>> shepard: that uncertainty will leave you hanging. >> it has been. >> shepard: thank you, deidra. >> you're welcome. >> shepard: the final bell is ringing on wall street. up 77 on the session. the 30 industrials, 16 are in the green. 19. 19 of the 30 industrials are in the green. "your world" with neil cavuto is coming up on america's choice for news and information on cam. this is fox news. >> neil: what is it that they say about no good deed goes unpunished? the president stands by the saudis over a killing of a journalist and the saudis respond by moving to hike oil prices so they can make a killing off of us. weird. welcome, everybody. i'm neil cavuto. how is that for thank you? just think of that. the president stakes his political hide standing by a prince and today al he gets back is a royal finger. the kingdom close to slashing how much oil they produce, which could means we pay more at the

pump on the very same day the united states senate votes to blast the saudis over reporters in the murder, in definitely means this whole dust up gets worse. let's say oil is well that is not ending will. that oil isn't the only thing that is slippery. so today we drill, you decide. peter doocy on capitol hill on the saudi's slap to a president. blake burman at the white house on whether the president is slappi slappi slapping black. peter? >> the administration is wanting to reshape the situation with saudi arabia. but congress called out the crown prince, say they blamed him for jamal khaishoggi's murder. that is the most dramatic action that they've taken yet. >> as a result of what the

chairman has just offered, it's a clear and unambiguous message about how we feel about what happened to this journalist. >> so what is next? senators might move to sanction saudi arabia in the new year once there's a few more republicans in the ranks according to lindsey graham who thinks sanctions could be veto proof then or unable to be undone by the president. first things first. not only did the senate confirm the crown prince, they voted to pulled troops in the yemen war backed by saudi arabia. that measure was sponsored by mike lee and bernie sanders. >> progressives and conservati e conservatives have made a profound statement that 45 years after the passage of the war powers act, 45 years later,

finally the united states senate has come together to use that authority for the first time and saying that the responsibility for war, the constitutional responsibility for war rests with the united states congress, not the president, whether that president is a democrat or a republican. >> the defense secretary and the secretary of state and the cia director have showed lawmakers graphic intelligence that they say proves the saudi arabia crown prince was responsible for khaishoggier murder. lawmakers say they wanted to see more. the actions are because of the intelligence. neil? >> neil: thanks very much. a quick peek on oil prices. oil pranices advance on the sau threat that they're taking it back to us and to the very president that has supported them throughout. that is weird. let's go to blake burman at the white house on how they're

reacting to that. sir? >> this is still fresh in the last 30, 40 minutes no official reaction from the president or the white house. president trump has been very clear where he stands on this one. he said the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman said he had no involvement in the death of khaishoggi. the president said saudi arabia is an ally of the united states and has invested billions of dollars in this country and will continue to do so, which creates jobs. in an interview with reuters, the president was asked if standing behind saudi arabia means standing behind the crown prince. this is his answer. he said at this moment, it certainly does. he's the leader of saudi arabia. they've been a very good ally. the secretary of state, mike pompeo, saying on "fox and friends" yesterday that there needs to be a balance between america's interests and accountability. >> i've spoken to the king, king salman and the crown prince a

number of times since the murder of jamal khaishoggi. it is absolutely america's intent to hold everybody accountable this is responsible for this. the kingdom of saudi arabia decides who is running the country. this is what the president said yesterday. we're working closely with the kingdom to make sure that america is protected. that's our interests there. >> much different message out of the white house than what you've seen on capitol hill. you heard peter reference the intelligence briefing last week afterwards. senator bob corker said that if it was put to a jury trial, mohammed bin salman would be convicted in 30 minutes. lindsey graham at one point said there's not a smoking gun. he said "there's a smoking saw." neil? >> neil: thanks very much, blake. jeff flock was the first to seize on how weird this whole thing looked for oil prices. the royal kingdom was responding by doing this to the same president that is standing by them despite all of the stuff that prompted this. jeff, how did we finish?

