things in the campaign that haunted him and no one gave him the benefit of the doubt and then he continued to drive -- >> he does not deserve the benefit the of the doubt >> all right folks, thank you very much. jared, sarah, we appreciate it as we get to the top of the hour on power lunch, let's bring in kelly evans and bill griffith to join us as they will carry forward. we're giving you a big hand-off here, folks. it has been a wild two hours with lots of news. i know you'll be following it exhaustively >> somehow, i think it's not over yet, tyler, yes we're going to pick up the ball from here. thank you, folks we'll see you a little bit later. if you're just joining us and you haven't heard yet somehow, business leaders bailing on trump. two key business advisory councils have been disbanded after more ceos quit in the aftermath of the criticism over mr. trump's respond to the deadly violence in charlottesville this weekend the president himself gave a fiery response to the ceo departures yesterday let's all remember what he said. >> some of the folks that will leave, they're leaving out of embarrassment because they make their products outside and i've been lecturing them, including the gentleman that you're referring to, you have to bring it back to this country. >> yes that was yesterday in what became an impromptu press conference that now has embroiled him even more deeply and caused several ceos to leave, manufacturing councils, get together and decide they want to pull out entirely of the strategic and policy forum andrew and iowa man are standing by with more on the fallout. andrew, let's again with you >> let's bring you up to date. the president has said he is disbanding these groups, but let there be no doubt, both of these groups deciding to disband, unmask themselves. resignation of dozens at this point deciding that it wasn't because of embarrassment about their own roles, but in part, outrage and furry over president trump's comments over the past several days just to put a quick timeline on this, a lot took place this morning, but in fact, it started in truth, some time late sunday and early monday as a number of ceos began a series of informal telephone calls among themselves about how to react, what to do, and perhaps whether they should unite to resign. there was some pushback early on monday to wait to hear what the president might say. of course he did come out with his statement, potentially even the possibility that the council's koul put out their own statements condemning what took place over the weekend, but this all reached a boiling point tuesday afternoon, after president trump doubled down on his statements and by tuesday evening, the dye had been cast, calls were set up. they originally planned to have the calls on tuesday evening for to begin this process. and they did ultimately take place on wednesday throughout much of this we should say steve schwarzman had been in contact with the white house updating them on where many on the council sat on these particular issues. and we should say that a lot of was driven early on my a number of female ceos mary barra at gm and jenny had a number of informal telephone calls our soils tell us along with larry and jamie who was in a particularly complicated role given that not only does he run jpmorgan, he's now the chairman of the round table on behalf of 200 ceos i want to read two quick statements from two of the members that were on that committee. mary bara who did have early conversations about whether to resign writing to her employees, general motors is about unity and inclusion, so am i, recent events require that we come together as a country and reinforce values in our deals that unite us. tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and speak against those who divide us, racism, bigotry larry fink also sending a memo to his employees this morning. he writes in part, while i have disagreed with the president in certain instances this year, i continued to participate in the forum because i believed it was important to have a voice at the table for investors, including our clients. unfortunately after the last few days, i concluded i could no longer in good conscious participate in the forum it wasn't just the comments that the president made over the weekend and doubling down on it tuesday afternoon, which clearly outraged many of these executives it was also the way the president treated both kim fraser in reaction to his decision to get off of the manufacturing council and then later a comment that was made about doug mcmillen's walmart after he sent a statement out to his employees condemning both the violence and the president's reaction on monday evening that's all from here >> before we let you go, andrew, and before aman. i'm going to sound cynical, but i was intrigued that within the statement that the council put out to announce the disbanding, they also pointed out -- it wasn't just them -- voting their conscious, but they went out of their way to point out they've been hearing from employees and customers on this issue. and you wonder how much that really played into this as well. >> my understanding is pretty much across the board, a lot of these ceos were hearing from their employees both formerly, informally, e-mails, phone calls, comments literally at the office and of course, customers were sending in notes as well it should be noted, this cuts both ways. you go on social media right now, and there are people applauding these ceos, calling his decisions brave and there are others on the other side of this situation who may boycott and protest some of these companies. so, that's -- it's complicated >> and what about the president's inner circle andrew, thank you. for more on it, the decision to disband the forums puts more stress on the cabinet. >> yeah, that's right, the president has left trump tower and the white sanitation trucks just pulled out of here moments ago. the president on his way to bedminister, new jersey, where he'll continue this working vacation he's been on for the past several days. although there hasn't been much vacationing in that working vacation recently. you heard andrew talking about the president characterizing as this himself disbanding these councils here's what the president tweeted a little while ago rather than putting pressure on the business people of the manufacturing council and strategic and policy forum, i am ending both. thank you all. the president there saying that this was his initiative, not the ceos initiative to end these councils we'll see what the ceos have to say about that as you heard from andrew just a few minutes ago. meanwhile, just enormous amounts of speculation about whether or not that was the last shoe to drop today or not. we so far have not seen any indication that there is any movement inside the president's team here at trump tower or down at the white house in washington, d.c. not clear exactly who's traveling with him we're trying to figure that out right no to bedminister, new jersey a lot of speculation focussed on those people on his team who were standing next to him during that fiery press conference yesterday. gary kohn, steven mnuchin, elaine chow was standing there as well. all of them have been very quiet. there's been reporting in media outlets that some, all, or various members were disappointed, frustrated, angry with the president's comments. so far publicly, no indication that there's any movement at all on the trump staff so we'll continue to monitor that as the afternoon goes on, guys, back over to you >> all right eamon, thank you let's bring in former walmart usa bill simon, mr. simon, we spoke on monday when this was all first happening, and you had said like some others who chose to stay on the councils that if good people will not engage on these critical issues, where will we be i ask you given his press conference yesterday, would you have joined those who then left the councils and said that they couldn't continue working with this white house >> well, i won't criticize any of those who -- based on their conscious decided to walk away the fact that the president makes insensitive remarks and does it on a frequent basis without thinking is not new news he's done that all through the campaign and they knew that when they joined the council. the question that i would have to ask myself and the one that i'm sure they wrestled with it where do we go from here we still need tax reform we still need health care reform we still need to run this country. and now, they don't have aseat at the table and now the president doesn't have the best assets that he has to move forward. i can in no way defend what the president has said or done, but we have to figure out a way to move forward and i think that's what's most concerning today >> you sound like you're willing to forgive what he said so that you can get back to the business of tax reform and, you know, the rest of the president's agenda, am i reading that wrong or right? >> you're reading it wrong there's no way to forgive what he said. i think the question that you have to ask yourself is, how do we move forward? what he said can never be condoned and never been forgiven, never be understood by most americans, but he's still the president of the united states and if we're -- if we're sort of resigning ourself to the fact that we're going to have three and a half more years of inactivity on these major issues, we're -- dwloon we can stand that -- we have to figure out a way to go forward. i wouldn't go to dinner with him, but i would probably figure out a way to work with him if you can work with him. >> let me bring up with jamie diamond said, nobody was more bow i have is reduce on the economic issues that face this country right now, not the least of which is corporate tax reform, even jamie diamond came out very strongly and said, i just can't work under these circumstances after those statements were made and he felt very strongly about that so, you know, i'm not trying to put you into a corner here, but you seem to be differing on the response to what the president said and looking past it to be able to get back to the issue that faces the economy right now. >> i don't know that anybody, any americans will ever be able to get passed the comments i think the question is what do we do from here? so are we going to choose to bring everything to a grinding halt because we have a president by the way that we elected knowing the way he was or are we going to figure out a way to move forward i'm not going to say support him. be signed