little tough. >> i don't run are. i can always throw a ball pretty hard and fast, i was a pretty mucher -- pimp, but i was slowest on the team. cheryl: this was from the new jersey if state triat a loan, with we had such a ball. i'm part of the empire tri club. but i've got to get through the paris marathon first. anyway -- >> i'll come watch on the sidelines with some food in hand and maybe a beer. cheryl: i'll take the beer at the finish line. cara, get involved. it's great to have you guys, appreciate it. happy new year. thank you for visiting the set. it's always good to have you here in new york. cara, always a pleasure. you and i have going to be together on "outnumbered." we're going to be on it's all day today. >> it's going to be a good day. cheryl: thank you for watching this special edition of mornings with maria. very any and company up now, ashley webster's in for stuart. ashley: good morning, everyone. yes, indeed, i'm ashley webster

in today for stuart varney p. happening overnight california's secretary of state keeping former president trump's on the state primary ballot despite efforts to kick him off. but trump is now off the 2024 ballot in the state of maine. the secretary of state to the there ruling that he violated the 14th amendment, making it the second state to disqualify him from holding office. that's going to go on and on over the coming months. to the southern border now where authorities say they have seep the highest monthly total of migrant encounters on record. this, as we know, a caravan of some 6,000 migrants or more continues to head towards the united states. on wall street, well, the markets are counting down on the final trading day of 2023 and all three major averages in the green as we head into the new year. premarket shows them just slightly low areerer, but let's see if we can turn that -- lower, but let's see if we can turn that around at the opening

bell. one manhattan restaurant is offering a $20,000 set meal for two complete with gold-wrapped steak and unlimited dom perignon. not for mr. varney, i have a kneeling. and, of course -- a feeling. of course, we'll be taking a lot of looks at some of the very best moments from the show this year. they are hilarious. by the way, it's the last show of 2023. "varney & company" about to gun. ♪ ♪ ♪ now's the time for us to say -- ♪ happy new year, happy new year ♪ ashley: one of the most iconic places, of course, for new year's eve, times square in new york city. there it is. it's kind of dull, damp. mild though for this time of year in new york city.

high e 40s as we look at some folks there getting a look behind the scenes. all right. good morning, everyone. let's begin with this: maine's secretary of state kicking donald trump off the primary if ballot yesterday. meanwhile, colorado's secretary of state putting trump back on the ballot pending a review by the u.s. supreme court. todd piro, god bless him, back with me this morning. great to see you, todd. are we going to see this kind of actions with trump on ballots the whole election season? i mean, the ballot battle over trump, i just have a feeling, is going to go on and on and on. what say you? >> i don't think it's going to go on that third or on, the reason being at some point, potentially sooner rather than later, the united states supreme court is going to step in, and it's just a matter of is the decision going to be 9-0. based upon the law, ashley, there is no law supporting all of these individuals whether it's the colorado judges or the maine sec air air a -- secretary

of state. it is untenable under the law are. i will add that every time a state does this, this helps donald trump politically because he can make the argument democrats love to say i'm bad if for democracy, they are trying to keep you, the voter, from deciding on the presidency, and that argument trumps -- no pun intended or pup intended -- [laughter] every single time. ashley: you know, it's interesting, but i think you're absolutely right. i think this goes along with all the indictment he's been facing. if nothing, it just stirs up the base and maybe pulls a few more voters to him on the basis, that look, we're seeing the deep9 state in action. i'm not if sure why they do this, i think they do it to try and make a point. but, again, i think it backfires. by the way, california's secretary of state is keeping trump's name on the ballot. so there you go. you think california would be the first not to. >> i think the way that california did it, if you want

