Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apocarplay and then roud Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube, Kayleie.
Senators are going to be in the position to start voting on confirmations up or down on a large team that Donald Trump has assembled. It will not include Matt Gates. It will include Pambondi.
That's right, someone else who's from Florida. She of course did a few rounds as the attorney general of that state. And our next guest is someone who actually knows her pretty well, and that is the Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Arenberg, who's here with us on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Welcome back to Balance of Power. Dave would love just your hot take on this pick, which might i add, was made very quickly after Matt Gates announced
he was withdrawing his consideration. We're talking less than twelve hours here.
He likes us Floridians and Pam Bondi. Yeah, clearly, Haley and Joe good to be with you.
Pam Bondi is a loyalist, someone that he doesn't have to worry about going off the reservation. But at the same time, she's on team normal. She's no Matt Gates. She's not ultra Maga. She's not going to engage in crazy conspiracy theories. She's not gonna walk Tony Fauci out of his house in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.
But she will be loyal to Donald Trump. I know Pam well. She does believe in the rule of law. She treats her people well.
There will not be mass resignations in the Department of Justice. She will get confirmed through the US Senate. She is liked by people on both sides of the isle who know her, and I think it was actually a smart pick by Donald Trump, especially because in the wake of the Matt Gates disaster, he didn't waste any time and finding someone who will do his agenda by going after
undocumented migrants, femal at the border, and other things. She'll do some controversial things, she'll do some popular things, but at least she's just not going to weaponize the DOJ to Trump up for lack of a better word, false cases bake cases to try to go after Trump's enemies.
Interesting when you consider the idea of loyalty in some of these picks, and I wonder your thoughts on this. Bondi declined to take legal action against Trump University, even after receiving nearly two dozen complaints in her office. In twenty thirteen. She also joined the team defending Donald Trump during his first impeachment. How will that inform the way she takes directives from the president elect?
She is loyal to Donald Trump. He wouldn't have appointed her otherwise.
But it's not the first time we've seen a loyalist as attorney General. Bill Barr was supposed to be a loyal than he was for the most of his term. JFK had his own brother as attorney general, so it's not that unusual. And as for the twenty five thousand dollars contribution that Trump made to Pambonni's campaign, remember there's a natural tension when you have to run for office as a state attorney general. You have to go to your supports and ask for money. She did that to
Donald Trump. He wrote the check and signed it days before. There was an article that came out about the investigation into Trump University in New York. So there is no evidence that there was a quid pro quote because the check was written and signed before the article came out, which is what informed Pambonni and her team that there was this investigation going on. Plus, when you mentioned a couple dozen complaints, yes, but those complaints don't go to
her office. They go to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. And although twenty four complaints is not insignificant in a huge state like Florida, it's not going to rise to a level of the Attorney General's office taking action until there's more or until they're notified about it in a different way. And one more thing on that her office turned over at the time eight thousand pages of documents to show that there was no communication between
her office and Donald Trump about Trump University. So yes, I admit the timing doesn't look good, but as far as evidence of quid pro quo and bribery, there is none.
Well, so as we consider here the role that the Attorney General has leading the Department of Justice overall, there's also the consideration of what falls underneath that very large umbrella Dave, like, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And I wonder what this pick, if anything, suggests to you about the way in which we may see those other choices shaped by the President elect.
It depends who he's able to pick.
Now, the fact that he's going to terminate Chris Ray as troubling because you're supposed to get a ten year term, you're supposed to be insulated from politics. But then to try to remove him in favor of Cash Betel, that's ultramaga, that's taking loyalists a step further. That's a Matt gats type pick. If he picks Mike Rogers from Michigan, that's
a little more like Team Normal. So it depends who he picks, in addition to the fact that he'll be doing something he's not supposed to do and getting rid of of Chris Ray. So we'll see what happens there. But I do see Pambondi as a bit of a guardrail because as someone who knows her and has worked with her, she does believe in the rule of law, and I think that whatever she does, she'll tether it
to the rule of law. She doesn't want to lose her bar license or getting incarcerated like Mike Knifong, the prosecutor the Duke Lacross case who went rogue. She knows better. She's been a twenty year prosecutor. She was an eight year attorney general. So although she will support the Trump agenda, she's not gonna do something that she believes is illegal.
