>> lee carter, james freeman, jason chaffetz, three of my favorite people. >> thanks for having us. >> the new book. >> the deep state. now on book stands. went on sale yesterday. get it. >> one of my favorite people as well, stuart varney. stuart: good morning, dagen. good morning, everyone. the market continues to shock and amaze trade war with china, climate change is a dire threat. hillary clinton says if trump isn't checked our institutions will be eroded. yet, despite it all, the market is at or near record levels. investors from all around the world keep putting their money into wall street. america it seems is the place to be. that dealt with money. it is looking good this morning. politics, that is a very different story. let's call it kavanaugh chaos. let's call it the sliming of a well-qualified jurist.

brett kavanaugh's accuser will not show up to answer questions. she alleged sexual assault over 30 years ago. she wants a fbi investigation first before she appears before congress. fbi says it is not its job. we don't know you how judge kavanaugh's nomination prospreads. it's a mess. if heed tomorrowize, this is exactly what the democrats plan. minutes from now president trump heads to north carolina. he will be the comforter in chief and see the damage from florence first-hand. wait until you see what north korea is promising now. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: big deal, first to north. opening its doors to outside, i believe independent inspectors. ashley: independent outside

inspectors allowed to visit miss sill test sites in north korea. a huge development. looking into the process of decommissioning the nuclear enrichment facility. could this mean a second round of talks between the president and kim jong-un of north korea? certainly we're heading into the right direction. up until now we seen satellite reports and outside reports that the north koreans would not live up to what the president hoped they would do. continuing to develop missile test sites. now a change of direction, after meeting with the south koreans, it appears the tone has changed. indeed allowing outside inspectors into see a missile test site is a huge development. there is always air of skepticism. we're seeing this. what is going on over the mountain? there are always a concern other things could be going on but the fact remains they are open to things the u.s. wants them to do. stuart: they have stated they will accept these independent

observers where -- ashley: as it stands now, outside independent inspectors. stuart: i will put that down as good news. ashley: yes. stuart: you sound a little skeptical but -- ashley: hard not to be with north korea, stuart. but it sounds good. stuart: that is north korea and that's foreign policy let's deal with the kavanaugh accusations. here is what the president tweeted. quote, the supreme court is one of the main reasons i got elected president. i hope republican voters and others are watching and studying the democrat's playbook. not sure what that means. joining us now, fox news columnist liz peek. welcome back to the show. good to see you. >> good morning. happy to be here. stuart: will he get confirmed? >> i think he until unless more evidence comes forward to substantiate accusations against him or if another person comes forward with similar story. that happened with other men with serial accusations. we know brett kavanaugh has a

man with impeccable record, impeccable reputation and great champion of women. this is someone who will not be trashed easily. the american people are fair-minded. look what happened, delay bringing forth the accusation, the reluctance of this accuser to appear before senate judiciary committee hearing in public or private which has been offered to her. i don't think they will stand for this clearly partisan delay. i think that is what it is. i think everyone recognizes that. it is a ploy to get this delayed until after the midterm elections. i don't think it will work. stuart: will it have think impact, whichever way it goes on november elections. >> i think it will. president trump is totally correct. his base is incensed this is happening. one of the reasons, he is quite right, that people turned out to vote for president trump is because they wanted to see conservative justices appointed to the supreme court. if this doesn't happen, they will double down, show up in

november because they want to make sure the next appointment is indeed a conservative. that will only happen if the republicans keep the senate, they need to show up to make that happen. stuart: without putting too fine a point on it, this leave as nasty taste in my mouth. i just don't like this. i called it the sliming of a well-qualified jurist. he has been slimed. i'm not saying that the woman is making it up. not saying anything like that at all. not saying don't believe her. simply saying this accusation at this late stage slimes the man's reputation. hard to get it back. >> i think it is very unfortunate obviously this is sort of attaching itself to me-too movement, a movement which has a grounding in very justifiable cause, preventing harm against women. unfortunately now i think the pendulum has swung so far that often men are not given due process. they're not allowed the benefit of the doubt. i think this is a case where

that is really foremost in everybody's mind. has this gone too far? is that the reason that this very, very, highly-respected man is going through this terrible process? stuart: what a conflict. >> terrible. stuart: look what you got in terms of politics. it is so ugly. >> it is ugly. stuart: yet, the other side of the coin, money, really looking pretty good. >> tell you what, gop voters are tired of hearing we need to take the high road. michelle obama says if they go low we go high. if democrats continue to go low, we go lower and need to get this done. stuart: liz peek in feisty mood. >> i am. i'm furious. stuart: let's get to money. the market, told you at the best level since january despite all going on in the news background. market watcher mike murphy is with us. mike, you have been consistently bullish from day one of the

presidency. you always have been. >> i have. i thought deregulation would be a real help to markets in general, starting with financials to the overall markets in general. i didn't see this move we've seen, the size of this move. i think right now what i love is so many people coming out saying it is a nine-year bull market, it can't continue because they're absolutely wrong on that. stuart: you think it is going higher still. >> the market is going higher still as long as the economy continues to improve, as long as corporate earnings continue to improve. the market is a function of what they think companies will be worth in three to six months out. companies should be worth in this environment should be worth a lot more. stuart: what a contrast, right? awful politics, good news on money. let me bring this to your attention. front page of "the wall street journal." employers choose bonuses over raises. they have figures 2009 to the present. retirement benefits, 42%. paid leave, health, other insurance all up more than

wages. what does that tell you about corporate employers? >> i think a few things. one, companies got tax breaks. they have more money on their balance sheets. rather than increase your salary, hey, stuart, you're doing a great job, here is bonus for us. stuart, you're doing a great job, we want to keep you, here is longer vacation. here is some other perk. that is a good thing for the economy. keeping workers, talk about millenials switching jobs every few years. not putting a stake in the ground. employers know they have to pay, they have to compensate good workers. that is what they're doing. stuart: am i right? let's go around the table. dreadful, ugly politics, real positive coming out of the market, where am i going wrong, susan. susan: s&p going to record high. this is despite the kavanaugh news we got, concerns over trades the market just wants to go higher. stuart: seems like it. ashley: where else do you put

your money? you said it at top of the show. investors put their money into wall street, pretty much only gain in town. returns are terrific. >> goldman came out with a report that recession is probably three years away or more. ed hyman's group isi, says there is nothing in the data a recession is anywhere close to happening. the economic news makes all these other things irrelevant. earnings are not impacted by trade wars. certainly not impacted by judge kavanaugh. stuart: the public doesn't know it. >> the story is yet to be told. i totally agree with you. stuart: i'm moving on how the market will open up. what is today? wednesday. been away couple days. sorry about that. it is wednesday morning we'll be ever so slightly lower when the market opens in 20 minutes time. florida's governor rick scott, chased away from a campaign rally. why did protesters force the senate candidate, out after

restaurant ten minutes after he sat down? there is reason for it. elon musk under fire again. of the department of justice opening a probe of tesla after going private tweet. what does that mean for muck. judge napolitano will tell us after this.

stuart: an outfit called guggenheim partners raise its target to netflix on $420. they had been aiming for 360. now they say they're aiming for 420. the stock premarket is up nearly seven dollars. remember the elizabeth smart kidnapping many years ago? one of her kidnappers is expected to be released, susan. very soon. susan: today. wanda barzee kidnapped smart along with her must. was supposed to serve a 15 years

sentence. early release on parole of time served. she is surprisingly credited with over six 1/2 years of time served behind bars. so today is her release. elizabeth smart said she of course, is not encouraged by this. she says that this woman encouraged her husband to continue to rape me. so i do believe she is dangerous. yes, not just to me, but to the public as well. barzee pleading guilty in 2010, kidnapping, unlawful transport after minor. but you know, she will have to adhere to a lot of these rules after her release. includes being restricted in travel. staying in utah state. she has to get permission from federal authorities in order to leave. but she will not, not, have to wear an ankle bracelet or monitored by any gps device. stuart: she is out. i'm inclined to ask the judge about that but i will desist. i will ask him about tesla instead. the justice department is probing the company after elon musk's going private tweet. judge napolitano is here.

criminal prosecution they said, that sounds serious. is it? >> it sounds serious but i don't think it is. i don't think it is serious because the justice department asked for a letter of voluntary submission of documents. when the doj is really after you. they don't send a letter asking for your cooperation. they show up with a search warrant and take your files. i tell you what they're looking for, evidence of private communications that elon musk engaged in with his colleagues before that tweet to determine whether or not the tweet was serious, whether it was a joke. whether it was fraudulent. whether it was intended to suppress the short sellers, whatever the purpose of it was. and is any of those purposes criminal? if it's a tire misrepresentation intended to induce reliance to benefit him, and harm others, that is the definition of fraud. stuart: the bottom line did that tweet, was that tweet an opportunity or an attempt to

manipulate the stock price? >> yes, well that is the sec. stuart: if he did, if he did that, they showed yes, tried to manipulate the stock price, that's illegal, is that criminal? >> no. it is only criminal if he cashed in on it. stuart: okay. >> illegal under sec requirements. he has got two investigations. sec, did he unlawfully manipulate the stock price by making the statement that people apparently relied on. and doj, did he commit fraud. did he harm people or benefit himself? stuart: sure to be civil lawsuits, aren't there from shareholders who were damaged by the going private tweets. >> the government will not be involved in those. stuart: i got to tell you, judge, i can't understand with all the investigations and the word criminal inserted there, the stock price is just under $300 a share. >> you and i were right here when the tweet came out. this is bad news for him, unless

80, or 82 billion, which is what it would have been 420 a share, this is shoe box or bank account. took him two weeks this is the saudi sovereign fund. by then the stock price had gone down. stuart: isn't special case? is he getting special treatment in some way or other that i don't know about? >> do you know there is the appearance of that. you know, this guy does work with the government. you do work with the government and then go on national television consuming a controlled, dangerous, substance and in this case marijuana, which is lawful in some parts of the country but is in-lawful in all parts of the country. still against federal law. that could trigger a serious federal criminal investigation and abrogation of your contract with the government. it hasn't happened. what is it about him that people give him all these breaks? stuart: he gets a lot of breaks, that's a fact. >> yes. stuart: he gets a lot of taxpayer money. that's a fact also. >> yes.

>> you're not pa fan, are you? >> i'm a fan of uniform enforcement of laws. most laws shouldn't be on the books but ones that inform fraud are a form of assault. those should be enforced. stuart: well-said, young man. see you later. check futures. we've gone a little bit higher, flat to ever so slightly higher for the dow industrials in about 12 minutes time. by the way any minute now, the president, you will see him leaving for the carolinas. he will tour the storm damage there, acting as comforter-in-chief. more "varney" for you after this.

