Published July 26, 2019
This is a rush transcript from "Your World," July 26, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Do you think you were able to bury the hatchet with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez in your meeting?
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: I don't think there was any hatchet.
QUESTION: Called you downright disrespectful.
PELOSI: Well, that's -- we're in a political arena.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: Hatchet? I don't see any hatchet. Do you?
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez meeting to clear the air and remind us all there's no hatchet around, everything's just fine. But something is still lingering in that air.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And this is "Your World."
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez calling the meeting productive, but do big differences still remain between the two?
Fox's Hillary Vaughn on cutting through all of this kumbaya.
What are we learning, Hillary?
HILLARY VAUGHN, CORRESPONDENT: Neil, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting her house in order before leaving for summer break by embracing differences in her Democratic Party, by embracing freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The two met this morning and both came out of the meeting looking forward to moving forward together. The speaker comparing the intraparty squabble with Ocasio-Cortez as sibling rivalry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: We had a good meeting. And the congresswoman is a very gracious member of Congress.
I have always felt -- again, it's like you're in a family. In a family, you have your differences, but you're still a family.
And we just had a meeting to clear the air.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUGHN: The meeting lasted around half-an-hour and reporters asked Ocasio- Cortez if she felt like Pelosi respected her opinion in the meeting, and Ocasio-Cortez said, absolutely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: It was a positive meeting and productive. I think the speaker respects the fact that we're coming together as a party and that unity. And I'm looking forward to us getting back in September.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUGHN: Pelosi publicized to the face-to-face meeting on Twitter, posting this picture.
But Ocasio-Cortez hasn't. The millennial congresswoman that's known for broadcasting pretty much everything on social media has not flaunted her face-to-face meeting with the most powerful Democrat in America.
But she did tweet this video of her meeting a dog named Aziz to her Twitter followers today -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Hillary, thank you very much.
So the rift or the tensions, a lot of that covered up today, we're going to get to with Chad Pergram very shortly.
Not so easy when it comes to the issue of impeachment. But it is sort of a party at crossroads, isn't it?
The Washington Examiner's Kelly Jane Torrance, the Republican strategist Kimberly Klacik, Democratic strategist Robin Biro.
Robin, how would you term this, I don't know, peace agreement?
(LAUGHTER)
ROBIN BIRO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, Nancy Pelosi needed to do this. They actually had been at odds.
Nancy had things like their -- they have their public whatever, and their Twitter following, but that's only four people. And that's the only votes they have got.
And AOC took a huge issue with that, rightfully so. So I think this was just trying to bridge the divide before they go on summer recess and for optics. Picture is worth 1,000 words, right?
CAVUTO: Yes, there you go.
Kelly Jane, what do you think?
KELLY JANE TORRANCE, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It's funny. There's a cliche that when you go home at Thanksgiving, you got to worry about having political arguments with your crazy uncle.
Perhaps Pelosi sees AOC and the rest of the Squad as your crazy aunt that you need to mollify a little bit. I thought it was really striking that she used the term family and talked about how, of course, everyone has disagreements with their family.
Well, you don't get to choose your family. And I'm sure Nancy Pelosi wishes she could choose her members. But, yes, I think it is for optics. And I think it's served them both well, in a way. But, of course, they did it right before the break, which I thought was interesting.
Perhaps that means that they're less likely to start another feud. They will go back to their districts, maybe a little less infighting, though, of course, on Twitter, anything can happen. And you had AOC's chief of staff actually insulting Nancy Pelosi on Twitter.
So I don't expect the fireworks will end. But I think both of them -- I'm sure Nancy Pelosi made a very good argument as to why Democrats need to stand together. And perhaps she mentioned the 31 Democrats who won in the midterms in 2018 in districts that President Trump won in 2016 and perhaps explained to AOC why those members matter just as much, if not more, than the four with all the...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: It's always about just getting along, getting along.
And Republicans have had these kind of issues often themselves.
