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US-Iran Peace Prospects Dim; Assistant AG Dhillon on DOJ Independence, Election Security · Balance of Power

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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News. You're listening to the
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on this Monday here on Bloomberg
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  Speaker 2: TV and Radio, as we mark day sixty of the
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  Speaker 2: sixty day ceasefire period that was established between the US
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  Speaker 2: and Iran in the originally signed Memorandum of Understanding, which of.
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  Speaker 3: Course all fell apart weeks ago. In the MoU.
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  Speaker 2: Originally, it was supposed to dictate that the US would
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  Speaker 2: lift its military blockade in the Straight of hooor Mows.
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  Speaker 2: That blockade, as we're on air right now, is still intact,
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  Speaker 2: and the Straight of four News, of course, was supposed
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  Speaker 2: to open entirely. That also hasn't happened, despite President Trump's
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  Speaker 2: repeated suggestion that in fact, it is completely open.
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  Speaker 3: For commercial transit.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, President Trump has made many claims to the
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  Speaker 2: effect of the US being able to control this waterway,
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  Speaker 2: including over the weekend when he actually suggested that the
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  Speaker 2: US might be able to just take over the straight
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  Speaker 2: up our news as a territory.
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  Speaker 4: Listen, and after we finish defeating Iran, which is being
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  Speaker 4: very badly defeated, pretty soon, I'll be declaring the Hormoe
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  Speaker 4: straight a territory of the United States.
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  Speaker 5: Maybe the fifty first state instead of Canada. Although he
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  Speaker 5: did chuckle there, and we're just going to assume that
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  Speaker 5: that was a joke. We're more concerned with the news
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  Speaker 5: of today, with the MoU officially behind us now and
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  Speaker 5: no new talks scheduled. In fact, as we've been discussing
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  Speaker 5: the prospect of escalation when it comes to Aman, not
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  Speaker 5: to mention Iran's own escalatory plans back at the US
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  Speaker 5: ahead of our conversation with Michael Allen from Beacon Global Strategies.
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  Speaker 5: An update now from Tyler Kendall, Bloomberg Washington correspondent is
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  Speaker 5: at the White House right now, Tyler, Are we hearing
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  Speaker 5: anything from the administration about a resumption of talks another
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  Speaker 5: attempt at diplomacy, Joe?
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  Speaker 6: At this point, we haven't gotten an update besides for
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  Speaker 6: the reporting from Fox News earlier today where President Trump
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  Speaker 6: renews this threat now against Oman, President Trump himself saying
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  Speaker 6: in that interview as well that he is in no
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  Speaker 6: hurry when it comes to striking a deal, seeming to
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  Speaker 6: reiterate what this White House's position has been in recent
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  Speaker 6: weeks in terms of opting to squeeze around from an
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  Speaker 6: economic pressure standpoint instead of reverting to military operations. We'll
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  Speaker 6: have to see where this ultimately evolves from here. The
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  Speaker 6: administration has long said that they would rather opt for diplomacy,
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  Speaker 6: but when it comes to this threat against.
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  Speaker 3: Oman, while alarming of course in terms of.
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  Speaker 6: The headlines that came down, we can say that that
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  Speaker 6: threat and those tensions have really been building at this
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  Speaker 6: point for months. I actually was in the Cabinet room
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  Speaker 6: back in May when President Trump first threatened Oman, saying
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  Speaker 6: that he was going to blow them up if they
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  Speaker 6: don't behave was the phrasing that he used, And at
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  Speaker 6: that time we had just been hearing about the idea
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  Speaker 6: that Oman was working with Iran on ease for the
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  Speaker 6: Straight of Remus. The latest update today, and the context needed,
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  Speaker 6: is that we got this update from Iranian state media
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  Speaker 6: saying that Bran and Oman are still engaged in what
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  Speaker 6: they called intense discussions about what governing the Straight of
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  Speaker 6: Removes could look like reiterating that even if they strike
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  Speaker 6: a deal, that doesn't necessarily mean that the strait is
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  Speaker 6: going to fully reopen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we continue to watch this space, Tyler. I also
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  Speaker 2: want to bring some headlines to our audience's attention coming
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  Speaker 2: from Politico confirming Chinese President Shi Jinping's intention to visit
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  Speaker 2: the White House in September. At least the White House
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  Speaker 2: is confirming that she will indeed visit on September twenty fourth.
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  Speaker 2: According to Politico, she will be in the US from
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  Speaker 2: September twenty third to the twenty fifth, So this is
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  Speaker 2: a pretty brief trip, perhaps not going to attend the
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  Speaker 2: bulk of the United Nations General Assembly in New York
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  Speaker 2: that is also happening that week, Tyler, But this is
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  Speaker 2: especially interesting as we look ahead to that visit and
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  Speaker 2: we consider the moves the President is making in the
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  Speaker 2: Asia Pacific region, as it was just within the last
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  Speaker 2: twenty four hours that he called off joint military exercises
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  Speaker 2: with South Korea's military. Yes, in part that has to
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  Speaker 2: do with countering North Korea, but that's also our presence
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  Speaker 2: there is also supposed to be a deterrent to China.
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  Speaker 3: No, how does this all fit together right.
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  Speaker 6: Exactly, Kayley, Especially considering that the aircraft carrier in that region,
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  Speaker 6: the uss S George Washington, is now moving over to
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  Speaker 6: the Middle East. That is raising questions about some of
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  Speaker 6: the positioning of US assets when it comes to deterrence
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  Speaker 6: in the Indo Pacific. Briefly, on the political reporting regarding China,
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  Speaker 6: we had already had a sense that this was going
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  Speaker 6: to be the timeline when Jijingping would make his visit
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  Speaker 6: to the US. You're really waiting for China's confirmation on this.
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  Speaker 6: We don't typically get that until right before the visit happened.
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  Speaker 6: So that's what we're going to keep our eyes kieled
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  Speaker 6: on now. But President Trump's announcement overnight that he was
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  Speaker 6: directing the Pentagon who scaled back these military drills. I
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  Speaker 6: was catching up with one of our analysts have Bloomberg Economics,
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  Speaker 6: who said that the drills are still largely proceeding as planned,
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  Speaker 6: just due to the divvying up of the amount of
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  Speaker 6: troops that are involved in these drills. But it does
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  Speaker 6: go to show a list of reasons why President Trump,
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  Speaker 6: according to himself, said that he wanted to scale these back,
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  Speaker 6: including costs, including his dismay with South Korea regarding the
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  Speaker 6: conflict in Iran, but then also his relationship with the
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  Speaker 6: North Korean leader and Joe and Keiley two points on this.