by him, done by the administration. and if we're saying as jamie did, and i respect him he's a brilliant person. that we're no longer able to engage, we're saying nothing's going to happen. and i just don't know that we can take three and a half more years of nothing happening i think maybe the braver, the bigger way would be as distasteful as it might be, try to figure out a way to move forward. >> i wonder if the ceos got a call from the president and said i want to ask you, you know, what you think about this. i'm sure they would take the call, right? do you think that in a way this is a symbolic move meant to send a message to the president and to the public or do you think they will actuallying with trump >> i don't know the answer to that i'm sure they would still take a phone call, my question would be would the president call them now? he doesn't seem to be that sort of a forgiving person. >> he does tend to remember slights. if that's the case, who do you think he is going to be talking to >> i don't know. that's my worry. if good people don't engage, we're left with people who aren't as good as the ones originally selected. and that's the challenge if anything's going to be done, it's going to be done by not by the best people that we have and that's troublesome >> all right bill, thank you for joining us >> thanks. >> my pleasure >> bill simon is the former ceo of walmart usa let's talk about the markets right now. within the context of what's been happening in washington and new york city today, the dow up 28 points was higher than that, we've seen the equity markets come back a little bit nothing major. two other markets of note today, gold prices have gone higher, clearly, not by a whole lot, but enough that it's -- you notice it, and the dollar has moved lower both as the dollar index and against some of the major currencies overseas. so, we're seeing that kind of a market response today. let's talk about it with our guests right now kevin nickelson from river front investment group is with us here at post nine, so is kenny from laneil securities and rick santelli checks in from chicago. kevin, i've got to ask the obvious question, how this affects you as a professional and as an african american man with what's been going on the last few days here >> i mean, you know, it's just devastating all the way around i think that when you look at this, you see that and you know that the trump agenda has been totally derailed at this point we have been looking for infrastructure building as part of the third tenant of his agenda that was probably going to come in 2018. i don't see that happening now when you have lost the business community's credibility, then you have an issue because when you think about the infrastructure building, it was public and private partnership and if the business community has now stepped away, it's going to be kind of hard to find that private partnership. >> and this was all taking place at an event that was supposed to tout his infrastructure initiatives. not much of that was discussed, and today was supposed to be the launch of naft negotiations and you're not hearing anything about that we have a brady out there trying to talk about tax reform and it doesn't feel like his message is going to be heard when everybody's consumed by how they're even supposed to interact with that white house >> i don't think the message will be consumed until we get through this i think the whole issue today is consuming markets, consuming kind of the conversation as bill simon pointed out, really where you go from here, not that anybody, myself included is condoning anything that happened, but if you're trying to engage a business community, in order to advance the policies or to come up with policies and initiatives, where do you go from here? and he points out, the people that left, trump's certainly not going to call up and say i was kidding, come on back, or he's going to reach out to now who's next and who is is going to be advising and then, therefore, for the market >> rick, i mean, i'm sure you've got comments to make here. i'm curious your thoughts on the market response in particular, again, it wasn't a huge response, but clearly gold was going up, that safe haven plate that we saw go higher during the crisis last week involving north korea and the dollar just continues to set lows again here >> yeah, i think on the dollar maybe the headlines of the day or the last couple of days might have taken a toll. hard to say, you're right. for the most part, it's been weak we did experience a bit of a turn around, especially in the euro which give a bit of a more positive look to the dollar that's dissipated today. you know, when i look at equities, we're getting a different message. and granted they're not on the highs of the day, but never spent a significant amount of time in negative territory and my read is that everything everybody's saying of course, these are big issues that repeal and replace didn't pass because ceos didn't vote for it it's because the senate didn't vote for it. and that really hasn't changed with respect to tax policy i understand the dynamics and the show of force having all the business people at a table it's good op-ed. it's good photo ops is what it is but i'm not so sure that tax policy can't move if we don't have these committees, if they've disbanded because really the only committee on tax policy that matters right now is congress >> and kevin, i mean, to that point, there have been plenty of separate deregulatory initiatives moving along in the background here. how big of a loss is it and do you think that maybe congress says okay well if we can't run, you know, on the coat tails of this president in the midterms, then we better have something else that we can show our constituents >> yeah, i think that congress is going to have to come up with their own plan, and they're going to have to start stepping across the aisle and working, you know, with the democrats and republicans. they're going to have to work together because otherwise, we're going to be at a standstill >> do you expect though that democrats would take this opportunity to come together with them in a bipartisan way or are they going to in some ways take the moral high ground and say, you know, we are not engaging and kind of keep this on the entire republican party and say, he's your president >> you know, i would hope that they don't do that just because you would like to see, you know, the unify the country because we have been, you know, broken apart enough and we've had enough pain over the last week or so and, you know, i think it's time for us to unite >> amen. good to see you all. thank you. appreciate it, kevin nickelson, kenny, rick, thanks for joining us appreciate it. we've got 40 minutes left on the trading session. the dow up 27. you see it there, the s&p, the nasdaq trying to hang on to some gains here the russell is in negative territory. the president disbanding his manufacturing council and the strategic and policy forum after the ceos were quitting anyway. when we come back, head live to washington find out how top republican leaders are reacting to the latest news and president trump's controversial comments over the racial violence in charlottesville. plus ken fraser for being the first to resign from the manufacturing council. coming up, the ceo of another drug maker joins us to denefd fraser's action. we'll be right back. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. today he was disbanding his business councils after the mass ceo exodus joining us right now, former office depot's ceo on the phone here steve, welcome back. your first blush response to what's been going on today >> well, look, i think that the events in charlotte are very disturbing and violence and hatred of any sort should not be tolerated, but i think it's in times like these that business leaders can and should play an important role first of all from a public standpoint, they should be calling for calm, they should be calling for peace, they should be calling for dialogue, but from the standpoint of engagement with public officials, they also need to stay engaged because they play a very important role here all the reasons that existed when these two councils were put together still exist and it's disappointing that the manufacturing council and the strategy and policy forum will not continue because they were advisory people working on trades, taxes, health care, the budget, et cetera. >> well, as don was doing reporting, they say they helped stopped currency wars with china, and it's a shame the group disbanded. how do you think business is able to express itself about these important agenda items, especially as i mentioned, today nafta 2.0 and so forth >> this is exactly right you've got all of these very important issues where the business leaders are driving it, and, you know, of course this is our economy. and so to have the business leaders withdraw at a point in time when we need the most is very discouraging. especially when you've got an administration without -- with a lot of empty seats and without a lot of input they need you come back around and you say, what's the role of business in this? and i think that business leaders need to avoid putting themselves and their companies in harm's way by taking political positions, but instead, they should focus strictly on the policy positions and they should do that regardless of whether we have a democratic president or whether we have a republican president and they should stay engaged with -- regardless of what jersey the administration is playing. >> point well taken, but look, you ran a company. you were a ceo, you know that perception becomes reality and with people just railing against the president's comments of yesterday, wouldn't it seem by staying on a council that you were giving approval to what the president said which seemingly supported white supremacy in this country >> well, so, you know, clearly the communication from the administration was not handled -- even in the way they wanted to, they have to go through three bites of the apple. clearly that was mistaken and look as the ceo, that happens to us all the time where we handle things improperly. i think that still, you've got to come back and you've -- i think the manufacturing council and the strategy and policy forum would have been well off by coming together and meeting and then making a declaration of some sort as a council, but then coming back and saying, but we're still going to stay engaged here because the economic