Putin expel 35 american diplomats russia denied any interference. Short time ago donald trump tweeted this, great move on delay by v putin. I always knew he was very smart. Joining to discuss this is Katie National security reporter from the hill. We appreciate it. What are we to make of this tweet from donald trump where he seems to be embracing putin more and more despite everything thats going on you certainly have not seen the president elect back away from his praise of Vladimir Putin as a strong leader that has so Many Democrats concerned that when he takes office he hes not going to do anything to hold russia accountable for this widespad election that the intelligence believe theyve undertaken, youve seen the president elect align himself with the president of russia over the sitting president of the United States of america how often have we seen that . I dont know that we ever have. Because of, you know, all the tension, you know, people have been comparing this to the fact that we havent seen this since the cold war, the tension right now between president obama and putin. Do you think that something more could come of this or do you think once Trump Takes Office this is kind of dissolved i dont think this is an issue thats going to go anywhere any time soon. Because while trump himself has said that i think the country needs to move on. Democrats on capitol hill and some republicans on capitol hill have said this is a big problem. This was an attack on our democracy and it requires a sustained response. Just today, john the chairman of the arm service its committee announced he will be holding a hearing next week with Senior Intelligence officials to discuss the breadth of what happened during the election and along with senator Lindsay Graham whos also a republican, theyre have stronger sanctions needed. What obama did yesterday was too littling too late. Republicans in congress are signalling theyre not going to let this issue go in january. How might this play out . Again, its rather extraordinary. Id seen people argue online and i get this argument, that first of all, you know, the people who are with trump are with him no matter what he said but ive seen other people say if this were flipped, and if it were a democratic president embracing a russian president over our own republican president that peoples heads would be exploding about this. How will this play out in t months ahead it will be interesting to see what the what the contours of this fight will end up being, what the republicans choose to stand with the president elect sort of stated position that we need to move on, and which ones choose to stand with mckane and graham who say this is a big deal and something we should do something about. Youve already seen quite a few republicans come out and say exactly what trump and his team have been saying, which is we dont know that russia was actually behind this. The administration hasnt given us enough details. I think the next big fight youre likely to see is more of a push for details. President obama ordered this report from his Intelligence Community laying out exactly what happened during the election. A classified version of that is set to go to congress. How much the public will se remains to be seen. But also what remains to be seen is how convincing this will be to some lawmakers who perhaps are not 100 convinced that russia was behind this whenever i see this going on, im curious what this looks like around the world especially with putin coming out and saying the u. S. Diplomats are welcome here. Were not going to do anything. Theyre welcome here for the holidays. By him kind of smugly saying that, you know, what does that send, i guess, around the world . What type of message does it make the u. S. Look weaker . Does it make us look like the bad guy . How does it play out . In the, right now, what we know is that it makes putin makes it obvious that putin is betting on a friendly white house come january 20th. It signals that he believes that a president elect t to advance policies that make sense for russia that he believes are good for russia and that he believes president elect trump is a leader that you can cultivate as somewhat of an al lie. Thank you so much for shedding light on this. Will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months. The other big question, a lot of people are talking about as we head into the weekend. Are you heading out tomorrow to celebrate the new year . Mike thomas is here with a look at the weekend forecast. Its been a cold chilly one day. I wish it would warm up for tomorrow. Well, you might get your wish, only with like two, three degrees. Great baby steps, sarah. We got 60s on the forecast. But not for tomorrow. Happy new year. Happy eve of new years eve and if you are heading out tomorrow night, be aware, youll need the jacket, 30s, 40s, good news, few clouds. We will keep it dry for new years eve. What about big football game. We have taken showers out of the forecast, no longer a concern on new years day, not a day way to start 2017. Take a look at your sevenday forecast. 48 saturday, 53 sunday, we warm it up next week, 2017 starting with a springlike taste ttuesday, 62, wednesday 60 and then winter returns next week, rain, snow mix, Something Else next friday, dont worry about that. Well focus on that next week. Tony sarah, back to you. What would you say was the biggest political moment of the year . So many. How do you pick one . Were going to take a look back at politics 2016 and take a look ahead at what we could expect in the new year. Cant wait to see. E. Everything natures promise is so wholesome. And it doesnt take the whole paycheck. Giants exclusive natures promise. Eat well for less. My giant. Great price on this boneless chicken yeah. We love low prices. No bones about it. [ laughter ] thousands of blue tags. Thousands of low prices. My giant. 