we want to show you a live look at the white house. president trump is about to welcome cyclists from wounded warriors. president trump is waiting for them right there at the white house. thanks to our all-star cast. >> thank you. maria: dagen mcdowell, lee carter, here is stu. stuart: i'll take it. if you've got problems, don't blame china, that's the official word from bay jiang-- beijing from xi ping. it's a importan important day f china's leader. he wants to look like the equal of trump. you'll see the body language and facial expressions. you'll learn a lot about u.s.-china trades.

and speaker paul ryan, what he has to say could affect your money. he says tax reform could take longer than health care. investors do not like that. the speaker speaks again in 45 minutes. you'll hear it. how about jeff bezos, amazon man, in a rare public appearance he's selling more than a billion dollars worth of stock for the space business, he hopes to put them in space next year. a gilded age, and xi goes to mar-a-lago, what a show! "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ >> we were actually closer on agreement on health care than we were on tax reform. the house had the plan and the senate doesn't have one yet and working on one. the white house hasn't nailed it down. even the three entities don't-- aren't on the same page yet on

tax reform. stuart: ooh, that hurts. that was speaker ryan yesterday, says tax reform may take even longer than health care. check those futures, not affecting the market this morning. the futures show a gain of about 20, 25 points at the opening bell. we'll get more clarity on exactly what paul ryan is talking about with tax cuts about 43 minutes from now when he holds a press conference. joining me now though, fiscal times columnist liz peek. i don't think that helped the market. any delay in tax reform is-- >> he was talking about passing health care reform before they got the legislation out there for everybody to look at. i think they've learned a lesson, a, they have tremendous resistance in the house. the freedom caucus was a serious thorn in their side and it will be on tax reform. they're not going to like the border adjustment tax and on

that hangs this entire bill. stuart: he speaks at 9:45 this morning and changed the time of his regular news conference. we're going to carry it. i would not be at all surprised if he moves the market. because if he says that again about tax reform or health care reform being delayed, i think he'll move that market again. >> interestingly mark meadows came out this morning and said basically if we have an adjustment which they're about to have for easter recess, it will, you know, hurt the momentum of health care bill. i wrote they should cancel the easter recess. they've got too much to do, not enough days to get done all they want to get done. serve notice on this congress that they are there to do their job and basically cancel this vacation. stuart: we're going to have an editorial later on the show, the republican party is not governing and they should. i will say that later, i said it now. i find this story fascinating. amazon's chief jeff bezos says he'll sell a billion dollars

worth of his amazon stock for blue origin. >> my business model isn't the future business model. but my business model right now for blue origin, i sell about a billion dollars a year of amazon stock and use it to invest in blue origin. stuart: i like that, using huge technology money to fund other enterprises in different areas. what's wrong with that? >> i think actually the amazing sort of understory that gone on for some time, the federal government is out of space, basically, they are not governing the future of space travel, it's private enterprise, amazon and also elon musk. i think it's a fascinating rivalry and they've made enormous progress. a big issue is bringing down the cost, so they say, and in reusable rockets they've been able to do that and both companies are doing that and it's extraordinary. >> you know what i'm going to say. >> go on. >> i don't want to interrupt. >> go ahead.

>> jeff bezos owns "the washington post," which is the principal trump hating media vehicle in america today, and, yes, the guy is truly a brilliant business guy. >> what is more risky, owning a newspaper or a space company? maybe it doesn't matter. stuart: it doesn't matter whether you're "the washington post," you're in clover. >> he's a visionary. ashley: i love the fact that he dressed up like tom cruise in the dark glasses. >> space travel, what the heck. stuart: i fully approve of the mega billions from technology going into other areas and really doing good for our society in other areas. i think microsoft has put a billion into cancer research, something like that, maybe more. >> and look what gates has done in education or trying to do and health care, lots of things like that. stuart: all right. our futures now up nearly 40 points. did we move the market?

i don't know. take that credit. how about that, china's president xi ping meeting with president trump today and tomorrow, gordon chang is here. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: look i said at the top of the show, president ping wants to look the equal of president trump, what he's trying to do here. >> it's important. we in democracies don't think so much about legitimacy because they're inherently legitimate. his form of government is not. therefore, he needs televised images of trump standing next to mar-a-lago and they can play it up in state media. that's important to him on the two-day meeting. >> it's the body language. the way they stand, the facial expressions, that's very important in china, right? >> absolutely. there's a whole body of literature the way that ping

greets foreign leaders, the way he stands and handshake, it's of importance for illegitimate chinese leaders. stuart: do you think that he's playing defense? his economy is in trouble and a trade surplus, he doesn't like. >> first, he has the faltering economy and the only way they have growth is putting on debt in an unprecedented pace. they're accumulating five times faster than creating output. even if you believe the inflated output numbers. china's gotten everything they want from the u.s. anyway so it couldn't be better from beijing's perspective. they're worried about trump changing the equation with china. stuart: that's what he's going to do. if you listen to president trump in advance he's talking about putting a tax on stuff coming into the country. >> all sorts of things he's going to do and i think one of the things that people overlook, he's talking about

sanctioning chinese bank. the heist from the federal reserve bank of new york and undoubtedly by chinese e banks, if they unplug them from the global financial system which they should do, this is bank robbery, then, i think china is in a very difficult position. stuart: we've heard nothing about whatsoever, but may well be dealt with behind closed doors. >> absolutely. stuart: last one, mara log-- mar-a-lago, the palace down south. they went there in february and americans are treating ping the same status as a u.s. ally. the message they'll take away. >> what about the palatial aspect of mar-a-lago will they like that?

>> no, and he's not playing golf, it's associated with corruption. he goes after his enemies using corruption as an excuse. and he won't play golf. stuart: your thoughts. >> i think that trump can change things with china just because he's trump. stuart: you're going to be in demand. just johnson's manager says he's taking anti-inflammatory medication icing his back. he's expected to tee off this afternoon, however, the odds are shifted. ashley: he lowered on his back and elbows,en down the stairs in the house he's renting.

he's the very last group to tee off. 2:00 eastern this afternoon and the maximum amount of time to recover. as for the odds he was the 11-2 favorite and it's dropped. who is now the favorite, jordan spieth 13-2, rory mcel ray johnson 8-1, fowler and dustin rhodes. stuart: who do you like? >> i think rory mcilroy, he's use today playing in strong winds and stormy weather. stuart: so ashley supports rory mcilroy. listen to this. ashley: i know where you're going about a round of golf. rory mcilroy questioning whether he would play another round of golf with the president, as in president trump. he would now think twice if he was asked to do it again. we have some opinion on that

coming up. gary cohn, the top white house economic advisor, he says he wants the big banks to split up their investment and consumer banking divisions. we're talking big bank breakups. and the president saying that susan rice may, may have committed a crime. that's not the way the media is spinning it. do we have a show for you or what? we'll be right back. yes? please repeat the objective. ♪ thrivent mutual funds. managed by humans, not robots. before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds.com.

itch. stuart: take a look at taser. they're changing the name, ax on body cameras. it's moving on the stock and changing the name. and how about these brands of vodka, made more than wall street expected and that's up 5%. nice gain for a liquor company. two big names, not company names, private individual

names, you know these people, they've been thrown out as possible buyers of the miami marlins, who are we talking about, ash. ashley: the list, derek jeter, he could be a possible bidder , former yankees short stop. former governor and g.o.p. candidate, jeb bush. low energy jeb. [laughter] sorry. >> that word. >> ooh, where does that line come from? >> remembering the primary and i couldn't help, but go there. stuart: they say that baseball is a low energy sport. >> compared to football, soccer, you guys would agree with that. ashley: very unamerican. and it's another group of businessmen, and how much is it going to go from between 800 million and 1.6 billion for the worst team in baseball. they call it the miami marlins now, because i don't think the

rest of florida wants to claim them anymore. stuart: we're cruel. >> i think they should have cross sporting, have the dolphins acquire them and have an aquarium. stuart: liz, you've been away for a leak. >> so much energy, i'm sorry. stuart: and president thinks that susan rice broke the law by unmasking team members caught up in surveillance. here is the answer, quote, it certainly looks like she may have. the key wording in this exchange, may have. okay? the lefty media ignoring that. here is how the new york times is spinning it. trump citing no evidence suggests susan rice committed a crime. okay. let's cut to it, straight at it. judge napolitano is here, did she commit a crime? >> well, we don't know all the facts, but we do know what the law is, so, start out with basics. the use of intelligence data for political purposes is a felony.

stuart: okay. >> so if she unmasked a person or requested the unmasking because it was necessary for her to understand what a foreign person was talking about, that's lawful under the rules. if she unmasked for a political reason, unlawful. stuart: wait a minute, look, you put her on the stand and you say did you do this for political reasons she would say, no, no, no. >> that's the way you say, here we have a conference between donald trump and paul manafort, there's nothing talking about the russians, talking about a speech at the national convention. stuart: do we know that she had access to that kind of transcript and then put that transcript around within the obama administration? do we know if she did that. >> no, we don't know the facts, we don't know we have access to, we know what she admitted to. she admitted to unmasking in trump tower in the trump

transition team and during the campaign, she says for national security reasons. so, for you, i read the regulation. this is a weird regulation, parts of it are whited out. imagine that? there's parts of a federal regulation that the public is not allowed to read, but the part that you're allowed to read permits unmasking only when necessary to understand a foreign policy conversation. stuart: you would think that after all of these years in america, i would get used to legalistic gobbledygook, i'm still not used to it. here is my question, did the obama team, repeat, the obama team, did they use intelligence data for political purposes? >> it appears they did, but we don't have all the facts and we need to know the facts. congressman peter king, on another network said he has seen this stuff and it has nothing to do with russia or foreign policy. it tracks the movement of american citizens throughout the day.

i think one of those american citizens is donald trump. stuart: so, here is what it looks like to me. a total outsider, nonlawyer, here is what it looks like, they had an intelligence information a year before the election what mr. trump was up to or top people were up to, conversations between the two that was collected by the nsa, susan rice got a hold of it and passed it around. it looks to me. >> if that is so, she committed numerous felonies and we need to reframe the surveillance laws of the united states because you cannot trust this kind of raw data in the hands of people who would use it for their own political purposes. stuart: i don't care about the legalisms, i'm sorry. >> you should care about the legalisms because it will protect you. stuart: i care about the politics of this. looks to me like the obama administration did it with the irs and did it with trump. >> isn't this what trump said for which he was derided and

laughed at used the phrase, tapping my wire. it's not done by tapping wires now days, it's-- >> the bottom line we need to know more facts. the fbi should be-- >> breaking news, congressman meadows, the freedom caucus. he believes the house can deliver on tax reform by august if the republican leaders are open to quote, serious debate. worth breaking in for. >> a smile on your face. stuart: worth breaking in for. looking live at capitol hill momentarily speaker paul ryan will hold a news conference in 25 minutes. we may finally get clarity on health care and taxes. we'll bring it to you 9:45. it could move the market and we'll be back. your insurance company

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> you've heard us talk about the retail ice age and bricks and mortar stores in real trouble. a new angle on that, how about retail banks, they're in trouble because they've got so many branches that people don't

go to any longer. we're logging onto websites and apps. last time you went to a bank, is there a line? >> there's no line, all there is is people lining up to use the atm. it's crazy where there's empty store front, empty store front. two-thirds of the time the bank will open a new office. i can't imagine their model in this. stuart: banks have invested in expensive real estate and probably don't want it. ashley: you walk into a bank, don't you, stu. stuart: i do all the time. ashley: you write checks. stuart: a lot of checks. elizabeth peek is like, varney is living in the past. >> revisiting the past. ashley: old school. stuart: you're nasty. [laughter] >> all right, stock futures show a gain of 20 minutes at the opening bell and we'll take you there in a moment. things are headed. because as we live longer... and markets continue to rise and fall...

