are watching at this hour. keeping the government white house officials meet with congressional leadership. is it a choice between shutting down the government or shutting down the border? mine is bigger than yours or president trump tweets his nuclear button is bigger than kim jong-un's. we will talk with elliott abrams about how to handle north korea. the payroll promise. tax cuts were supposed to lead to higher wages. despite those one-time bonuses, data suggests workers should not expect a real raise anytime soon. ♪ shery: the senate is back and so our fears of a shutdown. two top white house officials, mick mulvaney and mark shorts will head to the other end of pennsylvania avenue this afternoon to meet with

congressional leaders of both parties. lawmakers repeatedly punted on the issue of a spending plan last year. now have until january 19 until -- two p something together. to flush and a corresponding kevin cirilli is on capitol hill with the latest. kevin, this meeting coming up in less than two hours. give us the just. what are we expecting today? what do they hope to achieve? to be a fly on the wall for this meeting. to discuss with lawmakers about that january 19 deadline. you will remember back in december, they pass that short-term continuing resolution. now they have to get together and have a longer version of that before january 19 in order to avert that partial government shutdown. what this is going to come down to is daca in the issue of immigration. democrats are saying they are united in their opposition. aidet spoke with a senior to a prominent democratic

senator before coming on air. they told me these protest groups for the past several weeks have been focusing on democrats, including moderate democrats to keep them holding the line on the issue of daca. they want to force this issue come january 19. several republicans are not so enthusiastic about it. david: the president thought he had a deal with the democrats. he said, that is fine, i love the dreamers. no problem. there is thing called the wall. i they going to have to give up the wall in order to get daca? wall is a nonstarter for these democrats. of course, led by chuck schumer. on the flipside, the president is in need of a political policy win an something that was a tenant of it -- of his political campaign wants to see that while built. they are bolstering along the u.s.-mexico border security. you have noticed in his rhetoric that he is noted it might not just be a "wall" in terms of

being built along that border. it could include other areas such as drone use or whatnot. it cannot lose that. republicans can't lose that. we headed for a showdown in washington. wall. it is not just the the white house seems to have the white house seems to have put forth more conditions. if you take a look at the daca deal, it should be contingent according to the white house, for bidding immigrants from sponsoring a family member to join them in the u.s.. also ending the diversity lisa lottery program. any of these concessions from democrats and feasible at all? is this an opening bid in order to get to what they want? kevin: i think what is interesting about this debate is that while this has united democrats, it has also united outside business groups in terms of silicon valley's impact on this. silicon valley has very much been behind the democrats in fueling -- and they are on their

side. particularly on the issue of visa programs. i anticipate over the next couple of weeks, you will hear a lot from them. homelanda letter of security directors all urging republican leadership to get this done by january 19. not to wait to address daca before january 19. i would anticipate that in addition to these government officials who have loudly made their case known in the last couple of days coming you will also be hearing from some of the same silicon valley groups that have been much at the forefront of this with democrats. david: i understand it will be difficult. assuming the democrats want to get some way past daca the wall, does that take care of it? kevin: i think infrastructure is something a lot of the folks in the financial services world are eager anticipating. particularly, who was going to be financing this infrastructure deal, and which foreign entities will be backing the

infrastructure deal? the details of which we do not have. the president has said he wants to get that is one of his top legislative priorities done for this year. i have spoken with a lot of conservative sources who bristle at the notion of more government sending -- spending. of infrastructure, the president will certainly lose support for any plans, should it include something known as an infrastructure bank. mark shorts, the driving short -- driving person, is appear on capitol hill. he lost that fight. an infrastructure bank would be controversial. cirilli, thank you. chief washington correspondent from capitol hill. david: let's get a check on where the markets stand. julie hyman is here with the latest. julie: 2018 looks like 2017 so far. we have got records for the

major averages. we have technology rallying with the nasdaq up three quarters of 1%. todoes not look like -- what does not look like 2017 is what you are seeing on the last line. the s&p 500 energy index is outpacing the gains in the s&p tech index on the session. energy recall was a worst-performing group last year, falling 3.8%. it is rising today. from some of the oil fueled services stocks. they are the outperform is within energy. in terms of the outlook for this year, there seems to be a growing consensus on the need to consolidate within the industry, as well as focus on capital discipline. that could potentially benefit some of these. we could see a volatile year. there is what is going on with oil prices. that is underlying the action in energy stocks as well. crude oil hovering near ties -- highs of the session.