For him suggesting that she would stand up to Donald Trump if necessary. If that's the case, the far cry from Matt Gates. So net here, Pam BONDI will not break the Department of Justice, is your message today, Dave Erenberg.
Yes, she's a loyalist, and she is at the same time someone who's a career prosecutor, who's got experience, who's qualified, and who believes in the rule of law. She is not going to take this job to burn the place down. Matt Gates promised to burn the place down. That's a big difference. And for my fellow Democrats who are saying, well, there should be a better choice, Sallyates ain't walking through that door. Eric Holder is not going to be appointed
by Donald Trump. So if you're talking about the kind of candidate who Donald Trump will nominate for Attorney general, it won't get better than Pam BONDI.
Dave, just quickly before we let you go. We have about a minute left here. We also learned today that the judge in Donald Trump's New York hush money case, in which he was convicted on thirty four fellow accounts one Mrshawn, has agreed to postpone his sentencing that was supposed to happen next week indefinitely. I wonder if you think that is a the right move and if b that means he's never actually going to get sentenced in this case.
No, I was to be expected, Kayleie.
I would have been surprised he's sentenced them just weeks before he entered the White House. I mean, judge Mrschawan doesn't want to look like he's weaponizing his position. And also he knows that Trump is going to appeal anyways
and that will stay his sentence. So why sentence from now when there's going to be many months of appeals as he goes all the way up to the Supreme Court claiming he had immunity And the court should never have admitted the evidence of a couple of his aids Mallard western Hot and Hope Hicks into evidence, So the Supreme Court is going to deal with that. So I think you and I and Joe should check back in January of twenty twenty nine, when we can see the
sentencing hearing. By then, of course, we could be living on Mars by then, we don't know, or you know, Kaylee, you'll be owning Bloomberg TV by then. We don't know, but that will happen one day.
Is that in the cards you're buying Bloomberg.
Okay, let's not get me in trouble with management here.
Listen. This is important because it's coming from the center of the political universe, which is Palm Beach. Dave Herenberg, thank you so much for being with us, a Palm Beach County state attorney, a friend of Pam Bondi. By the way, while we're talking transitioning, Kaylee, we've got another report. This is not officially from the Trump camp, but a new name for ag secretary.
That's right, Kelly Leffler, the former senator who of course lost after she was named to fill that seat. She lost the actual seat in Georgia in twenty twenty one, but she is expected to be named the Secretary of Agriculture We'll still waiting for treasury though.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then roun Oto with a Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just say Alexa Play. Bloomberg eleven.
Survived another week, and we still don't know who the Treasury Secretary is going to be. I know that's your first question every day when we come to air, and we're gonna find out. Remembering it was the week after Thanksgiving in the first Trump administration when the economic team was assembled. As Charlie Pellett mentioned, we're talking about now the Trump Treasury two step. We'll explain that little bit
later when we spend some time with Nathan Dean. He's looking at all of the picks here, by the way that we have heard, and I realize we still have some blanks to fill in and what they're going to mean for policy moving forward in the new administration in the new Congress. How about this for a headline for you. The most important event of the day so far in Washington the US Capitol, Christmas Tree rolled up on the flatbed on the west front of the US Capitol. Yes, it is the season.
Now.
Imagine a world with all the business we talk about here, the madness on Capitol Hill. Imagine a world in which you could become senator for a day or a couple of months and have the experience representing the state that you grew up in. That has been the experience for George Helmy, the newest Senator in Washington, who's already packing
his bags as a caretaker. This is the man nominated by the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, to replace Senator Bob Menendez and fill the seat, holding it for Andy Kim when he comes in here after votes are certified. And it's a real pleasure to spend some time today with George Helmy, Senator. Welcome to Bloomberg. It's great to have you. Did you ever think in the years you were working for Frank Lautenberg or Corey Booker that you would ever become a US Senator?
Joel, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be on with you. No, absolutely not. I'm a public policy person first and foremost. I've always enjoyed being the the guy behind the principle, and I've always enjoyed sort of being at the table but behind the scenes
and not being the candidate. But this has been an incredible experience, and frankly, as you point, it's been the continuance of a third tour of duty in the United States Senate in a different role and obviously continuing my public service following my time as the longest serving chief of staff in the state of New Jersey's history.
