Pope Francis Dies; Hegseth In More Turmoil Over Signal Chat
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Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin this morning with breaking news from the Vatican. Pope Francis has died. The Vatican's Cardinal Kevin Farrell says the leader of the Roman Catholic Church passed away this morning after Easter, a day after what would turn out to be his final public appearance at St. Peter's Basilica. Good Sunday to you.

Pope Francis was the first pontiff from the Americas, the first non-European since the 8th century, the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church. And from the beginning, he tried to embody the simplicity of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi. I would like a church for the poor.

Pope Francis spoke often on social issues, on gay priests. He once said, who am I to judge? And he once warned President Trump that mass deportations would end badly. Francis also tried to lift the veil on Vatican finances and to atone for clergy sexual abuse. He called on global leaders to end poverty through a fairer distribution of wealth. We are also challenged to reflect on how well we are transmitting our values.

to the next generation. Pope Francis had been in the hospital for more than a month back in February with bronchitis that progressed into pneumonia. He had just met with Vice President J.D. Vance yesterday at the Vatican. Pope Francis was 88 years old.

All right, Nathan. Well, we're going to turn back to the U.S. now and looking at politics. The U.S. Defense Secretary once again facing criticism after sharing military details in another signal chat. And Bloomberg's Scott Carr joins us with more from Washington. Sources tell The New York Times U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent military strike information in a private encrypted signal group chat.

For a second time, reports say that chat was created by Hegseth and included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. Hegseth's personal lawyer, Manda's brother, worked for the Pentagon. His wife is not a Defense Department official. The Times reports the content included sensitive information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15th, similar to the attack plans that Hegseth shared in another reported signal chat where he included the editor of The Atlantic. This report, after a political argument,

op-ed from Hegseth's former spokesman, who says the Defense Department has been overwhelmed by dysfunction and turnover during Hegseth's tenure leading the Pentagon. In Washington, I'm Scott Carr, Bloomberg Radio. Okay, Scott, thank you. Elsewhere in Washington, a draft executive order is circulating among U.S. diplomats that proposes a radical reduction to and restructuring of

The State Department. A copy of the document seen by Bloomberg News shows that the changes, if implemented, would be one of the biggest reorganizations of the State Department since its founding in 1789. The order would eliminate dozens of positions and departments, including those dealing with climate, refugees, democracy and Africa.

as well as the Bureau of International Organizations, which liaises with the United Nations. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is calling the reported overhaul fake news. He said that in a post on X.

Well, elsewhere in Washington, Nathan, Senator Chris Van Hollen is defending the due process rights of a migrant who was mistakenly deported from his state to a notorious prison in his home country of El Salvador. The Maryland Democrat appeared on all four Sunday political shows heard on Bloomberg Radio after meeting with Gilmar Abrego-Garcia, including CBS's Face the Nation. The Supreme Court of the United States and the other courts have said that the administration has to facilitate his return.

As of right now, they are defiance of that court order. They're not doing anything. But White House border czar Tom Homan says the administration is following the law, even after the Supreme Court blocked the government from expelling migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. And he was on ABC's This Week.

We have followed the Constitution. We have followed the law. I am confident that everything we've done has followed the law and is within the constitutional constructs. Absolutely. And again, this week in Face the Nation can be heard every Sunday on Bloomberg Radio. Now, Karen, let's turn to the latest on the global trade war. China is warning countries not to make deals with the U.S. that could harm Beijing's interests, and it's threatening reciprocal countermeasures if they do. We get more from Bloomberg's Min Min Lo in Hong Kong.

This is clearly a warning from China that it's going to watch these trade negotiations very closely. Anybody that undercuts China's interests is going to face retaliation from China. And of course, we are watching very closely. The first to go is Japan heading into that second round of trade negotiations with Trump. It comes after the presidency just...

finished his Southeast Asian trip with a consistent message calling on all of these countries to jointly oppose U.S. hegemony. Bloomberg's Min Min Lo says in an effort to counter some of the U.S.'s recent moves, China has stepped up diplomatic outreach to Southeast Asia and Europe.

Well, Nathan, Vice President J.D. Vance is in New Delhi kicking off a four-day visit to India. The trip comes as the U.S. is threatening to increase the 10 percent tariffs on Indian exports to 26 percent if no deal is reached by the end of the 90-day pause that Trump put in place earlier this month. Turning to markets now, Karen, futures are lower this morning. The dollar has dropped to its lowest level since January of 2024.

The retreat comes after President Trump's criticism of Fed Chair Jay Powell raised concerns over central bank independence. Last week, the president posted on social media that Powell's, quote, termination cannot come fast enough. Here's Chicago Fed President Austin Goolsbee. There is virtual unanimity among economists that monetary independence from political interference that the Fed wants.

or any central bank be able to do the job that it needs to do is really important. And they came to that not as a theory, but just by looking around the world at places where they don't have monetary independence. And the fact is, the inflation rate is higher, growth is slower, the job market is worse. That was Chicago Fed President Austin Goolsbee speaking on CBS's Face the Nation. And gold is trading at a record this morning. Right now, the...

Shiny yellow metal is at $3,404 an ounce. Well, Nathan, some high-profile CEOs sold big chunks of company stock just before President Trump's tariff headlines started really roiling financial markets in early April. Bloomberg's Denise Pellegrini has more. Meta Platform's Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle's Safra Katz, and J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon

Among the insider sellers last quarter, Washington Service, which tracks insider buying and selling, says Zuckerberg sold 733 million in Meta shares last quarter through his Chan Zuckerberg initiative in January and February when Meta stock was still trading above 600 bucks a share.

and close to its Valentine's Day peak. Katz unloaded $705 million in shares before Oracle's stock fell more than 30%. And Jamie Dimon cashed out about $234 million in his company's shares. And the sales come even as insider selling dropped sharply in the quarter from a year ago. Denise Pellegrini, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Denise, thank you. And runners are gearing up this morning for the 129th Boston Marathon, the world's oldest marathon kicks off this morning.

on the 250th Patriots Day in Boston. This annual race is one of six World Marathon majors. The 26.2-mile race stretches from Hopkinton, Mass., to Boston.

