maria: welcome back. good morning. good wednesday morning, everybody. thanks very much for joining us this morning. i'm maria bartiromo. it is wednesday, august 16, 7:0. sources tell fox business people close to the house oversight committee's investigation of hunter biden are asking if special counsel david weiss ever questioned biden family banks about money flows. banks are required to follow payments of over $10,000 to and from foreign entities of. republicans say if weiss did not take this step it's more evidence the office is slow walking the probe. i spoke with ted cruz about weiss' appointment as special counsel. >> he is a wildly inappropriate person to be a special counsel. we should have a special counsel, number one. we should have a special counsel to investigate merrick garland for whether he lied under oath to congress in response to questioning from me, number one.

and whether he committed obstruction of justice. those are both the allegations that came from the whistleblowers and number two, we need a whistleblower not to go back and bury what hunter biden did which is what david weiss has been doing for five years, we need a special counsel to investigate joe biden and the $20 million that his family received while he was vice president. the allegation now is for official favors that he was selling, that is bribery. it's not a little gun charge on hunter. it is bribery of the president of the united states is what these allegations are and this special counsel, he ain't gonna dodo anything to get to the botm of that. maria: joining us, adam johnson, stacy widlitz and joe concha. adam, your reaction? at this point we are waiting to see what david weiss does as special counsel in this. >> well, there are a couple points here. numnumber one, i agree with ted

cruz, there ought to be a special counsel investigating mr. biden himself, not just hunter, and what he may have done with his own funds. but also there's another point. why is it -- i know we're all talking about this anyway but i will ask the question again. why is it that david weiss was actually named as the special counsel when he was the prosecutor who cut the debunked deal in the first place he is already colored. he is inappropriate. that's why ted cruz says he shouldn't be the special counsel. i'm not a fan of ted cruz, honestly. i think he's caustic. he's a guy who is difficult to like but you know what, on these issues, i 100% agree with ted cruz. maria: i mean, david weiss came up with this whole idea that if he agrees to say he's guilty for the gun charge and for the tax evasion, that he will be having immunity for anything in the future. it wasn't until the judge

questioned, wait a second, are you actually, you know, investigating him right now? yes, we are, for being a foreign agent. so how do you actually come up with this? and the person who camp up -- came up with was david wi weiss, now he's special counsel. >> of all the people that gets chosen is david weiss. it's like having jack kevorkian teach the heimlich maneuver. you know what the end game will be. some time next year we'll get a report back saying hunter biden did this, x, y, z, another slap on the wrist but joe biden is cleared of everything despite the fact we have $20 million, bank records now, that went to 10 members of the biden family. we're supposed to believe that everybody got a piece except for the guy who was vice president at the time who is the whole reason for the money being doled out in the first place when he was on speaker phone at all these meetings and attended dinners with all these people

and said he never dealt with his son's business partners in any way, shape or form. donald trump junior took one meeting with a russian lawyer. maria: it was a setup. >> it was about adoption and that was supposed to be the smoking gun that there's collusion between trump and the russians. now we have a mountain of evidence that joe biden was involved in these dealings and it sounds to the media who continues to concentrate on hunter, no, joe biden is the story. maria: we never did see accountability for the at the timeups that happened. democrat -- for setups that happened, democrats and spies around the world running into people like george papadopoulos and carter page and donald junior. we never actually did enough on that, any accountability from that part of the russia collusion lie. now republican lawmakers are pointing out how former president trump's four indictments followed bombshell revelations about the biden

influence peddling scheme. on march 16 hunter biden admits the laptop was his. two days later news leaks trump's first indictment is coming. the fbi document allegedly reveals then vice president joe biden took a bribe from burisma 5 million to joe, 5 million to hunter. the house oversight committee releases it and then one day later trump is indicted in the classified documents case. then on july 31st, devon archer testifies about joe biden's involvement in hunter's foreign business deals, says that joe biden was on the phone 20 times. he called in on speaker phone. hunter got him had on the phone, then showed up at a dinner. the next day, trump is indicted in the january 6th case. and now days after house oversight committee chairman james comer told me he plans to subpoena biden family members, he told us right here on this program, and ag garland appointed weiss as special counsel, trump is indict inned the georgia 2020 election case. joe, this is one day apart.

