we got our melons checked. she had a concussion. admitting i was wrong is worse than losing at pickleball. saving your brain is a definite win. don't mess with your melon. if you hit it, get it checked.

maria: good thursday morning. thank you for joining us. i am maria bartiromo, it is thursday february 20. your top stories. today washington cleaning up house, president trump set the fire 6000 irs employees as a doge team finds $200 million in potential cuts at the social security administration. another 4.6 million active government credit card in circulation processing 90 million transactions worth $40 billion in fiscal year 2024 along. trump signing an executive order expanding the power over independent agencies and stopping federal funding for illegal immigrants as trump designates south america cartels as terrorist organizations. the president ripping ukraine president zelenskyy as vice president vance is warning him to stop badmouthing the united

states. were following the fast-moving action all morning long futures or pulling back were expected to decline at the start of trading fractionally lower on the dow and the nasdaq walmart reporting fourth-quarter earnings, we have the numbers in will see if that's a market impact rates look like this, take a look at the tenure 4.53% coming down this morning as european markets are mixed the eurozone trading this way with gains in paris and germany the s&p 100 and lower, and asia right across the board. president trump says he is open to talks was xi jinping and reportedly eyeing a bigger trade deal with china. back at home the senate enough the floor vote for trump's pick to lead the fbi kash patel everything you need to know joining the conversation all morning long strategic wealth partner mike jim mark tepper homeland security adviser mark enter michael balboni and strategy ceo mehek cooke. "mornings with maria" is live

right now. ♪. maria: we kick it off with a hot topic of the hour president trump prioritizing every american dollar with the new executive order on illegal migrant benefits as elon musk and the doge team find more wasteful spending out of government, digital political correspondent brooke sigman with the latest. >> that's right president trump is on board with the idea of sending out dividend checks to taxpayers using the money saved by doge. >> elon musk is proposing giving money to americans based on what doge is finding. >> i love it 20% dividend so to

speak for the money that we are saving by going after waste, fraud and abuse and all the other things that are happening. i think it's great. >> , john money. >> it could be a lot if it's 40% we get back a lot of money to the taxpayer and give an incentive to the taxpayer to go out and report things where we can save money. >> trump speaking on the wasteful spending and spread fraud. >> were finding tremendous waste abuse and fraud in social security. what's happening in social security will be one of the great potential scandals in history. on the program there are over 4.7 million social security numbers from people from 100 years old to 109. over a hundred on a lot of people that make it hopefully most of the people in the room will make it read an exclusive

interview with sean hannity elon musk explaining the importance of the cost-cutting actions at doge. >> i would emphasize this important point if we don't solve the deficit there won't be money for medical care or social security we either solve the deficit all will be doing is paying debt it's gotta be salt or there's no social security or nothing it's gotta be solved it is not optional america will go bankrupt if this is not done. >> is important for people to understand he's doing a big job he's doing a very thankless job buddies helping us to save our country our country was in serious trouble and i had to get the best guy. >> the administration money move does not stop there, yesterday the president she did executive order ending all federal taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants directing departments and agencies to identify and stop the funding efforts. at the department of defense of

defense secretary pete hegseth is ordering the pentagon to make plans for budget cuts of their own. pete hegseth wants to cut every year for the next five years. maria: a lot of information, thank you so much. let me just say the committee for responsible budget says these three major trust funds face looming insolvency, social security going to go insolvent by 2033, medicare hospital insurance going insolvency by 2036 and the highway by 2028. your reaction. >> what an amazing time to be alive every single promise made by president trump he is delivering on and we have to celebrate doge. people that are pushing back are the ones that are increasing fraud, waste and abuse there is so much at stake today we are close to bankruptcy. $37 trillion. elon musk and president trump i

believe will be the first president in the last 25 years through president trump that we will finally balance the budget this is about putting americans first and for the first time in my life i feel cared for that's looking me in the icing i care about your dollars i will treat them like mine and i will return them. that's restitution we deserve. >> we talk about the interest being a problem. interest is the single largest item in the budget behind social security more spending on defense, medicare and children. >> 50% of the treasury come due over the next three years and they will be refinanced at higher rates that will increase interest payment even more we have issues there. in regards to social security and medicare the entitlement program that is facing insolvency. it's always been political suicide to come up with a solution to the entitlement programs but the solution is right in front of us eliminate fraud and waste.

