mercer left i.b.m. to join a new york based hedge fund renaissance technologies there he applied his methods of calculation to the stock exchange in order to predict its fluctuations. in essence technology he pioneered algorithmic trading which now is a massive field and how much trading it's down. by applying his mathematical tools mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund in ten years. became very rich. because the performance of the fund which he had his own money year. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very. as a billionaire mercer might have chosen to quietly enjoy his new fortune however the former engineer also heads. strong ideas about how the country should be run he decided to invest money to promote his ideas and translate them into political reality. the political system in america is so broken right now because of the special interest money whi

i want to stay on rebecca mercer who barely speaks. she said she hasn't had contact for many months. i find it curious because on october 18th of last year she hosted a cocktail party in which steve bannon was the main guest a , the featured guest, and she said lovely things about him. >> i think you're right. this was an incredibly close relationship and steve bannon and the mersers for years hat plotted to get an alt-right politician in the white house and they came together as an empty vessel so to speak who they could help elect to promote their political and ideological agenda. there's a certain ierjy that trump is the breaking point between them. but the one thing i can say is the split now is very real and if you read rebecca mercer's statement, the statement it is harsh. this is someone who is notoriously press-shy, never puts out a statement. so even atz much as what the statement itself says is just the fact that she felt compelled to go on the record about this s is quite breakinging. >> it is. you might ask her what many mo

can steve bannon and breitbart survive without the mercer's money? >> i think steve was so dependant on having that mercer money and being able to say to other people, to journalists, candidates that he had a big billionaire in the back pocket. if you got steve bannon support, the value is you will get millions of dollars from mercer to make your campaign viable. that's gone now. the entire ration is dead now. we're seeing really the opening lines of what is steve bannon's political obituary. >> when we're seeing older media right wing fingers, crazy alex jones, when you're seeing the old right w0rorld going after h, he was the fox news, his readers are the fox news viewers but 30 years younger and maybe they see an opportunity to stomp that out. >> any time you see competitively in the media landscape a competitor have a follow up, there is an opportunity to strike. there is an opportunity to discredit them and take that audience and make it your own. clearly, there is a lot of ganging up going on and steve brought it up himself. he was talking abou

rebecca mercer and herfather, money that ran out to him.robert money that ran out to him. rebecca mercer and herfather, robert are not household names in the united states but they are very powerful republican backers. they did not like what steve bannon was quoted as saying in michael wolff's book and they withdrew their pledge to underwrite fielding of conservative candidates in the mid—term elections. steve bannon was promising to do that, to shake up the republican party. now it seems the republican party. now it seems the mercerfamily the republican party. now it seems the mercer family have followed the advice of the advice —— white house spokeswoman, sarah sanders. the key benefit is have withdrawn their support for steve bannon. so he is out and out in the cold, a shakespearean fall from grace for a man who pop upjust shakespearean fall from grace for a man who pop up just months before the election to some say, guide donald trump to the white house. some republican candidates in the mid—term it elections, they must be breathing a s

it comes from the mercers. the mercer's are distancing themselves from bannon.ill the mercers still support breitbart if bannon is there? sec. mnuchin: shery: -- shery: breitbart has lost a few advertisers in 2017. what is the position look like right now? there are sleeping giants, who go after every company, organization networks at breitbart and target them, ask them to stop putting money into an organization of basic without divisive content. it means they are more financially dependent on private funding, like billionaires such as the mercers. david: you referred to the mercers, who have been critical of steve bannon and to breitbart. the mercers may be talking to create a whole new conservative news organization. is that possible? is it possible that they will move away from breitbart matter what? kurt: it is possible. with the whole landscape changing, steve bannon had kind of anointed himself the leader movement, using the breitbart platform, using the mercers' paycheck. all of those things are gone now. we're looking at post-ban and, a post-bannon, a ne

coming up, rebekah mercer cutting ties with steve bannon. for the rift between the president and his advisor. this is bloomberg. ♪ scarlet: steve bannon's high profile participation in the wolff book. -- says she continues to support the president. where does it leave the populist revolution? let's bring in that finer, who has been following the story. bannon was kind of the populist force that helped propel come to the presidency and he hasn't always governed as a populist. it is an open question. been in's project he pursued -- bannon's project is really in tatters right now, his efforts to take on primary republican senate candidates next year doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. he is losing financial support and now trump is -- joe: it's amazing because month ago people were like he's so brilliant, and now he's just sloppy steve. he lost donald trump and the money behind him, the mercer family, at the same time. neither has the ability to tell the people he is the voice for trump on the outside, nor the financial muscle that the mercer's

