maria: thanks, everybody. great show. dagen does not a christmas present. overview comes to her sorry about that. >> that's already. almost here, tax cuts come in the deals in place and again investors like it. we are really close to the dow 25,000. good morning, everyone. how do you feel about this. 21% it was 35. top rate to individuals 37%. it was 3926. paychecks go well for tens of millions of people next year. you probably won't like six.

hedge fund managers to keep the ultralow tax rate. it is called carried interest. really a nice pay much less than you. forgive me if i call it a racket. we reported these tax details yesterday the market rally at the value of all stocks have gone up $623 trillion since the election. as things move forward today, stocks inching higher again with just 414 points from dow 25,000. i will say it again, i've never seen anything like this before. we have seen government shutdowns before and another one is looming. congress has until next friday to fix it. this is politics. previous shutdowns have no impact on the economy or the markets. thursday december 14th, 11 days until christmas. do you know where your package is? "varney & company" is about to begin.

you know, the president was not whispering. he's not known to speak in a low voice. we lost the audio. tens of millions of people get an increase in their paycheck in february next year. he was talking tax cuts right here. by the way, he's reading about it this morning. republican tax cuts are looking very good. all are working hard. in the meantime the stock market hit another record high. where are we going this morning? 27 minutes from now we are going up again. we will open up about 30 points on the dow, s&p and nasdaq on the upside. we will have more on that in a moment. first, the big deal of the day, disney and fox. actually, what is disney getting? >> is getting a lot for the

price tag. fox's tv and film studios and such titles as x-men, planet of the apes, ice age, dead pool, a lot of titles that come with that. the fx network, "national geographic" network on the regional sports network which is extensive. 30% stake in who will which is disney up to 60% also will get sky. 39% of sky tv which is very big and very popular. trying to get the rest of the 61% of all carry-on before it's passed over to disney. fox will continue the effort to get star india, 21st century fox has a big presence on tv and satellite across asia. disney gets back. what's left behind? as for one thing. fox business network, fox broadcasting, fox sports wanted to in the fox tv stations all now spun off into a new company called simply fox.

earlier today maria bartiromo asked rupert murdoch what happens to the spinoff company including the fox business network and listen to their spirit stuart: would you consider combining news corp. and the remaining assets at fox? >> i don't know. ideally yes, but that is years away. ashley: not a researcher for in the news corp.? i would like to but that could be years away. this is a deal about content and distribution. they made a big deal on streaming and that is what you get for $52 billion. train to stay in the market. the overall market i should say. we are going to go up for the opening bell today because it looks like the tax deal is a done deal. scott martin is with us. obvious question. 25,000 on the dow by two days

before christmas. probably by friday. we are going to see the market meander about here. the tax deal done as you mentioned. buyers will come in, do some window dressing just in time for the christmas holiday. stuart: here's another big deal. there's going to be we understand on tax is a one-time 10% tax on money the corporations bring back to america, the repatriation tax rate from about 10%. that's going to be in favor of the big tech companies because they are the ones that the monies overseas. >> apple, cisco, microsoft. talking with several hundred billion dollars. maybe a trillion if you carry a couple ones. they will bring back dividends, hiring. that's what we've been looking for.

transient as dividend stocks go up. transfer you have media pundits on msnbc. that is money recycling back through the economy and not in the government. that's the issue. they don't get it over there. the problem here is we've got to watch out for the democrats here. this is like the fox watching the henhouse when you have the likes of chuck schumer and nancy pelosi and the democrats like to build their wanting to get that money. stuart: unlimited timeframe. they've got a bring it back fast. they are not looking 10 years down the road. odds are they will bring some of that back. scott, stay there, please. let's get to politics. bombshell text messages from peter strzok reveal political bias against an personal animosity towards donald trump. strzok is the fbi agent who played a key role in the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails. he was one that he sent to lisa page august of last year. this one really sticks out.

i want to believe the pass he threw up for consideration that there's no way you can select it, but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. that is the key phrase. can't take the risk of him being elected. it's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40. congressman jim jordan says that andy and the message says that is the deputy director of the fbi. the number two guy at the fbi. andrew mccabe, roll tape. >> this is a text message to mr. strzok recalling a conversation at a place in andrew mccabe's office deputy director of the fbi recalling a meeting earlier and i want to believe the consideration for office. there is a break. there is no way he gets elected. he said that an immediate in the

office. i want to believe that. but then he goes, i'm afraid we can't take that risk. >> take a risk. "washington times" columnist, fox news contributor. i call this a deep state conspiracy to interfere with the election. have i gone too far? >> not at all. this is not deep state, i don't know what is deep state. there was a time when this kind of thing you read about in the wildest political thrillers, but today apparently it's reality and it's how the bureaucracy protects itself and is exactly why donald trump ran away with the election last year. you remember when he talked about how the democrats had rigged the primary, how they were trying to rig the election. people just laughed him off the stage. they howled and cried foul and said this was so far out of the bounds of what was proper political commentary and they

read this stuff. it is absolutely breathtaking. to truly rigged the elections. stuart: secret meeting in the number two guy at the fbi in the middle of hillary's e-mail investigation involving the participating and they can't take the risk of trump gets elected. but if they decide do about it? >> that's the killer right there. there's actual evidence they did things to materially change what ended up happening was a very valid investigation. the real frustrating thing here is watching that fascinating right there when so many of these tax were repealed as the fact that these were republicans that control congress. they're supposed to control the

purse strings. republicans in charge of the white house hip is still stonewalling and that site there is nothing we can do to root out this pernicious evil and it's like the government is like a zombie bureaucracy that nobody can stop or even control. stuart: i believe andrew mccabe will testify before the house intelligence committee next week december the ninth team. let's hope we get some sunlight thrown on the situation. >> grab your popcorn because it's going to be interesting. stuart: will cover it, believe me. how about this one. new study finds that men might actually feel sicker than women when they come down with a cold. it is called man flu. nonsense in my personal opinion. liz: they are just complaining more. stuart: thank you lives. doc siegel will break it down.

tesla, one famous investor known for betting against stocks. things are going to go down. he says tesla is the next enron. why? because they are not leading in south thailand technology. stock is up. full details coming out. this is outrageous. more content for the president. "usa today"'s editorial board. a president who would all but calling senator a horror as unfit to clean toilets and obama's presidential library or shine george w. bush's shoes. yes, we will do it. we'll read you more from that article after this. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client.

he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor.

stuart: let's have a look at pier one stocker 25% drop. the holiday shopping season for them is not going well. everybody else doing okay apparently.

down 25%. really nasty words for president trump on the "usa today" editorial board. president adolfo called the senator a horror. unfit to clean toilets in the presidential library or shine george w. bush's shoes. president trump has shown he is not fit for office. rock bottom is no impediment who can always find room for a new low. sickening behavior, corrosive to the enterprise of a shared government based on common values and consent of the government. steve helton is the host of the next revolution on the fox news channel. have you ever seen anything like this before? >> actually i have during the last year. by the way, i wish i could be with you for the man flu segment. and literally suffering from the burden right now when we are having that right now under house for my wife is mocking me.

stuart: steve helton never whines. i don't believe you would ever want. >> that's right. i drag myself to be with you. this "usa today," we talk about trump arrangement syndrome but this is a particularly knotty example. i just can't believe that people were thinking, which was aggressively attacking senator jill a brand of red the fact he's made many times as they beg for money that they go around and i'll do anything for money. to interpret that as being about sex was weird and bizarre. that particular case i thought was crazy. the general point here, which was ever something about president trump that drives the left crazy and it's ironic because one of the things they go on and on about his diversity. we should respect people who are different. the big thing about president trump as he is different from usual politicians. he doesn't talk like them, behaves like them.

it's not the usual political insider. that's what they can stand and that's why they react like this. that's what he was elected because he's different. stuart: you are right. he won. they just can't stand the whole thing and they just hate his demeanor, his tone, and the way he addressed his people. the way he talks, the way he speaks. they just can't stand it. i've got to move on because you're a democrat. i'm an immigrant. how do you feel about ending chain migration? this is an issue coming up after the port authority bombing that the suspect on the screen who did indeed come by chain migration. how do you feel about ending it? >> we've got to clamp down on it. we have a completely broke and immigration cinch them for years that our economy and security for years. it's personal to me i want to get personal about it. and here is an immigrant as you mentioned on a green card.

when we moved here with that feeling, we didn't expect would ring with a salsa to relative simulations. my wife and our two children, that is the family unit. when my family originally moved to the u.k. from hungary, and when they fled communism and hungry, they didn't expect to in their whole family with income of grandparents, aunts and uncles were the ones making the effort to go when it was just for them. i don't understand where the expectation comes from that to hold the rest of the family has to come. we've got to move to the kind of merit based system where we are inviting people to come here to make a positive contribution to our economy and society and control the system tightly. stuart: well said. we will evolve our viewers will be watching our show this next revolution was steve helton, fox news channel 9:00 p.m. eastern sunday evening. and thanks for fighting the man

flu. we will see you soon. thanks a lot. just wait until he gets home. fcc chief releasing a funny video in response to the hysteria of his plan to review and or regulations. he wants to reassure everyone is still built a post office on instagram and binge watch netflix. you will see at all. believe me, after this.

retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver.

