MARIA-00
Questions from Press, Blames a Coughing Fit on Rival Donald Trump; U.S.
Lawmakers Return to Capitol Hill to Discuss Funding to Fight the Zika
Virus; Conservative Activist Phyllis Schlafly Dies at Age 92; New Documents
Show that ISIS is More Sophisticated than Ever - Part 1>
Stuart Varney >
Byron York, Vera Gibbons>
Schlafly; Politics; Election; Trade; Business; Stock Markets; Automotive
Industry >
MARIA BARTIROMO, FBN ANCHOR: Poll with just 62 days -- September 6th, your top stories right now, 8:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
Donald Trump polling ahead of Hillary Clinton in the latest poll with just 62 days until election day. We've got the latest on the new national presidential poll this morning.
Then Clinton finally stopped dodging the press, she took some softball questions from the mainstream media on her plane. Later in the day, she blames a coughing fit on rival Donald Trump. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON(D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Welcome aboard big brain, it is so exciting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think?
CLINTON: Think it's pretty cool, don't you?
(CROSSTALK)
(COUGHING)
I've been talking so --
(COUGHING)
Every time I think about Trump, I get allergic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: And on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are returning this morning to discuss funding to fight the zika virus. Plus, Bayer raising its offer to acquire Monsanto. The details on this $65-billion takeover bid coming up.
Now is the time to buy a new car apparently, why you should get behind the wheels coming up. And markets this morning pointing to a higher opening for the broader averages as we kick off a new holiday-shortened week.
Investors are watching some economic data on the docket, ISM non- manufacturing data due out later this morning.
In Europe, stocks are mixed, the Dax index in Germany leading the way with slight gains, up about a quarter of a percent.
In Asia overnight, the markets there, end of the day higher across the board, it was China, the Shanghai Composite, the top performer up six- tenths of 1 percent. All those stories coming up this morning.
And joining me to talk about it this morning, the "Wall Street Journal's" editor-in-chief Gerry Baker with us. Our own Dagen McDowell and Democratic strategist Harlan Hill. Great to see everybody.
HARLAN HILL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Great to be here.
BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about the U.K. economy because there's this article in the journal this morning about Brexit, and how all of those worries about all of the hysteria and the angst never materialized there.
GERARD BAKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Absolutely, certainly not so far. I mean, it was the most extraordinary campaign that people said during the campaign that if you -- if Britain votes to leave the European Union, it will be a disaster, the economy will go to a recession.
The government talked about it being a serious economic crisis. The immediate aftermath, all of the -- again, the reaction in Europe and around the world wasn't, oh, my God, this is an absolute disaster.
How dare they -- how dare the British people, aren't they going to be punished for doing it, by having a terrible recession?
We had a few weeks where the numbers were -- certainly, there was a lot of uncertainty about the economy. Every piece of data since then has shown the economy is doing fine.
BARTIROMO: We see it's very resilient --
BAKER: I think --
BARTIROMO: The U.K. economy.
BAKER: It's important, and I do think, this is a really important point. The real issue for Europe is not the problems in the U.K. economy or the need for the U.K. supposedly to be in Europe.
The real problems in Europe are the problems in the European economy, the rest of the European economy, in particular the Eurozone. This is a disaster. What is happening in Europe is a continuing disaster.
You're seeing and we've got on the front page of the journal today, it's resulting in political consequences such as populist parties all over -- all over Europe now advancing because they are furious.
People are furious and frustrated with the stagnation that their economies have been facing for the last ten years.
And it's been driven by the euro, by the forced integration of the European countries into something they don't want to be part of, which is a United States of Europe.
They don't want it, so the weekend, you see Angela Merkel's party in Germany took a huge defeat in her home state --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
BAKER: In Germany, countries across Europe are electing populist politicians who want to do away with the euro, want to do away with the --
BARTIROMO: Yes, it's amazing, we'll see if that tells us anything about the U.S. because you wonder if the elites --
HILL: Yes --
BARTIROMO: Are missing it here as well as it relates to Donald Trump. We're talking about a lot this morning, so stay with us.
We've got a can't-miss lineup. Wisconsin Republican Congressman Sean Duffy is with us, the host of "VARNEY & COMPANY" Stuart Varney will weigh in as well.
So, stay right there, you don't want to miss it as they head to the final stretch of the campaign for the White House.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are barnstorming across the battleground state of Ohio. Our Blake Burman has the details right now. He's in our Washington Bureau, Blake, good morning to you.
