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have news on the doge. This is a pretty big number, or if you heard me mention this a little while ago, remember there was a big buyout offer that went to every federal worker across the country, now accepted by more than twenty thousand federal workers. They're not all here, they're spread around the country. That's about one percent of the federal workforce. If it sounds like a big number. And the last time he was here, we talked about the idea of the doge the concept with now the former
governor of New Hampshire, Republican Chris Sanunu. He was with us in the closing days of his administration, having written an important op ed that we talked about before Elon musk Ever got to Washington. Now we're all here and he's with us, back at the table. I still call you governor, right.
Yeah, Well, look, why won't I be here?
This is apparently where all the cool kids hang out. As you said, they heard that this is this is the place to be.
You couldn't wait to come back. I love you. Are you going to be in Washington a lot? I thought your whole point was staying away from Washington.
No, I'm the I'm Washington's evil cynic. I come down and remind Washington why they should do more work and get more stuff done.
They all go crazy.
Well, so it's not just the doge, it's the coache. You call it that in New Hampshire, right.
There is what's commission a new governor.
Governor as has created a localized version of it, which good.
Look.
Efficiency is one of the rarest efficiency in government, like those are like oil and water typically, so when you can force them together.
What happens.
What you save money, you create, you create opportunities for better connection with what's happening out there with your departments.
It's hard. I mean, the thing drives me crazy lately.
I don't know if you've been seeing it on some of these news reports about DOGE. Well, can you believe they're going to cut money here and cut money there? Yeah, we're like thirty plus trillion in debt. That's real money. And by the way, the government doesn't owe that money. You do, and I do, and everyone listening here does. So that's real money. It has to be paid. That you got to start somewhere. It's not going to come without a little bit of pain, financial pain. It's not
going to be an easy process. But if you plan ahead, you can make that off ramp as smooth as possible for the citizens of the country.
Well, because you know, people are upset not about so much the idea of cutting spending, and someone's always going to be upset if you're cutting a program or whatever it is that they're interested in. But they seem to see Elon Musk run wild. You know, they had a couple of security guards fired at USA. They got into great error of secure areas of the building. Shut it down. He's got the keys to the treasury payment system now, which means he has all of our personal information, and
he's like a quasi government official. Does that make you uncomfortable?
It should, yes, As the guy from the Livery or Die state, yes, it always makes me a bit uncomfortable. But look in when you have a financial crisis of this level, and believe me, guys, this country does have a real financial, long term financial crisis. I'd rather have them go a little more aggressive than not do much at all, because we've had twenty years of not doing much at all. Right, So if he goes a little more aggressive and then they have to back off a
few things. Oh wait, you know we got rid of this position in that department. We should roll that in. We should find a way to re establish it. Fine, but then the onus is on the government to justify why they need to re establish it. And if they can do that, it works. So it's gonna be bumpy. They're going very very fast, which by the way, is another good thing. Typically government doesn't move fast in anything. They're acknowledging that this is very serious stuff. They want
to move quickly. I think it gives everyone a lot of time repidation that Elon's at the head of this.
Yeah, I like it.
I like the fact that the guy isn't completely with government, so he's not an insider in the Beltway type guy. He's so wealthy, I just don't believe he has any financial interest in this. People will disagree with me on that all day. But the guys were four hundred billion. What's he gonna do make another couple of billion?
That's not his mission.
He's a big picture, big project type guy, and he's willing to take it on. Is he going to do everything perfectly? Heck no, He's going to make a lot of mistakes. But they've probably already had a few bumps already. But a few bumps is okay. If at the end of the day, we're finding a pathway to cut saving money, you know, allowing the economy to be fruitful and not just lean on a giant bureaucracy out of Washington that doesn't really know or care about what's happening in the rest of the country.
Well, you know, some would say, okay, great, but we've got to do it right. Bring him up and have him confirmed by the Senate. Let's do a background check.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind that much. I don't know how long. I mean, this is an eighteen month gig. If they want to go through a confirmation process, that I would have been fine with that. I think he would have gotten through just fine. You know, it seems like even some of the other more controversial confirmation picks, they're actually doing better than I thought.
Right, Susan Collins is now on.
Board with kelse I look like the clean RFK Junior Ye Committee board. Absolutely, So it's just a matter of getting this to the floor. At this point, I mentioned the coache what is it the.
Commit mission, not the department or whatever it is.
Don't these in concepts sort of make the argument that our system of government is broken, that you can't trust lawmakers, that you have to have an outside entity to make it work.
Right, I don't think it's broken, and I don't think it's a lack of trust in terms of what their motives are. I do think at least at the state level. Why I like this coach concept. At the different state levels, there's much more accountability to what you're doing that in that case of New Hampshire.
They're doing a commission, which I like.
It's short term, led by business leaders holding a lot of accountability within the departments at a time when again, we have very little debt in New Hampshire, we have no taxes in New Hampshire. We're very fiscally sound in New Hampshire. But I think they're planning for what is likely going to be.
A couple of years.