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thank you! ♪ ♪ >> okay. there's the president meeting with wounded warriors, he's going to make remarks to those wonderful people. and we'll listen to what he has to say. an impressive crowd at the white house 9:28 a.m. he's about to speak, no, first of all, it's vice-president pence to set it up. when the president speaks we'll listen in. we're going to be listening in 17 minutes to speaker ryan. he changed the time usually 10:00, 10:30, this morning it's 9:45. maybe he's got business to attend to outside of that time frame. that's an important

presentation from speaker ryan because late yesterday he said maybe tax reform would take as much time or more time than health care reform. that's not what investors want to hear. that means you're stretching out the legislative schedule, not a good idea. investors do not like that. maybe we'll get some more clarity when speaker ryan approaches the microphone around 9:45. right now we've got about 50 seconds to go before the opening bell on wall street. we're looking at a very, very modest gain of 15 to 20 points. remember what happened to yesterday. yesterday, we were up one point at nearly 200 points and ended down on the day. it was a huge swing primarily because the federal reserve, they were interpreting the fed's remarks, interpreting those remarks to suggest that maybe later this year or early next year, the federal reserve would start unloading the 4 1/2 trillion dollars worth of bonds and mortgages which they own.

okay? a lot of money. you start selling that into the market, that's a way of raising interest rates as opposed to saying interest rates are going up, okay? the market didn't like it, down it went and we finished on the down side. we're coming up right now to the opening bell. we'll take you back to the president when he starts to speak. right now the dow is opening a fraction higher. no big time movement, but now a fractional move to the down side. we're coming off a reversal yesterday. we ended up 200 lower. we've opened four or five points to the down side. it's a mixed market clearly, half green, half red, half up, half down, that's the way we've opened up this morning. i've got to show you the big name technology stocks as we usually do, i figure the action is there. the big banks, however, all of them are down. that surely has something to do

with gary cohn, principal economic advisor to the president who said, maybe it's a good idea to break them up. and talking about that idea for a long, long time, that's what he said and what he's suggesting and look at the big banks go down. not a lot, but they are down. big tech, how did they open is this apple, google, microsoft, all of them up. amazon, jeff bezos says the blue orange and space company will take tourists to space next year. vice-president pence is introducing him with the wounded warriors. the president is about to speak. [applaus [applause] >> thank you very much.

i want to thank you, vice-president pence, for your wonderful introduction, but maybe more importantly for your incredible service to our country. you have done an incredible job. thank you very much. [applaus [applause] >> melania and i are deeply honored to join you all today and to stand here among real heroes. these are real heroes. secretary shulkin and secretary zimke in front of us, working so hard. i want you to join us as we pay tribute to america's warriors and i call them america's winners, because they are winners, and mark this year's soldier's ride. soldier ride has been very unique. lieutenant general littington, devenshea and all the of the

dedicated people at the wounded warrior project, thank you for organizing this event, really great job. an amazing event. and thank you for serving those who have so bravely served our nation. on behalf of the country, let me extend to all of the riders and your families the warmest possible welcome into, i call it the people's house. this is the people's house. it's the white house, but it's the people's house and i thank you all very much, especially all of the folks that are on stage with me. you are something very, very amazing and special, thank you. [applaus [applause] >> you've risked all that you have, all that you possess to keep our people safe and our democracy secure and we're

going to keep it going, folks, for a long time. that i can tell you. we're going to keep it going. you've earned our freedom with your sweat and your blood and your incredible sacrifice. we salute you, we salute your service, and we salute the flag you have so courageously protected. we love our flag. thank you. [applause] the story of today's event is a story about america and the strength of our citizens. in 2004, a young man working in a tavern on the east end of long island, i know that end of long island very well, was moved by a desire to help his fellow americans returning from iraq and afghanistan. so chris carney had an idea,

with the support of friends, chris rode a bike across the country to raise funds and awareness for the wounded warrior project, great people. he biked 4,000 miles, wow, chris-- where is chris? chris said, 4,000, man. [applause] >> wow! and raised at the time $1 million. this act of devotion to our heroes inspired others and since that first year, the soldier ride, why we're here today, has become an annual event that unites and uplifts our nation. president bush hosted the first ride in 2008 and i'm proud to continue this incredible tradition and we'll keep it for a long time.

i should have it for about seven more years. [applaus [applause] >> most of all, i'm proud to stand here today before all of you and to share with the nation the depth of our gratitude and the height of our total admiration for these folks, for our veterans, for anybody in uniform and that includes our great men and women in blue. and i want to thank all of them because they are just incredible people. each of you has forged in battle the sacred bonds of loyalty that link our people together. our country, our values, our very way of life endures because of you, and it endures because brave americans raise

up in every generation, they really do, they rise to an occasion like nobody can rise to an occasion, to fight for this country and to defend its citizens with every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears in their bodies. our way of life continues because of men and women who are willing to sacrifice anything and everything to protect their fellow warriors and to protect all of us. you've not only poured out the blood and all of your blood in some cases, for this country, but you've poured out the love from your souls and from your hearts. each of you has carved your place into the history of this incredible nation and i can tell you, into our hearts. it's that love which brings us

here today, which binds us together as one people, as which offers us the hope and promise of a future that is safe and secure and free. with one grateful heart, and one mighty spirit, the people of our nation thank you. they really thank you. and embrace you as you carry on this magnificent soldier ride. good job. good job. may god bless you, may god bless our incredible country, may god bless our warriors and let's have a great ride because i'll tell you what, i couldn't do it. [laughter] >> thank you. thank you. congratulations, congratulations. stuart: the president

addressing wounded warriors at the white house. the market indeed has opened and there's virtually no action, we're talking dead flat. maybe the market is treading water, waiting for speaker ryan to appear in about seven to ten minutes. we're hoping to get some clarity on the republican party, ryan and the conservative caucus on health care and tax cuts. we'd like some clarity. let's see if we get it because that could then move the market. who is going to help me organize coverage of the market this wednesday morning. ashley is here, liz peek is with us, scott, and larry levin. i say the market is waiting, what say you, larry levin. you're the trader guy here. >> i think we're waiting and waiting for good information, cover what we get back.

and some action behind me. stuart: scott martin, i want to ask you about the technology stocks, do you think they're in bubble territory? it's a serious question because all of us except you went through the 1990's and the dot-come bubble. >> i read about the '90s, it sounded fun. i'll tell you what's funny, this is going to sound crazy, i think this is infancy stages, i would say not bubble, but more like baby stages because the tech companies you talk about, the fab five, they're preparing for the future and going to take over our lives. those are the ones we're going to own. stuart: is it a bubble, liz peek? >> i'm not sure it's a bubble, but i'm not sure-- i hope they're in the infancy because we need developments for our economy to grow. ashley: sorry to interrupt, didn't the fed yesterday suggest the devices, what job is that of the february. stuart: since when have they

been the stock market regulato regulato regulators? >> prognosticators. stuart: i've got to get jeff bezos in, funding blue origin, with a billion dollars worth of amazon stock, put the cash into blue origin, a billion dollars a year. he's trying to launch a space tourist business next year, taking tourists into space for what 11 minutes. ashley: 11 minute thrill ride. you get to the edge of, you know, look back at earth from the edge of space. stuart: we bring you this because, a, you don't often see jeff bezos in public and b, he's using his mega wealth in other areas. ashley: interestingly, we don't know how much that 11 minutes will cost. stuart: don't know who is going to do it either. there's another story for you. let's check out the big board. 11 minutes into the trading session and we're up 16 points, again, go nowhere thus far,

waiting for paul ryan, he could move the market. some individual stocks in the news, here we're covering them. goldman sachs says sell shake shack. they're opening too many restaurants they say. shake shack up. and tasr, taser, they've got a new name. action enterprises and for body cameras, moving away from the electric shock devices, markets kind of like it. constellation brands, they sell all kinds of liquor and beer, massive conglomerate, they make more than expected and the stock is up 10-$11, 172 constellation brands. and boeing teaming up in a company that makes electric planes. they would run primarily on battery. >> oh, boy. that gives me pause, it does. but they will have backup gas generators on board.

oh, glad to hear that. next one, president trump's top economic advisor says, he would support breaking up the big banks. well, the big banks are all down except wells fargo which had troubles recently. all of them are down. larry levin, what do you make of this. break up the big banks, get rid of them. what do you say? >> well, you know, you could have asked me a few years ago and i would have said you can break up all the banks. that's different and they're changing and automated and on-line. they need to change, but i don't know if they've been broken up. i don't know if that's going to happen. stuart: i can't see it, that would be a gigantic move. >> i think it's a worrisome indicator of lack of unity of thinking in the white house. this is a sort of out of left field comment from democrat in the white house, i mean, let's remember, it's sort of a strange, i think sort of a strange one-off. stuart: we're waiting for speaker ryan to hold his press conference, he's expected in a couple of minutes' time and i

want to bring in david mcintosh, in the club for growth. he's on the right of the conservatives, of the republican party, i should say. welcome back, it's good to see you again. can you-- we're looking for some clarity from speaker ryan on progress towards the health care bill and then towards tax reform. and is he going to be able to tell us yes or no, we'll get something on the table very, very quickly? >> what i'm hearing, stuart, they've made progress over last night and included one of the conservative ideas from gary palmer to set up the risk pool, that's a way to lower private insurance premiums because the most fragile healthy people will-- some of the cost of their insurance and health care will be paid for out of that pool. what they haven't done is get rid of the regulations that jacked up the cost of health insurance. >> that's what you want to get rid of.

you're on that side of the fence? >> that's right, they've got a good bill in many respects, but they need to go all the way and repeal those expensive obamacare regulations. >> if you're still talking, you're still challenging each side, the conservatives and the moderates and you're still having a go at it. why can't congress stay in session? what does it have to go away for two weeks? >> i'm with you on that. i think the speaker should say, we're 90% there, we just have one more issue we've got to hammer out. the conservatives instead, we want to repeal them, but we're willing to keep them if we can let the states opt out and do it that way. they're getting close and conservatives have been cooperative. you're right, if i were speaker ryan i would say, guys, we'll miss the first few days of the easter recess and we've got to get it done. stuart: would you stay there for a second breaking news regarding devin nunes.

ashley: he's stepping aside from the russia investigation. he says several left wing activists groups have filed accusations against me with the office of ethics. they're entirely false and leveled as the american people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of u.s. citizens and abuses of power. despite the baseless charges i believe it's best that i step aside from this investigation. and will continue to act in all other others and step aside from the russia investigation. >> he's done nothing to encourage that removal from the scene. he's pursued leads that led to, by the way, the revelations about susan rice, so, i think it's a tremendous mistake. stuart: i see it as a negative for the trump administration. a negative for the republican party. ashley: bad optics. >> caving in.

