>> neil gorsuch. and thoughts and prayers to those who may have lost someone in the st. petersburg. >> thank you, and what time is it? it's varney time, "varney & company." stuart: i'll take it, new week, new quarter. plenty of action for you on both politics and money. good monday morning, everyone of the the president takes a hard line. days before china's leader arrives, he says if china doesn't solve north korea, we will. president xi goes to mar-a-lago on friday, what will he make on that. judge gorsuch will be confirmed to the supreme court this week, one way or another, says mitch mcconnell. rand paul plays golf with the president and says they're closer than ever to a health care deal. politics is as contentious as ever, if there were real

concern about the president's growth agenda, why does the stock market stay close to all-time highs? we will open higher today. the trump rally paused, but no significant pullback since the election despite the political noise. look at this, the fabulous five big techs, alpha pet, amazon, microsoft, apple, the money keeps pouring in, worth more than 2.6 trillion dollars. this not your father's stock market. "varney & company" is about to begin. breaking news this morning, reports of explosions, plural, in st. petersburg, russia. ashley: at least ten people killed in the explosions.

two separate bombings, it appears, stu, you're right. two separate in the city of st. petersburg. and one of the devices according to an authority was filled with nails to cause maximum damage. actually, vladimir putin, the russian president in st. petersburg and he says all causes including terrorism are investigated. the entire subway system in st. petersburg, russia's second biggest city. stuart: shut down the second largest city. ashley: yes. stuart: ash, good stuff. we'll see where the market is going to open. as we said a new week, a new quarter. we are going to open a little bit higher this morning, signs that the president's agenda may be on track still. that's why stocks are holding steady and we'll get to that this second. look who is here in new york. joining us in the great city of new york, scott shellady, he spends most of his time in london these days.

can't understand why, but he's with us in new york. how are you. >> fantastic. there's no room for another british accent on the show. >> right. [laughter] >> i saw this market just wants to go up, you say? >> the threat of getting something through on tax reform is greater than that know the happening. and until then this is the case. stuart: in technology, the money is pouring into them. we've got the big five at or near all-time highs. we've talked about this so many times, that these where the money is going into those stocks on the screen right now. >> i think that's right. unfortunately, it's going to leave a lot of people behind. that's where we're going to create growth and innovate in america and a lot of that is going to put the middle class out of business and-- >> wait, wait, wait, putting-- those companies, big name technology people will put

people out of work. >> kiosks, drones, driverless cars, and 29 states, the big industry is trucking, what happens. stuart: these big american technology companies are not just dictating computer stuff, software stuff, they're dictating to other industries across the board. >> 100% and they're going to change other industries and we've got to get on board with the changes and the market realizes that's the way forward, but we have to make middle america to go forward as well. stuart: do you think this'll be on the upside these big tech companies. >> that's the only place we'll innovate and create wealth in the next ten years and shake up how we do things today still. once snapchat four years from now will be making money? a lot of things change in four years, how can you invest hoping to make money in four years when the technology is then, and we don't know. stuart: do you see them getting

a market value 2.6 trillion dollar. liz: nearly the size of france. stuart: their economy, that's right. five american technology companies are worth the same as the gdp of france. liz: nearly, yeah. stuart: did you see this coming? because i certainly did not. >> no, a few days ago snapchat was worth more than american airlines. a lot of things we didn't see coming and we have to step back, regroup and see how the market goes forward. stuart: it's anistonishing stuff. scott. stay there. more for you later. i want to get to politics. the senate judiciary committee votes today on the confirmation of judge gorsuch. full senate vote friday. senator majority leader mitch mcconnell says he will be confirmed no matter what. all rise, judge napolitano is here. so, if mitch mcconnell says he's in no matter what, when does he actually take office or what's the meaning of that timing? >> i think he will probably be on the supreme court in the united states by friday

evening, and the significance is profound because in the second and third week of april is when the court releases a lot of major decisions. so, if there are any decisions that are generally along the ideological fault lines of 4-4, they will not be released until new judge gary such has an opportunity to weigh in. stuart: if he's confirmed as soon as the senate votes on friday, and vote yes and he mitch mcconnell-- >> i would imagine the president of the united states would swear him in immediately. there will be ceremonial swearings in later, but he will have access to the office, right to vote and do the things that the supreme court justices do. stuart: he can vote on the issues including those that have been before the supreme court and will emerge next week? >> as long as the supreme court has not yet announced what its decision is, he can vote.

so, let's say it's 4-4 and the conservatives have an inkling that justice gorsuch would have made it 5-4. they will say to the chief justice who is probably one of the four conservative, i'm speculating. stuart: all right. >> don't release this, let's let neil take a look at it when he's here next week because we think he's going to be on our side. literally comes down to something as interpersonal as that, with the potentially profound affect on the meaning of the constitution. stuart: this is fascinating stuff, but hold on a second. i want to backtrack for a second. mitch mcconnell says he's going to be confirmed come what may. if he can't get the 60 votes, he'll pass by the 51 votes. what's so bad in the change in the senate rules confirming a supreme court justice? >> in a word, nothing. i don't think that the american public cares what procedure the senate uses to confirm him. they just know that donald trump was elected president to

among other things appoint a supreme court, not-- a supreme court justice not unlike justice scalia and he has done that with neil gorsuch. i want you to listen to chuck schumer about the stamping of judge gorsuch. >> you're going to make me listen to this? >> i am, roll tape. >> it looks like gorsuch will not reach the 60 vote margin, so instead of changing the rules, which is up to mitch mcconnell and the republican majority, why doesn't president trump, democrats and republicans in the senate, sit down and try to come up with a mainstream nominee? >> mainstream nominee, therefore, judge gorsuch is not mainstream. >> in senator schumer's opinion he's not. it's absolutely mainstream, according to the american bar association, and according to all the opinions he has written, many of which your humble colleague has read. stuart: thank you very much indeed. >> who was he referring to as

your humble colleague? [laughte [laughter]. stuart: thank you. >> i have to ask scott how people react to that jacket. >> the bbc came out to put me on' they couldn't find me, i didn't have the jacket on. stuart: we know where to find you. president trump's son-in-law, that be would jared kushner, making a surprise visit to iraq. ashley: well, he was invited by the joint chiefs of staff. we're not sure to be honest with you. a big push in iraq to take back mosul and sent the weekend. we don't know why. >> a real estate magnate from new york city goes with the joint chiefs. we'll see, we'll get the scoop. check out the futures market and we'll see where we're going

to open this monday morning. pretty flat to slightly higher is the answer for you. next one, they are desperately searching for any survivors in that dreadful mudslide in colombia. 200 killed, another 200 injured. colombia's president says those numbers are expected to rise, what a tragedy there. and president trump staking out a tough stance on north korea, ahead of the meeting with china's president later this week. trump says if china is not willing to get tough on north korea, we will. a direct quote. we're on it. and senator rand paul, one of the strongest opponents of the republican health care bill says progress is being made. he said that after playing golf in virginia with the president. we'll be back. yes? please repeat the objective.

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>> if you're just joining us on tv or satellite radio, i'll tell you that we're going to open flat to slightly higher on wall street this morning.

i've got news on tesla. they sold a lot of electric cars last quarter and worldwide sales up 69%. the stock premarket is up about 7%, very big gain there. you know, scott shellady, i've always been a little worried abo about-- skeptical about elon musk because they rely on tax credits. >> they're going to have good numbers, besides being an energy arm of the government, your he a right, they take a lot of money there. they have such a long way to go from being a cool, neat idea to becoming anywhere near one of the big three. i believe with the oil finds and the supply situation on the other side of that card, what's a battery worth if we've got really, really cheap oil for a very long time. stuart: you've told us the story, a huge find for oil in texas. >> yes. stuart: massive in alaska. >> two of the largest ever. stuart: a billion barrels. >> yes. stuart: that's our oil, our

supply likely to keep oil cheap for a long time and gas cheap for a long time. where does an electric car come in. >> it's a nice idea and sounds cool, but he's got a lot stacked against him. stuart: let's go back to politics. president trump loaded for bear when it comes to north korea and this is ahead of his meeting with china's president ping. what is our president saying. ashley: he's basically saying, i'm prepared to go it alone if you're not prepared to help restrain the nuclear program. he was talking to the financial times, he says china will either decide to help us with north korea, or they won't. if they do, that will be good, but if they don't, it's not good for anyone. china has not responded to that particular statement, but said in the past they're having a hard time to keeping north korea moving ahead. of course, they could do something, but he's laying down the gauntlet when the president

comes to mara logia. liz: what leverage does us have. ashley: trade. liz: trade leverage. stuart: there is leverage right there. thank u. next case, senator rand paul played a round of golf with the president over the weekend and afterwards tells that he thinks that republicans are getting close to a deal on repealing obamacare. >> we had a great day with the president today. we did talk health reform and the sides are getting closer together and i remain optimistic we will get obamacare repeal. stuart: and joining us a frem of the freedom caucus, mr. congressman, do you sense progress towards your point of view, which is the full repeal of obamacare? >> yeah, i think so. i think we've always felt optimistic that we were going to get some things done here and i think that golfing with the president yesterday, rand

paul, i think, was a great thing. i would have liked to have been a caddy for that, to hear exactly what's going on. stuart: so would i. do you think that the president and speaker paul ryan are moving closer to the freedom caucuses position. do you detect real movement or is this for negotiating purposes? >> i think there's real movement because i think that everyone realizes we made a very simple promise that democrats, republicans, independents understood that was that we were going to repeal obamacare and most interpret repeal as being gone and that's what people say and i think that everyone is trying to move to get to yes on this. it's so important. and we want to keep those promises. >> but you may lose the support of moderate republicans. i mean, you could. >> well, i think that the real issue for moderates and-- is going to be on the replace side. how do you get the alternative structures so people can get access to health care and

health insurance? i don't think anybody disagrees with the repeal of obamacare, i think that the moderate side is going to be working on how do you make sure that people can have access to coverage once obamacare is gone and that's where i think the issue becomes. stuart: is there any possibility whatsoever that there will be a new bill presented to congress, presented to the house of representatives, in the very near future? >> i don't know if there would necessarily be a new bill, but i think that something is going to happen sooner rather than later because i think that people are very focused on this and very committed to getting something done so i would say something sooner rather than later. stuart: when you say sooner rather than later are you talking weeks? are we going to get something done before tax reform. is health care going to be on one side and then tax reform, what is it? >> i think that congress is capable of doing two things at once and everyone is committed to the tax reform package, no

doubt about that. and we're working on that right now as we continue to work through the health care issues. so, weeks. stuart: is it weeks? >> well, you asked me for a deadline and talking to a guy, i don't have access to the timetable, i can tell you that, if-- otherwise things might be my way instead of somebody else's way. but i think that sooner rather than later. sooner rather than later. >> congressman, thank you very much for being with us this morning, i'd love to be a part of the intense discussions that will go on in the back rooms today. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, sir. stuart: here is something that may surprise you. let's see, what's this? what am i doing here. liz: the richest counties. stuart: this may surprise you, 15 of the 25 richest counties in the country, voting solidly democrat in the last election. we are on it. back after this. kevin, meet your father.