you're talking about 20 million people who are older than a hundred according to the social security administration i don't know if all those people are receiving benefits but if they receive 25000 union benefits that sounds like a half a trillion dollars a year in savings and we need to start there. >> there was one person elon musk said was receiving benefits that was 360 years old it's outrageous and i googled the oldest person in america she's 114 and the millions of people above a hundred is fiction the irs set to lay off 6000 employees today as part of the trump administration plan to shrink the workforce the new york times is reporting they will target recent hires of the irs which invited administration attempted to revitalize with the surgeon funding and new staff he wanted 80000 irs agents to look under every rock to get more tax

revenue. >> what donald trump is doing is brilliant when i was in office we talked about waste, fraud and abuse and how we would make government more efficient. what he's done is brilliant if we reduce the amount of money that we spend will give a dividend back to the american people. that changes the whole political dynamic when somebody's on the couch at home says more efficient and effective government but it's for me if i can get a check that's awesome. >> are you going to cash the checks the one pushing back against doge. maria: i don't know why we have to do a dividend of people now with all the savings. i would prefer putting it towards the deficit the debt and deficit we have major problems here i understand he was people excited to say let's cut in getting money maybe does that. were getting started. a lot coming up in great conversation on this. investors brushing off years of president trump's tariffs but

some retailers may not be doing the same, walmart the big-box stores reporting earnings, stock is down for going into the report. we have the preview of the president mark avallone. stay with us you are watching live "mornings with maria" live on fox business. stay with us.

i'm thinking of updating my kitchen... —yeah? —yes! ...this year, we are finally updating our kitchen... ...doing subway tile in an ivory, or eggshell... —cream?... —maybe bone?... don't get me started on quartz. a big big island... you ever heard of a waterfall counter?... for everyone who talks about doing that thing, and, over there. but never does that thing... a sweet little breakfast nook. chase has financial guidance. let's see how you can start saving to make this happen. —really? —really? really. at home or in-person. you could also check out a chase money skills workshop. that's guidance from chase. make more of what's yours.

maria: features are lower were expected to decline at the start of trading the downtown 69 the nasdaq 1047 s&p 500 pulling back from a record high that it reached yesterday in the s&p 500 at 14 and a half at a new record

high of 6144 as investors brush off the fears over tariffs that are coming, walmart the big u.s. retailer reporting fourth-quarter earnings there is some concern that tariffs from china, india, mexico and canada could threaten walmart bargain price approach founder and president mark avallone it's good to see you, thank you for being here. what are your expectation and how do you assess this picture right now. >> good morning and walmart on a specific level is very interesting because they managed to do what a lot of companies haven't been able to do they remained loyal to the customer and they brought on affluent traffic to their stories which help the earnings last year the stock was up over 80% and we look to see them a model for company that can navigate tariffs in the changing consumer preference in this immigration

crackdown. think walmart could be an outlier and how they handle it. to be sure what people need to think about with tariffs, their employees and there is a hysteria when the president talks about tariffs but some of the tariffs for 2018 are in force in the biden administration added tariffs and their enforce. companies continue to do well what we want to see with the tariff rollout is a smooth rollout that is balanced and i know there will be a big stick out of the white house but tariffs in and out of itself is not toxic in the economy is operating with them we need some to even out the trade imbalance and some will continue to do well if they are rolled out an imprudent matter. maria: i wonderful you the sentiment from walmart guidance from 2025. it's got to be looking at tariffs and thinking how is that changing dynamic for us to offer the lowest price possible on goods. >> they do.

