>> at the little next. maria: will be watching now. alphabet takes top the week. lindsay feldman, aphrodite, have a good day. >> good morning to you. i am ashley webster peers do or will be back tomorrow. the big stories we're following today. another push by president trump to get health care reform through before the august recess. he will be making a statement on health care this afternoon. the message, get something done before summer vacation. meanwhile, the president son-in-law and white house advisor getting to capitol hill today testifying behind closed doors on the investigation into russia's involvement in the 2016 election. kushner will tell lawmakers he has no undisclosed contact with russian operatives.

via run that story. white house communications director anthony scaramucci says he's going to take drastic action to stop leaks from coming from within the white house. you hear about that. and the democrats rebranding themselves as the top people ahead of the midterm elections. senate majority leader chuck schumer says government is enforcing economic plan with the average american is far too long. it sounds like terms campaign, does it not? another day for politics and money. "varney & company" starts right now. ♪ >> i wish we could repeal the whole thing. or the senate republican leadership plan which does not repeal obama cared, but it really is a forecastle all kinds

of government programs and government spending. i think it's become the kitchen sink throwing money and for anybody that can buy off to get on the bill. ashley: in other words, i hated all. kentucky senator rand paul on maria bartiromo's show yesterday. by the way, our last look at capitol hill. a couple weeks before congress want to pass off another recess. peter ricci, at the university of maryland as he always likes to say, tenured professor. peter, good morning to you. we say this every day, every week. time is running out to get something done. what does that mean as far as the market go? up until now the markets have been remarkably resilient. >> they will stay resilient for a while. the notion that getting taxes after health care will be the republican salvation. if they don't compromise and get

something done in health care, all the doubles after them in spooking them on health care will be even worse with taxes. the only way to come up with a tax cut that you can marry to spending cuts to attack entitlements. we can tell mikulski, collinson caputo to go after that, to defend entitlements the way they would freedom of religion. they will be in the same box. there is no tax cut if you can't deal with that. if you can't pass health care company will bill to pass the tax cut. ashley: all of this in action and talk, what is it doing to the economy? >> recently look at the imf to 2.1%. welcome to the party. when a also seen the economy would grow from an forecast is 2.3. the difference between the two is a game of four shoes. the economy will continue on a

pass because we are still laboring under president obama's policy. we have a really rollback entitlement with labor force participation. there's been some progress, but not nearly enough. not nearly enough to forget manufacturing. forget about the 35% corporate tax rate. the effective tax rate is about eight team. it's still about 15% higher than the oecd average. it doesn't make any sense with heavy regulation, high taxes and paying people not to work. ashley: here is the number for you. 73% of gop cover sauces, talking about health care, can be attributed to the mandate. based on leaked budget office numbers. if you voluntarily get rid of coverage because nobody is buying me to do that, nobody is taking anything away. it's a very deceiving number. what do you say? >> i don't think it's deceiving at all.

depending on the bill they lose their health care coverage and be two kinds of people. those men that don't have a job and don't want to look for a job and spend their time watching espn, that's a real problem. i don't know if we should give it a real health care, medicaid and those young people who would choose an overly expensive system. if it is true over 70% of the losses are from basically young people who would choose not to sign up, keith hall has some accounting to do, but not publishing that number. i've always been very suspicious the cbo at the end of the day is really a place for statist bureaucrats. at the end of the day, putting nominally republican in charge, but you will get a democratic analysis. that's what's coming out of this place right now. what is the baseline? obamacare is going to continue to function as it is.

if we do that, think about all the additional money we have to put in. forget the white house and congress tomorrow. they couldn't all this thing any easier. the cbo has some accounting to do that number is true, there needs to be more highlight on the baseline and it's using. ashley: couldn't agree more. stay right there. more for you in a little bit. a look at the dow futures can see where we begin on the markets on this monday. just a little lower, the dow up 10 points in this hour, also pointing to slightly lower. meanwhile, halliburton making money to be boosted by higher demand for its equipment and services in north america. premarket at 2%. hasbro, the toymaker revenue falling short hurts the set price down nearly 5% in the premarket. why then these will be a big in the opening. the kkr infinitive brand is a

cash transaction valued at approximately half the $2.8 billion for 20%. president trump senior advisor and son-in-law jared kushner is set to make his second appearance on capitol hill tomorrow. he will be busy today as well. what's he going to say? liz: did not collude or know of anyone. i have not relied on russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. this has to do with four minutes with russia since last year, to its russian ambassador, one with the russian bank under sanction and also the june 2016 from obama junior -- trump junior. there's about 77 incidences on his security clearance disclosures where he didn't mention certain assets. so, the house and senate intel not under oath they can share

their findings behind closed doors. they can share findings with robert mueller. so that's what we are watching for you. ashley: we'll keep an eye on it. thank you very much. trump says republicans don't have his back. quotecommentaries that the republicans, some even carried over the line of my back do very little to protect her president. pretty straight and direct comment. contributors media type. larry, is the president right in that assumption? >> i think delaying the assumption of the trump administration is like a reality show. it's more like "game of thrones" about the shifting alliances and hidden agendas and trump after six months of café. he's been listening to rem's previous -- reince priebus. maybe he's asserting some leadership now. ashley: a big part of the

problem is being a very muddled message. without knowing what the right hand is doing to get two different opinions. just yesterday on the russian sanctions issue, sarah huckabee sanders and coming in no, scaramucci getting different. cannot be sold? that is what the mother was supposed to be. but at the same time people here energy. they think he handled the press pretty well on friday and even whispering already against "game of thrones" of style but if god is for his job. now they doesn't have sean spicer, he is somewhat isolated. >> i get the sense he's starting to pull back a little day. >> i think he's the kings player. i'm out of "game of thrones" references now. here's the interesting thing of the wrote about this earlier this morning.

political was actually written a death warrant on reince priebus and on c-span in twice a week since the beginning of this administration. at some point he really is going to move on. at some point reince priebus while move on and everyone will look like a genius. but at this point it seems the the administration are trying to raise funds to give everybody one last chance to get something done. ashley: now we want to go watch the new season of "game of thrones." i have yet to do that. thank you for a much. great stuff. appreciate it. michael phelps losing the race against the great white shark and the internet is outraged. why? we will explain. check the features starting slightly lower. completely flat. hawaii becoming to prepare for a nuclear strike from north korea,

not that it will begin testing and telling residents to prepare for a disaster. more details coming up on nine. more in venezuela come antigovernment groups calling for a two-day strike to protest. the plan to rewrite the country's constitution. this is a full-blown collapse. doing a great job of covering and we are continuing to be all over this story. more "varney" after this. time's up, insufficient prenatal care. and administrative paperwork... your days of drowning people are numbered. same goes for you, budget overruns. and rising costs, wipe that smile off your face. we're coming for you, too. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done.

ashley: big week for earnings also did out of the housing market. that could have an impact on the market today. we begin the new week to slightly lower. hawaii is testing a new system in response to north korea. here's the details. liz: starting this november, emergency siren will start lasting and white lights

flashing from radio and television will have warnings saying stay inside until further notice. they are worried about tourism dropping. >> north korea testing the icbm. they are trying to downplay this saying it is a hurricane. this is the first state in the country to basically have this emergency system in place starting this fall. ashley: not good for tourism. thank you very much. after venezuela, the opposition a two day national strike against president maduro after yet another day of violent clashes over the weekend. joining us now is chairman of the american defense international.

thank you for joining us every day. also every week we see the disintegration of venezuela that collapsed into more fallout of award. what can be done about the situation. can we say it by and watch this. >> the humanitarian crisis of president trump. president donald trump in the european union all in agreement about venezuela. something significant has taken place. like you said, the failure of socialism. the people have risen up there back in 2015 when they took over parliament. everything taking place right now is a sham for this site to remain in power, to keep the supreme court, which is a joke to keep it in power. the people have risen up. 98% of the people they are coded in a referendum last weekend that they don't want the constitution to change and that's what this is about. the people want their constitution. they want their parliament.

>> so what is the tipping point? >> to military terms under the president, is that the key to get this resolved to get maduro out? >> president trump that if they go forward with a sham, and the u.s. will act swiftly in terms of economic sanctions. they have to be very careful how they do that so they don't hurt the people who are starving right now, they don't have medical supplies. it's got to be tailored to maduro's friends and we will have to have something like a billionaire in terms of medical supplies and humanitarian assistance. >> senator marco rubio says that they go after the oil set her, double hit the dearest friends. but then the question is, does the revenue for the entire country for the berlin ada.

this is so tricky. how do you go after maduro and not hurt the rest of the population? marco rubio says you can't. that would be a direct hit. ashley: i don't know if this is in our own backyard, but it's close enough. >> i said i would hope trump would do. on the goodyear state department and get the best advice. the best person in his administration go through right now is secretary of homeland purity, john kelly. let me tell you why. but the military we have combatant commands. these are responsible for different regions of the world if something bad happens. you're at a southern command. they are responsible for central america, south america. the guy who headed up for four years, who understand what's going on there, but we can't trust is john kelly, homeland security, former southern commander. that to the president needs to be talking to right now. he's the best person in this

administration to come up with the right plan how to handle this. ashley: they continue to follow it every day. this point seems to be coming pretty soon. thank you so much for joining us this morning with your expertise. coming up, a different angle to seattle's big tax hike on the wealthy. we have a guest who says this could hurt the tech industry in washington state. you'll heal from him next hour. pressing number of student loan debt up to 450% since 2003. university of maryland tenure professor of economics, peter morici back for more after this. dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced.

