Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20170410

Of back and forth within that building, within the white house, keep in mind congress is off for a couple of weeks, so the drama is behind. Blake burman, hey, there, blake. Hey, neil, i was here with a report out that the president has quot, quote, unquote, scrapped his original tax plan and gone back to the drawing board. I was given a little bit of push back as it relates to the whole scrapped his tax plan. Heres what i am hearing from folks here at the white house that this is basically being looked at at 1,000foot view right now. Kind of top line principles not necessarily nittygritty details throughout. And what i am hearing is that it is still the president s tax plan, a few weeks away as it gets down into the detail level or at least a few weeks away until its being rolled out. What i am also told at this point is they are just kind of looking at any and all ideas. The example that was given to me from one white house official this morning was in the private sector what you want to do is get a bunch of smart minds in the room, put a bunch of ideas out there, and come up with a plan. And in government, that isnt necessarily what happened. However, this administration trying to work more like the private sector is in that phase right now. Get a bunch of smart minds in the room and get a plan together to be able to roll out in the up coming weeks. When you look at the timeline here, remember, the president had said in the first month his administration that they were jt a few weeks away from unveiling a tax plan. Now here we are april 10th, i think we are, and now were being told it is still a few weeks away. That then begs the question what about this august timeline that Steve Mnuchin has said not only would this be rolled out, but it would be signed. Gary cones said on friday that the timeline might necessarily might not necessarily be the timeline at this point, rather that they want to get it right instead of get it done quick. So at this point, the plan has not been scrapped, as it was told me rather the administration is kind of looking at any and all ideas. By the way, naturally, one thing to keep in mind, the border adjustment tax, which is a major item whether it gets put in this thing or out, now the opposition is coming out against this thing big time. The coke brothers are airing a weeklong americans for prosperity, a group that they back, airing a weeklong ad against the border adjustment tax. Neil,. Stuart blake, if im hearing you correctly, theyre saying its not scrapped but clearly havent come up with a plan that even in the white house they can agree on. So thats not scrap. Thats not coming up with anything thus far. Right. So the way it was described to me they didnt tear up the president s campaign plan, throw it in the trash, and start all over. What theyre trying to do was gather all ideas now as you rightly point out, does that mean you have anything . And especially since this was supposed to be put out there two months ago. And one thing one white house official told me, neil, is keep in mind it was Health Care Taxes and this big hole that health care was supposed to create, a i was told at because theres no longer big hole, now they kind of have to address that portion and see what that means to everything going forward. Neil but the understanding is they want to do the health care thing first. Thats what theyve got to get done because they count on thattrilliondollar baseline or whatever theyre calling it; right . The trillion dollars was hoping they could create. Whether they could get it done, who knows. The president initially said that theyre going forward, but you kind of get mixed messages here as, yeah, health cares online. Yes, we want to do taxes. What comes first here, you know . Neil i dont know, buddy, it sounds like one of my indict pledges, and did they dont end well. Blake burman, thank you very much. Of course doesnt have to worry about indicts, but im telling you this has to all come together perfectly, and it doesnt look that way. But, again, we could be wrong. I would love to be wrong. Kansas republican senator jerry, senator, are you getting worried that this doesnt happen . Neil, im not worried yet that it doesnt happen, but it is difficult work to do. There are people who are strongly opposed to changing the benefits they get under the current tax code and so the Interest Groups line up in support of what they want to keep. This will take strong president ial leadership, but the president fully engaged. Nothings easy. The house has gone down the border adjustment tax issue much further than the senate has, and i think thats a really big component. And when its described to me, the border adjustment tax is described as the way we get significantly lower corporate rates, and that seems to be the best argument that anybody could make for the border adjustment tax makes me lets just say this way. Im skeptical about what it means to the u. S. Economy. Very worried of what could happen, a lot of unknowns. Neil yeah, the question is do retailers put up such a stink, regardless whatever your views on the subject. But let me ask you then, senator, do you feel that in august deadline that the treasury secretary had outlined and the administration had said was the goal is realistic right now . Well, i would say its an okay goal. I wouldnt make it a Firm Commitment that anything is done by that date. Front and center for us when Congress Reconvenes is the appropriations process, the resolution expires at the end of the month. April the 28th, and we need to make sure that weve got an appropriation plan in place that takes us to the end of the fiscal year, september the 30th, and i think were in pretty good shape to do that. And then i think were back to taxes. But your analysis, the conversation you just had to get Health Care Reform done to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, people may not see that as having a consequence to the tax code, but it does as you all point out, thats where a significant part of speaker ryans neil so thats the goal here, you still have to deal because i thought it was sitch a onerous task in the first place. This could push a lot of stuff back. It doesnt get any easier but perhaps surprisingly Affordable Care act reform replacement is a significant part of tax reform. Stuart all right. Senator, in the meantime post the syria tomahawk missile attack on the part of the president last week, nearly six out of ten americans in the latest poll approve of those air strikes essentially saying cool it after that consult congress after that. How do you feel about that and whats your own thoughts on the matter . Especially if the syrians fade again, as they have the leadership has battacking the same area where the Chemical Attacks occurred la week. But this time with conventional weapons. Well, i think we all need to be skeptical about further engagement in any country particularly in the middle east but around the globe. There was no strategy that was apparent to me, at least in libya. We know how long iraq is taking and therefore any kind of accidental or even on purpose into syria we could predict has serious consequences that are longterm. I have no objection to happen, in fact, i appreciate when the president said there was a line if crossed that there would be a response. I think its important for our allies to trust us. I think its important for our enemies to fear us. And if we dont do what we say, if theres not a consequence to bad behavior, then those two things fail. But i think when you go any further than this kind of violaa treaty agreement response, that being the chemical, use of chemicals, i also would point out we ought to have a lot of focus on russia who claimed that they had an agreement that those chemical weapons were gone, and it didnt turn out to be true. But i think once you go beyond this kind of response, congress ought to be fully engaged, and i would encourage President Trump to do that. But perhaps more importantly, i would criticize congress in the past for their timidity. We claim we want to have responsibilities. We claim that were an equal branch of government. But you see the times we have walked away from dealing with an authorization of force or decoration of war, i wou put a lot of fault at the feet of congress as well. We need to have a debate discussion and reach a conclusion about what the longterm goal is in syria. Neil senator, thank you very much. Yes, sir. Neil all right. In the meantime secretary of state Rex Tillerson ahead of that big showdown with the leadership there. No guarantee, by the way, that Vladimir Putin will be meeting with him but all of this at a time a lot of people are saying what would russia do if we launch more tomahawk missiles after a chemical attack on syria . What would we do . John is the former National Security adviser to Vice President dick cheney. What do you think we would do . Well, i think an Important Message was sent here. No doubt the russians are very upset, neil. We punched their ally in the nose, and theyve been kind of left sputtering on the sidelines and one thing we know for sure is that Vladimir Putin doesnt like looking in the face of an exercise of american power. I think the president was pretty prudent here and signaled pretty clearly that this was a very limited welldefined political objective he was pursuing, which was to deter this murderous regime in syria from gassing innocent civilians again. Neil what if they use chemical weapons again . It would almost say we do this all over again and the russians have almost promised, in fact, they put a ship near these ships from which we launched these tomahawk missiles that they would respond. What do you think