Trump, Netanyahu Set To Meet in DC | Balance of Power

[Music] Bloomberg audio Studios podcasts radio news you're listening to the Bloomberg balance of power podcast catch us live weekdays at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Apple carplay and Android auto with the Bloomberg business app listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube thanks for being with us here on the fastest show in politics on Bloomberg Radio on the SAT radio on YouTube you can watch us right now by searching Bloomberg business news live that's where all the cool kids are I'm told that's where the growth and the engagement

is so get on YouTube and find us there as we prepare to welcome our global television audience to the conversation we have news on the Doge this is a pretty big number I if you heard me mention this a little while ago remember there was a big buyout offer That went to every federal worker across the country now accepted by more than 20,000 federal workers they're not all here they're spread around the country that's about 1% of the federal Workforce if it sounds like a big number now the last time he was here we talked

about the idea of the Doge the concept with now the former Governor of New Hampshire Republican Chris zunu he was with us in the closing days of his administration having written an Important oped that we talked about before Elon Musk ever got to Washington now we're all here and he's with us back at the table can I still call you Governor well look why would I be here this is apparently where all the cool kids hang out as you just said this this is this is the place to be you couldn't wait to come back

I'm actually are you going to be in Washington a lot I thought your whole point was staying away from Washington no I'm I'm the I'm Washington's evil cynic I come down and remind Washington why they should do more work and get more stuff done they all D get go crazy great role well so it's not just the Doge it's the cach you call it that in New Hampshire right I there is what the new governor uh Governor a has created a a localized version of it which is good look efficiency is one of the rarest

efficiency in government like those are like oil and water typically so when you Can force them together what happens well you save money you create you create uh opportunities for better connection with what's happening out there with your departments it's hard I mean the the thing that drives me crazy lately I don't know if you've been seeing it on some of these news reports about Doge well can you believe they're going to cut money here and cut money there yeah we're like 30 plus trillion in debt that's real money and by the way The government

doesn't owe that money you do and I do and everyone listening here does so that's real money it has to be paid that you got to start somewhere it's not going to come without a little bit of pain um Financial pain it it's not going to be an easy process but if you plan ahead you can make that off-ramp uh as smooth as possible for the citizens of the country well because you know people are upset not about so much the the idea of cutting spending And someone's always going to be upset if you're cutting

a program or whatever it is that they're interested in but they seem to see Elon Musk run wild you know they had a couple security guards fired at USA they got into secret area secure areas of the building shut it down he's got the keys to the treasury payment system now which means he has all of our personal information and he's he's like a quasi government official does that make you uncomfortable it Should yes as the guy from the LI fre or die State yes it always makes me a bit uncomfortable but look in in

a when you have when you have a financial crisis of this level and believe me guys we're this is this country does have a real Financial long-term financial crisis I'd rather have them go a little more aggressive than not do much at all because we've had 20 years of not doing much at all right so if he goes a little more aggressive and then they have to Back off a few things oh wait you know we we got rid of this position in that department we should roll that in we should find a way to

reestablish it fine but then the onus is on the government to justify why they need to reestablish it and if they can do that it works so it's going to be bumpy they're going very very fast which by the way is is another good thing typically government doesn't move fast than anything there they're acknowledging that this is very Serious stuff they want to move quickly I think it gives everyone lot of trepidation that elon's at the at the head of this I'm I like it I like the fact that the guy isn't completely with government

um so he's not an Insider in the Beltway type guy he's so wealthy I just don't believe he has any financial interest in this people will disagree with me on that all day but the guy's worth 400 billion what's he going to do make another couple billion that's not His mission he's a big picture big project type guy and he's willing to take it on is he going to do everything perfectly heck no he's going to make a lot of mistakes but they've probably already had a few bumps already but a you bumps is okay

if at the end of the day we're we're finding a pathway to cutting saving money you know allowing the economy to to be fruitful and not just lean on a giant bureaucracy out of Washington that doesn't really know or Care about what's happening in the rest of the country well you know some would say okay great but we've got to do it right bring him up and have him confirmed by the Senate let's do a background check wouldn't mind that official I don't know how long I mean this is an 18mon Gig if they want

to go through a confirmation process that I would have been fine with that I think he would have gotten through just fine um you know seems like even some of the Other more controversial confirmation picks they're actually doing better than I thought right Susan Collins is now on board with pel I I I think it looks like they will all be clear RFK junor Comm ear absolutely so it's just a matter of getting this to the floor at this point I mentioned the Cod what is it the commission not the department or whatever it is

yeah don't these in concept sort of make the argument that our system of government is is broken That you can't trust lawmakers that you have to have an out side entity to make it work right it's I don't think it's broken and I don't think it's a lack of trust in terms of what their motives are I do think at least at the state level why I like this C concept at the different state levels there's much more accountability to what you're doing that in that case of New Hampshire they're doing a commission which I