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>> scott, you're not answering the question, you can pay more, you want people to pay more, why don'you pay mo? >> if i'm going wri a check i had a -- i'd give it to a charity than the government. stuart: you're forcing me-- >> you must be a rich guy. stuart: i tell you the difference, you have wealth,

you've built up a company and have wealth. that wealth is not taxed. stuart: that wealth is not taxed. monday morning, let's change that. that was last friday, fighting with a so-called patriotic millionaire, a group of rich people who want you to pay more taxes and not the only rich guy backing the democrats, from the last election. the 25 richest counties, 60% of them went for hillary clinton. scott shellady still here. i kind of got lost-- >> moved over this way. stuart: it annoys me that people, wealthy people who built up wealth, which is not taxed, want me, income earners, to pay more tax. they could pay more if they want to, you know, you're agreeing with me because i'm about to get angry. >> and face the wrath. yes, at some point in time they go left and then they feel as though that they have a better idea how to spend your money,

but won't spend theirs in that manner. so, that's the frustrating part. you're exactly right. if they want to pay more, they can pay more, but don't make me pay more and i think that's the same way with immigration. they want immigration, if you want immigration, they have to live with you, they don't have to le with me. stuart: warren buffett 70 million, that 70 million is not taxed. and i earn income. ashley: write a check. stuart: calm down, the blood pressure is up. is that bad? see this smile. liz: like an upside down thermometer. stuart: and showing how this market is opening ever no slightly higher, despite all the political noise, we're still really close to record highs. back with the opening bell momentarily. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95.

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>> we often refer to the noise background, the political noise that's being made, especially in d.c., inside the beltway, you think it would be a distraction for what's really going on with our economy. well, it doesn't appear that investors are concerned about all of this noise. let me give you some examples. the new york times over the

weekend was all about jared kushner and ivanka trump because they've got $700 million worth of wealth. it was talk of impeachment that trump doesn't give an xyz about the people. a lot of political noise so far and investors are rejecting the noise and concentrating on this, the economy and the market. we just opened the week, we've just opened the quarter. we've opened ever so slightly on the upside, 7 points up and look at that level. always go back to what the level is. 20,670. that's where we are. you wouldn't think that-- that investors are just not listening to all of this noise. now we're up, the dow was down for the month of march, just a fraction, but look at big tech stocks, they will keep on making record highs, all the way through march, they've opened up this morning, kind of mixed.

apple is down just-- look, right at their all-time record highs. this is where the money is going. this is where america dominates globally. those five big tech companies, simply astonishing. how about tesla. yes, they shipped 25,000 cars in the first quarter of this year and i believe it's a new high for tesla. 52-week high, pretty sure about that. how about the health insurers, remember, please, over the weekend, president trump met senator rand paul on the golf course, rand paul emerged and said mbe we' closer to a deal than ever, health insurers are up this morning. wonder if there is a connection. all right, we're 90 seconds in. the dow is now up 27 points, ashley, liz, scott shellady, keith fitz, all of them joining us this monday morning to figure out where we're going from here. keith, first to you, i say, my feeling is as we sit here every monday morning, i feel that the

market just wants to keep going up. are you with me on this? >> absolutely, that's how real money works, stuart. people are seeing through all the baloney in washington, call it a swamp, call it dysfunctional, whatever you want. people are understanding that tech companies in particular make the world go around and that creates earnings which creates a future. they lead because of results and politicians lead because they want to be followed. >> scott, i think the market just wants to go up. >> i think that the average investors, moms and pops of the world out there are showing the maturity level. they're much more mature than congress at this point in time and that's why the market is doing what it's doing. >> you think the average mom and pop investor are not selling into this, they're holding. >> they believe that this man was put into office to do something and he's not going to do nothing so the threat it, he'll do something and that's why you're going to stay with it. stuart: let me turn to the big name technology stocks on, we

spent so much time on because they are big name technology stocks and world leaders at this point, i'm talking amazon, alphabet, microsoft, facebook, apple, on the screen. right this morning, they're virtually unchanged, alphabet, is up a bit, the others. keith, they hit all-time highs. keith, do you think they're going up all these big five? >> no doubt in my mind. they'll have some squiggles, they're creating value. amazon, take them in isolation, versus everybody else, it's netflix dominating the competition, and google dominating. that's not making her widget, not coetg in cars, not competing in clothing. you have to have the companies. it's hard for the average investor to go wrong with these companies. stuart: liz, we mentioned earlier on the show you add up the value of those five companies up to about 2.6, 2.7 trillion dollars. liz: yeah, it's nearly the size

of france, and about more than mexico. stuart: that's a lot. liz: it's a lot. ashley: or you could buy ten greeces. stuart: yeah, you could. [laughter] >> who saw this kind of thing coming? investors obviously did, but how many ordinary people saw this kind of dominance on a global scale of just these five american companies. ashley: remarkable. stuart: do they have any competition from europe, japan or anywhere? anybody out there competing, anybody? >> china. you've got alibaba coming up and some of the other chinese firms. they haven't hit their stride yet, but china had the world's largest economy, and they're going to be a player, when? is it going to dethrone the companies? i don't think so. but a came of catchup and an opportunity. stuart: how about tesla delivered 25,000 cars in the first three months of this year. i was surprised at that. i'm surprised at the stock price.

i didn't think that an electric car company could do so well when gas is so cheap, keith. >> you said the magic words, you called it an electric car compan it's not an electric car company. tesla wants to redefine the grid. that's why they're getting the solar and batteries, into storage. to cars what they're going to do with it. it's going to redefine the grid. i don't think the company hit its stride yet. stuart: i've just got the general motors sales numbers coming in. i believe in the month of march up 2% compared to last year. not stellar, but the stock is down. ashley: the problem is the automakers had a really good beginning of 2016 whenever you do year to year comparisons. stuart: and general motors in the 34, 35 almost right there. liz: it's been there since about of it collapsed. stuart: i think so. dow jones industrial average, now we're five minutes into the trading session on a monday

morning and we're up 26,688. ford, we saw their sales numbers before the opening bell this morning and down 7%. liz: yeah, now it looks like tesla has passed ford in investor value. so that's astonishing. stuart: what's that mean. liz: basically it's overtaken ford in stock market value. stuart: wait a minute, the market capitalization is greater than the ford motor company. liz: tesla and ford at 46 billion. stuart: i find that astonishing here. >> you have to take stock, no pun intended and take a look at what's happening here. and if we continue to have the oil discoveries we'll struggle to have the nice idea of electric car making inroads. so just be careful getting too excited about a niche market rather than something with legs. ashley: tesla second largest

u.s. auto maker second to general motors jo only profitable two quarters. the cash burn is unbelievable. >> look at the number of cars they make. stuart: according to keith it's not a car company, it's a battery company. >> exactly. stuart: so you think that-- do you think that's legit, keith, that tesla should be worth more in stock market terms than the ford motor company? >> well, you know, i'm not the one that is going to say it's legitimate or not. the market will decide. they've decided there's so much promise and redefinition there that they made it worth what it is and that's ultimately what they're worth what the buyers and sellers agree on. i'm almost to the point that the market is wrong. liz: it might be the market-- >> don't do that, you can say that, liz, you said it. under amour, barron's, the weekend magazine says that's ready to rebound, it could rise 30% in one year.

that's not getting a barron's bounce, it's down 8 cents. ups is expanding saturday delivery to 15 metro areas this month. and the stock is barely changed, up 16 cents. the next story, disney, they're going to use metal detectors and search your bags at disney world. liz: they're ramping is up at the ticket booth and doing it at the monorail, buses, ferries and resorts like the grand floridian. stuart: that doesn't affect the stock price at all? >> no, i don't think so. that's a sad state of times that that's necessary for park admission. stuart: what surprises me at disney, you can charge $100 a person a day and getting them flooding in the doors. a lot of foreigners, actually, these foreigners. [laughter] >> be careful. mylan, they make the epipen, recalling 80,000 of them

worldwide. mylan took a lot of criticism for raising the price of the epipen and now they're recalling 80,000. is that a stock you'd like to put money into there, keith? >> excuse me, no, it's not because i think they've got big problems. if you're talking syringes, that's one thing. if you're talking what's in them, that's another thing. i don't particularly care for this pullback or not. stuart: for the month of march, the dow jones industrial average was down, not much, but down. and there are signs that things are beginning to move, tentative signs maybe on health care, if we're moving more in line with the president's owth agenda, if that's the case, where do we end the month of april. >> if we get any sniff of one of those three things coming through, it's a boost in the market. you can't get in front of the tape on that. stuart: really? anything happens on health

care, tax reform, good sign it's going to happen. >> it's going to attract investing. stuart: you think the market goes up? >> they're going to be happy what the president can do. stuart: are traders like yourself, are you listening carefully to every single thing that any politician ever says to get a handle on the legislative process? >> no, you have to take a look at the big picture. right now, if donald trump introduced a cure for cancer, it would be voted down. we can't listen on a daily basis, but get a feel for what's happening administratively and the big picture. if he delivers any one of those three things, even a little bit. you can't fight the tape. >> amazon, 890 a share, we should put that stock on $900 a share watch. 9.37 away. who would have thought. >> exactly. stuart: we're ten minutes into the trading session, say goodbye to keith fitz and scott shellady, if you, keith for

being with us at all. and check the market and the big board, now we're down to a 12 point gain for the dow industrials. we've opened flat, new week, new quarter. next, will we get the repeal of obamaca obamacare. and it's hard to say, certainly discuss it. in the 10:00 hour, why one coal company chief says that president trump cannot bring those coal mininjo back. more varney after this. ♪ [phone ring] hello. hi, it's anne from edward jones. i'm glad i caught you. well i'm just leaving the office so for once i've got plenty of time. what's going on? so those financial regulations being talked about? they could affect your accounts, so let's get together and talk, and make sure everything's clear. thanks. yeah. that would be great.

