Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Sandra Smith 20171221

Americas newsroom. A big welcome to laura lawmakers offering praise for the president as well as promises for what the new bill will mean for hard working americans. President trump its the largest i always say the most massive but the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform. But tax cut. Really something special. Mr. President , you fulfilled the promise you made to millions of americans struggling in this economy, a middle class miracle and thats exactly what the Congress Passed today. [applause] what we did last night and what the house finished this morning means america is going to start growing again. What this represents is a promise that each and every one of us made to the American People last year is a promise that is kept today. [applause] this is a big day for america. This is americas comeback. We will keep fighting and well make this the greatest presidency that weve seen not only in generations, but maybe ever. God bless all of you. Thank you. John roberts joins us live from the north lawn with more on that. Hi, john. A lot of political gymnastics involved getting this thing done but the president stuck the landing. Clearly he is thrilled to have tax reform finally done. Fair to say this is the biggest moment of his presidency. What a scene at the white house yesterday. Most of the republican members of congress outside the south portico. A show of support and colorful photo op. This was the centerpiece of his election campaign. The president now hoping that good things will flow from what he insists will be a real boost to the economy tweeting this morning the massive tax cuts which the Fake News Media is separate to write badly about to please their democrat bosses will soon be kicking in and speak for themselves. Companies are already making big payments to workers. Dems want to raise taxes and hate the big cuts. The president read the announcement from at t it would invest 1 billion in the United States and give every one of its 200,000 employees a 1,000 bonus. The president predicting thats the tip of the iceberg. Listen here. President trump we will see something that will be very special. Were bringing the entrepreneur back into this country. Were getting rid of all the knots and ties and youre going to see what happens. Ultimately what does it mean . It means jobs, jobs, jobs. Not a lot of time for celebrating. The white house had to get to work on getting an agreement to keep the government funded through the holidays. The white house is confident it will get a resolution to keep the government funded not for two weeks but through january 19th. The bill that is emerging from the rules committee in the house also includes what are called paygo waivers. Under that process if the president puts in place tax cuts there needs to be cuts to entitlements to pay for the tax cuts. The paygo waivers waive those cuts. Not sure if democrats will sign on. Because john mccain is in arizona, not in the senate, the president needs nine votes in the senate to get this through. Not a reconciliation measure like the tax bill was. He needs 60 votes to a void a filibuster. The white house saying if they dont get those cuts it will mean the president will delay signing the tax cut reform bill until the first week of january. Still a good chance theyll get them. If they do the president will likely sign the bill next week. What a week. John roberts at the white house. Bill a lot to talk about it. James lankford the republican member of the Senate Homeland security and intel committees. Good morning, sir. Merry christmas. Bill to you as well. The democratic leadership reacting to the tax bill yesterday. We have a simple message for our republican friends. Republicans will rue the day they passed this bill and you can bet democrats will make sure of that. American people saw right through this brazen con job republicans tried to sell them. Bill rue the day and a con job. Im not sure any american will rue the day they get to keep their own money. Some of my democratic colleagues believe you give a tax cut. You allow people to keep more of their own money. They can save it, spend it. Both of those things help the economy. As the economy grows more people make more money and more tax revenue comes in. Thats how the economic process works. This is not trying to destroy the government. This is trying to allow people to have more control of their own lives and money. Bill you didnt come on today to explain their position, but why did not a single democrat vote for this bill . They will have to speak for themselves. A lot of the pushback has been they wanted to see tax reductions for those in the lower end and the middle class and raise taxes on the most wealthy individuals and raise taxes on businesses and especially on private businesses and passthrough businesses. We want to cut Business Rates but we want to raise it on other areas to offset that. In this economy with it being so slow and so down Everybody Needs a tax cut. Everyone needs a reduction. Allowing money to flow. I dont see a difference between Small Businesses and big corporations, both of them need to have some tax relief. Bill you are part of a group also working on Immigration Reform this week in fact. Did you win a republican vote or two during those immigration negotiations to get them to a yes on taxes . Actually they werent really connected. Jeff flake talked about wanting to make sure we would have a vote on daca. All of us want to be able to have some kind of vote on daca. The president has been clear on that. The president said obama shouldnt have done daca administratively, butinlaw. President trump put a deadline for the first week of march to have a legislation solution for daca. You cant just do daca. You have to do border security, chain migration and all the things around daca. If you work through the daca process and ignore Everything Else youll have another daca problem in 10 years. Bill that might be the target come january. President trump says he will not fire bob mueller yet senator mark warner the democrat of virginia said this just yesterday. Firing mr. Mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into question this administrations commitment to the truth, but also to our most basic concept rule of law. Bill you see him often. Why would he suggest that . Im not sure on that. Ill have to ask mark directly on it. The white house has said they arent trying to fire bob mueller or take out the special counsel. They want him to finish their work rather than drag it on and on but they arent trying to fire him and theyre clear about this. What mark made the statement on there is rule of law is important. I completely agree. The president should be under the law like everyone else. The president should also have equal justice under the law like everyone else. When there are individuals in the mueller process that are blatantly political, is right for mueller be able to fire those and examine any other individual and appropriate for congress to do the same. The president isnt saying he will fire mueller. He is saying lets have a fair process. Thats not too high a bar to ask for. Bill do you think bob mueller has a credibility problem . He is trying to clean up a credibility problem by firing some individuals on his team that had a bias against the president. You dont want an investigator with a bias against someone they are investigating. Mueller can finish his investigation best by staying out of the media, avoiding leaks and making sure everybody on his team treats everyone fair. Bill is this agree or no on the credibility . He has had a credibility issue the last couple of weeks. Historically he has not. Always a straight shooter on that. We want to see him keep the straight shooter focus and make sure he finishes the work he has been asked to be done. Bill you are pushing a new cyber law to help coordination between the Intel Community and state elections across the country to prevent fraud and cyber abuse in the future. It is necessary because the russians tried to interfere in our elections. They didnt change any votes anywhere but they were trying to engage. They probed 21 different states in their election systems prior to our election last time. My focus is lets help the states knowing that the states are in charge of their own election, not federalize them but help the states think through the process and streamline the connections between the federal government and state so if there is a problem in one of the states somebody from the f. B. I. Can contact them quickly and say there is somebody trying to probe your system and make sure the state systems are auditable. 12 states cant audit their systems after the election. It is appropriate for every state to say we can say what happened in our state so everyone can trust the outcome of the elections. Bill James Langford on the hill. A lot to get through. More reaction to the historic bill coming up later this morning. Rand paul later this hour, pennsylvania senator pat tuomie and White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders. All that coming up inside americas newsroom. Bill taking it right to the christmas holiday. 11 minutes past the hour now, another big story this hour. Deputy director of the f. B. I. Set for round two on the hill after an eight hour session. He will be back in front of lawmakers after delivering what some say is conflicting testimony. Ron desantis is live in a moment here leading some of the questioning. Plus there is this today. I hate to say this but we essentially repealed obamacare because we got rid of the individual mandate, which was terrible. And that was a primary source of funding of obamacare. The individual mandate. It is hated by most americans republicans, i should say. An important part of obamacare now repealed in the new tax reform law. Why republicans say it is the beginning of the end for obamacare. Bill watch a u. N. Today. They are expected to vote against the u. S. s decision against jerusalem as israelis capital city. President trump they take hundreds of million else of dollars and even billions of dollars and then vote against us. Were watching those votes. Let them vote against us. Well save a lot. 