Trump Travel Ban; Musk Doubles Down on Tax Bill Attacks
16:35 Share

This is an iHeart Podcast. When you have bars in the sky, onboard showers, and award-winning in-flight entertainment, it's no surprise that Emirates was recently named the best airline in the world. We fly you to over 140 destinations, and with partners across the globe, we connect you to another 1,700 cities across six continents. So when we say we're also the largest international airline, what we really mean is...

If you're going there, so are we. Book now on emirates.com. Fly Emirates. Fly better.

Every business starts with an idea. How can you go from daydreamer to industry leader? Amazon Business accelerates your journey. With smart business buying, get everything you need to grow in one familiar place. From office supplies to IT essentials and maintenance tools. Amazon Business takes the buying experience you know and love from Amazon, plus tools that help you save costs and make insights-based decisions. Ready to bring your visions to life? Learn how at AmazonBusiness.com.

Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we'll have more on the markets in a minute. First, President Donald Trump has signed a travel ban targeting a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar and Chad.

The measure also partially restricts entry from a host of other nations, including Cuba and Venezuela. This reinstates one of the most controversial policies from the president's first term. In a video posted online, he said the move is necessary for national security.

We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States. That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti.

Libya, and numerous others. Separately, President Trump signed an executive action preventing foreign students from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard University. He cited the school's failure to implement discipline on campus and its alleged ties to China.

Nathan, President Trump is also ordering an investigation into his predecessor's health. The president has issued a memo directing his aides to look into whether former President Joe Biden's staff conspired to hide details about his health from the public or took any executive actions without his knowledge.

Mr. Trump is citing the former president's use of an auto pen to sign documents. Former President Biden has put out a statement saying his successor is trying to distract from cuts to Medicaid in his tax legislation. The former president says, quote, let me be clear, I made the decisions during my presidency. And Karen Elon Musk is ramping up his fight against the president's big tax and spending cut bill. The billionaire and one-time White House advisor went on X.

to urge Americans to call their lawmakers and kill the legislation, writing, quote, bankrupting America is not okay. Bloomberg News has learned Musk personally lobbied House Speaker Mike Johnson to save electric vehicle tax credits in the bill, which would have benefited his EV maker, Tesla. But Johnson says there's no time to start over.

We worked on the bill for almost 14 months. You can't go back to the drawing board and we shouldn't. We have a great product to deliver here. House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, President Trump says he agrees with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on a provision that's not in the bill that Congress should get rid of the debt ceiling. We got real-time reaction from Senator Warren. I think that Donald Trump and I

Hey, listen, I'm ready to join up with him and make that happen. We need to get rid of the debt ceiling altogether. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was a guest on Bloomberg's Balance of Power. And stay with Bloomberg. We'll get more on President Trump's tax cut bill when we speak live this morning with House Speaker Mike Johnson. He'll join us on Bloomberg Surveillance at 7.30 a.m. Wall Street time.

Catch that conversation on Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Television and the Bloomberg podcast page on YouTube. Nathan, in a post on social media, President Trump said Russia's Vladimir Putin will retaliate for the recent Ukrainian drone strike. The two spoke by phone yesterday. Former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe Ben Hodges was extremely critical of the administration. This embarrassing truth.

social post confirms for anybody that still was wondering that the Trump administration has zero interest in doing anything to put pressure on Russia to help Ukraine or to get to some kind of sustainable peace. I mean, it was too hard for them. Their approach was doomed to failure from the very beginning.

And former Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges there. The Kremlin's description of yesterday's Trump-Putin call made no reference to possible retaliation. And later today, Karen, the president is scheduled to talk with another world leader. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be in Washington. Their meeting comes amid looming tariffs on German exports.

Nathan, we now turn to politics in New York City. Nine Democratic candidates for mayor held their first debate. And Bloomberg's John Tucker joins us live in Manhattan with the latest. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Well, the frontrunner, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, was the evening's piñata, taking it on the chin from just about everybody on stage for the way he handled COVID cases in nursing homes during the pandemic. City Comptroller Brad Lander wouldn't let up.