happens in that event . Well, i think the president is then going to face a very difficult choice. But my guess is if assad, again, decides to use gas or nerve agents, the United States is going to have to respond again, hopefully with the entire world behind us. Im afraid were going to have to call putins bluff. At the endf the day, i do not believe putin wants to go war with the United States, especially in defense of the indefensible, which is this murderous regime gassing of innocent men, women, and children. And that is a principle that the russians themselves have repeatedly pledged to uphold in international treaties. Neil what do you think of the fact that the syrians have gone ahead and rebombed the area in question that was decided the chemical weapons last week this time with conventional weapons a as if to see. Is the dividing line chemical weapons and thats what would insight our response . I think it is, at least for the moment, thats how we understand what the administration did. It is a very limited welldefined political objective to deter the further use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians. Thats not its not going to solve the syrian crisis. Its not about regime change. Weve got a long way to go in this crisis and the syrians and russians and iranians will continue to test us at the margins, weve got to be ready for that. But i dont think that this is the question that we ought to think were overreaching here. This was a limited circumscribed action. Neil all right. John, thank you very much for seeing you again. Thank you. Neil selling off in the height we were 80 points north of dow, now down about 32. Banking stocks giving away their gains, there is a great deal of interest over the weekend the wall street journal today, the Washington Post today. A lot of people talking the same thing if the markets going up and there is this this anticipation the stimulus, then why would bonds go up . Well, maybe because those investors are fearing the economy will not go up nearly as much. Its why the yield on a tenyear note is going down and people are driving at the treasuries, theyre driving into copters, theyre driving into securities, driving into Municipal Bonds convinced that steady as she goes, not weak but not exactly gangbusters strong kind of grows continues with little stimulus chance from tax cuts. Markets can be wrong but thats the bet theyre making right now. Stick around. Listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. And fragmented care stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. Neil all right. A quick look at the dow as we look at the white house, the two might be connected here. The markets had been up in excess of 80 points now down about 30. Now, these change on the moment, as you know but a lot of it is the reversal of some of the early gains that financial had had and some of it had to do with flights equality to bonds and the bet that a lot of folks have according to the globe but more on the United States to bet on bonds and steady as she goes growth but not gangbusters. So maybe those guys are saying this stimulus that you guys are expecting from the equity side on tax cuts aint going to happen. Now, markets can be wrong. But then that is the bet theyre making right now that this thing is delayed, maybe even denied. Charlie gasparino with the behind the leasing going on here as well as potential shakeups going on at 1,600 pennsylvania avenue. Good to see you, buddy. Thanks for having me. Listen, on the face of it, its status quo. Reince priebus is still the chief of staff. Steve bannon is still the senior adviser. Jared kushner is still his soninlaw. Okay . Neil but a soninlaw has an amazing amount of power. Behind the scenes, heres exactly what happened. We confirmed this with the white house. Jared kushner is the ascendant, he is the most important adviser in the Trump White House. Hes a liberal democrat or i would say corporatous democrat. He and gary cone, the head of the National Neil when was he a liberal . Because you think of the observer and elsewhere editorial, maybe anticipating his fatherinlaws run for the white house, he veered sharp right. So a lot of people say, well, you know, hes not really that or he might have been. But like ronald reagan, he had a change of heart. I dont think so. Hes like a mike bloombgpe corporatist, moderate liberal soc issues. You know, ivanka trump is the same way. Neil right . Hes the assentient one, the one thats been downgraded is steve bannon, the nationalist who likes tax cuts, wants to close borders, and the guy whos kind of neil hes the one who trump lost his fear that hes losing his way to these moderates. Yes. And the guy thats in a Holding Pattern who i said on your show needs to fight for his job is priebus. And ill tell you why i say that. Donald trump has made no secret. Hes gone up to people i know pointblank saying what do you think of the job reince has done . Neil really . Yeah. He said that pointblank. Neil thats embarrassing. It is. He does this a lot. I think he wants to he likes him personally. He understands he has a very difficult job. The two most difficult jobs in that administration is the chief of staff and spokesman. I think sean spicer has an incredibly difficult job. You can relate this to the markets and say the markets are trading off because people think the tax cuts are now a secondary issue its going to occur later. Maybe a bigger infrastructure. Neil if at all. Part of that is manifesting whos on top a liberal democrat and sidekick number two at goldman sachs, again, a liberal democrat are now the most important players, advisers in the Trump White House. Neil and the rap is their heart wouldnt be in big tax cuts. Maybe Corporate Tax cut but not an individual. And not neil but you said Corporate Tax cut the other day would boy the markets. I think the markets would like that but who knows where it comes out. Gary worked at goldman for so long that always had massive infrastructure spending. Neil saying this could were not locked on a deadline here. Whenever i hear that. Then you worry. He said that last week our air. So thats why the markets are skittish. They dont know where all of this is. One of the funniest things ive heard today was watching cnn neil why were you watching cnn . Actually, i wasnt watching, i heard about this, and i looked at the tape where anthony scaramucci, former fox business contributor compared Jared Kushner to alexander hamilton. Alexander i almost said alexandria. Alexander hamilton. Neil ive heard you compared to jesus. You compared to pat. Where do you get that from . Neil what venue did he say that on . Cnn on chris cuomo, hes art, hes neil no doubt and the president has a great deal of respect for hi and hes 36 years old. He hasnt really done that much. He graduated from harvard, i guess, that makes him like alexander hamilton. I went to pace university. That makes me like joe pace. But in any event, if you try to get on the trump team, you really do at times have to suspend this belief on stuff. Neil well, the tax cut gets pushed back further or maybe they can boil down on it. I dont know. Im worried. The markets are getting increasingly skittish. I hope they do. Its one of the best parts of his agenda. Neil brilliant part. Only stimulus game in town. They cant. How much more can they do . Neil you dont have to yell at me. Thank you very much, charlie gasparino. In the meantime, after the syria move that weve made, chemical attack survivor who wonders whether we are just one and done. He said that could be a very, very big mistake on our part after this yes . Please repeat the objective. Thrivent mutual funds. Managed by humans, not robots. Before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds. Com. At crowne plaza we know Business Travel isnjust business. Theres this. a bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Neil you know, you hear all of this about trying to survive a chemical attack, the kind that warrants the tomahawk missile attack that the president launched last week against the syrians. This guy survived one, but he was given up for dead in 2013 and his body thrown in between two other victims after a gas attack that essentially left him for dead. He survived that, came back, and really to tell the world be aware. Be aware. His he joins us right now via skype. Good to have you. Thank you so much, sir, for having me. Neil were told that this was a one off. In other words, that Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state said this was something that were not going to constalyo. But youre arguing if a if theres another chemical attack, should follow up, and we should stick to that; right . Well, first before i talk about anything, i want to express my deep condolences to my Christian Brothers and sisters in egypt all over the world after the terrorist attack as a syrian and as a muslim, we stand by your side. Going back to the chemical attack, in 2013, assad used gas to gas 1400 people. And during the past six years, assad used chemical weapons more than 100 times. President obama broke his promise for the red line, and his argument was that he was going to take assads chemical weapons. Well, he lied. He lied to the American People, and he lied to the entire world, and he lied to us syrians because bashar assad three days ago proved that he still possess gas. Hes still launching chemical weapon attack. Assad killed more than 500,000 people using cluster bombs, using tanks, airplanes, tortures people to death, rapes thousands and thousands of women. He created the vacuum for isis and the extremist groups to recruit. Obamas broken promise, obamas inaction in syria fueling isis that the west doesnt care about you, that america doesnt care about you. Theres nothing called