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00:00From the world of politics to the world of business, this is a balance of power. Bloomberg's Washington, D.C. studios to our TV audiences worldwide. Welcome to Balance of Power, alongside Ann Marie Hoard Dirt. I'm Jill. Secretary Yellen calls an unscheduled meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The group says the banking system remains sound and resilient. Reaction from California Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman. As those questions swirl, a deeper one on the horizon remains unanswered. What to do with the debt ceiling? Speak with Republican Senator Roger Marshal of Kansas. And this weekend, former President Trump heads to Waco, Texas. That as he warns of, quote, death and destruction in connection with the potential indictment. We'll break it all down with our political panel. Joe, happy Friday. You made it to Friday. And once again, we hear from the treasury secretary. Yes, she's been inching towards this moment all week. It's an unscheduled meeting. So potentially there's some risk in the market. She says the banking system is sound. Those are two or two key words here. Sounded resilient today, even as the market doubts this. Remember that note from Moody's yesterday suggesting the chance for further contagion and we're all wondering if this is going to be a newsy weekend or not? Well, First Republic Bank lost half its market cap. Basically, it's just been unreal. So potentially they do have another big weekend, he says, standing by. Yeah. And there's gonna be another big week ahead here in Washington when it comes to the banks. And we're going to start our conversation this Friday. Off with that around the table. We have Bloomberg's Laura Davison and Christian Hall. Laura, let's start with you, because you really cover this. And it's going to be a huge week in Congress next week because it's the hearings. Everyone has come on the program the past two weeks and said, well, we're going to have hearings. You're gonna have hearings. We want to hear what happened. What can we expect? So these are going to be big blockbuster hearings. You're going to hear a lot of anger. These are bipartisan hearing, kind of like tick tock, kind of like tick tock and potentially even more explosive. You're gonna have the regulators in the room. They've also asked for the bank CEOs or ex CEOs at this point from Signature and SVP to come in and testify. We'll see if they are able to show. But you're going to have both Democrats and Republicans railing in to the regulators and CEOs. If they're they're asking what what's happened here. But you're not going to hear is is a singular policy answer. You know, they've been talking about raising the FDIC insurance limit, whether they claw back bonuses potentially from some of those executives, whether they do more regulation, less less regulation. It's really unclear what, if any, congressional response will be beyond just talk. Well, then, after a week of doing interviews more than that with lawmakers and Murray, we've found zero consensus even among Democrats and Republicans within their own caucuses on what to do here. So with with Janet Yellen giving the words sound and resilience, does she just give Congress an excuse to do nothing? Congress doesn't really need an excuse to do nothing about that, but it does give them a little bit of an ability to say, look, you know, appointee Yellen, she says everything's good and fine. We don't have to do anything. You're already hearing hints of that from Patrick McHenry, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, who's like, let's just take a breather. Let's see what happens. And if Congress loses momentum on something, there's a good chance that it just falls by the wayside when the next crisis comes up. Yeah, that's right. They just basically want to hear the hearings, but they're not actually going to move on any sort of legislation, are they? Especially as the debt ceiling is still hanging over them. And there's been some movement on that, though, today. You have the or last night and then today, Speaker McCarthy apparently doesn't know what his own GOP chair of the budget committee is saying. But they're supposed to be coming up with. I'm calling it a cheat sheet, but it's a deal sheet. The term sheet. Right. What they want from the president in order to get those votes to raise the ceiling. So what Republicans said that they would do is put together this list of all of the terms that they would accept to move forward on a debt ceiling vote. I mean, this is really their their opening offer. But there's been some delays in getting this opening offer on the table. They also said they would come up with a 10 year balanced budget. That's an even harder task because they're going to either have to cut defense spending or Reno really gut some federal agencies, programs, people like Medicare and that sort of thing to be able to make that happen. So this is going to be, you know, if what if and when we get this, that will really kick off the debt ceiling discussions. But it's been difficult for Republicans on their end to get the parameters together as they're, you know, facing some infighting between what the House Freedom Caucus wants and what some of the more moderates. This is just the autopsy, though, guys. We haven't even figured out what happened. Never mind try to get our arms around and incredibly fast moving crisis. You know, we've talked about the first Twitter bank run. The influence of fintech, the fact that we're banking on our phones. These guys are going to still be figuring out what went on two weeks ago before anything new is addressed. Yeah, this is really you know, Congress is not well equipped to deal with some of these issues. It's the