MARIA-01
Fallout Continues; Election Countdown 13 Days; Game 2 Time Change; Wells
Fargo Ad Campaign; Volkswagen Buyback; Venezuela Political Chaos; Fight For
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BARTIROMO: We are on the campaign trail as Trump prepares to hit Pennsylvania Avenue today.
EpiPen's price controversy maybe a prescription for success. We will tell you about it. Why all the press reportedly has script for the product on the rise.
A scary moment at a Florida fair, the incident that left a trainer clawed by a tiger in front of children.
It is the great iPhone raid, the staggering devices that disappeared from Miami International Airport. This is the product thieves want.
Earning season rolls on. Chipotle among the big names reporting after the bell last night. The company missed earnings expectations, but playing out some sweet new plans to spark growth. The stock, we will tell you about it in just a moment.
Broader markets this morning looking lower, we had a fair amount of misses overnight. Apple was a decline in revenue from a year ago and that really set the tone for markets this morning. Apple stock is under selling pressure. The Dow Industrial expected to open 80 points.
Take a look at performances in Europe. Declines there about 1 percent across the board. As you see there the DAX Index in Germany down better than 1 percent.
In Asia overnight mixed performances. As you will see the Hang Seng in Hong Kong down better than 1 percent.
A top U.S. commander making a surprise visit to a U.S. base in Iraq as the battle for Mosul continues, Army General Joseph Vodell (ph) reportedly saying that he expects to run into more and more obstacles as the fight moves forward.
Joining us right now is former Navy SEAL and Great America PAC's spokesperson, Carl Higbie. Carl, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. What's your take on those comments?
CARL HIGBIE, FORMER NAVY SEAL: So the issue is we are seeing the people who are actually on the ground experiencing this war, the guys who have fought the war coming out and having a very different narrative than what the Clinton campaign and the generals that are endorsing Clinton like Allen and Colin Powell are saying. Now the issue is we don't know how big this problem this. The fight is very hard when you can't even name the enemy.
MORGAN ORTAGUS, MAVERICK PAC CO-CHAIR: That's a good point. But what, Carl, would Trump do different? You have a lot of experience in this part of the world and thank you for your service. So if he's critical of what President Obama is doing, now what is he going to do differently in Iraq to spin the tide of ISIS?
HIGBIE: The issue is we got to stop fighting this and get them out. I mean, if you want to be diplomatic, go send the diplomats over there and let them do their thing. If you want to win a war, you send the U.S. soldier. I mean, we have won every single war.
I watch a lot of documentaries and when we stopped winning wars is when we started media influence over the way we fought the war. We have to fight the war to win.
Unfortunately war is disgusting and it's bad, but at the end of the day we have to do those things in order to win because our enemy is doing it too.
BARTIROMO: So what should be the strategy to really take Mosul at this point? We know this is going to take time and harder than people expected?
HIGBIE: Right. So Mosul right now is a critical part of the infrastructure because of the dam because of a lot of other build-ups that we've put there when we there in Iraq, but what we need to do now is we need to target these people and target the areas they are in.
Look, if you're in an ISIS-controlled area right now, I'm sorry, you're not part the solution because they would either killed you or you have left early.
BOB NARDELLI, FORMER CHRYSLER CEO: Thank you for your duty and two tours of service, right. So you know first-hand what it's going to take to win this thing. Your perception of the two candidates, tell us about your view on Trump, a lot of controversy about he would to the points that we have been discussing, how do you think he's going to approach this with the generals going forward?
HIGBIE: So I think for one and one of the biggest complaints of generals now is that they are not listening, President Obama is not listening to them. So I think Trump will listen to the generals. He said, look, we need to listen to generals because these are the people that are there and understanding it.
You have the guy who just landed there yesterday, wow, this is a lot bigger problem. Additionally, we need to do things that might not be politically popular at that time, but long-term will protect American citizens and I think Trump will do that.
Hillary Clinton had the chance to do this stuff over eight years as our chief diplomat and she didn't do any of it.
NARDELLI: Yes, did that "Desert Storm," "Freedom," I mean, we know how to do it. It's just a matter of having conviction, am I right going forward?
HIGBIE: You're absolutely right. I mean, look, when we first invaded Iraq, we took over the world's fifth largest army in less time that it takes you to pick up your dry cleaning, I mean, in four days. So we can do it. We just have to be able to want to and have the will.
BARTIROMO: This scandal grilling the Pentagon, the outrage after the Defense Department tried clawing back reenlistment bonuses from soldiers. These soldiers fought on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Ash Carter addressed the issue yesterday. I want to get your reaction to what he had to say. Listen to this.