And, Kimberly, I'm thinking about on this whole debt ceiling measure, where you have a good many of them bolting, 50-plus, saying no, no, no, no, we can't sign on to something like this, because it's not in our DNA to do this.
And yet they still speak highly of the president. They still speak highly of their leadership. So both parties are dealing with this to varying degrees. How do you think it's going?
KIMBERLY KLACIK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, absolutely.
And I think we all agree on this panel. I think it was really a photo-op. But I have to say if AOC really wants to put this charade to bed, she could actually put term limits on the table and get rid of people like Speaker Pelosi or those that she doesn't quite get along with. And the whole Squad could just take over.
But I assume she's aspiring to be a career politician, just like Nancy and friends. So she probably won't do that. But, of course, they're doing this to look as though that they are together, that there's unity, that they're not divided before the break.
And they have to do some kind of damage control after the Robert Mueller hearings. That, I think, did hurt the Democrats. So I applaud them for trying. I guess this is what leaders do. So Speaker Pelosi stepped up. But we all know it's just for photo-ops.
CAVUTO: Well, they might be photo-ops, but it got the desired photo, right?
So we will see what happens.
KLACIK: Yes.
CAVUTO: Guys, I want to thank you all very, very much.
We have a lot in news going on right now, including the other big issue of the day, impeachment, and exactly how far to push this. But that really depends on your definition of impeachment proceedings.
To Chad Pergram on why that is going to be a very important distinction -- Chad.
CHAD PERGRAM, SENIOR CAPITOL HILL PRODUCER: Well, this was a very confusing press conference that the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, held today.
They were going back and forth, saying, well, we're not really having an impeachment investigation or an impeachment inquiry, but they're setting the table for that. This was an issue that came up. And reporters walked out of this press conference kind of confounded, frankly, Neil.
Listen to Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, D-MD: I think we are in an impeachment investigation.
(CROSSTALK)
PERGRAM: Are you saying that we're not -- somebody says it's not binary. How is this not, not binary? Either we're in it or we're not, right?
REP. ERIC SWALWELL, D-CALIF.: When you look at different Congresses and the way they have addressed it, they have done it in different ways.
Nixon was done different than with President Clinton. And what we are suggesting here is, this court filing is the first time that you're seeing us telegraph to the court that one of the remedies we have is impeachment and to consider whether that should be used.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: Now, committee counsels will tell you that impeachment inquiry is not an official thing. That's something you could have at the end of the process, their term of art.
This is why this is important. If people don't know where they stand, Democrats and Republicans in the House are going into the August recess. The House just left yesterday. And you have to establish a narrative.
And if Republicans can take this and run and say, well, everybody must be for impeachment, if they're calling that, people -- calling it that -- people aren't getting the nuance.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says they're going to try to do three things to -- quote -- "own August." And she said those three things are legislate, investigate and litigate. You had two new members come out just today, Neil, for impeachment, Annie Kuster, a Democrat from New Hampshire, and Mike Levin, a Democrat, a freshman from California.
But the Republicans could try to portray all Democrats as being for impeachment. That's a problem for swing Democrats in battleground districts, because then Republicans control the narrative and Democrats don't -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Are they hoping that the momentum changes? You talk about four or five additional ones, I assume beyond the 95 who voted for impeachment in the House under that Congressman Green measure.
But that's where it had kind of stuck. Are they hoping that momentum builds, new things leak out, revelations come that will change that math mightily? Is that what they're clinging to, or what?
PERGRAM: Absolutely.
I mean, there were court filings that they made today. There's going to be a lawsuit they're going to file next week to compel the testimony of the former White House counsel Don McGahn.
August, as I always say, Neil, is the most volatile political month, because the House goes away. The Senate is going to go away at the end of next week. Beware the ides of August. Weird political things happen in the month of August, if you go back historically, and this could be a make- or-break month either way, for impeachment, against impeachment, where one size seizes the narrative, and that's where this goes come September when they return to session.
CAVUTO: All right, Chad.
Also, a thing about August, it's hot. That's another little problem.