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Rocket mortgage by quicken loans. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Laura the House Judiciary Committee set to grill Deputy Director andrew mccabe. He answered questions on tuesday in charges of antitrump bias within the f. B. I. Lawmakers tell fox news that mccabes testimony conflicted with other witnesses prompting republicans to call for a new round of subpoenas. We want to bring in florida congressman ron desantis on the house judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees. Thank you for being here. You have terrific insight for us. We want to ask you what does your committee hope to learn today . I want to know why he cant get his stories straight. We have fundamental questions here which are easy to answer. How did the russia investigation start in july of 2016 . Was it because of the trump dossier that was funded by the democrats and compiled by Christopher Steele . Did the f. B. I. Pay Christopher Steele and did they use that dossier . Those are easy questions to answer. Witness after witness has stonewalled that. Mccabes testimony yesterday by all reports did not answer those questions and so he needs to explain why he cant answer those questions. If he is not capable of answering the questions he has no business being the Deputy Director of the f. B. I. Laura james roseen has been reporting but the House Intelligence Committee may decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week. What are you hearing on that. Thats inevitable. You look at a guy like bruce ohr, one of the top officials at the Justice Department working for sally yates. He has a meeting during the election with Christopher Steele, the same guy that the democrats through fusion gps paid to do the discredited trump dossier and bruce ohrs wife works for fusion gps and ohr meets with fusion after the election. How do you explain that conduct . I asked Rod Rosenstein whether those meetings were authorized in terms of official business. Rosenstein did not answer that question. The fact that ohr has been demoted would infer those werent authorized meetings. That was troubling. You have one of the highestranking officials in the obama Justice Department meeting with opposition people against a rival president ial candidate. Laura who else do you want to hear from . It looks like it could go on for a while and the interrogations last up to eight hours like the other day. Who will be on the hot seat . We want everyone in the meeting in andys office. Lisa page and peter strzok. He sends a text message after the meeting to lisa page saying i wish i could accept the scenario you sketched out in andys office that donald trump cant win but we need an insurance policy. How did that come about . What was the insurance policy . Clearly page and strzok need to be deposed about that meeting. Laura as we move forward and talk about how muellers investigation may have been compromised. How much of that are you feeling at this point . You look at this investigation from the start. Mind you, this is way before mueller was ever imported. This is back in the summer and fall of 2016. All these questions really undercut the legitimacy of this. So here we are. I think it casts an enormous cloud over what mueller is now doing. It is not necessarily muellers fault. It is just the fact this thing was not handled very well. I dont know to this day whether there was really any hard evidence to have been investigating any type of trump russia collusion. Theyve been doing it for a year and a half and still no evidence of collusion. Laura all right. Congressman ron desantis thank you for being here. A whirlwind of a year and month and wish the best for you. Happy holidays to you and your families. Merry christmas. Thank you. Bill the day after taxes, will republicans keep the government open . Some are threatening to hold it up if they dont get what they want. What does senator rand paul want . In his first live interview since he was attacked by his neighbor he will make his case right here. Tragedy on vacation. How did the bus crash in mexico leaving several dead including eight americans. You dont expect things like this to happen. We called all the cruise departments. We called the consulate in mexico and everyone we can call. Nobody has any answers for us. Helping keep shoppers safe. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. The ibm cloud is the cloud for business. Yours. On a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Laura were getting an update on this weeks tour bus crash in southern mexico that killed 12 people including eight americans. A preliminary investigation pointing to driver negligence and speed. Prosecutors say the driver lost control of the bus before flipping it and hitting a tree. The passengers were traveling from a cruise ship to visit mayan ruins. More on this as we get information. I know all our colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to keep the government funded and tend to urgent priorities. Im confident we can Work Together to do that. Bill will they . The focus on the hill is keeping the government from shutting down. The republicans say they will argue the law allows the government to spy on other americans with the fisa law. Rand paul has been a doubter on that law. Welcome back here, good morning to you and a Merry Christmas. You look well. Are you well now since im doing better. I had a really difficult five or six weeks. Im still in pain but it gets better every day. Bill hang in there, okay . Nice to see you back there. You have a big problem with the fisa law. Are you willing to shut down the government if its not drafted the way you want it . Im never a fan of shutting down government so thats not my intention. I am a fan of defending the bill of rights, though. It is pretty important. Right now we have a spy program that spies on foreigners. Im okay on that. It collects a lot of information on americans. We think millions of phone calls, millions of emails and internet searches are caught up in the database and shouldnt be used on americans without constitutional protections. Our fear is they can sort through all this information and accuse you of a Domestic Crime but you dont get the protection of the Fourth Amendment or the constitution. So this is very, very troubling. We think you should at the very least have a warrant to search that database and really since it is collected with a less than constitutional standard, it really shouldnt be used for Domestic Crime. It should be used for what it was intended to be used to prevent Foreign Terrorists from attacking us. Bill we were on this topic a lot during the primary season in 2016. Not to mince words here, if the law was written as temporary would you support that . I think if we can agree to debate it. Right now they are trying to conflate it or put it together with a spending bill. They say government will shut down, we have to pass this. This is a trick of washington to try to pass things without debate. This spy Program Needs to be debated. It is about the bill of rights. We need to allow amendments and senator wyden and i have come together and have about 10, 15 amendments that we want to have debated and discussed and we want the Fourth Amendment to apply to americans. We dont want americans caught up in our really honest fight against terrorism. We dont want americans to lose their privileges or rights as a consequence. Bill on the spending bill and Government Shutdown. You sound like youve got a lot of hoops to jump through to get you to vote in favor. I think there will be a shortterm extension. I would rather debate it now and rather have debated it all year long as weve been calling for. A shortterm extension is okay. I will filibuster any longterm extension. They try to do it for a year or four years or forever, which some of them want, there needs to be more oversight. I think this recent controversy with the Intelligence Community, there is now allegations that both in the f. B. I. And in the department of justice that basically was collusion to try to prevent donald trump from becoming president. This kind of group of people that has such enormous power and needs more oversight, not less. Bill thats a strong statement. Whats your evidence to back it up, senator . We have the f. B. I. , we have an f. B. I. Agent talking to his mistress and then also saying andy that we met together in this office to discuss basically ways to have an insurance policy that donald trump doesnt get elected. I think that should be a fireable offense and sounds like collusion. Then you also have the department of justice where you have a highranking official whose wife works for the group doing Opposition Research on trump being paid for by the Democrat National committee. That sounds like a lot of highranking people colluding to try to prevent donald trump from being president. Weve had this investigation about russian collusion. Maybe we need an investigation about highranking obama officials colluding to try to prevent trump from being president. Thats more serious than even watergate. Bill it is something to watch. Nice to see you back on your feet. Sound like you have your fight back. I got it back i think, thanks. Bill thank you for