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BURMAN: Maria, get used to a couple of more of those stops. Mr. Trump will be back out on road. After this North Carolina stop as well, he will be in Iowa and Michigan later this week. Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: We love to see him just be himself, like that. Blake, thank you. Blake Burman in New York City this morning.
Joining us right now, former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card. Andy, good to see you. Good morning.
ANDREW CARD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Great to see with you. Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
BARTIROMO: So, your thoughts on where things stand right now for the Secretary of State position?
CARD: Well, I'm beginning to lose confidence that the process makes sense. I'd really like the President-elect to come through a decision. I don't really like having all of these candidates rolled out as auditioning for the job because that means there's going to be more losers than there will be winners. They'll only be one winner, and I like to think everybody is a potential winner. And so, keep more of it private. I think it should be a decision that's made to meet the expectations of Donald Trump as he's the President-elect, and wants to be the president, with the team that works well together. I don't understand the aspect of having, you know, kind of a pageant, where the beauty pageants running around with sashes on and everything else. So, I'm a little bit troubled by it.
BARTIROMO: It does feel -
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWELL: But you -- Andy, you actually hit on why so many - and no offense intended - establishment republicans didn't see his victory coming, didn't see him winning the nomination. Because again, he is himself and he is not like any other candidate we've ever seen for the highest office in the land.
CARD: Well, there certainly was a lot of shock in the political community on both sides of the political aisle. But I do think that Donald Trump is responding to what America needs. America needs to have a different kind of leader and Donald Trump is a different kind of leader. However, I don't want him to lose the aspect of holding this office in very high regard. The Office of the President is the ultimate office, and that should be held in the highest regard. But the Secretary of State is a very big job and the one that the world looks at, and I want to make sure that the person who is the Secretary of State will be put on a very high pedestal because it's America's pedestal. Remember, they take an oath not of allegiance to a president. They take an oath of office with allegiance to the constitution of the United States, and I want to make sure that people understand that when these candidates that come through are going to be standing onstage.
HOLMES: But, you know, moving past the process where I can - I totally understand your objections to it. As they say, personnel is policy, and who he chooses as Secretary of State could -- it greatly shape President Trump's -- President-elect Trump's foreign policy. Do you have any favorites when it comes to that?
CARD: I agree - I agree strongly about that, yes. However, the president appoints people that will end up serving at the president's pleasure for the time being, so it's redundant in its insecurity when you get - accept this post.
However, the job is not to be there to please the president. It is serve the president and help him out and keep your oath of allegiance to the constitution of the United States. I think that's what's important. So, I do think people dictate policy, and they define it, they personify it, but the president sets policy, if the people don't fit with the president's mold, he removes them based on his pleasure.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, which is why everyone's questioning whether or not Romney would actually do that, and that's why people are having such a hard time with Mitt Romney.
CARD: Well, I don't think they should have a hard time with Mitt Romney. I think Mitt Romney will help a president do the job that's best for the country and have the courage to speak up and say, "I'll help you do the job." He's a very loyal person to the country, but this is not about pledging allegiance to an individual.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, that's true -
CARD: It doesn't work that way.
BARTIROMO: -- they -- You make a lot of good points actually, Andy. Jon Hilsenrath.
HILSENRATH: Do you think -- after this dog and pony show is finished, there will be one Secretary of State who takes that role. I mean, do you think anyone is going to remember the back-and-forth about whether it was Rex Tillerson or Senator Corker, I mean, once this decision gets made, doesn't it get made and everybody move on?
CARD: I think you're exactly right. Everybody will move on. I just don't like having a stage where you have people identified as losers. You know, whoever comes in second is still a remarkable person.
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWELL: Andy, you don't watch a lot of reality -
CARD: I like - I like - I liked having - everybody, "I was considered to be Secretary of State, but for whatever reason, I decided not to do it." You like people to withdraw rather than be losing.
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MCDOWELL: -- It's a badge of honor that you were considered.
CARD: It's a great honor - it's a great honor to be considered for appointment.
BARTIROMO: Sure.
