the next three years versus today 69. jack: the bulls on uber say they were only on the early in the beginning of the highway on this thing as americans slowly give up their love affair with the car and realize ridesharing is an option so instead of three cards maybe you have to and that goes down to one and as the process works out over long-term that could be interesting for uber maria: good sunday morning, everyone. welcome to "sunday morning futures." thanks so much for joining us this morning, i'm maria bartiromo. the trump effect takes hold across the world with fresh optimism soaring in investing in america. >> every year you come to davos and you ask, what are people

talking about. last year it was a.i., this year it's two thing, a.i. and president trump. he may not be here, but his name is being i vocked in every single -- evoked in every sickle room and conversation. maria: i love it. when was the last time you saw this kind of optimism in america? >> it's been a while, let's just say. it's morning in america. morning with maria -- [laughter] maria: coming up, president trump's lightning speed in getting america back on track as the senate confirms key cabinet members this week with more coming in the week ahead. the majority leader of the united states senate, john thune, is here and will join me shortly are. plus, newly-confirmed cia a director john ratcliffe with new intelligence morning on china and the origins of covid-19 and reaction the former cia director john brennan getting his security clearance revoked along with the other 51 spies who lied about hunter biden's influence peddling.

then, trump moves on securing the unvetted border. texas governor greg abbott on trump's deportation plans now underway. then, house oversight committee chairman james comer on joe biden's 11th hour pardons for his family and whether the major banks are debanking conservatives. plus, former treasury secretary steven mnuchin on president trump's favorite word, tariffs and fair trade. it's all right here, right now on "sunday morning futures." ♪ ♪ maria: and we begin this sunday morning with president trump's lightning speed solutions for america. in his first week in office, president trump secured more than $1.1 trillion in new investment into america, signed 32 the executive orders with more than 100 actions to streamline government and return to what he calls common sense policies. and with the first lady, president trump visited and probed the devastation in

hurricane-impacted north carolina and if fire-ravaged los angeles on friday. trump wasted no time in getting to work after being inaugurated as the 47th president of the united states on monday with a slew of new executive actions aimed at lifting the economy, securing the southern border and bolstering america's standing as the number one superpower of the world. all of this as the senate confirmed a string of the president's cabinet nominations including homeland security secretary kristi noem in a rare saturday vote yesterday. and joining me now is senate majority leader, senator john thune. senator, thanks very much for joining us today. >> great to be with you. thanks, maria. maria: i want the begin, of course, with now the confirmeded cabinet members including new homeland security secretary, kristi noem, the confirmed defense secretary, pete hegseth, secretary of state marco rubio and my next guest coming up, the new confirmed director of the cia, john ratcliffe, who we will get to shortly. tell us what you're expecting in moving president trump's agenda

with these new confirmations. maria: well, we need them in place, maria, as you know. in order to implement that agenda, you've got to have leadership in those agencies. we're starting with the national security positions which are critical, why it was .a this we get governor noem in at dhs. but as we move forward, we've got treasury, bessent coming up, sean duffy, a whole bunch more we're queuing up, teeing up to get done, and it's just really important, maria. you know, you have a window of time. this doesn't come along all that often and sometimes doesn't last that a long, so we want to make sure the president has his team in place so he's able to deliver on the agenda that he talked with the american people about and that they voted for in november. maria: yeah. i'd like to look ahead to the confirmation hearings coming up, but i'm glad you mentioned timing. senator, why haven't we seen more confirmations sooner?

it certainly feels like the 53 senate majority republicans are allowing the 47 senate minority democrats to confirm the confirmation hearing process s. that right? >> well, actually, we're ahead of schedule. [laughter] we're going the back to what is the obama standard. obama got 12 of his cabinet nominees through in 15 days. it took trump 43 days to get his first 12 back in 2017. so we are pushing hard, and obviously there are constraints that are imposed by the rules of the senate, the minority in the senate has ways it can slow things down and drag it out. but we're actually at the the current point ahead of the obama standard. and if so so we're going to the keep moving aggressive ily, quickly ors forcing people to stay and take votes on weekends which we did this weekend, and we'll get them in place as quickly as we possibly can. we are on the schedule that we laid out and one that i think enables these folks to get true the process in time to deliver for the president, for american people. maria: okay, terrific. ing president trump and the

