from companions to helpers to caregivers. find all the senior care you need at care.com shopify's point of sale system helps you sell at every stage of your business. with fast and secure payment. card readers you can rely on. and one place to manage it all. whatever the stage, businesses that grow grow with shopify. >> i think there's optimism across the range of the issues. it's crypto, it's the softening discussion about tariffs across china and across parts of europe. >> we do know thanksgiving this asset is probably the single most important asset in finance today. there's an asset that's that important to the investors, we need to unshackle it. >> she lost the race and called a loser and i would say a sore loser. if i'm kamala, is that how i

want to approach my next eight plus years? >> she doesn't have a problem with the billionaires when they're on her side, it's hypocritical. you see what their billionaires have done. >> this type of person is transformative at a time when we really need it. >> it also makes people feel good, it's also something that's part of a lifestyle. so i'm not going to advertise for it, i think the biggest problem in the u.s. is our food is dangerous, ashley. david: serve working for the weekend. i'm looking to relax this weekend. we have breaking news right now. president donald trump has landed in north carolina. we're waiting to see him step off the plane. this is asheville airport in fletcher, north carolina. the president due to come out of that. he's going to be participating first in a briefing before he meeting with the families that

directly have been affected by that awful hurricane helene, and we're going to be keeping eyes on that until we see the president. we may put him in a small box. you can see that on the screen. it is 11:00 a.m. on the east coast on friday, january 24th. i'm david asman in for stuart varney. first checking on the markets, all the indexes are down, but not by a lot. the dow is down 110 points, s&p down fractionally, and nasdaq down 30. show me big tech in you can because we had a couple in the green, now just alphabet in the green right now. microsoft, apple, amazon, nvidia in the red, but none too far in the red. and the 10-year treasury shows a slight dip in the yield, three basis points to 4.6%. right now president trump is in north carolina and later this evening, he will travel to california to tour wild fire damage. governor newsom may be meeting

him, we're still not sure. he says he's going to be on the tarmac in la. we'll wait and see what happens. steve hilton joins me now. by the way, steve, the governor says he's going to be meeting trump no matter what. we still haven't heard confirmation of that from donald trump. what do you think's going to happen if the two meet? >> look, i think they have a perfectly cordial personal relationship, but on the policy they're miles apart. i have to say, trump is completely right on every single point on the fact that you've had this terrible mismanagement of the forests and fuel and fire load and the -- whether the forests in the sierras and big wild fires there or here in los angeles with the chaparral. it's the same point for ridiculous, extreme, environmental reasons that make no sense. they haven't cleared it. they haven't cleared the brush and that's why it was a totally avoidable disaster in terms of the scale.

he's also completely correct about the water situation. we have all the water we need in california. it comes from the sierra nevada mountains and the snow pact and the rain. we just don't collect it and store it to get it where it's needed. president trump tried to help with that in his first administration, and unbelievably california regulators and policymakers retaliated and reduced the amount of water even as president trump was trying to increase it. david: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, steve, but the president is disembarking the plane there. i believe that's his wife next to him. the president is in north carolina. they're going to be getting a briefing on the latest efforts to help those folks in north carolina, still suffering terribly from that awful hurricane helene. a lot of money has been delegated by congress for the folks of north carolina not a lot has made it there. but again, as we watch the

president disembark from his plane, steve, at this particular time continue with all the momentum now is with president trump, and frankly all the political momentum in california seems to be against governor newsom. won't donald trump have his way with the governor, get those actions that you were talking about that donald trump was talking about in 2020, that the governor back then didn't accept? >> you just never know with these people. the real fundamental problem in california is that you've got this terrible combination of incompetence. we've seen that throughout this disaster both before in terms of preparation and the response. but it's also ideologically driven. it's not just random. a lot of this stuff is on purpose. they are captured by this, you could call it ideology of scarcity. you can't have water, you can't build houses, you can't have energy. we got to preserve the environment exactly as it's. it's totally wrong.