like it's short-term led by Business Leaders Holding a lot of accountability within the departments at a time when again we have very little debt in New Hampshire we have no taxes in New Hampshire we're very fiscally sound in New Hampshire but I I think they're planning for what is likely going to be a couple years uh it's not going to be a recession but it's definitely going to be a bit of a a flattening of the exponential growth we've seen in 20 2122 or I'm sorry 21 22 23 with inflation I don't think Inflation is

really going away I think a lot of if you look at what um chairman Powell has has indicated on that and what the FED look looks like they're going to do so they're just saying let's let's at least at the local level we have to be smart plan ahead make some tough Cuts today to have opportunity tomorrow Washington doesn't think like that which is why they have such massive debt and and and the rest of the states don't interesting Donald Trump uh making Good on threats of tariffs this week interesting none of them are in

effect other than China because he pulled back on both Mexico and Canada following these 11th Hour calls people talk about border states you ran one northern border yeah uh talk to me about the urgency to shut down our northern border when it comes to things like fenel we understand it was 43 lbs that crossed the border as opposed to 21,000 from the Mexican border do we need 10,000 troops Did you have that many illegal immigrants um so we New Hampshire is part of what they call the Swanton sector I don't want to get too wonky

for your crowd but it's basically Maine New Hampshire Vermont into Eastern New York um we were the only state up there that really put our own dollars because we couldn't get Federal help from from uh uh the the national Department of Homeland Security we they refused to give us what they call a delegation Agreement which basically says hey we're going to empower your team to do what we can't do and they had taken our border patrol Agents from the the northern border and sent them to the southern border because the crisis was so big there

which exacerbated the problem now I created a law enforcement initiative put a couple million bucks up there which basically coordinated all of our law enforcement on our side with the Canadians on their side very successful The surrounding states didn't do it so it wasn't we didn't see uh once we did that I we didn't see almost any Crossing because they were going to Vermont and quickly the the word got out in Quebec do not go to New Hampshire they take this stuff seriously they would go to Vermont uh New York and especially Buffalo they' come

through what they call the Buffalo sector because they're all trying to get to New York now is the issue of fentanyl real absolutely it is I mean we were at the tip of the spear for the fentanyl crisis the border crossings are very real the combined number of border and crossings over the last three years on the northern border uh and just in the last year we're 10 times that of all the previous uh years added up so um it's not the southern border but it is growing exponentially um there's a few different pieces that

probably didn't get covered Canada has agreements with certain countries that Allow them to F basic fly in Visa free and those folks would get off the plane in Montreal and Toronto and walk right over the Border that's what Trump is really trying to seal up the coordination with law enforcement and it's having an effect see this is effective it's effective now it's going to hurt right it's going to hurt certain uh businesses across the country especially in New Hampshire there's no question but I believe Trump tariffs or The security the the tariffs no the security

is great the tariffs are going to be I think they're doing them fast hard and early because they know it's going to be a Band-Aid that has to get ripped off to find that resolution and if they have to take some pain for a couple months to get to where they want to get long term obviously it's smarter to do that earlier than L you think about Lumber your home buers your Farmers what are they tell softwood um Maple syrup we we have the best maple syrup in the world i' just like to brag about

that a little bit sorry Vermont take second place but you know a lot of the equipment to make our maple syrup which is a huge industry for us all comes from Canada right um so there's a lot of things that cross there are products that will cross the the US Canadian border six times before it actually gets complete to manufact vehicles trucks so you're compounding This tariff into triple digits at that point it can be a real problem but I do believe if it gets us to a better sense of border security a better partnership

with our Ally Canada and ultimately with Mexico all the better you have to do it fast and hard we've had no management of this for four years so he's going fast and hard to kind of make up a little bit for what just hasn't been done you go with Grade B somebody told me recently Grade B tastes better than grade A syrup I grew up in New England and I never heard that before a little lighter a Grade A maple Ser I didn't think we're going to get into that gr a maple Ser is a

little darker uh I think it's a little uh later on in the season but grade be I like it lighter it's a 40 to1 if you tap 40 gallons of of sap you get about one gallon of syrup I'm more of a 20 to1 guy it a little lighter but that's a different story W see we this the kind of stuff Le things you learn BL when They're out of office um all right so just one more for you here you look South of the Border to Boston Michelle woo I love when we say New

