maria: welcome back. 30 minutes before the opening bell sounds for a tuesday, check markets here. we are looking at a decline at the start of trading. final thoughts here, chris. >> today is giving tuesday, highly appreciated stock. give it away, it has great value. maria: todd piro. >> chris has a flight at 10:so -- 10:10, if he can make that flight, he should write a book. [laughter] martha: -- maria: oh, my god. cheryl. >> bundle up, it's cold outside. maria: see you again tomorrow. have a good day, everybody. "varney & company" picks it up. stu, take it away. stuart: the response to the hunter biden pardon is pouring

in, most of it very negative. the special prosecutor who investigated hunter objects to the pardon. david weiss -- to dismissing his tax conviction. biden's illegal attacks on trump were political percents. concern prosecutions. "the new york times" says a disgraceful pardon. "the washington post," the hunter biden pardon undermines the 'em the accurates' defense of the justice system. and "the new york times" again, biden's pardon if for his son dishonors the office. already clouded, biden's legacy is now in freefall. president-elect trump, however, is rapidly taking charge of the government. he says there will be hell to pay if the hostages held by hamas are not freed before his inauguration on january 20th. if let's get to the markets. we are in record territory for stocks. a solid start to december. a little bit of red ink this morning. dow off 20, nasdaq off maybe 17.

bitcoin has been holding around $95,000 but now it's dropped to 93,7. the 10-year treasury yield, 4.21 is 8%, dropping below 4.20. the 2-year, where's that? it is also below 4.20, 44.16. oil, $68, 69 a barrel. the price of gas down to an average -- look at that. the average for regular in america today is $3.0 3w. diesel, $3.544. on the hoe today, musk and ramaswamy have put a delete date on the department of government efficiency, july 4th, 2026. hay do not intend to become a perpetual department like the the rest of the government. black friday. a record for online sales. cyber monday, another record for online sales, $13.3 billion. today, by the way, is giving tuesday. we're going to take a looked at california. once the nation's cultural leader, now desperately trying to defend the state's failing

values. governor newsom has a $25 the million fund for lawyers to defend the state from trump. it's a platform for newsom's 2028 the presidential campaign. and it is tuesday, december 3rd, 2024. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ this is the greatest show. ♪ we light it. , we don't come down. ♪ if and the sun can't stop us now ♪ stuart: the greatest show. okay, yeah, we'll see what we can do for you. [laughter] that's hugh jackman, is he singing that? lauren: i believe he is. stuart: yes. i saw him in person on broadway. that man has talent. lauren: he sure does. stuart: the department of justice special counsel, david weiss, says the motion to dismiss hunter biden's indictment should be denied after president biden issued a

full and unconditional pardon for his son. in his statement, president biden said the prosecutions against his son are politically motivated. david weiss calls those allegations baseless. it should be noted that hunter has previously filed to dismiss eight times, all of which were conditioned. even some democrats are come -- all of which were denied. listen to what virginia congressman gerry connolly had to say. >> as a father myself and as someone who knows joe biden, i can sympathize his perspective. but having said that, what other father father in america has the power to pardon his son or daughter if they're convicted of a crime? i really think we have to revisit the pardon power in the constitution, and and at the very least i think we've got to sir i couple scribe it so that you don't get to pardonrelatives even if you believe passionately they're innocent or that their cause is just. stuart: mary katharine ham joins me now.

i don't think we're going to change the constitution, but congressman if connolly is highlighting the democrats' anger at biden. what because this pardon do for his legacy? is. >> yeah. i think they're angry partly because he's given them a political problem which is that they ran as the party to restore the norms and to make everyone feel good and we're the adults in the room. now, many people saw past that which is why many of them voted for donald trump and not for kamala harris. but i think this sort of puts a nail in the coffin of that argument for democrats, and it makes people angry. there are commentators who are left-leaning who are, like, hey, this is not what you sold us in 2020 or 2024, this is the opposite of what you sold us. and to the extent that the justice the system was misused or unconventionally used on hunter biden, it was to his advantage. when he first went into court with his plea deal, it was so outlandish, from the government, that a judge had to be like, wait, wait, wait, tell me again