actually ends up hurting the environment. so i think it's going to be very difficult to get them off it. david: steve, not only hurting the environment, but literally hurting the people, and we have seen that now in north carolina. we have seen that in california if you're not prepared, people suffer and die and people's lives and businesses are ruined. that has become so absolutely clear right now that again, that political moten men it up, even at a -- momentum, 9/ 9/11 even a real blue state like california seems to be towards the president than the governor. >> yes, everyone now can see the consequences. many of us have been warning about this for years and years and laying out positive alternative about how we can be pro human and pro growth, and we're california, we can do amazing things. we don't have to have a mindset of no, no, no. and endless regulations and

bureaucracy and stopping things from happening, including building water infrastructure and unbelievably, the bureaucracy also gets in the way of fire prevention. not just fuel clearance but environmental regulators that stopped that. underground power lines and trimming the trees alongside power lines. all of that is tangled up in bureaucracy. it's totally insane. people are waking up to it, and i think there's going to be a big change in california, sooner than many people think. david: and a lot of other states and 24 a place like north carolina, which suffered so terribly from the devastation. we have seen bureaucracy get in the way so many times. of course political bureaucracy when some people were turned down from fema in the first go around, just because they had trump signs in their lawns but even more than that, you have

president a guy from the business sector and knows how to deal with brock seizure disorders and in his first term as president did so much to strip it away in terms of regulations specifically. >> you're 100% correct and i've just written a piece that's going up soon on fox digital about what california and gavin newsom specifically should ask donald trump for. what is his help with building and we have a builder as president and take advantage of expertise -- david: sorry to interrupt you again, but the president is speaking. let's listen in. >> what's happened. it's terrible. it should have been done and a lot of things should have happened and didn't happen. we're here and we're going to fix it and we're working with the gentlemen behind me, you know who they are. we're going to fix it. we're going to fix it as fast as we (&.k it's a massive amount of damage, fema has really let us down, let the down triple-demic down. i don't know if that's --

country down and i don't know if that's biden's fault or whos faults but we're going to take over and the governor and everybody else that's going to work, we're going to supply the money, supply a lot of the money. maybe have to chip in something. chip in a little something like maybe 25% or whatever, but we're going to get it done as quickly as we can, and we want to take care of the people of north carolina. it's so interesting, everybody is talking about california and that's a mess, but i said i'm not going to california until i stop in north carolina so here we are. we're going to go visit the site and we're going to work with probably three of the congressmen, republican congressmen that are fantastic, whose areas have been affected and with michael wattly, the governor, and whoever else is, you know, we decide to get involved. probably less fema because fema

just hasn't done the job. we're looking at the whole concept of fema. i like frankly the concept when north carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. when florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it. meaning the state takes care of it. to have a group of people coming from an area that don't know where they're going to solve immediately a problem is something that never worked for me this. is probably one of the best examples of it not working. there's been some others like in louisiana et cetera. so we're going to be doing something on fema that i think most people agree. i'd like to see the states take care of disasters. let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happened, and i think you'll find it a lot less expensive and do it for less than half, and you'll get a lot quicker response. that seems to be the recommendation, but we'll be making that recommendation over the next couple of weeks.

we're going to go to the site now and figure out a plan, a plan for really demolition and cleaning. not a lot has been done, and we're very disappointed in the biden administration, but we're going to make up for lost time and i said i'd do that, and this is about the earliest we could possibly be here. we're honored to be here. this has been a great state, great people, and they've really been mishandled, but it's all -- this group was gate and we're going to get it taken care of. >> do you expect to ask congress for additional aid for north carolina? >> yes, it'll be direct. in other words the aid will go through us. rather than going through fema, it'll go through us. this is maybe a good place to start. because in all fairness to the governor and all fairness to everybody else, fema was not on the ball. and we're going to turn it all around. yes. >> a lot of americans think this is symbolic of what your campaign was all about, america

first, putting your priorities to americans, even going to california where the policies might be one of the biggest reasons why they're having problems, but you're putting american people first. your thoughts on that? >> thank you. i like that question. boy, i want more questions like that. that's even a statement. thank you very much. he's a good man, that guy. he's also very professional reporter i have to say. thank you very much. yeah. we're putting america first, we're putting this case north carolina and california, we're going to do a good job in california. that is a disaster like i don't know if we've seen anything like it frankly. the biggest in the history of california and anything bigger than that happened in the whole country ever? i don't want to say what it looks like but i'll say it, it looks like something hit it and it's a bad, bad situation. i guess i'm going to meet with some government officials, but much more importantly -- and in

california, just to revert to it for a second, millions of gallons of water are waiting to be poured down through the half pipes that are already built. they've been up for 40 years, and about 20 years ago they turned off the water. it's the water that comes from the pacific northwest, some of it comes out of canada, and it flows there and probably has flowed there for a million years, and they turn it had off and they rout it out to the pacific. in the meantime, you don't have water in the hydrants, don't have water in the sprinkler systems. it's the craziest thing i've ever seen. everyone is trying to figure out why they're not tur turning it . they say it's the delta smelt, it's a fish. i find that hard to believe and we'll figure it out. and without doing that, you're going to continue to have problems. >> mr. president, what are you prepared to do, sir, if opec doesn't respond to your call to cut oil price s?