>> recently there's been quite a bit of conversation about my plan to restore internet freedom. you can still grab your food. take itself the grid you can still post photos. you can still shop for all your christmas presents online. you can still binge watch your favorite shows. stuart: how about that. batman is the the head guy at the fcc, ajit pai. he posted that about the repeal of net neutrality. this is the guy who wants to repeal, look at him. he wants to repeal obama era internet regulations today. what does this really mean?

liz: he also does the harlem shake later on. basically if you want to buy speed, pay more for speed, pay more to have your content not blocked. you never hear the government enacting sweeping regulations. so this is basically saying, getting rid of those rules that say everybody has to be treated at the same speed. basically saying he doesn't address that in this video. he doesn't address the problem that companies can charge extra to have faster speeds and they couldn't slow down or still bought content. ashley: if i say speeded up, boys, i want it faster and i am willing to pay, let me do it. liz: basically the market deciding that's enough. stuart: scott martin still with us. >> look at at&t, verizon in the last couple weeks. in response to this. more money so they can charge more for speed.

they make more money into stocks go up. liz: we all have to pay more for that. >> that's only fair. here is the more the broad vienna more data. stuart: the critics say the poor people get screwed basically. >> everyone should get a certain amount. stuart: as i was speeded up service i've got to pay for it. let me do it, please. liz: or go to somebody else. the companies will shut down market access. they need the money coming in. stuart: where are we going to open in four minutes time. we will be up but not much. 20 points on the dow. fraction higher on the s&p. we will be up again. we will be back.

stuart: we are a laughing on the set here because we can't let the market looks like it's going up again. honestly, i have lost track of all the records the dow has it either cynthia not a ration generate funny at where the election november the eighth. well over 60 since the inauguration and over 80 since the election itself. we closed in the record

yesterday. we closed the court he points away from the dow 25,000. we will open about 20 points. they are clapping, cheering and its five seconds. they will actually start trading on wall street. here we go. 9:30. i've been running. right off the bat of 40, 45 points. 24,000 -- up 50 points. 24,635. again of another quarter percentage point. how about the s&p. a series of record highs there up again three points, .13%. nasdaq all over again. 11.17 higher. big story of the day, disney is going to buy fox businesses. company 21st century fox.

disney is paying $52.4 billion. let's concentrate on this, shall we. bank of america says the mac that, the index you are looking not at six barrels at 886. they say it out and buy the summer of next year. that would be a 16% jump from where it is now. let's see if our esteemed panel agrees. ashley webster and elizabeth mcdonald two b. brian brenberg joins us now. you don't really want. 16% rally in the ninth that by the summer of next year. that is huge. >> i think they are wrong. too low. we get the repatriation tax. hundreds of billions of dollars

back. 15%, 16% is done by tax day. stuart: that is a stretch. but do not back stocks. ashley: what are you drinking? hold on a second. what part of your agreement is based on this repatriation tax because the bring the money back. that's it. the dow all-time high as we speak up 77 points. brian brenberg as an professor, more about the repatriation tax and benefit going to bring the money back? >> the only reason money is sitting overseas is because of our massive tax code. it will probably be whether or not you want to bring the money back you will be taxed as though you did, which again just gets rid of the disincentive. stuart: i know for a fact that apple has about $260 billion.

let's say 260 billion. you tell me if i don't bring the money back it doesn't matter. they will pay a 10% tax. >> if they do, the dean repatriation, you don't pay the tax, but that's fine because i have no reason not to bring the money back. apple, cisco, oracle, that's for scott martin might not be as crazy as it sounds. stuart: let me alert you of the dow is now up 75 points. 24,662 up 70 points to 75 points. 24662. who would have thought. get the bus are ready don't use it. the fed raised rates yesterday a quarter point. the headline in the "financial times" writer today says three more rate hikes are signaled for 2018. and yet, scott martin, the market is rallying.

the fed is no longer playing a role in the market. >> bingo, they are out of it. i'm afraid of the buzzer here. normalization. which means rates typically should be at this point in the business cycle or where they are with respect to gdp, which is now its been a multiyear high. that's great because the market wants to see rates go up. train for the senate is not delay in the corporate tax cut. it will take affect january 2018. that helps buffer that. stuart: very important. well said. ashley: renewed they said further rate hikes next year. the economy is doing so well we can handle four. that would've been a different scenario. stuart: now we're at 81 points. three fed rate hike -- a rate hikes. 24.663.

big deal of the day. disney will pay $52 billion for a big chunk of the parent company of this network. twenty-first century fox. where did they get? ashley: to get a lot. they don't get us by the way. tv and film studios, fx network, "national geographic"'s, 30% interest in who will which will bring disney's interest in who love to 60%. sky tv although trying to get all of sky tv on 39%. that you will go forward as a fox project if they get 100% of sky in the u.k. goes over to disney. they also get lots of distribution across asia and europe. what this is about its content and distribution in cord cutting hazard to disney hired. two thirds of the revenue comes on the tv side. they need to get into a streaming business, but they have got their site but on netflix.

they'll have all of the content that they want a premier streaming service platform. this is a big part of the puzzle. what happens to us on fox news channel? we are now spun off into a different company rupert murdoch said today will simply be called fox. stuart: robert eiger stays on until after 2021. the murdoch family members do not get on the disney board. ashley: we do not what james murdoch may be doing. there's a sense they will talk about perhaps a role for jeans and a but that is not been announced. drink a big deal of the day. check the big board still up, not quite as much as they were before, but i'll take 72 points up at 74,657. take a look at bowling, one of the drivers for the past couple days. from the studio actually. boeing raising its dividend, buying back shares, putting

18 billion into a buyback and they've got a full book. pure one way, way down. holiday shopping so far is not going well. down 26%. so you know that taking a shot at passel of reaching a deal to explore a new battery partnership with panasonic. toyota 125. pharmaceutical will lay off 14,000 workers worldwide. 25% of the workforce laid off in the next couple years. they are trying to cut costs. the market was set up 14% at 17. amazon launches three same day and one day shipping for prime numbers just in time for the holiday. liz: to mars free shipping day. stuart: free shipping tomorrow. amazon comes on.

>> you on amazon? >> we have for quite some time. we talk about this a lot. two retailers like two retailers lifted two retailers like to know what you ought to look at. amazon and wal-mart look at taking a position. tranter that is fascinating. is this going to make a delay? >> it doesn't matter because amazon is in the business of delivering all the things they ship anyways. they will watch what happens to ups, fedex and go do it in two to three years. they will be doing this part of the business and solve the problem like they do every time. trades have got to tell the story. there is a draft coming under the door. i said i could use one of those rolled up things on the door. amazon delivered at next day. liz: now you are sold on it. stuart: billionaire fund manager says tesla is the next enron. he says stocks are going down.

liz: when i cover corporate counting scandals and problems coming here is why this is key for what he's saying. when he made the call at enron, the main problem, the first red flag, its net worth was swamped by that. it was collapsing. you look at tesla's balance sheet. it's net worth is swamped by its long-term debt. its long-term debt is twice his net worth from a bridge or a billion dollars in cash and in it. 8 million. 8000. that's a lot of money. >> of the rate they are going, they may be there eventually. they have missed on so many promises and deadlines that some point. they have a lot of competition

from detroit and germany. >> how long has she knows the insured on task. only doubled. train to quickly, bitcoin, please. it trades on the exchange. what are you laughing at? the thing is stabilized. 16,400 went off on a sunday afternoon at 15,000 page 17, 18, i call that stability. >> in the short term may be. is it an asset, currency. we haven't solved that problem so therefore you will see the fluctuations. this moderate that a little bit in the short term. we have it a long way to go is crypto currency. stuart: would you buy one? >> it does have a space in today's world in the future world so you have to keep an eye on them. trade to thank you very much,

scott martin. the dow industrial average is now worth 69 points. i may sound disappointed. im because we were up 85. now we are up 69. the producer is telling me be quiet, barney because we just hit an all-time high. i'll take it. i'm known for it. press secretary sarah huckaby sanders cleaning up tight gates once and for all making a bunch of pie for the press corps and documenting the whole thing on twitter. her dad, former governor of arkansas, mike huckabee in the next hour. democrat wins the alabama senate seat for the first time in decades. the always outspoken john kennedy next on that subject.

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stuart: we are up and running all over again. it's been a long time since he took a big drop of the opening bell and we certainly didn't today. 71 points after 13 minutes of business. 24,658. t-mobile bought an internet-based tv service. nicole, come in. you have to explain this. what are they up to? >> online video markets. ditch cable. a very crowded market. sony, just some wireless rivals at&t in this. t-mobile's move to get into your home. the ceo of layer three, the company they are acquiring in five cities right now saying we are going to ditch everything you hate about cable and make everything you love about tv better. including 21st century fox,

comcast-nbc, disney and they will be actually renting out privately managed networks. it will be more clear and better than they flew and netflix. the wave of the future. stuart: well said, nicole. it seems to be the way of the future. thanks a lot. we would get back to you soon. i'm going to say not a great week for the gop. the democrats did win a senate seat in alabama and we could get a government shutdown next friday. of course republicans would get the blame for that if it happens. senator john kennedy, republican from louisiana. could i see that the gop party is up against the wall at this point, sir? >> yes, but we are used to it, stuart. we will get everything done. we are going to get it all done. i am doing my best to cut your taxes. you make so much money it

probably won't matter to you. it will to a lot of folks and we'll hunt them started monday. if it were up to me, i would work the weekend and start sunday but i don't run this place. will start monday and pass the bill and get it to the president and he's going to sign it. we will not let the government shutdown. let me, but caveat that bad. i will vote in a heartbeat to shut government down if they try to make me swallow some things that are bad for the american people. it won't bother me one bit. but i don't think that's going to have been. we are going to get it all to work out. stuart: i do want to talk to you about the mullah investigation. a lot of comic going on here including on this program and in congress that the investigation, little investigation is politically tainted and politically biased. i say it is. what say you, senator? >> i don't know yet, but i will say this.

i'm trying to proceed very cautiously on this, but i've read the e-mails and they are very, very disturbing. this gentleman was a senior fbi agent pearce certainly is an american. he's entitled to his opinions, but he is supposed to divorce those opinions from his work in those e-mails were very disturbing. i give mr. mueller credited for saying hey, we caught you doing this and you are out. but it does make you wonder, are there others? it concerns me. train to the big picture at the end of the day when the government is investigated by an arm of the justice department, we all have to be absolutely secure that there's no political bias here. just give me the facts. at this moment, i don't think the american people are

confident that it is an unbiased investigation. >> i think you are right. the long-term impact of that is more dangerous than the short-term. not that the short-term is it dangerous. we cannot have the american people think that the department of justice and our federal bureau of investigation is comprised of a bunch of provocations. whether you like their politics or not. we can't have that. we've got to fix that appeared on fix that. i don't want to overstate the case. i'm not saying the american people don't trust the fbi. but we are getting into the foothills here at getting a little too political in that needs to be addressed because the american people lose confidence in the fbi and the department of justice, we are in trouble. stuart: very bad stuff. mr. senator, can i take this opportunity 11 days before christmas to wish you and your family a very merry christmas?