>> some people saw it coming, but i'll tell you, talking about smoking. oil prices were smoking today. put the numbers up, if you would. we were up 3% on the average price of a barrel of oil. up $1.43 to 52.58. that on the news that maybe these imports would be at a 30-year low. i have to bring phil fleen in. why did they do this? prince bin salman a friend of the president. why did that do this? >> saudi arabia thinks it's pay back to president trump for reneging on the iranian oil sanctions. remember earlier in the year, jeff, president trump was on the phone with saudi arabia saying hey, you don't like iran, we're going to cut off their oil. you better raise production to keep prices from going up. then they changed. they gave waivers and now the

saudis are mad and they want pay back. >> so it's about money as it often is here at the cme. if you own a car, think about filling it's up soon. oil prices and gas prices may be on the rise. >> shepard: all right. outstanding reporting, guys. thanks very much. so how should the president respond to this? retired brigadier general. what would you do if you were in the president's shoes? >> it's a very complicated situation over there, neil. you have the vital interest that is in our national security strategy that we have to be most focused on. the free flow of oil through the persian gulf. so the opec limitations and saudi arabia saying previously that they would meet reduced numbers of barrel of oil coming out to the united states. they could argue that that's what they're doing now. i agree, this is sort of a slap in the face of the united

states. given especially our support for the war in yemen. i think what is happening here, it's really two fold. it's the noise over the khaishoggi murder and us now what you played with senator sanders and others talking about withdrawing support for the war in yemen. that war in yemen is just a shii shii shiia-sunni fight at its core. the rebels allied with iran have captured the airport and now there's direct flights from tehran to yemen. that allows them to bring in missiles that can range riyadh. so we have an ally that is being pressured from the south by the iranian military in essence and the special forces are over there. it is a complicated matter.

but i believe that saudi arabia is responding because of some beginning to talk about withdrawing support for the war in yemen. you know, the president needs to take a look at that. i think it's time to refresh what we're thinking about there. honestly, i believe -- yeah, we need to keep saudi arabia as a strategic ally. >> neil: you have to wonder, all the protesting, what the saudis did in the killing of this journalist, tragic as it is, hadn't said boo about the tens of thousands of yemenese killed in this war. it is what it is. it refuels the concern here that the saudis are not to be trusted, doesn't it? >> i think -- yeah, you can only trust any strategic ally, particularly throughout the middle east where i have served

several times. so i think it's 51 to 49% on any given day. it's not a whole lot different than when obama was eating hot dogs and watching baseball with castro in all the atrocities that they created in cuba. >> neil: i see your point. what makes this more galling, whether the president was right to take the very lonely position he did to not penalize or go after the saudis for killing khaishoggi, this is the thanks he gets for going the extra mile for that. >> and i thought that the president could have made a statement that it's unacceptable, which it is. it's a terrible thing, which it is, that happened to khaishoggi. levied some kind of pressure through diplomatic or information or economic means on saudi arabia as some kind of statement that we're a country of values. i believe that sort of what is happening holistically between the senate and perhaps the white house once we hear from them. that not withstanding, that --

there are strategic interests that we need to stand by saudi arabia as a buffer between, you know, iran and israel, which is the ultimate end goal for all of the shiia in that region. >> neil: general, thanks very much. >> thank you, neil. >> neil: general tata. the president telling harris faulkner in just made news left and right that what his personal lawyer is facing now has nothing to do with anything that he did when they were friends and were closely. after this.

