Transcripts For FBC After The Bell 20170731

Into the close with the dow finishing at another brand new high. To hell with the torpedoes, full speed ahead. All major averages ending july let in green up 2 or higher for the month. Hi, everybody. What a day. Im david asman. Glad you could be here. Melissa glad you can join us, this is after the bell. On big market movers. What else were covering this very busy hour. Never a dull moment at the white house. Breaking news this afternoon, Controversial Communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, has been removed from his position after only 10 days on the job were expecting a White House Press briefing to begin at any moment. Well hear more how this came to pass. What role did general john kelly, the new white house chief of staff, play in all of this . More details on kellys first day in the office. Lets not forget there is a lot of chaos going on in venezuela with the countrys president , now assuming near absolute power. The white house is expected to respond to this as well. Were going to bring all of it to you live. David it is breaking right now. They just did respond to that. That information coming out in a moment. First back to the record day on wall street. The dow closing at brand new high for the fourth straight day. Oil is seeing best month of the year. Phil flynn watching action in commodities from the cme. We have to talk about gold as well. First, Nicole Petallides at New York Stock Exchange for more how the markets fared this month. The answer is spectacularly, right . Absolutely. Were seeing best month in a lot of months for the dow. Seeing all up air ross here across the board. Dow, nasdaq, zap have all been winners. I see Sarah Huckabee there. David i have to stop you in midsentence, nicole. So sorry. Here is sorry raw Huckabee Sanders for the white house. Discuss the administration response, maduro regime, recent antidemocratic actions in venezuela. They will make opening remarks. Take your questions on the topic at hand. As always your favorite time of day, i will come backp to take your questions. Thank you. Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thought it might be best to read the president s statement. Since President Trumps inauguration the Trump Administration has called on Venezuelas Maduro regime to respect venezuelas constitution, respect the role and authorities of the constitutionallyestablished national assembly, hold free and Fair Elections. Address the humanitarian needs of the venezuelan people. Release Political Prisoners and stop oppressing its great people. The reg boom has refused to heed this call, and its recent actions culminating in yesterdays outrageous seizure of absolute power through the sham election of the National Constituent assembly represent a very serious blow to democracy in our hemisphere. Maduro is not just a bad leader, he is now a dictator. The United States stands with the people of venezuela in the face of this oppression. We will work with our partners to hold accountable all of those responsible for the escalating violence and on going human rights violations. The president promised strong and swift actions if the regime went forward with imposing the National Constituent assembly on the venezuelan people and he will keep that promise. Secretary mnuchin. Thank you, general. Today the United States is broadening its effort to address the ongoing assault on venezuelas Democratic Institutions by the ma during he row regime. Maduro regime. Treasury offers of asset control, ofac, sanctioned the president of venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. As a result of todays sanctions, all assets of maduro subject to u. S. Jurisdiction are frozen. U. S. Persons are prohibited from dealing with him. As President Trump said earlier this month, the strong and courageous actions by the venezuelan people to stand for democracy, freedom, and the rule of law have been continually ignored by Nicolas Maduro who dreams of becoming a dictator. Yesterdays illegitimate elections confirm that maduro is a dictator who disregards the will of the venezuelan people. The National Constituent assembly aspires illegitimately to usurp the constitutional role of democratically elected national assembly, rewrite the constitution, and impose an authoritarian regime on the people. As such, it represents rupture in venezuelas constitutional and democratic order. By sanctioning maduro the United States makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime and the support for the people of venezuela who strife to return their country to a full you and prosperous democracy. As the countrys head of state maduro is directly responsible for venezuelas descent and for the destruction of democracy. Adding maduro to ofacs list of especially designated national reflects our commitment to not stand by idly as venezuela continues to crumble under the regimes a abuses. We hope that these sanctions will make all maduro regime officials reconsider how their actions have affected theyre country. These actions highlight the high cost and personal enablers of this regime could face in they continue their reckless and undemocrattic activities. Anyone who participates in this illegitimate anc could be exposed to future u. S. Sanctions for their role in undermining democratic process and institutions in venezuela. Well take a few questions. