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Senator, thank you so much for joining us. We do want to speak with you about the nomination and confirmation hearing of Kevin worsh But we have to begin with Iran and what appears to be now an indefinite extension of the ceasefire as well, according to President Trump, is an indefinite maintenance of this US naval blockade and of our military position in the Middle East. For how long will even the United States Senate and Republican control deem this sustainable.
Well, what we're really seeing here is an indefinite war, a war with no obvious end. And Donald Trump has demonstrated over and over and over he's got no plan, he's got no exit ramp. He has signed on the American people just to go indefinitely, and so far Republicans in the United States Senate have voted one, two, three, four times to let him just continue to roll this war out.
Well, we're coming up on the sixty.
Days that the War Powers Act technically gives a president to use the military in a way he deems justified. If we are in an indefinite cease fire, is that clock still ticking? What do you expect happens when that time expired.
We are at war. Understand, a military blockade, which is what we have, is an act of war, and that's not just a matter of interpretation, that's actually recognized all around the world. It's in the laws of war.
We are at war.
And the only way, evidently that we're going to be able to stop this is to get the Republicans to grow a backbone and be willing to exercise our constitutional responsibility to pull the president back in. He does not have the right, either legally or morally to go to war on his own, and so far the Republicans let
him do this. But maybe they will hit this magic sixty days and say now it is time, after thirteen American service members have been killed, after about a billion dollars a day has been spent, and after Donald Trump has embarrassed our nation on the international stage repeatedly.
Does it cost a billion dollars a day to maintain our position right now? Even if there's not kinetic action that the Wells military is engagement.
You know what the first clue about how expensive it is? In the herring yesterday, russ vote refused to say how much it cost If it costs less than a billion dollars a day, the guy who has the green eye shade and the pencil and is supposed to be doing the numbers, morning, noon and night would have told us. But yesterday he wouldn't even give a range on what it costs. So a guarantee, it's costing a lot of money. And it's money we could have spent on people who
can't afford their healthcare. Money, we could have spent on little babies who could be in childcare. Money we could have spent to lower the cost of housing. It's money. We could have spent to rebuild our infrastructure. It's money we could have spent the lower the national bent all right here at home. But Donald Trump, who promised two things, one that he would not start a war somewhere else in two that he would lower costs on day one, has gone back on both of those promises.
Well.
The president, of course, Harold's what he describes as the many wars that he has stopped and ended. So when we think about the potential end to this, I know you said you see the only way out of this as your Republican colleagues growing a backbone, I think is what you just said. But what about the potential for
real diplomacy to have a breakthrough. I wonder if you see right now, especially with a naval blockade, as the US having gained some leverage to make sure that the outcome is favorable to the United States and less so.
For let's be clear, the real leverage that has been gained here is that Donald Trump started this war when the strait of horror moves was open, and so all of those ships carrying oil, carrying the ingredients for fertilizer and plastics, all of that was flowing, and that was keeping prices at least somewhat stable around the world. Now what we've got is the RUN has figured out that it has the capacity to pinch off the strait of hormones and inflict enormous pain on the United States and
on the worldwide economy. Iran right now seems to be looking at what's unfolded over the last two months and believes that its leverage looks stronger than ever. That's what Donald Trump has accomplished here. He has spent American lives, he has spent American treasure, and he has spent America's reputation, and no one can give any indication how the good folks of the United States of America are any better off.
Well, as you talk about the economic damage done by the closure of the straight Over News, that is obviously a challenge that the next FED chair, assuming one can be confirmed, will be inheriting as we consider a supply shock in the potential inflationary impacts. Obviously, President Trump wants
to see easier policy, and you pointed to that. In the confirmation hearing for Kevin worsh today, he says that he will maintain independence, that he did not commit to the President to lower interest rates, that the President didn't ask him to do so. And I wonder, knowing you have concerns about Kevin Walsh, if your concerns are really so much about the nominee as the person who nominated him President Trump.
Obviously, before we have not had to worry about the independence of the FED. That just hasn't been a serious issue because presidents Democrats and republic ones have mostly respected the independence of the FED. And let me just make a little side point here about why independence of the FED is so important. There are two ways to make economic decisions. One of them is just based on your
best assessment of the numbers. Where we are on inflation, where we are on unemployment, what kind of other things are going on around the world, And that's what the FED is supposed to do.