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>> what he did is all unrelated to me except for the two campaign finance charges that are not criminal and shouldn't have been on there. they put that on to embarrass me. they put the two charges on to embarrass me. they're not criminal, number 1.

harris, that's according to the top -- >> i've interviewed people that told me this. >> so what happened is either cohen or the prosecutors to embarrass me said listen, i'm making this deal for reduced time and everything else. do me a favor, put these two charges on. >> i want to move on. >> and they weren't for president obama either. >> michael cohen says that he lied in order to protect you. what is your response for that? >> let me tell you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. a lawyer that represents a client is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them money. he's a lawyer. he represents a client. i never directed him to do anything wrong. >> neil: whatever he did he did on his own. the president referring to his former lawyer that flipped to illegal activity. jim trussey on that. what do you think of that?

>> it's great to be a lawyer today, neil. it's an interesting situation. the president could be right in that there's something a little gratuitous about the statements of fact in the southern direct of new york plea. it's loading both barrels and pointing him in his direction saying individual number 1 that ran a successful campaign for president. we know who we're talking about. there's language that has to be concern to him. the flip side is, i don't think mr. cohen has any credibility left as a witness. so i think the odds of ever seeing a michael cohen driven prosecution against this president now or in the future are pretty slim. he's pretty shot at this point. >> neil: unless someone can get some voracity to his charges, right? >> i mean, i think most of the prosecutors in southern district that are at least supervising this case have a lot of experience. they would have to know that they would need a literal smoking e-mail or smoking

recording to put cohen on a witness stand. it would have to be almost entirely sufficient. if you have that, they might have something to work with here. they're still very thorny issues about what is a campaign finance fund and what is the intent that would be required for the president. not just mr. cohen. >> neil: when you look at the whole cohen case, at issue is whether this payment, payments to these two women influenced the election. not so much if they were campaign funds or private funds. you'd have to prove this was not done to protect the family but protect the president's chances that is a hard thing to prove. >> absolutely is. i've heard some commentary that it would require the intent to preserve the election as the sole intent. in other words, you couldn't have a mixed motivation. you'd have to have one thing in mind. there could be a disconnect between cohen and trump. trump could be thinking this is

a problem that i want to slough away and not have to deal with with my wife, with the election, with business. again, trump's -- cohen's admission does and bind trump in any way. >> neil: just to be clear, it's not the issue whether they're campaign funds or not. that is what obviously the mueller and the prosecutors are saying here. >> yeah, i'm not 100% sure on that. i think it's a thorny area. there's some statutes in this realm where it would have to be traceable to the campaign funds to be a violation. >> neil: let me ask you in the michael flynn case. this interested me. i'm no lawyer. the judge in the case wants the special counsel to turn over a lot of interview documents and other things that there might have been untoward fbi pressure here. what do you make of that and where this is going? >> a couple of things. judge sullivan is the exact wrong judge to get fired up about discovery violations. he had the ted stephens case. he has a standing order in all

of his cases that relates to the government having to provide what is called brady material. mitigating information. it seems to me as we get late in the game for flynn's sentencing that judge sullivan is taking an activist approach. wants to make sure the defense can raise everything they can raise about how flynn might have been treated differently than others similarly situated defendants. i don't predict explosions at a sentencing with the issue how much jail time he gets, but judge sullivan is the wrong draw if he's got concerns or if he has concerns about the government's conduct. he might. there's a lot of smoking guns here in terms of the fbi treating flynn a little differently. so could be a sensational hearing if the judge is on the wrong side that morning. >> neil: up to that point, the president was having an exchange with the governors at the white house saying when asked about these issues, particularly the

michael flynn situation, he says that michael flynn is a general and a great person and he didn't lie and mueller said maybe he did and now they're having a big dispute. it's a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation. that's an honor for a lot of terrific people. what do you make of that? >> it's hard to predict where the judge will go. just because he's ordering the disclosure doesn't tell us where he's going to be. if he's an activist judge when it comes to discovery -- as a litigator, you look for different approaches. the nine team can say there were markedly different approaches in how flynn was handled from the time the bureau showed up to the way they conducted the interview and the broader strokes of how he was advised or not advised. >> thanks, jim. >> thanks, neil. >> neil: imagine you had a big project at work, right? you told your boss, i've got to get a little r&r, relaxation.

