Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Special Report With Bret Baier 20201211

The food and Drug Administration to give its final approval tonight so the process of getting the shots to americans can begin. Lets begin with Kristin Fisher at the white house. Good evening, kristin. Good evening, bret. Even though this vaccine has been developed in record time, this emergency authorization process still is not moving fast enough for President Trump. That is the responsibility of the food and Drug Administration and today President Trump compared the agency to a turtle. President trump made it very clear how he feels about the fda commissioner in a tweet friday morning. He told dr. Stephen hahn get the damn vaccines out now and stop playing games and start saving lives. Then, a few hours later, the washington posts first report that white house chief of staff mark meadows gave dr. Hahn an ultimatum authorize the Pfizer Vaccine today or resign. Fox is told that report is not entirely true. Dr. Hahn is describing it as untrue representation of the phone call with the chief of staff. He claims he was simply encouraged to continue working expeditiously on authorizing the vaccine as the daily death toll in the United States continues to top 3,000. At the end of the day, what the American People need to know is the fda has and will only make decisions based on their independent judgment of science, evidence, and the law. Today President Trump also pressured the Supreme Court to hear the case from Texas Attorney general ken paxton which now has the will support of the House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy and 125 other republican members of congress. Its not some new thing that state vs. State lawsuits have to go to the u. S. Supreme court. The only place we can go, we have no other place to go. Paxton and 18 other republican attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block next weeks Electoral College certification in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. Democrats say the president and his allies are trying to invalidate millions of votes in four battle grounds that joe biden won and even some republicans, like tennessee senator Lamar Alexander have a problem with it. Texas is a big state but i dont know exactly why it has a right to tell four other states how to run their elections. So im having a hard time figuring out the basis for that lawsuit. This morning President Trump asked the Supreme Court justices to show great courage and wisdom and save the u. S. A. But in the same tweet, he also referenced a Biden Administration that the president says, quote will be a scandal plagued mess for years to come. When asked if that statement should be interpreted a concession said this. Is he still litigating his case in the courts and looks forward to that process playing out. I wouldnt read too much into that or characterize it the way that you did. Now the Supreme Court is under no hard deadline to issue an order on this texas lawsuit. But, presumably the justices are going to want to act fast because, remember, bret, the Electoral College meets on monday just a few days away. Bret Kristin Fisher live on the north lawn. Kristin, thank you. Coming up shortly mike tobin in kalamazoo, michigan where the actual Pfizer Vaccine shot the stockpile is right now to start rolling out to your town shortly. Also david spunt wraps up our week long series on the vaccine by looking at how operation warp speed really did live up to its name. Also tonight president elect joe bidens first reaction to the latest news on federal investigations into his son hunters taxes and business dealings. Well also show you how attorney general william barr may be in some hot water with President Trump over barrs actions concerning this matter. We have Fox Team Coverage tonight. Mike emanuel tells us where the investigations are head he had. First up though, peter doocy who was asking the questions today that prompted joe bidens rely. Peter joins us as he often does from wilmington, delaware. Good evening, peter. Good evening, bret. The president elects prepared remarks didnt have anything about the hunter biden investigation in them. And there was no formal q a set up. So when he was ready to leave i used my outside voice inside the theater to get his attention. Fox news just got the first direct response from the president elect about the federal investigation into his sons tax apair fairs. Did hunter biden commit a crime . Have you spoken to your son, mr . Im proud of my son. Bidens brother jim is caught up in a separate federal investigation concerning a rural Hospital Business he is linked to according to with reports that jim bidens name has come up in questions with witnesses. The president elect doesnt tell many detailed stories about his siblings but they were influential enough on his upbringing to be a major part of his pitch. Its all about ordinary people like my mom and dad, my brother and sisters. My sister and my brothers who i was raised with. As the Biden Cabinet takes shape the will Asian Pacific congress is concerned putting out a Statement Today quote for the first time in over two decades we are facing the possibility that there might not be a single aapi dab net secretary in a administration. Let us be clear that outcome is unacceptable. That kind of pressure doesnt seem to register with biden who recently spoke about civil Rights Groups lobbying him. Look, each one of these groups jobs to push. Push their leaders to make sure there is greater diversity. And the president elect himself is highlighting highs hiring of kathleen thai to be u. S. Trade representative frvettle confirmed she would be the first asianamerican and first woman of color to serve in this position. Today biden also officially introduced susan rice as director of the Domestic Policy Council a job that doesnt require senate confirmation. We are here to get hard stuff done. As Obamas National Security adviser, rice infamously blamed the deadly bengal benghazi attan youtube video. Today nobody mentioned that. She knows im really thrilled she was willing to come back, be at my side in the white house. Right before biden spoke, the Transition Team hosted a briefing via zoom. Five reporters were called