to give credit to liberal lunacy, is the right way. that individual came out and said he should not be on the ballot. i think we should try our best to look at every legal rock to look under and kick him off the ballot. well, they technically did and at the end of the day they decided they couldn't legally do it. so, but obviously maine went a ten further, and they're going to look foolish in a couple weeks. ashley: i think you are absolutely right once we hear from the u.s. supreme court. next one for you, todd, a former or adviser to president obama sounding the alarm on biden's chances in 2024. listen to this, i'll e get your comments. >> look, it's super scary, you know? like, the fate of the republic is hanging in the balance with, and there are polls that have donald trump leading right now. there is just this scary thing that overhappenings everything about -- overhangs everything about whether we're just too divided, it's just too late, there's too many silos. how am a i going to reach all of the voters i need to reach given

all of the media silos that there are. that is what i would be churning on every day, is just sort of the mechanics of getting that message out. ashley: wow with. she says, todd, the fate of the republic is hanging in the balance. it's all so dramatic, and she seems to i things like, you know, biden not getting the message out is looking pretty grim. >> there's a lot to break down here. first of all, if she thinks that the election is over, she is wrong because, let's face it, republicans is have an amazing ability to snatch defeat from the jaw withs of victory whether it's their inability to figure out how to vote early, the list goes on and on and on. but on her general point, joe biden's in trouble. everybody can agree with that. however, it seems like every time you hear these liberal pundit, and you hit on it, ashley, hay all seem to say joe biden's in trouble, dot, dot, dot, and the fate of our country's future is at stake. it is not that dire. if donald trump gets elected president, i guarantee four years from now we still have the

united states of america. this is their play at this point, because they know they don't have the policy. they have to scare as many democrats as possible to say i know you hate biden, but you have to swallow your med if sin because this american -- medicine because this american experiment could be over. it's a lie, it's a scare tack a tick, it's not gone a that happen. seward seward -- ashley: stu varney if has said very early on that he does not believe joe biden will eventually make it to the election in november next year. are you one of those? i mean, there is growing dissent among his own party in the background. are steps being taken, do you think, to perhaps if have him replaced? >> way to keep the streak alive. every time on this show i'm always asked will joe biden be on the show. 87th consecutive hit. [laughter] i am not smart enough to know the answer to that, to be honest with you, and i don't feel like i can predict. i can just look at certain stats, and i feel like prior the hannity debate, newsom was doing

okay. i think new. >> really -- newsom really hurt himself because the american people, those who watched on fox news, got the sense that, oh, wow, maybe desantis' policies are way better than gavin newsom. i don't know if i want that guy as a president. that said, the dnc, the machine that is the democratic party, they know how to play this game very well. and i think at some point, to your point, if you think that that a biden's going to be done, i think you're going to hear about a health issue that's going to necessitate him leaving the election in order to help his party and help the country. i think we awe all know what's really behind that. ashley: well, that was a fine answer, todd pie row. x you know, the next time you're on the show, we're going to ask you again, we can just cue that up. rerack the tape. >> yeah. [laughter] ashley: for the 87th time. all right. even cnn though seems to be worried about recent biden poll numbers. what are they saying?

>> cnn says they just aren't good. take a listen. >> you look at the issues and how he fares, infrastructure, jobs, climate change, inflation, immigration he is down 26%. that is not good. >> it's not good at all. >> yeah, the polls that they're referencing, let's put it up on the screen, it's out of monmouth which is a great school in the great state of new jersey. take a look at these numbers. joe biden has a 26% approval rating on immigration. i'm shocked@that high. i don't know one person that's biden is doing a bang-up job on the border. ditto my comments on immigration. and if you dig deeper, 38% approval on climate change, ash. he staked his whole administration on being a climate change warrior, changing decades, centuries of how we do things in the united states in order to satisfy the climate