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>> all right. more on that breaking news from russia. reports of explosions in st. petersburg in the subway. ashley: in the city center of st. petersburg. two different explosions at

different metro stations. at last report at least ten people killed and this is a well-used subway system. st. petersburg, a stig city, second biggest in russia, some 5 million within the city limits. the question is who is responsible. stuart: and vladimir putin was in the city, but he's now out of the city. that's important. . ashley: out. stuart: a 18 point gain for the dow industrials, 14 minutes into the trading session. please, go back to amazon for a moment. another all-time high and now at 891 dollars per share. amazon. now this, the new york times says venezuela is failing because of populism? that's nonsense, e-mack. liz: it nonsense and they only mention bolivarism. currency controls, what's missing is $23 billion to $25

billion has been stolen from venezuela and it's in foreign, everseas accounts, which the venezuelan people need because they're in dire poverty. this blamed oil prices crashing, if that's true, canada would be crashing, too. it's a socialism form of government. the one and only time you you'll hear deafening silence in sean penn and bernie sanders. stuart: you got that in there, nice one. liz: the venezuelans say that it's socialism destroying their way of life. stuart: killed them. and president trump golfing with senator rand paul over the weekend and the senator says he's optimistic on a deal on obamacare. joining me marsha blackburn from tennessee. is this just window dressing or could this be that t president and speaker ryan are moving more towards the freedom caucus, more towards flat-out appeal of obamacare? >> what you're seeing is a

movement toward a concensus bill, stuart. yes, indeed, i think that it's very close. and there are many of us who have continued to work on this process to find the commonalties and the agreement and find a way forward to get this off the books. stuart: how close? if you say very close and the president is working on it and rand paul. all right, how close? can you give me any kind of time frame? >> sure, it would not surprise me if we didn't have an agreement and concensus this week, move forward, reopen consideration on the bill and amend it appropriately, get it over to the senate. bear in mind, the vote that we take in the house is a vote to send it to the senate, so that they can begin their process, and then we will go into a conference to get the bill right. stuart: sure. >> get it finalized and to the desk. stuart: we're a financial program as you know, marsha, any news that we would get that

bill tweaked and resubmitted this week would be a big positive for the stock market? you want to repeat that we might get a tweet-- get it tweaked and resubmitted. >> it's doable we could get in bill finished. there are so many people who want us to move forward on this, and our promise to get obamacare off the books. and stuart, it's important to realize, one single stroke of the pen does not fix this. it's going to be a process and take us a while to get everything off the books, that 2300 page bill that got signed into law has about 20,000 pages of regulations, so there's a lot of undoing to get done and we're going to be focused and diligent. you have energy and commerce and ways and means working together on it. stuart: they're looking at taxes imposed for obamacare, repeal obamacare, the taxes go away, the market looks pretty

good. . i have to ask you about tax reforment if-- reform, if we get something on health care pretty soon, we could get something on tax reform soon. is that accurate? >> i think that's accurate. tax reform by the time we get to the end of the year. chairman brady has done a remarkable job washiorking thro the obamacare process and tax reform, and repealing the affordable care act is a trillion dolrs in tax savings for the american people. it's also a $800 billion savings in the outlays of medicaid. and being able to send medicaid back to the states, there again, you're seeing a savings of tax dollars. that's money coming out of the pockets of hard-working taxpayers and quite frankly, my constituents, they say that's what they're ready to see. stuart: are you working day and night on this?

>> absolutely. and continuing conversations with my colleagues, looking for ways that we can work together to push forward on the affordable care act repeal, to push forward with tax reform and to push forward with getting regulation off the backs of american business. stuart: okay. come back before the end of the week. we want to see if we get that health care bill as you suggest. >> absolutely. be happy to, thank you. stuart: deal, deal, thank you very much. thank you very much indeed, ma'am. appreciate it. a lot of green and red and there's a balanced market there and by the way, the nasdaq just hit another all-time high. and the tech stocks, coming up, the top of the hour, why rich people vote democrat. there's a switch. you get my take 10:00 eastern top of the hour. here we go. and markets continue to rise and fall... predictable is one thing you need in retirement

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>> you know, why don't we check the nasdaq. i'll tell you why. it's because it's hit another all-time high. could it be going towards 6,000? we'll see. that's an all-time high right there. and tesla, yeah, that's an all-time high. $289 per share, why? because their sales of their cars were up 69% in the first quarter of this year. 289 on tesla. a new report comes out, says

terrorists can get bombs threw airport security using laptops. ashley: this is the reason they put out this warning is because they got their hands on some sophisticated airport security equipment so they know what gets detected and what doesn't, and that's disturbing. they can put them together in laptops get them through security without raising alarms and that in part led to the ban on electronic devices from-- >> people complain about that ban, but remember, the lockerbie bombing, pan am flight 103 was brought down by a bomb in a cassette player. stuart: in the luggage. liz: in the luggage. stuart: now, you can, you can do this, you can take money out of your 401(k). yes, you can do it. but gerri willis is here to say don't do it. >> don't. stuart: if you've got a 401(k), i can get a loan from it. >> absolutely. stuart: you're saying a lot of people don't repay the loan and that's a terrible thing.

>> a terrible thing. 20% of americans have loans against, and the average size 7700. to you and me that may not sound like a lot of money, but that would reduce wealth 20, it would grow over time and find that people typically maybe they pay it back, maybe they don't, but then don't c contract it to the 401(k) in the meantime and losing that compounding. stuart: you're talking about people who take it out of the 401(k) and don't pay it back. >> i'm talking across the board. these loans are disastrous and they know it. home depot has new rules on the 401(k) to keep them from spending money. 20 to 30% of folks, you should roll money over and they typically take the money out.

early years, $5,000, that's not a lot of money, but over 30 years, it makes it big, big difference. stuart: fair point, but on the other side of the point. you take a loan and if you pay interest, you pay interest back to yourself. >> it's back to yourself, but may reduce the contributions for your exiting 401(k). you may not ford both. a lot of people default on the loans and missing the people that it's compounding. stuart: leave it, don't pay interest. >> the market does it for you and that's the beauty of the market. stuart: an interesting story indeed. thank you. the political world turned upsidedown, the people with wealth voting left, voting democrat. that's a sea change, too, hour two of "varney & company" coming up.

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stuart: here's a surprise. a switch actually. rich people tend to vote democrat.

i say surprised because that is not what we've been taught. remember, country club republicans? things have changed. last november there was a stampede of the wealthy into hillary clinton's camp. of the 25 richest counties, 2/3 voted solidly democrat. those coastal enclaves of wealth? hillary was their candidate. in total she won nearly 500 counties. those counties represented two thirds of the economy. trump one 2600 counties which represented just 1/3 of the economy. the more money you make, the more likely you voted democrat. two points here. first, accumulated wealth is not taxed. so wealthy people have nothing to fear from democrats tax hikes. they won't be paying. wealthy democrats actuly want you to pay more. eyall for raising income taxes. warren buffett, hillary

supporter. jeff bezos, trump hater. both worth more than $70 billion. they do not pay tax on the wealth. why not demand higher taxes on you, income earners? point two. this is the political world turned upside down. the people with wealth turn the left? that is what happened in europe. look what happened there. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ all right. here comes data. first of all we have information on the manufacturing sectors just coming across. you got it, liz? liz: 57.2, a little better than expected. we enter the year with the wind at factories back. strongest win in two years for manufacturing. stuart: bottom line,

manufacturing strong right now. how about construction numbers. ashley: it was up .8%. that equaled 1.19 trillion. that is the highest level since april of 2006. stuart: okay, well that tells you something. ashley: heading in the right direction. stuart: underlying strength from the economy, manufacturing sector, housing sector, optimism. liz: got the jobs report on friday. stuart: hasn't moved market. we're just up 8 points. liz: that's correct. breaking this hour, senate judiciary committee voting this hour right now. they will vote on sending judge gorsuch's nomination to the supreme court to the full senate. we'll deal with th in a couple of minutes. let's get back to the markets, we're up not very much, five points. the action is in amazon. look, $890 a share. moments ago, it hit 891.

that is an all-time high for the stock. same thing with tesla. global sales up 69% in the first quarter. they sold 25,000 cars. the market value of tesla, the value, the stock market puts on it is now greater than the ford motor company. who would have thought. they're only a shade shy of general motors. tesla, for heavens sake. look at ford, their stock is down a little bit. their sales were down 7% in march compared to a year ago. their f-series sales were actually up. the stock? 11 bucks a share. general motors reported a 2% increase in sales compared to march of last year, but the stock is down a buck at 34. the price of oil going nowhere. it climbed -- well, still at $50 per barrel. no impact on the stock market from oil these days. health care, let's get back to it. senator rand paul went positivelying with the president -- golfing over the

weekend with the president. afterwards he said they're close to a deal. >> we had a great day with the president today. we talked about some health care reform. i think the sides are getting closer and closer together and i remain very optimistic we'll get obama care repeal. stuart: senator rand paul is conservative. i suppose he is supporter of the freedom caucus. that is in the house. he is in the senate. tammy bruce joins us. from what rand paul had to say there, would you assume maybe the president and ker ry are edging further towards the conservatives on the issue of health care? >> yes. what you've got, with senator rand paul, he has got his own version in the senate. mark sanford introduced a pair in the house. they're concerned of course about actual repeal which is what the senator said they're looking forward to. but he didn't say what they would replace it with. so that is still a bone of contention. you've got that. but he was one encouraging the freedom caucus from over in the senate. stuart: he was.

