to know the other ways? when i had cancer, i wish this book had existed. tucker: that is it, all of the time we have left this evening. the news continues with shannon bream coming in tonight for greta van susteren. shannon: good evening. i am shannon bream in fort greta van susteren. a plane that passed through amsterdam and bound for detroit. -- i am shannon bream in for greta van susteren. passengers and crew sprang into action, and the explosives never went off, and least, not as he intended. you get the inside story from someone on the plane. and then, congressman pete hoekstra explains why he thinks it is dangerous to close gtmo. joining me now is a correspondent for "the new york daily news." thank you for joining us e. you have covered al qaeda for more than one dozen years be what do you make of this? >> thank you for joining us. >> the suspect tried to blow up in this light coming from amsterdam. he has confessed, perhaps under the dress or the pain of his look at being on fire for allegedly trying to set this on fire -- perhaps underdress -- under viduress. they have claimed some knowledge, and is in their interestingly worded statement, -- it is a very interestingly worded statement. they provided him with a very sophisticated device, which was this bomb, that had no metal parts. it was, in effect, a liquid explosive, a couple of things that combine to make a bomb. it did not work, obviously, and it malfunctions, but they may have trade him, -- it malfunctioned. however it went, the plot is unclear. this was a guy that was a lone operator by himself. one of sent him out into the world with his bomb, he was not with -- once they send him out into the road with this bomb -- he began his travels from yemen to amsterdam and on to detroit. shannon: they are now motivating people to act as lone wolves, a term we have for a lot in the last few days. people just sort of surf the web, to get involved. if he was, indeed, acting alone, should we be concerned that there are many more out there like him? >> there are many flavors of terrorists. there are some things that strike me as being kind of a junior varsity. not exactly the varsity squad of al qaeda, but somebody was saying that maybe we have knocked out the core of al qaeda, knocking them back on their heels, the missile attacks, particularly in the border area, that this is all they can really pull off. this is not like another 9/11, where you knock down some buildings and killed 3000 people, but this guy came close, and that would have been terrible, to say the least, but it was not on the scale of 9/11 that we are contemplating. the hard part about these guys is when they are operating alone, it is hard to find them, when they are not having communications, email, cell phone with other operatives. shannon: cleaning a connection to al qaeda. they are someone claiming a connection, at least the group from the arabian peninsula. could we get any good in tell from this guy? >> and" ask for a lawyer -- could we get any good intel from this guy? >> until he asks for a lawyer, like this guy, hasan, did, and really asking for a lawyer. it is going to be very hard. whatever obama has put into place, beefing up security at the airports, looking at the explosive this guy had stitched into his underwear, and they are calling him the "undies bomb er." this was only something that a pretty intrusive pat-down search would have found. this guy had a visa. this was even after that his prominent father had dimed him out. i think there is going to be a lot more scrutiny on that issue. then, going to the layers of security that he did not go through on his way to the u.s., strapped with a weapon of mass destruction. shannon: thank you very much for joining us denied. well, daniel was on flight 253. he now joins us live. daniel, thank you so much. i have to ask you, what were those moments like? >> well, shannon, we were coming in for descent. we were already in the descent pattern. there was a noise, like a firecracker, and a few moments later, people started screaming, yelling "fire," and i looked back behind me, and a few rows back, there were flames, smoke. i saw someone being tackled, being dragged into the eye of the airplane. i saw people running back there -- being dragged into the ideal -- aisle of the airplane. just chaos all around me. shannon: daniel, did your mind immediately go to the events of 9/11? what were you thinking? >> you really do not have a lot of time to think, but i definitely thought to myself "this is a terrorist attack. there is a fire on board." i was waiting for an imminent explosion. at that moment in time, you know, i thought that i would not be alive in the next hour. shannon: well, we are certainly glad that this ended the way that it did, that you and the other passengers survived. what can you tell us about this gentleman and his demeanor, his reaction after the fact? he was burned, subdued. any reaction from him at that point? >> well, shannon, that is one of the strangest things about the whole experience is that he was burned very badly. he was in a headlock, dragged into the