the volume is really low right now so it doesn't take much. with lower commodity prices. glad we got you with this susan. we are down 105. neil, it's all yours. i am neil cavuto. we are going to go to the white house momentarily. the president is going to be addressing some trade issues. we are told that the president feels like it's important we make congress that is particular with the chinese. how important is that to get a trade deal, to get that response. i think the chinese conversations are taking place right now are the least likely to bear fruit anytime soon. i think getting nafta done and

then i think we are very close to doing that is an incredible shot in the arm for the white house because the very aggressive trade posture. they had pushed pushed for very specific demands. that puts pressure on the chinese in my view. >> i think he agrees with liz on that. speemac you are doing a great job. thank you very much. i especially want to welcome senators john cornyn who is been working so hard lately especially at the border we are doing things that nobody else that we could do. tom kart. marco rubio. i want to thank you all. it's been a tremendous thing that you are announcing today.

each of you was instrumental in passing the foreign investment risk review act. it was included in the national defense authorization. that i signed into law. they will enhance the ability to have cutting-edge technology and intellectual property. they have all been reading the intellectual property in all sorts of different things of that nature are being stolen from us by other countries. it will be very hard for them to do that. we're doing a lot of things against foreign acquisition. this is a very big deal. and the people in this room are the people that were really the most instrumental in getting this past.

they seek to steal, copy or control american intellectual property. with very little safeguards up. in many cases no safeguards. and now we have probably the best there is in the world. we will keep adding on to it. when they destroy our job and threatens the security of our country. with the new legislation. with the critical technology and intellectual property. some country is buying it. especially companies that are quite complex. in the advanced technologies

for the foreign investments and i look forward to a productive discussion with the members here today. to a certain extent this is a little bit of a celebration meeting or so more so than the meeting on the acts of self. because we passed the modernization act. it was in the making for years and we got it done. so i very much want to thank the people in this room this is really the group that worked so hard to get it. and maybe i will have you start off. we will start off and say a few words. >> i appreciate the attention you're bringing to this issue. i don't think it's well-known enough. the intensity and the scope by other nations. were too outright to outright purchase and access our intellectual property and our technology that's critical.

this legislation updates critical procedures that we head in the united states now. in our committee on foreign investment in the united states. to put us on the cutting edge to protect america and its technology and its intellectual property and ultimately our national security. this is critically important. the american people realize the scope of assault on america today that is happening. of assault on america today that is happening. >> as you know we had been talking about this. thank you for finally standing up for china. this is the first time since 1991 that we have a competitor in the world. and now, we are starting to wake up to the reality that we have a competitor.

undermining us and using virtually every tool. and one of them is the intellectual property. they seek to replace it. not to be equal to us. but overtake it. and it's almost too late. but finally someone is standing up to them. on trade but also our national security. we will be there every step of the way. i have to tell you. the as he brought it to me. our country since the election. were up ten in worth. and unfortunately this is the way goes. china for the last four months is down about $15 trillion. we can't allow the things that were happening to happen. and how we can't allow that. and they stay that way for us.

each year. so that's not happening anymore. i think we are we're going to rise very rapidly. and people have said to me, it's the first time i've ever seen it where the united states is a hot country. now we are the hot country again. >> we want some of these companies to move in also. we are going to be protected. great technology. the administration will probably take the big security threat. they had drawn -- grown dramatically. i believe they represent the four most opportunity. in the long-term. in addition.

the south china sea. as they pointed out. they engage in outright theft. with the problem of a foreign investment. for the investment. and for them to be able to acquire that know-how. and to gauge access to the dual use technology. i just want to express my appreciation. with the attorney general in the entire in menstruation for your partnership. we could not have gotten the sun without each of the people at the table. and certainly the leadership on the civic side. this is a great accomplishment. now we need to make sure it's implement it we want to make

sure that operates. >> not enough focus has been put on china and that's been for a long time. we want to have a big focus. it's on russia. not just russia in china. its many countries we have to watch. and probably individuals also. this goes along way and a long way and i appreciate it very much. have done a great job. i appreciate the opportunity to work with everybody in this room on this important legislation. >> we will monitor this. they are talking about those trying to steal our intellectual property. this comes after the interview. the president said that all of this looking at him. and they have that.

this was an important development here. because the president framed this in a way i've never heard before. the democrats were to succeeding going after. i will tell you what. i think the market would crash. i think everybody would be very poor. because without this thinking you would see numbers that you wouldn't believe. we have liz back with us. with one of the world's best. they chased the market. you can see every time there

is a negative. look what happened with michael cohen. when the news broke. they would want to cooperate. and plead guilty. the futures traded off pretty dramatically. the market if you look at it. december 22. it has basically flatlined. i think there are two reasons for that. there is trade which is at the top of it. they are definitely afraid of a trade war. number two, it's the over hang of uncertainty. >> it can be more of a drag. how is that being played out. when the republicans are trying to get elected and trying to control the house how much is that factor of all of the stuff. >> it depends on where you are. it's kind of like a sideshow going on. with the investigation in manafort. and then you have the election. if you look at it we have a lot of gubernatorial races. on the ballot. we have the senate and congressional and basically

these are federal but a lot of these are local races. you stick to the message of the economy and what's going on in your state as a whole this is mainly a distraction and it's also an opportunity that the democrats are using to take pop shots at candidates with the office. i really don't. what were seen as people really like this economy. people like having jobs. it bolsters democratic enthusiasm in an off year. nothing would fire up trumpet supporters like the idea that someone is going to take away this duly elected election president because of this issue. >> the fundraising is still up.

i'm not saying i buy into the blue wave. but if you look at the one voter class that will get turned off by trump and his rhetoric in some of the mouthpieces around him. it is white suburban women. he is not pulling while with them. these are the guys that say that. from blue to red. they are still living. >> what also turns at blue to red. his black voter did not turn out. tell me what they are enthused about. it's not been motivating enough. they talk about the white foreigners in south africa. you can help me with this. the notion that president has

that go ahead you want to risk the bull market and everything else. make my day. that was much of the same argument that i think saved bill clinton. in an economic boom going on. i'm not saying that have there been more senators. they could waive the case in a priority. but less of a big deal in the middle of a boom to try to heed the president i think that's absolutely true. while why are you gonna change horses in midstream. the country is happier in terms of the direction of the company polling there's no question people are comfortable there is spending on discretionary items. that's an incredibly good sign. the business optimism.

>> the democrats and running they don't tuck up to talk up to the impeachment. i think they know. the midterm elections are all about turnabout. >> there is nothing that will drive the enthusiasm from the core democratic voters who stayed home and those are made only african-americans. it's actually moving in the president's favor i think that's old news. the democratic party is moving more towards the left if your 4% economic growth and you have his poll numbers that's not good.

