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Dow Gains Back Some Losses After Losing 1,500+ Points. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 05, 2018 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00] RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMICS ANALYST: There are other economies that do this, Germany is one of them. But that's a transition that we're still trying to make. And I think that politicians on both sides are going to try to own the solutions to that issue.

RICHARD QUEST, CNNMONEY EDITOR AT LARGE: The Fed is in a very tricky position today. Janet Yellen's last meeting, no move. But everybody is expecting a move in March. They will take note of the market concerns. And if they feel a confidence issue, there's a variety of things they could do. They may be out of bullets in terms of lowering interest rates. They've got 1 percent they can play with, give or take. They still have QE they can restart. But before you get to anything like that, they'll jawbone the market. They will use inflationary expectations. They will use interest rate expectations and they will jawbone the market over the next month.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Explain jawbone.

QUEST: Well, basically put out statements. The statement at the next meeting will talk about what they are prepared to do. The statement at the next meeting may talk about what they expect in terms of --

COOPER: So, they'll telegraph stuff.

QUEST: Yes, absolutely. And that's their first and initially most powerful weapon, just literally to jaw the market into where it wants it to go.

COOPER: Gloria Borger is also joining us. Gloria, just from a political standpoint, I'm wondering to what your reaction to all of this is for the president?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, as David was point out earlier, when you use the market as your yardstick for a positive economy, you're going to have to swallow hard and try to figure out how to explain this. And I think what we see coming out of the White House from some of our early reporting is that they're going to say, well, this is -- you know, this is due to higher wages, for example.

And I think as I look back to the debate over tax reform, I remember lots of Democrats saying, look, the economy is fine now. We're at full employment. We're chugging along just fine. Why do you want to juice the economy and have a tax cut now? And what you may be seeing is the result of an overheated economy. So, you're already at full employment. You have a huge corporate tax cut. And you have, you know, there is a worry here that it's overheating. And I think you're going to hear lots of Democrats saying this is exactly what we predicted was going to happen because of these huge corporate tax cuts. And Mr. President, you're going to have to explain this since you used the stock market as your measurement of a good economy.

COOPER: I also want to ask you about something that the president said at that plant in Ohio. He had made prepared remarks about wage increases, about the tax cuts, about tax reform. Clearly, he went off script at a certain point and was talking about kind of regaling people stories about his vantage point of the state of the union, Democrats not applauding when he was talking about African-American unemployment numbers or employment numbers. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was one guy when I said the lowest African-American unemployment, he was sort of clapping like -- who was that guy? He's a nice guy. I think he was a reverend. And he was -- I wouldn't say it was exactly arousing, but he was putting his hands together. I want to find out who he is. I'm going to send him a letter of thank you. And he was probably severely reprimanded. You've got half the room going totally crazy wild, they loved everything. They want to do something great for our country. And you have the other side even on positive news, really positive news like that, they were like death and un-American. Un-American. Somebody said treasonous, I mean -- Yes, I guess, why not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Treasonous is a pretty strong term. In fact, the U.S. code on it, the definition is whoever owing allegiance to the United States levees war defense them or adheres to their enemies giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere is guilty of treason and shall suffer death or shall be in prison not less than five years -- it goes on. What do you make of those comments?

BORGER: I think -- I think this is a president who is going to try to cut a deal on DREAMers with Democrats who's got a lot of work to do with Democrats.

[15:35:00] And I think if I were to look into Donald Trump's mind, which is a difficult thing to do, but if I were to think about the whole political environment we're in right now, you have to think about the Nunes memo of last week and how he regards the Democrats. And said what's going on in this country is tragic. And that the FBI investigation was a hoax and the whole Russia investigation is a hoax. And of course, he believes that's something the Democrats are stirring the pot on.

So, I think it's all of a -- it's all of a piece here. And I think that, you know, sometimes like in the State of the Union just a week ago, we heard the president talking about bipartisanship. And how we all have to work together. And because Democrats didn't applaud him, he is now willing to call them treasonous and un-American? It's kind of stunning to me, particularly since he actually needs to try and get some things done with them, particularly on DREAMers, because a large majority of the American public wants to get something done. And so, I think it's all part of the same package right now -- Anderson.

