ben: are looking at hershey, it has fallen 7% since in a record high on may 1st. not much fundamental going on. it's just about people not wanting to own high-quality stocks like this but the stock is reported in april and looks like it is falling. of this level holds it will be interesting. jack otter: to read more read this week's addition of barron.com. that is offer us on this memorial day weekend, we thank the brave military. when women who have served to >> you too. ♪ >> from the fox studio es in new york city, this is maria bartiromo's "wall street." maria: happy weekend to all. welcome to the program that analyzes the week that was and helps position you for the week ahead. i'm maria bartiromo. putting a halt to the number one killer of americans aged 18-45,

house majority leader steve scalise on a new fentanyl bill that just passed the house. plus, he'll also respond to new details on the weaponization going on at the irs, concerns over the strength of our economy. john lonski is here with his take. the threat from china, startling developments this week raising concerns about an invasion of taiwan sooner rather than later. senator and former u.s. ambassador to japan bill hagerty responds. but first, a drug epidemic responsible for killing more than 100,000 americans last year, the house voting this week to stop flow of fentanyl made in china and coming over our border from mexico. take a look at this recent tweet from fox news' bill melugin at the border. 1.6 million fentanyl pills, nearly 5 pounds of fentanyl powder confiscated over 3 days by border patrol in arizona. it had been smuggled into the united states with five different vehicleses, hidden inside a computer printer, the dash and spare tires.

joining me right now is house majority leader steve scalise. congressman, it's great to see you this weekend, thanks so much for being here. >> always great to be back with you, maria. thank you. maria: wow, this is is so disturbing, the fentanyl flow. tell us what this bill does. you passed it in the house. thank you for this legislation. >> no, thank you. and, look, the halt fentanyl act is really focused on addressing this problem that is one of the many bad side effects of president biden's open border. you know, maria, we started seeing this flood of fentanyl coming across the southern border as soon as joe biden came into office, basically said border's open. you saw caravans of people, but you also saw the drug cartels from mexico take over operational control of our border. so china makes the fentanyl, they send it to to mexico, it gets laced into all of these different drugs. maybe you think you're buying xanax online or something else, even like the little skittles looking things, and next thing you you know somebody takes it,

and they don't wake up. and it's killing about 150 young people a day. it's a major crisis. joe biden is completely ignoring it because he knows the only real solution is to actually close the southern border. but what we did is we came together. you saw very bipartisan support for this bill to say let's at least schedule it as a class i controlled substance so that it can be dealt with more seriously for the deadly drug that it is. maria: well, look, i mean, at this point we see over and over again a completely soft response by joe biden to communist china. this is one more issue that china is doing undermining united states. i mean, what are they trying to do, kill off americans? i don't, i don't understand why they would be sending this fentanyl into mexico and into the united states. >> right. and, maria, it's the very deliberate. everybody in the world knows what fentanyl is doing. china knows it, and they're making it. they're making it at labs all throughout china, and then

they're sending it to mexico knowing it's going to come across the border and kill young people. again, 150 young people will die can today from fentanyl. another 150 will die origin. imagine if a plane fell out of sky every single day. by the end of the week, joe biden would shut down the entire aviation system million they figured it out, and yet he knows why this is happening. it's because he's got an open southern border. so because of that, he hopes that it'll go away, that the press won't cover it. i appreciate that you've been covering this. and, unfortunately, it's touching families in every community. there's not a community in america, maria, i get -- we have school groups that come up top to the capitol all the time, i asked all the kids in a high school group, do any of you know someone who died of fentanyl? every single kid raised their hand. it's a tragedy and it's preventable. maria: we're also learning new details about the irs investigation into independent journalist matt taibbi last december. the irs opens up an

investigation into matt taibbi and his 2018 tax returns on christmas eve, the same day he blew the whistle on the fbi collusion on twitter. and they also showed up at his house. watch this. >> this was somehow politically motivated, at least it had the appearance of that. this is quite brazen, what they're doing can. they had to know that this was going to come out. also visiting me on my, at my home on the day i'm testifying before congress, that shows you that they're probably not terribly worried about the optics of all this which i think is even more concerning. maria: wow. jim jordan is launch. ing an investigation into this. -- launching an investigation. he told me there's no way this is a coincidence. you also had the irs whistleblower who was removed from the hunter biden tax probe. he testified behind closed doors to the house. what's going on at the irs? >> you know, we saw this same playbook under president obama. remember when they went after tea party groups at the very beginning of the tea party movement. they sic'd the irs on a lot of

