great to have you. as we head towards the closing bell. the dow just turned slightly negative. muted response ahead of what's going on, on the geopolitical scene. all about the fed tomorrow. record close for the nasdaq, looks like it's on track. there you go. stay tuned for special coverage tomorrow. over to melissa francis and connell, take it away. >> history being made and as ashley said some new records on wall street. dow up and down today. down a little bit at the close, s&p in the green. record nasdaq, right? and record russell for the smaller stocks. good to be with you i'm connell mcshane in this week for david asman. >> i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." more on the big market movers. here's what else we're covering during the busy hour ahead. the media industry on pins and needles as we await a crucial court ruling that could have a major impact on the way we consume news and entertainment

in the future. the verdict in the at&t-time warner merger case is expected to come out at any moment. will the federal judge allow the two companies to combine creating a behemoth with movie studios, television channels, sallites, cell phones, fiber-optic cables, you name it all under one roof. hillary vaughn is standing by live outside the crthouse to break it all down. hillary? reporter: good afternoon, well, this court decision could pave the way for tech companies and tv networks to partner up and merge in the future giving birth to a new era of competition for netflix, hulu and prime video. now there's three ways judge richard leon could decide today. his decision could either approve the merger wholeheartedly altogether or he could completely forbid the union of at&t and time warner, or there's a third option here,

he could approve it with a catch. he could put conditions on letting this merger go forward. the judge could tell time warner to sell off directv and turner networks, including cnn before they merge. that's something the d.o.j. asked for in the beginning, and both companies rejected it at the time because they said slicing and dicing time deal for at&t and make it not worth it for them. a lot of different things on the table. if the judge hands at&t a win today, could trigger a chain of reaction from media deals, deals in the future. we're awaiting the decisionn the next hour, few minutes from now. any time in this hour we're expecting the judge to announce this decision today, all eyes on the district courts because this could set a precedent for the future for media deals. back to you. >> hillary, thank you. we're going to come back to you as soon as we have a verdict. >> meantime, back to the markets for the day. the dow going up and down,

final moments ending a point lower. let's bring in nicole from the floor of the new york stock exchange. we did have other records set once again on wall street. >> that's ri we've had a record close for the nasd.. record close today for the russell 2000. dow after four days of gains gives back and stops just over a point. the s&p 500 up 5. the nasdaq, this record close is the 99th record close since the election of president trump back in november. we are seeing it moving higher. the intra-day on the dow, back and forth today, saw strength in visa, caterpillar and home depot. shaving off 30, 40 point. jpmorgan and goldman sachs down half a percent roughly give or take and watching the 10-year bond yield ahead of the fed where we're likely to see the

hike. keeping a keen eye on the stocks, paving the way for at&t, time warner, then everybody will watch fox, disney and that battle just to name a few. tesla gained over 3%, three-year high there. job cuts they're going to do of the workforce, cting that. they will meet 5,000 of the model 3s and elon musk wanted to get that out there. twitter, a three-year high there, that was a three-year high, not tesla, my mistake. twitter hit the three-year high and jpmorgan put a price target of 50 bucks also, jpmorgan hiked this one finishing up $2 today. that was one that had a nice run as well. this media news will be number one because it reayshape media

go along with it. back to you. >> we're all over that. nicole. thank you. d let's bring in -- you look directing the shots, john too, instead of the three of us, todd horowitz and gary kaltbaum from kaltbaum capital management. they join us in many other titles of a fox news contributor and owner of a nice green tie. spf green, there were records set as nicole w rough temperature it's interesting as well for all this buildup of the north korea summit, the trump-kim summit, the markets weren't necessarily focused on that, gary, as they were other things, maybe tomorrow's fed meeting. take us through it? >> i don't think there was gargantuan news coming out of the summit that is going to move the markets right now. let's be clear about a couple of things. nasdaq, tech, internet are very strong here.

