Hour to the republican senators policy luncheon. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell saying tax reform is the top priority. Lets get it done for the American People so the country can get going again and growing again. Connell mcshane is on the hill with all the action. And were also going to take it outside the beltway to tackle this. Former republican governor of nebraska and former north dakota democratic senator byron dorgan are here in a fair and balanced debate on the substance of the upcoming tax bill and the chances of finishing the reform by december 31st. Its all happening as the Dow Jones Industrial average rockets to a new alltime high. Three stocks in the dow are the three legs of the rally stool powerful earnings specifically from companies that serve as indicators for the health of the economy. Caterpillar, mcdonalds and industrial conglomerate 3m, and the new iphone 8 about to outshine its tricked out cousin the iphone x . Less than an hour to the closing bell. Lets start the countdown. Breaking news, not only the news that trish just brought that you senator jeff flake of arizona will not run again to keep his seat for the senate. But in about, i want to say, 28 minutes from now, White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders is expected to tackle a hotbutton issue that has the power, not for sure, the power to derail a tax plan vote. It is the escalation of the trumpcorker fight. A twitter war between the president and the Tennessee Republican senator over who should now take the lead on cutting americans taxes . The president or members of congress. Well take you live to the white house in literally two minutes. One eye trained on that and the other on the markets. Wow, what a day we are seeing for the Dow Jones Industrials. It was higher by 211 points, still up about 184. Looking at the best month since february for the dow. What is giving the blue chip index wings today . No, its not red bull. Its blockbuster earnings from some of the biggest but also the oldest names out there, 3m, Minnesota Mining manufacturing and caterpillar doing the heavy lifting, adding 148 points in entirety to the dow which again is up 182. Thats a lot. 3m soaring to the highest heights in 8 years after the maker of post it notes and touch screen components posted higher revenue in all product lines, stock jumping 7 . Not often you see a jump for the older stayed companies. Heavy machinely Company Caterpillar looking at biggest one day percentage gain since july. Up 5. 33, and beat both revenues and earnings per share. We want to show you jpmorgan, leading the dow, breaking above 100 for the first time ever. Its at 100. 78. That stock is up 1. 5 . Lets go to capitol hill where President Trump meeting with republican senators, urging lawmakers to get on board with his massive tax cut plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell hinting that the gop intends to get tax reform over the finish line by the end of the year but the house may get it done before thanksgiving. In fact, november 1st. Connell mcshane live on capitol hill. Connell, we had the breaking news about senator jeff flake. What are you hearing about that and the ongoing feud between the president and senator bob corker . Reporter its been something, the back and forth, before the lunch took place, and the flake not running for reelection just adds, and you made this point a few moments ago to the math and the tight math on capitol hill, another senate seat to watch closely, 5248, to the republicans right now. The working lunch that they had today, so much drama surrounding it. When the president came out of it. He didnt say anything, waved briefly to the cameras. We did hear from the Senate Majority leader, they spent a lot of time talking about tax reform. He brought us up to date with these comments, watch. If theres anything all republicans think are important to the country and to our party, its perspective tax reform. The issue itself brings about great unity among our members. And so were concentrating on the agenda that we have for the American People. The president shares that agenda. Reporter so certainly seeing all the right things there. Its been a crazy day on capitol hill as the old saying goes, for those joining us, video from on the way into the meeting. President trump walking alongside the man you just heard from, Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and out of nowhere, a protester throws a russian flag in the president s direction shouting out trump is treason, the president and senator bob corker who made tv appearances take shots at the president who escalated it via twitter. Heres an example from the president s twitter account. Bob corker who helped president o. Is now fighting tax cuts. Corker responded by saying that wasnt true. In case youre wondering if the two of them spoke at the lunch that wrapped up, were told they didnt, and corker added another interesting tidbit, he said tax reform didnt come up much at all, that there was a lot of other topics addressed. President s Opioid Commission and other things. So thats just adding to it. We heard from the democrats and lets get their reaction here through the minority leader, here he is. What the president says and what the republican plan does are polar opposites. For instance, the said this is not a plan for the rich. Blatantly untrue, untruth number one. Reporter schumer went onto list a number of other untruths as he sees it. Bottom line is where we are. Tax reform according to most republicans we speak to is on track, drama aside, theyre hoping to have this passed possibly by thanksgiving but certainly hope by the end of the year, back