>> i think this president doesn't say things by accident. i think there was a methodist is mentioning that. he is threatening that if we don't had donald trump and his thinking that the market will crash and we will be poor. this will evoke fear. of all of the crazy things that he said i think that was kind of accurate if you play it out the markets were certainly there that's a huge deal. they turn to the point that they control congress and maybe the senate and then you have unimpaired president. that's not good for the economy i think we are getting a little ahead of her cell. there are still some pretty serious questions about whether they were illegal. whether they're actually going to get dinged by that. that goes away. as an issue. i'm saying yes it might be.

the second trial is there. the payments and it's a little confusing. that would be a big deal. you're allowed to give unlimited money to your own campaign. the is political. at the democrats control congress they can impeach them. it's political. you can have to stay there. there is another point of this i want to raise. what the president had to say about the recovery that were seen right now you will see a theme to this take a look. >> we have the best economy we've ever had in the history of our country and more jobs today literally today. more people working in the united states than ever before in the history of our country black unemployment, asian unemployment women

unemployment. hispanic unemployment. historic lows. it's been an amazing thing. >> senator, what did you make what he was saying. put me up for impeachment. and have have at it. i think economy matters. >> especially in midterm elections. i think he is a generator of a lot of the confidence that we have today the generator of the pack test that we have today. i think there is a lot of truth in it. if in fact you impact his leadership by challenging the legitimacy of his election. as they have done from day one. it didn't fit with their viewpoint of things i think you have a negative effect on the economy the problem sometimes is what you acknowledge that. he does change his doesn't change his opinion on things

and has stories on things. a lot of people call it fakeness. isn't he hoisting that with a lot of fake stuff. he is a complex guy i know a lot of complex guys but he's not always line. he is exaggerating the position. and that he believes it. i haven't looked at it it depends on how you measure it. if it's measured in employment than you bet. if it's measured in gdp growth,. >> this raises a good point. if that's an exaggeration is different from a lie. i don't want to get into the weeds about motives and everything else. with the attractiveness of this economy. into the senator's point this is much ado about missing the

basic political underpinnings. we are looking at another quarter they are talking about 4.3% growth in the third quarter. it's all over the place. we're also talking earnings growth in the third quarter. the numbers look good for the end of the year. i think we have seen a really good advancement. when trump and -- was elected. it has driven a lot of spending. he get some credit for this. whether that will overwrite all of the other issues taking place is incredibly important to get some trade deals done. that takes me a big uncertainty. then we have this political stuff. do you think getting some progress. and something on trade.

intellectual rights and the rest of the things. if he were to resolve that. in one way shape or form where just get that pass. first of all that bill has been passed. and it's can be much harder for anybody to steal our intellectual property. it was easy before i think leadership matters. they had hundreds and thousands of people every day trying to penetrate our technology through the internet. privately and through the part of the government. the point is leadership matters when it comes to creating a positive vision about the future. nobody can deny the fact that his decreased regulation so his been a positive factor and he got a tax cut through the house and the senate and the everybody right now as a group

in america is better off in terms of opportunity and potential and that you can't discount. people feel better about the country and they don't necessarily like his exaggeration. i was in 32 states this year already. and what i can tell you is most people really like what's happening in our country they don't necessarily like a donald trump but they like what he's done. i don't know how you get a blue way. i will say this in the deal with china sometimes they willingly gave over the intellectual property. >> it was extorted. they agreed to be extorted. i'm just telling you. the u.s. mom. i've dealt with those kind of guys. one other point i would like to make as we don't have the greatest economy he does not had to lie about the nearest

chinese restaurant. that's a problem that will keep hurting him when you have a leader of a country. >> the party poll numbers would paul numbers would be stronger without that. he such a wacky exaggerator. >> i think the problem is the personality i think the senator have a point. it slowly coming back. because of you and your commentary. one final question. is it your sense that all of this attention on what could come out that it will end up just being noise. and let's say the house can stay's republican and it goes nowhere.

the question i have as i watch this every day. what does this head to do with the president colluding with the soviet union where is a charge. >> you know many of an investigation veer off course. it started and ended there. that's why i think special councils are a terrible idea i think you want to hold people accountable to do their job within the framework of the government that we have. >> it's always good seeing you. we are talking closer on trade and certainly not within the other folks that we've been having some real problems. but with mexico. i'm not even been talking to the canadians. it's just upside down.

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>> welcome back to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm nicole petallides live on floor of new york stock exchange. we're taking a close look at retail. in fact, while nobody was watching, take a look at this chart. retail index is outperforming the s&p 500. so much so, that the retail sector, the s&p 500 department store, subindex, a big winner, thank you to charlie brady, our senior editor noting this. it is up 42% this year are versus a 34% for jump for the s&p 500. look at retail movers. williams-sonoma hitting new high we haven't seen since 2015. it beat the top and bottom line. raised forecast. tj maxx, increasing.

we have other winners we've been watching. great quarterly results overall for retail. you see macy's and lowe's. look at the gap. we'll watch for that after the bell. up a quarter of a percent at this time. it is one of laggard. revenue expected to grow 5 1/2% neil, we noticed couple things. people are going to the stores. they are going to the stores more often and spending more when they're there. after the belle we'll see how it broke down, old navy, banana republic, namesake brands. old navy always seems to be the bright spot. neil? stuart: neil: thank you very much. annual big fed summit going on in jackson hole, wyoming. fed chair jay powell is under scrutiny especially with the president say he is not a fan of rate hikes. telling a fund-raising group in morning, i didn't know that

about this guy. had i known what he was going to do, maybe i wouldn't have picked him. edward lawrence with all the details. reporter: neil, federal reserve chairman jerome powell doesn't speak until tomorrow morning. all eyes on him because of the president's comments. the president outwardly saying he is unhappy with the chairman with interest rate hikes, the economy is good. with esther george was not offended the comments. >> expressions angst is not unusual with this administration. we know higher rates do caused a justment in the economy. what is important for the public to remember, congress understood this tension might exist between central bank that was responsible for the money supply and those that have other angles in the economy. and so they put important

firewalls in place, that would allow an institution like the fed to keep its focus on the public interest in the long run nature of the economy and that's what we're doing. that is what i continue to do. >> so you think that firewall is effective then? >> i think it is effective. >> and necessary. >> and i think over time it proved effective. it is absolutely necessary. we know from experiences in other countries where that independence is compromised, it has bad out comes for the economy. reporter: in that interview she also expected what we expect to hear from chairman powell. that is, that the economy is doing well. we'll continue with the gradual rate hikes, watching terror back and forth to see if it flows into the economic numbers they're looking at, neil. neil: thank you my friend. i envy where you are. it looks beautiful out there. thank you very much, heed wardlaw recognize. u.s. officials are saying we're close to solving our trait issues.