CARD: But I don't think you should look at it as, you know, a loser, no, they're not a loser -
BARTIROMO: No, no, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely --
CARD: -- this is who sticks with the president.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: It is sort of like that when you see all the people parading, and that's what you're uncomfortable with. Andy, you've served in the White House, I want to get your take on this dynamic surrounding President- elect Trump's top aides, especially the Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, what's your take on these two positions and take us behind the curtain a bit in terms of what the Chief of Staff does.
CARD: The Chief of Staff is responsible for a whole collection of - I'm going to say obligations. First of all, he has to care about the care and feeding of the president, make sure the president is well cared for, and the president is always in a position where he can make a very tough decision with optimism. The second thing is he has to have - he has to coordinate the policy process, how does the president get advice, making sure that that advice does not come in as monolithic council that comes in with diverse council, and that nobody is bullying the policy process, and finally, if the president makes a decision and nobody knows about it, did the president make a decision, the decision the president make should only be tough decisions and frequently the decision will be announced only to the Chief of Staff and he has to worry about how he tells people about it. That's the job of the Chief of Staff and that's huge responsibility.
But I believe there should be one Chief of Staff not two, three, four or five, and that Reince Priebus is a terrific leader and he'll be an outstanding Chief of Staff. I understand the role of Steve Bannon, there have always been a Steve Bannon-type character in every White House as someone who is kind of the protector of a some kind of philosophy, a direction, or whatever, that's OK. I just don't want Steve Bannon to think that he would be the Chief of Staff, no. There's only one Chief of Staff at a time and that would be Reince Priebus, and I think he'll do a good job.
But the White House should not be a building where there is monolithic thinking, non-monolithic council for the president. There should be diverse thinking, challenge the president, educate the president, help the president, and then inspire those who have to implement the decision the president makes to be able to implement that decision, because the White House doesn't really get to implement anything. All they do is convey decisions to other departments and agencies where decisions have to be implemented.
HOLMES: So, given all that Mr. Card, do you think that it is all - it is all problematic or dangerous to President-elect Donald Trump to have such a lightning rod of a figure in Steve Bannon, or do you think, you know what, that's his prerogative and he gets to have the guy he likes.
CARD: I'd say it's the president's prerogative. He gets to have whomever he wants around him to help advise him. I think they have to be careful. There should be somebody at the White House, and I hope it would be Reince Priebus that would have peripheral vision not just tunnel vision, see what is happening outside of the White House and how -- what is happening in the White House is perceived by those looking from the outside. And most of the people who worked in the White House (INAUDIBLE) because they have outstanding tunnel vision. They know their area of expertise well. But the Chief of Staff's job is to understand how -- what happens in the White House is perceived by people outside the White House, and that's the trouble with a Steve Bannon, unless you have the ability to, I'm going to say, recognize where the value was added and how that value-added must be kept inside the White House not overflow outside where it could create problems.
MCDOWELL: Andy, but it looks like that Donald Trump himself probably has the best peripheral vision of anybody associated with his campaign. In terms of his ability to connect with the American people, and talk to people, between New York City and D.C. and Los Angeles, and actually connect with them, and resonate with them in a way that nobody else has.
CARD: Well, Ronald Reagan, I think, did a very good job of it. But I think Donald Trump does have a good, I`m going to say, thumb on the pulse of America. He kind of knows what's happening and he'll be very good at tweeting and communicating with that. But will be completely consumed with impossibly tough decisions that a president has to make. If the president is making an easy decision, the Chief of Staff didn't do his or her job. Presidents make brutally tough decisions and those tough decisions by definitions will not be popular with everyone because they're going to be tough decisions. And so, Donald Trump will have to recognize that he's not there to really please people. He's there to make the tough decisions for America that will keep America safe, that will lead the world to recognize that individuals have a role in their government, we are a democracy, and we want to invite others to have democracies and our democracy has to work.
You also recognize that he has responsibility to lead and govern. And govern is the toughest part of that leadership responsibility because you have to lead a congress that is separate but equal, and doesn't always want to take a direction. You have to lead bureaucrats to do a job when you really can't hire and fire them at will. They are career public servants and they want to be inspired to implement whatever you have to do. So, that's the job of governing and it's very different than leading a corporation or leading as a dictator. You have to lead and govern and inspire people to follow the direction you think is right for the country.