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ashley: here's a frightening number for you. didn't loan debt of more than 450% since 2003. peter morici with this waiting patiently. is this some sort of economic indicator? >> well, the very bad economic indicator. for two reasons. people are paying too much for higher education. higher education from the top to bottom. community colleges to harvard and cornell and the rest have become too expensive, too, to

annexation and frankly don't do a very good job. the second thing is it's really holding up the housing market because more and more we see young people in late 30s at 30, 40, $50,000 in debt. they never really get out from under. in fact, businesses have popped up that are buying moderately priced suburban houses to rent to these people because they are never going to be able to be homeowners and then it's going to be multigenerational. they are 35 to 40 of the situation. when you're 45 and 50, you will not field to hug your kids at college. they will be heavily indebted. we are creating a center are creating a center across the state college graduates for potential debt. ashley: i'm assuming you take the university of maryland. >> the university of maryland and i have a strange relationship. in my college voted against me because they said i was saying

things that were bad for the college. it is not legitimate to criticize them on these types of issues apparently. i haven't left them out at all. ashley: touched a nerve there, didn't i.? >> i've got to be an equal opportunity critic. we spent tons of money on political correctness at my university. can you possibly believe that certain groups are any longer disadvantage to a place like that, yet we have new commissions every day, new hires every day to promote those issues. it is absurd. ashley: will have to leave it there. before my tenure professor at the university of maryland. >> by the way, stuart offered me her job. you think about that next time you raised this. ashley: come on down. as always, great to talk to you, peter. i believe you're still sticking around with us. don't go away. by the way, breaking news, president trump creepiness.

republicans republicans have a last chance to do the right and on repeal and replace obamacare after years of talking and complaining on it. donald trump continuing to ratchet up the pressure on getting something done on health care reform. president trump will deliver a statement this afternoon on health reform. we will be right back. today, we're out here with some big news about type 2 diabetes. you have type 2 diabetes, right? yes. so let me ask you this... how does diabetes affect your heart? it doesn't, does it? actually, it does. type 2 diabetes can make you twice as likely to die from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke. and with heart disease, your risk is even higher. you didn't know that. no. yeah. but, wait, there's good news for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease. jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit.

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♪ ♪ ashley: how about that? the opening bell ringing in just about five seconds from now, expecting a slightly lower earnings, but we've got lots of earnings to digest and existing home sales out in just about half an hour from now. there we go as we pill in those box -- fill in those boxes on the left. the dow slightly more red than green, down ten points at 21,567. exactly what the futures were telling us is where we are. s&p also down fractionally, we'll call that flat. the nasdaq, which has been unchanged, slightly lower in the premarket. there you go, down 0.1%. we're just getting our breath on this monday morning. okay, who's joining us? liz macdonald, peter morici and our good friend keith

fitzgerald. is he in seattle? does he have the immediating behind -- needle behind him? the imf slashing its growth rate for the united states, 2.1% for the rest of this year and for 2018. pretty anemic. keith, do you believe anything the imf tells us? >> no, their data's more cooked than a christmas goose. [laughter] if you're a good stock picker and you understand the future and growth, you're going to look at that. no, i don't believe them. ashley: now we know where keith stands. peter, we talked about this earlier, or you did. they have europe doing better than the united states. i have a hard time believing that. >> well, i do too. the imf is very conventional, very keynesian. normally, it likes to appease the governments it writes about, so it tends not to -- [laughter] give a little bit rosier

scenario than usual. you know, it's basically in a democratic cabbage patch -- [laughter] and i bet if we walked up and down the halls and somehow disguised ourselves, told them we were from msnbc, they would tell us how loyal they are, how much they wanted to get rid of that evil man called trump. [laughter] we are in the third term of obama still because, you know, we haven't gotten anything done. ashley: that's right. >> no reason to expect us to grow a lot better. ashley: that's a very good point. get something done to start the market, each though the markets have been moving up quite nicely. after the saudis vow to cap crude exports next month, they've been doing this time and again, hasn't really had a lot of impact. but oil up about 1% at 46.19. gas, meanwhile, at the turn 2.28, that is the national arm. by the way, that's near a

12-year low for july, so enjoy it. peter, you're the economist. good news for your wallet during the summer driving season, right? it's got to be a good thing. >> it's good news. the thing we haven't been seeing is consumers translating it into something else. they've become more conservative, they're holding back as the if they're expecting prices to rebound, and they may be right. over the last several weeks, it appears that u.s. drilling activity has peaked. they really aren't making any money at these prices in the oil patch, and as a consequence, you know, these forecasts we have of this bumper crop of u.s. oil, you know, we're going to get something because there's a lag between drilling and production. but probably oil prices are going to be higher come this winter than they are now. ashley: all right. listen, talking oil, gm may kill the chevy volt and a few other cars according to a new report from reuters. why are they doing that, e. mac? i guess low gas prices.

>> and sales haven't been good for the full-sized cars, down 19%. the subcompact down 18%. after a two-year blockbuster trend in auto sales going up across the board, this year we're seeing them come down. so they're looking to review and possibly cancel the chevy volt. it was the most, the best car, voted the best car in 2011. ashley: right. >> they're thinking the cadillac ct6 and sts could be canceled as well as the chevy impala. ashley: keith, you're in seattle where i'd expect to see more electric cars. are are you surprised by this? >> well, i tell you, the other brands i don't care so much. the volt, this is dumb, dumb and dumber. when i travel overeas, i see -- overseas, i see lots of alternatives. you know, instead of investing heavily, we're going to say, what? we're going to do away with this and wait until gas prices rise? that's not a smart management decision, in my opinion. i think they have an opportunity here, and they could put some great technology on the board

knowing, just knowing that it's imminent that we transition to electric vehicles within the next 5-10 years. ashley: interesting development. let's check the big board for you. the dow, as we know, just off 12 points at 12,569 right now, down 10 points or so. as i say, lots of economic data in the housing market, existing home sales today, got a lot of earnings reports as well which for the most part -- except for a few notable misses -- has been pretty good. halliburton is making money, boosted by higher demand for equipment and services in north america. hasbro, we talked about this, toymaker, revenue falling short. that's hurting the stock as you can imagine, down more than 7%, down $8.34 or thereabouts. and stanley black and decker raising its outlook after results beating the market, they are rewarded with their stock down nearly 3%. go figure.

vf, this' the parent of timberland, reporting higher profits. that stock essentially flat at 58.60. what about web md? this is up big, why? the company will be acquired by kkr internets grands, valued right around $2.8 billion. check out their stock, up nearly 20% at $66 on web md. amazon getting into groceries, we know that, and some industry watchers mean that will -- say that will mean more food company mergers. last week we saw french's mustard, is this a way of combating the juggernaut that is amazon, combining forces and companies? >> absolutely. and we've seen this playbook before. we've seen it in the energy community when the costs go down and you have something like this happen, you've got a big, dominant player. we've seen this in the aircraft manufacturing. this is absolutely logical. the difference is amazon is so

well capitalized that it's going to force a reactionary transaction from nearly every player in every industry, groceries first. >> i think keith is absolutely right. big food fight coming in aisle four over possible mergers. [laughter] the balance sheets are under duress for the grocers, and it's interesting keith brought up the airlines. both sectors have massive pension costs, they're going into the bond markets to borrow to pay their pension costs for their unions, so you can see there's going to have to be consol aation in the grocery business. ashley: no superheroes or sequels at the box office over the weekend. dunkirk did very well, which is saying something for an original concept. has anyone seen this? >> no, we want to. ashley: i'd love to see it. keith, peter, have you seen it? >> i haven't, but i'd love to see it. >> this is interesting that we're returning to war movies. let's face it, it's about

retreat, not about victory. and they're turning just getting out of there alive, abandoning your equipment and all the rest, which the british forces did, into a victory. it's a very, very tough concept to do in this day and age, and i commend them for trying to put it out there as such. ashley: and it's an original subject, thank goodness. >> yeah. ashley: next topic, this one for keith fitz. seattle wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy. we hear about this almost every other day. at some point, aren't the wealthy going to say see you later, seattlesome. >> oh, that's going to happen. this city council has no idea how real money works, they've proven it again and again. what you're going to see is professionals leave seattle, sell their condos, move out. businesses are going to be left with the choice of raising prices or closing doors. this is not going to work the way they intend. and on top of that, there's a legal challenge to this because theoretically this state has no income tax. progressive means everybody

participates. this is very clearly targeted and punitive. ashley: shooting themselves in the foot, as you say. okay, let's move on. we get the latest read on economic growth on friday. peter, are we going to see more of the same that we've seen in the past eight years? nearly nine years. >> very much according to the script. 1.2% in the first quarter, now we will come in, economists are predicting something like 2 the.6, which is my forecast as well for this various services. basically, what we see is weak first quarter, stronger second, even stronger third, then weak fourth and first again. we seem to be in that pattern, again, because we haven't had any changes this policies. you mentioned seattle, maryland is trying to do the same thing with high income people. these kinds of local policies are very, very negative for growth. it seems as though these cities when they get wealthy, the first thing they want to do is pour cold water on growth, and those

are the hubs of growth. it's going to cost money more people to leave seattle. they will leave. trust me, they will. that's why boeing is in chicago now. ashley: yeah. >> but, you know, you can't convince these -- the you know, they're very provincial in their thinking. i think these are the guys that scripted the new democratic plan which is very much the clinton platform. ashley: keith, are you moving to vegas? no state income tax, lots of fun. i feel like we're going to see vegas behind you pretty soon. [laughter] >> i don't know about that. this is the kind of stuff that absolutely makes you think -- ashley: yeah. >> if you're successful, you're punished in this country, and that's just not good. ashley: it's not. who is the french actor in russia, gerard depardieu. he's now in russia. thank you, as always, great stuff. moving on. let's check the big board again, starting to pick up to the downside, off about 38 points on the dow. 21,542 the. still pretty good, just kind of

drifting along as we get the week started. let's get back to politics. the democrats desperately trying to rebrand themselves as the party of the working people ahead of the midterm elections. we'll tell you what senate majority leader charles schumer is saying next. and, president trump's new communications director, anthony scaramucci, calling out white house leakers, says he's ready to take drastic action against them. you'll hear it after this. ♪ ♪ she's nationally recognized for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib.

