Schumer under fire for remarks threatening Supreme Court justices
Reaction from former Tennessee Democratic congressman Harold Ford, Jr.
This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," March 5, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Elizabeth Warren might be out of the race, but she could still decide who wins this race.
Thing is, today, she did not, refusing to tip her hand whether Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden will get her support. But that did not stop either of these guys from making a "Bachelorette"-like pitch for her affection.
So far, no decision.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.
And, as of this hour, we still do not know who will get the rose. What we do know is, Elizabeth Warren is very much playing hard to get, and won't make it easy.
To Molly Line in Boston on biz to win over Liz -- Molly.
MOLLY LINE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Neil.
As you mentioned, Elizabeth Warren stepping out here in the street this afternoon onto the concrete outside of her home here in Cambridge, Massachusetts, her voice filled with emotion, a little raspy after more than a year on the campaign trail here, making it official that she was ending her White House run.
Now, she stood up a bit for some of those principles that she ran on as she stood here, expressing thanks and gratitude to her team, to her supporters. She also promised to stay in the fight, touting some of those key issues, her wealth tax, the student loan forgiveness, affordable child care.
She was asked about the two white men that are now leading the field. Warren said she thought about all the -- quote -- "little girls who were going to have to wait four more years."
What Warren didn't say is who she would endorse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Will you be making an endorsement today? We know that you spoke with both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders yesterday.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Not today. Not today. I need some space around this, and want to take a little time to think a little more.
I have been -- I have been spending a lot of time right now on the question of suspending and also making sure that this works as best we can for our staff, for our team, for our volunteers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LINE: Meanwhile, her former competitors offering praise.
Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeting: "Senator E. Warren is the fiercest of fighters for middle-class families. Her work in Washington, in Massachusetts and on the campaign trail has made a real difference in people's lives. We needed her voice in this race and we need her continued work in the Senate."
Now, Senator Bernie Sanders also tweeting: "Without her, the progressive movement wouldn't be nearly as strong as it is."
And to Warren's supporters, he had this to say:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would simply say to her supporters out there, of whom there are millions, we are opening the door to you. We would love you to come on board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LINE: So, the courting of her backers is well under way -- Neil, back to you.
CAVUTO: Molly, thank you very, very much.
Well, Bernie might have a rose ready for Liz, but more like thorns for the other guy courting Liz. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Right now, what you're seeing is Wall Street opening up its checkbook to Joe Biden.
You're seeing Mike Bloomberg, worth $60 billion, prepared to support Joe Biden. And that is what a corrupt political system is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, he and Joe Biden still trying to woo Elizabeth Warren, each in his own unique way.
Democratic strategist Robert Patillo. We have got GOP strategist Holly Turner, and McClatchy White House reporter Francesca Chambers.
Well, Francesca, end it with you, begin with you.
They're pulling out all the stops to win her over. How much of a difference would it make to either them if they succeed?
FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, MCCLATCHY D.C.: Well, coming up on the next Tuesday, that's a state where Elizabeth Warren, in Michigan, which has a large number of the delegates that are up for grabs that day, she was polling last at 7 percent there.
And in a race where both of them are both in the 20 percent area, a little bit higher than that, that could be the difference for one of them to pick up her supporters.
And it really is unclear at this point where her supporters would actually go. All these polls that talked about first and second choices, now that the race has been so jumbled, and so many people have dropped out recently, it's really tough to say without new polling who's in first, who's in second, and where the rest of those people will go.
CAVUTO: Robert, it's interesting that she carries -- that is, Elizabeth Warren -- more influence and heft out of the race than when she was in the race.
Do you think that, to entice her, a Joe Biden would offer the running mate position?
ROBERT PATILLO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think that's to be determined at the convention.
There's going to be a lot of competing interests, and there's going to be a real question of what exactly Elizabeth Warren could bring to a potential ticket, given her standing in the race going forward.
And also to address Bernie Sanders' comments that he made, saying that Joe Biden is simply being supported by Wall Street and corrupt billionaires, Bernie Sanders knew he had an issue with African-American voters, yet skipped the Selma march, did not go to Edmund Pettus Bridge, has not spoken out on Nathaniel Woods, who is set to be executed in Alabama in just a couple hours.
So the fact that he thinks that the corrupt establishment is the reason he keeps losing, and not the fact that he has failed to make connections with regular Democratic base voters, he's trying to start a revolution. Joe Biden is trying to win an election.
Then the question is, how can Elizabeth Warren assist in doing so?
CAVUTO: Holly Turner, I don't know how Republicans look at this.
But the consensus -- and you have reminded me, as well as your co-panelists here have reminded me -- you never jump on whatever the consensus is for the moment, but, for the moment, it is that Joe Biden has maybe a clearer path to this nomination certainly then he did, and maybe clearer than Bernie Sanders right now.