on for questions, zero asked about the hunter biden investigation. Fox news has still never been selected to ask a question at one of those zoom briefings or at the more formal q a press conferences during the transition but as we saw today he still hears our questions. Bret . Bret so you are saying there is a chance . All right, peter, we will keep trying, thanks. Also breaking tonight, we take a look at just how much was known concerning the investigation into hunter biden before last months president ial election. And the report raises questions for the president s attorney general. There is also new information about exactly what is being investigated. Senior Political Correspondent mike emanuel has specifics tonight. I am sure we will hear more about it. I think hunter biden will have to stand on the merits of his case. At a time when many lawmakers are concerned about chinas influence on the next administration. What other connections do they have into china . You know, we may only be just really been looking at the tip of the ice beg. Former hunter biden Business Partner Tony Bobulinski claims he had two facetoface meetings with joe biden in 2017 after his time as vice president. Bobulinski says joe biden was trying to convince him to go into business as ceo of a venture with a Chinese Energy company. Why at 10 38 on the night of may 2nd would joe biden take time out of his schedule to sit down with me to have a discussion about his family and my family and business at a very high level. The wall street journal reports attorney general bill barr knew about the numerous investigations looking into Hunter Bidens business and financial dealings since at least the spring. And work to keep the probes out of public view during the election. A spokeswoman for the attorney general declined to comment. Barr signaled in may he wanted the criminal Justice System to stay out of partisan politics. It is critical that we have an election where the American People are allowed to make a decision. We cannot allow this process to be hijacked by efforts to drum up criminal investigations of either candidate. A key ally President Trump says that was unfair. A. G. Barr i mean, excuse hey we didnt want to influence the election. Do you know what you did . You influenced the election by suppressing very important investigations. A Biden Campaign surrogate says the attorney general acted properly. He was fog the rules o follof the department of justice. If he followed the rules, thats a good thing. Republicans are calling for a special council to investigate these biden Family Business dealings expressing concern the next president s attorney general wont be able to do it fairly and worried that u. S. Attorneys digging into these matters could be replaced. Bret . Bret all right, mike, thank you. More on this with the panel. Coming up this weekend Tucker Carlson talks with former associate Tony Bobulinski you can see that special 5 00 p. M. Eastern saturday and sunday night 10 00 p. M. Eastern. Republican lawmakers are calling for a closer examination of chinese influence on members of congress. This comes ahead revelations of ties between a california democrat and a woman accused of being a chinese spy. Correspondent Gillian Turner has tonights update. Good evening, gillian. Good evening, bret. Democrat Eric Swalwell under fire tonight for allegations that he may have been compromised by a person who is suspected of being a chinese spy. Someone who is known to target politicians and may have been hone trap planted by chinese officials. This incident is highlighting just how ubiquitous chinese spying operations in the u. S. Have become in recent years there are potentially thousands thousands of operations current little underway. Take a listen to former cia station chief dan hoffman. Think about chinese intelligence officers. They are operating in washington, d. C. And at the consulates in San Francisco and new york and chicago and lang. Los angeles. We close chinas consulate in houston. They are ruthlessly focused on conducting espionage in this country. G. O. P. Jim sensenbrenner filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee urging the panel to immediately open an investigation into the swalwell matter. The threat from china is one that lawmakers say is real and growing more dangerous. Look, this is the tip of the iceberg. At this point. Thats been a year on the china task force. And it is in our universities, students, its research institutions. We really need to get a handle on this. Swalwell himself is maintaining innocence. He insists the accusations about his ties to alleged spy Christine Fang are a political hit job. Are you concerned that you shared any information with this person before you were notified by the fbi . Well, i know that i didnt. Chinese recruiting of u. S. Lawmakers is a story really came to light back in 2018 when politico broke that the Chinese Intelligence Services had recruited a staffer who worked out of Dianne Feinsteins offices based in california. Bret . Bret all right, gillian, thank you. The u. S. Senate has now cinched up with the house to approve the final version of the defense policy bill the vote was 8413. Well above the two thirds threshold needed to override a potential and threatened veto by President Trump. It will now have to be sent to the white house to get signed or vetoed. We are told tonight its not there yet. The covid relief talks are stalled. Tonight Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell says democrats are pushing for state and local government rescue money instead of funding for aid distribution networks. The negotiations have really fallen apart in recent days. The senate has passed a one week government funding bill to avoid a possible shut down of some government Source Services at midnight tonight the house passed that measure on wednesday. Stocks were mickelsoned today. The dow gained 47. The s p 500 dropped five the nasdaq dropped 8. For the week off more than half a percentage point. The s p 500 down almost a full point the nasdaq lost two thirds. Up next we will take you live to the center of the coronavirus universe right now. Place where all of the vaccine is being stored. At least one of them. Prepared for distribution. First, heres