stuart: we will not go in there. i like. my time is almost up that i will render an extra 10 seconds to my colleague neil cavuto who could use the time better than i. neil: we have been focusing on the president's big trip abroad. the fixation not so much on the agenda that he still wants to go with for tax cuts and all that but did you see the latest cover of time magazine? i caught this one. look how they are portraying the white house. moscow influence painted in red that we don't even know whether there is any there to this story but how can he move on and address issues like taxes, like getting regulations off business's back and revamp the tax code itself, fix healthcare,

deal with a budget that does balance in the next we 10 years whether you accept his math or not. how can you do that when the media preordained where we just got a counselor looking into this they have already said it is they facto fact already russia is controlling this country like it controlled the election and he is a puppet. this is on the cover of a major newsweekly, incredible. fair and balanced, i think it not. for the next two hours we will step back from this to put it in perspective. we just hired someone to get to the bottom of this, former fbi director and you already have the media saying you don't have to bother. we already tarred and feathered and painted him red. is that fair, is that balanced? it is not which could explain why an administration about to take off on its first key foreign-policy trip donald

trump's first as president of the united states is trying to get to work on the agenda but got him elected in the first place, that will include a lot of maneuverings behind the scenes on tax cuts, regulatory reform and addressing entitlements, not all entitlements for the kind of stuff that supposedly the american people are interested in. blake berman with the latest. >> there is a focus on fiscal issues before the president goes abroad for this major and first 9-day foreign trip, and with the omb director mick mulvaney. we could surmise good part of the discussion on the budget, the white house tells us next week they plan to roll out a bigger form of the budget at least their proposal and they tell us this morning that the goal will be to have a balanced

budget over the course of ten years. however they intend to do this or propose it with pretty major cuts amounting into the trillions of dollars they will propose over time. here are highlights from the proposed budget that will be rolled out next week, there will be no change to social security and medicare. there will be cuts the white house wants to medicaid, food stamps, federal employee benefit programs just to name a few but there will also be a new program, paid parental leave, something democrats have been pushing for quite some time, one of the biggestishes for donald trump, $2.6 billion federal funding for the border wall. part of the assumptions the tax reform will get done and there will be 3% growth by the year 2021 and if you look at the tax reform picture i was speaking with treasury official moment

ago told me they are optimistic and you look at comments by paul ryan and steve mnuchin yesterday in washington ryan saying we are making good progress, steve mnuchin saying i am hopeful that we will get tax reform done this year. on the economic front still a push from the white house as they feel confident, they feel good about where things stand going forward. stuart: blake berman. on the issue of tax cuts, i spoke to the head of the house, ways and means committee on fox news and he made it clear they are going about their business coming up with a doable tax cut that would be ready by late this summer. paul ryan echoing that earlier this morning saying that is the goal to get all of this done and wrapped up. there is a separate drama around the healthcare sing that if cbo score that is slated next week they might have to revote on that in the house. it is a moot point for the senate which is starting from

scratch but i mention all these examples to put to bed this issue. which my director just kicks off the floor when i threw it but it really bothers me. former bush 41 campaign advisor, national chairman, gop strategist. what do you make of this? the media is jumping on the fact, there is no denying influence to this day at this time that the white house has all but moved to moscow. what do you make of this? it occurred the same day we are seeing a pretty aggressive republican series of initiatives on this domestic agenda which might or might not, you wouldn't know it from the covers. >> your viewers don't have to take it from you or me or the republican strategists, democrat senators said the same thing,

there's no evidence. what is happening now is parallel universes, national beltway media and what really matters at home in the states. what really matters at home in the states is congress, house and senate, we have a majority, comparable legislation aimed at job reform across the board and healthcare on the president's desk. that is how you get things done in washington, not waiting around hoping malays will wash over washington, sitting around in neutral waiting for something to happen. >> they say the best defense is a very gd ofnse. neil: that is the attack republicans want to make, making progress on all the tax related funds even the budget thing in the house, not so sure in the senate where there is very little wiggle room but what do you see happening? >> this is a situation where you

have to play the ball. we have a special prosecutor, special prosecutor will continue the investigation. stuart: say that again. we have a special prosecutor looking into this. this cover which pre-judges his work is a waste of time. i just threw that in. >> there are 82 legislative days left on the calendar. paul ryan is optimistic about tax reform and speaking to business owners and individuals around the country they are anxious for this kind of reform, to get the corporate rate down to make america more competitive for business and what is important to remember is despite the ongoing investigation republicans control the agenda. don't forget the sweetener they added in in 2018 that is not on the agenda for this year but on the agenda right before the

midterms which is infrastructure. tell me those ten democratic senators, 12 democratic representatives want to go home and explain to their constituents why they are not addressing crumbling bridges and roads. neil: sometimes i wonder if those in the media will let them. on these stories we talked about it quite often, i am all for what is going on, progress or lack thereof on the russian investigation. i have time to talk about what is happening with the market. i'm not going to prejudge that investigation or show you the time magazine cover because they won't get it back to me now so i can blame it on their rounds. i was so incensed by that. going ahead and prejudging where all of this will end up, the white house is und communist influence, we might as well move the white house to red square.

you are clearly trying to stop an agenda you may not like or the media may not like or those on the left may not like but you can't make this stuff up. >> that time covers proof the only collusion going on in washington, pick it up again. between the media and the democrats. the only collusion going on, and old arabic proverb that says though the dog may bark the caravan moves on and the republican caravan moves on. people look at what has taken place on real substantive policy issues, brand-new trade representative, his first day on the job, and renegotiation of nafta. steve mnuchin and gary cohen met with the senate finance committee, there are hearings on infrastructure and healthcare. the caravan moves on, policy agenda moving on, the bigger

threat to progress, 82 legislative days, increase by 20 or 30. i say congress stays in session during the congress recess, they shouldn't get there are cargoes to break unless we get our tax break. neil: then you will flap around all week. thanks very much. again, we don't want to overly stress this. think about what is being done here and framed here that there is simply no logic to continuing on with anything going on in washington because congress can't walk and chew gum at the same time. there i say you took that magazine away. there i say, get it for me, getting his work out, this is what the media is saying, we can't walk and chew gum at the same time, we can't reports on anything else at the same time, do what we do g this. if there is any there we are on

top of that latest developments, closed-door meetings and guys come out, talk to the microphones but there's other stuff going on like this budget thing where they are trying to come up a way to balance it in ten years if that is doable, they are trying to come up with the tax package, trying to come up with a way to score the healthcare thing, even if it means they have to re-vote on it so we are walking and chewing gum at the same time. the media has an obligation to walk and chew gum at the same time. this. wrong, america. wrong. break through your allergies.

