>> bidenomics comes with some of the risks. i would see some of the risks we've seen, certainly, have been

real weekly earnings. >> it's a miracle that he even has a third support in this country when you look at the track record of what they're now calling bidenomics. >> manifested in propaganda in the media, lying to the public, a two-tieredded justice system. >> the problem is hunter biden had burisma pay him k and then he gave the money to a chinese company run by a friend of his, and then the chinese company, quote, loan ared -- loaned hunter biden's money back to him. ashley: well, it is 11 a.m. on the east coast on this thursday, june 29th. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney if today. that's a pretty murky picture, we are seconds away from virgin back in tick's first commercial space flight. it's looking up into the haze. lauren: you can't see much, but what we should be able to see when any moment now rocket will

be dropped and the crew will be send into -- ashley: so it's a turbo, a twin ebb engine mother ship that dose up. lauren: vms eve, and the ss unity, these are the only two aircraft in operation at virgin galactic -- ashley: so it drops from the mother ship, then takes off into space. lauren: yes. for about 90 minutes. you experience what it's like to be in space, the weightlessness -- ashley: yep. lauren: they conduct their experiments -- ashley: three italian researchers on board, and eventually they drift back down to earth and land on a runway. lauren: and they hoped to do it again and again and again. it's that repetition and the reliability that really brings us to successful space tourism and eventually brings down the price tag. ashley: based on that pick can churching we're going to have to take their word for it -- picture.

thin trading today, as you'd expect, kind of a holiday feeling to it. the dow still up 41 points, the nasdaq -- 141 points, the nasdaq down and the s&p just up one-tenth of a percent. take a look at the big tech names, most of them moving lower except for apple. they hit an all-time high again earlier in the session. microsoft, meta, amazon and alphabet all down at this hour. let's take a look at 10-year treasury which had, the yield on this had been flying high and it still is, up 12.6 basis points, now at 3.8 if % -- 3.83 percent. a new fox poll shows former president trump gaining ground in the 2024 race even after his indictment, maybe because of his indictment. 56 people preferred donald trump over the other republican candidates, second place ron desantis there at just 22%. so how do we make sense of all of this? well, good person to ask, mike huckabee, former arkansas governor, of course, joins me

now. hello to you, governor. are you surprised that donald trump is going up in the polls the harder he gets hit with these legal challenges? >> new york i'm really not, ashley -- no, i'm really not. i think, in fact, donald trump probably prays maybe there'll be another indictment tomorrow, i'll go up another 10 points. [laughter] before long he's going to have 98 of the republican vote because he keeps being hit with all of these charges that his opponents i throw at him. it's like i said a few days ago, it's like the wolverine. shoot him in the face with a bullet, and he spits it out. it's just not affecting his popularity in the polls, and republican voters realize that this is really persecution not prosecution. ashley: you know, trump has said he's very kind of reticent to actually take part in the first debate of the gop hopefuls because he said i can only go down from here. why would i want to go on there and have nasty people try and make points against me? would that be a mistake, if he

doesn't debate? >> not necessarily. his support is rock solid. nobody's going to say, oh, i was going to to support him but now i'm not because he didn't go to the debate. frankly, when you look at some of these candidates are saying about him, all he'll be a is a punching bag for them. you know, if he goes, fine, but if he doesn't, it doesn't hurt him a bit. ashley: wouldn't it give other candidates a a chance to shine without him on the same stage? >> well, it would give them a chance to talk, that's for sure, but i don't know that they would necessarily shine. and then if he's not there, some of them will attack him, quite frankly, some of them will then attack desantis if he's on the stage and trump isn't. ashley: so the question is who is the best candidate to defeat joe biden in your opinion? >> i still think it's donald trump. he's the one with the overwhelming support of the republican voters. and i think that in a race with joe biden, people realize, look,

we had better inflation rates, we had control of our border, we were respected by the world. maybe not loved, but respected. we had low energy costs, we had a handle on inflation. things were cheaper at the grocery store and the gas pump. that's a pretty doggone good contrast to biden's record with bide mom ific, whatever that's supposed to be. [laughter] ashley: next one for you, governor k president biden carried a cheat sheet with details about the wagner uprising, and i know you've seen this, he still managed to make make a major gaffe when speaking to to reporters. listen to this. >> reporter: wagner and putin are weakened by recent events. >> it's hard to tell, but he's clearly losing the war in iraq, he's losing the war at home. and he's become a bit of a pariah around the world, can ask it's not just nato, it's not just the european union. it's japan, you know -- ashley: well, putin clearly losing the war in iraq. how concerning is that, governor? >> it's pretty concerning.

