MARIA-00
Dozens Rescued as Texas Floodwaters Rise; Trump Reportedly Raised $6
Million at First GOP Fundraiser; Sanders Targeting Trump Ahead of
California Primary; Fight for $15 Minimum Wage; Two Airlines Suspend
Service to and from Venezuela; Beyonce Looking to Profit from Police
Boycott Working at Her Shows - Part 2>
Jared Max, Stuart Varney>
David Clarke, Rod Wheeler>
Entertainment; Police; Bernie Sanders; Golden State Warriors; Texas;
Beyonce; Eurozone; Bill Kristol; Saba Ahmed; Tornadoes; Massachusetts;
Rogue One; Oakland Raiders; Venezuela >
Markets this morning mostly higher, in Asia, overnight, gains across the board, the Shanghai Composite posted a gain of better than 3 percent, the best one-day performance in China in nearly three months. European markets looking the other way this morning, edging lower, new data out today shows that the Eurozone face a second straight month of deflation in the month of May, this coming ahead of the European central bank decision which happens on Thursday.
And in the U.S., we're basically around the highs of the morning right now. Take a look, up 31 points on the Dow Jones Industrial average as we are expecting a higher opening for the broader averages ahead of some pretty big economic reports this week. The numbers are in for Donald Trump's first official Trump victory fund-raiser. It happened in Los Angeles last week. The event raising $6.6 million, exceeding all expectations according to what sources tell Fox News, the amount suggesting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is attracting top donors. My next guest is on the Trump victory leadership team and attended the event. Joining us right now is CKE restaurants CEO, Andy Puzder. He is joining us right now. CKE is the parent of Hardee's and Carl's, Jr. Sir, good to see you, thanks so much for joining us.
ANDY PUZDER, CKE RESTAURANTS CEO: Glad to be here, Maria, thank you.
BARTIROMO: So give us some color on the event. You were there, Donald Trump and the RNC raising $6 million. Did it feel like there was pivot that people are excited about Trump and willing to put their money where their mouth is?
PUZDER: Yeah, people were very excited. It was really a great event there. There were people there who have supported Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, and it was nice. I think everybody felt great to finally be in the same room and be supporting the same candidate. So, I think there was a lot of energy. Mr. Trump did a great job at the event. It was -- overall it was very, very positive.
BARTIROMO: What's your takeaway from this, Governor Huckabee?
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Well, I think it shows that the Republicans are rallying around Donald Trump and that includes the financial donors. There's been this concern that there wasn't. You know, I think it is pretty clear, Andy, that what you're seeing there in California, what you saw at that event was indicative that people want to win, and they know that Donald Trump gives them the best shot of doing that, and he can beat Hillary Clinton.
PUZDER: Absolutely. I'm absolutely convinced Donald Trump will raise enough money to be very competitive with Hillary Clinton. He's also changed the rules, governor, as you know, it's not -- the way he uses social media, the way he's -- he really, I want to say manipulates the media, but the way he really gets media attention has really changed the rules on how you run a campaign. So, he's going to have money, and he's going to have that personality where people want to see him. Hillary Clinton is not going to have that. So, he's going to have -- I think he's going to have a big advantage in this respect.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Andy, its Dagen McDowell. I want to know like privately the conversations you've had with fellow businessmen and women in terms of if anybody was hesitant about supporting Donald Trump. What conversations have you had with them to change their minds?
PUZDER: Well, a lot of people, if you were an all involved in politics over the past 8, 10 years, you probably knew somebody in this race. There were 16 people on that stage, or 17, initially, and you probably knew one of those people, probably liked them and were supportive. So, it was a very, very difficult cycle for people. But, I think the best way I can characterize this, I think, the most impressive thing, the most refreshing thing about Donald Trump, is that working class Americans don't resent him, they don't envy him. They don't think he's an evil billionaire. They see him as successful, and they want to be like him, and that they want to be successful. That, you know, that's the America I grew up in. That's the America I remember. That is an America I would defend and take risks to defend. And I think people are coming -- are coming in contact with what the working class really understood right from the beginning that we need change, and this is a person that can lead us to a better place.
BARTIROMO: I totally agree.
PUZDER: So, I think you're really seeing a different sense.
BARTIROMO: Yeah. I think that there's aspirational, there's an aspirational message here.
MCDOWELL: It does articulated better.
BARTIROMO: He's rich, I want to be rich. He's successful, I want to be successful.
MCDOWELL: Yeah.