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. If these sanctions dont work what would the next step be . General mcmaster, the next question to you, have we ruled out or anything on the table other than economic sanctions . Let me say, i said this generally, we very much believe that sanctions do work and we will continue to monitor the situation and consider additional sanctions. To general mcmaster . The president s prioritized his concern for the venezuelan people. So he is only considering those options which would benefit directly the venezuelan people. Mr. Secretary. Thank you very much. How many times has ofac sanction ad head of state before and does maduro have any assets in the u. S. . I cant comment on his assets and this will be the fourth head of state. Mr. Secretary . In the back. I have two questions. One about the sanctions and election yesterday. On elections do you elections an of the by maduro to consolidate power and in some state, that is their position and also Washington Post Editorial Board the venezuela january regime is in the direction after coup, moving in the direction of a coup. Does the American Government fear there is coup underway in venezuela. Next question on sanctions. What were seeing in venezuela is not a coup. What were seeing is brutal oppression of the venezuelan people. It is clear if you contrast turnout from opposition referendum to the very low numbers of the turnout during this farce associated with the constituent assembly, i think what you see true desires of the venezuelan people are. Can i go back . Yes. Thank you, sir. This is for either or both of you. How is this different from what happened in turkey when president erdogan also seized expanded powers in referendum that some considered to have questionable result . You know, President Trump congratulated president erdogan on that and he later came to the u. S. And his people beat protesters in front of his embassy. What is the difference . One difference, you see the end of the constitution of venezuela. This is happening obviously in accelerated pace in recent months in the maduro regime. This is a process that has taken two regimes to really restrict venezuelan democracy. By designating, designating maduro himself he joins very exclusive club including mr. Mogavi, Bashar Alassad and kim jongun in terms of brutal repression of his people and in this case the abrogation of the constitution with the, with the assembly, constituent assembly. Right here, yes. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Does the administration contemplating any action at the u. N. Security council in terms of multilateral sanctions against the maduro regime . Again i think as we said before, this president is not going to advertise what he is going to do in the future. So all options are on the table and we will consider everything. Any other allies of u. S. Considering punishing the maduro regime, general, can you please answer that. Im sorry, what was the question . Have you spoken to any other American Allies about the issue of punishing you have seen the president s statement. Well continue to work with our partners in the region. Many leaders taken very Important Role in this chemicals with trying to engage maduro to get him to moderate his behavior, to get him to protect rights of his people. As you know the organization of american states has tried very hard in this area as well. And so the president is committed to working with partners in the region on behalf of the venezuelan people. We had several countries last week join us in our previous sanctions. Yes, right here. What conversations, mr. Secretary, have you had, administration had, the president had with president maduro or senior level at venezuela . Do you expect the conversations to happen next 24, 48 hours. I think well not comment on that . Thank you, sir. You had said, pardon me, president promised strong and swift economic sanctions. This is not really economic. This is more individual. Will the president carry out strong and swift economic sanctions . Again, we had a series of sanctions last week. This is additional sanction today. We dont comment on future sanctions but we will continue to monitor the situation and determine what is appropriate. Right here . There was talk of maybe making changes in terms of our export of Light Crude Oil to venezuela or curbing imports from venezuela. Is that something that could hurt the venezuelan people . As with continue to monitor the situation monitor our options. We will not continue to hurt the people of venezuela but well monitor would sanctions against oil hurt i will not comment on that. I will monitor all of our options. Thank you, mr. Secretary. 16 years ago secretary powell signed an agreement in south america in which the u. S. Completely who would have indirect change of government throughout latin america and supported direct succession. This occurred in haiti when president aristad was overthrown. Are you still abiding by the agreement secretary powell signed ruling out any u. S. Support of a coup or an uprising against the maduro regime that brings in new leadership . Again, im just going to comment on, were focused on the democratic process and that is what were focused on right now. One more question, right here, one more question. Are there going to be sanctions on the minister of defense people linked to the military . Again as i have said, weve announced sanctions. We will continue to monitor the situation and consider everything in the future. Thank you, everybody, appreciate it. [shouting questions] you guys wasted all your questions on the sail one over and over. Just kidding. Tough crowd today. I know its a little late. Were used to doing the briefing. I have a few update before i get to your questions. I wanted to make sure you all were aware the first lady announced she will lead the United States delegation in more than 90 american athletes participating in the Invictus Games in toronto