commentary on apple with a trillion dollars. dan henninger thank you for being with us. >> fun as always. >> thanks to all the millenials make it popular. maybe allow me to switch to a microsoft phone. >> if that happens. david asman. >> come down only a bit david: i'm david asman in for charles. joan than hoenig, does this anything in the mind of what happel is or what it is worth. >> this is a arbitrary number but it is inindicator how far

and tremendously successful apple has been. it has been these "fang" stocks. you know, apple of course is a big part of that, so i celebrate it. but i'm a little worried now moving forward because we've seen a lot of big technology stocks fall even as apple continues to notch new highs. great success for the company. but i think a reason for caution for most investors. david: lenore, it has come down since it hit a trillion. it has come down $3 billion. not much when you talk about a trillion dollars. extraordinary lenore, $3 billion is an accounting error for this stock. >> you remember a trillion dollars, thats was one of those unfathomable numbers. i completely agree with jonathan. in fact, year-to-date the fang plus stocks, nyse, fang plus stocks, six of them, have accounted for 2/3s of the s&p's gain. just six out of 500 accounted

for 2/3. that is cause for certain. that is really narrow leadership. david: michael, a lot of investors remember back to the lazy, hazy days of the late '90s when we were reaching new highs on the nasdaq all the time. some people said the sky is the limit. turns out it wasn't. there was a limit and the bottom dropped out of that market. is it conceivable there is too much pie-in-the-sky talk right now? >> no, not at all. we're in the midst of what i call a convergence economy. we've never seen technology with all these things driving forward. the american economy is a centric economy. apple is a great symbol exactly how important technology has become. every business, technology business, consumers, you can't get by without technology anymore. we're way past the tipping point. doesn't mean we won't have sell off and corrections in there. we're not talking dot-com. came up as a big tech bull, especially with apple, up several times over last few

years. david: jonathan, some companies get sucked in at the end of a chain, some companies get stuck at the end of whatever it happens to be, whether it is digital or whatever but apple is staying on the front lines, getting right in as we heard apple services are doing extraordinarily well. of course cloud compute something so important now, as people switch from televisions to handhelds for just about everything. they are really at the cutting, they make sure they're at the cutting-edge of that technology boom. >> that is why they have been successful, david. not because of a handout or stimulus but apple not only gives the customer what he or she wants, they anticipate it

and invent what the customer wants. apple's business, upwards 70% of revenue comes from the independent phone this is a product that didn't exist two decades ago in effect. that keeps apple successful. david, competition insure where monoly is not assured in capitalist system. someone will eat their lunch. david: even though we're focusing on one company, think of all the ancillary companies not only involved with apple but competing with apple. lenore there, is one other thing besides technology, we have to focus on the gross margin of this company. we live in new york. i have a friend who owns a restaurant in new york. he is lucky to get a 5% gross margin after what he spent. 5% after everything you pay out. we have a company which has 35.6% gross margin. that has a lot to do why it is such an expensive stock, right? >> oh, it is incredible.

its gross margin is phenomenal but if we look at the broader economy, your other guest is correct we see a lot of technology pervading everywhere however we're not seeing that translate into productivity. the most recent employment cost index out of the bureau of labor statistics employment cost rising 3% year-over-year. this is the fastest since the financial crisis. that is great for employees but productivity is not rising. david: lenore, explain why that is bad for investors? >> that is bad for investors that means companies are having to pay more to their employees to get less out of them. that means pressure on your profits. that is pressure on the bottom line. david: michael, does that concern you. >> not at all. i would like to see more productivity but we're seeing companies adopt technology en

masse. look what amazon has done with amazon web services. microsoft has done an amazing job moving to the cloud there is no slowdown of pace of tech adoption. we're getting a different type of shift. it tee departments are moving to the cloud that is massive. there is a lot of money to be made in these stocks. david: i don't want to get too much into the weeds, jonathan, when productivity goes down, it is an inflation concern. when you have inflation, one of the best ways to lick it is improving productivity. we already have inflation licking at our heels here. with lower productivity, might that make that even more of a problem? >> david, make a tremendous point. think about amazon, how effective the company has been keeping costs down for everyone, for consumers big and small. you're absolutely right. to lenore's point, these companies are successful but they're also priced for

perfection. not like technology went away after the year 2000 but it faded from being leadership stocks of the era. so we used to talk about cisco and sun micro systems and oracle. we didn't talk about them for 14 years. i fear that is the era we're now. i think the tech stocks will be dead money for a long time. david: lenore, we don't want to lose sight of the big ballgame here. we're in extraordinarily booming economy right now. i haven't seen anything like this since the early 1980s, when we came out of the doldrums of the 70s to the booming economy. that in large part to the reagan tax cuts and deregulation similar to what is happening here. we have extraordinary job market there are more jobs available than people applying for those jobs. doesn't that sort of overwhelm concerns of productivity and little stuff like that, if i may? >> well that is actually the very heart of my concerns. when you have an unemployment rate this low, what that means is that employers are forced to

just take anyone they can find to fill a role. that means you have the wrong skills in the wrong job, and that means lower and lower productivity regardless what we do with technology. that is not good for anyone because you're not having the right skillset in the right job. david: yeah. >> that is not going to change anytime soon because we just don't have enough people being born in the country. we're really cutting immigration. so how do you grow an economy? you grow your labor force, you grow your productivity. i'm not seeing those. david: i don't know, michael. i think the way you grow an economy to make it easier to start a business and that is what has been going on. the obama administration made it more difficult with more regulations to do business. they made it more expensive with higher taxes to do business. this administration is doing exactly the opposite. it seems to be paying off. >> excellent point. you know, i think just this morning the atlanta fed raised forecast for third quarter gdp for 5%, which would be amazing

coming on the heels of 4% growth. the president has done a great job, david, fostering a positive, pro-business climate. business people have been responding to that. more hiring. more investments. more r&d. more share of buybacks, high every dividends. we're seeing accelerating economy. would i like to see lenore talk about higher productivity but with this economy booming the way it is we are doing a great job here. i think the trump white house should get a lot of credit for fostering a good business climate, a lot of action and tax cuts. david: growing economy solves a lot of props. we do have a growing economy. >> sure does. david: gang, that was wonderful stuff. thank you for changing subjects on the fly, but the apple news really took precedence. we appreciate you being here. coming up why retailers are getting kind of worried about the latest war of words on trade. again those new sanctions haven't kicked in yet. we won't for another month but there is a lot of concern about

it. we have much more on apple's historic day. pulled back a little bit but could get back there again very easily. ♪ ♪ a hotel can make or break a trip.

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david: just talking to deirdre bolton about the psychology of the market. look how the dow pared its losses significantly. a lot has to do with apple. there is so much excitement about apple hitting a trillion. it pulled back from the market cap. it could easily go up to a trillion. president trump told the top trade negotiator to look more than doubling tariffs on chinese goods. that is not good for the market. scares the market very often. there were interesting things, deirdre, including the fact they're delaying it a month. this is not pulling the trigger. this is another month to think about doing it. >> that's right, david. people are saying this is negotiation tactic from the part of president trump and rest of the administration. one thing is clear, u.s. clearly languagize is turning up heat on china. beijing reacting as well. we don't know how much is pr, they're ready to do.

they say they are ready to retaliate. they are calling the u.s. tactics, blackmail. so, president trump may more than double the proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods. so essentially, when you look at 10%, which is the initial amount that everybody decided on, to considering the 25%, obviously that is a more than double lift. now as far as reaction, wilbur ross, commerce secretary, spoke with our colleague maria bartiromo this morning and he somewhat underplayed the effect that this could have. here is his comments. >> 25% on 200 billion, if it comes to pass is $50 billion a year. $50 billion a year on an 18 billion or so, 18 trillion or so economy is .3 of 1%. it's not something that is going to be cataclysmic.