forbes publisher rich karlgaard is with us. what are you hearing, rich? >> i think the nafta deal should get done and would give business a lot of confidence. it is wonderful to hear about all the retail reports. at the edge of economy manufacturing is slowing down, the reason it is slowing down i believe because of fear over the tariffs. so if we can get nafta resolved, which we could today, we're very close, that would be a good boost. neil: it is wild to me who would have thought whatever your differences with nafta we thought we would strike some sort of a concession or agreement with canada, certainly not mexico. just the opposite. what do you think? >> everything is on the table. i think if we can do this deal with mexico, canada will be obliged to follow. and we'll have that one out of the way. if we can keep the tariffs from creeping into the eu, if trump,

restrains himself and doesn't call for some across the board tariffs on automobiles which would be a really a war with europe i think we're full speed ahead. china's china. china is a different deal. china is really nationally strategically important issue. so i think the business world, if we can just isolate our disagreements with china then the business community will feel pretty good. neil: obviously we have chinese officials in the united states right now trying to cobble together and understand their respective differences. occasions a deal will be made but a timeline could. what are you hearing? >> i haven't heard about that. i hope it does happen. i hope so much probably gets a little clearer after the november elections but i hope we can reach some resolution with china. i agree with jeremy siegel of

penn, the stock market would go another 10% movement upward if we can resolve all of these issues. the most important thing, is then we're putting the economy on a sustainable three plus percent gdp growth and nothing will help the mood of the american people and resolve some of this political acrimony than if everybody feels positive, because we're back to 3% growth, which we haven't had sustainably more than 10 years. neil: all right. rich, always good chatting, my friend. thank you very, very much. >> thank you, neil. neil: all right, we were told that the tumult in the white house staff was just about resolved. the president has pretty much all the key people he wanted and move on. lo and behold he talks to ainsley earhardt of fox news indicates with on frustration for those two guys you're looking at, listening on the radio, jeff sessions and rod rosenstein. the possibility both could go. how would that change anything? the uncertainty in the boardroom and the guy that runs it after

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♪ >> it bothers me. >> will you fire him? will you fire sessions? >> i'll tell you what? as i have said, i wanted to stay uninvolved but when everybody sees what is going on in the justice department, i always put just tis with quotes, it is a very, very sad day. jeff sessions recused himself. which he shouldn't have done. or he should have told me. even my enemies say that jeff sessions should told you that he was going to recuse himself, you wouldn't have put him in. he took the job and then he said i'm going to recuse myself. i said what kind of a man is this? neil: jeff sessions, i don't know why he sticks around. he sticks around with the president once again, continuing to make him a pinata for all that ails him and concerns about justice, whether he and rod rosenstein are up to their job and doing their job.

ainsley earhardt trying to get a sense of that, whether either or both could go after the midterms. "weekly standard" executive editor, fred barnes, market watcher lenore hawkins. fred when i watch this within corporate america, discord in a board, someone goes. sometimes it is the ceo. more often times it is those very, not going along board members. what do you think is going to happen here? >> trump is mad at sessions and he is mad for one reason, that he expects the attorney general to be his protector. attorney generals like bobby kennedy when his brother john was president was the protector of the president. and so one place that trump wants to be proteched of course is in the investigation of collusion with the russians, a charge that doesn't seem to be advancing at all. neil: janet reno certainly wasn't a protector for bill clinton. you could argue though that

barack obama's two attorneys generals were. it varies by administration. lenore i look at it discord within the white house, that isn't getting any better. maybe that is just noise. doesn't get in the way of this bull market obviously. but what do you think? >> well it is not helping the bull market either. keep in mind, we haven't gone anywhere since january 26 highs. we've been trying but we haven't made any ground since then. neil: what do you think stopped it? this kind of stuff? >> i think part is natural things going on in the economy. part, a good portion of it what is going on politically and geopolitically. very difficult to make good, long-term decisions when you don't know what the state of your own business is going to be in the coming months and years with all of the trade wars and, also when you look at washington and you ethe instability there, it is a little tough to know where we're going to go next because, who is the favorite child keeps changing. neil: you're right about that. i don't know, god bless, jeff

sessions, whether he is as much of a screw-up as the president claims, i don't know but constantly humiliated in public, eventually i get the message, you don't like me. fred, why does he stick around? >> sessions? neil: yeah. >> well, he has had a big role. if you look at the rest of the justice department, what session is has done as attorney general, the rest of it, beyond, dealing with the special prosecutor and the whole question of collusion, and so on, sessions has been a great success. he likes his success. and, if you were someone, particularly on one issue if you're someone who believes, who doesn't believe in criminal justice reform, that bill that tom cotton, senator from arkansas says is a jail-break bill, if you want to block that, a lot of people do, then sessions is your man. so i think he --

neil: i see that point. i respect your point of view obviously. lenore, i try to take it to the next level. let's say he does try to get rid of sessions, tries to get rid of rosenstein. he will have a devil of time replacing either or both, wouldn't he? >> yes. and that -- neil: that is the crisis he doesn't want to see. >> he has quite a few coming together hire. we have only really two months before midterm elections and we're already starting to see all the tariffs having impact on businesses. that will have impact on the employment. also having impact on the price of things that people buy. people are going to remember that as they bogo to the voting booth this november. you don't want that and more controversy. this week was not a good one for the white house. neil: the president was saying, look, if you want to take this to the next level, leads to impeachment, not saying like a clint eastwood, make my day, but fred, it was like a clint eastwood, make my day, because

i'm going to argue you will risk the bull market, everything that has been accompanying it, what do you think? >> i would worry about that and what lenore said is true, that the market hasn't been as good this year as it was last year. on the other hand have we had a correction? has it dropped a lot? neil: good point. >> i have a few stocks and they have done okay. i haven't -- neil: you're independently wealthy. we don't count you. we don't count you. lenore maybe. but lenore, would that be jeopardized if people were chasing the president down? normally impeachment efforts in the past when they involved richard nixon, bill clinton in that process it is very shaky for stocks to stablize. what do you think? >> it is definitely shaky for stocks. it is shaky for the economy. i'm not really happy with the direction the public discourse has gone on this we live under the rule of law. the rule of law is not something supposed to be bought. so if the argument is, if, let's

first address, is this a legal issue? now if it's a legal issue, then we shouldn't not pursue the legal side because it would be bad for the economy or for stocks? that means we don't have a rule of law. that just means, we do whatever is good for the bottom line in the short run. neil: don't you understand, lenore? we want to get rich. we don't care about morals or ethics. what is wrong with you? what is wrong with you? >> i lost my head. i get confused. neil: no, go ahead, fred. >> one other thing you have to think about is, what, the crime may be that president trump has committed or at least talked about is is a campaign finance violation. you know, it is not, it is not some national security thing. if you lived in washington as i do, you would think that, you would think this is one of the, it is a staggering crime but it is a campaign -- neil: there is a lot we don't

know. the report is dumped on the desks of politicians that run capitol hill, it is up to them to decide whether impeachable stuff worth pursuing or not. i want to thank you guys, very much. lenore, you should wrest kel -- wrestle with your confidence. we really have to talk, young lady. thank you very much. despite all this market bull run there is a new poll shows for a good many americans left out, they think socialism beats capitalism, any day of the week. after this. there's a lot to love about medicare.