It's not only that Andrew Cuomo lied to Congress, which is perjury, he also lied to the grieving families whose loved ones he sent into those nursing homes. Cuomo responded. If he wants to talk about the facts on nursing homes, we'll talk about the facts. He's just parroting Trump's allegations. Zorhan Mandani is the Democratic Socialist state lawmaker who's emerged as one of the leading candidates. You know, as a Democrat, one of my regrets is having trusted

the leaders within our own party, leaders like Andrew Cuomo. Former city controller Scott Stringer tried to shift the focus to crime. We're spending $1.3 billion in police overtime because we don't have enough police officers. But it was still mostly about Cuomo, with his opponents also swiping at him over the sexual harassment scandal that forced him from the governor's mansion. Now, typically, the candidate who clinches the Democratic nomination for mayor is the presumptive winner in November's general election.

But this year is different. The winner of the Democratic primary will face off in November against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who's opted to run as an independent. In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. John, thanks. Turning now to the latest news on Wall Street, Citigroup is cutting jobs. The bank says it will trim its technology employee workforce in China by about 3,500 as part of its global simplification efforts.

Citi's trying to streamline its operations and lift profitability to compete more closely with rivals with an aim set out last year to reduce jobs by 20,000 by the end of 2026. And Nathan, job cuts are reportedly coming at Procter & Gamble. The Financial Times is reporting P&G will cut 15% of office jobs over the next two years.

7,000 of those will be manufacturing jobs. On the flip side, Karen, Alphabet plans to keep expanding its engineering ranks, stressing human talent remains key even as the Google parent ramps up artificial intelligence investment. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says the world of AI is still evolving. We spoke with him at the Bloomberg Tech Conference in San Francisco. I'm confident there is a company that's going to be created with AI, just like when the internet happened.

Many years after the internet happened, Google didn't exist. So, you know, there's no doubt to me that three years from now, there'll be a company which will be dominant in this AI age, which we don't even know the name of today. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai there speaking at the Bloomberg Tech Conference in San Francisco. And you can catch our full interview with Sundar Pichai on the Bloomberg podcast page on YouTube. Subscribe to watch many of our high profile conversations across Bloomberg platforms.

And it's time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. A key witness is set to take the stand today in the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking case in Manhattan. Jurors have so far heard from two women who allege they were victims of Combs' violence and abuse. A longtime friend of Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, testified yesterday that

that Combs attacked her for no reason in 2016, dangled her from a 17th floor balcony, and then threw her into a coffee table before Ventura intervened. Today, the jury is set to hear from the third and final alleged victim in the case, a single mother who became romantically involved with Combs in 2020.

Israeli forces recovered the bodies of an Israeli-American couple held in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack in October of 2023. 72-year-old Gad Haggai and 70-year-old Judy Weinstein Haggai were killed during the attack and their bodies taken to Gaza, where 56 other hostages remain.

Reaction continues after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a Navy vessel named after gay rights activist and Navy veteran Harvey Milk to be renamed. It's reportedly part of a Trump administration effort to, quote, reestablish the warrior culture within the Navy. San Francisco's LGBTQ plus community is expressing condemnation over the move. Democratic California Senator Scott Weiner of San Francisco.

It is just despicable and unbelievably painful that this administration in its quest to erase LGBTQ people from public life, not just trans people, gay and lesbian people too, that in that quest they are now doing this horrible thing during Pride Month. It's disgusting.

global news 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg Karen all right Michael Barr thank you

When you have bars in the sky, onboard showers and award-winning in-flight entertainment, it's no surprise that Emirates was recently named the best airline in the world. We fly you to over 140 destinations and with partners across the globe, we connect you to another 1,700 cities across six continents. So when we say we're also the largest international airline, what we really mean is...

If you're going there, so are we. Book now on Emirates.com. Fly Emirates. Fly better. How can you free your team from time-consuming office tasks? Amazon Business empowers leaders to not only streamline purchasing, but better support their teams.

Smart business buying tools enable buyers to find and purchase items fast so they can focus on strategy and growth. It's time to free up your teams and focus on your future. Learn more about the technology, insights, and support available at AmazonBusiness.com.

Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update, brought to you by Flushing Bank. Here's John Stashower. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Juan Soto's first season as a Met. So far, been pretty quiet, but with strong pitching and the slugging of Pete Alonso, Mets had the best record in the National League. In L.A., Griffin Canning hurled six scoreless innings, and Alonso almost single-handedly led the Mets to a 6-1 victory over the Dodgers. He hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run shot in the eighth. No offense for the Yankees at the stadium.

