when we push for special council for lois lerner, and e-mails, media laughed at us, they did not move a muscle for that here now, you have at forces that are acting differently. lou: and it may turn out to be darwinian. the left seems to have stronger stomachs, much thicker stomach lining and capacity to fight for what they believe. those qualities are not apparent in what passes for a republican party these days, congressman, good to have you here, and we're glad you are in the fight. >> thank you. lou: congressman ron desantos, we're coming right back, much more today stay with us. >> president trump battling a an onslaught of attacks from dishonest left wing national media. >> look at the way that i've been treated lately, especially the media no politician in history has been treated worst. lou: christopher ferrell joins me here next. >> some republican elites embarrassing themselves at the expense of president trump and their own futures, we'll tell you what house majority leader kevin mccarthy had to say about t t t t looking sharp len. who's the lucky lady? i'm going to the ban

lois lerner, key figure in the 2013 scandal, and holly perhaps indicated they have received death threatsonservative bias in the agency surfaced. lois lerner resigned from the irs and repeatedly refused to testify in public. >> i will not answer questions or testify about the subject matter. i have not waived my constitutional rights under the fifth amendment which i declined to answer any question on the subject matter of this hearing. i respectfully exercise my fifth amendment rights and declined to answer that question. >> the federal lawsuit in cincinnati is one of several filed against the irs over its handling of applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups. attorneys representing lois lerner says evidence of the threats is personal references and contains graphic, profane and disturbing language. lawyers representing the tea party groups insist their testimony in the cincinnati case is of great public interest and there is no legal basis for it. we will get more information come friday. up to you. >> the time is 20 minutes until the top of the hour. breaking overnigh

approached lois lerner and the irs scandal. if that's the opposite of a witch hunt. nobody bothered to hunt anythin anything. >> jesse: if you're on the defensive, your shredding documents and withholding information from congress, a holder was held in contempt of congress four. hillary destroyed a 30,000 emails, that's look a little defensive to me. >> juan: after all of the republican probes and hearings, anything? >> jesse: that's why he was fired because he botched that investigation. >> greg: you're laughing at the same argument you used on him. you're saying there's no there there because there hasn't been an investigation. >> juan: i said there was an unvested emma and extensive endless investigation of the benghazi, and irs. if >> kimberly: president trump today also denied that he shut down the fbi investigation against his former national security advisor, michael flynn. >> did you at any time urge former fbi director james comey to close or back down the investigation into michael flyn flynn. >> president trump: no,

. >>> remember lois lerner?executive at center of a scandal where tea part groups were targeted by the white house. learner is afraid to testify in the case. she is afraid for her safety. we'll see one of those groups that were targeted thinks about that i'm charles payne. stuart is back tomorrow. we're expecting a lot of big news this hour. "varney & company" continues. ♪ charles: well as we await speaker paul ryan, let's check on your money. just a moment ago when the dow was off 180 selling begets selling. we're witnessing that. markets at near all-time highs, all major indices including the dow, giving a lot of it back. you will see folks dumping out of stocks, particularly profitable positions as anxiety levels continue to climb. one area of interests are the banks. they're getting hit the hardest. of course the banks hoping that the trump agenda gets through, either the removal of dodd-frank or certainly, major, major changes in dodd-frank. bank stocks under tremendous amount of pressure. led the way early

talked about lois lerner and eric holder. now we have flynn and manafort.be another president someday, guess what will happen? you think the investigation of the campaign. donald trump continues to say, he will defend those guys. >> anthony: the best thing washington, d.c., does is investigations. >> lawrence: i am saying if the president wants to separate himself and focus on his agenda, he needs to let them go. let them fight their own case. >> anthony: if i was the president's strategist, i would offer the advice stay loyal to your friends. >> lawrence: you don't know what dirty laundry your friends have. >> anthony: i think he has a good sense of judgment and intuition. flynn is a very honorable guy. the president loves the guy. >> lawrence: i'm not disputing that. >> anthony: he likes h.r. mcmaster. >> kat: wouldn't he have fewer problems for himself politically? >> eric: how do you want to drain the swamp? what do you expect him to do? he is not standing up on behalf of general flynn. >> lawrence: one president trump said you should get an immunity de