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stuart: waiting for the president to depart to north carolina. we understand he is going to talk to reporters before he leaves. when you get that you will definitely see it pronto. let's get to the flooding in the carolinas that the president visits to see first-hand. what is the latest on storm damage? ashley: 34 deaths associated with florence. the governor of north carolina says the next 48 hours are critical. the storm is long gone. don't be fooled because rivers continue to rise because all the rain continues to have an impact. 20,000 people did go to health e

shelters. many can't get back to their homes because the roads are cut off. they have no idea what they're going back to. two detainees the van was washed away from the water. the two women drownedded. the deputies were saved. 1.6 million chickens drowning in 60 farms. just an idea of the task they're facing. stuart: extraordinarily. connell mcshane is has information what you believe the president will address. reporter: i'm told that the president is taking questions on the no nation of brett kavanaugh on the south lawn of the white house. that has been shot to tape by white house pool and other

reporters are out there. once the president wrapped up and left the white house from the south lawn, i'm over here on the camera on the north lawn to speak to you, we'll get ahold of that play it back to you, to see what he said about the cavanagh nomination and hearing on monday. he spoke about jeff sessions getting a lot of attention today as well. of course his trip to north carolina. so that is happening right now here at the white house. once the president departs, on marine one, heads over to andrews, hops on air force one to head down to north carolina, to ashley's point, he gets a first hand look at what is the flooding. president is going to marine corps air force station at cherry point. i will put up a map of north carolina to give you a sense where that is. the marine corps air force station, northwest of that is the neuse river. it crested at 28 feet, almost

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stuart: president trump spoke to reporters earlier this morning. we're getting some of the headlines what he had to say. first of all on the nomination of judge kavanaugh, quote, it is very hard to imagine that anything happened, end quote. that is from the president. he also criticized senator feinstein for having the letter for so long without did i closing it. he also spoke about what he called, the good news from north and south korea. they held a summit in pongyang north korea over the last couple days. he also said, tagged it with

this, i am disappointed in the attorney general. we'll bring you the full tape when we got it. should be a couple minutes from now. the 10 seconds from the opening of this market. [opening bell rings] we're ever so slightly higher in the first couple minutes. bang, we're off on running wednesday morning. we were off 180 yesterday. we opened with a 14 point gains. i'm seeing green on the left-hand side of your screens. the dow opened up 40 points higher. that is 1.5%. s&p 500, where is that at? up slightly. 2900 to be precise. nasdaq composite we always say the home of the technology companies. that is also higher today. just a fraction of .08%. joining us this morning, mike murphy, shah ghailani, ashley webster, susan li. the market at its highest point

since january despite all the turmoil. shah, does the momentum hold? do we keep on going up? >> no reason not to continue going up. all three major benchmarks will probably make new highs, if not by end of this week or certainly the week after. just a matter of time. nowhere to go but higher for the markets. everything is clicking. earnings are fantastic. economy is doing very well. politics aside, trade war talks aside, the market discounting all that, looking forward to resolution on all of those issues. there is nothing else but blue skies ahead. if you're not in this market, still not too late to get in it. stuart: what would mike murphy have to say about that? >> s&p 500 has a target for 3,000. it is going there quickly. that is about a 90-point move from these levels. remember, stuart, over the course of the summer, we spoke if fang breaks, if big technology stocks start to sell off we're in big trouble. you had facebook sell off. you had netflix sell off.

yet the market sitting here near all-time highs. we're going higher. earnings support it. market goes higher. stuart: this from "the wall street journal" it is about the economy. employers boosting benefits like bonuses, vacation time. they're boosting these benefits faster than they're boosting salaries. ashley: yes. stuart: what does that mean? what does that tell you about american capitalism and american employers at the moment? ashley: for one, they're desperately trying to keep them. we did a story other day retailers gearing up holidays, have more openings than people out there. they're raising salaries. offering part-time workers work, week's paid vacation, profit sharing. it is a competitive market to get the workers. only means wages going higher. susan: salaries going up. 2.9% in the last employment report. fastest clip in 10 years. people are hiring. people are spending. there is money slushing around. stuart: sounds like a negative for the trump.

trump economy raising benefits faster than raising wages. >> if you want to make that the biggest negative on the trump economy good luck. stuart: well-said. i have to deal with tesla. the justice department is probing the company after elon musk's going private tweet. shah ghailani, why is the stock still at $283 per share with all these negatives about elon musk and the company? >> it is taking a pounding already and i think it has got more to go on the downside. i believe elon musk is finished in terms of being ceo of tesla. in terms of being head of any public company. i think this, not a criminal investigation, but when the justice department gets involved it is really at behest of sec because sec can only file civil charges, if the sec sees something they think may be criminal they lean on the justice department. this doesn't bode well for elon musk. if he is charged criminally i think the stock takes a much further deeper hit. stuart: okay.

speaking a of the market. look at this, the dow industrials up 103 points. susan: adding to 200 yesterday. stuart: we went on the air at 9:30, we thought the market would be flat to slightly higher but look at this. it is up 103 points, 26,350. quickly, mike murphy, what am i missing? >> you're not missing anything. there are a lot of negative headlines. profits are improving. markets going higher. ashley: north korea is a good headline. they're back and talking, saying right things, that is good for markets. susan: conciliatory talks by the premiere in china. stuart: that we're up 106 points. talk to me about tech. i'm seeing most of them are higher. apple is up. what have we got here. big tech. facebook up a fraction. amazon is down again. down again i should say.

apple up a fraction. google and microsoft both down this morning. susan: amazon forecast to be number three digital advertising player, way behind facebook and google, takes up 75% of the advertising dollars. they will be microsoft jumping ahead. this division has grown 130% in the last quarter. stuart: expecting better performance from the big techs. >> looking at that screen, stuart, based on the last three months, you see a screen, you think the market is flat to down. things have changed. you have other leadership out there. i still think big tech will get rolling again. ashley: that is very healthy to mike's point. not have tech carry all the weight all the time. spread it out, much healthier. stuart: shah, what do you got? >> absolutely right to the mike's point. increase of lesser stocks we don't look at because we focus so much on big tech names. the broader market is moving up

very nicely. small stocks at record high. stuart: sorry about that i have got the tape from president trump. we're about to roll it. here is what he had to say. roll it. he will be coming out momentarily. this is on tape so the tape included him coming out of wherever he was. ashley: suspense is killing me. stuart: here he cops. he will approach the microphones, and begin to speak. that is what we're covering this fall. [inaudible] >> we're going to north carolina. we're heading to south carolina. we're doing very well there. the rivers are cresting, just starting to crest. we're really going to say hello to folks from fema, military, people working so hard. i think it will be an incredible day. we'll be coming back at about 6:00 or 7:00 tonight. [shouting questions] say it? >> [inaudible].

>> well it would seem that the fbi really doesn't do that. >> [inaudible] >> they investigated about six times before and seems that they don't do that. >> [inaudible] >> would do it if you ask them to would you do it if you asked them to. >> i let the senators take the course. they are doing a good job. they already postponed a major hearing. they're hutting somebody's life very badly. very unfair i think to, as you know, justice kavanaugh has been treated very, very tough and his family i think it is very unfair thing what is going on. so we'll see. but i do think this. they given it a lot of time. continue to give it a lot of time. really its up to the senate. i really rely on them. i think they will do a good job. >> [inaudible].

>> i'd really want to see her. i really would want to see what she has to say but i want to give it, all the time they need. they have already given it time. they have delayed a major hearing. there is no more -- look, when i first decided to run, everybody said the single most important thing you do is the supreme court justice, okay? we all heard that many times about a president. i would say this. i think he is an extraordinary man. i think he is a man of great intellect as i've been telling you and he has unblemished record. this is a very tough thing for him and his family. and we want to get it over with, at the same time we want to give tremendous amounts of time. if she shows up, that would be wonderful. if she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate. >> [inaudible].

>> i'm disappointed in the attorney general for numerous reasons but we have an attorney general. i'm disappointed in the attorney general for many reasons. you understand that. >> [inaudible]. >> we are looking at lots of different things. i have a great cabinet. we have the greatest economy ever in the history of our country. so we're very happy with the way things are running generally speaking. i don't think we've ever had an economy like this. somebody was on just this morning from reagan, from the reagan white house. he said this is one of the great economies in history. so we're very happy. >> [inaudible]. >> i can't hear you. >> [inaudible]. >> well the fbi has been very involved with respect to justice kavanaugh. they know justice kavanaugh very well. they have investigated him i guess six times. and they have investigated him for this hearing.

look, if she shows up and make as credible showing, that will be very interesting and we'll have to make a decision. but i can only say this, he is such an outstanding man. very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. >> [inaudible] >> we had very good news from north korea, south korea. they met and we had some great responses. i got a tremendous letter from kim jong-un. as you know, delivered three days ago. we're making tremendous progress with respect to north korea. prior to becoming president, it looked like we were going to war with north korea. and now we have a lot of progress. we've gotten our prisoners back. we're getting our remains back. they continue to come in. a lot of tremendous things, but very importantly, no missile testing, no nuclear testing.

now they want to go and put a bid in for the olympics. we have a lot of very good things going. remember this, prior to my coming into office a lot of people thought we were going, it was inevitable, we were going to war in north korea. and now we're, relationships, i have to tell you, at least on a personal basis. they're very good. it is very much calmed down. >> [inaudible]. >> we'll see what he is looking at. we'll see. talking he is very calm. i'm calm. so we'll see what happens. >> [inaudible]. as. >> as long as he tells the truth, it is 100%. he was with ronald reagan, he

was with bob dole, he was with mccain. that is what he did. paul manafort was with me for a short period of time. he did a good job. i was very happy with the job he did. and i will tell you this, i believe that he will tell the truth. if he tells the truth, no problems. >> [inaudible]. >> i don't want to talk about it now. >> [inaudible] >> because we want to be able to take what we can handle. >> [inaudible]. >> well i would have to see what she has to say. i have given her a lot of time. the senate has given her a lot of time. we continue to give her a lot of time. we have held up the hold hearing. what i don't like is that senator feinstein had this -- had this letter for period of

like three months from july. maybe even before that. but from july. why didn't senator feinstein bring this up at her meeting with judge kavanaugh? why didn't these democrats? they knew about the letter because she was showing to it democrats. why did they wait until everything was finish and then bring it up? that doesn't look good. thank you very much. i will see you in north carolina [inaudible]. >> what about -- stuart: president of the united states, addressing reporters earlier this morning before leaves on marine one to go off to north carolina. i will repeat some of the headlines from what the president had to say. he spent a long time talking about the nomination of judge kavanaugh. he said that judge kavanaugh had been treated very, very unfairly. the president wants to hear from his accuser, that is what he said. i want to hear from her. but if she doesn't show up, he

said that would be unfortunate. he spent some time, but not very much time, talking about the economy which he regarded as excellent and doing very, well. listening for something on tariffs in china. i didn't hear that i thought he might have touched on it but apparently he didn't. he spent time talking about good news from north and south korea, and north korea has agreed to independent observers watching them take down and take out their missile testing facility. there is the president of the united states from just moments ago. joining us now is curtis ellis. you're a trade guy. you are with ronald reagan on trade i think, weren't you? with -- >> with him in spirit, yes. stuart: now then, would i be right in saying that at this moment america looks stronger

than china this dispute. that we are in fact winning it. what do you say? >> i would say we already won. we are much stronger than that they have run out bullets. they run out of things they put tariffs on. they're talking about retaliating against american companies doing business in china. holding up customs clearance or regulatory approvals. if they do that, and they actually been doing that all along, if they accelerate that, that accelerates the rush for the exits. what i say we've already won. china is no longer considered a safe space for foreign investment. no smart businessman, ceo is going to build new facilities in china knowing that he could be hit with tariffs, knowing that there could be retaliation by the chinese government over some type of trade war. people are already looking for other places to do their offshore manufacturing. stuart: however, we are, we

americans, we are going to pay a price for this. because the price of the products that china sells here is going up. much of the stuff that they sell here goes to our manufacturers. >> in america. looking at some, at the tariff list. yes, indeed live eels will now cost more. bentonite clay, which is used in oil drilling. hair clippers for heart at -- horticultural purposes. i didn't know you used them for horticultural purposes. stuart: but the price is going up? >> not necessarily. will they pass on costs to consumers. apple has 38% profit margin. maybe they will absorb some of these costs. it is very simple. america has cut taxes. if you want to do business in america we're open for business. we cut regulations we cut taxes. this is the president's economic

plan. trade reform. tax reform, regulatory reform, energy reform. make this the best place to do business. you don't have to worry about a communist regime cracking down on you some point in the future. stuart: fair enough. how do we end essentially a trade war without either side losing face? how do we do that? >> there is the mysterious x fact are tore called patriotism. they can bring manufacturing supply chains closer to shore, onshore. to your point, china can stop cheating. they can start playing by the rules as they agreed to. they can say we're now growing ups. we're the big boys. you invited us into the world trading system. we're capable of flaying by the rules as everybody else as we said we would. stuart: we'll see how this works out. curtis, thanks for joining us as always. >> thank you. stuart: we just heard from the president. he will be leaving joint base

andrews any moment. as a matter of fact he is leaving it right now. he is head hadding to north carolina. we're following the president this morning. you will see it all right here. one of the biggest names in sports, michael jordan, donating millions to the hurricane recovery efforts. our next guest is the president of the charlotte hornets. he will talk about that and how they are helping to the disaster zone. n when you're a mom and an entrepreneur. with more businesses starting every day, how do they plan for their financial wellness? i am very mindful of the sacrifices that i make. so i have to manage my time wisely. ♪ plan your financial life with prudential. bring your challenges.

