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- [00:00]
Okta AI Advertiser
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- [00:34]
Bloomberg Announcer
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.
- [00:56]
Joe Weisenthal
It's not getting any easier around here, and Susie Wiles does not appear to be helping. Well, this is a story today, isn't it? I woke to this having been emailed to me from multiple people. The chief of staff at the White House, known widely as having the second most important job, the second most powerful person in Washington politics, Susie Wiles, the one who never gives a speech. Remember when Donald Trump called her up to the microphone the night he won the election? Even Dana White got up there. Not Susie Wiles. She is said to be in the background, disciplined, keeping the core group together after getting Donald Trump re elected. Fast forward to Vanity Fair magazine. People do still read magazines. Vanity Fair Daily Exclusive. Susie Wiles speaks her mind. What could go wrong here? Remembering, of course, that Friday. Yeah, a couple days from now. 3 Friday is the day that the Epstein files are supposed to come out, speaking openly about a range of controversial topics, including the aforementioned Epstein files. Susie Wiles speaking to Vanity Fair. Wiles told me she'd read what she calls the Epstein file. Check this out. And she said Trump is in the file and we know he's in the file, she said, and he's not in the file doing anything awful. Weil said Trump was on Epstein's plane. He's on the manifest. They were, she says, you know, sort of young, single, whatever. I know it's passe, but sort of young, single playboys together. Trump started dating Melania just as a reminder, whom he married in 2005, sometimes in 1998. So how does she think Pam Bondi is doing with this whole thing? You might have just seen it on the screen if you're with us on YouTube. Susie Wiles talking about the Epstein files and specifically the attorney general, quote, I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this, while said of Bondi remembering the binders that went out to the MAGA influencers and included nothing new. So everybody's saying what's going on here? Is this the exit interview? I mean, what, what's Susie Wiles thinking talking out of school? There's way more where this came from about tariffs comparing Donald Trump's personality to that of an alcoholic. Well, maybe not on Twitter. Susie Wiles this morning. The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff and cabinet in history. Significant context was disregarded and much of what I and others said about the team and the president was left out of the story. I assume after reading it this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the president and our team. Jeannie Shan Zaino, Maura Gillespie, been reading this all morning and they're with us now. Our political panel today, Bloomberg Politics contributor Jeannie Shan Zaino is democracy visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center. Republican strategist Maura Gillespie is founder of bluestack Strategies. Great to see you both here. Maura, was this an exit interview or did Susie Wiles not know they were recording?
- [04:21]
Maura Gillespie
It's really fascinating to read through this and to hear now too, Susie Wiles defending herself and attacking the Vanity Fair. She let unprecedented access to herself for the better part of a year. And so I don't know what she was thinking. I'm not sure the strategy behind this because it is telling two different stories, both what we read in Vanity Fair versus what she's saying on Twitter now, calling it a hip piece. It's not as though she didn't know they were talking to her. She was talking to them pretty frequently by the sounds of it. So perhaps she's looking at aspirations beyond the Trump White House. There are plenty of off ramps we're watching play out for Republicans to be taking to get away from Donald Trump and the chaos that he has been creating, especially these last few months. But I don't know that this is one of them.
- [05:05]
Joe Weisenthal
Well, you know, Jeannie, throughout the first year, it says of Donald Trump's second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. These guys were even doing laundry together at one point. According to the insider's account, joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching up close look at power and peril. Is this a hit piece, Jeannie? Because these are all Direct quotes, aren't they?
- [05:30]
Jeannie Shan Zaino
Chris Whipple is the new Bob Woodward. Every administration, we say, why did he talk to Bob Woodward? Why let him in now? You know, they not only spoke about 11 times, as you mentioned, they also all sat for a big glossy photo spread.
- [05:48]
Joe Weisenthal
Yeah.
- [05:48]
Jeannie Shan Zaino
She apparently was well aware, as were most journalists in D.C. at least by yesterday, that this was coming out. She gave incredible access. According to the New York Times, this is all on tape. Even when she pushes back on social media today, she doesn't deny saying things. She says they were taken out of context. So, Joe, I don't know when. If you ever. Joe, I guess maybe you haven't being a guy, you haven't seen Mean Girls, but in Mean Girls, more and I probably. There's. There's a burn book. This reads to me like a burn book, and it's fascinating. And we thought Epstein was going to be our week. And now Susie Wiles delivering. It's incredible.