up 1.9 percent. that is the best level since june of 2000 15. there is a continuing unrest in boosting oil prices. as well as oil inventories in the u.s. but have been falling. we look at the numbers tomorrow. estimates are for inventories to tighten for a seventh straight week. working down some of the oversupply potentially here in the united states. to not just the games today, but a lot of bullishness, bullish bets on oil prices and where they are going. what you have here is a chart of brett net longs in yellow. the combined number here is it showing that it is the both -- most bullishness ever. it is record bullishness. much of that coming in the last month or so. interesting that that is the positioning going into this year. david: thanks so much, julie.

shery: coming up, 12 republicans were about to their own party voting against the tax overhaul, all from high tax states. how they are continuing to fight for state and local tax did actions. leonard lance this is bloomberg. will be here next. ♪

♪ david: this is "bloomberg markets: balance of power." shery: i'm shery ahn. let's check in on the bloomberg first word news. mark crumpton has more. mark: vice president pence has officetered the oath of to two new democratic senators today. doug jones takes the seat from alabama after his historic win over roy moore. tina smith replaces fellow democrat al franken as a senator

from minnesota. franken resigned over sexual harassment allegations. republicans hold a 51-49 and in the senate. -- edge in the senate. the demonstrators met in front of the european council in -- in the buildings and called on the european union and the international community to put pressure on the iranian regime. >> they are filing the demonstrations in the country, the increase of violence and the unacceptable losses of human life. for the eu, human rights has been a court issue in our relationship with iran. peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression are fundamental rights that apply to every country. mark: iran's revolutionary guard declared an end to what it calls

the sedition. in the western year. a skier was killed in the french alps when a tree fell on him, wins of the nine miles per hour. a grounded flights in switzerland. from 200,000 people in france are without power. route fears are returning to california. it's been an unusually dry winter, sparking concerns that the historic five-year drought to that end of last year might return. los angeles has received 9% of its usual rainfall. managers say reservoirs are at healthy levels and it is too early in the winter rain season to start worrying. global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. david: thanks so much, mark.

the battle for deductions overstay and local taxes ended when they pass that tax overhaul package, you might want to think again. governors from new york to california are trying to figure out to take the sting away from their constituents. they are trying to do their part. congressman lance has introduced a bill in congress tried to override an irs ruling and permit the directions for any property taxes that were paid in 2017, even if they were not ss. we welcome congressman lance back to bloomberg. you are the off -- author of this bill. explain how it would work. leonard: if you paid your property taxes in 2017, i think you should be able to deduct them from the federal form. expressersey, we property taxes. not for august and november. if you have made a full, yearly payment, you should be able to take that deduction. shery: when do you plan to injured is this bill and what challenges do you expect?

gov. lance: it will be entered his last week -- next week. i have received bipartisan support. it is to encourage the irs to review its ruling that says you could only get the benefit if you had paid property taxes in 2017 for that portion of the assessment that had already been made for 2018. david: you have said you were concerned with the deficit. what's with this due to the deficit? with this cots the fat -- cost the federal government money? gov. lance: i certainly think you should have the ability to continue to do it. regarding the deficit, that is another principle reason i voted against the bill. i do not want to raise taxes when the deficit when president obama was president. i was concerned about raising the deficit. i think i should remain consistent now that president trump's president. shery: you have been home during the holidays. what have your constituents been telling you? gov. lance: my constituents want to have the deductibility of

state and local taxes. i hope we can revisit this bit -- this in its entirety. my bill is aimed at those who paid their taxes in 2017 for the 2018 tax bill. david: if you are successful, you overrule the irs, it does take care of one year. going forward, does not help those of us who can't take those state and local taxes. what can be done about that? gov. lance: i think we should revisit the whole issue. i hope the white house might look at that issue. arernors of various states attempting to see if there is a way around this. some have indicated there might be the suit in process. i don't know if that would be successful. just because the slot has passed, does not mean we can revisit it. shery: governors and legislative leaders in various states have taken action. this is on the new york times talking about them. how -- cal fire, other states, considering challenges of the law. they are considering changing

