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- [00:01]
Joe Matthew
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Joe Matthew
We've got a lot to cover as we count down to an important event at the White House about an hour from now and it involves farm aid. This is a story that came exclusively from Bloomberg and White House correspondent Scott or Woodhouse as the President prepares to sign an EO that may or may not help the farmers who have been impacted by the president's tariff regime. $12 billion is the number we're looking at right now. And we have Bloomberg Washington correspondent Tyler Kendall with us here in studio with the details as we know them. Tyler, it's great to see you. This is something that's been perking for some time. The President has spoken openly about sending aid to farmers. In this case, it doesn't seem to be a number that's going to make up the difference.
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Tyler Kendall
Right. And this is long awaited assistance for a real key support group for the President. Now as you mentioned, we're expecting about $12 billion worth of aid to be in this package. This is going to include these one time aid payments to crop farm. This is actually a newly established program from the Department of Agriculture known as the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program. I did speak to one senior administration official earlier today to get a little bit more details about exactly who qualifies for this. This will be for farmers that have an average adjusted gross income of less than $900,000. The administration says that this is supposed to be going towards those smaller family farmers instead of bigger corporations and there's a few different steps they're going to have to fill out pretty quickly. Actually they have and December 19th, Joe, that's the deadline for them to submit something known as their acreage reporting data because essentially the federal government is going to give them aid based on how much land they are planting. And then this official tells me that the administration has this hard deadline set. It's February 28th of 2026. That is when these farmers can expect the cash to be in their accounts. So they're going to try to get those checks out quicker because much to your point, they've been waiting for this, we know, for months. And one of the reasons why it was actually delayed is because of the government shut down. It was our understanding that these local Farm Service Agency offices were shuttered during it. They were not deemed essential, and therefore they had to delay this rollout to give it time to be implemented and properly allocated.
- [03:21]
Joe Matthew
Really interesting. And as Nathan Dean's analysis at Bloomberg Intelligence reminds us, the plans for spring planting season are well underway now. So timing is super critical here. And from what we understand, they'll have to go right back to the drawing board on another aid package for next year. Are you hearing about that at the White House?
- [03:37]
Tyler Kendall
Right. So that's actually incredibly important, particularly when we put it into context when it comes to soybean farmers. Right. Because this is a group of farmers that has really been squeezed when it comes to these trade tensions with China. And I'll give you some some statistics here. One is that after that meeting with President Trump back in October between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping, we did start to see this gradual resuming of soybean purchases from China, but they haven't really reached the levels that we would like see yet. So far, if we look at the data, China's made good on about 23% of its purchase commitments. Now, Beijing does have until February, so there is still time here. We heard from the ustr, Jamison Greer, over the weekend that said that China is on track to meet those full obligations. But it does raise questions about how much aid could be needed if there is this delay when it comes to purchases. And it's also important to note that while we have seen a run up in soybean futures after that meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the spurt of optimism, really, we're actually seeing these price levels near 2020 lows.
- [04:40]
Joe Matthew
Fascinating. Tyler, I want to ask you before you leave us about Slaughter versus Trump. There are arguments being made before the Supreme Court today that our audience should be aware of. We actually spent some time with Rebecca Slaughter here. On Balance of Power, this case is being watched very closely when it comes to executive authority over the ability to hire and fire department heads, agency heads, to be more specific. And of course, we've all got Jay Powell in mind on this one. What are we hearing?
- [05:08]
Tyler Kendall
Right, exactly. So our headline on the terminal is that the Supreme Court is signaling it will back President Trump's firing of agency leaders. Now, we should say there's no decision here yet for anybody that's covered or been to oral arguments. We sort of listen into the justice's line of questioning, their responses, their back and forth when it comes to the case to glean some details on how they're thinking about this. Now, I will say that we had an indication that the Supreme Court was likely going to signal that they're weighing in the administration's favor because we had this, this document from the chief Justice John Roberts back in September that actually said that Slaughter should not be in her role while the broader issue of her legal legality of her firing plays out in court. Now, this is separate from the Lisa Cook case. Those arguments are going to happen on January 21st. But separately, she's still allowed to be on the FOMC as a governor and making these decisions. So there is a distinction here before the case as legal experts tell us that we likely won't get a ruling on this FTC case until after the Lisa Cook hearing is done. But Joe, at the crux of this is that we could see the overturning of really important legal precedent known as Humphrey's executor. That's a 1935 law that protects independent regulators and agencies from being fired without cause. And you're going to hear us talk so much about cause because it's not explicitly defined in the law, but it's typically taken to mean malfeasance or neglect of duties related to the job. So we'll have to see how this ultimately rules out. Again, I will mention two separate cases, but big implement implications when it comes to the Fed. But again, don't forget the Supreme Court had signaled that there could be a carve out for the Federal Reserve. So they might not totally be intertwined.