stuart: president trump has, you just see him taking off there, just moments ago, air force one on its way to north carolina. the president did hold, it wasn't a press conference but he spoke to reporters right before he got on the plane. what he had to say was mostly about the nomination of judge kavanaugh. he said it was extremely unfair that kavanaugh had been treated very unfairly. he said a few more things as well but that was the gist of his comments to reporters. then we have this. protesters running florida's governor out of a restaurant, just forced him out but not for the reason you may be tempted to think. so why did they force him out. susan: they are incensed over red tide lingered in the state over a year. that is a long time. it has depressed property prices. it has sickened residents. it killed off wildlife as well

in the region. they're upset at governor rick scott. as you said he entered the restaurant through the backdoor. he had to leave the same way ten minutes later. he didn't get to address his supporting crowd inside of the restaurant because of all these angry residents that want him to do something about this. in fact they blamed some of his policies for creating the red tide. stuart: see, when we covered this story, i thought this was another example of -- ashley: politicians, yes. stuart: anybody associated with president trump. but no. susan: he has his own problems. stuart: this is red tide. still a very serious problem. but now we understand it. let's get to the florence recovery efforts. joining us, charlotte hornets president, fred whitfield. welcome to the program. great to see you with us, sir. >> thank you very much. stuart: did the storm do as much damage in and around charlotte as was expected? some people are telling me maybe charlotte dodged the bullet? >> i think we were extremely

lucky here in charlotte not to have suffered more damage than we did, however as we looked at the damage around our state, we certainly are were touched by that. again we're very grateful that charlotte happened to be spared, not hit as bad as we could have. stuart: you're bringing everybody together by raising money for the victims of florence. this is exactly what sport can do in these situations. you are bringing people together. tell us what you're doing, please. >> our organization, hornets organization, we take a lot of pride giving back to our community. our efforts are led by our owner, michael jordan. what we're able to do with him leading and making two large donations. one million dollars to the american red cross, and also one million dollars to the foundation for the carolinas to give relief funds directly to the victims. we also are partnering with second harvest food bank, putting together 5000 packages of food on friday with 100 of

our teammates. players, coaches, basketball operations, officials, business operations officials to make sure that food is distributed to those in need. we think awareness is really what is critically important. we think our platform being able to get awareness out into the community is something that our fans are embracing. they want to give back. we work closely with the nba to create a micro site that the fans can give money to at hornets.com. stuart: i want to make the point, sport these days is so often divided by politics but you offer a classic example of bringing people together in times of emergency and bringing them together to make people feel a little bit better. last word to you, sir. >> we enjoy doing that and we feel like we have an obligation to bring people together because we do have fans that are on both sides of the aisle. and we enjoy bringing our fans together to try to give back into our community and try to help those in need that support

us day in, day out on the court. stuart: fred whitfield, charlotte hornets. we appreciate it sir and your effort. >> thank you so much. stuart: yes, sir. i'm going to call it, kavanaugh chaos. the democrats effort to derail the supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh. my take on that coming up, top of the hour. president trump will land in north carolina in the next hour. we're all over this visit to the flood sown. big hour two, the hour number two, and it is straight ahead for you.

>> just moments ago president trump spoke to reporters ahead of his visit to north carolina. here's what he had to say about the brett kavanaugh nomination fight. roll tape. >> what i don't like is that senator feinstein has this -- has this letter for a period of like three months from july, maybe even before that. but from july. why didn't senator feinstein

bring this up at her meeting with kavanaugh and democrat who knew about letter because she was showing to in thes. why did they wait until everything was finished and then bring it up? >> that's the president now here's my take. delay object and derail that is the democrat strategy employed against judge kavanaugh it may succeed. as of now we don't know when a vote on his nodges will take the left has created what might be called kavanaugh chaos. here is pan eminently qualified jurist undergoing 32 hours of public questioning answered more than 1,000 written questions, and met one-on-one with senators from both sides of the aisle. after all of that, brett kavanaugh at the very last minute was accused of sexual misconduct. his accuser is not sure when or where the alleged incident took place.

but he was at least 30 years ago. but she says she will not appear before congress until the fbi has investigated. this is how you slide a good man makage allegation but refuse to answer questions about it. this is how you delay make an allegation at the very last minute and demand another investigation. just yesterday, hillary clinton said if president trump goes unchecked america will suffer our institutions will be eroded she says. well, just who is eroding that most important of institutions the supreme court? could he be democrat senators harrisonbooker who turned judge kavanaugh hearings into a circus? or senator feinstein who sat on the sexual misconduct allegation throughout the summer and only made it public when all other forms of objection had failed? or lefts i who endlessly interrupted the hearings? the downside here is the appalling spectacle that kavanaugh nomination has been turned into, and the possibility

that the antics of the left will prevent a qualified jurist from sitting on the supreme court. the upside, that republicans exercise their authority in congress and put judge kavanaugh on the supreme court where he belongs. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ all right president trump is on his way to north carolina he's going survey damage from hurricane florence, he left joint base andrews a few minutes ago. he should arrive in north carolina about a half hour from now. we expect he'll speak to first responders and state lead percent after he lands. then he'll make remarks some time after that. we're all over the president's movements for you. you'll see it as it happens right here. check the big board, not quite the high of the day but certainly up there. we were up 130. now we're up 125 points, 26,372

couple of hundred points away from all time high and look at this. despite a tenure treasury yield well above 3%. the market is rallying. go figure please. we have tesla, the department of justice opening a probe after that going private tweet. tesla is up 2 bucks. 287. how about that. how about amazon all the way down again. 1921 the price down nearly 20 dollars. the price of oil this morning hovering right around where it has been for a long time i know it is up a bit 70 per barrel got it. now become to my ting on the democrat effort to berail judge kavanaugh supreme court nomination. charles hurt is with us washington opinion editor. looks like this delay tactic could succeed what say you? >> ting might succeed for, you know, a short period of time. but i really don't think that you know, absolutely no grounds for -- for delaying it more than to

just have this hearing next monday. i mean, you bring forth someone and you -- made this point in your take, and it is very important. you have accusations they don't have a place or a time. and if you don't have a place or time there's not a -- judge in america there's not a proximate result in america who would bring charges make charges like this public. against a defendant who could not even -- can't mount a basic defense to say no i wasn't there on that date and here's where i was. and i think you're exactly right intothe entire thing designed to delay this election. >> my opinion is that it makes democrats look bad. especially senators harris and booker. and senator feinstein who had a fine reputation up until now. >> working -- >> ruining for some time i think. but i hope that's the case. but i also i look at this see we're not talking about bill

clinton but a guy with sterling reputation with no -- there are no other accusations like this. coached his daughters basketball team. a good father, a good husband, and to have where does he go to get his reputation back to -- >> what does he apply only thing that you have to do in washington is to put forth an animating accusation against somebody and it sticks. and it is why good people smart people want to have nothing to do with washington. and so very bad thing. toipght play you a soundbite from hill clinton giving another interview. this is what she said about the midterms okay that's november. listen to this. >> what i worry about rachel is that after this election, this president is going to hold fire for people that's my protection for tonight like prediction from last year. and if we don't have one or both houses of congress in place, he will be even more uncontrollable

and unaccountable. >> well, whether or not he's unaccountable enuncontrollable is one thing. but it will have a profound impact on presidency if they lose the house. >> it will without a doubt but one thing i think is is interesting is one of the things they like as a conservative person -- i like the fact that you actually have discord between republicans in congress, and republican in the white house. we haven't had that in a long time usually if one party owns both sides of avenue there's no discord and they run off the rails this is first time in decades where we actually have republicans in congress -- providing a genuine, real check on a republican of, you know, a president of same party in the white house. and that's a good thing. >> can you just -- handicap the november elections it is? look many people say -- that democrats retake the house, but the senate remains in republican hands. >> i generally agree with that but i must say democrats democry

enthused right now and republicans you are not running scared right now, you're going to find yourself in deep trouble come november. >> how does kavanaugh hearing filet out in november? >> well, i hope that, it certainly i think he gets confirmed without much trouble. and i hope that people look at the way you just said where people look at adults in the room , republicans trying to put a god man on court and antics reare dig louse i am spartacus moment and they roll their eyes saying they're not serious. we can't take them seriously. stuart: many strikes today. what's this all about? >> hundreds of employees and me too movement is this >> across the u.s., these are me too protests and this is in light of the -- of the complaints of ten employees back in may who alleged that male supervisors made unwanted, unwelcome sexual

advances against them and then they were retaliated against when they made those complaints to mcdonald's. mcdonald's for their part says that they have strong policies in place. procedures, training, as well, designed to prevent sexual harassment. but mcdonald's also contends since so many of their restaurants are franchised, are they ultimately responsible or for behavior of some of these employees? >> that question with who is responsible? stuart: stock is, though, is up this morning. not much. but it is up a little right there. all right back to the market, because last we were talking to charles it went even more high. up to more -- spitting out here. we've reach ared 26,400 thank you very much charles up 157 points as we speak. the dow is at its best level since january. when it hilt its all time high, couple of hundred points away from the all-time high. the yield on the the ten year treasury 3.07% that's nowhere

negative for stock but certainly not today. joining us now zach barron senior editor, you know, i get excited when you start talking tenure treasury are yield. >> why rising bonds are becoming more attractive relative to stocks answer to that question is because rising bonged yields are good news for a long time before they become bad news. when we get up into the force push 5% then we can talk about about that becoming problem. what we want is some better economic activity. pushing these longer yields higher. we're starting to get that now. stuart: why is market 155 points this wednesday morning half hour after the opening bell? >> i mean, i don't know. there's market has been on a little bit of a tear now for about a decade. so the market has a tendency to push higher why not? stuart: terrible stuff in the background negative, political headline hads, all over the place -- >> fund mentales remain good. corporate earnings growth is excellent. american economy is in good shape. certainly really tiff --

relative to other markets arpgd world and evaluation on stocks that would be only thing to get in requester way if evaluations were sky high they're not. you're paying a premium but not huge right now stocks excellent teal relative to anything else you can buy. >> so why are you writing in your magazine about the debt bomb? now it is beginning to -- bite us on backside not far away. >> right. i'm one of the lunatics that likes to pay my bills right -- fiscally the the term fiscal conservative we used to be a party that claim to be one who used to be fiscally conservative we don't have that anymore. i just point out that -- the way fiscal policy is supposed to work you're supposed to run big diseflts during dire recessions to dig yourself out and when good times roll arranged, you're supposed to make an attempt at run aring surpluses to pay ma money back we're doing the on sit and stimulating, stimulating at the top we're spepgding too much money. we have a window of opportunity to do something about it. it is going to close on fuss

over the next ten years. lay out members -- >> over ten years thank you very much jack we appreciate it. stop of lag at me. fresh back after two days away. i'm not quite in the spirit of thing yet. nafta department of justice launching criminal probe into elon musk and tesla. we have a former fcc attorney who says this is a very bad sign. she's going to make her case later this hour. look at tesla, stock still at 280 -- big developments with north korea independent inspectors at their missile site talks of a joint olympic bid with the south. is trump dlom city working we will certainly ask that question. and we expect the president to arrive in north carolina shortly. he's boing to make some comments at some point and you will hear exactly what he's got to say when he say it is. we'll be back.