i mean, i have it on good authority that right after that he drove around in his corvette to the drive-through at bank of america and ordered two quarter pounders. [laughter] so he clearly is confused about places he is and things he's doing and the events of the world. it's really, it's funny at times, but then you stop and realize this isn't a guy doing greeting at wal-mart, he's president of the united states. he ought to do better. ashley: yeah. and what does that that -- i mean, how is our image around the world when we see things like this almost on a daily basis? >> i think it hurts us because people say who is running the country of the united states? ashley: right. >> it can't be this guy. so it does not bode well. and i think a lot of our particularly the enemies that we have, china, russia, they're looking at this and they're saying, boy with, this is our time to make a move, because he won't even realize we've done it. [laughter] ashley: we'll have to leave it right there, governor huckabee with. thank you very much, as always. appreciate your input. you know, always feel bad, it's

like elder abuse, isn't it? we all have gaffes, we all have -- but he's the leader of the free world. lauren: i know. held to to a different standard and rightfully so. ashley: even msnbc is taking notice of biden's most recent dwarf, so -- and -- gaffe, what do they say? >> he might be old, he might have a bad memory, but he's better than donald trump. so this comes from msnbc responding on twitter to news that biden called putin basically the leader of iraq. he writes this: i mean, it is great that the democratic president running for re-election is super old and keeps forgetting words, no, it's not great. is his likely opponent, a two twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president who suggested we fire nukes to alter hurricanes? yes. we have a two-party system, sadly, and if the choice is

between biden's memory, competence, intellect and honesty and trump's, then the i think it's pretty clear where most americans stand. it's not a hard choice. but that, that's a good point. for independents out there, do you think the quality ises like honesty are -- qualities like honesty are more important than ability? ashley: that's a good one. let records speak for themselves. donald trump has an excellent economic record. lauren: but he's saying it doesn't matter to many voters. they'll take all of the bad things, the cognitive decline of the president of the united states, the repeated gaffes because at least he's honest. ashley: yeah, no. i don't think people buy that. lauren, interesting, thank you. let's get back to the to the market. a mixed bag with today. the dow is up nicely, 180 points, s&p slightly higher, the nasdaq slightly lower. let's bring in luke lloyd to the talk about all of this. let's start with president biden, luke. he claims he's turning things around on the economy. of he says bidenomics is already

in action. do you think the american people are buying it? do you agree with the president? >> no. but we're going to the feel the impact of that down the the road, and it's not going to be good. we have a politics issue. did we forget that ever since 2020 the government has been more involved in our lives than ever before? we had most amount of money ever printed and the fastest rate-hiking cycle we've ever had in history, both of which are government controlled, and we also saw the biggest wealth divide in american history between the rich and poor. higher taxes, bidenomics and government spending, you know, our money, bidenomics, policies of wealth redistribution. take it from the rich and give it to the poor. ashley: right. >> ultimately, it makes the poor even more poor and makes the rich even more rich in relative terms. those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ashley: right. >> this ridiculous government spending is similar to rome before it fell, excessive taxation and inflation caused by

government spending can which caused extreme economic troubles in rome. ashley: very well covered, young man. let's move on to this one. you say work from home is a serious threat to growth for the younger generation. why is that? >> i mean, this goes right along with what i just said. people are looking for somebody else like the government or college, a company to give them, you know, the answers and ways to progress within this economic system, or they're looking for the easy way out like worming from home. again -- working the from home. i left small town ohio for new york city. when you're a rural, you know, country boy essentially walking down the streets of astoria with, queens, you don't fit in too well, ashley. i met my mentors, people i'm hearning from to this day -- learning from to this day. i never would have add had the same opportunities if i worked from home. in reality, when you're in a career especially just beginning a career, you need to be around as many people as possible to the learn, to make connections, to get mentors. the problem is we are stuck thinking that the system owes us