first lady, of course, visiting storm-hit north carolina and fire-ravaged los angeles pledging to help. tell me about that. how much aid are you expecting to commit to the california wildfires, and how did that a change the conversation and the plans on your upcoming reconciliation? >> well, we just did, as you know, a big package for north carolina before the end of the year, and so we've sort of replenished, refilled the fema account, and we'll see the request that comes in from california. obviously, the trump team will have to vet that, determine what hay want to ask congress for in terms of resources. and i suspect there's, you know, going to be a lot of scrutiny given to make sure that we're doing this in a way that is responsive to the need in california but also responsive and responsible to the american taxpayer. so we'll take a look at that, what can ride on that. we will see. obviously, we have the finish up all the spending bills from if last year because the democrats left us with that messment we have a pile-up at the end of the year. we haven't even funded fy-25

which we're currently in the middle of, and we've got the fiscal year '26 budget, we've got reconciliation which enables us to get things done on energy, on the economy, on the border, military readiness. those are all things that are sitting ahead of us here, maria, and we're going to work a aggressively to get it all done. but it's not, obviously, going to be easy. and how that the thing, how it all gets packaged together is still something that we are discussing with the president and his team and with our colleagues in the house of representatives. maria: so would the conversation change with the amount of money needed for los angelessome president trump the other day -- los angeles? president trump said the california wildfires changed everything. >> i think that it did. and, obviously, it's a timing issue. and we have a lot of stuff, as i said, stacked up. we have a march 14th deadline that if we don't fund the government for this current year that we're in, the government shuts down. we've got the reconciliation hanging out there, we've got a

debt limit we've got to deal with. ing how we piece it together and put it together is, you know, a subject of conversation right now. but i can assure you one thing, we'll be working together as a team in a unified way to make sure that we deliver for the american people and address the needs that are out there in some of these really disaster-damaged areas but also make sure that we're creasing the concerns -- addressing the concerns the american taxpayers have about the a amount of spending in washington, d.c. in these last but years under biden and harris and getting us on a different fiscal track. maria: absolutely. and, of course, that this includes the tax policy part of this as well. >> right. maria: let me get your take on the appropriate offsets that you would consider given now you've got some of your colleagues saying i cannot vote for the tax portion of whether it's a funding bill or reconciliation bill unless an increase in the s.a.l.t. deduction is included. >> right. and the so-called s.a.l.t. caucus is, you know, pressing hard, obviously, going the

change in that. and we're looking at in the context of tax reform in the big package, obviously, extending the current, existing tax law, some other things the president's talked about and hopefully a reconciliation bill will also include a significant amount of spending cuts. among other things, energy policy, all things border policy that we want to get done through reconciliation which enables us in the senate to do it with a 51-vote majority instead the of 60. but all those things are going to have to be packaged together. and i guess my hope is that as we move through this process, we will do it in a way that enables us to get all the votes that we need in the house of representatives. it's a narrow margin there, including the s.a.l.t. caucus onboard with whatevers it is we do. but we need to to make sure that we are delivering on the, you know, for the american people and preventing what will be a $4.5 trillion tax increase next year if we don't act by the end of the year. so we are on as -- task on that,

how we do it is still a matter of conversation. maria: are you considering specific offsetsesome. >> well, we are. obviously, there's a long list of things that we're looking at. and, again, it becomes a function -- you know, the number you have to pay attention to in the house is 218 and the senate is 51 because how much can you do and still get the votes that are necessary to pass manager in both the house and senate. you know, i'm somebody who likes to go big and bold. we don't get this opportunity for -- very often and sometimes doesn't last very long where you have unified control of government and an opportunity to use budget reconciliation. so we should use it aggressively on tax policy, energy policy, border policy, on the military as we, as we have talked about doing. and ensure that all those things get done in a way that keeps america safe, make makes sure that america is ready to deal with whatever crisis is we face around the world, strengthens our economy and makes us energy dominant. these are all things that the president has articulated, he

campaigned on, the american people expect us to deliver. so we are in the process of figuring that out and trying to determine, again, the two numbers to remember, 218 in the house, 51 in the senate. in the end, that that's what it's going to take to get this done. maria: mark? as we close out here, what do you want to say about the bold agenda president trump has put forth? i'm just back from the world economic forum where we heard incredible optimism, and the president has talked about the panama canal, greenland, he's also talked about changing the a name of the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america. in just a few days, of course, also including announcing $1.1 trillion in new investment into america, $600 billion by the saudis alone. i just want to get your take on what is need ifed now with regard to defense -- needed now with regard to defense given the national security concerns around pete hegseth's confirmation. what are you looking for in terms of specifics in bulking up america's defense in. >> well, obviously, our navy and