>> we want to see opec cut the price of oil and that'll automatically stop the tragedy taking place in ukraine. it's a butchering tragedy, for both sides by the way. tremendous number of russian soldiers are dead, tremendous number of ukrainian soldiers and a lot of people dead from the bombing of the cities. right now it's just bullets wacking and hitting men, mostly men. almost in all cases. over a million men are killed and losing thousands of people a week. it's crazy. taxpayers crazy war and never would have happened if i was president, would never have happened. this is crazy it happened, but we want to stop it. one way to stop it quickly is for opec to stop make state of georgia much money and drop the price of oil. they have it nice and high and if it's high, that war is not

going to end easily. opec going to drop the price of oil, and that war will stop right away. >> funding to los angeles because of sanctuary city policy? >> i want to see two things, voter id so people have a chance to vote and i want to see the water be released and come down into los angeles and throughout the state. those are the two things. after that, i will be the greatest president that california has ever seen. i want the water to come down, and come down los angeles and also go after all the farmland that's barren and dry and land that's equivalent to the land in iowa, about as good as anywhere on earth. the problem is it's artificial because they artificially stop the water from going onto the land. i want voter id for the people of california they all want it. you don't have voter id right

now. people want voter identification and proof of citizenship. ideally one day voting. i want voter id as a start and i want the water to be released and they're going to get a lot of help from the u.s.. thank you very much. i'll see you at the site. we'll see you at the site. we're getting the bath bad, hard criminals scout these are burglars, these are people that have been as bad as you get. bad as everybody you've seen, we're taking them out first. thank you. david: president and first lady at asheville airport in north carolina. they're about to talk to the folks that have been devastated by the storms last year of hurricane helene and response or the lack thereof from fema suggesting that the next batch of money about $30 billion

requisitioned by congress to go to the folk there is and a lot of that money hasn't gone where it's supposed to go. later on, he's going to go to california and check out the delaware station from the fires there and steve hilton, of course, is waiting for him in california. steve, we were talking before about how different it is to have a business persons approach to solving policy problems than a professional politician like we've seen for the last four years. he just then talked about what's happening in north carolina. how he's going to be dealing with the folks in demolition and cleaning process and he knows these things firsthand and he's gotten his hands dirty and going for them to hope to do these things and knows what's happening in california with the water not coming down and 90% of all the rain water washed out to sea instead of collected as it should be for emergencies like fires. he knows all these things and

talked about them for years. now he has a really good chance of getting them implemented in a place like north carolina or to your point n a place like california. >> exactly this. is the thing about trump first time around and even more so now. he's not a politician and he's not an auditory systems lodge. he's a very practical person and wants to get things done. doesn't matter what the situation is. it's like, okay, what's the problem, how can we solve it? lest be practical. that's the kind of attitude you need to ail of the issues and that's why it's so refreshing and why people support him because he's sweeping away this kind of corrupt old fashioned way of doing politics and politicians talk and talk and nothing ever happens. he says what do i need to do to make it happen? he understands how to make deals and use leverage and specifically in this situation, he's a builder.

