Skip to main content

tv   Shepard Smith Reporting  FOX News  August 1, 2017 12:00pm-1:00pm PDT

12:00 pm
>> jon: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 on the east coast. we're expecting to hear about the president's tax plan. the dow stretches into record tear money. we'll see what's driving the gains president and where the president dictated a misleading statement about his son's controversial interview with a rush lawyer. how that could be trouble for the president. and the united states flexes their muscle with a new long range missile test. defense analysts saying most of
12:01 pm
the u.s. could be within range of north korea's military. but now an olive branch from the trump administration. that's ahead this hour. i'm jon scott in for shepard smith. president trump expected to call for a historic overall of the nation's tax code as he meets with small business owners any minute now. today's event, part of american dream week at the white house. we'll take you there live as soon as it begins. meantime, the white house responding after "the washington post" reported that president trump personally dictated a misleading statement ahead of a "new york times" story about his son's meeting with a russian lawyer. donald trump jr. attended meeting during the campaign last year after getting an e-mail offering damaging information about hillary clinton from the russian government. sources told the post the president's lawyers and advisers initially talked about releasing a statement to describe exactly
12:02 pm
what happened before the times broke details of the meeting. according to the post, president trump ordered a different statement on behalf of his son writing in part "we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children. it was not a campaign issue at the time." not a campaign issue. after that statement, the times revealed more details about the meeting and donald trump jr. later admitted to promising dirt on hillary clinton to help the trump campaign. last hour, sarah huckabee sanders said donald trump jr.'s initial statement was accurate. she blasted democrats for refusing to drop the russia story. >> democrats want to continue to use this as a p.r. stunt and they're doing everything they can to keep this story alive and in the papers every day. the president, the american people, they voted america first, not russia first. that's the focus of our
12:03 pm
administration. >> john roberts live at the white house for us now. jon? >> good afternoon to you, jon. the white house pushing back on the notion that the president dictated word for word that initial statement. the white house also saying this was not a misleading statement. though i think it would be fair to say at the very least it was an incomplete statement that didn't tell the whole story of that meeting. the statement about that meeting had to be amended at least once. so the white house also saying while the president didn't dictate it, he did weigh-in on it. i asked sarah huckabee sanders to what degree the president did contribute. listen here. >> can you clarify the degree to which the president weighted it? >> he didn't dictate it. but he weighed in and offered a suggestion like any father would do. the statement was true and there's no inaccuracies in the statement. everybody wants to make this a story about misleading. the only thing is misleading is
12:04 pm
the year's worth of stories about this russia collusion and a phony scandal based on anonymous sources. if we're going to talk about misleading, that's only the misleading thing in this entire process. >> in terms of dictating, no way to know for sure whether the president dictated that word for word. i can only telling you for covering this president now, doesn't read like the way that he would say something. another little piece of news out of the white house, the president is going to sign the russia sanctions bill handed to him by congress. it's been sitting on his desk for a while. sarah huckabee sanders saying it's just going through a review process. though it does seem to be a lengthy review process. but she is she guesting they want to make sure the is are dotted and the ts are crossed. i have seen cases where the president gets a bill one minute and the next minute it's signed into law. not sure what the hold-up is here, jon. >> what about north korea?
12:05 pm
what are we hearing from the white house there? >> a good cop bad cop going on here as we have the past few months. rex tillerson, the secretary of state today saying he was open to talking to north korea. the united states is "not your enemy." it mirrors talk that he had a few weeks ago that he said we're not out for regime change. we just want to reign in the nuclear program. the president with tougher talk in the last few days and the last few months saying we will handle this, we're going to handle it, we always handle everything. the president wants to put down a market on kim jong-un that the united states won't sit back and watch them develop a nuclear warhead. the time for diplomatic talk is over. sarah huckabee sanders said the president's goal, the administration's goal is to get north korea to stop and roll back its nuclear program. listen here. >> the big priorities here, which we laid out, i think this
12:06 pm
is the third or fourth time i've done it today, stop the nuclear program, stop the missiles, stop the aggression. that's what we're focused on in regards to north korea. we're going to continue working with our allies and partners to accomplish that. >> with each missile test that the north korean regime engages in, the urgency is ever more peaked. now we learned that the icbm they fired last week has the potential to reach chicago. certainly a lot of cities in between north korea and chicago that could be hit as well including los angeles, san francisco, hawaii has major cities and others. >> jon: the john screen box says the president is having a live event. he's been meeting with small business owners today. what's up with that? >> they're starting a big push for tax reform. they're beginning to ramp it up now. they want to build momentum going into the august break. they want to start the process the day after the labor day weekend.