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ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Anybody who volunteers to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States deserves our gratitude and respect, period. I'm aware of the specific issue that you're speaking of. It's got complexities to it and we are going to look into it and resolve it.
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BARTIROMO: What do you make of it, Carl?
HIGBIE: Well, I mean, this is ridiculous. These soldiers signed a contract with the U.S. government. It doesn't matter if the U.S. government had the authority in that position or not, it's not the soldiers' fault to do this.
When I re-enlisted, I got a bonus, paid off debt and put a down payment on my house and I didn't have the cash laying around. These guys, I mean, look, the average soldier -- when you come out of boot camp, you're making $800 to $900 a month --
So I mean, you're looking $400 to $500 per pay check every two weeks for some of these entry soldiers. Obviously you get more than that when you get down the road.
But at the end of the day, these people don't have a ton of money. Why isn't the person at fault (inaudible)? Why isn't President Obama coming out right saying with a stroke of a pen, I am fixing this and Congress put a single issue bill on the table right now to fix this problem?
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS: They don't care about the veteran. I mean, look at how the VA system is run and the problems that still exist despite everything that's come out of the wood work about the treatment of veterans. Do they simply not care? I seriously mean that because you wouldn't act that way if you gave a damn.
HIGBIE: Hillary Clinton can fumble $6 billion and lose it while she's secretary of state, but we can't cover a few million dollars in bonuses for the people that we signed a contract with.
BARTIROMO: You're right. Where is President Obama putting an end to this right now?
HIGBIE: Hundred percent. This is disgusting and this shows right now where this president and the administration and God forbid, if Hillary Clinton wins, where that administration will go. Nobody has tried to do anything for the veterans right now.
NARDELLI: This never should have even surfaced. It should have been shut down at the first hint of it by the administration.
ORTAGUS: Carl, on the Iran piece, if Trump wins in 13 days as Maria pointed out, we know that Boeing is looking to sell U.S. airliners into Iran, highly controversial with the Congress and the people like Mr. Trump who oppose the deal. Would he allow these deals of American Boeing aircrafts to go forward into Iran if he wins the presidency?
HIGBIE: No, I don't believe he will. Look at the scrutiny that Trump got when he considered looking, not even doing, considered looking at business in Cuba. He was like squashed by it and he got hammered over it. He didn't even do it.
Now Hillary Clinton and the Barack Obama administration, they want to give Boeing aircraft to Iran Air or whatever they call it which is notably been seized and used for military purposes. I mean, we know what's going to happen there.
We gave them $150 billion already. I don't know what this administration is thinking. Why are they so pro-Iran? I would lock anybody out from America from doing business with Iran.
BARTIROMO: Look at this story, Iran to add U.S.-made aircraft to its war fleet. Obama administration paves the way for Tehran to build its air force.
HIGBIE: Yes, I mean, that's exactly what's happening and we are selling it directly to Iran Air, which in the past they have commandeered jets from Iran Air and turn them into military thing because there's not a clear division of state and private assets in Iran.
We can pretty much say unequivocally that's going to go there. Why are we helping them? How does this help America? This is the problem with our leaders and this is what people are voting against. Help America first. I don't care about Iran.
BARTIROMO: It's extraordinary. So what about this new political ad, Retired General John Alan backing Hillary Clinton saying that she has what it takes to keep us safe. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When someone makes the comment that they know more about the Islamic State or ISIL than do the generals it implies complete ignorance of the reality, but I believe Secretary Clinton really understands the threat that Islamic State poses to the United States and the American people and I believe she understands how to wheel power to ultimately defeat threat and keep us safe.
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BARTIROMO: This coming of course, as former secretary of state, Colin Powell, formally throws his support behind Hillary Clinton. So what do you make of these endorsements, what are they seeing that you don't see, Colin Powell, John Alan getting behind Clinton?
HIGBIE: That's a really good question. What are they seeing? Because look, these are -- I mean, first off, respect for his service, but this general and his thinking, this is the reason we are losing the global war on terrorism because they think that Hillary Clinton has the answers. She clearly doesn't.
It hasn't worked. Let's go with a guy who actually support the troops and willing to do what may not be politically popular but will ultimately keep America safe. We have done nothing to forward the progress in Iraq and Afghanistan since the pull-out and this guy is endorsing Hillary Clinton and I think it's disgusting.
BARTIROMO: Part of the issue is President Obama had his own plan and his own narrative. He wasn't listening to the generals.
ORTAGUS: Look at the Wikileaks emails from yesterday, Maria. It talks about how the Bush administration asked the Obama administration, as they were coming in, to be part of the Iraq SOFA, status of force agreement, discussion and the Obama administration said, no, thanks, you guys figure it out.