from sydney, phil mercer reports.with an average age ofjust 2a, the crew onboard this yacht includes professional athletes and former members of china's special forces. they've been here both training and competing for weeks. back home, sailing continues to ride a wave of popularity. a sailing club from shanghai has been flying the flag for china during the summer racing season in australia. they've been up against some of the most formidable ocean racing crews in the world. and that's a sign of china's ambition — they are notjust here to make up the numbers, ultimately they want to win. britain, the netherlands and australia dominated sailing at the rio olympics, but china, which won a silver medal, has lofty ambitions in a sport that requires money and motivation. you could probably draw some comparisons with maybe some other sports that they've taken on and there's always a timeline and sailing is a complex sport, so it will take a while, but if they are committed to it they will win medals eventually, that's for s

it was really just the mercer family. the family of the hedge fund manager robert mercer.y put tens of millions of dollars into outfits and group that's were affiliated with bannon including breitbart news, cambridge analytica, a variety of nonprofits which famously produced the clinton cash expose that hurt hillary clinton. so they're dialing back and excommunicating him. the impact cannot be overstated. when you're an operative, you're only as powerful and as influential as the donors behind and you the politicians in front of you. now with the loss of both, it is questionable how many relevance steve bannon will have going forward. >> you wrote that he is chairman of breitbart. and many staff members believe there's a chance he will lose the job. what are you hearing at brit barr? what would be the potential the impact? >> he still has a lot of support from the staff. you talk to people inside of breitbart, they still like him and think highly of him. he brought them to the height of relevance in the campaign where they were seen as the trump guard for the front nationa

mercer foundation rebecca mercer excuse me rebecca mercer has withdrawn her financial support or woods remove her financial support of many of the causes associated with mr bannon ok and that's going to and that makes all the difference in the world that's why without a financial backer yet without an angel in the background he's worthless so he said bannon is down but not necessarily out what do you think that means for the republicans going forward what i think it does have a very important consequence for the upcoming midterm elections in the following way. bannon was going to attack every republican who is not extreme these republican primaries are extremely important for determining the kind of republican to go up against democratic opposition since it looks like republicans could be swept from office in many will be swept from office in the coming elections it's very important to have moderate republicans running and they were threatened by bannon and his people does this change anything about the investigation into possible russian interference in the u.s. election these are rea

losing rebecca mercer and robert mercer, what does that say at status quo in washington, for all this big game talk about changing things and getting rid of the swamp and taking the power away from the moneyed elite, the folks who have always run washington? i mean, robert mercer and rebecca mercer are exactly that, and they're flexing their muscle right now. >> trump has always pedalled false narratives to his base, turn out not to be true. it's a false choice. they're both crazy, unfit for leadership, both bad for the party, bad for the country. to your earlier question about will they ever have a chance to make up? yes, they will. we have seen this -- this cult personality that is donald trump. there will be candidates, bannon-recruited candidates in the 2018 cycle that both donald trump and steve bannon get behind and they'll break bread over it and they'll make up. all republicans are currently doing this, they want to cling to the power that is donald trump. >> certainly bannon has been telling people in the last day or so despite how angry trump is right now he fully predicts d

rebekah mercer cut ties with with trumpr speaking on the phone. and taking a fresh look at the clinton foundation. agents are investigating to see if any donations to the foundation were made in exchange whilelitical favors hillary clinton was secretary of president trump and congressional republicans have made repeated calls for an investigation. launched today -- sessions is challenging the use of "administrative closures" which allows people to stay in the country without legal status. they have been a lifeline to immigrants, but critics say judges let people stay in the country longer than they should. plus the washington post announces that the nsa director is retiring this spring. a expects trump to nominate successor in the senate will confirm his replacement. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm alisa parenti and this is bloomberg. emily: i'm emily chang. this is "bloomberg technology." amazon taking another big hardware leap, virtual reality glasses will be shown next we