while walmart has the other committees don't have they have a strong relationship with their vendors and a dominant relationship with their vendors. walmart does have the power and volume and they will ultimately be where people impacted by imported goods want to distribute their product. we don't see walmart as one of the weaker players as a result set and third-year are at a higher cost rain. i'm not saying walmart is going to have another 80% year but that could but a one-sided generation move. they have been integrating a.i. and advertising walmart+, companies don't get to do that all the time but the larger player in each segment will be able to handle the impact of tariffs better than the also-rans which i think that's where the focus will be. >> let's check the yield 4.5%. the general federal reserve

minutes revealed officials are concerned about the inflationary impact of the potential from president trump's trade and immigration proposal. are you worried about the policies in terms of rekindling the inflationary fears? >> that's a great question. what we should've been worried about is inflation potential from $3 trillion spending bills that we had the past few years. they were massive, they were within two years of each other and that's what we saw the massive one of the biggest reasons we saw the massive inflation. the other point about tariffs and immigration are legitimate but i think they can be absorbed immigration lowers the price, that's the truth but we needed to do something with regulating the border. in the short run sobering immigration could slightly put some wage pressure but in the long run it has benefits. tariffs are similar.

they are going to raise costs or reduce profits and maybe a balance of both but it could be incremental, all the fed was saying we will not be out there with the policy either way until we get more clear it. they didn't say with under policy was that they just said they wanted to pause before getting clarity on rates. maria: mark tepper how do you feel. >> inflation is stubbornly high. it is hanging around 3%. maria: how about the reports last week. >> the fed wants it closer to two. shelter is the biggest issue if you look at the housing situation shelter is 35% of cpi. we have high mortgage rates and the limited amount of inventory and that will continue to pressure rent higher. i think it'll take a while to get back to the 2% level. >> i wonder if markets are going to respond to that. sure we have decline but anothr

hardcharging territory move yesterday. >> one of the issues is earnings growth estimates for this year are starting to come down because it looks like operating margins might be under a little bit of pressure possibly due to inflation. great to see you this morning. thank you very much for wayne and all of that. vice president jd vance gives a stern warning to the president zelenskyy about bad mouthing president trump and the united states. richard mccormick will weigh in on that will become back. you are watching "mornings with maria", live on fox business. stay with us. ♪

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. at ameriprise financial we know our clients are so much more than clients. they're go-getters and legacy-leavers, and what matters most to them matters most to us. it's no wonder we have a 4.9 out of five client satisfaction rating. ameriprise financial.

(shower water runs) (♪) (♪) what do a neurosurgeon, a country artist, and a television & radio host have in common? they all saw the writing on the wall. big bank sharing your financial information with big government. join them as owners in old glory bank - the pro-america online bank that protects your privacy, security, and liberty. invest today at own.oldglorybank

you think those phone guys will ever figure out how to keep 5g home internet from slowing down during peak hours? their customers have to share a wireless signal with everyone in their area. oooh. you know, it's kinda like when you bring a really big cake for your birthday, and then there's only a little, tiny sliver left for the birthday girl. aw. well, wish her a happy birthday. happy birthday... -it's... ...to her. -no, it's me. have your cake and eat it, too. don't settle for t-mobile or verizon 5g home internet. get super fast xfinity internet you don't have to share. forty's going to be my year.

>> a dictator without elections. zelenskyy better move fast or he's not quite have a country left. you gotta move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction. i love ukraine but zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his country is shattered in millions and millions of people have unnecessarily died and you cannot bring a war to an end if

you don't talk to both sides. maria: president trump slamming ukraine's president zelenskyy to quickly make a peace deal with russia. vice president jd vance warning zelenskyy to stop the bad mouthing trout after zelenskyy accused him of living in russian disinformation space. then says trashing trump to the media center church of trade atrocious way to deal with this administration. elon musk raising questions about the money sent to ukraine. elon musk posted a video zelenskyy saying he only received $75 billion of the 177 billion worth of aid sent by the united states. president trump raising these concerns. >> the united states has spent $200 billion more than europe and europe's money is guar guaranteed. they get their money back it's a form of loan. zelenskyy admits half the money they sentiments missing we don't