Well, that's pretty cool. And by the way, I do want our listeners and viewers to know that we're going to be having a conversation this same hour. We're bookending the hour with New Jersey Senator your former boss, Phil Murphy is going to be in the second half of the hour in a special conversation. So let's talk about your experience for a moment. And I am curious, by the way, about your tenure because I understand that there
is a special arrangement here. You're going to hold the seat until, as I mentioned, votes are certified in New Jersey. That would mean Andy Kim is actually going to be part of this session. Is that the plan?
Yeah, Well, first let me say you you can never get enough New Jersey, especially with all the great things that are especially an innovation sector. So you've got a great Friday show planned here. But yes, Andy and I go way back. We've known each other for over a decade. I will be in the seat about three months and
I'm looking forward to him getting in. We had a great conversation last Friday about the things that I've carried coming out of the state and now working in the Senate, and I do hope to hand over the reins shortly. So you know, New Jersey, the way the seniority works in the Senate will stand to gain from Andy having a few weeks ahead of the incoming freshman.
That's pretty cool. Give him a little bit of a head start. Does he get a bigger office, I don't know. You can let me know if that happens, because I know that your tenure has been brief, Senator, but you've actually sunk your teeth into some pretty important issues, and one of them is youth mental health awareness. You've come together with Katie Britt, which our audience should also know.
You've reached across the aisle to work with a Republican from Alabama here on the floor of the Senate is this the defining issue for your brief term.
I've been really lucky, Joe to get on all of the committees that Center Menendez was on, which include, frankly, three of the most important committees in the United States Senate Banking, Finance, and Senate for Foreign Relations. But knowing that I was here for a short time, as you mentioned, I wanted to find an issue that I felt, as a father and as a public policy person needed more
attention and that there was already bipartisan support. Knowing that things in the Senate, frankly, the things in Congress take a long time to get done, what could I use this opportunity the relationships I already had as you mentioned Katie Britt just like me, a former staffer turned senator. Obviously she was elected to.
A full term.
Where was there already momentum that I could use my time there to go talk to folks on both sides of the island the Senate, and I've been really engaging members on the House to say, hey, this is a national issue. We know the data coming out of the twenty tens about self harm young girls whom making suicide plans exasperated. In my opinion, by the effects of the pandemic.
You know, what can we do to better protect our children on the front end, knowing what the inputs are to some of the issues we're facing, but also help create more access when we do have our young people in moments of crisis. And thankfully we've been very successful in advancing the issue at a great colloque on the floor attended by many of our Republican and Democratic senators the other day, and we just introduced new legislation and
I'm hopeful. Look, I'm a public policy person, as I said a few times, Joe, I'm okay with none of this carrying my name when it gets done. But I really feel confident that sometime, whether it be next month or next year, we're going to see progress on these on this really important issue.
Well, I salute you for your approach here. One of your ideas is the Pride in Mental Health Act that I want to ask you about, Senator would award grants to assess and improve mental health and substance use outcomes of LGBTQ plus youth.
How do you.
Rationalize this idea when next door in the House of Representatives, there's now a resolution that's been brought forth by the Speaker of the House to block the first transgender House member from using certain bathrooms. How do we have both at once?
Yeah, I mean, to me, they're really sort of disconnected, Joe.
I really with all the issues that Americans are facing, you know, just using my own experience in public policy in the state of New Jersey, higher education costs are going up, you know, we're still dealing with the inflationary challenges that came out of COVID as you know, Joe, I've been so focused on the humanitarian ills and crises in the world, where maybe the nine million in South Sudan that need daily humanitarian aid, the issues in Gaza,
the issues in Ukraine, but really the issues that working families are facing. It's frankly surprising that the Republican leadership in the House spends so much time talking about bathrooms. On the other hand, we know the mental health issues
and the vulnerability that are LGBTQA youth already face. We have in New Jersey incredible nonprofit organizations that help those help those young people in moments of crisis so that they don't commit acts of self harm and don't take their own lives and to provide federal grants to better
support them. I think is really important, and as you know, a number of my bills also speak to the much broader issue, whether it be transparency in those who are going after our youth and providing grants for other opportunities for pure support, which is very important.