most of the money flows are going into it. you n see it in the dow doing nothing versus the nasdaq, and then you got the fed tomorrow, just keep in mind, all this talk of tightening, we're at 3.8% unemployment. the last time we were there in 2,000, the fedunds r was 6%. we're under 2% so easy money pervades, not to mention europe and japan is printing and have negative rates. easy money, stock markets love it and going on since 2009. >> right, now the fed, todd, presumably will raise rates tomorrow. we did see afternoon weakness in financial stocks ahead of that. what do you make of that? >> connell, what you're seeing is the fed going to raise but most likely retain the dovish outlook, which means they continue to try to raise slowly. they need to get off their you know what and raise faster, otherwise they're going to get behind the 8 ball and create a much bigger problem. as gary pointed out with

unemployment so low, job costs are going up, everything going higher, get the products in line with everything else or else there is a much bigger meltdown. >> looking at inflationata today which the fed will weigh in as well. where are you on the pace of interest rate hikes and looking at the aerospace and defense stocks, interesting to see those pullback which may give you an idea that people reading into the trump-kim summit gone fairly well and avoid the worst-case scenario, that being war. gary get us back on the pace? >> i've been clear for years they're behind the curve. they don't care, they think they're heroes and every answer easyoney and easier money, and look, the good news is here, we have been raising rates but the rest of the world kinda sorta isn't, especially big europe and japan, and i think that's going to be a big worry down the road.

i think the worst-case scenario is if we go too slow, inflation starts popping itsead out and seeing it in th commodities. if it gets out of hand, they're going to be forced to raise rates and never want to get into that position. so far, so good, though. gettg ready to vote whether to repeal the controversial head tax. companies making $20 million in renue. we're going to be hit with a tax of $275 per employee in order to combat homelessness in the area. the city bowing to political pressure from amazon and starbucks. todd, was it a good idea to punish a company in the form of a tax for every one of your citizens that it hireed? >> why don't we call it moronic, exactly what it is, and forget about, can we get dumber with some of the legislations and what some of the people want to do? you want to force amazon to leave? you want starbucks to leave? even the left of left isn going to stand for that $275

tax per employee. >> gary, the way they defended it, if you talk to the geniuses behind this, they said not that much money. why do you need it? if it's not that much money, what good is it going to do? >> the interesting part of the equation is the council people who voted for this called amazon, starbucks and the rest of the companies bullies. it's my contention they're the bullies because every time they see something move or breathe, they try to tax it. and the amazing part about this is, you know why the economy is strong there? because of economies like this and they want to tax the most important part of the equation, in the hiring of the people. economically illiterate people and they're lucky they're pulling this back, they would lose companies going forward. >> todd, in these situations, i wonder what are you doing with the money you are collecting? you need more? are you spending what you are

taking from us sponningly. what do you think? are they? >> you can look at the states including the one i come from, illinois, they overtax, tax way too much and can't spend it correctly. you take a state like texas that undertaxes and fiscally responsible. so these guys -- >> gary, we're here in new york city. i've been squeegeed twice in the past two weeks. squeegee men are back in new york city. a certain sign of the demise. the local government spending 25% more than ever before. where did they spend this money? gary, what do you think? >> when there is no accountability and there is no profit motive, you do anything you want whenever you want, and the voters keep voting the same people in. when the economy is doing well, when the market is doing well, especially in new york city, everything is great. when things turn south and the deficits explode, then they

start wondering, hey, what happened? again, it's all about accountability and there is zero of that. >> and squeegee men. >> let's talk about trade and trade wars and all the rest. president trump wasaking in singapore at the conclusion of the summit with kim jong-un earlier today, right? me with t particular point we want to focus on for the markets is this. take a listen. >> i had a very good meeting with the g7, and i left the meeting,nd i'll be honest, we are being taken advantage of by virtually every one of those countries. very, very seriously. now the united states, because of bad management at the top, because of presidents that didn't care about trade or didn't understand it, we're being taken advantage of on trade. >> the president dismissing an idea that maybe he's treating friends and enemies like friends which is the question that prompted that question about the g7.

