Hunter Biden under federal investigation for possible tax crimes

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Hunter Biden under federal investigation for possible tax crimes

Neil Cavuto has the latest on the probe by Delaware U.S. attorney's office on 'Your World'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto" December 9, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  I.P., whoa. DoorDash, a meal delivery
service, giving Wall Street a lot to chew on today, a record-setting
performance for a new offering in this genre, something we have never seen
before.

DoorDash technically still losing money, though not as much money, soaring
in the market today close to 90 percent. To put that in perspective now,
with shares going into today priced at $102 for its launch -- and,
remember, through a series of multiple re-pricings, this was originally
around $70 to $75. Then they upped it to $80 to $85, then $102. At $180 a
share and better, it has a market valuation of $70 billion.

I want you to think of that for a second, because it is bigger than
Chipotle, Domino's, and Dunkin' Brands combined, The Wall Street Journal
calling it, in the food arena, a rare story and a mad dash that now has
others hungrily looking to follow up.

Tomorrow, for example, we will get to see that with Airbnb, hoping that
this is the wind at its back, an incredible testament to an incredible
market that has seen a record number of new offerings this year, and
successful offerings, at that.

You would have to go to dot-com boom during the Clinton administration to
see anything like it. Now, we know what followed that. What follows this?

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is "Your World," and a
profitable world at that for those considering going public in an
environment we're told is dicey. What to make of the timing of all of this
and a change in administrations that could alter this, or maybe because of
that change in administrations, that's why we are seeing this?

So much to explore on the significance of this at the corner of Wall and
Broad and other companies that are looking and saying, you know, if the
food's good for them, maybe it's good for me.

On the menu right now, Susan Li taking a look at the tee-up that has
everyone looking up -- Susan.

SUSAN LI, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Incredible day for American capitalism
and shows how much appetite there is for new economy gig companies like
DoorDash.

America's biggest food deliverer, DoorDash nearly quintupling the value of
the company in its stock market debut today, now worth more than $70
billion, as you mentioned. The stock rocketed out of the gates, up over 80
percent at the end, and not bad for a company that's only been around for
seven years.

But now it accounts for nearly 50 percent of food deliveries across the
entire country, also, by the way, minting new billionaires, part of this
American dream. It's three founders met as students at Stanford, and
they're now all worth more than $2 billion each.

Tonight, we have the biggest unicorn still out there, Airbnb, likely
watching DoorDash's success today. And that's going to make their IPO
tomorrow a bit more expensive for those that want to get in. The home
rental startup will likely be worth more than the $42 billion it was last
valued at this week.

It's one of those rare startups going to market that's actually making
money. Now, Airbnb was founded back in 2008. And all three founders will
become billionaires, on paper, at least, tomorrow in this listing, this
IPO.

We're looking at a record December so far for share sales. Next week, one
of the world's most downloaded apps, Wish, will sell stock. And before
year's end, we have two more high-profile unicorns, Roblox and Affirm,
going public.

So, in total, this is going to be the best year for IPOs in history, with
more than $140 billion raised so far and counting. And yes, Neil, that's
even better than dot-com days, and partying like it's 1999 all over again.

CAVUTO:  Yes, we do know what happened soon after that. So, you always want
to balance those worries.

LI:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  Susan Li, great reporting, as always, my friend.

Let's go to Gary B. Smith and Kathryn Rooney Vera on the significance of
this.

And, Kathryn, I'm going to throw this out there, this rush to party right
now, this rush to announce new offerings in an environment where the taxes
are still low. But we do know, from president-elect Joe Biden, that he
wants to raise them, not back to the old corporate levels, but from 21
percent to 28 percent, and the rate on high net worth individuals like Gary
B. Smith.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO:  So now I'm wondering if that can explain this dash -- no pun
intended -- to get on market and get public before all this happens. What
do you make of that?

KATHRYN ROONEY VERA, BULLTICK CAPITAL MARKETS HOLDINGS:  Well, Neil, I
think this is very similar to 1999, in the sense that it's irrational
exuberance.

This bull market, Neil, is spawning a rush for IPOs like we haven't seen
since that time period.

So, look, I think there are some near-term risks. If -- if -- the Democrats
take full seats in Georgia, and you get a 50/50 split in the Senate, with
Kamala Harris being the tiebreaker, then, via the reconciliation process,
Neil, we could get that corporate tax hike from 21 to 28 percent.

