00
After Trump; Activists Target Sponsors; Trump's Abortion Backtrack; Trump
Backlash; Poll: Cruz Tops Trump In WI; Trump's Path To White House; Future
Of the GOP Party; Warren Blasts Trump; The ISIS Nuclear Threat; Candidates'
Tax Plans; RPT: Trump Meets With RNC; Obama Holds Nuke Summit; Clinton
Indictment Threat; Valeant Seeks More Time; Islam Extremism Vs. The West;
Trump Wraps Up Meet With RNC; Sponsorship GOP Convention; Pres Obama Meets
With Chinese President; Trump's Abortion About-Face - Part 2>
Adam Shapiro>
Weapons; Terrorism; Hillary Clinton; FBI; GOP Candidates; Ted Cruz; John
Kasich; Democrats; New York; Polls; Republican Party; Elizabeth Warren;
Ronald Reagan; Barack Obama; Business; Economy; Washington; Republican
National Committee; Immigration; Brussels; Islam; Iran, Pakistan; Reince
Priebus, Bernie Sanders; Melania Trump; Heidi Cruz; Valeant
Pharmaceuticals; William Ackman; Michael Pearson, Europe; Paris, Muslim;
Germany; Francois Hollande; France; China; North Korea>
REGAN: OK. Breaking right now, we can confirm for you that indeed Donald Trump is inside that building, RNC headquarters there in Washington, D.C., and he is meeting with Reince Priebus, head of the RNC right now. Of course he has complained consistently about being treated poorly by the Republican Party. His frustration being that so many establishment types are out effectively to get him. Perhaps it's better in his words than mine, but he has been very frustrated with this treatment by the Republicans, and may in fact be talking to Reince Priebus about that. We don't know, but we can indeed confirm that he is inside there and meeting with Reince.
I'm joined right now by Julie Roginsky and by Ford O'Connell, still here with me. Ford, what do you think he might be if we can speculate? What is his biggest grievance right now against the RNC?
O'CONNELL: Well, he thinks that basically everyone else is going to gang up against him. He's going to get to 1,237 and somehow, they're going to snatch the nomination away from him. He's concerned about the smoke and mirrors and so are his supporters.
If I'm Donald Trump, I'm not as concerned about a contested convention as I am is concerned about contested state primaries after they've happened.
Look what happened in Louisiana, he won the state and then his delegates got snatched away from him. That's what he should be worrying about.
REGAN: Julie, has he got a point? I mean, Trump is looking in the situation where everyone effectively is ganging up on him despite the success he's had in so many states. He needs to get to the magic number, and it's getting increasingly tougher when everybody is looking for a brokered convention.
ROGINSKY: Well, are they ganging up on him? I mean, Louisiana, he should have just had better delegate counters, right? I mean, it's not like this wasn't expected, it's just that his campaign isn't seemed overly organized. You can't blame RNC. I can't believe I'm defending Reince Priebus here. But the rules haven't changed since Donald Trump entered this campaign. He knew what the rules where before he got in. If he can't get to 1,237 because he can't get to 1,237, that necessitates a brokered convention as it would for John Kasich or Ted Cruz .
O'CONNELL: But .
or any of that candidates around.
ROGINSKY: . or any of the other candidates around.
REGAN: Go ahead, Ford.
O'CONNELL: Julie, I agree with you about the nuts and bolts .
REGAN: Right.
O'CONNELL: . and I think he should have been a little bit better in corralling delegates. But remember, we both deal in politics, and in politics perception's reality, not actual reality. And particular on my side where we are against the donor class, we think the insiders are basically running the party. The whole point of Donald Trump is to take back the party from those that are running it.
ROGINSKY: That may be, but the reality is the party sets the rules, right? I mean that haven't changed and I don't know how many years .
REGAN: Yeah.
ROGINSKY: . and how many decades.
REGAN: Yes, but there has been chatter as well and we've heard this from numerous different reports of Republicans looking to actually change the rules. They were talking about .
O'CONNELL: Right.
