← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
SHAMELESS: Vance focuses on fraud with especially bad timing for Trump
00:41:03
Jen Psaki looks at the political convenience of JD Vance's new anti-fraud talking points as he struggles to demonstrate some relevance while the rest of the Trump administration goes to China. But too much attention on fraud is a particularly awkward thing for Trump, who is trying to find a way to force the IRS to give him billions of taxpayer dollars, and while he his own son, Eric, with business interests in China, has joined him in traveling to Beijing.
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- [00:00]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today, those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs, with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text MSNOW to 511-511-Text MSNOW to 511-51-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [00:30]
Progressive Political Commentator
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- [00:50]
Jen Psaki
Download Today Today, as Donald Trump and a whole gaggle of his top aides arrived in China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice President J.D. vance went out of his way to make sure everybody knew he was not forgotten and left behind at home.
- [01:07]
J.D. Vance
So, as you know, the President just landed in China a few hours ago. I always, you know, you may know that because of Secret Service protocols that I don't travel outside of the country with the President United States. So on days today, I sometimes feel like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. I walk into the White House and it's very quiet and no one's there, and it takes me a second to realize exactly what's going on.
- [01:30]
Jen Psaki
Feel a little nervous there about proving your relevance, buddy. That was a lot of explaining. Now, of course, all of that verbal tap dancing from Vance comes as Trump is pitting J.D. vance and Secretary of State Marco Ruby against one another, asking crowds at the White house who likes J.D. vance and who likes Marco Rubio and gauging their popularity via the volume of applause. Yes, that is happening, everyone. So while Rubio is on his big trip with the boss to China, hanging out on Air Force One in a sweatsuit that he thinks looks super duper cool, JD Vance is desperately trying to remind dad he's still his most special boy. He's still doing his homework, even though Dad's away on his big work trip and he's going to tell you all about it. So today, with tons of pomp and circumstance, J.D. vance announced that the Trump administration is suspending one $1.3 billion of Medicaid payments to the state of California cuts that the California attorney general said will impact vital programs that help seniors and people with disabilities remain safely in their homes. And today, JD Vance gleefully, gleefully announced that the Trump administration was cutting more than a billion dollars of funding for stuff like that, specifically from California, a state that just so happens to be governed by one of Vance's likely Democratic opponents in the 2020 election, Gavin Newsom. Of course. And of course, Vance announced all of this literally the day before Newsom was expected to announce the state's budget for the year. So if you're Vance, I mean, politically speaking, today was kind of a twofer. He got some headlines to stay relevant, while Marco got to ride on the big plane to go do big boy stuff in China, and he got to attack Gavin Newsom. But, of course, if you were to ask Vance why he is cutting more than a billion dollars in services to some of our country's most vulnerable and why he did it today, he would have a very different answer.
- [03:33]
J.D. Vance
First of all, why are we doing this now? Why weren't we doing this two years ago? And the simple answer is, because we didn't have a president and we didn't have an administration who took fraud seriously. All of these efforts, all of these things that we're finding are because we have a president who has told us take the fraud issue seriously.
- [03:50]
Jen Psaki
I mean, just to be clear, the president he is talking about, who takes fraud seriously, according to J.D. vance, is Donald Trump. Can you imagine saying that with a straight face? Can you imagine saying that you are taking funding from the services for the poor because this guy cares so much about fraud? Now, on any day, J.D. van, saying that out loud would be utterly shameless. But today, it is especially shameless, and that's because we also just got huge news about Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. Last night, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department is considering settling that lawsuit with Trump. And let's just zoom out for a second and just think about that, because on one side of this lawsuit is Trump in his personal capacity, represented by his own personal lawyers. And on the other side of this lawsuit is the Department of Justice, which is led by Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche. So now Trump's personal attorneys and his former personal attorneys are discussing a settlement of a case that could mean just giving a ton of money to Trump personally. And remember, Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant is actually on the record earlier this year saying that money is not coming from some magic pot of gold. It's coming from you.
- [05:13]
Progressive Political Commentator
So where would that $10 billion come from?
- [05:16]
Senator Mark Kelly
Again? It would come from
- [05:22]
Progressive Political Commentator
process wise. I'm not asking like your opinion whether it's right or wrong. It would come from Treasury. It comes from treasury, which comes from the general fund, the treasury general account.
- [05:30]
Senator Mark Kelly
So, taxpayers.
