dagen: varney & company is right now. stuart, take it away. stuart: yes, it is, dagenment one more time, the push is on for dow 25,000. this has been one explosive year, hasn't it? good morning, everyone. we are 207 points away from 25,000 on the dow and the indicators point to a higher opening that carriers closer to the milestone. never before has the dow gained 5,000 points in a year. it did this year. big number, since the election of donald trump, the value of all values have gone up by $6.6 trillion. october 17th, the dow hit 23,000.

november 30th, 24,000. 25,000 this week, well, we are very close. the latest gains are all about tax cuts, the house votes today, it will be a yes. the senate votes later today or tomorrow, yes, looks almost certain. the president could sign it into law on or before christmas eve. yes, this has been a remarkable story. we've had a front-row seat to financial history. what a ride? get ready for another big day, we are running right at 25,000 and varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ >> we are moments away, literally from white house homeland security adviser tom bosset holding a briefing. he is going to publicly blame north korea for the wanna cry cyber-attack that crippled computer systems around the world.

we are going to watch this to see if calls it act of war, important, ashley. ashley: very important. this virus that link back to north korea went out on may 12th, computer worm with ransom ware. more than 200,000 and ep crypted the -- encrypted the data and the ransom part, you pay us money and you get data back, they hit hospitals, obviously you can imagine the damage done there but north korea considers these types of attacks low-cost, high-impact and as sanctions are being piled on the country, they increasingly have gone to cyber warfare, we know what they did to sony pictures, they did this on an even bigger scale. stuart: we shall see about that one. more, of course, let's get to your money. the president tweet, stocks and the economy have a long way to

go, that's interesting forecast if you look at it. after the tax cut bill is finally understood and appreciated in scope and size and immediate expensive will have a big impact, biggest tack cuts an reform ever passed, enjoy, create many beautiful jobs. looks like the markets like that. s&p expected to open all-time high. steve cortez with us now. close to 25,000. i hate to be a wet blanket, why not take some money off the table, take your profits, sit tight, go away for the holidays and relax and enjoy it, why not? >> no, listen that might make sense as old adage in wall street that you buy it and sell the fact. maybe it's prunt here to take some gains. i have the to tell you, if there

are markets to the economy, those are pullbacks to buy. the outlook is so rosy, merry christmas with beautiful tax cuts as the president to unwrap in 2018. to me the most significant part is repatriation of capital, allowing trillions of dollars trapped overseas and-shore them to the united states. immediate business expensing. the stock market has done fine but the real economy hasn't because companies have not been invented in cap x, new technology, hiring, that will happen in tax code and it'll be glorious in 2018. stuart: that's what the president tweeted about. bring it back to america. it will come back, even if they don't bring it back, they will be taxed on it. they will bring it back. i think that goes primary to big-tech companies and i think

that money filters down basically to the shareholders in the form of higher dividends or buybacks, what say you on big tech? >> no, i agree, and what will the shareholders do with it, they are going to spend it and 70% of our economy, lit el over two-thirds is consumer related. we need to embolden the american consumer. that's already happening. don't take my word for it. look at wal-mart stock, the run it's had. open up over $99, near 100. that stock was in the 60's when donald trump has elected. it has gained two-thirds just since election. wal-mart to me is one of the best barometers of what main street is up to. when wal-mart is doing well, generally, the american consumer is, it's great news. stuart: full disclosure, are you an owner of wal-mart stock? >> i am not, sir. i wish i were. i wasn't smart enough to buy it. stuart: steve cortez, everyone, thanks for joining us, we will see you again, sir.

i have to get to north korea, they publicly blamed north korea for the wanna cry cyber-attack. judge napolitano is here with us, is it an act of war? >> the constitution requires the federal government to protect the states and the people in the states from an invasion. obviously founders didn't think of this kind of invasion, but using electronic means they entered our geographical space and reck havoc, did they destroy buildings and kill human beings, no, is the question is this sufficient to justify a military response, the answer is probably know but certainly sufficient to justify some sort of an in-kind response. stuart: okay. >> could we pinprick a military response to destroy the hardware that they used to trigger the

virus, follow me, probably yes. probably yes, but the killing of human beings would not be justified legally and in my view would not be justified morally. stuart: interesting question. i think it will be debated today. >> we will find out in a few minutes just how much harm it caused. stuart: will they use that expression, act of war. >> i hope they don't. if they they do, they need to define it, define what they mean by it. if they mean by calling it act of war, let's say he says that, triggers the president to use force and that in my view would violate rules of war and several treaties. stuart: andrew mccabe testifies today, the andy in peter strok's message where he said, he

couldn't take a risk of trump win. i know that you and i disagree in the interpretation of this. >> yeah. stuart: give me the big picture. the really big picture. at the end of this week, is president trump closer to being in really serious trouble or is it closer to being vindicated? >> i don't know the answer to that but i do know at the end of this week he isn't closer to this being over. mueller expects staff to be employed through 2018. stuart: next year? >> according to washington post and not been denied. stuart: what? >> i'm sorry to say the president's lawyer have been lulling him into a sense of security. here we are in christmas heating up. to andrew mccabe, i'm furious that this is behind closed doors. democrats will come out to give their version of what he said and the american public is treated like children that we can't watch this testimony or at least read a transcript of it.

we are entitled to know what mr. mccabe did with the power that was given to him as the number two ranking official in the justice department and how he accounted for that power and we may never know that except by what's leaked. stuart: i'm appalled that they will drag this all the way to 2018. that's a total fishing expedition. it is. >> process that is slow. we are watching a jigsaw puzzle being put together and irritated when we see a piece here and a piece there and we can't see the connection between. stuart: political fishing -- >> the way law enforcement works. they can't get everything they want when they want it and takes time to connect the dots. liz: can they get the tax returns, the president's tax returns? >> in my opinion no unless they know something that we don't know, they have to go to a judge and get a warrant for that. stuart: all right, judge. >> do you share my anger that this is being done in secret,

this interrogation of andrew mccabe? stuart: i want to know what's going on. >> it's not political or ideological. what has he done in our name? stuart: thank you, judge. check this out, please, boeing showing off a new electric powered vertical takeoff and landing plane. it's under wraps. ashley: that's not it by the way, that's a scale model. [laughter] stuart: ashley, they are saying this thing could be game-changer. ashley: lowing is saying this. we have seen black coat over some sort of aircraft but it's believed to be basically a kind of a hair dryer technology, we have giant fans in the wings, much like the jump jet, this will be able to take off and land and could be revolutionary according to boeing and they will letting us know later today what the aircraft is, some people say could be electric

plane. stuart: if it's electric, where do you get the power from? ashley: we will wait for boeing to tell us. stuart: thank you, ashley. we have a presidential candidate being investigated for, yes, colluding with the russians, it is jill stein. [laughter] stuart: details coming up. the green berets, allowing unqualified soldiers to graduate the program, green beret veteran reacts to that. disney unveiling robotic president trump and hall of fame exhibits. watch this. >> it's a privilege to serve as the president of the united states, to stand here among so many great leaders of our past and to work on behalf of the american people.

stuart: how about this for tesla, ups ordering 125 of their

electric semitrucks, that's the largest order to date, could be worth, what, $25 million, wal-mart and pepsi among other big companies that have ordered electric rigs. president trump layed out america first national security policy on monday, roll tape. >> any nation that trades away its prosperity for security will end up losing both. that is why this national security strategy emphasizes more than ever before the critical steps we must take to ensure the prosperity of our nation for a long, long time to come. stuart: all right, joining us green beret, nate boyer. good to see you. how long do you think it gets our military back in the shape that it should be in? >> well, that's a constant

battle. it's part of the job, it's difficult, so many moving parts, so many different teams out there. i'm speaking from a special force's perspective. stuart: seems like we are so far behind and we've had a four-star general on this program saying that, you know, 30 to 50 -- 30, 40, 50, 60% of combat planes are not on active duty, so to speak because we don't have the money to train pilots and pay for jet fuel, is it going to be years before we come back to a point where we are comfortable and military can give us the security we need? >> i don't think it'll be years, necessarily. first of all, we are the most powerful military in the world either way you look at it and we have -- it's a special place here where people have willing to volunteer and sacrifice lives to defend this land, so i don't think that's going to be an issue. i'm confident we will figure it

out, we are very good at that, our military is number one at adapting and overcoming. i've got all the, you know, confidence in us. stuart: nate, the green berets are in the news, what do you make of this report, is it accurate? >> it's a tough situation and in some ways it could be. it may be, from an enlisted man's perspective, those training out on the ground, on the field are almost all enlisted. first of all, one of the last places you want to be in the time of war is in the schoolhouse coaching and training, so there's that from that side of things and sometimes, you know, as they should be they are making it difficult for candidates to pass through. but from perspective you are trying to raise the number of

green berets that we have out there, sometimes adjustments are made which may look as though -- those are standards being dropped and it causes that rift between the commission officer side and the enlisted side in the schoolhouse and, you know, i wish we would keep the stuff in-house, i don't think it's safe and smart to let it go too public with this but at the same time we should do everything that we possibly can to keep the standards as high as they've always been. stuart: nate, real fast, i was watching a trailer about a movie about green berets in afghanistan on horse back right at the beginning of the war of afghanistan, you're the star of the movie, aren't you? >> i am not the start of the movie. chris hemsworth is the star of the movie. it's a great story. the movie is called 12 strong. it's about the green berets, they went in on horse back and built this alliance. just to show you how capable we

are not only as green berets but military, i have all the confidence in us and, you know go, see that movie, check it out how it all began after 9/11. stuart: i will, guaranty. >> we are the same military, we have the same men and women fighting. we will be back, don't worry. stuart: i have my tickets already, nate, god bless you. >> god bless you, stu. stuart: latest on amtrak crash, the train was speeding, i-5, extraordinary corridor not yet reopened and president trump says this is the reason why we need to fix our broken infrastructure. more varney after this.