Yeah, I appreciate that. I just wonder what a headline like that means for mental health for young trans people. I have to ask you about salt if I'm talking to the senator from New Jersey here. This is something that comes up every day on Bloomberg. There's an effort now endorsed by Donald Trump himself to kind of undo what was done in the twenty seventeen tax cuts. Raise
the cap. You're more specific. You want to exchange the ten thousand dollars deduction for a one hundred thousand dollars deduction. How's that going over?
I think there's actually a great reception to it. I'm really happy that the president who installed the cap the twenty seventeen bill is now for lifting the cap. That's a that's welcome news. I've had two hearings in the Banking Committee and the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the
tax policy. Just one the other day in which I elevated this again to the chairwoman and the Republican members, talking about the investments that New Jersey makes with its property taxes for the best public schools, for open spaces, and why I put a cap on it is, Look, you know, I come out of the business world, Joe, which I think is important for your audience to know.
And these tax deductions do have a cost associated with them, and I think you you know, those make those who have significantly higher above one hundred thousand dollars in property taxes, you know, can afford to pay a little bit more, while the majority of the middle class we'll be able to deduct a significant portion of their of the texts.
Well, Senator, I'm glad we had a chance to spend some time together. George heelll me the Democrat from New Jersey, the pride of Jersey City, getting our New Jersey or bust hour off and running with style. Senator, thank you. You'll have to let me know if it's safe to go back to Morton's one of these days here in Washington, d C. We'll have a lot more coming up. Nathan Dean is next here. I'm Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apocarplay and then roun Oo with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
I'm Joe Matthew. It's good to see you. You made it to Friday, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Maybe you have a long one. I hope for your sake that you do. It's awfully quiet around here in Washington as lawmakers head home for the holiday and we wait for the big transition, which we're of course talking about all day long around here. Let me just answer the question that you have in mind. We don't have a Treasury secretary pick, but we do
have a new concept. Let's work with what we have. Right, We're gonna go to war with the army we have seems to be the idea at mar Alago, but we might need everybody for this. It's the Treasury two step President elect floating this idea of Kevin Warsh as Treasury Secretary, with the understanding he would be later nominated to run
the FED. When Jay Powell's term as chair ends Scott Bessett meantime, keep him in the House, the White House, he runs the National Economic Council, he becomes Treasury Secretary, when Worsh becomes FED chair Nathan Dean, how did I do?
I think you did great?
Is that what that's really the plan here?
Well?
I think that it's a plan to make sense from President Trump's perspective, because you know President Trump said prior that you you know he's floated this idea of firing or demoting drome Pole at the FED. We don't think that's gonna happen. Better makes better sense just to let Paul serve out the rest of his term. But they've also floated this idea of a shadow banking FED chairman. And if Kevin Worsh is now Treasury Secretary with the idea, than in a year it's gonna be the FED chairman.
Wall Street is going to be looking at the Department of Treasury over on over next to the White House. They're not gonna be looking down constitution having at the FED. So it makes sense because with Kevin Worsh, you get somebody that wall Street I think can work with wall Street respects and then they move to the Fed and then you get Scott Bessett at any Sea chair to move up against somebody that Wall Street can work work with. So I think this plan, if it were to go
into fruition, certainly would pass the Senate. I think Wall Street would be pretty happy with it. I think a couple of folks on the populous side of the Republican Party may not be so happy with it. But I would also just remember Treasury doesn't play the same amount of role that it plays in terms of tariffs like Commerce does, which is why Howard lutnake A. Commerce is much more important to President Trump's initial of implementing those tariffs.
So you put yourself down at mar A Lago. You know the President elect was interviewing all three. It was right Rowan worsh Besson. This week he's sitting down with besstt. It was his idea to have this shadow FED chair, right, So you know, mister president, they starts spitballing on this. I said, well, how about you, maybe we could do that, make the Treasury Secretary be the shadow. You just hang out with me in the White House till he's done.
We'll pull the trigger on this whole thing. Did they work it out together on the patio.
Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, obviously I wish I was on that patio because of the weather.
It's knowing here, but.