And just as a matter of fact, Bank of America did this fantastic analysis
that I thought was wonderful, which said that if, in fact, we do increase
the corporate tax rate 7 percentage points, that would take off
approximately 10 percent from S&P 500 earnings. So it's something to keep
on the radar.

I will end, though, with the fact that fiscal and monetary stimulus are
what's taken us to current levels. It's been a phenomenal triumph of
liquidity over fundamentals in this year.

CAVUTO:  Right.

ROONEY VERA:  And I think that's something that's going to keep taking the
markets higher going into the next year.

CAVUTO:  You know, Gary, awaiting the other offerings to come in what will
be a pretty busy blitz of buying opportunities, at least for those lucky
enough to have these shares, you do wonder whether it's getting ahead of
itself.

And, more specifically, I wonder what you make of the fact that DoorDash,
as things stand down, and as The Wall Street Journal has reported, is worth
more than the companies and concerns that have been around a while,
successful in their own right, like Domino's and Chipotle and Dunkin'
Brands, combined, combined.

GARY B. SMITH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  Is that realistic?

SMITH:  I think the DoorDash deal is crazy.

Look, they have a good business model. They have a large market share. But
you would have to question, is this just a COVID flash pandemic stock? I
mean, does it really -- I mean, they really have their best quarter, if you
will, basically after the whole pandemic thing kicked in.

So you have to wonder, is it kind of a one-hit wonder? If we get the
vaccine, and it's successful, we get past the pandemic, are people really
still going to be using DoorDash a lot? I just -- boy, I have to question.
I certainly wouldn't buy it at these prices. I don't even -- what, it
closed at $180-something?

CAVUTO:  Right.

SMITH:  And, as you say, $70 billion just sounds kind of nutty.

Now, on the flip side, Airbnb is going to have its IPO. That actually took
a hit because of the pandemic. As you can imagine, people aren't doing a
lot of traveling. They also have a pretty good business model. That's one I
would seriously look at. And it going to come in highly valued, of course.

So, I think you might want to wait. But that would be kind of the flip side
of DoorDash for me.

CAVUTO:  All right, we will watch it very closely.

Guys, I want to thank you.

Now, on this notion that Gary just raised there in the end, that this is
getting a little too rich, and that this might be assigning a value to a
company that doesn't deserve it, well, Tony Xu at a Wall Street Journal
conference -- he's the guy who heads DoorDash -- was saying he is just
benefiting from an environment that benefited e-commerce players like
Amazon in the early days of the Internet boom, when those were looking like
promising issues.

And he is the Amazon of this arena, food delivery services. That's the
distinction among many that have looked at all the new offerings this year
and what they portend.

Charlie Gasparino with us right now, FOX Business reporter extraordinaire.

What do you make of that analogy, that it's different than dot-com boom
because so many of the key players, while, in DoorDash's case, aren't
making money technically yet, they're driving up a lot of sales, their
losses are going down significantly, much as it was in the early days of
Amazon, and just you wait? What do you make of that?

CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT:  Yes, remember Amazon, it
was more than just a retailer, right? I mean, it collects information. It
targeted ads.

CAVUTO:  That's right.

GASPARINO:  Here is where I think it's different in the -- and I covered
the dot-com. I'm that old. I did cover the dot-com bubble and burst back in
the day when I was at The Wall Street Journal. I wrote a book about it.

Those were one-trick pony companies that blew up, right? For every Amazon,
there was 20 Pets.com that just said you can buy pet food over the
Internet.

CAVUTO:  Remember that.

GASPARINO:  And what made Amazon different, what made Facebook different,
what made Google different, all the ones that emerged out of there,
obviously Apple, was that these are more than just one-trick ponies. These
are companies that collect data, that target-market, that do many things.

And I think, if DoorDash goes the simple route, as Gary B. Smith said, was
talking about, that probably people will be ordering in a lot less once the
vaccines kick in, if that's just their business model, well, then they're a
one-trick pony and their valuation is way too high.

But I bet you they're not. And I bet you they are in the business of
information, of knowing who's buying what, of trying to target those
buyers, selling that information maybe to hedge funds.

I mean, that's where this gets interesting. And that's the difference
between the--

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO:  Well, they talked about this being a lifestyle-changer, Charlie,
that people who heretofore never used these food delivery services like
DoorDash, during the pandemic, they did, or were forced to, or they had no
other alternative, and they rather liked it.