BLAKE BURMAN, FOX BUSINESS: Hi there, Maria, good morning to you as well. Pick a swing state, any swing state, and chances are you're going to find Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump campaigning there in this post Labor Day final 63 days stretch to the election.
Today for example, Clinton heads to Florida, Trump will be making stops in Virginia and North Carolina. Both trying to focus on elements of national security as this morning.
Trump has released a list of 88 retired generals backing his candidacy. Meantime, Clinton will be releasing yet another TV ad, this one tries to paint Trump as one who disrespects veterans and cannot be trusted by them.
Yesterday, as you mentioned, both were in Ohio, at points Clinton finally made herself available to the reporters who travel with her.
She was asked about that Friday document dumped by the FBI which showed she struggled to identify classified information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I take classification seriously. In fact, I couldn't remember certain meetings, whether or not they had occurred, it doesn't in any way affect the commitment that I had and still have to the treatment of classified materials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURMAN: Meantime, Maria, take a look at this, because a new poll out this morning from "Cnn" shows just how tight this race is nationally here heading into the home stretch.
It is Trump who tops Clinton by two, 45 to 43, but as we mentioned, the last 60 days or so here, a lot of the focus really heads towards those swing state polls.
But as the national number starts to come back Trump's way, you've got to take a look at whether or not the swing state polling does the same. Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: All right, Blake, we'll be watching that, thank you. Blake Burman joining us right now to weigh in, Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy. Congressman, good to see you, thanks for joining us.
REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: Good morning, Maria, thanks for having me on.
BARTIROMO: Your reaction to Trump now leading in this new "Cnn" poll.
DUFFY: Yes, listen, I think this is an indicator that for the last five -- I'm sorry, two to three weeks, Donald Trump has been on the stamp, doing rallies and talking to people, reaching out to the African-American community.
It goes to his speech on immigration, but most importantly, I think it's the fact that Donald Trump has been on script.
He hasn't had these moments in the last three or four weeks where he goes off script and says things that the media takes and runs with.
So, it's been positive for him, and if you look at Hillary Clinton, I mean, the new (INAUDIBLE) worse for her. You have the -- you have the corruption between a tie of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton State Department.
We now have her lying again about e-mails that she gave over to the State Department that she actually didn't give. All of the new cycle has benefited Trump and gone against Hillary Clinton.
And if I could just mention one more thing, if you look at the money that has been spent in this race, Maria --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: The last number I have is Clinton has spent $68 million in ads, Donald Trump, $4 million in ads, and he's still winning. And the news media is in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
So, with those two things going against Trump, and he's still in the lead, I think it says a lot about the power of his campaign.
Now, you mentioned this earlier, it's not the national poll, you've got to look at every state and he has to do well in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Nevada. He does well there --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: And he's going to pull this thing out.
BARTIROMO: Well, we'll see what happens in the next what? Sixty days, Harlan Hill. And WikiLeaks' Julian Assange says he's got more dirt that they're going to be releasing in e-mails.
HILL: Absolutely, and I anticipate that we'll see that in the coming weeks. But what I think it's really interesting is that, you know, she said that she takes classification really seriously in that last clip.
But this zero evidence, I mean, that actually substantiates it, I mean, she didn't even know what the classification markings meant in the e-mails.
BARTIROMO: Yes --
HILL: And so --
BARTIROMO: Same means classified --
HILL: Yes, she thought -- yes --
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, this is something that I really expect of a low-level staff or a let alone Secretary of State. And so, how does Trump effectively communicate that? Or does he move past this issue and focus on the economy and jobs, Congressman?
DUFFY: Oh, that's me. So, no, I think -- I think he still has to focus on this issue of classification because, again, it's another lie she told on her -- on her -- on her plane that she doesn't understand classifications of very serious information.
And to note, if you look at the U.S. House of Representatives, we have -- we have classification clearances.
But some of this stuff is so sensitive that only the intelligence committee in the house is able to view this information that she had unsecured on her server.
So, I think -- I think that's a serious point, but -- so, you can't leave that completely aside, you've got to talk about it.
But I think most Americans care about their kids and table issues. They care about the economy, they care about their job, they care about upward mobility, a better paycheck.
They care about security. There you hear these stories about ISIS and the beheadings, and the shootings. They want a president who is going to address that threat. And they -- I think they also care about the southern border.
They want a compassionate solution, but they also want America to decide who comes in and out of our country --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: All those things play to Donald Trump.
BAKER: Congressman, you mentioned, there are a list of swing states, you didn't mention your own state of Wisconsin. I mean, there was a poll last week that does show the race pretty tight now in Wisconsin.
