follow me twitter and inst instm tomorrow night, florida congressman matt gaetz. ♪ good night. lou: good evening, everybody. we have a crisis on our southern border. thousands of central americans on their way up the center of mexico, trying to cross that border when they get there. the mexican drug cartels murdering tens of thousands of mexican citizens, running tens of billions of dollars of deadly drugs across that border into the united states each and every year. after waiting now for days, the bipartisan congressional senatorial conference committee finally graciously but not urgently decided to meet today for the first time to talk about border security and what a

committee it is. not a lot of urgency, obviously. not much regard for much beyond their masters on k street and almost none for working americans and their families. president trump this morning tweeted that any meeting without the discussion of a border wall or barrier would be a waste of time. some members of the committee remain committed to obstruction and they apparently would be just delighted to waste more time, at which the attacks from both parties excel. >> this conference committee meets in good faith on a bipartisan basis to solve a problem. it would be helpful if the president was on board in trying to reach a successful conclusion to this debate. >> [ inaudible ]. >> fencing is probably going to come up and i think as long as it's part of what is making the southern border more secure, i

certainly don't have a problem having that debate. lou: a problem having that debate but not building that wall. cute, huh? clever language. every night we highlight some of the dumbest things these d.c. lawmakers say, and today, no shortage of material. north carolina's dem congressman david price says a wall is not needed, he says because illegal immigrants are turning themselves into the border patrol. get ready. listen to this. >> today, we're increasingly dealing with people who are fleeing humanitarian crises in central america. they're actually proactively seeking out the border patrol. they're turning themselves in. a fence is irrelevant to their situation. lou: what can you say to such a person? the national security crisis in our mexican border demands a border wall if we're to protect the nation and our sovereignty.

thousands of central americans moving through mexico in caravans on their way to the american border, a wall being the only sure way to stop them. tonight, we look at the president's fight for that wall, our congress owned by the very powers that refuse to stop illegal immigration, and the demands open borders and accepts as collateral damage the tens of thousands of americans killed by the drugs, devastation and death smuggled over that border each and every day. former reagan white house political director ed rollins, congressman matt gaetz among our guests and the drug agent who helped bring down drug lord pablo escobar, javier pena, joins us. he says the wall is the only way to stop the destruction and death across our southern border. also, anti-maduro protesters filling the streets of caracas today and much of venezuela, calling for the ouster of

president nicholas maduro. and the protests in support of opposition leader juan guaido who earlier today talked with president trump, a conversation which the president offered guaido his full support. in this country, subzero temperatures crippling midwestern airports, bus and train terminals. the cold already blamed for at least six deaths. thousands left without power in the region. all of that and much, much more tonight. our top story, the crisis at the southern border. a bipartisan conference of lawmakers on capitol hill today met for the first time, despite the crisis on that border it took them this long. president trump earlier today tweeted quote, if the committee of republicans and democrats now meeting on border security is not discussing or contemplating a wall or physical barrier, they're wasting their time. the president's expectations for the committee rightly tempered the bipartisan committee

expected to do exactly what they are told by the likes of the koch brothers, chamber of commerce, business roundtable, wall street. some of the committee members may even check in with the cartels in china for approval. the dangers at the border have never been more grave, more deadly. mexico's murder rate at an all-time high last year, rising 33%. imagine, 33% higher in one year. more than 33,000 mexican citizens murdered by the cartels. mexico is deadlier than afghanistan and tijuana, one of the deadliest cities in all of mexico. last year, 2500 people were killed there. nearly seven times more than just five years ago. just across the border, north from tijuana, san diego. only 34 murders by comparison there last year, and it is no secret why tijuana's violence hasn't crossed the border.

it's because of the wall between the two cities. with every intention of crossing that wall are the thousands of central american migrants who have made their way up from the southern border of mexico. national correspondent live tonight on the mexican side of that border in tijuana. reporter: lou, we are at the port of entry where central american asylum seekers gather every morning waiting for their name and number to be called so they go in for their asylum interview but this is now where increasingly they will be coming out that chute, being returned to mexico under the remain in mexico program. just moments ago, we had 11 central americans, 10 men, one women, who are required to stay in mexico while the u.s. will hear their asylum claim. they will have a bus to federal court in san diego, a phone number to check the status of their case, but they won't be allowed in the u.s.