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or any nerve or muscle-related signs or symptoms. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve ashley: do have some breaking news for you right now. jared kushner, president trump's adviser and son-in-law, of course, arriving on capitol hill to talk about russia. he'll be meeting behind closed doors with the senate intel commission, the intelligence committee. behind closed doors, we say. not going to be under oath in this, he'll be meeting with the house intelligence committee tomorrow. key issue? well, he's had at least, we believe, four meetings with russian connections, the june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer. e. mac, this is not on the record, and this is not -- this is behind closed doors. are we going to get anything out of this? he did put out an 11-page statement saying what? >> essentially, nobody in the campaign colluded.

you know, my security disclosure form was incomplete, 77 instances of that. there's this whole talk about a back channel that evidently jared kushner had set up because one of his investments here in new york city was losing a lot of money. so was he trying to get financing from the russians for that property here in new york. it's kind of intriguing that it's not under oath and it's not public both today and tomorrow. he will be speaking to, first, senate intel, house intel, and it's apparently -- that information will be shared with robert mueller. ashley: jason chaffetz has joined us on the set here. behind closed doors, not under oath, your thoughts? >> not under oath is actually unusual. ashley: yeah. maybe under the advice of his attorney. >> i can understand where maybe staff would go over and meet with jared kushner at the white house, that would be an informal way to do it. but i think you have senators who personally want to ask some questions. i give a lot of credit to the

trump administration for being open and transparent. they're actually releasing e-mails. the clinton administration was deleting e-mails -- [laughter] ashley: right, right. >> clinton organization, i should say. he doesn't have to do this. he could claim some sort of executive privilege, plead the fifth -- ashley: you're applauding him for taking this step. >> yeah, i think he's trying to be open. and if you read the 11 pages he's pretty much saying -- at one point he had somebody calling telling his assistant saying, will you please call me and get me out of this meeting? there's nothing going on. ashley: next one, congressman, while you're here. time running out for congress, as we know, to get something done on health care reform. you just got out of there, out of congress just in time. let me say that, jason, i know you've been very outspoken with your frustration on what's going on. now we hear there could be a bill to just repeal or one to repeal and replace. we don't know. i find that astonishing. >> it is astonishing.

the vote that will happen first, and i believe every republican should vote for it, it's just a vote as to whether or not to have the debate. now, i don't know how you say no to that. you're supposed to be in the most deliberative body on the face of the planet. we campaigned on it. we own the house, the senate, the presidency on it, that's the vote that comes up first. do we actually have the debate -- ashley: but they've failed to do that up to this point. >> i don't understand it. when leadership came to us back in november, december, they told us, hey, we're going to front-load the first part of january because we've got to have this bill on the president's desk on january 20th. that's how far behind it is. ashley: we have president trump tweeting, hey, not only do i battle democrats, but i'm also having to battle republicans not on my side. true? >> well, i do. we can't even decide whether or not we're going to debate this bill at this point? i mean, there's so many different versions out there, i

do hope they bring up the house bill. i also think the big news of the morning is actually the president tweeting out calling him the beleaguered attorney general. that's the second time. it's not a good sign -- ashley: strong words. >> as opposed to just picking up the phone and talking to him. ashley: senate minority leader charles schumer writing about rebranding the democrats in the sunday new york times. far too long, government has gone along tilting the economic playing field in favor of the wealthy and powerful while putting new burdens on the backs of hard working americans. democrats will show the country that we're the party on the side of working people. that sounds like donald trump's campaign speech. >> it does. it's the reason that -- [laughter] look, the democrats are out of the house, the senate and the presidency, and they did put more burdens and regulations, obamacare, all these thicks that -- things that hurt middle america. that's why donald trump won 30

out of the 50 states. it is the opportunity for the republicans if they just produce. it's like al davis of the oakland raiders, just win, baby. [laughter] just put something up on the board, and i think all will be good for the republicans. ashley: you must still have contact with your friends in congress. >> sure. ashley: do they have exactly the same feelings, these few that just won't get on board, how frustrated are they? >> i think it's frustrating that we're turning the corner to the end of july, and nobody can sit there and tell you this is exactly what we should do with health care. it's a lot of cooks in the kitchen, but why wasn't this determined at the end of last year, why wasn't the bill on the president's desk on january 20th as leadership told us it was going to be there. ashley: we've talked about this already this morning, the very muddled message coming out of this white house, the lack of being able to give a clear message, get everyone head anything the same direction. we now have anthony scaramucci as communications director. do you think that's a good appointment, and can he get this

administration heading in the right direction? >> i do. i like to say that anthony scaramucci actually speaks native trump -- [laughter] it's good for the relationship with the president, but also being able to go out there day in and day out and being able to explain it to the american people, i think it's a great pick. ashley: he said one of the first things he's got to try and find, stop the leaks. >> yes. ashley: can he do that? it's notoriously hard to do. >> the one thing we know, there is the law being broken with these types of leaks. and it puts our intelligence apparatus in great peril. people's lives are in danger. when you let the russians know we're able to intercept a communication, guess what? they're going the change direction. that puts american people's lives in danger. it's a very serious thing, and i think he's taking it very seriously. i think the president is rightly very concerned about this, and there are some people that probably should have some handcuffs on. you can't just take classified information and release it because you want to. ashley: very quickly, tax reform.

very important for our viewers, more me, stu, everybody, e. mac. >> yeah. ashley: realistically, when can we think about -- we can't even get past health care, but tax reform, can it get done? we've been told maybe by the fall. >> it has to. these are the two big ownives -- objectives, health care and tax reform. i actually think it's easier to sell tax reform than it is health care -- ashley: should have done it first? >> well, no. i think you take the tough one first, you do health care first. but i think by the end of year they have to have it in place. i really do. ashley: i hope you're right. jason chaffetz, thanks for being here. the dow 30 stocks, kind of a ho-hum start to the trading week, down 36 points. more red than green, for sure. we'll keep an eye on the markets. housing data coming out at the top of the hour, just in ten minutes. this is a truly horrific story. human traffickers leaving a truck full of illegal immigrants in a texas walmart parking lot in 100-degree heat.

nine people dead, at least 17 more facing life-threatening injuries. we will have the details after this. pleasure ♪

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on russia's role in the election. we will bring you any news as it develops. there is jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, arriving on capitol hill to talk to the senate intelligence committee. tragic story for you now from texas. nine immigrants dead in a hot truck in san antonio. dreadful story, e. mac -- >> and now the driver, james bradley, 60, of clearwater, is being held essentially possible, criminal charges, human trafficking at the at least. 30 severely injured, nine people dead. eight bodies or were already found to be dead inside that truck. the ninth later died. 30 severely injured, two are 15 years old. irreversible brain damage is the outcome of heat-related injuries like this. ashley: so this driver just walked away from the truck, left it in a parking lot of a walmart, 100 degrees plus, and just left them locked in there and walked away? >> yeah.

and the key is how did he get across the border with this truck and video surveillance to see who checked it. ashley: dreadful story. all right, thank you very much. well, yes, by now we all know there's a fight down in d.c. over health reform, over taxes, but this summer there's another fight going on, this one in vegas, and it could cost you more than $10,000 to attend. this is mayweather v. mcgregor. oh, so much hype. and the democrats, they have a new slogan for 2018, a better deal. better skills, better jobs, better wages, and wait until you hear what senator charles schumer is saying. "varney & company" back in just three minutes.

people would ask me in different countries that we traveled, what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm from all nations. it puts a hunger in your heart to want to know more. ashley: welcome back, everybody, i'm ashley webster this today for stuart. here are the big stories in hour two of "varney & company." president trump pushing senate republicans for a vote on health reform this week. just a few hours from now the president will deliver a

statement from the white house urging the senate to move forward with reform. and senate minority leader charles schumer calling the democrats a better deal for american workers, that for too long the government has tilted in favor of the wealthy. we're on that story as well. newly-named white house communications director anthony scaramucci has a message: the white house is prepared to take drastic action against leakers. and happening just moments ago, president trump's son-in-law and adviser arriving on capitol hill, answering questions on russia's involvement in the election. the meeting is ongoing. of course, we will bring you any headlines that come from that. the second hour of "varney" begins right now. ♪ ♪ these are the days when you wish your bed was already made.