MICHAEL BLOCK, RHINO TRADING PARTNERS CHIEF STRATEGIST: You know, Andy, I think the missing piece of the puzzle from some people is, there are things that he said that are being construed as racist, sinophobic, misogynistic. Is this sort of a gap, that you see this candidate looking to fill -- reaching out more? We've had some Muslim Republicans on earlier, you've talk about their support for Donald Trump, and how they hoped he would reach out more to the support of American Muslim community. Is this something you see as part of his activities going forward?
PUZDER: Yeah. I think Donald Trump will reach a broad spectrum of voters. You know, even if you think back to the last cycle, and, you know, Mitt Romney is a wonderful man. I love Mitt. He's a great guy, would have been a great president. But, you know, you wish he wouldn't have made comment about the 47 percent. You wish he wouldn't have talked about self- deportation. And he did talk about China as currency manipulators. So, these kinds of comments that's been made in the past, they just -- if Donald Trump has a way of conveying his message that's so forceful, I think it draws attention to the message. If you know people who knew him in New York and I do not know Mr. Trump well, but if you talk to people who knew him in New York, he is not a racist. He is not prejudiced against women or Muslims. That he's a very honest businessman, and deals with people in a very forthright way. So, I think that will start to come across. I hope it starts to come across. And I think he'll do very well in that respect.
BARTIROMO: Andy, I want to ask you about the minimum wage because we had the former CEO of McDonald's on last week, but before I get to that, the number of billion dollars has been thrown around, as far as the money that Donald Trump needs to raise. Is that what you think he needs to raise to compete effectively with Hillary Clinton, or is it less than that? And I know a minute ago you said you think he will be able to raise a lot of money. What is that number?
PUZDER: You know, I don't know the number -- this guy is broken every rule. I mean, if it were any of the other candidates I would say we need a billion dollars, but with Donald Trump, you know, I just don't know. I've been so wrong in this cycle so far, I hate to take any guesses. But I think he can do very well, well, with less than a billion.
BARTIROMO: OK.
PUZDER: . could you imagine this -- Mr. Trump with a billion dollars and his social media presence? I think it would be amazing.
BARTIROMO: It would be unbelievable. All right, so former McDonald's USA CEO, Ed Rensi, was on the show last Tuesday. He said purchasing $35,000 robots would be cheaper than hiring individuals and paying them $15 an hour for minimum wage. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED RENSI, FORMER MCDONALD USA CEO: It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who's inefficient, making $15 an hour bagging French Fries. It's nonsense. And it's very destructive, and it's inflationary, and it's going to cause a job loss across this country like you're not going to believe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: What do you think, Andy, job losses like we're not going to believe as $15 minimum wage takes ahold across the country?
PUZDER: You know you're seeing automation across a very broad spectrum. You see it in banks with ATM's, gas stations, airports, grocery stores, so automation is coming. The question is, should we be implementing policies that make low-skilled working class Americans more expensive than the job that they're taking justifies? In other words, it costs more to hire them than that job produces in benefit for the employer. When that's the case, employers don't hire people. So there's absolutely no doubt that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is going to result in very significant job losses. The CBO said, at 10 -- the congressional budget office said at $10 an hour you'll lose half a million jobs. So nobody wants to see half a million people put out of work, particularly as the working class is trying to -- you know, they need to be educated, they need to be trained so that they can deal with this new economy. They can deal with automation. You don't want to rush it. You don't want to make the situation worse than it is. And when you make employing somebody more expensive than automating a position, you're going to get more automation. I think Ed is absolutely right.
BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there. Andy, good to see you, thanks so much for joining us.
PUZDER: Good to see you, Maria, thank you.
BARTIROMO: Andy Puzder joining us there. Coming up, no love for Queen Bee, a new controversy surrounding tonight's Beyonce concert in Pittsburgh. Why police are refusing to work the event. Then a desperate situation in Venezuela, still to come, why some say socialism is to blame. We're back in three minutes time. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Forty five minutes away from the opening bell for a Tuesday. Let's take a look at these markets, and we are expecting a higher opening for the broader averages. Handful stocks on the move, Office Depot, announcing $100 million stock repurchase program as part of the company's plan to, quote, enhance shareholder value. And it comes in depth with the collapse of the company's deal with Staples. We're also watching shares of Starbucks this morning, the coffee giant announcing two new drinks coming to its cold bar menu this summer, the vanilla sweet cream cold brew and the nitro cold brew, shares of Starbucks down better than 8 percent so far this year. Of course, by all accounts it was great month of May for the broader markets, and we continue to see money moving into equities.