their tax-cut is to allow residents to take advantage of other tax breaks. restoring deductions. the system ag little bit. how'd you feel about that? gov. lance: i think we should examine all possibility -- possibilities. i think we should conserve the deductibility of state and local taxes. i think congress should revisit that issue. shery: have you had conversations with bill murphy? gov. lance: i have not. i wish him well as he moves forward. i was recently told i had been invited to his inaugural ceremony which will be on january 16. i want to work with him and with other leaders across the country. this has been in our tax code since 1913. this is not new. i do not think we're overpaying taxes on taxes. david: let's go back to cutting the deficit. the only way this act got through congress is by the pay for is like a from the limitation of state and local taxes. if you were to go back and redo

this, that means he would have to take away the tax cuts. we have to find another way to pay for it. which is it? gov. lance: i think the corporate tax rate should have been lowered. i'm not sure i would have lowered it to 21%. competitive be across the globe. i do think 25% might have been a reasonable compromise. shery: there is no way to go back now. gov. lance: there's always a way to revisit tax law. let's make sure that we continue the fight on the deductibility of state and local tax. deficit, weng about also have a spending deal coming up. that is going to be a huge issue taking up a lot of congressmen's time. we have this meeting today between aggression a and white house officials. what is the likelihood the government will be largely shut when president trump gives his state of the union on genuine 30th? -- on january 30?

gov. lance: i was critical of democrat to did not vote for that. i think we should always fund the government. certainly, we need to address the daca issue. i think those would be the the discussions occurring today with administration officials. under no circumstances, should we be shutting down the government. i did not vote for that when barack obama was president. i would urge democratic colleagues to not vote for that now that donald trump's president. very much forou being with us. always good to have you. we have breaking news. bannons out that steve has -- is coming up with a book, quoted at the guardian. is finding itp necessary to respond to that. he has issued a statement saying among other things, steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he fired -- when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.

president trump certainly going after steve bannon, apparently in response to this very controversial book which i have read some of the excerpts, it does paint a very chaotic controversial picture of went -- of what went on in the campaign and the white house. shery: let's stick with congressman leonard lance. we have to ask you, how do you feel about this book? had you feel about steve bannon in the upcoming midterm elections? met mr.ce: i have never bannon. he would not be someone who would advise me politically. regarding the upcoming elections, i think they will be fought district by district and state by state. i am confident my constituents and i agree on the major issues. at the midterm, the party in power has to be careful. i think we should present a positive viewpoint moving forward. be a year of bipartisan cooperation. i think the white house agrees with that. certainly leaders on capitol hill agree with that. david: that is a noble sentiment.

midterms coming up. when you have steve bannon and some people who tend to follow him, how much more complicated will your life be for your seat or more broadly, the republicans to hold the house? gov. lance: i think the voting returns in alabama rich -- a show steve bannon was not successful. i indicated i could not support the republican candidate, mr. moore, and alabama. i don't think mr. bannon has had successful records. moving forward, i think we should move in a bipartisan capacity. way to that is the best address the docket issue. the best way to address a border security. and the best way to address infrastructure, which i think is a bipartisan viewpoint from which we may receive some results. david: it appears the president of united states agrees in part. "steve had little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women in the country.

steve had everything to do with the loss in a senate seat in alabama." did not help the republicans on alabama. with senator agree shelby who was a senior senator in alabama who said he was writing in a republican. that is what i would have done. i was opposed to mr. moore's candidacy. shery: i don't think you can dispute the power to steve bannon has brought to the populist movement in the u.s.. which is one of the reason president trump got elected in the first place. how much of that will play into the midterm elections and what does that mean for the gop who is trying to get a hold of the house which seems to be in play? gov. lance: i think donald trump was elected because of voters in states like pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin, i don't think the democratic campaign of hillary clinton addressed the concerns of those voters. i hope and expect the president will continue to address their concerns. regarding the senate, for

example, it would take a great deal of effort for the democrats to gain control of the senate. some of the democratic senators who are up for reelection this year voted to fund the government in december. they recognize wisely that was the best decision. david: there are men and women across this country who are upset about a lot of things going on. a populist message appeals to them. is it possible for the republican party to embrace that message without having some of the hostile things that steve bannon says? some would say extreme things. is it possible to face the populism that up -- that appeals to the middle that does not go to the extreme? gov. lance: absolutely. i think we should recognize that as possible and be cautious to make sure that is the way in which we address the issues of concern to middle-class americans. course, we should oppose in anyway, shape, or form divisive nature in american