PERGRAM: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Chad, thank you, my friend. Always stays cool, Chad Pergram on Capitol Hill.
We should show you here, the Dow finished up on the day. So if it was worried about all these crosscurrents, you know the old line here, funny way of showing it.
And look what was going on with the NASDAQ. Look what was going on with the S&P 500. Both of those averages hit records today. In case you are keeping track here, this is getting to be an almost routine event, where we have the NASDAQ and the S&P both up about north of 20 percent on the year.
So, again, not exactly shivering in the face of all these developments.
Then there was a very big report on the economy in the latest quarter. It came in weaker than expected, but the president making clear that is not on him. The economy still grew, but it wasn't what he had wanted. And he's not blaming himself.
I will tell you that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Growing at 2.1 percent, not bad. That was better than thought for the second quarter. And it did handily beat some estimates out there
It is still, however, down from the 3.1 percent growth in the economy we experienced in the first three months of the year. Now, the president tweeting that this isn't on him, that it's really on the Federal Reserve, and if not for all of those rate increases, we'd be doing a lot better right now.
That's something that economist Steve Moore has mentioned once or twice on this show, Kingsview Asset Management's chief investment officer Scott Martin here with us as well.
Steve, the president is aware that the trade back and forth didn't help matters any, right? So he -- that's partly on him, isn't he?
(LAUGHTER)
STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, I think that there has been a little bit of a negative impact on GDP, clearly in terms of some of the business spending, because of the ongoing trade tensions between China and the U.S.
And, by the way, I support what the president's doing, but this is kind of short-term pain, Neil, for long-term gain of getting a better deal with China.
CAVUTO: Right.
MOORE: But I also find myself in agreement with Trump. It won't surprise you that I do think the Fed has been too tight.
And I think that has knocked as much as a half-a-percentage point off of growth. I mean, you go back to the summer of 2018, before these big rate increases that the Fed put in place in September and December, and the economy is growing at 3.5 percent.
So the president's frustrated, but I think what -- look, the third quarter is off to a pretty good start. And I think that we're going to get back to that 3 percent growth path, which is what we have been aiming for.
CAVUTO: All right, Scott Martin, I mean, obviously, the markets don't seem to care that much. They like the steady, shore growth. They like the fact that it's coming with little, if any inflation.
SCOTT MARTIN, KINGSVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT: Yes.
CAVUTO: And they like the fact, because of that, and maybe the trade situation to which Steve alluded, the Federal Reserve is going to cut interest rates. So all good, right?
MARTIN: It should be all good.
And I'm going to use a favorite quote from one of my favorite newsmen. If markets are bothered, they have a funny way of showing it, don't they, Neil?
That's your quote, by the way.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: You are so coming back.
Steve, take some notes on this, will you?
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: All right, go ahead.
MARTIN: I totally stole it, I know, man. I'm going to use that as my own going forward on other shows, if you don't mind.
CAVUTO: There you go.
MARTIN: But I'll tell you what. Steve is right.
I mean, if you look at interest rates, Neil, on the open market, so look at two-year rates, look at 10-year government paper, 30-year government paper, which, by the way, friends, is about equal to the Fed Funds Rate, rates have come down while the Fed has been hiking on those notes that Steve mentioned with respect to September and last December.
So, that tells you the Fed has it wrong. Now, what I think we have to be careful of, folks, though, is, do we get this rate hike -- or rate cut, rather, next week, and that's it, because data has started to look better again? Or does the Fed keep on this rate-cutting path that the market expects them to be on?
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: Neil, one good thing about this...
CAVUTO: Go ahead, Steve.
MOORE: ... that the stock market rise, which has been gigantic -- we're now up 50 percent since Trump was elected, and we have had a nice run on the market in recent weeks -- there is a kind of wealth effect.
And one of the things that is propping up spending, we were disappointed in the business spending, Neil. We want businesses to be capital investing.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Yes, this was all consumer-driven in this go-round, right?
