MARIA-01
Clinton's; Plot To Kill Trump Foiled; Clinton Versus Trump On Economy; Bid
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Jones, Morgan Ortagus, Gary Gastelu>
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The teen said that he has been planning an attempt on Trump's life for about a year and would try again if he were out on the streets tomorrow.
Here to weigh in, Trump surrogate and former "Apprentice" contestant, Erin Elmore. Erin, good morning.
ERIN ELMORE, TRUMP SURROGATE: Good morning.
SMITH: All right, so an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. What do you make of all this?
ELMORE: Certainly it's frightening. The media coverage is also frightening. You know, if this Hillary Clinton, I think it will be a play- by-play and we will be watching everything unfold, but this largely went uncovered because it is Donald Trump and that is very unfair.
SMITH: Well, and we are several months still from the actual November general election. Do you think that this is something that's -- I mean, he obviously all candidates are always at risk, but are we going to see more of this?
ELMORE: Well, I certainly hope not. Donald Trump is a very smart individual with a great team of security and I think he understands that this is one of the pitfalls that comes with this very, very powerful job and whether it is Secret Service or his own private security detail, he's covered.
SMITH: And Morgan, sorry, go ahead, Michael, jump in.
MICHAEL JONES, RIVERFRONT INVESTMENT GROUP CHAIRMAN AND CEO: Erin, you are correct pointing out this is weird coverage from the national media and then if Clinton has had an assassination attempt, it probably would be 24/7, but doesn't that kind of put pressure on Trump's strategy?
One of the reasons he says he doesn't have to raise as much money is he's going to get so much free media coverage. Isn't this kind of making that strategy seemed a little risky?
ELMORE: Well, he's usually trailed by the media and everyone is hanging on his every word, but this was something that they wanted to sweep under the rug I think and not really say we feel sorry for Donald Trump or we hope he is OK.
It's an instance where they would have to stand up for him and say we are really worried about Donald Trump and his family and we are here to support you.
But, you know, like I said, if it were Hillary that is what they would be doing and that is the only reason it wasn't covered. Everything else the media is on Donald Trump like wet on rain.
JONES: Doesn't mean though that the negative stuff will get lots of play by the media, the things that might help his campaign might be underplayed?
ELMORE: The 99.9 percent of things related to Donald Trump are covered. So positive, negative it's all out there, but the media -- but people are loving it. So the American people are really enjoying it and are supporting Donald Trump so I think it is working out just fine for Trump.
SMITH: All right, Erin, Morgan Ortagus is here.
MORGAN ORTAGUS, MAVERICK PAC CO-CHAIR: Sandra, I think today is a pivotal point in the campaign because Hillary Clinton will give a speech in Ohio outlining her attack plan on Trump's business record and what she thinks that he would do for the American economy.
What I'm looking for today is who stands up and defends Trump in the Republican Party, who comes out and speak to him, and does the campaign have an apparatus to get the surrogates out there, which normally happens in the national election to defend their nominee.
Erin, I don't know if you have any thoughts on that as well, on Hillary Clinton's speech today?
ELMORE: Well, she is getting a little delusional because let's be honest, if she's going to talk about Donald Trump and the economy, she is the one that's accepting money from misogynistic Middle Eastern countries and Wall Street.
So you know, she should really be very careful and tread lightly with that one. In terms of who is going to come out and support Donald Trump, he has got an army of surrogates, I am one of them that are here to support him and are very educated and very aware of what is going on within the Trump campaign and within his policies.
So I really don't foresee this being a problem at all. Hillary Clinton speaking to her peons out there and --
SMITH: Erin, you know what the line of attack is going to be that Donald Trump -- you like Donald Trump because he is a businessman, look at all his failing companies. We had Mark Hanna on earlier throwing around that very argument. How do you defend that argument because we are likely to hear that from Hillary Clinton?
ELMORE: Look, I'm in Cleveland. There is a lot of energy here. We just won a basketball championship. Lebron James didn't have to make every single basket to win that game. Sure Donald Trump made a few small missteps, but his successes are far greater.
