lou: good evening, everybody. here we go, it appears the days of reckoning have arrived for the radical dems and the deep state who conspired to overthrow the president of the united states. attorney general william barr is escalating the investigations of the appointment of a special counsel, appointing a u.s. attorney to examine the origins of the russian witch hunt. president trump today welcomed the attorney general's decision. finish. >> i think it's a great thing that he did it. i saw it last night, and they want to look at how that whole hoax got started. it was a greatest hoax ever

perpetrate thed on the people of this country. and you know what? i am so proud of our attorney general that he is looking into it. i think it's great. lou: and tonight we look at the corrupt genesis of the greatest political scandal in our nation's history. harmeet dhillon, ed rollins among our guests tonight. and our southern border corrupt to the boundary lines that run for 2,000 miles. cartels wield power on both sides of the border. our border patrol arresting illegal immigrants at a rate unseen in years. many of the illegal immigrants entering our nation's border as fake families. the president has declared a national emergency. the pentagon has sent in more troops, more money has been added for the construction of the wall. what more needs to be done? we take that up with u.s. attorney for the western district of texas, john bash. and the markets today rebounding as investors realize some wall

street firms were hyping tariffs and their impact on america's economy. >> we're having a little squabble with china because we've been treated very unfairly for many, many decades, for actually a long time. and it should have been handled a long time ago, and it wasn't, and we'll handle it now. i think it's going to be, i think it's going to turn out extremely well. we're in a very strong position. lou: we take that up and much more tonight. james freeman, christian whiton among our guests. and we begin with breaking news. fox news has confirmed that donald trump jr. has agreed to testify before the senate intelligence committee, likely sometime in june. last week intel committee chair senator richard burr issued a subpoena for trump jr. despite senate majority leader mitch mcconnell declaring the russia case over. and today mcconnell was doing something to which we are

accustomed, he was backtracking. >> none of us tell chairman burr how to run his committee. i asked him to undertake this investigation of russian collusion a couple of years ago. we are hoping that we'll get a report on that subject sometime soon. lou: mcconnell's comments about who leads the committee completely unnecessary. we all know who runs the senate intelligence committee. it certainly is not richard burr but, rather, senator mark warner of virginia, the ranking democrat. trump jr.'s agreement to testify comes after a full day of developments in which attorney general william barr made good on his promise to investigate the investigators. barr appointed u.s. attorney john durham, a known bulldog prosecutor, highly respected, to lead the investigation of the shady origins of the radical dems and deep state conspiracy

to overthrow the president. over the course of his career, durham has investigated fbi agents who protected the gangster whitey bulger, investigated the destruction of cia interrogation tapes and cia officials who carried out so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. barr's appointment of durham set off hysteria among some of the radical dems and the deep state who recognize their conspiracy and cover-up is beginning to unravel and, perhaps, unravel in full public view. none of the radical dems more hysterical than senator blumenthal. >> the investigation is a politically motivated distraction. it's a waste of john durham's talent. it's a net to his reputation -- a threat to his reputation for being a straight shooter, serious and straightforward prosecutor. lou: there's a man who tried to

talk with nothing to say. radical, the radical left has every reason to be hysterical, of course. en tonight the fox's catherine herridge reporting that in december 2016 fired former fbi director james comey had e-mail discussions about using the unverified steele dossier as part of the intel community's assessment on russian interference. those comey e-mails also alleging former cia director john brennan was insistent that fraudulent, the fraudulent dossier be included in the assessment. joining us tonight, former reagan white house political director, fox business political analyst, the savant himself, ed rollins. >> thank you. lou: let's start with, first, richard blumenthal babbling on. i couldn't make head nor tails of what he was saying other than he was, obviously, more than just a little concerned about being the subject of the investigation. >> well, certainly, this is his hometown or home state u.s. attorney, and obviously, a man

with tremendous reputation, a longtime justice department official who'll end up being the political appointee up this. he's been very thorough in his investigation in the past. he went to boston, took on the f or bi, has taken on the cia before, so my sense -- and this is being done in the right way. the justice department still is running it through one of its u.s. attorneys so barr's not excluded, he'll get to the bottom of this, hopefully. lou: and beginning now, we are going to see all of the force of the investigative powers of the government shift from the white house where it's been for over two years counting the fbi investigation, the special counsel investigation. now those resources and manpower are going to be focused on the origin of the largest scandal in this country's history; that is, what appears to be solidly a conspiracy to overthrow the president of the united states. >> no question about that. what brennan and his cia people were doing putting fisa