this september. There is no better representative of the United States than the first lady and he is very proud to have her lead the team to support these american athletes. The first lady is looking forward to her first Solo International trip. Her office is available to answer any questions you may have. As you know the Vice President is overseas on a threecountry visit to eastern europe. He spent the last few days in estonia attending meetings and speaking to multinational troops participating in the natoenhanced forward presence meggs where he recognized estonia as one of only five natomemberstates that meets its defense spending obligations. Earlier today the Vice President and second lady arrived in georgia where they attended a dinner hosted by the prime minister. As the Vice President continue its to strengthen our relationships with our friends and allies in europe during his travels here at home the departments of commerce and energy welcomed news of partnership between American Energy and government of ukraine. You ukraines stateowned Power Generation company will purchase american thermal coal ahead of upcoming winter season. That partnership will provide ukraine with secure, reliable, competitive alternative Energy Source helping to stablize Energy Supply historically been at the mercy of the countrys volatile neighbors. This announcement will boost our own economy, supporting jobs in the coal and Transportation Industries as the Trump Administration continues to move our country down the path of energy dominance, we hope to see more mutually beneficial partnerships like these in the future. Lastly, we all saw the ceremony that ended in the east room. Specialist 5 was in the six afterwards i think his heroic story bears repeating. 48 close harrowing hours fighting in vietnam voluntarily risked his life multiple times to help his comrades. Even after shrapnel from rocket propelled grenade slashed his body hand to foot, he helped his soldiers and carrying one to safety on his badly injured act. The president was honored to award him with the medal of honor today, officially adding his name to the list of american heroes who will stand forever in our history for their bravery and unbreakable spirit. With that i will take your questions. Sarah . Sarah, what happened . How long will you yell . Jim, go ahead. Is Anthony Scaramucci still in the administration . Does i have another role besides Communications Director . Can you talk a little bit about the circumstances of his departure this morning . Sure. He does not have a role at this time in the Trump Administration we put out a statement earlier announcing that. I dont have muchs to add. [inaudible] not at this time. Did general kelly ask him to leave or president ask him to leave . Did he volunteer his resignation . How did that come about . I will not get into the process ticktock. As weve said several times before, what matters most to it us is not who is employed in the white house but who is he employed in the rest of the country. Were focused on president s agenda growing the economy, creating jobs and that is what were going to do. That is well be focused on. John . Sarah, was it a chain of command issue . Scaramucci said he had a direct line of communication to the president. There has been some speculation that general kelly may try to tighten up the number of inputs that the president has. So was sitting about the chain of command or did it have anything to do with the interview scaramucci did last week . Look the president certainly felt that anthonys comments were inappropriate for a person in that position. And he didnt want to burden general kelly also with that line of succession. As i think we have made clear a few times over the course of the last couple of days to several of you individually but general kelly has the full authority to operate within the white house and all staff will report to him. When you say he didnt want to burden him with the line of succession you mean chain of command . Yes, correct. Could clarify one point about this chain of command. Apparently jared kushner, ivanka trump look forward to following general kellys lead. When it comes to people with access to the president will that conduit be narrowed down . Will everything flow you through kelly or some things flow through the chief staffs office . President given full authority to general kelly. He will make the determinations. April. This Statement Released by the white house says mr. Scaramucci felt that it was best to give chief of staff john kelly a clean slate and ability to build his own team but you just said the president felt that his comments were inappropriate. I dont see those being mutually exclusive. I think anthony wants general kelly to be able to operate fully with clean slate, build his own team while at the same time the president felt his comment were inappropriate. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. Follow with the new hierarchy with general kelly. Tell us what it looks like in the administration . As we laid out, general kelly i think will bring new structure to the white house and discipline and strength and were all really excited to work with him. In terms of i will not draw a chart up here but well keep you guys posted. Will steve bannon, kellyanne, everyone reporting to him, going straight to the president with issues . Does every special assistant goes to general kelly first. I have been clear general kelly has the full authority to carry out business as he sees fit. John decker. Real quick one, real quick line regards sean spicer. Will he be in the administration in any way now that Anthony Scaramucci has announced he will be not be a part of Trump Administration. Im not aware of any changes that have been made on that front. My second one is this 10 days ago Anthony Scaramucci was introduced as the new white house Communications Director. Ten days later he is out of a job. The president announced on twitter that there is no chaos at the white house. How would you describe what has happened over the course of the past 10 days . Obviously you will agree with your boss, the president that there is no chaos but how do you explain that not to be the case . I think it is pretty simple. I said it before. If you want to see chaos come to my house with three preschoolers. This doesnt hold a candle to that. Just to be clear that is not open invitation to come to my husband. If you guys want to schedule babysitting time i will be happy to work that out. Does the president regret hiring Anthony Scaramucci . I will not get into anything beyond what i said on that front. You said you dont want to get into the process but you already did. The statement said scaramucci felt. Youre basically laying it on him. Youre saying it was his decision. Was it his decision . I think ive been pretty clear that the president felt it was inappropriate. Both anthony and general kelly also i think came to a mutual agreement and were moving forward to focus on jobs outside of this building. Not within it. Two questions. One on this, a different topic. Just to clarify because i want to make sure i understand the word he, who you referred to a minute ago, he didnt want to burden general kelly also with the line of succession. The he the president. That is the president. So you were saying it is the president who is deciding that look we all serve at pleasure of the president. This was mutuallyagreed conversation that took place between several people. Steven . Sorry. Another topic. On russia and russian sanctions do you know whether the president has or intends to sign the russian sanctions bill . Why hasnt the president taken opportunity he had today, several public opportunities to Say Something in response to Vladmir Putins retaliation with the 755 diplomats . So, we put out a statement over the weekend stating the president s intent to sign. And well let you know when that takes place. Do you have a date . Again well let you know when that is going to happen. In terms of your second question, the followup was, im sorry . Why hasnt he had taken opportunity to sy something forceful to the president putin . Some folks are saying striking silence from the president with no sort of response out of his own mouth. He had a couple of opportunity today to Say Something about it and he didnt . Were reviewing our options. When we have something to say well not beat a dead horse. Go back to aprils question that is our favorite thing to do. Does all the staff does that include jared kushner, steve bannon, everyone reports to kelly . That includes everybody at the white house. I want to ask about tax reform. Will the administration absolutely support version of tax overhaul comes out of the ways and Means Committee . Were working handinglove, we put out a joint statement with the big six. Well continue working with them and announce details as they come forward. Francesca. Thank you, sarah. When sean spicer resigned [inaudible]. Now Anthony Scaramucci resigned, a clean slate. Has the slate been totally cleaned at this point . Should we expect anymore staff shakeups . Everybody else in senior staff positions remaining at this time . Yes, they are. John gizzy. Thank you, sarah. Any two brief questions, is there any chance you will leave the job of Communications Director alone having had two people held it leave rather abruptly in both cases . Well let you know when we have any Personnel Announcements to make on that front . The other thing i wanted to ask, when the president made his speech to Police Officers on friday, almost within minutes statements came from Police Chiefs across the country criticizing his remarks that seemed to endorse the use of force by police in search and arrests. Was the president joking when he said this or did he check his remarks out with the International Association of Police Chiefs or maybe the attorney general . You i believe he was making a joke at the time. Trey. To be clear, because the statement said that Anthony Scaramucci is no longer with the administration, was scaramucci fired by the president or was he asked to resign . Again im not going to get into anything what i have already said on that. Follow up from the president s perspective it, you said this was a back and forth conversation. Can you take us through a little bit what the president is looking for in the Communications Shop . Why he mute make the decision to make a clean slate . I think he wants to work with general kelly in Communications Team that intact right now and determine thes about course forward at this point. On the attorney general sessions is being considered for whom land security chief accurate . How soon will that search be complete. How essential for the white house to fill that in a quick manner . There are no conversations about any cabinet members moving in any capacity. The president has 100 confidence in all members of his cabinet. Two questions for you. One on the scaramucci issue. You said the president found his remarks obviously the president is not stranger to salty language. Can you specify what exactly he found inappropriate or disturbing . Found inappropriate for person in that position . To do what . I believe the comments that he made he found those comments inappropriate. Im not sure what is unclear. Betrayal in terms of rest of the staff, trying to find out, talk