to you. Liz connell, thank you, any more news about jeff flakes announcement and we will get it to you the second we get it. But jeff flake, the arizona senator says he will not run for reelection. To wall street, earnings, trust us, when you see the big move in the dow, its off highs but had been up about 211 points, so much of this has nothing more to do with anything except earnings. So how are earnings developing . At beginning of earnings season, you get a sense how the s p will perform, and then it either goes higher or lower and the companies reply. Blockbuster earnings, catapulting to record highs. Now what . Another booster shot in this reporting season for the arm of the markets. Heres where we stand so far. Out of a quarter of the s p 500 companies that reported results, 73 of them have beaten earnings estimates. Now thats so far, so good, correct . What we want point out is forecasters are slightly less optimistic about the Third Quarter reporting which is now compared to q2 but expecting a solid number of 7 . As we get the topnotch earnings reports, like mcdonalds, like caterpillar, will the number claw its way higher. Guys thats what we saw before. To the floor show, when we get to traders, im interested to know, john corpina, will it be the number today or higher or lower . I think higher. Historically over time, earnings season has buoyed our market. As we go from quarter to quarter, the bar isnt always set so high, so the expectations are somewhat low, and then we come in and see the Great Results and see pretty bright forecasts moving forward and helps move our market higher. Uncharted territory now, interest rates, tax reform, were always going to have the geopolitical issues that are here. Overall, the market has absorbed all this good information and moving higher. A few little misses that had an effect on the overall sentiment of the market like ge, but you come in today and everybody forgets about the ge forecast and focus on what were seeing at this point. Once again, overall, i think this market continues to move higher. I think the outlook and the earnings continue to be bright for us. Liz and when you start to see, mark sebastian, names like caterpillar, heavy machinery used to build skyscrapers or earthmoving equipment or 3m or gm, gm hitting highest level since it ipowed in 2010. Hold on one second, we need to go right to capitol hill. Jeff flake, the arizona senator speaking about his decision not to run again. That we would be better served. We would better serve the country by better fulfillingbgations under the institution by adhering to article 1, old normal. Separation of powers. This genius innovation is a true visionary and for which madison argued in federalist 51 held the requesting branches of government would balance and counteract with each other if necessary. Ambition counteracts ambition, he wrote. But what happens if ambition fails to counteract ambition, what happens if stability fails to assert itself in the face of chaos and instability. If decency fails to call out indecency . Were the shoe on the other foot, we republicans, would we republicans meekly accept such behavior on display from dominant democrats . Of course, we wouldnt, and we would be wrong if we did. When we remain silent and fail to act, when we know that silence and inaction is the wrong thing to do, because of political considerations, because we might make enemies, because we might alienate the base, because we might provoke a primary challenge, because ad infinitum, ad nauseum, when we succumb to the considerations in spite of what should be greater considerations and imperatives in defense of our institutions and our liberty, we dishonor our principles and foresake our obligations. Those things are far more important than politics. Now, im aware that more politically savvy people than i will caution against such talk. Im aware that theres a segment of my party that believes that anything short of complete and unquestioning loyalty to a president who belongs to my party is unacceptable and suspect. If i have been critical, it is not because i relish criticizing the behavior of the president of the United States. If i have been critical, it is because i believe it is my obligation to do so, and as a matter and duty of conscience. The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep america strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters, the notion that we should say or do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric, and i believe profoundly misguided. A republican president named roosevelt had this to say about the president and a citizens relationship to the office on on. The president is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supportedor opposed exactly to the degree warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. He continued, it is absolutely necessary there should be a full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an american citizen is both base and servile. President roosevelt continued, to announce there must be no criticism of the president or we are to stand by a president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile but morally treasonable to the american public. Acting on conscience and principle in a manner is the manner which we express our moral selves and as such loyalty to conscience and principle should supersede loyalty to any man or party. We can all be forgiven for failing in that measure from time to time, i certainly put myself at the top of the list of those who fall short in this regard. I am holier than none. But too often we rush to salvage principle not to salvage principle but to forgive and excuse our failures so