stuart: derailment in washington state, ash, first question, i-5 reopened? >> no, not on the southbound side. they have the clear the wreckage, they have to look at the roadway to see if it needs repair and the overpass is in good enough condition that it's stable but foreseeable future shut. the black box on the back rear engine, this train was speeding, had no positive train control on the track. that's been an issue remember

after the philadelphia crash. mechanism that will slow down a speeding train. it's called the angel on the shoulder in the industry, it was not in plane on this rail line. stuart: right after it occurred, president trump was on on twitter and this is what he tweeted out, the train accident in dupont, washington shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly, $7 trillion spent in the middle east while our roads, bridges, railroads crumble. not for long. when that came out right after the accident, what does the rest of the media say? liz: hideous reaction attacking president trump from cnn, how dare you bring politics right now into this. the president did tweet out his thoughts and prayers for the families, here is the thing, why don't you do this reporting as ash was pointing out, this was the first high-speed voyage.

amtrak was doing this for the first time. locals in the owns around the track were saying, hey, wait a second, can the track handle high-speed trains, it cannot. basically they were saying we were warning you guys about this for months and fell on death ears. the speeds were based on modeling and not -- ashley: they went ahead with it. liz: if you want to do infrastructure spending, you have to give the schedule of high-speed trains for the local towns, first responders to be able to respond if there's an accident. these towns didn't have that from the federal government. so get the reporting done on that if you want to do infrastructure spending and the effect of local towns. sorry, i'm fired up. stop attacking the president. he's trying to do the right thing here. stuart: 4 and a half minutes away from the opening of trading in wall street. it'll be a doozy. remember we are only 207 points away from dow 25,000, watch

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stuart: 20 seconds to go to the tradings session on tuesday morning, 207 points away from dow 25,000.

liz mcdonald sitting right next to me, we are going to hit it, we are going to hit it, 25,000. liz: e hope -- i hope we might. stuart: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, we are opened for trading, 207 away from 25,000. where are we? we opened up 39. we are up 40. any advance on 40 there? okay, okay. 45. 57. 57 points higher. this is for the benefit of radio listeners. 52 we are up. 24,841. we are up a quarter of 1% to have dow. liz: i'm optimistic. stuart: show me s&p, thank you very much, indeed. we are .16%. broader indicater although it's at record high is only up 4 points. how about the nasdaq, did that open lower, yes, it did. down a tinny fraction. remember yesterday it went above

7,000 first time ever. liz: wow. stuart: we have to check bitcoin. give me a price, down $700. how about that? down $700. big-tech names, all of them on the downside first thing tuesday morning. we have to check the parent company of olive garden, that would be garden restaurants, they gave rosy outlook and they are up 3%. ups ordered 125 of tesla's electric smi trucks, biggest order so far, tesla stock is up on the news and ups is up 20 cents, there you have it. we only have one or two good rallies for us to get to 25,000 on the dow. are we going get there today, tomorrow or when? joining us ashley webster and elizabeth mcdonald, john and so is mike murphy. okay, thousand make some money for the holidays. you sell your stocks now at the profit, take the money, sleep

well over the holiday weekend, what's wrong with that, murph? >> great plan, stu, you to decide when you are going to get back in or what are you going to do with the money to make up for returns you have seen in the market, number two, more importantly you will pay taxes, unless you believe there's a pullback coming that you're going to know when it's coming and when it's over, you will get back in, avoid paying the taxes, stay on the market because for the last 100 years the market has gone up 3 out of every four years. the odds are in your favor. john layfield, would you take your profits? >> always sell when you're ahead. if you go with history like mike is talking about, 30 years ago, s&p is 270, it's up ten times in 30 years, that includes the internet boom and bust, also the housing boom and bust, if you're trying to tie in this market, i

think you end up losing. i think the market right now is trading on economic fundamentals. i think the tax plan is already baked in. stuart: i have not sold any of my microsoft and i do not plan to sell at the end of the year or next year. i'm holding. wall street journal throwing shade on the tax plan. tax plan at tech giant companies, that would include microsoft. i won't get into details, but murphy, i want your opinion? >> it's a well-done piece and could mute the benefits of the tax cut plan on some of the big-tech giants, remember, look at what they do, they highlight microsoft in the article, stu. companies like microsoft have pound out to pay 2% tax rates, so, of course, any sort of taxes going to -- anything above 2% could potentially hurt them. i'm not betting against

microsoft. they could figure out to use the current tax code to their benefit. retailers, companies that have operations here in the united states that are profitable and are paying a 35% tax, they're the ones who are going benefit. stuart: wal-mart almost at $100 a share. sorry, lizzie. liz: and oil companies, pharma companies and, you know, car companies who have success here. the point is journalist is saying, they have to pay state taxes. >> the tech stocks are largely down this point. fair point. got it. the cofounder of one of the largest bitcoin sites, he sold all bitcoin, bitcoin right now is just extremely risky. who is this? ashley: swedish native who won't tell us how much money he made, he said it's an awful lot of money, he basically say that is

bitcoin in his opinion is almost an unusable crypto currency. he talks about the block chain. digital ledger where every transaction is recorded, happens slowly, there's a lot of liquidity in the market, he said if you're in, time now to get out. that's from one of the cofounders. stuart: down $776 as we speak. that's a nice pullback there. the dow industrials, we are five minutes into the session, we are up 30-odd points, 24,825. carnival cruise lines reporting their financial situation. we haven't gotten the numbers yet but the market is anticipating a positive outlook there at 1%. garden, the parent of olive garden, they gave a rosy outlook, the stock is up nearly 3%. every time we do the story, we relay to executive producer, he says olive garden is assault on his italian heritage. he's not in front of the camera right now.

he's behind it. what's the problem with -- liz: i've been to olive garden, i like it. [laughter] stuart: irish guy. >> ly agree with justin on this, but surprising as mall traffic went down, olive gardens are housed in malls, you would expect them to do well. free pasta for life. stuart: put your make up on and get in front of the camera. [laughter] stuart: very interesting story here, the battle of those smart speaker, the things that sit in your house and you talk to them and they do things for you, amazon dropped the price of the echo speaker, that's forced google to do the same thing with its speaker, is anybody buying one of those things? >> i have been buying them for gifts, ashley and mike reported, the price in speakers has really taken out, discounting, cut in half in year's time for all home

speakers, look who is being taken to the wood shed, apple, they have to go back and retool because that hockey puck thing is now about $30 off of it. stuart: hockey puck thing. layfield, john, i think this is an extraordinary development here because a lot of homes, tens of millions of homes now have these things and you -- it's like a computerized companion almost, isn't it? >> it is. i just ordered one yesterday. i ordered one of the new amazon echos, the one with the display screen. i'm interested to see what all the hype is about. this is the one to buy, the ordering from amazon echo is so easy, you have a tap button next to printer for paper and next to kitchen for fluid, i ordered one yesterday for myself for christmas because i figured no one else would buy me one. stuart: i've got one given to me and i'm told -- it's the amazon

version, i'm told i can have this thing sitting here and i can say, alyssa -- alexa. go to fox business and watch varney & company and the thing will do it. i like it. mike: can you get it to tell to change everybody's tv? that would be cool. stuart: apple stock got a red downgrade. iphone 10 sales baked in stock price and now down nearly 2 bucks on apple, what do you say? >> short answer, i disagree. this analysts has been somewhat negative on apple for a long time. 6 plus 6 equals zero and lowers target. the stock has had great move since then. you look for negatives but overall apple is doing phenomenal. >> i bought it around $100 and

at that point it went down to low 90's. that's about $175. same thing. you have 715 million iphone users worldwide right now, that's just growing and that is recurring revenue to am. to me it's a phenomenal company. stuart: let's go with tesla. ups ordered electric trucks, morgan stanley say it is stock my soar 60% and then plunge. ashley: tesla can get rid to have bottleneck that's hurting production in short term but long-term the competition is too stiff and continue to go burn through cash and scrambling to raise money. they get, they get the money they are owed 10, 20 times faster than they settle the accounts payable. they are slow to pay back out. stuart: john, are you a tesla buyer and holder?

>> i do own shares, that's the way to play the electronic vehicle market. look, i think elon musk, one of the greatest ceo's, best since edison as far as things to market. he ignores certain facts like budgetary constraints and timelines. he seems to be overoptimistic because he's the smartest guy in the room but i do think he's changing the world. stuart: barmnu. malls are ramping up, they are trying to boost profit. is this going to work, murph? >> i do. you can sit at home and order products. you no longer need to go into the mall just to order product. it has to be an experience, they have to offer you something that you cannot get from your couch and a lot of good malls that are

doing things like that this, concerts, movie experience that is will get you off your couch to the mall. >> mall owners might be looking little better. >> they are turning into shopper's playgrounds, bowling alleys. you could have a trampling. >> a new ride to cony island. these things are dead. i don't know if you put a bearded lady or a roller coaster. stuart: i have to say good-bye. check the big board, we did cross 24,800 and we are up 16 points, 24,810. we are less than 200 away from 25k. the republicans, i'm going to suggest that they are losing the pr battle, they're not selling the tax plan terribly well, new poll, 26% to have people say

they like the tax plan, half of the country disapproving of it. mcdaniel, chair of the republican party on that next. ♪ ♪

stuart: well, look at this, by the way the dow is up just 1 point, 24,794. by the way, we've got better sales at carnival. they are charging more for those cruises, the market likes it and they're up 2%. 68 bucks on carnival. look at restaurant brands, the parent of burger king, their chief says they are working on delivery. nicole, is this a bit like uber

eats and mcdonald's nicole: exactly, send the wooper straight to my house. they talked about the fact that they were interested in doing delivery at one point and several years ago and that it was premature at the time but that once again now they are really focused on getting delivery out and for burger king in particular. burger king, tim horton and popeyes. mcdonalds will have dollar menu, a a lot of discounting. you have to be with the time and burger king will get you your whooper. stuart: is that a promise? nicole: i hope so. stuart: we disapprove by 2 to 1