It's not gonna be a recession, but it's definitely gonna be a bit of a flattening of the exponential growth we've seen in twenty twenty one, twenty two. I'm sorry twenty one, twenty two, twenty three with inflation. I don't think inflation is really going away. I think a lot of if you look at what Chairman Powell is as indicated on that and what the Fed looks like they're going to do. So they're just saying, let's, at least at the local level, we have to be smart, plan ahead,
make some tough cuts today to have opportunity tomorrow. Washington doesn't think like that, which is why they have such massive debt and the rest of the States don't.
Interesting Donald Trump making good on threats of tariffs this week. Interesting, none of them are in effect other than China, because he pulled back on both Mexico and Canada following these eleventh hour calls. People talk about border states. You ran one northern border, Yeah, talk to me about the urgency to shut down our northern border when it comes to things like fentanyl. We understand it was forty three pounds across the border as opposed to twenty one thousand for
the Mexican border. Do we need ten troops? Did you have that many illegals?
So?
New Hampshire's part of what they called the Swanton sector. I don't want to get to wonky for your crowd, but it's basically Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont into eastern New York. We were the only state up there that really put our own dollars because we couldn't get federal help from the National Department of Homeland Security. They refuse to give us what they call a delegation agreement, which basically says, hey, we're going to empower your team to do what we
can't do. And they had taken our border patrol agents from the northern border and sent them to the southern border. Because the crisis was so big there, which exacerbated the problem. Now I created a law enforcement initiative put a couple million bucks up there, which basically coordinated all of our law enforcement on our side with the Canadians on their side.
Very successful. The surrounding states.
Didn't do it, so it wasn't we didn't see Once we did that, we didn't see almost any cross.
Because they were going to Vermont.
Quickly, the word got out in Quebec, do not go to New Hampshire. They take this stuff seriously. They would go to Vermont, New York and especially Buffalo. They come through what they call the Buffalo Sector trying to get to New York. Now, is the issue of fentanyl real, Absolutely it is. I mean we were at the tip of the spear for the fentanyl crisis.
The border crossings are very real.
The combined number of board and crossings over the last three years on the northern border, just in the last year we're ten times that of all the previous years added up. So it's not the southern border, but it is growing exponentially. There's a few different pieces that probably didn't get covered. Canada has agreements with certain countries that allowed them to basically fly in visa free and those folks would get off the plane in Montreal and Toronto
and walk right over the border. That's what Trump is really trying to seal up the coordination with law enforcement, and it's having an effect.
It's effective.
Now it's going to hurt, right, It's going to hurt certain businesses across the country, especially in New Hampshire.
There's no question, but I believe Trump tariffs are the security. The terrafs know the security's gray.
The terrafts are going to be I think they're doing them fast, hard and early because they know it's going to be a bandy that has to get ripped off to find that resolution. And if they have to take some pain for a couple months to get to where they want to get long term, obviously it's smarter to do that earlier than.
Think about lumber, your home builders, your farmers, what.
Are they softwood? Maple syrup. We have the best maple syrup in the world. I'd just like to brag about that a little bit. Sorry, Vermont takes second place, but you know, a lot of the equipment to make our maple syrup, which is a huge industry for US all comes from Canada, right, So there's a lot of things that cross it. There are products that will cross the US Canadian border six times before it actually gets complete to vehicles, vehicles, trucks, So you're people.
Pounding this tariff into triple digits. At that point, it.
Can be a real problem.
But I do believe if it gets us to a better sense of border security, a better partnership with our ally Canada and ultimately with Mexico, all the better.
You have to do it fast and hard.
We've had no management of this for four years, so he's going fast and hard to kind of make up a little bit for what just hasn't been done.
You go with Grade B. Somebody told me recently Grade B tastes better than Grade A seriuce to England, and I never heard that before.
It's a little lighter, great a maple, sir, I didn't think we're gonna get into that great a MAPLESRP is a little darker. I think it's a little later on in the season, but Grade B I like it lighter. It's a forty to one. If you tap forty gallons of SAP, you get about one gallon of serp.
I'm more of a twenty to one guy. I like it a little lighter, but that's.
A different See. This is the kind of stuff things you learn on Blue They're out of office, all right, So just one more for you here. You look south of the border to Boston, Michelle Wou.
I love when we say New Hampshire.
When we say south of the l we're talking border states here, Michelle Wou, the darling of Massachusetts or Boston. Liberals incomes Joshua Craft, another Democrat, but maybe one Chris Sanunu would be more comfortable with running the city above.
So I'm going to be super polite and political and say when it comes to Michelle Wu, I think the term is lunatic. Okay, yeah, I think she's the most anti business, pro government, big spender, big taxer that you've ever seen, to the point where it has been out so many businesses out of Boston.
New Hampshire's flourishing.
They're all coming to the tax free suburb of Boston, which is called New Hampshire, right, And I want Boston to be strong. I want Boston to be it's an economic driver for all of New England.
And what she.
Along with more heal you have really done is just a travesty. If whether if Joshua Craft can come in and is willing to put himself on the line, and look, I've been in politics.
It stinks.