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stuart: this is before the president takes off coming up with an fbi director, joe lieberman leading the pack but in won't happened necessarily today. that is what we are told. connell mhaneith other details. connell: the president is leavg for overseas in a minute

so with white house officials, makes the comments and the president very interesting, talking about senator lieberman, when he was top candidate to be the next director, he is, if there was a trial balloon, the reaction was mixed. if you look at congress, even though lieberman spent three of his four terms in the senate as a democrat it was former colleagues on that side of the aisle that have been raising the questions. listen. >> it is a mistake to nominate anyone who has ever run for office. i spent a lot of time in law enforcement. this is a moment we need a law enforcement professional never campaigned for a presidential candidate, never campaign for office, never worn a party label to head the fbi. connell: the argument against. the idea that he was a senator respected on both sides is part of the argument in favor of joe lieberman. since the fbi director does need senate approval. >> in a very divided nation's

capital and very divided country joe lieberman is the only person who could get 100 votes in the senate. connell: the resume, three terms in the senate, you mentioned earlier he was a democrat for one period and one term as an independent from connecticut, also background state attorney general, we see legislative notes and accomplishment, homeland security committee, repeal of don't ask don't tell, helping the depravity of homeland security get started. one of the concerns in addition to political background for lieberman as you look at the other candidates that have been mentioned, he is 75 years old. fbi director abnormal term is 10 years. we don't know if the president is going back to the drawing board but we thought we might get an announcement before he left for overseas and we are told in the last few minutes by white house official that is unlikely. neil: former fbi director mark mueller in charge of being

special counsel of the whole russian trump investigation, could take some time here. that is a separate drama that has to play out and it could be a while and the former white house independent counsel on this process, show you this again and thank you for getting it here, time magazine has already concluded it is all true. all the allegations are true, trump white house has been moved to moscow. >> we don't need to have an investigation. we do need to have an investigation in the country's best interests consistent with the decision of the attorney general to get to that task to get it done. neil: difficult with something like that. >> dealing a political environment no one said it was going to be easy but i dealt with that and you do the best you can. it is important to show results

and get to the finish line whatever the answer is. neil: no matter what you came out with their would be those in the media who would have an automatic reaction no matter how much you research, they wouldn't be happy. >> it comes with the territory but ultimately the guide is public sentiment about the ability to have an investigation with integrity. i had three statutory works i was charged with, prompt, responsible, cost-effective, emphasis on the word prompt. neil: you kept your cool which would be tough for me. let me ask about how long this could take. some are of the opinion a matter of weeks. what do you think? >> it will not be a matter of weeks. criminal investigation takes time to both investigatend make disions whether or not prosecutions are warranted and proceed from there.

i don't think the public tends to understand how long that process can take. warner: the best guess? >> my own experience and we live through several independent counsel investigations where things took too long, four years, eight years, longer, i don't expect it should take that long, it shouldn't take that long, not enough public interest to do that. neil: is a midterm election comes up. >> it should be not because politics necessarily determine outcomes but in the political environment we are in it is desirable for the country to have some resolution with regard to this in a period of 12 to 18 months if it can be achieved. neil: know you are pushing it. if you were to advise, you have to keep blinders on but you appreciate the enormity is former fbi director did of coming out with what he said about hillary clinton, weeks,

days. >> october surprises are to be avoided but i also have findings with regard to the former first lady in advance of senatorial election because i thought voters had the right to know what my findings were in advance of issuing more formal findings in the final report which was statutory requirement so it is important. >> you got her elected senator. >> voters have a right to have some answers and i think they will have a right -- >> comey doing same with the original, saying he wasn't going to pursue it anymore. >> the timing wasn't his own making. he couldn't have made up anthony weiner, the laptop. but he did the best he could and he did it in july. unfortunate he had to come back out again and make revisions to

the outcome as a result of new information in the emails. neil: when you were conducting your investigation, media revelations, coming concurrently, simultaneously. >> in the democratic convention it was publicly disclosed that i impaneled grand jury which was supposed to be secret. i didn't tell anybody but people in my own office except the special provision and one of the three judges talked to a reporter and disclosed it to the media. that is how the public came to find out there was a grand jury investigation involving the president of the united states. i learned my lesson which is you don't want anyone in washington to know what you are doing you tell few people and the people you tell you are absolutely certain you can trust because leaks are part of life but to answer your question -- with bob mueller he has been through this before, he knows how to keep a

secret and he will. >> beyond what he is trying to control, within the trump administration there are a lot of leaks going on and i wonder if that goes back to the relationship with the intelligence agencies and payback time. what is happening? >> some of that is possible and you are always going to deal with career people in washington who don't owe political allegiance to you. they are an important part of government which the president has come to understand. presidents come and go, you have to deal with the situation carefully but as far as the special counsel investigation is concerned you have to do what you have to do understanding you are in that environment, leaks will happen, to protect the integrity, ongoing integrity of the investigation. neil: how much cooperation do you get from the people you are investigating, if you requesd anything from the white house, what happened to the report coming in? >> there were all kinds of battles in the justice department, the white house

counsel. neil: how do trump folks respond? >> hard to say. he is going to hire counsel, legitimate questions and along the way. neil: what are your rights -- does he have free reign to get anything he wants? >> he will be given a certain amount of latitude and support, the justice department. with regard to dealing for his office and the white house counsel and separately retained to represent the president's interest in connection to the investigation. >> update among other people, on the oversight committees, fred thompson and a lot of people in

congress. and update, 2 significant matters, rob rosenstein. >> rosenstein never ran, recused himself at the white house, do we read anything into that. >> that is the way it should be, not form over substance. he made a decision to appoint special counsel. >> did you feel the needs to forget or clarify -- plenty of such movements. >> it was necessary to protect the ongoing integrity of the investigation. >> criticized as speaking of the prosecutor with regard to issues, that is what i felt was necessary to protect the investigation. >> the things go far afield. >> they can go far afield, rob

rosenstein retained power to decide whether to grant an expansion, bob mueller. there will be judgment involved, then unusual thing for any criminal investigation. >> statutory, and steered in a different direction. >> he will trigger concerns to something bigger. the president also is entitled to an expeditious and responsible conclusion to the investigation on the assumption there is no there there. if there is no there there bob mueller will investigate, decide what to do with what he has, if he finds crime, the he will prosecute them a if not he will announce this is what we looked at, a thorough investigation and we concluded there was no credible evidence

of collusion with russian officials by campaign officials in the trump campaign. he has the right and obligation to pursue wrongdoing and bring charges. if he finds that appropriate, by the same token to exonerate to the extent that he determined there is not sufficient evidence. neil: how do you put someone's word against another? the president said he never told comey to back off from flynn, comey insists that he did. it is like a he said he said thing. >> it is also a matter of degree. both could be true. the president didn't actually insist or demand comey back off but you can read those notes the way you can read them about intimation or what his hopes were. that is far afield in my view based on that is all we know. neil: what you ask for them? >> that is not obstruction of justice we define the investigator i might ask tapes they will ask for them and if they don't get them they will subpoena them. neil: time has to redo its

cover. >> we will see about that. neil: former whitewater independent counsel. look at this. we have a lot going on. the markets seem to have overcome their shaky response to an agenda that might be delayed. this is not political, they were concerned about agenda, tax cuts, regulatory relief might be delayed or denied, apparently not so convinced of that today but they are often wrong. more. are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. there are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. with the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. if we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin.

