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00:00Well, President Trump is facing his worst approval numbers ever, skyrocketing prices, and a war with Iran that he has
00:06already declared the U.S. has won.
00:07Take a listen to this exchange between the president and our Bloomberg White House correspondent, our colleague, Jeff Mason.
00:13How long are you willing to wait until you get a unified response?
00:16Well, don't rush me. Don't rush me, Jeff.
00:18You know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam like for 18 years.
00:23We were in Iraq for many, many years.
00:25We were in for all the, I don't like to say World War II because that was a biggie, but
00:31we were four and a half, almost five years in World War II.
00:34We were in the Korean War for seven years.
00:37I've been doing this for six weeks.
00:42Priceless. Jeff Mason is back with us on set, of course.
00:46He's becoming our fourth anchor. We're very happy to have you.
00:48And our White House Bureau Chief, Peggy Collins, is here on set.
00:51Washington Bureau Chief, yes.
00:52Washington Bureau Chief, sorry. It's been a long week already. I apologize.
00:57Thank you both for being here.
00:58First of all, Peggy, I just want to get your impression about where these Iran negotiations are going, what you're
01:04hearing here from Washington, and if you think this approach is going to work.
01:08Well, I think we're in a bit of a stalemate right now in the sense that we're trying to report
01:13out talks on talks.
01:14So, Caroline Levitt said yesterday in the press briefing that Jared Kushner and Steve Wyckoff are on their way to
01:21Pakistan for more talks.
01:22The Iranians also appear to be in Pakistan for some talks.
01:27But we're trying to get back to the table to then get to the point for the all-important negotiations
01:31around opening the strait.
01:33At Bloomberg, we're reporting every day, really, at that intersection of government, business, and the energy markets, because that is
01:40what really it's coming down to right now.
01:43It's been so interesting for me as someone who's new here and new-ish-er to the energy market side
01:48of it.
01:49It is so tied into foreign policy at this moment.
01:52It is almost a little bit easier to get your hands around what are sometimes squishy economic concepts, because it
01:56all matters in these negotiations.
01:58That's right.
01:59And one of the phrases we heard a lot this week from business leaders and from policymakers was this phrase,
02:04demand destruction.
02:05And that seems to be where people are starting to focus.
02:08The longer the strait is closed, the longer people will be potentially under strain in terms of energy, fertilizer, and
02:15all of that filters through the economy.
02:17Certainly, Americans are seeing gas prices go up, but there's other things that could be affected soon in terms of
02:23farmers with food prices and things like that.
02:26So we are certainly looking at that as we head into summer travel and the midterms, where the economy is
02:33one of the biggest factors that voters are looking at when they decide.
02:36Jeff, we all laughed at that comment from the president.
02:38It isn't you who's rushing him, but there are members of his own party, lawmakers who do want this to
02:43wrap up sooner rather than later,
02:44who heard his initial timeline for all of this and have seen it really attenuated over these last few weeks.
02:49So moving beyond what he had to say there, what is the White House thinking realistically about how long this
02:53is going to last
02:54and how long they can stomach this lasting as we see prices going up as a result?
02:58Well, I think that comment is also emblematic of the pressure he's feeling.
03:02And to Peggy's comment and analysis as well, he knows the midterms are coming right up.
03:07He knows that people are concerned about gasoline prices.
03:09He is ready to be done with this war, and yet he is also someone who built both his business
03:15life and his political life on being someone who's a dealmaker.
03:18So he doesn't want a bad deal, and that was a concern, that he wasn't going to get that good
03:23deal.
03:24So he doesn't want to be rushed by people asking him questions, or more, he doesn't want to be rushed
03:29by lawmakers and others in the town of Washington, D.C.
03:33who are giving him some pressure, including from his own party.
03:37And people within his circle as well, including Chief Susie Wiles, who we know would really like to focus on
03:43the economy and those kitchen table issues ahead of the midterms.
