overnight, with the bombing by iran into the iraqi bases, where there are u.s. personnel housed. you're looking at s&p futures though up and the nasdaq up as well by about 4 points s&p futures up by just over 2 points this does it for "squawk box." we go back to carlos ghosn we continue to listen to his live news conference in beirut >> i can tell you, consensus doesn't work it doesn't work. you have to make sure that you force people to go for synergies. you make sure they get to the synergies, you spend time to explain why synergies are important. if you say it's consensual, nothing happens and we saw it in the results of the companies so three companies, allianz disappeared, and three companies growth disappeared, profits are down i'm finding a hard time to see any strategic direction, no more technology innovation coming and on top of this, the line missed

the unmissable, which is fiat chrysler that didn't go with allianz. they go with psa but it's unbelievable, how can you lose that? how can you lose this huge opportunity to become the dominant player in this industry by developing ties with people who were eager to join you, who were totally complimentary to the lines? obviously you'll have 15 explanations, it's because of ghosn, because this and that and that everything is on me, now, okay, but it is unbelievable that this happened, it's unbelievable. so what i would like to say is, this is not a common case where you say mr. ghosn, he didn't, and the media sometimes they say he didn't pay taxes. no taxes involved. he didn't compensation when i tell people i didn't

receive any compensation, they are surprised b you the whole story has been put in a way to lead people to think something which is different from the reality. okay, and i must admit, they're very good at it. that's probably the only way, the only thing because on everything else, which as a carmaker to make good cars, sell a lot of them, develop the technology, see the car of a future, make a profit, make cash, pay a good dividend and increase the shareholders. they said we want to turn the ghosn page well, they've been very successful they turned the ghosn page they turned the ghosn page because there is no more growth. there is no more increase of profit there is no more strategic initiatives. there is no more technology, and there is no more allianz what we see today is a masquerade of an alliance that obviously with all the people who are involved is not going to go anywhere.

that's why i'm telling you this is political this is political. there is a lot of tentative to present it as a common case of somebody who has crossed boundaries no, there is no crossing of boundaries i am innocent of all the charges, all of them and i can prove it now, because i have a lot of documents and there are many more documents to come and that's what i wanted to say today. i left japan because i wanted justice. that'sy left japan i didn't run from justice. i want justice, because justice is the only way i'm going to establish my reputation, and the only way what i've done during my life is going to be recognized to its value. and if i don't get it in japan, i'm going to get it somewhere else thank you for your attention, and now, let me, before we make

the, we make the break, just final point. particularly for our japanese friends. i was painted in the media in japan cold, greedy dictator. that's it. everything is cold, greedy dictator cold, saying he don't like japan. he doesn't like japanese he's a kind of mercenary, here for the money. that's wrong i like japan i like the people in japan i can tell you, for the many months where i was on bail, i was walking everywhere in tokyo alone. i had nobody guard me. i went to restaurants, i went to movies and people were greeting me they were telling me [ speaking in foreign language ] saying we're sorry about it happening to you we hope you continue to love japan. these are the people on the street because the people on the street do not think one second that, after celebrating this guy for 17 years, all of a sudden he

became a villain they don't understand it, don't believe it they don't even understand the accusations. so and when they say i don't love japan, let's make a little bit of history i revived nissan i went back, we crossed the financial crisis together. when the tsunami hit japan, i was the first foreigner to come back to japan, if you remember i was the first one. because it happened that i was in france on executive, i was the first to come back japan when everyone was living and the first one to go to the plant near fukushima, with the nuclear leaks and nobody dared to go to iwake because of the leaks, i had to call the suppliers and employees to say we're going to rebuild the plant together i have my kids in japan educated in japan i live in japan. i refuse to abandon nissan only because i cared about the company and they cared about the

company. so i'm asking one question i'm not cold on japan. i love japan why japan is painting me with evil for the good i think i've done to the country? i don't understand that. i profoundly don't understand that because i know japanese people are not like this. the second thing is they're greedy they say i'm greedy. i'm greedy in 2009, steve rachner, who was obama car czar, general motors was down, chrysler was down. he came to me and said, i talked to the president, we want you to become the ceo of general motors he has written this in his book so i'm not telling you stories you can look at the book, and he offered me a pay which was double my pay. i said you know what i understand your offer is very attractive, but captain of a ship doesn't leave the ship when the ship is in difficulty. this is not i agreedy guy

talking. i agreedy guy would say sorry, guys, this is business, i'm going to go for my own interests and frankly, i made a mistake. i recognize it today i should have accepted the offer, but i have my beliefs, and i followed my beliefs. then this is about greed the third thing is about dictator well, they discover i'm a dictator in 2018 for 17 years, i'm a ceo of the company, i had 20 books, so many professors coming, i have so many cases in harvard, stanford, waseda, keio, all of them coming, the professors analyzing this nobody discovered i was a dictator all these people who made the analysis and cases, nobody had to doubt i was a dictator? this whole thing, which was very fab rated, imposed on the japanese public but you know what

the public did not react in function what have they said because i tell you, i didn't have a bodyguard i walked in japan all the time, by myself, or one of my kids, who have never been bothered by anybody, who have always been received very well in all the restaurants and places that we have visited, but they tarnished my reputation and many other countries where the fact you have power or supposed to have money, you're already guilty well, this was not the same, as you know we're going to stop here and make a, a small break? [ speaking in foreign language ] i can continue, but maybe -- >> we're just going to do a break, for those who want audio translations, we're going to provide some audio translation, so please, ask for it, because

mr. ghosn will be answering questions asked in arabic, questions in english and questions in french. thank you very much. >> and question in portuguese. [ applause ] all right that, say dramatic press conference from carlos ghosn, his first public speaking engagement since fleeing japan, as he said, i didn't escape justice. i fled injustice as he speaks in beirut to some applause, guys obviously highlighting not just what he sees as a failure of the criminal justice system in japan but ridiculously emphatic on the immigration i-- integration issues between nissan and renault. >> the trial goes on for so long, it's like you're under house arrest forever >> in a sense justifying his decision to flee and

successfully do so, finding himself in lebanon, the first time we've heard from the former ceo since he was charged, incarcerated for some time and held under house arrest. it was interesting, he obviously defending himself in all different ways with a detailed presentation that included documents with his signature and many others, in terms of talking about what japan alleged were these diverted funds that went to his accounts, trying to say of course that was not the case, and then as carl said going in to going into questions about synergies and m&a and whether chrysler and fiat got together and why fiat didn't get together with renault >> there was a little bit of rambling but basically told the story of autos ex-musk >> michelle caruso-cabrera is there in beirut. phil lebeau is following the story since he did flee. he didn't want to talk about the logistics of how he got out of the country. >> i know, that's what we

wanted pure interest. >> that's where a lot of the drama is centered. phil lebeau you had a good curtain raiser going into the press conference i'm not sure anybody could have predicted exactly what we heard just now >> i thought carlos ghosn was pretty much what we expected, impassioned, pretty forceful, very forceful in many points, showing the documents was effective. i think david's right, that when he started talking about whether or not the nissan renault mitsubishi alliance should have also brought in fiat chrysler, whether or not he should have taken over as ceo of general motors, i think that because it started going off in tangent areas he might have lost the effectiveness of what he was saying but some of his quotes, what he said, i had a voice. i could die in japan or prove my innocence somewhere else i chose to go somewhere else that says it right there it was a very straightforward comment from him about why he made the decision that he made now the question becomes how

effective will this be, plus interviews he may be doing in the weeks and months to come in rehabilitating his image which let's be honest, at the end of the day that's what they're looking to do here >> phil, thank you for that. you're seeing the bottom of your screen the president meantime is going to address the nation on iran at 11:00 a.m. eastern time as you know it's been a dramatic overnight session. dow futures overnight were down as much as 400 points. gold hit $1611, ten-year yield down to 1. all recovered as the u.s. reports no casualties in the two iranian attacks on military bases in iraq, where american troops are stationed oil we're watching we'll get inventories later on today. the boeing crash in tehran, a 737 800 waiting for more clarity on that and adp 202 in december. it's the best number since april. >> did we have a 9:00 p.m. bear market think about this

is it possible gold peaked last night? oil's down is it possible that that was a phony war, so to speak or is this the beginning of a new era, where we're trading 24/7 and you just have to be around the clock watching, because that was a tremendous move that occurred, but if you were to actually just been watching, watching "jeopardy!" you might have just not known that we had a bear market >> yes, futures were down dramatically for a short period of time. >> 500 >> and as the word came there were no casualties and hope seemed to come perhaps it would result in a de-escalation rather than an escalation >> right >> that remains unclear. >> not that we should trust necessarily anybody, they did come out and say you've seen our response we had to make a response basically and i think the president's press conference will tell all. >> it's going to be hugely influential, the direction he wants to take this, right? >> so many reports today about

does he want to take an off-ramp or how much risk is permanent now at least in brent? >> he's such a wild card i find it amazing. should anyone really do anything between 9:30 and when we see that press conference? i mean there's some huge bets being made lenar, big housing, up big walgreens very disappoint, down big. constellation, good numbers, up big. are these going to change at 11:00 when the president speaks? >> no, and macy's having better comphe store sales than anticipated, that stock showing a bit of life this morning so there is some corporate news >> that's nabaf. not as bad as feared sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt. >> that's all right. >> we'll get to the downgrades today, a few >> oh, my, valuation downgrades? all over the place >> yep let's get to michelle caruso cabrera. and put this ghosn meeting into

