low volatility. liz: we have record. look at confetti. >> another dow record. another dow record. liz: there you go, not for s&p and nasdaq. other major averages fell into negative territory. not so for the dow. [closing bell rings] david and melissa, you have "after the bell." david: amazing a record with seven points. melissa: the dow managing to eke out a new record for the sixth straight day. the s&p, nasdaq, russell all settling lower. i'm melissa francis. david: i'm david asman. we're glad you join us. this is "after the bell." there was other news today. we have that for you in very busy hour coming up. president trump holding amazing impromptu and fiery press conference this afternoon. lasted more than an hour. laid out all his accomplish meants taking office less than a month ago. responded on questions from everything from intel leaks and calling out fake news.

we have all the highlights. republicans announcing a date when they plan to replace major portions of obamacare. house ways and meaning committee head kevin brady joins us in fox business exclusive, when we see the plan, how we will pay for it and exactly when the tax cuts will come in. we'll talk about coming up. melissa: another record for the dow turning positive in last few minutes of trading, for a brand new record for the sixth straight day. the s&p and nasdaq ending in the red, bringing a to an end of longest record streak for major averages in 25 years. cisco, coke, 3m among the big winners. 56.36 cents a barrel on oil where opec may extend production cut agreement to other non-opec members.

gold is the highest in more than 13 points, on back of a weaker dollar. david: urgency behind the tax cut overhaul. president's trump most important campaign promise to people begin s to take shape. >> tax reform will happen fairly quickly. the tax would be easier in my opinion but for statutory reasons and budgetary reasons we have to submit health care sooner. we'll submit health care sometime early march, mid-march and after that we're coming up we're doing very well on tax reform. david: here in fox business exclusive, chairman of the house ways and means committee chairman kevin brady. thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. david: we want back into our records, this is the first time we had record of the president saying absolutely flat-out we'll first have obamacare and then tax reform. a lot of people hoping they would happen at the same time or maybe tax reform first. do you know exactly what we have

likely to see the complete tax reform package? >> president has it exactly right in priorities and timing in the fact we're focused right now on the affordable care act not just repealing it but start replacement to give states more control over health care and starts to restore the free market. so people have more choice. that the is issue comes first in the march timetable, seems on the cliff we're moving toward. tax reform, obviously 2017 is the answer. but most of us are working very hard to make sure this is done this summer. david: we understand why there are delays. it is complex situation, on other hand people want money in their pocket in 2017. once you get the package in there in 2017, will it beanuary? >> we want growth. we want this economy to pick up. it is so sluggish and stagnant. so we're looking at the

retroactive to major way to gain that bump and businesses in pom money in people's pockets get this going. david: yes, to retroactive 1st. >> i haven't made the decision,. david: kind of hard to imagine anybody being against that on republican side. are there people against it on the republican side? >> actually, more technical issue. look, this finish as little later in the year, rather than the summer, you always look for not bifurcating a year, fiscal year, budget year, tax year if possible. look, i like stimulating this economy. when people see, boy, the record low rate for businesses, full immediate expensing business investment, for families lower rates and lower for savings investment i think we'll see real strong -- david: chairman, i have to ask you, while the president was talking about tax cuts paul ryan was talking about a brand new

tax, i think we have the sound bite. let me play that for you, and fet your reaction -- get your reaction. >> almost all other countries -- taxes, what that means you tax based on if it was consumed in your country. not if it was made in your country. david: i will quote steve forbes, chairman. he said just because the japanese and the europeans shaft their consumers with a border tax, why should we shaft our consumers here in the u.s.? it is not fair for them. it shouldn't be fair for us either. to which you say what? >> so, one, love steve forbes. love the work he has done not just on tax reform but federal reserve reform as well but i would say this. our tax code shafts the american worker and it forces businesses overseas. it is the reason our companies have been leaving our -- david: why do we need a new tax when people want fewer taxes. >> look at this. here is what we're proposing. to match our competitors, jettison our international tax

