Transcripts For FOXNEWSW The Journal Editorial Report 20170114

If putin likes donald trump, guess what, folks . Thats called an asset, not a liability. Now, i dont know that im going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope i do. But theres a good chance i wont. And if i dont, do you honestly believe that hillary would be tougher on putin than me . Paul joining the panel this week, wall street journal columnist and deputy eded to have dan henninger, Editorial Board member mary kissell, and Foreign Affairs columnist brett stephens. Dan, i want to ask, first, about a question of style, okay . Have you noticed any change from this a week before he becomes president between this and the campaign . No, very little, as a matter of fact. [laughter] what you see is what you get. Paul this is what were going to get as a president. This is what were going to get as a president. Look, paul, president elect trump, that press be conference, four years if not for decades the average person sitting out there watching these president ial press conferences has always said why doesnt the president just punch back against these people, these rhetorical questions, this spin, this insinuation . Well, theyve got him now [laughter] because donald trump is punching back. Paul no, it reminded me of that scene in the movie gladiator when maximus in the arena says are you not entertained. [laughter] there is that quality that its not really a press conference, its something meta. Im not quite sure what, but its more than simply an effort to offer news or information, but more to kind of entice viewers to keep watching. Well, i dont know. Whats the saying, when you go low, we go high . It seems like with frump and the media trump and the media, when the media goes low, he goes lower. Paul get used to it. That wont be the last but he did make news. One little item, he attacked big pharma. Big pharmas getting away with murder, he said, they make drugs overseas, they sell them back in the United States. The pharmaceutical industrys stock prices dropped immediately. Paul not only that, but his jab against mexico saying they will pay sent the peso into freefall as well, and thats a little bit of the downside, brett, for this kind of lets just wing it press conference behavior because as president , you can have a huge effect on stock prices, on individual companies. And mexico is a neighbor, and hes making it more difficult to manage their i remember watching george w. Bush weighing his words so carefully that he hardly knew what to say because i think he was he understood the consequences. But i think theres going to be a problem for trump over the long term which is that people are going to begin to tune this out, and hes going to be saying things whose shock value is inevitably going to diminish over time. Now, that may be good in terms of not roiling waters, but its also going to make the effectiveness of this form of communication diminish over time. Paul what about the russian dossier news, mary . He dispatched that in categorical terms, denied everything. And if, and so its kind of gone away because there wasnt much there. But is there any residual risk for the president elect . Well, the risk is that donald trump came out and denied every charge in the russian dossier, and it seems to have backfired on the media that publicized the report. Paul right. The risk is the press continues to dig, and god forbid they find any part of that dossier correct, thats the political liability here. Paul right. But most of i agree with you, mary. I think the press, though, does come out looking the worse for wear in the short term. Oh, for sure. It was a definite win for trump. It gave him an opportunity to bully the cnn reporter, and that kind of instinct he has to stomp on the media will only get sharper when the media makes goals like this. Paul and the russians, dan, he seemed tougher on putin and russia. He acknowledged that it was, the hack for the first time which i certainly was, i was glad to see. Yeah. I mean, thats clearly his position on russia has been so sort of out of phase with what virtually everyone in congress especially. I mean, here paul republican congress. Republican congress. He took a hit at Lindsey Graham in that press conference, oh, is he still down there underneath 1 . [laughter] Lindsey Graham is one of the three senators who has doubts about his secretary of state. He needs a majority of votes, and these people have votes, and if they dont vote for Rex Tillerson, hes got a problem. Paul so you think he should not be picking fights like that with senators, or do you think the senators, like the country, are just going to have to get used to this kind of president ial jostling and let it roll off their back . So long trumps agenda is based on votes in the senate and in the house. And if you certainly dont sacrifice votes like that. I think hes got to be a little bit careful i think the first rule of politics or good politicians you said you never have enemies in understand you never have enemies in politics, you have friends and potential friends, and trump is moving in the opposite direction. Paul you think its a mistake to single out Lindsey Graham like that. And Lindsey Graham owes trump nothing. So Lindsey Graham is onethird of his majority. [laughter] its also beneath the president to just have these offhand remarks. He needs to rise above it given its a Different Office than it is being ceo of the Trump Organization. Paul when we come back, the president elect unveils his plan to detrump the Trump Organization, but will it be enough to quiet his critics and protect him politically . The president elect will have no role in deciding whether the Trump Organization engages in any new