← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Trump's 'best people' are not doing very well; bad time to cut career public servants
00:41:38
Jen Psaki looks at a startling number of Trump Cabinet members whose lack of fitness for the jobs they serve is glaringly apparent, all while career public servants who make the government work regardless of the competence of the people in charge are struggling to adjust to crippling DOGE cuts and burdensome new red tape.
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- [00:00]
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Host 1
Courage.
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Nicole Wallace
I learned it from my adoptive mom.
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Host 1
Hold my hand. You hold my hand. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care@adoptuskids.org you can't imagine the reward brought to you by Adopt Us Kids, the U.S. department of Health and Human Services.
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Advertiser 1
And the Ad Council.
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Host 1
It's been a hell of a day. I mean, I could say that almost any day, but today has been a hell of a day. After a bizarre goodbye event in the Oval Office on Friday, and it was bizarre. Elon Musk apparently woke up today, decided to openly trash Donald Trump's disgusting abomination of a spending bill. His words, not mine. That's what he called it. We're gonna talk about that in the show for sure. Caroline Levitt gave another bonkers press briefing. So obviously, I'm gonna step in and answer a few questions a little later because it's too fun not to. And the great Nicole Wallace is gonna join me here in just a second to talk about everything happening in Washington right, right now. And there is a lot. But I want to start tonight with this. Do you hear that? That is the rare and blissful sound of silence. We rarely get that these days, because for the first time in his presidency, Donald Trump has not made a public appearance for three straight days. We're not sure why. Maybe he's tired. Maybe he's feeling a little low energy. Who knows? But for whatever reason, the president is taking his longest break from the public eye since retaking the White House. Now, if you're missing all of those nonsensical updates from the administration, because sometimes they're interesting to talk about, don't worry, because the president has surrounded himself with what he calls the best people, also his words, not mine, who are out there filling the void. People like former WWE wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who Trump inexplicably put in charge of the Department of Education. That's quite, quite an assignment for her. Secretary McMahon, of course, testified before the Senate today. And Republican senators kind of did their level best to lob her softball questions and make it look like she kind of knows what she's doing. I mean, here was Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen trying to tee her up for an easy one. What was we ranked in reading and math in 1979? I'm sorry, what?
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Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
What was we ranked nationally in math and reading in 1979?
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Host 1
We were very, very low on the tot.
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Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
We were number one in 1979.
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Host 1
We were very, very low on the totem pole. Actually, we were number one. Very awkward. That's the Secretary of Education, everyone. Now, in her limited defense, Senator Mullen's question was garbled nonsense. I mean, set aside the strange verb conjugation about what we was which ranked which, by the way, maybe that's confirmation that our education system needs help. He asked her how the US Ranked nationally when he clearly meant globally. So clearly, neither of these people are getting an A in reading comprehension or, frankly, grammar today. What about Math? We spend $1.58 billion a year on Trio. Yes. That's $1,580 million a year. So am I math, right? I think that's right, sir. And how long have we been spending $1,580 million a year on this program? More than 10 years. Yes. So that's over a trillion dollars. Okay. I understand that we was not ranked number one in math recently either, but something there seems off. Right. Don't have to be a mathematician. Maybe there's a Democrat on this committee who can help them out a little bit. Madam Secretary, and I'm not a great mathematician, but I think you were talking about a trillion dollars. I believe 1.5 billion times 10 is $15 billion. That's a little bit off from a trillion dollars, but I think the budget cuts. 1.2 billion for trillion. Well, 1.2. That would be $12 billion, not a trillion dollars. Okay. Okay. Thank goodness for Senator Jack Reid. Now, Republican senators and Trump's education secretary just spectacularly failed at math and a reading quiz of their own making while they were complaining about America falling behind in math and reading. But unfortunately, Linda McMahon is not the only one of Trump's best people who does not seem up to the job these days. I mean, here's the headline from the New York Times today. Acting FEMA chief told staff he didn't know about US Hurricane season. And here's more of what the story actually says. The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told employees on Monday that he did not know the United States has a hurricane season. Now, the Trump administration has said those comments were meant as a joke, but that was definitely not clear to people in the room. FEMA's now heading into a new Hurricane season with a staff that has been absolutely gutted thanks to Trump's cuts. And FEMA staff are reportedly also worried about the new director's lack of experience. I wonder why there. Maybe the new FEMA director should have Googled his job first to see what it entails. After all, that is what Trump's equally unqualified Social Security commissioner actually did and then talked about. We get a phone call, and it's about Social Security.