Latin America's biggest airline, LATAM, is suspending service into Venezuela due to the deteriorating economic situation there. This comes after Germany's, Lufthansa, said it is suspending service to the country effective immediately because of unpaid ticket fares. Joining me right now is the host of Varney & Co., Stuart Varney. Stuart, good morning to you.
STUART VARNEY, VARNEY & CO. HOST: Good morning.
BARTIROMO: Venezuela, you've got to have some lessons learned there. What's your take here?
VARNEY: Well, it's a three-day holiday weekend, right? So, on Saturday morning, I actually buy my hard copy of the New York Times, and I'm reading their report on the collapse of Venezuela. Not once, not even once is the word socialism used. Not once. Oh, no, Venezuela is collapsing because of the collapse in oil prices or because of the very bad drought. Socialism is never mentioned. Then we have the case of Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist. He was asked, twice, for his opinion on the collapse of socialism in Venezuela. He refused to respond. He says, oh, no, no, I have an opinion, but right now I'm focused on the presidential election campaign. In other words, he's not going to say what ruined Venezuela, socialism, because he knows perfectly well that it is his policies that ruined it. What I'm getting at here, is that the left will never admit to the failures of collectivism. And they certainly won't admit to it right now because we're going into presidential election where collectivism is front and center from a couple of the leading candidates. That's my opinion.
MCDOWELL: Stuart, I just really want to quickly point out, speaking of Bernie Sanders and supporting socialism in Venezuela, at the Golden State Warriors game he was sitting next to Danny Glover who famously supported Hugo Chavez, and loved to go down to Venezuela and visit Chavez and get his photo taken with him. So, that's what the connection I made, I was like, I'll forget the basketball game.
VARNEY: But, yeah.
MCDOWELL: . like that's proof positive that he doggone well knows the outcome of what happened.
VARNEY: The premise of my opinion is that socialism absolutely doesn't work. And when it is applied to countries like Venezuela, it is a catastrophe, and that socialism is the reason for the collapse of that economy. I'd like to see that reflected, based on opinion, OK. I like to see that opinion reflected in mainstream media in America, or by Bernie Sanders, or by some of the Hollywood stars who just loved Chavez when he was ruining the country's economy. I just like some honesty, and I don't see it.
BARTIROMO: Yeah. I think that's such a great analysis. Stuart, let me bring in Governor Huckabee. Go ahead, governor.
Huckabee: So, Stuart, the idea of, you know, Venezuela, they're suspending a lot of the airlines. It's really messing up my vacation plans because everyone I know wants to go and vacation in Venezuela where the economy is falling apart.
(LAUGHTER)
Huckabee: Why don't we understand this stuff? I mean, this is so simple, and what you've pointed out is that socialism simply doesn't work. So why are so many Americans, help me understand this, still trying to embrace the concept?
VARNEY: First of all, governor, sarcasm is a low form of wit, but when we get beyond that you asked a perfectly valid question, and I'm not sure I've got a good answer for you. Why are so many people, so many young people, enamored with the idea of socialism in America? I guess it's because young people are idealistic. They haven't paid a dime in taxes yet, so they don't know really what they're talking about. And they have not lived a very length of time in genuine, all-purpose socialist economy. So they don't really know what they're letting themselves in for. That's my best answer, governor.
MCDOWELL: And -- would get in the past, Stuart, It's called it I think the veruca solved economy, the, I want it, I want it now.
BARTIROMO: Yeah.
VARNEY: Sure. The benefit of our audience who does not understand the word, veruca, that is the English name for plantar wart, it's a very nasty thing, OK?
BARTIROMO: Oh, Stuart, let's save that for the next ten minutes.
VARNEY: OK.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you in 15 minutes on Varney & Co., Stu.
VARNEY: Watch out because yes you will.
BARTIROMO: Plantar wart? Where are we going here? Varney & Co., begins every day, 9:00 AM Eastern. Stuart, always a pleasure, thank you my friend. We'll see you in a few minutes, Stuart Varney, up next at top of the hour. Don't miss it. Straight ahead, officers in Pittsburgh believe Queen Bee is anti-police, and are threatening to boycott her concert tonight, details on that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Controversy surrounding tonight's Beyonce concert at Pittsburgh's Heinz field. Several members of the city's police department are calling for a Queen Bee boycott, following the release of Beyonce's latest album, Lemonade, which allegedly contains anti-police lyrics. Now, Pittsburgh city officials are facing a possible security issue as some police officers are refusing to work tonight's show, joining us right now, former homicide detective, Rod Wheeler, along with Milwaukee county sheriff, David Clarke. Good to see you, gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Sheriff Clark, let me kick it off with you, what do you think about police boycotting this concert tonight?
