that those lovely twins, bottom left of your screen, eleanor and cynthia, they have got bright red hair. when i walk town the street with them, they get more attention than i do. and that really, really annoys me. time's up. neil, it is yours. neil: they're beautiful. you didn't seem to know them at first. [laughter]. i like at you, well. stuart: [laughter] neil: they're beautiful children. good luck getting to know them. i'm kidding. i'm kidding. thank you very much, my friend. families are everything, aren't they. right now, diplomatic family in the making here with the president and man he calls one of his favorite world leaders, the prime minister of japan. there is a lot of back and forth going on between these two leader. might place a wedge in between us and the chinese. remember, you know, if you think about the prime minister of

japan, his popularity has tumbled over the last year. last year at this time he was sporting an approval rating of 75%. now down to 24%. there is some scandals there. what they call you a bay fatigue over there -- abe fatigue. the question is president will try to help him out and how does he do that? we have market watcher jack mcintyre. and our own deirdre bolton. let me tell you a little secret about deirdre, that i love. she is scary smart but always taking notes until the last second of the show, calling people, checking things up. she was the kid i sat behind at school, much older than her, to see the answers for the test. she ruined the curve for everybody. >> i thought you were going to say there is a lot of sharpies. neil: there is a lot of sharpies going on. these two leaders will come out. they will announce something presumably on trade or

initiatives taken, maybe to offset china. is it your sense, deirdre, when you hear from people that japan will play a very crucial role in that? >> i think japan would like to be exempted, right, from all of our tariff pressure and i think that is certainly part of it but last night president trump really brought an end to the idea that we might rejoin the trans-pacific partnership, tpp, which is one thing that obviously he actually negated on his second day in office. neil: didn't they finish the deal? >> they went through with the other 11 members, but what has happened all the 11 members by default gotten closer to china. so it is really this odd triangle. i don't know how it is going to end up. i do know japan would like to be exempted from all of our tariffs against any partner. neil: do you know why japan didn't get a pass on this? even when it came to revisiting punitive measures on some of our other friends like canada and mexico.

they, they did get a pass. >> i think one. reasons, you look at the trade deficit. we know trump uses the trade deficit as a metric, barometer of the success of his administration, the u.s. so i think you need to see some progress on that to give japan a full pass. this could be part of the negotiation, japan to take military pressure to move the ball on north korea. neil: that seems a more pressing impede i can't think need to get something done on north korea. pompeo has been to see the north korean leader. is that usurping china as a front issue now for the administration. >> it has gotten so trump needs a win. with north korea, who knows ultimately how this is going to play out. with nafta, if we focus on trade for a second we'll get a win there. everything is setting up for a huge trade war. i call it a economic cold war between the u.s. and china.

neil: so you don't see that getting resolved amicably? >> maybe short run but long term there will be major issues. neil: what is interesting, we talk about the trade back and forth between china and ourselves. china ran a trade deficit with the world. that must really stick in president's craw, because that makes it more insulting, right? >> i think it us did. at the end of the day these are the world's two largest economies, as far as dramatic tension goes this is high noon. personally for what its worth, not that the president has to hear me out i think was a most take for us to get out of tpp because i think it let all the countries more interconnected and dependent on china. i think our hand is a little weaker is what i'm saying. neil: i'm curious where this deal stands in the context of the markets?

barely moving today, jack, but earnings are coming in fast and furiously and beating expectation. >> right. neil: 74% of the s&p 500 going into today, beating on earnings front, 80%. >> there is away from trade and exogenous events. the market is sort of saying it is as good as it is going to get. i don't think that is the case. think we're going to see growth accelerate, not gangbusters, but up tick. neil: every quarter, versus the year prior, the similarly up because of the tax cuts and in full effect this year. so we could get used to this, so is the market fully priced in to be used to it? >> there is market other factors out there, that sort of distracted. neil: like what?

>> trade. neil: okay. >> i view it as geopolitical risk. maybe we're making progress with north korea but i think it's a policy risk. it is the fed and its trade. trade is certainly most important one. i would push back. i think tpp and u.s. is pulling out trump's tweet this is negotiating style. say, hey, i really don't need that. we circle around because, i think the most important, you alluded to it, relationship for investors to focus on is u.s. and china and if we do not participate in it. pp, we are giving china carte blanche to increase our economic profile. >> we also seem to be increasing dramatic tension talking about the markets. china, not the first time at the negotiating table. hey, i'm paraphrasing we'll hurt all the areas that voted for you. neil: xi xinping made a number of promises allowing more auto manufacturers from the united states in to easing up on some of the restraints they put on

financial firms that do business but he hasn't implemented anything. he talked about it. >> this is all talk. maybe to your point, jack, this is really a big show. who foes, we may end up with this beautiful compromise. when we look at markets, as you're saying why aren't they up higher? we have to remember a larger context. we're in the ninth year of a bull market. even though earnings come in fast and furious. even though we're showing strength, there are a lot of people frankly rightly or wrongly looking for a place where the average investor may trip or institutional investor. neil: maybe something unconventional surprises us. when i was in washington, orrin hatch said a lot of my colleagues myself included were leery the way the president is dealing with the chinese, but gosh darn it, it might get them to make concessions, same on some of these other initiatives. do you buy that we could be pleasantly surprised this apper ant policy making behavior will

work? >> i am keeping my fingers crossed. the biggest risk is global trade war, protectionist. i would like to see the trump administration not go alone. get international community one side, i hate to say against, but motivate china to -- >> does that imply trade agreements that are not one for one? >> i think we are pushing more toward, this is the, trump is not a fan of this, more global trade agreements. don't forget, actually global trade is doing okay now. we're seeing improvement. this is the dance, the negotiating process. neil: jack, deirdre, thank you very, very much. meantime senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was telling me this whole spending measure that the president harpooned, the president knew about it, caused a little bit of a dust-up, listen to this. the president meanwhile is looking at $1.3 trillion spending measure, wants to rescind all that spending.

do you agree with it? >> he agreed to it. he was involved in the negotiation and signed the bill. neil: he warned, he will never do it again. >> we had an agreement with the democrats. neil: when -- >> you can't make an agreement one month and say, oh, we really didn't moon it. neil: oh, no he didn't? yes he did. surprising reaction from the senate majority leader, when the president had $1.3 trillion spending measure the house and senate worked out to keep the lights on toward the end of fiscal year that the president's people knew about it, don't you do this again, i will never sign something like this defend. i don't know what the real deal is here. that did not sit well with the senate majority leader, says coming back and rescinding a lot of that, easier said than done. he is not really expecting the president to do that. doesn't think he should do that. republican congressman thomas massey on all of that. congressman, do you think the president then did this for show? when he had this big white house