code so complex, basically ask one question, is your product consumed in the united states? if so, it is equal, low business rate of 20%. so, it is issue of equal taxation, and under our plan, for the first time, there are not tax breaks for foreign products over made in america products, and, we're going to lift our taxes off made in america products so they can compete around the world on level playing field. this is how our competitors beat the heck out of our workers and businesses. david: that is how they also beat their consumers. we have to leave it at that. >> i have to disagree with you there. david: it does hurt their consumers. chairman, thank you so much. we have more questions for melissa. melissa: don't move. house republican leaders are making more progress on a plan to repeal and replace obamacare with legislation set to be officially introduced in just 10 days. congressman brady, you met with other republicans today. what can you tell us about specifics of this plan today?

>> so what we're looking at, going beyond repeal and really laying the foundation for patient-centered health care. it is going to include in our discussions today, what we're proposing more of a free market. so allowing customers, patients to have bigger health savings accounts to handle the out-of-pocket costs. the creation of an individual tax credit, to help people choose a plan who don't get it at work, or in a government program like medicare for example, but those small businesses, mom-and-pop, entrepreneurs, those early retirees the opportunity to pick a plan that is right for them. so that is the statistics. >> are you doing away with the -- >> yes we are. penalties with the employer mandate and original mandate. melissa: are you restoring catastrophic insurance so people don't have to buy insurance with all the attachments, if they want a emergency are you going to do that.

>> we're trying to put in place to allow people buy catastrophic plans off the exchanges. i think the real answer is going to be give states the power to approve plans that work for their state. those are what we're working on in this proposal. melissa: how do you pay for all of this? because the problem is, the things that you took away, no one likes those, but getting healthy to people to pay for sick people was the principle that would make the whole system work. if you don't force those healthy people through the mandate and through the big heavy plans to pay for everybody else, how do you pay for people with preexisting conditions? >> hey, forcing them isn't working now. melissa: right. >> in most states more than half -- melissa: so what are you doing. >> so give them plans they actually need and can use, it actually travels with them throughout their life. it's a different approach than forcing people into plans they can't afford and frankly can't use. so the mandates have failed miserably -- melissa: i don't mean to interrupt you, sir, we have only so much time, for people consuming a ton, how do you pay

for it? >> again, so we'll have savings for medicaid savings. we're going to have savings from repealing the subsidies, which are not working in hugely expensive. and we're looking at some other options including unlocking the tax break you get only at work, and allowing to you take it with you if you're in between jobs or you're starting your own business or raising your family. melissa: speaker ryan said that with respect to preexisting conditions we think the smarter, better policy is to revitalize our risk pools at the state level with federal financing sound like you will take federal dollars to pay for people who consume a lot of health care with preexisting conditions. is that right? >> yes. right now, all that is in in the same pool. one of the big drivers of this. so if you separate and give them, good quality health care, because we know they have high costs. it lowers premiums for other americans. and also, helps draw in those

younger, healthier americans who just rejected obamacare. melissa: wow. i mean, congressman, thank you. that is an honest answer. we'll see if that works. appreciate your time, sir, thank you. >> you bet. david: very important man in congress. perhaps the most important. new nominee for the president's cabinet. what started out as simple announcement to name alexander acosta as president trump's pick for labor secretary -- melissa: right. david: turned into a very heated confrontation with the press. if you doesn't have popcorn you were wasting your time. fox business's blake burman at the white house with the latest. you got a question in there yourself, blake. >> you mean there was a labor secretary nominee today? david: we all kind of missed that, didn't we? >> i thought that was off the top. this thing lasted i think, i went back and looked at it, roughly an hour and 15 minutes, the president's first solo news conference. he mentioned alexander acosta will be his labor secretary nominee. he went on to tout what he sees

as the first accomplishments of the first few weeks and then it got to russia, from there it all unloaded. the president saying he believes basically any story relating to russia is fake news, x for the leaks. he says he called on already the department of justice to investigate that. so i asked the president the question i got in was as follows, if this is fake news russia, you believe, however there is also a segment of the country that believes it isn't fake news, what would you say to those folks anything that you learned that might ease of the tensions they have over this being called fake news and here was his response. >> i don't think they believe it. well, i guess one of the reasons i'm here today is to tell you, the whole russian thing, that's a ruse, it is a ruse. by the way, it would be great if we could get along with russia, just so you understand that. now tomorrow you will say donald trump wants to get along with russia. this is terrible. that is not terrible.