aisle, handcuffed, but he was not screaming. he was not yelling. he was not really struggling, and the scariest part of the whole experience was looking into the eyes of the person who at that time i thought had just sealed my death warrant and seeing no emotion, not even anger, no fear, just a blank stare, a blank expression. this was an event he was trying to do against other of these people. shannon: there were bomb- sniffing dogs. what happened? >> we were brought into the customs area, and we were told to wait there. people on the ground, they were being -- we were being told nothing, and then the bomb- sniffing dogs are brought into the area, where a baggage was searched, and one gentleman, especially, the dog sat right in front of his bags, indicating very strongly that he smelled something, and the gentleman's bags were searched, and shortly thereafter, he was brought to the corner of the area we were in and put in handcuffs and taken away, and following that, the rest of the passengers were moved to a different area of the airport, to a little hallway, we were told, because they had found something in the baggage that was a security threat, and we needed to be moved into a different location for security reasons, and it was not until three or four hours that we're able to get out. shannon: daniel, you are saying that the dog lit on a bag, a different person on the plane? >> that is correct. a middle eastern man, possibly in his late thirties, possibly under, whose back was hit on by the dogs, he was taken off line of quietly. shannon: very interesting. it would be very interesting to see if we hear any more from that gentleman, thank you very much for sharing with us and your experiences, and you got to celebrate christmas with your family, so thank you, daniel. >> thank you, shannon. shannon: up next, a guest to says that closing gtmo is a mistake. peter hoekstra. and protestors clash with a regime. new videos are pouring out of that very secretive country. is the country of iran about 2 imclone approve ambassador bolton, coming up. -- is the country of iran about two implodes? -- to implode? and liza minnelli goes "on the record" with greta van susteren. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- shannon: it looks like president obama has a brand-new headache tonight, an accused terrorist who tried to blow of the airliner having spent time in yemen. many of the detainees at guantanamo are from yemen. six prisoners were just given back to yemen this month, and some say that is a really, really bad idea. one of those is pete hoekstra, a ranking republican. he joins us. >> good to see you, shannon. shannon: i have to ask you about our current relationship with yemen. the white house says they are pressuring them about terrorists. do you think they are doing enough? >> i think they probably are doing enough. we need the yemeni government to help us. the reaction has been very mixed. at the time of the explosion with the uss cole, there were periods time when the yemeni government did not cooperate, so this is a relationship that time works better than others, but it still has a long way to go before we can call them an ally in the war against radical jihadism. shannon: there are these radical yemenis. >> i think your previous guest's discussion about who these people are, of people who will take a suicidal action, trying to take down a plane of men, women, and children, these are the kind of hardened al qaeda prisoners that we have in gtmo, where i would describe as the worst of the worst. we know -- who i would describe as the worst as the worst. i wish the president would released the statistics, the trends we have seen over the last two or three years in terms of recidivism, how many of these people have found their way back to the battlefield, and these were the people we felt were ok to release, and now, there is talk of releasing upwards of 90 people back into yemen, into an area where i think there is a high probability they will find their way back onto the battlefield. they will again start attacking americans and western interests. this is why i think this is not only a bad idea. i think from a strategic standpoint, it is just a dumb idea. it makes no sense. shannon: you mentioned the administration be may be more transparent regarding people who have been released. you are frustrated with this in administration been forthcoming -- you mentioned your administration being maybe more transparent -- the administration. >> they have stonewalled any effort to get information out of fort hood. we need to know who hasan was in contact with. who was talking to? we need to know more about what is going on in yemen. we need to know more about the american-born clerk. how long have we had him in our sights? we need to know more about the d.c. 5, the young men to have went to pakistan and had been arrested, and we need to know more about this individual that was part of the christmas day attack on an airline. you know, right now, this administration is setting a very dangerous precedent. they are flying solo on national security. that means they are