the purpose, of course, is to end catch and release because of court rulings, no room at the detention center or government shelters, those individuals are getting released into the u.s., whether it be san diego, yuma, the rio grande valley. the border patrol arresting 60,000 some apprehensions a month, the same number that president obama called a crisis level in 2014. we spoke to several today and yesterday who said listen, they're willing to be patient, waiting for the asylum claim to be heard. others, however, say it is too dangerous to be in mexico and they say american lawyers, that those individuals should have the right to be in the u.s. and we do expect a court challenge sometime in the next week. also, the dhs is now tracking three caravans of central americans in mexico coming north. this isn't new, of course. however, some are now blaming mexico for offering those humanitarian visas, some 12,500 so far, encouraging more central americans to come. they will have one year to work and travel freely in mexico. of course, there's now 10,000 in

that caravan, 2500 in mexico city right now, under 24/7 security by the military. they are receiving three meals a day. we are expecting at least 1500 to come here to tijuana in the next seven to ten days. we were told today, they said don't come. we don't have the shelter space for you. they closed two shelters, they may have to reopen another one. tijuana saying we won't spend another peso on the central americans because frankly, they don't have the room and the people here are tired of it. i will tell you the president has now called out 2,000 more active duty troops to come to the border to help deal with these surge, if you will, these caravans as they continue to come north. lou: thank you very much, william. tijuana growing deadlier by the year as is all of mexico. the fbi accusing a chinese national working for apple of stealing trade secrets related to apple's autonomous car project. this is the second such arrest over the past seven months and

the news comes as the latest round of high level trade talks between the united states and china got under way and it follows recent intellectual property theft charges from the doj against huawei and its chief financial officer. treasury secretary steve mnuchin, however, says all this, they've got two entirely separate matters and one is not considered. >> those are separate issues and that's a separate dialogue, so as it relates to the huawei issues, that's being run by the justice department. i have no involvement in that. i found out about that yesterday when it was announced so those are not part of trade discussions. forced technology issues are part of trade discussions, but any issues as it relates to violation of u.s. law or u.s. sanctions are going through a separate track. lou: joining us tonight, columnist, author, asia expert gordon chang. good to have you here. it's sort of interesting to hear the treasury secretary saying he's not involved in sanctions,

yet he's the one who led the withdrawal of sanctions against three russians, so i'm not quite sure what to make of that. a separate matter, national security apart from trade. but you can't really separate those, can you? >> no, you can't. the reason is you've got the theft of u.s. intellectual property by china, directed from the top of the communist party. it's been going on for decades. when you talk about huawei, for instance, one of those indictments in the state of washington was for the theft of t-mobile technology. we know huawei, which was founded in 1987, was built on stolen cisco technology and of course, these talks in washington that started today, that's i.p. theft, too. lou: does it trouble you that the treasury secretary would be trying to push that kind of nonsense, that there is a separation between national security and forced transfer, which is theft, by the way, it's like saying a bank robber in a bank with a gun is forcing a transfer of currency.

it's idiotic. it is simplistic and it is mindless and hardly straightforward and forthright on the part of the treasury secretary. >> yeah. mnuchin has got to understand this is an issue that cuts across -- lou: he understands. come on. >> i don't know why he says things like that, but the point is, we've got to defend our networks, our i.p. we've got so many instances of china stealing. apple is a target but so is micron technologies. you go down the list of the fortune 500, you go down -- lou: put boeing on the list. put any number of our most advanced manufacturers in technology, in aviation, aerospace, you name it, they have been stealing. both hands, for years and years, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars every year. and when you have a treasury secretary saying idiotic and things like what he's spouting, it makes me wonder about these trade talks. how successful can they be if