regulators, it's the Fed, it's the Treasury Department who are able to kind of dig in and deal with more of these long term issues. And again, put the politics and the Congress really deals on this two year cycle. You know, it's really unclear. And I think lawmakers don't know, you know, is this going to be an issue in 2020 for if it is, they're more inclined to do something. If it's not, you know, might as well just fight live to fight another day. So next week, obviously, on the Hill, it's gonna be all about SBB, the collapse of these banks, what to do about the. Debt ceiling, but a lot of talk, no action. There will be action. Christian, we have to bring you into this conversation over the weekend. So on Tuesday, president representatives won't get arrested. He has not been arrested. There's hasn't been indictment yet, but he's going to Waco, Texas, tomorrow. What is his message going to be? Yeah, I mean, I think that this president, Trump, choosing Waco, Texas, for his first campaign stop is definitely symbolic. I mean, 30 years ago, the federal government really broke up a cult in Waco. So I think that the birth of the modern far right right wing part of the party is looking forward to this rally on Saturday or any members of Congress going anyone from the Texas delegation or is this a solo Trump show? Yeah. I mean, I reached out to members of the Texas delegation and no one's confirmed that they're going to be at the event. They either haven't responded or said that they won't be there. So it's gonna be a really big deal to see the turnout at this rally. And just to see the message that Trump plans to send to his base, he at the moment was getting a lot of love from even the likes. The Speaker McCarthy, everyone's been backing him, saying the Manhattan D.A. should not be going after him. This is political. Having this controversial rally tomorrow at this venue in Waco, Texas. Do you think at some point is actually going to hurt him, even though he's built up this momentum this week with some of these Republicans? I mean, I think that remains to be seen. Trump has said that there is the possibility of violence following the indictment. And I think this rally is really an opportunity for him to make a final case, another case to his supporters that, hey, this indictment, it's not right. I don't think it's fair. So it really remains to be seen how people are going to respond, predicting death and destruction. And the latest truth, I guess we call it a truth, untruth, social. This is beyond protest. Save our nation or you know, it's going to be wild. The sequel here, a prediction like that from a former president who may well be indicted toward the end of next week, according to some reports, equals what? When it happens, I mean, it's really scary. I think that the Waco rally, as I said earlier, is really symbolic. I think usually for a presidential rally, it's an opportunity for a candidate to show the message of their campaign. And Trump choosing to have a rally in Waco, knowing the history of Waco, Texas. It's really concerning. So he would get past Saturday, though. Right. And Monday, we have the grand jury meeting again. Where are we with this indictment? I mean, a lot remains to be up in the air. I think President Trump said that he was going to be indicted Tuesday. That didn't happen. We're currently waiting to see. I guess we're all waiting only because he said he was going to be arrested. Yeah, I mean, none of it was confirmed. So we're still waiting to see what's going to happen. I think Alvin Bragg said that he's not going to be pressured into indicting President Trump anytime soon. So, yes, we're waiting to see what's going to happen. There's a lot more to follow on this, but my goodness, through with what we have already learned and the talking points that we're hearing from Republicans who've been defending him, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, make it clear that that hush money or cavorting with a porn star are all acceptable. It's the case that seems to be the problem. That's the Republican message on this, right? Yeah. I mean, I need a reality check here. Yeah. Except for maybe Governor Santas. That's it. That's a good point. That's. The one exception. He tried to really set himself apart in that one moment. He really drove that out, actually. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, Republicans are really trying to paint this as a politically motivated attack on the former president. So, I mean, there are people in the party who are still standing by him. We will see how it will all turn out. Whatever happens next week, of course, will be here to bring it to you on balance of power. Many thanks to Bloomberg's Laura Davidson, as well as Christian Hall getting us started here on our political roundtable. Coming up, lawmakers trying to get to the bottom of Silicon Valley. Banks collapse in congressional hearings next week. Will zero in on that next. With Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California, he'll be part of that conversation. That's next. On balance of power on Bloomberg. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV. Thanks for being with us. Congress rolling up its sleeve next week. We've got a couple of big hearings here tackling SBB, the failure of signature bank both in the House and the Senate. I'm Joe Matthew, along with Annmarie Horden. We're gonna be paying close attention to these hearings and we'll have the actual authorities here. The Fed will be represented. The FDIC will be represented as lawmakers try to grapple with this idea of somehow increasing deposit insurance, even though no one seems to know the answer. And also, where was the Fed in terms of the supervision of these banks? But more may banks. But law made a very good point, which was the fact that these are going to be blockbuster events. But yesterday was a blockbuster bet with ticktock. And I barely learned anything new. Well, it was all grandstanding. That's the issue with these. I mean, some of the lawmakers in that hearing yesterday took the bulk of their time just to make statements and not even ask questions. So those who did didn't believe the answers. So my concern is they say they want to pass legislation only when they know exactly what happened. They do this autopsy. Yes. But if these hearings are just going to be so they can only hear themselves speak and not actually learn about potential. So here's what we ever get to maybe potentially drafting then getting to this point of drafting legislation. You want to talk to someone who's going to be part of this it right now. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California joining us. Congressman, it's great to have you here. I wonder before we get specific what your first question is for the regulators who will be at the testimony next week? Well, we'll see. There are a couple of people asking questions before me that may hit it, but yes, I did ignore interest rate risk. Yes. Bank examiners go in and they say, oh, my God, you lent money to local businesses on Main Street. And some of those may default. And isn't that terrible? And then they ignore the fact that there is over 600 billion dollars of unrealized losses in our banking system from banks who have invested in long term bonds and seen them go down in value. We don't market to market for purposes of really computing the banks capital. But any analyst can do that. And for us to look at the credit risk of those who may not pay back a backup loan according to its terms, but ignore the interest rate risk when even if you do get paid according to your terms and of course, on of Treasury, will a Treasury that's 20 or 30 years in duration can lose an awful lot of its value. Congressman, you bring up a good point, which a lot of people the market's been talking about, they have not hedged against this short term paper, but they cannot be the only ones. How concerned are you about the rest of these banks that potentially didn't prepare themselves for this aggressive Fed rate hiking cycle? Will, there are the short sellers out there? I think every one of them has taken a look at a bank's capital and subtracted the unrealized losses that they really have suffered on on their long term securities. The long term debt securities. And so far most of them are not under attack. But I'd certainly want to look and I'm having somebody prepared to take a while. I don't have a lot of resources here. A look at each bank's capital and then how what that capital would be. If you mark to market their long term debt. Congressman, I know you love you some crypto and I have to ask you about that. Anytime I talk with you, you mentioned last week on Bloomberg that you think actually crypto holdings should be zeroed out on balance sheets for banks. We talked with former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney about all of this. He weighed in on potential regulation, speaking with Bloomberg's Caley lines. Let's listen. We actually had hearings only called Operation Choke Point or what we're now calling Choke Point, one point O, which is when the Obama administration went in and said, look, we know that payday lenders are legal, gun shows are legal, pawnshops are legal, but we don't like them. So in order to try and drive them out of business, we're gonna deny them access to the financial system. And we're starting to hear rumors of the same sort of thing within crypto. There are a lot of ways to approach this matter. Congressman, should it be part of the autopsy and these hearings next week? From two ways. First signature bank was involved in crypto in a way that I think undermined it a bit. Second, there's substantial reason to believe that part of the run on Silicon Valley Bank was motivated by a high tech community that included people loyal to the bank, but also those who had a very big multi-billion dollar investments in defeating and destroying the banking system. And the dollar crypto has gone up with the argument that the banking system of the United States has gone down. And there seems to be some real effort to torpedo the dollar, to hurt our whole system so that some crypto grows. Look, look, we'll come out of here. I don't. I will point out Mulvaney and I both worked against Operation Choke Point. I was leading Democrat, opposing Operation Choke Point. But Choke Point has nothing to do with crypto. This is just an accounting issue. You shouldn't have anything on the balance sheet that doesn't have some real value. And you know, mongoose cocaine went up and down in a week. What's hamster going worth? What's the what's cobra going worth? These are jokes and jokes shouldn't be on balance sheets. That that's what you think, Congressman, is a lot of people out there in the market, especially looking at places and then worried about a recession to things like Bitcoin. But I do want to get your take on the unscheduled meeting today with regulators at Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen convened. This statement is something we keep hearing throughout this mini banking crisis we've been having the last three weeks or so. And that is the U.S. banking system is sound and resilient due to the fact that they had this unscheduled meeting is concerned going into the weekend, given the fact that first Republican to a bank in your district, as well as Deutsche Bank is under immense pressure. I think they should have someone schedule meetings. The recent events are unscheduled events, and I'd hate to think that you just stick with your meeting schedule when you see one of the top 20 