Is that a fear? Is that building as a fear at the White House? Should it?
HOLLY TURNER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, I don't think so.
It changes the tactics, for sure. But the campaign is prepared for that. Look, President Trump has done his job. He's delivered on his promises that he made during the campaign. Voters across all of the swing states have seen lowest unemployment, highest wages, lowest taxes, lower regulation.
So he's done his part. It's up to the campaign now to go and package those messages and deliver them to those states. And it will change the map a little bit. Florida is in play if Biden is the nominee. If Bernie is, not so much. We would focus on some of the other Rust Belt states a little bit more.
But it doesn't change the president's odds when we look at some of these polls where the president is down in some of these key swing states. It's no different than, in 2016, when he was down against Hillary Clinton, and he still won. So the campaign is confident.
We're just going to see which states we need to focus on.
CAVUTO: Francesca, along comes this coronavirus, and the fears that it's escalating. It whipsaws markets like crazy. How much of an impact, or is it too early to tell, is this all having?
CHAMBERS: Well, within the White House, the president has put a lot of focus on this, because of exactly that, that this is something where -- with the markets, and -- but also with the American people and how much concern there is with the American people about what will happen with coronavirus.
It's certainly something that, for any presidency, if this sort of thing isn't handled correctly, could be a problem long term for the president. And I think that is why you have seen stepped-up efforts within the White House to put in new staff, to put Mike Pence in charge of this, to do daily briefings at the White House, most of which have been on camera, to really get out the information to the public to try and stall some of this, again, as you said, with the markets.
CAVUTO: Robert, real quickly, it's interesting that the candidates who in the beginning were kind of critical of the approach on our reaction to all this, have been holding fire on it, maybe because they simply don't know how it will end or maybe they realize it looks tacky.
I don't know. How do you describe it?
PATILLO: Well, I think what we have to understand is that, when you are dealing with both national security or our health issues such as this, this is where politics used to stop at the border's edge.
This is where people simply say, we cannot politicize something that we do not understand. It's not as if this is a partisan issue, how to deal with coronavirus. And I think one of the first political missteps that the president has made with his judgment was when he put the word hoax and coronavirus in the same speech, and then to the very next day have people start dying in Washington state and in Seattle.
It does make it look like there's somebody asleep at the switch when it comes to dealing with this national -- this emergency. So, I think Democrats have made the proper calculation to say that we're going to let the medical experts deal with it and not try to politicize the issue.
CAVUTO: Really, really quickly, Holly, I mean, that hoax was built on the idea that a lot of Democrats were attacking him over no matter what amount of money he was asking to deal with it. I think that's where it started.
TURNER: Right. Yes, it's been totally misconstrued.
And, look, as Americans, we owe the president a debt of gratitude for his handling of this so far.
CAVUTO: We shall see. As you all say, it is still very early.
In the meantime, now to Washington going and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to do damage control of his own, after saying two Supreme Court justices will -- his words -- pay the price if they rule against abortion advocates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: I'm from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language.
I shouldn't have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never, never would do such a thing. And Leader McConnell knows that.
And Republicans who, who are busy manufacturing outrage over these comments, know that too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: Well, a Supreme Court justice was among those concerned about his language.
Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso on all of this.
What do you think, Senator?
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, I think that Justice Roberts was right to call out Chuck Schumer for what, to me, seemed a direct threat to two members of the Supreme Court.
Neil, if someone stood outside your place of work or your home and called out your name, as Schumer did to these two chief justices -- to these two justices, and said, you will pay a price, you will not know what hit you, you would view it as a threat.
And I think that's why the chief justice did what he did, pointed out that -- where Schumer was absolutely wrong. And I think, if I were one of those justices, I would be concerned.
Look, that's the kind of thing that happened to ball players from the Republican Party before a congressional ball game, where, at their practice field, they were attacked. And it became a shooting field, with someone trying to kill them.
You have to be very concerned with your words. And I would expect much better from the minority leader, Democrat leader, Chuck Schumer. The chief justice of the Supreme Court was absolutely right to call him out.
CAVUTO: Should he be censured?
BARRASSO: Well, censure is something that would happen on the floor of the Senate.
I think what's more important is that Chuck Schumer ought to personally apologize to both of these justices. He ought to do it in person or letter, but he needs to apologize for what he said and the direct threat he made on their health and their lives.
CAVUTO: So, if he doesn't do that, and the closest we got to a mea culpa were the remarks you just heard, that's not enough for you?
BARRASSO: Well, it's not.
And Schumer needs to think about what he says before he speaks, that people listen to him. And he can incite violence. And he knows it. So, he needs to be better controlled in his own behavior.