there's a builder as our president. let's take advantage of that expertise. david: absolutely. steve hilton, thank you, my friend. jonathan hoenig joins me now. i want to ask quick about about president trump and you were nodding your head yes about getting fema out of the picture and putting states in the driver's seat. look at devastation of the hurricanes in false positives and how having the state be the main operative in recovering is helpful. >> encouraging to see a president out there taking questions and engaged unafraid and addresses as steve eluded to, brock seizure disorders that's ham strung the -- bureaucracy that's ham strung the entire government and taxpayer. tens of billions as if it's chump change in washington dc. in my opinion this, is good trump, attacking bureaucracy and addressing the needs of the american people. i was gratified to see this and the market was coming up a bit as president trump was talking. david: i was going to mention

that. and all this leads you to be bullish and selective about the markets. >> bull irk on america and they'd never get against the country but the market indexes are overweight in a lot of expensive stocks and don't always go up. app 18 down about 12% this year. so i'm not betting against the market, but i think now is an especially good time to talk about some of the exotic names whether it be small, value, or international. those will outperform this year. david: we had more to talk about. we have to leave it there. the president took some of your time. >> happy to. david: it was your pleasure to give him that time. >> absolutely. david: great to see you. we just heard from president trump saying deportations are underway and press secretary caroline leavitt posted focuses of deportations and national border control council art del cueto joining me now. it must be a great help to brothers and sisters that are border patrol agent asks ice has

a free hand to take care-over the bad guys sneaking across the border. >> it's a great help and breath of fresh air not just towards the agents but for the country. when you start looking at these individuals being arrested and deported and seen the video of how they've been talking and everything else, these are individuals that are not good people. so it just baffles my mind that the last administration was okay with keeping these individuals in the country and how they ignored for four years and allowed more and more of these individuals to enter the country. it's a breath of fresh air for all the agents and a breath of fresh air for the country as a whole. david: by the way, a lot of sanctuary city mayors talking about over my dead body, we won't let ice agents in. they have changed their tune and folded like a cheap suit now and are letting ice dos job. they could be more helpful by allowing their local law enforcement to help ice. they're not doing that yet. do you think they could come over in that final leap and get rid of the whole concept of

sanctuary cities? >> look, i think we're noticing now more and more the shift and we're getting ready to see that these individuals, it was just political talk and pandering and other soap box trying to be heros to the select few group that doesn't care about law enforcement and slowly and slowly we'll see that shift, and we have a president that cares about america, cares about american lives and he's going to take care of making sure that all these criminals that were allowed in under the last administration don't stay and we'll see the mayors saying okay, maybe it's okay to do a bit of this and that. we'll see that shift. david: while their people and by the way, ice agents and bp agents are putting their life on the line to try and get rid of the bad guys. by the way, our deepest sympathies to you for the loss of that border patrol agent up north in vermont killed as a result of his activities. you guys are doing great work

and again, our heart is with you. art del cueto, thank you so much. >> thank you. david: we're going to be following the president's movements but first, ai and crypto czar david sacks says the u.s. is about to dominate the crypto industry thanks to donald trump. listen. >> the u.s. leads in virtually every category, and crypto is one of the few exceptions, and i think that'll be very, very quickly rectified because of president trump's expletive order. david: we have more from that exclusive fox business interview coming up. and the saudi crowned prince told donald trump he intends to invest $600 billion in america. now, trump is pushing to bump that up to $1 trillion. listen. >> saudi arabia investing at least $600 billion in america, but i'll be asking the crowned prince, who's a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion. >> 600, 650. i'll see if i can talk him into

a trillion. david: he's the art of the deal president. after all, he's pushing for major investments into america's economy. very often trying to push the number up from what investors are willing to invest. club for growth david macintosh has much more to say about that next. ♪ ♪ before the spotlight— we struggled to keep the lights on. i saw more for myself. and sofi gives members the financial tools to see more for themselves. join the official bank of the nba. sofi. get your money right.

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david: president trump has another very busy day. right now he's at asheville airport in north carolina. he was just greeting some of the people there who were meeting him at the airport. now he's going to go off to see the devastation, much of which remains from hurricane helene. of course he took real hard shots at fema today when he was on the tarmac talking about how they have not been doing a good job and how he will direct personally where the money should go after seeing it in north carolina and later going to los angeles to see for himself what's happening after their devastating fires there.

check the markets and they're all down, not by much and dow recovered at 58 and s&p popped up fractionally and nasdaq is down a little as well. lauren, come on back in. you're take ago look at some movers. start with oklo. lauren: nuclear energy. web bush raises price target from 26 to $45. david: that's a big price target. lauren: nuclear energy play ago vital role in empowering data centers and encouraged by the star gate announcement. david: intuitive surgical. lauren: they make the surgical robots. the number of procedures will grow this year between 13-16%. that's great. stock's down 4% because last year it was 17%. david: all right, lauren, thank you very much. now this, president trump pushes america first agenda speaking at davos and grady trimble joining me now. grady, what's trump's latest message because he's had a lot to world leaders.