they're not going to recognize that the chinese are stealing and they're negotiating, i mean, the united states, the world's only superpower, is negotiating with the chinese and basically saying do you mind, please, don't steal from us, and we'll work out how we compensate you for not stealing from us. that's idiotic. >> yeah. you shouldn't be negotiating with criminals. that's exactly what's going on here with china. because these guys coming in, they know that -- lou: they are enemies of the state. they are, as you pointed out on this broadcast since, you know, forever, these leaders led by xi jinping mean to dominate the globe, not just hegemony. they're not going to be hegemonic leaders. they wouldn't be satisfied with that. they want world domination. >> xi jinping has come out and said look, we need to go back to this imperial era notion that china is the world's only sovereign state.

xi jinping has been talking like this for more than a decade. his foreign minister in 2017 was very explicit, he wants to overthrow the system and he wants china to be the world's only leader. this is ludicrous but they are telling us what they want. lou: absolutely. gordon, as always, good to have you with us. let's hope that these talks go better than it appears they might with the secretary of treasury talking absolute gibberish when it comes to national security, because that's what all of this is about, the security of this nation. thanks so much, gordon. >> thanks, lou. lou: still ahead, the meltdown from the left wing national media, bless their darling hearts. president trump called his intelligence chiefs passive and naive. >> president trump and his intelligence chiefs are worlds apart on isis, russia and the border. >> it's really either woefully naive or i guess arrogant that

you're just going to stick with your gut feeling. >> it was like these intelligence leaders were describing a different planet than the one donald trump inhabits. >> it's not different taking of the facts, if you will. it's ignorance, willful ignorance. >> not agreeing with these conclusions is willful disregard of the facts. >> this is dangerous. lou: they did everything but cluck, for crying out loud. we will take that up with congressman matt gaetz tonight. up next, howard schultz disputes president trump's economic wins. how's he doing in his quest for the presidency? we will take that up and much more after the break. ed rollins joins me. stay with us. carl, i appreciate the invite here. as my broker... what am i paying you to manage my money? it's racquetball time. ♪ carl, does your firm offer a satisfaction guarantee? like schwab does. guarantee? ♪

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lou: let me be among the first, if not the very first, to say it. the silly season is upon us. that's right, everybody's running for president. golly, isn't that exciting? former starbucks chief executive officer and anti-trump billionaire, wait a minute, one of those is redundant. billionaire and anti-trump. seems like every billionaire is anti-trump. it's amazing. but certainly, the 2020 independent hopeful, howard schultz, today refusing to give

president trump credit for the president's historic tax cuts, the booming economy, everything he has done to drive the economy and markets ahead and restore prosperity. here's howard. >> i think the reduction in the corporate tax rate of 21% was wrong and irrational. he missed a massive opportunity for comprehensive tax reform. i do not give him credit for saying for two years that the stock market is a proxy to the economy. he is going to fall on his sword for that, because that economy is not going to last. lou: i will make you a bet, howard. he does something else with that sword and it might entail you. republican senator susan collins of maine saying she's not prepared at this point to endorse president trump for re-election. susan collins. she is always there when you need her, right? the good senator saying she's going to wait and see what happens between now and then, and look at what his record is. we've got his record. collins, what's your record? she also said she can't imagine

she would endorse any of the democrats running right now so there is a glimmer of hope. thank you, senator. joining us tonight for her reagan white house political director, ed rollins. i love the fact that schultz is out there, he's already made a fool of himself and he's just getting started. >> he wants to basically pay the full tax rate, he can do that as ceo of a company. he can go back to 35%, see how well the stockholders feel about that. the absurdity to me is the idea that we now pay five bucks for a cup of coffee, it's made him a fortune. that's the greatness of america but i don't think he will be much of a candidate. lou: he is a beauty on this. i have to say. running as an independent, bloomberg today said, by the way, folks, he's already researched carefully how much money it costs first, then secondly, how effective that investment would be, and he said no, he's not ever going to run