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♪ neil: all right. capitalism might be on fire right now, but socialism is getting more fiery support, and more traction, 36% of americans in the latest poll, think it is pretty good, compared to just 18% in 2010. capitalist pig hedge fund founder jonathan hoenig. what do you think of that, jonathan. are those left out for what do you think? >> no, neil, socialism is winning, winning by default, neil, amongst all americans, especially amongst younger americans. they believe socialism is right, socialism is moral and that capitalism, free markets, are evil, they're nefarious, they're

destructive. so socialism is really kicking butt right now despite the fact that we have donald trump in the oval office. neil: so, what are the implications of that? now i think the figures are like 55% of americans are invested directly or indirectly in the market. a lot of bulls like to argue, i guess, jonathan, that means that many more could come in and market could run higher. conversely with this socialism wave grows, it could go just the other way. does that worry you? >> well i mean, socialism is on the march, neil. it is taught in schools but i have to say it is not reflected, you have alluded to the fact that it's a bull market. unfortunately there is not an alternative to socialism right now. i don't believe that the president, i don't believe that the republicans present that alternative because instead of sacrificing for the greater good, like the socialists want to say, trump would say, sacrifice for the country, for the coal miners, or for the farmers or whatever privileged group. there is really no alternative being presented.

your question, where does this go? depends how far we go towards socialism. my god, venezuela is oath the zoo animals. i hope it don't comes to that. that means trading, self-interest, voluntary trade. that is what we need to get this country and economy on sustainable footing. neil: it is interesting as we look at the longest bull market, it was born at the time in the midst of a meltdown and government takeovers, all the rescues, all the stimulus, all the federal reserve actions, does that worry you with each crisis, you might argue, good came of that. interest rates stayed low, companies and individuals got their act together but it was the government fixing things? >> yeah, i mean, neil, before we were celebrating the bull market, we were all very rightly cautious about all of that element of stimulus. there was tremendous amount of bubble talk even from the

president before the election. neil: you're absolutely right. >> i don't necessarily think we're in a bubble, neil. the reason the bull market is in intact. the reason americans made money, isn't because of who is in the oval office. it is become of amazon, tesla, facebook, the companies, the individuals, the minds that created this technology. what core worries about socialism, that is what gets in the way, neil. you want to buy the import from germany or china, you can't, why? for the greater good. the more the government gets involved in the economy, neil, the more we all suffer, that includes trade. neil: on the trade front, what the president is trying to do, we're close to a deal of mexico i'm told, we don't have the details of it, what do you think of that, the president sort of involved himself with that to try for freer trade? >> i wish that was the case, neil. even in the negotiations in nafta right now, the, as i understand it, the u.s. isn't advocating for free trade. they're specifying certain wage

levels, certain numbers of parts are made in certain countries. that is not what is advocated for, that is real detriment to this country. we succeeded by trade, neil, the notion we're losing on trade, backward on its face. we send money to china. we get stuff back in return. this idea of a trade deficit, neil, there is no trade deficit. trade is always win-win. the last time the trade deficit really fell was during the great recession of 2018 and 2009. so it is not something we necessarily should aspire towards. neil: how do you think president trump's doing? >> i, you know, neil -- [laughter] i am, i am, the country is bigger than just one president, neil. i mean i will just take us back where we started, neil. i'm very disturbed there is no voice for individualism, really for capitalism, in this country. listen to the so-called defenders of capitalism, those on the right, they tell you free markets failed us.

we need government control. picking winners an losers. listen i'm happy the market is up. i believe in this country i'm really worried long term the way we're going given there is no voices for freedom anymore. neil: you managed to tick off both sides, touche, young man. >> my job is done. thank you, neil. neil: the push to sort of alienate michael cohen. but what happens after he is ultimately sentenced? then what?

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neil: all right. we are down about 35 points right now. lot of trade worries are hitting stocks. suffice it to say we are getting inconsistent reads on retailers that might be directly or indirectly affected by what's going on, the effect it could have on the products they sell and whether you are interested in buying them. we have mixed reads on that. also mixed reads on what's coming from the china/u.s. trade talks as we up the ante and china's response ups the ante on that and of course, on mexico, where we could have a deal maybe within hours. could happen today. if you were to start things out with a trade war and say who will we resolve our differences with first and you were to think the mexicans, you would look crazy, but adios, there we are.

let's get a read also of the back and forth on impeachment, everything else that came in a fascinating interview done with the president yesterday, the reverberations are coming through loud and clear. let's get the story from hillary vaughn. reporter: president trump says he has great respect for his former campaign manager paul manafort, saying he didn't know him that well, but at least he didn't flip like trump's ex-fixer, michael cohen, did. trump saying in an interview on "fox & friends" that he gets why cohen struck a deal, because he says cohen wanted less time behind bars, but president trump said flipping like that should be illegal. the president also taking aim at attorney general jeff sessions, criticizing the doj under his leadership, saying sessions never took control. >> i said what kind of a man is this? and by the way, he was on the campaign.