reporter: david, he's putting the word on notice bringing america first message to the world stage. he says the rest of the west has been treating the united states unfairly and he's been saying that for years. he's back in power and says it's time to invest in the united states or pay up. >> come make your product in america and we'll give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth. we're bringing them down very substantially, even from the original trump tax cuts. but if you don't make your product in america, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff. reporter: the president outlined his plans to work with republican majorities in the house and senate to pass his tax ageneral dam it the goal is to bring down the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% and he says for those who don't want to take advantage of that tax rate, tariffs will bring in billions, maybe even trillions of dollars to the u.s. treasury department.

today europe is responding, not by promising billions of dollars of investment into the united states, but by calling for its own sweeping plans to cut red tape to compete with the u.s. and china. a european commission document reviewed by "the wall street journal" says this, in a global system where geopolitical tensions, technological supremacy and scramble for resources are on the rise, europe's freedom, security and autonomy depend on ability to compete, and grow. tram subpoena bringing in half a trillion of foreign investment into the u.s. and $600 billion pledge is from the saudi crowned prince. president trump wants him to round it up to a trillion dollars, minor rounding to the nearest 1 trillionth, david.

david: thank you, grady. we have david macintosh with us. david, what are you thinking about this money? i mean, it's extraordinary what he's done getting the japanese investor to boost his money coming in and is the united states now the place to be for worldwide investment? >> it is. it's a new day in america. president trump has signaled that we're not going to be bound by the old biden/obama agenda of heavy regulation, heavy taxes, diversity and equity in those type of social programs. we're going to unleash the competitive spirit of the american people. and what he's signaling is the lights are on and we're ready to do business. come and invest in america, and we'll do great things, we'll be competitive, we'll unleash the burdens the government put on business and workers in this country, and it's going to be a

great place to invest. david: the interesting thing s david, the way that it's being encouraged is so different from the previous administration and look at chips act, which was a $200 plus billion program of subsidies and sweet heart loans to companies like intel. which are going down despite the fact that they've got about $7 billion from that program. these are incentives and tax incentives and regulatory incentives that are encouraging people to do that. incentives matter and the previous administration didn't get that. >> that's right. boondoggle is wasted money and doesn't affect us and it's the incentive factor, and people respond to do i have to have 25 different permits or can i get two and get the job done and start investing my money? am i paying more and more to the government if i succeed or a low

tax rate where the government take what is it needs and is fair, if i invest and succeed that i'll earn a living and make a profit? those mesosangs are changes, and it's all because donald trump -- messages are changing because donald trump believes in america and believe in free markets, competition. i love the fact that he said america will be the most competitive country in the world. that's what makes us as a society great. it's back to merits and competition. david: he understands what milton friedmann said: economics matter. he get it is because he's in the incentive business and taking advantage of them and giving them out to the world. david, we've got to leave it at that. i'm sorry. the breaking news cut into our time. good to see you, my friend. thank you very much. lauren, come on in. what is trump's ai and crypto czar david sacks saying about the future of cryptos in the u.s.? lauren: keep it on shore and lead the world with it. he spoke weed ward lawrence last

night. >> we're going to catch up really fast. the innovation was moving offshore and placing like singapore and europes were ahead of us. but now it'll change very fast and really looking at silicon valley and technology industry in general, the u.s. leads in virtually every category and crypto is one of the few exceptions and that's going to very quickly rectified because of president trump's executive order today. lauren: that'll define crypto currency and set rules and saved daks said so many people -- sacks said i this had outrageous exam of being blocked and prosecuted for either offering crypto currency or doing something they supposed to do, but the rules of the road were never clear. so you push the industry away now give them the regulations they're begging for, you can own it here in the u.s.. david: lauren, thank you very much. coming up, the health department undergoing a massive overhaul as

trump administration took control and pressed pause on press releases and social media posts as rfk jr. prepares to take the rank. could there be a damper on happy hour? fox news poll revealing a majority of people support the labels, but will it make them drink less? we'll hear from them next. ♪ ♪ (sneeze) (hooves approaching) not again. your cold is coming! your cold is coming!