margin. 26% do not. another 8% withheld judgment to see the final plan, 19% have no opinion. look at that, only 26% approve of it. this poll was conducted before the final conference version of the bill was released. ronnie mcdaniel, republican national committee chair joins us now. i think you've got a problem. pr problem and a sales problem because if at this stage only 26% approve, that's a problem for you, isn't it? >> i think we have a policy win actually, you look at consumer confidence at all-time high, you look at the dow. i traveled this country and i talked to people whose wages have been stagnant under obama economy who have seen paychecks go down. they know that this tax cut -- stuart: but look, you have to sell this thing. if you're selling it the way you're selling it, we wouldn't have only 26% approval. only one in four approves this

thing. this surely is failure to sell it. >> we haven't seen the cross tabs on the polls. how heavily california weighted and where is new york is. we have to see that before we look at any poll. a lot of it is who was polled and who they talked to. when going to the middle of the country, they are looking for tax relief. this tax plan is going to bring jobs, increase wages and lower taxes -- stuart: who is going to get out there and save it. who is going to pound the table, who is going to do that? >> well, i'm doing it right now on your show and that's why we started a website called paycheck president.com where we are showing that the average family of four that makes $75,000 is going to get 2,000 more in paychecks, we give them away to talk to democrat senators to get on board for tax plan. listen, this is something that people are going to like more and more as they see the relief come to their families and paychecks, they see the economy

grow and more jobs and see higher wages, again, democrats are nowhere to be found, republicans are the only ones fighting for the american people. >> could it be that people -- the voters feel so negatively towards republicans because of the gross failure to do anything about obamacare and all the jocking for position that went on before we got this tax deal, could it be that the reputation of the republicans is so far down that you are going to have an extraordinary difficult job getting back to where you should be for the elections next year? >> listen, stuart, there is a fact out there which is the mainstream media spends 90% of their time on negative coverage on president trump. it is very hard to breakthrough a mainstream media that is in lock step against this president, so we are pushing as hard as we can and we are focusing on good policy that's going to help the american people and at the end of the day, when people go vote next year, they are going to ask themselves, am i better off than two years ago, let's look at

401(k), let's look at my pension, let's look at my paycheck. is my house value going up, can i pay my rent and pay mortgage, have republicans fought for me and the answer is going to be yes and what are the accomplishments of the democrat party right now? nothing, resist and obstruct are not messages that are going to resinate at the polls in november 2018 and we are going to continue to push good policy because we are fighting on behalf of the american people. stuart: how about pounding the table and oval address from the president of the united states. just a suggestion, we will see you again soon. >> thank you, thank you. stuart: we turned negative. look at the dow 30, evenly split, winners and losers, now we are down 40 points, 24,751. reversal in the first 20 minutes of base. carolina panthers are up for sale, sean diddy coombs wants to buy them and make colin

kaepernick as quarterback. how will that go with the rest of the nfl owners? we are on it.

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stuart: 23 minutes ago we opened up 50, now we are down 50. 24,742. why are we down? look at big tech. two of the biggest lousers and

they -- losers, microsoft and apple. there's a wall street journal story this morning which suggests that they will be hit by the tax plan, their profit margin, tax rate will go up. got it. carolina panthers owner richardson is going to sell the team after allegations of workplace misconduct. diddy, sean coombs thinking about buying the team. this is what he tweeted. this picture taken back in 2003, this is god's work, it's time, attention all nfl owners, it's time for diversity, it's time for black ownership, the time is now, let's make it happen. look who is here, jeff hughes, consulting firm. what were the other nfl make of diddy's attempt to buy the team? >> well, i think if he can afford it, they would look at it and value -- evaluate like any other owner.

30% of your money without debt to be the lead investor. stuart: they would approve of him buying the team even though he will make colin kaepernick the quarterback and kaepernick is one of the reasons why there's problem in football? >> at the end to have day, the nfl is a business and they're going to look to see where they can enhance revenue and where jerry retch adderson is going to be able to make the most profit. stuart: they are down at the moment. football is not doing well, they have taken a hit, tv ratings down 9%. would this help if diddy was owner of panthers? >> depends on what role, owners take different roles. michael jordan is a big name, he sits in the background and let's the organization run it. stuart: you are a head-hunter?

>> yes. stuart: you run the sports practice at corn ferry. are you recruiting an owner, are you involved in this? >> we get involved once they acquire the team in terms of making the right decisions in terms of what the role is going to be. they will let the head coach run or general manager or they are going to be the face of the franchise. stuart. sean coombs if wants to run it -- >> if he can afford it, i think they would give him the restaurant. stuart: up to the second news there. we appreciate that. thank you for joining us. >> happy holidays. stuart: to you too, sir. thank you very much. did you know nancy pelosi organized rally targeting the tax plan. big problem, she did not show up. wait till you hear the latest version of congressman debbie

dingles. dingle, jingles. may take on that. . . . .

stuart: the democrats seem confused. they're not quite sure how to respond to tax cuts in a growing economy. of course they have used extreme language to criticize. now that the tax package looks like it will happen, they seem, well, confused. nancy pelosi organized a protest yesterday. she didn't show up. neither did many of the protesters. even msnbc thought that was odd. democrat senator mark warner called it, the worse piece of legislation he had ever seen because it might add to the debt. where was he when the obama team doubled the debt to $20 trillion? we have the silly side. representative debbie dingell put out the dingell jingle, are

you listening, folks are mad, ryan is insisting another tax fight, no funding bill in sight, walking in a winter blunder land. tax cuts and growth are a blunder? really. fascinating. well the jingle continues. gone away obama. here is stay is constant drama. we try to stay strong and trump tweets along, walking in a winder blunderland. does ms. dingell fine for stagnation and retreat of the obama years? if so she sun with of the few who does. surely in the new year, when breath picks up and paychecks rise democrats will have a take a second look for their confusion especially senate democrats up for re-election in states that trump won. second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪

stuart: gop leadership about to hold a weekly news conference. likely talk taxes, and, funding the government. the house aide says they're in the process of trying to pass the spending bill through january the 19th. it will include disaster aid, five-year renewal of the children's health insurance program. we will bring you headlines if and when they occurred. we pared the loss. moments ago we were down 50. now we're down 15. 24,777. that's where we are. big tech stocks are important here. apple has gotten a downgrade. nomura say iphone x sales and positives are baked into the stock. it is down today, down a buck 34 as we speak. microsoft is also on the downside today. look at jack in the box, selling, what is it kudoba. stuart: what is that? >> mexican fast-food chain. stuart: that is a mexican fast-food chain. selling it to private equity firm apollo.

they are getting 305 million for it. that is why the stock is up 2.25%. back to my take, democrats, lack of a growth plan and their confusion. katie pavlich, fox news contributor. how long do you think the democrats realize you better jump on board to get growth and higher paychecks? >> look, democrats are arguing for decades they're the party of the middle class. now they're in this predictment. here you have a republican president, working with republicans on the hill to pass a middle class tax cut. now they're alarmed because they were worried about voters in blue states that trump won. this only pushes them further into his corner when it comes to 2018 and candidates he may get behind and of course to 20. when democrats say only resolution or response to this tax plan that will give people some of their money back is to protest, regular, everyday americans say, i'm going to work today because i have to get a paycheck. by all these buffoons on capitol

hill are protesting outside their office. stuart: katie pavlich, name calming. i am shocked. >> i speak the truth, stuart. stuart: you said. "wall street journal," nbc news poll, it says that the democrats would trounce the gop in 2018, democrats in generic poll, lead by 11 points. 11 points. what is your thoughts on that. >> generic polling showed hillary clinton trouncing donald trump on election day. polling techniques are very outdated and have to be updated in a way that allows them to poll better. we saw, it was difficult to poll the alabama race that we just went through. polling is not necessarily a great indicator, at least in this day, and age of what is actually going to happen. they may pick up races. democrats done special elections this year but they have been losing them outside of the alabama race. polling doesn't tell the whole story. take it with a grain of salt.

stuart: you're not downcast. >> never, never downcast. okay. sound good. stuart: hold on right there for me. still on taxes the house votes on the plan today. the senate could vote later today or tomorrow. senator steve daines is with us, republican, from montana. senator, you clearly believe you have got the votes here, no question about it in your mind, this is going to pass the senate, right? >> it will pass. every republican will vote for the bill. looks like the house will pass it 2:00 in washington. i think senate will take up the bill and pass it tonight and put it on president's desk. stuart: do you still believe that the deal is weighted too much towards big business? because you know, think get lower tax rate and i think you, weren't real happy about that. you have come around? you will vote yes without any problem. >> i'm strong, yes, stuart. here is the issue i had. we need to make sure small businesses, main street businesses see a significant tax

cut, they do in this bill. 68% of the private sector jobs in my home state of mon tan are main street businesses. 2/3 of the farmers and ranchers in montana are main street businesses. they will see a significant tax cut. hard-working americans, they want to see a tax cut. they want to see wages increase. this will be a great christmas for the american people. i got to tell you, stuart, our friend across the lyle they're like the scrooge that stole christmas. they don't understand what this means. people of this country understand what it means. they will see this economy growing, wages go up, more dollars in their pocketbook. stuart: i believe vice president pence put his middle east trip on hold he could preshied over the senate just in case his vote is required. even the vice president believes it could be razor-thin, really close. >> margins are razor-thin to begin with. some of our senators are

struggling with health issues. senator mccain, our prays and wishes bo to the senator from arizona who is battling cancer. it is okay to have vice president pence in case we need him tonight. i understand every republican senator will vote why tonight. stuart: looks like you will get to it tonight. you will be a yes vote. >> i will. stuart: thank you, senator daines, for being with us throughout the ordeal. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: "politico," four democrats and urging senator franken to reconsider his resignation. katie pavlich, still with us. what it is about? >> when al franken gave his floor speech when he would be leaving, which kept the door open rescind of his so-called resignation. democrats won alabama, they can no longer use the roy moore card against republicans which means it is not politically expedient anymore for them to have al frank inch out of senate.

they called for his resignation because they wanted to rid the party of any abuse, sexual harrassment claims, sexual misconduct, look at history of the democrat party willing to put up with it, bill clinton, ted kennedy, et cetera, et cetera, so long as it benefits the party. we have potential republicans could take the seat. close race al franken won first time around. could be close seat after the appointment this year. since the lieutenant governor has been appoint ad woman, don't you think that would be a bad look for the democrats to stealing a job from a woman giving it back to a man accused of sexual misconduct? stuart: very good, katy. a double bind. >> lookses pretty bad. i'm not sure they care. stuart: greatest worry they lose the seat to the republicans. that is the base serves politics. >> it is. stuart: you're all right, katie. >> thank you. stuart: highest compliment to.