- [06:31]
Maura Gillespie
Wow.
- [06:32]
Joe Weisenthal
You know, you saw the photograph there. Jeannie is. They're all sitting on the desk and they were leaning on the bookcase. They're. They're brooding. There's sort of dramatic lighting. How do we. Can we get a shot like that for the show, James? I mean, like when Kaylee comes back, I feel like the whole team, we could have Jeannie and Maura, they're all sort of leaning, brooding. No one's smiling, very looking very serious about what we do. What's the push and pull here? Yeah, James is working on it. Maura, when it comes to. You worked for a Speaker of the House, everybody wants to have that cover shot. They want any Leibovitz to come by and take their picture. And they want to be a big shot sometimes in the interview. And I'm not suggesting that's what Susie Wiles did, but politicians have a history of doing this only to be shocked and outraged when it's published. What is that syndrome in Washington?
- [07:21]
Maura Gillespie
I would say just to caveat that it's not every member, it's not every leader that wants that big splashy profile piece. I'll just speak on. In my experience, we had to more or less, you know, not beg John Boehner to do interviews, but it was primarily focused on. So while I think James was going to deliver for you, I don't know that I could have ever gotten John Boehner to do a brooding, you know, leaning on the bookcase style.
- [07:47]
Joe Weisenthal
Right. Smoking a cigarette. I would have loved that. Elizabeth says it's main character syndrome, but of course, John Boehner was a main character. So it just. Does it have to do with their background or their taste for celebrity? What is it?
- [08:00]
Maura Gillespie
Well, and I think in this case, what I would say is that Susie Wiles, she has been so behind the scenes, right? She has. She is the first female chief of staff. And I think as she's looking at, really, I will say what's happening with Donald Trump, he is lame duck. She knows that this is kind of the swan song, or it's supposed to be at least. And she is looking to make her own mark. She has been behind the scenes during these cabinet meetings. She's not featured. She's not usually within sight of the cameras. And maybe she thought that this was her way to tell her side of things and to share her experience and to play a more pivotal role in giving people behind the scenes of what it's like to be the first female chief of staff. If that was her intentions, I don't know that it came out that way, but I think that may have been part of her agreeing to do it and wanting to make her mark in a legacy kind of style.
- [08:52]
Joe Weisenthal
What do you think about this, Jeannie? Do we look back at this as a major revealing moment, or is maybe Susie Wiles reinventing the role of chief of staff? Maybe she can say whatever she wants.
- [09:03]
Jeannie Shan Zaino
Yeah, I think we look at it as disorienting. I mean, that's the word that comes to mind because Susie Wiles is well beloved, well known, and was supposed to be the grown up in this White House keeping the President on track. And all the while, Joe Matthew, she was giving interviews that were not secret to Chris Whipple from Vanity Fair, posing for glossy photo spreads. So I think disorienting is the word that comes to mind. And if she was doing this to sort of give us a behind the scenes look at what it's like to be a chief of staff, female or otherwise. I'm not so sure the words that she used to describe the president, alcoholic personality, Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man, taking drugs, sleeping in sleeping bags in the White House, the vice president, a conspiracy theorist. I mean, the list goes on and on. And so again, disorienting because that's not a very controlled message. And then, you know, we're talking personality. Look at the policy issues. She says on the Venezuela boat boat issue. Well, he's just trying to get Maduro to cry uncle. That's what we all knew. It's regime change, but that's not what they've been saying. So this is a disaster from a perspective of controlling and managing your message at a time when the President needs anything. But. And so I am curious to see what Donald Trump says about all of this.
- [10:30]
Joe Weisenthal
Well, yes, I am as well. That's why I had to ask Tyler if we have anything public on the schedule today. Whipple writes Maura, when I asked her what she thought about Musk, Elon Musk reposting a tweet about public sector workers killing millions under Hitler, Stalin and Mao, she replied, quote, I think that's when he's microdosing, unquote. Is this kind of honesty good for the executive or not?
