lindsay francis is boom boss broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. tonight a very busy day for big business here in washington and i'm not talking about new deals testimony was heard on capitol hill from the former c.e.o. of equifax and the current c.e.o. of wells fargo in separate scandal cases affecting millions of people around the world do you exchanges got heated. cuba seized fifteen of its diplomats expelled from the united states as the relationship between the two nations struggled under economic sanctions accusations of physical attacks and travel warning also my guest weighs in on how tax fights are set to affect the little guy we take a look at what we face heading into the tax reform debate. must start right now.

he may be out of his corner office but today former equifax c.e.o. richard smith had to answer for a massive hack at the credit monitoring service equifax before the house financial services committee on capitol hill the breach compromised the personal data of one hundred forty six million americans while he ran it on july twenty ninth equifax confirmed suspicious activity in a consumer dispute portal but it didn't confirm it as a hack until the thirty first and it did not announce that happen until september seventh and in the meantime three executives sold stock in the company totaling nearly two million dollars as a compensation for consumers smith offered that the company has offered comprehensive sets of products for free to protect them going forward asked that if the customers had been harmed could they be made whole again smith said it's hard for me to tell if someone's been harmed so i can't answer. that question. smith

himself admitted equifax failed to apply a software patch in march which could have prevented all of this. and just down the hall the new c.e.o. of wells fargo timothy's sloan faced the senate banking committee sloan is the former chief operating officer and president of wells fargo during his time there up to three point five million fake accounts were opened by wells fargo employees under pressure to meet very aggressive sales targets and without customer permission the investigation originally covered four years of the bank's history it's expanded now to seven on top of this more than half a million needless car insurance accounts were opened without customers knowledge because then c.e.o. john stumpf his job however lawmakers have hit out at payouts that company chief still received even as the scandal was being uncovered in a heated exchange with none other than senator elizabeth warren sloan made the case for his fitness as the leader of the banking giant. i have made mistakes i

certainly haven't been perfect but i think having that knowledge of the company having the ability to make that change the actions that i've taken since i've become c.e.o. eleven months ago have made fundamental change at this company so i'm not afraid to make hard decisions when it's needed and i have the support of two hundred seventy thousand people that's why i think on the right person the people who were there and leading wells fargo during the time of a years long scam to pull scams that's our chairman pointed out those people should not be left in charge of this business and when you promote exactly what was wrong with this bank over and over and over you went to the stock market and you bragged about it you made money personally off it when you were asked about it you did not tell the truth and you tried to cover it up wells fargo

was not going to change with you in charge. a hot topic in the wells fargo debacle is forced arbitration clauses in customer contracts they're used as a protective measure requiring private arbitration rather than taking a class action lawsuit to court when asked if he will discontinue the practice at his bank sloan reply replied firmly to the senator no senator i won't the consumer financial protection bureau has made moves to ban forced arbitration. we've got other big names arguing in the halls of congress and they're supposed to be on the same side the fight is over our taxes are businesses and the economy the unified framework for fixing our broken tax code is the white house's pitch for tax reform it would collapse the current seven individual tax brackets into three twelve percent twenty five percent and thirty five percent but wait there's much more joining me now conservative t.v. and radio host steve malzberg steve a pleasure to have you on this tax about a little reaction within the g.o.p.

as you worried a bit annoyed at the republican party why. well it's a little scary because every vote counts as we saw with health care and as i've mentioned over and over unlike the democrats the republicans do not march in lock step they will buck the party to stick to their principles or their own interests go with the interests of their constituents we saw it with with health care failing time after time and we already have rand paul saying he may not vote for this he's unhappy because according to a study by two thousand and twenty seven those making between fifty and one hundred fifty thousand dollars the middle class will see a tax increase then you have bob corker who was says i want to see this be revenue neutral and i'm sure there were others like him you also have a whole bunch of provisions in there when it comes to deductions where other republicans from some states are unhappy when it comes to eliminating deductions that affect their constituents so here we go again with the republicans being

unable to unite around a very good plan i've got a question now let's talk about this thirty nine point six or thereabouts extra bracket on the wealthy in these congressional tax writers even used the estimates put in the framework is this a populist cover for the president. well you know the president sounded and i love donald trump don't get me wrong but when he stands there and says i've given the congress permission if they choose to put a surcharge on the rich he sounded more like nancy pelosi and charles schumer than donald trump and the republicans you don't want to punish the rich if the point of this is to you know give everybody a tax break see their g.d.p. go up right now it's at three percent and have a trickle down effect you can't penalize the rich because if the rich are paying more in taxes then there's nothing to trickle down so i think that's misguided and hopefully that will be something that congress does not take him up on well it was an embarrassing week not long ago for the g.o.p.