12:07 pm
the president meeting with small business owners today that would benefit from the president's tax reform package. he wants to reduce the income tax rate for small businesses from its current -- a lot of places are called s corporations or pass-through corporations. they're taxed at the personal income tax rate. the president wants to change that so they're taxed at a corporate rate and reduce the corporate tax to 15%. may not get that far. 20% is the number that is kicked around in congress and the president has said 15 or 20%. he will highlight this afternoon as he has done in the past how small businesses in america will benefit from tax reform and how small businesses really are the drivers of the economic engine here in this country when it comes to job creation. jon? >> john roberts, our chief white house correspondent. >> jon: now back to the white house and the president.
12:08 pm
let's bring in the fox news analyst, judge andrew napolitano. so the allegation is that the president or his team mislead the press and you can say the public about what went on in that meeting or what the purpose of the meeting was about. it's not a crime to mislead the press. >> correct that will pique the curiosity of the independent counsel. if there was not an independent counsel addressing this whole russia thing, this might have gone unnoticed. but it's not going to go unnoticed now. because if i were to wear my prosecutor's cap, why would the president do this knowing what the e-mails said and what the probable true purpose of the meeting was unless the president wanted to keep that true purpose from the public and eventually from the special prosecutor? that's the way that the special prosecutor will think. suggest may have made matters worse by doing it this way rather than what the washington says donald jr. wanted to do,
12:09 pm
which was the truthful thing to do, just get the e-mails out there. >> jon: at the time there was no special prosecutor. at the time the president was trying to avoid releasing damaging detailing about this meeting to a prosecutor that had been appointed? >> that's the attitude of the prosecutors. the statement that we're talking about came about while the president was on his why back from g-20. the special prosecutor existed. special prosecutor didn't exist in 2016 because donald trump wasn't the president at the time. so he has wittingly or unwittingly given the special prosecutor another area to investigate. are there technical violations? yeah, you can't use federal assets for technical gains. donald jr. doesn't work for the government. it will cause them to raise their eyebrows over at the special prosecutor's office. that's the way that prosecutors
12:10 pm
think. >> jon: and robert mueller has been accused of expanding this investigation beyond what it was originally intended to achieve. >> i think he probably has. either because he keeps finding more materials or because it's human nature for prosecutors to keep expanding it. the problem with an independent counsel, they need to justify their expenditure of money and existence. how do they do that? by charging somebody with someone. >> jon: i will point out this conversation that the washington reported on took place on board air force one. those are the inner sanctum of the president's highest advisers and somebody leaked out. >> that is a serious problem for the president. i don't blame him for being angry on it. a finite number of people on the
12:11 pm
plane. there's a slightly larger universe of people that knew about it, but lawyers have a duty of confidentiality and privacy to their client. somebody broke an agreement of confidentiality, either a real or tacit agreement at the highest levels of government within the ring immediately surrounding the president on an issue of profound importance to him and his family. i'm going to bet that the new fbi director who is probably going to be sworn in tonight will have this on his plate. find out who did that. >> jon: the hearing for his confirmation taking place this afternoon. >> right. >> jon: it is interesting to me because there were a bunch of political advisers talking about this issue with donald trump jr. and ultimately the president found out about it. the decision was apparently made again -- according to "the washington post" reporting -- that they were going to
12:12 pm
