maria: welcome back. good thursday morning. thanks for joining us this morning. i am maria bartiromo. it is thursday, january 16, 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, i hope you are having a good morning kick off with hot topic of the hour more senate confirmation hearings for trump's cabinet nominees fox news digital political correspondent brooke singman. >> that is right four cabinet nominees pare for hearings today trump's pick for treasury secretary scott bessent 10:30 interior

secretary doug burgum nominee for epa, lee zeldin, and urban and housing turner at 10:00 a.m. eastern time, yesterday pam bondi, for attorney general faced combative a democrats. >> are you away of any factual basis to investigate this "yes" or "no". >> senator that is a hypothetical i am not going to -- >> no, no, i sometime have. >> a so worried about liz cheney you are robberies up 87% higher than national average. >> is your job will be i am speaking your job will be protect voters i hope you can answer that. >> the appreciative one senator. >> you pointed your finger at me said -- >> let me, let me answer my question, i am not going to be

bullied by if president trump suggests hints that you as attorney general should investigate, one of his -- perceived political enemies would you do so? >> so a senator herino i wish had met with me had you met with me we goff discussed many things. >> i am listening now could you respond to the question. >> you were the only one who refused to meet with me senator. >> meet with bondi, praised her said meetings were positive if confirmed vowed to lead justice department without any political influence, the senate will confirm at least a few trump's nominees within horse of his inauguration on monday, some could take several days, weeks or a even months to be confirmed. maria: thank you, brooke singman let's talk about the hearings coming up, what are you expecting first let's talk scott bessent the markets watching closely i would expect this is going to be a very friendly commentary because he is going to

communicate all president trump's policies. >> i would expect this one of the easier ones seems to manage sense i think right thing for the country. i think any -- is going to be seen, negatively -- all negative all sort of badgering testimony don't do anything to help democrats, only helps republicans, and donald trump. maria: put on a show. >> they've but as we saw our nominees really performed well pete hegseth, of course, pam bondi, from my home state of florida 89 years with governor rick scott she was attorney general first-timer i met her was speaking on back of a pickup truck on side of the road in naples campaigning, but did it with poise there is no question these nominees including scotts aboutent are extremely qualified well-spoken competent and president trump's policies are not a secret they are defending what the american people voted for not new

misinformation, it is such stark contrast to the -- those who are a heading agencies now, i think this is actually doing us a favor to expose american people to the kwament of accounts. >> a xip lines from with confirmation hearing statement we will hear i have here, i was born and raised in south carolina low country my father fell into extreme financial difficulty when i was young my police the only in america story that i am dereliction of duty to preserve, today i believe president trump was generational opportunity to unleash economic golden age will create more jobs we deploy sanctions as partly of government approach to degrees national security reinforcements ensure u.s. dollar remains world reserve currency, the statement before questions. mark: awesome what i say about senate democrats so far the biggest win they have so far is none of them have to take airos because trump

nominees are eating her lunch day after la [laughter] >> scott bessent in particular this guy he is going feedback the smartest in the room, good luck trying to stump him with your who won 2020 elections; right? can't keep -- >> i bet you in ask about soros. >> maybe they will. maria: was chief investment officer for soros. >>. mark: concern about that. maria: i have asked him about that on this program. >> his comment. maria: basically say it at that time we were talking business and currencies when soros made bet on british pound, and he said it wasn't in any political vain in any way. mark: so calculated, individual you accumulated wealth trading currencies, who better to be in charge of the. s dollar than a guy who

realized all success doing exactly that. >> getting started on all of this but we also have doug burgum, and that is going to be important, because this is another one of trump priorities and that is tapping into the energy space,ly zeldin going to roll back all climate change regulations, that is why he was put in that place for the epa. >> drill a baby drill. maria: snalt confirmation hearings tennessee senator marsha blackburn here many hearings past two days going to tell us more on the other side of this break don't miss it you are watching "mornings with maria" live on "fox business." ♪ maria, maria ♪ ♪