>> to say no, say no. if they bring him on board, especially presented what his plan is to the president, i think the president is willing to do whatever he needs to. he has seen he was taken down the wrong road previously. and that he is clearly open to whatever rand paul is going to suggest but the replacement dynamic will be key. and then it gets even to be more complicated. the house can pass something. then it goes to the senate. that has to occur. then they go to reconciliation. get out whatever we can out of the house. get something looked as genuine repeal and it will happen. stuart: i think it is more symbolic than actual because it is going to be changed later. >> correct. stuart: the symbolism is good, get consensus in the republican party, pass something, president trump as negotiator brought them together at all costs, that is a plus. >> "investor's business daily" and most other polls have president's polls declining. they're seeing him having great impact but not working within the system and having influence

whh what they expected and what they wanted. this is why we need to see some action and some success in the congressional framework. stuart: if we did get some action and some success that would make people feel tax reform is not out of the question. >> force up is this week. we need to see how it happens. people want to see it happen. they expect it to happen in unconventional way and they're okay with that. stuart: as we said earlier, tammy, the senate judiciary committee is meeting at this hour. they're going to vote to send, they will vote -- all on party lines, they will send judge gorsuch's nomination on to the full senate. first, listen to what senate minority leader chuck schumer said. roll tape. >> it looks like gorsuch will not reach the 60 vote margin. so instead of changing the rules which is up to mitch mcconnell and the republican majority, why doesn't president trump, democrats and republicans in the senate, sit down and try to come

up with a mainstream nominee? stuart: that is -- mainstream nominee. let me pick on that phrase to start with. leonard leo with us. he is an advisor to president trump on the supreme court. senator schumer just said look, mainstream. not a mainstream guy. what do you make of that? >> if neil gorsuch is not mainstream i don't know what is. this man has extraordinary legal talent who has commitment to interpreting the constitution as written. that is a mainstream view these days. what senator schumer and democrats want instead is supreme court justice that will rubberstamp their political agenda which is not mainstream. that is not what it is all about. they didn't get commitments they want from judge gorsuch. stuart: leader mcconnell said he will be confirmed no matter what. any way you slice it he is on the court.

because if it needs 60 votes, he will cancel the rule and go with 51 votes. no doubt, he will be confirmed this friday, correct? >> absolutely. he will be confirmed on friday. the fact of the matter, never in the history of the united states has there been a successful partisan filibuster of the supreme court nominee. the tradition it takes 51 votes to confirm a supreme court justice. that is what the constitution contemplates. that is what senator mcconnell will do, even though senator schumer and some of his colleagues are against it. stuart: that means, maybe, 5:00, 6:00 on friday afternoon, judge gorsuch will be confirmed as a supreme court member. the president can then swear him in, which means that next week, judge gorsuch can pass judgment on some issues before the supreme court. i think that is correct, right? >> that is exactly right. so he will get confirmed on friday, sworn in on friday night probably.

and then a week from monday. so april7th, stuart, is the incomes sitting of the court. you can expect the justice to be sitting there with his other eight colleagues. stuart: that's movement. leonard leo, thank you very much for joining us this morning, sir. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: we have this coming in to us. a spokesman for vladmir putin says president trump and putin should meet. anything more on that? liz: liz: he said that to george stephanopoulos at abc. he said a lot of things. basically russia has been frustrated first two months. they haven't spoken yet. re-establish a dialogue. they can meet and exchange views. this comes amidst all the of that russian meddling stories. stuart: president xi of china goes to mar-a-lago. president putin is a little left out. he wants in. liz: yeah. stuart: breaking news. dramatic stuff. reports of explosions, plural,

st. petersburg, russia. you have an update? ashley: may be an explosion. one blast on a train between two met toizations in the city center in st. petersburg. responsible for 10 deaths. many eninjured. we believe the explosive was filled with nails to cause maximum damage. stuart: that is just awful. >> yep. stuart: bring me up-to-date, president putin was in st. petersburg? ashley: he was in st. petersburg for a meeting. quickly taken outside of the meeting when the explosion took place. every cause is looked at but terrorism strongly suspected. stuart: we'll see what president putin's response to it is. it could be dramatic to. we're showing you what is described as an extremely rare coin which just sold over $3 million. it is a silver dollar, dates back to 1804. one of eight of its kind.

three million bucks worth, right there. next, president trump promises to bring back coal jobs. can he do that? we'll talk to richard murray, ceo of a coal mini cpany who says those jobs are not going to come back. we'll talk to him about this. rebuilding america's infrastructure. president trump on friday hosting ceos from manufacturing companies. we have a ceo in the room. it is the second hour of "varney & company." that's what you're watching. we'll be back. ♪ yes? please repeat the objective. ♪ thrivent mutual funds. managed by humans, not robots.

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stuart: may have been a little disappointment at top. hour with numbers we received on manufacturing sector and construction spending. they weren't stellar. strong, but not stellar. maybe market is disappointed because we're down 34 points. not a big loss by any means.

mylan, the company that manufactures epipens. they issued a recall of 80,000 of them across the world. no impact on the stock. down just 5 cents. ford motor company recalling 50,000 f-250 trucks. they may move while in park. the stock is down 30%. they reported 7% lower sales. president trump promises to bring coal jobs back by cutting, because the president will cut climate regulations. robert murray, ceo of murray energy, doubts that he can bring back coal mining jobs. here is the quote. i suggested that he temper his expectations. those are my exact words. he can't bring them back, meaning coal-mining jobs. look who is joining us now, robert murray himself. welcome back to the program. always good to see you. >> good morning, stuart. stuart: why can't the president bring back coal mining jobs if

he gets rid of damaging climate restrictions. >> he can. it is degree which he brings them back. i was asked when i was quoted. can he bring them back to where they were? of course he will bring the jobs back. he is doing wonderful things. obama closed 411 coal-fired power plants. the clean power plan president trump ended last week, would have closed 56 more plants. so we're approaching 500 plants. they can't be returned back and returned immediately. what the president is doing is wonderful things for america. because as. as he creates jobs in america. in the manufacturing sector, stuart, we don't use much electricity in our homes but we do in our factories. as he creates jobs in america,

of course the coal industry will come back. but right now, we're in a decline. we have to end the regulations of the obama administration. stuart: okay. robert, can you tell me how many coal mining jobs have been lost over say the last eight years? can you tell me how many of those coal mining jocks -- jobs will come back. >> there is 63,000 jobs ended. by the way, stuart, everyone ever those jobs, university studies show 11 in the communities created for goods and services. take 63,000 jobs time 11 and add em back. he cring back least hf of the job as the economy grows. as he ends regulations on coal. we've not had a level playing field in coal, the government has been picking winners and losers, regulating coal out of existence, but subsidizing windmills and solar panels that

make electricity at a cost of six times what it is from coal. so, as he gets the regulations off, and we're still in a decline right now because the obama administration regulations, many are still in effect. that is why democrats are so slow in allowing him, they know exactly what they're doing. the voter ought to be outraged that voted for donald trump the way democrats and schumer and others are acting in slowing down his ability to get an administration in place that can help america. stuart: robert, i'm short of time but i want to get this in. there are rules which are restricting the coal industry right now. those rules were set by the epa. we've got a new epa administrator who wants to change those rules. when will the rule change occur so that you can get back to producing more coal? >> it is very hard to say, stuart, because we don't know how long it will take for president trump to get his

administration fully in place. the democrats are stalling that. it's an outrage. stuart: okay. >> they are overturning many, many regulations. he has got the right agenda. it is food -- good for all americans. it will create a reliable power grid. right now we have a unreliable power grid thank you to obama and his supporters offer the last eight years. he has got to get in power. he has to get his people in place. then ian tell yohow quickly it will happen. but i can tell you coal will grow back because we're in a decline right now. stuart: you say 30,000 jobs will come back. we got it. robert, i'm sorry i have to leave it so quickly. i got to. you know how it is. have to run commercial as is. robert murray, thank you very much. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: listen to this. colombian police in latin america, seized 6 metric tons of

cocaine in the third largest city in that nation's history. six metric dons. texas governor greg abbott, laying down the law, hoping to sign legislation that will jail sheriffs who don't follow federal immigration law. we have a state senator hoping to help him arrest him. we'll be back. ♪ look closely.

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>> whites, college educated women who now would maybe like to forget this election and watching hgtv. i would want to urge them like, you can't look away. it doesn't affect you this minute but will affect you eventually.

stuart: tina fey blasting educated white women that voted for donald trump. tammy bruce. >> that is why donald trump won. we're tired of sanctimonious lecturing. this is what american women don't like. i can also tell you with the exception of one bill clinton election where he won white women, white women have voted with republicans since at least nixon. clinton tied bush for white women. and then he won by five points over dole. but starting with nixon, who won white women by 86% and all the way through, you're looking women have been voting for republicans forever. that is because white women, that is because, it is the economy, nature of war, it is about making sure you have got your family secure for the

future. democrats have not been able to persuade whit woman with that. stuart: golf pro, lexi thompson, lost this week, because of a viewer es email. explain. ashley: viewer watching noticed when she picked herbal up and put her coin down and to clean on the greens, when she put herbal down, it was an inch away where she picked it up. she called in the lpga. looked at video. you're right. this happened the day before. she was leaving the tournament yesterday, three-shot lead. it's a four-shot penalty. stuart: she lost. ashley: two for the infraction on the green. two for turning in incorrect scorecard. got a lot of support. viewers at home should not be officials wearing stripes. stuart: fascinating. what a story. liz: really fascinating. stuart: she lost. this is happening now. the senate judiciary committee is just getting ready to vote on

judge neil gorsuch's, this is his confirmmation to, go to the full senate. judiciary committee. voting on it within the next hour. we're on that one. democrats stalling president trump's agenda. they object and obstruct. one reason why. democrats just flat-out do not like him. it is personal. more "varney" on that. ♪ predictable. the comfort in knowing where things are headed. because as we live longer... and markets continue to rise and fall... predictable is one thing you need in retirement to help protect what you've earned and ensure it lasts. introducing brighthouse financial.

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stuart: brought you news earlier this morning on st. petersburg, subway there. numerous injured. ashley, we do.