♪ ♪ neil: all right. did you hear that? robert mueller, in charge of investigating this whole russian-trump thing, that that investigation could a take 12-18 months. [laughter] this and discerning whether it's true that the white house is painted in red and moscow has

taken over control of 1600 pennsylvania avenue, that it's going to take 12-18 months that this cover, that trump is under the control of the russians and the white house is now moscow west, that's going to take 12-18 months to find out if this is true. so my challenge to "time" magazine and others leaping to conclusions that might or might not pan out, is i want this cover corrected if it doesn't pan out and a big old i told you so if it's true. but right now the media, which says washington is incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, has already concluded this is a fact, and it's fixated on only this. [laughter] sorry. [laughter] all right. gerri willis, in the meantime, has the details on a health care measure that might go right back to the folks who started it.

update me on that. >> all right, neil, you remember this scene two weeks ago, the celebration of the passage of trumpcare in the house. [applause] all felt so good back then. but not so fast. now it looks like the house may have to vote yet again on obamacare repeal and replace, the american health care act. the reason? the congressional budget office has yet to estimate its effects on federal spending. if the ahca requires her federal spending and results -- more federal spending and results in in -- that report or expected next wednesday. now, a spokeswoman for the house ways and means committee told fox business moments ago the bill, quote: is just being held until cbo issues its final score.

and based on the previous two scores, republicans appear confident they can hit their target deficit reduction number but are holding back out of an abundance of caution. not everybody is so optimistic though. in other words, we could be back to the drawing board yet again. consider, the bill was a squeaker last time, passing by a four-vote majority, 217-213. now, whether the republicans can hang on to that margin is anybody's guess. but if republicans were to send the bill to the senate now and the cbo concludes it doesn't save at least $2 billion, then the bill could be dead in the water, and the republicans would have to start over with a new budget resolution. aidesay congressnal rules would likely prevent republicans from fixing the bill once it's in the senate. now, some republicans say they were surprised at the delay and didn't realize that the bill had yet to move on to the senate. democrats complaining, of course, they're saying a lack of transparency. but this just shows you, we've

still got a long, long way to go, each longer than we anticipated getting health care repealed and replaced, neil. neil: all right. thank you very much, gerri willis. look what i've got here. [laughter] that "time" cover. what you just proved is they are doing other things. so they're working on this health care thing, they're working on this budget thing. that's what i want to get into with my next guest here, about how to balance it out in ten years. so they're not all on to accessed on all russia all the time or, furthermore, concluding there's no need for a special contractor, special counsel, whatever we're calling director mueller. the media has concluded as have a number of democrats, some republicans, well, donald trump is in like flint when it comes to the russians. nothing else is getting done. but gerri just told you other things are getting done. a budget is being crafted. and this is, in fact, yes! okay.

the committee for a responsible federal budget, this guy, matt has lost eight pounds since this began. i don't know, maya, if you saw this cover, but they would think nothing is being done on the budget front. stuff is, but you're saying to balance it in ten years they might as well not be doing it. you don't buy the math they're using, right? >> well, no, no, no. so they can do a lot of things at one time. they can walk and chew gum and probably even do a couple other things, and as we're going to see next week, they are doing a lot. we're not only going to get that health care score, the budget's going to come out on tuesday. so, yes, what we're hearing is they areoing to balance the budget in ten years. and i'm really pleased they have a fiscal goal to improve the fiscal situation. what i'm more dubious about, and i'm not going to judge it til i see the budget, is whether those underlying policies and numbers are all realistic.

neil: god bless you, maya. you're going to, you know, reserve judgment -- [laughter] until you know the facts. >> no covers. we're not going to put any covers out. neil: til you know the facts. all right. so let me tell you some of the early rumors we have -- >> yeah. neil: -- on this. that they are assuming 3% growth, they're going to leave medicare and social security alone, but they're open to dealing with medicaid. and they're looking at ways to cut back on federal employee benefit programs. but however the math ultimately crunches together, they're saying within ten years a balanced budget. the growth assumptions alone would be unprecedented certainly in recent years. but that could change the math mightily, right? >> yeah. those growth assumptions are going to be one of the biggest questions in the whole budget, and that's right. they have let the public know that the growth assumptions are probably going to be that the economic growth in this country will get up to 3% by the end of the budget window.

and keep this mind projections right now are for under 2%. and that sounds low but, unfortunately, it's realistic because we have this massive aging of the population. and to get growth up to 3% would actually take unprecedented productivity growth -- neil: well, what is our average, maya? i know it seems like an impossible leap, but there were periods under the reagan years and the clinton years where we had substantial growth. i guess -- >> we sure did. neil: keeping that going is another thing, right? >> we sure did. 3% wouldn't be inconsistent with our history but for one fact, that at that period our baby boomers -- the biggest generation by far -- was entering the women force, -- the labor force, women as well, and they were in their prime working years. we don't have demographics like we had like that before. there are policies we could be thinking about. we could change some of our retirement policies to encourage people to work longer. there are a lot of public policies from tax reform, regulatory reform, reducing our debt which will all help growth.

but i think the main point is 3% is something the aspire to and to realize that it's a tough goal, we should not count on it until it happens. because what we don't want to do is use that growth assumption to paper over the real differences between our spending and revenues which are going to need some policy solutions. but again, this budget looks like it's going to shoot for balance, which is great. looks like their tax plan is going to be revenue neutral which we hoped they would stick to. they're going to have real, specific spending cuts. i wish they would touch entitlement reform. sounds like they're not going to go where we really need to go. that's the wig -- the big piece of this. the growth numbers don't sound like they're going to add up -- neil: but at least they're doing something. of course, it has to pass muster with you, but it is proof be they are trying to do something. maya, thank you very, very much. as we're speaking here, just getting confirmation from the assistant attorney general that

he stands by his decision to recommend that the ex-tbi director -- fbi director, james comey, be fired. you're not hearing a lot of press on that, but apparently in his conversation with senators on capitol hill and those briefings, he still thinks that it was better than not for the fbi director, james comey, the go. but all of this occurring in the backdrop where they're still trying to get stuff done on the budget, as maya alluded to, on tax cuts as we've been talking about here. and that's one of the reasons why the markets are advancing, because contrary to press reports -- and let's say this particular press report that has it out that this is all russia, all the time -- this is the same media that says, you know, washington, you've got to focus on the people's business. so so god forbid, they're focusing on the people's business. in press on that. is that fair, is that balanced? no! [laughter] we'll have more after this. ♪ ♪ ok, let's call his agent. i'm coming over right now.

