MARIA-01
Tropical Storm Colin Makes Landfall in Florida; California Primary Preview;
The Conservative Celebrity; Leaning Right In Hollywood; Ralph Lauren To
Close 50 Stores; The Price Of Prosperity - Part 2>
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Both Clinton and Sanders are telling their supporters ignore the news, go vote anyway. Sanders though is really calling foul on this, saying, in order for Clinton to get the number of delegates as it stands now for the nomination, that requires counting superdelegates.
Something he says it's unfair until they actually vote at the convention in Philadelphia. He promises to take the fight all the way there.
Clinton meantime is saying this is great. Congratulations to her supporters, but you still need to go out and vote. I want to win it for no other reason, she wants to win in California to secure the big momentum going forward.
Pretty anti-climactic for her if she were to have this big news about winning the nomination, but not win California, key state, treasure trove, when it comes to the delegates.
The question for the Democrats, though, going forward in the next month or so until their convention is what do you do about party unity? Because there's a real fear that if Sanders takes this all the way to the convention, it could really split the party.
To that end, we are hearing that President Obama may step in and formally endorse Hillary Clinton. He has been very hands off when it comes to the Democratic race in terms of the primary.
But if he came out and endorse Clinton that certainly would do a lot to unify the party and hopefully from the Democratic standpoint bring a lot of Bernie supporters on to the Hillary train.
Now something to keep in mind if that happens, Maria, this would be the first time in a very long time that a sitting president has a higher favorability rating than either of the two people Trump or Clinton who are most likely to replace them in oval office come January. So his endorsement could actually mean quite a lot going forward.
BARTIROMO: Wow, yes, we will be watching that. That's a big story. Leland, thank you. Leland Vittert this morning.
All eyes may be on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the California primary, but the golden state is also proving ground for Donald Trump especially looking ahead to November's general election.
Joining us right now from Studio City, California, Donald Trump supporter and a star of the silver screen and television's "General Hospital," Sean Kanan.
Sean, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.
SEAN KANAN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hey, Maria. Good morning. Thanks for having me back.
BARTIROMO: So we are calling you the conservative celebrity; is that right headed into today's primary? How do you see the primary today in California?
KANAN: Well, first of all, I think whether you love her or you don't love her we all have to recognize that Hillary Clinton clinching the nomination is a historic moment, and I think for that alone she does need to be congratulated. I think that a lot of people are actually still going to vote.
I mean, this is a really impassioned election right now, I think the Sanders people are not going to stay home and I think Hillary is urging her people to continue to go out there and vote because she wants to continue to show all of her fundraisers that she's the viable presumptive nominee.
BARTIROMO: So characterize California for us. I mean, I know that obviously it's left, but you know, we have a lot of people on this program who basically say it's more mixed than you would think. Characterize the voting electorate from your standpoint.
KANAN: Well, look, Hollywood is historically very progressive, very left, but I do believe that there is in fact a silent majority out here and I think that we are going to see that. Look, obviously this was a difficult week to be a Trump supporter with the comments that he made about Judge Curiel.
You know, like so many people I was really concerned about what he said, you know, race and ethnicity is never a reason to raise the question about judicial bias. This judge was clearly somebody who took on the cartels, the Felix Cartels in Tijuana.
He was born in Indiana, clearly an American. But for me, you know, the interesting thing is his affiliations outside of the courtroom. I mean, he is a member of the San Diego Lawyers Association for La Raza, which has a relationship for the National Council of La Raza, who has been vociferously anti-Trump.
And I think possibly that's where Trump does have a leg to stand on. So it's going to be interesting to see.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS: Sean, big picture, though, as a Trump supporter, do you see a problem having to discuss a judge presiding over a civil case that is not related to -- not directly related to Trump running for the presidency?
KANAN: Absolutely. And I think your -- you're seeing people intelligent conservatives, obviously someone like Newt Gingrich who are speaking against what Mr. Trump said. Yes, it's a difficult time to be a conservative out here, but you know, what --
HARLAN HILL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Sean, do you think this is --
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KANAN: -- I believe in his message. I believe he is the best direction forward for our country and you know, I'm sticking to my guns like most of his supporters are.
