Transcripts For CNBC Power Lunch 20170818

Future key figures at the white house of where the stocks will go i think there are the concern is there any life to the trump agenda, and there was a feeling growing in the marketplace that the republicans and the administration couldnt get a vote on what time of day it was, that nothing was work g working. And then when the idea that mr. Cohn might be leaving yesterday, that frightened the Market Reports of mr. Bannon being let go helped in two different ways. Number one, they think hes mildly disruptive, second darely this will reinforce cohn because he was an adversary of cohns. Weve gone a minute and a half into power lunch. I want to bring in michelle cabre cabrera caruso i wonder what this will do to try to get the narrative back of the kind of agenda he wants to put forth. Theres the bigger question about general dysfunction in the white house and specific issues when it comes to it. Even the wall street journal editorial page says steve bannon was a source of dysfunction. If you see a smoother running white house, well see if it has to do with him or him and trump. Maybe the broom as john kelly said, will sweep clean theres a new chief of staff in terms of taking charge of the white house. I do wonder, guys, if we would see more of a Market Reaction once the president himself confirms this move or steve bann somehow confirmed a lot of reporting on this likely accurate, but i wonder if the president comes out and says i would like to do this, its the second leg. Were 150 points from bottom to top thats a pretty chunky move. All right lets go to eamon jarvis. He was here on this working vacation he djts do a whole lot of vacationing on as it turned out. I think thats an excellent point. You look at this white house since Inauguration Day this has been a tremendously tumultuous white house you saw people pushed out and now steve bannon, one of the people seen as the architect of the president s Campaign Victory pushed out the president himself minimizing earlier this week Steve Bannons role in the campaign, saying he didnt come in until late. He called him mr. Bannon several times. He also said he likes him and doesnt think hes a racist. Clearly left him hanging out there all week with an indication he might be about to force out yet another senior official from his white house is President Trump someone whos had a lot of those forced out. Will it stop the political damage that the white house has experienced. You can imagine officials will feel this will be a positive cycle, turn the page, a fresh start and get the president back on his economic agenda and Foreign Policy agenda and off the issues of statutes and racial things over the past week. Lets talk about the potential agenda lets bring in john harwood. When i think of steve bannon and what he tried to do, attacking the rich, an isolationist, and also a much, much tougher line with china so there are potential changes going on here, depending on the degree and what he had to say. You erie right, michelle. One of the things that steve bannon was enthusiastic about was what mr. Trump was excited about. Their shared view had nr influence. This something Donald Trumps talked about for a very long time hes talked about immigration and matters relating to race for a long time. Now i do think you note the forehandle on tax reform he talked about trying to counter those democratic facts he appears to have that lost that internal fight. The fact that he floated the campaign, several iterations of them all had the top rate coming down significantly for them for both taxpayers and business. When i think about trade, theres still Peter Navarro in there. So its still when it comes to the trade agenda, very, very hard on china. I should say, michele, i also talked to a top. I asked what deference it makes and it wouldnt make a difference unless bannon was writing all of trumps tweets. I dont think thats the case. If it was none, i would think not. John kelliy with the exception of the twitter account is somehow able to impose a different flavor to the entire white house staff and make the president eat that food. Also, come october, the debt ceiling must be raised Goldman Sachs believes theres a 50 possibility that well have a brief shutdown do you think this departure impacts the debt ceiling and the likelihood of a Government Shutdown i dont actually, brian the president s got Mick Mulvaney and Steve Mnuchin whos another point person on this they have in the past gone on different views. Just as i was about to sit in front of this camera, the Freedom Caucus is reported to be divided on whether its going to try to hold up the debt ceiling in return for a policy concession so theres no strategy or clear path to either extending funding of the government beyond the 30th and the 2017 fiscal year or to raising that dote limit and republicans in the past have shown its very difficult to ably man that position. John harwood. Stick around eamonn as well. What could it mean for the markets and expectations lets brake in michael michael, you go first. He seemed to be or a very thin rope, mr. Bannon that is is it a telling market for the markets. I think its a natlike expansion. There was an article on what putin did there. All of a sultd of more reasonable calmless, i think what were seeing twha same kind of unsettledness i dont think theyve solved anything yet. Ron yeah. At least it resolves the concerns that gary cohn, the top Economic Voice in the white house, that he may stick around. This weekit felt like it wa going to be one or the other. But we havent solved whether the legislative agenda can be moved forward, that it gets through both the house and senate where there are a variety of different concerns over policy, it didnt matter. I think its important. I guess the only question that mime matter. Is that going to i do dont want to say enable the president to work a little nicer not with the democrats but with his own party . We dont toy. Some of the reports weve seen, the president was angered by what was seen. And he was go ahead im sorry. We want to get back to eamonn where breaking news. Eamonn thats right. Were now getting an official secretary from the White House Press pool saying white house chief of staff john kelly and Steve Bannons last day. Thats very much the position at the white house. They were not saying this was a decision by the president himself. The white house likes to say the president took a position. In this case its between the white house and saek. What u the staff. What dow owe now about the people that are staicking aaround. Thats a good point you dont know if thats a has cleaning ore an atamt to change news cycle were also learning from politico that riengs prebessie all star sometimes when you read up a top official, you have to go with it. Stay with us because were going to get more news conferences. We spend every august saying how these are the slow days of august nogg noggin thats when the government locked up the nil ceiling. As not a calm edmonton. Not since 1997. Take me back to fundamentalsing michael. How them then. This an over reach of whether hes been getting things done. When you do look a. Tell economy. The market very full dwrily priced things are energy looks lake it could be getting ready for a bit of a rebound you saw the rinne laj that were holding up battle. All of a sudden nasdaq led the charge back and nasdaq whee have smalt caps not play the russell is now for the year. If they were stalled the kpaers the motw mess itted will help more robust growth might not help him theres a question whether or not a fungling government is building up around the president almost clues sclies eer if you go back writing that or orr. Now you see general kel i my moving im. Let the pretty kind of to what he does that and put a cocoon around him. You want bans. I mean you see this fie in the hou houmd. When hes outside and not confined its hard to do that. And its