about messaging being important for the president here and head of Communications Department is crucial effort. Just trying to figure out what exactly went wrong this morning when mr. Scaramucci was here and this afternoon . I dont think that it is complicated to understand the president felt the comments were inappropriate. I cant really explain it any further than that. Im not sure what youre looking for . Obviously over the weekend events unfolded. There is discussion about [inaudible]. Speculating about the possibility of a first strike. Is that option on the table for the white house . As we said many times before the president will not broadcast any positions but all options are on the table. Peter. Thank you, sarah. President s week before last signed an executive order on infrastructure. Does that mean that the president has no, no intention but is not going to prioritize working with congress on infrastructure bill . Is there any discussion at this point of moving forward on any sort of legislative plans for infrastructure especially digitals since absolutely. The president has been very outspoken for need of massive overhaul to the countrys infrastructure system. That certainly still a priority both legislative in any capacity he has ability to carry that out. Matthew. Thank you, sarah. Big picture here. We have seen a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, handful of Communications Director, press secretary, National Security advisor all leave in the First Six Months of this administration. Can you tell us a little bit about why there has been all this turbulence . I know you dont like to get into the process, but just all those things together, what is going on here . Look, were continuing to focus on the president s agenda. Well have staff changes. We let you nice know when they happen. Like i said happens what matters to us not jobs within this building but ones outside of theirs. Why the president is so focused on growing jobs. Over a million new jobs since he took office. Lowest unemployment last 16 years. Consumer confidence is at an alltime high. Were focused on creating a Strong Economy and growing jobs outside of this building, not focused on ones within. Well continue to do that. If i may, quick followup on health care. Mick mulvaney said the white house doesnt want any votes in the senate until theyre voting on health care with john mccain out, out of the country with pence, dont appear likely to vote on health care. Youre pushing for confirmation of nominees. Is it White House Position they will accept Senate Voting on nonhealth care things over next few weeks and months . Were continuing to push forward hopefully with the repeal and replacement of obamacare. Weve never been shy about that well continue to do that. Alexis. Alexis. President s legislative Affairs Director was talking today at the museum about president s tax reform, i want to ask if you can elaborate on the president s hope to travel in august to begin to talk about tax cuts and tax reform, interest in maybe getting some Democratic Senators interested in supporting legislation. Do you have any details you can supply where he might go and message he wants to impart . Not at this time but certainly well make sure we keep you guys posted on the president s travel throughout august. Hopes to have a large amount of support for tax reform. It is something vital to our economy. Something certainly the administration is very focused on has been. Will continue working with both house and senate as well as members of the administration. Cutting a a little close on time. Thank you very much. Guys. Was the president joking about david there you go. There were a lot ofances there. First of all, very specific questioning and briefing from the treasury secretary and general mcmaster about the situation in venezuela. It is getting to be a crisis situation. Theyre doing all they can economically to tighten the grip around an administration in venezuela that has just stepped over the line into dictatorship from what was a very strained democracy to dictatorship. As such this Administration Says they will not let that stand. At least those in power will no longer have accessfunds they have in the United States or our allies. Getting on to juicy stuff. Melissa immediately the press conference turned to the case of Anthony Scaramucci who left after 10 days on the job. Of course reporters there wanting to drill down on the specifics of that departure, what happens from there. Lets bring in bret baier. Set special report host with us now. What did you make of that . They sure did ask the same question over and over. Good afternoon, david and melissa. I think, what i took from it is reading between the lines, not so many words. One, this is general john kelly empowered. Instituting a gatekeeper mentality. People are going to according to Sarah Huckabee sanders report to john kelly as chief of staff. If that is to happen, the president has given him this power. In that role, he has decided that Anthony Scaramucci can not be white house Communications Director. I think the reason they were asking so many times is because the statement said that scaramucci had come to the conclusion that he wanted to step aside. Well that doesnt seem to line up, the statement doesnt line up with the president was upset with his interview with the new york are and that the new yorker and general john kelly said this will not pass. Eventually we got to the truth there in that press conference. Melissa it did seem to be pretty plain by the end that general kelly is, is in charge. That was the question this morning as took over, is everyone going to report to him including jared