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Be Passed This Year; Trump Hits Toyota In Tweet; Intel Hearing On Hacking;
President Obama Receives Intel Brief On Russian Hacking; Bank Stocks Drag
Down S&P, Dow; Macy's To Close Stores; Amazon Opening Bookstore; Apple Bows
To China Request; Gasparino: Key Trump Advisors Still Push To Block AT&T-
Time Warner Deal; Toyota Responds To Trump; The Queen's Close Call - Part 2>
Vaughn, Charlie Gasparino, Liz Claman>
Schiffer>
Russia; Media; Stock Markets; Economy; Business; Macys; Amazon; Apple;
Electronics; China; Time Warner; Protests; Violence; Consumer; Chuck
Schumer; Republicans; Democrats; Policies; Technology; CES; Las Vegas>
A lot of people are questioning Apple's decision to help the Chinese government sensor the internet and limit news access for seasons (ph), because less than a year ago they wouldn't help the U.S. government unlock a terrorist cell phone.
Apple refused to cooperate when Fed filed a court order to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist cellphone. At that time, Apple CEO Tim Cook pushed back calling the request government overreach and "a chilling breach of privacy that would make its users less safe"
Well, Apple's public showdown with the U.S. government last year and now their cooperation with the Chinese government this year has some in Washington questioning their motive.
Republican Senator from Arkansas Tom Cotton released a statement saying in part, "it's a sad day when a great American company becomes complicit in Communist censorship of an American newspaper. The common theme running through Apple's actions is not principle but a short term profit. And the ultimate consequence will be a future that is more closed, less prosperous, and much darker".
The New York Times is also questioning the timing of the takedown. The paper published a story six days after the app was removed from their site that exposed billions of dollars in hidden purse and subsidies, the world's biggest iPhone factory received from the Chinese government.
Now this isn't the first time Apple has kept China happy by following their rules. They removed iTunes movies and iBooks from their app store. Once the Chinese government asked them to, it was only up for about six months. Ashley.
WEBSTER: Yes. Interesting, I guess the Chinese market is more important than the principles of a free media.
All right. Hillary, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Interesting stuff.
A;; right, Time Warner shares, by the way, falling today after reports that President-Elect Donald Trump told a confident that he still opposes that mega merger, that mega deal with AT&T.
Our very own Charlie Gasparino here with the latest Intel, Charlie.
CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX BUSINESS: Well, I would say that report is probably wrong. There is no official decision yet from the Trump people. Donald Trump has said nothing about this.
But here is what we been reporting for the last couple of weeks and just to set the records straight that key Trump advisors continue to push him to block this deal to basically say no way. This was something that he opposed during the campaign.
CNN as you know is part of Time Warner. It's been a station a network that Trump believes that it was very was unfair to him during the presidential campaign. And he believed that the combination of those two would be unfair to him going forward and maybe even violated antitrust rules.
Now, here is what we know. Two key Trump advisors, at least one in-house advisor, a guy name Steve Bannon, his senior advisor, and some of those confident of Donald Trump.
NewsMax CEO Chris Ruddy continued to push Donald Trump to block this merger when he becomes president as opposed to president elect and basically for different reasons. I would say Ruddy is against it, primarily it's a business. It's a business decision. Ruddy has been at odds with AT&T to get on its system, to get his NewsMax TV on his system.
Bannon, I'm not quite sure what it is, we should put on Bannon is the CEO, on leave, I guess, from (inaudible), which may or may not start its own TV station. So, that's the interest right there.
But also, both of them believe that AT&T combining with CNN would be a liberal bulwark against a Trump administration. And they believe that would have too much power possibly to keep other more conservative leaning programming off the AT&T network.
So, what we do know is this. Trump has said nothing about this so far, for I know, he's coming out later on today could make a statement. But he said nothing right now. But his two key advisors, one in House, Steve Bannon, a very important person within the Trump team, his senior advisor, and one outside, Chris Ruddy has Donald Trump's ear.
You know, he was at Mar-a-Largo over the Christmas break with Donald Trump. Hi speaks to him regularly, I know that for a fact. And he has been pushing him to nix (ph) this deal to vote against it or to push his FCC Chief and yet the FCC not to approve it and maybe his antitrust division of the Justice Department. But that's where we are.
Now, two key advisors and that's as far as I'm going to go on this. I would say this. If you are an over charger, the guy who bets on when the deal go through or not, this one is made for you.. Because you have on one hand a more free market administration coming in, so administration that would theoretically approve this deal. And on the other hand, you have key advisors telling him don't do it. And, you know, Donald Trump seems to listen to Steve Bannon. That's --
WEBSTER: He certainly --
(CROSSTALK)
WEBSTER: I could stop. Charlie Gasparino. Appreciate it, very latest on it.
By the way, you know, Time Warner stocks has actually gain 10 percent since the election, I think, on the belief that the Republican Congress would push this thing through, but maybe not.
But, Charlie, great reporting as always. Thank you.