politics. we should try to be uniter's. i hope this can be a year of moving forward in that direction. david: we want to bring in our colleague, josh prenot the phone. wrote to the book on steve bannon. has spent many hours on steve bannon. welcome to the program. what do you know about this book? josh: this has been in the works for a wild. going back to steve bannon, we talk about how michael wolff was in there, and had access to people. conway, and steve bannon, and judging from the excerpts that were published this morning, i think the reason it has caused such a reaction in the white house and such a reaction from trump is it portrays trump as being stupid. is the ultimate sin in the eyes of donald trump. i think why the white house fired out this statement, attacking steve bannon personally. shery: i am in the middle of your book, great book, by the way. bannontioned how steve

has praised president donald trump. their whole relationship was based on the fact that they were quite close. momentum ofthe president trump getting elected as president of the united states. what happened? well, they failed once they got into office. then and was very good at hising trump to channel message during the campaign. especially, had to pick apart hillary clinton and damage her reputation. in a way that read down to two trump select or a benefit. the problem was that neither trump nor bannon nor many of the people in the early iteration of the west wing had any experience in governing. almost immediately, the trump presidency got off to a very rocky start. this only recovered within the last month or so with a pass to the tax reform bill. as we can see from trump's tweeting these last few days,

and this volcanic statement attacking steve bannon, i think still remains far from normal. was nott strikes me it just steve bannon the man. there was an entire internet group behind him. including breitbart news, which has been important in this and the administration. is this a severance with a breitbart news as well? josh: that is a great question. never been a public break between trump and abandoned before. trump had criticized him or belittled him in the press. trump has continued to talk to and be influenced by bannon. he was one of the people embracingal in trump roy moore, getting him to come down and campaign for moore. think the bad feelings between trump and bannon had been building up for a wild.

the unhinged criticism of his children, son-in-law, i think that was the final straw for the president. david: just briefly, how important is the breitbart news of this world to a candidate like you? gov. lance: i don't think it is that important. i think bloomberg is more important. [laughter] david: that is a great answer. gov. lance: i like to be covered by everyone. much. thank you very thanks to josh green of bloomberg businessweek, as well as congressman leonard lance of new jersey. north korea opens a order hotline with south korea. this means for u.s. leverage in the region. weight will talk with elliott abrams. this is bloomberg. ♪ abrams. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> i'm david westin.

we will recap some of the breaking news we have about. there is a new book coming out from michael wolff called "fire and fury," and it is -- in response to this, the president of the united states issued a statement. "steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind." that is what president trump said in an enough statement. he goes on to say "it was not steve bannon's job to win the election for him, it was his job to lose alabama in the senatorial election, where we had a democrat sworn in for the first time in 30 years. president trump feeling like it is necessary to go after his senior adviser, steve bannon. quite a development in washington. you updatedll keep on this explosive book, were ban and his ripping into the meetings between the trump campaign and russian officials. from now, let's get to other

headlines with mark crumpton. controleing is seeking of and where as part of a deal that would include safeguards for the interests of brazil's defense ministry. that is according to people familiar with the matter. is arguingane maker that agreements it has made in australia and the u.k. can show it cannot rise businesses -- can --rate as this is without they signaled opposition last month. it turns out that a homeless man hailed as a hero after the manchester concert bombing is anything but. he received worldwide attention after claiming he helps victims of last may's blast that killed 22 people, but today he pleaded guilty to stealing a person's cell phone from victims. police say he provided some assistance to the victims, but also robbed a few. more misery in store for the eastern half of the united states as deep freezes have

already sent temperatures to all-time lows. now with so-called "no bombs -- mbs" expected to raise of the eastern seaboard tomorrow. boston might get seven inches of snow, new york, four inches. global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton, this is bloomberg. shery? david: president trump has gotten into another war of words with north korean leader kim jong-un after the leader brag about having a nuclear button on his desk. in response, the didn't -- president tweeted "kim jong-un -- will someone from his depleted and few start regime that i have ahim nuclear button, but it is much bigger and a more powerful one than his, and my button works." despite the tough talk, there might be some small progress in relations between north and