- [06:53]
Joe Matthew
Really interesting. Great reporting, Tyler. Thank you so much. Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall. We're glad to have her back in the mix today with a number of stories coming from the White House. And we'll go there later on after 2:00pm Eastern when the President signs that EO. Be very curious to see if that's open to reporters questions and if so, you can count on hearing it and seeing it right here on Bloomberg TV and radio. All the while the president making news on Ukraine. This happened last evening at The Kennedy center when the president, Donald Trump became the first US President to host the Kennedy Center Awards. And he spent some time on the red carpet with the first lady. Knowing today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be meeting with NATO's allies, says negotiations underway right now are leaving him wanting, discussing a US Brokered peace initiative and remaining divided over territory, including control over the Donbass and eastern regions of Ukraine. There's no compromise yet, says Zelensky. President Trump suggesting before reporters last evening that he's not happy once again with President Zelensky because he hasn't taken this deal or as it turns out, even read it. Here's Donald Trump. So we've been speaking to President Putin and we've been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, President Zelensky. And I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn't yet read the proposal. That was as if a few hours ago. That's where we start our conversation with the foreign minister of Finland. Elena Valtenin is with us from world headquarters in New York. In New York this week to brief the UN Security Council on her role representing Finland's OSCE chairpersonship and of course, coming at a very important moment in peace negotiations. Minister Valten, and welcome to Bloomberg TV and Radio. It's great to see you and thank you for being in our offices in New York. I'm wondering based on what you heard there from the president, if you're concerned that he is turning away once again from Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Elena Valton
Well, thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Well, let's see what happens. I think it's quite clear that Russia's Putin is quite impressed by what's going on at this moment. He admires President Trump. He admires basically the military power that the US can project. But at the same time, he's the one really despising the American way of life, I would say the European way of life as well, which, you know, grants freedom to, to all individuals. And this is ultimately what the Ukrainian people want to achieve as well. And the president of Ukraine, President Zelensky, he's liable to his own people. And a peace deal which, you know, the Ukrainians wouldn't accept is obviously not something that he will digest easily.
- [09:52]
Joe Matthew
Sure. President Zelensky talked about this moment and the support that he says he needs from Europe and the United States earlier today. Let's listen to what he said. Things which are very important for today, I think unity between Europe and Ukraine, and also between Europe, Ukraine and the United States, there are some things which we can't manage without Americans, things which.
- [10:16]
Rick Davis
We can't manage without Europe.
- [10:19]
Joe Matthew
That's why we need to make some important decisions.
- [10:24]
If you're having trouble hearing us on the radio, Zelensky saying there are some things which we cannot manage without Americans, things we cannot manage without Europe. So that said, Minister, I'm curious your thoughts about the administration's national security strategy that argues that Europe's cultural and political failures like immigration and censorship pose a threat to the continent's way of life. What, what do you make of the president's posture towards Europe?
- [10:49]
Elena Valton
Well, first of all, the European countries are democracies, and in our constituencies, our people decide how to rule our countries. In Finland, the share of people with foreign descent is about 8%. And I understand in the United States it's like 15%.
- [11:08]
So Europe is organized as smaller countries within the European Union. The European Union is our way of organizing ourselves. It enjoys around 60 to 70% of approval rate among the population, which is pretty, pretty high. But I wouldn't, you know, in a way I think it's fair that within the, so to say, the family of the transatlantic relationship that we are also able to criticize each other. I don't have a problem with that. But at the same time, I just hope that the strong link we have will also continue in the future, because at the end of the day, the world would look so much worse if the free world didn't exist or if it didn't hold together.
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Joe Matthew
Well, I'm happy to hear you refer to us as a family, Minister. And I'd like to just zero in a little bit more closely on Finland's relationship with the United States because your president Stub stube, I should say, has played golf with President Trump. They've talked frequently and have developed a bit of a relationship. How close are they at this point, and to what extent has that helped Finland in trying to keep the president committed to European peace?