i'm going to leave town and come back maybe 24 to 48 hours before the project is due. what do you think your boss would do? we have no choice. we're the bosses of these guys that sit in the house of representatives. they're going on a little long weekend. that will leave them barely 48 hours to avoid a government shut down. that should work out well. i can't tell you who i am or what i witnessed, but i can tell you liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪

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you squeeze the amount of time members have to work things out. they don't come back until 6:30 wednesday night. and the deadline is friday at 11: 11:59. so what we see set in is the stockholm syndrome. they keep people here before the holidays and squeeze the amount of time they have to worked out and then the stockholm syndrome kicks in and they work something out. what remains is what can pass. there's talk that the house could try to move a $5 billion for the wall. i talked to patrick mchenry, the chief deputy in the house, the republican congressman from north carolina. he said "the question of whether or not to do it is a question of wisdom and strategy and tactics. it's highly debatable as to whether this is the right move." neil, had they decided to go down that path, they would have done so already. they don't have the time to do that. this is a slam job late next week to avoid a government shut down, neil. >> neil: chad, let's get the

read on the border patrol chief. this is all over funding for that wall. the president insisting that push came to shove, yeah, he would shut the government down. it's that important to them. $5 billion is a good step in that direction. what do you think? >> i can tell you we need a wall. if you talk to any border patrol agent, they will tell you this is something we've been doing for 30 years. we have identified across the entire southwest border areas that wall makes sense and i have prioritized that based on the operational requirements from my field leadership. >> neil: so chief, a couple of dumb questions. if you're patient with my dumb questions. it doesn't have to be a wall. i understand that through the whole border but it has to be secure, former than the fencing that we have now. i'm told secondly that the $5 billion that the president is looking for is a continuing down payment or something that will ultimately be closer to $25

billion? >> we have identified mileage that goes beyond the $5 billion. but like i said, we prioritized it. no matter what funding i get, i'm ready to work on putting the wall where we need it. >> neil: would the wall do something that existing structures don't? i know there's vast areas of particularly along texas where there's no such thing. that are you confident that it would keep illegals out? >> it's much more sophisticated than what you're showing right now. that is old landing mat fencing that we put up years ago. it's certainly not what my men and women need to work effectively and safely along the border. the new wall system integrates technology with the wall and it's a much sturdier, has anti-dig features with it. it has detection technology and

it's set to attach additional technology to it. so it's really a border wall system. >> neil: i got it. the anti-dig means you can't dig beneath it and crawl under it. >> yes, sir. >> neil: the president has staked his reputation and the government on this. as much as you want this, what do you think of that? >> well, i can tell you the president has been extremely supportive and listening to my men and women on the ground and has listened to myself as we have described what we need to be able to secure this border. >> neil: chief, the issue that i want an update on, regardless of what happens with this wall, if it comes to pass that the president doesn't get that funding, you argue here that you have a serious problem that gets even more so, right? >> well, certainly. we need the denial that the wall brings. we need more technology and we need more agents on the ground to secure this border.

our apprehensions are up dramatically. 88% compared to where we were last year. the first two months alone, we apprehended over 100,000 people crossing the ports of entry. >> neil: chuck schumer said you don't need a wall then with the progress. >> obviously we have a lot of bad actors in the group. the wall helps us as we operate, helps me expand where my manpower works and helps me to get into areas that we can't currently operate in. >> neil: so depending on how this goes, and the president does get this initial funding and then he gets more funding after that, the big worry is that you build a bigger trap, you find smarter mice or people that find a way around that. is it your sense with some of the drawings and renditions that have been out there that this s

is impenetrable? >> certainly it will be tough to get through. nothing is perfect. makes it easier for my men and women to do the job that they have taken an oath to do and protecting this country. it's a long border. we have 1954 miles with mexico. i have a little over 16,000 agents deployed on the border. it's certainly not sufficient enough. the barrier and the impedance and denial helps them do their jobs. it makes our border communities safer. >> neil: carla provost, an easy job you don't have. thanks for taking the time. >> thank you. >> neil: she's the u.s. border patrol chief. melania trump is season as the's secret weapon. we saw just proof of that. ♪