international law. You are there by yourself to get slaughtered. And that made laugh people, a lot of ignorant and angry people, unfortunately, to join isis. The United States took out assad, then they could have been living in freedom. Save syrians from becoming refugees. Stuart its about getting rid of assad. Its not just about dealing with the chemical getting rid of, you know, assad himself and without doing that, then this is going to keep happening. Of course, sir. Of course. If you have god forbid if you have cancer, you cant treat cancer with bandages. You have to operate and take out that cancer. Assad is cancer. Assad is cancer to syria. This man killed 500,000 people. He stood against each and every attempt for political solution in syria. He only understands the language of power. He believes that hes above the law. He believes that his russian and iranian friends will keep him from harm forever because of obamas inaction. If assad will stay in power, there is no way were going to have peace. There is no way you can defeat isis. There is no way you can defeat extremist groups because they will always have a recruitment tool. They will always tell people who got hurt by assad, and they are many, sir. They are many. There are millions and millions of people. Theyre going to keep telling them no one cares about you but us. Were the only ones who want to actually fight assad. The rebels were left alone to suffer, to fight assad and isis at the same time. We ask so many times president obama to help us, to really, really help us. Not just give us empty promises and a little bit of help just to keep us going. This is not acceptable. Were living in 2017. Neil put his trust in the United Nation to crack down on these chemical weapon stockpiles and then the syrians said they had and convinced the United Nations that they had and then the russians came in later saying indeed they have gotten rid of the chemical weapons. How were so many fooled . Sir, with all due respect, what president obama did was just a maneuver to save his face from his broken promise. He actually who actually trust the russians whe who actually trusts the russians when it come to anything . He is trusting putin who is a war criminal to help another war criminal get rid of his chemical weapons . By the way, sir, i was at the United Nations. I testified several times in front of the United Nations about the war crimes and chemical weapons attack. The United Nations is helpless organization. It is a sad joke that was made after world war ii. The russians usedc the veto. The chinese more than six times to neil youre right about that. More than any other nation on earth. Let me ask you this, weve already gotten Vladmir Putin saying russians in general saying any act like the United States launched last week with its tomahawk missiles will be met in kind. In other words, if we were to do what we did in response to lets say a chemical attack, we didnt respond to a traditional attack just over the weekend, we would do this. I guess what im asking you is, what do you think happens then . Well, sir, with all due respect this is the United States of america. The russians doesnt stand a chance. They just got bigger and they played the russian bear during president obamas term because of obamas inactions. They had the guts to go into the ukraine, to go in syria, to promote dictators all over the world. To help the iranians becaof obamas inaction. We saw what happened a few days ago. President trump launched 60 tomahawk missiles. They had their s400. They didnt dare to fire any missiles against the tomahawk missiles. They are just saying that because they invested too much in bashar assad. They are trying to make a deal neil in our country, im sorry to jump on you, my friend, in our country while most americans support what the president did to respond to the syrian chemical aggression, next time they say you have to consult congress, you cant do that again on your own . What do you think of that . Well, sir, i will leave this to the American People. You know better about your country but President Trump action was very, very good because if he will go to congress and he will wait, he will give bashar assad to manuever. Maybe the congress was not ready to vote to launch such a strike. We saw what happened in 2013. Neil right, right. With all due respect the American Public is misinformed what is going on in syria. Neil are you worried though some in this country have problems with regime change as you know, they worry whoever replaces assad could be even worse than assad. What do you think of that . Sir, with all due respect this is pure hypocrisy. How can you say that whoever is going to replace is going to be worse . Assad killed 500,000 people for the love of good. He displaced half of the country. He destroyed the country. Who can be worse than him . He is worse than hitless. Who is going to be worse than him . How can you not give us a chance, just a chance, a fair chance to have free elections and choose our leader by ourselves, by polling, by electing, not by guns . You should give us the chance. This is the United States, like i really, really dont understand how people can be so hypocrites when it comes to this. How can you judge others and not give us, give other as chance to vote while you have this amazing blessing that you get to elect your president. We saw what happened with President Trump. Everyone said that he doesnt have a chance. Everyone said he is not a good guy. But he won and he proved to be a good guy. So just like you have this chance, you have this privilege, xldase help us to get this chance to try to determine our own government. We, demonstrated for 11 months peacefully. Millions and millions of people we were just asking for freedom, for free elections so we all can live as equal citizens. For the very first time after 40 years, 40 years of assad dictatorship. They taught news school that the United States is evil you about what we learned during the past six years, that showed us that the only evil we had was our own government. But we, you should do something. You should make more effor to help us. Neil do you worryaybe given our experience in iraq when aftere toppled Saddam Hussein we were worried what would happen after that, that americans in general are telling our president , go slow here . Does that bother you . Does it bother you that the only way well respond is if there is another chemical attack . You were quite right to point out hundreds of thousands killed in traditional attacks and we draw the line at Chemical Attacks. Well, sir, unfortunately were paying for other peoples mistakes. A lot of people see the iraq war and Afghanistan War as a mistake. We paid price for that mistake. Well, in syria it is different. We demonstrated. The people rebelled against a dictator. The people proved to the entire world more than 11 months they want to live free. They want democracy. They dont want war. They had enough with this dictatorship. People just wanted to build their country. Assad destroyed the country. Assad destroyed everything that has to do with syria. Assad helped isis get created. Without his crimes against humanity there would not be a vacuum for isis and extremist groups. If you want to take out isis you must take out assad. Otherwise it is just a waste of time and a waste of effort and a waste of a lot, a lot of lives. Neil qassam eid. Thank you very much. Thank you. Neil white house give more detail what is next in syria. Many argue that itwouldbe hoof us to get i corrected one way or thether all those refugees, hundreds of thousands across the mediterranean, those who left syria would be happy to return if assad wasnt there. Is that right . After this. Ity, estors even more. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Thats why a cutting edgeworld. University counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. 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With congress out for next couple weeks, you do have to wonder, you do have to wonder about a legislative timeline running out of days. To gerri willis, washington examiners susan per roche yo, former bush 41 Campaign Adviser mark serrano. I think time is running youre absolutely right. Ed at administration is saying well bust the august deadline for tax reform. This idea they can get something done over the legislative holiday im not buying it. This isnt something you can work from home and get done because it requires people meeting facetoface, negotiating this stuff out. You see right here the legislative days until the deadline. We have a long way to go. Neil susan what worries me, believe me, i know this is gargantuan task, i dont have to remind you of that, i do know the timeline given originally and what the market priced in. Hope springs eternal but i get a little anxious when i hear our blake burman reporting that the administration itself is not in agreement on the broad parameters it wants the house to pursue, senate to pursue. So theyre all talking past each other, similar to what we saw with the health care thing. Im not blaming one body over another. I am saying they are far, far from being on the same page. I just dont think the real negotiations have started yet. I know the house is planning to produce a bill by this spring. So far it appears it will include the border adjust tax that wont be popular in the senate and not popular with President Trump. The big problem they dont have an agreement how to pay for the tax reform measures. That is the real issue. Will it be a valueadded tax, a carbon tax, border adjustment tax . Is it some complete restrusocial security there. Is all the ideas on the table but absolutely zero agreement because tax reform is really tough issue even within one