DAVID CLARK, MILWAUKEE COUNTRY SHERIFF: Well, how ironic that a cop-hating performer realizes she needs the American law enforcement officer to pull off her concert. It's definitely a can't-live with the police, can't-live without them moment for Beyonce. I don't blame the Pittsburgh's finest for not volunteering for this assignment. Of course, if they're ordered to do it, these officers will do what they're told to do, but at the same time, I'm glad to see that they have enough morals to not even at time and a half to volunteer for something like this. If I didn't get enough volunteers, and we've done these sorts of things here in Milwaukee area, if you don't get volunteers, I would mandatory, I would go to the Heinz field people and say, hey, look, we don't have enough volunteers, this is a public safety risk, or perhaps a public safety issue and you should consider canceling the concert, like they did to Donald Trump in Champagne, Illinois, when they didn't have enough law enforcement to cover that event, and I thought that was wrong there too.
BARTIROMO: Do you think this is going to dictate a change in Beyonce's behavior?
CLARKE: Not at all.
BARTIROMO: Not at all.
CLARKE: Here is what I would be willing to do -- here is what I would be willing to do with Beyonce, if she donates the proceeds of this concert to the concerns of police survivor chapter in the state of Pennsylvania, that works with the survivors of slain law enforcement officers, I'll allow her to do a reset on her relationship with the police that everybody can move forward.
BARTIROMO: That's a great idea. Rod, what do you think?
ROD WHEELER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's a great idea as well, Maria, but it's not going to happen, I can tell you that right now. Beyonce is firm in her beliefs, and that's fine. I mean, look at what she did during the halftime show at the Super Bowl, I mean she gave the police the finger then, and she is continuing to do it. My only point is this, Maria, Beyonce has tons money. The lady has a lot of money. Why can't she buy her own security, or pay for her own police if that's really what she needs. I don't blame the Pittsburgh police officers for backing out. I'll be honest if I was there I'll back out too. I wouldn't be available. But again, just as Sheriff Clarke alluded to, if they are a mandated to be there, I could tell you the police officers will be there. But again, Beyonce can get enough security from her beehive.
MCDOWELL: Yeah. She can get it, Rod, from selling her boycott Beyonce t- shirts. She's actually selling them.
WHEELER: Yeah.
MCDOWELL: So, never turns down an opportunity to make money.
BARTIROMO: Is that making fun of the whole thing with that t-shirt?
MCDOWELL: Yes, it is.
WHEELER: Yeah. And what she does -- again, this is another example, Maria, of Beyonce giving the cops the finger. Look, she's taking this whole argument, this boycott Beyonce thing, turned it around and she's doing exactly what she does best, she selling these t-shirts. And from what I hear the t-shirts are selling out.
BARTIROMO: Wow, unbelievable.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: Go ahead, sheriff.
CLARKE: No matter what amount of security that she has there, you still need police presence because you'll had to have somebody there with a lawful authority to make arrests if necessary. So it's just not about having security. You have to have a decent amount of police presence at these sorts of events.
BARTIROMO: That's a great point. Go ahead, Michael.
BLOCK: That's just it. You know, give some of these liberal celebrities like a theme today. You have Bernie Sanders, man of the people, sitting with Danny Glover in a luxury seats to basketball game. You have Beyonce saying, you know, saying this and that about the police. And yet, let's give her and her business one day without public protection. Let's see what happens to it. It's incredible. And how do people wake up to this, how unrealistic this is? You know, how does that work?
BARTIROMO: Is that an ideology? Rod, what do you think?
WHEELER: You know what? I think it is. The reality of this entire situation is Beyonce is entitled to feel the way that she feels about the cops. Nobody has a problem with that. It's just the manner by which she tends to market herself by talking against the police. But again, like I said, Maria, I think police will be there, and I think they will do a good job as they so often do.
BARTIROMO: Well, you know what it is governor, I mean we're at the moment in time right now that you don't want to add to the, you know, sensitivities around the police force. They're coming out every day and trying to serve this country and do it well. Of course you're going to have bad apple as well.
HUCKABEE: If someone were breaking into my house at 2:00 in the morning, I'll rather call David Clarke or Rod Wheeler than I had to call Beyonce. And the fact is these guys have done a lot more for their country, and a lot more to make people safe, free, and better their lives than Beyonce. With all due respect to the terrific talent that she has, she doesn't save anybody's life. She doesn't defend anyone's life. She doesn't put her life on the line for anybody else. That's where we ought to always be reminded.