these tea party groups that were starting because this is an abuse of government power it's why we started the weaponization committee. you see chairman jordan all over this, we're getting whistleblowers coming toward. by the way, this is the same irs that joe biden wants to double the size of, adding another 87,000 irs agents. has anybody in america asked congress to increase the size of the irs, let alone more than double it to go after people like this journalist or to go after lower and middle income families, which they're going to be doing if they get their way? it's one of the fights that we're having to try to defund that. maria: yeah. i think it's a great point to bring up because right now you've only got about 15,000 border agents, and yet he wants 87,000 additional irs agents, taking that up to well above 100,000 acts. senator tim cost ask -- tim scott and governor ron desantis joining the race for president this week. have you made a decision on who

you'll be engorsing? >> no, obviously -- endorsing. we just talked about the fentanyl, we're dealing with a 4r09 of inflationary bills that we're going to move to yet red tape under control in washington, a major energy bill, that already passed. look, i know all these folk, tim scott and i served together, ron desantis and i served together. of course, when donald trump was president, i worked very closely with him, and we did some major things to turn our country around. we've got to win the white house next year, so having that robust dedebate during the pray mares is create -- primaries is critically important. but we need a win to get the white house and senate back and grow our numbers in the house. and i i think all those things will happen. but in the meantime, the house is going to continue to fight for those hard working families who have been left behind for too long. maria: yeah, i mean, at this point president trump is in the lead in these polls beating out ron desantis, but what's your

take on who can best beat joe biden? would trump beat joe biden or would desantis beat joe biden? >> well, in polling i've seen recently, actually both donald trump and ron desantis beat biden. you look, democrats don't want joe biden on the ticket. you know, frankly, i think he ought to be on the ticket so he has to answer to voters for the many, many crises and failures that our country has witnessed on his watch. he's created all of these crises, an energy crisis, an inflation crisis, a border crisis, internationally the world is on fire and the wad guys, china, russia, iran, are on the move all unchecked because joe biden has checked out. i think the country's hungry for a change. we're going to have to get back to bold conservativism, you know, governing the way people expect and want to see this country run. maria: all right. it's great to see you, congressman. thanks very much. >> always great being with you, maria. thanks. maria: house majority leader steve scalise.

thank you so much, leader. questions over the strength of the economy now, john john lonski is here to weigh this the chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam who make...? ...everyday products... ...designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder - that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that... ...i need a breakthrough card... like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more... plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases! and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas... ...a brilliant reality! the ink business premier card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. ♪ the all-new chevy colorado is made for more. bring more. ♪ do more. ♪ see more. ♪ and be more. ♪

the all-new chevy colorado. made for more. ♪ [ applause ] >> the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day a confident day... a never-hide-my-smile day... a life-of-the-party day... a take-on-the-world day... a believe-in-myself day... a flash-my-new-teeth day. because your clearchoice day is the day you get your confidence back for good. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish.

♪

maria: welcome back. uncertainty over a debt deal rattling markets for much of the week this week as fitch put our country's aaa rating on negative watch. we also got a second reading on first quarter gdp coming in slightly better hand expected but down significantly from the fourth quarter. joining me right now is john lonski. great to see you. >> same here, maria. maria: thank you so much for being here. the economy is clearly slowing. look at that gdp number, all the way down to 1.3%. how do you assess the macro story right now? >> you have to remember even first quarter gdp was front-loaded. we had a real strong month of january for consumer spending, and since then it has slowed, and it continues to to slow. and that should be the case going into the end of the year. a very pronounced slowing, i

think, by year's end. maria: you know, it's interesting to the hook at the bifurcation in this mark. -- in the this market. retail this past week, some did really well like abercrombie & fitch, others had a rough showing. i wonder what your thoughts are on the consumer right now. >> i think consumer spending is slowing down, you know? what we do find is that income growth is not as strong as it was previously in part because the still-sizable gains for getting in the jobs market seem to be concentrated among lore paying occupations. more than half of the jobs created come from leisure and hospitality and health care and education. and those tend to have significantly lower average wages than the rest of the economy. maria: wow, this is a really good point that you're making. john, what about nvidia this week? did you see that sock on thursday, up 30%? -- that stock on thursday? right out of the gate, it was an incredible move. it actually was the dominant

factor moving the nasdaq, and we're talking 20% higher year to date largely because of a handful of stocks involved in a.i., artificial intelligence. you take that out, the nasdaq would probably be lower. >> and that's exactly right. you have to be careful not to extrapolate too much good news from what nvidia is doing. it's benefiting greatly from artificial intelligence. it's hard to to believe, i think back to the summer, that was selling just over $100 per share, now it's over $300 per share. that's a missed opportunity for a lot of us. but careful because the overall economy is not benefiting from artificial intelligence to the same extent. maria: and what's your take on the banks? the federal reserve said, look, we could have a recession later this year because what's going on in the banking sector. are you sill concerned about regionals right now, or has that group pretty much stabilized? >> i think the fed is willing to step in and provide liquidity