♪ it's just another manic monday, i wish it was sunday -- ashley: breaking now, i'm just singing to buy time before we get numbers on existing home sales, liz macdonald. >> 5.52 million, down slightly from what the expectation was, 5.58 million. so, you know, it's a choppy time right now for housing. ashley: it is. >> inventories have been coming down about 8% year-over-year -- ashley: tight, yeah. >> we're looking at looks like a 1.4% increase year-over-year right now with existing home sales. so we're going to watch this number for you, going to watch the housing-related stocks. ashley: not gang busters. we're down 39, we've been kind of in that range i said the opening -- since the opening bell. disappointing, a little. weak sales outlook from retailer hippert sports. that's hitting other sporting

goods retailers as well, red arrows all around. the retail ice age, as we like to call it, down more than 26%. ouch to. let's get back to health reform. president trump is going to give a statement about it in this afternoon. foxfox news politics editor chrs stirewalt joins us now. always great to see you, chris. thank you for joining us. so is congress going to hold a vote this week x if so, is it just procedural to agree to debate? what's going to happen? >> i just wish i knew -- i think they're going to vote, i just wish i knew what the heck they were voting on. ashley: right. >> and i think that actually may be the idea. i think the idea here that mitch mcconnell and his team have is that there's a saying in politics which is that you want to treat people like mushrooms, which is to say you keep them in the dark and you cover them with manure. [laughter] ashley: yes. >> i think that's what's happened for a lot of republicans in the senate which is they're not sure what's going to come up this week.

they don't know whether they're voting on the mcconnell plan, the amended mcconnell plan, the repeal and the place. there's enough uncertainty here that i think mcconnell hopes he can create some movement right at the end with the element of surprise. ashley: but, chris, how can that be when day after day, hour by hour we're all just screaming at the republican party to get their act together, get on the same page and move forward? you're tells us they have no idea what they could be voting on. >> well, here's the thing. what they're really voting on when you get right down to it is how they're going to get a bill into negotiations with the house. that's really all this is, is because they have to start over again when they go into the house-senate conference and the house bill comes in and the senate bill comes in, and you pound out the agreement between the two. basically, mcconnell's saying we need a vehicle to the get into there. we need to get into that room. give me something the get in there. ashley: right. >> the problem is the republicans, as you point out, broadly, broadly disagree about

what they ought to be doing, and that ranges there people who say basically patch obamacare for a year and sort of collect yourselves, gather yourselves and then move on to other things now to people who say, no, let's repeal it, let's replace it, let's do the whole thing. ashley: they've had seven years to gather themselves, but let's move on. [laughter] the senate has said they will delay the august recess by two weeks, but, chris, if they can't get on the same page, do they really stick around? >> probably not. i mean, there's some business that they have the take care of. the house is finally catching up on the budget side, but it's not like they're going to have a budget to vote on. it would be pointless for them to sit around this city and snipe at each other and leak to the press. if you're mcconnell, if there isn't something right in front of you, get them out of town, let them go home and campaign, fundraise, especially those who have difficult races, and don't just have them sitting around

here crabby with potomac fever. ashley: very quickly, chris, what's the atmosphere like within the gop? they're sniping at each other, as you say. you've got the conservatives, you've got the moderates, you've got president trump tweeting that there are republicans that don't have his back. this is not a happy bunch. >> no. they are very much -- republicans always have a bigger problem with disunity than democrats do. ashley: yeah. >> things are particularly bad right now. and the russia stuff casts a pall over the whole business because as the president is obviously preoccupied with it with his son-in-law and son entangled in all stuff, he's obviously preoccupied, and it also causes republicans to be mistrustful about getting too far into bed with him for fear there are worse revelations to comes. ashley: back to the bangles, just another manic monday. [laughter] chris stirewalt, thank you so much, as always. great stuff. >> you bet. ashley: numbers from the cbo, they show 73% of coverage losses

from the gop health plan are actually caused by the repeal of the individual mandate. joining us now, fox news contributor tammy bruce. tammy, do these numbers show to the main stream media not exactly telling the whole story? 73% of the loss is for people who didn't want it in the first place. >> yeah, not just the media, but the cbo is not telling the story effectively. and a good job by the national review, by the way. it was a fascinating series of numbers. no matter what the republican plan was, it was a strangely similar number of people who would lose their coverage, 22 million, 23 million -- ashley: right. >> no matter what they did, no matter what change they made. and that number exists because, ultimately, it's about the individual mandate. that with every plan you get rid of the individual mandate which was government telling the american people you've got to have insurance. what this means is the moment that goes away, that boot on our neck goes away, about 16 million americans will say, oh, thank goodness, and will choose to not have insurance. ashley: right. >> and that's where the number is consistent.

so as you're hearing from the cbo, oh, look all these people -- ashley: but the headlines look terrible. >> yes, they do. and the fact is no one's going to lose insurance. we're suddenly going to have free only of choice is going to be back -- ashley: it's a wonderful thing. >> and when you have insurance companies have the capability of having different sorts of policies that those individuals may want to buy into, but once again we can be back into the free market. a number of people, of course, will choose not to participate and we'll have to deal with that that to some degree. but it's not going to be this wholesale of a bunch of people -- unlike with obamacare -- ashley: right. >> -- where you had about 9 million people now who literally had their insurance, the doctor and the hospital ripped from them, this is the op to sit. it's returning choice. >> how do the democrats dominate the messaging given the truth of what you're talking about? ashley: good point. >> this is why the return of anthony scaramucci is going to be important. i think this has always been the problem with remy ares, they've never been able to message properly, they've also been horrible -- ashley: they have. >> but the other potential question here is maybe they

don't want this to continue, that maybe they do -- they don't want any major changes. ashley: right. >> they do want this kind of dynamic to comet, and the cbo is an excuse for them as well -- >> interesting. >> -- to not move forward with any major changes. ashley: president trump slamming some in the gop. he tweeted this: it's very sad that republicans do very little to protect their president. is he right? >> well, he is, but there are two particular tweets, in fact, and i mention this, and i responded on twitter -- ashley: yeah. >> in that these are warning. this is not just him, you know, whining on twitter. these are warnings to the republican incumbents that if you do not support the agenda, if you do not get these things done, you're going to have some trouble in 2018. so this is a fair warning to these individuals to -- and he's telling his base, look, these are republicans who don't have my back, who are not moving forward this agenda that you

voted in. so this was a very gentle push. and, look, they've got some very serious thinking to do. the if they think that the liberals who are hounding them at town halls and calling them are going to carry them over the line, these republicans, in 2018, they'd better look again very quickly at the president who is the one who will control their fate. that's what those tweets were about. ashley: watch out in the midterms, is what he's saying. >> that's right. ashley: that stay right there. we want to talk about apple. fans are anxiously awaiting the new iphone 8, but an analyst at jpmorgan says the phone is going to be very costly. what does very costly mean, e. mac? >> they're saying $1100. yeah, that's what's coming out of this analysis. i'm not sure what justifies $1100 when the price for the top end is around $650. so, you know, what bells and whistles is going to justify this price. i mean -- ashley: discounts through carriers on that.

>> it doesn't -- nothing in the analysis. this is rob hall, jpmorgan, expecting the launch in september. so i'm not seeing anything that justifies in his note why he thinks it's $1100. they think it's going to sell maybe nine million units. slightly higher price. so the higher price seems just the governors in manufacturing -- just the cost in the manufacturing. ashley: there's a lot of pent-up demand more a new iphones, but that's a lot of money. >> it doesn't kiss you in the morning? [laughter] shouldn't we at least get that? ashley: a cup of tea. thank you, e. mac. pop star justin bieber persona non grata in china, that's not good. the nation saying bieber's past bad behavior, unquote, precludes him from performing this china. my goodness. they did acknowledge that bieber, though, had talent. that was nice of them. coming up, as north korea vows they are readying a missile with the ability to the hit the united states, hawaii preparing for such an event, announcing it will given testing a nuclear

attack warning siren. lieutenant colonel ralph peters will weigh in. and democrats, get this, trying out a new slow began that sounds awfully like that of a popular pizza chain. you won't believe it when you hear it. [laughter] it's the second hour of "varney & company" next. ♪ ♪ potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right? (in unison) russ, leland, gary: yes. gary: i have a ford f-150. michael: i've always been a ford guy. potsch: then i have a real treat for you today. michael: awesome. potsch: i'm going to show you a next generation pickup. michael: let's do this. potsch: this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. gary: super cool. potsch: the bed is made of high-strength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. jim: aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. potsch: and best of all, this new truck is actually- gary: (all laughing) oh my... potsch: the current chevy silverado. gary: i'm speechless. gary: this puts my ford truck to shame. james: i'll tell you, i might be a chevy guy now.

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let's check the big board for you. as we kick off a new trading week. kind of a ho-hum stop. nothing too drastic as we kick off the existing home sale number. with a big week for earnings as well.

lots for the markets to contract sitter. just down slightly at this hour. the first u.s. estate to prepare for a missile strike. it will begin monthly test with an attack warning system. it is just smart planning. and it is tragic that we have come to this again. i remember being in grade school and ducking under the desk. and what we would do under a nuclear attack. with the alliance and honolulu. you have to stay away from this -- ahead of this kind of threat. we are planning for this.

as it is a primary target for this area. it is the military posture. the pacific command headquarters. the u.s. army division. you have obviously pearl harbor. the triple army hospital. 44,000 u.s. troops on the island. 400,000 population in honolulu. they ring honolulu. it is a crucial target if north korea were firing a missile at anything he would prefer to hit hawaii. even over the cities.

they are only 4600 miles. from honolulu. as the military's $12.9 billion aircraft carrier do we still need large ships like this. is this still more symbolic than actually useful. it is obviously a fine piece of machinery. but is it survivable and a general war. in peacetime is a show of force and a demonstration on american power. it's visually very strong. there is america and that is a big honking boat. in the middle level work such as iraq or syria libya, carriers that are extremely useful. they are in a big general

war. it is a carrier's arrival. i fear and had felt for the last 20 years by the way that carriers are ultimately very valuable. think one a carrier and it is a tragedy. is a big target. the house will vote as early as tomorrow on a new sanctions pack should -- package against russia. if the bill passes does the president be to it or does he go along with it. he goes along with it and signs it. if you wants to survive he does that. what the influence on this administration.