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♪ neil: well, as i predicted, the e-mails are coming in fast and furious. i thought i'd take the pulse of the american people on this cover that shows the folks at time magazine have prejudged and concluded the administration is already under russian influence. but this was not quite the reaction i was expecting. because of the repeated times i've thrown that time magazine on the floor, jake in baton rouge says why don't you get up your own fat ass and get the magazine yourself. your director is going to needless work for your bigger-than-life ego. [laughter] casey writes: neil, i understand you being upset about this. eat some lunch, calm down and let your director rest. [laughter] that was actually from my director here. [laughter] all right. but this is what i'm talking about here, for those of you who aren't aware. it's the "time" magazine story that purports to say it's already done, mueller can go ahead and investigate whatever

he wants for the next 12-18 months. they've already concluded the russian influence is well not only through the election, but it continues through this day, so why are they even talking about taxes, a budget, why are they even talking about this? why is the market running up on the belief that maybe these other priorities haven't been forgotten? that is wrong to do. and, you know, when i get angry about something, i i just want to -- >> [inaudible] >> the other side. all right. oh, man. which brings us to charlie gasparino. charlie, as you know, i'm getting my exercise today just flinging this to the left -- >> no, you look, you're actually breaking a sweat for change. neil: matt, of anyone, he's a supremely fit individual. i certainly wouldn't be picking up this magazine on my own. i have a lot to to get into with you, but what do you make of this? the media's already preordained, i look at "time" as

representative of that view there's got to be some there, there. what do you make of that? >> well, i read -- you know, listen, this is classic pile on donald trump week. listen, some of it he asked for, some of it is more -- he didn't. i read a whole story about jared kushner dealing with the saudis today in the be new york times. this whole story about how he dealt with them, how he got lockheed martin to cut the price of some arms that were going to the saudis, and then i'm looking for the paragraph where it should say this is bad because. and it's not there. it sounded bad through the context, but the guy did nothing wrong. i mean, nothing illegal. the worsthing you could say is that jared kushner is trump's son-in-law, and he was dealing with the saudis. and i'm telling you -- neil: but it's preordained. i think this stuff is powerful be, buddy, because i think it's out there in the public domain, "time" magazine, and people just

assume, well, you know, that's an image that sticks. you don't even need words. and that's going to be hard to overcome. and god forbid, god forbid mueller comes out with a report that exonerates the president. i have nod idea what it'll say. -- no idea what it'll say. i don't know if the media will buy it. >> yeah, listen, i will say this, the markets are saying this right now, and i think the american people and investors, people that tune into our show should realize this. forget about trump, the man, what he's doing and his temperament. trump's economic plans are very good for this country. that's what the most sophisticated -- neil: so that's what's going on, you think the markets and the comeback here has to do from calming down from a couple of days ago and they're convinced no matter what the report canning and what others are saying, that that agenda is alive and well and not dead. >> yes. and they're saying -- the media, is markets are saying we know better than the media.

sophisticated investors are really smart. they've got their own skin in this game, meaning they've got their money on the line. they're saying if mnuchin and gary cohn and those guys can press an economic agenda, the economy will go up, the markets will go up, and they're decoupling it from the guy. >> now, i will say this, neil, the real big story, i think, today the most salient story is what peggy noonan wrote in the journal. great policies, but is the guy temperamentally suited for the job, and we don't know that. neil: we'll see. >> these policy toes are sound, and when you push it, the markets go up. neil: all right, buddy -- >> by the way. neil: -- go ahead. >> i drank some russian vodka last night. just want you to know. neil: why am i not surprised? you're more coherent when you do. [laughter] when i talk about coverage, folks, i'm not one of these gang on media, but i'm just saying i figure we have a lot of time here.

i do two hours on this show, an hour on fnc, we have plenty of time to get into everything. what's going on with the markets, confidence about earnings, confidence about this trip. this is just sort of accentuating the negative and coloring it red. ♪ ♪ neil: which isn't right. ♪ ♪ you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from nationa where i get the corol to chse any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender.

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>> i'm nicole petallides live on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stocks back in the between as investors are believing the gop agenda's back on track. also watching earnings that have done spriegzly well as we wrap up earnings season. in fact, s&p 500 growth is seen as about 15% higher which has beaten the expectations. we have some of the names you know hitting all-time highs including mcdonald's and alibaba. when we talk about earnings season and it beating overall, take a look at some of these names including walmart, home depot, alibaba and target, all of which beat earnings. i will note that home depot actually sales and profit beat the street. they saw also her sales of expensive items including appliances and flooring as people are investing more in their homes. all signs of an improving economy. walmart said they're seeing more foot traffic. so bug picture here -- big

picture here, earnings season, economy all on the right track. i won't say it's booming, i won't say it without a caveat of, you know, we'll see improvement as year goes on and the like, but overall, big picture things have been on the right track overall. neil? neil: all right. thank you, nicole. bottom line, we're getting word, confirmation other things are going on besides russia. speaker paul ryan saying he's going to send a health bill to the senate in a matter of weeks to respond to whatever cbo scoring we have. so steams to fly in the -- seems to fly in the face of this time magazine cover that says it's all russia all the time. donald trump doesn't do my show, i have no axe to grind for or against him, i'm just saying, media, be fair! [laughter] listen up, heart disease.)