REGAN: . you know, there was that requirement rule, 40B where you had to have that majority in eight states or else you didn't get to the convention, you didn't have a chance to get voted in as the nominee. And there's been talk of pulling that back, Ford. I mean could this be part of his concern as well, just the fact that this is even being talked about? It seems unusual in an election.
O'CONNELL: Well, it absolutely does. And I think he's concerned that the rules are going to change on the fly and because everyone else has got the fixing against him, he just wants to make sure he's on a level playing field. Understand what we have rule 40 which they would basically says how many contests you have to win to get on the ballot.
I worked for John McCain, we crushed Ron Paul and somehow the guy was snatching delegates from us. So Mitt Romney said, "I'm not going to play that game again." And remember, these rules Ron there for Mitt Romney is the nominee after all he got in the necessary number of delegates. The potential that Donald Trump may not get it and the rules could change every three seconds, he finds to be criminal, I agree with him.
ROGINSKY: But wait a second, are the rules changing on every three seconds or are the rules has been essentially, if you're Ted Cruz or John Kasich, the rules that they're changed are going to stop you as much as they're going to stop Donald Trump. Why should they change for him?
O'CONNELL: They're not -- no, but they're not, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You have to understand the rules that are currently in place were set by Romney, for Romney having this seal the nomination, and this is a .
REGAN: Yeah.
O'CONNELL: . whole different animal, so they've got to set the rules beforehand.
REGAN: Right, right and I think .
ROGINSKY: They are.
REGAN: . he wants to be very careful that they're not setting the rules in a way that's going to favor Cruz for example or favor Kasich when there are many within the party that would basically take anyone but Trump.
Let's talk about the possibility of a third-party candidate. Could it happen? Your take, gut takes, Ford O'Connell.
O'CONNELL: I think a third party candidate particularly but to Republican's absolute disaster when Hillary wins. Now, if Bernie Sanders wants to run as a third party candidate, I am more than happy to have that happen.
REGAN: I know. I know.
ROGINSKY: Is that an endorsement for Bernie Sanders and Ford O'Connell, if that honest for the ...
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: Hey, I will donate to his campaign if he runs the third party.
REGAN: You know, in some ways though, you know, Ford, I wonder, if you're the Republican that gets it after Donald Trump, is this sort of, you know, the kamikaze mission? In other words, you've got so many voters out there that came out for Trump, they're going to be kind of angry, they're going to feel like they were robbed, he was robbed, and are you sort of doomed from the start?
O'CONNELL: I think you may be doomed from the start, but let's just say Trump becomes the nominee, it's actually up to him to unify the party. He's got to start extending that olive branch, because here's what Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are widely doing, they're trying to define Trump, before Trump can come up from there and basically run a general election campaign.
REGAN: It seems to me, Julie, that he's smarter than that though. As we've watched Trump through this entire process, he has been setting the agenda. He loves these, you know, fireballs out there, and all of a sudden the media -- I mean we're talking about the abortion thing, I just wonder within the next 24 to 48 hours if he's going to come up with something else big that gets the story of the abortion process.
ROGINSKY: It probably will. It will be something probably equally as an seen there. I'm not so sure he is that smart. Look, is it smart to go after Ted Cruz's wife as he did by re-tweeting that horrific picture of her and then expect Ted Cruz to potentially support him after he gets the nomination. That's missing like a bridge too far for any husband to do if their wife is Melania in that way
REGAN: You know, that was interesting how that all happened, because you recall and I think .
ROGINSKY: Right.
REGAN: . Ford, you might have been on the show with me that day that I showed the clip of the surrogates from the Cruz campaign coming on just days before that Super PAC with the racy picture of Melania was released, and she was saying to our own Neil Cavuto that, "Look, do you really want a first lady who has posed in the nude? Do you want, you know, this first lady who's got this sort of model past?" Neil didn't let her go there, he shut it right down. But the fact is that was a surrogate for the campaign and she was attacking Melania, interesting timing that the Super PAC comes out with its ad later.
You know, look, I agree, Julie, you know, he shouldn't have gone after Heidi Cruz, but in some ways, Ford, you know, he's getting tarnished with this Cruz and his side kind of started it.