perspective. tell us about your reflections on what ghosn said >> reporter: first of all, he didn't give us any details about this international caper that he managed to mastermind and i think the audience was disappointed about that. as expected it was a lot about trying to vindicate himself and really try to try this case in public opinion, in the court of public opinion rather than doing it in japan where he repeated over and over again based on the way japanese law works, he doesn't think he would have gotten a fair trial. right now they are handing out translation mechanisms for all the reporters here, because some of the questions are going to be in arabic, some in french, some are going to be in japanese and they are providing translation for everyone here so that they can understand the questions, which will be helpful and they've been yelling at everyone to sit down but obviously there's so many people here and it's so crowded, it's been difficult for them to get it done but carlos ghosn is actually still speaking right now and asking everybody to sit down so that he can answer as many questions as possible

so we're still here and will bring you more after this all finishes >> michelle, any clarity on to what degree he will be free to travel in the future is he stuck in lebanon forever >> reporter: that's a very good question and i expect that that will be asked, but we didn't get any kind of clarity from him on what his expectations are about his future, and his ability to travel, but i'm sure that is something that will come up during the q&a carl >> which we will take a listen to in a moment, when that ganz and we'll be also, guys, looking for some response out of nissan, executives that he basically accused of trying to derail his right to justice >> it does feel that, i don't want to call it a criminal enterprise, what the heck was going on there it's kind of a free fire zone. anybody wanted to do anything. a big worldwide company that obviously was managed in a very

sloppy way where is the equivalent of the sec over there >> well, he claims that everything that they alleged was false. >> i know. >> he was being framed >> as nissan was trying to purge themselves of the influence of renault. >> i guess so. i mean, he also painted himself as a patriot and rebuild, first to come back, and look, you're listening to this man and he's diverting a lot, talked about his wife, talked about the actual -- >> certainly it's something we rarely see, an executive of his stature, arrested in the first place, held for as long as he was, solitary, for some time, unable to be in contact with his family, and then of course he amazingly, the daring escape let's listen in. >> you want me on the podium i tried to be as much as possible that's okay, for you, i will do

it it's okay. that's fine. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> yes, please, go ahead [ speaking in arabic ] >> reporter: [ speaking in arabic ] >> reporter: [ speaking in arabic ] >> all right, this is what happens when your object of

attention speaks three languages. you don't know in what language he is going to respond we're going to try to get him when he speaks in english. he's obviously addressing constituencies all around the world. >> he has the world spelled out, and this is a very important figure this is one of the most important industrialists in the world. he's on the lam. >> and i just, this morning as i was watching, i thought if i were an executive watching this, can i ever imagine myself climbing into an acoustic music equipment suitcase, right, paying a third of a million dollars. that's a high tolerance for risk >> maybe it's auto executives, we got a guidancing a jig in shanghai, the other guy crawling into a box auto used to be very staid >> perhaps not any longer. >> no, it's different. the staid people are out in ces. >> listen, he feels he was running for his life >> yes >> what does it say, jim, that

we are talking about this, after the events of last night it's really going from the extreme macro down to, essentially is a microstory. >> iran attacked a u.s. airbase. we have a bellicose president and the futures are acting like it was a positive. i mean, the desperation to get into this market is extraordinary. it's frantic they don't even wait until the opening bell to get in they try to take advantage of every little bit to be able to get in remember, january under trump in the nasdaq has been extraordinary, all three years it's kind of people said i got to use this break to go buy nasdaq i mean, it's little odd, don't you think? >> and is all of that contingent on getting some good corporate guidance and commentary starting next tuesday >> i actually believe so i had dinesh polliwal last night

who ran harmon from ces and the tailwinds from what's going on are extraordinary. the adp number is great. it's almost like listen, unless oil goes higher and oil is down, just put that in the geopolitical camp. it doesn't influence us, and those of us who are older are saying how is this possible? younger people are saying listen, didn't impact oil. macy's is good american express gets approval after years, what, 14 years, gets approval to do its business in china perhaps the most important thing that the chinese have done in terms of making it so that we can have independence and ignore, i think that's huge. >> you've been talking about that for a long time >> i couldn't believe it they did it. this is what the united states has been waiting for is some sense that we're allowed to have businesses that are not partnered with bogus

institutions the party people's bank of china released it, in a social media post social media post. >> the president is not going to address until 11:00 a.m. >> right >> we have to wait until then. >> this china application, i'm telling you, this is huge. >> we haven't mentioned this tragic plane crash as well involving a boeing 737 800, very much unclear exactly what occurred there were some early statements from the iranians, because it took off from tehran, was headed for ukraine, carrying 176 people, all of whom perished >> the plane was 3 years old, we believe delivered in 2016, it's a 737 ng, not a max, but cowan does cut today boeing to market perform on the max, which they think will hold back free cash flow to $15 a share. >> that's the axe in the stock

and saying there's good cash flow still, but not as much as thought. i actually thought it was pretty positive for all the downgrade, and i think there's also a sense, this is from greg smith, who is running the company now, not calhoun yet. >> only for a handful more days. >> there's a new feeling of transparency i think people feel comfortable with that. people are getting a little more sanguine about it, when you got two settlements from airlines that didn't cost boeing a ton of money. i find it unbelievable that on a day when you have a crash, and you have a downgrade, that boeing is barely down. that's the most important analyst saying i no longer have conviction, and it doesn't matter >> their target is 371, on a day where bammell cuts southwest to neutral. >> he admitted he got too bullish. >> too early, back in i think november >> a lot of people felt people

would be behind him. the notion the pilots have to do simulations is in repudiation of what dennis muilenberg had been saying they're repudiating a lot at boeing of dennis muilenberg and it's happening quickly >> the tick tock in "the journal" how the board eventually turned on muilenberg really without any warning to him at least >> he was somewhat unaware of their change, but -- >> the rest of us were aware so it's interesting he wasn't >> it's funny he was unaware of something that perhaps we'd been given some smalz fignals for a other weeks. >> we and 20 million other people were waiting for it >> a lot of people were waiting for it he seemed to be somewhat secure in his position at that point. >> and bill ackman noted hedge fund manager >> ringing the bell for his flagship fund. howard hughes. >> he loves howard hughes. what a wild day. >> he's the chairman and significant owner of the stock, howard hughes as well doing the honors >> a lot of stuff happening.

>> i did give a wave to mr. ackman >> it was kind of interesting, on a day when the world has collapsed and got rebuilt, you gave a high sign of bill ackman. >> yes, i greeted him. so many of the other people that i've known from my long career covering, yes. >> look, we have an incredible -- we have cyber security, oh, sorry. >> ghosn speaking in english let's take a quick listen. >> reporter: nick kostov from the "wall street journal." i'm curious what your plan is now, because it seems to me it's going to be difficult to find a legal forum in which to clear your name, so how do you feel about the prospect of living out the rest of your life as an international fugitive is that the price to pay for getting out of japan is it worth it thank you. >> well, first, i am used to what you call mission impossible i've been in too many missions impossible when i went in japan in 1999, everybody told me it's

impossible you're not going to be able to make it. who are you? you don't speak japanese you're coming from france, from renault, nobody knows that and you know the story i don't consider that now i'm in a situation where i cannot do anything i can do a lot and i'm going to clear my name and find ways to make sure the truth is going to come out so today yes, on the short term, i'm here and by the way i'm proud to be here because i'm surrounded by friends in lebanon, i'm surrounded by people who respect me, and who are proud of me, which really i needed, after the ordeal i've been through, but i'm not going to just, you know say okay that's it, i'm not going to do anything else. so you can expect me in the next weeks to take some initiative to tell you how i'm going to clear my name, what kind of forum i'm going to be using to make sure that all the evidence are going to come to the table and that everything i've done being restored and everything which happens be put not into a

propaganda system where i appear as the cold greedy dictator but for what i have been, somebody who has been a very important actor in the car industry, with everything i've done my friend? no, no, please, okay cnn, yes, please >> reporter: bbc, carlos ghosn, richard quest, cnn following on from my colleague's question, it might seem to some you substituted a very small sell in japan for a much larger one here in lebanon, where you can't go anywhere. you can't leave the country. you and your wife are both at risk would you go to france would you even risk getting on a plane to go to france, even though the minister there has said you would not be

extradited >> yes, well, as you know, there is a red notice the japanese government has sent to interpol. my lawyers say we can fight the red notice, and particularly we can eliminate the red notice if we can explain our case particularly if it's considered as a political case. there they are more competent than me to tell you what's going to happen, but obviously first, i don't consider myself as a prisoner in lebanon. i'm very happy to be here, i can tell you, and i prefer this prison to the one where i was before, you can imagine, and particularly here, i'm with my friends. i'm with my family my kids can come visit me. i can use the phone. i can use internet i don't have followers or the only followers i have -- by the way, i didn't talk to you aboutle the followers. the only followers i have are people who wantto talk to me o who want something much nicer than i've been so frankly, i don't feel at all unhappy in lebanon i'm ready to stay a long time in

lebanon, but please, do not consider that i'm just accepting this as it is. i'm going to fight it, because i have to clear my name, and this is something which is extremely important to me. i can't accept the fact that fabricating a story and lying about something at such a scale can win or can prevail i can't accept it, particularly this is my story >> mr. ghosn, from the bbc >> sit down, please. >> okay, just one second yes, lady near richard >> wh >> reporter: what is the point of having this >> can you give her the microphone, please >> reporter: can you answer a question from the bbc? >> yes, i'm coming back to you please go ahead >> reporter: the question, michelle caruso xwre b-cabrercaa you want nissan to have autonomy