you know, the only reason i gave him the job, because i felt loyalty. he was an original supporter. reporter: meanwhile, the president continues to talk up the benefits of his trade tiff with china. so he's not just hitting them with tariffs but also now ramping up new regulations that would make it harder for china to steal and exploit u.s. technology. >> already we are collecting that money. it's a lot of money. much of it is being collected. some of it starts in a week. but it's a tremendous amount of money coming into the united states which nobody has ever seen that before. reporter: treasury officials meeting now with the chinese delegation here in washington to try to work out a deal, or some type of cease-fire on this tariff back and forth but senior administration officials telling us this morning they expect no announcement on any type of deal today. neil? neil: thank you very much. louisiana republican senator bill cassidy with me right now. what do you think of all this, how it all sorts out? >> well, hopefully it sorts out

that we continue this prosperity and a lot of folks watch your show, but a lot of folks don't, and they don't because they're working. they're working and getting more money because of an economy which is improving. i hope it works out so that this prosperity we have been seeing since trump took office continues. neil: we have urged their bosses to put me on in their respective offices so keep you updated on that. >> i prefer to have you in the airport. neil: right away. you know, senator, one of the things that's interesting, inherent in the president's comments were this idea go ahead, you want to toss this, good-bye. do you think whatever happens with the house, whether it switches democrat, if democrats try to get impeachment going, it would imperil this rally and this economy? >> clearly if democrats take the house, it's going to be maxine

waters leading the charge, all impeach, all the time. the stuff we have been able to accomplish with a republican congress which is deregulation, which is lowering taxes, other things to improve this economy, finally having growth 3% to 4% as opposed to under obama, that's imperilled. i think that is at stake in this election. neil: when the president makes the argument here, he seems to be accepting that we get past the trade thing and that whatever concerns are about that, apart from all the drama, michael cohen, paul manafort, that that will all work out. are you confident of that? >> well, clearly we are in -- our country has to decide, are we going to continue, speaking of congress, because the president has signed into law that which congress put together. we have to decide whether or not we will continue that republican congress or not, and i think that's a choice between elections. in this election that's a choice between continued prosperity or being mired in kind of going after the president.

neil: so what is the mood on capitol hill right now? the senate obviously looks pretty good to keep your majority. the house is anyone's guess. are you surprised, i raised this with members of both parties when i have them here, the surprise particularly among republican colleagues that at least in polls, they can be wrong, you are not getting more bang for the economic buck. not more of a response for the economy. i think democrats in their heart of hearts would agree things have picked up considerably. certainly the markets have. but you're not seeing it at the polls. >> i'm not sure of that. if you look at the generic polls, they show the gap is 4%. i saw it on real clear politics, between democrats and republicans. at 4% it actually looks as if republicans can hold their majority. in the senate, you can't help but notice that every senate race is tightening, where formerly democrats had a big advantage. hopefully that goes down from the senate to the house races.

i do think this economy is valued by the american people. i'm hoping that's what they're thinking of when they walk into the voting booth. neil: we were discussing a little earlier, senator, the success of capitalism. you think about it, what's been going on in the markets, the longest bull market in american history, yet socialism is on the rise. it just seems weird. >> more people know about socialism, they see clear examples, the more they don't like it. venezuela is not a one-off. venezuela is the logical end of socialism but it's only by obscuring that that people who pronounce socialism actually sort of promote it. what we need is for folks to think do i want to be like venezuela or do i want the economy we have in the united states. if they really think through that, they choose the united states. but the people on the left want to confuse that issue. neil: all right. very good seeing you. thank you for taking the time. >> thank you. neil: down about eight points right now. this is a tepid response to the first full day of this new longest bull market in american

history here, but again, waiting for a lot of these developments. to concerns about impeachment and whether the democrats are moving in on it, that's not being reflected in the markets as much as the pause that refreshes. or is it? xfinity mobile is a new wireless network

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neil: now we're looking at an environment where people are saying well, this can't go much longer. is it your sense that this can't go much longer? >> well, you know, neil, i have always known when people try to predict tops and bottoms, they are normally wrong. eventually somebody will be right. i look at what's going on today in the marketplace and i don't think people are really evaluating the efficiencies that have been created from the last bull market. neil: that's an uncertain future. what do you think? >> i think the markets are going to, at the end of the day, focus on corporate earnings. that has been and will be the drivers of the market. while i'm not sure about a 50-year bull market, at the end of the day, whether it's a record bull market or not, what matters are, are earnings growing, are corporations doing better. i think the prognosis of that certainly in the next 12 months is quite strong. neil: all right.

these are the financial titans. it's all about earnings, all about growth, all about the underpinning that still look good for this economy and this president. the question is how long that could go, especially with the president's comments earlier with fox news. they will try to get him out of office, then what? michael robinson joins us right now. michael, the president is saying if you want to jeopardize all of that, go after me. what do you think? >> i think it's a little bit of an overstatement. if they were to be impeached we would see the market come under pressure but you know, we have empirical data on this, december 1998, bill clinton was impeached. we didn't see a bear market. we didn't see a major downturn in the market. in fact, the bull market continued well until 2000. i think because pence is there, we will continue the policies. we already have tax cuts in place, we are already cutting regulation, got incredibly low

unemployment rate of 3.9%, gdp growing at 4.1%. those are the things that are really driving this market, as your previous guests noted. corporate earnings have been just killing it, 20% to 25% on average for s&p 500 companies in the second quarter. it's pretty amazing accomplishment. so i don't see the threat of impeachment or actual impeachment if it were to occur, causing certainly not a bear market. i doubt if it would even cause a correction. neil: i guess, you know, it would heighten the uncertainty in the markets. but i do know and understand that markets also like money. i often tell people they're not about being red or blue. they like the green. they like making as much green as they can. they made a lot of money under bill clinton and have been making a lot of money under this president. do you think the backdrop of that actually helps this president, that you are less inclined to go after him in an environment like this than let's say the environment that existed during watergate? i'm not there to mitigate the

watergate crimes and coverup, but it didn't help richard nixon that we had a very, very deep recession and inflation on the way. >> that's an excellent point. we had the arab oil embargo, the whole aftermath of the vietnam war and how unpopular that was and really high inflation, super weak economy and ended up coming up with the term stagflation after nixon left office. we don't have any of those things going on now. we have consumer confidence has waned slightly but is at a 14-year high. retail sales are going crazy, with 6.4% in july increase. personal savings is increasing. people feel good about the economy. they are out spending and at the same time, throwing off enough disposable income to increase their savings rate while spending. this is a unique dynamic in the american economy we haven't seen for a long time, so against that

backdrop, yes, it emboldens his supporters to hold the line and say this is not the time to be changing administrations. neil: we have been enjoying this sort of economy, the envy of the world, markets leading the world, and that has given the president i guess some ammo in these trade deals and the tough trade posture he's taken. what do you think of that approach and how that does play out in the markets? if they're worried about it, they have a funny way of showing it. >> that's an excellent point. it's all been priced into the market. i don't think at this point anybody thinks we will have a full-blown trade war. europe has blinked, china hasn't blinked yet but are sort of modifying their stance, as you have been talking about this morning. we are looking at the renegotiation of nafta, striking a new deal with mexico. the momentum is clearly on, if you get outside of the beltway and the concern of the power struggle within the dnc or against the rnc. when you get away from that, you are looking at a backdrop where

he has all the momentum in his favor, rising economy, he's getting better trade deals, he's making enormous progress. we haven't really talked much about what he's been doing with the epa to cut back on regulation. so business optimism also is very high. this is a great time for the president. having said that, absent what's going on with cohen and now the renewed talk about impeachment. he really does have a lot of momentum in his favor in the economy in particular. neil: all right. thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. neil: by the way, as he was chatting with me, we are getting a statement out of attorney general jeff sessions, who is responding to president trump ripping him a new one. the president telling npr, look, this guy is still hanging around. i'm paraphrasing here. he ripped him a new one yet again, as he does in a lot of exchanges here, saying essentially well, i have an attorney general, the actions of the department of justice will not be properly enforced by political consideration. i demand the highest standards