>> the mercer money was instrumental to everything he wanted to do. recruiting of these candidates was all about having the mercers fund the campaigns and candidates that steve gave their blessing to. all of that is gone now. i think if steve had a realistic other money life line, that he would not be out there publicly humiliating himself right now by basically getting down on his knees begging for forgiveness to trump and his family. if he had other financial resources, other major backers and donors, he wouldn't need to do this right now. the fact that he is putting himself through this right now tells you this was his only money backer. >> doesn't he also live in breitbart's property that he doesn't own? >> the so-called breitbart embassy on capitol hill by the supreme court is where he lives when he's here in d.c. on their second floor. >> does he own any property of his own? >> you know what, i don't know. there was talk he might have some property in florida. i think at one point it was reported by joshua green that he might have different dwel

the river is rising putting people in bucks and mercer counties in danger. pamela osbourne is live where precautions are under way. >> reporter: good morning. we're expecting the river to rise up about a half foot above flood stage sometime today and it's all because of this. these thick chunks of ice that jammed up the delaware river prompting road closures and flood warnings. i want you to look at this. this is farther down the road in lower mayfield township. what you're looking at is river road and it's hard to tell where the road starts and river ends. police have blocked off river road from richardson and east trenton and also blocked off some of those residential side streets that lead down that way. but back to the flood warning, there's one in effect for southwestern mercer county and southeastern bucks. some locations like trenton, yardley and morrisville, could experience flooding which we are beginning to see. we already saw some of that over on route 29 in trenton, that flooding could be an issue over the next couple of days because it's hard to

in mercer county we have construction west upper ferry road blocking the roadway. you will have to stick to river road. this construction cleared in mercer county i-95 southbound all lanes open southbound. >>> super bowl week starting here, the eagles arrived in minneapolis finding diehard fans ready and waiting in the lobby of their hotel. >> the birds face a variety of questions on media day. >> some of them not about football. brian taff and sharrie williams filed this report outside u.s. bank stadium. >> reporter: good morning from the twin cities before it's cold. things are figuratively heating up as we inch closer to the game. a lot of fanfare with the eagles arrival. new england patriots are scheduled to arrive this afternoon. >> a lot goes into this when you go to host a super bowl. this city cannot wait to be on display to show the world what it is all about. take a look at the preparations that have been taking place now for three years. they need getting ready for their moment in the spotlight. the barricades are in place for security measures. we saw s

family and rebecca mercer in particular.ig news last week, she doesn't speak very much, she and her father are very hard to interview. virtually impossible to get an interview with. and she came -- when she came out and wrapped him, she and her father -- well now she because her father had to distance himself from breitbart, but she is the money behind breitbart so i think the folks within breitbart, even those who were loyal to bannon were really given an ultimatum, it's him or my money. >> it's weird also if you've been -- i don't know how often you read breitbart, susan. >> we read it a lot more than we once did, right, in the past year. >> how they covered the last week or so has been odd for them. it's a website with a ideological point of view. they're very pro-trump. they're also very pro-bannon and all of a sudden you have bannon and trump at logger heads and their coverage has been kind of confusing. >> i think the question once there was this great schism between bannon and the publication of the michael wolff book

can bannon survive without the mercers? >> no. i don't think so that he can.at the end of the day what gave steve bannon the pralatform he' had is deep pockets. candidates would want to meet with bannon to get his blessing because they knew with his blessing came major financial support from the mercers. with those things gone, the trust of the president and the mercers' paycheck, what does he have to offer anybody right now? nobody's going to want to have anything to do with him. i think what steve didn't understand is people weren't enamored with steve bannon. what they saw was access to other people that had more valuable things to give. i think steve's waking up seeing that he's kind of all alone on an yieisland, that it wasn't ab him this entire time at all. >> he thought he was going to run for president. he thought in 2020 he'd be the president of the united states. do you think that arrogance might be seeping away at this point? >> i think he's facing a moment of humility here. there's no question that his ego, being on the cover of time magazine, gett

robert mercer and rebecca mercer are exactly that. right now they're flexing their muscle. >> sure. look, trump has always peddled false narratives to his base that turnout to be not true. conservatives trying to choose between president trump and steve bannon, they're bad for the party, bad for the country. to your earlier question, will they ever have a chance to make up, yes, we will. we have seen this sick of fancy among republicans that abide to this cult of personality that is donald trump. and pretty soon there will be candidates, bannon recruited candidates in the 2018 cycle that both donald trump and steve bannon get behind. and they'll break bread over it and they'll makeup because that's what all republicans are currently doing. they are all looking the other way because they want to cling to the power that is donald trump. >> and certainly, i mean, bannon has been telling people in the last day or so that despite his angry as trump is right now, he fully predicts down the road he and trump will start speaking again. he knows that in trump world you're rarely out forever.