And just like the first people who started buying stuff and goods on
Amazon, they -- when they started realizing it's convenience, and they
didn't have to walk to the mall or go, drive to the mall, that it was -- it
looked like something that had some staying power.

DoorDash's argument is, it's the same appeal here. What do you make of
that?

GASPARINO:  It's -- I don't think it's an absurd analogy. For example,
Amazon started by selling books, right? We know that it--

CAVUTO:  Right.

GASPARINO:  Listen, I bought you that -- I bought you that wonderful man
body hoodie, remember? I got that from Amazon.

CAVUTO:  Yes, I remember quite well. But this is a family show.

Continue.

(LAUGHTER)

GASPARINO:  Yes, I know.

But I'm just saying that if DoorDash branches out, does other things,
delivers other things, that's what makes these tech companies different.
They learn.

CAVUTO:  So, this isn't frothy to you, Charlie, or is it?

I mean, in a change in administrations and things that could happen, I
mean, the fear is that we know 1999 and remember well. You and I, though we
seem and look much younger, covered that. But we also know what was
beginning to happen the next year with dot-com boom that went bust.

And we know the history of some of these things when they get frothy. Is
this, in the aggregate, frothy to you?

GASPARINO:  Here's the argument for both sides.

Look at Tesla. Tesla, based on traditional metrics, should not be selling
at the gazillion-dollar market cap that it is right now. It is a car
company. It doesn't sell as many cars, is not as profitable as GM, Ford, go
down the line.

However, the market is looking at Tesla as much more than a car company.
They're looking at it as a technology company. They're looking at it as
having the future of electronic vehicles being pushed by the Biden
administration. They are throwing out the traditional metrics.

I will point out that that's what they did during dot-com bubble to justify
those crazy valuations before the whole thing blew up. But Tesla does have
a decent product. And that's the debate that's going on right now.

And we should point out, none of this would happen -- and this is what's
scary, which makes you think it is frothy -- without zero percent interest
rates, which force investors to go out on the risk spectrum and gamble with
stuff like a DoorDash IPO at its current level, because, if you put keep
your money in stocks in the bank, you get zero.

And that's what -- that's what's going on here. So, listen, I can make -- I
can argue both sides of this coin. And that's the scary part.

CAVUTO:  All right, my friend, thank you very, very much, Charlie Gasparino
on that.

He does not use these food delivery services, unless they go to extremely
expensive restaurants. But it's good to know that it's out there just the
same.

In the meantime, you probably heard the news from Bill Hemmer in the prior
hour, Hunter Biden acknowledging that they're looking at his taxes. Who,
when, and going back how far?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, Hunter Biden is being investigated right now by tax
authorities.

He said and made a statement as such, the president-elect's son saying: "I
learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. attorney's office in
Delaware advised my legal counsel also yesterday that they are
investigating my tax affairs."

We do not know what they are investigating. During the campaign, of course,
much was made of his connections and business dealings with Ukraine and
China. We don't know if they are focused on those. We do know, though, that
the probe was disclosed just about five days before Joe Biden is expected
to formally, formally become the president-elect. He's all but that right
now, with the Electoral College meeting to settle the issue once and for
all.

Hunter Biden defending his actions and saying he will cooperate fully with
this.

When we get more, of course, we will keep you posted on it. Jacqui Heinrich
is getting some notes together here to find out what people are telling her
about this, as well as the Biden campaign, which has also issued a
statement in support of Hunter Biden.

In the meantime, I do want to keep you abreast of some of these other
developments on Capitol Hill, certainly concerning stimulus and a lot of
other things that seemed to reverse a little bit today, hence the reversal
in stocks today that this might be, I wouldn't say falling apart, but
looking a little bit more like an uphill climb.

Chad Pergram with more on all of this.

Hey, Chad.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT:  Good afternoon, Neil.

Well, the House of Representatives is now voting to avert a government
shutdown this weekend. This is a stopgap bill to fund the government
through the 18th of December. Now, congressional Democrats are dismissing
two GOP coronavirus relief plans.

First, Democrats shutdown an offer from the secretary of the Treasury,
Steve Mnuchin. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said the plan
didn't do enough to help the unemployed. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY):  A better way to go is a bipartisan plan that
the Gang of Eight has put together. That's the best -- that's the way to
go. Cutting unemployment to the extent he has is not going to take much --
it's not going to get much support among any Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM:  Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also torpedoed an offer
from the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. He suggested eliminating
the two most contentious issues for now. Those are liability protections
and money for state and local governments.

