322 points. Down one and half percent. Also the same story. Its down more than 2 . They were treating from tweeting from record highs. It can all get bogged down following the revelation of a memo. It has claimed that that memo shows President Trump asking comay to take it easy. We have it covered from every angle. And Richard Goodstein they will tell us what all this means for the trump administration. We are less than an hour to the closing bell. I am Ashley Webster in for liz claman. Lets start the countdown. After weeks of ignoring every sign of trouble. They are suddenly selling off amid evidence. A damaging allegation that could derail the white houses policy agenda. You can see the losses piling up. Down as much as 354 points. Still on track for the worst day since the election. Its down 327 as we say the s p down. Down two and a quarter percent. The fear gauge which have been hovering at the lowest levels in a century so much for that. Now 1420 about 300 today. Maybe some of that is washed away. The sector which is being one of the top performers since donald trump was elected to date one today one of the biggest losers. The largest like on the tao. Jp morgan up nearly 400 percent. Think of bank of america down about 50. One of the few bright spots today is target among all of this. Target up one and a third . They are beating earnings expectations into raising the profit forecast for the year a bright spot today. Lets take a life look at airport air force one. At the Coast Guard Academy these as news breaking the president will be meeting with full for potential candidates. This unfolding as present trump faces an alleged bombshell. The president ask the former fbi director back in february to end the federal investigation into the former National Security advisor. It not only sparks questions about whether they try to obstruct the Justice System by adding to the pylon effects. With the latest meeting with the russian diplomats. Blake burman is a big busy guy these days. In two big pieces of news from the White House Press secretary. As he just briefed reporters. Coming to the white house here within minutes we believe meeting with the present trump throughout the afternoon will be for candidates to become the next director of the fbi. Among the top of the list the current acting mitt director andrew mccabe. Also on that list Joe Lieberman the former Democratic Center turned in the pendant who was once chairing the Homeland Security committee. The former governor of oklahoma and richard mcfeely. Those before meeting with the president interviewing with him the other bit of news from the press secretary they continue to stand by their claim that the initial reporting from the New York Times as a way may or may not have been said between present trump and james comey it is not an accurate representation is the way that he put it. He said repeatedly whether there were any recordings of that conversation and whether or not there was any evidence and he would not confirm or deny any of that. He was sticking by the Administration Line that they put out last night. The president himself his yet to directly weigh in on this topic he did speak to graduates of the u. S. Coast Guard Academy earlier this afternoon and talked about the need to fight back when you feel as if youre being treated unfairly. Here was a peasant as he took a shot at the media earlier today. Look at the way i had been treated lately. Especially by the media. No politician in history and i say this with great surety has been treated worse or more unfairly. You cant let them get you down. You cant let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. The Senate Intelligence committee wants james comey to testify they have officially asked them to do so in private and a public he would like him to testify as early as next wednesday. If that were to happen would happen speemac dab in the middle of the president s foreign trip. Thank you for that recap. The controversy surrounding the white house right now. The healthcare they must now compete for attention. Possible intelligence investigations. We are doing now at the latest inside of the chambers. Senator, thank you for joining us. That lets just get to the story right now. They were blaming the media scene he was treated the worst of any president in history. What is your take on the james comey memo and how it is being handled. Its causing part of the problem. Most certainly the media is out here and its gonna take any advantage for controversy. We are still trying to do the work on Health Healthcare issues and tax reform. Were talking about how we are going to be able to make the changes within. It is a big challenge with a lot of work ahead of us. We are focusing on that. All of the attention right now is on the white house. As you can see from the markets. The fear is that the controversies come out washington in that very progress. The deep regulation and if a structure built all of that aims to be pushed to the back burner. Can you tell me that thats not true and that there is work going on behind the scenes to get those issues up there voted on and put in place. We continue to focus on healthcare in tax reform there are committees his focus is going onn the white house. They will both had extra work to do that will take their time. The regard to the senate itself. There is an ongoing effort right now to bring 52 republican senators together in order to make the changes in healthcare which is pretty needed right now. We recognize it will be an ongoing issue and its not something we will get done in a couple of weeks. If we start now and stay consistent with it will have a big Program Available that i think a lot of people in america are going to look at and say thank goodness. I think we all look