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Senator Jeff Merkley
And I'm really. I'm really not.
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Host 1
I swear, I'm not looking for a job. And I'm like, well, what am I going to do? So I'm Googling Social Security, you know, one of my great skills. I'm one of the great Googlers on the East Coast. I'm like, what the heck's the Commissioner of Social Security? What the heck's the Commissioner of Social Security? Well, sir, that's you. You are the Commissioner of Social Security. Now, to be fair, every member of Trump's cabinet seems to be kind of struggling to do their job these days. And honestly, a little Googling might serve some of them well. Could be worse. Googling might help them. I mean, take, for instance, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last week, we talked about how his much anticipated and much celebrated at the time by MAHA people. MAHA Report on American Health was riddled with citation errors and at least seven studies that didn't even exist. Well, Secretary Kennedy and his crack team took a crack at it again. The updated that report to fix those errors, which led to a new headline the next day. Here it is. The MAHA report has been updated with fresh errors. Yes, HHS swapped out the bogus studies in their first report with several new bogus studies. The actual authors of those new studies say HHS is still getting it wrong and is misrepresenting their work. So RFK Jr has now somehow managed to screw up the same report twice. Okay, so things aren't going great at FEMA or Social Security, hhs, but surely the Department of Homeland Security is running like a swish swatch, right? Well, last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent out a press release claiming that ICE had arrested a, quote, illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Donald J. Trump. It included an image of a handwritten letter, a threat letter that you can see on the screen there, that was sent to the President. Noem claimed that letter was sent by an undocumented immigrant in Milwaukee named Raymond Reyes. But it turns out local law enforcement officials did not think Raymond Reyes sent that letter. In fact, they think that Reyes was being set up. This is from a New York Times story that dropped late today, quote, not long after the announcement, the government story began to look shaky. And as detectives in Wisconsin began looking deeper, they came to believe Reyes had been framed. By this week, Milwaukee county prosecutors had filed identity theft and witness intimidation charges against another man, a lifelong Wisconsin resident. They said that man had written several threatening Letters that included Mr. Reyes name in the return address. Prosecutors said it was an attempt to catch the attention of the Trump administration and weaponize the threat of deportation against Mr. Reyes, with who is scheduled to testify against the man at a robbery trial next month. So this guy who is actually on trial for a crime, basically tried to trick the Trump administration into deporting the witness who would testify against him. That's what happened. And the Department of Homeland Security appears to have fallen for it. They had exactly what he wanted. I don't know. Maybe Christina would be better off solving crimes if she was dressing up like Sherlock Holmes. She loves to dress up. Couldn't hurt. Maybe she could try it. Meanwhile, Trump's intelligence chief appears to be struggling with her job, as well. As Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is responsible for making sure that Donald Trump is up to date on the latest intelligence, which includes, of course, reading his presidential daily briefing, digesting all of it. But apparently that is proving very difficult. Since taking office, Trump has taken his daily intelligence briefing less than once a week, which is far less than previous presidents, including Trump himself during his first term. And so Tulsi Gabbard is now resorting to what I would call creative methods. According to NBC News, one idea that's been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that's made to look and feel like a Fox News broadcast. A new PDB could not only include not only graphics and pictures, but also maps and animated representations of its exploding bombs, similar to a video game. That is NBC's reporting. In other words, because Tulsi Gabbard is bad at her job and the President of the United States doesn't like to read, career intelligence staffers may be forced to put on some kind of Fox News puppet show in order to get the President to pay attention to intelligence threats against the United States and otherwise. Just digest that for a moment. And that is really part of the problem with all this. We all know when it comes to people, Trump is not sending his best. But at least the career public servants who have been the heart and soul of every administration, Democratic and Republican, should still be able to do their jobs right. There's a whole system of dedicated federal workers who actually make the government function and in turn make even the most incompetent look vaguely competent. But Trump is making it impossible for them to do their jobs too. I mean, the Washington Post recently dug into all the ways Trump's efforts to increase government efficiency have ironically buried federal workers under red tape. Here's part of what the story says at NASA, employees recently wrote several detailed paragraphs across multiple rounds of emails to win approval to buy simple fastening bolts. Fastening bolts, folks required multiple paragraphs of emails. At the Food and Drug Administration once routine tests on food monitoring for accuracy in labeling, coloring and exposure to heavy metals were delayed significantly because the agency began requiring department level approval for expenses at every