But Democrats rejected that too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY):  The American people are hurting. They need
the House and the Senate to stop chasing our tails and make a law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM:  Now, the team of bipartisan senators just released some portions
of their plan. It includes an extra $300 a week, covering four months of
unemployment aid, $160 billion for state and local governments, and $300
billion for the PPP, so nothing on COVID.

But, Neil, the House today did debate a bill establishing energy standards
for ceiling fans, the vote on that later this afternoon -- back to you.

CAVUTO:  Just incredible.

All right, Chad Pergram, thank you very much.

I'm sure the ceiling fan manufacturers will be delighted to hear that
progress is going on there.

Senator Mike Braun joins us right now, Senate Budget Committee, Indiana
Republican.

Senator, is it fair to say that this stimulus, if it comes to pass, is
looking, well, iffy?

SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN):  Well, listening to what we just heard, it's sad
that, in the biggest business in the world, the federal government here,
that we don't do budgets anymore, and we rely on continuing resolutions.

So, on COVID, which we tried to pass in September and October, would have
been targeted. A state like Indiana, we have basically got 5 percent
unemployment, nearly full. We have come all that distance. A lot of places
are getting close to where, if it doesn't happen soon, they won't need it.

But the place, Neil, has gotten to where we don't do anything on time, we
don't make a move until you're forced to either shut the government down or
run out of time. And that's basically the dynamic we're in.

I do think that, over the next few days, into next week, something will
come together. And you mentioned all the moving parts, state and local
government aid that the Democrats say they have to have. They don't want to
budge on limiting liability for schools, companies, nonprofits.

And then you have got the new entry, which would be direct payments that
the White House threw in there. I think, enhanced unemployment insurance to
the tune of 300 bucks a month for four months, that should go through.

And I do still believe we will get it done. But the gamesmanship is what
the American public ought to be ashamed of, because we have got a lot of
time to not only get a budget done. We have tried to work on COVID now for
three months.

CAVUTO:  Yes, it just stymies.

I know you have been criticizing the media for failing to investigate
charges of voter fraud and all. And I don't want to revisit that argument.

BRAUN:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  But is it your sense right now that the fraud was such, that it
was on such a scale, that it has tipped the election to Joe Biden, that, if
it weren't as widespread as -- certainly as Donald Trump and others in the
campaign say it was, that he would already be looking at another four years
in the White House?

BRAUN:  So, I have been out at least two or three times on the subject,
last Sunday as well.

And my point is, with the nature of what we just went through, where you
have all of these ballots dumped into a system that wasn't ready to handle
it, definitely more irregularities. Does that mean systemic fraud? Does it
mean widespread?

My point is, that's one extreme. Doing nothing is another, Neil. And my
idea was that we should be giving more than just routine investigation on
this stuff. The time, the clock has gotten to be an issue as well. What can
you do?

Obviously, the courts have not seemed to think that there's enough there. I
don't think that means there's nothing. This may go into somewhere down the
road. We had a commission just--

CAVUTO:  But do you think -- do you think that Donald Trump won the
presidential election?

BRAUN:  I think that that case has tried to have been made.

Up to this point, you have not had anybody formally put it there. If you
try to add all of it up, a lot of things would have to coalesce to make
that happen. But -- and I don't think that's probably the case.

CAVUTO:  Do you doubt that, then? Do you doubt that, Senator, that for it
to -- OK, understood.

BRAUN:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  So, let me ask you this.

Five days or so from now, Electoral College meets, concludes that Joe Biden
has the 306 electoral votes, more than the 270 needed. Is he the president-
elect of the United States?

BRAUN:  Even the White House has said so.

If you do not have the evidence produced by then, they will accept that
threshold? Does that mean it's going to go away? I don't think so. For me,
that was always the deadline that, when we came to it, if nothing had
coalesced, we need to look forward.

I don't think, for close to half the country, they will be satisfied with
that.

CAVUTO:  Right.

BRAUN:  And I think, in those places where you should be doing audits to
instill confidence, not only in January 5 for down the road, for the same
reason Jimmy Carter and James Baker said there was a need of that just 15
years ago.

If we're going to go to more paper ballots--

CAVUTO:  No, no doubt. But, Senator--

BRAUN:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  -- I guess what I'm asking, you're one of the few Republicans I
have had a chance to talk to who would say--

BRAUN:  Yes.