The second way to do it.
Is based on politics. We're six months out from an election. The economy is in real trouble. Prices are up, of families are really feeling the squeeze and very very concerned about high prices. It's possible for political reasons to make decisions about monetary policy to goose that economy running running into the election. And the problem is that in the
long run that's terrible for the economy. It can, for example, drive up inflation even higher so that families are paying more and more and more for mortgages and for credit cards, and for Carlins. What I want to see, what Democrats want to see as an independent FEB that's still making decisions based on the numbers. What Donald Trump has said quite openly is he wants to make the political decisions that aren't good for the American economy but are good
for Donald Trump. Today's hearing was all about that issue, and Kevin worsh had one job to prove, and that is even though Donald Trump, who nominated him, wants to control him, it's Kevin Worsh's job to show that he has the courage and the independence to stand up and say no to Donald Trump. So many questions aimed in that direction. He told me at a private meeting he would be a tough guy. So I said, prove it out here in public. Did Donald Trump lose the twenty twenty election.
He would not answer that, would not.
Answer that question, and he would not answer any question that might in the tiniest, little, smallest way disagree with Donald Trump. He proved to all who were watching that Kevin Worsh will be a great sock puppet for Donald Trump.
He of course says he won't. He also, course, he does answer your question regarding the divestiture of his ample assets.
Shall we say?
We have seen wealthy people take jobs in public service have to disclose and divest assets before. So what specifically is it that Kevin Worsh holds that you're so worried about.
Oh, that's the whole problem.
Literally, no other nominee and the Trump administration has refused to disclose their assets. And believe me, There've been some pretty hairy assets that have been disclosed. But Kevin Moorsh says out of his two hundred and fifty million dollars of the assets, million is just he is not gonna
tell us, not gonna tell us what's there. I asked him today, I said, well, can you at least tell us that you're not invested in Chinese own businesses, You're not invested in money laundering companies, You're not invested in the vehicles that Jeffrey Epstein was using to launder money. Can you at least tell us that much? And he said, Nope,
not telling anything. And this will be if he goes through like this, Literally the first person who's come through the Banking Committee for which the Office of Ethics says he is out of compliance. He is not in compliance.
I'd also like to ask you about someone who will be coming before the Banking Committee, as the White House just sent over to the United States Senates today that the nomination for the next Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Christopher Falen. Do you know enough about him at this point to say whether or not you're likely to support.
Not yet, but what I'd like to start out with is full disclosure of all assets. You know, I really wouldn't say on this. The things we never thought we'd have to fight about are things that Donald Trump now puts into question. I never thought we'd have to be fighting over whether or not the FED chair is supposed to be independent. But Donald Trump says, nobody is going to be FED chair who's not going to be his
sock puppet. Indeed, Donald Trump said directly, we've got the quotes that he had asked Kevin Walsh whether or not worsh would lower interest rates. Totally inappropriate, but they had done it. Kevin Warsh got up there today under oath and said, Trump didn't ask me. That somebody's not telling
the truth here. And so now we are in a world where Donald Trump wants these Republicans to push this guy on through at the very moment that Donald Trump is trying to take over the FED, and we've got a nominee here who somebody's not telling the truth, either Donald Trump or his nominee.
Just quickly on the idea of independence of monetary policy decision making. It is not the FED chair's decision alone. He is a member of the Federal Open Market committee. Do you not trust the other members of that committee to be able to act as a check on the chair.
So I want to do this both ways. It matters independence for every one of the FED governors. Look, remember Donald Trump hasn't just gone after drum Powell the chair.
He's gone after Lisa Cook or writing well Preme Court decision.
That's exactly right. So it is important that every one of the governors be independent. The FED chair carries extra weight and therefore should be extra independent or more jealously guard the independence of the FED. My big concern is that Donald Trump has made clear all along he not only wants to control, he's willing to use some pretty powerful tools a criminal investigation of the sitting FED Chair, because he claims that there's been criminal mischief in the
renovations of the Fed's building. I want to point out also in today's hearing that it was a Republican Tom Tillis, that's right, who said there is no criminal activity here. But he didn't say the other half of that sentence, and that is that any effort to go after the Federal Chair on this bogus criminal charge is nothing more than Donald Trump weaponizing every tool of government to dominate and control the FED, and that should be alarming to everybody in this country.
Senator, thank you so much for joining us.