what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. Fox 12 in portland jen jent aga, restaurants laced with booby traps including homemade spike strips. Piles of rocks and thick bands of plastic wrap stretched at neck height across the roadway there. Fox live in new york as prosecutors and lawyers for movie producer Harvey Weinstein agree to postpone efforts to send him to california to face Sexual Assault charges there weinstein appeared via video from prison today before a judge who set a new date of april 9th for his extradition hearing. And this is a live look at seattle from 213 fox our affiliate out there. One of our big stories out there tonight for the first time in 30 years the Tacoma Police department makes changes to its shop with a cop program because of covid19. This year children wont be running down the aisle of target with officers. Instead, officers will bring the toys and clothes directly to those kids. Thats tonights live look outside the beltway from special report. We will be right back ing youre still the one that i love to touch still the one and i cant get enough were still having fun, and youre still the one applebees 2 for 20. Now thats eating good in the neighborhood. Shingles doesnt care. Willgles doesnt care. I get as much fresh air as possible. Good for you, but shingles doesnt care. Because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. But no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. So what can protect you . Shingrix protects. For the first time ever, you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90 effective. Shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. The most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about protecting yourself with shingrix. Shingles doesnt care. Shingrix protects. Bret almost 107,000 people in this country were hospitalized as of yesterday with the coronavirus. Thats up at least 18 in the past two weeks. Another 2900 deaths were reported thursday. The u. S. Fatality count now stands near the 300,000 mark, globally its approaching 1. 6 million. A top coronavirus adviser to president elect joe biden says there should be no Christmas Parties this year. Dr. Michael as ter man says americans are facing a covid seem for weeks to come despite the progress on a vaccine. Speaking of that right now the center of the coronavirus universe when it comes to the vaccine is kalamazoo, michigan thats where pfizers giant manufacturing plant is and its ready to roll out the first batches of that vaccine to the american public. Senior correspondent mike tobin is there tonight. Behind the walls of pfizers massive facility in kalamazoo, michigan could be the beginning of the end, millions doses of a vaccine for covid19. Once the fda approves the emergency use authorization, shipments can begin in 24 hours. We could see vaccinations beginning on monday or tuesday, depending on when fda gets everything signed. The vaccine must be kept super cold almost negative 100 degrees fahrenheit requiring a sophisticated cold storage chain each will have geothermal sensors. Shipping giants u. P. S. And fedex are in charge of getting the vaccine to their points of use. We have informed all of our drivers across the country whats in those boxes and how important it is. And so, our goal is to have 100 percent accuracy in delivering those. By air and ground the vaccine is headed to 636 distribution points across the nation. Kits with syringes and i saline for administering the vaccine have already arrived at Methodist Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in dallas. If we receive the vaccine that morning we plan to begin vaccinating that afternoon. Priority for the initial vaccines will go to healthcare workers and at risk are pop laptions like people in nursing homes. As approvals are expected for vaccines produced by moderna and johnson and johnson as well. The white house testing czar says hundreds of millions of doses will become available in december and january. We are very confident by the mayjune time period that any american who wants a vaccine will have a vaccine available. So this is going to be extremely rapid. One of the concerns with distribution of a vaccine be is the potential for theft. U. S. Marshals will accompany some shipment, six states are enlisting the help of the national guard, colorado, kansas and South Carolina to name a few are keeping cold storage locations a secret for security reasons. Bret, back to you. Bret mike tobin in kalamazoo. Mike, thanks. Will bret the development of the covid vaccine, several of them, really was warp speed compared to other Development Efforts in tonights final segment of our special look at the vaccine we examine how it was done so quickly. How it was achieved. And whether this sets a new standard for American Science in the future. Heres correspondent david spunt. Its called operation warp speed. Within one year americans learned of a pandemic and began receiving a vaccine for that pandemic. A little bit of feeling of pressure. Im not a big fan of the term operation swamp speed because it gives the impression that the safety trials are being rushed. They are not. Dr. Peter who he tez a vaccine developer with Baylor College of medicine began are tracking a vaccine months ago. My response was we can do this all the research and development we had done for other coronavirus vaccines. The pfizer and moderna vaccines tout efficacy rates of 95 and 94 pulp 1 respectively. I thinking historians will look back at this time with astonishment. This moment is our Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s. America has always led the world in the development of new ideas on human rights and new ideas on technologies and new ideas on research. Record pace of the vaccine according to experts will no question up the ante for future Vaccine Development but next time dr. Hotez wants to see better communication to keep the public informed and confident. Too much of the communication has been left to the pharma ceos and that communication has been not been as strong as i would like. I think we have to pick that up. Expect the communication strategy to change when president elect joe biden takes the oath of office next month behind me. He has appointed dr. Anthony fauci as his chief medical adviser on covid19 as millions of americans become inoculated in the coming months. Bret . Bret david, thank you. Good job this week. Still ahead our whatever handed to segment on the very explosive event. We will explain. Up next, charges that the Mainstream Media and big tech conspired to bury the hunter biden investigation story before the election. Well take a look. I think its very outrageous that the state would choose to ignore facts when they are uncovered by republicans. Technologies advisor to listen, is to hear more than whats being said. And offer the answers that make someone feel truly heard. I understand, lets get started call a Dell Technologies advisor today. I understand, lets get started keeping your oysters busihas you swamped. You need to hire. I need indeed indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. 