O'CONNELL: Well, they -- I absolutely think they did, and definitely, let's put it this way, it's anti-Trump people, and it's anti-Trump, that's how it is. Look, political spouses have basically been fair game for 200 years whether it's Dolley Madison or Rachel Jackson, we just try to pretend like we forget history because it's not on Wikipedia. But understand what's happened in this race in the last two weeks per say, it's gone from a referendum on the establishment to a referendum on Trump. And that is why Trump has to be completely worried about winning Wisconsin and making sure .
REGAN: Yeah.
O'CONNELL: . he keeps that momentum going forward, because if everything comes unraveled, he's dead in the water.
REGAN: Yeah. As you said, he may look back at this one week in particular as being the week that ended it all. Anyway, we'll see, we will see.
Ford and Julie, thank you so much.
ROGINSKY: Thank you.
O'CONNELL: Thank you.
REGAN: Time is ticking everyone for a Canadian drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals, this company may default on its $30 billion worth of debt. And if it does not file its annual report by April 29th, it's going to be in big trouble. It is asking lenders right now for an extension, it wants another whole month to file its 10-K.
Valeant has been struggling of course in recent month. There's a lot of questions over its accounting processes, its business practices. So what does it all mean for investors?
Joining me with that story is our very own Gerri Willis. Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, "THE WILLIS REPORT" HOST: Hey, Trish. You've got all those details about the story right. Yes, it is struggling. Yes, they want to delay. It has to get the big okey-doke from its lenders. Why? Because if it doesn't file its 10-K by May 31st -- pardon me, April 29th, it could be in big trouble unless to get that OK.
And guess who is asking for that OK? William Ackman, he is the activist investor who's been very interested in this company, buying big stakes in this company, and now this week, he's on the phone to lenders saying, "Please, please, please give us the breathing room we need."
Now, what else is going on is that not only does the company want some breathing room but there's big questions being raised by some about who will end up signing off on these financials if it does happen?
Remember, the CEO, Michael Pearson, December 30th left the company, right? And then Howard Schiller, the CFO stepped in, then he was accused of improper conduct. And Michael Pearson came back in, but the board wants to get rid of him. So big questions about the management of the company.
You can see the share price down today, a little bit, but it's down 90 percent from its highs, strangely. And this is kind of funny, Trish, I thought you would enjoy this. Canadian Securities Regulators are saying they're putting in place a cease trade order for the principals who worked at Valeant. They're not supposed to trade the stock today. They want those financials filed.
REGAN: Indeed, understandably. All right. Gerri Willis, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up everyone, the French President's new plan to fight terror going down in flames today. One big reason? Socialist leaders objected to the plan to strip convicted terrorists of their French citizenship. I'm not kidding.
My intel on why lawmakers need to stop burying their heads in the sand when it comes to terrorism. That's right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REGAN: Turning to these markets right now -- turning to these markets, let's take a look at the Dow, off 42 points right now. And the S&P trading down five. Russell, there you go, small caps, they're trading up just barely in its strong march, which wiped away steep losses from the start of the year, which is good news, right? The Dow on track right now to finish up around 1.5 percent for this quarter. Index was down more than 10 percent just amid of February.
And more Americans seeking jobless claims last week but the number is still below 300,000. This come as economists expect tomorrow's jobs report will show employers hired around 200,000 workers in the month of February.
"The Intelligence Report" will be right back with my intel on President Obama and other world leaders burying their heads in the sand when it comes to Islamic extremism.
I'll see you right back here in two. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REGAN: You know, as the President aims to welcome 100,000 refugees into our country, we need to remember the atrocities that are taking place in Europe, and need to think long and hard about who's coming here. 130 dead in the streets of Paris, more than 31dead in Brussels. Hundreds injured all at the hands of Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, more than a thousand women sexually assaulted or raped on New Year's Eve by Muslim migrants in Germany while hundreds of additional incidents are being reported throughout Europe, and yet, and yet our President says this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, U.S PRESIDENT: Turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. The enduring fate of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REGAN: You know, there's a reality going on in the world right now that our President and the left, they just don't want to face. In a new article in "The Atlantic", the President insists that there is no civilization conflict between the West and Islam nor the modern world and Islam. But I'll tell you, there is. There definitely is. It's apparently politically insensitive to admit this but there is. Islamic extremism is rooted in the belief we are the infidels, and we don't have a right to exist, that they have declared war on us, and this is a civilization conflict.