MOORE: Yes, it really is. And so what you're getting is this kind of wealth effect. If people feel a little richer in the pocketbook, and they're spending, that's a good thing.
We were a little disappointed in those business spending numbers. And I do think that's -- some of my friends at the White House disagree with me on this, but I think there's an uncertainty about where this trade war is heading. and that makes businesses a little bit reluctant to invest.
CAVUTO: When you were there and working with him, and he wanted you on the Fed, Steve, I mean, this going after the Federal Reserve constantly was second only to going after Bob Mueller and the witch-hunt investigation and everything else.
He is obsessed with the Fed. And that's not easing up. But he does know, right, that if the trade thing isn't going his way, that the Fed seems to be ready to help him out?
MOORE: Well, look, he has had this dispute for six months or more, a year, with the Fed. And he's been very vocal about it.
My feeling is that Trump has been right. And I don't have a problem with the president speaking out. I don't think he should be quite so critical of the Fed. I mean, look, go back to what Scott was just saying.
Think about this, Neil. We have got the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. We have got record low interest rates. We have got no inflation in the economy. We have got wages rising. I mean, this is a pretty good economy we have right now. And 2 percent...
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Seven million jobs open too.
MOORE: Yes, well, we got, what, 7.5 million job opening.
CAVUTO: No, no, no, there's no doubt about it. You're absolutely right on all of the above, Steve.
I just think you just take a chill pill on pointing fingers and just get over it. He's right. The seven rate hikes the Fed was doing under his administration might have put a chill on it.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: In fact, Neil, I would make the case that one of the things that is slowing down the economy a little bit -- I wonder what Scott thinks about this -- is employers are literally running out of workers to hire and that...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Or they might be getting nervous. Or they might be getting nervous about this trade thing. I don't know.
But is it your sense, Scott, looking at this, that it's all going to work out? I mean, I don't know when they all get to meet each other in China next week whether they will cobble something together? Do the markets need a deal soon, or they're just happy waiting this out?
MARTIN: Yes, I love how you said that. It's all going to work out, we're going to get together, have a few laughs, a few drinks.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: I didn't say that. I think it's your greedy money-grubbing friends, that that's what they want.
MARTIN: Well, they're not my friends anymore. They were yesterday.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: But I will tell you, there's something that is going to come out of this. And Steve is right. I hate to put it this way. But it is about playing the long game here with China, because we have been so coddling with them with respect to them changing their ways for so long, for decades, really, and they haven't done anything.
So, to me, this is long-term progress that is going to be made, if there is any short-term pain, which, to your point earlier, though, Neil, I think the Fed is paying very close attention to.
So if this heats up with regards to a trade war, you're going to see the Fed come in and save this thing.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Go ahead, Steve.
MOORE: I didn't mention -- mean to sidetrack your question about, does the White House believe the trade war is a problem?
It depends on what economists you listen to. And some of them actually think that tariffs are reducing the trade deficit, which then would increase growth. So there's a lot of disparate groups and voices in the White House about this trade situation.
CAVUTO: No, you're absolutely right. And you always honestly answer my questions. The answers are a little questionable.
MARTIN: And watch out what it does to the dollar. How about that?
CAVUTO: Exactly. Right.
Guys, thank you both very, very much. We shall soon see.
MOORE: OK. Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: By the way, at the White House, we are hearing the president's taking questions from reporters right now.
The big news is that, apparently, an agreement has been settled, scored and signed with Guatemala to restrict the U.S. asylum applications from Central America.
Remember, Guatemala had backed off from that, and the president was promising all holy hell would break loose. Apparently, that is not going to be the case.
We will have more to this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, I touched on that deal we apparently have with Guatemala to deal with illegal immigrants and all of that.
The president is still speaking at the White House.
John Roberts dashed out to give us an update for the time being on what's going on in there -- John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon to you.
Just came out of the Oval Office after spending almost 20 minutes with the president, the acting DHS secretary, Kevin McAleenan, and the minister of government for Guatemala, Enrique Degenhart.