peter navarro, the white house trade adviser made headlines as well. he apologized for the suggestion there was a, quote, special place in hell for justin trudeau, the canadian prime minister at a "wall street journ" event in washington. todd, significance of that?boy,e last couple of days with the canadians, supposed to be our friends, maybe we're backing off? your thoughts? >> peter navarro was out of line with his comments number one. number two, trump is trying to get everything uniform and have free trade and no tariffs, buy and sell to each other. that's the right program. whether we have a surplus in canada or don't, or surplus in mexico or don't, we need free trade. that's trump's plan to get the tariffs do. we need to flatten everything out and have free trade and open markets. >> gary, pick up on that and maybe the idea that the trump-kim summit had an effect on trade and makes a trade war

some suggest between the united states and china, less likely if it did go well, but pick up that and what todd is talking about wh canada? >> look, i'm a big phil collins and genesis fan. they have a song called land of confusion. >> sing it. >> no thanks. there is so much confusion on a daily basis, i do not wherein they're coming from. how you go after canada is beyond me, including services, when you have a surplus. it's a matter of we'll see and don't blink. hopefully the trade with china gets involved with the north korea thing, and you get something done, but i think it is a mess right now and i don't think anybody knows where this is heading, especially when you have all the other countries getting po'd where they are, whether they are right or wrong. >> sometimes we try to link it altogether. a lot of it is very different. todd and gary, thanks to both of you, and gary, thanks for

not singing. >> i'd send the viewers away. >> i know. melissa? >> now to update on larry kudlow who suffered what is attack yesterday. hea white house says he's currently in good condition and he is being treated at walter reed medical facility. doctors expect he will make a full and speedy recovery, thank god. friends and colleagues who have spoken with him today say he is in good spirits and certainly wish him well. >> of course. >> larry kudlow, he's a strong guy. >> a good friend of yours, i know him as well, but i know you are close. what a scare. major media ring handed down at any moment. we're all over it at the courthouse and watching the future of at&t-time warner merger. more hangs in the balance, a decision closely watched by other big players in the media industry. verdict as soon as it comes out and what it could mean for the way you get news and entertainment and how much you

pay for it. >> north korean dictator agreeing to complete denuclearizaon as he and president trump sign a historic agreement. democratic leaders are slamming the deal saying it is weak and doesn't go far enough. >> reaction is pouring in from around the globe and we'll tell you where things may go from here. >> i think he wants to do things. i think he wants to. you would be very surprid. very smar very good negotiator wants to do the right thing. at fidelity, our online u.s. equity trades are just $4.95. so no matter what you trade, or where you trade, you'll only pay $4.95. fidelity. open an account today.

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. connell: all right, president trump headed back to the white house after this historic meeting he had with kim jong-un in singapore. deirdre bolton covering it for us and has all the details on how things went. reporter: tuesday, june 12,

will be one for the history books in an unprecedented meeting. a sitting u.s. president met with the north korean leader, president donald trump sat down one-on-one with kim jong-un, no counselors, no cabinet members, simply two leaders with one translator each. as the day progressed and the groups got larger. that is to say a working lunch with cabinet members and advisers on both sides. a signing of a document and thensint trump de the media, took questions for more than an hour. here some of the highlights. >> chairman kim told me that north korea is already destroying a major missile engine testing site. that's not in your signed document. we agreed to that after the agreement was signed. that's a big thing, for the missiles they were testing, the site is going to be destroyed very soon. chairman kim has the chance to

seize an incredible future for his people. anyone can make war, but only the most courageous can make peace. reporter: most diplomatic and wants say the summit was a great first step. one of the larger questions that remain is kim jong-un, will he choose between protecting nuclear arsenal or developing his economy? many diplomatic experts telling us that is the next big question to answer. back to you. connell: deirdre bolton in singapore. now this -- >> it is worrisome, very worrisome that this joint statement is so imprecise. what the united states has gained is vague and unverifiable at best. what north korea has gained is tangible and lasting. >> i have to be honest with you, this is the weakest statement i have ever seen come out of any engagement with

north korea. melissa: democrats slamming the president's historic agreement. here is harry kazianis and rebecca heiichs, senior institute fellow. rebecca, what did you think of the assessment there. what north korea gains is lasting, that's got the better of us though we gothe hostages back, we're moving towards denuclearization. i don't know, what's your take? >> in the case of senator schumer, you know senator schumer was opposed to the iran deal during the obama administration and came back around and supported the iran deal when president trump wanted to withdraw from the iran deal. a lot of the folks you have to disregard what they're saying. i will say i am still neutral on the outcome of the summit because this document that came out was very vague, it only says that the north koreans are working towards denuclearization of the korean peninsula, doesn't say what they think that means, and so you know i'm neutral.