what will he do. if he respects our country and loves our country. he will sign the bill that bill because of russia needs to be punished. the democrats face mountains of pressure. trying to appeal to american workers. that is where they are trying to rebrand themselves. he claims that now they had figured out how to help the workingman. we are all over that story. we're right back. your insurance company

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liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. check this out. the democratic party has a new slogan titled a better deal better skills better jobs better wages. senator tim payne promoted -- promoted it in a campaign. he's been marked by son. better ingredients better pizza papa john's. >> is this your groundbreaking rebranding. even barack obama's former aide had decried the same thing. if you have a comment in your slogan it's a problem. it's also insulting. he's been in office for 42 years.

nancy pelosi 37 years. they held government for eight years. they were able to do whatever they wanted to do and of course they lost the midwest in the country. they think it's can be a slogan if any americans learned anything over the last decades it's that if you look at what people do know what they say. the democrats want you to only look at what donald trump does and not what he says. they want you to only hear what they say because they have those things. and they had ruined people's lives. it's their problem. they think this is in and solve it. they another thing coming. they are highlighting the democrats. he said quote and for far too long government has gone along tilting the economic playing field.

while putting new burdens on the backs of hard-working americans. it's about reorienting government to work on behalf of people. that is the compulsion to confess. they explained exactly what the democrats themselves have been doing for so long and what big government has done for people. it really should be easy for the republicans but even the republicans now as we are watching when they can do whatever they want it's like shooting fish in a barrel. and even they are not doing it. this is why kid rock might take over michigan american people have a clearly not reliant on what a slogan is or what a motto is. we know what they have done to the condition of our lives. it is a new message from the same old messengers. he had eight years to bring us

where we are at. it is breaking up big companies breakup of the food companies. the things that we already know have failed. they are pedaling still. good stuff. coming up. the media's epileptic over new comments about that then candidate donald trump. tickets for what could be the fight of the century. they go on sale today. they face each other on august 26. jason whitlock has all of the juicy details we will be right back.

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check the big board for you. twenty-one 517 in reality just down the third. the big tech names we took them every day. a mixed bag. fame -- facebook and amazon up. apple up slightly about half a%. big mixed bag on big tech. john said it's in presidents from this interest to support a new section package against russia. the senate can then focus on health reform. rotate. what will happen and if there when that would occur. we would draw back to the drawing board. we are going to vote to repeal and replace obama care it's not a question of if it's a question of when. we need to do it sooner rather than later. this thing is spiraling out of

control. president trump expressing his disappointment with the gop. it's very sad that republicans even some that were carried over the line on my back do very little to support their president. the former spokesperson. okay katrina what's again to take to get the gop to support the president. i have to say it sounds like president trump is onto something. how can those senators hold healthcare hostage to russia sanctions because as i recall cia director mike pompeo has been out very recently talking about how russia has meddled in previous elections including 2012 and before. where was this desire to go after and stop russia from meddling into the elections

prior to that. but one does beg the question where is the gop today and i can tell you have hillary clinton one in the selection yet to gift ask the question with the democrats be holding hearings about russia. the answer is likely not. >> do you think from the very beginning there were those in the gop who just do not like donald trump. he was very unconventional. and since the very get-go back in congress they have done everything they can in the background to stop him. >> absolutely had done that. there is a lot of donald trump supporters out there who believe that is continuing today and the mere fact that you heard them hold healthcare hostage it something it's something they should have had ready to go on january 20. on day one. there should've been a repeal

whether he can do that. with a president that continues to attract. at least he wants to give it a stab. >> i think one of the critical things for him is to try to

get this white house to consistently had the same message. is he capable of that. it is a little chaotic. and to get a single message out in a white house that has all of these competing powers. not a strong chief of staff at the moment. i think if anyone is capable of it it's probably him because he is close to the president. there have been a lot of people who are leaking on each other had never seen a white house with so much insight. and it spills out into the public. maybe some people can have to go it's hard to identify those who are doing the leaking. that will probably be the test more than his skills in front of the camera. can kenny stop some of the backbiting. we wish him the best. thank you.

and i don't know if any of you watch this yesterday. it is his third major title. twenty-four years old. three majors. he looks like you can have another masters meltdown yesterday he came through in the end. as jordan the new tiger woods do you think? >> he may turn out to be better than tiger woods but will he be as fascinating i'm not sure. i don't know how to answer that question. race has played such an important role in tiger's popularity being a black man appreciably black man who had so much success in golf jordan doesn't bring that to the table but three majors at the age of 23 only jack nicholas has done that before.

he may be the guy that surpasses him. i don't know if you will ever be able to surpass tiger woods in terms of popularity and relevance. another one for you. tickets for the floyd mayweather . could that boxing match ever live up to the hype. i do think it's going to live up to the hate. it is going to be a circus. it will be a circus. what actually happens at the ring it's not that high. i think they expect him to dance around and beat this guy up pretty good. but in terms of excitement i think this thing is going to be like a super bowl in terms of people having parties all around the country to watch

this fight. the entire country shutting down to watch this fight and the next morning everybody's topic of conversation will be can you believe what happened last night. it won't matter what the outcome is. michael phelps is getting a lot of criticism. it was actually against a simulated shot. with the volt moment. perhaps it is that. how are you going to race a shark in the first place. an interesting great athlete. he is so dominant against other human beings you have to have them race against that.

with any race that he felt. if anybody is upset or disappointed by that they need to get a life. the single same distance. that could've ended really badly. probably just as well. he was very upset by the whole thing. seattle republicans fighting back against the new income. it's bound to create brain drain in the city. and markets are just off their record high. how much higher could they go if the president gets his agenda passed. our own sandy smith will be with us next hour. [music] ♪

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the american defense international investigation said it's a humanitarian crisis. in present time i tell you actually if you had donald trump in the pope in the european union all in agreement about venezuela you

know something significant is taking place. and like you said in the prelude it is the failure of socialism. they rose up and back in 2015. they took over the parliament. everything that is taking place right now is a sham. and to keep his supreme court which is a joke in power. the people have risen up.

let's check the big board of for you. we're just kind of trembling long. that is good for about a quarter of a% loss. nothing great. existing home sales were a bit of a disappointment. the retailers in the red. very much so. check out a bit sports. i think it's down almost 30%. now this. seattle just passed a new income tax on high earners and our next guest is opposed to the tax. we are recruiting talents from other parts of the company.

it's just one aspect of this. the managing director at the venture group joins us now. matt, thanks for taking the time to chat. if i'm correct to actually fund the legal fight against the tax. this tax is illegal and it is also unnecessary and it's also limited opportunities for everybody in seattle and washington state. that's why we've created the opportunity for all coalition. we are focused on demonstrating that this is all three of those things. let's just take one example. the state of washington's washington's tax revenues had grown $10 billion and $28 million that was after that citizens of seattle and washington state rejected the state income tax. why is it illegal if the lawmakers who are elected decide that this is the way to go why is it illegal. cities are part of states.

and it has built a constitution and statutes. it prohibits local jurisdictions from creating an income tax we also have another lot which says only taxes and that are specifically authorized at a local level can be put into place. with multiple dimensions of illegality here. but more importantly is the issue around opportunity. because we are seeing such incredible investment and creation of job opportunity and economic growth that is why our tax revenues are growing so much in the state. creating great job opportunities. those are the kind of issues that we are really concerned about as a nonpartisan group trying to defeat this income tax. ultimately this goes through. it could be a remarkable brain crane. cities like austin texas cheap to set up camp. they could really benefit from those high taxes we have seen it happen elsewhere. that's absolutely right. and be in the business of attracting talent to the state

of washington to grow the next generation of great jobs. and we have a lot of people moving from other places like new york and california and like massachusetts which are big income tax states. we really had a competitive advantage here and a state of washington. the government's own commerce department makes that claim and were trying to have more of that. what stage are you at. it's a very early stage. we are talking to a number of plaintiffs that are concerned about this and were really at the beginning of the process it makes think it's gonna take several months if not years to sort this out in the courts. we are quite optimistic. that this is one to be proved to be illegal. fighting those high tactics. we appreciate it so much. while mark is phasing out its popular price match guarantee.

>> they started this last year. they just streamlined and said to listen listen world we do have the lowest prices it's been our policy since we launched in 1962. i'm looking at what they been offering and it seems like it is more trouble than it's worth it for walmart to issue a gift refund card. there just get to focus instead on checking on amazon and streamlining what their price match can be coming up. nba commissioner adam silver making the case for live betting on sports. this goes coast to coast. coast-to-coast. legalized sports betting aspect betting.