issues we need to focus on still are in front of us. >> steve, part of the reason why the ceos have become so visible in all of this is in a way because the president did not say what they expected or maybe what they hoped for, does that make this unusual? in other words, if he had handled this more appropriately, that would -- we would not have had these business leaders come forward with the pressure to bear on them or do you think they would have? has that climate changed overall these days >> clearly the administration would have done it differently you don't go through three waves and three cycles of these things in order to try to get it right without going back we could have done that the first time so clearly, i think that there will be some introspection here. then with the ceos have to do introspection and how do we do this to focus on policy and not politics how do we set up the councils and make a declaration to people we're not endorsing, politics, the administration, we're not getting involved in that, we're here to do the policy side of it i think there needs to be a clarity of mission and more communication externally so that they don't put themselves and their companies in harm's way. >> all right, steve, thanks. >> thank you the former ceo of office depot joining us let's get more on how the gop is responding to all of this >> kelly, this is an extraordinarily difficult moment for republican leaders because it's embarrassing to them just as it is embarrassing to those business leaders you were just discussing with steve. and the reason is, by the way, that this is not a situation like steve was saying where a chief executive makes a mistake or fumbles something this was not a mistake or a fumble this was a president revealing what he really thought and the problem has come because people see what he really thought and they don't like it the executives don't like it and most people outside of his base don't like it republican leaders therefore are feeling the need to distance themselves paul ryan last night put out a tweet, condemning specifically by name white supremacists, mitch mcconnell put out a statement today saying, there are no good neo-nazis. that is an indication they feel they have to separate. now, they still share policy goals with the administration and unlike the policy councils, they don't have the luxury of walking away their careers are in many politics and so they're likely to try to move tax cuts and other elements of the president's agenda, but the relationship is strained it is more difficult for them to stand with trump on anything enlight of what he has revealed about himself and this is something we're just going to have to see how big -- how much the heat rises on the president and partly that will be a function of what bob mueller the special council comes up with and when he comes up with it >> all right john. thank you. john harwood joining us from washington and we have just about half hour left to goin the trading session today. a lot has been made of how this all is affecting markets, everything from trying to figure out what happens if trump pushes out steve bannon to wondering what would happen if gary kohn >> oh, by the way. dow is up about 30 points right now. s&p hangingen to small gains is the president losing the support of the business community, period, after disbanding his two key councils? we'll hear from two top executives with different points of view. and then hear from one of the people who quit the president's manufacturing council. former deputy chief staff, thea lee will join us on closing bell stay tuned from at&t you can get unlimited data and live tv. the channels you love. your favorite shows and movies. making your iphone into more of a... oh my tv is ringing. hey...i'm in the middle of a...a second iphone from at&t? okay! right now when you buy a new iphone 7 from at&t you'll get a second iphone 7 on us. and power both with unlimited data and live tv. looking for a hotel that fits... whoooo. ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. welcome back time for a cnbc news update now with sue herrara hey sue. >> hi guys, here's what's happening at this hour, everyone coast guards and military crews searching the ocean for five crew members of an army helicopter that went down during a training exercise have found part of a fusel lodge and a hermit airport, two helicopters, and several boats are being used in that search. hundreds of people attending a memorial service for heather heyer who was moed down in charlottesville. her mother delivered a passionate eulogy. >> we don't all have to die. we don't all have to sacrifice our lives. they tried to kill my child to shut her up. well guess what, you just magnified her. [ applause ] >> a space x cargo craft arriving at the international space station after a two-day journey. nasa astrognat jack fisher and astronaut from the european space agency used the robotic arm to dock the spacecraft the cargo craft is loaded with 6400 pounds of research, supplies, and hardware the news update at this hour i will send it back downtown to you guys. >> all right sue, thank you very much we'll see you shortly. sue herrara. and we're heading to the closing with 27 minutes left right now. markets holding very steady right here the dow up 32 points plus signs for the s&p and the nasdaq, the russell is in minus territory. merck's ceo was the first to leave the council over how the president handled the racial violence in charlottesville. we're going to hear from one pharma ceo who is defending the move plus whether trump's failing approval rating and controversial comments on charlottesville could have a major impact on next year's midterm elections d s olanhiwhe economic agenda when we come back finally. hey ron! they're finally taking down that schwab billboard. oh, not so fast, carl. ♪ oh no. schwab, again? index investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard. what's next, no minimums? ...no minimums. schwab has lowered the cost of investing again. introducing the lowest cost index funds in the industry with no minimums. i bet they're calling about the schwab news. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. listen up, heart disease.) you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're 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 won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. we have some breaking news regarding ibm's ceo. dominic chu stepping in. >> bill, kelly, we've obtained an internal memo in regards to what they've told their own employees just a few moments ago. this went out in terms of statement to their internal employees, among the statements, they say that in the past week, we've seen and heard a public events and statements that run counter to our values as a country and company. the despicable conduct of hates group last weekend and the violence and death that resulted from it shows yet again that our nation needs to focus on unity, inclusion, and tolerance engagement is part of our history. we have worked with every u.s. president since woodrow wilson it says, but this group can no longer serve the purpose for which it was formed. earlier today i spoke with other members of the forum and we agreed to disband the group. ibm will continue to work with all parts of the government for policies that support job growth, vocational education, and global trade as well as fair and informed policies on immigration and taxation so, ibm's ceo, the latest to weigh in on the debate and obviously what is happening in the wake of tragedy in charlottesville. this according to an internal mayhem flow ibm obtained by cnbc, back over to you >> all right dom, thank you just a couple quick things notable, one is the areas where she emphasized they are going to try to have a dialogue and relationship with the white house. things that are important to the ibm. the other emphasizing that quote, we agreed to disband the group. the president tried to take credit for making that decision. the wall street journal reported that the group called him to make him aware of that decision, at which point he said he was shutting it down along with the manufacturing council. now speaking of that manufacturing council, the president going after merck's ceo ken fraser after he was the first to resign after the handling of the racial violence in charlottesville over the weekend. >> if you look at merck as an example, take a look where -- excuse me, excuse me look at where their product is made it's made outside of our country. we want products made in the country. and i've been lecturing them, including the gentleman that you're referring to about you have to bring it back to this country. you can't do it necessarily in ireland and all of these other places, you have to bring this work back to this country. >> so the president there saying that's why members wanted to leave the council. meg is here to fact-check whether merck's attacks on trump's attack on merck, meg, have been accurate >> that's right. the president said a number of times yesterday that he didn't condemn them by name over the weekend because he wanted to make sure he had all the facts first. well, he may not have had them quite straight on merck. repeatedly accusing the company of moving jobs outside the u.s. to places like ireland well a quick fact-check reveals the portion of merck's employees in the u.s. has remained between 38 and 39% since 2011. the year ken fraser became ceo while it does do manufacturing overseas, merck says it has more manufacturing employees in the u.s. than any other country. of more than 200 opening manufacturing job listings on merck's website, 86 were for positions in the u.s. followed by 37 in the netherlands and 23 in ireland and speaking of ireland, many companies did move their headquarters there in the last few years and that craze of tax inversions, something trump called out, but merck repeatedly refused to consider this fraser told me on a number of o kigss over year that that kind of move didn't make sense for the company. i'm hearing from a lot of people in the industry. merck was maybe the wrong company to choose to pick on here >> does that matter? is he still going to pursue, you know -- if his point is i'm going to crack down on the high drug prices and go after you for offshoring, will he pursue that regardless of whether he's correct on merck >> so far the president has been really tough in terms of his talk about the drug industry, but really soft in terms of any real action. some people are warning though that perhaps