- [10:55]
Maura Gillespie
In the case of Elon Musk, I really don't know. I mean, I don't think it is just across the board for our chief of staff of the White House to be that flippant in her remarks, but in her comments to a member of the press.
- [11:06]
Joe Weisenthal
True. Yeah.
- [11:08]
Maura Gillespie
But what I also took from that segment of talking about Elon Musk, it also showed, again, if we're looking at this, if I'm looking at this as her attempt to have a profile piece of what it's like to be the Chief of Staff to the White House. In the White House, first female, she starts off talking about Elon Musk and his cuts to PEPFAR and usaid, saying that she didn't know that he was doing it and that he just did it. That shows a complete lack of control, a complete abdication of keeping the team unified and having the President be in charge of decision making, that makes such a massive impact. But when she went on to talk about that with Chris Whipple, she said she didn't know, one, that he was doing it, and two, she didn't necessarily agree with it, but she didn't know how bad it was going to be. I mean, that's, that's really stark. And I, I almost couldn't believe that she would be so cavalier in saying that.
- [11:54]
Joe Weisenthal
Yeah, well, she calls it a disingenuous hit piece now. Pretty remarkable. Guys, we could do five hours on this. We barely scratched the surface. It's two parts long. You'll have to read for yourself at Vanity Fair. Stay with us on balance of power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
- [12:12]
Okta AI Advertiser
These days, it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn, every field and every function. But without ident, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI you're listening to the.
- [12:45]
Bloomberg Announcer
Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg 11:30.
- [13:03]
Joe Weisenthal
We're also keeping tabs on what's happening in the House of Representatives today with a very important Republican Party a Republican conference meeting with the speaker of the House. We discussed this earlier with Jonathan Tamari as we try to figure out exactly how leaders are going to fill up the next four days. That's going to be it here. As we told you, we've got four legislative days left to go and likely be a vote to some extent on health care. It's not going to be a vote on extending Obamacare premium subsidies, which have been all the talk recently here. And of course the debate surrounding them led to a government shutdown. No, the speaker of the House has put forth a Republican plan that would take a very different approach here. We saw the legislation first on Friday and now that we understand the Bloomberg is reporting that moderate lawmakers will not be voting on the Obamacare premium subsidies before the end of the year, some thought that would be the case in the form of an amendment. And we're joined right now to talk about this and a lot more by the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri. It's great to see you Mr. Chairman. Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. Do you expect there will be a vote then on a standalone Republican plan before this week is over?
- [14:14]
Congressman Jason Smith
You know what we have been working on for some time is how can we lower the cost of health care and how can we lower premiums for all Americans? That's 347 million Americans. Americans, when people talk about the premium tax credit subsidies, that is 7% of the entire population. But every American's facing facing high cost of health care. And what we are doing today in the Rules Committee and tomorrow on the floor are just different examples of health care policies and changes that we can do that will lower the cost and lower the premiums for all Americans. Whether it's PBM reforms creating more transparency or whether it is codifying choice accounts to allow small businesses to give their employees health give give their employees money so they can purchase their own health care option at tax free.
- [15:11]
Joe Weisenthal
I know that of course the bills that hit the floor are the purview of the majority and it comes, when it comes down to it, the Speaker. But we've seen some swing district Republicans bristle at this idea of not allowing a vote on the Obamacare extension amendment. Mike Lawler, your colleague from New York called it idiotic. Mr. Chairman, why not just allow both and see where the chips fall?
- [15:35]
Congressman Jason Smith
I'll just say that we all have different opinions. But what the Democrats have been pushing, in fact there was a vote last Thursday in the United States senate that felled 51 to 48 I believe is what it was on a three year current extension. The waste, fraud and abuse within the Obamacare exchanges just in the last two weeks was highlighted by the GAO report that said 59,000 dead people were being subsidized. One Social Security number had 127 different policies attached to it. And the GAO also attempted with fake identities and fake Social Security numbers to enroll in the program. And 100% of them were accepted and 90% were still being subsidized a year later this year. These reforms have to be addressed. You cannot just extend it. And you know the, the worst statistic that people should be paying attention to? Of the 24 million people on the exchanges last year alone, nearly 12 million never even filed a medical claim. You cannot tell me that they didn't have a medical claim. They simply were automatically enrolled and didn't even know they have it. But guess what, those insurance companies, they were still subsidized.