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did you know about the payment? >> later on, i knew. later on. you have to understand, what he did, and they weren't taken out of campaign finance. that's the big thing. that's a much bigger thing. did they come out of the campaign. they didn't come out of the campaign. they came from me. neil: all right. the president saying the payment came from him and it wasn't campaign cash, but if the intent was to influence the election, as some prosecutors have been telling me, is that in and of itself a crime? i'm not a lawyer but i think we really need a good one.

fortunately, we have a good one. this has moved on me here. indulge my stupidity. i thought it was a big deal if you were using campaign finance funds to do stuff like this. if the president is using his own, then what's the problem? >> okay. so you're not stupid because it is actually quite complicated. in the realm of campaign finance law violations, it's sort of split into two separate categories, contributions and expenditures. this changing story we're hearing from trump indeed makes it sound like he wants this to fall into the expenditure camp of sort of the realm of possible violations, because as you noted, there is no constitutional limit on the amount of money you can spend on your own campaign. there is, however, a reporting requirement. so i think what trump wants to move this into sort of the less bad crime. the more, you know, serious offense is the one that cohen

pleaded guilty to, which is an illegal contribution over the legal limit. so you know, trump could be seen both as an aider and abetter in that crime, the crime michael cohen stood up before federal court and the public to say he made this contribution at the behest of the president. the issue here, though, why it's different from the obama sort of slap on the wrist fine is that this was a knowing and willful violation, because they did it in such a secretive manner. either way you cut it, if you're looking at the expenditure or contribution category, this is a criminal offense. neil: all right. say this ends up being part of the mueller report, that distraction. again, it might not be but obviously, congress can do whatever it wants with whatever report mueller provides. for example, mueller isn't going to be the one recommending impeachment. it's up to the people who read that report. would that be, in and of itself, enough, if it were in the final

report, to get some going in that direction? because it seems like a stretch to me but what do you think? >> well, absolutely, they are already talking about it, but the question really is what does congress believe qualifies as a high crime and misdemeanor. that is the text in the constitution for an impeachable offense. the way i would describe it is if you look at criminal offenses versus impeachable offenses, there is of course overlapping territory there, but there's a lot of not overlapping territory. the question is what standard will they hold the president to. if indeed he did commit a crime and it's looking like based on all the statutory language, he did commit a crime, but how serious of a crime is it? does it get you to the level of impeachable offense. neil: i'm sorry i'm slow here but i don't see the crime part. i don't carry water for anyone here but i want to understand, is the crime to hear cohen tell

it, the way it was covered in the media, the president knew and this was part of a strategy to influence an election, that had this come to light it would have been a disaster, he would have lost, even though given the "access hollywood" tape sometime earlier, that's hard to believe. but it was during the election and the payoff was the means by which he did that. i don't know. >> okay. the way the law views it, neil, the moment that that money was transferred to karen mcdougal or stormy daniels it was from michael cohen. he took out a home equity line of credit. now, who directed him to make that payment? donald trump. okay? so we're now in the realm of a campaign contribution. trump directing, it's not that different from the d'souza violation. he's using, funneling money, even if he did pay it back, to the campaign for the purpose of influencing the election and doing it in a secretive way such

that that shows his consciousness of guilt. absolutely, there's a crime -- neil: consciousness of guilt isn't the same thing as doing something that would materially affect an election, or hiding something from the federal election commission, right? this is not campaign funds touched again. >> absolutely. the fact that it wasn't campaign funds touched means nothing. he's confused. again, what i think he's trying to do in the context of saying he did reimburse it, he's trying to put this on him, saying this is a campaign expenditure that i used out of my own pocket since i reimbursed michael cohen and if you look at it that way, it is an expenditure. the supreme court has ruled there's no limits on your own expenditure for your own campaign so he's trying to sort of spin that angle. but even so, even if you look at it from that context, there's a reporting requirement. he would have had to report that payment, which he did not. it's a crime.

neil: how would it have been reported? >> in his papers. neil: 150,000 to pay off a stripper? >> exactly. it's a laughable -- it's laughable because he clearly was trying to hide it because there's no way he was going to report it. neil: i know i'm going long with you. my producer will go crazy. but you are so good here. i want to understand this. wouldn't he have more problems, not so much with those payments, but the back and forth and he's been inconsistent, at first saying he knew nothing about them, then he did, first saying it was michael cohen calling the shots and signing the checks and deciding who gets what, and it was him. >> yeah. so again, the back and forth, the stories are back and forth, just to clarify, there is nothing illegal about a catch and kill practice. there would be nothing illegal about this. it would be sleazy. it would be amoral and people would say it's just bad practice. but it wouldn't be illegal, if it hadn't been done so close to the election for the express

purpose of influencing the election, of hiding this information, silencing these women, because he knew it was going to have an effect on his campaign. so that's the issue. that's why it gets into campaign finance law violation. it's the timing of it. neil: all right. i think i understand a little better but i'm very, very confused. you lawyers really tie things up in knots. >> i know. i know. neil: you do very well, i will say that. thank you very much. i do appreciate it. meantime, tesla, this is a story that charlie gasparino was on first, and he keeps adding to it with more drama and breaking news in this case. what are you hearing? >> wouldn't you like to be the lawyer that had to write the line item for the stormy daniels payment? neil: that's what i was saying. they never did it. >> $130,000 to my favorite porn star? neil: good thing i'm not a lawyer. >> me, too. i will confuse pitch this thing.

