US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts Talks Big Banking, Debt Ceiling

US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts discusses "Big Banking", Wells Fargo, debt ceiling, and more. Warren spoke with Bloomberg's Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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, Kaylee, saying the
entire Federal Reserve Board, including appointees of both parties, should

(00:23):
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

(00:44):
of Supervision to get them.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
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,

(01:08):
you should ask for 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

(01:29):
consumers fight it with way to the tune of over
eight hundred million dollars. And in September the OCC tagged
Wells Fargo for money laundry. 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

(01:50):
weeks ago by former and current Wells Fargo employees saying
that the very activities that Wells Fargo is 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

(02:12):
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.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
That just doesn't wash.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
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.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
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,

(03:00):
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, it's CEO compensation based on cheating

(03:23):
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, boyd,
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

(03:45):
they were doing before. That's that's not the direction we
want to go.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
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

(04:14):
prevent an economic catastrophe. He's reposting you here where you
suggest as much. This is less than twenty four hours
after Elon Musk said shame on Republicans who passed the
reconciliation bill in the House. You're finding yourself within a
twenty four hour period, agreeing with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
What's going on around here?

Speaker 2 (04:36):
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

(04:57):
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

(05:18):
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 all together.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
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.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Now, look, we should do it now. There's no reason
to delay. Donald Trump. That's 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.

(06:17):
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.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
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 fifteen 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

(06:58):
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?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Right? Look, Vladimir Putin has been playing Donald Trump, and
pretty much everybody in the world can see that's 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

(07:29):
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 in the front lines against
an expansionist Russia. Understand this. If Ukraine falls and Vladimir
Putin gets either a big chunk of it or all

(07:50):
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

(08:13):
in the world, and we should give them all the
support we can.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
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.