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  Speaker 6: We actually heard from South Korea's government earlier today which
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  Speaker 6: responded positively to President Trump's comments about Kim Jong un,
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  Speaker 6: saying that they would welcome renew dialogue with their neighbor.
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  Speaker 6: And we also heard from China, China saying that it
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  Speaker 6: would welcome renew to dialogue between the US and North Korea,
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  Speaker 6: saying quote, we have noticed relevant reports, maintaining peace and
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  Speaker 6: stability in the peninsula is an interest of all all sides.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall live at the White House,
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. And as Tyler alluded to, this
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  Speaker 2: Korea issue doesn't seem to be separated from Iran. At
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  Speaker 2: the very end of his true social post and announcing
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  Speaker 2: his directive to pull back on joint exercises, the President
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  Speaker 2: did say, I recently asked the president of South Korea
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  Speaker 2: if they would like to join us in the denuclearization
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  Speaker 2: of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said no. Thanks,
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for your attention to this matter. Also attentive
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  Speaker 2: to this matter. Is Michael Allen, managing director at Beacon
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  Speaker 2: Global Strategies and former Special assistant to President George W.
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  Speaker 2: Bush in the national security sector, who is back with
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  Speaker 2: us in our Washington, d C.
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  Speaker 3: Studio.
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  Speaker 2: So, Mike, good to see you. We'll get back to
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  Speaker 2: the South Korea move in a moment, just on the
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  Speaker 2: state of play when it comes to Iran. As of today,
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  Speaker 2: the sixty day MoU has officially expired. If we were
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  Speaker 2: even thinking anyone was still abiding by it in the
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  Speaker 2: first place, there is nothing in place to replace it.
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  Speaker 2: So where are we and how long can we sustain
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  Speaker 2: this current position?
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  Speaker 7: Well, the way I think is best explained is is
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  Speaker 7: that there are two clocks going on. There's a clock
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  Speaker 7: of how long can the United States sustain oil prices
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  Speaker 7: where they are the American consumer, of course, and how
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  Speaker 7: much longer can Aron sustain itself if we're continuing with
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  Speaker 7: a blockade of the Straits of four moves?
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  Speaker 8: And so it's.
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  Speaker 7: Generally thoughts, that's just a big waiting game. It's a
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  Speaker 7: big waiting game. But we may be or President Trump
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  Speaker 7: may be disadvantaged by how much longer it might take
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  Speaker 7: for the blockade to actually work, and it might punish
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  Speaker 7: him in the midterm elections, because of course the American
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  Speaker 7: consumer might suffer. So I think we have a lot
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  Speaker 7: of competing aims right here, and I think that's what
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  Speaker 7: the President's probably trying to work through. I think he's
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  Speaker 7: content now because it's very explainable to say that we
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  Speaker 7: have a blockade going on and their economy is terrible.
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  Speaker 8: But there's a lot more to it than that.
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  Speaker 5: What do you make of Wall Street Journal reporting today
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  Speaker 5: about Iran girding for something much larger After we signed
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  Speaker 5: the MoU that would have expired today, the President went
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  Speaker 5: home to celebrate, Iran started making plans, in fact, gathered
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  Speaker 5: hardline leaders to come up with a plan to escalate
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  Speaker 5: IRGC takes more control of the regular army, Hardened veterans
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  Speaker 5: of the war with Iraq, and past internal crackdowns are promoted,
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  Speaker 5: as we saw last week, expanding domestic counterintelligence operations, wrapping
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  Speaker 5: up production of missiles and drones. This has just been
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  Speaker 5: a warm up act, according to this story.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think definitely, when you have such a big
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  Speaker 7: shattering event as war with the United States in Israel,
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  Speaker 7: you're going to think, what do I need to do
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  Speaker 7: to re up my own game. We've done this, Israel
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  Speaker 7: did this after October seventh, and I think it's definitely
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  Speaker 7: the case that the Iranians are feeling at once we
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  Speaker 7: need to rebuild some capability that we lost, but also
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  Speaker 7: we have a lot of new leverage that we didn't
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  Speaker 7: have prior to this conflict, and so let's figure out
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  Speaker 7: how to exercise it to the best of our ability.
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  Speaker 7: Let's figure out how we might be able to re establish,
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  Speaker 7: if you will, what used to be called the Ring
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  Speaker 7: of Fire, which was Iran sort of dominance within the
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  Speaker 7: Middle East. And I think everything that you see listed
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  Speaker 7: within that article is pard and parcel of the types
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  Speaker 7: of things that I believe the national security infrastructure, the
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  Speaker 7: IRGC inside of Iran feels like they need to do
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  Speaker 7: in the short to medium term to get back up
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  Speaker 7: to snuff because there's still in a conflict with US
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  Speaker 7: and with Israel, and we're still formidable, even if we're
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  Speaker 7: a little lost right now.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned the leverage that Iran feels it has
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  Speaker 2: that obviously is the straight of horror news, and they've
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  Speaker 2: been in talks with Oman to try to figure out
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  Speaker 2: a way in which to basically create a map of
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  Speaker 2: the strait in which routes for entry and exit commercial
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  Speaker 2: ships can abide. By President Trump today as that's going on,
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  Speaker 2: threaten to bomb the s out of Oman if they
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  Speaker 2: get in the United States's way.
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  Speaker 3: Is that helpful?
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  Speaker 8: I don't think so.
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  Speaker 7: I mean, if he has intelligence or actual information maybe
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  Speaker 7: that they're totally turning their back on us and agreeing
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  Speaker 7: to some sort of toll, well then maybe they need
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  Speaker 7: a steep reprimand from the United States like bombs, I know,
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  Speaker 7: not like bombs, and not necessarily a public warning about it.
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  Speaker 7: I think it's more effectively done in private. But I'm
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: not sure exactly what we're accusing them of. If they've
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  Speaker 7: turned their back on us, they're deserving at the very
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: least of some sort of diplomatic dressing down.