CAVUTO:  -- that, the way things stand now, it would really take a lot of
combination of things for the election results to change.

But so many of your colleagues are reluctant to refer to Joe Biden as the
next president of the United States. Why is that?

BRAUN:  I think that's because, when you come to December 14, that's a
major threshold. And I think you will see things change then.

That does not mean that the discussion of it or the need to ferret out
issues that just couldn't get done in the time frame available, that you
should just forget it.

CAVUTO:  But you think, on December 14, sir, that, once the Electoral
College meets and concludes that Joe Biden has amassed more than enough of
the electoral votes to be the next president, all of those colleagues who
have been reluctant to call Joe Biden that will start referring to him as
that, the next president of the United States?

BRAUN:  That's a threshold, January 6, when there--

CAVUTO:  Right.

BRAUN:  It comes to Congress.

That's the next. And I think that that's right around the corner. So--

CAVUTO:  You don't think they wait until then? You don't think they will
wait until then, will they?

BRAUN:  I don't think many will.

CAVUTO:  OK.

Senator, thank you very, very much. Very good seeing you.

BRAUN:  My pleasure.

CAVUTO:  Be safe. Be healthy. All right.

All right, in the meantime here, we're getting more details on this Hunter
Biden tax investigation. We don't know specifically where and how far it
goes and whether it goes to his Ukraine business dealings or China business
dealings.

We do know that this is emanating out of Delaware. It is not out of
Washington and the DOJ, but it will emanate out of Delaware.

We will keep you posted on the latest developments after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, it's the magic vaccine that's got the world excited,
and Canada just nodding off on it today. Bahrain has done this. United
Kingdom has done this.

But, here in America, we have not done this. What's going on?

Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has announced that federal
prosecutors have informed him he's under investigation. They're looking
into his taxes. We don't know much more than that, or where and how this
originated, whether it's Ukraine or business dealings in China.

Jacqui Heinrich has been following it very, very closely.

Jackie, what can you tell us?

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Well, Neil, we just found out top
of this hour.

The Biden transition announced that federal investigation into president-
elect Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden. We found out that this investigation,
they were informed about it yesterday, Hunter and his legal counsel, and
they made that apparent to the public today, releasing this information.

Now, we don't know exactly what the investigation into his taxes is
pertaining to. But we do know what a source familiar tells me it is not
related to. You may remember, during the election, there were claims that
the Trump campaign often leveled against Joe Biden about his son Hunter's
overseas business deals.

There were allegations that the former vice president improperly benefited
from those overseas business dealings in Ukraine and China. I'm told, a
source familiar tells me that this investigation is entirely unrelated to
all those headlines that came out during the election, including the
existence of a laptop that surfaced here at a repair shop in Delaware and
was the focus of the president and his attorney Rudy Giuliani for quite
some time.

So, we are told that this investigation is unrelated to those matters.

Now, what we have learned from another source familiar is that this
investigation began in 2018. Now, the DOJ is not commenting on Hunter
Biden's announcement that he's under investigation. The U.S. attorney in
Delaware is the lead on the case, we're told, not the DOJ in Washington.

However, the U.S. attorney in Delaware does fall under the DOJ. Now, we
have a couple of statements from Hunter and from the president-elect
himself.

Hunter says: "I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S.
attorney's office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday,
that they're investigating my tax affairs. I take this matter very
seriously, but I'm confident that a professional and objective review of
these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and
appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers."

And the president-elect also chimed in, saying: "President-elect Biden is
deeply proud of his son, who has fought through legal challenges, including
the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger."

So, that statement coming from the Biden/Harris transition, reflecting the
feelings of the president-elect toward his son, as he faces this
investigation that we're trying to learn some more about over the course of
the next few hours. This just broke, Neil. We will, of course, continue to
dig into it and get some more details for you -- back to you.

CAVUTO:  Well, you have provided quite a few right there.

Jacqui, thank you so much, Jacqui Heinrich following all of that with team
Biden.

In the meantime, looking at the Pfizer vaccine, it's been approved in a lot
of places right now for use, not yet, technically, in the United States.
But that's not the issue with my next guest.

In the U.K., they have found that some, some folks might not rush to be
among the first to get the vaccine, especially those with serious
allergies.

Chris Hopson is the U.K. National Health Service Providers CEO.

Chris, thank you for joining us.