it's good. reporter: besides the whole russia topic that got into the president ripping into the media, calling it dishonest, several different outlets by name. went after "the new york times" and cnn specifically. watch. >> tomorrow they will say, donald trump rants and raves at the press. i'm not ranting and raving, i'm just telling you, you're dishonest people. reporter: through all of that, david and melissa at one point, he is loving this. his first press conferences averaged around 24 minutes. today it was triple that. clearly he wanted to talk. david: well he wanted to talk to the american people specifically, and clearly had a chance to do that. blake burman, thank you very much much here to ask to all this, new york republican congressman, chris collins. he is the trump caucus co-chair and met with the president at the white house earlier today. congressman collins, your general impression, were you

expecting that much vehemence. >> i didn't hear all of the press conference. i heard the press conference. i had a meeting with him just preceding at the white house. all of us, 11 of his first endorsers, me being the first, a reunion if you will of the trump caucus we had this morning and discussions about the press were certainly front and center even of our one-hour conversation. kind of back and forth. david: let me ask you about one article in particular, of course our cousin at the "wall street jornal." not always a focus of donald trump's ire, in this case he didn't like a particular story on the front page, and i will read the title of it, spies keep intelligence from donald trump on leak concerns. the idea being the spies in various intel agencies are concerned about giving the president too much information. the president suggesting that's

part of the whole fake news stuff. what do you think? >> i would be shocked if anyone in the intelligence community was stupid enough to keep information from the president of the united states, the commander-in-chief. that would suggest they don't have long to be working for the government and they would be leaving in disgrace their employment. so i would be, frankly, just surprised to hear, there could be any truth in that, because it would be you know, suicide for any employee of the government. david: well, on the other hand, congressman, there do seem to be intel employees, are if you will, committing suicide, committing professional suicide by coming out, leaking information. we know that is going on, right? >> well that's true, and as the president shared even with us today, when they find out who they are they will be doing 10 years in jail. the fact that actual transcripts of his conversations with the president of the mexico, with the prime minister of australia,

the general flynn conversations with the ambassador to russia, clearly some individual or individuals broke the law, clearly, in releasing those detailed conversations to the "new york times" and others. david: leads to a question, congressman. how do you track down spies, who it is their profession to cover their tracks? kind of tough to do? >> well, these clearly are not the smartest people in the world or they wouldn't have done it to start with. while i wouldn't know how exactly you go about tracking them down, i think, you know the right folks could track them down. if they do, they're going to jail. if they don't, i guess people's antennas are up, to make sure if anything like this happened before, perhaps there would be a way to track down who released that information it is a sad day in america, supposed intelligence officials are trying to undermine the commander-in-chief and the

leader of the free world. david: very quickly, the first stop of the president after his inauguration was at cia headquarters. he got a standing ovation. one thought they were off to a good start. what happened? is that misleading or leaking misleading what would characterize the whole agency? >> i would never characterize the whole agency, based on what i think is a handful of rogue agents and employees. david: okay. >> you can not condemn the entire agency because two or three folks went rogue on you. david: congressman, we have breaking news. have to leave it at that. congressman collins, thank you for being here. >> good to be here. david: good to have you,. melissa: breaking news. president obama signing a bill that prevents obama era environmental regulations going into effect. it should help protect the beaten-down coal industry that could put more than half of the nation's coal reserves off limits to new mining. let's listen in. [applause]