as an independent. >> bloomberg talked to me a number of times in the last four, five years, what you can do. you can't win electoral college. it's all about electoral college. this guy basically, can he win his home state? i don't think so. lou: i think mike bloomberg, on a tangent here a bit, i think bloomberg could have been elected if he had run after his second term. >> right. lou: as a matter of fact, i would have been one of those who would have been interested and excited about it for that. then he had that dismal third term when he got bored, now he's just negative. >> what traditionally happens, an independent has appeal like with bush, bush was collapsing in '92, clinton had moved forward, there was a message at that time, anti-deficit message, but as time goes on, they go back to the two parties. you have 20 some odd democrats going to run. i sense one of them will eventually emerge and donald trump is going to be a very

strong candidate. donald will challenge him and come out in pretty good shape. lou: jeff flake announcing, ladies and gentlemen, he's now going to challenge the president in 2020. >> in kasich runs, it will be as an independent. lou: who? bunch of low energy guys trying to contend with this president. can you imagine. of either party. i have to say, elizabeth warren, her approach so far -- >> here's the step. you move to the left, announce as a candidate and move further to the left as the system goes forward and the country moves more and more towards trump, you will find a lot of energy, lot of the time, lot of resources spe spent. lou: this leftward lurch of the left in this country, i mean, it is breathtaking. >> it's unbelievable.

lou: and are they going to find a point at which they come to their senses -- >> i don't know. lou: probably when -- >> the question you always have to ask, how do you pay for it? how do you pay for it? how do you pay for it? lou: wait a minute. wait a minute. i have been listening to that today from a number of people. i've got to say, i love and respect you deeply, but who the hell amongst the republican party has been paying for anything? can we put up that number on the national debt? the republicans aren't paying for a damn thing. the republicans are pushing government. look at that. do you think that's democrats? >> no, i don't. lou: that's democrats and republicans. i think that the democrats ought to shove it up the nose of republicans when they start talking about how are you going to pay for it. hell, nobody's paying for anything. >> that's a serious problem, as you are articulating very, very well. it was part of the pearl magic. he had flaws as a candidate but at one time was leading both

candidates when he first started off. that deficit issue was very important, still very important to the american public. lou: it's important, but the hacks we keep sending to washington don't give a damn. >> no, they don't. lou: we are going to bankrupt the country and everybody will say well, hell, we tried. >> well, it won't be because they tried. the reality is they will just keep moving forward, moving forward. you will see that in this idiotic committee that's meeting to try to resolve the wall. they will have every single item, they won't come forth for the wall. lou: these chumps are going to say we can't get $5.7, we will give you 4.1 because of our fiscal responsibilities. >> i have never seen appropriators this fiscally conservative. lou: this group never will be. unbelievable. great to see you. thanks for being here. former u.n. ambassador nikki haley revealing how much it cost the establishment to buy her out and off. a new report showing she's now charging $200,000 a speech, the

use of a private jet for those speeches. my gosh. here's a woman, as far as i know, doesn't have anything to say. who the hell's going to pay $200,000? we're going to keep track of it, let me tell you, because that looks and smells fishy as it possibly could. good grief. wait until ambassador bolton finds out. he could have been making $200,000 a pop. up next, what a physical border barrier will do to stop the deadly flow of drugs into our country. we take that up right after the break with former drug enforcement administration agent javier pena, next. stay with us. as someone in witness protection, i can't tell you anything about myself. but believe me... i'm not your average consumer. that's why i switched to liberty mutual. they customized my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and as a man... uh... or a woman... with very specific needs

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lou: well, this report on a poll is really alarming. the poll showing support from the president's base could fall

dramatically if his border wall is blocked by the recalcitrant resistance on capitol hill. this poll was conducted among nearly 3,000 trump voters. it finds that if the president were to fail to build that long-promised border wall, he would lose 43% support from his base. the wall, critically important in every way. joining us tonight is javier pena, a former d.e.a. agent. he led the manhunt for pablo escobar. he is a dedicated great american and we're delighted to have you with us. let's start with the wall. you believe that the wall is absolutely essential, do you not? >> sir, let me start off, that's a complex question. there's no simple solution to all of this. i was an enforcement guy and