but autonowe on it know needs t earned it sounds contradictory. did you over propose a full-on merger between nissan and renault. >> i didn't. i proposed a holding company where you have one share for alliance there is no renault share, nissan share there is one share which is an alliance share, but you have a nissan operation based in japan. you have the renault operation based in france. you keep the headquarters but you have only one board. so you would have different h d headquart headquarters, different brand, different executive committee, one board, one share that's what i was proposing. it was not the full merger because in a full merger you have one headquarter, you have one board, you have one executive committee, which was not the case so i was trying as much as possible to overcome the resistance coming from the japanese wanting to be very autonomo autonomous, and at the same time from the other side, the willingness of the french to go for a full merger. so i thought the holding company, the way i was

presenting was a very good balance between the wish of the full merger from one side and the desire for autonomy. but as you know, at the end of the day, one side said why do we need all of this, okay, and get rid of him, and that happened, because today there is nothing there is no holding, they're not even an alliance we went backward we didn't go forward we went backward bbc? >> reporter: mr. ghosn, john simpson from the bbc two questions, if i may. you say it's understandable, you don't want to cause a fuss between lebanon and japan, but it's clear that you say there's been a conspiracy. how high up in the japanese system does that conspiracy go does it go up perhaps to the very top, would you believe? secondly, would you be prepared to stand trial in lebanon on the charges that you've been, that

have been leveled against you? >> okay, so on the first question, if you are not saying you were from bbc from the two questions you asked, i would have guessed [ laughter ] for the first question, you said i don't personally think that the top level was involved if this is your question i don't think, if you're talking about abe-san, i don't think abe-san was. >> reporter: how high? >> again, i need to respect my own word to avoid any friction between the two countries, and i think this is my duty to make sure that you know, we don't create more tension than what may happen so we're going to stop there the second question was about? >> reporter: [ inaudible ] >> i would be ready to stand trial anywhere, where i think i can have a fair trial, anywhere, but the only reason for which -- if i was -- if somebody could guarantee to me, which was not

the case with my lawyers, when i asked my lawyers many times, and they will tell you that, in japan, will i have a fair trial? they were very embarrassed they told me, we're going to do everything for you to have a fair trial, and they kept saying this to me, which worried me a lot, because if my lawyer cannot even tell me you're going to have a fair trial, i think here in nagasan in his at the same time or takeshi-san in his statement, even though he doesn't have a fair trial, we think he will be acquitted, because of the strength of the argument ne argument they have in their hands. if you're in a position, not in your country, you don't speak the language, people tell you 99.4% conviction rate. estimate is all of this because you have the first trial, the appeal, and then eventually the supreme court, then the second trial, the appeal supreme court. five years five years estimate. no guarantee five years of trial.

after this, 99.4% of conviction rate, oh my god. i was seeing myself staying practically all my life in japan, deprived from my wife, because there was absolutely no sign they were going to release the ban from my wife when i went, i was not an expert of the japanese system when i went on bail, my lawyers told me, usually after two months, three months, if you respect all the conditions of it, which i did, they start to soften a bit you can use your phone, you can use your email at home, main yb you can see your wife. that's what they told me nine months later not one thing was softened i was asking for the phone, nothing at all the judge kept saying we're going to keep the same thing and what they told me is you may not see your wife before the second trial starts so my prospect was, i couldn't see carol, i couldn't talk to carol for another one year and a

half, for what tampering evidence you have people visiting with me i couldn't tamper evidence with anyone, with anybody i left japan, even though i had followers behind me, camera in the house, no telephone, et cetera so if i was intending to do something, i would have done it anyway so this was persecution. this was persecution, it was obvious, and because i fled this persecution and no hope and you have this bombarding of the villain, unfortunately supported outside, supported outside, i decided to take the risk, because, because i wanted justice, and now and now i can tell you, the first forum where i can express myself in front of the justice, which is not biased, i'll go for it >> reporter: mr. ghosn reuters. >> i'm sorry guys we are losing a lot of time we're losing a lot of time

okay japan. japan. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] >> ma'am, i don't think, i don't know if it's in here or more difficult or anything else >> reporter: why choose lebanon? >> i'm lebanese. i'm brazilian also i have to chosen brazil, i could choose france. i choose lebanon for consideration which are more logistical than anything else. please, go ahead >> reporter: from reuters, can i go i just want to ask you, the japanese prosecutors are still saying and pushing for you to be extradited do you have assurances from the lebanese president and government you won't be ext extradited and you're safe in lebanon? >> no, i have no assurance of everybody but there are precedents and laws and i trust

that the laws existing in lebanon will be implemented. i have no reason to doubt that so here i am confident that the existing practices and the laws will be expected in lebanon, and i think this is what i heard from all the officials in lebanon. so now question, japanese question, go ahead >> you have the mic. >> reporter: tv tokyo. >> tv tokyo, yes tv tokyo >> reporter: [ speaking in japanese ] speak in english? >> please. if not, you're not going to have an answer. [ laughter ] >> reporter: you were a respected ceo in japan, but you broke japanese law to be here.

isn't it wrong please let the japanese people know your thoughts >> my what >> reporter: broke japanese law. >> my thought. >> reporter: yes, your thought >> i will. >> reporter: to japanese people. >> yes, well obviously you know, again, let's go back to your question as you said, i was and i still think i am for at least part of the population a respected businessman in japan, and i remember, i had many meetings with the press and the press even, which is not very favorable to me, who told me nobody contests the fact you have revived nissan. nobody contests the fact you've done good things in japan because of the other ceos following some of the practices that you introduced in 1999, et cetera nobody contests that but you need to defend these

charges. you have charges against you and need to defend them, which is exactly what i want to do, but how can i defend myself if i am denied justice if i'm denied the tool to defend myself how can i defend myself? obviously breaking the law in japan, because i got out of japan, is a problem, but don't you think it's a problem that the prosecutor broke ten laws in japan following, and nobody cares. nobody cares they broke the law you know very well that there is a law in japan saying the prosecutor cannot leak you know that. okay you know that. but you know they leak everybody tells you they leak. all the journalists tell me we heard this from the prosecutor okay, they're breaking law and nobody cares so why me, breaking the law, is a problem, when the prosecutor breaking ten laws is not a problem and nobody cares so at a certain point in time, when you are in a situation where the only guy you have to respect the law and everybody else doesn't respect the law and nobody cares, you say it's a

rigged system. it's a rigged system and frankly, i don't think japan deserves that. i don't think japanese people are like that. as i told you, i like japan. i like japanese people i spent 17 years i don't regret it. i don't regret it. what i regret is specific domination i've done inside the company, because at the end of the day, i was wrong on the people i read that, but the japanese people have been good to me and my intention is not to hurt japan or hurt the japanese people but why am i being paved with evil why? what did i do? >> remarkable press conference from carlos ghosn continues, saying he's ready to stay in lebanon a long time, does not consider himself a prisoner but has no assurance he won't be extradited eventually. we'll see in the coming weeks more evidence as he attempts to clear his name, answers michelle's question, he proposed a holding company for the alliance, not necessarily a

merger, but whatever you think of carlos ghosn, he is not hiding behind counsel, not issued pre-packaged press releases, taking every question. >> he didn't implicate the top of japan i thought he might implicate abe. because it seems like a vast conspiracy against this man, but did not. >> seemed to be alleging but wouldn't go there. >> no. >> it's interesting morning, of course, watching mr. ghosn, this incredible story at the same time of course we are keeping an eye on the markets, given what was going on yesterday around 6:00 with missiles flying from iran a couple of airbases, based in iraq thankfully it appears no casualties futures look down, enormously, only to reverse and now we have the s&p up 0.21%, guys speaking of auto stocks, by the way, tesla's gone par bollic with a handful of trading days we had so far this year, up 12.5%. >> 20% of the flow is still

short. it's dangerous, if they earn $5, $6 a share next year gm by the way said that their numbers are going to be down 15% in china do you know that china's numbers for autos are going to be up i question whether china as they granted american express that right-of-way, i think china doesn't want gm to be as powerful as it is. 3 million cars, i don't think they want them to sell that many cars >> they have a few of their own manufacturering. >> that's right they do. >> we want to take one last peek into what goesen is telling reporters. take a listen. >> if i had all the japanese media here it would not have been possible but i'm not running from them and i'm counting on to you carry the message. >> reporter: [ speaking in french ]

>> [ speaking in french ] >> we do want to pay close attention to what ghosn is saying, but he's pivoting between french and english the commentary continues this is not the last we've heard from him as he vows to continue to present evidence over the next several weeks so we'll be watching the story i mean it's a mix between corporate management and international intrigue >> the leaders in the market have great number. maegsy's l brands. >> macy's closing 28, bloomingdale's, closing more stores >> big short squeeze in macy's, they have a giant february meeting. close attention to nordstrom the

biggest upside surprise. what is this about, employment, so strong in this country we tend to want, to we listen to ghosn and we can focus on the airbases that were attacked. you can keep coming back to employment to figure out what's going to happen with our market and i think it's incredible. >> macy's numbers are impressive core comps for november, december up 0.6. in q3 they were down 3.5 they're pacing ahead of what analysts were expecting for q4 >> they're getting back into the a&b malls, those are doing quite well versus comparisons, not as bad as feared is the way i would look at that could i mention one other thing which is important the american cancer society said one-year decline >> unbelievable, these numbers are insane >> thank you, i think this is huge >> the death rate from prostate cancer, breast cancer, all kinds of -