stuart: bad optics and doesn't look good. we're waiting for speaker ryan to appear who will presumably have to talk about this. we just got news that devin nunes stepping aside over russia. and the speaker of the house has to say something about that, maybe that's why he's slightly delayed, figuring out what am i going to say? that speaker ryan news conference about to take place, we understand, has some very important topics. chairman nunes stepping aside. health care, where on earth is that going? what progress is being made in the talks, and tax cuts, the tax reform movement, how long is it going to be delayed? it's an important news conference. >> to seems to me, one. things the republicans have been angry about, and led to the freedom caucus, they've been squishy, haven't stood up for republican values,

republican moves, et cetera. i think this is sort of another example of that and that people are going to be furious about this. if, god forbid anything happens with neil gorsuch's nomination, can't allow that to happen. stuart: i'm saying that's for conservatives and republicans in general. >> when i was in congress they filed ethics charges against me when i pushed the left. it's unfortunate, he didn't do anything wrong, he shouldn't be stepping down from this. it's difficult to deal with because you've got to go through the whole process, but that's what you do. you put together your defense and then keep pushing. stuart: this is what makes ordinary people so angry at d.c. it's paralysis. the backwards and forward, charges against this guy,

charges against that woman, nothing gets done. nothing at all is getting done. you understand the frustration? >> i do. i actually wish these guys up on the hill would learn a lesson from president trump. he never ever backed down and just said, oh, that's fake news. and then moves on and continues to work on what his agenda is, they need to learn to do that. stuart: why can't you back down, your you're 90% on health care, you're going to get 90% of what you want, why can't you back down. >> it's an essential part, we promised people that-- >> governing-- i'm sorry, i don't mean to talk over you, but there's a level of frustration which is significant. the republican party is not governing, nothing is getting done, you know? do you understand this? >> i do. i do. i've spent all week working to get to yes. we said, okay, we can back down on repealing all of these regulations, we can, how about

we make it optional to the states? we've done that on other things. that was a good moderate idea earlier. for some reason they're saying no, we can't even do that. i think we're getting close, stuart, and i think the moderates are going to wake up and realize, hey, our, like devin nunes doing this, it's hurting us when we just continue the old ways of doing things in washington, and we've got to get it done, i agree. stuart: hold on a second, i just want to summarize for everybody and anyone just joining us. the market opened, what, 20 minutes ago and opened fairly flat. we're actually down 20 points. that's where we are, 20,600 level. that's where we are on the market. it seems that the market is waiting for speaker ryan, who is due to hold a press conference, he's about five minutes late at this point. maybe because of a recent late development, representative nunes has stepped aside from the russia investigation. now, tell me again, just--

>> just got a statement from paul ryan house speaker on the latest development with devin nunes, look, he totally believes in devin nunes, believes he followed the proper guidelines. it's clear that the process is a distraction for the committee and offered to step aside and i fully support that position. yes, we're altogether. i agree. mike conaway is going to take over the lead on the russian or possible russian collusion. stuart: here comes paul ryan, everybody, put that on the screen, please. here, let's go. >> everybody is just getting

off the bus right now. [laughter] >> all right. well, this has been a very productive week in the house. as we continue our efforts to repeal and replace obamacare. as i've said before, this promise is just too important and the consequences of inaction are just too dire for american families for us just to give up. that's why over the last couple of weeks, we have encouraged members from across the conference, you see member of them here today. we encouraged them across the congress to come together and try and find concensus. i want to thank kevin brady and our two chairmen for being so involved in the talks. while we have work to get there we've made real progress this week and that's why we're all here today. we've come together on a new amendment we all believe will lower premiums and provide added protections to those facing real challenges getting

to affordable care. this comes to the final agreement that we want to achieve. this was offered by two of our most conservative members, but has been embraced by a broad spectrum of our conference, representing all corners of our conference as you can see by a few of the members here today. i would let the author speak more about it, but let me say breal, this amendment would create a new federal risk share problem. it's a high risk pool that would lower costs for everyone else and the author will go into more detail. following votes i've asked the house rules committee to markup and add to what we've seen before. i want to thank gary and dave for being protective through the process and their amendment gets to a better bill. it's a collaborative effort we have been looking for, we have more work to do and those conferences continue to take place and they show promise. this amendment alone is real

progress and it will help us build momentum for delivering on our pledge for the country. i'll let the leader speak if he could. >> thank you, and good morning. i think the results-- >> that was an important statement from speaker ryan, let me try to summarize it, he said they've got a new amendment which they will add to the existing health care bill. that new amendment would get premiums down. it would set up risk pools for high risk patients. they would go into those pools. that will make it cheaper for everybody else. they'reded this to the old bill. this idea came from the freedom caucus, two members thereof. what speaker ryan did not say was when this new bill would be presented to congress. when there would be a vote on it. he says there's still some work to do. we've heard that before. so we're not going to have it presented today. and by the tone of it, they're going to go away on their two week easter recess as of

tomorrow. so, however, however, we've got some market movement now. ashley: yes. stuart: not much, let's not get carried away with this. we were down 10, 15, 14 points when ryan started to you can at that and now we're up 13 points. i'm not going to call that a huge turnaround. i'm not exactly-- >> it's frustrating. you want him to say, this is it, we've got the votes. >> why do this? i think that's an interesting question. why have this press conference if they're close to finishing and getting a real bill, why have this sort of, i think it's confusing. stuart: is david mcintosh with us? i'm sorry, from the club for growth, he could have put some input. now we're up 23, 24 points. it's not a huge turnaround because speaker ryan says he's still talking, this bill to be done. he did not mention any delay or otherwise in tax reform.

that's what upset the market yesterday, when he said that the lack of progress on health care would hurt the tax reform schedule. >> don't forget that health reform was supposed to precede. there are issues in the tax reform that require the health care bill to go forward. i think he's wary of raising expectations to an untoward level because it didn't work out before and he was really slammed for it. maybe they're there and kind of at the last minute keeping the door open. man, it would be great before the recess to have this done. stuart: you're reading into this and maybe the market is, too, they really are almost there. more that is been-- >> giving encouragement. it's frustrating there's more work to do, but it's encouraging. >> and the big block for the freedom caucus, the premiums

were not coming down. but how they get it into a bill that goes through reconciliation i don't know, and that was one of ryan's concern early on. stuart: i want to repeat that speaker ryan told us a few moments ago a new amendment added to the old health care reform bill which was never placed before congress, they withdrew it on friday. a new amendment they say would get premiums down, this was a big, 0 from the freedom caucus. this new amendment comes in from the freedom caucus and they said this will get premiums down, that is high risk pools. so, if you're a high risk kind of person, you get pushed into this high risk pool. everybody else is not in that pool, or ordinary patients, so to speak. ashley: premiums come down. stuart: so premiums come down. that's the theory. is david mcintosh back with us? yes, he is. you're out the door and we dragged you back and we appreciate that.

you heard what speaker ryan said, high risk pools added to the old health care reform bill. that seems to go an awfully long way towards what you want? >> it is a great improvement. senator paulison has been pushing it for long time and derrick palmer has a good bill. i'm glad to see this development. what they now need to do is go ahead and finish the work on the rest of the regs so states can opt out if they want to and then you've got a very good provision for the high cost of insurance. stuart: you're on the right. you're not in the freedom caucus, but you're in club for growth. would you tell the freedom caucus to sign it. >> i would tell them, take the amendment, hang in there, get the rest of it right. almost there, get it done. earlier you were mentioning they should stay a while and get it done, i'm for that. it's always better when you get the members together and they want to go home, they're already willing to make compromises. stuart: i think that will be a

question to speaker ryan, he's still at the press conference, he's letting the other leaders at the house make their points. he will come back to the microphone, we think, and take some questions and i'm sure sure there will be questions about why on earth don't you stay on over the easter recess. has this been mooted around the house members that you know, david? >> no, i think this is a good development and the what i called the pence waiver provision in there and everybody with cooler heads, okay, we're making progress. vice-president pence and the white house team worked with conservatives and moderates and came up with a really good plan to do the last step and i think that speaker ryan can go back to his members and say, guys, we've got this step, one more and get it done and you can go home and celebrate with your constituents that you've done it. and i think conservatives would be there if they put that waiver provision that the

vice-president helped put together. stuart: david you are sounding like you think you won. >> i don't think it's a win for conservative moderate. i think it's a win for the republican party. stuart: david, can i interrupt you for one second? kevin brady is about to speak, chairman of house ways and means and maybe mention tax cuts. >> since energy and commerce and ways and means committee approved our bills we've listened to our members and how we can get better decision making out of and above all, how can we make health care more affordable. the risk-sharing proposal by representative palmer and. >> week earth does this. it's based on proven results at the state level where people thought out of the box, really folksed on the -- focused on the needs of patients with high medical costs and took good, solid, thoughtful action on lowering those costs. i want to commend these two members for not just bringing

this idea forward, but working with members throughout this conference on reaching consensus. with this proposal, i think we're making a small but important step forward on building consensus and reaching agreement on how we can lower health care costs. we do have more work to do, but i think this is an important step forward. thank you. >> does anyone have any questions? [laughter] >> mr. speaker, i appreciate the optics and the work that was done on this over the course of the last week, but the -- [inaudible] very real and very clear. can you explain to me how you bridged the very clear divide between what the house freedom caucus wants and where the rest of your conference is right now. >> i actually think that divide is narrowing quite quickly. what this idea represents is a goal that everyone from the freedom caucus to every other group that's represented here is

seeking, how do we lower premiums. how do we lower premiums and continue the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. this idea does that. and so this is one of those ideas that narrows differences and brings people closer toward consensus. there are some other ideas that we're still working on and talking about, trying to build consensus on, to continue to do just that, lower premiums even further, give states more flexibility so they can address the unique needs of their insurance markets while still making sure we keep those protections for people with pre-existing conditions. this is one of those ideas that get us closer together. there are more ideas that we're working on, and that's why we're going to keep working in the days and weeks ahead to go and find that consensus and try and get this bill done. >> back in philadelphia in february -- or january, i think it was, you talked a lot about- [inaudible] your schedule for how the year was going to go. >> [inaudible] >> that was kind of my question, actually. you've talk thed recently about not setting artificial

deadlines, and to what extent does that mean you're still a believer in the gant cart -- >> jonathan, i will never stop believing in gant charts. [laughter] i'm a big believer in project management. we have in our timeline lots of flexibility built into it. you know why? because we have to work with the united states senate. the senate moves a little more slowly on any given weekday, month or year than the house does. so we have plenty of cushion built into our plans, and we are well within that spectrum of timeline that we envisioned in dealing with the obamacare legislation. >> but now also -- [inaudible] budget resolution and -- >> all of those things are still on the same timeline we've already been on. >> mr. speaker, devin nuñes has stepped aside from the probe into the russia ties and meddling in the election. do you still have faith that he didn't do anything wrong, and did he mishandle classified

information? >> i don't believe so. i just put out a statement probably while you were sitting here. first of all, devin nuñes has earned my trust for his integrity and the dedication to the intelligence community. he continues to have that trust, and i know he is eager to demonstrate to the ethics committee that he has followed all proper guidelines and laws. in the meantime, it is clear that this process would be a distraction to the house intelligence committee's investigation into russian interference in our election. so chairman nuñes has offered to step aside as the lead republican on this particular probe, and i fully support his decision. representative mike conway, a senior member of the committee, will now lead this commission on the intelligenceç committee. i'm confident he will oversee a professional investigation into russia's actions and follow the facts wherever they may lead. >> clearly, chairman nuñes made some mistakes here. >> i don't think that that's the case, but i think he wants to make sure this is not a

distraction, so he wants to clear himself while this investigation continues on without any kinds of distractions. >> just to be clear on that though, given the fact that you say he has your support, you've reiterated several times your trust in him, but the fact this has been a distraction, does he still have -- do you still have confidence in him to lead the committee overall? >> i do. i do, i do. >> last question. >> the freedom caucus wants to see an amendment to allow states to waiver out of the community rating requirement. that could effectively undermine the pre-existing conditions because they could charge sick people more. can you commit to -- >> i'm not going to get into the particular details of the conversations that are going on, but we believe that there are additional reforms and ideas that can do both things, protect people with pre-existing conditions and continue to lower premiums and give states flexibility so that more insurers can come into the marketplace. one of the concerns we have is that insurers are leaving left and right, and people are down to, like, one choice. and in some cases, no choices.