something. ashley: right. >> essentially are, we're teaching socialism in schools, teaching people to be takers within the system not gives, and we -- givers, and we run to mommy, daddy and the government to complain. ashley: do you think we'll ever get back to where we were before we knew what covid meantsome. >> no, i don't think so. i think psychologically and behavioral there's been a big shift, you know? i don't know a time when government stops spending our money. when the government gets bigger and bigger, it's hard to pull back, and i tweeted this yesterday. when government gets big like it has right now, when government begins wealth redistribution, people become more reliant, and the government rarely ever gets smaller. i'm very concerned we will never go back because in my whole lifetime the government's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, and people have been more and more reliant on it. we're getting away from human nature, getting away from capitalism, we're getting away there from competition, and that's very scary. ashley: but i think employers

are now getting a little more leverage because with employees have had all the leverage because of lack of work e. nay be changing -- that may be changing. >> well, i hope so. remote work's just one of the things. it's really the psychological, the behavior, you know, the college education system teaches you to go get a degree and you're perfectly fine, you're supposed to make all the money mt. worldsome that's not true. you need to quantify your value and productivity, that's how the system works. no one wants to work for it, that's difference. ashley: we covered that extensively are. luke lloyd, thank you so much for your input today. >> thank you. ashley: the coast back, by the way, says they have recovered presumed human remains from the imploded sub, we'll have the latest details. irs whistleblower gary shapley says his team was not allowed to ask about the president in the information about hunter. roll the tape. >> there were definitely

hindrances i've never seen before concerning this investigation that didn't allow us to follow through an investigation of any other individual to include president biden. ashley: yep, you can be sure we're following that one. also house oversight chair james comer says the biden family may have accepted more than $40 million from foreign nationals. he's calling it organized crime. i'm going to ask tom fitton the all about that next. ♪ ♪ oh, listen to the music, oh, listen to the music. ♪ oh, listen to the music all the time ♪

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ashley: all right, hunter biden and his team arriving earlier for his closed door deposition in delaware this morning. this is the defamation lawsuit brought by john paul mcisaac who is the delaware repair shop other than, if you remember, where where hunter left his laptop. david spunt is at the justice department this morning. david, what can we expect? >> reporter: well, ashley, this has been going on for at least two hours, expected to go on a few more, this specific deposition, and it's very important to point out this has nothing to do with the federal case involving the squaws us the department -- justice department and that the plea deal involving hunter biden's taxes. we were there in wilmington, delaware, this morning when hunter biden got out of an suv, secret service agents will as well, he is a protectee. he was with his legal team as well. a lot of questions he can expect. the deposition we videotaped and transcribe ised although there's no telling when it would possibly be released to the public. it's a civil suit is brought

with forward by that computer repair shop owner, he actually closed his business and he claims hunter biden dropped off his laptop but never came to collect it. mcisaac says he gave it to the fbi in 2019 where it has been in federal custody ever since. copy after copy, ashley, was leaked from that laptop hoe the original is still in the custody of the feds. the laptop has sparked much debate over last several year, prompted more than 50 former intelligence officials to write a letter and insinuate it was likely russian disinformation. turns out it was not, laptop is real, though hunter biden's legal team has played with some wording, it almost makes it seem even hoe they admit it's his content, they're not clearly admitting it is his laptop. with respect to his plea deal with the justice department where i speak to you right now, that will take place on july 26th. he'll be in front of a federal judge on july 26th.

ashley? ashley: it's all about spannic, isn't it? -- semantics. david, appreciate that report. house oversight chair james comer says biden's family may have accepted more than $40 million from foreign national, this as president biden once again snapped at reporters when asked about hunter's deals. listen to this. >> reporter: president biden, how involved were you in your son's chinese shakedown text message? were you sitting there? were you involved? >> no! ashley: no, he says. tom fitton joins me now. tom, great to see you this morning. the details as presented are damning, and the president is becoming more is and more defensive, clearly. i mean, where does this go from here? >> i don't see how the house avoids an impeachment inquiry, you know? the alternative is that you rely on the justice department to figure out what went on. i mean, we don't expect president biden to come out and make a confession, right? you look at what the evidence is

about what he knew and when he knew it and the extent of his involvement, and the evidence as you point out is powerful. and this justice department, the evidence is protected hunter and joe biden in an improper way. frankly, this individual litigant up in delaware, the computer shop owner, is probably going to ask hunter biden tougher and more significant, substantive questions about the laptop than he's ever been asked before, certainly by the justice department. and if they don't want to have a grand jury do anything, if they don't want the justice department to have a special counsel, then it's incumbent upon the house to get with it and begin an impeachment inquiry so there can at least be an understanding by the american people to figure out what the truth is about the extent of his involvement. and the evidence is powerful, it's just a matter of getting it on the record and holding the president to account in the way the constitution allows. ashley: you know, an irs whistleblower, tom, gary