these are bankers vying for advisory roles with tesla and elon musk as he plans to go private. it's kind of interesting, the way they will approach this if and when these guys get hired. some of the people i spoke with haven't been hired yet. they are still waiting to sign the documents and are vying for various positions with the independent directors that are looking to bring this private and with musk. here's what we hear. they do believe there's investor appetite. they believe there's a lot of money, as they would put it, on the sidelines looking to invest in something like tesla. here's where it gets interesting. they plan on making their pitches to compare mr. musk, who has had a very controversial last six months, but they plan to compare him with visionaries of corporate america like steve jobs and jeff bezos. they think they can make that pitch. where they start getting antsy, is on the number. i asked them about that $420 number, can they make it at the number that mr. musk has put out

there, that he had funding secured at, and that's where it's like uh, uh, they don't know. so this is really an interesting thing. obviously the final word has not been written on this. we are still in the fifth inning. i will cover this like baseball. some of the shorts think i'm pro-company, some of the people that are long the stock think i love the shorts. i cover this like baseball. i'm in the fifth inning right now. there's a lot of confusion inside the banker realm that's going to be working with tesla on exactly how to go about this and can they get that stated number. maybe they can. they believe there's money out there. they just won't guarantee it to me that it's going to be that 420 number. take that for what it's worth. we should point out that fox business was the first to report that the s.e.c. launched a

formal investigation into that tweet. those investigation, from what i gathered, i have not been able to confirm this, was supposed to happen this week. the board member and various tesla officials were supposed to be queried this week. we are still waiting for word whether that has happened or not or is happening. we should point out tesla had no comment on this report. back to you. neil: let me ask you a personal question. there's a point to it. bear with me. he responded apparently to the president once again bad-mouthing him saying he regrets picking the guy, now he's apparently in the white house. they are talking about justice reform, but this is the umpteenth time the president targeted and humiliated him. do nany of your sources know wh sessions is still in the job? has the president made any effort to fire him or sessions to quit? and would you take that kind of abuse day in and day out?

>> i take it from you every day. no. no. i wouldn't. i would never work for donald trump, ever in my life, and not just because, you know, the way he treats people would be just another reason why i wouldn't work for him. but that's one thing. listen, why did anthony scaramucci, you know, almost give his left arm to work for this guy? why do all these people want to work for this guy? i mean, you know, some of it is you want to be close to power and that's not my -- i would rather report on power than be close, than be part of the power structure. why he doesn't quit is a whole other story. he either believes he's got a higher purpose in life which is to enforce and i think his big thing was to enforce the immigration laws, to get tough on immigration, that was something jeff sessions was big on when he was a lawmaker. that's what i heard, he doesn't want to give up this bully

pulpit because he thinks he's doing work there. why trump doesn't get rid of him is, from what i understand, he's worried about the furor it would cause. people in congress. think about it this way. he would lose support in the senate, probably, if he got rid of him. neil: good luck finding a replacement. >> right. crazy. neil: we will try humiliating you in public. >> you know, here's the thing. i have such a thick skin. in order to kill me, you have to put a stake through my heart and it better be metal because wood would break. neil: we can make that happen. all right. always good, my friend. it is weird, though? >> it is. neil: we are following this and again, confirmation that jeff sessions is at the white house for some kind of forum on reform going on. this as he and the president are trading criticisms of each other. it's just weird, but it is what it is. dear great-great grandfather,

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neil: all right. there is no resumption in the overall tension between the united states and china here, or signs of progress at the trade talks going on. jeff locke is live at the assembly plant will employees are looking for a situation that increasingly isn't an if. reporter: i'm at the ford explorer plant in chicago which last year made 13,000 explorers at that plant behind me that got shipped to china. the impact on u.s. auto makers, not so bad from the tariffs but the real impact is on the german auto makers. take a look at some of those. bmw, for example, which has a huge plant in spartanburg, south carolina, made 52,000bmw x-5s last year sent to china. mercedes at its plant in alabama

made 40,000 gles and bmw by far, the big loser. mercedes, second. ford, third when it comes to vehicles made here and shipped over there. to give you some, you know, you think well, okay, that's the german auto makers. we don't care about them. well, yeah, but those german auto makers at the u.s. plants employ u.s. workers and to give you an impact sense of just what that is, that bmw plant in south carolina making the x series, 371,000 x series vehicles made there last year. 100,000 plus sent to china, a third almost of their output. if you employ 8,000 people like they do in south carolina, and you reduce the output by a third, it stands to reason some of those american workers would be laid off. that hasn't happened yet. just so you know, the

best-selling, i thought you might ask this question, best-selling american-made car by the u.s. auto makers in china would be the lincoln mkc. they sold 17,000 of them there. that's not a lot of vehicles, but it's almost as many as i think they sold in the u.s. there you go. impacts of these tariffs. it's complicated and far-reaching. neil: it is. lincoln makes beautiful stuff. give them a chance to compete. they could do very well. reporter: get rid of tariffs all around. it would be nice. neil: we can dream on, my friend. thank you very much. all right. by the way, this is not just impacting automobiles. how about boats? gerri willis spoke with one company who says orders are down a whole bunch, try close to 90%. reporter: neil, that's right. we are at regal boats in orlando. what we found is this company is suffering from these tariffs. as you know, overnight, tariffs

from china coming in to impact the u.s. u.s. also imposing china tariffs overnight and right now, in this industry, it's retaliatory tariffs that are really hurting these companies. that means tariffs for the eu, canada, china and mexico. what's going on here? well, for example, in the eu, 25% tariffs on u.s.-made recreational boats. if you make a boat here for $100,000 which is very nearly what this boat costs, $70,000, that means when you pick it up in the eu, it's $125,000. as a result, the company telling me that guess what, all of their orders for canada and the eu have been canceled. they are waiting to see how this impacts customers, but for now, i was told this about how it impacts the company. listen. >> what would happen to regal, we have been growing at a fast rate. the economy's good, consumer confidence is good. tax reform, all these things have been good. our growth is going to be

leveled off. we probably will not be able to grow at the same rate or maybe not at all. reporter: all right. so you heard it there. big impacts for these companies and ultimately, some of them may have to decide to lay people off, maybe to even cut prices on their products. we'll have to wait and see. but this is a $125 billion industry. this company alone employs 750 folks. very american-made at the end of the day. every recreational boat floating in the usa made in america. regal, third generation american owner. this will be worth watching. back to you. neil: thank you very much, gerri. we are close to a deal right now with mexico. we don't know what that would be. we do know that it is fast-moving, they are dotting is and crossing ts. former ambassador to the u.s. economic council miller, thanks for the time. >> thank you, neil. neil: i guess in the beginning

of the year, if we had told of all the trade impasses we had, we would settle with mexico first, we probably would have been deemed crazy, but that does seem to be the case. what do you make of what's going on? >> i think they are close to a deal, at least on the auto sector. my suspicion is that what we are going to get is a deal on autos that perhaps doesn't really affect trade or businesses too much. the real question is whether the u.s. is willing to drop some of its other less reasonable demands in areas like a sunset clause for nafta or investor state dispute settlement processes to see if the u.s. is willing to let go of some of that in order to get a deal. of course, we still have to bring canada into the negotiations as well, and it's not clear how much interest the canadians are going to have in raising additional issues or