he's lost the mercers. if he loses breitbart, that's three strikes.n trump world there's always an act ii. but folks like mitch mcconnell have to be relieved. steve bannon was going to lead the revolution against the republican establishment and right now his endorsement is toxic. on the other hand, look. steve bannon helped create this particular universe which was more about the cult of personality of donald trump than about ideas. he helped create this echo chamber. and kind of ironically, it looks like he'll be a victim of it. >> janice is one of the co-presidents of the hollywood reporter. obviously working closely with michael wolff. she was on "morning joe" talking about the access that he gained to this white house. >> he said i don't know what they think i'm doing and different answers at different times would be, but i'm going to keep doing it until they tell me not to. i said to michael, is the jig up now kelly is there? and michael responded to me. there's so much chaos, i think i'm last on the totem pole of kernels. and he did proceed to

he said the mercer family recently dumped the leak noern as sloppy steve bannon.

big superpac money from a family like the mercers. a potential new twist. >> in the primary, when senator cochran ran in 2014, cochran was outspent $7 million to $4 million by mcdaniel. 90% of that. he did have that kind of money the last time. he did outspend cochran in the race and cochran finally took it seriously after the first primary and won the election. but we'll see what happens. and i thought it was interesting. mcdaniel did nothing for trump. you can't find one newspaper story where he went out campaigning for trump. ted cruz's chairman. he didn't go out campaigning. our governor phil bryant went all over the country campaigning for president trump in 2016. you won't find one article where mcdaniel did that. >> so you would say that perhaps roger wicker is the pro-trump candidate in that race? >> i would just say this. wicker has been a very good member like cochran has been a very good member. when donald trump needed him, they've been there over and over and offver because that's what e people of mississippi want. >> tal

our correspondent, phil mercer was watching the recovery operation. it began at dawn in waters to the north of where we are at west head in sydney. the salvage operation is going on atjerusalem bay near the town of cowan. rescue divers are attaching inflatable bags to the wreckage. the aim is to bring it to the surface and from there will be pulled from the water by a crane and on a barge. once it is on a vessel we expect it to travel through these waters to a wharf at pittwater that you can see behind me. eventually the wreckage will be taken to canberra by air crash investigators and they say that their preliminary findings into the new year's eve tragedy will be released in about one months time. the point of all of this, obviously, is that backplane is the best evidence as to what happened. it is the biggest clue.

phil mercer in sydney.00 vehicles in a multi—storey car park, and forced the cancellation of an international horse show at the city's echo arena. emergency services were called at around 5pm on new year's eve, and nearby apartments and hotels have been evacuated due to smoke. the public have been advised to stay away from the area and traffic restrictions are currently in place. nobody has been reported injured. hundreds of indonesian couples have tied the knot in a mass wedding. with theirfamilies, they gathered in a large tent in the capital, jakarta, before signing marriage certificates in front of government officials. david campanale has more. as fireworks lit jakarta's sky to mark the arrival of the new year, over 400 couples gathered to celebrate the turning of a new chapter in their lives. though hundreds of couples were involved, individuals made their day special by wearing elaborate, traditional indonesian outfits and head dresses. just hours before midnight, the mass wedding commenced with the

>> depends on what robert and rebecca mercer want to do.tbart, the propaganda website that bannon runs, positions itself as voice of the outsider. really it's voice of funders, like lots of media is accused of being by people like steve bannon. if mercers decide he's more trouble than he's worth because trump is mad at him, nowhere good to go. could try to reinvent himself in trumpian way. i don't know if bannon is important enough or has enough credibility independent of the trump movement at this point to do anything but go away. >> a story that's been fascinate s. daniel is taking his mike off. he's done with this segment. thank you both. >>> next talk to a psychiatrist, donald trump may be dangerous or unqualified but doctors should stop pretending to diagnose him. >>> mark zuckerberg said it's time for new start at facebook. interesting resolution. my response ahead. james r. and associates. anna speaking... ♪ james r. and associates. anna. ♪ [phone ringing] baker architects. this is anna baker. this is what our version of financial pl

phil mercer, bbc news, sydney.