shapley, look, he said his team was not allowed to even ask about president biden during the hunter investigation. listen to this. >> we weren't allowed to ask questions about dad. we weren't allowed to ask about the big guy. we weren't allowed to include certain names can document requests and search warrants. there were definitely hindrances that i've never seen before in my 14 years concerning this investigation that didn't allow us to follow through investigation of any other individual to include president biden. ashley: person, gary shapley, tom, he seems remarkably credible, to me. he seems like he's come forward and said, look, this is what happened. he's very believable. i mean, i hate to ask you the same question, but what happens now? he is a very strong witness to all of this. >> well, not only that, but his colleague who was running the investigation as well supports virtually everything he says. and i would compare and contrast

the treatment of biden with trump, and this builds a powerful case of selective prosecution, you know, a disparate approach between biden and trump. they protect biden and target trump, the same justice department, the same top officials were telling weiss, oh, no, we can't go aggressively after the biden team while in an unprecedented fashion, raiding the home of a former president. ashley: right. >> and, you know, i think this issue's going to be raised not only, obviously, in congress, but it may show up in florida as the president tries to defend himself, president trump, i mean. ashley: very true. tom fitton, so much to talk about, but thank you so much for joining us this morning. we do appreciate it. we are just a few -- >> you're welcome. ashley: thank you. we keep saying this from from virgin galactic's first commercial space flight. we're going to bring it to you once it happens.

there it is. lauren: there they are. that's the money shot. ashley: there it is. all right. coming up also one big city just canceled several fireworks shows, and it's all in the name of climate, i kid you not. we're going to be all over that one. also, the media payabled ron desantis at heartless after flying migrants to martha's vineyard but now hearing from the migrants themselves who say they're actually thrilled to be there. we'll have that story next. ♪ oh, this has gotta be the good life, this could really be the good life, good life ♪ from big cities, to small towns, and on main streets across the us, you'll find pnc bank. helping businesses both large and small, communities and the people who live and work there

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ashley: welcome back, everyone. we're literally seconds away from virgin galactic's first commercial space launch -- >> wow. release, release, release. ashley: here we go. >> ignition. lauren: it drops from the underbelly. >> good until. -- good control. that's turning, pulling the nose up. ashley: so now what happens, lauren? >> and trim is set we're now traveling at approximately 1.4. lauren: so fast. >> there's max q, that's the

maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle. those onboard are experiencing about 3gs at moment. the trim is complete and unity is in the vertical headed towards space. mac 2 the -- mach 2. ashley: we're just going to listen in you haven't already realized that. this is incredible video as we watch virgin galactic's first commercial space flight. lauren: richard branson, he's been at this for decades, he flew about two years ago. if everything goes according to plan -- >> mach 2.8, motor cutoff. >> amazing. >> all right. predicted apogee today is 275,000 feet, that's 84.3 kilometers. >> incredible. >> our mission specialists have been cleared to the unstrap and enjoy the 0g experience.

>> this is amazing. what you're seeing is the colonel going to the back to tend to the payloads that are mounted on the rack. you can see lynn and leo starting their experiments in their seat and having it looks like a great time -- [laughter] of course. >> the feather is moving, as you can see. starting that back flip maneuver i spoke of. the feather is now fully up. >> amazing. and is viva italia. [laughter] this is a hundred years for the italian air force, so happy centennial to the air force. this is absolutely incredible and welcome to the space, astronauts. how absolutely incredible. [speaking italian] congratulations to walter, angelo and lee wrote on becoming astronauts today and a special congratulations to our pilot, nicola, for his first space

flight. welcome back to space, mike and colin. this is absolutely incredible. you can see i'm tripping over m- ashley: lauren, they're the only up there, i believe, 5 minutes in weight lisness. lauren: i would love to experience what that feels like. you saw two of the astronauts sitting in their seats doing their science and research -- ashley: they're like, that's great, whatever, i've got a job another the here. [laughter] so we have, what, four crew members and two pilots up there the right now. and eventually after they to do begin their descent, they will literally come down the glide phase where they just glide onto a runway down in the desert. lauren: but they need to get that perfectly orchestrated and stay on the path. they've had issues with that in the past. look how black it is -- ashley: it really is. lauren: incredible. >> files are currently completing the back flip maneuver -- ashley: so, literally, hay don't have much time to do the