- [12:29]
Elena Valton
Well, I guess it has been a very good avenue both ways in transferring ideas and messages. And of course, Gulf diplomacy apparently works at the same time. Of course, Finland has very strong ties with the United States. States on so many levels, in trade, in technology, in science, and then, of course, through strong investments into defense and deterrence. But at the same time, Finland is part of the European Union, and we would hope that there was a possibility.
- [13:08]
Very soon in the future to really deepen our trade ties between Europe and the U.S. europe has not imposed any Tariffs, Tariffs on the United States. There's 15 on, on Europe. There are many things we should try and work out together. Reducing red tape is an interest on both sides, but we should do that in friendship. And at the same time, we should impose tariffs and sanctions on the true adversaries we face as the free people, and that is certainly Russia and their friends. I'm a little bit worried now, to be honest, what the next days and weeks will bring, in the sense that, of course, we, just like the Ukrainians, want to have peace as soon as possible, but not at any cost, because certainly if this war is in Trump's war, which it totally isn't, the peace will be Trump's peace. And I'm sure President Trump is interested in having a lasting peace. And if it's not just, then it typically wouldn't last.
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Joe Matthew
Really interesting to hear you talk about that. And we'll remind our audience that Finland shares 830 miles land border with Russia. When you talk about your worry there, is there, is there a scenario when you consider the options of the outcome of this war that could make Finland less safe?
- [14:35]
Elena Valton
Well, you see, we had the NATO ministerial last week in Brussels, and within the alliance, we agreed to 100% that the largest threat that the transatlantic alliance is facing, and unfortunately for the long term, is Russia. And that means that, of course, the threat that Russia is posing is not only visible in Ukraine, but it's, it's actually visible in the rest of Europe as well. But I should say also in the rest of the world. I mean, if people have paid attention, Russia has been organizing military coups in Africa, for instance, to cause irregular migration and, of course, suffering for the people. Russia is active in the, in the Arctic and doesn't shy away of partnering up with other rogue states around the world. So certainly Russia is the threat to entire world peace. I'm not so worried about Finland. We have always is invested very heavily in defence and deterrence. And now that Finland, together with Sweden, we also joined NATO a couple of years ago, I think the alliance is stronger than ever since. Also now Europe is really chipping in, but at the same time, I'm truly worried whether we understand that, that we need to deter Russia. Russia is the aggressor in this war. And to find lasting peace for Ukraine and for the rest of us, we need to be showing Russia some strength and we need to have Russia stay within its borders.
- [16:12]
Joe Matthew
Yes, right. Well, that's. To that end, you've argued that even after a peace agreement, Russia may well remain a threat and history certainly reinforces that as Europe seeks a way to use frozen Russian central bank assets, that's to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine. We only have a moment left, Minister. How close are we to getting an answer on that?
- [16:33]
Elena Valton
We are very close to finding an answer to that. We will have the meeting next week of European heads of states and we are now quite close to finding a legally and politically system sustainable solution to this. And I think using the right Russian central bank's assets for funding the survival of Ukraine is not only morally, but in so many other ways also the right thing to do.
- [17:04]
Joe Matthew
She's the Minister of Foreign affairs in Finland, Elena Valton, and I hope we can do this in person next time. Thank you so much for being with us today.
- [17:11]
Elena Valton
Thank you so much.
- [17:12]
Joe Matthew
TV and Radio I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. We'll have much more ahead, including our conversation with the administrator of the small business this administration. SBA's Kelly Lefler will be with us coming up straight ahead here on Balance of Power. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. This is Bloomberg. Stay with us On Balance of Power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
- [17:34]
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- [18:42]
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- [18:51]
Joe Matthew
11:30. Thank you for being with us here on the Monday edition of Balance of Power. Interesting conversation already with our update on Farm Aid from the White House, courtesy Tyler Kendall. We did geopolitics with the foreign minister of Finland with news today on Ukraine. And we turn to the economy now with the help of the administrator of the U.S. small Business Administration. That would of course, this day before the president flies to Pennsylvania, would be Kelly Loeffler. Around this time tomorrow, we're going to be talking about the presidential trip that is supposed to be the first of many as the president beats the drum on what he sees as the economic advantages coming from his administration. And it's a pleasure to have Administrator Lefler with us now from from our world headquarters in New York. Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. What's the message going to be from the president tomorrow when it comes to specifically cost inflation, affordability, whatever word you want to use, Administrator. Can we say that inflation is.