- [05:32]
Jen Psaki
Yes, thank you. Yeah. The American taxpayers would be on the hook for whatever so called damages Trump might get out of this lawsuit. So why is the Justice Department reportedly trying to settle the case rather than fight it in court? Well, as the Times put it, given that Mr. Trump oversees the IRS, the agency that he is suing, the judge in the case has taken a series of novel legal steps to probe whether there is a genuine controversy between the Justice Department and Mr. Trump. For a lawsuit to be valid, the two parties must actually be on opposite sides. Otherwise the judge can throw out the case. And the judge had actually ordered Trump's personal lawyers and the Justice Department lawyers to explain how exactly they were on opposite sides here, considering they both have the same boss. So the judge ordered briefs submitted on that matter by next Wednesday, one week from today, not very long. And surprise, surprise, there is now a rush to settle out of court before that deadline in a way that would bypass the judge entirely. It is just jaw droppingly brazen. No sitting president has ever sued his own government for monetary damages. And now Trump is using his power as president to attempt to settle a lawsuit with himself, effectively giving himself billions of taxpayer dollars. And he's doing that while he's simultaneously clawing back more than a billion dollars of funding from services for people who actually need help. And I'm not just tying those things together because they happened in the same 24 hours or because they are so craven and so reprehensible. I'm tying them together because Trump explicitly tied them together himself. $30 trillion debt and we're going to
- [07:22]
Senator Mark Kelly
take 10 billion out of the system.
- [07:24]
Doug Burgum
Well, I mean, you give it away anyway. They give away a lot of money.
- [07:27]
Jen Psaki
You're endorsement.
- [07:28]
Doug Burgum
Speaking about that, Minnesota and these other states, we have massive investigations going into fraud. Do you know if we captured 50% of the fraud of this country right now, we would have better than a balanced budget.
- [07:45]
Jen Psaki
No. First of all, even if there was that much fraud in Medicaid, which there is not, the idea that the way that you stop fraud is by taking away services from everyone doesn't make any sense. Would you close all the banks in the country just because sometimes banks get robbed? No, you wouldn't. But the Trump administration wants to take money away from services for people who actually need them. Poor people, elderly people, disabled people. And basically give that money to Trump personally. Sort of reverse Robin Hood style, I guess you could call it. Take from the poor, give to the rich, and give what could be an unbelievable amount of money. As the Times put it last night, a settlement payout even a fraction of the size of Mr. Trump's requested $10 billion could be much larger than his other attempts at gain, potentially doubling his net worth. But even if this settlement doesn't ultimately come with a big check for Trump, he might be able to walk away with something just as valuable. You see, one of the settlement options reportedly being floated would be the IRS agreeing not to audit President Trump, his family members or his businesses. Yeah, that's right. If he can't get a full $10 billion from American taxpayers, he will apparently settle for zero scrutiny from the irs. How very generous of him. And that unprecedented protection from financial scrutiny would not just extend to Trump, but to his two adult sons and the Trump family businesses who have all been making money off of his presidency. Which reminds me, guess where Trump's adult son Eric is right now. Well, he's with his father in China. Now, Eric Trump does not have a role in the US Government. In fact, he's supposed to be sort of firewalled off from any US Government activities because he took over the family businesses when his father reentered the White House, supposedly to prevent conflicts of interest. But there he is. You can see him now. I should say that when asked about Eric Trump joining the trip, the White House simply said that there were no conflicts of interest there, I guess. Thanks for that. A spokesperson for Eric himself said that Eric was just joining the president in his own personal capacity, saying that Eric will not participate in any discussions or meetings related to any business entity, and that Eric Trump does not have business ventures in China or plans on doing business with China. Now, that is quite an interesting denial, given this piece in the Financial Times out just today. And here's the headline. Eric Trump Joins Beijing Trip as Family linked Group chases China Deal. You see, Eric is on the board of a company called Alt 5 Sigma. And you can see him and Don Jr here ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ with the name of that company and the name of the Trump family crypto company right behind. Well, today, while Eric is in China with his dad, the Financial Times is reporting that this company has a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential deal with a Chinese computer chip manufacturer to build AI data centers and a whole bunch of other AI related stuff. Oh, and guess what else? That Chinese firm they have that memorandum of understanding with, well, Congress has warned that that company is connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Now, neither the Chinese chip manufacturer or Alt 5 responded to the Financial Times request for comment, but it certainly seems like Eric might be getting a little more than just quality time with his dad out of this China trip, doesn't it? I mean, I could go on and on and on about all of the sketchy ways that Trump's sons are making money while their dad is president. Just last month, Eric was on Fox Business bragging out loud about how one of his companies scored a $24 million contract with the Pentagon. Last year, a company partially owned by Trump's other adult son, Don Jr. Landed a nearly $5 million contract with the U.S. air Force. And both of Trump's sons are now part owners in a new drone company that is hoping to win major Pentagon contracts. Now, I should say that all of those companies deny there's any conflict of interest, as do Don and Eric. But wouldn't it be great if someone, say, the IRS were to check? Given how clear the potential conflicts of interests are, you would think that Trump and his sons would deserve more financial scrutiny, not less. But nope. Remember, Trump's net worth has already almost tripled. Look at that chart on your screen. Since he retook office, according to Forbes, that is. And like the New York Times noted, if Trump even gets a fraction of the $10 billion taxpayer dollars he demanded in the settlement, that net worth could double again and then just never be audited. That seems to be what Trump is trying to do here. That is what he is trying to force one set of his lawyers to agree with another set of his lawyers to give him. It's outrageous. Now, what I want to know now is what can anyone do to stop it? Joining me now to discuss that and all sorts of things is Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. It's great to see you. Thanks for being here.