BARTIROMO: Great insights, Andy. Thanks so much. Andy Card joining us there. By the way, catch us our special tonight. Two-hour edition of "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT", taking the President-elect's "Thank you" tour live. We'll be right back.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Commuters in Los Angeles are on high alert this morning. Cheryl Casone with the details right now. Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: Yeah, Maria. The FBI is investigating a specific and eminent threat, steps away from a tourist hot spot in Los Angeles. A man speaking English called into a tip from undisclosed location overseas warning of a potential bombing at Universal City station today. That is just steps away from Universal Studios and the Universal Walk. Authorities, not taking any chances.
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JIM MCDONNELL, SHERIFF OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: You will see as the mayor mentioned, an increased uniform presence especially at transit stations where we also deploy our K-9 explosive detection teams. We'll have undercover operations underway as well.
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CASONE: That train line sees nearly 150,000 passengers every day. Commuters also should expect armed police on trains, K-9 units and random bag searches.
Well, a new study claims that hackers can get your Visa card information in 6 seconds. Researchers in the U.K. say hackers can automatically generate variations of the security data, and then try them on multiple web sites until they get a hit, and that would verify all the necessary information. This study also says the trick works because Visa does not detect multiple attempts to use a card across its network.
Well, some mixed reviews for Apple watch sales. Research firm IBC says Apple shift 1.1 million watches in the third quarter which would be down 71 percent year over year. It gives Apple about five percent of the wearable market, which would put it fourth behind people like Fitbit and Garmin. But Apple's Tim Cook tells Reuters that sales of the Apple watch for the current quarter are on track to be best ever for the product. Cook says the watch set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, although, they won't release specific numbers. (INAUDIBLE) can't wait for the earnings report.
And finally, the Fort Worth Texas Police Department is out with another viral recruitment video. Check it out as a police officer instructs a stormtrooper during target practice.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're still jerking the trigger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it's not as easy as it looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you're closer to the target than I am.
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CASONE: My God, that's a heck of a shot. Well, like last year, the Fort Worth Department also uses Darth Vader at the end of the recruitment video. The new video has already racked up more than 15 million views since it was posted last Friday. By the way, at end of the video, Maria, the tagline is "Join our force if you have what it takes and your aim is better than the stormtrooper." Back to you.
BARTIROMO: Wow. That's interesting.
CASONE: It's fun, right?
BARTIROMO: Yeah, it really is. Thanks, Cheryl.
Coming up next, not quite a Roman holiday for Italian investors this morning, bank shares are tumbling again, post referendum, whether it could continue to be a problem for the country. We're going to take a look at the Italian banks, check out the impact on the U.S.
Then trouble for Trump first 100 days in office, why the President-elect's tariff threat is not going over well with some house republicans. We'll talk about it when we speak with GOP Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Back in a minute.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Italian banks hanging in the balance. The Financial Times this morning reporting that Monte dei Paschi is preparing for a bailout, in the wake of the referendum vote this week.
Jon Hilsenrath is with us this morning, and Jon, we know that the Italian banks have massive debt, and they are troubled, these loans are troubled. How would you characterize the banking system in Italy right now?
HILSENRATH: Well, trouble in Monte dei Paschi is the one that we need to be looking at. The good news is that the problems in the Italian banking system appeared to be contained to Italy and not a wider European problem. Something like two percent of you European bank assets are in Italy.
BARTIROMO: OK.
HILSENRATH: So, it doesn't look like we're facing a repeat of the kind of 2011 crisis that we had when the government - when - that the entire European Union was kind of shaking and markets were shaking over the prospects of bailouts.
BARTIROMO: Right, but the F.T. story this morning, is basically saying that they are running out of private sector solutions. And the ECB is going to be bailing them out. I mean, any question if the ECB bails out these banks, they have to, right?
HILSENRATH: Its - well, I think it's more than Italian government that's going to have to step in, and the European Commission that's going to have to step in, and that's where there's a problem right now because there's instability in the - in the Italian government, we don't know who the next leader is going to be of the Italian government. And that needs to get sorted out before they decide what's going to - what's going to happen with Monte dei Paschi.
BARTIROMO: Dagen, what do you see -- how do you see it?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Sorry.