off high of the day but up there dow up exactly a half percentage point that is 131 points most of dow 30 in the green they're up. why is price of gold been away for a few day. it is exactly where it was on friday. 1207 per ounce. now the justice department wants a couple i'm not sure how many couple of chinese state run media organizations to register as foreign agents. why? >> too one of the news agency other is china global television new york used to be cgtm that is really symbolic. it is under some obscure foreign law but they have to register foreign agents otherwise they're here representing their government. not as an independent journalistic outfit but russian had had to do the same thing russia and not russian space agency you think of but actually a newsradio and -- online article service they've been forced to register as

foreign agents. what does it mean? well russian ares case they were denied congressional press credentials which thought to have impact on impact to pus lawmakers not sure whether that's going to happen with these chinese media outlets but bottom line is government say you're here repghting foreign government and you should be recognized as such. >> got it. yeah. our next guest says -- that trade war with with china is bad for his customers. our guest is joe -- fjm fellow pouked founder c e. you're still manufacture. >> steal manufacture so we fabricate steel and install the steel. >> what negative impact the tariffs or threat of tariffs have had so for on your company. >> thanks for having me always great to see you guys. one, it's like i've said before, it is both good and bad. we have this great potential of

wonderful contracts coming in. coming in immediately, right we have such insurgent of award -- >> is that a rush to beat price increases? >> so you have a rush of business coming at you that's the good. >> not the bad. >> now the bad is trying to buy this being able to provide this and store this be able to actually -- have this somewhere so when time comes with this contract this is actually going to be enangt a wrtd we actually execute this work. we are able to carry this otherwise that price will continue to slide forward. right now, we're at a stabilized point. but we're -- if what's going on here. >> this has gotten to all time high for steel. >> absolutely. absolutely. how much have they gone up this year? >> 36% some component 45% others. and is this because of the very strong economy? or because of the the threat of tariffs? >> the threat of tariffs, that's what has done it. smg yeah because not allowing

reported steeling -- >> price all time high and contracts coming out of the witd not sure if you can fulfill them all. you should be happy. >> i am happy but coif -- neives nervous about it because every margin that we miss on this is actually catastrophic amount of money. it is yeah. >> i don't understand. >> i'll give you an example. you can miss a few cents per pound on a -- building that weighs you know about 6 million powngdz of steel add that up and you're losing 120, 250,000 depending what kind of components you're using that's a large amount of money there. >> why would you lose it? >> because the times of when we can buy. most companies only allowed certain amount of credit. >> so you don't -- that make the steel, you buy it and install it. so you're down stream, so to speak -- >> user price but regard tariffs as a necessary evil. >> i do. >> to combat with china to

fix -- >> i've said it. it's a short-term gain scenario here how do we have to this in the u.s. i agree. >> you would with like to see it over. >> yeah. [laughter] be nice. >> prices to stay up there wouldn't you? [laughter] >> joe thanks for joining us we always appreciate if. good to see you again. more than a dozen nfl hall of famers and some of the biggest names most recognizable names in football. well they're taking on the league. they want more health benefits and they want more money. they say the league was built on their blood and their sweat and they have little to show for if. jason joins us on that story minutes later, and see the president arrive in north carolina. then he goes to flood zone is. he'll be looking at the damage of assessing it and we'll take you there when it happens.

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yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. markets kind of shrugging off trade war and two trade sensitive stocks which we usually go to boeing and kat caterpillar and up into triple digit territory awaiting arrival in north carolina he's going to assess damage from hurricane florence . christina just arrived in the flood zone. she's in whiteville, north carolina, christina what are you seeing? >> yeah, you're right just arrived because it took forever to get just to this location. and whiteville this is about 50 files inland from the coast, as a smaller town a very small community about a little bit over 5,000 people that live here. we just came to one home that is flooded right now i look like i'm in ang a l deep water but moment, you have minnows literally swimming in water. this sinking down quite low over

here so i won't go too low but this is an areas that was hit badly over the weekend. they were without power. there's a few local it is that are saying they feel like they're overlooked at the moment because a lot of officials are heading to wilmington where a lot of damage is. we know there are massive lines for food and water, and so big, though, is still the flood. rivers are cresting that's pushing water into inland, and this is sewage water. i know stuart you can't smell it but it smells really bad right now. and so this is just an example of a lot of areas but the power is getting better in north carolina. we're hearing from duke energy that now there's about over 100,000 people without power yesterday it was 300,000. so it is improving ever so slightly but now people have to think about how are they going to rebuild their homes and lives with all of this flood damage? >> christina we will be back to you but please get out of that sewer water we don't want you in that. shortly -- joining us now charlie usa founder president is going to

the carolinas to serve i think chief, comforter in chief if you will -- is this a test for his -- for the presidency? >> well look i'll say this president is handled these national disasters unbelievably well. and it is kind of you can tell by how well the president has handled the disasters by how quickly the media moves on after them. last summer, the southeast region particularly texas was hit with a record storm. the president went down there, immediately, and he handled with leadership he appropriated a proper federal pungdz and yes this is a ewe role for comangder in chief to play as a heal per and leader and also someone that can bring people together whether republican or democrat and come up with solutions that quite frankly because of the natural disasters you know, it is something that you can't expect and can't plan for, i think the president has done very, very well and unfortunate to see the politicalization of what happened in puerto rico. because i thought president handled it quite fine, and federal pungdz got there. in fact there was images that

were shown that there was hundreds, hundreds of palettes of water bottles never appropriated by local authorities so too bad politics has gotten into national disasters and he's challenged this very well. >> stay there please i want yir commentary as president goes to flood zone and be back with you shortly. i want to tell you dow made another high for the day. we're now up 162 points. how about that? 26,408. 200 points away from the all time record high. we've got two big stories this hour. the president is visit the carolinas and yes, that market. look at that. 160 up. 26,407. back after this. the fact is, there are over ninety-six hundred roads named "park" in the u.s.

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not quite the high of the day but we'll take it up, 26,389. right we're just a nine seconds away from getting the latest read on how much oil we've got in storage. and that will probably effect the price that is on your screen right now. 70 dollars a barreling right now i think we've got numbers. we do. and we've got -- what do we got? >> birdie told me down .06 million barrels not a big draw down as expected. the demand by the way u.s. demanding for oil right now is at a record high. so that's -- but a bigger than expected draw on gas lean so we'll keep an eye on that price but overall the -- oil has been around 70 by the way said with russians but quite happy with it to get up to 80 a barrel we don't see that yet but u.s. oil producers continue to shale producers of fracking away that's -- >> a strong economy. stuart: bottom line here strong economy. strong demanding for oil. strong demanding for gas.

got it. take a look at tesla. the department of justice launching a criminal probe following musk comments about taking the company prieflt. private hillary vaughn in los angeles, hillary, just reminding us how we got here. will you please? >> good morning stuart it all started when elon musk tweeted that he was thinking about taking his company tesla, private and that he had funding secured. that tweet drove tesla shares to spike, but his plans to go private didn't actually pan out. well, when mufng tweeted that he had funding secures, that tipped off that federal prosecutors that the doj looking into investigating possible fraud. tesla confirmed they handed over documents to doj but they're not involved any formal information at the this time. there's been no subpoena, the doj looking into what led up to musk's abrupght announcement on twitter and why he ended up watching that dax, of course,

doj this preliminary investigation could take several months and at end of it they may decide not to bring charges. tesla is also involved in an fec investigation as well. stuart. >> guy lives charmed life as ceo of tesla that's a fact. hillary thank you very much indeed. now i want to bring in former fec attorney theresa goodie been on this program theresa, welcome back. >> good to be with you again, stuart. stuart: you say this probe is a very bad sign for tesla and for musk. make your case, please. >> i think it surely is. because the fe krrgs and doj often work together in these kiengdz of investigations. and a lot of this fec investigations do turn into parallel criminal investigations because a violation of the security laws if it is done willfully is a criminal violation so you don't need the evil intent that you often times think about when you're looking at other criminal violations. so it would be a criminal violation of the security laws.

>> okay if it's a criminal violation of the security laws if that is the end result, what happens? what happens to mufng, what happens to tesla? >> well the penalties for that is potential jail time as well as millions of dollars of fines. so the -- stuart: but that would destroy his position as ceo wouldn't it? if you are found guilty of a criminal violation, and you're the the ceo of the company, you did it and company did it, that's the end of your term as ceo, is that pretty much right? >> i would think so about and in addition to that if a criminal case like that is brought, i would expect the fec to bring an officer director barring him fromming being an office director of a public company. stuart: if it is such a strong case such a dire situation, i know you're not a stock analysis, but can you explain why this stock is up this morning and fill it to 289 dollars snare >> well it is a preliminary probe so in early

stages if this goes on to -- you know a grand jury or something like that. then i might see more -- might expect to see more of a stock decline. but as you said i'm not a stock mals. but looking at this, this is a bad sign. [laughter] stuart: how long is this going to drag on for? >> it could be months. that criminal probes generally do go faster than the civil probes. but this is starting a little bit sooner than i would have thought. because often tombs the fec will do much more of their initial investigation and they give ms did over to the doj who then do the criminal, do the criminal case afterwards and they do their investigation afterwards so they're starting out of the gate which makes me believe that it is very likely that the fec has found a reasonable basis for there to be criminal violationings and handed that over to the doj and that's why this is going forward. >> okay so we're going to be hearing about about this for some time to come. we will be talking it be right here and hope you come back to talk more it be. theresa, we thank you very much for being here.

okay. stuart: left-hand side of the screen there air force one, of course, just arriving there in north carolina. we will show you that air force one when the president comes out and we'll follow him and show you where he's going and what he is saying. meanwhile -- north korea kim jong-un will allow independent observers at nuclear missile site joining us now mike turner republican from ohio. and a member of the intelligence and arm ad services committees have i got that right? >> correct. two committees. >> you're welcome. great to have you on the the show because you know what's going on here. when mike pompeo visit canceled five or six weeks ago, oh that was the end of it all. diplomacy totally failed has that now been reversed? >> i think you have fits and starts and by saw that in the discussions. i think what's important here is that this is a sign that north korea is commitment to

denuclearization is real. i have space center in my community at the air force base so from a distance we have watched north korea a lot of what we know is based upon what we have seen -- looking in to north korea. and assess that both their missile its capability and specific weapons programs. by allowing inspect or force it it is next stop to what would be verifiable denuclearization you can't conclude if you don't know what's part of the deal or or performing it unless you're there. this is the start of really the type of disclosure that can result in really the whole world safer say we're such a threat. >> it is a very big development is what you're saying and a positive developments. >> right because it -- it eppedz this shell game of north korea -- you know two steps forward two steps back. it is say nothing we're actually proceed and let people in and get assessment of what we have. we're going to allow you to know what is needed in order to be a i believe to put a deal together. >> why are they doing this now

pressure from the south korea president who has visited pyongyang in last couple of dains pressure from china. is it pressure from mike pompeo or president trump, why are they doing this? >> all of that and good that you mentioned this because this is first administration dealing with this through three administration first administration that said, we're going to put pressure on china because there would not be space if it weren't for china and north korea understands that military option really is pressure on them we're going to -- increase sanctionings. so that the regime itself feels substantial pressure. and then we're going to enter into direct negotiations to talk. those, those talks i think are -- are productive that kim jong-un himself has said he believes that made whole region safer. now we just have to see this deal prg and north korea follow through with -- what they're claiming they're going to do which is, of course, making the peninsula nonnuclear and world safer.

