maria my thanks to kristin haglund. varney & company begins right now. stuart: north korea backs down and stocks go up. start with the rally, please look at this. we are going up when the market opens today, big move-up, that was monday yesterday, it'll be another across the board gain 30 minutes from now. look at them. two reasons why this is happening, kim jong un has decided not the fire off his missiles towards guam. he's backed down. can't remember the north koreans retreating on anything before. this follows a clear warning from defense sec mattis, don't do it. also, the chair of the joint chief dunford in beijing looking

for cooperation from china to avoid any miscalculation of a north korea, investors like that one too. here is number two, today president trump will sign infrastructure plan, that's got a good shot at bipartisan support and investors as well. it seems the market is ignoring the intense hostility that the president is facing and ignoring the three ceo resignations from the manufacturing advisory council. here is how the day is shaping up. a trump win on north korea maybe a trump win on infrastructure, solid economic numbers just coming into us, and, yes, another market rally, welcome to the show, varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: just coming into us,

iran threatening to quit the nuke deal if u.s. imposes new sanctions. liz, they say they will quit, quote, within hours. >> within hours, hour an and day. iran allocated a hundred million dollars to new missile program. this is tough senate sanctions or iran, russia and north korea. iran not liking that. iran is ramping up the rhetoric, we will bring it to more advanced our nuclear advanced to advanced level than it was in 2015. stuart: north korea backs off, iran steps forward. politics clashing, three ceo resign from president trump's manufacturing council, they don't like the president's response to charlottesville, ken frazier and intel ceo, mr. fr

mr. frazier. >> you should be there getting deals for your company. it's interesting who is staying, johnson & johnson, ceo is staying for now. richard, he's staying on the council, so the black stone group. stuart: mr. frasier is out for political reasons. i wonder what the judge thinks of this? [laughter] >> let's see, we are in the constitution is this? stuart: not a legal question, it's not a constitutional question, i'm not sure what kind of question it is. >> i guess it's a moral question. can you participate in some entity, did you overlook personal disagreement for the

good of shareholders. stuart: wait a second. surely the ceo of a public-traded company first responsibility is interest of shareholders, the owner of that private enterprise. >> they have employed him. stuart: frasier has pull personal politics ahead of shareholders. >> he must be making the judgment that's what the share how olders want. if he's not making the judgment, then he's not doing his job unless he's being asked to do something that's so personally repellent that his conscious won't let him do it and he wants an end run on this responsibility. i think it's foolish for him to leave this group. i think the president -- the group that the president has put together represents a massive amount of investment in america's future and he's unwise to leave. stuart: the president immediately tweeted about drug prices from companies like

merck, a statement -- >> what did the president say? stuart: i don't have precise wording. >> go back to work and lower your overinflated taxes or something like that. typical donald trump, made the point to 12 million tweetees. stuart: i could see lawsuits against merck's ceo, he has put politics against interest. >> i don't think it would pass the motion to dismiss. who was harmed by this? stuart: the share howholders. >> nearly impossible to demonstrate. stuart: you don't think -- >> what are you becoming a plaintiffs' trial lawyer now at your old age. stuart: you don't think there's a lawyer that stock went down and my shareholders have been

damaged. >> there are plaintiffs lawyers to take it and many federal judges to dismiss it. stuart: they're frightened to being overruled on appeal. quick, check of futures, this is important because yet again we are going to open up on the upside, we will be up about 50 points on top of yesterday's big gain. we have retail names reporting numbers. fist thing this morning out they came all of them that have reported, all of them going down regardless of financial performance. advanced auto parts, dick's sporting goods, look at dick's, financial numbers not good. overall retail sales up. a lot more to say about the retail sector moments from now. coming this afternoon, president trump will give statement on infrastructure, jim, republican

from ohio, how is this going to be paid for? i believe it's a trillion dollar plan over ten years. who pays? >> good morning, stuart. no matter what, eventually consumer is going to have to pay some way or some how but at tend of the day, we have to come up with a plan where we are working together, private sector and government sectors working together to be able to get infrastructure plan done, we have to do something again, our infrastructure is in some place it's 0 year's old. it's coming together and working together in private-public partnerships. stuart: investors seem to think that this is our best shot at getting something done in this congress. infrastructure. now you're smiling again, sir, do you agree with investors? >> well, i think infrastructure is something that if it's bipartisan, republicans and democrats both want to do it. i would also tell you so is tax reform important and i do think that we need to do that as well. stuart: let me throw this at year, economists by bloomberg, the vast majority of those

economists say, yes, we we will get tax cuts but next year until elections, what do you say to that? >> i sure hope not. when i came to washington six years ago i learned very quickly when you get into the political years, things slow down even more. we are not in the political year even yet, we really do need to get things done by tend of this year and it's important that we get tax reform done and tax cuts done -- stuart: you've heard me say that before. you often say this, we should do this, we ought to do this, it's absolutely important that we do this. we've heard so many times before and we still haven't done it and you have extremely crowded congressional calendar coming right in front of you. >> well, i tell everybody, we need to get there and stay there until we get things done specially when it comes to tax return. we have to work with this president, this president was elected on tax reform, on health

care reform, on infrastructure. we have to get one of those things done this year. i hope that we get two or at least three. we tried with health care. now it's infrastructure, now it's tax reform. we are willing to work together bipartisan when it comes to infrastructure, that's why i believe we can get that done at the same time tax reform can get done too maybe not comprehensive tax reform but we can cut rates, we can do something territorial and we can do it now. that's the direction we need to take. stuart: we appreciate you being was even though i badger you constantly, we appreciate you being here, thank you very much. back to the future's market, please, we are opening the market in 20 minutes and we are going to go up, worth remembering another rally in the opening bell just like yesterday. el chapo's lawyer concerned that he won't get paid. he say it is feds could seize any money that the -- they pay

him. letting them think they were buying real tiffany jewelry at bargain prices. we will tell you how much it's going to cost, costco. secretary of defense mattis, if north korea launches missile at guam, it is game on and the north koreans have backed down. they've dropped plans to launch those missiles, you will hear all about it as the market goes up. we will be back. inflammatory substances that cause symptoms. pills block one and 6 is greater than 1. flonase changes everything.

stuart: take a look at the stock price of general electric, it's only down a fraction, down 12 cents but it is still bumping around 25. what's going on with that stock today? well, warren buffet has dumped his entire stake in general electric. of course, we will have more on that later, that's a significant move. the stock is down premarket. north korea, it backed you have off, -- offed, they are not going to launch rockets to guam.

>> yes, that's called war. if they shoot at us. if they do that, then it's game on. stuart: i think the president trump's policy show them you can take them, convince them that you will do them. lieutenant general is with us. ic that's articulating the president's plan, the president's policy and i think it's a winner, what do you say? >> well, do i too. there's no question that kim jong un blinked, stuart, the question he did not stop icbm development nor the deployment plans, there's a long way forward or otherwise there will be a game on. stuart: that's interesting. we are pressuring north korea to go a lot further, not just hold the missile liftoffs but actually withdraw from the nuclear business, withdraw from

intercontinental ballistic missile business, we are not likely to get that are we? >> it is the only acceptable solution that we can have. we cannot let north korea be a nuclear proxy for china. what do i mean by that, if for whatever reason kim jong un fired 60 missiles and we got 80 or 90% of them, six or ten or some number would get through which would devastate our economy and china and russia sit there smiling. we cannot let either north korea nor can we let iran have nuclear capabilities against the continental united states. they are existential threats to us and that is not tolerable. stuart: either yesterday or friday you told us that our president should prepare for war six to 12 months down to road, you still hold the opinion, i take it? >> absolutely. stuart: i want to bring this one to you, iran today threatening to throw out the nuclear agreement made with president

obama if america imposes new sanctions, they say they will withdraw or they could withdraw within hours. that's the direct quote. your take on that, general? >> that's the best thing that could happen to us because that would mean the group of five cannot make -- put the blame on us and all of a sudden they lose all of the economic value even though obama forwarded $150 billion that is enabling korea and iran to develop their nuclear capabilities. so that is important. iran is an easier target for us than north korea. the fact is there's a lot of countries in the middle east that want to take iran down. we happen to be the dominant figure in the pacific, however, neither one can have a nuclear capability. how we get that solution? that is another story. stuart: well, this is war talk, isn't it? you're talking -- you're saying, you have to eradicate the nukes in north korea, you have to do the same thing in iran, that's

war talk, that's really -- forgive me for saying but that's extreme stuff. >> that is not extreme. if we want to survive and you have that nuclear proliferation that can hit the united states, we can destroy them, but parts or maybe our whole country is destroyed. that is not acceptable. we have a mutual assured destruction with russia and china. that has been a standard policy but you cannot let proliferation make that for others and so people don't fully understand what a nuclear proxy is like north korea and iran. their nuclear proxies for china and russia. stuart: okay, tough talk. lieutenant general, always a pleasure to have you with us, appreciate it. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. a new report from fox news, president trump, quote, seriously considering a presidential pardon for sheriff joe arpaio.