being here. 9 30 in new york. Laura and the stock market back open. The markets are now open for trading on wall street and futures indicate a positive start just one day after the house and Senate Passed sweeping tax cuts. There you go. There is the board. Several companies, including at t, comcast and wells fargo already on record say theyll pay special bonuses or give raises to workers because of the tax reform bill. The big news there. Bill indeed. Were watching dow 25,000. Will it happen . It could. Seems like were that far away from it right now. Watching that today in new york. Also this today. Overseas now breaking news coming in. More clarification after police say a man deliberately ran an suv in a crowd. More details on the suspect in custody and bring you that in a moment. Plus this coming up. President trump the individual mandate on healthcare where you had to pay not to have insurance, okay, think about you pay not to have insurance, the individual mandate has been repealed. Laura the gop tax bill taking another swipe at obamacare as they cut off the source of revenue for the law. Why republicans say its the beginning of the end for president obamas signature legislation. Hello mom. Amandas moms appointment just got rescheduled for today. Amanda needs right at home. Our customized care plans provide as much or as little help as her mom requires. Whether its a ride to the doctor or help around the house. Oh, of course tom, i am really sorry. Ive gotta go. Look, call right at home. Get the right care. Right at home. Bill 19 injured, four critically after an suv rammed into a crowd in melbourne, australia. It was a deliberate act. The police say this is not the drivers first runin with the law. He is a 32yearold Australian Citizen of afghan descent. A person known to police. He has historical assault methods and has a history of drug use as well as Mental Health issues. Bill chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt live in l. A. What are they saying now in the early hours of this story . Bill, this was obviously terrifying for those involved but it was not terrorism according to police in melbourne. The streets outside the citys Railway Station were packed with christmas shoppers late thursday afternoon local time when a white s. U. V. Ran a red light and sped up slamming into pedestrians. 19 people injured, 4 listed in critical condition. Among them a young child. Now the driver was also injured and was arrested at the scene. Police say there is not a connection to terrorism and there is no ongoing threat. They said the driver is on a Mental Health plan and receiving treatment for mental illness. Local officials expressed horror at the attack. This is horrific, it is evil. We arent defined by these sorts of incidents. Im confident well go about our business and we will celebrate christmas. There have been several similar incidents around the world related to terrorism. In october a man drove a truck down a new york city bike path killing eight people. London has seen two similar attacks this year, both linked to islamic extremism. In april five people were killed on a shopping street in stockholm, sweden. Last december 12 people died in a vehicle attack on a Christmas Market in berlin, germany. The most deadly of all these attacks came in july 2016 when a man drove a huge truck into a crowd in nice, france, killing 86 people. Police forces across america and indeed around the world are on alert for more of these kind of attacks as we go through the holiday season. Bill thank you, jonathan. Nice to see you today in california. Jonathan hunt in los angeles. President trump the individual mandate is being repealed. In this bill not only do we have massive tax cuts and tax reform, we have essentially repealed obamacare and will come up with something that will be much better, whether its block grants or whether its taking what we have and doing something terrific. Laura the president there, the Obamacare Mandate that requires people to buy insurance or face a penalty will soon be a thing of the past. It was repealed in the tax reform bill. Something republicans have wanted to do for years. So what does that all mean for the rest of obamacare . Lets talk about it with zac petkanas, a former Hillary Clinton Campaign Staffer and advisor to the dnc and chris bedford, editor and chief of the daily caller news foundation. Welcome to you both on this busy news day. A lot to get to here. I want to start with you, zack, what you think about the president s remarks on the individual mandate. He said he didnt want to talk a lot about while getting the tax bill done. There is a reason he didnt want to talk about it. The Budget Office said this move will increase peoples premiums by an extra 10 per year, so what he is talking about how this is the end of obamacare. Thats actually not true. Obamacare and Affordable Care act will remain. Peoples premiums lg up. And donald trump and the republicans are to thank for that when people see their bills beginning very soon. What he has done is destabilized the market. He hasnt ended it but he has increased the premiums for millions of american families. Laura chris, do you think there needs to be clarification of this obamacare point . Some people are left confused today. I want to look at what orrin hatch wrote on an oped this week. Repealing the individual mandate tax is the beginning of the end of the obamacare era. Senator orrin hatch writing that, the title of this repealing the individual mandate tax is the beginning of the end. As we take a look at that quote and take a look and dive deep into what he is saying here, what are your thoughts . I think obamacare has been collapsing or having a lot of difficulties under the weight of its own costs and regulations and how it affected peoples cost. Over the years the marketplace hasnt rolled out as much as it could. Conservatives and democrats are surprised how small it has been affected and the different people it has affected. Donald trump and the republicans did not repeal obamacare. They repealed the least popular part of it. The part where people are penalized for not buying insurance. Its an important step but not the end of the day. Health insurance is still a big issue. We have terrible insurance but great healthcare. If republicans and democrats cant figure out how to lower costs, then voters will be upset. Laura i want to circle back to something you said. The concerns that all of this will raise premiums by 10 a year. For folks watching and listening to this, you know, that is a huge chunk of change for a lot of people. Is this something you feel could be avoidable . Its absolutely avoidable and something that the republicans and donald trump were warned against by the Budget Office and warned by the Insurance Companies themselves. They said very clearly if you do this, we are going to have to raise premiums. So when so there are a couple of steps that people can take. One is rolling back this very dangerous provision that will hurt a lot of families. But also stopping the uncertainty that is being injected into the marketplace. Thats why Insurance Companies have said theyve been pulling out of the marketplace because of the uncertainty created by donald trump and the republicans. Laura chris, the last word. You said this is a huge victory for republicans but there is a lot more to do and working together to be done. Premiums have been rising under the weight of government regulation for decades. Right now you have the bottom the most unhealthy 5 of the population consume half of all costs. The rest only consume 3 of the cost. Regulations have pushed all these graourntion young and healthy people, old people and sick people in more constrained groups over the groups through regulation increasing costs. Republicans and democrats have to deregulate some of that to allow the costs to go back to their more marketdriven state. Bill more on that mandate repeal. Next hour Sarah Sanders is our guest live coming up in 45 minutes. Laura President Trump touting u. S. Progress in the fight against isis. President trump weve unleashed u. S. Military on isis and theyve captured nearly 100 of the territory once held by the terrorists in iraq and syria. Laura Adam Kinzinger on the militarys first year with President Trump as commanderinchief. And i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release it, like its supposed to. Trulicity is not insulin. It comes in a onceweekly, truly easytouse pen. The pen where you dont have to see or handle a needle. And it works 24 7. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, if you have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if youre allergic to trulicity. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or symptoms like itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and indigestion. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. To help lower my a1c i choose trulicity to activate my within. Ask your doctor if onceweekly trulicity is right for you. When you said youe, sir. Were at the doctor, but your shirt says you were at a steakhouse. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Add downy odor protect with 24hour odor protection. Downy and its done. Elusive. Shrewd. 