"the trump century." the do so at loudobbsshop.com. you can buy your official lou dobbs tonight mug. what could be better than that? merry christmas, season maria: good thursday morning, everyone. i'm maria bartiromo, thursday december 17th, lawmakers discussing voting irregularities in 2020 election. many saying there was fraud and proper investigation is imperative. kentucky senator rand paul is here. he was at the hearing and he will join me live with the latest. more bad news for hunter biden. new bombshell subpoenas to ask for a 10 million-dollar wire transfer from chinese energy company. we are digging deeper into this

extraordinary report this morning. out with the old, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez ready to up-end the democratic party and she wants speaker pelosi and senator chuck schumer out. this as congress puts finishes touches on passing final round of stimulus. markets look like this. we are expecting a rally out of the gate. take a look at futures. triple-digit move. nasdaq up 63 and s&p 500 up 20 points after markets finished mostly higher yesterday on renewed stimulus hope and doveish federal reserve outlook. nasdaq with record close high yesterday. the dow was lower by 45. winter is here. the full forecast as we head into the weekend coming up. then this, cozy and professional. the new personal injury i'm suit to making zoom media far

fashionable. ♪ maria: it is snowing outside in new york. european markets are mixed. cac quarante in paris is up 15 and dax index up 107. investors are watching for a deal on brexit. britain leaving the european union. in asia overnight, markets mostly higher. asian indices, best performer was china. some of the top stories that we are watching this morning, fireworks on capitol hill during senate homeland security hearing on election irregularities, we told you to expect the hearing when we spoke with senator ron johnson, republican chairman

johnson of wisconsin and michigan senator peters exchanging words over criticism of the hearing and ended as explosion as senator peters accused johnsohnson of peddling russian disinformation in his investigation of hunter biden. >> it had nothing to do with this report. >> you lied repeatedly in the press that i was expressing russian disinformation. >> mr. chairman, i don't know what rabbit hole you're talking about. >> you talked about russia. maria: hunter biden has announced he's under federal investigation for his tax dealings and business deals across the board. joe biden acknowledging a question yesterday. >> i'm confident. maria: first time that biden

responded to allegations around his son. progress made on the bipartisan stimulus deal to tell you about. lawmakers hammering out a deal and expected to include $300 a week enhancement to unemployment insurance and direct stimulus check in 600 to 700 liability range and lawmakers are opening to have the bill passed by the end of this week. fda adviser panel will review moderna's vaccine today. the u.s. set records in hospitalizations and in the number of deaths. the virus reportedly killing more than 3,000 americans a day. vice president mike pence and his wife karen are expected to get vaccines on camera at the white house tomorrow. joe biden says he will get vaccinated next week.

this as an effort to try and build vaccine confidence among regular americans. breaking news overnight, french president emmanuel macron has tested positive for covid-19. he was displaying symptoms this week. new york city could see about a foot of snow when all said and done. the storm has taken a deadly storm. in pennsylvania two people died in 30 to 60 vehicle car crash on interstate 80 in clinton county. markets this morning are higher, take a lack at triple-digit gain on dow industrials, investors waiting and watching progress and covid-19 stimulus talks. lawmakers closing on 900 billion-dollar bill that would include another round of direct payments to families, enhanced unemployment benefits as well as the government faces potential shutdown tomorrow. joining me right now asset

management ceo phil, and also joining the conversation all morning long fox business dagen mcdowell and global president heather, great to see everybody. thank you so much, ladies. phil, i'm kicking it off with you, thanks for being here. your take as we approach potential deal. lawmakers closing on 900 plus billion dollar stimulus factage. is that going to move markets, what's your take on where we are this morning. >> markets has been in this for some time and what it would do is give us santa claus rally. it's been anticipated and move higher but not significant. maria: tell me what your clients are doing right now and what you're seeing at asset management where rates as they are, incredible move in markets, nasdaq up 40% in 2020?

>> you think of classic recessions, as you roll out of them. we believe that we will be way out of it in the first quarter, you can earn solid dividend and there's not a lot of options today. the bond market is more riskier than equity market. we are suggesting pairing back on large-tech gains and more toward value stock and reducing duration in bond portfolio. there's lots of risk there. you're changing the makeup of portfolio and beginning to go to overseas because the opportunity looks good as well. maria: when you say merging markets, are you including china in that? you know the executive order president trump has put in place ensuring those companies that are tied to chinese military are

not invested from investors? >> fourth-quarter numbers will be profound. yes, there's mitt call issues around this. there could be continued tariffs in the potential new administration and issues about companies being delisted, their consumer overall is number 1 consumer all things tech and all health care. for that reason there's strong opportunity and you want to be careful where you make allocation, however, there's an opportunity there to get in the portfolio because of the both rate they are going to experience. maria: of course, growth was the subject yesterday at the federal reserve meeting. doveish comments from the federal reserve. jay powell saying the fed is prepared to provide stronger

accommodation if needed and they are seeing job growth on top of improving economy in 2021. heather, jump in here. were there are any surprises from your standpoint, heather? >> right, it wasn't a market-moving event. it was widely expected. the fed is arguing for more support, we need to get the 900 billion-dollar stimulus bill done today. what the fed did say they may have overstated the negative impacts of covid in the economy. i don't -- i don't want to underscore the tens of millions of people that are out of work and those waiting in food banks, it's taking a devastating toll on lawer-income americans, but, phil, do you think they may have overestimated outcomes of covid? >> i do. i think they overstated the

impact. arguably 11 million people looking for work. it's really of where we work and with euphoria, the amount of money that's in it and pinned up saving, i think we will have one heck of a liftoff much more than we anticipate. we were expecting rates to be at these levels. you think that's going to move forward. let me ask you, phil, you hear the story of goldman sachs moving to south florida, they will take asset management business, relocating gsma and that would deal a major blow to new york as financial capital. your thoughts given asset management business.

do you think costs go down significantly if you see move out of like this to goldman and too florida? >> too many reasons to in the to go. our business has changed dramatically in the few years. we are seeing decompression and you have that renew to keep your revenue strong, you to make hard points, the reality is new york has become expensive place to live and work. the thing the giuliani administration was able to stimit back, but this time there's too many other issues at place. revenues have changed and for that reason, this is just the beginning, we have to look at the model in order the keep revenues where they are and lower cost in products. for that reason this is the beginning of the exodus. they are not the first one. new york has experienced a lot of companies. it's a trend that's going to continue. maria: yeah, we will be watching

it. phil, great to have you this morning. come back soon. >> thank you. maria: love talking to you. phil, joining us there. we are getting started this morning, coming up trying times for the restaurant industry, i will be keeping with restaurant brands ceo josé on how restaurants are struggling to survive. what does the entry need for a lifeline? next hour, we are watching at your money, vaccine optimism with the word on wall street. plus joe biden says he's confident his son hunter biden did nothing wrong. hunter biden's digital paper trail keeps on growing. congressman will be here to weigh in. could wearing a mask be worse than wearing no mask at all. at 8:00 a.m. i will be speaking with kentucky senator rand paul on election irregular tarties, we was at the meeting that got heated.

we will talk stimulus and a lot more. we are coming back. you're watching mornings with maria live on fox business. ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event.

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maria: welcome back, probing election irregularities, fraud, the homeland security committee holding hearing on 2020 issues yesterday and it got heated with arguments breaking out on both sides. watch. >> the fact that our last two presidential elections have not been accepted as legitimate by large percentages of the american public is a serious problem that threatens our republic. >> i'm concerned that today's hearing will do more hard than good by confusing a new

anecdotes about human error with the insidious claims the president has aired. >> i think that continued assaults on democracy and the outcome of this election that only serves to undermine confidence in the process. >> the fraud happened, the election in many ways was stolen and the only way it'll be fixed it was by in the future reinforcing the laws. maria: joining me right now is senior editor at the federalist christopher bedford, chris, good to see you this morning. thanks for being here. what was your reaction to what took place yesterday in the hearing? chris: i thought that ron johnson, senator ron johnson did a great job, brave one to hold the hearing and two standing ground when ranking members of the democrats, disinformation hoax, he went back at it hard and was going to defend himself. the worry here is how entrenched how many people are, of course, and if they are going to change

their mind space on this. the fact that republicans were willing to push for this in the first place and say we at least need some answers before any of the election goes forward was important. i thought chris who was a democrat star witness, he came across well as far as what they were pushing for but i was disappointed that the whole undertone the entire time that election workers in atlanta were true heros because they risk covid to do their jobs and we are putting their lives at risk. i thought that was pretty shameful behavior from him. maria: why are they continuing to hold onto this idea that anything about hunter biden is disinformation about the election and these irregularities as disinformation. we already heard from john ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and he told us otherwise on this program. here is director ratcliffe,

watch. >> here in the united states the pandemic influenced a lot about how people voted but also how they had to vote. as a result of the pandemic, we saw state legislatures -- maria: disinformation. it was -- closing in -- we are closing in on what was a situation where they said it was disinformation, but john ratcliffe specifically told us his intelligence said this is a real serious story, chris? chris: we heard from the fbi report and the d of course j. -- doj and at the beginning of this we had a democratic operative who worked in facebook and got into twitter and said we are shutting this down. we are not allowing this. we will bring up fact-check, this is russian disinformation.

seems to be a straight shoot e -- shooter, where is the fact check? seems any any aspect brought against against, it's called disinformation by the russians. hard one to pull off. maria: exactly. now, what ratcliffe was just talking about in the sound bite is what happened with the covid disaster and how that changed with the way states approaching the voting of a major election. here he is discussing what the democrats said was disinformation. here is ratcliffe. >> here in the united states the pandemic influenced a lot about how people voted but how they had to vote. as a result of the pandemic, we saw state legislators adopting

new voting procedures, we had universal mail-in balloting across the country in a way that we hadn't seen before. to that point, almost 73% of the american people this year voteed before election, good percentage by mail, 80% increase over anything that we have ever seen before. so it's a little wonder that we see what's happening around the country as a result of that with mail-in balloting and all of the questions and -- and the questions that are being raised in lawsuits and by everyday americans about what happened in the election. maria: so, chris, where do you think this goes, of course, the president's legal team is pressing forward saying this is was rigged. you had the hearing yesterday, what are your thoughts even on future elections? >> they need an organization that's willing to push back against this insanity.

covid-19 is basically giving a wish list to the far left on what they want on voter laws and they are pushing for driver's licenses and closing down churches and businesses that have been dangerous for the election. i hope the republicans are the fortitude to fix it. maria: all right, chris bedford, we will be right back.

