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stuart: good morning, everyone. welcome to "varney & company." today the president mixes his first public appearance of the week. he's going to raleigh are, north carolina, and he's using the word bidenomics again despite some obama democrats telling him that's just not working. the president had been retreating from public view recently, but vice president kamala harris has been hitting the media. she is, quote, scared as heck about another trump presidency and frames the election as a split screen; competence -- that's biden -- versus chaos, that's trump. maybe the democrats are trying to boost her credibility and visibility as biden stays with his basement strategy. in new hampshire ron desantis has moved most of his staff to south carolina. polls show he's not doing well in the granite state. nikki haley has run in second, trump maintains a double-digit lead. to the markets, interest rates staying at elevated levels. the yield on the 10-year

treasury at 4.12. on the 2-year you're almost at 4.33%. you've got -- actually, you're above it, 4.35%. that's putting kind of a damper on the market, stock market, that is. except for the nasdaq. s&p's up 13, big gain for the nasdaq, three-quarters of 1% to the upside. oil, roughly $72 per barrel. gas edging higher, the average for regular is up one cent overnight. diesel, no change, $3.93. bitcoin, $42,000 and change. is it 42 grand? yes, it is, 442,4 right now. -- 42,4. pakistan carried out strikes inside iran. that's in retaliation for iran's attack on pakistan. more u.s. attacks in yemen as well. it's now a much wider conflict. we have a retired four-star general, jack keane, on the show today. what should america america's military strategy be now? draining surplus office space, how do you do that?

by turning half-empty buildings into apartments. in a place like new york, can you get the permits? and we'll bring you the story of the $6 smoothie. the president seemed surprised at the price. thursday, january the 18th, 2024. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ finish -- if you start me up, if you start me up, i'll never stop is ♪ ♪ you make e a grown man cry -- stuart: that is my favorite start of the show music, start me up by the rolling stones. lauren: where's the sun? if. stuart: looks really dark. >> i mean, it is winter out there. stuart: all right. we're going to start in new hampshire where it is morning. we're just five days away from the if republican primary. but remember, please, there is

also a democratic primary. president biden is not going to appear on that ballot. madison alworth joins me from new hampshire. biden's not on the ballot, but is there a write-in campaign? >> reporter: good morning, stuart. yes, there is. a group of democrats here, they have pushed that write-in campaign to insure that the president still comes out on top here in the granite if state. this all started back in february when the dnc announced that south carolina, for the first time in over 100 years, would be the first in the nation primary. the issue is that new hampshire has a state law that says they have to be the first in the nation primary. with that state law, they were unable and unwilling to move their primary. the dnc simply told them that their primary won't count. didn't put biden on the ballot and and even went as far as calling the election meaningless. that has also led some democrats to be feeferl around the optics of joe biden losing the state which is why a grass roots

movement has started to write in joe biden's name. democratic state rep angela brennan says her constituents deserve to be heard. >> we're not going to be silenced here in new hampshire. we're going to turn out the vote. you know, there's bipartisan support for our first in the nation primary,s and, you know, we're going forward. >> reporter: the movement has also caught the attention of out of state, prominent democrats. boston mayor michelle wu will be here in new hampshire this weekend to help with efforts. fox business reached out dot dn -- to the dnc, they ignored requests. stu? stuart: let's get to the markets this morning. show me where we are. this is the premarket, right? if i'm looking at the airlines. i'd like to see the dow, s&p and nasdaq composite, which i'm going to bring you momentarily, there you go. dow's down 85, but look at that

nasdaq, up 125 points. adam johnson covering the markets for us this morning. >> sir. stuart: do you guys on wall street -- [laughter] pay any attention to what's coming after davos? [laughter] >> generally, no. but this time, yes. stuart: go ahead. >> i'll tell you why. lauren: i know. >> usually i sort of poke fun at those guys, the high and mighty, they roll in on their private jets and talk about how they're going to save the world. however, this year there are two things i've noticed. number one, ceos are surprisingly optimistic about the economy because they're talking about not only hiring people, but actually putting capital to work. so to me, that's a very valid viewpoint because it's so different from what a we've been hearing in the earnings calls, you know? basically were happening up until november. so that's a change and that's important. and then the other thing, the big theme is artificial excellence. everybody's talking about it. that's probably not a surprise, but it just confirms sort of