- [19:51]
Kelly Loeffler
Cooling? Well, it absolutely is, Joe, and it's great to be with you. Look, under President Trump, inflation is already half of what it was under Joe Biden where we had a cumulative of 21, 22% inflation over four years. What we're seeing now is inflation coming down, interest rates coming down, energy prices, food prices. This is part of the Trump tailwinds that consumers are benefiting from. It's why consumer confidence is starting to climb back up and expect expectations for inflation are falling because they also see that their take home pay is rising. And with the one big beautiful bill, the best is yet to come. And in 2026 and beyond, it's exactly what happened with the 2017 tax cuts and Jobs Act. And that's what the president's going to be talking about is building in America, getting our productivity, wages and opportunities up.
- [20:39]
Joe Matthew
Again. Well, I know that you have high hopes for the year to come. When we look at the matter of inflation, though, it appears largely flat over the year to year numbers that we're looking at. Having seen to your point, point a rampant 9% inflation in the Biden administration. But it's been largely stagnant for the past year. And we learned just two weeks ago that consumer confidence fell to its lowest point since April. So how do we rationalize the way people are feeling with the data that you're talking.
- [21:07]
Kelly Loeffler
About? Well, Joe, you bring up a good point. When that data was measured in terms of consumer confidence, we were coming out of the largest government shutdown in American history where essentially Main street was defunded by the Democrat shutdown that impacted about 5 million small business, 10 million small businesses getting access to $5 billion. We saw government contractors lose about 12 billion in wages. And we saw that America's number one job creators, small businesses, a record 36 million of them thanks to President Trump, are primary job creators. They create two out of every three new jobs. So when that shutdown hits, it hit Main street hard. But thanks to the Trump tailwinds, it's coming back. He's deregulating. The one big beautiful bill is bringing unbelievable tax cuts for small businesses to build factories made in America. 100% expensing and all the great things that come along with it for families. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. It's going to give consumers a big boost. And we're already seeing that in the critical holiday shopping center season right now as we head into Christmas with an expected $1 trillion for the first time ever being spent during this.
- [22:18]
Joe Matthew
Season. Well, it'll be really interesting to see how consumers get us through the whole holiday shopping season. When we look at the CPI data, specifically to inflation, we're at what, 3% in September of 2025. We were at 3% in June of 2023. And there's a big question about the last mile administrator. How do you get this down to.
- [22:41]
Kelly Loeffler
2%? Well, this is the, this is the Trump agenda. This is deregulation. He's already deregulated to the tune of $200 billion. That's a saving of $2,000 per family. That's just a start. We're cutting about 30 regulations for every new regulation. When I talk to small businesses, they say they were crushed under Biden's regulatory regulatory regiment, Green New Deal that raised costs not just through his executive orders, but through the agencies which added additional trillions. So between tax cuts, deregulation, fair trade, we see jobs and opportunities coming back to America and then $18 trillion of investment coming in. A lot of that's going to play out on Main Street. And that's why small business optimism, according to the US Chamber, is at all time highs. And you've got consumer confidence on the rise again. So consumers know that the best is yet to.
- [23:32]
Joe Matthew
Come. You know, we, we're talking, of course, to the small business administrator. So I want to clarify that you're talking about small businesses. We've been hearing from some big ones, though, in terms of Costco filing a lawsuit against the administration to secure a refund if the Supreme Court knocks down the tariff regime. We've heard warnings from the likes of Walmart. With the impact of tariffs creeping into prices. Will you, William Sonoma and others who haven't gone so Far as to sue. What are small businesses feeling when it comes to the impact of.