Be just just to listen about how they're gaming this out. But what I will say is that President Trump wants speed. The reason why he wants these picks done and he wants to move them quickly is because every single moment that the Senate is focused on nominations, you're not focused on tax reform. And if Speaker Johnson kicks the funding fight from December into March again, it's going to junk up a lot of President Trump's first hundred days on
Capitol Hill. So if they can get this plan to work, and if they can get enough for republic and Senators go with it. I presume that they can, then you score your idea of moving quickly, getting a shadow fed share, and also making Wall Streets fairly comfortable with where you're going on two of the biggest picks from the economic perspective.
Meanwhile, Secretary Lutnik, assuming he's confirmed, becomes the tariffs. Are they put USTR under commerce that's the tariff House. That's how that works. Treasury gets cover because Lutnik is doing it. Yeah.
So this is where the soap opera version of the Trump administration begins, because on one hand, you're going to have President Trump pushing tariffs. Tariffs are very popular with the President. This is something that he's campaigned on and most likely something that we're going to see in the first half of next year. But Wall Street, on the
other hand, may not like tariffs so much. If companies like home Depot or a Nike or Adidas have to start buying a lot more expensive products from outside of the United States, Wall Street's not going to like that. So you're going to have the Treasury Secretary at one point saying, look, these stocks may be going into the red because if your tire of policy. But on the other hand, you're going to have Commerce saying, well, this
is what we were elected to do. I don't envy them and how they're going to have to have this decision and how they're going to have to fight this out.
But ultimately it's going to be President Trump's decision to be either direct Commerce to move forward with these tariffs are not We will always tell our clients though Just remember tariffs, for the most part, come from the power of the presidency, which means that you're going to see a lot of headline miss to begin, but then as the process plays out, there could be exemptions, there could be lobbying, there could be reciprocal tariff threats from China,
for example. So presidents never back themselves into political back corners with tariffs. It's a long, drawing out process as opposed to a magic wan that happens on DA fascinating.
Your eyebrows must have raised when you heard this idea of a crypto tzar floated. We've got no details still, at least that I've heard on what this is, what the title really would be, what agency this person would floating around the White House somehow? Do you know anything about her? Who that would be?
No.
So, but what we tell folks with when it comes to czars is that they have fancy titles, but a lot of times they don't have huge implementation avenues. Because remember, in the crypto space, it's going to be the SEC chair and the CFTC chair that will be implementing regulations. It'll be Congress on the other hand, So think of czars in this case, the cryptos are. Think of them as cheerleaders. They're going around, they're telling folks, yes, we are working on this. We're going to work with the
SEC to make the market. It's to make the market happy. So, but czars are most the most difficult positions from Washington because they can't have the power to actually implement things. They need to rely on others.
Well, meanwhile, Gary Gensler is packing up the office right now. There's a short list of about one hundred people to replace them. How's this going to work?
Yeah, so you know, I think the SEC chair is a second tier priority for Mario Lago. The reason being is there's about eighteen names I counted, which means fifteen of them are probably self promoting.
They're eighteen counted, eighteen names.
But for the SEC chair, what we're looking at is are you going to get a crypto pick or a Wall Street pick? The crypto pick, there's a lot of money that's gone in the President Trump's campaign to ensure that crypto is a top issue, but it's not the top issue for the SEC. Are you going to get a Wall Street pick? Think of somebody that comes from the Paul Atkins Commissioner Paul Atkins or even who came from the cloth of the J.
Clayton, you know, the former SCC chair.
Now Trump's picked the lead DSD and why you know that is a Q Capital formation pick. They'll be close to Wall Street. I think what will happen over the SEC is they'll hit pause. They'll wait till about April or May. It's second tier pick. You'll have a two two.
Yeah.
I think what they're going to do is they're going to focus on other things. You'll have Commissioner Waio or Commissioner Purse, the Republican commissioners, one of them will step up the acting chair. They'll lay it on an agenda. But I don't think you're going to see this really fast deregulatory effort over at the SEU.
Crypto loves this, right, I mean, we're looking at one hundred thousand dollars here. The difference since the election has been wild and the money made. I know you're not a technical analyst here, but those who do cover the space think there's a new floor, that this idea of a national reserve has completely changed the dynamic for bitcoin at least do you see it that way?