documents together, i mean, he is a partisan hack. i've said that on this show before. anybody that knows him, is exactly that. he reported directly to the president for political purposes. not just for the cia purposes. and my sense is they need to get hill, they need to get everybody else that was involved in this and put the big spotlight on this and out get to the bottom of it so it never happens again. lou: to make sure that it never happens again is the president's wish, as he's stated a number of times. but it is awfully hard to insure that the radical dems are going to be, to what degree stopped in their tracks because they're still lying. they're using legislative power to to, as a political weapon. now that they've used executive power as a political end weapon, they've turned to the congress they've just taken control of. >> the reality is they're not getting anywhere, and the good thing about this special investigation is i assume they'll have a grand jury very quickly, and it'll be away from the congress. it'll be in the legal system.

the congress, i think, you know, the democrats have basically overplayed their hand already. they don't know whether to shoot or go blind. i mean, they're really, these people are, basically, every time they get up this, they look like fools. so my sense is it's one thing to have oversight and committees on departments, but this has become trying to get the president and his family, and that's outrageous. lou: and going after the president's financial records is still the persisting -- >> right. lou: and the judge expressing skepticism, apparently, in court that the president can protect his records from the house of representatives. this is getting uglier, it's getting increasingly ignorant as obama-appointed judges are falling in line with whatever the congress wants and whatever the president wants is immediately rejected. >> well, my sense -- lou: in most cases. >> this'll go all the a way to the supreme court before it's finalized. the quicker that happens, the

better it is. and i think the reality is we have a good conservative court now and at the end of the day you've got to decide what the president's powers are, what the congress' powers are. most of us i think are very clear, the president has the powers here, and he's being persecuted and prosecuted. >> i think it should be -- well, without question, brilliantly obvious to anyone who watches nadler and schiff that they belong nowhere on the committees they chair, let alone being the chairs of those committees. >> and the people on the committee are outrageous too. so my exsense is the more -- sense is the more exposure they get, the more they shoot their mouths off. lou: i would prefer a hard-fought ballot with, you know, i would just like to see republicans shed their rino hide and come out swinging. but, you know, as you watch them, barrasso and blunt and senator mcconnell, you think,

my god, what are you going to do with -- you know, it's milk toast against these hyenas. >> they're in a hand grenade fight, and they better learn how to throw it back at hem. lou: ed, thanks so much. up next, john durham's appointment sends deep state hacks like james clapper into a panic. >> we're kind of losing sight of what was the cause of all this, the predicate for all this was the russians. lou: yeah. [laughter] that is exactly what they found was not the predicate. we'll set clapper straight again, attorney harmeet dhillon joins us. also immigration and custom enforcement exposes a sham marriage scheme helping illegal immigrants gain, guess what in u.s. citizenship. and an unsuspecting fisherman getting the surprise of a lifetime. that looks like quite a surprise, doesn't it? we'll have that and much more

right after the break. stay with us. ♪

♪ ♪ >> it's really a tough situation because my son spent, i guess, over 20 hours testifying about something that mueller said was

100% okay. and now they want him to testify again. i don't know why. i have no idea why. but it seems very unfair to me. lou: and joining us now to take up that question and much more, harmeet dhillon, managing barter in after the -- partner at the dhillon law group. great to have you with us. let's get to the president's question. why -- and we've received word that they've, apparently, with the committee worked out a deal where he will, indeed, appear for 1-2 hours and on a narrow basis respond to questions. >> well, i can't think of a proper legislative purpose or an oversight role for the senate or the house to be asking further questions. this inquiry is over. the democrats need to accept and come to terms with the fact that they host and that there was nothing there -- they lost and that there was nothing there, and the only thing that can be

gained by hauling someone in is to trap some person in a perjury trap. i'm really disappointed to see the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, going along with senate burr's abuse of this process. lou: and i think as nearly the entire republican party, i would think would be, if not the entire republican party, we know there are some exceptions bade for rinos, but this is obscene to watch. and to have mitch mcconnell standing there with roy blunt on one side and john barrasso, the leadership of the republican party saying he's got -- he doesn't tell burr what to do, as i said earlier in the broadcast, that's clear. because we know that it's mark warner running the entire senate committee. it's sickening to watch. i just can't imagine that he is going to be helpful on many issues at allen beyond judges.