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david: check the markets first, dow is still down but less than it was earlier and down 45 points and both s is cpi p and nasdaq are up but not by a lot. fox news poll show ago majority of people support the former surgeon general's push to add

cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages. kelly saberry joining me now. reporter: you have to do something to stay warm here and three quarters support the labels on bottles and more than half said this is not going to cause them to drink less. 31% of those polled said they'll drink less and 66% said they will not. surgeon general advisory notes that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the country after tobacco and obesity. still, when we asked people we couldn't find many going to change their lifestyle. >> definitely not. >> other things make me think twice and that would add to the list. >> no, lots of different things could cause cancer. i don't think it's something to

be scared about. >> been enjoying it for 52 years, going to keep enjoying it. >> no, no. not at all. >> no, not really. i'm still enjoying my marg margaritas. reporter: the brewers association speaking out saying "brewers would incur significant costs to update packaging if legislation were passed to change the language on the label. the brewers association would continue to advocate on behalf of small and independent brewers to minimize cost if a transition is mandated and this is interesting because if it happened to tobacco products in the 1970s and between 1965 and 2022, tobacco use decreased by 73%. it'll be interesting to see where they can fit the labels on people's favorite bottles. back to you, david. david: the first miracle was turning water into wine. i remember that. that sticks, can't get over that point. kelly saberi, thank you very that .

now this, donald trump and his amaryland strain appointees are asserting control over the federal health department. come on back in, lauren hawaii exactly are they doing? lauren: reassessing and a pause on communications, guidance, meeting ands social media except turnovers and critical circumstances and it's a short pause to allow the new team time to set up the new process. rfk jr. has been nominated to lead the agency and his confirmation hear sergeant wednesday morning. david: next one, lauren. rfk jr. plans to keep a financial stake in lawsuits against the drug maker merck even if he's confirmed as hhs secretary. how exactly would that work out? lauren: well, it does raise ethical concerns. it's a 10% fee of any award if the law firm, wh wins the case d the united states is not a party in the litigation. kennedy has a stake in the law firm and it's suing merck over gugardisil, the hpv vaccine.

that arrangement earned him more than $2.5 million in just the past few years and we know because he filed all the forms running for the president of the united states. david: thank you, lauren. the dow 30 stocks getting a sense of where the markets are at. if you can. it's about 50/50, green and red on the screen. the dow is down about 60 points, but it's actually recovered a little bit from where it was earl in the morning. coming up, president trump is set to tour the wild fire devastation in california today after he leaves north carolina. right now in california, property losses from the fires estimated at $28 billion, but we see estimates close to $100 billion. our next guest predicted up to 70% of residents won't return to the hard hit pacific palisades. luxury real estate broker josh altman explains why coming next.

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the way i approach work post fatherhood, has really 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. in the average household, there are dozens of connected devices. connectivity is a big part of my boys' lives. it brings people together in meaningful ways. david: president trump is in north carolina speaking and he's still at the airport at asheville airport before he goes

visit residents, but he just made news we thought you might be interested in and will sign an executive order reforming or overhauling fema, and he said he may be getting rid of fema all together. that is huge news because fema was at the center of a lot of furry by the residents of north carolina about not doing enough and even at times interfering with rescue everies at the beginning of that disasser and we'll continue to report on what the president says. later today the president will be visiting los angeles and touring the damage left behind from the horrible wild fi firesd max gordon in castaic, california, with the latest from there. what can we expect from trump's visit, max? reporter: hey, david, president trump will be landing here in the los angeles area later on this afternoon. he'll be coming to pacific palisades and where we are right now and he'll be touring some of the fire destruction here and

that's meeting with fire fighters and fire vic tips and receiving an emergency briefing from fire fighters. president trump has previously said he might withhold federal disaster aid and going for los angeles unless the state changes it is water policies. california governor began newsom has been critical of -- gavin newsom has been critical saying he's spreading misinformation and newsom said he's planning on greeting the president when he lands in los angeles. the governor announced $2.5 billion in relief for wild fire assistance and a message for president trump. >> i hope he has a chance to visit the folks in altadena and not just the palisades. and i hope he comes with the spirit of cooperation and collaboration. that's the spirit to which we welcome reporter: i've said this many times, open hand, not a closed fist. reporter: the price tag of the fire is coming into view. according to the los angeles economic development corporation, the fires did about