dealing with something like dairy products, which is still on the table there. neil: you know, ambassador, how do you think the president is playing this whole trade thing? >> i think it's all about politics at the end of the day. when you look at the economy or at various commercial enterprises or trade, it's very hard to see who's winning from any of this. you would look -- be very hard to find somebody. the american auto companies don't feel like they're winning, they feel like they're losing. u.s. employees, we just heard very sad reports from you about employees that are negatively impacted in autos and in the marine sector. so where are the winners in this? i would say it's the politicians that are the winners. they are playing on the public's fears and it's having an impact. so i think this is all about politics, about the midterm elections and i think that's true not only for us but for the

other countries as well. neil: you think the president is more pragmatic than we know, that he will settle for, you know, something that might be mo more or less than an in your face deal and maybe some of these others will be like that? he can claim victory, the other side can claim they dodged a bullet and off we go? >> we had another hint of that with the talks with the european union. i think yes, that's very much a possibility and that's perhaps the best outcome we can hope for at this point. neil: ambassador, thank you very much. >> you're very welcome. neil: all right. the controversy over how data is collected on you and so many others. what happens to you if you are a customer? do you stay with them especially when they seem to ignore what you're doing?

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neil: all right. we are told facebook is banning a quiz game to collect data from at least four million users. it's another controversy, whether the users really seem to care. we often hear we are going to bolt and they stay. more often than not, they stay. why do they stay in the end?

>> sorry? >> why do they stay in the end? >> i think they become less active. i don't think users are bolting. i think we are getting a lot of zombie accounts where people rely on facebook for certain connections, to connect with certain people, plan events and whatnot, and dip in when they need to. neil: they are still counted as users, right? >> yes. neil: what do you think? >> i think this is going to be one of the problems for facebook, especially going forward. we were just talking about this in the green room. remember in late july, the stock dropped 20% in one day, over $100 billion in market cap lost, and that was all about slowing user growth in the u.s. i think even if there are zombie accounts, people who just dip in a few times a year to connect with overseas family or whatever it is, i do think from the investment community's point of view, that's a problem. facebook does own instagram and it has younger demographics but i think it needs a new rabbit to pull out of the hat from an

investor standpoint. neil: what is it, for young users in particular, do they just sort of shrug their shoulders and say well, my privacy could be compromised a little bit but these things are so convenient that i stick with it? what is it? >> i think it's important to point out the younger users by and large aren't on facebook. the reaction you will get from somebody in high school who is of an appropriate age to create a facebook account is whatever, my grandmother was on facebook. neil: people just sort of shrug and say this is the downside of the convenience, the upside of this technology. >> i don't think people are as aware perhaps the three of us might be of what exactly the trade-off is they are making. >> now at this point, facebook is saying okay, we will suspend more than 400 apps. they have outright banned which is pretty strong, banning, you are kicked off, you can't come back, the second app. neil: you can come back as a

different person. >> all of these researchers go and work on other projects and come back with a different app, a slightly more layered app, where it's harder for a third party to get hold of the information. i do think from a p.r. standpoint, facebook is trying to say listen, we are suspending these 400 apps, outright banning our second one of this year, so they are at least trying to send a message publicly they want to take a stand. >> that's definitely true. but the new apps and all the apps are going through a new app review process that's completed on august 1st. anybody who was using an app in the facebook platform had to submit it for review and anybody who didn't, they weren't suspended or banned but the apps were deactivated. the burden that's put on the app developers now actually is a little bit greater from facebook's perspective. the terms, the things they want to see, they want more information about what the data is that they want and the utility of what they are going to do. >> that could even become a business danger for them, because one of the things that was great about the facebook

platform for app developers, they could build an app and put it on. apple has the same strength. that's one of the reasons apple got so far ahead as well, is that sort of vaunted relationship with the app developer community. it will be interesting if facebook -- it will be a fine line for them to reassure the public but at the same time, actually make the platform buildable and accessible to the community so that new apps can be put on there and then the next generation does actually want to use it. >> right. there is this supplemental contract that app developers who want to access user data and download it, they have to sign once they have gone through the review but that's not public. we don't really know exactly what it is they will be -- neil: i know you're not a stock person. but what's interesting to me about all these big tech names, they have not been hit hard in the markets as much as you would think. i'm wondering whether wall street is echoing main street here. is it much ado about nothing? this is not a big worry?

>> i don't think that it's not a big worry. i just don't think that people -- people were reliant on these things. we use facebook for whatever connectivity, it's the convenience. neil: i think it's kind of creepy. all these families pretending to be so happy. >> certainly, there's a definite flavor of that, but i think -- neil: they're trying too hard, these families who do that. >> i want to see crying kids. neil: embarrass yourself. just seems a little weird. i don't know. >> there is research that couples in relationships who are very showy on facebook are actually less secure in their relationship. neil: compensating for something. where is this all going? this comes on the heels of a government crackdown on these guys, you better get your act together, stop this. what do you think? >> i think again, from the investor point of view, i just want to see what facebook will do next that's going to excite investors who want to buy the

stock again. i do think perhaps they are going to be coming to a point, not this year or next year, where they are at a competitive disadvantage although i think they are also pretty good at sort of elbowing out the next generation, so far it seems like they have more than two billion users. whether all of them are active or not, that's a lot of people. i would like to see if they do something a little bit more with instagram, what's app or a property buy, another company, that lets them -- neil: or maybe split them up? >> yeah, that has been suggested. then you have people outright calling for the breakup, fragmentation. neil: thank you both very much. as they were talking, charlie gasparino got a report that elon musk is apparently looking at morgan stanley as an adviser in this privatization attempt. he's not giving up on that. apparently morgan stanley isn't giving up on it, either.

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neil: this will get interesting. i don't know if we see this on camera. jeff sessions at white house. he is there for a meeting on prison reform. comes on heels of president saying in an interview he is getting tired of the guy. shouldn't have recused himself. said thats essentially a waste of time. and then you know, sessions comes back i am not, i am not. i have value. i've been doing a good job. the guy is still there.

so, he hasn't quit. he hasn't been fired. and it goes on and on and on. even though his boss is ripping him a new one almost daily basis, jeff sessions stays. cheryl casone. that's amazing. cheryl: actually is. you're staying. you have more tv to do later. neil: my goodness. good seeing you. >> thank you, neil. we have a lot of breaking news. we'll stay on the president and his actions today. he is warning democrats if they try to impeach him, that the economy will crash. hello, everybody, i'm cheryl casone in for trish regan. welcome to "the intelligence report." trump telling "fox & friends" that americans would see the economy and the stock market make a complete reverse from the record bull run that we've seen. >> i'll tell you. if i ever got impeached i think the market would crash. i think everybody would be very poor. cheryl: markets shrugging off