that's not good. having a monopoly isn't a choice. so what we're trying to do is find the kinds ofs provisions -- of provisions that bring insurers into the marketplace. with more choices, you have more competition, and with more competition, you have lower prices. we are all dedicated to making sure that people with pre-existing conditions get affordable coverage, and we want to find a way to do that in such a way that everyone else who's in the insurance market can also get lower premiums, affordable choices and more competition. that's what this is all about. i'm not going to go into the details of the particulars, but those are the kinds of debates we're having, and that's why this is a step in the right direction. it's closer toward the final goal and agreement, and we're going to keep talking about it until we get it right. thank you. stuart: there you have it, they're going to keep talking. in other words, they do not have a deal at this point. they do have a new amendment going into the existing health care bill.

that new amendment would set up high risk pools. that's a way of maybe getting premiums down after obamacare disappears. that has been added. the freedom caucus likes that, but as speaker ryan said, they've still got a ways to go. listening to all of this has been david mcintosh from the club for growth, still with us. i was disappointed, because we didn't get a question about staying in d.c. to get this done over the easter recess. but we are close. i keep getting back to that. we are close, he kept saying it. >> yes, that's right. there were two very good things the speaker said. one, this new amendment on the risk pools. and the second is he is focused on further reducing the cost of those expensive obamacare insurance regulations that have jacked up everybody's premiums. the freedom caucus has put several ideas forward on that, and what i heard the speaker say is he's going to work with them

and everybody else in the conference to take those ideas and get to a place where they can finish the work and bring the bill to the floor. stuart: david, i'm very glad to have had you with me because it's complicated stuff. we appreciate your presence. stay there for a second. lisa booth is with us now, she's been listening in -- hi, stuart. stuart: lisa, welcome the show. good to see you. >> there's always a lot going on. [laughter] stuart: i'm reading between the lines of what speaker ryan had to say and also, forgive me, from what david mcintosh has had to say. i think the right is winning, the freedom caucus is getting its way. what say you? >> i think this is a win for the republican party to start moving some of these pieces of legislation forward. i think what we really need to do is stop the finger pointing and who's winning, who's not winning. ultimately, no one is going to legislation because you've got so many different voices in the republican party, and everybody is representing different

congressional districts as well, so they all have to be comfortable with what they take home. it is in the best interests of the republican party for everyone to feel they have ownership of the bill because and sell it to their constituent ands to the american people. stuart: yes, that is important. >> feel like they have a stake in it. stuart: so here's speaker ryan on a thursday morning, congress goes on recess at -- tomorrow night, very probably. they leave town. speaker ryan just gave them something to go back to their constituents with. i mean, he's basically saying, hey, we're very close, we've got this, we've got this, surely, you're okay with this. this is kind of an olive branch to the constituents, isn't it? >> yeah, and i think that's positive. look, the problem that the republican party -- it's not a problem, but it certainly represents a difficulty in the sense of what we've already seen sort of play out, right? if something moves too far right, then the moderates are

upset, too far center and the conservatives are upset. this is going to get much more difficult and pronounced in the senate where mitch mcconnell can only lose two senators, and you've already had concerns with medicaid and conservatives with whether it's rand paul, senator lee or cruz. so it is very, very important for everyone to be having these conversations. and as i mentioned before, for everyone to feel like they've got a stake in it and that they feel comfortable with going home and selling this piece of legislation. stuart: okay, one thing that speaker ryan said, he was asked about the legislative schedule. >> right. stuart: the legislative schedule for health care. he said we are within the timeline for dealing with health care. >> yeah. stuart: would you like to read anything into that? >> well, it was meant to be by this recess, right? either the recess has to move or they have to get it done today which doesn't sound like they're actually ready to do that. stuart: is he also offering some reassurance, don't worry, the tax reform deal is still on schedule.

>> all of that and particularly in light of his comments yesterday which we're not even close on tax reform, which, by the way, philosophically i think is true, but it's nice to know there is a sedge here and they're try -- a schedule here and they're trying to stick with it. i think it's very important that these congressmen can go home with something to talk about. and the number one thing everybody wants is lower premiums. and the big objection to the ryancare bill initially was it did not lower premiums. so they go home at least well armed now. stuart: david mcintosh, i know we've got to say good wyoming to you, but thank you -- good-bye to you, but thank you very much for being with us. you were very helpful, even if you are totally wrong. [laughter] >> i think i'm right on this one, i think we're in agreement. this can be a win for everybody. the conservatives learned how to say yes this week, and now i think the moderates will too because vice president pence has a good middle of the road way to do the waivers. stuart: david, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us. we appreciate it. thank you. i want to bring you back to

that breaking news about congressman nuñes. he's stepping aside from the russia investigation, that was the raw statement -- >> yeah, basically saying this is a distraction, i don't believe i can carry on even though these are totally baseless educations that i -- allegations that i acted inappropriately. congressman conway's going to take over for him. the optics are not good. here's someone who's being accused of something. if it's baseless, why don't you have the courage of your convictions and stay with it, but apparently he decided to step aside which, i think, doesn't look great. stuart: okay. lisa booth with us. i think that the nuñes situation, so to speak, is just a political noise. i don't think it makes much different to real legislation, to people's lives. i don't think it makes any difference to the issues which affect real people. political noise. what say you? >> i agree. and i think the left is really focused on trying to gin up this controversy because then it

keeps the focus away from some of the new things that we've learned and what it, you know, susan rice uns masking names -- unmasking names and what was the motive behind that. how long was this goingç on, wy did she unmask these names. i think it's in the left's best interest to have the conversation be stuck on chairman nuñes, try to put some sort of wrong doing on him. but i think, ultimately, he's been somewhat vindicated in the sense that he really did have to go over to the white house to get into those logs, the nsc logs. so there was a need, it was needed for him to go over to the white house to look into that information. so i think to some degree, you know, it ultimately -- originally seemed like a little sketchy, but i think with the new information that we have found out he's been somewhat vindicated in his need to go over there. stuart: yeah. so he's stepping aside. did you notice that paul ryan was taking questions from the floor towards the end it was all about nuñes and politics and

that kind of stuff. i mean, here you've got health care and you've got tax reform right there in front of you, and what are we asking about? oh, nuñes stepping aside from a committee. >> well, that's because the media doesn't want to give the white house any wins, and even if the white house does get health care reform done, i guarantee, stuart, that it's not going to be focused on any of the positive, it's not going to be focused on driving down premiums or introducing some more competition into the marketplace. it's going to be about the people who lost their health care. guess what? they didn't care about people losing their health care under obamacare. all of a sudden, if that's the case, even if it's because they no longer have an individual mandate and have the choice to opt out instead of being forced into the system, it's still going to be presented as a loss and a negative for republicans. i guarantee you, just wait. stuart we've been watching the market throughout what's been going on this morning, the market's been open for 45 minutes. we opened down, we went up about 35 points and now we've got a gain of 15 points.

in other words, it remains stalemate despite what speaker ryan had to say about moving closer together on health care reform, specifically using high risk pools to get premiums down. the market liked it, but it's not exactly a booming rally now, is it? >> it wasn't exactly a booming statement. encouraging, but it didn't get us any much further as far as when is this new, amended bill going to be put forward for a bill. stuart: if he had said, hey, congress, stay where you are -- >> wouldn't that have been great? >> 100 points. stuart: if he'd have said under no circumstances will this affect the progress towards tax reform, boom, up 100 points easy. but we got neither. [laughter] we got absolutely neither. are we taking a commercial break? are we going to earn some money on this program or not? [laughter] are we? are we doing it? are we taking a commercial break, producer? no, we're not. [laughter] go to the big board, he says. >> rock and roll. stuart: we can do that.

we're off our session highs, by the way, as the banner says at the bottom there. off our session highs, up 15 points. here's another story that we're following for you. the senate has now convened. next hour they will begin the votes on judge gorsuch's confirmation. senator kelly ayotte joins us now. senator -- >> hey, stuart. stuart: -- thank you very much for joining us on an exceptionally busy day. >> yes. stuart: you shepherded judge gorsuch through the nomination process. you took him to see various senators. you must be a little worried, a little concerned when democrats now turn around and say the man's not mainstream, we're not going to vote for him. >> yeah. stuart, i think -- the judge and i visited almost 80 senators, so i can assure you the judge is very mainstream. in fact, he has support across the political spectrum including president obama's former solicitor general, highest rating from the aba, been on the

tenth circuit for ten years, so well respected. it's clear that they would have blocked whomever president trump nominated, because judge gorsucç is exceptional. stuart: it seemed like a tit for tat. >> yes. stuart: fit -- it looks like the nuclear option is going to be played -- >> it is. stuart: how do you feel about that looking forward into the future? it could come back to bite republicans at some point down the road, couldn't it? >> i think it's unfortunate we are here, but i think the republicans are being left with no choice because the democrats have essentially blocked such a qualified nominee, and they want to tie the president's hands in terms of making sure that a republican president can fill the position. i think leader mcconnell's made it clear he does not want to change the rules for legislation, but i think there'll still be pressure to do that. stuart: senator, forgive me, i've got to break away again,

i've got to go to to congressman schiff, we'll listen in briefly. >> i look forward to working with mr. conaway. this investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. it is, i think, worth noting that the investigation never went into hiatus, so we've been continuing to develop our witness lists, to work out some of the logistics in terms of how we bring people before the committee, what the process will be. we continue to go through the documents. as i understand it now, the materials that the chairman viewed at the white house that i sub gently viewed -- sub subsequently viewed are being shown to the committee, that's a positive receive. i look forward to working with the chairman on the range of issues our committee has to deal with. we have, i think, worked

together very well on a range of other issues and, obviously, the russia investigation is important, but there are a whole host of other issues the committee deals with on a daily basis including, of course, some of the preeminent threats to the country posed by al-qaeda, by isis, north korea, iran, the challenge posed by china among others. so a lot of continuing and important work to do. i look forward to working with the chairman on those issues. i look forward to working with mr. conaway and the other committee members as well in the investigation going forward. and i have great admiration and respect for mr. conaway, and i look forward to our continued work on that together, and i thank you. >> mr. schiff, when did -- [inaudible] stuart: that has all the hallmarks of a political victory for the democrats, and i think it was played that way by the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, congressman schiff, who you just

saw there. slight smile on his face because the chair of the house intelligence committee, mr. nuñes, devin nuñes, has stepped aside from the russia investigation. democrats really want that russia investigation full screen, headlines every single day, and now they may well have it. no effect on the markets, we're still just fractionally higher. i don't think that really had any impact, nor really did speaker ryan's press conference that was held earlier this morning -- literally a few minutes ago. do we have senator ayotte still with us? yes, we do. >> yes. stuart: senator, i'm terribly sorry that we interrupted our conversation. >> no worries. [laughter] stuart: i was asking when we go to a straight majority vote to approve judge gorsuch, way couln the road who impact -- what impact will that have, doing away with that 60-vote requirement? >> well, the impact will be that whoever's in office in terms of

the presidency will only have to meet a 51-vo so it's going to be very important that republicans keep the senate majority to make sure that if there's another vacancy in the senate and president trump nominates someone else, that we are able to get that person through theç confirmatin process. so i think that's critical. and also there'll be still a lot more pressure on the legislative filibuster going forward. stuart: may i suggest that if there is another vacancy on the supreme court within the next four years, it will work very much to republicans' advantage that you don't have to get 60 votes in the senate? >> that's very true. it will. stuart: this is very good for you guys. [laughter] >> well, and i think that could be likely, stuart, that there is another vacancy in the next four years. stuart: okay. we apologize for interrupting our conversation so much, but, senator, we do appreciate you being with us. >> i'm glad to be on, thank you. stuart: thank you very much. check that big board, kind of go inform nowhere -- go-nowhere, we're up 17, 16 points, 20,600.