Jared Kushner looking over his shoulder. I dont know if you were able to see the interview that bannon gave if bannon was true what he said on north korea bennen said in the interview, dont do anything. The peek in soak would if. What ron was saying earlier, whats the functioning working group in the white house can they get some pole to capitol hill and does anybody in this white house have a relationship and get in a conversation and get anything thin dunech preprotests are envochled. I think that new psych it is goim to get more michael with the capitol dome behind jaime. Well steve bannon rnl joining usz now he ees the which kr be that were skjing. With bannon out, to you think thehouse fudges any more smoully apartmental it maerts rm weve a guy whos a deal make err in running a kpaj run a corporation isnt about that you have to bring them up on the stage with you this is a nice story, but you cone going i think back to the teen of rangerrag tomb of the art kls. In it it do you think everyone should be on the same page michelle, he picked those people you ive got to build your constituency he doesnt emulate any of those things which means hes a pure Business Leader ahad organized. What you saw, step akway and wht they they. A person who talks the way the president talks, dow yoejt want to towel fuld. I think they were doing the right thinged an tackle were p i thought it was the groups don i ohm not sure obviously haves very radical feelings about the man but at the same time, violence never cured anything to endorseny sri lens okay they have stepped up to the plate. I think thats what a ceo does he has to represent all of those people. Hey, gordon if the president tried to resurrect a counsel in a year, wouldyou try to join yes the country wants change and thats why he voted in they can help him identify the correct changes to make. Without them hes suffered if he wanted to resurrection it, im sure he could. Im not sure im a fwad one but there are pretty smart people hes going to miss but he needing them. Yet another terrorist attack in barcelona all of the airlines have to tell us when it came to travel to europe, they were sue of it. What have you been seeing when it come s to that . Theres a certain amount of conditioning thats been happening to travellers the last few year it really hasnt hit a doublegy light but over the time it will. Nobody wants to fly into a war zone all right, mr. But anthoethu have you talked to anybody in your excellent reporting that said if bannon goes, were going to be able to work more closely together wu thing thats clear is steve bannon had espoused so somieds thsomie that were in kconfliction. Steve bannon the one reportedly advocated for the 44 top rautd for the wealthiest americans and that the skpajt brady. Theyre very foe cutted out getting rates home he says, quiet, rate production is key every breath that congressional lawmakers use to denounce the kkk is the breadth of not talking about it this is the administration of putting this events behind them. It could be. President trumps support will be b critical to the tax reform. You saw him starting to spread the responsibility for getting this type of legislation through both not Just Congress but the administration they have shown they can move forward over the next few days over the weekend, the american prosperity, theyre having their annual submit in richmont. Wilbur ross is going to be there as well as other key republican lawmakers and republican candidates for office. So that will be an attempt to see if they can move past the events and their vision is. I wonder if we got a foreshadowing of Steve Bannons take reform . He was a puj proponent of it earlier you heard he was on board. Or at least a border tax he was part of that nationalist movement within the administration think that border tax was dead in the senate. Did the white house jump on board and read the tea leaves and realize what was going on anyway im unclear if that was a ball move about ott the hill. Youll see him and mick machine continue responsibilitying together on monday it will be a chance. Thank you joining us now on the cnbc newsline is sara fagen sarah rjs ra sara, welcome. Thank you steve bannon caused a lot of discourse with his colleagues. Love him or hate him, he was not a force of dialogue within that building removing him is a positive step and puts the chief of staff more in charge of the teak. How does the message get back on message and what is the message he ought to get back on. Right now he needs an accomplishment and the fastest way to do that is to focus almost exclusively on tax reform. There are a ton of things. Get a tax reform package pass through the congress and sign and he needs something he can point to as an accomplishment. Theres a lot of agreement on the need for tax reform, and so this is still doable although theres fighting in the west ring i dont think the republicans on capitol hill are any way to jump and do it but hopefully they can still come together. We were talking a few moments ago who the in the white house can help him the moefrs in the house. Or there smeb else youre right. Hes well respected. Well liked he comes from that body, conservative, and theyre weighing the Republican Party depending whats in the package they put forward but if he can help navigate that, you know, the thing about alda and the president has lost a number of them. If you look, hes turned over his staff. Theres still a lot of good people there former attorney general jeff sessions, very well respectedlet his deputy chief of staff in the west wing. Thats someone who can help him. He does have a team there who can get a package done, but theyve got to get together and basically be exclusively focused on it. Im sure you know of some who turned it down if you were asked to work in the white house, this white house, would you . I would new york work in this white house. Mostly it eefrs my concerns of the way the president has run the west wing. I think there are people willing to serve and looking at the greater good of the country and they think theres things to be accomplished there are many of them who say ive got to do what i can to be helpful here i do think, you know, before then more people were willing to serve. I think if it lasts or some more staff resigns, boy, things would get very, very difficult in the recruitment process. When bob pisani returns when we put up the deco, thats the thing at the bottom of the white house, there was a cheer at the knock exchange. Can you splice and dice that to what degree would he have had on the fast refurj or immigrati immigration, its is. Look it most of the time they were if somebody had pushed trump to the right on these issues, trade policies that would not be good for this economy, tax policies, that would not be good for this economy. And so the fact that hes now on the outside, i think those traders and folks on the floor under that makes it more likely that something meaningful can get done, that its goic to be a balanced approach thats going to grow the economy. Sara, thank you very much as always, we appreciate your time we put you on double duty. We appreciate it. Thank you. Heres whats happening at this hour. Police in finland say two people have been killed and six others injured. Police say they are looking for more potential suspects. Spains Prime Minister convening a security meeting with Government Officials after two vehicular terror attacks which killed 14 people and injured 120 more among those. The Prime Minister and political Prime Minister theyre calling for him to resign the president seemingly supported white sue prem sichl and facebook founder mark zujer berg plans to take two months off for the birth of his first daughter he took time off with max and was grateful he had the time theres max. Thats the Business News at this hour power lunch. Track your pack. Set a curfew, or two. Make dinnertime device free. [ music stops ] [ music plays