I probably oversimplified it, but what is the issue for people who have
serious allergies?

CHRIS HOPSON, U.K. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES PROVIDERS:  Well, let's just go
back a tiny bit, Neil, and just say, can we just celebrate the fact that we
actually do now have a vaccine that works really effectively? It's gone
through clinical trials. It's gone -- it's been approved by our U.K.
regulator.

And the great news is that we started, in the NHS, vaccinating the first
few thousand people over the first part of this week. So, that feels like
it's light at the end of the tunnel after what's been a really, really
difficult year across the world.

CAVUTO:  Absolutely.

HOPSON:  But in terms of what you're talking about today, there were two
members of our NHS staff who, as I understand it, had very well-known and
long histories of having particular adverse reactions potentially to
particular elements of -- so, for example nut allergies, extreme allergies.

And, effectively, what happened is, they had a small -- and I would
emphasize the word small -- reaction to the vaccine. That's not a
particular surprise. Whenever you have a new vaccine, then you do expect to
get some reaction to it.

So, when we have our flu vaccine, for example, we know that some people
have a mild headache. Some people have a small pain in their arm. So this
was a small anaphylactic type, but not a full anaphylactic type of shock.
It was much less than that.

CAVUTO:  Right.

HOPSON:  So, effectively, not a big surprise.

CAVUTO:  How is the process going right now in the U.K.? I know it's first
being distributed to older, more vulnerable residents and all. How is it
going?

HOPSON:  Well, it's going very well.

I mean, when you set up something like this, it's a major, major logistical
challenge. We have got over 60 million people in this country that we need
to vaccinate. We have set up initially 50 hospital hubs right the way
across our country.

The reason as to why we need to use hospital hubs is that this Pfizer
vaccine -- I think, as you know, Neil, there are a number of different
vaccines that are kind of coming forward. But this first Pfizer vaccine,
that needs to be stored at minus-75 degrees Centigrade. So you need special
fridges to store it.

And those fridges are of a certain size, that, effectively, you can only
really have them on a hospital site. So, what we have been doing is, we
have been taking the vaccines, trays of the vaccines, about 975 doses of a
vaccine in a tray. They come to the hospital. They go into the storage.

And then, if you want to take them out to care homes, which is where we
particularly want to start vaccinating our most vulnerable residents, is,
you need to break those 975 trays into smaller doses. And that's, again,
quite a complex process.

So, what we have been doing is, we have initially been focusing on over-
80s. We have been calling them into the hospital. We have been vaccinating
them. So, we did thousands yesterday. And we're now looking forward to
rolling that out on a much wider -- across the population. But that's going
to take us quite a few months.

This is just the start of really quite a long process.

CAVUTO:  Yes, and I'm so glad, Chris, you put it in perspective here.
Whatever bumps along the way, this is a stunning development, the fastest
vaccine that I can remember that's made -- been available for folks.

When we were in the height of this pandemic back in the spring, people were
worried whether it would take years.

Chris Hopson, thank you very much, the U.K. National Health Service
Providers CEO.

HOPSON:  Thank you.

CAVUTO:  We started our broadcast yesterday telling you about a promising
new issue launch named DoorDash.

You probably remember the days when Facebook debuted. Right now, Facebook,
which is a celebrated technology powerhouse and has made billionaires out
of its founders, is under the gun, a serious gun, in almost all U.S. states
-- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, there is bipartisanship on Capitol Hill across the
country.

If you look at it, almost every Republican and Democratic attorney general
in this country has a problem right now with Facebook.

Gillian Turner on how big that problem is and where it's going -- Gillian.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Hey, Neil.

So, these are the most hotly anticipated lawsuits in big tech to come in
years. One is filed by today by the FTC. The other comes from 48 different
U.S. states. Sources are telling us, Neil, that, ultimately, what could
happen here is, we could see the courts forcing Facebook to break up, the
first U.S. company to do so forcibly in many decades.

Now, New York is leading the charge here. Take a listen to what their
attorney general said at a press conference just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL:  For nearly a decade, Facebook
has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff
out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.

Today, we are sending--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER:  The charge is that Facebook has become too big, too powerful, and
is a major violator of antitrust laws.

Take a look at the complaint. It reads" fear that the company has fallen
behind in important new segments and that emerging firms were building
networks that were competitive with Facebook's and could be very disruptive
to the company's dominance."