BARTIROMO: All right, we'll leave it there.
WHEELER: Very well-spoken, very well-spoken.
BARTIROMO: Sheriff, you think that the -- that idea of her giving money away to the police or to charity is going to continue to come up? I mean, do you think that there is even a chance she would consider that?
CLARKE: I don't know, but I'm going to keep raising it because I'm going to give her a chance to reset with the American police officer. Look, you know, she makes enough money, and I'm talking about, not the charity, but to the concerns of police survivors, the cop's organization, and she hasn't met people from that organization like I have, who lost a loved one, killed in the line of duty. She has no idea what it's like for the American law enforcement officer. We're willing to risk our lives. We don't get into this to die but we will if we have too to save somebody else. She needs to realize the important role that the American law enforcement officers plays for her to pull off a concert, so that she could makes her millions.
BARTIROMO: All right, Sheriff David Clarke, Rod Wheeler, good to see you both. Gentlemen, thank you. We'll be right back with final thoughts from our all-star panel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: I want to thank this great panel for being with us today. Michael Block, Dagen McDowell, Governor Mike Huckabee. Thanks so much, Mike Huckabee.
HUCKABEE: Great to be with you, thank you.
BARTIROMO: Good to see you, governor. Thanks for joining us. Michael, great to see you as well. Big day, a big show tomorrow, Dagen.
MCDOWELL: That's right. Bring in the energy, governor.
HUCKABEE: Trying to be low energy.
BARTIROMO: Thanks for joining us everybody. Varney & Co., begins right now, Stuart, over to you.
END
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(Show: MORNINGS WITH MARIA) (Date: May 31, 2016) (Time: 07:00:00) (Tran: 053102cb.231) (Type: SHOW) (Head: There Will Be an Independent Candidate; Trump: Vet Event Raised $6M; Trump's VP Pick; Smartphone Users Blocking Ads; X-Men Takes Top Spot at Box Office; Oil Prices Firm Up; Great Britain to Vote on Leaving European Union on June 23; Holder: Snowden Performed a Public Service) (Sect: News; International )
(Byline: Maria Bartiromo, Blake Berman, Dagen McDowell, Cheryl Casone, Lea Gabrielle)
(Guest: Ed Rollins, Katrina Pierson, Mike Huckabee, John Hilsenrath)
(Spec: Stock Market; Elections; Politics, Military, Charity, Justice; Energy; United Kingdom; Oil; Veterans; Donald Trump; Technology; Products; Movie Industry)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FBN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders sharpening his attacks on Donald Trump over the weekend not forgetting though to take aim at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you promise not to tell Secretary Clinton, she's getting very nervous lately. And I don't want to -- I don't want to add to her anxiety. So if you promise not to tell her, we are going to win here in California and you have said it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: A public service, that is what former Attorney General Eric Holder called Edward Snowden's NSA leak. The controversy ahead.
And "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello". Beatles legend Paul McCartney weighing in on the vote for Britain to leave the Eurozone -- whether he says yes or no, coming up.
The rise of ad blockers meanwhile -- 20 percent of all smart phone users have software that block advertising. What it means for online giants including Google and Facebook.
Markets this morning mostly higher. In Asia overnight gains across the board, check it out. Shanghai Composite posting a gain at better than 3 percent. That was the best one-day performance in China in nearly three months.
European markets not so great this morning. They're erasing earlier gains and showing weakness right now. New data showing that the Eurozone faced a second straight month of deflation in May. That is pressuring markets. It's all coming out of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday which we are watching this morning.
In the U.S. futures are edging higher. We're expecting a higher opening for the broader averages. We do have a handful of economics reports out this morning. Dow Industrials expected to open up 20 points and, of course, today kicks off a busy week on the economic calendar leading up Friday's jobs report.
Joining me this morning Fox Business Network's Dagen McDowell; former Arkansas governor and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee; and the "Wall Street Journal's" economics correspondent Jon Hilsenrath.
Great show, so far, you guys. Lots to talk about. We've got a can't miss lineup this morning so stay with us.
Trump campaign national spokesperson, Katrina Pierson with us this morning; the CEO of CKE Restaurants is with us, Andy Puzder; and Milwaukee County Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke. You don't want to miss a moment of it. Just stay right where you are as we cover all the breaking news right now.
The "Weekly Standard" editor Bill Kristol is announcing an Independent candidate will enter the presidential race to challenge both presumed Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.