again ] a smarter way to wifi is awesome. Introducing xfinity xfi. Amazing speed, coverage and control. Change the way you wifi. Xfinity. The future of awesome. S. Big news of the day, steve bannon has been pushed out of the white house. Were showing you this picture from january 28th when President Trump was on the phone with Vladimir Putin we want you to take a look general michael flynn, hes gone sean spicer, used to be the White House Communications director, hes gone. Steve bannon, gone, reince priebus, gone. The only two left, President Trump and michael pence. Major turnover this is less than seven months ago. Lets go to john harwood. Have you got thoughts on where he might go from here. Bannon on the outside may be sort of just as fractious as he was on the inside. Well, that is exactly right, tyler, and maybe even more so. We revolves him to return to breitbart news, which had been his platform before he became Donald Trumps Campaign Just tweeted out, war if he cant play nice within Donald Trumps white house, you can revolves hes going the use his platform to go after people like gary cohn and others that he considers too liberal or moderate from the yourseoutside. Breitbart has a lot of influence over what it speaks to not only President Trump but members of congress who fear primaries against republican opponents so its possible he could make more china outside the white house than he does inside. Hes pretty harsh in the white house. When i read the most recent interview in the magazine, he names names of people within the white house. Its startling how strong he is. Unless you believe he had submitted his resignationed on august 7 and you knew he was going to be out, you would say, ah, twhases he exit interview oftentimes people in the white house if their fate is uncertain, they might prepare a res ig nation letter and hold off turning it in. We dont know if steve bannon didnt have one to use as a cover when he was leaving. That doesnt matter all that much he was clearly pushed out by john kelly but the views he expresses are shared by President Trump on many issues and he may be automobile to express them more vociferously on the outside. Diop, i want to go back to something you said right at the beginning of this piece, which is you noted a breitbart editor tweeted out one word war thats joe polak hes not the editor of breitbart but a writer for the california side of breitbart. To follow up on that this is all happening right now, folks the writer for axios said, quote, going thermal nuclear this is important. The dow has not dropped. I wonder in if what were seeing and according to, theres going to be a renewal of hoss still between bannon and trump and damage the administration mean war. You dont know what this guy means. If you have, in fact, a multisided fight, this means its not dealing with results and republicans in congress, at the same time you have a twofront war. You could have a chaos and complete meltdown of the legislative mechanism at all all right. Thanks, john all right. A very volatile day on the floor. You have bob pisani. You had a 150point swing. When the bannon report began to come out, the dow was down weve still got a 150point swing. Were negative now im putting you on the spot, buddy, i know it is it because of this breitbart editors tweet, which one can read into clearly steve bannon, a dangerous man in certain circles, may be now to go after the president. War is a very serious declaration, and im with you on that i want to tell you a couple of things traders cheered at roughly 11 18 that the white house was prepared to fire bannon. The s p was down five points at that time. There you see it circled they promptly rallied seven points in a manner of minutes and another five points over the next hour. When the New York Times confirmed he had been fired at 12 40, theres another one the markets have clearly preferred cohn for the stability he provides. Theyve rallied today that his arch nemesis bannon is gone. They cheered when it was reported that bannon was out they want a concerted effort to race a debt ceiling. Todays rally is the markets way of saying theyre still alive. It would reinforce the strategy. Lets bring in art cashin. I hope you heard John Harwoods comment that breitbart has tweeted out hashtag war. You have talked about how he helps the tax reform agenda. Could ban being at war with the white house hurt the trumps economic agenda . It certainly could. Lets not for get scaramucci, the predday communications chief. Ive got to forget bannon will probably not go to war with the president but could go to were with a lot of people around him that became bannons enemies. Certainly in that interview he did earlier in the week he made it very clear he viewed himself as a possible list at war with the global it s a sists. Youre right. What viewers have to be fearful of, we to not want to see the market go substantially negative again. If they roll completely over and the dow goes down about 30 points, that will be view not good action at all. Of course, we talked about this yesterday all of this year, traders have been rewarded for buying the dip. Yesterday they got their head handed to them obviously we move down in a big way today. Thats going to question the entire one then you say lets move to the sidelines. Dont forget the president is at camp david. Im sure. Lets get back to you. Im looking at the tenyear yield, rick. Were getting some buying here, arent we . Yeah. You know what . Actually most of the news today in my opinion is selling has pushed us away lets look at a chart of twoyear and tenyear. Were up a basis point on 2s and 10s not only for the day but the week as a matter of fact the fiveyear are the big overperformers or under depending on your position theyre up three basis points on the week i know that the issues of d. C. Are big news items, i get it and the stockmarket certainly seems to be paying attention the terms and equities ding bring in selling you could see on the left side of the screen the low yield close right around 213. When you look at their relationship, theyre starting to widen again so a lot of drama going on but ultimately im not sure how it ending up one thing i tell you, power lunch will return before a lot of staffers will back in two minutes. At cognizant, were turning the industry known for processing claims into one focused on prevention with predictive analytics, helping them proactively protect the things that matter most. Get ready, because were helping leading companies see it and see it throughwith digital. Welcome back in the last hour, stephen ban about is out Kayla Tausche has more kayla. He was advising the president on issues from immigration to the economy and had some fractured relationships with other wings within the white house that had led to some discord. Were still waiting on exact details on the timing of bannons removal, departure, resignation, exactly what it was because from that you can glean whether this was an act that was perpetrated by john kelly when he came in as chief of staff whether it was because of what happened in charlottesville or the interviews he gave to the New York Times and american prospect earlier this week but the white house via press secretary is saying at this hour white house chief of staff john kelly and steve bannon have mutually agreed today would be steves last day we are grateful for his service and wish him the best. Well see if the president has remarks. Hes on his way to camp david. We bannon whether he has a hand on his initial response after the Charlottesville Violence here is what the president said. I like him, hes a good man he gets an unfair regard well see what happens with mr. Bannon hes a good person and the press treats him in fairly well see what extent bannon manages his own press. We have not been able to reach anyone there it is expected that he could rejoin that organization potentially create some additional conflict for the white house