>> you hear secretary ross comment about that. david, our economies are very different. u.s. we consume eightpy% of what we produce. we have consumer power that goes into 2/3 of our gdp. china has a strong consumer class, it does not have the same muscle as ours. the administration, many people are saying, china needs trade more than the u.s. does. as you rightly pointed out the white house will not be making a final decision until late august, a lot of people saying until september. investors earlier, in particular are responding with fear. if you look at the dow, you pointed out the dow is paring some earlier losses but here are some stocks most sensitive to trade worries. you can see all the red on the screen. they are still moving lower. even particular industries are putting out statements. i will pull up one from the retail federation. they're essentially showing their fear. we said before this amount of tariffs is doubling down on

recklessness on u.s. trade policy that will hurt u.s. families and workers more than they hurt china. there is a second page to this. here it is. increasing the size of the tariffs is increasing the harm that will be done. so david, you know, so far this is a war of words if you like, but you can see where some industries, retail federation, very strongly against it. we heard the same from the auto industry. remember the big three went down had a drive-in, literally drove and parked a bunch of cars on capitol hill. david: yet, what the president says he wants and what might happen if he is you can is sesful to come down to zero tariffs for cars. >> that's right. that is what they figure out with the eu for the moment. david: interesting. wilbur ross putting it in perspective. ken fisher is coming on in the next hour, the great ken fisher. you have seen his ads on television. i hate annuities. he thinks again it is such a small percentage of the world economy, what is being done now, there is no need to be concerned. he doesn't think it will affect

the markets. they are paring their losses. so we'll see. >> i will listen to the interview. david: thank you, deirdre. despite fear of trade wars the economy is booming ahead of a big jobs report tomorrow. should the president use our economic strength in trade negotiations? "weekly standard" editor, fred barnes and rollcall executive report, alex cangitino. i've been reading your stuff a long time. you know about economic policy. the economy is booming. i haven't seen anything like it since the reagan boom, for the same reason, tax cuts, regulatory cuts. the president i believe believes you negotiate from a position of extremity and the economy is now strong enough to take the little dings it will get from trade worries. what do you think? >> the media of course will play up those dings that you're talking about. wilbur ross was very good.

the entire economy by some tariffs with china is not going to really bring the economy down in any sense, but, it will seem like it the way the media plays it. you really have to be careful. look, president trump is operating from a position of great strength. i don't think any president has had this strength and willingness to fight a trade war in my lifetime, actually. david: yeah. >> and if you're going to do it, now is the time to do it. but you have to be careful. david: you do. you do indeed but, alex, it is true china particular is getting away with a lot of stuff for a long time. all kinds of things. first of all stealing our intellectual property. forcing companies to turn over their secrets in order to do business in china. of course that is their decision. frankly i wouldn't go if i was blackmailed but we're trying to squeeze a lot of these, a lot of these unfair practices that they have been involved with for

decades out of the system. is there going to be a political reaction to it? so far the market, by the way, is again paring its losses today on trade fears. go ahead. >> yeah, i think the administration can make the political reaction a positive one if they keep the narrative up that the president is coming from a place of strength and has upper hand here and what wilbur ross said it might not be a catastrophic thing for our country. i think, if they continue to play up that narrative, the base is going to stick with them on this one too. david: of course the democrats, fred, are trying best they can do to talk down the economy, if they talk about it at all. they would rather divert to things like the mueller investigation or whatever. >> sure. david: if they're forced to talk about the economy, they talk it down. that goes in the face of all this economic data coming out. tomorrow we get another jobs report. it may not be as good as the previous one. still you can't argue the fact we have more jobs, than we have job applicants now, that never

happened in my lifetime. how can they continue to talk down an economy that looks so good? >> well it doesn't work. it hasn't worked when republicans have done that in the past, to a lesser degree, but what is the president talking about? he is not talking about the great tax cuts, the great regulatory reform, and things like that, that have helped produce the economy we have that is so strong? he is talking about shutting down the government, which is, which would be politically catastrophic. i wish president trump would answer this question, who is the president in the past who, or a member of congress, or a party, who has shut down the government and succeeded in their gain? gotten their goal successfully? never happened. david: there are none. there are none. alex, are we likely to see, the

president is out on the campaign trail, but i don't mean to contradict my colleague fred, he has spoken of highly of the economy during these appearances. again i think he tweets too much about the mueller investigation, just let those people stew in what they're waffledded with, but is he going to be focuses more on the economic message which is so positive? >> i think i'm with fred on this one, that he is going to continue to tweet about the mueller investigation and what he wants in terms of a shutdown and congress to do, that i'm not sure if he will continue to tout the economy like we've seen him do on the campaign trail. i mean it is coming down to midterm, the midterms coming up quickly. if he want as shutdown, he will have to keep pushing for it. david: i agree with both of you guys. he is a great salesman. one of the best salesman in the world. i don't think anybody would argue that, even his democratic detractors. if you sell the sizzle and the steak of the economy, it's a

natural, do it. it is a freebie. i wish he would take advantage of it more. we have to leave it at that. fred and alex, good to see you both. thank you very much. today is an historic day for apple as it surpasses the one trillion dollar mark. is this beginning of a huge surge or continuation of a surge in tech? more to come on that. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

>> welcome back to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm nicole petallides live on the floor of the new york stock exchange and it is official, apple hits a trillion dollars in market value. it moved up to 207.05 a short

time ago, making it first trillion dollar company in the u.s. that is the 17th record close of 2018. as we continue to watch technology which recently had been faltering but people are loving apple once again here as it moves to the upside. taking a look at some of the other tech stocks today, here is a look at facebook right now which is up over $3 at 174.90. one trader told me did buy some yesterday when it looked oversold but many will stop at a low of 166 if it sells off. quick peek at others google, microsoft, netflix which all have been moving to upside. just about every other tech name has up arrows but apple, microsoft, have been stellar performers for 2018. back to you. david: thank you, nicole. i'm looking at the dow, the dow pared losses down to minus 35. remember when it first came out

of gate this morning the market was down triple digits. went down close to 200 points to the negative side. it has come roaring back. part of the psychology of apple. psychology of the market combined. not be discounted at least on a short-term basis. it has pulled back from the trillion dollar mark. not by much. we should qualify the terms, not by much. everything is relative in the market. that is still down $3 billion. i want to go to market watcher scott shellady, what it means for rest of tech. talk about apple. as i see big ben right behind you, you're in london for those who don't know, you're a fish out of water, you don't look like a londoner, forgive me. you look like a werner but what do they think about all this in london? >> you know the tech sector for sure in the states, to coin a phrase the apple of the u.s.'s eye and something they really

envy over here. they try a play a little catch-up but they have areas they do really well but slowly, surely, they think eu has to be the regulator of these big u.s. companies. david: oh, boy. >> they're coming out with regulations and fines over here which i'm sure you're aware of. david: oh, yeah. >> to take the drivers seat if they can't beat the tech sector, they want to regulate. david: this regulator or czar or czarina. because it's a woman, came down with billion dollar fines, last one against google, do you think they could turn the attention to apple and that might curb some european sales? >> no, not as much. they're more social media related right now. so it will be the twitters and the facebooks that really start to get -- it will be like trying to regulate the internet, right? how do you make sure everything is not fake or true. david: that doesn't stop the politicians and bureaucrats from trying. look what this whole thing with

net neutrality, essentially just meant regulating the internet, they tried to do that in the years of the obama administration and of course this administration is pulling back from that, but they will give it their try. there is nothing that will stop these regulators from doing damage to the market. >> yeah. i will fast forward to the end of the argument. they will try, and they will grandstand, but nothing will get done. david: good. talk specifically about apple for a second. do you think the trillion dollar mark does affect what happens to the stock? >> not really, i mean i think it is more of a line in the sand. we continue on as usual tomorrow, rather than this historic, it is an historic event but nothing to stop at. they have done pretty well. i think their iphone sales three or four years, flat or slowing down but they have other services. here is where our tech sector is disparate. we have twitter and facebook more user based. that is where they struggle and