>> freud said there are no coincidences, there are no accidents, right? this is all choreographed. this continues by the way right through the 2024 election. that jack smith is special counsel, will commence just days before votes are cast in the iowa primaries. this is all designed to take joe biden off the radar in terms of his performance on the economy, and wages and crime and the border and education and foreign policy. not talking about joe biden, talking about donald trump. so even if the cases all fail, the goal is to keep donald trump not his policies which are popular but donald trump and his legal challenges front and center up until the election where it becomes a referendum on trump. >> the star of his campaign, its ability to finance itself. a third of the money is going towards defenses. maria: the media got the signal, the mainstream media spent zero minutes on the biden family influence peddling so they were successful.

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so get allstate. maria: welcome back m time for the word on wall street, top invests watching your money. joining me is payne capital management president and host of payne points of wealth podcast, ryan payne back with us. also with us is adam johnson. adam, we want to look at this market and the send half of the year. futures this morning fractionally higher although look, we've completely reversed course, now we are looking at the market extend yesterday's big selloff, dow industrials down 24, nasdaq down 27, s&p 500 down 6. interesting how it completely reversed course this week and a big week for retail. target reported this morning, a big beat on earnings but missed on revenue. the company also cut its annual sales and profits outlook while forecasting lower third quarter expectations. look at the stock, target is up 8 and-a-half percent right now. couple comments. on target, remember, it's been trading at a three year low. and there's been huge short

interest, people betting against target because they had the inventory problem a year and-a-half ago, they bought too much stuff thinking covid would last longer than it did and then of course they had the whole products issue where they had all the pride stuff that people boycotted. target is kind of its own thing. i think you have to look at it in a nutshell. but with regards to the market as a whole right now, what i'll tell you, maria, is there is nobody trading right now. i mean, the trading desks are empty. it's all algos pushing headlines around. i had several stocks down yesterday 5, 6, 7% on no news. it's just algorithms because it's late august. there's honestly nobody here. i would say to people would are looking at their portfolios right now and getting stressed out, say just go have another cup of coffee, it's okay. it's late august. maria: it's a great point you make. volume is light. >> very light. maria: people are on vacation. we're wai waiting on tjx earnin.

they're going to come out momentarily. it's not just the volume and nobody's in town. i want to get your take on headlines on worries over the banks. fitch out with a warning about a potential downgrade for dozens of u.s. banks, jp morgan, bank of america. adam, we've already seen fits downgrade the u.s.'s credit rating. now we've also seen fitch talk about smaller regional banks having a problem. this is a commercial real estate question. >> maria: what a do you think about this warning from fitch on the banks? >> i can understand why fitch is downgrading the banks. we're all talking about commercial real estate being potentially an issue. but i would push back for the following reason. the banks are extremely well capitalized right now. there's a number that the regulators use called tier 1 capital ratio. you don't need to know how it's calculated. it's very complex. all you need to know is banks have to meet a minimum threshold of 6%. at jp morgan their tier 1

capital right now is over 15. in other words, they have more than twice the amount of money regulators have already said you need to have. so i think at this point for fitch to come out and say there's a potential problem at jp morgan, bank of america, citi, et cetera, you can say okay, fine, tell us your problem but now let's push back and give them the facts. i don't have a problem, i'm long bank of america. i don't have a problem with the capitalization of the banks right now. maria: this goes back to higher interest rates because debt is coming due and many companies certainly mid-size are unable to deal with the higher interest rate as their debt comes through. we are watching the housing sector. i thought it was really interesting that the housing stocks were all up yesterday with the market down. we've got the july housing data out this morning at 83:00 of a.m. eastern. ebbing -- 8:30 a.m. eastern. economists are expecting housing starts to be up, expecting building permits to be down. home builder sentiment dropping in august for the first time

this year, high mortgage rates scaring away potential buyers. but the housing stocks were up yesterday in a market that was down 300 on the dow, going into the housing data this morning. your thoughts? >> i mean, housing stocks are up 40% this year. that speaks to the b biggest problem in the u.s. is supply. we have -- 130 million u.s. households. millennials want to buy homes. there aren't enough out there. we're almost at 7% interest rates. the housing market won't collapse. it's still lower than the peak. we're still well above where we were pre-pandemic. it's going to be a huge supply issue. maria: people walked away from mortgages and the opportunity to get a mortgage when rates went all the way up to 7%. we're not out of that. >> well, that's another problem. because now you're locked in at 3%. you're not going to move. now the supply is even less because you have more people staying in their homes. they're not moving.