It's very is a lot of exposure. It's tough on your family go through all this scrutiny.
He does.
He doesn't need the money, he doesn't need to do it, but he loves his state and God bless it.
I'd be behind him one hundred ten percent. There you go. I hope you're listening in New England as a whole.
And he made the.
Announcement in Dorchester this morning. I guess we're off for the races here.
I'm behind him one hundred percent.
All right, Grade B, don't forget that. I hope you're going to come back often to the extent that you can hold your nose and come to Washington.
I love it. If in this room we're doing okay, very well.
The far Republican governor of New Hampshire a lot to talk about. As always with Chris Sanunu on the fastest show in politics.
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We want to go now to Capitol Hill, where a lot of these conversations are ongoing, and pleased to stay joining us on Balance of Power here on Bloomberg TV and Radio's Republican Senator Bill Haggerty of Tennessee. Senator, welcome back, and there's obviously much we'd like to discuss with you, including your new stable coin legislation. But if we could first begin with tariffs, as that has dominated the news cycle in the last several days, how are you viewing
what President Trump is actually using these levees for. If it was just to extract concessions from Canada and Mexico, or if this is really about raising revenue to pay for tax cuts.
Well the answer is both. But President Trump was very clear when he imposed the rev when he imposed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, that they needed to do something dramatic to stop the flow of illegal migrants coming into our country, the flow of fentanyl coming into our country. The human trafficking that has been the primary and overarching concern, and I've made it clear to that people reached out to me from both nations that it's clear there's something
they can do about it. They need to step up, and frankly they have. President Trump was clear about what he wanted to see happen, and the Mexican government and the Canadian government, they're both stepping up to stop the flow of fentanyl, to address issues at they're border, to maintain border security on their side, and to be better partners. That's what he's trying to accomplish, and I think that's what he's achieved.
Well, you're, of course a former diplomat senator, as you represented the United States as our ambassador to Canada. So it gives you to Japan, forgive me. We've been talking about a lot of Canada a lot here in that period of time. Now, that gave you a unique view on these issues that maybe not all lawmakers have. Are tariffs or threats of tariffs, the new form of diplomacy in this administration.
Well, Joe, this is an important piece of context. We've talked about it before, but the United States has basically the lowest trade weighted tariffs in the world. Access to our markets has been extraordinarily easy. There's a historic reason for this. For countries like Japan, countries in europehose economies were devastated after World War Two, we aggressively made our economy open to them so they wouldn't turn toward communism
and socialism. But we should have time limited that, we should have put some sort of GDP per capital limit on it, because what we have now are extremely unfair and non reciprocal trade terms with many of our trading partners. President Trump has been clear he's just trying to bring a reciprocity to bear, trying to get us to the table with an even deal. A lot of these countries that don't want to address this do so because they have a better deal now than we do. We're going
to fix that. President Trump has been clear about it, and I'm very pleased to see him take decisive action in that regard.
Well, Senator, if we could leave the diplomatic hat on for a moment longer, I do wonder what you make of the efforts, or at least on the part of Elon Musk, And he says he is the President's buy in to dismantle USAID. What does that do to US soft power?
Well, you've got a lot of significant problems at USAI D some of the things that have come to bear, some of the things that have come to light in terms of US taxpayer dollars going to DEI initiatives, transgender surgeries in Guatemala, things of this nature. I think the American public is shocked, and the fact that we're basically taking a pause, taking a very hard look and looking at agencies like this that have basically gotten out of control.
I think the time has come. The American public are ready for it. That doesn't mean that we will not have aid programs going forward, but you've got Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking charge here. He's going to make certain that those those AID programs go to advancing US interest and not some of these wild eyed exploits that the previous administration and administrations prior to that have been on the USAID. Again, basically out of control organization. I'm glad to see it rained in.
Well, we've seen some pretty interesting exploits on behalf of DOGE and by Elon Musk. It's not just usaid. Of course, it's accessing the payment system inside the US Treasury Department. Senator, and we understand that Musk is now a special government employee, something that emerged in just the last couple of days with the Education Department. Now the next target as a
senator providing advice and consent. Would you like Elon Musk to come up to Capitol Hill to endure a confirmation hearing since this apparently is a government job.
Well, the special Government employee classification is about one hundred and thirty days. That allows people to come in from the outside, often people that are very capable, as is Elon Musk, to come in and provide special advice to the president. It's a tool that has been used in administration's Republican and Democrat. I'm glad to see this sort of expertise deployed. Elon Musk obviously knows how to come in and streamline operations and make things work more efficiently.
Look what he did at Twitter, so I'm very pleased to see him step in and do this. This doesn't require confirmation, it's not that type of position, but he is offering his advice and President Trump has been clear where he wants to accept the advice. Where he feels Elon musk efforts are warranted, he's going to deploy him there.
I've talked with Elon about what he's doing. I think he's got some very creative ideas about bringing much needed deficiency and actually getting far higher return on investment for the taxpayer dollar.