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Prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. Dont wait for a break, call your doctor today, and ask about prolia®. Bret the Mainstream Media and social media both playing catch up tonight on the hunter biden federal investigation. Those institutions are being called out for what appeared to be a Censorship Campaign in the waning days of the president ial campaign. Details now from Fox News Media analyst and Fox News Media buzz howard kurtz. Were when the New York Times broke the story many ignored or played down the allegations. The npr said we dont want to waist our time on stories that arent really stories. Others dismissed it as medal ling by moscow. Will basically functioning as a russian asset by pushing russian tis information. You have fed this entire thing is so obviously a russian plot. It is to me and i was never even an ambassador to the russian federation. Fox news took flack for following up including with an exbiden Business Partner on an attempted deal in china. Bobulinski spoke at great length with foxs Tucker Carlson about his alleged facetoface interactions with joe biden. And when a reporter asked candidate biden about the story. Another smear campaign, right up your alley. Different than the saturation coverage after allegations involving donald trump jr. , ivanka trump, or jared kushner. Now the press is taking Hunter Bidens foreign dealmaking more seriously after he confirmed in a biden transition statement that preempted an inquiry by cnn that the Justice Department is investigating his taxes. The president elects son says he acted legally even after some history of unpaid taxes. But even now the story getting very limited air time on msnbc and cnn. Some news organizations are being more aggressive. The New York Times said today this is a no win situation for joe biden that could range from a distraction to legally perilous. One legal distinction during the campaign is whether joe biden was involved in his sons business dealings and the wall street journal and Fox News Division found no evidence of that the medias challenge is to hold the biden family to the same journalistic standard as with President Trump and his children. Bret . Bret well see. Howie, thanks. Will in tonights whatever happened to the new zealand volcano eruption happened a year ago but believe it or not the effects are still being felt tonight. Here is Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent amy kellogg. I remember every single detail. I remember the bernanke, the blackness the pain. Matt and lauren had been on a hope moon cruise when they took an excursion to new zealands white island. They were among those horribly burned when the volcano erupted a year ago this he can would. Lauren cant perform her Lab Technician job anymore because her right hand has lost mobility matt has burns over half his body. As tragic as this event was we are 100 percent one of the luckiest two of the luckiest people on that island we still have each other. 22 people died from their injuries remembered in a solemn ceremony on sunday. Regular gla greater laid charges on 13 entities including tour operators and the National Geological Monitoring Center charging they should have known the danger given the seismic activity ahead of the eruption. Paul and mary singh from georgia died leaving behind a 12yearold and 7yearold twins. Their family and the yuris are suing Royal Caribbean cruise lines for failing to discourage or cancel the excursion to white island. As the yuris continue to search for silver linings. And truly as cheesy as this may sound, he and i have grown closer together because of thissing i didnt think it could get like any stronger but i mean each day i fall more and more in love with him and he is truly my best friend. Had a message this week for those lost and grieving the tragedy on white island saying you are forever linked to this place and our nation and we will hold you close bret . Bret amy, thank you. Breaking news out of the u. S. Supreme court. The Supreme Court has rejected the texas led effort to toss out Election Results in four key states that joe biden won. Again that is a rejection to take up this case. The Supreme Court just issuing that statement. This was, as President Trump called it the big one, the case that was going to wrap in everything Trump Supporters holding out hope that this could be the case that the Supreme Court would take on its merits and actually argue before the court, that is not happening. Fox news chief Legal Correspondent anchor of fox news at night Shannon Bream tells us what is the decision by the justices. Good evening, shannon. Good evening, bret we just have a couple of paragraphs this is how they spell it out the state of texas motion for leave bill of complaint state by state controversy they wanted to bring to the court directly it says its denied for lack of standing. Texas has not demonstrated a judicial interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections saying you know when texas was claiming here the weighed these four other states conducted their elections and changed things at the last minute they texas accused these states of exploiting the pandemic to change things like witness verification, signatures, voter i. D. , those kind of things. The court here basically is saying they dont have a cog any zable interest. A legal