deal, and he will only know of a deal if he reads it in the paper or sees it on tv. Help defend against those digestive issues. Take Phillips Colon Health probiotic caps daily with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes . Wow try Phillips Colon Health. For over 100 years like kraft has,natural cheese you learn a lot about what people want. Honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it . Oh, thanks. Bon appecheese okay. That newly listed ranch and wait will be gone. Ed for a mortgage, or, you could push that button. Sfx rocket launching. Skip the bank. Get approved in minutes. Lift the burden of getting a home loan with Rocket Mortgage by quicken loans. whisper rocket from my sweet dreams . Thanks to tena, not tonight only tena overnight underwear. With its secure barrier system gives you. Triple protection from leaks, odor and moisture. Tena lets you be you my two sons, who are right here don and eric are going to be running the company. They are going to be running it in a very professional manner. Theyre not going to discuss it with me. My two sons and i hope at the end of eight years ill come back and ill say, oh, you did a good job. Otherwise if they do a bad job, ill say, youre fired. Paul president elect donald trump this week rolling out his longawaited plan to separate himself from his Business Empire while serving in the white house. Trumps holdings, which include more than 500 companies with 3. 6 billion in assets, will be placed into a trust during his presidency overseen by an independent ethics adviser and managed by trumps adult sons and longtime chief financial officer. The president elects decision not to divest his stake in the Trump Organization is being met with skepticism by some critics who question whether the plan adequately addresses conflict of interest concerns. Attorney Edwin Williamson is a former state Department Legal adviser. He joins me now from fort lauderdale. Mr. Williamson, thank you for being here. Thank you. Paul lets take the issue, first, from this you saw what mr. Trump did this week. Do you think it was adequate, first, as a legal matter to avoid conflicts of interest . Well, from a legal standpoint, its important to understand that trump, the president , trump is not, will not be subject to the federal criminal conflict of interest laws. Paul right. The president and the Vice President are exempted. Though what he has done, given the nature of his assets, i think, is about as much as he could do. The critics and particularly richard painter, normalizen who are constantly in the media on this, are demanding that he divest all financial interests, and that is just not workable. The trump business is built on the trump name, the trump name is essentially untransferable. In addition, the proposals that theyve put forward such as a Public Offering of his organization or a leveraged buyout by others would only breed an entirely additional set of conflicts. Paul let me ask you about one of those options in particular. You mentioned the trump brand not being transferable. It would be transferable to the children, of course, because theyre trumps. So why not do a leveraged buyout on their behalf . They would do it. Theyd have to borrow, no question about it, but presumably the banks would lend to them at market interest rates, and you could do that, and he would be able to divest his assets. So who is going to, who is thes boss of the regulators of the banks . Thatll be donald trump. So you have an entirely additional set of conflicts created right there. Besides, its a massive transaction. It has a, i have no idea what the tax cost would be. The president is not entitled to use a certificate of divestiture which, say, his secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson, can use to defer Capital Gains on his exxon stock. So it would be a massive hit, and i think people would still be concerned because of the, because the trump name would still, he would still have an interest in the trump name. Paul okay. Now, let me take up this issue that mr. Trump mentioned, the ethics officer whos going to sign off on any domestic, new domestic deals that the Trump Organization does. Now, theyve ruled out foreign deals for the duration of this, of the presidency, but in domestic, youre going to have an ethics officer. How important is it for the ethics officers advice to be transparent and that is open to the public so they can see it . Well, i think the issue as trump tries to set up these things like, you know, no communications with his sons and so forth paul right. Sr. Do that those are going to become targets in and of themselves. So the ethics officer absolutely has to be transparent, he has to address each issue that comes up, and he has to give an explanation as to why it was not something done for the purpose i dont think the doing new deals and things like that is the real issue. The real issues going to come up when trump proposes Corporate Tax reform. Paul right. Right, right. And theres a great how does this benefit him. Paul right. We faced that issue somewhat in the gulf war when the decision was made to impose sanctions on Saddam Hussein. The question was, well, does that create a conflict for, say, his secretary of state, the secretary of state who might have had some oil and gas investments, domestic oil and gas investments. And the office of Legal Counsel ruled that where there was a, the focus was on trying to undo the Saddam Hussein aggression, that that was not a particular matter which is the key term used in the ethics rule paul right. And, therefore, there was no conflict. So i think people have to step paul ten back from that and make it sounds like what youre saying is this is ultimately a question of