where they're going. liz: do you want one for christmas? stuart: no. i tried to ride a bike the other day. i will never do that again. liz: you would look like ya-zoo from the plenty -- from "the flinstones." neil: they have a limo version. thank you very, very much, stuart. which have a lot to go on here, chasing down all the candidates who want jeff sessions' job or being considered for jeff sessions' job. blake burman at the white house what could be a parade of possibilities. sir? reporter: hi, there, neil, i was told a little while ago from the source at the white house that there is no rush, no timeline, president feels to fill this position. we're already seeing some folks come in their way into the white house whether they're

under consideration. chris christie here at white house. at least was earlier this morning. though i'm told he was here to meet with jared kushner about prison reform. at last check, as of earlier this morning at that point he had not made his way into the oval office. still remains to be seen if he meets with the president on this day or not. lindsey graham here at the white house today. he made his way with president trump back from the supreme court over here to the white house. those two have, have legal credentials. many will talk about whether they might be on the list or not. it was a pretty remarkable scene we saw how all of this played out yesterday, neil. we had the president firing jeff sessions in the morning. holding the news conference at the white house after that, he said i could fire everybody right now but i don't want to stop it because politically i don't like stopping it, speaking of the mueller investigation. then we found out publicly that sessions indeed had been fired. the president had named matt

whitaker as the acting attorney general and not the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. he did not elevate him to that position. a couple big critiques from democrats. one they feel a constitutional crisis potentially forming here should the president stop the mueller investigation. and two, there are questions as to why rosenstein the deputy attorney general was not elevated to the top spot at least on interim basis, instead of whitaker, who was session as chief of staff. here is kellyanne conway addressing both of those issues earlier today. >> the democrats don't begin start a sentence without having word crisis in it. this is not a constitutional crisis. matt whitaker has been chief of staff over a year. and rod rosenstein is in his job as deputy attorney general here at white house yesterday for a meeting. regular order for business today. that shows the president has continuum with the deputy attorney general and chief of

staff. reporter: whitaker very much on the job, acting as the acting attorney general. he was over at supreme court for an event involving the new u.s. supreme court justice, brett kavanaugh. he will be at white house later this afternoon, we're told that is meeting of a totally separate sort. of course with the environment we're all in, its something to watch. neil? neil: that press conference was something to watch. i would be remiss. you're always the calm in the storm but the whole jim acosta thing. how is the press room sort of divided on this? how does it cut across some of your colleagues? >> you know, neil, people are talking about it. the hard path issue removing it, this is is it. this is what we use to get into the building over there, through the secret service every day, this is what was taken away from jim acosta yesterday by the secret service, because the

white house told him to do so. the white house is defending is actions, saying he put his hands on intern. acosta is calling that a lie. neil, they are talking about it, role of journalist, i will leave it at that without putting opinions on tv. neil: well-done, sir, well done. trying to be above the fray. we'll talk to charlie gasparino who lives in the fray. thank you verys very much. speaking of our white house producers passing along a comment from sarah sanders on whole acosta incident. the question, reporter, referring to acosta, make contact or not with this woman who was taking the mic away. video is clear he did. we stand by our statement and back and forth continues. democrats are promising to dig in. former department of justice official here with all that. not on the press thing, but back

on the battle with post jeff sessions what happens. obviously quite a few will be visiting the white house as potential replacements. it is acting one creating an uproar. matthew whitaker, what do you think? >> i don't think there is constitutional crisis brewing at all. i do think it is an interesting moment, hearings for eventual ag no matter what. this is wait and see. what rod there is prediction of his demise every day for year-and-a-half. one of those days somebody will look really smart, they got it right. i'm not convinced leaves anytime soon or release supervision of the probe anytime soon. neil: to your point, this firing was well telegraphed. i'm surprised it took about 10 hours after the final votes are tallied. having said that it is raising questions about whether it was meant to interfere or potentially disrupt the mueller probe. on appearance alone, do you

think they have a case? >> not particularly, because sessions recused himself. remembering that is the whole beef that the president expressed about jeff sessions if a non-supervisor gets swapped out for somebody else nothing to talk about. supervision of rod rosenstein until that would change. neil: what about candidates being bandied about, chris christie, ales lex azar, pom -- pam bondi, what do you make of the some. names that worked out? >> i'm glad avenatti and cohen are not on the list. look -- neil: very good. go ahead. >> my usual obnoxious start. rather than talk about them as individuals, what i would say is, look i was at doj for seven is teen years. what i value from an attorney

general who is professional in terms of law enforcement. somebody been around the block. not just dabbled at u.s. attorney's office for political reasons as a stepping stone, some a commitment over time to the administration of justice. there are a lot of candidates out there, they may not be big names. there are a lot of career prosecutors, talented judges, wise people, out there really emersed in the criminal justice system for a long time. i would hope they would get fair consideration as opposed to political folks but, remember, i mean one president put his brother in that job. it's a political position by definition. i look for somebody that might have a spark of independence in them. neil: they maded justice department building after him, bobby kennedy. very good read. i love your sense of humor as well. we're not only talking about what is happening now a

replacement, it will be a nasty couple years. >> it is. just to highlight that you asked blake about what is the feeling in the press room? i know some people down there, i know some people that know some people down. there just be real clear, these are journalists down there, if you were to poll them they would side with acosta. neil: absolutely. >> absolutely. no doubt. neil: overwhelmingly. >> they believe the notion of him putting hands on her is baloney. it is like, it speaks to the, fact, how much the administration hates the press. it is open war. neil: can they take his white house credentials away? who decides that? the white house? >> white house. the president doesn't have to hold press conference. they don't have to do anything. neil: this extends even getting to the white house. >> yes, yes. you have to call up every day get a special pass to get in if you don't have the blankket -- one thing i think that the media misses here is just how

provocative these folks have become in questioning the president. listen, you and i criticize trump all the time. we pig him apart whenever we can, whenever he deserves it. as you sat there, you watched i cringed at some of the questions. they weren't questions. neil: it jumped the shark. >> it was like you're an idiot. tell me why you're an idiot. it was almost that bad. this will set the tone what will go on in the future with the democrats. they're part of that coalition. neil: their behavior illustrates the behavior they hate in the president. >> the media looks bad to a lot of people. here is the the problem the president has. media has four major allies. maxine waters, adam schiff, elijah cummings at house oversight and jerry nadler. neil: most important of all.