- [12:44]
Senator Mark Kelly
Good to be on.
- [12:46]
Jen Psaki
Okay. I just tried my best with the help of some excellent producers to kind of explain how outrageous this whole IRS DOJ situation is. But again, I mean, the Justice Department is considering settling a lawsuit with Trump's personal lawyers that would pay Trump a great deal of money or get him out of being audited by the IRS or both. What goes through your head here?
- [13:08]
Senator Mark Kelly
Well, I mean, I think about this as, you know, a, a case where it's Trump versus Trump, with Trump as the judge and the jury and both the lawyers. I Mean, it's all him and he gets to make the decision. And he says, you know, this is about, you know, fraud was part of it, right? He said there's all this fraud out there. Well, now this is more fraud to respond to the fraud. But for him and his family, and we've seen this over and over again, you know, it started, it started in his first term in office, but he has accelerated this. You know, you can see it in the chart. You know, that net worth increase comes from, you know, more fraud. Hey, I mean, we've got an election in November, after November election, assuming we will win back the House and, or the Senate will have some levers of power to investigate this stuff, to subpoena people, you know, to ask his family members for records. This is a ripoff of the American people in a way like we have never seen before in this country's history. I mean, there have been, you know, former presidents that have done things that were, you know, unseemly. I would contend you could, you know, add all of it up for every other president, multiply it times a thousand, and you would not get even anywhere close to what we're seeing here.
- [14:25]
Jen Psaki
The amount of money Trump has made and his sons have made or and are making off of things like Pentagon contracts is just, I mean, it should make people's heads absolutely explode.
- [14:36]
Senator Mark Kelly
How about just the fees from the stablecoin? And he has foreign governments investing in this business and when they buy into his stablecoin, he generates fees, you know, tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. And the mean coins, he doesn't even care if he's ripping off his supporters. You know, they'll do a rug pull, they'll run up the price, they'll pull the rug out. His supporters lose their retirements and you know, he walks away again with tens of millions of dollars.
- [15:07]
Jen Psaki
It also feels like, I mean this is, it's so, it's so blatant, it's so in your face, all of this. And then just yesterday, I know you saw this, I mean, he was asked if he considers Americans financial situation when he thinks about the impact of the ongoing war he started with Iran. And he said, I don't think about Americans financial situation. It's like basically not on his mind. It, it feels like we've reached this new level of shamelessness.
- [15:33]
Senator Mark Kelly
Well, I don't think he cares and thinks about Americans, I mean, not just their financial situation. He often doesn't, you know, care about their lives, the fact that they might not be able to afford to put gas in their car, to go to work, go to a doctor's appointment. I think, I think when he wakes up every day, from what I understand, he's interested in what, what is there about him in the news, good or bad? You know, the metric for him is that he is being talked about caring about the American people. I haven't seen it yet.
- [16:07]
Jen Psaki
I mentioned that Eric Trump is on this trip with his dad. He doesn't have an official role in the government. He says he's there for personal reasons. But there was a Financial Times headline today, I just talked about, about his financial interests in China. What questions do you have about his role on this trip and what he might be doing?