as health care with basically dead in the water walked right away from it don't you feel like it should have been flip taxes first that health care. yeah i would have liked to have seen that i would have liked to have seen them get the corporate rate down immediately take that onus off of business get the money flowing in and let reprint repatriation of the money some overseas come in but that's not the real world unfortunately and again. the poison pill for some republicans in california new york and new jersey blue states is that the elimination of the deduction of state local taxes that's going to hurt their middle class constituents so that's going to be a key sticking point i just hope they get their act together and pass tax reform or the congress will look a lot different a year from now you got a good point there thank you very much for him conservative t.v. and radio house steve malzberg thank you very much.

on tuesday for exit talks were delayed at the behest of the remaining members of the european union. is here with me and update on that for us bianca a lot of drama there why this delay so members of the e.u. want to delay the talks because they say they're simply hasn't been enough progress made at this point to keep moving forward just last week the president of the european commission said americal would have to happen for brock's it talks to proceed and that short amount of time since no miracles have occurred and the negotiations process has officially been delayed on tuesday members of the european parliament voted five hundred fifty seven to ninety two on suspending talks at a press conference commission president john younker said the u.k. needs to commit financial obligations before moving forward and michel barnier who acts as the crux of negotiator said it's become a complicated sticking point. and alongside these positive points i mean

to assess the state of play objective only if there are still serious divergences especially on the financial settlement issue. in this matter i already talked about here things are also simple we will not exceed for the twenty seven to pay for what was decided on by twenty sheets as simple as that. later this month member states will get together again to see if the properest has been made which would allow talks to continue but the vote is still a blow to the u.k. and prime minister theresa may who try to ease the stalemate during a recent speech in italy following news of the vote the u.k.'s brecht's it negotiator in chief said the government remains determined to reach a good deal of course sometimes the exchange is a tough but that is to be expected the job the ministers entrusted to the prime minister's entrusted to me is to keep a calm on a goal and not to be diverted because the prizes for success are enormous as all

the consequences of failure. however the vote doesn't stop either side from preparing for breakfast or communicating with each other about it so we'll see at the end of the month if any progress has been made by them that's going to be here sooner than we think what happens if worst case scenario if they don't come to a deal that they've got constituents to answer to here yeah while i mean it doesn't really seem like the e.u. is too worried about that but the u.k. certainly is and at the conservative party meeting on tuesday david davis who is the u.k. is secretary said that the u.k. is currently working on a contingency plan he didn't really give many details about it so we have no idea what that looks like but it does look like the u.k. at least in you know they're not trying to exactly advertise that to everyone because they want to make this seem like it's a friendly a negotiation happening they're trying to stay positive as you saw from the other comments but they're working on a plan to prepare for hard because right now. based on the comments from

everyone on the e.u. a looks like a trade deal is very unlikely so and also we don't know how theresa may speech from a few weeks ago in italy where she was trying to sort of port if that will have any impact anymore down the road i mean right now it's it hasn't so unless the u.k. indicates that it will pay what the e.u. says it knows how hard it is very likely march of two thousand one thousand nine hundred is slowly but surely approaching what about u.k. prime minister of theresa may her response to this most injuries that she's done so far she says that she's not surprised that this is happening and i mean we knew last week that tensions were rising again and many leaders from around you were saying listen we're not going to get very far if we can have the u.k. acknowledge that they owe us what we say they do right thank you very much. for that. time now for a quick break stick around though when we get back general motors keep a very close and to issue a multitude of new electric cars in

a little over five years and president trump heads over to puerto rico we've got an update on the hurricane battered nation as we go to break here are the numbers at the closing bell. economic development is all about really pleased to report this quarter we are one hundred six points. but what do we know about the other figures. when i think about the fact that our c.e.o. might do. over twenty million dollars last year more than one thousand times the average wal-mart is says c.n.n. with all due respect i have to say i don't think that's right.

still a free market would. people went from pretty simple financial lives pre nine hundred eighty to the point now where people are. just totally submerged in their financial accounts and they're all in debt and what exactly devoid society from the part of the government try to do. might be making things worse. disastrously wrong because there's survival guide stacey just like all the stored safely at least. those. thank you. take. a look at the seventy or. so of the seven treasures for.