>> the bar is high. stuart: thank you, katie. white house says north korea was behind that huge "wannacry" cyberattack back in may. what the white house homeland security advisor held a briefing last hour. did he say it was an act of war? liz: no, he did not. he did say both the uk and might be soft traced this "wannacry" attack back to north korea and cyber affiliates and the reg gene. it happened in may 2017, ashley reported. some say it affected 300,000 computers running worldwide running windows system. hit hospitals, businesses, fedex and honda. it stopped surgeries in the uk. it put lives at risk. it locked update at that on people's computers and demanded bitcoin payments as ransom to get that data released back to the owner. so it is, this is, this is now

some argue is, sort of an act of war. the administration not going that far. stuart: but they did it? that's the point. they did it. we show it. liz: yes. stuart: i have a feel-good holiday story for you. ashley: good. stuart: one anonymous person in pennsylvania paying layaway bills for, 200 families. spending more than $40,000 at the local walmart. this isn't the first year that santa b, that is what they are calling this person has taken matters into his or her own hands. last year he or she, i'm not sure which it is, paid more than 46,000 bucks in layaway items at that same walmart. it i pas to shop at that walmart. ashley: yes. stuart: while republicans work on a christmas gift to all americans, no democrat will vote for this tax plan. and have no plans of their own to grow the economy. they have jingles. we're all over that one. deputy fbi director andrew mccabe reportedly testifying

behind closed doors today. he is the andy mentioned in peter strzok's text when he said he couldn't take that risk of a trump win. this is the second hour of "varney & company." ♪

stuart: it's official? senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says the senate will be voting on the tax bill tonight. we heard that a few moments ago, from steve daines, republican senator from montana. tonight is the night for the senate vote. check the big board. we pared the loss. we're down a near 19, 20 points. quick lip the other markets the price of oil, $57 a barrel. real fast, the price of gold, $1265 per ounce. now, bitcoin, its creator, we hear, is now one of the 50

richest people in the world. there is a problem. what's the problem? ashley: we don't know who it is. they go by the pseudonym of nakamoto. whoever this person is, they thought it was australian businessman. he couldn't prove it. he is not in the running. whoever this person is, when it hit 19,700, he had 980,000 bitcoins. worth $19.4 billion. 44th richest in the world. he created this bitcoin exchange eight years ago and there has been lots of speculation about who it is. we mentioned in a previous hour a swede by the name of emil oedenberg, he cashed out. he was the chief technology officer. we don't know how much he made. he made billions. he said get out now. stuart: he did? liz: pay your tax bill. amazon bill with it. stuart: that is the sting in the tail of the story. ashley: yes. stuart: how about this one?

a student debt crisis? that is a strong word but look at this. 4.6 million have defaulted on their loan repayments. peter more reese say is with us -- more reecy, is with us. university of marylander tenured professor of economics. some young people have so much debt around their necks as they just start out in the real world? >> it is an enormous challenge. the obama folks talk about the legacy they left donald trump. here it is. by and large he borrowed against the future to keep the economy going early in the last decade. lots of young people were growing to grat schools, going to third-rate mba programs, second rate law schools, so much to get education to borrow living expenses. now they have graduated. they can't get rid of the debt through bankruptcy court. they can't get a decent job with the bogus diplomas they received. there are really a lot of

diploma mills out there charged a lot of tuition and encouraged students to borrow a lot of money for basically a worthless asset. stuart: should we foreforgive it, take it off the backs of our young people and get on with the business of expanding? just forgive it. what do you say? >> i would like to, first of all who would pay the bill? the answer is the taxpayers. have to increase the deficit for that. the second thing is, this would just encourage the retro bates that run america's universities to continue what they're doing. tuition is over the last two decades twice the rate of health care which is up twice the rate of regular inflation. those retrobates will continue to dole out political correctness. really, they're the, they're kind of -- america's academics are like america's cultural fifth column. they don't believe in america. stuart: you still have a job because you're tenured? >> i'm not popular back at the ranch, let me tell you.

by the way, they will not publicize anything i do here in the college pr. they won't. stuart: okay. i understand. next year, we get tax cuts, give me the rate of growth, gdp growth, next year? will we get 4%? >> no! we'll get 2.6. stuart: wait a minute? wait, wait. we're growing at 3.3 now aren't we? >> well, no. we tend to have a couple good quarters and then a bad one. this year we'll get three consecutive quarters of 3% growth, something mr. obama could never accomplish because of anticipation of the tax cut and deregulation process. i'm anticipating a weak first quarter and return to 3% growth. so you average out four quarters you get 2.6. to get to 3% growth we're going to have to have entitlement reform. certainly the tax cuts are going to boost investment and boost productivity but we'll need more

people to go to work. to do that we're going to have to raise the labor force participation rate. we're paying people not to work right now. that mr. ryan is up next on his agenda. mr. trump wants, infrastructure. fine we'll need both of those things to get up over 3% all four quarters. stuart: we're rather disappointed in that forecast but you can come back soon and tell us all over it again. morici tenured professor. >> and retrobait. stuart: it works. president trump arrived, at disney's hall of presidents. magic kingdom exhibit featuring robotic versions of every president. >> it's a privilege to serve as the president of the united states, to stand here amongst so many great leaders of our past around to work on behalf of the american people.

stuart: two stocks up sideways kind of day, market for commercial trucks pretty strong. navistar, 6 1/2% up. activist investor starboard value, bought almost a 10% stake in cars.com. starboard says that stock is undervalued. it is up 4%. "cars".com is an on line research tool for car buyers. the senate reportedly probing green party presidential candidate jill stein for possible, wait for it, collusion with russia!. liz: senate intelligence, richard burr making those comments. go back to december 2015. the moscow-backed, kremlin-backed, rt, russia-backed media network, rt,

has 10th year anniversary. jill stein goes to it. sits next to putin. michael flynn also at the table. flynn got $45,000 for that dinner and perks paid. they want to know if jill stein was paid for the dinner and she was booked to appear on the rt network. her campaign will give over documents. we'll post them at same time to jill steyn website. she is fighting back. political free speech, first amendment rights. stuart: did she or did not get paid to go to the dinner? liz: she did not get bad for the dinner. >> admin mission to get paid would be admission stray of capitalism. stuart: interesting jill stein, uber -- >> michigans, she asked for the recount. she justified north korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons

during her campaign. she is something else. stuart: she justified? >> she absolutely justified it. completely understood why they were pursuing nuke e nuclear weapons. didn't comment on the fact they were threatening americans to wipe them out. liz: about killing their own people. stuart: that was jill stein in 2016. i wonder if we'll seer her in 2020? >> we will. unless robert mueller looks into her next. who knows. stuart: house voting in matter of hours on the tax plan. it goes to the senate today, by the way. could be on the president's desk by christmas sieve or before then. we're on that timetable. and diddy, as sean combs, the california panthers are up for sale. he wants in. by the way he would make kaepernick the quarterback. would that make him a good manager? we'll ask that question. let's go to paul ryan answering questions. >> when you have a sling fest, a mud fest on tv, when pundits are slamming each other about the

tax bill before it passes that is what is going to happen. when we get this done, when people see withholding improving, jobs occurring, bigger paychecks, fairer tax system, simpler tax code that is what will produce the results. results will make this popular. allen? reporter: [inaudible]. >> big day today. the leviathan, i read the books. this is hobbs term. this evidence-based policy is very good reform. by the way it is done to get ahead of privacy protections. the board that we put together we're privacy advocates as well. what you want to do is get in front of big data to make sure that individual privacy protections are maintained with standards across all of government but isn't it just rational we should measure

whether or policies are working or not? how many times in washington have you seen an effort--based, input-based policy approach? what i mean is, we seen measures of success poverty fighting programs, how much money are spending, people on the programs, instead of asking the right question, is it working? are we producing the results we want to produce? are we actually getting people out of poverty? now we have the technology, now we have the data to allow researchers to agree whether or not we do works around here. whether or not we spend taxpayer dollar es efficiently, that we get ahead of privacy protections to make sure people's privacy protections are protected. i do believe we can get it done. yeah. reporter: i'm going to -- [inaudible] >> look, i'm not going anywhere anytime soon. let's leave that thing at that. juan? reporter: follow-up, why did you feel compelled to tell your rank-and-file -- >> us bay actually think that

piece was very irresponsible. it was speculative piece. it was faulty speculation. i wanted to put it to rest. reporter: [inaudible] >> so, yeah -- reporter: [inaudible] >> so it's a really good question actually. so we have these low unemployment rates and statistics but yet we have slow growth. how does that factor? look behind that statistic. what those unemployment rates are not taking into account there are tens of millions of able-body adults in america, not looking for work, who are not at work, not in school to get a skill to go to work. so we're going to focus next year on people, getting people from welfare to work. getting skills they need to jobs that they want and careers get them life they need. more to the point, we have not had a 3% economy since before the last recession, the great recession.