what you and i and so many of us here talk about. stuart: you've got it. we have got strong earnings, from what i've seen so far, pretty good. consumer spending, that's strong. employment numbers are very good. >> yes. stuart: with all that in place, how to you get lore interest rates from the fed? >> it's going to be truckee. and i think the market's -- tricky. and and i think the market's coming to grips with that. the assumption was because inflation took interest rates higher, that falling inflation would bring interest rates down. and, yes, that does make sense. but the problem is that last mile, getting from the current, you know, 3, 3.5% down to 2 is hard. and they don't want to go too quickly because then they might have to send them back up again. so i think we'll probably see a couple of rate cuts. i don't think we're going to see the four, five if, six that people were thinking a month if ago. stuart: okay, so that a downtur- >> yeah, and the other hinge, stuart, is the base lauren was zero. and that is the -- baseline was

zero. then along came covid, rates were going back up, and and they had to send it back down again. having rates at zero was unnatural, unhealthy and bad, arguably. that's one of the reasons why our debt went up as much as it did, not to mention government spending. they're not going to take rates back down to where they were. stuart: we're looking at 5% yields on the 1-month and 6-month treasuries. what is wrong with that? it's still a deal, isn't it? >> there's nothing wrong with it and, in fact, it's why in the case of some of my clients who have come in to put money to work, we're actually putting it in the american ingenuity fund, go by with these -- buy these wonderful companies, some are saying you know? i'm okay having some of the new money in a 1-montht-bill earn earning over 5%. stuart: 5% sounds good to me. >> it's pretty good. stuart: coming up, vice president harris slammed critics

who are concerned about president biden's age. watch this. >> we have a president in joe biden who is forward-thinking in a way that we've not seen in a hong time. so why are they doing it, joy? because they have nothing to run on. >> thank you. [applause] >> they have nothing to run on. stuart: that's a stretch. i've said it before and i will say it again, i don't think this president can handle another five years. five days to go until the new hampshire republican primary, and a new poll has trump way out front. haley, a firm second and desantis, well, he's a distant third. is desantis done? guy benson takes that on shortly. in just a few moments, we'll talk to texas senatort . cruz. he has enthusiastically endorsed donald trump. more "varney" after this. ♪ just beat it, beat it. ♪ no one wants to be defeated ♪

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♪ yes, i can run. ♪ yes, i can run, run, run ♪ stuart: oh, i get it, i get it. run, run, run -- >> that's biden running from the cameras. [laughter] lauren: or someone running away with the win among the republicans. stuart: very good. all good possibilities. that is washington, d.c., of course. cold down there, 28 degrees. and now this, texas senator ted cruz has endorsed donald trump enthusiastly -- enthusiastically, i might add. and the good senator joins me now. sir, you said this race is over. does that mean you think desantis and haley should drop

out? from well, look, that's a decision they're going to have to make, but i think the results in iowa were compelling. president trump won over a 51% of the vote, he won 98 counties of the 99. it was a dominant result, and at this point i don't see a path for any other candidate. i think he's clear he's going to be the nominee, and so i think it's time for the party to unite and to focus on what matters which is winning in november, beating joe biden. this country is on disastrously the wrong path, and i think the consequences of that are enormous. stuart: who do you think should be trump's vice president? do you have any advice to give? [laughter] >> well, i have no idea. i don't know who he's going to pick, and i don't know that he does at this point. i think he'll go through this process, and i imagine we'll get an announcement right about the time of the convention is typically when it happens. so it's probably a little premature for him to make that decision. i think he should nominate

someone, number one, who maximizes the chances of winning in november and adds electorally to the ticket but, number two, i think it's important to nominate someone who is prepared to be president. look, the job of vice president -- stuart: okay, if he asked you, if he asked you, would you accept? [laughter] the nomination to be vice president? i mean, would you? you'd love it, wouldn't you? >> well, i don't think that's going to happen, so i'm not going to lose a whole lot of sleep waiting for it. stuart: and you're not going to answer the question with, okay, i got it, mr. senator. now let's get serious. vice president harris blames republicans for the crisis at the border. bear with us, senator. roll it. >> first of all, everyone knows our immigration system's broken. the solutions are at hand but, frankly, we're in an election year, and the folks who want to return donald trump to the white house would prefer to talk about a broken immigration system instead of focusing on the solutions that are at hand and engaging in bipartisan work.