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  Speaker 8: But I didn't think it was the right.
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  Speaker 7: Sort of sort of out of left field this morning
• 10:40
  Speaker 7: on and I guess we're going to learn more about
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: it today. Is all the Bloomberg and others we get
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: to unpack what motivated the President to say that.
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  Speaker 5: Indeed, if Iron is busy mobilizing, what are we doing.
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  Speaker 5: We've been hearing reports of B one bombers. B fifty
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  Speaker 5: two is being stationed in the UK. We have air
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  Speaker 5: to air refuelers that are being added to the region.
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  Speaker 5: Are we quietly preparing for the same thing? I think
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  Speaker 5: we are.
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  Speaker 7: I think the president has to restock sort of the theater,
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  Speaker 7: if you will, and still hold out the credible use
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  Speaker 7: of force.
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  Speaker 8: It is true.
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  Speaker 7: I do believe what experts, of course have said, which
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  Speaker 7: is that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that doesn't care
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  Speaker 7: about necessarily the economy as much as it affects their
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  Speaker 7: people as they ordinarily would. But we have to find
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  Speaker 7: some combination of economic pressure, and maybe that's the blockade
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  Speaker 7: plus the use of military force that's going to give
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  Speaker 7: us the right amount of leverage so that we eventually
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  Speaker 7: can get into some sort of diplomatic agreement. I know
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: it looks bleak now because we haven't made much progress,
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: but we have to think about what exactly are we
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: going to do If we're not going to do a
• 11:47
  Speaker 7: full escort mission. Are we going to try to guide
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: more commercial vessels through the straits. If we're not going
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: to do that, well, then what set of military pressure
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  Speaker 7: might get the Iranian the Iranians tension so that we
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: can get out of this.
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  Speaker 2: If we could switch gears to South Korea. Michael and
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  Speaker 2: the President today instructing the Defense Secretary to substantially reduce
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: joint military exercises, in part on the basis, to quote
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  Speaker 2: the President directly, of his very good relationship with Kim
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Jong un of North Korea. Is North Korea really so
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: passive a threat that the US should be considering pulling
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: back in our coordination in presence in South Korea? Are
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: they not currently supporting Russia, for example, in the war
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: with Ukraine and testing their own ICBMs.
• 12:33
  Speaker 8: Well, good point, you beat me to it.
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  Speaker 7: I mean, here we are, we have this what people
• 12:37
  Speaker 7: call the axis of upheaval. We have North Korea that
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: works with Russia, that works with China, and with Iran.
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  Speaker 7: They're sending as many I saw fifty an estmen of
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: New fifty thousand troops going to Russia to fight Ukraine.
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  Speaker 7: So I'm not sure that we're totally considering the wide
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: breadth of issues that we have against North Korea, and
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  Speaker 7: by the way, our interests to do these escort I'm sorry,
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: these exercises inside of South Korea. We want to establish
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: or keep deterrence on going because it ensures that North
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: Korea doesn't do anything militarily against South Korea, so it's
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: in our interest to have this sort of presence. And
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: by the way, it's the Trump administration that wants to
• 13:22
  Speaker 7: do more in Asia. So I'm not sure why it's
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: a great idea for us to say, Hey, you know what,
• 13:26
  Speaker 7: we're going to take down some of the capability that
• 13:29
  Speaker 7: we did ordinarily exercise with you, and for what reason.
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  Speaker 8: I don't know what they've done that deserves it.
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  Speaker 5: Well, would this have happened if South Korea helped us
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  Speaker 5: out in the Strait.
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  Speaker 8: I don't think so.
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  Speaker 7: I don't know that's what he's kind of pointing us too.
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: I guess I guess that's what he's saying. But that
• 13:47
  Speaker 7: was a long time ago. You know, this was weeks ago,
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  Speaker 7: and so the whole world sort of told us no,
• 13:51
  Speaker 7: thank you too. And that's because you know, and look,
• 13:55
  Speaker 7: I think the NATO should stand up and help us also.
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: But yeah, it is true. We didn't exactly give them
• 14:02
  Speaker 7: a heads up on anything. And I remember working legislative
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: affairs in the Bush White House and Congress would say,
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: if you want us there on the landing, we better
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: be there on the takeoff, and so you know, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: so I think by now we ought to have worked
• 14:16
  Speaker 7: through all these issues with some of our allies. And
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: I'm not sure it's really in our interests to say
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: we're not going to participate in something that benefits us
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: in order to punish you.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: Sounds like we are remaining twenty seconds here. You think
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Pete haggsas should also be briefing Democrats on Capitol Hill.
• 14:32
  Speaker 8: I think so asking for money? I think so.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: I know we're in the most politicized times ever, but yeah,
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: of course you should get up there and tell them
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: what you want to know.
• 14:41
  Speaker 8: You want to try to convince them. Even if they're
• 14:43
  Speaker 8: not going to praise you on.
• 14:44
  Speaker 7: Television, privately, they may need to know, you know what,
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: there's a basis for what we're doing.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: Well, they're coming back. There will still be a chance.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: Michael Allen, great to see you, sir. I hope it's
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: been a great summer for you, and thanks for helping
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: us out as always at Bloomberg beaking Global Strategies alongside
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: Kaylee Lines.
• 14:59
  Speaker 8: I'm Joe Matthew.
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: If stay with us on Balance of Power, we'll have
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  Speaker 5: much more coming up after this.
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  Speaker 2: As we count down to the midterm elections in this
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six cycle, were now less than eighty days.
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  Speaker 3: Away from that vote.
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  Speaker 2: I don't even know how many days away we are
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  Speaker 2: from election Day twenty twenty eight.
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  Speaker 3: It's a lot more than that.
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  Speaker 2: It's hundreds of days away, and yet we're already talking
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  Speaker 2: about it and what the calendar, the primary calendar will
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  Speaker 2: look like in the next presidential cycle, as the DNC
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  Speaker 2: and at summer meeting in Austin this past weekend, solidified
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  Speaker 2: what its early states would be. They're not starting in
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  Speaker 2: Iowa like the Republicans will. Instead, it will be South
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  Speaker 2: Carolina on January twenty second, followed by Nevada on February five. First,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: then we get to New Hampshire, of course, typically the
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: early state, as well as the third state on February eighth.