interject this story about the russian adoption. politics is a rough and tumble business. if the campaign said yeah, we wanted to beat hillary clinton and we were getting handed some information or offered some information about how we could do that, there wouldn't have been anything necessarily wrong with that, would there? >> i could not agree with you more. how many times you and i have been working together here for 20 years. how many times have we seen a situation where a cover up is worse than what they're trying to cover up? that's what the president is confronting as we speak. >> jon: but if in fact this was russian government information on hillary clinton, is that a crime? is that a crime to take that from the russian government? >> it's a crime when you're running a federal campaign for the presidency of the united states to receive something of value, that's the language in the statute, from a foreign national or a foreign government. it is not a crime to inquire what the foreign national or
12:13 pm
foreign government has, but it is a crime to receive it. they didn't receive it. so the crime didn't take place. the conversation was not criminal. you can talk to anybody you want in the united states. was there an agreement as a result of the conversation? again, that's for bob mueller to investigate. how many different investigations is he going to pull out of this one 15 or 20-minute conversation? >> jon: judge andrew napolitano, thank you. we're going to take you to the white house. president trump meeting with small business owners at the white house. he's heading to the east room now. expected to call for an overhaul of the tax code saying the current tax rates are hurting american workers and entrepreneurs. it's part of what the white house is calling american dream week. officials say it will highlight how the administration plans to grow the economy. now the president. >> we're pleased to welcome
12:14 pm
members of congress and so many incredible entrepreneurs to the white house to celebrate the work of the small business administration as it enters its 65th year. i'd like to just say that senator jim risch is here, marco rubio. a strong competitor. i will tell you that. [laughter] senator joni ernst who has been my friend a long time now. we appreciate you being here, joni. they love you in iowa, don't they? steve is here. where is steve? and mike kelly. good, mike. thank you for being here, all of you. appreciate it. i want to thank administrator linda mcmahon for doing a tremendous job helping small businesses all across our country. she has been incredible. known her a long time. her husband and herself built an
12:15 pm
incredible business. she's determined to transform america and american dreams into reality. we also want to thank my daughter, ivanka, for her incredible work on behalf of small businesses and woman entrepreneurs. your story -- this is really a fact. i've read some of these stories. they demonstrate what it takes to succeed. you thrive because you found something that you love to do, pursued it with all of your heart and never ever gave up. so important. you just don't give up. america is on the verge of a golden age for small business. we're ending job-killing regulation. these folks know that very well. we're really ending it at a record pace.
12:16 pm
we're eliminating the tremendous, the massive restrictions on american energy. numbers will be released next week that will be earth-shattering as to what we're doing with energy and the amounts of energy we're producing. far greater than ever before. and pursuing bold tax cuts so that our companies can thrive, compete and grow. [applause] our stock market has reached an all-time high today, all-time high. think of it. nobody ever talks about it. they don't talk about it. [applause] i keep telling general kelly, general, come on, let's go. your chief of staff. they don't talk about the all
12:17 pm
time high stock market and don't talk about another factor that unemployment just hit a 16-year low. they don't want to talk about that. and to me, maybe the biggest, is that gdp for the quarter just released at 2.6%. so much higher than anticipated. remember i was going to say we were going to try to hit 3% sometime over the next two years? 2.6 is getting closer, gary. closer than we thought. a lot faster than we thought. don't worry about the 3. we'll be higher than 3 in the not too distance future, too. so we're setting economic records and we're very proud of it. you know, very big thing. the jobs are coming pouring back. factories are coming pouring back into our country.