regulators put their foot in and get involved. if you make something, have a widget. they have hardware, apple, and services. david: a lot of service. >> amazon has retail services and amazon web service is and alphabet obviously. it will be better to be in that camp where you have a widget for sale than in the other camp where you're relying on users an advertisers. david: i don't want to give the regulators anything at all, any ammunition, they have enough of their own. but the fact what apple is getting into, the services are the second big winner as they came out with the quarterly figures which led to this boom, the services are worldwide. the services affect the way computers work, the way software works, the way we work, with computers worldwide. so, an argument, i suppose could be made by regulators that the more companies get into that stuff, as opposed to pure hardware the way apple used to be, could be regulated because it after effects the way, we,

europeans, do business? >> yeah, there is definitely something to that. you will see some movements by governments and regulators into that space. i still think it is so new. think about it. we're still so comfortable letting alexa, whatever, sit in our rooms, listen to what we have to say to order things through it. david: yeah. >> we're still far away from really clamping down but i still think the apples of the world still have some room. david: personally i don't a how alexa in my house. how about you? are you comfortable with that? >> no. i don't have one. should get rid of camera on my laptop and camera on google tv there is something somewhere. seems a little bit invasive when my alexa knows what i need to order out of fridge tomorrow. david: yeah. one question, you're a trader, you know this very well. used be, whenever a stock got too high you have the stock splits. bill hemmer, works for fox news, has an office, next to mine, why don't we have stock splits with

amazon, alphabet, over $1000? it used to spook investors. now it is almost claim to premium status, doesn't it? >> right. it is like platinum stock. look at berkshire hathaways of the world. it hasn't slowed down the big boys. i don't think you see anything split. that market psyche is warn out. no, it doesn't scare anybody away to have expensive stock. you don't buy as many but you're involved. david: scott, i see lightness behind you. it stays light late in london these days. enjoy rest of the day. good to see you scott. >> you too, thanks. david: tesla shares soaring despite a record loss in the second quarter. ceo of elon musk are trying to insure investors are on the rise. look at that a 12 1/2% jump. kristina partsinevelos has the latest. this is a huge jump. >> this is huge jump but the jump actually occurred after the conference call and during the

conference call. why? first thing elon musk apologized for his behavior on the conference call. he called one analyst as question a bonehead question. other questions were boring. analysts rewarded him for the comment, sole his shares. you saw the shares plunge after last earnings call. however this time around he apologized, which is big thing for the very proud man. the other thing, tesla said q3, the next quarter they will turn a profit. you can look on the flip side say that tesla is focusing too much on the future how they can turn a profit, but they're not focusing in on this quarter's earnings which came in at a loss earnings per share came in higher than expected but seven quarters in a row on losses. i want to get in on the deliveries we keep talking about, the model. 3, how much they will produce. look at q2 deliveries, this a chart i put together.

second quarter, 22,000. this quarter 40,000. back in 2012, only 12 cars made. definitely a huge jump. look at valuations since you were talking about apple very recently, look at tesla's valuation at the moment. back when it ipod in june 2010, it is $1.3 billion. now it is worth $57 billion. yet the company doesn't turn a profit and elon musk is very, very tired, even apologized on the conference call saying he is tired, he kept saying um, or ah. is this something that could continue to be big. david: people forget how many years, years, amazon reported a loss, year after year after year. >> exactly. david: look at them now. a lot of investor -- i was thinking of general george patton in world war ii slap ad soldier, had to apologize in front of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. i think if elon musk trying to apologize. must have been just as hard for

him to do that today as it was in general patton back in world war ii. >> of course. now shows he is human, you can relate to him. he is more personal. responds to tweets too. david: numbers don't lie. 12% gain isn't bad. kristine n thank you very much. >> thank you. david: wildfires continue to rage in the west as firefighters descend from across the nation in the hopes of taming these flames. the latest on the desperate struggle and the latest video as well. that is coming next. ♪

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david: awful california wildfires continue to grow. 32,000 people continued to be displaced. 320,000-acres of lan scorched. fox news correspondent jeff paul in redding, california, with the latest. jeff, you go from volcanoes, to one natural disaster from another. this one is looking really bad,

right? reporter: it is absolutely horrible out here and firefighters preparing for another dry and hot day as they work to contain the devastating carr fire. so far more than 1000 homes destroyed in this fire alone and still very early on in wildfire season. we're getting new number, statewide numbers from calfire, just into our inbox. 13,000 firefighters battling 18 large fires across the state. the fires have you are burned 340,000-acres and destroyed 1800 structures. 15,000 homes here are already threatened. firefighters tell us the fire is moving away from the bulk of homes into rural areas. we caught up with crews on the front line of the flames. firefighters right now are in the defensive mode. sort of letting this fire burn itself out, using natural barriers like asphalt, so they can save resources, water and

retardant for family's hopes and other people that need to escape we've also noticed that the temperature has dropped a little bit out here. still very hot and dry but, over the next few days, the forecast is calling for the temperatures to drop below triple digits. that would be a huge help for firefighters as they continue to battle all the wildfires out here in northern california. david? david: jeff what is the governor saying about all this? >> governor jerry brown recently spoke, kind of portraying a very dismal view of what's happening. he says nature is very powerful. we are not on the side of nature right now. he says he is happy that they're starting to kind of get a better grasp of all the wildfires, especially most devastating one in northern california but he says crews need to prepare for the next one. >> this is serious. fires are now more a part of our ordinary experience. the predictions that things would get drier and hotter are

occurring. reporter: governor brown also mentioned that calfire has already burned through a quarter of its budget, we're only a month into the fiscal year but we are learning help is coming from all over from states like maine and florida. we're also hearing they could get help from a place as far as away as australia. david? david: my goodness. people want to really help. this is once in a generation kind of fire. jeff, thank you. please take care of yourself. tell hillary, to do the same. i saw her in the midst of a fire. dangerous times out there as well. jeff, thank you. this is incredible story, google is reportedly working on a censored search engine for china. sounds extraordinary. susan li has details. susan, why would they do this, agree to that? >> this is global search app. we have several reports that google might push on multiple fronts to get back at china. this is the world's second largest economy. they see this is acrimonious

departure in 2010. so intercept is reporting that google is working on a censored version of the mobile search app for china. "wall street journal" saying the censored search products plans are not complete yet and actually may never become a reality. china censors a lot of topics they deem sensitive. that includes any references to tianamen square for one or criticism of its leadership. google exited the china online search market in 2010 after what they called multiple hack attacks in the country and having to adhere to the censorship rules. sergey brin, the cofounder, telling "the wall street journal" at the time, in terms of china i see the same earmarks of totalitarianism. i find that personally quite troubling. now this doesn't mean that google doesn't have a presence or they don't do business in china right now. they still run three offices in the country with700 employees. they offer other services like translation apps. they also bought a half billion

dollar stake in china haste second largest retail site, jd.com. their phone operating system android is carried on most hand-sets sold in china. if google gets back into censored search in china, they predict there might be pushback from employees, which recently forced google's management to stop allowing the military to use its artificial intelligence for defense purposes. this story has legs, david. david: the price of doing business is being complicit in a totalitarian regime to shut the citizens up, i would think that price would be too much. they're anxious to get in there. sometimes the lure of the chinese market is too great. >> when you havehundred million internet users, a market with growing middle class, that is lot of erps dollar signs you can'ting north. david: not a done deal. >> not yet.

david: susan, thank you very much. comcast and amazon just releasing a deal to launch prime video on xfinity x-1 service. first time amazon's streaming service on a u.s. pay tv service. sounds like a great deal if you have xfinity. we'll be right back.