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  Speaker 2: The DNC, of course, Joe says that this is going
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: to be more representative of the Democratic Party in terms
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: of demographics. But this isn't going down without a little consternation.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: Well, no, and we've seen this movie before. We've actually
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: had this argument a lot of times when it comes
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: to racial diversity economic diversity.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: States like South.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Carolina and as we see on the list here, Nevada
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: do have more to offer. But there's a lot to
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: be said for the process in states like New Hampshire
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: and Iowa overwhelmingly white, clearly, but provide an opportunity for
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: face to face retail politics in a way that other
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: states have.
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  Speaker 8: Not been able to.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: Remember when we went to New Hampshire in the last cycle,
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: there was no one there except Verman Supreme because the
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: DNC decided to penalize Democrats and they pulled the plug
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: on the delegates from that state. I'm assuming we're going
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: to have a similar event because it's actually part of
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: the state constitution in New Hampshire that they be the first.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: So no matter when you decide to make some other
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: state the first, they simply jump the line. We're going
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: to get to a couple of other things here, but
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: this is an important argument to get into because as
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: you said Republicans are going to be in Iowa, New
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: Hampshire per usual, right, Yeah, so we're going to four
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: states in the same two.
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: Weeks road trip.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: Kristin Hahn is with us, Maybe she'll come Rock Solutions
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: are Democratic strategists. Maybe we'll see more ag Aillespie there
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: as well, our Republican strategist Blue Stack Strategies. Kristin is
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: our Democrat. Can you tell me if this is worthwhile
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: because it does bring quite a bit of chaos to
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: the process, especially if you're sidelining delegates in a place
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: like New Hampshire.
• 17:43
  Speaker 9: Well, I'm not sure we're sidelining delegates. I mean, it's
• 17:45
  Speaker 9: the process that won't happen. Yeah, I think, I mean,
• 17:48
  Speaker 9: the process is always a little bit a bit chaotic,
• 17:51
  Speaker 9: but I think it does reflect the diversity of the
• 17:56
  Speaker 9: elect the Democratic electorate. I mean, the people who will
• 17:59
  Speaker 9: be participating in the primaries, you know, are in a
• 18:04
  Speaker 9: lot of other states, and so I think it'll be
• 18:06
  Speaker 9: really interesting to see South Carolina, Nevada and what those
• 18:11
  Speaker 9: voters will do.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: So when we consider those voters, Kristen, just quickly, who
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: do those kind of demographics favor in terms of thinking
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: about the arc of the Democratic Party and the spectrum
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: of potential candidates from the far left to more center left.
• 18:29
  Speaker 9: I mean, I think you're looking at you're talking about
• 18:31
  Speaker 9: demographics and also political leadings. Right, We're really having a
• 18:35
  Speaker 9: dissession within the Democratic Party about who we are and
• 18:39
  Speaker 9: who we want to be. And there's a lot of
• 18:41
  Speaker 9: diversity of thought as well, right, And so you're looking
• 18:45
  Speaker 9: at Hispanic voters in these states, Black voters in these states,
• 18:51
  Speaker 9: which have always been a huge part of the Democratic electorate.
• 18:57
  Speaker 9: So and and these groups are also not monolithic, right,
• 19:00
  Speaker 9: I mean, they think differently about a different candids. I
• 19:04
  Speaker 9: think that there's a lot of, like I said, diversity
• 19:06
  Speaker 9: of thought and different ideas out there. So I think
• 19:09
  Speaker 9: this will be an actual, really interesting primary because we're
• 19:13
  Speaker 9: going to have to come to an agreement or an
• 19:15
  Speaker 9: understanding of where we want to be and where we
• 19:18
  Speaker 9: want to come down as a party in twenty twenty eight.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: More will Republicans keep the traditional calendar. We're actually seeing
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: headlines today that Pete Hegseth is back in Iowa making remarks.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Will be the normal Iowa caucuses, followed by New Hampshire
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: primary for the GOP.
• 19:38
  Speaker 10: I suspect it well. I think that they're pretty well
• 19:41
  Speaker 10: oiled machine. The RNC has upwards of one hundred and
• 19:44
  Speaker 10: twenty to one hundred and thirty million dollars cash on hand,
• 19:47
  Speaker 10: whereas the DNZ is in debt by two million dollars.
• 19:51
  Speaker 10: And so I do think today are looking to do
• 19:53
  Speaker 10: something to shake things up and to appease the party
• 19:56
  Speaker 10: leadership that is making these pushes for a change in
• 20:00
  Speaker 10: the primaries and where they line up in terms of
• 20:02
  Speaker 10: January through February. But yeah, I don't see the Republicans
• 20:04
  Speaker 10: changing course in that capacity, but I do think what
• 20:07
  Speaker 10: it speaks to you on the Democratic side, obviously, there
• 20:09
  Speaker 10: is a contingent of voters who are frustrated with.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: The sis quo and.
• 20:15
  Speaker 10: I are looking for a change, and I think that
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: there is a discrepancy between those change candidates and what
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: the party leadership under Democrats want, and so they're having
• 20:23
  Speaker 10: that struggle and you're seeing.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: It play out.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: When we think about Iowa, in particular, Mora, there is
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: a non zero chance Iowa could send a Democrat to
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the United States Senate in this midterm cycle. Josh Truick
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: actually is competitive in many of the polls that we're seeing,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: and I wonder what that may indicate about the political
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: swinging of that state, and if it were to go
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: first in a Republican presidential primary in twenty twenty eight,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: how that might color things.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: It'll be really telling.