change lewin tucks, and, look -- lunatics, and he's only getting 38 on that. that is telling. i feel like a lot of people say he's ruined my life in the name of climate change, and then you have the zealots on the far, far left who say he hasn't gone far enough. ashley: i'd love to talk to the 26% who say he's done a fine job on the u.s. border. thank you very much, todd. all right, let's get to the markets. last trading day of the year. it's actually been a good year for the markets. let's bring in our excellent friend and mast or e chef kenny kenny polcari. kenny, great to see you this morning. i've asked every market guest, of course, week, and i'm going to ask you the same question. what's your market outlook for 2024? can we keep the momentum going? >> yeah. i think the momentum continues. i don't think it continues at the pace that we saw in 2023. let's call it for what it is, it was an incredible, amazing year. tech up 44% if as a group, some of those other names up triple

digits. i think it was great. and while i'm bullish on 2024, i don't think that pace if continues. i think we go back to maybe, you know, more of a normalcy, somewhere between 10-14%. look, we had some on the street calling for s&p 55400 already -- 5400 already. we've got others calling for 422000 which is a 10% decline -- 4200. so it's a wide range. i'm in the camp that we will move higher by the end of the year. i think the first quarter of the year is going to be a little bit tough. i think we're going to get a lot of selling in january, people that want what to lock in these gains that we've seep over the last, certainly over the last quarter if not year, that they're going to wait until january to make those sales because then they put off paying their taxes for 16 months. ashley: you know what? i will put that down as cautiously optimistic which is pretty much your style, kenny. >> right. ashley: yeah. and talking of style, what are you cooking for new year's? if.

[laughter] finish. >> we're going to make champagne chicken because, look, we just talked about it, right? it's a year to celebrate. you're going to break out the champagne. i put it in my notes this morning on substack. that's my lin guinea and clam sauce i made on christmas eve. but champagne chicken for new year's eve. ashley: you look so comfortable in the kitchen. that's where -- that's your doe main, kenny polcari. thank you so much. we're going to see you a little later. thank you so much. all right, coming up, nikki haley -- happy new year to you, sir is. nick key haley coming under fire for her response to a question about the civil war. and now she's setting the record straight. roll tape. >> -- want every person to have the freedom of speech, religion, to live their life in any way without anyone doing anything to hamper that. that's what this was about. so if it required clarification of saying, yes, the civil war was about slavery, i'm happy to do that.

ashley: boy, nick key haley is on the defense. she's blaming a democratic plant for this. we're going to get into the story. then there's this, house republicans calling on james biden's former business associate to testify in joe biden's impeachment inquiry. house oversight committee member scott perry tells us, well, what we can expect and he's next. ♪ one way or another, i'm gonna find ya -- ♪ i'm gonna if get ya, get ya, get ya ♪ they're waiting for you. hey, do you have a second? they're all expecting more. more efficiency. more benefits. more growth. when you realize you can give your people everything, and more. thank you very much. [applause] ask, "now what?" here's what. you go with prudential to protect, empower and grow. with everything you need to deliver, you guessed it... more.

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vacationing in st. croix to wring in the new year. how lovely. lucas tom the lipson is there with him. well, not really there the on the beach, but he's covering the president. lucas, the president seems to be very relaxed considering his poll numbers, right? >> reporter: that's right, ashley. these are the lowst approval ratings of his presidency and really the lowest approval ratings in the modern presidential list history for any president facing re-election. president biden recently told our end own white house price that he, the american people are reading the wong polls. here's james comer. >> poll after poll shows that americans believe his policies are bad and that even worse for joe biden, he's a crook. so i think that the democrats are trying to do everything they can if in a last ditch effort to disrupt the republican momentum right now heading into the presidential election. i think this is another example of that. >> reporter: here's florida

governor ron desantis and gop presidential hopeful on that ruling out of maine last night that kicked donald trump off the a ballot. >> the idea that one bureaucrat in an executive position can simply unilaterally disqualify someone from if office, that turns on its head every notion of constitutional due process that this country's always abided by for over 200 years. it opens up pandora's box. can you have a republican secretary of state disqualify biden from the if ballot because he's let in 8 million people illegally? >> reporter: president biden also continuing to deal with foreign policy challenges. last night the uss mason in the red sea, a guided missile destroy, shot down a drone and if ballistic missile from that iranian-backed proxy port, the houthis in yemen, that's the second time in history a any destroyer has done that. the first time was three days