over half of it is. maria: joining the georgia congressman a member of the house foreign affairs and armed services committee richard mccormick. can you explain any of this to us. why would ukraine not know half the money is first of all. >> that's a good question when i was there and talk to zelenskyy in person my biggest concern they had accountability and they were spending on things americans would approve of. mainly the war directly. they sent to the small people mostly intel communities that he would spend it wherever we wanted to he was literally just trying to survive and he said you can bring anybody over your watch what we can do you can have forensic products and do whatever you want anyone have greater credibility. the question is the divided demonstration deliver the goods to where it needed to go. i was there with 101st and tenth mountain we watched other weapon systems went to the front lines on the war and i was very

satisfied we had much better accountability than we had in afghanistan when i was there but i don't know where the accounting error is if it's on our part never got delivered or they don't know where it went that something that has to be answered. maria: it does. i don't really like to see the united states take sides in this war. it does appear the president trump making plans to meet with vladimir putin and attacking zelenskyy in the issue of where is the money these are truths you don't want to see the united states take aside but at the same time we need accountability you're on the foreign affairs committee were you clear on where the money was going? >> i was clear on where west of the money was going but europe's money goes to different places in the united states. all of her age should be in the form of military help whether weapon systems are delivering the weapon systems and down

downrange. they did a good job of one for the population one 20th of the economy of russia taking on a huge first world army and destroying 50% of the armored and a half million casualties of russia when there is a huge susan advantage. we need to make the money is placed in the right place and most of it downrange. the question is where is the missing money where did he go and wasn't delivered. maria: we talk everyday $36 trillion in debt that the united states faces in all the different agencies that are facing insolvency. the internal revenue service is now set to lay off 6000 employees today. firing 400 probation employees and more cuts are on the way. dhs says this will save $50 million. the pentagon is preparing for cuts sending doge staffers list

of the military probationary employees of the social security administration. doge found more than $230 million in cuts president trump is passing the savings from doge onto taxpayers. watch this. >> i love it or 20% dividend so to speak for the money that was saving by going after the we said fraud and abuse and all the other things that are happening. i think it's a good idea. >> it could be a lot we give back a lot of money to the taxpayer. also it would give an incentive for the taxpayer to report things where we can save money. maria: do you worry is going to cut into muscle in any of the agencies and what about giving the money to taxpayers. >> i think it'll force us to be more efficient new seal the

growth and jobs has been from government which is to be expected from the biden administration, they grew the economy which they grew the government. i'm not real big on sending money back to people in the form of checks. i would rather see the debt pay down. quite frankly we are still building up a huge amount of debt in which we pay interest on a trillion dollars in debt and to spain per year that's more than the military we need to fix that. maria: we were talking about this to give money back to voters is sounds nice but if our worry is in deficit send the money to debt and deficit. >> it also looks like a steamy check and we know a family of four receive steamy checks of 11400 or something like that that led to 90.1% inflation this is a potential issue that sounds

like inflation. >> stopping for all legal immigrants, and all agencies to identify cancel programs providing the benefits this is also a lot of money trump through the support behind the house budget resolution plan once again pushing for a big beautiful bill the senate preparing a vote on the budget plan which of course is to tracks with the tax extension later on in the year. are you going to get this done do you feel like you have the votes for the one bill? >> i hope you have the votes for one bill we only have a three vote majority it'll be close and a lot of fiscal hawks that want to see the deficit tackled in significant ways. 34 voted against it. last time i was one of them and i feel we have the obligation for people to fizzle that first and foremost is one of her biggest enemies for the future of america. if we don't look at that we can have a hard time coming to an

agreement with the senate bill doesn't lock in the tax cuts which create the economy home the last four years. when i say tax cuts it's extending what biden benefited from in this economy by making us competitive in the international market. maria: how much are you willing to go to the mat for that at the end of the day you have to get something on his desk to sign are you getting into being united with their party. >> all be united have to get something done with my peers because if we don't is the worst bill voted for democrats that's never a good thing i'm willing to compromise but i hope we do responsible duties. good to see you thank you so much richard mccormick, quick break my next guest is on the ground where he is hearing recognition that the u.s. needs to take action against china kate stone institute senior