kushner. All those questions came out. As it settled said yes, he is 100 in charge of everyone. That is the biggest question going in would he be empowered to do that. If that is the case, that is a big change in this white house. It was by all accounts on inside a free flowing operation. Ivanka trump, jared kushner, number of other people had access to the oval office at all times no matter what the meeting was. This president liked to talk to a lot of different people on the phone. Inputs coming in were in the words of some outsiders chaotic. That is not how they characterized it on the inside. The man hired as white house Communications Director 10 days ago is gone. Melissa is this possible reaction to Anthony Scaramucci and interview he did, obviously that is number one, also what happened with health care, and the idea overall someone needs to get in charge and create order . I think so. I think that is the purpose of john kelly is to have order, structure, a system. It is also possibly a comforting thing a war hardened general alongside when the world is tough spot around the world, hot spots around the world flaring up. I think that is a comfort to this president. Definitely a comfort to the defense secretary and secretary of state who had concerns about the way the white house was operating. So i do think the scaramucci part of this equation was a flash in the pan. And as exciting those 10 days were, his official start date was august 15th. He never made it to the official start of his time. Melissa interesting for us on the business side to see Tax Implications in terms of sale of his business. If you go to work for the white house you dont have to pay the same tax on that. I dont know, this is business channel. Were interested in that kind of stuff. Yeah. Melissa there were people criticizing on social media, with all the things we have going on right now the press conference started with that very serious situation and americas response and administration if of this the same stance to other countries oppressing their people but quickly turned to this other issue i guess in many ways sets the stage. What are your thoughts on that . There are so many big things going on. It is like drinking from a fire hose here in washington to determine what it most important daytoday process in the white house is attractive forepeople covering washington. There are a lot of things happening around the world. In america, the tax reform will be key issue. The white house is trying to get itself in order for a bigrollout to make that happen. Melissa bret, thank you so much. David. David so what could be more important than all of this . How about thermonuclear war . Melissa right. David fallout from north koreas latest provocations. How far kim jongun claims its missiles can go and if it can reach the u. S. Mainland. Fourstar general jack keen is here to it weigh in how america should respond. That is next. Hold on dad. Liberty did what . Yeah, Liberty Mutual 24hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Poallergies . Reather. Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Take that. A breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than allergy medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. Breathe right. One laugh, and hello so i tried always discreet. I didnt think protection this thin could work. But the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. Snap so its out of sight. And out of mind. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. David white house reiterating once again in todays press briefing all options are on the table dealing with north korea. Fox news military analyst, retired army fourstar army general jack keane joining us now. General, good to see you. I have to ask but the news what the new chief of staff, general kelly, has done and what that portends for the future. What are your thoughts . Well i think, clearly what he is going to bring to the table, im sure he had this conversation with the president , the principle job of that chief of staff is to drive and coordinate the president s agenda, not just with people inside the white house who will be working for him but with all of his cabinet and with the congress of the United States. That is why this is the toughest job in government. And the fact kelly gave up being head of a department where he is the principle, where he has a chief of staff, and where the agenda is around him and his schedule, now he is working an eightday week in a sevenday week. That is incredible what he has taken on himself. This is usually a job for a much younger man but this man is in very good physical condition. David yes he is. He has right attitude and he will bring a lot to this job. David he is former marine, i hasten to add, general. I know youre supportive of the marine corps as well. But he also will have to deal with very important military matters. To what extent will problems dealing with north korea and problems outlined with venezuela, how will the chief of staff play into that role, now that he has a general, a marine corps general in that position . Well, he will largely play at everything that is on the president s agenda. Certainly foreign policy, National Security, issues like north korea and iran, what were dealing with venezuela, certainly he will have his viewpoints on all of that. He will help to shape outcomes as a chief of staff does. David yeah. Its a wonderful appointment. I think the president has made, and i take my hat off to the general. David particularly at this time in history. I dont think well ever have a chief of staff with as much influence and direct knowledge of warfare that general kelly has. This