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maria: . >> a are you aware of any factual basis to investigating liz cheney "yes" or "no". >> senator, that is a

hypothetical, and i am not going to answer. >> no, no, i still. >> one has asked me to investigate -- >> but the president the president -- >> all worried about liz cheney you know what we should be worried about the crime rate in california is through the roof! your robberies 87% higher than a national average. senator what i can tell you is i will never play politics you are trying to engage me in a gotcha, i -- policy -- with any -- >> like you just probably devin nunes i am not going to mislead this body nor. >> let me ask you another question you don't want to than those. >> you were censored by congress for statements just like this so recklesss. maria: attorney general nominee pam bondi clashing with california senator adam schiff during day one of senate confirmation hearing yesterday bondi questioned the weaponization of the department of justice, the surge of crime under the biden

administration. >> i want you to talk to tennesseean to say californians to all americans about what you are going to do to get this crime rate down in this country. >> despite the questions from senator schiff i look forward to working with you and the state of california, to do everything we can, to fight violent crime in california. and you know as well i, that crime is only going through the roof now, after these forest fires you are going to have looting you are going to have price-gouging you are going to have so many things, that i have dealt he with in the state of florida and i am committed to working with -- with california just as much as i am committed to working with you senator kennedy and tragedy that just took place in louisiana, but we've got to ensure if i am confirmed that everyone in this country is safe. joining me tennessee the

senator marsha blackburn, senate jae finance consumers veterans affairs committees senator, thanks for being here you questioned pam bondi yesterday as well as questioning transportation secretary nominee duffy today questioning scott bessent you walked with defense secretary pete hegseth to hearing tuesday, what is your takeaway on getting nominees confirmed. >> we are going to get nominees confirmed, maria, they are doing an outstanding job i am just so honored to be a part of this process. and to see these nominees step forward and pam bondi yesterday did a just a master full job in holding her own being calm not taking bait from democrats, pushing back, on people like adam schiff, who was so resist reinspect full to hur she was very gracious, to him, but what was so interesting they want to

talk about about the past, they have are learned nothing from the elections in november. and they are not talking about the things the manner people are talking about which is rising crime, things that are happening at the border, but happening with gangs and communities, and that is what the american people want to hear they wanted to hear about transparency and a restoration of respect at the u.s. department of justice. and the democrats did not want to talk about that at all. maria: unbelievably when you consider the crime spiking in california swems all those gangs that you mentioned tren de aragua gang, harassing people across the country this gang from venezuela, what does adam schiff ask about? liz cheney? >> can't make it up, and i don't know what happened with that committee in the house we

do know adam schiff was censored we know subpoenaed records from a call wth reporting we know what he did to devin nunes but they continue to talk about january 6th committee, you continue to hear about preemptive pardons for people a part of that process, so it really makes you wonder did they operate owed the law before asking that question because mighty worried about it now do not want to focus on the issues of the border of crime, of safety and security. they are all about past and covering their steps. >> president trump ad mavrnt about having hostages in gaza returned before he returns to white house israel delaying cabinet vote to approve cease-fire with hamas prime benjamin netanyahu accusing terrorist group backtracking on parts of the agreement of president trump trying to take

credit for everything on this detail, he did so in farewell speechp president-elect trump posted on truth social, this epic cease-fire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in november my national security team through efforts special enavoid to middle east steve with it cumulative will continue to work closely to make sure gaza never again backs the rest safe heaven our officials told times of israel trump's middle east envoy swayed neither hi more than one meet, how your reaction how we got here. >> we got here because president trump, has taken charge of this situation. and you began to see things change the fact he told hamas there will be all hell breaking loose, they know that, because they know if donald trump tells them

something he is going to take that action. and steve witkoff has stayed through this negotiations process he is bringing into peace together if we get this finalized, it is not because of joe biden. it is because of donald j. trump, and it is in spite of joe biden, and his teams' efforts. >> supreme court has yet to make its ruling on tiktok this ban, that is coming up of chinese parent company bytedance has until this sunday to deviate u.s. operations or face a ban in america the "washington post" says trump is considering an executive order, once in office that would spend the enforcement of the tiktok ban or sale, for 60 to 90 days buying time to negotiate sale or alternative solution what do you think this is going? thousands of american tiktok users joining china-based social media app red note in