if you look at the number of ships we have relative to our adversaries, particularly china, that's something. the president is interested in an american iron dome concept. but, frankly, the thing we've got to do, maria, we've got to increase the top line. in the biden budget, there was a sing -- there wasn't a single biden budget that can kept up with the rate of inflation when it comes to the military, so we've got some making up to do. we need to spend it wisely and well and make sure that we're investing in our military in a way that keeps our war fighter capable for whatever the threat metrics is that we're dealing with. but in the end, it's all about keeping the country strong economically. and the things that the president is doing and the things he's talking about, i think there's a very compelling argument on panama, very compelling apartment on greenland. -- argument. and an optimism in america we haven't seen in a long time. this has been a real, this has been a sluggish country bogged down under the weight of government regulation and red tape and taxation.

and this is a president and a team working with him in the house and the senate that want withs to liberate the american people and investors. one of the reasons you seesaw aties and others wanting to invest in america is they see america as an attractive place to invest know ifing bull well they're going to have a different economic environment when it comes to taxes, regulation, energy and a range of other issues. we want america to be the magnet. and i think that that with these policies it will be. maria: it is a that is just terrific, senator. real quick on scott bessent, how important will the crypto legislation be in next week's hearing? >> well, i think that, you know, obviously crypto is plague an increasingly -- playing an increasingly important role in our economy. there's a lot of interest in how do we legislate around it, create a framework for digital currencies to expand and grow. and we're considering that. there are a couple of legislative solutions that have been proposed and, clearly, secretary bessent will have a lot to say about what that looks like. so we'll be working closely with

him and with the president and his team to fashion something that that addresses the crypto world in what has become an increase creasingly, i think, attractive place for americans and other people around the world to invest. maria: senator, it's great to have you today. thanks so much. >> thank, maria. see yament. maria: thank you. senate majority leader john thune. and joining me now, newly-confirmed cia director john ratcliffe. director, congratulations to you. thanks for being here. >> thanks, maria. you bet. glad to be with you. maria: how did it feel to go back into the oval office to talk with president trump and discuss the intelligence, before we get to the breaking news? >> well, it's been a long four years, and i was grateful to be back this week in the oval office with president trump. he's excited, and, you know, you talked about a the attitude at davos and the world's expectations and the optimism around america being with back. but we also, the president and i

talked about the fact that while it's an opportunity, we have great responsibility and we've got difficult circumstances that we've inherited. we've got war many eastern europe, we've -- in eastern europe, we've got all the mayhem that has taken place in the middle east held together by fragile ceasefires in gaza a and lebanon. we have china, russia, north korea and ann cooperating in a way that -- and iran cooperating in a way that we've never seen before. so we have difficult circumstances, great responsibility and, you know, president trump has challenged me and the rest of his incoming cabinet to do before, to put america back on our front foot after four years on our back foot. maria: yes. and thank you for your work on that, director. you right out of the gate come out with new intelligence that the cia has concluded the deadly can covid-19 pandemic arose likely from the leak out of a laboratory in wuhan as our audience expected. tell me the significance of the cia now confirming this, sir.

>> well, it's one of the things president trump and i talked about. part of what we have to do is we have to restore americans' trust in our own institutions like the intelligence community and law enforcement. and that includes the cia. you know, one of the things the president stressed, you know, the purpose of the cia is to protect americans, to keep us safe from foreign threats and foreign adversaries. but we also need to be truthful with americans. and he he has stressed to me and others that, you know, these aren't mutually exclusive missions. we can to do both. so in the case of the cia which is the best foreign intelligence service in the world, after five years to not have a public assessment, to be honest with the american people about where the likely source of a pandemic that killed millions around the world including a million americans and really impacted all 345 million americans in system way, people lost -- in some way, people lost jobs, they