general motors is making headlines once again with the big problems to keep for two thousand and twenty three the company announced it will roll out two new all electric vehicles within the next eighteen months and issue up to twenty zero emission electric vehicles for its two thousand and twenty three lineup this is highly important in the overseas markets as g.m. sells more of its cars in china the government there announced last week that at least ten percent of passenger vehicles sold in two thousand one thousand will be zero emission in other countries such as france and india will also be looking to lower or ban the amount of diesel and gasoline fueled cars sold between two thousand and thirty and two thousand and forty other companies have also made similar promises last year volkswagen group declared that it would have over eighty electric vehicles for sale by two thousand and twenty five and

a fully electric fleet by two thousand and thirty for sadie's beds is also aiming for something similar by two thousand and twenty while automakers like volvo and jaguar say they will simply stop building diesel on gas powered cars altogether. the ties are threatened further in june we saw president trump slap economic and diplomatic sanctions on have and which effectively unwound the obama administration's push to open up diplomatic relations as well as travel and trade with cuba and now secretary of state rex tillerson has ordered cuba to withdraw fifteen of its diplomats from the united states he says the decision was made due to cuba's failure to take appropriate steps to protect u.s. diplomats serving the country he is referring to unexplained so-called sonic attacks in havana that have harmed at least twenty two american government workers and their family members joining me from new york john cavil like president of the

u.s. cuba trade and economic council thank you so much for talking with me about this let's back up a little bit there was an important meeting between cuba's minister of foreign affairs and rex tillerson on september twenty sixth were these perfunctory meetings they didn't get much play in the media had a bad role castro it probably would have gotten a lot of play what it had made a difference. you know the trumpet ministration had made the decision after so thing or being lobbied by members of congress to reduce the levels of the cuban embassy in washington d.c. so there really wasn't anything that foreign minister bernard rodriguez was going to say to secretary tillerson that was going to change the mind so it was a fait accompli. so do you think this is being kept under wraps by both sides on purpose we're talking about the sonic attacks expelling of the diplomats we're not

getting a lot of sound bites i want to say from either side on this and the word sonic attack for a lot of people is just a foreign concept. we tried to explain it in the media but we're not getting a lot of specifics updates on the investigation and explainers do you think this is being kept under wraps on purpose by both sides. both governments are clearly trying to not let the unknowns become so combustible that there is no coming back from it you've got all of that going on and then you had the two diplomats from the cuban embassy in washington that work spelled and made the trumpet mr h. and said nothing you have these attacks beginning during the end of the obama administration the obama administration said nothing so i think you have both governments. within the careerists not wanting this to

become so combustible that you can't extinguish. but let's talk about the effect this is a big deal whether it's you know expelling diplomats the travel warnings and sanctions it's a big deal for business tourism industry is hit hard by any sort of travel sanctions and warnings they got a boom when the u.s. and cuba promoted the travel between the countries just a short time ago what are going to be the short term effects as news such as today's news drifts out over the coming week and we and we start to see more people commenting on that news coming out of cuba and news coming from business leaders here. the good news for the cubans is u.s. insurance companies did not react negatively to the placement of cuba on the travel warning list on the state department issued last week and if the u.s.

insurance companies had gone to the airlines gone to the cruise lines gone to the travel agents gone to the two operators gone to starwood hotels which manages property cuba and said hey we are now. so uncertain about this marketplace the potential impact of claims the unknown that we're not going to cover you if that happened everything would have gotten shut down so for the cubans the fact that the insurance companies didn't buy and the airlines and the cruise lines although they've issued cautious statements they're going to continue with the services and the tour operators and travel agents have been the most aggressive saying basically we don't believe the u.s. government and it's all business the head. but i think what everybody needs to watch now though is what the u.s. business community does in terms of the new projects and the new exports and thus

far this year everyone's been very quiet no one's wanted to be public about anything that it's doing with cuba now that's are surely the cubans fall because they haven't done as much as they could with you bombing ministration initiatives and much of this rests with the obama administration didn't do more when it could. buy for so for the u.s. companies for u.s. travelers thus far it seems to be somewhat like the one nine hundred twenty s. with prohibition the u.s. government is saying don't go the u.s. government is saying you need to be scared and thus far the companies there in the marketplace are saying we're going to continue to be they are right and stragglers are saying we're going to continue to go there right one of the things too is that as you point out this seems to be a lot of posturing. president trumps new economic sanctions were they actually a surprise to you or now. no not not really you know this has been a

a trajectory it's you know been a series of moments since january twentieth the trump administration in the president's announcement in june and then the treasury department of commerce department statements and media liao. do that were less than the u.s. business community feared. they were inconvenient there are you know there is some unknown here in terms of the state department creating a list of entities in cuba that are controlled by the cuban military and u.s. companies are supposed to avoid them travelers are supposed to avoid. this list was supposed to be an out it's not there is some believe that there are two events responsible for the delay one is the treasury department is overwhelmed with creating sanctions programs for other countries and then to hurricane or a mode where the trumping right ration and said conveniently let's not add this to when it's impacting people human descent south florida they want to help their