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>> neil: there his interview with harris faulkner, anybody interested in being his next chief of staff? what the president had to say despite everything you've heard in the mainstream media just might surprise you. we're back in 60 seconds. nother around the corner? or could it turn out differently? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot... almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. ...and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment.

eliquis is fda approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. what's around the corner could be surprising. ask your doctor about eliquis. >> what's the hardest thing that you've had to deal with since becoming first lady? >> i'd say people using my name or my family name to advance themselves from comedians to

journalists to performers. they like to focus on the gossip. i would like to focus on the substance. what we do, not just about nonsense. >> neil: all right. first lady melania trump speaking with sean hannity last night voicing her frustrations with the media. wishing they would at least balance it out and focus on something that she and the president are doing that are not all one way negative. the evolving role of the first lady and how she's now doing more of these things, getting on to the public, speaking on the public can't come at a better time according to brie peyton. it's interesting. i always find that presidents that don't make use of their spouses learn later to regret it. it's good to see melania trump out more. i think she should be just like she should have been used more

aggressively. what do you think? >> i completely agree with you. what is funny, since her interview with sean hannity, what's gotten the most attention is her hair color. i read and article that said that melania's hair color change. what does her blond hair mean? >> neil: i wrote that story. glad you caught it. that kind of stuff, whatever you make of it, is all part of covering the first couple, right? so she can't hurt it. >> the reason why she gets critical attention from the media is because she exposes them for what they are, which is a bunch of sexist bigots that will cover you if you're not ultra liberal and fall in line with everything they say and tell you. so she's pointed that out in her interview with sean hannity last night and that got pooh --

poo-poo'd at cnn. she should critique them and continue to do this. this is a message that resonates with the american people. they see the media coverage of her and see the members of the media treat her in a sexist manner blaming her for every single thing that her husband does that they don't like, which is sexist, by the way. >> neil: when they pile on her for whatever reason and it's fair game or not depending whether it's a democratic couple or a republican one, you know, would it kill them to balance it out a little bit? >> right. that's the point. since her tenure in office, she's had no major cover on a magazine, which is astounding considering she's a really beautiful fashion model. i just think that the lopsided coverage in her and the lopsided attention that she receives from members of the press, she exposes it by being there.

the east wing is getting that and say listen, everything that she does, media will twist it. she puts out declarations in the white house, they maybe it like it's a crazy message, but it's not. they're realizing that she needs to be out there, put out her own message and say things from her own perspective and her own point of view. that's really a winning strategy. earlier today she went to childrens national and visited sick children and read out loud to them. that is the kind of stuff she should be doing, showing she's human. >> neil: balance is good for everyone. cover the good and the bad. there's a lot else you can get to. we have three news networks. we have lots of time to get into all of it. sometimes it's all one way. you >> yes. >> thanks. i agree. >> neil: i like your hair color, by the way. it's very nice. >> thank you. i recently chopped it all off. >> neil: i'm the same way. all right.

you're right about the media fixation on stuff like that. more coming up, including what the president has to say about the type of chief of staff he might be looking for. maybe he just tipped his hand.

