Boeing Investigation Latest; Trump Court Showdown; Lloyd Austin's Hospitalization

On today's podcast: 1) Investigators probing the fuselage blowout on a Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 on Jan. 5 determined that the door plug moved upward before ejecting and that fittings holding the part in place came loose , as the two US carriers operating the now-grounded aircraft said their own maintenance checks uncovered loose bolts on the parked jets. 2) Donald Trump’s lawyers will spar with federal prosecutors Tuesday in a high-stakes court battle to determine if he is immune from charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election because he was president at the time. 3) US lawmakers demanded answers from the Pentagon after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to notify the White House about his hospitalization for four days , saying they weren’t satisfied with the explanation for his absence. 4) The White House’s “work is not done” when it comes to lowering prices for American consumers according to the president’s top economic advisor, Lael Brainard. That’s despite the recent slowing of inflation that has seen the headline consumer price index fall to 0.1% in November. Full Transcript: Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. We begin with the latest developments in the investigation into the door panel blowout on a Boeing seven thirty seven Max nine. Bloomberg's John Tucker is here with the latest, John and Nathan. More and more of the focus is turning to bolts and whether they were properly tightened, as the NTSB tries to find answers to how that unused door panel blew off that Alaska Airlines Boeing seven thirty seven Max nine over Portland. Another airline says it's found loose bolts. United confirms it found loose bolts after inspecting identical door plugs as the one that blew out on the Alaska plane. NTSB chairman Jennifer Hamendi, we are aware of the reports of that are coming back from the inspections from United and Alaska and Boeing. Our team is collecting that information and there will be some follow up from the inspections. It's unclear how many loose polts were found. The NTSB may now broaden the probe into other Max nine jets beyond the Alaska Airlines model on which the accident occurred. It intensified scrutiny of the manufacturing process at Bowling and its key supplier, Spirit Aerosystems, which makes the fuselage for the seven thirty seven Max. I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. All right, John, Thanks well. Another major story that we're following this morning involves a high stakes court hearing in Washington, d C. Lawyers for Donald Trumpell's spar with federal prosecutors over whether the former president is immuniform charges of trying to overturn the twenty twenty election results. Bloomberg's Amy Morris has more from Washington. Oral arguments are set for today before a three judge panel with the US Court of Appeals for the d C Circuit over whether Donald Trump is shielded from prosecution for his actions before and during the January sixth riot at the US Capitol. Now Trump said on social media he planned to attend, but he is not expected to address the court. The judges could hand down their ruling at any time after the hearing, and a ruling in favor of Trump could be a fatal blow to the Justice Department's efforts to try him. While either side has the right to appeal. Neither the full DC Court nor the US Supreme Court are required to take the case, so this Court's ruling could be the final word in Washington. Amy Morris Bloomberg Radio, Okay, Amy, thank you will staying in Washington. Bipartisan anger is building against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. We get that story from Bloomberg's Dan Schwartzman. Politicians on both sides of the isle are demanding answers as to why Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to let anyone know he was hospitalized on New Year's Day. The retired general didn't even let the White House know he was at Walter Reed Medical Center for four days, depending on a day after that. Austin was hospitalized, but did not tell the White House, Congress, or even the deputy Defense Secretary for several days. Republican Senator Susan Collins Remaine says it's quote inexplicable that the Secretary's condition remains shrouded in secrecy, while Massachusetts Democrat Seth Mulden says this astounding that the president in Austin's own deputy did know he was in the hospital. According to White House spokesman John Kirkby President Biden has no plans to replace Austin. Dan Schwartzman Bloomberg Radio. All right, Dan, thanks now to the latest developments in the Middle East. Secretary of State Anthony Blncoln says, who the militants will face consequences if they continue to attack ships in the Red Sea, he told reporters, and more violence will be detrimental for the region. It's clearly not in the interest of anyone Israel Lebanon Hasbola for that matter, to see to see this escalator and to see an actual conflict, and the Israelis have been very clear with us that they want to find a diplomatic way for it. Secretary of State Anthony Blincn meets with Israel's leader Benjamin and Yahoo later today. Let's turn back to markets now, Karen, As you mentioned, futures are lower following yesterday's rally on Wall Street that saw the Nasdaq surge more than two percent. In Asia, the knee Can in Japan closed at its highest level in thirty four years. Me and mole Nathan. Former bond king Bill Gross is signaling he is now steering clear of treasuries in a post on x gros said ten year treasury yields at four percent are overvalued. Gross made millions late last year after a big bet the Fed would pivot toward interest rate cuts for twenty twenty four. Well Karen, the President's top economic advisor, says the White House's work is not done when it comes to lowering prices for American