- [16:27]
Senator Mark Kelly
Well, I would want to hear who he's meeting with. You know, I mean, is he, is he with his dad the entire time? Does he get to ask questions? Who are those folks around the president and what is he saying to them on the sidelines of some very important meetings? He puts his family around him in ways, interacting with our government in unprecedented ways. First administration with his son in law and his daughter. Now even he has his son in law and another real estate developer negotiating, trying to negotiate the end to a war. We have professionals that have trained their entire careers to do this kind of work. He ignores them and he puts people that have little to no experience at this. And you can see the results. I mean, where we got into a conflict here in Iran and the president is just flailing, cannot figure out how to get out of it. Then he sends his son in law and Steve Wyckoff there to try to negotiate it and things don't go well. Like big surprise. Why would you think it would go well if you sent them to negotiate it?
- [17:35]
Jen Psaki
It's the con again. So blatant. Exactly what he's doing and who he's sending on these trips. It's also how they phrase things. The Trump family is always, I'm not participating in official meetings. It's like, are you locked in your hotel room? Are you having breakfast? Are you having dinners? I have a lot of questions I can suggest.
- [17:49]
Senator Mark Kelly
Yeah, I'd like to know where you're going, who you're meeting, exactly what are
- [17:52]
Jen Psaki
you doing while you're there? Let me ask you about J.D. vance, because he was out there today. I will say this, you don't have to. You could be running against him at some point in the future for higher office. You never know. And he was out there today saying that Donald Trump cares deeply about fraud while he was announcing massive cuts to programs that essentially help poor people, people with disabilities, seniors across the country. I. I have my own theories about what this is all about. What is it all about?
- [18:20]
Senator Mark Kelly
Well, I don't know. I mean, I just. Every single day when I wake up and I look at what this administration is doing, and it's not only the president, it's the people around him. It's the Secretary of Defense, who in my view, most unqualified guy ever in this job. A bunch of sycophants to the President, looking to kiss up to him at every single opportunity, including somebody I used to serve with. With, which is J.D. vance. I mean, just trying to find every moment when he can try to please the President. That is not a recipe for success of any organization. I mean, I used to. You know, when I. When I was flying the space shuttle, I used to tell my crew members, I used to tell them this. That they're required to question my decisions. And then we would have to talk about it, and we'll figure it out together as a team. I don't think you ever see anything like that from this president. He is right. He thinks he knows more than everybody else, and he has a team of people around him that reinforce this behavior of thinking that he is the smartest person in the room. Remember, this is a guy who said, I went to military high school. I know more than admirals and generals about how to fight a war, about our Department of Defense. That is not the way the world works. And we can see from, you know, his. His lack of success, especially in this second term, just the danger of electing somebody of. Of this kind of temperament.
- [19:55]
Jen Psaki
It's such an important. I mean, I worked for two presidents. They both sought out differences in the room, people who disagreed, dissenting opinions. That's a healthy thing. And that is certainly not what's happening here. Okay. Senator Kelly, you've been so generous with your time. You're gonna stick around through a commercial break? I want to talk when we get back about someone you just mentioned, Secretary Pete Hegseth and his ongoing war in general, but also against you. In his latest salvo on social media, he says captain in quotation marks. There we go. Mark Kelly strikes again. Now he's blabbing on TV falsely and dumbly about a classified Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath again? Department of World Legal Counsel will review. That's very ranty. I'm sure you have thoughts. Can't wait to hear them. We'll be right back.
- [20:47]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea for 250 years. That idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today, those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs, with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text Ms. Now to 511-511-Text Ms. Now to 511-51-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [21:16]
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- [21:24]
Progressive Political Commentator
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- [21:27]
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- [21:40]
Jen Psaki
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- [21:51]
Progressive Political Commentator
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- [21:54]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
Oh no.