anticipation experts say moving out oft tv into red note app could carrier greater security risks than tiktok. your thoughts. >> and what we know, is that the chinese communist party is desperate to maintain access to data and information of u.s. users because what they do is build a virtual you, what they've done with tiktok the reason it was banned it is so invasive, so the goal has to be putting the burden on these platforms finding a way to protect u.s. users, and their data, and their information, and not have this spyware invading everyone's phone. maria: are do you believe that trump's nom niles all be confirmed? there frp questions about actual actual. >> i think observer is going to get confirmed, maria, they are doing such a great job we are so proud of them, indeed

everyone should be confirmed we are going to be working in the senate as soon as the inaugural is complete going to be confirming nominees we are going to be advancing nominees marketing them up in hearings we may even do a hearing or two on inaugural -- >> the hearing would focus where on tiktok or on your plans to execute -- >> on nominees on nominees, to get them pushed through the process. so, we want to complete this, we are working on the laken riley act would like that back over to the house and president's desk as soon as we possibly can after he is sworn in we're looking forward, to the 100 executive orders that he is going to execute the

afternoon after he is sworn in, we think that is a good start. it might take us 1,000 executive orders to undo all the bad that joe biden has done. but the point is, maria, we are going to be there working, we are not going to waste one single minute. donald j. trump administration >> do you expect taxing extensions in first package? >> the tax extensions i think are going to take a little bit longer to work out. finance committee we have work through this process. we are ready to begin moving forward and you will see senate finance move forward with how we would approach this. of course, the house is going to have to initiate this. we're going to do all we can to help them. to be judicious how they approach it, and to work at pegging to current policy, not

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mixed dow industrials down 119 nasdaq up 51 s&p up 4 and 3/4 a major banks a strong start to, season bank of america morgan stanley with double beat bank of america he investment banking fees jumped 44% to 1.7 billion dollars morgan stanley investment banking up 25% now at 1.64 billion dollars, joining me now is ironsides macro managing partner barry knapp i want your take what we hear from economic data earnings what is your reaction to what we've seen on the bank side. >> there's certainly been progress on the investment banking side of the business making up, likely to continue to pick up next year. the -- the real issue is are return over all this excess capital, the proposal put forth by barr, the biden

regulatory team was unduly excessive now that is trump won election, there is going to be a big change in regulatory policy, citibank was able to buy a ton of to being, return of capital really the big part of the story, looser regulatory environment we worked tluf periods in the 50s, and after obama administration after dodd-frank, the rule passed that impaired profitability of the bank, overall macro environment recal formation low capex those sorts of of things moving beyond that a much more you favorable regulatory environment good for all banks some signs of the profitability in big banks not much in regionals but coming next the curve

inverdicts you mentioned buybacks goldman sachs reports, that 2024 finished the second highest buy walk hear 1.26 trillion. expecting 2024 executions to finish second most active as well, why were buybacks so important in 2024 what does that tell you about markets in the year ahead? >> well, it you know interesting buybacks up a lot but so is cash flow and so is earnings, if you look at ratio capital sending to buybacks it is president elevated capex is reasonably strong so the corporate sector has been doing reasonably well can certainly do better particularly in the banking sector. so you know, i think the outlook is generally favorable remember still highly concentrating, so much earnings growth is coming from

tech, communication services, we need more stable tax policy, a better monetary policy backdrop in order to really broaden earnings growth capex all out to more cyclical sectors not just two. maria: for sure goldman says expecting 2025 the most active buyback year, on record. up 15% 1.45 trillion we keep an eye on that what about the market with whether or not to allocate cal today stocks could be close to wiping out election-day rally on volatile beginnings of this year, of course, started with federal reserve, and that hawkish cut the end last year, you say policy is crucial returning to post election business confidence building to increase investment what do you think about markets performance as trump returns to the white house monday? we know that his policies should be a positive for earnings. and for the stock market.