>> melanoma, where they've really taken thankfully such strides as a result of updivo keytda, any other number of therapies for melanoma, 6% decrease >> i'm going out next week to jpmorgan, technologies, bris on it myers and merck and also this targeted immunotherapy >> and lung cancer which is a longer term trend, smoking has slowed dramatically. of course you brought up vaping many, many times >> right walgreens deemphasizing vaping it hurt the front of the store >> let's talk about walgreens, the stock is down almost 6%. it's been in the news a bit. remember this effort that may or may not have been undertaken to some extent to investigate the idea of could they possibly take this company private as the market cap continues to decline, perhaps that becomes less of a long shot, although i think it still is. why is the stock down today,

jim? >> the numbers both in the front of the store and back of the store were alarming, alarming versus what expectations were. i'm kind of shocked they could be this bad. they are poorly run, but to say they're poorly run, cvs is down, the comparisons are going to crush them most retail is doing well. the pharmacy is bad, front of the store hurt by amazon, and i keep thinking about them for their fabulous one point alliance with theranos >> right there was -- >> what is the due diligence that they're doing what kind of, how is that company -- this is gigantic company, the dow stock they cannot shoot straight >> the 77 or so-year-old ceo owns a great deal of the stock it's not as though he's not invested in the success of this thing. >> i know, but get some professionals in, really 95 cents versus $1.18, retail

pharmacy comps 1.6%, looking for 5.3% i mean, this is the most colossal miss in retail. it's rather amazing. particularly on a day when macy's is better and like i said, nordstrom is the winner. that's the one you'll see nice numbers. these guys are just, i think amazon is killing that >> we mentioned some of the downgrades today, bammell cutting southwest. cowan cuts yum >> right >> bammell cuts cisco, and fire eye, after an upgrade out of suntrust yesterday >> they didn't like palo alto and the ceo is going to disagree with that. some of the downgrades are really like the pizza hut part of yum is doing quite poorly, and it's amazing because the rest of yum is doing well, not sure what they can do. >> their point is taco bell will not command the narrative to weighing the underperforming pizza hut will >> pizza is historically a

growth market and hurt by delivery and huge amount of venture capital. >> i love your tweet this morning about uber eats. they got to sell this, what you call it, ridiculous business >> yes, 50% of the parts of uber eats are bad, and it's causing the whole thing to kind of be let's just say ill-advised if they sold uber eats to grub hub, grub hub would go up 25%, 30% and uber eats up big >> not uber eats, uber >> uber. >> they would have an ownership position >> and the worst part of their business is uber eats. >> it's the money they're spending in certain markets that are extremely competitive. we brought this up many times, but they made the point as well in their conference call >> it's a sacred cow there's no sacred cows come on. >> you can argue that investing the way they need to now to make sure that they're number one in certain markets will result in profits and growth eventually. >> ecosystem

>> ego system. >> oh my, this is my lead nor "mad money." it's not go ecosystem, it's go ego system including carlos ghosn, just developed an incredible ego system. did you do it on purpose that may be the smartest thing you said in the eight years together >> no kidding. i count every one of those days as a blessing. >> with apple it's an ecosystem. >> yes >> numbers on the app store up 16 year on year over year between november/december i think. >> i got, i have the pro air prep pro i just bought for my wife. we forget the mac air, 1600 bucks. this is the greatest machine ever she says this is the holy grail. that store where i had a lot of trouble in the stores, i communicated that to apple, meaning that when you have stores that are too crowded and ask you to wait here and there, that's a high quality problem. people go to those stores and they buy

they do not browse, they buy let's get to phil lebeau, get some reflections what carlos ghosn told us. he's speaking in french at the moment phil talked about his status in beirut and the information that get in the next several weeks. >> well, yeah. he is on full attack mode. we can expect this and were expecting this that once he got out he was going to come to this press conference ready to fight. that is what he did. now, some can argue this has been long winded he showed some documents there it's too much for people to digest they really just want to hear about how you got out of the country. i think carlos ghosn's approach is it may be too much information but i've got to talk and i'm not going to shut up because i haven't been able to talk since november of 2018. so i think this is the beginning of a very forceful and consistent effort from carlos ghosn and his handlers

he's got a crisis management firm that he is working with he's got lawyers you can bet they will be making a very forceful case in the court of public opinion over the next certainly several weeks if not several months >> he did say he thought he could get a fair trialvir -- virtually anywhere in the world. what do you think he wants other than a declaration of innocence in japan >> he is not going to get that, carl i would be stunned if japan would drop the charges at a minimum they always keep the charges out there. now he said they could possibly fight the red notice, which would be interesting if japan would pull that back from interpol i think japan, they have egg on their face on this big time. i would be stunned if japan outright drops the charges i think they'll keep these out there. i think their feeling is, you know what? you've really pulled one over on us we're not going to make it easy for you. >> while we have you, phil, i want your thoughts on the boeing

crash in tehran. ntsb now on the wire saying they are working with state and other agencies to figure out what to do next. monitoring developments obviously international crashes especially in a country like iran pose more difficulties. what should we be thinking here? >> well, it is interesting this plane was in the air forwhat, less than two minutes? sort of weird circumstances it came down in less than two minutes. ukrainian airlines out with a statement that given the experience of the crew they highly doubt that pilot error played a role in this crash. now, it is too early to know if there was something mechanical that caused this i should point out and i was just talking with somebody who made a great point to me on the phone. someone in the -- a veteran of the airline industry -- they said 99% of the time when people come out with initial conclusions after a crash, it's wrong. >> let's return to carlos ghosn. >> talk about it just a little bit but -- >> this is a very italian

question a little bit just a little bit. no i had contact. we had a lot of understanding. we had a very good dialogue. unfortunately, i was arrested before we could come to a conclusion but the conclusion was not very far. i had a planned meeting in january for a kind of final conclusion of the deal i was in the detention center in january and as you know this deal went on but unfortunately did not happen to renault and i think it is a big waste for renault. it is a great opportunity for psa but waste for renault.

[ speaking in other language ] >> all right kind of wish ghosn had divided this into sections maybe, an english section, lebanese, french but he is going back and forth. >> quite impressive that he is comfortable, certainly a person of the world in just everywhere making a great case for himself, but court of what? court of who public opinion is not what keeps you out of jail. in the meantime the frantic buying in the nasdaq is kind of insane 5g stocks now, a lot of that is the excellent reporting from ces where the underlying theme again is the technology is ahead of where we thought and 5g is actually going to be in the numbers. i keep hearing that.

i didn't think it would be in the numbers until 20 -- >> what do you mean by the numbers? going to actually show up in the earnings of some of these companies? >> exactly and yesterday, a brilliant cfo at nvidia said artificial intelligence will be in the numbers. inference will be in the numbers. remember, one day we will go into a room of hologram figures programmed to tell us how great we look and how great we feel. i am not kidding >> did you see the mercedes concept car that does away with the steering wheel, just basically gets controlled by your biometrics? >> unbelievable. >> yeah. i mean -- >> the stuff from -- can i just say, it is so exciting i wish i were someone who gamed. there are these gaming systems -- what do i like about harmon they have a new boom box >> remind people, harmon owned by samsung >> which by the way had a rough go of it because of semiconductor sales. >> right but they did say the numbers

were better -- not as bad as feared >> the prelim number down 34 but still ahead of expectations. >> down by 34% >> where are all the negative -- some people are getting smoked here today the people with who short housing, a lot of people feel that peaked. sorry. the people who were short the 5g because they just didn't think it would continue. no and then, remember, the airlines delta is up. how is that possible because oil is not up. an amazing time. >> ual taking this charge in q4 for hong kong disruption where travel demand has been obliterated. >> i've been worried about a lot of businesses that are in hong kong the one i'm most concerned about was estee lauder but the amazing ceo has managed to offset t some companies can. >> the home builders, depot, too, i should mention, out performing because the bar for the fed to tighten is so high? even though adp and we'll see what friday's job number brings.

>> the orders are extraordinary, saying that the rates have definitely -- the rolling rates have definitely played a role. this is not the key selling season that will be in a few months but the margins are going up, too. because the raw costs are all down lumber is down a lot >> right >> you've got this kind of best of all possible worlds with rates coming down, buyers coming out of the woodwork which we didn't think would happen. >> inventory is tight still. >> inventory is tight. and then, yes, adp the employment numbers so, i mean, i guess in some ways it's -- you have that world, the fed is not going to tighten, housing is very strong, retail is very strong job growth is strong no inflation >> just remember the president does speak at 11:00 a.m. eastern. >> what is he going to talk about? >> he obviously will talk about the current status of the situation with iran. >> actually i was doing a mind melt i mean -- >> you never know certainly with this president where things can go during a potential press

conference at least or announcement >> right does he have an ego system >> but there is certainly hope -- yes -- that there will be words that sort of deescalate or continue to de-escalate >> obviously the stocks are saying that. >> english that's good. >> we're back in english >> the stories about how i escaped and we heard a lot of things which are contradictory which obviously i'm not going to come back to it. you know, you have always a lot of people who tell you there is no smoke without fire. okay which is fair. which always gives the advantage to anybody who attacks you if i am going to go and tell a lot of stories about you, and they are not true, and yet a lot of people around you say, oh, there is no smoke without fire, so no matter how much lies i put, some are going to stick to you. this is the advantage of who is on the offensive in this case that's what's happening. i was an easy target why? because i was renowned i was a foreigner.