ken fraser's stand here will cause the president to reconsider being tougher in his actions. >> stay there. we have more to talk about former onyx form pseudocall came out in defense of ken fraser after he resigned from the council. praising fraser for standing against what is wrong. >> and in a cnbc exclusive, we are now joined by the former onyx pharma ceo. welcome, sir >> thank you, kelly. nice to be with you. >> so we appreciate you joining us today and i guess i would just ask for what you'd make of both the president'spress conference last night, of course, the reaction that we've seen since, and the point that some have made about trying to continue to engage with this white house on important business matters >> well, let me start by saying that the events of the last several days have been both stunning and sad and the reason i thought it was important to make a point about ken's resignation from the advisory council is it's important -- it was important to me that the biofapharmaceutical industry stand behind him. it's not surprising to me in any way that a member of the biopharmaceutical industry led the way in declaring what's right and what's wrong and acting on those principles it's what our industry has always been about. this is an industry that has always cared about making the lives of other people better making it more comfortable, extending and enhancing these lives, and that one of our own, terrific leader like ken frazier led the way and i think it's terrific it's clear the business community has to continue to remain involved and engaged. when there is an absolute vacuum of moral leadership in the white house, all leaders have to stand up and speak to and against those things that are right and wrong. from the government side, from the business side, and from the nonprofit side and i'm proud of ken for the stance he took >> we've been hearing from other people, get their opinions, former leaders and current leaders. we had the former ceo of walmart and office depot, both of whom felt it was important for ceos to stay at the table and let their voices be heard on the important issues that still face the administration and the country like the economy, like tax reform, infrastructure, we all know the agenda that's been laid out there how do you respond to those people who are willing to set aside the conscience issues and do what they feel is best for the country right now? >> well, let's look at this quite simply i think infrastructure's important. i think new roads, new jobs, new opportunities to grow this economy are all very important issues but we cannot divorce the moral aspects from any of those things it'd be wonderful to have the roads, but without a moral compass, where will these roads take us? it will be terrific to have tax breaks, but without a conscious to guide under the circumstances and set the guardrails to uphold the values of this country, i don't know how we continue to operate. so we can't exchange and it's a false dichotomy to choose between morality and the business leadership principles that are so important in growing this economy i refuse to believe that we can't do both and i think that if we can find a way to forge the conversation, to keep our eye on the values that have made this country so strong and so wonderful, and accomplish the things we have to do to grow this economy, then we're in the right place. but we cannot exchange one for the other. >> tony, it's meg terrell, you know, there's been a lot of support for ken frazier after having come out and led this charge i have heard privately from a number of people in the industry that they think that what ken did may not have been the right decision and they supported alex, the ceo of j & j's original plan to stay in the room, despite, you know, perhaps disagreeing politically, and then of course alex did decide to leave that council earlier today. but, are you concerned as some people have told me privately that the president will retaliate now against the drug industry, what form could that take >> well, let's take a step back and give consideration to what the drug industry does for this country and for the world. it's an important growth driver for our economy. it's an important source of jobs and most importantly it's an important source of innovation for not just america, but for the rest of the world. so we'd have to be very, very careful before we did anything to damage or undermine the power that this industry brings both to the american economy and to the overall health of the citizens of this country and to the world. and i'd caution us against, again, another false dichotomy we're going to have to figure out and deal with the consequences of what's happened over the last several days and i'm not a politician, i'm a businessman. there will be others who will litigate and adjudicate these conversations in more effective ways but what i do know, is that we don't have to choose morality over business, and i think if we stick with the principles that we stand on as a personal -- man of personal conviction, then we'll always win when i ran on ex-pharmaceuticals, we always wanted to put the patients first. i think we have to expect the leaders of this country to put the people first and to never lose sight of the fact that if we are collectively focussed on the greater good for everyone, that's how we win. we don't win by dividing >> dr. tony kohl's, thank you for joining us today and meg, thank you >> thank you all right. we have some breaking news out of washington regarding obamacare. kayla, tell us about it. >> well bill, those payments that the white house is expected to have to decide whether to make to insurers are due next week and a white house spokesperson says they'll be making the payment for august what he would not comment on is whether they would be proceeding with a court case that will figure into whether the white house makes these payments going forward. still remains to be seen how that case will be tackled, but at least for now, they'll be making those august payments when they're due next week back to you. >> yeah, after a big morning from the congressional budget office yesterday about the impact kayla, thank you coming up, one of the eight business leaders who quit president trump's manufacturing council will join us to explain her decision and whether or not she feels the president is losing theusess bincommunity. that's still to come on closing bell welcome back with some more breaking news from the small business council this time kate rogers, what's happening there? >> hey there kelly, we've been reaching out to small business advocacy groups in the wake of president trump's comments on the violence in charlottesville yesterday. i just heard from karen kairg began. she is the president and ceo of small business and entrepreneurship council they don't have a formal statement, but here's what karen had to say, quote, for groups like council that are inclusive and work on policies and initiatives to support opportunity in the american dream for all, we despise racism and inclus one of which is that bigotry and hatred has no place in the united states. i know many members will be working harder to engage with their customers and employees with more love, kindness, and finding ways in their communities to get rid of the dark cloud hanging over our nation president trump must recognize the broad criticism he is receiving which includes many in the gop and resolve to forcefully and humbly address these concerns once again that's thepresident and ceo of the sbe council back over to you >> they've been big supporters of the president so far. >> thank you >> joining us on the phone now, teaches at harvard business. i have time for one question, and here it is i'm not trying to make light of the situation, i imagine this will make a big case study at harvard business school, the difficult decision that ceos are having to make right now who initially join these councils. the president's councils and now have to decide whether to stay or go. on one side, they're voting their conscious and they're staying, on the other side, they want to address these important issues that still face the economy. which side do you come down on >> this is a seminole moment in the last 50 years in terms of the open/split between ceos of the nation's leading companies and the white house. otherwise everyone was going to resign they could no longer stand the liability of serving him with his unwillingness to separate everyone from the white supremacy groups and the neo-nazis. and they also see in terms of the economy, their agenda has been sidetracked by the never ending chaos in the white house. the high hopes they had six months ago about tax reform, infrastructure, and regulation reductions done have really gone down they will continue to work those through congress also finally, they do not fear this president like they did at first. and he has chosen to rule by fear rather than love to use certain terms, and they no longer fear him. ken frazier got the heat of his tweets against him, but they were very upset by that, i assure you >> bill george, always a pleasure thank you. see you soon >> thank you after the bell, we have brands heading our way we will try to squeeze that in. >> somehow >> so much else swirling about today. plus one of the eight business leaders who quit president trump's manufacturing council will jn oius to explain her decision stay with us ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and. ♪ i'm living that yacht life, life, life ♪ ♪ top speed fifty knots life on the caribbean seas ♪ ♪ it's a champagne and models potpourri ♪ ♪ on my yacht made of cuban mahogany, ♪ ♪ gany, gany, gany, gany ♪ watch this don't get mad (bell mnemonic) get e*trade and get invested you're on my right >> oh, okay. >> clearly, there's a dividing line everything before the business council's were disbanded and afterwards we had a good rally going this morning for a time on the open this morning looked like we were heading sideways until about midday. it's not huge. we're still positive here and the dow is still above 22,000. two other parks where we did see a move not huge, again, but a definite move, and first with the dollar. that just continues lower. you saw midday here with the dollar index completely lost altitude and went negative after all of this news came out. and the other direction, gold went higher again. not a huge rally, it's up $8 right now. and you definitely saw a movement there bob, we got some earnings coming out assuming we have time here