what i saw is these traffickers, in any country, we see them in mexico, northern border, the caribbean, you know, corridor coming in, these traffickers do not care. all they want, they want to get their drugs across into our country and they do not care how they'll do it. obviously, as a working guy, as an agent, i wanted more resources, i wanted more technology, intelligence, more of -- lou: did you ever sit down and say please, god, give me a wall? >> no, sir. no, sir, no. lou: why not? >> i never said that. sir, it's like i said, it's complex. we have a lot of those traffickers coming in. we have learned lessons. we learned our lesson when we're chasing pablo escobar. let me just say, the real heroes in all of this were the colombia national police, my partner steve murphy and i were assigned

to the search bloc for pablo escobar and we had never seen a trafficker of this caliber. the violence associated -- lou: he was a first of his kind. the first cartel. he was one of the wealthiest people in the world as a result. how long did it take to bring him down? >> wow, it took about seven to eight years. we concentrated on going after him and like i said, the colombia national police were the heroes in all of this. you know, we need to -- one of the lessons we learned there and what we're doing now, we need to attack the infrastructure. we need to attack it from the bottom all the way to the top. everybody involved, not just going after one person. lou: let me kind of show folks, there was a book written in 1989 by a fellow named tom clancy. tom clancy was not only a terrific thriller writer, he was

connected. he was connected to the military, he was connected to the political leaders in washington, d.c. he wrote this book in 1989 and when we look at what was going on in the country at that point, let's go to the border crisis, we are talking about the d.e.a. that you served so well. from 1989 to last year, the d.e.a. had spent $57 billion. now, let's put up the number here on the cost of opiate abuse and that's the cost of the d.e.a., $57 billion, the annual cost of opiate abuse is $78 billion in this country today. we have watched the increase in drug overdoses from 1990 to 2 7 2017, it quadrupled, the drug overdose deaths in 1990, just over 8,000 in this country. in 2017, 17,000 methamphetamines

seized, in 1990 when tom clancy was writing about successful initiatives, as you served in colombia working with our partners, the colombian government. methamphetamine seized, under 600 pounds. by 2017 it was over 60,000 pounds. heroin in 1990, just over 1,000 pounds. 5,000 pounds last year. marijuana, 280,000 pounds, it rose to 1.2 million pounds. so javier, as you say, the d.e.a. has done a lot and has done what it could, and it is complex, but the fact is we're losing the war on drugs and we have been losing it for 30 damn years. that's the fact. >> yes, sir, i'm glad you brought that up. the opioid crisis, what we see now, yes, it is a fact, i agree with you wholehearted because it's out there, people are dying every day. lou: every damn day. >> now we're starting to see the

counterfeit medication like the legitimate -- lou: fentanyl. >> that's not legitimate. we're trying to see the cancer medication that the traffickers are sending to the united states, we are seeing hiv medication which is false. you know, it's fake medication. it's not there, it's counterfeit and we are buying it. i just hope that legislation, we don't allow this to happen. lou: you know what, i don't have any faith in legislation and i don't have any faith right now in any government, any agency, in stopping it. they are being overwhelmed. >> you are true. we are seeing it, lou, and i'm glad you brought it up. we need that effort, we need that societal effort, more education programs, more enforcement. we need more like you said, help

from faith-based groups, family members. i always tell people, the solution -- lou: i want to just, first of all, it's good to see you. come back soon. >> thank you. i appreciate it. lou: thanks to this president for the first time, he's talking