when necessary, help assure mergers take place so as to avoid a collapse of the financial system. similar to what happened in 2008, 2009. nevertheless, lending standards are being tightened not just for corporations, businesses, but also for consumers, and that's one of the reasons why you have to be cautious about what happens to investment spending by businesses, hiring activity as well as consumer spending later this year. maria: well, you're looking at the cycle over and over again. john, you've been a student of this for so long. here we are at almost the halfway mark of the year, 2023. would you be putting your money to work here, right now for the rest of the year? >> no, i would not. i'd still be very conservative, keep money on the sideline and wait with until the mini recession strikes perhaps later this year. even the fed staff economist, as you mentioned earlier, are predicting a mild recession starting then end of 2023 and going into 2024.

later this upcoming week, on friday, june 2nd, we have the release of the may jobs report -- maria: that's right. >> -- and that's going to be of incredible importance. if it's on the strong side, then perhaps we're looking at a fed rate hike a couple of weeks from now, that would be on june 14th. maria: so it's all about jobs numbers next friday on whether or not the fed raises rates at hair june meeting? >> that's going to be critically important. and june 13th we get the cpi for may. those are going to be two major reports that will probably wield a lot of influence over what happens to the markets as we go into that meeting. maria: and what happens at the federal reserve. >> precisely. maria: yeah, amazing. john, great analysis. thanks very much. >> thank you, maria. maria: all right, john lonski. startling details out of china. is bay with ginning preparing to attack -- beijing preparing to attack taiwan sooner rather than later? senator bill hagerty is here on that next. >> china almost certainly is

capable of launching cyber attacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the united states including against oil. >> if we go into a conflict with taiwan, they want to be able to shut down ability for us to communicate and to shift and control critical infrastructure issues. it's very, very, very dangerous, what chinese government is doing. and, unfortunately, the biden administration, they're not holding them i'm the sizzle in this promposal. and while romeo over here is trying to look cool, things are about to heat up. darn it, kyle! and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage,

you could end up paying for this yourself. so get allstate.

we moved out of the city so our little sophie could appreciate nature. but then he got us t-mobile home internet. i was just trying to improve our signal, so some of the trees had to go. i might've taken it a step too far. (chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch? what, we have a ton of mulch. when i was his age, we had to be inside to watch live sports. a literal ton. but with xfinity, we get the fastest mobile service and can stream down the street or around the block! hey, can you be less sister, more car? all right, let's get this over with. switch to xfinity mobile and get the best price for 2 lines of unlimited. just $30 a line per month. i should get paid more for this. you get paid when you win. from xfinity. home of the 10g network.

♪ ♪ every day, businesses everywhere are asking. is it possible? with comcast business...it is. is it possible to help keep our online platform safe from cyberthreats? so we can better protect our customer data? absolutely. can we provide health care virtually anywhere? we can help with that. is it possible to use predictive monitoring to address operations issues? we can help with that, too. with global secure networking from comcast business. it's not just possible. it's happening. maria: welcome back. china researchers conducting over 20 the war game simulationings. they claim that the country's hypersonic missiles could destroy our navy's gerald r. ford carrier fleet in the south china sea. this is the first time china has made results of a simulated strike against a u.s. carrier public. we are also learning of a

chinese government hacking group infiltrating critical infrastructure and communications systems through microsoft, and this is happening many guam, a key location for an american military response if china were to the invade taiwan. joining me right now is senate foreign e relations committee member and former japan ambassador bill hager i. senator, it's great to see you, welcome. >> likewise, maria. always good to be with you. maria: what are your thoughts here on these provocations, this simulation game from china? >> i think it just putt underscores, maria, that the world needs a strong america. and the fact is that since afghanistan, we've been kiss playing weakness. china's seeing that void is, they're stepping up, and they're putting more and more confrontationational pressure on that region. they've made their goals very clear in terms of their desire to bring taiwan back into the fold of china. they're seeing right now an opportunity the, a moment of weakness in this administration and america stepping back from the stage at a i'm we should be stepping forward, and they're taking full advantage of that.