ago. there's been over 20 attacks against commercial shipping in the red sea over the past 2 months. overnight, russia launched the largest missile attack in ukraine, around 110 russian misevils and numerous -- missiles and numerous droneses were fired at civilians in ukraine, a maternity ward, hospitals, schools and commercial facilities were all hit. so president biden's going to have to deal with all these foreign policy if domestic challenges over the next year while run will being for re-election in 2024. ashley: hmn. and while on the beach today. very nice. lucas, thank you very much for that. now this, house republicans are calling on an associate to president biden's brother james biden to testify in their impeachment inquiry. member of the the house oversight committee pennsylvania congressman scott perry joins me no morning -- in this morning. great to have you, congressman. what do you hope to learn if

james biden's associate? >> well, good morning, ashley. what we're hoping to learn, look, this is the reason for the formal a impeach appointment inquiry, impeachment inquiry, that the binds set up a system of shell company for money laundering. there's no other reason they provided as you know any product or service to anybody. so we're trying to understand who was involved and, of course, mr. lewis, the individual in question here, is known as being part of the biden program where they use biden's name as leverage. and, of course, they weren't talking about james biden, they weren't talking about hunter biden. hunter biden is, unfortunately, a very very flawed drug-abusing and addicted malcontent who breaks the law and does all kinds of things that would embarrass his family. the only thing that the biden name has a credibility for is

with the vice president or the president or senator joe biden. so the white house needs to understand the full depth of how joe biden was connected to these business dealings that brought only two things, money into the biden family and heart ache to the investors. that's the only two things we've found so far that these things have gleaned. ashley: o.k.. next one for you, congress pennsylvania. i want to get into this, house republicans also demanding that the white house provide the documents if hunter biden's deposition. what what happens if you find out the president told hunter not to testify, that he had that level of involvement and, frankly, obstruction? >> well, that's exactly what it would be, it would be obstruction, and it would be conspiracy to obstruct not only official lawful proceedings, but the dutiful acts of congress. and as you know, there are many people now cooling their heels in jails all a around the

country for obstructing official proceedings. now, we don't know what to occurred there, but what we do know is what we heard not only from if hunter biden about his father, but also what we heard9 from the white house press secretary. again, these things aren't in dispute. so if you're going to say thingn a world where we still believe that words matter. and if you're going to say things, then we need to understand what does that mean. if the president indeed instruct thed or knew about -- instructed and or knew about and was involved in the decision of hunter biden to not appear for his deposition like every other american would be required to do, then that's information that we need to have. and, quite honksly, more than we need to have that the american people need to have that information. the president is lawless on his own border, and is he lawless in his own family in does the president and the president's family feel that they are above the law? that's essentially the question. ashley: that's the question, and i'm sure you're going to not

give up until you get to that point. congressman, thank you very much for bringing us up to speed on where this investigation, this inquiry stands. thank you very much, sir. appreciate it. all right -- >> well, thank you very much. ashley: thank you and and happy new year to you too, sir. let's take a look at futures as a with we head towards the opening bell. slightly lower but, you know what? it's been a heck of a week with, a heck of a month, a heck of a year for the markets. opening bell coming up next. ♪ kiss me pretty when that ball drops. ♪ on new york city when that clock strikes ♪ trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade, giving traders even more ways to sharpen their skills with tailored education. get an expanding library filled with new online videos,

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- our customers' homes are taking care of them, maybe your home could do the same for you. - [narrator] call aag, the country's number-one reverse mortgage lender and get your free info kit. call the number on your screen. ashley: it is the last trading day of 2023. premarket shows us we're going to start just a tad lower. we shall see. the markets open in less than three minutes now. mark mahaney, good morning to you. take me through your top picks for 2024 on the big cap side is. who do you like? >> yeah. the -- just as a quick setup here, we'ved had a great -- we had a great 2023, and that's in part, remember, because we had a terrible 2022. so the market does work that way. but we're with back now.