but is it all priced in? >> yeah, bessent, and moran have quite a challenge ahead of them, the biden administration, left 36 trillion-dollar pile of debt that treasury secretary yellen was financing primarily with bills the fed still owes 6.6 trillion long-term security suppressed longer-term rates a challenge why i am certained about sequencing the question you asked senator blackburn is crucial we really need to get to spending cuts immediately tax policy stabilized, financed with spending cuts can't happen in october needs tohab in may as speaker johnson is planning for. that is really critical, to stabilizing the back end of the treasury market, and allowing you know equities, whole broadening out story to

take place because sell-off has really been about move up in term premium longer-term rates tends to look like headed for 5 a difficult situation for equity markets stabilizing our getting them on smeng back 24% gdp, is crucial putting us on a pathing to that, to stabilize the bond market allowing the -- you know business confidence to translate into stronger. >> great point, i am glad you made it we want to understand how important getting the tax extensions in early, is to wall street and investors because you had the could create market volatility in a big way, breaking news right now retail sales acrossed the tape cheryl casone. cheryl: yes, so month-over-month coming in lighter than expected month-over-month, up .4% looking for .6 x autos up .4% waiting on year-over-year read

i will get there a to you core retail sales jumping .7, estimate was .4, initial claims 217,000, above 210 the estimate 1.859 million continuing that is weaker, weaker-than-expected 1.8 for -- said, by the way, for january, came in 44.3. we were looking for negative 5. and last month 16.4 that is interesting little data point also import export prices much in line up .1 month-over-month and .3, year year 3% never get estimate for that that is up 3%, last month was 3.8 year-over-year came in weaker the year-over-year number weaken last month back to you looking at initial data from december holiday shopping target came out this morning said, our sales jumping by

1.5% but to profit outlook is the same. . what does that say? people looking for deals they went out for black friday might have gone for cyber monday spent less an interesting component as we get ready for retail company earnings, we're going to get next two, three weeks back to you. maria: also jobless claims out 217,000 versus estimate 210,000 for week jobless claims barry economic data to parse through your reaction what strikes you most? >> show a the -- the spike in philly fed survey to that point you made around my view jump in business confidence which is, the survey this week, all forward outlooks from regional fed survey since election have been pointing to stronger capital spending, stronger, expectations of much improved business environment, so that

is certainly significant. um we -- a little hot rate now, we've had 8% increase in the dollar since the basically since september. so i think that is going to left over part inflation story has been less -- defire station unlikely to persist cline has massive excess capacity going to eat trefrz if we slap them with tariffs because they have no place else to go not worried about good places not worried about inflation right now, yes, going back to 2% target but not going up likely to tread water 1/2 to 3% range okay for equities. of so all in all, probably decent for equity market mixed for the bond market i would grews great to talk with you thanks so much. >> all right. . >> barry knapp stay with us.

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maria: welcome back, you users tiktok now fleeing to another chinese owned app potential ban looms it is now soaring to the top of the apple app store lydia hu with more. >> good morning, they are calling it tiktok refugees tiktok users worried about a looming tiktok ban searching for new social media home there is another app owned by tiktok bytedance soared in popularity, you can see second most down leaded free app in the store but top app you mentioned, the chinese social media app called red note in the united states buy at 17

billion dollars reportedly more than 300 milliontive users for comparison tiktok in u.s. 170 million monthly active users, more than 700,000 have joined red note in two days you ask why join red note in the instagram or facebook owned by meta, red note similar to tiktok snap provides search will you go functions similar another reason trust, of american social media. here is one called tiktok refugee listen to this. >> nobody wants to give meta facebook instagram time of day they could have they could have made it more enjoyable worked on grim could have not censored as much to feel polarizing i feel people doing everything to avoid going to those existing apps because of the not just freedom, on tiktok. gentleman mad about censorship how long flight to red note