political judgment, and thats my question i wanted to ask you. Is the fact that he maintains his stake in the company, setting himself up for some political attacks when democrats inevitably take back congress or and the media discovers some deal that they can say, they can imply benefits trump himself . Yes, thats and those are going to be constant. I think he should just say that he will not participate in a decision, in what is referred to in the ethics rules as a specific party particular matter to which one of the trump entities is a party, he will just recuse himself. And thats the standard thats set forth in section 502 of the standards applicable to employees of the federal government. And i, he would make those transparent, and it would be clear that he was not involved. But when he is its got to be understood that when he does tax reform, its going to have an impact on his interests, but its going to have an impact on my interests, foxs interest paul sure. Or the wall street journals interests, what have you. Paul thank you, mr. Williamson, for being here. Still ahead, as confirmation hearings get underway for some of Donald Trumps top cabinet picks, a look at what we learned this week about the administrations evolve aring Foreign Policy. Evolving Foreign Policy. Our nato allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent russia. When you have digestive sensitivities, life can feel like a never ending search for food that wont cause bloating, gas, or inner turmoil. Introducing pronourish. A delicious nutritional drink that makes a great mini meal or snack that has protein and fiber. And pronourish has no gluten or high fructose corn syrup. And is low in fodmap ingredients that can trigger digestive sensitivities. The search is over. New pronourish. Nutrition you can feel good about. Paul hearings got underway this week for top members of Donald Trumps National Security team, the president elects picks for state, defense and cia all facing a grilling on capitol hill and often disagreeing with the man who nominated them. Heres secretary, defense secretary nominee general james mattis thursday on cooperating with russia. Im all for engagement, but we also have to recognize reality and what russia is up to, and theres a decreasing number of areas where we can engage cooperatively and an increasing number of areas where were going to have to confront russia. Paul trump tweeted friday morning, quote all of my cabinet nominees are looking good and doing a great job. I want them to be themselves and express their own thoughts, not mine. Were back with dan henninger, mary kiss el and brett stevens. Mary, just looking big pictures, how are the nominees doing . I think theyre doing very well. I think youre seeing experienced, sober people speaking their mind and feeling free to express positions that are at odds with the president elect. And its not just about russia. For instance, you saw secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson say he was in support of the 12nation Transpacific Partnership trade deal that trump said hes against. I think its taken a lot of the Democratic Senators by surprise, because theyre answering every question. Theres no dodging here. And i think it puts the opposition politically on a little bit on the back foot. Paul lets talk about tillerson first, because his main problem right now is not necessarily the democrats, though many will oppose him, its republicans like Lindsey Graham, john mccain, marco rubio who have doubts about his business deals while he was at exxon with russia. Did he allay those concerns enough, to your mind . Yes, i think he did. And, first of all, of course exxon was going to have business interests, and he was going to have to be a steward to the interest of exxons shareholders globally. The secretary of state is a very different job, and he was cleareyed about russia. One important point, he came under sharp questioning from marco rubio when, on the question of whether putin is a war criminal paul from syria. Look, its one thing for me to say as an opinion writer what putin has committed in syria or elsewhere, chechnya, are war crimes paul and you would agree he did. But its a much more serious matter for a secretary of state nominee at his confirmation hearing to say off the bat that Vladimir Putin with whom he will have to deal with one way or another is a war criminal. Thats a term of art that think Senior Administration official has to use carefully. And has potential legal interpretations. But i want to pursue this question of sanctions with russia because he got some criticism from Chuck Schumer, tillerson did, because he didnt commit to supporting continuing sanctions against putin. And the congress is moving right now to strengthen sanctions against russia on a bipartisan basis. Yes. For what reason . For the hacking of the Democratic National committee. Paul right. I think its too big an issue for the senate the get out in front of a new president and impose sanctions for this discreet event paul you do . I do. Youre trying to shape policy towards russia. And we saw in this, these confirmation hearings that general mattis and Rex Tillerson have views trump acknowledged are at odds with his public views. And i think we have, trump is operating on two levels here. You have the public trump who says these things to set the agenda. There is a private trump who will talk to general mattis and Rex Tillerson. I think the senate should wait until we have a clearer idea what the actual u. S. Policy is paul go ahead. Lets be clear, too, that none of these nominees are doves. Tillerson said American Power must not only be renewed, it must be asserted. Thats an important word. He talked about american moral leadership. He