event and he pointed to that omnibus spending measure saying he was shocked and dill is -- disillusioned he signed it only because he would boost the military. do you buy that? >> he was put in a box. please don't shoot the messenger, but i am a conservative, it is a fairly tale, just like the balanced budget amendment that we voted on last week. neil: what is the fairly tale, congressman, which one. >> they're both. one is easter bunny, one is santa claus. neil: which one, the president trying to rescind it? >> the fact that congress would rescind anything. if they rescind anything it will be peanuts compared to the $1.3 trillion omnibus. here is something important, neil, i'm not hearing anybody talking about. we're already seven months into the fiscal year n five months on september 30th, there has to be another spending bill. i predict here on your show that

congress is going to cut, copy, paste that $1.3 trillion omnibus, extend it past the election. and the president is going to sign it. if we don't do something right now this month to stop going down that path. neil: i think i read from mitch mcconnell he didn't like being thrown under the bus here. i would be overinterpreting this, but that the president or his people certainly were very much aware of what was in that thing. maybe the president wasn't and he did find out about it, but it kind of made others wince because they had all agreed to sort of jump off the high spending cliff together and lo and behold the president at the last second pulled a fast one. that is their interpretation. is that yours? >> there is a lot of political theater here, not just at the white house but there is plenty of it here in the senate and the house. like i say, the balanced budget amendment we voted on last week that is political theater. but instead of blaming each other for what happened with the

omni bush, why don't we start talking about what we need to do september 30th when this omnibus expires? will we throw each other under the bus again and call each other big-spending republican when we extend? neil: are republicans worried about that, sir? the 40th member, the 40th incumbent in your party has indicated, congressman dent in pennsylvania wants to leave now next few weeks. forget about waiting for the next election. 40 republicans getting out of dodge i suspect getting out when they could before blue wave? >> i think this is 40 better republicans to elect in the primary. until you get 218 conservatives here you will not change the spending problem. we have 230 some republicans but we don't have 218 conservatives. when i see 40 republicans leave, i say that is 40 chances to get a real chance a conservative here. neil: or 40 chances to get more

liberals, right? >> i think if the president were in an election today he would win re-election. certainly against hillary clinton. you know, i hear about this blue wave. we'll see if it is coming but frankly we need a wave inside the republican party where we take out some of these faux conservatives and get some real conservatives. because they will extend, they will extend the omnibus on september 30th, i'm prei can checking it here on your show. neil: you would vote against that, if that came up for a vote you would vote against it? >> i would absolutely vote against it. there were 90 of us in the republican party who voted against the omnibus. i would contend only one of those 90 should be the next speaker. there are 145 republicans would -- neil: that would not include steve scalise or kevin mccarthy, the two most resume mored names to be paul ryan's replacement. so you don't like either of them? >> it is not personal. there are 145 who are disqualified because they voted for omnibus.

those are two who are disqualified in my opinion. they can't solve this problem if they were part of the problem. neil: thank you. clear that i got unequivocal answers. i was startled. >> thank you. neil: mike pompeo we learned had a secret meeting with kim jong-un of north korea. how does it pave the way for the biggest of all powwows with the president of the united states? after this. ♪

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neil: well, they're laying groundwork for something in the middle of all the news developments back and forth, stunning news, mike pompeo the president's choice to be next secretary of state, currently cia director and met with kim jong-un over the weekend, paving the way for the meating with president of the united states. we have rebecca heinrichs. what do you make of this? this came out of nowhere. obviously we advanced this along the stage of remember henry kissinger meeting with mao for getting richard nixon to meet with mao tse-tung and the great visit in china. what do you think is going on? >> they're laying groundwork between the big talk, between kim jong-un and president trump.

this is a necessary step to get there. i think a lot of criticisms of the realization that mike pompeo went there are unfounded because many of those same people who are criticizing it, they have been championing this idea of peace talks and then criticize president trump for announcing he will have talks with kim without laying the ground work. you can't have it both ways f we give a good-faith effort at talks this is exactly how you do it. neil: this jars people. i remember when jimmy carter was president, andrew young, our ambassador with the united nations had a secret meeting with the with plo. people were shocked and aghast. what do they iron out forget what people think pro and negative? what will they iron out? will it be the grounds of the talks or what? >> grounds of the talks, where the talks will take place. i heard they couldn't even come to an agreement on that. put me soundly in the camp of people that are highly skeptical

that will bear a whole lot of fruit if -- neil: the most popular would be the demilitarized zone. that is the expectation. china could host them as well. but that probably seems unlikely but what is your bet on this where they would actually physically meet? >> well, my bar is actually pretty low. i just don't want them to be anywhere near north korea. that would be a major propaganda victory for kim. i have no doubt he is pushing for that hard. i don't think that the trump administration will fall for that, but i assume that is exactly what he is pushing for. i don't even want it to happen in china frankly because i don't trust the chinese in this situation. i think the chinese because of the last visit between xi and kim showed this alliance is repairing. i'm afraid the chinese are providing diplomatic cover for north korea going into these talks. if it is not in china or north korea i will be pretty happy. neil: could be in the poconos as

a alternative. do you get a earnings rebecca, part of the pressure on these talks who will open up the limitations? already what we heard is north korea is open to discussing denuclearization. that doesn't mean it is offering as something on the table that it would immediately offer at the get-go, but that is on the table. what does that mean? of course it has to be on the table or there wouldn't be any discussions, right? >> right. this is where the details are so important, because what i suspect, north korea will say i'm happy to talk about a slowed denuclearization as long as the united states gets troops out of south korea, for example. troops out of japan. no more military operations with our asian allies near north korea. of course those are deal-breakers. we're not going to do that because they still have a nuclear gun to the head of our allies. we still have close relationships. those are allies of ours. we're not pulling back troops until there is actual peace,

just not peace in name. and so i also heard that the north koreans might insist that the united states stop our own missile testing we do routinely in order for them to stop missile testing. that is ridiculous. we have to work out what it is the north koreans are talking about here. i suspect what they want are simply going to be too high for what the united states is trying to get at here. neil: do you think there will be a meeting? >> you know, if i had to bet i would say i think that there will be a meeting. i am, but again, the reason that i'm more confident about this administration moving forward with this than i would be with the previous administration, has nothing to do with partisanship. it has to do with the fact that this pressure campaign is still in place. president trump, mike pompeo is incredibly tough on north korea. a guy like john bolton as national security advisor, very tough on north korea. neil: right. >> nobody here want as bad deal. everybody seems to be willing to walk away having no deal if the

alternative is a bad deal. so i think there might be a conversation and president trump can say listen, i gave it a good shot, a good try and north koreans blew it. pressure campaign stays in place and away we go. neil: and away we go. rebecca, thank you very much. good seeing you again. >> good to see you, feel. neil: i want to give attention to the dow, barely changed at all, ibm is free-falling. it is looking at the worst day, having to look back at 2014. a lot on disappointing earnings. even with back-to-back respectable quarters. the fear is big blue is looking black and blue and can not get out of its way. if ibm were not factored in, it would be significant up day on the dow. if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. you have significant components. when you have one tilting lopsided negatively, not shocking to see what the dow is