COOPER: Gloria, stand by. I want to bring in senior political commentator, Angela Rye and Rob Astorino, the Republican candidate for New York governor. Thanks to both of you for being with us. Angela Rye, you hear the president calling Democrats treasonous who didn't stand or applaud enough. What do you make of those comments?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's really interesting. I don't think he was actually talking about all Democrats, though. I think that he was talking about a certain segment of the group. They happened to be adorned Kente cloth and Recy Taylor pins that day. That was the Congressional Black Caucus. He also cited Hispanic unemployment in his remarks. And he is saying that people would rather see Donald Trump lose than Americans win he says in the speech. And I think that that is remarkable. Because I think what you were really seeing, and hearing are people who know the truth. The truth is that economic indicators lag and that he can't credit for something that is squarely an achievement of President Hussein Barack Obama. That was the reason he didn't get the applause that he so desperately needs to feed his ego.

COOPER: So, Angela, you think he was talking specifically about members of the Congressional Black Caucus as being treasonous or un- American.

RYE: Absolutely. Well, no, overall because he mentioned Nancy Pelosi as well. But when he started talking about African-American unemployment, he was talking about they and how quiet it was. I definitely know he was talking about that group because I watched it.

COOPER: Rob Astorino, are Democrats treasonous?

ROB ASTORINO (R) FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: No. That kind of rhetoric is crazy and it's just as crazy for Maxine Waters to go on her rants half the time talking about the president and he's got to be impeach and will figure out what it is, but we've got to impeach him, and all that kind of stuff. None of that is helpful. But I do think a lot of Americans were taken aback that on simple things, on things we can all agree. Black unemployment being at the lowest level recorded is a good thing. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, that's a good thing.

RYE: Great.

ASTORINO: And for Democrats to look at each other like can we clap here, is that going to hurt us? I mean, that's silly. Same thing with the Hispanic caucus. And just Democrats at a whole when you've got things that are overarching themes that we should all agree on. And they're just sitting on their hands because they feel they have to. I think that's what most people were agreeing with the president with. And he was looking at them like, OK, we can all agree now, we're going to talk about transportation, right, infrastructure? You know, sometimes he gets a little showman --

COOPER: Is it any different -- is it any different than what happens at State of the Unions all the time? I mean, from past presidents as well? You know, republicans stand up when it's a Republican president, Democrats do when it's -- not saying it's right, but it just -- do you see this year as particularly different?

ASTORINO: I do, yes. I think it's -- I mean it is so toxic right now on both sides of the aisle. And for the Democrats, a lot of it is, you know, a specific hate towards Donald Trump, the person. And sometimes you also have to say the presidency or the office of the president. When they were at the inauguration saying we're not even going to go. He didn't even get started yet and they were boycotting his inauguration. Let's remember that.

RYE: Do you remember why?

ASTORINO: This is a continuation of what's been going on.

RYE: Do you remember why?

ASTORINO: Does it matter?

RYE: Yes, it absolutely matters, and I'll tell you why it matters. It matters for all of those people who are brown who were called drug dealers and rapist. It matters for all those people --

ASTORINO: He didn't say all.

RYE: It doesn't matter if you say all when you say Mexicans are drug dealers and rapists, you have a problem. That's how he started his campaign. That was the day of his campaign announcement. This is a man at that started talking about building a great, beautiful wall to keep people out of the country. So, when you build a campaign built on hate-filled rhetoric, built on bigotry, discrimination and racism, I'm not going to applaud you. And people who look like me are not going to applaud you. And people who have heart all across this country who don't look like me aren't going to applaud you.

Now, going back to your remarks about Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She did issue a State of the Union rebuttal. Unfortunately for you and what you might believe there are several people all over this country who believe just like Congressman Waters believes, that there is something dangerously wrong with this president. That it's high time and overtime that he gets a psychological evaluation.

[15:40:00] ASTORINO: I would say the same thing of Maxine Waters.

RYE: And I wish you would. That as my mentor you will not disrespect her in that way ever. Let me go back to this point. It is so very important that a commander in chief behave as such. It is so very important that we can rely on the words that come out of his mouth and we cannot. It is so very important when he talks about black unemployment that he recognizes that since it's plummeted it is also now increased. So, I wonder if he's going to take credit for that as well. It's time for this president to be honest. COOPER: But Angela, what Rob was saying was that it wasn't -- it

wasn't helpful for the president to call Democrats treasonous just as, you know, rhetoric on the other side talking about impeachment is not necessarily helpful. And certainly there, Angela, there are a lot of Democrats who feel like the talk of impeachment is not necessarily helpful.