which then you have rents going up as well. you're between a rock and a place if you're a regular american family right now. affordability is terrible. maria: what do you do if volume is light, nobody is trading, and you're both bullish second half of the year. >> i had several names down 5, 6, 7, 8% yesterday on zero news. i'm actually nibbling, buying some of these names. maria: you're looking for opportunities. >> yes. i tend to be a buy and hold person. maria: me too. >> i'm looking at earnings in 2025, 2026, not the noise of this quarter. some of the names when they hit their targets, we talked about nvnvidia. i sold a little, i bought a little back. you trade a little at the margin. maria: you do. >> 100%. i look at capital every day, one of the fastest growing wealth

advisory firms if the country. my only thoughts are keep diversifying your exposure. energy stocks are outpacing tech on a 12 month basis. maria: interesting. >> there's a lot of places to put your money that aren't tech. do that. get invested. don't wait. maria: thanks so much. ryan payne. thank you so much. adam is with us all morning. we appreciate that. we'll be right back. stay with us. there are some things that go better... together. burger and fries... soup and salad. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. with voya, considering all your financial choices together can help you make smarter decisions. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected.

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maria: welcome back. the inflation reduction act could hand a bonus tax credit for companies using foreign metals for solar projects which hurts domestic manufacturers at home, it's having a ripple effect. u.s. steel is considering options after rejecting a $7.3 billion takeover offer from competitor cleveland cliffs. privately held company, s mark, also making a $7.8 billion offer for u.s. steel setting up a potential battle for the steel maker. joining me is chairman and ceo, barry zeckleman. what's your reaction to this potential deal for u.s. steel. >> i think it's quite interesting. there's been a lot of consistent l some days in the industrial this is -- consolidation in the industry. this is another play at it. two big public companies, big

suppliers of ours, tough for me to weigh in on it. i want to let them battle it out on their own. there's synergieses there and it could be a potential good mix. maria: you sell pipes to some of the largest companies. you're selling -- you produce the pipes, the steel pipes. how would assess business today? >> there's pockets of good and pockets of tougher times. industrial warehousing, big box, things like that are slowing down but yet the solar industry is picking up. infrastructure is picking up. data centers, things like that. so it's a little bit of ying and yang but pretty decent. maria: what about the credit environment? i know we're seeing a tighter credit environment in lots of corner, it's harder to get a loan right now. how would assess that? >> i think it's much tougher. there's no question at some point in time it's going to have a huge effect on the consumer and certain consumer related products are going to slow, plus lending, you know, we're in the multifamily residential business as well, in terms of modular,

and it's tougher to get loans on properties there. so it definitely has to have an effect and i think it already is. maria: do you expect a recession at some point? >> i don't expect a full recession. i expect pockets of recession. for some people, in some industries it's going to feel pretty tough. in others it will keep chugging along. i think on average there will be a slowdown but not a full recession. maria: where are you seeing the slowdown? i know the trucking industry is struggling as well. coming off of the pandemic highs right now. is demand falling there? >> yeah, we see dramatic decreases in freight rates. we have a carrier calling us for business and begging for business. that tells you everything. it tells you that commerce is slowing down, goods are slowing down, the of movement of goods are slowing down. that's one of the first signs. maria: what about the foreign component here in terms of tax advantages, potential advantages for foreigners, how does that

play out and what are you worried about in that regard? >> there's two things. a couple loopholes in the ira -- maria: inflation reduction ability. >> inflation reduction act on the credits apply. trade policy, we made an agreement with mexico on conduit which we make electrical conduit. three years ago. and they've five fold increased imports in conduit. we had an agreement. we're not asking for a trade case. we're asking for secretary raimondo to wake up today, make a 30 second phone call and make the mexicans adhere to what they agreed to. we lost jobs in our plants because of the surge in imports. maria: p p policy can maken agreement. >> what's the point of making the agreement if you don't enforce it. maria: i know the former