- [24:04]
Kelly Loeffler
Tariffs? Well, Joe, I've been traveling the country literally from Alaska to Maine, talking to small businesses and particularly manufacturers. Most of America's manufacturers meet the small business standard and they're grateful to President Trump for helping them now finally, after decades compete on a level playing field. One of the biggest pain points for small businesses, besides a skilled work force, is to have a supply chain that works for them. And right now they're so dependent on China, they're so dependent on countries outside of our borders that what's happening is they're seeing that their costs are higher than they need to be and that we this fair trade agenda is counter inflationary, as is much of President Trump's agenda. So they are excited to see the investment coming in. That means our Main Streets will be thriving again. The hollowing out of America can end. We can reverse that and create good paying jobs. And my focus now, thanks to small businesses alerting to me this is their big concern, is a skilled workforce and getting people back into the workforce, getting that labor participation up because wages are rising, taxes are being cut, so families are going to earn more and take home more of what they earn. And that's really encouraging to rebuilding our workforce and our manufacturing base. And no one believes in the American worker or American industry like President.
- [25:18]
Joe Matthew
Trump. Just to get back to where we started here, administrator, to make sure I understand you mentioned at the beginning of our conversation that consumer confidence was rebounding and that inflation was cooling. Since we haven't managed to find evidence of that in our conversation today. Is that your expectation in the near term or is that something you believe is actually happening.
- [25:40]
Kelly Loeffler
Now? It's actually happening. The Trump agenda is counter inflationary because if you look at gas prices, is if you look at interest rates down double digits since the president came in in just the first 10 months. So what we're seeing is major family expenditures are coming down. But look, it's going to take time to dig out of the hole that Biden nomics put us in. And that included inflation, massive overregulation, a hollowing out of our manufacturing and overseas supply chain dependency, massive deficit spending, which we now know can contribute up to as much as 43% of inflationary moves. And so we're having to come back down off an economy that disfavored Main street and made it harder for families to make ends meet. So President Trump, that's what he's out touting is this economic agenda is already working and we see wholesale inflation below expectations as well as PC. So we see it going in the right direction. But this is four years in the making with trillions and trillions of in excess spending. And as the great Milton Friedman said, inflation is always an everywhere monetary phenomena and we're having to mop up.
- [26:46]
Joe Matthew
A lot of money according Milton Friedman. Yes, indeed. I think the PC was right on target when we saw that number last week. Kelly Lefler, we'll keep our eyes on that. We'd love to stay in touch with you throughout that process. She's the administrator of the sba. Many thanks for being with us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. I'm Joe Matthew. You in Washington want to assemble our panel coming up here with Rick Davis and Jeannie Shann Zaino. We'll have much more with our panel a bit later this hour, but we just wanted to spend a couple of minutes on what we just heard. Bloomberg Politics contributors, of course. Jeannie is democracy visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ashe Center. Rick, our Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital. Rick, what do you make of the narrative that we're hearing from the administration? Because I'm guessing that that gave us a good sense of what Donald Trump's going to tell us.
- [27:31]
Rick Davis
Tomorrow.
- [27:33]
Yeah, look, I think she's done a good job of sort of presenting the mainstream view, that Main street view that, you know, these policies that Donald Trump is espousing, see, seem particularly focused on deregulation, is somehow going to sort of lift all boats on Main Street. I would say a little confused by the discussion of consumer sentiment. You know, current conditions are still down in the latest Michigan consumer sentiment index. And so even though I think she seems very optimistic, I'm not sure that's shared by consumers themselves. And that's where you see this kind of disconnection when it comes to the.
- [28:11]
Joe Matthew
Polling.
- [28:13]
What do you think of that disconnect, Jeannie? We talked about consumer confidence or sentiment, depending on the measure you're looking at, which she said was rising and I think we established is falling. Prices in fact have been either stagnant or rising as opposed to inflation cooling to her point. So are we getting back to a disconnect between the administration and what people are feeling or a disconnect between the administration and the actual.
- [28:39]
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Data?
- [28:41]
You know, I think first of all, it's important that Donald Trump is going out on the road tomorrow. As you talked about, Joe, that is something he has not been doing. And if he is going to convince people about his economic policies. He needs to be out there selling them. Joe Biden didn't do it. He has not been doing it. So it's important that he gets out there. So that's a good sign for him. But again, to your point, there is this enormous disconnect and I'm struck by how much Kelly Loeffler, Donald Trump sometimes sound like Joe Biden and members of the administration and trying to wish away the data on consumer sentiment and also the polls which show whatever you want to say about how the numbers look on inflation and costs. The reality is people are not feeling it. And until people feel it politically, you're going to have results like we saw a few weeks ago in the.