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major money, 10 million-dollar money transfer did not end up happening but it was to fund biden's failed joint venture, there was a 5 million-dollar payment paid to another business that hunter runs. this as joe biden told fox news yesterday he's confident that hunter did nothing wrong. dagen mcdowell, this story is getting worse and worse. your reaction? dagen: we are waiting to hear if what happens with the special special counsel to ensure that justice is served, to ensure as joe biden comes in to the white house as the biden administration, as he appoints his attorney general to ensure that this investigation isn't crushed, swept under the rug. maybe it's a special counsel bill mcgurn wrote this week in the wall street journal about

that joe biden could just announce that he's keeping the u.s. attorney in place who is currently running this investigation, but i will point out joe biden told the american people in the last presidential debate that hunter hadn't made any money in china. what? and so ron johnson the senator running homeland senate committee wrote about this, who has been investigating these overseas dealings as well, quote, which is what ron johnson said, joe biden has been caught in repeated lies over biden incorporated. i think everybody deserves we get to the bottom of this. this really is clearly above just influence peddling and selling access to the biden family which we know has been going on for years. maria: let me -- >> maria, hear is the thing. maria: let me connect the dots here because we know that we've

done a deep investigation over the last 4 years of china and its bad behavior and one of the ways that their strategy works is to put, quote, unquote lobbyists for china in important positions. that's why they groomed eric swawell to become a member of congress and eventually get on intel committee. that's why they were paying the chairman of the chemistry department at harvard, to send data back to the ccp. that's why they had instituted spies within the houston embassy. all of these things have come to light because china is hoping to take over the world literally, wanting to become the number 1 super power economically, militarily and technologically. they have bribed important influential people. that is why we keep covering this and putting a spotlight on these relationships that hunter biden had in china.

now, the left and hunter biden supporters keep saying this is disinformation. we know that's not true. here is john ratcliffe explaining the intelligence that the director of national intelligence has seen. take a listen on this program a couple of weeks ago. >> this is in the part of russian disinformation campaign. the intelligence community has not been involved with hunter biden's laptop. hunter biden is a u.s. person and he would be subject to any investigation regarding fraud or corruption would be rightfully -- the jurisdiction of the fbi. the fbi has had possession of this. maria: so, heather, the question becomes, will the policy on china change within an incoming biden administration? trump was tough on china. will biden be as tough when you're talking about millions of dollars that his son was able to make? >> right, and that's the biggest fear. obviously china is a really bad

actor and if hunter biden has been paid millions of dollars over the years by china, how can incoming president joe biden be tough on china? you're right, president trump has been the only president in history to really push back on china and look at the tariffs that were imposed and rightfully so. and i just think that the incoming investigation will not be in a position to be tough given the history they've had with china. maria: yeah, there's bribing, money transfers, honey pots, the whole 9 yards. we will take a break. we will continue following this. we will keep the spotlight on china every day as every time we see wrongdoing. coming up the state of the restaurant industry amid the coronavirus pandemic. wait till you hear. the ceo of restaurant brands international will give us an inside look. winter storm underway, slamming the northeast. full forecast of one of the

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maria: welcome back, good thursday morning, everybody. thank you very much for joining us. thursday december 17th, 6:34 on the east coast. futures indicating 154 point right of the gate, nasdaq up 66 and s&p higher by 22 this after markets finished mostly higher yesterday. renewed hopes of stimulus coming, boosting the market along with pretty doveish federal reserve outlook at the two-day meeting yesterday sent stocks higher, dow industrials finished lower by 44 points. nasdaq notching another record close at 1,206,558. s&p higher by 6 and a half. check european markets,

investors watching for a deal on britain exiting the european union, they are talking about a trade deal. ftse 100 is up a fraction, cac quarante is up 22 in paris and dax index in germany higher by 105 points. in asia overnight, markets finished mostly higher, take a look at asia indices fractionally moved. up better than 1%. well, another big ipo coming, cheryl casone with the details there. this one caught my eye today. cheryl: well, you think? dog lovers, rejoice, another ipo to celebrate. the company is the latest to go public, special purpose acquisition company, $1.6 billion deal merger, to raise $454 million for the company as bark box looks to capitalize on huge rise on pet related expense which is 20% and

big jump in adoptions. 45% year over year. 185 million-dollar penalty to securities and exchange commission that fab rated 300 and retail sales of april 2019 till january of this year. not admitted nor denied the charges earlier this month the u.s. hours passed a law to kick chinese companies off u.s. exchange that they do not fully comply. roku reached a deal with at&t to carry hbo max, things got real heated when warner media announced it was releasing wonder woman to hbo max and theater at the same time. those are some of your headlines, back to you. maria: all right, cheryl, thank you so much. well, the first powerful snowstorm of the season is slamming the northeastight rowow dean withheh thh verery les lt e

atdevelopment. t. jani ce gcedceningoro t y sgly, u je.an hel>>,lo mia,ar b,ig nor'easrr ofofofsonean i sti still bringgg heynonownowww verytron songgindd upste ate atrkatit t tack jkk cse t 3 ftee ineen w yoro s c cin somlyomfe areas operford ame adrod e nethrkw rky cit a depdsds on where w youre y y,, som, soms rert6-inches and a other osth aroundentrenen 4-inc 4hesncncncd ngng iand,an had h h h h mixturo rain and andnd f f rain, rain, t defitee snow in one day than last season for some of these areas. current wind gusts 30, 40, 50 miles along the coast so even if there is snow on the ground, blowing snow is going to cause poor visibility and it's not going to be advised to be on the roadways, people need to stay inside. winter weather advisories for the next couple of hours, the

storm will finally exit later on this amp with some exiting snow showers and those blustery winds as well and the temperatures are going to remain cold. so the snow that is on the ground it's not going to melt very quickly over the next couple of days. maria, back to you. maria: all right, janice, thank you so much, janice dean with the latest, we will keep checking back. we want to look at the state of the restaurant industry this morning. the cheryl casone taking major toll of restaurant industry as you know with rye in cases, more restrictions on indicate door dining being put in place. my next guest is at the helm of some some of the most reck salable quick service brands in the world, burger king, popeyes tim horton's josé cil, jose, great to have you back, thanks for being here. first assess the situation for us, josé, we are hearing lots of commentary from new york, governor cuomo saying shut down restaurants, the numbers don't look good, we can't have any

restaurantish door dining, how do you see it, how would you assess the business today? >> well, good morning, maria, thanks for having me again. great to see you. the situation is definitely challenging, consumer behaviors are changing, mobility is limited. disposable income has been impacted pretty significantly and on the small business front, the restaurant front a ton of uncertainty given consumer behavior with the lockdowns and our franchisees, small business owners are facing difficulties as a result. that said, i think there's been a lot of innovation in the industry for some time that's been accelerated throughout the pandemic, drive-thrus are very important part of the by for our by in particular, delivery has been accelerated in terms of usage by consumers over the last 9, 10 months and we think it's a big part of the future going forward. so there's been -- the restaurant industry is very

persistent and dynamic industry, it's been innovating forever and continues to adapt to changes and so i think despite the challenges we are facing, there's hope. people look to the vaccine, of course, as one part of it, but all of the innovation and changes taking place but persistence and resilience of team members and small business owners i think has been pretty incredible to see and that's what's going to help the restaurant industry continue to thrive long-term and heading into 2021. maria: yeah, no, i agree. there's a resiliency to the industry, but, you know, the bottom line is that restaurants are reliant on foot traffic and on cash flow. so i'm trying to understand how your brand the quick service industry has been impacted by this disaster and what will change once the pandemic is over. you mentioned delivery, we will likely continue doing delivery after the pandemic, right? some of the things that we've gotten used to in terms of

restaurants we will stay with after this -- after this pandemic and shutdown is over. are you raised with evolving marketplace, more competitive marketplace where you're competing with companies that you had competed with in the past? >> yeah, we've been investing in technology for quite some time, we saw that the by for burger king, for popeyes and tim horton was moving off premise through delivery and moving more digital and we invested in technology and engineering side to be able to have the right types of apps and loyalty programs, we see that continuing to evolve and accelerated tremendous and put on hyperspeed during the pandemic and we think it's a trend heading to 2021 and beyond. our byes and partners are well equipped to evolve in by and continue to serve customers through off-premise capabilities and we think that's one of the

biggest trends heading into the coming years. the other one that i think is important with people staying home more often, community has played a much more important role. our franchisees staying connected locally and important part to continue to connect well with our communities. maria: you know, josé, one thing that people may miss who gets impacted the most before the shutdowns? before covid we were looking at income inequality actually narrow for the first time in a long time. the earnings of the bottom earners were actually going higher, moving up faster than the earnings at the top, restrictions on indoor dining changed that? restricting indoor dining. talk to the viewers of who is affected bid, the workers who are seeing the real impact here? >> the workers have been

incredibly resilient and done incredible job during the difficult time adjusting to the pandemic being -- taking care of each other and taking care of our guests and i think the government support earlier in the year was really important to continue to allow small businesses to pay these workers which are so important to the restaurant industry and so important to the economy. so we think that was a critical aspect of being able to continue during the last -- maria: yeah. and my point in bringing that up was the stimulus was so important to the lower-income earners, you're talking about the servers, the service staff, really taking a hit because of these closings. we will be watching, josé. we appreciate you joining us and giving us an update. thanks so much. >> thank you. maria: josé cil joining us

there. we will be right back.