we might accommodate them and go on failing until the accommodation itself becomes a principle. That way and over time we can justify almost any behavior and sacrifice any principle. I am afraid that this is where we now find ourselves. When a leader correctly identifies real hurt and insecurity in our country and instead of addressing it goes to look for someone to blame, there is perhaps nothing more devastating to a pluralistic society. Leadership knows that most often a good place to start in assigning blame it to look somewhat closer to home. Leadership knows where the buck stops. Humility helps, character counts. Leadership does not knowingly encourage or feed ugly or debased appetites in us. Leadership lives by the american creed e pluribus unum. From many one. American leadership looks to the world and just as lincoln did, sees the family of man. Humanity is not a zerosum game. When we have been at our most prosperous, we have been at our most principled. Skwh and when we do well, the rest of the world does well. These articles of civic faith have been critical to the american identity for as long as weve been alive. They are our birth right and our obligation. We must guard them jealously and pass them on for as long as the calendar has days. To betray them or to be unserious in their defense is a betrayal of the fundamental obligations of American Leadership and to behave as if they dont matter is simply not who we are. Now, the efficacy of American Leadership around the globe has come into question. When the United States emerged from world war ii, we contributed about half of the worlds economic activity. It would have been easy to secure our dominance. Keeping those countries who had been defeated or greatly weakened during the war in their place. We didnt do that. It would have been easy to focus inward. We resisted those impulses. Instead we financed reconstruction of shattered countries and created International Organizations and institutions that have helped provide security and foster prosperity around the world for more than 70 years. Now it seems that we, the architects of this visionary rulesbased world order that has brought so much freedom and prosperity are the ones most eager to abandon it. Implications of this abandonment are profound and the rather radical departure in the american approach to the world are the ideological enemies of our values. Despotism loves a vacuum, and our allies are looking elsewhere for leadership. Why are they doing this . None of this is normal. And what do we, as United States senators, have to say about it . The principles that underlie our politics, the values of our founding are too vital to our identity and to our survival to allow them to be compromised by the requirements of politics because politics can make us silent when we should speak, and silence can equal complicity. I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, mr. President , i will not be complicit or silent. I decided they would be better able to represent the people of arizona and to better serve my country and my conscience by freeing myself of the political consideration that consumed far too much bandwidth and would cause me to compromise far too many principles. To that end, i am announcing today that my service in the senate will conclude at the end of my term in early january 2019. It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who has goeded to free trade, who is proimmigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican Party, the party that has so long defined itself by its belief in those things. It is also clear to me for the moment that we have given in or given up on the Core Principles in favor of a more viscerally satisfied anger and resentment to be clear, the anger and resentment that the people feel at the royal mess that weve created are justified, but anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy. There is an undeniable potency to populist appeal by mischaracterizing or misunderstanding our problems and giving in to the impulse to scapegoat and belittle. The impulse to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backwardlooking people in. The case of the Republican Party, those things threaten to turn introduce a fearful backwardlooking minority party. We were not made great as i country by indulging or exalting our best impulses, glorifying in the things that divide us and calling fake things true and true things fake. And we did not become the beacon of freedom in the darkest corners of the world in flouting our institutions and failing to understand how hard won and vulnerable they are. This spell will eventually break. That is my belief. We will return to ourselves once more, and i say the sooner the better. Because we have a healthy government, we must also have healthy and functioning parties. We must respect each other again in an atmosphere of shared facts and shared values, comity and good faith. Argue our positions fervently and never be afraid to compromise. We must assume the best of our fellow man and always look for the good. Until that day comes, we must be unafraid to stand up and speak out as if our country depends on it. Because it does. I plan to spend the remaining 14 months of my senate term doing just that. Mr. President , the graveyard is full of indispensible men and women. None of us here is indispensible. Nor were even the great figures of history who toiled at the very desks in this very chamber to shape the country we have inherited. What is indispensible are the values they consecrated in philadelphia and in this place, values which have endured and will endure for so long, as men and women wish to remain free. What is