lasts or permitted kweshl analysts point out information gathered by red note flows directly into china, by company based on in china tiktok has more stringent data privatization protection than red note future in the balance house select committee has skeptical eye on red note, it could be, that tiktok refugees one of the to leave tiktok at all "new york times" reporting tiktok ceo receive invitation from trump ban national committee to attended monday's inauguration trump reportedly consideration options to save tiktok, refugees. >> great store, one point, for the ref jea as she called herself of tiktok are we supposed to plaef i am no man of censorship are we supposed to believe tiktok and receipt note owned by chinese company

are censoring. >> tiktok is owned by bytedance, true a chinese company but tiktok is based all data is stored here in the united states overseen by oracle analysts say there is a distinction between tiktok and red note red note more concerns than tiktok. >> 54% american adults get at least some news from social media according to poll by repudiate research mo attorney general bailey ready to issue consumer protection rule requiring big tech companies disclose grirmz choose third party content moderator, the man i'm sorry mo attorney general andrew by a lethanks so much for being here tell us more. >> this is about protecting consumers from big tech social media platforms monopolization, manipulation of content moderation

algorithms algorithms otherwise big tech corporate censorship, i think your last story he helps prove that taking bold aggressive action in the wake of the decision that came out of the united states supreme court, in it is case in june going to lead nation on this encourage competition in the marketplace called algorithmic choice let consumers choose grim best suits their needs may best algorithm win. when they censor they say it wasn't censorship come up with something as if not human being putting that algorithm teg. >> want to shift responsibility but at the end of the day they owe ebb responsibility to consumers good for big tech competition good wonderful thing, think about you it 2021 whistleblower he demonstrated prefaced from screen time engagement exposing users to

advertising, will do everything to maximize that, well if users can curate their feed selecting their algorithms choose accessories doesn't that increase engagement. >> tiktok will go bark in the united states sunday if supreme court up holds federal ban president-elect trump reportedly considering executive order to delay ban ag what should happen consider what your thoughts? i think president trump is right to consider all alternatives i am deeply concern about the communist party chinese government infiltration of our society data systems software or from your my lawsuit against the chinese communist party moving forward, to -- seek redress from harm they -- they inflicted on all of us covid pandemic going to trial this month in january 27th i would say president trump leader of nation worn historic election

respectable for foreign policy certain american people in good hands with him making decisions on risk chinese government poses on tiktok. maria: i wonder why we can't be tougher givened bad behavior in communist china can you american app operating in china the way tiktok operates here? i don't think would be allowed under same rules by ccp, would it. >> no. i completely agree demonstrates feckless foreign pile of the biden-harris administration, that is why american people voted them out voted president trump in wanted a strong leader can fight back against that sort of thing. >> ag good thank you, sir andrew bailey joining us. i correct december sales number off 3.9% year-over-year, markets, as you can see, responding to these -- economic data, this morning dow industrials down 165 right now we've got a lot of update on california

wildfires coming up inner workss of governor gavin newsom, karen bass california congressman darrell issa is with us next you are watching "mornings with maria" on business". stay with us. . [kids bickering] hold on, guys! ♪ first! today, we're first together. we love you, mom and dad. thank you so much for making it possible. and now you can finally put yourselves first. vanguard. fifty years of helping you invest for all of life's firsts. ♪ “music playing” (man) what if all i do for my type 2 diabetes isn't enough? or what if...