said we dont have tradeoffs between our values and human rights. This is not a guy, i think, whos going to be snookered by Vladimir Putin, and you saw similar muscular language coming out of pompeo i think its important, look, im for sanctioning russia, but there are other ways of punishing russia short of that arent sanctions. If you put three combat brigades in poland, that would also send an unequivocal message. Paul well, and general mattis said he was for the deployments on the eastern fringe of nato that obama and nato have done, and hes in favor of even permanent deployments in the Baltic States which is not going to go down well with Vladimir Putin. Its the new west berlin. Paul well, thats very interesting because if thats going to be a variable tension with perhaps President Trump, elect trumps ambitions to do a deal with Vladimir Putin. But even trump is backing away from that, isnt he . He said in the press conference, well, i might get along with Vladimir Putin, or i might not but he said it was an asset, putin heard it as intelligence asset. [laughter] paul what about the idea of disagreeing with the president elects views here . Trump heralded it in a tweet, you know . I happen to think personally its a good thing. You want that kind of advice you want people who are strong enough, confident to say, mr. President , you know what . I think youre wrong here. Yeah. And i think as general mattis said, he made that clear to donald trump when he is talking to him in the interviews for the job. And, you know, he said he thinks nato is the most Important Alliance we have, perhaps the most Important Alliance in history. Were trump and mattis and tillerson are going to have some long conversations about these subjects, and then were going to get a Foreign Policy. Paul all right. Thank you, all. As democrats line up against Donald Trumps pick for the nations top cop, well talk to someone whos done the job himself. Former attorney general mike mukasey joins us next. Ever try something so good, you get hungry just thinking about it . At red lobsters big festival of shrimp, get your perfect pair for just 15. 99. Choose 2 of 6 new and classic shrimp creations, like bold new firecracker red shrimp. Exploding with flavor . Yeah they are. Or try new creamy shrimp linguini, and new sweet bourbonbrown sugar grilled shrimp. Flavors like these are big. And for just 15. 99, they cant last. So hurry in. Paul Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer announced thursday he would vote against president elect trumps pick for attorney general following confirmation hearings this week for the nominee, fellow senator Jeff Sessions of alabama. Schumers announcement came just a day after another senate democrat, new jerseys coverly booker cory booker, took the unprecedented step of testifying against sessions, questioning his colleagues record on civil rights. If one is to be attorney general, they must be willing to continue the hallowed tradition in our country of fighting for justice for all, for equal justice, for civil rights. America needs an attorney general who is resolute and determined to bend the arc. Senator sessions record does not speak to that desire, intention or will. Paul judge Michael Mukasey served as the 81st attorney general of the United States under president george w. Bush. He testified this week on behalf of senator sessions. Judge, good to have you here, good to see you. Good to be here. Paul so lets first take, i want to talk to you about jim comey, the fbi director, and this report that the Inspector General of the Justice Department has announced. Hes going to investigate the fbi and Justice Department handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Is that investigation warranted . Well, its at the, its at the instance of the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator grassley, who wrote a letter saying i want you to investigate this. He responded saying he would investigate. But the scope of the investigation is limited to the press conference, the famous press conference where he said no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case, which i think is incorrect. And then the later letter where he disclosed that he was reopening the investigation because they had found emails or thought they had found emails on the laptop that huma paul former congressman had, yeah. Right, exactly. Paul so, okay. So the scope, you think, is a little narrow of the investigation. You would broaden it to include how he investigated it . Well, sure. How he investigated it includes not having a grand jury, includes not getting subpoenas, includes agreeing to let two of clintons aides provide their laptops only on the stipulation that they would be destroyed after they were examined by the fbi which is as far as i know is unprecedented. Allowing them in the room when Hillary Clinton testified, notwithstanding that they were witnesses, its just paul an fbi director, though, is not his job is not to make a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute. Correct. Paul and its not to preempt the attorney general and the prosecuting authorities, u. S. Attorneys, this their decision. Absolutely. Paul thats what he did. That was a violation of procedure, was it not . Yes. But it was also, i think he kind of slid in behind youll recall she had the famous encounter on the tarmac paul with bill clinton. And that kind of immobilized her. She then said, well, im going to rely on jim comey and, of course, he slid in and took the bit in his teeth. But thats not what the function is of the fbi director. Paul now, he has a tenyear term, but the president can fire him correct. Paul is do you think that james comey, with this new administration coming in, should