indispensible is what we do here in defense of those values. A political career does not mean much if we are complicit in undermining these values. I thank my colleagues for indulging me here today. I will close by borrowing the words of president lincoln who knew more about healthy enmity and preserving our family values than any american who has ever lived. His words from his first inaugural were a prayer in his time, and are now no less in ours. We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained. It must not break the bonds of our affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched as surely as they will be by the better angels of our nature. Thank you, mr. President , i yield the floor. Liz taking direct aim at President Trump. Republican senator of arizona, jeff flake announces he will not run for reelection nor, quote, will he be complicit or silent as the president scapegoats and belittles members of congress. He also said, and folks this stunning what youre seeing on the floor of the senate. Also saying, quote, when decency fails to call out indecency. When we remain silent and refuse to act for political reasons we dishonor our principles and foresake our obligations. Charlie gasparino, you were watching this. Pretty stunning and you pair him with senator corker who says he will not run again. Right. Liz what do you make of whats going to be serious fallout here . First, im going to take a little victory lap here. My producer and i tweeted out before this was announced that we heard the rumors he was dropping out, that he was going to drop out, and when they would not deny he was dropping out, we tweeted that out and that got the ball rolling and obviously came out he was dropping out. Liz we want to hear from mcconnell says on the senate floor and come back to this. No matter what the issue before us. So i thank the senator from arizona for his service, which will continue, thankfully. For another year and a half, and for the opportunity to listen to his remarks today. Senior senator from arizona . Liz you might have heard or expected democrats to be saying this, but now youve got senator john mccain also of arizona speaking. Lets hear how he absorbs this. What i do want to say that its been one of the great honors of my life to have the opportunity to serve with a man of integrity, of honor and decency and commitment to not only arizona but the United States of america. I have seen jeff flake stand up for what he believes in, knowing full well that there would be a political price to pay. I have seen him stand up for his family. Ive seen him stand up for his forebearers, the early settlers of the state of arizona. In fact, theres a place called snowflake, arizona, and obviously the flake part comes from his direct predecessor. It is the flake family and families like them that came and worked and slaved and raised families and made arizona what it is, and it has never had a more deserving son than jeff flake, and his beautiful wife cheryl and children. So i would just like to say, jeff, ive known you now for a number of years. I know you have served arizona and the country, and theres one thing that i am absolutely sure of in that you will continue that service which is part of your family. Its part of your view of america. Its part of your willingness and desire to serve arizona, and one of the great privileges of my life has been to have the opportunity to know you and serve with you. So as we look all of us at some point in our time that we have spent here whether it be short or whether it be long. We look back and we think about what we could have done, what we should have done, what we might have done, and the mistakes we made and the things were proud of. Well, when the flake service to this country and the senate is reviewed, it will be one of honor, of brilliance and patriotism and love of country, and i thank you and god bless you and your family. Liz senator john mccain, the senator from arizona and, of course, senator Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Leader both thanking jeff flake for his service. And by the way, he will be in service until january of 2019. As he announces, he will not seek reelection. What you want are seeing is rather extraordinary, folks, these are not democrats who are criticizing President Trump. Although they did not say his full name. They did say the president , and specifically it was jeff flake who said we do nothing in the face of mercurial behavior, we refuse to speak out when we should and that is unpatriotic and servile. Senator byron dorgan is standing by along with Charlie Gasparino. Senator dorgan, charlie tweeted out and predicted that senator flake might give up his position, but now he specifically says id rather risk my career than my principles. What will be the aftershocks of what is clearly an earthquake on the floor of the senate here . I dont know, there is an old rule in politics when opponents are having robust fight. Dont go interrupt it. Let me say this about jeff flake. Jeff flake is a really good senator. Statement he made is elegant. I think its important, and i think not just for jeff flake but for bob corker and john mccain and others who are very strong senators, i think its very hard to speak truth to power, but they do, and i think the country is better for it. Liz charlie, he did take an incredible swipe at the president. Yeah. Liz when he said in this world where fake things are true and true things are fake. Do you expect that President Trump is right now scrambling to figure out how to answer this or sitting there saying the people of america elected me to run this country . I think its the latter. And right now, theyre