Trade deal with china. And awaits final passage of a skillfully negotiated new trade agreement with mexico and canada, the usmca. It was so good even nancy could not sit on it forever in the house. The trump economic renaissance also raising wages for the average worker at the fastest rate in more than a decade. And bringing unemployment down to its lowest levels in half a century. President trump is delivering on his promises to the forgotten men and women of america, while repaining utterly remaining utterly unphased by the radical left. Could you endure what this man has endured . The dems spiteful partisan actions helping the trump 2 20 20 campaign 2020 campaign bring in more fundraising cash at the end of last year than all of the dems 2020 hopefuls. The dawn of the new decade however also bringing with it conflicts of old. The Trump Administration taking Decisive Action over the new year against iranianbacked islamic terrorists who attacked the u. S. Embassy in baghdad. The pentagon however now warning more strikes on american targets in the middle east could be on the way. They are ready to respond thankfully. Correspondent kevin cork is in West Palm Beach tonight with details. Kevin . If anybody challenges us, they will be met with a severe response, a strong response by u. S. Forces. Its often referred to as sabre rattling, when leaders of one country preemptively promise reprisals for any action by another. But in the case of the United States and iran, seemingly teetering on the brink of a proxy war in war, defense secretary esper warning today seemed to carry particular heft and almost haunting certainty. We need to stand up to iran and we need them to behave like a normal country. That means ending their nuclear program, long range Ballistic Missile program, the stopping of hostage taking and their malign behavior. Like the orchestrated protests at the embassy in baghdad which enabled the regime do conflate domestic unrest in iraq with tehrans antiamerican fervor. With unrest percolating in baghdad some 6,000 mile ace way back in washington miles a i way back in washington, power has been coordinating crucial next steps an effort to simultaneously prepare for and if at all possible avoid an escalation of hostilities. Translation, more capability on land, sea, and air. We responded at the direction of the president quite forcefully, and it was a very bold and decisive move and asserted our right of selfdefense and the fact we will act in order to defend our personnel and interests in the region. As law makers make their way back to capitol hill for the new year, familiar partisan stances on the president s policies prevail. President trump really has no policy at all. He doesnt seem to know what hes doing. No endgame. I think a proportional response like we have been seeing so far is exactly what iran doesnt want to see because it doesnt turn the world against us or give ammo to the blame america crowd and it does impact iran. On friday an important outreach for the president as he makes his way over to miami for an event at one of the nations largest hispanic evangelical churches. That should make for a very interesting event. Of course we will have coverage for you right here. For now back to you. Absolutely, thank you, kevin cork, appreciate it. As the u. S. And iran brace for potentially more violence, were getting a look at the damage inside the u. S. Embassy compound in baghdad. Take a look. These photos show a blackened and charred Reception Room at the embassy following the iranian backed militias attempts to destroy the entire building. Iraqi troops are rightly being criticized for allowing the militiamen to pass numerous checkpoints into baghdads green zone. Ive been there. If you dont want someone to get into the green zone, they cant get in. These troops, these iraqi troops, remember, have been trained by american troops for 16 years and equipped by the american taxpayer at the cost of 30 billion dollars. All we wanted them was to prevent from the iranians from getting to the front gates of our embassy. President trump responding to the Embassy Siege flying apache helicopters over the compound and ordering potentially 4,000 more american troops to the region maybe. The president s response a stark contrast to that of Obama Administrations when four americans were tragically killed murdered during attacks on u. S. Facilities in benghazi, libya. The left Wing National media, the only kind, however, tried flipping that script even going so far as to label the incident in baghdad as trumps benghazi . Hes attacking war heroes. Youve got them stoking antiamericanism, potentially giving an advantage to iran. This goes back to really strategic decision that the president made. Were engaging a war of words which is certainly not helpful. These are tough times and one worries whether the administration has the sort of horsepower and brain power to deal with them. Yeah, thats what the world is wondering whether this president has the horsepower and brain power to deal with these challenges. With the Trump Administration vowing to continue its maximum Pressure Campaign against iran, they are now seemingly locked in both a political, economic and military standoff with the Islamic Republic. President trump however has long been a critic as you know of endless wars in far away regions that cost trillions of american dollars and thousands of american lives with very little benefit. Joining me now retired army colonel