Hampshire when we say South of the Border could be a whole variety we're talking border states here Michelle woo the darling of Massachusetts or Boston liberals incomes Joshua craft another Democrat but maybe one Chris anunu would be more comfortable with running the city of so I'm going to be super polite and Political and say when it comes to Michelle woo I think the term is um lunatic okay so we know where that I think she's the most anti-business uh prover big spender big taxer that you've ever seen to the point where it has driven out

so many businesses out of Boston New Hampshire is flourishing they're all coming to the tax-free suburb of Boston which is called New Hampshire right and and I want New Boston to be strong I want Boston to be It's an economic driver for all of New England and what she along with more Hy have really done is is just a travesty if whether if Joshua craft can come in and is willing to put himself on the line and and look I've been in politics it stinks it's very there's a lot of exposure it's tough on your

family go through all this scrutiny he does he doesn't need the money he doesn't do it but he loves his State and God bless it I'd be behind him 110% there you go I Hope you're listening and New England as a whole he he made the announcement in Dorchester this morning I guess We're Off to the Races here I'm behind him 100% all right Grade B don't forget that I hope you're going to come back often to the extent that you can hold your nose and come to Washington I love it if I'm in this

room I'm we're doing okay very well the former Republican governor of New Hampshire a lot to talk about as always with Chris anunu on the fastest Show in politics you're listening to the Bloomberg balance of power podcast catch us live weekdays at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Apple carplay and Android auto with the Bloomberg business app you can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our Flagship New York station just say Alexa play Bloomberg 11:30 we want to go now to Capitol Hill where a lot of these conversations are ongoing I'm pleased to stay

joining us On balance of power here on Bloomberg TV and radio is Republican senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee senator welcome back and there's obviously much we'd like to discuss with you including your new stable coin legislation but if we could first begin with tariffs as that has dominated the news cycle in the last several days how are you viewing what president Trump is actually using these levies for if it was just to extract concessions from Canada and Mexico or if This is really about raising revenue to pay for tax cuts well the the answer is

both but president Trump was very clear when he imposed the re when he imposed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico that they needed to do something dramatic to stop the flow of illegal migrants coming into our country the flow of fentel coming into our country the human trafficking that has been the primary and overarching concern and I've made it clear to my uh the people have reached Out to me from both Nations that it's it's clear there's something they can do about it they need to step up and frankly they have uh president Trump was

clear about what he wanted to see happen in in The Mexican government and the Canadian government they're both stepping up to stop the flow of fentel to address issues at their border to maintain border security on their side and to be better Partners that's what he's trying to accomplish and I think That's what he's achieved well you're of course a former Diplomat Senator as you represented the United States as our ambassador to Canada so it gives you uh to to Japan forgive me we've been talking about a lot Canada a lot here in that period

of time though that gave you a unique view on these issues that maybe not all lawmakers have are tariffs or threats of tariffs the new form of diplomacy in this Administration well Joe this is an important piece of Context we've talked about it before but the United States has basically the lowest trade weighted tariffs in the world access to our markets have has been extraordinarily easy uh there's an historic reason for this for countries like Japan countries in Europe whose economies were devastated after World War II we aggressively made our economy open to them so

they wouldn't turn toward communism and socialism but we should have time limited that we should Have put some sort of GDP per capital limit on it because what we have now are extremely unfair and non-reciprocal trade terms with many of our trading partners president Trump has been clear he's just trying to bring reciprocity to Bear trying to get us to the table with an even deal a lot of these countries that don't want to address this do do so because they have a better deal now than we do we're going to fix that President Trump

has been clear about it and I'm Very pleased to see him take decisive action in that regard well Senator if we could leave the Diplomatic haton for a moment longer I do wonder what you make of the efforts or at least on the part of Elon Musk and he says he is the president's buyin to dismantle USA ID what does that do to us s power well you've got a lot of significant problems at usaid some of the things that have come to Bear some Of the things that have come to light in terms of

US taxpayer dollars going to Dei initiatives transend transgender surgeries in Guatemala things of this nature I think the American public is shocked in the fact that we're basically taking a pause taking a very hard look and looking at agencies like this that have basically gotten out of control I think the time has come the American public are ready for it that doesn't mean that we will not have Aid programs Going forward but you we've got Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking charge here uh he's going to make certain that those eight problem those Aid programs

go to advancing us interest and not some of these uh Wildey uh exploits that the previous administration and administrations prior to that have been on usaid again basically an out of outof control organization I'm glad to see it rained in well we've seen some pretty Interesting exploits uh on behalf of Doge and and by Elon Musk it's not just usaid of course it's accessing the payment system inside the US Treasury Department Senator and we understand that musk is now a special government employee something that emerged in just the last couple of days with the education

department now the next Target as a senator providing advice and consent would you like Elon Musk to come up to Capitol Hill to endure a Confirmation heing since this apparently is a government job well the special government employee uh classification is about 130 days that allows people to come in from the outside often people that are very capable as is Elon Musk to come in and provide special advice to the president it's a tool that has been used in administrations Republican and Democrat I'm glad to see this sort of expertise deployed Elon must obviously knows

how to come in and streamline Operations uh make things work more efficiently look what he did at Twitter uh so I'm very pleased to see him step in and do this this doesn't require confirmation it's not that type of position but he is offering his advice and president Trump has been clear uh where where he wants to accept the advice uh where he feels uh Elon Musk efforts are warranted he's going to deploy him there I've talked with Elon about what he's doing I think he's got Some very creative ideas about bringing much needed efficiency