HIGBIE: Yes, and this is indicative of a lot of the generals up there made rank before there was a war. So they don't understand the dynamics necessarily of fighting. Like I said respect for their service. Generals good and bad, they don't understand the ground forces agreement.
You need to put an E6 and E7 enlisted guy coming right back from battlefield and put them next to the Joint Chief of Staff, and said you better listen to this enlisted guy because he's going to write your (inaudible) at the end of your six months.
ORTAGUS: Or enlisted girl.
HIGBIE: Or a girl, yes.
BARTIROMO: Good to see you. Thank you so much.
HIGBIE: Thank you very much, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Carl Higbie joining us there.
Coming up next, Chipotle trying to soften the blow from a disappointing earnings report with a sweet treat, the menu addition. That's next.
And then an iPhone heist in Miami airport coming to an end. How a gang managed to steal 23,000 iPhones from passengers. That's next.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. We are expecting a lower opening for the broader markets today. Take a look futures indicating a decline of about 80 points, really Apple is setting stone. Stock is down after weaker than expected -- well, actually it was better than expected but the revenue was declining from a year ago and that has the stock under pressure.
Other technology names, we are watching shares of Alphabet, the head of Google, the head of the company's Google Fiber Division is stepping down. This coming amid a reported shift in strategy that includes plans to lay off 9 percent of the division staff.
Google Fiber is halting operations in several cities including Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Chicago. By the way, we are seeing layoffs increasing within the tech sector right now. We heard from Twitter yesterday.
We are also keeping an eye on Chipotle. The company reported third-quarter earnings that missed analysts' expectations. Chipotle revealed several new initiatives to spur growth including order-taking tablets in its restaurants and testing new dessert options.
Lawmakers in Venezuela meanwhile moving forward with efforts to oust President Maduro. Cheryl Casone with those details and headlines now -- Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: Yes, that's right, Maria. Venezuela's Congress has voted to open a political trial against Nicolas Maduro for what they say are violations of the Constitution. The issue here is whether the unpopular socialist president caused the deepest recession in Venezuela's history. It has led to what is being described as a humanitarian crisis in the oil-rich nation.
Opposition leaders calling for mass protest today. Maduro elected three years ago following the death of Hugo Chavez. Political analysts don't expect much, however, since Maduro's party controls the Supreme Court.
Here at home, a tiger attacking a trainer in Florida in front of school kids. Organizers of a fair in Pensacola say a trainer needed surgery yesterday after she was caught on a leg by a 2-year-old Bengal tiger.
She felt backwards but moved forward for her protocol. She wasn't to injury more seriously. The incident happened during a private performance for a school field trip. No students were hurt. In fact, they thought it was part of the show. The White Tiger Show cancelled for the rest of the fair. That's going to run through Sunday.
The FBI arresting eight people for selling 23,000 iPhones at Miami International Airport. The suspects used a disguise tractor trailer to steal the cargo at the airport. The stolen phones are valued at $6.7 million. Investigators say many were already sold to unidentified buyers. Many of those in groups, dozens at a time in fact. You can't say dumb criminals on that story, smart criminals.
After outrage over the price hike of the EpiPen, prescriptions for auto- injector devices reportedly jumped by 14 percent in September for a year ago. The maker, Mylan, has been grilled by consumers and lawmakers for raising prices of the EpiPen six-fold to over $600 for just a package of two.
Epipens have to be replaced every 18 months, if they go unused, Maria. So why -- the speculation is that basically all of the press reminded a lot of parents out there, I need to replace those EpiPens before my kids go back to school this fall. Back to you.
BARTIROMO: Interesting. Coming up -- thanks so much, Cheryl.
Coming up, cyber security concerns growing in the wake of a worsening hack attack. How one company is keeping consumers and businesses safe from cyber threats, we will tell you when we come back. Stay with us.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. We are watching earnings this week. A third of the S&P 500 reporting earnings this week alone. Akamai, the content delivery network and Cloud service provider reported last night beating expectations. Revenue rose to $584 million on earnings per share of 68 cents.
Joining me right now on a Fox Business Network exclusive is Akamai CEO and founder, Tom Leighton. Tom, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. So explain the quarter to us. What drove business in the last quarter?
TOM LEIGHTON, AKAMAI CEO: Security was important for business growing at 46 percent, web performance also did very well. That's where people want to make websites faster and they use Akamai to do that.
BARTIROMO: All right, so they're using the website, but really the whole upset and security vulnerability that we talk about every day is front and center and you're really poised to gain market share in this environment?
LEIGHTON: Yes, I think there's a lot more awareness that security is important and that there's entities out there that are trying to bring down websites or to deface websites or steal content and we are ideally positioned to provide defenses against those attacks.