forward to that. As you go about a lot of work and completed work that youre having to deal with all of this noise coming out. The involvement of the russians and so on. Its consistent. Its every day. You can wonder whats in a pop next. And youre doing your best to respect the office of the presidency. They also do your best to be honest with the american public. You want to be of the share that fact. We are trying to do the job that is independent with the body of government would do. Oversight were necessary. The Ongoing Operations of state government. All the way until october of this year its something we sometime have a sometimes have a problem doing. We are getting our work done at the same time everything that were talking about in the press most of it has to do with whats going on in the white house right now. We will get a reporter that says lets talk a littleit about healthcare. There is a lot of work to be done. They maybe had the help of coast guard grads. As a trump agenda gets swamped. We will take it with our expert traders. Its all next on count on. You always pay 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 509 on auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. Present trump arising. After getting the commencement speech. He will be getting on board marine one heading back to the white house. It will be talking with some of those candidates for fbi director. He goes from the graduation for the coast guard back to the white house. As new political motion hits. They are seeking safety today take a look at gold. They close up 1. 8 also the sixday in a low in around. Also making big incident after the u. S. Energy regulation felt by 1. 8 Million Barrels last week. All settling and just about 45 per barrel. On the other side of the coin is not fearing so well they are now down for the fifth straight day. This is all indicate the ball run is coming to an end. We traders for you at the New York Stock Exchange. Lets get straight there. The markets are being very resilient to all of the noise and going on. Why today. We had been dealing with a lot. Weve been very patient waiting for some kind of tax reform. Finally with the news. Everyone pretty much said this could amount to something a little bigger than you scene. Thats what traders are watcng today. The s p is now at 2362. Some of the fluffy composure has changed. The knockout the momentum players. Do they turn into a 57 or ten. The past few weeks sitting in some of those headlines. A correction by any means. Where do we go from here given whats happening in washington . What i think the market told you. With all of the indices. It lost some of the momentum. They can very much could very much stop the press conferences. Not loyalty. Its not going to correct 12 or three. It will be back into the bull market. Can you do that becomes the big question. The trading top in place. Each time the market is broken you start saying and thats it. Dont count it now just yet. We had been talking about oil one of the few things going higher today. Where does it all go from here do you think . I think hard to tell. It goes in relation to the dollar index. The purchase for the defense. I couldnt take the meeting in the Oil Production in the u. S. They will ask about the price lines. They met with all of the big oil producers. There were no agreements. And remember russia has a big hand in this now. I dont know if it will hold. I kind of doubt it. Scott, thanks for taking time to join us on the sellout of the day. Despite a billiondoar lawsuit by the feds. s up. Leading in a tough day. Looking for a new hero. He is open to selling the company for hundred dollars per share. They are up at nearly 10 this year. Up another 5 . The biggest move in the s p 500. Is the strip the hard action on the street today. Absolutely singeing hot because you have the former Federal Reserve chief. There is a lot going on with hedge funds. Live from las vegas. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you making every stay a special stay. Holiday inn, smiles ahead. Whether for big meetings or little getaways, member always save more at holidayinn. Com bring you more ways to helps reduce calories from sugar. With more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all, smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels, and signs reminding everyone to think balance before choosing their beverages. We know you care about reducing the sugar in your familys diet, and were working to support your efforts. More beverage choices. Smaller portions. Less sugar. Balanceus. Org. Think your Large Cap Equity Fund has exposure to Energy Infrastructure mlps . Think again. Its time to shake up your lineup. The alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add potential income. Bring amlp into the game. Before investing, consider the Funds Investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Read the prospectus carefully at alpsfunds. Com amlp ashley markets improving slightly. Were still down 309 points on the dow. The selloff goes on with breaking news and market news in sin city with the salt conference kicks off today in las vegas. Liz claman is in las vegas. Former chairman bern been making ripples in the news today, right ben bernanke. He was opening kickoff person. There were 1000 People Hedge Fund and. Here is what ben bernanke said. There was reasonable concern that the james comey, Michael Flynn firings interfere with tax and agenda. Im not counting on tax changes or infrastructure plan to come through this year. Which is interesting because he said this all before the market opened. We were very interested, because at the point we started to look at this, and say, we dope usually hear the former Federal Reserve chief be this honest about things. He said he did