and and actually getting far higher return on investment for the taxpayer dollar but is there a role for Congress to play sir to ensure that whatever access he's granted at treasury uh whether it's to the payment system uh specifically or in other cases that it isn't going to interfere with the treasury's usual business of paying Bond holders and conducting auctions well we Certainly have oversight responsibility Kaylee we intend to fully exercise that that's not what I've talked with Elon about doing he's looking for efficiencies ways to do things better uh to stop doing things that

aren't advancing us interest and to do things that you know double down on things that are going to become you know more and more uh productive for us taxpayers and Advance the the American cause uh It's Not Unusual at all to take a pause to Take a hard look and and Survey what's happening inside these agencies I'm glad that he's doing it uh I think there's a lot of pearl clutching going on right now and a lot of you know expectation that something terrible is going to happen no in fact what I think is we're

going to see is a new wave of efficiency come from all of this and I'm I'm looking forward to it well just wait for the Pearl clutching to start when you start debating uh taxes and Reconciliation Senator I have to ask you about where all this stands because these were supposed to come as a package right you'd extend the Trump tax cuts maybe get some of the other things that Donald Trump had promised on the campaign Trail and offset those with revenue from tariffs that had been promised during the campaign as well we talked to

Scott Besson about that at length before he was tapped to be the treasury secretary um with tariffs put Aside here you still have to have a debate over taxes and as the house drags its feet on this I wonder if the Senate and your new leader in John th might help to lead the way what's about to happen well Joe I I met with John th last night a group of us did we're continuing to advance the ball ball on this very subject uh again we know the American public expects us to address the tax

package and we're going to do that uh we have a number of other issues That we're trying to address at the same time how we do it from a process standpoint I'm much less concerned about I think the the the concern is that we get it done quickly that we get it done efficiently and I'm optimistic that we will get it done uh despite the procedural back and forth between the house and the Senate uh we're going to get it done and we're very focused on it Senator I'd like to talk about something else you're

looking to get Done in the Senate and that's new stablecoin legislation you've introduced alongside senators lumus and Gill brand calling it The Genius act and I do do wonder about the timeline here is it your intent that this legislation uh be pushed through before broader Market structure legislation for example that may work its way through both the uh Banking and AG oriented committees in both Chambers sure and Kayla I'll add Senator Tim Scott the chair of the Banking Committee is on this legislation with us we're very excited about it this is the first step and

we're going to do this first before we get to broader Market structure but it's going to enable us to take a very positive step in the direction of ensuring that the United States is a positive environment for cryptocurrency technology stable coins is is one of these issues that I think the United States can be a leader on it's time for us to do so look there Roughly $8 trillion dollar worth of stable coin transactions taking place right now across the world we need to be a leader here in America this legislation allows us to do

that and I'm extraordinarily optimistic that we're taking that lead uh it's going to open the door for many other positive things in the industry and I'm so excited to have my colleagues on both sides of the aisle join me here uh this is going to be an important first step up to opening Up the market here in America Senator president Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today the first world leader to visit uh the new president in this second term they're going to be holding a news conference a little bit later on that

we will carry uh if you could put your your diplomatic hat back on and explore what these two are going to be talking about when it comes number one to a phase two in a ceasefire but maybe More importantly this report by the New York Times today that Iran is developing plans for a faster crudder weapon based on intelligence here in the United States there are some who suggest this is the time now to preemptively strike Iran while it's on its heels are you one of them well Joe the the last thing I'm going to

do is get ahead of the president and prime minister Netanyahu on this very important strategic discussion but I'll say this These two gentlemen are not afraid to point to the real cause of all this disruption in the Middle East and that is Iran their proxies the houthis Hamas Hezbollah they've been behind all of this disruption but this is Iranian funding Iranian technology behind all of it so I think the New York Times is right to look at the cause here finally uh you will see I think both gentlemen today who are meeting talking about Iran

as the proximate cause for this Terrorism and what we've seen is Iran significantly weakened by the actions of the Israeli government uh what they've done in southern Lebanon taking Hezbollah down what what's happened in Syria I think is significantly exposed and weakened Iran uh they are not the the the the the strong nation that they'd like us to believe they are and I think you'll see a strong and United American and Israeli front uh standing up to Iran but I won't go beyond the Specifics at that point it's good to have you back Senator we'll

of course be listening uh when the bilateral news conference begins after 5:00 pm Bill Hagerty the Republican senator from Tennessee Kaye we covered a lot of ground there we're going to cover a lot of ground as well coming up with our political panel that's right Lisa Kusa Miller and Jeanie shanena will be with us as we talk about what's developing in the Senate today looks Like RFK Jr and tulsy gabard may be getting confirmed to Trump's cabinet after all though the gabard vote hasn't happened yet we'll look ahead to it here on balance of power

on Bloomberg TV and radio you're listening to the Bloomberg balance of power podcast catch us live weekdays at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Apple carplay and Android auto with the Bloomberg business app listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube How politics and the markets often intersect as we're seeing take place in vaccine stocks today after the news that RFK Jr got through the Senate finance committee as he heads for confirmation to be Health and Human Services secretary the committee voting to advance his nomination to the senate floor

on a Partyline vote 14 Republicans said yes 13 Democrats voted against him and interestingly the one Republican we were all watching a medical doctor Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana ultimately decided to support RFK Jr and here was his explanation for that on the senate floor it's been a long intense process but I've assessed it as I would assess a patient as a physician ultimately restoring trust in our Public Health institution is too important and I think Mr Kennedy can help get that done that's where we start our conversation with our political panel Today Jeannie shano