from the outside the president was said to believe and other white house staff was said to believe that it was bannon leading a smeared campaign against general hr mcmaster that was not confirmed as for his particular brand, i know our viewers have been watching closely he was a trade hawk and pursue quotas and in favor of the border adjustment task and in favor for pushing a tax for the wealthy and had a for handle for it he was also in favor of the government shut down he believes that was something good for lawmakers at the end of the day. So it will remain to be seen exactly how this affects the economic agenda, whether a log jam is removed because of some discourse on the economic front with regards to some of those issues or whether if in fact he will continue to ramp up the pressure on the white house and on some of these issues from the outside. For now, well send it back to you. Caleb, thank you just how will the removal of steve bannon impact the president s agenda joining us, do you believe the bannons removal increases the chances that tax reform will get done yes what we are looking here is in a way bad news is good news for some of the legislative agenda one of the problems with tax reform at the beginning of the year is it lacked natural catalyst one of the things we said is dc reacts when there is a crisis or a deadline man alive, we are kind of hur e hurdling a political crisis here so it is not so much necessary the idea that mr. Bannon is leaving the white house per se as it is the total sort of collection of things that have been going on over the past couple of weeks and months thats going to focus the attention of gop leaders on capitol hill, well say wow, we got to get something done or this whole thing is going to fall apart yeah, i think thats absolutely right i think there is a bit of a combination. When you look at the problems that i have seen with tax reform this year. You have a number of key figures pushing for policies that are completely non starters especially if you do it for the budget of reconciliation process where you need every republican senator in the senate to be along for the final bill the border adjustment tax that mr. Bannon and speaker ryan were pushing for were non starters. So kind of his economic agenda was out of zinc with the mainstay of republican senator that was the hurdle that was removed also with his departure. You want to handy cap what you think the final departure looks like yes, tax reform, losers can find three senators voting against it it is just the tax cut and getting a 15 tax cut because you get tax reform as a tax cut where if you only go to 28 or 25 , you dont change any of the economic incentive in the code and it may not be worth it thats an interesting point you get tax reform in you go low enough all the things you are trying to solve. Everything just solves itself for the lower tax rates. Interests on debt you are not taking out debt just to shield of a 15 tax rate that you take out to shield from a 35 interest rate. We showed videos. The for traders literally cheered when the headlines crossed. Bannon was one thing gary cohn is wall street guy inside the white house nothing changes of his what happens if gary cohn departs . A lot of clients that we talked to, gary is the adult and we trust you dont want to see anymore chaos, you want to see cohn and mn mnuchin. They have the ability to pass legislation without the president and what the president have shown us. He will sign anything that gets to his desk because he wants a win. Gary, it is very important but it would be more important if the congress does not decide to take over the agenda you touch on some of these. Is the president incidental to that or in other words of tax reform it is either and up to him. If you go around the congressional district, this member is against the trumps tax cut, give him a call thats extremely powerful and hard to vote against however, if he did what hes done on healthcare and some other issues, congress may have to move on despite him thank you very much, you have a busy rest of the afternoon thank you for joining us well be joined by the journalist who got the call from steve bannon some say may have sealed his fate well look at how this i mpacts your money and investment. Thats ahead on power lunch. And if thats not enough. We should move. Our home team will help you every step of the way. Still not enough . Its smaller than id like. Well help you finance your dream home. Its perfect. Oh, was this built on an ancient Burial Ground . Okay. Then well have her cleanse you house of evil spirits. Well do anything, spiritual chatter seriously anything to help you get your home. Ally. Do it right. Breaking news, steve bannon is out reporter tyler h, here is t official statement here is the white house statement, white house of staff, john kelly and steve bannon have mutually agreed today would be steves last day what happens to steve bannon outside the white house . If bannon were to leave, the right bar have become the right wing could become a political thorn of the side of administration we have seen a tweet here, i will put it up on the screen from the right bar hashtag, war i am seeing tweets of People Associated from the altright. Bannon is getting respects from direct councils. A lot of folks in the altright feels the remaining core including ivanka trump and cohn, and Jared Kushner, a whole host of officials inside the white house are democrats. Thats the course that remains the president is now pushing out one of the most high profile conservative figures in the administration well see what kind of political m mischief we can create for the white house inside if hes so incline. Well have to see whether hes so incline john harwood is joining us now from washington. Obviously, theyre in their district work period or otherwise known as recess. I have been communicating with a variety of aids on capitol hill whos been telling me theyre not sure there is a big difference here with steve bannon out that donald trump is the one who defines the white house, maybe there will be a little bit less in fighting in the white house. Maybe the functionalty of the building gets a little bit better but on substance, not necessarily and i do think the point that was made that we talked about earlier, the idea that steve bannon wants to make trouble for the people who have survived in the white house as he have not. He can make problems not only for the president. Another tweet was from michael flynn, jr. , his tweet says all of the loyal people to donald trump have now been ejected from the white house the people so to the extent that people are outside and flynn and others deciding to make trouble for the president , this could get worse rather than better john, thank you very much now, lets bring in mike allen. You had a series of scopes all week pick up where john just left it, if you dont mind. All of the socalled loyalists, the true believers the reds of the reds out of the white house. Are there more still of course, there are still nationalists inside the white house but we are seeing this amazing dynamic set up of the most prominent and the most powerful of the Trump White House are going to be outside. Whats fascinating here is that trumps instincts remains with steve bannon we saw this in a way of what the president is talking about we have seen this debate over the troops of afghanistan. The president felt that he leaked and you and your colleagues certainly know of the irony of that including of the president of the United States, that comes from the steve bannon here the mortal sin, he crowded Donald Trumps spotlight he got in the dog house and bannon was in the dog house before he was on the cover of times magazine the second most powerful man in the world. This time, it was by the business week. We see there on the cover. We see bannon and the president. The president does not see it that way there is something just ironic, is