>> you folks put up with a lot. in other countries they love their coal. over here we haven't treated it respect it deserves, even for defense, having that coal is a very important thing for us. so i want to thank you all. this rule we're eliminating, a major threat to your jobs. we're going to get rid of that threat immediately. we're going to fight for you like i promised i would in the campaign. and you were very good to me and i'm going to be even better to you, i promise you that. we're going to fight for also low energy prices for all americans. there is a spirit of optimism rising across the country. it will grow as we sign for more and more bills. we'll make our nation, not just competitive. we'll be more than competitive. we're going to win at many, many industries. we're starting back with the automobile industry. we had the airline industry in

other day, they have rules and regulations by the time they're through there is nothing left. they have to get rid of a lot of jobs. we had a great meeting. we had the unions in, workers in, a lot of people in, they're all very excited about what is happening. i haven't looked yet at the stock market but it is going up at record clips. we have a tremendous streak going on. and that is only because of the optimism. they feel the optimism. and that optimism is creating a lot of jobs. it is an honor to have everybody with us. in particular the minors. we appreciate everything you've done, fellows. thank you very much. would anybody like to say a few words? how about one of the miners saying a few words? i hear one of these guys all the time. i hear rand all the time. come on, mike. >> president trump, we thank you very much for everything you've done for us. everything you're doing for our industry is very much-needed. i've been mining in this industry for 40 years.

this is very exciting time for our industry, thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> tell him where you're from, mike? >> i'm from morgantown, west virginia. i work at marion county coal company. >> how did i do in that area? >> you did great. melissa: signing a new legislation. it's a far cry from earlier today after left-wing journalists were sitting their hair on fire after president trump took two questions for with the israeli prime minister and none of them from the mainstream media. jim acosta complaining not getting a question take a listen. >> last three news conferences, wolf, all the questions to the american news media have been handled by conservative press. and i think wolf, there is no other way to describe it, but the fix is in? melissa: so what did president trump do? he fixed their wagons. he got to ask a question earlier today and got into quite a war of words with the president. listen. >> we don't hate you.

i don't hate you. >> okay. >> pass that along. >> ask jeff zucker how he got his job, okay? >> if i may follow up on some. questions that have taken place so far here, sir. >> not too much. we have bother people. you do have other people. your rarities are not as good as some other people that are waiting. >> oh, my goodness. john decker is a fox news radio he white house correspondent. also a board member of the white house correspondents association. that was really something today. >> yeah. melissa: do you think that in part, it was a deliberate response the way the news cycle has been running over the past couple days? especially the idea that he is not calling on people, that he is picking favorites. so he came out and fixed everyone's wagon, what do you think? >> i think jim got a little bit what he was expecting for today, as did other members of the news media that was there in the east room. the president certainly over the course of almost 90 minutes gave

an opportunity for cnn, and abc, and cbs, msnbc and the ap to all ask questions during this back and forth with the media. i think that maybe he is rethinking his criticism he leveled just yesterday. melissa: right. he called them on him all right. he called on them a bunch times and they went back and forth, back and forth. it is far cry, treatment of this president, obviously behaving totally differently, but the treatment towards him is very different. let me play for you some of the questions that president obama got early in his days, listen. >> you racked up a lot of wins in the last few weeks a lot of people thought would be difficult to come by. are you ready to call yourself the comeback kid? >> fatherless worlds where did you learn to love? >> political question you want to duck how does your golf game hold up next to tiger's? >> during first 100 days what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most, serving in this office,

humbled you the most, troubled you the most? >> let me write this down. hearghter]. anyone asking donald trump, what has enchanted you about these first 100 days? >> yeah, those were a bunch of softballs and president obama certainly got his share of soft balls thrown at him during the first year or so i would say of his presidency. keep in mind his very first press conference, one of the news organization he called pop was "huffington post." there was outcry about that, this left-leaning news organization. he is going easy on the press in terms of people he is reaching out to. the same level of criticism we see for president trump with the news organizations that he had called upon in his initial news conferences today, a different story entirely, when he reached out to just about every mainstream news organization that was seated in the east room today. melissa: no. i mean it was one of those press conferences where half the country is going to think most