>> you to come is to rip it and cut your taxes. thank you, senator. >> with you like it or not. thank you, senator. up 50 points, but i see a lot of green on the left hand side. i would say two thirds of the dow 30 year in the green. that means they arrive. then complained more than women when they are sick. call it demand flu. nonsense in my opinion. dr. mark said glo is next. [vo] when it comes to investing,

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stuart: it is flu season and some doctors are saying it may not be effective. i've been saying it for years. our own dr. siegel is with us. >> it's only this year's flu shot is only 10% effect is. is that correct? >> not exactly. the prevailing stream this year, the one we are most afraid of, and it mutated, so it's only 10%

effective against our worst strain. what we mean by 10% if you were to go to the doctor's office or the hospital, severe cases. i still think it plays a role at in decreasing symptoms and preventing spread. i still say it has an effect to miss. it's a dead guy was so there's no downside to taking it. stuart: how effective is it to the united states of america. >> will know that until the end of the flu season. very early flu season. already widespread in mississippi, virginia, massachusetts, louisiana. if there is little to protect you from one of the worst on record as looking like. get the flu shot. ashley: prefer oranges, blueberries, smoked salmon, yogurt, keeps the doctor away. >> i'm endorsing it.

and the flu shot. >> enough of this fooling around. you've got to talk to me about demand flu. there is some theory out there that says men complain more. they whined more if they get a whole cold than if a woman gets a cold. i say that's nonsense. >> i'm a convert. i read about this all night and spoke to a top researcher who's actually looking at ferrets. they are very similar to humans in terms of how they react. she has found, serious research at ferrets actually get thicker with the flu if they are male. absolutely. i thought men are deniers. i thought men only say whiners are deniers and suddenly they have the flu and they also smoke more. i thought that was the reason they get sicker. it turns out it may be that they don't have.

it protects the heart, may also help the immune system. stuart: so we have a right to complain more. thank you very much. more research will show this is true. men get sicker from the flu but we should complain. >> a bunch of whining ferret. they burrow down. >> there is a line i never thought. we are done. i don't know that we can maintain. crazy ferrets. the old saying, sunlight is the best disinfectant. i want to throw some sunlight on that cabal of trumpeters who are buried away in our government. a good editorial on not and it is next.

. . . .

stuart: sunlight is the best disinfectant. oh, so true. express the germ to kill it. we should be doing exactly that with those entrenched democrats, deep state people who tried to swing the election to hillary. when that failed, they set about undermining donald trump. the president they really hate. we need a little sunlight on that meeting in andy's office in august last year. andy, being andrew mccabe the deputy fbi director. remember peter strzok's text? i want to believe the path you threw out in andy's office there is no way trump gets elected but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. really? what did you all propose to do in the little meeting in andy ace office? how were you planning to stop trump's election? how were you planning to do that. sounds like a plot to me. mccabe was and still is number two official at the fbi. his wife, democrat, received big

bucks for her election campaign from, clinton people. shortly after the meeting in andy's office, strzok changed the language in the fbi's report and got hillary off the legal hook. what ask this? a coincidence? no, it reeks to high heaven, direct interference in the presidential election, cabal of trump-haters, supposedly in charge of investigating hillary, scared of a trump win. they couldn't take that risk, could they. let's repeat, a fundamental point of democracy. there can be no political bias in the investigation of wrongdoing in government. we the people must have confidence in our institutions. what we're seeing unfold here is a stain on our democracy. of. the second hour of hour of "varney & company" is is about to begin ♪ stuart: all right, i'm done with deep state.

get mortgage rates. ashley? ashley: recovering from your editorial. whoo. freddie mac, 30-year fixed coming in at 3.93%. down from 3.94% last week. all you need to store, still historically low. a year ago at this very time, it was 4.16%. he are lower than year ago, these rates. still -- stuart: that is remarkable. ashley: growing economy. stuart: i will tell you. want to check the big tech names, as the tax deal is emerging looks like they could be very big winners if they get the repatriation low tax rate. in other words, you bring your money back, you got to do it. we'll only charge you a 10% tax rate on it. these are the big tech companies. they have got all of that money overseas. they're the ones who will be bringing it back. that is why those stocks are going up to some degree. boeing it has been a driver for the dow the past couple weeks. it is raising dividend.

buying back shares and has full order book. very close to $300 a share, 295 right now. tiffany, touching a three-year high here. renewed the deal with the eyewear maker, luxottica. stay on the markets. we have a rally going here. liz peek joins us. she is from the "fiscal times." she is a columnist there. obvious question, 24,640, 25,000, when. >> could be honestly before christmas. if donald trump can deliver the tax bill which looks extremely likely, odds are going up, looks like better bill, they resolved some of the issues. corporate amt looks out which is something helping the tech shares, you know what? the market wants to go up on this news. we were looking last night at some of the companies and the earnings that they could actually see as a result of this. i don't think the market is

totally factoring in the earnings gains coming from lower tax rates. that is a very simple thing. there has always been the hetztation whether it would happen. i think it will happen. i think it will really help companies. >> i have to bring this to your attention, i'm sure you have seen it, bank of america is saying, look, the s&p 500 by end of next year could go to what is it, 3,000 and the nasdaq could go to 8,000 by the summer that would be 12% gain. 16% for nasdaq. >> that is not out of line with the earnings expectations people are seeing from the tax bill, forget the knock-on effects of higher growth, better spending, things like that. there is a lot of good news here. that is why the democrats are absolutely out in force with negativity about this tax bill. the public doesn't like it because they have been told by chuck schumer it's a hit to the middle class, et cetera, et cetera. it is simply not true.

i hope the republicans can basically pitch this thing and tell people about this good news because it really should be done stuart: next case. "usa today" editorial board, in outrageous language slamming president trump. look at this! obama and bush both failed in many ways but the basic decency of each man was never in doubt. donald trump, the man, on the other hand, is uniquely awful. his sickening behavior is corrosive to the enterprise of shared governance. well, actually, an earlier quote from that same editorial suggested, and said, in explicit language, that president trump wasn't fit to clean the toilets in obama's library. i find that absolutely astonishing. chris stirewalt is with us, foxnewspolitics.com editor. i'm astonished. you're smiling but you know, this is a major newspaper using that kind of language to look at

our president. i'm astonished by this. >> it is america's largest newspaper. stuart: yes it is. >> thanks to the doorsteps of a lost hampton inn hotel rooms and places like that. look, chris wallace gave a great speech. given a journalism award earlier this year. he gave a great speech. he talked about how dire president trump is when it comes to dealing with the press and he is crass, and says things that are shocking, he does launch these assaults on the press but then, as chris wallace pointed out, i'm stealing his point here very much, when we as journalists get in the ring with him, and try to punch back, to be players in the arena rather than doing our job as finders of fact or analysts, when we become

puglistss with the president, we debase this thing that we hold. by getting on his level we fail and debase themselves. it is sad to tee. stuart: we have never seen president like this before, i understand that, that is true but we have never ever seen a press corps so united in its absolute contempt for its president. you have never seen that before. >> i got to say 2005, after the 2004 election, the vehement of hatred for george w. bush and iraq war and after katrina, lord, that was a very hot dose. this is intense and didn't though because to a certain degree it is stupid. it is about stupid things. it is about hurt feelings and it is about, it is about these things about us. the way that trump succeeds in defeating the news media because he knows we can not resist

talking about ourselves. we can not resist gassing on about the first amendment and we can not resist talking about even the pecan pies of the press secretary. stuart: yes. >> these things become obsessive, pointless and prevents us focusing on other issues. stuart: drives me nut, foreigners read this stuff, this nonsense and they have a opinion about us based on that kind of stuff they're reading. it drives me up the wall. however, i will get over it, chris. >> that's good. i want you to have a merry christmas. stuart: is chris leaving us now? yes? no, he is not. i have something else for you. stay there lad, stay there. keep smiling. looks like the tax plan gets passed early next week but then congress faces a government shutdown by friday. they have got to fix things by friday. then you have got the alabama win by the democrats in the senate race. looks like, looks to me like the gop has its back against the

wall. what say you? >> well, and they have. they have backed themselves into this corner because they, because of their inability since a year ago to put things together to make it happen. i think they can get the tax plan through. i think that depends though, on this question, they have conditioned some. votes for the tax plan on votes for the end of year, this gob stopper they will roll out at the end of the year that will be a spending bill, and a daca and obamacare, all of this stuff that will go in there, they have conditioned votes like susan collins and others what will be in the end of year package. the two of those things could get badly wrangled, and if they don't work out they could lose a few votes on the other side. john mccain is concern for republicans. if he is ill, can not be there for votes, that can be a big deal. stuart: you have to be on the senate floor to cast a vote. you can't vote from the hospital bed.

he has to be there. merry christmas young man. >> merry christmas. stuart: have a nice day. now this, a democrat from ohio told her colleagues that females on the hill invite sexual harrassment by the way they dress. tell me, liz. liz: marcy kaptur, democrat from ohio, i saw a member yesterday with her cleavage so deep, it was down to the floor. it is really an invitation. she also said i've been appalled of dress of members and staff, suggesting a dress code for d.c. capitol staff members an workers. as they do in the military. she is saying the problem we need to protect women from pervasive sexual misconduct here in d.c. and in society at large. now she is getting a lot of blowback and criticism for blaming the victim. saying under no circumstances am i blaming the victim or saying they are responsible for their own sexual harrassment. stuart: liz peek, want to say anything on this. >> of course that was the inevitable reaction.

i must say apparently she gathered all the democratic women in the room, basically they were there to talk about sexual harrassment which is great big political movement for them, political winning point. then she told them women taking responsibility on their end for not dressing provocatively, man, she was slammed. i'm sure it was everyone was so shocked. sorry. partly responsible how they present themselves whether they dress provocatively. there, they are not victims, i mean you're not blaming the victims. you are counseling the victims how they might avoid problems in the future. i think that is what mothers dell their daughters. i think its perfectly to have a dress code in the congress. liz: common sense. that is what she is trying to say. she is not attacking victims. >> exactly. stuart: we hear you. got it. what have we got now? 50 point gain for the dow industrials.