step, purchasing samples to test, paying to ship samples between labs, buying lab supplies. What could go wrong there? It's only the Food and Drug Administration. At air traffic control towers at two dozen west coast airports, officials are unable to easily pay to have the windows washed and shades cleaned, which is obviously important. At the Social Security Administration, Trump officials and Doge pushed thousands of central office workers to take lower level positions, answering phones in field offices, threatening to fire whoever did not make the jump, according to emails reviewed by the Post and interviews with a half a dozen agency employees. So government officials cannot purchase bolts for rockets, do food safety testing, or wash the windows and and air traffic control towers without wading through layers and layers of new Trump approved red tape. Workers at Social Security are being forcibly demoted to call center workers because of Trump's workforce cuts. All of the real people who make our government run and have made governments run for decades are being squeezed and all we're left with is the bizarre and clueless leadership of Trump's so called very best people. My friend and colleague Nicole Wallace is standing by. She just launched a new podcast aptly called the Best people. It's number one on Apple and she joins me live in just 90 seconds.
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Nicole Wallace
Courage.
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Host 1
I learned it from my adoptive mom. Hold my hand. You hold my hand. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care@adoptuskids.org you can't imagine the reward brought to you by Adopt Us Kids, the U.S. department of Health and Human Services.
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Advertiser 1
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Host 1
Joining me now is my friend and colleague Nicole Wallace, host of Deadline White House and of the brand new number one podcast on Apple Podcasts. That's not easy to do, by the way. The best people with Nicole Wallace. We also have this funny thing in common, which is we were both White House communications directors for two different presidents, and you're one of my favorite people to talk to about all sorts of things, but including what is normal and what is completely wacky and sane. That is important to remind people of. So it's great to see you. Let me just start by asking. Of course. And I wanna talk about your podcast. I listened to the episode with you and Rachel today, which was so enjoyable. Jason Bateman's next. Don't tell Jason Bateman. I wanted to start by just asking you about everything we're seeing right now. I mean, I just started talking a little bit about what we're seeing from some of these cabinet officials who work for Trump. And sometimes we don't pay attention to them. And actually, that may mean they're really doing their jobs. But right now there's a FEMA chief who doesn't know hurricane season is a thing. You have a Social Security chief who's having to Google his job. The Education secretary is struggling to answer very basic math and reading questions. What goes through your mind?
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Nicole Wallace
Look, I think that one of the conversation we have most often off television is probably something that we should have on television more often. And it's, it's how far from baseline are we? Right? There are baseline debates and disagreements about national security, and there are baseline debates about the deficit, and there are debates that have happened for decades. But this is not that.
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Host 1
This is.
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Nicole Wallace
And the reason I grabbed the best people is I actually thought it was one of Trump's better branding endeavors. Right. And I think it was one of the ways he becomes president in 2016, it's, you know, Trump is the celebrity from the Apprentice. And if you're nervous about that guy being president, he's promised to bring in the best people. He made no such promise this time. Right. Like, his first pick was Matt Gaetz. And so we knew there were no more best people. And I think that what he's really testing is the limits of people's tolerance for incompetence and chaos, which have never been parts of Trumpism that even his own voters were excited about. So, you know, you have this category of universally value things, safe trips on airplanes. Everybody wants that nepartisan affiliation, wanting to feel safe when you're flying with your family. And they're throwing all of that confidence that people had. I mean, what you were just talking about, the food supply, the water supply, the drug supply, Tylenol, I mean, everything that people want to be able to not just take themselves, but give to their kids and not worry about it being unsafe is on the line this.
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Host 1
Time, and it's so important. I think this is one of the things I've learned or reflected on since the election is to talk about those real examples about how things are impacting people's lives, because it does matter who's governing. Let me ask you this story about the potential Fox News modeled intelligence briefing. I mean, your eyeballs, I imagined you're a national security nerd just like me. We've sat in on all sorts of briefings. Maybe popped out of your head. Mine kind of did. What's striking to me is that it's not just creating more work for the intelligence community, which is not political at all, and in some ways manipulating intelligence, or it could lead to that. It also feels to me like it's another example of Trump needing to kind of have his ego propped up and things served to him in, like, elementary school, complimentary ways. But what do you make of it?