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whoo! boom baby! rated pg-13. [ screams ] stuart: well, you realize this market's been open for less than one hour, and look at what has happened. well, we opened at 9:30 eastern time, we opened down. along came speaker ryan, press conference, and said we're getting closer on a health care deal. we're going to have pools, high risk pools to get premiums down. we're still talking. the market went up a little bit. then we heard chairman nuñes, chair of the house intelligence committee, he's stepping aside from the russia investigation. we took that as a victory, a political victory for the democrats. we're also handling the procedural vote on judge gorsuch as he heads towards confirmation

by the full senate. that will be by majority vote. we also saw president trump making a presentation to the wounded warriors project. and now the market's up 17 points. liz, ash, i say that is stalemate in politics and stalemate on the market. >> yeah. look, you know, i don't know that we've ever had a time when politics is so involved in the way the stock market moves, but it is right now because the trump agenda has moved this market. it's still up, i don't know, 16% or something like that from when he was elected because of the things that republicans wanted to get done. that's what this market's all about, and every time there's a win and a loss, trump versus congress, whatever, you have to reassess whether or not it's going to happen and whether or not these numbers are valid. stuart: you took all this time. >> i'm sorry. >> i was just going to say, gridlock in washington? who would have thunk it. [laughter] stuart: all right, everybody, this show continues after this. yes?

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the market's hot. sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade. stuart: whoa, i'm not going to call this a sudden spurt -- >> what? stuart: but we are up 41 points. we'll make a big deal out of it. when speaker ryan came out and announced a new amendment to the health plan, that's when this market turned positive. we were down 14, now we're up 42 as we speak. now, speaker ryan, yes, he held his news conference moments ago. i'm going to roll some tape from it. go. >> this amendment would create a new federal risk-sharing program. it is a high risk pool that will lower costs for people with pre-existing conditions and everyone else, and the authors of this amendment will go into more detail. following votes today, i've asked the house rules committee to mark up this amendment and add it to what we were already considering before.

i want to thank gary and dave for being so productive throughout this process. their amendment makes in this a much better bill. it gets us closer. this is the kind of collaborative, bottom-up effort that we have been looking for. stuart: that was the main part of his statement today on health care reform. joining us now is congressman scott perry, republican from virginia -- sorry, pennsylvania. i do apologize, sir. >> that's all right. stuart: it's pennsylvania, i got it. [laughter] and you, sir, are a member of the freedom caucus. >> i am. stuart: sir, strikes me you got just about everything you want. >> we are getting closer by the moment. we would like to finish this thing up by week's end here. i don't know that's going to happen, unfortunately, but i think we're in a much better place. we're getting there, and we're really optimistic about things, i think most everybody in congress wants to get this done. stuart: you've won. you just got high risk pools to get premiums down. that's a mainstay of what you wanted. surely you must be very, very close to a yes.

why can't you just drop the objection, say, yes, yes, yes, let's do this for the good of the party and the good of the country and the good of the people? why can't you do it? >> we've got to see that the legislation passes, and there are some other things on the table, stuart, that aren't being discussed right now. we need to see where they end up. they're on the table right now, we are still talking -- that and and -- and that's both sides. this is just the latest. so there has been more in the mix for the last two weeks, we've just got to see where it all works out. but the bottom line and the news is we're all working together to get this done. we'd like it sooner than later, but we're focused on this thing. you've got to know that. [laughter] stuart: well, i know that, but -- >> we've got to get it right, we've got to get it right. stuart: look, millions and millions of people gave their vote to the republican party over the last generation. >> yes. stuart: you got the house, you got the senate, you got the white house. and now in your first

legislative test, you can't move just that far right before easter the get something on the books and get things moving? >> we're ready to stay. i will let you know -- stuart: oh, you are? >> oh, yeah. we have told people we're ready to stay. this is not my call. i'm ready to stay and grind this thing out and get it done. stuart: now, who's call is it -- whose call is it? is that speaker ryan? >> generally speaker ryan, leadership in general. theypolling different sides of the factions and looking at the legislative process and the calendar -- stuart: okay. have you pressed him? have you pressed speaker ryan and said we'll stay? >> absolutely, many of us have. look, this is a good thing if we stay. certainly, we don't want to be here for easter sunday, but we can work right through to get this done. we are ready to go. stuart: okay. you know, we'd like to see it. i mean -- >> so would i. yes, we all would. stuart: we really, really would.

>> i agree. stuart: you wouldn't say yes unless you get that extra little thing that you've been pressing for, you won't say yes now? >> we -- i haven't seen the amendment. it's going through rules right now. as i understand it, i just heard that this morning. stuart: yep. >> i haven't seen the amendment. there's also some other discussion about waivers for states, there's also some other discussions about some, the regulatory policy and the tax policy that have been ongoing. i don't know if they're done with those yet. so with all due respect, you can't -- if you say yes early around here, then things get added into the bill afterwards, and they say you already committed to yes. stuart: if you saw it in writing, if they came back to you and it's in writing pretty much what you want -- >> to of course. you take, when you get more than 50%, certainly 80% of a loaf, you take it. absolutely. but you've got to know how this place works, and a lot of times they like to get an early commitment, and then they change it a little bit. we represe 720,000 people in

our district, not washington d.c. so we've got to be able to go home and say this is what we did, and it was the best we could do. i will tell you i'm very on the the -- optimistic, we are very close. stuart: i think you'll be able to the go home this easter recess and give them most of what they wanted, sir. >> that would be great. stuart: very busy day, we appreciate your presence here. >> thank you, sir. stuart: yes, sir. i want to bring in mercedes schlapp, reacting to all this, fox news contributor. mercedes, i'm still angry at the republican party because they're not the party of government. what say you? >> i promise you, stuart, the republican party will get it together. [laughter] stuart: yeah, when? when? >> you know, you've got to remember when the democrats were in charge, obamacare took over eight months to get the bill passed. so i think that the republicans, and as much as i supported the original bill in terms of the components that went in, surely some of them were conservative, there is the reality that only 17% of americans agree with this obamacare replacement.

so i do believe that the republicans have to, number one, do a better job of selling the bill, number two, i also think that the republicans -- [laughter] i think that this fight, this negotiating back and forth of trying to reduce the premiums is key. if we find out laterren on in this bill that they passed this legislation and the premiums did not decrease, then that would become very problematic for the gop. stuart: okay. now, the easter recess is approximately two weeks. you come back towards the end of april. when congress comes back after the easter recess, are you prepared to say, mercedes, with some degree of certainty, yes, there will be an agreement, it will be voted on, and we're going to get this thing done very soon after the easter recess? can you tell us that? >> i don't know about you, stuart, but i've got to show up to work every day. i don't know about you, so it's interesting that, you know, they have continued with the regular legislative calendar where they're taking off these next two weeks.

this will give the gop members an opportunity to go talk to their constituents to, as i was mentioning before, sell the obamacare replacement. and i do believe when they come back from congress, there is a better chance that this bill could pass. obviously, they have a very full agenda when you also are considering that they're looking at tax reform next up on the list and, you know, obviously, president trump is also trying to push infrastructure spending. so it'll be interesting what they can possibly get done by the summertime. stuart: okay. devin nuñes, chair of the intel committee in the house, stepping aside where russia investigations are concerned. pleads, without getting into the nitty-gritty, no weeds, please, i see that as a flat out victory, a political victory for the democrats. >> yes. the left should be celebrating. you have to understand that the office of congressional ethics, anyone, anyone can file a complaint whether it's an outside group, a member of congress. and this is exactly or -- the democrats took advantage of the fact that the susan rice

controversy came up in these last couple days, and then what do we see? a complaint against congressman nuñes. this is a political witch hunt, and it is very unfortunate that nuñes, he did decide he didn't want to put all this other pressure on other members as they go home to their districts and basically said i don't want to become a distraction, i'm going to move aside. but let me tell you, conaway and gowdy, they are strong republican members, they understand how this process works. so i think it's unfortunate for nuñes, but he had to do what he had to do at this time, and it's one of the things that congress wanted to do. republicans wanted to reform thisffice of congressional ethics that has become very partisan and very dangerous in congress. stuart: i want to raise one thing which i think is a republican win, clear win, and that is going nuclear on the gorsuch nomination. i say this because he will be confirmed to the supreme court, and the next justice, the next situation available on the supreme court will be filled by

president trump very quickly with a majority rule in the senate. i see that as a huge political plus. what say you? >> absolutely. i think that senator mitch mcconnell, you know, played his cards right. obviously, the democrats, they have -- i callmerle garland revenge. they are willing to say these supreme court nominees need a 60-vote threshold. well, we know that's not the case. clarence thomas, who was considered a controversial nominee back in the day, he was voted in by 52 votes. we don't need the 60-vote threshold. and the one who started this fight with the nuclear option, harry reid. so the democrats can go call harry reid and complain to him, but this was brought on by the democrats back in 2013 when they were -- sorry, 2005 when republicans were trying to push through a lot of these george w. bush appellate court judges, and the democrats ghei them a very hard time. -- gave them a very hard time. stuart: you know, this could end

up being a pretty good week for president trump and maybe republicans too, it could be. could it not? >> well, gorsuch is a very big win especially for the social conservatives and, obviously, president trump keeping to his promise of picking a strict constitutionalist. and, obviously, it drives me crazy when schumer says gorsuch is not mainstream judge. i want to understand what the definition of a mainstream judge is for schumer, i would consider that to be -- stuart: anybody picked by president obama. >> exactly. stuart: anyone picked by president obama. >> and gorsuchs welliked and very well-respected on both sides of the aisle, and this is schumer and e demoats playing their resistance card which is all they seem to know how to do these days. stuart: mercedes schlapp, it was wonderful to have you on what is a high opinion show. [laughter] >> thank you. stuart: i'm not ashamed of expressing opinion. >> i love it. stuarti get some flak from some quarters, i might add. mercedes, thank you very much, indeed. >> thank you. stuart: back to your money. we have something called the sector report for you now.

take a look at the health insurers. a lot of headlines coming out about health insurance and obamacare today. speaker ryan adding to the amendment, adding an amendment, i should say, to the health bill. high risk pools as a way of getting premiums down. the result of that is kind of a mixed bag for the health insurers. some of them up, one of them down, no big impact on the health insurers from what we've got today. all right, we will be back. remember, please, the senate gorsuch vote coming up very soon. what you're looking at is procedural action. he should be confirmed by tomorrow night. we'll be back.