>> i'm sure you saw that rt rough a suggestion that america open military base long standing permanent military base in poland and the president of poland wants to call it camp trump. what do you think of that? >> a really good idea. i think that l polls have been great ally. i think it is -- i think it -- >> russia's border. >> russia itself has been provocative i think they have been -- their aggression has called all of the nato alliance to reassess how they need to be positioned to be able to deter russia. afterall this is all about deterrence. west does not want conflict with russia are although they have exercises and invading its neighbors. taken a more aggressive stance, the west wants to make certain that we're positioned in a way there isn't conflict and russia doesn't feel that the nato is -- an opportunity for that. >> another chip in the america's arsenal when it comes to, you know, negotiating with the russian.

we can always say we won't put out military base in russia. in poland if you do something else -- i mean, bargaining chip isn't it is? >> i think, though, it is actually strategically something that needs to be done if you look at the areas in which nato needs to defend itself we need to move troops and have troops and i think poland is a excellent place to look. >> on our screens right now president trump arrived in north carolina. he's at the marine corps. air station there in north carolina just arrived as you can see. congressman, he's going to need -- he's going to be the comforter in chief is this presidency going to be tested how well he does at this in? >> i think everyone at the tests president in everything he does, he has a job here and there's been widespread devastation and seen the loss and hearts go out to the the families who have had so much impact and i think the president being there today is going to make a difference because he not only stands for

the white house but country next to his family. >> who is going to pay for this cleanup? >> it is going to be billions and billions of dollar. is it the taxpayer ultimately? >> there's certainly a component that is going to go to the taxpayer as it should. buzz i think, you know, we stand together as a nation. and the president will be doing that today. stuart: should there be spending cuts elsewhere to make up for extra spending in the carolinas? >> well there's no question that we need to change our budgetary processes because these acts of god devastations that occur are going to continue to occur. we know they're going to happen and we should plan for them. unfortunately we don't, and all of these result in deficit dispengding and if we plan accordingly, we should have the resources to be able to respond when needed if m >> however we have not planned accordingly we're going to spend some money in carolinas and added to the deficit. won't it? >> at this point unless the president comes forward with a plan of offsets which certainly is a possibility -- this would be increase spending. yeah. >> okay.

on the screen there, president - visiting he's greeting local officials there in north carolina. he will subsequently go on to tour the flooded areas. again act as confidenter chief and keep the camera are on what you've got there. on the screens -- until the president departs from that marine corps. base, charlie still with us. what do you make of the progress so far? >> well look i think the president is doing an complengt job. these are difficult, difficult circumstances. for a president to handle, first and foremost unexpected and you remember the national disasters over the last decade. particularly you remember when jeb bush was governor of florida. think he had four hurricanes within one year, and there's never, there's never a way to handle this that can satisfy everybody. you're going to have to

reappropriate billions of dollar deal with a lot of misappropriation of people and resources president is handle hadding this very, very well a natural born leader you saw last year what he did in texas particularly harvey he did a wonderful job bringing right people together. getting the federal state and local authorities coordinated, and addressing the situation so that -- it can minimize the harm but also maximize the the rebuilding so that we as a country can come together to solve this. i think the president has done an excellent job. >> same question to you charlie who will pay for this odds are it will be the the taxpayer -- and that will be added on to the deficit which is already approaching a trillion dollars this fiscal year. how is that going to go down when a republican president with a republican congress increases spending and increases the deficit. >> well you know, stew i remember going on your show boy four our five years ago complaining about deficit under president obama, and i'll have to you you one thing that

concerns me about this congress is just them turning blinked eye to deficit spending and mounting debt you know i'm all for tax cuts i think that tax cuts bill was terrific. but just yesterday, they passed a massive spending bill out of congress with, you know, turning a blinked eye to just these continuing mounting deficits trillion dollar deficit is unsustainable for my generation's future. and this is republican controlled legislature both on the house and the senate side. so i'll have to tell you i'm not pleased with that whatsoever at least we have a booming economy to offset in some way. but as far as it goes for natural disasters this is one thing that federal government should do, but if you look at the mowcting deficit and waste, fraud and abuse in our budget it is unacceptable for any generation to post trillion dollar deficit. >> gentleman to the president's left -- on screens to the right that is roy cooper the governor of north carolina. and he will be accompanying l president as he tours the flooded areas. i just want to bring to your attention that as the president landed, and as we talked about

his visit, the market went straight up some more. we're now very much the high it felt day we're up 179 points keep going up so you've got loads and loads of very negative headlines in about our political environment. >> doesn't matter, and it just doesn't -- brushes it off. we have news as well energy driving a lot of gains lowest since february 2015. okay there's national guards people there. local officials, the first responders who responded quickly to florence. that's who is the president is meeting them as we speak and again, dow is now up 178 point we're going to hold on this until president hangar that he's meeting officials in right now. he will exit and then go on a visit to the flood -- flooded areas along with roy cooper the governor of north carolina. as we said, the president is

playing the role today of in chief. he's going to be seeing all those many, many people who are drastically and negatively affected by florence and the we are the that it brought with it. what was the rainfall total was it well over 30 inches? the highest was elizabeth town it was 34, 35 inches but many areas picking up 22 feet of rain at least. >> flooding a dreadful thing. >> it is a slow motion disaster stu as we've said just is now starting to crest next hours are critical because still quarter is rising. >> so president is in the milings of it and threat is not yet reseeded. >> still people being rescued and -- scenes that we have seen are in christina was -- knee-deep in sewage water moments ago in an ordinary street in the small town in north carolina. >> that looked really bachelor's degree and it is not receding

but getting divorce there's the president in that hangar just arrive there had. >> he's going to get a briefing on the efforts right there. whole business association. i believe that is the small business administrator lady in blue. mcman and again bottom rngd corner of your screen keeps going up. these events are not connected dow is not going up because president is in north carolina. i think that market is going up. because investors are completely ignoring so many of the other very negative hls. headlines. >> 3.0% we thought 3% would be magical moment where people bail out and go into bonds -- >> 3% is rallying up over 1%. and because when interest rates go up, banks mac more money more margins for them. >> there's a negative which would dismiss market dismissed

it on the front page of the financial times important financial newspaper who say comien hits back at trump tariffs by targeting 60 billion of u.s. goods. i call that a negative. [laughter] "new york times," of course, has a negative. right across the front of the phage caught nominees accuser demands inquiry by fbi. senate hearings on sex assault claim are in doubt. the market still going up. we're up 184 points now 26,430. the president sitting down, and meeting with a local official. fema, when he begins, when he starts to speak and addresses people, he's talking now let's listen in. >> incredible. incredible. they're talking about it all over the world. we want to keep you going that way because some of the hard work is now. we've gone through very dangerous work and still dangerous but some of the hard work is taking place right now. even though it is nice and beautiful and sunny.

i was talking to governor and governor i want to thank you really fantastic -- fantastic job. but speaking to governor some of the flooding is actually epic hard to believe. and we've seen all the of the pictures where houses are literally covered beyond the roof. you don't know there's a house there, and you know one of those things well water is starting to go down now finally but begin i want to thank governor cooper i want to express my gratitude to your liewngt dan forest very importantly. and to all of the state and local leaders who have been really incredible partners throughout this response and recovery. as is been a lot of talent, a lot of work and a lot of talent without the talent, it wasn't work either. you have a combination of hard work and that great ability. we're joined also by secretary neil son administrator mcman, director mulvaney and fema

administrator long, immaterial immaterial -- i want to thank you all. incredible job. the planning that wept into this is is beyond, beyond belief so i want to thank secretary -- [inaudible conversations] really something special. i also want to thank great friends of mine and some very talented people that love this state. they love all of our states. i think we can say and that's senator richard burr where's richard -- richard thank you very much. great representative, senator tom. thank you. thank you where's tom? thank you, tom. >> lindsey graham -- [laughter] look at lindsey do you to pull up a chair? what happened to you? and you know we can -- [laughter] richard would you let him sit at that table.

come on. pull up a chair. but lindsey has been great, and tim scott what's tim? good, i don't know i feel guilty. they've been fantastic all four -- and we've had a lot of help from congress in all fairness, and we're ready and they're ready to do whatever we have to do to make this perfect -- and that means that unfortunately money will be a lot. but it's going to come as fast as you need it. to take care of everybody -- hurricane florence was one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the carolinas one of the most powerful endeavor -- devastating storms to hit our country to families who have lost ones america grieves with you -- and our hearts break for you. god bless you. we will never forget your loss. we will never leave your side. we're with you all the way. and for all of those impacted by

terrible storm our entire american family is with you and ready to help and you will recover. most importantly we give thanks to the incredible first responders including sheriffs, police officers, firefighters our navy, they're all over the place. that's what -- i put them up online and everybody loves them. everybody loves it. but they put themselves all of them in harms way and what they've done to save precious lives, of our citizens has been nothing short of incredible. nearly 20,000 federal and military personnel are supporting the response efforts along with southeast coast including brave men and women of north carolina and the national guard. now, of course we're going to south carolina right after this, and they have been incredible and i know you've worked

coordinated well with south carolina that's been a really great partnership. together with state and local first responders they've assisted, and rescued more than 3,000 people. so we want to thank you and i will say i've been watching the coast guard with all of the helicopters lifting people off rooftops and -- it has been an incredible job you have done again. we appreciate it. thank you very much. more than 1.6 million meals have been delivered to north carolina. and more than 400,000 are ready in south carolina as soon as they're requested so we're standing by with 400,000 meals in south carolina. crews have restored power to over 1.2 million customers already. in north and south carolina, and the power is starting to go on as soon as the water goes down. they're meeting with the demand incredibly well so i want to thank power companies and federal workers but we have to

thank power companies because they've been responsive as soon as that water goes down for the most part people have power. in moments of despair we witness the true character of the american people. so true. citizens all across our country rally together to rescue stranded to protect the innocent, and to restore hope to families who have experienced tremendous and unbearable loss. i want thank all of the people here a very special group of people and very tangted group of people, and we love working with you. it's an honor to work with you. we've done a real job and we've got to continue to do that real job because another phase is coming in right now. and we're going to meet that phase just like we've met phase one so governor again thans very much. i appreciate it and everybody thank you very much and whatever we have to do at the federal level we will be there and you

know that 100%, and secretary neil son please -- >> yes, sir, first i wanted to start by thanking you for your with leadership and i think -- efficient -- [inaudible conversations] to respond and direct representatives -- [inaudible conversations] taxpayers have that well -- private sector, we've got our officials. all working together and should be in unity of effort under leadership and we greatly appreciate the partnership. it is -- like to ask administrator to give us a brief update of where we are. >>mr.mr. president as you know a disaster response takes us working together and not just coordinating federal government together but come together so far. but it takes all of us from neighbors help neighbors up to the federal government to help people overcome when they've been through. i've been on the ground yesterday i'll be on the ground through tomorrow to make sure

that i verify that we're doing everything that we can right now. this event is not over. rivers are still cresting and so we have a lot of work to do when it comes to safety and live saving mission but also simultaneously working on making sure that we stabilize all of the critical lifelines in regards to the infrastructure so it is all interconnected we have to get roads open to get power crews have isolated and flooded areas and we also have to put a big focus on the hazardous materials in health and medical capables in getting them back up and running fully in every community. one of the things that is most important is that we're already pushing forward our disaster survivors teams into the field, into shelters, we need people to register with 1-800-621-faux ma or download app or go through disaster distance.gov or more importantly my job is made easier when -- governor like governor cooper

have truly done their part to be self-sufficient at the state level and strong and capable partners so thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> over to governor, governor you said, so well yesterday sunshine doesn't mean safety -- [inaudible conversations] thank you mr. president for coming as our rescue and recovery continues our rivers are still pressing and there is still danger for some people. we're hoping that they can get evacuated and that our first responders continue to make sure that people are brought to safety. our state took a gut punch. president, and our people are still reeling. we lost 27 lives officially so far and some more are under investigation and we mourn their loss.