maria: welcome back, there is stimulus in sight, congressional leaders closing in on a nearly 900 billion-dollar covid are relief package, expected to include new round of stimulus checks plus $300 a week in unemployment insurance, it does not include funding for state and local governments or liability protection for business. joining me right now is the president of the committee for a responsible federal budget maia,

great to see you this morning, hope you're doing well. your reaction to what you're hearing being talked about in the line of stimulus? >> well, in addition to finally, i mean, this has been many months in the making and overdue and as usual we are waiting to the last minute but it's good to see that we are getting here so it's been actual negotiation and the bottom line is this is a sensible package and one that we would have passed months ago but makes a lot of sense because it's targeted the first rounds to hit the economy, let's get money out there, it's much more targeted in spending and focuses on things like helping with the pandemic, helping small businesses and unemployment insurance and checks which will be targeted it sounds like. so overall sensible package, let's get it done and let's stop the waiting for the last moment. maria: waiting for the last minute is always frustrating. what's your take on debt.

we haven't seen much restraint on either side in terms of stimulus and -- and addressing the problem, that is the pandemic and the shutdown, having said that, you are talking about a debt story that is as large as the size of the overall economy. $22 trillion. >> yeah, so let me talk about that and that's the big focus, of course, of what we worked on. this is a debt explosion. that said, it took the time when you do want to borrow. the moments that you do want to before row, unforeseen emergencies and you need to borrow immediately help prop up the economy but that needs to come with a plan with how you will get the debt under control once the economy is fixed again and it means we shouldn't have gone into this moment already with our debt at near record levels. what worries me the most is not that we are borrowing today because that's what we need to do, the economy is operating below potential and we need to

help -- all the arguments you're hearing already saying debt doesn't matter at all, we do not need to not only pay for this package, this is appropriate for borrowing, but we don't need to pay for any priorities down the road and maybe things we like, there might be education, there might be infrastructure but not only do we need to start paying for things, we need to help clean up the huge amount of borrowing that's taken place both to fight the pandemic and in the past years where don't forget congress was borrowing trillions and trillions of dollars even when the economy was strong and we have lost any sense of fiscal discipline. maria: we will talk about that with senator rand paul coming up. he will join me shortly. let me just say, dagen mcdowell, more negotiations are set for today among congress and the leaders there looking to come to an agreement on the spending bill so that we avoid a government shutdown tomorrow at midnight, weigh in on it, dagen.

dagen: right, i mean, keeping the government open is important but i want to ask you because the fed is already financing that debt. so our central bank is essentially most basic level printing money and then buying that debt, monetizing the debt. this is something that the left, the far left have talked about in terms of modern monetary theory, where you can spend anything and as much as you want as long as you have a central bank to basically fund that spending and buy the debt. where -- if that continues to happen, what happens in this country? >> we can't continue to have this happen. this is an emergency but that can't become normal or we will see huge levels of inflation and we will see effects on the currency and have effects on the macro economy and these are short-term measures and people arguing they are long economic

plans will lead difficult situations. that's not going to stay forever. maria: the fed yesterday indicated maybe sooner rather than later they will start moving up. next with the morning buzz are you frustrated with your weight and health?

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head to aerotrainer.com now. aerotrainer's unique design allows for over 20 exercises for a total body workout, all while maintaining safe, correct form. now it's your turn to lose weight, look great, and be healthy. get off the floor and get on the aerotrainer. go to aerotrainer.com, that's a-e-r-o-trainer.com. maria: welcome back, it is time for the morning buzz, first up work from home fashion. a japanese company introducing the personal injury i'm suit, it has all of the comfort of regular pj's but has the look of business professional suit. the top comes in 3 different colors, can be sold as separates as well. what do you think, dagen? dagen: that doesn't have the look of a suit. it looks like jamjams.

maria: looks like a sweater. dagen: how hard is it put a shirt and tie and suit jacket and from the waist down you keep your elastic pants on. some viewer tweeted at me and said i'm dressed like bill belichick this morning. i appreciate that affirmation. [laughter] maria: heather, what do you think? >> i've become very comfortable wearing sneakers to work and doing zoom meetings and skype meetings. it's an interesting dynamic, not only do you have to wear pants, that's a whole different story, you know, you have to relate to people and talk to people face to face. i've been stuck in a cave for so long with my dog, i don't even know if i know how to be with people in person anymore. [laughter] maria: yes. it's an adjustment.

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maria: welcome back. good thursday morning, everybody. thanks so much for joining us. i'm maria bartiromo. it is thursday, december 17th. your top stories right now, 7:0e east coast. a contentious battle on capitol hill as lawmakers discuss voting irregularity's in the 2020 election, many saying there was fraud and that a proper investigation is imperative. kentucky senator rand paul was at the hearing yesterday. it got fiery. he will join me at the top of the next hour with the latest. meanwhile, more bad news for hunter biden, a new bombshell e-mail shows him asking for a $10 million wire transfer from a chinese energy company. we are digging deeper into this extraordinary report and story

this morning. plus, check this out, out with the old, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez ready to upend the democratic party. she wants speaker nancy pelosi and senator chuck schumer out. this as congress puts the finishing touches on finally passing another round of stimulus. markets this morning are rallying, futures indicating we will see a triple dig et move out of the gate. the dow industrials up 130 of points, nasdaq up 56, s&p 500 higher by 20 of points, after markets finished mostly higher yesterday on renewed stimulus hopes and the federal reserve meeting where we saw a doveish jay powell. the dow industrials were down 44, the nasdaq was up 63, s&p 500 higher by 6 and-a-half. the nasdaq notching another record close yesterday at 4:00 on wall street. winter has arrived, a massive snowstorm blankets the northeast. a full forecast as we head into the weekend. plus, an innovation breakthrough for in vitro virtuall fertiliza.

the new technology that can store frozen eggs for years. a car that would make james bond jealous, ferrari rolls out a bulletproof ride. the price tag making a buzz this morning. "mornings with maria" is live right now. european markets are higher, take a look. ft 100 up 3 points, cac is up 20 and dax index higher by 101. investors are watching for a deal on britain exiting the european union before the end of the year. they are talking about a trade deal. in asia overnight, markets finished mostly higher, take a look. shanghai composite was the best performer, up better than 1%. now some of the top stories we are watching this morning. fireworks on capitol hill yesterday during the senate homeland security committee's hearing on electio he'll irregu. republican chairman ron johnson of wisconsin and michigan senator gary peters exchanging words over criticism of the hearing and a discussion on

russian interference. it all ended in an ex h blow sie fiery -- explosive fiery commentary as senator peters accused senator johnson of peddling russian disinformation on his investigation of hunter biden. >> it had nothing to do with this report. >> you lied repeatedly. >> i did not. >> you lied repeatedly in the press that i was spreading russian disinformation. that was an outright lie. i told you stop lying and you continued to do it. >> this is not about airing your grievances. i don't know what rabbit hole you're running down. maria: it's been hardly a rabbit hole. hunter biden has announced he's under federal investigation, criminal investigation for his tax dealings. joe biden acknowledging the question about it yesterday. >> i'm confident. maria: this was the first time biden has responded to his son's allegations and conduct. meanwhile, progress made on the

bipartisan stimulus deal, lawmakers hammered of out details on a $900 billion package. it is expected to include a $300 a weekend happensment to unemployment insurance and direct stimulus checks i. issues such as liability protection for business and funding for state and local governments would also be included. lawmakers are hoping to have the bill passed by the end of the week. an fda advisory panel will review he moderna's covid-19 vaccine today. it could start shipping 6 million doses of the vaccine beginning tomorrow as the u.s. sets new records in hospitalizations and deaths, the virus killing 3,000 americans a day. and vice president mike pence and his wire karen pence expected to get vaccinated on camera at the white house tomorrow. joe biden says he'll get the vaccination next week, all in an effort to try and build vaccine confidence among americans. breaking news overnight, french president emmanuel macron has

tested positive for covid-19. officials saying he was displaying early symptoms earlier this week. and a powerful winter storm slamming the northeast this morning. new york city could see about a foot of snow when all is said and done. the most snowfall since january of 2016. check out this wild scene in pennsylvania, two ems workers escaped injury after almost being hit by a sliding truck in the snow. dangerous conditions out there this morning. let's get to the word on wall street this morning, top investors watching your money this week. joining me right now is heather zumaraga, mark mattson and strategic wealth partners president and ceo, mark tepper. great to see everybody. thank you for being here. mark mattson, futures are higher this morning, up 120 points. we are waiting on progress in the covid-19 stimulus talks, lawmakers closing in on a deal that is likely $900 billion. it would include another round of direct payments to families

and enhanced unemployment benefits as the government faces a potential shutdown tomorrow. your thoughts on this stimulus and what it means for stock market. >> yes, it's great to be with you, maria. look, it might have a short-term effect but we always have to pay attention to long-term unintended consequences. look, we're at 22,000 -- excuse me, $22 trillion in debt, it's about 100% now to gdp. that's a very high number for a free market society like us. in addition to that, it's only temporary. all deficit spending is a long-term form of taxation, which long-term hurts the economy. so to get this economy back going, we don't need stimulus. what we need is people going back to work. we need people that are able to go back to their small businesses, we need people that are able to start functioning, kids going back to school and we