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jason has joined us on the set here. what is your take on all of this behind closed doors not under oath. your thoughts. not under oath is actually unusual. i can understand where staff would go over and meet with him at the white house. it would be an informal way to do it. i do give senators who personally want to ask some questions. the klin organization i should say. he could do a lot of things. and he is trying to be open. he's pretty much saying he have some decline in.

next one is there. you just say that. you're very outspoken with your frustration of what's going on. it will happen first of this week. you're supposed to be the most deliberate body on the face of the planet. he owned the house in the and the senate and the presidency on it. i don't understand it.

ashley: i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. it is 11 a.m. here in new york x here's what's new this hour. chaos in venezuela, it's ongoing. anti-government groups protesting president maduro's plans to rewrite the country's constitution. we are witnessing the full-blown collapse of socialism. meantime, president trump pushing senate republicans for a vote on health reform this week. just a few hours from now the president will deliver a statement in the white house, urging the senate to move forward, please, with reform. we are all over that story. we've also got an all-star lineup this hour, starting with "outnumbered" star sandra smith -- >> yeah, baby. [laughter] ashley: art laffer and rnc chairman rome that mcdaniel. hour three of "varney & company" starts right now. ♪ ♪

[laughter] ashley: the big board and the dow 30, what great music. all of a sudden, i'm just chilled out. [laughter] weak sales, that's no laughing matter, outlook from retailer think think hibberts sports. lots of red arrows, the dow down 65 points at 21,514, just down a third of a percent, so nothing too drastic. let's take a look at the price of oil, rising as the saudis vowing to cap crude exports next month. we've heard that before. so far opec has had very little impact on oil prices. gas, meanwhile, at $2.28, that is the national average on regular. by the way, that's a near two-year -- 12-year low for july. here now, fox news "outnumbered," we like to call

it ambushed, co-host sandra smith. great to have you here, sandra. gas prices -- >> good to be here. ashley: yeah. great to see you. >> that's amazing, $2.28 a gallon, enjoy that when you're embarking on to your summer road trip. the feeling is right now, i just got off the phone with david hightower -- i know, these guys laugh at me, i walk on set on the phone, when i come over to fox business, i have to do my homework. i talk to guys who dig into these numbers like liz macdonald, for example -- [laughter] >> very nice. >> and the feeling is my takeaway from the conversation with him is that maybe this selloff and the oversupply that we've seen globally as far as crude oil -- ashley: yeah. >> -- is starting to look like it's heavily priced in. so enjoy these prices. he wasn't necessarily indicating prices are going to rise from here, but maybe don't plan on seeing $2 at the gas pump

anytime soon -- ashley: i can hear stuart groaning out there -- >> oh, yeah. how much is it going to cost to fill up that minivan? [laughter] ashley: big tech stocks still driving the market, they've been on a tear. despite delays out of d.c., these are immune to all the political shenanigans, aren't they? >> well, you have to watch. a lot of this is the historically low interest rates that don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. you have to factor that, that's why this market is enjoying these high prices when you look at the dow and the s&p. ashley: right. >> that's amazing,ing the dow, 21,511, as far as technology is concerned i talked to john brady on the trade desk this morning who watches this extremely closely. ashley: yeah. >> the feeling this is sector rotation or not, saying the to sell and get out of technology names but look for those that haven't risen in line with the broader sector. they like biotechnology at this point.

but overall, financials they like too, those that have not kept up with the broader market. something to start to look for when you're doing your homework of where to buy these stocks. ashley: your head's back in the game, i can tell you that right now. >> i love this stuff. dinner table conversation growing up, i love this stuff. [laughter] afternoon ash president trump, by the way, every week pushing to get health reform passed before august recess. he is making a statement on health care this afternoon. is that going to light a fire under the lawmakers? >> you know what i just realized? i just found my camera. okay, there it is. [laughter] so look at health care, you know what? the other question that i followed up when i was talking to all my business sources this morning -- ashley: yeah. >> do i followed up with is support wavering for the president? there was so much optimism, and a lot of that we saw in the rise in the stock market. no one would say to me, you know -- ashley: it's over. >> no. they still feel like they have somebody who understands business and the markets and the economy. ashley: right.

>> they feel like they still have that on their side. there just appears to be the up wavering support when it comes to the professional business community. >> wow. we haven't had a 5% pullback since you were covering brexit like 270 days ago. ashley: i know. >> that's unusual. we haven't seen that since the 1990s when we've gone that long. >> even though some of his strongest supporters, newt gingrich says it's time for a win here. he does need a victory under his belt. not unwavering support but still a win would be good at this point. so we'll see where this goes. seems like there's optimism on the part of republicans. chuck schumer, not so much, democrats. ashley: well done, sandra smith. >> thank you very much. good to see you guys. ashley: terrific stuff. all right, president trump slamming republicans over the weekend tweeting, quote: it's very sad that republicans, each some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their president. we're now joined by the republican national committee's

chairwoman ronna romney mcdaniel. ronna, the president finally kind of calling out those in his own party. they're just a not getting on board with his plan. do you think that was a good movie the president? >> well, i think the president is completely in sync with the american people, and the american people in november centre palins -- sent republicans to washington with a majority in the senate and the house and the white house with the expectation that we would repeal and replace obamacare. so this is such a pivotal time for our party. it's critical that we fulfill the promises that we campaigned on, because people are hurting across this country. and it's not just a question of whether we can repeal and replace obamacare, it's a question of can we govern when we're given the majority. that's what voters are going to be looking at this week. of course, we always need to remember the democrats put this in place, they didn't bring republicans many to pass a bipartisan health care law in obamacare. it is failing, it is crumbling at a rapid pace, quicker than

anyone expected, and now they're sitting on their hands and have decided to not be part of the solution at all. so it's up to republicans, and the president is leading our party and saying get it done. ashley: yeah, but for accept years the republicans have been chomping at the bit to get in power, put this their vision for the future. and when they are given that opportunity, they stumble at the first hurdle. how can you explain that? >> i think it's hard. you have senators that are representing states that took the medicaid expansion and senators that are representing states that didn't. they have different ideas on what the replace would look like. this is not easy, to have obamacare be part of our country for seven years, it's not easy to just roll that back and find consensus, but we have to. they have to find a way to get to yes, because premiums are doubling, it's collapsing, insurers are pulling out of the marketplaces. and we were given a task to have the majority of the senate and to lead. and we need to show that we can do that, because that's what voters are looking at right now.

and it's very hard for me as the party chair to go out in 2018 and say give us the majority again -- ashley: right. >> -- when we weren't able to govern. and so they need to the get this done, because this is more than just about the repeal and replace of obamacare, it's a question as to whether or not we can govern with the majority. i'm optimistic that we can. the president is a leader. mitch mcconnell is pushing hard on this, and we're seeing senators coming in with the intention of getting to yes. we have the find a way not just because we have the majority, but because people are really hurting, and we need to always remember the democrats have put politics above people, and they are sitting on their hands watching people hurting across this country because of an obamacare -- ashley: right. >> -- that they put in place without any republican input, and they're not helping -- ashley: i hate to cut you off, august recess just around the corner. should they stay and get it done before they leave for augustsome. >> they should absolutely stay. ashley: good. >> there is no way they should leave until this is done.

this is a commitment we made to the american people, and we need to show that we're going to stay and work the long hours until we can find a solution. ashley: i love your positive attitude. hopefully, they're listening to you, ronna. >> thanks for having me. ashley: appreciate it. more chaos, meanwhile, in venezuela. anti-government groups calling for a two-day strike to protest plans to rewrite the country's constitution. we are witnessing the full-blown collapse of socialism. coming up, we have someone who says venezuela could be on the brink of a civil war. meanwhile, the president's son-in-law and white house adviser jared kushner on capitol hill right now testifying behind closed doors on the investigation into russia and the 2016 election. kushner will tell lawmakers he had no undisclosedded contact with russian operatives. we are on it. but first, varney all-star, former reagan economist art laffer. he's next. ♪ ♪

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>> if we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prosperedded as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. the price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. ashley: bring him back, be we could.

that was former president ronald reagan in a speech back in 1981. today president trump is dealing with a divided gop, leaving d.c. stuck essentially in neutral. we're joined by former reagan economist art laffer. great to see you from the great city of nashville. art, would we have seen republicans do this to ronald reagan back in the 1980s? >> let me just say seeing him there like that, i got a little teary-eyed myself. it's just really lovely seeing what he was really like. ashley: yeah. >> in the first two years, reagan was not as popular as he's become now. we delayed the tax cuts, we had a bad downturn in '81-'82 because of the delay. but once that delay was over, the boom occurred and, no, no one would have deserted him after that. maybe they would have deserted him in the '81-'82 period. we sure as heck lost a lot of the electorate, ashley. the '82 election we lost a lot of house seats, one senate seat, so the american electorate was

not with reagan in '82. but by '84 we won 49 out of 50 states, and then all the democrats became republicans. you cannot believe, ashley, what people like schumer and others wrote back then when reagan was running high. they loved him. ashley: perhaps his experience as governor of california gave him, certainly, an advantage when it came to dealing with all the shenanigans that goes on in d.c. would you agree he had that advantage? >> yes, he did. but he just also was a very nice man, a smart man and a man i just adored for years and years and years before he became president. i was just very fortunate, ashley, to be able to work with him that closely for all those years. ashley: what happens if we get no votes on health reform and taxes this year? that is the worst case scenario, right? >> well, it's the worst case scenario, but it's not an end-all. let's say that life is a marathon, ashley, it's not a sprint. ashley: true. >> and, you know, we will get

health care reform, we will get tax reform. it may not come in the next year or two or three, but it will come because this system doesn't work, and sooner or later -- after trying all the bad options -- someday someone's going to try the right option and, boom, we're going to have a boom again. ashley: would you agree he's fighting -- he, being president trump -- is fighting those within his own party as much as he is the democrats? >> oh, yes. in fact, that's true. and reagan didn't have an easy time with everyone in his own party. believe me when i say that. but, yes, it's true. trump is being, you know, being pilaried by lots of republicans. they didn't like him to begin with, they still don't like him. all he needs is some good economic success, and they will come back to him in droves. we need to get that corporate rate tax cut from 35% to 15% -- ashley: yep. >> nothing else, and that will just turn the rockets on for the u.s. economy. anden then after a year or to of -- or two of booming economy, ashley, everyone will love trump. [laughter] ash alabama well, listen, president trump is facing

pushback over tax reform, so would -- how much of a stimulus would that be for the economy? they say on the corporate side you don't get 15%, you get 20%. >> well, 20 is better than 25, and 25 is better than 30 -- [laughter] ashley: yeah. >> but, you know, we need 15. 15 would put us down there as, what, the fourth lowest in the oecd. ashley: right. >> it would make it very competitive for other countries. only one major country would have a lower tax rate than we do, and that would be ireland. and as you know and as i've told stuart before, everyone's investing in ireland because the capital is always dublin. [laughter] just kidding. we need to get it to 15%, and i'd like just that, nothing more. whenever you read 35, write 15 and just leave it go at that. you will see the economy really take off. ashley: art laffer coming to you from the comedy store later on in this week. [laughter] art lover, great stuff as always. >> thank you, ashley.