judge napolitano moments on that

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please don't forget about gold. now it's running down as the noko's retreat. now, this, accused mexican drug lord el chapo can hire a high-profile lawyer but the judge overseeing the case will not guaranty that the lawyer gets paid, oh, oh, i smell trouble. napolitano remains on the set. what do you think about that? >> well, i have seen this before and it's dreadful because it's punishment before conviction. it's the government's stunt of attacking somebody that has a lo of wealth and no letting him use his wealth to defend himself, the government's theory you acquired the wealth illegally and therefore you can't use to hire the lawyer. well, the government hasn't proved that they acquired it illegally. stuart: they haven't seized the money either. >> they froze it. the same judge signed order that won't let him take it out of the bank, the government doesn't own it but he can't take it out to pay lawyer. it's a terrible, terrible thing

that the government can do to you. imagine with you with your vast wealth were wrongfully accused and couldn't tap the wealth to hire lawyer to defend you. stuart: do you think the silver-tongue lawyer will do it pro bono for free. >> publicity of the likes which he couldn't pay for. >> i hope he lets him have access to assets. once convicted an prove that they are ill gotten it's a different story. stuart: you are prejudging el chapo. what if he's convicted. >> socialist at the economics of. stuart: quiet on the set. one more for you, fox news exclusive, president trump may soon issue pardon for sheriff joe arpaio. he was found guilty a couple of

weeks ago of criminal contempt, now, what would you say to a presidential pardon? >> i don't think he should have even tried in the first place. the president has the ability to pardon anyone for any federal offense. the pardoning power sun limited. it's a question whether he can use it on himself, he can certainly use it on sheriff arpaio. stuart: was it politicized conviction against arpaio? >> indeed he was. let me tell you what he begged for and he didn't get it, jury trial. something basic that a 10-year-old understands. now she's about to sentence him. of course, he can appeal, the whole thing was so overbrought with unfairness it should be wiped out with the pardon. i encourage the president to do that. stuart: this was a political trial. i didn't know he begged for a jury trial. i thought if you do that you will get the jury trial.

on what grounds it was dismissed? >> there's a federal law that if maximum innocence is a year in jail you're not entitled to jury trial. i have been confronted with that and i disregard and give everybody jury trial that wanted one. particularly one that hates you which is what happened in this case. stuart: have you ever thought about going back to the bench? >> no. stuart: we need you here. >> of course, if the president calls, he might have my cell. stuart: thank you very much, sir, see you in the 11th. still open the market a little bit higher the tuesday morning, we will be up about 50 point, okay. by the way, the nasdaq is going to go up, s&p will go up. pretty close to record territory for the dow, 22,179, we will be within a hundred points of that pretty sure in four minutes time. back in a moment

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>> 30 seconds befored opening of trading on wall street this tuesday morning. 24 hours ago, we're an a exactly the same position waiting for the market to open. and figuring it that it's going to go up. or yesterday by the the close, the dow was up over 130 points. when the market open this morning we're going to go o up

another 50. that will carry the dow well into the 22,000 territory and should carry us pretty close eventually maybe towards the all-time high of 22,19 we'll see two seconds to go. bang it is 9:30 wii up. we're running, and i'm seeing the green appear, and i'm seeing it is up 4142 still plenty of green, 45, the opening bell has rung. trading has begun, and mod test rally as we kick off the day. we're up .18% early going. how about the sm s&p 500 is that up, the answer is, yes it is up just a fraction actually that's 1.1% and nasdaq is up 1.3% so a very mod test gain all across the board. next case, big retail name some of them reporting numbers early this morning before we start trading. advance order parts coach dig's o sporting goods tjx only one is up and they have good results

that's home depot that is a do w stock more on that in a second. joining us scott an murphy now backed down and that's why we're got ad noest market rally so far this morning. murphy. you agree with that? >> well, from the recent pulloff i'll agree with that we backed off last week i think so yes i'll give a slight rally but really earnings need to support where we are with a huge rally at or near all time highs and without we would not be able to stay here. as long as they keep coming in you get political drama headlines but the market is going to trade on earnings. >> scott, i see a big jump in a manufacturing indicator called the empire state manufacturing index it went way up. that's a big deal. i see retail sales up more than expected a gain of .6% is there, are those two factors also helping the market along with north korea bracket backing

down? >> absolutely. stuart finally starting to see some of these green shoots of life that we're going to explain that low employment rate and jobs that we've created so yes north korea back off has given a taboos to the market. earnings have given a boost to market but incredible amount of lick witty for the thirst of good stocks is also a big part of it and so much money that wants to be invested that's what we're seeing coming of the market. >> how do you measure that? i mean a lot of people say got all of this liquidity and money on the sidelines wait to go into stock, a, how much money? and b, how do you know it has wait to go into stocks? >> well because if they're going get return on money right now are do they want to invest in 2.25% in u.s. tenure or continue to ride this wave with what trump has been doing or at least smflt somethings and he's trying to put many lace and if you remember, a lot of central banks haven't come back from where we were at an still pumping a lot

of money out there it hassing got to go somewhere. if you've got to do that money cash suspect going to get you money menges year. you need to invest it that's part of the reason why we're seeing some of these things going up for some times wrong reason but that's why. >> all right. let's look at the three-ceos who have resigned from president trump's manufacturing advisory counsel they didn't like president trump's response to charlottesville. they are merck chief frasier underarmor chief and kevin. scott i don't think mr. frasier in particular should be putting his personal politics ahead of the interest of his shareholders. that's my judgment. what's yours? >> i -- i wholeheartedly agree with you. you know what, we have some ceos who will actually stand for something instead of not stand for something and what i mean by that is this. they all want to play it right down the middle because that's where they believe their market is and hamburgers to people hungry are not to just republicans or democrats but at the end of the day they're

worried about french moves but strong leaders, and they expand up to tell you what they believe in and they have a seat at the table to effect that change, and that's way better than thinly vailed excuses as to why they want to back away because they're worried about what somebody might do to share share surprise and what customer may think of them. >> don't put your politics in front of your responsibility as ceo that's my opinion and scott's opinion and yours. >> scott said it perfectly i am in couldn't agree more. these ceos coming out they have a seat at the table now they're getting a lot of pressure at the end of the day for them it's about the bottom line and i'm not saying it shouldn't be about the bottom line but to support the president. they can't let an issue like this give them a reason to back away from it. so ting that this is bad, and all of the stocks underperforming markets and since he was elected so these underpressure to put up performance. that's the bottom line, and down this morning as well by the way not much but they're down this morning. all right big name retailers some of them reporting their

figures their numbers early today. would you buy mike, any of those stocks on the screen at the moment? they're all down look at coach down 12%. dig's sporting goods 17% would you pick up any other bargain hunting specialty retailers, coaches of the world no. but i look at home depot interesting on any sort of a big pullback, quarter was good, and the you're seeing in this country people are going out there buying home it is renovating homes paying money, they're spending money on their homes so i like home depot here. j do you own it? >> i don't. >> why not just go out and buy amazon instead of buying these retail stocks which you have going down. >> it is hard to choose those retail stocks that are going down because there's the amazon effect and amazon evaluation is really stretched. there's almost priced to perfection i think, so you're kind of stuck between a rock and hard place do i get on something that might not have that much

left in it or competition with amazon three or five years down the road that's the difficult thing to do. i think it is going to be hard for amazon to helicopter to deliver like they're delivering as far as stock price and evaluation and you might want to take a step back here and let the dust settle to think it is not just amazon but a couple other ones to deliver stuff to you overnight too and that's where you want to be. >> just today a.m. scon launched instangt pickup order online and get drinks and snacks and amazon within five minutes. yeah, they just did it launched this today in five locations. >> i missed it that would be the amazon stoifert day. >> moving, and there goes the diet. [laughter] before that and it was wal-mart so i think if anyone can compete with a.m. scon it is going to be wal-mart stocks had a great run but more room there. >> six into the trading session

and dow industrial gaining between 30 points that's where we have above 22,000. how about the big tech names we watch them every single day. why not? they're all up this morning. alphabet, microsoft on the upside how about this one? a judge says, tiffany may recover at least 19 million dollars in damage from costco. this is all it be the illegal sale of counterfeit diamond rings baring the tiffany name. what do you add to this? >> what costco is saying we were say these are tiffany settings tiffany style rings that was their argument. salespeople said, well these are tiffany rings misleading that customers by the way news is breaking costco saying it will appeal this ruling. >> okay. but they tiffany style. >> up or management is but they're saying this is tiffany rings. >> to appropriate the that i am. consequences this is a story i find fascinating.

it is insurance companyies they're in talks with a it will to offer apple watch to all of their 23 million policy holders i think that's what they're thinking of doing. this is being insurance company they want to track your health statistics i can't think of a better marketing tool for the apple watch. can you? >> it's a great marketing tool for apple but also stuart if this is something that can help had reduce our health care costs if having a company a bit large insurer being able to track you and know when you're at risk if that, that could be something to help bring our health care cost -- >> supposing they start charging you more if you didn't take your five mile run before breakfast you can see coming a mile off. baling now we're going in a different direction could there be lower cost for people living healthier lifestyle than people who aren't? >> what does it do for a stl? the apple watch has been kind of a -- low -- level kind of a thing it's sort of liked woody allen movie for

lion's gait and help apple sales for apple watch 23 million is a lot of people. >> that's a lot of people. you know, scott with i know you're dying to get into so straight to you in london and give us your opinion. >> so i would have to prepay the insurers but my bad. so i've got to get that off the list first. number two i'm not a big fan of the apple watch this might be a good marketing if gimmick for etna and maybe apple and real thing here is you're exactly right. it's all a about the data and hopefully that is used to help us and not hurt us but that's another slippery slope. >> maybe go and get a cheap etna policy and cash in on a free watch. maybe. i don't know likely. warren buffett has cashed out on g.e. i believe they sold his entire stake . he cashed in on the financial crisis warren buffett. so he did he's making a billion dollars off brook shire hathaway off this financial crisis in g.e. all in it is dividends making a billion on this initial

ly $3 billion, you know, health to g.e. here's had the back story. people tab dividends warren buflt known for demanding dividends during crisis and brook shire hathaway dividends it doesn't pay out of the a dividends. are we down, getting to back color, story there for -- amazon -- could issue up to 16 billion dollars worth of debt to if you wanted whole foods acquisition you know they'll issue bonds this is possible. they'll issue bonds bring be in the cash, and use the cash to buy whole foods. so instead of using their cash flow -- they're taking on dealt. >> you know credit rating giving this a thumb up so they like the move and partly why amazon back on march to 1 thorks a share they say noting that the whole foods acquisition brings some 5h plus stores into amazon sphere so that's good for the distribution model. >> it makes more sense for

amazon to borrow money than use their own. borrow interest rate and if you believe they can make more than 2% on the money then it's a great move for the company and for shareholders. >> they made a stock about it. they made a song about it get your money for nothing and your chips for free. ♪ >> that was fun. >> i'm sort of there music is not my forte as we know that. i have to say good-bye to scott is and mike. thank you very much gentleman great performance on this tuesday morning. where are we? we are 11 minutes in, and we're up 25 points on the dow industrials. but we're back above 22,000. the latest event in venezuela socialist president ordering military drills in response to prurp's considering a military option at least is on the table we're on that story, as we have been for some time with elizabeth mcdonalds and this could be the legislative win president trump has been waiting for. hen plays to lay out his infrastructure plan later on today.

question, can democrats and republicans work together on this one? more varney after this.