so it was very easy to say, this guy has overcome all the limits. he has hidden compensation he didn't receive he has asked for this, etcetera. it is very easy. very easy to do it yes, it's true you're right a lot of people are going to say he is scared because he is guilty but i am telling you, i'm not scared because i'm guilty. i am scared because i had zero chance of a fair trial and if i have any opportunity to prove at least for part of the people, i don't care about the people who are going to tell you you're going to be guilty no matter what. okay this is a lost battle. but these are the people who are ready to listen to you, at least you have the opportunity to talk to them. and this has to go through a fair trial you know and the only way i have a fair trial is certainly not in japan. i have to be outside japan it happens i be in lebanon today. i can be in another country. brazil does not extradite its citizens france does not extradite its

citizens lebanon does not extradite a citizen. i have three countries and i'm blessed to be a citizen of three countries who do not extradite their citizens in any one of the countries i think i can have a fair trial. yeah hello. >> mr. ghosn ap, associated press here. so i would learn from the italian questioner i won't ask details about the escape >> i'm sorry who are you? >> associated press. >> thank you >> when people are calling it already the great escape you've heard all kinds when was the moment that made you realize it is time to escape how did you reach that conclusion and then now that you're here, how did you spend your time in lebanon since you got here what was the first thing you did? what are you planning to do for the next while >> yeah. so, the question is, when did i realize what >> that you have to plan the escape when did you start planning the escape what made you? >> when first i lost any hope of

a fair trial and i tried. i can tell you i tried as much as possible. and then when i noticed that the trial was constantly postponed, even though at the beginning the judge told us, in the session we had in november that he was going to try to start the second -- the trial on the second charge in september, 2020 i was very happy i said, oh, finally. we'll see the end of the tunnel. end of the tunnel that means we're talking about 2022 but then he came on the 25th of december, which was christmas day, where we had the pretrial, and he said, i'm afraid the prosecutor cannot afford to have two trials at the same time. too much work. so what did they say they say, i cannot promise i'm going to start the second trial in september so we said, when well, he said, i'm not going to

commit, but certainly not before 2021 pushed on, pushed on, pushed on, and always the prosecutor prevailed. whatever the defense says doesn't. second -- this is number one number two is, i want to see my wife i mean, the judge was surprised, i want to see my wife. maybe for a lot of people that would be not a punishment not to see their wife, but for me it was. [ laughter ] and they knew it because they have their correspondence they know i love carol and she is a pillar for me they knew this because they had all the correspondence they got her e-mail. they were not supposed to have the e-mail they were not supposed to take her phone. they took everything they knew all of this. because they knew all of this they said okay we'll put him on his knees we'll cut him from his wife. they were right. they put me on my knees. when i've seen that i couldn't see carol, and i didn't have any horizon to see my wife and have a normal life, i said, what's

left what's left? i have to leave. i have nothing here. >> lebanon, what did you do in lebanon? >> okay. so let's see >> mr. ghosn -- >> who has the -- >> sky news. [ speaking in other language ] >> that's carlos ghosn, a remarkable press conference this morning in beirut as he speaks for the first time since fleeing japan where he was on bail facing charges of financial corruption, charges which he now denies and says that he'll be attempting to clear his name in the coming weeks with more evidence our phil lebeau has been covering the story since the beginning and joins us once again this morning in chicago. hey, phil. >> hey, carl what struck me the most is that carlos ghosn has said several times that he is willing to stand trial if he believes he can get a fair trial and if

that's in lebanon or if it's in brazil or if it's in france, wherever he believes he can get a fair trial he is willing to stand trial. now, the question becomes, especially for officials in lebanon, do they say, okay let's put a trial on here? and then do the prosecutors in japan engage do they say okay we'll come over and present our evidence i'm skeptical the prosecutors in japan will do that carlos ghosn has been emphatic here in saying, look, i believe i can prove 100% i am innocent of these charges and as a result you show me a place where i can get a fair trial and i'm willing to stand trial >> how much do you think nissan, itself, and their law firm, who he is trying to implicate this morning have on the line now >> quite a bit quite a bit they have on the line, which i think ultimately is why i would be surprised if japanese prosecutors engage with a trial that might be in lebanon

or somewhere else. if it's not in japan, i don't think that nissan wants to engage and now this question becomes for nissan and you heard carlos ghosn talking about this, this character assassination, does nissan want to engage in a very public tit for tat going back and forth with carlos ghosn? yesterday nissan came out blasting ghosn saying you know what he escaped this shows the kind of character he has he doesn't stay here in japan where he has been arrested, where he should be he's a fugitive. basically that's what they were saying i'm not sure nissan is going to engage that way continually, because ghosn is much more effective than a faceless spokesperson or just a statement from a company in japan. now, that may not play in japan, but ghosn is definitely playing outside of japan >> yeah, phil, to that point, earlier he mentioned i think the

$ # $200 million nissan has spent in terms of the investigation versus what, the $15 million or so they are looking for that he obviously had nothing to do with it going to me and then also mentioned the $10 billion reduction in overall market cap at the company as well your thoughts on that? >> well, they've got bigger fish to fray. i mean, this is an alliance. their alliance with renault and mitsubishi is fragile right now. and nissan and the strategy carlos ghosn engaged in, he's not off the hook for the company underperforming in 2017 and 2018 the strategy for a long time especially here in north america was pump up the cars jump up the incentives you have got to move the metal as much as possible. we want marketshare. marketshare, marketshare, marketshare. well, it's come home to roost especially at nissan and they are raley feelieally feeling th of that right now. so they've got bigger issues, david, in terms of getting the alliance to function properly. take a look at shares of nissan.

they are down 35% since the arrest of carlos ghosn >> yeah, which he was quick to point out. phil, stand by for us. i want to bring in the author of "turn around, carlos ghosn rescued nissan" of course before all of this occurred david, i know you've been listening in give me your thoughts on what you've heard from mr. ghosn particularly in light of the fact you know the man well having written a book about him. >> right i do know carlos ghosn well. look, i don't think he is a crook. carlos ghosn pushed the envelope from the minute he took the job at nissan and then bringing this alliance together. and, you know, he pushes boundaries and i think it's like speeding he probably got caught to some degree now, you know, he says he is willing to stand trial i believe him if he says that publicly, so we'll see >> what do you think, then,

occurred if he was being aggressive you heard his defense i assume that's the first hour or so was not him taking questions it was him actually presenting slides and things that supported his contention that he never took or embezzled any money at all from the company >> yeah. and i don't think that -- i've not seen any evidence of what's come out so far, you know, i guess did he borrow money at some point and was that unethical for a short term, you know, the compensation thing i saw him say today, i never was actually paid that compensation. and he makes a great point on that it is kind of a hard case to prove. he didn't receive it so i think he's like, hey. i see your smoke but i'm not sure there's the fire here that you think and carlos ghosn is no fool. i doubt he, you know, he pushes the envelope and he's admitted that he pushes the envelope, but i don't think that, you know, he'd

like a fair trial. he says he'll stand trial. i believe he would there may be something there, but is he a crook? i doubt it are they suffering without him clearly they are >> david, that is sort of the point i was going to bring up. certainly your work on the book was well before any of this arrest happened. since the arrest phil lebeau pointed out nissan shares are down about 35% i can imagine if you're sitting at nissan you just want all of this to be over and done with in some way or another. >> frankly, nissan in japan would be better off to let this go you know, carlos ghosn, i still can't get my arms around this miraculous escape. >> we're going to go back to mr. ghosn. he is now answering questions in english. >> for the moment they all think consensual decision making is one way to make the alliance leave. it's wrong you know who is wrong and right? look at the results.

that is the only way you'll know who is right and who is wrong in a business you look at the results. you look at the growth you look at the bottom line. you look at the evolution. when i look at what happened for the last 15 months, with everything that happened, i'm not reassured about the future of the alliance. yes? >> mr. ghosn -- [ speaking in other language ] all right. let's take it back now that we're in french. of course we're all multi lingual here we can understand lebanese, french, english, whatever they may throw at us. david, you were answering or finishing answering courtney's question go ahead >> yeah, where were we i was amazed how he speaks in

multiple languages >> we were talking about nissan and how i imagine if you're sitting there and one of the executives trying to run the company you just want this over with one way or another. >> i believe that nissan in japan would be best to just let this go. and say, you know, the man escaped. i'm not sure what we can do. and drop it. their business is suffering. look, carlos ghosn was about to pull a miracle for france,whic is arrange a merger, a full merger between nissan and renault and he would have been a hero in france and they'd have built statutes they didn't want that in japan they wanted to keep nissan, you know, a japanese company and so then they stepped in with this coup as he calls it and, you know, at this point maybe it's time everybody go their own way, and let carlos ghosn go and move on. >> he did just answer a question this morning saying what he was ready to propose was a holding company, rather than a full

merger but regardless, i wonder what you think the future holds for nissan in terms of their ability to attract partners in the future >> well, you know, 20 years ago, when carlos ghosn took over, we were moving into this flattened world. the world was flat and, you know, you could work without boundaries the world's not so flat as it was. and there's a little more retrenching. and so we're moving into a different era than what carlos ghosn entered when he took over 20 years ago i think nissan in japan we're seeing some of the same pullbacks in business in china that's a big question, is, you know, how global are we going to be >> all right we apologize for the back and forth, but ghosn is mixing it up in terms of language this is an answer in english >> there are widespread perceptions around the world that the lebanese justice system is not up to handling a trial such as yours. do you really think you can clear your name in front of an international audience