So I think shining and focusing on those successes will be perfectly fine for him. He's going to win this election and Hillary's words are simply that, they are words.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS: It's not defend, it's deflect because she would talk about his business track record because she can't talk about this economy, because she is running on the president's record and hasn't laid out one plan that's going to change anything.
If not make the situation worse by complicating the tax code even more. She wants to spend on infrastructure, well, the debt at $19 trillion, where is that money going to come from?
How about less government instead of more government, that is what she ought to be talking about economy, but she can't because it is so lousy.
SMITH: Erin, I went to dig up the exact quote from Hillary Clinton the day she said she is putting her husband in charge of fixing the economy because you know, her camp says that she has been misquoted on really how she said that.
But here's what she said, she said, "My husband who I will put in charge of revitalizing the economy because he knows what he is doing."
Trump has an opportunity to really strike on that note, right? Because here she is coming off of eight years of President Obama where many people say and the polls show they don't feel like they're any better off today than they were when he entered office.
ELMORE: Certainly not. The quote I hear a lot is when I voted for Barack Obama, I signed for hope and change, all I got was more IRS agents and that's the truth. So she's just an extension of that.
SMITH: All right, are you worried about anything at this point, though? Money seems to be a concern, Erin.
ELMORE: Absolutely not. These people are coming out in droves for Donald Trump. He has a much leaner, smarter, tighter organization. Hillary is a big bloated establishment organization so she needs a lot of money. Donald Trump has supporters all over the country that are pouring in money and it will keep going.
SMITH: All right, Erin Elmore, thank you for joining us.
ELMORE: Thank you.
SMITH: Coming up, a major rift in the music industry, why A-listers from Paul McCartney to Taylor Swift are now going after YouTube.
Plus, bankrupt Sports Authority reportedly has a corporate savior, who is looking to buy the embattled retailer. We'll have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH: Welcome back. Futures right now pointing to a higher open. We are looking at a few stocks on the move this morning. Real quick comment on the markets moving to the upside. You're noticing what, Michael?
JONES: I think it's interesting. This is the first time that we have seen a poll with the "remain" camp seeming to pull back ahead -- the "leave" camp pulling back ahead of the Brexit debate, where markets have actually behaved positively. Normally that's been a big downside move.
And I think it's interesting either the markets are starting to ignore the polling data or they are starting to recognize that even if Brexit happens, it's not --
SMITH: All right, fair point. Thanks for getting that in there. We do want to look at these stocks on the move this morning including Boeing. It has confirmed that a signed deal to ship airplanes to Iran.
In a statement by the company, the aviation manufacturer is saying it has reached an agreement with Iran Air under authorizations from the U.S. government, following a determination that Iran had met its obligations under the nuclear accord reached last summer. Iran's transportation minister said the deal could be worth upwards of $25 billion.
All right, Lennar, a stock to watch this morning as well. The company set to release earnings before the bell. Analysts expecting 86 cents a share for the homebuilder.
And Twitter opening its checkbook, the social media site reaching a deal for artificial intelligence company, Magic Pony. The London-based startup will aid Twitter in its live streaming and video efforts. The deal is reportedly worth $150 million.
All right, well, the southwest is sizzling under a heatwave as new wildfires erupt near Los Angeles. Cheryl Casone has that story and other headlines that we are watching for you this morning -- Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: It's incredible, Sandra, what is happening out west. First the two wildfires have burned seven square miles outside of L.A. and they are growing fast. Several hundred people have already been forced to evacuate.
Meanwhile, the dog head fire that's burning in New Mexico is now 46 percent contained as some people who were forced to leave are hopefully going to be able to return to their homes today.
Also firefighters making progress battling the wildfire west of Santa Barbara, California with most mandatory evacuations expected to be lifted tomorrow morning.
And that record-setting heatwave has killed four people, all of them in Arizona and I should say, all of them were young and outside at that time, either hiking or doing other physical activities.