friends and their relatives and their other family members. and you've written about it this it's not getting a lot of play in the headlines there's so much more going on right now and there's so much infighting on capitol hill that it's sort of pushing this to the side of course the castros seem to be too closely involved at least on the public side of it so it's not as quick of all perhaps in the media as one with bank thank you so much for weighing in on this john cavil like president by trade and economic council thank you president donald trump in the first lady arrived in puerto rico this afternoon fourteen days after hurricane maria ravaged the island thirteen follow up visit quickly was sidetracked after president trump compared puerto rico's death toll to hurricane katrina and jokingly blame the u.s. territory for its recovery costs for more details across live now to our teens and miami marina president trump has given himself some pretty high marks on the federal response to puerto rico critics say is that ministration move too slowly in

responding to this crisis in the island does the president seem to understand things differently after speaking to local officials and residents. it doesn't appear that way lindsay after arriving in puerto rico around eleven forty five am the first couple posed for some quick pictures before hosting a roundtable with local and federal officials at one point mr trump went around the room soliciting praise about his administration's response to the crisis now while millions on the island continue suffering without water electricity and guaranteed medical assistance president trump spoke today about the cost of recovery efforts and contrasted puerto rico's death toll to hurricane katrina's. view puerto rico but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack because we spent a lot of money and put a rico and that's fine we've saved a lot of lives if you look at the. every death is a horror but if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and

hundreds and hundreds of people that died and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overpowering nobody's ever seen anything like this and what is your what is your death count as of this moment seven sixty seven sixteen people certified sixteen people versus in the thousands. you can be very proud of all of your people all of our people working sixteen versus literally thousands of people. one thousand eight hundred thirty three people died in the aftermath math of hurricane katrina which we just heard the president call a real catastrophe now following the roundtable the first couple met with hurricane victims in quite nabu an affluent neighborhood roughly ten minutes outside of san juan the president also met with some of them more than ten thousand federal officials on the island working to restore power and deliver food and supplies to

the three point four million americans on the island in the meantime there are reports the death toll in puerto rico is higher than what's being actually reported what do you know. absolutely the number of certified deaths from hurricane maria is sixteen however the death toll hasn't been updated in six days and officials say the dead cannot be documented because logistics and legal aspects of declaring someone dead are not available in an interview with the center for investigative journalism puerto rico's public safety secretary acknowledged the death toll from maria may be far higher saying quote i believe there are more dead but i don't have reports telling me eight died in my eyes because they lack of oxygen and that ford died in san pablo because they did not receive dialysis unquote according to reports hospital officials in puerto rico believe there are dozens if not hundreds of additional victims not accounted for in the death toll and toll first responders and local authorities reach all seventy eight municipalities in puerto rico

coordinating relief and communication efforts we will not know the official death toll and that is just a sad reality as most of the people of puerto rico were made remain mired in chaos or to correspond to marina port and i thank you for that thank you. london bridge is not the only one falling down but thanks to drones we can get a bird's eye view of the aftermath on this one check it out after standing for more than eighty years new york city decided to bring down the bridge wow it's amazing footage it's named after a polish soldier who fought in the american revolutionary war using explosives as you might guess the city took it down in a controlled explosion and one lone drone was ready to capture it all on film after the dust settled the drone was flown over the rubble the city is now set to pick up more than twenty two million pounds of scrap metal and build a new bridge to the tune of eight hundred seventy three million dollars. thanks for watching everybody be sure to catch them on directv any not in states you can catch

catch us on the r.t. channel three two one and if you miss us on directv on youtube youtube dot com. thanks for watching you know. in the u.s. a child can choose another course in school. with a total fizzes as teachers we don't. recruit will says to you if the cadet is

interested in going one in the military but we don't recruit ourselves. the pentagon is funding a program to boost interest in the military among teenagers your chance to step up to an apollo so that comfortable with yourself. you can't go wrong with the military it's a great stepping stone for whatever career you want to do but some veterans are willing to tell enthusiastic children a little more they ask me call of duty is a very popular first year video game. it's play and that's because the military like call of duty to turn off call of duty oh yeah well you can't turn off more melodic these kids just don't hear. the darker side does the pentagon allow them to be told or does it just need more recruits. the people of catalonia went to the polls seeking independence the spanish state reacted with force against peaceful voters still again the question arises what is the key use

commitment to democracy and who is allowed to terminate. its taken these children's homes. now threatens to take their future. could erupt again at any time. most people have a stark choice. live in poverty. but some are following a different approach. to leave.

same wrong. just don't call. me. yet to shape out these days to come out ahead and in. the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart. to look for common ground. i i i.

i and. the rift between. says it's ready to declare independence from spain in just a matter of days. leadership of the terror group in syria is all but eliminated. the group leaders in a critical condition following. the situation in the middle east together with the. saudi arabia.