banks go under one of another one of the top 40 banks go under. So I'm glad they had the meeting. I'm glad they reached that conclusion. And I don't see Iran on any other bank. And I don't and I do at least appreciate that if you read the footnotes of the financial statements, you can see how much hidden lost there is on the banks portfolio of long term debt instruments. We talk to your Democratic colleague, Brendan Boyle yesterday, Congressman, about FDIC insurance and whether there was a number, a starting point since it's been so difficult to find consensus on this. And after a little bit of conversation, he said one million dollars. Would you support a million dollar cap on deposit insurance? I think the increase in CAC should apply only to non-interest bearing or basically non-interest bearing debt. If you're using the bank as utility, as a system to pay your bills, then you shouldn't have to check to see whether that bank is is strong or very strong. You should be able to use it as utility and million. Even IRA might be in order. The whereas if you're making a million dollar investment, you're some onus on you to determine that you're investing in it in a sound bank. The other thing is that FDIC insurance is not free. Ultimately, that cost is is passed on to the depositor. If you're putting giving your money to the bank on an interest free basis and the non-interest bearing account, there is no way for them to lower the interest rate any lower. And so depositors don't suffer. On the other hand, if you impose this cost on people buying certificates of deposit or other investment accounts. Then the bank is going to pass through the cost of the insurance and there's going to be a real detriment to depositors. Of course, the benefit is they get the insurance, but the detriment is they go to lower interest rate. Congress will have a Congress and I have a brief moment, but I want to get your quick take on tick tock. The hearings yesterday I saw you take to Twitter saying that a U.S. technology company can provide users with an excellent ticktock like experience. And you also think we're sufficient enough in CAC video distribution systems. I tend to agree with you there. But do you think it should be sold or do you think there should be a ban? Well, I think selling it to U.S. operator achieves all the purposes, but that would have to be truly independent company Thurber. Further, I'll point out. Just getting aside from the national security elements, just economic fairness elements, American media companies can't export to China. So why should China have access to the U.S. market? Only 40 American movies get into China every year, and any studio that makes any movie that China doesn't like all of their movies get banned when they have that kind of economic control over American media companies. It's very hard to say Chinese media companies should get a fair shake in our market. Congressman, thank you so much for your time. Thanks. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California. And he'll be busy next week with those hearings coming up. We'll continue talking about the banking crisis happened at warp speed, brings up questions about how regulators can keep track and keep things from spinning out of control. Kailey Leinz with us after the break. The speed of the the run. It's it's very different from what we've seen in the past than it does kind of suggest that there's a need for possible regulatory and supervisory changes just because supervision, regulation need to keep up with what's happened, what's happening. That was Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaking on Wednesday, noting the speed of the bank crisis. But the policy response of it has been slower. Welcome to Congress. Kailey Leinz is here with more. Kelly, it's been slow because that's how it works in D.C., doesn't it? But it's not keeping up with what Patrick McHenry says is a Twitter run social media induced role. And it's not keeping up with a market that clearly is still very concerned. I mean, all you need to do is look at the shares of First Republic, one of the banks that has been in focus, whose future remains relatively uncertain because we haven't gotten a lot of new news or clarity. It is down 90 percent in the last three weeks. At the same time, what the bond market is telling you is this seriously concerned about financial stability? The two year yield is down more than 130 basis points in the last three weeks. That is a highly unusual degree of a move. And this market is now pricing in 100 basis points worth of cuts from the Federal Reserve by the end of the year, clearly signaling there is concern about financial stability. The thing is, we aren't getting that much clarity around what regulators are doing at this point. You need only look at the F statement that was put out that had basically no new information down and resilience sounded resilient, a phrase we have heard countless times in the last several weeks and that regulators are talking to each other, as you would hope that they would. I thought this one piece out of Emily Chang was really interesting. Jim Vogel over there put out a research note. He said The timeframe to repair this month's damage is measured in days and each session where prices don't retrace a portion of previous losses, ramps up risk to more difficult levels. Rescue or resale discussions are moving too slowly relative to the suddenness of this month's shock. It is a it is a matter of pace here, and the market is moving at a very different pace than Washington regulators are. Well, you do wonder how long the window stays open in this ask, because as we've been discussing so far this hour, the post-mortem doesn't even begin until next week. Right. You're backwards looking. The market wants to know what the forward view looks like. Liberals Kailey Leinz, we thank you, Kelly. Great work. Coming up, Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas is going to weigh in on this. He'll be with us next on balance of power. I will say and emphasize that the macro prudential policy response has been swift and appropriate. And I think it will contain stress. Meanwhile, the real economy has been stronger than expected during the first quarter of 2023 and inflation remains too high. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard weighing in earlier today on the turmoil in the banking system. Everyone seems to have a different angle on this. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington with Annmarie Horden. And the Fed, of course, will have to answer for some of this next week in the hearings that we're talking about as well as the FDIC. The question is, is this number ever going to move? Because we haven't found really a straight answer on that. And Janet Yellen keeps giving Congress. It seems like an excuse to not have to worry about it. Right. What she's saying is we see systemic risk. We will make sure that we can come in. We're there for you. And by the way, it's sound and resilience. So why write legislation? Legislation would be for a blanket, any sort of blanket movement. What I think is interesting, Biden has finally weighed in on this. I think we've done a pretty damn good job. Savings are secure. And the president at this press conference at Justin Trudeau. Yeah, he's been kind of silent on this all week, hanging out with Ted Lasso, Bruce Springsteen, Wang. And now he's talking about the banks, which we've been trying to get at for comment about that for days yet. We really haven't heard from him in a formal manner since before the markets open the day after SBB failed rather than 9 a.m. address from the White House. And he's been pretty quiet letting Janet Yellen do a lot of the talking since then. He certainly has. Yeah. Let's add another voice to the conversation. Joining us now is Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, who's had an eye on this. And Senator, I have to ask you, let's just start right there. We've had a few issues we'd like to talk to you about. But FDIC insurance, if the Treasury is going to cover this in times of failure, do you think Congress should move that number from two hundred fifty thousand dollars or is this a waste of time? Joe, I think that what Congress needs to take a breath and debate this. My biggest concern would probably be those non interest bearing accounts. So I've been on a community board for 15 years, a very engaged board, and I certainly understand interest rate risk assessment. You need to pull Silicon Valley Bank out of the equation. They had incompetent management, irresponsible board. So we've got to be careful. We don't punish other banks. But the. But to your point, Janet Yellen is giving us a mixed message. She's telling people that, look, move your money to big banks and that's killing my community banks. I reached out. I've talked to dozens of them. People I consider my friends. I feel that they're. Their accounts are very safe there. So maybe we want to debate some type of FDIC insurance for those non-interest bearing accounts. But let's be careful and let's figure out how much it's going to cost. The banks want to know what it's going to cost. Right now, they've got to absorb this. This bailout of the depositors from Silicon Valley right now. So we'll see what that's going to cost. I'm going to guess it's going to cost banks back home, fifty thousand one hundred thousand up to five hundred thousand dollars to bail them out. Senator Marshall, just to push back slightly. Secretary Yellen did say that community banks in the country she thinks are stronger, resilient, thinks the banks need to retain their customers, that as well as the U.S. government. So it does seem like some of her remarks this this week, she's been trying to shore up those smaller regional community banks. Isn't that the type of language you'd like to see from the Treasury Department? It is. But her actions, her actions are saying move your moneys and we're seeing that happen already. So when she said, look, we're going to bail out any big bank, what the what the subliminal, less message was to my friends back home, these small businesses in these community banks are the financiers of small businesses, of farms and ranches. So that what my people here back home, though, is that big banks are safe. So she needs to be stronger. She needs to be louder. And really, if any of your listeners have concerns, ask him to call their community banker and they'll tell them they probably know their first name. It seems to me, Senator, if we can't figure out the debt ceiling or even regular order on a budget for this fiscal year, writing legislation to somehow codify this or rebuild Dodd-Frank is a long shot. So let's talk about what's real for a moment. The debt ceiling is looming. We don't know exactly what the X date is, but something's going to have to happen pretty soon here. I wonder how much patience you have for this dance or lack of dancing between the House and the White House. When does the Senate step up with a deal? You know, I don't know that we're going to step up with a deal. We're having quiet communications with people on the Budget Committee. Jody Arrington over there, leading the Budget Committee, a good, good friend of mine. So we're having discussions. I'm on the Budget Committee, on the on the Senate side. I'm expecting the House to give us a quality product. And what Joe Biden needs to realize that I'm willing to have this battle over the debt ceiling, that this is a battle we should have today, that we shouldn't pass this on to my grandchildren. I have four