03:46Speaking of, I want to ask you about this Jerome Powell news and the fact that this investigation has been
03:51stopped, potentially paused,
03:53because that was a big sticking point for the president, too.
03:56Members of his own party were saying, take the win, move on, step away from this, let it go, so
04:02that you can have your candidate confirmed,
04:04and so that Senator Tellis will allow this vote to take place.
04:06Who do you think got through to the president?
04:08Do we know what finally made him change his mind, or was it just the facts at hand?
04:12I don't know the answer to who, but I'm going to draw both of those stories together and say it
04:17actually wasn't a great week for the president.
04:18Really?
04:19Yeah, because that's one of the fights that he's been fighting.
04:22He really wanted to make a point with the Fed.
04:25And the result of that was his next nominee has been held up.
04:30So this investigation ending is a blow in some ways to him politically,
04:37and yet it's also exactly what he needs to get the person in to the Fed that he wants to.
04:41The reason I say it wasn't a great week is he also had to, he didn't have progress in Iran.
04:46At a time when he was saying, I'm not going to extend the ceasefire,
04:49he said that to me in a phone conversation on Monday, I don't want to extend, I don't want to
04:54extend,
04:54and then he had to extend.
04:55So it does, it just kind of, it shows that sometimes what the president says and what he wants
05:00is not what ends up being the case or what he gets.
05:03Peggy, he wants all of this wrapped up, so as we reported,
05:06we have a vote in the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, scheduled for Wednesday of this week.
05:10That's going to happen.
05:11We haven't heard from Senator Tellis.
05:13As Christina pointed out, the DOJ investigation is over, but it's being shifted, so it continues.
05:17We haven't heard from Chair Powell if he'll be satisfied with the fact that one is done but not the
05:21other.
05:22Talk a bit about that, the uncertainty that remains here.
05:24This isn't a tidy, neat thing, yet at least.
05:27No, there's so much drama around the Fed, and usually it is not one of the most dramatic places that
05:32you can find news,
05:33but certainly this year it has been.
05:35And I think, like you were saying, David, there's an open question as to whether or not Chair Powell will
05:41leave the Fed board.
05:42I think that's the next big chapter in this dramatic way.
05:45He'll go until 28 if he wants to stay as a governor.
05:47That's right.
05:48So it looks like, based on Warsh's hearings this past week and the decision by the DOJ on Friday
05:54and the hearing on Wednesday, as you said, next week, that Kevin Warsh will become the next Fed chair.
06:00The question is whether Powell will actually leave the Fed board or whether he will stay on
06:05and be another influencer and power figure in the Fed, given all of his years there.
06:10So that's going to be the next question.
06:12And there's some wiggle room in what the DOJ said on Friday, enough that our reporting this morning is indicating
06:20Chair Powell will not leave yet
06:23if he thinks it's not clear that any investigations will actually be done.
06:27And speaking of leadership shakeups, we were just talking to Congressman McCall about these cabinet shakeups and who might potentially
06:35be next.
06:36I want to ask you, who do you think could potentially be next for a change of job?
06:42Are we looking at Kash Patel, who's been coming under a lot of fire lately?
06:45Are we looking at folks like Howard Lutnick, who's been under fire for his connections with Jeffrey Epstein?
06:51Who do you think is on the verge from the president to maybe need to update their resume?
06:56Well, I'll take Jeff's line there and say I don't know, but we are certainly reporting it out.
07:01I will note, though, there's been a big shift this year.
07:03Last year, the second term of the Trump administration was defined in many ways by its consistency, its loyalty compared
07:11to the first term.
07:12And it was a source of pride that the cabinet secretaries were all in place and there was no turn.
07:18Now we're seeing the turn now.
07:20We not only had some cabinet secretaries step down of late, we also had the secretary of the Navy exit
07:25this week.
07:26There's been a lot of change at the Pentagon during the war.
07:28So there's a lot of turn now.