Now, the specific charges in this -- in these suits revolve around
Facebook's purchase of rival social media apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Neil, big tech is really now facing a reckoning, one that has been building
for months. The difference that we're seeing today is that, rather than
being led by Congress, as they have been threatening to do since the
summer, it's being led by the courts -- Neil.

CAVUTO:  Thank you, Gillian, very, very much.

Get the read on this with Andy McCarthy, the former assistant U.S.
attorney.

I'm more curious the four attorneys general who are not part of this, Andy.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO:  But what do you make of this bipartisan hunt?

ANDY MCCARTHY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, I think, Neil, it's another
iteration of what we saw in the Section 230 hearings, in the sense that
both sides of the political aisle are angry at big tech, but they're not
angry at them for the same reasons.

So, what unites them is the anger. And I think you're hearing some of that
with this. We are kind of far afield from what is supposed to be the main
thing that antitrust law accomplishes, which is what's good for the
consumer.

You have one side that thinks that big tech has gotten so big that it's
snuffing out expression and especially conservative ideas, and you have the
other side that thinks it's just too big and too profitable and that's kind
of icky.

CAVUTO:  Yes.

MCCARTHY:  I think that, hopefully, the court is going to look at this in a
more -- a less populous, more technical and sober way.

CAVUTO:  Andy, while I have got you here, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention
this Hunter Biden investigation into his taxes originating out of Delaware,
I guess.

And it goes back to affairs in 2018 -- or that's when started, I should
say. What do you make of all of this?

MCCARTHY:  Well, a couple of things, Neil.

First of all, all tax cases, all federal tax investigations, even if
they're run out of a district U.S. attorney's office, which is the normal
thing, have supervision by the Tax Division at main Justice. So, there will
be Justice Department involvement.

CAVUTO:  I see.

MCCARTHY:  We also know, because this has been publicly reported, that
Hunter Biden had some tax problems in 2017-2018. There was an IRS lien.
There was a District of Columbia lien.

What I take away from the timing, especially the reports that you have
gotten that I had the benefit of being able to listen to, is if this has
been going on since 2018, and he's finding out about it now, I wonder if
that's because the Justice Department may be thinking about appointing a
special counsel under the circumstances, which would mean it would be hard
to keep the investigation under wraps at this point.

CAVUTO:  Ah.

MCCARTHY:  So maybe that's why they notified him.

But that's just speculation on my part.

CAVUTO:  Understood.

Thank you, my friend, very much. I did want to bring that up with you, Andy
McCarthy following all of that.

In the meantime, you have heard of COVID restrictions in some places, not
in other places, but what about the possibility of them being right next
door to each other, I mean, within feet of each other?

After this.

MARK MEREDITH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  One community, two very different
sets of rules when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus.

I'm Mark Meredith in Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia. We will tell you
what's going on coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO:  All right, one state has very, very strict COVID restrictions, the
other doesn't. What if they're literally next door to each other, and
that's the dividing line?

Mark Meredith in Bristol, Virginia, with this weird anomaly of the COVID
haves and have-nots.

Mark, what's going on?

MEREDITH:  Hey, Neil.

Well, as you have been talking about, small businesses face so many
different challenges, but where we are, it all depends on what they're
dealing with, depending on which side of the street they are.

We're on the Virginia side. Right over there is the Tennessee. And, as you
were talking about, there is a state line that splits downtown in half,
means that here, on the Virginia side, bars, for instance, have to close
down well before midnight, not necessarily the case across the street.

We have also seen that, in the Virginia side, also limiting how many people
can gather for those indoor events. That started to impact the city's event
businesses, because the Tennessee side is open. The local Chamber of
Commerce says, though, it's doing all it can to make sure businesses in
both states do have the chance to stay open.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH RHINEHART, PRESIDENT, BRISTOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:  I think they're
more just frustrated that they're going to lose business in general.

And when one side loses business, everybody here loses business. When
travelers come and spend money here, they may play the game of one foot in
one state, one foot in the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEREDITH:  That was one thing that was surprising, is that so many
businesses told us that it wasn't mattering to them which side they were
on. They wanted to see everyone succeed, because, after all, it is one
town.

When people come here, they're going across both sides. And if one side is
closed, they may not come at all.

The other important thing we're hearing, though, from state leaders in
Virginia, they're upset that Virginia is being more lax with their
restrictions. They say those people living in Tennessee and working in
Tennessee come right over the border all the time in Virginia, Neil, and
that means that they're seeing a spike in the number of cases.