12:18 pm
into our country. jobs are coming back. you saw the foxconn last week. they're going to spend $10 billion. but he's one of the great businessmen of our time, and i think the number will be 30 million. so he told me off the record, he thinks he may go 30 billion. think of this. he may go $30 billion investment. he told me that off the record so i promised i wouldn't tell anybody. [laughter] that's called big business, by the way. that's big business. you'll be big business. you have to start off small. you'll be big like that. he started small. now he's about the biggest. i want to thank foxconn and the group spending a lot of money in wisconsin and other places. they have been fantastic. together we're unleashing a new era of american prosperity perhaps like we've never seen before. you see it day by day. you don't hear it too much from the media, but i think the media is going to be forced to cover
12:19 pm
it soon. they're going to no choice. i'm very inspired to be in the company of such motivated entrepreneurs, people that i really respect. i know what it takes. i've been there. believe me, i know what it takes. you're the dreamers and the innovators that are powering us into the future. exactly what you are. my administration will be there with you every single step of the way. so will these people right here. every single step of the way. so thank you. and thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much, everybody. [applause]
12:20 pm
>> jon: the president and his team, including the small business administration head, linda mcmahon, invited a number of small business operators to the white house today to talk to them about ways that they can jump start the economy. we expect to hear more from the president about tax reform. he's hoping that that will be the item that the administration and the congress can turn to after the frustrations of trying to repeal and replace obamacare. the processes that went nowhere. so you heard the president's remarks about the dow, for instance, which is on a tear right now hitting new highs about every day and could hit a record again. could close at a record today. the potential milestone not missed by the president.
12:21 pm
he tweeted this morning stock market could hit all-time high again, 22,000 today. was 18,000 only six months ago on election day. the president tweeted about the economy a lot recently, including one tweet yesterday in which he boasted about the highest stock market ever, the lowest unemployment in 17 years among other things. of course, to get the full picture, it helps to look at context. connell mcshane live at the new york stock exchange live with that. connell? >> the numbers are good as the tweets and the comments the president just made moments ago illustrate. in terms of context, we can take a closer look and take a look, for example, at the unemployment figures. we have an unemployment rate of 4.4% as of june of this year. the president talking about the lowest level in 17 years.
12:22 pm
to give him the benefit of the doubt and as you said add some perspective, perhaps the president is looking forward to the big report friday when the rate is supposed to go down to 4.3%. if it does, maybe the lowest level in 16 years. that is close. on another item that he's talked about and talked about it on twitter the other day, wages going on. people making more money. average weekly earnings. $881 versus $905. yeah, they have gone up. people are making money. the perspective wage growth, long before president trump took office, has not kept up with economic growth to his point, it's getting better. also to his point about the dow jones. it's a big gain. 20%. if we do close at a record today, it will be the 48th record close for the dow just since the election.
12:23 pm
in talking to people in the market, jon, investors, they're not as focused on politics maybe as they were months ago. they're more record -- worried about earnings. the numbers really look good. >> jon: they do. we're about 33 points away from a 22,000 close right now. connell mcshane. thanks. more now on secretary of state rex tillerson saying we are not looking for war in north korea and we are not looking to get rid of the dictator kim jong-un. in fact, secretary tillerson says the u.s. is open to talking with the north koreans because the other options are not particularly attractive. >> we do not seek a regime change. we do not seek the collapse of the regime. we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula and we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of this
12:24 pm
38th parallel. we're not you're enemy. we're not your threat. but you're preventing an unacceptable threat to us. we have to respond. we hope that at some point they will begin to understand that and that we would like to set an have a dialogue with them about the future that will give them the security they seek and the future economic prosperity for north korea. that will promote economic prosperity throughout northeast asia. >> jon: secretary tillerson says the u.s. does not blame china for the situation in north korea. a couple days ago, president trump treated that he was very disappointed in china and china could easily solve this problem. he then said the u.s. would handle north korea because we handle everything. u.s. officials tell the pentagon team the u.s. could be working on a submarine missile system.