RYE: It may not be helpful, Anderson, but the reality of it is there are a number of people who have called into looking into impeachment. That is a talking point on the left certainly that works very, very well. Because people have a number of questions. And every time Twitter thumbs picks his account back up and opens it up and says something else, he is the one that proves the reason why folks are looking into this. That's not on Congresswoman Waters, I think it's also time for us to stop with the false equivalency.

ASTORINO: Angela, I would say that's as crazy and over the top --

RYE: I'm sure you would.

ASTORINO: -- as Obama not being born in the United States. You and Democrats and most people said, you know, that's a little out of the mainstream and we don't believe that.

RYE: No, it's not a little out of the mainstream, it was nuts, and he was the chief -- the reason why nobody --

COOPER: Let's let Rob finish.

RYE: He was the spokesperson for it.

COOPER: Let Rob finish.

ASTORINO: Angela, so is nuts about impeachment right now. Remember the moment the president was elected and inaugurated, a lot of Democrats were saying we're going to impeach him. We'll figure out what. We'll get to that somewhere somehow, but we're going to talk about impeachment. And I think, when you start in a defensive mode there and everyone is attacking you, the campaign is one thing. There were a lot of things that Hillary Clinton said that she regrets. There were a lot of things Obama said in the campaign that he regrets. And did in office.

RYE: Name one thing. Name one thing that sounded that racist and that toxic. Name one thing from Barack Obama that sounded like that, please.

ASTORINO: Well, race relations were at the worst under President Obama.

RYE: Because he was black.

ASTORINO: According to polls all across -- no, that's ridiculous.

RYE: That is absolutely the case.

ASTORINO: That's the only argument Democrats are using now. They can't go on facts so it's --

RYE: No, because it's the truth. You don't like it, but it hurts.

COOPER: Let's not relitigate that --

RYE: I don't want to relitigate it either, Anderson, but what happens is people continue to try to draw these parallels that don't exist. The bottom line is Donald Trump is dangerous and toxic for this country. He's dangerous and toxic every time he tweets about his nuclear button being bigger. I mean come on. This is someone who is not stable, and I've been saying it from the beginning and I will continue to say it until somebody looks into his mental stability. It is a problem and that is where we are.

COOPER: And quick to Rob, I want, you to respond and I want to get back to Dow.

ASTORINO: Well, using words like dangerous --

RYE: He is dangerous.

ASTORINO: -- and mentally unstable.

RYE: He is.

ASTORINO: Those are words that are reserved under unique times. Now, I say he should layoff -- give his thumb a break and not go on Twitter as much. I agree with that. But you now, you got to be careful when you start using words like that. I never agreed with Obama but if I said he was dangerous and mentally unstable, what would your response have been.

RYE: My response would be that that's another false equivalency and it's not true.

ASTORINO: OK, all right, OK.

COOPER: I've got to get back. Rob Astorino, I appreciate it. Angela Rye as well. Rana is still with us and Stephen Moore, economic analyst and former advisor to president Trump. Stephen, we haven't heard from you. I'm wondering as you look at the percentage points down for the Dow today, also from Friday, what do you make of all of this?

STEPHEN MOORE, CNN ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, Anderson, you know, these numbers are pretty spooky. We've now seen a 1,500-point decline in the Dow over the last two days, so that's -- that's an extraordinary fall. But let's not forget the Dow is up 7,000 points since Trump's election. So, it's only given back a small percent of that. But, you know, one other point I would make about this because people are scratching their head wondering, why is this happening? Why are we seeing this big decline? And I would point to what happened on Friday morning. We got two pieces of economic data, one was a very good solid jobs report with wage gains of 3 percent -- one of the biggest gains in wages we've seen in years -- and the other was the Fed Reserve Bank of Atlanta projected that we'd have 5 percent growth in the first quarter. And so, this was one of these paradoxes, Anderson, where good news in the real economy was interpreted by Wall Street as bad news. Because investors were worried that you would see a spike in inflation due to higher wages and a spike in interest rates. And course, I believe that's what really triggered this panic sell-off. But if you look at the fundamentals of the economy, Anderson, they look really healthy right now.

ANDERSON: Rana, you agree with that?

[15:45:00] FOROOHAR: You know I would agree with Stephen that what triggered the sell-off was certainly the wage information, which is itself a reflection of growth. Now, this goes to the point that Gloria made earlier actually. Democrats would say, hey, we didn't need this tax cut right now. We didn't need to throw kerosene on an economy that was actually already growing pretty well. That's the sort of attack on the Trump policies that you hear. And I think that there is some validity to that. We have been at the end of a long recovery cycle. It doesn't feel like it for most of us, but we've been in a recovery since 2009 if you can believe it.