24,637. we have big hour coming up on "varney & company." a former fbi official is sick to his stomach over the texts by peter strzok, and from the former number two at bureau, andy mccabe. we hope congress can walk and chew gum at same time. while they have been focusing get the tax plan done, they have nearly run out the clock to keep the government lights on. of course we're on that subject too. and of course there is this. sarah huckabee sanders sanders getting last laugh in pie gate. that she couldn't believe she baked perfect chocolate pecan pies on thanksgiving. her father, mike huckabee, later this hour. you're watching the pies and second hour of "varney & company."

stuart: looks like going through. stock market, 24,644. stocks up. price of oil, $56 a barrel, virtually unchanged. how about the price of gold, i will read it for you for our radio listeners. up five bucks today. disney buying twenty-first century fox, parent company of this network. ashley, what do they get for that? ashley: what you would expect for 52 billion. get fox tv, film studios. that alone is huge. fx network. they have "national geographic." they have the regional sports networks. they get a stake in hulu as well, sky tv in the u.k. satellite company in india, star india. all of this is about content and distribution. they get a ton of both for 52.4 billion in stock. what they don't get is the company that is left behind. those assets left behind

including us here the fox business network, fox news, fox broadcasting, the fox tv stations. they will be spun off into a new company called simply fox. now rupert murdoch was asked would you ultimately like the take the new spin-off company, fold it back into news corp which was publishing side split off a couple years ago? mr. murdoch said, ideally probably a good idea but it's a number of years away he says. there you go. disney are about taking on netflix and amazons. this will go a long way to making them very competitive when they start their own streaming service platform, maybe at the next year or beginning of 2019. stuart: thank you very much, ash. ashley: you're welcome. stuart: i want to get back to the anti-trump text messages from the people investigating russia russia, russia, and hillary clinton email probe. just listen to trey gowdy. >> said [bleep], talking about come out, first lady and children, this conflict of

interest free special agent of the fbi. this is who we were told we needed to have an objective, impartial, fair, conflict of interest-free investigation. so he is openly pulling for the candidate he had role in clearing, and he is openly investigating a candidate that he has bias against, and then if that is not enough, he says, trump is an f-ing idiot, what the f just happened to our country this is the same man that said he would save our country. what happens when people who are supposed to cure the conflict of interest have even greater conflicts of interest than those they replace? stuart: charge summed up as follows. political bias on the inside of the russia, russia, russia and clinton email investigations. danny coulson is with us, former fbi deputy assistant director. danny, am i right here. what i'm talking about, what i'm making explicit is, in my opinion a deep state plot to

undermine president trump and divert justice with hillary clinton email investigation is involved. what say you? >> well, what i say, stuart, that the text messages themselves, standing alone are very trouble some and frankly sickening to those of who serve the fbi or still do. what is really worse though, stuart, is the context of them. when you put them in the context of this is the man who ran the investigation of hillary clinton, gave her a total pass, acquiesced to no grand jury, conducting a weak, feckless, sophomoric investigation that gave her a pass, when you put it in that context, raises serious questions, i think trey gowdy is all over it. i applaud him for what he is trying to do. let me add this, this is really important. the fbi is not a corrupt institution. jim comey and minions brought the question of corruption into play by the fbi.

what they did to conduct a question like this, causes question of very credibility an credibility of independence of fbi. that is what is sickening about it. fbi agents want to do their job. they're nonpolitical with regard how they conduct their investigations but bottom line this is really needs, there needs to be an inquiry here. stuart: that is what you're calling for? an investigation into the investigation, maybe with a special counsel, is that what you want? >> no. no. stuart: what do you want? >> i did iran-contra, stuart. i know how these things work. they tend to get off the reservation. i would be perfectly happy, i think happening now, inspector general of the department of justice is looking into this. that is how this all came to the front. he found the text messages. he looked at them. that is where the investigation needs to go, not another independent counsel. good lord, that is the last thing we need to have independent counsel investigate an independent counsel. where does it stop? there is apparatus there. the attorney generals is

stand-up, have his department look at it, quit referring to other people to do. >> danny coulson, we hear you loudly and clearly this morning. >> thank you. stuart: merry christmas. tesla, here's a headline, the next enron? yeah, that is grabby headline. that is a headline. we'll talk to a short seller, why he is saying this at the moment. ♪

stuart: jim chanos is a short seller. he thinks they will go down and bets that way. he says tesla is a headed for a brick wall. lack developing self-driving. he compared tesla with enron. liz peek, are you in the same camp. do you think tesla is another enron? >> jim chanos caught at enron early. that is how he made his reputation. he is a very, very smart guy. his issues with test last, i think he is totally on the mark here, negative cash flow. they constantly have to raise money. they will have to do so soon. secondly the competitive situation. there are other companies, bigger, better-financed companies coming after their sweet spot, companies like bmw and porsche which can make fabulous electric cars. he is right. the problem with a short seller. he could be right tomorrow and right two years from now and in the middle can lose his shirt and he already has done since he

shorted the stock since it doubled past year. philosophically it is right but could cost him a lot of money. stuart: liz, didn't you mention earlier tesla's net worth is drowned out by its huge debt? les that is how he called out enron because their net worth was swamped by debt. tesla's debt is double its knit worth. so they burn $8,000 in cash a minute. stuart: they burn through it. that is a lot of money, isn't it? i'm trying to do the math. ashley: 8,000 right there. stuart: democrats love to slam the tax plan. they say big companies and rich get all the benefits. i'm not sure they're right about that. we will discuss it in just a moment. we're talking about that over the next 90 minutes by the way. we'll be back. zar: one of our investors was in his late 50s

right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor.

♪ ashley: smile on your face. stuart: always put as smile on my face. the beat tells. always like the harmony. we're at 24,626. show me the big tech names, please. they're all up again today. they will be significant beneficiaries from this tax deal. facebook, amazon, microsoft, alphabet, apple, all of them own the upside. now this. disney is going to buy a chunk of fox business's parent company, that would be twenty-first century fox. disney is going to pay $52.4 billion. okay? that's the payment. we'll tell you later exactly what they got.

i have breaking news coming in now. fox news learned congressman blake farenthold will not seek re-election. he is under investigation by the house ethics committee for making vulgar comments to female staffers. to avoid the shutdown, congressman jody hice is with us, a member of the freedom caucus. congressman, you guys, you wicked conservative freedom people, are you going to shut the government down? >> bottom line we'll wait to see what happens. look, we have done our job in the house. we passed over three months ago, we passed every aprops bill there is. we sent them to the senate. as far as i'm concerned senate is one that shut the government down. they have the bills over there. they refuse to look at it this is time they need to feel pressure, feel the heat, get

something done. stuart: i know you want to cut spending, but how would you cut spending? which spending would you want to cut? >> our budget is basically divide flood two categories. you have mandatory spending and you have discretionary. unfortunately the mandatory side of things is 70% of our budget. we don't have any access to that. it is difficult to get into it. the mandatory side of things is running us bankrupt as country. we have got to be able to get to that, start dealing with welfare reform and some other things on automatic pilot and literally bankrupting our country. stuart: if you don't, if the senate doesn't go along with what you have in mind for this budget, and they say no, what will you do? >> yeah. i'm fearful it is going to be a big hit to the american peel. we can not continue down this path of spending recklessly without getting our financial house in order, and these perpetual continuing resolutions are not the answer. we have a process to pass

appropriations bills which we have done, and cons -- the senate has the same responsibility. at some point the senate has got to grow up. they have got to wake up. they have been asleep. they have got to do their jobs. stuart: put the blame where you like but sounds likes we are headed for a government shutdown. >> we'll wait and see. the pressure is on, i certainly hope not. none of us want a government shut down. but we have a constitutional responsibility to pass aprops bills. we have one chamber not doing that. stuart: i have to ask, you say we have to wait and see, would you say the odds are we'll get a government shutdown or odds are against it? >> i have to guess i think we'll not see a government shutdown. there are so many people committed we'll not see that happen. i'm guessing it is not going to happen. i just don't know what kind of deal is going to come about that

would prevent it from taking place but i feel confident at end of the day you're probably correct, we're not going to see a government shutdown but i think in the long run that will be bad for the american people in terms of additional spending which we have got to get under control. stuart: congressman, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. senator pat toomey is with us. senator, you obviously were listening what the congressman was saying there, you guys in the senate, you have got to grow up, you have got to get this thing done. if you don't, the government might shut down. your response, sir? >> well i don't think we're going to have a government shutdown. i think our democratic colleagues are toying with the idea of shutting it down. they think they can blame us for it, but i think most likely we'll pass another what we call a continuing resolution which continues government funding, and by the way, stuart, we all know what we're talking about is actually the funding of a small portion of the total government

operations. but that portion i think too, will continue. stuart: okay. >> i think a shutdown is quite unlikely. stuart: i want to talk to you about what the democrats are saying about the tax deal. basically they're slamming it. they say look it is for the rich and big corporations. let me roll the tape, roll it here. >> this is legislation written for wealthy campaign contributors. and i want to congratulate some of my republican colleagues for being honest about that. every poll that i have seen shows by overwhelming numbers the american people do not want this bill to be passed. >> thank god i'm wearing my cowboy boots today. you know why cowboys wear coy boots, to keep the pants clean from horse manure that comes from people that don't know what the hell they're talking about. stuart: clearly they oppose the deal. they oppose it on the ground it is giveaway to rich corporations and rich people. what is your response to that.