not involving congress in the policy decision or sharing the information that is necessary for informed policy decision. it is a dangerous place when the president and the executive branch flight saw loathed by national security. historically, that is been a bipartisan effort -- and the executive branch fly solo with national security. shannon: the president, was what he said good enough for you? >> i am interested in how the administration is going to change their behavior. are they finally going to use the word "terrorism" and say it is a real threat, home-grown terrorism is a real threat, and then, how are they going to be more transparent with the american public? it is the president's responsibility to keep congress fully informed, and he is not doing that, and i think when he limits his involvement with congress, he is going to get a foreign policy that is not going to get bipartisan support. it is not going to get bipartisan support, and that is a bad precedent. this is a long-term threat. it is a difficult threat to deal with. we need to do it together. shannon: in january, when you get back, a very busy time. we know that flight 253 will be one of those topics, and we will hear more and will be watching. congressman pete hoekstra, thank you. >> that is exactly your job. keep watching. shannon: we will do it. cracking down on protesters. in iran, people are being killed there. new videos are trickling out of iran, telling the true story. so what will happen next? ambassador john bolton, next. and going in reverse. and liza minnelli is going "on the record with greta." that and much more, just moments away. Ășn (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. shannon: there is blood on the streets in iran, violin and deadly clashes exploded between police and anti-government protesters -- violent and deadly. media access, as you know, is strictly controlled, but youtube videos show the demonstrations are turning bloody and vicious. the government is cracking down, but is the iranian regime will be losing control? what should president obama be doing? joining us is former ambassador to the united nations john bolton. ambassador, welcome. it went on for quite a lengthy time, a lot of people arrested, some deaths there. it seemed to have died out, but it is back. >> i think the opposition has grown in scope and intensity of feelings. this regime remains intensely unpopular, and these protests show it. the demonstrators themselves are being more aggressive, as these videos show. the regime has not wavered in the slightest, and they are the ones with the guns. they are brutal. there are fully prepared to use force. they have deadly force. i think it is likely to escalate, but i would not read from this that the government is in danger of falling. shannon: we know that officials there have admitted to a least five deaths. protesters say there are more, and they have sent out videos. we have advantages that we did not have in the past to get a bird's eye view. >> what has happened over the past few years is that the power has flowed away from the ayatollahs, towards the military guard and its militia allies, so what that means is that even though people associated with the ayatollah himself that, out against the actions of ahmadinejad, his supporters in the military now really have the upper hand, -- have, against the actions of ahmadinejad. shannon: ahmadinejad has everything to lose here. can there be any kind of compromise or reconciliation? can he afford to give anything? >> i am sure some religious leaders are trying to find a way out of this. this is obviously detrimental to the regime and sources of legitimacy, but i would not underestimate the will to stay in power of ahmadinejad. just because there are people in the streets does not mean that they are in any way intimidated by it. i think if what we have seen is borne out in the next several days, they will simply increase the use of deadly force until they suppress the demonstration countrywide. shannon: ok, so what should we be seeing from our administration? they were very careful in responding to what happened after the elections, not wanting to make it seem that the u.s. was fueling, or in any way directly supporting the opposition. what should our administration do in walking this deadly dance? >> not just with ahmadinejad, but the entire 1979 revolution. the notion that we can calibrate our remarks to indicate support for the demonstrators but not give the regime a chance to criticize us or them i think it's just a misguided, even right after the june elections. -- i think it is just a misguided. it does not matter what we say. they are going to blame us anyway, but i would have to say that we are rhetorical support for the demonstrators, for the opposition is not enough. you go into the streets, we are with you to the last drop of your blood. if we are going to support them, we should support them tangibly with financial support, communications, perhaps other support, as well, but i do not see any chance the obama administration is prepared to do that. shannon: with at least five