>> judiciary. that will be allies of these, of the press that despises donald trump. so, i'm just telling you, this will be a nasty, couple of, nasty two years. stories that will leak out, i don't think maxine waters will spend a lot of time grilling jamie dimon. i think she will spend a lot of time investigating every financial aspect of donald trump. i think she will look at ben carson. remember, financial services has some oversight over hud. they think he is fallen down on the job. that place is ripe for investigations. neil: what about just keeping the subpoenas going, looking to tax returns. all that stuff. is that really where we're going? >> they think he is, they think he is sleazy. neil: nancy pelosi dial that back a little bit, chuck schumer tries to dial that back. >> that is the leadership. neil: i understand. apparently they will go their own way. >> good cop, bad cop works every time. that is what is interesting

about this, they opened up a political thing. investors should be worried about this. what other things nancy pelosi, donald trump agree on? tariffs and trade war. that is usually bad for stocks. infrastructure spending. blowing out the deficit on some big build. maybe they cut a deal on that. an breaking up companies. they both hate the fact that tech is too big. they would like to put a cap on apple or more or less amazon. they don't like the big media mergers. all those things i'm talking about are common ground between nancy, chuck an donald. and all those things are potentially bad for stocks. blow out infrastructure spending, raises the deficit, increases interest rates. stocks generally go down. neil: do you see on all of that stuff anything getting done? i see -- you mentioned the press at the outset which was a can any observation but still think there is tendency rage, derangement syndrome is so over the top they could shoot

themselves, both the press -- by the way a lot of democrats? >> democrats are much more factful. neil: they might be but they're also investigatory zeal, some of which might be justified, others not, knowing in that environment they feel there is a need to get anything done? >> here is the good cop, bad cop, you start squeezing trump, get him to fold on infrastructure spending, a big blow yow! bill. -- blowout bill and trade agenda and some other stuff. i don't think that is good for the economy. those are places where there are common ground you can see the bad cops, all ones i just mentioned, squeezing him on investigations to cut deals with nancy and chuck to get them off a bit. we're in different territory, uncharted territory, the press will be very recalcitrant, adversarial, i have never seen adversarial like that before in my life.

i know trump can be a handful but, man, i never seen reporters pose questions like, you're horrible, please explain why you're not. that sort of press corps will lap this stuff up. neil: there is a way of being in your face without losing your objectivity. you know? what happens is, they insult themselves. they -- >> you just asked a question of, mr. president, you ran a very divisive campaign. how will you bring the country together. neil: major garrett is very good. >> he is very good. neil: i said blake burman is very good, you have to avoid temptation to be petty. if you're claiming that the person you talked to and ask questions of is petty. you have to really resist that. >> it wasn't just acosta. by the way, it is open war. have you ever seen open warfare between -- listen, go back to the press conference, dan rather, nixon, i back in the day, i was a kid -- neil: remember, nixon are you

running -- >> it was funny. neil: it was rare. >> it was rare. reagan, generally, he used to like say i can't hear you from the helicopter. neil: a way to avoid preaching. sometimes if you want to use the president east own words against him but stated policies and preaching on left and right -- >> i covered adversarial companies for years. wall street wasn't crazy about me. neil: wasn't? >> still is. goldman sachs have a picture with my x on it. neil: what about here? >> who doesn't love me. if you think about it, i always thought of it this way, that is part of my job. they're supposed to hate me and supposed to attack me. it is not my job to go pose questions as answers. neil: yeah. who was someone said, don't take the bait. don't take the bait.

>> why go there? you can be just as tough being nice. mike wallace perfect example, tough as nails, he posed questions, he didn't pose answers. he didn't ask the ayatollah, okay you anti-semite, he posed a question that got him to fess up. neil: didn't go for the low-hanging fruit. >> but we're in draws -- us dangerous territory. markets have a funny way of showing it. we're up 83 points. a lot based on slowing earnings or news not expected to be this week, oversupply of oil, so put oil technically in a bear market here, down 20% or more from its highs. that is easing some of the inflationary angst, federal reserve meeting today, not expected to hike rates but although looking like expected december rate hike. that is helping stocks for the time-being. appreciably yesterday. following up on that today.

we'll have more after this. ♪

so lionel, what does being able to trade 24/5 mean to you? well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise. right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you?

neil: still following up on condition of ruth bader ginsberg hospitalized after fracturing three ribs in a bad fall right at the supreme court.

update on details as we get them. volatility certainly leading up to the election. it is a positive development after the election, and notion there will be a kumbayah, you might want to hold off on confetti for that. commissioner of the commodities future trading commission is here. good to have you. >> couldn't be more happy to be with you, neil. neil: people think after an election, midterm or otherwise things settle down. history tells us quite the opposite. but for now, they're rejoicing that it seems things like the vix, the fear index and all these other things, wild swings, for example, bitcoin have eased but that tends to be short-lived, huh? >> yeah. and i mean not to talk too much about cryptos, it is weird because all the volatility you've been reporting, particularly like last week leading up to the election, the stable ones who would have thunk, neil, cryptocurrencies of all things. neil: that is weird in of

itself. >> isn't it. neil: that is almost a sign of respect, isn't it? >> i haven't figured it out. neil: the technology, in other words. >> that is correct. i think at some point there will be some tieing to equities with cryptos, once they become more stable coinish. they could still go crazy here. it was just weird last week. they were sort of delinked, they were the adult markets in the room. neil: we're so used to violent swings. when we don't see them, we're startled. what is your sense of entire landscape of commodities and options and special vehicles for investing? what do you think? >> well if you take the commodities stuff just real briefly, aside, some are having a tough time. soybeans, et cetera, primarily because of the trade tariffs. in equity space, all the stock -- neil: they have tumbled. >> soybean prices are down 25%. they're down actually, that

happens to be 25% the amount of tariffs, the placed on goods. neil: the signed deal could potentially reverse that. >> it could, not to focus too much on ag, but farmers had net farm income down four quarters in a role so they're already hurting. neil: what about oil? >> that helps. but ethanol is not doing gangbusters. in the commodities space things could be better. in equities, as you reported yesterday, dow up 551. things are looking great today. i wouldn't anticipate it would be that good. i think it's a massive sigh of relief i guess. i hate to say this as a government guy, almost like gridlock is good for markets. don't like it but appears that is the case. neil: i guess the prevailing wisdom, bart, correct me if i'm wrong, not a lot can get done by the government but we need a lot addressed by the government.

catch 22, deficits, debt, inex-sorable run-up in rates not today but certainly in months to come and that is not, you know, government debt's friend right there. so how does that play out? >> depend what is sector you're looking at. markets in the aggregate, rates out there, are we tighten and too fast? i don't know. that is a reasonable question. is this normal tightening sequence we get rates high enough if something happens do you have some room to play around? that is one thing. trade is the boogie out there, we won't know a lot, neil, until the end of first quarter. all the things for christmas already had been ordered. neil: a lot of these things are expensive. some big retailers, walmart, are already telegraphed, problems, higher prices, i think they put it out there things are slow this holiday season s that a factor?

is that a big factor. >> i don't think so. here is why. they order christmas things in may and june before the things were implemented. once we get past, g20 happens in buenos aires next month and nothing going on between president trump and president xi, if that continues in the first quarter, when those results come, there could be something happens before that time. it could be rates, government shutdown, december 7th, when the continuing resolution ends up. neil: december 7th? >> december 7th. republicans still control things here. theoretically they should be able to pass it. i hope it will happen. there may be something else that happens. things are crazy, right? markets are in in a teetertott-er, whether shutdown, rates, come in end of q1, something could easily put it over, we might see a downward slide in markets.

neil: bart, thank you very much. bart chilton, the former cftc commissioner, very smart guy. when we come back, i want you to meet a guy that was a very popular guy. he is on the weekend show. i won't give his name yet. i got hundreds of e-mailses saying, make that guy speaker. i gave it away, after this. ♪ who understands your industry and your world can help you make well informed choices and stay ahead of opportunities. pnc brings you the resources of one of the nation's largest banks, and a local approach with a focus on customized insights. so you and your company are ready for today.