need the confidence for people to know that it's safe in america for their children and until that happens, we're just going to have -- look, a trillion here, a trillion there, it's disastrous long-term. i was talking to dr. art laffer yesterday. if you take money from the people that are earning it and give it to people that aren't earning it, you're punishing hard work and discipline and you're rewarding people who aren't working. it doesn't work economically. it's a pie in the sky liberal concept. so we would be better off not to do more stimulus and get people back to work as soon as possible. use that money if you have to get people vaccines and then long-term. maria: we're talking about the backdrop and the economy, how important would a stimulus shot be for the backdrop and what does that mean for markets. you're saying forget the stimulus, stop with the restrictions. don't shut anything down and let's see this economy reopen again. >> yeah, that's exactly what

i'm saying. because otherwise, it's just -- you can't give people a little bit of money and then force them not to go back to work. and you have a dichotomy here. you have haves and have notes. you have large tech companies and box stores getting rich and the poor entrepreneur who are going to be needed to take us out of this, by the way, you're handcuffing them. it's got to stop or the economy's not going to get better. maria: this was topic a yesterday with the federal reserve. let me get your take on what you heard from jay powell, central bank president yesterday, talking about the economy and that the fed is prepared to provide stronger accommodation if needed. also saying that job growth on top of an improving economy for 2021 is realistic. what did you hear from powell? >> right. so interest rates are going to be lower for longer and they are saying the fed believes that thus far we've held up better

than expected, due to covid's negative impacts on the economy, despite 10 million people out of work and now the fed is worried about the next four to five months. i think that was really key when you look at powell's statements. he's saying next year he's optimistic by next summer, after the vaccine is distributed and administered. over the next four to five months you're seeing cracks in the high frequency data. look at retail sales, we're keeping an eye on unemployment. if you miss this rally, i mean, mark pointed out the haves and have notes o not's, the parts oe stock market that are doing well, you have 5 $5 trillion on the sidelines. if you're a retail investor, where do you put your money if you missed and you're not already in the market? >> well, i mean, heather, this is on obviously a tina situation. there is no alternative.

the best value right now, we're seeing down in the cap spectrum, look toward the smaller cap stocks, that's where you're seeing more growth potential right now especially as we look forward into 2021. maria: let me ask you about bitcoin, mark, because bitcoin is at another record level. the cryptocurrency topping 20,000 for the first time in its 12-year history yesterday. obviously some investors are instead of doubling down on stocks, picking up bitcoin here. what's driving this and do you think this becomes a mainstream play? >> so maria, not only did it blow through 20,000, it blew through 21,000, 22,000 and it looks like 23,000 is in the crosshairs for today. look, the issue with bitcoin has always been adoption. is it going to be embraced as a legitimate currency, will vendors and merchants begin to accept it or is it a pokemon card? and that question was answered for me two months ago when pay

pal and cash app added bitcoin. at that point i told friends all right, guys, it's time to double down. over the course of the subsequent 30 days we watched bitcoin go from 12 to 19,000. it was stuck at 19,000 for a few weeks. now it broke through. with that, you've got even more fomo buying happening right now. you've seen some huge names get behind bitcoin recently, from paul tudor jones, stanley drugen miller, guggenheim said they have a fair value on bitcoin of 400,000, that is 20x. it's always been about supply and dematcheabout demand. you know prices are going to go higher. and last thing i'll say, maria, imagine what would happen if amazon started accepting bitcoin tomorrow. bitcoin would be at 100,000 a coin within a few weeks. maria: yeah. good point. that is a great point. is there any likelihood of that?

>> i don't have the crystal ball to predict that. i think my base case is 40,000 by the end of next year but it could be next year's tesla as well. tesla is up 600% this year. could bitcoin get to 100,000 without amazon? certainly possible. maria: all right. we'll leave it there. mark tepper, mark mattson, heather, you're staying with us this morning. great to see everybody. thank you so much for a great word on wall street. much more ahead coming up this morning. coming up joe biden says he's confident his son hunter biden did nothing wrong but hunter's digital paper trail is growing. pennsylvania congressman guy reschenthaler is here weighing in on that. alex baranson joins us to talk about lockdowns and big tech censorship. in the next hour i'll be speaking with kentucky senator rand paul on the election irregularities. plus, a new stimulus deal and a lot more. join ming all morning long, dagen mcdowell and heather zimaraga. we'll be back in two minutes'

time. you're watching "mornings with maria," live on fox business. ♪

maria: welcome back. another hunter biden bombshell, the former vice president's son sending, quote, best wishes from the entire biden family to chinese oil tycoon, then asking him to quickly wire $10 million. this in a 2017 e-mail obtained by fox news. the wire transfer never occurred but another transfer did. it was to fund hunter's failed joint venture. a growing number of lawmakers are calling for a special counsel to investigate hunter

biden, including arkansas senator tom cotton. >> hunter biden has been under investigation by multiple u.s. attorneys for multiple potential crimes, like tax fraud, money laundering, money fraud, this is why the biden family needs to come clean. they need to explain exactly what hunter biden has been up to and they need to let the american people get to the bottom of it. maria: meanwhile, joe biden also telling reporters yesterday that he is, quote, confident that hunter biden did nothing wrong. joining me right now is pennsylvania congressman, member of the house foreign affairs committee, house judiciary committee, guy reschenthaler. it's good to see you. thank you for joining us. you want a special counsel investigation into this and we put a spotlight on this because this is really important as it relates to the potential change in policy toward china, if the communist party and hunter biden

and his family have been in bed with the ccp, this is a major red flag, as we know that the ccp has been trying to bribe and blackmail influentials in the u.s. government. your reaction? >> maria, first, thanks for having me on. i always appreciate it. as always, just call me guy. you said it best, when you were talking about the fact that china is a threat, particularly that pla and the ccp of the chinese communist party. i often wonder what does the ccp have over the democrat party because the democrats have refused to take the threat from china seriously. and the fact that the chinese may have access to the photos that are on that laptop, the fact that there were these dealings with joe and hunter biden, we're presuming with joe biden with that e-mail implicating that the entire family was involved in these dealings, that may compromise hunter biden and by extension joe biden and that is an issue, maria, because we know that the chinese have sent over spies,

they've tried to get people in compromised situations so we should take this seriously and if joe biden is so confident that hunter did nothing wrong then he shouldn't oppose my calling for a special counsel to be named to investigate hunter biden, his connections to the chinese, the russians and the ukrainians. maria: i mean, then there's the eric swalwell controversy. what gets me about this controversy is the chinese spy, i mean, the congressman is obviously under fire for his ties to a chinese spy who targeted local officials. congressman, i mean, 17 of your colleagues including the minority whip steve scalise wrote a letter this week to speaker pelosi asking for swalwell to be taken off of the house intel committee over the tie toss the chinese communist party. he met this woman, christine fang, when he was a local politician. she helped him get elected,

raising money for him. he is china's candidate. they put him there. do you think swalwell should step down from this committee? >> well, the fact that christine fang was connected with eric swalwell when he was just a local elected official just shows that the ccp will try to get elected officials well before they're on the national scene and that's why this threat is so serious from china and again, the fact that nancy pelosi has refused to take this seriously, has he refused to look into this, and additionally that nancy pelosi refused to have democrats sitting on the china task force that leader mccarthy put together leads me to wonder what is it that the ccp has on the democrat party. maria: and tell me what you think the china policy will be and whether you expect it to change with a different administration. >> well, if we have a different

administration, i don't think that they will hold china accountable like president trump and the republican party is willing to do. we have to remember that there's trade deals, there's aggression in south china sea we see from china and of course the taking of hong kong, threats on taiwan, for example, the uyghurs that are being persecuted in western china, china is a rogue actor on the international stage and i highly doubt a president joe biden with the connections that his son has with china will hold china accountable for anything, maria. maria: so let me ask you about the potential for a stimulus package and switch gears for a moment. we are being told that this deal being discussed is going to be unveiled today includes $600 of individual checks, $300 in unemployment extension and $17 billion for airlines, congressman, that it will not include any state and local support and it will not include liability protections. do you think we'll get a deal today? >> i'm optimistic that we're going to get a deal, maria but

it's a shame we didn't get one five and-a-half months ago when the republican leaders were really ready to make a deal. it was nancy pelosi who has been holding up this relief for the american people, holding the american people hostage for political gain. maria: yeah. yeah, a lot of politics in that. congressman, good to see you this morning, guy, thank you so much. we'll be right back.

maria: welcome back. a change in leadership, new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez speaking out in a recent podcast interview saying that it is time for house speaker nancy pelosi and senate minority leader chuck schumer to step aside and be replaced. she also says that the current democratic leadership has not groomed any young lawmakers to take on those rules. the democratic house leaders are all over of 80 years old and speaker pelosi has said if

reelected this upcoming term will be her last as house speaker. dagen mcdowell, we know that alexandria ocasio-cortez is trying to unseat both of these individuals. she's trying to primary candidates to take their places but in that interview yesterday she was very clear, she said it's time for them to go. dagen: allow me to paraphrase. don't let the door hit you where the good lord split ya. but now alexandria ocasio-cortez, the congresswoman, she has more ammunition because of nancy pelosi's foul-up as the house speaker and as a private individual, whether it's the display of ice cream, the haircut, but also it is the fact that she held up and basically tap danced aid for americans in need ahead of the election and then admitted it.

that she put politics over the people. and that is just appalling, particularly to people in i would think alexandria ocasio-cortez's district, because this is one of the hardest hit areas in the country. that and the fact that pelosi playing politics actually led to -- they didn't turn any seats blue in texas. the republicans added seats in places like california. this is the thinnest, the most narrow majority since the end of world war i. so now alexandria ocasio-cortez can point to this and say, see, she screwed up and she screwed fellow democrats, time for her to go. maria: yep. heather, that means you're going to see very different policy when you're talking about the extreme progressives, this is the group that came out with the $100 trillion green new deal. this is the group that keeps talking about more than