experiments, do they? lauren: so fast. 13 of them. they're examining micro graf i the. >> our training team has worked this portion of the flight out so it's very natural and spewty for -- ashley: you were saying they hope to do this once a month. lauren: starting in august, if everything goes according to plan, virgin dwhrak tick wants to ferry paying passengers, space tourist, to the edge of space -- ashley: $450,000 -- lauren: and do it over and over again. i've read that they have $100 million in deposits lined up. ashley: it's incredible. and all of this, by the way, from the takeoff of the plane carrying the vessel back to landing, $450,000 for 19 minutes. lauren: and the exebb appearance you can talk about for a lifetime. a few weeks ago, they raised $300 million as a company. they're looking to raise $400 # million more to get more aircraft to be able to do this in increasing numbers. ashley: terrific views, you know? when we were watching it earlier, it was just disappearing into the haze, but

these are terrific photographs. lauren: do you remember -- [inaudible] with blue origin? ashley: yes, of course. william shatt they are and all that. lauren: yes. there budget science that we knew about happening on that flight, so this is rich or ard branson's turn to produce that same experience. bezos goes a little bit higher. elon musk is trying to do this with spacex, but elon musk is the only billionaire who has not been -- ashley: they're all sitting there very calmly, aren't they? lauren: they're working! ashley: yeah. lauren: you expected the party like we saw with blue origin -- ashley: i think so. lauren: even at spacex where everybody was cheering. i also think they're nervous because look what happened with the titan submersible and that company. granted, it's completely different, but it's under the realm of extreme tourism. there is a nervousness that something -- ashley: any trip like this comes with risk.

lauren lauren these passengers were required to sign a waiver explaining the riskses and also lack of regulation when they do things like this. ashley: let's listen in again real quick. >> -- on the rack conducting and recording data all the way through each phase of flight. so you get hypergravity and low gravity data the, and that transition in between. >> the feather is almost completed the feather down. it is now down. and locked. >> those watching from space port america, now's a great time to go outside. unity will be coming into view, and you can cheer on the crew as they return to earth. now, the mission specialists on the flight are supported by an incredible team on the ground from both the air force and the center for national research in italy who designed and developed the research being conducted onboard. space-based research is an incredible capability that is being opened up by suborbital vehicles like our own space flight system.

one of the researchers utilizing this capability to the fullest is here with us in the studio. i'm so excited. a future astronaut, a friend and a space researcher, kelly girardi, welcome to the studio. >> thank you. i'm so excited to be here. thanks for having me. >> i've got to ask, how are you feeling having watched this incredible crew go to space today knowing that you're going to be there on a future space flight? >> it's surreal, i have to say. just the energy if from being outside, and i've had the benefit of being on this side of the live stream for a number of flights including yours, and it's so special to experience it with the crew and fair -- their families and the work force and mission control. it's emotional, i remember when i heard release, release, release, i burst into tears, and i'm glad that my mic was off during the live cast can. it's the profundity of human space flight, and i'm so ready to be on the other side of this live stream the. >> it's the incredible. this is my sixth space flight,

and you probably saw i was tripping over my words. i just couldn't get it out because of the excitement. >> exactly. >> so you're on a future dedicated research mission. could you tell us a little bit about science that you're going to be the conducting? >> yeah, absolutely. ashley: again, we are watching history being made for virgin galactic's space program, the first commercial space flight. they were up in the, on the edge of space for a relatively short time there to get to experience weightlessness for a number of minutes. three of the crew members from italy doing experiments. there's galactic, virgin galactic instructor and two pilots so a total of six people. they're now in the glide phase, they're coming back with down slowly. it's over very quickly. it takes 90 minutes from launch toen landing. lauren: yes. and they don't want to veer off course. that has happened in the past, creates a lot of of problems and raises uncertainty for the next group that has signed up to go up. ashley: it really is the new frontier. of course, we've seen jeff bezos, to your point earlier,

lauren, taking paid customers up into space, in fact, higher than the virgin galactic launch. lauren: i want to see the reaction when they land. ashley: yes. lauren: because the difference right now is they just seem so calm and focused. ashley: yes. but we are saying these are italian army crew members, so they're supposed to be cool, calm and collected. lauren: i wanted a party. [laughter] i wanted the champagne to be popped. ashley: they're all about the work. and, of course, you have elon musk and spacex who's done such a tremendous job with the commercial side of things, taking up satellites for companies and countries around the world. he has been remarkable, working with nasa. is so this really is, you know, they talk about the burgeoning space program, it really is. in the private sector. lauren: you have three tech geniuses and billionaires pioneering the pooch of oman kind -- the future of mankind by using outer space. jeff bezos, he was valedictorian