there, mike the idea of mr. Bannon including mr. Trump on the eve of the total solar eclipse, is there . Both rare and historic event. Steve bannon is going to war saying that hes going to back to bart news he plans to go thermal nuclear is the word theyre using intensity the moderate elements of the white house, the ones thats known to be globalist, gary cohn, we are hearing all day yesterday on cnbc because hes seen as such an important force in this white house by wall street. The rhetoric is getting over heated, oh boy, oh boy Everybody Needs to stay off twitter for the rest of the day if you are a high level Government Official. Put your exclamation points away exactly jonathan swan, i read his tweet actually, we talked about the quote thermal nuclear commenuclear comment. What do you think that mean, jonathan theyre going after the administrations policies and there is thermal nuclear which they go after the Administration People which could get very, very ugly. It is going to be both and i dont mean to speculate. I can tell you from our reporting, steve bannon may try to continue to silence himself as a supporter of the president personally and he may argue that hes trying to let trump to be trump but there is no question going against Administration Policies and some of these top figures in the white house is the one known to be new yorkers and moderate or whatever you want to call as what gary cohn is the most prominent americas first idea came first, donald trump was the vessel. Thats part of why there is tensions between the two of them donald trump does not want to see himself as anyones vessels. Steve bannon believes in these ideas. It is the other way, he wanted to help push these ideas into policies and have been the one question on the president. Here is the tension we keep oncoming hes going to have access to the president and guarantees he still talks to the president and pushing these ideas. Did mr. Bannon think hes responsible for mr. Trumps election i guarantee he thought hes more responsible for the president. Of course, steve bannon, who was part of the ones that ran the campaign and helped crack the code against the odds and the prediction so there should be plenty to celebrate. Plenty to go around. This president , we know is jealous of the credit and every time morning joe and your Sister Network would put up of times magazine cover that would rattle the president and makes him so angry we know from our reporting the president saw the cover, i dont know that the president crawl up with it and read up page by page he felt that steve bannon was promoting himself and taking too much mike, thank you very much, we appreciate your time, mike allen. Thank you for your coverage you, too. Lets get back to your money, stock market turning around midday on this news. Bob pisani, there is audibly cheers going up, it is pretty stunning yes, remember this is a republican crowd down here trading brian was mixed early on words came from washington of the news that the white house was prepared to fire bannon. There you see the circle there of the clear relationship. S p 500 was down 5 points and another 5 points over the next hour when the New York Times confirmed that bannon have been fired, there is the second circle that you see, another 5 points take a look here, how much do they prefer cohn they rallied on confirmation that bannon is gone. Floor traders who are overwhe overwhelmingly cheered when reported that bannon was out they want a conservative effort to raise the debt ceiling and moving onto tax cuts now the markets ending anywhere in the green or flat would be a victory. Michelle, i am in the middle of reading josh greens book. I highly recommend it. It is fascinating read on the wor worlds view of mr. Bannon we have to act aggressively. Fantastic book yeah, hes got a dark view of the world. Thank you, bob back to breaking News Reporter yeah, we got the fe first statement here from nancy pelosi Steve Bannons firing is welcome news but does not disguise where President Trump himself lies on white supremacists. Bannon, the bigotedolo bigoted ideology thats an indication that the democrats are not plan to step down of this kris ycriticism of this president. Lets not forget of the other side of this story if the white house believes it needs a Strategy Officer, it no longer has one it is just another high level open position. Yeah, i think thats really an interesting point this white house after whatever reason have been unable to unwilling to bring in fresh cases on the outside taking on new role and they tried it with Anthony Scarramucci and it did not last more than a couple of weeks. Now, you got a number of open positions here decided that hope hicks a long time, relatively young and in experience campaign, and aid to the president will be serving as an interim communications director. That position is not nearly filled the question is whether they can bring in some new people and new blood from the outside well see whether john kelly, the new chief of staff will come into a high level of position at the white house and will be able to recruit the people under his banner it is notable that the white house is attributing this decision to john kelly and steve bannon is making a mutual decision and not making any role here the president wants to let kelly be the bad guy here in terms of dispatching bannon the president is offering some words of praise for bannon over the week, saying hes a good guy and no longer having him inside the white house. He was a student body president , 1976. Some of the archives of things he said are starting to come out. It is an interesting read. Maybe not the guy that a lot of people think he is stocks popping as bannon is forced out that does not mean an end to dcs dysfunctions. Whats happening to your money here bringing in our private Capital Management and equity strategist for funds. Should the steve bannon removal mean anything for the stock market i know day trader but judging by recent balances and stocks, it seems like bannons removal is cheered by investors and it means some kind of a positive policy change at the white house and a policy strategy at all thats my question chlts at this stage, whats the strategy my broader concern here, we still dont have a probusiness agenda and look, the president s company probusiness councils have been dispanded. In ve investors have to chop this up let meggett tom get tom to n that is this one of those pivotal moments and i take the point that there is been precious little moment legislatively on a progrowth agenda what i think we all can agree to is the idea that at least there is going to be more regulations than there used to be and taxes probably wont go up and they may not come down. That creates a little bit of a drought upwards for the market tom. Yeah, we continue to highlight at a prorisk we got this tension and disconnected of political headlines on the one hand and the reality of economic backdrop here in the United States and abroad that seems to be playing out in the equity market and particular, we see a strong global synchronized growth cycle. We continue to see central bank of 14 trillion and assets of balance sheet. Highly liquid market from central bank and strong economic fundamentals underneath it we have seen the numbers for the u. S. Consumers both for sentiment numbers today and retail sales it is a great engine for the u. S. Market and strong u. S. Consumer and weakening trend and mainly some strong Economic Growth we continue to favor u. S. Equities tally, so much for august being a boring month, right . It is been a pretty interesting month. Pick up on the idea and explain your feeling why what kind of risk off posture are you taking thats question one and question two, what are the next two or three road markers that you are going to be watching over the next month so, i think the nuance and really the key differences between my views and those of your other guests are, we think that u. S. Stocks can continue to go up, but just at a slower pace implying continued under performance relative to equities and namely emerging and european stocks it comes down to different stages of the Economic Cycle and evaluations. Evaluations here at home are a stretch at a time when later in the cycle where as the picture is exactly opposite in the two key regions i mentioned, emerging in europe with the added benefit of Monetary Policy i would think investors would keep an eye on that classic Business Cycle indicator which is the yield curve the difference between the ten years and the twoyear for signs of economic turbulent at home. The signs are good and you can still see an extension of the Business Cycle here. The coast i think is clear for those stocks to continue to go up well, thank you for that nuance there, we appreciate it tally ledger and tom joel pollak tweeted war, hes going to join us ahead. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. The 2017 eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. Lease the e300 for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Will democrats in congress find it easy to work in the white house with gary cohn good to have you here. Thank you for having me here. Well, thats probusiness. What do you think of steve bannon leaving the white house and gary cohn is staying this is certainly a shake up. I made some mistake if there is a glimpse of hope it is going to have to be that what if it is less dysfunction and more discipline white house. Then we are not going to get anything done. Theyre pretty concerned of where the country is headed. So mr. Cpa, what would you like to see what happens with the tax . I believe we need comprehensive reform and unfortunately, what we are going to see if anything at all is minor cuts from the top 1 and some business cuts theyre trying to push something. What would comprehensive reform looks like . I know thats a day long discussion, but what would it look like to you we got to start off making sure we are competitive as a country. Lets start off Corporate Tax reform, bringing the 35 down. Its got to be in the ballpark. Its got to be 15 to 20 or 25 . Says a democrat wow it may raise the rate on corporate america. So if you do a hard kept of 25, it sounds lower. If you k iill the deductions, y may raise it thats why i am pessimistic that we are going to get it done by the end of the year how many cpas did you say there was eight we need more lawyers by the way. 535 men and women on capitol hill and majority of whom are attorneys. Attorneys dont know a lot about numbers and taxes. Are you convinced that they can get something done and fully comprehend of what they are doing . I think it would take several years to get it done the few conversations i had as a cpa trying to talk to a few bills i was put forward, the gloss that comes over the eyes in the first 30 seconds. I am not trying to knock them. Most people dont understand taxes. This is very complicated you need a real leader whos going to roll up his or her sleeves or have androg agenda he because you have got a lot of people thats continuing to put their party in front of this country and doing whats best. They know whats best and they dont want to lose their election whats next . Do you give high possibility that there will be a good tax reform bill or lower tax between now and the end of the year or not . I would say low possibility anything passes in my opinion it is going to be reconciliation. If they could not get healthcare done or which it was talked about for seven years there is more agreements on this i am sure there is more agreement on taxes than healthcare and going into the debate there is no agreement. And i am going to paraphrase here does the idea that there is so much turmoil increased and focused on the attention of the congressional caucuses on the gop side to get something done they need a win as much as the president. They need a win in a big way. If i had to speculate, if they get anything done. It will be what i said on there. Maybe some corporations and some individuals, it will be minor and for a few years. They cannot pass anything under reconciliations of the ten years period theyre probably going to have to find offsets since they did not pass the aca or 800 or so billion dollars there. I like what you are saying, you are resetting the bar. You are saying to the people, there is a chance tax reform is going to get done. You got to get tax cuts. We live in the 24 7 news cycle of Everything Else how do you tell the American People we are going to get it done. You just go t to t to be patiepe the drama around this white house and the chaos, everyday and the tweets of what just happened over the weekend has got to stop because you got republican members of Congress Starting to pull every single day. You see when we get back or when they get back in september, they got to raise the debt and pass the budget they start wondering, is it better to be aligned with President Trump and even in the smai smallest way or to pass it would you align yourself with trump or distance yourself from trump . It would be the same thing i would have done if i was there as a democrat. On day one, hey, lets do something with infrastructure and get people back to work and ro roll up our sleeves. At this point, it is tough calculation for most republicans. They have to deal with the moral question of where is this line of racism with getting things done for the country yeah the conversations is much more complicated. Thank you very much for joining us you are pretty much exciting for a temp yeah [ laughter ] lets join joel pollak, we got him on the phone are you there . I am here what do you mean by the war . Thats the hashtag from the beginning that well go to war, partly speak to defend americans from the Mainstream Media and hollywood left first and for mo most and from the institution left of the Democratic Party second and mainstream republican who wants us to convert the will of their own voters when we see war in the context of steve bannon leaving the white house, what does it mean does it mean that steve bannon is coming back it Means Nothing changed in terms of our coverage. We remain as we have always been the outlet that represents the movement and the ideas that brought trump to office. Whether he remains on board with that agenda is now an open question with Steve Bannons departure of the white house that has been the case regardless of trumps winning. We opposed him when he has years from that agenda and we supported him when he stuck to it that does not change does it get more intense as you are looking at the Mainstream Media or the hollywood left, the left wing of the Democratic Party and institutional and republican what does war looked like and do you have any hesitance using those rhetorical terms, going thermal nuclear a week away from standing off north korea no, come on no, i am not launching the bomber by tweeting the war. If you want to blame me for getting rid of kim jongun, i will take the credit if that happens. Rae, y really, you go to war, we are happy warriors and what the tone of this going to be and iconic classic and off the wall it is going to be spontaneous and it is going to be fun. One of the reasons our leaders love is how much fun it is we are optimistic of america and potential of americans as opposed to many other Mainstream Media who do not share it. We are up here and some people may say the Mainstream Media guy. It is a global show. I guess it is the Mainstream Media. How can you use a word like fun when we are talking about the state of the nation right now. The fears that people have about future of the country and possibly almost of a non functioning executive branch because this country not only has great people and a great future but it has a great constitution and if you look back to late 2015 when i wrote about a President Trump presidency, i said that he will crack the