the mercers are out when it comes to bannon. without the money, is he just a blogger?on a different cold front, it might be hot in the white house but it is officially a blizzard territory at new york's jfk airport. as this storm reaches peak intensity, there are no flights leaving this town. the worst of the storm just arriving in southern new england. the new forecast is next. you're watching "velshi & ruhle ruhle." where else? msn msnbc. my experience with usaa has been excellent. they always refer to me as master sergeant. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life. usaa, get your insurance quote today. steyer: the president's national security adviser -- guilty. his campaign chairman -- under indictment. his son-in-law -- secret talks

robert and rebekah mercer wants trump and steve bannon, but with the release of "fire and fury," mercer has kept the back of the president while keeping the purse strings with bannon. ♪ david: states like new york, new jersey, and california have reacted strongly to the new tax laws limits on state and local tax deductions, saying they are spending ways to get around them. cohen told bloomberg tv that the federal government have to figure out some way to select their revenue the matter what states try to do. >> i understand with their child to do for their cities and their states and their taxpayers. we have the federal government still have to collect revenue. we have to evaluate what decisions they make in terms of what it does for overall collections at the federal level in the federal tax system. david: we want to welcome now kevin cirilli and marty schenker could cap and ask the unfair question -- what is he talking about? kevin: it is kind of a surprise. i thought it was a great interview earlier today by our colleagues because i think as this gets implemented, the republicans, pa

the mercer family recently dumped the leaker known as sloppy steve bannon.mart. >> brian is with us, host of "reliable sources" and oliver darsy joins us now. most americans don't know who the mercer family is, they're a big new york billionaire family that bankrolled this stuff. we'll get to the president's tweet. breitbart without bannon, bannon without breitbart, true, happening? >> if it is happening, and the signs point to maybe, maybe it's going to happen in the coming days, breitbart would change forever and so would bannon. bannon might create a new conservative news outlet. who knows what he might do next. >> oliver, you've done some reporting on this and spoken to people inside breitbart. look, the people i know who work for breitbart were fiercely loyal to steve bannon, up until now. what are they saying? how is this going to work? >> there are a lot of people who are fiercely loyal to bannon inside breitbart still but kind of left in the dark. they don't know what's going on. there hasn't been anyone addressing or sending an e-mail out saying thi

the mercers definitely were. you can make money or be influential.e same treatment by his backers. >> in journalism school, they said don't pick a fight with with someone with more ink than you or any ink. he loses his ink, what does that look like? >> it is interesting too the personal response president trump has had to the book. the reporter clearly had access and there's debates about his message that we made here. the audio tapes and the notes. we may not. trump, the comments about his children and him personally, his erratic behavior. this has touched a nerve in the white house. i would caution them, don't gossip. focus on governing. don't give this book attention. it is at number one. >> this could play in the president's favor. what does this mean? he backed away from bannon which other candidates are doing. you say he doesn't have wins under his belt. pragmatically it doesn't mean your abandoning the populist movement. >> bannon helped give a voice in the white house to this movement. but that's not going away. this is good. bannon been a lo

phil mercer, bbc news, sydney.th in london in a 2a hour period either side of the new year celebrations. three men, aged 17,18 and 20, were killed yesterday. a fourth victim, another 20—year—old , died after being stabbed in the early hours of this morning. police say the deaths are unrelated. ben ando reports. late morning, enfield, north london. the victim, aged 18. early evening, west ham, the victim, 20 years old. three hours later, tulse hill, south london, a teenager of 17. and then in the early hours of new year's day, a 20—year—old man killed in old street. all four, stabbed to death, but according to the police, none of the murders are linked. tragically, there are four families who awoke this morning to the heartbreaking news that they've lost loved ones to the callous use of knives as lethal weapons. our detectives are working tirelessly today and going forward to bring those who've committed these murderers to justice. the three murders before midnight take the total number of fatal stabbings in london