Is that -- is it -- is it even possible that Donald Trump could win a state that Republicans have not won in a long time there?
(CROSSTALK)
DUFFY: Yes, thanks for bringing that up. How can I forget my home state of Wisconsin. So, a month ago, Donald Trump was up -- I'm sorry, Hillary Clinton was up by 15 points.
Last week, this poll came out, the Marquette Law School poll, and Hillary Clinton is only up by 3 points.
BARTIROMO: Wow --
DUFFY: So, he's made up 12 points in less than a month, and so, yes -- no, he can -- he can win here. We have a problem in Wisconsin where in the southeast part of the state, there's a really aggressive anti-Trump movement.
If those Republicans come home in Wisconsin, I think Trump will be up, and for the first time since 1984, Wisconsin will go for the Republican nominee --
BAKER: No, he didn't -- of course, he didn't win the primary there, right? He lost the primary there in Wisconsin.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS: Right, Cruz --
DUFFY: Yes, and those two -- was --
BAKER: Yes --
DUFFY: Ted Cruz won, right --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: But with -- in our state, the northern part of our state is usually a 50-50 part, but we're rural and we're manufacturing and my district, which is the central northern part of the state, they love Donald Trump.
So, he's making a huge numbers in a part of the state the Republicans normally don't do that well in. So, that's actually carrying him in the southeast part where they usually do well, but they're -- he is -- he is, you know --
BARTIROMO: Interesting --
DUFFY: He's got some work to do --
BARTIROMO: Here's Dagen -- here's Dagen --
DUFFY: With the Republicans --
MCDOWELL: Congressman, but -- what -- to Jerry's point, what has happened in the state in terms of the ground game that has turned the polls and given Donald Trump some momentum? Like is it people on the ground, what is it?
DUFFY: So, first of all, the Trump ground game is not that big in Wisconsin, but if you think back, Scott Walker, our governor had two recall elections, and our state party is one of the best state parties in the country.
And so Trump is able to tap into that organization and play it throughout the state which benefits him significantly. But I think our Wisconsin voter looks at the issues as they play out.
And they want a candidate who is going to level with them, be honest and trustworthy with them and not have -- I mean, if you look at -- if you look at the president coming out and telling us that if you like your healthcare plan and you like your doctor you can keep it.
Or the $400 million that went to Iran in unmarked bills, that that's not a ransom payment. Americans in Wisconsin are sick of being lied to. They want a president who is going to level with them and be honest with them no matter how bad the news is.
BARTIROMO: Right --
DUFFY: And they look at Hillary Clinton and think this woman isn't going to level with me. I want the truth, and if I have the truth and I understand it, we as a country can work together to fix that problem, but if you're lying to me and dishonest with me, then we're no better than these third party -- I'm sorry, third world countries --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: That have this, you know, Banana Republicesque leadership.
BARTIROMO: So, Congress is headed back to Capitol Hill today, one of the first orders of business is to allocate funding to fight zika. He was unable to do it before Congress left for recess in July.
What are the chances that both sides can come to an understanding here?
DUFFY: Now, I have to say, Maria, we got that work done in the house, we passed a zika funding bill, sent it over to the Senate.
The Senate Democrats actually held it up, they were concerned about, you know, funding for Planned Parenthood and the -- and the zika money.
I want to come back -- wanted to get that done again in the house, and hopefully the Senate can pick it up and actually look at the zika issue on its own because, listen, I mean, this is -- I mean, especially down in Florida, this is a serious issue.
We need people to have the necessary resources to take care of it. So, we'll do that. In my -- in my committee, I chaired the oversight committee on financial services, we're looking at trying to bring in the Fed and Treasury and the DOJ.
They come in and talk about this $400 million payment that went to Iran in unmarked bills. We have a lot of questions about it, if you can only imagine, do you think that those three agencies accepted our request and invitation to come in and testify before a committee?
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: The answer is no.
BARTIROMO: Yes -- no, the answer is no.
BAKER: Yes --
DUFFY: So --
BAKER: Sorry, go ahead --
DUFFY: And we have the subpoena, going to bring them in.
BAKER: Do you -- was that a -- I mean, you think it was clearly a ransom payment, that $400 million despite what the administration say.
DUFFY: Absolutely it was a ransom payment. The release of our hostages didn't come until the plane touched down in Iran. There is no other way to look at this.
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: I mean, the definition -- the definition of ransom payment is what happened with the $400 million payment to Iran. It's just the President won't call it that, but every single American with half a brain understands that's ransom.