But is there a rule for Congress to place or to ensure that whatever access he's granted at Treasury, whether it's to the payment system specifically or in other cases, that it isn't going to interfere with the Treasury's usual business of paying bondholders and conducting auctions.
Well, we certainly have oversight responsibility, Kaylee, we intend to fully exercise that. That's not what I've talked with Elon about doing. He's looking for efficiencies, ways to do things better, to stop doing things that aren't advancing US interest, and to do things that double down on things that are going to become more and more productive for US taxpayers and advance the American cause. It's not unusual at all to take a pause to take a hard look in
survey what's happening inside these agencies. I'm glad that he's doing it. I think there's a lot of pear clutching going on right now and a lot of expectation that something terrible is going to happen. Know in fact, what I think is we're going to see is a new wave of assistancy come from all of this, and I'm looking forward to it.
Well, just wait for the pear clutching to start. When you start debating taxes and reconciliation, Senator, I have to ask you about where all this stands, because these were supposed to come as a package. Right you'd extend the Trump tax cuts, maybe get some of the other things that Donald Trump had promised on the campaign trail, and offset those with revenue from tariffs that had been promised
during the campaign as well. We talked to Scott Besson about that at length before he was tapped to be the Treasury Secretary. With tariffs put aside here, you still have to have a debate over taxes, and as the House drags its feet on this, I wonder if the Senate and your new leader in John Thune, might help to lead the way what's about to happen.
Well, Joe I met with John Thune last night. A group of US did. We're continuing to advance the ball on this very subject. Again, we know the American public expects us to address the tax package and where we're going to do that. We have a number of other issues that were to address at the same time. How we do it from a process standpoint, I'm much less
concerned about. I think the concern is that we get it done quickly, that we get it done efficiently, and I'm optimistic that we will get it done despite the procedural back and forth between the House and the Senate. We're going to get it done and we're very focused on it.
Senator, I'd like to talk about something else you're looking to get done in the Senate, and that's new stable coin legislation you've introduced alongside Senator's Lummus and jilibrand, calling it the Genius Act. And I do wonder about the timeline here. Is it your intent that this legislation be pushed through before broader market structure legislation, for example, that maybe wor could sway through both the Banking and agg oriented committees in both chambers.
Sure, and Kaylee, I'll add Senator Tim Scott that chair of the Banking Committee is on this legislation with us. We're very excited about it. This is the first step, and we're going to do this first before we get to broader market structure. But it's going to enable us to take a very positive step in the direction of ensuring that the United States is a positive environment for cryptoc ency technology. Stable Coins is one of these issues that I think the United States can be a leader on.
It's time for us to do so. Look, they're roughly twenty eight trillion dollars worth of stable coin transaction is taking place right now across the world. We need to be a leader here in America. This legislation allows us to do that, and I'm extraordinarily optimistic that we're taking that lead. It's going to open the door for many other positive things in the industry, and I'm so excited to have my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
join me here. This is going to be an important first step to opening up the market here in America.
Senator President Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjaminett Yahoo today, the first world leader to visit the new presidents in this second term. They're going to be holding a news conference a little bit later on that we will carry if you could put your diplomatic hat back on and explore what these two are going to be talking about when it comes number one, to a phase two and
a cease fire. But maybe more importantly, this report by the New York Times today that Iran is developing plans for a faster cruider weapon based on intelligence here in the United States. There are some who suggest this is the time now to preemptively strike Iran while it's on its heels. Are you one of them?
Well, Joe, the last thing I'm going to do is get ahead of the President and Prime Minister Netanya, who on this very important strategic discussion. But I'll say this, these two gentlemen are not afraid to point to the real cause of all this disruption in the Middle East, and that is Iran. They're proxies the Huthis Hamas Hesbola. They've been behind all of this disruption. But this is Iranian funding, Iranian technology behind all of it. So I think the New York Times is right to look at
the cause here. It finally you will see I think both gentlemen today who are meeting talking about Iran as the proximate cause for this terrorism, and what we've seen is Iran significantly weakened by the actions of the Israeli government. What they've done in southern Lebanon, taking Hesbela down, what's happened in Syria, I think is significantly exposed and weakened Iran. They are not nation that they'd like us to believe they are. And I think you'll see a strong and
united American in Israeli front standing up to iron. But I won't go beyond the specifics at that point.
It's good to have you back, Senator. We'll of course be listening when the bilateral news conference begins after five pm. Bill Haggerty, the Republican Senator from Tennessee, Kaylee, we covered a lot of ground there. We're going to cover a lot of ground as well, coming up with our political panel.
That's right. Lisa Camussa Miller and Jeanie Shanzano will be with us as we talk about what's developing in the Senate today. Looks like RFK Junior and Tulsea Gabbard may be getting confirmed to Trump's cabinet after all, though the Gabbard vote hasn't happened yet. We'll look ahead to it here on Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and radio.
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Politics and it's often intercept as we're seeing take place in vaccine stocks today, after the news that RFK Jor got through the Senate Finance Committee as he heads for confirmation to be Health and Human Services Secretary. The committee voting to advance his nomination to the Senate floor on a party line vote, fourteen Republicans said yes, thirteen Democrats voted against him, and interestingly, the one Republican we were all watching, a medical doctor, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana,
ultimately decided to support RFK Junior. And here was his explanation for that on the Senate floor.