BARTIROMO: Here's Harlan Hill.
HILL: Sean, real quick question, do you think that this was just another example of Donald Trump being inarticulate. I think we saw that when he announces in campaign talking about drug dealers and rapist. I think that he was inarticulate. I think that it's him probably framing the issues in an inarticulate way. Do you agree with that or do you think that he's deliberately framing the issues as a dog whistle to certain voters?
KANAN: You know, I'm not sure. Look, obviously, Donald Trump is not a seasoned politician. I think that's the thing that so many of us that support him like about him. But the caveat with a candidate like that is that he's going to step in it every now and again.
I think also that he is a master marketer and that he is very adept at using provocation as a way of energizing the conversation.
BARTIROMO: Yes, I'd say so. That's a good way to put it. Let me ask you this because Cher is making waves this morning. She says -- here's her quote.
KANAN: But she doesn't live in Malibu (ph).
BARTIROMO: OK, so she says, "Trump makes me want to blow my brains out." What do you make of that?
KANAN: I hope she doesn't do that. I really do. Look, I think that this is an incredibly polarizing election. People are really, really passionate on both sides of it and, you know, I think very few things in life are black and white.
They are kind of nano shades of gray, but in this instance, you have people that are firmly for Trump and firmly against and like I said the last time I was on your show, I think he's a very imperfect candidate and I understand a lot of what the opposition doesn't like about him.
I just happen to feel that he's what's best for us going forward. I mean, I just can't see this country having another third term of the Obama administration.
BARTIROMO: Right. Well, you are certainly shaking things up.
MCDOWELL: By the way, if anybody on the right made a comment like that, they would be completely lambasted --
BARTIROMO: You mean Cher's comment.
MCDOWELL: Exactly. If you follow her Twitter, you know, she's kind of speaks in emoji language of all her own, all caps and a lot of emojis and misspelled words. It's like reading something that a millennial writes, but on the opposite end of the age spectrum.
HILL: I don't follow her on Twitter.
BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is holding a star-studded fundraiser at the Greek Theatre. She held it last night, a few names in attendance, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Cher was there. When will more Hollywood Republicans publicly support Trump's candidacy.
How do you see the conventions differing, Sean, when you got all this Hollywood royalty around Clinton, what is the convention going to look like?
KANAN: I don't know, it's going to be really interesting to see which Hollywood actors come out and openly support Mr. Trump. Here is the thing, there's a group of conservatives in Hollywood, a lot of these men and women are actually A-list stars and because of that they're kind insulated from a lot of the repercussions that those of us that are not A-level stars would have to contend with.
But you know, at the end of the day, Hollywood is a business. It's predicated on garnering audience and generating money and I think that if you're able to be an effective part of that machine, I think there really is more tolerance than people give Hollywood credit for.
That being said, I think that this is the election that is going to actually bring those people from the silent majority out into the open. I think it's going to be a fascinating convention.
BARTIROMO: Yes, which is why we have this incredible voter turnout already in the primary season. Sean, we think you are A-list, you are A-list in our book, by the way. Sean, great to have you on the program this morning. Thank you so much.
KANAN: Thank you so much, take care.
BARTIROMO: We will see you soon. Make sure to tune in to Fox Business tonight for our special coverage of the primaries. It all kicks off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right on the Fox Business Network.
We'll take a short break. Then Ralph Lauren reportedly announces job cuts and store closures today. This coming after a round of layoffs last year. We will discuss how cuts will impact bottom line.
Then the Playboy Mansion has been sold. We will explain the sweet deal "Playboy" magazine founder, Hugh Hefner, received as part of the deal. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. We are expecting a higher opening for the stock market today on the heels of a triple-digit rally yesterday in the Dow Industrial.
A couple of stocks we are looking at on the move this morning, Valeant shares selling off right now, down better than 10 percent this morning. The embattled pharmaceutical company once again cutting its full-year guidance.
Valeant also reporting lower than expected first quarter earnings. The stock is down roughly 90 percent from its high back in August.