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♪ neil: there is a move afoot among some of your colleagues just to make sure the president doesn't get rid of mueller to institutionally shield mueller from being fired. how do you feel about that. >> that is not necessary. there is no indication mueller is going to be fired. i don't think the president is going to do that. just as practical matter, even if we passed it, why would he sign it? neil: so you don't think it's a good idea? you don't think it is something that the president would entertain or should entertain? >> i don't think he should fire mueller and i don't think he is going to. so this is piece of legislation not necessary in my judgment. neil: that is an important distinction the senate boss is making here, senator mitch mcconnell, with my chat yesterday. not a fan of institutionalizing, protecting bob mueller in case the president wants to fire him. he is saying that the president wouldn't sign that here. a veto-proof majority could be in place to address that. very unlikely 66 or 67 senators

are lined up to do that. read on this with "daily caller" editorial director vince colignase. this is not exactly a dramatic development on the part of the senate leader saying was not a fan of this, it stops in its tracks a number of republican colleagues, charles grassley, senator from north carolina making sure that won't happen. what do you think? >> i'm glad to talk to but the subject but might not have been dramatic for you and rest of the press heard that and went crazy yesterday, they saw mitch mcconnell i'm not playing this game. i'm not playing that game where we argue all the time about speculation that donald trump is going to fire bob mueller. it is nonsense. the senate has a whole bunch of business to focus on confirming a whole lot of people that have yet to go through the process. the idea that president is going to fire bob mueller.

most has been stoked by president's critics. occasionally reporting has mused about how uncomfortable we with mueller. neil: given the fact what you will, i raised this with mitch mcconnell as well, it has gone far afield from the it was supposed to in the beginning. that is not the first time such investigations have, just ask bill clinton. the president, a lot of his people he would be in his right to at least raise the issue this has now become crazy town and i'm going to shut down crazy town? >> no i think he taught of it. i think mother teresa would think of it if she was under this kind of pressure. go back to december, this notion it was reported that mt. considered firing bob mueller because he was rifling through his finances. turned out that report was false. just the notion it may have been happening led the president to consider it reportedly. not surprised because donald trump said last year that would be a red line for him. and for him to, then once again contemplate it, that makes sense to me. the other thing to remember

here, congress longs to attempting to enshrine bob mueller in his own branch of government. by doing this, i think they're dancing dangerously close to extra constitutional which is not constitutional. this idea of enshrining bob mueller in special protections take him out from underneath the justtics department and ultimately from underneath the president of the united states. this is a dangerous territory. they have to be careful before they empower future special counsels to have such distance from the president. neil: they have already such lasttude, if their investigation become as too touchy, the president would regret the move, not the investigation or the investigators but having said that though, where is this investigation going? i mean ever since the raid of michael cohen's offices, going back to paul manafort and his home getting raided early in the morning, the president is probably thinking, in fact i thought he was thinking, you report and others, this is not the investigation it was. so what are we gleaning?

i mean when it talks about business dealings years before he declared he was running for president and involving people way beyond the man who would eventually become president down to his personal lawyer and his surrogates, where is this going? >> we're gleaning what many of the critics of this gleaned in the beginning, special counsels become way too expensive, overzealous and way to expansive. this started with a unclear goal. it had a couple criminal subjects in mind without crimes specifically attached to their names just yet. bob mueller seems to look for those crimes and ferreting them out wherever he can. it doesn't include the is central thing donald trump keeps denying, collusion. we seen him recently, no obstruction. his sense is what our sense is, maybe that bob mueller is looking to get donald trump and his associates on process crimes. neil: we'll watch very closely. it is strange stuff. vince colignase, "daily caller" editorial director. corner of wall and broad, the

dow not doing a whole heck of a lot waiting until 2:00 the federal reserve beige book a read from the central bank how things are going across the country, or opportunity to see how the tax cuts are weighing in on the country but right now the latest on the earnings front and very, very interesting developments on the oil front, bouncing back a little bit. this in and out of four year highs. i don't know exactly which. i know jeff flock knows. phil flynn knows. they're both at the cme. gentleman, oil has returned to the upward path. what do you make of that? >> i always love to talk to people making money today. >> good day for america i think. anyway, it is a good day for america. sometimes the reason why oil goes up is the global economy is doing great or consuming more of it. that is a big part of the story. we saw a big drawdown in inventories. u.s. gasoline demand spiked. the economy is doing great and it runs on oil. >> this is not fear of russia,

syria, the middle east? >> it is all in the backdrop but reason why we care about that more, jeff than we did years ago, couple years ago, we had a glut of oil, we didn't care about what is going on in the globe, it doesn't matter. now inventories are tightest they have been in five years. >> i've been preaching this for a while. you've been bullish for a while. >> i've been warning a lot of people be careful you can not live by shale alone. >> make the point for neil and viewers, just because you got a lot of oil and shale, we are making more refiners need or use. >> absolutely this is light swede crude. our refiners prefer heavier grade of crude. to be honest with you, the light stuff, they can't take much more of it. they have to take the shale oil, mix it with a different kind of oil to make it run through refineries. so it is not pure oil. that is a concern. >> leave you maybe, neil, with the oil company stocks -- >> through the roof.

exxonmobil is doing really great. a lot of big oil companies that had taken a recent hit will be coming back big time. >> i see gas prices to leave you with this negative note, gas prices up two cents today compared to yesterday and probably going higher. >> it is going to get more expensive. get prepared. it will be an expensive summer. >> he is making money today, i know that he has been bullish for a while. what can i tell you. neil: disappointed in both of you. you try to get a kernel of good news for consumers, things to look forward to. >> yeah. neil: oil is going higher. everything we're doing isn't stopping it. good luck when you're traveling this summer. prices are going through the roof. nice going, guys. >> phil is so happy. >> good news, the drivers in minnesota will be able to find their car in about two days when the snow melts. neil: there is that. there is that. >> there you go. neil: gentlemen, thanks, i think. all right. as these fine guys were speaking here, the president is tweeting.

this is going out to benjamin netanyahu and people of israel, 70th anniversary of great independence. we have no better friend anywhere. looking forward to moving our jerusalem next month. i think the we have no better friend is good for the japanese prime minister. you like them more than me? i'm sure he doesn't do that we're on top of it. more after this. you know what they say about the early bird...