at all, beyond judges. >> well, you know, what can i say, i think we've seen the outer limits of what we can expect if these folks. it's disappointing. i hope we get past this particular episode and move on. you know, as we know, lou, democrats aren't willing to accept this. the whole point of in the russia hoax and inquiry was to gum up the wheels of power in washington and make sure that the president can't get his substantive agenda accomplished, and it's sad to seeing republicans complicit in that goal. lou: mcconnell should have been, with his adjuncts beside him, demanding mark warner testify before that committee rather than continue to run it through, you know, the just -- it's deplorable. deplorably weak, senator richard burr. let's turn to some bright news for the country as well as for the president here, to see the investigators being investigated. the attorney general doing

exactly what he promised he would do with the senate judiciary committee. he's going after the investigators and their corrupt, the corrupt origins of the witch hunt that amounted to persecution of this president for over two years. >> well, yes. so i'm encouraged to see the, the investigate started by mr. durham. but on the other hand, i want to put a caution out there which is that it appears from a recent news article -- and, of course, we don't know how accurate this is, but it hook like the initial reports coming out about this is that it's not actually going to be a full-fledged criminal investigation as yet. it's simply going to be a review of the existing evidence that's already been collected. i question if that's the role of this new investigation by the u.s. attorney durham, whether that's really just redundant of what the inspector general horowitz is doing and some of the other work that's been done. because without the prosecutorial power, power to subpoena, power to ask

questions, you know, we're really just rehashing old news, and nothing more is going to happen. so i hope it's not the case that this is just a panacea to the right to make sure that something is being done, quote-unquote. because without some prosecutions, nothing really will end up being done here. lou: if there are any gambits, any gambits on this now, it'll be not only disappointing, but destructive to the president's 2020 chances with the base. i mean, the president has been insistent to the degree that he can be. william barr strikes me as a man of great integrity as well as talent. i don't know the man that, durham, that he's put in place, but he has, apparently, he has a terrific reputation. do you know him? and what do you think of him personally? professionally? >> i do not know him personally. professionally are, he has an outstanding reputation. and if so this is no criticism of him as an individual. it is a question of what powers is he being granted and what is

his brief, what is he being asked to do. now, of course, it could be the case that step one is you review the existing evidence and then determine whether you then want to bring somebody in front of a grand jury for an indictment. so, hopefully, that is the case if this is going in phases. but if this is just sort of another inspector general, backward-looking effort, then it is meaningless. because unless people are held accountable, and i mean thrown in prison for violating our laws and abusing the civil rights of american citizens, then we are going to see this repeated again and again and again. and it is a disgraceful chapter in our law enforcement history. lou: you're not instilling great confidence in us tonight with your outlook for this, for the prospects of this investigation by in the u.s. attorney appointed by the attorney general. talk to us about what you think is happening, the judiciary committee setting the 21st as the date for the former white house counsel don mcgahn to

testify. this is, the president says no. what is going to happen here? because i have to tell you, i still have never heard of -- let alone a president, but anyone's attorney standing up talking to the prosecutors of their client. for 30 hours. >> right. so this is, you know, to use the overused theater kabooky theater, this is theater. they do not expect don mcgahn to obey that subpoena because he is attorney-bound not just by political scruples, but by his legal ethics, and he cannot testify against his client's consent without incurring a potential, you know, bar trouble. so the next step after this when he does not testify is then we're going to be at a bit of an impasse. i've heard adam schiff say publicly that he's weighing things like, you know, issuing fines to witnesses -- lou: yes. >> -- of the trump

administration, that's about as likely as throw thing people into the broom closet or the capitol jail that they keep talking about. it's fantasy island, it's not happening. they don't have authority to do that -- lou: yeah, but, you know what -- >> i think it's an impasse. i don't think they're going to be able to do anything like it other than fundraising and advertisements off of it. lou: and, you know what? the republicans should be inventive enough to come up with a response to this nonsense. instead, they watch it all wash by, and we get to see more pictures of barrasso, mcconnell and blunt playing their parts as the milk toast emblems of the republican party. it's a pretty pathetic optic, if you will. you get the last word here. >> well, look, i just want to go back to the issue of -- lou: remember the quick word part. >> and i would say let's withhold judgment. i don't want to jump to any conclusions yet. i hold out hope that the i'll eventually find his mark. lou: i like the way which you are so optimistic on one hand,