$4 trillion in tax increases. we know everything's riding on this georgia senate race but it all played out pretty clearly in that conversation aoc had yesterday. heather: yeah, she said she wants to point people in the right direction but i think the majority of americans are moderate for the most part, so pointing people into the green new deal and extreme leftist ideology is not necessarily the right direction. i mean, 2,000 americans -- sorry, many -- the majority, over 80% of americans got a $2,000 tax cut so they're going to reverse that and then the devastating toll and the amount of jobs that would be lost in the energy policy, so i prior yale your --appreciate her honey when she said she should not be the next speaker of the house, that she's not ready yet, she's not. or hopefully not ever ready. but i hope there's a more moderate choice. maria: yeah, she says she

wasn't ready yet. that was an interesting comment as well. we'll take a break. when we come back it is a messy morning, a messy winter snowstorm slamming the northeast. the full forecast on one of the biggest nor'easters to hit in a decade. stay with us. labradoodles, cronuts, skorts. (it's a skirt... and shorts) the world loves a hybrid. so do businesses. so, today they're going hybrid with ibm. a hybrid cloud approach lets them use watson ai to modernize without rebuilding, and bring all their partners and customers together in one place. that's why businesses from retail to banking are going with a smarter hybrid cloud using the tools, platform and expertise of ibm.

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maria: welcome back. good thursday morning, everybody. thanks so much for joining us, i'm maria bartiromo. it is thursday, december 17th. gulgoogle is facing lawsuits frm 10 different states this morning over advertising practices. cheryl casone with details now. cheryl: that is right, maria. led by texas and ten other states, the suits allege that google com colluded with facebon order to cut down on competition, with facebook receiving preferential treatment in google run ad auctions. the deal was referred to as jedi blue. both facebook and google are denying the claims. take a look at the stocks, both of them are slightly higher.

well, alabama amazon warehouse worworkers set to vote to unione possibly. the workers can vote on whether or not they want to join the retail wholesale and department store union, the first election of its kind in six years for amazon workers. it needs a majority vote from the facilities, 1500 workers, if it is successful it could inspire other union votes among their 800,000 employees, all across the country. taking a look at amazon in the premarket, up almost a quarter percent. well, the nfl is in talks with its partners on new tv deals worth more than $100 billion over the next decade. the new york post is reporting the deals could be mostly status quo, except for thursday nights where amazon is emerging as a top contender. amazon prime and twitch will stream next saturday's 49ers and cardinals game and abc is added to the super bowl rotation. the new tv rights deals are

expected to be finalized early 2021. and finally, this. long overdue. the mlb is elevating the negro leagues to major league status. 3400 black and latino players from seven distinct leagues will be part of baseball history. the move recognizes some of the game's greatest players which include willie mays and josh gibson. those are some of your headlines from the newsroom. back to you. maria: cheryl, thank you so much. we are looking at a tough day outside, a major nor'easter slamming the northeast, bringing snow, wind, power outages along with it. janice dean back with us with the latest weather developments. janice, good morning. >> good morning, maria. some areas are waking up to three feet of snow, especially across upstate new york. our first nor'easter of the

season certainly outperforming some of the snowfall forecasts across upstate new york and central pennsylvania. around the new york city area, some areas reporting 3 inches, u are. we had a mixture of freezing rain and sleet that moved in overnight and cut back on some of the totals. we're still going to deal with more snow throughout the morning and the afternoon things will start to taper off. new england, you'll see the potential for heavy snow in your forecast as we get into the afternoon and the temperatures are going to remain very cold. so areas that have the big snow totals, it's not going to melt very fast. and the wind gusts, if you've got snow on the ground and wind gusts in excess of 30, 40 of miles per hour along the coast, that's going to cause poor visibility and treacherous travel. winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings in effect for the next several hours, from new jersey, towards pennsylvania, upstate new york and new england and as i mentioned those temperatures are going to remain cold over the

next few days. so where there is a lot of snow, it will stay put as we head into the weekend. maria, back to you. maria: all right. janice, thank you so much. janice dean with the latest out there. that looks like a very messy morning. we are locking back down apparently, new york mayor bill de blasio is calling for another shutdown of the big apple that could run up to four months beginning right after christmas. across the country, a growing number of areas are already shut down, businesses are telling people to stay home as coronavirus cases spike nationwide. that is the governor's order. joining us now is former new york times reporter, the author of tell your children, alex baronson. thank you for being here. i'll tell you, this winter storm is adding to an already tough period for cities. what is your reaction to what's taking place in new york, the governor now shutting down indoor dining. this is pretty much putting the nail in the coffin for some

businesses. >> yes. i think that we should be asking whether or not there is economic and social and medical just at r lockdowns. i believe there are 2,000 people hospitalized in new york city with or from the coronavirus at this point. in april there were 12,000. not only is it not clear -- i wrote about this in the unreported truth in the second booklet, not only is it not clear that lockdowns do any good, it's absolutely unclear that there's any justification for them. if the idea of a lockdown is to prevent hospital overrun and the hospitals are functioning completely normally, what are we doing aside from punishing businesses and punishing people who have had a really rough year and want their lives to return to normal. maria: this is all quite

extraordinary, alex. and you are now working on the third installment of your unreported truths, about covid-19 and lockdowns. the series initially blocked from being sold on amazon without any reason, only to have them made available again following the backlash. what's your take on getting censored, alex? you couldn't even come up with this series on amazon. >> yes, so we talked about this a little bit last time. i think this is a dangerous phenomenon that arguably is more important to our society than covid is going to be going forward, whether or not we're going to have open debate as a society on important issues or whether or not tech companies that effectively are functioning as monopolies and quasi monopolies are going to be blocking views they don't like. they could be liberal or conservative. do we want private companies standing as gate keepers on the flow of information, whether it's me writing unreported

truths, whether it's somebody that has a opinion on global warning. it doesn't matter. we need open debate and discussion. we can't have amazon and google and facebook functioning as authoritarians. maria: that is exactly right. and you know, we just saw the so-called arbiter of truth, twitter, which thinks it is all of a sudden the arbiter of truth say we couldn't hear the hunter biden story and now we know that there is a criminal federal investigation into hunter biden and his dealings and right before the election we're in the middle of a constitutional crisis and twitter decides oh, we're not going to run that and anybody who talks about it we're going to shut you down. i mean, everybody should be upset about this because they may be coming after conservatives, republicans now but at some point thugs are thugs, they're coming after you. >> that's absolutely right. and one thing that is forgotten but we can't say enough is that amazon, facebook, google, they

benefited tremendously from the lockdowns. cynically, you would say they would like this to continue forever. it makes people more reliant on tech, puts their competitors out of business, puts small business out of business, it is terrible for the country but it is good for big tech. you can't tell me that they're not aware of that. maria: it's a great point. how about this point, alex? joe biden adding several former big tech employees to his transition team. google's current global program manager, deon scott, will now serve on biden's homeland security review team. several current facebook employees are pegged to join the state department and the small business administration. so alex, now we know what was going on, while they were censoring everything around donald trump, they were gearing up to take jobs in a biden administration. what's your take on former big tech workers now working for joe biden? >> well, i mean, regulatory capture is a thing, right. it's a thing of the sec. it's a thing in the oil and gas

industry and it appears to be a thing in tech and companies that regulate tech too. t it's a revolving door, is a problem. it's been a problem for a long time. it seems to be for whatever reason more of a problem with democratic administrations and large technology companies, which is sort of unexpected because you would think those companies might lean libertarian. turns out they seem to lean democratic for whatever reason. maria: there you go. >> yes. maria: go ahead, alex, finish your thoughts. >> oh, no. i'm sorry. no, i just -- i think, look, we're right now we're in the middle of this vaccine rollout, okay, and a lot of people have legitimate questions about the vaccine and the safety of the vaccine. that's not to say that the vaccines don't look effective, not to say that a lot of people aren't going to want to take them and have no problems taking them but we need to be able to have discussions about this and the tech companies by the way have already said, at least youtube has said they're going to censor discussions about the

vaccine. what this does, okay, and what you said about tech and biden and sort of this revolving door, what all these things do is unfortunately breed more conspiracy theories. when you think you can't get the information that's out there because it's being suppressed and then you see, well, the administration and tech are just sort of one in the same, of course even reasonable people may wonder what's going on. and that is not where we want to be. it's not good for public health. it's not good for debate. it's not good for our society. maria: it's not american, by the way. it's not a free and fair country. it's not america. it's more like communist china is what it's like. alex, it's great to see you. thanks for all your great work. please come back soon. >> thanks, maria. maria: alex baronson joining us there. coming up, could wearing a used mask be worse than not wearing a mask at all. we've got a new study that may surprise you. you will want to hear about wearing that mask a second time.

then, a bulletproof super car with a super expensive price tag on it. it's making a buzz this morning. you're watching "mornings with maria," live on fox business. stay with us. ♪ latel to all the businesses that helped us make it through 2020... thank you for going the extra mile... and for the extra pump of caramel. thank you for the good food... and the good karma. thank you for all the deliveries... especially this one. you've reminded us that no matter what, we can always find a way to bounce forward. so thank you, to our customers and to businesses everywhere, from all of us at comcast business.

maria: welcome back.