But this is the way that Democrats tend to behave. Rather than working together, finding solutions, they want to attack. And that's exactly what Chuck Schumer did outside the Supreme Court. He went there. Look, he's been around this for a long time. He knew exactly what he's saying.
And I believe he intended to say it the way he did.
CAVUTO: But, I mean, it's not as if Democrats have the market cornered on inflammatory language, right?
BARRASSO: To me, this is about a physical attack.
When he calls people out by name, as he did for Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and said, you will not know what happened to you, we are coming for you, that tells me that there is a physical threat. They're going after the court in other ways.
The Democrats running for president want to stack the court, want to pack it in ways by adding more members of the court, which is what they're threatening if they win this election, which is why I'm focused so hard on making sure that President Trump gets reelected.
CAVUTO: All right.
BARRASSO: And he wants to take over the Senate and become majority leader. That is his goal.
CAVUTO: All right. But we will all work on dialing the rhetoric down.
But, Senator, thank you very much for taking the time.
BARRASSO: Thank you.
CAVUTO: Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are running up right now. Masks are running out right now. And, investors, well, they're just running away right now.
We connect. Let's just say you hide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, cruise ship nightmare, take two, or is that three, or is it four?
Anyway, whatever. Another one stranded at sea, growing fears today more than 2,500 passengers aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship off the California coast may have been exposed to the coronavirus, this after a 71- year-old former passenger died from the illness.
FOX News' Claudia Cowan in San Francisco with the very latest -- Claudia.
CLAUDIA COWAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil. That's right. More than 3,000 passengers are essentially stranded at sea while health officials race to try to identify anyone who may have contracted COVID-19 and investigate an outbreak on a previous cruise.
At a press conference this morning, officials confirmed that a number of people who are on this ship now have gotten sick, but they say the news is not all bad. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY ELLEN CARROLL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SAN FRANCISCO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT: A total of 35 have shown flu-like symptoms during the course of this 15-day cruise.
Many of those people have recovered and are no longer showing flu-like symptoms. Once we have results from the tests, the CDC and the state will determine the most appropriate location for the ship to berth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COWAN: A Coast Guard helicopter is airlifting hundreds of test kits to the ship. Samples will be collected today and tested at a Bay Area lab, with results expected as soon as tomorrow.
When this ship sailed to Mexico last month, at least two people contracted COVID-19, including an elderly man who died yesterday near Sacramento. When the ship returned to San Francisco on February 21, 62 people never got off. They continued on the subsequent cruise to Hawaii.
Since they have possibly been exposed, they are now under quarantine in their cabins. So, for now, no word on when this ship will be allowed to return or where it will dock. Neil, it was scheduled to come back here to San Francisco to this pier on Saturday. That is probably optimistic, and much will depend, as we heard, on the test results.
In the meantime, 55 confirmed cases of COVID-19 here in California, the most of any state -- back to you.
CAVUTO: Wow. All right, thank you, Claudia, very, very much.
Meanwhile, more wild swings on Wall Street, especially as these kind of news items come in, coronavirus cases that continue to climb, more and more companies continuing to warn, airlines likely looking at a more than $118 billion hit from battered bookings, and now reports some banks are preparing disaster plans, should the illness become more widespread in this country.
Charles Payne on the panic over what some health officials are already calling a pandemic.
But they -- it piles on, doesn't it?
CHARLES PAYNE, HOST, "MAKING MONEY": It piles on. It's the great unknown.
And the things that we do see, like on this with Claudia, she was able to connect the dots. And the last three days, in the midst of my show, we had breaking news, more deaths, particularly in Washington yesterday.
CAVUTO: Right.
PAYNE: Yesterday, it was the California -- the markets didn't crumble on that news, in the sense, because I think they were elderly folks, a lot in that particular nursing home, or, in that case in California, someone who had been in a cruise ship.
The unknown part of it, though, as it spreads, will younger adults take -- take a big physical hit?
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But that hasn't happened. It hasn't happened.
PAYNE: It hasn't happened, which is...
CAVUTO: So, when you hear all these precautionary measures that companies are taking, event planners are taking, is it over -- overdone?
PAYNE: I really believe a large part of that has to do with the fact we're such a litigious society.
If you have an event, and you don't cancel it, and someone shows up, and they end up with the coronavirus, you're going to get sued. You probably don't even have coverage for something like that, probably -- because it didn't exist when you were in initial stages of planning this thing.
So the better part of valor is to give people back their money, if you can. And so those are the smaller things. The bigger things are obviously these planes. When you take off with an empty plane, you never get that money back.
CAVUTO: Right.
PAYNE: Or if you park a jet that was supposed to take off today, you never get that money back.
I mean, those industries -- a week ago, I read where the Diamond Princess wanted to go back into service in about a month. Who's going to get on it?
CAVUTO: Right.
PAYNE: It's shocking to me. I mean, what are you going to charge? How much are they going to pay people to get on it? Really, it's like...