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Nicole Wallace
Look, I think folks like Sue Gordon or any former intelligence official would tell you if the policymaker wanted the briefing in hieroglyphics, they would give it to them that way, that it is their job to serve it up, however the policymaker wants it. So I don't think the problem right. Is like, is on the policymakers accommodating or the intel and community trying to accommodate the policymaker. I think this is also year nine of one of the most haunting aspects of Trumpism, and it's his lack of curiosity. Why is it so hard to make this a product he wants? Your boss and mine got up eager to see this it was the first thing they did every day. And if anything changed between their morning briefing and the next morning, they got another briefing. I mean, the people that traveled with our bosses that were in that essential package were their briefers, because no matter where they were, they wanted to know what the threats were to our country. So to me, the most, I mean, it's comical almost the lengths they have to go to, but that's what they signed up for. I think what's eerie is that it's so hard to make him want to take in this information. Why is that?
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Host 1
Everybody wants access to the intelligence briefing. I mean, because you want to know what's happening. I love that you're doing a podcast. It is really good. And I loved listening to you and Rachel talk. And any of us who have sat next to you on sets while you eat small pellet food, which seems to be what you often eat for many hours, knows you care about so many things, about democracy and about national security, but also about your kids and all sorts of things. So I wanted to know how you. How you picked the people that you wanted to talk to.
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Nicole Wallace
Well, you know, what I said to you privately? I mean, I stand on the shoulders of your roaring success with Blueprint of Alex Wagner's with Trump Land, obviously, Rachel the Goat with Ultra and Chris Hayes and all those successful MSNBC podcasters, I wanted to have convert. You know, one of my theories of the case, right, for how we got here is that maybe we took those conversations about childcare or squeezing in date night. I think squeezing it in is maybe half of the problem, right, or whatever it is that we worry about in our life. And we took politics and we put it somewhere else. And so it's sort of my effort to put political concerns or questions back on the table with grocery shopping, the Costco run, you know, everything else in our lives. So the conversations all veer into deep and smart political. Not debates, but conversations. But it's alongside all the other stuff in our lives.
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Host 1
I love that that's how you talk to your neighbors about everything, right? You're talking about each other, you know, right?
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Nicole Wallace
We all get on set and we ask, you know, everyone about their kids playing sports or about their dogs or about the parents. And so I think that, you know, in reflecting on, you know, what. What to do in this, this time of Trump, it. Conversations that are a little bit broader.
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Host 1
Nicole Wallace, your podcast is so good. Jason Bateman, I'm listening tomorrow. I'm sure it's excellent. Congratulations on all your success already. He is thank you so much, my friend and your thank you for joining. All right, coming up, picture this. You're the White House press secretary and the richest man in the world just called your boss's bill a disgusting abomination. That ain't easy. But it was another tough day, therefore, for Caroline Levitt. So I'm going to step in, answer some questions for her. I'm going to just jump in there a little bit after a quick break. My name is Lily and I've had Hydradinitis Suprativa HS for years. I finally found some relief since taking Cosentyx. Relief means I can show up more.
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Host 1
Your dermatologist about Cosentyx. I've never felt like this before. It's like you just get me. I feel like my true self with you. Does that feel so crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous? Okay, that's it. I'm taking you home with me. I mean, you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your DSW store or dsw.com this is an ad by BetterHelp. June is Men's Mental Health Month and every year 6 million men suffer from depression. If you're feeling overwhelmed, the strongest thing you can do is ask for help. And BetterHelp makes it easy. Take a short online quiz and connect from home with a qualified therapist. Visit betterhelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp h-e l p.com well, it was another day at the White House and another press briefing, so I figured why not take some of the questions again. Kelly o' Donnell, NBC News Take it away. We're in hurricane season and obviously there is great concern. Every year about the potential for that. Can you speak to how the president is planning to have the level of, of support should it be needed to be as it has been with a reduction in the workforce? And is he still comfortable with Administrator Richardson who had talked, whether joking or not, about not being aware of a hurricane season for this country? Well, Kelly, I mean, first of all, suggesting the FEMA administrator may have been joking about not knowing what hurricane season is, which is of course what the White House said feels like a generous interpretation given that four people told Reuters it wasn't clear at all that he was joking. So how on earth could any president be comfortable with him given hurricane season is now literally underway? Of course he can't be comfortable with him. As for your question, there isn't a way in the short term for FEMA to have the support it had in the past. They literally don't have the manpower. FEMA has lost roughly one third of its full time workforce since Trump took office. Trump has been delaying approvals of emergency assistance needed for states for no reason at all. So probably no confidence. And yeah, reason to be concerned. Okay. Brian Schwartz, Wall Street Journal. Reuters was reporting that there is a.