is a big bonus. I want to ask you a specific question about north korea. They are now, china is now complaining about u. S. Aggression because of the fact were mounting these antiMissile Defenses in places like south korea and japan. Tell me what is aggressive about strengthening defenses against attack . Defense and offense are two Different Things but not according to china. I mean that is the height of hypocrisy where their closest ally in the region is indeed north korea and north korea is trying to nuclearize icbms and threatening our allies in the region. That is about as offensive as you can possibly get and what were doing is Missile Defense and practicing it so if such and he event were to occur we would have the capability to bring it down certainly and that is defensive. David forgive me interrupting, general, we only have 30 seconds. Do we have to do more than beef up defenses in places like south korea . Since they have a icbm that has missiles that could hit targets in mainland u. S. A dont we have to take offensive action . I agree what theyre doing. They will put on fast forward, as much isolation and sanction. I believe they will have to get very tough with china to get help on this. That is a reasonable approach to take. We are running out of time. So urgency here is certainly a factor in this. David yeah. Certainly other options down the road with limited military options and the rest. Im sure they have all of that on the table. For time being, right course of action by the administration in my view. David general jack keane, wonderful to see you. Thank you very much. Good talking to you, david. Melissa violence continuing in venezuela amid political unrest. The u. S. Is taking strong action against their flawed government. The fallout is next. Ad the shooting, burning of diabetic nerve pain these feet. Liked to style my dog as a kid. And were pumped to open my own salon. But i couldnt bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. So i talked to my doctor and she prescribed lyrica. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. Common side effects dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs, and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. Now i have less diabetic nerve pain. Ask your doctor about lyrica. Potsc in unison drive russ, leland, gary yes. Gary i have a ford f150. Michael ive always been a ford guy. Potsch then i have a real treat for you today. Michael awesome. Potsch im going to show you a next generation pickup. Michael lets do this. Potsch this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. Gary super cool. Potsch the bed is made of highstrength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. Jim aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. Potsch and best of all, this new truck is actually gary all laughing oh my. Potsch the current chevy silverado. Gary im speechless. Gary this puts my ford truck to shame. James ill tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. laughing when youre clocking out. Sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. There. I can also help with this. Does your bed do that . Oh. I dont actually talk. Though im smart enough to. Im the new sleep number 360 smart bed. Lets meet at a sleep number store. David chaos in venezuela. Secretary mnuchin announcing sanctions against president Nicolas Maduro as well as all of his assets in the u. S. All assets of maduro subject to u. S. Jurisdiction are frozen. U. S. Persons are prohibited from dealing with him. David maduro is not just a bad leader. He is now a dictator. David here now is stuart holiday, former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations and ceo of meridian international. Senator ambassador, will this have any effect changing that regime . I think it is the opening salvo in an effort to change the regime. We have long history in venezuela and latin america. We have to be very careful to try to force maduro into a position, into a box but without alienating the people. What we called for free and Fair Elections and the stick that is looming over maduro would be any sort of sanctions to the energy sector. David what we are trying to do clearly is to prevent another cuba but to certain extent venezuela already is another cuba. And it started before maduro when chavez was in power. Back in 2005 the cubans actually took over the Venezuela Office responsible for issuing passports and Identity Cards which are very important for a whole range of things. So the cubans really control a good part of that society already. That went both ways of course. Chavez propping up the castro regime with energy supplies. It is true that it is looking more and more like repress sieve castrostyle regime and i think the next few days will be very critical to see how the people of venezuela react because in effect there has been a, a coup by very small minority of people, 85 of the venezuelan people do not want this constituent assembly. They have to take action. David it is civil war or close to it. The fact we dont want to do a lot of nationbuilding. We had bad experience there with that. On other hand we have a strong opposition there. We just empower them rather than go in to do something, right . Thats right. There will be nothing good to come of United States taking too front of a role in that situation given historical framework that exists there and the independence of the country. We tried that in 2002. I think again threat of escalating energy sanctions potentially, powering the opposition will be the way to go. David ambassador stuart holiday. Great to see you, ambassador, thank you very much. Thank you. David another shakeup at white