lost houses, that they lost their health, their businesses, all of that. and so i had the opportunity on my first day to make public an assessment that actually took place mt. biden administration. -- in the biden administration. so it can't be accused of being political i. does assess, the cia has assessed that the most likely cause of this pandemic that has a wrought so much devastation the around the world was because of a lab-related incident in wuhan. and so we'll continue to investigate that maneuvering forward. but -- moving forward. but i think it was important for the american people to see an institution like the cia get off the sidelines and be truthful about what what our intelligence shows. at the same time, protecting us from adversaries like china if they caused or contributed to this. maria: so what will there be -- will there be a response to communist china on this? what will be the the result of this? and also, why was it important for president trump to revoke the security clearance of the former cia director, john brennan, and the 51 spies who

misled us? >> well, all this goes hand in hand, maria. so we talk about, you know, what president trump wants is he says, you know, lead with integrity and get the politics out of the intelligence community. so you talk about, you know, revoking security clearances. you know, when we talk about the 51 former intelligence officials, remember that their sworn testimony under the oath prosecute author of that letter that the intent behind that was to influence the election in favor of then-candidate biden to improperly influence the election. it was something that everyone knows wasn't true. hunter biden a's laptop was real. it wasn't russian disinformation. this was all about accountability and deterrence andconsequences. -- and consequences. when former officials use the inprim tour to to misrepresent to the american people, there should be consequences.

this was about making sure that people think about this, myself included going forward, that we don't mix politics and intelligence. and so consequences and establishing deterrence, you know, the code origins assessment, making that public, president trump needs to have the very best intelligence so that when he's negotiating with president xi and other adversaries, he's able to confront them with the things that we know that our intelligence tells us about what our adversaries have done to us. so now that it's out there, he'll be able to use that to leverage that that, to have honest discussions to put america's ooh, our national security posture in a better position than it's been for the last four years. maria: director, have you identified or concluded that that lab leak was intentional or accidental? if. >> well, we're going to continue to look at, you know, i've been on the job a couple of days now, and i'm going to look closely at the intelligence this we've

gathered. -- that we've gathered. maria, i think we'll get to the point where every intelligence agency in the united states will agree with the cia's assessment that the most likely outcome was from a lab in wuhan, and we'll get more intelligence as time goes by, and we'll be transparent with the american people about what that intelligence says. maria: we'll be following your work, and we hope to have you back to talk about it throughout your work, sir. thank you so much. >> you bet. grateful for all a you do. maria: director of the cia, john ratcliffe. thank you, sir. quick break and then president trump's paris priority now well underway, securing the southern border. 1500 active troops are aiding texas' border patrol agents with the arrest can and deportation of illegal criminal migrants. it's governor -- texas governor greg abbott is here with a report from ground zero at the southern border.

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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. maria: welcome back. breaking news this morning with senate majority leader john thune just with me telling us he's looking to increase the top-line defense spending number as part of his upcoming reconciliation package to address the building of more navy ships to better compete with china and create what president trump has called an iron dome similar to what israel has. after former south dakota

governor kristi noem was confirmed as our nation's homeland security secretary in a rare saturday vote yesterday, enabling her to take on president trump's plans to deport criminal aliens and restructure or dismantle fema. the pentagon sending 1500 active couth troops to assist patrol agents and construct barriers between the united states and mexico. after more than 10 million people illegally crossed into america under the biden-harris administration through that wide with open, up vetted border between texas and mexico. joining me right now in this "sunday morning futures" exclusive is the governor of texas, greg abbott. governor, thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> always a pleasure. thank you, maria. maria: have you seen a change? tell us what has happened since president trump was sworn in as our 47th president. >> maria, i don't think there's ever been a more sudden and swift change in any government operation than under president trump when he took the oath of office. i would say overnight but on the first hour of his tenure as president, we saw the change

where there were military sent to the border, the military were blocking people from crossing the border illegally. the numbers of people who crossed on the 19th of january dropped dramatically on the 20th of january. they have continued to drop every single day. president trump, working with tom homan, they've been deporting people to the countries they came from. but to show how texas is a partner in all this process, on the hour that president trump took office, texas was deploying more buoys mt. rio grande -- in thely -- in the rio grande. the change, maria, is this: we suddenly now have a commander in chief who cares about national security, who cares about securing the border, who's going to enforce the law. and, importantly, he has a governor and a state in texas that will be a partner with the trump administration. we will assist in the arrest, the detention and the deportation of people coming across the border illegally. maria: and deportations are now

well underway. some have been put on planes. are they going back the mexico? are where are you sending them? give us a sense of the practical process that is happening right now. >> so hundreds, up to close to the thousand are being sent back across the border on a daily basis under the trump administration. some are going to mexico. others you will see flights that are going to guatemala and some other central american countries. and the trump administration's going to be sending hem back to their home countries -- them back to their home countries and demanding compliance by these countries that they take back the people who crossed the border illegally. and know this, and that is right now there's, i would say there's two categories of people that the trump administration is sending back. one, they're trying to go after those who are public safety threats, who are criminals as well as national security threats. remember, under joe biden they allowed into the united states people who were on the terrorist watch list. maria: unbelievable.