what your getting? and the -- you're getting with -- you're getting? the pardon is a sweeping -- of all the ideas we had about hunter biden and ukraine and burisma. there was funny business here. we all kind of know it. and the media and democrats tried to tell the everybody there wasn't, and i feel like this is confirmation of that, and democrats are mad about it. stuart: mad as hell, actually. listen to what senator joe manchin says he would do if he were in biden's position. >> my recommendation as counsel would have been why don't you go ahead and pardon donald trump for all his charges and make it, you know, it'd the have gone down a a lot more balanced, if you will. i'm just saying, wipe them out. [laughter] stuart: what do you say, mary katherine? >> i actually don't think that's a terrible idea. like, a bipartisan pardon trade would probably be more healthy

than what he's doing. also the actual audacity of the president who has been creating felonies, his doj, under weird circumstances and frankensteining them into something he can convict donald trump of to say that the koj is unfairly -- doj is unfairly after his son is just wild to maine i think people look at it and on its face do not believe it. also i anticipate letting hunter biden get away with anything and any bad decision he's ever made will continue to make him the upstanding citizen that we know today. get ready for that. stuart: i just -- yeah. i'm getting ready for biden to pardon himself and members of his family before january 20th. that's not out of the question, i don't think. mary katherine, i'm afraid i'm out of time. thanks for being with us. thanks. musk and ramaswamy say that the new department of government efficiency, doge, has an education prayings date. -- expiration date. when? lauren: july 4th, 2024.

vivek ramaswamy writes, most government projects should come with a clear expiring date. that's why we set one for doge, and elon musk doubled down on that. the top right there, the final step of coaj is to delete itself. and they're going to do so on america's 250 theth birthday. there are limits to government programs, even their own. the goals of doge, cut $22 trillion in spending -- $2 trillion. reduce the number of principal agencies from 428 to 99 and take a hatchet to the size of the federal work force. stuart: by the way, there's going to be a big celebration on july the 4th, 2026, 250th anniversary. trump's in the white house. he's going to the celebrate like you wouldn't believe. lauren: do you know more about this celebration? stuart: no, i do not. it's going to be big. check futures, please. not much price change so far. dow down 20, nasdaq down of --

61. david nicholas with us today. you're predicting a big rally after christmas. what's so special about after christmas? >> stuart, there's a lot of excitement this year after the trump win. but i'm telling my clients, don't be discouraged. i think we are going to see a santa claus rally, but it generally doesn't happen until after christmas. a lot of it has to do with it's thinly traded, but investors are trying to get positioned for the following year. the market is rich, 23 times earnings. but you have a president trump that said they want to deregulate, lower taxes. has a boost for the market so my message to the administration, don't wait, don't put it off. let the market mow you going to hit the ground running in -- you're going to hit the ground running in january. stuart: i think we've had a pretty good one before christmas. i mean, the s&p, nasdaq, dow, they've been closing at record highs for several weeks. anyway, let me move if on to tesla. you think there's still room for tesla to run above and beyond

$350 a share. make your case. >> yeah. that's right. there's been a slew of upgrades from wall street, but i want to let our viewers know, stuart, that that tesla is not an awe to maker. if you look at tesla, it's worth more than the 15 largest automaker, not just ford, gm, all of them combined's la's worth more than that. -- tesla's worth more than. you're buying it for the full self-driving which it just released its upgraded software, you're buying it nor robotaxi, robotics and a.i. investors have to be very clear. everyone says the stock's overvalued. it's not. it's overvalued if it's an auto company. it's not. that's why you put money to work and we till see the stock rally from here. stuart: david, you've got 30 seconds to tell me how a.i. can help i.c.e. on the border. that would be palantir helping i.c.e. on the border. 30 seconds. >> yeah. pretty unbelievable. most viewers may not know this,

stuart, but palantir has a multimillion dollar contract with i.c.e. to help store data on illegal immigrants in this country. so before i.c.e. is looking to make a raid, all that data is tracked in palantir. palantir uses a.i., they're looking at purchases, movements, cell phone transactions, calls, all that is going through palantir. i think that's a win for the stock. spending, i think, is going to shift more towards palantir next year, stuart. stuart: david nicholas, thanks for joining us. thank you, david can. the race is on for a new dnc chair. who is throwing hair hat in the ring? lauren: a lot of people, jamie harrison after the part's sweeping loss last month. ben wikler, he is the wisconsin dnc chair. martin o'malley, former social security administration commissioner and former governor of maryland. robert hooten, the former maryland senate candidate. any if state the senator and the early front-runner is ken marthe, chair of the minnesota