we had depressed estimates, depressed multiples, and that's what created this -- i think you get this once every ten years, that kind of opportunity we had in the market this last year. i still think can conditions are favorable but not as favorable going into next year because valuations are really back at par now. in the large cap space, our top pick remains amazon because we've yet to have the fundamental reflection point with aws. the number two is expedia. it's not a stock i've recommended for many years now, but i like i hear because we have convergence in growth rates between them and their competitors booking.com and airbnb, and they're trading substantially lower on a pe or free cash flow basis. and number three is meta. that's been a huge winner this last year. it's back at very reasonable valuations. now it's what i call a compounder. we think their earnings and free cash flow with grow 25-30%, therefore, i think the stock can rise 25-30% next year with.

those are our top three picks, ashley. ashley: all right. what on the small cap picks, quickly, mark in about 30, 40 seconds. [laughter] >> these are much harder. in the mid cap, small and mid cap, we like names like pinterest, war by peaker, i'm wearing their glasses, and names like zillow as a play in the recovery in real estate online. so those are our top three picks in mid cap. ashley: very good, mark. i would say you're cautiously optimistic. maybe not as a strong as a we've seen recently, but certainly money can be put to work this coming year. that's the message -- >> i think that's right. ashley: thank you so much. yep, you got -- >> happy new year, ashley. ashley: -- through a lot in a short amount of time. happy new year to you as well. the s&p up 4% on the year -- 24%, the nasdaq, 44%. yes, it's been a good year. but to mark's point, kind of recovering from 2022. all right, we are off and

running. they're waving, the confetti is flying, and here we go. out ott of the chute -- out of the chute the dow off about 10 is points, just ever so slightly lower. nike and apple on the topside, walgreens boots alliance and verizon down on the bottom. but a muted opening. there you go, we just turned very slightly positive. let's take a look at the s&p if we can. again, the s&p up more than 24, 24.6%, to be precise is, on the year. and that is essentially flat. doesn't get flatter than that. and then the nasdaq also just slightly higher, up 8 pointers. -- points. the nasdaq for the year though up 44.2%. let's take a look at big tech names. they've done so much for so long, have they not? apple, meta, microsoft moving higher. alphabet and and amazon though just moving ever so slightly lower in the very early going. all right, now this. google just settled a lawsuit

claiming it secretly tracked the data from millions of its customers. the class action a lawsuit who originally wanted $5 billion, well, the settlement now, the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. the stock itself just slightly down. luke lloyd is here. luke, great to have you -- >> hey, ashley. ashley: okay, they've settled, they've got it behind them which is always a good thing. what do you think of google heading boot new year? >> well, $5 billion, i think, was the lawsuit, the settlement. that's e a drop in the bucket compared to how much money they make and their advertising business alone is a $200 billion business. so in the big scream of things, this is just -- scheme of things, this is just a drop in the bucket. heading into 2024, you want to own both the people that are implementing artificial intelligence and those that are providing artificial intelligence like google. ashley: very good. yeah, $5 billion, just a drop in the bucket. this is the world we live in. all right, next one, nvidia just

unveiled a less powerful version of its latest gaming chip in order to comply with u.s. export restrictions. a spokesperson for the company says it will be available in china and only china starting next month. but nvidia, it's up again today right around ab $500 with a.i. and everything else this has been a stock on fire. because that continue? >> so this is the darling of artificial intelligence, right? ashley: yes. >> i would not be putting new money to work if it was me right now at these levels. would i own it for the long term next ten years? i think it make makes sense. really what i'm paying attention to is owning those e companies that are actually going to benefit by implementing artificial intelligence solutions because the suppliers have already rallied a lot, right? nvidia being a supplier of the chips for 5r9 firm -- artificial intelligence. one of the stocks that is probably one of the biggest players that i think's going to do great not only next year, is