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maduro. tyson foods and perdue foods recalling chicken nuggets which contained milk origin but weren't labeled correctly. tyson's nuggets may contain install piec small pieces of rubber. the deep freeze in the midwest, deadly. i reported seven deaths tied to the frigid temperatures. chicago reaching a low, imagine this, negative 24 degrees today. wind chills in international falls, minnesota currently driving temperatures to negative 43 degrees. joining us now, congressman matt gaetz. great to have you with us. congressman, i don't know if you were paying much attention to the conference committee, but that looks like an assemblage -- i'm not going to use an unkind

noun as the object. i don't think, after i look at those folks and the masters they serve, i don't think there's a chance in hell of getting a border wall built. what do you think? >> there are no members of the freedom caucus on the conference committee, none of the more prominent conservatives in the congress are on the conference committee and the message from the leadership of both parties is pretty clear. this negotiation is about what democrats in the senate will support and what the president will sign, but i think it's a mistake to exclude people like jim jordan and mark meadows and andy biggs and myself, who are the principal influencers of the president on the more conservative issues. it's almost like if someone was on "lou dobbs tonight" they were ineligible to serve on the conference committee because the folks you like to have tend to lean to the conservative border security side of things, and -- lou: they are all great americans, the folks i like to have on the broadcast. i got to tell you, i hadn't looked at it that way. i guess i'm getting more modest

in my later years. i have to tell you, it is disheartening to think that this is what the president has to put up with and what we have to contend with as a people, because it is appalling. >> i don't think this president's going to sign a bad deal. what he said to me repeatedly is that he's not going to just simply agree that we're going to forever kick the can down the road on this border. he is going to secure the border and i'm glad he's got the sword of damocles hanging over the congress because if we don't do our job, president trump will do his job and he will make sure that a border security barrier is built and we have got to have it, lou. we all know it. it's just insiders in washington in both parties benefit from open borders. lou: let me share with you a couple of comments, if we can go to this, the full screen. the democratic conference committee talking points. we will push for a smart, effective border security

posture, one that does not rely on costly physical barriers, i.e., costly effective barriers. senator shelby, when asked about compromise, including daca or temporary status, he said quote, and this is elegant, don't you think, sometimes broadening the scope in parentheses of the committee, the conference committee, helps because it brings more issues in and helps to move things along. you know, like it's helped so long to refer to comprehensive immigration reform, congressman, over all these 13 years since the first run at it to no avail. i mean, that's washington. the swamp, always wants to expand the problem so you forget that the original problem wasn't solved. it's disgusting. >> another element of the swamp is always to try to pack the room with people who have a more milktoast approach to policy reforms. fortunately we have a bold

president and i think he will take action in two and a half weeks but lou, it's wednesday and congress left town. there's almost nobody here. it's like we've got the french work week going. we came into town monday night and left by wednesday afternoon. regular americans who are in jobs all over this country are still getting after it and it's pretty sad that nancy pelosi didn't even put a border security bill on the floor this week, because she's got a group of her conference that say walls are racist and another group that would probably vote for some walls. lou: unbelievable. meanwhile, no urgency at all despite everything that, you know, the president has alone been educating the american people about that crisis, and the deniers and the democratic party are just, it's stunning to me to see the national left wing media just sort of inhale, then slowly exhale --

>> we got to fight back and make the case that strong borders, safe communities, rising wages, that is the destiny that the american people deserve. it's what our president is fighting for every day and it's about damn time that the conservatives in congress had his back, fought for his priorities and made sure we didn't give up. lou: it would be nice, just a few of the u.s. multinationals and corporate america would stand up with this president, but they won't. congressman matt gaetz, thanks for being here. up next, a target of robert mueller's witch hunt has a new place to work. matt schlap joins me after the break. the deep state. i know you want to leave me for schwab, but before you do that, you should meet our newest team member, tecky. i'm tecky. i can do it all. go ahead, ask it a question. tecky, can you offer low costs and award-winning full service with a satisfaction guarantee, like schwab?