>> welcome back to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm gerri willis live from the floor of the new york stock exchange. oil in a bear market, down 20% from october third highs. prices down ninth day in a row. take a look at west texas crude,

what is going on there, that 20%, look at monthly number and crude today, down 1.6%. what is going on here? energy, the worst-performing sector of all. s&p 500 sectors, save information technology is down half a percent. if you want to look at stocks here, we picked a variety of them in the sector. exxonmobil, integrated major, down a third of a percent. conocophillips, a services company, down 3.3%. halliburton down 2.2. concho resources is exploration company. it has the worst of it, down 4%. why is this going on? u.s. softening sanctions on iran. u.s. oil production is record 11.6 million barrels a day in production. production going up, up, up, inventory rising, prices going down, down. that is what we're seeing on floor of the new york stock exchange. back, to you neil. neil: supply and demand.

thank you very, very much, gerri. you've seen a lot of nancy pelosi putting herself up for the democratic leader. she hopes to be in that capacity when they vote for the next leader, maybe become speaker of the house then again. to missouri congressman emanuel cleaver. i was meaning to suggest to you after your visit to my weekend show, a lot of people of all persuasions make that guy speaker. he seems to be calm, interested in the country's overall benefit and not his own. so let me what many were asking me if i ever had you back, are you interested in becoming the democratic leader? >> absolutely not. my goal has been, when i first ran for congress to eventually be able to reach the lofty position of being chair of housing and insurance.

i grew up in a situation that was awful in terms of housing and i have learned a lot over the years, particularly during my eight years as mayor of kansas city. that is where i want to go. i do think that, you know, we have to put people in place who are interested in trying to erase all of this hostility that is not only growing but i think it is bleeding out from washington and infecting a big chunk of the nation. neil: well, do you believe that nancy pelosi would be able to deal with that? or would she only contribute to more of it? >> well, i was very pleased that for a period she was saying look, we're not going to washington to start talking about impeachment. we're going to try to put together an agenda. i was pleased to hear that and i think the other individuals interested in leadership were

saying the same thing. now i haven't had a chance to have any conversation with her i have only seen interviews. the whole situation with firing of ag sessions may change some of the priority, i think, amazing i heard president talking about people wanting to do impeachment. in reality i was hearing people say not. when i did my, my celebratory speech after the, my win last tuesday, the first thing i said to the people that gathered at the marriott hotel here in kansas city was, i wasn't going back to washington to become a part of some kind of impeachment movement, although i didn't think we were going to ignore things that were happening or that had already happened. and -- neil: many disagree in your party, sir, as you know, they want to pursue such a thing. start off with a lot of investigations, get their hands on tax documents, other

documents, emails. you know the drill. i'm wondering whether it gets out of control? whatever you might think, you are politically oriented, there does seem to be perception that the hard left that dominates the democratic party thinking right now, up until the 2020 race. and certainly in the newly-reconfigured house. do you agree with that? >> there are those there, as you may know, i voted against the articles of impeachment that were presented, i voted to table it. which is what we only had the choice of voting for it or tabling it. i voted to table it. there are those who are very offended by some of the things they have seen and head. i'm offended by some of them, but i don't think it is best interests of the country to go to washington to say our goal is to impeach the president. it is not mine. i think a lot of members of the democratic party are not going there to do that.

but you're absolutely right. for me to suggest that there are not those who would like to impeach the president would be untruthful and here's the other thing i think that is important. i've said this publicly. it makes no sense to say we want to protect mueller and the investigation and then say we want to impeach the president. i mean either you want mueller to finish the report, then you evaluate it or you just want to impeach the president without the report. so, i mean this is a tough time. we have to be extremely careful because, the damage we do, you know, because there already been a lot of damage done, the president frankly hasn't helped calm the waters, but i don't want to add to it. i don't want to add to the turbulence. neil: let me get your sense then what is happening now, what could happen. obviously the house goes democratic. president and his party picked up more seats in the senate.

we'll have divided government. as you know, sir, markets like divided government. individual americans want to see something done about the deficit, debt, some other issues, housing, that was near and dear to you, they might not. play out the next two years what you think it's going to be like? >> let me tell you what i hope first, and that is that mcconnell and pelosi will very shortly start sitting down talking about an agenda that the house and senate can work on jointly. i am very pleased that secretary carson, his people already reached out. they want to begin talking about housing and other issues at hud. i very well may be the chair of that subcommittee. so that's what i'm hoping people will do. sit down, i will sit down with hud secretary carson, these are my priorities, what are your

priorities, how can we work together? he wants opportunity zones legislation to come to his department instead of treasury. i agree with him, i think that is where it ought to be as well. i'm hoping leader mcconnell and leader pelosi can work some things out. so that we can, look, we've got to have a highway bill or transportation bill. we desperately need that. that trumps all of this other stuff. we've got to do something about affordable housing in this country. that is a crisis right now. we've got to do something about it. and we don't even have a national flood insurance program. we have to do something -- the great, swaths of the night that are in jeopardy, we have only a temporary flood control, i'm sorry flood insurance bill. we could go on and on. neil: right. >> we've got to go to washington to work for the american people. you know, that is, not going there to impeach anybody. i'm going to give attention to the people of the fifth congressional district of missouri.

i think, i have heard people, in the democratic leadership saying, they were saying that is where we're going to go. but as i said, the thing about yesterday may have altered that. i don't know yet. neil: we're showing just some of the dozen or more democrats already on record saying they wouldn't vote for nancy pelosi as their leader for speaker in this case. what happens to those who don't vote for her? i mean what type of retribution would they face? >> well, annually, or every two years we have individuals who vote against nancy pelosi, and they don't seem to suffer any consequences. here is the thing -- neil: but they do enter the witness protection program though. >> yes. i wasn't talking about them. they're a whole another league. neil: all right. >> i do think it is not a binary choice. somebody could nominate you, neil cavuto.

neil: that would be interesting. >> you don't have to be a member of congress. neil: italians in power. seriously, congressman, you're a gentleman and a very good person. i think when you get that kind of praise from the right and the left it says something about you. congratulations on your victory. we'll see what happens. thank you, sir. >> good to be with you. neil: the president is said he is willing to work with democrats. democrats say they're willing to work with the president, then what happens? after this. ♪ think your large cap equity fund has exposure to energy infrastructure mlps? think again. it's time to shake up your lineup. the alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add potential income. bring amlp into the game. before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. read the prospectus carefully at

alpsfunds.com/amlp each day our planet awakens but with opportunity comes risk. and to manage this risk, the world turns to cme group. we help farmers lock in future prices, banks manage interest rate changes and airlines hedge fuel costs. all so they can manage their risks and move forward. it's simply a matter of following the signs. they all lead here.