12:25 pm
and tomorrow the u.s. air force he carry out its own long range missile test. the spokesman said it was long planned. let's bring in sumi. she just got back from south korea. thanks very much for fighting the jet lag and coming to be with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> jon: decipher what secretary tillerson had to say there he had very re-assuring words for the north koreans. >> i think -- yes. he said he's trying to re-assure north koreans so they're not threatened. but they feel threatened. they think having nuclear weapons is the only way for the region to survive. so i don't think necessarily north koreans will be re-assured by this rhetoric by secretary tillerson. >> jon: you don't think it's going to achieve the effected end? >> no. no north koreans feel -- they think they need nuclear weapons
12:26 pm
for survival. they said this numerous times. they point to libya and qaddafi, what happened to saddam hussein. they say nuclear weapons is the only way to survive. >> jon: what about this report that north seems to be trying to arm its submarines with nuclear weapons, icbms? >> this is part of perfecting their nuclear program. they need air and sea based missiles. they're going to do that. submarine launch is an additional threat because south korea does not have a defense against submarine-based missile. >> jon: they have tested two icbms in july. the most recent launch a few days ago. apparently even more effective, more advanced than the july 4th launch. are they -- are they getting more belligerent? despite these assurances from the secretary of state, are
12:27 pm
they -- yeah, being more belligerent? >> absolutely and kim jong-un believes that he has to perfect the nuclear arsenal that his father and grandfather have pursued. so he will achieve this capability. within a year, the defense intelligence agency came out, north korea will have this capability, nuclear armed missile to hit new york or washington within a year. we don't have much time. >> jon: scary stuff. >> thanks for having me on. >> jon: president trump is considering using an executive order to change the healthcare system after lawmakers couldn't get it done. that's the word from republican senator rand paul. now we're hearing the senate is trying to get ready to try again. first though, meteorologist adam klutz with a weather alert. >> big west coming to the west coast. we're looking at temperatures really peaking, running close to
12:28 pm
triple digits. these will only get hotter. we have heat advisories running from california, eugene, portland, seattle. a lot of heat there the next couple days. lack at the highs tuesday getting up to 115 in redding. only going to climb in portions of california the next couple days. so folks on the west coast are up for -- these are going to be near record-breaking all-time, not just for the day but all-time. on the eastern side, we continue to track the tropical depression, emily, it will be tracking off towards the atlantic ocean. this one a lot of rain across portions of central florida. that wrapping up. we'll have more of "shepard smith reporting" after the break.
12:29 pm
12:30 pm
>> i'm lea gabrielle with the fox report. more of today's headlines. troopers have released dash cam video of a deadly head-on highway crash and fire. this happened last week in north utah. police were following a chevy
12:31 pm
pickup after someone reported it for reckless driving. they say the pickup drove into traffic and slammed into a semi truck. the crash badly burned the driver of the semi. the pickup truck driver died instantly. a mechanical issue that caused a blackhawk helicopter to make a hard landing injuring two crew. it happened in eastern afghanistan. the two crew members are hurt, but not badly. firefighters near seattle were able to swim to shore after their plan landed in the water. it had an engine issue. both men are okay. the feds are investigating. the new continues can jon scott after this. i have chronic dry e caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation. so i use restasis multidose. it helps me make more of my own tears, with continued use, twice a day, every day. restasis multidose helps increase your eyes' natural ability
12:32 pm
to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to chronic dry eye. restasis multidose did not increase tear production in patients using anti-inflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs. to help avoid eye injury and contamination, do not touch the bottle tip to your eye or other surfaces. wait 15 minutes after use before inserting contact lenses. the most common side effect is a temporary burning sensation. your eyes. your tears. ask your eye doctor about restasis multidose.
12:33 pm
>> jon: breaking news out of washington. the senate debating president trump's nominee to lead the fbi, christopher wray. senators set to vote on his confirmation at 5:00 p.m.