president was talking about dumping of steel by foreigners where it would take the price down because there was a cheaper alternative to an american manufacturer. >> look what happened. when trump imposed 232 it created a floor, an environment where u.s. investors could invest and think long-term. since trump did that $15 billion of investment in the steel industry happened so we're getting higher quality steel, cleaner steel, more efficiently made, more available to domestic manufacturers here and creating great american jobs, paying american taxes. ma.maria: where are you seeinge most growth, which industries? when you go through the industries you deal with right now do you see a difference? >> definitely. certainly solar is taking off, no question. data centers are huge. in ohio alone we're looking at quoting 60 data centers. what goes into that? massive amounts of steel to build them, the conduit, piping to bring the water in to cool them, certainly much more large

and robust distribution centers. no one wants a 200,000 square foot building. they want a 2 million square foot building. there's areas that are really expanding. maria: and are there interest rate sensitive groups that are feeling the opposite? >> definitely. smaller businesses are definitely -- the intels of the world aren't getting hurt with interest rates, nor are apple. they might with their consumer but not building a data center but certainly the smaller people who are building small developments, shopping plazas, retail, homes, and all the things that surround homes that generate economic benefit are slowing down dramatically. maria: barry, great to goat your insight on all of this. >> thank you. maria: quick break and then we're looking ahead to the 2024 race to the white house, former governor chris christie is rising in the polls, remains nowhere near the the frontrunn,

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♪ maria: welcome back. breaking news on tjx, company reporting earnings right now. nonadjusted earnings at 85-cents a share, revenue at $12.8 billion. the stock is trading higher as the company did beat expectations on earnings at 85-cents a share, better than 77-cents analysts were looking at. comp store sales up as well, up 6% on comp store sales, stock is up almost 2% right now. keeping in line with rallies in retail this morning. we heard earlier from target, that stock is also higher by 8% right now, tjx just crossing with better than expected revenue as well as earnings across the board. some of the other headlines we are watching this morning, a california judge holding an emergency hearing over robert f kennedy junior's lawsuit against youtube, says the censorship

of his campaign. his main complaint is that google was working with the federal government to develop misinformation policies which shut down his discussions of the pandemic, covid-19, and the vaccine. his attorney writes google will not suffer any harm from being ordered not to censor mr. kennedy but society will suffer in censorship continues. google is denying any wrong doing, saying it applies guidelines regardless of politics. policy.disney is accused of bref contract. tsg said it provided funding for 140 movies over the past decade to the tune of $3.3 billion. it claims disney used, quote, every trick in the hollywood accounting book to keep hundreds of millions of dollars away from tkg and into disney streaming sites. disney stock this morning is trading this way.

it you is down about a quarter of a percent. espn anchor sage steele is leaving the company after settling a lawsuit with the disney owned network, steele said she was forced by the company to apologize for a 2021 interview where she questioned company policy about vaccine mandates, she says she was within free speech rights to speak on social issues and challenge. she posted on x, saying she would be able to, quote, exercise my first amendment rights here more freely. espn said they mutually parted ways. we are one way away from the first presidential debate in milwaukee. president biden was in the badger state, marking one year since signing the inflation rereduction act into law while touting bidenomics. >> wages are growing faster than inflation. that's bidenomics, it's about growing an economy by strengthening the middle class.