Bloomberg politics contributor and Democratic analyst political science professor at Iona university alongside Lisa cuso Miller Republican strategist former RNC communications director it's great to have you both here you consider Lisa what was at stake and what Bill Cassidy a medical doctor had to say about his concerns surrounding RFK Jr his stand on any number of issues beginning with vaccines you see the tweet from clay Higgins vote your conscience Senator or don't either way we're watching was this the system working or just a classic case of a pressure campaign in Washington yeah it feels like a

pressure campaign Joe I mean there's no doubt about that this is exactly how this was going to happen and also too you know there are there are members who are emboldened right they feel as if they can behave this way they can uh Lodge these kinds of threats to one another It's it's what's causing a lot of dis satisfaction inside the Congress and so my hope is that that's sort of an outlier and that there's a more productive conversation that's happening inside the Senate uh it certainly feels that way based on the comments from the

senator as it relates to how he made his decision ultimately and this is a nominee that was the was the recommendation from the president I think a lot of the Senate uh members Have decided that it's uh in their very best interest to allow these nominees play out uh and to to make those decisions now that they have all the information at hand um and and we're going to proceed and see how this all goes well indeed we will jeie are you surprised at all here that everyone fell in line behind RFK Jr at least

to this point knowing we still have to do the full vote on the senate floor and there is still some room for Dissent there but Is this how you saw this going yeah I mean statistically they all get through once they go through this uh you know the hearings but let's just go back to Cassidy for a minute he said that he was concerned that RFK Jr in the hearing could not reflect the science that everybody agrees which says there is absolutely no connection between vaccines and autism that has been long debunked everybody knows it

except RFK Jr unwilling to say that Cassidy now Says it's okay because he got a confirmation from RFK Jr he's not going to change the CDC website not going to change any the language literally two hours ago on Truth social Donald Trump says this 20 years ago autism in children was one in 10,000 now it's one in 34 wow something's really wrong we need Bobby thank you how is Cassidy planning to control the president who is going out and saying things that have been absolutely debunked about the Science and that's where Cassidy's claim falls apart

yeah he's a victim of a pressure campaign he looks like he's going to vote for this on the floor but what he has done as a medical doctor is ensured that a longtime vaccine skeptic who won't go in the the floor and say that this is debunked science is now going to be CDC director Health and Human Services secretary under a President Who hours ago said it's questionable if vaccines cause Autism yeah he is uh the president has since started truthing about the passing of Tiger Wood's mother uh Genie but Lisa just if you could

weigh in on that that most recent post 20 years ago the president wrote autism in children was one in 10,000 now it is 1 in34 Wow exclamation point something's really wrong we need Bobby thank you and he did write it it signed djt what does that tell us about the future of vaccine program particularly for kids in America I it would be foolish for any of us to not reflect back on the way that the president addressed vaccines during the covid pandemic to believe that he would have any healthy uh understanding of how important they

are in terms of health development in the country it's just feeding into this um overall sense of Everything Is Broken everything needs to be reconsidered and it's all part of the brand that we're seeing coming out of the new Administration and so to Think we're going back to another way of thinking is wrongheaded look I don't like it either and and I feel jeie Jeanie's unhappiness is palpable and I'm with her this is really super uncomfortable and worrisome but it's foolish for us to sit here and think that this is not the way that things

are going to go over the course of the next four years they've showed us their hand they showed us who they are and it's time for us to believe them Because they're showing us the way well so let's turn to tsy gabard then because we have haven't yet uh seen Republicans show up to vote for her they'll have the chance to do so within the hour in the intelligence committee where she couldn't afford to lose a single uh Republican Lisa and it kind of seems right now that she won't after Senators Todd young Susan Collins