of his high school back in 1982. he said he wanted to build space hotels and other things in space to preserve planet earth. of. ashley: that's what he said all the way back then? lauren: all the way back then. he's doing it, richard branson is doing it, elon musk is doing it, nas is doing -- nasa is doing it -- ashley: all i wanted to do was play professional football, it didn't work out. i was setting my sights lower, literality and figuratively. lauren: it seems fast. ashley: to your point, lauren, every this to get -- they have to get this right. they're going to glide to the runway this in the new mexico desert near truth or consequences, or toc as they call it. end don't want to jinx it, but so far so good. everything has gone exactly to the plan. lauren: it has. it has. >> you've been an advocate -- ashley: what's so great, by way,

is we get these amazing views which is -- there you go, there they are, calmly looking out window saying, you know, wow, that went quickly. oh, there to you go. he's laughing. there you go. lauren: thumbs up, we got the thumbs up. ashley: there to you go. smiling, a little bit of clapping. [laughter] lauren: is it actually happening? ashley: wonder how many air miles they get for this trip. lauren: yeah. ultimately, virgin galactic wants to do it 400 times per year. ashley: if they do that, they're going to make a lot of money. maybe the ticket price comes down, i don't know. lauren: it has to. right now almost half a million dollars to experience -- ashley: the desert land below this in new mexico -- lauren: the mojave, yes? ashley: no, it's new mexico, so that'd be the rio grande area. >> it's amazing to be here and

just deep appreciation for all that that goes into this and all that this means. i know this is beginning of routine and regular commercial operations, but to me it will never get old. >> thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. i'm going to run down and welcome that crew back with. >> i know. thank you, kelly. >> thanks. >> all right. this is just an absolutely exciting time for the research community. i mean, the excitement is just palpable, and i can't wait for us to be cheering kelly on as -- ashley: well, you can tell just from this video we are getting closer and closer, obviously, to touchdown here. again, in the new mexico desert there. everyone's looking very calm. and, of course, the history-making part of this, first commercial flight for virgin galactic the, richard branson's virgin galactic who is in everything. he has airplanes, he has cruise ships -- lauren: he sure does. ashley: music label. you name it, he's done it. lauren:st it's a bird, a

plane -- ashley: yeah. it's moving fast. lauren: uss unity. ashley: there you are. and, again, everything -- lauren: and is as this is happening, the company's stock is down 8.5%. ashley: interesting. hmm. >> the landing here is down and locked, we have three green, that means all gear are down and locked, and we're making our final approach to the runway here at space port america. we like to make urnses for our approach -- turns. that's because end commander is in the left seat, and that provides best line of sight for them as they come in to the landing. now, the runway here at space port america is 12,000 feet long, that's 3.7 kilometers, and 200 feet wide or 61 meters. 1,000 feet above the runway.

500 feet. over the threshold, that's the beginning of the runway. and you'll see the pilots hold the nose up. that's a flare mama favor. maneuver. all part of the energy management. ashley: a wow. lauren: they did it. >> main gear touchdown. so the pilots will continue to hold the nose gear in the air as we continue to bleed off some energy as we run down the runway at the designated air speeds they will lower the nose here as well. ashley: there it is. lauren: wow. >> nose gear is down. now, as our ground speed slows when we reach a designated ground speed, the pilots will apply the brakes and bring the vehicle to a complete stop.

ashley: well, there you have it, picture perfect pretty much says it all. that glide from, you know, the edge of space down onto this runway in new mexico, absolutely perfectly executed. and congratulations to the crew. six people onboard, and the spacecraft did everything it was supposed to do. lauren: they wanted to prove reliability, and it looks like they just did k and they're going to get ready to do it again -- [cheers and applause] in august. ashley: we can hear the cheers from the crew. [applause] >> what a beautiful landing and a perfect way to complete our first commercial flight and our first dedicated science mission. congratulations to everyone onboard with. our very own paceship unity -- spaceship unity, we saw beautiful flying from georgia mill and kelly and brilliant work by our chase pilot all of whom are still in the air right