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the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. so why go back there? if you'd rather be home, ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. ♪ >> what happened in our store that resulted in the arrest of these two young men was reprehensible. shouldn't have happened. and so my responsibility is to come here to philadelphia. i've been here for the last several days to make sure i understand how this could have ever happened. then take appropriate action to insure it never happens again. neil: all right. part of that is, a nationwide closure of all-star bucks stores on may 29th. so they can have sort of a racial awareness, sensitivity

awareness training for all-star bucks stores. kevin jackson. kevin, how do you think that is going to go? >> i guess he couldn't handle waiting until black history month or martin luther king's birthday. i think this is a waste of time, neil this is one of these corporate, you know, social justice awareness things that starbucks is known for that is going to be a huge backfire. i would tell most people, sell it short because they're going, they have opened themselves up to a can of worms. race pimps are going to converge on starbucks. neil: so you think that, bringing awareness to this, sort of like going over backwards, we're aware of this, we don't like this, would send the opposite message. the company cares enough shuts down all stores for a day to pound on on the table. >> cares enough, i did a rough estimate, 20 million, $20 million that it takes to shut down 8,000 stores. it is going to now take 175,000

employees to have to go through some silly training because one person made a mistake. can you imagine having to do that every time something occurs if you're in a hotel, the hospitality industry or the restaurant business or whatever? can you imagine having to do that every time somebody makes a mistake? is something that should be handled at local level could have easily been handled at the local level. now it is at the level of the chairman of the brand, howard hw howard schultz, this is not a black issue. this is not civil rights issue. this is silly issue, probably happened with an overzealous manager of a store and a couple of guys who have a chip on their shoulder. now we've got to discuss this if america is in racial turmoil. what will they call this day, neil. on may 29th. is this d ray mckesson day? what plaque person will put his

name that save black people from starbucks? by the way, the philadelphia starbucks, a location where there are more black people than you can shake a stick at. suddenly, nobody even talked about the other aspects of this, how many other blacks in the starbucks were serving? how many blacks does starbucks serve on routine day throughout this country? thousands if not millions. but now suddenly we have a racial issue. it is ridiculous. neil: how do you feel as an african-american the way these gentlemen were treated? i mean, because it has become instantly a racial event? >> sure. first of all i'm black. i'm an american who happens to be black. i'm not an african-american. but how do i feel about this? i feel that if these guys were wronged, that what they could have done is the same thing i did when it happened to me at a chain, very nice upscale chain where i took some sunglasses back and lady looked at me like i had two heads, appeared to accusing me bringing something

back i hadn't purchased i had receipt for. i called the district manager. he says, kevin, it does happen. we had this mistake before. she probably wasn't aware of it. take it back. i will call her. i got my refund. that is what happened. you know what, nobody knows about it because it doesn't matter. i'm not telling who the chain was even though it was one of my favorite stores, even though they handled it correctly. but this is matter where if i had been in the situation i with have called regional manager at starbucks. look, this is what happened to me. i go to your stores quite often. this happened he probably would have said, kevin i give you a few innings doctor on me. that would have been the end of it -- drinks. with everything, we're racial sensitivity, racial sensitivity based on leftism. look, starbucks is in cities where they have to pay three times the normal rent they would have to pay if they had a place out in the suburbs. they're dealing with say grants and people want to come in and use facilities that they're not set up for and they don't want

to be set up for. they should be able to dictate their own policies any way they choose. kevin johnson has done his company and quite frankly america and all companies a disservice here. neil: kevin, thank you very, very much. good seeing you. >> my pleasure, neil. neil: in the meantime, barbara bush, remembering the mother of a president and the wife of another. after this.

♪ >> we had a wonderful visit. she was strong, lucid. >> funny still. >> funny. she and i were needling each other. the doctor came in and she turned to the doctor and said you want to know why george w. is the way he is? the doctor looked somewhat surprised. because i drank and smoke when i was pregnant with him. [laughter] neil: some fond remembrance on the part of the son and his wife remembering an american icon. that was from bartiromo's interview with george and laura bush earlier today, remembering barbara bush. to former bush 41 chief of staff, sam skinner. she certainly had a great sense of humor. obviously her son got a lot of that from her as well.

the rap was he was very much his mother's son and that that would hurt his political future. i leave that up to people and politicians to decide but she was very actively involved in that family and lived for that family, huh? >> well, she is a tremendous woman, neil, and a tremendous mother and, really the stalwart in the family in all regards. her love for family generally, and her love for people and her willingness to be candid, funny, but caring, makes her very special person and you can see that in the outpouring throughout the country, throughout the world. my phone has been off the hook all day, just talking about her and remembering her, and also being so grateful that i was able to be part of her life. neil: you know you hear all of these stories that she kept the family very grounded. this is kind of family to put it mildly, often said the democrats

have their kennedys and republicans have their bushes but again, these are two royal families in america and yet, when you think of barbara bush, the mother of a president, the wife of another, two governors, that's a pretty impressive list right there. >> well, she is a very, very precious woman and you know, she was, to everybody she was their support and she was the one that brought humor but really high ethical standard to everybody in the family and everybody around her. when you were around her, you wanted to do your very best because that is what she expected. that is what she did. it is hard to describe as we think about her, but, it is funny. she was her own person. she would tell you what was on her mind. she would tell you what she thought you should do. she never pushed it but advising in very thoughtful way. you knew you were around somebody special when you were with her.

we've been part of the family for 38 years. shoe is one of the reasons i got involved in politics. i met george herbert walker bush in springfield, inknow. then i met barbara bush, if this is the team that would run for president i want to be involved and fortunate enough to do so. neil: maybe you put rumors or gossip put to rest, help me straighten this out, that she was much more thinking, george bush, should run for governor of texas, if he was so inclined because she had serious doubts about it. not in 1994, and that jeb bush, seemed to be the one more destined for higher things. is that true? >> well, she loved both, loved all her children. neil: i didn't mean to infer otherwise. >> i understand what you're saying. well, it so happened the cards fall a little bit differently. jeb was supposed to win in florida and george w. bush was

probably going to lose in texas. it turned out the other way around. but she felt, she felt great when president bush 43 won, she also felt very bad when jeb lost and it didn't work out quite the way they thought it would be. she might have opined with them about who should do it. once they made the decision she was all-in. she was all-in with great force. neil: let me get a sense too of the bush family and responsibility. a lot of talk about how they perceive this president. obviously they developed very close ties with the clintons. that surprised a lot of folks. george bush would joke about it, the son, saying that if bill clinton had become another brother, another family member, they grew so close. with donald trump i was thinking that maybe wasn't so close. then i'm listening to maria bartiromo's interview with george and laura bush and out popped this startling revelation

on the part of laura bush about melania trump. i want to you listen to this. >> i met melania. she invited me to tea at the white house. shoe is a beautiful woman and lovely -- >> so are you, darling. >> i think she will do really very well. neil: that almost warned a fox alert when i heard that. i thought there was such bad blood. maybe it passes once a new president comes in and certainly i know first ladies is a little different, share common experiences and concerns, raising children at the while house, et cetera. what do you make of that? did you know, for example, that laura bush had met with melania? >> it doesn't surprise me though, neil. neil: yeah. >> bush family is very inclusive and they don't put a democrat or republican on a lot of their relationships. they put friendship on those relationships. i think president clinton, when he got to know president george herbert walker bush, looked at

him as father figure. i did too. you look at mrs. bush as a mother figure. and so, they really bring everybody in their house. hug everybody. it doesn't matter where you're from, who you are, their friendship with everybody, across all spectrums is incredible. and i think that's the outpouring you see. so it doesn't surprise me at all obviously it was a tough loss for jeb bush early on in the primary but i think they, they like to look forward. they think god intended us to be inclusive and they were inclusive. neil: obviously still very close to the bush family, bush senior, more to the point, a lot of folks worry about him now with barbara gone. he has had his own health issues. what do you think? >> well, he is met those challenges on his own health in an unbelievable pace. neil: indeed. >> and he is a fighter. he was a fighter in world war ii. he was a fighter in america around the gulf war.

he was a fighter all his life. this will be a tremendous loss. he will process it but i, they're both were fighters and, they both, they both took on some significant health issues with great fortitude and great strength. i think they both, everybody in america recognizes that. it is really, in this time, neil, of all this turmoil and polarization, that we can take time to honor both of them is really very special. i think we should take that moment, i think you're exactly right. a brilliant insight here. because no matter their success and wealth and fame, how they handled health adversity speaks even more of them. sam skinner, thank you very much. >> thank you, neil. thanks for the opportunity to talk about them. neil: more after this.