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had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how. >> what are you looking for in the next chief of staff? >> well, i want somebody that is strong but i want somebody that thinks like i do. it's my vision. it's my vision, after all. at the same time, i'm open to ideas. >> neil: the chief of staff is called second most powerful man in washington or woman, by the way. but it is a very tough job to fill because the president sees things differently so you need a strong wild person in there to take him on. leon panetta knows that well. he came into that role when bill clinton wanted to restore order in the white house in 1994. he did just that and other things since then. leon panetta joins us now.

good to have you. >> nice to be with you. >> neil: i know nigel hamilton wrote of you, that to be a great leader, a modern president has to have a great chief of the staff. in leon panetta, bill clinton got the enforcer he deserved. that came in 1994 when bill clinton wanted to restore order to all over the map, pizza at 1:00 a.m. and people undisciplined. he needed that. there you came. the pizza reference has nothing to do with your italian heritage. so i want to get your sense of the type of person that would have to come in and do the same for donald trump. >> well, neil, i think the most important thing is that there really has to be a relationship between the president and whoever he selects as chief of staff. it's very important that there be a relationship of trust where the chief of staff trusts the

president and the president trusts the chief of staff. also that the president is willing to empower the chief of staff not only to implement a strong chain of command within the staff but also to implement discipline. that is the kind of relationship that is very important. he is the president. the chief of staff is just that, the chief of staff. but in order for that relationship to work, there has to be a trust between the two of them. >> neil: you've never violated any confidences you had with bill clinton but i'm sure there were times that you would disagree how to pursue something or a couple years later and the big budget debates, how to proceed that. did it ever get nasty? did it ever feel like i'm out of here? >> i think it was important and we had a good relationship. because i had the ability to walk into the oval office and

look the president in the eye and tell him when he was wrong. sometimes he didn't like to hear that. but he was willing to accept that kind of criticism. that's important. frankly, in the white house, there's very few people that are willing to go into the oval office and tell the president when he's wrong. that is part of the role of being chief of staff. so i just think to have someone that obviously he trusts, have someone that is strong, but to have someone that can really speak honestly to the president whether he's right or wrong. that's the most important thing that we need in that relationship. >> neil: this transcends whether you're a democratic administration or republican administration. i find it interesting you came on board in 94 and i'm sure the president had an eye to the re-election. it's the same thing here for president trump. he wants to right the ship, if that's how it's being

characterized to get ready for the presidential election. so should that person be politically seasoned pro or just someone who is good at instilling discipline and keeping everyone to a calendar and in check and on their job? >> well, i think the best combination, frankly, for a chief of staff is somebody that is tough, that can implement good discipline within the white house, but has a political sense. it's good to have some political experience. >> sounds like chris christie. he might be that guy. what do you through? >> well, you know, chris christie has that political sense. he's a tough guy. i think the real issue is whether or not people within the white house are going to accept chris christie walking in there and becoming chief of staff. he's going to have to build a

relationship not only with the staff, but i think with the president's family members as well. >> neil: the family members are the ones that had a problem with general kelly and went around him. i'm talking about the reports of ivanka trump and jared kushner. they felt given their connections that they could go around him and that didn't go well and we no what has happened. how did you police that? >> well, i took the position that anybody that went into the oval office has to go through me as chief of staff. i kind of followed the jim baker model, which is that you are the person that controls access to the oval office. you're somebody that has to be present in all of the meetings, deal with all of the policy issues so that you know exactly what the president wants and you can respond to his concerns. in addition, the family members had to abide by that discipline as well. you know, both hillary clinton

and bill clinton had their relatives. the reality is the relatives came through me in order to get access to the oval office. i thought that was the best way to handle it so that everybody knew that there was a chain of command and that there was order within the white house and that people could just -- could not simply walk in to the oval office and do whatever the hell they wanted. >> neil: that's a tough thing to teach the president, whether it's bill clinton or in this case donald trump, right? >> absolutely. and that's the real question. i remember when i talked to john kelly when he took that job, i said, you've obviously got to put in a strong chain of command and discipline. i had the convenience of having a president that wanted that discipline because he cared about getting re-elected. so he was willing to empower me with that kind of discipline. i think that's a little different with this president. you know, he's somebody that has never had a chief of the staff

in private life. he's somebody that in many ways thinks that he's probably the best chief of staff you could have. how do you build that kind of relationship is going to be really challenging for this president. he needs it. he has to have an organization within the white house -- >> neil: everybody president does. >> it has to -- absolutely. >> neil: you didn't always hit it out of the park. in an interview snuck by with me with president clinton. i think you were just flabbergasted how that happened. it's always good seeing you. thanks very much. >> good to be with you, neil. >> neil: leon panetta, lessons to learn whether you're republican for democrat about what you want in a chief of staff. someone that can instill order. more after this.