2016 was a big year for politics in the United States with one of the most bitterly fault president ial elections in modern history debates primary battles came to a head on election night. This past year reshaped the american politicalandscape going afraid. Joel what wouldman takes a look back at the year in politics. I know how disappointed you feel because i feel it too. Reporter its one of the biggest surprises to come out of 2016, Hillary Clintons throws donald trump in the race to become its 45th president of the United States of america our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love. Reporter after a long primary race with Bernie Sanders, clinton quickly bec preelection polls proved to be off i just received a call from secretary clinton trump, who fault a bruising primary against 16 gop rivals not only won a decisive victory, he also swept wisconsin, North Carolina striking a consilitory tone, he mocked her at crooked hillary we owe her a major debt of gratitude he met with president obama who promised a smooth transition process. Green Party Candidate jill stein, however, was not so cooperative filing recount citing the possibility of Election Fraud and computer hacking this is about the American Voters who deserve to have a reporter one of the big issues of the campaign had to do with the future makeup of the Supreme Court. That point was under scored by the death in february of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia who died of Natural Causes while hunting in texas. He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers on the Supreme Court president obama nominated merit garland. The nomination never made it out of the isnt it Judiciary Committee as republicans argued it should be the new president who chooses the president has an right to submit a name and to, you know, pick a person. On the other hand, its the senates right to confirm or not confirm. Reporter minority leader harry reid who pushed through a bill votes required for a judicial nominee accept the Supreme Court retired from the senate after serving 30 my good looks. I didnt make the because im a genius. I made it because i worked hard. Reporter the senate paid tribute to out going Vice President joe biden who served three decades in the chamber. Chuck schumer will take over for mr. Reid when the Senate Returns in 2017. But remains to be seen what kind of working relationship will have with the new president with whom he shares a long history as a new yorker. In washington, at the capitol, joel wal dman fox news joining us to talk more about politics in 2016 and give their predictions on what the new year will bring. Its quite a tall order. Two people we talked to a lot over past year. Brendan daily and niles stand is. I know its hard to look back at the beginning of the year and look where we have come but did you ever think we would be here at this point af did you could you even have imagined it no. Speaking for myself, no, that donald trump would be president of the United States of america in a few weeks is really it is mind boggling and most people didnt predict that. I believe all. Us, particularly on the democratic side are coming to grips with that. Some of my friends are talking about going through the stages of grief of anger, denial and coming to the new year, youre going to go see democrats what are they going to do . We just dont know what hes going to do. Mr. Trump is very unpredictable. We dont know whats going to happen that speaks to one of the interesting things about the year, heading up to the election, there was a lot of people saying, ok, what do the republicans do after this . They nominated trump. A lot thought he would not be the standard, certainly would not win. A lot thought that. Folks were predicting the death of the Republican Party. Now itshe worried. Absolutely. A big change. What people were anticipating when they thought trump was going to lose was that being taken by other Republican Party as proof that you couldnt run on the kind of trump iain platform. Now that is all changed, not only does he win the election but he we want crucial states in the socalled blue wall, which democrats had been able to depend upon in previous elections. Thats a real problem. But one final thing on this issue, tony is that a lot of democrats i speak to, theyre concerned they could take the wrong lessons from this election it was so close. Hillary clinton did get almost 3 million more votes than donald trump. Actually extrapolating the lessons is more difficult. One of them is you have to appeal more to the white wor class. Theres no question everyone agrees on that but you cant forget about the other coalition that is were success for president obama and also as now said, gave mrs. Clinton more votes in the popular vote. What they need to be is be true to their own roots. We need to work for the middle class and jobs, thats what people care about. Infrastructure is one area where youll see cooperation, Chuck Schumer talked about that. I know in the democrat, they talked about that. The going to depend on what the bill and the proposal from the administration turns out to be. But i think there could be chance for cooperation on that in that area. I know we talked about this a little bit before with Katie Williams i wanted to ask you both looking at whats going on with russia and the back and forth right now with president obama. Looking forward over the next year, what kind of relationship do you think we might end up having with do you think we may have tighter relations with them i think its an interesting question, donald trump talked up it is a good idea to have a closer relationship with russia, that is not the position of the Republican Party or the democrat party. Its one of these things where hes very much on his own trying to plow his own on how that will go in the face of