[applause] >> making things in america again. it's in stark contrast to the conservative republican view, the so-called maga view, which is focused on corporate profits. maria: since president biden took office overall consumer price inflation is up nearly 16%, core cpi inflation is up better than 14% and food at home is up almost 20%. joining me is mark lotter, a former special assistant to president trump and chief communications director for american first policy institute. also with me is brad howard, the vogle group principal and former chief of staff to congresswoman stephanie murphy. first, ahe dress what you -- address what you heard from president biden, he said the republican view, conservative view of the economy is all about profits. i'm not sure what he means by that. will you explain what the policies of the conservatives are? >> yeah, that's absolutely fake

news. look, under president trump we were all about making things and putting america first, getting tough with china, we saw wages increase. we saw lowest unemployment rate at the time for african americans, for women, go down the line, pre-pandemic, america was a lot better off than it is today and where president biden gets it wrong is people aren't worried about losing their jobs, they can't can pay their bills and that's where bidenomics fails. people aren't worried about green energy, they're worried about having enough green to pay for energy like gas a and utilities. maria: the policy of the climate change agenda is undermining efforts for growth. i don't see a growth plan. a new survey finds half of voters think the economy is in poor condition, 38% of democrats believe voting president biden out of office will be a good thing for their wallets, brad. your response? >> well, look, when you look at

all the economic indicators across the board things are getting better in america, due to president biden's leadership and historic inflation reduction act. when you talk about the climate change, the economy, the green economy, that's what the president's there touting. these are advanced manufacturing, high wage union jobs producing solar panels, wind turbines. wages are growing faster than inflation. inflation is at a historic low right now. bidenomics is working. when you take into account the things the inflation reductireductionact does, whiche to negotiate drug prices, the amount of healthcare is coming down thanks to the affordable care act and the inflation reduction act and indicators that show a fundamentally strong economy. maria: what about the spending that sends inflation to 40 year highs. >> remember, a big part of that spending was to get us out of

the pandemic and that was necessary to keep people working, to ensure that people kept healthcare so if they got sick they could get treatment and save lives. saving lives is the number one priorities. these are starting to level out. the core indicators of a strong economy are there and evident. republicans want to change the goal post. i saw a republican say even if inflation went to zero they wouldn't be happen. do people feel confident in president biden's leadership, in the things he delivered and promised, contrast that with republican obsession on wokeism and historical texts, none of that matters when you try -- maria: i don't know that wokeism is an obsession of the republicans, i would say it's an object eggs of the democrat -- obsession of the democrats. republicans say wokeism is too much, saying companies are too

woke. you raise an important point about the solar industry. isn't it true that many of those components are made in china? >> well, look, those jobs are here in america. that's what's a taken pont. maria: the jobs -- tantamount. maria: if the batteries are made in china, the jobs are in china. >> we are taking the jobs from donees tries around the world -- countries around the world, we're bringing them back to america with tax incentives and credits. we want these jobs. maria: the administration wants to raise taxes. the administration wants to raise taxes. the president was clear with kevin mccarthy. he says he wants more revenue. he needs more -- he was clear with kevin mccarthy. he said he wants more revenue, wants the revenue to come from higher tax. >> on wealthy americans who aren't paying their fair share. when amazon ceo -- maria: the last person i saw would didn't pay their fair share was hunter biden. >> that's a different story all together. maria: it's not. it's paying your fair share. a new poll fines former president trump is dominating the gop field, better than 40

points but the poll has president biden up 2 points in a trump hypothetical matchup and 5 a points up on florida governor ron desantis. emerson polling has chris christie passing ron desantis for second place in new hampshire as well. mark, your thoughts on how the people see all of this? >> well, right now these national polls a year and-a-half away from the general election are pretty meaningless. national polls always skew toward democrats because they have a huge lead in places like the people's republic of california and other liberal failed states up in the northeast. but when you look at the battleground states, people understand that joe biden is the reason why they can't afford gas, joe biden is the reason why groceries cost so much and donald trump is the one who wants to bring the prices down and so when we get to this in those key battleground states it will be absolutely fine. as opposed to chris christie, that makes sense in new hampshire, he was the former governor of new jersey.