doing victory laps inside the white house. I think the fight inside the trump wing of the Republican Party and who gets the benefit from this . Is it trump himself or does steve bannon, his former adviser, bigtime opposing flake and for kelli ward, couple things here, couple things to point out, liz, the tail on flake not running last night, supposed to be in new york city to meet wall street executives as a gateway to raising money. Thats started a rumor mill. The other thing is this now, and the simple math shows you, tells you this, there are now three senators who are essentially, basically freed up to vote against anything trump wants to do. Liz including im glad you are bringing up that. Including tax reform. Let me make that point. Who are the three senators . John mccain, you heard from him. Number two is bob corker, you heard earlier today he was fighting with President Trump. And three, jeff flake. By the way, when you have a slim majority and you need 51 republicans to vote for Something Like the tax reform bill. Liz not a lot of wiggle room. Boy, thats a scary thought there. Liz senator dorgan, try and climb into the three senators charlie mentioned, into their minds do, they simply vote against it because they clearly not like the direction President Trump goes in whatever level . Or do they think about, and im quite sure i know your answer, to thing, wait a minute, whats best for the American People . I think clearly theyre going to want to understand what is good Public Policy for the country. Thats pretty clear. Theyre not the kind of people, say the senators say if trump opposes it, well oppose, it thats not who they are. I want to say this going into tax reform and the other things, i know theres worry about the votes, you know, we used to always count on the Republican Party for fiscal responsibility. You know, holding down the deficit and so on and so forth. Looks like were headed into the tax reform area where that is not the case, borrowing money to cut taxes. I will say, this we have to get out of 1 growth that obama gave us, done nothing but elect donald trump. And the other thing i will tell you is this, that at the margins, the personal relationships. Im not there on the floor, im a simple reporter, i talk to you guys at the time. At the margins, the personal relationships matter. If theres a margin call, a jump ball. Tax plan is not perfect for all republicans. Do you vote against it and is trump the reason you vote against it . On a jump ball, it could matter. Liz i believe theyre going to right this up for the website. We are awaiting Sarah Sanders, the press secretary. She is expected to come out. We had thought she was going to be speaking about the feud that has had some rocket fuel thrown onto it earlier between senator bob corker of tennessee and the president , where the president tweeted something along the lines of it was bob corker who gave who got us or who helped President Trump im sorry, let me get my thoughts straight here. Who helped president obama get the iran deal through . Well, back to the fake news is true issue, bob corker voted against the iran deal and encouraged fellow republicans to vote against this iran deal. So at the moment, there are a lot of feuds going on. Stand by, were going to take a quick break. By then, Sarah Sanders should be getting to the podium. Well be back. Dow is up 172. Hey, hows it going . Um. Who are you . Im val. The orange money retirement squirrel from voya. I represent the money you save for the future. See . Were putting away acorns to show the importance of being organized. Thats smart. Whos he . Hes the green money you can spend now. Whats up . Oh you know, gonna pay some bills, maybe buy a new tennis racket. Tennis racket for a squirrel . Hes got a killer backhand. When its time to get organized for retirement, its time to get voya. Hi, im the internet you knoarmless bowling. Lt . Ahhhhhhhh you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. By listening to an thiaudiobook on audible. Ame and this guy is just trying to get through the day. Keeping it together. Losing it. Upgrade your commute. Ride with audible. Betty called me at she thought it was a fire. It was worse. A sinkhole opened up under our museum. Eight priceless corvettes had plunged into it. Chubb was there within hours. They helped make sure it was safe. We had everyone we needed to get our museum back up and running, and we opened the next day. Liz well, press secretary Sarah Sanders has not yet come out. We expected her to come out about seven minutes ago, shes close. Obviously, having to deal with, you could call it a surprise announcement. It was not a surprise to our Charlie Gasparino who had heard all kinds of rumors from his sources that this would happen. Charlie joins us along with former north dakota senator byron dorgan. To you, charlie, really quickly, this seems like it could be an easy thing for her to handle because she will come out swinging as she was expected to about senator bob corker, the republican from tennessee . Shes very good at this job and good in an understated way. What she wont get into and the real question is the Republican Party. You ever hear the saying, if you break it, you own it . Well, hes breaking it, and will he own it . Now will kelli ward be able to win in arizona . Im not quite sure what type of general election candidate she is. Will judge roy moore be able to win in alabama . Not sure what general election candidate he is. These are the two nationalists that have been backed by the trump, even trump went for strange in alabama. Moore is more aligned with the trumpian nationalist policies. If thats where you move the Republican Party, are