accenture. they're essentially the consulting firm thatting everybody calls when you're looking to implement new solutions. 50% of businesses are looking to implement artificial intelligence next year into their business. i know for us on a small scale we just started using artificial intelligence in our podcast which has completely revamped how we're writing the podcast and frees up 2-3 hours of our time every single week. ashley: it's remarble. it's a revolution -- remarkable. nvidia, i think, has trimmed itself this year. -- tripled. and, of course, the big winners in 2023 has been the chipmakers. the artificial intelligence craze driving it higher, tripling its market valuation. it is, by the way, the only chipmaker valued at over $1 trillion. amd, broadcom both more than doubled, and intel, by the way with, grew 90% for the year. so my question when we see these kinds of numbers, is, is there still room to run on these, or

is this -- if you haven't gotten in by now, is it too late? >> so there is. and the reason i say that is the market's pricing in 12% earnings growth next year. and everyone thinks that's going to come from the revenue side of things. they think the consumer's going to remain extremely strong, they're going to spend into oblivion. that's actually going to become, come from efficiency and optional efficiency from these businesses. so they're actually going to be adding profitability to the bottom line and companies like amd, nvidia, these chipmakers, are going to provide that efficiency. ashley: it's reimaginer, it really is. -- remarkable. let's move on to this, an analyst not a big pharynx it appear ifs, of the ride-share a app, lowering lyft to kurt citing -- cut. they're also downgrading uber to neutral from buy, but they did raise uber's price to $62 which is exactly where it sits right now. or what are your thoughts, luke? >> we like uber, and we own

uber. this is a business that is completely revamped their operational components that just turned profitable at the beginning of this year. being profitable is a big win for them because they do tons of revenue every single year, and uber's a household name. everyone takes the an uber to get from point a to point b, it's helping make things safer at the end of the day. you want to have a few drink, just call an uber, you don't have to drive anymore. this is a stock that's going to do very well going forward, it is driving dollars to the bottom line and is profitable, i like the stock heading into next year. ashley: very good. all right, luke, we're going to get to your stock picks. you've already talked about this one, but you like accenture. >> yeah. again, this is the a name that nobody talks about. it's like a name that a probably is going to benefit the most if artificial intelligence. again, this is a big consulting firm probably i think the biggest in the entire world. it's a big market cap. i think it sits about a $200 billion market cap, but it's been around.

it's a household name when it comes to corporations, not when it comes to refail guys like -- retail guys like me and you. they're going to bench fit by implement inning artificial intelligence to corporations and mom and pop shops as a well. aaron. ashley: another name on the screen, ccj. >> view saw goil -- you saw oil go $90 to $70 a barrel. the highest production rate in history right now, you don't hear the biden administration talking about that because it doesn't fit the climate change agenda, but we're looking at owning parts of the energy market like nuclear energy. it's the up, like, 80% this year, we think it's got more room to grow. we think nuke nuclear's going to continue to get built out. it's a national security threat to not revamp our energy grid and energy component as a whole.

marc. ashley: my word, you brought a lot of information and a lot of energy, and we thank you so muc- [laughter] >> happy new year, ashley. ashley: happy new year. thank you very much. always a, thank you so much for being here and happy new year to you. all right, coming up, the mayor of chicago, brandon johnson, float ifing a solution to the crime -- floating a solution to the crime surge plaguing his city. listen to this. >> a half a million dollars for restoration and and reparations to address, again, the cycle of violence which looks like school closings, closing of mental health facilities of which i've invested in now. ashley: interesting. will reparations bring the crime rate down? leo terrell will be here, and he'll take that a on. with just a couple of days left now, december is about to set the all a-time monthly record for illegal migration across the southern border, so did anything come out of that meeting with mexico? national border control council

vice president art del cueto will take that on next. ♪ (adventurous music) ♪ ♪ ♪ be ready for any market with a liquid etf. get in and out with dia.