CAVUTO: And to think of the cruise industry itself, and people who are leery -- and we have heard this, that I don't even want to go on a jet these days. I don't care where it's going. I feel nervous.
And it feeds on itself.
PAYNE: It does.
What I will say was interesting is, I was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. And so I went to La Guardia and Reagan. And of all the hundreds of people, only one person had on a mask.
CAVUTO: Really?
PAYNE: Yes.
So, but, again, we haven't had any reported cases in this whole area. But now, of course, New York is up to two. And I haven't heard anything in D.C. But it's -- but -- so we might be able to fight it off. We have been through a lot.
But the unknown is about. And fear feeds on itself.
CAVUTO: It does. I don't know which is more starling there, the one face mask, or the fact that you were flying commercial.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Something I didn't hear.
PAYNE: Something -- yes, every now and then, you have to do that, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Charles Payne.
PAYNE: Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: He is the best, and I mean the best.
Well, forget about losing cash in the market. Top health officials don't even want you touching the cash in your wallet.
We will explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Cash might be king, but that doesn't mean all those paper bills still can't make you sick.
The World Health Organization is now advising people to cool it on cash, because, while you might like it in your wallet, you don't know where it's been before it got there. That's pretty much what they're saying.
To family and emergency room doctor Janette Nesheiwat.
Doctor, that's it. Now, if they're saying get the cash out of that wallet, be careful with it, what the heck?
DR. JANETTE NESHEIWAT, FAMILY AND EMERGENCY MEDICINE: Well, we're literally talking dirty money here, Neil.
CAVUTO: Right.
NESHEIWAT: And it makes sense. It's really not new.
So what happens is that the paper dollar, it's made out of like a linen type of fabric. So, virus, bacteria, E. coli, and staph, flu virus, even the COVID-19 virus, can contaminate the dollar bills. And they're handled so often.
So who knows what people have on their hands. So it goes from one person to another person. And you can potentially spread disease, virus, bacteria from one person to another. That's why they say wash your hands after you handle money.
CAVUTO: Well, you know what's going to happen?
You will go all out, a group of people. I wish -- I don't have any cash on me, because I'm afraid it's going to kill me. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
NESHEIWAT: Then use an alternative, credit card. Write a check, that you can't really wash...
CAVUTO: So, there's a logic to this, and all this stuff.
But do you ever get a feeling -- and I was talking to Charles Payne about the money side of this -- but that we're really scaring ourselves here to death, I mean, the money in our wallet, the -- whether we go out in a public venue, whether we go to a movie theater, whether we go out to a restaurant?
NESHEIWAT: Yes.
CAVUTO: Can't we make a bad situation worse?
NESHEIWAT: Well, we shouldn't.
And these are just commonsense precautions. It's not new that...
CAVUTO: Have you emptied the cash out of your wallet?
NESHEIWAT: I don't have any cash right now.
CAVUTO: OK, got it. You're a doctor. You have it.
(LAUGHTER)
NESHEIWAT: Everyone always takes it out of my bag.
But it's really commonsense precautions. This isn't new. A study came out in 2017 where they took a whole bunch of $1 bills here in New York, and they tested it. And they found over 397 different types of bacteria and viruses.
Just like -- what do they say? The remote controls are dirty. Cell phones are dirty. Dollars are dirty.
CAVUTO: Right.
NESHEIWAT: So these are just areas, common surfaces in the subway, where there's so many people coming and going, that it's normal for it to carry lots of germs and bacteria.
So, basically, what we're saying is, continue commonsense precautions. If you handle something dirty, whether it's money or a remote control or something outdoors, wash your hands, don't touch your face, because this is how we can prevent the spread of infection.
CAVUTO: But I wonder whether we get people's panic attacks going here.
NESHEIWAT: Yes.
CAVUTO: I even heard one doctor recommend, avoid restaurants with buffets.
Well, there's my life.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Right?
I mean, what do you do?
NESHEIWAT: Well, the problem with buffets is the risk of overeating. And so that's a bigger issue.
CAVUTO: That, I concede.
But I wonder whether this was just a dude waiting for it to empty out, so he could get all the food, but...
NESHEIWAT: Who knows. You never know.
But just moderation. Use commonsense precautions. There's no need to panic, no need to fear. We just have to live your life in a healthy manner. And if you're sick...
CAVUTO: But if someone else is not, then you're exposed, right?
NESHEIWAT: That's why it's important for us as doctors to educate.
If you're sick, stay home. Be considerate of your neighbor. Don't go out to public areas. Stay home until you're well.
And if your illness is getting worse, see your doctor, because we do have treatments for various infections, whether it's the flu infection. Even though there's actually no cure for COVID-19, there's treatment, there's supportive care that we can provide, so that you can get better quicker.