but on the other, so skeptical of the prospects -- >> it's fact-based, lou. experience-based and fact-based. lou: in which case, i accept both. thanks so much, as always. >> thanks, lou. lou: somebody may soon be investing in a bigger boat. a whale watcher finding himself in exactly -- that's right, you just saw it. watch this, incredible. capturing this amazing moment. >> oh! lou: is that not incredible? what, 10, 15 feet away from that boat? a lumpback whale -- humpback whale leaping out of the ocean. that's in monterey, california. it missed the fishing boat by not much. the photographer said if he were the fisherman -- well, we will leave that rest to your imagination. up next, president trump downplays the idea of our troops heading to the persian gulf.

>> would i to that? absolutely. but we have not planned for that. hopefully, we're not going to have to plan for that. and if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that. where was that story, in "the new york times"? well, "the new york times" is fake news. [laughter] lou: we'll have that and much more right after the break. former state department adviser christian whiton with us tonight.

lou: breaking tonight, iranian-backed houthi rebels claiming responsibility for drone attacks on two the pump stations on one of saudi arabia's oil pipelines. the second attack on saudis' oil infrastructure in the past several days. an initial assessment by u.s. officials suggested that iran or their the proxies may have been involved in this weekend's sabotage attack on four oil tankers near the strait of or

hormuz as well. the ongoing tear ref dispute between -- tariff dispute between the united states and china the, well, alarming or encouraging wall street depending on your theory of wall street. the koch brothers, the chamber of commerce as well. but economist john lonski and bill lee, with me last night, to reminded all investors and everyone paying attention to some of the propaganda coming out of wall street why tariffs are required the slash a worsening trade deficit that has cost at least $5 trillion over the last 20 years trade with china. >> this could lead to who knows down the road a further radicalization of some of these people, of the working class that are very upset about this situation. it's a good thing that trump shed some light on this type of imbalance. let's not forget the fact that somebody's being hurt by this $4.5 trillion cumulative trade deficit with china over the past 20 years.

>> the one important thing that tariffs did was to change the supply chain. and what president trump is trying to do strategically is use bilateral tariffs to change bilateral supply chains in favor of the u.s. that's the strategy. it's not this nonsense of reducing multilateral deficits, it's shifting the burden onto our friends and putting the price on china. lou: and joining us tonight, christian whiton, senior fellow at the center for the national interest, former state department senior adviser in the trump and george w. bush administrations. at first, christian, going to the issue of the president's -- what does he call it, a little squabble with china over what is $5 trillion the of lost, lost economic growth in this country over 20 years with china. he has now educated just about everyone, it seems, but wall street who are investing, obviously, their own book in

china the instead of following the president's lead and talking straight and honestly with their clients about what the impact of these tariffs and these deficits truly are. >> right. i thinked today you saw main street get back in the market in a rebuke to the wall street. we had more than a trillion dollars of market capitalization lost over what? our relationship with china is so lopsided, last year we exported only $120 billion in goods but imported $540 billion in goods. we're also of the major economic trading blocs around the world the one that's least susceptible to exports. we have a great free trade area, it's called the united states of america. wall street doesn't get that, but i think main street does. lou: and the chinese, of course, the state media talking about the people's war. they can dress that up any way they want to in the semantics and the cultural code, but they're talking about outright conflict with the united states as a number of their generals

and admirals have over the course of the past two years. this president has been far tougher than they ever dream he would be and telling them, basically, either you're going to get serious about ending your theft of u.s. intellectual capital and technology, you're going to get serious about a balanced trade relationship, or it's just not going to work out so well for you. >> right. i think they're still slow in picking this up. you know, a lot of their paid advisers, whether it's the mainstream media -- they read "the new york times" -- or whether it's the think tanks they have bought off or henry kissinger who squires american ceos through china to meet the gang, they have been told -- they were told mueller was going to get trump, that trump was unpopular, that the economy was going in the tank. all of that was completely wrong, and that caused them to misread trump. i think they're still going to try and wait him out, but they're going to be waiting an awfully long time. the united states is in a very