douglas mcgregor. Colonel, thank you for being here tonight. What is the correct America First response . You see our embassy disrespected. You see troops, that guys like me and others trained for decades to hold the peace there, letting the iranians right through, what is the America First approach to next steps in iraq today . Well, pete, its good to see you. I think we should keep in mind that the u. S. Military put iran in control of iraq. We established them. We installed them in 2006 and 07. We treated them as Strategic Partners in our effort to pacify the country. We shouldnt be surprised that iran which lost 800,000 men in its war with iraq has no intentions of leaving iraq. Now, these strikes that we launched were actually designed to do Something Different from whats happened. In fact, whats happened is that we attacked militias and it worked with us against isis. Weve actually strengthened iranian control and influence in iraq, and i think theres a good chance that the Iraqi Government will throw us out of the country. I think the embassy is important symbolism here colonel. Correct me if im wrong, 40 years ago it was our embassy in tehran that effectively rejected the american presence in iran and helped found the Islamic Republic there. 40 years later you believe this attack was intended to get america out all together and to totally solidify iranian support of iraq . First of all, the Iraqi Government colluded because they would like us to leave the country. The majority of People Living in iraq do not want iraq to become a battleground for a proxy war between iran and the United States. And this was not an attack on the embassy per se. We shouldnt compare this with benghazi. Benghazi was a knockdown, dragout fight. People were killed. People were murdered. No one was killed. In fact i pay tribute to the people in the embassy who exercised considerable restraint because there was no direct attack on their lives. What was the provocation you think they were hoping for . You are right, different an attack, they didnt carry weapons but they were looking for reaction from the United States. Did they want the overreaction of dead iranians or the underreaction of a Burning Embassy . Well, first of all, these people were arabs. They werent iranians. They were shiites. And they were protesting the fact that we attacked the five targets in iraq that were occupied by shiite militias and killed 25 people in the process. Thats what they were objecting to, and they were signalling that they are going to stand by their ally, iran. I think thats whats happened. I think we have actually forced the two together. Theres cohesion now that was weakening. What people dont understand is that there are no people that are good guys in the region. When you attack iran or you attack the shiites in iraq, you are ultimately helping the Sunni Islamists that are operating out of syria. The people we call isis, al qaeda because we threw in with the iranians in order to defeat isis as well. As you step back and look at the entire region, you are right, i dont see any good guys. And the president has said i want to pull away from endless entanglement where there is no upside for america. Whats the right next move then, for the white house to focus on that . The right move is to get out. The president is right. If you get out of the way, heres some good news for your audience. The shiite islamists and the Sunni Islamists will kill each other. This is a thousandyearold fight and struggle. It is a struggle between turks and persians. It also involves shiite and sunni arabs. They want control of the region. For them the region that were talking about is really iraq and syria. If we get out of the way, they will fight over it. You speak truth a lot of people are afraid to say. Is this the reflection they are feeling the pressure at home with sanctions in iran at all, briefly . Of course they are. Theres no question about it. The sanctions have just about destroyed the economy, but iran ultimately plays the victim very well. And most europeans, the russians, chinese, japanese, koreans, all want to do business with iran and they see us as the people meddling and creating trouble. Im not sure that we have accomplished what we have set out to. I think the president was badly advised when he launched these strikes. It is a balance between show strength and also holding back. Thank you for your insights. Thank you. Up next, a pattern of lies and leaks. Plus an iraqi official spotted outside an embassy not really iraqi, more iranian. Spotted outside the Embassy Attack in baghdad. He has ties to the Obama Administration. How much of a problem will it be for uncle joe biden . We will take that up and much we will take that up and much more when we come we will take that up and much more when we come beyond the routine checkups. Beyond the notsoroutine cases. Comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. All working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gigspeed network. Because beyond technology. There is human ingenuity. Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. To do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. It was a record setting day on wall street yet again to kick off the new year, to 20 20, the dow, s p 500 and nasdaq all hit it almost sounds like a broken record at this point but it is true record highs again. The dow up 330 points. The s p gained 27. Nasdaq climbing a 120 points. Volume on the big board 3. 