now. great job to you all. now, we still have one more guest here in the studio with us, italian air force major general mauricio -- who's the defense cooperation attache at the embassy of italy in -- ashley: all right. fascinating to watch, wasn't it? great stuff. everything went to plan, and you just watched the virgin galactic first commercial space flight. and it was, again, picture perfect. wesley hunt, republican are from texas, joins us now. fascinating to watch. you were watching along with us. what's your reaction? >> i think the only thing i could think about was space, the final frontier. ashley: yes. [laughter] >> as a pilot myself, i was absolutely mesmerized by what i just saw. so neat to think about the history of flight just in this country over the course of the past hundred years is remarkable. it's just american ingenuity at its best. ashley: are you happy with this, you know, we have jeff bezos, we have elon musk, richard branson is, this really is the final

frontier, to your point, but it just shows you what the private companies can do in con conjunction with, you know, someone like nasa. i mean, it really has exploded and continues to move forward at an incredible rate. >> i think this needs to be kind of wave of the future in many industries. look, we need to get the government out of the way, allow the private sector to continue to innovate for the future. of course, with some help from the government, but i think we always can admit that we do it better when we allow private companies to take the lead on initiatives just like this. ashley: couldn't greet more. but there are the those who say we've got so many problems down here on earth, things that really need our attention, why are we end spending money -- i know it's private money, but couldn't money be better spent helping people down here on earth and the problems they face? what would you say? >> i think we can actually walk and chew gum at the same time. and if you're hooking at billionaires that are able to put people in space for sport, i can assure you that we could figure out a way to secure our border as well.

[laughter] ashley: and, lauren, to your point, you've been following this story. i say picture perfect, but that looked as good as it can get, right in. lauren: i'm looking for a response, a reaction from richard branson. i haven't seen one yet, but he's got to be saying, oh, my, thank good -- this worked. we proved it. i don't mean to be dismal, but, you know, you're looking at the stock price of the company, it's down sharply today. we're looking -- we just uncovered debris from the titan submersible, ask we're talking about adventure tourism, extreme tourism. and this worked. ashley: yeah. lauren: this worked. ashley: congressman, lauren brings up a good point, there have been questions asked after the submersible tragedy. and yet there are those that say, you know what? we need to push on. people understand the risks, and it's important that we continue to forge ahead. would you agree? >> i absolutely, absolutely agree with that. and i think there's kind of a part of the american ethos, a part of our spirit to continue

to explore and push the envelope. we're going to have some accident, we're boeing to take a few accidents back, but it's necessary -- a few steps back, but it's necessary to be on the curve of creating a better world for our future. this is exactly how it's done incrementally taking risks and chances like we saw today. ashley: congressman, if you had a chance to get onboard one of these craft, would to you this? [laughter] lauren: and for how much? >> you know, i don't have a half a million dollars for this quite yet. [laughter] but if the price goes down, i would absolutely love to go onboard one of these things. ashley: you're a very brave man, i can tell you that that. congressman, thank you very much. we're just going to listen in to what the space crew are talking about, and we're waiting for the actual astronauts, i guess you can call them -- lauren: they're astronauts, yeah. >> thank you for joining us. >> absolutely, thank you. >> incredible. thank you to everyone on the ground here at space port

america who made this day possible. we cannot wait to hear about the experience from our mission specialists and see the results of experiments conducted onboard. we'll be continuing the celebration here as we await the arrival of all the other vehicles. wherever you are on planet if earth, we thank you for watching. we'd love you to join one of our upcoming future missions, please join in city ya social or add head over to our web site to learn about this mission and how you can embarks bark -- ec warm on your own journey to space. ciao. ashley: they say ciao because we've got the three italian crew members onboard, and you can just -- i believe, are they now getting out of the vessel on the far side there? lauren: there's a backlog of 800 customers -- ashley: to take in this journey. lauren: virgin galactic wants to do this 400 times per year, but establishing a solid safety record is critical for them to do it and every other company too. ashley: of course. i wonder when they get out of that aircraft whether they --

lauren: heir going to jump. ashley: -- a bit woozy, you know? a bit staggering around a little bit. but if that's one of the pilots, they seem to be going very well. there you -- doing very well. there you go, hugging. what an experience for them. once in a lifetime. it's, everything looked so remark by calm like this was the 500th time they've done it. lauren: it might be because they're professionals. ashley: well, that's true. but it's amazing the amount of people out there who don't, they're not with the military, they're not with anyone, they just really want to experience space and weightlessness. and if you're rich and you've to got the money to do it, they think, why not? it's remarkable. lauren: i just, i keep going back to william shatner -- [laughter] and jeff bezos and the party on the ground when they successfully -- [laughter] had blue origin go to the line which is higher than the unity went by about 10,000 feet, and they went to the edge of space