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ashley: it is another record-setting month at our southern border. there have been 2 -- 276,000 migrant encounters just since december11st. william la jeunesse joins us to talk about it now. it e seems there's just no end in sight. >> reporter: well, you're accurate. and to put that number in perspective, the population of pittsburgh is 300,000, and we're approaching that in a single month, not to mention the thousands of gotaways. the point is, the administration is overwhelmed. in many sectors agents have stopped patrolling the border and closed checkpoints to simply

process migrants for release. and as you said, most have no if end in sight. >> when does this stop? when is it ever going to end? if it continues to get the way it is now, i think we're going to find ourselves seeing a significant terrorist threat occur. >> reporter: president biden did seek is mexico's help, agreeing to keep the u.s. border crossings open in exchanging for mexico to harden its southern border. though troops, you can see here yesterday, made no attempt to stop this caravan. president obrador says he and biden agree enforcement alone won't solve the problem. >> translator: he understands that it is a phenomenon that has to do with the poverty of the people of the countries, that it is a social problem and that it cannot be solved with coercive measures a alone. >> reporter: part of that deal, the two also discussed regularizing or giving amnesty to illegal immigrants already in the u.s. republican house speaker mike

johnson called that unconscionable, encouraging more illegal migration while the pipeline is already full. >> we have sacrificed a lot, and we have taken a lot of risks. we have no food, we have no place to sleep, we have no money and they should solve it for us. we hope the government will solve it. >> reporter: so despite adding more judges, the administration releases two out of every three migrants who cross illegally. cop subsequently, ashley, or the immigration court backlog jumped 1 million just this year. what that means? if right now the has more migrants waiting for a court date than the city of chicago. back to you. ashley: wow. what a mess. william, thank you very much. incredible stuff. by the way, the bind. administration meeting in mexico with president obrador included talks about, quote, regularizing illegal immigrants living in the u.s.. house republicans called the language, and you just heard william say it, unconscionable.

border patrol if council vice president art del cueto joins us this morning. art, great to see you. do you expect anything tangible to have come out of this meeting with the mexican president? is it just more talk, do you think? >> it's just more talk. it's just, hey, let's check the box and and say we had a meeting. and i can tell you when you start hearing what came out of that a meeting or what they spoke about, that type of rhetoric of regularizing some of the individuals that are here illegally, all that is going to cause is more of a wave because the word will get down there quick. hey, they're talking about it. it might happen. so that's just going to encourage and more lawlessness, more and more individuals to come across. that is just is insane, to even have that conversation right now. ashley: you know, the department of justice, art, is threatening to sue texas if they enforce a new law that basically allows law enforcement to prosecute and and deport if migrants that illegally cross the border, you know? in other words, do their job.

but it seems like the federal government is certainly not going to. force the board with -- the border, but now they're not letting the states do it either. everyone is having their hands tied. it's ludicrous. >> and that's part of the problem. look, if they put as much effort into trying to defend and frequent our border as they do on stopping individuals that are trying to defend the border, maybe we would get somewhere with this. right now you're seeing an even bigger caravan coming, and the cartels are the ones or that are going to handle where it's sent into the united states. they know strategic points of where it distracts more acts because they want to bring more drugs into the country. it's crazy to say, hey, look, texas is trying to do something about it not just for texas, but for the rest of the country, right in because that's a big corridor where with individuals are coming through, and now they're being blocked from doing that as well. ashley: i mean, do people understand the enormous pressure it's putting on the infrastructure of communities across the country especially along the border?