we miss you here in nashville, sir. ashley: miss that accent, huh? [laughter] that southern twang. great stuff, art. thank you. >> thank you, ashley. bye now. ashley: check this out, jordan spieth wins again, this time the british open. >> this is a dream come true for me. this is absolutely a dream come true. i was able to drink a bet of wine out of it when zach johnson won it two years ago, and a lot of people told me that was bad luck. started to believe them a bit but, boy, feels good to have this in my hands. >> what you got there, sir? >> [inaudible] >> oh, yeah. >> how does it taste? >> fantastic. ashley: turned out not to be bad luck. what a performance. looked like he was going to be a masters meltdown, he came back. what a performance. spieth earning a check for $1.8 million. 700,000 more than second place finisher matt kuchar. spieth's career earnings now

over $44 million, not bad. he's not even 24 years old yet. lee of china, only 21 years old, finished in third place. also rory mcilroy, after a dreadful beginning to the tournament, actually finished fourth. but for spieth, this is major title number three. very impressive. but first, shark week. people are already outraged. michael phelps losing his much-hyped race against a great white shark. but get this, it wasn't a real shark. >> what? ashley: stay right there. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> the great white shark takes the gold.

beating out michael phelps by two seconds. ashley: well, that was michael phelps losing his much-hyped race against a great white shark, but what's more disappointing, that shark wasn't even real. it's a cgi. the shark was edited into footage of phelps swimming, so they never were in the water together. the discovery channel determined the winner by comparing phelps' swim time to that of an actual shark. the shark, as you can see, was two seconds faster. bit of a con, e. mac, very upset. she waited almost 60 minutes for that. [laughter] she still hasn't gotten over it. [laughter] check this out, ford unveiling its new pickup truck for police. it's called the f-150 police responder, and it's rated for speeds up to 100 miles per hour. ford plans on selling the pickup to border patrol, sheriffs' departments and fish and game departments. if you're a poacher, watch out. remember this? police chasing o..

>> simpson in his white ford bronco. little known fact, i was stuck behind that bronco, i was on the 405 freeway trying to get home. nightmare. o.j.'s former sports agent, by the way, now owns that bronco, and he's willing to sell it if he can find a buyer. here's the carchtion he wants $750,000-$1 million for that. >> that's al couldings -- ashley: who was driving. remember, i'm al cowlings, friend of o.j. check this out, steph curry sinking an incredible long distance shot. there it dose. [laughter] it happened while curry was filming a commercial. the ball goes straight through the sunroof and into the car. that ad campaign launches later this summer. when you're good, you're good. now this, nba commissioner adam silver says he's optimistic sports betting will be legalized in the next few years. and in washington, president

trump pushing the senate the vote on health reform in this week. we just spoke to the rnc chairwoman, she says everyone should stay through the august recess. what a good idea. >> yeah. a. ashley: stay right there. ♪ ♪

ashley: check the big board and the dow 30, just getting into the music this morning. thanks for waking me up, guys. still down just a third of a percent, down 74 points on the dow. caterpillar leading the way as you can see, but a lot of stocks in the red at this hour. disappointing existing home sales not helping, that's for sure. >> that's right. ashley: now to politics, president trump pushing the senate to vote on health reform this week. in just a few hour, he'll be delivering a statement urging the gop to act before august recess, like they need to be told. but we're joined now by

congressman chris collins, republican from new york. >> good to be with you, ashley. ashley: listen, can the gop get it done? is what's the problem? [laughter] >> well, we did our job in the house a few weeks back. it's now up to the senate. i understand that leader mcconnell is going to put a bill up tomorrow, and it'll either go up or down. certainly all of us are hoping it passes, but with senator mccain not here, they can only lose a single vote. mitch mcconnell's doing everything he can. it's certainly not in the hands of those of us in the house, and it will east move on -- it will either move on after a vote tomorrow or i think we'll then be moving on fully to tax reform and probably won't revisit obamacare or our replacement for probably at least a year. ashley: oh, my gosh with. i hate9 to hear that. how did we get to this point, congressman? you know, we even -- that there's a discussion on even passing a procedural vote to actually debate the issue.

to me, that's what the lawmakers in washington, d.c. are paid to do, and they can't even agree on that. >> well, you know, it goes down to i'm a new york republican, and i've often said new york, new jersey, california republican is not a louisiana, mississippi, florida, texas republican. our issues in our states are different. 31 states expanded medicaid, 19 did not, 14 of the 31 have republican governors. the issues are very specific, and the democrats under schumer and certainly in the house under pelosi have locked down to give us no help whatsoever to fix this obamacare that is failing every day as we look at it. so we can only lose a single senator. and, again, the issues and what they campaigned on are so different, that's the dilemma that leader mcconnell has. and we'll know tomorrow. and if it doesn't get done, we're just going to continue to see obamacare fail. we have states now with no insurance carrier for next year. counties across the country. so when the cbo says you're

going to lose -- people are going to lose insurance policy urn our plans, they somehow aren't factoring in that if you don't have an insurance company offering insurance, there's no plan to even purchase. and that's the case now through the country as insurance companies are pulling out. ashley: so, congressman, as this dose on, where does that leave tax reform? our viewers and many people want to know do we, do we think of to tax reform now much later down the road? is it next year? is it by the fall? when do you think we can get to tax reform? >> well, i'm hoping this fall. and i'll tell you, ashley, this is one we could have some bipartisan support on. we i knew we would never get it on obamacare. but democrats agree the corporate tax at 39.6 -- ashley: right. >> or 35 for c corps is too high. most of us think, you know, a 25% number is the right number including subchapter s manufacturing companies. there is the potential of getting some democrats to i don't mean onboard. -- to come onboard. it might not be as massive a cut

as some of us would like, but that money would be reinvested in jobs, in the economy -- ashley: right. >> so i'm one that is part of the tuesday group. we've met with a bunch of democrats called the new dems. it will be hard to do it on our own, just like we just saw because, again, the issues in the states are so different. ashley: right. >> but we could have and america would actually alaud something called a -- applaud something called a bipartisan tax reform. ashley: yes. >> they would actually think, oh, my god, congress and d.c. are finally doing their job. ashley: all right. congressman collins, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> good to be with you,. ashley: i can hear the frustration in your voice. >> thank you. ashley: now we are joined by john lonski, moody's managerring director. john, you heard that discussion. what's your take? to me, if i'm a business in this country, i'm just paralyzed right now. what -- it's very hard to plan for the future when it comes to where is my health care cost going to be?

it really has, it does have a knock-on effect, it has to. >> right. you don't know what your taxes are going to be, the tax treatment of capital spending and so on, so you just hold back and wait until these matters are resolved. and that weighs on the economy. that prevents the economy from growing as rapidly as it would otherwise. ashley: when you look at the markets though, it doesn't reflect that. the markets have hung in there remarkably well. >> they have, and i think in part that's because the markets must be confident that interest rates remain low in order to compensate for fiscal gridlock. that's very important. we have a fed meeting coming up week. the imf has already downgraded its outlook for the united states. could it be that this wednesday the fomc is going to lower its outlook going forward? ashley: you stole my thunder. the imf says 2.1% this year and next year. that's not good at all. >> that's assuming aside the possibility of any type of fiscal stimulus, tax reform -- ashley: from your vantage point,

do we get anything done in d.c.? >> i don't think so. maybe, you know, maybe doing nothing is good for the economy. let's face it, we are looking at reduced regulation of business. that appears to be helping the economy. ashley: yeah. >> that's helping to boost be equities. we would have been worse off otherwise if we didn't have that. ashley: but taxes are still high, obamacare's still in place -- >> yeah x the one thing to worry about is consumer spending, existing home sales. what are the pillar -- one of the pillars hosing up household expenditures is housing, and that may be softening. we will be in trouble if we begin to look at year-over-year declines for unit home sales. ashley: so much is dependent on the consumer. what's the psyche of the consumer right now, do you think? >> i think the consumer is perhaps cautious, getting tired. it's an old economic recovery. a lot of pent-up demand has been spent. however, i still think there's something left on the housing front. so we need to keep those interest rates, mortgage yields

low in order to assure further growth by home sales. ashley: well, there's a lack of homes for sale, that's a major problem, prices are going up, and it's still hard to get a mortgage, is that right? >> it is going to be for that certain individual coming up with a down payment -- ashley: first-time home buyers. >> right. they don't have that type of savings. even at a 6% rate, they don't have enough in terms of savings. ashley: so you feel we're drifting a bit? >> i think the economy's going to grow between 2-2.25% going forward into 2018. i don't see any major improvement in economic be reforms. but at the same time, if we avoid a mistaken tightening of monetary policy, keep interest rates low to compensate for fiscal drag -- ashley: we'll be okay. >> -- the economy will grow, profits will grow and markets will be fairly happy. ashley: see what the fed does. john, thank you so much. appreciate it, good stuff.