>> dow industrials are a fraction higher just 20 points. but we're with at 22,000. look at this share price of snap on the rebound to some degree apparently lockup period has expired now on the floor of the exchange what explain this this, the aspect expire. >> so you should know lockup agreements can really wreak havoc when they expire with share price so essentially employees get a beg advantage in that they have the opportunity, option to buy shares for the company during the initial public offering and they have to own it for three months usually. and that includes like the fist

recordings period as you know right snap's earnings report last week was dismal. so that so-called lockup expiration came just yesterday. and we weren't sure which way it went and opened at a all time low and rebound at 6% adding to gains this morning. the analysts say the worst is behind us. there was so much unsernght about how that lockup expiration would come through. but it -- it's behind us. volatility is -- out of the way at least for now. so they're putting $15 price target on snap. >> okay $15 i'm sure a lot of people would take that. thank you very much indeed. venezuela is the leadership -- is calling for military exercises after president trump's said that look, ministry option remains on the table all options remain on the table this would be venezuela plan playing some military exercisessening in two weeks time but liz there's more information are they trying

to arrest people in america? >> here's is happening -- that august 6th raid on a military base where individuals against the government took -- military equipment and arms a number of people are living in south florida. the government thes to arrest 23 poem as coconspirators. not all 23 live in south florida. several live in south palestinian. they haven't been in venezuela in 13, 15 years but his trying to say these are coconspirators to team to cease venezuela arms still refer the government. >> not going to happen is itsome >> not going to happen. a development a we'll take it. thanks liz back to economy bring in please douglas with the american action forum and former director the congressional budget office. sir, we've got this survey of christs who say yes, we're going to get a tax cut guarantee yeah we'll get a tax cult but not until way into next year. before parking lot november

elections what do you say to that, sirsome >> i think it's a sort of good news sorry and that they see some progress in giving tax cut through, after the health care problems, i think a lot of people have skepticism about ability to execute. douglas -- i hate to interrupt a man like you but you sir are grasping at straws. j look, i'm nervous about where we stand on the tax reform front. the thing in that survey i didn't like was they didn't see much on the economy but i would look to see a good solid tax reform to boost by half a percentage point they saw something that looked like two tenths so it didn't look like -- a real vote of confidence in what congress is up to. >> i see it as bad news if you don't get a tax cut way until next year he qoangt have affect until 2019 that's way down the road. i mean this is not good news surely. >> no, i think they need to move quickly. you like to see economic growth pick up in first, second quarter

of 2018. not in 2019. that's a great opportunity and that's the opportunity they should pursue. >> the president is going to sign this memorandum today should i speed up the infrastructure implement the infrastructure plan -- that could be a big win for the president because both sides of the aisle have some implement on this and both sides reasonably approve of it we could see a win could we not? >> i think this is a big win regardless. we spend a lot of money on infrastructure already. it takes forever to do these projects. there are a lot of reasons why it's so slow. for example, if there are two agencies they do it one and then the sec not two at the same time. so this process can be speeded up. that's going to make the existing dollars go farther good idea and then hopefully a new program in place quickly to target central infrastructure to big high productivity connection issues whether tunnels in new york or waterways that need to be upgraded or that just -- a 24th century traffic system a lot of opportunity here. >> would you agree that

president trump needs a big win? ed badly? >> i think republicans on the hill the president are united in the need for going into the 2018 mid-materials. no question. >> we want one now. not next year. okay, douglas always a pleasure, i'm sorry i have been badgering you and interrupting you but ponging table here. >> i must love it. i come back -- [laughter] no you're a glutton for punishment as simple as that. douglas thanks for joining us sir, appreciate it. >> okay where are we? uh-oh we're down. we're down now turned negative not much but we're down one point. i'll call that a negative down pngt 67 as we speak. now this. michael mr. brexit going hollywood. new reports the movie is in the works. we'll tell you who's being tapped to play mr. farag it is not me. [laughter] we'll be back.

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releasing a statement on his dui charge what's he saying? roongtly trying to treat my own back pain trying to self-medicaid i have insomnia i realized it was a mistake to do it without medical assistance and making significant progress with doctors. he had with arrested dui, five drugs he was taking at the time including xanax. >> i hate to see that video i really do one of the greatest golfers of all team reduced to that in the middle of the road if in florida. not a pretty picture. >> correct. i feel for the man. coming to a theater near you -- the bad boys of brexit nigel character to be played by -- >> talking about benedict cumberbatch and based on brexit thinking is that the leadup to the trump victory is bairvegly the brexit story. >> i can't imagine hollywood

being interested in brexit for heaven's sakes. so interesting nigel saying i'm really god at playing myself i should play myself in this movie. >> never led up to that it will be a negative movie on nigel and donald trump. absolutely guaranteed. thank you i make a good point. i have a jewish story self-driving cars are going to put a lot of people out of business. okay is this a new ?id >> one in nine workers this is -- who says commerce department data. by robot driver that's about 11% of the total u.s. work force. so you do want to see that that manufacturing table if this is happening. >> there you go. exactly. [laughter] what the right now we've got self-driving car companies -- testing this down mobile down intel down. apple up, alfa bet up, okay.

a connection between self-driving consider and some of those stocks. top of the hour, a tale of the tape, to date five ceos have left the president's ever manying advisory counsel. one of them kent frasier of merck bringing in his own personal, political u views. is that right? we'll be back. we're on to you, diabetes. 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. potsc(in unison) drive 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... ee . . . .

ashley: sure seems like everything is political these days. case in point, the president's manufacturing advisory council. it was established to give advice to the president. 28 ceos and union leaders brought together to work on bringing jobs to america. surely it is an economic institution but it now reflects politics. kenneth frazier, the ceo of merck, has resigned from the council. he did not approve about the president's statements on the events in charlottesville. he resigned quote, a matter of

personal conscience. mr. frazier put his personal politics, ahead of responsibilities of ceo of a giant drugmaker. owners of merck, the shareholders may not approve of this. the ceo runs on behalf of shareholders not to push forward his or her political beliefs. merck no longer has a seat at president's table. it is no longer in the jobs loop it has drawn the anger of the president, who issued two tweets, threatening to go after merck's drug pricing policies. mr. frazier perhaps believe merck's best interests separating the company he runs from the presidency. in which case he should say so and remove mesh from list of companies which favor tax cuts an deregulation. five ceos have now left the council in total over the last few months. politics an anti-trump feeling is at the heart of all these departures. this is not good.

the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ashley: half hour in on tuesday morning, modest gain holding for the dow industrials. 22,022. the bringing tech names -- big tech names showing green arrows. if anything they're leading market higher. amazon, alphabet, facebook, microsoft on the upside. nike one of the bigger losers on the big board at the moment. down 1 1/2%. no specific reason for that coming down for the price of nike. how about home depot? they are the biggest loser, the biggest losing stock of all the dow 30, down three bucks at 150, even though first thing this morning they reported some positive financial results maybe

they're swept into the retail ice age. back to my take editorial at top of the hour. i say everything is political these days, especially the resignation from merck's ceo from the president's advisory council. i say he is doing the wrong thing putting personal politics as responsibility of a leading company. hoover institution lani chen. welcome back to the program. good to see you. >> stuart, good to see you. ashley: i made the editorial judgment, frazier, in particular and others are doing the wrong thing. don't introduce personal politics when you lead a big publicly-traded company. what say you? >> i agree with that in the sense you have to be very careful here. what is the ceo's job, stuart. ashley: right. >> you said this in your take at opening, the ceo job is maximizing shareholder value. to extent being involved maximizes shareholder value.

good for the companies, good for employees, good for shareholders. you can't treat all three cases equally. you might separate intel and merck from you know armour. they might have different equities they're weighing when they figure out how they're driving performance. clearly the situation you have commingling of politics and business which isn't anything new of course, stuart, but in this case it is somewhat troubling. ashley: it does highlight what i call a negative relationship between business on one hand and the presidency on the other. it is becoming a negative relationship, or is it? what is your input on that? >> well i, you know, there is a synergy here right, between politics and business. you always have to understand that good politics and good business can mix sometimes. i think to the extent these companies, for example, were participating on these advisory councils, they were potentially being able to put input to the president and administration

regarding tax policy, regulatory policy, that is a good thing. that is a good thing for those businesses and a good thing for the american economy when these things mix too closely you have a difficult and challenging situation like this one. people are entitled to their point of view, no question about that. you're in a different position when in a public trust when serving in public office or serving as ceo of a large publicly-traded company. it is no longer what you think anymore. it is about what you think and relationship of what you think what is best for company and shareholders. ashley: what business wants lower tax rates on business. if we got that from this presidency, i presume relationship between the business an presidency would turn around rapidly wouldn't it? >> absolutely. one thing people don't talk about regulatory reform we've seen. one thing businesses want in addition to tax certainty, they

want regulatory certainty. these things make america a great place to do is. and so these businesses need to be cognizant of that. stuart: the president is doing that and merck still resigns from the manufacturing advisory board. i think that was a move. lan-hee, i'm out of time, as always appreciate you joining us. thank you. >> good to be with you. stuart: check the markets. a very modest gain. dow industrials above 22,000, 150 points away from the record all-time high. joining us steve cortes, chief strategist at bgc partners. steve, we went up at opening bell. we're staying marginally higher. i think because the north koreans backed down. they will not fire off missiles at guam. i think that is win for the president. is that the main reason why the stock market keeps going up at this moment i should say. >> i think that is part of it, stuart. kim jong-un showed the world he