i think it's critically important that we understand that there are petty politics at play on this issue as much as anything. we need solutions. the solutions are at hand. stuart: well, mr. senator, she says it's your fault -- [laughter] but you are discussing a border deal. are we going to get a border deal that's acceptable to you? >> well, i have to say listening to that, that's an awful lot like an arsonist standing there spraying gasoline on a house that's burning and saying i don't understand why the firemen won't put this out. she is the one and joe biden is the one and the democrats are the one that broke this system. understand, joe biden inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. and they deliberately did this. the week he was sworn in, the numbers skyrocketed. and we now have in three years of biden's presidency 9.6 million illegal immigrant, the worst illegal immigration in history. and understand like her claim,

oh, it's republicans' fault -- by the way, that's been their talking point all three years -- it ignores the fact that they did this unilaterally, and they can fix it unilaterally. i'll tell you how you fix it, stuart, it's very simple. there's one question that resolves whether you have a border crisis or not. what do you do when you apprehend an illegal immigrant? if the answer is you apprehend them, put them on a plane and fly them back to their country, your numbers plummet. that's the reason we got the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years, because we deported people. what does joe biden and kamala harris do? they put them on a plane or a bus, and they send them to every city in america. and, by the way, joe biden could end that today. he's defying the law, he's flouting the law, and the reason is simple. biden and kamala and every democrat, they want this invasion. they look at those 9.6 million illegal immigrants, and they see future democrat votes, and they don't care about the people when with suffer, they don't care about the people when with die, they don't care about the

children who are brutalized, they don't care about the 100,000 people who died of drug overdoses last year. all of that, they think, is acceptable political cost for a partisan victory in the end, and that's an incredibly cynical view. stuart: we have millions of illegals here already. republicans want to deport them. can you see deporting millions of people? >> absolutely. and, by the way, we always have. you know, one of the amazing things, and i will say joe biden did something i never thought would be possible. he made me miss barack obama. look, barack obama, i disagreed with on a ton of issues. i think he was a bad president. but you know what? on immigration obama, by and large, followed the law. barack obama deimportanted millions of people. -- deported millions of people. in fact, the left got mad at him. remember, they used to call obama the deporter in chief? what biden is doing no president in the history of our country

has ever done. he is utterly defying the law. he is essentially saying i don't care what the law saw i -- says, i'm going to let everyone go. joe biden and kamala harris are the last mile of the human trafficking network, and they're sending illegal immigrants to every city in america because for them politics is more important than the human lives they're croixing. stuart: -- destroying. stuart: mr. senator, thank you very much for being with us. come again soon. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: new polls from new hampshire. the primary's just five days away. they show trump far out front, 50% support. haley trails, but she's got 3 3%. desantis far behind, 5.2%. that's it. guy benson with me. 5% support in new hampshire for desantis? is he finished? >> well, he's not really even contesting new hampshire, right? they've been telegraphing this for a while. they were going to put all their eggs in the basket in iowa. they did come in second, but a distant one, down 30 points ultimately. so now the desantis campaign is off to south carolina

predominantly, that's where they might make what you might say is a last stand. the trouble is and, stuart, i'd love to be proven if wrong, i think desantis is a fabulous governor and a good candidate, would be a great president, but with nikki haley you can sort of squint and see a plausible path to at least making this a race where she would have to win in new hampshire, rather, then go home and mount a big comeback in her home state. squint, it's there. it's very tough though. desantis, however, you squint and squint harder and then your eyes are finally closed from squinting, and i just don't really see it. again, the voters have to decide this, but he's up against it. there's no question about that. stuart: vice president harris says she is scared of trump taking back the white house. watch this, please. roll it. >> now, are you scared, first of all, what could happen if trump ever became, god forbid, president again, and what are you going to do to stop stop the crazies? >> aa-- i am scared as heck