It's been a long, intense process, but I've assessed it as I would assess a patient as a physician. Ultimately, restoring trust in our public health institution is too important, and I think mister Kennedy can help get that done.
Before we start our conversation with our political panel today, Jenny Shan say No Bloomberg Politics contributor and Democratic analyst, political science professor at Iona University, alongside Lisa Camuso Miller, Republican strategistic former r NC communications director. It's great to have you both here. You consider, Lisa, what was at stake and what Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, had to say about his concerns surrounding RFK Junior his stand on
any number of issues, beginning with vaccines. You see the tweet from Clay Higgins, vote your conscience, Senator or don't either way we're watching. Was this the system working or just a classic case of a pressure campaign in Washington?
Yeah, it feels like a pressure campaign, Joe. I mean, there's no doubt about that. This is exactly how this was going to happen. And also too, you know, there are members who are emboldened, right they feel as if they can behave this way, they can lodge these kinds of threats to one another. It's what's causing a lot of dissatisfaction inside the Congress. And so my hope is that that's sort of an outlier and that there's a
more productive conversation that's happening inside the Senate. It certainly feels that way based on the comments from the Senator as it relates to how he made his decision. Ultimately, and this is a nominee that was the recommendation from
the President. I think a lot of the Senate members have decided that it's in their very best interest to allow these nominees play out and to make those decisions now that they have all the information at hand, and we're going to proceed and see how this all goes.
Well, indeed we will. Jeanie, are you surprised at all here that everyone fell in line behind RFK Junior at least to this point, knowing we still have to do the full vote on the Senate floor and there is still some room for dissent there. But is this how you saw this going?
Yeah, I mean, statistically, they all get through once they go through this, you know, the hearings. But let's just go back to cas for a minute. He said that he was concerned that URFK Junior in the hearing could not reflect these science that everybody agrees, which says there is absolutely no connection between vaccines and autism that has been long debunked. Everybody knows it except RFK Junior. Unwilling to say that. Cassidy now says it's okay because he
got a confirmation from URFK Junior. He's not going to change the CDC website, not going to change any of the language. Literally two hours ago on Truth Social Donald Trump says this twenty years ago, autism and children is one in ten thousand. Now it's one in thirty four. Wow, something's really wrong. We need Bobby, thank you. How is Cassidy planning to control the president who is going out and saying things that have been absolutely debunked about the science.
And that's where Cassidy's claim falls apart. Yeah, he's a victim of a pressure campaign. He looks like he's going to vote for this on the floor. But what he has done as a medical doctor is ensured that a longtime vaccine skeptic who won't go in the cotton floor and say that this is debunked science, is now going to be CDC Director, Health and Human Services Secretary under a president two hours ago said it's questionable if vaccines cause autism.
Yeah, he is the President has since started truthing about the passing of Tiger Wood's mother, Genie. But Lisa, just if you could weigh in on that most recent post. Twenty years ago, the President wrote Autism and Children was one in ten thousand. Now it is one in thirty four. Wow, exclamation points. Something's really wrong. We need Bobby, thank you, And he did write it. It's signed DJT. What does that tell us about the future of vaccine program, particularly for kids in America.
It would be.
Foolish for any of us to not reflect back on the way that the President addressed scenes during the COVID pandemic to believe that he would have any healthy understanding of how important they are in terms of health development in the country.
It's just feeding.
Into this overall sense of everything is broken, everything needs to be reconsidered, and it's all part of the brand that we're seeing coming out of the new administration. And so to think we're going back to another way of thinking is wrongheaded. Look, I don't like it either, and I feel Genie's unhappiness is palpable, and I'm with her. This is really super uncomfortable and worrisome. But it's foolish for us to sit here and think that this is not the way that things are going to go over
the course of the next four years. They've showed us their hand, they showed us who they are, and it's time for us to believe them because they're showing us the way.
Well, so let's turn to Tolsty Gabbard then, because we haven't yet seen Republicans show up to vote for her, they'll have the chance to do so within the hour in the Intelligence Committee, where she couldn't afford to lose a single Republican. Lisa, and it kind of seems right now that she won't after Senator's Todd Young, Susan Collins, James Lankford all indicated that they will be supporting her
nomination for Director of National Intelligence. Joe and I have been hearing for weeks that Tulci Gabbard was the most endangered of all of Trump's nominees, that potentially does a dozen or more Republicans could ultimately vote against her. Does this one surprise you, Lisa.
No, it doesn't, Kaylee. And you know why it doesn't surprise me, because the Democrats were happy to see her go, and so Republicans are happy to open their arms and bring her into the fold. Yes, she is a risk, absolutely, but I think the fact that the Democratic Party is not standing behind her or saying that she was one of theirs, it's all sort of part of this culture of whatever was wrong is now right, and it's just this sort of fundamental will accept it and will take
it. It's worrisome though, to people who know the way that the process has been conducted over the course of time, We've had incredible leaders in these places, especially in the intelligence space where Tulsea Gabbert is about to go. It's frightening to a lot of people because they know that
she's not the right candidate for the job. But the president was just elected with a strong majority from a lot of states that said that they were in favor of change, and that's precisely what he is delivering to us.