There is a rescue mission under way to save a sick worker at the South Pole. A Canadian airliner that specializes in polar operations is trying to get to that person to get the medical attention. No flights are scheduled in the South Pole between February and October because it is currently their winter and it is not safe. We will keep you posted on that story.
In the music industry this morning, more than 150 artists and record labels have signed a petition urging Washington to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The artists include Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and even U2. The positions says that YouTube provided a safe harbor for copyright infringement under that law, which was enacted back in 1998 before YouTube existed.
YouTube says it has paid $3 billion to the music industry so far and it aggressively finds and deletes unlawful content on the site, but you know what? They are saying this isn't enough.
Finally, in sports, Modell's Sporting Goods, a British retailer sports in talks for potential deal to buy stores of Sports Authority. "The Wall Street Journal" says the bids for Sport Authority store leases are due this Thursday. Sports Authority filing for Chapter 11 protection back in early March.
By the way, Sandra, if you have a gift card from Sports Authority, use it now, this month, because it will expire.
SMITH: OK, that's a warning. Yes, I do indeed. Cheryl, thank you. Smart move for Modell's to bid on the Sports Authority stores. This is, by the way, I think days before the deadline that these stores would -- store leases are up.
JONES: I think the whole bricks and mortar retail model is really, really challenged right now. We were reviewing some data at our weekly meeting that shows there's been a 15-year trend of bricks and mortar stores losing market share, losing absolute revenue. So if you get it cheap enough, maybe you can make it work but you are finding an unbelievable head wind in that entire --
SMITH: And a lot of these stores like the sporting goods stores, have they been on the cutting edge of the online sales? Not really.
JONES: No, none of them seemed to have significant online presence. Once you get one pair of shoes that works for you as a runner you go to it over and over again.
MCDOWELL: Until they redesigned them, Saucony, and change them so dramatically, I wound up with injuries related to the shoes being redefined because I didn't go in a store and wasn't consulted by somebody.
But I want to point out the City Sports close down. It with a regional chain in the northeast and again despite Under Armour being on fire and Nike and Leisure, everything for the consumer --
SMITH: Because Morgan, that's what people do, they download the apps and they just buy it as they need to and have it shipped to the front door.
JONES: The stories where you try on to make sure they haven't redesigned and then you buy it online cheaper. It's just as --
MCDOWELL: I don't. Super Runner store down the street -- reporting local business.
ORTAGUS: One quick thing to watch that Cheryl mentioned on the Iranian and Boeing deal that still has to be approved by the Treasury Department. So before the Iranian negotiation there was a license for spare parts or aviation, but this has to be approved by Treasury.
I can see this being a deal at the U.S. Congress. Iranian banks still cannot clear the U.S. dollar so that could potentially proof trouble for financing the deal so this story isn't over. And I would suspect in a political year that we might hear something from Congress.
SMITH: Boeing, one of the stocks we are watching this morning. Go ahead.
JONES: Boeing is also just signed a huge deal with Russia and so, you know, this is the second kind of semi controversial deal with someone that is not exactly aligned with the United States although it's huge revenue for the organization and obviously a lot of jobs for the U.S. So that will probably help get it through Congress for approval.
SMITH: All right, up next, a freak accident may not be such a freak accident after all. Why Chrysler may have a big controversy on its hands after the death of young "Star Trek" star, Anton Yelchin.
Don't forget to check out MORNINGS WITH MARIA on social media, we are tweeting away, please join us @morningsmaria, @sandrasmithfox. We are on there right now. Wake up with us, keep an eye out for daily polls, upcoming guests, highlights from today's show. It's all on there. Please join us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH: The vehicle that reportedly crushed 27-year-old "Star Trek" star, Anton Yelchin to death was under a widespread recall for rollaway risk. The 2015 Jeep Cherokee along with the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger were experiencing issues with their so-called E-shifter.
It's not clear at this time if Yelchin had bought his car -- brought it in for necessary repairs when he get the recall notice, but failure to securely put these vehicles in park was one of the main reasons that the recall was issued in the first place.
Fiat Chrysler put out a statement saying "FCA, U.S. extends its most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Yelchin. The company is in contact with the authorities and is conducting a thorough investigation. It is premature to speculate on the cause of this tragedy."