also. ashley: all right. what i'm trying to work out here is whether the people might have actually gotten out yet or whether -- as the feed, don't break up. there you go go. there's lots of hugging going on, but we'll leave it right there. what a wonderful thing to follow today. we'll continue to follow it. i just want to see the crew members get off, but we're going to take a break now and we'll be right back on "varney".

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♪ ashley: today the california reparations task force will hand over their proposal for payments to black residents. kelly o'grady following the story. she's in los angeles this morning. so, kelly, what do we know so far? how's this going to work? >> ashley, the report is going to give a road map on how california can atone for the impacts of slavery and, by the way, this moment is who two years in the making for the council that was appointed by governor gavin newsom. despite california never being a slave state, we are expecting 115 are recommendations including a formal apology as well as a number of racial equity program, but the big question is how much the council thinks the state should sell ou. this report won't include a

dollar amount, a way to calculate what money is owed, though previous iterations shared up to will $1.2 million could be paid to eligible residents. now, this falls to the california legislature going forward. lawmakers will review this, they'll have the authority to adopt, dismiss, adjust any of recommendations, and while governor newsom has expressed support, he has not committed to paying out cash can. >> it count have to be -- doesn't have to be in the frame of writing a check. reparations comes in many different forms. reparations is more than just about money. that implies a deeper rationalization of what is achievable, what's reasonable and what is right. >> reporter: now, if cash is being paid out, critics do question how to pay for it. is already facing a $32 billion budget deficit. some council members have even suggested additional tax programs to help fund this which would be on top of california's high tax rate already. and, ashley, i just stepped out

of the pre-meeting press conference and i'll highlight the council mentioned a number of recommendations will be aimed at biden administration, so that underscores the idea california could be a tidal wave when it comes to reparations. ashley: very interesting. i want to bring this in jessica ca patterson, little bit confused on this jessica, even though gavin newsom says it doesn't have to be money. seems all the conversation is a about. who will pay for this? >> it is a really good question and we shouldn't be surprised by this. often our governor in california has an ego his body can't cash. we've seen it with the homeless crisis in san francisco. he had a 10-year plan. failed at that. building 3.5 million new houses by 2025. he is barely in the permitting system for very few of those houses. he has big audacious goals but

he never has a plan to execute on. ashley: what is the general sense in california, jessica? is it split along party lines? what is the reaction to a check for 1.2 million for all african-american residents? what is the general consensus among the public as a whole? >> i think you will seal a lot of challenges facing californians over the next few years. as was mentioned in that earlier conversation, 35, almost $35 billion deficit. so these are a lot of issues that californians are going to be facing over the next couple years. it will be interesting to watch. we see on the policy side, california democrats could be doing more for black californians. we need better schools. we need to make sure that it is affordable here in california. we need safer streets that would benefit all californians including black californians. ashley: talking of affordable

gas prices in your state, already the second highest in the country and now gas taxes going up by 3 cents per gallon. i mean this tax increases every year, does it not? >> yeah. just like mets fans can count on paying a million dollars to bobby bonilla every july 1st, california drivers can count on california democrats raising gas taxes every july 1st. once again california republican notice legislature tried to put a pause on the increase, not even a pause on the gas tax as a whole, a pause on the increase, so california drivers wouldn't see 8% increase. $600 million it will cost us. california democrats do not want to bring any relief. ashley: they do not. we'll leave it there. thank you for talking to us jessica patterson, thanks very. we're almost done. time for trivia, before the american colonies switched to the gregorian calendar when did

the new year start. take a guess. >> it would be a complete guess. ashley: go for it. >> do it now. september 25th. ashley: no break. i will go for march 25th. the answer is? >> what is the answer? ashley: march 25th. better to be lucky than good. that is always true, right? wow what an interesting day it has been. we had space launches. the dow up 222 points not bad at all. we're almost out of time. successful commercial launch for virgin galactic. lauren: successful day in the markets. >> we're out of time for "varney & company." "coast to coast" starts now. ♪. neil: the highest court in the land rejects affirmative action at colleges. says schools can no longer consider race an