T. Rowe price paying up over a botched client vote. The mutual fund company says it will pay $194 million to clients after a flub over the 2013 Dell deal. The company inadvertently voted in favour of the deal instead of against it.
A powerful car bomb attack rocking Istanbul, Turkey. Cheryl Casone with that story right now and the headlines -- Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: That's right, Maria. This explosion killed at least 11 people and wounded 36 others in Turkey's largest city during the morning commute today. The attack targeting a bus carrying police officers. Seven of those officers among the dead. The bomb was detonated as the bus was passing by. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of now.
Business headlines, Goldman Sachs reportedly under investigation. The "Wall Street Journal" says that U.S. investigators are trying to determine whether the bank broke the law when it didn't sound about an alarm about a suspicious transaction in Malaysia back in 2013.
At issue is $3 billion that Goldman raised through bond issue for a Malaysian state investment fund. Sources the day after Goldman sent the proceeds into a Swiss bank account controlled by that fund, half of the money end up offshore with some ending up in the prime minister's bank accounts.
It's an American icon, but it's now the latest retailer to cut jobs and close stores. Ralph Lauren, profits and sales have fallen 50 percent since 2014. To turn things around Ralph Lauren himself has hired Stephan Larson as the new CEO.
Larson hails from Old Navy and H&M, believe it or not. Sources say he will announce some 50 store closings as well as about 2,000 job cuts when he meets with analysts. That meeting happens later today.
The man who saved Twinkies is in contract to buy the Playboy Mansion listed for $200 million. Daron Metropolis (ph) heads the private equity firm that bought Hostess out of bankruptcy just three years ago.
He actually lives, get this, next door to the Playboy Mansion so as part of this deal that he and basically Hugh Hefner worked out. Hugh gets to stay in the house, live there for the remainder of his life. Hugh is 90 right now, Maria.
This mansion was built 1927. It's got seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, the buyers said flat out it needs a renovation, but Hugh gets to stay until he's ready to go and then the guy can take it over.
He's going to combine the two properties. It's going to be pretty cool. It's going to be about eight acres in total with the two homes on it.
BARTIROMO: He's sure is synonymous with the house so it makes sense. Cheryl, thank you. That Ralph Lauren story that you brought us, Cheryl, back to those job cuts, Dagen, another sign that the retail sector is having a hard time from getting out from under the rocks.
MCDOWELL: I've argued this is very company specific because the value of the company has been cut in half in about the last three years, its profits are down by 50 percent as well in the last two years. And it's kind of a mess.
It needs brand identification. It needs to focus on its core brands. Ralph Lauren, the top tier brand and then Polo and Lauren being the kind of department store brands that it's all over the place.
Quite frankly here is a tip to the new chief, their website is horrible, there's no differentiation between the different brands. In this day and age, you've got to get your online strategies spot on.
BARTIROMO: It might be specific to Ralph Lauren. But Jon, when you look at the broader retail sector it's been troublesome.
JON HILSENRATH, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": It's been troublesome because it's being dislocated by online sales --
BARTIROMO: Dagen has been talking about it for a longer time, Amazon.
HILSENRATH: That's exactly what is going on. There has to be an element of that here with Lauren. One of the things that I worry when I think about the broader economy is we see so many examples where technology is dislocating workers and you know, retail -- these aren't high-end, high- paying jobs but they're jobs.
And to the extent that we are seeing more and more retail stores being -- laying people off, you have to ask where are those people going to go, what's the next step for them?
BARTIROMO: One step for them would be their web site.
HILSENRATH: But those are jobs that are being run by robots. You have warehouses with robots kind of moving product from one spot to another.
HILL: This is the challenge of our time, automation.
BARTIROMO: And it's changing every industry.
HILL: Every industry.
BARTIROMO: We are going to talk about that when we talk about Janet Yellen next.
Straight ahead, Janet Yellen in the hot seat yesterday following that dismal May jobs report. Why the fed chair might hit the brakes on hitting interest rates this month, how about this year? We'll get into it.
Then later General Mills coming out with its first new cereal brand in 15 years called Tiny Toast. We've got the details. Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen taking a positive tone yesterday despite the disappointing job's number out on Friday showing that the U.S. economy added only 38,000 jobs in the month of May.