- [21:56]
Progressive Political Commentator
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- [22:07]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
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- [22:09]
Progressive Political Commentator
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- [22:14]
Jen Psaki
Save on Serta Perfect Sleeper X at a retailer near you, Weekend Fox host turned secretary of maximum lethality. His favorite phrase. Pete Hegseth is once again threatening the person sitting right next to me at this table, this time for, quote, blabbing about what Hegseth claims was classified information involving the depletion of US Weapons stockpiles and the time it would take to replenish them. But the concern about US Munition levels isn't new. I mean, we've talked about it a lot on this show. It's been widely reported on for months. Here's an article from April published by. Oh, what's that? You see that? You see the insignia on the top? Pete Hegset's former employer, Fox News, they published that article. And as for Kelly's reference to the timing of when these stockpiles could be replenished, he was literally quoting what Pete Hegseth said in his public Senate hearing last month. It's pretty clear the entire point is to intimidate people into mindlessly accepting the Trump hegseth warped version of reality about this war. Just yesterday, Trump accused news outlets of committing virtual treason for doing their jobs and reporting on the realities of this conflict. And roughly 30 minutes after that meltdown, the New York Times published a new piece detailing how U.S. intelligence shows that Iran still retains substantial capabilities. Today, Ms. Now confirmed key pieces of that reporting, including that 90% of Iran's Strait of Hormuz launch sites and 70% of its missile stockpile and mobile launchers survived U.S. airstrikes. And that is the actual reality. This administration doesn't want Senator Kelly or reporters or really any of us to talk about. And Senator Mark Kelly is back with me. I mean, Pete Heck said you're, you're clearly in his craw. We know that. We've talked about it quite a bit. You're winning in the courts. He's threatening you yet again. I just read, read from his post
- [24:13]
Senator Mark Kelly
why I think he doesn't want to be held accountable. I think when he gets asked hard questions, he's got a bunch of talking points. He's. He spends a lot of his time in the Pentagon. Right. People immediately around him. He fired a bunch of people, doesn't want to be held accountable. Just like the rest of the city administration. They put a lot of yes people around him. He censured me for saying that. Actually, it's in the censure letter that I accused him and this administration of having a lot of yes men around them. That was one of their grievances against me. That and saying I would always defend the Constitution, but it's about accountability. Know they've made a lot of mistakes. He's hit 15,000 targets. You remember he said we set new records. 10,000, 12,000, 15,000. Talks about investigating me. I mean, if there should be any investigation, it should be who decided to do that and get so little to show for it? What do we have to show for it? We have 13 dead Americans. There's at least 150 dead little Iranian kids. Straight A. Hormuz is closed. Gas prices are skyrocketing in my state. 45480 a gallon in Phoenix. That could go up more from here. And they do not have an answer. This administration is flailing, it feels to me.
- [25:33]
Jen Psaki
I mean, you have been fearless from the beginning in responding to this. But there are a lot of people who are former, who have formerly served, former members of the military who, some of whom speak out, some who may not want to. Do you think Part of this is silencing other people, scaring them.
- [25:48]
Senator Mark Kelly
Think they have told me, yeah, I've had admirals and generals, some have been out of the military for a while, some have recently departed who have come up to me and have told me that what is happening to me has changed what they say publicly and what they do. I mean, think about that. I mean, this is a suppression of the, our most fundamental constitutional right. The First Amendment is the one that kind of ensures the other constitutional rights. And it's very obvious that this isn't about me. They're trying to silence retired service members. Two million of us that are out there that have a role in our democracy. I mean, we have the experience to be able to, you know, call out bullshit when we see it. We, they don't like that the president wants to shut us up. That's why he can say something like I should be hanged because he thinks that's going to, going to intimidate me. Or Pete Hague says, saying I'm going to be investigated. But I've said it a thousand times. I'm not going to be intimidated. I'm not going to be silenced. I am sticking up for the constitutional rights of 2 million retired service members and really for all of us.
- [27:02]
Jen Psaki
And I hope other people aren't silenced too. It's easy for me to say. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Mark Kelly for being here.
- [27:08]
Senator Mark Kelly
Appreciate it.
- [27:09]
Jen Psaki
Okay, up next, another cabinet secretary tried to defend the incredibly shady no bid contracts Donald Trump is giving out for his D.C. renovations no one asked for. And here's how that went.
- [27:23]
Senator Mark Kelly
We had 19 fountains across the city that didn't work. That's the serious injury to the government. The serious injury to the government.
- [27:34]
Jen Psaki
Trust me, it only got worse from there. And Congressman Joe Negus joins me next.
- [27:43]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms. But progress isn't guaranteed. Today, those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom from Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs, with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text MSNOW to 511-511-Text MSNOW to 511-51-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [28:13]
Simplisafe Advertiser
In the US there's a break in every 26 seconds. But when intruders step near Simplisafe, home security steps up.
- [28:20]
Progressive Political Commentator
Stop. This is Simplisafe.
- [28:21]
Senator Mark Kelly
Police are on the way.
- [28:23]
Simplisafe Advertiser
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- [28:34]
Jen Psaki
promo code sxm Outdoor deterrence requires a SimpliSafe Active Guard outdoor protection plan starting at $49.99 a month. Visit SimpliSafe.com licenses for alarm license information.
- [28:41]
Progressive Political Commentator
Tennessee 2012 Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.com, start for free, and finally breathe.