democrat -- martin, vice chair of the dnc. more names could come into this crowded field as the party works to redefine itself and its relationship with the american voter. the next chair will be chosen at the national party meets -- meeting in february. this is a big position. the democratic party is completely exhausted. stuart: big job. thanks, lauren. biden's administration seemed to be working against the clock to provide aid to ukraine. they've announced at -- another $7350 million -- 750 million package. the president-elect says there will be all hell to pay if the mid, d -- in the mideast if hostages are not released prior to his inauguration. that's a hard stand. will it move the needle? florida congressman cory mills answers next. ♪

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♪ stuart: israel's military has issued new evacuation orders many gaza. alex hogan is in tel aviv for us. why are they doing that, alex? are they still on the attack in gaza saw? >> reporter: hi, stuart. so these evacuation orders are for the northern districts of khan yunis, a city in the southern part of the gaza strip. and we typically see with these type it is of evacuation orders those are put in place in order for civilians to be able to retreat from the area, and that's typically when we see the

idf if push forward with a further offensive. most of the fighting has been centered in the northern part of the strip where today we're hearing from local officials as many as 20 the people have been killed, again, according to officials on the ground. but as the idf continues to press forward with this offensive, there's new potential movement if today but there could be progress for a ceasefire in gaza. an israeli delegation is expected to head to cairo in the coming days and it follows after incoming president donald trump said in part, if the hostages are not released prior to if january 20th, 2025, the date that i will proudly assume office as the president of the united states, there will be all hell to pay in the middle east. so those are words of reassurance that we are hearing from families of the hostages here in israel. one family member of one of the hostages, edan alexander who appeared in a video released by hamas if urging the incoming president and israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu, the father speaking on "fox & friends" this morning about how difficult it was to see that video. take a listen. >> it was our first sign of life, the actual sign of life. other people saw him in the tunnels back in november of last year, but we never saw hill. and -- him. and that was the first time when we saw i our son begging for his life. >> reporter: so desperate calls for a ceasefire in gaza. but the ceasefire in the north along the border of israel and lebanon does appear to be holding. today the country's defense minister visited the border and the troops, stressing once again a message that we have heard repeatedly by the israeli military, that it will continue to defend the country, that any potential hezbollah sites will be attacked. we did see just yesterday israel launched the most amount of strikes we've seen in recent

days since the ceasefire began. tomorrow will mark one week, and hezbollah says it targeted israeli military sites. so what this does show is just how delicate this deal is. and despite the cross fire we have seen, the ceasefire technically, stuart, is still holding. back to you. stuart: alex, thank you very much. congressman cory mills joins us now, a member of the house foreign affairs committee. trump says there will be hell to pay if the hostages are not released. that's ooh -- that's a big threat. do you think it's going to work? >> that's not actually a big threat, it's a big promise. we've watched where the peace true strength method that president trump utilized in his first administration worked perfectly. even after the attack on assad air base there in iraq, there was a subsequent attack that went on with ranch the iran -- with iran. iran then called president trumping notifieded him letting him know they were going to have to do some retaliation. he warned them if a single

american soldier was killed, he had 20-plus targets. iran never if took that notice. they understand that this weakness which invites aggression under the biden administration is not tolerated. and when you have national security adviser incoming michael waltz, you have people coming in like kash patel, like john ratcliffe, former dni now taking over the cia, we're bringing in people who don't just talk, but take action. stuart: got it. listen to what charlamagne tha god said about the democrats and hunter's pardon. >> hunter was singled out because he broke the law. that's number one. he was singled out because he had an illegal gun and tax evasion. i just want about the democrats to stop acting like they're on the moral high ground politically when they have shown us heir not p. things like biden pardoning his son, stop acting like y'all are the pure party republicans aren't. stuart: how can the democrats now complain if trump goes after