>> consider the source. that is bernie sanders clip. bernie sanders is self-described socialist. so it is not surprising that he is not very enthusiastic about a bill that encourages private sector free enterprise economic growth. but they also like to say that it's a terrible deal for the middle class and working class folks, which is rather curious because during the senate consideration on the floor the democrats offered an amendment to take our product, our legislation, our tax cut for working and middle income families and make it permanent. now if this was a terrible deal, you would think that the democrats would vote against such a thing. in fact every democrat voted in favor of that amendment. so, i appreciate when it actually comes to action they validated what we've done here. stuart: can we just talk to you a little bit about this repatriation tax. i'm not sure the official name. >> sure. stuart: but i believe it's a very low rate of tax. we're talking about 10% i think, which will be imposed on companies with a lot of money overseas.

if you bring it back you pay a 10% tax on it. if you don't bring it back, you will pay a 10% tax on it. is that how it works? >> not a single rate of 10%. it is divided rate. it will be low to mid, i should say mid to upper single digits if it is money that has been invested, it will be above 10%, modestly above 10%. if it is liquid, cash equivalents. but you're right, the idea, accumulated profits over the years that have never been taxed in the united states, under current law would be taxed if you brought the money home. so it has been stuck overseas. we're going to have a one-time tax. we call it deemed repatriation. you can call it whatever you like. it is kind of a toll, that allows us prospectively convert to a system where overseas income is not subject to another layer of tax. when we do this, stuart, there is no disincentive anymore against bringing that money home. so i do think it is going to

lead to a huge wave of money being returned to the united states. stuart: exactly. that is doing wonders for the stock market as well. senator toomey, as always, thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me, stuart. stuart: yes, sir. two days since roy moore lost the alabama senate election. he still hasn't conceded. here is the tweet. roy moore won't concede. he will wait on god to speak. god wasn't registered to vote in alabama but the people who voted did speak and it wasn't close enough for recount. in elections, everyone does not get a trophy. i know first-hand but it is best to exit with class. governor huckabee joins us now. i still don't think he is going away. he will never go away. >> maybe not, stuart, but if this election were within half a percentage point there would be automatic recount. this is percent 1/2. there is no automatic recount. i have a lot of confidence in john cheryl, who is the secretary of state in alabama.

great guy. man of impeccable integrity, a republican, who would have done everything possible to insure there is a fair election. there is no indication there is reason to believe there will be more than 23,000 votes or however many it would take to overturn this election. it is just important, when lose an election to stand up to say i concede to my opponent. it is horrible thing you do as candidate. i have done it a couple times myself. i don't enjoy it but it is the right thing to do. stuart: well-said, governor, well-said. a different subject entirely. your daughter, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders, may have the last laugh in the pie gate thing. she tweeted pictures of the pies she baked for the press. they took issue, you couldn't have possibly baked those pecan pies yourself. i guess she gets the last laugh, governor? >> she will only get a laugh if she brings some of those pies

home for christmas. if she doesn't she will get a lump of coal in her stocking. i'm serving warning right now, there better be pies for family come christmas. i had them before. they're fantastic. you dish them out to the press, not give them to your family? that can't going to work. stuart: they don't really like her, do they? they don't respect her position, do they? >> well you know, look in fairness i think a lot of them do. i think many do respect her. they know she has a tough job but they have a job to do. some of them, there are a few that are openly hostile to her, who clearly don't like her. by and large the people in the room, they approach it with the sense that this is their job. they go in there try to get information out of the white house. many of them, if not most respect that her job is to defend this president and the white house and it is not her job to help load a gun that is pointed at the president. stuart: i think she holds down the job very well. it is probably the most difficult job in america, as of

today. governor huckabee, i hope you will give her our very best wishes for christmas. if you see her over the holidays. happy, merry christmas to you, sir. >> and to you, stuart. thank you very much. stuart: sure thing, sir. quick reminder for you, happening today the sec voting on what's called net neutrality rules. we're going to call it paying for internet fast lanes. look, ajit pai wants to get rid of this internet net neutrality. ashley: pay for faster internet. stuart: am i right here. liz: so the vote is today. he put out a video. it was fun. it was lighthearted. he is being criticized now for not bringing up what ashley pointed out -- stuart: that is him, ajit pai. liz: paying for faster internet, issue is, the fears that companies will slow down or block content if you don't pay up. that we will have to pay more for to stop companies from doing that on other hand, other issue

basically government bureaucrats telling market what to do or market itself, fixing the problem and charging different fees for different city is. stuart: if i want to pay more for speed of delivery i will do it. it is i will pay more, it is my freedom to choose, isn't it. liz: obama said you're wrong. that why sweeping regulations. stuart: get the government out, come on. now this. after closing its doors more than two years ago, fao schwarz is coming back to new york city, setting up shop at rockefeller center. replacing the current nbc experience store. the new fao schwarz will be 19,000 square feet, down however from the 61,000 that it had before. it will open next year. no. >> still ahead, the former chair of the house oversight committee on what i call the deep state conspiracy. jason chaffetz questioned james comey about the hillary probe. he is next. ♪

♪ ashley: the vote on tax reform right around the corner and senator john kennedy says the bill will pass. roll tape. >> we're going to have a vote starting monday. if it were up to me i would work the weekend, start sunday, but i don't run this place. we're going to start monday and we're going to pass the bill and get it to the president. he is going to sign it. we're not going to let the government shut down. let me add a caveat to that. i will vote in a heartbeat to shut government down if they try to make me swallow things that are bad for the american people. neil: okay. >> it won't bother me one bit, but i don't think that is going to happen. i think we'll get it all worked out. ♪

stuart: text messages between peter strzok and lisa page obtained by fox news. i will pick one out that is highly instructive. i want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in andy's office, that would be andrew mccabe, number two man at the fbi, in andy's office, there is no way he gets elected but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. it is like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40. okay? jason chaffetz, former utah

congressman, fox news contributor joins us now. i will say flat-out i think this is a deep state conspiracy to undermine president trump and protect hillary clinton in the middle of an investigation. >> yeah it has moved beyond just being some bias. i think it is actual collusion. i think they really need to dive deeper into this. congressman jordan and also got the chairman of the house intelligence committee, devin nunez, trey gowdy and mike conaway. there is a reason why the fbi and the department of justice is given these investigators the stiff-arm. can't talk to the people. won't give you the documents. can't follow the financial trail. stuart: why are they doing that? >> yeah. it ties in with the dossier which is the question jim jordan has been asking about, who paid for that dossier? did you use what is now widely viewed as a bogus document in order to get a fisa warrant in order to spy on americans and what is essentially the trump campaign? stuart: the heart of it all to me, from what i've seen so far, is that meeting in andy's

office. andrew mccabe, number two man in the fbi meeting with other democrat oriented people in the justice department, within the fbi, within the investigation of hillary clinton. what did they propose to do? they couldn't take the risk that donald trump would be elected president? what were they going to do about it? >> you put on top of that, bruce orr, whose wife works at fusion gps. there are only 15 people there. they were hired, she was hired to work on the russian dossier, he is number four person at the fbi, within the department of justice. i mean, if you wrote it out in a movie and released it at christmas, everybody would say, that nobody would actually do that. stuart: this is a terrible thing for our democracy. if you're investigating senior politicians you must be seen to be politically unbiased walked away from politics. >> we all go to the voting booth, belief, you have your own set of beliefs, when you're wearing not only on your shirt

sleeve and bringing them to work, i think colluding which is at least the evidence, and that is what should be investigated, are you actually colluding to come up with a result? because as they said directly in their own words, they needed an insurance policy they couldn't take the chance. stuart: where do we go from here? what will happen next? >> i really do believe the special prosecutor is the not right answer. i mean how is the first one coming for you, right? that is not going too will. that was a product of the trump administration. the inspector general, michael horowitz has 450 employees at the department of justice. he has 100 million-dollar budget. he has been working on this year-and-a-half. he is the one that unearthed emails we're seeing now and text messages. i think he will be done in the january-february, time frame, his will probably be the most definitive analysis what happened, everything from the tarmac meeting all the way through to firing of james comey and everything in between. stuart: we'll lead with that story. >> i think it will be -- stuart: jason, thanks for joining us.

