dragons. >> i don't mind the dragons. i think it is gruesome. stuart: none of the people around here ever seen it. executive producer watched the who egg thing. that is your problem, justin. it is yours, neil. neil: defense secretary patrick shanihan is a guy might be conducting saying potential attack has been put on hold. we'll hear from the former u.s. special operations commander. he is out with a riveting book right now that dove sales his entire career, admiral william mcraven joining us. markets bouncing back on news we're pulling back some of the blacklisted exemptions with companies that do business with huawei. that has not stopped the chinese government indicating this could be a long protracted affair. xi xinping is on the wires saying this is a long march. signaling no immediate end to the impasse that has dragged on

better than 14 months. edward lawrence on where things stand. reporter: neil, we'll get into that just about a second. 30 minutes from now the u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer will have lunch with republican senators here on capitol hill. he will update them on the status of usmca and other trade talks. this is the big push for the administration and usmca an ratification for it. a number of republicans were on the record if steel and aluminum tariffs with mexico and canada that usmca would have trouble being ratified. that has cleared up. he is going to be asked questions about the status of the u.s.-china relations talks. a spokesperson are the chinese foreign ministry accusing the u.s. misusing state power to crack down on companies. quote, trade investment relationship between countries must be equal and mutually beneficial. the chinese government has the determination and the ability to

safeguard its legitimate lawful rights and interests. a spokesperson goes on to say that it is unprofessional and unscientific to think that the u.s. always loses in a trade negotiation with china. no talks have been scheduled coming up. this has a number of companies very nervous about it. it also has the chinese president talking about weaning themselves off of the united states. in a speech that he made today, president xi xinping made a speech on his tour around china today saying they must wean themselves off the united states, talking about self-reliance going forward. he is also warning folks in china to be prepared for the long haul. be prepared for what he is calling as you said, the long march with trade tariffs. neil? neil: thank you very much, my friend. to susan li on something that got stocks reversing losses yesterday. semiconductor issues were taking it on the chin. getting a little bit of a reprieve because of some negotiating room. what is going on?

reporter: 90-day temporary relief for huawei and customers. after they were placed on a trade black lis. commerce department says this short license will allow operations continue for existing mobile moan phone users and broadband networks. huawei is taking over apple this year. they run on google's android operating system. google said they were suspending all business activities with huawei. transfer of software, hardware, key technical services. with this reprieve google said keeping phones up to date is secure and in everyone's best interests. this temporary license allows us to provide updates and security patches for at least the next 90 days. huawei phone buyers were cut off some of google most popular add-ons including gmail and more. u.s. wireless carriers will get the three month to move away from using huawei equipment. at least we'll be able to communicate with huawei

throughout this process with that blacklist they were not able to. in short this 90-day relief is to give huawei suppliers and customers more time to adjust to the trade ban without really disrupting their operations and really disrupting the markets. we're seeing recovery in the huawei suppliers, qualcomm, xilinx and more. as for huawei we heard from the company's founder in a press conference in asia-pacific last night. he said the current actions by american politicians underestimated out power in the 5g technology front. others won't definitely catch up with huawei for another two or three years. neil, looks like "the wall street journal" is reporting that huawei is moving towards more their european customers, account for 27% of their revenue. neil: those are the same customers who wouldn't go along with this huawei ban. so it is interesting. how that will sort out you know. >> exactly. relying on better customers if you're to the getting love from the u.s. neil: pit them against each other. susan li, thank you very, very

much. today was retail reporting day. a lot of the big retailers reporting numbers by and large kind of disappointed with the exception of one or two. jcpenney's ceo on the wires saying tariffs will have meaningful impact on the company. market watcher mark luschini and veer nokia veronique de rugy. this is prebigger tariffs coming into play, so play that out? >> i think we've seen a lot of volatility for the last six months because of the trade wars and that there was always the hope that things were going to be resolved and not resolved in massive price increase and i think i think investors are starting to realize that the --

are coming up actually this may very well happen and i think we're going to see, while in the first, until now, every month it was going up and down, ended up in a positive overall, maybe the first month where it doesn't happen. i don't know. we still have, nine days to go. so it is going to be interesting and there's no doubt about it, i mean i think people are reading this properly. the tariffs coming up is going to mean this time around a big sticker, price shock for consumers. a lot of vinyl goods are in the list of impacted by the tariffs. neil: right. >> and so, yeah, they're -- neil: they don't know what to expect but mark, a lot of people are still confused about tariffs. governments don't pay them, we do. you know the president does a lot of crowing about all the money coming into the treasury as a result of these tariffs but you know, that's on us. i'm wondering if you expect, if come june 1st, when most of these tariffs kick in, that

they're going to have a substantial hit to the economy? or have people been braced for this, find lower-priced alternatives for this, what do you think? >> neil, a couple of things on that front. it is a bigger worry as it relates to what could be applied to the remaining tranche of $325 billion worth of imports against which perhaps 25% could be applied. 40% of that total 325 billion is consumer-related goods. so it will clearly have some kind of impart with regard to inflationary impulse, more like a tax as opposed to something sustained beyond one year still is going to have obviously an impact on consumer spending over the second half of the year. while certain adjustments might be made by consumption, certain just meant will be made by companies that can't pass along fully price increases to reflect the margin impact as a consequence. at the end of the day it will find its way into the consumer

and eat away at their pocketbook at a time obviously conditions here economically, still positive and good have downshifted from the pace we saw coming out of 2018. neil: veronique, could you make the half glass argument that leads to lower rates that we're getting. you could argue didn't help housing in the latest month sales were deemed disappointing. one mon doesn't a trend make but it is kind of weird, isn't it? >> every part of our economy is integrated. so there is a notion that no spill-down effect and we know tariffs are hitting all sorts of companies and industrieses in the downstream of the tariffs so it is not surprising. we're going to see how people adjust in the long run. the thing hard for us to assess because trade is a third of our economy, right? and so when you never see this

massive price increase across the board or this massive impact with, with potentialist wars at -- protectionist wars at the beginning because it is a relatively small part of our economy but we shouldn't make the mistake to actually think it doesn't affect full-on the people downstream of the unindustries affected by the tariffs that includes a lot of industries you wouldn't think about. neil: mark what do you tell investors how to handle what is likely to be a volatile summer between impeachment hearings that could happen, hard to say, build up of pressures with iran? how do you guide them through that? >> well, i think you nailed it, neil, which is to say advocate the fact that one has to consider their portfolio balance and what they have in the portfolio to act as a governor against volatility like you said we're likely to realize, both in terms of the next month up to the g20 meeting in japan, potential meeting between

presidents trump and xi and ongoing tensions with iran and could load into two or three other factors worrisome at the moment. our base case means things are constructive in the u.s. we expect china stimulus to get a little traction as we see evidence of green shoots blossoming. hopefully things hold together but hope is a, not a strategy. prepare for your portfolios that i which will be volatile against that which would will be a safer haven asset or treasury bonds or cash, do it in proper proportion with one's risk budget. neil: and cross your fingers. guys, thank you both, very, very much. >> thank you. neil: we always talk about black swan developments, unexpected developments. this fight over the president's financial records, a judge slapping down the president's refusal to share them with congress, this is quickly developing into something we're now, even those not using i word, impeachment hearings and

the like are feeling emboldened to do just that. the fallout after this. hi i'm joan lunden.