donald trump is still up almost 30 points in new hampshire and he's up 40 points in the national average and really the big thing right now is just how quickly ron desantis' campaign is collapsing. the only person right now otherd trump who is increasing is vivek ramaswamy, another businessman who wants to just come to washington and get things done. maria: brad, what do make of the fact that most people see these indictments against president trump as two tiered system of justice and you've got joe biden trying to take out his number one political opponent? >> well, let me first say this isn't joe biden, this isn't the prosecutors. these are grand juries made up of average americans who think there's enough evidence to bring forth criminal charges and allow a trial to take place. in four different jurisdictions on multiple counts in multiple areas. this is not some coordinated effort. this is grand juries that are presented with evidence are

saying there's enough to move to trial and so that's number one. number two is the indictments are consolidating his base of support within the republican party nomination. but nationally, it's not helping him. if anything, it's hurting him. joe biden's in a stronger position than ever for re-election as long as donald trump is the n nominee, joe bidn beat him once, he will beat him again. maria: we will leave it there. tune into fox news for the first republican debate, wednesday, august 23rd. join us for the live debate next wednesday. all of these issues will be on the table. quick break and then summer travel might be coming to an end but that's not stopping americans from taking trips this fall. vice president of global public relations misty belles is here with tips on how to save on your next at this moment you're -- n. you're watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business.

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maria: welcome back. summer season winding down but americans are wanting a vacation even while experiencing elevated inflation. the cost of travel necessities like hotel stays or transportation still up year over year but virtuoso is reporting booming sales and strong demand for luxury travel. misty belles joins us with more trends.

good to see you. give us the trends you're seeing for global destinations for travelers this fall. >> people are not slowing down for fall and holiday travel. italy is the number one destination. the u.s. is actually number two, it has been number one through the pandemic. we're seeing it go to number two, followed by france, u.k., and mexico is the fifth spot there. maria: it's interesting that europe is so prevalent on the trips. stacy, you made a point during the break about the new idea that people might need a visa to go to europe, right. >> starting in 2024, you need an authorization form. so if that doesn't come through on time, that puts your res i -reservation at risk. the euro has been so cheap, the pound has been so cheap and those are starting to rally. you have to think about those

things. maria: getting more expensive. >> exactly, for americans to go to europe. maria: what about what stacy is saying? we don't need a visa now but that will change next year. will that put a dent in the europe travel? >> i don't know that it puts a dent. it makes people think we should get to europe now before we have to worry about that. to the point of how strong the dollar is there, that's a great reason and incentive to go to europe through the fall and even into the holiday season which we haven't typically seen europe as a strong holiday destination but we are. as we look to the visas, in 2024, we're not expecting long delays or wait times for those. we expect they will be pretty efficient in turning them around. it may factor into some travel planning but i don't think so it's going to be enough to deter people. the demand is just so strong right. maria: wow. what can travelers expect when it comes to hotel rates this fall? how do you save while booking a vacation? >> well, i will tell you, the

hotel rates are really holding steady, over 2022, and just unbelievealy over 2023. u.s. is up about 82% for our bookings, anyway, for hotels and they're up over 100% from where they were in 2019 for international hotels. so don't expect to see discounting on a per night basis. what you may see as an incentive are some multi-night promotions. if you stay two, get your third night free, something like that. do seek those out. they will most likely be in the marketplace. your best way to save money there. but also book in add vans. i mean real -- advance. i mean really far in advance. like holiday travel yesterday and europe for next summer, book it today. the longer you wait, the more you're going to see the rates going up. if you don't book in advance, it's literally going to get you nowhere. maria: joe concha. >> you can tackle this or perhaps the panel can.

when you look at airline stocks, they continue to struggle. i mean, big time you would think with this boom in travel, airlines would their benefit but they are stuck or actually losing money at this point, or at least their values are as far as trading is concerned. anybody have any ideas what's going on there. >> my delta's doing great. delta's the best run airline. there are a lot of levers they can pull. they get money from am ex-for the points, it's a brilliantly run business. i can't comment on the others. maria: that's gooden doorsment. -- good endorsement. >> every flight to europe is oversold. all the planes are packed. the prices are outrageous. this is as good as it gets for the airline industry as we work through the pentup money and luxury is the same, luxury bags are up 100% in the last three years. maria: is this the best it's going to get? holiday travel is always expensive. what are the hottest holiday travel spots? how can we avoid breaking the

bank on some of these trips? >> holiday travel is going strofnlg people have to get there. they're getting there on the airlines. the u.s. is number one destination, not just americans, but globally u.s. is top destination for holiday travel and you see a lot of warm weather, you see mexico which are favorites, costa rica, you're seeing people of course head to sun when it gets cold here. there are options where it's not going to be quite as expensive. we see the cities especially the u.s. coming down a little bit, new york, la, and then we actually see rates softening just a little bit in the carribean. so if you're headed to sunny destinations you'll save more this holiday season than last holiday season. maria: we'll leave it there. misty, great to talk with you. thanks so much. misty belles joining us. thank you so much. quick break and then president biden catching rays on the beach while maui faces devastating wildfires. joe concha says it's his katrina

moment. we're talking about his latest op-ed in the morning buzz. stay with us.