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Advertiser 1
Letter that is meant to be sent.
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Host 1
To other countries which would give these.
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Advertiser 1
Countries a deadline of Wednesday to produce their best offer on the trade matter. Why does the administration feel the need to send this letter?
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Host 1
Okay, setting aside the legality, legality of these tariffs, which is a very important question, but it's also a question that's still being fought in court, the letter is bluster. I mean, it's just a PR play to pretend that he is being tough on other countries. Remember, Trump's self imposed deadline to reach new trade deals or impose sweeping tariffs is just over a month away. July 8th. And while the Trump administration claimed claimed that there would be 90 deals in 90 days and Trump himself said he had negotiated hundreds of deals already, there have actually been a grand total of zero official deals signed. The administration feels the need to send this letter because it's feeling the pressure from a creeping deadline and they know that they need something to show for their so far disastrous policy. Okay, way in the back. Diana Glabova from the New York Post. Why not? There's a report that Laura Loomer met with the vice President today. Can you speak to her relationship with the administration and if you know if she's informally advising in any way? Well, Laura Loomer is advising enough that a meeting she had with Trump at the White House was promptly followed by the firing of a half a dozen national security officials that she recommended he get rid of promptly after the meeting. So yeah, I would say that was unofficially advising whatever you want to call it. Why was she meeting with Vance today? I mean, honestly, who knows? Should we wait on a slow firings perhaps? Who knows? But last question, one more time for one more Fox News own Peter Doocy. Take us away. How mad do you think President Trump is going to be when he finds.
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Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
Out that Elon Musk said I'm sorry.
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Host 1
But I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
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Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
Shame on those who voted for it.
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Host 1
You know you did wrong. You know it. I appreciate that, Peter. Read that whole quote with dramatic flair, but I never want to be in Donald Trump's headspace. But considering how Trump has gone after Republicans in his own caucus who have criticized this bill, some very specifically and considering just how thin skinned this man seems to be, I would guess that he's probably fuming and perhaps maybe rethinking having a press conference in the Oval Office with the black eyed billionaire the same day the New York Times reported about his alleged rampant drug abuse. Who knows? Remember, Trump still wants money and the MAGA spin on X. So he probably isn't going to say much at all and the White House probably won't either. My guest is Senator Jeff Merkley has much more to say. We'll see. He's the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee and he joins me here at the table next. So today is a day that ends in Y, which quite often means it is a day that Donald Trump had a little bit of a temper tantrum. I mean, this morning he lashed out against Republican Senator Rand Paul for not supporting his big ugly bill. Now what's strange here is that Trump is singling out Senator Paul while choosing to ignore a much louder critic of the tax bill. I mean, just today Elon Musk posted this. This massive, outrageous pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong. Tell us how you really feel, Elon. Remember he was at a party in the Oval Office for him just a few days ago. Now, despite totally ignoring Musk's criticism in public, Trump was somewhat irked by those comments in private, according to Axios. Of course he was with a source in Trump world claiming that Elon was, quote, butthurt in part because the bill didn't include giveaways to his companies. Boo hoo. Elon. Sorry for you, Rich Billionaire. However you couch it, though, it's the latest sign that Trump's big, ugly bill faces maybe a rocky road. Some rocky moments ahead at least, especially since the lawmakers who actually support it are having a pretty hard time defending the sweeping Medicaid cuts that will leave millions without health care. Listen closely to what Senator Roger Marshall said today. We got folks that are afraid of.
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Senator Jeff Merkley
The small Medicaid cuts that we made already. Medicaid cuts that are going to strengthen Medicaid.