resign . Should . I think so. [laughter] he the trouble is that the agency, the fbi itself paul right. Is, i think the faith of the people of the fbi is somewhat shaken in their leadership, and i think the faith of the country is, in the director of the fbi, is somewhat perilous. Given all of that, i think he ought to spend more time with his family. Paul all right, thank you. Lets turn to attorney general sessions. You testified on his behalf what did you make of cory booker a colleague now, because he hasnt been confirmed yet testifying against him . Extraordinary. Extraordinary. I think if that was the launch, and people speculated that was the launch of cory bookers president ial campaign i think it is, yes. [laughter] maybe. If it was, i think it, i think it, i think it fell back on the launch pad. The fact is that the atmosphere in the room, i sat through the whole hearing except for i left after my own testimony, but the atmosphere in the room was all in senator sessions favor. I think he was, he was superb in the way he answered the questions, and a lot of the axises against him and the suspicions about him were based on fallacies and falsehoods about the cases that he had handled and the acts he had performed when he was attorney general of alabama. And he was, he cleaned that up superbly. Paul yeah. That seems to have pretty much vanished, though some democrats may vote against him. So youve run the Justice Department. Its a huge organization, okay . How do you as a new leader go in and set a direction . How do you change it . I mean, you cant just go in there and start giving orders. No. You have to rely on two sets of people, one are the senior people that youre bringing in with you, if youre bringing i got senior people when i arrived, and i was i cant have been more fortunate in the people who were there. And the other is, of course, the professionals at the department. Many of whom, i think, or most of whom, i think, are going to be relieved at the fact that they can now simply stick to applying the law and determining the facts rather than pursuing a political agenda. Paul where do you you dont go in there saying, hi, im the new guy, im going to change everything youve been doing. Paul yeah, because theyll resist. How do you think where do you think sessions will make the biggest change . How will the public see a change from jeffs from the previous leadership of justice to Jeff Sessions . I think one thing youre going to see is that the civil rights decision is going to be investigating discrimination. Rather than doing statistical stunts and coming up with theories of disparate impact. Paul ah, okay. I think thats going to change paul theyre going to investigate actual cases of discrimination with evidence that there was discrimination not based on statistical analyses that there might have been somehow. Right. I think the point of those cases is supposed to be that theres a pattern or practice of discrimination, and people lose sight of the last part and say, well, theres a pattern. Well, a pattern doesnt do it. Its got to be a pattern of discrimination, and i think therell be a focus on that. I think also that there will be a revisiting of some of the use of the Justice Department as a profit center. And, you know, going after record fines and not individuals. Paul yeah. This is against some of the big banks and for the practices during the financial crisis. Right. Im not suggesting theyre going to be more permissive. I think, if anything, they will focus on determining which people are responsible for crimes if crimes were committed and going after those people. Paul individual accountability. Thank you, judge mukasey, appreciate your being here. Still ahead, as the hope and change president delivers his farewell address, a look at the obama legacy both at home and abroad. Hey, hows it going . Um. Who are you . Im val. The orange money retirement squirrel from voya. I represent the money you save for the future. See . Were putting away acorns to show the importance of being organized. Thats smart. Whos he . Hes the green money you can spend now. Whats up . Oh you know, gonna pay some bills, maybe buy a new tennis racket. Tennis racket for a squirrel . Hes got a killer backhand. When its time to get organized for retirement, its time to get voya. If i had told you eight years ago that america would reverse the great recession, reboot our Auto Industry and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history [cheers and applause] if i had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the cuban people, shut down Irans Nuclear Weapons Program without firing a shot [cheers and applause] take out the mastermind of 9 11 [cheers and applause] if i had told you all that, you might have said our sights were set a little too high. But thats what we did. Paul president obama in chicago on tuesday touting what he sees as the domestic and Foreign Policy achievements of his administration as he delivered his farewell address to the nation. Were back with dan henninger, mary kissell and brett stephens, brett, what do you think of the president s case . Well, its refuted, unfortunately, by the evidence of eight years which is the weakest recovery in history, a country that is probably angrier than ever, and thats true on both sides of the partisan divide, a feeling around the world that we are moving into a new era of disorder after our president kept telling us that the tide of war was receding. Allies who are furious with the United States and enemies who are emboldened to act against us, and thats, unfortunately, the facts that the world confronts after eight years of president obama. Paul what do you think though, i mean, hes still popular. Yeah. Paul hes still got an Approval