wonderful thing on television, the other half will think he is completely insane, he lost his mind. they're taking him away with a straitjacket. all in the eye of the beholder. john, thanks for coming on. >> thank you, melissa. melissa: in case you missed any moment of entertaining press event, fox business reair the whole entire thing. set your dvr. if you did not see it, on 10:00 p.m. eastern. it is truly must-see tv. david: i saw it. i will watch it fenn tonight. melissa: i was, it was just wow. no other word besides wow. david: spies who hate us. president trump vowing full review of intel leaks as the white house scrambles to find out who is responsible. the trump administration going around the courts promising a new executive order on immigration. texas attorney general sounding off why the lone star state is standing by the president. >> i'm keeping my promises. to the american people. these are campaign promises. some people are so surprised

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david: the full administration will revise the travel order ban and it doesn't want the ninth circuit court of appeals to review the case again, as president trump announce as new executive order on immigration is on its way next week. boy, what a jam-packed day. texas attorney general ken paxton is one of the leading forces in the state's move to back the president's original immigration ban. he weighs in. general paxton, thanks for joining us. the ninth circuit, just to revisit something the president said today, it is a very often overturned court, and when you read the decision it got some things wrong. for example, it said that nobody from the seven countries that would be part of the temporary travel ban, none of the people

from those countries have been arrested in the united states. in fact a couple of dozen people from those seven countries have been arrested here for terrorist activities. so it actually got some things wrong in their decision. i'm not surprised you don't want to go back. >> absolutely. that is not the only thing they got wrong. they based this on due process for non-resident alien which i never heard of before. in addition, they failed to mention the law in this case, which is very clearly under federal law the president has the authority to block entry to restrict entry, do it as long as he views he needs to do it if he views it detrimental to the country. we feel they made a lot of mistakes. that is part of the reason we wanted to file this amicus brief. david: the law is clear, the law going back to 1952. some say it goes back further than that but it does specify the president has the right to decide issues about who can and can not come into this country, right? >> yeah, and that is why this is

so odd. the court didn't even discuss this very clear law. it was passed by congress. it is a statute. and they ignored this whole body of law to talk about a body of law that really we've never heard of before, giving constitutional rights to non-resident aliens, people that anti-even in this country. david: here is what the president said. he teased what he is going to do today during his press conference. let's play the sound bite. >> we can taylor the order to that decision and get just about everything, in some ways more. but we're tailing it to the decision. david: if you have a ninth court, that so misinterprets or puts things in the law that don't exist, what makes the president think that won't happen with a new order? >> i'm not sure. with the amicus brief and other people speaking out maybe other people will revisit the issue as a whole, look at the law it is,

make some tweaks, make it easier for the court. hopefully this whole process get focused on what the actual law is, not something that is not appropriate to the circumstances of this case. david: given the conditions of the ninth circuit, as the president said, many others have said, won't it come down, eventually to a supreme court decision, and doesn't that mean, that the stay is in place until at least the supreme court decides on the ruling, and that would be a ninth, you would have to wait for another supreme court justice to be accepted by the senate? >> you know, that is very possible. maybe the process of going through a new executive order or new executive action gives time for the president to get his, get this through the entire court. ultimately to the supreme court because ultimately either way, i'm guessing with some states, you will see other states get involved. this is going to ultimately end up in the supreme court either way, i believe. david: ken paxton, texas attorney general. thanks very much for coming in, appreciate it. >> hey, thank you. david: thank you. melissa: bring on the boycott. many retailers are holding to

political pressure to drop the trump brand. one store is saying strong. david: plus, americans anxiously awaiting a new tax plan. what key parts need to be included? austan goolsbee, former economic advisor to president obama, responding next. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had