we have farmers who have lost significantly their crops. a lot of businesses are down. and, of course, people have lost their homes. we have about 10,000 people right now in shelters. i've talked to one the the other day who had a rescue out of an apartment in downtown wilmington. and i will say this, all the way from firefighters in wilmington to our state responders, our national guard, and the united states coast guard, there have been some heroic first responders who have sieved -- saved lives. we are beginning the process of getting our feet under us, mr. president, and getting we are the, supply, hot meals to people. we're beginning to clear roads although we have a number of roads continuing to be closed

including parts of 95 and interstate 40 and you can imagine what that does to commerce and people trying to get from one place to the next. we have a lot of power has been restoried but there are thousands of people who are still waiting to get their power back. i know that this state has a great economy. great education. we are a beacon in the south and we have weathered storms before in our state, but, mr. president, we have never seen one like this. this one has been epic. it has been disasterous. and it has been widespread. it is a storm like no other. we're beginning the process with your federal help and with our local, county people, so many are here today. we want to thank our local responders and all of the help

that they have given to deal with people right there on the ground. but we're starting to figure out how we will build back. we will do it in a smart and strong way. i have been grateful for secretary nielsen and for admiral bookman, thank you for your help with the coast guard in helping to rescue people and mr. president, brock long, fema administrator, along with albi lewis who has been here, they are helping us now significantly and we're grateful. i have a great emergency management director in mike and my secretary of public safety, eric hooks, they're all on board. our adjutant-general of the national guard, general lusk has been doing a fantastic job. our title 10, with our joint military exercise, we're

grateful to members of the u.s. military who stepped up to help us through this president but, mr. president, we have a long road ahead in the days and in the months and even years ahead to make sure that we build back where we need to be here in north carolina. and you're here and i'm asking you, sir, for your help every step of the way. all of these federal agencies are going to have to help us in cutting red tape and making sure we can be smart about this rebuilding process. we're still understand that people have a lot of immediate needs. that is going to be critically important over the next few days and weeks. but, long term, rebuild, i know the resiliency of north carolinians. we have an amazing state. i know that we can come back stronger than ever. but we're going to need your help. thank you for coming to listen to us.

>> [inaudible] >> thank you, roy, we will be there, 100% and all of the folks from the federal government around the table, they're confirming it. we started early, we'll be here late. we want to thank you for a great job you have done and for all of your people. thank you very much. i would like to ask richard burr, to say a few words. the great senator has done a incredible job. we'll ask thom tillis to say a few words. they love the state, love the country. richard? >> mr. president, say to this group exactly what i said to you on the plane, i've been doing disasters in north carolina as an elected representative for 25 years. i have never seen the preparation, the coordination, the collaboration between the federal, state and local government like i've seen prior to this event f we do half as good in response as we did for the preparation, then north carolinians are going to be in

good hands. the challenge quite frankly will be this. we're frank -- faced in this thing with events we haven't faced before. the dod, national guard assets up front before the event, enabled those at a local, state, federal level to adjust what plans we might have in place and deliver water, food essentials to get to any community in the state. without that level of collaboration we would have people in serious, serious problems much morse than today. i am grateful for the federal component but i am as grateful, governor, for the way the state, emergency management folks, first-responders in some cases volunteers in local communities had a boat, aided their neighbors. that is what is great about this state. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you, richard, very much. and tom? >> just very briefly, just echo everything that senator burr said but we're now moving

towards the next step which is getting the initial funding for recovery. we made a request. we'll be moving forward with trying to get the money in place for some of the initial recover. then we'll work very closely with the governor. governor, thank you for being so prompt getting the initial meet-in, that was very constructive to the appropriations request. we thank all the volunteers and everybody else, red cross and everybody who came together. congressman rouser, every county in his district has been affected. he has been working hard the entire time. this is when north carolina, america, is at its best. we're coming together to work for the people in north carolina, south carolina and mr. president, thank you for your leadership. >> thank you, senator. and for your leadership. as thom and richard said we are teed up for a lot of money in area.

we have it and we'll be supplying it. there will be nothing left undone. you will have everything you need. so it will be probably rough two weeks and then get a little bit -- people don't realize how very difficult phase is beginning probably today with the beautiful sunshine. so your two representatives and, by the way, your congressman are working very hard. we'll have it all taken care. thank you very much, congressman. appreciate it very much. does anybody have anything to say? stuart: basically the president is on an inspection tour of the damage in the carolinas. that's what he is doing. he is looking at the performance of state and federal authorities what they did and how they did it in reference to the hurricane florence. you may have heard there from roy cooper, the governor of north carolina. he says look, we still have a long way to go. we're still in a rescue operation. we've got a long way to go. we need your help, turning to

the president, we need your help every step of the way. the president replied by saying, we will be there 100%. we've got a lot of money, to come down. we have the money. we will supply it. that was a crucial point right there. now we got the trade representative talking. let's see what she has said there. [speaking foreign language] wouldn't you know it, every time i said in the past 10 days, canada's trade representative we she will have breaking news for it. she is speaking in french. i will get the interpretation. she just come out. the talks ongoing in washington, d.c. i don't see any movement on the stock market. we're still up over 180 points.

is she positive or negative, reassuring or not, i don't know but we'll find out real fast. we have two big things happening this hour, first of all, as you saw, president trump is in north carolina right now. he will tour the damage left behind from florence and canada's foreign minister, chrystia freeland in d.c. holding those trade talks. we just heard from her. we'll find out exactly what she said when she speaks in english. we also have a rip-roaring stock market rally for you, how about that? we're now up 185 points as we speak. do we have the "cajun navy" on the line? do we have them? the volunteers had got a shoutout from president trump. let's go back to the canadian trade rep. she is speaking in english. >> they are back this week and working intensively. i want to thank the canadian negotiators. there was a team of canadian negotiators that worked with

their american counter parts all night long and finished their meeting at 7:00 this morning. i'm grateful to them. i also just wanted to say thank you to all the journalists who are here. i, as some people may know i used to be a journalist, and i've been reflecting on the fact that, yes, ministers and negotiators are working really hard. so are all of you guys in very difficult conditions. it is another hot day today. i am really mindful of the tremendous importance this media plays as a part of our democracy. before going in this morning i made a little vow to myself to say thank you very much to everyone who is here. i really appreciate it. canadian democracy is stronger and exists because of your work. thanks a lot. i will be happy to answer your questions after this meeting. stuart: okay. i don't believe she said

anything that is really relevant to the state of trade talks ongoing in washington, d.c., at the moment. the market had no reaction to whatever it is she said. she is basically saying thanks to the journalists who make canadian democracy strong as ever. susan: first time back this week for the trade talks. stuart: first time back this week? susan: yep. stuart: she came out to the cameras. we were expecting a statement how things were going. we didn't get it. tell us speaking more about this, after the meeting she went back to. meanwhile we have a rip-roaring stock market rally. look at this, the dow is up 190 points as we speak. 26,438. that is 26 points from the all-time record high. looks like we'll have a 200 point gain. there you go. up 200 points right there. john lonski, moody's managing directer to. who have we got here?

we got nigel farage on one side. i want to talk to john lonski for a second. john hones ski is very us, thank you very much -- lonski. why? >> you have boeing and caterpillar doing much better today, because of the these reduced worries and trade frictions? >> that is the only reason. profits are expected to continue to grow at rapid pace. there are long-term forecasts for operating income. s&p 500, the consensus has it growing as rapidly as 10% annually. i'm talking 2020. not 2019. stuart: 2020? >> yes. 2020. stuart: profits still growing? >> double-digit percentage gains by 2020. that is quite strong. so much for the recession forecasts. stuart: quite strong. >> after all these years it keeps going higher.

interest rates may go higher. i don't think they will jump up by enough to disrupt the economy or create a lot of competition for equities. >> okay. michael robinson is also with us. i do apologize i mischaracterized you as someone else. i apologize for that but i know that you are very bullish, have i got that right? you're really bullish on the stock market? it is going up some more, right? >> it is. we're like halfway through a generational bull market. will last about 18 to 20 years. 4.2% economic growth, best in a decade. 3.9% unemployment rate. we have 6.9 million unfilled jobs. basically if you want a job you can get one. independent contractors have never made so much money. personal income on the rise. strong housing sales. autos cooled a little bit but they're still strong. this is terrific economy under this president, cutting of regulations has been really

huge. small business optimism at an all time lie. consumer confidence at an 18-year high. i don't understand what anybody would think about betting against this market right now. don't make any sense. i'm totally bullish. stuart: okay. we'll leave it at that, michael. i do apologize for cutting it short but that is a strong statement and we'll leave it right there. we'll follow president trump. he is in the carolinas touring the flood damage. if he makes any comments you will see them right here. this is the third hour of "varney & company." jam-packed show. we're only just getting started.

stuart: first of all president trump touring north carolina and the damage left behind by hurricane florence and look at that. that is a market rallying very strongly. the dow at this moment up over 200 points, 26,453.