James lenford all indicated that they will be supporting her nomination for Director Of National Intelligence Joe and I have been hearing for weeks that Tulsi gabard was the most endangered of all of Trump's nominees that potentially doz a dozen or more Republicans could ultimately vote against does this one surprise you Lisa no it doesn't Kaye and you know why it doesn't surprise me because the Democrats were happy to see her go and so Republicans are happy to open their arms and bring her into the fold yeah she's a risk absolutely but I Think the fact

that the Democratic party is not standing behind her or saying that she was one of theirs it's all sort of part of this culture of whatever was wrong is now right and it's just this sort of fundamental we'll accept it and we'll take it it's worrisome though to people who know the way that the process has been conducted over the course of time we've had incredible leaders in these places in especially in the intelligence space Where Tulsi Gabbert is about to go it's frightening to a lot of people because they know that she's not the

right candidate for the job but the president was just elected with a strong majority uh from the a lot of states that said that they were in favor of change and that's precisely what he is delivering to us well I don't know your thoughts on this Genie Lisa saw them all being confirmed and we still need to have house uh floor I should say floor votes in the Senate on these nominees before it's official but it does appear like the votes are counted should we have assumed that was the case because of the pressure campaign

that was coming this as we keep hearing is Donald Trump's Congress yeah we should have assumed it was the case because that's what history tells us history tells us you get to the floor in terms of getting to committee and you get to your hearing and you will Likely be confirmed I mean that is what everybody knows that is what history tells us you can there's only a few people in the modern era who have gotten to the stage of the hearings and not gotten confirmed so that's what we know is the reality and of

course the pressure came the pressure campaign rather as you mentioned Joe that makes it all that much more of a likelihood um but again this would would never surprise anybody who's watched these Hearings I think the surprising thing about watching these hearings is the fact that you're seeing on both sides of the aisle with some of these people have been nominated there is concern about their competence there is concern about their ability to do the job and that is what is concerning so RFK Jr he was unable to answer basic questions about the difference between

Medicare and Medicaid two entitlement programs that are funded out of an agency he will run Which is the largest agency monetarily even a bigger budget than defense and yet he couldn't answer basic questions and again these were coming from both sides of the aisle so I don't think it's you know a big stretch to say they're going to get confirmed it is a big shock to listen to people who don't seem to have the knowledge and the competence to do these positions that is concerning to many of us and again on both sides of the

aisle but it's not going to move People like Cassidy or Collins because they are up in 26 and they know the score which is a primary challenge awaits and they are responding to that well so Genie to your point it's one thing to get the job it's another to keep it we obviously saw a great deal of turnover including at the cabinet level in the first Trump Administration how hard is it going to be for RFK Jr tulsy gabt or frankly anyone who gets confirmed to stay in line with the President to what extent do

they actually have freedom to pursue their own agendas yeah I don't think they have much freedom I think we're already seeing that I mean we saw when the president came out and talked about the horrific C uh crash in the pomac about the nominees who came forward who had to talk about Dei first and praise him before they talked about the body still being pulled out of the river I think That continues and even more so than that would anybody with sense want to serve in this Administration knowing that Mark Millie Bolton and others who

went against the president then had their security pulled even though they are facing death threats at the moment from Iran so this is very very tricky business for these nominees and I think we will see turnover that's not unusual but these people face turnover and little protection from the president or The federal government once that happens that's a scary proposition all right jeie shano and Lisa cuso Miller our political panel on this Tuesday thank you both so much for joining us here on balance of power and we still have more ahead as we shift our

Focus from domestic politics to uh geopolitics with the expected visit just hours from now of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House he scheduled to get there around 4 pm Eastern time with a lot on the agenda of course the first foreign leader to visit Trump at the White House so far this term that's right it's uh considered a pretty major honor and Benjamin Netanyahu has reminded us of that we'll be seeing the two of them a few hours from now just after 5:00 p.m. a bilateral news conference from the White House has

been scheduled we'll bring it to you live here on Bloomberg TV and radio one of many things happening Inside the Beltway today you mentioned as well the looming vote for Tulsi gabber and committee that will also happen before we get back together on the late edition of balance of power Hagar shamali is coming in next as we try to figure the progress that could be made at the White House today you're listening to the Bloomberg balance of power podcast catch us live weekdays at noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Apple carplay and Android auto with

The Bloomberg business app you can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our Flagship New York station just say Alexa play Bloomberg 11:30 we are live from Washington where we're standing by for an important news conference a scheduled to start a few hours from now whether it's on time we'll find out together as president Trump and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to hold a bilateral news conference on what is the first Visit of a foreign leader to this new Administration Netanyahu with much on the line here of course in Phase One of a ceasefire with

Hamas in Gaza spoke to reporters on his way to the US let's listen I'm leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in Washington the fact that uh this would be president Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling I think it's a testimony to the strength of the Israeli American Alliance it's also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship that friendship and that cooperation has already yielded important results for Israel in the Middle East but can this meeting this afternoon yield even further results as we look toward

the potential of a phase two of this ceasefire agreement joining us now to get into this here in our Washington DC Studio I'm pleased to say Sagar shamali she was former director for Syria and Lebanon at the National Security Council now founder and CEO of granich media strategies welcome back to Bloomberg TV and radio lovely to see you here in DC when we consider that phase one does still seem to be intact as we speak as Netanyahu visits Washington knowing that the clock is ticking for this to expire do you see us getting into phase