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david:cb -- cbs earnings after the bell i will report with melissa francis. this after reports that the board of directors knew about les moonves allegations against him several months ago. charlie gasparino, what we might hear from les moonves. what do you think? >> as we've been reporting. again i'm going to preface think, i don't believe it until i see it, but our sources inside cbs say les moonves will appear on the call. generally three people on the earnings call all the time. joe eye fellow, the coo, adam townsend is the investor relations chief and les moonves the ceo. from what i said as of late yesterday, prepping to be on the call, possibly getting a question or two on this. david: definitely will get a question. >> just so you know, he may open up i'm not sheaing anything

about this. let the process -- he may make a statement. i don't know how he will address it, the elephant in the room, which will be this's opposed to earnings which will be pretty good. les moonves is very good ceo, one of the best out there. one. few ceos i know in sort of media space, you know, i guess our guy is one of them at that, the gentleman, runs our -- what is his name again? david: rupert murdoch. >> wall street likes them. they're good with content. so he in that sort of pantheon. and so, like, if he leaves, it will be a problem for the stock. david: you bring up a great point because there are certain companies where the ceo is a lot more than a guy part of the team. a leader, a real transitional figure. we have one, rupert murdoch. >> jack welch. david: jack welch was one at ge. when he left obviously the company didn't do so well. i wonder if the same could happen to cbs?

>> the added complication which i'm sure will be brought up, he will have to answer this question, the battle he is having with shari redstone, national amusement entertainment. david: is this just a coincidence that this things comes up? >> let me explain one thing that viewer gets handle around it. national amusement is holding company. controlling shareholder of cbs and viacom. she wants to merge the two together. les moonves does not. they're in a pitched court battle. he wants to essentially break off, sell to somebody es. the question you ask is very relevant. did she plant the story? david: and? >> my sources doesn't say know. that doesn't mean ronan farrow didn't go to her for help. give you idea, i don't cover -- david: ronan farrow is the journalist came out with the story. >> let me explain something to you, this is out there that she might plant this investigative reporter a long time, i've been doing, i don't cover this stuff, namely "me too" movement, ronan farrow does, when you cover big

stories and do one big story, other stories generally come to you. not like someone has to plant it. when people see in his case, when he was writing about harvey weinstein, various women, many prominent hollywood actresses being cited and quoted, other women see that and they call him. david: they feel empowered. maybe i can do the same. >> same thing when i was covering merrill lynch and morgan stanley and goldman sachs, city group, financial crisis, people would, they come to you. david: happened with latin america. all of sudden i got all stories. i got more scoops than anybody. >> i think cbs board tried to suggest shari redstone leaked this. they actually put that in their statement. i'm saying, it's possible. i'm not there but it is also much more possible that he probably -- david: talk about what we do know? it is now in hand of lawyers. >> two firms. david: two firms. >> plimton who is the other one. white shoe firms.

david: could these legal firms now have a life-and-death decision over his future? >> well they do. now the question is, does the board, is the board empowering them. david: that is my question. >> here is the thing we don't know. david: if they come up with one decision, cot bored come up with -- could the board come up with another. >> or the board could signal we want a whitewash or a good report. david: didn't happen here. >> what happened here we hired paul weiss to investigate charges against our former boss roger ailes. david: the board accepted their investigation. >> the management empowered paul weiss to do a real investigation, no-holds-barred, talk to everybody you can. the real question is, they hired two. you mean -- i don't know why you needed two but in any event they got two. did the board -- >> not a bad idea to hire two. >> maybe not. maybe there is a reason to hire two, get two opinions on this because they think he is gone,

getting a second opinion from a doctor. david: right. >> they want to just make sure, right? david: 20 second. >> i will just say this, has the board, the independent directors have they empowered these guys to go where the facts are and do a real report like they did with us? and i can't tell you that. david: great information, charlie, the best. thank you very much. apple hitting the one trillion dollar mark. that is the market story of the day. will more big tech soon close in on that number as well? don't forget to catch cbs earnings live on my show, "after the bell," with melissa francis today at 4:00 p.m. eastern time right here on fox business network, we'll be right back. ♪

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. david: welcome back to "cavuto: coast-to-coast." i'm david asman in for the great neil cavuto. another busy hour coming up. moments away from the white house briefing with sarah sanders. we're not going to take it from stem to stern, but are going to be monitoring it. there's a lot of junk that doesn't make news that comes out of these things, we don't want to bore you with that. if something important happens, we'll switch to that. meanwhile, look at the stock market. this was a market that was supposed to be in a down, very badly down mode today. it is at a loss down 32 points on the dow, but the nasdaq is doing great and the dow loss pared from well over 150 points. it was down looks like below

200 at one point. it has pared the losses, a lot of it has to do with apple. one stock made a big difference in the psychology of the market today. apple hitting market capitalization, when you add up all of the shares of stock out there, and the price of the one share of stock, it all adds up or did earlier today to one trillion dollars. it's now a piddley $997 billion but could easily within the next 50 minutes or so get back up above a trillion dollars. point is already, it is a very significant number, and there are questions about how it could affect the overall market and whether it was responsible for paring the losses today. to sun group wealth partners founder winnie sun, fox business' deirdre bolton and gary b. smith. i ended with you gary, i'll start with you. what do you think about the psychology of apple hitting a trillion and whether or not

that is going to have a -- looked like it had a carryover effect in the market today? >> i think it definitely does, david it. points out, points eyes toward apple when. people look at apple and even get past the headlines, they start to see the technology is alive and well, not only in apple but obviously in google and netflix, even in facebook. and apple, a company that is not only doing great but reinventing itself, that's the whole story behind american technology. that's why i'm excited about this economy. david: winnie, one thing about apple, sometimes your strength can turn into a weakness, we saw that with ge as we were mentioning with charlie a moment ago, ge through jack welsh built this huge conglomerate, this multifaceted company, in so many different things in jack welch's hands, it was fine, in successor's hands, it was not so fine.

it was terrible. apple is into so many things. started making things, the iphone, the maces, et cetera. now into the service economy, it's into the cloud computing. it's into a lot of stuff. do you think it might get overextended into what it's involved with? >> that's always the biggest concern, seen that happen with companies like cisco. but in this case, i think apple has certainly become a lifestyle brand that the next generation is excited about. people were talking before that apple wouldn't make that transition to be in the hands of millennials and the next generation but find that not to be the case. they are now, we found apple buyers say that 92% of them are pretty happy owning apple products and don't see themselves transitioning over to android product. david: you know, deirdre, she brings up a terrific point which is it is a bridge between generations.

so much what happens particularly in the high-tech community, there is no bridge. my 26-year-old daughter can do and is involved in doing, whether it's some new app she's using. i can't really catch the hang of it. i still haven't caught onto instagram. >> yes, you have! >> but the fact is apple is the great bridge. it bridges every generation. it appeals to every kind of audience. >> even people who don't own the stock or who don't like apple products say their markets has been an example of simplicity, right? david: that's how it started, right? >> certainly. and user friendliness. and i think the question a while back for apple was could they go beyond hardware? and i think the fact that this stock has hit the trillion dollar mark before any other including amazon, the answer is yes, whether it's through itunes, apple pay, apple care, the app store, they mastered working with developers so people wanted their products,

apps on the operating system. they made a huge risk in retail actually, which everybody made fun of them, you are supposed to be a high-tech company and open a physical store. this is a misstep. that has been a booming success, to the point where we see competitors such as samsung now setting up mobile shops and trying to make inroads at best buy to compete with that feeling. i think -- and actually the "new york times" had a fantastic headline, 21 years ago, this company according to of course the late great steve jobs was 90 days away from bankruptcy, but the constant push of innovation, you talk about the halo effect. david: i can't think back to when it was on the edge, on the brink, but one thing you didn't mention, we've got to move to trade. gary b., there is apple pay, it's gotten into the financial area, but again, lessons from the past, i remember with ge financial, there was a time it was very successful, that

didn't happen forever. nothing is forever in the world of commerce and there could be a time when it's not right for apple. >> well, yeah, i mean, look, it's almost inevitable, but remember even with ge, they were just booted out of the dow. they were one of the original dow stocks. they had a pretty good run, david. probably a few more years left for apple, i would say. david: i would say so. china saying it will retaliate against further u.s. tariffs. gary, i'm wondering is this going hurt our economic boom? >> you know, i guess it depends if it continues to escalate. it looks like right now, neither side is standing down, but, of course, we've been through this with trump and north korea. looked like neither side was standing down. north korea was launching missiles over japan, and it all came to nothing. that's what i think this is going to come to, it will probably come to fruition right