south korea, with the parties communicating over hotline for the first time in two years. we welcome an expert on national security matters, elliott abrams. he served in the administration of your troubled walker bush and george w. bush, including as deputy national security adviser. he is also the author of "realism and democracy: american politics after the hour of spring." he joins us from washington, where he is a senior fellow on the council of foreign relations. how much will president trump's tweet harm this detente? >> i do not think it will have much impact. , kim hasn'ted said some things, but the words do not seem to affect the overall policy. i am worried about what the south koreans are doing. i think they are falling into a north korean trap of trying to

separate the united states and south korea. david: -- but the unification minister of south korea said that they had coordinated with the u.s. before the proposal of talks on january 9. who did they coordinate with? >> it is unclear. that is a good question. maybe it was the department of state rather than the white house. the worry is from the north korean point of view, they want the united states off the peninsula. they want to break the military alliance and south korea and the united states. having a hotline open is no big deal, but if you keep moving in that direction as the south do,an president may wish to ultimately, you run the risk of u.s.-south korea military relationships. if, for example, the south koreans say let's not have any more military exercises, which is exactly what the north wants. our side ato was on

this point? there was a time to settle then correlated with south korea, japan, china, and it seems like increasingly, we are on our own. well, i have to give some credit to kim jong-un, who we tend to treat as kind of -- often is a fool or a dope, but if you look at his policies, they have been moving steadily toward nuclear weapons and he has seen what you just said, that we have this alliance of countries. he wants to break it up, so he has figured out or his advisers have, the way to break it up is to do a piece offensive towards south korea. the south korean president is cooperating so as to make the tooicans look like we are tough, too militaristic. i have to say, i worry about going in that direction because the chinese and the russians will fall right in behind those moves. david: wars are some use -- sometimess are

triggered by conflicts sparked without any true intention. you mentioned military exercises. what is the point of having them when tension is so high and they could spark an accidental war? eliott: we have been doing these exercises with the south koreans were literally 50 years, and they have not sparked a war. we know exactly how to do them. i do not think exercises will .park a war, nor will tweets i do not think kim jong-un is looking for war. i think he is more clever than that. what he is looking for is an opportunity to separate the united states from south korea, to weaken that alliance. that is a military and political alliance, and if we never do exercises, the readiness of our troops and the south korean troops will decline. that is exactly what he wants. i think we should not regard him as some kind of crazy person or fool, but as someone who is being pretty clever here. david: if you are back on the

national security council, what would you be advising in terms of our longer-term strategy? we will not keep kim jong-un from having nuclear weapons, he already has them. ,hat can we do realistically practically, to limit the danger? eliott: i think the only way out here, because we all want to avoid some kind of conflicts, is ultimately, a regime change in north korea. the way to do that is keep the economic pressure on. the history of our policy is on, off, on, off under various presidents, and i think it is time to go back to the policy of significant sanctions and try, as i think the trumpet ministry should doing, to work with the chinese, because they have -- trump administration is doing, to work with the chinese, because they have a better relationship with north korea. david: but they have been -- shery: but they have been slapped in the face by washington? eliott: they know that we are dedicated to south korean security and democracy, and they

know that china is not dedicated to either. the chinese might be willing to accept a korean peninsula united korea, where as obviously we would never agree to that. we would prevent it. i think they recognize that they need to deal with china as we do , but china is not their ally, we are. what: we always talk about china could do to help with north korea, what about japan? they are the first stop for nuclear weapons on the way to north korea. is there a role for japan to play they are not right now? eliott: potentially there is, but they have still not gotten koreanquestering of the accoutrements in world war ii. that remains an incredibly sensitive matter in south korea, and it has risen again. that is a real roadblock for south korean-japanese relations. shery: the history in northeast asia is too deep and too long

and too painful sometimes for these alliances. in its group has warned annual outlook that 2018 could see a geopolitical crisis on the scale of the financial crash one decade ago. where in the world could that happen? would it be in the korean peninsula? the korean peninsula is something the pentagon is probably more worried about than any other place in the world. the other, i guess, would be the middle east. potentially with iran, but the more domestic troubles. the question would be there, because of their internal problems, they look abroad for some kind of conflict or confrontation as a way of trying to build iranian nationalism. david: many thanks to eliott abrams, senior fellow of middle eastern studies at the council of foreign relations. president trump also

slamming his former chief strategist, putting out a statement that steve bannon had lost his mind. we dig into the ramifications, next. this is bloomberg. this is bloomberg.