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it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & this shipment will be delivered... . neil: all right, the dow jones industrials buzzing right now. if not for ibm getting pounded. the multiyear hit, the likes of which we have not seen since i believe 2014. we'd be up and up substantially in the dow. ibm disappointing to the earnings front, and despite back to back positive quarters it is not enough to wow the street pounding the stock right now. but a lot of this is focused on the trade what we're doing with china and setting the

groundwork for north korea and the united states diplomatic meeting, and connell mcshane monitoring all that with the japanese prime minister in mar-a-lago. we know the two leaders going to be talking again or addressing reporters again as later on tonight at 6:00 p.m., what's the deal? >> this evening, a joint news conference. they had a chance to play golf which i'm not sure whether they would or not. president trump gave us the preview and this morning headed to trump international for a round of golf with president trump and the prime minister shinzo abe. maybe a chance for the japanese prime minister to lobby the president on certain issues especially economic issues that might be important to him, not the least of, which, of course, is trade, and there was a trade related tweet that came in from president trump late last night, and here it is. the president saying while japan and south korea would like you being to go to tpp i don't like the deal for the united states, too many contingencies and no way to get out of it if it doesn't work.

bilateral deals are more efficient, profitable and better for our workers. look how bad wto is to u.s. certainly the idea of getting back into tpp is dead from a u.s. perspective. the question is whether the two leaders can hammer out something on a bilateral basis and expect prime minister abe to talk about president trump about a possible exemption for the steel and aluminum tariffs where the japanese didn't get one of those. so that's that, and in about an hour from now, we expect to see the two at a working lunch over at mar-a-lago that leads us into this evening's news conference that you mentioned, and with so many stories breaking on so many fronts, the president can face questions on any number of things. we talked about trade already, that's possible. and the cia director mike pompeo's visit to north korea over easter weekend, it could come up, you have the additional sanctions that were promised by u.n. ambassador nikki haley against russia, so far have not come to fruition or possibly any number of

political controversies involving names like james comey, michael cohen or maybe stormy daniels, there was a tweet about that as well earlier today. that's 6:00 p.m. eastern at mar-a-lago for the joint news conference. we'll be there. neil: thank you very much, connell mcshane in florida. a lot of the attention in the medterm elections a big topic in washington yesterday. senator mitch mcconnell and orrin hatch how they figure donald trump will help or hurt in the mix. >> you know midterm elections, senator, said the president is on the ballot even if his name isn't on the ballot. do you think this midterm will be about donald trump? >> well, it may be, but we'd like to make the election about that in montana, north dakota, missouri, indiana and west virginia. there's no question the democrats would concede this, that the president will be an asset. >> never seen a president attacked continuously from day one. >> why do they get it?

>> they're afraid of him, he's effective. he's getting a lot done. the people like him. you can't help but like the guy, and he is a go-to, let's get it done type of guy. i was the only senator who supported him. >> i remember. neil: if you think about it, when orrin hatch came out for donald trump in the republican party, a lot of his colleagues said you're making a crazy mistake. what to make of the role the president will play in the midterms. campus reform.org director and "wall street journal" editor and real clear national reporter, caitlyn, the president is always on the ballot in the midterm, he can't not be. in your case, a help or hindrance. >> the senate is different from the house maps, competing in new jersey, new york, california, that's where the road goes. on the other hand, the senate map is favorable to

republicans. neil: they think they could pick it up. >> held in ten states, the president won five of the deep red states and you're seeing in republican primaries for the senate a lot of them are trying to endear themselves to donald trump. indiana is a good example where you have the two battling it out for who can be the trump candidate at this point. he's going to be a help for senate candidates running on the republican ticket. neil: to a man or woman, a lot of the republicans i was chatting were saying don't underestimate or understate how positive the momentum will be from the tax cuts. your own paper has indicated it hit a ceiling of support. that might change, but for now is there much follow-through political that could help republicans? >> i think there is. i think on tax cuts where people feel that their own wealth is going up, that's always going to help. certainly from the corporate side as well. especially if he's beginning to see some of the corporate tax windfall translating into

investment. which it hasn't yet. it's in the stock buybacks and increase dividends, people see concrete results of that. don't underestimate the power of the trump personality in these races. we did that in 2016. that was a mistake. it will depend upon where people are in their lives. are they feeling inspired? aggrieved? feeling hammered because of the trade problems and they're in agriculture, maybe they're on the list this week for the possible tariff increase. it will depend on the economy more than anything else. >> you know, a lot of it is based on who is more jazzed to go to the polls? if you had to look at it right now, who is more jazzed? >> a couple months ago democrats with president trump polarizing them in office. the issues have been motivating republican voters who are ordinarily apathetic, they look at news and see issues they care about threatened.

increasing enthusiasm to get in the polls. when you talk about president trump's in the race, doesn't matter what states he's going to, where is trump going? the state of the rallying rhetorical trump or the trump with senator rubio, the issue-based, just pushing the issues, not trying to get into the personality of it. the democrats may be laughing. the leader of the party, wondering whether you should bring him out. the democrats not wondering if nancy pelosi is helping the midterm races, both parties have the issues whether to bring the leader out. neil: they said over 20 some odd races in the house where she is, the fixture for republican heads effective? what do you think? >> well, if you look at polling, she is an effective weight against democrats, but in the same way that donald trump is an energizer for democrats. think about the way donald trump has been able to galvanize democrats in the way that obama and others on the democratic side haven't been

able to. there is certainly the democratic enthusiasm. the question is keeping that up. republicans that i talk to note however, that they are meeting targets among republicans in a lot of the elections in the off-year that we saw. the problem is that democrats are vastly overperforming and independents are switching over. so that's something they have to keep an eye on. and the more that trump is out there carries the risk, of course, of continuing that enthusiasm on the democratic side. >> that overperformance is something to keep the eye on. right? we saw it in the house of delegates in virginia, down ballot voting happening where there was enthusiasm at a level that you did not see in 2016. the people who did not come out in 2016 came out. black vote, hispanic vote, women vote, suburban women vote. the chunk of the electorate in the independent zone has moved, and if the movement can be sustained through the 2018 midterms, you might see the change that the democrats are hoping for. >> you know the democratic

congressman was concerned about the way democrats have framed, though he voted against the tax cuts, the way they call it crumbs, or repeal the tax cuts if they get it all. he doesn't know if that's the message. he's as opposed to the tax cuts as they are. but doesn't like the message democrats are sending. >> i like the message democrats are sending when they're telling people we're going to repeal the tax cuts, it's crumbs, as a republican that's positive. when you are telling people 80 to 09% of people are seeing more money in the paychecks, to say that's being taken away, that's crumbs. neil: a third of people feel they've seen it in paychecks. you are right, 90% is the working figure going with have or ostensibly have but a third have. >> that is not surprising, everything coming from trump has to be negative.