challenge that we can weigh in here. A statement by Justice Alito Justice Thomas joined him in my view we do not have the discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction. Very few cases go to the Supreme Court. State vs. State is one of those things that happen there. They say they grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but wouldnt grant other relief and dont express their views on other issues. Essentially what it means here for texas is that they dont get to move forward this case is done you are dont have enough. You would have needed five justices to move this forward. Texas last ditch effort to will four states and full phi 39 million vets of other people in those four other states its not going to happen. The no right to do it the Supreme Court says this is the end. Not going to get involved texas essentially does not have what they need here which is cognizable effort. This case is done. Bret that was the big one. Bring in Jonathan Turley professor of law school. Will shan be none, stand by if you would. Jonathan, we talked earlier there week about the pennsylvania case that the Supreme Court did not take up and decided to not will to move forward with essentially hear that case forecasting, perhaps, that they really were not in this on these cases. However, how its written does not foreclose any other pending or future election case coming before them. There are a few more irons in the fire. But the electors vote on the 14th. Right. So were right on the eve of that vote. This is very similar to what happened in the pennsylvania case. The white house is only able texas was only able to secure two justices. And that was primarily on technical grounds that they had to really hear this case. Not because of the merits but because of how it came before the court. Obviously, the other justices, seven of them disagreed even on that point. And so this is as dead as dillinger. And the question is can these other remaining cases still have a chance to make a difference . Tonight we also had word out of wisconsin Supreme Court that they will review a challenge in that state. But that is just one state. And we are now not only running out of runway. We are running out of time. Bret yeah. Shannon, bring you back in to this conversation as well. Running out of time but also as jonathan points out, you need to have multiple states for the president to essentially take those electoral votes away from joe biden and they are going to vote on monday. They are supposed to. Shannon umhuh. That was the whole goal with texas going after big ones that would have really helped the president , georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. Very targeted. Very smart to go after those states which all of those electoral votes, had they flipped to President Trump obviously would have changed everything. So, now we do have these state level challenges. There is one in georgia that was filed in state court that folks think has some life to it but, again, that takes a lot of time to proceed through the state court system. Wisconsin Supreme Court has announced that they are going to hear they are skipping the appellate level there in wisconsin. They will actually hear oral arguments tomorrow. Noon local time there in milwaukee. To move forward with a case in wisconsin. So those are two critical key states. But as for texas trying to go after four states at once, that math is not going to happen because this case as professor turley has said, this is the dead end for it. So now we are left with these collection of state cases. They are also running out of time. And out of you know, landing space as professor turley has said, but they are still active. Bret yeah, lets bring Kristin Fisher at the white house. Kristin, the president had put a lot of eggs in this texas basket. He talked about it a number of times including at a Christmas Party at the white house saying this was the big one. Your thoughts about what is going to be the reaction out of the white house . He has tried the state legislatures it has not worked. The cases seemed to have stopped. A few more. But this was one that he talked about a lot. Yeah, as you just said this is the one that he called the big one. Bret, im really watching the president s twitter feed. He has tweeted at least twice today about this case, really putting a lot of pressure on the Supreme Court. And, perhaps, particularly, those three Supreme Court justices that he appointed to the high court. He said he tweeted to them today, you know, to do the right thing. To have courage. Have wisdom. He even told them to save the of america. So, President Trump has really made it no secret that he thought the Supreme Court should take up this case but now this is definitely another legal blow for the president his legal team, his campaign. And his effort to overturn the outcome of this election. And now you have the Electoral College meeting on monday, but, you know, bret, it really remains to be seen how much further President Trump intends to go. Because, as of today, he has tweeted multiple times about this. So we will see. As of now, no response officially from the white house, the president , or his legal team just yet. But we are watching it, bret. Bret yeah. Obviously the politics of all of this as the georgia runoffs are still the Senate Control hanging in the balance on january 5th. And how that plays all of this and that is very important. Last word, Jonathan Turley, on this. It seemed like these legal challenges, some of them constructed in a way that the judges, some of the judges at least when they looked at them said i need more meat on the bone as far as evidence that the votes were stolen or fraudulent. Thats right. The wisconsin appeal to the Supreme Court, which is skipping an appellate stage,s to look at these concrete allegations about 221,000 ballots that are being challenged in two largely democratic counties. But with this decision its hard to see if that was successful that it would make any difference, obviously, with the balloting coming. Part of the problem that i think we are seeing is many of these cases are being thrown out on standing or procedural grounds. And there are a lot of voters out there who believe that this election was not fairly