i think condemnation is too early, i think praise and victory laps are too y. see what comes out in the next few weeks, mid-july. we want to see if the north koreans can show us what they've got and get inspectors in there to start dismantling the program. melissa: harry, you were correct it was going to fall apart, friday afternoon this thing is going to fall apart. it happened on thursday. here's what you said then. >> just reading all the tea leaves here. it's clear melissa. the summit is dead. melissa: really? >> yeah, it's toast to be honest with you. melissa: harry real quic prediction. >> testing missiles within 30 days. melissa: all right. you are a very good sport for coming back on with us. what do you think happens from here? like i said it's like 50-50. you called it the first time, second time it came together, you can't be right all the time. >> it's true, it's true. look, honestly, i wish he

canceled again. challenge here is this. we still don't know if kim jong-un is willing to give up his nuclear weapons or not. i think history tells us we've been down this road before. if you compare the joint statement that we signed yestery to the 1994 statement that the clinton administration signed, joint statements in the six-party talk. they are very, very similar. i give president trump all the credit in the world for trying to do this. he's giving opponents on the left ammunition. i give him credit for that. i think within the next 30 days, we need to go to the north koreans and say look, you have 30 days to put up nuclear weapons and the plan to denuclearize or not. if they're not willing to denuclearize, it's max pressur 0 and apply the sanctions on steroids. that's the only way. melissa: what's different now because harry said what's different between now and then when he mentioned the clintons at that point. president clinton handed over a giant mountain of cash which is something president trump did not do, has not done, hasn't

lightened up on the sanctions, another set of sanctions on his desk ready to go. one of the other differences, general jack keane says, it's clear in the past when the kim regime lied about what they were doing and like what the clintons, there was absolutely no consequences and this time around there has already been consequences from the start with the sanctions and very clear that president trump will do something about it. do you agree with general jack keane that this time is different? >> i think it's different. context is everything here. people say, rebecca, you were so hard on the obama administration. if president obama had done this, you would be upset. i said here's the difference. president obama had secretary of state kerry and he had ben rhodes and suzanne rice as advisers and president trump has ambassador bolton and mike pompeo in there. there's a difference here. president trump kept sanctions in place. said he we have 300 sanctions ready to go if the north koreans get on other direction.

we have put a pause on military exercises, i find that regrettable except that's the easiest thing we can bring back if they start to go the other way. there's a lot of strong backing still in place and as long as president trump is willing to actually keep that credible and keep that there, there's a lot that's different here than the previous administration. melissa: and harry, back to the subject at hand where we started with the democrats condemning this. hard to listen to people who expect more of president trump and hold him to a higher standard than they did themselves with talking about iran and letting iran collect its own samples. no u.s. inspectors there. obviously that's not something that the president in this case would accept. you know, and democrats are clamoring more than they demanded in the case of iran, and it feels hypocritical? >> yeah, the democrats are playing politics. anything trump does is bad, that's clear. i think that's obvious.

but, look, i think where we need to go here, we're at a fork in the road when it comes to north korea. we need to make a decision what we want to do. we don't want to waste any more time. melissa: what we want to do? what is unclear what is going on,ary? who needs to make a decision. it's transparent whathe president and the country wants to do. >> then let's do it. melissa: what do you think that was? >> gift north koreans an ultimatum. if they're not willing to give up nuclear weapons, move on. melissa: that's what they signed. >> we can keep talking until we're blue in the face, but it's not going to work. >> what needs to happen at this point, we need a timeline on this that we get inspectors into north korea to see what they have. here's the other thing, if they stop testing, that's a big win, they can still produce nuclear weapons and the missiles in the mountains. we can't let them do that. melissa: thanks to both of you, appreciate your time, thank you.

connell: the whole idea of bringing an end to war games the president talked about that. more on that and the military orders on the korean peninsula. how the world might be responding to that. plus at&t-time warner, the crucial verdict that could reshape the entire media industry. i'm telling you we're all over it. we have our guy edward lawrence courtroom. not allowed to have his phone with him. he'll step outside, call hillary vaughn on the outside and she'll tell all of us. melissa: i think he's going to send smoke signals. connell: it's all coming up any moment. don't go away. >> i've always felt that was a deal that's not good for the country. i think pricing is going to go up. i don't think it's a good deal for the country, but i'm not going to get involved in the litigation. they all got a story about what happened to 'em. man 2: it was raining, there was only one way out. i could feel the barb wire was just digging into the paint.

