US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts Talks Big Banking, Debt Ceiling
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Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, is not, as we told you, will be joined here by the Democratic senator from Massachusetts having issued a blistering statement following this Fed decision, Kayleigh, saying the entire Federal Reserve Board, including appointees of both parties, should be embarrassed.

She's with us now. The Democrat from Massachusetts, live from Capitol Hill. Senator, it's great to see you back on Bloomberg TV and radio. You are demanding five years of exam reports from Wells Fargo. And I wonder what leverage you have here, how far you would go to get them. Would you threaten to hold up the nomination, for instance...

of Michelle Bowman as the Fed's vice chair of supervision to get them? Look, I'm already opposed to having Michelle Bowman as the vice chair for supervision. This is someone who has never seen a regulation for a giant bank that she wasn't willing to cut or undermine. But understand this about Wells Fargo.

I think before you decide to lift this big penalty that's been in place for Wells Fargo for seven years now, you should ask for like maybe one year in which they aren't caught breaking the law.

Remember that in January of this year, the SEC tagged Wells Fargo for cheating investors. In December, the CFPB tagged Wells Fargo for cheating American consumers by the way, to the tune of over $800 million. And in September, the OCC tagged Wells Fargo for money laundering. So we have the three big banking regulators,

All saying Wells Fargo's out there still breaking the law. And then a report just a few weeks ago by former and current Wells Fargo employees saying that the very activities that Wells Fargo engaged in seven years ago

where they created fake accounts for people and so on because they were pressing their employees to get those numbers in to get more people signed up for more accounts, that that same activity is occurring today. And those are the circumstances under which the Fed unanimously says, "Hey, Wells Fargo, get on out of here. You don't need any extra regulation." Now, that just doesn't wash.

Do you see any potential benefit here, Senator, though, of Wells Fargo being able to better compete with other big banks for the competitive landscape to change in that way?

Look, I'm all for competition, but I don't think that cheaters ought to have a leg up in competing. And that's really the part to remember here about Wells Fargo. The reason we want to have good enforcement of all of the banking laws is that the banks that actually follow the law, the banks that aren't engaged in money laundering or the banks that are not cheating their investors,

that those banks ought to be able to play on a level playing field. And Wells Fargo, we know starting seven years ago, that Wells Fargo was so boosting its profits and by the way, its CEO compensation,

based on cheating American customers. And in fact, it was so awful what they did that it wasn't just civil penalties. They were in violation of criminal laws. So the idea that, boy, we want to get them right back out there competing with the other banks at a time when their own employees are saying, hey, they're back to doing the stuff they were doing before. That's not the direction we want to go.

Senator Elizabeth Warren live with us on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm going to ask you to walk with me here for a second, Senator, because I don't know if Donald Trump is watching us right now, but the president is posting about you right now just on Truth Social. Donald Trump writes, quote, I am very pleased to announce that after all these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on something. The debt limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an economic catastrophe. He's reposting you here where you suggest...

This is less than 24 hours after Elon Musk said shame on Republicans who passed the reconciliation bill in the House. You're finding yourself within a 24-hour period agreeing with Donald Trump and Elon Musk? What's going on around here?

Well, look, I think on the debt ceiling, I've been on this for many, many years. The debt ceiling is just something that's been used as leverage in negotiations. The United States should never, never threaten to default on its debt. We should get rid of this debt ceiling altogether. When we pass a bill saying that we're going to do a certain thing, that is our saying, and we're going to pay for it. That's what the United States government does.

So 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. Not extend it, not say, "Ooh, while this is going on, this budget negotiation, let's just roll out a few trillion dollars more in the debt ceiling." Nope. That has gotten us into trouble before. It continues to get us into trouble. Donald Trump is right. Let's get rid of it altogether.

Well, so, Senator, if we are to see if the Senate and House cannot get this reconciliation bill through in time for the mid-July request the Treasury secretary has made to avoid bumping up against the X state, would you support an initiative like that separately, a legislative effort to eliminate the debt ceiling before that X state comes?

Look, we should do it now. There's no reason to delay. Donald Trump is exactly right on this. It's what I've been arguing for literally for years. And that is get rid of the debt ceiling. It's serving no function except for holdout parties to try to use in negotiations. And that makes no sense. That doesn't serve our nation. But we should do that now. It doesn't need to be tied to anything. It doesn't need any special date on it.

Ask the Republicans. They're the ones in control of the floor. Let's bring that to the floor right now. It's a simple piece of legislation. I'm ready to go on it. I think it's the right thing for us to do.

Senator, I want to ask you from your perch on the Armed Services Committee about what else we heard from Donald Trump today. He had an hour and 15 minute long call with Vladimir Putin. At the end of the call, he wrote about it and said that peace is not imminent in Ukraine. He did say, however, that Putin will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields that Ukraine conducted over the weekend using this wild scheme with drones that had been smuggled into the country. What do you make of this assessment?

And what is Ukraine in for in the days ahead? Right. Look, Vladimir Putin has been playing Donald Trump and pretty much everybody in the world can see that. That's not just me seeing it, not just people in the United States see it. Leaders around the world see it. And it looks like Donald Trump is beginning to figure that out and starting to push back against Putin.

WE OWE IT TO UKRAINE TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO SUPPORT THEM IN THEIR FIGHT. THEY ARE ON THE FRONT LINES FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY AND THEY ARE ON THE FRONT LINES AGAINST AN EXPANSIONIST RUSSIA. UNDERSTAND THIS, IF UKRAINE FALLS AND VLADIMIR PUTIN GETS EITHER A BIG CHUNK OF IT OR ALL OF IT,

He's not stopping there. He's coming for more and more and more because that's who Vladimir Putin is. It is important right now to help Ukraine push back. They are on the front lines fighting the war for democracy on behalf of all of Europe, on behalf of the United States, on behalf of freedom-loving countries everywhere in the world. And we should give them all the support we can.

All right, Senator, we appreciate you joining us on Bloomberg TV and radio. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts, also ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Elizabeth Warren with us here on Balance of Power.

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