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who else could he be? there is the moment. beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. ♪ ♪ every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond. neil: a lot of times this could prove tonic for the markets. boston fed president eric rosengren, i believe he is a voting member of the federal open market committee, the guys

who set interest rates saying the fed should remain patient on rate hikes given the low inflationary environment and trade uncertainty. that might be worthy of a dramatic alert but there has been built into the cake the possibility that rates could be hiked by the end of the year. some are in the camp, given a slowdown, they're not only going to stand pat, they might cut rates. he is sort of in that middle camp that says, be patient, don't be looking for hikes. we'll see. meantime, president's lawyers are appealing a court ruling upholding a subpoena for his financial records. this legal back and forth is interesting because the judge in this case has not ordered a stay or delay as the appeal process ensues. blake burman now with the latest from the white house. hey, blake. reporter: neil, president trump fighting back on two different fronts. one hand here in washington, d.c., the president's legal team filed an appeal with the d.c. circuit court of appeal, the

last court before you get to the supreme court, after a lower court, a federal district court judge ruled that the firm mazars which handles the president's finances has to comply with congressional subpoena. the potential ultimate political consequence here for the president, the d.c. circuit cut of appeals is led by none other than that man right there, merrick garland. you remember his story he was president obama's supreme nomination. you remember how he was treated by republicans in the final year of the obama presidency. he could potentially have a say in all of this for president trump. then up on capitol hill the house judiciary committee today gaveled in and out somewhat quickly after the white house, with the backing of the department of justice, said it would be unconstitutional for former white house counsel don mack began to testify today before that committee. the top democrat on the committee saying their subpoenas are not optional while the top

republican said the democrats are using subpoenas to create headlines. listen here. >> the president took it upon himself to intimidate a witness who has a legal obligation to be here today. this conduct is not remotely acceptable. >> the chairman rose to maximize headlines issuing a subpoena. that subpoena was the third in just four-month. more subpoenas than the prior chairman issued in six years. reporter: neil, you got a appeal to a federal court today. you have a hearing that lasted a matter of minutes which the talks about about subpoenas. kind of the atmosphere right now we're dealing with here in washington. neil: on and on we go. hard to keep track of it all. my friend blake burman at the white house. u.s. attorney guy lewis what it could mean. the thing the judge not granting a stay as it goes through the appeal process. what would that mean, would it put added pressure on the

administration. >> exactly, neil. they're under the gun right now is what it means. the lower court judge, the district court judge, who was in fact an obama-appointee if that means anything, ordered the documents, the financial documents of trump to be produced. declined trump's request for a stay, which would stop everything so that an appeal could be taken, and the documents are due next week. and you can see that the trump lawyers didn't waste anytime, right? within about 24 hours they filed their notice of appeal. and that will get things, i think that will slow it down a little bit. they will ask for a stay from the court of appeals. probably on balance i think they will get it. neil: what if the president refuses? >> well then you're going to move into contempt proceedings. neil: right. >> and possibly continuing to go through the court process where you've got a federal district

court judge ordering the president to produce the documents, and maybe even starting to impose fines. i don't know you call it. a million -- neil: will it go all the way to the supreme court? all lower court levels with richard nixon and release the tapes. wouldn't release the tapes. one judge after another, got to the supreme court, 9-0 vote release the tapes. i'm not comparing the two by any means, you're far better than this than i am, guy, could it get to the supreme court finally weighs in one way or the other? >> neil, bet the house. it will definitely get up to the supreme court. there is no way -- you have got what, house judiciary committee, you've got the oversight committee, you've got the intelligence committee, you've got the ways and means committee all issuing subpoenas, all issuing contempt orders. barr, mcgahn, mnuchin from the treasury department all involved in this epic struggle between

congress and the executive branch. bet the house it will be in front of the supreme court. neil: wow, stay tuned, as they say, guy lewis, former u.s. attorney. >> you got it. neil: we will see how the drama unfolds. we have volatile situation going on in the persian gulf in the middle east, with iran upping the ante, and iran upping the apt tee with huge naval presence. president dialed this back, indicating if iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of iran, but he doesn't think it will come to that. let's get the read, from retired admiral william mcraven, out with a new book, how we deal with crises, personal or otherwise. we have him in spades right now. the admiral after this. i'm working to keep the fire going for another 150 years.

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>> our steps were very prudent. we put on hold the potential for attacks on americans. >> the potential for attacks no longer exist? >> i would say we're in a period where the threat remains high and our job is to make sure that there is no miscalculations by -- neil: that was hard to make out there, but that is acting defense secretary of the president, president's pick to be the next defense secretary, patrick shanihan talking about the cautious moment we're in right now with iran and whether build-up could lead to war. president says he doesn't want that. the acting secretary indicationing he would hope to avoid that we have former admiral mcraven. he is author of sea stories, my life in special operations. keep in mind he was also the guy behind the capture of saddam hussein and rescue of captain

phillips but not for any of those incidents does he take much credit which is suspicious but anyway. it is good to have you. >> neil, great to see you. neil: you feeling good these days. >> great, thanks. neil: talk about the iran situation, doesn't take much for it to advance. you have dealt with iran the better part of your career, do you trust when they say anything? >> i'm not as concerned about iran as a lot of folks are, one, president doesn't want to go to irwar with iran and iranians absolutely don't want to go to war with us. neil: why would they be provocative? >> i think both sides are being a little too provocative at this point in time. i haven't seen the intelligence, if the intelligence is out there and it is credible intelligence and i assume it is we know how to deal with threats from iraq in the green sown, certainly the fleet, we always worry about the fleet coming through the straits of hormuz and proximity to iran,

we've been doing that for decades and the u.s. navy knows how to deal with potential fast attack boats or threats from iran. you know, the interim secretary of defense said it well. the biggest thing to be concerned about are miscalculations on either side's part. neil: you said you hadn't seeing intelligence. former commander of all forces you would have to the right to that, but you gave it, up right? >> i still have my clearance. you also have to have a need to know. as a retired guy twice over, retired from the military, retired from the university of texas system right now i don't really have a need to know what the intelligence looks like. i can surprise what some of these threats are but frankly that is not much more than what the public knows. neil: but a lot of this comes back to the day when the president wanted to revoke the security clearance of former cia director brennan, you spoke out against that. so does any of have anything to did with that? >> no, i don't think so.