tax reform will get as you 3% economy and never forget the fact that in a 21st century economy we have to be competitive with other countries. when we tax ourselves basically with the worst tax code in the industrialized world we're doing great damage to the american economy which hurts workers, which hurts upward mobility. fixing the tax code will help us get the 3% economist. get faster economic growth, guess what? it bids up wages. produces more careers. pulls people on the sidelines, able-body people not being counted by unemployment statistics into the workforce. that is why it helps. one more. >> reporter: [inaudible]. >> yeah. reporter: [inaudible] >> it's a completely legitimate question. first of all, each of these members make their own decisions

how to proceed. that is why we asked greg harper and other members on bipartisan basis to come up with standards, come up with a system. we need to update and upgrade the congressional accountability act. that is now happening. you're going to see chairman harper roll out a slew of reforms to upgrade this law so that we have standards, so that we have the right kind of transparency. when you get into this, you have to keep in mind the victims themselves. what is it they need to protect their interests and their equity? that is why we've taken time to get this right. you saw we passed manadatory training. those regulations how to put the mandatory training in place is coming due this week. you will also see the house administration committee put out whole new slew of reforms so we have basic standard so weh go g- we go forward with new updated law that respects this issue what it is. stuart: that is, speaker ryan came out, not exactly pound the

table, but did a reasonable job trying to sell tax cuts. he did say the tax cuts, tax reform gives us a 3% economy. talking about growth in the future. making the tax-cut package more appropriate and appealing to people. want to bring in congressman louie gohmert seen this i'm sure you have seen the poll out there, that shows the tax-cut package, you're shaking your head. i'll tell you, the tax-cut package, only 26% of people approve of it. 47% disapprove. i put it to you, louie. this has not been sold very well. it certainly has not been sold aggressively. what say you? >> we've been busy working on a tax cut bill. democrats have been busy demonizing it and i was just talking to kevin brady in his office just now before i walked down the hall to come on camera. we have, the great thing is,

we're getting this done by the end of the year. so we have a full year, nearly before the november elections, and people are going to have a chance to say, wow, those democrats were all full of it. so it is really great. i mean people have asked how did i ever get where i am. the secret is low expectations, you know. i think that's true for, for the tax bill, too. they have built just low expectations. we have dropped that corporate tax rate down to 21%. wish it were 15. but 21 will bring manufacturing jobs back. it will increase the jobs. we'll be the young people that for the first time in their lives they have got more than one company wanting to hire them. this will be a great thing. now we have 10 months to let it work its will. i think it is, people are going to want to talk about something else. democrats will want to talk about something else. the fake news will want to talk

about something else within eight months because the economy will be going great. and they're going to have to find some other story. by the way, when you see "the wall street journal" and nbc news combine for a poll, watch out. stuart: look, i want to talk to you about prosperity. >> yes. stuart: to me prosperity is a whole lot more than just numbers. it is more than a 3 or 4% growth rate. >> it is. stuart: it is more than a 4% unemployment rate, it is a feeling. it's a feeling of scope, opportunity, possibility. >> that's right. stuart: that is what prosperity does for us. >> feeling good about ourselves. stuart: yes. >> that is all part of it. it's a big deal. as our friend arthur laffer points out after '83 when the final tranche of the 30.5% tax cut hit, they hit up to over 7% growth. now we want to keep expectations low but things are going to be better than they have been for the last eight years. it is going to be good for

america. so i guarranty you the democrats will want to talk about something else besides the tax plan before the next november elections because it is going to be a good thing for america. stuart: louis, your favored guest on this program because you have a great sense of humor. so i'm going so bring you this. it is called the dingell jingle. i'm sure you're familiar with it. there you go. representative debbie dingell creating this christmas-inspired song about taxes. house phones ring, are you listening, folks are mad but ryan isn't listening no funding bill in sight, walking in a winter blunderland. i'm sure you have seen that talk before. >> debbie is one of the greatest people up mere on the other side of the aisle. she is a friend. i think that is quite clever. it is great for now but, things are going to be good -- the thing we can't lose sight of. we're all pleased coming together on a tax bill. you have got people that are

still wanting to bail out the insurance companies after record profit years, and so we can't take our eye off the ball. there are some, there's some devil in the details around here that still have to be dealt with. or that jingle will come threw. we can't be bailing out insurance companies after record profits. we have got to control our spending or that will end up being the headline instead of this incredible tax bill that we're going to do great things for the economy. stuart: you vote today. >> yep. stuart: the senate votes tonight. it will be on the president's desk before christmas. >> yes, it will. stuart: that is realistic for sure. >> yes, yes. stuart: louie, merry christmas to you. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: see you again soon. thank you very much. >> great. stuart: quick check on the dow please. dow industrials down just 20 points now. we've been hovering around break-even point for much of the day, ever so slightly lower.

by the way, we're what, 220, 230 points away from dow 25,000. i thought we might make a run at it today. but that is not the case. ashley: it is not over. stuart: still a few hours to go. okay. momentarily we're joined by brian kilmeade. he will be with the simulcast, with the radio "brian kilmeade show." we're on the air with "varney & company." he is by the way, the author of an, andrew jackson, the miracle of new orleans. he is with us. the subtitle of the book is, the battle that shaped america's destiny. all about battling the brits as i understand it is a very good book. i don't hold that against him. are you there, kilmeade? there is the lad. all right. i want to talk sports. you're the sports guy. i want to talk this. the carolina panthers are up for sale. p. diddy, sean combs, he wants in and wants to buy it.

what do you make of that? >> he is worth about $700 million. that is what you need, to put 30% down. you have to that that in cash. there are wild bids for this to get into the nfl is basically printing money. this league shares revenue, doesn't matter if you're green bay or new york, you will share revenue, unlike baseball. there will be a long line for this. he wants to buy it. kaepernick is a bit of a ila. i don't know how much money he has left. he doesn't have a job. i don't know how much he socked away, been three years since he was paid a lot of money. he is a backup quarterback to this degree. catching a lot of people's attention. he is also suing the league, stuart. he is saying they colluded to keep him out of football. p. diddy said i will put kaepernick as my quarterback. the problem you have one of the best quarterbacks in football, cam newton. have you looked at your roster lately? that makes no sense. stuart: super bowl is coming up.

the end of january as i recall. i can't remember whether they play the anthem out there as part of the big deal but my question is, are we going to see players kneel during the super bowl, during the anthem? >> the giants have a player, olivia vernon, who will not stand. you have a bunch of seahawks who will not stand. san francisco 49ers will not stand. those teams i mentioned are not getting to the super goal. think about the embarassment. if the league has a man or two take a knee during that time, or dare i say a cheerleader, there was college administrator fired for making sure their cheerleaders didn't take a knee. they fired him. this is, this is a disaster. the nfl has had a rough year. they have had the cover of "sports illustrated," carnage. they have so many players lost to brutal injuries. ratings are down 9%. though most of the sponsorship

deals are signed i think they pay the price this opens up this is terrible year. now the super bowl in cold winter city, a beautiful city, minneapolis. there will not be a lot of people flocking like to miami or san francisco or dallas. stuart: might make a difference. very interesting. >> can't wear a tank top so why would i go? stuart: i am just not so sure that ownership of an nfl team is a license to print money in the future. they have done very well in the past. last generation, but i'm not so sure about the future. you know what, brian? we're out of time. we'll wait for your answer for next week. you will be back again. good stuff. all right, the market shows a 30-point loss. the dow industrials hanging right there at 24,761. look at the big tech names, please. there is negative article in the journal today about the big techs and their profitability going forward. microsoft is down nearly 1%. apple is down 1%.

back to 174. we have carnival cruise lines reporting better profits. nice move on the stock. it is up to 68. that is 2 1/2% higher. olive garden, the parent company, that would be darden restaurants, rosy outlook. the stock is up nearly 4%. check this out, boeing revealing a model of its new military super plane, electric powered with the ability to land and take off without a runway. boeing dubbed the plane, the phantom express. launches 2020. not that far away. coming up deputy fbi director andrew mccabe reportedly testifying behind closed doors today. he is the andy mentioned in peter strzok's text when he said, he couldn't take the risk of a trump win. we're on this story. e-commerce.

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♪ ashley: in the last hour rnc chair rona romney mcdaniel, talked about the anti-trump media and the 2018 elections. roll tape. >> at the end of the day when people go vote next year they will ask themselves, am i better off than i was two years ago. let's look at my care care. let's look at my pension. let's look at my paycheck. these are the type of things they will be asking? is nye family better? is my house value going up? can i pay my rent and my mortgage?

have the republican fought for me. the answer is yes. resist and obstruct are not messages resonating in the polls in 2018. we'll continue to push good policy because we're fighting on behalf of the american people. ♪ they appear out of nowhere. my secret visitors. appearing next to me in plain sight.

hallucinations and delusions. these are the unknown parts of living with parkinson's disease. what stories they tell. but for my ears only. what plots they unfold. but only in my mind. over 50% of people with parkinson's will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. and these can worsen over time, making things even more challenging. but there are advances that have led to treatment options that can help. if someone you love has parkinson's and is experiencing hallucinations or delusions, talk to your parkinson's specialist. because there's more to parkinson's. my visitors should be the ones i want to see. learn more at moretoparkinsons.com ♪

stuart: happy hanukkah to everyone. apple's stock got a rare downgrade. nomura says those iphone x sales and other positives, they're all factored into the stock price. they're all baked in and it's heading south to the tune of two bucks. 174 on apple. ups has ordered 125 of tesla's electric trucks. biggest order so far, $25 million worth. walmart and pepsi also bought and ordered those big electric rigs. tesla down three bucks. back to the deep state drama at the fbi. i want to ask the following question of someone who knows the answer and that is this. is the fbi probe of leading politicians totally and hopelessly politicized? come on in please, james kallstrom, former fbi assistant director.