powerful position here, and they are not. lou: yeah. i think it's becoming quickly clearer to them. it may require a little more time. also i would not doubt for a moment that part of the game is pretend thing to be surprised at the strength of the president hoping that they might just get lucky in a negotiation. they got lucky, but it wasn't good luck for them. let's turn to iran. and the president today making it clear he is still not interested in a ground war with iran or anyone else. but at the same time, he's not going to put up with any more nonsense. again, two presidents before him put up with a lot of nonsense. and, by the way, put up with the killing of thousands of our troops in iraq by iran. directly and indirectly. >> right. and iran has seen itself as being at war with the united states since the islamic regime came to power in 1979. you mentioned all the americans

they killed in iraq. of course, they took americans hostage, it goes on and on and on. what we're seeing there is what iran always does, which is fight through proxies so they don't invade israel, but they have hezbollah on the northern border. they don't invade southern israel, they have hamas down there. they have their instrumentalities working in yemen and saudi arabia in the houthis. yes, you are seeing the president, it's jack jacksonian. it's not interventionist, not neoconservativist, he does not want to get in a ground war in iran, but demonstrating force and doing so in a way that plays to our advantage. lou: as we're running out of time, let me just ask you very quickly, why not make it very clear to the ayatollahs that if you mess if further with us, we will not commit troops, but we will reduce your entire infrastructure to dust? and by that i mean their entire oil industry upon which they're

utterly dependent? >> i think that's exactly the right thing to do. i think they should know that, but especially taking out their oil refining capabilities and also the centrifuges to make uranium and the reprocessing facility to make plutonium. we could really have them in a bad position. lou: christian whiton, as always, great to see you. >> thank you, lou. lou: chinese telecommunications giant huawei says it's willing to sign no-spy agreements with governments that do business with them all around the world. the u.s. state department said convincing our allies not to adopt huawei's 5g technology has become a top priority. the u.k., by the way, is deciding whether or not to allow huawei to work on its 5g infrastructure. the united states making it clear to the u.k. that we will not share intelligence with them if they do. up next, a new twist on the immigration crisis involving sham marriages. and "the wall street journal"'s

james freeman joins me to the take up the president's tough stance on china and mexico still a problem. we'll be right back after this. ♪ ♪

lou: immigration potentials discovers been rate marriage fraud scheme, nearly a hundred people stand accused of staging marriages to help illegal immigrants become

u.s. citizens at least get their citizenship fraudulently, of course. i.c.e. says illegals would pay a texas woman outside of houston operating out of her house for marriage licenses and whatever benefits she could scare up, some of them paying as much as $70,000. of course, they never intended to live together or actually be in a marriage with their fraudulent spouses. joining us tonight is john bash, he's u.s. attorney for the western district of texas, and it is great to have you with us, john. >> thank you, lou. lou: the stories that are coming to us now from the border, the surge that is extraordinary in the number of people and the new ways in which they are defrauding the customs and border protection and citizenship and immigration services is astonishing, particularly the cry for asylum. >> that's absolutely right, lou.

i mean, i hope your viewers -- and i'm sure they do -- understand the nature of the crisis we have right now. we have so many families flooding across the border all over the southern border that it's fulling border patrol -- pulling border patrol resources out of the field to take care of these families. that's a humanitarian imperative. we have to take care of the families and these little babies. there's fewer people in the field to actually interdict drug traffickers, gang members, all sorts of violent criminals that can now come into the country more easily. it's a huge, huge problem, and people aren't paying enough attention to it. lou: and tom homan, the former acting immigration and customs enforcement director here calling last night, calling for an absolute quick turn around, moving immigration judges to the border instead of sitting far away from the problem, getting out there and start turning those cases around immediately. irrespective of the backlog, just move in and get it done.