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>> we have change the whole model of general motors. they are going to all electric. all electric is not going to work. it's wonderful to have it as a percentage of your cars but to go to this model i think is a mistake. but to tell me a couple weeks before christmas that she's going to close in ohio and michigan, it's not acceptable. she's either going to open faster someone else is going to go in. general motors is not going to be treated well. >> neil: gm shares following after the president issue that warning over plans that gm has two close up five plants in north america. mary barra as she has no other choice. better to deal with these issues now rather than later on. real clear market editor joins us. >> president trump telling mary barra how to run our car company is the equivalent of her telling him how to put up tall buildings

in new york city. what's important to realize is that companies have shareholders. mary barra works for shareholders. if she's not focused every down and reaching shareholders, there will be no company no jobs to begin with. if disappointing. their job is not to please presidents. it is to please their owners. >> neil: the point that she moved too quickly and use the tariff issue as an excuse. what do you think about? >> again, imaginative hillary clinton said that about a company, that they didn't wait for me or they made this decision without my permission. it's a very dangerous process. let's face it. the tariffs would be one factor in a company shutting down plants. they are once again in the business of profits. the tariffs necessarily or going to negatively impact gm simply because the cars are built with inputs from around the world.

is it no surprise that companies might want to slim down their operations amidst higher manufacturing costs? >> neil: to say, the fact that gm was a bailed out company after the meltdown, you would hope they would be aware of these issues as to not repeat the sin. >> it's interesting. i feel like the bailout, which should never have happened, let's be clear that if gm had allowed to go bankrupt, it would still exist today. it would have better owners with a better clue about how to run a car company. it could be toyota. it could be honda. who knows. i think we need to separate it from this. the bailout happen, it was a mistake, but at this point gm has got to do it it's best for its shareholders. many think about companies, it's a sign of progress in the sense that they are gradually able to produce more and more with fewer and fewer labor inputs. some will say that, let's remember, businesses aren't in business as charities. try to get funding for your idea

based on creating jobs. they are there to make profits. sometimes the best way to perpetuate them and perpetuate jobs and growth is to basically shed what is no longer needed. >> neil: real quickly, he was commenting on the federal reserve today and hoping they didn't raise rates next week. what did you think of that? >> again, why would people follow this? we would laugh at mayor de blasio for saying i don't want owners of apartments in new york to raise their rent simply because apartments cost what they cost. if you lower the price, doesn't necessarily mean apartments are plentiful. why would the fed pushing down a rate to make credit plentiful? we don't live in the 20th century when central planning was dry. >> neil: not a fan of these musings on the part of the resident, i guess. john, thank you. the fallout for all of this for markets and so far, still hoping for a trade deal with the chinese. why isi that? that's next. over to you, logo

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>> neil: when it rains, it pours. "wall street journal" reporting right now that federal prosecutors in manhattan are investigating whether the trump 2017 inaugural committee, money raised from donations. this is a criminal probe, we are told, looking into those who donated wanting to gain access to the trump administration. it's a story that just broke. we will continue following it on fox. "the five" is now. ♪ >> dana: hello, everyone. i am dana perino with emily compagno, juan williams, jesse watters and greg gutfeld. it's 5:00 in new york city. we we are already laughing. this is "the five" ." president trump saying he never directed his former personal attorney michael cohen to break the law. the exclusive fox news interview and just a moment. first, in the wake of all the miller probe development, democrats continue to beat the impeachment drum and predict the president's demise. >>