Meanwhile outside of the terror threat, you know, I just want to know, why isn't our President willing to stand up for women around the world, women that are persecuted and held hostage by Muslim extremism?
According to a Pew Research poll, you know, in Afghanistan, the majority of the population there believes in honor killings. They think it's perfectly OK to slaughter a woman who has been raped because she has dishonored her family in their view.
The majority of those polls in these Muslim countries say a wife must obey her husband. Half of the Muslims polled worldwide believe a wife has no right to terminate a marriage no matter what. These aren't our values and we shouldn't think that their culture is OK to allow this kind of stuff.
Meanwhile, news today that French President, Hollande has to shell his bill that would have stripped any French foreign convicted terrorist of their French citizenship because the socialists in France thought it would make children in the Muslim community feel bad. Yeah, you heard me. So the French despite having a major problem with Islamic terrorism, they're afraid to tell terrorists they can't keep passports.
Meanwhile in Germany, they're handing out these pamphlets, trying to show migrant man, they can't sexually assault women.
I'll tell you, we are living in an upside down universe right now where western liberals are too terrified to admit the threat we face, and this fear, it's going to cost us if we don't wake up. It is time for the ostriches to get their heads out of the sand.
That's today's intel.
All right. We are expecting Donald Trump any minute right now. He's expected to leave RNC headquarters.
Again, we have confirmed that he is there, meeting with Reince Priebus today. He's been very upset, as we have heard, about how he thinks the RNC is treating him. So that may be one of the components of today's meeting. We'll continue to watch this very carefully and see if Donald Trump has anything to say as he leaves RNC headquarters.
And coming up, liberal activists going after the company sponsoring the GOP convention in July. That and the threat of violence has get a lot them rethinking their support. So, will the company stand up to these activists or is getting out just good business?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REGAN: Breaking right now, Donald Trump is inside RNC headquarters there in Washington D.C. You're looking at a live picture. We're keeping track of it. He is said to be meeting with Reince Priebus right now. He has complained over and over again about his treatment by the Republican National Committee, and one could expect that that's one of the things on the agenda as the two meet today. We will continue following this, and if he speaks to reporters just as soon as he exits the building, we will bring that to you. So stay with us. There he is.
You can see Donald Trump giving a big wave to the crowds there as he gets into his vehicle, not stopping to talk to anyone. Again, he just emerged from that meeting with Reince Priebus, talking to the RNC, potentially about his treatment. We might anticipate hearing more from Donald Trump as the time goes on. He's getting ready to pull away there in his vehicle. He is in Washington D.C, today, said to be also meeting with some of his advisers on international issues. Again, Donald Trump there, leaving RNC headquarters, not talking to any reporters.
Reports meanwhile today that some of the country's biggest and best known companies are rethinking their plans to sponsor the upcoming GOP convention due to a lot of pressure from liberal activists, as well as worries about this divisive campaign and the potential for violence at the event.
Joining me right now with more on the story, it's Fox Business's Adam Shapiro. Adam, you know, at this rate, are they going to be able at the convention to raise the necessary funds if businesses pull away?
ADAM SHAPIRO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK REPORTER: Yeah. Well, I asked that question to Emily Lauer, whose spokeswoman for the 2016 Host Committee, the Republican Convention 2016 Host Committee in Cleveland, Ohio. Here's what she told me, "We've actually raise more money for the funding of a political convention than has ever been raised before by a host committee." $54 million to be exact and they need 64 million to pull off the convention. So they're not sweating according to Ms. Lauer. So 54 million, she said most of it is in the bank.