- [29:30]
Joe Matthew
Election.
- [29:32]
That can backfire you on you as you're noting here, Jeannie, it's funny. We remember Joe Biden going to the very same, not only state, but town. Rick, he's going to be in Scranton tomorrow. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the administration is thinking, having just seen that playbook so.
- [29:49]
Rick Davis
Recent. Yeah, Jeannie mentions it. I mean, it's almost like they're recreating the Biden failure of talking directly to voters about their economic situation and they even want to go and do it in the same places. It's kind of a head scratcher. I'm not exactly sure that Donald Trump's going to do something that he typically doesn't do and sound empathetic. He's a great cheerleader, you know, and he can cheerleader all the way through a loss. And I worry that what's happening is that just like Biden, Donald Trump's talking past the consumer and being overly.
- [30:31]
Joe Matthew
Optimistic. Now, somebody cue Michael Scott because the president's coming to Scranton. We'll be talking about that around this time tomorrow, hopefully with Rick and Jeannie. Many thanks to our panel. They're going to come back in a short time from now with much more ahead. Here on Balance of Power. We're going to get to the Warner Brothers deal, Paramount versus as Netflix and a president in the middle of it all. This is Bloomberg. Stay with us. On Balance of Power. We'll have much more coming up after.
- [30:56]
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- [31:00]
Being a small business owner isn't just a career, it's a calling. Chase for business knows how much heart and effort go into building something of your own. That's why they make your business growth their priority. The Chase team takes the time to understand your mission, where you are now and where you want to go. Their broad range of solutions is designed with you in mind so you can Bring your ideas to life. From banking to payment acceptance to credit cards, you can conveniently manage all your business finances all in one place with their digital tools. Looking for tips and advice, their online resources are always available to give you the solutions you need to help your business thrive. See how your business can get stronger and go farther with Chase for Business. Learn more@chase.com business chase for business Make More of what's Yours the Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices, message and data rates. May apply JPMorgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JP Morgan Chase & Co. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5pm Eastern on Apple CarPlay and and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New.
- [32:14]
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- [32:17]
Joe Matthew
11:30 the city recovers from the first Kennedy Center Honors hosted by a President of the United States. We won't see it till later this month when it gets on tv, but indeed, Donald Trump took the stage last evening, having compared himself to his role models Johnny Carson and Bob Hope.
- [32:37]
37 freewheeling minutes on stage, according to the Washington Post.
- [32:44]
And we'll find out in a couple of weeks exactly how well he did. Made a lot of news though, because before that, President of the United States spoke on the red carpet, indeed for almost 40 minutes with the first lady at his side.
- [32:58]
And took questions on a range of topics, including what has become our biggest story of the day and that is the potential sale of Warner Bros. With the world now looking to Paramount in a hostile bid. Before that news broke, the President was asked about this on the red carpet, having of course heard about the Netflix deal that was announced at the end of last week. Here's what the President said. Well, that's got to go through a process and we'll see what happens. Netflix is a great company. They've done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man. I have a lot of respect for him, but it's a, it's.
- [33:31]
Rick Davis
A lot of market share so we'll have to see.
- [33:33]
Joe Matthew
What happens. It's a lot of market share, he said. We'll have to see what happens. If you're with us on the radio, the President in front of a step and repeat on that red carpet with CBS logos all over it. They are the ones who run the Kennedy Center Honors. Fast forward to the Truth social post that came out this morning around 9:30 just before the opening bell. The President clearly was watching 60 Minutes last evening or well, I guess he played it back because he was probably on stage then it featured a sit down interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who he refers to in this post once again as Marjorie Traitor Brown. I won't go into explaining why, but if you get toward the bottom of this very long missive, he actually invokes Paramount, which of course is now cbs. My real problem with the show, he says, was not the low IQ trader. It was the new ownership of 60 Minutes Paramount, who would allow a show like this to air all caps. They are no better than the old ownership who just paid me millions of dollars for fake reporting about your favorite president, me. Since they bought it, 60 minutes, he says, has actually gotten worse. And you're wondering if the president's thumbing the scale, as some have suggested here, exactly who he wants to see win. We'll ask our panel now. Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeannie Shan Zaino are with us. Rick is, of course, Bloomberg Politics contributor as well Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital. He knows what it's like to buy a big company. JEANNIE SHANN Zaino, Democracy Visiting Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash center what's your thought on this, Rick? Because you could actually make the argument either way that the president wants to see Netflix or Paramount or is the real story the fact that he's involved.