party to negotiate. Neil no doubt about that. It is evidencing itself right now. Mark, there is a camp among conservative republicans who say dont focus how you pay for them. Deficits might get worse before they get better with the revenue under dynamic accounting and all this stuff. So dont get caught up in the weeds, what do you think of that thinking . Agree, neil. We had deficits, for past 10 years dnt really worry a lot of establishment in washington, d. C. Then. Now all of a sudden a big concern among democrats. Neil that is some republicans, rob portman, moderate side says dollar for dollar you have to for these things. Long term that is very true. We have to balance this budget eventually. If youre in the con expressional leadership, you dont get a break. You get to go home for a few days. They will work during the recess, workmans holiday working with the administration on the tax package. By the way i think they will also make substantial progress on the Health Care Deal. I think well have a Health Care Deal by memorial day. Neil do you . That will set things in the right motion, theyre obviously revisiting that, gerri, that is crucial with the baseline of trillion dollars. I still dont understand any of this but it was enough to go back to the poison well to try again. I understand the thinking in that but do you think that if they were to fail at that, they should just shelf the health care thing, go right to the tax cut thing. Maybe they should have done that at the outset . Certainly a good idea but changes the whole narrative after that. Right. The tax cuts that you can award are far, far smaller because health care gives awe trillion dollars in savings by doing reform on obamacare. This is just unbelievably tricky. The idea that we cant you pull one victory anywhere, you know, right now, look, all these congressmen, theyre home, hearing from their constituents. Nobody is happy. Theyre getting an earful. Maybe that will set them on fire to do something. I will tell you, i just dont see the way forward right now. Neil susan what about you . Obviously theyre confident they will still get them. It might be past august but they will get it but are you in the camp if they dont this year, they might as well shelf it for next year because in an Election Year it will be tough . An Election Year it will be very tough. Im not giving up on this year. My understanding from talking to the key players they are actually really sticking around and working on another plan to pass Health Care Reform. That theyre certainly not gifting up on that. There may be a way to produce the revenue for tax reform. There is no the sense on capitol hill where i work every day is not that theyre not going to get this done. It is really full speed ahead. Neil i hope youre right. Tax reform, we dont know if theyre going to get it done. Theyre not sitting back on their hands doing nothing, thats for sure. Neil i hope youre right but i wonder. When i look at this, mark, i see what is going on in the stock market, not to sound arcane, it seems to betting on very little stimulus, i. E. , tax cuts. Bonds are popular. Stocks of late less so. What do you make of that . Neil, lets not underserve the regulatory roll back. Regulations can have just as much economic value to Big Companies as tax cuts. Neil yeah. I would say repatriation is going to be almost like found money. If you tax that at a very low rate. That is found money in this economy. Plus i think it will be a big boost to job creation. Neil it is how you do it. How you do it. How you score the tax reform package as well will not factor new economic growth. Neil okay. So it will come. Neil all right. Now i feel better. Well see what happens. Again, just my opinion. I have no axe to grind here. Im just saying they have to strike while the iron is even warm. Theyre not striking. Im feely chilly. Chilly. Neil fallout from that after this. It will come. You always pay your insurance on time. Tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 509 on auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. I promise you that i will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the constitution and laws of this great nation. Neil all right. Hes off and running. Gores gores neil gorsuch, finally the ninth Supreme Court justice. He is looking over a religious rights case. Preschool, Trinity Lutheran church in missouri, filed suit denying state funds be rerbish a playground. Gorsuch asided with individual institutions felt that Big Government was ramming past them. We shall see. Look at what is going on wall street right now, tesla hitting a new alltime high. Up 45 yeartodate. Every time it hits at or around these levels it already eclipsed ford, higher market cap than ford. As things stand right now, slightly ahead of general motors. Well keep an eye on that. Meanwhile, we now know that in the most recent fed meeting that called for hiking rates, nine out of 10 voting members opted to raise those rates. Neel kashkari was the lone opposer. Adam shapiro spoke with him a little earlier. Adam . Reporter neil, because Neel Kashkari doesnt think the economy is sufficiently strong enough. He talked to us about too big to fail. Expectation that taxpayers bail out the nations largest banks during a crisis. He says it is alive and well. Now, kashkari is one. Key officials who helped save banks during the financial crisis in 2008. He is president of the Federal Reserve bank of minneapolis. Another financial crisis he says is sure to hit and banks will expect a taxpayer bailout. Im not worried about a crisis right around the corner. These things tend to take time. We tend to forget the lessons of past crisis before we repeat the same mistakes. Most important thing American People need to know the biggest banks are still too big to fail today. We need to roughly double their Equity Capital requirements and if we do that we can protect taxpayers, we can make the banks safe and we can relax regulations on Community Banks and small banks so that they can grow and serve their communities the way we need them to. Reporter did you catch that, neil . Double the equity requirements, Capital Requirements. Bank ceos like Jpmorgans Jamie Dimon say Capital Requirements are already too high restricting lending. Kashkari says dimon is wrong, points out jpmorgan chase, under mr. Dimon bought back 26 billion worth of its stock over the last five years f there were demand of loans they should have issued loans. Could have made money. Neil so he is convinced we still have too big to fail . Absolutely. Neil that is what, you know, obviously led to a lot of problems before . Reporter not only convinced there is too big to fail, he said 70 chance of another financial crisis sometime within our lifetimes. Neil thats lovely. Adam, thank you very, very much. Adam shapiro. Were finding out a little bit more about Rex Tillersons trip to moscow. This was arranged sometime ago. Obviously youre aware of a tomahawk missile attack and everything else. Word that Vladmir Putin isnt going to meet him when he goes there. So who is, after this. Look closely. Is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. Neil with a busy hour ahead. We are getting word assaulters and Division Within the white house over how far to go with the border tax if you go out the value added tax. They havent come to agreement within the white house and what would presumably be a house plan and senate plan. Bottom line, dont spend the money just yet. Meanwhile, neil gorsuch sworn in. What kind of justice will he be . Parochial School Church case over offending to do some renovations when it was shut down of our church to escape differences. Is north korea going to be the next to conflict. Maybe an idea that after sean spicer addresses reporters. A formal briefing. We will be going to him at the bottom of the hour. Rex tillerson, secretary of state added this big trip to moscow for the g7 conference. Ford is a lot top russian officials including Vladimir Putin are refusing to meet with them. Connell mcshane with the latest on that. They wont believe the counterpart sergey lavrov. Italy with the group of seven Foreign Ministers are meeting in the shot they are by of his european counterparts. When he was talking on finishes talking on finish is about to begin an even earlier today we have seen some tough talk when it comes to the russians. In fact, earlier today you see in the photo op as well mr. Tillerson of the new world war ii memorial in italy. It seems like hes drawing a link between would have been years and years ago and what happened in the recent chemical attack in syria. Lets listen in. We remember the events of august 12, 1944 that occurred and we we dedicate ourselves still into account any anon who commit crimes against the msn anywhere in the world. It is an inspiration to us all. Hold them to account. What will that mean to the russians in their support of syria and assad. The u. K. Foreign minister in italy with an interesting comment saying he would consider seven nation could consider more sanction if they continue to support the assad in syria. They canceled the trip and said instead killer and would deliver a clear and coordinated message. They said it the outside not to your points opposed to be with putin. Even maintain with sergey lavrov, they will have a chance to go throughout the issues. Neil thank you, my friend. Connell mcshane. No matter what he does and indicated anything we do, like we did last week with the tomahawk missiles but he met within inkind response whatever that means. The United States ambassador for special Political Affairs at the United Nations ambassador stuart holliday. Thanks for taking the time. What do you think this happen . I know its just a guess, but let say the government