BARTIROMO: And all the -- and all -- a lot of other money has gone through Iran as well, right? The entire --
DUFFY: Right --
BARTIROMO: Tab is paid --
MCDOWELL: Right --
BARTIROMO: According to the journal, those payments --
BAKER: Yes --
BARTIROMO: Have been 1. --
DUFFY: Yes --
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: Seven billion dollars --
DUFFY: Yes, the rest is the settlement, yes --
BAKER: One-point --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
BAKER: Seven billion --
DUFFY: Yes --
BARTIROMO: Congressman, good to see you, thanks --
DUFFY: I mean, this is the lead sponsor of --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
DUFFY: Lead sponsor of terrorism. Thank you, Maria, thanks for having me on --
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Congressman, we'll see you soon. GE digging deep on 3D printing, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. General Electric acquiring two European 3D printing companies. Here's Cheryl with the headlines, Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: Yes, Maria, well, GE announcing it's agreed to acquire two European makers of 3D metal printing machine for a total of $1.4 billion.
They're Sweden's Arcam and Germany's SLM Solutions. Each company reporting about $70 million in revenue last year.
Taking a look at GE right now, there is the stock, the ask just slightly higher in the pre-market for General Electric. In other headlines this morning, conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly has died.
The woman who was known as the first lady of the conservative movement died in her St. Louis home yesterday. Schlafly rose to fame in the 1960s for her opposition to the equal rights movement and abortion rights.
She also founded the Eagle Forum, a conservative organization, and she recently endorsed Donald Trump. Her son John says the cause was cancer. Phyllis Schlafly died at the age of 92.
And finally, this news out of Germany. Germany's Bayer has raised its offer for seed and pesticide company Monsanto. But Bayer said the higher price depends on achieving what it called a "negotiated transaction".
Bayer now says it's going to pay $127.50 a share from Monsanto. That's up from 125 this year. This new offer valuing Monsanto at more than $65 billion. Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: All right, Cheryl, thank you. Coming up next, terrorism fears on the rise. New documents show that ISIS is more sophisticated than ever and much more than we thought. Plus, the media finally got its chance to ask Hillary Clinton the hard questions.
So, why were they so soft? Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. New reports reveal that ISIS has at least 400 trained fighters spread throughout Europe. Joining me right now is former U.S. Army Air Mission Commander Amber Smith. Amber, good to see you, thanks so much --
AMBER SMITH, FORMER U.S. ARMY HELICOPTER PILOT & AIR MISSION COMMANDER: Nice to see you --
BARTIROMO: For joining us. This seems like a shocking report that they are operating stronger than ever throughout Europe.
SMITH: Yes, it is. So, there are reports that over 5,000 European citizens have gone down to Iraq and Syria to fight with ISIS.
And so there is a huge threat for those soldiers so to speak, have been trained on the battlefield with intelligent counter surveillance operations.
And now we're seeing them come back into these different European countries to carry out some of these attacks.
BARTIROMO: So, your book is called "Danger Close", it's out September 6th, today.
SMITH: Yes --
BARTIROMO: We want to talk about this, because it details you're flying into enemy fire in most of the dangerous places in the world. You weren't only fighting the enemy, you were also fighting to break into the boys club of army aviation.
SMITH: Yes, so, I'm so proud of my book, "Danger Close" because it really outlines how essential the Kiowa Warrior was in two theaters of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan. And how it contributed to battlefield success every single day in combat in both of those wars.
BARTIROMO: So, when you look at what's happening right now on the ground when you consider the technology and the warfare that you obviously witnessed and used, are they -- is ISIS losing ground in Iraq and Syria or not?
SMITH: Well, I -- they're still holding a significant amount of ground, more than we've ever seen from a terrorist organization.
They still hold Mosul, hold the second largest city in Iraq. And so, they're still able to carry out sort of the command and control, planning those attacks inside of Europe.
They're still able to recruit, so until we sort of disrupt those operations in the territory that they are holding in Iraq and Syria, they're still going to be able to move forward and plan and conduct those attacks.
BARTIROMO: One story in your book describes flying security for Air Force 1 --
SMITH: Yes --
BARTIROMO: In Afghanistan, tell us about that.
SMITH: You know, that was one of the last missions that I got to do in 2008 when I was in Afghanistan. It was a super secret mission, none of us knew what we were doing, it was actually supposed to be one of my days off.
And instead, they told me I had to fly and -- when I got into my -- for my mission brief that night, they said you're flying Air Force 1 in surprise mission, President Bush is flying in straight from Iraq when the shoe incident happened.