While speaking at the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia yesterday, a widely watched speech, the fed chair offered no guidance on the timing of higher interest rates. But she said that policymakers are still planning to raise rates gradually.
Joining me right now is former White House director of economic policy, Todd Buchholz. Todd, good to see. Thank you so much for joining us. A lot to talk about and I want to get into your new book. But first, Janet Yellen, did you hear anything yesterday, what struck you about the speech?
TODD BUCHHOLZ, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISOR: Well, it wasn't all interesting of a speech. She certainly did not emphasize that lacklustre job report. Look, the fed really messed up at the beginning of the year.
They raised rates in December and then they said, you know, we have four more to come this year. Well, that was wildly optimistic, and as soon as they mentioned that all the data started coming out to be flabby.
And now I have to tell you, I'm a little worried that the automakers who had actually provided some level of vigour in the economy are now reporting softer sales. And then the retail story obviously Ralph Lauren this morning doesn't give you much confidence.
BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, what part of the issue I think is that we keep talking about the potential for the U.K. to leave the E.U. Aside from the fed, you've got Britain's vote to leave the Eurozone as risk for the markets. Everybody that we have spoken with on this program has said the same thing that if they vote on June 23rd to leave the E.U. that the markets will get disrupted, what's your take on that?
BUCHHOLZ: I think that's a little exaggerated.
BARTIROMO: Do you think they should leave?
BUCHHOLZ: Well, it's a good question. You know, I tell you, one of the themes in my book which you'll get into, I'm sure, is this rise of nationalism. We see this with Donald Trump. We see this with Great Britain saying, you know what, we are our own people. We are our own nation, why do we need Europe.
Of course, the pound will sell off, but that does mean that companies are not going to be buying Rolls-Royce engines for Boeing jets or Airbus jets. I don't think it's going to be a strike by Europe against buying British goods.
So I don't think the downside is quite bad. Remember, when the euro was created there were plenty of people that said because Britain was not in the Eurozone, the city of London, all the hedge fund traders and all the financial industry of London would flee London for Frankfurt. That didn't happen.
BARTIROMO: Right.
BUCHHOLZ: So Britain has been apart for quite some time.
BARTIROMO: Let's not forget that the U.K. decided not to join the euro and they kept using the British pound and that was a really smart move because obviously we saw what happened with the euro.
But in your book, the book is called "The Price of Prosperity." You say that there are key forces that tend to bring down great economic super powers like the United States.
BUCHHOLZ: Well, if you look in the past, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of Asia. The Hapsburg Empire ruled most of Middle Europe and they are gone. The Spartans, you know, we think of the Spartans and those heroic movies. The Spartans got defeated. Well, it turns out -- I discovered in my research, there are certain themes that show up. When countries become prosperous they start undermining themselves.
BARTIROMO: Right. So don't get complacent in thinking that the U.S. is going to be the dominant international player. They may very well lose it the way Rome did, the way Britain did.
BUCHHOLZ: Well, that's right. I kind of wonder when there's increasingly numbers of people in America who don't really care whether the country persists because we now live in this global international world, you've got schools that instead of starting with the pledge of allegiance start with a pledge to the world. You have protestors where people wave Mexican flags in America. These are the sorts of things that would have been unheard of 40 or 50 years ago.
BARTIROMO: So characterize this election season and connect the dots for us in terms of the price of prosperity?
BUCHHOLZ: Well, this election season, what do we have? You know, Bernie Sanders is going to be out. He should probably move into the Playboy Mansion with 90-year-old Hugh Hefner. I mean, Bernie is merely 74. He could be the pool boy for Hugh Hefner. We don't want that vision.
We have Hillary Clinton who most Americans perceive as a liar. You have Donald Trump who speaks his mind, but the problem is what is on his mind is kind of loopy.
BARTIROMO: Wow. Todd, laid it all out. Todd Buchholz, congrats on the book, "The Price For Prosperity." We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Good Tuesday morning, everybody. Welcome back. I'm Maria Bartiromo. It is Tuesday, June 7th. Your top stories right now at 7 a.m. on the east coast --
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