- [16:49]
Joe Weisenthal
You know, of course, and I hear you, Congressman, we've heard a lot of your Republican colleagues make these arguments. But what do you say when somebody calls from Missouri and you've got a constituent on the line and they say how can you help me out? My premiums are going to double next month.
- [17:02]
Congressman Jason Smith
That's exactly the case is the person who would be calling me from Missouri would be someone on employer sponsored health care. And everything the Democrats is talking about has nothing to do with lowering the cost of of premiums for people who are on employee sponsored health care. And that's 164 million Americans. All that they're talking about is the 24 million people on exchanges. We need to lower the cost of health care for every single American, not just the people on ACA.
- [17:33]
Joe Weisenthal
Are you not hearing from people on Obamacare, Mr. Chairman, or am I misunderstanding you?
- [17:38]
Congressman Jason Smith
Look at my congressional district. We have roughly 800,000 people in it. We have less than 5% that are on Obamacare and we're the 9th poorest congressional district out of 435. So it is a very, very small, small population. In fact, even the people on the exchanges, even the people on the exchanges, 99.7% of the people in my congressional district that are on the exchanges will have generous subsidies to help them with, with their payments.
- [18:14]
Joe Weisenthal
You know, we just got word from the President, Mr. Chairman, and this is just breaking. I'll share it with you as I read it from Truth Social. I will be giving an address to the nation to tomorrow night live from the White House, 9pm Eastern. I look forward to seeing you then. It's been a great year for our country and the best is yet to come. So we've got a presidential address, primetime address tomorrow night. It's been a while. Chairman Smith, do you suspect that he'll provide some guidance when it comes to health care reform?
- [18:42]
Congressman Jason Smith
You know, I'm thankful that we have a president who in fact communicates with the general public on a nonstop basis. Having an address tomorrow is just another example for the President to talk and speak to the American public directly of the accomplishments that's been happening over the last 11 months of his presidency. And will he, will he be announcing other new initiatives and new ideas? It wouldn't surprise me because this man's working all the time.
- [19:12]
Joe Weisenthal
I know that there was another meeting this morning, Mr. Chairman, I don't know if you were in this briefing with the Secretary of Defense, the secretary of State and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs about the President's policy, his strategy in the Caribbean. We understand from the secretary of Defense that it will the footage of the double tap strike will never made public. Do you agree that that's a smart move and have you received enough information to make a judgment here?
- [19:39]
Congressman Jason Smith
I have not been part of any of those briefings. We've been today, the last couple days focused on the health care legislation that's moving off the House floor and working with that and meeting with members and colleagues to make sure that the votes are there. But I haven't part of any of those briefings or those discussions.
- [19:59]
Joe Weisenthal
Understood. Do you then, because of your focus on the health care legislation, have a sense of when we will see a vote this week?
- [20:07]
Congressman Jason Smith
I think you'll see a vote tomorrow on the, on the health care items that we Suggested today at 2 o', clock, right after this. In fact, I will be presenting before the House Rules Committee and that is the first step before it goes to the floor.
- [20:22]
Joe Weisenthal
The House of Representatives. I was reading will set a non Covid record for fewest roll call votes on record in this session. Of course, that was exacerbated by the longest government shutdown in history. I just wonder if Speaker Johnson deserves some criticism for this and if you expect a more productive year ahead.
- [20:43]
Congressman Jason Smith
You know, President Trump shows us that we can always do more and work harder. If you look at just the Ways and Means Committee, which I'm chairman of and that we've been pushing through this year, we've passed 123 different pieces of legislation out of our committee that beats the numbers of any prior Congress by far in recent history. So we've been working hard. We did deliver on the largest tax cut in US History, the largest investment in border security in US History, the most significant welfare reforms in US History, all within the big beautiful bill which, which affected 103 different tax chapters.
- [21:26]
Joe Weisenthal
Well, you know, we keep hearing very quietly and I'm sure that you're reading and hearing the same stuff that I am, that if the discord continues in the House, Congressman, that we could have a funding problem again at the end of January. As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, point us forward here. What's going to happen when we creep up on that deadline. I know that we, we won't have a full blown budget with regular order, but will there be a plan to avert another shutdown?