there were criticisms of the irs and lois lerner during that time period. the johnsone why amendment has become more of an issue than in the past. it doesn't seem congress has an appetite to get involved at the moment. never been as major social priority before. it is interesting the president has focused on the johnson amendment as opposed to other issues that have been issues for a lot longer. host: tennessee on the republican line. good morning, pat. caller: i would like to point out that we have had 8 years of a socialist president before trump. i am so proud that we finally got someone in their that can roll back everything obama has done, just about. i want this country to be as religious as possible, because without god we have nothing. another thing, if we are not safe, your job means nothing. goingto this president after the things that obama did, which was social justice. it changed the moral aspect of this country around. people wantk most that because our constitution was based on religion. people coming from persecuted areas around the world ca

but we'll see if she pulls a lois lerner. i used the force at a "star wars" convention. fabio says he's ready to get a gun and he blames liberals. he will be here to explain. jesse: california is known as the people's republic of california for a reason. high tax, medical marijuana, sanctuary cities. you name it it's a far left paradise for bureaucrats who want to control your life. but my next guest believes those policies are make the golden state unlivable. fabio. welcome to america. i'm glad you are a citizen now. >> i love it. jesse: how does it feel to be an their can citizen? >> it's the best feeling in the world. because this is the best country in the world. but politicians, logic and common sense is something they don't have. when you -- one of the most beautiful places in the world is being ruined. when you have a governor like jerry brown who turned his back on his own people, law enforcement, and takes the side of the criminal. he goes on national tv and says, you know what? i'm going to release a bunch of people who smoke pot and no vie thrents criminal, th

when they weaponiz the user they have lois lerner and her circle communicating with justice department about criminal prosecution they wrapped fbi who went through 1.25 million irs files, they were complicit in the act they are not going to prosecute them, they are involved in it, the same with nsa, and any intelligence agents that were used to collect intelligence much agents themselves are complicit, they are very, very slow to respond to react to cooperate with ig's, it is really a racket, it needs an attorney general to launch a grand jury and break this once and for all. lou: attorney general sessions is the man responsible here, and he has to do something. if we're going to see this swamp drained. if we're going to see this kind of behavior, this conduct, this criminal conduct abusive couldn't duc -- conduct of government power we have to have consequences, people have to be prosecuted as you said. do you believe the attorney general will initiate those investigations and seek those consequences? >> he damn well better, i mean, the constitution is at risk i am not exaggerating. t

for example, when they weaponize the irs, they have lois lerner and her circle communicating with the justice about criminal prosecutions and they rack the fbi with irs files. they are not going to prosecute them. they are involved with them. the same with the nsan and intelligence agencies that are used to collect intelligence. the agencies themselves are compliceit and they are slow to respont or react to coptwith ig's. it is a rack sxet it needs an attorney general to launch a grand jury and break this once and for all. >> lou: attorney general sessions is the man responsible here and he has to do something. if we are going to see the swamp drained, if we are going to see this kind of criminal conduct, abusive conduct of government power, we have to have consequence and people have to be prosecuted. do you believe that the attorney general will initiate those investigations and seek those consequences? >> he dam well better. the constitution is at risk. this is not hype are bollic television talk. you can't allow the officers and agents of the federal government to violate the four