is once again all bark, no bite. he looked across the pacific ocean and saw american power and american military that is fearsome, led by a resolute commander-in-chief, donald trump. i think a win for the president. obviously reassuring to investors. stuart: now the president is going to sign, i think memorandum of intent on infrastructure today, at trump tower just up the road from us. is that another win? >> i think it's a huge win, stuart. so wonderful in my estimate, that we have actual builder in the white house, something we never had before. so he knows very well about the obstacles are put in place of infrastructure plans, of development of building, and most of those obstacles are government-created. they are environmental review processes, they are permitting. all of it is too cumbersome and time-consuming. this is something without the help of congos with executive action he speed up money already pledged and speed up projects we

badly need to get people back into work and get our infrastructure into this century. stuart: real fast, steve, a group much economists surveyed suggest we won't get a tax cut of any kind until late next year. by the way, left-hand side of the screen we see vice president pence in argentina, in buenos aires there, a wreath-laying ceremony. respond to the economists, steve. >> here -- hearing you say that is like hearing nails scratching on a chalk board. we need tax cuts yesterday and retroactive to january 1. if they push it off to 2018 the hill republicans have a terrible time at the ballot box and they deserve to. stuart: well-said, steve cortes, as we watch a small market rally. we'll see you real soon. bring to full screen, please that is buenos aires, argentina. vice president trump at the argentina. at some point very near future, vice president pence may be

responding to questions. he may be taking a news conference. again at some point in the near future. if he takes that news conference, he will certainly be asked about charlottesville. president trump, the manufacturing advisory council, and tax cuts. he will be asked about all of those in all probability and we will cover it when it happens. got news for you on venezuela. it will likely be a big topic of conversation in argentina, with vice president pence. vice, venezuela's president just ordered his country's military to conduct drills i think. liz: that's right. august 26th, 27th, the air force, navy national militia of venezuela will be conducting drills. this as the president says they are not ruling out military action in venezuela. the vice president saying venezuela is sliding into dictatorship. the u.s. will not stand by as venezuela crumbles.

stuart: president trump did not take the military option off the table. he said all options are on the table. that is what maduro seized on, thinking they will be invaded. that is what he seized on. liz: director of cia mike pompeo, hezbollah, terrorists, all sorts of mall factors, all from cuba, cuba runs the military is deep into venezuela. venezuela is run by a narc co-dictator and narc coregime. stuart: spacex launching a capsule headed for the international space station. this is yesterday. it was the 11th successful cargo mission for the company. sending a lot of ice cream up to the team in the space station. coming up for you north korea blinks. that is my opinion. i think that is a fact. kim jong-un has backed down on his threat to of sending

missiles close to guam. did china put their screws to the north koreans? we will ask that question. actor john ratzenberger, early supporter of president trump. i say the president needs a win. what is he thinking now? ♪

stuart: i'm going to call this stalemate. we're down, what a couple points? that's it. we opened higher. now we're down a fraction. we're on it. how about coach's stock, okay? way down, 13%. they issued, they made a mistake. they didn't make a mistake but came out with a weak forecast. don't do that because the stock really gets hammered and it is being hammered today. now this. this is interesting news. police in india arrested four people for allegedly leaking,

hacking into a new episode of "game of thrones." this is new. we never got anybody before for doing this. liz: that's right. it is good news for hbo owned by time warner. hbo has a local tv distributor in india. this show is huge in that part of the world. it is company called prime focus technologies. it puts fame of throwns shows -- "game of thrones" showses on your devices. the company stole the episodes and put them up on the internet. this is good news. this is won the most emmys of all narrative shows in history. who is still at large? a bunch of hackers still at large. they stole 1.5 terabytes of data. they are still at large, sole from hbo the guys are leaking curb your enthusiasm on the internet, those hackers are at large. stuart: these guys allegedly hacked into, released "game of thrones," that was not a sophisticated hack.

>> no, it wasn't. it was in their shop and stole it. stuart: thanks, liz. kim jong-un backed down at least for now backed down on the threat firing missiles towards guam. after secretary mattis warned the north yesterday, roll that tape. >> if they fire at the united states, it could escalate quickly. that is called war, if they shoot at us. if they do that, it is game on. stuart: plain english, don't do it. gordon chang, author of the book, nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world. the north koreans blinked i think. why? >> i think china put the screws on them, but also because we put the screws on china. kim, the intimidator has been intimidated by an administration that now has got its message discipline problem solved. i think it is no coincidence that the trump administration is now speaking with one voice and chinese decide it's a good time

to help us. so we have overwhelmingly leverage over china. china has overwhelmingly leverage over north korea. and this is a demonstration of it. stuart: now what? because all the north koreans have done is said, okay, we're not thinking of sending over those missiles now, okay? that's still means the whole situation is still in place. they have still got the bomb and they still got icbms. >> also in a week or two we start large-scale military exercises in south korea. the freedom guardian exercises held every year this time. the north koreans and chinese just hate it. kim jong-un's message, the yankees if they don't behave, if they start to exercise force in our region, then we will do something. they consider the exercises as prelude to war. so we can expect something in a week or so when the north koreans, and they always do this every year, stuart. they always do something around the start of these exercises. stuart: but, the key thing

surely is, if they launch another missile, because at that point, secretary of defense is threatening to say we'll shoot it down. he didn't say that explicitly, he will do something about the launch of a missile. that is the crunch time is it, that moment? >> certainly, if we see them launching, we think it will drop in the middle of nowhere in some ocean we probably don't do anything. if it gets close or might land close to japan or guam or anywhere else we've got friend, then yes we will probably try to shoot it down and we'll bring our forces into place early to make sure we're capable of doing that. stuart: what we want is the removal of north korea's nuclear program, and the removal of their intercontinental ballistic missile program. that is a lofty goal. are we going to get it? >> if we try, we certainly have the capability of doing it. american presidents, decades in, decades out, did not use the elements of american power to

protect the american people from north korea and now we have a president had has said disarming north korea is the at top of our agenda. we no longer have a goal trying to integrate china into the international system. part of the problem in the past we elevated that goal over disarming the north koreans. that is no longer true. so what we have today is because of this switch of priorities, we have the precondition for success. i'm not saying that it is sufficient of course. it is certainly isn't, but now at least we are on the road to a solution. we can now use u.s. power. stuart: this president has done it? >> certainly this president has done it because the previous president and one before him, by the way, they had other goals which were far more important than disarming the north koreans. stuart: what is the bottom line of your book, the new book on north koreans and nukes? >> it is an old book from 2006, just before they detonated their first nuke. the bottom line the u.s. can do this. unfortunately for various reasons we haven't. and now it has been a failure and been an historic failure.

when historians look back at this period, stuart, they will not say, oh, we're interested in north korea or china. they will be interested why american presidents did not protect the american people. stuart: okay, gordon chang, thanks for joining us as always. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: check this out, you can be the proud owner of, thor's hammer. it is going up for auction in a london at a prop store. the one chris hemsworth used in the 2011 movie, "thor." 52,000 bucks. it could be yours. scrambling to get a piece of that. martin shkreli, you know this guy, known for hiking the price of a life-saving drug, guilty of securities fraud. he sat down with our maria bartiromo this morning. he says he doesn't think he will see jail time. we're back with that story in a moment. ♪

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>> feeling great, doing great. there were eight charges. the government made this large fanciful, now we learn false tale of me stealing from my own drug company to pay off these investors. i don't think i will have to forefit any money. i don't think i'm going to jail. stuart: that was martin shkreli earlier today on "mornings with maria." liz, he was found guilty on security fraud charges. liz: two. and conspiracy, three charges. stuart: he just said he doesn't think he will go to jail.

liz: he will try to fight them, get them reversed. the government charged with him running a ponzi scream, raiding his retrophin drug company to pay off hedge fund investors. also to off his personal loans and debts. he is saying, he doesn't think he will go to jail. in fact he claims that an sec official told him he was targeted for raising the price of that drug 5000% that helps hiv victims. stuart: i think his outrage just behavior really backfired. he became the poster boy for bad behavior among drug companies and pricing of drugs. he is, that is his image. i don't think that guy can get away with it. liz: his rational kind of distorted. investors in my hedge funds made four times more than they put in. the point is you were alleged to have broken the law. he doesn't allege the three charges he was found guilty of. stuart: good point. good get by maria.

this is another very interesting story, laying groundwork for, control of your health. listen to this. the insurance company aetna, thinking about giving apple watches to 23 million members, that is policyholders. liz, i don't particularly want an insurance company to track my health on a daily, minute to minute basis. liz: does that mean they could raise your personal insurance costs if you don't run a mile a day? who knows. they're selling it as a perk for their own 23 million members f you're an aetna customer you have to -- stuart: i'm not sure about that. that could be control of my health. that is surveillance of my health for heaven's sake. liz: i'm not seeing anything that, anything from aetna that they're addressing the privacy issue about who gets to see your apple watch and data. stuart: i'm leaving this unsaid. i don't know whether or not aetna, which is giving the watch, will track you and your

performance on the watch. or is it just for you to track your performance? >> that's right. stuart: there is a difference. >> we're speculating right now. we're waiting for aetna to come forward. stuart: i'm prone to speculation. thank you, liz. coming up. senator elizabeth warren, looks like she is running for the presidency, setting up what she is calling the new democrat party. yeah. it is now three ceos stepping down from the president's manufacturing council. here is my question, what about those ceo's responsibility to shareholders and shareholder money? ♪

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♪ stuart: we've been playing a lot of beatles lately. liz: are you sick of it? stuart: us baby boomers like it. i'm not sure anybody else. we're dead flat really. down three points on dow industrials. shy of 22,000. mixed bag this morning. one's up, one down, one unchanged. the rest are ever so slightly higher. dick's sporting goods, weak sales, lower forecast, down, taking it on the chin, 17% down. that could be part of a retail ice age as well. breaking news, south carolina, the state thereof, suing purdue pharmaceuticals. this is about oxycontin i think? liz: they're alleging that perdue pharmaceuticals, deceptive marketing.