>> thank you. stuart: appreciate it. thank you. vice president pence delaying the trip to the mid-east because republicans are on the cusp of passing that tax plan. vital time indeed. more "varney" after this. ♪ [lance] monica, it is absolute chaos out here! gale force winds, accumulations up to 8 inches... ...don't know if you can hear me, but [monica] what's he doing? [lance] can we get a shot of this cold front, right here. winter has arrived. whooo! hahaha [vo] progress is an unstoppable force. brace yourself for the season of audi sales event. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event.

ashley: underthe new gop tax plan there are a couple of items that small businesses will like, at least we think so. gerri willis is here to explain. >> ashley they will not like it, they will love it. this is a gravy train for small business. let me explain how that happens. if you were paying tax this is year on small business at rate of 39.6%, that was highest tax bracket, this coming year you would get 20% deduction against your income. that would drive you down to an effective tax rate of 29.6%. you effectively go to 40% to 30%. that is a huge, huge deal. on top of that, good stuff doesn't stop there. you will write off 100% of your capital investments, write away, right now. here we go. so if you're buying computers,

software, delivery van, you're upgrading the building that you do business in. maybe you're buying furniture. maybe you're buying a paintings for the wall. all of that gets expensed right away. i got to tell you, ash. i think that some folks will look at these benefits and say, hey, i think i'm going to be a entrepreneur. i will be a small business operator. i will change the way i do business. and more people will want to get in the business of being a business person, a small business person. it is big changes for folks out there, big benefits. ashley: yeah. positive changes indeed. great stuff, gerri willis. thanks so much. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. ashley: we'll be back with more "varney," the third hour no less, after this.

i just finished months of chemo. but i don't want to talk about months. i want to talk about years. treatments have gotten better, so... i'm hoping for good years ahead. that's thanks to research funded by the american cancer society. the same folks giving me free rides to treatments, insurance advice, and a place to stay during chemo. i need that stuff like you don't know. and now that you do, please give at cancer.org. stuart: the media hardly reports it, so we will emphasize it. the economy is doing very well. tax cuts are coming, and next year the economy will probably do even better. that's my opinion.

we are back on the road to prosperity. and here's something you'll not read or hear elsewhere, trump and his growth plan did this, not obama, not the democrats. they don't even have a growth plan. and look what the trump stock rally has done for the nation's wealth. it has added $6.3 trillion to the value of american business since the election last november 8th. if you've got a pension plan, many of you are up between a quarter and a third just this year. how about that? now look at this. bank of america sees the good times rolling along next year as well. they predict another 12% up on the s&p and another 16% up on the nasdaq. of course, that extra move up depends on getting tax cuts in place. well, that looks very likely. and so does a big infrastructure deal. in other words, the economy and the markets will get even more juice next year. that is the trump growth agenda.

that is the trump rally. it's working. merry christmas and happy holidays to all. the third hour of "varney & company" starts now. ♪ ♪ [laughter] stuart: caught me. [laughter] talking off camera with my good friend, steve forbes, editor-in-chief of "forbes" media. i want to talk about this tax cut deal. i know it's not the flat tax that you so desperately wanted, but do you like what you're seeing coming down the pike? >> it's going to do more good than harm -- stuart: that's a rather tepid endorsement. >> no, it isn't. they fixed some of the tax brackets especially on the senate side, they're clearing up on the pass-throughs so you really are going to get a lower tax thing no matter what your income on that, thats' a good thing. and if they follow through on the tax brackets, the senate

even though they had seven instead of four in the house, they were better in the sense that you had lower rates on higher levels of income. that's stimulative. they had forgotten that the real key thing is the rate you pay on your next dollar of income. the senate did a better job if they keep those kind of rates in there, we're going to do okay. stuart: now, what about growth next year? if we get this plan in place, do we get 4% growth next year? >> we can get close to it because this year we got three-quarters of 3% growth just by deregulation, just by not hammering the economy, just leaving the thing alone. it started to prosper, started to blossom, and so next year when you have these lower rates coming in -- and what the republicans should say, say this is a down payment on more tax cuts to come if we retain congress, we're going to do more in 2019. give something out there. get people anticipating even more to come.

stuart: let's communicate it. hold on, steve. i want to talk more about big technology stocks, actually. because this new tax plan includes -- it's kind of a repatriation tax. it's about a 10% tax at a very low level of taxation, really forcing big companies to bring the money back from overseas and bring it back to america. joining us now, john layfield, ceo of the layfield report. john, i think that particular provision of the tax plan, bring that money back from overseas, will be a great help to the big tech stocks in particular. am i on the right track? >> i think you're spot on. it's going to be a huge help to the tax cuts. one of the things they've done, one of the best things they've done is they put a tax on it, you're going to pay it anyway. i don't think you're going to see a lot of extra cap-ex spending because the morgan stanley spending has the -- what you're going to see is these tech companies are going to

become much better companies. look at apple, for example, $252 billion of the $270 billion is overseas. it's cheaper to borrow money with 3% interest than it is to repatriate at 35% interest. you're going to see these balance sheets become much better and these great global companies grow in the united states, which is very important. stuart: when we opened up the market this morning, john, the dow was up about 80 points, well on the way to 25,000. we're now up only, what, 14 points, that's it. but the question is to you, john, are we going to see 25,000 on the dow in the very near future? like before christmas? what do you say? >> i think it'd be a wonderful christmas gift. we've already had a great rally this year, but it's only only about 2%. when this tax package goes through, how are people -- they're going to have to sell stocks for certain tax reasons. also are people locking in profits right now. you're going to see a downturn. i don't think you will. i think the projection --

because this last jobs number was the first one without a disruption from the hurricane. and what we saw was that the fundamentals of this economy are incredibly strong which i think this market will be trading on. stuart: okay, john, you're still on deck with this one from bank of america. they're looking to the future, and they're saying the nasdaq, let's talk about the nasdaq, they say it could hit 8,000 by next summer. that would be a 16% gain from where it is now. first to you, john. are we going to get that kind of gain for the nasdaq? >> i hope we do. it's about a 20% growth from right now at about 6900, so i think it's very possible. one of the telling things that rupert murdoch said this morning on fox business with maria, he talked about the threat of facebook when he talks about competing technologies and competing television programs. i think when you start to see that growth which is not necessarily factored in with these tech companies, you could see that nasdaq surge ahead. stuart: all right, john. steve forbes, a 16% rally in the nasdaq by the summer of next year. what do you think? [laughter]

>> oh, i hope so. [laughter] stuart: yeah, but are we -- we all hope so, are we going to make it? >> the answer is, yes, with the usual caveats, the usual caveats; we don't get a trade war, we don't have north korea and that kind of thing. but the key thing too, stuart, in terms of getting the 25,000 dow this year is when we see the particulars in terms of the provisions they put in this bill to make sure people don't game the system with earnings overseas. all these little things. if they clean that up, and it looks like they are, you're going to get that 25,000. so it's those little details we've got to see now. stuart: okay, got it. we would be remiss if we didn't talk about bitcoin. i think the price has stabilized a little bit. we're at 16,000 now. fed chair janet yellen, she's not really buying into all the hype about bitcoin. she warned yesterday that it's a highly speculative asset. let's go to steve first, your thoughts on bitcoin. >> well, for once, janet yellen said something that's fruitful and useful.

laugh it is speculative. -- [laughter] the thing about crypto currency, it's got to have a stable value. bitcoin is useless in terms of using it for money because one week you have steak, the next week dog food. that's not money. stuart: actually, that's what janet yellen said yesterday, it's not a medium of exchange. >> yeah, just because it says coin doesn't mean it's currency. stuart: that's right. john, to you on bitcoin. >> i think mr. forbes is right. he's also right about the tax cut. i think bitcoin is the biggest bubble since tulip mania. i think they are going to be the future, i'm not sure bitcoin is, but i'm very positive that this is a bubble. >> guess who's talking about doing a crypto-currency? stuart: who? >> the federal reserve. the fed could step in and have a currency for the unbanked. stuart: my head is spinning. you managed to get fed and

bitcoin in the same sentence, no buzzer. well done. [laughter] big business story, disney is buying some of the assets of 21st century fox, and they're going to pay $52.4 billion. give me the details. >> two of the biggest players now together, disney is going to get fox's tv and film studios, the f/x network, the regional sports network which it will combine with espn, which is very strong. that will be a regional sports powerhouse. could that get some federal regulatory issues? don't know. they also get 30% interest in hulu which will make them a majority opener, disney that is, of hulu. also sky in the u.k., disney will either get part or all of it depending whether fox can move through with getting all of sky. also gets tv satellite business out of asia, star india. all of this put together is all about getting all the content and the distribution to get that content out. disney has been hurting with the

cord cutting that's been going on. they're going to launch this big streaming service platform at the end of next year, they're going to start with espn service, then at the end of next year, they're going to have all of this content to put on there, bringing back their content from other platforms and doing it themselves. stuart: john, is disney going to be a big player in streaming the way they would like to be? >> i'm not sure as far as their own individual streaming. you already have netflix, and hulu does a wonderful job out there that'll include these assets. the deal is a great vertical integration. you have to be vertically integrated and have scale now to compete in the world. stuart: what do you say, steve forbes? >> i think this is rupert murdoch's liberation. in effect, he's telling the europeans i'm not holding back, i'm going ahead with the stuff i like. this is good news for fox business and fox news. >> it's about defeating netflix and amazon. >> that's exactly right. >> could disney buy netflix down

the road, right? stuart: yeah, i guess. who's microsoft going to buy? they don't have -- >> and the apples of the world have all this cash they can really crank out that content, you know? netflix is going to spend $8 billion next year just on content. it's insane. whole landscape's changing. stuart: oh, rapidly. all right, thank you, john. steve, you stay here. you're with us for the hour, that is correct, yes, you are. john, thank you very much, inkeyed. get back -- indeed. get back to the beach, young man. california, several one of high-tax states that could be hit hard, they face a pension crisis. later this hour we're joined by the republican candidate for golf of california. the bombshell text mentions from peter strzok reveal political bias against and personal animosity towards donald trump. i call it a deep state conspiracy to interfere with the election, and i'm going to ask a democrat about it. how about that? ♪ ♪ [vo] when it comes to investing,

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stuart: an important update on the timig of tax vote as it moves through congress. republican leaders have set a goal to be done voting in both chambers by wednesday of next week. now, the original plan was the senate votes monday, the house tuesday. now we're hearing both chamberses go wednesday. no word on which one votes first. we may get clarity the from speaker ryan. he has his weekly news conference in about 20 minutes. he may tell us more at that point. then we have apple. they're going to partner with chicago public schools to teach coding, coding, that is, to every student in the district. it's part of apple's everyone can code initiative. apple engineers designed it. measure 150 elementary -- more than 150 elementary and high schools around the world use it, but the chicago program will be apple's biggest effort to date.