On to the story now, violent protest and looting breaking out in Mexico, why, gasoline prices they gone up spiked 20 percent since the government started deregulating the prices. Also eliminating fuel subsidies at least 250 stores have now being looted, more than 400 people arrested.
The price hike, by the way, makes an average gallon of gas in Mexico now equal to roughly of day's work of minimum wage. They are not happy.
The Consumer Electronic Show underway in Las Vegas right now, showing off all of the coolest gadgets and latest trends in tech, our own Liz Claman is there and she will join us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WEBSTER: The Consumer Electronic Show underway in Las Vegas. It's featuring levitating audio speakers, virtual reality sneakers, I know, yes, the world's thinnest iPhone charger. It's a gadget geek's fantasy comes true..
Let's get the very latest with our own very gadget geek Liz Claman. Liz!
LIZ CLAMAN "COUNTDOWN TO THE CLOSING BELL" HOST: My inner geek has come out. Look, I'm standing next to GoPro Speed booth here. Yeah, you know, back in the day I'm talking just two years ago. GoPro, everybody is coming over there, but guess what, if you got the action cam that's great. But what about the competitors that are coming out here that's what we're seeing this year.
Virtual reality camera, this is a company called Lucid. It does your own 3D virtual reality camera then it just connects Wi-Fi to your phone so that you can watch it, but wait a minute, it's supposed to be virtual reality, oh yeah.
Look at that Ashley, then you turn it round and you watch your own VR through this and it is pretty damn cool 399 (inaudible). I don't know if GoPro really want to see this type of competitor but that's what we see here at the Consumer Electronic Show.
This is the 50th anniversary. The crowds are absolutely huge. They are expecting a record crowd here. Two hundred government officials, I just saw Rudy Giuliani walking by, he's here to talk about cyber security. You have Congressmen, you have Senators, you have people from 158 different countries from Israel to Afghanistan.
They want to see what the consumer is going to buy. And I know you need this Ashley, the flashing speakers. Certainly everything is supposed to get smaller, speakers are getting really big.
Coming up at the top of the hour, we are all over the big news of the day. The markets, what's been going on with the Facebook situation? Twitter, there is a rumor about, of course, Jack Dorsey. What he's going to be doing that stocks (ph) on the move. And Barry Taylor (ph) is the perfect person to talk about it all.
First on Fox Business, the Media Genius and Chairman of IAC Interactive, that's a $5 billion company joins me first. And we're going to ask him about that and so much more.
There's breaking news on ESPN and Disney, he -- it is all coming together Ashley. I really feel so good that we have him for our viewers because this digital goes nuts here, it is the number one story trending today nationwide. He had (inaudible).
WEBSTER: Great stuff Liz, as always and who wouldn't want flashing speakers, I mean, everyone should have, it should be the law. Thank you very much Liz Claman, looking forward to your show at the top of the hour.
All right, the president-elect got a new nickname for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer "head clown". In a string of tweets today, Trump takes aim at the Senator and insults him, but is it a really smart move considering that the Senate will be holding cabinet confirmation hearings next week.
We got that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), U.S. PRESIDENT ELECT: Ted, "Lion Ted", I want to congratulate you. "Little Marco" would say, I think he's gone, I think he's gone, but who knows, you never know.
I heard that "Crooked Hillary Clinton" was coming to Michigan, I said, let's follow it up. Let's follow it up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEBSTER: I'm laughing but, you know, it was effective from "Lion Ted" to "Crooked Hillary", "Little Marco", now we have "head clown Schumer".
President-Elect Donald Trump creating a new nickname for the Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, in a series of tweets this week saying, "The Democrats led by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad Obamacare is and what a mess they are in." And, don't let the clown or the Schumer clowns out of this web.
Now, Schumer is responding today saying, "This is not a time for calling names," but he has all but declared war on the president-elect agenda including his cabinet picks and the nominee for the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) MINORITY LEADER: We have said that we will oppose nominees who are out of the mainstream, plain and simple. We haven't talked about hearings. We haven't talk about any of these other issues but we will oppose nominees out of the mainstream period. If it's one, if it's two, if it's three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEBSTER: Ford O'Connell and Neil Sroka are back with me. They very kindly sat around for the show are back again.
OK, I'm going to --I guess I start with Neil. I was laughing all those nicknames. They were very effective however in the primary and now he's taking aim at Chuck Schumer. What's your thoughts?
SROKA: I mean, honestly the whole thing kind of make me sad. Donald trump is going to be our president in about 15 days. And he continues to act like a "school yard bully" and not the president. The president is supposed to figure out a way to unite the American people and work to get things done.
You know, President Obama faced a United Republican Party in House, in the Senate who worked tirelessly to defeat him day after day but he didn't go around calling them names.
And yet here we got, you know, someone who's acting like a reality show T.V. star, doing exactly that. And if it's frankly, kind of sad, we deserve better than that.
WEBSTER: Well, Ford responds to that, regardless what you think he's now the president.