cme group - how the world advances. their medicare options... before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything.

only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company now or visit aarpmedicaresupplement.com for your free decision guide about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm.

if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. to learn more about the range of aarp medicare supplement plans and their rates, call or go online today to request your free decision guide. oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. ♪ >> if the democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts which i am big believer in tax cuts i would absolutely pursue something even if it means some adjustment. >> all tax legislation has to originate in the house under the constitution. the democrats are in charge of the house. if they have got a good idea how to reduce middle class taxes boy, we would be anxious to look

at it. neil: all right, so they're saying the right things. i haven't heard too many democrats talking about tax cuts of any sort for the time-being since the election that could change. anyway, to "the daily caller" news foundation editor-in-chief, chris bedford. chris, there is a lot more common ground that we suspect on this issue, host of others. infrastructure stuff, all of that, but it has to be implemented. i'm reminded that it is easier said than done when i'm listening to somebody like emanuel cleaver who wants to focus where the two parties are in agreement not so much disagreement and i don't know what do you think? >> i think everyone is whispering sweet nothings here. you're completely correct there is a lot of agreement on infrastructure. president trump is one of the first republican presidents in a while to put a focus on that some conservatives push back against, there is agreement on tax cuts for middle class. there used to be agreement on securing the borders. none of that exists anymore. in the age of trump, these

people in the democratic party in the house elected specifically to put a check on anything that the president could possibly do. their base is extremely motivated to do anything they can to stop them. they will say a couple nice things about bipartisanship they will not give each other on any issue they have any control over. neil: that is the issue i was raising with democratic representative emanuel cleaver, that base that is rapidly against making the president look like he is making progress. and doing the kind of middle of the road things, most americans, regardless of political persuasion would agree. the kind of urgent things need to be done. so i don't know what we're likely to see but, i don't envision much progress. i don't want to be a glass half empty guy but i have my worries. >> congressman cleaver would have a constituency would push for him to be moderate. a lot of these guys will be called traitors bit right-wing

activists or liberal activities. they could probably risk that if they are there represent their constituents, like congressman cleaver is. a lot are there to get elected. democrats are not like gop have a freedom caucus and. pelosi was speaker of the house, they work pretty much in lockstep. i expect to see that again. neil: she is likely, a dozen or more on record they wouldn't support her as leader if they made it. now they have to stick to that presumably but i still see here getting enough votes to secure returning to the speakers office. what do you think? >> just this morning head of the dnc, tom perez said that he would not endorse her as speaker. he would let the house figure that out. it's a dangerous proposition for some of these democrats who have been elected in otherwise red areas. but the speakership is something almost certainly will get.

i don't get any idea there will be some mass uprising. they haven't made her life incredibly miserable like they made speaker john boehner's life miserable. they wanted to go down to marco island, florida, to have a glass of wine to leave the swamp behind. the speaker has historically less power than other speakers have. they can't exercise iron will on congressman and women like they used to be able to because of transparency rules essentially. neil: it is going to be interesting to follow. chris, always a pleasure. thank you. >> thank you. neil: very, very much. all right, if social media companies thought that they were facing pressure under a republican house, imagine what they're going to face under a democratic one. don't look now, but it is democrats who are piling on the high-tech, usually democratic-friendly companies, not republicans. after this. ♪ [ phone rings ] what?!

ready for christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas. you just need some holiday spirit! that's it! this feud just went mobile. with xfinity xfi you get the best wifi experience at home. and with xfinity mobile, you get the best wireless coverage for your phone.

...you're about to find out! you don't even know where i live... hello! see the grinch in theaters by saying "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he.

neil: social media companies, sighing a relief when democrats took over the house, since they themselves, the social media companies are run by largely left-leaning individuals, good

thing that republicans are out of power in the house. republican national association board member, as well as an rnc committee woman. irony the democrats leading charge to police privacy concerns and others far more aggressively than republicans did. this might be a tough period for those companies. what do you think? >> that is definitely a risk, neil. both sides are talking about issues on social media. for example, the left since the 2016 election claimed the proliferation or alleged proliferation of russian trolls on social media helped sway the election to donald trump, while since the election republicans have been complaining censorship on social media platforms disadvantaged them. most recent election, republican candidates had some ads taken down on conservative issues like pro-life. while both sides have been complaining about it, there hasn't been the political will so far to do anything about it.

we have different system in america with regard to free speech than they do in europe or more totallian areas of the world. neil: you make up point it was something is near and dear to them, what it was targeted conservatives got republicans upset or those that squelched any sort of free expression that got democrats upset. you can make the argument they each have an axe to grind now. so they would each be united wanting to sort of take another look at these companies but will they? what is your gut feeling? >> well i think the question is what to do about it. i do think there is a lot of pressure on both sides to do something about it. neil: but is that the government's role? >> well, so as a conservative i don't think we should be imposing new regulations or have government sensors or independent bodies look at the level of censorship or even impose their own rules. i think we have existing

regulatory regimes that could be brought to bear. we have the federal trade commission that could enforce truthfulness in these companies. potentially have legislation that expands the role of the federal communication commission. we have antitrust regulation already in place, could have, if brought to bear by the department of justice a significant impact on the dominance of these companies with regard to digital advertising which itself is actually strangling a lot of our traditional media companies in the united states. i think if you used existing tools, use them smarter, use them in ways that are tailored to the new technology, that would be good but when we saw these hearings, over the past summer, with the social media companies it, was clear most of our legislators have absolutely zero clue how they work. they have interns who run it for them. they don't really understand it. we definitely need to look at those things more carefully before making some drastic moves. neil: bias is always in the eye of the beholder. if you try to institutional rise

that, put it into some sort of a algorithm, a lot easier said than done. having said that, there doesn't appear, we'll maybe hear otherwise in weeks and months to come, any outside influences to the degree that it turned races or overall election outcome. but we're always looking for that ahead of the presidential election. what do you think? >> yeah, well, you're correct. maybe no outside influence but the inside influence is significant. the social media companies are largely staffed by very liberal younger people and they have proven that by the degree of their contributions to the democrats. neil: right. >> these human censors are taking down largely conservative content. i have not heard the complaint from the left but i heard it in spades from conservatives. that is one of the issues. among the other issues i think is beyond politics is lack of transparency how our data is taken, how it is used, who it is sold to, who controls it.

that is human rights issue in my opinion, that is something completely unregulated right now and really need to be looked at. the social media companies are trying to get ahead of this right now by imposing self-regulation, promising they will be more transparent. i personally don't think that will happen unless we relief them of some of their immunity from suit that they have under the communications decency act. it allows citizens, allows the government in some cases to hold them liable, where they lie, where they steal and cause physical harm to people. for example -- neil: wish we had more time. you're quite right. i will be cut off by a break. thank you very much. still early in the going to see how both parties address this. we'll have more after this.