how helpful do you think that would be? >> well, it would be hugely helpful to have a more ebbs we dishes -- expeditious process for processing these asylum claims. right now only 13% of the people that show up at the border and claim asylum actually win that claim at the end of the day. but because we have an 8 or 9,000 the case backlog, just making the claim almost guarantees you the ability to live and work in the united states for years. that is what we call the pull factor. that is what is driving people to come to the border, cross it illegally. they know if the claim has no merit, they can be here for years, and that's the problem at the core of our immigration system for now. just to be clear, do you know who that hurts the most? legitimate asylum seekers, because now they have to wait for years until they can get certainty that they can stay here. lou: and this is relatively easily fixed. as tom homan points out. this just is a matter of will

power within the permanent bureaucracy itself. >> absolutely. absolutely. lou: and in the business in new mexico, for example, where the governor there, she pulled, she pulled the guard off the line. she -- the checkpoints are no more there. now i don't know who paid her off or if she was paid off, but i do know this, that that means the cartels are controlling both sides to have new mexico/mexico border as a result. what can we do about that? >> well, that checkpoint issue's a big problem, and that's the same exact problem we were talking about which is border patrol agents are being pulled out of the field because they have to care for this influx of families. what we need more than anything is, one, asylum reform, process those claims a lot quicker, but we also need more physical infrastructure and communications technology the down at the border. you know, i hear these so-called experts say the wall doesn't work. if you go out and talk to any border patrol agent in the field, he or he will tell you if

we have a wall near an urban center, that makes a huge difference for us because illegal immigrants can't just walk into a city and disappear around a corner or get in a car. they actually have to go around into less populated areas or try to climb over, or they simply can't pass. any border patrol agent will tell you we need more physical barriers down at the border. lou: and the president has been telling the country that for over, almost three years now. it is three years now that we desperately need that border. it's a national emergency. the border patrol, as you say, are the ones that he relied on for counsel on that wall. and right now we can't, we can't even get enough manpower to proceed with the remain in mexico policy that would leave those folks in mexico with a ninth circuit court victory. we still don't have the leadership in place to move the border patrol in that direction. >> that's right, lou.

and thank god for that victory in the ninth circuit. so many other policies that would actually make a real dent in this immigration policy, immigration problem have been enjoined by a single judge sitting somewhere, enjoys it -- enjoins it nationwide. and the ninth circuit has put that wait in mexico policy, but getting that back in place legally is one step. we need the resources to the implement that policy. lou: and, of course, we didn't even get to the issue of interior enforcement, which is also part of the solution. >> of course. lou: john bash, thank you, and come back soon. we appreciate it. >> thank you, lou. lou: u.s. attorney john bash, the western district of the state of texas. up next, president trump knows who's coming out on top of the trade dispute with china. >> really, the ideal is make their products in the usa. that's what i really want. you know what? you want to know something? do you want to know something? we always win. we always win. ♪ lou: "the wall street journal"'s

james freeman joins us right after the break. stay with us. winning. winning. i like the sound of that, don't yo termites, feasting on homes 24/7. we're on the move. roger. hey rick, all good? oh yeah, we're good. we're good. termites never stop trying to get in, we never stop working to keep them out. terminix. defenders of home.

lou: joining me now, james freeman, s the assistant editor at "the

wall street journal," author, best selling author, fox business contributor and great american. >> wow. lou: good to see you. >> good to be here, thanks. lou: market came back today, and as i listened to goldman sachs and some of the other firms, i was thinking the maybe they were talking their book, because they've got so much chinese money at play on their profit and loss statement. i'm sure that's wrong. oh, no, it is right. they do have a huge, huge chinese clientele and a huge chinese market, don't they? >> you know, lou, the market is much bigger than goldman sachs. so i think what the message of today was -- lou: wait, wait, wait -- >> investors all around the world saying we don't like tariffs. lou: ah. you know, that's just a screwball kind of concept, because i think what people are saying is they don't like deficits which have cost us $5 trillion in economic growth over 20 years. they're not saying too much about tariffs because they're

being interpreted by the same folks who are making a lot of money with the chinese, whether it's in the junk bond market, whether it's in the equities market, treasuries, you name it, they're playing hard. and they are not listening to the president of the united states. they're not -- and, by the way, these guys, they're not many dummies among them. they know exactly what they're doing, and they know it's deleterious to the working man and woman and family, the nation itself. they're putting their interest in china ahead of the interest of the united states. and it's that simple. they're unregistered foreign agents, for crying out loud. >> well, i don't think it's quite that simple. i think, obviously, this is a tax. government is collecting money. it's the impeding trade. lou: it impedes trade? >> now, if this is a tool -- lou: wait, wait, whoa. explain something to me. [inaudible conversations] what is a half a trillion in this deficit es do? >> trade deficits. lou: yes, what does that do?