not anticipate how the russia situation would cause this kind of uncertainty. Back after the election he did feel, ashley, that perhaps socalled trump trade was a little bit overdone, reflation trade. He said that donald ump was really coming more to the center and would be much more sort of focused on trade and he wouldnt over do it. He said asset prices are not overpriced which should calm the marks just a bit. Were down 380 points. Ben bernanke said a couple things that should couple the world down 308. He said the world is doing bert and u. S. Banking system is quote stable and solid. When asked, why arent we seeing markets pet shakier when these quite frightening he had lines depending what they are come out. He said markets are blase about risk until that very last second. He was pushed by Eric Schatz Berg from bloomberg, what about the volatility index which is at lows, the vix calmness is puzzling to him. He said what is going to be the incomes problem . Hard to tell what the next derailment will be to spark the next recession, ashley. He said those are hypotheticals. He said watching commercial banking and those things are on my radar. He didnt focus on what part of cycle and i found that interesting. He said statistically expect another downturn in the next four years because we always get it. Ash what is great for us, we have sam zell tomorrow. He is the largest Real Estate Investor on the planet. We will have him on the show right here from salt. Well ask him about the commercial real estate cycle. Mark mobius will be discussing with us, if youre too nervous about the u. S. Markets, dont worry about it, i have got you covered on the emerging markets level. He will names which countries he likes. Robin leach, lifestyles of the rich and famous. Ashley, a bunch of hedgies sitting on the edge of their seat with ben bernanke making comments that he doesnt usually do. Ashley nice to hear that he loosened up a bit in vegas. Robin etch loo, hadnt heard that name very long. I love robin leach. Lets look at the markets as we follow the selloff. We briefly got down below 300. The low was 350 points to the downside. Weve stayed for a while, down 1 1 2 on the s p. Nasdaq, big selloff down 13. Lets get to lori rothman on floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Been a tough day, lori. Reporter it has been a tough day, ashley. A lot of folks were caught by surprise because early controversies involving the president were largely shrugged off. Not the latest one of the Market Reaction has been worse than expected. That is one comment from a trader. People are losing faith President Trump can get the plans through, talking about tax reform, bank deregulation, all items on the progrowth agenda. Everybody on wall street is reevaluating their confidence in President Trump. A couple other things to look at, dow transports, leading indicator of economic growth, down three today. A lot of concern people wont travel as much for business purposes. Look at russell 2000, a measure of small and Midcap Companies which largely do business and earn revenues here in the united states. It is weakest performer of the benchmark averages that we follow. It is down 2. 35 . By comparison the s p down 1 1 2 . Same store for the dow. Also, fed fund futures about over 30 chance we will see a fed rate hike in june. That is down considerably from what it was just. I need to pull the figure where it came from, a couple people noted the decline in percentage of expectation we will see a rate hike in june. That is what were looking at. Safety trade is on. Vix came up almost 4 points today. That was a big jolt. Gold up 23, 24 bucks an ounce that is a significant safety trade. Interest rates are coming down. Back to you. Ashley lori rothman, busy day for you as well. Thank you very much. Yeah, the vix finally coming to life here as the market takes a selloff. The question will the white houses ambitious legislative agenda take a back seat to endless investigations and accusations . If so will that help or hurt the president s opponents . Were joined by strategists from both parties. We get both sides of the story. Democrat Richard Goodstein and republican ron christie, thank you very much both for being here. Richard, we have a democratic strategist on the varney show earlier today, and we said the what do the democrats do in this situation as the turmoil continues . He said absolutely nothing. We stand on the sidelines and just watch it all unfold. From the democrats perspective what is going on in the white house, what is your take on all of this . I hope it is clear nobody wishes ill on the markets or nobody wants to have a president that cant function, who cant function. The problem though is, do a thought experiment here, ashley. If we had isis that got Hillary Clinton into the white house in part, and that she then asked comey for his loyalty because maybe he was investigating obama, and that isis was brought into the oval office and she took out the u. S. Press but allowed the isis to have their press in, i mean, run with me hoare, house i am impeachment would have started yesterday, right . The problem for markets and agenda, as long as this is hangg out there, i dont think there is any relief. We havent gotten to the big stuff which is possible treason news conduct with russians. Liz alleged collusion, richard, lets be clear. Alleged, i realize there has not been a stitch of evidence. Nor has any been taken, any testimony. My point the legislative agenda, tax health care done, when donald trump is out of the picture. Until then it will be really hard. Liz ron, christie, my oh, my, look you say talk of impeachment right now is ridiculous. No question, mr. Trump needs to get off the twitter machine. There is damage to his red credibility, he s