two at the end of this 42-day period Well I'm not so sure about phase two because there are a few reasons why It's going to be difficult and part of it is that the requirements of phase two are that Hamas must release all remaining hostages in exchange for the IDF completely withdrawing from Gaza and a per a declaration of a permanent end to the war and that is a major step to make especially when you've got Netanyahu and his cabinet who very clearly said that they want to resume war after after phase one what but

the timing here is interesting because this Week is when the negotiations for phase two are supposed to begin and those negotiations are still valid and still important even if Phase 2 is unlikely because if it doesn't go into phase two that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't potential other deals that could happen the Trump Administration has made it very clear that they want to reach an end of the war and they want to achieve it in this broader deal that includes Saudi Arabia the UAE I've been in Washington DC now for a few days and

all I hear about from the administration is a prior prioritization of the Abraham Accords and how this could feature into it so there is still something there're there to discuss even if phase two of the original ceasefire deal might not be reached king of Jordan set to visit the White House next week does that help to connect the dots absolutely you're talking about there's no coin it's not a coincidence that Trump's first very First phone call was to NBS his very first official visit is with Netanyahu he is and now you've got Jordan being followed

by this you've got an an effort to reset these relationships um all of these relationships to prioritize the Abraham Accords in which they want to include as many countries as possible and also by the way to remind all of those leaders in the Middle East in particular and probably around the world to rely on the United States as an ally And partner and not to hedge with China most importantly well so when we consider other Arab countries here it does seem the administration also has asks potentially of these countries we just heard from Steve witkoff

uh Trump's Envoy to the Middle East who was speaking to reporters at the White House saying that the US wants Arab Nations to take in Palestinians from Gaza the president himself has exploded this as well are any Arab Nations going to agree To that Jordan included Egypt another example okay so this one is a very fascinating one to me because I will tell you throughout the war since October 7 I have always been a proponent of Egypt and Jordan taking gazen ref refugees as refugees by the way and and I find it to quote Queen

R but to turn it back on them morally reprehensible that they didn't because they what they ended up doing was trapping them in a situation where they knew Israel's Response a response to the Hamas terrorist attack they knew how it would go and they deliberately kept them in there and there and there are many reasons that we could go into separately they're concerned about um where whether those refugees will remain permanent you've had many problems in our in history with Palestinian refugees in Jordan Kuwait and Lebanon creating violence pursuing Civil War so I understand that

that that goal but these Are two countries that take USA and a lot of us Aid and that's not a point of Leverage that the Biden Administration was was comfortable putting pulling over their heads and twisting their arms and saying you take all this Aid you need to take these refugees not permanently but you need to house them as this situation happens and unfolds and that's from what I understand over and over again from the administration while I understand the language could come off uh Concerning their goal is to have that be not permanent to

have them move because Goda uninhabitable I want to hear about the relationship between these two a lot has been written between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu knowing they didn't talk for about four years there was incredible Bad Blood between the two of them for the bulk of the Biden Administration you remember how how bitter Donald Trump was about the fact That Netanyahu called Joe Biden to congratulate him for winning before the whole stop the steel movement had come to an end he actually criticized Netanyahu after October 7th they need each other now what is their

relationship like that's right it's a very interesting relationship because it's not necessarily that they're best buds but during the first Trump Administration we know the extent to which Trump prioritizes the alliance With Israel and is very pro-israel and we've seen that play out in many ways recognizing the annexation of the Golan Heights uh moving the embassy to Jerusalem uh very quickly now since he's come to office he talked about it during the campaign anyway but one of the first steps he took was to Halt this or UNH halt I guess the the the halt in

2000 pound bombs to Israel that Biden had had halted um so we we can see where his goals are and his priorities are and That's but that said their relationship is a little tenuous but at the same time Netanyahu doesn't want to say no to Trump and I don't expect him to and this is why this trip is going to be so fascinating because you're coming at a point right now where going to be talking about the phase two or what comes after the next the first of phase one at least and Trump has this

goal Netanyahu has a different goal and and Trump is a dealmaker and he's going to Try and find a way to say I want an end to this war and I want to achieve US National Security objectives in this region and you're going to have to work with me on it whether that might result in a new election in Israel because of these moves is netanyahu's problem well so it's you're saying Trump with the leverage here not Netanyahu Trump is the one who has the leverage and I really I would expect to see this not

just with Israel but with pursuing peace with a Number of countries particularly one of the ones I'm I'm very hopeful for and I hope they prioritize is peace with Lebanon now is the only time to pursue that kind of deal uh given the situation they're domestically and would really serve US National Security interests because that's Israel's neighbor so they're going to be looking at this from a real holistic approach all this against the backdrop of this report today in the New York Times that a Secret team of scientists in IRA is exploring a faster if

cruder approach to developing an atomic weapon what sense of urgency does this put underneath these talks and are we going to start hearing more about and we've already heard it on this program a potential preemptive strike against Iran well so this this issue Iran will definitely feature prominently in these talks uh the administration is not they've not come out completely yet Because they're still figuring it out on exactly the policy they would pursue regarding military engagement or or bombing Iran's nuclear program and so they haven't come out yet with where they stand on that I