The numbers here, Neil, are unbelievable, more than 4,000 COVID cases
reported last week, from the hospital, in this community, a 25 percent jump
from the week prior. It really is outstanding -- excuse me -- it is really
astounding -- Neil.

CAVUTO:  It is. No, you're right. It is just so wild.

Mark, great report, Mark Meredith, following all that in Bristol, Virginia.

So, for small businesses, whether they're on one side of the street or the
other, it's about hanging on. Can they?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MILLER, CO-OWNER, JUST JERSEY:  We're all fighting for the same
limited resources of time and money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Egomaniacs up there must think that we're stupid.
They're economic decisions. They're not human decisions.

ROSALIE VICARI, CO-OWNER, JOE VICARI RESTAURANT GROUP:  We have been closed
the last three weeks. So, whatever spike is happening is not attributable
to the restaurant industry.

RYAN CHOURA, CEO, CHOURA EVENTS:  A complete shutdown cannot be our only
answer.

ANGELA MARSDEN, OWNER, PINEAPPLE HILL SALOON & GRILL:  We're not just
dealing with a pandemic. We have been under siege this entire year.

We're going to die from poverty. We're going to die from depression. We're
going to die from suicide if somebody doesn't do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO:  All right, so many small business owners I have had the good
fortune of speaking to over the last weeks here, as the virus goes on and
the case of spike, and wondering if they will survive.

A few of them were telling me in those interviews, if this drags on much
longer, they simply will not.

Brian Brenberg joins us right now, the King's College business and
economics professor, more importantly to us, a FOX News contributor.

You know, professor, as we have discussed so many times, these guys are up
against the wall right now, and reimposition of restrictions in California
for another three weeks, in Michigan for at least that long, they might not
be there when the three weeks are up. What do you think?

BRIAN BRENBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, they know that, Neil, and it's
obvious that they're making that clear to anyone who will listen,

I will say this, though. I'm really discouraged by the lockdowns and the
effect that it's having on small businesses. But I'm incredibly encouraged
by the fight I'm seeing out of these restaurant owners, bar owners, gym
owners, salon owners, folks who are small businesses who know that the only
way they survive, the only way they survive is to be able to operate.

They may be in a corner, but they're not backing down from it. And, look, I
think they know that really the only fight they can win is the fight of
public opinion getting out there and telling their story, because you have
heard some of the mention in the interviews you have done about lawyering
up. They have said, we might have to lawyer up.

CAVUTO:  Right.

BRENBERG:  But the truth is, these guys can't afford that. Most small
businesses cannot afford to lawyer up.

But they can win the fight of public opinion. And they can turn the tide,
get some of these mayors to reverse course, and let them do business, let
them serve customers outside, let them bring people into their shops
safely. That's their chance. And they're obviously fighting for it right
now.

CAVUTO:  They all acknowledge it's an uphill battle, though.

But one of them raised a very good point with me, this woman, this saloon
owner in California, who is saying, let me see proof that my industry is
the reason we have had these uptick in cases.

And, invariably, the restaurant industry is not. Catering industries are
not. I don't know where these spikes are occurring, but they're not
occurring there. Does that give them legal grounds to challenge this, as
they -- as a great number of them have?

BRENBERG:  Well, we have already seen judges go back to cities and say,
you're not showing us enough data to justify these restrictions.

So, I think the answer to that is yes. And you got to give credit to these
restaurant owners. They're not backing down.

CAVUTO:  Absolutely.

BRENBERG:  They're saying, show me the data. You say you want to follow the
science. Great. Show me the science.

But the fact is, all we really have in any of these cities are sort of
flimsy correlations between spikes and COVID and people being out and about
in certain spots. But you can't prove that that's happening in any of these
restaurants.

And I think it's legitimate for the restaurants to say, show me proof,
because every time you raise the bar on what it takes for me to stay open,
I have hit it. I have jumped over that bar, and yet you're shutting me down
again. I'm not going to take that now, until you can show me--

CAVUTO:  Yes.

BRENBERG:  -- show me data that, in fact, I'm the source of the spread.

And we just don't have that right now.

CAVUTO:  Yes, and a lot of them say, it ain't us, so give us a break.

Brian, thank you very much, my friend. Good catching up with you on all of
this.

Again, we will be following all these developments tomorrow, as we wait for
stimulus. Could happen.

Here comes "The Five."

END

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