>> first, i don't agree with you. i don't agree with you i think they are very competent people in lebanon. but, frankly, when it comes to corrupt systems, my first idea is not about lebanon [ applause ] >> i.t., television news of the uk mr. ghosn, i understand you don't want to talk about the manner of your escape for fear perhaps of implicating friends and colleagues but it is a moment of great drama. can you tell us your feelings, your emotion when you got into the packing case, your emotions when you got on the plane to freedom? >> i told you when -- from november 19, 2018, to the 30th of december, 2019, until i met my wife, who was the first person i met when i arrived at the house of her parents in

lebanon, i was numb. i numbed myself. i had no feeling i tried not to have feeling because when you have feeling you are in danger. when you are in a situation lake this so if you tell me what are your feelings yes, obviously i was nervous, i was tense. i was anxious. i was hopeful. but, frankly, i spent a period of time, i don't know, probably people who specialize in this can understand this. i was like, numb like a kind of nightmare for 13 months it started november 19, finished the 30th of december you know when i saw the face of the prosecutor it started and it ended when i saw the face of my wife >> would you recommend a packing case as a means of travel? [ laughter ] >> okay. maybe five more minutes and then we have to stop. okay okay

>> thank you, mr. ghosn. >> yes >> i have a couple of questions. the first one is about, you paid a really -- paint a really sorry picture about the state of the alliance and where it's going. you state your reputation as a revival artist, made that reputation at nissan can you give us a three-step program to how you would revive the alliance if you were still in charge, pure chuarachuted ine what needs to happen how do you feel about renault? what are your feelings toward renault? did they rush to judgment too quickly? and evict you from office without due process? what are your feelings about renault? >> the first thing, obviously i'm not going to tell you what would be my program but i will say there is no problem without a solution and you can always fix the situation no matter what

it is. what i can tell you is what i would do is completely different from what is being done. that is true the second point is i'm not talking about renault because today the subject is not about renault. today the topic is about i left japan. i'm telling you why i left japan. and somehow it is linked to the alliance renault is not in the room that's why i don't talk about renault and why i'm not intending to talk, not to divert attention from the main topic. sir? [ speaking in other language ] >> all right let's come back out of course as we continue to monitor carlos ghosn. also want to bring in former gm vice chair bob lutz who joins us oftentimes on all things auto related. bob, we've certainly been listening to this extraordinary press conference and his discussion of why he's innocent, not really talking a lot about

his escape, but also spending some time in the fundamentals of the business, itself i'm curious. what are your thoughts about carlos ghosn and the time that he has not been at the helm of nissan renault and what the future holds for that company? >> well, i think business is tough all over right now and especially it is tough for nissan, which for a long time had been buying marketshare with a lot of discounts and eroding profitability while maintaining marketshare. and that's never a good thing. this was partly due to carlos ghosn's edict-driven leadership, where he would tell nissan, i want x percent market share by such and such a date that's basically the way he governed a company he would rule by edict and then everybody would do whatever it took to make it. well, when you're talking about sales, a lot of times the sales people will respond by saying,

okay we'll make the number. but we'll do whatever it takes to get there and then they give away too much money and you have what's called profitless prosperity, which is you're selling a lot of vehicles but nothing hits the bottom line and that's nissan's problem right now. and they're struggling with that but, you know, the world is tough for -- the world is tough automotively all around. and nissan, i'm sure, will survive and there is no question that when carlos ghosn took over the helm of nissan he did do things that were unheard of in japan, like closing plants and laying off employees, and managed to save the company. so he certainly deserves credit for that >> do you believe that those actions in part were one of the reasons why the japanese were focused on him when they at least allege that there was misdeeds at the company? >> i have no idea.

you know, i mean, it requires a leap of the imagination to imagine that one of the world's largest democracies and one of the world's largest automobile companies would conspire to rig a judicial system as a means of imprisoning an internationally renowned businessman, former hero of japan, where little kids would wear tee shirts with carlos ghosn's picture on them, japanese business schools were teaching the new carlos ghosn way. it's hard to believe that a large corporation would conspire with the japanese government to, let's get rid of him this way. let's put him in jail and let him rot in a cell. i just find that extraordinarily hard to believe. so right now we're at the situation where we don't know

whom to believe. do you believe nissan and the japanese government? or do you believe carlos ghosn that he is totally innocent and that he's never done anything wrong and never gone against the law that the japanese judicial system has rigged and operating in cahoots with nissan so we're just going to have to see how this plays out one thing is for certain right now. he is a fugitive from justice. whether that justice is good, bad, rigged, unrigged, or indifferent. but the point is, he is a fugitive from justice right now. that's not going to make for a comfortable life >> mr. lutz, i know that previously you had said you're not sure if he is guilty but you're not sure if he's innocent either either way, he has an awful lot of money and was able to plan this escape and execute it as such what kind of message do you think that sends other executives that may find themselves in sort of similar legal situations that enough

money can get you a way out of it >> well, i don't think -- i honestly, in the history of the corporate world around the globe, i can't recall another instance where the simultaneous ceo of several large companies has been put in jail and just kept there and finally has had to plan his own escape so -- but i think the message is one -- there are several messages here. if you assume carlos ghosn's innocence, it tells you that we should be grateful every day for the american judicial system where there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. you can't be held for more than a certain amount of time without charges being pressed. etcetera, etcetera so we're sometimes frustrated with our system and think it

moves too slowly throw the guy in jail and get it done with. but it does ensure the rights of the person accused that is one question the second question, yes, it does send the deplorable message that if you have enough money and intelligent enough to plot an escape you can use your brains and money to get yourself out of a situation that is a message we really don't like we're all supposed to be equal before the law >> to our viewers this morning, if you're just joining us, a remarkable press conference from carlos ghosn in beirut, the first time since he fled japan that he has spoken he was in jail facing charges on financial corruption iran claims responsibility for the missile attacks on two iraqi bases where americans, american troops are housed dow futures are down #400

overnight. the dow up 44. nasdaq 9100 for the first time, an all-time high bob, on ghosn he did say this morning he regrets not having taken a job offer at gm back in 2009 can you talk about the history of how close he came to working at gm? >> well, i can tell you that i was obviously there at the time. and what was proposed was that gm joined the alliance of renault and nissan and i think they even had mitsubishi in it at the time and he would become ceo. none of us were in favor of this scheme and as i said previously on this program, the problem with an alliance as opposed to a merger is there is no defined way to split the profit or split the costs or split the investments it's just like, well, we'll do you a favor and then you do us a favor back

well, as we know in business, that rarely works out. and i don't think -- he was already ceo of nissan, already ceo of renault how could he be ceo of gm at the same time? so it's possible that at one time, without any knowledge on my part the board reached out to him and said, would you be willing to come to general motors but i think his terms were, yes. but general motors gets folded into the alliance. and that came up for discussion several times. we never wanted that and, frankly, i don't think carlos ghosn's particular method och rati of operation would have been compatible with general motors and general motors has done just fine under its current leadership >> bob, while i have you, we're looking at the end of the ghosn

press conference and will check in with michelle in a few minutes if we can. i have to ask you about tesla. doubling in six months you've been on repeatedly, skeptical about musk himself, skeptical about the product. what is going on at tesla? >> i think they have achieved a sort of volume breakthrough with the plant in china opening and selling a lot of model threes. model three is doing extremely well in europe i think what's happening is the model three after a relatively slow start is finally accelerating, and the interesting thing is, it's not the affordable $33,000 every man's ev it has really become positioned at about $55,000 to $60,000. and buyers see it as an alternative to a high performance mw 3 series or a

mercedes so as long as they can keep that premium pricing, which is, as i say, about $30,000 over where they had originally talked about, obviously that car is going to be profitable so i think the vehicle was misplanned at $33,000. it never would have made any money. at $55,000 to $60,000, that vehicle will make probably as high a contribution margin as the original model s then the other thing that elon has done, which, you know, i frankly talked about endlessly, he has finally reined in his costs and reduced personnel and unnecessary expenditures and basically has done what any other businessman would do in a situation where you're selling a bunch of stuff but you're not profitable that tells you you have to cut costs. and he has been quite adept

at -- and the encouraging thing to me about tesla is from elon there is less talk, less bluster, less here's what i'm going to do in six months, and it seems like he has done what any other ceo or founder would do he is focusing on the business, focusing on the product, and focusing on cost control so tesla is finally being run like a normal business so -- >> bob, thank you for that >> yes >> bob lutz covering all kinds of auto news we do want to check in with you in beirut on the heels of that presser. >> reporter: it was a marathon, wasn't it, carl? nearly two hours and 20 minutes that carlos ghosn took questions from more than a hundred members of the press assembled here in lebanon where he has escaped from japanese, the japanese legal system just some color, as a reporter,

how solicitous he is of the press. he made sure, he would ask, did every nationality get to ask a question because there were so many nationalities here he was also at the beginning actually wanting to run the q & a like he was a talk show host and move out in the audience and point to people himself directly and hand out the mic but then the cameramen in the back said, please, go back to the podium because we can't shoot you clearly if you do that and so he did. he did acknowledge, when asked by a japanese reporter if they had screened and reduced and limited the number of japanese press and he didn't say, yes but he certainly alluded to the fact that some japanese press were kept out because he felt that while he was in japan, that they were too in cahoots so to speak with the prosecutor's office there and that they weren't objective enough about his case he couldn't escape on middle east politics, either. i don't think you carried the

entire news conference but there were two questions in arabic where he was asked, why did you go to israel why did you shake hands with the leaders of israel? one lebanese reporter said, you shook hands with an individual who has lebanese blood on his hands. why did you do that? and he said, i didn't go there as a lebanese citizen. i went there as an auto executive. we were signing a deal that's what we had to do i didn't realize what pain that would cause the lebanese people. do you apologize he says, yes, of course i do so that was a very interesting reminder that we're here in a part of the world where hezbollah, deeply influenced by iran, is ever present in the parliament and has a large chunk of control of the country of lebanon. when it comes to all the charges that have been lodged against him in various countries or at least allegations and accusations, he tried to refute them one-on-one and we'll wait