- [21:53]
Congressman Jason Smith
I'll tell you, it's been very difficult cooperating with the Democrats. We've had bipartisan markups within our committee and you're talking about bipartisan pieces of legislation. For example, we had nine bills last week that it took 10 hours for nine bipartisan bills. And if you counted up the votes, it was 347 yes votes and 19 no votes over 19 bills. So super bipartisan. But the obstruction has been real and the delay has been real. And so the negotiations within the government funding is a huge, huge issue. And I hope that the Democrats have learned from their lesson that they're not going to shut down government like what they did last time. They shut down government last time and they were very clear they wanted to spend $1.5 trillion in new money, including providing health care for illegals.
- [22:44]
Joe Weisenthal
It's good to have you back. Congressman Jason Smith, he's chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and we appreciate your insights, Mr. Chairman. As we get closer to voting, he said as early as tomorrow. Important news there for you here on Bloomberg TV and radio that you have not heard anywhere else yet. The chairman pointing us to Tomorrow would be 17 December for a vote on a Republican led health care plan, that same bill that was unveiled late Friday. Stay with us on balance of power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
- [23:16]
Okta AI Advertiser
These days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn, every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI.
- [23:48]
Bloomberg Announcer
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa. Play Bloomberg 11:30.
- [24:07]
Joe Weisenthal
We just got breaking news from the White House. If you didn't hear us break this in our conversation with the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the President has just scheduled a primetime national address writing on Truth Social. My fellow Americans, I will be giving an address to the nation tomorrow night live from the White House at 9:00pm Eastern. Okay, 9:00'. Clock. Set your clocks. We'll of course be watching so you don't have to. I look forward to seeing you then. He says. It has been a great year for our country and and the best is yet to come. The President speaking in the throes of Hanukkah here with so many issues that he could touch upon, including the health care debate that we were just talking about with Congressman Jason Smith, the future of his economic agenda. Maybe he'll does he announce a pick for Fed? James we think tomorrow night. Unclear what he might bring forward if not some reassuring words for the holidays. He talks a lot about the price of gas these days. In fact, yesterday said it was $1.99 in a bunch places in the country and we're, we're having a little trouble finding those. But indeed the gas prices have been lower and as Charlie Pellet just said, we've got a 55 handle once again on crude West Texas Intermediate. Yeah, look at that, 5555 down a little more than 2% just like Mike McGlone said it was going to happen. He's a great American and he's with us right now. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior commodity strategist live from Miami. Mike, you said it was Going to go down maybe to 40, as a matter of fact. And I'm wondering if you can remind us of the trends that we're seeing here because this is supposed to be winter season. Isn't oil more expensive?
- [25:45]
Mike McGlone
Yeah, it's nice to get a few right. Well, if you want to talk about winter season, natural gas is absolutely collapsed from where it was just three weeks ago, was up 40% in the year. That's only 5%. Let's tilt over like you started with crude oil. $55 a barrel just made a new low for the year today. I think it's more likely to be towards 40 next year than above 70. That's just the trend of oversupply and superabundance. And the key thing to get it much lower, Joe, is just a little bit of what people would call a healthy correction in the stock market, which.
- [26:16]
Joe Weisenthal
Might have started what is oversupply and healthy abundance mean for drill baby, drill in the new year?
- [26:24]
Mike McGlone
Well, well, that's the significance. Not just crude oil. It's natural gas, it's corn, it's soybeans, it's wheat, it's the whole, whole space. And that's the timing of Mr. Trump's presidency. He came in at a perfect time to say these kind of things and have them happen just because we had that big spike up to the peak in 2022 that brought in all the supply, it kicked in the technology and shifted over to EVs and now they're heading lower. So Superabundance is just a great book I read and I enjoy what it the proponent of. It shows that when you have humans like us who create more with less every day, you don't you want, don't we want to embrace that technology but not the price. The price continues decline in crude oil, corn, soybeans, wheat, natural gas. And I don't know what stops it other than lower.
- [27:09]
Joe Weisenthal
The understood triple A's got the national average at $2.90 right now. So we are decidedly below $3. Where's the president seeing a $99 or lower. Is that real?