wouldn't for I wouldn't believe that the administration would hold back if they thought that that was the right move but also by the way that unpredictability that that those um not being black and white about it serves the the interests of the Trump Administration because they want Iran to feel afraid of how the administration might might react might advise Israel and so they they play that to their to their favor as well uh but I absolutely believe that this is going to be prom featured prominently they are already prioritizing it but they haven't come out

very clearly yet with the exact policy toward Iran other than that they intend to renew the maximum pressure be another warning from Trump in this news Or today when all hell will break that's like he said about the ceasefire and the hostages this is the next warning that's coming right yes and we have to remember right now is Trump walked into a very unique time in the with geopolitical Dynamics in the region with this axis of resistance on its heels Iran on the defense hasbalah decapitated Hamas decimated and Assad has fallen and that's something that

the Trump Administration is going to take to its Advantage and I don't expect Iran to be able to go very far with that because you allude to Bashar al-assad I do want to ask you about Tulsi gabard who of course faced a lot of uh questions in her confirmation hearing last week about her visit to see him in 2017 uh in addition to a number of other difficult questions she was asked and for all of that it does seem that just moments from now really in the 2 p.m. hour she will be passed through the

Intel committee Heading to a full confirmation vote on the senate floor what is your thought on that it looks like that and I and I want to be clear I I because I'm I'm very concerned about her in this position I don't feel like that about every cabinet minister at all cabinet ministers excuse me every um every every cabinet secretary or or principal in um Trump's cabinet at all I am particularly concerned about her because I believe that over the years she has reflected Very poor judgment and instinct and particularly when it comes to foreign

policy when it comes to believing the analyses and assessments of our intelligence community so I don't I I I'm concerned about it but I also don't feel as though I I feel as though that train is moving and and it doesn't seem as though anybody it seems that though there are concerns but yet she's still going to be confirmed in this position and the concern with that is that this Is the person who briefs the president daily at the presidential daily briefing and if she's receiving an assessment from the intelligence community on anything it could

be Iran or Russia or China or anything and she reads it a different way and she tells president Trump well I don't think that this is a threat or I think that that that you know Putin's actually not so bad or Assad is actually is is it well Assad's gone now but but whomever it could be it Could be anybody given that that judgment she has reflected in the past uh she just to me hasn't proven herself for this kind of role well we should remind our listeners and viewers that Syria was a prominent part

of your portfolio when you were working uh in the White House uh that must inform your opinion on her in a singular fashion no her her Dianes with Bashar al- Assad mean what yes it's it's that and that is absolutely entirely what I meant I I Talked about I handled Syria for two years during the Syria crisis and it was not hard for someone even just on the outside to know what was happening and to know what Assad was doing but she went after the assessment of his use of chemical weapons she had access to

that information being in Congress she was briefed on it and still chose to go and still chose to say that he wasn't an enemy of the United States she questioned the whether he used chemical Weapons uh against his people and I will tell you by the way the bar for the US government to make that assessment was very high and it was not something they did lightly it took a long time and she still questioned it and that again I I just don't see why she will I I believe that that lack of judgment and

Instinct will apply to anything she works on any portfolio all over the world well I guess we'll see how this goes in the intell committee later on today and Ultimately the full senate floor before we let you go Hagar we just have a few minutes left here but I also do wonder what your reflection is on what's happening with usaid the push by Elon Musk and he says he is Donald Trump's buyin to dismantle this entirety uh entirely the state department getting control how much foreign aid is realistically going to be left after this review

do you anticipate well so from what I understand emergency aid so Meaning food medicine medical equipment that is going through and that's going to continue and that's uh and that's pretty standard for the US government anyway it's the same with sanctions sanctions don't shouldn't then don't impact humanitarian aid for food and medicine and medical equipment um it's it's the aid that they're looking at for civil society for democracy and they're reviewing all of it so some of it will come back but I would be I don't want to Sound naive in saying that all of

it is going to come back of course there's always fat to trim when it comes to US foreign aid reviews are good uh a good thing but it's been chaotic for sure and I've spoken to many friends in the government who are who are obviously they're concerned and a lot of it has to do with the unknown and that is going to have a direct impact for sure you're going to see non NGS and nonprofits all over the world lose funding that that They had been that they had come to rely on uh funding that

does feed into US National Security interests but that doesn't mean that Trump Administration doesn't want the same interests it's that many of them are going about it through a different approach with more a tougher approach often using scks and Commercial and financial tools as leverage Elon Musk calls usaid a criminal organization we'll be following this story very closely uh what a Pleasure as always to have Hagar shamali with us in studio Hagar thank you so much enjoy your time back in Washington for a [Music] moment thanks for listening to the balance of power podcast make

sure to subscribe if you haven't already at Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and you can find us live every weekday from Washington D at noon time Eastern at bloomberg.com