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. The Trump administration and New York are clashing over the city's controversial congestion pricing program. It's being closely watched by other cities across the country. The federal government issued an Easter Sunday deadline to end the $9 toll being placed on drivers entering the busiest part of Manhattan.

The governor pushing back, saying traffic is down, business is up, and the cameras are staying on. However, President Trump has vowed to kill the program.

The dangerous weather event slamming the heartland during a busy holiday weekend. More than a dozen were reported of tornadoes and flooding in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma in the last 24 hours. Three people were killed in Oklahoma. The violent weather is bringing about a sense of deja vu for folks in the town of Ada. That's where a tornado touched down two months ago. This man runs a hotel and connecting donut shop, which took a hit this time around.

A person who's been hit, it never been me. It just happened to be me this time.

So until about 30 guests had to be relocated today in El Paso, the gunman who killed 23 people in a racist 2019 attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart is expected to plead guilty to capital murder in state district court. The plea allows the gunman to avoid the death penalty. Finally, the head of the EPA defended the freezing of billions in federal environmental and climate grants. Yes.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says he has zero tolerance for any waste and abuse. Had the alarm raised when a Biden EPA political appointee in December

was on video saying that they were tossing gold bars off the Titanic, rushing to get billions of dollars out the door before Inauguration Day. Zeldin spoke on CBS's Face the Nation heard Sundays on Bloomberg. Global news 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with the Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg. Karen. All right, Michael Barr, thank you.

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where money means more. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update. Here's John Stashower. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Max Freed off to a terrific start to his Yankee career. His 4-0, his ERA is 1.42 at Tampa Bay. He seemingly took a no-hitter to the eighth inning. Then he didn't. An unusual end to a no-hitter bid. Here's how it sounded on the YES Network.

The official scorer here at Steinbrenner Field, a man by the name of Bill Matthews, has changed the Simpson E3 into a hit while the Yankees are in the dugout. Just unfathomable. Either you call it when it happens, you don't wait three innings to go by.

It's just unbelievable. In the sixth inning of the race, speedster Chandler Simpson hit a ground ball to first base, ruled an error on Paul Goldschmidt. Replays indicated Simpson would have gotten a hit even had the grounder not been booted. As it turned out, the race Jake Magnum

We'll be right back.

95-85 at Houston. Steph Curry scored 31 home wins for Boston, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City. The Thunder crushed Memphis by 51, the fifth most lopsided game in playoff history. OKC at one point had a 20-0 run. The Knicks in Game 1 had a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter, and they look to go up 2-0 on Detroit in tonight's Game 2 at the Garden. John Staschauer, Bloomberg Sports.

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, and the word has come from the Vatican this morning. Pope Francis has died on this day after Easter Sunday.

The 88-year-old pontiff's being remembered for his calls for a more compassionate Catholic Church and for his focus on reducing poverty, as in this speech, to a joint session of Congress nearly a decade ago. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity.

from the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs. And that was Pope Francis in Washington back in 2015. This morning we are joined by Bloomberg News Senior Editor Bill Ferrys as the world wakes up this morning, Bill, to this news that Pope Francis has passed. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me, Nathan.

So the pontiff has, as we say, he has passed away, but he is going to be remembered for bringing a much different dynamic to the Catholic Church, isn't he?

Yeah, that's right. I mean, he was, first of all, he was a historic figure, just his naming. He's the first pope from the Americas coming from Argentina. He was the first Jesuit to hold that position. And he became pope following the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI. So on all of those, a really historic nature to his tenure.

And I think in contrast to Pope Benedict, he really brought kind of an easygoing, joyful approach to the post that won over a lot of non-Catholics, frankly. Is it going to be an impression that is left more permanently, do you think, with the Catholic Church, that kind of aspect that he brought, a more joyful approach, a more compassionate approach?

Well, you know, I think just like in politics, you have the politics of the papacy kind of go from one direction to the other. It would be very interesting to see what follows or who follows this pope.

There's usually a conclave that would take place to choose the next pope within a two- to three-week period. And really, that will have some determination on the legacy that this pope is seen as having. Of course, he inherited some of the challenges that every pope in the modern era has inherited, including dealing with the allegations of sexual abuse,

against uh... children he also inherited a finance problems that that came with the uh... with the vatican bank

And those are all issues that his successor will be seen as having to deal with. But in terms of the longer-term legacy, I think we're going to need more time to know. He was the pope for 12 years. He did some things. He showed a compassion, I think, that is kind of typical of the Jesuit order. We'll have to see whether that's the approach his successor also decides to embrace.

So you would have to think that given the illness that he had suffered over the last several months and the health issues that he had had throughout much of his papacy, that there has been some groundwork laid for naming a successor. How do you expect that to go in our last 30 seconds or so?

Well, yeah, he's been very ill for months. So I think at least some of the speculation about who might succeed him, where they might come from, what kind of a person might be the next pope has been out there. But I think, as we saw, Pope Francis wasn't chosen until the fifth round of voting in 2013. And a lot of things happened. He did not expect to become pope. So perhaps his successor is also not thinking that he will be chosen.

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.

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