to address that. yeah, a lot of things got lost in the sauce today with all of the other news we had cisco and l brands as well >> l brands of course struggling same as all the retailers, flat revenues and declining profits overall. that's been an issue for them. cisco's been flat revenues for a while. and really flat earnings as well cisco is underperforming the rest of the dow. i think the big concern for the markets today on the day when a very dovish fed minutes came out. they are confused about the fact that inflation isn't going up. they want to raise interest rates, but they don't feel they can. >> i mean, you could argue to some degree that that helped the gold move as well today. >> that was a dovish statement and we did see a brief rally which was completely consumed by the concerns of council. gary kohn leading that, reports of him being dismayed weighs on people to this extent does that impede or in any way hinder him from leading the charge or tax cuts and yes it still matters there is still come kind of premium in the markets i get different opinions, anywhere from the market is 5 to 10% higher on the belief that there was tax cuts and the trump agenda of regulation and infrastructure is still there. there is some belief that there's a premium in the market and what they're doing on tax cuts definitely still matters. >> well, we're still positive here, the dow up on the close still back above 23,000. those earnings and a whole lot more coming up on thesecond hour of the closing bell hi everybody and welcome to the closing bell bill griffith will be joining me in a moment. the s&p also up by about the same amount, 3.5 points, 24068 the nasdaq up 1% to 6345 today the russell eking out a gain on the bell all day we've been looking for the white house for direction for these markets and this afternoon, we have the fed minutes to digest as well. we saw lower rates, gold price moving up and maybe that had a political chicken to it too. breaking news. two of president trump's councils being disbanded after a number of ceo departures that's in the wake of the president's response to the deadly violence in charlottesville, virginia former deputy chief of staff, thea lee who resigned last night will join us live in a first on cnbc interview josh is standing by for cisco's results. guys, we appreciate it, see you in a moment. joining me today, michael block, eric ross, chief investment strategist and cnbc senior contributor larry kud low, welcome one and all let's begin with the losing of support standing by with more on this breaking news eamon, we begin with you >> hi kelly, the president has left trump tower he's headed to bedminister, new jersey where he'll spend tonight. he'll be in camp david on friday he continues this working vacation at many different locations throughout the week for that working vacation. as we saw the news break this afternoon had decided to disband, then moments later, we got the tweet from the president in which he insisted he had been the one to disband both councils the ceo council and the manufacturing specific council the president saying rather than putting pressure on the business people of the manufacturing council and strategic and policy forum. i am ending both thank you all. and for this moment in history that is unprecedented, to have this many ceos speaking out against the president of the united states all on the same day the way we have seen today, take a look at the language here that some of these ceos that are using to describe the president and this political moment. jamie diamond saying, strongly disagree with trump's reaction larry fink saying, couldn't continue in good conscious to serve on the panel trump's statements deeply troubling. must speak against any politics based on ethnicity this is a stunning rebuke for this president of the united states particularly a president who has very much seen himself as a member of the ceo elite who promised to govern as a business person and who surrounded himself with business people in the early days of his white house. he very much feels at home with these business ceos. now though, he is being frozen out by those same business ceos. what his reaction will be, we will see the white house is now added a 5:00 p.m. briefing not sure exactly what subjects they're going to be talking about in bedminister, new jersey we'll bring you that if it should warrant it in terms of news we'll see who's speaking and what they're talking about there over at the golf club. back over to you >> did you mention that the vice president as i heard earlier is coming back a day early to meet with president trump tomorrow? >> that's true the vice president says he's cutting his trip short he's in panama, he's going to be coming back to the united states early to attend a camp david meeting with the president that meeting is said to be about south asia we're also told by staff that he has cleared his calendar of all events for the weekend if the president should need him. >> thank you, we're going to bring in andrew, andrew, what are you hearing about gary kohn's future in particular? >> well, as the story unfolds, the next domino, if you will is gary kohn. of course a fixture of wall street the former number two to lloyd blankfine. a number of people over the past 48 hours on wall street, former goldman execs and others have suggested to him like so many who suggested to the ceos who just disbanded and resigned from that group that he resigned. now of course that pressure up on him about what to do and what to do next as you know, we've reported many atime and donald trump, president donald trump has said that perhaps gary kohn would be up for as a candidate to replace janet yellen as the fed chair. there is a mixed view within the business community about what gary kohn should or should not do some think that he should resign in protest like some of these other ceos some of the same ceos who have resigned would like gary kohn to say there. they see him as an adult in the room they worry if he is not there, who would replace him? so he's going to have some decision-making to do over the next several days. i should also note that similar calls have been made to people like steven mnuchin, of course, who is our treasury secretary. this conversation's going to continue for quite some time >> this conversation is continuing as well stay there if you will eric, i'm curious, there are times when we're accused of trying to shoe horn politics into this business role too much, but this one is a definite collision that makes sense here and it seem z as if the market like a couple of weeks ago, the rising tensions with north korea, now this seems to be taking it in stride as well. even though this could at some point, possibly derail the president's economic agenda. >> well, i think the part of the problem is if he saw that north korea incidents start to wind down, you saw the risk on trade start to come on now seeing the president's increasingly isolating himself we need some real ceos that know how to drive the economy forward to actually get us out of the blunder we were in >> michael, how would you trade it if -- let's say for the sake of argument if steve bannon were to leave the white house versus if gary kohn were to doso. >> steve bannon leaving the white house would be some clear indication that the pro business crowds winning i've never been a trump fan, i think everyone knows that, but i look to the all-star team of kohn, mnuchin, wilbur ross and this is good for business, good for markets. hearing andrew report on kohn and trading desks we heard about nothing but this, when the markets sold off, i blame the kohn shatter if kohn goes, do they want to deal with this in their lives? maybe not. how do you -- really, it's a big difference to me the risk of bannon leaving is there's a lot of talk that if bannon leaves, there'll be blowback from his supporters, more turmoil, more controversy brought up, more skeletons coming out of closets and worry that that will happen with the president to come out and cause more unsettlement here >> larry, you were on our air earlier today and still supporting the president you felt that he -- you said he doesn't have a racist bone in his body here, but, you see what's happening here this afternoon. >> i do. i do >> where do you stand right now? >> look, i will say this, i want to come back to that i don't believe donald trump has a hate, racist bone in his body, has he handled this 100 exact. no there were some unforced errors, particularly yesterday, i think that news conference got away from him he was in a very angry mood. his statement on monday was very clear. he absolutely opposes all of this, nazis, white supremacist, whatever you call them, racial hate, anti-semitism, and he has said this many times -- >> but he didn't negate that yesterday though >> he chose to emphasize that the left wing agitators were going harm also. again, that was his language, not mine i think it caused some confusion and ambiguity -- >> what do you do now? >> let me say this, i'm not trump, i'm me. the worst groups in the history of this planet are nazi groups, or neo-nazi groups that is my personal view having spent time with mr. trump down through the years, not intimate, but having spent time, i believe he shares my view. that's all i don't think steve bannon put him up to this i hope gary kohn stays on. i have nothing to add to that information from andrew ross -- >> what's your analysis of that situation inside the cab bet look, he just brought in john kelly -- >> no one's going to leave i've made my calls today, i wanted to help out on the show from the very senior people. no one's going to leave, but i cannot say about gary kohn i cannot say that. no one else is going to leave. that's the view. and kelly is there to reformulate a lot of the discipline inside the white house. look, with the business -- >> but kohn, you can't say that because your information is ambiguous or you can't because you haven't heard one way or the other? >> i haven't heard, and i don't like to speak off the top of my head okay i need at least one or two senior sources to tell me about the third person, and i haven't heard that kohn's an honorable man. he's going to do what his conscious dictates i want to say this, donald trump was never inside the elite group of the ceos of the business round table. that was never his turf. okay look, gladly, greatfully moderated many panels down through the years, and i know something, trump was never part of that group. his business base if you will was always