grandchildren. They don't need more debt already. Each one of them owe about one hundred thousand dollars apiece. Thirty one trillion dollars national debt. The biggest problem that this nation faces long term. What we're hearing from Representative Arrington is that they do seem close to having this deal sheet, that then Speaker McCartney can go to the White House. But then when Speaker McCarthy was asked about in the hall, he said, I'm not sure he's talking about. Do you think that your colleagues in the House have their plan together on their next move with the White House? Yes. Look, this is this is a tough needle to thread. I think they've got, what, a margin of about 12 to 12 votes. So this is going to. We'll see how good Speaker McCarthy is. I have faith in him. This this will not be easy when you have a group of folks that are really, really hesitant. So I got faith in them. That's how the process happens. Until that that threat is very real, that debt ceiling is a really viable issue. But we need to use it. We need to use that as a lever to pry the budget out of Joe Biden's hand. Back to your original comments when we talked about inflation. We're never going to get ahead of inflation as long as Joe Biden is borrowing my grandchildren's money and then printing dollar bills through the Fed. Senator, I know you're headed to New York for a basketball game this week, and I want to ask you about what's happening in Waco tomorrow, because Donald Trump has a big rally planned and there are a lot of questions about the optics, the choice of Waco, Texas. His statement today as well, that if his indictment is, in fact, realised next week that it could bring death and destruction. How worried are you as a Trump supporter that this is going to be a dangerous week ahead? Yeah, I think that people need again, take a deep breath. There doesn't need to be any violence. I condemn all violence out there. You know, my dad was the chief of police for some 25 years, though, and he already always talked about applying the law equally. So at the same time, we need the D.A. in New York to stop doing politicizing. Maybe he should take a break, go to the basketball game route for Kansas State. The mayor needs realize the Kansas has a brand, by the way. We do have a brand. It's the power cat. So we'll be rooting for the Cats tomorrow. And what happens in Waco? Let it please everyone be peaceful. The violence truly never solves anything. I condemn all types of violence. I love how you read that right back to basketball, and I see that your team is playing the owls. So good luck to you. But Senator, for a serious moment here. That's the truth. Social post did talk about death and destruction. Should the former president be putting this kind of language out in public? Yeah, you know, I don't support any type of language like that. President Trump's policies were solid. Some of this language bothers a lot of us. I please everyone. No violence. We don't need violence. We don't don't need rights. And I would ask the president to tone it down a little bit as well. But at the same token, we need equal application of the law. I think so much of this is a smokescreen from what we have been talking about, the issues with big banks getting bailed out by the federal government. The issues with inflation and open southern border. That's what folks back home are concerned about. To be frank, not no one's really following this Trump stuff really closely. We're much more concerned about the price of gas and groceries back home. He seems to be trending a bit. I have to admit, Senator, but I want to ask you about your leader. This is another question I have is, is the condition of Mitch McConnell. I know he's been recovering from a fall and certain business cannot happen with the minority leader in the Senate. Can you bring us up to date? Have you talked with him lately? Right. So I have not directly talked to him. But more importantly, my wife has been talking to his wife and everyone says he's doing great. I can assure you that Mitch McConnell knew what we had for dinner yesterday. There is communications multiple times a day from from the leader in his team. His team are part of the meetings. John Thune is stepping right up, communicating regularly with the leader. We haven't inundated him with personal phone calls. He does text me back and forth. He'll be fine. We miss him dearly. We mostly misses vote for. Right. We got some big votes coming up next week. We're trying to repeal the Covid emergency. We have some fit. No legislation to hold social media companies accountable as well. Busy, busy week next week. We're going to miss his vote, but we wish him and Elaine just the very best. And he's he's doing super. All right, well, thanks for that update. Kansas Senator Roger Marshall. And good luck here. Kansas State basketball team in New York City tomorrow. A little bit jealous. Thank you. Go, go, go, cats. Coming up on this program, former President Trump's doom and gloom prediction of what could happen if he's arrested. We'll dig into it with our political panel. This is bound to power. Now keep you up to date with news from around the world. Here's the first word on John Hyland. Here in New York City, police are investigating a suspicious armadillo filled with unidentified white powder delivered to the building that houses the Manhattan Manhattan district attorney's office. That's where the grand jury is hearing evidence in the investigation over Donald Trump and a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The grand jury isn't in the building today and it's expected return early next week. Police say there are no reports of injury or sickness. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in London today. He met with Prime Minister Ricci's snack about the risk of Iran's nuclear program and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. During his visits to western capitals, Netanyahu has been emphasizing Israel's concerns about Iran's accelerating nuclear capabilities, especially its uranium enrichment. Israel and its allies worry that Iran wants to build a bomb. Tehran says the program is purely peaceful. The US has carried out airstrikes in Syria following a deadly attack there that killed one American contractor and wounded five service members. U.S. officials say a drone of Iranian origin crashed into a coalition base. According to the Pentagon, the U.S. airstrikes hit facilities linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards. And Britain's King Charles, a third is putting off his planned trip to France amid the mass protests that continue there. French President Emmanuel Macron asked the UK government to delay next week's trip after he spoke with the king by phone. The president said inviting the king to France's union's call for another nationwide day of strikes and protests were, quote, lack common sense and that the trip will be rescheduled when comments restore global news powered by more than twenty seven hundred journalists and analysts and more than 120 countries. I'm John Hyland. This is Bloomberg. Happy Friday. This balance of power on Bloomberg TV now former president down Trump is expected to hold a rally in Waco, Texas, this weekend after stating earlier this week he was expecting to be arrested in New York due to a hush money case. Joining us to discuss this all are closers for the week from big political contributors. Rick Stone caught capital partner and Jeannie Shand Zeno Iona University political science professor. Welcome. Happy Friday was a long week. Tomorrow is gonna be really interesting to see on television. Why is the former president choosing to go to Waco and even for him? Is this slightly too controversial? Well, it's hard to tell if anything's too controversial for Donald Trump this week. And I would say the week is not over because we've got a Waco rally with Donald Trump on the anniversary of the Branch Davidian attack with the FBI. People killed, really horrific set of circumstances back in 1993. And Donald Trump is going to take advantage of that. And he takes advantage of it on the heels of talking to his supporters about, you know, that there'll be death and destruction related to a prosecution that may or may not happen in New York. So I think this rhetoric is hotter than like even at the time of January 6 after the election when he was inciting people to go up to the capital and exert their will. This is this is too much of a controversy that are showing up on that anniversary of the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco at a time when he's using this kind of heat, heated rhetoric. No members of Congress or none of the Texas delegation even will be attending this rally. And knowing what's coming up potentially next week. And as Rick said, we have no idea if this indictment will land or not, but we're told it could be coming next week. Does he actually want to start a riot? Is that where we're going here? Yeah, apparently they are left scheduling conflicts so they can't be present. That's a whole lot of talking, guys. Even the mayor of Waco, I don't think he's showing up. What is your scheduling conflict? Yeah. Yeah. He's he's very busy. He can't be there because, of course, this is to Rick's point. This is such hot rhetoric that he is using. I now know Rick Davis is looking at truth social. I thought that was bad, but it is you know, you look at their rhetoric, it is anti-Semitic, it is racist. It's at a time of heightened political violence. He is going down and the anniversary of a raid in which eighty six people were killed. That is the birthplace of radical right movement militias in this country. And the rhetoric last night from a man and after midnight posting in all caps with a bat to the head of a Manhattan D.A.. It is ugly. It is shameful. It is right that they are all staying away. But the problem is, no Republicans in Congress that we're hearing in any real concerted effort have made an attempt to say you have gone too far. Enough is enough. You cannot keep doing this. And so he continues to lead in all the Republican polls by, according to real clear, about 16 points as of today. So it is shameful. Yeah. The thing is, those behind the scenes, Republicans, obviously, they don't want to see this type of language. Can you raise money on a riot? This is this. This language is obviously incredibly dangerous. Rick, all week I had to I've seen Republicans, I've talked to Republicans who come to his defense, obviously, with this hush money case. What do they say, son, on the Sunday shows? Well, it's after Waco on Saturday. It's kind of political jujitsu. Nobody is actually defending him on the situation. The case itself, right. No one's saying, oh, it's OK, I have a deal with a porn star and pay her off in front of an election. What they're saying is, oh, it's a political prosecution. And I think that's fair game. Right. I mean, this is a relatively minor. I use that in quotes because there's no such thing as a minor violation of the law. But the reality is, it is a very odd time for prosecution that may result in a misdemeanor for with the Manhattan D.A.. So Republicans using that as cover to say, hey, you know, this is a political prosecution. And by the way, it is incredibly unique to be prosecuting a former president, United States. This is a one and done. And the reality, too, is it's not one of the major prosecutions, the special counsel's case at DOJ. The electioneering manipulation in Georgia. There are other cases that have much bigger ramifications to our country and our democracy than