♪ ♪ >> now this, house speaker paul ryan unveiling changes to the health care plan including high risk pools and lower premiums. listen to what club for growth president david mcintosh had to say about that last hour. >> high risk pools added to the old health care reform bill. that seems to go an awfully long way towards what you want. >> it is a great improvement. senator paul's been pushing it for a long time, gary palmer has a good bill. i'm very glad to see this development. what they now need to do is go ahead and finish the work on the rest of the regs so states can

opt out of those if they want to, and then you've got a very good provision -- stuart: [inaudible] >> besides the high cost of insurance. ♪ 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. a new company established by metlife to specialize in annuities & life insurance. talk to your advisor about a brighter finanal future. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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revealing, president trump's transition team, the names thereof. this was buried largely by the mainstream media. look who's here to unbury it. brent bozell, media research center president. [laughter] look, i'm making that comment. you've got the numbers. spell it out. they burying it? >> they're burying the real story. their coming up with a different story. look, let's put this into context. susan rice, we know the benghazi video was a real lie. she went on five different sunday morning talk shows and promoted the lie. we know that none of them, except for fox news, has ever held her to account for lying on their own shows. and now she has been caught in another lie. now she goes on pbs and says she knows nothing about this unmasking thing. two weeks later she's caught with she admits that, yes, she was responsible for that. you should think that the media would be all over this saying, wait a minute, do we have a gestapo state where the government allly nilly goes

after people -- willy-nilly goes after people? and who leaked it to the press which, by the way, a felony. you'd think they'd be interested about this. it's not only been silenced, but chris matthews called it racist and sexist which is an insult to every black person in america and every woman in america to suggest that it's going to be racist and sex itself. and last -- sexist. and last night the networks all talked about how there was no "there" there and it wasn't a story. if that's the truth, why haven't they been covering trump and russia? stuart: well, fair question. it's same old, same old, same old, isn't it? we've had this conversation before, brent. i am astonished at the degree to which american journalism has totally caved to the trump haters, the people with contempt for our president. and i want to go further, i think that's an acceptable word. when i see this coverage and i talk to peez theme private --

these people privately, they hate him. they have con them tempt for him in the extreme. >> i would just clarify one thing, they're part of it. they are willing participants in a far left that i believe that joe lieberman doesn't recognize, that i believe george mcgovern wouldn't recognize, and i believe ted kennedy wouldn't recognize. this is how militant the left has become. and let me say this, and aye been saying this on programs, this is not in any way an exaggeration, it's not hyperbole on my part. this is not a media that are out to hold donald trump responsible. this is a, this media as an institution is committed to his removal from office. and mark my words on that. they are committed to his removal. they believe he should never have been elected. they were shellshocked that a they let him get elected over hillary clinton. they believe he's not fit to be in office, and they're going to hound him until they can remove him.

that's the goal. and, of course, they'll deny it, they'll call me crazy. i'll stand by what i just said. stuart: following up on the susan rice, the burial of the story there, what about steve ban nonremoved from the national security council? how did they treat that? >> any attempt the cause discord in this administration, they're going to do. the idea of citing critics -- i love that, critics. critics means the person next to you who's having water at the water cooler at nbc news. stuart: that's true. >> sources? hell, i heard it from my friend down the hall having a cup of coffee. this is anything to as an excuse to sow discord especially with a steve bannon or a kellyanne conway or anybody who is behind an effort to take on the left. stuart: why hasn't it rebounded in trump's favor? because i don't think that it has. >> well, think that the president has to be more selective in who he's fighting with. you know, i think sometimes he just gets off message going

after people like arnold schwarzenegger. you know, that served him no purpose whatsoever. i think he needs to keep his powder dry. and when there is a need to, then throw a hand grenade at the press. but not do it every single day. and i think maybe there's a little bit of fatigue going on. i would caution him to be more careful. stuart: i've said this many, many times to many guests on this program, i have never seen anything like this before. and when it comes to the media, which you study, i've never seen anything like the media's reaction to trump -- >> it will not stop for the next four to eight years. stuart: well, then keep coming back on the show, bozell. [laughter] thank you so much. also happening today, earlier today, i should say, paul ryan announcing changes to the republican health bill. roll tape. >> this amendment would create a new federal risk-sharing program. it is a high risk pool that will lower costs for people with pre-existing conditions and everyone else, and the authors of this amendment will go into

more detail. following votes today, i've asked the house rules committee to mark up this amendment and add it to what we were already considering before. i want to thank gary and dave for being so productive throughout this process. their amendment makes this a much better bill. it gets us closer. this is the kind of collaborative, bottom-up effort that we have been looking for. o. hi, it's anne from edward nes. 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. we've grown to over $900 billion in assets under care... by being proactive, not reactive. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ [ indistinct conversations ] what makes a house a home? some say it's the people you share it with...

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stuart: finally, some support from you, our dear viewers or. a few of you came to my defense over my debate with patriotic millionaire dahlia monoya. how about this from lou ann? we love when you push back enthusiastically on the loony left idiots. i don't think you talk over guests or interrupt them. if you're having an adrenaline rush because of the absurdity of their statements, so be it. makes for a better show. the show works perfectly just as it is. carry on, good sir. lou ann, you're all right. >> and your alter ego, lou ann? [laughter] stuart: she's right. she's so right. >> i can't believe we're talking about millionaire-gate for yet another day. now, listen, i totally agree, we are in the right on this issue. however, one thing i've been struck by during the primaries for the presidential race and continuing on is that the

inuntil answer of the left. -- intolerance of the left. if you don't agree with them, they'll shut you down. you do not want to take examples from that. stuart: oh -- [laughter] >> yes? now, listen, listen, you are right, and it's infuriating when someone is spouting off stuff like this particular individual was. we should be paying more when he really means you should be paying more. how annoying is that? stuart: as you could tell, it was very annoying. >> just let him finish his sentence. stuart: why? >> because i don't always hear it, but it just makes him sound more absurd. that's my point. this is the last day we talk about it? stuart: no, i can't -- [laughter] we get a whole slew of messages about this. so lou ann is absolutely right -- >> yes. stuart: -- you are tentatively going be in the right direction. >> kind of. stuart: i'm going to cut you right off. >> thank you, lou ann. [laughter] stuart: we will be back.

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stuart: thursday april 6th, we could see some history made today. first, things are going to change in the united states senate. judge neil gorsuch will not need 60 votes for approval to the supreme court. he will get in on a simple majority, 51 votes. this is a big change. it means that if there is another supreme court vacancy in the trump presidency the nominee will face a much easier time and, remember, the same would be true for future democrat nominees, change in history. second, the visit to china's leader with president trump, arguably the most important economic relationship in the world. china has a huge trade surplus with us. our president doesn't like that. trade and national status are the issues today. any movement on either would be historic. yes, another big day on this, just the 78th day of the first

trump presidency term. it is, indeed, the live action presidency. you're ready for it? see history unfold with us, we are live action news and the third hour of varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ stuart: all right. happening this hour as we said two major events, president trump leaves for mar-a-lago for intense meeting with xi jinping, trade, north korea, national status, all will be discussed. a showdown in the senate over the gorsuch confirmation. senate is now vote to go avoid a filibuster, requires 60 votes. that will surely fail. sets up debate for the nuclear option. ultimately, justice -- it will become justice gorsuch by about friday evening. we shall see. that's going to happen. check out the big board, please.

we are now up 46 points on the dow jones industrial average. we opened slightly lower. we moved slightly higher, close to 20,700. look at those big china stocks if you can call them that. president trump sits down for showdown meeting with xi jinping, joining us now, the author of becoming china's -- i'm not going to say that. [laughter] stuart: it's scripted. i'm not going to say it. becoming china's something or other. [laughter] stuart: the judge didn't write this despite his laughter. it's peter cornan. i say that xi jinping has a lot to lose, what do do you think, what say you? >> 1 trillion-dollar infrastructure plan over the next ten years, it might be interesting to contrast that with china's infrastructure spending which was in the last

year a trillion dollars. in the year a trillion dollars, they spent a trillion dollars in their plan every single year. in the government of china, their plan among the g10 is to be g1. that's what they're going -- they are coming directly after us. stuart: they want to look like that when xi jinping meets with president trump. wait a minute, they have a huge debt problem and it goes -- i mean, huge debt problem. they have a trade surplus with us. we have leverage on them. >> we have some ledge -- leverage on them. you're absolutely right on goods. we love chinese goods. we have a trade surplus with china on services. we sell them a lot of our services. they need us and we need them. it's a codependency.

stuart: they are not paying full freigh they steal our software. >> they are comfortable when it comes to raw material of intelligence, copyrights, software, they are comfortable copying us. stuart: we will see who won and who lost. it will come down to facial expression and body language. >> xi jinping was a very good guy. he's been from the top to the bottom. he tried five times to rejoin the communist party. finally a sixth time they let him back in and worked his way slowly but surely up to the top. he's a good guy and he and trump can relate. there's unlike some of the bureaucrats, xi jinping is a real guy. he's a guy you can relate to and these two men can get a deal done. xi jinping can get a deal done. stuart: i want to talk about the healthcare bill, paul ryan this

morning announced that there had been a small change in the healthcare plan presented which will be presented to congress, to the house, that's small change is high-risk pools. they say they are very close but they still going away for a two-week vacation for easter. >> i must say, i wish we are getting all the government that we pay for. they should stay there and get the job done. if they're that close, let's close it and get it done as a nation. stuart: let me move to big technology companies. we are a market-oriented program and if there's one thing that this market has shown is the gigantic tech companies, the money has flowed and flowed right into them. i sometimes feel like the stocks are like the 1990's, a bit like the.com bubble. those stocks have gone up so much, peter? peter: one of the things i like to view what is the market multiple, right now that's 22

times. apple on that screen is trading at 17 times. it's cheaper than the market multiple and they have virtually no debt and $250 billion of cash. i think they are find. microsoft is 30 times the market multiple and they're sitting on 100 billion on cash. no debt. they are fine. some of the companies are absolutely fine. they have come a long way and gulp a little bit before investing but i am buying now and i'm not worried but microsoft is cheap. no death, they own certain segments of the market and if i look at google and facebook, they control the cloud, these companies are, yes, highly multiple in terms of -- but these are very good buys today. the growth of the market. stuart: okay. i want to see microsoft is cheap is the headline in the new york time. >> apple is certainly cheap. that's 17 times. stuart: i'm talking about microsoft. >> i know, it's all about you. stuart: the big story of the day, there are several, confirmation fight over neil

gorsuch. the senate is voting on something called the cloture, requires 60 votes to block a filibuster, it will likely fail. after that, comes the debate for the nuclear option. judge napoleon is with us. >> even though there are republicans who have expressed misgivings about this happening because they are losing this weapon the filibuster for themselves in the future and it a fore gone conclusion right now. stuart: can you address this politically and not legally, i see this as a fine thing. hold on a second, let's listen in for a second. they are talking right now. let's listen in for a second.

i thought they were about to announce the result of this vote but they're not, so i will go back to judge napolitano. >> i think they are still in the process of actually voting. even though we know the outcome, they are to record the votes. stuart: i say politically it's a fine thing for the republicans. get rid of the 60 -- >> not all republicans agree with you because they foresee a time when they will be in the minority and they want to have this tool for themselves, but their apparently willing to forego that. once the filibuster is not available for judge gorsuch to become justice gorsuch, it can never be available for any minority to use on any supreme court justice without the consensus of 67 senators. extremely unlikely event. stuart: i want the supreme court of the united states to return to its constitutional function, not to be a legislature, to be the high court of the land, to

do that we need more strict constitutionalists in the court, the way to get them on the court is to have no 60-vote requirement and have the next nominee from the trump administration. >> well, the next nominee from the trump administration, whoever that might be will clearly only need 51 votes because of the unavailability -- stuart: exactly. >> of the filibuster. stuart: that person will be confirmed. >> mostly likely, yes. stuart: you seem to have a problem with this? >> no, i don't have a problem with this and i share john mccain's concerns that the removal of a tool, 200-year-old tool for gain now, they come back and bite them in the future. suppose a president bernie sanders is about to put a 35-year-old ruth ginsburg, with the filibuster they can stop that, without it they can't. [laughter]

stuart: can't we go back to the 60-vote rule in case of president sanders. [laughter] stuart: you can never go. 67 -- >> 67 votes for that. if you want to return to a procedure that you have abolished it takes two-thirds. >> i feel very strong. this is a flag of convenience i wish we weren't using. it can really come back to bite us. >> do u see thawhe bnt economist is agreeing with what i'm saying? >> what happens then if suddenly they decide to block f they have the leadership of the senate, they decide to block everything we try and do in the supreme court. they have that capability. i really wish that the senate would behave like senators. i know some of the people around this committee. it does not make sense to me. that was not the one to fight for. they fought over this one as a matter of principle and payback, that was a mistake.

he was a decent jurist the last fellow but this guy has no hair on him and he should be approved by 60 votes. stuart: i want your comment on what senator schumer has been saying about judge gorsuch. i'm astonished by it. >> i'm astonished by it as well. their latest allegation is one of plaguerism because he used technical definitions of medical terms from another publication. these are -- this is termology as to which there is no dispute in the medical community and you don't have to say what the source of the definition was. that's the depth to which these people will sink to try and block a perfectly qualified jurist. their problem is donald trump chose him. they wanted barack obama to choose a successor for scalia. 14 months debate going on.