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Weve restored old alliances, forged new ones, begun rebuilding our military and made it clear to the world there is no greater ally, no more fierce adversary than the United States of america. Bill there is Sarah Sanders touting progress in the fight of isis as one of its biggest accomplishments in the first year for President Trump. Adam kinzinger, welcome back and good morning to you. I read 3 in iraq, 5 in syria. Thats significant progress. How do you rate that on the year that just passed . I give this offensive an a for sure. From the military perspective. One of the most important things the president has done in empower not just the generals in washington, d. C. But the field commanders. In many cases what would happen under the Prior Administration or when the military in wars get too bureaucratic. It would go up to washington, d. C. Before you get permission to fire on a certain target. By that time 30 minutes later you are following a vehicle. It is already parked in a house or something and you wont blow it up because you dont know who else is there. When you lower the ability to make a kill shot at a lower level. A captain or major, you can have that Quick Reaction and take out more m targets. The fight is not just destroying a current terrorist organization. It is depriving terrorists of the next generation of recruits, the 6 and 7yearolds today. Bill that means general james mattis and others are pretty much in control. Yeah. And i think the president said when he was running for president he said look, ill empower the people that know what theyre doing. Thats what he is doing. A lot of the times the president in the Prior Administration, president obama would be fearful of action. I dont think he ever intended for isis to come to power. He never intended for syria to become a tragedy but he was paralyzed by action and there was a lot of inaction, he would overthink. President trump has given a lot of thought to this but said put the decision making. Not whether or not to send troops to afghanistan but how many do we send, how do we accomplish the objectives and make sure our men and women on the battlefield can take out targets much quicker so they cant continue to exist and recruit. Bill some of the left who agree disagree entirely with the whole approach. Susan rice, former ambassador is one of them. Today in the New York Times a lengthy article she penned says the following about america first, making american weak. In mr. Trumps estimation, we live in a world where america wins only at others expense. There is no common good, no international community, no universal values, only american values. America is no longer a global force for good as in president obamas last strategy or a shining city on a hill as in president reagans vision. Did you read that . I did. Thats funny. Look, we could deploy a truck load of ponies to hand out to isis, i dont think it will work. I guess i can agree on the broad terms in that we should be an example and a shining city on a hill like Ronald Reagan said. We have to compel people or some them an example of selfgovernance and what democracy can do. When you cross us, whether you are isis or adversary there will be a fierce response. The first thing the president and Congress Needs to think of is how do we protect American People and make american stronger . You dont do it on the backs of people. He is saying its time to take care of ourselves at home and have an International Strategy that protects us. By the way, protecting us means denying isis the next generation of recruits. Bill she lumped china and russia in the same category suggesting that you need to distinguish between these two world powers. Your view on that. They are both adversaries, different kinds of adversaries. In terms of distinguishing them. I think its her making a very minor point. The president said look, we have adversaries on the world stage. Here are a couple of them. China is empowering north korea by not doing all they can and building fake islands in the sea. That different than russia who is invading ukraine and killing a lot of people. I think the president made it clear we have adversaries. In those adversaries it doesnt mean the only answer is a hammer. In some cases there may be an opportunity. Bill thank you for your time today. Laura meanwhile coming up at the top of the hour Senate Budget Committee Member pat toomey to discuss how Congress Plans to avoid a looming Government Shutdown. Bill another fox news alert. The u. N. Security council in new york meeting moments from now in a rare emergency session on the decision to move the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem. Why the trump team says they will be watching this vote and, quote, taking names. What we witnessed here today in the Security Council is an insult. It wont be forgotten. Its one more example of the United Nations doing more harm than good in addressing the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Whoooo. Looking for a hotel that fits. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Bill woke up to this story. Secretary james mattis at gitmo today. That trip coming as questions remain over President Trumps policy toward the military prison there. Were told general mattis is there to meet with troops and not to talk about enemy. The first visit to gitmo since Donald Rumsfeld in 2002. Laura a fox news alert. United nations Security Council will discuss President Trumps controversial decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital. The president in recent days warning other nations that a vote against the u. S. Will have consequences. President trump for all of these nations that take our money and then they vote against us at the Security Council or they vote against us potentially at the assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us. Were watching those votes. Let them vote against us. Laura Rick Leventhal joining us now from the United Nations, hi, rick. The president threatening to put a lump of coal in the stockings of nations to vote against the u. S. 29 speakers from signed up for their five minutes to weigh in on the resolution proposed by turkey and yemen that calls upon all states to refrain from putting embassies in jerusalem and recognizing it as israels capital as the president announced he would. The same resolution was vetoed by the u. S. In the Security Council on monday after 14 nations supported it. Nikki haley fired a warning shot on twitter saying at the u. N. Were always asked to do more and give more so when we make a decision at the will of the American People about where to locate our embassy, we dont expect those we have helped to target us. On thursday there will be a vote criticizing our choice. The u. S. Will be taking names. Yesterday President Trump made his position crystal clear. President trump people are tired of the United States, people that live here, our great citizens that love this country are tired of this country being taken advantage of and we wont be taken advantage of any longer. The Emergency Special session begins at 10 00 a. M. The u. S. Plans to speak after the vote, which could come sometime this afternoon and fireworks are expected here. Laura all right, Rick Leventhal for us at the United Nations. Thank you very much. Bill after days of delay now a demoted Justice Department official goes before congress today. There are questions about bruce orrs contacts with the Company Behind the antitrump dossier. President trump and republicans celebrating the passage of a tax reform bill and well put that to Sarah Sanders coming up in a matter of moments. Stay with us. Back in a moment at the top of the hour. amanda vo i adopted scrappy on a fluke. And he totally has a superpower. Didnt know i was allergic to ibuprofen. And i had fallen asleep. scrappy barks amanda he was totally freaked out, digging and pawing at me. And when i woke up i realized that i was in anaphylaxis and went to the emergency room. I dont know what i would do if he wasnt there. Hes the best boy. vo through the subaru share the love event, weve helped the aspca save nearly forty thousand animals so far. Get zero percent financing for 63 months on select models, plus well donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. Bill it is 10 00 here where a demoted Justice Department official congressmen waiting to question for days will finally appear on the hill. What will they say and learn . Brandnew hour of americas newsroom. Good to have you with us today. Im bill hemmer live in americas newsroom. Welcome tou, laura. Laura its great to be here today. Im laura engel in for sandra smith. After several delays the Senate Committee anxious to talk to bruce ohr about his links to the trump dossier. One of several committees investigating collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia and antitrump bias at the Justice Department and f. B. I. Senator James Langford talking about muellers russia probe earlier on americas newsroom. He is trying to clean up a credibility problem by firing some individuals on his team that had a political bias of the president. He can stay out of the media, avoiding leaks and making sure everybody on his team treats everyone fair. Laura jays rosen live in our nations capital. What are you learning today about these interrogations . Deputy f. B. I. Director andrew mccabe, the number twoman at the f. B. I. Faced seven hours of questioning behind closed doors. It was mccabe who oversaw the Hillary Clinton email probe after his wife accepted nearly half a Million Dollars from a clintonallied group. Mccabe said he couldnt recall when the dnc paid for the dossier funneled to the f. B. I. In 2016 possibly used to obtain fisa warrants. Peter strzok, an f. B. I. Official sent numerous proclinton, antitrump texts last year. This text to an f. B. I. Colleague from august 2016. Quote, i want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in andys office that there is no way he, meaning donald trump, gets elected but strzok added im afraid we cant take that risk. Its like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before youre 40. Laura did he confirm yesterday that andys office is his office . I was not there when he confirmed it. I think he did but i cant be