CAVUTO: All right, you're a great doctor, so help me with this.
NESHEIWAT: Thank you.
CAVUTO: This idea that there are getting to be mutating strains of this virus, I guess, in China.
I would imagine that makes it a little bit more complicated, because, if you're coming up with a vaccine to deal with the original version, and then it morphs into another or several versions, it's tougher.
But what do you make of that?
NESHEIWAT: Good question.
No, it's not complicated. The vaccine that's under way right now is specific for COVID-19. We have seven strains of coronavirus, two alpha strains, two beta strains. So those four strains are -- cause the typical common colds, sniffles, runny nose.
CAVUTO: Right.
NESHEIWAT: And then SARS and MERS, and now COVID-19, which, remember, Neil, about 80 percent of people will have very mild symptoms or no symptoms.
It's about 5 percent that will become critically ill. And, usually, those 5 percent are those with severe underlying medical disease, heart disease, lung disease, kidney failure. Maybe they're on dialysis, or they have diabetes or undergoing chemotherapy.
CAVUTO: Right.
NESHEIWAT: So those are the ones who are most at risk.
But, as far as the vaccine, no, it's specifically targeted to COVID-19.
CAVUTO: Got it.
NESHEIWAT: Just like the flu. The flu shot is different every year.
So, yes, strains can mutate, but we're focused on the current strain right now.
CAVUTO: Got it.
Doctor, thank you. I feel a little bit better right now.
NESHEIWAT: My pleasure. Good.
CAVUTO: I'm still going to go to the normal buffet, but very good seeing you.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: In the meantime, the president on his way to Pennsylvania for a town hall tonight right here on FOX. Can he hang on to the keys of the Keystone State?
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, did Chuck Schumer go simply too far with his Supreme Court remarks? You have heard from Republicans, Supreme Court justices.
Now a Democrat who says, you know what? Too far -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAVUTO: Trump bump, take two?
The president heading to Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for a FOX News town hall. Now, he won the state four years ago, when no one thought he had a chance. Can he do it again?
To Phil Wegmann at RealClearPolitics.
Phil, what do you think?
PHILIP WEGMANN, REALCLEARPOLITICS: I think that the president knows that he won there by about 44,000 votes in 2016. And this time around, he's not taking any chances.
He's there tonight because he wants to make the argument that he's the best guy to put back in the White House. And if you think about it, he knows that if Joe Biden is going to be the nominee, Joe Biden's going to have a little bit of home field advantage.
CAVUTO: And that's the one state where he thinks he has a chance.
But, as you say, with the other industrial states that the president stunned the world by picking up, Pennsylvania was almost too easy. I'm wondering how that shapes up and whether Pennsylvania could telegraph how the rest of these so-called swing states go.
What do you think?
WEGMANN: I think it's certainly possible.
And what I'm watching for tonight is for President Trump to go after Joe Biden on his promise to ban fracking.
CAVUTO: Sure.
WEGMANN: Remember, fracking and fossil fuels are a big part of the Pennsylvania economy, and he hasn't gotten too specific in his attacks thus far.
He's been able to address the field. But, as Joe Biden is emerging, I think he is becoming the foil to beat. And I don't think, whether it's in campaigning or perhaps later on the debate stage, that President Trump is going to let Biden get away with saying that he's going to get rid of that industry, which is worth millions of dollars in the state and employs a significant part of the population.
CAVUTO: Well, it's interesting, too, how much it hurt Bernie Sanders in like an Oklahoma, where, obviously, that has been a huge moneymaker.
And the difference that Biden confidants tell me is that he's not nearly as anti-this as is Bernie Sanders, but that might not cut it in a general election.
WEGMANN: Yes, we're getting ready for a big reveal right now, if Joe Biden becomes the nominee, because, for so long, we have heard again and again that he is a centrist, that he is a moderate, but that's only in comparison to the rest of the field.
CAVUTO: Right.
WEGMANN: What is very interesting is that Joe Biden argued that he was a moderate and the guy to beat Trump, and he adopted some of these farther left positions.
But if he is on the ticket come November, he's going to have to defend some of these things that he's adopted. And so this idea that he's a moderate is something that Trump is going to attack very heavily. And I expect to see that tonight.
CAVUTO: The Elizabeth Warren sort of wooing on the part of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, who do you think ultimately gets the rose here?
WEGMANN: Oh, boy, that's a tough question.
I talked to a Bernie Sanders national surrogate today, and they talked about the possibility of a super progressive ticket. They said that there's no way that Joe Biden or even Donald Trump could beat Bernie plus Elizabeth. I don't know if that's true.
But think about this. Remember, Elizabeth Warren, she went to war with Bernie Sanders. She said that he told her she couldn't win the presidency because she was a woman. That's a very significant attack that a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters are going to remember and that Elizabeth Warren supporters are going to remember.