the kiss credited justice department -- discredited? how do they complain now, congressman? fellow, they can't. look, everyone's starting to wake up to the hypocrisy of the democratic party where for the longest time they said we believe in the rule of law. when he found out, president biden, that he couldn't utilize his position to influence the the outcome and his son was going to be charged, he then stepped in to pardon him. i tell you, i think what's happening, stuart, is that tax evasion charge would have led to further financial forensics k4-8 have tied president biden and his family to further corruption just like tony bobulinski, his former partner, was talking about. i think the house should still continue to investigate, but this just shows the hi pockily sky, and everyone's waking up to what's going on in the democrat party. stuart: you could well see the president pardon himself right until the end of his term. we shall see. cory mills, thanks for being with us. appreciate it. now this, mark zuckerberg reportedly looking for an active

role in the trump the administration. what kind of role? lauren: mark zuckerberg is willing to work with the trump administration on technology innovation. in other words, he wants to help the u.s. lead the world in artificial intelligence. i'd call this a sea change. you have another silicon valley executive who wants a seat at trump's table. in fact, mark zuckerberg had that seat last week when he had dinner at mar-a-lago with the president-elect. stuart: he's not going to do a musk, is he in. [laughter] lauren: he probably wants to compete with musk, and he might be sick of the department of justice and the regulatory actions under the biden administration if. stuart: yeah, had be his role. lauren, thank you. quick check of futures, please. a little bit of red ink, down 50 on the nasdaq, down 30 on the dow. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ glittering, you light me up like tar light on a christmas -- starlight on a christmas tree. ♪ every single kiss is like a gift to me.

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when i was a kid, my mom would always put harry & david pears in our stockings. and if you got that gold one, it was like you had won christmas. my grandmother started it and now it's a tradition that i get to pass on to my kids. and that means a lot. stuart: tuesday morning, not that muchs price change.. a little red ink. down 40 on the dow, 48 on the nasdaq thus far. mike lee back with us this morning. you're telling me you don't see any reason for the rally to end,

so is it safe to say that the super bull is alive and well? >> stuart, i've been here and i'm not going anywhere, right? you know what they say, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. there's a lot of momentum behind this market and for good reason. next year, before trump won we were looking at 13% year-over-year growth with the s&p 500. we've seen a massive broadening of stocks over the last month since the election with the russell 2000 up about 11%. and, look, you never sell new highs, and you never if sell dull markets, so i can't see anything derailing market in the near term. stuart: why don't you sell at a high? >> well, you never sell new highs because, typically, new highs lead to more new highs. and so what you want to do is take profits on the way up, but you don't want to try and topic the market. you don't -- top tick the market, take all your money and

run away because you're typically going to miss the top to. i wouldn't be pulling out right here unless you have other investments that you think are cheap, and you're trying to rotate into something else. stuart: okay, you brought -- you said that nvidia, the investment of a lifetime. palantir, another one, investment of a lifetime. you have another tock that you say buy now because it's guaranteed to be really going straight the up in the future. of what have you got? >> yeah. so mobileye. it is a autonomous if driving sock. stock. great technology, it's the in most of your cars right now. we're expecting an announcement from vw that it'll be in a third of their vehicles by 2026. it could be a potential 10x in revenue in the next five years. i think autonomous driving is coming. it's going to come in phases, and mobileye is poised to make the move. and i also think the entire semiconductor index has really underperformed for the last couple of months. that's not going to happen in an

expanding economy, so the smh is the etf there. and if you look at nvidia, amd, broadcom, abgo, marvell, one of my favorites, or the overall e, f for the sector, smh, it's looking like it's at a level where it's going to bounce off of and potentially be a leader into the next year. stuart: well, kudoses to you, mike. you have been right for a long time. you've made a lot of people a lot of money. well done, young man. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: the super bull will be back, ladies and gentlemen, in the very near future. thanks, mike. we're getting ready to start the trading session. i believe that the gentleman's going to press the button on the nasdaq, he's the guy that we had on the show yesterday. he leads a very large rv supply chain, as i recall. yeah, that's -- patrick industries. that's right. there we go. he was on the hoe yesterday -- show yesterday, he's pressing the button today to. the dow with a nice gain, out of