>> the last time he was up for a major event they took -- it was near unanimous vote from democrats and republicans for this guy. this is pure political theater. i think it's ridiculous. the democrats will be hurt by it. they think they will make a big play here. i think they are going to be hurt here. it is a tool that has value and the senate is not the house of representatives. stuart: let me recap for everyone. it has been a new-jam packed day and that's a fact. the opened at 9:30 this morning, slightly lower. speaker ryan held a news conference about 20 minutes after the opening of the market, he said there's a new element being injected into the healthcare bill. that new element is higher risk pools as a way of maybe getting premiums down. he said they were very close but as usually said, there's still work to be done. no word on whether or not the house will stay in session through the easter recess. at this moment, it's not going to. they're all going home.

then we have the announcement from devin nunes, he chair it is house intelligence committee, he is stepping aside from the russia investigation. that came aboard. we also have president trump addressing the wounded warriors in the white house and we saw -- we are about to see president trump leave the white house and go down to mar-a-lago to meet with china's president xi. all of this going on and we have the dow nes close to high of the day, not a big high, up 44 points, very close though to 20,700. former fbi assistant director james, frequent guest and favorite guest on the program he joins us right now. i want your comments, sir, on the chair of the house intelligence committee devin nunes stepping aside because he's got some kind of ethics charge against him? a charge layed upon the man, is that right, judge?

>> from an outside left-wing group that anybody could have filed. stuart: okay. >> showlg -- should not have done pit. typical republican. they roll over. they are like snowflakes, it's crazy. they could make it against anybody for any reason. it's nuts. >> they could stop the government in its track by filing meaningless ethics charge. >> stupid and typical. stuart: i think the left is doing this because the susan rice allegations are really -- >> stuart, there's a fifth column in the united states big time when working 24/7. this whole business with her, you know, this is a top secret environment, okay. what nsa, the foreign counter intelligence program, the feisa court and you have to have need to know to see this stuff and

there has to be audit trail, okay, and the nsa, the cia domestically, they are not investigative agencies, the fbi is the counterintelligence investigative agency in the united states, 99% of it, there's a few other dangling possibles, but if it's the feisa order at nsa or fbi and if leads come out of that to the in investigative agency, they asked about information about something and they are the ones that would have to make the determination if apply today unmasked names. in other words, susan rice would have to justify why there's a foreign counterintelligence matter that -- that requests the fact that they want those names uncovered. stuart: james, you use today run the fbi in new york. >> yeah. >> you're right up there.

do you believe that the obama administration used the machinery of government to spy on the trump campaign, did they? >> i have no direct knowledge but my 40 years tell me absolutely. absolutely. and, you know, there should be an audit trail. the question here is -- first of all, you cannot willy nilly fish around in this business. you to justify -- on the criminal side you have to write -- i have written 50-page affidavits to get a criminal wiretap and you have to have substantial reason to intercept people in a feisa court or the judge is going to throw you out. the notion that anyone working for trump, if they could make a case that somehow or another they were involved in counterintelligence or some major criminal conspiracy, i would love to see their documentation because i can't imagine that would exist. >> devin nunes and peter king

said it had nothing to do with russia. trump transition people were going minute through minute throughout the day. stuart: hold on one second, everybody. left-hand side of the screen. they are coming towards the end to have vote count, i believe. i think they've got 41 -- 41 no's. judge, that means that they have to go to the nuclear option to get justice judge gorsuch confirmed. >> you'll see in a few minutes senator mcconnell who actually votes with the no's because in order to make the motion you have to pretend like you're changings your mind and vote on the other side and have the vote overruled and that overruling will be 51 votes. they wait 30 hours for chuck schumer and company to say whatever they want and have straight up and down vote 30 hours from now. >> i'm trying to do the math. 11:00 o'clock -- stuart: 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.

>> exactly what chad predicted. 6:00 o'clock tomorrow and the president predicted judge gorsuch will be sitting gorsuch tomorrow. stuart: it then becomes justice gorsuch. >> immediately. stuart: he can start looking at cases that are before the supreme court. >> as to which there has not been a opinion or decision released. stuart: if there's not been an opinion made or released, he can look at those cases? >> yes. stuart: immediately? >> yes. stuart: as soon as he does that, he's in? >> a busy week ahead of him. stuart: you don't foe what cases he may be able to look at until decide -- >> no, i don't know. we don't know what the votes are in the case, when they are about to comout, we don't know what the attitude of the other justices is, we don't know if his involvement would change the outcome.

we may never know this. stuart: you've been sitting quiet for about three to four minutes. i have another question for you. president trump was interviewed by "the new york times". he was asked if he thinks that susan rice might have committed a crime, keyword might, he said, she might have committed a crime. what do you make of that? >> 100%. i mean, she might have committed a crime. another interesting thing, three or four weeks ago, i forget the date, the fbi director and the nsa director were testifying before one of the committees and they were asked the question, now, listen, the fbi is the one that would be in the middle of a feisa audit. nsa would also, they would know that and now unless the fbi director and nsa director don't have a clue of what's going on follow the organizations, i don't see how they can both answer the question, the question, now trump put, you know, wiretapping in quotations,

sort of a broader term -- it's not why is anymore it's electronics. they both side that they have no knowledge of that, that le fies logic in my view. they either know nothing or they are misleading in my view the american people and the congress. >> if they know nothing, they are incompetent. and if they're misleading the congress, they should be prosecuted. >> the republicans need to as we say in brooklyn grow some. [laughter] >> don't they say that in london, mr. varney? >> a very serious delusion of our rights in the united states. it's banana republic stuff and outrageous. stuart: james kallstorm letting us know how he feels? >> i tell you he was a good man. stuart: he is, indeed. the vote, this is a vote to avoid the bill juster, the vote will fail, so then we will have

them say, all right, we are going to impose the nuclear option. that's already done. they're already done with that. >> the filibuster cloture vote has failed, we are waiting for senator mcconnell to make the motion to allow the nomination to proceed and then the 30-hour delay for chuck schumer and company to speak to their hearts content. stuart: okay, we had an all kinds of vote, political and financial view this morning and we've got a pretty flat market, i have to say, news from ryan on health care, news on gorsuch on the confirmation process, the president is on his way -- about to go on his way to meet xi of china. what else do we have? the president speaking before the wounded warriors people, chair nunes withdrawing from all issues concerning russia and the dow jones industrial average is up 46 points. anything to add, anybody in. >> that's a big morn, stu. the china meeting is something that they're really interested

from the financial point of view, how does that meeting go, what if anything is established on trade, let alone north korea and others? stuart: that china meeting is bigger than we have made out to be in this program because there's so much else happening that that is a big meeting. what do you know about china? >> well, peter, kiernan gave a fascinating description of the president of china. does the president of the united states know as much as you do, does he know the survivor that he is? >> he's also an interesting guy. he got divorced and got off track in his career. the most famous folk singer in all of china. that would be mitt romney losing the election and marrying dolly parton. he basically married exptionally well known. shgot him back on track. he got his career back on track. i will tell you one thing that's interesting, when he came to the united states, most of them want

to get tour of new york and fancy place, i want to go live in iowa hog farm. he lived on the faurm with those iowa hog farmers and understand how those men and women live their lives. three years ago after he's president, he comes back and he meets, of course, with obama. he has an extra day in his calendar, what does this man do? >> goes to hog farm. >> he goes back to iowa to a hog farm. there's a real human being in there. stuart: wait, he's a good guy, a great guy. >> he's a great leader. stuart: total dictator rearming the south pacific. >> we've had faceless bureaucrats. >> is he going to help us with north korea? before we get nuked. >> the example i use is, i think, that north korea is like fredo's wife in the godfather, somebody goes to fredo which is china's case, if you don't do something about her, we are going to step in.

we have to push. now, i interviewed one time henry kissinger about this. he said in his whole history china has never turned its back on an ally. i think we can provide some cover so they will give some strong sanctions to north korea. that could come out this weekend. we are going to have to give something to china in order to get that. >> fredo's wife with thousand artillery piece that is can reach seoul anwipe it out. >> let's not forget, they flew icbm. what happened in the japanese market? it was up on the day. what happened on the kospi market? it was flat on the day. the two markets most exposed are not worried, why, because they know it's a party trick. this korean dictator wants to be the most talked about person in palm beach. he's not coming after us.

he's begging to be negotiated with. i'm not saying we should. that's why he's doing -- stuart: you can't dismiss this. the guy has nukes and he has rocket that is reach -- >> eight nuke that is he cannot -- he cannot shoot further than the south china sea. let's not overreact. >> what would you ask donald trump to do in negotiating with the president of china about north korea this weekend? >> in my view think are not going to play hardball with north korea. we have no good options, seriously. stuart: sorry to interrupt, we are in the high of the day for the dow industrials, nothing particular happened in the last few minutes but we are did move up a couple of points. we are up 53 points. we just made it to 20,700, you know what, we have to take a commercial break. why do we have to take a commercial break? so we can make money, ladies and gentlemen. this is a capitalist

organization and we -- [laughter] stuart: we are americans, for heaven's sake. can we get that straight? kall storm, you're out of here. we appreciate that, james. thank you, sir. >> my pleasure. stuart: yes, varney & company will return momentarily at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly.

stuart: all right, on the

left-hand side of your screen we have the united states snrat. they're in procedural motions. the final vote was 55 to 45. judge napolitano, that means -- >> the filibuster continues instead they stop it with the nuclear option. stuart: which they will stop with nuclear option and 30 hours from now as i understand it, it will be justice gorsuch sitting on the supreme court right after the president swearing him in. that's going to happen. any discussion? >> no. stuart: excellent. okay. [laughter] stuart: travis county, texas, that's where the city of austin is located, travis county, it has declared itself a sanctuary for illegal aliens, now the travis county sheriff has released 142 criminal illegals defying orders from federal immigration officials. joining us now is the republican governor of texas greg abbott, governor, welcome back, sir.

i believe that you're about to sign a new bill that would put that sheriff in travis county in prison; is that correct, sir? >> stuart, this is -- the first and foremost goal of government is to keep our people safe. what this sheriff has done is release back out on the street people who endanger our fellow texans. as governor, i will not allow that to happen. i have already defunded travis county tune of $1.5 billion in grant money but now texas is working on legislation that has passed in the senate and i think will pass in the house and in just a few weeks i will sign legislation this will impose stiff penalties on counties as well as on county officials like this sheriff including the potential for jail time, including fines, including the possibility that these counties can be sued for civil damages

for their duty. we want to allow the same types of remedies in the state of texas. stuart: what is it about austin that stands out from the rest of texas? [laughter] stuart: i would think that austin was in connecticut or something the way they act, what is it about the wonderful city, what is it? >> well, the way we look at it is austin is a blueberry in a sea of strawberries in the state of texas. [laughter] stuart: let's get serious for a second. go ahead. >> it is a california-style liberal where there's tension between the conservative governance of the state of texas versus the liberal governance of the city of austin and travis county. stuart: the bill that is you're about -- the bill, i should say that you're about to sign, backed up with the financial measures which you support, that will -- you think, that will eradicate the whole concept of sanctuary for illegal people in

your state, is that accurate? >> it is accurate because the financial penalties would be so stiff there's no way the counties could bare the burden of that cost, but secondly because of the potential for jail time for the sheriff ironically going to the very jail that she releasing people from becausef that, we will have removal of sheriff who is in noncompliance with ice-detainer requests. >> when will all of these measures be in place? >> this should a few weeks from now. our session, legislative session ends at the end of may. i should be signing that law before the end of may. the effective date of this will be september 1, that's just the way, let's say the calendar works but this law will go into effect september 1 that will vanish sanctuary cities, however, stuart, in the meantime i as governor and law enforcement officers in the state of texas will be doing anything we can dangerous criminals are not released back out into the

streets. stuart: you have a very large hispanic population in texas, are you getting pushback from them? >> understand this, stuart, that is much of our hispanic population actually -- has family roots here even going back to before when the state of texas was a state and so they are part of our culture and my wife is the first hispanic first lady in the history of the state of texas. hispanic want safety and security just like anybody else and so hispanics are concerned about the release of dangerous criminals back out on the street because it em'ses danger to them just as much as anybody else. stuart: one last one, sir. you're still in favor of the wall, build it? >> i had john kelly, secretary of homeland security here about ten weeks ago and i flew him over the río grande valley to show him how strategically the united states can be in skewering our -- securing our border.