BARTIROMO: What are the defences? How do you protect information?
LEIGHTON: Well, we filter the content that comes into a website and we do that from a platform with hundreds of thousands of servers and thousands of locations, out where the capacity is and so we are in a position to be able to absorb those gigantic attacks like we read about last week.
BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about that, because on Friday the cyber-attack that crippled some of the biggest sites on the internet, Amazon, Twitter. U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper, said that a non-state actor was behind the attack.
Investigators say that hackers used malware to access devices in people's homes that are connected to the internet. So what kind of information do hackers gain in doing so and what was your take away on that if it's not a state actor, it's just a hacker trying to get -- just try to steal your information and your money?
LEIGHTON: Well, there's a lot of entities out there that are trying to steal information, you know, we are all reading emails from the campaign now that were probably stolen. You have organized crime that's exiting cyber extortion.
You do have nation-state actors. You have political activists. You have hacktivism. There's a lot of entities out there that are trying to exploit the vulnerabilities in the internet for their gain.
BARTIROMO: So we don't really know necessarily that it's Russia or it's China. It could be all of the above. The whole conversation about Russia right now.
LEIGHTON: You don't always know, but there are a lot of entities that do have malicious intent on the internet and they are exploiting the internet of things. As you have millions and millions of devices coming online that don't have great security defenses, may not even have their password changed, they can be exploited by these entities to attack websites and to steal data.
BARTIROMO: Which is why this is sort of an unlimited spend for corporations. I know you're about to ramp up in terms of enterprise. Tell us about that because I see this as something that companies can afford not to lay down new money.
LEIGHTON: This is a big deal. Enterprise needs to protect its brand online and needs to keep website up, but they also have to protect their employees from phishing attacks or malware and data exfiltration.
You know, the enterprise doesn't want to lose all their corporate e-mails and have them published. They don't want their sensitive information, personal data stolen, for example, I had my entire tax history stolen from the IRS, you know, a criminal organization filed a return.
You know, nothing I can do about it. It was government data volt and it was stolen.
BARTIROMO: I see. You were part in the government.
LEIGHTON: I pay taxes like everybody.
BARTIROMO: So your company released a report recently analysing the weaknesses in systems to connect router, satellite TV equipment, DVR's, your analysis found that financial services industry, retail hospitality, are all the big targets. Tell us how you go about protecting yourself?
LEIGHTON: Well, as an individual it's harder. You want to make sure that you have the antivirus software, but as an enterprise there's things you can do. You know, for example, Akamai provides services to enterprises to keep them from being hacked, to keep their websites up, and to keep the data from being stolen. It's important to make use of those capabilities.
BARTIROMO: You know, when you look at the technology space in general, I wonder if your space when you're looking at security is really different than everybody else because that's obviously where the growth is.
But, you know, the slew of recent deals that we are seeing in the technology, we are seeing layoffs. We could see a deal between QUALCOMM and NXP, we know that, consolidation in media with AT&T and Time Warner.
Your company runs a system that many streaming sites depend on, what does that mean for business as you see this consolidation happening?
LEIGHTON: You know, I don't think it really changes our business. There's more and more video coming online that's really great for our business because we deliver a lot of that video.
There's more and more commerce being done online because we accelerate it and that makes it be much more effective and efficient. And of course, we talked about security, you have to secure your assets online and the old way of doing that, buying a firewall or device that you put in your data center. It doesn't work anymore as we saw last week. You need Cloud defences at scale.
BARTIROMO: So you're really in all of the sweet spots of technology right now whether it be Cloud or security?
LEIGHTON: We are in a very good position and that's why we are growing, you know, and we are adding more head count to the business and doing a lot of investment.
BARTIROMO: You're actually hiring right now?
LEIGHTON: We are, yes.
BARTIROMO: Tom, great to see you.
LEIGHTON: Nice to see you too.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much. Tom Leighton joining us there.
Coming up, the presidential race could be fuelling mergers and acquisitions. We'll talk to Steve Howell about business leaders and what they're thinking for the White House in the next hour of MORNINGS WITH MARIA. Stay with us, back in a moment.
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BARTIROMO: Good Wednesday morning, everybody. Welcome back. I'm Maria Bartiromo. It is Wednesday, October 26th. Your top stories right now at 7 a.m. on the east coast.
Fighting for votes with less than two weeks to go until Election Day. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton focusing on swing states this morning including North Carolina and Florida.
And now a top issue on the campaign trail, Obamacare, after the government revealed soaring premium increases are coming next year. Republicans to Democrats on the defensive.
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PENCE: If you compare Obamacare to the Samsung Galaxy 7 phones, which have been known to spontaneously burst into flames. That is exactly what we are going to do with Obamacare.
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