no impact on the stock, 171 on apple's share price. i want to get to those anti-trump texts from peter strzok. i'm going to repeat one that just stood out to us to lisa page, and it took place this august of last year. look at this. i want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in andy's office, that there's no way he gets elected. but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. that's the key phrase. we can't take that risk. it's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40. during a hearing on capitol hill, congressman jim jordan said andy refers to the number two guy at the fbi, andrew mccabe. roll that tape. >> this is a text message from mr. strock to ms. page recalling a conversation and a meeting that took place in andy, andrew mccabe's office, deputy director of the fbi, recalling a meeting earlier. and mr. strock says this: i want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in andy's

office, and then there's a break, dash, it says that there's no way he gets elected. no way trump gets elected. he says i want to believe that. you said that in andrew mccabe's office, i want to believe that. but then he goes, but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. stuart: ah, we can't take that risk. so what are we going to do about it to prevent donald trump from becoming the president of the united states, indeed? what really took place in that little meeting there? love to know. doug schoen is with us, fox news contributor, former clinton poll isster and -- pollster and sill a democrat. -- still a democrat. it's a conspiracy. what was going on in that meeting, the number two guy in the fbi meets with peter strzok, lead investigator in the hillary clinton e-mail thing, oh, we can't take the risk that he's going to get elected. and then weeks later he changes, strock changes the language on the fbi's final report to get hillary off the hook. >> right. stuart: come on. >> look, i'm not going to defend it. i can't defend it, i wouldn't

defend it, and to me, the whole thing is outrageous. i think that jim jordan is right, it should be investigated fully by his fee and other congressional and senate -- committee and other congressional and senate committees, and there is the possibility, stuart, of a special prosecutor. i'd like to wait on that until we get the results of those hearings. but this is all very troubling, whatever your party. stuart: you're right, it is very, very troubling. this is a -- look, it's my opinion, deep state conspiracy within the federal bureaucracy to undermine president trump and protect hillary clinton. how do you see it any otherwise? >> i don't know, but it is very, very bad that the credibility of the fbi and law enforcement has been thrown into question. stuart: well said, doug. steve forbes, i say it's conspiracy. what do you say? >> that's a polite word for it. [laughter] they were going to do everything they could to keep this guy out of office. they thought the means justified the ends, and they got caught

out at it. that's why mueller and others have been dragging their feet about revealing these docks -- documents. the truth is going to be ugly. >> the bottom line is this insurance policy was a complete failure. donald trump is president, so regardless of what they were trying to do, clearly it failed miserably. >> government at work. stuart: to undermine donald trump -- [inaudible conversations] it was peter strzok who interviewed general flynn. >> that's right. >> you take the word donald trump out of it, and we have this kind of stuff going on. i don't see it as deep state, i see it as in your face. the majority of federal workers are democrats, and they're in a government union. so that's a dirty, open secret in d.c. stuart: i have to give doug schoen, still a democrat, the last word on this. >> look, i am also worried about uranium one and how this dossier got prepared and how the fbi got involved with the dossier. that i'm ready, and i don't know about steve and ashley, lizzie, i'm ready the call for a special prosecutor on that alone because we cannot put our uranium

supply -- i think it's 20% of it, if i remember correctly -- at risk. >> being exported out of the country. >> correct. and it is being exported out. i'm for a potential prosecutor there and that's, again, a matter of national security. stuart: all right, doug. honest man. thanks more joining us, sir. >> thank you for having me. stuart: now this, new government data shows nearly about 4.5 million people are severely behind on paying their federal student loan debt, double the number from four years ago. and by the way, the number of borrowers who haven't made a single payment in at least a year grew by nearly 274,000 in the last three months alone. that is a crisis coming. >> wow. stuart: check this out too, overnight tree astronauts returned -- three astronauts returned safely to earth. they spent nearly five months on the space station. nasa astronaut randy bless nick joins astronauts whose names i cannot pronounce for the trip

home. [laughter] they're back. special screening for those astronauts still onboard the space station, they will get to watch "star wars": the last jedi as a digital file uploaded from earth and then be able to watch it on their laptops all with an onboard projector. it hits the theaters, terrestrial theaters, tomorrow. [laughter] ♪ ♪ well, it's earnings season once again. >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point.

that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade.

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stuart: i've got a video for you, and is worth watching. watch what happens when a 16-year-old high school student in louisiana and his classmates find out that he's been accepted to harvard. roll it. [cheers and applause] stuart: i would call that exuberance. >> i love are it. stuart: justifiable exuberance.

alton little is the guy, his brother learned he was accepted to stanford same week. >> wow. stuart:fao schwartz will soon return to new york city. it had been in the city 150 years. at the time fao schwartz blamed high rent. the new location will be rockefeller center. they open next year. oprah winfrey will receive the cecil b. demille award at the january golden globes, the hollywood hollywood press association is honoring her calls her the most influential woman of our time. oprah is the first black woman ever to receive the honor. building gingerbread houses, people are posting photos online of failures. [laughter] the trend is especially popular on twitter with the hashtag ginnedder bread house fail. [laughter]

>> it should be condemned. stuart: it'll really be trending, let me tell you. >> love it. stuart: a pilot in germany taking a festive flight, he took hours sketching out a christmas tree complete with what ornaments, but he was on a radar recording, his flight path, on a radar screen is. air bus tweeted out a picture of the sketch. all right, california one of several high-tax states that, i think, is going to be hit really hard with the tax plan. that's not their only problem. they've got an unfunded pension liability of $174 billion. and we have the republican candidate can for governor, a republican candidate for governor in california? not a prayer, but he's on the show. and speaker ryan's weekly news conference is any moment now. the dow industrials up 11 points at this point. we're waiting for speaker ryan. we'll be back. ♪ ♪

:

. stuart: breaking news -- house speaker paul ryan will shortly be holding his weekly news conference. we expect him to talk about tax reform. if he makes a headline, we'll tell you. i promise, we'll tell you. not sure we're going to go to

it full, we're going to bore you, we'll get a headline if we get one. we might. watch out everybody. the dow industrials up 21 point, stocks actually on the -- well, we were up 81 points, now just up 18. we pulled back quite a bit there. our next guest being thursday morning is dan heninger, who writes a column every week in the journal, when donald met kiersten. he's with us this morning. i want to talk to you about president trump and his tweets. that's what your column is really all about. >> yes. stuart: i don't think we will ever get used to the tweets, i don't know if we'll ever get used to his style. what say you? >> what i say is the democrats are getting very used to the tweets and are figuring out how to turn them into their own weapon to be used against the president. stuart: yeah. >> that's to me what they figured out when he got into the tweet war on tuesday between him and senator

gillibrand. and you have to see -- it was built around the charge of sexual harassment, because the big event tuesday was the election in alabama with roy moore running with sexual harassment cloud rung over his head. i think the democrats played him like chess grand masters, the previous week forced john conyers and al franken out. took the two sexual harassers off the board. that left trump standing with roy moore, the last sexual harasser on the board. then comes monday and what happens? the democrats move three women into accuse trump of sexual harassment. three women who accused him during the campaign, and the democratic women's working group says the charges ought to be investigated by congress, and finally comes senator gillibrand saying he should resign. at which point donald trump tweets she's a lightweight flunky of al schumers who would do anything for campaign

contribution. the media immediately escalates this whole thing around the subject of sexual harassment. by the end of the day, judge moore has lost by 1.5% in alabama. checkmate. stuart: your conexclusion is, you made a very good case, that the democrats are learning how to use president trump's tweets against him and the republicans. >> bloodless politics, they've tried the russian collusion story all year. now with sexual harassment in the air, they said let's use this, and i think they're going to continue, and they will continue to use it against him, on the expectation he will react with tweets against it. what's in play right now is the vote of women. that's what happened in alabama, women are discomforted by the sexual harassment stories to be sure, and i think the democrats are going to keep playing that card all the way through the next year up into 2018. stuart: a question for and you also for steve forbes, i don't think america is going to get used to the kind of tweets we've seen over the past year from president trump.

we're not going to get used to it. what say you? >> we're not. dan makes a very good point, even if you don't get used to it, you can use it as a weapon to have the president say things he shouldn't say. and midterm elections, you vote against, usually not for. it's about turnout, that's what they're ginning up, turnout for people who want to express a protest. not 2020, which is a different dynamic, about the midterms, gaining control of congress, and by golly, they're going to make this man's life miserable. stuart: he will never change, the president will never change, will he? >> he believes the tweets energize his base and i don't think he'll stop doing it. i don't think perhaps he should stop doing it on things like the russian collusion story, he has to pick his moments and think when the tweets are most effective. in this instance with senator gillibrand and the sexual harassment, it really didn't work. stuart: okay, i wanted to reiterate that speaker ryan is now doing his weekly news

conference. he has just said, he just repeated what president trump said yesterday. americans will get a pay increase in february of next year. he reiterated president trump's line on tax cuts. listen in, please. >> and the children's health insurance program. you may recall last month, i think it was november 3rd, the house passed fully funded extension to protect the 9 million children covered under chip. that is hr-3922, the championing healthy kids act. unfortunately, overwhelming majority of house democrats voted against that extension of chip funding. care for children in need should always go beyond party lines. i certainly hope both parties come together to make sure we extend the chip funding now. questions? casey. reporter: [inaudible]. >> look, i had a couple conversations with blake yesterday. i think he's making the right decision to retire.