• 20:52
  Speaker 10: And I do think that you're not wrong and that
• 20:53
  Speaker 10: there is that potential. And I would say it's largely
• 20:56
  Speaker 10: because Iowa, Joe is and we are talking about here,
• 21:00
  Speaker 10: is that it is that face to face that relation
• 21:04
  Speaker 10: to Iowa and to Iowan's and being able to talk
• 21:06
  Speaker 10: to them about the issues that impact them directly. They
• 21:09
  Speaker 10: don't need somebody from DC who's telling them how they
• 21:11
  Speaker 10: should feel. They want to talk to their neighbors who
• 21:13
  Speaker 10: are going to represent them. And I do think that
• 21:15
  Speaker 10: you're seeing that reflected in the trust that they have
• 21:18
  Speaker 10: with the candidates who are running. And so if they
• 21:20
  Speaker 10: feel is that our trust is going to be a
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: Democrat who's going to deliver for them, they're going to
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: vote that way. And I would say the same thing
• 21:24
  Speaker 10: on the Republicans. If they thought that person was going
• 21:26
  Speaker 10: to deliver and could deliver in the current environment, then
• 21:29
  Speaker 10: they would do as much. I think that's very unique
• 21:31
  Speaker 10: but also special to Iowa and what they're looking for
• 21:34
  Speaker 10: from their representation.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: What's happening in Alaska? Kristen Han Mary Peltola, which is
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: a Democrat representative you may not everyone may have heard of,
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: received an endorsement from Kamala Harris. In any other world,
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: this might be considered a good thing for a Democrat
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: trying to get some national recognition. But Peltola rejected the endorsement,
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: knowing of course that Kamala Harris lost Alaska by a
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: long shot. Why not just take the endorsement and not advertising?
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: Is this the future here for Kamala Harris?
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: I would look more at so Mary Peltola.
• 22:14
  Speaker 9: I've I've worked with her for a number of years,
• 22:17
  Speaker 9: and I will say that there is no more impressive
• 22:21
  Speaker 9: person that is on the ballot this year than Mary Peltola.
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: She is Alaska, she knows that state. They love her.
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: I've been saying it for a long time. Alaska's been
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: a sleeper and you're seeing it play out right now.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Mary's going to Amala Harris had really nice things to
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: say about her too.
• 22:39
  Speaker 9: But Mary's going to do what Mary's going to do.
• 22:41
  Speaker 9: She's got a great political intuition and she also knows
• 22:44
  Speaker 9: the people she represents. I mean she was a member
• 22:46
  Speaker 9: of Congress at large, right, which means like you represent
• 22:50
  Speaker 9: the whole state already, and she knows her people, and
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: so it's she's not a flip flop or she says
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: what she believes, and so take her at her word.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Well, and when we consider her opponent in November, it
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: will be a Dan Sullivan maybe unclear mora which Dan Sullivan.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: There's two of them in the contest, and one is
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: the incumbent Republican senator.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Sorry christ and go ahead, thank you for bringing that up.
• 23:16
  Speaker 9: I mean this is I was actually just having a
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: conversation about this last night. I'm sorry did interrupt to Kayley,
• 23:21
  Speaker 9: but it's a huge I mean, people don't know which
• 23:25
  Speaker 9: you know Sullivan they're voting for, so that's all. Well,
• 23:29
  Speaker 9: it's a major issue on the Republican side of the ballot.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: He had turned this around at one point, didn't he,
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: And then they will.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Assisted it went back and forth in the courts repeatedly.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I guess the Dance Sullivan is what we're going with
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: versus the Dan Sullivan's more. Feel free to weigh in
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: on which one we should use. It also how Yeah,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: But a complicated primary like this, when you're running against
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: someone of the same name and then trying to compete
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: in what could be a very competitive general election, sounds
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: like kind of a tough gig.
• 24:03
  Speaker 8: Certainly does.
• 24:03
  Speaker 10: And I wonder how either often this could ever happen again,
• 24:07
  Speaker 10: because it is a unique situation. I would hope that
• 24:09
  Speaker 10: it doesn't happen too often because I do think it's
• 24:11
  Speaker 10: probably very confusing.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: For the voters.
• 24:14
  Speaker 10: But you know, like Kristen saying, you know, the contest
• 24:17
  Speaker 10: against the Dan's versus Mary Patola is a very interesting one,
• 24:21
  Speaker 10: and I think that her dismissing of Kamala harris as
• 24:25
  Speaker 10: a norsement isn't too shocking, only because I do think
• 24:28
  Speaker 10: that if you're looking at a bigger play, Kama Harris's
• 24:31
  Speaker 10: campaign shortly as short as it was, costs a lot
• 24:34
  Speaker 10: of money and talking about the DN season, they're being
• 24:38
  Speaker 10: in the whole two million dollars, Kamala Harris's run of
• 24:41
  Speaker 10: president costs a lot of money that they have not
• 24:43
  Speaker 10: recovered from. And I do think that mismanagement and also
• 24:47
  Speaker 10: just the hosts of problems they endured there candidates who
• 24:50
  Speaker 10: are looking to be that change and to be a
• 24:52
  Speaker 10: new representation for Democrats. They're not going to want to
• 24:55
  Speaker 10: have that same attachment.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Kristin, what does this tell us about Kamala Harris
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: his own political future?
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I think it's interesting.
• 25:05
  Speaker 9: I mean, we have got a large by the way,
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: it just reminds me of that movie The Distinguished Gentleman.
• 25:11
  Speaker 9: He gets elected to Congress because he has the same name.
• 25:16
  Speaker 9: But no, I mean, I think we're really looking ahead
• 25:20
  Speaker 9: and Kamas had such a distinguished career, but we have
• 25:25
  Speaker 9: it's I think it's an embarrassment of riches on the
• 25:28
  Speaker 9: Democratic side headed into to twenty twenty eight. So I'm
• 25:31
  Speaker 9: really looking at you know, a number of these these candidates,
• 25:35
  Speaker 9: Wes Moore and others who it'll be really interesting. So
• 25:39
  Speaker 9: there's a lot of talent out there.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: There very much is more in our final minute. There's
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: just a lot of names floating out there in general
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: on the Democratic side, whether you believe they're talented or not.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: And it's likely that they could be running against someone
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: from the Trump administration like JD.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Vance R Marco Rubio.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And so when we consider the Republican primary, how much
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: of a primary do you really expect it will be.
• 26:04
  Speaker 10: It's gotta be tough because Donald Trump does not like
• 26:06
  Speaker 10: to have any of the attention taken away from him,
• 26:08
  Speaker 10: and those two men know that better than anyone, probably
• 26:11
  Speaker 10: Davy Bans and Marco Rubio. And so it'll really come
• 26:14
  Speaker 10: down to I think whoever decides to hold it out
• 26:16
  Speaker 10: the longest in terms of putting themselves forward as the
• 26:19
  Speaker 10: candidate and letting Trump help dictate that, because as it
• 26:22
  Speaker 10: Trump likes to do, and that's what it will need
• 26:25
  Speaker 10: to be done in order for them to be able
• 26:26
  Speaker 10: to run. Unless they're ready to book the president, which
• 26:29
  Speaker 10: I don't see either men doing. That's the only way
• 26:31
  Speaker 10: forward for them.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: All right, more THEI, Lespie and Kristen Hahn our political
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: panel on this Monday. Thank you so much for joining
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: us and stick with us here on Balance of Power.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: We have an important conversation ahead with the Assistant Attorney
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: General for Civil Rights, her Meet Dylan will be joining
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: us here in our Washington, d C studio.