So, it's natural that things should have been slowing down. But of course, Republicans want to get through the midterms, they're already starting to talk about 2020. You heard President Trump talk about that in his speech in Ohio. And so of course they want things to be great. But it does put the Fed and the new Fed chair, whom the president appointed, Jerome Powell, in a very tricky position. Because of course, he has to balance if growth is stronger, we've got to have higher interest rates. Markets don't like higher interest rates. That might mean a bigger correction.

What happens if there's a big correction? Do people start to feel insecure and stop spending? What effect does that have on the economy. All of these things are connected. Very tricky moment.

COOPER: Stephen, was it a mistake for this president or really for any president to tie themselves so closely to the stock market gains? Because if there are then significant losses, do they then have to kind of explain that?

MOORE: Well, yes and no, Anderson. I mean, first of all, when the Dow goes up by 47 percent, it's not unnatural for a president to boast about that, so we've seen gigantic gains in wealth since the election and Trump I think rightly said, look, this is an affirmation of my policies. But I've also said, in fact, if you look at my writings over the last six months, I've always said let's show some caution here because I've lived through a lot of these, Anderson.

I lived through what happened you may recall in October of 1987. We had a stock market crash and of course what happened in 2008 and 2009. So, the Dow Jones and the stock market are much more volatile than the real economy. I think that's what -- when we talk about what's happening with the overall healthy economy, we should look at the jobs report, we should look at capital investment, we should look at what's happening with respect to business hiring. I think this is where I disagree with Rana a little bit. I mean the tax cut has really triggered a big increase in investment

and hiring by workers, which is exactly what we hoped would happen. Now, if you get real, faster, real economic growth, you tend to also get higher real interest rates as businesses want to borrow more and invest more. So, I'm not too surprised about this except I am surprised about the big sell-off, because I'm thinking this is a market overreaction and, you know, I would not be -- I would not be surprised if you started to see investors buy on this dip.

COOPER: Rana -- go ahead. I want you respond to Stephen but also if you could, your advice to people watching who are worried about 401(k) and the like.

FOROOHAR: Yes. My advice to people watching is don't make any sudden moves. The jury is still out about what kind of dip this is. It could go two ways. We could see a lot of people say, you know what, the economy is OK. We're in a global recovery right now, things are all right. People buy on the dip. The markets go back up or they maintain a little volatility, but we don't see a big plunge.

The counterargument is that, hey, we've been on borrowed time for the last few years. The Fed put $4 trillion of money in the market over the last decade. Wall Street is totally out of sync with main street. Those two things are going to connect and we're going to see a big dip in the stock market. We don't know which id going to happen yet.

COOPER: Stephen Moore ---

MOORE: Anderson, if I can add one quick point this. I agree with Rana on this. The worst time to sell stocks and people tend to do this is they sell when the market is low and falling, and then they buy when it's high and that's exactly kind of the reverse. For people that have 401(k) plans where you're investing for your retirement, you want to keep your money in the market. You don't want to panic when the market is down, and you don't want to buy when it's high.

COOPER: Stephen Moore, appreciate it. Rana Foroohar, appreciate it. Joining me now is White House Deputy Press Secretary, Hogan Gidley. Hogan, thanks very much for taking the time. I want to start with the markets, obviously. The president has been speaking in Ohio through this market, I don't know if you want to call it a correction or a plunge. I'm wondering has the president seen it yet? What's his reaction?

HOGAN GIDLEY, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I haven't spoken with him directly about that obviously. He's on his way back to the White House. But I can say the overall economy obviously is very strong. We've seen trillions and trillions of dollars of wealth created since this president took office. We've seen a 7,000-point increase in the stock market. You know, in the previous

administration we heard that 1.9 percent GDP was the new normal, that manufacturing jobs wouldn't come back to our shores. This president's policies have turned all that around, even though most economists said that if he were elected, the economy would see permanent harm. But that's not been the case at all. [15:50:00] COOPER: Stephen Moore was just saying, though, there's a

difference between the real economy and what's happening on Wall Street and this president has repeatedly taken credit for the Dow over the past year, for the enormous gains we have seen on Wall Street. Is anyone at the White House concerned that now he's going to be held responsible if there is a correction?