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let's go boys. the way that i approach work, post fatherhood, has really been trying to understand the generation that we're building devices for. here in the comcast family, we're building an integrated in-home wifi solution for millions of families, like my own. connectivity is a big part of my boys' lives. it brings people together in meaningful ways. ♪ ♪ death toll 25 people dead

neither devastating los angeles wildfires firefighters makering progress containing flames "fox business" madison live from altadena, california with the latest madison. >> good morning, firefighters the gotten a break because winds have calmed down but they did have to deal with a new fire, that broke out just yesterday so around 2:00 pm fire broke out, in little mountain 34 acres to give context about 26 football fields, it currently las zero percent containment san bernardino police department also responded to that fire, they have arrested a man they believe may be connected he go to it. in total 44 arrests since fires have broken out people breaking curfew looting as well to fires calming down for now as i mentioned southern california has been in elevated fire danger period, since january 7, that is when

i palisades and eaton fire started, things are settling down that also means, that the new reality, is in a distribution center almost lost her sons in the fire one barrel escaped this very neighborhood, getting out as house next to him burned to the ground, his house and everything in it is now gone. >> devastating, in heartbreaking to see my sons going through that, you know started, on me left hold, everything. so i don't think could be replaceable, people like guadalupe eager to get into neighborhood check houses see if anything is left still locked down only first responder media loud in you can see house behind me that have burnt really have little

to nothing left in it, first responders are still searching all properties to make sure they are safe and o to search for missing people as well >>of course, it is so upsetting devastating, but the end of this i want investigation into how this started madison thank you madison aling worth fox corporation made one middle donation to red cross the campaign with fox news employees viewers raised more than three million dollars so far you can help go dot fox/he red cross or qr code karen bass backlash for take trip to ghana wildfires unenoughed her city, a fire watch for l.a. was posing for photos at cocktail party as fires erupting back home for bass to resign more than 146,000

signatures, congressman darrell issa good to see you. thank you for joining us are you safe where you are? can you tell us about what happened here? and should bass and gavin newsom resign? >> thank you for having me on i am in washington, d.c., my district dozens of fears set by coyotes to help get gotaways in, and, in a strange way that may have helped reduce the underbrush that in los angeles was there in abundance. your exactly right. it is not just mayor bass's being out of the country siege not to care it is a longstanding lack every leadership, that has led to a bad you naturally bad sayings wildfires so much worse because of california's policy investigations will show that we have to change those

policies, that is going to be part of federal bailout if i have my way that is we are going to make sure that have a it doesn't happen again, in such a dramatic way. maria: do we have evidence of outside agitators i want to understand how possible all of this started do you know, of evidence so far that owed agitators were involved? when would be investigation. >> that is one of the challenges in california to the likely to get a state investigation, that really digs as deep as it should, and so we will be asking new attorney general, to look into it, from a federal standpoint. and we have the authority to do so. but one of the things that is clear, is that this targeted the fires targeted neighborhoods of people who have worked hard, and lived the american dream. it has been it is one of the reasons going to be one of the most expensive fires in

national history perhaps most encapsule it is not over it is still continues to see new spring-ups. maria: the policy at hand your work, in terms of the reconciliations packages skukt president trump's agenda, the salt tax, is obviously, one of the main talking points the house freedom caucus a increase in claiming for a lower taxes individuals in high tax states like california new york new jersey where re you on this you are a california congressman do you want salt limitation raised? >> you know i didn't want salt tax abatement if you will in other words, not double counting state index i didn't want that he eliminated i voted that way what president-elect is asking for i want to be part of

delivering to deliver additional stimulus for economy grow our economy if getting out of huge deficit, so everything we do in the way of generating revenue, and generating more prosperity for america has to be first responsibility as large california taxpayer going to set that up as important, but only to the extent that i can really say it is going to grow our economy and grow our way out of what is a -- a crushing deficit leading into a debt that is unsustainable i share with freedom caucus frustration that we have to deal with the accumulated debt but i am also an art laffer fan we can grow our way out if we do the right incentives. >> we heard from one analyst, market investor said if you are going to extend tax cuts has to be done by may, june middle of the year otherwise, a chance doesn't get done.

>> absolutely. not only that we have to have the effect of it go effect by midyear that is critical, for the president gentleman congressman thank you darrell issa joining us in washington we will be right back. ...

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stuart: good morning, everyone and welcome to "varney" & company. there is a delay in the cease-fire deal between israel and h hamas. prime minister netanyahu says hamas has not complied in full with the details of the plan so

his cabinet will not yet meet to