house. Controversial Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is out as new chief of staff john kelly takes over as chief of staff. How does the white house go on from there . Our panel weighs in next. We check our phones 85 times a day. So it only made sense to create a network that keeps up. Introducing xfinity mobile. It combines americas largest, most reliable 4g lte with the most wifi hotspots nationwide. Saving you money wherever you check your phone. Yeah, even there. See how much you can save when you choose by the gig or unlimited. Call, or go to xfinitymobile. Com. Xfinity mobile. Its a new kind of network designed to save you money. Your insurance on time. Tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. Melissa general is in and the mooch is out. President certainly felt that anthonys comments were inappropriate for a person in that position. And he didnt want to burden general kelly also with that line of succession. Melissa here now is noel nikpour, gop finance fundraiser and former Obama Campaign director. It was in and out. When your white house starts to define the narrative of the entire white house, i think it is time to make a change, whether it was anthony deciding that he needed to do it for the betterment of the country or it was a mutual decision. However, it was made, im sad about it, because mooch is a great guy. If you know him he has a big heart. It was unfortunate what he said, but it was very distracting. He has a lot of personal things. He has business going on. That was bought. I dont even i think that was closed yet. Then he has got some personal things. So you know, maybe this is some time for him to focus on his own stuff and instead of this. It is sad. Melissa robin, you could say it is chaos as some are saying or you could say it is decisive, something happened, they made a decision. They put a general in charge, boom. Exactly. You know, general kelly took the oath today around lunchtime if im not mistaken. Honestly he was tired of the funny business. He was going to clean house but i think americans will be slightly less relieved when Sarah Huckabee sanders said this is slightly less chaotic than a room full of preschoolers. I dont think they will find comfort in that. Melissa we might get bored soon, noelle. For us on the sidelines there is no shortage of things to talk about. God forbid the whole thing is orderly, under control, starts running smoothly, all trains on time, what would we do with ourselves . One of the things i wondered when kelly took the position, was the fact that did he take this position with conditions or did he take the position without conditions . This is a big deal. Because if he negotiated the position with, conditions, that means that he wanted to do some reorganization, reorganizing before he got there. Melissa robin, you have to respect him for many reasons but one of them would be that he had a job that he was doing successfully. He was head of an entire group. He had a huge position and staff reporting to him. It was going very well. He gave that up to take over the other position that looks like a nightmare from the outside but he must have felt that was his duty to his country. What a guy. I feel you there. But i called this on friday when i was sitting in the chair that i think that he was spotlighting and he let this run away with him. I understand that he, his wife had a baby melissa no, no i meant general kelly is the one that was in charge. General kelly, im sorry. Melissa yes, trust me. Im saying general kelly was in charge of something enormous where he had a lot of people going successfully. I should have been more specific. He gave that up to dom over to the white house which is a little nutty right now. That is a huge responsibility . I honestly think he is the man for the job. He is consummate professional. As you see today he is cleaning house. Melissa yeah. Needs to be done. Melissa there you go. Guys, thanks to both of you. Appreciate your time. Glad we cleared that up. David that is from a democrat too. Giving the general some credit. Moment of gratitude for heroes who serve this country and how in my humble opinion their ranks are being improved. Uses unique Mistpro Technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. Most allergy pills only block one. And 6 is greater than one. Rethink your allergy relief. Flonase sensimist. Excuse me, are you aware of whats happening right now . Were facing 20 billion security events every day. Ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks. Actually, we just handled all the priority threats. You did that . We did that. Really. We analyzed millions of articles and reports. We can identify threats 50 faster. You can do that . We can do that. Then do that. Can we do that . We can do that. Hey, im the internet melissa congratulations. David i am a proud father. My son is promoted to master sergeant. Theres his mother and on a day we see so clearly how decisively marines act to solve problems. My son follows in the tradition. Melissa thats wonderful. Congratulations. David thank you. Melissa risk and reward starts now. Liz day one for general john kelly as the new white house chief of staff and on the generals first day Anthony Scaramucci gone. Out from his post as Communications Director less than two weeks on the job. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders just commenting moments ago. Look, the president certainly felt that anthonys comment were inappropriate for a person in that position. And he didnt want to burden general kelly also with that line of concession, as i think weve made clear a few times over the course of the last couple of days for these individu