• 26:49
  Speaker 8: Up next, stay with us on Balance of Power.
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: We'll have much more coming up after this.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Ket
• 27:00
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• 27:04
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• 27:07
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• 27:10
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• 27:13
  Speaker 2: We're keeping an eye on the White House as President
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Trump is meeting right now with the sixteen year old
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: lifeguard who you may have seen on video circulating on
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: social media earlier this summer, rescuing a boy off the
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: coast of California. If the President makes any newsworthy remarks,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: will of course bring them to you on Bloomberg TV
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: and Radio, especially if he weighs in on what's happening
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: in the Middle East and the straight of horror news,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: which of course has been crucial in dictating the direction
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: of energy and prices. Energy prices and by extension, inflationary pressures.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: We of course saw cooler.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Inflation data in the form of CPI and PPI last
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: week thanks to the easing and energy pressures that we
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: saw for most of the month of July. But you
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: know what isn't really cooling off all that much, Joe,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: is the prices of beef, which just continue to climb.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: There's still around record highs that bls data in the
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: inflation court. Last week found ground beef averaged seven dollars
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: and roughly twelve cents a pound. Yeah, in July as
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: ground beef ground B one, not even the state.
• 28:08
  Speaker 8: It's the prime RIBI. You're going to pay a lot
• 28:10
  Speaker 8: more for that.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: I was looking at these prices too up overall, because
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: there are a lot of different categories in the way
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: that they are measured. Twelve percent year over year, including
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: a fourteen percent increase for beef roasts, ground beef up
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: twenty five percent, and it's a lot of It has
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: a lot to do with capacity, supply and demand playing
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: in here with the closure of Tyson's Big Lexington, Nebraska facility,
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: cutbacks at the Amarillo, Texas plant. Eileena Pang Bloomberg News
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: Agricultural reporter has been doing some great reporting on this,
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: and we'll give us a sense of exactly what's going
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: on right now and maybe where we're going. Eileena, thanks
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: for joining us. She's at World headquarters in New York.
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: It does appear, with these continued closures and the lowest
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: herd in seventy five years, if these prices could keep rising.
• 28:57
  Speaker 11: No, yeah, no, absolutely, We're very much in a situation
• 29:01
  Speaker 11: where supply is still tight. The US cattle herd has
• 29:06
  Speaker 11: been so small for so long, and we're starting to
• 29:09
  Speaker 11: see signs of that rebuild finally, but that is a
• 29:12
  Speaker 11: year's long process that also requires like a little bit
• 29:14
  Speaker 11: more supply and tightening before things get better. And so
• 29:18
  Speaker 11: what we really see both from the I guess the
• 29:21
  Speaker 11: later end of the supply chain is meat packers trying
• 29:24
  Speaker 11: to address that by pulling back capacity. Basically, the rationale
• 29:28
  Speaker 11: there is there will be less competition for cattle, therefore
• 29:31
  Speaker 11: the prices will come down. And we're also starting to
• 29:34
  Speaker 11: see some pushback in terms of the consumer demand, where
• 29:38
  Speaker 11: we're not really seeing demand destruction, but what we're seeing
• 29:42
  Speaker 11: is prices and volumes sort of leveling off, and the
• 29:46
  Speaker 11: fact that that's happening at a time when it's July
• 29:50
  Speaker 11: fourth and peak summer grilling season has already started to
• 29:53
  Speaker 11: weigh on the market. So we've seen wholesale beef prices
• 29:56
  Speaker 11: come down, and you see companies of the like of
• 29:59
  Speaker 11: shape Jack sort of flagging that in their earnings now,
• 30:02
  Speaker 11: saying that they're expecting beef inflation to still be up
• 30:05
  Speaker 11: significantly year over year, but to sort of.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Pair back a little bit.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: So the demand destruction then is potentially coming, even if
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: it hasn't fully materialized.
• 30:16
  Speaker 11: Lena, I think it still kind of remains to be seen.
• 30:19
  Speaker 11: I think the beef industry, honestly, when prices started going up,
• 30:23
  Speaker 11: they had expected more consumers to switch away from beef.
• 30:27
  Speaker 11: But what we're really seeing is that beef demand is
• 30:30
  Speaker 11: to some extent in elastic. You see people going away
• 30:33
  Speaker 11: from steakhouses and going home. You see people going home
• 30:37
  Speaker 11: and buying cheaper cuts of steak, or buying ground beef
• 30:40
  Speaker 11: instead of steak.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: But it's not purely a price play.
• 30:45
  Speaker 11: It seems like, for example, ground pork is one of
• 30:47
  Speaker 11: the cheapest grinds available in the grocery store, and you
• 30:51
  Speaker 11: don't see demand rising as much for ground pork as
• 30:55
  Speaker 11: you might expect given where ground beef prices are. That
• 30:58
  Speaker 11: being said, like there are a lot more people buying chicken.
• 31:01
  Speaker 11: American consumers are very familiar with it, and it's obviously
• 31:04
  Speaker 11: significantly cheaper. But I think so far, what we're seeing
• 31:08
  Speaker 11: at least is people are still buying beef. They're not
• 31:11
  Speaker 11: just not willing to buy any more of it now.
• 31:15
  Speaker 8: Boy, I don't know.
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: It is kind of amazing America's love affair with beef
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: that these prices don't impact demand. Are we seeing demand
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: roll over to other options? I mean, are we buying
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: more chicken and pork as a result.
• 31:28
  Speaker 11: Yeah, We're definitely buying more chicken. Chicken demand is I mean,
• 31:33
  Speaker 11: it's been a growing category for years, and we're in
• 31:36
  Speaker 11: a good, comfortable supply.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Situation with chicken.