but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions

whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. neil: all right, welcome everybody appeared noticing some curious comings and goings with the likes of chris christie who might or might not be in the running to be the next attorney general and permanent basis. we are told the names of the likes of alex azar, health and human services secretary of course had several under george w. bush. pam bondi of florida number rudy giuliani. fox news senior capitol hill producer in all of this is going down particularly with the newly reconfigured our spirit >> most of the action is going to come next year at house

democrats come incoming chairs, oversight committee come intelligence committee has sent a letter to top administration officials asking for a preservation of documents tied to the firing of jazz sessions. they also indicate that they will be looking at their spirit this is a balancing act for house democrats parrot certainly democrats who want to investigate all quarters of the top administration for a host of reasons. how do they balance as to mrs. keefer nancy pelosi issues and facts are the house. she says these probes can be scattershot. she usually does a good job but this is a new environment. how do she prevent them from doing proper investigation proper oversight in not going too far where it backfires on democrats politically. 5:00 in baltimore elijah cummings is the respective incoming chair of the oversight committee holding a rally to talk about sessions in baltimore where this district is an hour

north of washington d.c. the lame-duck session, most of the conversation even though there will be very little action on this is going to be about trying to push legislation to protect special counsel robert mueller. i spoke this morning at the senior house republican leadership aide who indicated they didn't think they would be any appetite to do that in the lame-duck congress. there's a lot of volume about that and you can bet democrats in the house of representatives will pursue that next year. consider the oversight responsibilities by the outgoing republican majority in the house. trey gowdy who is chair of the oversight committee, bob goodlatte chaired the judiciary committee and most of them are retiring so we will not hear very much from them about the firing of jeff sessions in the next seven weeks. neil: chad, thank you very much. the fate of whitaker also comes into play here. he's the man appointed by the president to be acting attorney general. of course he has the past written that disparages the more

investigation and has said he should recuse himself from the investigation and anything happening to do a smaller and sits in that he would oversee funding and will get the idea. federal prosecutor doug burns on all this. what happens? >> welcome you have this interim appointment which nobody's gotten into the statue, but it's a 210 day appointment, roughly seven months. you will see in my opinion crystal ball you'll see the appointment of someone who's going to have to go for full senate confirmation. what happens in the interim is very hard to predict. everyone got a little ahead of themselves yesterday going on and on about how this was designed specifically to undermine investigation. we don't really know that you appeared as the world we live in. neil: talk about what happens in the interim, this investigation is wrapped up. we are told various reports that

mohler has already begun writing that. i don't know what is true, but if that comes out well before this six, seven month temporary appointment, it is a moot point arisen at it? >> to some extent, mueller will come out with reporting go to the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein at this point. maybe actually it will go the interim attorney general and the decisions will be made in this is key obviously to whether or not that goes to congress and whether or not it is opened up to the public. make no mistake about it. sure as the sun will set tonight there will be something in it for everybody because we will be the first to tell you that when things say there wasn't enough evidence to establish something, everyone will be screaming that doesn't mean it didn't happen him all just go on and on from there. neil: we don't know whether they'll be impeachment proceedings.

we do know there'll be a lot of investigations going on in the house that is well telegraphed. i'm wondering where you see these next two years going. >> i have a little bit of a counterintuitive interpretation of it. if you look at the mueller probe itself, couple that with the kavanaugh hearing and now with the rhetoric about how we're going to investigate every single thing, et cetera, et cetera. that could be a hugely horrible political trifecta. what i'm saying in a roundabout way is that i don't think you're going to necessarily see as aggressive a posture in terms of the investigations for the simple reason that democrats may wake up and realize it's not going to help them politically. neil: that's interesting. always good chatting my friend. to read on all this, "the wall street journal" associate editor fox news contributor, getting the notion that not much could get done in this environment. >> right.

the counterintuitive notion is interesting but i'm not sure that i buy into that. i think that the democrats are going to use their new power in the house to look at the president and his behavior and actions on any number of things. there's all sorts of animist has been built up over the last two years within these committees between the leaders of the committee and the minority members of the committee appeared a fair number of investigations ongoing and it's going to be the democrats thinking this is what a lot of them got voted in to do because there was a sentiment among the voting public is against president trump. tree into one and split districts. two thirds of them were from districts that lean heavily left by this point in where that was among the top three concerns. >> the president has the mueller nowadays for a democratic house of representatives. as for the ratios, this opens up a big question mark over a lot of legislative initiatives and

plans the president had including trade. you may see a democratic house saying wait a second. they are saying we're not sure if you'll bring back as many jobs as you're saying and environmental groups they were not sure your built-in protections sufficiently. the u.s. trade representative lighthizer tries to make this appeal to both parties. the democrats have a much bigger voice and they could do two things. say we want to rethink, we one amendment, we want this reworked. nancy pelosi of shia comes to the house could move to withdrawal the fast-track sort of allowance for the president, which is an up or down vote on trade disputes thinks through congress. she could say we're not going to do that for this. trade and the rest of the president's agenda as well. neil: how did that go? to both the house and senate writeup on what trade agreement

we make? >> the house can step into this in a major way and say we're not going to accept running for this or we have additional amendments we wish to apply to it. i can say that any number of things you party negotiated we want to rethink. things like infrastructure, health care spending, what's the president's initiative going to be to answer what was clearly of the electorate's mind, which was somehow addressing national health care or health care costs. this is a presidency in an assertion that did not do a lot of work with democrats. has not built up alliances. dozen of the coin of the realm, which is credited in favors we can trade off of each other. neil: even less so now if we have investigations in suing. the president has started all but investigate. >> remember, when the tax bill went through, it was negotiated

at the top by a republican controlled house. not a lot of outreach made to the democrats who now are going to be chairing all these committees. neil: by the same token the house can't just repudiate all the tax cuts from scratch because the only way to republican senate would not go along. >> that's correct. 30 law. the president signed off on it. the president has talked about additional types. addressing capital gains and something supposedly raised a few days before the election have been addressed middle class. that looks less and less likely. neil: the town which would make a big deal up in washington, what does that look like to you? i always think and i don't know the history on this, the leading up to a presidential election, it's a whole different ballgame and especially one like this where it galvanizes the basis of both parties.