Rating of 55, Something Like that, which is Ronald Reagan levels, maybe a little lower yeah, because i think people separate the man from the policy, and the man paul they admire the man. The man has a cool temperament, hes well spoken, theres the sense that hes a good family man and basically a thoroughly good human being who happens to have been a pretty bad president. Paul and, mary, what do you do you well, let me ask you this. What would you, what do you think is his most senate achievement on a positive point of view . Well, i think killing Osama Bin Laden is probably the highlight of his presidency and also just the fact of his election, lets be clear. It was a historic election. Unfortunately, as we put it in the editorial, it wasnt a consequential presidency for all of the reasons that brett outlined. And, you know, if you wanted to maybe poke a bit of fun, you could say his greatest achievement was getting donald trump elected, because you could never have had a donald Trump Presidency without a barack obama before it. Paul yeah, democrats really hate that point that mary made, but i agree with it because i think as brett pointed out, obama governed in a polarizing fashion. He didnt want to deal with congress after the first two years, and even the first two years he said, okay, pelosi, you write the health care bill, you write the stimulus package. He hated to deal with congress, and thats a big part of the president s job. And so when you govern in a polarizing fashion, you create your polar opposite, and trump in many ways is that. Well, lets in that context, lets talk a little bit about the Farewell Speech he gave tuesday night which i do not many think was exactly a Farewell Speech. [laughter] it was a speech by no, i dont mean in the sense that hes not leaving, it was a speech directed to the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is undergoing a battle now for the new chairman of the Democratic National committee. They are all criticizing indirectly obama for making the party spend too much time on his presidency and not enough time on their needs out in the country because they got plastered in the last election. And i think what obama said in that speech, he defended his presidency, but it was also a defense of the Democratic Party and its aspirations. And he wants to make sure hes still a player in the democrati. Paul bell, and i well, and i think he feels somewhat responsible for the losses that the democrats have suffered over his presidency which have been considerable and not just at the congressional level which often happens over an eightyear presidency, but at the state and local level, theyre even more severe. You have a decimated Democratic Party, and even though you had cory bookers effective, you know, the first step on his road to New Hampshire the other day, you have a very weak bench among the democrats. Democrats, i think, feel that very pal palpably. I do want to say the election of an africanamerican as president and a man who carried the office with so much dignity and was able to transcend racial issues and be a president for all america is a huge achievement, and that achievement will loom larger over time. And i think its paul it affirms american principles and how we like to see ourselves as a country of opportunity and fairness. Right. And E Pluribus Unum presidency, and as we move away from these policy battles, expresident s look better over time. That will stand up not only for obamas legacy, but for americas as well. Paul what would you give president obama credit for the most . What do you think is his big achievement . Weve mentioned a couple, Osama Bin Laden. Ill tell you, quite honestly, getting elected the second time. His Approval Rating was down then. But barack obama, for all of the inability to do politics with congress put together a veryfective political machine effective political machine. It was remarkable, it was extraordinary. We learned a lot about how to run elections from obama and the people who worked for him. Paul true, and yet it didnt transfer over to his designated successor, or Hillary Clinton. All right. Well see what he does after he leaves. When we come back, donald trump hasnt even taken office, but democrats in california are bracing for battle, putting eric holder on the payroll to take on the new republican administration. Paul bracing for battle against the Incoming Trump administration, democrats in california announced last week that theyre bringing in the big guns, hiring former obama attorney general eric holder and his law firm to represent them in any legal fights against the new republican administration. All for the bargain price of 25,000 a month. Wall street journal Editorial Board member colin levey joins us with the details. Colin, state attorney generals hire private law firms all the time for help on cases, so why is this an unusual arrangement . Well, its really unusual, paul, because its completely preemptive. Donald trump isnt even in office yet, and theyre already getting out there. Clearly, first of all, eric holder is very much a political figure, and california, by hiring him, all of these politicians in california, youll notice, have gotten an awful lot of free air time just by doing this. [laughter] they get to get out there, talk about the policies and californias values and what theyre going to defend, and, you know, how much that is very antitrump. And so this has been a boon to them, i mean, really for the bargain price of 75,000 or so, theyve probably gotten millions of dollars in free air time to talk about their policies. Paul all right, but heres the other angle on this that puzzles me. Hes being hired by the legislature, okay . The state legislature. Usually the