fellow gordon chang is here on how the trump administration is handling our country's number one adversary you are watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business. we'll be right back. ♪ i'm thinking of updating my kitchen... —yeah? —yes! ...this year, we are finally updating our kitchen... ...doing subway tile in an ivory, or eggshell... —cream?... —maybe bone?... don't get me started on quartz. a big big island... you ever heard of a waterfall counter?... for everyone who talks about doing that thing,

and, over there. but never does that thing... a sweet little breakfast nook. chase has financial guidance. let's see how you can start saving to make this happen. —really? —really? really. at home or in-person. you could also check out a chase money skills workshop. that's guidance from chase. make more of what's yours. (♪) at enterprise mobility, our experts always see another road. because when there's no limit to how far mobility can go, there's no limit to how far businesses can go. (♪) louis! cut! more mud! action! louis, louis! cut mud on her face! louis! okay everybody, that's lunch! (♪) (♪) mud mask? no, no, no! compare hotels in the hotels.com app at harbor freight,

we do business differently from the other guys. we design and test our own tools and sell them directly to you. no middleman. just quality tools you can trust at prices you'll love.

a sleep number® smart bed is perfect for couples. it helps reduce snoring with a tap so you both get your best night's sleep. and now, save 50% on the new sleep number® limited edition smart bed. shop a sleep number® store near you.

maria: welcome back president trump signaling a new deal with president trump from air force one and recently confirmed howard lott neck on jesse watters last night. >> would you make a new trade deal with china. >> it's possible we did a great trade deal with china in the farmers and manufacturers by

$50 billion work worth of our product and we were making them buy it. biden didn't push them to adhere to it. people to understand what consumer-based economy we buy stuff, americans buy stuff the chinese produce stuff, they cannot live without selling us stuff, we have the power we have to use tariffs in the external revenue service to take care of america. joining me now greystone institute senior fellow in the author of planned read china's project to destroy america gordon chang back with us, thank you so much for being here i know your attending see pat, what you hearing the conversations on the ground with usc and china today. >> first of all very different tone about china people are using the word enemy and there is an anger they see the chinese are moving in the wrong directions killing americans with fentanyl, killing them with

covid there is a real change in attitude. the other important thing is that europe is back. people are saying europe is back because trump is back. around the world i get a real sense of the people that are here that they are with great optimism of the trump administration. >> that's what i heard in davos that europe is not back in it struggling while the u.s. is seen optimism. i don't understand why we're talking about a new trade deal with china when they didn't keep a promise from the last time president trump today trade deal in 2018. >> absolutely. president trump was right it was a good trade deal on paper and it's true biden did not enforce it but also trump did not foresee either the deal had self enforcement mechanism robert lighthizer who is a trade

negotiator and neither president trump use them that's inexplicable. we've done the deal you full me once shame on you, for me twice shame on me we are now in full me twice territory. maria: let's talk about the bad behavior from china yet despite building travel half of the country sending information back to communist china. you have hacks where the communist party of china is in our phone and important people's phones. obviously covid and covid cover-up, intellectual property theft for decades then we see newark's editor chuck schumer mocking it up with the communist party is under fire after being spotted in several photos he is standing alongside a chinese communist party official all wrapped up in red scarves, chen lee posted the photos on x showing the senate minority leader multiple chinese

festivals in new york city celebrating the year of the snake. lee publicly denied china's genocide against the uighurs. your thoughts on the pictures exposing chuck schumer having a ball with a communist. >> there's also pictures of chuck schumer waving a chinese flag. this is a real problem for the democratic party in new york they've seen chinese-americans is a rich source of votes so they ended up with the disturbing connections with the communist party united front work department, that subverts foreign governments. clearly it's not just schumer. you had linda who was an aide to cuomo and the current governor of new york kathy hochul all of these problems in new york city with mayor adam staff. this goes on and on and on. the democratic party of new york has a real china communist part