GIDLEY: No, because still it's overall -- overall in a very strong place and it's exorbitantly higher than it was when he took office. But you did talk about the real economy. I did hear the previous guest and they're right. The president was talking about that today in Ohio, this is a place where this company, highlighting I think four companies there, they were giving their employees thousand-dollar bonuses, wage increases. We've seen 3.5 million Americans receive bonuses since this tax policy plan was put in place, and that's all because of this president. So overall this economy is soaring. And even though there is a one-day fluctuation, it's still in a really good place and much better than it was when he took office.

COOPER: Actually, two days but I understand the point. I want to ask you, about this war over the memo, about an hour from now, I believe the House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote whether to release the Democratic memo, that's a rebuttal obviously to the one the Republicans released last week. That memo by Devin Nunes alleges FBI misconduct against a former Trump campaign member. Will the president declassify this Democratic memo if the committee approves the release?

GIDLEY: Well, I can say that the president will treat it exactly the same. Using the same methods and the same mechanisms. You'll recall, with the Republican memo what he did was sit down with the White House counsel. Also, members of the national security team and go through it meticulously. Just to figure out exactly what was in it. And if there were any sources and methods that were revealed. If the Democrat memo comes over, we're going to give it the same treatment and then he will make a decision on declassification.

COOPER: The president did say though on that off mic after the State of the Union that it was 100 percent that he would release it and supposedly he hadn't even read it at that point.

GIDLEY: Yes, I don't know if he had read it at that point or not, but I can say the president will make the same accommodations for the Democrats as he did for the Republicans. He wants sunlight here. He wants this stuff to be out in the open and he'll treat it as such.

COOPER: Because it does seem like the president had made up his mind. I mean you had Chris Wray, you had Rod Rosenstein coming to the White House, meeting with Chief of Staff Kelly according to all reporting, asking the White House not to release us. The president obviously, and Kelly told them that it was likely to be released. So it does seem like the White House was ready to release this even before the president had read it.

GIDLEY: Right. The president was also clear, that if there was anything in the memo whatsoever that could impact national security or put American lives at risk, that he would not have declassified it. The same standards will be applied to the Democrat memo. So, whenever they come to a decision and vote, and it gets to the White House, then it will take the five-day process. I'm sure. The president will go through and it treat it exactly the same.

COOPER: Can you explain why the president says he feels vindicated by this Nunes memo? Because it really doesn't talk about anything related to collusion or obstruction of justice.

GIDLEY: Well, what we've heard for so long though are some of the biases against President Trump and for Hillary Clinton during the Hillary Clinton investigation at the highest levels of both the FBI and the DOJ. The record from members --

COOPER: You think James Comey was biased for Hillary Clinton?

GIDLEY: I think the tweets and things like that from the highest levels, the struck tweets obviously prove an anti-Trump bias for sure. But the fact remains that when people saw those, there was cause for grave concern. Because you don't want those arms of the federal government to be biased at all. You want them to be adherent to the law, and now we know from the Nunes memo, for example, that a large portion I should say of the case for FISA warrants were granted solely on the purpose of a discredited Hillary Clinton funded document.

COOPER: That's not true though to. To say it was granted solely based --

GIDLEY: I didn't say solely. I changed it and said largely. Absolutely it was.

COOPER: How do you know largely? Because in the Nunes memo well it actually doesn't talk about -- it doesn't talk about the other information. It is a very cherry-picked memo. No?

GIDLEY: Right. And we are going to see the other side of that memo as well, probably if it runs the traps and all things considered in a doesn't have any national security concerns or shows any type of methods and sources, that it will be released as well. The American people have seen now and have been concerned for quite some time. And I will give you one anecdote, I was in an Uber just yesterday. I was driving with the Uber driver and he looked at me and asked something about politics, and I was making small talk.

And he said to me, I don't like Donald Trump at all, he had no idea where I worked. He said, I don't like Donald Trump and all.

[15:55:00] But a whole year and nothing in an investigation. It is time for this to end. And I think he shares the opinions of most Americans when if there is no collusion and there is no obstruction, it is time to quit spending time and quite frankly the American people's money on a witch hunt.

COOPER: I'm not sure the Uber driver as a scientific survey. But Republicans --

GIDLEY: I wasn't saying that, I was saying it was an anecdote, Anderson.

COOPER: But a number Republicans on the Hill soon to be distancing themselves from similar claims that the president is making about this vindicating him on the Mueller investigation. Trey Gowdy said something over the weekend, I just want to play for our viewers and have you respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TREY GOWDY, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower, the dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George Papadopoulos' meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So, there's going to be a Russia probe even without a dossier.