this one. And so Republicans are using it as an opportunity to stake out some turf and try to minimize the impact if and when it happened. And again, Jeannie, Lanny Davis, Michael Cohen's lawyer, says when he was defending Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky trial, can you imagine if he had signed checks to hush money? He would have probably been impeached and removed from office. So how is this different? Is there a double standard? Well, he you know, time has elapsed. And so I think we have a changed society. But as. We look at the polls, you know. Fifty four percent of Americans are saying to Rick's point that this is a political charge. And yet when they look at the evidence, like the evidence you're talking about, eight or nine out of 10 believe that if he's done that, he should be prosecuted. And so this is sort of the division that we're seeing. But of course, when you breakdown by party, many more Republicans are feeling like this is a political charge that shouldn't be pursued. And Democrats are saying go for it. But the reality is for Marjorie Taylor Riggs, if she goes to the prison to celebrate the rioters for Donald Trump as he goes on these rampages on truth, social, what is today? The reality is that good fundraising is bad politics for your party. And so people are individually benefiting, but they are hurting their own party and they don't care. And that's the reality. All right. Rick and Gina will stay with us to discuss the latest. Jorge Santos Shery Ahn. You know, we have to do this. A fashion review of the new space suit from NASA. I like orange and I think it gives it a lot of personality. It's pretty cool if you do that story after the break. This is spelled. But now it is dark in the dark. Why is this? I understand that. I guess that all the colors on the scene can be read by all the lights that you can see here on night. If you put it, it's going to be so strange to see each other there. Although I trust the global witness, I know nothing about space travel, although I might consider going into that space. I guess it beats being chased down the hallway by reporters. Right. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV. As we come back with Rick and Jeannie, are closers to discuss? Jorge Santos most recent antics, he decided to make a video to review, to give us analysis on the new NASA lunar suits. And Rick, I guess he's fantasizing about being on the dark side of the moon. And who could blame him? I think he is on the moon. And I think there's a lot of evidence of that. No, I think he was like auditioning for E television or something. I mean, it was really a fashion today. Yeah. Congressman's office. And I'm actually surprised he didn't take credit for designing. Been much more in keeping with his M.O.. I thought he did. I don't know. When you look at this, though, honestly, if this is your representative and I know people in his district, you have to think this is where your tax dollars are going. What is Congress, what is the leadership seriously going to do? Because they want someone to go there to talk about serious issues and then they have a fashion stylist now. Yeah. Yeah. And I always think because I live in New York. I mean, you're from New York. These people are incensed in his district. They want him recalled. They want him removed. But of course, that is a nonstarter for Kevin McCarthy, because as you were just talking about earlier, he has very little room to maneuver. He needs every vote he can get. And so Jorge Santos, he is under investigation in the Ethics Committee that that'll take, as we all know, a very long time. He's got, of course, facing legal challenges, both in Nassau County, in New York, in the federal area arena for his filings. And all of those things take time. And so he sits and he does best. And, you know, my question is, I'm watching this, by the way. You have to look at the comments underneath that. Oh, yeah. Those are amazing. We're gonna need on you. Keep him. But my question is, is this man still have access to secured briefings? I mean, he is a representative in the House with security clearance. And that is where we have come as Marjorie Taylor GREENE makes her visits to the prisons. And Donald Trump heads to Waco. It is not a good time for Rick's party. I feel like we can all agree, though, that the orange trim really does pop up. I think that I think that we agree on why orange is the new black in this case, Rick. Is he going to finish this term to margin? Taylor Green mentions that he thinks that got a good look. No, I think he's he will be the first guy to make tamales and then will his re-election campaign. I've seen it. I've been there. You know, you need me to, you know, steer space policy. Yeah. No, I mean, look, I would like to kid ourselves. Gene, he's got a good point. This is a member of Congress. He's supposed to be doing the people's business. I'm not sure. Maybe there are a lot of fashion houses in his district like playing into his art. But but, look, it is embarrassing to the Republican Party. It's embarrassing to the people in his district that they have to put up with this. And maybe next time they're going to think twice about pulling that lever for him. It's all about the math, isn't it? Well, I mean, you learn a lot about math in NASA. Our Bloomberg Quicktake contributors, Rick Davis and Jeannie Manzano, thank you so much for joining us. Coming up next week, I believe we're going to be speaking to the head of the House Oversight Committee. Jim will be with us. We look forward to we'll see you then on balance of power. Have a great weekend.

Balance of Power Full Show (03/24/2023)

"On Bloomberg's "Balance of Power" on Friday March 24th 2023: Sen. Roger Marshall (R) Kansas, Brad Sherman (D) California. (Source: Bloomberg)