the blue it's the up a quarter percent. 12120-- 120 points higher. that is an opening rally on a tuesday morning. the s&p 500, i presume that's also opening higher. yes, it is, but virtually -- hardly at all. that's dead flat, frankly. and the nasdaq composite, where's that this morningsome it's actually down about a quarter percent. let's have a look at big tech, presumably something of a mixed picture. meta platforms up again but apple, alphabet, microsoft, amazon, they are down. let's take a look at the retailers because we had cyber monday yesterday. black friday last friday. taylor's with me again this morning. first of all, cyber monday. the sales. >> unbelievable, $13 billion. amazon is one of those saying that it was the 12th -- sorry, for the 1212 days from black friday week all the way through cyber monday, largest ever both in terms of record number of items sold and dollar amount. so it's not just inflation, it's

actually the number of audiotaps well. so all the retailers benefit. stuart: walmart in particular opening with a small gain in this morning. trump repeated his threat to block the sale of u.s. steel to japan. i guess that's why the stock is down 7 7. 5%. >> and this isn't new -- 7.5%. this is the first time we're hearing him since he was elected, read what he had to say on truth social and, of course, we can sort of put this out on x as well. i'm totally against the once great and powerful u.s. steel being bought by nippon steel of japan. we will make u.s. steel strong and great again. it'll happen fast. and and i love how he ends it, buyer beware. [laughter] stuart: okay. there are some people who want to buy it. but it won't be nippon steel. two points on musk. first of all, i understand he did the not get his massive pay deal. got that. secondly, what's this about tesla's sales in china? >> did not get that $58 billion

pay package, again, remember was voted on in 2018. even though outside of musk and his brother, 72% of shareholders at the annual meeting this year voted despite what the judge said on that pay package. the judge came out yesterday and said i'm still not letting it go through. unclear what the path forward is. now, in terms of the actual business for tesla, as you mentioned, shanghai deliveries we're hearing in the factory in november fell for a second consecutive month. we are hearing they are down about 4% year-over-year. again, troubling just because shanghai in china, so important for tesla and the overall ev market. stuart: the stock's down $5, 1.4%. $351, tesla. what's this about a apple accused of spying on its employees? >> we have a new complaint filed from a worker in the digital advertising sector who said that they are required to install software on personal devices that they use for work things, and then that allows apple to spy on them including sort of

the home gadgets that they're using, e-mails, photo, you name it. again, this is just a complaint, but we'll have to see how this case moves forward. stuart: probably not affecting the stock at this point. cvs, they're going to to try to sell $2.5 million worth of bonds. what are they going to use the cash for? >>s this is interesting. this is sort of like they're -- they want to sell $2.5 billion in bonds to rep -- help reduce some of the bonds they have outstanding. this is a heavily indebted company trying to do a turn-around. some of the bonds are coming dune many 2025, so part of this is a liquidity timing issue, but again also confident that they can sort of refinance, if you will, sort of buy bonds to sell more. and so you're sort of seeing this play out. again, we'll have to see how this shakes out, but i 2.5 billion, not bad. they have been looking at some of the credit rating agencies

dropping them down to just one level above junk, so trying to get ahead of that, i think, before that happens. stuart: let's look at super micro. a nice bump there. they're on the comeback trail, aren't they? >> they are. yesterday we found out that remember when there were all these reports about the big short seller report, they had to pull their financials, the auditor quit, they had to get a new auditor? he was appointed a special committee. that -- they have appointed a special committee. they found no evidence of fraud, and they do not need to restate their financials. now, that sill needs to be ratified by bdo which is the new auditor that came in to replace the previous one that quit, but again, really good sign for the company that, again, was really being scrutinized in terms of their financials. the relief rally continues after being up almost 30% yesterday. stuart: thank you, taylor are. nicely handled, appreciate it. check that big board, please. five minutes' worth of business, 14 points higher. the dow's up 44,. 95. look at the winners on the dow.

goldman up $8, 1.5%. nvidia's moving up. verizon, american express, jpmorgan chase. the s&p 500, the winners, please. at&t -- not heard that for a while -- super micro computer, micron technologies, pg&e, centerpoint energy on the winners' list. and the nasdaq composite, micron, astrazeneca, marvell technology, constellation energy, advanced micro devices. everybody likes 'em. the 10-year treasury yield back to -- it's down now, 4.18%. that's significant, when it drops below 4.22. the price of gold, $2, 67 72 an ounce, up $13. bitcoin, $93,9000. it had been at 95,000 earlier. the price of oil, we have that pegged at $68.94 a barrel. nat gas well above $3, not that much. $3.13, to be precise. and the average price for a gallon of regular, look at that.