finish. [laughter] yeah, which is why i'm traveling our country. you know, there's an old saying that there are only two ways to run for office, either without an opponent or scared. so on all of those points, yes, we should all be scareed. we cannot, and this is where this election requires, rightly, that president biden and i and all of us who are part of this administration, we gotta earn re-election. there is no question. we've got to be on the road. stuart: we have got to be on the road. that's interesting. do you think that that biden could handle being on the road in a presidential campaign, ben -- guy? >> in a rigorous way, probably not. they're going to try to do something similar to 2020. they can't quite hide him in the basement and do everything virtually because we're not in the pandemic, thank god, but they're going to have to get out there a little bit more and try and make the entire race about trump if the nominee and fear, right? if fear's going to be a central

element of their reelect because i saw the clip you played previously in the segment with senator cruz. it is pure projection to say that, oh, the republicans can't run on anything, they have to run on fear. that is going to be the democratic playbook with. republicans are going to say life was better off, the world was safer, your wallet was fatter under us not too long ago. the chem whether dem -- democrats don't have any of that to say. so it's going to be fear, fear, fear. and, by the way, how are you going to stop the crazies? i would point out there are several crazies represented right around that table where they were all sitting. [laughter] stuart: guy benson, going 59 it. see you again soon. later. >> thanks, stu. stuart: check futures, please. it is nurse morning. i see plenty of greens, especially for the nasdaq. we're boeing to take you to the nasdaq for that opening bell next. muck make me feel good, come on -- ♪ ♪

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stuart: standout feature of the market thus far today, the nasdaq can composite up 125 points. that's premarket. even though the yield e on the

10-year treasury is going up. figure it out. d.r. barton with me now. d.r., i've got to tell you, i look for companies that support a.i. like a.i. infrastructure company. you like applied materials. is that the a, an infrastructure a.i. company? >> it really is, stuart. and they are, i like to say, one of those picks and shovels companies. they make the stuff way down the supply line. so we need all those chips that nvidia has become one of the top three, four, five companies in the world because they supply 'em, but who -- they design them and support them, but who's really manufacturing them? taiwan semi, which had such a great announcement as the foundly, and applied -- found arely, and applied materials with all kinds of technology and equipment to make these, to make the chips. so i think they're going to be

integral moving forward, to find system of these company on a pullback like it is right now, stuart. it's a good play going forward for the a.i. boom. stuart: is microsoft the a.i. winner at this point in because i think it's propelled microsoft above apple in terms of valuation, and it's a.i. that's done it. what say you? >> i think i have to agree, stuart. i think microsoft's executing well on a lot of different fronts, but it's clearly their investment in openai and all of the other things that they have done with implementing and getting out to the public. they have been a public face of a.i., and i think that has satisfied the shareholders andal shown their big commitment. i think i might say nvidia is the biggest winner of the a.i. boom, but microsoft is definitely number two. stuart: you can see microsoft going to $400 a share and beyond? [laughter] make me happy, d.r. are, come

on. [laughter] >> i think we do have a lot more upside on microsoft, and i think we've got to buy that on pullback withs. we've been talking about it all the time, stuart, there are lots of momentum plays moving up in the market. but with all the little squiggles that we get and the volatility in the market, we have to be the people that buy on the little dips and that sell on those explosions as opposed to doing the opposite. stuart: i think i'm beginning to annoy some of our viewers because i'm on about microsoft all the time. but in my defense, the stock has done extremely well and is now the most val bl company in the world, so there you go. d. the r., good stuff today, thanks very much, indeed. we'll see you soon. thanks a lot. all right, they're all clapping and cheering. that that's kind of a traditional thing before the market -- >> they get all a fired up. stuart: the bell rings, that means you've got 10 seconds til the actual beginning of trading,

ding, ding, ding, and then the guy reaches forward. there he is -- wait for it -- >> there he goes. stuart: we go through this every morning. i hope the viewers are entertained. lauren: and you actually know they have ten seconds. you said that. stuart: they do have ten seconds. lauren: i didn't know that. >> of course, the premarket has been trading since 6 a.m. if you already had an itch earlier, you could have traded in europe, but whatever. stuart: can you trade premarket? >> oh, sure. it depends on your broker, but even if you want to charles schwab and wanted to trade premarket, yeah, you could. you can trade before the -- stuart: i am at charles schwab. >> there you go. stuart: look at the dow 30, seven split, winners and losers, but the dow is down 115 points. the s&p 500, nice solid gain, about one-third of 1%, 18 points higher. the nasdaq composite, now, there's a winner. it's up about 1%, right at