launches and other chemical attack him and not just to follow traditional military attack was they did over the weekend in the same place. And we respond or try to become a hot missiles. I think the strike with the tomahawks was designed to sort of limit confrontation with the air Defense System there and possible interaction with the Russian Forces with the assad regime. President trump has made it clear he will act and as far as iranians are concerned, you expect them to disrupt and salesmanship in iraq as well as to keep funding hezbollah and client state. The russians have deployed a naval warship. Th have a base and i think theyve indicated or at least telegraphed that they would respond. Its tough to shoot down a missile. Unless we do something more significant from the air or increase or ground presence on the ground, its unlikely they would not direct confrontation. Neil what did she make of the fact that assad did in fact follow up attacks, not chemical weapons, the traditional attacks and that has really been whether its chemical weapons are not, hundreds of thousands and we draw the line on chemical weapons. When you think of that approach . He was clearly sending a signal that the United States trying to shore up im sure the encouragement of the russians. U. S. Red line has been this use of chemical weapons. The russians are supposed to guarantee they been dismantled. Theyve been destroyed and that clearly is egg on their face as well. He mentioned egg on their face. Do you think they were surprised they thought they had dealt with chemical weapons . Its really unclear. I hope our intel people have a clear picture about. You never know. The Syrian Military and intelligence apparatus is vast and secretive than they have a lot of chemical weapons. The question is did this ordinance get overlooked arise in a deliberate . I think they would have to know that this would be very publicly received and be a Huge International story. Im not sure the entire chain of command of syria was briefed up, but clearly that its happened before and shown theyve used th in th pas maybe theyll hesitate to use them again given what is just taken place. We are not in regime change. Weve been burned in the past. This is going to keep happening. Is just a matter of time before we do this all over again. Its an interesting are country come in the region and the entire refugee crisis in so many pluses with your would you think . I think the secretary tillerson and Ambassador Haley make up the difference. I think it is a sequencing question and everybody agrees that the assad regime, whether it is assads father or bashar al assad. But nobody wants to have the vacuum in libya. The question is is his removal a precursor to a political settlement were the result of a political settlement . Right now especially to get russia, russias support in clamping down on assad, there has to be a path forward for him to step down and not be removed forcibly. Neil ambassador, thank you are a match. Thank you. We are getting a lot of email. Chemical attacks telling me the last hour that assad does have to go like now. It is about getting rid of assad coming out, getting rid of assad himself in without doing that this is going to keep happening. Of course, sir. We only understand the language of power. He believes hes above the law. He believes is russian and iranian friend will keep them from harm forever because of obamas inaction. Assad will stay in power. There is no way we are going to have peace. Theres no way you can defeat extremist groups because they will always have the recruitment tools. Neil all right. The American Islamic forum for democracy president. Weve talked about this in the past as evil and horrific as assad is, weve learned in the case of iraq toppling Saddam Hussein by which he did afterwards is just pandemonium, civil war, craziness. Certainly that is the case with libya. Im wondering if that is the fear we have about regime change the timeless experience is so we are not eager to topple assad despite the different messages out of the administration this weekend. Well, the heart wrenching narrative, my family and a lack of them in damascus. Theyve been bombarded, massacre for years now. Its not about an american regime changing the Syrian People, having a strategy. While is definitely in favor of nofly zones and helping them to feed the regime in 2011, 2012, since then we need a more strategic approach, which is remake iran and russia remove their influence so that it truly turns into a civil war. Again, but the saudi, qatari radicalization since they are only helping radical center provide safe havens in areas in which moderates can err to rebuild themselves. If we knock out assad right now, as much as feature the end of that, they will replace it with another jihadist rather than a process of revolution which the arab awakening allowed us to see. Neil you know the region so well, but i worry about the careful what you wish for. Top of the sky. Democratically elect a government are extremely few and extremely far between in this region. What makes us think getting rid of assad will believe that, unlike the ability to provide and their influence in that region. Anytime in history weve seen whether its hitler, stalin, whenever it out but its going to follow. The moral righteousness of the world is to end the genocide. To help the revolution the moral righteousness and getting rid of gadhafi and well argued. Yes. The problem with that is the Obama Administration had no followthrough. They had no process in which to help Civil Society to feed the two evils of theocratic particular is secularism. You are going to continue the cycle of the 20th century policy which was the enemy is our friend and that doesnt work. We need to start a process that capitalizes on the arab awakening that was a revolution of people that wanted freedom, that need the free world to weigh in. Not with on the ground, but to weigh and neil what you think and this spring uprising, for example, going back to egypt, they might not be that friendly to our interests. You know, that was with the Muslim Brotherhood and of course the coup that followed that. My only point in saying this is that it is the great unknown. Would we and do you think we as a country would be comparable in leaving people who alternately might form a government that would be even hostile to the United States . Well, if you look in iran, for example, the shock, as in much of a dictator he was with an iranian resolution has been horrible. Today the islamist of the last 30 years in iran would never reelect an islamist theocracy. You have to allow them at organic evolution against the processes of islamization so they can defeat e resolution with 10 Million People became to defeat the brotherhood. One year of egypt did more to destroy the ideas than 60 years of nasir and mobile. Id are government, if the Trump Administration can present away that its not like Mission Accomplished that getting rid of the next generation of transformation peacefully answer Civil Society democratically. Neil zudhi jasser, very good seeing you. Anytime, neil. Neil we have been saying that detailed tax plans are still weeks away in the white house at out longer. We will get a sense of how much further this is down the road wish on space there. Keep in mind its not just the white house that has to do this. Various committees including house ways and means in the senate so you cant point the finger at anyone. What you can surmise right now is they are not on the same page even remotely with border tax for the kind he would have brought agreement as much as they had back in 1981 with ronald reagan. Ronald rean was comfortable having them fight over the detailed studies to the principle that called for lower tax rates across the board, lower investments across the board and something ultimately phasedin. Doubtless a sort of blueprint for what they are talking about now. But its very different now. At crowne plaza we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. a bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Neil all right, you might be late, but it wont be neither. Calm down. Thats the gist of the ethos and the like and getting from Trump Supporters in the big signature event of the administration is the promised tax cut is still happening this year. The markets seem to still be betting that it will. The bond market seems to be thinking that it wont, that Interest Rates have been coming down and bumps prices have been the belief that theres not going to be much stimulus coming to these markets in the form of this tax cut spirits are to be this tax cuts. Sort of a different breed. They be an update on how the administration is doing us from this very crazy high 10th environment that is the White House Briefing. Look at these guys. Cut the tension with a knife. [laughter] sometimes you are trying to build up the drama in realife doesnt really help, folks. To the hills editorinchief im about to sack on all this and whether we could be looking at some delay and all of this. What do you think . I do think its getting late in the game. Obviously health care did not succeed and there have been mixed reports and depends on who you talk to to continue to try repeal and replace obamacare. This is very important. Steve mnuchin the treasury secretary said we should get this wrapped up by the august recess or maybe sometime in september. As you know, this is a heavy lift in a different area when they passed it last time. Republicans uniting. We havent seen a lot of that recently. Within the white house over whether they are in a border tax. We are told they are not good not keen on valueadded tax. Valueadded tax. Some of the additional means by which you would pay for tax cuts, that is