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neil: all right. welcome back, everyone. starting our second hour here on "coast to coast," the dow up 172 points. we've gone a long way to erasing more than half the ground lost on that big old selloff on wednesday that was borne of the fact that this scandal, whatever you want to call it, was widening. so much so "time" magazine has a cover that has already concluded that the white house is under red. i'm getting a lot of critical e-mails on finish -- from people on devoting so much time. remember, i'm not an apologist to this administration, in spite of a lot of you calling me a globalist and i should agree with this cover.

i have no idea what that means. the fact of the matter is that it seems to presuppose that no matter what mueller comes up with down the road investigating this, the conclusion is and will be that the white house is under communist influence as we peek. so -- as we speak. so nothing else can get done. so a magazine and others in the media who say this administration can't, you know, walk and i chew gum at the same time, the same with republicans, apparently, that applies to the media as well. i'm not against, by the way, covering these kinds of stories. there could be interesting developments to follow, but it's not all one or other. i think we have a lot of time here. we can get into everything. but let's hold off on the guilty part here. having said that though, i do want to point out that on the back of this magazine -- [laughter] the feature on chocolate chip cookies. so i'm not going to throw that. yes, i am going to throw it. [laughter] all right. we've got the former majority leader, tom delay, who's been talking to, you know, lawmakers

on the hill. and, you know, tom, you dealt with this yourself in the media and everything else. this administration can't get a break. maybe it's this war that -- i don't know what it is. but they will never, ever -- forget about the benefit of the doubt. they won't even bother to take a peek at other stuff that's going on. it's all russia, all the time. what do you think of that? >> well, first of all, i think the "time" cover is just disgusting. it's like burning the flag, when i saw it. i was just disgusted by it. neil: it is disgusting. >> but i've got to tell you, i'm really happy that it's happening. the media is digging their hole deeper and deeper and deeper. when you get outside the beltway of washington, d.c. or out of new york into the real world, they're disgusted by it. they're disgusted by the media. they know what's going on. and, frank, hope it continues because the more they do this, the more the american people will reject and

regurgitate the leftist media. when they, when they have nothing, no vision, no issue, all they have is to destroy somebody, then the american people recognizes it. they did it to me for 18 years. neil: yeah, i know. >> i had the same thing -- neil: i remember. >> and you know what? i was a better man, i was a stronger man, i was closer to my lord because of it. and so i hope it stays up. i know trump doesn't want it and his staff doesn't want it, but i hope it keeps going. neil: and, by the way, you went on to dance with the stars, so -- [laughter] met me ask you though -- let me ask you though, it's interesting to me that right now there's this hot debate back and forth about investigations and that this is going to be like watergate and all -- forget about the comparisons or wanting, but that is the way it's preordained. and then i hear of this democratic con fab where they

were polling about how mentioning impeachment is helping or hurting the democratic party. forget about whether it's helping or hurting the american people, it was very overtly political how is it weighing on us. that told you all you needed to know. >> yeah, yeah. i gotta tell ya, it's amazing to me that the democrats are so stupid that they would bring up impeachment this early based on nothing. based on nothing. now, they're lying, and the only thing that the president needs to worry about is the justice department that's against him just like me, and they can't find anything going wrong. then they go to the things that gives them like, oh, obstruction of justice. neil: right. >> that's not -- you know, not the issue, not the crime itself, but they get you on something like obstruction of justice or perjury or, in my case, money laundering.

neil: in other words, to throw it out there, to throw out doubts. but what i do wonder about in the interim, do you remember in the watergate thing -- here i just said there is no comparison, but since so many are raising it, it changed when there were a number of republicans, when evidence started to be presented that the president might have been covering things up or, you know, hiding information. then, of course, the existence of the tapes and all that stuff. but what would it take to change the dial namics? it would -- dynamics? it would take republicans, right? >> well, and this is a strategy of the media and the democrats. they're trying to make it so hot in the media, there's some weak republicans here in congress and on the hill, and when it gets is so hot they start running from trump, then trump is in trouble. neil: are we at that stage yet? what do you think? >> no, not even close. not even close. what you've got here is a different phenomenon. first of all, i just love out

that trump threw a bomb right in the middle of washington, d.c., and this is the reaction. but the second art is you've got -- part is you've got some senators and some house members that are never trumpers, and they're the ones you hear at msnbc and cnn use as republicans criticizing the president. but by and large, aye been here for three weeks, and by and large most of the members appreciate what trump is doing, what he did just yesterday in venezuela where he's going, his foreign policy. all of these things. and they're constantly telling me hillary is not there. at least it's not hillary, or we'd be discussing the destruction of the constitution. neil: now, in the meantime, we look at this "time" cover, but no one is covering this little development today that the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein,s has apparently said that he stands by his original

recommendation to fire ex-fbi director james comey. so whatever has happened since, he thinks that comey's actions did support his removal from office. but that's like a cricket in the woods, to hear that, you know? but he did say it. he echoed it again today. >> yeah, yeah. i wish trump would have just come out and tweeted or whatever, go to his base and go to his supporters and say, look, there's a lot of reasons for me to to fire comey, but the most important reason is that he did not prosecute hillary clinton back in june or july. and that's reason enough to fire him and then drop it and go do his job. neil: yeah. he didn't drop things though, tom, that's what i'm noticing. [laughter] have a good weekend -- >> that's the rookie this him. neil: yeah, who knows. we'll see what happens. all right, we are following the defense secretary as he is addressing the media ahead of the president's trip, particularly to saudi arabia, and he has been talking with military personnel be about a crackdown on isis where they

might be able to coordinate efforts. to the hill's editor editor-in-, bob cusack. the saudi arabia trip is shaping up to be a crucial, crucial moment for this president. how do you think that's going to go? >> well, i think it's a good decision, i think, for the president. there's a lot of speculation he was going to cancel this trip. that was never going to happen. i think it's good for the president to do this, to be presidential on his first foreign trip. all of these countries that he's visiting, they're allies, so this should not be a very difficult trip foreign policy wise or the if he were going to someplace like russia. saudi arabia is key especially in the fight on isis, and, you know, there are have been a lot of democrat and republican criticism of the president certainly this week, but on foreign policy, you have some bipartisan support of his team including james mattis at the pentagon. it's fascinating that he picked these countries, including saudi arabia, to start it off. but i do think it's a good pause for this white house.

get out of the country. the president's not going to be watching a lot of cable news, i think, and i think they need a reset. neil: i know you don't go line by line and watch every magazine cover and every broadcast, you're busy enough doing your own job, but the one thing i do notice in coverage of donald trump ahead of this trip is his personal foibles. he prefers steak with ketchup, people better understand that. you know, where he goes and, you know, how he might offend people by the way -- his demeanor and all that. i don't recall a president ever getting this type of, you know, examination over anything or yet to be prejudged as in the cover of this "time" magazine, a lot of my friends and colleagues here are saying, all right, neil, give it a rest. the media's already, in the case of "time," already said guilty as charged. white house, red house, do you know? whoa. what do you make of that? >> listen, i'm a big fan of the first amendment and they're

ability to do that. in a lot of cups, you can't print anything that's critical of the presidency. i wouldn't green light that cover because there is no smoking gun, and even democratic leaders are trying to get their guys to say, hey, until there's real proof here, stop talking about impeachment. you're not going to be able to control every democrat in the country and on capitol hill. neil: let's say democrats, the that point, are overreaching here, getting a little too giddy much as republicans did with bill clinton, and they later regretted looking too overzealous. >> yes. and i think with these investigations, they have to be clear and eliminate the cloud. that's what i think the white house has to make sure -- yeah, criticize any probe that you think is overreaching, but i do think democrats have to watch that factor of overreaching on this issue until, you you know,e don't know the whole story here. and i think it's worth investigations, investigators to find out what's going to op. but innuendo and clouds, that is something that tom delay was talking about, that i do think

that the media in this age of twitter, they can be, you know, they can be complicitful. neil: all right. very good catching up with you, my friend, be well. the editor-in-chief of the hill. the dow up about 160 points, and we have some unexpectedly good news out of some premier retailers, walmart the latest saying, you know, things are sot so bad. i say that also in the context of this russian investigation. i had time to report both, time to report that wall street is optimistic this is not going to be a perennial problem, and this is not necessarily the case. i focused on the green and the red, see that? i could give you both. both. i had time to give you both. [laughter] more after this. dear predictable, there's notherway say.