12:34 pm
eastern. during his hearing last month, wray said he would act independently of the president and resist demands for loyalty. he said my loyalty is to the constitution and to the rule of law. president trump fired former fbi director james comey back in may. comey testified the president demanded his loyalty and asked him to back off the investigation of michael flynn. president trump has denied comey's claims. the debate over christopher wray happening now. mike emanuel with the news now. >> good afternoon. while some of these senate confirmations have been bruising, we don't expect that to be the case for the next fbi director. christopher wray sailed through the confirmation process earning unanimous support clearly becomes and republicans believe wray is the right person to take over the bureau after former fbi director james comey was fired. the senate democratic leader spoke about wray a short time ago. >> wray got overwhelming support
12:35 pm
in the committee. in judiciary, he had a unanimous vote. that's the committee of a lot of strong democrats. they all voted for him. now that healthcare is over, i have told leader mcconnell we will a grow on robust package of nominees. >> all the indications are, we should see a big bipartisan vote for christopher wray to be the next fbi director a short time from now. mike? >> stick around for just a moment. there's word president trump may take matters into his own hands on healthcare after the senate failed to pass a bill. the president could use an executive order to change the way millions of people get health insurance. that's according to republican senator rand paul of kentucky who says he had a phone call about it with the president. senator paul says he suggested allowing groups like aarp and credit unions to buy insurance from their own members. mitch mcconnell said today, there's still opportunity to
quote
12:36 pm
make changes. now we're hearing a senate committee is planning to hold bipartisan hearings next month. back to mike emanuel on capitol hill on that. mike? >> that's right. we just got the announcement that the senate committee that deals with health-related issues will start hearings the week of september 4. that comes from lamar alexander and the panel's top democrat, patty murray from the state of washington. they look at actions that congress should take to stabilize and strengthen the markets so americans can buy insurance at affordable prices in 2018. we heard more about health care from the senate's top leadership a short time ago. >> it's obvious that our problem on healthcare was not the democrats. we didn't have 50 republicans. there's not the votes in the senate. >> that's the big fault line here. on healthcare, leader mcconnell is a master tactician. it's not his fault they couldn't
12:37 pm
get it done. they came up with a plan that was so far away from what the american people wanted it couldn't get done. >> so they either need a plan to get 50 republicans to support it or else going back to the table to get republicans and democrats to stabilize the markets, jon. >> jon: mike emanuel, thank you. let's bring in louise, white house reporter for the "wall street journal" in which we share ownership. she contributed to an article about president trump threatening to come off some funding for obamacare. the funding, louise, helps stabilize the markets for low income people, correct? does the president have the power to cut off that money? >> potentially. those payments are payments to insurers for subsidizing deductibles and lower pay people. the payments are legally contested. they're the subject of litigation right now, a federal judge sided with the house republicans that brought the suit in the first place saying the payments weren't authorized. the judges allowed the payments
12:38 pm
to continue while the litigation is concluded. the trump administration continued to make the payments even though they're in this legally tenuous position. the president has maintained for months he could cut them off if he wanted to. >> jon: senator lindsey graham and others have said take the money that the federal government is spending on the obamacare exchanges, cut it up into block grants and give it to the 50 states and let them spend the money the way they choose. what about that proposal? >> this is an idea that's been kicking around for several months. at various points, you'll hear conservatives criticize it, if you like your obamacare, you can keep it. they don't believe any state should be allowed to carry it. it could be a way to broke area compromise that states that have divergent interests and allow some states to go their own way. >> what about letting organizations like aarp and the chamber of commerce sign up
12:39 pm
members to a group plan? >> this is an idea that's been popular with conservatives. they tried to get it in various pieces of healthcare legislation. they're looking to the white house in the absence of the ability to get any legislation through in the senate in particular to see if there's executive action they can take there. a lot of people looking to the administration for executive action in absence of legislation. another idea we've heard kicking around, the president of president trump could cut off lawmakers health benefits. lots of executive action in the offing. >> jon: one of the problem with that plan, it would involve selling insurance across state lines if you get an aarp or somebody like that creating a health union, if you will. >> that's not necessarily one of the problems. one of the attractive elements to it. what critics have said is that it could cause the markets to be even more turbulent than they
12:40 pm
already are because the idea might be these plans would attract exclusively or healthy people and therefore leave a bunch of sick people in the main insurance markeds and therefore lead to more problems there for the remaining people and trigger ago death spiral there by cherry picking the hellty folks. >> thanks, louise. "wall street journal." >> jon: mike pence using a an overseas trip to slam him in russia. he spoke about the west wing shakeup and you'll hear from him next.