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. connell: we're waiting on breaking news. let's put it that way any. minute now the verdict on whether at&t can acquire time

warner for $85 billion. let's bring james freeman from the "wall street journal" and seth "barron's"'s managing partner. i mentioned it before the break so everybody knows, edward lawrence and hillary vaughn working in tandem on edward on the inside and hillary on the outside, and got to do this old school. they don't allow cell phones in courtrooms. as soon as edward gets this verdict, going to call hillary and put her on the air. while that is in motion, let's talk guys. let me go to you, seth, on the legal, can what the judge's options are. richard leon could go a few different ways. allow the merger to go through, could disallow it but there could be a middle ground, right? >> true, basically three options that the judge can take. he can allow the merger to move forward without conditions. he can flatly reject it which

i'm going out on a limb and say it's not going to happen in that manner or float in the middle and have it approved with certain conditions. i think it's likely that at&t is going to win this case. may be without conditions, but you are absolutely right. the judge has a number of options here and particularly interesting and historic case. this is a vertical merger, the justice department has not fought a case like this since the early 70s. this is a rarity not only in terms of the issue but a road map for what's happening next in the world of digital media. connell: no doubt, i want james to weigh in on that. seth, give me what a condition could be, if it comes to that. >> one of the conditions is the judge say i will allow this provider within a certain time frame you sell off certain kinds of assets, if you sell off cnn. i think that's unlikely but an

example of one path that the judge could go. connell: all right, james, it does have ramifications potentially for this little industry we call our own in media including our parent company at fox business, and you know, interesting to see what the judge says because say hypothetically to seth's point he allows the merger to go through without conditions, then our oharlie arino reportin the day today, you could see the bids for comcast for the entertainment assets for fox, for example, and other things that could happen in the industry. opens up a lot, right? >> yeah, it does give the green light to companies to merge. you mentioned comcast. certainly the parent company of this network thought they'd have a problem going with comcast. they went with disney precisely because they thought there might be antitrust be pr, the concern would be diminished if at&t wins here. generally, a loss for at&t would be shocking.

i agree, it's highly unlikely, the companies don't compete with each other. time warner and at&t, and that's why this merger hasn't been challenged in 40 years. if by amazing turn of events that were to happen, that the judge blocked this deal, i'm s would stop lots of other mergers. there is a political component to this, i think the president obviously didn't like this deal. the head of the justice department's antitrust division isn't prone to intervene in markets. i don't think he is by instinct a big government guy, i'm not sure a surprising as a loss for at&t and time warner would be, i'm not sure that would lead to a highly hyperactive antitst division. connell: seen as an interesting case for a republican administration to take on, james, to your point, not necessarily for this one because the president talked about it on the campaign trail. that's what you're talking

about the cnn i fake news type of thing that that could have played into the decision making to go after them? >> well, you wonder because it is such a bizarre complaint. you read the government's case and almost as if netflix and the government don't exist. try and paint a picture of this market dominated by a few big players like at&t and time warner and, of course, they're in brutal competition with wired and wire to line telecom networks on one end and content creators on the other. it's not just traditional hollywood, it's netflix and google and amazon, hard to think of a more competitive market. connell: seth, you take us through the legal argument on this on both sides if you can. james is right, it's a vertical merger. you have the two companies that don't necessarily compete, they complement each other, that's the reason they're trying to get together. i was in the courtroom for the

opening days of this. the opening arguments. not the entire trial but got a sense what the government is trying to sxarg how the coanies are trying to defend themselves. essentially you have the case saying what turner has in americas, tbs, tnt, cnn, on and on, that's must have programming for the distributors. so they'd be able to leverage that. that's the argument. that they leverage that and raise prices on consumers and what have you. that's what they're trying to convince this judge of. seems like both of you, seth, you take it first, that's a tough argument to make. >> tough argument because it's speculation, but you are right, the government said you are going to allow at&t if this is approved to take all the content and flow it through pipes and they contend that what at&t is going to do is essentially going to contract the pipes, hold back the content and there by jack up the prices for the distribution