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fortunately there's a bed where you both get what you want every night. enter sleep number and the semi-annual sale going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store. oh, and right now it's our lowest price ever on our temperature balancing i8 bed. save $700. go to sleepnumber.com for a store near you. neil: all right. we're getting some confirmation of this, utah republican congressman jason chaffetz who sits and oversees the house oversight committee has made it official that he's resigning june 30th. this will be a special election held november 7th. keep in mind, that state has a republican government and so a republican will be placed there in the interim. this is a heavily republican ste, so it's safe to conclude th whoever replaces him

barring an aggressive primary battle here will be a republican as well. although you never know. meanwhile, nancy pelosi is saying she is sure we need, get a load of this, an outside independent commission. and this is besides this special counsel work that the former fbi director mueller will be filling. so we have at least two committees pursuing this right now, three if you count senate intelligence. so you have them doing stuff, you're going to have mueller doing stuff. she wants an independent commission. there are still calls for another outside body to handle this. she is responding to this fact that rosenstein said, the deputy attorney general, who insisted today if he had to do it over again, he would fire comey for his behavior indicating not good enough that seemed the show a bias, i guess, and the idea that we need still more investigative cooks in the kitchen stands.

so she wants a commission to do that. to former fbi counterintelligence agent -- [inaudible] i hope i'm saying that right. >> yes, you said it right. neil: thank goodness. but you're so lite, you wouldn't tell me if -- so polite, you wouldn't tell me if i didn't. it's getting crowded now with these potential investigatory or bodies. where is this going? >> so, neil, i think with the special counsel appointment we have a chance to get this back on track. and i think her concern that the white house has the possibility to influence the special counsel are overblown. the special counsel is -- the regulations in the department of justice are such that rosenstein was assigned as the person to make this designation. and once he's made that designation, he can't interfere in the day-to-day operations of the special counsel. and if he --

neil: wait a minute, asha, help me with my ignorance here. the deputy attorney general, rosenstein, appointed mueller to this role, right? apparently, didn't run it by jeff sessions. i can understand that, he's kind of recused himself. didn't run it by anyone at the white house. so who is mueller accountable to? >> so mueller reports, technically speaking, to rosenstein -- neil: so that's what nancy pelosi's saying, that's not copesetic with her. >> well, she's not realizing that any major decisions that rosenstein takes where he turns down requests for mueller, say mueller says i need more resources or i want to expand the scope of my inquiry, if rosenstein says no, according to the department of justice regulations, he has to then turn around, notify congress that he did that, and he has to explain to them why. so actually, congress has more oversight in some ways in the

special counsel regulations that are in place now than they did back in 1999 and before when you used to have an independent prosecutor statute who had almost complete independence. neil: where is all of this going? what's your best guess? i mean, i talked to a former independent prosecutor who was telling me mueller's work alone is going to take 2-18 months -- 12-18 months which gets you knee deep into the midterm elections. they try to avoid that, but it's probably unavoidable. is it? >> it probably is, neil. so i think what's unique in this situation is that you basically have the combination of a counterintelligence investigation with potential criminal investigations that are coming out of it. and a counterintelligence investigation is typically quite long, it's extensive, it's deep, it involves sensitive methods

and sources that take time to figure out. and mueller's inquiry is going to be focused on criminal side of it. so, you know, his timeline is really going to depend on what's uncovereand whether it reaches some kd of criminal threshold that he chooses to prosecute or not. but the underlying investigation may go on for a while. so it's hard to say. neil: all right. asha, thank you very, very much. and, again, to her point, if people are, you know, flying off the handle or getting crazy about this, look at the dow. getting stronger right now on the belief that this, too, shall pass. again, these guys are often wrong, but whatever knee-jerk fears they had earlier have been kind of dissuaded of late. joe lieberman is emerging as top candidate for fbi director. senator joe manchin one of his earliest democratic supporters. >> joe lieberman is an absolutely wonderful human being.

his my dear friend, okay? -- he is my tear friend, okay? and i think the world of joe lieberman. during these times exactly what lindsey graham said, maybe it should have someone who has no political connections whatsoever. someone to who comes out of the professional ranks. but met me be very clear if they don't and joe lieberman's the man, i'm going to vote for him. neil: all right. rachel day, capitol hill reporter. there was hope that the president would resolve this and pick someone before he leave ares. he's not going to do that. he could surprise us, but what do you think and what are you hearing about the possible lieberman choice? >> so there's no doubt about it thatting lieberman did not receive the bipartisan welcome that trump was hoping he would get on capitol hill. already we're seeing senate republicans and democrats break down into artisan bickering about whether he's the right choice or not. manchin, who you just showed a clip of, is definitely an

outliier when it comes to democrats -- neil: well, who would get that bipartisan support, the so-called 100-0 type votes? >> basically, someone who is not a politician. the number one issue with lieberman is he's a clear politician. they want someone who's her a law enforcement official -- more a law enforcement official who's grown up in the fbi, someone like that they could choose. heene while, you have republicans who are just flabbergasted by democrats' reaction on this. i think in a moment of frustration last night, we heard john mccain -- who is a good friend of lieberman's, by the way -- say something like he has more experience and credentials than any senate democrat combinessed, and if they don't want him, screw them. we're seeing some ugly bickering going on on the hill right now. neil: you know, a lot goes back to this investigation and how long it lasts. i've been kidding here about this "time" magazine cover. of course; they've prejudged it now that the administration is