the small business base the self-employed business base. having said that, i believe he will be in touch with all these men, women of business because most of them still favor his policies of tax cuts, lower regulation, and infrastructure so, what's happening here, they do what they have to do, they have stake holders, they have to deal with, i get that, i'm not blaming anybody, but i guarantee you he will stay with them and in touch and they will wind up supporting his policies. >> i was going to ask you about that after the abandonment of the paris accord, many companies came out and said we're still going to work on environmental issues whether we're working with the government or not, do you sense from your very strong sources in the business community they care very much about the business agenda here but they will still work toward that even though they're not engaged firsthand with the government >> there's no question and i think really the art fist or even theater of the council is what has created so much of a problem to the extent it's been a problem for these executives if you read -- if you read the memo to her employees just sent out within the past hour or so, she specifically says that ibm has long had a role with the government, and that they continue to plan to interact with the government. so i imagine, and by the way, jamie diamond is the chairman of the business round table he represents 200 ceos, he represents the business community. all of those people are still going to want a quote, seat at the table. and i imagine they will get a seat at the table, it just won't be within the context of a council which to some degree all of these executives had to sign their names on to. and that is when it became political. >> andrew's completely right i want to back this up look, trump tried from the beginning to reach out and bring the ceos in. okay that has not been done for many years. it was not done in the prior administration, nor if i recall the one before that. give him credit for trying they did part company on issues. bill, you mentioned that climate change issue, the immigration issue, now what i'm going to call the charlottesville issue, whatever that is so, okay, they do what they have to do. not going to lose them he's not going to lose their support on the policies, you know, you saw -- we talked about yesterday -- >> more anti-business larry -- >> he won't be >> does he go after drugs -- this is somebody who takes this personally are they inviting retaliation? >> sometimes his temper causes unforced errors. i admit that okay big concession from kudlow but no, i don't think so look, he is now getting more and more steeped in policy he's learning a lot. i think you're going to see a much more positive tax reform story coming up. the irony of this is, while this whole thing's going on, they're actually meeting white house, house, and senate, the so-called group of six, so i'm much more confident there. and i wouldn't mind -- look, my view, i wouldn't mind if the president gave a speech. okay where he wants give a speech, and say again, as he did during the campaign, and the campaign debates, as he did during inauguration that he totally opposes all of this. nazi, hatred -- >> eamon mentioned -- >> there might be a on-camera briefing is that right? >> yeah, that's right, kelly there had been a previously scheduled background briefing that white house officials are suggesting that will likely move to on-camera on the record but they're not saying specifically in the guidance that we're getting exactly who's going to be doing that on-camera briefing whether that's the same topic, same subject as before or whether this is something new. so that's something to watch where we try to get clarity on that in the next 45 minutes. but then following up on larry's point there about president trump and this elite group of ceos he's right this president as a ceo himself was never in that top group of fortune 500 ceos always felt himself to be something of an outsider from that group and a lot of the people in that group felt trump to be a sort of a marginal figure as a business person despite his prom pans in and the media in reality television and everywhere else so, for the president personally, having those ceos come to him at the white house earlier this year as they did in those panel after panel after panel was personally validating to him in a way that you could tell he really enjoyed he really felt fulfillment from and he felt there was an opportunity to do something on the policy side as well. this is a devastating blow personally for this president right now. >> now what we need here, what we need here is men and women of goodwill with civility, love this country, and we need to unify around the great freedoms in our declaration of independence the great freedoms this country has. there is no white supremacy, there is no hatred of religion grounds or racial grounds or any of that. the president should lead on this i believe he started to monday, i don't think he got it done yesterday. i think you're going to hear more we need goodwill, civility to get through this, for the sake of the country so we can move on. okay and help business and help people, you know, get jobs and incomes. >> speaking of business and incomes, let's get to cisco earnings and by the way, eamon, andrew, larry, we'll let you go. we'll bring in josh lipton as we remind ourselves, it is still earnings season. >> eps of 61 cents and on revenue, 12.13 billion analysts modelled 12.06 billion and just kelly looking through products, revenue performance, it looks like switching revenue down 9%. rounding down is 9%. wireless and security though it looks increasing, 5% and 3% respectively and turning to that q1 guide, cisco is modelling eps between 59 and 60 cents. saying revenue their modelling to decline between 1 and 3%. that would basically be in line with forecasts cisco's conference call starts at 4:30 eastern and we'll be on it, back to you. >> theirs down about 1.5%. any response >> we were looking for 61 cents and 12.08 billion in revenue this is a touch better, but the guidance is core this is not a big growing stock. it's a dimpbd's stock, there's no reason for us, at least for our clients to be holding this if you want to hold it long-term. >> clients are looking for growth here. growth is scarce they're going to go for showing growth this is not showing growth people had higher hopes for it, and it's not quite delivering here we'll see how the call goes. not something that people are excited about right now. >> stock down 1.7% right now meanwhile, ceos of 3m and campbell soup also resigned from president trump's manufacturing council bringing the tally to eight leaders who left until it was all ab solved. up next, deputy chief of staff, thieve ya lee will tell us why she decided to quit that council last night and talk about whether corporate america is starting to turn it's ckn esentrp. that's coming up we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 per trade? uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $4.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. welcome back president trump announced the end of both of his manufacturing council and the strategic and policy forum later on this afternoon. that was after the strategic and policy forums said it was disbanding since monday, nearly a dozen announced their resignation due to the remarks on charlottesville and that news conference yesterday >> thea lee is the former cio deputy chief of staff. thanks for joining us, how are you? >> thanks for having me, i'm great. >> what do you make of today's developments >> well it seems like these advisory councils that have become totally unviable because nobody wants to be on them and rather than watching people drift off, it seemed like the president and the other council just made a strategic decision to stop the bleeding and end the whole thing. >> thea, there had been a lot of talk at the beginning of this administration about the potential overlap between your organization and president trump's base what do you think your members are saying and feeling about this president in light of everything that's happened >> i think there's been a lot of -- i think people are watching very carefully what he's done and whether he's living up to the promises he made on the campaign trail and to be honest, there have been a lot of very problematic actions from this president for working people so, you know, whether it's with the failure to do infrastructure, the very problematic health care proposal, the tax plans, or gutting a lot of programs that are very important to working people with respect to worker safety and health and workers rights >> that's why i raise it you know, it sounds like these are folks who actually would perhaps support what the president would say which is, i'm trying to help everybody by encouraging growth and getting some of the stuff done and on that point, does he, you know -- does he still have support or do you think he's lost it >> i think he is losing support. as his actions belie his words and so, you know, what we've tried to do is to be as concrete as possible and to evaluate the actions as they come and there've been a lot of disappointments. the appointments of the supreme court of someone who is antiworker, mr. gorsuch, and a lot of the budget really reveals a lot what have his priorities have been. i think obviously people are different. people come from all different places, but what we have seen in some of the polling since the election is that there's an erosion of support for president trump's policies >> we've been hearing -- we've been hearing from other business leaders who take the other side of that trade, you know, their point of view is while, they do not condone the white supremacy and neo-nazis and all the others in charlottesville, they do still feel it's important to stay at the table and get the work done and, you know, try and achieve the business agenda that is so important to this economy right now. how do you respond to those folks who have the other point of view there? >> well listen, you know, always wants to be at the table we think we deserve a voice at any table that's making policy so there's two different questions, one is whether we want to stay engaged, we are going to be engaged. we are going to continue to offer our advice in whatever forums we can because there are a lot of decisions to be made on trade policy, nafta is being renegotiated right now as we speak. we'll be there offering opinions, we'll