- [29:04]
Jen Psaki
For weeks, Donald Trump has been bragging about his big renovations to the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. And the Trump administration hired a company that had never worked for the federal government before, giving them a special no bid contract that has grown from an initial cost of around $1.8 million to more than $13 million. And now it appears that project isn't going so well. The New York Times reports that the repairs appear uneven and behind schedule, and so naturally, Trump is distancing himself from the company doing those repairs. Posting on Truth Social quote I didn't give out the contract quote. I don't know why. It's in quotes. Interior did to a contractor I did not know and have never used before. Interesting. I mean, why would anyone assume Trump had chosen the contractor for this pool project?
- [29:56]
Doug Burgum
I said, you know, Doug, I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools. I said, what we're going to do is I'm going to call all three of these people that have worked for me in the past doing swimming pools. So I call people that do swimming pools. And I said, go take a look at it. I said, I have an idea. I'm going to send my contractor over and take a look. I have some very good contractors, some good one or two in particular. And I said, the two of the. Actually, the three best. He looked at it, he called me up, he said, sir, we can do something on it. He came back, he said, what an exciting job, sir.
- [30:34]
Jen Psaki
Oh, right. Maybe because Donald Trump said repeatedly in public, on camera, that he personally chose his pool guys to renovate the reflecting pool, which is not a swimming pool. And I don't know if he's confused or not. And now the New York Times has obtained documents from Interior Department staff that raise concerns about the quality and speed of the repairs. That document reportedly says that there are bubbles and holes in the waterproofing and uneven coating has left the pool mottled in various shades of blue, which is weird because the reflecting pool wasn't bright blue before. I mean, why are they going to all that trouble to paint it bright blue in the first place?
- [31:14]
Doug Burgum
We actually picked a color. It was called American flag blue. It's called American flag blue. I said, that's the color I want. I said, that's the color I want. I want American flag blue. American flag blue. I said, that's the color I like. Well, I picked American flag. See the blue? I picked American flag. It was called American flag blue.
- [31:36]
Jen Psaki
All right? That's why this whole project seems like a huge freaking mess. I mean, the renovations are shoddy, the budget's ballooning, and it's also reportedly behind schedule, which is especially noteworthy because the Trump administration skirted the rules for choosing federal contractors specifically because they said it needed to be done before the America 250 celebration on July 4th. Today, Democratic Congressman Jonah Goose pressed Trump's Interior secretary about how this all came about.
- [32:06]
Congressman Joe Neguse
Who picked this company? Because President Trump a few months ago in a New York Times article, said, I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools. He looked at it, he called me up, he said, sir, we can do something on it.
- [32:19]
Senator Mark Kelly
The National Park Service and the leaders on the National Mall are the ones that picked it.
- [32:23]
Congressman Joe Neguse
A no bid contract is reserved for situations where, quote, any delay would cause serious injury to the government.
- [32:30]
Senator Mark Kelly
We had 19 fountains across the city that didn't work. 82,000 to the government. The serious injury to the government.
- [32:38]
Jen Psaki
Joining me now is the guy who couldn't keep a straight face there. I wouldn't have been able to either. Democratic Congressman Joe Negus, ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands. Okay, this story, I mean, Trump spent weeks saying he chose his pool guy for this contract. And the White House told the New York Times that Trump didn't have a personal relationship with the contractor, but was familiar with their work. Then Doug Burgum told that the contractor Trump kept talking about wasn't part of the project at all. And of course, the work is incredibly shy. What is. What is going on here to the degree, you know.
- [33:11]
Congressman Joe Neguse
Well, first and foremost, thanks for having me on, Jen, and thank you for your reporting. I think in exposing these improprieties, as you saw from that exchange, there are more questions than answers. The reality is that Secretary Burgum really couldn't offer a cogent rationale for why his agency gave a no bid, $13 million contract to this contractor, who apparently, by all accounts, has never had a federal contract before. And of course, as you've Covered extensively the conflicting reports. One day the president claims that it's his pool guy. Then he denies that that's the case and that he had nothing to do with it. The secretary really had no particular answer to the questions that I posed. So I think that we're going to find out that there are even more improprieties. At best, it is a gross waste of taxpayer resources. At worst, it's another violation, potentially of federal procurement laws. And I think more generally, it's symptomatic of the grift and the fraud. And I think the corruption that we've seen within this administration just metastasize over the course of the last 18 months.