>> there must be something else because it's coming from trump it must be evil. as it begins to wear on and no catch, the economy is going keep going on. saying that's crumbs, saying extra $400 in the paycheck is nothing, that's tough talk. neil: it was cleaver, is it your sense looking at this we can always get it done and call it a blue wave might be wrong and 40 republicans getting out of dodge before they get bad. i could see how people seize on that, do you get, in terms of the people you talk to that the wild talks, the bob mueller investigation, the personal lawyer investigating him and his business dealings that that will decide this? >> you know what's interesting? talking to democrats their base is energized by trump, that's baked in and certainly want to -- they think voters are energized by the economy and by health care, actually. but recently i was talking to

pollsters. neil: democrats. by the economy? >> by the economy. neil: the way it is now is. >> by the economic arguments that things are better for those at the top, right? that's the argument they're making right now. neil: not the argument for them right now, net net. >> that is the challenge, people are seeing positive developments in the economy, but not yet at that point where they're ready to feel free, right? they're ready to feel free in their decisions to spend more than they would or other things. there is still a little bit of concern here. you know, the question i have is even with the tax cuts is whether that is something that people are going to come out and vote for, when you are happy with something, you rarely complain. so do you show up or due. neil: not the midterm voter, the angry voter, one who walked over broken glass, to state a case? >> to vote against the guy who got in the last election is kind of the way we've seen. it also, i'm just not sure how the voter is going to look at

the tax cuts. they're going to see some money in the paycheck, maybe some of them will, and maybe a lot will see a smaller amount, but they also realize that they're spending their kids' money, right? hearing a lot about deficits, lots about spending beyond our means, about our debt going up. they realize that this is an episodic issue in congress, and that, if a new congress comes in, it might get voted away. so i don't think that the permanence of that is in the electorate's mind, such that it is going to be the deciding point for them in the polls. i think a lot of the other stuff that you're raising, the mueller investigation. all of these big question marks hanging over the administration, i think add grassroots level, weighs on the electresment.

>> you completely missed the election, who knows what's going on this go-around. the growing price on setting the stages for president of the united states to meet with counterpart in north korea only were to have the meeting. a host of countries have been mentioned. we offered the poconos, how would they handle this? these are the things sorted out at much lower levels as they set the stage for what could be the biggest diplomatic initiative certainly in the last century. more after this. ♪ ♪ i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release it, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it comes in a once-weekly, truly easy-to-use pen. and it works 24/7. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes

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. neil: all right, everyone focusing on news now that michael pompeo was meeting with kim jong-un in south korea in a one-on-one to meet with the president of the united states stlashgs to iron out a lot of things including the subject. general, good have you, thanks. >> great to be here, neil. neil: you know where would they have it? the most obvious choice seems to be, you know, the demilitarized zone between north and south korea, that would be obvious, but others talked up the north koreans wanting to be in north korea, south korea has come up, china has come up. what do you think?

>> why make it more complicated than it needs to be. they can come down to the demilitarized zone and meet in offices that exist there and meetings have been held before. that would be the first vote if i were advising the president. there is the island off the coast of south korea that would be a nice location where they could come in and provide a lot of security and so that would be another area they think is probably being considered. i don't know about some of these other countries that people are talking about, you get into real complicated logistics, but i think this is a great development and this is just another example, neil, of the trump administration's synchronization of the elements of national power, diplomatic information, military, economic, and a year ago, all the liberals were concerned we were going to go to war on the korean peninsula, now all the liberals are concerned we're going to have peace on the korean peninsula and trump is going to get credit.

so this is a great development and his most trusted aide mike pompeo went over there, and nobody knew about it, and he absolutely carried the ball there and did a great job as you would expect them to. so i think this is a very positive development, sending over a high-level diplomat to lay the groundwork for the two leaders to meet. and i do believe this is historic, this is history in the making right here that we're watching. >> and wouldn't be unprecedented, kissinger greased the skids with mao tse-tung and jimmy carter setting a stage with the plo or recognizing the palestinian liberation organization. so there is precedent for that. but there are certain things we want to make sure are indeed on the negotiating table, including the promise, if you can call it, that general, that the north koreans are open to denuclearization. obviously, they want a price

for that, but what do you make of that and how important that would be to those talks? >> i think that's a good point, neil. kim jong-un's grandfather, each of the north korean leaders have come in with a vision that becomes their legacy. so kim jong-un's grandfather said we want to be self-reliant. so that's isolationism that north korea has had for decades now. kim jong-un's father said i want a strong military, so he built a strong military. kim jong-un came in saying two things. economy and nukes. and so perhaps by having two, he left himself some room to trade, and if he can trade the nuclear to a denuclearized korean peninsula and get bargaining chips for his economy, then his legacy like his father and grandfather will be one of economic assistance and prosperity. it's a long shot in my opinion because they're starting at ground zero, but we do have

runway for negotiation there with north korea, and if the denuclearization is our goal, our strategic aim, much like stopping weapons of mass destruction in syria, you know, that is a fundamental underpinning of our national security strategy, and then, if we can achieve a lasting peace treaty on the korean peninsula, you know, i think donald trump should get the nobel peace prize for actually doing something as opposed to the participation trophy that president obama got for just showing up and becoming president. neil: a lot at stake wherever it occurs, whenever it occurs, general, good seeing. >> you thanks, neil. neil: the at&t-time warner deal, the trump administration, the justice department is against it, and along comes testimony today on why it's fine and there shouldn't be any hassle with this. the latest read on that. a merger that is increasingly looking like it will go through

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. neil: all right, the time warner at&t merger, where does this thing stand? who knows better than charlie gasparino with a read on it. this has been like waiting for -- we have to go first to our business correspondent edward lawrence, i apologize, charlie. what is the latest. what can you tell us? >> this is the fifth week of the trial. the ceo of time warner is on the stand here today. time warner, the merged company would have at&t-directv and the time warner outlets of tnt, tbs, cnn and hbo. away from the cable company shows and towards the direct digital products from amazon, hulu and netflix. that has the effect according

to the ceo of raising cable subscription prices to make up for the lost ad revenue. the ceo says they tried to get into the digital market with hbo go but the giant tech companies got a double whammy on them. they are able to take the information directly from time warner and directly market it to the shows taking the ad revenue from them. attorneys trying to make the case it's the tech giants, google, amazon and netflix going to control the prices and set the flow of the way the shows go into the future, not the cable companies. the government is saying they're try to show it would increase prices on cable customers, control the flow of shows going forward and eliminate new entrants into the marketplace. the d.o.j. rested yesterday, neil? neil: now charlie gasparino on where this is going. charlie, i apologize for that. >> that's all right.