deaths, does it quash this, or does it refuel it? >> the information we have, this will grow and escalate, so my prediction unfortunately is that there is going to be more violence, and the real question is will the revolutionary guard fragment? while some of the guns go to the side of the protesters? -- will some of the guns go there? i think the opposition is too great, so the most likely outcome is ahmadinejad and the regime stay in power. shannon: ok, one of the dead we have written as a nephew of the opposition candidate. does he not take a more vocal role -- one of the dead and we have heard is a nephew of an opposition candidate. does he now take a more vocal role? >> they are kind of building up to it. that would obviously be a huge step by the government, one they have been reluctant to take, but members supporting the government and parliament are now calling for that, so i do not put it beyond the realm of the feasible. shannon: ambassador, always great to have your input. thanks. coming up, the very nature of american capitalism being changed forever? steve forbes says we are going in the wrong direction and that there will be a backlash. and next, ivana trump gets booted off of an airplane. also, can type in gaultier a broken heart? -- can tylenol cure a broken heart? all my business information is just a phone call away-- to my wife... who's not answering. announcer: there's a better way. intuit quickbooks online organizes your business in one place, and helps you stay on top of your business anytime, anywhere. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. shannon: know when can argue with this, the government has expanded in scope since the crisis -- no one can argue with this. wilson's collapse of like a house of cards if the government does decide to lessen its role -- will it collapse? joining us is steve moore, a writer for "the wall street journal" editorial page. what do you make of this? >> i think what has happened, shannon, is that washington has become the new wall street. , all of the big deals are not being made in new york on wall street anymore. they are being made in washington. the big venture-capital deals are being done. venture -- this has been the only city that has flourished as the rest of the country has gone down, and that is because we are spending so much money in washington d.c. -- in washington, d.c. this is a form of cronyism, where the people who get the money are those that have the lobbyists, the campaign contributions, and so on, and i think the people to suffer from this are the people who do not have lobbyists in washington and do not have access to this huge fountain of money that is pouring out of d.c. shannon: the government's fingers are in banks and insurance companies, car companies, all of those kinds of things. >> if we were doing the show a little over a year ago, and the government were talking about two of the largest autocompanies -- companies, in cash for clunkers program, all of these things seemed improbable -- talking about two of the largest automobile companies. member shannon: zetia administration was they not only us -- shannon: many in the administration will say that it was not only us. >> i think we would of been better off if we would just have let this burn itself out, this recession. we have had eight recessions since world war two, and we blew out of them. i think they think we're not going to have a very strong expansion if we have one and all because we have so much debt right now. we have added $3 trillion of debt in just the last few years, and we have doubled the national debt, and you just cannot do that, and when washington is making the decisions, it really leads to, i think, a very corrupt government here in washington, d.c., where people feel the way to get things done is that to make a contribution to the government or to members of congress, and what that is very much alike, shannon, is like europe. it did not wear very well. it did not create jobs, and it led to high unemployment -- it did not to work very well. shannon: can the government now pull out? >> the sooner the better. retract. that is something that i think is really important. looking our view about whether or not the government did the right thing with the banks and so on. i think it is clear to pull things back as quickly as possible. let's try to get back somewhere near a balanced budget. if you want to look at the obama budget, he wants to borrow another $1 trillion every year. we will look like germany and france. we will have to speak french. shannon: it is a beautiful language, but let's hope we do not learn it under those circumstances. coming up, liza minnelli goes on the record with greta, talking about her new cd and sharing stories about sinatra and paparazzi -- luciano pavarotti. ugcl) yeacl 's h fba icos y!tyft juneck yno itft'sse sut'cu tyftef (ckicli shannon: next up, liza minnelli goes on the record with greta van susteren, but first, ainsley earhardt in our new york newsroom. >> an apartment fire early this morning, children dying between the ages of four months and six years old, the women