>> word terrorism forces there have found another bomb in a subway station in st. petersburg, but managed to deactivate it. just one explosion on a subway train killed. seeing reports, nine, possibly 10 people killed. they found another bomb deactivated. stuart: president putin hustled out of the city. got it. a little negativity surrounding manufacturing numbers at top of the hour. we come back to basically dead-even market down five. hpe, what's this? hewlett-packard, can't read the prompter. the complete enterprise services spin-off. cuts outlook. liz: watch that stock. stuart: trying to explain that one. burberry, familiar with this. burberry licenses cosmetics and

fragrances licensed to coty. not sure what happened there. up fractionally. "boss baby" earned 49 million bucks in the opening weekend. beat out "beauty and the beast." "boss baby" is not. from disney. stuart: democrats object and obstruct. why? because they just don't like him. it is personal. watch this. >> it is not his policies that really bothers them. it is not the tax plan or the immigration plan, or the travel. they're not fond of that. that is not it. it's donald trump they don't like. >> there is really no way that the democrats want ad successful business person in there that might be able to help president trump generate economic growth and job growth and wage and benefit growth that would come with it if i got in there. they were, the opposition was stiff. stuart: there you heard it. andy puzder.

he was going to be the labor secretary. they wouldn't get him confirmed. people objected to him and president trump on a personal basis as you heard from bernie goldberg. democrats against president trump because they don't like him. that is my opinion and others. let's if david webb joins us on this one. fox news contributor. personal? >> absolutely personal. the fact is the democrat now, when you listen to tom perez, barack obama's hand-picked leader of the dnc, when you look at all the other prominent democrats. they're going against their own history. "biden rule" on merrick garland. using that as an excuse when it comes to judge gorsuch. they don't care about judge gorsuch. they care about opposing trump because they know their own hypocrisy. it is dishonest. form of derangement that hurts american people in real terms. president trump is not getting deputy secretaries. teams in place. they're slowing down recovery for america as much as they can.

stuart: not a question of policy. president trump's policies are cut taxes, spend on infrastructure, do away with obamacare, get the country moving. it is not so much that, that the left objects to. it is just him. how could they have been beaten by this guy. donald trump? >> they're going to buildings that have the trump name on them. he licenses his name all over the world. in jersey city, new jersey, city hall, people walking around, there is a trump tower there, actually two towers, they're walking around the buildings going after residents. stuart: they are? >> a friend of mine walked out of one of those buildings, was called a racist not signing a petition saying evict trump. this is form of derangement that they perpetuated. lgbt dance party, rave they had outside of inka's house? why? what is your point. this is a president who has been very open to that community. frankly, call it gay republicans, go proud, log cabins and others many people

and i know of supported president based on economic policies and freedom he wants for all americans. stuart: goes all the way back to the election campaign where democrats ran on identity politics. and said that anybody who supports trump is a racist, fascist, bigot, sexist, all way down the line that is a personal critique of president trump. that is not a professional policy critique of president trump. when is this going to end? how will this go on? >> here is the thing. go on until it becomes white noise which it has for many of american people. look what happens. the mayor of newark, new jersey, cory booker down in washington, d.c., he failed to revive the city. beraka is in a shambles much. lost its minor league team. loses businesses, effectively, going after illegal aliens is like the old slave roundups. paraphrasing what he said on politics nation this weekend.

this is the kind of derangement where everything happens, point it as extreme negative against the trump name. stuart: they're desperate to hang on to constituents in the gay community, african-american communit hispanimmunity, got to hold on to them somehow. >> long time ago, sometime in the past few years, you and i had this discussion, dirty little secret in the democratic party the black community is not one monolithic, living as fiscal conservatives they realize they're more centrists and americans, libertarian than anything else. that takes them away from the congressional black caucus. takes them away from al sharpton's, jesse jacksons of the world. pushes them to the american model, not separates into identity politics. what category would they come up with for stu varney? supposed to be in the black box. emac in is the female box. we don't have a box for you guys. stuart: wait a second. in my family, immediate family,

there are three races, two religions, an five nationalities of the how would they label me? >> can i correct anybody on this. biologically correct, undefeatable argument, there is one race, human race, the rest the ethnic identity. stuart: we'll take that. david webb, you're all right indeed. president trump meeting with manufacturers last week. joining us, drew greenblatt, the ceo of marlin steel. he was in the meeting with the president at the white house. he has a big smile on his face. welcome to you, sir. welcome onboard. >> we had a great friday morning. we were in the oval office. it was truly an inspiring event. stuart: i want you to tell us one thing, t most important thing that would bring steel jobs back to america, manufacturing jobs back to america? what is that one thing you most need to get that done? >> i think the tax cuts. right now we're bidding on a huge job, our factory which is based in baltimore city, that is

being created in europe. and we're competing with the german company. my taxes, when you add up the health insurance, the fica, the fuda, everything, the state, et cetera, i'm north of 50%. i'm competing with a german company whose tax rate is much lower. so we win this job, we're going to hire a lot of unemployed steelworkers and if we lose this job, it will be because of the tax rates. the german company is very formidable. we make everything in america. we use 100% usa steel from indian, illinois. we want this job very badly. this is where it matters. this is where the rubber hits the road and if president bush, i'm sorry, president trump can get this pushed through congress, we'll have a huge american manufacturing renaissance. stuart: what was the mood in that meeting? i'm sure its with a very positive mood because -- >> the reason why we were there because the national -- stuart: go ahead, sir.

>> sure. the reason why we were there because the national association of manufacturers does a quarterly survey of all of its members and they have been doing this for many many years. decades. and this, we just compiled results recently t t highest results in history. over 20 years they have been compiling this. and the optimism of these manufacturers was over 93%. it is from 56%, right before the election. the american manufacturers, job creators, people that stroke the checks, hire the people. are pumped up. they are fired up. stuart: have you seen any, better results, more orders coming in to your company, since the election? >> we're seeing nice bookings in the month of march. april we're supposed to get big orders. hopefully we get this one for the big factory out in europe. we're looking very large orders

also, domestically as well. most of the industries that are hot right now, that are buying our baskets, automotive industries, and the medical industries. those are industries getting white hot. stuart: marlin steel, doing well, drew greenblatt. we appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: next case, famous astro physicist, neil degrass tyson says he will not ride on one of elon musk's rockets. ashley: not until elon musk sends his mother to mars and back. i like earth too much. he was holding a town hall meeting on one of the social media platforms. he says the government should be a part of this program. he is one of the biggest supporters of elon musk but also one of his biggest critics. projects that are hugely expensive and dangerous with uncertain returns on investments make very poor profit-driven

companies. in other words, you have to have the government putting in all the safety measures and making sure it progresses at a proper speed against the innovation and enthusiasm of the elon musk. stuart: that is intereing. elon musk is all about private space. hley: of cours he admirers the enthusiasm and desire toe go to new places but tempers it a little bit, wit a minute, maybe the government can help a little bit here. stuart: how do you feel about that? you want to put your tax money into space travel? stuart: you weren't expecting the question. i'm very sorry. liz: you can catch me. that's okay. stuart: look at this, please. ferrari used to be owned by president trump. it is 2007 f-430 coup selling at auction in florida for $270,000. that's a record price for that model. no doubt because it used to be owned by the man who is now the president of the united states. texas governor greg abbott

says he would sign a bill that would jail sheriffs who support sanctuary cities. we'll deal with that next. ♪ what powers the digital world? communication. like centurylink's broadband network that gives 35,000 fans a cutting edge game experience. or the network that keeps a leading hotel chain's guests connected at work, and at play. or the it platform that powers millions of ecards every day for one of the largest greeting card companies. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink.

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ashley: senator rand paul says republicans are closer to getting a deal on obamacare. now congressman andy bigs, a member of the freedom caucus says progress is indeed being made. take a listen. stuart: do you detect real movement or is this just for negotiating purposes? >> i think there's real movement because i think that everyone realizes we made a very simple promise, that democrats, republicans, independents understood, that is we were going to repeal obamacare. most people interpret repeal mean it is going to be gone. that is what people see. i think everyone is trying to move, to get to yes on this. it is so important. we want to keep those promises. ♪ i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune. well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that?

a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today.

stuart: you're look at nasdaq composite index moments ago. brand new all-time high. watch the tech stocks go. tesla, moments ago, an all-time record high. watch the look trick carmaker. that is a new high. 292. sales were up 69% in the first quarter of this year. we have texas governor greg abbott. he is going to sign legislation that will imprison, put in prison sheriffs who do not cooperate with federal immigration laws. pretty strong stuff.

dawn buckingham, republican state senator from texas. welcome to the program. good to have you. >> thank you, stuart. such a pleasure to be on the show with you. you did amazing job on "fox & friends." i caught your appearance. stuart: you can come on anytime you like. you are for this measure? you would put a sheriff in jail if he or she does not obey immigration laws, is that correct. >> i'm only republican elected to the senate out of travis county. hard to believe in this red state. this is sheriff in the county i live. her policies endanger my children and our constituents. we're standing strong. stuart: what does the sheriff in your county have to do to avoid going to jail? >> we're setting clear expectations. it will be state law to avoid the i.c.e. detainer, if you have a policy you don't avoid them, there are cipenalties. uart: hang on a second. dawn, i don't think peop quite understand what the sheriff would have to do. go ahead.

>> oh, sure, absolutely. what happens is, when someone is arrested and the immigration services realizes that they're an illegal, then they, issue a detainer. and our sheriff has said she is not going to honor the vast majority of the detainers coming down from up my graduation. so she would theoretically release people who have been arrested for raping children. stuart: well, she says woe won't acknowledge 9, most of these detainers, but maybe the ones she does acknowledge are the ones where the illegal has committed a serious crime. you could say that? >> well, you could. she will acknowledge them for murder, for aggravated rape, things like that, but things like indecency with a child, drug dealing, those that she would not honor. stuart: how does the community teal about this? you're the only state republican from that county. does the rest of the county feel okay with having these people stay?