neil: is it your sense that with all the back and forth, ultimately this goes through. >> should point out the government is not banking a lot of getting a lot of ground on bewkes. the more important testimonies are coming up. randall stephenson from at&t and john stapley. neil: so there's more testimony to come. >> yes, those are the two at&t executives, john steinke, executive of at&t who will run the combined merger and they think they have e-mails that will press the cause. you can only surmise what the judge is thinking. he's a curmudgeon and known as a very good judge, and if you're summizing and this is from the d.o.j. side, publicly they think the trial is going great, privately, they are concerned. they believe the case is slipping away. why is that? they're just going by what the judge has said on a couple things. how he's responded to the

expert witnesses. there was a professor named shapiro, i forget his first name talking about price increases. leon was skeptical, his formulations that the combined merger with at&t and time warner that it would lead to price increases that he said it would. very skeptical on that. neil: he was skeptical why? because this isn't the type of thing they would dominate? >> how do you know? how can you actually say. that and by the way, that puts a big hole in the government's case, if they can't show in some way and daniel petrocelli, the lawyer for at&t did a good job poking holes in this guy's analysis. if you can't show a price increase, there is no case here. the other thing is it was interesting, judge leon keeps talking about arbitration, and everybody knows arbitration would be a remedy to let the deal go through. why is that?

let's say you are a table carrier and you want time warner's content, you might go to arbitration to do that. judge leon is talking about arbitration and leading the government believe he's got his mind made up and he's going to say we're going to prove this deal with conditions and potential arbitration method to go forward. obviously, you never know what's in the judge's head. this is in the summize not from at&t-time warner, but privately under d.o.j. lawyers, thing the case is slipping away, they think they have to make up ground on stephenson and steinke to prevent new entrants from getting in because they're going to be a colossus like comcast and that's what they're banking on. neil: but all these other mergers have gone through. cynically, the one wrinkle here was cnn, and that cnn were not in play in this combination,

none of this would be going on. >> that's the back story. neil: what do you think? if cnn were not part of this. >> because trump hates cnn. the president hates cnn. i would be lying if i told you that i don't believe that's playing out here. i could tell you that most people i know in the antitrust -- that do antitrust think it's a lousy case, i can tell you i know the antitrust lawyers are smart antitrust lawyers. he knows his stuff when it comes to antitrust. he's worked on wall street, done major antitrust cases and taking a novel approach that the antitrust bar doesn't get. they're saying if you combine big distribution with content, i mean big distribution, like a comcast, like at&t distribution, you will stifle innovation and they believe they have a pretty good case. neil: what do you worry more

about the reality of a netflix streaming monolith right now, that has made mince meat of these guys. >> it could, it could. they need the pipes, too. by the way. but the one problem is, if you start cutting the chord, pipes are less important. at&t's pipes are less important because people aren't having two cable subscriptions, they have one and they stream everything, and that's essentially the case that at&t is making, this is a fight for survival. seems just from his comments and i'm getting this from the d.o.j. side, it seems that the judge leon is starting to side with at&t and against the government. he is setting some, looks like he's setting parameters to say, okay, i'm going to approve this deal but with these conditions. i can tell you i covered the martha stewart trial, everybody thought she was innocent. everybody. this is when comey brought her in on the insider trading case.

you never know until it's over. neil: i don't remember that at all. >> that was 2004, i believe. neil: too young. >> i covered it. neil: fine. you look much better without the goatee. i was worried. >> i got a combination of yasser arafat and my mother-in-law said homeless. neil: well, you know, if the look fits. thank you very much, charlie gasparino. the best of the best. in the meantime here, we are down nine points. a lot of back and forth since it got back from washington on exactly what mitch mcconnell meant when he said i am going to block any attempt to legislate and protect bob mueller in his job, that it wouldn't be necessary because he said the president isn't about to fire bob mueller, even if it were and there was a measure put before him, the president wouldn't sign it. he isn't going to do it. explosive comments that are still reverberating today. after this.

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. neil: all right, if you were to take ibm out of the dow 30 for today, we'd have a much better day for the dow. contributing with that, 11 almost 12 point hit, almost 7+% hit, to about an 80-point hit in the dow. so we'd be 80 points worse, we're better if ibm were not in there, with disappointing earnings. not so much on the revenue front, but that has prompted some concern that this is really focused on ibm not so much the other components within the dow. we'll keep an eye on it for you, they are not letting go here. in the meantime, keeping you up to date on mitch mcconnell and he said what again? the senate leader telling me yesterday we were in washington that he would be very much against a move that even some republicans are championing in the party to protect legislatively protect bob mueller. it's not necessary, but this

has created quite a stir, take a look. >> i don't think he should fire mueller and i don't think he's going to. so this is a piece of legislation that's not necessary in my judgment. neil: obviously, none of your colleagues fear it enough to say it shouldn't be in there. >> i'm the one that decides what we take to the floor, that's my responsibility as the majority leader and will not be having this on the floor of the jeent would you be shocked if he did fire him? >> yes, i don't think he should or will. neil: california congressman john garamendi on all of that. congressman, what do you think of that? no need to legislatively protect bob mueller because the president's not going to do it? >> first of all we know senator mcconnell has been wrong before, and frankly this nation cannot risk him being wrong this time. therefore, there ought to be legislation in the house and the senate, put it up for a vote. i suspect that you're going to have a very, very strong majority in both houses voting to protect the mueller and the

mueller investigation. that is the message that the president could not ignore. he could easily ignore the wishes of the predictions of senator mcconnell, but not a clear or strong majority in both houses. >> obviously, there is retribution when a president tries to fire a prosecutor. richard nixon experienced that in the 1970s and there was hell to pay for him. so who says shielding him, bob muellner this case, from being fired would be any different. the president would still get kicked in the hiney for doing that. >> he would, you must remember those days, you are still very young, that in those days it was, in fact that situation, that is the saturday or friday night massacre that then led to congress, actually impeaching nixon and the senate trial at this point. neil: that was my point,

congressman, it would be obviously, a bad move on the part of the president to even entertain it, it would almost certainly doom him. >> yes, that is correct. neil: in other words -- i'm sorry, i want to be clear. to mitch mcconnell's point, then, why shield a guy who's firing would torpedo the guy he's investigateing? >> we need to look at it a different way. first of all mueller should definitely not be fired. how do we encourage the president to do what is right, to allow muler to do investigations, it will lead wherever it's going lead and deal with the result. so going forward to give the president every reason to not fire mueller, a vote in the congress and in the senate would be a very, very powerful message. neil: would you urge the same message when ken starr and his investigation was wielding from

real estate deals to intern and a dress, i think he wasn't. the president and his supporters tell it, this investigation seems to have run far from its original course, and there are already protections for the prosecutors anyway, so you don't need to legislate on top of that. >> well, what we're talking about here is a piece of legislation that will never become law, but what we want to do is to send a very, very clear message to the president that there is an extraordinary risk in firing. you have a vote in both houses, i think it would be a strong majority vote in both houses to prevent the president. now, obviously, the president will veto that legislation. but, nonetheless, we're on record, and the president would know that the consequences of the firing would certainly lead to an impeachment process,

because the house and the senate have already voted. neil: let me find out about that, if democrats were to retake the house, maybe the senate, the way things are going, is it your thinking that impeachment investigations have to begin now? you sound that way. >> i didn't say that at all. i said if mueller were to be fired, then yes, impeachment -- neil: let's say the investigation is ensuing. sounds like you're revving up to kick the guy in the hiney and get out of there. >> i didn't say that at all. there may very well be something that comes along in either the investigation in the southern district in new york or the mueller investigation that could lead to that. but we're not there at this moment and may never get there. but what we need to do is to have a full understanding of what actually happened. we need to write laws based upon that understanding, and right now we neither have the laws or the full understanding.