all across the country the average price is $3.03 a gallon. but in california you've got to pay $4.40. coming up, biden's pardon caps a long list of false statements from this administration. watch this. >> -- united states ended 20 years of war in afghanistan. the extraordinary success of this mission -- >> he's moving forward with his campaign. >> [inaudible] >> not. stuart: well, it goes on from there, by the way. what kind of legacy does biden leave behind? we'll hear more about that from brian kilmeade later in the show. incoming border czar tom thatmaw grant caravans are shrinking and spreading out. >> i think cartels are breaking them up into smaller groups. stuart: will anything change at the border before trump taxes office? if former acting i.c.e. director ronald vitiello has that. the white house says biden

is pardoning his son because of war politics? >> he also believes that the war politics infected the pros and led to a miscarriage of justice, this is the his words. stuart: i'm not sure what war politics is really all about, but mollie hemingway will sort it out for us, and she is next duck duck -- decided -- ♪ -- decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road ♪ ♪

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stuart: almost 12 minutes into the trading session, the dow is down 80. minor losses for the s&p and the nasdaq. the white house is doing damage control after the hunter biden pardon. madeleine rivera joins me. madeleine, how is the white house defending this pardon in. >> reporter: hi, good morning, stu. nothing from the president himself because he once again

ignored questions from reporters in angola about why he chose to pardon his son. but the white house, in explaining the president's actions, says two things can be true. >> the president does believe in the justice system. and the department of justice. and he also believes that his son was singled out politically. and this is what we saw over and over and over again over the last couple of years. >> reporter: a new york times article details how the president came to his decision. the discussions were reportedly kept within the biden family and defense lawyers and that largely insular process explains how white house officials scrambled to defend the about face. it is not the only high profile reversal the president has made. think back to his decision to the run for re-election despite if saying in the 2020 campaign that that he saw himself as a transition candidate. some democrats are still bitter about that, seeing it as one reason why they lost the white house. he also said he was sharp in his interview with special counsel

robert hur. hur later described the president as an elderly man with poor memory. ad a lame duck -- as a lame duck president, the political ramifications remain unclear, but democrats are worried it will end up hurting them. >> i know that there was a real strong sentiment and, you know, wanting to protect hunter biden from unfair prosecution, but this is going to be used against us. if. >> reporter: meantime, hunter biden's legal team wants automatic dismissals of his gun and tax cases. special counsel david weiss taking issue with that. he discuss not dispute that hunter received a pardon, but he says hunter is not a victim of selective prosecution. stu. stuart: madeleine, thank you very much. the white house says biden's decision to pardon hunter was made over the weekend. watch this. >> he came to this decision weekend, so let's be very clear about that. he wrestled with this, and --

because he believes in the justice system, but he also believes that the war politics infected the process and led to to a miscarriage of justice. this is his words, i'm just repeating what the president said. stuart: however, according to nbc, biden has been talking about doing it since june. of course, he continued to say he would not pardon his son. mollie hemingway joins me. would you consider that a lie? it's a strong word. >> well, they clearly spoke incorrectly for many months, both karine jean-pierre and president biden, who repeatedly said brazenly that this pardon would never happen and, obviously, it did, and i think a lot of people were expecting it. but the lie about that is not the major problem here. the pardon itself has serious issues. for one thing, they keep saying hunter biden is a victim of selective prosecution. he's actually the beneficiary of a prosecution that let him go for so many things including trafficking proost constitutes, some of them reportedly

underage, being the bagman for alsorts of foreign oligarchs who brought money to the biden family business in exchange for proximity to the president, and the tax evasion, the drug issues. if it were you or me, we would not have had such an easy prosecution as he had. and the other thing is that this pardon covers 11 years. this is not about the few things that they did end up convicting biden over, but is 11 years covering all of that a biden family business corruption. it's a big deal. stuart: yes, it's. listen to what kjp had to say about more pardons, emphasis on more pardons. go. >> can we expect that other people who are in prison whose clemency petitions are sitting at the white house are going to have to have their cases see the same care and attention that the president ghei his to own son? >> the president, as you know, at the end of the year makes announcements. i'm not going to get ahead of ath president on this.