you going to win, and if not going to win, this is what Mitch Mcconnell keeps saying. The trump kins hate this. They hate Mitch Mcconnell but he makes a point. We got to win in order to pass legislation. So heres the this may turn out great for trump, gets guys in there, everything is hunkydory, lets say you have the three senators, republicans, that are obstructionists on tax reform and other stuff. And if the trump candidates lose next year, you could lose the senate to the democrats. Liz what about that, senator dorgan . And did you have jeff flake on the floor saying that President Trump, though he did not use his name, he absolutely excoriated what he says is the belittling and scapegoating of members of congress into voting the way they would like to, and he broke the news right here on the senate floor. We just covered it. What do you get the sense is going to happen as it pertains to what charlie pointed out . What seemed straightforward is a lot of democrats up for election in 2018, not very many republicans. What is happening is donald trump and mr. Bannon have created a disruption here and created chaos. Its not a secret, of course, that jeff flake was opposed by donald trump. If he went to arizona and talked about him, wouldnt want him to run again, and if he ran would want him to be defeated. There is a lot of disruption and chaos on that side which is beneficial to the democrats, because theyll have an opportunity now on a couple of seats that could be competitive. Liz and then, when you talk about being competitive on the seats, this tax reform issue, does it change the timeline at all . Do you think now it might take longer . And it was bob corker who felt, hes not the only one, rand paul of kentucky is a fiscal conservative, but what i found interesting, because we talked a lot about the dynamic scoring on the show, trying to explain to people that when economists dynamically score something, its not based on entirely real hard numbers, its the prediction of somebody who is a beneficiary of a tax cut might react. That is disconcerting, but alone it might work. Except the president today said he expects 4 trillion to be added to the economy if the tax cuts go through, but let me finish by saying, but you never know, no one knows, hes right. The reagan example is clear. You had tax revenues come in when they cut taxes, reformed the tax code. Liz we had revenues come in when clinton raved about it. You could debate this all day. Heres the bottom line, liz, theres no way to get the economy moving without growing 3 . We had tax increases and a lot of regulations. Liz and it didnt work. It didnt work and hurt the country tremendously. Senator dorgan, jump in here. Let me make the point that Ronald Reagan said if tax reform increases the deficit, i will veto it. If you increase the deficit in order to get tax cuts, thats going to erode the confidence people have in the future of this country. It makes no sense. Didnt erode the reagan recovery, reagan had a great recovery and we didnt have a major recession until 2008 after the reagan tax cuts. Ronald reagan said i will veto a bill of tax reform if it increases the deficit. We wrote a bill that was revenue neutral in 1986 in the ways and Means Committee that reformed taxes and stimulated growth in the country. Liz one second, charlie. We have this breaking news, and showed you the throwing of the russian flags as the president hit capitol hill today. There was a gentleman, i hesitate to call him gentleman, he managed to find his way into the capitol as the president was arriving to meet with republicans. He threw those russian flags and yelled trump is treason. Breaking news is u. S. Capitol police have arrested him and identified him. He is ryan clayton. They have charged him with unlawful conduct in this heckling flag throwing incident at the capitol where nobody was hurt in any way, shape, or form, but he was not supposed to be in there, i wanted to get the news in there. How do you get that close to the president of the United States . Just insane. Liz un, its the peoples house, i guess. Yeah, but theres security in the peoples house of the United States. Why didnt the president go to the parade in france . The president of the United States needs to be protected at all times. This is reprehensible that people got this close. Liz senator dorgan, thank you. Were waiting right now for the press briefing, so im very glad that you and charlie are still here with us. Well be right back so nobody move. Think your Large Cap Equity Fund has exposure to Energy Infrastructure mlps . Think again. Its time to shake up your lineup. The alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add potential income. Bring amlp into the game. Before investing, consider the Funds Investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Read the prospectus carefully at alpsfunds. Com amlp whentertaining us,es getting us back on track,hing . And finding us dates. Phones really have changed. So why hasnt the way we pay for them . Introducing xfinity mobile. You only pay for data and can easily switch between pay per gig and unlimited. No one else lets you do that. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Xfinity mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Call, visit or go to xfinitymobile. Com. Liz breaking news, as we await the White House Press briefing, lets sneak in a market check right now. The dow is on track for a record close, and we are teeing up at t and chipotle for reporting results after the bell. Lets go to lori rothman, youre on the floor. Im interested to know how the traders were reacting to jeff flakes speech not running for reelection. Reporter i heard the buzz, monitors are blaring, the dow was up 200 points, we heard the president was at lunch talking about tax reform. That held things up, too. The latest breaking news, people were caught a little offguard. Lot of rumbling from washington, i think the overriding theme is earnings, united technologies, had a good report. Shares turned south. But 3m and caterpillar really helped things up and bellwethers of the economy, so looking pretty good. Chipotle well hear from after the bell. Shares up ahead of the report as you are well aware, its been well documented. The foodborne illness problems with chipotle, shares are down Something Like 14 year to date. Just this last week, off 1. 8 , as i said shares holding up here nicely in fact, ahead of the report tonight and the investors, the analysts are keying in on this, the cheese sauce, the queso cheese dip they are hopeful luring customers back, liz. Liz put cheese sauce on anything, and im in. Reporter okay, liz. Liz we got the twominute warning, senator dorgan, people are tweeting saying this is the socalled bannon effect. Our own john ellis is saying the white house will be letting everybody within earshot know that they are the ones who forced flakes resignation, possibly putting the fear of god in other gop senators this is what happens when you take on the president . The president momentarily in a tweet about taking credit for jeff flakes departure or announcement of his departure. Look, ive said forever, i wish he would just stop tweeting. I think the tweeting gets him in a lot of difficulty. His base loves it, but i dont think its good for the country. Liz charlie, Steve Bannons role in all this . Does he have one or a oneonone versus flake . Bannon is the ringleader here. We should point out, but he has the publication, breitbart, he is the most consequential figure in american politics right now. And i know steve well. I like him personally, hes a really smart guy. The question is whether this is longterm good for the Republican Party in passing legislation, thats the open question. Does roy moore win . Does kelli ward win . Are these do the republicans keep the majority, and by the way, if they lose the majority in the senate and lose the house, well, guess what . You got possible impeachment hearings coming. Im telling you this is serious stuff, bannon is a revolutionary and hes good that the stuff. Hes the reason why trump won, i dont care what anybodies is, i dont care what the president said, when he joined the campaign it was floundering. He made trump focus on the purple states that trump won by raiser thin margins. This is a brilliant guy. Liz heres Sarah Sanders. Ill let you come up here and ill ask questions. No . All right, i thought it was worth a shot. Good afternoon. Good afternoon all right. Yeah. President trump had a productive meeting at todays Republican Senate caucus. The president discussed the urgent need for the senate to focus on cutting taxes for hard working american families. We must also make American Companies more competitive so they can create more jobs and boost wages for American Workers and must simplify the burdensome tax code rigged in favor of the wealthy and well connected. As the president tweeted this morning, the markets continue to hit historic highs and unemployment at a 16year low. Theres a spirit of Economic Optimism sweeping the nation, but our economy cannot take off like it should unless we deliver historic tax cuts and reforms. This is the president s top legislative priority and he was encouraged today by the show of unity by republicans on the hill about getting this done. During the policy lunch, the president discussed the urgent need for the senate to confirm his slate of imminently qualified nominees. In spite of democratic obstruction so they can get to work on behalf of the American People. The president will continue to work closely with the senate to deliver on a legislative agenda that puts the interest of the American People first. This morning, the president welcomed winners of the Minority Enterprise Development week arc wards. This program is designed to celebrate the outstanding achievements of minority entrepreneurs as well as individuals and organizations leading the way in advancing minority business enterprise. The Award Winners who visited the white house certainly meet that criteria and the president was proud to host them. Hes laser focused on delivering tax cuts and reforms for the hard working entrepreneurs by the end of the year. On the National Security and Foreign Policy front, for the eighth time russia blocked u. N. Security Council Actions to hold accountable those who used chemical weapons, including terrorists in the assad regime. By blocking the extension russia has once again demonstrated it does not care about stopping the barbaric use of chemical weapons in the world and will do whatever it takes to protect its ally. The assad regime. Blocking the extension of the investigating Authority Means nothing less than russias endorsement of the assad regimes use of chemical weapons against innocent women and children. We will continue to push back against this, and with that, ill take your questions. Reporter sarah . President trump tweeted that jeff flake is a very weak and ineffective senator. Do you know if he has any reaction about the announcement he wont seek reelection . I havent spoken with him directly since the announcement by senator flake, but i think that, based on previous statements and certainly based on the lack of support that he has from the people of arizona, its probably a good move. Matthew . Reporter thank you, sarah, two republican senators now today, senators corker and