to see whether he has managed to convince the court of public opinion, whether he is successful with that over and over again he declined to answer questions about his escape one point was interesting. he was asked by a brazilian reporter, well, you have a brazilian passport why don't you go to brazil there is no extradition rule there either he said, right but we had to stop in one place to get there and then he -- he was suggesting almost that brazil was too far in terms of how much gas you're going to put on a private plane in order to travel and then once he realized he was starting to talk about that he cut himself off but, of course, the juciest stuff that people really wanted to hear, this international caper he masterminded, we didn't get details about that it was mostly him defending himself against the japanese legal system back to you. >> i wonder if it's your gut feeling right now if he will be happy to clear his name or if he's also interested in exacting revenge on the prosecutors or the executives that he believed

did him wrong. >> reporter: well, he certainly went through the names he listed names at the beginning of the news conference of people that he thought were complicit or out to get him or working against him. he sounds like a man who would be very happy with revenge he didn't say that explicitly but that wouldn't surprise me. he is very eager to clear his name he says he knows that he has to stay in lebanon for the near term and the immediate term but he suggested he was convinced that eventually he'd be able to travel, suggesting that he thinks he is going to be able to clear his name even if he doesn't stand trial in japan >> back to your earlier point about the japanese media being in the room, you're right. we weren't able to hear the entire press conference because of the different languages being switched in and out. were the questions from the japanese media any different in their tone or in their content from what we were able to hear from the english speaking journalists? >> so, not all of them were

translated most were in japanese. two were in english. the ones in japanese i couldn't understand not all translation was perfect here but one in english was, you broke japanese law by leaving japan. what do you say to the japanese people about that? and he said, i love the japanese people and i think the japanese people should know they deserve a better legal system than what they have and a 99.4% conviction rate is something they should be concerned about. >> what a story, michelle. our thanks to you. we'll obviously talk again soon. our thanks to bob lutz as well and to david geopolitical tensions are ramping up in the middle east after the retaliatory strike from iran on u.s. forces in iraq overnight. the president is expected to deliver remarks at 11:00 a.m. eastern in about half an hour. we'll take you live as soon as he begins. in the meantime, we'll go to the white house to talk about the

atmosphere at the white house last night and what we might expect today eamon? >> reporter: yeah, carl, i can tell you the president has been in the situation room this morning according to multiple white house officials, there with the vice president and also secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of defense mark esper, and other officials i'm told we may see them in the grand foyer of the white house in about half an hour's time alongside the president. we'll wait and see whether the president appears alone to make these comments or whether he is flanked by officials and military brass as well we don't know what the president is going to say here presumably, by now he's got the bomb damage assessment of what happened exactly at the bases in iraq where u.s. troops have been stationed, what casualties, if any, they have sustained no official confirmation of any of that just yet presumably, the president can inform the country just simply of the results of last night's attack and then, of course, what he plans to do about it, if anything we saw this tweet from the

president last night saying, all is well, and reassuring the country and the world that everything appears good so far he said, so far, so good but that is now, you know, more than ten hours ago we can expect probably an update there in terms of the situation and what he plans to do next tonally in terms of the content white house officials keeping the comments very close to the vest right now, not giving us any indication or excerpts of what the president plans to say at the top of the hour, carl >> eamon, reuters is reporting, quoting some sources here that iran is believed to have deliberately sought to avoid military casualties in their missile strikes last night i wonder if the president in his remarks will go that far >> reporter: well, we don't know it does sort of feel that way, given the number of options on the menu that the iranian leadership had to choose from and given that homeland security advisory we saw yesterday of all the different things the iranians could do as a response,

this is just one of those many different options that the iranians could have chosen from. nonetheless, you know, u.s. intelligence will be working hard to figure out what iranian intent is here is this just the first wave of a series of responses? is this now contained and over with what is the messaging behind the scenes between the two governments? all of that of course impossible for us to know standing here on the driveway outside the white house but presumably in the situation room they're getting as good a picture as they can get of iranian leadership and what iranian leadership is trying to accomplish here. >> all right we'll see you in a few minutes >> you bet dow is up four points now. some choppy trade obviously especially overnight let's turn to the market impact of all the stories swirling in the past 24 hours. good to see you guys thanks for the time today. the journal has a piece about traders in the oil markets losing their faith in any kind of geopolitical rally.

i wonder if you can extend that to equities. it doesn't seem like geo politics moves much of anything in the short term. >> the language of the markets is really easy tuna tero interp here it is a classic response unfortunately we have more than 30 years of the military strikes to take a look at and see the market's reaction. it is classic in the first day you see a modest but significant negative response and over the next five days usually markets fully recovered those losses that's where we are again. carl, that is usually in a backdrop where the global economy is stabilizing or growing and that is what we're seeing global leading indicators show signs of upticks analysts are raising earnings estimates for the first time in a year or so this is all fairly good news and the markets i think are focusing on that, something they have a little more confidence in than the uncertainty associated with the fog of war >> bob, i'm looking at the price of oil we are seeing it fall by more than 2% but we also did get this

unexpected rise in oil inventories up 1.46 million barrels and the market expected that to come down 3.2 million. that seems to be moving things much more than what we had seen in the middle east >> that's right. we're in a tug of war between bearish supply and demand fundamentals for oil, particularly in the first half of the year with global surpluses well over a million barrels a day on the one hand and then the surprise return late last week of geopolitical risks on the other we've kpl we've completely undone the premium that went in since the hit on soleimani i think it is misplaced and complacent but that is definitely where the market is right now. >> why do you think that is misplaced and complacent, bob? >> well, my firm has a 1 in 4 odds that this rapid scampering up the ladder of escalation with iran will lead to a general war. that's easily a $30 skcenario an

25% is about $7.50 we think we need to see about a $3 to $10 risk premium into crude. we think iran, while continuing to stop short of killing americans, because that would unleash that war scenario which we don't expect but still is 1 in 4, we think the market has more risk pricing to do. iran is not done last night it made clear that countries that host u.s. bases are on the table for retaliation. we think there is more to come and that will put more after bid in crude so geopolitics is coming back. >> it seems the market does not believe what bob is saying right now as we are holding on to marginal gains even the price of gold about flat to down at this point. do you think the worst of the worry for the markets at least is behind us we saw that huge drop in futures and that seems to be well in the rear view mirror at this point >> yeah, the markets are viewing this as a flarup in a long-term conflict and, you know, gosh if markets waited for the all clear, of conflict in the middle east, they'd never go up at all. right? this is an environment where

markets are focusing more on what they know we are heading into the earnings season it looks to be another environment where companies are likely to beat expectations. even in the weakest part of the global markets the manufacturing sector we've seen things firm up a little bit i know with oil prices, gosh, we saw another $30 jump there in the context of a very strong labor market right now and the supply situation in the u.s., it is hard to see the big negative impact economically that could tip us into recession or reverse some of the stability we've seen in manufacturing or the consumer side of the equation >> so at this point, jeff, do you think multiples are about right? why would you bid on this market unless i guess you believe multiples have more to expand? >> i'm not sure it has to come from multiples i think for the first time in a year or so we might see it in earnings earnings expectations are looking for maybe 9% to 10% growth it could be a little optimistic but, still, solid, single digit growth from earnings for the first time in a year or so could be good news we could see it on the "e" instead of the "p" and that

could set itself for a year where the economy looks better than it did last year the markets maybe don't produce the same type of gains because it is not coming from evaluation it is coming from a more fundamental basis in earnings. >> bob, on twitter iran's foreign minister indicated the action was sort of it, the end they don't want further escalation but if your firm is still pricing in a 1 in 4 chance of a war what is the long-term risk, the next tipping point or catalyst that could see things change from where we sit right now? >> right well, the supreme leader, who is the boss of the foreign minister, tweeted last night that last night's attacks were not enough it's a slap in the face but it wasn't enough. and the islamic revolutionary guard corps issued a statement last night saying, we're going after countries that host u.s. bases. so while we think iran will continue to stop short of killing american officials, and invading our embassies and so forth, because we learned that gets a disproportionate response

from president trump, we think they are still going to try to eject the united states from the region by attacking facilities and bases and even oil facilities of countries aligned with us in the region and so we don't think the vengeance campaign, the revenge campaign, if you will, is over it's just begun. >> jeff, bob, thank you, guys. we'll keep an eye on the market. obviously a lot of cross currents today in fact joining us on the phone today is former goldman sachs asset management chair jim o'neill. we like to call him lord o'neill. good to have you back, jim good morning >> good morning to you nice to speak to you happy new year >> so many things to talk about i'm not sure where you want to start. what do you think is the driving force behind the action right now? >> i think that there is a number of things obviously, what, since thursday the middle east situation has

thrown in a new issue. as i was just listening to your discussion on one level is it really new i'm not surprised that the markets -- at the markets' reaction in fact, given the very specific statements the iranians made this morning after the attacks suggested they, rightly or wrongly, while they don't want to escalate it dramatically, i think the market for now is being logical in oil and related pricing. away from that, and here's -- i don't know if this is raised in a strange way i find my mind thinking that for the fed it might be a bit like how they've been reacting to other sort of unforeseen events, particularly the trade spat with china.