>> and the trump administration is seeking out and trying to find them and deport them. and then the others they're sending back, listen, those people who think they can cross the border and stay here in the country illegally now, those days are gone. anybody apprehended coming across the border is going to be sent back immediately. maria: isn't it unbelievable, texas is now a partner to the federal government as opposed to being an enemy which certainly is what it looked like under the biden team. let me get your take on this 300,000 children that were lost under the biden-harris administration. fox news reporting this week, harris faulkner reported that the trump team has now located some of those children. >> so, listen, it's almost criminal what joe biden did, allowing all these children to come in and then losing them, putting those children at risk. who knows how many of those children were child sex trafficked or harmed in some other way. and you've got to hand it to the trump administration for quickly

locating them, identifying them and working to ensure their -- insure their safety. it's a night and day difference between the trump administration and the biden administration. we now have a commander in chief in office who's going to insure the safety of people in the country whether it be these young kids who were trafficked into our country or everyday americans in communities that are having to deal with the consequences of joe biden's open border policies. maria: what about those venezuelan gangs, tren de aragua that was causing such havoc? do you believe, governor, that we will see a change in crime? the attacks that we're seeing across the country in big cities like new york, do you believe in the coming months that will move the needle as a result of what you all are doing in? >> so it's actually already begun. what we did in texas, i signed a law and implemented the law declaring tren de aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. and for the past year, texas has

been working with federal, state and local authorities to arrest and jail tren de aragua members here in the state of texas. what trump will do is apply that same strategy, he's already either done it or said he's going to do it, declare tren de aragua as a foreign terrorist organization under the federal law which is even more powerful. and what trump wants to do is go after organizations like that which is the largest, most deadly and consequential foreign terrorist organization and make sure that we put them out of business. maria: yeah. >> and the way we put them out of business so to put them behind bars. maria: well, we're all feeling a lot better about what's to come after this. thank you so much, governor. good to see you, sir. >> thank you, maria. maria: texas governor greg abbott. thank you. up next, president trump calls out a major bank for debanking customers based on their political beliefs. are banks debanking conservatives? house oversight committee chairman james comer on his investigation over whether any american bank is turning their back on conservatives along with

the biden family pardons. why did president biden pardon if his entire family 20 the minutes before trump was sworn in and whether he made a mistake not pardoning himself over influence peddling and money laundering. we'll be right back. ♪ —hi! —hi! ♪ chocolate fundraiser. ♪ with the chase mobile app, things move a little more smoothly. ♪ deposit checks easily and send money quickly. [coins clinking] ♪ that's convenience from chase. make more of what's yours.

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>> i hope you start opening your bank to to conservatives, because many conservatives complained that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called bank of america. they don't take conservative business, and i don't know if regulators mandated that because of biden or what, but you and jamie and everybody, i hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong. maria: that was president trump with a stern message to the ceo of bank of america, brian moynihan, at the world economic forum on thursday in davos, swiftserland, suggesting that the financial -- switzerland, suggesting that the financial giant is debanking

conservatives. in a statement to fox business, bank of america said, quote, we serve more than 70 million clients, and we welcome conservatives. we are required to follow extensive government rules and regulations that sometimes result in decisions to exit client relationships. we never close accounts for political reasons and do not have a political litmus test. now, last year 15 state attorneys general sent a letter to moynihan accuse the lender of dewanging some individuals for their religious or political identities, writing this: your discriminatory behavior is a serious threat to free speech and religious freedom. it is potentially illegal and causing political and regulatory backlash. and this past fall first lady melania trump told me exclusively that she herself was debanked by another bank after leaving to oval office back in 2021. watch. >> but later on more when we left the white house, when i establish my if own business, as you said, the bank suddenly informed me they will not be