Out hit 12-5. They lost to Cleveland 4-0. Mackenzie Gore pitched the Nationals to a 2-0 win over the Cubs. And a wild one at Fenway. The Red Sox and Angels were 7-5 in the second inning. The Sox won 11-9. Break up the Rockies. They hadn't won...

Two games in a row. Now they've won three straight all in Miami. They had been 3-28 on the road. Game one of the Stanley Cup final. Rematch of last year when Florida won the first three games. The Panthers led the series opener 3-1. Edmonton came back. The game went to overtime. A deep and a flight. Over the line, the line. True. Now to Nugent Hopkins. Kicks it back to Bouchard. Back to Nugent Hopkins.

McDavid. It's Liam Green!

Sportsnet Canada, the call, the Oilers game, winning goal 19 minutes into OT Edmonton won 4-3. French Open women's semifinals start at 9 this morning with top seeded arena Sabalenka taking on three-time defending champion Igush Fiontek to be followed by Coco Gauff against France's Louise Bwosen who has come out of nowhere to reach the semis. She had never played a Grand Slam tournament before. She is ranked 361st. John Stachan, we're at Bloomberg Sports. Karen, Nathan.

Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio. Nationwide on Sirius XM. And around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. President Trump is bringing back one of the most controversial policies of his first term, barring entry to the U.S. from a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, and Libya.

The president is citing recent events for reviving the travel ban. The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don't want them.

President Trump spoke in a video posted on X. We're joined now by Bloomberg News senior editor Bill Ferries. Of course, Bill, we all remember the travel ban from early in the president's first term. How does this second term version differ from the last one? Good morning.

Good morning. Thanks for having me. So it's different in a number of respects. That first travel ban you might remember Trump put in in really his first days in office back in 2017. It became known as the Muslim ban. It was really against a swath of Muslim-majority countries. And as the courts ruled against it, it eventually kind of transformed into kind of being a more narrowly focused ban.

ban on visitors from Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and a few other countries.

This time you just played it right there. The president is citing the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado against people protesting or gathering in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. That attack was the suspect in that attack was actually from Egypt. He had overstayed a visa here. But Egypt wasn't among the countries listed in this latest travel ban or travel restriction from the president. He hit 12 countries.

or actually 19 countries. It's kind of a swath of some politically unstable countries. You have a few in Africa. You have some in Asia as well. But it's kind of a mixed bag. And the New York Times is actually reporting that the total number of visas from those countries was about 170,000 last year.

So kind of a it's kind of a you know, it's I think it falls into this effort by Trump to to raise up the barriers to documented and undocumented migration. But it's not clear how serious of an impact it will have. Is it clear what kind of legal scrutiny it will come under? Of course, remember how the first travel ban was knocked down in the courts. Is this one on a different legal footing?

Well, it's going to it's going to get some of the same legal scrutiny that a lot of the president's measures has taken. He is, you know, he's trying to use, I think, some of his authority to approve visas in this case, as he's doing with the moves against foreign students going to Harvard and other universities. So he may be.

There may be stronger legal ground than what happened in his first term, which was really kind of a slapdash measure in the beginning that created a lot of chaos. I mean, literally, there are planes on the way to the U.S. and people weren't sure whether the passengers on those planes could be allowed into the country or not.

In the meantime, we're seeing even more opposition from Elon Musk to the big, beautiful bill. And now we're getting a little bit more of an idea about at least one reason why he may be coming out against it.

That's right. I mean, it was just a few days ago that Elon Musk and Donald Trump were in the Oval Office praising each other's efforts over the last several months. But it's clear there is some kind of a big break here. Elon Musk encouraging Americans to call their representatives and, quote,

kill that big beautiful bill that the president has really staked a lot of his reputation on. And it does sound like from our reporting that one reason Musk is so against it is that the House version that passed that's under debate in the Senate, it ends that $7,500 electric car subsidy by the end of this year. That's obviously a subsidy close to Elon Musk's heart with his ownership of Tesla.

And it also comes just days after the president ended or retracted his nomination for a key Musk ally to lead NASA. So definitely a break between these two leaders, despite that appearance in the Oval Office just days ago. This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen.

You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast-to-coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces.

And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it, in five minutes or less. Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

Let's talk.

This is an iHeart Podcast.