i'm shocked to see the level of aggression but, again, i've been dealing with china for a long time. they look for advantage and they'll take it. maria: yeah. the level of aggression also is stunning given that there's no response from the united states over and over again. we had a surveillance balloon traverse the country for a week, no response. you had a cover-up of covid-19, no response. we don't even talk about the it anymore. and now you've got these stories. should the u.s. be doing anything to push back? i mean, gina ray mundo, had a dinner with her counterpart in washington this week. it feels like the u.s. is always on defense. >> it's amazing. i mean, we've actually seen the state department pulling down critical statements. you know, when the treasury secretary puts out a sanction that names a chinese company for sending fentanyl precursors into america and into mexico, our state department actually rips that out of their messaging because they don't want to the offend, i presume, the chinese. they're still trying to get some type of high-level meetings, and they're willing to sacrifice our

strength for that. we should be dealing from the position of strength and power. maria: what about, you know, revoking the most favored trade status that china continues to enjoy? >> i tell you, that, the participation in the wto, the fact that we still allow them to call themselves a developed nation so they can borrow from the world bank, all of these things need to be addressed in a diplomatic fashion. and instead of doing that, again, we're finding ourselves on defense, as you you say. and the chinese take a very predatory posture in their region but also, as you mentioned, flying balloons over our country, attacking our systems with hackers, they're taking every opportunity he can to put pressure on america. maria: yeah, it's totally disturbing to see this in action in terms of a response. but i want to switch gears, ask you about the u.s.. florida governor ron desantis joining the 2024 race for president this week. i know that you've endorsed president trump for re-election and trump is still in the lead according to the polls, but there's many -- mega-donor, hal

lambert, is joining a number of former trump supporters many supporting desantis. watch this. >> donald trump can only serve one term. he'll effectively be a lame duck almost on day onehe were to win. but i don't think he can win the general. that's the number two reason. i don't think he can win the general. of it's time to move on to the next generation, and governor desantis is a vision forward versus, you know, hashing out things from the past. maria: he was on with neil cavuto this week. senator, your thoughts. are you still -- has anything changed? are you still supporting trump? >> absolutely. look, maria, just as we said in the beginning dealing with china, we need a strong america right now. president trump has demonstrated his ability project strength. i served in his administration. i was united states ambassador to japan in that region. we saw a critical change from the obama administration to the trump administration in terms of our posture ther of china's willingness to step back. we put place the phase one treaty there, we dealt with north korea in a way that had to

be done. now north korea's back at it again. president trump knows how to project and demonstrate strength. when i see candidates like ron desantis come in, i say, look, we've got a strong field of republican contenders, any one of which would be better than biden by a long shot. maria: joe biden walked into the white house and started undoing everything president trump did. the first thing he did was cancel the china initiative. this was a policy that was working. we were looking at indictments of people who were accepting money from communist china to send back our intellectual property. >> and if you think back to 2015 when president trump first began to talk about china, i think he awakenedded the america and the world to the predatory posture that china has adopted. we need that sort of strength projected yet again. the biden administration is conflicted in so many ways in terms of trying to deal with china, and we've seen weakness, again, that opportunity is being captured by china as they step up their aggression. maria: yeah.

the second thing that joe biden did was waive sanctions on nord stream 2. i don't know what interest the united states had in waiving sanctions of putin's pipeline into europe. that was also extraordinary. senator, t always a pleasure. thanks so much. >> likewise, maria. good to be with you. maria: senator bill hager i. i've got one important thing you need to know about ahead of next week. that's next. ♪ ♪ you got this. let's go. gobble gobble. i've seen bigger legs on a turkey! rude. who are you? i'm an investor in a fund that helps advance innovative sports tech like this smart fitness mirror. i'm also mr. leg day...1989!

anyone can become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq, a fund that gives you access to nasdaq-100 innovations. i go through a lot of pants. before investing carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com. ♪ whenever heartburn strikes, get fast relief with tums. its time to love food back. ♪tum, tum tum tum, tums♪ and i remember kind of thinking like,

"oh my gosh, i think we could be sisters." because i think we looked... yes. right. yeah. and i don't think at that time- i think you're the one to tell me that we had the same birthday. yes. it's really unbelievable when you think about it, because it's been, like, really over 20 years that you were my mother and father's banker, you became my banker and now fran is in her third year of college and you're her banker. it's so unbelievable because i'm just 20 years old. [laughing] when you automate sales tax with avalara, you don't have to worry about things like changing tax rates or filing returns. avalarahhh ahhh

>> instead of driving, we decided to fly. >> we live in new york city, so we don't have cars, so we have to fly anywhere. >> sooner you get to the airport, the faster you get through security and everything. >> takes so long to finally get

on the plane that i like to go on cruises, because as soon as you get on the boat, you're partying. maria: welcome back. one thing you need to know about ahead of next week, the massive memorial day movement. this long weekend kicks off the unofficial start to summer, and the year is expected to be the busiest since the year 2000. more than 42 the million people set to hit the roads, skies and rails this weekend. that's up nearly 3 million from last year. we hope you will have a safe memorial day weekend. hal do it for us. and on this weekend we remember and salute all of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. we thank them and their families. we'll see you again next time. have a good weekend. ♪ ♪ ♪ gerry: hello and welcome to the "wall street journal at large." candidate desantis launches on twitter. what could possibly go