- [35:19]
Rick Davis
In all?
- [35:21]
First of all, I'd love to have the reputation of buying a company worth, you know, close to $100 billion in a transaction. So, yeah, thanks for including me in that category. But, you know, this may be the biggest mystery in Washington for a while. I mean, you know, short of his comments about CBS last night, everybody would have thought that, you know, he was going to keep this deal from happening and let, you know, his friends, you know, take over the deal. And and then the coda of the night was, as you point out, no way was he watching this 60 Minutes episode because, you know, he was in the middle of the Kennedy Center Honors. And so whoever told him about it or whatever video he saw, you know, upset him enough to throw everybody under the bus at cbs. So I'd say everybody got through last night damaged and who's going to do the best lobbying job from here on out to try and get out from under the thumb. And you know, the point he made too, about this current deal is that even though, you know, smart economists will have to weigh in on this, I'm going to be directly involved. So when the president says at the start of a regulatory Review that. It's going to be my call. Then it's going to be.
- [36:36]
Joe Matthew
His call. All right. Well, as usual, Rick leads us right to it. Jeannie, here's the direct quote. Netflix is a great company. He said they've got a very big market share. When they have Warner Brothers, that market share goes up a lot. All right, we can understand that. He goes on to say, as Rick references. So I don't know, that's going to be for some economists to tell, even though it would probably be for, well, I guess an analyst. Right. And importantly, I'll be involved in that decision, too. Where will he be.
- [37:02]
Bloomberg App Promoter
Involved, Jeannie?
- [37:05]
Any involvement. What he said so far is completely inappropriate. And I would have wished that the members of the Supreme Court who are hearing this case today that let's not forget, started because Rebecca Slaughter filed a lawsuit or a claim when she looked up and saw the inauguration of Donald Trump. And he was surrounded not by world leaders, but CEOs of the largest companies in the world who the FTC was in active litigation with. That's who was surrounding him. And so you would hope that the Supreme Court members would have been paying attention last night. And what we hear about this case is they're going to go with the president. And that is most unfortunate because what happens to the consumer and the American public in all of this, a president which is completely inappropriate, putting his thumb on a deal this big. And we just heard when Alexis was doing her report, talk about Jared Kushner, his son in law. This is all inappropriate. It is unethical, it is not the way we do business. And yet I think we're facing a Supreme Court decision which is going to allow all of this and consumers will suffer and pay more. And it is not what happens in a democracy like ours. It's not what.
- [38:23]
Joe Matthew
Should happen. Well, Jeannie throws another log on the fire, Rick. You see affinity partners and everybody's eyebrows go up because, yeah, that's his son in law, Jared Kushner. And this is Saudi money that is partially being used to back this deal. How should voters, how should Americans consider this, that in another White House this could have been considered a major scandal? Rick, what do.
- [38:43]
Rick Davis
You think? Well, you've got to really do something to be a major scandal in this administration. And the idea that Jared Kirchner and most of the GCC would be involved in a megadeal like this, you know, in excess of $80 billion, shouldn't actually surprise too many people. I mean, Saudi's been playing around the edges us. He's been investing in Hollywood. This is not new. Foreign actors have always been participating in US Movies and television. So I actually think that's the lesser of them. I could imagine what the phone calls were, though, between Jared and the Paramount guy saying, did you have to interview Marjorie Taylor Greene Right as all this news was breaking. I mean, like, these are the kind of fun things you really, really speculate on. But, like, look, let's be clear. Donald Trump is not the first president to put his thumb on the scale of a merger and an acquisition in any industry. So the difference is he actually says he's going to.
- [39:45]
Joe Matthew
Do it. Everyone else would.
- [39:46]
Rick Davis
Deny it. So, I mean, at least you got a who's transparent about all this apparent corruption. So, I don't know. I think that this is a long story to be told. And, you know, with the new efforts by Paramount to go after a hostile takeover, the fun has.
- [40:02]
Joe Matthew
Just begun. Boy, there's a lot there. I thought maybe Bill Owens had come back for a night. Jeannie, when you see Marjorie Taylor Greene on CBS on the eve of this hostile takeover being announced. So what's next here? Will there be a government stake in the WBD when this whole thing.