able to do business with me anymore. they didn't want to do business with me because of political affiliation, my political beliefs. maria: the bank i believe the first lady was referring to with me in that interview in october was not one of the majors. it was a smaller bank. joining me now is the chairman of the oversight committee, chairman, congressman james comer. mr. chairman, good to see you this morning. thanks very much for being here. are you investigating whether or not u.s. banks are debanking conservatives? >> yes, we are. we've heard numerous instances of conservatives being debanked. and what we want to know is, is this a process of the banks' esg policy? is, or is this our government stepping in like what we found with twitter and facebook where the government stepped in and said they wanted certain conservatives deplatformed and

censored and certain key content removed -- conservative content removed. we want to know is in the government involvement is, another dirty trick by the joe biden administration, or this just bad liberal policy that a discriminates against conservatives by the banks. maria: wow. so you have evidence of some banks debanking conservatives. >> yes. especially people that were involved in different energy-type businesses and things like that as well as very well-spoken or outspoken conservative activists. so there are numerous instances, enough to open an investigation. again, this esg policy? which is discriminatory and, ironically, the democrats have passed all this banking legislation that prohibits discrimination. is this discriminatory because of esg, or is it the government, are the bank examiners, as president trump hinted this in his remarks you played earlier, are these bank examiners with a wink and a nod saying don't let this person bank at your bank. maria: well, this is a very important question because with

we know what happened with social media. 1,000 people from government agencies were working with social media to censor americans, censor conservatives, certainly. what will be the impact to these banksesome what should these banks expect in the coming month from your office? >> well, they're going to be asked a lot of questions, and i will say this for the banks, during the biden influence-peddling investigation, the banks were the one entity that did cooperate with us. so i expect that the banks will cooperate with our questions. and, hopefully, we can get some answers. number one, find out if our government was involved in this, if this is another silent operation by the biden administration where they were attacking conservatives. at the very least, we want change this. we're not talking about debanking meaning they deny canned a loan. that happens every day in the banking world. this is just opening up saving accounts and checking can accounts. this is unheard of, to do this, and it's against the law. the laws, ironically, that the democrats created against discrimination.

maria: okay. let me move on to the pardons because it was 20 minutes before president trump was sworn in on monday. it was 20 minutes to 12 on january 20th when president biden announced he was pardoning siblings, minutes before leaving the white house. the pardon applies to james biden, his brother, sara jones biden, valley biden owens, john owens, francis biden. the white house announced that his family could be subject to, quote, politically-motivated investigations after he leaves office. your reaction. >> this is an admission of guilt by joe biden. everybody in america knows it. we said early on in the investigation, i went on your show many times, maria, and you were one of the heroes that allowed me to have a platform to give the american people the truth, that ten different biden family members were with involved in receiving inscental payments that had been laundered through a series of shell companies. he's pardoned six of them. he's pardoned six of those

including five at the last minute and then his son, hunter biden. again, this is an admission of guilt. why would joe biden do this in the very last act when he knew the media would be focused on rump's swearing in and all of that -- on trump's swearing in and all of that? he didn't have the courage to have a press conference to announce it, and he said he was worried about investigations. the only investigation in the world that ever mentioned those spouses was our house oversight committee investigation if that listed the ten different family members that received incremental payments. maria: well, congressman, you did a very good job. you identified the bank statements, you identified whistleblowers, and you did a very deep investigation. we all covered it. thank you for the compliment. you wrote a book about it, "all the president's money," by james comer which is out now. congratulations on the book. but i've got the tell you, my -- to to tell you, my audience is a little disappointed. to is with these pardons, should

we just expect after all that work you put into it, after all the conversations we've had, they got away with it. >> i certainly hope no not. the ball's going to be in pam bondi's court. we're communicating with her people right now. i've had a good meeting with kash patel. one thing i'm confident is going to happen and you saw that with john at ratcliff, we're going the hold people in the government accountable that were involved in the cover-up. he's already held the 51 intelligence officials that lied to the american people when they said the hunter biden laptop was russian disinformation when most of them, in fact, knew that it was not russian disinformation. now we want to get the people that were involved in the cover-ups because what we found in our investigation, and i write about it extensively in my book, is that there were four different agencies investigating the bidens, the irs, the department of justice, the fbi and the securities and exchange commission. and, obviously, they wanted to get to joe biden because none of this money would be coming into the president's son or brother were it not for joe biden. every time they got ready to ask