MCDOWELL: No, I was going to say that this goes, in terms of the most of the Italian banks, and on the front page of The Wall Street Journal today, this is about this project called the "Unification of Europe" --
HILSENRATH: Right.
MCDOWELL: -- (INAUDIBLE) less 60 years and in the coming year, there's going - you mean, you've seen the revolt and even in the vote in Italy but in - it's all going to come - the U.K. will come to ahead and France, Germany, and the Netherlands and probably Italy, the outcome - I mean, you've got -- unity is going to be the issue. They call it the day of - the year of reckoning.
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BARTIROMO: And that's after Britain voted to leave the European Union. So, you have that.
HILSENRATH: For our American viewers, the other piece of the story that we have to look at is the U.S. dollar. This means a stronger U.S. dollar. Ironically, we're talking so much about improving America's trade position right now. A stronger dollar makes it harder to export goods, it makes importing goods cheaper, and when we see instability in Europe, we see a strengthening U.S. dollar.
HOLMES: But my question is why are Italian banks in trouble? And is that something, you know, that sort of the he Italian's fault, and that they need to change their approach making. We saw, of course, the Greek crisis, and part of the problem there was that they have fiscal policy in Greece that is very anti-productive.
BARTIROMO: It's a great question. You're absolutely right -
HILSENRATH: They're in trouble because they're just overloaded with bad loans. And -
HOLMES: Why were they giving out these bad loans?
HILSENRATH: Well -
MCDOWELL: That's sort of -
HILSENRATH: -- that's the million-dollar question. And the bigger - the bigger question is why is it taking so long to clean up European banks? You know, one of the - one of the most unpopular aspects of the U.S. rescues of 2008-2009, was that we poured so much government capital public money into banking system. Well, guess what? It actually stabilized the banking system, bank loans in America are growing right now. The Europeans never recapitalized banks their banks and they're still struggling with bad loans.
HOLMES: So, it's sort of their own delay 2008 bailout?
HILSENRATH: It's taken them - it's taken them way too long to clean up their banking systems.
BARTIROMO: So, there's this further upheaval because we don't know who's going to be the next leader of Italy.
HILSENRATH: Absolutely. And because of that, we don't know that that puts on the back burner the cleanup of the Italian banking system.
BARTIROMO: OK.
MCDOWELL: Back to the 63 governments since World War II. I mean, this not a - you know, this is not a new problem for Italy.
BARTIROMO: Yeah. And they have good bet.
MCDOWELL: No, but this is not a new problem for Italy. Like if you live in Italy, that's what they - they're like a new government that just doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. It's part of the -- part of the life.
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BARTIROMO: I don't think there's any question that the euro has been a failure, is that an aggressive statement? I mean --
HILSENRATH: Well, it's certainly has been -
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MCDOWELL: There are a lot of people who agree with you.
BARTIROMO: It's been a failure. Come on, Jon, say it.
HILSENRATH: It's been a troubled project. It's been a troubled project.
BARTIROMO: It's been a troubled project. One central bank, one currency, all these different economic mentality, Germany is not Italy.
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HILSENRATH: The problem is they tried to create a monetary union and they never created a fiscal union.
BARTIROMO: That's right.
MCDOWELL: Because of democracy.
HILSENRATH: So then (INAUDIBLE) so you ended up with countries like Greece that got themselves way out over their skis in fiscal policy.
MCDOWELL: Anybody who - anybody who lives in Italy could have told you -- and any individual in the street could have told you that was going to be a failure, that the Italians view fiscal responsibility completely differently than the Germans do.
(CROSSTALK)
HILSENRATH: And now, their new government is going to want to break all of these fiscal hold that's -
BARTIROMO: And by the way, we're seeing strength in the German market. And the feeling is, is that assets in Italy and in London will move to Germany. Germany benefits from this week. And you are already seeing financial services companies try to take people out of the U.K. and put them in Germany.
HILSENRATH: And the United States, money flowing into the United States and the U.S. dollar. That's why we -
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MCDOWELL: And a week here of -
BARTIROMO: So, that'll be a beneficiary as well.
HILSENRATH: It's a great time if you're an American to take a trip to Italy.
BARTIROMO: Yeah.