there are new stories that are very disconcerting. unacceptable behavior has been alleged in the stories and he's made the right decision he's leaving congress, and that reflects on the conversations we have. rachel? . reporter: [inaudible] >> this is the first i've even heard that. reporter: [ inaudible ] i've never heard this before. he is under ethics committee investigation right now. and so i would refer to you susan brooks about the nature of that ethics committee investigation. what the ethics committee typically does is don't report where they are. he is under ethics committee investigation. stuart: if i knew what the

question was i would repeat it for you, i don't know what it was. i'm going to move on. dow industrials at this moment are up 19 points. the one thing that we heard from paul ryan was, you've reiterated what president trump said. you get a pay increase in february of next year because of the tax deal that's likely to go through before christmas. i'm going stay on taxes for a moment and highlight california. one of several high-tax states that could be hit really hard because of this tax plan. look who's joining us. john cox, california candidate for governor. john cox is a republican. first of all, sir, how many republicans there are in california? >> we have a lot, stuart, and some of the most productive people in the country, and we have a lot of moderate democrats and independents as well who are living in the most taxed state in the country out here. in 2018, i think i'm going to change that. stuart: good for you, sir!

what about this exodus that's being predicted when the tax deal goes through and you can no longer deduct the income taxes paid to the state of california against the federal tax? an exodus? >> my mission, and my message to californians of all stripes is to just hold off on leaving until 2018. we're going to end the pay to play one-party rule in sacramento that has driven up our tax burden to the highest in the country by far, not to mention the highest housing prices, the highest gasoline, water, electricity, you name it. it's the corruption and cronyism in sacramento that's done that, stuart, and this tax bill is one sense a good sing for us because it really will highlight for californians the need to really make some changes in 2018. you just can't keep taxing your residents. there's a lot of competition, people can go florida and texas

and have no tax payments at all and the difference between florida and texas is they have good political management, we don't. that is what's going to change in 2018. stuart: okay, so you'll try to lower taxes if elected governor of the golden state. what would you do about the gigantic, unfunded government pension liability. i think it's $174 billion? that's the unfunded liability borne by the state of california on behalf of retired government workers. that's a huge liability. what are you going do about it? >> as you might know, stuart, i'm a cpa and attorney by trade, and i drafted pension plans. the number by the way you cite is actually very low. i'm involved with the hoover institution out in california here, and their scholars estimate the liability to be as much or more of $1 trillion. stuart: what can you do about

it? constitutionally, pretty much you've got to pay those pensions. you pretty much got to do it. and with this new tax plan, you can't raise taxes anymore in california to pay for that pension liability. what are you going to do? >> well, we're going to have to reach an accommodation. the union bosses who control sacramento have driven this pension debt up to ridiculous levels and, of course, jerry ground and the legislature keep assuming they're going to earn 7.25% or so on their assets which is a pipe dream, bernie madoff is in jail wondering why jerry brown isn't in the cell next door to him. stuart: ooh, strong stuff there. >> it's true. absolutely true. you can't keep lying to the people, you got to be honest with them. i'm going to be honest with the workers. if you remember in detroit and rhode island where they address the pension debts, the workers took the pipe.

they got cut. my message to the workers of california is you can't have the situation continue. they're going to have to contribute more. they're g to have to lengthen out retirement ages. stuart: give up 401(k)s, you got to do it. >> absolutely. stuart: i have to cut you off, i apologize. john cox, candidate for governorship of california. thank you so much. >> thank you. stuart: the markets at this moment show a gain of 31 points. but look where we are. 24,614. who would have thought a year ago? unimaginable. we'll be back. you can't predict the market. but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their...

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. reporter: i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. apple investing right here at home. gorilla glass company corning in may. 200 million there. now investments in finnistar. finnistar makes laser chips, the deal is $390 million represents future business between the company. the laser chips are used for animoji, portrait mode. airpods, wireless headphones going forward. they need 10 time the amount of these chips going forward than they did in the fourth quarter. tim cook actually tweeting enthusiasm, innovation in the heart of texas proud to team up

with finisar, they will open up this plant with 700,000 square feet in texas.

. stuart: tax reform, big deal. the plan is expected to pass next week. democrats, though, they are slamming it. senator bernie sanders says it will only help the wealthy and americans don't want it.

joining me senator rob portman, republican from ohio. would you answer the charge, we see a lot of them, senator, the tax deal is a giveaway to the rich and a giveaway to the big corporations? >> we've heard the talking points, they don't line up with reality. i encourage people to look for themselves on the joint committee taxation website j.c. t.gov and you will see the middle-class families do get tax relief. i spoke to the, again, nonpartisan tax committee folks about it. here's a chart that says one thing and you hear things from the democratic talking points, which is true. he was able to say from each group of taxpayers, people that make 20,000 to 30,000, 80,000 to 90,000, each group of taxpayers get tax relief. there is significant tax relief. and that's just a reality. we've changed the tax code to provide that relief. second, stuart, and i think equally important and perhaps for most working families in

ohio, more important. the changes we do on the business side make american workers more competitive and get more investment and productivity into the economy. that's going to increase wages. that's going to increase take-home pay. that's going to help the family budget, too. the direct tax cuts to the middle class, which are there, and it's a reality that they're there, and no amount of talking points changes that. but second, the business reforms help to generate higher wages, more jobs. stuart: okay, you can take me through the timeline, that such on the discussion at the moment. we hear that the house and senate will both have voted on the joint idea by wednesday of next week and the president will sign, it would that be friday of next week? is that the timeline? >> that's the hopeful time line, as things go around here. right now the joint committee on tax and the committees are looking at the legislation making sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

the theory is to get this filed tomorrow and get the vote next week and have the president deliver on promise of tax cuts for the middle class before the christmas holidays. >> senator, quick question, 40, 45% of american workers don't pay federal income tax. what are they going to get out of this bill? what do you say to that? >> this is income tax reform bill, for folks who pay the property tax and sales tax and state and local taxes and pay certainly a lot of payroll taxes, there is help in the bill. two ways, one, there is a $10,000 deduction can you take against your property or state and local or sales taxes. that's not a federal income tax issue but state and local tax issue, and second, with regard to payroll taxes, you know, nothing like a growing economy to help in terms of the general relief you're going to see in the economy and the higher wages that help people deal with the other taxes. that's the idea here.

this is income tax reform proposal, and the federal income taxes will be reduced for middle-class families and we are going to help in terms of creativity and productivity which is what the market says we need in the economy. stuart: rob portman, republican, ohio, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: yep. wildfires in southern california. officials say they're making progress. the big one near los angeles, 30% contained. they also say they're hoping to lift evacuation orders soon. the national weather service warning that high winds could whip up again all over again. 242,000 acres burned. 900 buildings, including 700 homes destroyed. since the fire started december 4. 10 days ago. how about that? look at this. one person put up this penthouse for sale with a clear view of the miami skyline. it's on the market for 33

bitcoins. the buyer is only accepting bitcoins. right now 33 bitcoins are worth more than a half million u.s. dollars. i think that's a first. a tax deal, it's been reached. concerns of a government shutdown loom. is a government shutdown possible? guess who we're going to talk about that. >> tell me, tell me. stuart: the friend of government intel. napolitano.

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. stuart: you know, i think it's time to take on judge andrew napolitano who i can see in the monitor, you can't see him yet, i can. he doesn't believe there's a conspiracy in the deep state to undermine the trump presidency and exonerate hillary clinton. so let me explain it to you like this. there's a meeting in andy's office, that would be andrew murkabe, and attended by peter strzok and can't take a risk, they have it to do something about it, you don't think it's a conspiracy?

speak for yourself. >> good morning from the seat of big government, varney. we have spoken to this many times. there is a deep state, a part of government that never changes and has self-willed movement and doesn't care which party is in the white house or congress and much of that part of the deep state hates and fears donald trump. no question about that. i don't know what these two characters are talking about. i don't know which andy it was, andy mccabe or andy wiseman, they could have been talking about insurance that they wanted their jobs to stay in a republican administration. who knows? there are 10,000 texts and you picked out one of them. here's the bottom line, bob mueller can't be fired because of poor hiring, especially when as soon as he learned of these texts or within a reasonable period of time, he moved this guy from the front line of fbi work to a desk job. what more do you want him to do? stuart: i'm not suggesting he should be fired. that's not my point of view,

but i would like to know what mr. strzok is doing, he's still at the fbi, he's in charge of hr, do you think by any chance he's purging some of the political backgrounds of fbi agents? purging the documentation on some fbi people who may be subject to investigation later? do you think of that? >> would be a criminal offense. it's certainly conceivable an fbi agent would commit a felony, extremely unlikely and count on one hand when it's happened in the modern era. stuart: you are getting soft on us judge. another subject. government shutdown, not going to discuss whether it happens or not. i'm going to make the point. you would love the government to shut down. >> yes, i would, the essential services stay. the courts are open, the defense department stays, public health and safety stays. why should the government do things that are not essential? maybe we will be happier with a cheaper, smaller government during the shutdown!

i bet that wonderful man to the next of you, a fellow new jerseyan who is the champion of small government agrees with me. stuart: yes, he does, as a matter of fact. he's about to nod vigorously. >> there is. stuart: i'm glad we have consensus, napolitano. >> but you cannot give me the new nickname friend of government. my libertarian buddies will ostracize me from everything. stuart: i never said that about you. >> i thought i heard it in the last segment. stuart: i gotta go. i'm almost up on cavuto's time and can't do that. more "varney" after this. zar: one of our investors was in his late 50s right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets-

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those new rules allow, the consumer, if you wish, and supply are of the content, netflix, to charge you more for speed if that is what you, and they want. netflix up 2%. neil, it is yours. neil: that is weird. i don't know how i feel about that whole thing. stuart: look if i want speed and delivery i want to pay for it, get out of the way. neil: but you're also cheap. free market views notwithstanding. it is a coo nun -- conundrum. seriously i go back and forth. good to see you. i'm for anything that charges stuart more. i guess i weigh that. stuart: would you pay for extra large cannoli? neil: yes i would. you settled it for me in terms i could understand. yeah he did.