that the company told doctors opioids are generally not addictive. they generally downplayed at diction of opioids and the benefits. also half a dozen other states, cities are suing this company as well. stuart: some people believe that the makers of opioid drugs will become the new tobacco companies, and sued in a class-action suit just like they sued tobacco, with a 200 billion-dollar settlement. let's see. liz: there is a fear opioids could be removed from the market. we've seen that happen in the past. stuart: that is interesting fear. they do kill pain. good story, liz. thank you very much indeed. liz: sure. stuart: speculation continuings to grow that senator elizabeth warren may run for the presidency in 2020. in a speech she said progressive won the battle for the soul of the democrat party. kelly ayote joins us, former republican senator from new hampshire. would you like to see senator

elizabeth warren as the candidates for the democrats as republican yourself? do you want to see her representing democrats? >> actually i think it would be a favor to republicans. stuart: yes. >> i don't see senator warren appealing to the states, especially that donald, president trump won, if you think about michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, those states where you have these hard-working folks, and in the midwest in this country, i really don't see her appeal there. i also think that the fact that the democratic party is moving farther to the left is not what the american people want in terms of getting things done to help create more jobs, infrastructure, security at home. stuart: yeah, that is one of the, i think that is one of the untold stories about american politics today, which is, the really sharp-edged shift among democrats to the left. i have barely heard a word from what might call a centrist democrat. it is untold story.

thanks for bringing it to our attention. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: no, the interview is not over. i'm just throwing you an easy shot. i thought you wanted to knock that thing out of the park? >> i think you're right. the whole issue if you look at the state of massachusetts, you have a governor baker who is doing much better in terms of his approval than senator elizabeth warren in her own state. so, i think if she is the nominee for the democratic party, i just don't see her appealing really to the rest of the country. stuart: okay, now today, is the day in alabama where there is the runoff for the republican nomination there. it is luther strange, the sitting senator, against mo brooks, who is challenging him for the nomination. now president trump has come down on the side of luther strange. it is assumed that he is now on the side of the republican establishment. are you at all surprised that president trump, with that tweet on the screen right now, are you surprised that mr. trump is

coming down on the side of the establishment here? >> well, i'm not surprised. i would imagine that president trump is supporting senator strange because he believes that senator strange will be able to work with him to get his agenda passed. and so that is probably his priority. that makes sense. he has got tax reform on the horizon here, infrastructure, and he would like to take another shot at health reform. he needs someone that can work with him in the senate. >> as former republican senator, do you think the republican party now understands the absolute imperative of getting some kind of tax cut done this year? do republicans understand this? >> i think they do understand it. this is really important, stuart, that they get tax reform done. i mean if you think about, we talked about those states that president trump won. those voters want progress. they want to make sure we have better-paying jobs here, that we

keep money in the united states of america. face it, our tax code is not competitive. it needs to be reformed. this has to be a priority of the gop congress. stuart: it has to be a priority, and i'm sure it's a priority. now give me the odds. what do you think the odds are that we'll get a tax cut of some form this year? what are the odds? >> i still think it's a challenge. they have to pass a budget resolution first before they can do that. that way they have the rules in place to allow them to do it at 50 votes. health care reform, not going over the finish line, i would think that they would be pushing hard to get that done this year because going back into next year is not helpful. stuart: i'm reading between the lines. you're not hopeful that it is done this year, are you? >> well, if you, i was disappointed with what happened in changes in reform on health care they didn't make progress but hopefully they will come back after the august recess really motivated to know that tax reform has to be a priority.

but i see challenges in terms of the votes. people have to come together and work together with the president so that we can get this done. stuart: you have no idea how many times i've been told that on this program. we have to. we ought to. we really must. we have heard a lot of that. look, thanks very much for joining us this morning. join the chorus demanding that we get a tax cut this year, please. >> they need to get it done. stuart: senator kelly ayote, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. stuart: i want to get back to the ceos, three of them, the latest, leaving the president's manufacturing council. the chief executive of merck, under armour, intel, that is the three, who object to president trump's statementsabout charlottesville. joining us larry o'connor, radio host at wmal. larry, first of all, heed tomorrowized half hour ago, saying mr. frazier at merck was wrong with draw from the advisory council as matter of

personal conscience. >> yeah. stuart: i thought he was putting his personal politics ahead of interests of his company. what say you. >> i saw editorial on twitter. people are responding to it. you're going viral, stuart. i think you're right, personal beliefs is troublesome, certainly. that is not his job as ceo, is it? his job is to care about his shareholders and makes sure his company runs in a sound way. the problem from my perspective, the problems the government and business are intertwined. i'm a free market guy. get government out of all this, ceo of president, whether he sits on a panel shouldn't be relhaven'ts right. stuart: the president is not a conservative you would approve of. >> not in that respect certainly. his deregulation plan is getting government out of these issues -- >> strong-arming business. strong-arming merck after the ceo came out -- >> suddenly against big pharmaceutical prices.

that looks vindictive and personal. i don't want the government used as a cudgel against one business, do you? stuart: i don't. that is what the president is doing. >> conservative grassroots we dent like way target was behaving a lot of conservatives grassroots boycotted target. hard to boycott a company. if you get a prescription for a drug from a company, i have problems with taking that antibiotic. that doesn't work. stuart: why we have such a bad relationship between president trump and republicans in the senate, and republican party, generally? what is going on? >> in d.c. the only republican praise worthy is a republican doesn't like donald trump. that is how the town is working. makes sense donald trump ran against washington, d.c. there are a whole lot of senators, talking about the senate race in alabama, whoever wins the seat will outlast donald trump. mitch mcconnell will outlast trump through that is ingrained

politics of washington, d.c. majority of republicans will. they're playing long game. stuart: for those of us who want tax reform, want obamacare, want infrastructure, want deregulation, for those of us who believe passionately want the growth agenda, what you said is not good news. >> no it is not. with the mitch mcconnell dust-up, even, i am on the side of donald trump in the mitch mcconnell dust-up. problem we want the tax cut it needs to go through mitch mcconnell. that is the way washington works. absolutely. he sets the agenda in the senate. stuart: you handicap for us. on wmal, right down the middle, handicap it, what are chances of tax cut. >> last time i gave political prediction, jeb bush would not be nominee. i got that right, stepped away. in d.c., self-survival the most important thing in life. republicans if they believe their only chance to stay in the majority to get the tax cut through, they will get the tax cut through. stuart: yes. but what about those who come

from very, very safe seats, republicans who are not up for re-election next year? they have another, couple of -- >> in senate they have four more years, many of them. they will be up when trump is up. stuart: i'm reading between the lines, larry o'connor, you don't think -- >> if they get through the house, what comes out of the senate will not be anything you or me will look. liz: give you footnote. history, bush 2001, passes tax cuts. gop gaining 2000 two in congress, gaining seats. 2004, first time since 1988 george w., won popular vote. popular vote has only been once by the gop in last 29 years. tax cut and rebate checks helped. stuart: what do you say? that was good. out of nowhere. liz: sorry i just watching this. >> unfortunately every four years the popular vote doesn't really matter that much. liz: it sure does matter -- i think it matters. >> if it matters hillary clinton would be the president. liz: hillary clinton crowd made

a big stink and still to this day she won the popular vote and democrats always said that. stuart: you are making a very good point. you can gain votes if you cut taxes, get the economy going. liz: make it retroactive. >> that is for sure. we all agreed on that. liz: there you go. >> i'm sorry. stuart: we ran over. >> i'm terrified the arrow will go down while i'm on set it is up. you're welcome, america. stuart: up next, one of the first hollywood actors to come out in support of president trump, his name is john ratzenberger, the cheers guy, what does he think all the tweeting comments? ratzenberger responds. one of the toughest jobs in the white house, press secretary, no exception under president trump. who wants that job? former press secretary ari fleischer joins us at top of the hour. ♪ i accept i don't bike as far as i used to.

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and for eliquis. ask your doctor about eliquis. ♪ liz: we heard many congressmen talk about all the things they need to get done this year. still they have nothing to show for it. last hour we spoke with congressman jim renacci, what he thinks about that roll tape. >> well, i tell everybody we

need to get there and stay there until we get things done, especially comes to tax return. we have to work with this president. this president was elected on tax reform, health care reform, on infrastructure. we have to get one of those things done this year. i hope we get two, maybe three. we tried with health care, now it is infrastructure and tax reform. i think we're willing to work together bipartisan with infrastructure. i believe we can get that done. at same time tax reform can get done too. maybe not comprehensive tax reform. we can cut rates. we can do something territorial. we can do it now. that is the direction i think we need to take. ♪ 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.