warding off the coronavirus, a new study says wearing a used mask is more dangerous than not wearing one at all. a new three layer surgical mask is 65% effective in filtering air particles out. but once used, that number drops to 25%. this as we're watching the pfizer vaccine roll out across the country. joining me right now to talk about all of this is family medicine physician, dr. jeanette nesheiwat. welcome back. how often should a disposable mask be used, how often should a cloth mask be washed. >> great question, maria. according to the cdc and world health organization, a disposable mask like this one, a surgical mask, should be thrown out every time you use it. for me, i throw it out once a day. i use it and throw it away. a cloth mask, they recommend you wash it daily. the reason is, because people are adjusting the mask, they're touching it.

the pleats become compromised, lose the inte integrity and thas how the viral particles get into the mask and enter your nose, your eyes, your mouth and that's how you can potentially get sick. so it's always a good idea if you have a surgical mask, throw it out after each use. and also with a cloth mask make sure you wash it daily to protect yourself. maria: but i mean, with that surgical mask, sometimes you have it on and then you take it off and maybe you want to take a drink and then you put it back on or maybe you want to put it under your chin while you're sitting having dinner and then you put it back on. should i be considering wearing it once before i take it off to take a drink. is that once? or am i still wearing it after i took my drink? >> i usually use one in a day and i throw it out at the end of the day. the concern is, if you're touching it with your hands and there could be viruses, bacteria on the mask that you may be touching, adjusting, putting it

down, picking it up. that's where the concern is. it's unrealistic to use five or ten of them a day, but usually i will use one in a day and throw it out and i'm careful when it put it on and off to use this, make sure we're not touching this part, so you're not contaminating your face or other things that you are touching which can somehow enter the body. have you to be careful to wash your hands as well. maria: yeah. because somebody i know just the other of day took it off and then put it in her bag and in her bag she had her glasses and wallet. so she just put the mask she had on in her bag with her glasses which she is going to put non a second anyway. that's bad, right? >> well, yeah, it's not good. there's a chance of transmission of virus or fungus or bacteria. the most common route of transmission still remains through aerosol, through the res respiratory tract. maria: it's cold out. people are bundling up as

temperatures drop. what about winter gloves, should winter gloves be washed regularly as well and how do you see wearing your winter gloves versus your surgical gloves. >> with surgical gloves you use them once with each patient and we throw them away. with winter gloves, it's not practical to wash your gloves every day. if you can do it once a week, that's more real livings realis. the most important thing is to wash your hands after using your gloves. and then if you come into the house, maybe set them at the side where the doorsteps are in case they are contaminated. it's not practical to wash your gloves every single day, your winter gloves. the most important thing is keeping your hands washed as soon as you take those gloves off. maria: these are all really important practical questions. we've got a lot more on the vaccine rollout. some of the first non-healthcare workers received their vaccines this week, nursing home residents, staff ayou cross the country -- across the country rolled up their sleeves, got that shot.

dr. nesheiwat, what can the general public expect from this vaccination? when should we expect to get vaccinated? is it two needles, two shots? how will it be administered other than that? is there an alternative to getting the shot? >> sure. most of the shots, the pfizer vaccine and moderna are two shots, three to four weeks apart. for the general public that are young, healthy, no underlying medical problems, not a healthcare worker, not in a nursing home you'll likely be able to get your shot in the spring and early summer. we have lots of vaccines in the pipeline, moderna, pfizer, johnson & johnson, everyone will be able to get it, as soon as it's ready, go out there and get it and it's going to save your life. maria: dr. jeanette nesheiwat great info from you as always. come back soon. we'll be right back. are you frustrated with your weight and health?

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maria: welcome back. time for the morning buzz, first up, fast, furious and bulletproof. armored car outfitter ad armor turning the ferrari 458 special into a bulletproof be h hemoth. the price tag, $625,000. dagen mcdowell, your reaction? dagen: to be clear, this is just aftermarket armor that this company put on a ferrari, trying to promote i guess its armored car business. that being said, who really needs this? like who needs to have a bulletproof office ferrari. some rich dude who has money to burn, i guess. maria: yeah. i mean, where are you going to

park that thing? $625,000. wow. heather: you can park it anywhere if it's bulletproof. maria: okay. that's true. i want to get your take on ikea's latest trend, tiny homes. the swedish furniture store's newest venture is built for sustainability. they're offering small trailer size homes full of solar panels, composting toilets and on demand heater supply. you can move in for just under $50,000. we know how hard it is to put a dresser together. you're going to put the home together, obviously. heather: it's really cute. ikea calling it a perfect pairing because of your furniture. every time you buy something you have to put it together for hours. do you actually have to build the home as well? it's saying they're not missing out on any luxuries, but that home improvement trend is we're all working -- the majority of us are working from home if you're fortunate enough to keep your job makes stuff like this

headline news because it might be valuable to some of us who aren't going back to the office. maria: all right. quick break and then kentucky senator rand paul is here, we're going to talk about the election irregularities we all know existed. a new stimulus deal and a lot more. it all starts next hour. "mornings with maria" is live on fox business. .

maria: welcome back. good monday morning. thanks so much for joining us. i'm maria bartiromo, it thursday, december 17, top stories this morning, 8:00 a.m. east coast, a contentious battle on capitol hill as lawmakers discuss voting irregularities, in the 2020 election, many saying there was in fact fraud, and that a proper investigation is where imperative rand paul here at that hearing yesterday will join me next. >> bad news for hunter biden to report a bombshell e-mail out appears to assure hunter

asking for 10-million-dollar wire nontransfer from chinese company we are digging deeper into extraordinary report this morning and its impact, standing by for stimulus lawmaker negotiating 900-billion-dollar bipartisan deal if passed before christmas what we can expect to see coming up markets rallying on number of wrns, that stimulus plan among them dow industrials right now up 108 nasdaq up 64 s&p 500 up 18, in fact, nasdaq will begin trading session at another all-time high the markets finished higher yesterday, on renewed stimulus hopes a dovish federal reserve outlook we heard from fed chairman 2:00 yesterday as expected nasdaq notching another record close at 12658 yesterday dow industrials down 47, nasdaq up 63 s&p higher by 6 1/2, winter is here, a massive snowstorm blankets northeast full forecast as we head into the

weekend coming up owing innovation break through the for in vitro fertilization to manage identify store frozen easing, budweiser wants to get in the spirit using furry friends "mornings with maria" is live right now. . >> european markets also with firmer tone ft 100 up 13 cac quarante in paris up 23 dax up 97 servers waiting for a deal on brexit before the end of the year, that is britain negotiating with eu, over a trade deal, as it exits the european union, in asia overnight markets mostly higher best in china shanghai composite up better than 1%, probing election irregularities homeland security committee holding hearings on 2020 issues, yesterday with heated arguments breaking out, watch.

>> the fact there last two presidential elections have not been accepted as legitimate by large percentages of the american public, is a serious problem that threatens our republic,. >> i am -- concerned today's hearing will do more harm than good confusing a few anecdotes about human error with insidious claims president has aired. >> i think continued assault on democracy and the outcome of this election only serves to undermine confidence in the process. >> i am not too keen on lectures, about how missourians others voted for president there now have concerns, about fraud about integrity about compliance with law, should this be quiet if somehow not patriotic if they raise these questions. >> member of senate homeland security governmental affairs committee senate foreign he relations committee rand paul senator great to see you this morning thanks very much for being here you were at that

hearing yesterday take us behind the closed doors, what did you take away from that? >> so a most exciting headquarters i have been to in years explosive, raw emotions both sides there says serious point if you want less fraud in elections you want elections to be legitimate considered legitimate you have to punishes no who committed fraud 1500 people were ineligible to vote, deceived in nevada whoever did that needs to go to jail 4,000 illegal ail aliens voted need to not be aloud to vote whoever allowed it to happen needs to go to jail it needs he to be if i could we have a lot of o work to try to make sure elections are legitimate this is not new i remember famous story liflt bj midnight scotch in one hand illegal votes in shoe box at another he says we've woen turn in illegal votes in opponent tirnz his in 2:00 a.m. in the morning lbj vows never to turn

his illegal votes in the until other guy already turned is in we have a history of cheating in my state a guy named pritchard part of kitchen cabinet for fdr went to jail if you don't put people in jail for stuffing ballot box you've got more of it this its the beginning probably courts don't like to hear this right after elections, my dad had election stolen 1976 could you rephrase the question would never give justice never listen to facts kept doing what they are doing to president trump which is throwing the cases out based on procedural technicality but not on facts. maria: well i mean these are faction everybody on each side of the aisle should want spot looitsdz you spotlight three cases why wouldn't everybody want to ensure confidence in elections if same thing happening i feel like on intelligence assessment john ratcliffe dni wants to come

out with intelligence assessment due tomorrow, on friday. and he is not going to sign on to it unless there is a fair debate, about what china did and whether or not there was chinese interference in this intersection we know the pandemic changed everything here is the dni on this program telling us about the pandemic's impact not just about killing hundreds of thousands of people in america but what it did to our election, take a list snooen in in united states pandemic flund a lot about how people voted, but also how they had to vote. as a result of the pandemic we saw state legislatures, are as low as 90 days before election adopting new voting procures essentially we had universal mail-in balloting cross the country in a way we wadn't seen before. to that point, almost 73% of the american people, this year, voted before election

day, a good percentage of those by mail. that is about an 80% increase over anything we have ever seen before. so, it -- it is a little wonder that we see the what is happening around the country as a result of that, with mail-in balloting all the questions, and -- the questions that are being raised, in lawsuits, by every day americans, about what happened in thehould not he we all agree on all sides of the aisle, that there was a serious situation with china, and that offset our vote? >> well i think the general for a long time wanted mail-in voting as much as two from peopn in a lot of information about the country, but it is a way for them to expand to that vote that is typically kademocrat i think they purposely used pandemic to transform our elections not only was it illegal as far as noncitizens, or people voting