i still have my security clearance. my security clearance is held by the university of texas because i'm still involved with some of their classified research programs but no. i absolutely wish the president well. i want the president to do well. every american should want the president to do well. neil: you don't mention him once in your book. >> because my book is not a political expose'. my book is a memoir of sort. you mentioned it earlier, really about through my lens the people i worked with and people that worked with me and missions we went on. >> all right, but did anything have to do, seem to be bad blood in the press between you and president. you would criticize him, he is just a hilly guy. would have been nice if he got bin laden sooner. what did you think? >> those, doesn't bother me, frankly the way it was working, it was intelligence community hunting for bin laden and the intelligence community found bin laden. when you look back --

neil: he was criticizing the intelligence community you by extension. you were saying that kind of talk even disparaging press, justice department, by extent you could talk about a lot of things you could say now he might feel personally is the case you said that is not a good thing for him to do? >> i don't think it is ever appropriate for the president to disparage the institutions part and parcel to the federal government. neil: even if they screw up. >> they can take them to task behind closed doors what presidents always done. if the intelligence community doesn't provide the right intelligence, call in the director of national intelligence, cia director have a conversation with them. i don't think it is ever appropriate for the president to undermine the great work of fbi or intelligence community or going after the press. as i said before, i've been raked over the coals by the press. anybody that has been in a position of authority has been kind of attacked by the press at some point in time right or wrong, but the press is absolutely essential to the

functioning of our democracy. neil: the argument they are clearly about to get him and they're not doing their constitutional role of being fair arbiters and tough on all those in power. >> but when you look the press has always gone after every president of the united states. i would encourage this president to get a little thicker skin and maybe he wouldn't find so much of the press going after him. neil: you are so going to get tweets later on. let me ask you a little bit about the whole osama bin laden take-down. what i didn't realize the aftermath of that, to make sure that you had gotten the right guy. >> right. neil: funny little story in there about osama bin laden was very tall, like 6'4". >> 6'4". neil: one of your men around you was close to that, 6'2". you wanted him to lie down next to him, right? >> mission, the seals had come back over the border from pakistan. i was on a videoconference with the president.

the president asked me, are you certain it is bin laden? no, sir, i need to personally identify the body. my command post was a minute or two from the airfield. i drove to the airfield. the seals were just arriving. they brought the body bag in. i unsipped the body bag, look at remains. he doesn't look too well, he took a couple round. beard was shorter than expected. i knew he was about 6'4". i turned around, i saw a young seal, son, how tall are you? i'm 6'2". i need you to come here and lie down. he had a first funny look. the remains were couple inches taller. he went back and reported to the president we still needed to do some dna. i was pretty certain it was bin laden. by the way i had a young seal lie next to him and remains were couple inches longer. president said, it had been a serious night, serious implications, it was a lighthearted moment. so let me get this straight,

bill, we had $60 million for a helicopter and you didn't have $10 for a tape measure? it was just, you know, the right relief. neil: on your way out he gave you a tape measure. >> he gave me a tape measure. neil: that that is a very funny story. you worked well with him, his predecessor george bush. >> right. neil: in times of war neither of them had served. >> right. neil: neither had fdr if you think about it, he was a great war commander. does that make a difference, when you report to a president, republican or democrat without the advantage of knowing what it is like to serve? >> i mean i think having served, probably certainly helps. i tell you president obama, of course president bush was in the national guard. neil: that's right. >> but the fact of the matter is they knew how to use their advisors. so both president bush and president obama relied on their secretaries of defense and in my case their military commanders. i watched how president bush worked with admiral mullen,

chairman of the joint of chiefs as did president obama. their -- neil: leon panetta. >> lee on panetta. so again, bush had a number of, he had pete pace and president obama had admiral mullen. you saw them relying on their military commanders quite a bit. neil: you made a point earlier in saying in the book, war challenges your manhood, reaffirms courage and sets you apart from the timid souls and bench sitters. it builds remarkable bonds among your fellow warriors. now, is that perspective important for all of those in power to know or to appreciate? >> yeah. you know, i think this is the thing about being a warrior. every person that serves wants to do the honorable, noble thing to protect their country. that is, when i talk about warriors, that is what i'm talking about. it is not being careless with the lives of our young men and

women, but it is as a service member recognizing we are proud to serve when the nation needs us to do that. we don't want to sit on the sidelines. warriors don't want to sitting on the bench to my point there. but having said that, it is the responsibility of every commander-in-chief to recognize if we're going to go to war, we better be serious about it, ought to be for the right reasons, to protect our country, do what is right in our national interest. neil: i assume it is natural for administrations, foreign policy aids of all sorts to have different opinions. john kennedy dealt with that during the cuban missile crisis. this president with iran, even joked about it, we're keeping the iranians guessing i'm paraphrasing you're getting so many points of view out of the white house. we're told it is john bolton leading this very aggressive posture. >> right. neil: you know anything about that? >> i don't know john bolton so i'm reluctant to talk about john bolton. what i do know is the process and the process will involve the chairman of the joint chiefs, it

will involve the secretary of defense, it will involve the intelligence community. neil: but the president can iran. john bolton, who i don't know, may be the brightest guy in the room but you're still going to want to refer to your military experts before you make a decision. neil: you don't know shanihan that well. >> i met shannon. he seems like a nice guy. i know mike pompeo. i have a lot of confidence in secretary pompeo. neil: president's people you have confidence? >> i have a lot of confidence in the president's people. john bolton i don't know. i put him aside as exception. neil: president as commander-in-chief? >> i have confidence that the president will reach out to his advisors in a way that, that is

thoughtful again. that is why i'm, i know there is a lot of rhetoric out there. the president of course has used that rhetoric before when we were ramping up with north korea. there was kind of a fire and brill stone that scared a lot of people. i think there is that a little bit of approach with iran. i think cooler heads will prevail. i'm confident we'll get through this little crisis. neil: one of the things that interested me, i wasn't aware after the capture of saddam hussein that it wasn't a turning event for him, didn't seem to be. you were watching him for a few few weeks afterwards. i think it was after 30, 40 days you left. your impressions? >> well it was interesting. so we captured saddam in december of 2003. great army special operations unit. i held on him for 30 days. he was arrogant, pompous, still the president of iraq. quickly when he didn't have his

palaces and his handmaidens and his generals he became a pathetic old man which i think talked a lot about the true character of the individual. he was a dictator and he needed the power brokers around him in order to prop him up. once they weren't there anymore he was just, again a kind of pathetic old, evil man. neil: now i know you had said, adversity or dealing with that kind of thing can either define you or show your inner cheaper character, nothing like a nelson mandela. >> this is, i made this point before, you take a look at the incredible character of a nelson mandela who endured decades of incarceration, he was a so strong, a man of great integrity he was able to weather that incarceration then you look like a pathetic figure like saddam hussein and he crumbled in days. neil: are you aware the comments

you made to college graduates, make your bed, spawned a best-seller, didn't have any idea you helped take down osama bin laden. >> i'm perfectly okay with that. neil: what did you mean, make your bed comment. >> the make your bed was my commencement speech to university of texas in 2014. life can be easier if you start your day off with a task completed. take a little pride doing something simple making your bed. that will encourage you to do another task, then another, and another. there was another analogy, little things in life matter. i had one of my seal instructors at one point in time said if you can't make your bed right how are we ever going to expect to you to lead a complex seal mission? learn to do little things right you learn to do the big things right. neil: makes a lot of sense. a lot of people know you before. >> i'm good with that. neil: i want to get a big picture view of the world right now where you see it going.