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melissa: timeline for tax reform. congressman kev brin brady, chairman of the ways and means

committee telling us moment ago obamacare is the first priority and tax reform will follow shortly. listen. >> president has it exactly right, priorities and timing in fact we're focused right now on the affordable care act. and tax reform, obviously 2017 is the answer but, most of us are working very hard to make sure this is done this summer. melissa: here now is austan goolsbee, former economic advisor to president obama. they were trying to say there are tax rules in place that make it necessary to do it that way. do you know anything about that? does that sound familiar or sound like an excuse that you have to do obamacare first? >> i felt bad for chairman brady he is not in a great position. he is trying to come up with details. he wasn't in a position when the president was running to give them guidance. when chairman brady puts out details.

>> we've sieve president trump like -- melissa: there must be some details because the president is saying we'll see it in early march. they have to be close. >> i know he keeps saying that but i think it may end up being from the white house side, something much more like executive order. in the campaign, donald trump said he had a secret plan to defeat isis, he would reveal it once he became president. melissa: let's not go down that road. that's what not what we're doing here. here is the other thing when we talk about the nitty-gritty details in terms how we pay for the stuff. they want to keep things everybody likes. let people who are 26, state until they're 26 on parent plans. can buy catastrophic policy. that is not a mandate. those were tricks to make healthy people pay for six people that use a lot of health care. we drill down, how do you pay for the expensive people. here is what he said.

speaker ryan said with respect to preexisting conditions we think the smarter, better policy is to revitalize the risk pools at the state level with federal financing. sounds like you will take federal dollars to pay for the people who consume a lot of health care with preexisting conditions. is that right? >> so, yes. right now all that is in the same pool. one of the big drivers of this. so if you separate them and give them quality headlight care and they have higher costs it lowers premiums for other americans and draws in younger, healthier americans who just rejected obamacare. melissa: so often, i don't know if you heard that, dave and i almost fell off their chairs, that was a straightforward math answer you which you never get from politicians. i don't love it because it is federal money, at the same time you have to pay for these people somehow. what do you think of that idea, you separate out expensive people with preexisting conditions, that is where you direct the federal money.

>> i appreciate he answered you directly. i'm glad you asked him about that what i would say is so-called high-risk pool strategy. it doesn't work. the reason it doesn't work. there is nothing wrong with trying to take that approach. you need to recognize you won't have nearly enough money to pay for those six people. melissa: with federal fed money? if you inject federal money? >> it requires far more federal money than it requires now when you share the risk across groups. you can reduce the prices for the people who are not sick, but then that means the government has to eat the entire cost. so what they have done in the past is the states when they have those high-risk pools, they put very firm caps on lifetime spending on health care. and they have massively high deductions on those people, far higher than ones in obamacare exchanges now. melissa: hmmm.

have you seen this in action? >> yeah. melissa: who has those people separated out? >> contemplated that. they're called high-risk pools. so you try to say all right if insurance companies won't insure the people directly because they're sick, we'll basically have the government pay for their coverage because we don't want to ask other groups to pay for it. if you think about it, that is going to cost the government more than it would have cost than if you got everybody to participate in the pool. so they put in these very stringent caps on lifetime payments. >> what they're trying to say if you're not forcing very young people to buy very expensive insurance and also giving them a subsidy because they can't afford it, they are so low, there is savings in that group but the money is redistricted. you have to compare what quantities we're talking about in the abstract. >> turn around and said yes, hey look i pay for it with my other hand. that you can't do. melissa: i believe you.

i will do the numbers austan. we'll meet back here and look at them. what do you think? >> all right. melissa: sounds good, thank you. david: congressman brady did answer the question very directly. melissa: he did what austan says makes sense too we'll do the math. david: president trump slamming, quote, criminal leaks within the government. what the white house plans to do a shocking new report claiming some officials are actually keeping intel from the president. >> this is a state here that is falling apart and it's totally unacceptable for anyone within government to be doing this. now i think, most of this is probably from people who were in the old administration.