presumable. Congressional displeasure is an interesting thing what do the republicans do. Heard earlier senator graham and mckaine will hold hearings, theres now a bipartisan concern about the president being too close to russia. Its frankly a little bizarre to see the tweet today about praising putin yet again. Its just kind of mind boggling this is happening and continues to keep happening. I dont know, once hes president if he do it. He seems to defy the odds and keeps doing what he wants to do. I dont know hell change once he becomes president speaking to that, you know, and you talk about the difficulty in gleaning what the right message is to get from the election on all of that. One of the things seemed to stand out to me was that in some ways, it wasnt so much about politics and some of the specific positions on issues. In some ways ways we heard about drain the swamp. We want changes that you system is not working and doesnt work for us. The nation elected somebody whos an outsider. Could we see this continues with Congressional Elections down the line and all of that type of thing i think we could because i think theres a real appetite for that kind of change candidate on both sides. Thats what powered Bernie Sanders in the democrat primary giving a much stronger performance than many people thought. And to your point, tony, there e country who are struggling, who feel that the system does not work for them, who feel that the political is not responsive to their concerns, be that jobs, the economy, Affordable Housing is a huge issue in many cities including this one. So those sort of things i think are Fertile Ground you look at the picture why he won, he was chance candidate and she represented the establishment been here 30 years. It would be interesting to see if at the president elect is not able to create new jobs in the that he wants and kentucky and West Virginia and the cold country if that doesnt happen which i think is a very big concern, what do they do . Do they turn on him and vote for the democrats . I dont know. I think thats still to be determined there. Also, whats the effect of if the republicans do, affect, repeal the Affordable Care act . 20 Million People gotten Health Insurance that dont have it and i think a lot a theyre going to lose their Health Insurance, you may see the republicans try to play with this. They announce the repeal but not enacting it. Theyre concerned about the political impact. Theres been indication of that already. Niles stand age with the hill and brendan daily a thank you for coming in. Well be right back. A popular restaurants featured every president on a large mural located outside the president but the owners of mama ieshas saysh s will not be adding the president elect to the mural. They dont have enough money in their budget to add to the mural of president s. They feature mama iesha bathroom with the leaders and its her way of welcoming them to the district. You might remember back in 2015, the mural was actually vandalized by paint family raised money through donations to repair the painting at that time. So apparently funds are tight but, you know, a lot of people are going to read that the wrong way right. Maybe if, donations could be had, maybe my suspicion is that as words spreads about this, someone will set up a gofundme page because theres going to be people who feel like youve had all the other president s, why not donald trump . Yes. He is going to be the president. There you go well keep you posted. We hope youve already made your new year plans. If you havent, the executive chef at car mines is here to show us to show us some of the items on the menu this new years eve. One restaurant in dc is offering up great deals, car mines in northwest here to showcase some drinks and food on the menu that you could have how is everyone doing wonderful how are you . First tell us about this special drink its really easy topped bring, anyone its called the palm grant spritz. We make it with palm grants super. You can pick any fruit super you want. If youre a fans of ras before he you can pick that, make your own blueberry. You can make it as sweet you dont want. Add a little bit more if you want. The last thing is the champagne. And thats it. How simple is that look theres one right here for me. There you go. Looks good try the drink. All right now, tell us about cheers. Tell us about the governmented its what im offering you guys a little sample. Caesar salad. Vodka, chicken mar sample la and a, they can come in for under 20 a person. Thats great i dont know if theres anyplace you can get a scratch made italian meal family style for that kind of value. Its unbelievable. Every one of these at your restaurant are good. What im thinking is a new years day feast and a hangover cure family party depending on what kind of family you are. Come in any time new years day. Parties from two to 200 come in and eat with us. New years eve is kind of crazy, were taking walkins you can come sit at the bar, we have bar service quicker and faster up there. Come in after 9 we got tons of space, 10 00, 11 00, serve up champagne Something Like that. Thank you, so much we appreciate it. Well see you tonight at 10 00 and 11 00. Announcer today on tmz harvey ok, say goodbye to 2016, everybody [applause] so heres what were going to do. Were going to play a game to celebrate 2016 called pass the pen. That is the pen there that shevonne is holding. What were going to do is this, im going to give you a holiday theme and youre going to then put that board on your head. The person that comes closest to drawing the scene is then going to get clues if me unlocking the celebrity who is the basis of our story. Where are we starting . Eric harvey the scene is champagne toasts. Champagne toasts. Oh, i got to go with mike [applause] thats a glass and thats a bottle. He has a better bottle. I have