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Host 1
Medicaid cuts are going to strengthen Medicaid. Really? So wait, that's what you're going with? That was what you came up with in the back room? Maybe Senate Majority Leader John Thune will have a better defense. Let's see.
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Senator Jeff Merkley
People are looking for health care. The best health care is a job.
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Host 1
So it appears the Senate majority leader does not understand the point of Medicaid. Saat got bogged down in the details because according to Senator Joni Ernst, we're all going to die anyways. That was her defense of the proposed Medicaid cuts last week. And now she's doubling down. In a selfie video that appears to have been taken in a cemetery. Senator Ernst had a pretty sarcastic message for those concerned about losing their health care.
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Nicole Wallace
I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth. So I apologize. And I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.
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Host 1
Literally in a cemetery. Everyone, which I don't know who advised on that. But I'm also not sure that telling voters that you're going to, quote, perish is the best message for 2026. But no one's asking for my advice now. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley. He's the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. Senator, it's great to see you.
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Senator Jeff Merkley
This is wonderful to be with you.
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Host 1
It's a big week on this bill. And as much as we can just give an overview of how crazy the efforts to defend these cuts are, there's some serious, a lot of serious stuff in this bill. But I wanted to start by asking you about Elon Musk's opposition and his comments and what you make of that. And if that's going to have an impact, do you think, on any of your Senate Republican colleagues?
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Senator Jeff Merkley
Well, you know, when I heard Elon say it's an abomination, I'm like, well, damn right it's an abomination. I hear Elon and I are Right on the same line, maybe for different reasons. I mean, a bill that is going to result in millions of children going hungry to fund tax breaks for the richest Americans, that some 14 million people are going to lose health care coverage, and that has a huge impact on the health of their families in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires. Big beautiful bill. Big beautiful betrayal might be a better thing to call it because Trump campaigned on being there for families. But in the end, it's families lose and billionaires win.
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Host 1
No kidding. I've been calling it the big ugly bill because I refuse to call it the big beautiful bill. Let me ask you, we were just talking about this before we came on because sometimes you see some Republicans out there. I mean, Senator Paul has been pretty consistently critical. Senator Hawley has been, but he met with Trump. Shelley Moore Capito has expressed worry about the Medicaid cuts. You follow this. Few people follow this more closely than you. Do you think that some of these Republicans may actually ultimately vote against a bill or how much hope are you holding out for that?
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Senator Jeff Merkley
Well, I think there are a couple folks who may vote against the bill and Senator Paul may well be one of them. I mean, there's a lot of concern by the senators from Alaska and Maine about the impact of health care. You know, and folks who come from really rural states, my goodness, you have a much higher rate of sign up for their version of Medicaid in their home state. It goes by a different name in every state. And the impact on rural hospitals and rural health care clinics is going to to be very significant. There's other centers that really are still riled by the amount of national debt this is going to create. Not just the 5 or so trillion over the 10 years, but CBO's, roughly 50 trillion over 30 years. And that's only if the interest rates don't go up, in which case you can add another 24 billion trillion trillion with a T onto it. So if there's a fiscal conservative left in the Republican side of the aisle, we might actually get a no vote there.
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Host 1
We will see. I wanted to ask you, I mean, there are lots of stages in this process. You've been filled through how many reconciliation processes? But it has to go through what's called the bird bath, which we always talk about. Every couple of years the parliamentarian has to review it because these type of reconciliation bills have to be budgetary. There can't be policy making in there in that way. What are some of the things? There's been a couple that have been reported. But you again are so close to this. That could be pulled out through the birdbath and the parliamentary process.
- [34:49]
Senator Jeff Merkley
Yes. On the House side, they put a bunch of policies in and a policy by itself that is not there for the amount of money that it raises or for the spending impact isn't allowed. And that's the Byrd bath, named after Robert Byrd of West Virginia. And an example would be saying that judges can no longer hold someone in contempt or make it very difficult to do so. Another example would be saying to states that you can't pass any laws that try to regulate AI artificial intelligence. There's a host of things like that done to satisfy different folks in the House of Representatives that clearly will come out unless the Republicans go nuclear.
- [35:32]
Host 1
The contempt one, those are both really important. The contempt one, I think has been so eye popping for so many people. So we'll see what happens in this process.
- [35:39]
Senator Jeff Merkley
It's really a violation of the separation of powers. I mean, trying to say the courts can't function to hold people accountable.