i mean economically we're doing very, very well. >> right. neil: we have building trade tensions with the chinese. we have the north koreans, iranians, venezuela it is a pretty scary world. which of those crises, if you want to call them worry you the most? >> that is interesting, i was often asked what did i think was the number one national security issue? people used to think i would answer iran or north korea. my answer was always the same. k through 12 education. i am concerned that if we are not taking care of our kids in k through 12 education and public education, then we won't have much of a national security to worry about here in 30, 40 years. education is i think the single-most important thing we need to focus on as a nation right now. the military and national security complex, we will be able to deal appropriately with the threats that are out there but let's look to the future right now and start paying attention to the k through 12 education and i think we'll find ourselves much better off in the

future. >> perhaps the most controversial issue the military is dealing with, how much america has to exert itself. >> right. neil: oddly given your whole military background you're cautious about that. i notice among military types to a man or woman they're very reticent to flex it, overdo it. why? >> recognizing we are still the kind of sole superpower in the world we have to wield the power very thought fully, very carefully. one, you never want to be cavalier putting young men and women in harm's way. neil: do you think this president is cavalier? >> no, i don't. and again i think because he has great advisors telling him to be careful about being cavalier. again, you know, i worked for president bush, bush 43 and for president obama and i didn't agree with them on every issue but i always knew they had the welfare of the men and women of

the military in mind and they had the best interests of the country in mind and i certainly hope this president does as well. neil: finally the best story at the end of the book, the story in rotc, your commander wanted to meet with you, saying your mother had called, wanted to get to the bottom of why you had two girlfriends? >> there is moving more embarrassing in the world have your mother call one of your commanders. i happened to be dating two young ladies at time. my mother seemed concerned about that. neil: bypassed you. >> bypassed you to the chain of command. he called me into the office to tell me and my mother were concerned. needless to say i was, i was shaken by that. but fact of the matter as i say in the book, the first young lady who was a great young lady everything a man of 21 could want, and second was what you could want for rest of your life. we are married 41 years. i made a good call.

neil: she still puts up with you. >> she still puts up with you. neil: admiral, thank you very much. my life in special operations. the guy has a lot i could brag about. doesn't do anything about it. he obviously could not become a tv anchor. that is the bottom line. more after this. just because of an accident. smart kid. indeed. are you in good hands? when it comes to type 2 diabetes, are you thinking about your heart? well, i'm managing my a1c, so i should be all set. right. actually, you're still at risk for a fatal heart attack or stroke. even if i'm taking heart medicine, like statins or blood thinners? yep! that's why i asked my doctor what else i could do... she told me about jardiance. that's right. jardiance significantly reduces the risk of dying from a cardiovascular event for adults who have type 2 diabetes and known heart disease.

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neil: all right. stocks getting a little bit of a boost, particularly technology shares on exemptions provided for some that do business with huawei. gerri willis at new york stock exchange with more on that. hey, gerri? reporter: neil, that's right. the markets generally up handily, up 135 points, with a raft of bad news, existing home sales and easing trade tensions, sending chip stocks on a tear after the commerce department said it would grant temporary exemptions to the ban imposed on huawei technologies.

the commerce department granting a temporary 90 day license so existing broadband networks and could continue to operate. individual names on a tear today, xilinx, skyworks, analog devices, nvidia. biggest movers in the sector. cree and vico jumping today. one trader said the move on chip stocks was triggered by short-covering. the move to ban huawei could have a net impact on u.s., u.s. companies, probably more so than china. concerns continue. stocks are higher today. back to you, neil. neil: thanks so much. retailers giving us mixed reads, we'll focus on them. this is prethe real pricey stocks going into effect in a week 1/2. after this. experience the style, craftsmanship, and technology

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we would talk mergers. >> we would plot. neil: all right. all right. >> we would press the doj. neil: yes. >> i don't know. here's the thing. there is two levels of approval. you need the fcc to approve it. it is a 26 billion-dollar merger. one of the probably the biggest mergers not necessarily by dollar amount sprint and of the mobile, this is so important. if they don't merge, sprint is likely, could go out of business. if combined company, could be a big, huge, sort of push to make america great again in 5g. that is their whole thing. they're planning a major 5g rollout. sprint has a lot of unused bandwidth, they could move the needle on 5g which is a economic prerogative of the trump administration. millions of johns. hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity. national security implications. you don't want china to win this

war. that is the argument they're pushing with doj antitrust. they need their approval. here is what we now know. they're on a full-court press, sprint and t-mobile executives on a full-court press mode to push the doj for approval. they're getting opposition mainly from the staffers. they are like civil servants these guys. they are antitrust staffers, lawyers, who look -- neil: could they kill it? fcc votes yea, they don't -- >> they, the staffers could do one thing, they could convince. mack kahn delrahim -- makan delrahim to kill it. they are speaking out in the press, with comments in bloomberg and the journal. it is up to him. this is where it gets interesting playing stocks. these stocks are very volatile. you're obviously buy the stock if you think sprint in particular they're the acquired company you think it will go up

or shorting it because you think it will go down. you have to look at it this way, does mack -- makan delrahim because he wants to stop a deal that is basically championed by every republican in washington, all lawmakers. trump administration. my understanding larry kudlow is behind the deal. fcc counter part, a. >> -- ajet pie. he could join other states to try to block the deal and get a feather in his cap. neil: hasn't huawei changed everything? >> that's the theory, yes. the fact that the trump administration is at war with the chinese on 5g, namely their chinese-backed company, huawei they think is a bad player. antitrust people, staff in particular saying that you're going from four to three.

guess what, that creates potentially an antitrust pricing gouge problem. sprint, t-mobile, sprint come back, we have more bandwidth we can compete against at&t and verizon. that is the thing. you have to get in the head, mack kahn delrahim is the wild card. he thinks out of box. he is free market guy but went after at&t time warner. neil: that's right. then they gave up, didn't they? >> he lost in the a appellate courts but does he do that here? neil: he didn't keep pursuing it? >> at some point you could go to the supreme court. i guess you could. what are the odds he goes after this deal? by the way this thing will happen quickly. we'll know june is the date. just keep watching us. if you're playing the talk, you care about the economy. this is big on both ends. neil: well-said, charlie gasparino, thank you very much.

>> thank you, my friend. neil: we're looking at some division within the democratic ranks with regard to getting not only the president's financial records which a judge sort of green-lighted without a stay, right away, get them out there. the president is fighting that with a big legal battle. the party avoided the word impeachment, democratic party, more of its power brokers are saying the word impeachment. how far does this go? after this. i'm working to keep the fire going for another 150 years. ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪

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neil: all right. there's a big theme in market's comeback today with the dow up 157 points. the comeback is semiconductor issues that were taking it on the chin yesterday when we were swearing off all business with anything having to do with huawei, the big chinese telecom concern. now we have eased some of those actions back so that huawei can continue doing business but scores of technology concerns in this country do depend on huawei for a lot of things and huawei on them for a lot of things, whether this multi-month reprieve is just delaying the inevitable is anyone's guess. we are following that with hillary vaughn with the latest on trade. we have also got jackie deangelis on the retail impact that for a lot of folks is already here. we begin on the trade front with hillary. reporter: u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer is meeting with senate lawmakers

today and all of this is happening as we are really seeing the ratification of the usmca is at the forefront of congressional leaders' minds right now. we heard from house majority leader steny hoyer telling fox news that the new nafta is not a done deal for democrats. in fact, both house democrats and house republicans really remain at an impasse whether or not the usmca should be signed, but house minority leader kevin mccarthy says he thinks speaker pelosi should just let the house put it up for a vote. >> at this moment in time, when we're having our debate with china, would it not be stronger in this position to have north america united. it's the time to put politics aside and actually put america first. reporter: he joined senate leaders mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer in speaker pelosi's office to work out a