- [34:16]
Jen Psaki
Your point about it being a pattern is so important. I mean, the reflecting pool for those of us who live in Washington or anyone who's visited, is obviously a historic landmark, but it's bigger than that. I mean, they are giving out no bid contracts to companies, doing not just that, but the ballroom renovation, repairing fountains in Lafayette Park. Help us understand why it's so important. I mean, I know the answer to this, but you actually have oversight over this for there to actually be a bidding process and for these contracts to be to go through official processes through the federal government.
- [34:49]
Congressman Joe Neguse
Well, first, I'll say anyone who doubts that this is pervasive throughout the administration, look no further than former Secretary Kristi
- [34:55]
Senator Mark Kelly
Noem, as you know, who was fired
- [34:57]
Congressman Joe Neguse
at least in part, based off of all of the improprieties there that her department was engaged in under her leadership. Look, at the end of the day, this is taxpayer money. It is not Donald Trump's money. It doesn't belong to his billionaire cabinet that he's assembled. It is the money of hardworking taxpayers. We have federal procurement laws for a reason, so that ultimately the taxpayers are not getting fleeced by virtue of any potential conflicts of interest. And of course, in this case, you have Donald Trump saying this is going to cost 1 million, $2 million. It's ballooned now to $13 million. Lord only knows how high that number will ultimately go. By the way, just contextually, he's asked Congress for a $10 billion slush fund for these vanity projects while they are gutting the public land management agencies that folks out west, in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountain west that I represent rely on day in, day out. So I think the American people are fed up with this kind of corruption, and that's why, in part, his unfavorability is so high.
- [35:54]
Jen Psaki
It's such an important point. I mean, federal government money is not Endless. It's not growing on trees. If they're spending it on things like repainting bright blue American flag blue, the reflecting pool, they're not spending it on other things.
- [36:07]
Congressman Joe Neguse
Exactly.
- [36:07]
Jen Psaki
I'm so grateful you're here. Thank you so much for being here with me and for, for Grill and Secretary Burgum there today. It was fun to, it was fun to watch you do that.
- [36:15]
Congressman Joe Neguse
Thank you.
- [36:16]
Jen Psaki
Okay. We are now just moments away from Donald Trump's big summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China. We'll see. There's lots to be said about that. And whether or not Trump realizes it, the people he brought with him on this trip highlight pretty much every single failure of his administration. Congressman Ro Khanna is going to join me here at the table to talk about that when we come back. We are moments away from the start of Donald Trump's high stakes bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping. And one of the things about this trip that really struck me and a lot of our smart producers is who joined Trump in Beijing beyond his top US Officials and of course, adult son and daughter in law who are just there, as they claim, on personal capacity. Sure, whatever. But in addition to them along for the ride is a posse of top US CEOs. Now, I can attest that that alone isn't problematic or uncommon. Presidents, including the two I've worked or have historically asked influential business leaders to accompany them sometimes or meet them on major diplomatic trips. But in Trump's case, some interesting choices have certainly been made at a time when millions of Americans can't afford to buy gas, pay rent, pay for healthcare, put food on the table. Because his list of invited CEOs includes none other than that guy Elon Musk, whose Doge brainchild not only wasted over $21 billion in taxpayer money, according to one report, but induced so much chaos and pain that to this day, it is still hard to fully quantify the damage. Then there's also Blackstone CEO and co founder Steve Schwarzman. He's there. His company has become notorious for aggressively buying up rental homes and worsening the country's housing crisis. Trump has pledged to ban companies from hoarding America's housing stock, but so far, that promise has not been kept. The CEOs of major credit card companies, Visa, MasterCard and Citi are also in China at the very same time. They're raking it in because a record number of Americans report going into credit card debt to pay for the rising cost of living. And I would be remiss If I didn't mention, of course, disgraced Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner, director of the Melania super film, who was previously forced out of Hollywood at the height of the MeToo movement. Quite a resume that guy has. Now, his spokeswoman confirmed with the Washington Post that he too, hitched a ride on Air Force One and is scouting locations for his next Rush Hour movie, which Trump just happens to be a fan of. Now, why exactly Trump chose to invite the physical manifestations of some of his biggest failures on such a critical trip abroad is beyond me, but I have someone joining me who I'm certain has some additional thoughts on that and lots of things about this trip. Joining me now is Congressman Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, where many of the companies represented in Trump's CEO entourage urbase. He's also the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China. Okay, let me start with Elon Musk. There's a lot to be said there. He's on this trip, and I just have to mention reports he flew to China with Trump despite a federal judge ordering him to remain here in the US Ready to testify in a trial over a lawsuit he filed against OpenAI. He seemed to think the risk is worth it, I guess. What's he doing on this trip? What do you make of that?