certain. I know he did not add quantly answer any of those type of questions. Set to testify before the senate Intelligence Committee is bruce ohr demoted earlier this month when fox news revealed he held secret meetings in 2016 withheld from his superiors with two controversial figures, Christopher Steele is the former british spy who authored the antitrump dossier with input from russian sources. Glenn simpson is the founder of fusion gps, the Opposition Research firm that hired steele and paid him with clinton and dnc funds. We reported that ohrs wife, nelly, an academic expert on russia, worked for fusion gps through the summer and fall of 2016 on the trump project. Fox news learned bruce ohr will likely be subpoenaed by the house panel next week. Laura what a story. Excellent reporting. Bill three minutes past the hour. President trump and the Republican Party may have delivered on tax reform only days before christmas. They got that done but now they face a looming government shut down. Congress must pass a spending bill by tomorrow night to prevent it. Peter doocy is watching that live on the hill. In for a long day again. Peter, good morning. Good morning. The gop has given up on trying to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. Now they are just trying to fund it for a month. The House Rules Committee this morning has been having an open hearing about a continuing resolution for the budget that would just go through january 19th. No big cuts on the table for this. Republicans instead plan to fund all spending for all programs at current levels for another couple weeks including the Childrens Health insurance program. They also want to temporarily reauthorize fisa section 702. The court that Law Enforcement goes to when they want to spy on people in the states and there would be a waiver that would delay the tax bills mandatory spending cuts to medicare. Delaying those cuts is why the president would sign it after the new year. The plan would let him sign it right away. The president said House Democrats want a shutdown for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, justpassed tax cuts. House republicans, dont let this happen. Pass the cr today and keep our government open. But democrats that weve heard from this morning are feeling left out. We think we need to deal with the ba and fisa. We need to deal with them in a constructive, bipartisan way. If we dont, dont look to us for help because we arent included. Were shut out. As the tax bill. Bill something democrats arent getting, a deal for daca by the end of the year. Republicans are offering to work on a legislative fix for people brought to this country illegally as children in a few weeks. I will address the issue right now and tell you i will not recommend that we take your bill, but i will invite you back and i will invite you to not only bring your legislation that you have but i will invite a republican plan because there will be that bill. There will be that alternative bill that we can weigh and measure. Just two hours after buses took republican lawmakers from the white house back here to the capitol for a tax cut celebration, they were all sitting in a Conference Room trying to hash out this funding deal that all democrats are being told by their leadership to vote no on. We do expect to hear from the Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in this room within the hour. Bill well wait for that. Peter doocy headlines from the hill. Laura for more on this republican senator pat toomey of pennsylvania joins us now sitting on the Senate Budget committee. Thank you for being here today. You know, i was going back through old footage from this month, i was watching a clip of you from december 11. You were asked if you thought the bill would make it to the president s desk by christmas. Here we are. What are your feelings today . Im thrilled. This is going to be terrific for the people i represent all across pennsylvania. There are four big things we do in this bill. We deliver a direct tax cut for the middle income, low income really over 90 of my constituents will get a federal tax cut. Number one. Number two well create an environment that is so much more conducive to investing in america and growing American Business and jobs and wages. Thats terrific. Number three, we repeal that horrendous Obamacare Mandate that forces people to buy a product they dont want at a price they cant afford. That penalty is gone now thanks to this bill and finally, we open up anwar for drilling of energy and help to increase our independence and really our Energy Dominance all in one bill. I think thats terrific. Laura i was talking to a Small Business owner in california last night about what he might expect with the tax bill and said once he gets that tax break he will take that money, put it back in his company for marketing and advertising just the sort of thing you want to hear. Moving on to the house, expected to get the shortterm spending bill today or tomorrow to the floor and the senate should vote. Are you concerned some senators could stand in the way . Were hearing rumblings of this. Well see if our democrat colleagues decide to shut down the government. I hope they dont. Thats a disruption we dont need and we republicans dont want. My understanding is the house is going to pass or likely to pass and vote on a measure that will keep the government functioning and extend spending for several months, at least a number of weeks. Has a little bump on the defense side which we badly need for Missile Defense and repairing damaged ships for crying out lou. D it is quite urgent. And it continues funding for things like the fisa court and the Childrens Health plan. This is a good way to avoid an unnecessary disruption. I hope the democrats wont shut the government down. Laura i want to play some sound for you. Senator rand paul was on with us last hour talking with bill about why he could end up vote to shut down the government over fisa. Im never a fan of shutting down government. Thats not my intention. Im a fan of defending the bill of rights. Right now we have a spy program that spies on foreigners. Ifm owe okay with that. It collects a lot of information on americans. They wont tell us how much. We think millions of phone calls and emails and internet searches are caught up in this huge database and it should not be used on americans without constitutional protections. Laura what do you think about that . Here is the fact about this program. The data that senator paul alludes to has no identifiable information. There is no name or other identifiable source of information attached to any call. There is no content. So there is nobody listening in. There is no transcription or collection of emails. So there is no invasion of peoples privacy. But there is a court that says if there is a known terrorist that is interacting with an american on a regular basis, if you convince a judge there is sufficient reason to be suspicious of this, then you could begin to monitor those calls just as you can now if there is a criminal investigation. So im in favor of extending the fisa provisions. This legislation by the way doesnt make it permanent but it would extend it and i would support that. Laura looks like you guys are standing in the same live shot position there within the last hour. Youll run into each other today. Senator pat toomey. Thank you so much for being with us today. Bill stay with us. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is our guest live and a ton to talk about with her. Thats coming up 20 minutes from now at 10 30 eastern time. Stand by. Laura going to be a good hour. An attack similar to the one here in new york city on halloween. New details after an s. U. V. Plowing into pedestrians and Holiday Shoppers. Where this happened and what police say about the driver they now have in custody. Bill also from new york right now an emergency meeting is underway at the u. N. On President Trumps historic decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capitol city. Mr. Trump is watching the vote and taking names. Ambassador john bolton responds. His reaction next. President trump people are tired of the United States people that live here, our great citizens that love this country, theyre tired of this country being taken advantage of and we wont be taken advantage of any longer. I had frequent heartburn, but my doctor recommended. Prilosec otc 7 years ago, 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. Laura Australian Police say there is no evidence of a terrorist link to the car ramming attack that left 19 people injured in melbourne today. The streets were crowded with Holiday Shoppers when the driver ran a red light, slamming his s. U. V. Into pedestrians crossing the road. Police say the driver was a 32yearold Australian Citizen of afghan descent with a history of drug use and Mental Health issues. Bill emergency meeting underway at the u. N. Where we expect a vote today on President Trumps decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital city and moving the embassy there. John bolton, fox news contributor, welcome back, good morning to you. Youve spent a lot of time on the east river at the u. N. What is your expectation from this vote today, sir . This is another outage, this emergency session. But it is sort of an emergency outrage interrupting the ongoing outrage. There is absolutely no point in this vote. No consequences except what the United States might do in response. Just in case anybody thinks there is any suspense here, there are 193 members of the u. N. , the u. S. Position will get, i dont know, four, maybe five votes. Well lose maybe 180 to 4 or 5. It could go up or down. This is a foregone conclusion. The real issue is whether President Trump