problem. maria: they were all about russia, russia, russia during trump's first term because they knew they were in bed with communist china. this is not about the chinese people chinese-american people are victims but the ccp is rolling over america and we solve no pushback whatsoever from the biden the administration. >> to involve traction has been documented for years not just in the federal level with the local government as well you talk about all the things tiktok huawei all these things they capture the american data. why are we okay with that. >> biden the big guy was getting money from the ccp and all goes back to the president of the united states joe biden allowed the subsumption and to see it he allowed for america to be troubled by the chinese. it's no surprise today when you start to see new york and i bet

you other states that are exposed another officials that are exposed on the democrat side because they have been in bed with the chinese. biden allowed this. maria: the big guy took intent of millions of dollars from the chinese communist party according to the oversight committee and james comer and they got away with a 20 minutes before trump was inaugurated he parted his entire family. >> fortunately with the pardons the biden family cannot resist a subpoena they have to testify if the justice department brings it before grand jury. this was outrageous all the chinese money that flew to the biden family and the people in the democratic party. it's not just the biden family yet a guy governor of minnesota his name was tim walz that had a serious of contacts with the united front department even today as governor of the united states in the states this is throughout the market political

system going down to city council levels were the chinese communist arrow involved in elections to get their favorite candidates in office. >> didn't they put a chinese-american in charge of the election in san francisco remember that when that happened last year. the ccp has been undermining america for years. but it really ramped up under the biden administration. >> certainly and we saw the democratic party open themselves up. they have the identity politics and what they do for chinese-americans, many of these chinese-americans have a very disturbing connection with the united front work department. the communist party has done a magnificent job penetrating my ethnic group and a lot of chinese-americans have been too willing to salute the communist party we need to have honest conversation among chinese-americans in with the rest of the american population

about the communist party of china when they fly the communist flag in san francisco and new york and other places we know there is a really big problem in the united states. maria: what kind of policies do you expect to come out of the trump of administration to try to level all of this. clearly the president is talking about trade and tariffs in the 10% tariff input on china could go higher. it is more than just trade and again, they did not keep their promises from the last radio, why should they expect them to do that again. >> i would hope the president trump enforces the tariff active 1930 which prohibits importation into the u.s. of goods made with forced labor we know virtually all of china's green products are made with forced labor and many other chinese products are also made with such labor we need to enforce our own laws and

keep the products out. it's elemental. if you have a lot you have to enforce it this will help american manufacturers because they will have to compete with slave labor in china. maria: great to talk with you. will be following your work from cpac gordon chang joining us in washington. los angeles mayor karen bass has an outrageous excuse to why she traveled to ghana despite the wildfire warnings that were allowed and often inner-city before she left. you won't believe this you watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ chocolate fundraiser. with the chase mobile app, things move a little more smoothly. ♪ deposit checks easily and send money quickly. ♪ that's convenience from chase. what if you could invest in a future where skin cancer treatment is noninvasive and relatively painless? medicus pharma's groundbreaking solution delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor site, offering a mostly painless alternative to invasive surgeries.

with the skin cancer treatment market expected to exceed $20 billion by 2030. medicus is poised to meet the demand for cost effective non-surgical options. now advancing phase two studies. medicus pharma, leading the charge in skin cancer innovation. transportation is one of the largest contributors to global emissions. the world needs a better way forward. at westport fuel systems, we're pioneering alternative fuel systems, enabling the world's engines to run cleaner and perform stronger. westport fuel systems.

maria: another airplane deadly disaster. two people are dead after two small planes collided over arizona yesterday. cheryl casone with the details. >> two people dead the planes collided in moderna over a regional airport in arizona yesterday north of tucson both single engine aircraft were involved. officials confirming two people on one of the planes died, two

people on the other planes were not injured we don't know what is which the regional airport is an uncontrolled field no control tower pilots have to communicate with each other to maintain safe distance and landing slots when they're coming in and out the ntsb is investigating and we just learned the fuselage of the delta jet at the toronto airport they pulled that off the runway last night so the runways are clear and toronto. force lane is really hostages are now home after their bodies were released by hamas this morning. a tough day and israel the terror group release for coffins who transported into israeli and gauze that they hold a ceremony before they were brought back to tel aviv for formal identification. officials say the process could take up to 48 hours in the four hostages are believed to be sherry bevis and her two boys.

