little trip Basonic ship such you're disposed and if you'll be so, what an amazing day and what an amazing n I'm telling you we've never seen such a tale of flame on the travel faster than night. So do have your obicle dight and we go anyway you want to decide. Today we got to witness the world's most powerful rocket take the Earth by sedges and shake the wicked Eyman rocket and it

was quite a sight. It's quite a safe thanks to our panel, to Ambassador Kurt Vulcar and to Drew Lippman. On the fastest hour in politics. I'll meet you back here tomorrow from Washington. I'm Joe Matthew, This is bloombird,