Well, I don't know your thoughts on this, Genie. Lisa saw them all being confirmed, and we still need to have House floor I should say, floor votes in the Senate on these nominees before it's official. But it does appear like the votes are counted. Should we have assumed that was the case because of the pressure campaign that was coming this, as we keep hearing, is Donald Trump's Congress.
Yeah, we should have assumed it was the case, because that's what history tells us. History tells us you get to the floor in terms of getting to committee, and you get to your hearing, and you will likely be confirmed. I mean, that is what everybody knows. That is what history tells us. There's only a few people in the modern era who have gotten to the stage of the hearings and not gotten confirmed. So that's what we know
is the reality. And of course the pressure, the pressure campaign rather as you mentioned, Joe, that makes it all that much more of a likelihood. But again, this would never surprise anybody who's watched these hearings. I think the surprising thing about watching these hearings is the fact that you're seeing on both sides of the aisle which some of these people have been nominated, there is concern about
their competence. There is concern about their ability to do the job, and that is what is concerning so RFK Junior. He was unable to answer basic questions about the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, two entitlement programs that are funded out of an agency. He will run, which is the largest agency monetarily, even a bigger budget than Defense, and yet he couldn't answer basic questions. And again these were
coming from both sides of the aisle. So I don't think it's a big stretch to say they're going to get confirmed. It is a big shock to listen to people who don't seem to have the knowledge and the competence to do these positions. That is concerning to many of us, and again on both sides of the isle. But it's not going to move people like Cassidy or Collins because they are up in twenty six and they know the score, which is a primary challenge awaits and they are responding to that.
Well.
So, Genie, to your point, it's one thing to get the job, it's another to keep it. We obviously saw a great deal of turnover, including at the cabinet level, in the first Trump administration. How hard is it going to be for RFK, Junior, Tolci, Gabbard, or frankly, anyone who gets confirmed to stay in line with the president. To what extent do they actually have freedom to pursue their own agendas?
Yeah, I don't think they have much freedom. I think We're already seeing that. I mean, we saw when the President came out and talked about the horrific crash and the Potomac, about the nominees who came forward who had to talk about Dei first and praise him before they talked about the body still being pulled out of the river.
I think that continues, and even more so than that, would anybody with sense want to serve in this administration knowing that Mark Millie Bolton and others who went against the president then had their security pulled even though they are facing death threats at the moment from Iran. So this is very very tricky business for these nominees, and I think we will see turnover. That's not unusual, but these people face turnover and little protection from the president
or the federal government once that happens. That's a scary proposition, all right.
Jeanie Shanzeno and Lisa Camuso Miller our political panel on this Tuesday, Thank you both so much for joining us here on balance of Power. And we still have more ahead as we shift our focus from domestic politics to geopolitics with the expected visit just hours from now of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaho at the White House.
He scheduled to get there around four pm Eastern time, with a lot on the agenda, of course, the first foreign leader to visit Trump at the White House so far this term.
That's right. It's considered a pretty major honor in Benjamin nettya who has reminded us of that. We'll be seeing the two of them a few hours from now, just after five pm. A bilateral news conference from the White House has been scheduled. We'll bring it to you live here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. One of many things
happening inside the Beltwagh today. You mentioned as well the looming vote for Tulsea Gabbarding Committee that will also happen before we get back together on the late edition of Balance of Power, A Garshamali is coming in next as we try to figure the progress that could be made at the White House.
Today, you're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcasts. Catch us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on Apple, Cockle and Android Auto with the Blue Birk Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa played Bloomberg eleven thirty.
We are live from Washington, where we're standing by for an important news conference, a schedule to start a few hours from now. Whether it's on time, we'll find out together as President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, who prepared to hold a bilateral news conference on what is the first visit of a foreign leader to this new administration. Netan Yahoo with much on the line here, of course, in phase one of a cease fire with Hamas in Gaza, spoke to reporters on his way to the US.
Let's listen, I'm leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in Washington. The fact that this would be President Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. I think it's a testimony to the strength of the Israeli American alliance. It's also a testimonial to the strength of our personal friendship. That friendship and that cooperation is already the important results for Israel in the Middle.
East, but ken this meeting this afternoon yield even further results as we look toward the potential of a phase two of the ceasefire agreement. Joining US now to get into this here in our Washington, d C studio, I'm pleased to say, Sagar Shamali, she was former director for Syria and Lebanon at the National Security Council, now founder and CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, welcome back to Bloomberg
TV and Radio. Lovely to see you here in d C. When we consider that Phase one does still seem to be intact as we speak, as Neatnyahoo visits Washington, knowing that the clock is ticking for this to expire, do you see us getting into Phase two at the end of this forty two day period.