But I think that something to focus on here is that Elizabeth Warren has been progressive, but she's also been very friendly with the DNC in a way that Bernie Sanders has not.
So it could go either way. But I would hedge towards Sanders, not Biden.
CAVUTO: All right. We will watch very, very closely.
She certainly has more influence now than she did when she was a candidate. So we will -- we will see how that sorts out.
Phil Wegmann, always good. Thank you, my friend.
WEGMANN: Thank you, sir.
CAVUTO: Meanwhile, the Supreme smackdown of one Chuck Schumer, not from Republicans. Meet the Democrat who said, Chuck, you went too far.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: Well, that's what started it, Chuck Schumer sparking a firestorm with those remarks.
Even Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts slamming him for it, and the drama continued on the Senate floor today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The minority leader of the United States Senate threatened two associated justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, period.
There's no other way to interpret that.
SCHUMER: I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They didn't come out the way I intended to.
My point was that there would be political consequences, political consequences, for President Trump and Senate Republicans, if the Supreme Court, with the newly confirmed justices, stripped away a woman's right to choose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: Did Senator Schumer say enough to tamp this down?
Former Democratic Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. with me now.
What do you think?
HAROLD FORD JR. (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: He did.
Look, we have a tradition now in politics where people won't never apologize for anything. And Senator Schumer certainly was not going to apologize, when he sees the president not doing that.
He was wrong to use the words he did. And I was glad to see him come back to the floor and say, this was not a direct at either...
CAVUTO: But he explained it, more than apologizing for it.
FORD: Well, yes, but he has every right to disagree with policy.
CAVUTO: Sure, absolutely.
FORD: And that's a long tradition there also.
Look, I listened to Senator McConnell, who I hold in high regard because he's the majority leader. I need a little less sanctimony, a little more honor and humility in the business.
He has to remember that, when Merrick Garland wanted a hearing, he denied a hearing. He then went on to say last year that if -- if there were opening on a Supreme Court, and President Trump would forward the nominee, he would give that nominee hearing even in an election year, which was his reason for not doing it for Merrick Garland.
CAVUTO: Right, the opposite of what...
(CROSSTALK)
FORD: Now, we have gotten to a point where I think the American people are fed up with this kind of pettiness at the highest level of politics.
We expect it from an everyday member of the political class in America, but not the highest levels, the chief justice having to reprimand the minority leader of the Senate.
Remember, the chief justice, in his report, his annual report just a few months ago said that our democracy is a fragile thing, and we have to work to hold onto it.
I thought he was sending a message to both Democrats and Republicans. But the other day, he had to send wonder directly to Senator Schumer. I was pleased to see him go to the floor today. And, hopefully, we can move on beyond this.
CAVUTO: But you usually hear this type of language or in-your-face language during an election year, a little less so in off-election years. But now it's gotten to be pretty -- pretty common.
But I'm thinking, in an environment, a backdrop where we have this coronavirus, and a lot of people are afraid and wondering what's next, probably now's not the time.
FORD: Like I said, the American people didn't sign up for this.
CAVUTO: Yes.
FORD: This is not what they bargained for when they think about leadership in the Senate.
Listen, I watched Senator from -- the Wyoming senator, Senator Barrasso, on a little while ago.
CAVUTO: Right.
FORD: I thought he went overboard with it.
I mean, at the end of the day, I don't think Chuck Schumer is a violent man. I don't think Chuck Schumer was suggesting...
CAVUTO: But we have just our words carefully.
(CROSSTALK)
FORD: Right.
But if he had a history of being a violent person, I get it. He made a mistake. He's accepted responsibility.
CAVUTO: I always think of it, when you galvanize a crowd on the left or the right, and, by leaving it out there, and leaving them in a fighting mood, you lay the groundwork for that kind of stuff.
FORD: And it happens on both sides.
But I give him credit.
CAVUTO: Yes.
FORD: At least he came to the floor and said look, a mistake was made here. Let me tell you what I meant.
And, hopefully, he doesn't do it again.
CAVUTO: Yes, we will see.
But let me get your take on the Elizabeth warren situation while I have you here.
Does it make a difference who she supports, if she ends up supporting anyone?
FORD: I thought she would have endorsed someone today.
I thought, as we talked a little bit off-camera, I think she probably missed a moment to be really, really effective.
CAVUTO: I thought that too.
FORD: Even if she didn't pick, I thought she should have used the moment to lay out what she was looking for and where the country needed to go.
And she...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But I think her reference to another woman who fails to be an inspiration to little girls, maybe it was you, as a candidate, Senator, not -- regardless of your gender.
FORD: Right.
CAVUTO: But that comes up a lot.
FORD: I think -- I mean, the -- and we play a lot of identity politics.