we have this breaking news for you. the european union reportedly investigating amazon. ashley: it's a preliminary investigation and what they're concerned about is the amount of data that amazon has in comparison to the other sellers on the platform. does it have an unfair advantage when it can accumulate all that data for products sold by other vendors. in other words antitrust. they are quick to point out, the eu, put out a survey to those merchants that use amazon. it is only preliminary. it is not a formal probe. as we know the background to all of this, when it comes to the big american tech companies in the eu, they love to go after them. this is perhaps the initial stages of amazon being another target. stuart: that is why the stock is down nearly 20 bucks. susan: being led again by the european commissioner. she levied that 5 billion-dollar fine. stuart: no friend of american

companies. it. ashley: it's a cash cow for the european bank accounts. let's be honest. stuart: sure. we have the dow up 213 points, okay? before we leave the subject of money, let's be clear, we're way up today, 213 points higher for the dow. now this, uk prime minister theresa may warning about the need to reach a deal on "brexit" and do it fast. london's mayor sadiq kahn is calling for a second "brexit" referendum. nigel farage is with us. nigel, looks like "brexit" is in some trouble. how much trouble? >> well, of course it is in trouble. it is in trouble because what the people said in that referendum is being disrespected by our career class politicians. let's talk about sadiq khan. one of my least favorite politicians even before this recent pronouncement. he said during the referendum, this decision is once in a generation. it will be final. he said, after the referendum, any calls for a second

referendum would lead to increased cynicism in politics. you bet your life they do because now he is calling for one. it is this refusal of our westminster politicians to accept the result of the people. it is making millions of us, let me tell you, very, very angry. stuart: so, the british are supposed to be out by march of next year. that's a very hard deadline date, march of next year. >> yes. stuart: so what's the problem now? the fact that we might not be able to get a deal together by that time? >> well, the problem is, that the prime minister is seeking a deal that is not the clean "brexit" that we voted for. she kind of wants to leave on the face of it, but opt us back in to various parts of european law. those negotiations are taking a long time. we're running up, as you say yourself against a hard, tight, deadline. so the real big push isn't

actually for second referendum, what you see in the next 10 weeks are the socialists, the liberals, and the soft conservatives pushing for that leaving date to be extended. so we've got, i would say, over the next eight to 10 weeks, one of the biggest political battles of our lifetime going to happen in this country to make sure that we do leave on march 29th. stuart: nigel, what do you make of president trump on the world stage? is he clearly pursuing a very hard-line especially in trade with china and now with north korea, that has got some results. there is even talk of an american base, permanent base in poland. pretty close to the russian border. what do you make of president trump on the world stage? >> well, one thing for certain, whether you agree with trump's actions or not america's presence on the world stage is a lot bigger than it was under president obama when america

basically shrunk away from the world stage. i think the question of an increased american base in poland is a particularly interesting one and i think it is the last thing that the european union would want but i understand why poland wants it. very, very interesting. i think in north korea, in the last 24 hours, you know we've seen both the premieres of north and south korea acknowledging what trump did was to begin a very positive process, overall, i think he has amazed people by how successful he has been on the world stage. stuart: nigel, as always, thanks for joining us. we'll see you again real soon. >> thank you. stuart: president trump is touring the flood damage in north carolina right now. we're watching his movements. we're obviously on it and we will be back. the dow's rallying.

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beyond fast. stuart: this morning president trump met first-responders in north carolina, the first respond is to hurricane florence. he gave a shoutout to the "cajun navy," said you guys are doing a good job. on the phone, shawn boudreaux, "cajun navy" president. welcome back to the show. you're still in the rescue business i believe.

the floodwaters have not receded at this point. you're still rescuing people. >> thank you for having us, first of all. yes, there is still a component rescue related. up to late last night we were still doing rescues but now it is wellness checks. we do have floodwaters. it is still there. it is following rivers. stuart: how many volunteers did you mobilize for this? >> oh, man, we were in the thousands. it grows so fast and hard to get numbers and count it real time. stuart: you have a central organization of some sort which can liaise with all the volunteers and direct them? >> with several free apps we're able to send people, find out exactly where they are, latitude, longitude and communicate with walkie-talkie. this is done from a cell phone over free apps. we know exactly where they are. quicker than other resources can come up with. stuart: how many people have you

rescued so far? any idea? >> hard to say. we worked with the eoc in lumberton, we jointly worked on 1500 rescues they had in the system. i don't know how many were attributed to us versus their fire department or their ems but it was a joint effort. stuart: not every day you get a shoutout from the president of the united states. our obviously doing the right thing in the right way. you're doing a great job. thanks for being on the show. >> thank you. stuart: okay, next case, the california housing market. would you believe it is hitting the skids? sales down now now months in a row. has that got anything to do with a new tax law pushing people out of the formerly golden state? larry elder up next on that one. president trump as we know got a firsthand look from the damage of florence. he is visiting with first-responders on the damage. after north carolina he says he is going to south carolina. we'll take you there too.

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stuart: almost 11:30 eastern. two stories today. president trump in north carolina looking at flood damage. the stock market is up 184 points at this point. as i keep saying we're only 200

points from the all-time record high for the dow industrials. california, a study finds that children have fallen behind their peers in other states an some do not ever catch up, bad news. larry elder, salem radio nationally syndicated host guy is with us this morning. larry, i used to live in california. okay, 40 years ago i lived there. i had no trouble sending my kids to a california public school. now i would have real trouble. what went wrong? >> well, what went wrong is the quality of the schools have declined because in my opinion because the quality of parenting has declined. raising a child is minute by minute, hour by hour, week by week, month by month, year by year proposition. if you don't read and talk to your child, they will fall behind. are there books in the house? are you a role model. do you take them to a museum. do educational stuff?

it is a not rocket scientist. the more you interact your children the better they will be. unfortunately that is not happening. stuart: haven't class sizes gone straight up in california? >> actually the other way the class sizes gone down. we spend more and more money on kids. people that homeschool children, they don't make anymore money than people don't homeschool children. they made different decisions with your life-style to put time into raising their children. this is not rocket scientists. ask child psychologists how to raise good children, active, involved parenting is the key. stuart: how about housing? i ask the question for four months in a row, home sales in california went down. in august, sales hit their lowest level in two years. same question, what went wrong? >> right. nobody really knows, stuart. unexpected. part of might be the no longer you can deduct state and local taxes. that might be part of it. home sales in california risen

pretty rapidly. year to year up 4.5%. maybe this is normal slowing down. as you seasee market was up today, fundamentals are still there. housing has been slow throughout the country, not just in california, not just states that will be affected by the non-deduction of state and local taxes. i think it is a situational thing. seasonal thing. i'm not sure. business cycle is not repealed. this has been a very, very long business cycle we've had to the up swing. sooner or later we have recession. i don't know when, i don't know where. nobody rings a bell. stuart: let me ask this. california being in the state financially and with stacks taxes they are, maybe people are reluctant to move in, no reluctance to move out, hence the decline in home sales. >> moving out of california is taking a place a long time

despite the decline in home sales so i'm sure you cannot attribute to that. ceo magazine, california is the rated worst state to do business for every single year the magazine has been in business, that has been over 10 years. stuart: jerry brown says his state plans to send up his own satellite to track pollution that causes climate change. what do you make of that? >> mr. brown to be the astronaut and seal the doors. stuart: stop it. poke in the eye to president trump. that wasn't very nice by the way. that is a poke in the eye. what governor down is doing, he is poking president trump, isn't he? >> he sure is. take care of our own business here in california. why don't we deal with the schools. deal with the taxes and deal with the streets and roads before we start talking about space exploration. i'm happy governor brown is termed out for second time. maybe we get somebody sensible in there.

go john cox. go john cox. republican candidate finished number two in our primary. hopefully he can beat gavin knew some. he is within five points. maybe unthinkable may happen, we may have a republican president. and i don't think we'll have issues with space exploration with this guy. stuart: larry, let you go. thanks for joining us. see you soon. >> my pleasure. stuart: get to brett kavanaugh, trump's pick for the supreme court. he is accusing of sex all assault. his accuse will not testify until there has been an fbi investigation. the vote to confirm kavanaugh has been delayed. all rise judge napolitano. what is the endgame? any guesses? >> the end game should be his confirmation but i can't predict that because this is a serious dilemma now. what are they going to do on monday? is he going to take an oath to tell the truth and deny allegations come to him on the basis of hearsay and media reports? no. he should not deny something until the accuser gets her

version out there, so he knows what he is denying. and she hasn't said a word in public for reasons she says is her personal safety and, her wish to have the fbi investigate this about which more in a moment. but one should never deny before the allegations have been laid out. we haven't seen the letter. we haven't seen the allegations. we've only seen newspaper versions of them. stuart: but it has been delayed. everything is delayed. that was the gameplan from the democrats right from the get-go. >> i think the gameplan of the democrats is to delay this until after the midterm. they have the fanciful believe that they will take control of the senate in the midterm. obviously if that happens a big if, it wouldn't take place until january. somehow they think they can walk this backwards until they control the senate and pull a merrick garland on president trump by refusing to take any of his nominees. i think that is part of their gameplan. but let me suggest to the republicans, there is no magic

to the first monday in october. that's when the court begins. that's when it begins its sessions. it didn't issue opinions until december. the fbi can do this work in two weeks. they can have a hearing, public will decide. the senators will decide, who is more likely to tell the truth and then they will vote. stuart: how can the fbi investigate something when they don't know the precise date or place of the alleged incident? how do you do that? >> bree sighsly. stuart: 36 years ago. >> the fbi will issue a report. we asked her following questions. she can only answer 10% of the questions. that is very telling for members of the senate. that is the kind of fbi report you would want. we meet with her, she was credible, therapist was credible. she told her husband about it 10 years ago. stuart: the fbi says it is not its job. >> it is its job.

the fbi does countless background checks every day. stuart: it has done countless background checks on kavanaugh. countless. >> the alternative for fbi, no denial, leaving the stain on his skin. if he denies something without the allegation, that is extremely risky and dangerous. stuart: already denied it. >> the alleger, dr. ford, can change her allegations to skirt around his denials. you must lock in the allegation first before you begin denying. stuart: but judge kavanaugh already denied it. he says did. >> out of mouths of others. stuart: anything like this to this lady or any lady. >> that is acceptable denial. he is not in jeopardy because he is not saying it under oath. stuart: that is what he said. >> if he wants to say that through others and that's fine. if he sits down in national television and takes an oath to tell the truth, denies the allegation on basis of newspaper report, that is extremely

unwise. his lawyers would advise him against it. stuart: where are we in this mess? he is a fine jurist and he has been slimed. >> i agree on both counts. he needs to get the slime off his skin. i don't think clarence thomas got the slime off his skin. this is the type of thing that sticks. in the thomas case, she was demolished, anita hill, by aggressive cross-examination by arlen specter, so aggressive it is studied in law schools. you can't have all male members of the committee, going after the jugular about a sympathetic female complain about a sexual assault. stuart: it's a mess. >> we will be talking about it for a few more days, stuart. stuart: oh dear. appreciate it. the senate cracking down on surprise medical bills. they say these unexpected charges left a lot of people with massive health care bills. next, beating obamacare author,

betsy mccoy. will they lower the price of seeing a doctor and will they make it clear. president trump on the move right now. he is leaving north carolina. he is on to his next location. we expect to see him soon. when that happens we'll bring it to you live.

♪ >> i'm lauren simonetti on the floor of the new york stock exchange where the dow is

approaching an all-time high, about 175 points away. led by financials, jpmorgan chase, goldman sachs and industrials. think boeing and caterpillar. in fact ups hitting all-time high today for the second day in a row. we're seeing 10-year yield bump up against 3%. federal reserve set to hike interest rates one week from today. look at nasdaq. this is a different picture. it is lower. it has been a seesaw week. big cap tech names like apple, amazon, and microsoft under pressure. word on amazon the eu is looking how they do some of their business with their merchants that is the latest from the floor of new york stock exchange. more "varney" after this.