around the next election cycle which would be a real boon. i don't see it affecting the economy seriously, until it really goes nuclear. david: well, and the economy hasn't been affected. again, there are pullbacks, winnie, in the stock market, from time to time, when there is a trump tweet on china or another threat of more tariffs or whatever, but generally speaking, our economy seems to be strong enough right now because of the tax cuts, because of deregulation, to withstand concerns about trade. >> yes, i agree with you completely on this. i think the economy is strong right now, and i do believe that the chinese wants to work with us. they love america, money is still coming in. david: they can't live without us. >> yes, we're a very friendly country to do business with and to visit and vacation at. david: the question is, deirdre, the specific concessions we're trying to get. there are ways in which china has twisted us around their little finger or big finger, i

should say. when a company does business there, they have to adhere to certain rules and regulations, i shouldn't say no other country but most other countries would not have counted. for example, you have to sell 51% of your business to the chinese. you don't have control of your business if you have a business here, you have to include members of the communist party in the business structure, in the group of people that work for you in china. lord knows what they're up to. you have to concede to give over some of your trade secrets, some of your business secrets to them, whether involving technology or management stuff. there are a lot of things, we have legitimate concerns, where is china going to bend on the concerns? >> your point is well taken in the sense that american businesses are most worried about combating the ip theft. as you pointed out there has not been a level playing field at all when u.s. businesses set up shop in china.

that's i think what the larger conversation about tariffs is really about. you asked where they're going to bend. if you listen to the administration, their line seems to be that china needs trade more than the u.s., and talk about the statistic, but in the u.s. we're consumer driven culture. consumer spending drives two-thirds of gdp. the u.s. people, we consume 80% of what we buy. i'm not going to say we're self-contained because we're not. we have an advantage in a way that china does not yet have. there are people who are saying china does need to be called. david: already, gary b., china felt the pain with this. first happened with the stock market, the stock market is -- i wouldn't say crushed, but come down very significantly. consumer spending is down to a trickle right now. investments are way down in china. they're feeling the pain. i think the trump administration feels that since our economy is booming, theirs is hurting, we have an advantage and use it in the

trade dispute. >> totally agree, deirdre brought up excellent point us and bring up the other part. china is feeling it. right now i feel that we're the elephant in the room. lot of their talk almost has to be at this point bluster. we could live without china much easier than china can live without us. look, there's two big strong countries here. david: quickly, go ahead. >> depends whose ego shuts down first, but i think we have the trump cards in this case. no pun intended. well, pun intended. david: can you say it, go ahead. gang, thank you very much. trump focusing on the economy as the media focus on the mueller probe. is that the right strategy for the president? catch all that and more including cbs earnings report on my show "after the bell" today at 4:00 p.m. eastern. right here, you don't have to change channels, on the fox business network. we're coming right back. two, down and back up.

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its a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit a store today. . david: guess what? you missed it! it was at a trillion just a moment ago. the magic number by the way is $207.04, that's the point which that number jumps over a trillion.

$207.04, just below that. it was just above 207.04 during the commercial break, it did pop above a trillion again. this is the big story of the day. apple market cap, what was it at the high? one trillion one billion was the high mark today. the key thing is breaking through the trillion barrier. one chinese company did it as an ipo at one point, but didn't stay there for long. apple looks like it has more sustaining power than any company in the world right now. trump is set to tout his economic record in a rally in pennsylvania later today with the media zeroing in on the mueller probe. not touching the economy maybe because it is such good news. to washington free beacon senior writer and caitlyn owens, whether trump's strategy is going to work for midterms. liz, first of all, do you think president trump himself is talking enough about economic

successes, or does he himself get bogged down with some of the mueller probe stuff? >> i think he does talk about it a lot but the media is never going to focus on those comments. they'll focus on the comments and the tweets that have to deal with the mueller probe and russia. let's face it, the media hasn't stopped talking about russia since he was elected and the tweets he sends are in response to coverage. but i think it suits the trump administration just fine for the media to be distracted with the russia investigation and obsessing over it because meanwhile we have 4.1% growth, jobless claims at the lowest in half a century. the federal reserve just upgraded the standing of the economy to strong. the economy coming along and if the media is distracted by an issue that voters just do not care about, i think it's good for trump and good for the administration. david: caitlyn, i agree with liz that what resonates most with voters or more with voters than certainly the mueller probe, but practically anything

else is the economy. that always has, always will, but at the same time, is the president doing enough to keep his mind focused on and his rhetoric focused on -- oops, wait a minute, i promised i'd switch to the briefing, the white house briefing if anybody popped up that was important. john bolton certainly is. let's listen. >> we've had obviously a number of inquiries from congress on this, including a letter to me the past couple of days from five senators, signed by senator schumer and four others. i have responded to that letter today. we made copies available to you and forms the framework for the briefing that the four heads of operating department and agencies are going to give you here today. they are the ones who are implementing and operationalizing the policy that we have developed. there are other agencies involved, but these are the four primary ones, and i think it's important that we address the question of the president's involvement in this, he's

leadership, his determination to prevent russian and other foreign influence and elections. we meet on this constantly. the senior staff here in the white house. we meet with the heads of the different agencies involved, we discuss it quite regularly. my tenure as national security adviser, less than two months, we've already had two full national security council meetings chaired by the president, and countless other discussions as well. since january 2017, the president has taken decisive action to defend our election systems from meddling and interference. this includes measures to heighten the security and resilience of election system and processes, to confront russian and other foreign maligned influence in the united states, to confront such aggression through international action, and to reinforce a strong sanctions regime. as you know, elections are administered by state and local

governments, so the federal role is to assist them, addressing that through the heads of the operating agencies. i might also say by way of introduction that many federal government actions to protect elections in the united states such as those implemented by the intelligence community or law enforcement agencies are necessarily sensitive and highly classified. we do not wish to make the efforts of our adversaries any easier through injudicious public disclosures. nonetheless we have offered to do before and continue to offer briefings to members of congress in secure facilities. so what i'd like to do here, as sarah said, is turn the briefing over to the people whose agencies have this responsibility. we'll start off with director of national intelligence, dan coats. he'll be followed by the secretary of homeland security kirstjen nielsen, she'll be followed by the federal bureau

of investigation christopher wray and finally the director of the national security agency, general paul nakasoni. so dan? >> as director of national intelligence, i would like the american people to know that the intelligence community and all of us agencies are are postured to identify threats of all kinds against the united states. the president has specifically directed us to make the matter of the election meddling and securing our election process a top priority, and we have done that and are doing that and will continue to do so. we have incorporated the lessons learned from the 2016 election, and implemented a broad spectrum of actions to share more information across the federal government as well as with state and local governments and also with the public and the private sector.

