Report. Now, were going to go through all the numbers in a moment, but that headline number, inflation 3. 4 , thats going to be factored into the federal reserves Interest Rate strategy, all right . If heres the markets reaction. Investors like this. The dow industrials up maybe 150, nasdaq up maybe 80, 90 points. Ful the 10year treasury yield, its coming down. Its off 7 basis points, all the way back to 4. 36. Stock Market Investors really like that. The 2year treasury yield also on the downside is, 7 basis points, 4. 74 right there. Bitcoins going up, 63,7000 at latest count. Gold is going up, 2376. Its up 16. Oil, not Much Movement. Youre at 77 a barrel, and gas, again, not Much Movement there, its at an arrange price of 3. 60 for regular if diesel, no change, 3. 93. All right, lets get to politics. Biden does it again can. He says inflation was at 9 when he took office. It was not, it was 1. 4 . Why does the president repeat the error . He seems to be denying reality. Hes imposed huge tariffs on a variety of products from china many. That is inflationary. Hes put a 100 er tariff on chinese evs. Hes protecting the domestic Auto Industry which just happens to be centered in the electorally important state of michigan. Separately, the wall street journal reports a 1 billion weapons deal with israel. This seems to be a reversal of the arms embargo. Donald trump has been anything but quiet, or silent, i should say. He thinks biden will get out of the race, and he probably wont pick his Vice President until the Republican Convention many in july. One more item, and this is a big deal, biden says he wants to do two face to face tv debates with trump in june and september. On the show today, the left takes a hit at uncchapel hill. The trustees have take the telephone over 2 million out of the diversity, bity and includes program if given it to the campus police. Dei cut, and the cops get more money. How about that . Its wednesday, may 15th, 2024. Or Varney Company is about to begin. If very superstitious stuart a rainy morning here in new york city. Superstition by stevie wonderer or opens the show for us. Lets get going. Ing the inflation numbers, this is a big deal. It had big impact. The numbers on your screen, 3. 4 inflation over the last year. Lauren let me color it in a little bit. Prices still going up,3. 4 in april, that is down from march. Thats why youre seeing this reaction in the stock and bonds market. The big drivers of inflation, in fact, responsible for over 70 of it, rent and gas. Lets deal with gas first. Transportation rising more than 11 in the past year. Shelter up 5 a. 5 . Elsewhere, food prices up more than 2 . Ditto for energy, but almost a 7 decline in the price of a used vehicle. At the core level, minus food and energy which are volatile, 3. 6 . Thats the rate of inflation annually, and that is the lowest in three years. Now the thinking on wall street is two rate cuts this year, september, then december. Stuart really . Thats the expectations there . Lauren, thank you. Shah ghailani joins we now. Whats your reaction to the 3. 4 inflation at the consumer level . Its as expected, stuart. I think the markets going to continue to rally are. I were probably going to go into the second leg of the bull market that started in july. The runway is clear now because inflation, whether it pperks up. And i dont think were done seeing Inflation Spot higher herethere markets have figured out that the fed will eventually cut rates no matter what inflation if does. I but in the meantime, the economys handling higher rates beautifully. We still have growth with, Economic Growth is fabulous. It may be a little bit below trend as of the hot trend last year and a half, two years, but its cooled down enough to be manageable. Nonetheless, or inflation remains high. Everything else seems to be going. Nothing is broken. We thought banks were going the break, commercial real estate was going to bring down some banks, everythings been managed so far. The longer rates stay elevated and the better the economys able to handle it, the for markets are going to go higher. That thats what theyre seeing and doing. Stuart so the second leg of the bull market is about to start the or has started. Summarize it like that. . Yeah. The only thing that could cause a hiccup. In that, stuart, is as ive been saying on your show is that if we see rates creep back up. And that means that maybe the 2year would get back above 2 , the 01year would get 10year would yet back above 4. 70. Barring that, markets have a clear runway. Stuart were a long way from that a right now. Shah ghailani, thank you very much. Thats the financial markets, lets turn to politics. President biden has challenged donald turn to two televised debate withs. One in june, the other in september. Roll tape. Donald trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then he hasnt shown up for a debate. Now hes acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. Ill even do it twice. Lets pick the dates, donald. I hear youre free on wednesday. Stuart trump fired right back. Quote with Crooked Joe Biden is the worst debater i ive ever faced. Im ready the go. The dates that they are proproposing are fine. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Look whos here in new york with me right now . Karl rove. Ideally suited to comment on this debate news. What have you got to say . First of all, nobody if wants to be seen as the person who count doesnt want to debate, because that is the person who loses. It looked like donald trump was i want to debate and the white house has been quiet. This is a recognition that he either needs to look like he wants to debate and debate or, or hed be in trouble. Stuart it depends on what kind of debate its going to be. Two two televised debatesesome. Yeah, and, look, there are two issues here. One is the commission, which is a pain to deal with, everybody hates the commission, but they do have the value of saying here are the things, heres the rules that were going to set down. And so the number of things you have to negotiate on are limited. I be it takes a lot of time. But it takes a lot of time. Sometimes it was like, you know, whats the temperature going to be in the room, and your arguing over should it be 62 or 66, that kind of stuff. Stuart not with this one, because theyre going to set their own rules. Well, but thats going to be even tough or or to do because now theyre going to have to do the whole panoply of things to discuss, and we could get hung up there. The big question is going to be this Commission Debates have large audiences because you have to have a venue. First debate this year was going to be at Texas State University in san marcus, texas, the chancellor had to go out and raise a bunch of money. Now with the debate in june and september, the question is are you going to have a big venue or do it like we did in 19600 where you had a studio, the moderator, a couple of news people to ask questions and a up couple of News Executives and the crew, and that was it. I think that, frankly, would be with better for the country because wed see these two guys without all the drama. You know, it wouldnt be donald trump bringing in bill clintons girlfriends, all that kind of stuff. Stuart i moving on. White House Press SecretaryKarine Jeanpierre was grilled about bidens poor poll numbers in swing states. Watch this. Reporter why do you think americans are so down on President Biden right now . What do you mean . Reporter it doesnt seem like anything you guys are doing is making him more popular. Why do you think that is . Youre sensitive enough and openminded enough to understand that this is, that not just this country, but global wily people globally people have had to deal with a pandemic. And the president a had a lot to deal with when he walked in if, a lot. A lot of crises. And this is a president that took that the very, very seriously and took action. Stuart karl, whats your opinion . Why doesnt anything seem to be working . Because everything they try is the wrong thing. The economy last year was lose su, is so what do they say . Bide mom you cans is working. Look, i took a marking class when i was a fresh ifman. I i learned if youve got a terrible product, dont schaap your name on it. People are concerned about dealing with a 19 or 20 increase in prices over the course of this administration and a decline in the median household income, thats a problem. James carville said these people dont know how to deal with people where theyre living in the economy. David axlerod said, you know, im worried about biden not being able to ever these with people and what theyre going through empathize. Those are the last two guys who ran winning president ial campaigns for the democrats, and they are on the record saying the messaging of this administration is terrible. Stuart trump thinks that the democrats will eventually pull President Biden as the 2024 nominee. Watch this. I think at some point he goes out. I think so. What do i know . I can only say that here he is, and he was never the sharpest bulb in the room ever. And now hes its so dangerous for our country. You know, were dealing with putin, were doing with dealing with president , and if i of china, kim jong un, were dealing with these people that are 100 at the top of their game, and and they didnt cant believe it. Stuart theres the all this speculation that the Chicago Convention is when they ease biden out and bring somebody else in first of all, im shocked that the president s running for reelection, and im or shocked that jill biden and his sister, valley biden owen, have not said go out on top, say youve had a successful four year wees, be the transitional forget you promised the more than people. But the reason he is racing is running is he has