>> yes. was he a president who can change his tone to some extent. was he a democrat, was a republican. neil: you would think he was knee-jerk more in line on infrastructure spending on union friendly trade deals. that they would be more simpatico. >> an effort to step towards the middle by both parties. you may see that in both may feel that is the bigger message to send to the electorate because it's so unhappy with gridlock. what data points do we have about the president behavior? if we were to extrapolate from the data points we have, what do we expect? what did we see yesterday in a press conference for an hour and a half? neil: what you make of that? >> a very combative president who has not changed his tone. a president that was trying to put the best on a bad night. he lost the house. i was enormous. made some gains in the senate not to be discounted.

made a couple of governorship games not to be discounted. but he lost the how seminude i was going to happen. true into sometimes the view of the president, they play in to that. he them in and they play his game and he's better at that game. >> may be, but i think the media is a sideshow in all of us. the media is sport for the president to some extent any response the language. no one should be going there. neil: but apparently the president -- [inaudible] >> evidently in case of the cnn reporter. i think you're going to see more donald trump because that's who he is. whether or not that type of approach with an already very concerned congress, house of representatives about the sanctity of the mueller investigation, whether it's permitted to continue by this new attorney general or acting

attorney general. >> is he sending another message that could be maybe a more ominous one act up at a press conference in the press pass could be toast? >> maybe he's trying to do that. i don't think in a liberal democracy like the united states that works. neil: you don't think you will give other journalists pause how they frame the question? >> you can rear disagree with the cnn reporter approached it in the ferocity of that. but he's doing his job. he's questioning the president and that's what these reporters who've always been rambunctious but not a single president said i love the press corps in the white house. neil: but i've always known you. you're a tough questioner. i think you're a fair arbiter. you don't get it anyone a pass. but there's a way of doing that and there's a way of not looking self-serving or self inflating. it's a line. >> and maybe not being quite aggressive and he made a major

point the president will not answer your question. that could be debated. turning to the whole thing -- [inaudible] >> no, look at the video. he was actually quite polite to her. i don't think it's going to change the tenor of what other press do in press room at all. if anything they're going to be braced for that kind of behavior on the part of the president which is really unprecedented. it really is the olene, blustering approach to answer questions and frankly telling falsehoods all the time. when the press tries to hold them accountable, telling more falsehoods on top of that. neil: i'm so going to get a presidential tweet. it's always good seeing you. you're a class act. there's a way of doing this in a way of not doing it. we'll see what works in the months and years ahead here tonight meanwhile, oil in a bear market territory today. 20% or more down from its highs. way too much supply, way too

little demand. how long does that last? after this. - at afor the financialt's time world to stop acting the same old way. you need a partner that is willing to break free from conventional thinking. we are a different kind of financial company. we are athene, and we are driven to do more. their medicare options... before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67?

that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company now or visit aarpmedicaresupplement.com for your free decision guide about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients?

i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. to learn more about the range of aarp medicare supplement plans and their rates, call or go online today to request your free decision guide. oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. your free decision guide. comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue.

beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. we're all under one roof now. congratulations. thank you. how many kids? my two. his three. along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. that is quite the family. quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. a lot of colleges. you get any financial advice? yeah, but i'm pretty sure it's the same plan they sold me before. well your situation's totally changed now. right, right. how 'bout a plan that works for 5 kids, 2 dogs and jake over here? that would be great. that would be great. that okay with you, jake? get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change from td ameritrade investment management. neil: already, gridlock is good.

the best week, at least it's february. so well that at least ease some of the skittishness in these markets. some of that because crazy every time someone sees it. market watcher michael block accounting for three my dad. what do you think? >> going into tuesday's, barring some massive surprise, getting these elections out of the way, getting the overhang done what was going to be healthy. sure enough the couple were expecting. democrats take in a house that republicans keeping the senate and off we went to the races yesterday. today they are holding up pretty well. i'd like to see tech doing a little better but that's personal preference. the big surprise yesterday was what started out as a sarcastic move but then turned into this cooperation. talk of bipartisanship on lowering drug prices, infrastructure and everything else. it got folks very excited and that's a lot of what were seen

today. there's hope i'm not, hope for the end of the month and will president xi and trump be able to reach that. i've got more bullish on october 30th by tuesday morning. i don't think were going to go up in a straight line. anyone looking for this beautiful record of bipartisanship to start lurching right away. it's going to take some time if it happens at all. neil: you might want to be careful what you wish for. let's say they do reach an agreement on trying to lower drug prices. but for most americans with prescription prices moving up faster than college tuition. not so for those stocks. i am wondering what that bifurcated message could mean for wall street were some select industries could be actually targeted by the government and others not so much. >> we've been hearing about the drug or a story for a long time to cause some people to shoot

against health care. i've been bullish health care, tactically out on health care. we'll see if this comes to fruition. i'm a little skeptical there is a bipartisan effort. for a big firm a lot of this is priced in. we'll see why where this goes. i don't think were going there. we will see where we go with everything else. true to the federal reserve meeting today not expected to hike rates at hike rates today that very much expected to do so in december, keep the rate increases going next year. apple obviously enraged the president and it's going to get nasty. what's the fallout from that? >> will see what happens. don't expect anything today. i'll be surprised if there's any change in the economic outlook express today. it will look like they sat around for a day in the house doing nothing. hopefully they're watching us here they can pick up a few tips from us. the point is this in december it looks like you're flashing a 10 year yield right now it $3.23.

a lot higher than it was a couple months ago. i'm not happy about that, looking at how that goes. when i look at bat, the only thing it does is gives the feds of coverage. there was fear they were going to invoke the yield curve on 30 basis points. a couple 20 earlier and there is a real fear they would be in version. it often sends bad signals and as we know, quantitative investors might get the wrong signal from now. this gives them a little more room. that being said, looking at q4, next year some spots of the economy keep going gangbusters. wages at 3.1% last month. that seems to be slowly working. i don't see the fed raising four times next year. i matter to one now. we are going to see how it plays out.

when circumstances change what you do. that's where i come out on that. everyone looking for the march forward it doesn't behoove me to slam my fist down and say for height because they say so in the big bulge bracket say-so. i have a habit of disagreed with them and we'll see how that goes. neil: it's richly rewarded her followers. thank you for you much good seeing you. immigrate to be here. neil: still trying to find out details on this terrific shooting california. 12 are dead. chief correspondent jonathan hunt in california with more. jonathan. >> neil, that is exactly how the sheriff's hearing ventura county described it. they entered the numbers the borderline bar and grill was than his words covered in blood. it was packed at the time with 150 to 200 young people.

many from nearby colleges. it was college night at the borderline and what they witnessed was absolutely terrifying for all of them. listen here to one of the young women who attend my. >> he looks like he knew what he was doing. he had been shooting. reporter: 28-year-old ian david long named by officials as the gun man. he was the u.s. marine corps vet. he served in a particularly tough province in helmand in afghanistan from late 2010 until 2011. he had apparently had issues with ptsd and justice last april, law enforcement and the thousand oaks were called to his home where he was apparently screaming and throwing things inside the house. the mental evaluation team was

on site if they decided that that point that no further action was needed. one for us men are at his house going to read for any sign of a motive, any sign of what might have caused ian david long to carry out the shooting last night which claimed the lives of those innocent 11 bar goers along with the life of sheriff sergeant ron helus. he was one of the first three law enforcement personnel on the scene. he heard the shots. he went straight through the front door, was met with bullets and died. neil: incredible. thank you jonathan very much. we'll have more after this. - as the original host of wheel of fortune,

i was blessed to be part of building one of the greatest game shows in history. during that time, we handed out millions of dollars to thousands of contestants. and i thought, what if we paid the contestants their winnings in gold instead of cash and prizes. back in 1976 we had a wonderful contestant named lee, whose three day winnings were valued at $12,850. and you know what? that was a pretty big haul back in 1976. so, i wondered. what would have happened if lee had put $12,850 in cash,