and for the customers. there by having an anti-competitive effect on a price increase, whereupon at&t came in and said, look, as a matter of fact, that's ridiculous. we're going to open the pipes because we allow greater access, increase ad revenue. we have a more vibrant business model, compete with these guys. this is going to have price decrease, not price increase to the customer. let me add quickly, i agree the customer complaint wasn't very good. i don't think the trial went well either. they had an expert witness that had speculative testimony trying to guess as to the amount the price increase and at the end of the day his methodology and the numbers were very shaky. uphill battle for the government here and if they lose this, it's going to -- they threw the dice and it's a gamble for the justice department. connell: it is, james, you don't necessarily think it affects how other cases are

brought or do you? go ahead. >> i would say a loss for at&t-time warner, judge striking this down is a horrible signal for markets. goes against everything the president has bee in terms of deregulation. connell: right. >> but i don't necessarily think it's a safe assumption that it actually does lead to very vigorous enforceme of other deals. given the situation of the personnel running this division of the justice department. having said that, though, visly, when that signal goes out, if this action by the government succeeds, you might not know whether other deals would be challenged because the chilling effect in the market could mean people just don't try, and that's obviously bad for growth, bad for productivity in our economy. connell: james, what's it telling you, at&t, time warner, comcast. if you look at the stocks, now that we're into after-hours

trading, at&t up almost 2%. time warner up about 1%. but the point is they're all higher here, and for after-hours trading, we have very heavy volume for what you would normally anticipate a stock trading in the after hours. what do you make of, that james? they're all up. >> i think they're going to win. it would be shocking if e judge ruled against the companies. you were menging a moment ago, the idea you have to sell to win the case. if the judge goes for the government, it's going to be interesting to read how he got there because the question is cnn so valuable, so demanding by customers they will pay anything for it, it has monopoly power. maybe we're not the people who answer that question, but i think the market -- connell: would any one network be that way? and also -- >> the market is telling you it's not that much. connell: also, if you're the distributor in this case, i

think their point and maybe i don't know what you think of this, seth, their point is we want to have competition, we want to offer as many networks as we possibly can and it's in our interest if we're at&t to do that. not in our interest to not offer fox or whatever other network you might want to offer. it's not in their interest. >> yeah, absolutely, increased competition will result in decreased pricing to the end consumer, not only with respect to a more affordable product, but also a more creative and ingenuity product because as technology continues to go into digital streaming in all aspects of news and entertainment. if this is a win for at&t and m going to go out on a limb and say it is, this is a huge win from a technology standpoint, from a media distribution standpoint and really going to create a new road map for catapulting the next chapter of media in the

united states. so it's so interesting to see we're literally within a minute or two of this decision because it's going to have such a profound impact in so many ways. connell: we can take the picture full on the side street in washington. if you walk down the hill from capitol hill, not far from the district courthouse, that's where the reporters have gathered outside. the way it's working, the district judge richard leon, a very experienced district judge, old school guy for what it is worth, has just come in with the decision, and hillary has it now. do you? what are we hearing? reporter: connell, we got the word, judge richard leon ruling in favor of the at&t-time warner merger. his reason was the d.o.j. did not follow through on the burden of proof. there is a wild card here. a lot of people following this trial over several weeks said don't put it past the d.o.j. to walk away from this. they have the option to appeal this decision.