tainted in red and in the pocket of vladimir putin and company. but how much of an effect do you think that kind of stuff has, rachel, in just the public vernacular and even investigators? i mean, does it influence thinking, and would it get to the point let's say mueller issues a report 12 months, 18 months from now that exonerates the president where they're not going to buy it. they're just not going to buy it. >> well, i think that's why you need to have someone at the fbi who both sides can trust. and if you bring up this ongoing scandal, this ongoing investigation. it really is influencing, you know, the next choice for the fbi director. i think all the protests we're hearing coming out of democrats have a lot to do with this scandal. for instance, they're talking about wanting a law enforcement pick, not a career politician. that's because they're worried that a career politician might influence this investigation in some way, shape or form. they also don't like lieberman

because he works at a law firm where trump's lawyer works and has had praise in the past for former national security adviser michael flynnful just because he said something nice about him in the past, democrats see that as, you know, a red herring, if you might. so it's definitely, it's influencing the way capitol hill is working. i think that particularly now because of this whole russia thing democrats are going to be even more choosy, more judgey when it comes to trying to find the right pick for the fbi because they want someone they can look to and feel confident whatever the outcome is, whether it's clearing the president or, you know, otherwise, they want to feel confident that this person was not influenced by politics. neil: yeah, that merrick garland choice wouldn't have been so crazy then, right? you possibly could have had bipartisan support. >> potentially, yes. however, if he would have been picked for this position, republicans would have gottennen to fill his place on the court.

so that's the thing that democrats -- neil: very good point. another layer there. another layer. >> right. neil: rachel -- go ahead, finish that thought. >> oh, i'm sorry. i was just going to say i will also say that should president trump choose to go with lieberman, he can to that, right. >> there's enough senate republicans to carry him to the fbi and get him out of the senate. however, if they do that, that would be sort of unprecedented in that not only he's a former politician, but also because there's only been one senator who has ever voted against the fbi director nomination, and that was rand paul against comey. and so typically, you have unanimous support for whoever's going to the fbi. this would be the first time you see the parties sort of square off and face each other down on a nomination. neil: amazing. i can't keep up with it. rachel, thank you very much. politico, capitol hill reporter. all of a sudden now these leaks are starting to matter to

republicans, but they don't really seem to matter that much to democrats, which is odd in the case of the democrats because they were furious about those leaks and who was leaking back during the campaign. not so much now. karl rove on that and this incredible "time" magazine cover. ♪ ♪

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>> within the trump of administration there are a lot of leaks going on and i'm wondering if a lot of goes back to the combative relationship with the intelligence agencies and payback, what is happening? >> some of that is possible and you're always going to deal with career people in washington who don't owe political allegiance to you. they are an important part of government which the president, i think, has come to understand. neil: all right. former water prosecutor robert

ray. even he's quick to acknowledge there's a lot of leaks. former bush 43 chief of staff karl rove. that gets to be a constant problem for this administration and there are a lot of leakers, what do you think? >> yeah, there are. you can't tell your leakers without a score card deal and could we break them down? we have the nonintel leaks. these are the ones where it's about process an about things that are going on in the west wing and the president may or may not be thinking. our biggest current leaker is comey who is obviously going back to his notes and his internal memorandum and through a friend or friends leaking them through the press. we have government officials, career officials that have been privy to some things that are in

the coverage. we have former government official. this happened january and february, these were people that were obviously served in the obama administration and had some connection inside the administration or an agency, but here are the two troubling ones. white house staffers. outside of the intel area this is a principal source of the leaks against the administration. i counted up in one washington post story, 11 negative quotes about things going on in the west wing from nine, at least nine staffers in the west wing and we have friends, some who are real friends and some styled as friends who are quoted, people who have visited the west wing or talk today trump or claimed to have have truck talk today trump. i have never seen anything like this in my life. neil: why is it happening? i know it happens in administrations and you dealt with this with the last president bush, but i have never

seen it on ter -- steroids like this? >> yeah, part of it is there's no consequences of doing it. i'm most mystified by the fact that so many people in the west wing are spending so much time trashing colleagues, ill-serving the president in the process but that is a deliberate decision on their part to i'm going the take out this faction by leaking something about it or saying something ugly about them, he's so bad, here is the nickname we've given him. this is -- this is really problematic and the president needs to set the tone and the president needs to enforce the tone. it strikes me if he can find somebody that's actually leaked, fire them and then say -- send the message throughout the west wing, if you're trashing one of your colleagues, you're trashing me. if you're trashing a policy that we've agreed upon, you are trashing me. if you're trashing me, you're trashing the administration and there shall -- thereby hurting the people that sent us here and

it won't be tolerated by him. neil: a lot of them claim -- again, you're going by leaks, they don't liked being fibbingerred for all of this and they blamed it on the president and doesn't let them in on stuff and they are just tired of it. i don't know where it all begins and ends and now ahead of a foreign trip that's going to be very crucial for the president, how do you think this goes? >> well, let me come back to the foreign trip in just a minute. let me say about people being exasperated. people are getting worn them down. take last week, he made the decision to fire comey by sending his former head of personnel security over to the fbi headquarters with a ma nilla folder containing the letter. nobody knew where comey was, rather than pulling him in the

oval, i've lost confidence in you, he that she understand over. that made him look petty. neil: he should have done that in person? >> yeah. or had his chief of staff do it in person. at least know he's not on the west coast. secondly, he doesn't have act together. he doesn't let communication people know until keith has left white house and arrived at the fbi before he brings in the communication people, figure out now how you're going to explain this and we saw that terrible episode on tuesday night where finally, you know, we got sean spicer hiding behind the bushes and kellyanne conway out there. it was not pleasant but at least they had a message particularly spicer and sarah huckabee sanders had a message which they stayed religiously on wednesday and thursday and then thursday the president blew it all up, i didn't rely upon the memo that my communicators, i made the decision before i ever got the

advice. a lot of it is self-inflicting. he's a business leader. he ought to be able to understand, you ought to change behavior, now is not the time to talk about firing people willy nilly and now is the time to get everybody steady and focus on what you're doing and get things moving in the right direction which the foreign trip gives him a chance to do. look, he has done really well in these meetings with foreign leaders. what i hear back from sort of the foreign affairs community, most of the foreign leaders say, wow, i had a productive meeting, he listen today me, well briefed, he we wanted to find out what i thought, he paid attention to what i said, he showed flexibility on things that i was worried about. he has a chance -- saudi arabia, they're desperate to have the united states that has resolution resolve and determination to fight isis and to stair down iran. israel, long-time ally, visit to

italy maybe more problematic because politics is so upset but he's going to go visit with the pope, we will hear about the things that he said bad about the pope last year and then he will go to the meetings with foreign leaders and my sense is that we are going to be surprised in a week or so to find that there were largely constructive. neil: if he ever gets the credit for that. karl rove, thank you very much, my friend, have a safe weekend. >> yeah, when you toss that time cover for me, that was sort of good how you flipped it over. neil: outrageous. the fact the white house -- it makes me want to toss it again. there we go. i got that out of my system. i've been working like crazy. i've increased my steps here having done that. [laughter] neil: in the meantime, i want you to step away from the media for a second, myself included and go to people that are betting with money, their money, some are investing on your half. why are they so gitty?