bannon forced out by the mercer family and this was after bannon not only burned in a bridge with trump, but scorched it by attacking him and his family members in this new book we've all been talking about. he alleged that trump jr. was acting treasonous and unpatri unpatriotic. and he also allegedly said that ivanka trump was, quote, dumb as a brick. the mighty fall for many year, this one i would report for you is about money. that is how bannon could be forced out at all from a site so associated with him in an era where many people claim maybe nothing matters or maybe anyone can get away with anything. and steve bannon himself had been conjuring a mythology that he was powerful because he didn't play by anyone's rules. not the media's, not the rnc', not even the president. but it didn't work. the news tonight is that you actually see steve bannon is just like everyone else. he has a boss, he needs a paycheck and for all of his tough talk, his great undoing came not from his enemies or the democrats or the media, his undoing came from steve bannon's own brash mouth. here are the fac

johnny mercer, seem to bea voices to it.tive party. this could be politically quite difficult for theresa may and her government. a few seconds left. laura, looking ahead to 2018 as a political correspondent, would this bea political correspondent, would this be a difficult year for the prime minister? if you look back at last year from the terrorist attacks to the brexit negotiations, to losing cabinet ministers, she is going to try to watch yourself this year. she doesn't want to be the brexit prime minister. she will try to talk about other things. but in reality it is going to be about brexit. i am not predicting anything because i don't think you can. you spoilsport! all right. no predictions. thank you indeed. good to talk to you. that is it from the papers denied. you can see the front pages online, on bbc news website, seven days a week. if you missed —— missed the programme any evening of the week, you can watch it on my player. thank you can watch it on my player. thank you again. that is it. goodbye. good evening.

phil mercer reports.metres below the surface of the hawkesbury river. one of the victims was the british businessman, richard cousins, the chief executive of the world's largest catering firm, compass, who was due to retire later this year. the company confirmed his death in a statement. mr cousins, who was 58, died alongside his fiancee, emma bowden, and her 11—year—old daughter, heather. also on board the seaplane that crashed intojerusalem bay, william cousins, 25, who worked for open britain — a pro—eu group set up in the aftermath of the brexit vote. colleagues said that they were shocked by news of his death. his brother, edward, who was 23, had recently graduated from the university of st andrews. the pilot, gareth morgan, had done more than 10,000 flying hours, 9,000 of which were on seaplanes. the pilot had collected mr cousins and members of his family from an exclusive waterfront restaurant and was heading back to rose bay on sydney harbour. shortly after take—off, the plane plummeted into the

northbound moving fine heading toward mercer county along i-95. we had a crash in pottstown center avenue at price street cleared. looks like the disabled vehicle in perkiomen township has cleared from gravel pike route 29 and maple avenue. don't fear there's one to take its place, we showed you that going into the break, front street by the mickey dee's. springfield township, delco, getting used to this these days, powell road closing through the midday through memorial day. baltimore pike can get you around the midday closure. cherry hill monday we're dealing with traffic shift along braise road and munn avenue closed in conjunction with that project. laurel road is closed through february, somerdale road will get you around that. camden county, there's an object on the road, 76 eastbound that's 42 southbound off the walt whitman bridge. >> we have very interesting waze friends. >> newly released dash cam video shows on off duty trooper with florida highway patrol pulling a woman from a vehicle. an off duty trooper saw the crash and ran directly

steve is not deferential to the mercers anymore.n i spent time with him in 2015, 2016, the mercers would just come up in conversations by him. in terms of this is their opinion. he's not like that anymore. >> you don't think people cared about bannon because of his connection and closeness to his protection of the united states. you think people will give him that much i guess power individually? >> i think for steve this is certainly from that aspect you're 100% right, it not good because it shows publicly what people like me already know privately. they're not friends, they don't like each other. that is the reality. they're not allies. they're strategics partners as of now. but, on the other hand, steve can be a very, very big problem pore t for the president if he wants to be. if roy moore had not blown that race, i don't think it would have been as bad. it looks as though he's in a position of weakness. >> thank you for your time. >> coming up, the attorney general's war against marijuana. what does it mean for the states that

rebecca mercer, his biggest political benefactor did rebuke him. we found out that they have not spoken in months. bannon has led people to believe otherwise. he has in recruiting candidates and donors for a c4 that he is operating, it led them to believe that the mercers are fully on board and will be financing his operations that evidently not the case. i've spoken with several people in and around the bannon breitbart world today who tell me that they cannot be sure that bannon will last the week at breitbart. now that doesn't mean he's going to get fired. i wouldn't go that far. rebecca mercer does only control a minority stake in the company, but when it comes right down to it, the damage that bannon has done to himself, the damage he has done to the credibility of the populus revolution he claims to be leading and the damage he has done to breitbart as a business. remember, it is a business and relies on advertisers, it could be something that he just doesn't recover from. >> well, it's interesting at least what susan was saying there. he's n