- [35:45]
Host 1
Exactly. It shouldn't be in any bill, to be frank. Senator, it was great to see you. I hope you will come back. We're following this extremely closely. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [35:52]
Senator Jeff Merkley
Look forward to coming back. Thank you.
- [35:54]
Host 1
All right, we're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we're going to try and answer a question. Why doesn't Donald Trump want to seize superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs? Why? We're back after a very quick break. This is the Crimea Bridge. Russia built the bridge after it invaded Ukraine back in 2014. And the bridge directly connects mainland Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. You can see kind of where that is there. It serves as one of the most important supply lines for the Russian military in its war against Ukraine. The bridge is so important that Russian President Vladimir Putin christened it himself, driving the very first truck over the bridge when it opened a few years back. And this morning, Ukraine claimed that they did this to that bridge. This is what Ukraine claims to 2,420 pounds of TNT snuck in underwater and attached to one of the bridge's support beams. The Crimea bridge is now deep behind enemy lines for the Ukrainian military. American officials told the New York Times that the Russians have taken extraordinary steps to defend that bridge and protect it, like underwater barriers and a sophisticated air defense system. But still, somehow, Ukraine says they managed to get nearly two and a half thousand pounds of TNT under that bridge. And that attack, of course, comes just two days after this attack. The targeted drone operation the Ukrainian military called Spiderweb, where again, Ukraine managed to smuggle bomber drones deep behind enemy lines. Ukraine says they hit four different military sites all across Russia, including one site in Siberia nearly 3,000 miles away from Ukraine. Ukraine claims they smuggled more than 100 drones into Russia, shipping them snail mail style on the backs of trucks. Then once they were in place, all across Russia, all at the same time, the roofs of those trucks opened via remote and the drones flew to their targets. Ukrainian officials said the strike hit a third of Russians of Russia's strategic cruise missile carrier aircraft and cost the Kremlin an estimated $7 billion in damage. And while Ukraine is pulling off incredible feats like these, smuggling explosives by air, land and sea, deep behind enemy lines to damage Russia's war effort, Trump administration has stopped even doing the easy stuff. This is the Tango. It is a $90 million superyacht. It has a sky lounge, an outdoor movie theater, and even a special pool that generates a current so you can swim for exercise. Because how else would one be able to swim for exercise while aboard a boat? I suppose I wouldn't have any idea. And in 2022, the superyacht Tango was seized by authorities while docked off the coast of Spain. You see, the Tango was owned by Russian oligarch and close Putin ally Victor Vekselberg. So after Russia invaded Ukraine, the US Seized the Tango as part of an operation called Operation Klepto Capture, a strategic initiative by the Biden White House to capture the ill gotten gains of Russian oligarchs as a way to inflict some pain on Putin and his cronies and apply pressure on them to end the war. The US Confiscated yachts and mansions and airplanes and all sorts of spoils from the Russian oligarchy, all of which were being stashed outside of Russia where they could easily be seized. Now, that lasted right up until when Trump took office. And then two weeks into Trump's second term, in two lines buried on the fourth page of a Justice Department memo, Trump disbanded Operation Klepto Capture. Surprise, surprise. Trump just didn't want to take yachts from Russian oligarchs any longer. Hmm. Wonder why. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos, who's done extensive reporting on the rise of the impossibly rich, has a new book that might explain why. And he joins me next. Journalist Evan Osnos writes this about the rise of the ultra rich and the growing political scrutiny they face. Quote, the marina in Palm beach was thrumming with anxiety ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his assault on Ukraine. The superyacht world has come under scrutiny in Palm Beach. The yachting community worried that the same scrutiny might be applied to them. A top yacht salesman told him, say your superyacht is in Asia and there's some big conflict where China invades Taiwan. China could spin it as look at these American oligarchs. Now that does sound stressful on the poor billionaires, doesn't it? But there's a lot to dig into. Joining me now is Evan Osnow, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of the brand new book the Haves and have Dispatches on the Ultra Rich. There are so many great stories in this book and I want to talk about that. I just wanted to start with, I mean, before the break, I brought up Trump scrapping Operation Klepto Capture and a win for Russian oligarchs everywhere. I suppose they're the big winners in this, even domestically. As I just mentioned, you open your book with the scene of top billionaires sitting right by Trump at his inauguration. What's your reaction to how much everything in this administration seems to be for sale? Because that seems to be much more out in the open than anything has been in the past.