- [27:21]
Mike McGlone
Well, they can see that in some places. I, I've heard anecdotal, but I think the national average price at 290 is going to head towards $2 by this time next year. And the key catalyst for that, for that show is, you know, we haven't had a down year for the S&P 500 total return. We've only had two since 2008. Maybe we're due for a little bit of that and that's every single time that gas has got to above 4, got to 5 couple of years ago. It's always bottom there too. And I asked myself what stops that? To me it's accelerating. Now. The US is a net exporter of crude oil, oil, liquid fuels, natural gas. We're just net export of almost all that, most of those commodities you really need, which means we're dependent on exports. So it's a good sign that prices all go down. But it's also the classic example of post inflation deflation. And the question is how long can that stay away from things like the stock market because it certainly is hitting crypto currencies.
- [28:14]
Joe Weisenthal
Boy it sure is. And I guess I need to ask you about that. It is remarkable. By the way, I'm going to be talking to Gene Hart and in just a moment Mike McGlone, that all the saber rattling down around Venezuela is doing nothing to elevate the price of oil. But I guess that tells us a lot about Venezuela's contribution to your points earlier. What's bitcoin doing? It's one of the only green things on the screen. Is this just a little bit of a bottom fishing here or something else going on?
- [28:37]
Mike McGlone
The biggest rallies typically happen in bear markets and bitcoin and cryptos are clearly in a bear market. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crimp crypto index is now down about 20% on the year. Year it was up over 20%. That wasn't supposed to happen. Bitcoin is down about 6% in the year, was up about 30% in year but it put in a key peak top that I think is going to resonate for a long time. So I think bitcoin is going to head initially towards 50,000. I don't know what makes it go higher but key thing is it's the leading indicator factor, Joe, that I really think is matter. It's the tip of the iceberg of risk assets and it's heading downward. I think it's the de risking the that's probably hitting the stock market today that might continue into year end. So I'm really worried that this is all going to trickle down into the stock market as we head to year end. And by the way, S&P 500 did drop about 5% in the last couple of weeks of 2024 but had a lot of good things to look forward to. Now everything is looking forward to is rolling over, particularly crypto.
- [29:31]
Joe Weisenthal
Just wonder when Santa Claus is going to show up. Are we running out of days here, Mike? It's Good to see you. Come back again before the end of the year. The great Mike McGlone live in Miami, Bloomberg Intelligence, our senior commodities strategist with crude oil now at a 55 handle. It's just like he told us it was going to happen. When that thing hits 40, you'll know to call Mike McGlone. News from Capitol Hill today from the secretary of Defense. Forget the video. It's not going public. Pete Hegseth on the Hill to brief lawmakers today about the administration's overall strategy in the Caribbean. Never mind the double tap strike in the waters off Venezuela. Here's what Hegseth said earlier. In keeping with long standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we're not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public. Ask and Sask and appropriate committees will see it, but not the general public, which is important because the president of the United States, the commander in chief himself, had said that he was fine with it going public when reporters asked him. When they followed up, I believe it was Rachel Scott at abc. He claimed to have never said that. With us now live from world headquarters in New York, bringing her voice of experience to our conversation today is Jane Harmon, the former Democratic congresswoman from California, former ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and author of Insanity Defense, why our Failure to confront hard national security Problems Makes Us Less Safe. Jane, it's great to see you. I'm sorry you're not with us in person, but I'm just wondering first what you think of this decision because, well, the president had already said it would be made public, didn't he?
- [31:08]
Bloomberg Announcer
Well, first of all, Joe, next time in person, I promise. As for this, well, today it won't be made public. Tomorrow maybe it'll be made public. It'll consume a lot of attention which should be paid on a lot of other things. First of all, we're doing those boat strikes again and I'm with, with Laura Loomer. I think they're unimportant in terms of achieving the objection the president had or said he had, which is to stop fentanyl coming into the United States. They have nothing to do with that. But I think that now that we may have a health care strategy, I still think we need a national security strategy that is meaningful, especially a rise of ISIS strategy. Because while all this is going on to remind you ISIS killed a few of our soldiers in Syria and the president is vowing revenge. I hope he is going to be talked off the Cliff, because bombing or doing some kind of action in Syria will undermine the regime we're trying to support and will probably promote ISIS rather than hurt isis. So ISIS is elsewhere, ISIS is in Australia. Maybe ISIS is in the United States. And we need a much better strategy worldwide against the rise of radical Islamic groups.