>> well the city of austin takes up a lot of the county. she is elected mostly by the population in the city of austin. she ran on this issue actually. she and i met. i really pleaded with her that this is not a political issue. it's a public safety issue. and asked her to not make these choices. that she was truly endangering our community. we had a couple of our most senior democratic texas senators come out against her policies. we all think this is truly a public safety issue. we want to set clear expectations if our sheriffs will not honor i.c.e. detainers, we want them to go through due process in the criminal system. once they're convicted, not just in jail but removed from office. stuart: texas wants to eradicate all sanctuary cities from the state. are you going to do it? >> absolutely. number one issue in the state. stuart: is it really? that is the big issue? >> it is. immigration and border is number one issue in the state. getting rid of lures of sanctuary cities that bring people here is a big part of that issue. stuart: dawn buckingham, thank you very much for being with us this morning. like to hear your point of view.

thanks for joining us. >> thanks so much. have a great day. stuart: thank you. check this out. president trump ahead of the big meeting with china's president this week. he is talking real tough on north korea. what is he saying? >> he is. pretty interesting. in an interview with the financial times. he says look, if you're not prepared to help us out restraining north korea, speaking about china, he says to the financial times, i will go it alone. he said in a statement, china will decide to help us with north korea, or they won't. if they do, that would be very good for china. if they don't it won't be od for anyone. laying down the basis with the chinese president this week, use it as leverage. probably use trade as leverage. stuart: headline right here, financial times. if china is not going to solve north korea, we will. strong stuff. ashley: kind of nice. someone finally says something rather than trying to tiptoe

around the issue. stuart: we do have leverage with china. their leverage is trade. they need our markets. we have got leverage there. if you look at the market since the election, there has not been a significant drop. investors seem to remain confident. the trump agenda it appears is still on track. my take on that, top of the hour, coming up. ♪

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i can't understand why people keep coming back. we brought you at the moment, after the heated exchange with patriotic millionaire, that was last week. many of you wrote in about that. some of you didn't like it. this from al. varney, you're a bully. at least give your guests the chance to state ire opinion. all right, ash, liz, why don't you pass judgment on me. ashley: you didn't give him a whole lot of time to answer but he never really answered the any of the questions. he was not heading in that direction. stuart: that is enough from you. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. ashley: no, you just cut me off. go ahead. liz: well, he was saying he wants to give more to charity but your point is, you want to take more people's income, their hard-earned income to let the government deal with it. people are always patriotic with other people's money. stop nearly quarter of trillion in waste, fraud abuse in medicare, medicaid before you start taking other people's money? stuart: the gentleman was wealthy.

he has established wealth. that wealth is not taxed. he wants people like me, income earners, to pay more, not him because his wealth isn't taxed, us, the strivers of this world. it is flat-out wrong. liz: it is wrong. flat-out wrong. ashley: very frustrated. i understand that. stuart: you're right. to some degree, ashley. to some limited degree you're right. ashley: i would say more than that. stuart: i kind of lost my temper. what i do this, i'm emphatic. ashley: we dive under the desk when you do that. liz: you want alogue. you don't want people coming on making speeches about taking other people's money so the government can give it to charity. stuart: you're precisely right. thank you very much. it was fun, wasn't it. liz: you know i'm right. stuart: quiet on the set. ashley: uh-oh. stuart: we will be back.

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worried about president trump's agenda, all of his legislative schedule, surely the market would sell off. after all, the massive trump rally is based on the promise of economic growth. if growth is indeed threatened, then why no market pull back? the fact is there has not been a significant drop since the election. your 401(k) has gone straight up. there are has been a pause in the trump rally, but that's it. the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq, and especially this giant american tech stocks all are at or near record highs. i think investors are ignoring the political noise that the media throws at us. they're focusing instead on what is important. jobs, getting rid of disastrous obamacare, tax cuts, and, yes, economic growth. who cares about who met who on the white house grounds. who cares how much jared kushner and ivanka trump are worth. who cares about parliamentary moving.

these are all distractions. it's the media's strategy to block and resist everything our president tries to do, it's all just noise. ignore it. watch the market. that is the best indicator of where our soety ecomically is headed. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ stuart: that's it. we're playing it because the baseball season has begun, yesterday was opening day at yankee stadium. they lost. the new york mets will start the season against the they're not braves. i'm very new york centric these days.

ashley: yes, you are. stuart: president trump will meet with the president of egypt. we'll take you life when that happens. and also breaking this morning. reports of an explosion from expertise, russia. take me through it, please. ashley: yes, this happened 23 in the afternoon, a train traveling between stations an explosion on one of the carriages. there are conflictive reports about how many people were killed in this explosion. some say nine. others say ten. also varying numbers of injured up to as many as 50. we also know that another explosive device was found at a subway station in st. petersburg, and that has been deactivated. so obviously all causes being considered, although we already have some russian officials calling it a terrorist act. vladimir putin, the russian president was in st. petersburg today on a separate meeting and was quickly taken out of the city when this happened. stuart: okay. and it's on going, i take it. ashley: on going. stuart: let's get to your money.

check that big board. we're down now. we had some manufacturing sector numbers at 10:00. they weren't wildly wonderful. they weren't terribly strong, but they weren't a disappointment either. maybe that's why we're down 60 points just hanging in there. but the big tech stocks look at them on the right-hand side of your screen. they're all at or very, very close to all-time highs. microsoft is down a little bit, i own that. but most stocks, extraordinarily strong still all-time high. by the way, you add up the market value of all of those companies, and it is $2.6 trillion. about the same as the gdp of france. how about those health insurers? senator rand paul played a round of golf with the president over the weekend. when it is over, he is more optimistic that a new deal can get done. health insurers right now most of them slightly on the upside.

i want to take you back to my take top of the hour. let's bring in herb london. london research for policy research. let me get that right. what is the name of it? the london center for policy research. got it. do you agree with my premise that investors should ignore this noise about the political nonsense in dc and focus on what's goi on? >> i couldn't agree more. i mean, the fact is that there's a lot of dissidents in washington, d.c. and what you get with the press. but there's also no doubt that most americans feel optimistic about the trump presidency and what it means. stuart: still? >> i think so. stuart: despite all of this -- >> yeah. i think by in large people believe that there will be a tax cut. i believe that there will be some infrastructure spending. i believe that dodd-frank is going to be revised in some fashion. i do believe that most americans think that. there's a consequence i think that the sentiment of upism about the future is very widespread. stuart: what about this golfing outing in virginia over the weekend.

senator rand paul arch conservative plays golf with president trump. they're all trying to get something new on the books about health care. do you think any progress was made? because rand paul suggests there was. >> well, rand paul, this is very much a straight shooter. and what he would like to see of course is the role the private sector will play. the free market will play in health care. and i think there's some sort of balance that could be struck between the view of what i would call the conservative conservatives and the libertarians. there's no doubt that some understanding or compromise can be achieved. stuart: who are you for? >> i like the idea one of competition, two of the role of the free market, and three of introducing states that have a variety of insurers. so that you don't have to buy insurance from one insurers. stuart: and if all of that were in this bill, whatever nebill comng, you would vote for -- they would vote for it. it would go through. >> that's correct. i think these are principles that serve as a foundation for what would happen in health care. stuart: see, the market wants

to know is this close? or is it still months and months and months aaway? and now we're down 70 points on the dow. >> well, i think the public is interested in getting some alternative to obamacare. i think that we would like to see this chapter closed in our history and move on. let's talk about other issues. stuart: okay. i want to bring this to your attention. i know you've seen it already. headline in today's financial times. they had an exclusive interview with president trump. splashed all across the front here. quote if china -- this is president trump. if china is not going to solve north korea, we will. that is a very strong statement by our president days before china's leader arrives. >> there are two things that i think the president can use in the way of leverage. one is our trade with china. obviously it's a very significant part of a chinese economy. the second thing that has not been used very effectively is the role of japan. that is despite article 9 in the japanese constitution prohibiting the development of nuclear weapons, the president

could say t to the president of china, we have talked to the japanese about revising their constitution. nothing would alarm more than japan with nuclear weapons. they would jump into a seat of negotiating table. stuart: so you're saying we do have leverage. >> oh, yes, we do. stuart: leverage on trade because they have a gigantic trade surplus and japan, we could encourage them to be more military aggressive? >> it is the question of nuclear weapons. japais saying if you can send a nuclear weapon in 11 minutes, there is very little time for discussion. the japanese needed the deterrent. again, with a younger generation, you can make that argument. with an older generation that remembers hiroshima, it's difficult. stuart: this is the first time that i can remember an american president getting really, really tough with north korea because of what

they're doing with nukes. i can't remember this before. >> well, keep in mind that the president has met, and he has said to the japanese president "we are going to do something about north korea." this has alarmed the japanese. they're sending missiles over worrying the japanese people, and they're looking for some sort of deterrent, a way that you can count on the united states and a way in which the japanese can protect themselves. stuart: shortly i think in about 20, 25 minutes, the senate judiciary committee will vote on neil gorsuch for the supreme court. it will go along party lines and almost certainly he will be confirmed in that committee. then he goes to the full senate and mitch mcconnell says he's going to be confirmed come may. which means on friday night, we could probably have a new supreme court justice sworn in by the president, which means next week they could resubmit the travel ban, get it to the supreme court, and it would go through, presumably, not for sure, if neil gorsuch is on the court.

this is about to happen. >> it's a very interesting development, and you're quite right. he will get through. i don't think the nuclear option will have to be used. but if it is necessary, mcconnell has already said fine. we will use it. stuart: quite big stuff, isn't it? >> it is. stuart: you covered a lot of ground there. >> that's because i'm a new yorker, and i speak very qukly. stuart: yeah, you do. thank you. >> thank you. stuart: now this. epipen. they issued a massive recall because there's a potential defect. what's going on? liz: so if you have an expiration date on your epipen december 15, 2016, you should turn it in. it likely will not work. so they started out recalling them in places like norway, denmark, finland, they started out with 80,000. now this recall could affect u.s., -- europe, asia, south america. so they broadened it. put it up on the big board, please, because now we're down

close to 100 points. the reason of the day for why we're down, all that i've got is that at 10:00 this morning, we had numbers on manufacturing and construction spending, which were strong. but not maybe as wall street wanted to see. maybe theres some disappointment built into this. ashley: caterpillar is the biggest loser. stuart: they foxed loss on the dow. coming up the ceo of the national association of manufacturers, he was in the room with president trump, you see him right there, he's the guy who has an extraordinary optimism index. and he's the guy who's with us in a moment. yes?