Earlier this week, it looked like any hope of signing what's called a safe third agreement for Guatemala to agree to allow people who were from El Salvador, Nicaragua or Honduras to apply for asylum in the United States there wasn't going to happen.
But then we were called into the Oval Office, and, lo and behold, there was the president with the secretary and the minister. And they were signing what's known as a safe third agreement in Guatemala.
So now what will happen in the future is that, rather than these asylum seekers coming up from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua through Guatemala into Mexico and then on up to the U.S. border, they will now apply for asylum in Guatemala, where they will wait out while their asylum claims are adjudicated.
So the president is hopeful that this will really begin to stem the tide of Central American migrants flowing through Mexico and toward the United States, and could even act as a deterrent for people in some of the Northern Triangle countries, as they're known, thinking that they will not be able to come right to the United States, they will have to go to Guatemala first.
The president also issued an order a couple of weeks ago, saying that unless you apply for asylum in a country that you're transiting before you get to the United States, you will not be allowed to claim asylum. That one's tied up in the courts.
But this is an actual agreement between countries. This is not just a presidential memorandum or a presidential executive order, Neil. So, this one's going to carry a lot more weight. And we will see how it goes going forward.
The president also talked about a lot of other things as well, if you want to go into that.
CAVUTO: I will, and I plan to shortly. But thank you, John, in the meantime, John Roberts, because we have got some other developments of a foreign nature here.
Kim Jong-un, in concert, it seems, with exactly what the leader of around is trying to do, launch missiles just of various ranges. But this is sort of like a poke in the eye and provocative act.
The read from retired General Anthony Tata.
General, good to have you.
What do you make of the timing of both countries doing this within 24 hours?
BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY TATA (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, Neil, let's remember that North Korea and Iran have worked closely together, bypassing U.N. sanctions and that kind of thing. So it's not surprising to me.
I think it's probably more coincidence. What you have got is North Korea posturing before any talks that might come up. Really, what's happened is, South Korea received a couple of the F-35s they have ordered from the United States, and also potentially has planned more exercises.
And this is Kim Jong-un sort of lashing out and saying, wait a minute, I thought we were headed down a different path.
And then, with Iran, what you have got is this continuing escalation of them demonstrating and making political statements with their military, which is, of course, the strongest arm of Iran.
So, what we have -- I think it's coincidence that both of these happened in 24 hours. But these are our two biggest thorns in our side right now is Iran and North Korea.
And I think the president is smart to keep the Persian Gulf presence we have. And Iran's sanctions have led to more presence with the U.K. and the U.S. And with North Korea, that's going to continue to bump along until there's another meeting, and then perhaps we can make some progress there.
CAVUTO: He's been very cautious in his response to this, very low-key. And I'm wondering, particularly when it comes to North Korea, what you -- what you think of that.
TATA: Yes.
No, I think the president puts a lot of faith in his personal relationships, and because he's been a deal-maker all of his life.
And so I think he believes, genuinely, that he can pull a rabbit out of the hat with North Korea. And perhaps he can, because, let's face it, for the last 18 months or so, there has been no nuclear test, and there were four on President Obama's watch.
So that's -- that's real progress.
CAVUTO: Right.
TATA: And even though there's been a few missile launches, they have still gone way down from what they were before.
CAVUTO: Yes. And they're not the kind that we told them not to do.
So, General, we will follow it very closely. Thank you, sir, for taking the time.
TATA: Thank you, Neil.
CAVUTO: We cut that a little close here because we are going to go back to the White House, that tape of the president here taking and fielding reporters' questions right now. Take a look.
(TRUMP SPEAKS)
CAVUTO: All right, the president taking on any and all questions.
In case you tuned into that late, the president says that Guatemala is finally doing what it should be doing, signs that agreement to restrict the U.S. asylum applications from Central America. Made quick references to the GDP report that was out today, and blaming a lot of that on Jerome Powell.