CAVUTO: I know.
FORD: And it's been on a lot of sides.
But it helped Biden, because she -- everyone expected her to endorse Sanders. I listened to Sanders yesterday and today, and he continues to be critical of Biden's votes some 20 years ago.
CAVUTO: But he's still going to pick up the slack, because it's a clear field for him in these next primaries, right?
FORD: Right.
So, the country will now -- Democrats will have a chance. It's a clear choice, what Democrats -- the path they want to travel up until the summer, and then kind of message they want to go up against Trump with in the fall.
CAVUTO: Right.
FORD: Do you want the Sanders path? Do you want the Biden path?
And we're going to get these -- see these two guys go at each other.
The one piece of advice I'd give both of them, focus on the future. No one cares about how they voted 20 years ago, Sanders voted to shield gun manufacturers.
CAVUTO: Right.
FORD: He would be -- we would have different gun laws, but I'm not going to blame him for violence in black and brown communities across the country.
CAVUTO: And those votes were during the Civil War, which...
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: I'm kidding. I'm kidding, kidding.
All right.
FORD: So, look forward, is all...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: I hear you.
Harold Ford Jr., a very calm voice in this craziness.
In the meantime, what if your favorite college team wins March Madness, right, but there's no one in the stands to see it? Did it happen? Will it happen?
Let's just say they are bouncing it around -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAVUTO: All right, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirming there are a lot of new coronavirus cases.
So, essentially, they doubled in a day to 22, just as New Jersey is seeing its first confirmed case.
So, how are folks dealing with all of this?
Alex Hogan in New York City with the very latest.
Hey, Alex.
ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil. That's right.
Again, all of these cases that we're seeing today doubling; 1,000 people are under quarantine just here in New York. Many of the new cases that we're seeing are not from people who've traveled abroad, but from it spreading in local communities.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing 11 new cases in New York, bringing up the total to 22 in the state. Eight of those are new cases tied to a 50-year- old Westchester County attorney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): What is going to happen is, the number will continue to go up. It must, because we are continuing to test more and more.
The more you test, the higher number you will have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOGAN: Among some of those new cases in the city, there's a woman in her 80s and a man in his 40s. Both are hospitalized, isolated and undergoing testing.
New Jersey is also reporting its second case today, Cuomo telling the public not to panic, but to stay informed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a little bit worried.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lot with the media. It's hype right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a little worried about taking the subway. I think that's my biggest hesitation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have come over from Belfast. And the people were talking about canceling trips and stuff. But we didn't have any second thoughts about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I clean my hands better and I have a young daughter, so I take care of her a lot more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The stock market, I'm worried about. I don't like seeing that go down like it has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, in the long run, it's going to be -- it's going to be OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hand sanitizer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hand sanitizer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to have it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting real now.
(CROSSTALK)
HOGAN: More companies now are taking containment into their own hands by canceling work trips, some big tech giants in Seattle like, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, ordering employees to go home, some even suggesting that they should work there all month long -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All month. All right, holy Toledo.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Alex, thank you very, very much. Great report.
Meanwhile, two NCAA basketball teams have canceled games over this coronavirus concern, as both Italy and Japan, among others, announce that they will play their professional sports in empty stadiums for now, maybe for a while.
Think about it. Conventions, meetings, conferences, you name it, companies are nixing all of it.
How do businesses deal with this, when billions of dollars are on the line?
Let's ask for McDonald's USA President and CEO Ed Rensi.
Ed, I'm thinking of your old haunts, and I'm thinking about all the companies now, as we get into annual shareholder meeting time, that are looking and reexamining even having them. What do you think of that?
ED RENSI, FORMER CEO, MCDONALD'S: Well, the reality of it is, the number one objective of every CEO of every company in the United States or across the world should be employee and customer safety first and foremost.
We need to educate ourselves on what's going on from the public health service. We need to make sure that our employees practice hygiene, washing their hands, using sanitizing, restrict as much as possible international travel, until we know more about what the landscape look like.
It's going to be expensive, come to grips with it. I think stakeholders and shareholders will come to understand that we need to have precaution.
Public health is more important at any moment than shareholder wealth, in my opinion.
CAVUTO: Well, touche to that.
Ed, I'm just wondering whether it compounds on its own. In other words, people then start thinking, all right, I'm not going to go to movie theaters, because a lot of people congregate there. I'm not going to basketball venues, a lot of people congregate there. And they extend it to restaurants. I'm not going to go a restaurant. I might even think twice about a drive-through.
Where does this end?
RENSI: Well, the reality of it is, I'm the chairman of a company called FAT Brands based in California.
And we are emphasizing in-store sanitation -- it's a restaurant group -- in-store sanitation, personal hygiene. And we're emphasizing delivery. We want our folks to enjoy our products. And we're putting an emphasis on delivery.