melissa: fallout over the intelligence leaks continues and the president is vowing to get to the bottom of the criminal leak. >> i've gone to all of the folks in charge of the various agencies and we're, i've

actually called the justice department to look into the leaks. those are criminal leaks. they're put out by people either in agencies, i think you will see it stopping because now we have our people in. melissa: joining me a former cia operations officer. you're a russian specialist as well. we were just talking about it in the break. let me start with the fact, how serious is it that these leaks are out there? i mean is that the biggest part of it? >> i think really the main story is the leaks. the leaks are very serious. it's very unprofessional, and you ever to remember the intelligence community is like the military. we've all taken an oath to support the constitution and our democratically-elected leadership. so people who are leaking are breaking an oath, and they're just showing their disloyalty. melissa: why do you think they would do that? >> they would do that i guess to affect a political, a political advance on their side. you know the oath is supposed to, rules out politics. intelligence officers are not

supposed to play politics. for example, when i was a station chief under the obama administration, there were lots of things that the obama administration did that i disagreed with, especially the reset with russia, i knew it was a disaster from the get-go, but that didn't prompt me to begin leaking classify information. a good intel officer continues with his job. melissa: as somebody who has been on the inside, do you feel like these are, on one hand, the media would say these are people that are very concerned about the country, they're very worried about the way donald trump operates and they're trying to undermined him? his group would say, these are leftover political appointees who are leftover from the lasted a administration, who are on their way out the door and his problem isn't with most of the intelligence community even though he said things about them, that his problem is with the leftover people at the top who are related to the lasted a administration. which one sounds true to you? >> i think mr. trump's assertion is more correct because not only do you have appointed officials under the obama administration

but you have a whole cadre of professional officers whose careers advanced over a period of eight years in the obama administration. many of those line officers were advanced perhaps because of their political loyalty to obama. so, that, there in lies perhaps the reason for some of the leaks. melissa: just looking for your gut on this you wouldn't know the answer to it. >> right. melissa: but if you have mike flynn, he said mike flynn is doing what he is supposed to do, going out making contacts with russia, beginning to have the relationships he was supposed to. >> that's right. melissa: that was fine, he did nothing wrong. what he did wrong was come back to the vice president and misrepresented he had conversations or he forgot. he fired him because he lied. if he was sent to do something he was supposed to do why would he lie about something he was supposed to be doing? >> that is hard to say, no question that is perhaps the crux of the matter. that is the reason why he was asked to resign. melissa: that's what we understand though. >> the fact he was speaking to russian officials as a designated national security

advisor is perfectly ordinary. when obama was president his future ambassador to moscow went over there before he was elected. >> he would have known he was recorded. >> he certainly would have. that is standard procedure in the intelligence world. melissa: i wish we had more time. we could get to the bottom of it. appreciate it. david? david: that was very interesting. coming up, invoking watergate using that scandal, the scandal that brought down president richard nixon to make their case about donald trump. plus taking a breather from the white house, why the president is heading to florida for a big rally this weekend. my dad gave me those shares, you know? he ran that company. i get it. but you know i think you own too much. gotta manage your risk. an honest opinion is how edward jones makes sense of investing. you may sometimes suffer from a dry mouth. that's why there's biotene. and biotene also comes in a handy spray.

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david: the left has a new talking about point about trump. democrats accusing the trump administration of covering up

trump advisors chemicalses to russia. now they are comparing it to water gate. listen to what hillary clinton's former campaign manager had to say. >> i can tell you it is extremely strange to me that a member of any american presidential campaign would be speaking to russian intelligence officials, and it is particularly bizarre given the fact we know russian intelligence officials broke into the dnc, stole documents and handed them to wikileaks for the purpose of hurting hillary clinton and helping donald trump. the parallels to watergate here are eerie. david: well, here now, hadley heath manning, independent women's forum senior policy analyst, and neil sroka, democracy for america communications director. thank you both for coming in. neil, there are a couple of very important differences between what is happening now between watergate. nobody has been convicted of anything right now but watergate was about a current president