But there is an organization called Color of Change which is petitioning and lobbying companies, companies like Coca-Cola, Xerox, AT&T which has announced they are a partner at the Republican convention, to pull out not only all money they might donate for the convention but any services they provide. So far, no companies are publicly saying whether they're giving money or not. By law, you don't have to file who's donated until after the convention.
So right now, the Republicans are saying not a problem. Color of Change is saying, "We'll boycott companies and demonstrate if they give any money."
REGAN: Yeah. You know, Adam, the concern is that there might be some violence at this convention. Is that perhaps triggered by any of these outbreaks some of the Trump rally?
SHAPIRO: Well, you can only go -- look, obviously, we've seen what's happened outside Chicago when Mr. Trump attempted to speak, and there were protesters who stopped him from speaking. But Mr. Trump is also said if he's not nominated, remember there's this question about him getting the nomination, there will be riots.
So with that in mind, if you were the marketing director of a company, any company, and you were going to take part in that convention whether it be the Republican or the Democrat .
REGAN: OK. I got to jump in. Adam, thank you very much.
SHAPIRO: What would you do?
REGAN: We want to go to President Obama who is .
SHAPIRO: You got it.
REGAN: . meeting with the Chinese President during the nuclear summit. Let's listen in to what he's saying right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: .and narrow our differences. The United States and China have established a relationship when it comes to nuclear security, and that includes China's new Nuclear Security Center of Excellence. I believe we can deepen our cooperation, including against nuclear smuggling.
Of great importance to both of us is North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons, which threatens the security and stability of the region. And President Xi and I are both committed to the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula and full implementation of U.N. sanctions. So we're going to discuss how we can discourage action like nuclear missile tests that escalate tensions and violate international obligations.
I'm also very pleased that today we're announcing new steps to accelerate implementation of the historic the Paris climate change agreement. Our cooperation and our joint statements were critical in arriving at the Paris agreement, and our two countries have agreed that we will not only sign the agreement on the first day possible, but we're committing to formally join it as soon as possible this year. And we urge other countries to do the same.
I look forward to working with President Xi as well on the global economy. As the world's two largest economies, we have special obligation to find cooperative measures that we can take to expand growth and global demand. And because China is hosting the G20 this year, we look forward to using this meeting to establish some of the agenda items that we want to drive at the G20. We very much want the G20 to be a successful meeting, and given China's past hospitality of large summit meetings, we're sure we can be successful in helping to promote global growth as well as address a range of other challenges.
Now, as has been true in the past, we will have a candid exchange about areas where we have significant differences, issues like human rights, cyber and maritime issues. Like China and other countries, the United States has significant interests in the Asia Pacific Region. We have deep concerns about our ability to protect the intellectual property of our companies. And we care deeply about human rights.
But I very much appreciate President Xi's willingness to have candid conversations on these issues in a constructive way. And this will just be one more step in our overall efforts to assure that the United States and China maintain the kind of effective, constructive relationship that is important, not only to our two peoples, but also to the world at large.
So President Xi, welcome. Let me allow you to address the press briefly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REGAN: OK. That was President Obama welcoming the President of China as they struggle with some of these nuclear concerns and terrorism right now.
As we wind down the show, I just want to take a moment and pat ourselves on the back here. The first quarter of this year brought record breaking ratings to this network, Fox Business. We ended 2015 as the fastest growing channel on television, folks. And you know what? It is all thanks to you.
We are continuing our success here, you're tuning in, you're watching, and we're here for you. Thank you. Good stuff.
All right. Liz Claman is taking into the close of trading. Over to you.
LIZ CLAMAN, "COUNTDOWN TO THE CLOSING BELL" HOST: It's not just best, Trish, it's so great.
REGAN: It's wonderful news. Yeah.
CLAMAN: Hard work pays off and we have to thank our viewers. Amen. Thanks, Trish.
The Republican presidential front-runner you just saw in the nation's capitol moments ago wrapping up a meeting with the Republican National Committee, as he furiously back peddles as quickly as he can from those comments yesterday about abortion which set off opponents on both sides of the aisle.
On this show, exactly 24 hours ago, we first told you what Donald Trump said about punishing women .
END
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