- [40:20]
Bloomberg App Promoter
Is over? Yeah. Marjorie Taylor Greene, I'm sure you saw Joe had her big flag on.
- [40:25]
Joe Matthew
Her sweater.
- [40:26]
Bloomberg App Promoter
Sweater, yeah. Yeah. You know, one thing I would say is that what is different about this is not just that Donald Trump is saying he's going to put his thumb on the scale. That is sort of the excuse we hear all the time. Well, at least he puts his corruption out there. What is very, very different is that today of all days, the Supreme Court is hearing a case. This would go to independent regulatory bodies. It would ultimately be the decision of a judge who we hope is independent. What the Supreme Court is threatening today is that we're not going to have that anymore, that all of those independent regulatory commissions, all of this will be under a unitary executive, whether it's President Trump today or a Democratic president in 2028. That is an incredibly different way in which we are looking at this. And of course, you look at Humphrey's executor, it's taking that away from Congress to even set up these independent regulatory bodies. So that makes it a very different set of circumstances, and I think we have to be cognizant.
- [41:36]
Joe Matthew
Of that. Wow. All right, so we're going to go deep here. Jeannie, I'm glad you pointed us the unitary executive theory, Rick, that presidents should wield ultimate power over all appointments. What we heard before the Supreme Court this morning. And again, this, this is Slaughter versus Trump. Does make you think that the court will rule in that favor? How.
- [41:58]
Rick Davis
About you? Yeah, they've been pretty consistent on this, you know, since Trump's administration, both the first and the second.
- [42:06]
They'Re giving leeway to the President. These people serve at the pleasure of the president. In their minds, the president's executive authority is a higher fire authority with, with all agency heads. Is, is the sort of head tilt that you've got. And at the end of the day, I mean, if the Supreme Court says that the power of the presidency exists for this and Congress has basically abdicated their check in the system, then it is what it is. I do still think, and it'll be interesting to see if they address this, when.
- [42:42]
The Chief justice basically created distance between that theory and the Fed, will they reiterate that in this opinion, if indeed they. They wind up finding for.
- [42:56]
Joe Matthew
The administration? Well, this is turning into a lightning round, guys. We've got another breaker here before our eyes. The Attorney General has just posted on Twitter news that Alina Habba has resigned. This is, of course, this was President Trump's personal lawyer who was then appointed active acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey last summer. And it was then ruled that she was not qualified for that position. The Attorney General writing following the flawed 3rd Circuit decision disqualifying Haba from performing her duties as in the U.S. attorney's office for the District of New Jersey, I am saddened to accept Elena's resignation. She apparently. I'm reading further down here. Producer James tells us she remains with DOJ as a senior advisor to the Attorney General. General Jeannie, did you see.
- [43:44]
Bloomberg App Promoter
This coming?
- [43:46]
You know, it's hard to tell. I don't think it's a huge shock given the decision that came out. But as we speak about independence, you know, it is a perfect example. This is a president that would like nothing more, as all presidents would, than to have everybody working for him in concert in the executive branch. One thing that was independent for a long time was the doj. That is not the case anymore. And even though she's no longer in that position, she will still be at the doj. So not a big surprise, but it is in keeping with this push towards the unitary executive, including in the Department.
- [44:23]
Joe Matthew
Of Justice. Well, after what we saw in the eastern districts of Virginia, Rick, and now this, how should we be thinking about Donald.
- [44:31]
Rick Davis
Trump's approach? Well, I think the approach of not getting people confirmed who are in a confirmation job, job in the United States Senate is probably the wrong approach. You know, it doesn't do you any good to put somebody in these jobs who tries to prosecute individuals that the president has identified as problematic and that they, they, they get thrown out of court for lack of official standing by the prosecutor. So, you know, when it happens a couple times, you should try to learn that lesson. And it seems that they have.
- [45:07]
And, and hopefully this sort of ends the dalliance with putting people into these jobs without a.
- [45:14]
Joe Matthew
Senate confirmation. Wow Mass, just amazing stuff to think what we've witnessed over the last hour and change. Many thanks to our panel, Rick Davis and Jeannie Shan Zaino. 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 podcast. And you can find us live every weekday from Washington, D.C. at noontime eastern@bloomberg.com if a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list.
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