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stuart: president trump met with the manufacturing people lastee joining us now jay timmons. jay, i know you're in the meeting because we've seen the videotape. but you also came out with that extraordinary optimism index, the best you had ever seen, i believe. will you repeat it for our audience, please? >> yeah. happy to do that stuart. it was frankly just fascinating to see the results come in for our quarterly outlook survey. manufacturers have a 93% optimistic outlook. and to your point, that is the high in the entire industry of the survey. in addition to that, i think it's interesting to note that manufacturers have a 60 percent positive outlook or they feel the country's on the right track, and that's up from 26% just a few months ago. so big gains. stuart: just a few moments ago, we had a steel manufacturer, a steel company ceo. i asked him what's the big

thing that you want from the trump administration, which would bring manufacturing jobs back to america. his answer was tax cuts. to him, it was all about cutting taxes on him and his company. what do you say? >> well, let me expand a little bit more on that. it's all about reducing the cost of doing business here in the united states. we've really hurt ourselves over the course of the last few decades by allowing our tax rates to be noncompetitive. other countries all around the world are lowering their rates of taxes for businesses and allowing them to use that money to invest and to create jobs. ant to do that here. the other thing to look at is our regulatory burden. $2trillion of regulatory burden on american businesses. we know that but there's got to be a more sensible way forward in in facting a regulatory agenda. one that does not harm the economy. stuart: and you're confident at this point that you'll get the tax cuts, and you'll get the deregulation.

you must be very confident if your optimism index is at a 20-year high. >> i think what you see from manufacturers is great confidence and optimism in the fact that we have an administration that's talking about manufacturing and talking about manufacturing competitiveness. growing investment and jobs right here in the united states. and you have a congress who wants -- who seemingly wants to help the president achieve those goals. so we're actually very optimistic that we can get things done that will help the american people. stuart: the other side of the coin will be that you're just giving the president the good news that he wants to hear and that you are giving the good books of the presidency because it will do you a lot of good. that's the cynical point of view. go ahead. >> well, facts are facts. the news is good. we want to make sure it stays good is very simple. you grow the economy, you invest in research and development and new facilities in this country. you create more jobs, and you

lift everyone up. if that happens, the good news will continue. and i think that's what all americans want, regardless of their political party affiliation. regardless of their philosophical outlook, they want americans to succeed. manufacturers have a agenda. it is our competing to win agenda. and we're very hopeful that we'll see some positive activity in the next few months and years. stuart: jay timmons. the man with the optimism index joining us today, and we thank you very much indeed. >> great to see you, stuart. stuart: check this out. tesla. they sell a lot of cars in the first quarter of the year. worldwide up i believe 69% and look at that stock. $292 a share. all-time high. ashley: yeah, the previous quarter down 10%. selling right around 25,000 cars, delivering 25,000. puts them on track to hit their 50,000 mark by june.

stuart: lizzie, tell me again how tesla is worth more company than the ford motor company. liz: yeah, we broke the news a few hours ago. it broke the cap versus ford's 45.1 billion. so ford sells 6.7 million cars. tesla is selling in the tens of thousands of cars, it has only been profitable one, two quarters in its entire existence as a public company. stuart: sometimes it's very hard to get to grips with the stock market because it doesn't appear to make sense, but it usually does. in fact, i would say it always does because the market can never get it wrong. look at the market now, please. we're off 80 points. again, we believe that the numbers on manufacturing that came out at 10:00 eastern time were not quite adds good as the market wanted. the disappointment may be built into that down 84 points. how about under armour?

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[ [ screams ] ] [ shouting ] brace yourself! this is crazy! [ tires screeching ] whoo! boom baby! rated pg-13. [ screams ] [ [ screams ] ] [ shouting ] brace yourself! this is crazy! [ tires screeching ]

whoo! boom baby! rated pg-13. [ screams ] stuart: you're not answering the question. you can pay more. you want people to pay more. why don't you pay more? >> if i'm going to write a check, i would give it to a charity before i give it to the government. >> you're forcing me to pay more to the government. what's going on? >> you must be a rich guy then. stuart: i'll tell you the difference. you have wealth. you have built up a company, and you have welt. that welt is not taxed. almost lost my temper. that was the argument with the patriotic millionaire. now, that's a group of people, wealthy people who want you to pay higher taxes. he's not the only rich person who's backing democrat politics.

watch this. 15 of the 25 richest counties in america, that would be 60% of the richest, richest counties in america voted for hillary clinton in the last election. this -- to me, this is a turn around, a seat change in american politics. the rich vote democrat? ics and how do they not see it when the rust belt were going toward republican? moving toward republicans and bernie sanders and joe biden just in the past few days say you know what? democrat party, you've lost your way. you've become too liral elitest. you have to move toward the working class men and women who voted for trump. ashley: it's opposite world. you would think automatically that the richest counties automatically vote for republicans. not true because the truly wealthy, that doesn't bother them. they're not getting taxed any higher anyway under a democratic candidate. >> i put it to you when you and i first came to america a

long, long time ago the standalone politics was rich republicans. wow, times have changed. what a total turn around this is. now they're saying you've got to get away from this because you're losing. liz: by the way, what took them so long? it's march 2017 and they're only now waking up to that fact? sorry. democratic party is so behind the eight ball, so lost their way, and they have so alienated so many people across this country with how far left they've gone and calling people racist deploreables? i mean, come on. bernie sanders said knock that off too. stuart: well said. thank you, liz, thank you, ashley. first of all, this. the market coming back a little. still down 75 points. the bottom right hand of your screen. up next, karl rove saying senator rand paul who played golf with the president saying they're closer than ever to a health care deal. what does carl say about that?

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stuart: the senate judiciary committee is about to vote to send the nomination of neil gorsuch to the full senate.

this will be a party line vote. fix news is now reporting -- fox news is now reporting there are now more than enough democrats who oppose cloture. that means the gop will need the nuclear option to confirm gorsuch. that means he'll be confirmed on a 51 vote in the senate. that's it. karl rove is with us. yes, karl rove is there. i'm sorry, i didn't know whether you were there or not. is there any great significance to this, that theyl have play the nuclear card and go to 50, 51 votes to confirm him? >> yeah, there will be. first of all, it's a sign of the continuing deterioration of partisanship in the senate. the democrats who spoke so vociferously against doing judges, supreme court judges on 51 votes, you know, today were opposed to that before. and, you know, look, it's a sad day when the senate gets into

these kind of knots. a guy who was appointed to the 10th circuit court of appeals with a unanimous vote in the senate is now the subject of a highly partisan, divisive vote for the supreme court. it's unnecessary, it's inappropriate, and democrats will regret the day this happened as will, at some point, republicans. stuart: i think the democrats will regret it if there is another vacancy that emerges in president trump's first term because next time around, there'll be known of this 60 votes required, it'll be 51, and you could be replacing a liberal justice with a conservative which would really rearrange the balance of the supreme court. >> sure. absolutely. it probably means no president is going to be able to get their nominee to the supreme court if they don't control the senate without a great deal of difficulty. if you have a minority situation in the senate like clinton had for much of his term, it'd be very problematic. if you nominated a justice in your second term like obama when

he had a republican senate, would have been problematic. stuart: i really feel that voters are angry about this. they don't like it. and i don't think they liked it when the president's health care bill was withdrawn that friday, what, 8, 9, 10 days ago. they didn't like that. and now we have senator rand paul plays golf with the president, and after the game he says we're closer than ever to a deal on health care. karl, you know the inside of this stuff. does that mean that president trump and speaker ryan are moving closer to the freedom caucus position? >> well, first of all, be careful about reading too much into senator paul's words. he said that we were moving closer to repeal of obamacare. he didn't say repeal and replace. and right from the beginning he has been a fervent advocate of, if need be, just repeal obamacare and hope in the next couple years something pops up to replace it. i was struck it wasn't repeal

and replace, it was repeal only. look, republicans understand this is a huge problem for them not to get something done on this. they've spent since 2010 talking about this in campaign, and the failure to get it done a week ago last friday is a real challenge to the image of the party as being able to govern. are they going to tackle it again? yes. is it likely to happen soon? i don't know, i don't think so. is it's going to require a lot of attention, a lot of hard work, and it's also going to require people to compromise because this thing went down because people wouldn't compromise. stuart: well, karl, what chance of a flat-out, simple repeal, that's it, that's all the bill contains, repeal it and then work on replacement later? what's the chances of that? >> i think the chances are zero because you will immediately toss off of the exchanges overnight 10.2 million people. and i think there's been a widespread recognition that there needs to be some kind of a

transition period. remember last year the republicans did a straight repeal, but they gave themselves -- and they sent that measure through the house, through the senate, and president obama vetoed it. but in there there was a two-year transition period during which the expectation was we'll come up with repeal legislation. if you have strictly a repeal with no transition period and the exchanges end overnight, that's really problematic, and i think it's even problematic now if you have a transition period, because the democrats will say by the time we get around to the 2018 election, ten million americans are going to be losing their insurance courtesy of the republicans because they don't have a good answer. stuart: i've been taking a lot of flak because my position is that the freedom caucus made a mistake, they should have passed that bill, whatever, but do something, but they missed the chance. i'm taking heat for it, and so are you. >> i'm with you, man, i agree entirely. the house bill was not going to be the perfect bill because it was going to be the start of the process.

they made the bill better by making four suggestions that were reasonable, and then it could have been made better in the senate and hopefully in the conference committee that would have to resolve the differences, but they were not practical, and they sai fundamentally not true, and they're still saying them today. i noticed jim jordan said we need to do something about community rating. well, the bill on page 67 and 68 gets rid of community rating, returns it to what's calls 5 to 1, you can charge older people up to five times what you charge a younger person because older people have on balance roughly about 4.8 times the amount of coverage -- draw on the insurance coverage that they have as do younger people. it returned it to the situation, and yet we're still hearing some of the members as recently as this weekend say in the freedom caucus we've got to do something about community rating. well, read the bill, for god's sake. it could be any standard any state wants. when the affordable care act was passed, 42 states had a 5 to 1

ban, only one state had the 3 to 1 ban, that was minnesota. stuart: cheer up, karl, we'll get the tax cut -- >> absolutely. then we'll get repeal and replacement of obamacare under the varney plan. [laughter] stuart: okay. so you can blame me. okay, karl -- from no, no, i'm with you. i'm with you. stuart: karl rove, everyone. thanks for being with us. by the way, the dow is down close to 100 points, down 95 to be precise. look at the home builder stocks. investors remain confident that president trump's growth agenda is still on track. the home builder stocks are actually down today, not much. joining us now is steve wit cough, he joining us, a friend of donald trump. is that correct? >> that's correct, institute. stuart: personal friend of donald trump. >> yes, for 30 years. stuart: tell me, do you give him advice? >> no. stuart: you don't? >> no, i say it often, friends don't lobby their friends.

stuart: hold on a second. when he put out that tweet on that standard morning, i think three weeks ago, just -- it was a difficult tweet, blamed president obama, said he bugged trump tower. did you ever say anything to him about that? did you ever say, mr. president, don't do that? >> well, i only learn about the tweets from fox news, because i don't have a twitter account. so i have the learn from your broadcast. stuart: okay. [laughter] now, what do you think of the premise, my argument is that investors and voters in general are ignoring all the noise that's being made out of d.c. with the russians have done this and investigate that and who met who on the white house grounds. i say that average people are ignoring that and focusing instead on trump is still president and still trying to grow the economy. >> pre-trump there was no growth platform, no growth strategy, and it's clear that this president is pro-growth. dodd-frank, adding more

liquidity into the system, changing the trade focus, all of it, these are all the components of growth. he's up against headwinds which are falling demographics and falling productivity, and he's got the right answers in terms of tax reform and infrastructure spend, and most importantly, dodd-frank. stuart: you're in the real estate business. >> yes. stuart: in new york city. that's what you do. >> yes. stuart: now, you know donald trump because he's in the real estate business. he's been in it for 30 years. >> yes. stuart: is he as good as a lot of people say he is? >> you know, i did a deal in london, and i was interviewed in the london financial times, and they said how do you compare yourself to donald trump, this was 12 years ago. i said, i can't, he's the best developer i know. he learned from his dad, fred. he's a risk manager. you cannot be in the real estate business without being a risk manager who makes that cost benefit analysis every single day as to what's important. and i believe he's making those

decisions correctly. stuart: weren't you interviewed on another network recently, and you went on the set, and you were it would that it was going to be about you know donald trump, you know the man personally, what's he like as a negotiator. tell me what happened when you got on the set and they asked the first question. >> well, they turned it into a russian conversation. stuart: on about russia? >> and, of course, my initial answer was russia's a red herring. i just think it's a lot of noise and a big distraction and why. because putin is the natural ally, as donald is a risk manager assesses what's the biggest existential to the u.s., it's terrorism -- stuart: what was the response when you said, oh, it's a red herring? >> well, i think they were sort of surprised at the response, but it's a correct answer not because i am a proxy for the president, but because putin has the largest muslim problem out there today. he's got 30 million muslims who could be radicalized. stuart: good point.