joe biden, they were told to stand down by a deep state actor. i want those people held accountable. and then with respect to the bidens, i don't think these preemptive pardons would hold up in court. i would like to see a jury that would be thick to what he said -- sympathetic to what he said. we're around pardoning you for anything you may have done over the past decade pertaining to influence peddling. that's baloney, and no jury in america would buy that, in my opinion. maria: wow. so you think the preemptive pardons are not legitimate. >> i don't, but there are a lot better league minds than mierntion i'm sure. but, you know, i don't think the average person that works hard and pays taxes has much sympathy for a president that in his last act many office pardoned his entire family for financial public corruption and didn't have the guts to tell anybody why he did it. maria: sir, we'll leave it there. thanks very much. we so appreciate your time, house oversight committee chairman james comer. up next, president trump plans to put tear tariffs on mexico, canada and china beginning next

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if these tariffs? >> maria, as you know, the president very much wants to shrink the trade deficits, and i think it depends on how he uses these economic tools. he's talked about a 10% across the board tariff. that's a form of a consumption tax on foreign goods, and i think the market could adjust to the that. and depending on how the revenues are used, particularly if used to the pay down debt, that could be a very interesting tool. i think the 25% tariffs immediately are on canada do and mexico are going to be hard to adjust for, and i hope that he can reach a quick agreement in that mexico and canada will do what they need to do so that's not implemented. maria: well, president trump told me he uses this as leverage in some ways. he wants to stop the fentanyl trade. they're not stopping the fentanyl trade. he needs to do something to stop it. and also europeans do not buy our cars, do not buy our agriculture. he needs to level the playing field there as well. >> the president clearly

believes, and we started this in the first term and i think he'll continue this in the second term, to have level and balanced trade. so our markets have been very much open, and these foreign markets, as you point out, are not. i mean, especially china. they have the ability to enter and invest in our market, and it's virtually closed. the phase one agreement opened up a lot of opportunities, and i know the president is going to be very focused on the enforcement of that agreement which they haven't been living up to to. maria: that's a good point. they already start on their back heels a because they never fulfilled their promises from the first time around. secretary, stay with us. i'm going to take a short break and come back and ask you about sanctions and tiktok. we're talking with former treasury secretary steven any --

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maria: welcome back. i'm back with former treasury secretary steven mnuchin. secretary, president trump is threatening sanctions on russia if russia does not start negotiating on an end to to this war. you worked on sanctions when you were the treasury secretary and institute thed sanctions existence iran which joe biden completely ignored, enabling them to generate billions in oil revenue. give request us your take on the effectiveness of sanctionings and what the administration

should be doing in that regard. >> well, the sanctions are very powerful tools, and if they're used effectively, they can have a very big impact. in the case of russia, the existing sanctions are not working, they're not strong enough. i think the president should immediately put on sanctions that cut off both their oil and gas x that's both primary and secondary sanctions until they come to the table and negotiate a truce. and as it relates the iran, to resore the sanctions on iran -- restore the sanctions on iran. there's been literally tens of billions of dollars going to iran that they've been using to create issues and hostilities and problems in the mideast. and the money just needs to stop. that's what we did in the first term, and i'm sure trump will continue that again. maria: i mean, look, russia has its new best friend in xi jinping which, by the way, i hear that that xi jinping is a lot weaker than anybody really nose, and i'll have more on that. but i want your take in that realm on tiktok. what will be the fate of tiktok, and is it a national security threat or not?

>> oh, i hope the president can save the company. it's a very good company in the u.s. it's majority owned by u.s. investors, so a new investor could come in and dilute down the chinese and satisfy that. but the technology needs to be disconnected from china. it's, it needs to be disconnected from bytedance. there's absolutely no way that china would ever let us have something like that in china, and i think it can be separated. it may take some time to do, but it can be done and it should be done. maria: do you want the see an american businessman like an elon musk or, you know, frank mccourt acquire this thing? 50%? >> i've said in the past, you know, i'd be very interested in participating. i think the existing investors will most likely want to stay in. a new investor can come in as well. maria: okay. >> as i said, the technology can be rebuilt, and it should be disconnected. maria: terrific. secretary, it's great to see you this morning.

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