Not a fan, he says, of the chairman who was responsible for five rate hikes since he chose him a little bit more than a year ago. Two of the rate hikes that were also under administration was by the former Fed chief, Janet Yellen. Just wanted to put that out there.
Also wanted to say he was technically incorrect in stating that China is paying these tariffs. Obviously, you are. So that cost goes on to you for goods that come into the country from China.
Now, those who get the goods or send them to you can absorb a lot of the costs, but the cost ultimately are borne by you, not by governments.
All right, let's get the read on all this from RealClearPolitics' Susan Crabtree. We have got our own Charlie Gasparino as well.
Both of you, thank you very much for your patience.
Susan, on what the message he was sending here to say: Look, I'm making progress. I'm doing things. Economy's doing fine. While these Democrats are all focused on impeachment and all this other stuff, I'm getting the work done. They're not.
What did you think?
SUSAN CRABTREE, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Well, you did see the Democrats yesterday pull their bill that they had planned, their border bill, immigration bill, and so -- amid dissension in their caucus.
The House Blue Dog Coalition, the more conservative part of the caucus, was very concerned about the impact that the bill would have. They couldn't get the progressives and the Blue Dogs on the same page with the speaker. So they pulled the bill and they're not going to do anything.
Well, that's a surprise this. Have you heard this before? Congress cannot get on the same page of immigration. We have seen this time and time and again. We have the president coming out today. He's taking his initiative with Guatemala.
He had threatened them on Wednesday to clamp down on any travel from that country, impose some sanctions. We saw this as a successful strategy with Mexico earlier this year, that he got them to put 6,000 members of their military on the border.
He is saying now that has had an impact, that the immigration numbers are down of people trying to cross into our country. And so he's...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: You can argue that his rather unorthodox strategy works.
Now, one of the things he also said of what came up, Charlie Gasparino, is now going after France, because France wants to slap a digital tax on high- tech companies, Google and a host of others.
CHARLIE GASPARINO, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: And wine.
CAVUTO: And wine.
And now he has threatened, I guess told Emmanuel Macron, I just might slap tariffs on your wine.
GASPARINO: You know, I never thought he -- does he drink? He doesn't drink.
CAVUTO: No, he does not.
GASPARINO: So, how does he know?
CAVUTO: But he -- it said it looks better.
GASPARINO: Oh, the color.
CAVUTO: I don't know. I don't know.
GASPARINO: It smells better. I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
GASPARINO: Tariff wars are always -- always cost you economically.
I think we have been down this road before. The reason why I think the economy slowed a little bit -- I think we're at GDP at 2 percent, still strong.
CAVUTO: Still good.
GASPARINO: But the reason why it slowed is because of his trade war, because he's engaging...
CAVUTO: But he's blamed that exclusively on the Fed.
GASPARINO: Listen, he has some points.
CAVUTO: Absolutely.
GASPARINO: I want to say a couple things here. I want to say, number one...
CAVUTO: Quick, quick.
GASPARINO: ... this was a great week for President Trump. He deserves the victory lap, given what happened with Mueller and the economy.
But here's the thing with the Fed. The Fed just didn't raise short-term interest rates. It was raising long-term interest rates by unwinding its portfolio. That was stupid.
CAVUTO: So, that was a double -- double bang to the economy.
GASPARINO: He's right. He's right about that.
CAVUTO: And, Susan, one of the things that also -- if markets were panicking about what he's doing in bashing the Federal Reserve, obviously, we could see from this markets are doing just fine. Nasdaq, S&P hit more records today. The Dow is pretty solid.
So he's arguing, look, the economy is good. Unemployment is very, very low. My trade strategy, unorthodox as it may be, is working. Democrats used to be working with me. They had this trade measure that you alluded to that they all of a sudden shelved, maybe because they think they can capitalize on impeachment.
Is he getting the upper hand here? What do you think?
CRABTREE: I think it's, as long as the economy, there's not a bubble and there's not a recession starting, I think that the majority of the Americans do not want impeachment.