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what do you think? that it's time to think about jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance. and get to the heart of what matters. stuart: gopro shares, they get an upgrade. wait for it, what is the upgrade to? they are upgraded to neutral. that is good for 30 cents. goldman sachs did the upgrade, by the way. our next guest one you're waiting for, one of the first people to back president trump. he is actor john ratzenberger. welcome back, mr. ratzenberger. >> good to see you this morning. stuart: you were one the first to back mr. trump. >> i was. my, oh, as i travel, i'm the guy who actually looks at roads and bridges, our infrastructure is in big trouble. it has been for years now. so i voted for the guy who probably understands that better than anybody. stuart: look, he has approval

rating at all-time low according to gallup just in, about 33, 34%, all-time low. >> yeah. stuart: that is, a low. how do you think he is actually doing? >> again, i think he is doing a wonderful job as far as manufacturing is concerned. you know vendors, supply chains. that's what we're all b everything else is kind of icing on the cake. stuart: infrastructure today signs a memorandum. that could be a big win for him, the first big win. >> well, infrastructure? stuart: yeah. >> well, it will be. i think there are going to be a lot of people apologizing to him at the end of his first four years because the infrastructure is a in big trouble. trains here in new york, you've always got problems with the trains but no one is saying real cause is the fact that they can't find people to fix it, because we stopped training kids and using tools. now it is catching up to us. trump understands that.

there are other people that understand that. stuart: i asked you this before, i asked you again. you're in hollywood. you're a trump guy. what do they say to you? >> why i'm here looking for work. stuart: hold on a second. i asked you the question before. you answered before. i want to talk about the gift box. what is the proper name of this. >> gift suppose box.com. stuart: gift suppose box.com. are you thinking going -- gift box.com. >> we'll be buying out a lot of other companies. a lot of companies have line of makeup. we would like to buy them, bring them into the family under gift.com umbrella. stuart: what do i sign up, get a gift box every month? >> you do jennie garth box, it

cops at some point but i want to change it to fishing box or uncle lou. you can change it midstream. you don't have to have it one thing. incumbent for us to get many companies under the umbrella with more choices you say you're considering, talking about going public with this. >> yeah. stuart: can you tell me how much growth you've had with your gift box.com? >> no, i can't. [laughter] stuart: no one said that to me before. they said no, i won't. >> we have had quite considerable growth, yeah. stuart: when did you start? >> 2014. stuart: so you're only a couple years into this thing,. >> right. stuart: i mean, what, can you give me a rough idea of your gross revenues or something like that? or how many gift boxes do you send out per month, can you tell me? are you allowed to me? >> i'm not allowed to tell you. we're still talking to the bankers. stuart: what is going to sway your decision as to going public

or not? >> well, matter of how many companies want to join the wagon train. stuart: that's it? >> yeah. stuart: when might you do this? next year? >> by the end of this year. stuart: how much per gift box? >> it goes from 9.99 to $45. stuart: so i could sign up and for $45 per month i get a gift box per month? >> right. stuart: i can change the nature of that gift box when i choose? >> correct. you can go from golfing to fishing, to gardening the mom box. stuart: i can not imagine that you will not go public because that seems to be a pretty good idea? >> also with companies that are being put out of business by the likes of amazon. you have shopping centers all over the country are going under. where are those businesses going to go? stuart: okay. >> we're about to sign a deal with retail company that has 450 stores nationwide. i can't talk about that either. stuart: good luck, john ratzenberger. giftbox.com.

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stuart: a lunatic with a nuke is a serious threat. our president should be able to confront him with backing of the country. even if you don't like him. even if you oppose all things trump don't call him a joke and do not suggest any support for our enemy.

we're all in this together. yeah. that was me yesterday talking about criticism directed at president trump from the left during the noko crisis. a lot of you were fired up about what i had to say. most of you actually agreed with me. it is so much more important for democrats to undermine trump than for them to help keep america safe. okay. candidacies this, their hate for trump is all consuming. they would risk lives for all americans at risk of toppling his presidency. liz, i'm strong what i think. how about you? liz: i agree. listen, north korea, this guy used his anti-aircraft guns to kill people. he kills his own family members. it is not a country. it's a gulag. connect ellison, second most powerful guy in the d.c. saying kim jong-un is more responsible than donald trump. stuart: he did say that. liz: what is that? this guy is aiming a missile at l.a. at same time, bill clinton reported, there would be no

country left if north korea threatens us. bill clinton said that in the '90s. chuck schumer say i agree with trump cracking down on china than i agree with obama. cacophony and disorienting rhetoric coming out of democrats right now. stuart: at a time like this, in this particular issue, that is where it is just not right. we are threatened by a lunatic with a nuke. liz: right. stuart: los angeles, guam, the west coast, threatened by a nuke in the hands of a lunatic. liz: right. stuart: that issue in and off itself transcends all other issues. you can laugh, you can joke, call the president a joke about any other issue but not this. when you're threatened with a nuke, you wise up and you join together and support our president and our country. liz: exactly. and that nuke is aimed at l.a. and hollywood. put bill clinton in the white house, or obama back in the white house when north korea was doing that, what would the rhetoric be? we're all in this together. i agree with the viewers. >> got it. thank you very much indeed, liz. liz: sure.

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stuart: the media is still consumed with charlottes9ville. investors are not. the timing of the president's statements are not an issue. no, it is north korea, and they're backing down, that's giving stock prices something of a boosted today. in short, kim jong un has backed down. two days ago he threatened to pyre missiles at guam. -- fire missiles at guam. defense secretary mattis said, don't do it. fire off those missiles, and your regime is done. president trump's policy is clear; tell them you can take them, convince them you can do it. it worked. in the long history of threats and escalation and endless retreats by american presidents, north korea has never backed down until now. they have backed down. they did it on august 15th,

today. both north and south celebrate this day when in 1945 they were liberated from a brutal japanese occupation. it's often the day when the north rattles its rockets. not this time. it is a trump win. as of now, donald j. trump has become the first president to successfully face down the lunatic with a nuke. and that is a very good thing. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: i'm not going to try to identify that music -- >> me either. stuart: but i know it's beyonce. >> oh. stuart: check the big board, we're up. we're at 22,000. the markets, i think, are

pleased to see president trump winning, at least for now, on north korea. as of right now, by the way, president trump is at trump tower, right in the heart of new york city. blake burman is live, he's there, he's outside. all right, blake, what's the latest? >> reporter: hi there, stuart. actually, pretty quiet outside of trump tower right now. the police and security forces have things on lockdown, and for the moment now it's pretty quiet outside the tower. so far from the trump administration at least no official statement or no official response to north korea on this day as the president remains inside trump tower. the focus later in the afternoon is expected to be instead on infrastructure as the white house tells me when the president has this 3:00 meeting inside the tower, a round table with several leaders as well, that they will be announcing or at least signing an executive order involving one federal decision. what they're trying to do here is streamline the permitting process down to one decision and bring the process which they

feel sometimes takes up to a decade down to two years. inside trump tower later today will be several key members within the trump administration, among them the chief of staff, steve my knew chi and elaine chao. we are expected to hear from president trump later today to talk about infrastructure. potentially, though, maybe some other topics including north korea. stuart: potentially all kinds of things. it's always the same. blake, thank you very much, indeed. >> reporter: exactly. stuart: it's always something. we're joining by ari fleischer. ari, right off the top would you want to be president trump's press secretary? [laughter] >> well, stuart, let me just put it this way, being the press secretary of the president -- including to president trump -- is a fantastic job. there's no better, higher honor. as for me personally, i spent 21 yearses in that town, i'm done. i've had it. [laughter]

i'm happily retired from active duty. stuart: that, sir, is an honest answer, and we much appreciate it. guaranteed. i do want to ask you about the three ceos who have resigned from president trump's manufacturing council. one in particular i'm going to pick on, that's mr. kenneth frazier from merck. he said he was resigning as a matter of personal conscience about the president's remarks about charlottesville. i think that that is bringing personal, political viewpoints and putting them ahead of your responsibility as a ceo of a publicly-traded company. i don't think he should have done it. what say you, ari? >> you know, these ceos are under tremendous pressure, and in their polite circles, one of their colleagues tend to like donald trump. college-educated, graduate degree-educated people almost overwhelmingly vote democratic these days, and they're anti-trump. so to join with him put them new a lot of pressure, so many of

them are looking how can we get out of this. but in the long term, i would recommend them not do so. that's a political call. and from a business point of view, you want to have a seat at that table. you want to get to know the president, the vice president, the top cabinet secretaries that attend those meetings. i think it's a bad business call. it's a personal, political call. stuart: hold on one second, i've got steve forbes with me, and i want to pose the same question to you, steve. mr. frazier at merck has resigned from the manufacturing advisory council because of personal, his personal conscience. i say that's a mistake. what say you? >> on any of those big panels where we have a lot of people on, stuart, depending on the political controversy, you're always going to get people coming on and off. it's just the nature of the game. whether the pressures they face or they think it's not a good thing and they feel they're going to get their views known to the administration anyway at the end of the day. so they come and they go. stuart: they come and they go.

>> it's the name of the game. stuart: ari, what's your comment on the relationship between president trump, senate republicans, president trump/big business, president trump and the gop generally? it seems to be sour on all fronts. >> well, it definitely hasn't proved to have big legislative successes yet, but i'm still patient, stuart, i'll tell you that. in the bush years we had a 50-50 senate, tax cuts got done in june of 2001, but our biggest second initiative didn't get done until january of 2002. legislation is tough in all times, it's particularly tough in today's divisive era. but i still am holding out hope that congress and the president will get this done and figure it out. it's just too big to fail, and they all know that. stuart: i've been saying this morning that his best chance for a win is this infrastructure proposal, because there's some support for that on both sides of the aisle. there's been traditional support for it up and down the line. this could be his big win.

what say you? >> i think you might be right, but it's not ideologically very satisfying. you know, infrastructure is good nuts and bolts, and the government should do good nuts and bolts, but that doesn't change the country. what needs to change in this country is more personal responsibility, more growth, economic growth particularly to create jobs and higher wages for struggling americans, blue collar americans. that's the future for republicans, and that's where donald trump really and the congress need to focus on. same thing with the repeal and replace of obamacare, because it's a wet blanket on economic growth. the more -- if donald trump is successful and the congress is successful on getting growth at 3%gdp with rising wages, the sky's the limit for republicans, and that's what they should keep in mind. stuart: ari fleischer, happily retired from the press secretary job. [laughter] you might be tempted back, you never know, but i don't think so. [laughter] we hear you. thank you, ari, we appreciate you being with us. thanks very much. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: steve forbes with us now.

it seems investors are ignoring the ceo resignations and the hostility president trump is facing because we've got a market that's back at 22,000. i put it to you, steve, investors are ignoring the friction between president trump and ceos and the gop and senate republicans. they're ignoring a all of that. they like this economy. >> well, what they like -- and you saw it in the markets yesterday -- was the tamping down, as you alluded to earlier, on north korea. backing off on guam. that is, as trump would say, huge. unfortunately, it's gotten shoved to the side with all this other stuff. stuart: that's right. >> that's what the markets were worried about in the last couple of weeks, could this thing spin out of control with a lunatic running north korea. and now it looks like a little bit of sanity. that's why the markets are heaving a sigh of relief. stuart: yeah, the market, investors are looking over all the media buzz about charlottesville and the presidency and racism. they're just looking straight at what's going on in our society and what's going on with north korea.