deal on the budget to avoid a government shutdown in the future. that's a meeting mulvaney and mnuchin also attended. the debate was whether or not to lift the budget cap for one or two years. mccarthy is saying he hopes they can work out some two-year deal to give them a little bit of leeway. secretary mnuchin on his way moments ago out of the meeting saying he thinks they made progress and negotiations are not done today. they will be back in speaker pelosi's office at 2:00 p.m. for more negotiations. neil? neil: thank you very, very much, hillary vaughn. a lot of retailers were reporting their earnings today. a lot of these are pre the new wave of tariffs that will take place in 11 days or so. home depot beating estimates but the likes of jc penney, kohl's, others disappointing. what that could mean and remember, it's all in what their guidance is telling us and the warning some of them are giving us including jc penney about the effect of these higher tariffs to come. jackie deangelis on all of that

with us now in new york. jackie? reporter: good afternoon. that's right. retail certainly not part of the broader based rally today. as you pointed out, it's really a problem with the department stores specifically. let's take a look at jc penney. missed on the top and bottom lines, posted a larger than expected loss. same store sales were down more than 5%. the ceo of jc penney said that the tariffs imposed on chinese imports so far haven't had that much of an impact on the business but if the president moves forward with that additional 25% on $300 billion that haven't been impacted, well, it could be a more meaningful impact. you also mentioned kohl's missing its earnings. the ceo there saying the year started off slower than we would like. nordstrom, macy's, they are down in sympathy today so it's the whole group. the problem with the department stores right now isn't necessarily even china. that's one piece of it. the other part of it, of course, is brick and mortar stores closing versus the online sales. it's just simply easier and a

lot of times cheaper for consumers to click and make those purchases rather than visiting the stores themselves. i will also mention the owner and operator of dress barn said that it will close 650 of its stores, so that's another brick and mortar chain that we're not going to see as much of. the company saying it wants to focus on the more profitable brands. total clesh yoosures in 2018, i just under 6,000. this year so far, announced closures, 7,000. we are only in may. neil: i didn't realize it was that high. holy cow. jackie, thank you very, very much. jackie deangelis. the tariffs might have a big impact on them, might have a big impact on you, but the president saying in pennsylvania last night that tariffs in general are good for the u.s. and the money that comes in to help the u.s. former jpmorgan chase chief economist is here, small business and entrepreneurship council, karen kerrigan as well.

tariffs good for the u.s. what do you make of that? >> there's a lot of policies the president can point to that have driven strong growth, tax, regulatory, other pro-investment policies that have been enacted under his leadership, but tariffs is not one of them. they are taxes, they are a drag on economic growth and they are causing real pain, particularly in certain industries like agriculture, retail, others are very price-sensitive right now and just a very challenging environment for industries to be in in general. i wouldn't say it's a [ inaudible ] for the economy but there are other things he can point to that are great for the solid growth we are seeing. neil: i was trying to understand what he was saying. obviously that is money, regardless of where he's getting it from, consumers, more to the point, it goes to the u.s. treasury so he can use it for a variety of purposes, including allocating $8 billion to $12 billion, i forget the number,

some put it as high as $15 billion, to help our farmers. what do you make of that? >> remember, these tariffs go in large part to the consumer and it's a regressive manner of raising money. to that extent, there are some issues with that. on the positive side, there is some good stuff coming out of tariffs and that is if you can use them as a negotiation ploy and you can push the other side to make concessions and certainly get an agreement that's favorable to the united states, then yes, tariffs are great. but if tariffs go on and there is no real progress in the negotiations and all we have is tariffs, it can't be a good thing. all you have to do is go look at the financial markets. guess what happens every time that the threat of tariffs come on? people, investors start focusing on the companies that get hit, apple, for example. the average number is something like $153.46 on the high priced iphone. does anybody think in the business world where there's very little pricing power that all that is going to be borne by the consumer?

of course not. some of that may be borne by the company, some by the consumer, but i can't see beijing writing out a check every time you buy an iphone for $153.46. neil: you know what's interesting now is the drama shifted a little bit to the u.s. and the president being too obstinate and it's their way or the highway but now we are getting provocative comments coming out of the chinese, xi jinping among others saying that we will not be bullied, that we are not going to cave to protectionism or the tactics of a zealous administration. that's stuff they have not said and i couple that with their comments last week talking about a $3.5 trillion arsenal at their disposal to help their economy and presumably their markets through this. what do you make of their

stance, their more bellicose stance? >> well, i think the president has to save some face back home and this is just -- i think what they are doing is pretty typical of the chinese playbook in terms of propaganda, in terms of the nationalism and saving face here and sort of building, you know, support, you know, that we're not going to be bullied by the united states. so you know, i think from a market perspective and from a business perspective, they have to plan i think for this going on for some time now because neither side is going to budge. i think eventually something will happen but now we are in face-saving mode. i think hopefully there will be something, something will trigger the chinese and the americans getting back to the table to get some type of deal done and continue the negotiations.

neil: what if we have no deal in the summer? if it's delayed, maybe in the fall? >> i kind of agree with karen, we are more likely to get a deal because both countries have an incentive but if we don't get a deal, obviously economic growth is going to be hit. in the u.s., if we get a real escalation of tariffs on both sides, we will probably subtract somewhere between 0.2 and maybe as much as 0 .3% off economic growth, both direct and indirect effects. indirect effects, of course, is consumer sentiment and business sentiment and the impact on investment. then on the chinese economy, because they have a trade surplus with us, i look for that negative impact to be twice as large. i'm still very optimistic and i still give the president credit, lots of credit for the tariffs in the sense that if they succeed in sort of enticing both parties, particularly the chinese to make some sort of a deal, then it's a win/win. if we don't get a deal, then it won't turn out to be such a good strategy. neil: all depends on the final

outcome. anthony, final word. karen, want to thank you as well. the dow up about 160 points right now. so virtually 26 of the dow 30 are up with the exception of visa, travelers, walmart, procter & gamble. we will keep a close eye but those are the issues benefiting on the notion that the trade situation is not as big a deal for investors today. that can change on a dime, often does. one day is different very much from the next, to say nothing about hours within the day. then there's the issue of iran. apparently we are about to sort of get an idea of what was the intelligence that we were exposed to or got that prompted this big buildup that's happening as we speak in the persian gulf. more on that after this.

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neil: all right. we're getting word at this hour the secretary of state mike pompeo, maybe the acting defense secretary shanahan, they are going to sort of lay out the case for this buildup that we have been seeing in the middle east, in the persian gulf, to respond to provocative actions by iran. i guess we will get to understand or they will in the house what those provocative actions are. we just had here a few minutes ago the retired four-star navy admiral william mcraven on how he's confident this administration is getting sound

advice from sound sources. take a look. so the president's people, you have confidence in? >> di do have confidence in the president's people. john bolton, i don't know. neil: do you have confidence in the president as commander in chief? >> i have confidence the president will reach out to his advisers in a way that is thoughtful. again, that's why i am -- well, i know there's a lot of rhetoric out there. the president of course has used that rhetoric before when we were kind of ramping up with north korea. there was kind of a fire and brimstone that scared a lot of people. i think there's a little bit of that approach with iran right now. but i think cooler heads will prevail. i'm confident we will get through this little crisis. neil: all right. let's get the take from national security council senior director under president bush 43, michael duran. good to have you. >> great to be here. neil: the admiral is of the view that cooler heads will prevail, that he thinks the president will weigh insight from, you

know, a cabinet and foreign policy team that is fairly divided on some of these issues. the president himself has joked about it. that's not unusual to this administration, but is it a concern of yours? >> not really. we just have to be aware that we're in a very serious conflict with iran and there's no simple way out of it if we want to get what we say we want, which is an iran that doesn't threaten its neighbors and that doesn't have nuclear weapons. neil: all right. now, iran, we are told, is continuing to be provocative even in the face of this onslaught of military vessels that are steaming ahead to that region. it's almost it seems silly that they would even test their faith but do you believe that is iran, iran or its sympathizers are behind these attacks on, you know, oil installations in saudi arabia, ships in the united arab emirates, even a norwegian tanker, that iran is behind that?