$58.3 billion in property damage based on market value and $2.9 billion in economic loss a. huge economic toll here. meanwhile stormy, rainy weather is on the way this weekend and while that's going to relieve the fire danger, we've got a new danger now: mudslides and debris flows. david. david: i forgot about those mudslides. they can be awful as well. max gordon, thank you very much. of course rate now, president trump is in north carolina and touring the damage left from hurricane helene. afterwards heal head to la to tour the devastation there. million dollar listing star josh altman joins me now. josh, i heard a figure, 70% of palisades resident wills not return after the fires there. what does that mean for the county? >> yeah, david, thanks for having me again. i want to preface that statement and explain it a bit. they're not going to not return because they don't want to. of course they want to go back

there. for every one person leaving the palisades, there's another five that would love to be there. they're not going to return because it's simple math, i don't believe they're going to be able to afford to rebuild. with most of the people that are heavily uninsured with the cost of construction, lumber, serious a thousand a foot building in palisades and malibu. that's on top of getting a construction crew to show up to your site when there's 16,000 structures that have been burned between houses, schools, commercial spaces. it's a disaster. that's what i'm saying. i don't know that they'll be able to do it with the insurance. david: what about the governor's claims that he's going to clear away some of the regulations that are involved, not only in refurbishing but in new startups? has he followed through on any of those promises? >> okay, it's yet to be seen, but i will tell you the recipe for success is going to be cut

the red tape. building a house, the process in california, which is just wrapped in red tape, is absolutely impossible. a year to get permits and the coastal commission, which could be another two years and it's time for the governor to start cutting the red tape and we have to keep moving forward as a team and finish the house sos people can be there in three years and not six. i will tell you something, there's been a lot of ordnances and a lot of things on the state and local level that have to go. the mansion tax, that was the worst tax that was ever passed. get rid of it for all the people who lost their houses. the wildlife ordnance, get rid of it. start cutting the red tape. that's how we're going to get back to being strong los angeles. david: well, you've got donald trump going there. the new president of the united states, he's suggested four years ago that california should do the kind of things that a lot of people said would have, at the very least, made the fires less devastating than they were, bringing that water down from

the north of california. collecting the rain water 90% of which just washes out into the ocean. dealing with those things, dealing with the underbrush. if that sort of stuff is done, if the president cannot convince with his political capital, governor newsom who has no political capital to do these things, might that make a difference in rebuilding the palisades? >> yeah, i think it's a difference. i'm looking forward to trump coming and seeing it with his own eyes. tough see it. i have walked the palisades, i have walked malibu. it is way worse in person than you could ever maiming. hopefully that'll open up funding on the federal level, but we need trump to pressure newsom and bass to start cutting the red tape because that's the only way that we're going to get done with it. david: but again, in addition to the red tape, there's things that need to be done to prevent property not for right now and duration of the rebuilding. for years to come, and if i fear that the same thing is going to

happen next year or even ten years from now, i might not be willing to buy into it or refurbish. >> yeah, we need to see that get done. i will tell you from my clients calling me, a lot of them of course looking in the local areas to be as close as they can be to their normal life that they had, but a lot of them are very nervous to go up towards the mountains now. it's something that they're not going to do. once you evacuate and your house gets burned, you're not going anywhere near the mountain and living in the flats and it's the new way of life for those people. david: got ya. josh altman, pleasure to talk to you. i really hope the folk dos better in the immediate future and particularly with the visit of donald trump today. good to see you, my friend. >> thanks for having me. david: time for the friday trivia question. that was a quick three hours, what was the most visited state from overseas travelers in 2023? new york, california, florida, or texas? we can tell you it was a very busy new york this year. the answer when we return.

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david: before the break we asked what was the most visible

state for overseas travelers in 2023. i'm from new york but i can't see our it could be anything but new york. lauren: hands down new york. david: this christmas season in particular was almost after the pandemic. it was a rush of tourists. california, texas, florida, new york, it is new york, new york. not just because we are biased towards it. there are a lot of things to be anti-biased. lauren: people come to visit, they don't want to live here. david: that is it for "varney and company". thank you for watching. stuart varney will be back on monday. cheryl: hello, everyone. you are watching fox business live. life pictures right now if donald trump and first lady milania trump in asheville, north carolina. they just held a