So sort of. So right now, the United States is sitting on around two hundred and eight thousand bitcoins, so you know, that's a lot of that's a lot of cash right now. And so you know, Senator Lemus has proposed this bill that the United States should build a strategic reserve of about five percent of the world's bitcoins so the United States can own it. So we are I own two hundred and eight thousand, so that could be packaged together put into what they call quote unquote
a reserve. The problem, however, is to get additionally, is you're going to need appropriations from Congress to essentially direct moneys to purchase bitcoin, and or the executive branch is going to have to figure out how to finagle appropriations for other things to be used to purchase for bitcoin. It's going to get messy. And so that's why I think this bill is the most likely scenario, certainly something
that we'll be talking about next year. I don't want to say it's going to have decent chances of passage immediately, but what I would always say to the bitcoin crowd is, yes, you're getting good sentiment right now because you have a president who is going to be very much pro crypto, but the logistics and the specifics of what cryptocurrency regulation looks like will more likely turning coinbase into something like CME Group or the Continental Exchange, very similar to what
we see in the derivatives world today, which not the wild wild West.
Fascinating, always fascinating to spend time with Nathan Dean at Bloomberg Intelligence. You're just back from a tour of European capitals because clients want to know what in the world is going on post election. The great part about Nathan Dean is he's about to go on another tour of European capitals after Thanksgiving. What was the most common question, most common worry that you encountered.
So obviously the European tariffs, and our view on that is that it will eventually come, but you know, I think China's iis priority. But then we got a lot of questions about the Inflation Reduction Act because there's a lot of European capacs coming into the United States on these ideas that solar incentives are going to stick around. So our thought on the IRA is that even though you'll hear whispers of it being thrown into the tax reform debate. The IRA, for the most part, we think
is cemented. It's four hundred thirty three billion dollars. That's cheap when you have to figure out how to pay for four to four and aftullion of tax extensions. Certain aspects of it can be cut, but ultimately there's a lot of European money going in from the industrial base into southern Trump states like you know, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.
That's building solar farms and solar plants, and local politicians do not want to see those seven hundred jobs disappear because of something that the.
Solar stocks have fallen off a cliff since the election. Yeah, I mean, you know, it could be an opportunity.
He could be an opportunity.
Great to see you, happy Thanksgiving, Thanks for always being great. That's Nathan Dean, of course, you know that with his patented fleece vest.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then royin Otto with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa playing Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Here in Washington, we've been looking for some answers in the last twenty four hours after the news that Matt Gates was taking himself out of contention for Attorney General. We know that Donald Trump has now nominated the former Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi to replace him, at least as nominee. But we had another question, Joe, which was, what does Matt Gayz's political future then look like? Will he try to take a seat in the one hundred
and nineteenth Congress. And according to an interview he did with Charlie Cook or Kirk Rather, the answer to that question is no, he's not planning on returning to the House. So we've got one question answered, but we still have a lot more we're looking for answers we do.
We still don't have a Treasury secretary pick. We're told that could be any time or after Thanksgiving. And then there's this idea. As we drill down into this idea, keep me honest here, the Treasury two step we'll call it. You put Kevin warsh In as Treasury Secretary. You keep him there until he becomes fed chair in j Powell's term ends. All the while Scott Bessent is in the White House chairing the National Economic Council, and he becomes
Treasury Secretary when Warsh goes to the Fed. Did I do it?
Yeah, that's what the Wall Street Journal has reported.
That's exactly the report today that has tongues wagging in Washington. And we wanted to talk to Laura Davison about this Bluebird Politics editor. Are we just keeping ourselves busy waiting for a name to drop here? Or is this a real concept at mar A Laco.
This is an idea that's being considered when they're looking at the Treasury role, they're looking at the broader suite of economic jobs, and they're trying to get a team that's cohesive. You know, we saw in some cases that you know, people didn't want to work for Howard Lutnick, for example, So people said, no, I won't take the NEC job, you know, if he's going to be Treasury secretary.
So there's a lot of jockey and not just like I want this certain title, but also who are going to be the people around me in that specific role.
So that's a lot of what's happening here.