>> oh, absolutely. i have no doubt. when i was in the white house in the bush administration, we now know clearly the iranians were killing americans on the ground in iraq. so they have a history of taking provocative actions like this that with one step removed with a hidden hand, and a lot of people are willing to pretend they don't see it. neil: so when we have this greater presence of ships, carriers and the like, do we then have to support that with more soldier power? the president shot down as fake news, you know, a rumor that he was considering more than 100,000 troops in the region. what do you think of that? >> well, i think the military, by its very nature, is always thinking about contingency plans. so if things were to escalate and we were to take military action, and the iranians were to respond, what would be our

second move. there's an old adage in the navy that one carrier group is zero and two carrier groups is one because you have to be aware of the fact that once things escalate, you need those backup forces. neil: well said. mike, thank you very much. mike doran, national security council former senior director. a lot more coming up on this. as we get more word of what came of those briefings, not that we will get the intelligence from those briefings but the reaction to what congressmen are hearing from the president's foreign policy team. in the meantime, right now the president is with the democrats battling over the release of his records. this is escalating because the president is not going to do that and vows to keep fighting this in the courts. does this set up something big? after this. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise.

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i believe that the president's conduct since the report was released with respect to mr. mcgahn's testimony and other information we have sought has carried this pattern of obstruction and coverup well beyond the four corners of the mueller report. >> so don't be fooled. majority wants to fight, they want the drama. he does not actually want the information he claims to be seeking. after the administration made volumes of information available to this committee, the chairman issued subpoenas and now harangues the administration for being unable to comply with those subpoenas. neil: if you are confused by this back and forth, you're not the only one. we do know the anger has built since the president has refused subpoena after subpoena for former staff members including former counsel to testify before congress. now to add insult to injury in this drama, wherever you are in this drama, a judge demanding that the president quit stalling and release his financial records to congress as well.

now the president is obviously fighting that, back and forth because the mueller report is out, the administration says there's no reason to keep debating this and going into the weeds. let's get the read on where this likely goes and whether this leads to more hearings, whether more democrats are talking impeachment. chad pergram, our capitol hill producer, is there on all of that. where is this going? reporter: the question right now for democrats is do they forge ahead with contempt for barr, maybe mcgahn, what about impeachment, that question has intensified over the past 24 hours. one of the big issues right now is whether or not democrats are divided over this issue of impeachment. i was here late last night when house speaker nancy pelosi held a meeting with jerry nadler, chair of the judiciary committee and also the rest of the democratic leadership. she left the building around 9:40. i said are democrats divided. she said no, we're fine, there is no divide. last night i also spoke to a senior house democrat who asked that they not be identified, this is someone who has their

hand on the pulse of the democratic caucus, and they told me this. quote, she, meaning pelosi, she isn't going to be able to hold off on impeachment much longer. this is coming to a head. there's going to be another big meeting about all this sometime tomorrow. so far, there is no plan this week to put the contempt of congress issue, the resolution on the floor on the attorney general william barr. one believes that might drift into june if they also decide to do the same thing with don mcgahn, the former white house counsel. this is why democrats are divided. a democrat from michigan flipped a district in michigan from red to blue and she said you know, we risk losing focus if we start talking about impeachment and not these bread and butter issues. i asked steny hoyer, the house majority leader this morning, i said is there a political calculus if democrats decide to go ahead with impeachment or do you, you know, go with the other side of the caucus and say wait a minute, this isn't the right thing to do because this will hurt us at the polls. this is what hoyer said.

quote, to say there is no political calculus would not be honest. so democrats are really torn about this issue. they want to get to the bottom and get this information. some people thought that that court ruling yesterday would have relieved the pressure. it did not. here's the other thing. if they do forge ahead with impeachment, they are not going to be able to talk about anything else. that's going to take every cubic centimeter of oxygen off the table when it comes to other issues. neil: chad pergram, thank you very, very much. let's get the read right now from fox news at night host, author of a really good book "finding the bright side, the art of chasing what matters." i will get to that in just a second, shannon. great job there. maybe you can find a bright side in all of this back and forth among democrats and republicans about how far this goes, because i'm just seeing nonstop acrimony. >> i think so much of it is a calculus about 2020 because the president keeps saying, his camp

is saying hey, do it, go ahead, we are daring you essentially to impeach us. he thinks it's a great thing for him to run on to say these guys aren't legislating, i tried to give them a border plan, they won't meet me halfway, instead they are coming after me in a quote witch hunt. mueller already decided this and they can't let it go. on the other side, democrats i think are very split because there are some who are very worried about the optics saying people actually want us to legislate and get things done but there's a huge part of their base that is saying what are you waiting for, you have seen everything you need to see, this guy is guilty, go after him, it's time to impeach him. they have really tough decisions to make. neil: let me ask you as a lawyer in this, the president obviously doesn't want to release his financial records, now a judge yesterday saying you got to, and i'm going to ignore a stay to get you moving quickly, the administration is moving more quickly to send it to appeal that. could this go all the way to the supreme court? >> it could. i think there are so many things bubbling up with this administration that could wind up at the supreme court and this is certainly one of them.

you think about the fact that it takes one federal judge, there are almost 700 of them at that first level, the district court level, just one of them can change everything. they can put a nationwide injunction on a policy from the president or from the white house, or they can be the one to say listen, you got to pony up all these documents from ten years back, from before you were president or even running for president, and some people would argue it's pretty sweeping. this judge found that there was enough of a connection with congressional oversight power to give them the go ahead and as you note, interestingly, he didn't stay it. he didn't say i will put this on hold until you appeal it. he said you've got to turn them over now. there are financial entities who will feel like and have said publicly we want to, you know, be in complete compliance with the law and with what the court requests so we are going to do what we legally have to do. you notice that they have already filed this notice of appeal to the next level. but yeah, quite possibly it goes to scotus. neil: in the appeals process, when you take away a stay, that means they have to do something

pronto, right? >> it does. these financial institutions do not want to be on the wrong side of a court ruling. they know what their obligations are. i would imagine in this appeal, they will immediately ask that next level, the d.c. circuit, for a stay while the case proceeds there. so it's possible they get that at the next level. neil: you know what i noticed, this is kind of getting to your book, i think we live in crazy times. i think people are so nutty, you know. if you question donald trump, you know, you've got trump derangement syndrome. if you see something good on him, you're clueless. and you talk about the kind of thing stepping back and covering this as you do each day, each night, that you stay very grounded. i wonder, i know you are a very religious person and all of that, but you stay very, very grounded and very un-anchorish through all of this which is something i resent personally. but i wonder how you do that. >> you know what i think that i try to divorce my personal