♪ david: this is bloomberg -- shery: this is bloomberg markets: balance of power. i'm shery ahn. david: and i'm david westin. to bring in bloomberg businessweek editor-in-chief megan murphy. great to have you at hand, and josh green, who was on the phone with us.

what we know about this yet but this is quite a developing story? josh: the excerpts from the book became public today, and they were the breaking point between donald trump and steve bannon, who was the architect of victory.residential his most important advisor in the white house early on, merely and relationship was rocky did not work out. now, trump, over a course of months, owing to media profiles of bannon, books like mine, and thinksly like wolff's, bannon is taking too much credit and is insulting his family, and he has decided to toss him overboard. understandknow and steve bannon, and when he left, he said i will go to war against theyone who is against president, but i am for the president. in writing this book, wouldn't he have had to understand that

he was declaring war on donald trump and his family? it is a good point, but it is one that does not seem to register as bad an. as grandiose and ego and self-image as donald trump himself, and clearly resents the fact that trump will not give him credit. an honest reckoning of what happened in the presidential campaign, which i try to lay out in my book and i assume michael wolff also lays out in his book, was that donald trump did not do this all on his own. it took strategies and particular lines of attack that bannon and other people in the campaign had spent years honing. if there was one thing that we know about donald trump, he does not want to costar. he wants all the credit, all the loyalty, all the media attention. when a book like this comes out, it casts him in a negative light and casts him as an idiot or someone who was stupid, it is guaranteed to in rage trump. i think we are seeing the

fallout from that happening in real time. shery: let's back up a little bit and talk about the book itself, because we have only seen some excerpts here and there. how significant are these revelations going to be with president trump as he tries to rule the country the next three years? josh: to be perfectly blunt, i do not think it will wind up being all that significant. donald trump is not a mysterious figure, hidden away, whose thoughts we cannot discern and need the help of a book like this to gain insight. he is exactly the opposite. isan all know what he thinking and saying, because he tweets it and he is very clear about where his interests lie into his anchoring him at any given moment of the day. the effect of the book will be to air the dirty laundry from the trump campaign from the first year of the presidency in a way that will make for titillating reading and probably

embarrass a lot of trump officials, but i do not think it is going to have any kind of profound economic or geostrategic significance. david: i want to thank josh green. the one benefit is that more people will be buying your book. [laughter] checked the amazon ranking, and since wolff's book friday, mine is doing well. david: and i want to turn to megan -- i have not read the book, i have just read what the guardian said in the new york magazine excerpt was. but there are reports about the meeting between donald trump, jr. and the russians. what invocations could this have? megan: legally, technically, this will not have any impact. but the fact that he characterizes this meeting as

unpatriotic, they will crack down on trump junior and you will open like an egg on national television. but i think this is going to be a test of who owns the space? is it going to be steve bannon claiming that base, what we saw in alabama, what we have seen playing out with utah with the potential mitt romney run for the senate, or does donald trump truly own this space? , clash ofash of egos the titans on a grandiose scale. i think josh is right. what angers donald trump the most is when someone calls him stupid, and the excerpts we have seen basically implied they never thought they would win and maybe they did not even want to win. that means people will be talking about this. in terms of the political significance overall, that was going to play out, but i have already heard people say this is the first political book they will ever read or by. going toam definitely

buy it. but this is what president trump had to say back in august. he tweeted his thanks to steve bannon "i want to thank steve bannon for his service. andame to my campaign helped me run against crooked hillary clinton." margaret, this is a huge u-turn for the president. ? margaret: iised think the implications are important, both in terms of inflaming the president's emotions and in terms of what we do not know yet, which is what is steve bannon know precisely about the conversations that took place among top trump campaign officials and any russian officials or intermediaries, beginning in the spring and summer of 2016? as you all remember, steve bannon was brought in after the end of paul manafort's run. time, he discovered a lot of policy decisions,