But the reality of it is, people are going to overreact in the short-term because of a lack of knowledge.
CAVUTO: Yes.
RENSI: Once they know more, I think they will calm down.
I think one of the most ridiculous things I have seen is Corona beer sales being down...
CAVUTO: Right.
RENSI: ... because it's got a similar name. I mean, it's absurd.
CAVUTO: It's beyond absurd. And it's getting to the point of just being needlessly panicking to folks.
What do you tell them, then? I mean, obviously, this isn't yet anything approaching even a fraction of the magnitude of the common flu, but it is what it is. People are taking precautionary steps. Do you think this could drive us into a slowdown, or even worse?
RENSI: I don't think, long term, it will, because we have got a very robust employment situation. People are pretty happy with what's going on.
All the people I talked to and the places I haunt daily, whether it's the local public, wherever it may be, I see the normal folks are out and about. They're just being cautious.
CAVUTO: Yes.
RENSI: They're watching what they do. They're watching where they go.
But to overreact and panic -- now, if you're 80 years old and in bad health, you really need to be cautious. If you have very, very young children that are immunosuppressed, you better be very, very cautious.
But the normal human being doesn't have much to worry about.
CAVUTO: All right, knock on whatever.
Ed Rensi, some calming words. Appreciate it, my friend. Be well.
RENSI: Thank you. You too.
CAVUTO: All right, Ed Rensi.
Well, we all know the coronavirus started in China, but it exposed just how much companies here depend on China.
Doctors are still looking for a cure for the virus there. A lot of those companies, in the meantime, are desperately looking to make more of their stuff here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: We still don't know much about this virus in China.
What a lot of U.S. companies do know is, it's way too much of their business that's depending on China, not just as a place to sell their stuff, but as a place to make their stuff.
Now tech giants like Apple and Microsoft are trying to spread the wealth. But if my next guest is right, it won't be easy, and it won't be cheap, and it might not come soon.
To the man who literally wrote the book about "The Coming Collapse of China," Gordon Chang.
So, Gordon, a lot of them want to sort of hedge their bets, spread their wealth. Easier said than done, right?
GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "THE COMING COLLAPSE OF CHINA": Well, it is.
But, for some companies, it's pretty easy. So, if you have, let's say, low- tech manufacturing, you can move out six months, nine months. That occurred during the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, when companies left and then came back.
But if you're Apple, and you are fixed in China with Foxconn, the contract manufacturer, it's going to take some time.
But, Neil, they're going to have to do it, because manufacturing in China is becoming unsustainable.
CAVUTO: What about China right now? And do you feel comfortable in the information they are sharing with the world on the coronavirus?
CHANG: No, Neil, because the Communist Party is imposing extraordinary controls on information.
Xi Jinping is doing this because he wants workers to return to their job sites. So their infection numbers and their death numbers, I think, are being managed to do that. And the other thing, Neil, is that what you're seeing is, as people go back to work, because they're forced by the government to do that, they are prolonging the epidemic, because new workers are infecting each other at this very moment.
CAVUTO: So, they come back, they increase the number of cases. That just exponentially gets bigger, which means, I think, from what you're saying, that this thing doesn't go away anytime soon.
CHANG: It'll go away a lot longer than it should.
And, also, we don't know much about this virus. It's acting in ways that -- very different from other coronaviruses. It likes hot weather, for instance.
CAVUTO: Yes.
CHANG: It's mutating. All sorts of things are going wrong here.
CAVUTO: All right, so we say, usually, warmer weather negates the effect. This seems to be one -- or at least a strand of it that seems to thrive in that.
We just don't know. What we do know is, it's drawing economic activity, certainly, in China, to a halt. They might be in a recessionary quarter. And that will eventually spill over here.
Play it out. What do you think happens?
CHANG: Well, clearly, China right now is in contraction.
It is also exposing a lot of financially weak companies to the possibility of default. Beijing is now imposing, I think, essentially emergency measures to keep the economy going. They can do that for a little while, Neil. But if this virus continues longer than people expect, then it's going to really stress the financial system there.
And it's going to spread panic throughout the global financial system. We have seen that now for the last three or four days, with our Dow up and down and up and down.
CAVUTO: Right.
CHANG: This is really crazy.
CAVUTO: Indeed, it is.
Gordon, thank you very, very much. We're watching it all very, very closely.
For those of who just tuned in, a peek at the Dow today, down about 969 points, so essentially giving back kind of what we gained yesterday.
But I always like to leave you with some good news. If you are looking to refinance a mortgage or get a new one, we are at all-time lows in interest rates. That could translate to a good backstop to have. That, along with declining gas prices, mean more money in your pocket, more cash, if you're not afraid of touching it.
Here's "THE FIVE."
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