MCDOWELL: Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: I think we need to take this show on the road. And report on the Italian banks right from (INAUDIBLE)
Coming up, president-elect's first 100 days in office. We are talking with house majority leader Kevin McCarthy, coming up, about what congress helps to accomplish, including repealing Obamacare.
Then Amazon has got a brand-new bag. The technology titan's plan to take a bite out of your grocery bills. Back in a minute. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARIA BARTIROMO, MORNINGS WITH MARIA HOST: Welcome back. Good Tuesday morning, everybody. I'm Maria Bartiromo. Thanks so much for being with us. It is Tuesday, December 6, your top stories 8:30 AM on the East Coast right now, President-elect Donald Trump, meeting with big names today to fill top positions for the country leadership, as the administration continues to take shape, Trump thanks the nation, the latest as president- elect is preparing to head to North Carolina today, for the next part of his Thank You Tour.
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UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know incredible thank you tour go back to North Carolina -- the president-elect and the vice president-elect at the same time. It's just a great way to get out with people, and president-elect loves -- getting out -- with people.
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BARTIROMO: It's a big lead up to when the president-elect takes office, next year. We're breaking down what to expect in the first 100 days, including what could be his first big split with his party trade. No lines, no cashiers, no problem, Amazon plans to overhaul the modern grocery store, we will bring it you. Really interesting what they're doing at Under Armour, steps behind the plate, the company reaching a major deal with Major League Baseball, but should investors see the move as a home run.
Markets this morning are looking fractionally higher, futures edging higher, take a look, Dow Industrial up about 18 points. We're heading to another record right out of the gate this morning, we're coming off of a record high for the Dow Jones Industrial average again, yesterday, 10 so far since the election. In Europe, markets are a little changed this morning, again some firmness as you see the FT 100 up a quarter of a percent, the CAC quarante in Paris is up two-thirds of a percent. And in Asia, overnight, mixed performances, take a look, the best performer there was Korea, the Kospi Index up 1 1/3 percent. Hansel and Gretel would have loved this one, the small business that's looking to cut the mess out of the gingerbread house, just in time for the holidays, we've got it here and we'll bring it to you.
On to politics we go, a split among the GOP congressional Republicans, struggling with the president-elect plan to impose tariffs on U.S. companies that move production offshore. Joining me right now is House majority leader, Congressman Kevin McCarthy. Congressman, good to see you, thanks so much for joining us.
KEVIN MCCARTHY, HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Good to see you.
BARTIROMO: So Republicans, like yourself, declining to endorse Trump's tweet which threatened to impose a 35 percent import tariff, talk to us about this, what do you propose instead?
MCCARTHY: Well, first we both agree that we want to create an economy where people can keep their businesses here in America. Right now our tax code pushes you overseas, repatriation the highest corporate tax rate. There's a ways to go about solving this problem, I think we all have many ideas on the table. I think you lower the tax rate, change repatriation, and also you do a boarder adjustment. That's what we do when it comes to a better way, but all ideas are out there. I just want to thank the one perspective that if we have the most competitive market in America, we won't have trade problems. Because, you know, more than 90 percent of the population lives outside America, we can now produce, and we want to make sure our products are everywhere around in a fair good manner.
BARTIROMO: I totally agree with you. And congressman, I understand the idea of making America so attractive that all companies are going to want to do business in America, and not take too many jobs overseas. But, look, you were a businessman before you entered congress, and you know that businesses have business all over the world. So should he be threatening, you know, to the tune of the 35 percent tariff, or is this just a tool that he's just throwing out there to scare companies to hope they do -- do more business in America?
MCCARTHY: I mean, I think he's sending a clear message that he wants to build the jobs here in America. Because, right now, if you're a shareholder, you look at your corporation and you'd say why are we staying in America, it's cheaper to be domiciled outside, you can't bring the money back without a high tax rate, so you've got to reform the entire tax code. And I think he's sending a message that he supports changing the tax code. That's what we have had many conversations about. And plus, so many times we've talked with Donald Trump about changing the regulatory world of America. I mean, in the last administration, they have offered more than 500 major ruling of new regulations that again pushes companies out of America.
BARTIROMO: All right. I totally understand, but this 35 percent tariff, have you spoken with Donald Trump about this?