done. And they dont feel like the evidence has been scrutinized. So i think the Supreme Court decision is going to fuel that objection. Because this was made as a threshold procedural issue. Texas simply cannot sue to get other states to change their view of their own laws or practices. Bret jonathan, the fact that they are not even moving forward to hear it suggests that does it not, that the Supreme Court is kind of laying down a marker that you have to get over this certain point in order not just on standing for texas but on the pennsylvania case as well . Thats right. I mean, these were not close calls for the Supreme Court. The pennsylvania case didnt have a single dissenting justice. It was dismissed had 0 minutes after tha0 40minutes after tf was filed. These are troubling developments for the trump legal team. They have never if he would fir firma in any of these cases. They have never been able to move any of this litigation forward. This is a huge blow because the president obviously has been talking about it. There are six conservatives on the Supreme Court. Three trump appointees. And they are not they dont have animus toward the president. The majority, obviously, does not have that animus. The republican appointees. Three of them were appointed by him. They just dont see the law here. They dont see the credible legal argument. And thats why this came out the way it did. Bret okay. Stand by if you would. Lets bring in our panel early. Charles hurt is opinion editor for the washington times. Jeff mason, White House Correspondent for reuters. And bill mcgurn, columnist for the wall street journal. Jeff, i want to start with you, kristin mentioned it. We are obviously watching this twitter feed very closely for reaction. You cover the white house every day. You heard the president talk about this election that he won. And saying, again, that this was the big one, the texas lawsuit. Its not moving forward. Where do you think the president goes from here . Jeff well, its a significant blow, for sure. He did not win the election. Thats important to clarify that but he has been fighting to overturn the election. And this was he had put a lot of hope in this and i think kristin was right to emphasize the fact that not only has he been sort of putting Legal Resources into this but he has been verbally pressing the justices via twitter and via his public remarks to help him out. And three of the justices on the Supreme Court, its also worth noting have been appointed and nominated i should say and confirmed via this white house. President trump. And i think he clearly thought that maybe that was going to help him and it hasnt. Bret yeah. Charlie, there are were 18 state attorneys general, 126 in the end Republican House members who signed on to this effort with amicus briefs to the court. That did not sway these justices. Charlie yeah, a couple things. One thing that i think is very important is that, you know, it cut both ways. You know, this also puts a lie to the charges that a lot of democrats levied against President Trump that he was trying to put people on the court who were just going to rubber stamp whatever he wanted. It proves that President Trump, when he selected the people that he put on the Supreme Court, he selected people who were independentminded and willing to look at things from a legal standpoint and not from a political standpoint. So i think thats a really important thing to remember at this moment. Certainly, this case was the best, biggest case that the president was holding out hope for. And, you know, end this legal wrangling of this case. But, it doesnt end the political wrangling of this case. And the president still has a lot of political a lot of political room and he will continue to make the argument that there were real problems with this election. The pandemic, you know, exploiting the pandemic to start this mass mailin voting drive which raises lots of concerns. And i think probably caused a lot more opportunities for fraud in the election than in a regular election. All of that is going to continue. And were going thats a very healthy and important political fight to have. Its just that that is now going to be in the political realm as opposed to thed to the legal realm. Bret the question was where was the judge that said yes i agree that all of this happened and yes, im siding with the Trump Campaign on everything that theyre laying out here . He the legal battles met and end where when they made it up to the top. Few irons in the fire but the Supreme Court has not taken up any of this as of yet. Bill mcgurn, you are a former speech writer. You have if your looking at the situation now, and you are President Trump, ahead of this january 20th inauguration that is moving forward, the electors meet on monday, what are you doing . And how are you phrasing this for, perhaps, the good of the country even though a lot of your supporters believe they were somehow gypped . We dont know what President Trump is going to do. He has earlier suggested if the Electoral College went against him, he would accept that so, the question is that what he is going to do . Or is he going to continue to complain that the election was stolen . Look, from the beginning, i didnt dismiss the allegations of improprieties. I think things like mailin voting were a problem. I think that states like pennsylvania changing their ballot deadlines, i believe unconstitutionally because its supposed to be by the legislature. They should have been taken seriously and examined. I also believed from the beginning it wasnt going to effect the outcome. Thats what we have now. It is telling that a Supreme Court with six pretty orthodox conservative justices on it didnt even take the case. I mean, you could make an argument maybe they should have taken the case and dismissed it for standing but the fact that they felt comfortable not doing that i think tells you that they really didnt see any merits to the case. You know, charlie was right about these justices. One of the big differences, i believe, between the more liberal and more conservative justices is that on the conservative side, we take process arguments very, very seriously. We dont just go to what outcome we want and then find the reasoning. And i think