You have -- saw The Washington Post/ABC News poll saying that 59 percent of the country doesn't want impeachment. Yet you see the Democrats moving forward, even after a disappointing performance by Mueller.
CAVUTO: Which is why Nancy Pelosi was worried, right? She's threading that needle. Right?
CRABTREE: Exactly.
And I don't think -- unless she was clairvoyant, she didn't know that allowing the House Judiciary Committee to go forward with the Mueller testimony would actually strengthen her own hand against impeachment. But, ironically, that's what happened.
It's an interesting sort of situation we see ourselves in, the Democrats still -- House Judiciary, Democrats still moving forward with trying to get a lawsuit for the grand jury documents that are redacted from the Mueller report, still moving forward.
CAVUTO: It might be easier said than -- might be easier said than done.
I'm jumping on you guys rudely, but time is a wasting.
GASPARINO: Yes.
CRABTREE: Right.
CAVUTO: What did you think of that?
GASPARINO: I agree with a lot of what she said.
But I don't know how the Democrats make the sale for there -- this is getting back to presidential politics -- based on the economy. They want to take the economy -- even Joe Biden now is starting to go this way -- so far to the left, when the road we're going on now is working.
Now, I know Trump has not...
CAVUTO: Biden now this time is not saying shelve the entire corporate tax. It went down to 21 percent. Bring it to 28 percent, still lower.
GASPARINO: By the way, that's their only hope.
I don't think the other leftists can really win against this, because the economy is doing too well. I don't think it's going to crash in time for the election.
CAVUTO: That's what you argue that he -- that they're hoping for, right?
GASPARINO: I don't think it's going to happen. Do you?
CAVUTO: Susan, is it your sense on the trade front that the president needs a deal? Or just the fact that he can extract concessions, sometimes under the threat, that's good enough?
CRABTREE: Well, I think that he is making progress, right?
I think that the trade issue is a very difficult one. Even on the Democratic side, you have different factions supporting it, different factions not, the unions a big deal, opposing and a lot of trade deals.
You're going to have this play out in the Democratic presidential debate next week. We will see.
But as long as he's extracting concessions, I think it's moving the ball forward.
GASPARINO: Is he?
CAVUTO: T-Mobile and Sprint got together. They did it. You saw it.
GASPARINO: I think it's -- I -- well, we have been breaking stories on this on FOXBusiness.com, FOX Business all for the last three months.
Listen...
CAVUTO: And that wouldn't happen in an environment where they didn't feel it favorable to do so.
GASPARINO: Listen, these are -- a lot of these folks that run these companies are Democrats. And they're applauding much of Trump's regulatory policy, which allowed this to happen.
Remember, this deal got blocked during the Obama years. And I think it's - - when you look at it, it's good for business. It's probably really good for consumers, because it's going to allow them to price-compete.
And the Democrats are the only ones against this thing, because -- because it's Donald Trump's ball game. It really is a sad state of affairs. You just oppose something.
Now, I know the Republicans did it too, but they're doing it here.
CAVUTO: Susan, did you know that the HVAC system in the White House was so poor and the air conditioning? It was either very, very cold or very, very hot.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: I knew that was Obama!
CRABTREE: Yes, unfortunately, I...
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right.
CRABTREE: You can blame it on Obama, but it's still the same way for the press in the basement, too.
CAVUTO: All right, it is cold, cold, cold.
Guys, I want to thank you both very, very much on this.
Obviously, with all of this breaking news at the end of day, it's a good thing, as we always are, live on Saturdays.
We're going to look at the implications of what the president said today, what he was able to do with Guatemala, same thing he was able to do with Mexico, you might recall, and then the failures of Bob Mueller to close the impeachment deal, and now have all these Democrats scurrying for the time being.
They might be able to get their way on some other matters. But on a host of key issues, the president, who they routinely dismiss, seems to keep getting the upper hand. Now, that could change.
We will look at the ramifications of all of this for you, your money and your life, because we care enough to come in on a weekend that's going to have beautiful weather.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But that's just what we do.
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