that's why we're at 22,000 almost on the button as we speak. stay with us, steve. i think you're here for the hour, aren't you? >> i am, indeed. stuart: lucky guy. [laughter] >> you're a great host, what could i say? >> diabetic coma time. stuart: flattery is the mother's milk of television, and you know that well. we're joininged -- joined next by chris cox with bikers for trump. he says people have been trying to compare them with the white supremacists. he's here to set the record straight, bigtime. he's back after this. ♪ ♪

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>> racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the kkk, neo-nazi, white supremacists and other hate

groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. stuart: you heard it, president trump denouncing the white supremacists in charlottesville. now, some pro-trump groups are being tarred with the same brush as the white supremacists. we're joined now by chris cox, founder of bikers for trump. chris, this is you. you turn up with your harleys, your leather jackets, and you look tough. you're big guys. you're being tarred with the same brush as the white supremacists. what do you say about that? >> well, that's just the same narrative that's been coming out of the left for some time now. we have nothing in common with these groups. we measure our members by their level of patriotism, love for our country and the support of our president. stuart: well, do you think you're a little bit provocative, dressing as you do, riding as you do towards these kind of events? >> well, stuart, when we show up, we are there to bring peace

and calmness to the situation. we're not there to intimidate. we're there to give our president some support, some much-needed support. and these groups like the white supremacists, kkk, black lives matter, these are bottom-dwelling scum bags that are trying to perpetuate fear in this country, and we certainly have nothing in common out there. a lot of people don't want anything to do with politics, but let me tell you something, politics will have something to do with you. we need to show our president some support here. stuart: i don't know whether your group was in charlottesville over the weekend, you were not. but you had been there, what would you have done to keep the peace? >> well, we certainly would have stood our ground and, you know, i've had some of our guys call me, and we had -- we decided that really wasn't what we were about. we are here to support donald trump and his agenda, okay? we are here to push his voice forward, to try to reach out to

this demographic, to continue i growing. we're looking at almost half a million strong now. we're going to be in a position to swing votes. our main thing is that we want to identify congressional members across the country and senatorial members, and we're going to get their pledge for our president, and we're going to hold them to that pledge and help swing that vote and get 'em in there. but as far as out there and stepping and getting our hands dirty in civil disobedience and really just going against the fabric of this country, that's not what we're about. we've spent a lot of time policing our members. we don't have felons that are serving this leadership positions. in leadership positions. we have community leaders out there. we have blue collar guys. we have evangelical bikers for christ. we have veterans and combat veterans in front of our group. so as far as looking into the future, you may see bikers for trump at some of these events, but you'll see them on their best behavior, and we certainly

won't be taking the law into our own hands. we've got a lot of questions to ask, you know? in virginia being a commonwealth that it is, you know, and being told to stand down, that goes against every fiber of a police officer that has given that oath and sworn to serve and to protect. and to have to watch felonies unfolding, it goes against every fiber of the police department and police officers. and our hearts go out to them. we couldn't have more support for them than we do now, and we're going to continue to support police officers around this country. we're going to continue so to support our president with unyielding support. and we're excited about the leadership that donald trump has exemplified throughout this first 200 days of his candidacy and his presidency. stuart: okay. >> and we couldn't be more excited, because we see a bright future for our country under the new leadership of donald trump. stuart: well, let's hope that the violence stops, because it's most unpleasant for everyone. chris cox, bikers for trump, thanks for joining us, sir. see you again soon. >> thank you.

stuart: politics, that's our society. now money. look at this, gopro got an upgrade. not much, it was from goldman sachs who now say it's a neutral on gopro. not much of an upgrade. the stock is up 19 cents. the share price of crocs down and down quite big, down a point, 1%. it was down a lot more than that earlier. we were considering playing the organ music, you know? putting it on death watch, but we've suspended that because it's only down 13 cents. more anti-trump prohe'ses. -- protests. the department of justice has requested more than a million ip addresses related to a trump resistance web site. judge napolitano does not think that's okay. on the tax front, according to a bloomberg poll the vast majority of economists think the president will get his tax consistents but not until 2018. tax cuts. i wonder what steve forbes thinks about that. not much, apparently.

but first, this is the spacex falcon 9 rocket launched supplies to the space station in its dragon spacecraft carrying 6,000 pounds of equipment and supplies including ice cream for the crew. this is, by the way, the 11th successful cargo launch by what is a private company. more "varney" in a moment. ♪ don't let dust and allergens get between you and life's beautiful moments. switch to flonase allergy relief. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens, our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. flonase helps block 6. most allergy pills only block one and 6 is greater than 1.

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♪ ♪ stuart: remember we told you about thor's hammer? it's going up for auction in london next month. it is the one that chris hemsworth used in that blockbuster movie. it's up for sale around $52,000. now, there are other items in the auction, and i want to know which one steve forbes might put his money on. we're going to go through them, first of all, the hammer for $52,000? >> if i bought that, my wife would use it on me. i want to live. [laughter] stuart: the darth vadar promotional tour helmet from star wars: the empire strikes back, 1980. the last one went for $11,000. would you pay that?

>> no, it's buy a replica and give it to nancy pelosi. [laughter] stuart: that was a good response. you must have known that was coming. next one, the superman flying tunet, christopher reeves. that's up for $10,000. i could see you buying that. >> no. people know me too well, it would not work on me. [laughter] stuart: okay. last one, jack nicholson's joker costume, reserve price, i think, is $26,000. striking out on all of them? >> yeah. i'd just buy the video and look at it there. [laughter] stuart: during the commercial break i said it was all junk and would end up in a garage sale ten years from now. >> your asking a scotsman if he's going to buy anything. i'm teasing! do you know how copper wire was invented? stuart: tell me. >> two scots pulling on the same penny. [laughter] stuart: that's why we like you, liz. >> there you go. stuart: stocks we want to talk to you about.

first one, aetna reportedly talking to apple about offering the apple watch to all 23 million customers of the aetna insurance company. sounds like an interesting beyond all doubt, but i don't want a health insurer checking my health, thank you very much, steve. >> absolutely not. and i sometimes don't want to check on my own health. [laughter] stuart: there you go. i mean, i don't -- they could actually read your printouts of your heart rate -- >> we don't know that yet. we don't know. they haven't answered that. just helping out here. [laughter] stuart: being provocative. >> george orwell and the locker room, don't want that. stuart: warren buffett dumping berkshire hathaway's ten million shares of general electric. that's an interesting move out of ge for a legendary investor. what do you think of that, steve? >> it was a low price. that gives one pause. ge's got a lot of rebuilding to do, we'll see if the new ceo is

up to it. stuart i think warren buffett made a billion on his holding -- >> he did, with dividends. stuart: dividends and all the rest of it. i don't think he made a a capitl gain. jack welsh left, it's gone from 40 to 25. not good. now this, president trump going to lay out his plan for an infrastructure idea today, later on. the question is, will this be mr. trump's first big win? as we ponder the question, we're looking at fifth avenue, the trump tower, right-hand side of the screen. a modest gain for the dow, right at 22,000. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ it's a highly contagious disease that can be really serious...

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♪ take the money and run ♪ stuart: take the money and run. the steve miller band. >> steve miller in the white house. stuart: varney family martyr, a good one and i will take it.

we are holding at 22,000. a bloomberg poll shows the vast majority of economists believe the president will get the tax cut but not until late next year. a catastrophe, right? >> they won't at november next year because republicans will be out of work and looking for number jobs because they need to get this economy moving out. they could pass a late next year but make it retroactive. the house members were all on the line to do something radical. can they get it through the senate. the house will get a bill through in september october of this year. stuart: if you do that you will get some stimulus for the economy very quickly. >> nice big refund in april, icing on the cake. stuart: if you wait until next year you delay the impact on the economy. here is another one.

donald from signing onto the infrastructure plan today. wait a minute. the judge is sitting next to me. i hear these groans. why? because the president is signing off on infrastructure plan? judge napolitano: constitution has a problem with that. wears the federal government authorized to build roads and highways. stuart: eisenhower built it. judge napolitano: for the defense of the country. the money came from the defense department budget so the atlantic coast was attacked we would get in our cars and drive to denver. stuart: you don't think the government should be financing construction of highways? judge napolitano: the constitution doesn't authorize it. that is why we have a conservative government. stuart: you really -- judge napolitano: new jersey can build highway but not the federal government. stuart: you are such a spoilsport, such a great idea. steve forbes has something to say on this. if we get infrastructure plan, that is his first big win.