consumers. Lyyle Brainerd spoke with Joe Wisenthal and Tracy Alloway on the Bloomberg Godlots podcast. Some prices have not come down, and we're fighting pretty hard to get those prices to come down. One area that really is difficult for Americans is healthcare. White House Economic advisor Lyle Brainerd ads the administration will use its position to continue calling out corporations who aren't passing along cost savings to consumers. For the full conversation, download the latest edition of Bloomberg Odd Lots that's available everywhere you get your podcasts. And Shares of Nvidia closed at a record high. The company's chip technology dominates in data centers used to create artificial intelligence software where now in Nvidia's announced new products to help the personal computer industry lower consumers with AIPCS. Another chip maker in the spotlight this morning, Nathan Samsung Electronics has posted at six straight quarter of declining operating profit. The results underscore how demand for smartphones and the memory chips remained sluggish given economic uncertainty, and shares of Match are up more than eight percent in early trading. That says The Wall Street Journal reports Elliott Investment Management has built a stake of about a billion dollars in the dating app company. Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news around the world, and for that we're joined by Bloomberg's Amy Morris. Amy, Good morning, Good morning, Karen. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Orcis was an eagle pass taxes to meet with elected leaders and border patrol agents at the southern US border. Now, he says it's too early to tell if the significant drop in border crossings over the past week is related to the holiday season or stepped up enforcement operationations in Mexico. Our immigration system is outdated and broken and has been in need of reform for literally decades. On this, everyone agrees. Arizona Senator Kirsten Cinema, an independent who has been central in negotiations, says She's not sure whether text is going to be available, but she hopes there will be something to present this week. House Republicans are pushing to impeach may orc As Senate Republicans want him to help cut a border security deal. President Biden meanwhile moving to win back black voters. Bloomberg's Nancy Lyons has more on his trip to South Carolina. President Biden delivered remarks at Mother Emmanuel Ame Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where white supremacist killed nine people in twenty fifteen. Biden says, our country must deal with racism. It is a poison throughout our history. Driptest nation apart, says no place in America, not today tomorrow. Ever, Biden's favorability among black voters in seven swing states has slipped so seven percentage points since October to sixty one percent in December. That's according to a Bloomberg News Morning Consult poll in Washington. Nancy Lyons Bloomberg Radio. Now. Former President Trump wants his supporters to give him a definitive win in Iowa, even with a commanding, leaving the polls with less than a week before the caucuses. Trumps stressed turnout the people of this state are going to cast the most important vote of your entire lives. I believe that too very much. I used to say that twenty sixteen, and I believed it then, and now I believe this is even much more important. The Trump campaign believes a decisive Iowa victory would put pressure on his GOP rivals to drop out. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley have failed to gain much significant ground in the Iowa polls against Trump. Next up New Hampshire January twenty third. That's where Nicki Haley has been gaining more momentum while still trailing Trump. Global news twenty four hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I Mamy Morris and this is Bloomberg Karen righting me. Thank you. We to bring you news throughout the day here on Bloomberg Radio. But now you can get the latest news on demand whenever you want it. Subscribe to Bloomberg News Now to get the latest headlines at the click of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg Business app Bloomberg dot Com plus Apples, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update. Here's John stash Hour John Karn. The Michigan Wolverines national champions in college footwall in Houston. They beat Washington thirty four to thirteen. It was a quick start for Michigan. First two possessions were both Donovan Edwards touchdown runs. They covered forty one and forty three yards. Michigan didn't get into the end zone again until the fourth quarter. Blake Korum scored capping a seventy one yard drive, and later Quorum scored again, coming after Mike Stanisil's eighty one yard interception return. Washington star quarterback Michael Pennix junior twenty seven of fifty one, did have two interceptions. Mission goes fifteen to zero, wins the national title for the first time since nineteen ninety seven, and the question now is if Jim Harbar returns as coach or heads back to the NFL. The Washington Commanders looking for a new coach after they had the second worst record in the NFL. They've got new ownership and Ron Rivera fired after four years on the job. Carolina Panthers already knew they were looking for a new coach now at GM as well as the Panthers fired to the manager Scott Fitterer. Celtics got forty points from Jalen Brown, but lost at Indiana one thirty three to one thirty one. The Pacers lost their star player Tyrese Haliburton a hamstring injury. He's headed for an MRI. John Moran is headed for a season ending shoulder surgery. Memphisis star guard was suspended for the first twenty five games of the season and ends up only playing nine games on the year. Wizard's thirtieth loss to the year beaten by Oklahoma City one thirty six to one twenty eight. The Bruins lost at Colorado four to three in a shootout. John