• 31:39
  Speaker 11: So prices at retail have basically been kind of flat
• 31:42
  Speaker 11: year over year, so that space continues to see growth
• 31:45
  Speaker 11: year over year. Other proteins like pork and turkey, I
• 31:49
  Speaker 11: think there's like a lot of growth opportunity there and
• 31:51
  Speaker 11: so they are seeing like higher sales volumes. But like
• 31:54
  Speaker 11: if you look at the grounds category, for example, which
• 31:58
  Speaker 11: is where a lot of American consumers are going just
• 32:00
  Speaker 11: because of convenience and affordability, beef is still by far
• 32:04
  Speaker 11: the biggest player in that category, and I think the
• 32:07
  Speaker 11: expectation is like it'll take a while before we see
• 32:10
  Speaker 11: that sort of throne being toppled, even at these prices.
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: Really interesting, We'll stay on this, Eileena. This is something
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: that's clearly not going to be ending anytime soon. We
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: appreciate it very much. With us Life from World Headquarters
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: in New York, turning back to one of the big
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: stories of the day and one of the big questions
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: that people are asking, conceptually speaking, here, what should be
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: the relationship between the White House and the Department of Justice.
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: Todd Blanche was asked about this on Meet the Press yesterday,
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: of course, the now formal Attorney General of the United States,
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: whether he would pledge independence from the White House.
• 32:44
  Speaker 8: Here's what you said.
• 32:45
  Speaker 12: There's a big difference between saying we will always do
• 32:48
  Speaker 12: our job and investigate any case and act independently of
• 32:51
  Speaker 12: the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that,
• 32:54
  Speaker 12: and no Attorney General should ever pledge that.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: And I pleased to say we have an other voice
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: from the DJ joining us now in our Washington, d
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: C studio. The Assistant US Attorney General for Civil Civil Rights,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Hermite Dylan, is with us now on Bloomberg TV and radio.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us. And I'm curious
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: how you would answer the very same question, mister Blanche post,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: which is, should the DOJ be independent from the White House,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: not necessarily act encounter of the White House, but not
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: feel obligated to do a president's bidding.
• 33:26
  Speaker 13: Now, I think what the way Todd answered that question
• 33:29
  Speaker 13: is exactly correct. I would have answered it the same way,
• 33:32
  Speaker 13: and it is the law. And in fact, every president
• 33:35
  Speaker 13: is entitled to have a Department of Justice that is
• 33:38
  Speaker 13: part of the executive branch and answers to the president
• 33:41
  Speaker 13: of the president appoints that person. The president's priorities are
• 33:43
  Speaker 13: our priorities, and it is ludicrous to suggest that the
• 33:49
  Speaker 13: DOJ should be independent somehow. And in addition to that,
• 33:52
  Speaker 13: I would point out as recently as President Obama's attorney
• 33:56
  Speaker 13: general described himself as his wingman. And so it hasn't
• 34:00
  Speaker 13: even historically been the case on the left that there
• 34:03
  Speaker 13: was a pretense that the DOJ was independent of the
• 34:06
  Speaker 13: executive branch.
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: Somehows Well, the first example that everyone brings up is
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: jfk Right, he put his brother in charge of the DOJ.
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: But I'm curious to just explore this with a little
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: bit more detail with you, because Todd Blanche called it
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: an extraordinarily false narrative that the president says, go prosecute
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: X and Y, and he does it give us a
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: sense of what we're missing here in this conversation.
• 34:28
  Speaker 13: I think he's talking about the accusation that the president
• 34:30
  Speaker 13: himself specifically directs.
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: Well, that's right, because a lot of people assume that,
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: so tell us how different it is.
• 34:35
  Speaker 13: I think what we have is media narratives that have
• 34:38
  Speaker 13: been very negative for this president, dating back to when
• 34:42
  Speaker 13: he ran in twenty sixteen. I've been a supporter of
• 34:45
  Speaker 13: his for a while, so I've been following it closely.
• 34:47
  Speaker 13: And you know, every president has their priorities and in
• 34:50
  Speaker 13: the way, for example, the Civil Rights Division, I announced
• 34:52
  Speaker 13: on my first week we're going to be following the
• 34:55
  Speaker 13: president's executive orders and enforcing them. And you know that
• 34:57
  Speaker 13: itself caused a hum and cry, as if somehow not
• 35:00
  Speaker 13: supposed to do that. But those are the policy prerogatives.
• 35:02
  Speaker 13: I think the president's policy priorities and prerogatives are extremely clear.
• 35:07
  Speaker 13: He puts out executive orders, he makes statements, and we
• 35:12
  Speaker 13: have our law enforcement priorities of the Department of Justice
• 35:15
  Speaker 13: going after crime. It is the Attorney General and all
• 35:19
  Speaker 13: of the subordinate officers our job to do our best
• 35:22
  Speaker 13: to effectuate both our statutory duties as well as policy priorities.
• 35:26
  Speaker 13: Both of those things go hand in hand.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: Well, when you talk about policy priorities and going after crime,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: how does that pertain to the twenty twenty six midterms.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: This cycle that we are in now, as we've obviously
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: seen of resources deployed to polling sites for monitoring as
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: recently as last week's primaries, there is obviously an effort
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: surrounding voter roles. What more should we be expecting of
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the DJ when it comes to election security and proceed vulnerabilities.
• 35:52
  Speaker 13: So we began our election security work almost as soon
• 35:56
  Speaker 13: as I was sworn in last April. This is an
• 35:59
  Speaker 13: ongoing duty and obligation. And by the way, it is
• 36:02
  Speaker 13: no different than in Democrat administrations in and out. Since
• 36:06
  Speaker 13: the nineteen fifty seven the United States Department of Justice
• 36:09
  Speaker 13: Civil Rights Division has sent monitors to election hotspots, polling
• 36:14
  Speaker 13: places to increase voter confidence, to troubleshoot problems. And we
• 36:19
  Speaker 13: are doing that now. We just did it in the primary.
• 36:21
  Speaker 13: We're going to do it to the tune of approximately
• 36:24
  Speaker 13: one thousand election monitors in the November election. And this
• 36:28
  Speaker 13: is just something that DOJ does something different about it. Well,
• 36:31
  Speaker 13: we are still formulating our final list. But the places
• 36:35
  Speaker 13: where there may be language issues, the places where there
• 36:37
  Speaker 13: may have been access of disability rights issues, places where
• 36:41
  Speaker 13: there may be voter fraud issues, that we've seen. We've
• 36:44
  Speaker 13: had some prosecutions. I think you've seen some of those.