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lou: a big day on wall street. stocks closing much higher, the dow jones industrials up more than 400 points, up 435. the s&p gained 41. the nasdaq, up 155 points. volume on the big board, 3.8 billion shares. the dow jones industrials above 25,000. crude oil closing relatively flat, $54 a barrel. gold and silver up nearly a percent. and the federal reserve keeping interest rates unchanged, as

expected, after fed chair jerome powell said quote, the case for raising rates has weakened somewhat, end quote. he also declared the fed is willing to adjust its bond balance sheet as needed based on the economy and the markets, and the market loved to hear they weren't going to run off on automatic $50 billion a month. a reminder to listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the salem radio network. former low level trump campaign aide george papadopolous flying high in the wake of the mueller witch hunt and his imprisonment. papadopolous announced he's joining the board of advisers of a medical marijuana startup called c3 international. papadopolous recently spent 12 days behind bars for making false statements to mueller's investigators. look out, hillary. here comes robert mueller. joining us tonight, matt schlapp, chairman of the american conservative union, former federal prosecutor sidney power. good to have you both with us.

sidney, let me ask you just very quickly, congressman doug collins today wanted to know from christopher wray why he was using, what is it, 27 vehicles and tactical teams to arrest roger stone. what a display. your thoughts? >> it was one of mueller's prosecutorial terrorist tactics from the get-go, lou. that's what they do. it was a pure intimidation tactic designed to strike terror into mr. stone. lou: what did the taxpayers pay for their cute stunt? >> oh, there's no telling how much it cost. it was absolutely unnecessary. he would have reported voluntarily. lou: wasn't it the same tactic employed against michael cohen, against paul manafort? i mean, at what point does the congress rise up and say stop the nonsense? this congress is a bunch of -- well, they didn't do that. >> wusses. lou: i like your word better

than the one i was going to use. matt, good to see you. what in the world do we make of this conference committee made up of a bunch of k street owned hacks for the most part, deliberating over border security and doing so with no urgency whatsoever despite people dying, the devastation of those drugs, sex trafficking, human smuggling across the border, who are these people and why do we put up with them? >> well, look, congress is really on trial. it's their job to get the funding to build this wall, and i think what the president is trying to do is make it very clear that if they won't do their job, he's got to look at every conceivable way to get this done. if we don't get this done, lou, nou th you know this, if we don't get this done now, we will never get on top of what's going on on our southern border. it's dangerous, it's unhelpful to the future economic growth of our country. lou: what does the president do,

declare a national emergency -- >> going to have to. lou: no discussion about daca, no nonsense about amnesty, tell k street, the chamber, the business roundtable, the koch brothers and wall street to go to hell, is that right? >> i think that's right. i think in the president's mind, he's seeking a legislative soluti solution, but if he's got no other choice, he has to declare the emergency -- lou: that's a split opinion about whether or not the degree to which he can be delayed. it would only be a delaying tactic. he obviously has constitutional authority. >> i agree. lou: so what do you think, sidney? >> there are steps to take before declaring a national emergency. he can stop all immigration. he has the absolute authority to do that and he can also build the wall under department of defense provision, i think -- lou: that's okay. don't worry about it. we're not going to double-check

the code. >> okay. but there's a provision that allows him to use department of defense funds because of the drug corridor, not to mention the egregious human trafficking issue. lou: by the way, it's a straightforward matter. it isn't a question of requiring any supplemental congressional action. >> no, it doesn't. and the money's there. lou: matt? >> the money is there. lou: the money is there, and is the president there. >> i hope so. by the way, it's our money. it's the money we pay in our taxes. we have an emergency at our southern border. the american people are for border security. they know barriers work. we've got to get this done. >> we do. we do have to get it done. he can do it. lou: we have consensus on the broadcast tonight. great to have you both with us. thanks so much. >> thank you, lou. lou: up next, national security at the forefront of trade talks between the united states and china, but the treasury

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electric fuel property. >> it's been going on for decades. when you talk about huawei, one of those indictments in washington was for the theft of t-mobile technology. huawei was built on stolen cisco technology. and these talks in washington that started today, that's i.p. theft, too. lou: a bipartisan conference of lawmakers meeting today. the president tweeting any talk not including a barrier is a waste of time. lou: blood in the streets, a terry pike crime thriller, we recommend it to you. we thank you for joining us. good night from new york. see you tomorrow.

[♪] trish: socialist dictator nicolas maduro increasingly isolated and getting weak as the international community condemns his presidency. i just got off the phone with the interim president of venezuela. a russian plane flown from moscow lands in venezuela. there are reports the plane is being used to