O'CONNELL: Well, it's obviously been very effective for Donald Trump. Notice what Neil started out with and that was an emotion. And this is exactly what Donald Trump is trying to do here.
A lot of this is "Kabuki Theater" and Chuck Schumer doesn't really know what he's tangling with. And Donald Trump, but it's going to become a messaging campaign. And by labeling Chuck Schumer the "head clown" he's going to be able to put a face on government obstruction and he's going to be able to hammer this home not unlike "Lion Ted" and "Little Marco" which prove to be very, very effective for.
(CROSSTALK)
WEBSTER: Hang on, Ford, is it becoming of the Oval Office? There is a certain amount --
O'CONNELL: Yeah.
WEBSTER: --- of respect that comes with the office.
SROKA: Yup.
O'CONNELL: Well, 10 years ago, I would have said, absolutely not. But everything else is out the window, thanks to the Obama agenda --
SROKA: Unbelievable.
O'CONNELL: -- and constantly lying. That's unfortunately the situation were in. And what Americans want is government to work for them, and they don't really care how it gets done because right now nothing is getting done in Washington.
WEBSTER: That's a good point, Neil. Go ahead.
SROKA: We got Donald Trump acting like a petulant toddler. So, if, you know, Donald Trump is going to continue to, you know, just (inaudible) people call names, I think we should call him "toddler Trump". Because, he's acting like a spoiled little brat who doesn't get what he wants and as a result -- this guy is not acting presidential or I don't think he deserves to be treated --
O'CONNELL: Neil, let me tell you something, you can say everything you want. If Donald Trump puts enough balls up in the air because Democrats are in such a weak position in the government, you guys won't know where to focus on. And he's going to wind up driving that agenda straight through.
SROKA: Agree, listen.
O'CONNELL: So, if he wants to focus on name calling, go ahead it works in Trumps --
SROKA: We, weren't focus on name calling, we're going to focus on the fact that he want to sign a bill that's (ph) going to rip health insurance away from 20 million Americans. It is going to work with Republicans to end Social Security and Medicare as we know it.
O'CONNELL: I didn't ever hear any of that on the campaign trail, none of that legit.
SROKA: Yeah, you didn't hear anything on the campaign trail, we didn't also hear there was Putin puppet (ph) and that's exactly what we're seeing in office.
O'CONNELL: How was he a Putin puppet?
(CROSSTALK)
WEBSTER: OK. Come on, Russia hacks. They hack all the time. The --
(CROSSTALK)
SROKA: Why did Russia want to give Donald Trump the election because he is going to do the --
O'CONNELL: -- yesterday that not one hack affected the vote tally here.
SROKA: Exactly.
O'CONNELL: Basically, Democrats are often the (inaudible) to this, they're grasping (inaudible) trying to find a way to fire up their base and they have absolutely nothing. And Donald Trump is smart --
SROKA: You know, Donald Trump is giving Democrats exactly what they want, a reason to fight. And we're going to fight every single day in this administration to end it.
WEBSTER: Well, he gave everything that the voters wanted. And that's why, he was elected and blaming Russia.
SROKA: And lost to her by 3 million.
WEBSTER: But his election overlooks a lot of the shortcomings of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, no doubt about that.
We're out of time. It's been very spirited and great stuff. Ford and Neil, you were great. Thank you so much.
SROKA: Thanks.
WEBSTER: I appreciate it.
O'CONNELL: Thank you Ashley.
WEBSTER: All right, Toyota just releasing a statement, by the way, in response to Donald Trump's tweet earlier today writing, "Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja Mexico to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax." That was Donald Trump's tweet. Toyota responding, "Toyota has been part of the cultural fabric in the United States for nearly 60 years. Production volume or employment in the U.S. will not decrease as a result of our new plant in Guanajuato," I believe it is Mexico, "announced April 2015."
More to come on that and we too will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WEBSTER: Sometimes even living in Buckingham Palace doesn't guarantee a good night sleep even for the Queen. A former palace guard said she almost shot Britain's Queen Elizabeth while she was taking a late-night stroll around the palace grounds.
The guard telling the British newspaper, "The Times", well, he saw someone walking around at 3:00 a.m. and thought it was an intruder. Turns out the Queen just likes to walk around when she can't sleep. When the guard confessed to her majesty that he nearly shot her she respond, "Next time I'll ring through beforehand so you don't have to shoot me."
She got a great sense of humor. There's the Queen very dry sense of humor. But thankfully, that did not happen. Imagine being the guard shooting her majesty, didn't happen.
As we head towards the top of the hour, the Dow off 67 points. Really story the financial stocks hurting today after gaining so much since the Trump election, but also today is being the story about the retailers and some sad sales numbers, especially for those iconic names, Macy, Sears, Kohl's, also hurting. Those stocks are down significantly as the power of internet shopping takes over and hurts the traditional retailers.
Liz Claman at the Consumer Electronics Show in beautiful Vegas, Liz, over to you.
END
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