whether on foreign or domestic policy, that had taken place up until his arrival there -- it was his job to take what had happened in that campaign and help shape it and move forward across the finish line of the campaign. it ended up being a successful campaign. that is important, and i do not think you can underestimate the impact that has had on the president's sensitivity. shery: you raised -- david: you raise an important point. has mueller subpoenaed steve bannon? if he has not before, he will be interested now. margaret: we do not have any information about any details regarding steve bannon, but people will be asking at this point. thing to look for -- the press briefing with sarah sanders, which is supposed to begin fairly shortly. twitter, which we will all be watching, and the reaction from the congressional officials on the committee involved in those investigations. mueller's team is not big on talking publicly about any of isse matters, but whether it

books, interviews, or helping to understand time i then connecting the dots, these are important potentials. shery: but now there will be a further risk within the gop. what does this mean for the midterm election? megan: 18 hours ago, we were having this exchange over who had the biggest nuclear button? this is only 18 hours later. looking ahead to 2018 -- i want exactlymargaret is right. steve bannon said he does not know any russians, but what he has implied in this book is that the brain trust of the trump campaign was too stupid -- i'm using his words, not mine, was too stupid to know that when they had that meeting, that incredibly controversial meeting in trump tower, they did not have the sense to pick up the phone and call the fbi. that is what so many people have said about this meeting, how could you have that meeting with no operatives trying to peddle you -- known operatives trying to peddle you information that a

foreign government was trying to influence the election? that will be significant. on the wider front, steve bannon has been out of favor for quite some time. we look at it with china and domestically, but there is a lot of new information in this book that will fuel the flames and galvanize the resistance movement, galvanize what people have been saying about him, during what has already been an incredibly torrid week for the president, and it is only wednesday. david: that's right. shery: and then it believes the russians were taken to meet the president after. as theyhat's the story, say. many thanks to megan murphy and telv.aret sarah sanders has come out with her own statement. "this book is filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence of the white house. this book can only be described as trashy, tabloid fiction

exposes their sad, desperate attempt that relevancy o." press about to do a conference right now. this is bloomberg. w. this is bloomberg.

♪ david: this is bloomberg markets, balance of power. i am david westin. have more headlines being released. "fire and fury: inside the trump white house." we are hearing some excerpts from this book that are , theng about the russians campaign, being unpatriotic when meeting with a russian lawyer, and steve bannon

talking about the campaign and the problems during that whole process. we have a response from sarah sanders from the white house, saying that this book is filled with false and misleading accounts from individual that have no access or influence with the white house. this book is expected to be pretty explosive. bannon has also said that he believes the russians were taken after the meeting to meet with president trump. the white house has come out, hitting on this book and pushing back, including the communications director for the first lady, stephanie grisham, in the about this being bargain fiction section. david: you have had both of the spokespeople for the president -- and first lady saying this is wrong, but then you got another statement from president trump that said steve bannon had nothing to do with the presidency, and when he was fired he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.

he was not responsible for the win, but managed to lose alabama for the senate. he tweetedin august, his thanks to steve bannon for helping him during that time. of course, steve bannon left the white house in august, but that was after a shaky tenure in the first seven months of president trump's term. david: and now keeping the january g -- government going after january 19. shery: for more on the balance of power newsletter, go to bloomberg.com. get the latest on global politics in your inbox every day. david: up next, the fed will release its minutes. that is coming up next, right here on bloomberg. t, right here on bloomberg. is this a phone?

or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. scarlet: it's 2:00 p.m. in new york, 11:00 in san fransisco, and 7:00 p.m. in london. i'm scarlet fu. julia: and i'm julia chatterley. welcome the bloomberg markets. ♪

scarlet: we are moments away from the fed minutes from the december meeting, when they raise rates for the third time in 2017. we check in with chris condon at the federal reserve. minutes today showing a couple of things. first of all, the committee is making no progress on better understanding the inflation mystery that confronted it in 2017. second of all, it is a very divided committee about the risks it is facing going into 2018. first of all, a bit about the dovish group. i get the sense from these minutes that the number of committee members that are growing concerned about inflation and inflation expectations is growing slightly. here is an interesting excerpt from the minutes themselves -- "several expressed concern that persistently weak inflation might have led to a decline in longer-term inflation