you always had something to say about this. what do you have to say now? >> stuart, over year-and-a-half we talked about the reverse crescendo, talked about jim comey his crazy actions outside the main how the fbi should operate. now we come to this focus on the fifth estate they've talked about, that includes multiplicities of people. now we know it also includes a bunch of sycophants in the fbi that, they were part of the comey team, apparently, and people in justice also, that i believe have exposure now for obstruction of justice. i mean people, people tweet each other and send text messages but they don't plan. the fbi is not in the business of planning to destroy a president of the united states. i mean, it is clear to me that is what -- stuart: you think they were? >> i think they were. i think they were trying. i think they were way above

their capability. you know, this guy thinks he is the "lone ranger," this peter strzok. he will float in here, but any chance trump gets elected which is catastrophe, in his mind. i don't know what his mind is thinking. obama basically destroyed the country. now you have a guy that wants to fix it. but anyway, if that is his thinking, you know, and they were obviously from the words we saw they're in andy's office plotting some kind of thing. i think that some kind of thing what we're seeing right now. we've seen for the last, ever since he has been elected. we've seen this facade and this phony challenge to trump about collusion with russia which nothing could be further from the truth. all the collusion is with the democrats, and it is very, very depressing to the fbi, fbi agents. 99%, .9, are hard-working patriotic guys, come to work for the good of the country. and you have this cabal of

people, you have this deputy director who should have been out a long time ago for his actions. and then you have peter strzok, who knows how many others. you have comey with all the phony stuff that he did. and, you know, but i think, i think finally we're going to get to the end of this but the big mystery here is the justice department. what is the justice department doing? what is the attorney general of the united states doing? you know, it's too bad for donald trump who, i have known for a long, long time, with all his little things that he does that people don't like, his policies are what is going to bring the united states back. stuart: okay. >> globally in my view. yet, you have this huge storm of people that are just putting roadblock after roadblock. it's a mystery to me why he hasn't called over to the attorney general and told the attorney general, give the oversight committees the documents they're looking for. why is the trump justice department not complying with

subpoenas from the justice department that want to look into this thing? stuart: i want to summarize this. i want to be very clear about it. i have said, in my opinion, it is an opinion, there is a cabal active within the fbi and the justice department. >> yes. stuart: which hates trump. >> yes. stuart: which protected hillary clinton. >> yes. stuart: and tried to bring down donald trump. >> yes. stuart: and that is an extraordinary story of interference in an american presidential election. >> yes, it is. stuart: you're agreeing with me on this? >> we've been talking about this in different tones. stuart: now it is out in the open. >> without question, that's what it was. just like the whole so-called clinton investigation was phony from the beginning. we talked about that no grand jury. giving witnesses immunity. putting all subjects in the same room at one time. that is crazy nuts what they did. stuart: james. coming up on a hard break. i want to ask this question. you have 20 seconds. what is morale like in the fbi

now. >> it's not good, but i think recent events, that i'm aware of are going to improve that. actually something is going to happen in my view. stuart: you will leave us on that? james, you got to come back. >> there is a lot of patriots had it up to here with what is going on. they are going to step forward and tell people what the shenanigans have been. how they shut down the clinton foundation investigation. how other things were done that are so anti, what the fbi, of the united states, this country is about. stuart: we want to hear it, james kallstrom. we want to hear it here. that's a fact. james, thank you very much indeed. merry christmas to you, young man. >> merry christmas. stuart, update the north korean hacking story. facebook deleted accounts operated by hacking group affiliated with the nokos. liz: liz: microsoft taking same

action. stuart: well-said, lizzie. are the north koreans using cryptocurrencies to fund cyber warfare. i believe the answer is yes? liz: they are. neil: we're on it. back in a moment. ♪

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ashley: white house blaming that massive "wannacry" cyberattack earlier this year on the north koreans. blake burman has been following this story for us. and, blake, the report says those north koreans are using cryptocurrencies, right, to fund these cyber attacks? reporter: right. the homeland security advisor tom bossert was asked about this a little while ago whether or not he thinks this is being used by the north koreans. he said look, cryptocurrency is is difficult to track. they're not sure how they would have tracked cryptocurrency going into that particular country. not necessarily a yes or no answer on this one from the homeland security advisor. i did ask him the administration's general position on cryptocurrency and block chain technology and bossert said that the administration is monitoring both the positives and the negatives. >> we don't have formal position

on block chain and crypto currencies at this point. block chains operate in a way that there is great hope and promise. they also have some, they also present some security risk and concern for us. reporter: ashley, i asked him if he feels this space needs to be regulated. he said they are not prepared to say that at this moment. ashley? ashley: very good. blake burman at the white house. thank you very much. we'll have the third hour of "varney" right after this. . . .

stuart: the president outlined the trump doctrine. i will sum it up like, this prosperity brings security, ashley, prosperity pays for security. it's good to hear such a clear-cut home truth. the president used reaganesque language, peace through strength. promote american values. that's what the great communicator was saying a generation ago and remember,

reagan became president after jimmy carter, he took over after period of american decline and humiliation overseas. president trump takes over after a similar period. the obama era was marked by china frequent cave-in to enemies. obama's retreat did not bring security, exposed to iran, north korea and isis. the trump era with the trump doctrine is off and running. america's economy is growing much more rapidly than it has in a decade and tax cuts and infrastructure spending suggests even better growth still to come. it is desperately needed. we can't confront and contain north korea if we can't restore our military, we can't do that without the money that comes from growth. the president also talked about america as a place that has yet to see its best years, the

future looks bright. that's optimism and optimism comes with prosperity, scope, possibilities, all opened up by an expanding economy on the road to prosperity. that's the trump doctrine. a 180 from the obama era. in mr. trump's own words, economic security is national security. the third hour of varney & company is about to begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: we are down 50 points and a lot of red amongst the dow 30. we are actually down 53 at 24,738. 25,000 is still within reach before christmas. peter kiernan, best-selling author, peter, your reaction to trump doctrine, america equal --

prosperity equals security. >> real competitors like china, follow the checkbook, the economy is the key. stuart: also joined by ron carson, ron, your response to the trump doctrine, security is prosperity? >> i absolutely agree 100%. i mean, security, prosperity go hand in hand and listening to you talk about the reagan era and the trump era, i think there's so many parallels there. if you remember, you know, reagan was under tremendous pressure and really criticism. i remember driving down the road, growing up on the farm and announced the largest farmville and we really need that after the obama era.

>> i remember it well because ronal reagan's tax cut put me in middle class. i want to know your opinion of some of the selling that we are seeing now on wall street, do you think, ron, some people are taking money off the table early right before we get the tax cut deal so they sleep well over the holidays? >> you know, it's really hard to say. my whole entire career i've always said, buy the rumor, sell the facts. the market wants to make a run at 25,000. this is a little normal pullback. the economy is strong, i think we are going to three handle on unemployment and the market is not really planning on the fed raising rates three times, the carson group, that's exactly what we think will happen, but repositioning in your portfolio and also just be conscious of

the risk that you're taking. i don't think anything is going to happen. i think the market is going to see 25 and it probably will, make some adjustments now while you can. >> peter, what's wrong with selling a chunk of the profitable stocks that you own and sleeping well? >> i only got on this business 42 years ago but in that time, 42 years, only twice where the stock market has been up like it has been this year. was up again the following year, once during reagan, two times, '95, '96 with president clinton. neither were up as much. a little caution, fine, we have come a long way, however, big however, if this tax bill does one thing promotes investment, that would lead to expansion of economy beyond the 3% and the stock market will love that.

stuart: on that note, president trump was tweeting about the market and the economy this morning, he says, 70 record closes for the dow so far this year. we've never had 70,000 records in a one-year period, wow. earlier he said we still have great things still to come for the market and the economy. in other words, ron, the president is looking forward and he's saying, we have ways to go on the upside yet of the stock market. he's talking it up. >> well, and i realize that and trump is great at doing that and she -- he should. we've had great things and however 11 months where the s&p has been up. that's never happened. a lot of things that have never happened and i disagree. i think that, yeah, we are going to have growth, maybe some additional growth, corporations have been financially strong for some time, so it's not like all of a sudden they have the cash

to reinvest back in their business, they have been doing that all along here. i'm not so sure, i think '18 will be much more volatile than this year and i agree that pay attention to what your risk budget is in the calm, don't wait for the storm because at some point we are going to have the storm. i don't know if it's next 12 months or 24 months but this will not go on forever. stuart: got it. headline to the wall street journal, headline reads, tax plan strikes at tech giants foreign profits, by the way, all big tech stocks are down. what do you make of that headline, peter? >> i think the headline is all it's good for. i don't think it has anything to do with the long-term valuation of the stocks. the stocks are market movers, every major bull markets they are the favorites, this is basically another collection of stocks that is going to do a lot to transform. somebody came out negatively on apple, don't worry about it. i just don't think it matters,

what you really have to look at is pick the stocks that have the protection and the ability to carry on every major stock, every major corporation that's going to have to rethink what it's true aftertaxes profits will be now that there's a new tax law, that probably means they're going to earn more money and that will translate to some movement in the market. don't worry about this stuff. stuart: ron, i don't want to throw you a curve, i want to ask you a specific question, is there one stock among the five big-technology companies that you would buy and one of the big-tech companies that you would sell? >> tremendous upgrade cycle with the iphone 10, a great company. i agree with what peter says, they are going to make more money. and, you know, a really cool brand, i'm, tesla has had great move, that's what you're looking

for, we think it's crazy. we would be selling tesla in here. stuart: you own tesla, by the way? >> i actually -- i -- the firm and i are sure tesla. stuart: that's a different story. glad we found that one out. the amtrak derailment in washington state, president trump tweeted right after it, he said, look the train accident shows more than ever why son infrastructure plan must be approved quickly, $7 trillion spent in middle east while roadways and bridges crumble. peter, is that train crash given a shot in the arm to the infrastructure plan? >> listen, you and i met a couple of years ago on the very subject which is the two things, tax reform and infrastructure go hand and glove, he should be down with both feet and people do not confuse expense with investment. we need to invest in infrastructure. we are going to spend a trillion dollars over ten years in the

next 12 months, china is going to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. we are in a global game, we must get in, do not let the timid ostriches tell us not to invest in infrastructure. do it, just do it and it'll help the economy. stuart: there's a strong statement from peter kiernan, is that going to be matched by a strong statement by ron carson, go. >> yeah, we need infrastructure spending. just yesterday i had lunch with construction and he's on the committee trying get highway bill, there's no political will and we need political will and we do need big investment just to remain competitive globally. peter is right on. stuart: ron carson, thanks for joining us, we will see you again real soon. breaking in, breaking news vice president pence will preside over the senate vote on the tax bill tonight.