the intelligence community continues to be concerned about the threats of upcoming u.s. elections. both the midterms and the presidential elections of 2020. in regards to russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states. these efforts are not exclusive to this election or future elections, but certainly cover issues relevant to the election. we also know the russians try to hack into and steal information from candidates and government officials alike. we are aware that russia is not the only country that has an interest in trying to influence our domestic political environment. we know there are others who have the capability and may be considering influence activities. as such, we will continue to

monitor and warn of any such efforts. i am committed to making sure that the intelligence community is working together in integrating across organizations admissions and seeking greater transparency with the public. the odni has instituted a broad spectrum of actions covering collection, analysis, reporting, education and partnerships. all designed to provide the best threat assessments to federal, state and local officials as well as to the public and private sector, when necessary. for example, my office leads the interagency working group now meeting weekly as it pushed towards november with department of justice, fbi, department of homeland security, cia and nsa inclusive of regional cyber and counterintelligence experts focused on security and

integration of our efforts. the intelligence community's focus right now is persistent support to the fbi, to the department of homeland security and other agencies in their election responsibilities and my office is ensuring these organizations receive timely and proactive intelligence community support. >> good afternoon, thank you all for joining us. i want to start by briefly mentioning that on tuesday, dhs held the first national security summit. this brought together industry leaders and academia to discuss opportunities to join forces to counter threats to our nation's critical infrastructure. i want to thank all of those who joined us from academia and the private sector, all who participated and signed concrete actions. across every critical infrastructure sector from

energy to financial services to transportation to communication and so many others, a single attack can have widespread and cascading consequences. i look forward to working with the nation's leading minds in the digital realm as we stand up to national risk management center. it's not just risk to prosperity, privacy and infrastructure we have to worry about. that's why we're here today. democracy itself is in the crosshairs. free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has become clear they're the target of our adversaries who seek as the dni said to see discord and undermine our way of life. i share in the past efforts and those today to interfere with our election and the current threat. our adversaries have shown they have the willingness and capability to interfere in our elections. dhs has and continues to work closely with state and local election officials throughout the country by offering a range

of services to help identify weaknesses in their election systems. whether it's offering no cost, voluntary technical systems or sharing best practices for securing online voter registration databases, or providing technical advice on ransomware and destructive malware, our department stands ready to provide tailored support based on each jurisdiction's unique needs. this is another example of one size does not fit all. i'm pleased to inform you to date all 50 states, the district of columbia and over 900 local governments partnered with dhs in order to bolster the resilience of the nation's election infrastructure. various states have organic capabilities and engaging with the private sector and academia to improve the security of elections. election infrastructure is not a destination. it requires aggressive and ongoing vigilance. everyone must play their role to ensure that every vote is counted and counted correctly. all of us appear today, members

of congress, state and local officials and the congress. as all of us up here today gain new insights into potential adversaries and campaigns, we are committed to providing best intelligence and information available. the progress we have made is real and the nation's elections are more resilient today because of the work we are all doing, but we must continue to ensure that our democracy is protected. thank you for being here and i'll turn it over to director wray. >> afternoon, everybody. >> good afternoon. >> last fall, shortly after i became director, i stood up a new foreign influence task force at the fbi, designed to identify and counteract the full range of maligned foreign influence operations targeting democratic institutions and our values. the task force now brings together across the waterfront

of fbi expertise, we're talking counterintelligence, cyber, criminal and even counterterrorism, designed to root out and respond to foreign influence operations. for their part, our adversaries's influence operations have encompassed a wide range of actives. just like we have a multidisciplinary response, that's because the threat is multidisciplinary. a few examples of some of the things we've seen over the past. targeting u.s. officials and other u.s. persons through traditional intelligence trade craft. criminal efforts to suppress voting and illegal campaign financing. cyberattacks against voting infrastructure along with computer intrusions targeting elected officials and others, and a whole slew of other kinds of influence like both overtly and covertly manipulating news stories, spreading disinformation, leveraging economic resources and escalating divisive issues.

but it's important to understand this is not just an election cycle threat. our adversaries are trying to undermine our country on a persistent and regular basis whether it's election season or not. there's a clear distinction between, on the one hand, activities that threaten the security and integrity of our election systems, and on the other hand, the broader threat of influence operations designed to manipulate and influence our voters and their opinions. with our partners, we're trying to counteract both threats. we have three pillars to our operational strategy. the first pillar is our investigations and operations, and for a variety of reasons, which i hope are obvious, including operational sensitivities, i'm not going to able to describe the full extent of those efforts, but our foreign influence task force works with fbi personnel in all 56 fbi field offices, and even as we speak, we've got

open investigations with a foreign influence nexus spanning field offices, fbi field offices across the country. so make no mistake, the scope of this foreign influence threat is both broad and deep. second pillar, i said there were three pillars. second is focus on information sharing and intelligence sharing. working closely with partners in the intelligence community and in the federal government as well as with our state and local partners to establish a common operating picture. just last week as an example, we disseminated a list to our state and local law enforcement partners of various foreign influence indicators for them to be on the lookout for things like malicious cyberactivity, social abnormalities and foreign propaganda activities. the idea is to marshall additional eyes and ears in the fight. we're also working with international partners to exchange intelligence and strategies for combating the threat because this is, after

all, a shared threat with our allies. the third pillar of our approach is based on strong relationships with the private sector. technology companies have a frontline responsibility to secure their own networks, products and platforms, but we're doing our part by providing actionable intelligence to better enable them to address abuse of their platforms by foreign actors. so this year we've met with top social media companies and technology companies several times. we've given them classified briefings. shared specific threat indicators and account information and a variety of other pieces of information so they can better monitor their own platforms. the reality is it's going to take all of us working together to hold the field because this threat is not going away. as i have said consistently, russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continued to engage in malign influence operations to this

day. this is a threat we need to take extremely seriously and to tackle and respond to with fierce determination and focus, and together, with our partners, both those here and the other partners we talked about, i'm confident we can protect the integrity of our democratic institutions and maintain public confidence in our electoral process. thank you.. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us this afternoon. i appreciate the leadership and support from the president, the secretary of defense, the director of national intelligence. i believe our mandate is clear. as part of its mission to defend the nation, the department of defense is providing intelligence, information support and technical expertise to the department of homeland security for use by state and local officials to prevent foreign interference in our elections.

this is a vital mission for us and the nation. it draws in our deep experience and expertise in continuing work in this area. our support has been ongoing and will continue through the midterm elections. we are also providing intelligence and information leads to the federal bureau of investigation on foreign adversaries who are attempting to sew discord and division within the american public. this information is shared with appropriate entities to alert them of malicious cyberactors. u.s. cybercommand and the national security agency are tracking a wide range of foreign cyber adversaries and preparing to conduct operations against the actors attempting to undermine our nation's midterm elections. these type of operations are sensitive and require confidentiality for success. i won't discuss the specifics except to state that our forces are well trained, ready and

very capable. i have complete confidence in the forces under my command. we will work in conjunction with other elements of our government to ensure we bring the full power of our nation to bear on any power that attempts to interfere on our democratic processes. i'll turn it back over to the moderator. >> thank you. as i said at the beginning, if we could stay on topic and also if you could, when asking a question, direct it to a specific person, and as always, after we finish this part of the briefing, i'll be back to answer other questions on issues of the day. john, go ahead. >> director coats, if i could direct a question to you? >> sure. >> let me take you back, if i could, to helsinki. the president seemed to indicate that he may believe vladimir putin when he says he doesn't have any influence in the 2016 election. what is your belief about the russian government involvement in meddling in 2016, and if as

you say, russia continues to try to influence our electoral process, does that mean that nothing much came of the meeting with putin, or is it other than government actors who were involved? >> well, in relationship to the 2016 election, of course, none of us were in office at that particular time, but both the president, the vice president, i think everyone on this stage has acknowledged the fact that the ica was a correct assessment of what happened in 2016. we have subsequently made the determination to make this a top priority. that doesn't happen again, and we're throwing everything at it, and we will have, and will be discussing that here today. relative to my discussions with the president on whatever issue it is, i do not go public with that. i don't think that's the right,

proper thing to do. so our focus here today is simply to tell the american people we acknowledge the threat, it is real, it is continuing, and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. in addition to that, it goes beyond the elections. it goes to russia's intent to undermine our democratic values. drive a wedge between our allies and do a number of other nefarious things and we are looking at that also. but today, we are here to talk about the elections coming up and what we're doing -- >> reporter: if i could clarify, both and you director wray said russia continues to try to mettle in our elections. >> they do. reporter: and influence voters. are we talking about rogue russian individuals, or are we talking about the kremlin? >> i am thinking both and even add to that. russia has used numerous ways which they want to influence