emotions and opinion from it when i'm on the clock, when i'm on the job. of course all of us have our own personal opinions but my job is just to deliver actually reporting to people what happened factually when, who, where, who said it, what happens next. so that's what we try to give our viewers straight down the middle. for me, if i can take the emotion and opinion out of it and step back and say i'm just here to deliver facts for this hour, i make sure we have people on from all sides and i try to make sure they don't fight too much or talk over each other because i want the viewers to hear what they have to say. i think our viewers are very smart and can make their own decisions. and their own interpretations. they've got their opinions, too. i just serve them the information and then let them digest. neil: you do it very well. i find there is an advantage when people talk over each other. it saves time. >> wrap it up. neil: you know, you have been through a lot. you spell it out in your book. you had a scare with breast cancer, you have had other issues to deal with. your husband, of course, what he

had to deal with, brain surgery when you were both engaged. you run counter to this view oh, what an idyllic life these tv anchors have. you put it all out there. how did you feel writing that? >> you know what, it's strange because you know, like anything you go through in life, everybody has had dark points. they have had valleys, they have had tough things. when you survived it, there's a scar on it but you move on. so in writing this book, i didn't realize how much it would take you back to all of those emotions to go back and write about all those things, kind of like pulling open that wound again. but i thought you're right, people do sometimes look and think that we have wonderful lives and we do, i feel so blessed to do what i do, it does feel like a privilege. i love it. but like everyone else, i have had tough diagnoses, i have gotten fired, it's all happened and i think why not be transparent with people and let them see you struggle, too. they may be in that place and hopefully they will see some humor in this, they will be able to see the stories and see there's a way to survive some of

these really dark moments. i just wanted to be encouraging. neil: you know what was interesting, a news director was telling you you've got no talent, you shouldn't even be in this business. you talk about something that would really, you know, you wanted to go into this field, you started in law, you got tired of that, you wanted to do this. how did you recover from that? >> really demoralizing. you know, luckily in every radio and tv station in the world, there are soundproof edit bays. i locked myself in one and cried for a couple of hours trying to gather some shred of dignity when this guy fired me and said i would never make it in this business. neil: you are different than me in that respect. i usually go to the nearest fast food restaurant. >> that works, too. neil: that works, too. but what was the guy's problem? >> you know what, the first guy that ever put me on television, i was still, listen, i was running scripts to the anchors and running the teleprompter. if something breaks and no other human is available, we will let

you run out and cover a story occasionally, so that's how i got started. when that boss left, a new guy came in and kind of assessed everybody and he called me in about two weeks into this and i saw the head of h.r. sitting there. i'm like finally, i'm getting promoted. no, if the head of h.r. is sitting there it's not a positive. he just let me have it. but in a way it was great. he pushed me out of the nest, made me really do a gut-check about listen, if you are going to take this career seriously, you have a lot of room for improvement. you know, there are plenty of things to work on and i think if he hadn't pushed me out of the nest i would have been perfectly happy there where i was, but i feel so grateful that i ended up at the fox family with you. neil: you have done okay, kiddo, despite all that criticism early on. you take it from both sides on your excellent show. "finding the bright side, the art of chasing what matters." one thing i will say about this and everyone agrees, she is in person exactly as she ois on th air. me, i'm a completely different person. >> even more wonderful.

neil: exactly. best of luck with this. not that you will need it. great book. there are a lot of other great stories in there we didn't have time to get to, particularly near the end of the book. you have to read this thing. it will stun you. "finding the bright side." more after this. openturning 50 opens theuard. door to a lot of new things... like now your doctor may be talking to you about screening for colon cancer. luckily there's me, cologuard. the noninvasive test you use at home. it all starts when your doctor orders me. then it's as easy as get, go, gone. you get me when i'm delivered... right to your front door and in the privacy of your own home. there's no prep or special diet needed.

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but give them a cookie and a star. neil: all right. it's the fight for 15. protesting over sexual harassment complaints over all places, mcdonald's. jeff flock in the middle of it all in chicago. hey, jeff. reporter: hey, neil. how are you? this has been brought up before but today, 25 new filings with the eeoc by mcdonald's workers from both franchise-owned mcdonald's as well as corporate-owned mcdonald's, alleging that their claims of sexual harassment have been ignored, that the company really hasn't done much to respond to them. as we said, watch yourself there, mike, as we said, 25 new

claims today and by the way, four of the democratic presidential candidates including bernie sanders stated they will participate in the nationwide protest, much like the one you are seeing here right now. i want to let you hear from padma latchsme, a model and actress who was here to support the workers today as well, and she made the point mcdonald's can do more, in her opinion. take a listen. >> if mcdonald's can dictate the specific type of pickle that can be used by their franchises in their burgers, why can't they dictate and enforce with penalties a comprehensive set of guidelines? reporter: neil, the ceo of

mcdonald's has responded, making available a copy of the letter that steve easterbrook wrote to her. i read from it now, quote, by strengthening our overall policy, creating interactive training, a third party managed hotline and more importantly, listening to employees across the system, mcdonald's is sending a clear message that we are committed to creating and sustaining a culture of trust where employees still feel valued and respected. the workers here, one worker told me, you know, she made a claim, it was supposed to be on an anonymous hotline, but wasn't, turned out not to be anonymous. somebody else was fired. another worker was abused when she was 16. mcdonald's, her first job. so you know, this is sort of getting some traction here. of course, as you know, the sciu has been for some time been attempting to organize the workers at mcdonald's and they

are backing this as well. the fight for 15. you haven't heard the last of it. neil: jeff, thank you very much. he was referring to the service workers union there. we will keep a good eye on that. also keeping an eye on an alarming poll that republicans might want to take another look at before they pooh-pooh this talk about socialism going nowhere. apparently 4 in 10 americans embrace some form of it in the latest poll. there are others that indicate the same. former reagan economist art laffer on what he makes of that. that's a pretty startling number. what do you think? >> it is a startling number. what it really means to me is that there are a lot of people who are uneducated and don't know what's going on. if you support socialism in this country, you are just begging for a collapse in this economy. it makes no sense whatsoever. but there they are. the worst of all probably are the professors. you know, i jokingly refer, it takes a ph.d. in economics not to be able to understand the obvious. that's really very true. bernie sanders as well as the

people who don't know any better. neil: know what's interesting about that, more than half don't like, you know, socialism but it's barely at 51%. i'm wondering what has changed in the face of this strong economic recovery, record low unemployment, wage growth that finally seems to be percolating. what is it, you think, that's generated these numbers? >> i don't really know what generates those numbers but i do know that back in the day, long time ago, there was a lot of socialist sentiment as well. i mean, the democrats nominated george mcgovern to run against richard nixon in 1972 which ended up as a disaster for them. i don't know if you remember, neil, the grant mcgovern was proposing giving everyone $15,000 or something like that, it was the ultimate of these policies and it didn't work. it never does work. when they come in and do it like in venezuela, catastrophe is really serious. it makes me really wonder about democracy from time to time. neil: you know what's