and then put $12,850 in gold in a safe? just sitting there, side by side, from 1976 until now. well, i went back and i ran the numbers and what i found was amazing. we all know that $12,850 in cash would still be sitting there. but, it would be worth a whole lot less than it was in 1976. but that $12,850 in gold, safely stored away? it's worth $135,000 as of the taping of this commercial. now that's more than 10 times the original amount. and that's why i've been putting my money in precious metals for years, and i don't see any reason to stop now. - [narrator] don't wait until the next crisis, get started securing your financial future today. if you have bought gold in the past or you would like to learn more about why physical gold should be an important part of your portfolio, simply call to receive the complete guide to buying gold, which will provide you important never seen before facts and information you should know about making any

gold, silver, or platinum purchase. - [ philip] don't wait until it's too late. call to get your free copy of my new u.s. gold report. inside you'll find 25 reasons i've covered on gold ownership. and start owning gold today. - with over a quarter of a million clients worldwide, we're one of the most dependable gold distributors in america. give us a call today to get started. neil: a perception that it the hard left that dominates the democratic dirty thinking right now up until the 2020 race and certainly in the newly

reconfigured house or do agree with that? >> i don't think it's been the best interest of the country and say our goal is to impeach the president. it's not mine and i think a lot of members of the democratic party are not going to go there to do that. neil: i got a lot of e-mails every time i have congressmen cleaver on his known for his measured tone here. one viewer said he might be low-key, but he was being interviewed by someone who had all the electricity of a dead person. i just thought that's really cruel. for my wife. i don't know why that is. democratic strategists brought in row with us. david mcintosh, is that your sense that the congressman's hopeful version of how things will develop, in other words, he's very, very confident the cooler, palmer were reciprocating heads will prevail and work with each other.

what do you think? >> we can all hope for that and wish for that. in the end it would be hard for nancy pelosi and the democrat leadership to say no to their more socialist radical days. for one thing they funded in many cases over a million dollars worth of blue money. many of these races where they picked up seats. the pressure from the base is going to move left, both hard against the president. at the same time, the very same members, and they could go up to the mid-30s when all the recounts are done. they are basically in republican aides, in march of 2.5%, 3% leaning republican. the individual members who benefited from all the left leaning contributions come and they realized for them to survive they can't be seen as being not radical. they'll be countervailing pressures. some of the committees will be harder than others. you see maxine waters, shall be putting their feet to the fire

in the financial sector and she's known for that. shall now have the power to do that. nadler is judiciary is the hard left leader in be going after the administration. neil: robin, let me ask you then, is it your sense that the ones who said they think better than a dozen now made it to the house and what it would promise during the election process that they were not going to vote for nancy pelosi as their leader, that they are in a catch-22 here. what do you think happens? >> we've got a problem on our hands with that. all of those incoming freshman has pledged to not support her. the problem we are facing that the democratic party is that she is a fundraising beast. choose out fund raising by more than five times the next highest, which is representative ben ray lujan from new mexico. there is bad. she also knows how to get the

vote. i myself am a very frequent, but she does get the job done. we've got to somehow balance the two, dallas is freshman who promised to get fresh new blood is still fun race and turn up the votes. neil: she can take credit and she is taking about because of that. democrats are back in the majority. do you think that will flip it for them? i know it's a byzantine process how the house and senate chooses their leaders. they can hide behind what the caucus voted for, et cetera. how do you think it's going to go down? >> it's hard to say. this stage in the game we are so kind of a new territory here. i am very encouraged to hear about the talks of bipartisanship. i think that sincere. i think nancy pelosi knows we have to get some of that done. neil: we always hear that. >> some of that could be just

wordplay. train to let me ask you, the president expressed hope for middle-class tax cut. we heard from some democrats they want to just stop all the tax cuts the president came up with. that can be done obviously given the dynamics in washington in the senate still in republican control to say nothing of the white house republicans, but what about a middle-class tax cut and how likely that would be in this environment. what you think? >> i think you're right. the current tax-cut bill is safe for another two years, but there're many democrats where they are running against him and they promised a middle-class tax cut of their room. i think richie neil, the chairman of ways in, he declined to do a tax-cut bill. it will different than republican ones, but you can see that scenario where both parties might decide we could actually work together. neil: gentlemen, i went thank you both. good, combing advocates.

touché to both of you. a couple things we're waiting on for the federal reserve decision they are meeting and talking the overall economy. not expected to move today but you never know. the big move is expected to come in december when they're likely to hike it again. it certainly could set the tone in and out of eight-year high. what is going on there? after this.

neil: resignation on the part of jeff sessions he made it clear this was a volunteer effort. he made it clear the president asked him to do it. >> a bonus confidence. confidence in attorney general and integrity of the attorney general. neil: that's a very tough line

and that's the issue here. while appointment of diaz in direct your matthew whitaker squirm in that right now a temporary basis that said not good enough. said an editorial more to the point about the mueller investigation about himself. he should recuse himself. judge in her napolitano first am not, what do you think i'm not? >> i agree the president is entitled to the attorney general with whom he has confidence. the attorney general with the greatest legacy for effect to human freedom in your lifetime and mine was the brother of the president of the united states. so that obviously tremendous communication. jeff sessions and donald trump were best buds during the campaign. then summer sessions was the first to come out for him. he was part of the campaign high command which is why he recused

himself and from there it's all been downhill. we are hearing now that matthew whitaker has been lobbying for this job. we are also hearing the resignation letter was not signed yesterday. it is undated. it was signed in the president asked for to make it to donate top drill -- drawer. train to listen kind of got your resignation letter here. [laughter] neil: you know it's wild about that is the fact that jeff sessions made a very, very clear this wasn't his idea. when you resign, would you think about? >> i'm of the school and i hope i'm not confronted of this the bench was an amicable on. i'm of the school you don't burn bridges. you don't show bitterness at the

end. >> there in bloomfield, new jersey. you just never know how the world is going to turn. he is actually still the attorney general until friday, but he's going after doug jones. that's the senator who replaced him in alabama. forgive me, i think he was about 74. neil: will probably make it. >> some of the names with the chris christie sighting at the white house might have been rescheduled event. alec césar, and cesar, the hhs secretary, william barr, the former under george h.w. bush, pam bondi of florida, rudy giuliani, would you think? >> i don't think rudy giuliani would take this because of the more time-consuming than he would want. chris christie has been known to have wanted it for a long time. a lot of people even the

republican party might attempt to resist that because the things that happen in new jersey under his watch but he certainly has an extraordinary personal history of. stranger republicans beefed up their numbers in the senate. >> the president will get confirmed. one republican who is number one on the list has said not meet tonight is senator lindsey graham. i believe that because he is now a very potent force in the united states senate with the expanded republican base and with his incredible relationship with the president. once was like this and now it's like this. train to the u.s. appeals court. i don't know these legal things that you will indulge me. >> the ninth circuit probably the same with cisco. neil: there you go. anyway, they're challenging the president. this goes all the way to the supreme court then? >> yes.