using the powers of his presidency to try to subvert the democratic process. donald trump was not president when this happened. secondly, this was russia breaking in to the dnc. it was not the republican national committee or the trump campaign trying to break into the dnc. in fact one thing "new york times" said they even had to admit yesterday in the cover piece supposedly breaking the story about a connection between the gop, they said the officials interviewed in recent weeks said that so far they had seen no evidence of cooperation between the trump campaign an russians. go ahead. >> that was in the original story. i read it that night. there were other parts updated. david: but they didn't change that point. there was no connection between the trump administration, what the russians were doing. they said that in the "new york times." this is the third paragraph. >> no connection yet. no connection yet. i think there very well could be. there are reasons to believe the

trump campaign had contacts with russian agents over the course of the election. which does, you know, lead one to ask important questions. that is the real thing here. there are lots of questions swirling around about donald trump, donald trump's campaign and donald trump's white house's connection to russia. and question is, whether or not there is going to be a full complete independent investigation. david: hadley, every journalist in america is dying to find some kind of connections and if the journal isic enter mize most anxiously trying to get donald trump, "the new york times" was unable to find that connection, i don't think at least, now why think there is connection to be found? >> that's right. can you imagine if this level of scrutiny were applied to every presidential administration instead of just the trump administration, that would be a good thing. supposed to be vigilant and ask these questions absolutely but you have to base our investigations and our reporting on facts and not conjecture as you said, david. so until we have the evidence, let's not blow out of proportion

these exaggerated claims. david: hadley, dan heninger, hold on a second, neil, dan henninger in the "wall street journal," he is conservative, i have known dan for years it, could become watergate like if in fact this president becomes ensconced in the white house, loses touch what is going on around him. do you see any chance of that happening? still so early in the administration but go ahead. >> certainly it is on the president to make the public trust strong again. after what happened to general flynn he has to reassure the public of all the facts and give as much information as he can in order to move forward with his agenda. not only causing a huge distraction but raising as neil said a lot of questions. david: meanwhile the president is back with the people or getting back with the people. president trump is planning to hold a big rally in florida this weekend. the president tweeting, join me in florida this saturday at 5:00 p.m. at orlando melbourne international airport. neil, anything wrong with this.

>> listen if he want to continue to campaign like on campaign trail, good luck with that. david: all presidents are always campaigning, common neil. happened with president obama. >> there is little bit unusual with, 27 days in and already hosting another campaign rally. listen this guy needs adulation of the public, and he is just not getting it. over 55% of the country disapproves of him right now. and i think he is just after the week he has had this past week he really needs -- david: hadley what he is not getting adulation that president obama got the first full year of his presidency. i got the nobel peace prize before he had done anything. >> right. certainly the fans come from very different subsets of the american population but you know we're always going to hear from people who have negative reactions more than we'll hear from people with positive reactions. i would be surprised if the rallies turn out same level of demonstration against the trump administration.

we live in time of eternal campaigning and americans are tired of. >> never seen this kind of president with this opposition this earl. david: he needs that contact with his support, not getting anybody in the press backing him right now. >> well that is right. as i said you will always hear more from the negative. ask anybody works in customer service. you don't get thank you phone calls. you hear from people having problems and upset. david: we'll have to leave at at that. glad to have you both on. melissa: capitalism at its finest. one retailer is not bowing to political pressure. he will keep trump products on the shelves as long as consumers want them.

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melissa: choosing customer over politics, grocery store wag's under pressure. david: our response is always the same no matter the

product, how a product performs, our role as a retailer is to offer choice to our customers. melissa: amazing, they said they don't support trump, but they will not be pressured into pulling the product, i love that. david: good for them, "risk & reward" starts right now. >> unfortunately much of media in washington, d.c., new york and los angeles in particular speaks not for the people but for the special interest. the press has become so dishonest, the press is out of control, the level is out of control. >> i inherited a mess, the media is trying to attack our administration because they know we're following through