but you can expect more announcement, more pardons and clemency at the end of this term. stuart: mollirk e, i would have to say expect more pardons for the biden family. what say you? >> exactly. hunter biden was just one member of the biden -- one member of many. joe biden's brother james was heavily involved as were eight other family members and joe biden himself. i don't know if he's considering a self-pardon on the same grounds that he is worried about prosecution. but if this administration were truly worried about select i prosecution or an unfair justice department, they would think the about clemency for the pro-life protesters who are in prison for long terms or the uneven treatment that january 6th protesters received relative to, say, the blm rioters of 2020. but i don't think we'll see those the pardons under biden. stuart: only time will tell. mollie hemingway, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. stuart: yes, ma'am. the democrats are in disarray.

congressman if jamie raskin is looking to unseat a top democrat from their committee leadership role. who does he want to unseat and why? lauren: jerry nadler -- stuart: nadlersome really? lauren: his friend. raskin is 61 years old, madler's 77 and has been -- nadler's 77 and has been top democrat on that committee for years. raskin thinks it's time for a generational change. and in a letter to the house he writes this: the stakes have gone way up since the election. this time the maga movement has not only a trifecta, but a complicit supreme court waiting in the swings and -- wings and a dominant media a propaganda system, parroting all the lies. [laughter] house democrats must stand in the breach to defend the principles and institutions of constitutionaleeds, his role on the oversight committee is open, and aoc could

get that leadership role. on oversight. stuart: i wonder what jerry nadler and aoc have cone for new york city. lauren: oh, so much. stuart: ruined it. lauren: i find funny, 61, 77, they're the same generation, to me, but it's time for new voices on that committee. stuart: we're having too much fun. thank you, lauren. great stuff. coming up, joe biden is in the final days of his presidency. his legacy, already clouded, has now been shattered by the pardon for his son. biden has given trump legitimacy. ironic, isn't it, that the man he loathes should be the man who takes his place and reverses just about everything joe biden stands for. that's' my take, top of the hour. president-elect trump tapping a little known sheriff to hug the drug enforcement administration. -- head the drug enforcement administration what he's going to do about fentanyl. we'll be back. ♪ ♪

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stuart: president-elect trump has chosen hillsborough county, that's in florida, the sheriff there to head the drug

enforcement administration. david spunt with us this morning. david, who is this man, and i why are some conservatives critical of the selection? >> reporter: well, he's a well known sheriff in florida with close ties to trump world,9 and the president-elect made a pledge during the campaign he would fix problems at the border. that includes the flow of illegal drugs, think of fentanyl that's taking over cities large and small, the fentanyl that's ruining louvres -- lives. trump made the announcement that he wants sheriff chad caronster to head the drug enforcement administration, he'll be under a lot of pressure to combat not only fentanyl, but other illegal drug trafficking across the southern border. he'll also focus on china because some of the drugs and drug money originate in china. the new d orbs j under attorney general pam bondi, assuming she's confirmed, will focus on the flow of drugs from china and other countries into mexico making it into the united states. trump said his dea

administrator, chad, will work with our great attorney general, pam bondi, to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs across the southern border and save lives. while caronster has support local marijuana decriminalization policies, his confirmation would involve overseeing some cannabis rescheduleing. thomas massie called his role in arresting a former minister disqualifying. of he was pardoned by trump in 20 the 221, the president fully expects chad to get the drug problem under control,lish say, at the kea. d everything a. stuart: got it. quick check of the markets. i see some red ink but not a whole hill of beans. down 70 on the dow. still ahead, christian whiton on south korea declaring an

emergency martial law because of what the president there calls north korean anti-state activities. that's developing. brian kilmeade will react to the brutal backlash biden is facing after pardoning his son. brain rot, oxford if university press word of the year, what does it mean? we'll ask jimmy failla. cartels could be breaking up migrant caravans into smaller groups to cross the border. former acting vise director ronaldly tell low has that -- ronald vitiello has that story. the 10:00 hour of "varney" is next. ♪ do a little dance, make a little love -- ♪ get down tonight. ♪ get down tonight ♪ ♪

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