this is unprecedented, and yet it's being allowed to happen and do you think this is going to be a major issue in the election coming up, art? i mean, we've been talking about it on fox for years. the administration ignored it for so long and now they blame republicans for it which i just do not understand. but is this finally reaching the psyche of the american people when they look at what's happening and they say, you know what in this is a risk to our safety, it's also wrong? do you think we're at that point now where the country as a whole recognizes the crisis that it is? >> no, i really hope we are, you know? like, as i you said, this started when this administration took over. and when you hear e people say, hey, the administration is overwhelmed, i beg to dir on that one. the agents are overwhelmed. the administering doesn't care because they haven't done anything about it, and it's going to continue to happen. we were here last month talking about record numbers, now we're here a month later talking about

record numbers again. next month we'll do it again. ashley: it's very discouraging, is it not. all right, art, thank you so much, as always, sir, for joining us today with your thoughts on this crisis at the border. thank you so much. former president trump has a new campaign ad out about the border. let me guess, todd, he's slam ising biden, right? if. >> reporter: complimentary. he gave him 10 out of 10 is. no, of course he slammed him. [laughter] taking biden to the cleaners on the border. take a watch. >> joe biden has created a violent threat in our own backyard. biden's open border has opened the floodgates to record numbers including terrorists, fentanyl traffickers and raises the possibility of a hamas if attack. >> i mean, really tough to argue against the facts statement thed in the ad. you talked about this, 276,000 migrant encounters this month. border patrol stretched thin, many of them not even patrolling the border. instead basically being uber and processing the thousands of

migrants crossing daily. blue cities can't can handle the influx. new york, chicago, doesn't matter. and the white house is pretty much ignoring what's -- oh, excuse me, they did send, ash, blinken down to mexico on a holiday week when nobody's working to come up with a task force which everybody knows is code for nothing's going to change. ashley: nothing is going to change, it and hasn't yet. todd, thank you. coming up, we are wrapping up 2023, if and what better way to celebrate than some of the best moments. let's not forget about this. roll tape. stuart: i'm sorry, folks, i did not realize that i was on. i was about to send a message on my iphone here, just learning how to do it. [laughter] i got caught. o.k.. moving swiftly along. when something goes wrong in television, the secret is you smile. you don't lose your temper, no. you smile. [laughter] ashley: oh, such wise words from the wise one.

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♪ ♪ ashley: if you are looking to spend about $20,000 this new year's eve, who the heck are you? that's my first question. one manhattan restaurant has an offer for you with. todd, what do i get for 20 brand? >> in my humble opinion, not enough. but here is what the restaurant will give you. it's empire steakhouse in midtown. it's offering a meal for two, so only $10,000 per. so complete with gold-wrapped steak, you know, the fancy stuff. bottomless dom perignon champagne. hopefully, the glass has a bottom because other it's going to be a messily -- otherwise it's going to be a messy nye. keep up the full screen because, ash, you do get caviar and lobster ravioli. i, for one, love lobster the

ravioli, and that wine from bordeaux, france, that in and of itself is worth $5,000. so there's some caveats to this but nevertheless, if you're spending this kind of money, obviously you have i don't want to use the phrase fu money, but that's the kind of money you have. [laughter] and just, i don't know, out seems like a waste to me. maybe give some to charity? maybe spread out that 20k over steak throughout the course of 2024? i don't know. ashley: i wouldn't spend 20,000 pesos, which, by the way, i just looked up and and that's $11000. that's still a lot of money $1100 1000. stu varney would not be partaking in that meal -- >> nor would he be buying it for the rest are of us. [laughter] ashley: not so sure about that but anyway, we have to move on. todd, thank you, as always, my friend, for hanging around for the hour. you are a nonstop worker, and we all appreciate it. >> happy new year.

ashley: a thank you. happy new year to you too. still ahead,. bret: sadler, josh altman, david webb and leo terrell. they're all a fired up. the 10 is a.m. hour of "varney & company" is next. ♪ .. ight to achieve my ambitions. want to see? (♪) like saving for the ultimate tailgate setup. with sofi checking and savings, i pay no account fees, and earn a competitive apy. sofi can help you fund all your ambitions, no matter how big... or small. ready break! like investing in the athletes of tomorrow. (♪)