isn't it? >> henry clay going back to the 1800s, national improvement, so did abraham lincoln. the fact is democrats won't do anything to help this president, they will put conditions, that is why they have to get the tax-cut to get the economy going, then you have political capital to get this other stuff done on your terms. stuart: do you think the tax-cut is the most important thing? infrastructure pales into insignificance? >> get the economy he will get his infrastructure. judge napolitano: does it require 60 votes in the senate? how do they get democrats to go along with? stuart: depends how it is structured. you will never get a democrat to go along with tax-cut if you require 60 votes to get it through, not going to happen. you have to be parliamentary about it. >> republicans have to take evil harry reid and say he did this

to us, we will do it to them, change the rules, get a majority can change the rules, get this stuff done, figure it out. stuart: before we go further i have to refer to elizabeth is sitting here mute. droning on about the constitutionality of roadbuilding. any comment? >> on the tax-cut? judge napolitano: on the judge. >> can we -- i love the judge. >> i thought he would say my way or the highway. >> george w tax rebates, remember how popular that was in 2001? by 2002 the gop was taking back seats in congress. 2004 won the popular vote. the only president in the last 29 years, republican, republican, to win the popular vote. last time was his father in 1988. stuart: 1956, president eisenhower was voted in easily

for a second term because he built the highway system. judge napolitano: gives people free money they will keep coming back. >> ripped the constitution apart and got reelected. that is what i say about your conferences and -- judge napolitano: when people get things for free they will come back to the government to get more things for free. stuart: about 2 pound the table. i wound him up. >> ever drive across the country as we did as kids, a horror show in each of these states. stuart: what do you think europeans love about america when they first come here? these wonderful highways the transport you all over the country. >> a car in every garage. >> get tax-cut you will. stuart: now this. the justice department demanding the ip addresses of 1.3 million people who have visited a

website that organizes anti-trump protests. i know you are against this but i am with you on this, why is the justice department wanting to investigate people who visit a website? judge napolitano: haven't given a reason. they don't have a search warrant for this, don't have a grand jury investigation, just a request. the request would violate the contract between the operator of the website and the user. stuart: the justice department had information groups that were coordinating violent activity to come and coordinating that violence they have a right to see who was in on the plot. judge napolitano: they do not have a right to see who visited the website and have these less intrusive means to find who was in on the plot. when the government announces it is going to look at who visits websites, that has a chilling

effect on those who would otherwise visit the website and you don't want that and the constitution doesn't want it. stuart: what other means with a have to figure out how they conspire to create violence when they conspire on the internet using their website? judge napolitano: the crowd in front of trump tower last night, i saw 3 undercover cops. i won't tell you who they are but they are there. that is how they know what is going on. far less intrusive means than tracking down everybody's ip. stuart: are you comfortable with plainclothes cops joining demonstrations? judge napolitano: that protect the demonstrators and the president. stuart: i would have thought you would demand that the authority of the state, police officer is in uniform so he could identify as an authority of the state. judge napolitano: when they are in the crowd they are not acting as cops. but if something happens they can. they can protect the piece. stuart: they are on duty as undercover cops. they are working as undercover cops. judge napolitano: you are right about that but i don't see a

constitutional impediment to that. have to wear uniforms? how about those crazy hats they where in london? stuart: moving on. they pay us for this. judge napolitano: lay watch this. the most-watched business show in america. stuart: i believe it is. thanks very much. all is redeemed. donald trump quietly filling federal court vacancies, he has had five judges confirmed, another 30 pending, still 123 left. judge napolitano: this is an area that will drive democrats on the left crazy, he carefully chose and vetted neil gorsuch, same care being paid like i have not seen in the past 40 years to the nominees to the federal appellate courts, the courts below the supreme court, they are serious, constitutional

scholars that are getting these positions. we have not seen a concerted effort to change the ideology of the federal appeals court since ronald reagan in the early 80s like we see now. stuart: big plus, thanks very much, good stuff. big -- talking politics, constitution and law. big retail names, some reporting financial results earlier today. look at them go down. that is advanced auto parts down 24% like dick's sporting-goods down 17% moments ago. look at coach. i call this democratic luxury, luxury items in the reach of middle america. they are down 14%. they issued a week for tax. week sales and a lower forecast down 19%. how about home depot? a strong company, record quarterly sales raised its forecast but concern about the

slowdown in the housing market, it is down 3%. it is a dow stock, that hurts the overall dow average. tj x better profits, better sales up 2%. the retailers. top of the hour we told you about the three ceos resigning from the manufacturing counsel, under armour's chief and intel ceo, outraged over the president's response to the charlottesville violence. we will focus on kenneth fraser from merck who says he has resigned as a matter of personal conscience, putting his politics before his responsibility as ceo. the president is responding. he just sent out this tweet moments ago, for every ceo that drops out of the manufacturing counsel i have men to take their jobs. grand standers should not go on, jobs. more on all of this in a moment.

the markets holding to a small gain, eight points hire, 22,001. we will be right back. ♪

>> good morning, laurie rothman with a fox business brief. the walking dead, the show's

creator and three producers, you can see on the screen down $.25. robert couricman along with these producers, much lower license fees to amc studios taking advantage of being under one roof. the gigantic profit at the network level. coming up with content for them. the lawsuits are common. let's get you back to "varney and company".

stuart: it is three ceos who resigned from donald trump's manufacturing advisory council. and of them like donald trump's comments about charlottesville. donald trump responding to this news that three ceos dropping out with this tweet, for every ceo that drops out of the manufacturing counsel i have many to take their place. grand standers should not have gone on. jobs. not quite sure the secular at the end. grandstand is should not have gone on. jobs! come in larry elder, when i 0 in

on mister fraser from merck, a matter of personal conscience, he puts personal politics ahead of his responsibility to the people at merck. what say you? >> who knew donald trump had a manufacturing advisory council in the first place and surprised anybody joined it. donald trump for many people is a toxic figure. if you are the ceo of the company your job is to stay out of the way of the dog in the fire hydrant and i am not surprised he got phone calls from shareholders or stakeholders who didn't like what donald trump said. big deal. what is more interesting to me as we have a black ceo of one of the most admired companies in america. why are we talking about that?

a lot of people now don't read boards and fortunate businessweek are stunned there is a black ceo of one of the most powerful and admired companies in america. stuart: you don't approve, the advisory council, any business to be part of it getting close to the president on the issue of jobs coming back to america. >> didn't say anything was wrong with but who had it. when of many advisory councils, if i'm ceo of a company my job is to lobby for regulations that benefit the company. many ways to do it becoming ceo of advisory council, and a lightning rod, and defend what the president said. that happened with the ceo and how they wrote.

scott paul tweeted this, resigning from manufacturing jobs initiative, the right thing for me to do. it is a personal decision ahead of the response ability for the organization. >> phone calls from shareholders and stakeholders who did not like what donald trump said. i may not buy your product. i am not trying to defend the president from making statements. i am surprised -- donald trump sent a lightning rod and as a result some people who are part of your stakeholder community won't like him. stuart: steve forbes with me who has been listening -- >> people come on and off these

panels. if i would -- >> it looks like a lot of brand-name companies walking away from the president at this point. scott paul's tweet resigning from the manufacturing jobs initiative because it is the right thing to do, he is the fourth ceo to walk away in the last three or four days, elon musk and robert eiger, tesla and disney walked away from the council from the paris accord. >> the ceo, johnson & johnson, the fury is over the president not acknowledging white supremacy, terror on saturday morning. stuart: is that a reason to walk away from an advisory council

where you have a seat at the table, talking to the president about bringing jobs back to america and just walked away. >> you have got to balance that between the fact that some people in the stakeholder community are upset about your relationship with donald trump versus your inability to but hold them, these corporations have a boatload of lobbyists doing that now in the halls of washington dc. two -- racism remains a major problem in america, the second theme is donald trump -- i am not true. donald trump got a smaller percentage of the white vote than mitt romney did, greater percentage of the black, hispanic and asian vote than he did. people of color a too stupid to realize he's recording white races and white racists are elitist up to realize he is recruiting people of color, come on. stuart: you support donald trump on what he had to say about charlottesville and when he said

it about you do not approve of ceos being close to the president. >> no, don't care whether they join an advisory board or not. lobbyists doing the corporations bidding, i assume if i were ceo of a corporation and perceived as defending a racist, whether fair or not i am out of here, all i'm trying to do is maximize shareholder value. that is my job and fiduciary, nothing more, nothing less. >> we have a president doing his utmost to expand america's economy, cut taxes and help business drop the red tape, going all out to help corporate america and, walked away from him because he said something as an inappropriate time about

white racists in charlottesville. >> they are not walking away, it is optics. don't fall for the okey-doke, they will call him and he will return their phone call, they are dropping this because of the perception that donald trump has not acknowledged white supremacy. stuart: good discussion you got to admit happening as news breaks around us. got to take a short commercial break, we will be back. ♪ get between you and life's beautiful moments. switch to flonase allergy relief. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens, our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. flonase helps block 6. most allergy pills only block one and 6 is greater than 1. with more complete relief you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6 is greater than 1 changes everything.

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on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> there - feeling great, doing great, eight charges, the government made a large, fanciful and we now learn false tale of the stealing from my own drug companies who pay off these investors. i don't will have to forfeit any money, i don't i am going to jail. >> feeling great, doing great, don't have to go to jail, there was martin shkreli, poster boy for bad behavior. liz: three charges he was convicted on, two securities fraud, one conspiracy, he says

he will fight the charges, he is accused of running a ponzi scheme, raiding his drug company to pay off hedge fund investors. another argument is those investors made a lot of money off of me so that is his argument why this is a victory to him still. stuart: let's see how things work out. only time will tell. we have a sequence of eventss this morning involving breaking news. this is the tweet which donald trump put out about the people leaving his manufacturing advisory council an hour ago, for every ceo, many to take their place, grand standers should not have gone on, jobs. immediately following that presidential suite we have this, the president of the alliance for american manufacturing also dropped out of the council. he became number 4 to drop out after the grandstanding tweet. scott paul said this. i resigning from the manufacturing jobs initiative because it is the right thing for me to do. your reaction. >> these are coming after his

statement yesterday which was the right statement he should've done saturday, these are after saturday, i could get it but this has taken on a momentum of its own, people come on his go off and why these should be focusing on taxes and not reactions to a statement. stuart: the ceos think they are better off walking away from the president than embracing him into bringing jobs to america. that is what we are seeing at the moment. short of time as we usually are even though we have three hours but there will be more varney after this. ♪ don't let me down ♪

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stuart: only 30 seconds left, steve forbes, former presidential candidate with with us, he and he has advice for president trump. go. >> go for the big tax cut. make it retroactive. booming economy, covers a lot of other problems. go for the big one, let other stuff slide away like reagan did.

stuart: include infrastructure. let that slide? all you want big tax cut? >> big tax cut makes subsequently big infrastructure bill. be prepared this fall make an address to the nation to make the tax bill through. go around congress. don't play their games. stuart: maria sitting in for neil. great interview with mr. shkreli. you did a great job. >> thanks, stu. we're live on "coast to coast." i'm maria bartiromo in for neil cavuto this afternoon. north korea blinking at least for now. kim jong-un holding back on planned attack on guam after defense secretary james mattis said an attack from north korea would mean game on of the is this tough talk working for the president. joining me former national security advisor for dick cheney, john hannah and rebecca heinrichs. thanks for joining us.