code as conservatives, we want our government to be limited we dont want government to set them in all directions and set us what to believe and where to go to the bathroom and etcetera, donald trump thus far as governed as a conservative president. This is a strong country and this is how our system is supposed to work we are supposed to have forces like Like Congress and the media. So the fact that there is oppositions that is causing troubles for the Trumps Administration and a cause to reexamine how we are doing things and hoping to do the job. Thats why i have no hesitancy it is going to be fun. Theyre taking down statues and not just the confederate generals joel. Theyre the enemy of the people and we have to stand up well fight in optimistic way like we have always had. You brought up the situation of charlottesville what do you think is happening in charlottesville what happened is a catastrophic failure of Law Enforcement and politicians. They let these two groups of hateful people attacked each other so they can be hateful around the robert e. Lee statue whats missing is freedom of speech defending violence against people who have hateful speech, thats not how the constitution works. The First Amendment is there to protect peach you dont like and the police should be there to protect demonstrators. Because they get it and allowed this violence to happen and everything is out of control i grew up in illinois, Holocaust Survivors and the nazis. Thats the principle, it is going to heard people and offends people but you have to let them do it you can rule out idea that is are much more benign and thats why our constitution works the way it does. Because we still have and we are defended on. Is the altright i would not be working for a jewish editors or i would not have hired jewish people it is the most ridiculous charge go to the huffing ton post which welcomes bannon. I would never use that term to describe anybody it is a derogatory term. Joel, what do you think of gary cohn . I dont know anything about him. I do know hes a registered democrats and i think there is a fear among conservatives that with steve bannon gone and the Trumps Administration could become in all but named a democratic administration. Well see what happens well see if that continues and well see if trump can pull back a team of rivals that can Work Together to fulfill the agenda he was elected on. Thats all i can say i dont take these things personally and i dont attack particular members of the add minute str administration how well do you know steve bannon i know him very well. I imagine the Huffington Post used that term steve bannon went to the university before i did. That gives us the ability to see some of the archives from the school in fact, friends to everybody, how how eroneously has he painted . What kind of a man would get the headline that you just mentioned . Steve bannon is a great leader he took the Trumps Campaign at the lo the lowest point and brought it to victory he pushes people he punishes failures he does not accept failures. In terms of his attitude, he recruited, conservatives from diverse background and spanish conservatives and jewish conservatives and he was committed in highlighting a diversity of conservative movement would you describe any way of racist or white supremacist. Whats happening to him is textbook example of much of what the media participated and historians will look back at it and marvel at the hysteria look, bring it on. Hes like a lightning rod so the people working for him can do their jobs it is slander in which people know better have actively participated would you like to see him run for office [ laughter ] i dont know about that certainly, you know he has my vote were you surprised we reached out to you because the market may have fallen on your tweet, what do you think of the possibility that it could have moved lower on your tweet . Well, i was surprised when you emailed me but i was busy short filming. You are kidding joel. [ laughter ] you talked earlier in the interview of the core principles, what are they . Core principles of right bart are freedom, democracy and opposition to the forces that are opposed to those which includes the democrats and Mainstream Media and washington establishment. We believe in america and partying for americans and we believe doing so happily and happy warriors all right, there pollak, thank you very much for joining us pa well get more of bannons derture. Power lunch is back in twominutes. Wheres jack . Hes on holiday. What do you need . I need the temperature for pipe five. Ask the new guy. The new guy . Jack trained him. Jacks guidance would be to maintain the temperature at negative 160 degrees celsius. That doesnt sound like jack. Actually, jack would say, hey mate, just cool it to minus 160 and were set. Good on ya. Oh yeah. Thats jack. Stocks are turned around the turn around coinciding with news that steve bannon is out at the white house. At the moment the news was announced the floor had a strong reaction we are learning at the same moment that i am telling you that bannon has said to have submitted his resignation on august 7th according to the New York Times. On august 7th, thats new to me as well bannons departure came to a startling he contradicts several major positions of the trumps white house. Joining us is Robert Kuttner who interviewed bannon on that article. Thank you very much for coming in thank you for having me he reached out to you, right . Yeah, i got an email from one of his assistants saying mr. Bannon would like you to come to the white house and talk to you. I want to make sure it is legit and i called the guy on the phone, i am on vacation but this stuff that we are talking about is moving rapidly, why dont we do it by phone bannon agreed and about an hour later, he called me. He did not take the trouble to say whether it was on the record or off the record. When a high Government Official calls you does not say you are on the record if you are on the record he did not know he was on the record do you believe that . I dont. What totally is bizarre is a day later he did not know he was on the record, he calls the daily mail which is a british publication, he did it deliberately to distract media attention. So this is a guy, who you know changes his story from daytoday and the other thing that i want to emphasize is the story that he resigns two weeks ago. August 7th. It is completely and i am just about to send an email to the reporter who wrote that, shes being in his conversation with me, he said well, when can he come to the white house . Well, i am sorry i am on vacation until labor day well, lets set up a time for you to the come to the white house and i will meet you with and bring in some other guys and blah, blah, hes somebody that knows that hes given this letter of resignation, why would he invite me to the white house after labor day . Why did he choose you he chose me because i wrote a piece that ran the american prospect website on monday and tuesday, saying that america is affe affected like china and our trading policy is so weak. What theyre really going to do is give the North Koreans just enough latitude so that we can take a weak position and thats what he liked that because that comes closer to his point of view of what the u. S. china bilateral trade to be like he sees the u. S. And china inevitable titanic he calls it an economic war, to be nice to china and the hope that hthey help us out with the North Koreans. I think what was really reckless and naive, thats a funny word to use with bannon on his part was to assume that because we might happen to have similar views on china that therefore of a a liberal magazine, i am going to excuse all the things hes doing and soaking up of the neonazis far right all right, you know that stuff does not really count which is just crazy bob, i read your piece last night twice. I thought terrific thank you you are obviously liberal and you write for that publication i found your tone, i think you described them as saavy, i believe that was one of the words that you used. Yep were you pleasantly surprised by a man that expects you probably thought you would not well, lets put it this way, i did not want to over write the story. I want to give him enough room if you will and i want to give him room to say what he would say. That is guy thats strategically very smart but on the other hand is so full of himself that he makes catastrophic aerrors and think they are true. All right, mr. Kuttner, thank you very much for calling in up next, the economic fallout and impact on tax reform from todays news, Steve Bannons departure. Well talk to the adviser under george w bush, stay with us hey youve gotta see this. Cmon. No. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. He writes one of the most widely read market commentaries in washington and on wall street what does he think all of this mean. Lindsey. Great to hear from you again thanks for joining us. My pleasure is the steve bannon news, in some ways, i know it got cheered on the floor of the nyse, but is it in some ways bad news one of the problems the president has is isolation he was one source of Important Information to the president i know hes got extremely bad press. And again, you dont have to agree with the man, but i think he was a rational individual, i think he understood policy, i think he understand politics and again, one doesnt have to agree with him, but he certainly was not the kind of extremist hes been labeled. Hes not a racist or nazi or whatever the word of the day and i think his loss makes the president more isolated. I think they provide someone for the president s sake that replaces him thats a great question, larry. Do they replace him . I dont know this is a real question, not one of these fake tv questions that i know the answer to is Strategy Officer a normal position did that exist under in the administration you were in or is this a newly create ed tht i think that might not have to be replaced . I think karl rove played that role in the bush administration, for example. I think john podesta played it in the clinton administration. I think Valerie Jarrett played n it in the Obama Administration so, yes, i think its a very normal thing to have does was he, in a sense, the president s philosophical muse [ laughing ] well, i think he had a point of view that was very useful to the president in the campaign. I think he identified the midwest as the key battleground state. And identified the groups within the midwest that the president did appeal to. And the president won because he broke what used to be called the blue wall. And pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin, the states that had consistently voted for the democrats. Is there anything im sorry. I thought you were finished there. Is there anything to the particularness of the announcement of his departure that mr. Bannon and general kelly mutually agreed that today would be his last day, mr. Bannons last day, and keeping the president out of it, so that the president thereby is not tarred the by the supporters of mr. Bannon on the right, for taking out this guy who they admire oh, i think, you know, the job of the chief of staff is to do things like this. Its the way it happens. You know, when i left, it was andy card who called me. Its what the chief of staff does so its i think its also quite normal and i think youve identified the reason another point to make on that is a personal one in my case, president bush and i, i think, were close and we continued our friendship affordwar afterwards and i think bannon and trump will do the same are we going to get tax cuts, tax reform, whatever you want to call it these days, larry . I think in the end, we will i, frankly, dont think today helps. I think its another distraction. And i think, frankly, the problem right now is not in the house, which knows what to do, its more getting the white house onboard here and im not sure that they have the talent to understand tax reform no one with any background i mean, the person that they should be having in the mix is kevin hassett, but the Senate Democrats are blocking his confirmation so, so, you know, i think that this is yet another distraction and may slow down the process. Kevin hassett of aei appreciate your time. Power lunch back in a minute im living that yacht life, life, life top speed fifty knots life on the caribbean seas its a champagne and models potpourri on my yacht made of cuban mahogany, gany, gany, gany, gany watch this dont get mad bell mnemonic get e trade and get invested thank you so much. Thank you so were a go . Yes we got a yes what does that mean for purchasing . Purchase. Lets do this. Got it. Book the flights hai si si ya ya ya what does that mean for us . We can get stuff. Whats it mean for shipping . Ship the goods. Youre a go you got the green light. That means go oh, yeah. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Were gonna hit our launch date scream thank you goodbye let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. Its a performance machine. Engineering. So you can get business done. With this degree of intelligence. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. The 2017 eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. Lease the e300 for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Another tumultuous day in washington, d. C. , which today led directly to volatility in the markets, even though weve kind of flattened out here at this point but between whether or not gary cohn was going to leave, steve bannon definitely is up and down what you see intrasession is because of all these headlines coming out of the white house. Who said august was going to be boring . I think one of the things, one of our guests, i think it was from fbr earlier today said, and i really think this may be the case, is that all of this tumult and turmoil may actually cause the Congressional Republicans to really focus and come together to drive tax reform. I think that may be and the white house, going to focus the attention of the White House Bill and kelly joining us now. I think tylers exactly right. And i would guess that the men and women who are up for reelection in 2018 may be even more focused, but i love our Patrick Murphy the former democratic congressman from florida, who was very rationale and he said that basically tax cuts will likely happen, but we need to be patient, that they take a lot longer than most people think they will you know, im at the point now where i just dont try and guess whats going to happen because, were always wrong. So you too wise position to take logic would tell you that, yes, theyre going to want to hunker down, because it is so important to the markets and the economy to get the tax cuts done, the infrastructure spending, the regulations, we all know that. But its been so unpredictable for the last eight months, who knows whats going to happen by the way, goldman says theres a 50 chance of a brief Government Shutdown. And we have that to contend with next month. I think youre wrong. Im often wrong, but never in doubt, bill. Thats what we do making these pronouncements but i think theres a moment of opportunity here, but a moment where the minds will become focused. And i think watch what happens right after labor day. Watch how it recenters congress does make the laws, right . And theyve got a lot to deal with theyve got the debt ceiling, the budget, and theyve got tax reform guys, as we go to break or go to the weekend, lets not forgets, what happens to Gary Cohn Gary cohn is wall streets guy in washington. Bannons one thing, cohns another. Cohn, if he doesnt get that Federal Reserve job, some people have said he may be on his way out. And if that happens, i think well have a whole new situation. And the midterms elections will be 14 months away after labor day. All right, folks were going t