Stash Edward Bloomberg sports from coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Sirius, Exam, the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager Boeing is working to get at seven thirty seven Max nine Jets back in the air after the FAA ordered them temporarily grounded following last week's door panel blowout. But the investigation into the cash cow for Boeing is finding more installation issues maybe than just the ones on that Alaska Airlines flight. For more, we're joined now by Bloomberg News Global Aviation head Benedict Campbell. Thanks for being here, Benedict. Get us caught up on the investigation so far. Good morning. So we heard from the NTSB again yesterday, the holding daily press briefings to give the latest update. And what we heard yesterday is that indeed they are still focused on this particular Alaska aircraft, but they've said that they might well be looking more deeply at other aircraft broadly, more broadly than just the seven three seven Max nine. Right now, the focus remains very much on that door panel, on that plug as they call it, that came flying out, and they're trying to determine what exactly caused that component to come loose. One thing that they did say was they are focused intensely on the bolts that are sort of a fixing that particular component. And speaking of bolts, we have heard from United Air and from Alaska that they've found some loose bolts on their aircraft, so obviously that's sort of the area around which the investigation is focused right now. How unusual is it to see these signs of improper tightening on an aircraft like this? Is this part of the reason why we're getting these suggestions that the investigation could go beyond the Max nine Absolutely, and this is obviously something you don't want to find on an aircraft. Is something that they have found, not just in this case, but also in previous sort of investigations where they looked at improper manufacturing. We had a misaligned drilling holes on some seven three sevens last year. Then we had some loose bolts in another part of a plane. So these defects appear to come up again and again. And you have to remember the Max, the seven three seven Max has a very sort of fragile reputation after these two crashes that happened almost five years ago. A lot of people still somewhat squeamish about that aircraft and an Abbus not Abbus Boeing have managed to repair that reputation, but somewhat fragilely. And the question now is will that pull them back into a hole. How can they emerge from that? Those are a lot of things they're trying to work through right now. Yeah, it raises the question about whether Boeing could be running into a crisis of confidence with flyers. Is that the concern for Boeing? That is very much the concern. I mean, we've seen the crisis of confidence on the side of the investors. If you look at what happened with the stock yesterday took a deep tumble. Spirit Aerosystems, that's the company that makes the fuselage for the seven three seven is by An is by far Boeing's most important supplier. They also dropped quite sharply yesterday. So there is a real crisis and confidence For the time being, it's the focus is very much sort of on the investor side, on the financial side. But if this spreads into a bigger crisis, say the flyers, the flying public, and then the customers ultimately, that will obviously be something very hard for Boeing to get back from. This had been the year, or supposed to be the year of the great comeback of Boeing. They've they've had a couple of difficult years, as I said, but they'd managed to get their manufacturing back in order, the orders and deliveries are back. They'd planned to really increase the output rate of the seven three seven. All of these things were sort of what lay ahead for them for this year, and right now it looks as if things will certainly low down for them quite a bit. The FAA, which is the regulator in the US, they're saying, not so fast. We want to make sure this plane is ready to fly again before we can unground it, and Boeing has to sort of comply with that. Is this something that could put the relationship between Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems in jeopardy? I mean, where could the blame potentially lie for this? Got about a minute left. It's a difficult relationship that these two companies have. Spirit used to be part of Boeing. Then it will spun out, but they're still very much sort of entwined and then locked in a slightly unhappy marriage here. They obviously Boeing needs to have very close quality controls at Spirit to make sure that the products that get shipped over to Boeing meet their standards, and that's something that hasn't always been the case in the past. So Boeing really needs to tighten the screws, as it were, on Spirit and make sure that they have the right people there, they have the right controls. There's new management at that company. Ultimately the buck stops with Boeing. They need to have the final sign off on the plane. You can blame Spirit and point your finger as much as you want at them, but the plane is ultimately sold by Boeing, so they need to make sure that the network is up to snuff. This is Bloomberg Daybreak Today, your morning brief on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed at six am Eastern each morning, on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning starting at five am Wall Street time on Bloomberg eleven three to zero in New York, Bloomberg ninety nine to one in Washington, Bloomberg one oh six to one in Boston, and Bloomberg ninety sixty in San Francisco. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty plus listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, seriusxmb iHeartRadio app, and on Bloomberg dot Com. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the new you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.