this was dispositive for the justices in not taking this case. Bret i want to go back to Shannon Bream for a second. Shannon, we talked about the pennsylvania case that was really dismissed wasnt taken up by the Supreme Court. Interest was one element of pennsylvania that was really never resolved and that was the delay of the ballots after receipt after election day that Justice Alito wanted separated and counted separately. We werent sure whether all of the places actually did that. Where does that stand tonight . Is that done . As far as we know, that still is sitting at the Supreme Court. I mean, that has had filings from both sides. You rightly note that order that came out from Justice Alito a few weeks back after the election because that case was filed before the election because already the secretary of the commonwealth there had said we are going to accept ballots that come in after 8 00 on Election Night through friday. She did that unilaterally without the state legislature which the constitution says they are the ones to make the decision. Well the state Supreme Court there in pennsylvania actually signed off on what she did. They upheld that. So it went to the Supreme Court, along the way, they were supposed to be separating those ballots, keeping them secure and not counting them. Well, word got to Justice Alito that that wasnt happening and he sent out that blistering order like hey we expect you guys to respect this while we still have not ruled on the merits of this. A lot of folks think the Supreme Court again will eventually close up that case and not get involved because there is probably not enough of a high enough number of ballots that fall into that category to actually affect the outcome. The overall outcome in pennsylvania. But it is still sitting there. The Supreme Court at this hour. Bret charlie, to your point, there are issues here that have to be resolved before the next election. This is one of them. Mailin ballots and how they are dealt with. But whether there is enough to overturn enough electoral votes before monday, boy, its going by the wayside now. Charles without a doubt. The window has been closing for weeks now. Obviously. Its a tall order without any doubt. But, i do think its interesting that the Supreme Court declined to hear the case on standing. That doesnt address the merits, necessarily. And, the other issue that i think you just brought up with shannon about the way in which some of these alterations were mading to the different state elections where and the federal government, the Supreme Court does have an interest in those cases where states change the rules of the election in a way that will disenfranchises certain voters without disenfranchising other voters and it becomes a matter of fairness. And whether or not the legislature itself made those changes or were those changes made my fiat or other actors in the state government. Those are all very important issues. As you point out, i think, you know, it is Fertile Ground for President Trump and republicans to continue this fight no matter what happens in the next couple of weeks. Bret Jonathan Turley, is it, though, is it, you know, when you look at the good of the republic where we are you have republican governors signings certification. Doug ducey in arizona. A trump ally, getting a lot of heat, obviously brian kemp in georgia, the republican governor taking a lot of incoming down there, certifying that election after several recounts in georgia. At what point is there arent that many avenues as you talked about. Your thoughts . Well, first of all, some of these officials have been treated really quite poorly and unfairly. They are trying to do their job. And they have been upheld by judges and now justices, including republican appointees. I think people need to understand that. You know, the political and legal convergence here is obvious that the president could well accept the result, obviously of the Electoral Colleges he said he would and still say that he believed that the election was stolen. Part of the problem is that many of these have been threshold decisions like tonight that you simply dont have the standing to bring the case. Thats not going to relieve the concerns of millions of americans who felt that the election was unfair. And were going to see it playing out in the future regardless of what happens. It seems exceptionally unlikely that any change in this election is going to unfold in the next few days. There have been discussions of having a fight in congress and getting these legislatures to stop their certification. All of that is even less likely than this case which was exceptionally unlikely to succeed. But, i think we should also keep in mind that the heavy burden here. Judges did acknowledge that be they were legal orders. They did find votes that were not counted. They did find problems in how this was done. The biggest problem other than standing was the relief being sought. Some of the judges, including the one in pennsylvania said these voters make legitimate claim their vote should have been counted i cant get from there to the point of saying my relief will be not to count millions of other votes. That has been one of the biggest problems that they have faced. The other problem has been something called laches. Which is basically saying you waited too long, that as many of the complaints that are raised in this last effort in front of the Supreme Court involved changes that occurred many months ago. And a lot of these judges have said why now . Why are you bringing this to u now after the election has occurred . Can. Bret jeff mason, just trying to get into the mind of the president as he looks at this result, you have this the electors voting on monday. You have january 6th accepted in the house and the senate, the official, official and then i dont think big of a flow this will be and is to the president that that means he is going to give up. And i think thats true with the Electoral College vote on monday as well. He did say he would leave the white house if the Electoral College votes for biden but he did not say he would concede. And there is a difference. So i think he will continue to keep up this challenge. As far as whether or not he announces a reelection