but for now, as it stands, could this have a ripple effect on several other deals waiting in the wings of those. one of those decisions involving our own parent company twenty-first century fox's pending deal with disney who wants to buy twenty-first century fox's entertainment content. comcast has gone on the record saying theylan to make a competing bid for the fox content but also this could bleed into another deal, t-mobile could use this to boost their case to say they should be allowed to take over sprint and then you have even further out. this affecting the health care industry and how the government and the courts decide to pass on vertical mergers. so you have cbs trying to buy aetna and you have buyout of express script. major shifts and changes as this plays out. the judge making his decision

that the d.o.j. did not pl through on burden of proof and the at&t-time warner merger is getting the go-ahead and the two big thumbs-up from him. melissa: as you looked at the movement in stocks there, worsening conditions, we haven't heard, what people were expecting. you look at that. this is what a chart looks like during a normal acquisition. company acquired, you see a big boost, time warner trading up 5%. at&t the one doing the acquiring is down. comcast moved down as well because it's one of the groups out there dng the acquiring, and we said earlier and charlie gasparino predicted that it's the value of the assets that now skyrocket in the hours after this decision. but it got vanquished there. connell: and hillary didn't mention any and now the communications we're getting from the courtroom, it's confirmed to us, i believe there are no strings attached, there are no conditions.

melissa: they didn't meet the burden of proof. connell: seth, your thoughts on this. no conditions, merger goes forwar and pretty much what you were expecting right? >> as predicted. the justice department was the plaintiff in this case, they had the burden of proond therefore they had to show by the preponderance of the evidence this was going to at the end of the day have the specific anti-competitive impact. they were not able to do it. star witness, expert witness was a little bit of a flop and at the end of the day, i think this is going to open up the fldgates of m&a activity throughout the country and the justice department has a big loss here. i don't think this a case that should have been brought with. they had the burden of proof, the judge made it very clear, i'm not surprised thereo conditions. this is going to open up a new era of digital media content and delivery, this is a big win

for the consumer and a big deal. melissa: and a big win for everybody who makes money by doing deals. edward lawrence out by the courtrooms. edward, give us some more color? reporter: very interesting decision, something i have not heard from a federal judge, he admonished the government side saying if the government tried to seek a stay in this case, in essence hurting the defendants, at&t and time warner, he said the government should not do that and he has a quote. he said the government should have the good judgment and wisdom not to seek that stay. he said it would be injust and unfair on time warner and at&t if they tried to. the government would go forward with that stay to try and pass the june 18 closure date of this merger. if that's the case, time warner or at&t would have to pay time warner $500 million as a fee. the judge took the unusual step

of admonishing the government saying they had their day in court, the defendants had their day in court and released this massive opinion that he had a decision that the government did not meet the burden of proof and sayingent ou not seek further punishment upon at&t because in the likelihood the government wouldai upon appeal. this decision is 170 pages. judge richard leon wentnt great detail in this decision to try and go forward and look at this possible opinion going for appeal. now the judge trying to say the appeal should not take place in this case going forward. connell: interesting, edward. right before hillary came you on passed the decision from inside the cotr i started to say i was there for the early days of the trial, opening arguments and judge is an old school guy. for what it's worth. the guy doesn't suffer fools not afraid to go after an attorney in the court room. we saw it in the early days and

you're saying we saw it in the final days. what was his tone like when he went after the government attorneys? >> reporter: it was pretty combative. i have been in a lot of federal cases, a lot of local court cases, i have not really heard a judge admh a side for this, saying you had your day in court and you lost. so therefore don't go forward to try and punish at&t or a company on e other side of. this it struck me as i was listening to this. in the opinion, the judge read from his opinion in the court for the last 20 or 30 minutes, he broke down almost line-by-line why the government's case didn't work. they had three theories going forward and each theory that did not meet the burden of proof, the judge also said he did not believe the economists that the government put forward additionally saying the government was not only using

speculation in testimony here, but also he was contradicting other testimony and other evidence that the government put in. so the judge really saying the government did not have a case in this point and shoul dropped altogether. melissa: i mean, that's quite a tongue lashing, ward. did you look over at the government's side? what did their faces look like? i can't imagine that. reporter: i was seeing the back of their heads. after the court case there complete silence from the government's side on this. it was unusual in a federal courtroom. connell: a quick comment from seth if he's still there. the idea that judge leon was that aggressive in going after the government here? >> this ruling was not just a home run for at&t. it was a grand slam when. there is a motion for a stay pending appeal to freeze it from moving forward, while they go upstairs and appeal. they have to file the motion interestingly to the trial judge here.