if you in the end ,com,com ma republicans in general want to pay for them. They are not there. This is not to poke in anyone, either the white house or the senate are the senate or the house, kevin brady and house ways and means or speaker ryan. But they are far from on the same page on this and yet they are all coupled with getting this health care thing right this second go around. They are kind of like backing up laguardia. Yeah. If you look at the border adjustment tax, which is obviously something that kevin brady as Alice Paul Ryan are pushing very heavily and its not popular in the Senate Lindsey Graham said the tax plan would only get 10 votes in the senate. The question ryan had is if youre not going how the revenue raised, youre not that tax on imports, what else have you got . We cant cut rates as much as they want, so there is some give and take. Will the tax cuts be permanent or will they just be over 10 years . Neil when bush junior have been because the budget reconciliation, you know this stuff better than i. They couldnt make it permanent. Yeah, they want to make as much stuff permanently tax cuts. They have a long way to go and they cant rush it like they did health care. That did not work out. It has to be where the members know whats going on. They are giving paper well before leaks of what is actually the plan. Neil how are united how united our day. There is a camp within not that some of the conservatives oddly enough whod normally been worried about deficits and debt throw caution to the wind to get big tax cut during the idea of being they might lead to worse deficit in the near term, the explosion of revenues coming in. You heard the drill a dynamic accounting would be worth their while to make him look the other way on deficits. How prevailing at that deal . I think theyre mostly united on that. Publicans used as a tax reform had to be deficit neutral. They are not because we need just sat in that rationale. Democrats who are not going to help in this endeavor and Mitch Mcconnell is not expecting democrats to help, you really can only lose a few. You can only lose a couple in the senate and maybe a couple dozen in the house. Neil obviously you had neil gorsuch sworn in today. Hes going to be the justice the first time in 14 months since his death. What kind of a judge to think, sworn in by his old mentor, sort of a lightning rod socalled conservative who took moderate stances, was that what he was thought to be an egg is the key early test is going to be this Trinity Lutheran case and maturity was denied state funds to pay for renovating a playground. That would be a crucial litmus test for justice gorsuch. What you think . I think he is going to basically fill the shoes of scully appeared everybody, even before scalia died was comparing gorsuch to scalia. You dont want to begin on the bench. You have these major cases. You mention another pensions case on the docket. We are going to get a real indication. I think he is going to be with alito and tomas a lot. I also think he has an independent streak you will see. Hes not going to put them into a shoebox and say this i know how hes going to rule in certain cases. Neil the President Authority indicated he thinks he might be in a position given the age of Supreme Court justices to pick up to far more justices. That would rival the likes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to Dwight Eisenhower and others to pay court majorities. Do you think thats realistic . Four is the lot of dirt might these sites are more intense. Scalia was not a controversial nominee which is amazing to think of. Gorsuch i think did very well before congress that you have the Nuclear Option that was triggered. Without a doubt, Hillary Clinton and President Trump campaigned on you need to pick me because of the quarter. Therell probably be a couple other openings over the next couple years, whether that is four or eight years. This is where trump has to take advantage. He has momentum because he got gorsuch. What will he do with the momentum . Neil anthony kennedy, 83, Ruth Bader Ginsburg 86. You dont want to leave if you dont have to donald trump make your replacement. Thats exactly right. If you think gorsuch was a tough fight, and if theres a liberal judge being replaced by the sufferer. Simple majority. Exactly. Neil thank you very much. Editorinchief much. Editor in chief, bob cusack. We are going to the White House Briefing very soon. So much to get into including the talk about the tax cuts, judge gorsuch in what could be expected out of him. That is a big win for this president and some of the Trump White House are saying that could be the wind on his back for getting all this other stuff through. Its good. Ronald reagan was up by a lot of developments early on in his presidency. This could be donald trump which youll see. Yes . Please repeat the objective. Thrivent mutual funds. Managed by humans, not robots. Before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds. Com. Neil all right. Not too far from a White House Briefing. This is the first one weve had obviously since the tomahawk missile strike against syria last week. Get the read on all of this, what john mcguire wants to see, former navy seal. Served this country very honorably. John, if youre in north korea or in syria youre thinking twice about what the u. S. Will and wont do and that this administration has made it very clear it will do stuff. Im wondering how its changed lets say in north korea, how he is thinking . Well, first, neil, thanks for having me on your show. I think the strike in syria sent a message. Talking to my military buddies they say it is about damn time. I think weve shown weakness to it our enemies over the lasted a administration. And so it is very complicate what is going on in korea. Very complicate what is going on in syria. In navy seals they teach us ere is bully on every corner, if you dont stand up to him it keeps getting worse. I think signal is they better respect the United States. Neil the russians as you know promised not to take this sleeping. I dont know if there is another such provocative act, how they termed our tomahawk missile attack they would respond in kind. They have a ship in that region. Conversely, the chinese said it would be unwise for the americans look to arming south korea to deal with any north korean disruption. In other words the two other strong powers on earth told the superpower on earth, go slow. What do you make of that . I think it is posturing but i think trump, the Trump Administration is showing leadership and you notice a lot of allies supported his decision to bomb syria. And, leaders usually go first. They dont always win the popularity contest but it is my hope they will develop courage and join us and standing for evil, but we need to have our allies on board. We need to show strength and, certainly dont think the russians can sustain what they would need to sustain to stop us from having our influence. Neil you dont think they would stop another tomahawk missile attack if the two ships which they have now caught up in the mediterranean launch another attack . Well i think trump said when he was running for president he didnt want to get americans involved, stuck in other wars but we have to show strength. Neil right. No one wants to go to war but you have to show strength or they will walk over us. Neil what do you also make of this poll out, cbs, that shows nearly six in 10 americans support what the president did, but it better be a oneoff as the secretary of state had said . In the future you have to get congssional approval for this sort of thing . Did that tie the president s hand or that sentiment tie his hands . I think it is great idea to get congresss approval for sure but i think that americans obviously look at the election results. We won some places all over the country and americans are sick and tired of being weak and not winning. So i think, it is a good poll. Neil john, one other thing when americans are asked about how far you go in this sort of thing they dont like regimebuilding and regime changes we orchestrate and theyre leery of that. Given what happened in iraq and craziness after saddam fell, maybe what happened in libya with muammar qaddafi, there is good reason for that but weve had a lot of people say nothing changes in syria unless assad goes. Where are you on this . Well i think that we definitely have to have a good plan and it has to be a coalition. We dont want to create another isis. So it takes leadership. Definitely will take leadership and take people bringing together and listening and making a better strategic plan. Neil john mcguire, former navy seal. Thank you, john. Thank you, neil. Neil well take a quick break. Go back when sean spicer address this is crowd. The first time the administration has had a chance to talk directly to reporters post the tomahawk missile attack last week, after this. Frastruct . Think again. Frastruct . 