aged 25 and then two 19-year-olds. the apartment complex was recently inspected, and they did not find any problem. and man is detained for allegedly entering the country illegally. an agency says that the man slipped across the border last thursday -- a man is detained. south korean activists are conferring a 28-year-old missionary from arizona crossed the border to apparently draw attention to the human rights record at p'yongyang. we now return to "on the record with shannon bream" tonight. i am ainsley earhardt pm thank you for watching the fox news channel. shannon: liza minnelli has been nominated for a grammy -- i am ainsley earhardt. thank you for watching. greta: liza, nice to see you. >> hi, greta, how are you doing? greta: these are very big chairs be a we do not usually get to sit in big chairs like these -- these are very big chairs. we do not usually get to sit in these big chairs. first of all, you have a head band. what is with that? >> i have a rehearsal. greta: there is big news. you have a dvd coming out. it has been nominated for a grammy. tell us about that. >> it was the show that we won the award for. it was the second act. the first act was something i do not think you have heard, some very interesting acting choices on it, and the second half is all about my godmother, kay tomczyk. greta: who was she? -- kay thompson. >> she had a huge radio show. she and pocos centers, and she arranged music like nobody else, -- she had vocalists. she did things that were unheard of. then, the next little thing she did was she wrote "eloise." greta, about the plaza hotel. >> yes, and then she did all kinds of things, but what i am celebrating is the nightclub act that she did. in 1948, i was 2, but i saw it, and i remember it, and what i remember is sitting on mom's lap, across from my dad, these feet that never stopped moving, and the small arms, and the audience world and with laughter, because she was truly witty. greta: let's talk about this grammy award. >> oh, my gosh. greta: you are nervous? you have got some competition, michael buble. look at the competition you had with the oscar. you had diana ross, the competition when you won your oscar, so you have faced hard competition before. >> yes, but tony bennett, i have every album that he ever made, and then all of the cd's, and i used to get a bus ticket to watch and when he was in brooklyn, and buble, i adore, so i am up against some pretty strong competition, but i am thrilled to be in their company. greta: is it fun to get up there and sing those songs, or is it work? >> it is on an exciting. the audience back -- that is coming to see me, i can always find someone who has never seen me in the audience. and then, i perform the whole show for that person. they do not know it, but i do, until i get them. greta: all right, so, last night, i watched all of these tapes of you on youtube, and i got an advance copy of the d b d where you are nominated for the grammy, and the one that keeps popping up is "new york, new york" -- this dvd. >> they would have loved the k. thompson show, because they worshiped her. they were shipped kay. we used to spend hours on airplanes, talking about her, but it was great, because it was really simple. wherever frank went, sandy and i went the other way and made it work, you know? -- sammy and i greta: what was frank like? >> he is great and was always wonderful to me. was great. that is all i can go on. greta: a music video with you and dellucci on a paparazzi singing "new york, new york" -- you and pavarotti. >> âȘ these vagabond shoes greta: how did that come by? >> he wanted to do it, and it was for charity, so i said ok. i guess there is not a lot of rhythm and opera, because if you watched that tape, he was a brilliant. when we rehearsed it the first time, he was âȘ i am spreading the news, i am leaving today, i want to be a part of it âȘ and i was âȘ i am leaving today and he went âȘ my little town blues and i was saying that we just do what it takes to get it done. it has got to be caring about what you do. i mean, you do research on people. you are great at what you do. you cannot stay on top forever. greta: you have had enormous success. everybody knows liza minnelli. >> yes, but i never changed my name to gardens. my father was a brilliant director and a great scene designer -- i never changed my name to garland. and then i only work with people i can learn from. i want to learn. that is all i want to do. that is what keeps me going, and if you are curious, you cannot get depressed. you cannot get angry. you cannot get a lot of time with yourself if you're curious and if you stay that way, and that is my job. greta: one of the comments from people who get to know you, introducing on television, the great movie "wizard of oz," you introduce it. how old were you? >> i was 10. greta: the meanest witch, however she in person? >> my sister is doing it now. she was the nicest lady i have ever met. greta: she surely did not seen it. >> no, but that is the movie. -- she surely did not seem it. greta: she looks like every bad music teacher i ever had. there was