12:41 pm
♪ there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,
12:42 pm
insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust... or go with someone new. you're not stuck in a network... because there aren't any. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. rates are competitive. and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want.
12:43 pm
there's no enrollment window... no waiting to apply. so call now. remember, medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. >> jon: russia is still spying on the u.s. despite the sanctions. that's what the national counter intelligence executive told reuters news service. top intelligence officials say "the u.s. intelligence agencies have not seen a drop in russian spying activity in the last 12
12:44 pm
months." rex tillerson says the relationship with russia continues to be under considerable stress. rich edson is live at the state department. secretary tillerson says relations with russia are at a new low. >> that's right. rex tillerson just gave a news conference a few minutes ago. he said he told sergey lavrov that things could get worse and they just did. this is after vladimir putin noted that 750 american diplomats would have to leave russia, this is in a result to sanctions that the u.s. congress had passed last week. tillerson noted in the news conference that he and president trump opposed the sanctions on russia. >> neither the president nor i are very happy about this. we were clear we didn't think it would be helpful to our efforts, but that's the decision they made. they made it overwhelmingly.
12:45 pm
the president accepts that. all indications are he will sign that bill. >> tillerson said the bill robbed them of flexibility to continue negotiating with russia on certain issues, jon. >> jon: today is the deadline for u.s. officials to clear out some properties in moscow, huh? >> that's right, a compound in the moscow area and then there's a storage facility the u.s. has to leave. this is also part of what russia is doing to retaliate for that congressional sanctions bill that passed congress. this also is something that the u.s. only had the weekend to do. the russians announced they had to be out by today. the russian government announced basically that they had to be out today. you can see the trucks came in, moved the information out. they had the weekend to get the stuff out of there. a state department official said
12:46 pm
they accessed the building and removed the kitchen and barbecue items and the playground set that all of the u.s. material in that moscow warehouse was removed by the deadline, which was a few hours ago in russia, jon. >> jon: thanks, rich. vice president mike pence showing support for president trump's new chief of staff. john kelly. a day after general kelly forced out white house communications director anthony scaramucci. >> the personnel decisions in the white house, i'll always support whatever decisions that the president makes. both of us know that general kelly will do an outstanding job as the new white house chief of staff. >> vice president pence went on to say the world views president trump as a strong leader. kristin fisher sat down with the vice president in georgia in his overseas trip to eastern europe. kristin fisher in montenegro. kristin what are the allies of
12:47 pm
the u.s. saying about this shakeup at the white house? >> well, jon, it hasn't come up at least publicly in any of the big bilateral meetings with the baltic states or georgia. they're aware of what's going on back in washington. so i asked the vice president today, is he concerned that the president's domestic difficulties could be viewed as a sign of weakness and maybe enboldening countries like north korea and iran? he didn't think so. listen. >> i haven't seen it on this trip overseas. i'm not concerned about it. i think what the world sees in president donald trump is a strong american leader who is bringing about real change in america's place in the world and bringing on strength at home. >> so aside from reporters like myself asking about it, the turbulence 6,000 miles away in
12:48 pm
the west wing hasn't come up much. jon? >> jon: thanks, kristin fishner montenegro. thank you. two days after an election in venezuela that u.s. officials called a sham, the authoritarian leader arrested two rivals in the middle of the night. that story coming up. countriest we traveled, what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm everything. i'm from all nations. i would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark? because i'm everything. and i marked other. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com.
12:49 pm
your insurance on time. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance.