flake, calling the president s behavior unacceptable and dangerous, saying that he regularly tells untruths. Senator flake called on fellow republicans to end complicity and accommodation. Im wondering what is the white houses response to this criticism coming from two republican senators . I think that we support the American People on this one, i think that the people both in tennessee and arizona supported this president , and i dont think that the numbers are in the favor of either of those two senators in their states, and so i think this is probably the right decision. Thank you, sarah. Sarah, why is the president involved in this feud with senator corker . Is there some concern on capitol hill that what you should be focused on is getting agenda of tax reform through, and the petty feuds like this just distract from the bigger. Why is the president engaging in it . Look, the president is focused on doing this, thats what he spent the majority of his day talking about. He went to the hill and met with republican senators to talk about tax reform, to push his legislative agenda, thats what hes spending a good bit of this week doing, and will continue doing next week until we get the job done. Reporter why does he engage like this . You have an individual in the president , hes a fighter, we said it many times before. The people of this country didnt elect somebody to be weak, they elected somebody to be strong. When he gets hit, hes going to fight back. Senator corker knows that, hes maybe trying to get a headline or two on his way out of door. Since the president has taken office, too often as you know, two republican senators, senator corker of tennessee and senator flake of arizona have both announced theyre not running for reelection. In your view, is the president remaking the Republican Party. And if hes doing that, is he doing it in a positive way . I wouldnt say necessarily hes remaking it because you have a couple of individuals no longer running for office on. Look, hes got a great relationship with a number of republican senators, hes going to continue working with them and make sure we get things done for the American People. He wants people to be in the senate that are committed to actually moving the ball down the field, and i dont think these two individuals necessarily have been as focused on on that. The president wants to get things done and thats what were going to work through the fall. Reporter sarah, i understand neither of the two senators were talking about now have been allies, particular leaf the president. This has been an extraordinary series of attacks on the president from major figures in the Republican Party. Not typical political attacks, saying the president is responsible for the debasement of the nation, that a breakdown of civility is the fault of the president and enough is enough. Similar remarks from john mccain, the pares former nominee. Does any of this make the president pause and wonder if he is doing anything wrong, if he bears any responsibility for what these senators are saying . Does it break down civility in our country . Voters of the individual senator states are speaking in pretty loud volumes. I think that they were not likely to be reelected, and i think that shows that the support is more behind this president than it is those two individuals. Reporter why is there so little pushback from other republican senators on this . I mean, Mitch Mcconnell is the republican leader, bob corker is still a committee chairman. Leader mcconnell stood with the president just last week at the white house and they were focused actually moving the agenda forward. I think that is a pretty clear indication where his support lies. What were working to do. Reporter pick up what john is talking about. One of criticisms from senator corker that history will most remember President Trump if for debasing country. Hearing senator flakes remarks seem to write for history. How do you think history will view not only remarks of the two senators today, but also former president bush . I think history will look at this president somebody who helped defeat isis. Who built an economy stronger than it has been in several decades. Unemployment to 16year low. Created 1. 7 million jobs since elected. People care about that, not comments from senator corker and senator flake. They are a lot more concerned about the big policy initiatives that president is driving. Including historic tax cuts we will get done by end of this year. Those are the things this president will be remembered by. Those are certainly good facts and ones well stand behind. Reporter thank you, sarah. Asked senator the for show of hand on two candidates for fed chair, powell and taylor. Does that mean powell and taylor were favorites for the fed chairmanship . Why would he ask the senate. That is individuals he is looking at. We dont have any announcements at this time. The president is taking that decision extremely seriously. He is being very thorough in the process. He will have announcement on it soon. Reporter sarah, are you concerned, is white house concerned at all these conflicts keep es can lating could impact the president s agenda . With senator corker, continues to, you know, lash out at him like this, that prompt him to [inaudible] i would hope that senator corker is more focused on getting things done in his final months and so, we hope that he will be very supportive of the tax cuts and tax reforms that the people in his state have demanded and frankly elected him to go to congress and help reporter pick up on that. The president in two different tweets today said senator corker was fighting tax cuts. Those were his words. Will now fight