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 arbreak through your allergies. Try new Flonase Sensimist instead of allergy pills. Its more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. Using unique mistpro technology, new Flonase Sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. Most allergy pills only block one. And six is greater than one. Break through your allergies. New Flonase Sensimist il all right. Theyre in place. Now theyre just waiting for sean spicer, White House Briefing minutes away right now. Stocks seem to be holding their own and then some, even as bonds continue to hold their own and then some. One of these markets is right. Maybe theyre both right. Smartest guy i know is Charles Payne, joins us, the host of making money with Charles Payne and he does make you money. Charles, one of the markets have to be right. They both cant be right forever, can they . I dont know, neil. Last five or six years coming into january number one trade was short the bond market and rally is over. Every year they fooled us. What we have going on is a twoproppinged thing, maybe threepronged. There is a lot of anxiety. Worried that the European Union will go from here with the French Election coming up. Then there was a distinct shift in the Way Investors invested right along the lines of the obamacare replacement bill going down in flames. In fact that week you saw a 16 billion come out of equity funds and more than that, 12 billion, 12 1 2 billion go into bond funds. So, investors have been shifting, just a little bit concerned about the timeline. You talked about it a lot so far on this show today, about the timeline of the trump agenda. Neil we should say bonds are doing well. Theyre expecting no big stimulus. Either theyre not expecting tax cuts or not that big news on tax cuts. They could be wrong. Stock market seems to be pricing that in to your point. But if the tax cuts are significantly delayed, play that out for me. A lot depends on what happens with the economy in it self. One thing we dont talk enough about the idea that is abouts have been in a Holding Pattern for a long time. Neil, they want to grow and they are taking chances right now they would not have taken under a Hillary Clinton administration. So some of this rally, some of this economic excitement that by the way has manifested beyond jobs is because businesses are finally putting money to work. Were entering the earnings season. This is expected to be the best round of earnings weve seen in a very, very long time. Neil why is that, by the way . Why is it . Made an inflection. Last two quarters yearoveryear improvement in earnings. We hadnt seen that for five or six quarters and were building that sort of economic momentum. Last week, i follow the minutia, last week Company Called greenbrier, they make railcars. Who would care . They had amazing numbers, amazing results. They signed a gargantuan deal to provide railcars the next five years. These are underpinnings things were seeing buttresses idea that this market could be okay, not with standing going higher. Artificial timelines on things should get done i think the market is ignoring although the sooner the better. Neil obviously this will be the first White House Briefing since the tomahawk missile attack that lifted President Trumps poll numbers a little bit. Most americans support the move. They want to be sure he gets congressional okay doing it again . Do you think Something Like that helps on other agenda items . I think more americans feel confident in the president and Foreign Policy more confident they will feel on domestic economy and puts pressure on those trying to push back against them. Lets be clear, most of the essential push back from his own party. Neil thats right. Organization around infrastructure, tax cuts, obamacare replacement, there has to be a lot smarter behind the scenes. I like the idea, throw away timetables, stop talking about it to us in the public and press and get something done behind the scenes. Neil well the timetables, theyre real to me, only because of expectations game and knowing how a Midterm Election could complicate things. That i agree, plenty of Trump Supporters say neil, youre a global i. When they say globalist, are they talking about my waistline . They dont like me. Here is what im worried about, the markets are holding up remarkably well to your point, i think in large part on expectation this is going to come to pass. I know i raised this a number of ways with you. If you only get lets say a Corporate Tax this year, you said in the past, that would be enough to keep this rally going, right . A Corporate Tax and economic momentum would be enough in my mind. Last earnings season we had we saw nine of 11 s p sectors had accelerated growth. We saw Revenue Growth and Earnings Growth accelerated. If we get something similar to that First Quarter of this year, that is your momentum. That is your true economic Momentum Matters a lot more for a lot of people. To your point, only one thing, i would say tax cuts have to be number one. That maybe not how it works on paper. I know the obamacare savings become a great baseline for some of the lost revenue and cbo scoring all that kind of stuff, as far as market is concerned, earnings are mothers mick of higher stock prices. Cut the Corporate Taxes you instantly add a lot of vigor to the rally and bottom line. Neil justify the multiples. What i heard from a lot of conservative republicans changing their tune whether tax cuts should be paid for. Theyre willing to roll the dice to see deficits getting worse than better. Dynamic accounting producing more revenues down the road. I dont know whether that will be a prevailing view but what do you make of that . If you lived through ronald reagan, you study ronald reagan, you say you believe in supplyside econmics you have to a certain degree make positive assumptions about the idea that lower taxes means that more money flows through the economy. Velocity of money gets higher. As that happens, revenue gets to the treasury department. Instead of getting there in one big chunk it may get there in four smaller chunks. Those smaller chunks create Economic Opportunity for other entities. Neil im a little over fended that you assume i would remember ronald reagan. Hinting that i might be old. Youre a historian. Neil touche, touche. Thank you. Neil what a brainiac he made brilliant calls. Were waiting White House Briefing. Sean spicer comes in. We take a quick break and leave the break. That is how we roll. That is who which are, after this. Neil heres spicer. Didnt get a chance to go down to florida. This morning in the rose garden the president was honored to host the swearingin associate justice neil gorsuch. His confirmation the cull administration of a thoughtful deliberative process that the president started almost a year ago when he released his initial list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court. In september he released a final deftive list promising only to select from these individuals who would continue the legacy of the great just sis scalia on the bench. He will protect our constitution for generations. Definitely a great day to kick off the week with another productive week you will see here at the white hoe. Before i get to the upcoming week, a couple updates from over the weekend. President spoke with Prime Minister of sweden to express our condolences for the loved ones killed in fridays terrorist attack in central stockholm sweden and to wish a speedry recovery for those who were wounded. The president also called president elsisi yesterday to convey his deepest condolences to egypt and families that lost loved ones in the heinous attack. Dozens were killed and many more injured on the holy palm sunday. United states condemns in the strongest terms bar rare i can attacks on christians place of worship in tanta and alexandria. He spoke with the king of saudi arabia, Prime Minister of japan, acting president of south korea all about the night military strike on the airfield in syria. All the leaders expressed support for the United States necessary action in response to the horrible chemical and bomb attack on innocent civilians. Yesterday he spoke with commander andrea slow, the Commanding Officer of the uss porter and russell caldwell, the Commanding Officer of the uss ross to thank them and their teams for successfully carrying out the strike. During the calls he communicated he could not be proud of the crews of these two ships and flawless execution of these operations. As you know these ships, between the two of them sent 59 tomahawk missiles and each of them hit all of their targets showing americas power and militarys accuracies which is just a small representation of our militarys overall cality and a fraction of what this president will continue to build up the military to be throughout his administration. The sight of people being gassed and blown away by barrel bombs insures if we see this kind of action again we hold open the possibility of future action. The resulting action of what happened insured that fueling operation is gone from this air facility. 20 of their fixedwing aircraft were destroyed and knocked out. By all measures the world and domestic reaction was highly laudable for the president s action. Additionally obviously were all aware the president had a very successful visit with the chinese president and it concluded on friday. As you have read one of the most Significant Developments from these discussions was the agreement to create a 100 day initial plan hopefully with tangible nearterm deliverables to lead to a more balanced economic relationship between our two countries. As that develops well make sure that we provide you with additional details. This morning the president was glad to see toyota announced it will spend 1. 