But Also, Trump is not satisfied with the choices he has. You there's no one perfect candidate, and that's why we're seeing this drag on and we could potentially see new names or even surprise names crop up into the mix here.
I think it's fascinating that it's taken this long to figure out Treasury, and it could take much longer. Still, we don't know timeline here. Whereas Matt Gates drops out and less than twelve hours later, he already has a new name on the list for AG ready to go. So clearly there were ideas in place here, backup plans, as there was perhaps writing on the wall for Matt Gates.
But does that not mean there's not backup plans to the backup plans if he doesn't like the Treasury options that have been presented to him thus far.
We're on the backup plans right now.
So Mark Rowan and Kevin Warshaw.
Okay, so these are not in the initial dis sessions brought them down there this week, But those interviews were days ago. There's still meetings happening, They're still trying to figure everything out, and there's just you know, you basically have an internal conflict here if Trump wants someone who is a Wall Street person who has the pedigreeing experience but also is maga and those things are oftentimes at odds.
Pete Haig Seth making the rounds yesterday in the Senate, he did have an answer to the charges that had been levied against him. A police report came out detailing this sexual assault case that he paid money to Settle who says that they decided not to file charges. And that's the end of the story, is it.
We'll find out. Two months is a really long time. There could be a drip drip drip of ault allegations that continue to come out here. You know, Trump is basically daring the Republican senator, saying, look, defy me. But you know, there's we saw that Republicans, you know, in the Senate are not afraid. They said no to Matt Gates and they could say no to someone else. So this is really going to be sort of the key
one to watch here. You know, it looks like some of the others, perhaps Tulsa Gabbard, RFK Junior, may get by. They're a little bit more qualified from a at least that's what Republican Senators are saying, you know, if you look at the resumes, a lot of people they don't necessarily have the experience that one would traditionally have. But I think there's a widespread recognition among Republicans in the Congress that they can't, you know, say no to three
or four or five of these picks. So is the prevailing thinking here that John Thune essentially used his one free pass to tank a nominee even though he didn't really Matt Gates had to take himself out, or that there still could be a free pass yet to go for one of these other controversial nominees. This is really what remains to be seen here, And I think what the what the specific circumstances and facts on the ground and alligations are. You know, everything that was swirling around
mad Gates was really bad. And you know there was also this you know, House Ethics Committee report that contained more and clearly Gates did not want to have that out there. So this is they think that the facts and circumstances may matter here. If there are more details or things that come out that are they're problematic, Thune may have more leverage, but you know the fact that he was willing, and he just got the job, you know,
not just a couple of days ago. This week was already willing to say no. Indicates that this might be emblematic of his leadership style.
Laura Davison, thank you so much, Bloomberg Politics editor. On this Friday, just imagine what the weekend could bring.
I hope she does not want to imagine that.
I think has been great with us.
No, absolutely not. Nothing will happen until Monday. You heard it here first. Headlines have been flying though. This has been quite a time for our politics team. We spent some time just yesterday talking with Mikey Cheryl, a congressoman from New Jersey Democrats is running for governor. Her ideas on this heg seth Matter, as a veteran of the.
Navy, a former female Navy helicopter pilot, told us.
This, look, if you sort of attacked women's service in the way he has, that would be really concerning to any commanding officer in the fleet.
Right now.
We have built so much and it has continued to make us a strong, resilient force. And I would hate to see a Secretary of Defense that had as his agenda and goal tearing that apart, Let's.
Turn down to our signature political panel. Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzo are back with us. Rick, of course, Bloomberg Politics contributor and partner at Stone Court Capital, Bloomberg Politics
contributor and political science professor at Iona University. What's your thought on this today, Genie, now that we've had a little bit of time for this to settle, Pete Hegseth making the rounds in the Senate with this scandal hanging over his head and an idea that we should bar women from combat roles like the one that Mikey Cheryl had.
Yeah, you know, there's been time now that we've had several people go back and read. You know, Pete Hegseth is the author of four books that have been best sellers, and he has said a lot, a lot that's controversial in those books. People have been reading through those and you know, with two months to go, potentially before he gets to a hearing, if it gets that far, how much more can come out and be chewed over? You know, I think your conversation with mikey Yl Cheryl is absolutely
on point. You know, he is going to have to defend these views or he's going to have to pivot, and he's going to do it in front of senators, including vets, including female senators who are vets, who have given their lives for the military. So he's going to have a lot of explaining to do. And that doesn't even start to get to the police report that is pretty damning as well.