this judge, in a rare move said, hey, don't even bother. you guys lost, and it's unusual to hear that in the ruling. they said don't even bother, this shows a grand slam, effectively this case is over, and one other point i would make is there was interesting commentary that i agree with that if at&t lost, we were speculating what the result would be? now that we know that at&t won, that blasts open the doors for m&a activity in the media space, especially with the strong ruling. melissa: that's what i was going to ask james freeman quickly before we go. deal activity everywhere, deal lawyers, investment bankers have to be popping the champagne and rejoicing at this moment? e you still there? >> it's a great day on wall street, but i think also for people who work in the industry, consumers, the judge did a great job letting markets run and also for telling the government to drop it now and not be sore losers.

they didn't just get their day in court, they got a six-week trial and the thing has gone on almost two years in terms of the case. time to wrap it up. connell: thanks for everybody involved. s a set business team, hillary and edward, our fbn producer and an intern. melissa: want to thank your mom? anyone else? connell: my dad's birthday. melissa: terrific. judgment day for at&t and time warner as we told you. more of the breaking details on that with charlie gasrino after the break. >> ah, gasparino. here.

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i mwell, what are youe to take care odoing tomorrow -10am? staff meeting. noon? eating. 3:45? uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam's baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn't it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios. the automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. melissa: here is the media company soaring after-hours after a federal judge ruled in favor of the at&t/time-warner

merger. >> 21st century fox all-time high, charlie gasparino is, of course since the beginning and charlie joins us now, we were just talking, charlie about the nuts and bolts of the case and the ruling of course, but your perspective would be valued terms of what i guess the bidding wars begin. charlie: the deal is in the conditions, or you know, what exactly does at&t and time-warner have to abide by if, you know, now that this is approved. now the initial read that everybody is getting my sources are telling me, other networks rosenstein reporting,s is that that this is no condition. i mean let's see the ruling. right? i know the judge articulated some of his ruling, but you know you have to see, we have to see but if that is the case and the stocks are acting like there's no conditions, this is going to be like a wild chess game going

on for media assets particularly 21st century fox. i think we're kind of in the cat bird seat in terms of people who want us. comcast has been given, okay so why does this deal matter for comcast? because it sets somewhat of a precedent even though i'm sure the judge isg v narrow ly and it's like listen, if the government opposes comcast getting any bigger, well judge leon, who often rules on these cases, may say sorry, government, they can bid for us. they can get bigger and it's not a problem an anti-trust problem so that's giving brian roberts the ceo of comcast a lot of confidence that he can bid on us , so the question is if there's no conditions, i wouldn't be surprised if brian roberts puts in a bid for us tomorrow, or now, or -- melissa: it won't be cheap, fox trading at an all-time high right now. charlie: exactly, and here, will there be other bidders?

you know? i keep hearing that. will there be other deals? cbs, and viacom is something that keeps popping up, cbs is in it with the national amusements but they're takeover bait and you get bigger and you can do it by the way i love this. it's fun, right? melissa: obvious. charlie: and byhe way the ceo of at&t just saved his job. >> or he would have been out otherwise. charlie: yes. >> crazy times in our in dust thank you, charlie, got to run. melissa: president trump is going o an afternoon storm on board air force one what the commander-in-chief is saying we'll bring it to you next. for our customers. it's how we earned your trust. until... we lost it. today, we're renewing our commitment to you. fixing what went wrong. and ending product sales goals for branch bankers. so we can focus on your satisfaction.

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melissa: so the president is on his way home from singapore and so heting, "heading back home from singapore after a truly amazing visit great progress was made on the denuclearization of north korea, hostages are back home, will be getting the remains of our great heros back to their families.

no missileshot, no research happening, sites closing. " >> and also got along great with kim jong-un wants to see wonderful things for his country anyone can make war only korea can just make peace. melissa: well that was a very busy day that does it for us here is the evening edit. liz: breaking news we'll get right to that $85 billion merger between at&t and time-warner, a federal judge ruling that yes, he will give it the green light. at&t can acquire time-warner those stocks have been rising in trading. it's a decision that will have a lasting effect on the media. let's get right to ed lawrence with the latest at the u.s. district court with the breaking details, edward? >> yeah, this is a huge ruling for at&t. the judge in this case broke down the government's case almost line by line, saying that they did not meet the burden of proof with a number of theories they were trying