convinced himself hes the only democrat who can beat trump. So i think the likelihood of him pulling out before the Democratic Convention or before the november election is slim and none. I will say this is not unusual for president trump. In may of 2020 he believed that if he attacked biden too much, that barack obama would step in and force andrew cuomo on to the ticket with Michelle Obama as his running mate which was a completely lunatic idea, but with people had convinced him that this was going to happen. And i know this because i was summoned to a meeting to dispel this was anything except a lunatic recommendation. Stuart tales from the campaign trail of yesteryear. Good stuff. Karl, im afraid you didnt bring your whiteboard with you. You know, i had some here at the mother ship, but people have been stealing them [laughter] stuart theyre valuable. No, theyre useful. Theyre not valuable, but they are expensive, and and i have to buy my own. I dont need a wardrobe budget, i need a white board budget. Stuart see what i can do. Karl, thank you for joining us. Check futures real fast, please. Plenty of green out there. Dows up 150, nasdaq up about 1000 points. Heres whats coming up, President Biden repeated the false claim that inflation was at 99 when he came 9 when he came into office. Roll it. I think inflation has gone slightly up, it was more than 9 when i came in, and its now down around 3 . Stuart Number Two Senate republican john thune says inflation is the keyer issue this november. Key issue. Thune is on the show. Congressman cory mills defended trump outside the new york city courthouse yesterday. Watch this. What did we learn here today . What weve learned is that Michael Cohen, whos has no credibility, who has perjured himself multiple times, has actually admitted to defrauding the Trump Organization. Stuart mills calls this election or interference at a its finest. Mills is next. If. voya there are some things that work better together. Like your Workplace Benefits and retirement savings. Presentation looks great. Thanks thanks voya provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices so you can reach todays financial goals. That one and look forward, to a more confident future. That is one dynamic duo. 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Since starting golo and release, i have dropped seven pant sizes and ive kept it off. Golo is real, our customers are real, and our Success Stories are real. Why not give it a try . Stuart Michael Cohen was grilled by trumps lawyers during yesterdays crossexamination in the new york criminal trial. Nate foy is outside the courthouse. Cohen will be are back on the stand again tomorrow. Okay, nate, what happens after cohen is done testifying . Reporter well, stuart, after hes done testifying, trumps lawyers will have the opportunity to bring their own witnesses forward. And we have more on that in a moment. But first, a report on what happened so far in co, hens testimony. Cohens testimony. Trumps lawyers focusing on his credibility concerns as well as his animosity towards the former president. Can cohen admits that he wants to see trump convicted in this trial and also acknowledged that he relentlessly attacks him on social media, also on his podcast he acknowledged reasoning trump in each of his 200 podcast episodes. Cohen admitted to lying before congress and to special prosecutors. He said he received reimbursement payments by sending false monthly invoices and receiving personal checks, sometimes sign id signed by trump himself. Cohen claimed his loyalty shifted in 2018 when he pleaded guilty to federal Campaign Finance violations and tax evasion. Todd man. Asked cohen if hes obsessed with trump. Cohen responded, quote i dont know if i would call it obsessed, i admired him tremendously. Now he admits to saying things like trump belongs in a cage. But trump cant respond publicly because of the gag order. An Appellate Court denied trumps challenge of that yesterday which led the former president to say this while leaving the courthouse you have a constitutional problem without with an ability to say anything about your own case. I am not allowed to talk about big portions of my case. Is and nothing hike thats ever happened. Reporter so cohen is the prosecutions final witness and, again, i mentioned how trumps lawyer can call their own witnesses after that. Right now they plan if on calling an expert if witness to the stand, stuart. But first, at 4 00 tomorrow their going to discuss the parameters of that question with judge merchan. Well see what comes of that. Back to you. Tawrt stuart got it, nate. Ing congressman corey mill, republican from florida, joins me now. Congressman, you were in the courtroom. Did Michael Cohen do any real damage to trump yesterday . No, varney, or i actually dont think he did any damage to trump, but he certainly did to the prosecution. If you think a