>> so he's the natur ally for us in the fight against isis. stuart: are you a billionaire? >> well, i can't comment -- [laughter] stuart: it's okay. i'm sorry, i like to throw curves every now and again. >> i've seen it. [laughter] stuart: i know you have. you should have been expecting it. steve, welcome to the show and thanks very much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: i'll never ask you again. that's a promise. disney, as of today, is beefing up security at the big parks. visitors will have to -- i think they'll have to open their bags, go new a metal detector before they go on the monorail? >> yes, and elsewhere, the joke is the magic kingdom is turning into the magic fortress. disney will say they needed to upgrade, they only had a bag check and not metal detectors. the ferry boats, the monorail system, at the ticket booth and also going through the resorts like the grand floridian. stuart: i think they had to do something -- >> they had no choice. it's the world we live in,

unfortunately. stuart: check the coal stocks for a moment, please. there are such things, they've been run down horribly in the past couple of years. robert mauerly was on this program earlier. he runs a coal company. he says the president can bring some of those coal jobs back. up next, we're joined by a congressman from coal country. does he think the same way? we're on it. ♪ ♪

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>> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. after a great first quarter, we saw the dow and the nasdaq up six straight quarters and today somewhat of a mixed start here. you can see right now we've turned to the downside. the dow right now down 89, s&p also to the downside. the nasdaq, though, hitting an all-time high again today. take a look at some of the names, including amazon. another record there. and up almost 50% over the last year. looking at ford, another recall from ford, the third in a week for the f-250s, they could roll unexpectedly even out of being parked and also the fact that ford, all the manufacturer auto sales for general motors and ford have been under pressure. tesla, on the other hand, on pace to outpace even what they had planned 47-50,000 deliveries

for the first half, and that moved tesla to yet another all-time high. lauren simonetti and i will see you at five a.m..

>> well, he can. it's the degree to which he brings them back. i was asked when i was quoted can he bring them back to where they were. of course he can bring the jobs back. he's doing wonderful things.

stuart: that's robert murray, he says we've lost 60,000 coal jobs in the past eight years. he thinks that president trump will bring back 30,000 of those coal jobs if we get deregulation and tax cuts. congressman bill johns joins us now, he's a republican from ohio. that is coal country itself. sir, welcome back to the program. it's been a long time. welcome back. >> thanks, stuart. good to be with you. stuart: now, the numbers from robert murray, 60,000 coal mining jobs gone, 30,000 come back if we get tax cuts and deregulation. you in line with those numbers? >> i absolutely am. and i'm very, very hopeful. you know, with the moves that president trump has taken already in eliminating the string protection rule and last week in halting the clean power plan, he's now brought down the two twin pillars of the obama administration's war on coal and attack on the supply side with the string protection rule and

the clean power plan that attacked the demand side of coal. and i think these were very, very critical moves that needed to be made to allow the coal industry to compete on a level playing field with other energy sources. i'm hopeful. stuart: sir, i think that's why president trump -- or donald trump as he was then -- won the state of ohio. i think it was, what, six or seven points. i think that was what did it. >> well, he won my district if you saw the article in "the washington post," he won my district, we were the top performing trump district in the nation, stuart. and it was largely because of the coal battle, absolutely. stuart: i want to tell you about senator rand paul, played a round of golf with the president over the weekend. after the game he said he was optimistic that a new health care deal will get done. what do you say about that? the is it possible that we'll get something fairly soon? because congressman marsha blackburn told us on this program this morning they're

working on it day and night, they could get something by the end of this week. is that a bit of a stretch, do you think? >> oh, i don't think it's a stretch. i can tell you that it's being worked on literally around the clock. that much is true. and i can tell you that we've got to do it, stuart. what you're seeing play out on national television right now is much akin to what we saw in the '60s with vietnam and the first war that was fought on national television. now you're seeing the legislative process inside the house of representatives and the senate play out on national television. this is called governing. this is called legislating. and we've got to get this right, because obamacare is going to collapse. ofs it is already collapsing -- it is already collapsing. the individual market has been decimated. and i've got people -- stuart, when you're paying $18,000 for a premium and you've got $9,000 in deductible, that's $27,000 out of your pocket before you, before the insurance company

pays a dime. we've got to save the american people from this disaster called obamacare. stuart: in my opinion, the freedom caucus did the wrong thing eight days ago, nine, ten days ago when that bill was withdrawn. are you with me on this? >> well, i, you know, i wish my, i wish my colleagues had not done that, you know? this is not a perfect bill, but i can tell you that it moves the ball in the right direction. and what we have to remember, stuart, is that this is not a one-move chess match. this is just one step in a series of three that will complete the task of repealing and replacing obamacare. we've got a lot of regulatory activity in health and human services with dr. tom price, and we've got some legislative moves that we're going to be making as well. and i can tell you when our democrat colleagues realize how devastating obamacare is and when they see how markets

respond to the moves that we're trying to make here to repeal obamacare, i think you're going to see them want to get onboard to do more of the kind of legislative fixes that we've got in mind as well. stuart: congressman bill johnson, republican from ohio, we'll see you again soon. >> thank you very much, stuart. stuart: look on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, the dow is now down 106 points. we're on it. coming up, well, wait a minute, look who's walking down the hall. he's on his way. that would be jue andrew napolino. democrats lining up to oppose neil gorsuch, forcing the nuclear option. the judge in a moment with us. your insurance company

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stuart: the senate judiciary committee is about to vote, sending the nomination of neil gorsuch to the supreme court to the full senate. this will be a party line vote. judge napolitano is with us now. i'm hearing that they will need to use the nuclear option. that means they will, they'll need to say you only need 51 votes in the senate to pass. that's what they're going to do. >> i think that's probably what's going the happen. a couple of basics. the nomination goes to the senate floor no matter what the senate judiciary committee does. presumably, it'll be along party lines, but if three republicans

vote against him on the jewish judiciary commtee, it still goes to the senate floor. we have a lot of our people doing counting, and depending on which list, the democrats have 39 or 40. they need 41. they need one more, and that will force the so-called nuclear option which you and i have agreed is probably a little too much in the weeds for the public that just wants to know if he's going to be confirmed, yes or no. stuart: well -- >> and if they do go to this nuclear option -- translate, 51 votes needed -- he most certainly will be confirmed. not a single republican is against him, and they have 52. stuart: neil gorsuch will become supreme court squaws -- justice probably on friday night. >> the swearing in is symbolic. he will sign the oath before the swearing in, he acquires the power, and he can vote on the court. stuart what chance that the travel ban, which went all the

way up to the appellate level, suppose it's resubmitted next week or the week thereafter because now you've got neil gorsuch on a 5-4 court. >> i think it's unlikely that it would happen soon, but it may get there eventually. the travel ban went up to the 9th circuit in a preliminary examination. the supreme court only takes cases when they've been ruled on with finality below. so we have to have a trial in a trial court and a ruling by the trial judge, an appeal to an appellate court and a ruling by that court, then to the supreme court of the u.s. but can judge -- justice -- assuming he's -- stuart: that's his name. >> justice gorsuch rule on a matter that emanated directly from the president be mom nighted him a? -- nominated him? absolutely. irrespective of his relationship to the president. stuart: can you tell me what issues he might rule on next week? do you know of anything he could actually say i'm with this guy? >> the reason i don't know is because th is a tightly-guarded secret, what

cases have a 4-4 tie on them. justice gorsuch will find out friday night or monday morning. [laughter] and they'll say, well, neil, do you want to break -- you're the new, you're the youngster here, do you want to break these ties? imagine being in that historical moment in your life. stuart: what would he do? what should he do? >> he will say, he should, he should say, in my humble opinion, yes. give me the briefs, give me the materials, give me everything to read, i will read it and vote as if i had been with you when it was argued two months ago. stuart: judge, thank you very much, indeed. [laughter] >> of course. we'll watch it for you. stuart: breaking away for a second because any moment now the president of egypt,al sissies, will be arriving -- al-sisi, will be arriving at the white house. you will see him. more "varney" after this.

stuart: the of egypt is arriving. president el-sisi on a visit to the white house. president moves forward. about to shake hands. the car carrying egypt's president has drawn up. the guard opens the door. the handshake. taking place at the white house. that is live. i don't know how many arrived since january the 20th. but quite a few. bear in mind on thursday of this week president trump will be at mar-a-lago to greet president xi of china who does not play positively. ashley: they won't be on the links hitting a golf ball. stuart: i'm wondering what president xi will make of mar-a-lago. liz: president trump already said that will be a difficult meeting with president of china

given north korea and trade issues. stuart: most interesting story to me, so far today, a few seconds left that tesla is worth more than the ford motor company. catching up on general motors. who would have thought that. that is incredible. my time is up. neil cavuto it is yours. neil: stuart, thank you very, very much. we'll see what comes up with the meeting with the president of the egypt. he has been brand ad dictator by his critics. many are wondering why he would have a meeting here but he is leader of a foreign country. he deposed mohamed morsi. a lot of attention to that, even though morsi at the time was democratically elected, there were questions back and forth whether he was really democratically elected. that is neither hehere nor there. they will have a brief meeting