REP. WILL HURD, (R) TEXAS: I want to stress, Bob Mueller should be allowed to turn over every rock, pursue every lead, so we can have trust in knowing what actually the Russians did or did not do.

REP. CHRIS STEWART, (R) UTAH: It would be a mistake for anyone to suggest that the special counsel shouldn't complete his work. I support his work. I want him to finish it.

REP. BRAD WENSTRUP, (R) OHIO: I support the Mueller investigation. Now, I hope that he does it fairly and honestly. Of course, we would always expect that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So that was a number of congress people. Not just Trey Gowdy. I want you to have the chance to respond.

GIDLEY: Well, first of all, I'd like to commend you by classing up your show by putting so many South Carolinians in one segment. But the president has been clear about working with special counsel Muller. We have been completely cooperative. We've turned over thousands of documents. We've given over interviews to the special counsel. So, to suggest anything otherwise is ridiculous. But I will say --

COOPER: Does that mean the president is going to testify in front of Mueller?

GIDLEY: That's up to him. I haven't spoken with him about that directly. But again, that is the whole point of this, when you begin to kind of peel back the layers and you see how some of these ill- gotten FISA warrants weren't even revealed to the judge where they got the documentation. That calls for serious concern. I will make this one more point, when the FBI and the DOJ can use the most intrusive surveillance methods and mechanics on the American people, folks should be worried about it.

COOPER: You said the ill-gotten FISA warrants, in plural. I'm wondering, other than the Carter-Page one which is the focus of the Nunes memo, is there

another FISA warrant that you are concerned about?

GIDLEY: I'm not familiar with all the documents surrounding the memo. And I haven't seen those. But from what I've seen so far, I share in most Americans' concerns about the politics being played at some of the highest levels of the FBI and the DOJ.

COOPER: The president called Adam Schiff a liar and a leaker this morning. I'm just curious what specific evidence he has to make such a charge?

GIDLEY: Well, look. A lot of the information we know that Adam Schiff and his staff were involved in, there is no reason for Republicans to let that information go. That's coming out from Democrats and staffers on the Hill. And you know, Anderson, everyone in this town knows. If you tell someone on the Hill something, it is going to be out in the public within a couple of minutes. This is no different.

COOPER: So, are you saying that it is only Democrats who leak stuff? And not the Republicans in the White House.

GIDLEY: No, I'm not saying that. I said anyone on the Hill. But I'm saying if you're talking about specific meetings with Adam Schiff and then Republican congressmen, and then information comes out that's damaging to Republicans, it's not Republicans leaking it, it is someone like Adam Schiff or his staff.

COOPER: How do you know that?

GIDLEY: Because it's in the news. If the only principals in the meeting are Republicans and Democrats, and the information is used to hurt Republicans, Republicans aren't leaking that. That's just common sense.

COOPER: I mean not all Republicans agree with something that the White House is doing, and some Republicans leak information for a variety of reasons. No?

GIDLEY: Yes. Of course. Absolutely. But not in this particular instance. You're asking me about one particular instance. But look, the fact is this town is full of leaks, it's full of nonsense, and quite frankly a lot of times it hurts people and damages the process when people put their own political desires and motives above the American people. That's what's happening here.

COOPER: Hogan Gidley, appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

GIDLEY: Thanks so much, Anderson.

COOPER: I want to go to our Jeff Zeleny, Jeff, you are getting some behind the scenes from the White House on the markets.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I am indeed, Anderson. The president right now is flying back. He has just has left the Cincinnati Airport flying back to Washington. And one of his habits as he flies in Air Force One is to watch the news coverage. So, he is now seeing with his own eyes, most likely for the first time this massive fall-off in the Dow.

But interestingly, I'm told behind the scenes, by one advisor, it was jarring when the president's speech was interrupted in Ohio. The coverage of it. Even on the preferred channel there in the White House, Fox News, when it was interrupted to show this fall of the Dow. This again is showing some of the risky business here of politicizing the stock market.

Only ten days ago in Davos, the president said if Hillary Clinton had been elected, the market would have fallen 50 percent, so he of course will be asked this question when he arrives at the White House in more than an hour and a half or so, Anderson.

COOPER: Do we expect him to actually make any statement about it? I asked Hogan and he didn't have an answer.

ZELENY: We do not think he'll make a statement but of course reporters will be out there shouting to him. It will be up to him if he wants to respond or not. We'll find out later this afternoon, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much, and thanks for watching. Our special coverage continues now with Jim Sciutto and "THE LEAD."