Well.
Yeah, so Rick would love for you to weigh in here, because if we look back at history and the things that have taken down candidates for foreign nominations like this in the past, perhaps you could see a number of things that would have previously been found to be disqualifying, whether it was these character questions or just a question
of experience, not to diminish his service. He of course has served in the National Garden, He's done tours of duty, and yet he hasn't actually been a leader in the way we typically see of Defense Department nominees. And we're talking about the United States military here, the greatest fighting force in the world.
Yeah, I think that most of the time when I've seen cabinet sub cabinet members who required Senate confirmation, investadors wind up not getting through a confirmation, it's mostly personal issues. It's not paying taxes, having a nanny that is undocumented and not paying taxes, you know, personal issues related to the law. It's very rarely lack of experience in plethora of cabinet members who've served well, who you know, were
sort of thrust into leadership roles and did fine. And I would say, you know, there's a very simple answer to this heg Seth question about women in the military is that's not the policy he's going to make. The White House is going to make that policy. And when you look at all the work that's been done around this transition, whether it's you know, AFPI, you know a thing tank that's been writing on this twenty twenty five, none of them have been recommending taking women out of
combat roles. And so I'd be high I'd be very surprised if the White House, you know, is going to adopt a Heggseth view, or if Hegseth's going to adopt the White House view, which is his job. So look, there are a lot of controversial people in this cabinet. Tulsi Gabbert's comments about Syria and Iran and Russia much more sort of inflammatory than that. And you know, RFK Junior.
Let's not even go there.
We'd have one hundred days of talking about every controversy over mark he's had in the healthcare field that will now relate to his tenure as head of HHF. So there's plenty to chew on here, but I doubt if any of it's going to rise to the level of disqualification.
How about Pam Bondi Genie. This is the name, of course, that Donald Trump announced shortly after Matt Gates withdrew for Attorney general, first female Attorney general in Florida elected in twenty ten, tried unsuccessfully to overturn the Affordable Care Act, declined to take legal action against Trump University, and served on the team defending Donald Trump in his first impeachment. If Matt Gates was the man to break or shake up the DOJ, what will she mean for the agency?
You know, she has a much stronger record obviously eight years to your point, as an ag of one of the largest states in the country, she's been a prosecutor for men years. But as it pertains to America first, she very much seems to, at least as far as we know, agree with Matt Gates. So there will be plenty of questions for her, but of course she doesn't come with all the baggage. You didn't mention, Joe that people are starting to call her legally Blondie, which maybe
the moniker that sticks with her. But I think she is probably unless something comes out that we don't know about yet, going to sail through this confirmation process and she is going to be able to work to do the bidding of Donald Trump in the way that Matt Gates had talked about. But without all that baggage, it's not going to impede her confirmation process as far as we can tell.
Did it have to be another person from Florida? Ricky replaced Florida with Florida after you've already pulled from Florida before. What's all this about.
It's going to be awful tough to get a reservation in a Palm Beach restaurant by the time this group uses first brick.
Yeah.
No, Look, I mean I think she's the maybe sixth resident of Florida to be appointed to the cabinet or a sub cabinet level and a former employee of Brian Ballard, who I think you know, premier lobbyist in Florida, Susie Wiles partner, and it looks like he's going to have quite a franchise in Washington, d C. Over the course of the next four years. So yeah, it's definitely a
Florida centric administration. And better make your Christmas plans early if you plan to get a hotel room down in Palm Beach.
Yeah, we started calling Florida like southern Florida Wall Street South. It's going to be Pennsylvania Avenue.
South also, that's right, the Breakers.
Or maybe the White House is Florida North in I don't know.
I'm fine with that. We need some palm trees in our life. It's getting chillier in here.
Yeah, it was snowing in Washington earlier today. I don't know if Rick Davis and Genie Schanzy who got to experience it, but we're glad as always to experience another conversation with our signature political panel.
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at bloomberg dot com,