justice department and irs under barack obama to figure out ways to prosecute the same group that lois lerner's irs was targeting. so mueller fbi, is not sacrosanct and problematic. in washington he is being well received, that should tell you something. lou: about what we know that president trump was elected to fight and roll back the establishment, the orthodoxy where every it was found, it is snapping back and retaliating, whether in form of mueller or the deputy attorney general randy, who decided unilaterally he wanted a smas and -- special council, what is your reaction. >> only way president trump could be vindicated is by someone who is clear on both sides, one thing that rosenstein included in his order that investigation was to include any matters that are arose or which may arise from the investigation, that phrase was to capture the leakers, the person who sleeps better tonight is president trump. who knows there is nothing to find. people who'll lose sleep are those leakers, those who know there is a special council whose order includes the ability to not only find them but prosec

how about the facts when they made the decision not to prosecute lois lerner or anyone in the irs targeting scandal. were there memorializations of those conversations? because if there weren't and it was only with president trump. that would tell us something. kennedy: there are people on the democratic side who would be hard pssed to say comes a total democratic operative hack. he did enough damage to both parties. and his own personal grandstanding, i don't necessarily -- i think you would be hard pressed to make a case that he was a total leftist. but i want to ask you about something one of your republican colleagues in the congress, i asked congressman massie about this yesterday. he said if the contents of that memo are in fact true, the one where president trump reportedly asked then f.b.i. director comey to back off the flynn investigation, is that i am peachable? >> justin is a good friend and member of the freedom caucus. but no one is talking about that. what we are talking about is getting the facts, getting the full context, finding out if this was consistent with how mr. come

kennedy: although lois lerner kind of did that, always bo bothered me. >> she basically said, i am pleadingifth but did not do it. if they would have challenged it, the weak congress would have won. if a witness could pick and choose which questions to answer and plied th plead the fifth, the went could taylor the answers, if he surrendered document hig he would lose his right to claim the fifth. kennedy: he has not been charged with anything at-this-point, anything he says before congress, you have a special counsel who is investigating the same issue. >> you got it 100% kennedy, his lawyers know you don't deny something until have you bbeen accused of it, for all we know there are hundreds of defensing to what we think he will be accused of, but he and his lawyers, quite rightly are remaining silence, until he is accused of something. that is respect to congress. when the special counsel wants documents he does not request them, he showed up at your door with a s.w.a.t. team, and takes them. if you havthem. >> that is a big di difference between congress you can still furn purger yourself

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how about the facts when they made the decision not to prosecute lois lerner anyone in the irs targetingal. were there memorializations of those conversations? because if there weren't and it was only with president trump. that would tell us something. kennedy: there are people on the democratic side who would be hard pressed to say comey was a total democratic operative hack. he did enough damage to both parties. and his own personal grandstanding, i don't necessarily -- i think you would be hard pressed to make a case that he was a total leftist. but i want to ask you about something one of your republican colleagues in the congress, i asked congressman massie about this yesterday. he said if the contents of that memo are in fact true, the one where president trump reportedly asked then f.b.i. director comey to back off the flynn investigation, is that i am peachable? >> justin is a good friend and member of the freedom caucus. but no one is talking about that. what we are talking about is getting the facts, getting the full context, finding out if this was consistent with how mr. come

remember lois lerner with irs scandal took the fifth. think you can presume guilt because of that. in fact, i think almost any good attorney in similar circumstances would encourage their clients to do the same thing. >> look, it's obviously every american's prerogative if they want to exercise that amendment against self-incrimination. this is something president trump when he was candidate trump really raled against and felt it implied guilt. >> the fifth, that's the end of him. ay yi yi. when you have your staff taking the fifth amendment so they are not prosecuted, i think it's disgraceful. and believe me, this country thinks it's disgraceful -- really think it's disgraceful also. >> five people taking the fifth amendment like you see on the mob. you see the mob takes the fifth. if you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment? >> is the president right in that mind-set? >> yeah, you know, this is where i might disagree with him. this is an example where cam paper rhetoric overtakes what most people are comfortable with. th