sometimes they bet wrong and sometimes they get out of themselves, folks that are putting it all on the line with some real dinero are saying, no, we don't buy this. what to make of that after this liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

>> the market is kind of overdid the trump trade a little bit after the election. i thought that -- i thought then and i think now that the politics is going to be much tougher than it looks and the fiscal policy changes, tax cuts and the like, are probably going to be slower, more delayed, smaller than was initially thought and markets, you know, are adjusting to that. neil: all right. that was former fed hair beb -- ben bernanke, wait a minute, the

market gotheadf itself. that apparently the case. today a read on all this health care delay what it's going to mean to market. is the former federal reserve chairman right, are we going to have to unwind this now? >> well, neil, this market that we have seen since 2009 for being honest and specially in the last 18 months has been the most hated bull market in history but every time we get a little burr on wednesday, down day in eight months, the market finds resilience to say we are still optimistic about the big three, about reduced taxes, about reduced regulation and about increase infrastructure spending. so as long as that narrative is in place and we are seeing it today, risk on with the -- with

the infrastructure plays, the banks are rebounding strongly today, we are seeing the trump trade still carrying and pulling us through. neil: are they just being naive ly bullish, tim, what are you seeing? >> yeah, i mean, i think we are dealing with a situation where it's politics kind versus fundamentals. we've had jobless claims number, industrial production numbers that beat expectation. we have seen corporate earnings coming in stronger than expected. revenues on average are 1% over expectations, 5-year to 10-year average is flat, there's a lot for bulls to work with but the president trump just can't seem to get out of his own way. agenda that he set forth and that the market, you know, began pricing in, yeah, naturally there's going to be a lot of doubt and the market is going to

have to battle that fundamental case versus the political case over the intermediate term. neil: the markets are putting a good face just like republicans e saying they are g to continue on this tax cut direction, kevin brady, the man who runs house and ways means, they are going full throttle on the tax cuts and health care work as well and even ryan, cbo goes back out to them and they ship it to the senate, that on top of a budget, trump folks say will balance in ten years. in other words, they are still proceeding pass all of this fbi fixation and the russia thing. what do you make of that? >> right. neil, one of the markets has correctly bounced back in the last couple of days is exactly what you're talking about, optimistic on the hill, steve mnuchin went to rally the troops.

i really belief and as i say as trump partisan, i think the special counsel is a great thing and they will eventually find no collusion. neil: by the way, nancy pelosi isn't happy to that. she wants to extend to independent commission, go ahead. >> number two, more important for investors and for the economy, i think what the special counsel is going to do is give the white house a legitimate reason to not talk about the ridiculous accusations anymore and when the mainstream media tries to lobby attacks from unnamed anonymous sources they can say that's under investigation and that's the responsibility of mr. mueller and lets get back to the meat and potatoes. i think it's a reset button that's going to be beneficial and economic beneficial which certainly the stock market believes. neil: we had a former prosecutor that said this could

takes 2 to 18 months, can the markets deal with 12 to 18 months with that kind of uncertainty? >> i think so, if it's 12 to 18 months as steve just said, that allow it is white house to push all this aside and stick to the knitting to -- neil: as long as they did. >> yeah. as long as they do. neil: tim, what do you think, long time? >> it is a long time. looking at it from a market perspective i think that would weigh on the market heavily. the market had priced in the likelihood that we were going to see tax cuts individual and corporate before tend of the year, you know. if this movement kind of stalls that or slows the momentum of that where that does not occur this year that would have a big impact in the overall market. neil: there's no russian connection, steve, then what, what do markets do with that? >> i think the market flies in the meantime, by the way.

i really believe that the special counsel is going to allow the administration to effectively table this issue. they won't have to constantly respond to all of these ludicrous accusations and let's get back to the reason that the trump administration was elected which is economic growth particularly for working-class americans and within 12 to 18 months we will see the fruits of those policies, republicans win big in the mid-terms and mueller says there's no collusion. neil: we will see. if the gentlemen are right, the cover would be proven wrong and i save magazine covers just like i save the ones from the 1970's that talked about the great global freeze to come and i keep popping them up there because the same crowd that worries about global warming, back then freezing, i would like to go back in time and save this cover because it's a dangerous cover. [laughter]

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neil: all right, we have been monitoring the defense secretary talking about north korea and our options here but any military action, to state the obvious here would be pretty drug and -- dramatic here. are options tending to be narrowing as north korea keeps doing this stuff and keeps launching more missiles? they've had more activity in the last three years than the last three decades combine. what do you think that it is? >> they are trying to make themselves force in the world in the player in certainly the region there and they think that nuclear power and the ability to have nuclear bombs is the way to be on the stage. neil: but i'm wonder if china is just sort of stringing us along because the president placed

hopes on the chai niece to -- chinese to ratchet this thing down. >> when is it really china's problem? they don't have the nuclear weapon. they're keeping the nuclear programs all along so what is it that we -- what pressure can we put on china to actually make it their problem? neil: say they are rigging the currency, the president held back on that thinking that they could do something, right? >> exactly, sanction their banks. in iraq we can put sanctions on it and un sanctions but then people start cheating on them. there really needs sob serious sanctions putting on where the money and where they are getting technology from and it needs to be clamped down like general mattis says, if it goes to military option it's going to be

horrible for everyone. neil: you know the fact that i hear they're exploring that possibility, i don't think i've ever heard it as much as i had maybe for a very good reason over the last few weeks. what would that be, colonel? would a military response be shooting down one of the missiles either over the korean peninsula or worse, over land. over land becomes provocative response. what would constitute military action? >> i think those are some of the options. there's been some question whether defense is going to be in the. those are real options. part of it is us being able ready to use force and willingness force. if we are seen as the paper tiger, you know, north koreans

will continue to walk all over us as they have since mid-1980's when we got deal that they will not have nuclear weapons. neil: they're still doing it. served this country very honorably in the united united states. more after this

neil: all right, i gave my

fitbit watch to my director here and we both have gotten quite the work out. this is the time magazine cover. i want you to see it again. the white house is red right now and this magazine showing global cooling. think abou were they then and how accurate are they now? trish regan, i'm sorry, trish, to you. trish: it's sad in a way, neil, because it's pile on, pile on. neil: all i'm saying is prove it. bance it out trish: they want attention, they are trying to get attention, they want to be talked about. neil: not in our watch, regan. trish: there's the plane getting ready to take off. president vowing that he will strongly protect american interests during this trip. we do have