through media, social media, through bots, actors they hire, through proxies, all of the above and potentially more. i can't go into deep details into what is classified. it is pervasive, it is ongoing, with the intent to achieve their intent, that is drive a wedge and undermine our democratic values. reporter: thank you, i have a question for director wray. thank you. the special counsel robert mueller has indicted more than 20 russian officials, based on work by the fbi for meddling in the 2016 election. the president has tweeted that that investigation by the special counsel is a hoax and should be shut down. i know you said that you don't believe it is a hoevenlths but why would the american people believe what you're saying about the fbi, when the president says that the investigation by the special counsel is a hoax and when the press secretary yesterday said there was a lot of corruption

within the fbi. do you have response to those things coming from the white house? >> i can assure the american people that the men and women of the fbi, starting from the director all the way on down are going to follow our oaths and do our jobs. reporter: sarah, i have a question for director coats. director coats, how would you characterize the current russian efforts to meddle in the 2018 election relative to 2016? is it more intense? do you see those efforts focused on a particular party, and in general, is the pace of those operations in any way relative to 2014, 2012, or more intense? >> relative to what we have seen for the midterm elections, it is not the kind of robust campaign that we assessed in 2016 election. we know that through decades, russia tried to use propaganda

and methods to sow discord. we have not seen that robust effort from them so far. as i mentioned publicly just a few weeks ago, we're only one keyboard click away from finding out something that we haven't seen up to this particular point in time, but right now we have not seen that. reporter: do you see it directed to any particular party? the current 2018 effort, is there any particular effort benefitting from current 2018 russian efforts? >> what we see is the russians are looking for every opportunity regardless of party, regardless whether it applies to the election to continue pervasive efforts to undermine our fundamental values. reporter: also for director coats. is the run-up -- >> i'll try to get it. reporter: ambassador bolton can weigh in on this as well.

in the run-up to the helsinki summit, u.s. officials, ambassador, nato ambassadors to russia said the president would raise the issue of the malign activity with president putin. you didn't discuss that at the press conference. you're saying today that the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddling a priority. how do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president beside the issue? >> i'm not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. i'll turn it over to the national security director here to address that question. >> yeah, the issue was discussed, and, in fact, president putin said i thought at the press conference but certainly in the expanded bilateral meeting when the two leaders got together with their senior advisers, president putin said the first issue that president trump raised was election meddling.

reporter: i guess the question is, at the press conference, president didn't highlight any of the malign activities that you have, and that his advisers have, and so should americans believe that he is listening to your advice or that he is going his own way when having meetings like he had with the president of russia? >> i think the president has made it abundantly clear to everybody who has responsibility in this area that he cares deeply about it and expects them to do their jobs to their fullest ability and supports them fully. reporter: i believe this is for director coats or director wray, i'll let you choose. since social media was brought up, the recent case with facebook how they shut down 32 accounts believed potentially to be from russia. you can give us an idea is that a large amount? is that a just kind of the tip of the iceberg, and generally speaking with the social media companies, facebook, twitter,

instagram. how much have they progressed or have they not progressed in what you would like to see in terms of progression from 2016 and identifying the threat? >> so first, i'm not going to discuss any specific, ongoing investigation, but what i will tell you is that activity of the sort you're describing is a good reflection of the fact that we have to have a public-private partnership in this particular threat, and that's why when i talked about our three pillars of the fbi influence task force, spending so much effort trying to engage with the social media technology companies, there is a very important role for them to play in terms of monitoring and in effect policing their own platform. what we have to have happen, started happening in a way that's much more robust, much more robust than in before the 2016 election, we're sharing with them actionable intelligence in a way that wasn't happening before. we understand better what they need, they're sharing information back with us, based

on what they find. things they can do on their platforms voluntarily, in terms of use that the government doesn't have a role in. we learned things from them and have our investigations be more effective. progress is being made, keep staying on the balls of our feet but i think that's what we're seeing. reporter: ambassador bolton, in your letter you talk about ordering the closure of the consulate in san francisco and seattle. two tech hubs. what happened that led you to that? >> i'm not going to discuss the background of that decision which occurred before i came to this job, but the purpose of expelling the russian individuals that were expelled is to send a signal to russia that conduct in conducting a chemical weapons attack in great britain was unacceptable. this was a mode of retaliation designed to show we will not tolerate that kind of activity

on the territory of the united states or any of our allies and expel a lot of the people we think had knowledge of it or had other activities in the united states that we considered unacceptable. reporter: this, i guess, would be maybe for secretary nielsen or mr. wray. the meddling campaign seemed to fall into two broad categories, information campaign which challenged the information upon which americans used to make their determination, and then the more physical interferences into the machinery of voting, the tabulation of voting, the voter rolls, the machinery that the states run. you can guys describe what you're seeing specifically in the run-up to this coming election in both of those areas? do you worry more about one than the other? do you have -- are there specific threats that you can't talk about but can you say there have been specific threats in both of those

categories so that -- and how should americans process that where we're going to go to the polls in a few months, should people be confident that when they pull the lever, they're secure? >> well, i think we've said this fairly consistently, that in the context of 2018, we are not yet seeing the same kind of efforts to specifically target election infrastructure, voter registration databases in particular. what we are seeing are the malign foreign influence operations, that's a 24-7, 365 days a year phenomenon that doesn't turn necessarily whether or not we're in the middle of an election season or not. but as director coats said, any moment is a moment before, you know, the dial can be turned up one, much as we saw in 2016. again, not in terms of affecting the vote count but in terms of potential penetration of voter registration databases

or anything like that. and that in turn can be a vehicle for them to try to sow discord or undermine confidence. we have to push back on it which is what we're doing. reporter: the way we're splitting it, partnering together. the question shows the issue of division of labor. the infrastructure, support of state and locals that have the responsibility support the fbi efforts in counterinfluence. we have seen a willingness and capability on the part of the russians and so we are working very closely with state and local to ensure we're prepared this time around. part of that is encouraging state to have auditability. we want to ensure americans the day after their vote was counted and counted correctly. regardless what might happen, we'll be prepared but also want to make sure we have the auditability.

reporter: secretary nielsen, will the government shut down on october 1st affect the efforts? >> so what we have done as you know is in 2017, dhs designated election infrastructure critical infrastructure subsector, so we prioritized efforts so any state that requests the vulnerability assessment, a hunt team, best practices, hygiene scans, et cetera, we will continue to prioritize within our budget. thank you. >> we'll take one last question. reporter: for the director and the general. can you unpack a little more what you said. you said the question for the director and the question for the general are separate. you can give us a better sense of who specifically has been targeted? we know the two senators said they've been targeted by hacking or by people impersonating government officials. members of the senate, members of the house, of the democratic and the republican campaign, and then a separate question for the general. >> we followed a procedure agreed on some time ago, in

terms of when we receive this type of information, it is processed through the leadership of the respective house chamber, senate chamber and disseminate it down to the individual member who is targeted. so we have taken that action that is in place, but i'm not in the position right now to release those names. reporter: would you support legislation imposing sanctions on russia now that you're saying they have, in fact interfereed? >> we have a lot of sanctions in place, i would support any efforts that we can collectively put together to send the signal to russia that there is a price to pay for what they're doing, and if we want to have any kind of relationship whatsoever in dealing with things of mutual interest, the russians have to stop doing what they're doing or simply not going to happen. reporter: general, have you been ordered at all or

authorized to conduct any offensive cyber operations in response to this? >> my guidance from the secretary of defense is very clear, we're not going to accept mettling in the elections. it's very unambiguous. reporter: for the 13 russians that were indicted -- >> thank you all very much. appreciate you all being here today. reporter: do we know what happened in helsinki with the director of national intelligence? >> we'll take a couple more questions on other topics today. jill, go ahead. reporter: thank you, i want to ask about the president's tweet on north korea. david: we separate the weak from the chap there. that was a very high-powered discussion with the men who keep us safe, the men and women who keep us safe. leaders of the intel community beginning with john bolton, the national security adviser, introducing the topic of election security, which, of course, has been in the news, both in the public and private sector, concerning facebook's discovery what appears to be