>> my pleasure. ashley: nba commissioner adam silver says he is optimistic -- he's said this before -- that sports betting will be legalized in the next few years. our next guest is based, where else, the gambling capital of the world, las vegas. bob massi, you're right there at gambling central. what do you think of that as a concept? can it, will it become a national ability to bet on sports? >> yeah. i mean, i think it should. we all know there's billions of dollars of illegal betting every day in this country during all the sports cycle, particularly with the nfl coming up. i think when you have a franchise like oakland coming to the las vegas, i think it's going to push some things. this was a long overdue review. this case is before supreme court, ashley, was a referendum a few years ago many new jersey that was signed into law. so i think the time has come -- ashley: yes. >> the revenues it brings to a state. but, you know, we have to wait and see what happens with the supreme court.

ashley: i want to get into the housing market. we were just talking about existing home sales falling more than expected. it feels like we're treading water a bit. we know home prices have hit a record high because there's just not enough inventory. what's going on? >> yeah. yeah, you know, i'm a little concerned again. i'm going to to use vegas as a good, you know, obviously point. we had back in '05-'06 overbuilding and overselling. right now there's maybe only three or four weeks of inventory just in the las vegas area. that has nothing to do with new homes, so the prices are going up. supply and demand, there's bidding wars between $175-400,000. so if you have a house for 303, somebody may bid 325 because there's not a lot of inventory. new houses are booming but, again, the demand's there. i have a concern as it relates to what we have somewhat of a bubble again. we've got to be careful. ashley: yeah. >> florida's experiencing it, arizona's experiencing it, so

we've got to be careful. ashley: first-time home buyers are very important because it stimulates the market and also helps people move up the ladder. is it easy to get a mortgage these days? >> no. i mean, i think the underwriting has become tougher. les still people that are, you know, basically struggling with credit. i think one of the misnomers a few weeks ago, they talked about new lending. a lot of that was refinancing because of equity, not necessarily new mortgagings. ashley: interesting. all right, we're out of time. bob massi, the property man. thank you so much, bob, appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: stay cool in the vegas desert. >> yes, sir. ashley: breaking news, anthony scaramucci just tweeting out this, quote: the tv cameras are back on. hinting there may be an on-camera white house briefing today. no word on timing yet, but that's what you would assume there that, i guess, the icon of a tv screen and camera are back on.

hmm, interesting. now this, they're shouting tease in my ear. more chaos in venezuela. anti-government groups calling for a two-day strike to protest president maduro's plans to rewrite the country's constitution. we are witnessing the full-blown collapse of socialism. coming up, we have someone who says venezuela would could be oo the brink of a civil war. but first, the u is ss constitution returning to boston waters after two years of restoration work. it's the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat. the uss constitution was launched all the way back in 1797. the vessel will be docked at a nearby pier until september when it will reopen for public tours. great stuff. stay with us, more ahead. ♪ ♪ copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way

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♪ ♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. jcpenney joining many other retailers be now accepting apple pay. we know the retail environment has been very tricky, particularly for the department stores, and jcpenney was trading quietly lower today to but saying that they will be accepting apple pay nationwide. saying it's easily and and a seamless shopping experience for their customers. in addition to that, the customers that have the jcpenney rewards, you'll be able to use the jcpenney credit card and get

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ashley: violent protests

erupting in venezuela over the weekend again, now opposition leaders are calling for a two-day strike to protest president maduro's plans to rewrite the constitution. here now to talk about this, vanessa newman. vanessa, thank you so much for being here as we continue to watch the complete destruction of what was once a shining light in the region, venezuela. my question to you is at what point, where is the tipping point in this struggle? because we are very close, it feels to me, to civil war. >> yeah. of thank you for having me on. every time i come on, it means there's more bad news, unfortunately -- ashley: it's reality. >> it is reality x it's spiraling downward fast. i think the tipping point really comes in august. so at the end -- this sunday, july 30th, there is a vote for a constitutional assembly that has been broadly rejected by venezuelans. two weeks ago, actually, 11 days ago we had a vote, eight days

ago we had a vote by 7.7 million vens wail a lands all around the world specifically rejecting this, and the government says that's not binding, but it is, because it's in the constitution, that's a popular consultation. this one on sunday is totally illegal. they have no popular consultation, and it's against the will of the people, and it will make venezuela cuba. it gets rid of the elected officials, puts in government apparatus and has representatives appointed by sort of one per region and then by industry. ashley: so -- >> it's a leninist model. ashley: the breaking point comes, you i would assume, whene country's military turns on maduro, correct? >> correct. ashley: are we close to that point? >> yes and no. we're seeing increasing fracture. venezuelans very much live on twitter because it's their, the media's so censored. we had another female lieutenant come out and say that, urged her other military friends to join the opposition.

the generals of the main four armed services wrote a letter to the president of the oas saying they will stand by this constitution, which implies that they will not support the vote on sunday. but we're not seeing them do anything. it looks like they're hedging their bets for a transition, and they're happening out their deputies to dry. >> what do you make of the idea the trump add managers slapping -- administration slapping economic sanctions because senator marco rubio says that will hurt maduro and his cronies, but then the issue is how much does it hurt the people? >> well, that's a good point. unfortunately, in a way it should hurt the people because the money should be getting through. the reality is that it's become a money-laundering, corrupt ma choan for helping everything from, you know, iran sanctions busting which has been going on for years to just ransacking money for the kleptocracy.

venezuela, they've stolen that we know of $300 billion. ashley: 300 billion? >> personal bank accounts. mostly -- [inaudible] so the people are starving anyway. so in a way, you are just punishing the leadership, unfortunately. ashley: is how does this thing play out, vanessa? you say that the turning point could very welcome next month. >> yes. ashley: then what happens? >> well, then, i don't know -- ashley: the big unknown. >> it's a really big inknown. i think it's going to be violation,st going to be brutal because the drug cartel is going to eliminate the legitimate government. the people have to stand up. we'll have to see what the military is made of, see if they stand with the people and put them on a plane and fly them out. the longer it roils, the higher odds -- >> and this news breaking, he's jailing the opposition supreme court justice picks and -- >> correct. because the supreme court that is currently standing, it's picked by him, and they're corrupt. heir just -- and i've actually

seen it firsthand in some of the work i've done in venezuela. they just -- it's shocking. so when the national awe assembly assigned -- assembly assigned the new supreme court which they want for democratic transition as is legal, they just throw them in prison, and he's being tortured in a military cell. ashley: vanessa, thank you so much. i know you say it's always bad news, but it is reality, unfortunately. we appreciate the latest news. thank you. >> thank you very much. ashley: all right. now check this out. two marines tying the knot over the weekend as it was the groom's 4-year-old son who stole the show. take a look. >> i want you to be safe and to try your hardest and to be a good person. don't cry, honey. [laughter] ashley: that will make you cry. marine sergeant joshua newville and senior airman be emily lehan were saying i do when he started to cry. he wrapped his arms around his new stepmom, and his eyes filled with tears as she read the vows

shed had written just for him. both of the newlyweds are still on active military duty. what a great story. more "varney" next. ♪ ♪ ♪

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ashley: all right. we have some breaking news for you. the driver who left ten immigrants now to die in a walmart parking lot inside a tractor-trailer in texas now charged with illegally smuggling immigrants. he could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. e. mac, you've got any more headlinesesome. >> yeah. james bradley, 60 years old. he faces life or death can imprisonment -- life or death and a $250,000 pine. people were taking turns to breathe through a hole in that truck. ashley: oh, my gosh. and young children in there? >> two 15-year-olds. ten two died are adult men. so -- ashley: so they were literally, this was 100-degree heat, left in a parking lot, trapped inside a tractor-trailer with -- >> that is correct. ashley: -- basically, no air-conditioning and very, very little ventilation --

>> at one point they believe at least 100 people were in the truck, and they recovered 39. eight bodies were in the truck, two people died afterwards. ashley: he's expected in court in san antonio? >> that's correct. ashley: dreadful story. by the way, also any moment now, jared kushner -- frump's adviser and, yes, son-in-law -- should be coming out. we saw him go in with his attorneys. this is on capitol hill. he was meeting with the senate intelligence committee, that's right, isn't i, e. mac? >> that is correct. here's the thing with this, with jared kushner. it is, basically, not you under oath. he's going to the talk tomorrow to house intelligence -- ashley: right. >> bob mueller can get this testimony. and so a number of issues are at stake. what exactly or were those conversations that he had, did he set up a back channel with russians because he, his company was in a botched financial real estate deal here in new york city. what was, was one of the sources, the russian source, was

he a representative of a bank that was hit by sanctions over crimea. ashley: he's been in there a couple hours now, i think, and he put out an 11-page memo about nothing nefarious going on. >> right. and next we have donald trump jr. and paul manafort this week -- >> on wednesday. >> no subpoenas, issued, but they will be speaking -- ashley: we are on it. e. mac, thank you very much. more "varney" after this. ♪ i needed something more to help control my type 2 diabetes. my a1c wasn't were it needed to be. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals

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board for you. down 54le points. we had existing home sales, little disappointing, but we are only down a quarter of a cent on the dow, 21,525. neil cavuto, i hand it over to you. neil: all right, thank you very much. you broke some news there with congressman wilson talking about the possibility of getting democratic support. we are going to explore that. we are also exploring this. jared kushner denying any collusion with russia also said to make a statement. we are told, we don't know if he'll make it before reporters, but he's expected to discuss maybe what he discussed in the broadest of outlicenses. -- outlines.