he was the youngest hostage taken by hamas he was nine months old, peace actavis who was 83 when he was abducted his polling until believed to be the fourth set of remains, they said the families have been notified and they're asking the public to respect the privacy. back at home the senate is expected to confirm president trump's nominee to leave the fbi kash patel he cleared by 12 - 10 vote that went along party lines, the full senate expected to happen this afternoon. hhs releasing new guidance recognizing lonely to sex. the women are biologically female and men are biologically male hhs secretary rfk junior saying this administration is for you by common sense in restoring biological truth to the federal government the prior administration of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over. hhs says it's taking steps to

implement policies protecting children from gender surgeries and keeping men out of women sports, the l.a. fire department pushing back against karen bass that fire officials failed to properly prepare ahead of the deadly wildfire, the department responding sternly to the mayor's claims that she was not warned the department followed standard preparation procedures. prior to the palisades fire, valley fd e-mail to advisories conducting multiple live and recorded meeting interviews about the predicted extreme fire weather and notified city officials about the upcoming weather of that the historic fires burned down entire neighborhoods for days becoming the ninth deadliest in third most destructive in california. meanwhile she's trying to defend yourself when the fires broke out she was on a trip to ghana now she has an investigation as to why no one told her not to go

it didn't reach that level to say something terrible can happen and maybe you shouldn't go on a trip. i don't know i think that's one of the things that we need to look at. investigations are taking place. one internal to the city that's a fire commission and the governor contracted with the fire safety research institute. >> she said she's trying to work on regaining the confidence of residents of los angeles but i'm not sure how you gain the confidence whenever caruso whose foundation is getting people new homes fully funded three homes will have a place to live she's not doing that. >> what kind of an explanation is that i was not told and never got to me. i spoke with rick caruso he was on the program last week and he

said the warnings were loud and often it was a clear commentary saying the fires are coming and we will have a bad situation before she left for ghana now she said were investigating that she is investigating why nobody told her not to go to ghana. >> this is a failure of leadership over to the emergency services all my career. you have to own this you are the chief executive, you make sure that resources are there, the training and now sit down and say we can investigate and absolutely absurd. maria: no coincidence rick caruso's property was intact when everybody got eaten by the fire around him because of the products he is noncombustible but cereals his actual building survived fine. >> is the person i rebuild los angeles i hope the voters in los angeles make a change.

it's time to make a change with gavin newsom as well he also has a role in this. maria: there are people that think california will go read. people have lost everything their sick and tired of the bad policies. we will see how that impacts voters. were you to get to the weather we have a polar vortex ripping the country freezing temperatures meteorologist stephen morgan with an update. >> good morning talk about cold temperatures we have in fact this morning we could see more than 100 record lows achieved i don't affect much in achievement, south texas extreme cold weather warnings where wind chills are below 0 it's extreme anywhere you see the blue on the map that's where you have the freezing line and then young subzero temperatures these are real temperatures as far south as kansas city and wichita in the record low of negative for

antennas intricate the city and were not ignoring the snow with the storm moving east, virginia beach, what are the snowiest days that we've seen in 45 years picked up nearly 11 inches at the beach in virginia and norfork, we had 10 inches of snow there one of the top ten snowiest days on record, what is storm. maria: thank you. stephen morgan. walmart's fourth-quarter earnings expected in a minute with the retailers report we will get a set of the consumer as soon as we get the numbers will see any market reaction walmart shares down better than 1% going into the report. stay with us "mornings with maria" live on fox business. ♪ only servicenow connects every corner of your business, putting ai to work for people.

pfft ... every corner? every corner, nick. ow! so kate in hr ... hey kate! ... can focus on people, not process. patty in it is using ai agents to deal with the small stuff, so she can work on the big stuff. and ai helps jim solve customer problems before they're problems. oh. so we all work better, together! my work here is done. excuse me, which way back?