15,000 is the level. show me big tech, i'm pretty sure that they're all up. yes, sir with, they are. apple, $3, 2% higher. meta, $4, 1%. alphabet, amazon, microsoft, all of them on the upside. i'm going to start with news out of meta. sheryl sandbergs has left the board of directors, left the country -- company, rather. what's the significance of that? lauren: she's an icon. the women that work with her say she's responsible for modernizing corporate america particularly in silicon valley with all of her family leave policies and her support. she's been with meta, facebook for 14 years. she was chief operating officer a and then on the board for 12 years. she's stepping down in the may. so the question is, why? well, she'll still stay on as an informal advisors -- adviser, really close with mark zuckerberg. stuart: can you answer the question why she's moving? lauren: she has fife kids, she's remarried with five children and wants to do some fill an drop

you can work. is this a loss for meta? yeah because from 2008 to the year she left her post as coo, their revenue increased by 43,000%. stuart: o.k. that's a good point to make, i'd say. the stock is still doing fine. lauren: yeah. her team's in place. that's the big news. stuart: i've got a question about a apple. how are they getting around the latest smart watch ban? are they getting around it? lauren: well, if you buy today, the watch is affected by this the, so the series 9 or the ulta the 2, you cannot measure your blood oxygen level. they deactivated it. a federal appeals court reinstated a ban because of a patent dispute they were having. apple is fighting that ban in court, but that appeal could last over a year. watch is a small part of apple's revenue. they're in the services segment, which is big, but the watches are a small part. apple just got their first upgrade of the year after three

downgrades. bank of america says it's a buy. they say the stock is going up 23%, $225, because they anticipate a.i. features compelling, a, investors but, b, customers who want the newest hardware. maybe that -- that's the new iphone to get the a.i. stuart: good point. the stock is at 186 today. what are apple and -- i know apple and netflix, they're in a fight. what's the fight about? lauren: yeah. so apple is about to sell those $3500 vr/ar headsets, right? you can feel like you're in a cinema if you're watching a movie on it. but imagine if spending all that money and then not being able to watch netflix? netflix is not including the app for the vision pro. and the question is, why? it is for disney. in fact, you can watch, you can stream disney in 3-d. that's first on the vision pro. so why not netflix? of course you can watch netflix

shows if you log on to the computer, but it's not with the ease of an app. you can't watch on the go if you have to go online. stuart: but i could watch a netflix movie on these goggle things -- lauren: you could. >> if you want to. would you really want to sit through a 2-hour movie with a heavy thing on a place? lauren: on a plane. >> you couldn't pay me to do that, to be honest. lauren: would you buy a $35000 headset -- 3500? >> no. i own apple, but, no. stuart: have they solved the seasick problem? i get chronically seasick. >> i think, well, you know, i think actually what you need to know is in the time, it's called the pro. so i think, actually, the application is for training people, you know? if you're trying to figure out how to repair some sort of system, a computer, right? if they load that in the thing, and now for technicians instead of actually working on a computer, you put that thing on, it stakes -- takes you into a simulated environment.

if you're an engineer and you're trying toing to figure out -- trying to figure out how to fix some pipes, it takes you there as a though you're there. that, i think s the application, not watching movies. that'll make you sick. [laughter] stuart: okay, i'm going to move on. >> all right, all right. stuart: good constitution though. humana down 12%. what's wrong? lauren: medical costs are spiking. more people are getting elective surgeries, going in for treatment that they might not have during covid, and this costs a lot of money. similar to what unitedhealth said last week, the same warning, all of the insurers went down which is exactly what we're seeing today. human ya -- humana reports earnings february 5th, i believe. they're warning, they expect their 2023 fiscal earnings to be about $2 per share less than they first thought because of this spike in medical costs. stuart: okay, i got that one. all right. thanks, lauren. adam has brought along a couple of stocks that he likes. >> yeah. ooh, look at this one.