5 billion shares. Crude oil finishing at just over 61 a barrel. Gold closing at 1,524 an ounce. And silver finishing at nearly 18 an ounce. The fda today announcing a partial ban on certain flavored ecigarettes. The ban will apply to fruit and mint flavored vaping cartridges. Companies will have 30 days to stop producing those flavors. The ban does not affect the sale of tobacco and menthol cartridges. Just a reminder listen to lous report three times a day, coast to coast, on the salem radio network. Cant have enough lou. All right. President trump breaking a Campaign Record last quarter. Outfundraising the top 2020 democratic hopeful, despite the radical left sham impeach frenzy. The president raising 46 Million Dollars bringing his total cash on hand, not raised, cash in the bank to nearly 103 Million Dollars. In addition to that story, new photos and documents revealing the Obama Administrations cozy relationship with the leader who helped orchestrate this weeks attack on the u. S. Embassy in baghdad. Back in 2011, there he is right there, iraqs former transport minister alamiri, he was in the oval office, as president obama held a high level meeting with iraqs Prime Minister. New documents obtained by Citizens United also shows that then Vice President joe biden and secretary of state Hilary Clinton were also present in that meeting. Joining me now Citizens United president and former Trump Campaign aide. Thanks for being here this evening. I like to say this morning. Im a fox friends guy. Need to get away from that. This evening. Were going to get to what you and Citizens United have unearthed. Lets start with the fundraising haul first. 46 Million Dollars, put that in context in the president s reelection. It is a juggernaut, pete, it is nothing less than that. What brad and that team has built at the Trump Campaign, over 140 Million Dollars raised in just 2019 alone, mostly, mostly all the important part here is in small dollar increments. That means we have an incredibly intense supportive base to reelect this president and those folks can give a lot more money. And that is the danger that the democrats are going to have. First, they dont have a quality candidate. They dont have any money because the dnc, the senatorial committee, the Congressional Committee are all virtually bankrupt. And the rnc has built that same machine using President Trump over the last three years. We have the best ground game. The rnc is ever going to have. We have money in the bank, unlike the dnc. This is its good news at every turn, especially when you look at the economy, you look at the president s accomplishments and everything that hes done. The democrats have a weak field and they are going to have a hard time beating this president. Hes nearly unstoppable. You talk about democrats. The highest raiser on the democratic field was Bernie Sanders, raised 34 Million Dollars. His team is touting that its 5 million total donors so far at 18 on average a pop. Talk to me about the contrast these are 5 Million People giving money to somebody who hates billionaires. Even more americans giving small dollars to a billionaire. Talk to me about the difference in energy and whether or not Bernie Sanders is probably the closest guy tapping into something from the grassroots. Youre exactly right, pete. Look, Bernie Sanders is a socialist. He happened to also be own multiple houses, be a millionaire himself. It is going to be a problem when it gets to the general election. [inaudible]. Hes going to have a hard time standing on the same stage as President Trump with the economy that is on fire, where all hes going to have is say im not President Trump and im going to raise your taxes. Im going to create medicare for all. Im going to do socialized everything because theres not an issue that he doesnt believe the federal government cant fix. And we all know that that is the exact wrong way. You look at what this president has done over the last three years in getting the government deregulation, taking the boot off the neck of our economy, and we have an explosion. Yeah, i will also note, we will leave it right there, but sleepy joe bidens fundraising numbers also sleepy, if youre such a frontrunner and you can only raise 22 million less than half of the president , youre in bad shape. But ive got to get to something your organization Citizens United has helped unearth. We talked about it earlier in the program. You know, we saw the attack outside the u. S. Embassy in baghdad. And it was led by an iranian backed leader of hezbollah. It turns out because of groups like yours who have unearthed documents and photographs that are emerged in the public. This leader was in the oval office with theres a picture of him right there. The Prime Minister of iraq at the time, in 2011, talk to me about the contrast between the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration where a guy like this is welcomed in the oval office and under the Trump Administration hes trying to lead riots outside our embassy. Why . Thats a Million Dollars question. Why is there someone who seems to be a terrorist and a terrorist leader, why is that person in the oval office chumming it up with barack obama and joe biden and Hilary Clinton . And it is only from our nearly a decadelong work in the litigation that we had this in our library. We were able to search our database and find out that joe biden was in that exact meeting with president obama. And people have to ask