• 36:46
  Speaker 13: There'll be some prosecutions in the pipeline of people who
• 36:49
  Speaker 13: voted illegally who should not have. And we see a problem, frankly,
• 36:54
  Speaker 13: with some election officials refusing to clean up their voter
• 36:56
  Speaker 13: roles and knowingly allowing non citizens, for example, to stay
• 37:00
  Speaker 13: on the voter roles. This is a federal crime, and
• 37:02
  Speaker 13: so we've reminded people of that. But overall, the goal
• 37:06
  Speaker 13: is not so much going after one voter here or there.
• 37:10
  Speaker 13: It is increasing all American citizens' confidence in our elections,
• 37:14
  Speaker 13: and that requires us to enforce our laws.
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: What's your biggest concern about election security beyond voter fraud.
• 37:21
  Speaker 5: We've been hearing stories about cyber attacks on municipal water
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: systems just in the last couple of weeks that some
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: believe are coming from Iran, for instance. Are you monitoring
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: foreign actors ahead of this election?
• 37:33
  Speaker 13: Well, I'm not going to comment on that kind of
• 37:36
  Speaker 13: level of thing, but I will say that the concern
• 37:38
  Speaker 13: about having elections that all Americans can feel confident in
• 37:42
  Speaker 13: is a high priority of this White House. It's something
• 37:45
  Speaker 13: that I frequently meet with other agency heads on and
• 37:50
  Speaker 13: an Apartment of Homeland Security is involved in it, the
• 37:52
  Speaker 13: Postal Service is involved in it. And we really want
• 37:56
  Speaker 13: every American to get out there and vote and feel
• 37:58
  Speaker 13: confident in the outcome.
• 37:59
  Speaker 8: That's an important part of it.
• 38:01
  Speaker 13: Is not just vote, but also feel like you can
• 38:03
  Speaker 13: accept the outcome of the elections. And over the years
• 38:06
  Speaker 13: we've had Republicans and Democrats. Hillary Clinton's and Stacy Abrams
• 38:10
  Speaker 13: have both come out and said, you know, they didn't
• 38:12
  Speaker 13: accept the outcome or they didn't like what happened in
• 38:14
  Speaker 13: their particular election. So this is, by part is an issue,
• 38:17
  Speaker 13: and it's a by partisan problem, and we want people
• 38:20
  Speaker 13: from both sides to be able to accept those results.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: To return to your point on non citizens being on
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: voter roles, it's one thing for them to be registered.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: It's another for them to actually go to the polls
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: and vote. Can you give us a sense in terms
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: of scale, how many documented cases there have been of
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: a non citizen actually casting a vote.
• 38:36
  Speaker 13: Well, first of all, both of those are crimes if
• 38:38
  Speaker 13: they know.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Sometimes they can be an inverted like in the New
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Jersey case, they.
• 38:41
  Speaker 13: Read it's not a crime if the state made a
• 38:43
  Speaker 13: mistake sure, but it's a crime if you register to
• 38:46
  Speaker 13: vote when you're not a citizen to vote in a
• 38:50
  Speaker 13: federal election. New Jersey itself has admitted to hundreds of cases,
• 38:55
  Speaker 13: and I think the scope is actually much larger of
• 38:58
  Speaker 13: non citizen voting. And these are people who flagged themselves
• 39:01
  Speaker 13: according to New Jersey, hi, I'm not a citizen, and
• 39:04
  Speaker 13: then they went ahead and voted. And so we don't
• 39:08
  Speaker 13: know the scale of this problem because two thirds of
• 39:10
  Speaker 13: the states are refusing to cooperate with the Department of
• 39:13
  Speaker 13: Justice's efforts to help them clean up their voter roles
• 39:16
  Speaker 13: under the Help and Marco Vote Act VRA. We've requested
• 39:20
  Speaker 13: this information under the nineteen sixty Civil Rights Act, and
• 39:23
  Speaker 13: so we would love for all the states to cooperate
• 39:25
  Speaker 13: with us. But in the states that have cooperated with us,
• 39:28
  Speaker 13: there are hundreds of thousands of dead people on the
• 39:30
  Speaker 13: voter rules, and there are tens of thousands of people
• 39:32
  Speaker 13: who are not citizens on the voter roles, and so
• 39:35
  Speaker 13: to go through each of those, I'm not going to
• 39:37
  Speaker 13: accuse anybody without doing the arduous process of checking that
• 39:40
  Speaker 13: list against the voter rules and see how many people voted.
• 39:42
  Speaker 13: And then we refer those cases to the US Attorneys,
• 39:45
  Speaker 13: our colleagues in the US Attorney's Office and the FBI.
• 39:48
  Speaker 13: So it's a long trek between getting those voter roles
• 39:50
  Speaker 13: and then prosecuting somebody.
• 39:52
  Speaker 5: We've only got about a minute lift in the program.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: Can you get that work done before November.
• 39:59
  Speaker 13: This as an ongo going project, and there definitely have
• 40:02
  Speaker 13: been courts that have not agreed with our efforts, and
• 40:05
  Speaker 13: so we are appealing some cases. We just got a
• 40:07
  Speaker 13: ruling in the Sixth Circuit that had some very good
• 40:10
  Speaker 13: language in the en banc from several very respected judges,
• 40:13
  Speaker 13: and so you may see us making a next stop
• 40:15
  Speaker 13: at the Supreme Court on that. Really, but it's not Look,
• 40:19
  Speaker 13: a lot of things are not going to happen, and
• 40:21
  Speaker 13: it's not geared towards the midterms. I understand this is
• 40:23
  Speaker 13: an ongoing duty of the Department of Justice that will
• 40:25
  Speaker 13: continue long after I'm no longer there.
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: Understood, Well, if this goes to the Supreme Court, we'd
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: love to talk to about it again, and we appreciate
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: your being with us in our bureau today. Armiet Dylan,
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: Assistant US Attorney General for Civil Rights, with us live
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: in our Washington Bureau alongside Kaylee Lines. I'm Joe Matthew.
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: Appreciate you're spending some time with us today on the
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: Monday edition. Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast.
• 40:46
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• 40:55
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