stuart: first of all, what to they do? >> they embed silicone wafers are ions. that's step one in making a semiconductor. the stock goes as low as 112, it's up 5% for the second day in a row because there's this realization that,s hang on, if a.i. really is the next coming as we keep hearing from all these ceos at davos, we need more and more computing power. we need more semiconductors. this is the number one, number one maker of embedding technology. so you've got to have it. stuart: all right, dynatrace, i don't know who they are or what they do. >> you know the consultants of mckenzie, they come in and fix your thing? if well, basically they do that for software. number one in the world for what is the called application if performance monitor thing or apm if. the stock has traded down because they are changing their

pricing. you can now actually pay them on just an hourly basis. you don't have to have these big annual contracts. so the analyst community said, wait a a minute, are they going to boost business? no, it'll boost business. and as a everything keeps going more and more towards a.i., you need more a apm to make sure the applications are going. -- are doing. stuart: you make a good case. senator john thune says any border security deal needs a cap on how many migrants are allowed into the country. president biden tried to be a regular joe when visiting a coffee shop in pennsylvania but, you know, like most folks, the price of a smoothie shocked him. watch this. >> anybody want a coffee? it's on me. all right? [inaudible conversations] >> take a smoothie? well, they're $6 but i'll do it anyway. [laughter] stuart: a little surprised. the white house claims biden was just joking around. a $6 smoothie would be cheap in

new york -- lauren: absolutely. they're more like 9 or 10. stuart: we need an economist, and we've got one. peter morici will be with us shortly. ♪ i started a joke that started the whole world crying -- ♪ but i didn't see how the joke was on me ♪ ♪(song in french)♪

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stuart: president biden will be in north carolina today. he's pushing his economic agenda. edward lawrence joins us. edward, are they using the word bidenomics again? i thought it wasn't popular. >> reporter: well, so the last time the president actually said it was december 7th, but the white house press secretary said it yesterday, so maybe phasing it out. the president, while in north carolina, will tout the amount of spending husband administration is doing. he's going to announce a new $82

million investment for high-speed if internet to some homes and businesses. the president reporting -- resorting to scaring people from voting for republicans. his campaign posting this on x, that republicans have no plans to lower costs for families. but americans see inflation up 17.6% since the day president biden came into office. so last friday while in pennsylvania, the president himself seemed to be surprised by the cost of a smoothie. it's worth hearing. listen to this. >> would anybody want a coffee? it's on me. [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> a smoothie? if they're $6 but i'll do do it anyway. >> reporter: i asked the white house press secretary about that surprise. last friday the president was at a coffee shop in pennsylvania, and he seemed to be surprised that the smoothie was $6 and how expensive it was. i'm curious with, is the president now realizing the costs that americans are bearing? >> when he went over to, to the,

to, to the press corps,-having a good time -- >> reporter: but he still seemed surprised at the cost. >> he was joking around. he was certainly joking around with the press corps. you know that. he offered to buy coffee, that's what a he did, pastries. but i think the most important thing about that trip was that he was able to visit a small business. >> reporter: so she said that he was joking, but i bet that smoothie think was less than $6 less than three -- three years ago. stuart: edward, thank you. we need an economist. peter morici is with us. biden's spokesperson says, look, he's just joking about high prices. i don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but he did look a little out of touch. what do you say? >> i think he did. and he really doesn't get the sense of the room, as they say. people remember specific things. for example, if four years ago a cup of starbucks cost you $3,

you know, at 52nd street in manhattan and now it costs you $4 or $4.50, that's something you're reminded of day after day after day. biden has tried to run this campaign so far by running against trump and his character and so forth. and, let's face it, that has not stuck. so now he's forced to the fall back on his record. and his record is such that the only thing he can really talk about is the economy. he can't talk about crime or immigration or the status of american cities. so he talks about, you know, the economy. and in that area, the economy's growing. unemployment. 's low, but it was -- unemployment's low, but it was for mr. trump. mr. biden has this big price increase. and with inflation it's 3%, that's not terribly high, but it eats away and eats away and eats away. and every time the price of coffee goes up a nickel, it reminds people of the pact that it used to be $4 and now it's