- [39:39]
Progressive Political Commentator
What happened to the forgotten Americans? What happened to the farmers and the manufacturers that Trump was supposed to stand up for? Instead, he's taking the richest person in the world who has jobs in China, not jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, union jobs. He's got jobs in China and he's basically taking people like Elon and the world's elite to beg China for money. He's asking them to put in a trillion dollars into the United States to have non union labor, to have people who are not going to play by the rules. I mean, he has totally betrayed the fundamental thing he ran on, which is that globalization is shafting American workers. Now he's taking Wall street and tech CEOs to China, begging them for investment and offshoring our jobs.
- [40:25]
Jen Psaki
There's a lot of things happening in this trip, right? I mean, there is real concern, again from I think, bipartisan members of Congress, that he might give in to what China wants on Taiwan, as you mentioned, he's begging them for money on behalf of these CEOs. What's kind of the best and worst case scenario coming out of this trip, in your view?
- [40:44]
Progressive Political Commentator
Well, the worst case scenario is that he agrees to allow China to put a trillion dollars into the United States Let me just give you an example because I was in Ohio. Fuyao, it's a glass manufacturer, Chinese manufacturer. The Biden administration actually was investigating it. They've got undocumented labor, they're abusing their labor and they're putting pressure on a steel manufacturer in Pennsylvania. And nothing is happening under Trump. Now imagine if he's got trillion dollars of Chinese companies here with no labor laws, no union labor competing against American workers, hurting our auto workers or steel workers. So we need to make sure he doesn't just sell out to the Chinese. What is the best case scenario, what he should be doing? Why didn't he take farmers on the trip and mid sized manufacturers on the trip and the steel workers?
- [41:30]
Jen Psaki
He's not taking normal people on the trip. Get out of here.
- [41:33]
Progressive Political Commentator
Isn't that what he ran on? He said all these global elite, they shafted you, they shipped your jobs to China. I heard that in 2016 and 2020, 2024, that was his whole shtick. I'm not going to be for these elite, I'm going to be for you. You got shafted. And what does he do? He takes the very elite. He railed against the China to beg Xi Jinping for money. It's a, this is a worse betrayal. Like the corruption is one thing. He's betraying his entire rationale for political life. And you know who did bring these jobs back? President Biden. Manufacturing jobs, steel jobs. That was actually the record. He's the one who's offshoring him.
- [42:10]
Jen Psaki
That reminds me, let me ask you about a piece of hypocrisy here that I just can't get myself over. Maybe because I lived through some of it. Trump is taking Eric Trump, his son who is supposed to not have a job in the government. He says he's going to personal capacity. His spokespeople say he's not going to be attending official meetings. There is a lot of space outside of there. The FT today said that he has business in China while he's on this trip. What do you make of that? What questions do you have of that? Where's your spidey sense going on, Eric Trump being on this trip?
- [42:41]
Progressive Political Commentator
First of all, Jen, the hypocrisy because I'm on the oversight committee and having Republicans lecture for four years about something that Biden did when he was vice president and one of his sons was on some trip in some meeting and now you have the President of the United States openly taking his son with all these CEOs and the son has business interests in China and you're saying, yeah, it's fine. And not one Republican who spent four years complaining about Biden and saying, you know what, maybe you shouldn't have your son there doing business. I mean, there is no sense of shame in these folks. The corruption in this administration where you have UAE basically paying millions of dollars into their World Liberty Fund, where you have the crypto business and meme coins minting millions of dollars we haven't seen, where you have them taking their family members on foreign trips and you have Witkoff and Jared Kushner doing our Middle east policy with business interests there you've never seen. And they spent all this time going after Biden and not a single word about corruption. They spent all this time saying the global elite and now they're catering to the global elite. It is shameful because they're betraying the voters who voted for Trump. They're really betraying them.
- [43:58]
Jen Psaki
There are such a long list of things if Democrats win back the House that the oversight committee is going to have to work on. I hope you are keeping a very extensive list. Questions for the sons, the family, no bid contracts. So many questions out there. Thank you as always for being here with us.
- [44:15]
Progressive Political Commentator
Thank you, Jen.
- [44:16]
Jen Psaki
Appreciate it. Okay, you're looking live at Beijing where Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are about to meet face to face. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern on Ms. Now. And don't forget to follow the show on Bluesky, Instagram and TikTok.
- [44:39]
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