host: what they were upset about was the lois lerner thing. guest: and the lost emails, which does seem dubious, but i don't think -- why would he lie about it? he was not there when it happened. host: you write in your book about the heritage foundation and the heritage action for america, and i don't -- i looked up center for american progress. heritage on the right, american progress on the left. they have the center for american progress action fund. they are under two different codes of the irs, one pays tax and one doesn't. tell us why. guest: ridiculous. it is because we have a deduction for charitable contributions, and the definition of charitable effort is very wide. it covers think tanks like the heritage fund. you can give money to the heritage foundation that is deductible, but they are not allowed -- in theory, they are not allowed to do clinical work, so they have a -- they are not allowed to do political work, so they have a separate arm. contributions to that one are not tax-deductible. it all gets messed up and confused, and

don't forget when lois lerner took the fifth in the irs scandal during the obama presidency, republicanso point out, and probably correctly, well, there must be something there or she'd talk more. look, this is going to, you know, for the time being, perpetuate the news in that there appears to be something going on with the russia investigation. and i wonder if it doesn't all get back to michael flynn as the cancer in the trump administration that he was forced to fire and still seems to regret it, because everything about russia that we know of, at least, really gets back to flynn and what he did and what he didn't disclose. there were some other things with jeff sessions and things like that, and he was forced to recuse himself from the investigation, but we now have comey coming to testify. >> right. >> next couple of weeks. we now have this flynn matter. and so, this is going to go on for a while. and angela did make a very good point. trump has always been his own worst enemy. most of what we think we need to look into in regard to russian meddling in the election has come from wha

was no rule of law for those in charge of things that, it wasn't going to apply to you, whether lois lernerriff. so this really accomplishes both of those. the law matters, rule of law is there for a reason. it applies to everyone whether you have a badge or not. this is one of the big arguments when it comes we were discussing the nature of the actions of law enforcement individually when it comes to the work that they do. we expect law and order and that is for the people who might commit crimes. and those who apply it. this affects two fronts very nicely. charles: guys, coming up, an australian billionaire pledging to invest $2 billion into u.s. manufacturing. the president gave him a standing ovation on the intrepid last week and he joins us incomes. >>> federal investigators reportedly looking into allegations that senator bernie sanders wife jane committed bank fraud as president of burlington college. you're watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪ ♪ predictable. the comfort in knowing where things are headed. because as we live longer... and markets continue to rise and fal

i know the department has, they wrote report after they were done chastising lois lerner for her behavior in a similar way. so it happens. it's very unusual, but it happens. >> but we know that you were very concerned about what might happen if it came to light that you had possibly gone easy on thatclinton and therefore you were concerned about the political ramifications of your decisions, and yet -- director comey: i was not. >> so you did not consider that your statement about a person who was running for president would not have a negative effect on her? director comey: i tried very hard not to consider what effect it might have on her politically. , people can disagree about this, but that offering is was the bestency way to credibly complete the investigation. i was in think it about what effect it might have on a political campaign. >> i find that very hard to really -- i find that hard to believe that you did not contemplate that there would be political ramifications to your comments. director comey: i knew there would be ramifications, i just tried not to hear them. i knew ther

they wrote a report after they were done chastising lois lerner. it's very unusual but it happens. >> but we know that you were very concerned about what might happen if it came to light that you had possibly gone easy on mrs. clinton and, therefore, that you were concerned about the political ramifications of your decisions and, yet -- >> i was not. >> so you did not consider that your statements about a person who is running for president would not have a negative effect on her? >> i tried very hard not to consider what effect it might have politically. i tried very hard to credibly complete an investigation that had gotten extraordinary public attention and my judgment, people can disagree about this, was that offering as much transparency as possible by what we did, what we found' we think of it was the best way to credibly complete the investigation. i wasn't thinking about what effect it might have on a political campaign. >> i find that very hard to -- to really -- you know, i find that hard to believe that you did not contemplate that there