33 billion in its kentucky plant as part of its plan to invest 10 billion in america over the next five years. A continued signal of the confidence that businesses have in the American Economy under President Trump. Now in terms of the week ahead, tomorrow the president will have a discussion on strategy and policy with several members of his cabinet and a group of ceos. This is followup from his meeting with 20 ceos from the strategic and policy forum just this past february with some of the same Business Leaders and some new ones. First they will meet in small interactive groups, each led by a cabinet member to discuss the priorities for those cabinet secretaries and their agencies. The president will then oversee a report that we presented to the group by the group, rather. The cabinet level participant will be secretary of commerce ross, secretary of education devos, epa administrator pruitt, omb director mulvaney and secretary of transportation elaine chao. Well have the full list of additional participants for you later. As part of the effort to deescalate the conflict in syria and press for a political process that can resolve the conflict and eventually result in a transition after new legitimate syrian leadership u. S. Special envoy for syria will be coming to washington tomorrow for consultations with the state department and with National Security advisor mcmaster here at the white house and among others. He is overseeing political talks among syrian parties in geneva. On wednesday well welcome the secretary of nato, general stoltenberg. They will have a joint press conference later in the afternoon. The president plans to spend the Easter Holiday in florida and return to the white house on sunday. As the president noted today. We, as we hit day 81 in the president s administration, we have done so many great things including nominating an confirm a Supreme Court justice, roll back more regulations than any other president in modern times. Rolled back the obama era war on coal and oil and natural gas, restored confidence in the economy. Were seeing historic level of consumer, ceo, homebuilder manufacturer confidence. There is 12 bain in the stock market. Weve even seen a real resurgence in the mining industry. Woe reduced illegal border crossings by 60 to the lowest level in two decades and implemented historic ethics reforms and lobbying ban and lifetime foreign ban. With that, i would be glad to take your questions. Why is it okay to bomb syria but not okay to assist the refugees, number one, and two, what is the Administration Reaction to russia saying we are running a danger of a real war with them in the middle east . Well respect to, number one the reason that we took action was multifold, stop the proliferation and deterrents of chemical weapons. When you see mass weapons of destruction being used, it should be a concern to every nation. Especially our own people. The proliferation of those weapons pose a grave threat to our National Security. So number one, we have to stop that. Number two, we have to stop isis. But with respect to the people of syria, by us taking action, and deescalating whats going on in syria, that is the greatest thing you can do to support those people. Desescalating conflict there, containing isis is the greatest aspect of humanitarian relief we can provide first and foremost. Secondly, creating aasn which we can work with allies including russia and committing to insuring that there are places that dont, that are free from violence and places free for people to gather a safe place is another because, i think everyone would agree that the last thing people want to do there is leave. They want to stay there. They want to be in syria. They want a safe place to remain with their families and not be separated. So our number one priority is to defeat isis but were also i think from a humanitarian standpoint and refugee standpoint insuring we create an environment that provides a safe place for them to ultimately remain. And then on russia, in particular, you know, look i think that if you look at the countries that are with us, it speaks pretty loudly the number of countries that have stood shoulder to shoulder with this president. Russia on the other handstands with syria, north korea and iran. I think when you contrast the two groups of countries sets it is pretty clear were on the right side of this issue. Reporter means you commit troops . No, what is means the action we took last week is widely praised domestically and internationally to deter the proliferation of chemical weapons and actions against innocent people. When you watch babies and chirp being gassed and suffer under barrel bombs you are instantaneously moved to action. I think this president made it very clear if those actions were to continue, further action will definitely be considered by the United States. We continue to urge further, the World Community to join us in this, in both stopping deterrents and proliferation of use of those weapons but in further trying to create a political environment that will result in new leadership. Those are very important. They go hand in hand. Reporter are we building a coalition . I think we have a coalition. Look who is not with us, it is a pretty small group. Not a group that too many people are looking to bring on board. You have iran, syria, north korea and russia on one side of this. That is pretty small group. Reporter sean, President Trump spoken out extensively the crimes of Bashar Alassad in syria. Does the president consider assad a war criminal and does he believe eventually the assad appear before the icc . One is twofold. Creating necessary environment for Syrian People to have new leadership there. I dont think there is, i cant imagine, a stable and peaceful syria where the Bashar Alassad is in power. I think we all recognize that happens and there can be a multipronged approach. We are insuring that isis is contained and there is deescalation of the proliferation of chemical weapons at the same time creating environment for a change in leadership. Reporter does the president believe assad has committed war crimes . I think there is a court that decides those things and obviously there is a reason that, while i clearly the actions when you take an action against the people that he has i think we feel unbelievably confident in the intelligence we have but again that would be something for a court to decide. Charlie. Reporter a lot of people are talking about what the trump dock tin is forei policy. What it may or may not incde, president even stated he was very flexible. Do you know what the trump doctrine is on Foreign Policy and can you explain it to us . Yeah i think the trump doctrine is something that he articulated throughout the Campaign America is first. Well make sure our National Interests are protected. That we do what we can to make sure that our interests both economically and National Security are at the forefront. Well not become the worlds policeman running around the world but we have to have a clear and defined National Interest wherever we act. It is our National Security first and foremost that has to deal with how we act. Reporter action in syria fits in that doctrine . Absolutely. If you recognize the threat that our country and our people face if there is a growth of use or spread of chemical weapons of mass destruction, those, the proliferation of those, the spread to other groups is a clear danger to our country and to our people. Kristin. Sean, thank you, follow up what you were saying about Bashar Alassad. Are you saying defeating isis and getting Bashar Alassad out of power through a political process should happen at the same time . Im not trying, how you sequence them but i dont think theyre mutually exclusive. I dont think you have to do one or others. I think they kind ever go hand in hand. As you reduce isiss strength. As you deescalate the conflict in syria, the political environment to remove him bams stronger and stronger. Just to b, secretary tillerson over the weekend said we can navigate a political ow come which the Syrian People will determine bash alassas legitimacy. Nikki haley seemed to align. She said no way we sea peace in the area with assad as head of syrian government. Who reflects i dont think they are mutually exclusive statements. Reporter why not . One of them is saying we dont see peace with him in charge. The other is saying we need to have him gone. I think that is the point of both. The goal for both of them, the goal for the United States is twofold of as i stated one to make sure we destablize syria, destablize the conflict there, reduce the threat of isis but then secondly is create the political environment not just within the Syrian People but i think you can have, work with russia in particular to make sure they understand that syria backed up by russias own accounting should be held accountable for the agreements it has made with respect to its International Agreements on chemical weapons alone. Can you isis with assad still in power . Yes. Sure. But i think that, i think you can defeat isis with him in power. Obviously to your point it is not like there is a single track that says if we can get both at the same time, or one happens after another that is fine as well. I think we obviously the number one threat america face is isis in that region. Weve got to make sure we do everything we can do to that. Reporter finally when secretary of state tillerson meets with his russian counterpart . What is the message or potentially threaten more sanctions with he is on his way there tomorrow. I will let secretary tillerson about his meeting with mr. Lavrov. There is a lot of things obviously to discuss. The overall fight on isis. With respect to syria if particular, we need to remind them of commitment they made and commitment syria made. Reporter [inaudible] first and foremost we need to make sure we all understand what the situation is on the ground. There is no question who acted in this case and what syria did. And i think that we need to make sure that russia fully understands the actions that assad took, the commitments that syria has made, and russia as equally agreed to those same understanding. So getting them back on the same page first and foremost would seem the logical step but secondly and i guess equally as important to make sure that the areas we can find commitment to it defeat isis is something we share. Major . Reporter so what the president wants the secretary of state to put the threat of sanctions on