When they threw --
BARTIROMO: Oh --
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: The shoe --
BARTIROMO: Yes, right, sure.
SMITH: He did a surprise trip, following trip to Afghanistan to see President Karzai. So, we got to fly aerial security for Air Force 1. We got -- we were the -- all the air spaces closed except (INAUDIBLE) was in Air Force 1.
So, we got to fly it in in the dead of night, and once you get surrounded by security and it was -- it was incredible and so amazing to be a part of that --
BARTIROMO: What a -- what a shock, but also what a thrill to be protecting the --
SMITH: It was --
BARTIROMO: Most powerful, most important person in, arguably the world.
SMITH: It was.
BARTIROMO: Leader of the free world --
SMITH: It was a strange feeling to have, yes, an armed aircraft. We carry a 50-calibre machine gun and rocket parts, we can carry hell fire missiles.
So, it was, you know, security side or on the president, so, it was -- it was interesting that -- and once in a lifetime experience that we were the ones with the weapons at that point protecting the president.
BARTIROMO: What do you think the Air Force wants to hear from the next president of the United States?
SMITH: Well, I think that the military in general right now wants to have a commander-in-chief that they are really going to feel like it's behind them and it's a leader and it's going to rebuild the military.
And when they send them into war to fight ISIS and other conflicts around the world, that they are doing so with all the assets and resources available, so we can ensure that when we go in to fight these wars we go in to win them.
BARTIROMO: Do you feel that way? Do you feel that you were supported, protected in your role when you were there?
SMITH: When I was in Iraq and Afghanistan, I flew under the Bush administration, and I felt as though we did have that. We were trusted in our jobs and we were given the authority to make those life and death decisions.
BARTIROMO: Did that change under President Obama?
SMITH: It definitely changed under President Obama. I still talk with a lot of people in the military community, and they feel that the rules of insurrection are hindering their mission. It's making them less safe because they're having to do more with less.
And it puts a lot of Americans lives in danger, is when you send them into war with their hands tied behind their back --
BARTIROMO: So, it's not just what President Obama says, it's actually what he's doing in terms of the policies the number of troops, the amounts of equipment.
SMITH: Exactly. So, when President Obama makes it very political, our military, our men and women in uniform are the ones that have to go into those combat zones, and to fight with all of those restriction placed upon them.
You know, combat is hard enough, and when you put all of these -- you know, these restriction and very strict rules of engagement, it makes it that much harder for them, and that's not what -- that's not what they need when they're having to fight these wars.
BARTIROMO: The first ever memoir of active combat by a female helicopter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan, congratulations on the book, Amber --
SMITH: Thank you so much, Maria --
BARTIROMO: Good to see you very much. Amber Smith joining us there. Coming up, Hillary's campaign debut a new plane, but a new poll shows Trump is taking flight. Before we head to a break, take a look at markets this morning.
U.S. Futures indicating a higher opening after a long holiday weekend, more on MORNINGS WITH MARIA, next.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Good Tuesday morning, everybody, welcome back, I'm Maria Bartiromo, it is Tuesday, September 6th, here are your top stories at 8:30 a.m. on the East Coast.
Hillary Clinton will stump for votes in the battleground states of Florida today as Donald Trump makes stops in Virginia and North Carolina.
The new presidential candidates ramp up their attacks and prepare for their first debate at the end of this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: The answer is clear, Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be --
(COUGHING)
-- our commander-in-chief. Imagine him in a real crisis. I've said it before and I believe it. A man you can bait with a tweet cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I'm preparing somewhat like I've prepared for the other debate. I think I'm preparing, you know, I enjoyed the debating process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, President Obama says the United States has a moral obligation to help the people of Laos, and pledges $90 million of your taxpayer money to the country, details on this historic visit to the isolated Southeast Asian country coming up. Wall Street is eyeing Smith & Wesson this morning, the latest on gun sales and the shake-up of its accessories division. And is now the time to buy a new car, apparently, yes, why you should get behind the wheel coming up. Market this morning looking flat despite its higher in the session, this is a holiday shortened week of course. Investors are looking at the economic data on the dockets, surely set the tone for markets. Today, we will get the ISM nonmanufacturing data later this morning. In Europe, stocks are mixed, the DAX Index in Germany leading the way with slight gains, up almost 1/2 of 1 percent. And in Asia, overnight, stock ended the day higher across the board, the Shanghai Composite in China, the best performer, up 6/10 of 1 percent, as you see there. On the campaign trail back in the U.S., Hillary Clinton giving voters a reason for her coughing fit yesterday.