state attorney generals office, the executive branch does the hiring for help and when theyre going to challenge a federal regulation or Something Like that. What interest does the legislature have in taking on the Trump Administration other than pure politics . Right, for sure. I mean, and thats there is an assemblyman, a republican in california, whos saying what theyre doing violates the california constitution. Theres an article, article vii, that says the state basically cant hire any, cant hire outside contractors for any job that can be done adequately by people already in the civil service. So you look at the California Attorney generals office, you know, they have a budget of more than 800 million, they have 1500, i think, attorneys on staff. So you wonder what exactly holder has that all of those, you know, smart people dont. Paul what are they bracing to fight . What because its usually, i mean, when republican state attorney generals took on the Obama Administration, it was almost invariably to to oppose some new regulation that imposed burdens on the states. Theres been no such thing right now from the Trump Administration, so what are they bracing for . Right, for sure. I mean, californias going to be interested in issues like immigration, sanctuary cities, a lot of environmental regulations. But youre right, i mean, theyring looing for theyre looking for inspiration to states like texas that sued the Obama Administration to challenge policies there, so theyre sort of finding a new breadth of federalism there paul theyre discovering the wonders of states rights. Very, very, very interesting. So what about holders, Eric Holders Law Firm . Big firm based in washington, takes on a lot of clients. Yep. Paul theyre declaring themselves here in taking this case on quite early as an opponent of the Trump Administration. What do you think will there be any political blowback from that . I mean, i doubt it. Thats, unfortunately, the double standard here. You know, there have been issues in the past where, you know, former solicitor general paul clement when he took on some litigation about the defense of marriage act, you know, his firm at the time, king and spaulding, backed out of that, and he ended up having to resign in order to continue to represent his clients. So, you know, there there was a bit of a double standard where the conservative cause was not as easily embraced by, you know, big law. Paul all right. What do you make of the double standard point, dan . Well, you know, its a good point, and it makes it look as though Political Parties are hiring law firms essentially as mercenaries. Theyre holding and sitting there in case they want to fight via the courts which is what the democrats have been doing for many years now; using the courts, using litigation to kneecap their opposition. Theyre taking on the president of the United States out there in california paul i do love the idea, though, that californians and progressives are discovering that the states really do have a role you think they have . Paul theyre going to try. Theyre going to try to exploit that. Thats terrific news if you believe in the constitution. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. Re therapy. A high intensity tens device that uses technology once only in doctors offices. For deep penetrating relief at the source. Aleve direct therapy. By simply enjoying it. Boost® simply complete. Its intelligent nutrition made with only 9 ingredients, plus 25 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. And look where life can take you boost®. Be up for it. ™ with not food, become food . Thankfully at panera, 100 of our food is 100 clean. No artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, or colors. Panera. Food as it should be. Time now for the mess and messieurs of the week. Colin, start us off. Vaccinations announced this week that he had been asked by donald trump to share a vaccine review panel. The president elect office has been not made any decisions yet but mr. Trump expressed interest in theories that a childhood vaccine could cause autism. Even though those series have been debunked by Scientific Evidence and the medical journal. Elevating mr. Kenny in this role would really send a dangerous message to parents and i hope it doesnt happen. Thank you. Dylan roof. He sentenced him to death for murdering nine africanamerican parishioners and charleston. I think its just a serve for a psychopathic young man. Right after, parishioners said they forgive him and thats not the role of the state and the people and i think its just a surfer one of the most heinous crimes in history. I will give a hit to george soros, the trust fund billionaire. Putting his money where his mouth is. Betting that the stock market falls after donald trump is elected. As the wall street journal reported, he lost 1 billion on the bed. You have to appreciate the irony of a guy who had a largely statist vision by free Market Forces in the republican president elect. There will be a list of hopeful periods andrew cuomo, the governor of new york a he gets down to the fourth tier senator brown of ohio , california senator, tomorrow tennis not ruling it out. They need a better bench. If you have your own hit or miss, tweet it to us at je are on fnc. Thats it for this week show. Thanks to my panel and you for watching. We hope to see right here, next week. Potential ties between russia and donald trump. The Central Intelligence committee is looking into it. Democratic leaders demand the resignation of james comey. Hello and welcome to this hour inside americas news headquarters. I am laura engel in for julie banderas. Picking up the allegations after the allegations went public involving President Trump and russia