be engaged, we'll be evaluated, it's just different -- a question of whether being formerly associated with this administration on this advisory council really made sense anymore. >> you know, looking back, knowing what we know now how this is all ending at this point, is it ever a good idea to create these kinds of councils where you're taking these high profile business leaders like yourself and some of the fortune 500 ceos and essentially exposing them to some of the political partnership that exists in washington right now and they risk alienating literally half of their constituency as a result so, was this a good idea to create some of these councils anyway >> well, you know, serving on an advisory council is not the same as supporting or endorsing the administration's policies. and actually, you know, most administrations have had all sorts of groupings of ceos that come in and give them advice or grouping with ceos and public interest representatives like labor and consumer and environment. so it's not unusual to do that i think what is unusual is the reaction of this president to some pretty dramatic and extraordinary events in charlottesville. so i think that's where we're in a different place. normally, i think, you know, ceos or heads of labor organizations can serve on committees and not feel that they have to endorse every policy or every action of an administration but this was a situation where, you know, the words just became too inflammatory and too repugnant. >> all right thea, thank you for your time. >> thank you, thea. >> thanks for having me. bye bye. >> thea lee. dow chemical just out with a statement now on the president's disbandment. plus businesses have started turning on the president will other members of the gop follow suit? that discussion and the impact to the president's economic agenda all still to 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: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. breaking news now on dow chemicals. >> yeah, that's right. just a statement now in from dow chemicals on his decision here in regards to president trump. he says every member of the council condemns racism and bigotry, and there cannot be in charlottesville. and the current environment, it was no longer possible to and that's a statement from dow chemicals interesting what a difference that press conference made yesterday because on monday, andrew and dow put out a statement about charlottesville condemning bigotry and hatred as well it was so inskrut bli written, it took us a while to figure out whether or not he was leaving the manufacturing council or not at that point. today, though, a more pointed statement from andrew and as we've seen from the cavalcade of ceos all deciding to go all at once from these councils and the response from the president this afternoon, bill, back over to you. >> also more pointed is et in a's mark saying i am ashamed of our president's behavior, end comments we have more on that bertha, quite a strongly worded memo here. this was to employees? >> this was an internal memo to employees obtained by cnbc in which mark bertolinni quotes martin luther king saying darkness cannot drive off darkness he says in the note to employees, i'm pleased that many other portfolio leaders from both parties have expressed similarly strong statements as president george h.w. bush and president george w. bush quote, i am ashamed of our president's behavior, end comments i hope each takes time to discuss with our family and friends the responsibility with share to live up to the values that have made our nation so great. we can only remain great if we remain intolerant of hate. mark not on either of those councils that was disbanded today where people resign from this council nonetheless you can see that a lot of executives feel that they need to speak out to their employees and speak out publicly about this issue kelly. bill. >> that's for sure >> bill george saying a while ago on our air that he felt this was a seminole moment in the relationship between the trump administration and the business community. you never know in the middle of it, it sure feeling very important with what's going on right now. >> i think they're all becoming intensely aware of that right now. >> absolutely. it's time far cnbc news update with sue herrara. let's go over to that. sue. >> thanks kelly, thanks bill and here's what's happening. british parliament officials say they will take another look at plans to silence big ben during four years of repairs on that iconic tower politicians objected to silencing the clock for such a long period of time. and theresa may commented on the controversy while touring britain's new aircraft carrier >> well of course we want to ensure that people are safe at work, but it can't be right. the big bend to be silent for four years this is a house of commons matter and i hope that the speaker will urgently look into this to hear big ben through those four years >> girls dresses have been recalled the flower pedals can detach they were sold nationwide and online and japanese primetologists have discovered that chimpanzees are capable of understanding the rock, paper, si zors game. an experiment showed them repeatedly choosing the winning hand sign in that game in exchange for treats. fascinating. i am fascinated by that story. >> i am the worst at rock paper scissors >> scissors is the paper -- >> ready >> ready >> one, two, three, shoot. >> you won >> there you go. >> that means -- >> i've met somebody who is worse at it than i am. i guess. i don't know thank you, sue >> you're welcome, guys. >> see you later >> just deflate even further over here. >> feels good to laugh >> we have earnings, look at this, l brands, courtney reagan, how do they look >> l brands still gives us the monthly updates. we know what the comps and revenues was the earnings did come in at 48 cents per share. revenue still unchanged from what they gave us august 3rd at 2.76 billion comps down 8%. now shares are under pressure here as you can see down almost 7% after hours because l brands is lowering both it's full year and it's third quarter earnings guidance so now they're guiding third quarter earnings between 25 and 30 cents the street had been looking for 36 cents their full year earnings are now going to fall, at least right now, somewhere between the range of 3.320, that is down from 310 to 340 and you can again see shares under pressure. remember, the exited that swim wear business for victoria secret so that's still something that the company is battling. there was a $500 million business, so that is responsible for six percentage points of that negative eight comp back over to you >> wow, and they still think it's the right thing to do >> they don't sell swim suits anymore? >> i used to love it >> courtney back me up, the j crew options and victoria secrets were good too. >> that's true target has upped it's share, especially since victoria secret has exited the business. they said that they were among the top and now they have picked up some of that share from victoria secret. as of now, they have to fix some of their core business maybe some day down the road they'll get back into it, this was the first full season without a full victoria secret swim option, sorry >> thank you coming up, two business leaders face off on whether business ldeears should come back to the table and work with the trump administration we're back in two. so that i can take my trading platform wherever i go. you know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right? oh, so my custom studies will go with me? anywhere you want to go! the market's hot! sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade going somewhere? whoooo. here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. that's why at comcast we're continuing to make4/7. our services more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. welcome back the big business story breaking this afternoon, two key white house business advisory councils being disbanded after ceo backlash in the wake of president trump's handling of the deadly violence in charlottesville this weekend here are some of the controversial remarks from his news conference yesterday. >> you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. you had people in that group -- excuse me. excuse me, i saw the same pictures as you did. you had people in that group that were there to protest, taking down, to them, a very, very important statue, and renaming of a park from robert e. lee to another name >> let's bring in a couple of business leaders, the ceo and founder of gm nonstick coatings. jamie richardson is vice president at white castle. jamie, i know you support the president, what do you make of today's developments and how ceos responded to his remarks yesterday? >> well, i think what the tragedy of this weekend reminds us of is no matter how big the company or job or title, we can never for one second lose sight for the importance and the sacredness of the dignity of each human being and there is a moral equivalence between hatred and those who oppose it. >> jamie, does that mean you don't support the president any longer >> well, we're supporters of policies that are better for people we've never taken a stand in terms who have we supported as far as the presidential race i mean, we've been thankful for the relief from the regulatory burdens that have been on the business we're hopeful that we can all raise our voices and be responsible citizens and share a path for what the american people are hungry for. which is collaboration, people coming together, we want to be in a hypercollaborative world, not a hypercompetitive world >> let this be clear, would you have resigned if you were on them >> clearly, i think the other members have spoken. white castle's never been asked to be on a council of that size or of that magnitude, but i think that -- i think with a we're seeing is a response to not wanting to go back in time to wanting to move forward and lead for the next generation a country that's healthier and better and on the right path that's what we do as a family business that's what we've done for 96 years now. >> and re veen, what do you think of the moves now that the president has made to disband these councils entirely? >> look, i'm the son for immigrants and i grew up on a block with cops and firemen, my next door neighbor was with a african american and the other was a hispanic family. it was awesome, it was diverse, it was the way america is supposed to be, and i have been extraordinarily