07:30And it may be also related to two things, the pressure of the war, but also the pressure of the
07:35midterms coming around the corner.
07:37Jeff, let's talk a little bit about President Trump's adventures in dirigism.
07:40He has gotten the U.S. government involved in private companies in a way that I think would be surprising
07:46to a lot of traditional Republicans.
07:47Spirit Airlines went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
07:49Want to buy an airline, David?
07:50He has now floated what?
07:52What is the latest thinking on how he might or the government might approach this airline, which is not doing
07:57well?
07:58Well, let's be clear, number one, that sometimes President Trump just says things that have not been vetted.
08:04I mean, that goes without saying that not everything he says gets vetted.
08:07So sometimes he will say things and then his policymakers will have to follow up or his spokespeople will have
08:11to follow up and figure out if that's really what they're going to do.
08:15The interesting thing about that comment was it sent the Spirit Airlines shares soaring because of the possibility of government
08:23intervention.
08:24And I should have said this up.
08:25He suggested maybe the Defense Production Act could be used here to what?
08:29They could take over this airline and send military.
08:31I mean, I would say it's a wild suggestion from the president.
08:34And my mouth is open in part because, like, I don't know how you make that connection between the Defense
08:39Production Act and buying an airline that is failing.
08:42Other than the fact that the president, this president and others, have used the Defense Production Act for a lot
08:48of things, certainly during the COVID era.
08:50But how you connect that to this airline, other than something that President Donald Trump is very good at, getting
08:56the conversation going and maybe finding another private investor to say, oh, let's take a second look at this because
09:02the president's watching.
09:04And also testing boundaries and norms and guardrails.
09:08And this is something we've seen not just here but across the spectrum.
09:11I mean, even the piece we did about putting his name on all these buildings, I said to our City
09:16Labs colleague, Kristen, I said, can he do that?
09:19And the answer is, well, no one's ever tried before.
09:22So a lot of these places, Peggy, talk to us about the way the president has and continues to test
09:27the system and why the system didn't quite seem prepared for that and is still struggling to keep up with
09:32the changes he's trying to make across the board.
09:34Well, I think he's tested the limits, but also he sees the presidential and executive branch as having a lot
09:41of power and they're using it.
09:43So with all of the executive orders that we saw come flowing out of the administration last year, that is
09:49one of the tools that they've used.
09:51But also the president himself has said, you know, he's a business leader.
09:54So he's approaching a lot of these things like he would as if he is a CEO.
09:59And we've seen the norms be tested, as Jeff was saying, in terms of where government is as a dealmaker
10:05now with private companies as well.
10:07We saw the Intel stake last summer.
10:09And now we're seeing some of the dealmaking going on with Spirit.
10:12The difference with Spirit that we've seen some business leaders react to is there's a question about the national security
10:21argument tied to it.
10:22Whereas with Intel last summer, there was a clear line there.
10:26And that's where some people in the markets are saying, hey, is this getting too far into the free flow
10:32of capital with private companies and the government?
10:34Jeff, last question, which is just about his engagement with matters like this.
10:37I think last week when we were on the air and he did a big thing in the Oval Office
10:40about psychedelics and expanding research into that.
10:43There is a war going on.
10:44And I'm curious what his engagement with these other matters says about his engagement with that, the degree to which
10:49he wants to talk about or be engaged with what's happening in the Middle East.
10:52I think you can probably conclude that he's over the war.
10:55He's just ready to move on.
10:57Even so, again, back to what I said earlier, he still wants to get a good deal.
11:00So he can't just walk away from it.
11:02And the U.S. still has major assets in the region.
11:05But he wants to talk about the ballroom.
11:06He wants to talk about the sidewalk.
11:08He wants to talk about these other issues.
11:10I think my last thought on that is he's really interested in talking about things that didn't used to be
11:15Republican orthodoxy.
11:16And that's fascinating, too.
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