that anything that comes up that can threaten growth, immediately goes to the fed wanting to be friendly which of course translates into being liquidity and policy wide bullish for equities >> you know, jim, it's funny you mention the trade -- china trade. it is something we haven't discussed probably in a few days, after years of doing i virtually every day. we're not far away, we think, from that phase one signing. what is it going to mean for the economies of countries you know well, both emerging markets and europe is it going to be a positive that we see reflections of in 2020 >> well, interestingly, and partly why i raise it, we have got already sensitive evidence from some of the most sensitive economists, that their economy at a minimum stabilized, maybe picked up a little that includes china itself if

you look at their latest pnis but also crucially the likes of germany. so while the last six months of the world economy of 2019 essentially saw a continuous weakening of the world economy, as we turn the corner, it looks like at a minimum would stabilize and maybe doing a bit better on top of that, giving further support in the minds of market participants to equities at least, here in the uk we are almost definitely looking at a significant fiscal stimulus from the johnson government, and we may be getting more fiscal stimulus in other places, possibly germany, as well. so i think some of the fears about growth weakening so much that it would head into recession in some places is definitely fading, and for the time being, that is it >> so you've discussed growth in the united states, germany, the

uk what about the emerging markets? what is your outlook there for 2020 do things look to be improving >> well, as i said with china, china, itself, obviously a stage one deal is having an elongated pause, that is definitely good for the chinese economy. in addition, and i should have said this already, the chinese have reserve requirements over the holidays and seem to be doing quite a bit to stimulate their economy, too and so i would imagine, given their importance, the mood about many emerging markets with one or two notable exceptions is probably in the process of improving, too i think there are a couple in the works away from the middle east and political jitters india has had a very challenging

last quarter to 2019, economically and politically, and there's still a lot of uncertainty about that obviously the hong kong issue is still bubbling away, so one has to be very careful and i suspect for markets it means things are going to be not with the same kind of low volatility we had for much of last year, but i think the improved mood is definitely primarily because of the u.s./china situationand fiscal policy in some places outside the states >> jim, there's ban lot of discussion about how much specificity the market is craving once we get at least a multi page text of this phase one agreement. how much do you think the market is depending on that, or will they be happy with something that's vague but accompanied by constructive commentary out of u.s. corporates on q4?

>> i think the latter. i think the market knows that there's a lot of long-term issues between the u.s. and china, but so long as there is let's call it an election related ceasing of active hostilities, and that trump will not want this issue to negatively affect the momentum of the economy as the election year gets going, i think the markets will be quite relieved about that and focus on the earnings coming out of q4. >> if you were still running a broad portfolio would you be looking for the u.s. to under perform this year for any reason -- inflation or anything else -- or because of past gains or would you be looking to europe or e.m. how do you think on a global basis the u.s. stacks up >> ah ha

i think there are two big contradictory signals. first of all, if you look at it from a pure economic perspective, as i said at the start, definite signs of the rest of the world's stabilizing and given the valuations areso much more friendly or less expensive outside the u.s., both those would strongly favor non-u.s. markets in my view, as we saw some signs of in december, of course. but against that, you have a fed that seems to be trying to be pretty generous, still, and a sort of generally supportive cyclical momentum in the u.s obviously a lot of the key drivers globally are essentially coming out of the u.s. so i think it is a bit trickier

but if i had to pick one or the other i slightly favor non-u.s. markets out performing the u.s >> interesting >> particularly in terms of value. i mean, certainly if you apply multi-year type things e.m. is definitely the more attractive place to be. >> and do you think the fed would be willing or able to look past a runnup in crude if, in fact, iran turned out to be something that was not short term >> so, in a kind of normal world, if one can think of such things, or certainly normal for the length i've followed these things and i saw the very interesting interview you had over the holidays, i'm kind of a bit with done there in that world, you know, it is hard to figure out why the fed is being as friendly as it is now but every time there seems to be some kind of threat to the

economy, it just adds to the fed's friendliness so i do think at some stage during the year possibly this quarter if they see more and more signs of the world doing better and, it, of course. huge protests through the country. modi certainly in terms of muslims doing certain things that are being opposed broadly speaking the economy slowing.

what's the overall take there in a country you spent a lot of time obviously studying? >> yeah, i'm a bit -- i'm sort of thinking about it in an almost occasionally how i thought about putin and russia maybe modi in an attempt to -- and why i hesitate -- in an attempt to keep his scale of the popularity with the majority hindus, it's very attractive to repeatedly take in a strong nationalistic rhetoric and the line is on muslims, which as troubling as it is, and i think it is troubling for people from my kind of way at looking at life, there's a strong majority hindu population, and it probably plays popularly to many

of the less educated classes in that sense but i can only rationalize it and modi to do is is the economy is not delivering on taking all hundreds of thousands or tens of millions out of poverty into the middle classes, which is what is supposed to be doing i think it's a bit troubling to me india, as everybody knows, is going through a remarkable sweet spot with demographics and it should be potentially capable of growing by close to 10%. and last year growing to something close to half that rate so it's a bit of a mess it seems to me. i personally would think people want to be a little bit careful for a country and market that has had a spectacular rally for many years, of course.

>> bringing you back to the u.s., you spoke a bit about the federal reserve. we did not yet talk to you about your thoughts on the actions they are taking in the repo market, injecting $100 billion overnight tuesday, a little less last night, i understand the journal reporting $44.6 billion. how long do you think this is going to be necessary for the federal reserve? and do you believe this is the right course of action and something we shouldn't be scared about but is sort of just briefing the plumbing of the system >> i'm going to plead ignorance strokes to stupidity i do not follow these things i read about it and it seems the fed is aware of some market-related issues involving banks and maybe borrowed hedge funds that they want to make sure it didn't put spikes and liquidity challenges on a day-by-day basis i imagine by the second of the

year the latest it should all be resolved but i know nothing about it really the broader issue is i don't really quite understand where the fed is ultimately coming from rather than almost religiously following like an ecb inflation monday seems to me at some stage down the road, the economy will need a lot more supportive fed, and the longer the fed stays easy now when they don't really need to be, the more difficult that will be. so i'm a bit confused by it. but it's obviously a very generous policy, which is giving all sorts of assurances and is a net major positive for equity markets in the u.s. and globally. >> that certainly has been a boon for equities as you point out, jim live shot of the white house has we're awaiting the president at the top of the hour. he spent the morning in the situation room, nbc news says, with the vice president, the

secretary of state, the defense secretary and the chairman of the joint chiefs sort of brings us to politics, jim. market has done a lot of ha hand-wringing in the past several months i wonder if you think it will have as big of a role as primaries, caucuses, asome belie -- as some believe as we get deeper into the election season >> yes, i was reading people making various big bets to when the democratic primary starts to give some clarity as to who the probable candidate will be you know, i'm not so sure that's so rational against the background of policy being so positive from the fed. you know, it's obviously really important to various sectors and ultimately if you have a woman

on the left emerging, that would probably be a negative whether that's a big bet to be making so early in the election season, i have no idea obviously -- or i would be dubious about that because i also read overnight some interesting people are coming out in favor of mike bloomberg, and they might see him as a more credibly globally enhancing version of what is represented by the republicans under trump that might be extremely positive but i'm not sure i'd want to be making such a big bet on that right now. but as the year develops, it's going to be a huge issue >> it is still early days to be sure jim, thanks so much. we covered so much ground with you. we always appreciate it. talk to you soon. >> my pleasure happy new year again >> thank you, jim. we're going to stick with the impact on oil prices right now. joining us on phone from the reason, rvc's capital global head of strategy, helima croft

i see a mood in the crude prices after a number came out, rise unexpectedly 1.16 million barrels when they were looking for a drawn down that seems to be the bigger swing in prices rather than the geopolitical tension in the middle east. am i reading that night? >> i think right now you have a situation where oil prices spiked when we had the missiles fired at the u.s. bases in iraq. but then there was a sense that this essentially was one and done, that the iranians had done enough as the foreign minister said there were no u.s. casualties as president trump basically ed is, all is well. so i think the market right now is looking beyond the immediate crisis that we had since the killing of qassem soleimani, and are now focusing on other issues that said, i do not believe the iraqi missile strike is where

this story ends. they're likely to still use proxy groups to form unrest in the middle east. but i think they're starting to look past this story for now. >> if that's true and this is not the end of the escalation but the oil market is still looking past the move, does that move the price of brent or wti going forward if we see a further escalation is this something the market at this point is moving past because the u.s., for instance, has so much more production than it did a number of years ago >> the oil market consistently since spring has basically faded very big geopolitical stories that were really attacks on the middle eastern political structure. we had tankers struck in the streets of of hormuz in may, tankers seized and in september major attacks that took half of saudi's production offline because saudis were able to bring that back very quickly, i think a lot of market

participants don't believe we'll have a major sustained supply added. but if we were going to get significant attacks on infrastructure, which we cannot rule out, especially in places like iraq, if we were to get infrastructure and tankers being sunk, then i think prices would move higher. >> we are still seeing stories argue we're in a different chapter of iranian capabilities and threats. the drones changed the game somehow. >> absolutely. >> do you believe that you do >> absolutely. i made multiple trips to the region after september 14th. and what we were consistently told was the drone technology has changed the game patriot air defense missile shields are not going to work against the type of drones that were deployed on september 14th. if the iranians would like to be

destructive to energy infrastructure they can still use the drones, missiles, maintain operationalty, be very disruptive to the middle east oil supplies. >> helima, thank you so much for your time. it's an important story. with your help, we will understand it better helima croft from rbc. we are awaiting the president who will obviously speak in the grand foyer in a few minutes, having decided not to address the nation last night. eamon javers can help us understand what's coming up. >> one process point here, and you can see it on the wide screen now, they opened it to the press corps so there's a flood of reporters going in for the president's remarks. earlier it was scheduled to be just the pool, which would be a smaller group of reporters that may -- and i stress may -- mean the president is of the mind to take questions from the press corps here and that mied give us a sense of what