listen, daca is not the law of the land except the generations have relied on it. if president trump are able to suspend daca, that would mean deportation of people who came here and for all purposes are fully americanized. i haven't seen the opinion but i'm going to guess that's probably the essence of it. you can change it going forward that you can't change it going backwards. this will definitely, definitely make its way to the supreme court. whether the supreme court wants to hear it takes for justices to compel all nine of them to hear the case. whether they want to reinforce it or reverse it. neil: ruth bader ginsburg had a fall, she'll be out of commission for a while. >> she's still come up here she can't hear oral argument obviously, but she can join opinions and participate in the conference is that they have on mondays and fridays. neil: finally, your thought on this back-and-forth here they

removed the white house credentials, jim acosta of cnn, others looking at that say this could be a slippery slope. >> even though the person involved in this is her former boss and i love him, i disagree. great human being, but i disagree with this decision. the very dangerous slippery slope, because of the articulation of political opinions. i'd rather have newspapers without government than a government without newspapers. a little extreme but it makes the point. the press is there to challenge and create transparency. when they do a job as effectively as jim acosta has done it shouldn't be punished by the force of government. president score in the country saying don't believe acosta, don't leave cnn committee can't he can't use the official power of the government. neil: i'll say this resignation

letter of yours. [laughter] that'll do it. good seeing you my friend. in the meantime, the decision in a matter of moments here. let me issue how the presidents react to likely no move on rates today, but a lot more in next year. does he go after the fed chairman yet again? after this. show me movies a grinch would love.

[ bark ] nu uh, i'm picking the movie tonight. [ whimpers ] be sad, i enjoy it. show me grinchy movies. oh, goody. [ whimpers ] mmm, fine! show me movies max would like. see the grinch in theaters by saying... "get grinch tickets" into your xfinity x1 voice remote. [ laughing ] uh oh. something in my throat.

try and do alright come in a few minutes from the federal reserve on interest rates unexpectedly, no planned meeting or pronouncements are normally that indicates this isn't the one to expect something happens. this could change under the regime of jerome powell. sort of if you do, if it doesn't what does the federal reserve do not just today but in future months so the president's party made clear he's not a fan of this rate hiking friend. raymond james policy analyst ed mills. the president views notwithstanding, is it your sense that rates are still headed up looking at a minimum

for rate hikes next year in the trend will continue as we try to get back to whatever equilibrium is. >> yeah, the way i look at this as i think the fed is always looking to capitol hill and seeing exactly what is going on related to fiscal policy before they make their final decisions on monetary policy. probably the biggest unknown ways the outcome of the election. now that we've had the election, it was essentially the base case. we returned to the base case in terms of the fed hiking. as congress has provided a massive amount of fiscal stimulus, that gives political cover to the fed to normalize interest rates. neil: what is normalize? if you're looking at fed funds, the bank lending rate to around 2.5% or so, many tell me it should even double that as far as historical norms. other slightly less. where you are not? >> they're going to be very data

dependent. i don't think normal is zero. what we will see if they continued, steady, upward trend here. one of the things that come things that, things that, purists will the attacks of trump interrupt that? one of the things that i think is an underappreciated part of this and where the fed continues to be on this path is that trump had an unusual amount of say over who was on the board of governors at the fed in all of those pics that he did are actually really market positive individuals. i don't know how high they will go, but they're going to be very attuned to what the market is telling them down with the political situation here is in d.c. trying to avoid making any policy mistakes ultimately deciding what is normal. neil: and was the president panelist. >> there is a really interesting conversation to be had between rhetoric versus actions.

in putting together a board that almost anyone would agree is a really professional board. we could've had populous triumph of a lot of folks on the federal reserve board of governors that would've audit the fed types don't have a very different story here. neil: absolutely. ed mills, who raymond james policy analysts. neil: how would you like to test with elon musk's boss. sort of like being charlie gasparino's boss. on that phenomenon after this.

what do you look for when you trade? i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale.

mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪ neil: all right come to elon musk has a new boss i guess. i wonder how that's going to go. either said than done when it comes to creative types. imagine being charlie gasparino's. he has some input on. >> you don't have to stop me from smoking pot on their project to stop me from saying other things. neil: that would only make you more elusive. >> attests a board member is now becoming the chairman. the chairwoman. we should point out why this is happening because the sec investigation in settlement over the so-called funding secured tweet where he had to go private but he didn't, part of the

settlement deal with the sec and that he had a point, somebody to chair the company. he appoints a chairwoman in this case, rob and at home. superficially the day this is a great choice. and she was pretty good by reining in costs. that's only part of the story. she was selected to the board by mr. musk. remember she is already on the board. he played a role in choosing the chair. so you've got to ask yourself, if he plays the role of choosing her, if you put her on the board, how independent is this position going to be, which is exactly what the sec wanted. they wanted an oversight mechanism over someone mr. musk you might say it abhorrent behavior including other stuff

you said on twitter, maybe even smoking pot, who knows. in any event, she doesn't seem to be at least -- he doesn't seem to be an independent voice here. someone very connected with the company and mr. musk. so that has some investors that i've spoken to in the last couple hours a little worried about her appointment. we should point out the stock was up marginally on the news because as i said on paper, she's a very -- she's an accomplished cost cutter and come you know, they reign across the tesla. billions of dollars of debt payments that are due. they have profit problems. it had cash flow problems. so this may be someone that's needed on paper. again, not exactly someone that comes with a clean slate. she's very connected to him. back to you.

neil: by the way, splitting these roles which might be the chic thing to do doesn't always work out. the chairman, ceo under both different titles. >> listen, jamie dimon is the chairman and ceo currents of very effective bank. i've seen places where we could've used an independent chairman. bear stearns, lehman brothers, where some of holding the ceo in selecting these guys. they're never really that independent. so it is, it is a lot of, how can i put it, it is not what it is cracked up to be, neil. neil: all right, my friend. charlie gasparino, we'll see how that goes. a fed minutes coming out very soon, charles payne, next two hours, those minutes, interest rates and everything else. charles? charles: thank you very much, neil, as you see from the market, it is on pins and needles. good afternoon, i'm charles payne. this is "making money." federal reserve will weigh in.

they always have the two-day meetings. we're waiting for insight into what their plans are. conventional wisdom holds that they will not hike rates, but there is a lot of anxiety what happens from here. remember in september when they did raise rates, chairman powell said the economy was strong. now, here is edward. >> fed fund rates remains unchanged at 2.25%. fomc statement says they're setting up for a december rate hike, they are expected gradual increases will be consistent with economic expansion. the risks in the economy look roughly balanced according to federal reserve and fomc statement. job gains have been strong. that was in the statement. however the committee differentiated, business investment growth was moderated from its rapid pace earlier this year. now still, they say that the economy continues to grow at a strong rate. the fed inflation rate remains