that's according to spokeswoman, that's likely because of john mccain's absence. pence would be need today break a tie, he will be there. okay. deputy fbi director andrew mccabe expect today testify behind closed doors today. he's the andy mentioned in peter 's text. yesterday on the program we were joined by jordan who said it's a scam. we are on the story, of course. i asked for a real christmas cow yesterday so my all-star production team obliged. here we go. frank sinatra. ♪

♪

stuart: news on the wild fires, now 50% contained. the thomas fire has destroyed a thousand buildings, 700 of them are homes. the fire started on december the fourth and it's now just 50% contained. how about that? i have to get to bitcoin. trading now at $18,215 per coin. now, jordan bellford, the man who ran scam that inspired the movie the wolf of wall street, he was on our show yesterday and he had this to say about bitcoin. roll tape. >> bitcoin itself is not that bitcoin is a scam, the technology behind bitcoin is not a scam that people that actually invented, they are not sure who, right, but it was more of an experiment, social experiment. what's happened is that there's people that have used this

platform, block chain technology to create a massive manipulation and bubble because there's some inherit problems right now because what's happening is bitcoin is deregulated currency but not being used as currency except for very, very tinny portion. stuart: he thinks it's a scam. there's a very limited number of bitcoins out there and they're all being bid up in price by the insiders. the man on your screen is now, looking somewhat glum is actor and producer steven baldwin who is, i believe, a big fan of bitcoin and thoroughly disagrees with what we just saw? >> absolute i, i do, sir, listen, like anything, i'm just an actor. [laughter] >> well, listen, if you ask any stock analyst, it's about risk management, isn't it? yes. so i'm going to tell people, bitcoin, light coin, dash digital cash, really cool

company called block apps, these are companies that are trying to educate the consumer, the difference between what's happening in block chain as a technology and then crypto as an opportunity to invest. very different thing. block chains of technology using in many ways, crypto is a digital currency, yes, wall street, it's not existent but you can't take a stock down to home depot and buy what you need what you can with dash digital cash. stuart: i agree with you that there's a difference between block-chain technology. >> home depot. stuart: there's a difference with block-chain technology which is the basis of the whole thing which clearly has a future, clearly has a future. but the difference between that, the technology that underlies it and the bitcoin itself, which is clearly a bubble -- >> sure. absolutely. stuart: do you agree with that? are you in it?

>> has wall street been a bubble, hasn't wall street had bubbles, people invest in all of that. let's not discourage the honest individual who wants to make a buck from getting involved -- if you have little money to play and invest, i am going to tell you right now, look at the top 10 crypto currencies, they are going up in up in 3 to 5 years, is it a risk, absolutely, so is everything else. check out crypto digital cash. stuart: okay. [laughter] stuart: do you own bitcoin? >> i don't own bitcoin. stuart: you don't own bitcoin. are you going to stay in them? >> easily, six to nine months i'm hanging onto coins i've got. stuart: if you've got money that you don't mind losing put it in, it's not investment, it's an opportunity. >> it's an opportunity with a

calculated risk like everything else. stuart: hold on a second, steven, here is a real life wall street person. >> i'm not going to pass jum. invest with people that know what they are talking about and so that's sort of my starting premise. >> anybody can research. you can go to home depot and buy stuff. this is reality, people. this is not a guess. yes, this is a risk. respectfully to you, i talked to my brother-in-law who works for ats secure, small little investment technology company, guess what, they are doing some research and he's advising me as an investment guy about what the truth and the realities and the risk-reward is of crypto now, one of the biggest most important thing is education. don't think because you

understand block chain that means that you understand crypto, that's an understanding that needs to be separated. again, i am a wild, crazy, actor guy and you don't operate from that perspective, god bless you but it's fascinating to see the number of guys on your end that are recognizing that it has potential. stuart: thank you, steven baldwin, i think you've made your point. thank you, steven, appreciate it. merry christmas. you have to look at this. 3-man space crew, they arrived at space station, capsule carrying the astronauts, come from u.s., japan and russia, by the way, following a two-day flight and the hatch between the capsule and station was opened this morning allowing the three-man crew, the new guys to greet their new, as they call them new orbital family. there you have it.

the video is good. the government requests for facebook user data up, we have andrew napolitano, the judge all over that story and he's coming up shortly. president trump joins the hall of presidents at wallet disney world, being unveiled today, you will hear it here and the republicans appear to be losing the pr battle on the tax plan. new poll only 26% of people say they like this thing. half of the country disapproves. we will be back. cannot live without it.

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that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. stuart: president trump's likens joins the presidential robots in wallet disney world and makes debut in orlando. it speaks or he speaks, roll tape. >> it's a privilege to serve as the president of the united states, to stand here amongst so many great leaders of our past and to work on behalf of the american people. stuart: president trump personally recorded his own voice, each new president has kept up the tradition to lend up voice since 1990's.

texas rangers pitcher world series mvp, they are donating mansion to charity. 32,000 square feet, a hundred acres in missouri worth nearly $10 million, children with special needs, the charity, well done, what a fine thing. >> yeah. stuart: big payday for lady gaga, sign a residency deal with las vegas, las vegas review journal, pay 36 shows at $400,000 a piece at monte carlo casino. others britney spears, jennifer lopez. apple stock is down a buck 64. check the parent of olive garden, they looked out to the future and they say, it's going to be bright, the market likes that, they are up nearly 5 and a

half percent. the senate votes on tax bill tonight. vice president pence will preside over the vote just in case he needs to break a tie. the market down a mere 30 points. we will be back.

stuart: you know, it's a stable market, slightly on the downside, we are still about, what, 200 and odd points away from 25,000, down 38 as we speak. do you think the market is turning negative right before we get the tax deal? >> of course, people are whispering, don't buy off baseball cards, buy on fundamentals. the fundamentals are there. look at the m&a, mergers and acquisitions, corporations are going to have the urge to merge and that's another reason to invest. stuart: we remember you from the election, buy, buy, and you're still saying the same thing. consistent, at least. the democrats are not going to abandon the russia, russia theme, adam, ranking member of

the house intelligence committee, this is what he wrote in op-ed in wall street journal today, what we know about the trump's campaign collusion with russia, reality diverges from the president's denials, david boss is with us, best seller, let trump be trump. david, it sounds -- it sounds like from adam's statements in the journal that president trump does have a lot to worry about, what's your reading of this? >> well, the only thing president trump has to worry about is guys like adam schiff who are in the house and senate who are nay sayers, who are part of the problem, part of the broken status quo in washington, d.c. that is the reason that he got elected in the first place. adam schiff cannot find anything whether it's in tax reform package or any other piece of

legislation to be for. the democrat leaders can only be against the president because it's all about politics to them, it's all about power. they have no agenda to move the american people forward for success on any level, whether it's national security, our economics, our health care or education, they have zero to do with moving america forward. they just have to be negative. part of the reason that is you see the american people tired to have politicization of all of these issues. >> david, i want to bring a poll to your attention from mammoth university, americans disapprove of it, 47%, those who approve of it, only 26%. that suggests to me that the republicans have shall we say a messaging problem, they're not selling this thing aggressively. i don't see anybody pounding the table about this. >> that's right, other than the president, we are not seeing good enough messaging and it --

there needs to be a better job politically out of this white house, there needs to be a better job politically out of the rnc, party arm of the white house. there needs to be a better job by all of the surrogates in house and senate, it can't be all on jim jordan and mark meadows' shoulders or mike lee and a few others in the senate. there has to be a serious effort to educate the american people about why this is great for all americans because it is. stuart: well, david, i'm going to turn to peter for a second, i don't see a senator, i don't see anybody saying this is the greatest thing and this is going to get the economy going, i don't see that. >> i don't think they fully understand it to be honest because they moved quickly. changed that was principally for corporations and now has gotten better. the way we should investigate it

and evaluate is, does it create more jobs, does it make wages go up, does it create corporate investment, if it does three things, this is a very fine bill. stuart: david, when does public opinion turn around on tax bill? >> as soon as the american people are educated to the facts that they just heard. peter is exactly right. this is -- this is what this bill does. it is -- it has gotten better over this past several days. it is for small businesses, for the pass-throughs, for individuals, this tax reform package, the first in over 30 years is going to increase wages. it's going to create new jobs, it's going to create competitiveness that american companies have not had in a very long time and so i think that's going play out over the next several quarters, the next couple of years in the markets and i think that we are -- the president is going get those dividends politically down the

road. stuart: okay, we shall see, david bossie, appreciate it and great book by the way. facebook says government requests for personal data up 21% compared to the second half of 2016. this is a global increase in data requests. all right, judge napolitano is here. so what? >> well, this is the government going to facebook without a search warrant or without a subpoena and asking for information and facebook coughing it up. stuart: about terrorists? >> well, we don't know what it's about. it may very well violate privacy or may not violate privacy. they're asking for information that's not in the public domain, sort of like when bob mueller goes to gsa and asks for information that's not on public domain. the government does it all of the time. it's not just bob mueller whether it's russian alleged, russia, russia or whether it's some sort of terrorist behavior

being communicated through facebook, when the government comes asking private companies and citizens should say, where is your subpoena, close the door. stuart: okay. but you are just not happy with the government trying to track down terrorists. >> i'm not happy with the government getting information with which when i give it to a company there is an express or implied agreement that they won't share it without telling me. problem with -- if i can get back to gsa, the gsa didn't tell the transition of the request to give them the opportunity to object. so if the justice department goes to facebook saying, we need everything that varney ever posted and every computer from which he ever posted it, theoretically they should say, mr. varney, we have this request, we are going to comply in ten days but you have ten days to get it quashed.