central to this as well is the relationship to rebecca mercer, to bob mercer her father, these big republican fundraisers. what is his level of influence at this point? you heard the president say he's looking for a job. i believe he's still at bright part news. how does it change the role that he plays within the republican party at this point? >> well, his influence and his relevance is vastly diminished as a result of this episode. it's not just that he has lost the blessing of donald trump from whom he was sort of drifting anyway. and causing problems for in alabama, promising to recruit these candidates who would challenge republican incumbents in the midterms in just 11 months from now. and he has lost his financial backing, the mercers. it is impossible to overstate the impact that the mercers' funding has had on steve bannon's ability to build a platform that he has used to drive this sort of possible uhe list national list messaist mes the republican party bloodstream and into donald trump's campaign without either the financial support or the blessing of donald trump. it is hard to

. >> and rick tyler, in the midterm elections, without rebecca mercer, without the mercer money fundingkind of challenges against incumbents, the big winner is mitch mcconnell and incumbents with bannon on the outs. >> i agree. i disagree a little with dave, yes, being attached to trump gives you the in, but if he had breitbart and the money, because we can put a lot of money into different elections and have a huge influence. but without that money, how will you have any influence? >> wasn't it probably back channelling from the president to the breitbart board, you've got the mercer -- that he could even lose the breitbart job. >> that was a huge miscalculation to the degree that he was willing to criticize the president and his family, that the mercers, supporters of donald trump and financial supporters of donald trump, would be approached by trump and say, look, if bannon doesn't knock this off, they cut him off. >> with all this disarray on the republican side, what openings are there for democrats? there's a lot of people who are looking at candidacy in 2020 and looking at 2018 w

bannon today has been extra ordinary. >> bret: rebecca mercer as part of the mercer family.him with money, . >> minority owner in breitbart. she issued a statement to "the washington post" think she is cutting ties with him, not -- still supporting breitbart news but none of steve bannon's other political initiatives. hasn't spoken to him in months. pretty remarkable fall for him from where he was a few months ago. yeah, this is a pretty amazing event. the amount of publicity and consternation, controversy this book is generated in washington over the last 24, 48 hours. >> bret: the white house is pushing back hard, saying that there are people who say the quotes are not accurate, that the descriptions are not accurate. wolff is saying he had a lot of access in the early days. >> right. there are people of set on the record that the quotes are attributed to them are not accurate. they have also said things are demonstrably untrue, like that donald trump didn't know who john boehner was even though john brenner has been talked about by donald trump for many years. he said pol

his rupture with the mercer family proved to be a fatal blow for him.w, steve bannon made a call cue calculus to break with donald trump. and donald trump had a phone call with rebecca mercer and pressured her to break ties with steve bannon. the mercer family, notoriously a private family, released a statement publicly rebuking ban non. and i think from that moment on, it was difficult for him to recover. >> so jill and aaron are here with me onset, gabe. i want to bring them into the conversation. let me be blunt here, in our reporter here, the implication is that steve bannon will show up in politics and continue to show up in politics as far as his next moves. should we care about his next moves? >> i'm not sure how he's going to do it at this point. i mean, the breitbart platform was what gave him relevance, if he didn't have the mercer money behind whatever operation he was going to run against republicans in primaries this year. i'm not sure who is going to really pay attention to him at this point if he doesn't have that money. if he doesn't hav

his departure from breitbart may have been forced by major republican donor rebecca mercer. she is also helping to fund the conservative site. in a statement, the ceo of breitbart called bannon a valued part of our legacy. back to you in the studio. >> leon, thank you. >> tonight a major blow to the montgomery county economy. >> discovery communications announced today that it will move out of silver spring, selling that iconic headquarters that helped revitalize downtown. >> that company made the decision to move after it announced plans to merge with scripps networks. 1300 jobs impacted, and the headquarters in silver spring, it's going to be sold. closure of the sale is expected in 2019. >> that's a lot of people. chris gordon spring tonight. this is tough news for employees and also the residents of silver spring there. >> reporter: absolutely, jim and pat. discovery employees tell me that they just got the news at a town hall meeting midday, and they say they are still trying to take it in, absorb it and figure out what it means to them individually. for some, they will