will follow through on his statement yesterday that there will be consequences for those who vote against us. He was looking, i think, primarily at the foreign aid issues. I would urge him to go further and use this as a pivot to look at the question of American Funding of the United Nations generally. What agencies we can zero out and withdraw from and more broadly moving away from the taxation system of assessed contributions toward voluntary contributions. We pay for what they which is worth it. This vote provides us a good moment for that. Bill i have the comments from the president that you just referred to. I want you to comment on this first. The tweet from nikki haley. Were always asked to do more and give more. So when we make a decision at the will of the American People about where to locate our embassy, we dont expect those we have helped to target us. On thursday there will be a vote criticizing our choice. The u. S. Will be taking names. There is a level of pressure she is trying to apply there. How much does the u. N. Pay attention to that . Honestly i dont think they will pay any attention because they think the threat is hollow. Ive been of the view that votes in the United Nations should cost countries that vote against us and i think while others have agreed with it, we never really have. I remember when yemen voted against the authorization of the use of force against hussein to kick him out of kuwait in 1990. Jim baker secretary of state turned back to us and said that was the most expensive vote yemen ever cast and we cut their foreign aid. There needs to be more of that because basically i think in the General Assembly in many u. N. Bodies the membership doesnt Pay Attention to the american position unless they think there is money on the line. Bill so money talks there at the u. N. It would talk if we used it more effectively. What is happening here today is theater and thats what goes on there on the east river in turtle bay quite a lot of the time. I think the way you correct the theater, correct this criticism of the United States, this incessant criticism of our actions in israel is to say there are consequences. For me it is not just for the individual countries but for the institution as a whole. Bill i want to squeeze in the comment from the president from yesterday with regard to this vote. You referred to it a moment ago. Give this a listen. President trump i like the message that nicki sent yesterday at the United Nations for all these nations that take our money and vote against us at the Security Council or vote against us at the assembly. They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us. Were watching those vote. Let them vote against us. Well save a lot. We dont care. Bill what you are referring to is what the Trump Administration does, if indeed there are yes votes given out today. Give me an example for how the administration would respond if they do not like the way this goes. Right, lets take countries that are recipients of foreign aid. Something i have to say i proposed over 35 years ago. You just slash a Million Dollars from our foreign aid budget for each and every one of them. Its more complicated for countries we dont have foreign aid relationships with. But there are lots of ways to make this clear. I just think if you take the United Nations seriously then votes have to have consequences. I think what the president just said was absolutely right. If thats the way they want to react, well react as well. Bill were watching and get a vote sometime, perhaps this afternoon. But were on stand by. Sir, thank you for your time. John bolton with us today. Thank you, laura. Laura bill, another soldier fleeing north korea and entering the south. The last time this happened the soldier was shot multiple times. Well tell you how it went down this time. Bill republicans passing sweeping tax reform. How soon will you feel the impact in your own paycheck . You are seeing policies being put in place that will help everyone in this country. President trump will benefit from that and i think by november of next year every voter will go am i better off than i was two years ago . Have republicans delivered on things they campaigned on . And theyll say yes. If yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Bill now three days after that deadly amtrak crash in Washington State shut down a busy highway, all southbound lanes have reopened on interstate 5 as of today. Speed restricted to 45 miles per hour. Authorities say the train was moving more than twice the speed limit when cars derailed on the highway killing three people on board. This is beyond anything in my experience as far as the scale, the enormity of the event. And you know how tragic it was for so many people. For this could tomorrow together in three days time and reopen this and get this done is really a testament to the dedication that was shown by multiple people. Bill job well done. However, the cause of that crash is still under investigation. Details on that when we get them from the state of washington laura this is a fox news alert. Another north korean soldier takes off to the south. The soldier running through a remote and heavily fortified border area today. Reports of warning shots fired from the south but this defector not hit unlike a few weeks ago remember this when another one made a run for it in a different part of the dmz and was shot five times. Greg palkot in our London Bureau today. What do we know about the latest defection . Looking more and more frequent, this kind of activity across the dmz. We saw a north korean soldier get across that heavily fortified border between north and south korea. It happened Early Morning korea time. This 19yearold soldier, only two years in the north Korean Military crossed the dmz, went up to a south Korean Military outpost and gave himself up. An hour later north korean soldiers started to make their way across the dmz before they reached the demarcation line. Warning shots were fired. An hour after that more shots were heard from the north. As noted by you, laura, this comes about 40 days after a more dramatic defection by a north korean soldier. This one right at the heart of the dmz. Shots were fired in that case. All told, 15 North Koreans have defected directly from the north to the south this year. Including four soldiers. This compared to only five last year. Perhaps a sign of more desperate times up in the north, laura. Laura you start to wonder if well start to see more of this. What can you tell us about the exercises taking place . Interesting exercises getting reports in the past couple of days about some pretty aggressive ones being conducted last week by u. S. Military and south Korean Military. Hundreds of thousands of troops were involved with these in an exercise area, drill area that we have visited not too far south from the dmz. In this case, according to reports, they were practicing infiltrating into north korea and again the report removing weapons of mass destruction from north korea. You cant believe its Nuclear Weapons they were taking out. Maybe looking to take out chemical and biological weapons that is known pyongyang does have. This, of course, less than two months before the start of Winter Olympics in south korea. Those games being run maybe only 50, 60 miles south of that dmz. The fear, of course, is the north might try to disrupt those games. There are thousands and thousands of Security Forces that have been deployed just in case. A lot of fingers crossed in that region right now. Laura indeed. Greg palkot in london. Bill President Trump keeping his promise to america delivering major tax reform. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in on stand by. Well talk to her about that and a long list of things coming up in a moment. Laura apple admits to slowing down your old iphones but not for the reasons you might think. Psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way . Watch me. Ive tried lots of things for my joint pain. Now . Watch me. Think id give up showing these guys how its done . Please. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are changing the way they fight it. Theyre moving forward with cosentyx®. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Its proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. Dont use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. Or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. With less joint pain, watch me. For less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. Almost 800 when we switched our auto and Home Insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey. Oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to Liberty Mutual, you could save 782 on auto and Home Insurance and still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. Bill there was a bit of a party yesterday at the white house. Republicans praising President Trump for his leadership after passing that tax cut plan. Not yet signed into law but its been passed through congress. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders with me now. Good morning to you and Merry Christmas to you. A significant way. Thank you for your time today. I have a lot of questions here. Lets see how much we get done here, okay . Good morning, sarah. Thanks for having me. Bill was it a different feeling showing up for work this morning . We have been working hard every day since the president took office. Yesterday was a huge and historic day, a great day for the administration. But an even better day for america. There is a great sense of accomplishment as were getting near the end of this year. Isis is on the run, historic tax cuts have just been passed through congress and will be on the president s desk soon. Were very excited about all of the things that have happened this year. The economy is booming. The stock market has seen alltime highs. I think everybody in america is going to have a great time celebrating christmas after this first year under President Trump. Bill i heard you run off the list two days ago at the white house. I want to get to that in a moment here. First Chuck Schumer. Not a single democrat or house or senate voted for the tax plan and here is how Chuck Schumer described it yesterday. The president does very well under this bill. Most of his cabinet does very well under this bill. Large percentage of his contributors do very well under this bill. Yes, the president the part of the top 1 and the bill is aimed to help the top 1 . So the president s part and parcel to the problem. Bill you know what he is implying. Whats more important is americans are benefiting, middle class hard working americans will see a lot more of their paycheck and theyll start seeing that right away in february. Bill that wasnt the point he was making just to be very specific about it. Look, the bottom line is a lot of people are going to do really well under this. The president is an american. This was a tax plan that was meant to benefit all americans. The biggest priority was placed on middle class americans. It does exactly that. Were going to see a huge boost. You saw company after company after company yesterday come out and immediately start giving bonuses to their workers all across this country even msnbc reporters are getting a bonus as this tax cut has happened as a result of that. If that doesnt help them see the light, nothing will. Look, a lot more people will have more money in their pockets because of this tax plan and thats a great thing. I think the bigger question is chuck, why werent you supporting this plan . You will have to answer to the millions of americans who are going to do a lot better and are doing a lot better under this president. Why you werent part of the process and why you wanted to vote against something that helps americans, thats the question i think we should be asking is why democrats werent lining up and voting and trying to get on board with this plan and be part of it instead of fighting against it bill the tax plan is one story, the other story is what mark warner is calling for. He is suggesting even though the president said he will not fire bob mueller, he still wonders if that will happen. The example he states is that james comey said he wouldnt get rid of the f. B. I. Director and eventually he was fired. Rand paul is presenting a different argument on this. He was with us last hour and made the following statement about the Intelligence Community during the election, a strong charge he delivered when he said this. Weve had this investigation about russian collusion. Maybe we need an investigation about highranking obama officials colluding to try to prevent trump from being president. Thats more serious than even watergate. Bill does the president agree with that statement . Its something that should be looked at. I want to be very clear and make sure that i address senator warners concern for the 1,000th time. We have no intentions of firing bob mueller. We are continuing to work closely and cooperate with him. We look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon. We think that it is just further evidence that the democrats have no plan. They have no agenda. They have nothing to talk about other than attacking this president. While theyve been focused on russia this president has been focused on america and focused on doing what is best for this country and hopefully some of the democrats will make some new years resolutions to come back and talk about working with this president to help americans instead of working to attack this president. It has gotten them nowhere. I hope the new year can bring new things. Bill senator paul suggested that the Intelligence Community or some within the community conspired to prevent donald trump from winning last november. Does President Trump agree with that statement . I havent asked him directly about senator pauls statement. I think the senator, if he feels there is something to be looked at we absolutely should be looking at that. Democrats and members of the liberal media have been attacking this president since day one and trying to delegitimize his victory. America came out loud and strong and very clear in support of not only the president but of his agenda and thats what weve been focused on is enacting that every day since we got in. Thats why i think people are going to be really happy celebrating christmas next week because they are happy that President Trump is in the building behind me and theyre happy with all of the things he has accomplished this year. Bill your list the other day was quite detailed and it went on for some time. I could have added a lot more. Bill maybe you get your chance later today. What is your first target for 2018 . I think were working through some of the top priorities. I think you can expect welfare reform, infrastructure, Immigration Reform, all to be top of mind and something that certainly will be looking at and talking about a lot over the first part of this year. Bill on those does one seem to have more give than the others . I think we are going to be announcing the next steps and the priorities at the first of the year and ill let the president roll out what his big initiatives are going to be and what it will look like. You can certainly expect that those three things will be top of mind for the Administration Next year. Bill last question. Will the president have a press Conference Today or tomorrow . You never know. We like to keep you guys guessing. I cant tell you everything today. Well see and keep you posted on all of the scheduling details for today and tomorrow. Bill can i put you down for today or tomorrow . Like i said. You never know. Well certainly keep you guys posted and the president loves taking questions. He loves being able to talk directly to the American People. And well see if he decides to do that today or tomorrow or stimulates sometime later next week. Bill thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your family. Laura well, the only Nuclear Plant under construction in america is way behind schedule and way over budget. Billions of dollars over budget. So today its judgment day. The Georgia Public Service commission will announce if it wants to finish up this high profile Nuclear Plant or cut its losses and move on. Doug mcelway live in washington for us. Doug, explain how the new tax code might play a role in all of this. It plays a huge role in all this. First weve learned within the last few moments the Georgia Public Service Commission Voted unanimously to proceed. Georgia power announced it will go ahead with the completion of these two Nuclear Power plants. Thats a bit of a surprise because of this recentlypassed tax bill in congress that didnt include an extension of Nuclear Power tax credits that would have made construction more economically feasible. The extenders will be taken up in january. It has been plagued by cost overruns and delays. Customers have paid 5 billion for production but no production of electricity so far. Georgia has been deeply divided over the project. Dont reward failure. If Georgia Power wants to go forward at this point, given where we are, they should pay for it. Before this mornings decision only one Public Service commissioner had spoken out publicly about these cost overruns. Im not looking forward to the vote on thursday because on the one hand yeah, weve gone over, on the other hand we spent 5 billion and do you want to leave that stuff rusting until jesus comes out there . The Nuclear Power industry hasnt had a good record. There is another one that has been under construction for 30 or 40 years. The last new Nuclear Power plant to Enter Service in the u. S. Is well over 20 years old. Laura wow, a lot of back and forth on that way. Thank you so much. Bill the passage of that tax bill proving republicans can come together and follow through on promises they ran on. Can republicans capitalize on whats considered a historic victory . What it means for the critical 2018 midterm races. Democrats are nowhere to be found . What did they accomplish this year . Zero. Republicans are delivering at every level. Excuse me, are you aware of whats happening right now . Were facing 20 billion security events every day. Ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks. Actually, we just handled all the priority threats. You did that . We did that. Really. We analyzed millions of articles and reports. We can identify threats 50 faster. You can do that . We can do that. Then do that. Can we do that . We can do that. Bill there was an explosion rocking parts of hollywood, california. A possible gas leak. A ground floor restaurant closed at the time. Glass and debris flying down the street. One Person Injured by the glass and released. Hazmat and arson investigators responding to that scene in hollywood, california. Laura sweeping tax reform will be headed to the president s desk. A big win for republicans pushing for legislative victory ever since failing to repeal and replace obamacare. A wall street journal article that went behind the scenes of how this deal got done saying that senator Lindsey Graham told President Trump that the consequences of going 0 for 2 would be just devastating. That message stuck. This time republicans proving they can come together and get things done. What does it all mean for 2018 . Fox News Politics editor Chris Stirewalt is here, the Perfect Choice to talk about this discussion. The warning was strong as we heard there from graham, the outcome favorable to the gop. What do you see in your crystal ball for the future . Lindsey graham was quite right. The base of the Republican Party are College Educated white folks, suburbanites. Those are the people who elect republicans because they like things like tax cuts. The republican brand is the strong points have always been Strong National defense, low taxes, less government. And this is part of the traditional Republican Coalition that we have seen shaky in recent elections. The suburban voters arent so sure whether theyre comfortable in the republican era and this is oldfashioned republicanism for these voters. They needed to help themselves with these folks. The question now is what about the other voters . Blue collar voters who switched from democrat to republican, will they like the legislation and can democrats make inroads saying it favors the wealthy . Laura looking back at the deal, this tax bill had a strict set of weekly deadlines from whats being reported to get it all done and that the president and aides were kept at a distance so that it could be done on time. How important do you think that part of it was . Well, i told your partner many months ago. He asked me what can the president do to get the tax deal passed . And i said leave it alone. Stay away from it. At this point at that point the republicans knew what they wanted to do and were clear on policy and agreement and it wasnt going to be made better by the president inserting himself in the process. They had broad agreement about the focus was on this big Corporate Tax cut. What the general objectives were. This is really important, they let Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan drive the buggy. It emanates from the congress. It is their job and they did do that. The president was there at key points to push and pull and prod but essentially let the Congress Work its will and they got to where they wanted to be. Laura now as these republicans are rejoicing, democrats are sounding an alarm saying they believe the tax cuts give a huge advantage to the wealthy, which could tee up their talking points on income an equality in the year to come. Well hear a lot about that in 2018, right . If democrats want to retake the house, which they definitely have a chance to do. If democrats want to retake the house in 2018 they have to rediscover the language of economic populism that helped them in the past with the blue collar voters, the folks who propelled Donald Trumps victory in places like wisconsin, pennsylvania, ohio, upper midwest. How do you reach out to these voters if youre democrats. The you elected the republicans. Its the same trickle down big business republicans and you got sold a bill of goods and im here to help you set it right. If they can put forward that message in a clear way and stay away from the social issues and focus on the economic concerns, then theyll have a chance. So far we havent seen them able to do that. Laura Chris Stirewalt. Well have to leave it there. Bill for the record, counselor, i recall your advice, yes, i do. Nice to see you. Laura thank you so much. Bill some Major Companies rewarding employees handing out bonuses after congress signs the tax cut. What else theyre doing with the windfall and will more Companies Follow suit . I wish you a Merry Christmas, i wish you a Merry Christmas, i wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year get the recipes at walnuts. Org. Bill u. N. Security council. The move from tel aviv for jerusalem for the u. S. Embassy. Here is nikki haley at the u. N. The United States is by far the single largest contributor to the United Nations and its agencies. We do this in part in order to advance our values and our interests. When that happens, our participation in the u. N. Produces great good for the world. Together we feed, clothe and educate desperate people. We nurture and sustain fragile piece in conflict areas throughout the world and we hold outlaw regimes accountable. We do this because it represents who we are. It is our american way. But well be honest with you. When we make generous contributions to the u. N. We have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected. When a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. Whats more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected. In the case of the United States, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for that dubious privilege. Unlike in some u. N. Member countries, the United States government is answerable to its people. As such, we have an obligation to acknowledge when our political and Financial Capital is being poorly spent. We have an obligation to demand more for our investment. And if our investment fails, we have an obligation to spend our resources in more productive ways. Those are the thoughts that come to mind when we consider the resolution before us today. The arguments about the president s decision to move the American Embassy to jerusalem have already been made. They are by now wellknown. The decision was in accordance to u. S. Law dating back to 1995. And its position has been repeatedly endorsed by the American People ever since. The decision does not prejudge any final status issues including jerusalems boundaries. The decision does not preclude a twostate solution if the authorities agree to that. The decision does nothing to harm peace efforts. Rather, the president s decision reflects the will of the American People and our right as a nation to choose the location of our embassy. There is no need to describe it further. Instead, there is a larger point to make. The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the Worlds Largest contribution to the United Nations and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. America will put our embassy in jerusalem. That is what the American People want us to do. And it is the right thing to do. No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that. But this vote will make a difference on how americans look at the u. N. And on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the u. N. And this vote will be remembered. Thank you. Bill the administration has been saying for a few days in regard to this matter they would be listening and taking names once this vote happens in the u. N. Security council. Nikki haley has asserted herself in the u. N. East river of new york city here. And the council should vote probably this afternoon. She is one of she was fourth in line of several speakers that will go today. Just to bring you up to speed on this. When the president made this decision to move the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, there was no physical transportation of the embassy yet. We do believe thats a few years away. But there has been a reaction from the world body. There has been a reaction in the middle east and there has been a lot of reaction on behalf of the administration of nikki haley and President Trump. She said were asked to do more and give more. When we make a decision where to locate our embassy we dont expect those weve helped to target us. On thursday, today, there will be a vote criticizing our choice. The u. S. Will be taking names. That was then followed up with the president and the white house during a Cabinet Meeting yesterday when he pretty much said that if they vote against us, were watching them vote. Let them do it. Well save a lot of money. We dont care. Laura nikki haley making it clear the u. S. Will remember this vote. This day will be remembered in the future. Basically that america will be putting the embassy in jerusalem. The vote is not going to change that. Bill ambassador john bolton was with us 45 minutes ago. Spent a lot of time at the u. N. In new york. The interesting thing to watch then will be if you count the votes and they go against your policy, how will the administration react . What will the response be . Thats something that well watch on this story going forward. Laura absolutely. A big day at the u. N. And were following it for you all and Rick Leventhal is there. Bill in the meantime have a Great Holiday to you and your family. Laura, nice to see you today. Thanks for being here today for sandra. Well get out of here. Watch the vote. Should come in a couple hours as the news continues on fox, stay tuned. Merry christmas everybody. Happening now starts right now. And we start with a fox news alert on a new challenge for congress after it gave President Trump his biggest legislative victory to date with the passage of tax reform. Good morning, im jon scott. Im leah gabriel. The house gop unveiled a new stripped down spending bill to prevent a Government Shutdown on the heels of passing the First Comprehensive tax overhaul in decades. President trump calling it a big, beautiful tax cut for the American People and saying it will boost the economy and job market. President trump i guess its very simple. When you think you havent heard this expression but we are making America Great again. You havent heard that, have you . [applause] i want to have them get up and get the glamour and the glory. John roberts is live on the north lawn. Good to see you. Good morning to you. This is probably the biggest moment of the trump presidency. Took him 11 months to the day to get to this point but there was no end of celebration on the south lawn of the white house yesterday. For the president , this was the big promise that he made during the campaign. This was his signature issue. And he finally brought it home. Promise made and a promise kept. Sometimes a rare thing in washington the president said he believes all things good will flow out of this. It will be a boost to the economy he said. Tweeting this morning the massive tax cuts with the Fake News Media is desperate to write badly about will soon kick in and