stuart: would you be happy if there was a judge sitting in facebook headquarters and the judge says, facebook, do it. >> no, i would be happy with judges sitting in chambers and everybody having to go to them and bow down. [laughter] >> actually i did this at 3:00 in the morning. a friend of mine issued warrants. stuart: time that the judges earn their money. [laughter] >> that's why some are no longer judges. stuart: i heard that story about you, actually. >> i feel like i'm in confession. [laughter] stuart: wanna cry cyber-attack, the white house says, hey, you north koreans, they did it but they did not use expression it was an act of war. >> i'm happy that he didn't use the expression that it was an act of war. they have the means with which to retaliate, the nonlethal and defective means to retaliate. the same type of thing they did

to us, if they use the word war, you'll hear a lot of people say, okay, let's send bombs over there and innocents will die. this is a plot hacked by a crazy people, perpetrated by a few more thugs, they know how to neutralize it. politically it's up to the president whether he wants his people to call this war. i commend them for their restraint in not using that word. do you agree? stuart: you're asking me? as a matter of fact i do. >> no more confessions on television. [laughter] stuart: thank you, judge. >> you're welcome. stuart: the senate reportedly looking into former presidential candidate jill stein of possible collusion with the russians during the election. [laughter] stuart ahead of the senate intel committee richard, republican, north carolina, he says stein may have benefited from russian-bought political ads on

facebook. now you know. i often say the phrase just saying annoys me, my teenage daughters say it. some people on the production staff say it, get this, what are the most annoying words or phrases and just saying is not on it. we will tell you what did make the list and that's a promise. >> i'm just saying i like you. [laughter] stuart: be careful. fbi director andrew mccabe reportedly it having behind closed doors today, he's the andy mentioned in peter strok's text saying he couldn't take a risk of trump win. jim jordan who first named mccabe as the andy, he joins us next.

i used to have more hair. i used to have more color. and... i used to have cancer. i beat it. i did. not alone.

i used to have no idea what the american cancer society did. research? yeah. but also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. i used to maybe give a little. then i got so much back. i used to have cancer. please give at cancer.org. nicole: i'm nicole petallides with fox business brief. the battle of smart speakers. amazon stock's best selling product of thanksgiving black friday weekend. you can see all three amazon, alphabet and google, apple are to the downside today but they are cutting prices to try and get you spending dollars for the holidays. in fact, we have seen google cutting prices about 40% for the home mini, just 30 bucks from 50. google home, 80 bucks from 129

and the dot is coming down, down to 30 bucks from 50. now this is the battle of the smart speakers, the smart speakers and, of course, apple home pod is coming out in the next year, they play your music u dim your lights and connect to your home across the board. interesting enough the home pod from apple, 349 bucks. s ♪ ♪

stuart: you can call a sign of the times, toys"r"us considering closing at least 100 stores, maybe 200 stores, why? poor holiday sales, down 15% compared to last year and by the way, the company did file for bankruptcy in september. another one for you, boeing -- video from boeing, this is a model, i believe, this could be the electric plane prototype, takes off and lands from a single spot, no runway required. boeing says it could be a game-changer. boeing releases details, more of them sometime later today. boeing is very close to 300 bucks a share. fbi director, deputy director andrew mccabe faces questioning behind closed doors today, this is the investigation into russia, russia and the election. joining us now is congressman jim jordan, republican from ohio. jim, i want to know about that meeting, lisa page, peter strok,

andy mccabe, this is where peter messaged that they couldn't take the risk, i guess, of a trump win. what do you think that meeting was all about? >> i think it's where they planned to go after one party's nominee for president and that never should happen in this great country where the fbi is work to go help one candidate and working to harm another, but that looks like the meeting where it all kind of unfolded and they decided, we are going to go after donald trump because we can't trust the american people not to elect this guy, thank goodness the american people did elect donald trump and made him the next president. stuart: what on earth is the deputy director of the fbi, i think he's the number two guy of the fbi, what's he doing in a meeting with vigorous trump hate ers from the justice department discussing the election? >> it never should happen. look, we know almost all of mueller's team is antitrump. what is big news peter strok is

the same guy who ran the clinton investigation, who ran the russian information, who interviewed clinton, abedin, changed crime to extreme carelessness and guy who interviewed mike flynn picked by mueller's team and removed from mueller's team, i think it's because of the dossier. peter -- peter strok deputy head of counterintelligence. i think his fingerprints are all over the dossier taken to get the fisa warrants. stuart: is it possible that the dossier, inspired by democrats, paid for by hillary's campaign that was used almost as the excuse to open up the russia, russia, russia thing. >> i totally believe that's the case and really, stuart, two fundamental questions. did the fbi pay christopher steel, the guy who wrote the dossier and was the dossier as the basis to secure the warrants

that the fisa to spy on americans, if the answer to either one of the questions is yes, these folks are guilty as sin, the fbi went after one political party's nominee. stuart: why is the justice department withholding vital documents about what really went on from investigators? >> for the life of me, i do not know. we have asked questions of fbi director wray, rod rosenstein, they will not answer the questions. it's time for subpoena. he's going to subpoena bruce ohr, and eventually to andrew mccabe as well. we need those people to come in, be deposed and put them on the same stand that mr. session and rosenstein sat on a few weeks. stuart: can we see the questioning? we all want to see it? >> we have primary jurisdiction over the justice department and

fbi. they have to come to judiciary committee in open setting and answer questions so the entire country can see, did these folks really go after, did they try to help one candidate win and go after the other party's nominee, i think they did. all the evidence points in that direction, we will find out for sure when we get the documents, we depots them and put them on the witness stand. stuart: a degree of public confusion because the story has been going on for so long and goes on all sorts of tangents, but the bottom line, this is what i'm saying, there's a cabul. cover up for hillary. that's my position. i'm i on the right track? >> you're totally on the right track. think about this, in spite of the democrat national -- democrats being against president trump, in spite of the establishment being against trump, the elite national media against trump and in spite of the fbi and justice department he still won the american people

elected him. that's the bottom line. he won in spite of all of the stuff but we still need to hold people accountable if they did, in fact, what i believe they did. stuart: you know, jim, i owe you an apology, i gave you a hard time about obamacare and the fate of the gop, i'm sorry i said that, we are cheering you on in this case. >> thank you, brother. stuart: you, sir, are all right. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: next up, the top five most annoying words, just saying isn't the number one, although in my opinion it should be. stay right there.

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stuart: i really feel we should have a drurve roll for -- drum roll for this. got it. most annoying words or phrases. starting with number five, you know what i mean. that's number five. ashley: i really don't. >> literally is number four. no offense, number three. fake news that's second. got 23% of the votes. look at that, number one

whatever. [laughter] stuart: that was voted most annoying by 33% of respondents and it is the most annoying word for nine years in a row. ashley: yeah, whatever. stuart: i knew that was coming. here is a stat which i think is totally misleading. liz: fake news. stuart: fake news, whatever. 14% of u.s. families directly own stocks. that's according to federal reserve. i'm sure that's true, but the operative word is directly, peter. >> it is the operative word because actually people have far more exposure than that because they have mutual funds, they have pension funds, retirement funds, if they're invested in life insurance, i say the exposure totally is closer to 80%. i like that only 14% own stocks directly because otherwise it might be tempted to listen to actor who is renlding what stocks they should get. [laughter] stuart: the left would jump on this, see only a slim minority of people who actually benefit from the trump rally.

>> the number is 80%. stuart: lizzie. liz: i like how both of you use the most annoying word in clinton era, operative. that does not get reported msnbc or cnn. they make it like everybody is iced out of the trump rally. there's been a rally that have benefited government workers as well. ashley: triggered because donald trump was president and put out a tweet that said, have you checked out 401(k) lately, immediately the gremlins say how can we get him on the tweet. liz: ira's, pension plans. ashley: they are doing very well. stuart: are we done with this one? ashley: yeah, whatever. [laughter] stuart: now, look, my team now production team, they have been

playing secular christmas music, i don't like it. i've told them but i have no control over the show. i'm not alone. i am alone. ashley: you are. stuart: writing great music, great christmas music, stu. come on into this. where am i going wrong? i want a church choir singing angel's sing, silent night. ashley: can we have a nice mix? stuart: it's my show. why do we have jingle bells and drummer boy. liz: you were just tapping your feet to jingle bells. [laughter] stuart: that are working to get a church choir in the studio friday. liz: we all sing like a hinge.

stuart: quiet on the set, holy night sung by ellen fitzgerald. ♪ ♪

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stuart: listen up my fellow americans. about to make a demand on our production crew. on friday of this week, as we head towards christmas i want the choir at st. george's castle, windsor, the royal choir, singing the hark the herald angels sing. sigh let night. any other input. >> what child is this. stuart: i take it. liz: santa clause is coming to

town. don't want any of that? stuart: the royal choir singing criminal mass carols. can i get it? can i get it. >> all i want for christmas is you. stuart: say yes. all yours. out of time. neil, it's yours. neil: do you ever think maybe your staff is looking out for you, that ma music sounds a lot like funeral music? stuart: what? neil: not all the time. stuart: wait, wait, wait. neil: choir in a church singing? that is how that will all go down. maybe they don't want to tempt fate. i'm giving them ben it if the doubt. stuart: this is your show. get on with it. neil: all right. we've got a lot going on here, stuart. waiting to find out what the house is going to do with the tax plan. a vote is expected next hour 1/2. they have this whole procedure they go through. it is beyond me, how these guys get anything done. because they're giving the senate run for their