Well, I'm not so sure about Phase two because there are a few reasons why it's going to be difficult, and part of it is that the requirements of Phase two are that Hamas must release all remaining hostages in exchange for the IDF completely withdrawing from Gaza, and a declaration of a permanent end to the war. And that is a major step to make, especially when you've got Nitayahu and his cabinet who very clearly said that they
want to resume more after Phase one. But the timing here is interesting because this week is when the negotiations for Phase two are supposed to begin, and those negotiations are still valid and still important even if Phase two is unlikely, because if it doesn't go into phase two, that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't potential other deals
that could happen. The Trump administration has made it very clear that they want to reach an end of the war, and they want to achieve it in this broader deal that includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE. I've been in Washington, DC now for a few days, and all I hear about from the administration is a prioritization of the Abraham Accords and how this could feature into it. So there is still something there there to discuss, even if Phase two of the original Seies Fire deal might not be reached.
King of Jordan said to visit the White House next week. Does that help to connect the dots?
Absolutely?
Talking about there's no it's not a coincidence that Trump's first, very first phone call was to MBS, his very first official it is with Netta Yahu he is. And now
you've got Jordan being followed by this. You've got an effort to reset these relationships, all of these relationships to prioritize the Abraham Accords, in which they want to include as many countries as possible, and also, by the way, to remind all of those leaders in the Middle East in particular and probably around the world to rely on the United States as an ally and partner and not to hedge with China most importantly.
Well, so when we consider other Arab countries here, it does seem the administration also has asks potentially of these countries. We just heard from Steve Whitcoff, Trump's envoy to the Middle East, who was speaking to reporters at the White House, saying that the US wants Arab nations to take in Palestinians from Gaza. The President himself has exploded this as well. Are any Arab nations going to agree to that? Jordan included Egypt another example.
Okay, so this one is a very fascinating one to me because I will tell you, throughout the war, since October seven, I have always been a proponent of Egypt and Jordan taking Gazen refugees as refugees. By the way, and I find it, to quote Queen Rania, but to turn it back on them morally reprehensible that they didn't because what they ended up doing was trapping them in a situation where they knew Israel's response a response to the Hamas terrorist attack, they knew how it would go,
and they deliberately kept them in there. And there are many reasons that we could go into separately. They're concerned about whether those refugees will remain permanent. You've had many problems in our in history with Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon, creating violence, pursuing civil wars. So I understand
that that goal. But these are two countries that take usaid and a lot of usaid, and that's not a point of leverage that the Biden administration was comfortable up pulling over their heads and twisting their arms and saying, you take all this aid. You need to take these refugees not permanently. You need to house them as this situation happens and unfolds. And that's from what I understand
over and over again from the administration. While I understand the language could come off concerning their goal is to have that be not permanent, to have them move because Gaza's uninhabitable.
I want to hear about the relationship between these two. A lot has been written between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyaho, knowing they didn't talk for about four years. There was incredible bad blood between the two of them for the bulk of the Biden administration. You remember how bitter Donald Trump was about the fact that net Yahoo called Joe Biden to congratulate him for winning before the whole stop the steel movement had come to an end. He actually
criticized net Yahoo after October seventh. They need each other, Now, what is their relationship like?
That's right, It's a very interesting relationship because it's not
necessarily that they're best buds. But during the first Trump administration, we know the extent to which Trump prioritizes the alliance with Israel and is very pro Israel, and we've seen that play out in many ways, recognizing the annexation of the Goal on Heights, moving the embassy to Jerusalem very quickly now since he's come to office about it during the campaign anyway, but one of the first steps he took was to halt this or unhalt I guess the
halt in two thousand pound bombs to Israel that Biden had had halted. So we can see where his goals are and his priorities are. And that's but that said, their relationship is a little tenuous. But at the same time, Netta Yahoo doesn't want to say no to Trump, and I don't expect him to. And this is why this trip is going to be so fascinating, because you're coming at a point right now where they're going to be talking about the Phase two or what comes after the
next the first of Phase one at least. And Trump has this goal and Antenyah, who has a different goal, and and Trump is a deal maker, and he's going to try and find a way to say I want an end to this war, and I want to achieve US national security objectives in this region, and you're going to have to work with me on it. Whether that might result in a new election in Israel because of these moves is Netanyahu's problem.
Well, so it's you're saying Trump with the leverage here, not Menyah.
Trump is the one who has the leverage, and I really I would expect to see this not just with Israel, but with pursuing peace with a number of countries, particularly one of the ones I'm very hopeful for. And I hope they prioritize is peace with Lebanon. Now is the only time to pursue that kind of deal given the situation there domestically, and would really serve you a sacial security interest because that's Israel's neighbor. So they're going to be looking at this from a real holistic approach.
All this against the backdrop of this report today in The New York Times that a secret team of scientists in Iran is exploring a faster, if cruder approach to developing an atomic weapon. What sense of urgency does this put underneath these talks? And are we going to start hearing more about and we've already heard it on this program, a potential preemptive strike against Iran?