interesting, too, again, they are in the moment but these polls that have joe biden leading the president in states like pennsylvania, two others, i believe michigan and wisconsin, but particularly strong with double digits in a state that's looking at record low unemployment and would be -- what would seem to be an environment that would be a layup for the president, still might be, but what do you make of that, the disconnect between the clearly improving economy, i don't think you have to be conservative or liberal to acknowledge that, and the president's numbers? >> no, you don't. you know, i think maybe just joe biden, joe biden has been a nice guy, everyone liked joe biden in the senate, and as vice president, he was surely a calming influence on obama. now when he makes his debut, he gets a big brouhaha and that puts him in a nice favorable light. it's a very different thing looking at polls today versus polls one week just before the election after the issues have been wrung out and people look at the voting booth and say i'm really voting for this now, it's

not just a poll, it's a real thing. i think you will find a lot of them going right to the president. he's done such a good job on the economy. who doesn't want a good economy? i can't imagine joe biden doing anything other than damaging this economy. neil: art laffer, always good seeing you. thank you. >> thank you, neil. by the way, that was a great piece on shannon. you just did a great job on that. she's such a wonderful person. neil: she really is. it's a remarkable book. she really opens up there. that's nice to see. >> when is your book coming out? neil: i'm finishing the coloring book as we speak. you will get it with a free set of crayons. always good seeing you. thank you. art laffer. meanwhile, retail is reporting some problems and some of them at worse are saying there's more to come, if tariffs take hold. after this. ♪

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we've got the north koreans, the iranians, venezuela. it's pretty scary world. which of those crises, if you want to call them, worry you the most? >> i was often asked what did i think was the number one national security issue, and people used to think that i

would answer iran or north korea. my answer was always the same. k through 12 education. i am concerned that if we are not taking care of our kids in k through 12 education, public education, then you know, we won't have much of a national security to worry about here in 30, 40 years. education is i think the single most important thing we need to focus on as a nation right now. neil: that might have surprised you. that is retired u.s. navy admiral william mcraven on the biggest security threat, our education or lack of quality, that we are losing kids and we are losing ground to other countries that put a much greater priority on it and a quality education at that. to "usa today" elijah collins, matt schlapp, former senior adviser to senator patty murray, david brown. elijah, what do you make of what he's saying? you have hot spots all around the world, we are always going to have hot spots, but the hot issue for him going forward is demographically, what we are

doing with our kids and the quality or lack thereof of our education system. that was a surprise. >> well, it's really interesting, i cover congress and i think there is constantly sort of a focus on education underneath all of the big headlines of the day, both parties are trying to improve the education system in different ways. they feel to go about that. but the truth is there are lots of hot spots around the world. right as we speak, congress is meeting, they are getting a briefing from the administration on the threats from iran. we have things going on in venezuela. of course, there is the trade back and forth with china. so over on the hill, while education is always there and there is policy being made, they are talking about international crises right now. neil: indeed they are. matt, one of the things the general was getting at in talking about those crises and all that is that you know, stealing of american intelligence, something that's come up with china that does directly affect, you know, our colleges and universities by

extension, i guess you could go all the way down to high schools and the rest but it's that human capital that he sees being compromised here and putting us on defense. what did you make of that? >> first on the question of education, america spends more on education than any other public policy goerl or goal so not that we aren't spending enough money, it's that we don't have enough innovation and we're not spending on the right types of reforms. when it comes to this question about how from a technological standpoint which plays into that, how our adversaries overseas like china and north korea, remember that great hacking, that terrible hacking that north korea had with sony, you know, the cyber warfare aspect to the battlefield is incredibly alarming. if we don't win the race to 5g and we don't win the race on ai and these major questions, america might never really become that leading superpower again. so this is where the battlefield

is. and i'm worried that we're not doing everything we need to do as a country. neil: david, what do you make of that? >> i agree with his assessment that it's a critical national security issue for the u.s. for many of the reasons that have already been discussed by the panel. i would add, you know, even looking at early childhood education, access to quality k through 12 education, these are huge predictors for success in life. i think what the admiral was getting at is it's not just s.t.e.m. which is critically important but also an engaged citizenry, an engaged citizen who is committed to the underlying ideals and institutions that have really allowed for america to prosper. so it's an educational system that is a foundation for our ability to project power in the world, soft and hard power, and to ensure the kind of economic vibrancy we are known for. i think that he's right to take this long-term view and very strategic point this is a critical aspect of what we need to be investing in. i don't think, unfortunately,

this administration takes public education as seriously as it should. neil: that's to be debated. i do want to switch gears, if we can, about where we stand with china right now. because separately, there's a meeting going on on capitol hill with the president's top foreign policy advisers to deal with iran and the iran threat. as that has been going on, china has been sending out some very tough signals that it is not about to bend, it is not about to break, it's going to keep fighting what it calls this u.s. bullying strategy of trade talks. eliza, those are two thorny areas for the administration right now, and neither looks like they are coming any closer to closure. what do you think? >> right. i had a long conversation yesterday with congresswoman who represents a district in iowa. this was a red district that flipped for her in the last cycle. she is sounding all of the alarm bells on trade and for her district, but what's interesting, she said she's actually working with the republican senators in iowa because they are all on the same

page about this. they are concerned about what the administration is doing. so i think that if this continues to go on, you may see more bipartisan folks like that sort of sounding alarm bells on what this means to their districts and states. neil: well, sounding alarm bells is very different than getting anything done. matt, i am curious about the china thing here. what if we don't get a deal any time soon? i'm reading some of the chinese press. what if we don't get one at all? >> it's terrible. let's face it. these tariffs are taxes, someone has to pay that tax, and you know, over the long haul, if the tariffs stay in place there's going to be a lot of economic hardship in this country. by the same token, i do think china is more on defense than we are, even though in some ways, president trump started this by taking them on. china does need a deal. china does want a deal and they negotiate in their own way, as they are allowed to, but i think in the end they realize donald trump's not going to blink and

it's in everyone's best interest to get to that deal, to lower these tariffs so that consumers can benefit and more importantly, the chinese economy can start chugging along again which they are very worried about. neil: he does blink. he does blink now and then. david, i'm wondering joe biden was famous for saying just a couple weeks ago that china isn't competition for us, that it isn't a threat. lot of people say that's a big old gaffe that will come back to haunt him. what do you think? >> i think, first let me say i actually agree with much of what matt just said. so chalk that one up to bipartisanship. neil: here we go. fox alert. >> neil, i think what vice president biden was saying, two points. one, the chinese population is aging. they are under extraordinary stress internally to build out a social safety net for much of their rural population and a middle class that is very much pressing for those kinds of reforms. so there are huge monetary costs there. additionally, they are spending

on defense, it's not sustainable. i think what biden was getting at is over the long term, the health of the u.s. economy, much stronger. neil: i'm jumping on you. very rude, i apologize. >> trump economy. trump economy. >> obama economy. neil: more after this. . . nah. not gonna happen.

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funding from high-speed rail projects that was getting delayed because of financial issues. they are trying to stall that continue to get one billion. i'm sure you're relieved, charles. you're a big fan of these things. charles: would be more news if they hadn't filed a lawsuit. that is man biting dog for sure. neil, thanks a lot. good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne and this is "making money." stocks having much better day today. mostly a knee-jerk bounce recovering from yesterday's losses. we have the chip-makers and tech companies leading the rebound after the u.s. government promise as nine at this-day grace period to restrict firms from selling to huawei. we'll get analysis from austan goolsbee. several names are struggling to survive whilef