blessed in my life because i built a business that employs hundreds of people. i've paid millions of dollars in taxes to thiscountry that i love more than anything. and when i saw the president yesterday in that press conference, i know there's been a lot of talk about, you know, the statement or what not, but i'm talk abouting when he was off the cuff and he started ranting and what i just saw played, i mean, something inside me literally snapped. and i, i had been trying to say nice things about the president. i had been holding my nose trying to find raies of light in his economic agenda, and i've been on cnbc a number of times saying nice things about the president, but yesterday, i wrote an op-ed which was on your website today, and i just -- i think it's over. i cannot believe that the only time this president has unified the right and the left is in condemnation about his odious views on bigotry it's absurd. >> we're out of time so you are withdrawing your support of the president -- knowing that it could mean the end of the agenda for small businesses to support out in this country right now >> look, this, i mean, i'm all for the american economy and trump had some minor positive potential impacts, but america is far bigger than president trump. we are going to be just fine whether or not he's here i am sure he's going to stick around the guy clearly is very pugnacious guy, but, this country's going to be just fine and i applaud every one of those ceos who resigned. i would have run, not walk, from that council, but it was absolutely disgusting. >> jamie, just in a word, if he called you now and said, i want white castle, would you guys join >> i think we'd like to offer every elected official the chance to manage a white kausle, they have a better qualify to serve in washington, d.c >> all right you're probably wrong. >> doing what he does best >> i love white castle >> i think we know where you stand. >> thank you, both thanks for joining us today. >> take cares, guys. president trump losing support clearly from many business leaders, could members of his own party follow suit we have some of the impact on nes economic agenda and xt year's midterm elections as well coming up. 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(upbeat dance music) (bell ringing) so president trump's business councils were disbanded today after a mass ceo exodus, how are republican leaders in congress reacting to all of this lon has some of the latest details on that for us >> well bill, amid all of the controversy surrounding the president's statements, republican lawmakers are out here trying to salvage what's left of the republican agenda. house weighs and means committee members are gathered here at reagan ranch in california trying to sell tax reform to the american public. earlier this morning, i spoke with chairman kevin brady and i asked him point-blank if he can still work with this president >> yes, i can. and i think, in fact, i think there's room for all of america. to work with this white house and congress to do this because while there are divisions in the country, this is about delivering tax relief to all americans. >> the message there from kevin brady is that tax reform is essentially the glue that is holding the republican party together, but the tension is clearly growing between congress and this administration. we saw a statement today from senate leader mitch mcconnell who has been in a public feud with president trump mitch mcconnell saying that we have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence wherever it raises it's head also, senator orin hatch, a key ally to the white house and the fight for tax reform as chairman in the senate finance committee. he invoked the spirit who died fighting in world war ii the so-called big six are planning to have a conference call to talk about tax reform before this august recess is over clearly republicans are trying to shift the conversation forward. we'll see if they can stay focussed >> yeah, and have something to run on when we come up to the midterms thank you. and with those midterms coming up, could republicans up for reelection turn on the president if he approval ratings are low enough terry, thank you for joining us, man, what a day. what do you expect the president's approval ratings to do after all of that >> well thanks, kelly, thanks bill for having me well, i don't expect them to go up, of course. you know, they'll probably continue the slow downward slide that they've had but it'll have some at least short term effect. but, you know, we've got a long way to go before the 2018 midterms it is not -- it's not by any means too late for the administration to right the ship whoever it was that said ts the wound was at least temporarily cot rised got it right i mean, they make it so whether there's damage done to the core of the congressional republican agenda just tax reform and i would suggest not. >> you know, i was intrigued by something that kevin brady told our elon, it was task reform that's holding the republican party together right now they want to -- that's job one and they're able at this point to work with a president who has been such a distraction on occasion you wonder what the breaking point might be if there is one and if it's not an event like what's happened over the last few days, i wonder what it would be any thoughts >> well, two things, bill. one is that, you know, kevin brady, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, the senior republican leaders have been running on economic growth legislation, been running on the need to do tax reform, since well before donald trump ever decided to run for president. so, you know, they think, and they think they need to get pre. they think they need to get this done and they're putting pressure on themselves to get it done this is a congressional priority they have never really want to do rely on trump for this. and i think it's a misnomer to think that the presidents invariably dictate the congressional legislation, but the business community will not stop pressing for tax reform if any of these cos diplomat want to be associated with the president, that's certainly their right and privilege, but at the same time, all those same companies will be pushing in congress to help them try to get that work done so, you know net-net i think you'll see a lot of push from the congress, a big push from the business community, and i thought both larry and andrew ross sorkin said very good things at the top of the hour on your air about this. three quick a good minutes thank you. we appreciate it. up next, the so-called business president, but does he need a refresher in management 101? >> accomplice cisco and l brands going up after their earnings report l brands down nearly 8%. we'll be right back. d. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. we call them our team. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. a. president trump disbanded economic council on today, why the ceos may have decided to disband. jeffrey cohen joins us here at post 9 you know, we're already looking ahead. now what what do you think happens now to the business agenda? that's been so important to the president's agenda first of all, i think it's interesting to look at why they disbanded in the first place part of it was they were attr t attracted to come, because leaders want to be around other great leaders, thinkers, innovator. >> so when they got the call to come and work and we can brainstorm, and figure out what's good for the country, but also what's good for the company, they jumped at the invitation it was anall star team. >> you never turn down the president. >> you never turn down the president or the white house, and these are guyses who grew up watching that. and they realized slowly but surely maybe he wasn't a great leader and maybe it was bad for their brand and bad for them to be affiliated with the white house and with the president, so they left. >> do you think the president will hold them responsible or their businesses, or even their industries for leaving, for pulling out? >> you know, kelly i don't think so what's his choice? he's the ceo in chief, and ran with the base to be someone that's going to cut taxes, so i think the reason they got the nflation in the first is the because of the president's agenda, so i don't think he's going to say let's not cut taxes. >> will he feel like why should i do him a favor will he do something to help small business that'sing less vocal? and maybe punishes bigger ones >> i don't think so. i think even he's smart enough to know that would come back to haunt him. he boasts every day the stock market is up because of me, business is better, taxes will be lower because of me if he just goes after some of the big companies, that's just going to hurt him. i don't think he'll do that. we have to go at this point. we never have enough time. >> oh, five more minutes. >> that's what we would do, but we can't thank you, jeff. >> sure. at the top of the hour jim vandehei will join us. 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[car tires screech] [bell rings] okay so a minute left and they want us to make pithy comments about the earnings today l brands, it's very simple -- bring back the swimsuits and for pete's sake -- >> you only just found out they got rid of it. >> and bring back the catalog. >> we both just found out they don't have a catalog. >> that's the bread and butter. >> they are in shopping malls, though we had a guest a few moments ago. there's movement there, perhaps pushing interest rates lower, and the guest suggested perhaps there was speculation about gary cohn's future. we talked about what a stabilizing presence he has been seen as parts of pro-business administration and those questions are swirling. >> the fed chairmanship is dangling ahead of him. >> oh, sure. scott wapner, what are you getting ready for in "fast money" we've covered this enough. >> we'll take a bit of your cue, bill and figure out why the stock market hasn't reacted perhaps more to some of the developments over the last many weeks in washington, and whether those days are about to change there were several parts of the market today that did move so we'll continue to develop and chase that story bill, kelly, thank you so much breaking coverage of this remarkable day both in washington and a wall street continues. what started with the trickle of ceos leaving the president's advisory council, edding in a torrent of departures, and

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