Well, so this issue Iran will definitely feature prominently in these talks. The administration is not They've not come out completely yet because they're still figuring it out on exactly the policy they would pursue regarding military engagement or or bombing Iran's nuclear program, And so they haven't come out yet with where they stand on that. I wouldn't believe that the administration would hold back if they thought that
that was the right move. But also by the way, that unpredictability that those not being black and white about it serves the interests of the Trump administration because they want Iran to feel afraid of how the administration might might react, might advise Israel, and so they play that to their favor as well. But I absolutely believe that
this is going to be future prominently. They are already prioritizing it, but they haven't come out very clearly yet with the exact policy toward Iran other than that they intend to renew the maximum pressure.
Get another warning from Trump in this news or today when all hell will breaks. Like you said about the ceasefire and the hostages, this is the next warning.
That's yes.
And we have to remember right now is Trump walked into a very unique time with geopolitical dynamics in the region, with this axis of resistance on its heels, Iran on the defense, Hasbola decapitated, Hamas decimated, and US it has fallen. And that's something that the Trump administration is going to take to its advantage. And I don't expect Iran to be able to go very far with that.
Because you allude to Bosher Ala Sad, I do want to ask you about Tulca Gabbard, who of course faced a lot of questions in her confirmation hearing last week about her visit to see him in twenty seventeen, in addition to a number of other difficult questions she was asked. And for all of that, it does seem that just moments from now, really in the two pm hour, she will be passed through the Intel Committee heading to her full confirmation vote on the Senate floor. What is your thought on that?
It looks like that, And I want to be clear, because I'm very concerned about her in this position. I don't feel like that about every cabinet minister at all, cabinet ministers, excuse me, every cabinet secretary or principle in
Trump's cabinet at all. I am particularly concerned about her because I believe that over the year she has reflected very poor judgment and instinct, and particularly when it comes to foreign policy, when it comes to believe the analyzes and assessments of our intelligence community.
So I don't.
I'm concerned about it, But I also don't feel as though I feel as though that train is moving, and it doesn't seem as though anybody it seems that though there are concerns, but yet she's still going to be
confirmed in this position. And the concern with that is that this is the person who briefs the president daily at the Presidential Daily Briefing, and if she's receiving an assessment from the intelligence community on anything, it could be Iran or Russia or China or anything, and she reads it a different way and she tells President Trump, well, I don't think that this is a threat, or I think that that that you know, Putin's actually not so bad, or us it is actually is is it? Well, us,
it's gone now. But well, whomever it could be, it could be anybody, given that that judgment she has reflected in the past, she just to me hasn't proven herself for this kind of role.
Well, we should remind our listeners and viewers that Syria was a prominent part of your portfolio when you were working in.
The White House.
That must inform your opinion on her in a se fashion. Though her her dalliances with al Asade mean.
What, yes, it's it's and that is absolutely entirely what I meant I talked about I handled Syria for two years during the Syria crisis, and it was not hard for someone even just on the outside to know what was happening and to know what USAID was doing. But she went after the assessment of his use of chemical weapons. She had access to that information, being in Congress, she was briefed on it, and still chose to go and still chose to say that he wasn't in enemy of
the United States. She questioned whether he used chemical weapons against his people. And I will tell you, by the way, the bar for the US government to make that assessment was very high, and it was not something they did lightly. It took a long time, and she still questioned it. And that again, I just don't see why she will. I believe that that lack of judgment and instinct will apply to anything she works on any portfolio over the world.
Well, I guess we'll see how this goes in the Intelligence Committee later on today and ultimately the four full Senate floor. Before we let you go, oh Gar, we just have a few minutes left here. But I also do wonder what your reflection is on what's happening with USAID. The push by Elon Musk, and he says he has Donald Trump's buy in to dismantle this entirety, entirely the
State Department getting control. How much foreign aid is realistically going to be left after this review, do you anticipate, Well, so, from.
What I understand, emergency aid so meaning food, medicine, medical equipment that is going through and that's going to continue, and that's pretty standard for the US government anyway.
It's the same with sanctions.
Sanctions don't shouldn't then don't impact humanitarian aid for food and medicine and medical equipment. It's the aid that they're looking at for civil society, for democracy, and they're reviewing all of it, so some of it will come back, but I would be I don't want to sound naive in saying that all of it is going to come back. Of course, there's always fat to trim when it comes
to US foreign aid reviews are a good thing. But it's been case for sure, and I've spoken to many friends in the government who are who are obviously they're concerned, and a lot of it has to do with the unknown, and that is going to have a direct impact.
For sure.
You're going to see non NGOs and nonprofits all over the world lose funding that they had been that they had come to rely on funding that does feed into US national security interests. But that doesn't mean that Trump administration doesn't want the same interests. It's that many of them are going about it through a different approach, with more a tougher approach, often using sticks and commercial and financial tools as leverage.
Elon Musk calls USAID a criminal organization. We'll be following this story very closely. What a pleasure as always to have Hagar Shamali with us in studio. Hagarth, thank you so much. Enjoy your time back in Washington for a moment. Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already an Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noon time Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.