a puff of smoke, and margaret hamilton disappears, and there was a trap door, right, and she went down in back, and something went wrong, an explosion or something, and she caught fire, so they had to come and put her out. greta: that is what killed her in the end. i take it that winning the grammy, you want to win this one for kay thompson. i sort of get that. >> it would mean the world to me, and she was the most important person in my world, thanks to my parents. shannon: there is so much more of greta's interview with liza minnelli, and you can check it all out online on gretawire.com. up next, the best of the rest. a baby that weighs more than 100 pounds? we will explain it. plus, ivana trump gets booted from a plane for swearing at little kids. what happened? find out, in minutes. shannon: you have seen our top stories, but here is the best of the rest. say goodbye to the lake champlain bridge. check out this video. the bridge was demolished today. it was from 1929. , almost 2,200 feet long, eight under pounds of explosives taking it down. it did not take long -- 800 pounds of explosives. construction on a new bridge will start in the spring, but it is going to take the brand-new one. demolition took only a few seconds. let's be honest. many people may want to forget about 2009. that was the spirit in times square when sam new yorkers and some tourists decided to shred their bad memories, being invited to toss their things into an industrial-sized shredder. there were sports teams and, and the girl to one surprise for most creative, she destroyed the memory of a school counselor the ended up on america's most wanted. a lot with the old, and in with the new. -- a school counselor that ended up on america's most wanted. out with the old comic in with the new. the active ingredient in tylenol may just not stop physical pain, but it may help stop the pain of social rejection. long-term use of it could cause trouble, but these findings are legitimate. they were published in the journal of psychological science, and this is one big baby. a zoo in illinois got a big surprise of the weekend, a baby giraffe. they knew that the baby's mother was pregnant, not do, for a few days, and the baby giraffe is a boy -- not due to come for a few days. you can head of there and check out the brand new resident. and ivana trump. the former wife of donald trump got kicked off of an airplane for cursing at some little kids who were running up and down the aisle, while the plane was sitting on the tarmac and florida. the flight attendants tried to calm her down, but that ended up making her matter. she was finally removed from that airplane. well, finally, pranksters looking for commitment. a chicago man got quite the christmas surprise. his friends feel his apartment with a wrapped presents, but here is the fate. all of those are actually his own belongings. his friends thought it would be hilarious to sneak in while he was away and wrap-up everything. even his toilet paper. mr. 35 rolls of paper and eight hours. the guy jokes that on the upside, everything he is unwrapping, including what was on the refrigerator, he is actually something that he needs. and there you have it, the best of the rest -- including what was on the refrigerator, is actually something that he needs. needs. shannon: 11 decline is almost here. the lights are flashing. it is time for last call -- 11:00 is almost here. who could possibly forget former house majority tom delay on "dancing with the stars"? congressman delay did not hold back -- greta: congressman delay did not hold back. >> âȘ wild thing once they, i think i love you -- wild thing. but i want to know for sure you make my heart sing you make everything groovy wild thing âȘ greta: we are betting that you never thought that you would see that. shannon: a lot of hip action, very entertaining, and rush limbaugh made several appearances on the show and was never shy. >> this new president. i do not care if he is new. i do not care if he is old. i do not care if he is black. i do not care. why do you reject what the people are telling you? why do you hate the american people? why do you hold the american people in contempt? why do insist on insulating us in some kind of government-run health system, when they are telling you that they do not want this -- why do insist on enslaving us? shannon: anything can happen here "on the record." and fire alarm for us to greta and the crew to evacuate in mid show. as always, credit to a few behind-the-scenes. greta: -- as always, greta took you behind-the-scenes. greta: you are so loyal. this is an interview. tucker carlson. we got thrown out because of a fire alarm. what do you have to say about this segment, tucker? tucker: i would say when you hear the alarm, you should respond to the noise. it is not background noise. greta: they are staying away from the building. of the garage? -- the garage? i am going to the garage. what? getting my card. -- car. [alarm] greta: well, we get a little surprise, a fire alarm. we evacuated the building, but everything is taken care of. shannon: a true pro, even with a fiar