- [41:02]
Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
Yeah, you're right. I mean, in many ways, Jennet feels as if this is a golden age for the oligarchy. I mean, not only overseas in Russia, as you see, he is now gotten rid of this program which the US and allies were using to put pressure on oligarchs who are close to Vladimir Putin. But here at home, there are not only the very visible ways in which he has sought to surround himself with the most powerful business interests in this country, but also every day behind the scenes. Jen, I'm hearing about it from people who work in government affairs, who work in lobbying in Washington, who say we have never seen an exchange of money for influence on a scale like this. It is staggering. Even people who have been doing this for a long time. A million dollars for a group dinner with the president, money that goes to a super PAC called Maga Inc. Or $5 million for a one on one meeting. You know, even by the standards of Pay to Play, this is new and very uncertain territory.
- [41:56]
Host 1
One of the interesting points you made in the book is that visual we all sat and watched and sort of commented on of the inauguration, right, Was not really the start of the oligarchs building power in this country. It wasn't the start of all of these billionaires sort of coalescing around Trump or even trying to Saddle up to politicians in Washington. And it was an interesting point because I think at the time a lot of us said, well, this is the start of this. Right. And it really wasn't. So tell us more about that.
- [42:26]
Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
Yeah, it was a fascinating moment. You'll remember in the final days of the Biden administration, he talked about the rise of what he called an American oligarchy. Scholars of that subject told me that is first time they've ever heard the word oligarchy uttered in the Oval Office. And it is a real signal moment in the history of American power and money. Look, there has always been money to some degree in politics, but it has grown so dramatically over the course of the last two decades, it's almost easy for us to overlook. But take one statistic, Jen. In 2004, in that presidential election year, billionaires in this country contributed about $13 million to the election. Sounded like a lot at the time, except that in the most recent election, they contributed 200 more $3 billion into the election. There's just no way in which we can't recognize the fact that money is now shaping our politics more than it ever has in this country.
- [43:19]
Host 1
We've seen this is clearly causing a tremendous amount of outrage. There are protests all over the place nearly every day. We've seen anti Trump protests growing like Hands off in April and no Kings, which is a demo coming up next weekend. Organizers 50:51 are pushing for people to boycott billionaire owned brands, which is everybody's looking for kind of an action taken. Does public action like that help limit these oligarchs or what should people understand about the impact of it?
- [43:48]
Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
Yeah, that's actually a really interesting fact of history. The pattern is unbelievably clear that when you look at countries that have dealt with the rise of oligarchy and the places as, you know, disparate as South Africa, Ukraine, the Philippines. One of the very clear patterns is that public pressure, civil society is one of the forces that can actually push that back. And in fact, we've seen it here recently in Wisconsin, the effort to stand up, in effect, to Elon Musk's attempt to use his money to win the result by the result of that election. You know, that was a case, as scholars will put it to me, they said the only solution to oligarchic power is to dilute and balance it with citizen power. And the solution to that is, frankly, it' sthe kinds of protests you were just talking about. In some cases in history, it's been labor strikes, it's investigative reporting, but you have to keep up the pressure. It's a sustained movement over time, and we've seen already in the first few months of this administration that the public is simply not comfortable with what they're seeing. And some of these protests have been much larger than the organizers expected. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones coming up are too.
- [44:53]
Host 1
Yeah, me neither. I mean, the power of movements, I know from so many political campaigns myself, don't start in Washington, they start out in the country. They start in a grassroots way. You know, you focus on we went to the same high school, which is a little known fact. I don't know why anyone would focus on that fact. And you focus on the town we grew up in, which is so interesting. But I just wanted to say thank you for joining me. Your book is fascinating. It has so many good anecdotes in it and at such a time where people are trying to understand the influence of billionaires and what it means and how they're having a huge impact on our politics. So, Evan, congratulations. Thank you so much for joining me.
- [45:31]
Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
My pleasure. Thanks Jen, for having me.
- [45:33]
Host 1
That does it for me today. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue sky, Instagram and TikTok for now. Goodbye from Washington and we'll see you next week. My name is Lily and I've had Hidradenitis suprativa HS for years. I finally found some relief since taking Cosentyx. Relief means I can show up more.
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Host 1
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