$4.55. stuart: do you remember in the 1992 presidential election incumbent president george bush was confused in a supermarket about how to pay for your items? and he looked, he looked confused. and he lost the election. he looked out of touch, and he lost the election. i don't think a $6 smoothie is quite on the same level, but it's a negative, isn't it? >> yeah, it is a knelling. and i think that he's -- a negative. and i think these appearances by the president do indicate his age. and out of touch, let's face it, his defense secretary while americans were involved in hot military engagement in the red sea and and he were out of touch for a week to ten days. not only did his defense secretary disappear, but joe biden didn't know about it. what president is not in touch with his defense secretary when his navy is actively engaged in raids on yemen? the answer is, joe biden. that probably makes him

expectational, 1 out of 45 american presidents who is not in touch with his defense secretary. because i doubt any others, even jimmy carter was probably in touch with his defense secretary once a week. stuart: all right. i think we're going to leave it right there, peter morici. you did your job as the economist on the $6 smoothie, and we're to going to move along. adam johnson is still with us. do you have anything to say about being out of touch with the $6 smoothie? i'll say this, you pay $6 for a smoothie in new york, that's ooh extremely cheap. [laughter] >> i know, which is crazy. mr. biden, god bless him, he's just so out of touch at every turn. it's sad to see. and it's sad for all of us as americans to have to see our president, our leader so unable to do so many simple things that we take for granted. that doesn't send a strong message to the world. i think that when we have the bungled pullout of afghanistan, that's when things really got

bad. that showed such poor judgment from the white house. and now it just keeps percolating and all these examples all the way town to not really -- down not really understanding the ramifications of a $6 smoothie. stuart: i just cannot see this president being president for another five years. five more years. >> five more months. will he make it to -- and i don't mean that in a mean kind of way. stuart: coming up, silent biden, talkative harris. of could this be a signal from the democrats that they know their guy is not going to be president for another five years, so they're trying to pump if up the visibility and credibility of his vice president? that is my take, and it's top of the hour. if there's this, according to house republicans, federal investigators instructed banks to search through private customer transactions for, quote, conservative terms. kind of ominous, right? we've got the story after this. ♪ you can't's escape my eyes ♪ private eyes, they're watching

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stuart: the house judiciary committee claims federal investigators instructed banks to search through private customer transactions for terms like maga and trump. it was allegedly part of the investigation into january the 6th. hillary vaughn joins me from capitol hill. take us through it, please, hillary. >> reporter: good morning, stuart. house judiciary committee is out with details of how far the government was willing to go to try to track down anyone involved in january 6th. according to committee documents obtained by fox digital, federal investigators or asked banks to search customer transactions suggesting key terms that would raise red flags. those red flags, terms like maga and trump. they warned banks that customers who purchased are religious texts could be a sign of a home grown violent extremist and wanted to know what customers shopped at dick's sporting goods, cabela's and bass pro shops, the government basically profiling the type of people they think could be persons of interest involved in january

6th. >> at the request of government, you've got banks searching private transactions of their customers for key search terms, keywords. it looks like without any warrants, without any legal process. this is financial surveillance at its worst. >> reporter: the treasury department declined to comment. the house judiciary committee says the investigation does not end here, they want to bring individuals in for depositions and are subpoenaing more documents to understand how far this went. this was not hinted to a certain time frame. -- limited to a certain time frame. the investigators were basically just giving these search terms to banks so that they could just flag people as they found them. it was not confined to a time frame like january 5th-january 7th or anything like that. and so this was a much bigger investigation, much large or surveillance than just isolated to january 6th. stuart? stuart: that's important. hillary vaughn right there. thanks very much, hillary. adam, you think this is a big

deal? >> yeah, you better believe it's a big deal. anytime government steps past its bounds, yeah, that's a big deal. and especially when you talk about ine fringing upon people and people's rights, from my point of view, smaller government is better government. government is here to set guardrails so that the rest of us can go about our lives, build our businesses, look after our families. when government starts to bear fear to the point where it's saying this is acceptable behavior and this is not, not good. stuart: got it. thanks very much. >> you bet. stuart: oh, and and thank you for being with us for the hour. >> is it already 10? my goodness. stuart: time flies. kamala harris not happy with people worried about biden's age. she says the republicans have nothing else to run on. todd piro on that. south dakota senator john thune wants limits on the border. how do you place a cap on the numbers coming in? i'll ask him, he's here. looks like trump's running away with the nomination. senator ted cruz says the race is over.

does ben domenech agree with that? he's going to answer it. and the princess of wales is in treatment after abdominal surgery and will be hospitalized for 10-14 days. neil sean just shuted the palace. -- just visited the palace. he'll tell us what he heard. the 10:00 hour is next. ♪ ♪ you can't buy great conversations or moments that matter, but you can invest in them. .. can help you build the future you imagine. t. rowe price, invest with confidence.

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