bid, i think this is still sort of figuring that plan out. And it wouldnt surprise me as someone who has covered President Trump for four years. I think that he will certainly not leave this white house saying that he feels like he lost that he lost the election and instead he will say it was rigged and that he is going to want to come back. But that decision hasnt been made to my knowledge yet. And that is something that we will be watching closely. Bret bill mcgurn, for Trump Supporters, obviously this is a major disappointment. But they have seen several major disappointments. One that they didnt see the durham investigation come to fruition before the election. They didnt see it delivered. Now they will finding out more information about hunter biden and all that we covered here ahead of the election; however, wasnt picked up by a lot of the media before the election and now there are questions about why the investigation didnt move forward before the election. So, where do you think that all stands as you get ready for this next administration starting with an investigation of the president elects son . I feel sorry for the soul named ag thats going to be a challenge the Justice Department investigating joe bidens son. Thats a real problem for people going ahead. So we will see how joe biden handles it. I hope it means that he will finally be asked serious questions. You mentioned earlier the this is not just people that missed the story. This was people that delusionaly turned their backs on the story. We had 50 will National Security officials former officials saying this was russian disinformation. The post ran their story and then it was suppressed on twitter. Im hoping some of them come around because one of the reasons they do it, i mean, joe biden just this week avoided a question, you know, stepped in front of the cameras and prevented her from having to answer a question about hunter. One reason they will could do that is because they know the rest of the press corps wont follow up. They will let him get away with it. We will see if that is going to be a luxury joe biden enjoys once he is sworn in. Bret charlie, we had the Transition Team put out the statement of hunter biden about acknowledging this federal investigation on transition paperwork. And, yet, there were zero questions besides peter doocy yelling from afar to joe biden today. Yeah, thats got to be historic first. And, you know, all of the questions that we are talking the legal questions we are talking about today about what happened during the election, none of that even touches on these very important issues that you are talking about here, which is the months and months before the election, you know, in terms of whether or not this is a free and fair election. Its kind of hard to, when you look at the behavior of the media and the way they treated a lot of these stories, its pretty hard to say that the whole system was made for a free and fair election. One final point that i think is also important is, you know, people talk about President Trump whether President Trump will concede or not or whether he will continue to claim that the election was stolen from him. You know, and people, you know, grasp their pearls and get all upset about it and they say that its bad for democracy. I could not disagree more. I think its a very healthy debate and if you look around and you listen to some of these affidavits, read some of the affidavits and listen to some of the accusations that have been made against Election Officials in these states, its clear we have a very big problem and granted its probably not a problem that just started this time. We have had a problem for a long time with these elections. And because and for every vote that every illegal vote that gets counted, that disenfranchises another voter somewhere else who had a legal right to vote and so i totally disagree that somehow this is somehow a bad thing for our country, debate for our country to be having. President trump should be making this argument. He should be making it forcefully. And we should make real changes to the way we do elections in response to this debate. Bret okay. Jonathan turley, i just want to turn back and hear your thoughts about the hunter biden investigation and the challenges for the incoming a. G. Whoever that may be. And obviously we dont have that will persons name. We heard doug jones alabama senator one of the people. Merrick garland who was not put on the Supreme Court because of the senate action. Your thoughts about the challenge there as this federal investigation plays out . Well, i think either jones or garland would be a wonderful choice. They bring stability. I think sally yates would actually make the case that trump is looking for for a selfpardon. That could trigger a selfpardon, at least an excuse for one. I had lunch with bill barr yesterday. And with all of the drama swirling around him, he remained the only immovable object in this swirling universe. I mean, he is quite resolute and confident about his position. I think history will be very kind to him. I think it will i understand vie actions he has taken. Its notable there was no leak about the durham special counsel. There is no leak about the hunter biden investigation. He did exactly. Bret but it also didnt come to fruition. Well, we now have an investigation though thats Going Forward and he thus far have kept it out of the news. Bret yeah. Jonathan, thank you. Everyone thank you, breaking news tonight. Thank you for inviting us into your home tonight. Thats it for this special report, fair, balanced and unafraid. We will see you on monday. The story hosted by martha starts right now. Martha good evening, everyone, im martha maccallum, and this is the story bragging right now, we have just received word tonight of yet another federal criminal investigation into the biden family, appears to be focused specifically on Hunter Bidens business dealings with china and his relationship with Burisma Holdings in ukraine. This is now the fourth federal investigation that has been reported in recent days. Reporting to the New York Times, it was launched by agents in pittsburgh at the request of attorney general william barr. 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