texas, a stretch of texas in the presidio areas that trump administration promise today build the wall. stuart: are you in favor of the nuclear option with judge gorsuch, get him in by nuclear option? >> this is a majority vote, yes, i'm in favor of a majority vote. if we have to name it, we should call it the harry reid option but it is essential that gorsuch gets confirmed to the united states supreme court because we have seen the liberals on the united states supreme court who haveartefrom the united states constitution. we need justices on the supreme court who are going to enforce the constitution as it is written and i believe that is what judge gorsuch will do. stuart: texas is really different from california, isn't it? it's like day and night, isn't it? >> 180-degrees different. [laughter] >> that's why, in fact, today and tomorrow i'm announcing new jobs created in the state of texas by companies that are

leaving california and expanding in the state of texas. stuart: you enjoy this interview? [laughter] stuart: governor, sir, greg abbott, thanks for joining us, sir, always appreciate it. i want your -- let me give you -- [laughter] stuart: i'm opinionated-kind of guy. >> really? stuart: going to a majority vote to confirm a justice of the supreme court, i think, is a good idea at this moment in history. i think it's good for republicans, i think it's good for the country and you say? >> well, i would agree -- i think it basically recognizes reality that because the two parties are so far apart now that judge going forward was. >> -- was ever going to be affirmed by a majority filibuster. stuart, i just sat upstairs watching minority leader chuck

schumer give statement on cloture. the most extraordinary exercise i have ever seen. why are we here? we the democrats have tried and the founding fathers, spirit of bipartisanship and moderation proposing moderate cenist individuals to the supreme supreme court. on and on like that. the idea to portray the republicans as extremist going back 40 years and we democrats have been trying to get along with moderate judges. this is why we have arrived at this point, display of in in -- stuart: it's all politicized. no way around it. >> there's no question that the judicial philosophies of the liberals on the supreme court and the conservatives on the supreme court have been going further and further a part on

many -- on many matters over the years and judge gorsuch made that pretty clear, i think, in his hearings. he said, i will follow the law wherever the law takes me. that's the basis on which i'm going to make decisions and he said to the senators, if you don't like the law, it's your job to change it. the democrats believe, no, it's not our job to change it, let the judges change it and sort of call it the way they see it based on politics or where their heart is. that was sonia sotomayor. stuart: i understand it's got to be interpreted because of modern times. i've got that. but the basics are there. they are set in stone, are they not? they are written down and signed by the founding fathers. why do we have to reinterpret in a political way? i don't get it. >> because -- stuart: tell me why, why are we doing this? >> there's a reason for that. we were just talking about texas and california.

outside of texas and new york, in the u.s. congress it has become difficult for the liberals to get their way unless like i2009 they contlled both the house and the senate. it's hard for them to push votes through. it was hard for obama to push a climate change bill through the senate because democratic senators, many didn't want to vote for it. so instead they resorted to using the courts to legislate for them and we've had this argument for a long time and those are the kind of judges they want on the supreme court. neil gorsuch -- it's not just neil gorsuch, any judge that a republican president would nominate now is going to more or less be in the same area with gorsuch, which is to say the democrats would never approved him unless they were one of their own people and now we have arrived at the moment of the nuclear option where we are going to get a majority vote to confirm. stuart: yes, we are. dan hanninger, wall street guy.

president trump's top economic adviser is garrett cohen, he said he would support breaking up the big banks. radical stuff. peter kiernan, what do you say to that? >> gary was in a private senate meeting and asked a question by elizabeth warren. so he asked a question and he was asked a question and answered it and what he said was according to people that were there, they should take the consumer portion of banks lending to individuals and individual checking accounts, you want to separate that, that makes sense. he did not get specific on corporate loans and that kind of thing which look allot like -- a lot like investment banking. even if he wasn't, there's no way congress can even respond.

not a chance. stuart: you can't put the genie back in the bottle. >> it's not going to happen in the next 12 or 13 months. i promise you that. stuart: that's for sure. not much. gary cohen on the program. 9:00 o'clock hour. early in the hour. 9:00 o'clock, gary cohen with us tomorrow morning. the gorsuch vote has been taken and moving towards a majority vote to confirm judge gorsuch who will become justice gorsuch, we confident predict by 5:00 o'clock tomorrow night. dow is up 59, 60 points. back in a moment

nicole: i'm nicole petallides for your fox business brief. commodities in the upside and we wait the monthly job's report tomorrow. right now the dow jones industrial up 62 points, 20,710. are seeing mo sectors higher. energy financials are leading the way. checking out some of the winners and losers, caterpillar has been a winner all week long on positive comments from goldman sachs and nike a winner. amazon at 30,000 part-time jobs. 902 and change. any move to upside will be a 7-day record close.

l brands, bath&body works. up 10% in quarterly reports. lauren and i will see you there

stuart: we expect history to be made in the united states senate in the next 40, maybe 45 minutes. that history would be the end of the filibuster forever for

filibustering supreme court nominees. they could bring back the filibuster but takes 67 votes in the senate to do just that. highly unlikely, history about to be made. we will show it to you on fox business when it happens. next case, president trump, he travels to mar-a-lago florida for a showdown meeting with china's president xi jinping. fred barnes is with us. all right, fred, i have my usual opinion to throw at you. i say we win. i say that president trump wins. i think we have leverage. >> leverage with china. yeah, trump has all kinds of leverage if he uses it wisely. i think he can. you know, on some china issues like human rights nancy pelosi is actually on his side, so if he musters all of that and points to areas in which china cheats on trade with the u.s., i think it'll be a very strong

performance by trump. stuart now, we need china to do something about north korea. so that's leverage in the other direction. i'm not so sure how much china is willing to contain north korea. >> not much. trump is not the first president to try to get china to really put pressure on north korea. there's a misapprehension that china actually controls what north korea does. it's not quite that way. the -- the north koreans are crazy, so the chinese can't control them either. so, i mean, it's going to be up to trump really having to do some clever talking in this meeting in order to get the chinese to do more than they have in the past, maybe it's possible. the chinese are acting up. we will see. i'm not optimistic on that point. stuart: i have peter kiernan,

goldman sachs guy. you cut off buying coal from north korea and you cut off their money; is that right? >> i think coal is the real key to north korea. they don't have much going economically but true sanctions is one way and if we can convince china to basically block aid, someone off center leader kim jong un. stuart: we have to give something. >> the other piece on negotiation, we have to borrow 42% of what we spend, we have to borrow from some place else and the number one place to buy that for the last decade has been none other than china. they own more of our treasury bonds than anybody else. so there is a give a a get here. i think what you he is two men that have the capacity to find a deal together. this is a dealing-kind of guy in xi jinping.

stuart: time will tell. fred barnes still with us, congressman mark meadows says tax reform can get done by august. what do you make of that? >> well, i don't think he knows whether it is. you're going to have gary cohn tomorrow morning. ask him. i would rather get his opinion than mark meadows' opinion. i think they've gone at it very slowly. it's going to be very difficult. they are just starting inside the administration. they want to control it but they've got a long ways to go. that's why i think they need to do a very simple -- a few simple steps in the meantime and one of them is cut the business tax. stuart: i say keep him in session throughout the easter recess, resubmit a healthcare bill that's been updated with some of the stuff that the conservatives want, vote on it, get it done, then you can go home for the recess, what's

wrong with that? >> that's a good idea. it'll be very hard to get that done. stuart: why? >> why? because -- stuart: they work for us. this is the nation's business. this is absolutely crucial and they can't stick around in washington, d.c. for maybe another three to four days? they can't do that? >> i agree it's crucial. of course, they can do it but i'm not betting they will. stuart: well, that's terrible. [laughter] >> it is terrible. stuart: republicans are not acting like the party of government. they are not acting like a governing party. >> well, they're not acting very nimble that's for sure. you're going to get around a tax reform sometime, but, you know, they could do something in the short run here on tax, cut the business tax, repatriate.

new york city where transit system is collapsing. stuart: you're forgetting something. i want tax cut for individuals, don't you? >> i do. in the short run -- democrats don't. they hate -- they want to raise income tax rates, so if you want a bipartisan bill in the short run, you'll have to get some democrats, so you have to leave that out. i hate to leave it out but i think you'd have to in this case. stuart: all right, fred barnes, your time is up. i'm sure we will see you very soon. thank you, fred. >> you're welcome. stuart: we are waiting for history to be made in the senate. right-hand side of your screen. modest rally but the dow is up 20,700. we will be back [phone ring] hi anne. 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. yeah, that would be great. being proactive... it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. buttrust angie's list to help., [ barks ] sit angieslist.com today. don't let dust and allergens and life's beautiful moments. flonase allergy relief delivers more complete relief. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause all your symptoms, including nasal congestion and itchy, watery eyes. flonase is an allergy nasal spray that works even beyond the nose. so you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6>1 changes everything.

stuart: in the united states senate senator schumer has proposed a motion to delay the vote until monday. that vote isely to be defeated, judge. >> procedural noense. they will get to the ve on justice gorsuch by 6:00 o'clock tomorrow. stuart: thank you very much, napoleon -- napolitano.

a robo financial adviser, explain it, marine. -- machine. ashley: for people that have individual retirement accounts and what jamie diamon has said he wants jp morgan to be the amazon of banking, one-stop shopping, including advise from a robo adviser. stuart: we are all laughing at getting financial advise from robo computer. peter: major hedge funds are investing billions in creating technology platforms. gary is replacing advisers with computers. this is how you're going to invest in the future. anybody who misses this, jamie diamon ahead of the curve. look around the corner and this is where we are going to be. stuart: are you going to turn

over to portfolio to a computer? >> i already have. there's some people i invest with who have very heavily computer driven. why? because the computer can look at 10,000, 30,000 inputs per second. it doesn't mean it makes all the decision, but computers are going to be a key part of. >> do they give emotional advice? stuart: tomorrow 11:00 o'clock eastern time, this program mark steing is going to be here. 11:00 o'clock hour. we will be back in a couple of s yes?

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>> we haven't seen much like this before. look at retailers. we talk about the retail ice age. look at that. that is a retail rally. look at them, four, five, six, seven, eight, 9% up. other side of the coin of

course, online seller amazon. look at this, amazon, not way down, down eight bucks, holding at $900 per share. not seen that recently. bricks and mortar up, amazon down. how about that? how about that, neil cavuto? it's yours. neil: i was thinking about what you and peter talking about, machines and computers doing investing for us. matter of time before they're doing our job. stuart: speak for yourself. they need an english accent. neil: my would be italian, saying i don't think so, i don't think so. thank you very much. great show as always. we're following up on what stuart has been hammering home here, this so-called "nuclear option" about to be detonated today. i can drag you through all the parcel men temporary details. we're hear from mitch mcconnell shortly, explaining how that will be implemented here