twice, but also the election law was changed by people who have no constitutional right to states, governors changes the law without the legislature we have to do something about that that is a legal question i think courts have gotten it wrong so far the courts have not even really listened to argument just dismiss cases the idea a that a secretary of state can change election law but legislature passing that, is completely against every tenet of the state constitution as well as the federal precaution. >> yeah, that was basis of the texas lawsuit supreme court wouldn't even hear it, i want to get to covid relief story your take on georgia race are we seeing the same situation in georgia january 5th where there were more ballots than actual people who voted, where never in an envelope where envelopes were separated from ballots you couldn't compare

signatures? >> there were 1700 people we heard voted twice, the secretary of state needs to prosecutor every one of them did heter them from doing it again, votes should not be counted there are thousands of people who voted from the wrong address in georgia those people need to be taken out are the system register from legal address or preechtdz from voting from illegal address i don't know if they are doing any of that most important they are mailing out a solicitation to vote by mail not in state slau created out of the whole clothing by secretary of state, would they do it again? yes, i am very, very concerned if you absolutist votes from typically nonvoters you will affect change outcome i am worried democrats will transform all three branches of government and transform america not for the better. maria: that is extraordinary

if not policeing in place ing, the bipartisan 900-billion-dollar stimulus package he individual checks 6 to 700 dollars a person no state local or business liability protection is included in this bill, negotiations are close to an agreement by 1.4 trillion-dollar spending package to avoid government shutdown friday at midnight, what can you tell us about all of this senator? where are we do you support -- >> the one thing you typically get compromise around here for us spending money would don't have last year spent 3.about the trillion we didn't have we had to borrow this year this new package i suspect it will pass, it will be two trillion dollars more in addition debt a problem i don't think this much debt is good for country 138% of our gdp, with our tax so there is a real problem there is a day of reckoning i don't support it i think the way the economy opens up the way the economy can recovery,

is simply by opening up again, there is no science to keep schools closed no good science to safekeeping restaurants closed no real signs that anything we have done changed trajectory of this, other than the vaccine. and so it aappalls you me so call tv doctors on chaejs wear a mask you don't need a vaccine the matching is more important to protect you than vaccine, 80% getting the virus wearing a mask he whole time will tell you we wear it all the time still got it, it is malpractice to tell people mask is enough to protect you people should go for the a vaccine absolutely. >> also, to say that the science tells us close down arraignments. where do they get in. >> arbitrary, capricious capital authortarianism why we circulate never give so much power to oneperson. >> please come back soon thank

you so much senator rand paul, joining us this morning in d.c. coming up next, adding the america's vaccine arsenal, health and human services assistant secretary admiral is here ahead of the pending approval for moderna's vaccine fda committee hearing that today, then cruise control bag fires tom cruise's outburst on latest "mission: impossible" set rubbed people the wrong way making a buzz you are watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business, ♪ rocking around the christmas scene ♪ ♪ later we will have have pumpkin pie and ♪ ♪ ♪

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futures gain starting trading on expectation optimism over a stimulus detail dow industrials up 127 nasdaq up 68 s&p higher by 20,

yesterday, right here we reported on november retail sales,down 1.1%, worse than expected, largely due to the spike in covid-19 cases, lack of stimulus, and increasingly, lockdowns across the country the decline could point to possible slowdown in economic growth this recovery joining me write now to talk more about that perot company chairman ross perot, jr., thank you so much for being here -- president's -- group for economic recovery, tell me what you feel is the state of the recovery right now, have things hit a soft spot? >> in texas we've had a very strong recovery going on for the businesses we're in, we see 2021 being very strong so we have not seen a slowdown we are this housing in industrial lot of warehouses across the country as e-commerce boom continues to take hold we are

very busy industrial busy housing busy, if you are in texas, restaurants are open stores are open feels about 85 to 90% normal in this state. >> wow, what a difference, if you are waugd around new york doesn't feel very normal today with so many closings you mentioned housing market, of course, low there are thes have been a boost homebuilder confidence dropped in december after three straight months record highs housing starts permits out later this morning 15 minutes' time what can you tell us about the state of real estate. >> real estate again if housing market is very strong realtor confidence not dropped, we will build almost 50,000 new homes in this market, the biggest challenge now is out of land out of lots almost running out of labor to build homes it is a boom and we feel 2021 will be very strong as we move into this year this year is area of

great confidence optimism. maria: of course, that is one area, money is mobile it will move to where it is treated best you've got ceo of tesla eli lilly, confirming he is moving to texas from california. noted that two biggest projects the tesla factory spacex facility are based in texas hp oracle also announcing moves to texas, ross, i mean here we've got a serious problem with high-tech states a massive exodus buying a home in if texas tell us about the policies in texas you believe are luring people and businesses. >> maria don't forget chuck schwab moved headquarters to texas never seen it over 30 years the number of people moving in, and moving into a state has economic freedom.

optimistic reasonable taxes reasonable regulations very affordable we want your business our governor called each each ceos and welcomed them to the state personally, elon to move elon a great visionary into the world now moved into this state when of you got a governor number one sale person ways in governor's mansion three weeks ago with the governor, and major companies east coast, he is personally selling bringing them into this state, that is our attitude maria. maria: that is a big deal. i am glad you made that point, great to see you this morning. thank you so much you are not hearing that kind of rhetoric i tell you right now from governor of new york, and governor of california. quite the opposite, quick break being. >> our doors are open. maria: i know i know they are is the border wall open the progress of the border wall whether or not it is in danger how a biden administration

could hurt one of the president's key accomplishments we will take you live to the border in texas and california when we come back. invitro forgetization technology can manage identify store frozen eggs forries you are watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business, stay with us. ♪ ♪ move your soul ♪ ♪ days of old, rock 'n' roll ♪ . the usual gifts are just not going to cut it.

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border wall in this administration mark morgan, says that move could cost billions, grady trimble is live at border wall today in arizona with more. >> good morning. >> good morning, maria. you can see newly you go constructed wall ends old events -- set to be publicized might not happen under biden joe biden said he wants to stop construction of the wall completely part of the reason crews are working around the clock to complete as much as possible expect to complete at least 450 mild by the end of the year we traveled about 15 miles along the border wall to remote part of arizona where you can see where wall ends construction is still going on, federal government has enough money to continue building more than 200 additional miles of the border

wall, u.s. customs border commissioner says terminating existing contracts would be costly. >> joe biden has said he will not build another foot of wall quote that is very disturbing, look, they have that they can do that -- called a a termination for convenience they can terminate the contract for building the wall but that is going to cost taxpayers billions of dollars. >> it is worth noting that joe biden when he was a senator in 2006 voted in favor of the secure events act maria clearly since then changed his mind. >> all right. thank you so much graded grawed, you are in arizona, at the border wall, irspoke with attorney general of texas, ken paxton this weekend on sunday, he shares that concern, watch. >> trump administration obviously, did a lot at border are you expecting a change in

that political. >> i am very concerned the trump administration did more for illegal immigration ending it protecting our citizens any other president we have ever had yeah, i am concerned. maria: another story we will be following as it develops, let's take a short break when we come back we've got economic data on the other side of this break jobless claims may very well be a market mover we will look adding to america's vaccine arsenal health and human services secretary for health admiral is here to talk with the impending approval of moderna's vaccine. stay with us. even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib... ...not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm reaching for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both.

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and we're here to help you get started. book your free virtual or in-home design consultation today. for joining us. i'm maria bartiromo, thursday, december 17, it is just under just before 8:30om on the east coast hour away from the opening bell standing by for initial jobless claims, we are expecting 800,000 initial

jobless claims filed in the last week, futures higher going into this number, the market mover dow industrials up 118 nasdaq up 6 the s&p 500 up 19 1/2 dagen mcdowell, your anticipation, here are how have things been looking better or are we in a soft spot. dagen: they've been worsening most of that because of shutdowns in places like california, los angeles, los angeles county and even new york, the danger jobs that disappear from over people are permanently for a very long time unemployed total number of americans collecting any unemployment benefit last week close to 20 million americans includes federal program that expire the end of the year i know cheryl has the numbers. maria: breaking news to cheryl casone we go. cheryl: let's take a look at first we are coming in worse than expected on expectations for initial jobless claims this kind of continues the

trend, we've been seeing since november expectation having 800,000 initial claims from 853 last near came in 885, if you look at continuing claim economists have been focused on recently, expectation was 5.598 we came in at 5.51 million on that, 5.508 if you want to split hairs on that one now move over to what we're seeing with regards to housing starts permits for the month of november again interest rates at 2.65%, november housing starts estimate 1.53 million annualized number we came in 1.547, so you still have strength that we are looking at with regards to the housing market now let me get to permits right now, housing perlts coming in signing family 1.3% overall 1.639 million that is better-than-expected on permits so again when you

actually have, your digging into ground starts construction the permits number both coming in better-than-expected, that is when permits are issued so again, we are seeing strength in the housing market but seeing witness as we expected quick send it back to you getting the philly fed for december index coming in -- 8.5 for the month december, versus 27.2 november not good for that region economic excuse me excuse me justin? >> i will send it back to you that is -- 11.1, are i'm sorry 11.1, that was -- 11.1 virus for the philly fed 26.3 a weak number i was looking at the unemployment index for philly fed all factoring in markets today back to you.