they wrote a report after they were done chastising lois lerner. for her behavior in a similar way. it happens -- it's very unusual but it happens. sen. hirono: but we know that you were very concerned about what might happen if it came to light that you had possibly gone easy on mrs. clinton and, therefore, that you were concerned about the political ramifications of your decisions and, yet -- dir. comey: i was not. sen. hirono: so you did not consider that your statements about a person who is running for president would not have a negative effect on her? dir. comey: i tried very hard not to consider what effect it might have politically. i tried very hard to credibly complete an investigation that had gotten extraordinary public attention and my judgment -- and people can disagree about this, was that offering as much transparency as possible by what we did, what we found' we think of it was the best way to credibly complete the investigation. i wasn't thinking about what effect it might have on a political campaign. sen. hirono: i find that very hard to -- to really -- you know,

i am engaging in most of these dangerous kind of activities and lois lerner was ultimately held in contemptof congress but that went nowhere. this one actually does qualify as an ex sony and using the tax to defeat your enemies. recess appointments, we heard talk of the consumer protection board which is structurally unconstitutional in various ways but it's appointed had still richard, not sure why he hasn't been fired yet, that should be your number one priority right now. his appointment, along with members of the national labor's relation board were recess appointed during a non- recess. ultimately the supreme court unanimously struck close down. the immigration executive actions, we at cato and i myself are in favor of all sorts of immigration reforms. i think we need a tall wall with a wide gate so there is an orderly process in a line to get into. most notably for the most sympathetic victims, the young people who are brought into the country illegally as children, but nevertheless it it takes a lot to change a lot. whether it's the executive dream act that obama signed for after the

it can be left-leaning groups, lobbying lois lerner and politicizing the irs approach to approvals ofonprofit applications. or can be at the fec where people file complaints challenging the political activities of their opponents. so you must have a balanced organization to receive complaints at the rate of three to one against one side fairly and without bias. now, as for guilt by association under the broad doctrine of coordination, larry, at some point we were accused by our liberal colleagues of dismissing about, and i don't have the numbers in front of me, this was about a year ago, dismissing 30 coordination cases. in other words, in the new era where expenditures are free for incorporated organizations, and coordination remains as the doctrine that keeps corporate expenditures illegal because then you have an illegal contribution, people are criticizing us for not enforcing the coordination doctrine strenuously enough. i scratched my head, and we pulled up the approximately 30 cases where the accusation was made. and in approximately 28 of 30, i may be off by a number here or t

comey: i cannot bite i know the fbi wrote a report after they were done chastising lois lerner and a similar way. it is very unusual but it happens. very know you are concerned about what might happen if it came to light that you had possibly gone easy on mrs. clinton and therefore that you were concerned about the political ramifications of your decisions and yet -- dir. comey: i was not. >> so you do not consider that your statements about a person running for president would not have a negative effect on her? not comey: i try very hard to consider what effect it would have politically. i tried hard to notably complete an investigation that had gotten extraordinary public attention in my judgment -- people can disagree with this -- was that offering as much transparency as tosible was the best way credibly complete the investigation. i was not thinking about what effect it might have on a political campaign. >> i find that very hard to really -- you know -- i find it hard to believe they you did not contemplate that there would be local ramifications to your comments. i just wonder

for example, when they weaponize the irs, they have lois lerner and her circle communicating with the justice about criminal prosecutions and they rack the fbi with irs files. they are not going to prosecute them. they are involved with them. the same with the nsan and intelligence agencies that are used to collect intelligence. the agencies themselves are compliceit and they are slow to respont or react to coptwith ig's. it is a rack sxet it needs an attorney general to launch a grand jury and break this once and for all. >> lou: attorney general sessions is the man responsible here and he has to do something. if we are going to see the swamp drained, if we are going to see this kind of criminal conduct, abusive conduct of government power, we have to have consequence and people have to be prosecuted. do you believe that the attorney general will initiate those investigations and seek those consequences? >> he dam well better. the constitution is at risk. this is not hype are bollic television talk. you can't allow the officers and agents of the federal government to violate the four