- [32:29]
Joe Weisenthal
It's really interesting you take the conversation there after what we did see in Australia, knowing that they had apparently been radicalized. At least the thought is in the Philippines. Jane Harmon I had that same thought. The president had a lot to be upset about last weekend with two mass shootings. He was upset about the Reiner killings. He's upset about a lot of things.
- [32:46]
Congressman Jason Smith
Things.
- [32:46]
Joe Weisenthal
So one place to take that out would be in Syria. He has promised heavy damage and a concerted response. Where would he target in response to isis?
- [32:58]
Bloomberg Announcer
Well, I don't know, but I'm sure we have good intel on where ISIS is organizing in Syria. We should have had a lot better intel on the fact.
- [33:08]
Joe Weisenthal
And you don't think we should strike?
- [33:10]
Bloomberg Announcer
No, I don't think we should attack. I think we should have a counter ISIS strategy which includes Syria. Of course I do. But I think attacking the country we are hoping has changed its ways. Remember, the new president of Syria was formerly a terrorist himself. And President Trump stepped up to his credit, I think, and recognized him and his new country. He was in New York being lauded during the UN General assembly, and he's trying to put a fragile government together. It ain't perfect, but certainly bombing his country while he is trying to. Right size. Right size his country makes absolutely no sense. And it points out that we really don't have an effective strategy. This new nss, I think, is extremely polemic and ineffective. And oh, by the way, we've also just announced, according to the Washington Post, a unified command structure. I think this means taking the power away from the heads of European Command, Central Command, which has jurisdiction over Syria, and others very experienced four stars will now lose some traction to some central thing at the Pentagon, which, according to everything I read, has decimated its top leadership. And we're making mistakes there and it's amateur hour. And unfortunately we need our best brains and best experienced military and civilians on problems like the rise of isis.
- [34:44]
Joe Weisenthal
Well, that reorg is a big story that you referred to. You know, all the while the President says he's planning land strikes in Venezuela. Jane Harmon. A new phase that will include additional seizures of oil tankers and land strikes potentially targeting drug labs somewhere deep in the jungle of Venezuela. What would be the international reaction to such a move.
- [35:06]
Bloomberg Announcer
I don't think that would play well internationally. I think there would be a claim of declaring war again. Back to Laura Loomer, whom I seldom agree with. She says 8% of the drug trade coming to the US has anything to do with Venezuela. And it's not. It's not fentanyl. And that's why what Trump has said we wanted to do, of course, we haven't said we're for regime change. In fact, his foreign policy strategy is for strategy, which is for sovereignty, which seems to me not for regime change. But why else would we be in Venezuela at this point? So I think there's a little chaos going on. And for my two cents, let me say it again. The rise of terrorism is should concern us much more than it does, and our focus should be worldwide on finding ways, using our best talent to combat it.
- [36:02]
Joe Weisenthal
It's been historically wise to listen to Jane Harmon when she points you to a point of concern more than once in an interview. Jane, I've got about a minute left. President Trump says he's delivering a national address tomorrow night. This just happened on social media. Live from the White House at 9pm Eastern. Eastern. Does an announcement like that make you nervous?
- [36:21]
Bloomberg Announcer
No. I would like the president to offer leadership and explain to the American people what he's doing. I hope he stays focused on whatever the topic is. I'm imagining the topic is health care and the need to find again some resolution there. The Republican suggestions are sounding more sensible now, but an ACA extension seems to me the easiest thing we could do. The ACA ain't perfect, but if something doesn't happen in the next four days, a whole bunch of Americans, many of whom voted for this president in the last election, are going to be miserable. And that's going to play out in the 2026 elections. And I don't think that's going to be a good look for him.
- [37:03]
Joe Weisenthal
The former Democratic congresswoman from California, top Democrat on the House Intel Committee. That's Jane Harmon. There's only one 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, D.C. at Noontime Eastern@Bloomberg.com.
- [37:26]
Congressman Jason Smith
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