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and here's the best part... you still own yohome. call now! take control of your retirement today! stuart: kristina partsinevelos in the flood sown in north carolina. kristina, that looks like a business that has been looted, am i right? reporter: i will show you that in a second. i'm in writsville, north carolina, i'm standing in front of the pawn shop. unfortunately we'll look at glass. looters came, they took a canoe. the water raised up until literally where we buy gold and guns.

they used a canoe, u.s. army is guarding the area, not to have anybody else here, but they broke this to steal items within this shop. the shop owner is in inside. murph very, very distraught at moment. he doesn't want to come on the camera. he hasn't done full inventory. there could be 30 to 50 guns that have been stolen, be potentially put on the street. it is not just this location over here. you have murph's pawn shop. this is family dollar. another store was looted this is outside of wilmington. we heard stories of looting in wilmington. this is family dollar. u.s. army told me not to touch the door, it is completely shattered. looters not only went into the pawn shop over there, they also broke into this location. just reminder how high the water, literally well past my head. so hard to imagine, this entire place was flooded. only over the past 48 hours has the water receded. again you have the owner of the

shop over there who is just so distraught. it is an emotional time. you have your whole business and life invested in it. this is all going on as the president arrived in north carolina touring around. we spoke to one chamber of commerce official for whiteville, she said, yes people are rebuilding, no doubt business owners will relocate and move because these areas continuously get hit by floods. stuart. stuart: right in the middle of it, kristina partsinevelos. thank you very much. a group of bipartisan senators drafted a measure which would crackdown on surprise medical bills. betsy mack coy is with us. former lieutenant governor the state of new york. surprise medical bills. tell me what this problem is. >> i can tell you, my family is clobbered with this again and again. you are in an accident or heart attack, rushed to a local

hospital. it could be your hospital in network. while you're in the e.r. the orthopedic peaist or cardiologist, anesthesiologist called to treat you is not part of your managed care network, you are discharged from the hospital and get a whopping bill. if you didn't have a heart attack on the way in you will have one now when you see how much they're charging you for quote, out of network care. so this piece of legislation would require insurance companies to consider emergency care provided in network, even if they didn't have a contract with the doctor or hospital that provided the care? stuart: what gets to me, sometimes is, you have a medical procedure of some sort, and afterwards you get a bill from this group, that group, this group, that group, you get several bills, you can't keep track of them all. you don't know whether they all overlap, you don't get a single bill you can get your teeth into? >> that is part of the problem. hospitals should be pushed much harder to provide that better

come prehensible bill but this is covering a serious problem emerged 20 years ago, stuart. it has been around 20 years ago, when managed care used to replaced what we called fee-for-service medicine. used to have insurance plan, go to any doctor, any hospital, you submitted your bill and you got paid. but now managed care, they're not managing your care so much as managing their costs, right, by limiting where you can go, where you can get medical services. in an emergency, you don't have those choices. stuart: does this legislation go back to the old way? >> no. it just simply requires these managed care companies to cover any service provided in an emergency. then once you're stablized, the hospital, the doctors, required to say to you, we're not in your network. if you want to continue to be care for here, fine. otherwise we will arrange your transfer. that brings us to the ambulance problem. stuart: what's that? >> oh, well, say you have an

emergency. somebody calls 911 on your behalf. you're rushed to a hospital, right? and the private ambulance company that was called to assist you is not in your network. you get a staggering bill. it could be 10,000, $20,000 for these ambulance rides. or you're rushed to a hospital that says, we're not a, we're not equipped to deal with this serious of a problem. you need to be in a hospital that can deal with this. so we're going to put you in an ambulance, send you to a second hospital. that bill can also be enormous. so the senators and members of congress have to make sure when they write this, they include ambulance service in this, so you are covered when you're in the back of an ambulance. stuart: who is going to pay then? if there is a big bill for $10,000, okay, who pays it? >> that means everybody's premiums will go up a little. whenever your insurance company has to cover more your premium goes up but on the other hand,

people say we think we have insurance but we don't really have it in an emergency. stuart: how is it you can get a bill for $10,000 or more -- >> i've gotten them. stuart: an ambulance company that transported you from here to there. >> they're incredibly expensive because inside the ambulance are technicians with respirators. they're on the phone or on a computer to an emergency room. this is a very costly way to be transported anywhere. an ambulance is very expensive service. stuart: private ambulance service. >> private or public. of course if you're transported somewhere in a public ambulance you don't get that kind of bill. you see people in restaurants saying we better call 911? that is what happens. stuart: saying don't do it? >> you know it is an enormous problem because people call 911. you're not thinking, you're handing this victim a 20,000-dollar bill in some

cases. that is how high it can be. stuart: hold on a second. president trump is arriving, new bern, north carolina. now remember, when florence i hit, new bern, knew b-e-r-n. they were hit with a deluge of water rushed at them. the emergency center was washed out, so was much of the town. the president is at the temple baptist church, in new bern, south carolina. it is doubling as a distribution center right now. that is where the president is. previously was in north carolina visiting officials and first-responders there. he is in new bern, north carolina. do we have anything on else, susan? susan: 150 people were waiting to be rescued when the storm surge hit. new bern was hard hit, 33 inches of rain, the record rainfall we

saw during hurricane florence occurred in new bern. the president is visiting the hardest hit at this point. stuart: when we were forecasting the beginnings of florence, new bern was first town mentioned having a emergency situation. susan: storm surges in the small town. stuart: it was a storm surge, that is exactly what happened. on the phone is dan forest, lieutenant governor of north carolina. can you tell us sir, if the floodwaters have receded yet? >> i'm in new bern, obviously we are greeting the president in downtown new bern. the waters receded in new bern but the damage is unbelievable here. i was here yesterday all day, helping families gut out their house. get out of water in their house. already moldy all over the place. it's a major disaster. there are thousands of homes,

tens of thousands of all over eastern north carolina houses are flooded. that will take millions of dollars. that will take a long time. stuart: will new bern rebuild, if it is in such a dangerous place for floods, should it rebuild? >> well, new bern is our historic capital of north carolina. it was the first capital in this state and it is going to rebuild. it is historic city obviously one of our tourist attractions. a great place to live in our state. they will rebound and rebuild. this is unprecedented. we never had a flood like this in downtown new bern before the country existed. this is new to the area. they are bouncing back. i was driving down the street, stuart, in downtown new bern. a couple restaurants open. power back on. a lot of people gutting out facilities that were underwater, some not underwater. there are a lot of places you

may knot see on national tv panned media that were underwater for days. those are the folks that people get hit the hardest. they have hardest time recovering. stuart: president trump said earlier, we, the administration, will be there, meaning in the carolinas. we have a lot of money. it will come down to the carolinas. we have the money. we will supply it. i take it that new bern will get some federal money? >> i think new bern will get an extensive amount of federal money. hope really quickly, how these things work. fema comes in do their job quickly. at some point they have to leave as well. we have to make efficient use of fema and resources of federal dollars. after that it become as local community type of issue, to put tens of thousands of people back into their homes who are now displaced. stuart: the president earlier this morning made note of local authorities. he said they have done a terrific job in dealing with the situation there. you agree with that?

>> yeah, i do. for the most part there is some spots that are brighter than others but the state's done a great job, the federal government has done a great job. locals done a great job coordinating and communicating together. we learned a lot from hurricanes flood and matthew and technology helps a lot but the coordination has been better than anything i certainly seen. we haven't seen a storm of this magnitude. this was a real test for a lot of folks. we'll learn a lot from this, stuart. we'll get better even for the next one. stuart: sir, on the screens, we're showing president trump, looks like he is handing out food to people in the area. is that, what is the situation? >> yes, sir. stuart: what is the situation with the food supply? >> there are tens of thousands of people displaced they don't have power in their house, they don't have food. they don't have water. people are living in shelters. i think 10,000 people are still living in shelters. people obviously living with family. there are people in hotels.

all over eastern north carolina still without power. we're drop shipping food in, getting food for places that don't have them. that will go on for weeks and weeks. stuart: has the president received a good welcome? >> the president received a gracious north carolina welcome. all the folks here are very thankful to see the president in our state. i think he has done a phenomenal job. he called me personally, right after the storm actually hit. we're here to help. you let us know what you need. he reiterated that again with me. i think he is doing a phenomenal job. his team has been on the ball as well. from fema director to small business administration, homeland security, unbelievable job coordinating this effort. stuart: lieutenant governor of north carolina, dan forest, thank you very much for taking time out and obviously very busy and trying situation. thanks for being with us, sir. >> thank you, stuart. appreciate it. have a good day. stuart: betsy mccaughey you were the lieutenant governor of

new york? >> we faced huge tragedies. severe fire on long island, very severe ice storms in northern new york. stuart: do you have any doubt federal money will flow very quickly to north and south carolina? >> i think it will. trump has been extremely aggressive about making sure that fema, homeland security, and the other agencies are prepared for this storm. he was talking about this several days before it hit. stuart: is this now standard operating procedure. a major natural disaster strike as state. immediately the senate or house votes enormous amount of money for rescue and rebuilding? that is almost the way it is these days? >> it is. it wasn't that way 20 or 30 years ago. stuart: that's true. >> it appears to be dictated by politics. let's hope the money is well-spent. stuart: where does the money come from? >> it comes from taxpayers everywhere and you have to ask at what point does the federal government compensate people for every single tragedy that

occurs? i don't want to sound unkind, stuart, there has to be a limit. stuart: yes there does, but what is that limit and who establishes that? >> seems there is no statutory limit on this kind of response. they go to congress. they get it passed and they send the money out. stuart: look the president right in the thick of it. >> politics for everybody sitting there in congress. costs us a lot. stuart: unstood. agreed. >> we have agreement. stuart: the president handing out food. the president is handing out food. this is new bern, north carolina. susan: 30,000 residents were hit. stuart: i thought it was much smaller amount. 30,000 residents. historic capital of north carolina. susan: 308 years of history. stuart: i thought it was fully

flooded out. susan: it was. stuart: the waters have receded. the president's there. as you can see he is handing out food. >> presidents are judged how they perform in these circumstances. this is politics in a big way, whether it is trump, obama, bush, whoever it is. he is on television all day. and he is going to be judged how he responds. how much money he hands out, how he personally comes across during this . stuart: there are 1200 meals handed out literally to people around the president. those driving past, i guess, they've been vetted by security. they're getting their meals. 1200 to be given out. dare i say, it is a photo-op for the president, and he's taking advantage of it? >> oh, yes, you can remember the photo-ops of the first lady during the visit after the texas flooding, and how much compassion she showed, and how popular she became when she

gave her boots to a woman living in a shelter who admired them and other instances like that. stuart: now, what will the democrats say? what will the democrats pick on? you're a republican. what will the democrats pick on? >> i was wondering when you talked about the meals, are they low calorie? are they labeled? [laughter]. stuart: well, i do remember when the president went to puerto rico, and he threw paper towels to people around him. >> what's wrong with that? they needed them. stuart: they found offense, many people took offense. throwing things into the crowd. >> warm gestures, handing out food and taking care of those. >> he seems to be doing very well today. hard to be presidential as you're handing out boxed lunches but he's doing it. stuart: he's doing very well, and making quite an impression there. these are the two stories we're covering. >> make sure there is not too much sugar in them.

no unsaturated fats. stuart: a jam-packed show, the president visiting the victims there in north carolina, and we have a dow industrials that are truly rallying. we're up nearly 200 points. and on that note, my time is up, but neil, it's yours. neil: thank you, stuart, very, very much. what's happening to the dow jones industrials, we are less than a couple hundred points from a record on the dow jones industrials. some of the other averages had hits in the last couple of months. go back to january the last time the dow 30 hit a record on. friday, january 26, 2018. this year. driven by the same stocks that can be very easily whipsawed within the dow like boeing and caterpillar. the latter stock inched above 200-day moving average, without getting too wonky about this, because, well, it gets boring. statistically significant development here and for people