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maria: president biden is slammed for taking another vacation in delaware while hawaii experienced deadly wildfires on maui. biden tried to save face by announcing a trip to the island. he appears to forget what island he's talking about. >> jill and i will travel to hawaii as soon as we can. i don't want to get in the way. i have been to too many disaster areas. i want to go, make sure they have everything they need. maria: joining us right now, co-anchor of the big money show on fox business, brian brenberg is with us. i want to get your thoughts on this. joe, you wrote an op-ed on this, you're calling his joe biden's katrina moment. tell us more. >> this is for the messenger.com. what we saw over the weekend was

a president who for four days did not speak about maui in any way, shape or form. when reporters asked him not once, not twice, but thricc, what is the situation there, what is your message, what resources are going, so on. he said no comment. who says no comment in that situation? he was at the beach for four days as well, 5,000 miles away. so now we hear from the president that oh, well jill and i, jill being the first lady, we plan on going there at some point. we have seen this movie before because he said he was going to east palestine, ohio and that toxic derailment and he never went. 106 dead, 1300 people missing, this is the deadliest wildfire in modern history, deadliest fire, period and here you have a president who spoke about it yesterday, couldn't remember the name of the island he was speaking of, his press secretary couldn't pronounce the names of two democratic hawaii senators during the press briefing and tomorrow where is joe biden going, is he going to maui, no,

he's going to lake tahoe for another week's vacation, this is his katrina moment because shows he's ap apathetic, detached or doesn't get the ramifications of what happened here which is horrific. maria: of course it's horrific. he said he and jill were going. i understand he said he doesn't want to disrupt things in maui. when a sitting president goes anywhere there's a huge line of cars that are following him and the secret service and it could be disruptive. i get that. but how many disasters have we seen where the leader in charge goes and assesses the situation, so he can't always blame i don't want to be disruptive. >> these fires started nine days ago. all right. so at this point even if he went to honolulu you and a was in the area, that -- was in the area, that gets attention an gets more donations, go to the area and go from there. >> given the record of inactivity, he doesn't do

anything, for once i would like to see him be disruptive, i would like to see him get in front and do something and provide leadership. he won't talk to the press. he won't go anywhere where there's real consequence like the border. go to maui, help out, get in the way that people might be encouraged to see a leader who has a little bit of energy. >> that's the problem. >> the problem is, he's not capable of that why it's the no comment presidency. america needs better than a no comment presidency. >> the minimum is a comment, a running comment tri, daily -- commentary, daily update to raise funds and draw attention. it's understandable you don't want to be disruptive on the ground. they're telling people to go home that doesn't need to be there, but comment. >> what about empathy and humanity, remember george bush on 9/11 as smoke was coming up amid the ruins, even bill clinton, california mud slides,

he was patting people on the back, i need you to be strong. >> oklahoma city bombing. maria: the last thing you want to see is pictures of joe biden and jill biden sitting relaxing on the beach. >> terrible. >> he's going to lake tahoe next, not like he's at the beach, shoot, now i'm going to help. he's doubling down. how do you go from the beach to lake tahoe in the middle of the worst wildfire we've seen in 100 years. maria: not a good look. >> how do you do that. >> he had a 10 day vacation earlier this month. not like he needs vacation time at this point. that's why so many americans say this president does not have the mental or physical capabilities to do another four yearsmajorit democrats do not want him in 2024. >> accrue i referenced earlier that it pardon he forgot if name of maui, in one of those sound bites that i saw earlier on fox. you know. the mental capacity issue is real, it is noticed not just by us but, you kno