maria: yeah i mean you are right in terms of it is way below expectations, on philly fed i liked housing starts at least we are seeing growth in housing starts that was better-than-expected number but jobless numbers also on the soft side, we are looking for emergency use authorization today, on the vaccine, to food and drug administration holding key meeting later today on moderna covid-19 vaccine if all goes well this vaccine will be approved adding another vaccine to america's arsenal to defeat the coronavirus, joining me right now is the assistant secretary for health, department health and human services admiral brett giroir. >> great to be with you. >> tell me about moderna vaccine are you optimistic we are getting the emergency use there what does that do to overall arsenal for to america's vaccine now? >> so, i am very enthusiastic

about the moderna vaccine, this summary provide by fda 95% efficacious preventing covid one hundred percent efficacious preventing severe disease works in 18 through 25 year olds also in elderly cross the age spectrum side effects very mild similar to what we saw with pfizer means your immune system is working sore arms a little bit of fat aig if ford in addition to two million doses we anticipate 5.9 million doses moderna almost 8 million next week on top of 2.5 million this week. >> change to expectations in terms of how many can get vaccinated this year going into 2021 azar was saying we could have much public vaccinated by middle next year

is that still on track? >> that really is, with a high degree of certainty that by june anyone in this country who he wants a vaccine could have a vaccine, we do xop 20 million people in the united states this month 30 million in january, and then another 50 million doses in february some first time recipients some getting their second dose up from there dramatically, is to, we are absolutely on schedule, and it is very exciting we have work to do right now the end of the pandemic is in sight really is going to be mid next year. maria: and we thank you had a admiral, your leadership, and alex azar leadership obviously, president trump mobilizing the entire industry thank you for coming to the call that you did, for america, more pfizer vaccine expected to go out with this amount of shipments finishing sunday let me ask you about this side effects i am glad

you brought that up a moment ago, because we are hearing stories of an allergic reaction what should people understand about side effects there is a demographic feeling side affects. >> the only report that we have right now, of a serious side effect, was one of these allergic reactions in united kingdom they occurred in people sort of hyperallergic at baseline this was a young health care worker did not have that type of history she had an allergic reaction if you do numbers this is probably going to be in range of one in 500,000, to one in a million, what you can expect. now she was treated immediately, with the appropriate antiallergy medicines he have enbenadryl fine she is a troorl encourages everyone get vaccinated not happy she can't get her second dose we are going to see the one in 500,000 have one in a million

kind of allergic reacts we want to make sure even in those circumstances there is appropriate medications to treat it. >> admiral is there anything surprising that you have noted in this rollout what has struck you most, what is most important to you? in terms of this rollout that our audience might need to understand better. >> so, you know, there are so many important this is historic time because we are seeing the end of the pandemic in sight. we are really doing two things at the same time, number one trying to get herd immunity by vaccinations will help with when 70, or 80% american public is vaccinated or had virus what we're doing right now is very important, because we are vaccinating for real immediate impact, by vaccinating our elderly population particularly whos in nursing homes assisted living a large minority deaths are people go to hospital for

long stays we want to achieve sort of end of pandemic we are going to see the burden on hospitals, are he mortality rate going down, significantly next couple months i am excited about that, and i feel for all my frontline workers i am intensive care physician for children, and they have just been heroic during entire time they need some relief, relief is coming for them that is good news for all america. will. maria: that is fantastic news given your background is it fair to say children are not susceptible? >> children are susceptible. to the virus. but they have much, much less chance of getting any severe consequences than adults it is very, very maul do i want to make the point that we are getting more and more information, that schools are safe, even this week, there was new cdc publication that said that, you know, the rates of positivity in children not associated with them going to

school. maria: yeah, that is what i wanted to get your take on, i am glad you knew where i was going with that admiral great to see you this morning. thank you so much to you and your team admiral brett giroir joining us this morning the baby boom we did not expect a spiking in the in vitro fertilization a big industry we are taking a closer look at with new technology coming up next the production staff hits back at tom cruise, cruz onset tirade over covid-19 safety has far-reaching consequences you are going to hear it on the morning buzz coming up you are watching "mornings with maria" live on fox business. ♪ ♪ up ♪ so if rhythm ♪ ♪ we were the first to bring 5g nationwide.

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expect covid-19 pandemic causing a spike in in vitro fertilization industry fertility center saw 41% increase in women freezing eggs this year an industry plagued with issues, over 100 million frozen egichl gs embryos globally in preparation for in vitro

fertilization will translate to billions in decades offer 300 million babies project to be born by the end of the? hurt the massive growth in the industry, preth challenges when it comes to storage, are safety, human error and out dated technology contributing heartbreaking headlines for would-be parents from storage mishaps disasters leading to destroyed samples to stream mistakes including embryos implanted in the wrong person time has come to improve a system not updated in over four decades frozen eggs embryos, stored in glorified milk jugs, tracking via spreadsheets handwritten notes tomorrow the technology that addresses many problems plagueing the industry the cofounder of tomorrow how this platform will help transform the industry so that tomorrow

platform is first onrobotic, state of the art, frid technology to provide embryologists fertility clinics patients to peace of mind they need. >> joining me right now is the co-ceo of tomorrow, and founder juror away abram, bios fertility ceo chief medical officer, great to see you both thank you for joining us congratulations on innovative technology assess where we have does it surprise you how many families are taking this route? >> good morning, report says 00 million people are going to be -- 300 million people born in coming being decades doesn't surprise me one out of

10 cannot have a child without the help of a physician. so these numbers are not surprising. tomorrow, egg embryos safe and secure we replace the antiquated system in your report handwritten labels spreadsheets eggs stored in glorified milk jugs developed 40 years ago barely updated, we replace with a thoroughly automated robotic platform appropriate for human medicine, before tomorrow there is more technology frankly tracking 12 dollar pizza en route to your home than safeguarding eggs embryos o tomorrow for the first time physicians like dr. betros to carry for precious embryos providing the technology they wished they had. >>. maria: it is incredible innovation joshua thank you

tell me how it resonated what you are seeing in the marketplace today in terms how many families are trusting going this route? >> well, you know united states, we have economic barriers, to idf can be expensive a hoax is by drewing technology safety it represents we can begin to.com democratize pricing in other countries does not have the barrier, usings much higher first grade classroom in cop hallen one out of 10 of those children will be an ibf child tell me how important is alleviating issues how you see

this growing. >> these are very important points for the patients for scientists, physicians, what this does really important point is transformative machine learning results in safety that gives peace of mind. of a tell me more about that in terms of artificial intelligence, and the technology, used, in the procedure and what technology is critical. >> well, the technology that is being implemented allows for several hundred thousands of data points coming out of this tomorrow robot, what it does it is giving data before a problem occurs, you buy today look how many safety features are in there you put car in reverse cameras turning

on switching lanes, allowing -- that same mind-set is being brought to the patient and embryo storage so really you identify things and trends before there is even a problem. and that is incredible. maria: yeah. joshua, it allows families to decide on how to plan their family, how long condition ewill the ggs be stored what up type of growth have you seen at business at tomorrow alongside the spike that you are seeing in egg freezing this year. >> we are launching, clinicly with angie in january first in nation first of many progressive physicians adopted our platform we have agreements with clinics representing 30% of all u.s. fertility volume, so help is on the way. we're about to solve this problem working with

physicians like angie. i think that the this is only going to become more common, and the freezing the ability to freeze is a huge medical breakthrough massive vans to patients operate to control in a way never able to do before. >> unbelievable how long can they stay frozen joshua? >> indefinitely, recently, there was a report of a couple who had a child embryo, 30 years, so, the length of time is almost indefinite, and numbers that you said in your report are rising astronomically it is important that we get this right that we use the best technology to make sure that patients are well cared for doctors have tools they need to provide the

care, they want to provide. >> and lovely wonderful to see kind of leadership you've got at company, including, dr. jeffrey, great to see you both joshua abram dr., we will follow the story of tomorrow and watching the growth story, thank you so much for being here. >> coming up cruise control backfires tom cruise on the latest "mission: impossible" set making a buzz this morning we will be back with that. every year, we set out to do one thing:

help the world believe in holiday magic. and this year was harder than ever. and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute!

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distancing he went nuts they broke set protocol he got very upset, we've got the audio listen to this. >> -- i don't ever want to see it again. ever. and if you don't do it you are -- >> [bleep] you are not getting -- >> well i mean even more fallout this morning five staffers have reportedly quit following that outburst dagen you said you thought it might be staged it is all over the place now you've got staffers quitting. dagen: i thought it was a pushes stunt particularly. >> i agree with you. dagen: you don't talk to people that way if they are -- if they work for you, if they are -- in any kind of workplace, number one, number two to put it into context of what is going on here i encourage people to read leah remini statement put out of this again exposing

scientology her new mission in life kind of puts it in perspective. so i encourage you to read that. maria: what do you think? >> fund-raising time for entertainment industry not just travel leisure suffering in covid the film industry as well as music business we're going to have we are stuck with "mission: impossible" one through six right now we can do it. maria: [laughter], all right. quick break then more "mornings with maria" live on fox business right after this. and for the extra pump of caramel. thank you for the good food... and the good karma. thank you for all the deliveries... especially this one. you've reminded us that no matter what, we can always find a way to bounce forward. so thank you, to our customers and to businesses everywhere, from all of us at comcast business.

maria: it's been a jampacked program. final thoughts, dagen mcdowell? >> total number of people collecting unemployment at the end of november including federal programs was more than 20 and a half million people, almost a 20.7 million people, they need help.

maria: markets opening with another record for the nasdaq, heather? >> this jobs report on congress to act to get the fiscal stimulus, a relief spending past, i don't even think it's a stimulus, relief. happy birthday to my mom. i am and see my parents for a while. maria: dagen mcdowell, heather zumarraga great to see you. "varney & co." coming up. take it away, stu. stuart: good morning. new york city just took a heavy blow, a blizzard has shut us down and this comes on top of the bar and restaurant shut down, theater shut down, store shut down in these giant office buildings remain virtually empty. we are not done with the mayor threatening another full lockdown after christmas. it's time to question the whole lockdown policy, not working. it may slow the spread, but when restrictions are lifted the virus comes back