to our economy? >> well, as we know, there are many times that trade deficits have coincided -- lou: are you, you've got to be able to use anglo-saxon words, because you're highly educated, highly intelligent, and you're an editor, for crying out loud, at the "wall street journal". >> well, appreciate it. lou: explain to me how a half trillion dollars is acceptable, that an international trading system that has all of these imbalances -- >> it's acceptable if it's the result of free choices with all of us choosing to buy stuff from them. what's not acceptable, i think everyone agrees, is china, chinese companies stealing our patents, our copyrighted material, our trade secrets. so if this tariff tool works to get the chinese to become a sort of a rule of law country and respect our property -- lou: do you know how long it took the president of the united states to school all of america on that? he said very simple, tariffs won't hurt anybody if you don't

buy chinese goods. >> they do make things more expensive for everyone. you're limit aring choices, you're making some products more expensive -- lou: well, of course you are. it's called cause and effect. >> yeah. lou: that's exactly what we to happen. we want to get rid of deficits. we want balanced trade. we want american jobs, not chinese jobs. as the president says, he represents america. xi jinping represents the other side. >> yeah. lou: what side is wall street on? >> they want growth -- lou: ah, they want growth. you can't -- [inaudible conversations] say to me that wall street is on the american side. that should tell you -- >> well, you're saying wall street, and what's -- stock prices -- lou: do you want me to go down the names of each firm on wall street? >> it's not just wall street firms. it's all investors, it's all of us -- lou: i'm talking about market makers. i am talking about intermediaries. i am talking about wall street firms, and you know full well

the difference. >> i know that all investors -- lou: why would you obfuscate, james? [laughter] >> i'm not. lou: i mean, you're obfuscating a reality, that this president is righting the wrongs of 40 years in this country, consecutive trade deficits with bought-out economists and academia backing corporate u.s. multi-nationals -- >> look, i -- if it works, i'm all for it. lou: i'm talking to you -- >> leveraged, get them to change, that's great. and i don't mean to suggest that the chinese are being reasonable. they're not. i mean, in the -- lou: what do you suggest? why don't you just say it? >> open your economy, stop stealing stuff and let's have free trade and zero tariffs. that should be the goal. lou: it should be the goal. how's he doing? >> we don't know yet. the market is telling you this -- [inaudible conversations] lou: the problem with our conversation. we're having this conversation

prematurely. for that, i apologize. but nonetheless, i'm going to take your temperature week by week in the weeks ahead, if you don't mind -- >> sounds good. lou: because it's fun. good to see you, partner. >> good to be here. lou: up next, attorney general barr takes a new step towards uncovering the corruption of the deep state and the radical dems. we'll have more on that right after these quick messages. i can't tell you who i ams. or what i witnessed, but i can tell you liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

lou: on wall street stocks closed higher following yesterday's huge selloff. the dow today the up more than 200 points, the s&p up 23, the nasdaq up 87. volume dropping down a bit to 3.3 billion shares. a reminder to listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the salem radio network. fox news has confirmed donald trump jr. agreeing to testify before richard burr's or mark warner's -- whose intelligence committee is it really? anyway, they're going to talk in june. attorney harmeet dhillon tonight blasted what's passing for legislative oversight on capitol hill. >> and the only thing that could be gained by hauling seb to retestify about something that he's already testified about before is to trap that person with some tricky question in a perjury trap. that's not a legitimate function, and i'm really disappointed to see the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, going along with senator burr's abuse of this process.

lou: and tomorrow here, attorneys victoria tins thing, joe degin v.a., national security expert k.t. the mcfar loan. follow me on twitter, like me on facebook and instagram. thanks for being cheryl: here are your market movers at 5:00 a.m. moments ago the u.s. state department ordered nonemergency government employees to get out of iraq, right away. tensions growing between neighboring iran and the u.s., although both countries insist neither is seeking war. president trump touting his america first energy policy in louisiana, just hours after saying a trade deal with china could absolutely happen and much faster than people think. well, the faa in the hot today, the acting administrator heads to capitol hill where he's going to face questions over his agency's ties with boeing and two deadly crashes involving the 737 max jet. an