12:50 pm
12:51 pm
>> jon: the u.s. calling on the president of venezuela to release two of hits rivals after agent as rested them in the middle of the night. secretary of state rex tillerson called the arrests alarming. the wife of one opposition leader said this video shows agents leading him to a s.u.v. outside of their home. it comes after an election there sunday essentially gave all power to venezuelan president nicholas maduro and his
12:52 pm
political party. u.s. officials have called it a sham. it also comes after months of protests that have killed 120 people. that was an explosion in the capitol of caracas, sunday. the deadliest day so far. seven officers were injured. steve harrigan has the news. steve? >> john, after this vote, the president of venezuela, nicholas maduro is wasting no time attacking his enemies. he said he had jail cells ready for them and now he's got them in them. the two were dragged off in the middle of the night. one from a pregnant wife and the other a 62-year-old in his pajam pajamas. the supreme court has noted that both men were under house arrest, which they say they violated by speaking to the
12:53 pm
media. alleged that they tried to flee the country. the u.s. has gone further than a number of countries in denouncing this vote sunday to write to rewrite venezuela's constitution. they have called maduro publicly dictator. so far u.s. sanctions against maduro are largely symbolic. for sanctions to have teeth, the u.s. would have to target their oil industry. so there there hasn't been a hesitancy to do that. could raise gasoline prices in the u.s. such a move could create thousands of venezuelan refugees. back to you, jon. >> jon: what a mess. thanks, steve. ahead, want to keep the planet safe from alien life? nasa has the job for you. the salary is solid. that's next. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me,
12:54 pm
12:55 pm
and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a medication... ...this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain... ...and protect my joints from further damage. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira works by targeting and helping to... ...block a specific source... ...of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain and... ...stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.
12:56 pm
before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas... ...where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. >> jon: breaking news out of washington. the u.s. senate is debating
12:57 pm
christopher wray to lead the fbi. senators are expected to vote in 1 1/2 hours from now, 5 to 5:30 p.m. eastern time. the president fired james comey, the former director of the fbi, back in may. mr. comey says the president asked him for loyalty. for his part, wray has been asked about what he is loyal to. he says the united states constitution. it is widely expected he will be confirmed by the u.s. senate. christopher wray sailed through the senate committee. christopher reyes, the man that would replace james comey as head of the fbi. officials in idaho issuing a disaster declaration where scientists say they expect a total solar eclipse to pass
12:58 pm
through later this month. that's when the moon completely blocks the sun. people along this pass stretching from oregon to south carolina will be able to see the total eclipse and local officials say they're expecting lots of visitors to pack in to that part of the country. the disaster declaration makes it easier to get money just in case it's needed. local officials urging people to stock up on supplies. >> people need to be preparing for like groceries or water and also need cash. that might need to prepare for that. they should be filling up their cars with gas. >> according to nasa, the total solar eclipse will take place monday, august 21. defending earth from alien life. it's now a full time job and pays pretty well. nasa is looking for a planetary protection officer. basically have to make sure that we don't contaminate other worlds when we sent out probes
12:59 pm
to explore outer space and when the probes return, make sure there's no alien disease to wipe out life on earth. the listing is online. if you want to learn more, up to $187,000 a year and bragging rights. well, on this day in 1943, navy lieutenant john f. kennedy and his crew set out on a dangerous mission during world war ii. j.f.k. was in the solomon islands attacking japanese ships in the dark of night when an enemy destroyer rammed his patrol torpedo boat splitting it in half. kennedy is credited for pulling an injury crew member to shore miles away. kennedy carved a message on a coconut and had natives smuggle it out to bring rescue. he made the coconut to a paper weight in the oval office to
1:00 pm
remember the mission that began 74 years ago today. i'm jon scott in for shepard smith. "your world" with neil cavuto is next. big numbers on the dow today. neil will have it for you in the next hour. >> our stock market has reached an all-time high today. all-time high. think of it. nobody talks about it. they don't talk about it. [applause] >> neil: and that all-time high stood even by day's end. we had not record on the dow jones industrials. this pace continues. lauren simonetti has more. lauren? >> we talk about it right here, neil. so the dow came within ten points of the high of the session. ten points of 22,000 could have reached the milestone, just 106 trading days after hitting 21,000. dow 21,000.