neil: congressman, thank you very much, i know you have a crazy schedule. we appreciate your take the time. congressman john garamendi of the beautiful state of california. let's look at the dow, ibm is a disproportionate share of that. ibm was the leader of the dow and it is the thing dragging it down. if you were to take ibm out of this and sell-off. we'd be up 80 points. of course, we're not because ibm is still part of the dow and selling off bigtime. other developments, we told you about the airstrikes that the administration already led and wants to follow up on, if, if, if, it looks like the syrians are repeating chemical weapons attacks on their people. but the russians are planning something too, and hillary vaughn is at the cyberconference going on in san francisco where, they potentially could inflict the most pain on us. hillary, what are you hearing? >> hi, neil. the chief information security officer for the cia tells me

that the biggest threat to our cybersecurity isn't hackers, it's our own computers. he is calling out companies like microsoft and apple for placing user convenience over user security. >> government knows how to build the secure operating system, a secure computer, but industry doesn't do that. and the only motivation i see is regulation, and let me tell you something, i'm not a big fan of government regulation, i happen to work in an industry where i think it's the right -- it's not the only solution but part of the solution. >> all the security patches and fixes only target the symptom, not the root cause that puts the u.s. and our entire cybersphere at risk. it's not just russia and china and north korea that are the big threats here. now with a booming underground marketplace for cybertools, small nations, fringe groups is individuals can purchase bought

armies to attack the u.s. and hit them hard. russia is making profits in the underground marketplace selling the cybertools. brad smith says tech companies need to be the first line of defense so he's building a coalition with 34 other tech companies including h-p and intel and facebook to secure their defenses on their own products. neil? neil: hillary vaughn, thank you very, very much. a lot of people remembering barbara bush this day. i got a kick out of the personal stories and how she liked to play off her kids andons and who was the favorite. she messed with their heads. as a parent i deeply admire that. we're getting into that. stories you don't been barbara bush right after this. think your large cap equity fund

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. >> she was warm and wonderful until you got out of line, and she wasn't too warm and wonderful. [laughter] >> she was funny and fierce and said her mind. she was a great role model for me, for sure. i learned how to be a first lady. neil: i learned how to be a first lady. laura bush talking about her mother-in-law barbara bush, one of the funnier stories from the

former president saying his mother happily admitted to drinking and smoking while she was pregnant with george, and apparently that always got a laugh. with us right now a former barbara bush personal assistant catherine branch. thanks for taking the time. >> absolutely. neil: i know we always say this after the fact, she had a great sense of humor, she genuinely did and very irreverent at that, pitting her kids against one another, even her politically rising sons jeb and george. but she always kept them grounded. she reminded them, i don't care who you are, you got to make your bet. >> absolutely. you said it perfectly. neil: you know, i always was intrigued by how she was handling some of the congestive heart issues she had, and there was a point she said i don't want to keep getting treatment for that, and shortly thereafter passing away.

were you surprised to hear stories like that? she battled a lot of things, graves disease and others, i believe even as first lady, but she dealt with a lot of pain in her own life, didn't she? >> yes, she really did. first of all the passing of her daughter robin at age 4 of leukemia, but i think throughout her entire life she progressively has gone the stronger and stronger, and the decision to leave the hospital and you know die peacefully at home was not a surprise to me in the slightest. that was actually quintessential barbara bush. neil: did she ever share with you, catherine, concerns or political views? i know she was, many said, left of her husband on a host of issues but kept those to herself, or certainly reminded her husband and i don't know whether that extended to her son or jeb bush when he was running for office. how involved was she?

>> you know, i think -- i was just with her in her later years. she definitely had her own opinion, and you know, she definitely was a republican party member, but she wasn't your typical, you know, stay with the right type of person, she had her own opinions, her own mind and definitely disagreed with a lot of things that have happened in the course of the last few years, but she was respectful and didn't really push her ideas and her opinions onto anyone else. >> you know, catherine, maybe you know this, it was news to me and maybe my own ignorance that laura bush had said that despite the differences various political families have from one another especially from different parties or have heated races, laura bush met at the white house with melania trump, didn't indicate when, but melania trump had her over for tea, i don't know whether

she met the president. those two are families that have been going at it, and maybe this heat between the two is overstated. do you know what barbara bush thought of the trumps or thought of the first lady for that matter? >> i think that she -- i don't think she knew them very well, so her, her opinions about them were very, you know, understated and just -- i do remember when president trump was elected, she wanted to write a note to mrs. trump to kind of wish her best of luck. as a former first lady writing to the new first lady, she kind of wanted to give her some advice and well wishes in her new role. neil: no matter how heated that race got or how her son or president at the time, candidate trump.

>> no, they rose above that. i think at the end of the day, they were over it by the time. neil: that's good to see. hope spring's eternal, they can still talk. catherine branch, the former personal aide of barbara bush. gone at 92. more after this.

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♪ seminole. neil: we are told shinzo abe of japan we'll have a working lunch. have a working lunch. presumably stuff will get done. 6:00 p.m. tonight they have a joint presser. we hope it pose better with the translator than the joint remarks earlier yesterday. that was disaster. we're told they are ready for everything. trish regan. trish: that's a funny observation. always a working lunch. nobody just has lunch. we're moments away from release of a new report from the federal reserve which could provide new insight to the health of our labor market and health of the overall economy. the market is down 40 points. maybe, in the next 30 seconds we might turn this whole thing around based on what we're hearing about our economy. i am trish regan. welcome to "the intelligence report." stocks searching for direction here. investors are waiting for release of what is called the beige book, the fed's report

that looks how economic conditions are. we're going to be going live straight to the federal reserve. we're going to get that report momentarily. as i said weir down 40, right now on the dow, can we turn this around based on what we hear? take it away. >> the economy grew at a modest to moderate pace across the federal reserve 12 bank districts with evidence that inflation is really bubbling up across local supply chains according to the beige book. trish, prices increased across all sectors. there were reports of companies passing on prices to customers in sectors like manufacturing and i.t. and businesses expect to continue passing on these prices particularly for steel because of the tariff. transportation costs continue to rise. something we've been seeing because of higher fuel prices and shortages of truck drivers. on the job market, districts reported difficulty