Joining me now is foxnews.com's auto editor, Gary Gastelu. Gary, what is exactly is the E-shifter? Start us out with that.
GARY GASTELU, FOXNEWS.COM AUTO EDITOR: This isn't a problem with the transmission, just the shift lever that changes the gears in the transmission. This one uses an odd one. It's more of a toggle switch.
You press it comes back to center so if want you go through the gear, you have to tap it a couple times or hold it there and it sort of jumps through the gears.
The issue is that if you leave it in neutral or drive and you open the door, it doesn't automatically shift into park. This is what the recall is going to address with other vehicles with this shifter will do that for you.
Now this is a problem that has been out there for a couple years. People have been complaining about it. The recall was noted in April. The actual recall notices were sent out in May.
SMITH: And that included 1.1 million models that were manufactured between July 16th 2012 and December 22nd 2015. I mean, that's a wide timespan. Yes, we are talking about the Jeep Grand Cherokee. We are talking about the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler 300, a couple model years there.
Again, this isn't a mechanical failure. It does exactly what it was designed to do, but it was poorly designed. It's very confusing. I actually went back and looked at some of my reviews of these cars.
I said it was fiddly. When you are doing a parallel parking, it is difficult to find reverse sometimes. It's sort of jumps to the next position. Not a good design. They've redesigned it since the new models don't have it. They have more of a traditional shift lever with notches for (inaudible) positions.
ORTAGUS: Does the Jeep have the parking assist that could have helped in the situation?
GASTELU: I'm not sure if this particular model did, but in any case the issue here appears to be and they haven't confirmed that yet, that he probably left it in neutral or drive although it actually went backwards. So it's probably in neutral instead of putting it in park and opened the door and got out.
SMITH: I mean, as far as speculation, nobody want to speculate yet, but there is something that they are going to be able to rule out right away like whether or not this car was never worked on after the recall was issued.
GASTELU: That should be able to sort of that soon. It seems like it wasn't though. Apparently, the notices went out in May, not all the dealers even have the equipment needed to perform the recall work. We don't know yet if he even read his recall notice personally.
MCDOWELL: This was the first fatality that might be related to this problem.
GASTELU: Reported 41 injuries prior to this, about 120 accidents of different types, but the issue is in the recall notice it explains to you the problem. It tells you exactly what you should be doing until you get these safety features put in. We don't know what he knew really and that's really what's going to have to come out in this investigation.
SMITH: It's a horrible accident. So we will keep following the story.
JONES: Do you see any chance that this becomes like an Audi sudden acceleration thing where there is nothing mechanically wrong, but it becomes a huge legal obligation that spirals?
GASTELU: Well, I think we got to see how many of these incidents there are before they can fix all these vehicles. The thing with the Audi situation was that was a mystery. No one ever really figured that out.
And it turns out it was people putting their foot on the wrong pedal. Here we know exactly what's wrong. If I tell you what is wrong, you always pay attention to it and make sure you don't do that. He may not have done that, but that is what we will find out.
SMITH: All right, Gary Gastelu, thank you for joining us on that.
Next hour, Donald Trump wasting no time getting back on the campaign trail, gearing up for his big meeting with nearly a thousand Evangelical voters behind his push for the Christian vote next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH: Good morning. I'm Sandra Smith in for Maria Bartiromo this morning. Maria will be back tomorrow. It is Tuesday, June 21st. Your top stories at 7 a.m. Eastern.
It is all about money. Investors keeping a close eye on Janet Yellen. The Federal Reserve chairwoman will be testifying before Congress on monetary policy this morning. Markets will be watching.
And across the pond, British voters will be heading to the polls Thursday to decide whether to remain part of the European Union.
In the race for the White House, how can Donald Trump win undecided Evangelicals? The presumptive presidential nominee will meet with hundreds of Christian leaders today to do just that as Vice President Joe Biden slams Trump over religion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we make the religion the enemy, where the hell you think we are going to get to cooperation?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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