another attempt by russia to interfere with, as we kept hearing from dan coats, the director of national intel, russia's attempt to undermine american values, whether it's during election campaign or otherwise. they are targeting the 2018 election, making sure that what happened in 2016, which was a much more wholesale attack by russians and again specifically they said not just by private actors in russia but by the kremlin itself, directed by vladimir putin, specifically pointed to vladimir putin, putting him as the person responsible in the kremlin in general and private actors as well for the attack we received on our election system and not just the election system itself, but pacs and organizations, the most recent attack that was noted by facebook, it was taken off of facebook, but some news organizations went back in and discovered it was attempts by

russia to influence people who it problems with i.c.e. and calling for the dismantling of i.c.e. and our border security. some of that was actually at least spurred on by the russians. according to what facebook has discovered. we want reaction from washington free beacon senior editor liz harrington and caitlyn owens. caitlyn, let me start with you, i short changed you in the last round. this is speculation, why this just happened? why did we see the high national security people brought out in front of the national press corps to answer the questions, right now at this moment? >> i think that the administration has received a lot of heat following the helsinki conference, where the president sitting next to putin and didn't acknowledge russia's election meddling, the administration is in hot water to do something, to take action, to make sure that it is clear that the administration is keeping us safe from

russia's election meddling as well as other attempts to interfere with what goes on in the u.s. so i think that they just -- they're responding to criticism and also to just, i mean, russia is attempting to meddle in this election cycle in the midterms as well. i think that the timing is partially just this threat is real, we're seeing more and more evidence of it as we have with the facebook accounts that got shut down, so they're responding. david: liz, it is a message not only to the american pabl that we are doing everything we possibly can to keep us safe and keep our institutions safe but direct message at russia. there was no ambiguity who is responsible for all this? >> right, and i think this whole entire press conference was consistent with what the trump administration's stance on russia has been for a very long time which is pretty darn tough, whether it's regards to sanctions or arming ukraine or bombing syria, expelling diplomats, missile defense, a

whole host of issues, the trump administration is very tough on russia and president trump has a lot of hawks on russia around him. that's evident in the press conference here that they're taking it seriously. i would like to point out when christopher wray says what our adversaries are trying to do to meddle in the election says elevate divisive issues, i can't think of any entity that has done more to elevate our divisive issues than the mainstream press, whether it's school shootings and elevating the issue of gun control, elevating the issue of immigration and abolishing i.c.e., what you mentioned the facebook campaigns are all about. not to mention the entire campaign that somehow russia meddling made president trump's victory illegitimate. that's a divisive issue that the media never stops talking about. david: and then caitlyn, to be fair, the president has come right out and said it time and time again at the rally, finger points to the media that's there to the rallies and points

them out specifically, but there are some times even if he has distain for the mainstream media itself, where he recognizes the importance of the media to get the message across, and this message overcomes any animosity. i think that he or any member of the administration might have for the media. >> well, this is the problem, the president takes the russian news about election meddling, let alone the mueller investigation, and he takes it personally, as if he seems to have at least advisers have told axios, he has problems separating the accusation of russian election meddling from an accusation he did not win fair and square. those two are separate things. problem is he demonizes the media for covering real russian news that the american people should be concerned about. this is what the press conference was. a press conference by top administration officials to

talk to the media so that the media takes that information to the american people. david: as we saw today, the point is as we saw today, the people he has hired that president trump has hired are the absolute top of the top. mike pompeo was not there. john bolton certainly was, and christopher wray, dan coats, it goes on. these are real pros who know what they're doing. quickly, we've got to move oliz, go ahead. i know you want to say something. >> on the other networks covering the manafort trial 24-7, they mentioned this was trump's campaign manager, sure. how many times they meng the charges he's been brought against have nothing to do with the 2016 election, and decades old crimes. >> ladies, got to leave it at that. thank you for playing ball with us. we didn't know it was going to happen. it surprised everybody that the national intel people came out to talk about combating russian interference in our elections. by the way, apple is back

up over a trillion. look what's happening to the dow, the dow is positive. there is a trillion dollar market capitalization of a company. the most important company, it's fair to say, in america right now. not just gauged by money alone. if we can go back to apple, gauged by what they do. what apple has succeeded in doing, not only in terms of product introduction. crosses generations in terms of appeal, crosses generations and whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, you're interested in apple product but getting involved in the services, getting involved in the apps, getting involved in cloud computing, everything. apple has generally succeeded everywhere that it has tried. maybe with the exception of the watches. i know neil cavuto loves his apple watch. even there, there are people who love the products. money is important and today it is about that trillion dollar mark. i don't know if it will sustain this. $207.84. if it's $207.04 it's above a

trillion. we want analysis not only what's happening with apple but the markets and the economy with billionaire investor ken fisher who is a longtime friend of mine, and ken, great to see you, thank you for hanging in. we allotted all this time, now we only have four minutes. i want to ask you about the general economy. people are concerned about what's happening with the trade discussions. i know you're a free trader as well as i am. we don't like it when we're taken advantage of, or what we have seen so far in terms of the threats and the actual tariffs we implemented and the countertariffs, are they a threat to our economy or our markets? >> the tariffs are actually super bullish in a way that nobody seems to understand. i got two secret weapons on this, one of them is fourth grade arithmetic and the other is heroin, illegal heroin, you got to understand both of

those. first take the tariffs anybody has talked about, the ones we've imposed and the retaliatory. they come up to a total of tariffable items of 640 billion. that's all the ones they talked about, not fully imposed yet. if the maximum tariff rate was 25%, that could be $160 billion tax increase. tariff critics correctly point out tariff is always a tax. stop for a minute and think about this. $160 billion potential tax increase in an $80 trillion world that's growing gdp this year in nominal terms that may be 5% with 3% real and a couple of percent inflation, that's $4 trillion approximately of nominal gdp growth so that 160 is 4% of one year's growth rate. this is minusculely small. when people make a big fear over a little bad, it's very bullish. fear of false factor is

bullish. big fear of a little factor, now it's going to be smaller than that because it's not going to get a 25% tax tariff rate. it's going to be more like 16 which will take you to 2.5% of one year's gdp growth globally and then going to be less than that because many of these products and almost all the commodities, broker turns around and sells them through tariff country through black market or otherwise, those believe the wto can stop that, don't believe there is $50 billion of a year of imported heroin into america every year. david: i have to stop you. i want to ask you specifically about president trump's goal, getting tariffs. all this has a purpose at the end. his purpose is is to get us down to zero tariffs incoming. do you think that is possible or pie-in-the-sky, quickly? >> trying toying if out when president trump is going to do because he is always distracting

over here and doing something else over there of i don't try to predict that and i don't think i need to. what i said on this she last spring, early last spring, the chinese tariffs were about getting north korea to talk on denuclearization. every time trump does this he is trying to do some other thing. predicting that is tough. david: that is absolutely true. is it conceivable we could end up after all this stuff with zero tariffs, at least on cars? >> sure. it's absolutely conceivable. will it happen. i don't have a clue. david: yeah. do you think it is bullish? i love your perspective. >> it is bullish because it is huge fear of a tiny little thing david: right, when everybody is ecstatic when everything is going great that is when the fear should be real, correct? >> indeed. we're still looking for fears. we're looking for problems. that is bullish. this bull market is rolling on. david: this guy is not pollyanna.

he knows when to be positive. he is positive now. ken fisher. thank you so much for being here. i hope to see you soon. >> thank you, david. david: cbs earnings at 4:00 p.m. on "after the bell" with melissa francis and myself. trish regan is here to take you through the next hour. trish: david, thank you so much. wow, we heard the most forceful warning yet from our government, the national director of intelligence, president trump's national security advisor, the fbi director, and the secretary of homeland security, all coming out as well as, did i forget the head of the nsa, to join forces to send a clear message to anyone trying to meddle in our elections, we're ready. do not mess with us. the administration says russia interfeared. they continue to interfere. we'll not lot them undermine our democracy. frankly i've been doing, what i said all